The Art of Game Creation

[Conquestor he/him]

I had another great idea for a new set of SE games. Games where not even the eliminators don't know their an eliminator. It would be interesting to see what people would do, I mean, what would you do? There wouldn't be scanner roles, the lynch would definitely be more interesting. Just an idea I was throwing out there, want to see what you guys think.

Edited June 6, 2016 by Conquestor

[Master Elodin]

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

It's 18th in line for LG. I have a rough draft by now but if you'd like to help design and flesh it out/smooth it out shoot me a PM.

[Haelbarde he/him]

I had another great idea for a new set of SE games. Games where not even the eliminators don't know their an eliminator. It would be interesting to see what people would do, I mean, what would you do? There wouldn't be scanner roles, the lynch would definitely be more interesting. Just an idea I was throwing out there, want to see what you guys think.

I've considered the idea of sleeper agents before - players who start the game as villagers, but after some condition is met (maybe a randomly chosen cycle, or the death of another eliminator) they get activated, and get added to the eliminator doc. The paranoia would be amazing

Edited June 6, 2016 by Haelbarde

[Straw he/him]

I promise I will run this game. I just need a Co-GM. A Paranoid Town.

In the town of Longsvale there was a whisper that grew Louder. The whisper carried a sentence, "It is rising..."

Factions:

Disciple of The Dark: The disciples of the dark are the eliminator faction. They have a doc and group kill. Their win condition is to outnumber the Townspeople.

Townspeople: The Townspeople are trying to survive against the dark. Their win condition is to kill every Disciple of The Dark.

Roles:

The Darkling: The Darkling is always evil. He can corrupt 1 player every cycle. He can have up to four corrupted players.

The Mayor: The mayor is elected by the players. Mayor votes are placed in orange. The mayor has a extra vote.

Guard: You can lock a player away preventing them from using a action.

Doctor: You look like a normal doctor but you have dabbled in necromancy. Once per game you can bring a player back to life. They will get a new faction and role.

Detective: You are excellent at finding out what people did. Each night you can find out a person's role and alignment.

Murderer: One stab to the back and it's done! You can kill a person each night.

Villager: You may be a normal guy but you do know some of the workings of the town! You participate in a secret lynch.

Edited June 6, 2016 by Straw

[Seonid he/him]

It's just:

[b]Text goes in here[/b]

[Straw he/him]

Thanks. Stupid formatting ☹️

[Nyali she/her]

I had another great idea for a new set of SE games. Games where not even the eliminators don't know their an eliminator. It would be interesting to see what people would do, I mean, what would you do? There wouldn't be scanner roles, the lynch would definitely be more interesting. Just an idea I was throwing out there, want to see what you guys think.

 

So, you're saying a game where everyone is a villager, but for the village to win, they need to kill specific people, and only the people who can scan can find out who? I feel like that idea, at its simplest, is problematic. It would be pretty darn arbitrary, and the eliminators having no way to communicate and no night kill means they lose all of their eliminator advantages, and to balance it, you need two teams of equal size.

 

But, if you expand on the idea, or use a variant like the sleeper agent thingie mentioned up there ^ where the eliminators have a way to be activated mid-game and get access to the doc, it could work. The sleeper agent thing isn't much different from a cult. Actually, it's the exact same as a cult except with limited members and only specific members can join, if they're set as sleepers from the beginning. But, if you have their activation triggers be various things, it could be interesting.... but I dunno. It really just feels like a cult scenario with some additional clunkiness thrown in, which is fine, but hardly new ground.

