The Last Hunt

A Storytelling Game

By Thomas Russell

What you will need:

A group of 3-6 players

A few six sided dice (at least one per player)

A sheet of paper and a pencil for each player

Setting up:

There are basically three different types of players in any game of The Last Hunt:

• The Beast.  He’s what the Hunt is all about.  He’s the Whale, the Tiger, the Stag, or whatever it is people are trying to kill.  The Players as a whole should come up with an interesting Beast to try and Hunt down.  If no one wants to volunteer for the job of Beast, whatever you’ve come up with may not be interesting enough.  Aside from being the object of the Hunt, his job is basically to provide world/setting details.  He also represents the external threats faced by the hunting party.  Only one player takes on the job of being the Beast.  [later include variants for doing stuff like running a pair of Beasts as a unit or allowing multiple Beasts.  Discourage “horde” type Beasts]  In the game, the Beast’s primary goal is to survive, with a secondary goal of slaying as many of the hunting party as it can.
• The Hunter.  He’s the Ahab.  He’s the guy who has a burning need to take down the Beast.  He has two big jobs.  His first job is to direct a change of scenery.  His second job is to declare when the Moment of Truth arrives.  After the Moment of Truth, the game is over.  Only one player takes on the job of being the Hunter.  His primary goal is to slay the Beast.  Surviving the encounter is a secondary goal (he wants the Beast dead even if it kills him as well)<>.
• The Companions.  If you’re not the Hunter or the Beast, you’re a Companion.  They’re people who are part of the Hunter’s party.  They may be guides, porters, harpooners, assistants, journalists, other hunters, or anyone else who would be going on this hunting expedition with the Hunter.  Different types of Hunts will suggest different types of Companions and players who are going to be Companions should discuss various jobs they might do with each other and the Hunter.  Try not to duplicate the same job, all the Companions should be different from one another.  Companions also do the lion’s share of the narration during the game.    A Companion’s primary goal is to survive, with a secondary goal of slaying the Beast.

Collectively the Hunter and the Companions are called the Hunting Party (or just the Party).

Writing up the Character sheets:

Once everyone gets a role (Beast, Hunter or Companion), everyone grab a sheet of paper and a pencil and write down a couple of things:

Role:  This is where you mark down if you’re the Beast, Hunter or Companion.  Just to remind yourself [and someday when there’s character sheets, it’ll give you a little cheat box to remind you what you’re doing].

Name:  What’s the name of your character? 

Death:  This is a number that represents both how likely it is that you can kill something and how well you can inflict your will upon the world around you.  The higher the number, the more deadly and effective you are.  Note, that everyone pools their Death scores together during the Moment of Truth.  That may seem kind of weird considering that maybe you’ve got a Companion who’s a cook or some sort of non-combatant.  That doesn’t matter.  Everyone in the Hunting Party pulls together and contributes to the Death of the Beast so even if you’ve got a character who couldn’t possibly inflict damage on the Beast, they still have a Death score and they want to get it up as high as possible to represent how good they are at the things they can do and how their unseen efforts help out the Party as a whole.

The Beast has a Death number of 4, the Hunter has a Death number of 2 and the Companions all have a Death score of 1.  Yeah, it seems pretty low.  Don’t worry, it’ll ramp up fairly quickly – for everybody.

Life:  This is a number that represents your chances at surviving the Hunt.  The higher this number is, the more likely it is that you will survive the Moment of Truth.  The Beast just wants a score as high as possible.  The Party should keep in mind that having a high Life score is good, but having Life score that’s higher than everyone else in the Party is even better.  The Hunter has a Life number of 2, the Companions all have a Life score of 1.  The Beast has a Life score equal to twice the number of people in the Hunting Party plus 2.  So if you’ve got a Hunting Party of 4 people (the Hunter and three Companions) then the Beast’s Life number is 10 (twice the number of the hunting party is 8 plus 2 equals 10).

Over time, both Life and Death scores will rise for members of the Hunting Party and the Beast.  However, no stat for any Party member can go above 10 (so the highest Life/Death pair for a single character would be 10/10).  The Beast has no upper limit and will eventually outpace the Party.  In order to kill off the Beast, the Party will have to take some Risks to catch up to it.  We’ll cover that in a moment.

As far as character creation goes, that’s it.  You’re pretty much ready to go.

How you play:

The game is played in a series of Turns.  The structure of each Turn is outlined below:

    1.) The Hunter can move the party.  This means he’s asking for a new locale.  If he chooses not to move the party, it doesn’t mean they stay in one place, they just haven’t left the area they’re in and the terrain hasn’t changed a whole lot.  The Hunter may outline where he’s trying to get to, but specific details are up to the Beast.  Moving can also be done to shift the time (e.g. I’m waiting for dawn to pick up the trail).

a.      If the party is moved, the Beast will now narrate the new location.  The Beast may specify any reasonable place and time where the Hunt might go.  So aside from saying where something happens, he also says when it happens.

2.)    The Hunter now declares if this is the Moment of Truth.  If this is Moment of Truth, skip down to Moment of Truth below to see how it’s run.

