Long Game 33: Life

[DeTess]

9 minutes ago, Elbereth said:

Usually, yes. I know that Proficient in Hyperbole is an exception (being able to have 8 votes would be a bit broken). I don't think there are any others. 

Wouldn't it make more sense for double-tapping proficient in Hyperbole to only give you 6 votes though? I mean, using it once grants 2 extra votes, so the second time would be expected to do that too. That might be less broken, and one less exception you have to make. Of course, this might still be broken. I haven't run the numbers, after all.

[Elbereth]

In theory, a Master could use it four times. And actually then get ten votes, not eight, because I can't count.  

[DeTess]

6 minutes ago, Elbereth said:

In theory, a Master could use it four times. And actually then get ten votes, not eight, because I can't count.  

Ah, yes, if you take it past just double-tapping it does get broken.

[Aonar]

48 minutes ago, DroughtBringer said:

I really want to push you guys towards doing interesting things, spend this extra time you have (since we delayed the game) for coming up with cool ideas that no one else has though of.

Linguist/Sympathist for Uberpirate or Puppeteer? (Kinda screwed if you pick up the defensive ability, admittedly.) 

Alchemy/Sygaldry with a splash of Arithmetic for sheer versatility? 

Medica/Sympathy to be the ultimate support class?  

Or of course, pure Namer, for ridiculous raw power.

Really though, they way the fields work,  one singular person will never get too powerful. People working in concert though? Building their specialities to cover each other's weak spots? That where things can start to get really cool very quickly. (*Pointed look at whoever the Elims end up being.*)

[little wilson]

10 minutes ago, Aonar Faileas said:

(*Pointed look at whoever the Elims end up being.*)

Yeah, there are certain fields that are slightly less geared towards eliminators. In the first run of this game, the Skindancers went for most of those fields and avoided the ones like Physicking that were built for eliminator teams. But yeah. The combos are endless.

Also, if you end up getting expelled, the game doesn't end for you, because there's still plenty of havoc an expelled player can wreak in Imre. Or someone who just isn't interested in attending the University. 

[Sparkrunner]

Totally new player here, looking through the rules, thinks he knows how to play, signing up as Cluny. Very rat-like. He has bouts where the rat part of him takes over. "FROG EYE! WHERE DID THOSE TORCHES GET TO? GET OVER HERE NOW OR I"LL SKIN YOU!" he walks like a rat, talks like a rat, eats like a rat, and, unfortunately, puns like a rat.

 

So... we start on the 29th?

Edited April 26, 2017 by Cluny the Scourge

[Assassin in Burgundy]

Ok, my character's name will be Jurdaan Longfell. There is no certainty in regarding his sanity.

Edited April 25, 2017 by Assassin in Burgundy

[Hemalurgic Headshot]

7 minutes ago, Assassin in Burgundy said:

Ok, my character's name will be Jurdaan Longfell. There is no certainty in regarding his sanity.

It's good to see you back in SE.

[Silverblade5]

One of my first games. Kind of half to sign up. Ryth.

[DrakeMarshall]

5 hours ago, Assassin in Burgundy said:

Ok, my character's name will be Jurdaan Longfell. There is no certainty in regarding his sanity.

No certainty regarding the sanity of any of us, I think...

 

As for discussing the tactics of different fields... I applaud the discussion, but I'm going to have to refuse to participate in it. There's not much chance that I would truthfully indicate in advance what fields I am interested in.

But I suppose I'm okay with declaring one field I don't intend to deal with. While I can see why the archives is an attractive option... I can agree that it has substantial limitations. I suspect the main appeal is that it doesn't require much collaboration / trusting other people (which, in SE, is not a boon to be taken lightly). It doesn't grant any risk of insanity in of itself, and it lets you learn other field's abilities. This means it is theoretically easy to act unilaterally if you advance a lot in the archives.

I do recommend that someone advance in archives though. I remember in LG30, everyone was so sure that the dustbringer role would get swarmed. I correctly predicted that most people would be too cautious to actually go for it, so I invested all my means in getting the role and quickly obtained it.

I consequentially lost the role and then lost the game, but that's besides the point. What I'm saying is, given the history of the last Kingkiller game, I wouldn't be surprised if nobody tried for archivist. And I think that would be a mistake.