 

You can expand on the basic idea in other ways though, like focusing the entire game around scanning abilities and have ways to finagle it so you can scan yourself and find out your own alignment. Like, say, have a team game where you are not allowed to scan yourself even if redirected, but there are a significant number of scan abilities in the game, and put special limits on PMs. Like, have one role that can create 3 PMs a night that only last a cycle (so you can't have more than 3 at a time that you've created), and require all PMs to have exactly 3 people in them. Then, you have another role that can scan, but can't scan self, and another role that can scan, but instead of getting an alignment back, they get back "same alignment as you" or "different alignment from you." Have everyone be one of those three roles, as the base for the game. Then, add in some other basic power roles, like vig kill, protection, silent redirect, roleblock, and alignment mask. If you put in the vig kill, have it on one person from each team. If you put in protection, you also need the vig kill role, and that should also go to each team. The others, and similar, can be give to each team uniquely (like, one team gets a roleblocker, one gets a silent redirect, and one gets an alignment mask) to lightly flavor the teams. Have two or three teams in the game of equal size, preferably three.

 

Ooh, I have a full game idea that could work basing off of this:

 

 

Forgotten Loyalties

Story

A blinding, searing pain. A pulse of vibrant light, and then everything fading to black. Those were the last things she remembered. They were also the first things she remembered. She groaned, holding her head as she roused herself. Tentatively, she opened her eyes, and saw a vast sea of black speckled with white stretching before her. She tried to stand up, but she was buckled in tight. She looked around, realizing she sat in the cockpit of a small ship, an Interceptor, a craft designed for short-range missions only. Wait, why did she remember that and not her own name? The pulse. Something had happened - some kind of new weapon, perhaps? Or maybe this happens all the time - she wouldn't know, after all.

 

She looked down at the Interceptor's control panel, where lights were slowly flickering to life. Some green, some red, some flashing, and a host of numbers without context. She hesitated a moment, and then closed her eyes and let her muscle memory do the work. She flipped some switches, tapped a few screens, and a robotic voice spoke. "Systems diagnostic engaged. Evaluating . . . Severe damage to Interceptor. Life support systems, online. Propulsion, offline. Communications, offline. Weapons, offline. Sensors, online. Shields, offline. Hull integrity at 15%." Okay, she thought, at least I won't die immediately. Now to find out what's going on. She tapped a few screens. "Ship's logs, unavailable. Data corruption in memory core. Attempting to recover . . . recovery failed." Great, she thought as she continued moving, tapping screens to her left and then flipping a switch on the main console.

 

"Command: Engage short range scan. Query: What is out there?"

 

"Short range sensors engaged," the voice droned. "30 ships detected. One space station detected. One planet detected. Debris detected."

 

"Query: IFF on the ships."

 

"IFF, offline. Data corruption in memory core."

 

Well, that's just great, she thought, well, at least there's a station nearby... "Query: Information on space station."

 

"Error. Data corruption in memory core," the computer intoned.

 

She sighed, but expected nothing else. "Query: Which planet am I orbiting?"

 

This time, she said it with him. "Error. Data corruption in memory core."

 

"Might as well see what I can get working here," she thought aloud before addressing the computer. "Query: Detailed damage assessment and repair times."

 

"Life Support Systems: fully operational. Propulsion: ion drive heavily damaged, but fuel stores intact. Autorepair estimate: fuel injector - three days, engine housing - one day..." The computer droned on, giving a detailed summary of each part and continuing through each system. She sighed. It was grim, but salvageable. Right now, she was more worried about the other ships. From what she could see on the sensors, they weren't moving either, each drifting lazily. Perhaps they too were caught in the blast? "Command: Divert all autorepair to communications," she ordered, and the ship complied.

 

She examined herself for injuries while the computer worked. It seemed she was fine, apart from the splitting headache. "Partial repairs, successful," she finally heard. The computer continued, "Short-range communications online, but heavy damage remains. Only wide-range broadcast available. Tight-beam communication, offline. Continue repairs?"

 

"No," she ordered, "Command: Divert all autorepair to subspace distress beacon." She was going to have to get out of here sometime, and now at least she could communicate with someone. "Command: Begin wide-range broadcast. Hello? Is anyone out there?"

 

"THANK GOD," a male voice immediately shouted over the line. "I thought I was all alone out here!"

 

"Please identify," she requested cautiously. She had just been attacked, after all. Who knew what side this man was on? Who knew what side she was on?

