Want to play a game? The rules for Secret Shenanigans at the Tell-Tale Heart Pub

Want to play a game?

(The game will be restricted to your Second Life/New Babbage Avatar character. No RL questions can be asked or answered. If you don’t want to participate but only watch the fun, DO NOT TAKE A SHOT OF CAPT. KILLIAN’S TRUTH SPIRITS.) 

The game is called Secret Shenanigans.

The scenario: Sometime in the past, your character was involved in something underhanded, devious, dishonest, or maybe just wily, furtive, or sly– in short, some type of shenanigans. Your involvement can have been either unwillingly, or purposefully, deceitful. Maybe you were in a group, and you have all vowed to keep this act a secret. Or maybe it was a business affair where you came out on top by withholding information. Perhaps your character is ashamed of this act and no one else knows about it, or perhaps a close friend (or enemy) knows your secret, though you fervently hope it never gets out to the public. Either take time to concoct your secret backstory beforehand, or just think of something on the fly. 

When you enter the Tell-Tale Heart Pub Tuesday night, Capt. Killian will first ask if you want to play a game. She will forward a notecard detailing the format of play. Shortly afterward, Capt. Killian will offer you a free shot of a rare cordial, Verum Spirituum (Truth Spirits). 

If you take the drink, tonight, for one night, you are obliged to answer all questions truthfully, with either a Yes or No answer. If you wish, you may elaborate on the question or give a hint, but Yes or No is all the answer you are required to give. 

But even while you are under this compulsion, you realize that everyone else who takes a shot must also answer Yes or No truthfully. This is a moment when you can discover the secrets others hold. How can your frame your questions to uncover your friends’ mysteries? 

Each participant in turn is asked questions. There are at least two strategies on how to field the questions. One is to gradually reveal your secret with elaborations and hints. This strategy requires time management, as you’d like your secret to be revealed before the end of the event, or before you have to leave the event. 

The opposite strategy is to be as cagey as possible, using only Yes or No answers. You can reveal your secret, or not, at the end of the event. The story you have concocted for your character may dictate that your secret is so shameful or incriminating that no one must ever know. However, it may be more fun for everyone if all secrets are revealed before the end of the event. And of course there are many gradations between these two opposing strategies. All this is up to you. 

A few notes about asking the questions. Interrogators do not have to have taken the Truth Spirits to ask questions. The questions should be phrased so that only a Yes or No answer can be given. Guesses about the nature of the shenanigans should be also formed as a question requiring a Yes or No answer. Questioners will take turns, facilitated by Capt. Killian, so everyone can have time to read the text in chat and absorb the answers. 

There is no winner; there is no prize– just the fun of secrets and questions.