...and I pretty much just ended up discussing roles for the last few paragraphs, even though I said I wouldn't. Sigh... I'll just hit the post button and call it a day.

[Amanuensis]

So I just got a message about my qualifier for the Mafia Championship. I'll be in Game Ten, which begins on June 5th, so I've got plenty of time to kill until then. I will play the game as Esuan. She's an old woman who's attended the University for a very long time, and despite her intelligence and wisdom, avoids taking any responsibilities. Instead she focused entirely on studying (and yelling at those who interrupt her. Or as stupid questions. Or wear too much perfume), although she does occasionally disappear for inconsistent amounts of time. To where, nobody knows, and those who ask are usually lectured for prying into an elder lady's private business. She is a particularly decrepit thing, frail of body and with wrinkled flesh that's so pale, soft and thin that it looks like someone took a skeleton and draped wet paper over its bones. She's known for living in filth, never finishes a meal, and wears the same mottled gray-brown-yellow robes, often with the hood drawn, every single day. Some Masters claim that she's been wearing that same robe since she first joined the University, and that back then, it was snow white and trimmed with fine lace. Now it's crusty and torn, and smells like the alley behind a pub, although she never drinks.

Edited April 26, 2017 by Amanuensis
Changed the name because it was too close to Sloan

[BrightnessRadiant]

I want to sign up too but I've never read this series....Hmmmm not sure if I could keep up...I just died in my other game so I guess I could give it a shot...*shrugs* whatever sign me up...I will go by Amelia in this game as well ..now to read the plethora of rules 

[Droughtbringer]

2 minutes ago, BrightnessRadiant said:

I want to sign up too but I've never read this series....Hmmmm not sure if I could keep up...I just died in my other game so I guess I could give it a shot...*shrugs* whatever sign me up...I will go by Amelia in this game as well ..now to read the plethora of rules 

Note: People had never read the books, and still had a blast in the original (LG18). 
Morale of the story: You don't need to read the books, just the rules (which happen to be the length of a short book...)

[TheMightyLopen]

Just now, DroughtBringer said:

Note: People had never read the books, and still had a blast in the original (LG18). 
Morale of the story: You don't need to read the books, just the rules (which happen to be the length of a short book...)

Exactly. I hadn't read them, but it was still amazing. And now I have read them, thanks to LG18! 

[BrightnessRadiant]

25 minutes ago, DroughtBringer said:

Note: People had never read the books, and still had a blast in the original (LG18). 
Morale of the story: You don't need to read the books, just the rules (which happen to be the length of a short book...)

Yeah I figured it would be fun anyway 

23 minutes ago, TheMightyLopen said:

Exactly. I hadn't read them, but it was still amazing. And now I have read them, thanks to LG18! 

I will probably end up reading them too 

[Amanuensis]

Hm. I'm should warn everyone now that I might not be consistently active throughout this game, particularly during the middle. It's that time of the year where I transition between countries, and this time I'm heading out a little early to attend training in Quantico, then stopping back home for about a week to see my family for the first time in a couple years, so it won't be as smooth as my last move. I am currently without a phone (might buy one when I'm in the states, but I'm undecided) so playing mobile-y won't be a thing. I'll try to sit down on my laptop for a couple hours every day, but given the circumstances, I can't guarantee it. Main reason I'm signing up despite this is because I'm sure I'll regret missing out on this game again.

[ImpossibleBowler]

10 hours ago, BrightnessRadiant said:

 

I will probably end up reading them too 

You should. The first one is Awesome.

[Haelbarde]

Is thinking of joining. This was fun last time round, even if I got  *destroyed*....

And @little wilson, but if we'd gone physicking and naming, what about controlling linguistics and rhetoric (sorry @Elbereth )?

[Eolhondras]

This sounds amazing, I'm in!
Signing up as Eolah

[Elbereth]

7 hours ago, Haelbarde said:

Is thinking of joining. This was fun last time round, even if I got  *destroyed*....

And @little wilson, but if we'd gone physicking and naming, what about controlling linguistics and rhetoric (sorry @Elbereth )?

Hmph.  

[little wilson]

8 hours ago, Haelbarde said:

Is thinking of joining. This was fun last time round, even if I got  *destroyed*....

And @little wilson, but if we'd gone physicking and naming, what about controlling linguistics and rhetoric (sorry @Elbereth )?

You literally got destroyed. Lost your head and everything.

