The Art of Game Creation

[Wyrmhero]

While I like the idea, Jaelre, I don't think it's quite as strong as it needs to be for a House Power. It used to be a part of the Tineye abilities in the previous games, and for the most part (aside from the awesome puzzles left there), it was just used to prove that you were a Tineye. So overall, it's not a massively useful ability in itself. I can see the value in leaving an anonymous message in a game of information like this, but it needs a little bit more, I think, before it becomes on par with the other abilities.

[jaelre]

Maybe, sending anonymous tweets that can be either public, or aimed at a specific target, i.e, a house, a handpicked group of players or a single one, the skaa. Maybe one random but specific power user.

 

Edit: It would be too similar to the informant then. Err.

Edited June 14, 2014 by jaelre

[Renegade]

The time has come...  An Emperor's Soul game must be Forged.

 

This is another Quick-Fix Game, which I might run in place of the other one I had planned.  I tried to keep its complexity down; there are only 3 roles in this game, 2 of which are on Team Evil.  The only complicated bit in this game are the several soulstamps (which are technically Essence Marks, but that doesn't sound as cool).  Some of the soulstamps are a bit more powerful than the abilities in many of the other games, due to the fact that creating a soulstamp puts you at a much greater risk of being killed.  If might not be as simple as the original Quick-Fix game, but I think it could be a lot of fun.

 

The Emperor’s Legacy

 

The 45^th Emperor of the Rose Empire has been killed, and it has been revealed that one of his arbiters is behind the plot, hoping to inherit his position.  The arbiter and a small team of Bloodsealers are trying to kill all opposition, so that they can ascend to the throne.  However, a team of skilled Forgers, furious at the recent events, will risk everything to find and kill the arbiter and the Bloodsealers, to restore order to the Rose Empire.

 

Roles and alignment will not be revealed upon death in this game.  The number of votes against each person will be revealed, but not who voted for each person.  PMs will only sometimes be allowed.  (See "Swiftness Soulstamp")

 

Forger: You have heard of your emperor’s death and have decided to use your knowledge of Forgery to stop the rogue arbiter and his Bloodsealers.  Once a day, you may create one soulstamp.  (See below)

 

Arbiter: You are the one who murdered the emperor.  There’s quite a large bounty on your head, but you have the ability to kill one player each day.  You also get to conspire with the Bloodsealers on a Google Doc.

 

Bloodsealer: You are one of the arbiter’s loyal henchmen.  Each day, you may choose to “track” a particular person.  If that person uses a soulstamp during the day, you kill them.  You can conspire with each other and the arbiter on a Google Doc.

 

Soulstamps:

 

Protective Soulstamp: Using this soulstamp allows you to become more resilient to attacks and abilities for the current day.  All actions and attacks used against you are blocked, other than Bloodsealer attacks (and the lynch).  It also blocks 1 lynch vote against you that day.

 

Lyrical Soulstamp: Using this soulstamp allows you to sound more convincing for the current day, allowing you to change the vote of 1 person.  Also, your vote counts as double that day.

 

Camouflage Soulstamp: Using this soulstamp allows you to become sneaky for the current day, enabling you to perceive the vote and action that a particular person performs this day, and who that action affects.

 

Swiftness Soulstamp: Using this soulstamp allows you to become swift, capable of sending messages to people.  For the following day (as long as you’re not dead) all players can send PMs to each other.

 

Warrior Soulstamp: Using this soulstamp allows you to become more aggressive for the current day, allowing you to kill one target. (This ability will only be added if enough people sign up.)

 

Order of Actions: 1 – Protective Soulstamps; 2 – Lyrical Soulstamps and Votes/Lynch; 3 – Bloodsealer attacks; 4 – Arbiter kill and Warrior Soulstamps; 5 – Camouflage and Swiftness Soulstamps

 

Win Conditions: The Forgers win if they kill the arbiter and Bloodsealers.  The arbiter and Bloodsealers win if they outnumber the Forgers.

