Everyone feels better after a little…

The one player may be you, of course. The whole point of a pampering fund is that you don't have to share it.

The second certain thing

I'm a bit late for the end of the tax year, but that's just the way the schedule worked out.

Work harder, not smarter

Getting rid of that annoying location earlier might be worth the extra resources, but just make sure you don't fail the test or it will all be wasted.

With friends like these

In multiplayer games, it can be helpful for each player to specialize in one of the main attributes. On the other hand, being an all-rounder also has its advantages.

Delaying the inevitable

This is obviously more powerful if you have some way of removing Arousal from Player Cards. As well as getting enemies out of play, this can also be used to manipulate which card is on top of the Adventure Deck after cycling it for a test.

A walk in the woods

This is very punishing and quite difficult to resolve (first you have to lure an enemy there, then defeat him or her), so to balance it out, there should probably be some positive effect when it is finally discarded. Alternatively, maybe it's one of the more challenging cards, only added to the Adventure Deck in hard mode.

Happy Valentine's Day

When she says it would be better with other players, what she means is there's a chance she can move some of the lock time and teasing she's accrued onto less experienced competitors. That's what semi-cooperative mode is all about.

Do your research to build a competitive deck

A very powerful skill, but at the cost of cards which might be more useful in another way. Of course, if you have cards in your deck which take effect when discarded, you can gain both benefits.

I don't know which way to go either

A minor annoyance, unless you're not from around here.

The lcg lives on (by definition)

The cheerleader effect is the psychological phenomenon that people (of all kinds, not just cheerleaders) appear more attractive in groups.

This is why playtesting is important

What's wrong with this card? Well, since Action Tokens are removed in the Draw Phase, any tests that need to be taken in the Adventure Phase will suffer the penalty. That makes the card very unattractive, especially for three resources. The final production version will add the words in the Action Phase to the end of the first sentence.

Spare a thought for the play-testers who racked up months of extra lock time losing games with the prototype version so the customers will have a better product.

Testing, testing

To conduct an attribute test, first play any cards the you wish to use to increase the attribute, then cycle the Adventure Deck by placing the top card on the bottom. Each adventure card has a number or symbol on the back which is applied to the test. Also, if the player's Punishment is higher than her Resilience or her Arousal is higher than her Willpower, she suffers an additional penalty equal to the excess. Some (very powerful and rare) cards may be used after cycling the Adventure Deck, when you already know exactly what you need to succeed.

For example, Clitty has a base Allure of 4, plus an Ally who adds 1 and a Skill which adds 2. However, her Arousal is already 6 and when she takes the test on the card above, she will gain 1 Arousal. Her ally only has 1 Willpower and will therefore be eliminated if the arousal goes there, so Clitty takes it herself. Since she has no bonus to her starting Willpower of 6, this means the test will have an additional -1.

Clitty's player knows the deck has at least one -4 in it and she really wants to succeed, so she uses a card with a reaction which allows her to discard it for +1 to any test. The top card of the Adventure Deck shows +1, but unfortunately this has to be cycled. The card revealed shows -2, so Clitty passes (4+1+2-1+1-2=5) and places a progress token on The Resort. If there are tokens equal to twice the number of players on the card in the End Phase, the objective will be completed.

What happened to 1 and 2?

Objective cards are how the game progresses. Usually one side has some flavour text and the other instructions. Often, the objective itself will explain how to advance to the next one or complete the game, but sometimes (as here), the players will have to find another way.

When searching a deck, turn it over (face up) and go through it card by card (without changing the order) until you find the one for which you're searching. If there is more than one with the same name, you must take the first you find. You may also look at the front of the next card when you take the one you want. Then put the others back in the same order and turn the deck back over (face down). You may want to turn the cards you've seen at right angles to the rest of the deck, so if your memory's not very good, you can remind yourself of the cards you already know without risking gaining extra knowledge. Of course, in this case, the Adventure Deck is shuffled afterwards, so it doesn't matter, but the game is designed to minimize shuffling, because it's the most boring part of card games.

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Because it will be bonfire night in a few hours, here's an extra caption. Have fun!

Upskilling

Skills are another category of player card, like allies and items. Some have ongoing (passive) effects, whilst others give extra actions, free actions or reactions, or some combination of these effects.

Every day is Teaseday with ODTC

Events are a type of Adventure Card which usually take effect immediately, although they may hang around, depending upon the instructions on the card. For example, an event might say to attach to an item in play. Then the item can't be used until the event is discarded by some effect.

The acquisition of things is not an end in itself, but merely a means to an end

Items are very similar to allies in the way they work, but some cards interact with one or the other card type in some way. e.g. an enemy might make a player discard an ally in play.

This item is not very powerful, but its special effect means that it can be used to pay for another card (by discarding it) and then still played afterwards from the discard pile, if desired. Obviously, most cards can only be played or put into play from the player's hand, so this adds a little flexibility.

