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I'm running this tomorrow and I wanted to expand upon what the book provides to make this a little more involved of an encounter. Here are the expanded rules I came up with:
All of this presented in a Google Sheet here.
SUMMARY
All couples dance throughout the provided grid, attempting to stay on the floor and execute superior dance moves while the size of the dance floor shrinks and other couples attempt to force them from the dance floor and eliminate them.
DANCE FLOOR CONFIGURATION
At the start of the dance, each couple is randomly assigned a square on the dance floor from the 16 available positions. No two couples may be assigned the same starting square.
The dance is broken in four stages over the course of ten rounds: The Formation (Rounds 1-3), The Encounter (Rounds 4-7), The Conflict (Rounds 8-9) and The Duel (Round 10+)
- Stage 1: The Formation. The dance floor is set up in a 4x4 grid pattern. The top row of squares is numbered 1-4, the second row 5-8, the third row 9-12 and the fourth row 13-16.
- Stage 2: The Encounter. The dance floor is set up in a 3x3 grid pattern, keeping the same numbering as the previous stage but eliminating squares 4,8,12,13,14,15,16. The top row of squares is numbered 1-3, the second row 5-8, the third row 9-12 and the fourth row 13-16.
- Stage 3: The Conflict The dance floor is set up in a 2x2 grid pattern, keeping the same numbering as the previous stage but eliminating squares 3,7,9,10,11. The top row of squares is numbered 1-2, the second row 5-6.
- Stage 4: The Duel. The dance floor is set up in a 1x1 single square.
FORMATION [1-3]
01 02 03
05 06 07
09 10 11
ENCOUNTER [4-7]
01 02
05 06
CONFLICT [8-9]
01
DUEL [10+]
01
Legend:
- Exposed position, can be eliminated.
-
- Shielded position, cannot be eliminated.
ROUND TIMING
- Each round consist of two phases, the dance phase and movement phase.
- Each round starts with the dance phase. Each couple must select and then execute a dance maneuver of their choosing. If there are multiple couples in the same square they engage in battle.
- The second part of each round is movement phase. At the end of each round each couple must choose a valid, adjacent square in the grid to move into. All couples secretly select their square and then publicly reveal the square simultaneously as they move into that square. All couples must move to a different position in the grid, no one may stay in the same square in consecutive rounds.
DANCE PHASE
- Dance Maneuver Bonus (DMB) = Dex mod from partner 1 + Intelligence mod from partner 2 + X Knowledge Nobility (1 point per partner, up to 2 total)
- At the start of each round, each couple must execute a dance maneuver of their choosing from the available list below. If there are multiple couples in the same square then all couples in that square engage in Dance Battle starting with the team with the highest DMB (tie breaker to whoever enter the square first).
- Each partner rolls 1d20+DMB against the DC of their chosen maneuver. If a partner rolls a natural 1 on the die, their partner receives a -4 penalty to their roll. Conversely, if a natural 20 is rolled then their partner receives a +4 bonus to their roll.
- Box Step - DC 6
- Natural Turn - DC 8
- Forward Progressive - DC 10
- Promenade - DC 12
- Right Turnich Lock - DC 14
- Hesitation Change - DC 16
- Whisk - DC 18
- Double Spin - DC 20
- Ronde and Slip - DC 22
- Fallaway Reverse Turn - DC 24
- Tipple Chasse Pivot - DC 26
MOVEMENT PHASE
- During the movement phase, each couple must select a valid adjacent square (including diagonals) to move into.
- During the final Movement part of the first three stages (rounds 3,7,9), couples may not enter a square that is about to be removed. For example, at the end of round 3 if a couple was in square #3 and chooses their movement, they may not select square #4 or square #8.
DANCE BATTLE
- Each couple compares their points for this round against all other couples in their square.
- If the grid location vulnerable and not shielded, the lowest scoring couple is forced from the floor and eliminated from the dance.
- If the grid location is shielded, the highest scoring couple chooses which adjacent square in the grid to push the lowest scoring couple into.
- In the event of a tie and there is not a lowest score, no couples are eliminated this round.
I did, we ran it a few months ago during our live session and it was quite comical. I loved how my players embraced the thematic elements and describe the outcome of each round.