Long Game 80: Skaa Tenements

[The Unknown Ajah]

You know what, I'm going to sheep @Condensation.

Whoever you vote for, I will vote for.

[|TJ|]

Condensation

@Araris Valerian, I reckon we'd be fine with a 24h day. Others can chime in if it's fine.

[Squirrelwatcher]

1 hour ago, |TJ| said:

Condensation

@Araris Valerian, I reckon we'd be fine with a 24h day. Others can chime in if it's fine.

I concur

 

[Araris Valerian]

7 hours ago, |TJ| said:

Condensation

@Araris Valerian, I reckon we'd be fine with a 24h day. Others can chime in if it's fine.

If everyone remaining agrees, I’ll shorten days for the rest of the game. @The Unknown Order, @Tani, @Matrim's Dice, @Condensation, @Chantara

[Mat]

1 hour ago, Araris Valerian said:

If everyone remaining agrees, I’ll shorten days for the rest of the game. @The Unknown Order, @Tani, @Matrim's Dice, @Condensation, @Chantara

That’s good with me

[Araris Valerian]

Okay, so despite not having heard from everyone, I'm going to call the game here. I'll put up the aftermath shortly.

[Araris Valerian]

The remaining skaa knew Steel was the last obligator spy that was hiding among them. His failed attempt to save Ven would have been damning enough, but had also come out that he was a Tineye. Hollaback Atcha, the one who had sensed Steel's powers with his own bronze, reasoned that any skaa Tineye worth his salt would have been able to spot who was carrying out the murders days ago. Or at least one of them. It didn't help Steel's case that he had been conspicuously absent from much of the group's discussions. Unfortunately, that lack of presence meant that nobody knew exactly where Steel was basing his operation out of. On the other hand, there were plenty of skaa to go around, and only a few tenement buildings close enough for Steel to have reasonably haven been staying in any of them.

Stuart and Rastan waited outside the Hasting Tenement, each with a hand on a cudgel under their cloaks. It had been agreed that a pair of skaa would wait outside each of the nearby tenements in the hopes of catching Steel as he left. The two were so intent on watching the skaa in the streets that they almost disregarded the obligator approaching, accompanied by a couple members of the Luthadel garrison. Stuart nudged Rastan. "That obligator. He look familiar to you?"

Rastan took a long look before replying, "Yeah, he does indeed. Smudge some ash around those eye tattoos and dirty up those robes, and I'm pretty sure that's our 'friend' Steel."

Stuart glanced nervously at the soldiers. "We should go get some of the others. Those fellows are well-armed, and I don't fancy taking them with just these clubs."

Rastan smiled in response. "Don't sweat it. I've got a plan, if you're willing to trust me."

Stuart hesitated a moment before nodding, and then the two faced back to the road. It didn't appear that Steel recognized either of them, and he strode up to the entrance along with his escort. Just as the triad passed between the waiting skaa, Rastan burst into motion. He whipped his cudgel out and swung an overhand blow at the top of the first soldier's helmet. Not pausing to see the effects of the attack, he carried the motion through and slammed his weapon into Steel's side.

Stuart was shocked still, and could only think, How is he moving that fast?

The first guard toppled, his helmet crumpled like so much paper, while Steel was flung against the nearby wall and fell to the ground, motionless. The second blow was accompanied by a crack, and Rastan was left holding nothing but a short length of wood. Pivoting, the other soldier drew his sword and swung at Rastan in a single motion. Rastan's unnatural speed saved him from a sure death, but he still took a vicious wound to the gut. He collapsed to the ground, dropping the remains of the cudgel.

The spray of blood was enough to jolt Stuart into motion. Imitating Rastan, he hefted his on club and swung at the head of the remaining distracted guard. *thunk* Unlike Rastan's attack, Stuart's swing barely dented the soldier's helm, although it left the man seemingly dazed. In that moment of opportunity, Stuart dove for the first guard's weapon, feeling the unfamiliar weight in his hand as he rose and turned to face his opponent. As Stuart awkwardly raised the sword, a hand reached around the soldier's leg and yanked, sending the man to the ground with a crash. Unskilled though he was, Stuart could certainly hit an immobile target. His thrust pierced the guard's breastplate and chest alike, killing the man instantly.

"We need to get out of here. Already too many people watching." The voice, strong and familiar, came from behind the slain soldier.

