The Art of Game Creation

[Aeoryi]

On 4/10/2024 at 11:37 AM, Araris Valerian said:

Given the low player counts we’ve had recently (TKN’s game is at 4 right now, though I’m guess that’s partly end of semester syndrome), I was thinking about what kind of mechanics make for a better game with 8-10 players.

Some general question that may be food for thought:

• Are there things we can pull off with smaller games the would be relatively infeasible with more players?
• A game with 8-10 players would typically last 3-4 cycles. What mechanics should we avoid to keep from pushing this lower, and what ways could we boost game length without frustrating players or otherwise compromising play?
• Are there any previous rulesets that would be suitable (possibly with minor modification) to our current player counts?
• Since we are a Sanderson forum, what settings might be particularly suitable to the sorts of mechanics/game lengths/game sizes that come from the above?

I have my own thoughts on some of these but am curious to hear from y’all.

There are easily more ways to adapt to the smaller player counts we see more often. I think the most important thing to keep in mind is to have a plan in place for lower player counts. Just like how a 34 player game would not be acceptable, a game that requires 14+ players is also not acceptable. The easiest solution would be to have a role setup pre-planned for your game. For instance, if I was GMing a Tyrian falls game, I might have a setup planned like:

Quote

 

7 players: 2x Village smoker, village soother, 2x villager, elim smoker, elim soother

8 players: Village coinshot, Village thug, Village lurcher, 3x Vanilla Villager Elim Lurcher, Elim Seeker

 

Having a plan will make your game able to run, even with low player counts, generally no matter the ruleset. (Although the 7 player setup looks sketchy). You don't have to share the distro with the players, since that's not really a thing here, but it will be beneficial to have something planned for most occasions.

Here's another thing: Don't expect games to last long. Nerfing the amount of kill potential or making kills less likely to hit is not the best thing. I think the better course of action is to simply embrace it, or build a ruleset around it. If Exlo/LYLO is at cycle 3 on average, so be it. Obviously, don't make the game be over by cycle 2, since that's lame and unsatisfying, but don't try and make your game last longer by tampering with the eliminator kill or execution. Here's why tampering with the two kills that should always happen is bad:

Say I have a 7 player setup where players have a 50% chance of dodging a kill. What does this accomplish? Well, it makes my game longer, yes, but it also means that people will not be enjoying it when the execution fails for the third time in a row. It means the eliminators will be cussing at me from their doc because they can't kill Kas by cycle 3. It means that people will blame the outcome of the game on RNG, and that's not how the game should be decided. 

Now, you might say, “Well, I would never design a ruleset like that, that sounds terrible!” Well, let me modernize it a bit for you, again using tyrain falls:

Quote

8 player setup: 2x village thug, 1x village lurcher, 2x village vanilla, 1x village smoker 1x elim thug, 1x elim tineye

What's the problem here? Well, if you look closely, the eliminator kill has a default of a 50% chance to fail, and the execution doesn't even kill the eliminators half of the time. In other words, this setup is fundamentally the same as the 50% survival chance setup. So there will be the exact same problems with both. I know the lurcher doesn't really count as protection, but you get the idea. Don't try and make a smaller game larger by extending the duration through protection. Most successful small games work because they aren't a large game optimized for a low player count. They succeed because they use the player count to their advantage.

Now, let's move on to araris’ questions.

1. There are some setups that work better with less players. I can't name any right now, but I so think that smaller games can have setups that a larger game couldn't have. 

2. As I have said previously, I don't think prolonging the game is a great strategy to combat low player counts.

3. I think some good things to convert old rulesetups are: 

Limiting the role usage (I.e charges, both non-replenishable (like lg98b) and replenishable (like lg99)) for chronically powerful roles. This can help it be less RNG. For instance, if you want to add a coinshot, but don't want the game to be decided by c2, maybe give the coinshot one shot (flavored as a vial or something) and you'll still be able to have 3 kills on one cycle and 2 after that. But let's say you want something more. Don't feel afraid to add other limitations. Let's return to the coinshot in your setup. So maybe you don't want the coinshot to become a vanilla after cycle 1. Maybe you want to make them only able to shoot on odd cycles, which gives them some relevance to them having that role. Maybe you want the elims to have some resistance against your coinshot, so you give them a thug ability that only works on even cycles, solving the 50-50 issue somewhat. Or maybe you want the coinshot to choose when they shoot, but not be able to shoot every cycle. Give them the limitations of having to shoot every other cycle there after. Or maybe you have a target scanner but you don't want them to become a seeker after the only other village role dies. Give them a modifier that makes it so they can't scan after the other role dies, or when there's only one elim remaining. You can use these limitations just as much as you can use roles, so feel free to use them to balance old setups. Just give people a heads up that certain modifiers might be applied to roles. 

