Long Game 108: A Tale of Rats and Spores

[Hoid Slayer He/Him]

4 minutes ago, IcedOutPenguin said:

Me too

OMG guys don’t rep Penguin he’s at exactly 666 points

[Araris Valerian he/him]

47 minutes ago, Hoid Slayer said:

This was one of the tensest - and funnest - SE games I've played! So naturally, there's a lot of people to thank. Primary among them, @Amanuensis. The rules were a little complicated, but other than that, this game was absolutely incredible, so thank you. Thanks as well to my GOATed teammates @A Jo in the Bush and @RoyalBeeMage. There were some tight spots there, but we managed to pull it together in the end - although I do feel bad that the village lost from inactivity. Shoutout to @Araris Valerian for really trying, even when surrounded by elims.

Glad you had fun! Now that I have a taste for your elim play I'm going to be much more wary/less forgiving of you in the future . And of course, maybe we'll get to team up and do some murdering together in the future .

Don't feel bad about the activity, I think your team managed to muddle things enough that I could have exed both Joe and RBM without guessing your alignment. And honestly with Joe's distancing on RBM I might not have even gotten that far. I was seriously considering a swap to RBM but didn't because I didn't think anyone would follow. 

You voting TUH should probably have been a red flag for me, but honestly I kept reading you as "earnest but misguided villager" and that was overpowering any misgivings I had.

Edited October 13, 2025 by Araris Valerian

[The Unknown Character he/him]

Great job elims. Wish I could have been more active to hunt you down thoroughly. 

Thanks for running the game @Amanuensis, it was quite fun and the mechanics especially were excellent. My two cents is that a vote manip would have been interesting and that climbing up the ranks probably should have been doable through sheer actions, which I don't think it really was. PMing you with a roleplay thing also

~ 

Illi was falling. He had only truly fallen once, when he was younger. Climbing the ship's ropes on a bet, he had slipped and fallen to the deck. He didn't really remember hitting the deck.

He slammed against a vine growing from the blood, which tumbled him aside, which was kind of like hitting a rope on his way down, but he did not think hitting the spores was like hitting the deck. The deck, he thought, should have been hard and unyielding. The spores were not. After the first jolting impact knocked the breath out of him, they gave way, and he was sinking. 

He knew he was going to die. His sweat would activate the spores, or he'd try to breath and they'd get in his mouth. You could rejoin the One, a voice said, somewhere in his thoughts. He rejected it. He was not done, he still had more experiences to live out. He realized he was only barely sinking into the spores. He still had a few moments. He reached for his belt and grabbed a bottle of Roseite that was clipped to it. He brought it to his mouth. He had no tools, no way to choose its direction. He spit on it, and he imagined a cocoon around himself. He willed it to take that shape. It broke out of the bottle, but it expanded normally. He growled, then roared. You will obey me! he thought. 

And the spores did. They wrapped around him, pushing away the verdant. It worked. He was safe. He breathed desperately. Alive, he realized, but not safe. He would run out of air soon. He patted his belt. A single pouch of Zephyr spores. Enough for what, a day? He was dead.

The Voice returned, Excellent work, I think it is time for you to rejoin your kin. There was a sudden feeling of weightlessness, then a slam. The Roseite crumbled away as if silver had been poured on it. Shakily, Illi rose. He was surrounded by golden haired people.

He was surrounded by the Iriali.

Edited October 14, 2025 by The Unknown Hammerer

[Jo and the Bush all/any]

6 hours ago, Doc12 said:

Hoid Slayer and Joe fighting was very funny to watch when I learned the truth. 

It was great fun! It was also incredibly frustrating that I couldn't move votes off of myself onto Hoid. I knew he was an eliminator! I was giving his exact, genuine, eliminator reasons for why he did various things, and people kept saying an eliminator wouldn't do those things!

Also, how does everyone here feel about Hammering? Because I have Capital T Thoughts about Hammering that I am going to double post in the Discord and in here.

My thoughts on Hammering:

As a player and a Game master, I don’t like Hammering. 

When I’m a Game Master, it adds additional work and stress to rollover. If I know the Eliminators are planning on hammering, I have to ensure that my Turn Closing announcement is exactly scheduled, and I can’t easily start to work on writeup until I know things have settled. What if they mess up? What if a villager blocks it? Too many things are in flux. Plus it often feels like I, as the GM, have to aid the Eliminators in this matter. I have to warn them that I’m online, because if I don’t, I might ruin their plans by posting a minute early or late.

When I’m a villager, and the Eliminators hammer at the last minute, I’m scrambling to find a way to respond in the seconds left. This game is usually a game of careful, thought out analysis, played over several days to give people time to participate. 