3.)    If this is not the Moment of Truth, the Hunter will now select one of the Companions (who hasn’t gone yet this turn) and it’s their turn to narrate.  They have several choices:

a.      They can narrate an episode about their character that increases either their Death or Life score. (For more information about what that narration looks like, see Narrating an Episode below)  Companions can narrate an episode to raise their Life score by 1 point automatically.  To raise their Death score, they must always take a Risk (see below).  However, if they choose to take a risk of 1 (i.e. raise their Death score by 1 point), that Risk cannot be Raised.  If they choose to try and raise their Death score by more than one point, then they follow the normal rules for Risks . 

b.      A Companion may choose to try and raise a stat by more than 1 point, but to do so they have to take a Risk.  Handling a Risk is covered at below.

c.      A Companion may choose to try and raise a start for any other member of the Party (Hunter or Companion).  This is always a Risk and is always open to Raises.

4.)    Repeat Steps 2-3 until all Companions have had a chance to narrate (or the Moment of Truth is reached).

5.)    The Hunter may now add one point to his Death Score.  He may take a Risk to increase his Death score by more than 1 point, but he cannot increase his Life score by any method.  He’ll require the help of his Companions to do that.

6.)    The Beast can now add points to its Life or Death stat.  The Beast gets a number of points equal to the number of characters in the Hunting Party.  The Beast may split up the points any way it likes between the Life or Death scores.  The Beast does not have to declare which Stat is being increased.  The Beast doesn’t provide any real narration while distributing points.  The Beast cannot take any Risks.

7.)    Repeat Step 1-6 until the Moment of Truth is declared.

Narrating an Episode:

Narrating an episode simply means taking a few moments to describe a short anecdote about the character.  It doesn’t need to be very long (a minute or two is more than enough).  Imagine that the character is writing a letter home and reading it aloud.  Perhaps the Companion describes something that happened that day, or they’re reminded of something important in their past that they want to talk about, or they speculate on the future.  The Companion will be talking about someone other than themselves if they’re trying to influence another character’s score.

The type of score being affected will color the type of narration.  An episode that raises their Death score should show how the character exercises their will on the outside world.  Maybe they fend off a dangerous animal (not the Beast), or maybe they simply help the party navigate a dangerous obstacle or settle a debate.  An episode that raises the Life Score should show us something human about the character and give us some reason to care about the character’s ultimate fate.  Perhaps they talk about their family back home or they go out of their way to help someone they meet or maybe they just have a funny moment.  All the narrations help describe the events along the Hunt and they also flesh out the members of the Hunting Party.  Note that the Hunter will be heavily defined by the other members of the Party.  This is a good chance to throw in lots of wild rumors or speculations about his past, or fearsome examples of his power to sway others to his obsession (why else did you get swept up in this mad hunt?).

Taking a Risk

In order to beat the Beast, the Party members will need to take a few Risks if they want to ensure that they can kill it and survive the experience.  You take a Risk when you try to increase another character’s score, or increase your own score by more than 1.  (Companions must take a Risk when increasing their Death score by any amount).

To take a Risk, you announce a level of Risk from 1 to 6.  This is the number of points that you hope to increase your score by if you win.  So a Risk of 1 means you’ll increase a score by 1 if you win, a Risk of 2 means you’ll increase a score by 2 if you win and so on.  If you lose a Risk, you lose that many points from the score.  So if you take a Risk of 4 and lose, you lose 4 points.  You can Risk more points than you have, but if you lose, you’re score will be knocked down to zero and your character will be out of the game (but you’ll still be able to contribute, see below).

When you take a risk, you do a “half-narration”.  You narrate some sort of scene that explains why this is a risky episode.  Perhaps the Party is attacked or suffers a setback of some kind.  The greater the Risk, the more dire/important the problem is in the first half of the narration.  Once you set up the problem, you announce the level of Risk.

A Risk can be Raised.  This means the level of Risk can be increased (making success less likely, but increasing the rewards if you win).  A Companion who takes a Risk of 1 on their Death score cannot be Raised.  Otherwise:

1.)    If a Companion is trying to increase their score by more than 1, the Beast may Raise them.  The Beast may increase the Risk up to double the amount Risked by the Comapnion (up to a max of 6).  So if the Companion Risks 1, the Beast can Raise it to 2.  If the Companion risks 3 or more, the Beast can Raise it up to 6.  The Beast is also Risking points equal to the final Risk.  These come from the score opposite the one being Risked by the Companion.  So if a Companion Risks 2 Life points, the Beast may Raise it to 4 Life points, but if the Beast loses, it will lose 4 Death points.  Similarly, if the Companion Risks 3 Death points, the Beast may Raise it to 5 Death points, but if the Beast loses, it will lose 5 Life points.  In the above cases, the Companion will win 4 Life points and 5 Death points respectively

