Break Tank 4: Last Night, Rain Mingled With Mist

[Kasimir]

BT4: Last Night, Rain Mingled With Mist

The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and go, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth returns again. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow.

The small village of Helgen is sheltered from the Blight by the mountains of Kandor and the swords of the Borderlanders. This is not your war: most of you have grown up in Helgen and will die there as well.

Last night, the rain mingled with the spreading mist.

They hung a Darkfriend in the village square, that morning. You remember it. Old Sargon, no one quite believed he had it in him. But he went to the gibbet, his head held high, screaming the Dark One’s name on his lips.

That was the dawn. Last night, the mountain rain mingled with the soft white mist spreading through Helgen, blanketing it in a strange forgetfulness.

This morning…

Old Sargon walks into the village inn and laughs and orders a mead. Not dead. Not rotting. Still breathing, Light burn him and damn him forever.

You are used to the Blight, to fell things. Sometimes, the Dark One reaches out from his prison and touches the world.

This though? You don’t know what to make of it. Old Sargon claims a Forsaken walks among you, that Helgen is doomed.

And still, the mist creeps in.

 

 

General Rules:

Spoiler

1. This is a highly-experimental BT. Both Day and Night Turns are 12 hours long and PMs are closed, praise the Light. The game itself will begin on Night 0.

2. The village of Helgen is caught in a time loop. For this reason, death doesn't stick. Players are resurrected at the end of each cycle (comprising a Day and Night) until the time loop is broken by either faction fulfilling their win con.

3. Voting is to be done in the thread. There is a one vote minimum threshold for executions to take place. Ties will result in no execution. In addition, you may vote for no execution. Please colour-code your execution votes (inclusive of no execution) as follows: Wyrmhero [red and bold]. Retract your execution votes as follows: Wyrmhero [green and bold].

4. The Darkfriends know who each other are, but cannot communicate. They do not have a faction kill. 

5. Write-ups will be minimally informative. Honestly, this is a BT, you’ll be lucky to even get write-ups.

6. No inactivity filter. This is a BT. Know what you are signing up for. If you can’t commit, please don’t sign up.

7. I don’t really think this game needs an order of actions, but y’all are free to prove us wrong.

8. Please @ me or Drake for clarificatory questions in thread, and bold them so we will pick them out. For clarificatory questions in PM, please bold them. While we will do my best to get to all questions in a timely manner, our priority will be to address rule clarifications asked in the stipulated manner. But also please be realistic, this is a BT… (This also guarantees we won’t derp and miss them.)

 

 

Win Conditions:

Spoiler

• The Villagers are residents of Helgen. They win when they can kill the Forsaken.

• The Darkfriends have sworn themselves to the Great Lord’s service and are tasked with the destruction of Helgen. They win either when more than one Villager is executed (in total), or when X cycles have passed.

 

 

Mechanics:

 

Spoiler

• Drunkenness/Poisoning:

These are two states that may be applied to a player during the game. They largely differ in terms of flavour, and do not cancel out. However, being both drunk and poisoned is treated the same as if you had either state. Players will not know if they are drunk or poisoned. Their abilities will also not work. If their ability is an information ability, they will be told false information. If their ability has an effect, their ability will simply fail, although they will believe it has succeeded.

• Bubble of Evil

Because Helgen exists in a bubble of evil, the gamestate resets imperfectly each cycle, causing increased stress on the Pattern. Dead players come back to life. Drunkenness/poisoning carries over, as does information. To reflect the increasing stress on the Pattern, every cycle, the GM rolls for whether Pattern degradation occurs. Pattern degradation starts at a 40% chance but increases by 10% each cycle.

% Chance	Result
55%	One Village player receives incorrect information. This effect overrides possible drunkenness/poisoning.
20%	One flip is incorrect.
10%	One non-Forsaken player finds their role has changed.
10%	No effect.
5%	One player changes alignment. (Does not impact Darkfriends.)