When I’m an eliminator, as I was in Long Game 108, winning due to a last second hammer (Literally at 59 minutes 59 seconds) feels scummy. It doesn’t feel like a genius tactical maneuver, or a cunning deception, it just feels like the village tripped over their shoelaces and we stabbed them in the back.

What could be done about it?

Assuming the community, or GM’s as a whole, don’t want to ban it, but do agree to discourage it, how would this manifest?

In Mid-Range Game 74, I play tested an Anti-Hammering rule that added 15 minutes to a cycle if someone cast a vote in the last 15 minutes of a turn. It could extend the turn by up to 1 additional hour. It worked quite well, extending play several times. It worked for me as the GM because I chose my rollover time with that rule in mind, making sure that I would have plenty of time to use it if necessary. Not every GM will be able to use this rule.

Another possible rule I’m considering playtesting is a hidden rollover time. There will be a 20 minute range of times in which rollover can be posted. The range is known, but the minute is not. I would randomly determine it in advance each cycle. That is a rule that can be implemented by any GM, regardless of their time restraints.

The point being, unless the community is strongly in favor of Hammering, I don’t intend to participate in Hammering ever again, either as a GM or as an Eliminator. There are ways that determined GM’s can stop Hammering. There are ways that Eliminators can discourage it. I didn’t discourage it this time, because I’m a bit pressed for time IRL right now. (I type that sentence, fully knowing that I should be doing Homework instead of SE right now, but, meh.)

The Community’s thoughts on Hammering:

Am I alone in this? I know that Hammering has been around for a very long time. There is the Notorious LG15A, which was won on the first cycle by an Eliminator Hammer. (Special Win Condition) To my recollection, there has never been a serious debate or discussion about whether or not this tactic should be discouraged. All is fair in love and war and all that, but this is neither love nor war, and we want the community to be fun and encouraging to play in.

Should Hammering be discouraged? Dis-incentivised? Banned? Am I alone in disliking it? 

[Araris Valerian he/him]

1 hour ago, A Jo in the Bush said:

I was giving his exact, genuine, eliminator reasons for why he did various things, and people kept saying an eliminator wouldn't do those things!

And there I was, worried I was arguing too much with you

[Hoid Slayer He/Him]

18 hours ago, A Jo in the Bush said:

It was great fun! It was also incredibly frustrating that I couldn't move votes off of myself onto Hoid. I knew he was an eliminator! I was giving his exact, genuine, eliminator reasons for why he did various things, and people kept saying an eliminator wouldn't do those things!

Also, how does everyone here feel about Hammering? Because I have Capital T Thoughts about Hammering that I am going to double post in the Discord and in here.

My thoughts on Hammering:

As a player and a Game master, I don’t like Hammering. 

When I’m a Game Master, it adds additional work and stress to rollover. If I know the Eliminators are planning on hammering, I have to ensure that my Turn Closing announcement is exactly scheduled, and I can’t easily start to work on writeup until I know things have settled. What if they mess up? What if a villager blocks it? Too many things are in flux. Plus it often feels like I, as the GM, have to aid the Eliminators in this matter. I have to warn them that I’m online, because if I don’t, I might ruin their plans by posting a minute early or late.

When I’m a villager, and the Eliminators hammer at the last minute, I’m scrambling to find a way to respond in the seconds left. This game is usually a game of careful, thought out analysis, played over several days to give people time to participate. 

When I’m an eliminator, as I was in Long Game 108, winning due to a last second hammer (Literally at 59 minutes 59 seconds) feels scummy. It doesn’t feel like a genius tactical maneuver, or a cunning deception, it just feels like the village tripped over their shoelaces and we stabbed them in the back.

What could be done about it?

Assuming the community, or GM’s as a whole, don’t want to ban it, but do agree to discourage it, how would this manifest?

In Mid-Range Game 74, I play tested an Anti-Hammering rule that added 15 minutes to a cycle if someone cast a vote in the last 15 minutes of a turn. It could extend the turn by up to 1 additional hour. It worked quite well, extending play several times. It worked for me as the GM because I chose my rollover time with that rule in mind, making sure that I would have plenty of time to use it if necessary. Not every GM will be able to use this rule.

Another possible rule I’m considering playtesting is a hidden rollover time. There will be a 20 minute range of times in which rollover can be posted. The range is known, but the minute is not. I would randomly determine it in advance each cycle. That is a rule that can be implemented by any GM, regardless of their time restraints.

The point being, unless the community is strongly in favor of Hammering, I don’t intend to participate in Hammering ever again, either as a GM or as an Eliminator. There are ways that determined GM’s can stop Hammering. There are ways that Eliminators can discourage it. I didn’t discourage it this time, because I’m a bit pressed for time IRL right now. (I type that sentence, fully knowing that I should be doing Homework instead of SE right now, but, meh.)

