The Art of Game Creation

[Seonid he/him]

Wait, so is the kill action on the suicidal analyst an attack on them? So every time they out someone, they get attacked? The way I'd been reading it was that they got to make a kill every time they outed someone. Maybe make the wording on that part a little more clear?

That second option is definitely the better of the two. The secondary win con emphasizes the suicidal aspect of it, but it doesn't compromise the win for the analyst who is bound to survive (regardless of what team they're on).

The intention was that they were attacked once for each Outed player they created. I agree that the wording was quite unclear. Fixed that, and added the secondary win condition.

[Haelbarde he/him]

The intention was that they were attacked once for each Outed player they created. I agree that the wording was quite unclear. Fixed that, and added the secondary win condition.

The other thing is you could keep the 'you must die' condition for the initial holder, but once it's shifted, it becomes secondary?

[Aonar he/him]

So, I've got a couple games I've been working on for a while, both unfinished, but I figure I might as well post them here, to get some commentary. There's a fairly high chance I'll never run either of them, so if somebody else wants to fix them up and run them, that's fine by me.

 

 

LG: The Dead and the Free: (Based off Garth Nix's Old Kingdom series)

 

 

Welcome to Neryl, the last stop on your way to nowhere. Here, the great chasm of the Rift looms constantly, marking the border between danger and safety, Free Magic and Charter. It’s never bothered you much though. Life goes on, even if life in a small village with little traffic isn’t particularly interesting. It has been decades since the last time a Free Magic Sorcerer came across the Rift, and for many, the threat seems far off.

 

Times are changing in the South, however. The Royal Family has been slaughtered, and Prince Torrigan, the last heir to the throne, is missing. Dark things are stirring as the Charter itself unravels, and you would be fool to think that you will be unaffected, this close to the Rift.

 

As your friends and neighbours arm themselves, you can’t help but think of the strange power wielded by Free Magic sorcerers and ask yourself, “What if they are already here?”

 

 

General Rules and Special Mechanics:

 

 

Sight: Because of the Clayr’s ability, Day and Night Cycles will each be 48 hours long. (Similar to Returned, in LG4.)

Death: In this game, death is not the end. Any player can choose to refuse the Ninth Gate’s call, remaining in the game. If they do so, they will be unable to join the Dead Doc, but will be able to PM with the Abhorsen, if they use their Speak with Dead ability, or the Necromancer, if they were an Eliminator. However, every cycle you refuse the Ninth Gate’s call, you may be Raised by the Necromancer, and used to kill one of your fellows. Additionally, each cycle you choose to linger, there is an increasing chance that you will become a malignant Greater Dead.

 

 

Factions:

 

 

The Townspeople: You’ve lived in Neryl your whole life, and don’t plan on leaving it anytime soon. Living where you do, you’ve been taught from youth how to deal with Free Magic, but what can you do when the threat comes from those closest to you?

Free Magic Entities: Even from your home in the far north, you could feel the Charter itself unravelling. Knowing to take an opportunity when you see it, you have come south, to impose your dominion over the people there. You will have a google doc to communicate in, and make one kill attempt per cycle, collectively.

 

 

Roles:

 

 

Berserker: There must have been a Charter-blood ancestor somewhere in your family, because the berserker’s rage has been a part of you ever since you were young.

 

You can survive one kill attempt, and make one kill per cycle. However, when you make a kill attempt, there is a chance that you will also attack another player at random.

 

Clayr: You have the Sight, and can see a number of possible futures. Its visions are often cryptic and confusing, but they’ve saved your life in the past, and may well do so again.

 

Once every cycle, you can choose to make use of your Sight and you will be informed of the night’s outcome, based on the actions that have been put in. You will not know if these actions are retracted, and if multiple outcomes become possible over the course of the night, you will not be informed as to which outcome will occur.

 

Guardsman: You may not have much affinity for magic, but your martial prowess is unparalleled.

 

You may protect one player every cycle. If multiple kill attempts are made, you will die instead of your target. After a successful protection, you will be injured. If you attempt to protect the following cycle, you will die in place of your ward. Afterwards, you will have healed sufficiently to protect again.

 

Charter Mage: You’ve made a great study of the Charter and even though the Charter is weak this far north, your knowledge has still saved your skin more than once.

 

You may have any one of these powers:

• You may draw a Diamond of Protection, and protect yourself from one kill attempt every second cycle.

• You may create a Charter-Skin, and track one player, observing any actions that they take.

• You may create a Sending, which can be used to open PMs with any player, or between any two players.

• You may Bind a player, preventing them from taking an action or making votes.

• You may attempt to kill a player.

 

Wallmaker: You have a gift for imbuing the Charter into objects, unknown almost since the Charter was first formed.

 

You can choose each cycle to to forge and give away either a Charter-spelled sword (which allows a kill attempt), or a set of gethre plate (which gives passive protection). The objects may be used once before breaking, but can be held on to indefinitely.

 

Abhorsen: A powerful mage claiming an ancient bloodline, you wield the seven necromantic bells, and have plenty of experience binding Elementals and putting to rest the Dead.

• Every second cycle, you may open a PM with the recently deceased who have refused the Ninth Gate's call.

• You may choose a player and prevent them from taking any actions or placing any votes.

• Once per game, you may make an unblockable kill attempt on one player. However, you will die in the process, and two other random players will die as well.

 

Free Magic Elemental: A being comprised solely of the Free Magic, a Shapeshifter older even than the Charter itself, you have been bound into service by a powerful Necromancer in exchange for the opportunity to wreak mayhem in the southern countries.

 

You can track one player each cycle, and your actions cannot be tracked by a Charter Mage, if you do not wish them to be.

 

If you are attacked, you will be bound. While bound, you may communicate with any whom you were in PMs with, as well as your binder and your doc-mates. Your binder has the option of compelling you to one service. If they do so, you will be freed. Upon freeing, you will kill a player and take their place. (Random player joins the eliminator team as an Elemental, exempt; protected players.) Any game-relevant question or command can be considered a service worth being freed.

 

Be careful what you say to Elementals.

 

• Spirit Walker: Once in a game, an Elemental can choose to bind themselves into rock, becoming a Spirit Walker. If they do so, their role will be publicly revealed, but they will be able to survive two kill attempts, including lynchings (with the exception of Astarael), and they will be unable to be affected by any non-kill abilities. However, if you die as a Spirit Walker, you will die permanently, and be unable to communicate with your doc-mates after death.

 

Free Magic Sorcerer: You have learned to bind Elementals to your will, and perform magic far more powerful than any capable in the Charter.

 

Evil version of the Charter Mage role. May have any of the same powers, or may be able imbue objects with Free Magic (a la Wallmaker). The whole purpose of this role is to balance out the number of safe roles.

 

Shadow Hand: A powerful spirit without physical form, you can possess another player at random.

 

If there are malignant Dead present when the Abhorsen ventures into Death, there is a chance they will be able to follow them back into Life, becoming a Shadow Hand. If they do so, they will attempt to possess a random player. (Exempt; Abhorsen, protected players.) The player possessed will lose all their powers, and join the eliminators.

 

Necromancer: A Free Magic Sorcerer, powerful enough now to be almost more Elemental than man, you have traveled all the way to the Eighth Precinct of Death, and forged yourself the seven bells of a Necromancer.

• You may spend a cycle raising one of the players who have died. Once you have done so, they will protect you until you are attacked, or you send them to do something, at which point they will be discovered and destroyed. You can send the Lesser Dead you raise to either protect or kill another player.