 

"You first," the man said, suddenly sounding suspicious. She sighed - there didn't seem to be any other choice.

 

"I cannot identify. My memory appears to have been wiped - I can't remember a thing beyond how to fly this floating coffin," she told him. And, well, everyone else in the area. They were too far away from the station though for short-range comms to reach, but there were so many other ships, just like hers.

 

"You too?" said a third voice, a woman this time. More voices chimed in. Apparently, whatever happened to her happened to all of them. And they were clearly in the middle of a battlefield and piloting military spacecraft, which meant they were soldiers. Soldiers who were likely not all on the same side. But no one could remember, and no one's IFF was working. Or at least, no one would admit to it.

 

But she knew that each pilot would be trying to send a distress signal. Some may have already succeeded. The debris field was likely their capital ships, but when more arrived, those ships would have working IFFs and a lot more firepower than a couple dozen Interceptors. If those ships arrived, they would likely get caught in the ensuing firefight and die, not even knowing which ship to flee to.

 

She now knew what had to be done. The enemy ships must be destroyed to stop them from transmitting their signals, or from continuing to transmit for those who had completed their repairs. She would find her compatriots - she couldn't be alone here - and they would find a way. She would survive this. She was going to be okay. She would see her family again. Even if she didn't know who she was.

 

"Command: End outgoing communication," she ordered. "Command: Divert all autorepair to weapons. End outgoing communication and inform me when repairs complete." She took a deep breath. It was time to find her friends. "Command: Open outgoing communication."

 

 

Three teams of equal size, plus one or two special roles that are put in only if needed for parity (meaning, if the number of signups is not divisible by 3). Each player will start with one system operational. Each turn, players may be given the option of powering up a specific system. To do so, they will have to power down their current system and may only have one active at a time. Each turn, every team will have access to the same set of roles, but their team's choices will keep them from actually being the same.

 

For example, if there are 9 people on each team and all 9 people on Team 1 had their Private Comms system running, and on Team 2, 8 people on another team had Private Comms and one had Main Gun, and on Team 3, 5 had Private Comms, 1 had Main Gun, and 3 had Point Defense, then 4 of the people on Team 1 would get the option of switching from Private Comms: 3 would get the option of Point Defense and 1 would get the option of Main Gun. On Team 2, the person with the Main Gun system active would get the option to switch to Private Comms and 3 of the players with Private Comms would get the option of switching to Point Defense. On Team 3, everyone who didn't have Private Comms would get the option to switch to it.

 

From time to time, additional roles would get thrown in, so in addition to providing a team with the roles that other teams have and they do not, all teams (as in, one person on each) may be offered a new role. When enough roles are moving around and/or when one team gets much smaller than another, sometimes people will be offered a choice between three or more roles, but they can still only pick one.

 

You are told at the start of a turn what roles are available to you for the following turn. So, on Turn 1, you may start with Private Comms active and get told that you have the option of switching to Point Defense. Sometime during the turn, you could send the GM a PM that said you wanted to switch to Point Defense. Then, when Turn 2 starts, you will have Point Defense active and the GM may offer you a new choice in your results PM.

 

If someone does not submit a PM to the GM during a turn stating what they would like to do, then they will keep the same system active and use it in the same way they did last turn (if their target is dead, they will try and fail).

 

There is no lynch mechanic. There is no day/night cycle, all turns are the same. The only way to kill is with the Main Gun system.

 

 

The following systems exist:

 

Main Gun: Kill another player.

 

Pulse Cannon: Cancel another player's action.

 

Point Defense: Defend another player (not yourself - you can't target things too close to you).

 

Private Comms: You may start up to 3 PMs with other people. Each PM must have you and exactly 2 other players in it (and the GM) - the systems are damaged and malfunctioning, after all. Do not start the PMs - request the GM to it so it is unclear who has the system active. During the turn, if you choose to switch to a new system, all of your PMs will be closed by the GM. If you do not choose to switch, during the turn, you should send the GM a message with which PMs, if any, you wish to close. You may also include which you want to open at that time, or you can do it during the turn if you are below your PM limit. Any PMs containing someone who dies are automatically closed. If you do not say otherwise, your PMs will remain in place and prevent you from creating new ones.

