Sanderson Elimination: Questions & Answers and Game Meta Discussion

[GreyPilgrim]

Is the plan for the Quick Fix games to run as consistently as the regular games? They should be a good way for those who die early on in big games as well as those who do not make it into those.

Josh's game sounds like it will be a lot of fun! I'm excited for it! A Roshar game should be awesome.

[little wilson]

Josh's game sounds like it will be a lot of fun! I'm excited for it! A Roshar game should be awesome.

Oh, it will be. But it'll be unlike the other Roshar games being planned, since its focus isn't on the magic systems. However, there are WoR spoilers, so it would be better for those who have read it. But I shall refrain from saying more, now that I know for certain that Josh has this in the works and on a schedule. Just know that it will be crazy. And awesome.

[Edgedancer]

I can´t really add anything to what Claincy and Hero said but I suppose actually showing up here and saying something has more effect than a simple upvote.

Anyway, I enjoy these games and that is coming from someone that had somewhat bad luck role wise. Granted, it could have been worse, like getting killed immediately (although that almost happend the last time), so yeah maybe it wasn´t that bad afterall.

Heck, I don´t even feel bad about death, because I get into heaven.

Edited April 26, 2014 by Edgedancer

[little wilson]

Since these elimination games have gotten such a great reception, we've decided to expand the moderating team on this subforum. We've brought in myself and Gamma Fiend to help Metacognition out with any problems or issues that may arise in any of the games.

Because all three of us enjoy playing, we'll obviously still be participating in the games, but we will always arrange for at least one of us to sit out on each game. This means that if you have any problem occur in a game, there will always be someone you can go to to mediate and moderate the issue. And, as always, if you have any other questions or concerns, don't hesitate to contact any of us. We're pretty chill people.

[A Joe in the Bush]

Weren't you already a Moderator? Couldn't you already do everything Meta could?

[little wilson]

Weren't you already a Moderator? Couldn't you already do everything Meta could?

 

Yes. But I wasn't leading this forum, even if I had the ability to. It was mostly Meta leading it before. Now it's the three of us, with me reporting directly to the admins. More official, I guess you could say.

 

[Metacognition]

This is going to work out much better for us all in the long run. This way, there will always be an impartial Mod available for people to make complaints to. When I was the main person heading everything, if I was involved with a game, I'd have to step out of the game to deal with any issues so that I could remain impartial and couldn't even accidentally use any of the information gained by handling the situation. Even then, by playing, there was always the possibility that I could be biased and not realize it. 

 

This way, there won't be any issues with that and whatever team I or Gamma or Wilson happened to be on won't lose a player (and possibly a key role) to have to deal with those types of situations. I'm not only happy to have Wilson and Gamma on board, I'm grateful. There's still a lot that goes into keeping things running smoothly and for them to be willing to help out is indeed noteworthy. So yes, meet the Mods and thank them for their time and hard work!

 

Also, Wilson lies. I'm not chill, I'm actually hot. Like super model hot, but I don't like to brag. : P

[Claincy]

Good. I suppose I should say more than that.

 

Always having an impartial mod on hand can only be a good thing and having a team rather than an individual works better both for supporting eachother and so that there is a higher chance that one of you will be online if an issue does crop up and you can hopefully nip it in the bud

 

That said, I am going to continue to hope that no situation will come up where it will matter

[Gamma Fiend]

I'm excited for the trust placed in me to be a Sub-mod, and working with Meta and Wilson in here going forward should be a real blast. So please feel free to contact any of us with any questions or concerns because, like as stated above, with one of us always sitting out we should always be able to handle any possible issues moving forward without compromising any games running at the time.

And if Wilson is chill, and Meta is hot, then I guess that makes me lukewarm.

[GreyPilgrim]

I think this is a great idea that will only serve to make an already great game even better!

And congrats on the promotion, Gamma!

[bartbug]

(Slightly) off topic, but when I read the title, "Meet the Moderators", the TF2 theme song came on...  bududbudubududu Bah bah Bwaha!

 

Anyone? Anyone? ... Bueller?

 

http://www.teamfortress.com/movies.php

 

(These are what you reminded me of. If you haven't watched them, take an hour from your day to do it. They're mildly hilarious. Maybe PG-13 in content, though.)

Edited May 1, 2014 by bartbug

[Gamma Fiend]

Well with the agreed bump for Maill to run the next game before Bart and then me, I think I'll sign up to try to GM a Quick Fix game for a mini version of my WoT game I was planning, and then I can just  plan for my Metal Flaring Game!