• You may choose a player and prevent them from taking any actions or placing any votes.

• Once per game, you may make an unblockable kill attempt on one player. However, you will die in the process, and two other random players will die as well.

 

 

 

General Ideas:

 

 

I'm afraid that this game is too complex for what I was going for (that's really the only reason it's in LG format, rather than MR) but at the same time, I wanted to explore some different, rarely seen mechanics. It involves several very powerful roles, but I think for the most part, their drawbacks make them at least relatively balanced.

 

The Eliminator Faction is a varied and powerful group of conversion killers, but most of their strongest abilities rely on certain actions being taken by the other team. Likewise, the Townspeople will have many very strong roles, but they all have drawbacks, many of which empower the opposing team.

 

Similarly, we haven't had a game where the dead can directly impact the living since MR1, and I'm really not sure how this is going to go over. If someone does decide to run it though, I think it'll be interesting.

 

 

LG: Blood and Powder: (Based off Brian McClellan's Powder Mage Trilogy)

 

 

[insert flavour text that I'm too lazy to think of right now. ]

 

General Rules and Mechanics:

 

 

There's several new terms I'm going to bandy about when I get around to explaining the roles, so I figure I'll explain them here.

 

Sight: All magical roles in this game (Privileged, Powder Mages, Magebreakers, Boneyes and Knacked) have access to the Sight. The Sight allows them to see any role actions taken by another player with the Sight, although there are some exceptions. If a player decides to use the Sight, they may take no other actions that Night. If the Sight is used two Nights in a row, the player will be temporarily incapacitated, unable to make any votes or take any actions for the next whole cycle.

 

Crippling: When a player is crippled, they can no longer take any actions. They can still use the Sight, and still vote in the thread, but effectively have their role stripped from them. Crippling can be healed by certain roles.

 

Delaying: When an action is delayed, it is moved to the bottom of the order of actions, and a random player will be told the action taken, who it affected, and be given a clue as to who performed it.

 

Dueling: Whenever a player is voted for, they can choose to duel the person who voted for them. The person challenged must either retract their vote, or accept the challenge. If they do so, both their roles (but not alignments) are revealed publicly, and neither of them can be voted for that day. At the end of the day, one of them will be killed or crippled, with the outcome decided partly at random, depending on their roles.

 

Other: Individual Roles have their own specific mechanics and interactions with the above mechanics. These will be explained further below.

 

 

Factions:

 

 

Adran Army: Proud members of Adro’s military, you’ve been fighting against the Kez invaders in Gurla for the last few months. Recently however, you’ve grown suspicious that not all your companions share your goals. Ambushes have failed, routine skirmishes have turned into routs, and, most tellingly, Powder Mages have been found murdered in their beds. You win if all the Kez are defeated.

 

Kez Infiltrators: Carefully trained spies, you’ve been sent to destabilize that Adran army, and kill as many of the blasphemous Powder Mages as you can get your hands on. You win once the Adran Army is outnumbered, and all Powder Mages are dead (Forsworn are exempt). However, the game ends once the Adran Army is outnumbered, regardless of remaining Powder Mages.

 

Forsworn: Powder Mages among the Kez, the only reason you aren’t dead (or worse) is because you have sworn to never use your powers. Your objective is the same as the Kez Infiltrators, save that you want to keep as many Powder Mages alive as possible.

 

In essence, there are two possible wins, Kez, or Adran, but there are two types of Kez win, either standard, or Forsworn. (For both the Forsworn and the Infiltrators, their primary won con is to outnumber the Adrans.)

 

 

Roles:

 

 

Privileged: Powerful mages that can manipulate the very fabric of the world, all Privileged specialize in one element, with their other abilities being correspondingly weaker.

• Fire: Attack. (Strongest: Death. Weakest: Crippling. In-between: Chance of one or the other.)
• Earth: Roleblock (Strongest: No actions may be taken or given. Weakest: Action is delayed.)
• Wind: Shielding (Strongest: Blocks one attack made against you. Weakest: Downgrades an attack.)
• Water: Action Manipulation (Strongest: Takes one action performed by a player, and directs it to a player of their choice. Weakest: Takes one action and makes it target randomly.)
• Aether: Healing (Strongest: Protect from Death, Heal Crippling. Weakest: 50% chance downgrade/healing, 50% chance upgrade.)

 

Magebreakers: At any time, a Privileged can choose to give up their powers and become a Magebreaker. At least one Privileged will start as a Magebreaker.

 

Cancel any action made by a Privileged or Bone-Eye. Passive invulnerability to magic. Can choose to protect others from Privileged or Bone-Eye magic, as well.

 

Powder Mages: Powder Mages are oddities within the supernatural world. They have the Sight, but leave no imprint upon the Else. As such, their actions cannot be seen in the Sight (except by another Powder Mage), and their abilities cannot be blocked by Magebreakers. Most Powder Mages will specialize in one to two of the abilities outlined below, although some very powerful ones may have access to more. Each consecutive night a Powder Mage makes use of their abilities, they run the risk of becoming powder blind (effective crippling).

• Floating Bullets: Attack
• Powder Trance: Downgrades attacks. Will heal crippling, given time. If attacked while crippled, they will die permanently.
• Detonating Powder: Multi-target attack (One character killed, nearby others are crippled.)
• Warping Blasts: Empower/redirect/prevent attack, but only from another Powder Mage.
• Magical Resistance: Chance to cancel or downgrade Privileged actions.

 

Bone-Eyes: Bone-Eyes are extremely rare, and uniquely powerful wielders of the Else. They have access to three powers, all of which are employed in two stages, preparation and effect. Their actions have a 50% chance to be discovered by Sight.

 

Red-Stripe:

• Preparation: Stalk a player, and if they make or receive a kill action from any source, it is upgraded. % Chance of discovery.
• Effect: Next cycle if a kill took place, you can make a weapon capable of killing regardless of the number of protections on a player, once. This weapon may be given to any player.

Wax Doll:

• Preparation: Stalk a player, obtaining some sample of their hair or blood. % Chance of discovery.
• Effect: You may at any time gain complete control of the votes and actions of the player you stalked for one cycle.

Blood Ward:

• Preparation: Spend one night drawing out wards written in your own blood. Subsequently weakened, no votes can be made, and no actions can be taken for the next full cycle.
• Effect: The person you decide to ward is now invulnerable. Protection ends one cycle after the first attack they receive.

 

Knacked: Knacked have some ability to affect the Else, but only in a single, usually small way.

• Memory: You have an impeccable memory, even in times of stress. Any time an action is used on you, you will be given a short list of people it could have been. If multiple actions are used on you, the list becomes correspondingly larger, but all the names of those who used actions on you will be on the list.
• Sleepless: Not needing to sleep, you have a slight chance to avoid any harmful actions used on you during the night.
• Healing: You've always been a fast healer. You have a slight chance to downgrade kills, and if you are crippled, you will heal eventually.
• ​Swordsmanship: If you are ever challenged to a duel, you are twice as likely to win.
• Truthtelling: You can choose a player, and will be informed by the GM if anything they said over the course of that cycle was a lie. (You won’t be told what, just that something they said was a lie.)

[? I could use some more ideas for Knacked.]

 

Soldier: Vanilla player. No special magical abilities, or power to see into the Else. You don't even have any special role in the camp. Thanks to your military training, however, you have a slight advantage in duels.

 

Messenger: You pass along messages between players. You will be notified of a % of all conversations started (depending on the number of messengers) and as long as you live, private messages can be sent.

