The Art of Game Creation

[Fifth Scholar]

21 minutes ago, Alvron said:

Been clearing out some of my half formed games and came across this one.  If anyone wants to run or tinker with it, feel free.  I won't be running it so it's up for grabs.

Wheel of Time: White Tower:

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White Tower: Black Ajah hunting.
Players are all Aes Sedai
Players can only use one of each type of element in weaves per cycle.

Roles:
Publicly known:
Amyrlin Seat: Cannot be Lynched unless all (over half?) Sitters vote on them.
Keeper: Cannot vote in Lynch but also can’t be Lynched.
Sitter:
Novice?: Cannot vote in Lynch but can “overhear” PMs without using weaves.

Known only to player:
Black Ajah: Team Evil
Warder: NPC.  Should player die, Warder kills attacker
Ajah Head: Can cast/change vote for Sitter of same Ajah
One power strength? 1-30.  Higher Strength can roleblock lower?
Affinity: You have an affinity with (element) and can use said element twice in a cycle instead of once.
Inverting: You know the secret of Inverting your weaves.  You can hide what weaves you are using.  Must tell GM if you are Inverting when placing orders.

Black Ajah:
Hearts: (Doc)
Two Docs with three players each.  One player from each knows another from other Doc and have PM between them. PM cannot be spied on as it’s a series of dead drops rather than a conversation.

Actions:
Everyone:
Find out if player has Warder
Find out Player Strength
Create Weaves.  Can only use each element once per cycle
Sense Weaving: Can sense all types of Elements one player is using.

Black Ajah only actions:
Kill Player or Warder

Weaves:
Balefire: (Fire + Air) Only usable by those with One Power Strength 1-3.  Kills one player.  Can not be blocked.  Only usable once per player of high enough strength.
Shield of Air: (Air) Protects user from one form of Power. Must state which Power you are protecting from when placing order.
Calling Lightning: (Air + Fire + Water + Earth)  Kills one player.
Compulsion: (Spirit) Black Ajah only. Allows player to control target for one cycle.  Target has chance to break free dependant on One Power Strength.
Cutting Weaves: (Fire + Air) Allows player to cut the weaves of another player effectively role blocking them.  Doesn’t work if Weaves are Inverted.
Eavesdropping: (Spirit + Air) Allows player to hear snippets of a conversation (PM).
Fireball: (Fire) Attacks one player with a ball of fire.
Flame of Tar Valon: (All) Only useable by the Amyrlin Seat.  Target one player and if they are Black, turn them into crystal.  Only useable successfully once per Amyrlin Seat.   Amyrlin Seat dies after using this Weave on a Black sister.  Cannot be used by Black Ajah.
Folded Light: (Fire + Air) Renders player untargetable but they cannot use any other weaves.
Hardened Air: (Air)  Protects self from one Weave.
Healing: (Water + Air + Spirit) Protects target player from one attack.  Cannot self target.
Insect control: (Spirit) Sends insects to bite another player causing them to be unable to Weave the following cycle.
Mirror of Mists: (Spirit + Air) Disguise yourself as another to vote in their place.  Only works if other player hasn’t voted.
Protective Cocoon: (Air + Fire + Earth) Protects against all attacks bar Balefire for one cycle.  Cannot be used twice in a row.
Protective Whirlwind: (Air) Protect one player from any Non-Weave attack.
Riven Earth: (Earth + Fire) Attack one player
Sound amplification: (Air) Add one vote to player of your choice.  (Air + Fire) Subtracts one vote from player of your choice in addition to adding one to another player.
Shielding: (Spirit) Cut a single player off from the Source roleblocking them for that cycle.
Ward: (Any) Allows player to learn the types of Weaves used against them but not who used them.

It still needs a good deal of work but it has potential for a fun but chaotic game.

Oooh, a White Tower WoT game. Very tempting...this looks wonderful, and I might have to tinker with and formalise it. One nitpick, it’s technically the Mask of Mirrors, not Mirror of Mists  

[Alvron]

3 minutes ago, Fifth Scholar said:

Oooh, a White Tower WoT game. Very tempting...this looks wonderful, and I might have to tinker with and formalise it. One nitpick, it’s technically the Mask of Mirrors, not Mirror of Mists  

It was called Mask of Mirrors during the Age of Legends.  In modern WoT, it's called Mirror of Mists.  

[Rathmaskal]

Would you want to add stilling to the list of actions?  That could be interesting...  (I know, that's making things more complicated instead of balancing things out...)

