Long Game 109: The Lords of Luthadel

[TwinStorm He/Him]

Long Game 109: The Lords of Luthadel

The Lord Ruler is dead. The skaa are free. Hope emerges from the ashes, in the once-great city of Luthadel. But hope is fickle, and even the slightest wind can blow it out. And the two armies that besieged the city of Luthadel are no slight wind. But there are deeper threats than just that, threats endangering the very soul of democracy. A contingent of Lords in the Assembly are still loyal to the Final Empire, and seek to bring about its return, whether through words or the sword. If you wish to save the city, noble Lords, servants of the true emperor, Elend Venture, find them and kill them. Preserve hope before everything is Ruined.

--

Dedri Vasting glanced across the council chamber. The ash falling outside was particularly thick, and as such, most of the Assembly members had chosen to send their break inside the meeting hall, where they were huddled in small groups, tensely discussing the political issues of the city. Those ran rampant. 

Dedri grimaced. Two armies besieged Luthadel, one led by the Emperor's own father, Straff. That was embarrassing for young Venture's reputation, without a doubt, as well as the rumors of his incompetence and his Mistborn assassin. He knew the latter was true, having seen her once, running through the mists. 

He glanced at the Emperor himself, talking to a Terriswoman. Lord Ruler, he was a youth, Dedri thought grimly. How had he taken control? The Skaa. The bloody Skaa. The Emperor saw his glance, and beckoned him over. Dedri sighed, but obeyed the command, leisurely striding to Elend.

"Dedri!" Elend called out, smoothing his rumpled uniform. Embarrassing, for a ruler. "I wanted to talk to you about."

"About?" Dedri replied, trying to be as calm as possible.

Elend lowered his voice, glancing around. "Spies." he said, as if it was the worst thing in the world.

Dedri tried to feign surprise. The boy was so new to politics. He thought every court was secure, and every man was honest.

Elend clearly saw through his act. "Not just regular spies, Vasting," he sighed. "Traitors. Traitors who want the return of the Final Empire. In our Assembly."

Dedri nodded to himself, half-expecting it. The Lord Ruler had ruled for a thousand years, and his reign had ended hardly a year ago. It was inevitable that there would be traditionalists who wanted his return.

"I will see to it, my lord." he found himself replying, turning away to go talk to his aides.

"No." Elend grabbed his shoulder, shocking Dedri. That broke every rule of etiquette. The boy always had.

"I want to deal with this publicly, Dedri. Bring it to the Assembly. No dealings in mist for this. If we will run an Empire, we must establish trust."

Dedri sighed at the naive words. The Empire was doomed. "Very well, my Lord. I will . . . bring it up in Assembly."

--

Welcome to Long Game 109! This will be a game set on Scadrial, shortly after the fall of the Final Empire, as the new lords of the city navigate the political landscape of a the fall of an ancient empire. I will be your co-GM, joined by the incredible @The Unknown Misting, and our IM to keep us in check, will be the amazing @Araris Valerian.  Rollovers will be at 9 PM CST and will begin a week from now, Tuesday, November 11. This game does rely on participation from players in thread, so if you want to sign-up, remember that this will be a commitment. Day cycles will be 48 hours long, with Night cycles lasting for 24 hours. Without further ado, the rules!

Housekeeping

Spoiler

• Cycles will consist of a 48 hour Day and a 24 hour Night.
• There will be a community execution every Day, flavored as a vote of no confidence causing Emperor Elend to strip them of their title.
• Players can vote for a player by putting that player's name in bolded red and can unvote by placing that same name in bolded green.
• Whoever has the most votes at the end of the day will have their titles stripped, removing them from the game.
• Ties will result in Vin choosing (she'll spin a knife and pick whoever the blade points toward)
• There is no vote minimum.
• PMs are open, but they do not count for Political Power. Make sure to include the GMs and the IM!
• Only posts during the Day will count for Political Power as no speeches are made at Night. The Nights are given to you, the players, to rest and recover, though you can discuss if you wish!
• We reserve the right to not count intentionally obfuscating gibberish, and I don't promise to count spoilers unless you @ mention me in the post.
• Accusations are a special reward Elend gives to encourage free discussion among his Nobles. If a player not only has the most words posted, but also has double the words of second place, they will be given a private conversation with Elend to share their worries. 
• Once earned, the next day, a player can use their Accusation on a player of their choice.
• That player will always have an amount of votes equal to the leading train -1. This means that one vote (by the person making the accusation, for instance) will tie them for death. Two votes will condemn them.
• An Accusation will be announced publicly at the start of the Day. 
• Accusations can not be made on a turn that an incorrect exe would cause the village to lose (exlo)
• Actions are placed at Night and results will be sent during the rollover before the Day starts. 