 

Corrupt Messenger: You pass along messages between players. You will be notified of a % of all conversations started (depending on the number of messengers) and as long as you live, private messages can be sent. You may request at any time to read conversations you are aware of.

 

Quartermaster: Controlling supplies and requisitions, you are one of the most powerful people in the camp. At any time, you can ensure that someone's tent is "forgotten" on the manifest, preventing them from sleeping, and voting the next day.

 

Lieutenant: Your men respect you, and your opinion, and as such, your vote counts for double.

Grenadier: One of the biggest and strongest soldiers in the whole army, you can and have gone toe-to-toe with Kez Wardens. Your imposing physical strength makes people afraid to accuse you. The number of votes on you at the end of the cycle will be reduced by one.

 

 

 

General Ideas:

 

 

Similar to the Old Kingdom game, I'm trying to play with a few different mechanics/ideas here. None of the roles are quite as complex as they were in the last game, but there are a lot of them, as well as several mechanics that are liable to interact in really weird ways. Basically half the roles can function as Seeker/Lookout-type roles, but there's consequences to doing so. The dueling mechanic is also liable to make for some interesting situations; there's no safe roles, but role confirmation like that might cause problems; I don't know. I'm also wondering how the Kez and Forsworn would play against each other; their win con's aren't wholly contradictory, but the Eliminator-within-the-Eliminators mechanic interests me. It might unbalance the game, or it might make it more interesting.

 

 

 

Anyways, thoughts? Like I say, I probably won't have time to run these myself (at least not anytime soon) so if anybody else is interested they can take them, but regardless, I'd like to see what people think of them.

Edited November 1, 2015 by Aonar Faileas

[Amanuensis he/him]

LG: Seeking Mourning

 

Note: Premise based off the summary of the upcoming Era 2 Mistborn book, Bands of Mourning

 

The Bands of Mourning are the mythical metalminds of the Lord Ruler, said to grant anyone who wears them the powers that the Lord Ruler had at his command. Hardly anyone thinks they really exist. But now a Terris researcher has returned to the Fifth Octant with images that seem to depict the Bands, as well as writings in a language that nobody seems to recognize. With them, he has managed to convince the Synod to organize an expeditionary force of Terris volunteers and send them to the far south, where he has reasoned the Bands are hiding through what few translations he has managed to uncover. And so the word spread across the Terris communities, inviting any of their kin who wish to embark on this momentous journey. If only the Synod realized that the Set - whose plans centered on obtaining the Bands - had a few of their kind working for them.

 

Overview

 

Due to the complexity of Seeking Mourning, it will have to be a Long Game that requires multiple GMs. As it stands, STINK is willing to co-GM it with me, but depending on the final incarnation’s demands I may need a third. On that note, shout out to STINK and Kipper for helping me figure out ideas for some of the roles. Similar to Hero’s Shadows of Elantris, an exploration mechanic has been implemented into this game, in addition to the concept of two factions working to kill one another, which for Seeking Mourning are the Synod and the Set. All players in this game must be full Terris, as the roles are based on Feruchemy. Roles are determined by what metalminds the players have. All players will begin with a copper and a bronze, and have a chance of beginning with another random metal. Metalminds are tradeable between players, and there will be several opportunities / conditions for anyone to obtain more.

 

This game will take place on a 3x4 grid, beginning in A1 (the top left). Each zone in the grid is approximately 36 square miles in-game, the average amount of distance a person can traverse if walking straight for 12 consecutive hours. Each zone has its own unique terrain features, including the occasional landmark that can be explored. These landmarks can contain treasure to loot or a hint regarding the location of the Bands of Mourning. Both moving to an adjacent zone and exploring a nearby landmark will take up the expedition’s day turn, and will be voted on each day in purple. If the majority votes to explore a landmark, only those who voted for it will enter. Based on this number, an appropriate dice will be rolled to determine which among them will discover its secret. Those who vote to move or did not vote will simply wait outside.

 

Because of the exhausting nature of the expedition, players must sleep during night turns in order to remain energized for the next day. While asleep they are unable to post, send PMs or perform any actions, unless tapping bronze (wakefulness). Bronze is the only metalmind that can be filled while unconscious, therefore it will automatically gain a charge if you do nothing during the night turn. If you do not tap bronze but decide to post, PM or make an action during the night, you will not gain a charge of bronze and will not get enough sleep, becoming fatigued the next day.

 

If fatigued and the community decides to explore a landmark, you will be unable to participate and thus will not have a chance of randomly obtaining the loot hidden within. If the community decides to move to an adjacent zone you will not be able to keep up, increasing the chances of you being attacked by a wild beast from 5% to 25%. If healthy, you have a 25% of being injured. If fatigued or sick the chance increases to 50%. While injured you will be unable to take an action against another player for the next two turns and will remain fatigued the next cycle. If attacked by a wild beast while injured, there is a 50% chance you will die. If you survive you will remain injured for another cycle.

 

Due to being exposed to the elements, all players are also susceptible to becoming sick. The percentage of this occurring depends on several circumstances, such as the environment (I.E. in a zone with arctic conditions) or during an event in response of a decision made by the community (they choose to travel west which requires them to wade across a stream, dampening their clothes). If sick, the player will be fatigued for a total of two cycles and has a chance of infecting anyone who interacts with them outside the thread (actions 100% and PMs 10%).

 

During some circumstance a player may end up separated from the main expeditionary force and thus are lost, increasing the chances of them being attacked by a wild beast to 25%. If lost you will be unable to post on the thread or PM / act against other players. In order to catch up your character needs to be actively pursuing them while the expedition is camped (outside a landmark or at night).

 

In order to add 1 Charge to a metalmind, you must fill it for an entire turn. Typically filling will have a negative effect on your player. With the exception of bronze you must inform the GMs which of your metalminds you wish to fill next turn before the end of the current one. Tapping a metalmind that grants a passive ability must also be designated the turn prior to use. Active abilities can be activated at any time, unless specifically designated for a turn. Below is a list of every metalmind and what happens when you fill or tap it:

 

Metalminds:

Iron: Fill: (Passive) You become light enough that a powerful gust of wind can blow you off course (20% chance of being cast away from expedition, becoming lost). Tap: (Active) At the cost of 2 Charges you gain enough weight that you can lay atop a player of your choice, preventing them from taking any actions this turn (except filling). If used during the day both you and your target will be left behind, becoming lost.

 

Steel: Fill: (Passive) You become fatigued for the duration of the turn. Tap: (Active) You become exceptionally fast, capable of escaping any attack (1 Charge) or evading any action (2 Charges) used against you.

 

Tin: Fill: (Passive) Your vision becomes too blurry to navigate on your own, forcing you to require an escort. In order to gain an escort you must ask a player via PM and have them confirm it. If your escort is fatigued, you will be forced to walk the same speed. If your escort is attacked by a wild beast or a player tapping pewter, you will be attacked too, and vice versa. If you do not have a confirmed escort while filling tin you will become lost. If filling tin while lost or attacked by a wild beast, you will have a 33% chance of either escaping unscathed, being injured or killed out right. Tap: (Active, Day) At the cost of a single charge you can scout ahead, discovering any landmarks in a single adjacent zone. If you have enough charges you can do this multiple times in a single day. (Active, Night) At the cost of two charges you can watch a player’s tent from afar. If any player’s visit him you will informed of their identities.

