An evening of this kind is decided long before anyone sets foot in the room. Who a guest is, what they want of the night, and what they would very much rather nobody discovered — all of it is settled here, at the door, before a single word has been exchanged.

Roles

Host

The host player acts as both the character hosting the gala and the referee for the game as a whole. The Host keeps stats, a purse, and secrets of their own, and plays their character as fully as anybody else at the table.

The Host does not, however, compete for the victory. Having read every secret in the room before the evening began, they can hardly be said to be guessing at anything, and so they stand outside the final tally.

Guest

Every other player takes the part of a guest — a person with a name, an ambition, and a good deal more history than they intend to discuss over dinner. A guest plays to win.

On Rolling

High Societea is played using modified D6 dice. All sixes are considered zeros, with the values of a die ranging from zero to five. A player rolls two dice and sums them, for a result ranging from zero to ten.

Some rolls are made above a number and some below it. An attack succeeds when its result meets or exceeds the target number. A test of a character’s own stat succeeds when its result falls below that stat.

A player who rolls with advantage rolls a third die and sets aside whichever of the three least serves them.

Aspirations

Each player draws three aspiration cards, keeps one, and discards the rest. Aspiration cards are there for guidance and as an opportunity for additional points.

A player keeps their aspiration to themselves until the tally. Each card carries a value from two to five, according to how much trouble it will take to accomplish, and that value is added to its holder’s reputation at the end of the night if the thing was accomplished. An unfulfilled aspiration is worth nothing at all, and a guest who chases a difficult one may discover they have chased it at the cost of everything else.

The cards themselves are set out in The Aspiration Deck.

Stats

Stats range from 0–10. They represent what others perceive about a player’s character, rather than what that character actually is.

All players will begin the game with a total of 18 points to distribute amongst their three stats as they wish. A player may also set any number of these points aside to arrive with money in their pocket, as described below.

Wit

The quickness of a character’s tongue and of their eye. Wit is tested when a character retorts to an attack, and again when they go exploring the house, for a quick mind notices what a dull one walks straight past. A character whose Wit has been worn away finds they can no longer answer back at all.

Charm

The ease with which a character is forgiven. Charm is tested whenever a character is caught out or put out of countenance — when the room has judged against them in a call of Faux Pas, when they are found to have passed a rumor, and when an invitation to dance is refused before witnesses. A charming guest is seldom made to answer for anything.

Accomplishment

Determines the amount of skills a character is perceived to be good at. A character claims one skill for every two points of Accomplishment, rounded down — a character of five Accomplishment is thought to excel at two things, and one of ten at five.

Upon gaining or losing Accomplishment points, a player must adjust their character’s skills to reflect their total Accomplishment. A character who falls from six to five must surrender a skill of their choosing; one who climbs from five to six may lay claim to a new one on the spot.

A character may bring a skill to bear on any roll, and rolls with advantage if they do. The player says which skill serves them and how; the Host decides whether the claim holds. A skill in horsemanship will not sweeten a retort, but a table may be surprised at what a determined guest can argue for.

Wealth

Wealth is not a stat but a purse. It is kept in coin upon the table, where every guest may see plainly how much of it another has left.

A player buys their coins at the outset from the same eighteen points they spend upon their stats, at one coin to the point. A guest may arrive brilliant and penniless, or dull and comfortably provided for, and each will find the evening arranged against them in its own way.

Coin passes freely between characters engaged in conversation and costs neither party their action, though both must agree upon the sum. Players may bribe and blackmail as they wish.

A coin is worth one point of reputation and is counted in the final tally alongside a character’s stats. Unlike a stat, a purse has no ceiling.

Reputation

A character’s reputation is the sum total of all of their stats, together with whatever coin remains in their purse. When a player gains or loses reputation points, they may add or subtract that number divided amongst any of their stats. A stat may not fall below zero or go above 10.

A player who stands to lose reputation may pay any part of it in coin instead, surrendering one coin for each point they would otherwise take from their stats. Money buys a guest out of a great deal. It will not, however, turn aside an attack, which falls upon the stat named and nowhere else.

Whatever cannot be absorbed is simply lost. A guest already at the summit of everyone’s regard gains nothing further by it, and one with nothing left to lose cannot be diminished any further.

The player with the highest reputation at the end of the night wins the game.

Persona

• Name
• Age
• Family Relations

Safety

Players discuss what is on and off the table as far as the content of the game.

Because the Host writes into the blanks of another player’s history, no player is ever bound by what has been written there. A player may strike out anything the Host has placed in their blanks and ask for something else in its stead. They need give no reason for it, and none may be asked of them.

Secrets

Each player writes five secrets about their character, of varying severity. If a secret would contain details pertaining to something other than the character themselves (ie. implicating involvement with another character), the player leaves those details as a blank. Once a player has written their secrets, they give them to the host.

Once the host has received secrets from each player, they will do the following:

• Grade the severity of each secret and score it from 1 (trivial) to 5 (egregious). The score is written in the top right hand corner of the card.
• Fill in any blanks. The game will be at its most entertaining when players’ secrets intertwine with each other. The host may include the host character’s backstory and details.
• Assign additional secrets to fill in the blanks. If a player might partially know another player’s secret due to involvement, the host gives them a redacted copy of the other player’s secret. Any additional secrets should be scored.

Once secrets have been returned to their players, the table takes a moment to pause. The host makes sure each player is fully comfortable with the contents of their updated secrets before the game begins.