Alignments

Spoiler

New Lords: standard village faction, wins when all of the Final Empire Loyalists are dead.

Final Empire Loyalists: eliminator faction, wins when they have reached parity with the New Lords. They have a factional Night Kill and a doc to communicate in. The night kill can be performed alongside another action.

Political Power

Spoiler

The primary mechanic of this game.

As the Lords of Luthadel make their bids for power and speeches about the future of the New Empire, they gain varying amounts of political power. They can use this power to requisition messengers, bully thugs, or bribe officials.

Power, however, is relative. The most political power is awarded to the loudest Lord, and the least to the quietest. 

Levels of Power

1. Jail (Roleblock)
2. Guards (Protect someone from kills)
3. Noble Spies (Learn who someone targets)
4. Skaa Protesters (Add +1 vote to target)
5. Skaa Spies (Learn who targets a particular player)
6. Messengers (Post an anonymous message to the writeup)

During the Day turn, whoever posts the most words, whether it be roleplay, analysis, or neither, will be able to perform any one of the above actions. Whoever has the second most words will be able to choose from any of the above except Jail. Whoever has the third most won't be able to use Jail or Guards, and so on. Those who don't make it into the top five for word count won't be able to use any of the actions, though PMs will still be open to them. The Nights serve as a sort of rest, no speeches are made for the masses and no Political Power can be obtained.

Or, for your convenience, the rules below in doc form: 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Lb62tgrVF5i1a_tGEia9JATGQZqUUTL-y-lGZQrgwWA/edit?tab=t.0

The Players!

Spoiler

The Players

1. @Hoid Slayer - Lord Markus the Charming
2. @Booknewt - Lord Renalis the Realistic
3. @KaladinsSenseOfHumorSpren - Lord [insert name here], who is highly suspected of being a Kandra
4. @ThatOneWorldhopper - Lord R2D2, whose parents lost a bet
5. @dplostthegame
6.  @ruler of the mists
7. @CoderDrag0n8 - Lord Your Mistakes, an arrogant fellow
8. @IcedOutPenguin
9. @Akimikoisthecutest
10. @Sart - Lord Sart, fashionably late, as always

The Pinch-Hitters

1. @Aeternum
2. @Divergent

Edited December 12, 2025 by Araris Valerian

[BigBadBagsworth He/him/his]

I can’t join because my school’s workload is inane, but I think the ruleset is awesome.

[Hoid Slayer He/Him]

Signing up as Lord Markus, a charismatic centrist trying to keep his head

Also, Accusations seem pretty OP… like, they’re really hard to get, but if you don’t get one, it’s nearly an insta kill

[TwinStorm He/Him]

5 minutes ago, Hoid Slayer said:

Signing up as Lord Markus, a charismatic centrist trying to keep his head

Also, Accusations seem pretty OP… like, they’re really hard to get, but if you don’t get one, it’s nearly an insta kill

gotchu

kinda the point, since its really easy for any other player to stop them from gaining one, so if you do manage to gain one, you deserve the kill

Edited November 5, 2025 by TwinStorm

[Hoid Slayer He/Him]

4 minutes ago, TwinStorm said:

gotchu

kinda the point, since its really easy for any other player to stop them from gaining one, so if you do manage to gain one, you deserve the kill

Alright guys, ultimate strat: copy paste essays of text to troll Twin /s

Love the tags btw

@Araris Valerian “the Winnie the Pooh of Mafia” should be your member title

Or “Pooh Bear”

[TwinStorm He/Him]

Just now, Hoid Slayer said:

Alright guys, ultimate strat: copy paste essays of text to troll Twin /s

Love the tags btw

@Araris Valerian “the Winnie the Pooh of Mafia” should be your member title

Or “Pooh Bear”

to quote the rules

*ahem*

thank you for warning me to this

"We reserve the right to not count intentionally obfuscating gibberish, and I don't promise to count spoilers unless you @ mention me in the post."

unless the essay is clever and original, nah

[Hoid Slayer He/Him]

1 minute ago, TwinStorm said:

to quote the rules

*ahem*

thank you for warning me to this

"We reserve the right to not count intentionally obfuscating gibberish, and I don't promise to count spoilers unless you @ mention me in the post."

unless the essay is clever and original, nah

A’right

Note to self:

Write clever and original essay - must be SE related - for Twin

[TwinStorm He/Him]

Just now, Hoid Slayer said:

A’right

Note to self:

Write clever and original essay - must be SE related - for Twin

yes

do that

I will be velly velly happy

also I added you a tag

will do that for everyone

[Aeternum]

I can pinch hit as usual.