 

Pewter: Fill: (Passive) Your strength is sapped, multiplying the chances of you dying to a wild beast based on the number of charges you have +1 (50%, 75%, 100%). Tap: (Passive) Your power compounds to allow you to fend off (1 Charge) or kill (2 Charges) anything that attacks you. (Active, Night) You can attack a player of your choice (2 charges) or kill him regardless of what they are tapping (3 charges). Note: If you activated your passive ability the turn before and use your active charges, you will lose the required charges immediately, disabling your protection unless you have some leftover. Therefore if you are attacked the same night you attack a player, you will die after you kill them unless your passive is active and has enough fuel.

 

Zinc: Fill: (Passive) Your mind becomes too slow to speak effectively, preventing you from posting more than 100 characters at a time in thread or in PMs. You are also unable to make any solid decisions, keeping you from voting or taking any actions this turn. Tap: (Passive) Your brain processes information much faster than your kin, allowing you to deceipher a hint from the Papers of Mourning.

 

Brass: Fill: (Passive) You shiver uncontrollably, preventing you from posting more than a 100 characters at a time in thread or in PMs. You also are 4x more susceptible to contracting a sickness. Tap: (Active) You are able to keep increase the heat your body produces, allowing you to explore areas that would otherwise be inaccessible due to the cold.

 

Copper: Fill: (Active) You lock away the memories of a personal conversation, storing it away for future use (cannot use that PM anymore). Tap: (Active) You gain access to the PMs that are locked within.

 

Bronze: Fill: (Passive) You fall asleep, preventing you from doing anything else this turn. If the expedition decides to move on they will leave you behind, rendering you lost. Tap: (Active) If you tap this during the night you can make actions without becoming fatigued the next day. If used during the day you become no longer fatigued. Both cost a single charge.

 

Cadmium: Fill: You hyperventilate for the entire turn, preventing you from posting more than 100 characters at a time in threads or in PMs. You also are unable to keep up with the main expeditionary force due to your difficulty breathing, rendering you fatigued. Tap: You are able to hold your breath for an extended period of time, granting the ability to explore areas that would otherwise be inaccessible due to a lack of clean air.

 

Bendalloy: Fill: (Passive, Day) You gain an extra vote on you +1 for every additional charge you have stored. Like all extra votes it will be revealed in the subsequent write up and marked as Investiture. Tap: (Active, Day) You lose a single vote against you for every charge you spend.

 

Gold: Fill: (Passive) Your immune system weakens dramatically, tripling the chances of you becoming sick. Tap: (Active) At the cost of a single charge you remove any sickness/injuries from you for the duration of that turn. At the cost of two you cure yourself entirely. At the cost of 4 you become immune to any attempts on your life, including the lynch.

 

Electrum: Fill: (Active, Day) You become depressed, losing the will to follow through with your convictions. Any votes you cast will be rendered null. You must vote in order to gain a charge. Tap: (Active, Day) You enter a manic state of certainty, adding an extra vote to yours for each charge spent.

 

Chromium: Fill: (Passive) You become incredibly unlucky, quadrupling the chances of all rolls used against you and adding a 15% chance of you injuring yourself. Tap: (Active) At the cost a single charge, you gain a 20% chance of you finding a new metalmind plus another 20% for every additional charge spent. At the cost of three charges, you gain a 60% chance of avoiding all actions used against you that turn, including the lynch.

 

Nicrosil: Fill: (Passive) You lose the ability to access any other metalmind in your possession this turn to gain one charge. Tap: (Active) You reduce the cost of a single metalmind’s ability by 1 for every charge of nicrosil you spend.

 

Aluminum: Fill: (Passive) You lose your sense of self, rendering any votes you cast null while also enabling you to access the charges of other player’s metalminds in your possession. Tap: (Active) Your sense of self becomes magnified, adding an extra vote to yours for each charge spent.

 

Duralumin: Fill: (Passive) You become disconnected from your peers, unabling you to speak in the thread or in PMs for the entire turn. If you decide to speak anyway, you automatically stop filling your duralumin mind, losing any charge you would have gained. Tap: At the cost of 3 charges you gain spiritual influence over another player, allowing you to redirect their action to a target of your choice.

 

Bands of Mourning: If a player fills aluminum while in possession of the Lord Ruler’s metalminds, they gain access to all his charges, automatically winning the game for their team.

 

Random Important Notes

When a player is lynched the metalminds in their possession are announced along with their alignment in the subsequent write-up. They are then randomly distributed among the players who voted for their death. The public is not informed of this information. When a player is assassinated by a member of the Set, the killer will take their metalminds (except the bronze). The metalminds the assassinated player had will not be revealed in the write-up. If a player is killed by a wild beast, their body will be dragged to the monster’s den. In order to retrieve the metalminds of the deceased, the expedition must be in the same zone the player was killed and vote to search for the den. If chosen by the majority, only those who voted in its favor will be able to obtain the lost metalminds. This is determined with a dice roll based on the number of players searching.

 

Instead of a google document, members of the Set will be in a group PM which they can only send messages on during a turn that they are awake. Other PMs can only be between two players and must include all GMs and likewise can only be used when awake. The Set can only perform one nightly kill without pewter. This nightly kill counts like any other night action, and thus requires the player to be tapping bronze or otherwise they will be fatigued the next day.

 

There are no limits to the number of passives effects a player can have at once, however in any given turn, unless otherwise specified, a player may only use one active ability.

 

Regardless of whether the Bands of Mourning are ever found, the Synod will win if they kill every member of the Set and the Set will win if they outnumber the Synod.

 

So, that’s everything I’ve got off the top of my head for now. Opinions, people? If this receives enough interest I’ll begin working on greater specifics of it (map, metalminds began with, hidden metalminds, hints, etc).

Edited November 3, 2015 by Adavantos

[Guest]

As I said earlier, I absolutely love this idea.

Two comments for now:

1. Could you explain what Copper does more specifically?

2. Chromium seems to hurt so much to fill it that it isn't worth the tappping ability. Just my take.

[Amanuensis he/him]

1. Copper: While I am open to other ideas in regards to copper, my interpretation is this. Since a player can't necessarily copy and paste a PM into the thread or into another PM, they could store it away, that way - in the event a player with an aluminumind gets ahold of it - they can effectively get added into the PM, revealing everything that was said between those two players. If a player were to store a PM in there that would probably mean that they think there was something suspicious about it or that other person in it blatantly lied, but he can't be called out because they're now dead. So it could be used long after their death to incriminate someone else.

 

2. Likely that would just be a matter of number adjustment, which isn't necessarily my specialty. If a more percentage savvy game creator is out there and would take a look at it and any of the other "dice rolls" to ensure balance, I would appreciate it.

[Clanky he/him]

This game has an interesting premise but I don't really like all the roles that limit posting ability. There is often already problems with inactivity and people not posting and having game mechanics that further limit posting would only compound this.

[Jo and the Bush all/any]

 

Berserker: You can survive one kill attempt, and make one kill per cycle. However, when you make a kill attempt, there is a chance that you will also attack another player at random.

 

Clayr: Once every cycle, you can choose to make use of your Sight and you will be informed of the night’s outcome, based on the actions that have been put in. You will not know if these actions are retracted, and if multiple outcomes become possible over the course of the night, you will not be informed as to which outcome will occur.

 

 

Charter Mage: You may have any one of these powers:

• You may draw a Diamond of Protection, and protect yourself from one kill attempt every second cycle.

• You may Bind a player, preventing them from taking an action or making votes.

 

Abhorsen: 

• You may choose a player and prevent them from taking any actions or placing any votes.

