Long Game 1: In the Wake of the Koloss

[Metacognition he/him]

So there's a game that I've played on one of the other forums I visit that I think you guys might enjoy. It goes by many names, but it's basically an elimination game. It's a game of bluffs and mystery. Lies and manipulation. How well can you fool your fellow 17th Sharders? How long can you survive?

The way it plays is, you have a group of people (villagers, as they're typically called) and some of them are actually enemies, but no one knows who. It is turn based, following a night/day schedule. At the end of each turn, the Game Master (me, in this case) will do a write up that details what took place during that night or day turn. The objective is for the villagers to kill all of the enemies or for the enemies to outnumber the number of villagers.

How It Works
The game is split into two sections, Day and Night. Each of these periods typically last somewhere between 24-48 hours in length, depending on how much time everyone wants. The game starts with the beginning of the first Night.

During the Night, players use their night actions (when their character has them) by a Private Message to the Game Master. There will be x enemies (depending on number of participants), and the rest will be villagers. The enemies get to try to kill one person per night. The enemies will know who all the other enemies are and the villagers have no knowledge of who anyone else is when the game begins. Night ends with me posting a report of who was killed, and perhaps hints at any other events that happened, if they are relevant.

During the Day, Once the killings are done, it becomes Daytime, where all players hold a "town meeting" to discuss amongst themselves who might be the enemies. This means they will debate openly in the game thread, votes are placed and one person is killed off. Voting is done by stating who you want to be killed and posting it in red. If you change your mind, you have to rescind your previous vote in green before you can vote for someone else and then can vote for someone else again in red.

Players holding Special Roles must be careful in persuading other members to vote without revealing themselves (or they might be targeted next round by the surviving enemies). Once the vote is decided (either by majority or the time is up), the player is killed and their alignment and role is revealed, if they had a role.* If there is a tie, no one is killed.

*This isn't always the case, but considering this is our first game, I figured it should be as open as possible.

Then the cycle starts over until either all the enemies are killed off or they outnumber the villagers.

Obviously, as I already stated, it is a game of obfuscation and lies. The enemies are trying to fool everyone during the day round into killing one of their own and keeping themselves hidden, while everyone else is trying to find and kill off the enemies before they outnumber the villagers that are left. For the game to be entertaining though, you have to follow fair play rules.

As an example, you can't use anything from the Game Master to prove you are a villager, like showing my Private Messages to other players, nor show Private Messages from other players.
You can lie within the game however. For example, You can say "Player X messaged me saying he is a 'Special Role'. I don't believe him." whether it's true or not, but you can't show any print screen or proof of anything related to game mechanics.
Similarly, you can't use your forum or real life friendship to guarantee to someone that you are speaking the truth. The lack of information, the bluffing, the lies are part of the game.

So that's the general concept of the game. Hopefully you guys are intrigued by the idea, because now I'm going to make it Sanderson style and show you what I mean by Special Roles via those that I'd like to use in this game! So without further ado:

Mistborn Elimination!

Oh no! Koloss have begun advancing on your town, Tyrian Falls! Since The Lord Ruler died, they seem to be acting with a mind of their own. Unfortunately for you, your town is a way point between Fadrex City and Luthadel. That means you have a stockpile of metals, but that’s probably why they targeted you in the first place.

On the other hand, you have a large collection of metals! You might be able to hold them off, but it seems like someone (or a conspiracy of someones) seems to be undermining your defenses.

Somehow, before the Koloss arrive, you have to rid your town of these dissenters; those that are spiked. Until then, you won’t be able to mount an effective defense for your town. If you fail, everyone dies, so you better not fail!

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Some people within the town have been hiding a few secrets; some of them are Mistings, so you have help in your battle versus the forces of Ruin. Although some of them may be spiked…. Why can’t anything be easy?

THUG: They can survive a single attack. If they are killed during a night or day cycle, they survive and this will be revealed in the write up. If they are attacked again, they die… finally.

TINEYE: They are messengers and are capable of writing messages to the town while remaining anonymous. Each night, they can send a message to the Game Master. He will then post it within the write up at the end of the night. As long as the Tineye is alive, players can send Private Messages back and forth. Once he dies, he can no longer deliver messages, so no more PMs.

SMOKER: The Smoker is undetectable and he can extend this power to one other person each night. If scanned by a Seeker, the smoker or the person encompassed within his coppercloud will show up as nothing. Alternatively, the Smoker can turn his coppercloud off. This would allow them to be scanned. In addition to being undetectable by the Seeker, the Smoker and his target are unaffected by emotional Allomancy. As long as the Smoker is using their coppercloud, the Soother and Rioter cannot change their votes.

