Temp Worker Assassins Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Any Other Business (Card Keywords)
• Set-up
  • 1. Stationery
  • 2. Targets
  • 3. Departments
  • 4. Turn Marker
  • Choose Your Team
• Playing the Game
  • Phase 1: Open Shop (start of the day)
  • Phase 2: Hot-desk ('work' begins)
  • Phase 3: Clocking Off (hometime)
• Placing an Assassin
  • Option 1: Occupy a Department
  • Option 2: Attempt an Assassination
• Example Assassination Attempt
• Hints and Tips
• Alternative Ways to Play
  • No Trashing
  • Quick Mode
  • Hard Mode
• Game Contents

Any Other Business (Card Keywords)

Trash 1: Permanently remove a card in your hand from the game.

Gain 1: Take one of the 4 face up Stationery Supply Cards and add it to your hand. Then replace the card taken with the top card of the Stationery Supply Deck.

Research X: Look at the top X cards of the Stationery Supply Deck and add one to your hand. Place the remaining cards in the Stationery Supply discard pile.

Draw X: Move the top X cards from your deck to your hand.

Clear: Move the 4 face up Stationery Supply Cards to the Stationery Supply discard pile and replace with 4 new cards.

Set-up

1. Stationery

Shuffle and place the Stationery Supply Deck to the left of the play area. Turn over the top 4 cards and place them face up.

2. Targets

Separate the 5 Typing Pool Zombies from the Target Deck. This is the Zombie Stack. Place one face up underneath, then shuffle the remaining Target Deck and deal 3 Target Cards face up at the top of the play area.

3. Departments

Place the 5 Starting Department Cards as shown:

• Really Spooky Recycling Area
• Forbidden Stationery Cupboard
• Malevolent R&D Department
• Foul First Aid Area
• Security

(In a 4 player game also add the Haunted Helpdesk.)

Place 5 other departments (4 in a 4 player game) as shown. Recommended first game:

• Tainted Training Dept
• Sadistic Statistics Dept
• Scary Secondment Dept
• Main Reception of Doom
• Haunted Helpdesk

4. Turn Marker

Put the 5 Turn Marker Cards at the bottom of the play area face up in day order, Monday showing first.

Choose Your Team

Each player chooses a colour then takes the corresponding Starting Deck and Assassin Meeples (5 Assassins in a 2 player game, 4 Assassins in a 3 or 4 player game).

Determine the starting player, give him/her the Starting Player Marker.

Each player shuffles their Starting Deck and draws 5 cards (in a 3 or 4 player game the third and fourth players draw 6 cards).

Playing the Game

The game is played over 5 'days' indicated by the 5 Turn Marker Cards. Each day has 3 phases.

Phase 1: Open Shop (start of the day)

Move the top Turn Marker Card from the bottom of the play area to the top of the play area (face up).

Phase 2: Hot-desk ('work' begins)

Beginning with the player with the Starting Player Marker, each player places an assassin and resolves any actions or effects.

Play progresses clockwise until all assassins have been placed.

Phase 3: Clocking Off (hometime)

At the end of the day, i.e. once all assassins have been placed, each player retrieves their assassins. The Starting Player Marker moves clockwise to the next player.

The game ends after Clocking Off on the 5th 'day' (Friday) and the player with the highest total bounty wins the game.

Placing an Assassin

Each player has 2 options when placing an assassin: Occupy a Department or Attempt an Assassination.

Option 1: Occupy a Department

Place an assassin anywhere there is an unoccupied action space. Any instruction written on the space takes immediate effect.

Example 1: Pete places an assassin in the Sadistic Statistics Dept., so he draws 2 cards.

Example 2: Sarah places an assassin in the Haunted Helpdesk. As the first space is already occupied, she chooses the second space, and so draws 3 cards then discards 1. Once all spaces are filled, no other assassins can be placed on the card until the next day.

Option 2: Attempt an Assassination

To attempt an assassination a player places an assassin on a face up Target Card. That player then plays cards from their hand one at a time until either their total attack is equal to or higher than the Target Card's defence score, or until they can play no further cards.

If the player's total attack is greater than or equal to the Target Card's defence, the attempt is successful. The player then gains the Target Card and places it near them, face down, until game end.

A new Target Card is then placed from the Target Deck. As an additional reward for a successful assassination, the player takes any Turn Marker Cards at the top of the play area and places them in their discard pile.

