Stabby Jack

A quick game played with the standard Anglo-American 52-card deck (the French Deck). CC0. Credit to @nerdcorenet.

Also known as "5-minute RPG".

http://stabbyjack.com/

Overview

This game is played with one or more standard decks of 52 cards (or 54 with Jokers) and uses a standard face-down draw pile and face-up discard piles. Each player has a face up Stats Row representing their stat points, and an XP Row representing their experience points or killed/bagged monsters. You will also need some coins or other markers for marking damage to Hit Points (HP).

Dealing the Cards

Determine who will deal using whatever method you please.

Deal each player 4 cards from the deck. Every card must be a numbered card (2 through 10), with aces and face cards (Special Cards) discarded into the common discard pile. These 4 cards form your Stats/Attributes Row, with each suit corresponding to an attributes:

• Hearts - Hit Points (HP)
• Diamonds - Magical Attack Power (MP)
• Spades - Physical Attack Power (AP)
• Clubs - Luck (LP)

Leave each Stats Row face up on the table and place the remaining stack of cards face down to form the draw pile.

For more than 2 players

Use 1 deck of 52/54 cards per 2 players, round up.

• 1 deck for 2 players,
• 2 decks for 3-4 players,
• 3 decks for 5-6 players,
• etc.

Playing a Round

In clockwise order starting from the player to the left of the dealer, each player takes their turn playing a round. During the round, you make one initial choice, whether to:

• Engage in Training
• Go on Adventure
• Rest in bed

NOTE: YOU MUST DECLARE YOUR ACTION BEFORE DRAWING A CARD! If you draw a card without indicating whether that card is a Fight/Adventure action or a Training action, you must discard the card and pass your turn.

A player may also Level Up by discarding XP from her/his Monster Bag / Killed Monsters. 5 XP = 1 level. If you obtain a level up in this fashion, DRAW UNTIL YOU RECEIVE A NUMBERED CARD. There is no chance of failure when levelling up this way.

(Choice 1) Training

Training allows you to improve your Stats/Attributes, but not every round of training goes well. Your progress will sometimes be beneficial, and at other times may set you back.

1. Announce your declaration to "Train".
2. Draw a card face up from the pile.
3. If it is a Special Card, Training is over and you must resolve the special card.
4. Choose one card from your Stats/Attributes to replace with this new card. You must replace a card even if it is to your disadvantage (You become "Injured in training").
5. Place the chosen card into the discard pile.

(Choice 2) Fight/Adventure

Going on Adventure allows you to gain XP by killing/bagging Monsters, which you can use to Level Up or to win the game.

1. Announce your declaration to "Fight".
2. Draw a card face up from the pile
3. If it is a Special Card, your Adventure is over and you must resolve the special card.
4. If you draw a numbered card, this is a Monster and you must engage in Combat with the Monster.

(Choice 3) Rest In Bed

You may choose to heal one Hit Point by staying in bed for the turn. Remove one Hit marker from your character.

(Additional Choice) Levelling up

During any turn you may trade in 5 XP (Monsters or Kings beaten in combat) in order to draw another card for your Stats hand. Draw cards from the deck until you draw a numbered card, discarding all Special Cards. (That is, levels paid for in this fashion are secured level-ups, passing through all face cards in the pile).

Levelling up can also occur if you draw a Joker, or if you draw a Queen and have sufficient Luck (Clubs) to steal from her purse (see Special Cards, below).

Maximum Number of Cards

The maximum number of cards you can hold in your Stats Row is 8. If you Level Up while you already have 8 cards, you may choose to replace a card in your Stats Row with the new card, or not, at your discretion.

Combat

During combat, you compare the total value of all your Attack Power cards of the corresponding type vs. the value of the Monster card you are fighting.

• Black cards are Physical Monsters (Attack with Spades)
• Red cards are Magical Monsters (Attack with Diamonds/"Crystals")
• The King Special Card acts as a monster. Red Kings are fought with Magic and Black Kings with Physical Attack. The King has a value of 13, and the King always wins ties (You require 14 points of the corresponding type to bag a King).

