The Art of Game Creation

[RippleGylf she/her]

This is an idea I've been tossing around in my head. I'm not exactly sure how GM'ing goes, but I would be fine if someone else GMed it.

 

QF: The Shades of Threnody

 

Based in Threnody, from Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell. The basic story is that the players, a band of thieves, have taken shelter in an abandoned safehouse. Their leader lies dead outside, murdered, attracting quite a few shades. (I'm not very good at this preliminary story stuff...)

 

Gameplay:

There are two groups; the Loyal Crewmembers, and the Mutineers. The win conditions are pretty basic, the Mutineers are trying to outnumber the Crewmembers, and the Crewmembers are trying to kill the Mutineers.

 

The game consists of combined day/night cycles.

 

The twist for this game is the role of deceased players. When killed, a player becomes a shade. Each cycle, they can collectively inspect a single player. If the player uses a kill action, eliminator or not, the player is killed by the shade. The victim of the kill action is still dead. Sorry.

 

Every player starts out with a limited number of items. As an action each cycle, a player can either use an item or give it to another living player. All items can only be used once. Items carried by dead players are distributed randomly. What items the deceased had will not be made public.

 

Knife: Used to kill a player once.

Silver Powder: If carried, player is immune to shade kills. Only consumed if the player is inspected during a kill.

Intoxicant: Used to change a player's vote.

 

Order of Deaths: Eliminator -> Lynch -> Knife -> Shade 

 

 

So... Any suggestions?

 

 

 

Edits shown in italics.

 

This one may be coming up soon... any feedback?

[Jo and the Bush all/any]

Do eliminators in the dead doc still get to help the shades decide their kill? Do the sahdes have to have a unanimous, majority, or just most votes to decide who to inspect?

I'm trying to figure how much the shade kill will favor the village. I'm thinking it depends on how many knives are in play, the more there are, the more the shades help the eliminators.

Can an eliminator use an item and make an eliminator kill?

Will all players start with at least one item?

Edit: and since you said you're not good with the preliminary stuff, would you like help with the writeups and preliminary stuff? (Ha! I offered before you Elbereth!)

Edited May 30, 2016 by The Only Joe

[Mailliw73 he/him]

Ripple, how does the Shade kill work? What happens if they don't collectively agree?

[Elbereth she/her]

Edit: and since you said you're not good with the preliminary stuff, would you like help with the writeups and preliminary stuff? (Ha! I offered before you Elbereth!)

>> This is what happens when email notifications stop working temporarily.

[RippleGylf she/her]

Do eliminators in the dead doc still get to help the shades decide their kill? Do the sahdes have to have a unanimous, majority, or just most votes to decide who to inspect?

I'm trying to figure how much the shade kill will favor the village. I'm thinking it depends on how many knives are in play, the more there are, the more the shades help the eliminators.

Can an eliminator use an item and make an eliminator kill?

Will all players start with at least one item?

Edit: and since you said you're not good with the preliminary stuff, would you like help with the writeups and preliminary stuff? (Ha! I offered before you Elbereth!)

 

Shades have to have a majority vote, and dead eliminators cannot vote, but are allowed in the dead doc. The dead eliminators cannot just reveal the rest of the eliminators to the shades.

 

Eliminators cannot use an item and make an eliminator kill.

 

Not all players will start with an item.

 

Help with the write-ups would absolutely be appreciated. Elbereth is welcome to help as well.

 

Ripple, how does the Shade kill work? What happens if they don't collectively agree?

 

If a majority is not reached, nothing happens. Shade kill occurs after the other kills; if the target had used a kill action this cycle, they are now dead.

[Bugsy he/him]

This isn't a complete idea, just something I've thrown together on the spot based on perfect state. If anyone would want to elaborate on it, I'd be happy to be a co-GM with you or vice verca!

