I recently watched Conclave, the 2024 film about Catholic Cardinals convening after the death of one Pope to choose which of them will be the next. Because my game-brain never fully shuts off, I couldn’t help but think it would be fun to roleplay a similar scenario. This would make a fun game for a one-shot, played at a convention or as a break between your ordinary roleplaying games. However, I have more ideas than I will ever be able to finish, so I offer up this idea in homes it sparks someone’s imagination so that they can give it the proper home it deserves.

This would be what my colleagues, Dwiz and Josh, have dubbed a “capsule” game, in that you have premade characters rather than the more standard RPG proposition of building one. Here, each player will play as a specific cardinal, each of which has their own history and point of view built in. Importantly, each cardinal should have a section that says “Why I Must Be Pope” describing why it is important that they succeed to the Chair of Saint Peter. For instance, some may have an important doctrine they wish to make the official policy of the church, some may have had a holy vision from God, some may have been the hand-picked successor of the prior Pope, etc. They will each also have a “Why I Cannot Be Pope”, listing some disqualifying factors from their past. They will also have briefs of what their cardinal knows about each of the others, including who their second choice for Pope is, if it cannot be themselves, who they absolutely detest and must stop from becoming Pope, etc. Some may even know a bit of why one of their brothers must not be pope, but not the complete story.

One cardinal, however, has a more serious reason for why they cannot be the Pope—they killed the last Pope. And everyone in the conclave knows one of the cardinals is likely responsible for the suspicious death of the Pope, but no one knows who. So this is a game of both politicking to get your preferred candidate elected as Pope but also a murder mystery to ensure the murderer doesn’t succeed their victim as head of the Church. Thus the name of the game: Cardinal Sins.

As for gameplay, I am thinking there should be some structure to it and not an absolute free-for-all. So first, each player (as their character) can say a few words to convince their fellows to vote for this or that candidate (or make any other statement they want all others to hear). Then there is a vote (more on that later). If there is no 2/3 majority, then there is some downtime period where each cardinal can perform some downtime action. This may be, among other things, convincing another cardinal directly (perhaps writing letters so the communication stays between the two, but also allowing a paper trail for one to later betray the other), blackmailing, presenting damning evidence of another Cardinal, or investigating the murder of the Pope.

Each cardinal, as a major candidate for Pope, represents a larger faction, and thus has more than just their own vote. They keep a tally of their supporters, which are like hit points. But some downtime actions allow their opponents to siphon some of their voters away. But ultimately, because a 2/3 majority is required, there will need to be some horse-trading, as the field is winnowed. The game will take as many turns as is required to come to the supermajority to elect one of the player-cardinals as the next Pope. When elected, I think the zine or whatever these rules are printed in, should direct the players to burn it to allow the smoke to signify the conclusion of the conclave.

Making this will take a lot of work. You’ll need to flesh out all the potential player cardinals (presumably the ones that aren’t selected are NPCs who begin with votes but because they don’t have an active player controlling them are a likely early target for the other players). You will also need solid rules for the mechanics of increasing and decreasing the various candidates’ number of supporters based on the actions of the player cardinals.

If this gets your wheels spinning, I encourage you to go write this game. I relinquish any claim (IP or moral) over it I might have. You don’t even need to credit me; but I would appreciate you telling me about it so I can go play it.

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