If your Attack Power is greater than the value showing on the Monster card, then you win the fight and claim the card for XP. Place the card face up in your XP Row, separate from your Stats Row. (Suggestion: Place the killed/bagged Monsters sideways, and your character stats vertically).

• Monsters are worth 1XP,
• Kings are worth 2XP.

If your Attack Power is less than the value showing on the Monster card, then you lose the fight and must use markers to deduct from your HP (hearts). If you have no HP left, then you die. Follow the steps for When you die.

• Monsters deal 1 damage to your HP.
• Kings deal 2 damage to your HP.

Resolving a tie

In the event of a tie between the Monster and your associated Attack Power cards, check your Luck (Clubs). If your Luck Points value is greater than or equal to the value showing on the Monster card, then you win the fight. If the result is a losing value, then you lose the fight.

• You always lose ties against Kings
• You always win ties with Queens (below)

Special Cards

Whenever you draw a face card / Special Card, your previous action is nullified and you are now resolving the Special Card in front of you.

• Jack - Stabby Jack is a dastardly fellow who immediately deals 2 points of damage to your HP. Cover 2 hearts on your HP cards with coins or other markers. You may choose to discard a King from your monster bag / XP row as a human shield to protect you from Stabby Jack if you have one.
• Queen - The Queen can help you in one of two ways, choose either:
  1. Healing - You are immediately healed for 2 HP
  2. Gifts - If you have Luck to pickpocket the Queen, you may steal an item from her purse. Draw a card face up from the pile. If it is a Special Card, your visit with the Queen is over and you must resolve the Special Card. If it is a numbered card less than or equal to the value of Luck in your hand, you can Level Up with this card, follow the steps for Levelling Up.
• King - The King will challenge you in Combat. He has 13 HP and can be attacked using either Physical Attack Power (black Kings) or Magical Attack Power (Red kings) (not both, you need 14 Attack Power of one type to defeat the King). Defeating the King is worth 2 XP, and if you lose to the King you take 2 HP of damage.
• Ace - When you draw an Ace, swap one Stat card with a Stat card of another player. You may choose to swap either
  1. Cards of the same suit, or
  2. Cards of the same value
  3. NOTE: In this fashion it is possible to kill other players at the table, by reducing their HP to 0.
  4. NOTE: Aces are obligatory. You MUST swap a stat/attribute with another player. (In the unlikely event this is impossible, pass your turn. It is very unlikely 😉)
• Joker (Optional) - The Joker is an instant opportunity to Level Up. Draw a card face up from the pile. If it is a Special Card, your Levelling Up fails and you must resolve the Special Card, otherwise follow the steps for Levelling Up.

Upon resolution of a Special Card, your turn is over.

When you Die

When your HP (Hearts) is reduced to 0, you die. If you have no Hearts in your Stats Row, then you are considered to have 1 HP, and any damage done to you will result in death.

Upon death, you lose your Stats and your XP/Monster Bag. Return them to the discard pile. You are reborn anew with an equal number of Stats as you had at death (if you had 6 Stats, you are dealt 6 new ones). As with the beginning of the game, discard Special Cards during this deal.

Winning the Game

In order to win the game, you must fulfil certain conditions simultaneously:

• Hold 10 XP (Defeated Monsters and Kings that have not been used to level up)
• Hold more Physical Attack Power or Magical Attack Power than each opponents' Hit Points (You must be able to defeat each of the other players individually, not a sum of their HP)
• Hold more Clubs than any other player (Have the most Luck; You must be able to kill each other player without the others noticing! 😃)

NOTE: At the outset of the game it is highly likely that one player will fulfill the Luck condition immediately. Play continues until one player fulfills all three conditions concurrently.

Credits

Original game concept by Mike Mallett, Matt Farmer, Steph Cote, Adam McLaren, and Kit Sculthorpe. Rules formalized by Chris Sibbitt. Copyright 2012-2013.

The ruleset to Stabby Jack is licenced under CC0. You may consider this to mean "All Right Granted" as opposed to "All Rights Reserved." See http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ for more information.