 

Necromancer: 

• You may choose a player and prevent them from taking any actions or placing any votes.

How large of a chance does the beserker have of attacking someone else?

 

So the Clayr gets to know what actions have been sent in to target him at the time he sent in the order?

 

What happens if someone roleblocks a roleblocker?

 

The Diamond of protection, does it only work on even cycles, or do you just have to wait a cycle between uses?

[Aonar he/him]

Joe: 

 

1. Fairly small, (25% or less?) but I'm playing with the idea of making it stack with each consecutive use. Not sure on how exactly you'd want to set the numbers to make it balanced. (Like a lot of the other roles, it's kind of a double-edged sword, but it is very powerful, especially if it ended up in the hands of the Eliminators.)

 

2. The Clayr is informed of all possible results* for the Night, 12 hours early, based on the actions put in. They can also (and I just realized that I forgot to put this in) choose one person to PM each night; this person may change their actions once after the usual deadline.

 

3. If the roleblocked makes a roleblock, it will go through, but any other votes or actions they make will not.

 

4. It just can't be used consecutively, is all. 

 

*By all possible, I mean all possible results based on all possible combinations of the actions used, including all changes and retractions. (Only kills, protections, and relevant roleblocks register.)  If the game were run with this mechanic, I'd be sure to state fairly clearly somewhere that I won't count actions put in simply to confuse the Clayr. (More for the GM's sanity than anything else. )

[Jo and the Bush all/any]

I believe I have brought this up before in docs, but not in this thread. This is a concept I had for a game. Rather than everyone starting with a role, everyone starts with an item. Each item has infinite uses. But, upon use, it is transferred to whoever you affect. If you switch someone's vote, next cycle they get to switch a vote. If you protect someone, next cycle they get to protect someone.

 

At the same time, if you kill someone, their heir will receive the kill item, as well as any other items they had on them. At the start of the game, everyone is assigned a heir publicly. Players may change that heir at any time, and cannot be stopped from doing so. afterward it is impossible to detect who their heir is or was.

 

The eliminators in this game would not have a group kill, rather, they would start with all the kill items in the game, one for each of them. 

[Kasimir he/him]

Vode An

Water drips from the sky.

Everything about Haruun Kal is hostile; from the native Korunnai populace, to the Separatists occupying the only habitable city on the planet: Pelek Baw.

Ahead of you, your brother curses and pulls out a long knife. With the tool, he begins hacking at the vines blocking your path.

You long to remove your helmet, but it probably wouldn’t be any cooler without it. The torrid, lush jungle you can see through the lenses isn’t a welcoming place: it’s deadly. You’ve heard about it during the rushed indoc before you and your brothers were shipped here: Haruun Kal, the world where everything tries to kill you. More airborne pathogens that they’ve got innoculations for, and where a change in the prevailing winds during the winter can cause the heavier-than-air toxic gases from the cloudsea to swamp most of the highlands, killing all oxygen-breathing life in a matter of hours. The thakiz baw’kal, the Korunnai call it.

You shrug and forge on, grimly. The Halleck was supposed to be on station in the Ventran system, ready for a VIP extraction from Haruun Kal. Things got hot fast, though, and General Windu called for support. Between the DSAFs and DOKAWs defending Haruun Kal airspace, your lander took too much fire, and you’ve crash-landed deep in the gas-saturated lowlands.

Within hours, the notorious fungi of the Haruun Kal jungle has eaten away at the circuitry of your comms. Under the leadership of the acting I/C CT-017/258 or “Kas”, you will have to make your way across the hostile jungle, and to the rendezvous point in Pelek Baw, alive.

Welcome to the 187th Legion, brother. And remember: Ib'tuur jatne tuur ash'ad kyr'amur.

General Rules:

1. This game follows the format of a standard QF. All cycles will be 24 hours long, and referred to as ‘Days’. In addition, PMs are not permitted.

2. All votes will be done publicly and in-thread. Effectively, Kas will be sending up trooper to take point each day; this is a risky proposition in the lowlands of Haruun Kal where visibility is poor, and pretty much anything can kill you. (Par for the course for Haruun Kal.) The person taking point is therefore lynched, for all intents and purposes.

3. This game has a time-limit. The integrity of your air filtration system will be slowly compromised, and your oxygen supplies are limited, so if the game does not end by the tenth* cycle with a win for either team, you are all considered to have perished in the gas-saturated lowlands of Haruun Kal. [*will be pegged to player number.]

4. For the first five cycles, you will not experience any effects from Haruun Kal’s cloudsea. From the fifth to the eight day, 1* person each day will have their votes/actions nullified, due to the effects of a compromised air filtration system. From the ninth to the tenth day, 2* people each day will have their votes/actions nullified. [*will be pegged to player number.]

5. Tied votes will result in both players being sent on hazardous duty, with both perishing as a result of it. (While a tie of three-or-more theoretically yields the same result, it does push the limits of credibility.)

6. Only one action may be undertaken each Day. Passive abilities do not count as an action.

7. This is the Stack/Order of Actions:

-Cloudsea Effects*
-Sergeant’s Co-option
-Votes
-Protection, Alertness
-Demolition Target Selection
-Kill: Lynch, Compromised, Sniper, Demolitions
-Seeking: Improvised Seeker Droid, Stalking
-Mind Control

Team-Specific Information:

1. There are two teams in this game: Team Republic (or, I suppose, Team 187th Legion) and Team Compromised. The clone troopers of the 187th Legion win when they can root out the Lor Pelek from among them. The Compromised win when the Lor Pelek and their compromised clone troopers outnumber the clone troopers.

2. There is no evil doc for this game. The Lor Pelek may choose to convert one player each Day, until they meet their conversion limit. This will be pegged to the number of players in the game.

3. The Lor Pelek and the converted players may communicate with each other by PM. However, each converted player (and the Lor Pelek) have a limit of 300 characters per cycle, past which they can no longer communicate. Each PM must be 1-on-1 and must include the GM.

4. The Lor Pelek cannot kill. Their teammates can. Converted get access to a team kill and retain their roles.

Roles:

Lor Pelek: In Korun legend, the lor pelek is a figure both feared and revered as an incarnation of the jungle-mind. Whatever the case, the Lor Pelek’s raw strength in the Force is not to be trifled with.

 

•Mind Control: While clone troopers are far from weak-minded, their conditioning to obedience renders them easy targets. You may convert one player per cycle, up to your conversion limit.

•Jungle Avatar: You have immersed yourself in pelekotan [=the Force] to the point that the distinction between yourself and the jungle has dissolved. You are immune to the toxic effects of the cloudsea. This ability is passive and does not require activation.

•Danger Sense: Your prerecognitive abilities, coupled with their acute reflexes, enables you to survive all attempts to kill you in a single Day. This ability cannot be used twice in a row.

•Stalking: With your knowledge of hidden paths through the jungle--some might even say that the jungle opens before you--you are able to stalk a target player and determine their role.

Sergeant: As one of the surviving noncoms, the number of engagements you’ve seen since Geonosis makes you a steady and respected voice in the 187th. While not all of your squad has survived the crash-landing, you’ve swiftly taken the responsibility of keeping the survivors in line.

 

•Authoritative: Your experience and authority allows you to co-opt a randomly-selected player’s role for a Day, and to issue them orders they cannot fail to obey. You may take control of their votes and actions. [Effectively, the Sergeant will send in orders as if they were that player. They do not know the identity of the player whose role they will be assuming. I will weight the selection in favour of co-opting the roles of inactive players.] This ability must be activated.

