As a general rule, intoxication a condition which is treated like levels of Fatigue in terms of effects and penalties, but not cumulative with actual Fatigue levels already suffered. When the Incapacitated stage is reached the character lapses into unconsciousness unless he can make an Endurance roll at the usual Herculean penalty.
Alcohol is a poison with the following statistics:
Alcohol
Application: Ingested
Potency: varies from 20% to 50% in Mythic Britain
Resistance: Endurance
Onset Time: 1d6+12 minutes
Duration: determined by recovery time, which is taken from the point the character stops drinking.
Conditions: Intoxication, Hallucinations once the Debilitated level is reached
Antidote/Cure: time. There may be folk remedies which give bonuses to the Healing Rate, and thus affect recovery time.
In all drinking games, a contestant can secure an advantage through ensuring that his supply of alcohol is less potent than his opponent's. This might involve a Sleight roll to cover the fact that he is pouring from a different jug, and/or a Conceal roll to hide his own supply of drink.
Simply, who can drink the fastest.
Mechanics: Opponents make an opposed Endurance roll. The winner finishes first. If both opponents fail, then both choke on their drink, to the derision of others. Both opponents must make an immediate roll to avoid intoxication with at least a Hard penalty.
Who can drink the most. Opponents match drink for drink, then perform a simple athletic task such as balancing a mug on the head or standing on one foot. A character loses by going unconscious or failing in the task while their opponent(s) succeeds.
Mechanics: Each character makes an Endurance roll (taking account for penalties due to intoxication) opposed by the Potency of the drink. Failure has the usual consequences for the intoxication condition. All characters must then perform a task, involving an Athletics or Brawn roll. Again, apply penalties based on intoxication. All contestants who succeed are still in, and move on to the next round. If every contestant fails, then everyone gets to try again.
Contestants take it in turns to take a drink and then recite a verse from a famous poem. The loser is the first person to make a mistake in his recitation.
Mechanics: Each character makes an Endurance roll (taking account for penalties due to intoxication) opposed by the Potency of the drink. Failure has the usual consequences for the intoxication condition. All characters must then recite the verse, requiring a Customs roll. If the character fails but would have succeeded were it not for the penalty due to intoxication, then he can usually get away with his mistake and continue with the contest.
The Gambling Skill can be broadened into a Gaming Skill, which covers knowledge of all manner of games. Opportunities for cheating are spotted on a successful Gambling/Gaming roll, allowing the character to roll twice and pick the best result. However, the character must also succeed in a Sleight roll opposed by the other player's Gambling roll (or Hard Perception roll) to implement the fraud; failure means that the cheating has been spotted.
Doesn't really belong in this category. Throwboard is a game of pure luck, although it can devolve into a game of who is best at cheating. The characters must choose how much money they are putting up as a stake.
This mechanic can be used for other games of chance such as knucklebones.
Mechanics: A character's luck is measured by his (POW×5)%. Make opposed rolls to determine who wins. If both fail, reroll until a clear winner results. A critical success wins all money at stake. A standard success wins the character's own stake back plus half of his opponent's.
Played on a wooden board with black and white pieces. The objective is to block the opponent's pieces from moving and capture the king.
Mechanics: Opponents use Customs (or Culture (Celtic) is not British) to play gwyddbwyll, although Gaming can substitute if higher. The roll is augmented with either Insight or Lore (Strategy & Tactics). The players make an opposed roll. The winner gains 25% towards his victory, or 50% on a critical. If an opponent fumbles they lose 25% from their accumulated victory. The first to reach or exceed 100% is the winner.
Boasting is a big part of British culture: there is nothing shameful in being proud of one's ancestors and deeds. A boasting contest can consist of two opponents facing off against each other before an audience or else one man against a whole crowd. In either case, winning over the audience is the true objective. The contestant can either make a claim about his own achievements in order to aggrandize himself, or else denigrate the previous boast of his opponent. Where this contest consists of a single person against a crowd, the boaster concentrates on the former while the crowd relies on the latter. In a boasting duel, opponents can change tactics during the game.
Mechanics: First, pick the boasting skill. This is usually Oratory (because it involves speaking to the crowd) but can default to Influence at a Hard penalty. The boasting skill can be augmented by another skill for individual boasts: Deceit to stretch the truth, a Passion for something of personal import, or a Professional Skill or Combat Style to convince the audience that one has the ability to back up his claims. The character (or each contestant in a duel) has a REP (reputation) statistic with a starting score equal to his CHA. He also has a 'Damage Modifier' which is calculated from the sum of his INT+CHA on the usual Damage Modifier chart (RQ6:13).