Factions:

Eliminators: want to outnumber villagers. Have Elim kill

Villagers: want to kill all eliminators. Have lynch

Basic ideas

• X infections will be present in the game that provide their hosts with powers
• On C1, there will be 2 players with each infection
• Each host can hold their infection for 2 cycles before becoming immune
• On their second cycle, all holders have to pass their illnesses to a new player who will become infected the next cycle
• If no one is selected to be infected or an immune player is selected, the infection is given randomly
• If you are infected by Y number of infections at the same time or both copies of the same infection, you succumb to your illnesses and die

Possible other ideas

• PMs will be allowed between infected and infector on the turn the infected becomes newly sick
• 20% chance of incubation period (1 cycle in which the infection basically doesn't exist to keep from entirely simultaneous transmission)

I also have some ideas I'm not posting here for reasons I'm not inclined to share as of now

Edit: So, my HTML-based bbcode knowledge is not working, nor is the tutorial I found online. Anyone mind letting me know how to make unordered lists, please?

Edited January 16, 2022 by Elbereth
that formatting hurt my eyes

[Nyali she/her]

I'm messing around with a new idea for what should probably be an LG. Could I get on the LG list, please?

 

My idea is a little complex right now and not fully formed, but by the time my turn comes around, I should have something ready. I've discarded like, three previous versions of the idea for being unworkably complex, but this one seems like it could work.

 

 

The basic idea is for a game that's more RPG than normal, with all roles, powers, and alignments hidden and no role/alignment reveal on death. Players will either belong to an open faction, a hidden faction, or be independent. Open factions will be like eliminator teams - they know each other, have a doc in which to collaborate, and share a goal. Hidden factions will be like towns - they all have the same goal but don't know who each other are and cannot communicate with each other outside of other means.

 

Everyone has their own goals, usually three, that they need accomplished at the end of the game to win. Some of these will be state-based (can swap between successful and unmet), and some of those will start already succeeded (example: "end the game Alive"). Members of factions always have the common faction goal as one of their goals. The game ends when either one faction achieves their faction goal, or three (or more) Independents have achieved all of their goals. It is entirely possible for no one to win because a faction goal was reached with no one in the faction having their other goals ready, but faction members can subtly sabotage their own faction goal to slow it down so they can finish their other goals. Most players can still win despite dying if their remaining goals can be accomplished by others, and some goals may even involve dying in a specific way.

 

The game will be played across five worlds and feature world PMs as the primary form of communication outside of the main game thread (which will represent the Cognitive Realm). Roles will be based on various Sanderson characters, but the game will be set in an alternate timeline where powers, goals, factions, chronology, and history can all differ from canon.

 

There will be common powers listed publicly that characters may or may not have access to, and each character can have special abilities beyond those. Items also exist, which work identically to other abilities, except they're tradeable. Here's a link to my working doc for the game design. It contains no spoilers for the game (roles are in a separate doc), but it does contain spoilers for most Cosmere novels (as will the game.)

 

Here are two sample characters that will not be in the game (or at least, not with these character sheets). Spoilers for Warbreaker in both:

Role: Talaxin

Homeworld: Nalthis

Alignment: Independent

Starting Investiture: {30}

 

Goal - Cranky: You must end the game as the only player on your Current World.

 

Goal - Out of the Wrong Hands: Shasharra must die. In addition, either Shasharra must die before creating the Item Nightblood, or you must end the game Alive and with the Item Nightblood in your possession.

 

Goal - Warbreaker: You must be responsible for the deaths of two or more players who have an Alignment listed as "Evil," or you must be responsible for preventing the deaths of two or more players who have an Alignment that is not marked as "Evil."

 

Item - Glowing Emerald Broam

• Type: Active [assist]

• Origin: Roshar

• Target: Self

• Effect: Gain {4}. If you do, exchange this item for a Dun Emerald Broam, which has the effect, "If you end an even numbered Cycle on Roshar, exchange this item for a Glowing Emerald Broam."

 

Special - Awakener

• Type: Passive

• Effect: You may use Awakening abilities.

 

Special - A New Friend

• Type: Passive

• Effect: If you are not in possession of the Item Nightblood at the end of a Cycle but are on the same World as the one who has him, you will be informed. If you are in possession of the Item Nightblood, you do not lose Investiture due to holding it. In addition, Black Smoke and Inspire Greed do not drain Investiture from you, and you may use Destroy Evil without spending the initial {1} (though successfully attacking with that action still drains {2} from you)

 

Special - Returned

• Type: Passive

• Effect: At the end of each even numbered Cycle, lose {1}. If you ever have less than {10}, you die immediately. This death cannot be prevented. You may not use the Awakening action, "My Breath Becomes Yours."

