LG 111 - Aftermath: The House Sleeps Once More

[Araris Valerian he/him]

Aftermath: The House Sleeps Once More

12 graves, hidden in a courtyard walled in on all sides, the light barely reaching the ground.
12 people, dead in the span of six days.
12 souls, lost to the House. 

The first to die: a man none of them ever got to know, left without even a name on his gravestone.
Then Warren, an innocent man doomed by circumstantial evidence, the first gone to the angry mob.
Archie, who could have become so much more if he’d only had the time, who was never able to speak the Words he might have.
Brax, the first killer among them, the first to find the gun, who’d known his fate was sealed the moment the Void card was drawn. Then Luminair, the first Hero among them, killed because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time, and ran into
Patrick, a kind man who became twisted and consumed by the gun, and was overcome with the guilt of killing another person.
Then Mabel, the unsung hero, the only one to resist the gun, cursed to wander the House forever because of it.
Then Talasin was killed, who had always been lurking in the background, watching and recording everything until they were pushed to the forefront.
Next came Harley, who thought himself a detective but was never able to solve the mystery of the House.
Then K. Tims, just 13, who entered the House on a dare and was too young for the fate she got.
Randal, who got lost in the House, and would remain that way forever, beyond the reach of the bird he had begun to bond with. Then Mr Monopoly, who came in with big dreams of redeveloping the House and who might have been right about razing it to the ground.
And finally, Liam. The Hero who turned his back and the last one to fall. 

In the end, two made it out. But some part of them would always be lost in that House, just like all the others. 

Variel, the Hero, who deep in his heart wondered if he would have remained so had the gun passed to him. 

And Verna, the final killer among them, the one everyone had wanted to save in the beginning, granting her the butler’s gift, unused these six days. In the end, perhaps a part of her had died in these dark halls, when she made that final shot. 

They found something on Monopoly’s body, a final parting gift: his will, all his holdings left to the survivors. Though they had been wrong about him, he respected them in the end. Perhaps the money would help them continue in the aftermath of this horror. 

The doors finally opened when the first rays of sun crept through the windows, casting Verna and Variel’s faces in golden light. 

As they stepped outside, a gust of wind blew up from behind, and when they turned back, the House appeared just as it had for so long before this: a crumbling ruin of stone and wood, no evidence left of what had transpired within.

---

Liam @Conure1243 was killed! He was an Innocent Explorer!

Variel @StrikerEZ and Verna @Doc12 escaped the House with their lives! Additionally, Luminair @Mint11 (formerly frozen mint) died a Hero and will be remembered by the survivors.

Credit to @coco.pudding for most of the writeup. Also, in general, everyone should give her a big thanks for helping me keep things running smoothly this game! A big thanks to @|TJ| @little wilson for IMing the game as well.

I'll post some post-game thoughts in a bit, and of course I'm curious what everyone's thoughts were on the game. I hope to rerun these rules at some point, so let me know if you have any suggestions!

Links:
Dead Doc
Master Spreadsheet

Player List:

Spoiler

1. @___ as Mr. Monopoly, who is looking to redevelop the House - Innocent Explorer
2. @Through the living Wahr as Warren the Wisp-followed Innocent Explorer
3. @Fizz9 as Patrick, a friendly neighborhood smith Innocent Explorer
4. @Through The Living Star as Mabel, who is secretly not a grouch Innocent Explorer
5. @Akimikoisthecutest as Talasin the Journalist Innocent Explorer
6. @Qianweilian as Randal Boar, who might be really lost - Innocent Explorer with an Aviar
7. @Doc12 as Verna, a writer enamored by the House - Innocent Explorer
8. @Myst as Brax Innocent Explorer
9. @Mint11 as Luminair, a disciple of Aralis Innocent Explorer and Hero
10. @Divergent as Archie Innocent Explorer and proto-radiant
11. @Miss Fallen as K. Tims, yo-yo artist extraordinaire - Innocent Explorer
12. @Conure1243 as Liam - Innocent Explorer and Fallen Hero
13. @StrikerEZ as Variel the dark and funky - Innocent Explorer, Mistborn, and Hero
14. @Verdance as Harley, a secretary with a detective complex - Innocent Explorer

Edited May 7 by Araris Valerian

[Myst He/Him]

Yall are way too Nice!!!!

This was an FFA! 