 

IFF: Scan another player and learn if your target has the same alignment as you or a different alignment. No additional information will be given.

 

Datacore Recovery: Choose another player and learn their alignment. You may not choose yourself.

 

Autohack: Redirect another player silently. You cannot make someone target themself. If this targets someone using Private Communications, the redirection target is ignored and instead the player with Private Communications will close all PMs and create three new PMs with two randomly selected participants in each. If this targets someone using Autohack, the redirection target is ignored and the other player's hack is canceled (unless they were also targeting someone using Autohack, in which case your redirect fails as if roleblocked).

 

In other words, if there's a chain of Autohackers targeting Autohackers, the second-to-last person in the chain succeeds and everyone else fails. If there's a circle of Autohackers targeting Autohackers, they all fail.

 

 

The parity roles would be something interesting, like maybe someone's alignment is "Station Security" - they're a security officer checking on the fighting from what they thought was a safe distance when the pulse hit them. They do not know their own alignment, but win if they survive when two of the factions are eliminated. Or maybe they don't know the players' alignments because they're foreign combatants, but they do know their own alignment and win condition. Perhaps instead of a Main Gun, they have a Goo Gun that jails a player (roleblock+protect).

 

And perhaps one is a scout for a band of raiders who can't take out 30 ships, but could take out a few. They know who they are and win if there are at most 4 other players left with no more than 2 from any particular team. And maybe they have the ability to perform multiple actions, but cannot use kills or protects (they're just a stripped-down scouting vessel). And/or maybe all alignment scans show them as being on the same team as the person who scans them.

 

Thoughts?

Edited June 6, 2016 by Nyali

[Conquestor he/him]

What I meant was that the Eliminators wouldn't know they were eliminators all game. There would be no scanner roles, but roleblock, protector, redirect, and kill roles would still be in the game. The thing is that the villagers wouldn't be able to go off of suspicions and such, but it would be an interesting game to watch!

[Elbereth she/her]

So... essentially, everyone's a villager. Trying to catch eliminators, but at random because there's absolutely no way of knowing who is an eliminator either by scanning or by using the lynch to find suspicions. By itself, without something like an additional win con that you have to survive to win (which would make it a lot like the Hunger Games QF5), or factions, or something, that'd be really boring because there's absolutely no way to catch eliminators except by killing completely at random. Which is no fun.

Would there still be an eliminator group kill?

[TheMightyLopen he/him]

There was actually an idea about a game sort of like that in the "Shard Zero" doc(doc in LG21). Joe said something about how no one knew their alignment and then I kind of expanded the idea, to where it was sort of like:

 

Everyone starts the game as an unknown. No one knows their own alignment or anyone else's. But, some players start the game with an alignment scanning item, that you pass to the player you scan. Then, once certain conditions are met, like a certain Cycle time limit or something more random, you get your alignment. We didn't really talk about it more after that, so I don't know if it could work or not. Feel free to use the idea if you like it though.

[Jo and the Bush all/any]

Another way to do it is with chains of loyalty, where you know you're on someone's team, but not what that team is. They know they're on someone else's team, and it goes on a circle. But there's no PM's, so you can't just say hey, I'm on your team, in case you are an eliminator. It would need expanding, but it might work.

Edit; maybe have a random eliminator make a kill, thus showing them that they are an eliminator.

Edited June 7, 2016 by The Only Joe

[Conquestor he/him]

There was actually an idea about a game sort of like that in the "Shard Zero" doc(doc in LG21). Joe said something about how no one knew their alignment and then I kind of expanded the idea, to where it was sort of like:

 

Everyone starts the game as an unknown. No one knows their own alignment or anyone else's. But, some players start the game with an alignment scanning item, that you pass to the player you scan. Then, once certain conditions are met, like a certain Cycle time limit or something more random, you get your alignment. We didn't really talk about it more after that, so I don't know if it could work or not. Feel free to use the idea if you like it though.