 

Medic: While your medical training has not covered planets as openly hostile as Haruun Kal, you are still competent with the use of most medical equipment, and you have your medkit with you. You are well-trained and able to treat a good variety of injuries your brother troopers have sustained.
 

•First-Aid: Once every cycle, you are able to protect a player from death.

Engineer: As a combat engineer, your skills are primarily support-based, although you still wield a DC-15 as well as you do your hydrospanner. You make sure the AT-ATs and the walkers are doing what they’re supposed to do; you fortify positions and demolish bridges, among other things. Although your skills are not particularly in demand on Haruun Kal, where fungi eat through thinly-protected circuitry within hours, you still have a couple of tricks up your sleeve.
 

•Improvisation: You have improvised a seeker droid, and can send it to follow a given player once a day as you make the trek through the Haruun Kal lowlands. This allows you to determine the player’s role.

•Demolitions Expert: Your skill with demolitions allows you to plant charges in the gear of a target player. Upon your death, the charges will detonate, taking down that player with you. You may select the target once each cycle.

Scout: As a specialised scout, the jungles of Haruun Kal possess less danger for you than they would your brethren. You are comfortable with recon work, and with taking point. With your sharp eyes, little of what the jungle throws at you can take you down.

 

•Alertness: Can survive one attempted kill against you, whether it is an actual kill or the lynch.

Sniper: As a sniper, you are an excellent shot and think calmly under pressure. In addition, you have an advantage many of your brothers do not: you were trained by RC-1207 of Delta Squad, making you a far more deadly shot than most of your fellow snipers. Whatever you shoot stays down.
 

•One Shot, One Kill: Once a Day, you can kill a target player.

Clone Trooper: While you are a regular infantry clone trooper without a specialisation, you take pride in what you do, all the same. Like your brothers, you have been trained to exactingly high standards and can easily overpower the average militia throughout the galaxy. Who else can say the same?

In a bit of procrastination from thesis celebration at finishing my phil piracy paper, I've attempted to come up with a QF based around Star Wars. Would appreciate feedback and comments.
 
Kas's Qualms:

-Not sure if better for an MR or QF.

-I've left the exact numbers vague; I figure it will depend on balance issues, so hard to get down now. Ideally, the idea is that the severity of the cloudsea toxin effects will increase as the game wears on. While it hurts the Village, it also helps them because the Lor Pelek is not affected by the cloudsea at all. No one else shares this immunity.

-I should clarify that I am not inclined to allow the Sergeant the chance of controlling the Lor Pelek at all, as they could simply do a lot of damage that way. On the other hand, it mightn't be a bad idea since the odds are so small. I'm going to leave this in the air for now.

-Equally in the air: the lack of an evil doc. I did this to work with the limitations of Korunnai Force-communication in Shatterpoint (this game is, in fact, taking place during the events of the book Star Wars: Shatterpoint), but this may be a case in which flavour is simply damaging.

-Not sure if merely requiring them to kill the Lor Pelek is a workable victory condition. Flavour-wise, it fits, but may challenge balance.

Edited November 16, 2015 by Kasimir

[STINK he/him]

Not sure what other people think, but I think that if there is a character limit and no doc for evils then it should be a MR, as it gives the evil more time to do stuff by coordinating which will be harder with no doc\character limit.

[Kasimir he/him]

Not sure what other people think, but I think that if there is a character limit and no doc for evils then it should be a MR, as it gives the evil more time to do stuff by coordinating which will be harder with no doc\character limit.

I think I would prefer to keep this a QF. If I had to trade off against a sense of urgency (which 24 hours would generate more than 48 hours), I'd rather handwave flavour and permit an evil doc than go to an MR.

The reason why I'm having qualms about the evil doc though is I'm actually wondering if evil docs unbalance things too much in QFs: in LGs or MRs, unrestricted comm on the evil side is fine, but I've noticed that the Village seems to have a lot of difficulty getting its act together otherwise...

 

Well, here are some other considerations I'm dealing with:

 

1. Given no PMs and a typically (in my experience; if anyone has had a different game, feel free to point me there) low level of cooperation and discussion in QFs for the Crew, I am more inclined to also limit Eliminator communication, in order to ensure that their advantage does not cripple the Crew. While I'm happy to tweak the character limit, I do think that unlimited Eliminator conversation can be rather problematic in QF + no Crew communication circumstances.

 

2. I think the Sergeant is currently too strong as he is formulated. The reason being that if I allow him control of the Lor Pelek, then all he has to do is to just make the Lor Pelek vote for someone who doesn't have any votes on them. Boom. Insta-reveal. Yet I think the same goes for any role, really: because if I allow him control of role actions and votes, then a clever Sergeant would just play the same way they would with the Lor Pelek: it's a quick way of role-scanning that makes the Engineer redundant.

 

So, there are several possibilities, IMO. They are not all mutually exclusive.

 

A. Turn the Sergeant into the indirect role-scanner. Remove the Engineer's role-scanning ability and turn them into something else: perhaps a limited PM role, or enable them to scan for allegiance/actions taken.

 

B. Allow the Sergeant to control votes only when the player's role is that of a Clone Trooper. Otherwise, he only controls abilities. (In addition, I think this would make it a bit riskier to just whip out those abilities, because if he vote-changes, it would immediately reveal a player as a Regular.) So the Sergeant could really mess around with the Lor Pelek's abilities, but not in a way that would reveal the Lor Pelek. He could, for instance, simply mandate that the Lor Pelek does nothing, or that they convert a known roleless who can then be lynched the next day. (The question, of course, arises as to whether the Sergeant can control the Eliminator kill. My temptation is to rule that since only one action can be sent in, if the Sergeant controls an Eliminator role and orders them to use an action, the killer cannot make the kill.)

 

C. Simply make the Lor Pelek immune to the Sergeant's ability. I don't like this option as much because I think it still allows the Sergeant to role-scan too strongly by using the vote trick.

 

Thoughts?

Edited November 17, 2015 by Kasimir

[STINK he/him]

If you wanted to, you could make it so that the Engineer can make one PM with one other player with the same character (or less) limit by hastily making bad messaging devices that have keyboards break after a certain amount of characters. Then give the Sergeant the role-inspection ability, maybe under the pretense that he is inspecting their living area and finds 'a gun' etc. 

 

And in this game, because you're worried that the doc is too strong in a QF, you could make it so that if the max amount of convertees to the evil side is 5, then you make it so that a doc is open to the evil until 3 people have been converted (probably not balanced, but you get what I mean) so that the evil have to consider if a doc is worth losing for <insert number> amount of players. 

 

EDIT: And for RP purposes for the above suggestion, you could just say that the amount of people meeting together by themselves was too suspicious so they split up.

Edited November 17, 2015 by IrulelikeSTINK

[Kasimir he/him]

If you wanted to, you could make it so that the Engineer can make one PM with one other player with the same character (or less) limit by hastily making bad messaging devices that have keyboards break after a certain amount of characters. Then give the Sergeant the role-inspection ability, maybe under the pretense that he is inspecting their living area and finds 'a gun' etc. 

 

And in this game, because you're worried that the doc is too strong in a QF, you could make it so that if the max amount of convertees to the evil side is 5, then you make it so that a doc is open to the evil until 3 people have been converted (probably not balanced, but you get what I mean) so that the evil have to consider if a doc is worth losing for <insert number> amount of players. 