Edit: Signing up to GM a Quick-Fix after Rubix's game, of course. I figure that should either be towards the end of Maill's game or around Bart's game time, and with the fast-paced nature of the games shouldn't hopefully overlap my GM'ing. Of course if other people want to take a stab at Quick-Fix, please feel to sign up and I'll anyone else go ahead of me if they want.

I just figure I'd sign up just so we have somebody when the time comes if nothing else.

Edited May 5, 2014 by Gamma Fiend

[Herowannabe]

So I've been thinking about it a lot, and I want to sign up to GM a full-sized Elantris-based game. I have a lot of rules and roles thought up already and if it looks like this will go forward then I'll post them in the creating roles thread.

However, I know that I do not have enough time to take on the massive workload that is GMing one of these games (read as massive props to all the GMs who have done so already and those who have signed up to do so). So I had a thought: would anyone be willing to co-GM a game with me?

We could divide up responsibilities however we like- perhaps one person handling the night phase and one the day phase and etc. I think I could handle a half-workload like that, and I would really enjoy it. If anyone is interested let me know.

Edited May 14, 2014 by Herowannabe

[Tulir]

So I've been thinking about it a lot, and I want to sign up to GM a full-sized Elantris-based game. I have a lot of rules and roles thought up already and if it looks like this will go forward then I'll post them in the creating roles thread.

However, I know that I do not have enough time to take on the massive workload that is GMing one of these games (read as massive props to all the GMs who have done so already and those who have signed up to do so). So I had a thought: would anyone be willing to co-GM a game with me?

We could divide up responsibilities however we like- perhaps one person handling the night phase and one the day phase and Tec. I think I could handle a half-workload like that, and I would really enjoy it. If anyone is interested let me know.

I would be willing to help you out there, that sounds like a really good idea!  It would depend when the game would happen, but I probably could make it work

[Gamma Fiend]

Thinking about it, if either of you wanted to try and GM a small Quick Fix game, that could potentially be good practice and help you determine whether you're ready for the full work-load of a giant game. That's why I signed up to run one of those Quick Fix's myself, just to get a good feel of what GM'ing entails.

And, also, it wouldn't hurt to start getting a list of Quick Fix GM's, mostly since because of the quick nature of those games, we'll run through that list way faster.
That would work, I think, since I was even considering suggesting to some of the people on the Full Size GM List if they wanted to run a Quick Fix in the meantime while waiting for their turns. I just figure that if we keep the smaller games a consistent thing, we'll definitely need a bigger list eventually.

What does everybody think?

[A Joe in the Bush]

I agree, and Formally Sign up as a Quick Fix GM.

[Herowannabe]

Re: Gamma:

Let me say I heartily agree with everything you said, and especially about keeping the quick games going. However, for me personally, running even one quick game would be harder than a full sized game- I don't think I could manage an hour a day for a week. I could handle a few hours once every few days though. Go figure.

Re: Tulir: thanks for volunteering! I imagine we have a few months, seeing as we'll be on the bottom of the GM list. If there is a particular period of time that does or doesn't work for you, let's talk it over with the moderators and maybe we can slot our game into the time that works best.

In the meantime, I better work on getting my rules and roles written up for critiquing. I have some fun/interesting things in mind for this game...

Edited May 14, 2014 by Herowannabe

[Tulir]

I really want to see them, and after that we will possibly have a base format for each world

[Metacognition]

I'm sure you guys will be able to work with the other GMs that either come before you or those that sign up afterwards. After all, Maill moved up in the list after talking to the other GMs, I doubt you two will have much issue either. The GMs we have for these games have been literally amazing so far! As such, I'll add you to the list as a duo team. Should be interesting to say the least! You guys will, of course, want to make sure that you're both agree on rules and roles and such. I'd also suggest making sure you're both included in PMs, just so you're both capable of seeing the rulings the other might make. But I'm sure you'll work it out and I'm probably already telling you things you've already thought of!

 

Joe: you're now officially signed up, with my, and likely the rest of the mod's, thanks.

Edited May 14, 2014 by Metacognition

[Herowannabe]

Actually, the way I'm setting this game up there might be room for a third GM if someone really wanted to help out too. (Teaser: I'm planning on having the city of Elantris run as it's own separate, but connected, thing, with its own goals and intrigues, much like it is in the book).

[Metacognition]

Note to self: make sure I get a chance to play in Herowannabe's Elantris game.

[Aonar]

Dang.... I was originally planning on offering to help out, Hero, but that game looks sounds like it's going to be awesome.
 
If you feel like you might need the help, I'd be more than willing, and should be around plenty for day to day clarifications and the like. However, if you don't think you'll need it, I'm definitely going to be signing up for this one.