Stuart stared in shock at Rastan, who was climbing to his feet. "How... how are you not dead?"

"Pewter does amazing things for one's health." Rastan smiled back through a slight grimace of pain.

"But... you were a Tineye! And after that, you have me convinced you aren't an obligator either. What in the Lord Ruler's name caused you to say you were a Tineye?" He put a hand to his head. "And we all just took your word for it..."

"We can talk about it later. I'll be fine, I have plenty of pewter left." Rastan gestured to a nearby alleyway, and after a moment, Stuart followed. The two headed off to the other skaa leaders to let them know that the crisis was over.

---

Steel/Connie was a Ministry Agent Tineye Metallurgist! The Skaa have won the game!

Thank you everyone for playing! I definitely had a lot of fun GMing my first game, even more that I had expected to. I'll post some more detailed thoughts on the game, the rules, and so forth later. If anyone wants to go for the Lord of the Slums award, send me your list of players and locations by rollover time Tuesday. This is open to all villagers alive by the end of the game, but please don't discuss player locations in the thread or PMs until a winner (if any) is announced. Once all that has happened, I'll edit in the master spreadsheet and elim doc.

Player List:

Spoiler

1. @Matrim's Dice (Stuart Sampson) Skaa Night Crew
2. @Archer (Eron) Skaa Overseer Coinshot
3. @The Unknown Order (Scorched) Skaa Drunk Elder
4. @Steeldancer/@Condensation (Steel) Ministry Agent Tineye Metallurgist
5. @Dalinar Kholin (Avanchel "Van") Skaa Informant
6. @Tani (Izi) Skaa Lurcher
7. @Kasimir (Airam) Skaa Metallurgist
8. @Chantara (Tara) Skaa Soother
9. @Devotary of Spontaneity (Ven) Ministry Agent Child Coinshot
10. @Elkanah (Leek) Skaa Child
11. @Illwei (Ill Way) Ministry Agent Seeker Overseer
12. @Frozen Mint (Em) Skaa Overseer
13. @Squirrelwatcher (Rastan) Skaa Thug Drunk
14. @|TJ| (Hollaback Atcha) Skaa Seeker
15. @Esooa (Nameless) Skaa Night Crew
16. @Azmine_king Skaa Informant

Links:
Dead Doc
Elim Doc
Master Spreadsheet

Edited September 22, 2021 by Araris Valerian

[Squirrelwatcher]

Hehe

Sooooooo

Fun fact I've been lying this entire time

[Mat]

3 hours ago, Squirrelwatcher said:

Hehe

Sooooooo

Fun fact I've been lying this entire time

You’re kidding

Are you like not a Tineye or something

Edit: There’s a player list, right. You’re not a Tineye. I legit based my confirming Connie was evil on you being a Tineye. Like I would have voted her regardless for the cycle Devo died but still

Anyway, I feel like we shouldn’t have won this game :P. I’m still happy that I could figure out something at the end though and that I was voting Devo, and I guess this means that my sus of Steel was accurate as well. And I still can’t read Illwei but I never will be able to.

Sorry to the elims that your hammer backfired, you played a good game. And thanks and well done to Araris for GMing!

Edited September 20, 2021 by Matrim's Dice

[Archer]

Wow, that game took a hard left turn in our favour. Still not entirely sure why, but well done, village! 

Illwei, Steel, well done fooling me. And Devo, good job getting me exed before you.

Squirrel, your gambit was fantastic because you let me fool myself. I knew you weren't consulting anyone, but I assumed it was because you were really the Tineye, not you were lying altogether. Sidenote: the odds of a random villager block on you were so low. Crazy unlikely. Aye yi yi. 

Dalinar, I liked your style. Mint, I'm sorry for exing you. TJ, your reads were excellent. TUO, your play at the end had merit. 

I tried a different analysis strategy this time around, and technically, it worked. All the not e-e pairs were correct. The problem was it led me to avoid exing people I had lots of data on because later, they might have been clearable. That was a strategic error. And it wasn't really applicable until we had a flip, and if I used it to clear people, I'd have been wrong because there was a smaller than expected elim team. And once I added trusts, the whole thing broke. I think I'll try clocking not e-es in future games, but it needs to be as a secondary mode of analysis. 