Edited June 14, 2014 by Renegade

[A Joe in the Bush]

The Blood Sealer's ability, no way. That gives the Evil team kills equal to their members. It's like an Uber Roleblocker. And if the Arbiter dies, what happens? since he's the King, do the Bloodsealers lose?

[Renegade]

The Blood Sealer's ability, no way. That gives the Evil team kills equal to their members. It's like an Uber Roleblocker.

 

There's probably only going to be 2 or 3 Bloodsealers in the game, depending on how many people show up.  Also, it's a Quick-Fix game, so lots of people are supposed to die relatively quickly.  Either that, or the Forgers can just choose not to use their abilities.  Their abilities are more of a gamble than something to be used regularly.  If they choose not to use their abilities, the Bloodsealers will have to rely on voting and the arbiter to be able to kill them.  If some of them do use their abilities, the Bloodsealers can kill them, but the other Forgers that are still alive will have greater control on the game that cycle.

 

And if the Arbiter dies, what happens? since he's the King, do the Bloodsealers lose?

 

The Forgers won't know for sure whether or not they've killed the arbiter, so the Bloodsealers can still win, either through votes or the Forgers' abilities.

[Newan]

I had an idea that could be applied to pretty much any game.  I really like how some of the games are now including the rule, "If you go inactive for too long, you die."  The thing I worry about is, what if their role was really important?  That's why going inactive is so bad.  It hurts your team.  And killing inactives still hurts the team just as much.  So here's what I propose:

 

When someone goes inactive for too long, they die and their power is given to one of their vanilla teammates.  The GM announces that they died, and that their power has been passed to someone who had no power, but he does not announce what that power is, or who it went to.  

[little wilson]

I had an idea that could be applied to pretty much any game.  I really like how some of the games are now including the rule, "If you go inactive for too long, you die."  The thing I worry about is, what if their role was really important?  That's why going inactive is so bad.  It hurts your team.  And killing inactives still hurts the team just as much.  So here's what I propose:

 

When someone goes inactive for too long, they die and their power is given to one of their vanilla teammates.  The GM announces that they died, and that their power has been passed to someone who had no power, but he does not announce what that power is, or who it went to.  

 

That particular mechanic is for the games that are meant to run fast--just the Quick Fixes for now, but once we get the middle tier up, those will also have that mechanic. The longer games shouldn't be killing inactives.

[Kasimir]

Well, I'm finally trying my hand at a game. I'm still stuck at some places, so I'd be much obliged for comments and help. I've done a bit of a tweak of the rules, so while this is still an elimination game at the core, I've drawn on some of Avalon: The Resistance in order to add what I think is a pretty fun mechanic to this game. I'm especially uncertain about whether (given the way I've set it up), it's better suited for a Quick Fix or an actual game.

Roshar: The Eighth Desolation.

This is the Eighth Desolation and a group of the Knights Radiant have made camp. Unbeknownst to them, they have been infiltrated by a group of Voidbringers, seeking to take them out.

General Rules:

1. Abilities: At this point in time, I'm not inclined to put an upper limit to the number of abilities a player may use. There are three kinds of abilities in this game:
A. Day abilities (can only be used during the day, such as the Windrunner's ability to sacrifice himself in place of the lynch victim)
B. Night abilities (can only be used during the night, such as the Skybreaker's ability to detain a player)
C. Half-cycle abilities (can be used either during the day or the night; typically cannot be used until the next half-cycle of the same kind.)

2. Injuries: Injuries serve no purpose except to prevent the Windrunner and the Nightform Voidbringer from using their protective abilities unless the injury is healed/treated. Form-shifting does not remove injury.

3. Information: In the write-up, the breakdown of the votes will be revealed, as well as the tallies. Furthermore, allegiances will be revealed on the death of a player, but not their role. Write-ups will reveal if Words have been said, although they will be silent about who did it. On the death of the first Voidbringer, the write-up will announce that Stormform has been unlocked, but will not reveal if a Voidbringer has chosen to assume that form.