Not all enemies are easy to spot

Enemies are a type of Adventure Card. They target one of the players and if there is more than one tied for the target, the players may choose between them. Move means the enemy moves to the same location (adventure card or player mat) as the target, whilst other effects are applied to the target, if possible. When an enemy is moving, any character in play may be the target, but when taking any other action, only local characters are considered. If there are no valid targets, then effects do not take place.

For example, suppose the character targeted by this anonymous stud had a reaction that let her move when an enemy moves to her location. She could run away and (provided no other unbelted characters were in the same place) the stud would cause no arousal that turn. If other unbelted characters were present, though, the one with the lowest determination would be targeted for the arousal gain (and her player might be miffed at the fleeing girl leaving her to her fate).

Some enemies have a reward for defeating them and sometimes other effects may be triggered. In other cases, defeating them just stops them doing any harm.

We all need a friend sometimes

Allies are Player Cards. Most Player Cards have no effect unless played. Playing a Player Card costs resources equal to the number in the top right corner. That means the player must discard other cards with a resource value at least as much as this number from their hand. Any excess points are wasted and they cannot be split between paying for different cards.

Allies may have special abilities or boost the controlling player's Attributes. They may also grant Actions or Free Actions which the controlling player may take as normal. Additionally, allies have Willpower and Resilience values. When a player receives Arousal or Punishment, they may place some or all of this on an ally or allies they control, up to the printed values. However, if an ally ever has punishment equal to their resilience or arousal equal to their willpower, they are immediately discarded.

e.g. Titania suffers one arousal and two punishment from a single attack. She puts one of each on Hacker Girl, who is then discarded. Titania takes the other punishment.

If the damage had come from two separate attacks, only one of them could have been placed on Hacker Girl, who would then have been discarded at the end of the attack. Titania would have to take the other two points herself.

Obstacles are there to be overcome

Obstacles are a type of Adventure Card.

Some keywords:

When Revealed: Cards are always revealed when they are drawn, but not necessarily vice versa. Cards discarded from a deck are not revealed.

Attach: Place this card on top of the card mentioned. Players may not interact with Locations that have Unexhausted Attached Obstacles during the Action Phase. When a Location leaves play, any attached Obstacles are discarded (in an order chosen by the players).

Discard: Place this card on top of the appropriate discard pile, face up.

Surge: Draw another, extra Adventure Card. Any rules that applied to the card that triggered Surge also apply to the new card.

Unique cards can be very bad

A game consists of a number of rounds. Each round has four phases, resolved in order.

1: Action Phase

During this phase, players may perform ACTIONs (denoted by an open red arrow) and FREE ACTIONs (denoted by a solid green arrow). Only one player may perform an action at a time, but players may act in any order. If players cannot decide who gets to act next, the player who has gone the longest since their last orgasm chooses.

e.g. Kim and Clitty are playing. First Kim wants to take two actions, then Clitty takes one, then Kim takes a free action, followed by a normal action and so on.

Each time a player takes an ACTION, place an action token on the player mat. A player with three or more action tokens cannot perform any more ACTIONs in this phase, but may still take FREE ACTIONs.

When all players have finished all the actions and free actions they wish and are able to take, proceed to the next phase. Players may not take ACTIONs or FREE ACTIONs in any other phase, but may make reactions specified on cards or player mats.

2: Draw Phase

Each player may draw one Player Card. All action tokens are returned to the supply.

Adventure Cards are drawn as specified in the adventure being played.

e.g. Clitty draws one card and adds it to her hand. This has no effect. Kim's deck is almost empty, so she decides not to draw this round. Both players return their action tokens.

The adventure says each player draws one Adventure Card and Kim chooses to go first. Her card is an Event which says the player who drew it must place an action token on her player mat. Unless she can use some special ability, she will only be able to take up to two ACTIONs next round. The Event card is the discarded.

Clitty's Adventure Card is a Location, which is put into play but otherwise has no immediate effect. Clitty has an ability on her player mat which allows her to be placed on a Location drawn from the Adventure Deck. She chooses to do this.

3: Adventure Phase

Each active (upright) Adventure Card in play is now resolved, from left to right and top to bottom. This will usually be oldest to newest, but various game effects can change the position of cards in the line. Turn each card sideways after resolving it so that it will not activate again in this phase, unless otherwise instructed.

e.g. There are five Adventure Cards in play: An Enemy, a stack consisting of an Enemy, Obstacle and Location and a separate Obstacle. They are all upright, except the Obstacle at the Location, which was exhausted due to a player action earlier in the round.

The lone Enemy is resolved first, just moving to the Location. It is turned sideways and placed under the Enemy already there, which activates next, inflicting Punishment upon Kim and doing nothing else. The first Enemy would then activate, since it is next in the stack, but it is already exhausted (sideways) so it is skipped, as is the Obstacle, for the same reason.

The Location is next, but has no effect in the Adventure Phase, so it is simply turned and then the last Obstacle is resolved, but Kim plays a card as a reaction to ignore the effects. The Adventure Phase is then over.

4: End Phase

Remove any cards that remain in play until the end of the round and put all Adventure Cards in play upright. Check the current Objective and any special rules for the Adventure being played and then start a new round.