Mid-Range Game 60: Overexposure

[Archer]

MR60: Overexposure (A Snapshot Game)

“Best way to catch someone is to not let them know they’re being chased.” - Brandon Sanderson, Snapshot

But where's the fun in that? Welcome to MR60! I’m your GM, @Archer, and our IM is @Araris Valerian.

This game features variable rollover times, two action slots, roles that might only work during even/odd numbered Cycles, and PM limits. I encourage you to sign up as a type of reporter to help flavour your roleplay.

Sign-ups are open until 10:00am EST on October 8th [2:00pm GMT]. 
Cycle One will run from 10:00am EST October 9th to between 4:00pm EST and 8:00pm EST on October 11th. 
Cycle Two will run from the completion of rollover until between 4:00pm and 8:00pm on October 13th. 
Cycle Three will run from the completion of rollover until between 4:00pm and 8:00pm on October 15th. 
Cycle Four will run from the completion of rollover until between 4:00pm and 8:00pm on October 17th. 
Cycle Five will run from the completion of rollover until between 4:00pm and 8:00pm on October 19th. etc.

Please note that these times reflect the delay of the game that was announced on October 6th. The game does not start on the 8th, it starts on the 9th. 

Rules

Only this doc will be regularly updated with rules clarifications. The following copy of the rules should not be assumed to be up to date. 

Framing and Factions

Spoiler

Setting: This game is set in Snapshot’s New Clipperton, a city-state that has a comatose Epic hooked up to a machine that allows them to create simulations of the entire city from ten days prior. They send police officers into it to observe crimes as they happened to identify suspects and locate evidence.

The city is abuzz right now because a group of serial killers have been operating in the area who have yet to be caught. Dubbing them the Polaroid Gang, members of the local press have decided that they need to shake things up to get a clearer picture of how these criminals operate. The group clearly knows their way around town, have a flair for the dramatic, and seem informed of police movements… hang on, that sounds like they’re reporters!

Convinced that members of the very fourth estate that you, the pundits, bloggers, influencers, and citizen journalists of New Clipperton belong to, have turned murderous, you have a vested interest in bringing them to justice. It is up to you to use your platform to direct the city’s police department towards the most likely suspects. Whoever public sentiments turn on will be suspended and investigated in the Snapshot. But be warned, the Polaroid Gang grows weary of your interference, and may soon begin targeting whoever speaks against them…

The Press are the village faction. They win when all of the Polaroid Gang have been caught.

The Polaroid Gang are the evil faction intent on outnumbering the Press. They have a factional Google Doc to conspire in and a kill every cycle that one of them may submit as a secondary action.

Voting and Rollovers

Spoiler

Each cycle, the players may vote in the Public Reckoning to investigate someone and remove them from the game. There is no vote minimum. Tied votes are decided by RNG.

Writeups will announce who has been attacked or killed and why. Vote counts will be provided with names that correspond to publicly available information and numbers that may reflect vote manipulation.

There is a two-cycle activity filter. Players will be replaced or killed if they fail to make a public post that isn’t blatant filter dodging within that time frame.

Variable Rollover Time

Cycles will be at least 40 hours long. The GM will tell the IM when rollover will occur each round, but not the players. The writeup to start each cycle will only list a four-hour window during which rollover will occur without warning at the predetermined time. Regardless of when rollover occurs, the end of each cycle’s window will be 48 hours after the end of the last one’s window.

Actions

Spoiler

Actions: Each cycle, players may submit a primary and secondary action. For their primary action, a player may submit an order that uses their role or a Coin Search request. For their secondary action, a player may submit a (potentially additional) Coin Search request or the Polaroid Gang factional kill, if applicable.

Coin Searching

In a world moving towards digital currency, amateur coin collecting of physical currency is a popular hobby in New Clipperton. All characters are one coin away from completing their set and impulsively look for it when they can. They could trade someone for it online, but that would be cheating!