 

Special - "My (Divine) Breath Becomes Yours"

• Type: Active [assist]

• Cost: {10}, then {~}

• Effect: Give all remaining Investiture to your target after subtracting this ability's cost (note that using this ability will automatically kill you). Your target is protected from all [attack] actions this turn and cannot die this turn. This ability can also remove specific negative Specials from your target. This ability cannot be negated or redirected. If you give at least {1} with this ability, your target gains the Awakener Special and loses the Mundane Special if they have it.

Role: Shasharra

Homeworld: Nalthis

Alignment: Independent

Starting Investiture: {25}

 

Goal - Avid Researcher: Successfully use the Collaborate action with two different targets. Successfully use the Interview action with two different targets. Successfully Publish while on Nalthis.

 

Goal - Prove Your Theory: Successfully use the Special Craft Nightblood.

 

Goal - True Love: Talaxin must end the game Alive.

 

Special - Craft Nightblood

• Type: Active [assist]

• Cost: {35}

• Requirement: Mastery of Awakening

• Target: Player (local) or Self

• Effect: Create the Item Nightblood in the possession of your Target. Nightblood has the following effect: "Passive: You may use Nightblood abilities."

 

Special - Researcher

• Type: Passive

• Effect: You have access to Research abilities. For the purposes of these abilities, you are your own Faction.

 

Special - Awakener

• Type: Passive

• Effect: You may use Awakening abilities.

 

Special - Returned

• Type: Passive

• Effect: At the end of each even numbered Cycle, lose {1}. If you ever have less than {10}, you die immediately. This death cannot be prevented. You may not use the Awakening action, "My Breath Becomes Yours."

 

Special - "My (Divine) Breath Becomes Yours"

• Type: Active [assist]

• Cost: {10}, then {~}

• Effect: Give all remaining Investiture to your target after subtracting this ability's cost (note that using this ability will automatically kill you). Your target is protected from all [attack] actions this turn and cannot die this turn. This ability can also remove specific negative Specials from your target. This ability cannot be negated or redirected. If you give at least {1} with this ability, your target gains the Awakener Special and loses the Mundane Special if they have it.

[Young Bard he/him]

Nyali: Sounds fun. But, do you really have info sheets like that for, say, 20+ characters? After the first few, they might be tough to think of.

 

EDIT: Are faction games always so popular, or is this a trend at the moment? The last 4 suggestions have all been faction games.

Edited June 2, 2016 by The Young Bard

[Jo and the Bush all/any]

The meta tends to shift from game style to game style. Faction games are in favor right now probably because it's been a bit since one was played. They aren't usually this popular.

[Haelbarde he/him]

So is this a good time, or not, for me to write up rules for my game where everyone starts factionless, and have to join one of the available factions to gain a win condition?

[Nyali she/her]

Nyali: Sounds fun. But, do you really have info sheets like that for, say, 20+ characters? After the first few, they might be tough to think of.

 

EDIT: Are faction games always so popular, or is this a trend at the moment? The last 4 suggestions have all been faction games.

 

I have like, six done or mostly done, and 20 or so more outlined (character, faction, basic goals). Most of the difficulty comes from the goals - the specials follow pretty easily from who the character is, at least so far. For the goals, I'm starting by focusing on using more simple/generic ones than I'd prefer, and I can go back and make them more exciting later. Like, "end the game alive" or "X needs to die" or X needs to end the game alive" or "successfully use X skill Y times" - all of those are super easy to come up with. Skill balance is something that needs serious work, but the players don't all need to be the same power level, the factions just need to be balanced.

 

I'm just trying to balance factions right now character-wise, and deal with the fact that I wanted to include 5 worlds and White Sand isn't out yet so I know nothing about Taldain. Right now, nearly every character idea is from Scadrial or Roshar, and I'm having to figure out which ones to cut (or at least regulate to ones to use if the game gets more signups than anticipated) and what Nalthis, Sel, and Taldain characters to add.