Lowering role density. Having a few key roles instead of many general ones will make it so that you don't need more players. Take a smoker, for instance. Let's say you want to design a ruleset around village smokers. Instead of making the elim team have vote manipulation, and the town have a seeker, and the elims have a mistborn, maybe just make it so it's just an elim soother versus 2 town smokers. That'll make the game more controlled, and ultimately come out the way you want it. Now while not having cool roles as often as before may seem wrong, just remember that in the books, magic tends to be scarce (mistborn are very rare in the final empire, why are there 3 mistborn in some random town in tyrian ). Keeping a game simple will make it more viable for lower player counts.

4. I don't really understand what this question asks.

Anyways, for those who may be struggling to understand how I am implementing this, I made a ruleset designed for low player counts (7-10) as an example:

Spoiler

Game: Out of the Cognitive realm

Rules:

48hr cycles. All actions happen simultaneously, and then the execution and subsequent kills. Inactivity filter of 2 cycles.

Alignments:

Odium aligned: standard elim faction. Wins when they reach parity with the non-odium aligned

Non-odium aligned: standard village faction. Wins when all odium aligned are dead.

Roles:

Splinter: Once per game, target a player to make them become a cognitive shadow. You may not target yourself.

• Cognitive shadow: target a player. That player's alignment will be revealed when you die.

Shade: target a player to kill upon your death

Moash: Target a player to make them lose their role. You may only use this 2 times per game, regardless of if the target has an effective role or not.

Anyways, while Drake and I probably have overlapping points, this is what my suggestions are.

[Araris Valerian]

13 minutes ago, Aeoryi said:

Here's another thing: Don't expect games to last long. Nerfing the amount of kill potential or making kills less likely to hit is not the best thing. I think the better course of action is to simply embrace it, or build a ruleset around it. If Exlo/LYLO is at cycle 3 on average, so be it. Obviously, don't make the game be over by cycle 2, since that's lame and unsatisfying, but don't try and make your game last longer by tampering with the eliminator kill or execution. Here's why tampering with the two kills that should always happen is bad:

Say I have a 7 player setup where players have a 50% chance of dodging a kill. What does this accomplish? Well, it makes my game longer, yes, but it also means that people will not be enjoying it when the execution fails for the third time in a row. It means the eliminators will be cussing at me from their doc because they can't kill Kas by cycle 3. It means that people will blame the outcome of the game on RNG, and that's not how the game should be decided. 

Now, you might say, “Well, I would never design a ruleset like that, that sounds terrible!” Well, let me modernize it a bit for you, again using tyrain falls:

Quote

8 player setup: 2x village thug, 1x village lurcher, 2x village vanilla, 1x village smoker 1x elim thug, 1x elim tineye

What's the problem here? Well, if you look closely, the eliminator kill has a default of a 50% chance to fail, and the execution doesn't even kill the eliminators half of the time. In other words, this setup is fundamentally the same as the 50% survival chance setup. So there will be the exact same problems with both. I know the lurcher doesn't really count as protection, but you get the idea. Don't try and make a smaller game larger by extending the duration through protection. Most successful small games work because they aren't a large game optimized for a low player count. They succeed because they use the player count to their advantage.

Drake basically brought up the same point about artificially inflating game length, and I agree with both of you that it's bad. But I like his suggestion about adding extra substance to the game in a way that makes it longer (his example was finding Epic weaknesses before being able to kill them).

1 minute ago, Aeoryi said:

I don't really understand what this question asks.

This question was getting at something you partly addressed in one of your earlier points about using "vials" as flavor for limited charges for a role. Hence Mistborn makes a good setting if you were going to use this mechanic.