Players will be informed at the start of the game of which type of coin they collect. All desired coins are dated between 1985 and 2010. To submit a Coin Search request, players tell the GM the year(s) of the coin(s) their characters find that day. The GM will compare the numbers with the date secretly selected for them and inform the players of their success during rollover. If two dates are submitted, the smaller number will be labelled as the primary action unless stated otherwise by the player. Coins are non-transferable.

Successfully finding your target coin will give you a Complete Set of Coins, which is proof that whatever deities have dominion over currency in this world favour you. Players with complete sets will automatically receive the more favourable outcome of any exactly 50/50 possibility (also known as a coinflip!), such as a two-way tie for the exe or the potential of being role blocked when they have sent exactly 25 PM messages in a Cycle. In a head-to-head matchup of two players with Complete Sets, neither benefits from the item.

Roles and OOA

Spoiler

Roles:

Players may have up to one of the following roles. Roles use primary actions and only affect primary actions. Impossible action requests are treated as though someone submitted no action. Success or failure to use an action will be conveyed to all relevant parties without specifying the effect. For example, you will not be told what action you may have blocked, just that you did block their ability to use their primary action. The person blocked would be told their attempt failed. A scanner watching would not see any targeting happen from the person blocked.  

Some roles may be limited to use during only even or odd numbered Cycles. This information will be visible to the three scanning roles. 

-Influential (Vote Doubler): Your stories are more popular than most, giving you twice the say in public matters. You may use your action to double your vote. If you have your vote removed, you will have zero votes total.

-Slanderous (Vote Remover): A specialist in the scandalous, you use your platform to degrade your opponents. You may use your action to remove a target player’s vote. You may self-target.

-Investigative (Role Scanner): As a research-oriented journalist, you use your skills to pour through your rival’s publications to find out what approach gives them a competitive edge. As an action, you may target a player to learn their role.

-Distracting (Role Blocker): You won’t believe what this NEW ROLE does!! The picture on page three is unreal… With a knack for writing click-bait, you distract your opponents, making them forget to do their jobs. As an action, you may target another player to block their action. You may not self-target. 

-Informed (See Who Target Targets): You have walked your beat for years, so you hear every rumour about what happens there. As an action, you may target a player to see who they target with their action, if anyone. You may self target.

-Watchful (See Who Targets Your Target): You follow your hunches, staking out people you suspect are up to something. During that time, you may see who else is hovering around them. As an action, you may target a player to see who targets them with an action, if anyone besides yourself. You may self target.

-Favoured (Extra Life): Some important officials owe you for some secret work you have done for them in the past. You can call these in to shield yourself from public inquiry or to receive some extra police protection on your street. As an action, you may submit an order to survive one attack against you. You do not need to specify what kind, Public Reckoning or evil factional kill. Should you survive an attack, you are no longer able to use this ability. If it is unused, you retain the ability. 

-Selfless (Protect Another Player): You believe in building people up in your writing, even if they work for other networks. Your praise gives characters a boost in popularity that makes them hard to sneakily kill or publicly disparage. You may use your action to make another player survive an attack. You do not need to specify what kind, Public Reckoning or evil factional kill. Should someone survive an attack, you are no longer able to use this ability. If it is unused, you retain the ability. 

Order of Actions:

-Distracting (Role Blocker)

-Favoured (Extra Life)

-Selfless (Protect Another Player)

-Slanderous (Vote Remover)

-Influential (Vote Doubler)

-Investigative (Role Scanner)

-Informed (See Who Target Targets)

-Watchful (See Who Targets Your Target)

-Public Reckoning (Execution by Vote) and Polaroid Gang Kill (Factional Kill)

Private Messaging 

Spoiler

Players may make 1-on-1 PMs with other players. For every player-player message a person sends per cycle, they have a +2% chance of having their primary action blocked as if by the Distracting (Role Blocker) role. If they reach a 100% chance (50 messages), they will have all of their primary actions blocked and all of their votes removed as if by the Slanderous (Vote Remover) role for the duration of the game.

