I am not a demon!

[Dave]

Poached from another forum (with permission of course). I thought I'd try it out here with the wordsmiths, but if the mods feel that it would be better in the lounge I'd be happy if it was moved.

I AM NOT A DEMON.

Concept!

Right now, today, as you're reading this, there are tribes deep in the Amazonian rainforest who have no contact with the outside world. This is absolutely and one hundred percent true. These tribes manage this by killing anyone unfamiliar they happen to come across.

I AM NOT A DEMON is about what would happen if you, the hapless adventurer, stumbled unwittingly into one of their camps and were instantly taken prisoner.

The only reason you have not been killed immediately is, by some spectacular stroke of luck, you are completely fluent in this tribe's obscure dialect. Unfortunately, due to a combination of stupidity, nervousness, and unthinking fear, you keep peppering your speech with strange English words from the civilized world. The tribe is assuming these words to be curses or witchcraft, and the urge to spear you to death spikes with each mention of an unfamiliar concept or object, like television, the International Space Station, or Britney Spears.

In the game, the other players provide the current target with a word he or she must explain to the tribe in order to avoid being murdered. They have one minute to give a satisfactory explanation, unless they're being really funny or awesome, in which case it's okay to run a little long. The other players then vote on the answer provided. A simple majority decides whether the player is allowed to live or has been killed for his or her stupidity, in which case that player is "out." Players that have been "killed" then become full-time 'tribespeople," and are restricted to voting on answers from then on.

Rules!

The Amazonian tribe is at a stone age tech level, and so is their language. They have no knowledge of (or words for) things like plastic, steel, internal combustion engine, radiation, December, power outlet, etc., and any attempt to explain one witchcraft word using other witchcraft words should be immediately punished with death.

The player has nothing to assist them with their explanations. Your laptop, iPod, cell phone, and whatever else were instantly smashed the moment you were captured. You're not allowed to call a friend, consult Wikipedia, or attempt to distract the natives with a flashlight or lighter. That is exactly the kind of thing that will get you killed.

The players cannot say "I don't know" or "It's magic" as part of any explanation. If you tell them you don't know what a word you just used is, they'll assume you're lying and they will kill you. And they already think the word you just used is magic. That's why they want to stab you, remember?

Players take turns, once each round. The word chosen for each player is the first word called out by another player. The clock starts immediately. This leaves plenty of room to be an asshole... Asking your friends to define "cytoplasm" or "Rosh Hashanah" when you know they don't know, for example... but if you want to take the game from Fun Territory to Asshole Territory, that's your call.

There are two ways to play: Mandatory Elimination, where the player with the least satisfactory explanation is executed every round, and Long Haul, where eliminations are not mandatory. The former might be best for parties. The latter would probably be really good for car trips or waiting in airports. I dunno, this hasn't been playtested. Not really, anyway.

Still a little confused?

Examples!

Television: "A television is a shining light in a big shell. The light tells stories with sounds and pictures. Some of stories are made-up, and some are true. Some are stories it's told before, and some are new stories. The television tells stories all day and all night, it never stops. If you wake up in the middle of the night and go to the television, it will even tell you a story then. It doesn't sleep. Where I am from, almost everybody has a television."

The International Space Station: "This is a place where very smart people live. It's higher than the trees, higher than the clouds, and higher than the sky. It floats over everything like a cloud, in a place where you can always see stars. All the tribes far away from here built it together."

Britney Spears: "Britney is a woman who sings, but then went crazy. That was probably because people were always watching her, and telling her she was fat. She shaved her head and accidentally showed everyone her vagina, and then no one wanted to hear her sing anymore, they just wanted to watch her and hope she did more stupid things. And she did. She married a worthless man, and had babies she can't take care of. Every time she does a stupid thing, everyone forgets everything else and talks about what she did. We shouldn't, but we do."

So, to forum-ify this, I suggest that we do it in a chain. I'll start things off, then someone will explain the word that I've given, and then offer another word. If the rules are broken (ie. they use another 'demon' word in their explanation), then the following person will be able to challenge them. For example (taken directly from the other forum):

Celebrity: In my land, we have no heroes. The great people of legend have long since passed out of our memory. But people in my land still feel the need to tell stories about others, and to set some people above others. So we choose people who are the most entertaining to talk about. Some are people who play at fake wars (ie. sports) for the glory of their tribe. Others pretend to be other people, and often do and say funny or disturbing things. Others are talked about simply because they like the attention. All are celebrities.

As a footnote, one of these people once said that everyone in my land has a time in their lives when they're a celebrity. I don't know if that's a good thing or not.

That was tough. How about... video games?

Explain this footnote, demon!

Crap! I thought someone call me on that.

Footnote: Often, in my country, people like to take ideas and pass them on to others. Usually, since people aren't thought to be able to have good ideas on their own, they have to tell people about where they came up with the ideas. Instead of always interrupting their speech with tales of where they found a certain idea, they explain where each idea came from at the end of the speech. This explanation at the end is a footnote.

Footnotes can also be used to mention small points that are related to but not necessarily fully relevant to the main idea. That was how I used it.

/ahem. Videogames?

Sounds like fun? Shall we start with Videogames?

 

[echo off]

Well, remember how Dave explained television? Well television gets better. Some televisions have spots on them that you can press... Little circles that when you press will change the story that the television is telling. This makes the story different each time you see it, but more importantly, it makes you in control of the story. My tribe is very big, so we always have many people hunting, and not all our men have to hunt. But hunting is fun like a game, and the men who don't hunt feel a need to pretend that they are hunting, so they press the spots on the television that make the story being told about hunting.

I think someone over there said "FLAG" but i don't know what that means so you should go ask them

[is that cheating? and can i draw circles in the dirt?]

 

[Dave]

Hm, I'd say that it might make it too easy down the road if we can use previous rounds as references. But I didn't think of that problem, so I guess your head won't wind up on a pike. This time And since it's a word game, visual aids are not allowed.

Oh, and we should stick away from anything too technical. For the sake of civility. I mean, it would kill the game pretty quickly if someone wanted the definition of Riemannian Tensors or existentialism.

Flag: A piece of cloth with certain colours or pictures on it that represents a country, tribe, or other group. Owning and displaying one is like announcing to the world that you support that particular country, tribe, or group. They must be treated with the abject respect of an ancient talisman or idol, or else the leaders of the tribes will get very angry.

In honour of Echo... McDonalds!

 

[Paralogic]

I hope ur helpin me out here. [edit: no requesting sources]. Not trolling btw, I think the chaining is a great idea and im all for this. PLUR