I hadn't aimed that question just at mechanics, however. If we have a, say 9-player game, one story to tell that fits would be a skaa thieving crew trying to root out ministry spies while pulling off a heist. But that same story doesn't work as well with 20 or really even 15 people.

Basically, folks can go anywhere on the internet to play mafia. But our mafia is Sanderson flavored, and with some variation we tend to like to lean into the flavor when designing mechanics (in fact, I think plenty of folks go the reverse direction, starting with a cool Sanderson story and getting mechanics to match it). So I think any discussion of how we design our games should keep that in mind.

Thanks for leaving your thoughts!

[Araris Valerian]

I'm going to put this in a separate post since it's a different thought, but I was brainstorming and came up with this outline for a game:

Spoiler

The goal of these rules is to accommodate 8-10 players in ~3 different scenarios. The village needs to discover which scenario they are in to pursue their win condition. Players can choose to explore the 3 different floors of the house to impact the direction the game takes. Day 1 is RP only, with a vote to elect a leader of the group. The effect of the leader changes with each scenario. During Night 1, players explore the house, gaining roles and setting which scenario happens. During Day 2 forward, there is a standard execution, and from Night 2 forward, there is a kill and players can continue to explore the house to find clues about the scenario

 

Scenario weights are Player Count + 2*Explore Count

In a 3 player game, where 2 players explore the ground floor and 1 player explores the basement, the scenarios would be weighted at Standard - (3+4=7), Hopping - (3+2=5), FFA - (3+0=3).

 

Scenario 1: Standard Eliminator game

• Weighted more heavily by players exploring the ground floor during N1
• Elims are more likely to be chosen out of players that explored the basement during N1
• Village roles are more likely to be given to players that explored the upstairs during N1

 

Scenario 2: Free for All with Smoking Gun

• Weighted more heavily by players exploring the upstairs during N1
• The kill is more likely to be given to players that explore the ground floor during N1
• Other abilities are more likely to be given to players that explore the basement during N1

 

Scenario 3: Body-hopping Elim(s)

• Weighed more heavily by players exploring the basement during N1
• Elims are more likely to be chosen from players that explored the upstairs N1
• Village roles are more likely to be given to players that explored the ground floor N1

The idea is to have a semi-blackout game by not telling the village which of the 3 scenarios they are in. And each of the scenarios is supposed to handle information differently, so not knowing the scenario is a significant handicap. It's just a skeleton without concrete rules, but I'm curious if anyone has feedback on the concept. Also I was thinking of this as a LG by default because this is loosely based on the original Awakening game by Wyrmhero, but another format might work better.

Edited April 14 by Araris Valerian

[Aeoryi]

5 hours ago, Araris Valerian said:

Drake basically brought up the same point about artificially inflating game length, and I agree with both of you that it's bad. But I like his suggestion about adding extra substance to the game in a way that makes it longer (his example was finding Epic weaknesses before being able to kill them).

This question was getting at something you partly addressed in one of your earlier points about using "vials" as flavor for limited charges for a role. Hence Mistborn makes a good setting if you were going to use this mechanic.

I hadn't aimed that question just at mechanics, however. If we have a, say 9-player game, one story to tell that fits would be a skaa thieving crew trying to root out ministry spies while pulling off a heist. But that same story doesn't work as well with 20 or really even 15 people.

Basically, folks can go anywhere on the internet to play mafia. But our mafia is Sanderson flavored, and with some variation we tend to like to lean into the flavor when designing mechanics (in fact, I think plenty of folks go the reverse direction, starting with a cool Sanderson story and getting mechanics to match it). So I think any discussion of how we design our games should keep that in mind.

Thanks for leaving your thoughts!

Ah, okay I thought you meant mechanical settings lol

I think good settings can be anywhere, really. Things like a Reckoners' cell tearing themselves apart trying to find a spy, or as mentioned, a scandrial setting works well. I do think that settings that don't Invision like, the village as an entire village work better. For instance, instead of having tyrian falls village faction be thematically an actual place, maybe just making it a group of explorers or settlers would make it seem appropriate to the setting. And as a huge Nalithis fan, I think places like the court of Gods won't work well as the village faction when compared to something like a group of priests dedicated to a specific returned (the GM! :P). There are definitely some ways to make the game not feel devoid of players by simply adjusting the setting.