Speaking of which, Araris you troll, I loved the distro. XD It's nice having a game that breaks the usual patterns. I wish I'd played the long game and lined up and shot better with the Overseer role, but I kept thinking if I pick someone I suspect, surely I'll be able to just exe them instead... Anyway, thanks for running the game, Araris, Elandera. 

I'm taking a break from SE while I transition into school, so I might miss a few games. Good game, all. This one was pretty fun to play and watch. 

[Kasimir]

Thanks for GMing, Araris! I enjoyed what RPing I could, though I think it was apparent that by D3 (in the dead doc anyway) my brain had been more or less sucked into Golarion. Enjoyed the bushwhack with the Elim team roles and numbers, too, especially the Coinshot.

Good job Team Village! That was one hell of a hammer misfire (RIP Elim team) but I appreciated the turnaround, with the assist from RNGesus (though 2/3 odds are not good odds.)

Edited September 20, 2021 by Kasimir

[Quivil]

Somehow I figured stuff out while only paying attention to only half the game??? Probably because the broken hammer hit me in the head.

Wow I did terribly.

Squirrel: How dare you! I trusted you, and you LIED to me!! I feel miffed.  (<-- miffed face)     That was pretty awesome.

Everyone else: I dunno, I wasn't really paying attention... But good job not misexeing me!

[Steeldancer]

I am so sorry I had to dip out, school completely overwhelmed me, and I didn't feel like I could keep up at all. 

[Araris Valerian]

Okay, I've edited the other docs into the initial post. Nobody submitted a location list, but given how the game played out, that doesn't surprise me that much. I have a few thoughts about how the game went:

First of all, in terms of how things actually played out, I think the game was fairly balanced. The elims had good odds of winning up until the missed hammer, although I think they might have been a little too gung-ho there. One of the things I had in mind while working out these rules was a balanced way to give the elim team a kill role, so I kind of had my heart set on a bit of a smaller team. The downside is that between how D1 played out and then Steel/Connie having low activity, the small size was a bigger deal than it might have been. Ultimately, even without the missed hammer, the village still had 2 protection roles left alive (though Tani wasn't really fishing for locations at all) and was beginning to form trust groups in PMs (courtesy of @Squirrelwatcher's fake Tineye claim, which was awesome!). The elims were also unable to leverage all the tools I tried to give them, mostly due to their small size and not getting location claims, which leads to my next thought.

I think in a rerun of these rules, the location actions need to happen during the Day Turn, and that players should get an action per Turn, rather than per Cycle. That means that a single elim can still carry the team without needing a special exception, and frees up the elims to use other actions. In this game, that would have meant freeing up the elim Seeker, and less concern about teammates being around to send in actions. This change also means the elims don't have to worry about voting off the person they location scanned, which wasn't really intentional on my part. I just arbitrarily decided on the OOA being allomancy before locations, and had that result. This rule change by itself would probably make for a fine set of rules, with mostly vanilla flavor.

On the other hand, the location roles this game were rather underwhelming, which had the secondary consequence of making location claims mostly permanent (or truthful ones, at least). That, combined with the fact that sharing locations D1 would give the eims what would have been 2 free kills, meant that most players didn't really mess with this aspect of the game too much. The elims in particular weren't really incentivized to share their locations, and didn't really go out of their way to actually find any.

To fix that issue, I would probably make a couple of changes. First, all allomantic roles would be infinite-use, but missing the target location would trigger a cooldown of 1-2 turns. The Metallurgist would still be a day action, and it would remove this cooldown, and also have unlimited uses. I would probably rework the location mechanic into something that doesn't involve permanent roles at all. The location roles for this game were pulled from One-Night Werewolf (except the Night Crew, my Pseudo-vanilla role), but the downside to that meant that I basically had to give everyone a role to keep them engaged with the location mechanic (which didn't really work out anyway). In a rerun, I might take more direct inspiration from One-Night and just randomly redistribute location powers every cycle. That way players would be encouraged to use them more, and giving away your location wouldn't be as big of a deal.

Once again, thank you to everyone for playing, and also to @Elandera for being my IM. I'd love to hear feedback from you all on the rules, my suggested changes, and possibly any other improvements that could be made.

[Mat]

From the elim doc:

Quote

Kasimir preserves his village streak. I’ve never won as an elim when he was a villager so preemptively blaming a loss on that. -Devo

@Kasimir

Quote

I think we get Squirrel tonight, maybe? Or possibly Mat, although I think he’ll trust me more now. Gah, you ever start thinking about what people will think when they read the doc and then try to be nicer about it but really you’re saying you want to kill someone? Ha ha ha… -Connie

I take it as a good thing if the elims want to kill me. Means I’m doing something right :P.