SEEKER: The Seeker can sense when someone is burning metals. In fact, he/she has gotten so good that they can tell whether someone is spiked or not! Once per night, the Seeker can target someone to learn their abilities and alignment.

COINSHOT: The Coinshot does what they do best. They push metals around; specifically into other people’s bodies. Once per night, the Coinshot can target a person for death. Unless otherwise disrupted, that person dies.

LURCHER: Where the Coinshot pushes, the Lurcher pulls. Once per night the Lurcher can target someone and that person will be saved from death.

SOOTHER: Their ability to dampen emotions puts them and the Rioter in a very special position. During any time during the day round (up until the round ends), they can negate one person’s vote. The change will be anonymous, but since I will be posting voting results at the end of each day, those that are observant should be able to tell whose votes were changed.

RIOTER: The Rioter works in a similar fashion as the Soother, except once during the day round they can change one person’s vote. Using this power does nullify their own vote though. They are still capable of voting, but their vote will not be counted. The change itself will be anonymous, but since I will be posting voting results at the end of each day, those that are observant should be able to tell whose votes were changed.

MISTBORN: There will only be one Mistborn. They have the abilities of all of the above, but will only be able to use one per cycle. At the beginning of every night, the Mistborn will be told which ability they have and it’s the only ability they have until the next night.

REGULAR VILLAGERS: You have no special powers, but you still get a vote every day. Who knows? Perhaps you were meant to be the one to save the town! Not all stories are about the strongest people in a group.

SPIKED: Beyond possibly having one of the above roles, you can hear Ruin talking to you. He’s told you who else in the town is spiked and together you’re to keep the town from mounting a defense before the Koloss arrive. In return, you will be spared. Your goal is to kill one person per night until you outnumber the villagers. Special note: no matter if the Tineye is alive or dead, people who are Spiked can communicate to each other through whatever means they see fit (Google Doc has worked out for some of the groups I’ve played with quite well in the past).

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I’ve color coded the groups, as it would be unfair (and in some cases useless) for those that are Spiked to have certain abilities. Depending on how many people want to play and on randomness, there may be more than one of some of the roles. Or there may be none of another. If there are no Tineyes, I will state as much at the beginning of the game. Green means that the role could belong to either the Villagers or the Spiked, Blue means that they are definitely Villagers and Red means that they are, of course, Spiked.

So that’s it! What do you guys think? Is this something you’d like to try? If you would, just respond by saying you’d like to play and give yourself a name and role within the town. Roles like, Mayor or Barkeep or Innkeeper or Town Drunkard. Have fun with it and feel free to come up with some history for your character. Please, for the sake of simplicity though, keep your name close to your username. For example, if I were playing, I might call myself Meta: the innkeeper who is always spying on guests through the keyhole.

I waited until now to post it because I didn't want to interfer with anyone's holiday plans, so this won't actually start till after New Years, but I figured we could start getting people signed up, if this is something everyone would find interesting. I’d like a group of around 14-16 people to start with, but if we get more, I won’t complain. Once we get enough people, I’ll do a write up to set the scene and then the first night will start. At that time, I’ll send out PMs to everyone with their roles as well. Feel free to ask any questions you might have either through PMs or on here and I’ll answer them as soon as possible. Thanks!

Quick Links to the Beginning of Each Turn

 

Night 1: The Beginning
Day1: The Day Millions of Companions Cried Out in Pain
Night 2: An Army of None
Day 2: Beggars Can't be Choosers
Night 3: Forging Ahead
Day 3: Front Page Headlines
Night 4: Closing Time
Day 4: And a One, And a Two, And a One, Two, Three....
Aftermath: In the Wake of the Koloss

 

Edited June 15, 2016 by Metacognition

[Cracknut he/him]

Dr. Digits is in.

[Edgedancer he/him]

Edgar the Blacksmith wants to join the game.

[Mailliw73 he/him]

Maill: The town cobbler. I would like to join.

[Aether he/him]

Aether, the town scholar offers his services for the common cause.

[Claincy he/him]

Yay werewolves (/mafia if you really have to call it that )

 

Clancy is the village storyteller. (Hey, you said similar to our usernames )

 

But wait, how does a village in the final empire have a dedicated storyteller? He used to be a traveler, defying the lord Rulers will by travelling between plantations and villages telling tales of other parts of the empire. After the fall of the lord Ruler and with the rampaging kollos hordes it became too dangerous to continue traveling alone.

[Gamma Fiend he/him]

They call me Gambles, the town drunk who's always willing to bet on a game of chance.