[Alvron]

I did consider it but felt that it would work as the Lynch mechanic.  When Stilled they are sent out of the Tower and expected to die so that fit a lynching quite well.
Burning out was also considered but that made things a touch to complex imo and it would be basically the same as death.  Maybe as a delayed death mechanic it could work but....
I'm quite interested in seeing what Fifth (or anyone else) comes up with and if it's run.

[Abstrusity]

New to this forum, but I'm up for a game of any length, preferably with simple rules.

[Elbereth]

Excellent! You’re welcome to join the spectator docs of the two games currently running - PM me for the MR and @Fifth Scholar for the LG. The next game to go up for signups will be either a QF when the MR ends, or the next LG when the current one hits cycle 5. I’m not sure when the latter is, but the QF should be going up in about a week (maybe less) - I’m happy to ping you when that happens! 

[Abstrusity]

Please do! I am excited.

[Elbereth]

@Abstrusity the next game is up! Have fun in QF41!

[Darkness Ascendant]

We should make an SE: Battle Royale

[Straw]

46 minutes ago, Darkness Ascendant said:

We should make an SE: Battle Royale

Look at the Hunger Games QF or Stink's Pokemon QF.

[Darkness Ascendant]

5 hours ago, Straw said:

Look at the Hunger Games QF or Stink's Pokemon QF.

No we need fortnite

 

[The Young Pyromancer]

And the game must last two weeks.

[Abstrusity]

Speak not of that accursed cutlery game! Fork-knife is a disease upon this land.

[Kidpen]

Pretty random question: What are the reasons that pretty much every game with PMs disallows group PMs? Is it just because that would be too many PMs, or is there another reason? I have a game that only kind of exists in my mind, but if I ever ran it it would depend heavily on group PMs.

[Alvron]

1 hour ago, Kidpen said:

Pretty random question: What are the reasons that pretty much every game with PMs disallows group PMs? Is it just because that would be too many PMs, or is there another reason? I have a game that only kind of exists in my mind, but if I ever ran it it would depend heavily on group PMs.

Mostly it comes down to the mechanics.  For instance if you have a game that uses Spanreeds then it wouldn't make sense to have group PMs due to Spanreeds only being one on one in world.
There could also be a PM spying role, which is fairly rare, so a group PM would be quite the pain to have in game.
Other times GMs don't want a large group forming and sharing information so easily.  In past the community has disapproved of trust groups forming as it can marginalize those playing but not in the group by not giving them an equal or fair say.  If one person asks you to do something you can always say no but it a group of trusted villagers ask you to do something and you don't want to, it can lead to issues.  I wouldn't be surprised if the anti-trust group mentality has seeped into the GMs thinking when making a game and they subconsciously went away from group PMs.

There is no reason for your game not to have group PMs.  No one is going to complain that they can talk to others.

[StrikerEZ]

@Alvron @Twibanu I really like having PMs, especially group PMs. I understand why you would take them out for balance (or if it’s Roshar-flavored with the Spanreeds), but it just makes me sad when PMs are limited in any way.

[Elkanah]

The God King and I have been discussing ideas for an Ashyn game. Where do we go to get on a wait list and who can we contact to make sure our game is balanced? I'd post more in here, but we were thinking of dong a semi-blackout game.

[Elandera]

4 hours ago, Elkanah said:

The God King and I have been discussing ideas for an Ashyn game. Where do we go to get on a wait list and who can we contact to make sure our game is balanced? I'd post more in here, but we were thinking of dong a semi-blackout game.

For a semi-blackout, you can send the rules to the balance committee (myself, Amanuensis, STINK, Araris Valerian, and Sart are among them). What style of game is it, MR, LG, or QF? That will change which list you're placed on. 

You can also post the non-blackout part of the rules in this thread for anyone to give feedback on. It also helps people know what games to look forward to.

[Elkanah]

We are looking at doing a game where 17th sharders from silverlight come to Ashyn to try to determine more about how investiture works. Some local incubators stow away and are trying to kill the 17th Sharders to prevent others knowing about how power works on Ashyn. 

The village will be the 17th Shard

The elims will be the Incubators

It would be a long game

The abilities would be based on the Ashyn magic system

Incidentally, have we had an Ashyn game so we can see what has been done in the past?

That's all I'll say for now. @The_God_King might elaborate more, but I don't want to say too much at this point.

