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The Art of Game Creation


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 If all Metallurgists are killed, then Allomancers can only burn any vials they have on their person.

Are the allomancers allowed to pass the metals they get but can't use to another? or are those extra vials wasted?

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Is everything randomly determined? Including the Hemalurgist's two powers?

 

Not quite sure on that one yet. I'd likely hand-pick the Spiked team based on what powers I thought they should have, and I might hand-pick the Hemalurgist's 2 powers, to avoid unbalancing it. Alternatively, another thought I had was that the Hemalurgist could start with one power, and pick up powers from any Allomancers they kill.

 

Are the allomancers allowed to pass the metals they get but can't use to another? or are those extra vials wasted?

 

That's another one I'm undecided on. I've thought about letting them pass vials on, but I want a way to do that without making Metallurgists useless after a period of time.

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@Seonid: one quick suggestion: give the Mistings more than one vial to start with, like say 3 or 4. It balances them out a bit with the Mistborn and Hemallurgist, because they won't have to worry about getting metals very often. If you're worried about that making it too easy to have and use vials, limit the number of metallurgists and/or the availability of metal vials.

Also, you'll need to work out how metal vials work with some of the passive roles, like Pewter and Tin.

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Not quite the game I was planning to write up this morning, but I'm halfway through writing that one up and I'm at Uni, so I might as well write up the other idea. This one is brought to you by 3AM in the morning, which is according to my friend, 'the best time to plan Mafia games'. This one's non-Sanderson, but I have a feeling that a large number of you will recognise the setting :P. For those that do not, it is Magic: The Gathering.

Ravnica, The City of Guilds (MR)

The world of Ravnica is littered with concrete buildings and urbanisation. The entire Plane is covered with the city which shares its name. This is only possible thanks to the Guildpact, a magical contract formed 10,000 years ago which defined how Ravnica would be run. Nine Guilds oversee control of the city, and life has continued efficently and, for the most part, peacefully, thanks to this division. But there are whispers of Dissension amongst the people, both Guilded and Guildless alike. Something is changing, and its up to the Guilds to figure out what that is, before it overtakes them all and shatters this peace.

General Rules
While this is a standard setting, there is one main difference to take note of. Ravnica is a loud city, and it can often be hard to organise people in any specific direction - and even then, half will complain about where they're going, and the other half will complain about how they're getting there. As such, a consensus is needed when it comes to important decisions, and enough people must be asked in order for it to be democratic. A lynch cannot happen unless half the players (rounded down) vote. Guilds are not revealed upon death.

Guilds
Most players will belong to one Guild or another, and as people prove themselves worthy and others are shuffled off this mortal coil in the ensuring chaos, there are opportunities for other people to step up and be Guilded. At the start of each Cycle, a Guildless player at random will be chosen to be advanced into a position in a random Guild. I've included the Colours for the Guilds, in case anyone wants to look more into MtG's system.