4. Actions: There are two kinds of actions:
A. Public actions: public actions require a PM to be sent to the GM and for the action to be declared in-thread. Voting, for instance, is a public action. (However, it is the only action that does not also require a PM to be sent.)
B. Private actions: private actions only require a PM to be sent to the GM.
Note: The PM abilities of the Bondsmith and the Mediationform Voidbringer are a special exception--if PMs are started in the day, they must be done so as a public action. Continuing PMs that have already been established does not count as a use of their ability and can therefore be done anytime.
Note 2: While the Everstorm itself can be summoned as a day or night action, who summoned the Everstorm will not be revealed.
Note 3: It will be made known if someone was successfully targeted by the Elsecaller's single-use Soulcast action, but the identity of both parties will be concealed.

5. The Everstorm: Stormform is a form assumed in desperation. As such, it comes with great power but at great loss. Among the Stormform Voidbringer's abilities is the power to summon the Everstorm. During an Everstorm, players can neither post in the thread, nor can they take any actions, unless they are Stormform Voidbringers or Windrunners. Elsecallers speaking to the highspren in Shadesmar do not have their action affected by the Everstorm.

Win conditions:
Knights Radiant: Eliminate all the Voidbringers.
Voidbringers: Eliminate all the Knights Radiant or assassinate the Truthwatcher.

Roles:

Knights Radiant:

Windrunner: As a Windrunner, you protect those who cannot protect themselves.

• Every night, the Windrunner can choose one person to be protected. That person cannot die that night. If that person is attacked, the Windrunner is injured in the process, and cannot protect again until healed by the use of Regrowth or the Words. [Night ability, private.]
• The Windrunner protects as long as it is right, no matter the cost to themselves. The Windrunner can choose one person who is about to be lynched and take their place. In doing so, the Windrunner dies. [Day ability, public.]

Lightweaver: As a Lightweaver, you are persuasive, inspiring people to be better than they are.

• Every day cycle, the Lightweaver can alter one vote. This includes changing a no-vote to a vote. [Day ability, private.]
• The Lightweaver can select one person and choose a new target for this person’s action to affect. (In effect, the Lightweaver has ‘persuaded’ this person to target someone else.) The Lightweaver cannot use this ability again until the next half-cycle of the same kind. [Half-cycle ability, private.]

Skybreaker: As a Skybreaker, you put the law before all else. As such, you have a powerful affinity for finding guilt and separating the guilty from the innocent.

• Every night, the Skybreaker can target one player in order to find out all actions, if any, that the player has undertaken that cycle. [Night ability, private.]
• Once a night, the Skybreaker can detain one player. During that night, no actions may be taken by the player. No actions may be taken against the player. [Night ability, private.]

Truthwatcher: As a Truthwatcher, you see evil. You begin the game knowing who all the Voidbringers are. You are not allowed to directly and blatantly communicate this knowledge in any way. (Eg. “X and Y and Z are Voidbringers,” is not allowed.) As you have access to Regrowth, you can survive 1 kill. There is only 1 Truthwatcher in the game.

Willshaper: As a Willshaper, you are erratic and unpredictable. However, you also know who the Truthwatcher is. What you will do with that knowledge, on the other hand… There is only 1 Willshaper in the game. As you are a Willshaper, your vote cannot be altered.

• Upon death, the Willshaper will be permitted to include one anonymous message to be posted by the GM in the write-up. [single-use ability, private.]

Elsecaller: As an Elsecaller, you are the undisputed master of Shadesmar.

• Once every full cycle, the Elsecaller may enter Shadesmar to speak with the highspren. The highspren will answer one yes-no question. Doing so prevents the Elsecaller from being protected from attack, or from taking any other action for the full cycle, inclusive of voting. Other actions may still target the Elsecaller. [Half-cycle ability, private.]
• Once every night, the Elsecaller may enter Shadesmar. This prevents them from being targeted. (*Use of Ability 1 precludes this.) [Night ability, private.]

Edgedancer: As an Edgedancer, you are awesome. Because of your awesomeness, you can survive one attack directed at yourself.