 I think the path to take depends on the GM, and ultimately while I do have opinions on which method is better, I think both work just as well for games.

[DrakeMarshall]

16 hours ago, Aeoryi said:

Just like how a 34 player game would not be acceptable

[Araris Valerian]

On 4/14/2024 at 12:31 AM, Aeoryi said:

Just like how a 34 player game would not be acceptable, a game that requires 14+ players is also not acceptable.

I'd forgotten that I've played several games with this many folks. LG12, MR10, LG26, LG28 (this was the House on a Hill game), AG3, LG37, and AG4. Of course, there were plenty of inactive players in these, but aside from the KKC games they were decently well-designed.

[Mat]

MR42 was close to that as well! It didn’t have much inactivity either, if I recall correctly.

[Kasimir]

On 4/15/2024 at 12:17 PM, DrakeMarshall said:

No one lets u live Drakebro >:P 

[CRichardThrone]

Late reply regarding the Things game. If you've watched the movie The Thing you'll get it fast.

[Araris Valerian]

I posted a sketch of these rules back a bit, but they've been fleshed out a lot more. I'm definitely interested in feedback, since I think I'll run this as my next LG.

Spoiler

LG ###: Re-Awakening at the House on the Hill

 

Growing up, everyone told stories about the ruined house just outside town. Mostly ghost stories, but a few of heroes and valor. One of your neighbors even claimed his great-great-great uncle had been the one to destroy the house. As if in opposition to that claim, one day, instead of a ruin, a mansion stood there, as impressive as it must have been in the old stories. No one claimed a part in rebuilding it, yet there it stood. So now you and some other curious folks have decided to pay a visit to the House on the Hill. As the first member of your party reaches the top, the front gate swings open without a sound, as if to welcome you in.

 

The goal of these rules is to accommodate 8-10 players in 3 different scenarios. The village needs to discover which scenario they are in to pursue their win condition. Players can choose to explore the 3 different floors of the house to gain roles, trigger the Haunt, and gain clues about the scenario they are in. The game starts during a night turn which is RP only, with a private vote for receiving a gift from the steward of the House. The effect of the gift changes with each scenario, and the recipient is not informed which benefit they have, only that they have the gift. Also during that night, players explore the house, gaining roles and setting which scenario happens. During Day 1 forward, there is a standard execution, and from Night 1 forward, there is a kill and players can continue to explore the house to find clues about the scenario.

 

General Rules:

• Cycles are 72 hours long, split into 48 hour days and 24 hour nights
• Each day turn, there will be an execution determined by a majority vote. There is no vote minimum, and a tie vote will have a random outcome
• PMs are open but group PMs are not allowed
• The game begins on Night 0

 

Alignments:

• Innocent Explorer: Now that you are inside, coming to the House doesn’t seem like such a good idea anymore. Hopefully you can survive and come away with nothing more than some scary tales for nights around a fire.
• House Thrall: The House has Awakened, and you have fallen under its influence. Only your former friends stand in its way now, but they shouldn’t be too hard to dispose of.
• Insatiable Kandra: Unlike others of your kind, you have a ravenous hunger for the flesh of humans. Now that you’ve led another group of innocents to your home, it is time to feast!

 

Scenarios:

• Scenario 1: Standard Eliminator game
  • Weighted more heavily by players exploring the ground floor during N0
  • Elims are more likely to be chosen out of players that explored the basement during N0
  • Items/Roles are more likely to be given to villagers that explored the upstairs during N0
• Scenario 2: Free for All with Smoking Gun
  • Weighted more heavily by players exploring the upstairs during N0
  • The Smoking Gun is more likely to be given to players that explore the ground floor during N0
  • Items/Roles are more likely to be given to players that explore the basement during N0
• Scenario 3: Single Body-hopping Elim
  • Weighed more heavily by players exploring the basement during N0
  • Elim is more likely to be chosen from players that explored the upstairs N0
  • Items/Roles are more likely to be given to players that explored the ground floor N0

 

Exploration Roles/Items:

