A shift is a full game of Dead Last Delivery. You need a few players and nobody should join in or leave in the middle of one. One shift only takes about 10~15 minutes to play.
1. Everyone needs a character card! If you don't have one, grab a fresh one from the box.
2. Each player adds three Grace tokens to a pool you all share.
3. Shuffle and deal the appropriate number of delivery and route postcards face-down into separate decks. Don't look at any unused cards. Put them away.
| number of players | postcards (each type) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 3 |
| 2 | 4 |
| 3 | 5 |
| 4 | 6 |
| 5* | 7 |
**Every delivery needs a sucker. Deliveries are dangerous, but someone's gotta do it.
You can play any game you like to decide who it is this time, as long as it's quick and childish. Play rock-paper-scissors or draw straws! If you aren't sure what to play, try Finger Roulette.
Everyone throws one hand out with any number of fingers extended.
Add everyone's numbers up and count in a circle: whoever the count lands on, that's your next sucker.
Once decided, the sucker draws one delivery postcard and one route postcard.
The sucker is about to embark on a delivery all alone.
A delivery is a pair of cards: a delivery postcard and a route postcard. You read them like this.
You can volunteer to help, or you can take the sucker's place, by using Grace tokens.
Take a Grace token from the shared pool and put it back in the box to do either action:
1. Join the mission as a volunteer, or...
2. Become the sucker yourself. The old one's off the job. They can join as a volunteer or reclaim their position as sucker by using another Grace token, just like anyone else.
You have to make this delivery. Whatever trouble happens along the way, you have to deal with it.
Roll a six-sided die and spend the pips to avoid trouble and go on side quests. Example: With 6 pips you avoid one 3-cost trouble, and go on two side quests that cost 1 and 2.
Trouble always happens, unless you do something about it.
Note the black label that says what bad stuff happens, and the black die. This one costs 3.
To avoid trouble, you have to pay its cost.
You need to avoid as much trouble as possible to avoid an early, inglorious retirement.
Side quests don't happen, unless you choose them.
Note the white die. This one costs 2.
To go on a side quest, you have to pay its cost.
You need to go on appropriate side quests to develop your character.
You're free to listen to requests & advice from your volunteers, but the sucker makes all final decisions.
You can use a Grace token to roll the die again. Do this as many times as you want.
And if anyone volunteered, add 1 pip to the first roll, and all rerolls. Not 1 per volunteer. Just 1.
Real adventurers gain experience, and come home with battle scars.
The sucker and their volunteers gain experience from side quests.
The back of your character card is covered in experience tracks and instructions for when to mark them. A single track looks like this:
In this case, every time you go on a side quest with the word selfie in it, you get to fill in one bubble. After five selfies, you'd have filled up the first row and got your 1,000th follower on SelfieNet.
Whenever you fill up any row, announce your character development to the group and equip a new accessory sticker.
This is what Dead Last Delivery is all about: showing off and looking spiffy.
Choose any sticker and stick it on your character art, anywhere you like. Boom!
The sucker and their volunteers take all Stress and Wounds together. Example: If you run into a Lv.3 Wound, everyone on the mission suffers a Lv.3 Wound.
The back of your character card has one special experience track for Stress.
If you suffer 2 Stress, you'd mark this track two times.
You don't get stickers for this track. Once this special track fills up completely your character retires from the adventuring life, for good. Even if you retire, finish your current shift.
Wounds can be Lv.1, Lv.2, or Lv.3.
First take 1, 2, or 3 Stress.
Then you get a scar.
To get a scar, tell another player what wounded you. They draw an appropriate scar on your character card. Always use permanent marker when drawing scars. Refer to this guide of scar tiers for inspiration & as reference for how bad scars should get.
There are three levels of wounds, and four scar tiers! What's the deal?
Well, the deal is this is just an inspirational guide. If someone gets a wound try to give them an appropriately bad scar. Don't feel creatively bound by this example image! <3
Lose Grace affects the Grace token pool regardless of who's making the delivery. Take Grace tokens from the pool and discard them as if spent.If there aren't enough, just empty the pool.
Most of these deliveries are dangerous and undesirable. But it's also your job to do them, and the sucker just got all the credit.
They keep the finished postcards.
If there are still postcards left in the deck, it's not over: you have more deliveries to make. And you'd better get the credit yourself for at least one of them!
When the decks are empty, that's one full game (one work shift) done. And anyone who hasn't collected their own pair of postcards suffers a Lv.3 Wound for slacking off. Remember how Wounds work: that's 3 Stress + a nasty scar drawn by another player.
If you want to be guided through another delivery step-by-step, click or tap here to choose the next sucker.
After the final delivery's done, keep your character card for next time. Although wounded and scarred, you're probably ready to go on another adventure!
But one day, when your stress & wounds track is completely full, your character will permanently retire from the adventuring life.
When your stress & wounds track is completely full, your character is ready to retire. At the end of the current shift, announce the end of your character's adventuring career. And then if you like, you can replace your reputation.
To replace your reputation, ask another player to cross out what you're known as along the left side of your character card. They write a new one.
You've worked your last shift. If you want to play again, you need to start a new Character card. If you absolutely must play just one more shift on a retired character, you can. But it's just about the least GRACEFUL retirement ever. You don't provide the group with ANY Grace tokens.
The shift's over. Take a moment to unwind and reflect.