• Every night, the Edgedancer can choose one person to use Regrowth on. This heals any injuries they might have. [Night ability, private.]
• The Edgedancer can choose to use Regrowth to cause vines to bind a person. If used in the day, this prevents a player from voting. If used at night, this prevents a player from taking any action. This ability cannot be used again until the next half-cycle of the same kind. [Half-cycle ability, private.]

Bondsmith: As a Bondsmith, your duty is to bring men together and unite them. To that end, you have the power to send 2 PMs a cycle to other players. The GM must be included in all PMs. Upon your death, the PMs must be deleted. In addition, you are the unifying force behind the disparate orders of the Knights Radiant. As such, your vote counts for double.

Squire: You are squire to a Knight Radiant. While you do not have any powers, your loyalty to the Knights Radiant is beyond doubt. Indeed, in these dark times, perhaps it will fall to you to do what the Knights Radiants cannot...Every night, you can send in a vote to the GM on a Radiant you would like to protect. The Radiant with the most number of votes for them has a vote removed from any votes against them the next day. [Night ability, private.]

Voidbringers

The Voidbringers know who each other are and get access to a doc on which they can conspire. In addition, they can make one group kill each night. Lastly, unlike the Radiants, they can choose a different form to change to every night. This, however, precludes all other night actions.

Smokeform: In smokeform, you are best at infiltration and hiding. All attempts to detect your actions or allegiances will appear to be role-blocked. In addition, the highspren cannot detect or reveal your presence, nor can Lightweavers alter your vote. A Voidbringer in smokeform cannot be Soulcast.

• You can target one player to shield. If you do so during the day, then that player’s vote cannot be altered. If you do so during the night, that player’s actions cannot be affected. Neither can the player’s actions be discovered. This ability cannot be used again until the next half-cycle of the same kind. [Half-cycle ability, private.]

Scholarform: In scholarform, you hunger for hidden knowledge.

• Once every night, you may choose to study any player. Doing so reveals their actions for the cycle to you. [Night ability, private.]
• Your knowledge allows you to treat injuries. Once every night, you may target one player and heal their injuries. [Night ability, private.]

Stormform: In stormform, you are attuned to the highstorms. This form is only unlocked with the death of a Voidbringer. The number of Voidbringers who can assume stormform is directly equal to the number of dead Voidbringers. In addition, Voidbringers who assume stormform are no longer able to switch forms.

• Summon the Everstorm. The Everstorm lasts one full cycle. During the Everstorm, no one may take any actions except for Voidbringers in stormform, the Windrunners, and Elsecallers in Shadesmar. This action has a 2* cycle cooldown, for the Voidbringers as a group. [Night ability.]
• A Voidbringer in stormform may make one additional kill every night. This kill cannot be role-blocked. However, the Edgedancer's Word-granted ability can save the target. [Night ability, private.]

Nightform: In nightform, your prerecognitive abilities allow you to survive an attack on yourself once.

• Every night cycle, you can choose one player to protect, using the advantage given to you by your predictive abilities. That person cannot die that night. If that person is attacked, you are injured in the process, and cannot protect again until your injury is treated. Switching forms does not remove your injury. [Night ability, private.]

Mediationform: In mediationform, your persuasive capacities rival that of a Lightweaver’s.

• Every day cycle, a Voidbringer in mediationform can alter one vote. This includes changing a no-vote to a vote. [Day ability, private.]
• A Voidbringer in mediationform can create and send 2 PMs a cycle to other players. These PMs must include the GM. Upon shifting from mediationform, existing PMs remain, but no new PMs may be created.

The Words:

Any Knight Radiant, except for the Willshaper and the Truthwatcher may say the Words. This action can only take place once. In addition, only one from each Order at any given time may say the Words. Doing so heals the Knight Radiant from any injury and grants them an additional ability. However, this also comes with costs. The Words must be PMed to the GM, precluding any other night actions. If declared during the day, it must be done publicly, while the Radiant forgoes their vote. If the GM does not respond with “These words are accepted,” the Radiant has not succeeded in their attempt. If more than one player from an Order attempts to speak the Words, the GM will roll a die to determine which player is successful. Furthermore, upon successfully speaking the Words, the Radiant is now subject to weaknesses.