• Lerasium and Metals: Once during the game you can roleblock another player
• Proto-Radiant: A spren has bonded with you, granting you the power to protect another player once during the game. If you are roleblocked, you retain the use of your ability
• Aviar: Exploring the House will always give you a clue, and you will reroll the clue once if it doesn’t match the current scenario

 

Scenario Roles/Items:

• Smoking Gun (Exclusive to Scenario 2): You can kill another player. If you don’t submit a kill, or if you are roleblocked, you will die instead. This item is passed to another random living player at the start of each Night turn, unless the current owner is executed, in which case it passes to a random player that voted on them.
• Insatiable Kandra (Scenario 3 elim):
  • Serial Killer
  • Each Night turn you can steal another player’s body (by attacking them) and discard your current one, which will be revealed as having been killed in the writeup. The targeted player will become the new Kandra, and all present and former Kandra players share a doc (but only the currently “living” account can post in the thread)
  • Roles of attacked players are not retained, but if the original Kandra has the gift then that ability is retained
  • All players in the Kandra doc win/lose together
• Scenario 1 Gift: 
  • Village: Your vote counts twice, but only during ExLo (which will not be announced)
  • Elim: You will obtain a village role during Night 1
• Scenario 2 Gift: The first Smoking Gun shot against you will instead hit another random player, including the shooter
• Scenario 3 Gift: 
  • Village: If you vote on the Kandra, your vote is doubled
  • Elim: Once during the game you can choose to just kill a player rather than replace them

 

Detailed rules of exploration from Night 1+:

Players that explore the house post-N0 have an 80% chance to find a clue regarding what scenario is taking place. The clue has a ⅔ chance to be from the pool of clues for the current scenario, and a ⅓ chance to be from a different scenario. Each scenario has 1 unique clue, plus 1 clue shared with each other scenario. The clues will not be described exactly as below but it will be clear which one the player found.

 

Scenario 1 Clues:

• Jeskeri paraphernalia (Unique)
• Remnants of an explosion/gunshot (Shared with Scenario 2)
• Hemalurgic Spike (Shared with Scenario 3)

 

Scenario 2 Clues:

• Remnants of a Rithmatic Defense (Unique)
• Remnants of an explosion/gunshot (Shared with Scenario 1)
• A gemstone infused with Voidlight (Shared with Scenario 3)

 

Scenario 3 Clues:

• A pile of discarded bones (Unique)
• Hemalurgic Spike (Shared with scenario 1)
• A gemstone infused with Voidlight (Shared with Scenario 2)

 

Detailed rules of exploration on Night 0:

Scenario weights are Player Count + 2*Explore Count

For example, in a 3 player game, where 2 players explore the ground floor, 1 player explores the basement, and nobody explores upstairs, the scenarios would be weighted at Standard Elims - (3+4=7/15 or ~47%), Kandra - (3+2=5/15 or ~33%), Smoking Gun - (3+0=3/15 or 20%). Note that this calculation means the base weight for each scenario is 20%, and the remaining 40% is determined by exploration.

 

After the scenario is selected, the 2 elims/Kandra/Gun are handed out per the specific scenario. For each choice, a coin flip determines whether the player is selected from the Floor Exploration pool, or from the entire player pool. For example, if only Araris explores the Ground Floor during N0 and Scenario 2 is selected, there is a 50% chance Araris receives the Smoking Gun, and a 50% chance that anyone gets it (Araris could also get it from this roll).

 

Next, if scenario 1 is in place and the gift goes to an elim, they are randomly assigned one of the 3 standard roles/items with equal probability. Then the other two standard roles are assigned to villagers, with coin flips determining whether the players are selected from the Upstairs Pool, or from the entire player pool.

 

Otherwise, each standard role has an 80% chance to be handed out to a villager (everyone, including the player starting with the Gun, is a villager in Scenario 2), with a coin flip determining whether the selected player(s) are from the corresponding Floor Exploration pool, or from the entire player pool

 

Gift vote:

During N0 players submit votes to the butler (in their GM PM) to determine who receives a special gift, the effects of which are determined by the scenario. Players are not allowed to vote for themselves to receive the gift. A tie vote will be decided randomly, but if all players have 1 vote then no player will get the gift. There will be no official vote tally for the gift vote, and no announcement about the identity of the recipient or lack thereof, except to the potential recipient.