[Araris Valerian]

8 minutes ago, Matrim's Dice said:

I take it as a good thing if the elims want to kill me. Means I’m doing something right :P.

Yes. Murder is the highest complement in the world of SE .

[|TJ|]

Ah gg lads. Village win is always fun to enjoy. 

@Archer, PM bias is a very real thing and when I heard you had changed your mind on Illwei after PMing her, my suspicion of her only increased :P. And @Illwei, also when you said if I were PMing you, I'd have found that you were village. No one utilizes PM bias to their advantage like you do, really. 

[Kasimir]

7 hours ago, Matrim's Dice said:

From the elim doc:

@Kasimir

 

RIP Devo, but thanks >>;;

[Squirrelwatcher]

Rastan looked at Stuart and the other skaa. What remained of them, anyways. The ministry agents hadn't wiped them out entirely, but there were far fewer people standing here than before.

"It's a long story, but I'll do my best to explain." He took a deep breath. "It all began three and a half days ago..."

Spoiler

Three and a half days ago. [night 2]

"...if any of you are a Tineye, I want to talk to you. I have an idea." Eron said, shortly before dawn. 

Rastan's eyes narrowed. This smelled of a trap. Tineyes, if the tenements had any, were one of the most important Mistings out there.

And if it was a trap, who would be better to investigate than a Thug?

He wrote a message to Eron.

Quote

What did you have in mind?

 

Tineye claim explanation: 

Spoiler

As you now know, I've been lying this entire time - I'm not a tineye; I was actually a thug the whole game. When I contacted Archer on behalf of an alignment scanner, I was making that up because I wanted to know what he was up to and I figured that if he was elim fishing for tineyes I could tank the kill.

Archer eventually 'figured out' that I was the alignment scanner (I didn't want to make up a fakecheck on esooa because that's a risk that I'm not willing to take, and he realized that nobody in thread came out with a redcheck on esooa, the supposed scan target). I decided to go along with it because backing out then would have made the situation even more confusing and half the people I was explaining the roleblock situation to didn't even understand it anyways.

Even after the esooa/archer situation ended, I still decided to keep pretending to be an alignment scanner because I could potentially attract nightkills and it would allow me to be confirmed enough that I could focus on solving the game instead of defending myself. Also, Archer had told Mat my claim, which would have made it even more awkward to back out, since Mat didn't even have the full context of the Archer-me PMs.

I didn't want to make up any fakechecks, though, which is why I claimed (to Mat) that I missed on Illwei. Unfortunately, Chantara roleblocked Illwei in Urbain, which is the location I pretended to check Illwei in. Which should have blown my cover, but thankfully nobody noticed that. The roleblock stuff was true, though - I legitimately thought there was an elim in Archer-Esooa. Towards the end, I also wanted to make sure Condensation didn't get away free by being a tineye claim (I figured there was a decent chance Araris had an elim tineye, because that's what I would do if I were a GM for this setup).

Hopefully this clears stuff up - sorry for lying to pretty much everybody, but I thought it would actually help town in this case.

Well played all! This was a fun first game

[Elandera]

One final congratulations to the Skaa for outsmarting the Ministry agents! We want to thank Araris and congratulate him for a successful GMing experience. This was a fun one to IM. The locations mechanic certainly added an exciting level of intrigue to the whole thing.

As always, if anyone would like to try their hand at running a game, please get ahold of Wilson, Devotary of Spontaneity, Elbereth, Araris Valerian, or myself, or post in the GM Signups & Discussion Thread. Not only will we get you added to the list, but we'd also be more than willing to help out in any way we can. 

You can also ask questions and get some hints and feedback from everyone in our Art of Game Creation thread. With all the games that we've run so far, we have plenty of experienced GMs that can help you refine any game you're thinking about. If you would rather keep some detail secret, or are self-conscious about posting in thread (there's really no need to be; while we do slaughter each other, we are very polite about it), then I'm sure one of our fantastic committee members (Amanuensis, STINK, Sart, Fifth Scholar, Straw, Haelbarde, and Young Bard) would be more than willing to help you out in private.

Thanks again to everyone that played, and we look forward to killing seeing you in future games!