Windrunner: Gains the use of a Shardblade, and may now make a kill once a night. However, you cannot take part in a mislynch, or kill an innocent player. Doing so breaks your oaths and destroys your bond with your spren, stripping you of your powers. [Night ability, private.]

Lightweaver: Your control over Illumination now increases. Every night, you may select one player and choose how that player will appear to another. (E.g. Lightweaver chooses that the Windrunner appears on all scans to be a Skybreaker detaining somebody for the course of that night.) You can lie no more than thrice about your role and abilities. Doing so breaks your oaths and destroys your bond with your spren, stripping you of your powers. [Night ability, private.]

Skybreaker: Gains the use of a Shardblade, and may now make a kill once a night. As you put the law before all else, you cannot kill or lynch a player you have not personally investigated (with the use of your investigation ability.) Failing to do so breaks your oaths and destroys your bond with your spren, stripping you of your powers. [Night ability, private.]

Elsecaller: Gains the single-time use ability to convert a player to your team. The target loses all abilities and becomes a Squire. Friendly fire is possible. As such a Soulcast requires an immense amount of Stormlight, you effectively lose the ability to use your powers for the rest of the game. Every two cycles, you must make a post referencing Shadesmar. Failing to do so breaks your oaths and destroys your bond with your spren, stripping you of your powers. [Night ability.]

Edgedancer: Gains the single-time use ability to save a player from death. Every night, you will be notified of the people who are going to die 12 hours before the night ends. You are not allowed to communicate this to another player. You can choose to save any one of them. This ability can be used on yourself or on the target of a Stormform kill. (Once the ability has been used, you no longer know who is going to die that night.) Every cycle, you must make a post commemorating one of the fallen players with at least 100 words. Failing to do so breaks your oaths and destroys your bond with your spren, stripping you of your powers.

Bondsmith: Gains the single-time use ability to protect a player from being lynched. Any votes directed towards the player will be nullified. Voting to lynch someone you are in a PM group with breaks your oaths and destroys your bond with your spren, stripping you of your powers.

Edited June 26, 2014 by Kasimir

[Tulir]

It looks pretty good, however, you need to decide whether it will be Quick Fix or not, as there are some things in the rules that are a bit ambiguous about what it will be.

[Kasimir]

Tulir, on 16 Jun 2014 - 04:50 AM, said:

It looks pretty good, however, you need to decide whether it will be Quick Fix or not, as there are some things in the rules that are a bit ambiguous about what it will be.

Could I clarify if the some things are mostly the issues with the Truthwatcher, or...? I'm honestly struggling to figure which the game is more suited for and then to make adjustments so it properly fits the category. I'd gladly welcome advice in that regard :/ Given the issue with the Truthwatcher, I feel it seems a bit dishonest to run it as a full game (given if he snuffs it really fast, the game ends.) At the same time, this could also drag out more than a Quick Fix, given no one has immediate access to more than one kill ability at the beginning.

If I were forced to pick, at the moment, I would say it'd go into the potentially-quicker end of a full game. Honestly, if Wilson is serious about a middle tier coming up eventually, I'd say this is potentially a middle-tier sort of game. I've built in a lot of brakes to slow down some usual strategies (e.g. informational lynch), while at the same time, the dynamics of Stormform means that the Eliminators get a lot of killing power towards endgame, so things go a lot faster towards that stage. And the presence of the Truthwatcher and the Willshaper means that the Eliminator team now has an incentive to encourage discussion as well, because they want to figure out who the Truthwatcher is.

Edited June 15, 2014 by Kasimir

[jaelre]

You just inaugurated the new in-the-middle category?

[Tulir]

Sorry, looked through it again and realized most of my confusion was the fact that the majority of abilities could be used during the day or night cycles.  Giving the Voidbringers a win condition of killing the Truthwatcher is good, but I feel like maybe giving the Truthwatcher an extra live beyond what it currently has would balance it out a bit more.  Maybe base the number of lives of the number of people playing or something like that.

