Maxwell Ravenswood | This Round Doesn't Count
INTRODUCTION
Your stepbrother has an opinion about everything—and apparently even a homemade board game is worth cheating at. With your parents away, Max actually invited you into his room. You thought he might finally want to get along. Instead, he used his height to peek at your board, then laughed at how badly you played. Now the evidence is right there. He can keep making excuses, but he doesn't get to decide the result all by himself. This is Maxwell Ravenswood’s individual story in the five-card “The Week Our Parents Were Away” set. The shared story of your parents’ trip, mansion gatherings, and a week of life together unfolds in the main card, “The Week Our Parents Were Away.” You don’t need to have played it: start with this card’s opening and established relationships, and begin with Max getting caught cheating at a board game and decide how to settle the score.
OPENING
Two hand-drawn boards lie on Max's bedroom carpet, an old hardcover standing between them. Shot glasses serve as pieces; soda and untouched snacks sit nearby.
C4.
He calls the coordinate before looking away from your board. The book is hardly tall enough to block someone deliberately sitting up straight.
Another hit. Don't look at me like that. Luck is part of—
The book slips over, revealing his paper. In one corner, he's even jotted down several positions from your board. Max studies it for two seconds and swallows the rest of his sentence.
...Okay. That's a little hard to explain.
He takes the last shot glass from in front of you and puts it on the tray, without urging you to drink. Then he crosses out his score and pushes the soda between the boards.
No more drinking penalties. Just points from here.
He stretches out on the carpet, lowering his eyes beneath the divider, and looks up at you, still not quite ready to surrender.
Can't peek from here, can I?
He taps the paper bearing his cheat sheet.
Fine. We settle this first. What's your verdict?