In times long past, in days of honour, mighty men and hardy women would take up arms. These were the Celts of Gaul and Ireland, who would fight not to conquer or kill, but to prove their strength and worth. They would use real weapons and they would die real deaths, but all in all it was just a big contest to prove how great you were.

Bandits is something like that, except we use wooden weapons and nobody dies. Usually.

The premise is simple: Divide into two clans (sometimes more), choose a chieftain, get weapons, then try and kill everyone in the other clan. If you die, you lose your weapons and become part of the clan that killed you. The complexity begins when weapons break, clans can't support new members, chieftains are killed and the bandits come into play.

At any time, with little to no warning, loyal clan members can turn on each other and run away to form their own clans. These are what gives the game its name. Bandits. Volatile, unpredictable and dangerous, the bandits turn their noses up at authority and often have no loyalties at all. Theirs is a life unfettered with the crutch of a chieftain telling them what to do, but one of constant danger.


The rules to Bandits often change with each game, but that is the basic idea. It was created by Nicholas Young a few years back, as a game to play with his five (that's right, five) sisters, and has now morphed into the Event of the Season.

So, you want to play, do you? Well, have a look at what happens in Bandits.


Hit Points and Damage.
Everyone has five hit points. If you are hit in the arms or legs, that takes off one hit point. If you are hit in the chest or back, that takes off two. If you are hit in the hands, feet, head or groin, it doesn't count. Shoulders and hips and butt count as legs and arms. Everyone is expected to keep track of his or her own hit points. If someone is found to be lying about their hit points, penalties are inflicted. Nobody has lied yet. Hit points regenerate after each battle.

Common rule variations, add-ons and debates.
- Depending on the people playing, sometimes if Person A hits Person B in the head, Person A will have a hit point taken off for a penalty. This might also work if Person A hits Person B too hard with his or her weapon and hurts the other person badly. This is a flexible rule variation though, and will be used depending on the people playing and the agreements between players.
- It's been discussed to have the back count as more hit points, given that if you sneak up on someone and get them in the back without them even noticing until it's too late, it's still only two hit points.
- Arrows have counted in the past as an instant kill. This was an unpopular rule, but it certainly made things interesting whenever there was an archer nearby.
- Alternate damage roles have been suggested for different weapons. In the original games, a whip would do as much damage as Michael Jaxx's five or six foot long sword. The exact numbers of the damage that different weapons would do has not been set in stone.
- Some games have forced you to return to your base before regenerating hit points. Whether that is a rule or not is flexible to be discussed at the beginning of the game.


Chieftains and other special roles.
In the original Bandits, there was only one leader, and he was called a Lord. He had a water pistol that did an instant kill to whoever it shot, and he had fifteen hit points instead of five. In more recent Bandits games, the Chieftain has had varying amounts of hit points, but never an instant killing weapon. The Chieftain is the head of the clan, and tells people what to do. Other than that, he or she usually has no further powers, and anyone can refuse any order any time. The consequences of that will vary from chieftain to chieftain. Usually the chieftains in a two-clan game are Nick Young and Dan Citynski.

In a previous game, the players have all chosen special roles, which affected what kinds of weapons they could use and their proficiency with those weapons. For example, Assassins could use throwing knives, Shamans could not. If a Gladiator used a throwing knife, it did normal damage. If an Assassin used a throwing knife it could do up to triple damage (which if it hit in the back or chest would be an instant kill). Shamans had a knife that, if they killed someone with it, they'd gain an extra hit point for themselves. One Shaman had fifteen hit points by the end of the game because of that.

In another previous game, there was a special role called a Druid. The Druid could sacrifice any of the clan at any time (people could only be sacrificed twice per game however) and divide the hit points up amongst the surviving clan members as they chose. One Druid sacrificed everyone in his clan and got circa forty hit points, which called into question the fairness of this role.


Girls and Cattle. (what's the difference?)
For the past few games, we have included a rule about clan expansion. In one game, we had some figurines of various animals that clans would hold on to. Each one represented cattle, and each cattle could support three clan members. If there were more clan members than cattle, the clan could not expand. In the next game, we replaced the figurines with real people: the females who were playing. There were four girls, and each one of them had the same attributes as the cattle of the last game. They could still fight and die, but if a clan had no women it could not expand, as with real life.


Dying.
When you die in Bandits (which is only possible from being killed by an enemy (or sometimes friend)), you become part of the clan that your killer came from. Sometimes this is delayed for a few minutes as a measure that one clan does not suddenly have several reinforcements on hand right away.

If your killer was from the same clan as you, or if the clan your killer was from has not enough cattle or women to support you, you become a bandit. Likewise if your killer was a bandit you become allied with him or her.


Clans.
Clans must have at least three members to be recognized as a clan. That is the only requirement. Varying from game to game, it must also have at least one woman or cattle. If there are at least three bandits who have allied themselves with each other, they can claim clan status. Electing a chieftain is not necessarily a requirement.


Disagreements.
Disagreements (usually about whether or not someone killed someone else) are a common thing in Bandits. They're resolved as necessary. There is no set rules for when someone claims someone else is dead but someone else says someone else isn't dead et cetera. Disputes are settled as they arise and are generally too petty to make a big deal out of. Please, to be respectful to your fellow players and to have a good time, try and solve disputes with a level head and voice level.



Location.
Bandits has only ever taken place in three locations so far: Nick's yard and alley, Central Park and Renfrew Ravine. The former and latter are less than a block away from 29th Ave Skytrain station (although the location in the Ravine can vary, since it's a long ravine). Alternate suggestions as to where to hold Bandits are welcome. If you're scouting for a location, remember four things:
- People have to be able to get there by transit.
- People don't want to have to be in transit for hours.
- We don't want to be harassed by authorities for trespassing.
- We don't want to be fighting over top of passers-by (so a less-than public place is better).

Forests or moors or swamps are the most fun to play in.


Clothing.
Don't wear fancy clothes. Wear clothes that you don't mind if they get dirty. Preferably, wear thick clothes (weather permitting) that will muffle blows. People don't often get very hurt in Bandits, but it's a real possibility. Boots are better than shoes. Helmets are a good idea. Periodical roleplay dress is fine if you're into that. But above all, WEAR GLOVES. People get hit on the hands all the time in wooden swordplay, and it's not very fun. And the game won't necessarily stop if you drop your sword because your fingers got hurt.

Here are some pictures from past Bandits games. Unfortunately, the older games had no pictures taken of them, so they can't be shown to observe the evolution of the game.


Dan and Michael, preparing for the game. Dan is looking badass in a Scottish kilt and viking helmet. Michael is looking like a gay construction worker.


Dan in the heat of battle, using a long-ranged sling. In the background, the players go as follows (left to right):
Nick holding a longbow and arrows.
Goku with two swords.
Joel with two swords.
AJ (male) looking down at his feet or something.


Dan and Naccius are being homosexual to the left.
Joel is wishing he could be homosexual in the centre.
Nicholas is practicing to be homosexual to the right (by sewing).




If you have anymore pictures of Bandits games or even just swordfights between Bandits players, do send them via a message or something to this profile. Or if you're in the lieu and know the password to this account, just add 'em yourself and write a caption.


-Profile originally provided by Gagootsi-