Messages may not be edited. Players are asked to post the Cycle number in their PMs after every rollover. If such posts only contain the Cycle number, they do not count towards their total.

Intentional Walk Rule: A player intentionally trying to reach a high number of PM posts may expediate the process by submitting an irrevocable request in their GM PM to have their message count immediately brought up by a given amount.

Participant List

Spoiler

Players

1. Matrim's Dice as Marty Meeker, who holds a top column job despite having never lurnd to spel

2. The Wandering Wizard, as Jimmie Hesler, a journalist who ends up writing about cats instead of important events

3. The Unknown Novel as Ethan "Echo" Elmer, a reporter with the Epic power to project his mind to hear and see anywhere he wishes

4. Illwei as an uncredited ghostwriter. (No relation to Wilim)

5. Shining Silhouette as Sil, the illiterate exec who's really good at getting people to do their jobs. (Likely Marty's employer)

6. Tani as Wilim, the actual ghost who lives in the printer

7. Conquestor as Tommy, Son of Gun!

8. Xinoehp512 as Gun

9. JNV as Jenny Wise a new reporter trying to get a big score

10. Dannnex as Peter Parker

11. Mark IV as Mark

12. Devotary of Spontaneity as as investigative journalist Earring, hoping to quell the wave of spurious arrests that the simulator encourages

Spectators:

1. Turtle 

2. The Halcyon Girl

3. That1Cellist

4. TheBookwyrm

5. Just a Silvereye

Pinch Hitters:

1. _Stick_

Quick Links

Spoiler

Cycle One: Zoom In
Cycle Two: Focus
Cycle Three: Shoot
Cycle Four: Crop
Cycle Five: Print
Aftermath: Frame

 

 

Edited February 15, 2023 by Devotary of Spontaneity

[Mat]

I'll be Marty Meeker, who holds a top column job despite having never lurnd to spel. 

[The Wandering Wizard]

I'll sign up as Jimmie Hesler, a journalist who ends up writing about cats instead of important events.

@TheHalcyonGirl, you wanted to join one of these right?

[The Unknown Ajah]

2 hours ago, Archer said:

comatose Epic

Snapshot is Reckoners (I haven't read it)?

In as Ethan "Echo" Elmer, a reporter with the Epic power to project his mind to hear and see anywhere he wishes. His weakness is getting pinched, which will shock his mind back and daze him for a time.

2 hours ago, Archer said:

-Favoured (Extra Life): Some important officials owe you for some secret work you have done for them in the past. You can call these in to shield yourself from public inquiry or to receive some extra police protection on your street. As an action, you may submit an order to survive one attack against you. You do not need to specify what kind, Public Reckoning or evil factional kill. Should you survive an attack, you are no longer able to use this ability. If it is unused, you retain the ability. 

-Selfless (Protect Another Player): You believe in building people up in your writing, even if they work for other networks. Your praise gives characters a boost in popularity that makes them hard to sneakily kill or publicly disparage. You may use your action to make another player survive an attack. You do not need to specify what kind, Public Reckoning or evil factional kill. Should someone survive an attack, you are no longer able to use this ability. If it is unused, you retain the ability. 

Are these retained if the target isn't attacked?

2 hours ago, Archer said:

Intentional Walk Rule: A player intentionally trying to reach a high number of PM posts may expediate the process by submitting an irrevocable request in their GM PM to have their message count immediately brought up by a given amount.

Why would a player wish to do this? Just for example.

[Turtle]

Can I have spec doc? I don’t think I’ll have time to play this but it seems super cool

[---]

terrible at roleplaying but the variable rollover is interesting. I'm in.

@Archer what is the method in which eod times are chosen?

Edited September 30, 2022 by Illwei

[Archer]

1 hour ago, The Unknown Novel said:

Snapshot is Reckoners (I haven't read it)?