The Community’s thoughts on Hammering:

Am I alone in this? I know that Hammering has been around for a very long time. There is the Notorious LG15A, which was won on the first cycle by an Eliminator Hammer. (Special Win Condition) To my recollection, there has never been a serious debate or discussion about whether or not this tactic should be discouraged. All is fair in love and war and all that, but this is neither love nor war, and we want the community to be fun and encouraging to play in.

Should Hammering be discouraged? Dis-incentivised? Banned? Am I alone in disliking it? 

I quite dislike the concept of hammering too, ironic as it is

I don’t think there’s really any good solution to it though other than maybe game mechanics, or just case-by-case situation analysis

I know that then I run a game, I’ll definitely implement an anti-hammering mechanic

But I think a lot of it comes down to human choice and judgement, while trying to make the game fun for everyone

[Hoid Slayer He/Him]

@Amanuensis how's the after action coming along?

Also

On 10/13/2025 at 5:18 PM, Hoid Slayer said:

OMG guys don’t rep Penguin he’s at exactly 666 points

Nooooo someone gave him one more rep point 

[STINK he/him]

Araris

[Doc12]

Oh, yeah. Armiel. Got thoroughly taken in by Shifter, but you tried your best, and that's all anyone can ask for!

Also where did the idea that I was some kind of mastermind during LG107 with my 'information network' even come from? I just talked at everyone and died night 2 

Re: Hammers - I've said it somewhere else - Hammers are a byproduct of elims being able to coordinate. Is it valid? Yes. Is it particularly fun when you're a villager with no real way to counter it? No? I liked the recent MR with the 15 minute extensions - a hammer formed during cycle 4, but because of the extension Aman and I were able to respond in time, which felt really good as a villager.

It seems silly to say to the elims "Hey you can hammer but could you be nice enough to at least do it half an hour to an hour before rollover so villagers have a chance?" I guess in the end its up to the elims sense of Honor (Who is dead, so...)

Edited October 16, 2025 by Doc12

[Hoid Slayer He/Him]

3 minutes ago, Doc12 said:

Oh, yeah. Armiel. Got thoroughly taken in by Shifter, but you tried your best, and that's all anyone can ask for!

Also where did the idea that I was some kind of mastermind during LG107 with my 'information network' even come from? I just talked at everyone and died night 2 

You're infamous, my friend 

[Jo and the Bush all/any]

16 hours ago, Doc12 said:

where did the idea that I was some kind of mastermind during LG107 with my 'information network' even come from? I just talked at everyone and died night 2 

Yea I didn't know any of that. I chose tonkill you because I knew you had survived erroneously to the very end of the most recent game I ran. It didn't feel rude to N1 you.

[Araris Valerian he/him]

Armiel

[STINK he/him]

Is no-one else voting to save our dear wounded Armiel here?

[Araris Valerian he/him]

They really want me to die and blow up all the food I guess.

[Hoid Slayer He/Him]

34 minutes ago, STINK said:

Is no-one else voting to save our dear wounded Armiel here?

I mean I don't see any way he dies today

Which is sad, cause I really wanted to fulfill that promise 

[The Unknown Character he/him]

2 hours ago, STINK said:

Is no-one else voting to save our dear wounded Armiel here?

I keep meaning to but forgetting 

Armiel

[Hoid Slayer He/Him]

@Amanuensis?

[Hoid Slayer He/Him]

What happened 

[Hoid Slayer He/Him]

Seriously, does anyone know what happened with Aman?

@Amanuensis we miss youuuuuuuuuuu

[TwinStorm He/Him]

29 minutes ago, Hoid Slayer said:

Seriously, does anyone know what happened with Aman?

@Amanuensis we miss youuuuuuuuuuu

*refuses to anaylsis in current game*

*still stuck on the fate of an rp character from a game that ended over a week ago*

real, man, real

[Jo and the Bush all/any]

If anyone wants to send me a link to the Spec/Dead doc, i'll trade them the link to the eliminator doc. I want to see what was said

[Hoid Slayer He/Him]

1 hour ago, A Jo in the Bush said:

If anyone wants to send me a link to the Spec/Dead doc, i'll trade them the link to the eliminator doc. I want to see what was said

That’s my main thing too

But also a little concerned about Aman since he’s been offline a week now

[Jo and the Bush all/any]

48 minutes ago, Hoid Slayer said:

That’s my main thing too

But also a little concerned about Aman since he’s been offline a week now

He's said a few things on the Discord. He's alive

[Hoid Slayer He/Him]

On 10/28/2025 at 6:58 PM, TwinStorm said:

*refuses to anaylsis in current game*

*still stuck on the fate of an rp character from a game that ended over a week ago*

real, man, real

You should have the spec doc, no?

[Hoid Slayer He/Him]

@TwinStorm?