Materials
- Clue - The boardgame.
- RPG dice, specifically d4, d6, d8, d10, & d12.
Process
Play clue like the original rules prescribed. No intrigue cards, no individual abilities. Just move and guess.
But make the following changes.
- All players begin outside the house's front door.
- Players roll the normal 2d6 plus an additional RPG die, beginning with the d12.
- When the RPG die results in a 1 or 2, it drops down one size for all players.
- When a player rolls a 1 or 2 on the d4, they complete their turn as normal, after which they are eliminated.
- Eliminated players continue to observe and debunk guesses as normal.
Game End
The game ends when 1 of the players guesses correctly or when all of the players have been eliminated by the killer.
In the event all players have been eliminated by the killer, their spirits then make one final guess, based on the information the have. As they are dead, they can guess any room they wish. The players write their final guess before the hidden cards are revealed. The player(s) that guess the most hidden cards correctly, wins!
In Play
In play the game was fast. We played 3 games in about 35 minutes. With the additional die, the meeples practically soar around the house.
The RPG die counting down has a double effect. First, players feel the visceral dread of the game coming to a close before having all of the information. Second, it slows down the meeples.
When two or three rolls in a row resulted in 1s or 2s, everyone began to panic, but they couldn't traverse the hallways fast enough.
I also feel like other players were making better guesses, which improved the available information. Also, players were not spending as long thinking and making notes. Even though the timer was partially under our control (the dice only risk downsizing when you actually roll them), we still felt like we had to hurry.
In two games, I had the correct answer by my first turn with a d4. The other players had parts of the answer as well.
In the third game, another player and myself had two thirds of the correct guess. This game was also the quickest as we were all eliminated during the third round.