[Stardust She/Her]

Haha yeah.  No promises in the next game though. 

Thanks for a great first game, everyone! 

[Conure1243 He/Him]

Indeed!

I'm surprised I lasted so far!

Also,

Doc, you traitor.

I applaud.

[Verdance he/him]

Next time i shall kill you all

lol never got the chance, this was fun

[Myst He/Him]

@Doc12 I’m glad you took over my deck of cards. Even if I couldn’t finish it someone else could.

This format was basically made for you though. PMs and backstabbing. You do both really well

[StrikerEZ he/him]

I can’t believe I survived till the end and actually didn’t have to kill anyone to get there. That’s probably the most surprising part of what happened to me.

That was really a lot of fun. Even if I didn’t get to succumb to my evil desires and shoot anyone.

@___ Sorry for getting you killed. I was so confused you had to be the person with the gun. 

[Conure1243 He/Him]

T'was me!

I played Doc there, somewhat accidentally

[Miss Fallen she/her]

19 minutes ago, Myst said:

This was an FFA! 

Yeah, clearly I have no idea how to play FFA, as evidenced by the following plan. That mechanic was not meant for FFA, sorry guys

i would like to try this again though, with any of the scenarios and another FFA

And food for thought; how many of us were actually innocent explorers?

[Doc12]

16 minutes ago, Myst said:

@Doc12 I’m glad you took over my deck of cards. Even if I couldn’t finish it someone else could.

This format was basically made for you though. PMs and backstabbing. You do both really well

20 minutes ago, Conure1243 said:

Doc, you traitor.

I applaud.

What? I didn't do any backstabbing, really  I only had the gun the very last cycle!

10 minutes ago, StrikerEZ said:

I can’t believe I survived till the end and actually didn’t have to kill anyone to get there. That’s probably the most surprising part of what happened to me.

See, I left you alive because you were wishing to be alive for one game. Wish granted  

5 minutes ago, Miss Fallen said:

Yeah, clearly I have no idea how to play FFA, as evidenced by the following plan. That mechanic was not meant for FFA, sorry guys

Your following idea really kinda broke the game a little there  I find it very funny that you were forced to also pretend to follow someone when you had the gun.

Yeah thoughts wise following mechanic was kind of abused. I did like how the gun and hero role going to voters rewarded active players, though I think players who weren't voting had little incentive to be invested in the game. I also really enjoyed the first couple cycles of trying to figure out what scenario we were in. The setup and explore phase has always been my favorite part of the board game, and I wish there was more to do in the later nights other than just search for item/follow for n0

@Fizz9 @Conure1243 @Through The Living Star Hope you guys had a fun first game! Fizz, you were so annoying that day when you had the gun and was trying to get everyone to vote on me  I was halfway convinced you were a villager who was just tunneling rather than a killer. Well played. Conure, I appreciate you rethinking your vote on that day, also well done accidentally fooling me xD. Star, I love how you were caught in a tie twice where one of you and another player had to be lying and was proven to be innocent twice, only to get the gun the very next night. I respect the integrity and story choice. Again, in my mind, you're a hero and you won alongside us  

@Myst Thanks for the cards  Hope you liked how I used them. @Miss Fallen respect for the day you almost manipulated the mob on me, and for breaking the game slightly  I loved that Verna got to collect souvenirs from both of you. @StrikerEZ Glad I didn't have to murder you, would have been awkward since we're co-GMing the next game  

@Divergent @Through the living Wahr @Mint11 Taken too soon 

@___ @Qianweilian @Verdance @Akimikoisthecutest Also taken unjustly, very sad  Sorry for disbelieving you Mippo. 

As always, thank you to @Araris Valerian and @coco.pudding for the fun game and excellent writeups! I enjoyed writing Verna, and thank you to everyone that interacted with her!

 

[___ He/Him]

39 minutes ago, StrikerEZ said:

I can’t believe I survived till the end and actually didn’t have to kill anyone to get there. That’s probably the most surprising part of what happened to me.

That was really a lot of fun. Even if I didn’t get to succumb to my evil desires and shoot anyone.

@___ Sorry for getting you killed. I was so confused you had to be the person with the gun. 

Welp I was also wrong anyway abt you

But this game was fun!

19 minutes ago, Doc12 said:

What? I didn't do any backstabbing, really  I only had the gun the very last cycle!

