Duty Guvnor

Duty Guvnor is a roguelike about running a police station through a single night shift in November 1975. The shift begins at a quarter to eleven and ends at six in the morning, provided you last that long. Each night presents a new hand of incidents drawn from a deck, ranging from a milk float robbery to a Member of Parliament in the cells, a visiting president wanting a night out and an unexplained ticking suitcase. Your resources are limited to four constables, four cells and one radio, and the borough deteriorates as the hours pass.

The game plays out on one page across eight hours and is governed by three meters: STREETS, BRASS and RELIEF. If any of them reaches zero, the night ends and so does your career. Officers sent out on a job cannot be dispatched again that shift, and anyone booked into a cell occupies it until the van arrives at six. Some choices involve gambles that cannot be made certain through preparation. You can also ring Division to request the Special Patrol Group, the dog section or the night-duty detective, but each can only be called once per night and Division keeps track of who has been asking.

The campaign, titled A Week from Hell, covers seven consecutive nights from Friday 14 to Thursday 20 November 1975, treated as one continuous posting. Favours, grudges and unresolved matters carry over between shifts, and the later nights become harder. Longer storylines unfold across a shift and affect the next; for example, losing an officer means parading one short the following night. The game maintains a persistent record including streaks, a casebook, a service record, twelve achievements and letters from the Yard.