neither a guest nor trespasser be

Players: 2 or 4 (duel or melee)

Set up: Deal evenly the 20 Major Arcana cards between two or four players. Take Death, the Fool (and if playing with four, two Minor Arcana cards) and shuffle; each player draws at random (if playing with four, return the two Minor Arcana cards to the Minor Arcana deck) to assign players. The starting player is the player with the Fool. Minor Arcana deck is shuffled and set aside.

How to play: Each player with a Fool or Death in their play area card eliminates (flips and covers) another player’s Major Arcana until none are left. That player can replace that Major Arcana card with a random Minor Arcana card from the deck once they’ve deployed Death/the Fool on someone else’s hand and the slot is empty. Players can only take a turn if they have Death or the Fool in their play area. Play ends and scores are taken once there are no Major Arcana cards left alive and Death “takes” the Fool.

Game ends: “when Death takes the Fool” i.e. when there are no other Major Arcana cards to eliminate. The player with Death and the Fool murdered in their play area will have one less card to score with.

Scoring: Same as Wicked Grace (or in the real world, standard 5-card draw poker) and scored with the Minor Arcana in each player's play area. Aces are high, and hand values are based on pairs, triples, straits, full houses, flushes, royal flushes, etc (same as Wicked Grace and standard 5-card draw poker).

Betting: The game has no intuitive breaks for mid-play bet raising, and hinges on players not folding (and all players staying alive until the end, cough cough Crows and their knives) so any betting would have to take place before play begins; since winning and gambling are, once again, not the point of Vendetta, it like the rest of the game must be easily smoothed over in favour of allowing conversation and negotiation to take precedence. Winner takes the pot.

Duel:

Separate Minor Arcana, Major Arcana, and Death and the Fool. Set Minor Arcana deck aside to draw from.

Start with 10 major arcana cards per person laid out. Each person draws either Death or the Fool at random.

Player 1 (whomever is starting with the Fool): deploy the Fool to eliminate one of P2’s cards. Flip and cover with Fool to eliminate.

Player 2 (whomever starts with Death): deploy Death to eliminate and cover one of P1’s cards.

P1 takes Death and eliminates and covers one of P2’s Major cards. P1 then draws a Minor Arcana card to replace their eliminated and uncovered one. (There is never a card left flipped and not replaced)

P2 takes the Fool and eliminates and covers one of P1’s Major cards. P2 then draws a Minor Arcana card to replace their eliminated and uncovered one.

Repeat 5 and 6 until only Death and the Fool remain. Death covers Fool and ends the game.

Strategy with Duel: No specific strategy identified. The Duel is a dance, and by virtue of drawing cards, the points are left entirely up to chance.

Melee:

Separate Minor Arcana, Major Arcana, and Death and the Fool. Set Minor Arcana deck aside to draw from.

Deal Major Arcana. Blind-draw Death the Fool, and two Minor Arcana cards. Player with the Fool becomes Player 1. Return Minor Arcana cards to the deck. Shuffle deck and set aside.

Player 1 deploys Fool to eliminate (flip and cover) one of another player's Major Arcana.

Player with Death deploys Death to eliminate (flip and cover) one of another player's Major Arcana card.

Player whose Maj. Arcana was just eliminated by the Fool re-deploys the Fool to eliminate another player's Major Arcana. Draw a Minor Arcana card and cover eliminated card.

Person with Death performs the same action.

Play repeats until all Major Arcana cards have been eliminated, and Death is finally allowed to eliminate the Fool.

Strategy with Melee (4 players): don't be the last person to have the Fool played on them so that you aren't one Minor Arcana card short of everyone else at the end!