[The_God_King]

Here is the write up that would be the public information available to the player. I would appreciate thoughts

 

 

Contains spoilers for… everything! Takes place before the first Mistborn Trilogy 

 

The streets of Silverlight shone with ethereal light. Dust clung to the boots of the researchers as they walked to the university. Samples filled their packs and journals brimmed with accounts of floating cities and investiture being used by the most mundane creature. Their work had finally finished after nearly two years of being away from home.

The projects of these researchers had gone phenomenally! The researchers had scattered across the Ashyn to collect anything that could help their research. Their samples would further the knowledge of the Shard by decades! With their work concluded the researchers returned to their homes to recover from their journeys. Now the interns needed to sort through the data. 

Little did the researchers know that they were being watched. While the Shard had studied Ashyn, Ashyn had studied the Shard. Slowly and surely they had implanted people into Silverlight and a few had made it into the university. While the researchers were highly vetted, the interns were only given a cursory check. 

Strange things happened with the study: samples went missing, fires destroyed important files, and an intern suspiciously died. The study needed to continue, but the interns were wary of the others. The various worlds they had come from would make it hard for the other interns to pin who was lying. 

Find the Ashyn infiltrators, continue the study, and find the secrets of investiture

[Sart]

So I was watching a let's play of a Japanese horror game, and realized that the death game featured in it is basically Mafia, with a couple of neat twists. So, I figure I should adapt the game into a game for us to play. Here is a link to the original game. Warning: The game is very bloody and gore filled. Viewer discretion is advised.

Your Turn To Die (QF Edition):

Synopsis: You have become trapped in an insane death game for unknown reasons. Will you survive long enough to escape, or will you be forced to betray the other participants? In the end, it all comes down to a majority vote.

Basic Gameplay:

• The game is played in 48 hour cycles, broken up into two 24 hour phases.
• Every cycle, there is a 24 hour Nomination Phase, where candidates are selected, and a 24 hour Voting Phase, where one of the candidates is brutally killed.
• Everyone's win condition is the same: Escape the killing game. After a certain number of cycles (dependent on player count) all survivors will escape.
• At the start of every Cycle, the Roles will be redistributed among all living players.
• There are four Roles: Commoner, Keymaster, Sage, and Sacrifice
  • There will be one Keymaster, Sage, and Sacrifice during each cycle. All other players will be Commoners.
• All voting during the game is anonymous. In your character PM, send the GM your vote. If you vote in the thread, it will be counted, but if you vote in thread, and have a different vote in your PM, the PM vote takes precedence.

Phases:

• Nomination Phase: Vote for any player to be a candidate in the Voting Phase.
  • At maximum, half of the living players, rounded down, will be selected as candidates.
  • Players with the most votes will be selected as candidates first.
  • If you have 0 votes, you will not be a candidate.
  • Ties will be decided randomly.
  • For instance, if A had 4 votes, B had 1 vote, C had 1 vote, D had 0 votes, and E had 0 votes, A would definitely be a candidate, and one of B or C would be another candidate. If A had all the votes, only A would be a candidate.
• Voting Phase: Vote for one candidate to brutally execute.
  • Both candidates and non-candidates get to vote.
  • Only candidates can be voted on. Non-candidates are safe.
  • In the previous example, if B won the coin flip, only A and C would be eligible for the lynch.

Roles:

• Commoner:
  • Commoners have no special powers.
  • If a Commoner is lynched, they die along with the Sacrifice.
  • If two or more Commoners are tied for the lynch, the result will be decided randomly.
• Keymaster:
  • If the Keymaster is lynched, all players die.
  • If the Keymaster is tied for the lynch with any other role, all players die
• Sage:
  • At the start of the Nomination phase, the Sage is told who the Keymaster is.
  • The Sage cannot lie regarding the identity of the Keymaster.
    • They can, of course, choose to keep silent about their information.
  • If the Sage is lynched, they die along with the Sacrifice.
    • If the Sage and a Commoner are tied for the lynch, the Sage will be lynched.
• Sacrifice:
  • The Sacrifice is forced to betray the other participants in order to escape the killing game.
  • If the Sacrifice is not lynched, they die.
  • If the Sacrifice is lynched, they choose one other person. The Sacrifice and the person they chose escape the killing game, but all other players die.
    • If the Sacrifice is tied with a Commoner or the Sage, the Sacrifice takes precedence.
    • If the Sacrifice is tied with the Keymaster, the Keymaster takes precedence.
  • The Sacrifice has two votes during the Nomination and Voting phases. They can divide them or put them on the same person.

