Bag o' Bones

"Aye! You cheated! Gimme back 'dem bones or I'll flay ya!" -A sailor, squabbling over a game of Bag o' Bones

History

Created by Jim Tannigan, a famous sailor from the early years of magitech, in an attempt to stave boredom during downtime whilst sailing the skies.

Execution

Bag o' Bones is played fairly simply. There are three throws in a game. Each throw, the players pick five runes from their Bag o' Bones. They don't reveal these picks to the other player until the throw, where both players simultaneously reveal, or "throw" their bones. For every rune which remains uncancelled, a player earns one point. Whoever has the most points wins the throw. Points do not roll over into the next throw, they are solely used to identify the winner of the throw.

Components and tools

Each player has a bag of fifteen knuckle bones, each marked with a rune. The runes each have a meaning which cancels out another rune. There are three types of runes and they cancel each other out in circular fashion, much like rock-paper-scissors. There are five of each rune in a Bag o' Bones.

Participants

There are two players in a game of Bag o' Bones.

Cheating, while difficult to pull off, is fairly common while playing Bag o' Bones. In fact, it is almost as much a part of the culture as the game itself. The most common form of cheating is deliberately jumbling your own runes amongst your opponent's, and then claiming the best five as your own, while gaslighting your opponent into believing you. Those with deft hands can attempt slight of hand in a 2/3 situation to quickly swap out a single rune which leads to winning the throw.

Primary Related Location

The Great Sea Skyland

Important Locations

• Dragon's Rest
• Rumhaven
• The Citadel
• The Great Sea Skyland

Related Organizations

• The Federation of Free Peoples
• The Hand of Anidinth
• The Republic of Kankos
• The United Empire

Most frequently, the game of Bag o' Bones is played by sailors and soldiers. Not too commonly is the game found within populous cities and civilized townships. Whereas simpler games like dice are quick and good for gambling, Bag o' Bones is favored by those seeking to fill long time spans while soaring the long distances between skylands.