Once upon a time, an envious queen REALLY wanted a very large brown bull. An epic war followed...
Game Setup
This is a game for 5 to 10 players. After sign-ups are closed, each player will be either on the side of Ulaid (Resistance) or Connacht (Spies) . Distribution of these allegiances depends on the number of players:
| Players | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Ulaid | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 6 |
| Connacht | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
All on the side of Connacht will be told the names of their companions, while the Ulaid receive no further information.
Furthermore, one member of the Ulaid will be given the role of Lugh, while one member of Connacht will be Ailill . Depending on the amount of players, other roles may be assigned as well (see below).
The GM will randomly determine the order of Leadership.
Game Play
The game consists of between three and five Quests.
Gather the Party
First, a Party must be gathered to go on the Quest. The size of the Party depends on the number of players and which Quest is being attempted, according to the following table:
| Players | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| 1st Quest | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| 2nd Quest | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| 3rd Quest | 2 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| 4th Quest | 3 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| 5th Quest | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
The current Leader must choose this many players and reveal their names in public. All players must then vote to either APPROVE or REJECT the proposed Party.
The Party is approved and goes on their Quest if they receive a majority of approvals (a tied vote means the Party is rejected). If the Party is rejected, Leadership passes to the next player in the order who will make a new proposal. Should there ever be 5 Parties rejected for the same Quest, then Connacht wins the game immediately.
Voting may be done in private or in public. Once all votes are tallied, everyone's vote will be revealed.
Undertaking the Quest
Each player going on the Quest must either SUPPORT or SABOTAGE the Quest. The Ulaid must SUPPORT, Connacht are free to SUPPORT or SABOTAGE at will.
The Quest is successful only if every member of the Party supports it; if one or more sabotages occur, the Quest fails. Note that with games of 7 players or more, the 4th Quest requires at least two sabotages to fail.
Supporting or sabotaging is done in private. Once all actions are tallied, only the tally is revealed and not who did what.
Victory
The Ulaid win when they complete 3 Quests successfully, unless Ailill can find and kill Lugh.
Connacht win when they sabotage 3 Quests, when Ailill finds and kills Lugh, or when 5 Parties are rejected for the same Quest.
Roles
All roles are optional except Lugh and Ailill.
Lugh - Ulaid
At the start of the game, Lugh will be given the names of all the party of Connacht.
Ailill - Connacht
At the end of the game, if the faction of Ulaid succeeds in 3 Quests, Ailill may guess which player is Lugh. If he is right, Connacht wins the game.
Cúchulainn - Ulaid
At the start of the game, Cúchulainn is given the name of Lugh. Adding Cúchulainn helps the Ulaid.
Medb- Connacht
At the start of the game, Mebd's name is NOT given to Lugh. Adding Medb helps Connacht.
Fergus- Connacht
At the start of the game, Fergus's name is not given to the other members of Connacht, nor is Fergus told the names of the other Connacht members. Adding Fergus helps the Ulaid.
Fidelma- Connacht
At the start of the game, Fidelma's name is given to Cúchulainn in addition to Ailill 's. Adding Fidelma helps Connacht.
Morrigan
There are always two players with the role of Morrígan. One of them starts the game on the side of the Ulaid while the other starts on the side of Connacht
At the start of the game, the Connacht Morrígan will have his name revealed to Lugh and the other members of Connacht, but will not be given any names. The other partisans of Connacht will also be told he is Morrígan.
During the game, the two Morrígans may swap sides, always remaining opposite one another (see below for the rules). During the game, they must follow all rules of their current allegiance (most notably, Ulaid Morrígan may not sabotage a Quest).
Note that Roles are never revealed to other people, only names or allegiance (Ulaid/Connacht) with the sole exception of Connacht Morrígan.
For example, Lugh knows the names of all the Connacht members (except Medb) but not what each player's Role might be. Similarly, Cúchulainn would receive the names of Lugh and Fidelma without knowing which is which.
Optional Rules
Morrígan
Morrígan will either switch allegiance in a random manner or in a predetermined manner:
Random
5 cards are prepared, 2 that force the Morrígans to switch and 3 that leave them their current allegiance.
After Quest 2, one card is drawn from this deck, shown to all players and then discarded. This is repeated after every subsequent quest.
Predetermined
7 cards are prepared, 2 that force the Morrígan to switch and 5 that leave them their current allegiance.
At the start of the game after all names are revealed, the top 5 cards are drawn and shown to all players. The first card takes affect right before Quest 1, the second right before Quest 2, etc.
IMPORTANT! In this variant, the Connacht Morrígan must sabotage any Quest he is sent on.
Morrígan bis
Another Morrígan-related variant allows both Morrígans to receive the other's name at the start of the game.
Prophetic Vision
The last player on the Leader list may start the game with a Prophetic Vision.
Immediately after the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Quests are resolved, the player with the Prophetic vision must choose another player, whose allegiance will be revealed to him in private. The Prophetic vision then passes to the targeted player.
The Prophetic Vision may not be used on a player that has used it himself.
Adding the Prophetic Vision helps the Ulaid.
The War Chariot
When the Leader proposes a Party, he must also assign the Chariot to one of the players he chose; he may not keep it for himself.
When the player who rides the Chariot is sent on the Quest, he may publicly select one other member of the Party after they have all chosen their actions. His action for that Quest will be revealed privately to the player who rode the chariot and the opposite action will be counted for the Quest's result, ie. a sabotage will be counted as a support and vice-versa.
Note that this does not change what actions a player on a Quest can take. The Ulaid may still only choose to support, but the Chariot may afterwards turn that into a sabotage.
Formalities
No communication between players about the game may happen outside the public thread. PMs between players are NOT allowed, neither are phone calls, talking in another thread, letting things slip while having a drink, etc. Do not talk about the Resistance.
Each player is solely responsible for clearly communicating to the GM and the other players. Making things like votes and party proposals stand out by using colors, bold text, bigger fonts and such is strongly encouraged. If anything gets missed, it is the fault of the player who did not make himself clear enough.
Votes for or against a party may happen in public or private. Only the last vote will be counted (based on the timestamp).
In order to make the game move smoother, it is strongly recommended to PRELOAD your support or sabotage of the Quest while the party is being voted on. This allows the GM to make a single update, counting the votes and handling the quest all at once.
If a player becomes absent, the GM reserves the right to replace him.
If a player fails to vote, the GM reserves the right to close the vote without him.
If a player fails to provide a Quest action, the GM reserves the right to default the action to support if the player is of Ulaid and sabotage if the player is of Connacht.
If a player fails to propose a Party, the GM reserves the right to move on to the next Leader in the order.
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