[Ookla the Newt she/her]

Definitely signing up. This even starts after my main commitments are over for a few weeks so that's perfect! I'll join as... Lord Renalis, who is decidedly worried about the two armies surrounding the city

If I change around some of the words in my history essays to make them Final Empire related will that count as rp? /jjjj (I'm not going to abuse the rules like that I'm not that kind of person) (although I will totally have a ton of rp bc I've been wanting to do more in SE and this gives me an excuse.) (and also changing around the words in my history essays to make them Final Empire related sounds ridiculously fun so can I do that anyway)

But yeah the rules look really fun, really excited for the game! (also I have a newfound respect for anyone running these games after an increasingly deteriorating attempt to run a game with my friends... Shenanigans have ensued)

Also, where did the Majora's Mask game go?
 

[Araris Valerian he/him]

2 minutes ago, Booknewt said:

Also, where did the Majora's Mask game go?

That game is on hiatus until such time as we can get enough players to run it (and when Aman, the GM, isn't too busy). I hid the thread for now.

[KaladinsSenseOfHumourSpren He/Him]

I'll join as...

Hmm...

For this game, I feel like playing a universe-hopper from Cytoverse

So that's what I'll do

I'll be a varvax visiting the Cosmere through the Nowhere

But I'll come up with a name later

[Through the Living Hopper He/Him]

Hmmmm.

I don't know how active I can be, but put me on for now.

Wait.

We have to deal with Twinstorm and TUH?

[Divergent He/Him]

I'm not sure about my availability yet. Put me in as spectator for now!

[Hoid Slayer He/Him]

Side note is it just me or is SE really slowing down?

Like I know it’s changed a lot since it’s early days

Back then, two games ran at once, and still the suggested amount of players for an LG is more than 20 - a number we can pretty much only dream of now

3 and a half days ago, I sent a PM to the 8 player Game Balance Committee - which has only been read by the two of them that have been online since then. Many of them haven’t been online in quite a while.

Wait

Maybe I should be saving this rant for the game

[The Unknown Medallion he/him]

32 minutes ago, Hoid Slayer said:

Side note is it just me or is SE really slowing down?

Like I know it’s changed a lot since it’s early days

Back then, two games ran at once, and still the suggested amount of players for an LG is more than 20 - a number we can pretty much only dream of now

3 and a half days ago, I sent a PM to the 8 player Game Balance Committee - which has only been read by the two of them that have been online since then. Many of them haven’t been online in quite a while.

Wait

Maybe I should be saving this rant for the game

I mean, yes, but the committee has been like this for pretty much as long as I've been around tbh 

[Ookla the Newt she/her]

1 hour ago, Hoid Slayer said:

Back then, two games ran at once, and still the suggested amount of players for an LG is more than 20 - a number we can pretty much only dream of now

There would be 20 players? Wow that's a lot of people

I hope it isn't slowing down, but... yeah that sounds like it is

[Hoid Slayer He/Him]

8 minutes ago, Booknewt said:

There would be 20 players? Wow that's a lot of people

I hope it isn't slowing down, but... yeah that sounds like it is

Quote

Long Game Elimination Format Rules

 

With plenty of time and a lot of complexity, the Long Games typically have time for in-depth analysis and plenty of roleplaying opportunities. The drawback being that they typically take a lot longer to play out.

 

Players: 18+

Game Duration: 3+ weeks

Game Cycle Duration: 96 hours max.

Turns: days and nights, each 48 hours max.

Rollover Time: TBD by the GM

 

What to Expect:

lots of roleplay

more chances for in-depth manipulation

lots of complexity

high levels of analysis

 

Mid-Range Game Elimination Format Rules

 

A middle ground style of game. The Mid-Range games run fairly quickly, but not nearly as fast as a Quick Fix. This allows for more roleplaying and analysis than a Quick Fix, but less than a Long Game.

 

Players: 15-30

Game Duration: 2-3 weeks

Game Cycle Duration: 48 hours

Turns: days and nights can be combined into one full cycle 48 hours in length or separated for each to be 24 hours long

Rollover Time: TBD by the GM

 

What to Expect:

fairly fast pace

some complexity

a bit of roleplay

moderate analysis

inactive player warnings/deaths

 

Quick Fix Elimination Format Rules

 

The Quick Fix games follow a faster paced schedule than the other elimination games. This format will have fewer roles than the other games, and be less heavily invested in role playing.

 

Players: 8-16

Game Duration: 1-2 weeks

Game Cycle Duration: 24 hours

Turns: days and nights combined into one full cycle

Rollover Time: TBD by the GM

 

What to Expect:

very fast pace

basic roleplay

simple structure

basic analysis

one post/PM per cycle

inactive player warnings/deaths

Per the Art of Game Creation thread

Very different from what we’ve got now

And last game Fura was talking about 100 page docs, when the longest I’d been in before then was 36

[The Unknown Medallion he/him]

35 minutes ago, Booknewt said:

There would be 20 players? Wow that's a lot of people

Yeah, I've played in games with nearly 30 players, it was chaotic

25 minutes ago, Hoid Slayer said:

And last game Fura was talking about 100 page docs, when the longest I’d been in before then was 36

But hey, this is your opportunity to make a new record!