  • The Azorius Senate (WU) - The beaurocrats of Ravnica, they oversee the creation of laws for the Guilds and the people to obey.The Azorius employ Archons to help keep the peace and draft new rules. Each Cycle, they may target a player to get their vote lost somewhere in the wrong paperwork, changing their vote to be on a player of the Azorius' player's choice. House Dimir (UB) does not exist.
  • The Boros Legion (RW) - The counterpart to the lawmakers, the Boros are the lawmen, discovering crimes and punishing the offenders in a rather heavy-handed manner. Most Angels belong to the Boros. Each Cycle, they may target a living player and prevent them from taking any Actions that Cycle. House Dimir has never existed, by the laws of the Guildpact.
  • The Golgari Swarm (BG) - The Golgari fulfil the less pleasant needs of the city. They are the morticians and gravediggers of the city, as well as the farmers. Sadly, some people can't see this past the necromancy and the Liches. Each Cycle, they may target a dead player to learn their Guild, if any. The Dimir are hidden by the powers of the Guildpact.
  • The Gruul Clans (RG) - The Gruul ensure that some parts of Ravnica remain green and beautiful. While they tend to be brutish, they are also firm defenders of parks and their Centaurs are put to great use as park wardens and huntsmen. Gruul members are tough and difficult to kill, surviving the first death inflicted upon them. The Dimir are the thieves and assassins of Ravnica.
  • The Izzet League (UR) - The Izzet are thinkers and tinkerers, playing with science and engineering for the benefit of the city. Their most notable strange creature is the Weird, a plasma of magic and energy formed from experiments. At the beginning of each Cycle, Izzet players are granted one random Guild power for the duration of that Cycle. Even thoughts are not safe, thanks to their Vampires.
  • The Orzhov Syndicate (WB) - The Orzhov are both the religious leaders of Ravnica, as well as the merchants and bankers - And the number of Spirits they have in their employ suggests quite heavily that a soul is not absolved of all debts in death. At the end of each Cycle, the dead may speak to their Orzhov representatives, in the form of a short message given by the GM, five words per dead player. The Dimir hide within other Guilds and the Guildless, and have their abilities.
  • The Cult of Rakdos (BR) - The Rakdos own the entertainment in Ravnica, from food to music to less pleasant matters. They attract all kinds of hedonist, so it's no surprise that Demons and Devils tend to claim it as their Guild. Each Cycle, a Rakdos player may target a player for death. They do not like the Guildpact, as people cannot even acknowledge their Guild's existance.
  • The Selesnya Conclave (GW) - The Selesnya provide the backbone of both the community and the Guildpact itself with their magic. Their Dryad leader's magic allows them to speak to one-another without words. All Selesnya players know of each other. As long as one Selesnya player is still alive, PMs may be sent between players. Dimir players have a private doc to discuss in.
  • The Simic Combine (GU) - The Simic are biologists, the counterpart to the Izzet's physical experimentation. They have their own strange creatures - shapeless Oozes that were once people. Each Cycle, the Simic may target a player and save them from being killed that Cycle, except by the lynch. As a group, the Dimir may kill one person each Cycle as an Action.
  • The Guildless - You have no Guild yet, but you hope to be employed by one at some point soon. Each Cycle, there is a chance for you to be elevated to a membership permission and attain all the benefits that come from that. The Dimir win if they outnumber the Guilded. They lose if they all die.
Edited by Wyrmhero
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And now for the actual game I was intending to post today.

Mistrun: In Search of Ruin (LG)

Sixty-seven years ago, Wyran Heron was born, and The Third World of Scadrial died.

Nine others were born later that same year. Whether planned by Harmony or not, or perhaps even lingering elements of The Set, ten children were born with great and terrible strengths, each both Allomantically and Feruchemically complete. With powers bordering on the divine, they carved the world up between them through feats of manipulation and cunning and strength. Ten Lord Rulers, with ten Final empires to rule; the Megacorporations of Scadrial.

Now the Megacorporations control almost everything. To keep the peace between them and maintain control, each holds a monopoly on some vital aspect of life - food, metals, and so on. Their power is so great that they are even considered to be sovereign countries in their own rights, with none willing to oppose them for fear of their lives being destroyed by the vindictive companies. Those who work for a Megacorp are guaranteed a safe and comfortable life within the family, 'from cradle to grave'. Those that do not, however, are cast to the wayside. They are the Skaa of the Fourth World.

But with great power comes great paranoia. Compounding is no longer a secret for the common people, and even Hemalurgy is known of in both the darkest and the brightest parts of the world. There is one thing they fear more than each other - That more of their kind would grow to oppose them, or worse, all the people of the world become gods like them. From this fear grew the Hemalurgically Identified Spirit System. The HISS was designed to track everyone unique via small computerised chips embedded in the skin, acting as spikes to observe and ensure that people did not engage in Hemalurgy. This was not the reason they gave, of course; HISSes are used for every aspect of daily life, including employment, banking and even accessing The Cognitive Matrix.

For one reason or another, you despise the Megacorporations enough to be HISSless, one of the forgotten people of the world. What is there for you to do but live in the underworld? But you have less savoury talents than most. You are employed as a Mistrunner, a person employed by the wealthy elite, other Mistrunners, or even sometimes other Megacorporations, for seedy purposes. In your time, you might have been a part of bodyguarding duties, 'retrieving' valuable goods, or even the dangerous task of breaking into and hacking Megacorporation assets. But like the Skaa Rebellion in the tales, you know that it is futile.