In as Ethan "Echo" Elmer, a reporter with the Epic power to project his mind to hear and see anywhere he wishes. His weakness is getting pinched, which will shock his mind back and daze him for a time.

Are these retained if the target isn't attacked?

Why would a player wish to do this? Just for example.

It's a Reckonersverse novella, but it's the equivalent of an Agents of Shield story within Marvel's Avengers universe. But I'm cool with Epic PCs. 

You retain the ability if it doesn't activate. So if it's blocked, the target isn't attacked, or the target dies to another means beforehand (exed before they're NKed), you keep the ability. If two people protect the same target and only one is needed, I'd probably only have one person lose their power.

The only valid reason I can think of to use it is if you want to get to exactly 25 posts because you have a complete set of coins, but players come up with crazy plans all the time and I want to negate the need to spam my inbox if they do. :D. 

49 minutes ago, Turtle said:

Can I have spec doc? I don’t think I’ll have time to play this but it seems super cool

Sure! That reminds me I was going to invite @The Bookwyrm and @That1Cellist if they'd like to spectate or play. 

15 minutes ago, Illwei said:

 

@Archer what is the method in which eod times are chosen?

GM discretion. If I struggle with choosing a time impartially, it may be decided randomly, but that isn't the plan to start with. I'll put the designated end time in the spec doc at the start of each cycle.

[---]

Just now, Archer said:

GM discretion. If I struggle with choosing a time impartially, it may be decided randomly, but that isn't the plan to start with. I'll put the designated end time in the spec doc at the start of each cycle.

Okay because my concern is that it could come off as siding with a certain alignment if you decide it the day of since you will know how close either faction is to winning as well as the times they are most likely active.

[Archer]

Just now, Illwei said:

Okay because my concern is that it could come off as siding with a certain alignment if you decide it the day of since you will know how close either faction is to winning as well as the times they are most likely active.

That's a valid concern. Best case scenario is that people avoid saying when their ideal rollover times are, especially more than a cycle in advance. I'll talk to my IM about this to try and ensure it's impartial. 

[Shining Silhouette]

I'm in! I'll play as Sil, the illiterate exec who's really good at getting people to do their jobs

[The Unknown Ajah]

6 hours ago, Matrim's Dice said:

I'll be Marty Meeker, who holds a top column job despite having never lurnd to spel. 

Apparently he never learneng gramur eedur.

[Ookla of Colors]

I'll be Wilim, the actual ghost who lives in the printer. He watches all that occurs in the vicinities of his subjects, the reporters.

And occasionally pulls pranks.

Edited September 30, 2022 by Tani

[Conquestor]

I will join as Tommy, Son of Gun! He is a quick talker and even quicker witted, when you can understand him! 

[The Halcyon Girl]

I wanna spectate! If that’s all right!

[That1Cellist]

I need to spectate again. Hopefully I'll join a game soon!

[Araris Valerian]

@Archer, I'll be your IM for this game.

[xinoehp512]

Signing up.

[JNV]

Hi Ill play as Jenny Wise a new reporter trying to get a big score

[The Wandering Wizard]

@The Bookwyrm would you like to spectate or join this game?

[The Bookwyrm]

I think I'll spectate, if that's okay.

[---]

I'm actually going to back out of this for now

EDIT: just kidding no I'm not

Edited October 3, 2022 by Illwei

[Conquestor]

@Archer are we going to be told in the first cycle what roles are limited by certain cycles or will that only be told if you get that role? 

[Archer]

9 hours ago, Conquestor said:

@Archer are we going to be told in the first cycle what roles are limited by certain cycles or will that only be told if you get that role? 

This information will only be given out in GM PMs, to scanners, and upon a player’s death. There may also be duplicates with different restrictions. For example, the game may have all three of an Even, Odd, and unrestricted Investigative role.

[Just a Silvereye]

Can I spectate too? 

[danex]

i’d like to join as peter parker.