 

 

 

Roles:

Spoiler

Villager: You are an ordinary resident of Helgen, and recent events have given you cause for concern. You are no stranger to fell things occurring in the Blight, but for most of your life, Helgen has been sheltered from such things. No longer, it seems.

Watchman: You are a night watchman in Helgen, and in these times, you have kept a watchful eye on what goes on at night in the village, and just as importantly, who is doing these things. Each Night, you are successively shown one player corresponding to the categories of Villager, Darkfriend, and the Forsaken. You do not know which is which.

Gleeman: You are a wandering gleeman, come recently to Helgen. Your skills at cold reading enable you to discern a player’s true allegiances easily. Every Night, you may choose a player to interact with. You will be told their alignment. However, some in Helgen are canny as to your tricks of cold reading. There is one Villager who will always appear Evil to you.

Thief-Taker: You are a Thief-Taker, enjoying your retirement from a far too exciting life in Shienar. You are skilled with tracking down criminals, and sniffing out their trail. Once each cycle, you may discover who a player targeted.

Fool: You are the local fool, and while your shenanigans have some villagers shaking their heads, they ultimately know you’re mostly harmless. Once a game, if you are in the top two trains by the end of the Day, a player with the same alignment as you dies to mob justice that Night.

Aes Sedai: You are an Aes Sedai, just passing through Helgen when you were caught and trapped by the bubble of evil. Though your strength in the One Power will not avail you here, you start the game knowing the alignment of your Warder.

Gossip: You are the notorious local gossip. You regularly stop by the village square to mingle and see what you can learn from everyone. Every Day, you can select a player to receive two GM facts about them. One is true and one is false.

Innkeeper: You are the local innkeeper. There isn’t much choice in Helgen, so if people want a drink, they have to stop by your inn. Every Night, you can ply two players with your best brew and discover how many of them are Evil. However, these players are now drunk for that Night and the next Day.

Veteran: You are a former soldier, returned to Helgen from battles at the Blightborder. Your military skills have not rusted, however. Once a game, publicly select a player during the Night to name as the Forsaken. If you are correct, they die. If you are wrong, you die.

Wisdom: You are the village Wisdom. While you may not equal the apothecary in herbal remedies, you have your own tricks, including listening to the wind. Once a game, during the Day, you may privately ask the GM a yes/no question.

Madman: While your strength in the One Power is not much to boast about, you are a wilder who has nonetheless gone mad from the taint of saidin. You think you belong to the Shadow but you do not. The Forsaken knows who you are.

Elder: You are one of the respected elders of Helgen. Your long years of living in the village have given you a firm grasp of the characters of the villagers. On the first Night, you learn the identities of two players who are not the Forsaken.

Apothecary: You are the apothecary of Helgen, and your knowledge and collection of various herbs and simples is unrivalled in the village. Every Night, you can select one player. They are poisoned for the rest of the Night and the following Day.

Dragon Reborn/False Dragon: You are a male channeller of surpassing strength, enough that you believe yourself to be the Dragon Reborn. If you publicly claim to be the Dragon Reborn when voted on and are executed that Day, your team wins. 

Forsaken: You are one of the surviving remnants of the Age of Legends, one of the Aes Sedai who swore your soul to the Shadow. Your presence in Helgen anchors the bubble of evil to this small mountain village. As long as you are alive, the game continues in a time loop for X cycles. You must be killed for the loop to be terminated. In addition, if more than a single Villager is executed in total, the Shadow wins.

Darkfriend: You have sworn yourself to the Great Lord’s service, and you have been tasked with destroying the village of Helgen and sacrificing your fellow villagers to the Lord of the Evening.

 

 

Quick Links

Spoiler

Night Zero - The Mist Creeps In
Day One - You Spin Me Right Round
Night One - Exe Post Facto
Day Two - (Like a Record)
Aftermath - Memories of Spring

 

 

Sign-ups are open for a week from today through Friday, 15th December, 1300hrs SGT [=GMT+8]. Rollovers will be set to 1330hrs/0130hrs alternating as Turns are 12 hours long.