 

EDIT: And for RP purposes for the above suggestion, you could just say that the amount of people meeting together by themselves was too suspicious so they split up.

I think I would prefer to keep converted levels small, for the reason that converts can easily overwhelm a game, so it seems to me that while a doc-breaking thing might be appropriate in an MR or larger, it is a bad idea in a QF. Consequently, I would prefer not to give them a choice, or really, to simply not involve a doc, as the doc still gives Evil the advantage I've worried about: notice that your suggestion still involves the broken mechanic by default. I would also prefer not to simply convert the Sergeant into a Seeker; the whole point of the set-up is to create one in which inactives play a different kind of role for the Crew instead of being the usual pain in the pula they tend to be. It is, you might or might not have noticed, an adaptation of Joe's puppet-master idea.

I am generally against the use of PMs because I think they just detract from thread-discussion, so I'm more interested in innovating in directions that don't just involve reprising the same few standard roles over and over again. (I have many games that build off the Seeker-PM-Protection-Vigilante set-up. I would prefer to be able to use the flavour to push the game and roles in directions that you don't normally get rather than to instantiate the same game and roles within a different setting.)

[STINK he/him]

The description of the Sergeant and the way you talk about how you would rather have in-thread discussion instead of PMs made me think of the Sergeant having a bonus to the vote, so that maybe his vote can count as 2. Also, if you want to make the Sergeant similar to a Puppet-Master, why don't you just have it so that he can choose a player every cycle, and if they die then the Sergeant secretly saves them and gets to do shenanigans with that, though these probably aren't good ideas at all

[Haelbarde he/him]

So, I'm hoping to run a MR Codex Alera game at some point, and so here's a draft of the rules for that. It's got a fair number of moving parts, so feedback would be appreciated!

 

MR: The Canim Fury (Codex Alera)

The Premise:

Your  half-century was sent behind enemy lines to learn what you could of enemy movements, and to find opportunity to hinder their forces. You have uncovered some information that Captain Scipio must get as soon as possible, but your enemy has discovered your presence. Not everyone made it out of the ambush they laid for you, and now you're trapped behind enemy lines, being hunted mercilessly. Making the most of your furycrafting, you were able to evade their initial chase, and have gained somewhat of a lead on them, but the path you need to take back is not going to be easy.

The Rules:

Cycles will be 48 hour combined Day-Night cycles. 

 

There are two factions: Those Loyal to Captain Scipio, and Traitors seeking to bring down Captain Scipio. The traitors do not want the Captain to receive the intelligence gathered, and so their goal is to stop those Loyal from reaching the Captain at all costs. The Loyalists win once all of the Traitors are dead. The Traitors win if they outnumber the Loyalists. If neither side has claimed victory by the conclusion of the 10th cycle, both sides lose (their hunters catch up to them before they reach safety).

 

There are 6 different types of furycrafting: Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Metal, and Wood. Each type of furycrafting has 3 tiers, each which has its own ability. Higher tiers have access to the abilities of the lower tiers. 

 

The abilities are as follows:

Firecrafting - Knights Ignus

I. Each turn you may change one player's vote to another target of your choice.

II. Each turn you may attack one player.

III. Each turn you are attack one additional player.

 

Watercrafting 

I. Each turn you able to open a PM with one other player. You can only have one active PM at a time.

II. Each turn you are able to target another player to eavesdrop on any PM's they are involved with created by Watercrafting.

III. Each turn you may target a player (including yourself) to heal from a single attack made on them that night. The nature of the attack will be revealed in the writeup. 

 

Earthcrafting - Knights Terra

I. Each turn you may target a player (including yourself). Any actions directed at that player will target you instead.

II. Each turn you may target a player (including yourself). That player is protected from one attack that cycle.

III. Each turn you may attack one player.

 

Aircrafting - Knights Aeris

I. Each turn you able to open a PM with one other player. You can only have one active PM at a time.

II. Each turn you are able to target another player to eavesdrop on any PM's they are involved with created by Aircrafting.

III. Each turn you may target a player. Any actions performed by that player will fail.

 

Metalcrafting - Knights Ferrous

I. Once per game, you may survive a single attack made on you. This is a passive ability.

II. Each turn you may attack one player.

III. Each turn you make can protect against two attacks. These could be the same person (including yourself), or two different players.

 

Woodcrafting - Nights Flora

I. Each turn you may hide a player (including yourself). Anyone actions targeting that player (other than their own) will fail.

II. Each turn you may target a player. Any actions performed by that player will fail.

III. Each turn you may attack one player.

 

Players can have more than one type of furycrafting, but every player will have at least one which will be designated their primary furycrafting. Each players primary furycrafting will be public knowledge. Note that this will be the type of fury crafting, rather than what tier. 

 

Players with a Tier 3 fury can designate an heir. Upon their death, their fury passes to their heir. If no heir is named, a recipient will be randomly chosen. The recipient will gain a Tier 2 version of the fury.

 

Players who are inactive for 96 hours will be 'left behind', and killed.

Edited November 18, 2015 by Haelbarde

[STINK he/him]

If you have 2 Tier 3 furies, can you name 2 heirs or do you name one that receives both of the Tier 2 versions?

[Haelbarde he/him]

If you have 2 Tier 3 furies, can you name 2 heirs or do you name one that receives both of the Tier 2 versions?

You would be able to name 2 heirs.

[STINK he/him]

Unless I completely missed something, would I be correct in saying that there is no way to increase your tier of Furycrafting? If so, then killing inactives might be more harsh to the town than normal if they are tier 3 and don't name a heir, so maybe a way of making sure that doesn't happen or that if it does it isn't as harsh? 

[Haelbarde he/him]

I've specified in the rules that if there is no heir, a randomly chosen player receives the furies. So they aren't lost completely (and an inactive has already meant they don't have access to the abilities).

 

Something relevant that I've not specified yet is what happens if you receive a fury that matches the type of one you already have. I'm thinking I'll make that the situation in which it upgrades your existing ability. 

 

Also worth pointing out with regards to inactives - sometimes inactivity is unavoidable, with things come up unexpectedly. If that sort of thing happens, I would like to know about it, and then either I'll let them sit inactive or I'll see if we can get a pinchhitter. My intent is the cull the inactives who actually don't engage with the game at all.  

[STINK he/him]

So I've had an idea for a SE game based on Worm for some time now, please critique and comment on this

 

The Simurgh has just hit Brockton Bay, and with the PRT unable to respond to this threat urgently, Brockton Bay has been wiped off the map and is under Quarantine, with no-one allowed to either leave or enter it. The last few capes and people living in Brockton Bay all live relatively close now, but there is a group which seems to of been affected by the Simurgh more than others, and with the number of survivors dwindling, will the others find the killers?

 

The Triggering System:

 

A number of players will start out as vanilla roles, but have the potential to gain a ‘power’ (role) by triggering. If someone triggers when they are being lynched, the fact that they have triggered will be said in the write-up, but otherwise it will remain private.

 

The Powers:

Newter: Visit someone and knock them out for a Cycle, usable once every 2 cycles.

Labyrinth: Visit someone and trap them for a Cycle, but they can still affect you if they choose to use their ability on you.

Velocity: Every Cycle, can choose someone to follow to see what actions they take.

Aegis: Can survive being killed once (passive)

Panacea: Every Cycle, chooses someone to enhance which after 3 cycles  gives them either a 50% chance to kill their attacker, or a 50% chance to survive the Lynch.

Tattletale: Every Cycle, can choose someone to find out their role or the PMs they have open with others.