For a duel, determine who goes first. This might be based on the circumstances of the contest (i.e. one character has impugned the deeds of another) or could be dealt with by an opposed Courtesy roll with the winner deciding who goes first. In each turn, an opponent must choose to issue or boast or to flyt his opponent (the contestant who goes first must choose to boast). On aboast, make an unopposed Boast roll. On a success, the character increases his REP by 1d3+Damage Modifier. A flyt is an attempt to belittle an opponent or his deeds, or simply insult him. A character can only choose to flyt following an opponent's boast. This requires a boasting roll opposed by the previous boast roll. If the flyting character wins then he decreases his opponent's REP by 1d3+DM.
For a character boasting against a crowd the mechanics are the same, except that he must always boast and his opponent (the crowd) must always flyt. Usually, a crowd has average statistics (CHA 11, Damage Modifier +0).
Winning depends on a number of things. If an opponent's REP is reduced to 0, or one's own REP reaches a value of (own CHA+opponent's CHA), then this is a definitive win and probably earns the winner a degree of fame. Otherwise, the opponents' REP are examined after a predetermined amount of time (such as 5 rounds) and the one with the highest is acclaimed the winner. Against a crowd, lasting 5 rounds and still having a REP is successful; having a REP greater than when one started is a great success.
A favourite game amongst the British. It consists of putting a live badger in a leather bag. There are two opponents who face off over the bag. They carry staffs. The aim is to get the bag to the opposite end of the hall by striking it with feet or staves. Each opponent is allowed only three strikes with the staff; and the crowd usually enthusiastically count these down. A miss does not count as a strike.
Mechanics: The characters roll Initiative to determine who goes first. On each turn, an opponent decides whether he is going to strike with foot or staff and makes an opposed Brawn roll. On a success, he has moved the bag. Determine damage (1d3 foot, 1d6 staff, plus Damage Modifier). For every two points of damage over the bag's SIZ (1), the bag moves 1m in the direction wanted by the contestant. If it moves more than 2m, then the opponent must make an unopposed Athletics roll before his own turn to get to the bag in time; if this is failed he cannot make a tackle in his own turn. If the bag moves more than 6m then the opponent must spend his whole turn running and even if he succeeds in an Athletics roll he cannot make a tackle on his go and the other player's next Brawn roll is unopposed. The total distance needed for a win depends on the size of the hall in which the game is played, but a 10m distance from the start spot is reasonable.
Wrestling is a popular sport. The Irish and Caledonii prefer to wrestle naked, but this is not the British way. Generally, Minor Wounds suffered in a wrestling bout are acceptable, but upon any Serious Wound the match will be broken up and the aggressor potentially faces legal penalty.
Mechanics: This is simply combat using the Unarmed skill. The focus is usually on grapples rather than strikes. The opponent must fail three consecutive Struggle rolls to be judged the loser. A couple of rules to remember: if a core location is grappled, then the opponent is reduced to a Hard difficulty. Also, during the Struggle action, the contestant who initiated the grapple chooses whether the Struggle will be Brawn versus Brawn or Unarmed versus Unarmed. If the former, then there is a penalty to the opponent with the lower Damage Modifier of one difficulty grade per step of difference (RQ6:59)
Quite simply, the characters jump over a fire. After everyone has jumped, those who failed to clear the embers are eliminated, the fire is spread out further, and everyone jumps again. This is repeated until no opponents achieve the distance, then it is reduced slightly and the person who jumps the furthest in a final contest is the winner.
Mechanics: Maximum distance that can be jumped horizontally on a successful Athletics roll is twice height in metres, plus 1m for every full 20% in Athletics (RQ6:58). For this task, Athletics can be augmented with Acrobatics for determining distance jumped.
The distance is initially set at 3 metres. All participants make an unopposed Athletics roll. Those who fail are disqualified; this includes those who succeed in their roll but cannot jump the distance required. Fails indicate the character gets scorched, but only if they fumble will they land in the fire itself (1d6 damage to a random location rolled on 1d10). The distance is then increased by 0.5m and all remaining contestants jump again. This is repeated until all opponents fail or the distance is so great that none can succeed. One final jump is then made, with the overall winner being the character who wins an opposed Athletics roll.