2.)    If a Companion is trying to increase the score of another Party member, that Party member may Raise the Risk (usually because Companion is narrating something that the Party member doesn’t like).  The Party member may Raise the Risk as high as they like (up to a max of 6), but they are risking their score.  If the Companion loses, the Risked points are transferred from the Companion’s score to the Party member’s score.  If the Party member loses, the Risked points are transferred from the Party member’s score to the Companion’s.  So say a Companion narrates something about the Hunter and takes a Risk of 2 Life, and the Hunter Raises the Risk to 4 Life.  It’s now a tug-of-war.  If the Companion wins, 4 points are taken from the Hunter’s Life score and given to the Companion.  If the Hunter wins, 4 Life points are taken from the Companion’s score and given to the Hunter.  If the Party member chooses not to Raise the Risk, their score increases if the Companion wins and if the Companion loses, the Companion loses points from the score they were trying to increase.  So if one Companion (A) tries to Raise the Death score of another Companion (B) by 4 and that Companion B doesn’t Raise, then Companion B will gain 4 Death points if Companion A wins and if  Companion A loses, Companion A loses 4 Death points.

When a player makes a Raise, they should state what’s changed in the situation narrated by the Companion that makes it more Risky now.  Then announce the Raise.

Once a Risk has been made and any Raise has been made, the Companion and the Beast each roll a die.  The Beast will add a modifier to his die roll depending on the final level of Risk.  Use the table below to find the modifier:

The player with the highest roll (after modifiers are added) is the winner.  In the even of a tie, the Companion wins. Adjust the scores as appropriate.  The winner gets to narrate the conclusion of the episode (detailing the victory or defeat).

Going Out:

It may be that a Companion takes too big a Risk and loses all their dice in a Score.  If that happens, that player is Out.  Either a Risk they took reduces their score to zero or they transfer away enough points in a score to reduce it to zero.  Their character suffers some sort of impairment from their huge loss and cannot effectively help the Hunting Party any more.  A Companion who Goes Out can only increase their Life score by 1 point.  They cannot increase their Death score by any means, nor can they take Risks to increase the scores of others.  Hunters and Beasts cannot Go Out, even if a score is reduced to zero.

The Moment of Truth:

When the Hunter declares the Moment of Truth has arrived, the final showdown with the Beast is about to happen.  The usual turn order is suspended and play continues as follows:

1.)    Starting with the Hunter, each member of the Hunting party rolls 1 die and subtracts 1 point from their Death score.  This is the Death roll.  As each member rolls, they give a bit of narration describing what they’re doing to bring down the Beast.  The narration follows one right after the other.  Try and avoid being specific about damage that you’re doing (if you’re physically attacking the Beast).  Instead, think of this as a movie fight.  There can be a lot of superficial wounds and people being thrown about, but everyone continues to fight at peak effectiveness until they run out of dice to roll.  Also, the higher the roll, the more dramatic the narration can be.  After each Party member rolls their die, they should add the result to a running total of all the Death rolls for the Party.

2.)    The Beast rolls one die for each of the Party members and subtracts that many points from its Life score.  This is a Life roll.  If it has fewer Life points than Party members, it simply rolls a number of dice equal to its remaining life points.  The Beast then narrates how it recovers, resists or responds to the actions of the Party.  The Beast then adds the total of the Life Roll to a running total of all the Life Rolls it’s made.

3.)    The Beast now rolls 1 die for each of the Party members and subtracts that many points from its Death score.  Again, if it has fewer Death points, it just rolls the number of Death points and subtracts its Death score to zero.  The Beast now narrates how it threatens the Party and adds the total of it’s Death roll to a running total of all it’s Death rolls.

4.)    Starting with the Hunter, each member of the Party rolls 1 die and subtracts a point from their Life score.  They narrate how they recover, resist or responds to the actions of the Beast.  Each individual member of the Party keeps a running total of all their Life Rolls.

5.)    Repeat steps 1-4 until all scores have been reduced to zero.

If any player runs out of Life Points before they run out of Death points, that player is considered to be Down.  This doesn’t mean they’re killed, they’ve just been run out of direct combat.  They can still make Death rolls and add to the overall Death total, but their narration is now focused on the actions of other members, or other advantageous events in that occur to help that player’s side.

If any player runs out of Death Points before they run out of Life points, that player is assumed to be Fleeing.  They might still be killed, but they’re trying to Flee the conflict.  They can continue to make Life Rolls and add to their Life Total to determine if they got away or not.

Once all the dice have been rolled, it’s time to determine the outcome of the Hunt:

1.)    If the Total Death Score of the Party is Greater than the Total Life Score of the Beast, the Beast has been slain.  Otherwise, its lives and its legend grows.

2.)    Now arrange the Life scores of the Party from lowest to highest.  Starting with the lowest score, subtract it from the Total Death Score of the Beast.  If the Beast sill has a Death score of 1 or higher, that Party member died fighting the Beast.  If the Beast is left with a Death score of 0 or less, that Party member has been wounded (and the Beast should describe a suitable injury).  If the Beast killed the Party member, go on to the Party member with the next lowest score and subtract it.  Follow the rules above to determine if the Party member is killed or wounded.  If the Beast’s Death Score is reduced to zero or less, any Party members that haven’t applied their Life score against it are considered to be alive and intact – they’ve survived the experience without a scratch.

Take a short round of closing narration and that’s the game!

Stuff to work on:

  Examples, examples, examples!