 

Win Conditions:

• Scenario 1: The House Thralls win if they outnumber the Innocent Explorers, and the Explorers win if they kill all of the Thralls.
• Scenario 2: When a shot of the Smoking Gun leaves 2 or fewer players alive, those players are allowed to leave the House
• Scenario 3: The Innocent Explorers win if they execute the Insatiable Kandra, and the Kandra wins if they reach parity.

Link to doc

Edited Saturday at 07:51 PM by Araris Valerian

[Araris Valerian]

On a completely unrelated note, I was rereading Chronicles of the Unhewn Throne and thought that leaches could be a cool role/mechanic to design a game around. In the books, a leach draws their power from something in their vicinity (examples are iron, strong emotions, sunlight, etc.), and this source is the leach's "well". The implementation I was thinking of would be to have "wells" represented by the usage of a word in the thread. So if Kas has "stone" as his well, then each instance of the word "stone" in the thread for a given turn enables him to take more powerful actions. The hitch would be that if someone guesses your well, they can roleblock you. There would need to be some restriction to avoid people just dumping a bunch of text, so I think only counting words that show up in RP would work. My gut says that this sort of thing would probably be suited for a faction game, or a FFA one.

[Aeoryi]

I have a Quick fix setup that I have tested on a separate site (and adapted for SE):

Spoiler

QF: 70-80

Ties kill no one; majority execution each cycle, all actions happen simultaneously (although killing actions happen first)

Odium's forces have taken over the very center of Dalinar's rule: Urithiru. Although things are looking poor for the humans who live there, the singers there have been bestowed by new ideas unearthed in the city. Perhaps this group of singers, fused, and radiants can escape the terrifying gravity of Odium?

Factions: Odium-aligned are the standard Elim faction with a mandatory factional kill. They win if they achieve parity with the non-odium aligned. If they fail to submit a target for their factional kill, a target will be chosen at random for them.

Non-odium aligned are the standard village/town faction. They win when all the odium aligned players are dead. 

Roles:

Singer: standard vanilla villager.

Knight Radiant: The knight radiant will announce the role of a player of their choice publicly when they die. The knight radiant must submit their target in advance, and the kill will take effect immediately 

Fused: The fused kills a player of their choosing upon their death, no matter how it may occur. The fused must submit their target in advance, and the kill will take effect immediately. If no target is submitted when the fused dies, a random one will be chosen. A fused that is odium aligned that does not submit a target when they die will have a random target chosen for them out of all remaining non-odium aligned players.

Midnight mother: Always Odium-aligned. Can target a player that is not Odium-aligned each cycle. If the player has a radiant or fused role, the midnight mother will gain a similar ability. If the midnight mother targets a Radiant, they will receive a single use role scanner ability. If the midnight mother targets a Fused, they will receive a single-use kill that can be used alongside the faction kill. If the midnight mother targets a vanilla, they will have to wait another cycle before they can attempt to mimick another player's ability. If they target Sja-anat, nothing happens.

Sja-anat: Can enlighten the spren of a player, making their role non-functional if they have one. This ability can not be used on consecutive cycles, and does not work on the midnight mother. 

Other stuff:

There may be multiple radiants or fused in a single game, and they may be aligned with either faction. There will only be one sja-anat, but they may be aligned with either faction. There is only one midnight mother, and it is guaranteed to be in the game.

Action slots do not exist for this game. Any player can make any number of different actions a cycle.

In the event that two villagers and one Elim remain, and a villager fused gets voted out but revenge kills the last odium supporter, the game is called as a draw.

An odium supporter without a role will have their role be revealed the same as a non-odium supporter without a role.

A singer is not informed if they were targeted by sja-anat, although radiants and fused will be informed that they have lost their role. A player that loses their role will flip as a singer, and will be revealed to be a singer if they are radiant revealed.

Or a tldr:

Spoiler

There are four types of roles in the game. The following two can occur in any quantity for any alignment:

Radiant: reveals a person's role publicly upon the death of the radiant

Fused: kills a player upon the death of the fused.

The following roles are limited to one player each:

Sja-anat: removes a target's role on non-consecutive cycles. Does not work on midnight mother.

Midnight mother: can target a player to gain a similar ability to the role they have, if any. If they target a vanilla, they have to wait a cycle to use the ability again. Is always elim-aligned. 