Edit: Never really done of of these forum type games before, so forgive me if I'm a little slow to the uptake at first.

Edited December 31, 2013 by Gamma Fiend

[Kurkistan he/him]

I do love me a good game of werewolves.

 

They call me Kukri, the knife-guy.

[bartbug he/him]

I'm in! This is new to me, but mafia is a family tradition that we love playing. I'm Beetle, an urchin who is always at the most annoying place and is practically invincible. At least, I think so.

[dyring]

Could be fun to try , havent done it before thou

 

Every town cherishes a meetingplace where one can have a drink and talk with ones mates. Dyring prides himself on his establishment, finest for a days ride.

 

Also the only inn for a days ride, wich is likely a requirement for above claim.

Edited January 1, 2014 by dyring

[Quiver he/him]

Sounds like a fun game, and if there's one person who needs fun in his life it's Quinn. The town crier, what he has been reporting has been getting more and more depressing. Deaths, mistsickness, the threat of invasion, not to mention the gossip and backbiting that always bubbles beneath the surface in times of stress. It's no wonder that when he isn't performing his duties, he is wrapped in a cloak in the tavern, nursing drinks.

Edited December 31, 2013 by Quiver

[Metacognition he/him]

First of all, Happy New Year everyone! I hope this year treats you even better than the last one did. It should, we'll all be able to read WoR sometime this year!

 

Second, thanks to everyone who has already signed up. In the idea of keeping things moving, I've decided that I would like to start the game this weekend. That will give me some time to iron out the kinks, if there are any. So if you're not sure if you want to join, you have till I get the write up in on Saturday to decide! And I wouldn't wait till Saturday. I have no idea when I'll post it, just that it'll be sometime on Saturday. While I was hoping for around 16 people so we could have at least one of each of the basic metals, it shouldn't be unbalancing if I have to cut a few for this game. 

 

 

 

Also, I have a few additional concepts about the game I wanted to let people know about. This should help with clarify a few things at least.

 

I've decided that the day/night cycle will be 48 hours long. If everyone gets their night orders in before that time, I may cut it off early, but unless the entire group decides, the day cycle will always be 48 hours long from the time I post the night results. If this isn't enough time, or if it seems like too much time, we can adjust it as the game goes on.

 

I forgot to add this rule because it's fairly self explanatory, but after you die, you can't give out any in game information you have. You're dead and the dead don't speak. As an example, if you're the Seeker and you find out one of the other players is Spiked, but you die before the night is over, you can't tell anyone. For those that die, I'm planning on setting up an open Google Doc as a kind of spiritual realm where you all can talk over things without disrupting the game.

 

Speaking of disrupting the game, All out of character discussions will be colored in blue once the game starts. This is for things that are unrelated to the game (for example, if you just have to mention that you got your copy of WoR or something). That said, players are more than free to argue out of character and use their knowledge of the basic game mechanics to identify suspects, detect lies and get others to vote to kill someone. Those types of arguments are game related and thus don't have to be in blue. As example, if two people are claiming to be a Mistborn, one of them is lying and there may be ways to prove it.

 

Something else worth mentioning is this game isn't fair at all - it's very likely someone will get killed in the first night by no fault of his own. But these things don't take a ton of time and you can always join the next game.

 

That's all I've got for you guys for now. I'll start planning things with the group that we have so far and adjust accordingly when/if we get some additional players! Again, if you have any questions, feel free to ask.

[little wilson she/her]

Wilson, the town messenger who has a bad habit of looking at the deliveries (whether they be notes or parcels) she makes around town, is in.

[Oudeis he/him]

Darman, the cobb-... grr, someone stole cobbler already. Mortician.

[loganmathewjohnson]

Mat, the Wanderer, is new to town. Nobody knows who he is, or where he's from, but he has joined the game.

If anyone wanted to know information about what was going on in Luthadel or the rest of the Empire, Mat will tell them- for enough coin.

 

EDIT: Yeah, I haven't ever done one of these either. But it's worth a shot!!

Edited January 2, 2014 by loganmathewjohnson

[Grayv he/him]

I'll give this a shot, I'll be the drunk veteran who lost his left hand and has a twitch in his right eye.

[Peng the Just he/him]

jason, the beggar, would like to play

[PorridgeBrick he/him]

Porridge the Bricklayer has come to town. His name's not actually Porridge, but he's so utterly bland and forgettable that no one bothers to remember his real name. He'd make the perfect spy, if anyone would pay attention to him enough to think of recruiting him.

[Metacognition he/him]

Well I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm excited to get started! It's technically Saturday where I am and I did say that it could happen at any time on Saturday! So let's begin!