See, I left you alive because you were wishing to be alive for one game. Wish granted  

Your following idea really kinda broke the game a little there  I find it very funny that you were forced to also pretend to follow someone when you had the gun.

Yeah thoughts wise following mechanic was kind of abused. I did like how the gun and hero role going to voters rewarded active players, though I think players who weren't voting had little incentive to be invested in the game. I also really enjoyed the first couple cycles of trying to figure out what scenario we were in. The setup and explore phase has always been my favorite part of the board game, and I wish there was more to do in the later nights other than just search for item/follow for n0

@Fizz9 @Conure1243 @Through The Living Star Hope you guys had a fun first game! Fizz, you were so annoying that day when you had the gun and was trying to get everyone to vote on me  I was halfway convinced you were a villager who was just tunneling rather than a killer. Well played. Conure, I appreciate you rethinking your vote on that day, also well done accidentally fooling me xD. Star, I love how you were caught in a tie twice where one of you and another player had to be lying and was proven to be innocent twice, only to get the gun the very next night. I respect the integrity and story choice. Again, in my mind, you're a hero and you won alongside us  

@Myst Thanks for the cards  Hope you liked how I used them. @Miss Fallen respect for the day you almost manipulated the mob on me, and for breaking the game slightly  I loved that Verna got to collect souvenirs from both of you. @StrikerEZ Glad I didn't have to murder you, would have been awkward since we're co-GMing the next game  

@Divergent @Through the living Wahr @Mint11 Taken too soon 

@___ @Qianweilian @Verdance @Akimikoisthecutest Also taken unjustly, very sad  Sorry for disbelieving you Mippo. 

As always, thank you to @Araris Valerian and @coco.pudding for the fun game and excellent writeups! I enjoyed writing Verna, and thank you to everyone that interacted with her!

 

At least in this game you didn't seem to be lying to me at all sooooo that's good!

[Myst He/Him]

So, rules-wise it was obviously really easy to tell if it wasn’t scenario 3, so I’d just let the people flip as normal, or a 50/50 of flipping with no role and flipping with their original role.

And yeah, I think you might need to incentivize betrayal and make teamwork harder by making either the items better or letting people have two. Because it makes people less likely to break the game with following 

[StrikerEZ he/him]

Following was definitely a little abused, which is why I was so adamant about just…not doing that. And it worked out for me because I caught Miss Fallen with the gun with an item I got. 

[Qianweilian He/him]

I think that the gun should've rotated less often. Imo it was too hard to find the gun holder, and that resulted in exes being rather random.

[Fizz9]

8 hours ago, Doc12 said:

Fizz, you were so annoying that day when you had the gun and was trying to get everyone to vote on me

I worked hard! 

 

The game was so fun! Congrats to all the winners!

[Araris Valerian he/him]

I've edited links into the main post. Thoughts on the game will come later today.

[Araris Valerian he/him]

Alright, here are my thoughts on the game mechanics:

• Some of the information mechanics were broken to one degree or another. It shouldn’t be possible to rule out scenarios from flips, since that takes away from the mystery of the game.
  • Following players played into this as well, but mostly because the scenario was known and nobody was self-interested enough to go for items instead.
• Scenario 2 seems to need some mechanical incentive to create a bit more tension during the Day turns. I’m more used to folks being aggressive and backstabby, but there wasn’t a ton of built-in motivation to behave like that in the game
• The exploration mechanic can still be fleshed out a bit. Doc mentioned this in his thoughts, and I agree. The current rules has mystery elements in regards to the scenario, but not the layout of the House.

With all that in mind, I’m considering the following changes for the next run of this game:

• Players with an exploration role that are eaten by the Kandra will lose that role, but when their body is later discarded it will show their original role. (so that Scenario 3 can’t be picked out by the death of someone with a role)
• If at least one of the three exploration roles is not assigned to a player in the Kandra scenario, the Kandra’s original body will have a 50% chance to flip as having had a random one of the unassigned roles. (so that scenario 3 cannot be picked out by the death of someone with a role during Night 1)
• Maybe cause all evil players, including the gun wielder, to flip as Influenced Explorers. Maybe allow the Kandra to cause the target of an exe to flip this way once per game. This could also be an alternative gift ability. (so that players in scenario 2 know when they exed correctly, and so that all 3 scenarios cannot be identified directly by writeup results)