[little wilson]

He's actually not the first. The vast majority of people who've posted games recently have been Mid-Range games--that's likely going to be the name of them, although we're still talking about the exact definition of each game. We'll get it up for you guys as soon as we work everything out.

 

But if you think your game is Mid-Range, Khas, that's what I'll put it down for. I haven't looked really closely at it yet, but off-the-cuff, I would've said a longer run. However, if you think it's got some stuff in there to speed up the game play, I'll take your word for it on that and place it there on my spreadsheet.

[Kasimir]

Tulir, on 16 Jun 2014 - 05:25 AM, said:

Sorry, looked through it again and realized most of my confusion was the fact that the majority of abilities could be used during the day or night cycles. Giving the Voidbringers a win condition of killing the Truthwatcher is good, but I feel like maybe giving the Truthwatcher an extra live beyond what it currently has would balance it out a bit more. Maybe base the number of lives of the number of people playing or something like that.

I thought of doing so, but here's the thing I'm worried about: the Truthwatcher role is an informational role, which means he's in a position of great power. At the moment, the only thing stopping him from declaring his role and listing the players he 'finds suspicious' from Day One is the threat of Stormform taking him down (and the fact he would pretty much kill the game.) The presence of the Willshaper is meant to serve as some degree of protection for the Truthwatcher, though this is not guaranteed. I realise this may be sounding like a bit of a railroad, but my intention was to balance out the Truthwatcher's immense position of informational power with fragility, meaning he has to really be circumspect about how he dispenses his knowledge. I felt giving him extra lives seemed to detract from this incentive. (Particularly as the game starts off with just 1 kill in circulation, which means if there's a crowd of about 25+ players, the odds of hitting him the first night are very small.) At the same time, I'm considering giving the Willshaper a single-use ability to take an attack for the Truthwatcher, but Wyrm wisely pointed out this shoehorns the Willshaper into a tight corner, and I don't want to put restrictions in that basically remove player choice. That's not fun

little wilson, on 16 Jun 2014 - 05:25 AM, said:

He's actually not the first. The vast majority of people who've posted games recently have been Mid-Range games--that's likely going to be the name of them, although we're still talking about the exact definition of each game. We'll get it up for you guys as soon as we work everything out.

But if you think your game is Mid-Range, Khas, that's what I'll put it down for. I haven't looked really closely at it yet, but off-the-cuff, I would've said a longer run. However, if you think it's got some stuff in there to speed up the game play, I'll take your word for it on that and place it there on my spreadsheet.

Wilson: I'm honestly not so sure about what this could count as, so I'd defer to your judgement. If you think this would make for a longer run, I'd go with it. Edited June 15, 2014 by Kasimir

[little wilson]

Wilson: I'm honestly not so sure about what this could count as, so I'd defer to your judgement. If you think this would make for a longer run, I'd go with it.

 

Hm.....Having taken a closer look at it, it could go either way, with a little tweaking. However, I think it'll be more fun to run it as a longer game. Assuming you have the time to do so, that's what I'd suggest. 

[Kasimir]

Hm.....Having taken a closer look at it, it could go either way, with a little tweaking. However, I think it'll be more fun to run it as a longer game. Assuming you have the time to do so, that's what I'd suggest.

Alright, then I'm fine with the longer classification I'll make more rule-tweaks then eventually apply to run it.

[Kasimir]

This is less of a full-fledged game than a mechanic I'm struggling to figure how to incorporate into an Elimination game set on Threnody. There may be spoilers for people who haven't read Shadows for Silence, so despite these being just scattered ideas, I'm going to put them under a spoiler tag. At the moment, I'm pitching it for a Quick-Fix, because of the kill count, although I might throw one or two more brakes into the process.

So far, the rule-set I've been working on is for your standard game, with two factions, Travellers (Village) and the Criminals (Spiked.)

