Liars Duel
Yesterday I read Random Ape Encounter’s Yahtzee Platforming Hack, and it sparked a design challenge under me
How about we lightly modify Liars Dice into a combat system?
What You Need
- 2 Gunslingers
- a 52 Card Poker Deck
- 6 Tokens
Set Up
- Remove all thirteen Heart cards
- Drawing a line between the players, lay out the Hearts cards in rank order (A-K)
- Give both player three tokens
- Deal 6 cards to both players
Determine Initiative
- Rock Paper Scissors or something, idc (I’m not your dad)
Concept
- Same as traditional Liars Dice, except with cards: you’re betting on the quantity of a specific card rank existing between both hands of cards
- Your knowledge is limited to the cards in your hand, and any implications given by your opponent’s bets
- You take turns modifying your bets until one of you want to “pull the trigger” by declaring “DRAW!”
The First Turn
- Start the Bet: The player who is first in initiative order will start the bet by choosing a card rank on the heart track and placing 1, 2, or all 3 of their tokens next to it on their side of the track
Example:
🪙6♥️
Player 1 places one coin next to the 6♥️, indicating a quantity of one rank 6 card (6♣️, 6♦️, or 6♠️) is present in the 12 cards that make up both Player 1’s and Player 2’s hands
The Second Turn
- Option 1: Match the rank, but raise the quantity
Example:
🪙6♥️🪙🪙
Player 2 has the 6♣️ in their hand, and they assume that Player 1 has at least one r6 in their hand, so they place two coins next the the 6♥️
- Option 2: Raise the rank with any quantity
Example:
…..8♥️🪙🪙
…..7♥️
🪙6♥️
Player 2 is worried that Player 1 is bluffing and does not have a r6 card in their hand. Player 2’s highest ranking card is their 6♣️ so they decide to counter-bluff by placing two coins next to 8♥️
Turns 3+
- Option 1: Match the highest rank, but raise the quantity (max 3)
- Option 2: Raise the rank (max 13) with any quantity (max 3)
- Option 3: “DRAW!”
Resolve
- Both players reveal their hands
- Beginning with the player who bet on the lowest ranking card: check their bet
- The attack deals damage equal to the number of tokens that player bet, unless their bet was too high
- An attack misses if the bet was too high, or if the player character is killed before taking their shot
- If the player who bet on the higher ranking card survives the first attack: check their bet (follow steps above)
Example:
….…..9♥️🪙
🪙🪙2♥️
Hand: 23689Q
Hand: AA579K
Player 1 bet that there would be two r2 cards between both hands, but there was only one r2 card, so Player 1’s attack misses.
There are two r9 cards between both hands, but Player 2 only bet that there would be one, so Player 2’s attack hits for 1 damage!
Rounds
- You can play up to 6 rounds (assuming both player characters survived)
- After the first round is spent, the second round is played with hands of five cards
- After the second round is spent, the third round is played with hands of four cards
- After the third round is spent, the fourth round is played with hands of three cards
- After the fourth round is spent, the fifth round is played with hands of two cards
- After the fifth round is spent, the final sixth round is played with hands of one card
License
Liars Duel is licensed under CC-BY-SA 4.0 by Sam Long