Elim faction wins at parity. Factional and fused kills are mandatory. Ties kill no one.

Thoughts?

[Araris Valerian]

2 hours ago, Aeoryi said:

I have a Quick fix setup that I have tested on a separate site (and adapted for SE):

  Hide contents

QF: 70-80

Ties kill no one; majority execution each cycle, all actions happen simultaneously (although killing actions happen first)

Odium's forces have taken over the very center of Dalinar's rule: Urithiru. Although things are looking poor for the humans who live there, the singers there have been bestowed by new ideas unearthed in the city. Perhaps this group of singers, fused, and radiants can escape the terrifying gravity of Odium?

Factions: Odium-aligned are the standard Elim faction with a mandatory factional kill. They win if they achieve parity with the non-odium aligned. If they fail to submit a target for their factional kill, a target will be chosen at random for them.

Non-odium aligned are the standard village/town faction. They win when all the odium aligned players are dead. 

Roles:

Singer: standard vanilla villager.

Knight Radiant: The knight radiant will announce the role of a player of their choice publicly when they die. The knight radiant must submit their target in advance, and the kill will take effect immediately 

Fused: The fused kills a player of their choosing upon their death, no matter how it may occur. The fused must submit their target in advance, and the kill will take effect immediately. If no target is submitted when the fused dies, a random one will be chosen. A fused that is odium aligned that does not submit a target when they die will have a random target chosen for them out of all remaining non-odium aligned players.

Midnight mother: Always Odium-aligned. Can target a player that is not Odium-aligned each cycle. If the player has a radiant or fused role, the midnight mother will gain a similar ability. If the midnight mother targets a Radiant, they will receive a single use role scanner ability. If the midnight mother targets a Fused, they will receive a single-use kill that can be used alongside the faction kill. If the midnight mother targets a vanilla, they will have to wait another cycle before they can attempt to mimick another player's ability. If they target Sja-anat, nothing happens.

Sja-anat: Can enlighten the spren of a player, making their role non-functional if they have one. This ability can not be used on consecutive cycles, and does not work on the midnight mother. 

Other stuff:

There may be multiple radiants or fused in a single game, and they may be aligned with either faction. There will only be one sja-anat, but they may be aligned with either faction. There is only one midnight mother, and it is guaranteed to be in the game.

Action slots do not exist for this game. Any player can make any number of different actions a cycle.

In the event that two villagers and one Elim remain, and a villager fused gets voted out but revenge kills the last odium supporter, the game is called as a draw.

An odium supporter without a role will have their role be revealed the same as a non-odium supporter without a role.

A singer is not informed if they were targeted by sja-anat, although radiants and fused will be informed that they have lost their role. A player that loses their role will flip as a singer, and will be revealed to be a singer if they are radiant revealed.

Or a tldr:

  Hide contents

There are four types of roles in the game. The following two can occur in any quantity for any alignment:

Radiant: reveals a person's role publicly upon the death of the radiant

Fused: kills a player upon the death of the fused.

The following roles are limited to one player each:

Sja-anat: removes a target's role on non-consecutive cycles. Does not work on midnight mother.

Midnight mother: can target a player to gain a similar ability to the role they have, if any. If they target a vanilla, they have to wait a cycle to use the ability again. Is always elim-aligned. 

Elim faction wins at parity. Factional and fused kills are mandatory. Ties kill no one.

Thoughts?

Seems pretty interesting (and chaotic, which is probably good in a QF). I think you've got the wrong wording on the Knight Radiant. 

What is the intended player count here?

Also, what's the motivation behind having all of the kills mandatory, but not the exe? Just curious.

[Aeoryi]

6 minutes ago, Araris Valerian said:

What is the intended player count here?

The game was tested with 8 people, although less would also be fine

6 minutes ago, Araris Valerian said:

Wrong wording on the Knight Radiant. 

Yeah, I probably do. Mobile and autocorrect.

7 minutes ago, Araris Valerian said:

Also, what's the motivation behind having all of the kills mandatory, but not the exe? Just curious

More worried about elims refusing to kill villagers because deaths can have some pretty caustic effects. It also helps in the event of people forgetting to submit kills.