Iou Batting

Iou Batting -- A Sin-Eater Game

-- Background --

In Breton folklore, Iannic-ann-ôd ([ˈjɑ̃nig əˈnoːt], which means "Little John of the shore") are said to be the lost souls of those drowned at sea and never recovered. They are said to be heard along coastlines at night crying, "Iou! Iou!".

From "The Celtic Legend of the Beyond":

Iannic-ann-ôd is not evil, provided one does not amuse oneself by sending his plaintive call back to him. Woe to the imprudent who risk this game. If you reply once, Iannic-ann-ôd leaps half the distance separating him from you, in a single bound; if you reply a second time, he leaps half of the remaining distance; if you reply a third time, he breaks your neck.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/

-- Game --

Name : Iou-Batting

Typical players of this game are the Krewes of Bone Pickers, and some channels of the Celebrants

The game is popular around sea-shores, famous for the number of shipwrecks which have occured near the area, usually in concert with bonfires, kegs and loud music. It's a night-time beach party game.

The players, using bashing twilight weapons of low power, stand on the rocks or on the edge of the shore. Normally the game requires that the Sin-Eater's movement is limited by the terrain. Standing on a outcrop of rocks, where he can only take a step, one way or another, is looked on with much more favor, than standing on the beach, where the Sin-Eater has an unfair advantage over the Iannic-ann-ôd, and it is thought to be "bad-form".

Once in place, the Sin-Eater shouts "Iou!" until he can get an answer.

Since the Sin-Eater is initiating the "Iou!", the Iannic-ann-ôd may make the final leap to bash his head on the Second, not the Third answer.

Some Iannic-ann-ôd have been confused enough by the change in instigation of the calling to come in on "their third call", which would be the Sin-Eater's fourth reply. So the Sin-Eater isn't certain of the arrival moment of the Iannic-ann-ôd.

The Iannic-ann-ôd come in fast, very fast. Normally they come in from the direction of the sky, but they don't have too, they can come in straight on, and from the right or left. So there has to be an awareness, an ability to focus on the incoming Iannic-ann-ôd, quickly enough to bash the ghost before the ghost bashes you.

The Mechanics of the game were put together and suggested by Neisseria on the White Wolf Forum

Have each participant roll Initiative, and roll Initiative for the incoming ghosts. The player might then roll something reflexively to "focus" each turn until the ghost arrives, say, Resolve + Composure. Rolling each turn represents the fact that a person's focus wavers during the period of waiting. In addition, the roll is penalised by the difference between Initiatives (if the ghost is slower, the player gets bonus dice, whereas if the ghost is faster, the player has a penalty). Willpower may of course be spent on this roll, but the player doesn't know what turn the ghost will appear (so the Willpower expenditure may be wasted, or may not; another random factor). Randomise the turn the ghost appears, with a d10 or something.

Once the ghost has arrived, both the player and the ghost roll their attack dice. Successes on that turn's Resolve + Composure roll are added to the player's attack dice pool, as if it were a "teamwork action" with oneself. A dramatic failure on the Resolve + Composure roll indicates that the player didn't see the ghost coming so can't roll an attack, whereas an exceptional success means that the player has plenty of time to prepare and the ghost doesn't get to attack.

Then compare the results of the attack rolls and see who "wins" the turn of combat. Where you proceed from that is up to you...