Except that I'm throwing in a third faction: the Shades. The general idea is that everytime a player dies, there is a certain % chance (25%, at the moment) that instead of ending up in the dead doc, they find themselves the member of a new third faction: the Shades. Shades get only one group kill, which has to be made by picking out a hitman, and then the target. To implement one of the Simple Rules, Shades can only kill on a night (there's no day-night separation, I just named it 'night' for atmosphere ) on which a kill has been made. Currently, I'm struggling to figure how to balance this, so here are just some scattered thoughts:

-Silver. I'm making it (as on Threnody) a rare commodity. The total amount of silver in the game will decrease over time, sometimes changing hands. Silver can be expended to protect from a Shade's attack or to kill a Shade.

-Shades' night kill: I don't know if (as in the book), I should increase the % chance that a Shade's victim will become a Shade themselves.

-Votes: on one hand, I want to balance this by not allowing Shades to vote, possibly even speak. On the other hand, it seems that I'm having difficulty offering the village a decent chance at picking out who the Shades are. I could get around this by obscuring lynch results, but then this creates problems when the village wants to be able to determine who the spiked are.

-One thought that I've had is that I could ignore the quick fix (?) and bring this up to a full game. In which case, there are (not that many but they exist) opportunities to earn/get silver, in order to balance out the problem of a Shade population.

-Win condition. At this point, I'm not sure if I want to have the Shade win condition be to outnumber the living, because it occurs to me that it seems all Shades really have to do is to sit back and let the village and the spiked cut each others' throats, and allow the deaths to add to their ranks. Eventually, they'll naturally outnumber the others. Having a win condition be killing all the living players, on the other hand, seems to be a more tenable option.

Thoughts? I'd really appreciate some help as I've been thinking about this for quite a bit with no real success/progress.

Edited June 25, 2014 by Kasimir

[Herowannabe]

My advice Kasimir:

Don't let the shades vote (it doesn't really make sense) and don't give the shades a win condition at all. Or if anything keep each individual shade's win condition the same as when they were alive- actually I really like that. It fits with Silence's grandmother in the book. Plus then in creates a fun dynamic where the shades are actually wrangling with each other to achieve their own goals.

So to make it clear: when people die they have a chance of becoming a shade. Shades do not join the dead doc, and it IS publicly made known that the person has become a shade. Shades cannot vote or post in the main thread. They do get a group kill, determined by voting amongst themselves (likely in a group PM for shades-only).

Overall, great idea.

EDIT: to be clear, it was your idea I was complimenting, not mine.

Edited June 26, 2014 by Herowannabe

[Kasimir]

Hero, thank you for the advice. I'll look at how I can run with it

 

Immediately at least, I'm somewhat twitchy about the idea of having Shades keep their initial win conditions and then do a group PM kill because while I can see how it'll interestingly pit players against each other, I also admit that I'm kind of leery of this kind of dynamic based on my experience of how the ghost tweet worked in the dead doc in QF2. But thank you; I'll look at how I can incoorporate it into the game I'm working on. Every bit of help I've gotten so far is both very useful, and very much appreciated!

[A Joe in the Bush]

Hello everyone. Your next Quick Fix Gm here. Once Meta's done with his Pirate adventure, I'll be hosting the next game, which can be found Here.

 

However, I need some help regarding the PM's. Should there be an ability that allows them for specific people (Spanreed), or everyone (Tineye), or Should Pm's simply be Always/Never Open?

 

Any other advice would be appreciated.

[Aonar]

Well, the Researcher role needs some way to privately tell other people what he's learned, so at the very least he needs to be able to send PMs. However, one wrong move on his part (or a really lucky one on Hoid's part) would reveal him that way, so you'll either need to let everyone send PMs, or make a new role, so that the Researcher isn't too obvious. 

 

You could run it with no PMs, but that would make things rather difficult for the Researchers/Team Good. Anyone who starts making guesses that are a little too good is going to come under fire from Hoid and his Converts, so the Researcher would have to play so carefully they may as well be useless, unless they get incredibly lucky.  

