| Designed by | rubereaglenest |
| Players | 1 |
| Length | One or several rounds of 2 to 5 m each |
| Extra Material | None |
A faithful conversion of the original game “Ring Pass Not” by Sandhill Games.
Made for the Decktet by Ruber Eaglenest.
Warning: this is in beta. Comments, questions and ideas are welcome.
Introduction
You are a great mage, represented by the excuse, taming the wyvern; put it in front of yourself in a way that the little fool is standing up. As the mage you need to create a ring of protection before the wyvern breaths fire upon you. Well a wyvern, or a balrog, or whatever please you because the nature of the Decktet you could represent whatever battle, or characters, or universe that please you, well, always when the story to represent must be the creation of a protection against a superior physical or magical power.
The Ring of Protection
The ring of protection is composed of eight magic elements linked together in a perfect circle (perfect by the nature of the links). Each element is presented by a card of the Decktet, and the player must place them orthogonally and diagonally around the Excuse in eight slots that form the circle. Each card must link with another two by their common same suits. Once one suit of a card is used, it is not available for make another link.
Aces and Crowns count as they have two available links of the same suit.
Pawns can only link, as normal, with two other cards but, they have available 3 suits, so the mage can choose what element to link.
For the disposition of the cards, it is recommended that each card superpose the corner of the linked card, covering the suits in that corner; so, the ring of linked suits appear at the external part of the cards and the ring. This is not a requirement, but could make more easy the lecture of the already formed links.
Note that you could place a card in any empty slot, without the need of form a link, even to place a card next to another with a broken link (it has no matching suits, or the suit it is already in used).
Once a card is already placed in a slot, it can be moved to any other empty slot. You could even move a card that it is already linked. But be careful because when if the ring is completed with eight cards and any link is broken working, the ring will fail to protect the mage.
Note that you could even rotate groups of cards linked together. Because it is the same that move the whole bunch moving the cards in order, one by one.
Drawing Pool
At the beginning of each play from a shuffled deck, deal four cards face up. This is where the mage must draw the elements to build the ring of protection.
Each time a card is taken from the pool and placed upon the ring, you must draw a new card from the deck and replace the void left by the card used.
If you have no possible movement, or possible links, or simply you don’t like your cards. You can deal again from the deck, discarding the actual drawing pool; but then you must decrease the number of cards in the pool by one. That is, you start with four cards in the pool, if you deal, you have three, then, if you deal again, you have two; if finally you deal again, you will only deal one card from the deck, and next time you are in the need of deal, you found yourself without resources to finish the ring, and then you are dead.
When the deck has no remaining cards, reshuffle all the discarded cards to build a new deck, and deal the convenient number of cards.
The Wyvern
The wyvern is an external entity that it is no physically represented in the game (at the least, but you can put a wyvern figure outside the ring). It brings death to the mage, and therefore ending to the game.
If when the ring is completed one link is broken, the wyvern breaths, and the mage dies; the player loses.
If when the player has dealt three times and has no moves or possible links, or just surrender, the wyvern breathes, the mage dies; and the player loses.
If the ring of protection has all the links, the wyvern breathes but the mage survives this round and therefore the player wins… at least this time.
Death of the mage
Turn around the excuse card: that is, the wyvern is upon you!
Example of layouts of the game
With the drawing pool at the left of the ring:
The drawing pool near the player, at the bottom of the ring:
Basic game
You, the mage, are represented by the excuse; take it out of the deck and put it in front of yourself in a way that the little fool is standing up. Shuffle the deck, with all the basic Decktet cards plus the Aces, the Crowns and the Pawns. Deal four cards for the drawing pool.
When dealing again, discard the cards of the drawing pool.
Play the game as indicated until winning or be defeated. Now calculate the final score.
After finishing a game, you could repeat for several rounds until satisfied.
Scoring
Once a play is finished with a completed ring or by the death of the mage is time to count all the points, awarded as this:
6 points for each valid link. That is, a complete ring will award a total of 48 points.
30 points for create a pool of a suit with 6 of the same suit in the ring.
60 points for create a pool of a suit with 7 of the same suit in the ring.
120 points for create a pool of a suit with 8 of the same suit in the ring.
Advanced Game
As a solitaire Decktet Not Pass is a very short one with plays that can be resolved in little minutes, so to make the thing more interesting this advanced variation led the player through different stages in increasing difficulty.
Setup of the Advanced Game
Shuffle the deck with all the card less the Excuse, and the Aces. Use the excuse for represent the mage. Set aside the Aces.
Power tools
If you end a stage and score a pool of suits, you gain one power tool represented by one Ace. You gain one randomly selected Ace per special bonus. Shuffle them face down and randomly choose one.
This Aces are of one time use (return them to the Aces pile) and serve as a joker, you can change the suit of any link of a card to the suit of the Ace (put the Ace over half that card).
Aces can be accumulated, but not more than 3.
Limiters
In advanced stages limiters come to play. They are random selected Aces that must be placed outside of the ring and in a place where it defines the nature of a link of the ring. That is, they limit the kind of suit that must be linked in that place of the ring.
Stages of the advanced game
Stage 1
Play as a basic game.
Stage 2
Select a random Ace and put it as a limiter anywhere outside of the ring.
Stage 3
Select two random Aces, put them separated symmetrically of each other. (See the above image)
Stage 4
Use three Aces as limiters forming a equilateral triangle, that is, one act as the top of the triangle, and the two others are separated two links from the top limiter. These two has only one link separating each other.
Stage 5
Use four Aces as limiters. They must be separated of each other only by one link. If there are not Aces available because the player has three of them as power tools: remove one randomly selected and use it as a limiter.
Winning and scoring the advanced game
If you reach and complete the fifth ring, congratulations, you have tamed the wyvern.
IF winning or losing, calculate the score of each stage. At the end of the game winning or losing, just sum up to calculate the total. Annotate the stage reached and score.
Links
- Sandhill Games site for the original game, formerly at ringpassnot.com, seems to be gone.
Pawns and the Excuse are mentioned, but not courts. Are they included in the deck for play? (I assume not, but the enumeration of cards is a bit odd.)
I think the game predates the Courts, and they might be too powerful an addition.
There seems to be some problems with the images, and the link in the links section doesn't seem to exist any more, just ending up on some random unconnected site.
I didn't make the game, but the person who did used links to images hosted elsewhere. With a little poking around, I found the images and added them here.