by Loki Carbis
Historical Note" "Andrew Season!" was inspired by Steve Jackson's visit to Conquest '99. Steve requested that all Andrews present stand during a presentation at the award ceremony. They numbered a little under 10% of the convention's total attendees -- clearly, a plague of Andrews. This scenario for Killer attempts to address this imbalance. Art by andi jones
The rules of this scenario are very simple: It's open season on Andrews. All players are divided between Andrews and Hunters. The Hunters should outnumber the Andrews by approximately 4 or 5 to 1, to make sure that competition for kills is sufficiently intense. This is a trophy game, where kills must be clean enough to leave the body more or less unmarked for purposes of trophy collecting. Therefore, kills that disfigure or destroy bodies are frowned upon. The default setting is modern day -- GM's are free to experiment with fantastic and futuristic variants if they so desire. This game works equally well as a convention game or a regular game. It is also possible to turn it into a campaign, as a series of games, as detailed below.
Only Class A and B weapons are permitted -- and from these, only projectile weapons, bombs and various sorts of trap are permissible. Since Andrews are considered to be small and more-or-less defenseless animals, all weapons used must be able to work on animals (ruling out poisoned cigarettes and the like). Each Andrew killed is worth 10 points. However, if the weapon used would (in the opinion of the GM) cause the destruction or disfigurement of the Andrew, the kill is only worth 3 points. The best weapons for such a game are, therefore, projectile weapons like guns, or traps such as a pit trap, which leave the target undamaged. Bombs and fires of all sorts (including electrocution) are much worse. Hunters may collaborate, but any points gained from such kills will be evenly divided amongst the Hunters (rounding down). The only group attack from the rulebook that may be used is Trapping (although solo attacks made in concert are fine). For obvious reasons, weapons involving the use of accomplices, animals, or direct physical attacks such as garroting or tripping, are not permitted in this scenario.
The targets, all of whom are hereby designated "Andrew", are poor defenseless animals who are ruthlessly hunted down by the Hunters. Andrews have no money -- and they may not use weapons, although they are permitted to use their animal cunning to draw Hunters into their own traps, and even gain points for doing so. An Andrew who leads a Hunter to his death is awarded 15 points. This award is doubled if the trap the Hunter falls into is his own. GM's option as to whether a Hunter should also have points deducted from his score in such cases.
There are a number of ways to end the game -- the GM should choose one of the following: when all Andrews have been killed; when a designated score is reached; or after a certain period of time elapses. Note that for the latter two variants, it may be necessary to allow players to come back to life after a short period. In most cases, the latter two variants work better at conventions (since they allow everyone to keep playing).
Variants
Edible Andrews: as above, but poison is now considered to be a disfiguring weapon, since it renders the victim inedible. To counterbalance this, the GM may rule that the use of fire as a weapon is considered to cook, rather than burn, the Andrew.It's Like He Can Understand Every Word I Say: Andrews may not talk to Hunters. Hunters may say what they wish to Andrews or each other, but Andrews may talk only amongst themselves. Additionally, Andrews may only speak when there are no hunters in their line of sight.
You Can't Shoot Him Now, You Have To Take Him Home And Shoot Him: as above, but only traps may be used. All Andrews must be captured alive.
Campaign Rules
This scenario also lends itself well to a campaign. Keep running totals of scores from game to game, so as to increase the competitiveness of the players. Every player is required to be an Andrew at least once per four games -- the best way to handle this is with a roster. There are only two exceptions to this rotation: (1) The top-scoring player (and the top-scoring Hunter, if they are different) may choose whether or not they want to be an Andrew; and (2) any Hunter that scores less than the lowest scoring Andrew must play an Andrew in the next game.
Article publication date: August 20, 1999
Copyright © 1999 by Steve Jackson Games. All rights reserved. Pyramid subscribers are permitted to read this article online, or download it and print out a single hardcopy for personal use. Copying this text to any other online system or BBS, or making more than one hardcopy, is strictly prohibited. So please don't. And if you encounter copies of this article elsewhere on the web, please report it to webmaster@sjgames.com.