[StrikerEZ]

3 hours ago, Sart said:

So I was watching a let's play of a Japanese horror game, and realized that the death game featured in it is basically Mafia, with a couple of neat twists. So, I figure I should adapt the game into a game for us to play. Here is a link to the original game. Warning: The game is very bloody and gore filled. Viewer discretion is advised.

Your Turn To Die (QF Edition):

Synopsis: You have become trapped in an insane death game for unknown reasons. Will you survive long enough to escape, or will you be forced to betray the other participants? In the end, it all comes down to a majority vote.

Basic Gameplay:

• The game is played in 48 hour cycles, broken up into two 24 hour phases.
• Every cycle, there is a 24 hour Nomination Phase, where candidates are selected, and a 24 hour Voting Phase, where one of the candidates is brutally killed.
• Everyone's win condition is the same: Escape the killing game. After a certain number of cycles (dependent on player count) all survivors will escape.
• At the start of every Cycle, the Roles will be redistributed among all living players.
• There are four Roles: Commoner, Keymaster, Sage, and Sacrifice
  • There will be one Keymaster, Sage, and Sacrifice during each cycle. All other players will be Commoners.
• All voting during the game is anonymous. In your character PM, send the GM your vote. If you vote in the thread, it will be counted, but if you vote in thread, and have a different vote in your PM, the PM vote takes precedence.

Phases:

• Nomination Phase: Vote for any player to be a candidate in the Voting Phase.
  • At maximum, half of the living players, rounded down, will be selected as candidates.
  • Players with the most votes will be selected as candidates first.
  • If you have 0 votes, you will not be a candidate.
  • Ties will be decided randomly.
  • For instance, if A had 4 votes, B had 1 vote, C had 1 vote, D had 0 votes, and E had 0 votes, A would definitely be a candidate, and one of B or C would be another candidate. If A had all the votes, only A would be a candidate.
• Voting Phase: Vote for one candidate to brutally execute.
  • Both candidates and non-candidates get to vote.
  • Only candidates can be voted on. Non-candidates are safe.
  • In the previous example, if B won the coin flip, only A and C would be eligible for the lynch.

Roles:

• Commoner:
  • Commoners have no special powers.
  • If a Commoner is lynched, they die along with the Sacrifice.
  • If two or more Commoners are tied for the lynch, the result will be decided randomly.
• Keymaster:
  • If the Keymaster is lynched, all players die.
  • If the Keymaster is tied for the lynch with any other role, all players die
• Sage:
  • At the start of the Nomination phase, the Sage is told who the Keymaster is.
  • The Sage cannot lie regarding the identity of the Keymaster.
    • They can, of course, choose to keep silent about their information.
  • If the Sage is lynched, they die along with the Sacrifice.
    • If the Sage and a Commoner are tied for the lynch, the Sage will be lynched.
• Sacrifice:
  • The Sacrifice is forced to betray the other participants in order to escape the killing game.
  • If the Sacrifice is not lynched, they die.
  • If the Sacrifice is lynched, they choose one other person. The Sacrifice and the person they chose escape the killing game, but all other players die.
    • If the Sacrifice is tied with a Commoner or the Sage, the Sacrifice takes precedence.
    • If the Sacrifice is tied with the Keymaster, the Keymaster takes precedence.
  • The Sacrifice has two votes during the Nomination and Voting phases. They can divide them or put them on the same person.

@Arraenae@Burnt Spaghetti If either of you are still looking for a non-Sanderson game...you could pick this one. I've already got a plan for one, but if neither of you can do this one...I might have to.

[Experience]

So I've been making a game I would like to GM, but I really haven't played this for that long and I don't know if everything is balanced. I would just post it into this thread, but it's a blackout game, so I'm not sure what to do. 

Edited March 27, 2020 by EXPERIENCE
typo

[Elkanah]

22 minutes ago, EXPERIENCE said:

So I've been making a game I would like to GM, but I really haven't played this for that long and I don't know if everything is balanced. I would just post it into this thread, but it's a blackout game, so I'm not sure what to do. 

I recommend sending a link of the rules to the rules committee.

On 3/8/2020 at 4:14 AM, Elandera said:

For a semi-blackout, you can send the rules to the balance committee (myself, Amanuensis, STINK, Araris Valerian, and Sart are among them). What style of game is it, MR, LG, or QF? That will change which list you're placed on. 

You can also post the non-blackout part of the rules in this thread for anyone to give feedback on. It also helps people know what games to look forward to.

This.

 

Also, it might be good to get a co-gm who has run several games.

[Experience]

Ok, thank you.