Quick note: Thanks again to everyone who signed up! Since we have 16 players, that means we have at least one of every Role! That means that PMs are allowable until the Tineye dies and I will make mention of that within my write up when/if that ever happens. 

List of Players

213 - Dr. Digits (Doctor)  Deceased Village Tineye

Edgedancer - Edgar (Blacksmith) Deceased Village Seeker

Mailliw73 - Maill (Cobbler)

Aether - Aether (Scholar) Deceased Spiked Smoker

Lord Claincy Ffnord - Clancy (Storyteller)

Gamma Fiend - Gambles (Town Drunk)

Kurkistan - Kukri (Knife Guy) Deceased Village Coinshot

Bartbug - Beetle (Urchin)

Dyring - Dyring (Inn Keeper) Deceased Village Thug

Little Wilson - Wilson (Messenger)

Darnam - Darnam (Mortician)

LoganMathewJohnson - Mat (Wanderer)

Grayv - Grayv (Drunken Veteran) Deceased Village Smoker

JasonPenguin - Jason (Beggar) Deceased Village Villager

PorridgeBrick - Porridge (Bricklayer) Deceased Village Rioter

Quiver - Quinn (Town Crier) Deceased Village Lurcher

 

Night 1

Grayv stood on top of the small wall surrounding the town, facing south. He couldn’t see them yet, but if the scouts were right, they were on their way. Koloss. A small band in comparison to to some of the huge groups he had seen in his day, but more than enough to overrun the town if they weren’t prepared. His eye twitched and he reached for bottle that never strayed too far from his hand. That was the problem, every time they began preparations, it seemed something went wrong. When they repaired some of the damaged sections of the wall, they awoke the next day to find the mortar refused to hold. The glue on the fletchings were the same. Then there was the fire that destroyed a lot of their supplies. Grayv didn’t know what it all meant, but he knew a disaster in the making when he saw it and this one was shaping up to be a doozy….

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Aether sat studying the recent delays in the war effort. Something didn’t make sense. Porridge had used the exact same mortar for other repairs around the town and it held fine. The glue stuck on anything except weapons; he had tested it himself. His fingers still had tiny bits of feather stuck to them because of the adhesive. No, this was too systematic, too controlled. His eyes grew wide as an idea came to him….

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Quinn sat in Dyring’s Inn, drowning his sorrows in drink. If Beetle and Mat had both heard the same thing, then he had the biggest news this little town had ever heard and yet, he didn’t feel like sharing it.

“News flash, everyone,” he mumbled into his drink. “We’re all going to die!”

Just as he raised his mug to his lips, the door slammed open. In the fading light of day, Aether stood in the doorway, out of breath and with bits of feather stuck all over him. The mists were already starting to curl around his feet. Aether took a minute to catch his breath and then said one word to the waiting crowd.

“Saboteurs.”

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Night One begins! I’ve sent everyone a PM with their alignment and roles. Good luck everyone! 

If you have a role that has night time actions, send me a PM with what you would like to do. You can decide not to use your action if you want, but then please send me a PM telling me that you don’t plan to use it.

Edited June 15, 2016 by Metacognition

[Metacognition he/him]

I hope no one minds the appropriation of their characters for the intro. Their use here doesn't hint towards anything, I just wanted to personalize it.

 

[Mailliw73 he/him]

So, to make sure I get this right, there's no discussion until 48 hours from when you posted that?

[Metacognition he/him]

By all means, discuss, RP, debate, etc. Have fun, the game has begun. But, no votes for who gets killed will be counted until after I post the Night results and Day 1 starts.

 

If everyone gets their night orders in early, I'll probably do the write up early, but I want to make sure I give everyone plenty of time. I don't think everyone checks in everyday and it would suck for them to miss out (or get killed) without having the opportunity to defend themselves. If everything is going smoothly and everyone thinks 48 hours is too long of a wait, I have no problem shortening the time between turns to 24 hours. Right now it's wait and see what works for everyone, but that doesn't mean you can't start now!

[Mailliw73 he/him]

Ok, thank you so much. I'll be sure to do so.

[Aether he/him]

Aether, town scholar:

 

Saboteurs, I tell you! The mortar used on the wall has been tampered with. The accident was not, uh, accidental! I believe there is reason to assume that last weeks fire was not random at all. People, we have an enemy amongst us!

 

EDIT: I propose adding similar tags to mine ahead of all in-game posts, to make it easier to keep track of who's who.

Edited January 4, 2014 by Aether

[Gamma Fiend he/him]

Gambles slams down his mug on the table, "Saboteurs, ya say?? Wanna bet on it?"