The Rules of the Game

~WELCOME TO THE DEATH NOTE GAME~

This game is great for those of you who ever wished to play a game where you wanted to be a Death Note character of your own! In this game, you create your own character, get assigned a role, and create your very own Death Note story!

For newcomers to the game: The following is sort of a long read, but don't be intimidated! Once you start playing, the rules make sense, and it becomes fun and easy!

This game is sort of a mixture between Mafia and Roleplaying, with the headlining theme of Death Note. For those of you who haven't played mafia before, it's a turn based game where people die every round thanks to the mafia. In this, Kira (the person with the death note) sort of plays the role of the mafia in that he gets to kill someone every turn, but he gets lots of other cool special rules! As for those of you who haven't role-played before, it's sort of like writing a story, where your character is the center of it! It's lots of fun!

~CHARACTER CAST~

The Death Note game contains a myriad of interesting and fun characters. Each game requires 10-15 people to play, 1 person being Kira, 1 person being the detective, 1 person being the Butler, 1 person being the Fanatic, 3 people being the police force, and the rest playing the civilians.

The Shinigami: In Japanese lore, the Shinigami is a God who decides when, why and how people die. In Death Note, the Shinigami is played by the Moderator of the game. The Shinigami is a neutral player, and may not share information about the roles of other players.

Before the game starts, people send in to the Shinigami (Moderator) requests for what role they would like to be via private message. Once the requests have been made, the Shinigami decides who gets what role, and sends the final roles out to the participating players also via private message.

The Shinigami/Moderator is also responsible for keeping track of who has died, and what everyone's role is. They are also responsible for writing some content relating to who dies in roleplay form.


Kira: Kira is the holder of the Death Note, a very magical, powerful weapon able to kill anybody any way by simply writing down their name among its pages. Playing the role of Kira is difficult, as it is you against almost everyone else. Kira's goal is to manipulate and kill those around him as a means to get closer to finding out what the detective looks like and what his name is.

Kira wins when he successfully kills the detective.

Death Note: During the night, Kira must choose 1 person to be killed. They may only kill that person if they know their real name, and saw their face during the role-playing. If Kira attempts to kill someone, and doesn't know their face and/or real name, nobody is killed during the night.

Mind control: Every time Kira kills a player, he has the option to control that players will for a short period of time before they die. However, they may not use this power to have one player kill another player. They may use it to receive information from a player, or have them die in a big way. They can be creative with this.

Killing Frenzy: Once per game, Kira may kill up to 3 players during one night, provided Kira knows their real name and faces.

The Shinigami Eyes: Once per game, Kira may ask the mod for The Shinigami eyes. This may be during any turn, and at any point during the game. Kira can now see the real name of anyone he comes into contact with during the roleplay, and this lasts for the rest of the game. However, Kira then dies in exactly 2 rounds from when he got the eyes.

A favor to be asked: During the game, Kira can ask the Shinigami (mod) to reveal information, or do things within the roleplay that doesn't directly involve revealing the role of another player. The Shinigami has the right to decide whether or not they want to do this.

Computer hack: Once per game, during the night, Kira may "hack" into someone's database. For example, if Kira wanted to discover the identities of the police force, he could hack into the police database and retrieve that information.


The Detective: The detective will hide in the shadows, nobody knows his/her real name. The detective has almost entire control over the police force and media, bending them to use for his advantage, and carry on in his/her case, but on the other hand, the detective has never gone public, even to the police force, so there is controversy as to whether or not he/she can be trusted. The goal of the detective is solely to catch Kira in the name of justice. He/she does this by gathering enough evidence that proves said person is Kira.

The Detective wins when Kira is brought to justice.

Alias: At the beginning of the game, the detective comes up with an alias. This alias is public, whereas his real name is kept a secret.

Recluse: The detective has the right to not post during the day. An observant person might notice this, but it's up to the detective what he/she wants to do. Also, the only person who knows who the detective is, is the Butler. Not even the police start out knowing who the detective is.

Complete authority: The detective has the total right to command the Police and the Butler, even if the police don't want to do what he says.

Investigate: Once per turn, instead of using a different once per turn rule, he may ask the GM (me) to investigate a single player. I will then send the detective more personal information on this player's character, that may be useful

Execute: Once per turn, instead of using a different once per turn rule, the detective may order an execution on any one character of his choice.

Quarantine: Once per turn, instead of using a different once per turn rule, the detective may take in one person of their choice for questioning. This person may not post during the day, and may not use the death note in the following turn one, if it's Kira. During this time, the detective may either ask through me, or even reveal himself to the quarantined person, and question him for information until the next turn two. This information may be revealed to the police and the butler.

News Broadcast: The detective, once per turn, may order to have a news broadcast. He may have people lie in the broadcast.


The Butler: This person is the Detective's right hand man, and the only person the Detective entirely trusts. The butler does tasks outside the detective's comfort zone (i.e. addresses the police force/ investigates a crime scene/ addresses the media) etc. He also has an unknown name, so it will be difficult to kill him as well.

The Butler wins if the Detective wins, even if he is killed in the process.

Alias: At the beginning of the game, the detective comes up with an alias. This alias is public, whereas his real name is kept a secret.

Trustworthy: The butler is the only person besides the Detective who knows the Detective's actual name.

Con Artist: Once per day, the Butler may activate his Con Artist ability. This allows him to gather information from one person they interact with. PM me the name of the person that you want to interact with, and I'll give you some information.

Expert Researcher: Once per night, the Butler may investigate one person of his/her choice: in doing so, they will obtain ONE piece of information of their choice.