We will formally announce the wincon (X cycles) and may adjust the number of Villagers executed before the Shadow wins - this will be dependent on Sacred Maths once we have a better idea of sign-up numbers.

Please do not post until the secondary post is up, with player list and clarifications.

Edited December 27, 2023 by Elandera

[Kasimir]

 Clarifications

Spoiler

• While we acknowledge it's difficult to enforce in a BT, and hence not spelled out fully in RAW, the spirit of the role requires the Dragon to claim explicitly in response to the first acquired vote for this to count. We'd like the Dragon to make a good faith effort to claim explicitly within two hours where possible, but won't hold it against players who can't manage, due to the BT nature and timezones. We don't anticipate this being gamebreaking either way.
   
• X will be determined by sacred maths and player numbers subsequently. We will announce this for clarity at the start of the game.
   
• Poisoning/drunkenness precedes the relevant actions.
   
• Because we are not Lewis Carroll, we generously accept Nobody as a no exe vote, rather than a vote to exe Nobody rather than Somebody.
   
• The execution limit is in total rather than in any particular cycle. Only one player may be exed in a Day. I know it's hard for y'all but please curb your bloodthirst
   
• The Wisdom does indeed get to ask the GMs a yes/no question to be answered honestly. We reserve the right to reject anything too abusive (please ask us in advance where possible!) and/or Aes Sedai the hell out of a twenty-four subclause question.
   
• Anyone can be the Aes Sedai's Warder.
   
• The Dragon Reborn getting exed overrides any Village losscon.
   
• The Madman will be told they are Darkfriend-aligned but will not be told they are the Forsaken. Any other combination is possible.
   
• The Watchman gets three players, one from each category, across three successive Nights (so one player per Night.) They're not told which is which.
   
• There are no duplicate roles. However, the Forsaken will know a role that isn't in the game.
   
• While no role may appear more than once, Dragon Reborn and False Dragon are 2 different roles, and therefore it is possible for both of them to be in the game.
   
• Yes, you bloodthirsty lot, exeing the same Villager twice still counts to your losscon. The Pattern isn't discriminating.

Player List

Spoiler

1. @Ookla the Raveness
2. @Ookla the Resolute
3. @JNV
4. @Ookla the Destined
5. @Ookla of Ravens - Revir
6. @Devotary of Spontaneity - Kalenir
7. @Haelbarde - Mazrim Taim
8. @Ookla the Paradigm - Bladdar

Spectators

Spoiler

1. @Ookla the Bald
2. @Fifth Scholar

 

Edited December 18, 2023 by Kasimir

[Aeoryi]

@Kasimir, when is rollover?

If it's at this time, then I'll be mostly inactive for every odd cycle. 

Otherwise...

[The Wandering Wizard]

Sign me up I love Hinderstap

[Kasimir]

6 minutes ago, Ookla the Resolute said:

@Kasimir, when is rollover?

If it's at this time, then I'll be mostly inactive for every odd cycle. 

Otherwise...

Please read

30 minutes ago, Kasimir said:

Sign-ups are open for a week from today through Friday, 15th December, XXXXhrs. Rollovers will be set to the same timing but will be subsequently announced alongside the IM's identity as @DrakeMarshall and I have some schedule tetris to do.

 

[Aeoryi]

Also, I just realized this is like an inverse LG97 where instead of the elims being unkillable and reseting the cycle, it's simply everyone.

Funny, huh?

Just now, Kasimir said:

Please read

 

Okay. I'm going to gamble and join, and maybe withdraw depending on the rollover time because sleep is important 

[Kasimir]

To everyone signing up: Please be reminded to familiarise yourself with BT rules. BTs are fast-paced games meant to test some aspect of a ruleset or mechanic that a GM has in mind, to see what breaks, and to get some lessons for running this as a proper/full game. Balance is not guaranteed. Drake and I are indeed testing something. One of the corollaries is that players are encouraged to leave RP in spoiler boxes, so as not to clog the thread.