Regent: Every Cycle. Targets someone and can redirect their ability usage to someone else.

Armsmaster: Starts out with basic armour that does nothing, every cycle gets to modify his armour and either build an offensive tool or defensive tool.  

Skitter: Two time use, kills all visitors for that cycle.

Miss Militia: Can Attack someone every cycle.

 

This will hopefully be a MR and will allow PMs, it will just be 48 hour cycles and not Day and Night times, unless I need to increase it in which it'll probably be a LG. 

[Amanuensis he/him]

Half credit goes to Stink for helping me figure some of this stuff out after me encouraging him to read the books.

 

MR or LG: Hic Sunt Leones

 

This is a game based off of the Red Rising Trillogy by Pierce Brown. It is highly recommended that you read it (because it is awesome) but it is not a requirement in order for you to play and by participating the story will not be spoiled, as this is an alternate universe representation.

 

Tiberius au Bellona is the ArchGovernor of Mars. Under the rule of his House, the red planet has not seen war in centuries, yet there are those who find his tyranny cruel and stale, wishing to see him fall so another may rise in his place. At their head is Praetor Nero au Augustus, Praetor and mortal enemy of the ArchGovernor. A decade of planning has finally culminated into Nero sowing traitors among the Lancers sworn in service of Tiberius; their mission, to hunt the secret heirs of House Bellona and undermine the ArchGovernor’s most valuable assets.

 

Overview

 

There are only two teams in Hic Sunt Leones; those Loyal to House Bellona, and the Traitors sent by House Augustus to overpower them. Due to the intense psychological analysis required to be performed by the Board of Quality Control before a Gold is indoctrinated into the Academy of the Peerless Scarred, the Traitors do not know the identities of their peers for the sake of protecting them in case they are discovered. They have, however, been informed of which Houses their allies belong to, and are capable of sending a single message at the end of every turn via WhisperGems provided to them by their secret benefactor. Each Lancer will belong to a specific House, granting them a permanent ability. All Lancers can use Personal Messages via their DataPads, but off work (AKA during the Night Turn). Depending on if this is an MR or LG, turns are either 24 or 48 hours respectively. In order for the Loyal to win, all Traitors must be found and killed; as for the Traitors, they must both kill all Heirs to House Bellona and outnumber the Loyals.

 

In addition to each Lancer beginning with an ability granted by their House, they can also start with an item or amount of Merit. During the Day Turn Lancers can spend their Merit on an item of their choice through the GM, to be received upon the completion of the Cycle. Each item has a limited number of stock and a base cost required for purchase. If multiple Lancers attempt to order the same item in a single turn, they will be informed at the beginning of the Night Turn how many others there are and will have to make an additional bid to win it. Lancers who lose the bid will be refunded the initial fee, but not the Merit they bid. Throughout the course of the game Merit can be gained and lost through actions and inactions, as listed below:

 

• +1 Make an on-topic contribution to the thread that pushes the conversation forward; I.E. suggest a plan, initiate a duel, cheer for a combatant, or analyze another Lancer. Note that simply voting for a Lancer will not do; an explanation must be provided alongside it. It is up to Tiberius (the GM) to deem if your contribution is worthy of Merit, and if not awarded the Lancer to plead their case via PM for why they believe they deserve it.

• -1 Go a full turn without contributing to the thread; I.E. remain completely inactive. Note that if you post in blue text that you will be too busy to participate, you will not be penalized for the duration in which you specify you will be unavailable. However, for each turn of consecutive unexplained inactivity, the amount of Merit that is lost will be increased by 1 (D1 -1, N1 -2, N2 -3, etc.)

• +X Win a duel, X = half your opponent's total Merit, to include whatever is slated to be spent that cycle. If a Lancer is killed in a duel their order for that cycle will automatically be canceled.

 

Not every Lancer begins with their own personal equipment, therefore it is up to each individual to earn enough Merit to remain competitive among their colleagues. Items can also be sold to the shop via the GM for half of the item’s base cost. Below is a list of each item, preceded by how many are in stock and followed by their base cost, as well as the ability they provide. Note that each item expires after single use.

 

• (?) HoloCam(s) / HoloBox(es), ?? Merit: You purchase both. Via PM with the GM you can gift your HoloBox to another Lancer. During the same Turn, any action that you take or that is taken against you is recorded and relayed to them.

• (?) JamField(s), ?? Merit: During the Day or Night Turn you can disable any devices within close proximity of you and another Lancer.

• (?) StunFist(s), ?? Merit: During the Day or Night Turn you can select another Lancer to stun, preventing their actions from succeeding that turn.

• (?) FleshMask(s), ?? Merit: During the Day or Night Turn you can disguise yourself as another Lancer.

• (?) GhostCloak(s), ?? Merit: During the Day or Night Turn you can stealth yourself and stalk another Lancer, discovering their target.

• (?) PulseShield(s), ?? Merit: Passively protects you from death. Works for the Daily Duel and any Night Kill.

• (?) IonBlade(s): ?? Merit: A concealed weapon that allows you to attack another Lancer under the cover of night.

 

Finally, the Houses of the Aureate in service of the ArchGovernor. Before becoming a Peerless Scarred, each Lancer will have been raised by another House, gifting them powers associated with their lineage. While which House you belong to is kept a secret, you will start knowing how many among you are of your kin, but not their given names (with one exception). Below is a list of each House and their permanent ability.

 

• Thorne: You were raised among many cousins from a minor House and thus possess no unique, worthwhile talents.

• Fabii: You were raised by some of Mars’ most manipulative politicians, allowing you to sway the vote of a single Lancer once per Day Turn.

• Rath: You were raised by the descendants of history’s most despicable traitors, giving you the strength to betray your allegiance once during the course of the game.

• Julii: You were raised by interstellar merchants, capable of convincing anyone to exchange a single item with you once per Day Phase. If one or both players have multiple items the one traded will be randomized.

• Telemanus: You were raised with the sole purpose of protecting House Bellona, instilling within you the loyalty required to defend another at the cost of your own well being.

• Lune: You were raised within the Sovereign’s own household, providing you the resources to discover the family name of a single Lancer at the end of each Night Turn.

• Arcos: You were raised by the Rage Knight Lorn au Arcos himself, gifting you mastery over the Razor, making you undefeatable in one one one combat. Due to your pride you are unable to initiate a duel; you can, however, cheer another one on.

• Bellona: You were raised in secret as a Heir to the ArchGovernor in another house, and thus they believe you to be among their kin. You do not, however, begin with knowledge of how many are of that House nor their permanent ability. Instead you are informed by the GM the identity of your sibling(s). Due to your father’s unwavering vigilance, you are not able to announce, in Public or PM, that you are a Heir of House Bellona.

 

Hic Sunt Leones does not have a traditional lynch system. Instead, during the Day Turn, you must challenge another player to a duel. In doing so, a vote is initiated (Wilson (0) vs Gamma (0)) Other Lancers can either cheer on one of the Combatants, the Lancer with the least cheers losing and being killed in combat, or initiate their own duel. You are unable to cheer for your own duel, but if challenged you can cheer for another. Only a single duel (the one with the most cheers) will take place at the end of that Day Turn.

Edited December 7, 2015 by Adavantos

[Haelbarde he/him]

That looks really interesting! Stink had referred to the Merit system in conversation by now seeing it incorporated into a game and explained in context, I'm all the more interested to see it in action.

Oh, and do you mean 'duel' as opposed to 'dual'?

[Amanuensis he/him]

I do indeed, thanks