Stalk: Instead of using the Expert Researcher special rule, the Butler may stalk one person. This allows him to learn of the person's whereabouts and doings during that turn. This may last as many turns as the Butler wants.


The Fanatic: This character, as soon as Kira makes his first kill, becomes obsessed with the idea of meeting Kira, and possibly help him in his mission. The goal of the fanatic is to find out who Kira is, and help him kill the detective in any way he can, even if it costs him his life.

The Fanatic wins if Kira wins, even if the Fanatic is killed in the process.

Obsessive Research: The Fanatic may only use this power until he finds out who Kira is. He PM's me someone's name, and I'll tell him whether or not that person is Kira. He may not reveal Kira's identity. Once he finds Kira, he may not use this ability to find out who anyone else is.

God-Like Abilities: Once he finds Kira, he may use any power that Kira can use. This is only if Kira lets him. He may not, however, use the Death Note special rule the same turn Kira decides to use it. If the Fanatic uses any special rules that only are allowed once per game, Kira may still use those rules, but the fanatic cannot.

Slave to Kira: The Fanatic must follow any order Kira gives him, even if it is to turn himself in, or kill another player. The fanatic may try to convince Kira otherwise, but once the action is in, the fanatic is required to do what Kira says.

For the Death God!: Once per day, the Fanatic may kill another player that he interacts. However, he liable to be arrested, or even killed by the police. (They may not want to do this often, because it gives away what they are, and in turn, can be eliminated from the game.) Just use this with caution.

The Police Force: 3 players will make up major roles in the police force. These people have no aliases like that of the Detective or the Butler, so all that takes to kill them is hacking into the police files, and looking up their names, or simply meeting them on the street. These people know each other, and can communicate among each other. Eventually, these people will make up a task force to bring down Kira, and they will work alongside the Detective.

The police win if the detective wins AND at least one of the three survive the entire game.

Undercover: These people go as Police during the night, but will act regularly during turn three as civilians. The only people to know who the police are are the detective and the butler.

Licence to Kill: As a policeman, anyone during the RP may kill other people if they have reason to do so.

Direct Connection: The police force knows the Butler's name, but don't know who the Detective is.


The Civilians: These are just the innocent everyday people. These people have free reign. Whomever gets these roles, BE CREATIVE. Make your character somehow relate to whatever is going on. These people can also have their own opinions. Unlike the Detective, Butler, or Policemen, the Civilians can decide on whether they agree with what Kira is doing, or what the Detective is doing.

Any civilian may win of he survives the entire game and/or the person he aligned with wins.

Siding: After Kira's first kill, the players must choose one person they want to side with: Kira, or the Detective. If they feel Kira is righteous, then they side with Kira. If they feel that Kira's doings are wrong, then they side with the detective. This is kept secret initially, but if the civilian so chooses, they may expose who they side with.

For the Death God!: If the civilian sides with Kira, once per day, they may kill another player that they interact(ed) with. However, they are liable to be arrested, or even killed by the police. (They may not want to do this often, because it gives away what they are, and in turn, can be eliminated from the game.)

Independent Research: If they side with the Detective, the Civilian may take it upon himself to investigate another player. Once per day, they may PM the mod someone's name that they have interacted with, and I will share some information. They may share this information with the police department.

~THE TURN ORDER~

This is a turn-based game, comprised of 2 turns per round. One round amounts to a total of 24 in-game hours.

Turn One: Night During the Night, players other than civilians may choose from their list of special rules and powers and send me what they want to do. In turn, I will respond. There is a 2-day period for these things to happen. If anyone fails to send me something before those two days are up, they are not allowed to perform any actions until the next night.

Turn Two: Day During the day, all the players partake in an RP. They must stay in character, and must interact with one-another as though they are going about their day. They may perform any sort of special powers they have, but must PM the mod before doing so. It is also highly recommended that people interact with one another during the RP, for interacting is key to winning.

Each day will last for a total of 14 days, and within these 14 days, everybody but the detective must post at least one RP, and also must interact if another player initiates it. If they fail to post within the 2 week period, their character dies.

~STARTING A GAME~

Now that we understand the basic game mechanics, and the different types of characters, how do we start a game? Here are the steps in which the game begins:

1) Once all the players have signed up, they will be sent a confirmation message, asking them if they are still up for the game, and what role they would request. They also must now create their characters using the character template found in the character creation thread.

2) Once 2/3rd's of the people have confirmed and created their character, the Mod assigns the different roles in another PM, and the game officially begins!

3) The person playing Kira must kill an NPC in order to make himself known to the other players, and must create a reason for doing so.

4) The civilians must now send in their alignments.

5) Once 2/3rd's of the alignments have been sent in, the game begins with Turn 2: Day. The people now may roleplay for a two week period. Once that period ends, the regular turn order begins, and continues until the end of the game.

~GENERAL RULES~

1) No discussing the game privately among one another, unless there is a rule or specific case in the game where you are allowed to do so.

2) You may have communication through the main thread, but if you want to have a private conversation with someone, feel free to do so via PM. Afterwards, though, send me a conversation log.

3) No breaking the rules of RPing. If you have never RPed before, Google the rules. They're pretty much the same everywhere.

4) You may reveal what role you have, but be careful who you tell. You can also lie about your role.

5) No editing your posts unless instructed to by me.

6) There is no rule six.

7) HAVE FUN. Go to town! Make an in-depth character. Be a good sport if you die, and be creative with what you're doing.

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO ASK ANY QUESTIONS OR LEAVE ANY FEEDBACK HERE, OR ASK ME VIA PRIVATE MESSAGE. HAVE FUN!