 

I'm likely going to set up the characters like I would when writing a theater-style LARP - Find the minimum for the game to work, and then list which characters to add or remove for each number of players from that point to the maximum. Like:

14: Add Renarin.

15: Add Shallan, Pattern. Remove Renarin.

 

It's not as complicated as it sounds since you usually just add one, but sometimes you need to keep a group together for one reason or another (like a two-person faction), so you have to remove someone to make room.

 

 

EDIT: And I have no idea about faction games - I wrote up three ideas in a short period of time and only shared two of them (I have an Alloy of Law era Mistborn game 90% written up as a backup), and only one of them was a faction game.

Edited June 2, 2016 by Nyali

[Mailliw73 he/him]

So is this a good time, or not, for me to write up rules for my game where everyone starts factionless, and have to join one of the available factions to gain a win condition?

YES! I want to see this.

[Jo and the Bush all/any]

So is this a good time, or not, for me to write up rules for my game where everyone starts factionless, and have to join one of the available factions to gain a win condition?

That's basically what my House Wars Game is.

[Nyali she/her]

So is this a good time, or not, for me to write up rules for my game where everyone starts factionless, and have to join one of the available factions to gain a win condition?

 

What if everyone joins the same faction?

[Haelbarde he/him]

What if everyone joins the same faction?

People won't. I can almost guarantee it.

[Mailliw73 he/him]

People won't. I can almost guarantee it.

If I'm around to play, I'll guarantee it.

[Haelbarde he/him]

If I'm around to play, I'll guarantee it.

See, entry to factions would be based on player actions, if I could make it work. And there almost definitely wouldn't be secret factions.

[Jo and the Bush all/any]

I can also Guarantee it. I'll try to be alone on a faction, just for fun.

[Haelbarde he/him]

Sorta @Mods, but anyone's thoughts would be useful: Would there be any chance of having another 'format' as it were - a "Break Tank", as Gamma suggested.

 

Basically the idea would be to have 3 day games with 24 hours cycles, and only a 1-2 day signup period, that could be used to stress-test games before they are run, or to try out new mechanics that don't have a full game attached to them yet. They'd basically be whenever someone felt the need to test something, but only ever 1 at a time (and maybe only 1 a week), and the expectation going into these games is that they could be highly broken, and won't be played to completion. 

 

I know that my Codex Alera game could have benefited from a stress test, and I've had a whole bunch of ideas that would be interesting to try, but wouldn't necessarily fit in to a proper game.

 

@Mods: Is this sort of thing something that could happen?

@GMs: Would you find it useful to have something like this available?
@Players: Would you sign up to games like this? As in, concepts that haven't been fleshed out yet, games that haven't been balanced, and games where there won't be a satisfying conclusion or a winner at the end?

 

---

Not sure which is the best thread to put this, but the other question was: Would it be possible to have a thread where things like Day 1 lynches, advice for analyzing information in game, and other such things could be discussed, and possibly have "articles" written and linked to in the OP, so that discussions don't have to clog up game threads, and so that newer players can easily find the information?

Edited June 4, 2016 by Haelbarde

[Jo and the Bush all/any]

I think General Rules works for the articles Essays and Discussions.

Edited June 4, 2016 by The Only Joe

[Master Elodin]

If anyone besides Elb wants to help with the Young Wizards game, just say so.

[Master Elodin]

No idea. I don't know what format it will be yet. The game will be up soon though.

[Conquestor he/him]

Haelbarde, that would be awesome! I would join them as a player because if it did become a game, then it would give me an advantage when the actual game came out. As a GM (well, almost) I would love to test out ideas that might not work.

[Mailliw73 he/him]

I'd also play those, Hael.

[Bugsy he/him]

Elodin, I'd love to help assuming I'm free. If it's at any point in the next month or so, I won't be able to, unfortunately. When you say the game should be up soon, do you mean for playing or on this thread as an idea?

Oh, and I'd definitely sign up in the BT games. They'd be some nice practice sans consequences, and a nice break from higher intensity games

Edited June 6, 2016 by Bugsy6912