There are whispers of change on the wind, however. You have a new benefactor, Feis Yolen, a man whom it is rumoured belongs to the most secretive and powerful Mistrunner group in the world - The Seventeenth Shard. And he thinks big. By bringing together representatives from a large number of Mistrunner crews, he hopes to emulate the Survivor himself - Destabilise the establishment, and create a war between the Megacorporations. Then, while they're distracted, he wants to steal the atium that keeps them young and ensures their dominance over the world for many years to come. To that end, they must break into their secure facilities and steal data until they find the location they keep it and the location of the source.

But with so many teams in one place, it is inevitable that some will be compromised. The job cannot wait though. The longer it takes, the more likely that the Megacorporations will tighten their hold on the world and kill more Mistrunner crews. The risks are high, but the rewards are greater still.

You signed your crew onto this mission because you have a dream of a world without the tyranny of the Megacorporations, and you will go to any lengths to realise it. No matter the cost, you will be free - in this life, or the next.


Setting

This game builds on my previous game idea, also titled 'Mistrun'. These take place in the same universe, and can be considered to be sequels/prequels to each other, depending on which gets run first. This game is also based on the Shadowrun universe, story-wise, but the mechanics are derived from Resistance.

 

General Rules
While the game for the most part runs as a standard Long Game, there is one important addition: Between the Day and Night Turns, there is also a Planning Turn, based on the Resistance game.

The Day Turn is the same as normal and lasts 48 hours. A vote will be taken and a player lynched.

During the Planning Turn, one player chosen at random and publicly known must assemble a team from the living players and inform the GM of their choice in private via their game PM. The Planning Turn lasts 24 hours. If no team is chosen, then the planner is lynched for indecision. The planner does not have to go on the mission. While I will accept Night Actions during the Planning Turn, note that it could be invalidated by the choice of players on the mission.

The Night Turn also lasts 24 hours, and for most people is the same as normal. At the start of the mission, the players on the mission will be publicly stated. Players who are on the mission cannot post in the thread, or use or be affected by actions. They must each message the GM via their game PM, informing them of whether they want the mission to succeed or not. If at least one player votes 'no', then the mission fails, and a random loyal crewmember on the mission dies. The players will be informed that the mission failed, but not how many 'no' votes there were, or how people voted. A Loyalist who does not inform the GM will be treated as a failure vote, but they will be the one to die rather than one chosen at random. A Traitor who doesn't inform the GM is treated as a success vote.

Eliminators
Traitorous crewmembers know the identity of their allies automatically. Each Night, one of them may inform the GM of a player that they wish to kill. If multiple players are chosen, then the first player who sent the PM will carry out the kill. The Eliminators win if they either outnumber the crew, or the crew do not have enough players left to carry out a mission. The Eliminators lose if they all die.

Specialisations
Unlike previous games, your Roles are not based on your character's abilities - Your character may be completely disparate from the specialisation of their crew, so feel free to pick whatever Allomantic/Feruchemical power(s) you want.

  • Communications - Your crew is one of the best when it comes to making connections between people in the field. While there is still one Communications Specialist still alive, players may send PMs to each other during the Day and Planning Turns. No PMs may be sent during the Night. As a Night Action, you may also either send an anonymous message to another player through the GM, or send a message to the GM to post in the write-up.
  • Medical - Your crew has an extensive knowledge of healing and surgery, and combined with the advancements 'procured' from Megacorp installations, you can patch anyone up almost instantly. As a Night Action, you may target yourself or another player and save them from death if they would die that Night.
  • Fast Talking - Your crew works best with people, manipulating and misdirecting them into thinking that they want to give you what you want without them ever realising. As a Night Action, you may target a player and... persuade them to see things your way the next day. That player's vote will change to be on another player of your choice. This choice is made during the Day. This change will be reflected in the number of votes in the writeup, but the player will still appear to have voted for their original choice.
  • Temporal Displacement - Your crew consists of many, many Pulsers and Sliders, able to subtly change the flow of time in miniscule ways around people here and there. You may target two players at once each Night Turn. The first will have his action copied onto the second in addition to any other targets it may have. They will be informed of this and the results of both their actions. If a kill is copied in this way, they will be written as separate events in the writeup.
  • Assassinations - You're the best at what you do, and what you do isn't very nice. Death is a form of art for you, and you take it very seriously. Each Night, you may target any number of players and take out the key players in their Crew, killing that player. However, if you happen to target an innocent with these attacks, not only will your action be negated, but you will lose this ability and become a non-specialist Crew.
  • Hacking - Your crew is good at sniffing out hidden information, no matter where it may be. Each Night, you may invade Heron IndustriesTM' computers and discover target player's Alignment.
  • Data Gathering - Your people have so much information at your fingertips. The problem is just finding it, which will take quite some time. Each Night, you may discover target player's Specialisation.
  • False Trails - Your crew is extremely good at covering tracks - both its own, and those of others. Each Night Cycle, you may target yourself and another player, hiding your Alignment and Role during the next Cycle.
  • Non-Specialist - You provide the brute force (or brute intelligence, as it may be) for the job. While you may not provide a specific strength, your versatility allows you to contribute particularly well to missions.