After each attempt:

• The assassin used in the attempt is moved to Security.
• The player places all played cards in their discard pile and discards any remaining cards in their hand.
• They now draw a new hand of 5 cards (unless there is a bonus reward for a successful assassination stated on the Target Card).

Example Assassination Attempt

Pete attempts to assassinate the Health & Safety Halfling, which has a defence of 7.

Pete has 5 cards in hand:

• Compact Disk Shuriken (+2 attack)
• Shatterable Ruler (+1 attack and draw a card)
• Fully Loaded Stapler (discard 2 identical cards giving +4 attack)
• Fairly Sharp Pencil (+1 attack)
• Jagged Covering Letter (discard a card, draw a card)

This currently gives Pete a +4 Attack in total. However, he will need more to defeat the halfling! He knows he can draw cards from both his ruler and covering letter and he hopes these will be enough to get the job done.

To start, Pete plays the Shatterable Ruler which gives him +1 Attack, and allows him to draw a card from the top of his deck. Fortunately, Pete draws a Fairly Sharp Pencil.

He then discards two identical Fairly Sharp Pencils, allowing him to play the Fully Loaded Stapler with +4 Attack.

Finally, he plays the Compact Disk Shuriken with +2 Attack. This gives Pete a total attack of 7 (1 + 2 + 4 = 7) which equals the defence value of the Halfling and thereby allows him to defeat it.

Afterwards: Pete then moves all cards played and any remaining cards in hand to his discard pile and draws a new hand of 5 cards.

He collects the defeated Target Card and places it beside his deck (face down), which will give him a bounty of 2 at the end of the week.

The top card of the Target Deck is then turned over to replace the defeated target and the turn moves to the next player.

Hints and Tips

There is no maximum hand size. You can keep a remarkable number of pencils in your pocket.

If a player would draw a card, but there are no cards left in their deck, they shuffle their discard pile back into their deck and then draw a card.

Stationery cards can only be used when attempting an assassination. Also, they can not be used for doing any real work.

Each card can only be played if all actions on the card can be fulfilled. For example, if a card reads "Discard a card, Draw a card", then the player must be able to discard a card before they can draw a card.

Attack is totalled at the end of the assassination attempt. For example, the Evil Pencil Sharpener increases the attack of up to three pencils whether they are played before or after it.

Regardless of whether an assassination attempt is successful or not, the assassin still goes to Security. It does not matter if a staff member is decapitated by Compact Disk Shurikens or just inconvenienced by a Blunt Pencil to the face, any witnesses will always call security, rubbing their hands with glee at the paperwork their accusations of assault will generate.

Assassins in security go home at the end of each day just like all other assassins, despite the mounting evidence against them. Yes, their bosses are incompetent. It's one of the many reasons you have been hired to kill them.

There is no penalty for a failed assassination attempt (other than the injury to your pride).

If an assassination attempt is successful, that player gains the Target card and any turn marker cards at the top of the game area. It is up to that player where they store the body.

Bonus rewards, such as drawing a new hand of 7 cards rather than the usual 5 from heroically stabbing the Media Giant in the back, are for that assassination only.

Discard piles are always face up. Assassins do not believe in hiding used pencils.

The stationery you trash will be recycled in a humane way. Unlike your co-workers.

Don't feel bad about picking on the Zombies - they don't have feelings or a fast typing speed.

Alternative Ways to Play

No Trashing

After a few games we recommend replacing the Really Spooky Recycling Area with another department of your choice. This will increase the difficulty of the game, but you do get to keep all of your pencils.

Quick Mode

When a player places their last assassin of the day, if they did not attempt an assassination, they discard their hand and draw a new hand of 5 cards. This will ensure that, for the majority of days, each player will start work with fewer cards.

Hard Mode

There are 3 Starting Departments with Hard Mode written in place of an action space (Forbidden Stationery Cupboard, Malevolent R&D Department and Really Spooky Recycling Area). These cards function much like the regular Starting Departments but with one fewer action space. In a 4 player game include a department with two action spaces (e.g., Appalling Admin Dept. or Inverted Inventory Dept.) as well as the Haunted Help Desk.

Game Contents

• 4 Starting Decks of 10 cards (Green, Black, Blue and Red)
• 60 Stationery Supply Cards
• 40 Department Cards
• 45 Target Cards
• 5 Turn Marker Cards (Monday to Friday)
• 20 Assassin Meeples (5 of each colour)
• 1 Starting Player Marker