And this is true. Though Rhetoric was a fine field to tackle. As was Alchemy, if DC had actually been able to use it. It was more Linguistics and Archives (particularly Archives) that were far less useful than those other two. I'm not actually surprised you didn't try for Naming, but I was surprised no one went for Physicking.

[DeTess]

25 minutes ago, little wilson said:

You literally got destroyed. Lost your head and everything.

And this is true. Though Rhetoric was a fine field to tackle. As was Alchemy, if DC had actually been able to use it. It was more Linguistics and Archives (particularly Archives) that were far less useful than those other two. I'm not actually surprised you didn't try for Naming, but I was surprised no one went for Physicking.

So, what you're saying here is that we should be very paranoid for people going for physicking this game?  

[STINK]

Who am I kidding? 'Course I was gonna sign up. 

Name? Dunno, that's gonna be found out later.

What do I look like? Dunno, I never do physical descriptions anyway. They're overrated.

What's my personality? Probably rude, depends on how poor I am. 

[little wilson]

1 hour ago, randuir said:

So, what you're saying here is that we should be very paranoid for people going for physicking this game?  

No. Not at all. I think all of the fields could appeal to either alignment. There are simply some that would generally appeal less to Skindancer. Physicking and most of the arcane fields I would think are of about equal appeal to both alignments, due to their versatility and potential for damage to the other team.

A village Physicker would be most interested in the protection and roleblock aspects of the Physicking powers: protecting either yourself or another person from Skindancer sabotages, or roleblocking suspects. A Skindancer Physicker, on the other hand, could make use of the roleblock on players they know are higher in elevation in fields that could easily be problematic (Naming, Archives, etc) and they would also likely be interested in the counselling ability to subtract Insanity Points from a teammate who's gone into the arcane arts so that teammate won't go insane.

A village Sympathist could make a mommet of someone they suspected had been sabotaged, and try to kill the person. Or, if the village Sympathist suspects the Skindancers are going to attack them, they bind themselves to two of their suspects so if they get sabotaged, those two suspects get sabotaged as well. A Skindancer Sympathist could do the same things, only they'd actually be more knowledgeable about their targets: oh, we didn't target this person, so we know a villager did. Let's make this mommet to kill them. None of us were in contact with the person killed, so we know the mommet won't actually be of one of us. Villager dead! Yay! Same for the binding: bind yourself to two villagers so if an assassin goes after you, those two villagers die as well. (Malignant Sympathy Protection has basically the same use for both alignments)

I could continue for the other arcane fields, but I think you get the picture. Going into a specific field isn't enough to cast suspicion on a person. This is part of why Archives isn't as useful as you'd think (not to say it's not useful. It is. Fae Lore, Omen Recognition and Banned Books are all great in their own way, and even School Records is useful, but it's less about finding a person suspicious because of what they're studying and more about verifying someone's story to make sure they're not lying). Basically, you should shouldn't be be like "Oh, you've been studying Naming; you must be a Skindancer!" because there are plenty of reasons a villager would want to study Naming, and the three Namers in LG18 were all village and two of them used Naming to kill Skindancers. That doesn't mean that all Namers would be village though.

The cool thing about this game is that the most of the fields can combo with any other in some kind of way, and because there are so many and they cover basically any focus you'd be interested in having, you can choose what you want to do. You want to survive for longer or protect people? Go into Physicking! You want to protect, but you kind of also might want to kill? Alchemy would be perfect for you. You really like PMs and communications? Linguistics is just what you're looking for. Oh, you want money to do whatever you want? Study Arithmetic. You want ULTIMATE POWER? Naming. You get to do what you want to do and have the skills you want (well, ish. You can't choose exactly which powers you want but the fields are still pretty tailored to cover a certain skillset).

Edited April 27, 2017 by little wilson
typo

[DrakeMarshall]

1 hour ago, randuir said:

So, what you're saying here is that we should be very paranoid for people going for physicking this game?  

Physicking is useful for both sides. Most of the powerful fields have pretty substantial risks to going insane in the higher levels, and physicking is the only way to reduce people's insanity points. The eliminators obviously find that appealing, because it lets them more safely create a namer that can use mass attack abilities. But that ability is equally useful to villagers, provided they can collaborate. And I believe certain features in this game make that kind of collaboration a bit easier than normal.