• The bearer of the Smoking Gun can optionally designate an Accomplice during the night, who will randomly get either an item or the Gun if the bearer is not executed the following day. The Accomplice knows the bearer’s identity, and cannot become a Hero by executing the bearer. The Accomplice role only lasts for a single day turn. (so that at least one person wants to keep the bearer alive, adding some tension to the scenario 2 executions)

And the biggest change:

• Exploration now involves the discovery of Locations. Players can search the house for a random location, or look for a particular one. Each location has an associated action that can only be taken by a player that has found it, or been told about it by another player that has previously found it. Each player also has both an exploration action and a second action they can take each night.
  • When you try to visit a location you think has been found, you submit the name of a player you think found the location already. If they have, you visit it (with a small chance of getting lost), otherwise you always get lost
  • The same location can be found independently by multiple players
  • The follow action (will be reworked a bit) and the items action will have their own associated locations that must be found
    • Some new items that interact with locations will be added, like a key that can be used to lock/unlock a location, a map that can be used to visit any location without finding, etc.
    • Odds of finding a non-boot will increase
  • The location for clues will be available to everyone at the start
  • The odds of finding new locations will be similar to the odds of finding a useful clue: there will be a formula for success that scales with the number of players

If anyone has any thoughts or suggestions, I’m all ears. And once again, thank you everyone for playing!

[Doc12]

4 hours ago, Araris Valerian said:

Following players played into this as well, but mostly because the scenario was known and nobody was self-interested enough to go for items instead.

I think the issue was, as you pointed out, the risk/reward wasn't great, even if I'm trying to play self-interestedly. My main goal was to stay alive, and when I did not have the gun, my options were 90% chance of finding a useless item, or a 80% chance of staying cleared and thus not executed. So in that scenario looking for items just wasn't worth it. I did try striking out and looking for items a few nights, and it just felt like I kept getting punished for it. 

5 hours ago, Araris Valerian said:

Exploration now involves the discovery of Locations.

• When you try to visit a location you think has been found, you submit the name of a player you think found the location already. If they have, you visit it (with a small chance of getting lost), otherwise you always get lost
• The same location can be found independently by multiple players

Locations! Again, favorite part of Betrayal is uncovering new rooms and gaining advantages/disadvantages based on rooms. Excited for whenever this happens. 

I'm a little confused about the two bullet points - When you say the same location can be found independently, is that separate from the above condition where you try to visit a room based on what you think another player went? Options being - I explore a room or I try to find the room that X went to? 

I think it might be interesting to simply announce in the day thread what rooms have been found, but not by who, perhaps? 

As to the other changes to make the scenarios harder to rule out, sure, that sounds perfectly fair. Myst ruined it for us here by blabbing about what scenario it was, otherwise we'd have been paranoid a while longer  

Also, re: dead doc, I'd love to be in a Survival alliance with you and Striker  

[Myst He/Him]

1 minute ago, Doc12 said:

I think the issue was, as you pointed out, the risk/reward wasn't great, even if I'm trying to play self-interestedly. My main goal was to stay alive, and when I did not have the gun, my options were 90% chance of finding a useless item, or a 80% chance of staying cleared and thus not executed. So in that scenario looking for items just wasn't worth it. I did try striking out and looking for items a few nights, and it just felt like I kept getting punished for it. 

Locations! Again, favorite part of Betrayal is uncovering new rooms and gaining advantages/disadvantages based on rooms. Excited for whenever this happens. 

I'm a little confused about the two bullet points - When you say the same location can be found independently, is that separate from the above condition where you try to visit a room based on what you think another player went? Options being - I explore a room or I try to find the room that X went to? 

I think it might be interesting to simply announce in the day thread what rooms have been found, but not by who, perhaps? 

As to the other changes to make the scenarios harder to rule out, sure, that sounds perfectly fair. Myst ruined it for us here by blabbing about what scenario it was, otherwise we'd have been paranoid a while longer  

Also, re: dead doc, I'd love to be in a Survival alliance with you and Striker  

It hard cleared me for 72 hours, why wouldn’t I do it? Plus it would screw over the future Elims 

[Doc12]

Verna returned to the site of the house a few weeks later, all alone. Dressed as all had known her in life, all in black, in a mourning veil. 

Over the next few days, working in silence, she erected thirteen gravestones in the empty yard. Upon each stone was carved a name.