[Herowannabe]

Rough draft of my Elantris rules are posted in the Creating Roles section

[Awesomeness Summoned]

I’d also like to say thanks to Rubix, Meta, Wil’son, Gamma, and all the GM’s for providing us with a great way to interact with each other on the forum. Every GM so far has done an amazing job with what I would imagine is a very hectic responsibility.

 

There were some details that came up in Game 5 though that I thought I should bring up to see if they could be improved on in future games. It’s likely the nobles would still have been able to rally and defeat us in the end but I feel two things significantly affected the GB’s ability to win the game and were not spelled-out from the start.

 

1.) Outlining what scenarios reveal information in the write ups.

 

• On Night 4 the GB knew I was likely to be attacked by the nobles so we came up with a plan to have the nobles waste two kill attempts. I was given shardplate and protection with a painrial. Since we knew from the order of actions that the painrial would protect first, we had thought that it would deflect the bow attack and the nobles would not know I had plate. They would then waste the vote trying to eliminate me the next day only to end up cracking my plate instead. That would have bought us another full day.
  
• As it turned out, just being targeted by an attack revealed that you had plate so the nobles discovered the next day in the write up that I had plate and ultimately voted to lynch one of the other GB (by mostly luck).
  
• There was nothing in the rules that stated that it would be announced in the writeups that someone had plate if they were simply targeted at night, not actually struck. I can see that if they had hit me with an attack the plate would have been revealed as a result but that wasn’t the case. The painrial prevented the hit.
  
• I don’t blame Maili for our loss by any means. We should have thought to get confirmation that the plate would not be revealed in that situation but it might be a good thing for GM’s to keep in mind since the writeups can have a huge impact on the rest of the game if they reveal certain information.
  
• In the future, GM’s should take special care to try and outline all scenarios that will result in critical information being revealed in the write ups. 
  

 

2.) The Hidden Message Games.

 

• I understand there are a lot of people on this forum that like solving secret codes and I’m fine with having that kind of element in the games but I think we should have some kind of stipulations around them.
  
• I’ll be the first to admit I’m not great with codes and don’t particularly enjoy trying to solve them. Game 4, I largely ignored that aspect Fnord had added since it didn’t interest me and ultimately it didn’t make much difference in the game, just added an extra element of challenge for the people that wanted to try at it.
  
• In game 5 I felt like I HAD to try and solve the code or we had no hope of pulling off a win. Trying to solve it at that point didn’t improve my experience in the game (since as I said I don’t enjoy codes) but instead added an extra bit of frustration.
  
• When it was revealed what the prizes were, I felt they were way too powerful and way too game changing to be given out right at the most critical junction of the game, especially for something that was supposed to be just a fun little easter egg. We had spent the entire game meticulously mapping out who had what items and working out strategies around that. Suddenly having three shields thrown into the game and a KILL ITEM?!? completely busted any strategies we had at that point and made anything we did a complete shot in the dark.
  
• In future games I feel like there should be stipulations on how secret games like this are handled.
  

1. The game needs to actually be optional if it is completely hidden. As I said, I don’t particularly enjoy that type of game and it’s not what I sign up for when I play elimination. If I don’t want to participate in the hidden message game I shouldn’t feel like I have to in order to survive. The prizes should be non game changing. Solving the riddle should be reward enough for those people who notice the hidden messages and want to make the attempt.
   
2. If the prizes are going to be game altering additions, it needs to be announced during the signup phase that there might be hidden messages and codes that can potentially effect the outcome of the game. That way, people who don’t want to worry about that sort of thing can skip that round of elimination.
   

Edited May 31, 2014 by Awesomeness Summoned

[Wyrmhero]

I agree with Awes' points on the whole 'secret guessing' thing, but I would also like to add that the whole time-sensitive aspect of it makes it really awkward if you don't sync up with the schedule of the person in charge. So, for instance, I had no chance to get the shield at all, because the reward was offered at around midnight or later in my timezone, and then all were claimed three hours later. Thus it can be rather unfair if the competition only begins later on in the game. Though that will always be true due to the clues coming in at specific times in the day.

 

In addition, it does basically mean that the first group in discussion to find it who are all online get it, if there's more than one prize being offered. I'm surprised that didn't happen here, really. I'm not sure how this can be fixed if there are multiple rewards offered though.

 

On the subject of rewards, I feel that Claincy's reward of a single Breath was fine, because it was a much more minor prize than a shield or Shardhammer. Items shouldn't be game-changing on their own like that (though just for clarity's sake, the Shardhammer is actually a delayed-kill item, not that it really makes much of a difference here). At the very least, I feel that the Shardhammer should have been a single-use item, and that the items offered should either have been listed at the start so we knew of their existence, or have been items taken from the general list.

Edited May 31, 2014 by Wyrmhero