[xinoehp512]

So is it if multiple villagers die in one cycle, evil wins?

[JNV]

Ill play and heres some questions

1 when it says win if more than one villager is executed thats specifically the vote yeah specifically the vote where ties have no one die yeah so I guess my question is is this possible 

2 does the GM have to answer the Wisdoms yes no question truthfully

3 So if the Dragon guys a villager and gets voted out after claimin to be the dragon guy then the villagers win yeah 

4 Watchman so they get three players one a villager one a non Forsaken Darkfriend and one the Forsaken every night 

5 Would the Madman be told theyre a Darkfriend instead

[Mat]

Fight the PTSD fight the PTSD

I’ll play but I have zero idea how this works atm

[The Wandering Wizard]

Just now, Ookla the Destined said:

Fight the PTSD fight the PTSD

I’ll play but I have zero idea how this works atm

You die, you get resurrected and you die again.

All hail Shai'tan's marvelous plan 

[Kasimir]

5 hours ago, Ookla the Reborn said:

So is it if multiple villagers die in one cycle, evil wins?

4 hours ago, JNV said:

1 when it says win if more than one villager is executed thats specifically the vote yeah specifically the vote where ties have no one die yeah so I guess my question is is this possible 

Short answer: no. This is triggered only by more than one Villager getting exed. Night deaths do not count. Ties or a dominant 'no exe' vote do not trigger the Village losscon.

To be clear, there is no faction kill, and a oneshot kill from the Veteran. The Fool's extra mob violence death occurs at Night and isn't classed as an exe. Nothing in this paragraph counts as an exe death when it comes towards triggering the Village's losscon.

4 hours ago, JNV said:

2 does the GM have to answer the Wisdoms yes no question truthfully

If we didn't, what's the point of that ability?

Put it this way: yes, but if you ask us a twenty-four subclause question, we reserve the right to be extremely Aes Sedai in answering or to reject any overly-exploitative question. Be strategic.

4 hours ago, JNV said:

3 So if the Dragon guys a villager and gets voted out after claimin to be the dragon guy then the villagers win yeah 

Yes. But the claim has to be in the same Turn. No such thing as claiming in the Night Turn and then getting exed the following Day.

4 hours ago, JNV said:

4 Watchman so they get three players one a villager one a non Forsaken Darkfriend and one the Forsaken every night 

No - you get one player each successive Night. By the the third Night, you are guaranteed one player from each category, you just don't know which is which. So even by Night Three, you have a pool that includes the Forsaken. You just don't know who in the pool specifically is the Forsaken.

4 hours ago, JNV said:

5 Would the Madman be told theyre a Darkfriend instead

Not necessarily. That is, we're not ruling out the possibility of a dual-roled Madman who believes he's a Darkfriend-aligned Elder. But you will definitely never be told you are the Forsaken.

4 hours ago, Ookla the Destined said:

I’ll play but I have zero idea how this works atm

Don't worry, neither do we

4 hours ago, Ookla the Raveness said:

You die, you get resurrected and you die again.

All hail Shai'tan's marvelous plan 

This guy gets it.

GM Announcement: We are now setting the rollover timings at 0130hrs SGT / 1330hrs SGT respectively, since Turns are twelve hours apiece.

Drake and I would also like to pre-emptively request player forbearance. We may tinker with the specifics of the rules and the wincons all the way through the start of the game. This is a BT so it's harder to get right than a normal game, with more adjustments than usual. We will drop a changelog at the start of the game again to remind everyone of what all the changes are, but players are encouraged to re-read the rules once more at the start of the game.

Edited December 8, 2023 by Kasimir

[TheRavenHasLanded]

im in. hi kas!