[Metacognition]

I don't know. The idea that the Researchers have to play it safe as well (due to no PMs) is a lot of fun! I recently had to do that in another game and trying to point fingers at someone while playing it off as a hunch is surprisingly entertaining! ...Until the entire thread turns on you....   Still fun, but grrrr.... 

 

I could easily see this being run with no PMs, but I think limited PMs (probably on people that aren't the Researchers as to make it interesting) could make for some interesting situations. 

 

I think the group kill plus the conversions might be a bit much though. That's a hard nut to crack without something equally powerful on the other side. You're talking about 3 "deaths" per cycle (one from vote, conversion, and group kill) after the first cycle and that's not even counting the Renegade. Considering this is a QF, I'd make it so Hoid has to decide on conversion or using a power. If not that, then I don't think they need a group kill. Let people keep their roles on conversion to make things complicated, but unless Hoid converts the Renegade, they have to just overpower in the votes. 

Just something to think about. Having multiple scanners does help balance it a bit, but I think the number of players that will die each turn with the way it is now will keep them from being too effective as is. You've made an incredibly complex game while working within the confines of a QF! It will be interesting how if plays out no matter how you choose!

[little wilson]

I think the group kill plus the conversions might be a bit much though. That's a hard nut to crack without something equally powerful on the other side. You're talking about 3 "deaths" per cycle (one from vote, conversion, and group kill) after the first cycle and that's not even counting the Renegade. Considering this is a QF, I'd make it so Hoid has to decide on conversion or using a power. If not that, then I don't think they need a group kill. Let people keep their roles on conversion to make things complicated, but unless Hoid converts the Renegade, they have to just overpower in the votes. 

 

I'm going to have to partially disagree with this, at least in terms of the number of deaths/conversions per cycle. Where this is a QF, that's the point. A lot of deaths per cycle. It's one of the biggest factors to the fast-paced nature of the game. When I first saw this game, it was before the Renegade was in, and my first reaction was that the conversions prolong the game and make it more of a Mid-Range than a Quick Fix, despite the simplicity of the game. However, with the Renegade, the group kill, and the conversions, it's got the fast-paced nature the QF needs.

 

That said, I agree with Meta that Hoid should have to decide between using his power and converting. I would also suggest that unless one of his powers is a killing power, he cannot kill. The group kill is specifically a thing for his converts. That will lower the number of kills possible on the first day, but still keep the game fast-paced enough.

 

As for PM's, I like the idea of limited, but giving the ability to the Researchers themselves makes them a little too powerful, despite having to be careful about how they use it. What if there's a role sort of like the Willshaper in Khas' game? A role who can send PMs and they start the game knowing the identity of one of the Researchers (so there'd be 2-3 of these roles, one per Researcher). Then they'd still have to be careful who they contact, since if they die before they get into contact with another Researcher, their Researcher is all alone. If you go with that idea, though, you'll want to restrict the PM's even more, maybe like the Spanreeds  were. 1 reply to every PM from the person.

 

On the flip side, it could be interesting without PM's at all. But that would make it significantly harder for Team Good. Not impossible, but just much harder.

[A Joe in the Bush]

@Wilson: That's what I was thinking with Hoid. Only the Hoidbringers get a group Kill, Hoid can't participate in that. 

 

As for PM's, I think I'll stick with a role for them. Having them be able to start PM's with anyone. The problem with this, is that eventually, It would be too easy to confirm who's innocent. Maybe make it that the PM People don't lose their roles on Conversion? But don't start knowing the Researchers?

 

Random Naming Rant

Though I don't know what I should call them. All the other roles are based off of confirmed Sharders. Terris Nurse=Nurse from Warbreaker. Researcher=K_____ from White Sand Prime. The Renegade is B___ from the same novel. The Wit is Hoid, obviously. The Hoidbringers are, well. Whatever.

 

I suppose the PM's could be based off Galladon, but what would they be called? The Sule?

 

Edited July 3, 2014 by The Only Joe

[Herowannabe]

Call them the Letter-bearer? I mean, if Hoid and whoever the other person is are able to write letters to each other in the SA epigraphs, then there has to be some way of delivering said letters.