Gank: rules for players

Gank supports three to five people or independent agents. Everyone has a private
hand and Soul, a public class, and the same legal choices. This release follows
[rules checkpoint 2026-10-15.3](../docs/prototypes/gank-table/RULES-2026-10-15.3.md).

Everyone starts at five health with three Action Cards. Shuffle one Hero Soul per
player plus one Demon Soul, deal one to each player and set aside one face down.
There may be no Demon among the players. Each class begins with one bonus: Tank
has Defense, Scribe has Scry, Healer has Healing, and Striker has Attack.

For three players, deal three shuffled original classes. Four players use all
four. Five players use all four plus a randomly chosen duplicate. The duplicate
has the same bonus and reward condition; it is not a new class.

Heroes cooperate to survive and defeat the shadow army. One player may secretly
be the Demon. The Demon wants the Heroes eliminated and can pretend to help until
revealing itself. Your Soul and hand are private. Table talk is always allowed;
you choose what to disclose, but revealing your hand can make you easier to Gank.

Clearing the army while the Demon is still hidden does not win the game. After
the Demon is exposed, Heroes win by clearing the army with a Hero surviving. If
every Hero dies, or the surviving Heroes exhaust their final cards before clearing
the army, the Demon wins. Simultaneous destruction of the final Heroes and the
exposed Demon's army is a draw.

Each player locks one card and action. An ordinary card either attacks the
army or heals one player. Its number contributes to that effect and also
determines who attracts shadow damage: the highest number goes first. Tied
players split the incoming damage, rounding up for each. Defense and healing
absorb damage; pool the lethal excess from every tied recipient and pass it down
to the next lower numbered tier. Damage left after numbered cards splits evenly
among living special-card players, rounding up for each. Unused healing
restores health up to five, but never resurrects a dead player. Committed Hero
attacks and heals still resolve if that Hero dies during the round.

After all actions are locked, any Gank is declared. Its actor then names a target
and two guesses before the battle cards reveal. Exorcism resolves before an
uncanceled Gank. After specials, the team may coordinate a sacrifice; otherwise
everyone still living and unmerged declines. Shadow damage resolves, then attacks
reduce the army. Eligible survivors then earn blessings if the Demon is still
hidden; the next turn starts automatically.

Exorcism: discard an owned card face down and target another living player.
Targeting the Demon exposes it, destroys its bonuses, merges it into the army,
cancels shadow damage and cancels its Gank. Targeting a Hero deals three
unblockable damage to both the target and the actor. A player can use Exorcism
once per game. Simultaneous Exorcisms use everyone’s identity at reveal, even
if another Exorcism kills or merges their actor. Each false accusation adds its
three damage; apply the total together. Multiple accusations against the Demon
expose and merge it once, destroy its bonuses once, and cancel its Gank once.

Gank: the hidden Demon discards a card face down, declares Gank, then guesses
the two cards its target will retain after committing. One matching card deals
three unblockable damage; two kill. Each guessed value can match only one card.
An uncanceled Gank exposes those remaining cards. If its target dies for any reason
that round, the Demon steals the target's bonuses, even if neither guess matched.
The Demon merges into the army; remaining bonuses become shadows. A later theft
adds shadows before Hero attacks but does not increase damage already underway.
A canceled Gank neither steals bonuses nor exposes the target's remaining hand.

Sacrifice: there is one sacrifice total for the whole game, shared by all
players. After specials, one eligible hidden Hero can volunteer to die and
cancel shadow damage. The first accepted volunteer consumes this shared opportunity
permanently: it does not reset in later rounds, and no other player can sacrifice
again. Discuss who should volunteer; there is no rotating marker. Before committing
a plan that needs sacrifice, check whether it has already been used. Dead and
merged players can still take part in table talk during unfinished play.

Attack, healing and defense bonuses strengthen their corresponding effects.
After each round, while the Demon is hidden, the unique lowest numbered card earns
Meek. A lowest-card tie earns none. Tank earns a blessing for unique highest;
Scribe for unique lowest; Healer for healing; Striker for attacking. Meek and class
awards stack: a uniquely lowest Scribe earns two. Dead Heroes neither earn nor
receive blessings, and a dead winner's Meek is not reassigned to another player.

For each blessing, privately choose one of two options plus Scry extras and a
living recipient, including yourself. All chosen rewards and recipients reveal
together after choices lock; rejected options remain private. Bonuses persist.
There are no replacement milestone rewards. Table talk remains allowed.

Start with three cards and skip the first turn's Draw. On later draws, keep one
Action from one-plus-Scry candidates; reject the rest face down. Discards are
reshuffled when needed. The server draws in descending public Scry
then seat order, and everyone finishes drawing before battle choices begin.

Waves add 3, 1, 4, 2, 5, 3 shadows per original player on turns 1–6, then 6 per original
Hero on turn 7, including dead Heroes. Turn 7 reveals every Soul, including the
undealt one, and starts the endgame even if everyone playing was a Hero. Once
the Demon is revealed, there are no further waves or blessings and exactly one
more Draw: immediately after a turn 7 reveal, or next turn after a combat reveal.
Then you must defeat the remaining army with your final cards.

The digital supply uses the recovered 40-card distribution (values 1–7 occur
2/4/8/12/8/4/2 times) for three or four seats, and two copies for five seats.
The doubled five-seat deck preserves exact Scry offers in the largest possible
final draw. There are 32 blessing tokens of each type, 128 total. These supply
sizes and the three/five-seat class mapping are explicit digital configurations,
not a claim about the historical component box. See [configuration notes](CONFIGURATION.md).

Try this combat example →

Suppose six shadows remain. A attacks with 5, B heals A with 3, and C attacks with
2. A has five health and one defense. A's 5 is highest, so all six damage goes to
A: one defense and three healing absorb four, leaving two damage. A has three
health left. The attacks total seven and clear the six shadows. If the Demon is
still hidden, this is a cleared army, not a victory. The example uses explicit
numbers; a four-player opening army is twelve (three per player).

Table talk is public and may contain bluffs. You may speak while waiting and even
after your character dies or merges, until the game finishes. Each seat can send up to256 public messages per game,
500 characters each. Reaching that transcript limit does not restrict game choices. Only your seat can
see your hand, unrevealed Soul, commitment and private offers. A spectator sees
the public board and complete public event log. Keep your recovery credential
and invite link private; another browser using them controls that seat.

Agent observations include public `view.sacrifice.used` and `remaining` (zero or
one). Private `view.own.sacrifice.eligibleIfUnchanged` describes your eligibility
if the current state remains unchanged; it does not promise eligibility after
specials. `availableNow` says whether you can volunteer in the current decision.
The current legal options are authoritative. An unused opportunity is not an
action you can take before the sacrifice phase, nor proof that another player
is an eligible Hero.

If your connection drops, reopen with the same saved seat credential. Your
committed choice and private offers remain exactly as recorded. Do not start a
new room to recover an existing game. A finished game's winner, scores, revealed
combat and intentional public speech remain available in its public replay.

This is a playable digital configuration, not a claim of balance validation or
physical-device testing. A scripted transport test is not evidence of LLM skill.