Warren, wisp-touched.

Archie, idealistic. 

Brax, the magician. 

Luminair, the unsung hero. 

Patrick, a true friend.

Mabel, purest of heart. 

Talasin, the silent. 

K Tims, the sage. 

Harley, inquisitor. 

Randal, pathfinder. 

Monopoly, generous. 

Liam, fallen hero. 

.

.

.

Verna, killer.

On Brax's stone, she placed the remaining cards of his deck. To K, she returned the bone yo-yo. The others would be preserved. On Mabel's gravestone, she rested a silver star-tipped cane. 

The wind blew over the crumbling ruin of stone and wood, and the new set of gravestones in front of it. 

A memorial. 

A warning. 

She stood vigil for a night and a day. 

Then, she left. 

The sun shone bright, but Verna cast no shadow. It remained by the front of the house for  a moment longer, then walked to the ruin, disappearing across its threshold. 

[Araris Valerian he/him]

22 minutes ago, Doc12 said:

I'm a little confused about the two bullet points - When you say the same location can be found independently, is that separate from the above condition where you try to visit a room based on what you think another player went? Options being - I explore a room or I try to find the room that X went to?

Yeah, the idea is that in the FFA scenario, for example, someone might not want to share that they found the room with items in it. Or if the elim team finds a room, they might want to keep that amongst themselves.

Finding a room and using it would probably be separate actions due to targeting. If you’ve been to a room at least once, you can visit it to take the action. If you’ve haven’t been to it, but someone posts in thread or tells you in a PM that they found it (or you learned from some other source), you can attempt to visit the room using “directions” from that player. The action submission would be something like “visit the Vault using directions from Kas, and target Wilson with the Vault action”. If Kas has, in fact, been to the Vault, then the action usually succeeds (with some small chance to be lost by default) and I get to use the ability on Wilson. If Kas hadn’t been to the Vault then I get lost for sure.

[StrikerEZ he/him]

I definitely like the idea of adding rooms. That would make the game feel more like its inspiration. I also wanna second something from the dead doc (which I just read) in that I think the cycles should be shorter. I can imagine a scenario where the thread is more lively with these longer cycles (maybe if a different scenario ends up being picked), but I think snappier cycles would've helped a lot.

[Araris Valerian he/him]

On 5/7/2026 at 5:04 PM, StrikerEZ said:

I definitely like the idea of adding rooms. That would make the game feel more like its inspiration. I also wanna second something from the dead doc (which I just read) in that I think the cycles should be shorter. I can imagine a scenario where the thread is more lively with these longer cycles (maybe if a different scenario ends up being picked), but I think snappier cycles would've helped a lot.

Reading this, and thinking about some other things, like TUN not wanting to play because the game could end up as a FFA, makes me think that having wildly different scenarios is ultimately not great game design. The FFA and possibly the Kandra scenarios would work well as MR/QF type games, while the standard elim scenario really fits the LG format best.

With that in mind, I’m thinking of instead having the 3 scenarios correspond to different types of elim teams. I really like the Tasty/Kandra rules I came up with, and I think that could be bundled with an arson setup (so most nights still have a single kill, preserving symmetry). I think another scenario would involve conversions. The third could just be a fairly standard elim game.

I think conversions, arson+SK, and standard elims all have different enough methods of solving that there is still a pretty strong incentive for villagers to engage with the clue mechanic in order to determine which scenario is ongoing. 

[StrikerEZ he/him]

41 minutes ago, Araris Valerian said:

Reading this, and thinking about some other things, like TUN not wanting to play because the game could end up as a FFA, makes me think that having wildly different scenarios is ultimately not great game design. The FFA and possibly the Kandra scenarios would work well as MR/QF type games, while the standard elim scenario really fits the LG format best.

With that in mind, I’m thinking of instead having the 3 scenarios correspond to different types of elim teams. I really like the Tasty/Kandra rules I came up with, and I think that could be bundled with an arson setup (so most nights still have a single kill, preserving symmetry). I think another scenario would involve conversions. The third could just be a fairly standard elim game.

I think conversions, arson+SK, and standard elims all have different enough methods of solving that there is still a pretty strong incentive for villagers to engage with the clue mechanic in order to determine which scenario is ongoing. 

Ooooooo one of the scenarios being a conversion game would be a lot of fun actually. I’d have liked that a lot more than the FFA version.