I wouldn't mind possibly a few more Roles with this, but otherwise I'm happy. A friend mentioned Temporal Displacement and Assassinations' mechanics being used in one of his games a few days ago, and I was rather excited to add them to one of mine when I could.

Edited by Wyrmhero
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on the topic of the MtG game, is it just everyone else vs. the dimir or is there supposed to be some confilct between guilds?

 

Solely everyone vs. Dimir, unless there are a lot of players. There aren't meant to be more than one or two per Guild in this version at the moment. The conflict is meant to mimic the original Ravnica plotline (but only the first part. No other Guilds are Eliminators here). Originally, I was just going to have the other nine Guilds, and not even mention the Dimir, and have them as a 'secret' faction, but I felt that it might be cruel for the people who don't know how Ravnica originally worked and couldn't guess at their existence. So instead, the info is just hidden.

Edited by Wyrmhero
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Alcatraz style elimination:

 

NOTES: This would need to be run by somebody with moderation rights. I tried to keep it simple as I feel the rules for recent games have started becoming unnecessarily complex. 

 

Librarians: The 'eliminators' in this game. They kill someone each night cycle. As the eliminators control the information, they can request at any time that any post in thread be hidden, which the GM will take care of next time he/she was online. If there is a vote in that post, it still counts.

 

Talents:

Bad dancing: your dancing is so bad, it's lethal. Once per night cycle, you can pick someone to kill.

 

Arriving late: If you would die, you get one cycle to get your affairs in order before you die. This is announced to everyone.

 

Speaking nonsense: If you listen closely to your nonsense, there are clues in it. Once per cycle, you can chose someone and learn their role.

 

Breaking things: Every day cycle, you can choose to prevent the lynch by breaking the tool the villagers are using to kill the person voted for. The rope will break, the electric chair will malfunction etc. This is a "villager only" role. This ability can only be used twice.

 

 

Not sure how well this would work, but I feel the librarians ability would take the whole "battle for information" to the next level. Maybe I should limit how many posts they can hide per cycle?

Edited by jasonpenguin
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As the eliminators control the information, they can request at any time that any post in thread be hidden,

 

Not sure how well this would work, but I feel the librarians ability would take the whole "battle for information" to the next level. Maybe I should limit how many posts they can hide per cycle?

 

Bahaha! Yeah, if the rule went through as is in the game, if I were the Librarians, I would just censor the storm out of the thread, and hide every single post! :ph34r:

And I'm not sure if that'd be allowed for a game or not anyways. Because Mods are allowed to see hidden posts regardless, so Fair Plays would definitely come into play. And then that'd give the advantage on to who can get on first or the fastest to hide/post/see things.

I like the rest of the game though, and the concept of the Librarians being able to 'control information' sounds great! Maybe they can hide things from being revealed in the write-ups, like an alignment on death, or information received via GM, like the nonsense speaker, or something. There's lots of potential there, I like it! :D

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I have been thinking about the parshendi changing forms and how that could be incorporated into roles, and came up with a rough outline for a game here:

Parshendi Game

Roles:

Village Scholar: For some reason these Parshendi are unable to change form. However, they may scan another player each round and discover their form, but not their alignment. After discovering a form, the scholar may spend their action to give a sphere with a spren to another player. That player may use the sphere at night to switch to that role, but will not know what role they will receive until after the change has been made. The sphere is consumed when used.