[Mat]

Huh I think that’s actually like the best possible rollover time for me

[The Unknown Ajah]

That's actually surprisingly good for me too, but probably don't have enough time consistently for a BT. 

Have there been Spectators in the past? I would like to spectate. 

[Kasimir]

11 minutes ago, Ookla the Bald said:

That's actually surprisingly good for me too, but probably don't have enough time consistently for a BT. 

Have there been Spectators in the past? I would like to spectate. 

We can make a spec doc, yeah. Can't guarantee it'll be really active as there aren't dead, and our energy will be keeping the Turns running, but it'll be alive  

Edited December 8, 2023 by Kasimir

[Aeoryi]

Is signing up as a pinch-hitter an option this game?

[Mat]

47 minutes ago, Ookla the Resolute said:

Is signing up as a pinch-hitter an option this game?

Quote

6. No inactivity filter. This is a BT. Know what you are signing up for. If you can’t commit, please don’t sign up.

I don't think so but idk

[Kasimir]

24 minutes ago, Ookla the Destined said:

I don't think so but idk

Break tank rules specify no pinch-hitters:

Quote

• Inactivity filter: not recommended, and any that is there should be fairly lax. Not everyone will be able to get on during every 12-hour span. No pinchhitters.

Once again linking the base break tank rules for everyone to refamiliarise, including apparently Drake and myself since:

Quote

• RP: little to no RP, including in the writeup. The priority here will be game-relevant discussion; we'd ask that everything else be put in spoilers for the sake of players needing to catch up.

What are write-ups anyway?  

We technically dodged the 2-3 weeks thing but this is because I suspect we may need to hold sign-ups open a bit longer if something goes pear-shaped in the test distros.

[Aeoryi]

38 minutes ago, Ookla the Destined said:

I don't think so but idk

 

10 minutes ago, Kasimir said:

Break tank rules specify no pinch-hitters:

Once again linking the base break tank rules for everyone to refamiliarise, including apparently Drake and myself since:

What are write-ups anyway?  

We technically dodged the 2-3 weeks thing but this is because I suspect we may need to hold sign-ups open a bit longer if something goes pear-shaped in the test distros.

Kay.

I need to decide if I have the time for this

[Devotary of Spontaneity]

Signing up. Might as well have a character.

Spoiler

Kalenir is the town apothecary who got away with using weaves to treat patients for years without anyone (including herself) noticing. When she was finally discovered, the villagers decided that using the One Power for years without going around killing people must make her a Saidar channeler, and let her live so long as she agreed to live the rest of her life as a woman. Even after deciding she wanted to be a woman for real, Kalenir hasn't given up on proving that the ability to channel the One Power isn't dependent on gender.

Can anyone be the Aes Sedai's warder?

[TheRavenHasLanded]

revir is being reprised

[Kasimir]

12 hours ago, Devotary of Spontaneity said:

Can anyone be the Aes Sedai's warder?

Yes.

19 hours ago, Ookla the Resolute said:

I need to decide if I have the time for this

Reasonable.

GM Announcement: The game will now start on Night 0, due to no NK and the anticipation this will make D1 go a bit more smoothly. The rules will be updated to reflect this.

Edited December 9, 2023 by Kasimir

[Haelbarde]

Mazrim Taim has entered the chat.

[Kasimir]

Edited the rules in light of recurring questions to make it more clear that the one Villager execution limit is in total rather than in a cycle. That is, for Village, you have to be mindful of two constraints:

• You can't execute more than one Villager in total (the exact number may be adjusted, but keep in mind each exe is a free flip for the Village)
• You can't exceed X cycles (of info gathering - again, we'll tell you the exact threshold later) before the Forsaken and any Darkfriends there win by default.

tldr; you can't be too aggressive, but waiting too long won't help you either. That's about as much on the design/balance side as I get to say.

Edited December 11, 2023 by Kasimir