[Furamirionind They/Any/All]

Idk i think that this is a convo we've been having since I first joined... I think there are several factors in this... but the best way to combat it are to generally be welcoming, active, and visible. Basically what TUH... TUM? Said. Like, find the way you enjoy to play, make friends, and include new players in those friendships. I found SE because I made a welcome post and people made me aware of the Alleyverse (rip) and SE. And I was most active while in high school/community college.

Some players like me, find talking in docs really fun... so i will just keep going and going. Other players would primarily chat with their friends in docs/pms. If you look at the doc from last game, you'll see a long discussion between Doc and me was about how underrated The Last Jedi was. Alternatively, LG56 iirc there was a lot of analysis happening in the doc to try to solve the game. Things like this extend doc length... but if its not fun to you/current players, then that isn't a type of activity you should be measuring. 

I would encourage you to skim/search the meta discussion where iirc this conversation happened a few times and that might be a good place to voice concerns as well.

[Araris Valerian he/him]

15 hours ago, Hoid Slayer said:

Side note is it just me or is SE really slowing down?

Like I know it’s changed a lot since it’s early days

Back then, two games ran at once, and still the suggested amount of players for an LG is more than 20 - a number we can pretty much only dream of now

3 and a half days ago, I sent a PM to the 8 player Game Balance Committee - which has only been read by the two of them that have been online since then. Many of them haven’t been online in quite a while.

Wait

Maybe I should be saving this rant for the game

It's not just you, though we've picked up a bit of speed since this time a year ago, I'd say. The 2 games at once thing was actually strongly linked to the player count; if the current LG has 3 weeks left and you're dead, it's nice to be able to play a QF in the meantime.

If you have ideas for the community, feel free to post them in the "feedback and suggestions" channel on the discord server.

Also, I'll bet we hit 20 players for the Anniversary Game this year, between all the new folks we've had along with some returning players.

By the way, the committee also includes the current moderators (most notably myself, so feel free to add me to that PM). Since games only need 2 approvals to be run, usually between myself, Kas, and TUM things get though fairly quickly.

[dplostthegame]

sign me up as whatever yall want because i have no understanding of the flavor 

14 hours ago, Booknewt said:

There would be 20 players? Wow that's a lot of people

I hope it isn't slowing down, but... yeah that sounds like it is

i cooould pull like 5 or 6 players in from a mafia forum on another website i know(AoPS/Art of Problem Solving) but im not too sure if that's gonna succeed

[Araris Valerian he/him]

3 hours ago, dplostthegame said:

sign me up as whatever yall want because i have no understanding of the flavor 

i cooould pull like 5 or 6 players in from a mafia forum on another website i know(AoPS/Art of Problem Solving) but im not too sure if that's gonna succeed

You’re welcome to invite folks! It could be nice to have some other mathematicians around . And if they bounce off then no harm done.

[Hoid Slayer He/Him]

6 hours ago, Araris Valerian said:

If you have ideas for the community, feel free to post them in the "feedback and suggestions" channel on the discord server.

I’m not on Discord

6 hours ago, Araris Valerian said:

It's not just you, though we've picked up a bit of speed since this time a year ago, I'd say. The 2 games at once thing was actually strongly linked to the player count; if the current LG has 3 weeks left and you're dead, it's nice to be able to play a QF in the meantime.

If you have ideas for the community, feel free to post them in the "feedback and suggestions" channel on the discord server.

Also, I'll bet we hit 20 players for the Anniversary Game this year, between all the new folks we've had along with some returning players.

By the way, the committee also includes the current moderators (most notably myself, so feel free to add me to that PM). Since games only need 2 approvals to be run, usually between myself, Kas, and TUM things get though fairly quickly.

I didn’t realize the committee had changed

If I add you to the PM, can you see past messages?

[Araris Valerian he/him]

2 hours ago, Hoid Slayer said:

I’m not on Discord

You can also just message me or one of the other mods on the Shard.

2 hours ago, Hoid Slayer said:

I didn’t realize the committee had changed

If I add you to the PM, can you see past messages?

It’s not that the committee has changed, it’s that there are 2 separate roles: committee member and subforum moderator. But both roles can give approval to games and should be included in approval PMs.

I can see past messages. Though I’ve kinda given my thoughts on that game already.

This discussion is a bit off topic though, so if you have anything further to add we can move it to that game approval PM or another PM.