Odious Scholar: This is the same as the village scholar, and shows up as one if scanned, except if a villager gains a role from the Odious Scholar then they become Influenced. The eliminators may change a single vote plus a single action target from among the influenced players each cycle. This will not be told to the Influenced player and any votes changed during this game will be shown in the final writeup but not attached to a specific. If the Odious Scholar scans an eliminator then they will not gain access to spren for that role.

Dull Form: Regular Villager. The parshmen are able to gain a role from a scholar, but by doing so they may become Influenced.

Mate Form: These parshendi are able to either change one vote during the day or block one action at night, but not both during the same cycle.

War Form: Each person that is in War form can choose a single target to either protect or attack. Any player that is being attacked by two more people than they are protected by will die at the end of the night. You can self target.

Melody Form: These Parshendi can pick a rhythm each cycle. During each day cycle, all players will submit a rhythm and they will be placed in a PM with anyone that shares that rhythm for a full cycle, at which point the rhythms can be changed and the PMs will be reset.

Voidform: These are standard eliminators, they may have any of the above roles and one of them may submit a target to be killed during each night cycle. Voidform will not show up as a role when scanned.

 

Is there anything that I should change/do you guys think that this is a workable idea?

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Just posting an update and letting people know that we are indeed always welcoming any requests to GM a game! Just get ahold of myself, Wilson, or Meta, and let us know the game you want to run, and what size game it would be (LG, MR, QF), and we'll add you to the Lists no problem!. We are particularly looking for GMs for the Mid-Range and Quick Fix size games, as those tend to go end more quickly!

I have seen lots of great game suggestions, and even better ideas and mechanics being proposed in this thread! I, for one, am excited to see how far we've taken this game on this sub-forum in just over the year it's been here, and am looking forward to seeing what we all come up with moving ahead!

If you've come up with a game idea, but don't want to necessarily GM it, no problem, just when you're posting your ideas, just put a disclaimer that anybody can feel free to use your game, or certain rules or mechanics they like from it! So even people who haven't felt comfortable creating their own games can potentially run a game if they are so inclined!

So, if you have any questions, or want to sign up, feel free to contact myself, Wilson, or Meta, and we'll get you ready to go!

Edited by Gamma Fiend
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I have been told that the time is nearly here for me to start my Legion QF game. So far I haven't received any feedback on my rules, save for a half dozen upvotes. If anyone would like to make any suggestions for improvement, or ask for any clarifications or explanations, or whatever, now is the time to do it.

The rules can be found in this post: http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/5660-the-art-of-game-creation/?p=219333

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The whole 'Is there a secret Role or not' debate in Long game 10 got me thinking, what if there was a game where every role was secret? It would better fit the cannon, since nobody would really know what roles are involved, but the roles themselves would have to be simpler to match, like the original Game's roles, where everything was cut and dried.

 

So I'm asking, how bad of an Idea do you think this is?

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Personally, I don't think it's a great idea. It's kinda like when as a child you played games with that one kid who would make up rules as you played.

 

A better idea would be something like: "Here is a list of 20 different roles and powers. 6 of them will be used in this game, but I'm not saying which 6."

 

At least then you'd have some idea of what to expect.

 

Or even something like what I have planned in my Elantris game, where there will be secrets that the Elantrian's can unlock. The players will go into the game knowing that there are going to be some unexpected things, and possibly have a rough idea of what they will be based on the events of the book, but it's more of a side-aspect to the game rather than the core ruleset.

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Personally, I don't think it's a great idea. It's kinda like when as a child you played games with that one kid who would make up rules as you played.

 

A better idea would be something like: "Here is a list of 20 different roles and powers. 6 of them will be used in this game, but I'm not saying which 6."

 

At least then you'd have some idea of what to expect.

 

Or even something like what I have planned in my Elantris game, where there will be secrets that the Elantrian's can unlock. The players will go into the game knowing that there are going to be some unexpected things, and possibly have a rough idea of what they will be based on the events of the book, but it's more of a side-aspect to the game rather than the core ruleset.

 

Wait.  Are you saying you don't like Calvinball??  B)

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