I actually like this idea and would love to expand on it!

[Gamma Fiend he/him]

Well, I've been watching a storm ton of Star Trek Voyager on Netflix lately.... so decided to make a new game! I figured it was about time we set our phasers to stun, and let loose on some....

Star Trek Elimination!!!

Captain G'laxl's Log, supplemental.
Stardate 41208.1

 

The Federation Starship Investiture has been traveling and exploring oddities and rare phenomenon deep within the Gamma Quadrant, following up on rumours and stories of unexplored sectors and undiscovered species of alien races. The crew and I have been far removed from established Federation borders, and are far removed from any sort of help or relief.

We have sustained damages to our warpdrive cores, our auxillary power lines are rapidly diminishing, and we may only have enough power for life support functions for a couple weeks at best. All of our shields are at minimum capacity, our propulsion thrusters are offline, and our replicators have been in a state of disrepair since weeks back. And that's not even the most imminent threat facing the ship, and more importantly, the crew.

 

All of these damages weren't merely sustained by enemy attacks or alien invaders. No. They've come from within the ship, by works of sabotage or hidden agents attempting to undermine my leadership, and bring about the deaths of us all.

 

We are alone, surrounded by enemies on all sides, and I can't even trust my senior staff. I have a plan, but I fear it might be too audacious, and bring the crew to the brink of death, or even worse.

 

End Communications

Still working out all sorts of rulesets and roles, but I've come up with a few ideas!

The Changelings are the main threat, alien forms who have taken place of your trusted crew, working to tear the ship apart and leave no survivors. The Changelings work as typical Eliminators, with a private Doc and a group kill for the night.

 

Obviously, we can't have Star Trek without The Borg! Not a specific alien race, but a collective of assimilated beings and humanoids, controlled by nanoprobes to serve the great collective and achieve harmonic perfection with the whole galaxy. A typical conversion role, wants all survivors to become Borg.

 

Klingons will be vigilante kill roles, we'll have Doctors and med crew working in Sick Bay to make sure people are nice and healthy!

Phasers can indeed be set to stun, for certain players, who will work as a roleblock.

 

But a new function I wanted to try....
The Day will be 24 hours, with the usual lynch. But on top of whatever action each player submits each cycle, they can all also vote in secret via PM with the GM to place a player in The Brig for the night! Player with the most Brig votes each cycle is detained for the cycle, and can't perform any actions that night, nor can they be targeted by other players that night.

And that's all I have so far, but what you think! Who's ready to explore the Gamma Quadrant!
 

Edited June 9, 2016 by Gamma Fiend

[Jo and the Bush all/any]

And that's all I have so far, but what you think! Who's ready to explore the Gamma Quadrant!

Are there any, Fiends, in the Gamma Quadrant? (Or Salt Vampires?)

[Gamma Fiend he/him]

Are there any, Fiends, in the Gamma Quadrant? (Or Salt Vampires?)

 

....Maybe... (Actually, that'd be a fun SK Role!

Although that'd be a crazy QF.... so I would probably upgrade that game to a MR, and that would work a little better. Eliminators, Conversion Roles, and a Serial Killer? O.o All while in one of the best sci-fi settings ever?

......I think I'm going to go add myself to the MR game list....

[Nyali she/her]

Could someone add me to the QF list? I'd love to run the game I posted earlier. Here's a repost with some tweaks:
 
Forgotten Loyalties

 

A team game of hidden alignments and rotating roles.

 

Story

A blinding, searing pain. A pulse of vibrant light, and then everything fading to black. Those were the last things she remembered. They were also the first things she remembered. She groaned, holding her head as she roused herself. Tentatively, she opened her eyes, and saw a vast sea of black speckled with white stretching before her. She tried to stand up, but she was buckled in tight. She looked around, realizing she sat in the cockpit of a small ship, an Interceptor, a craft designed for short-range missions only. Wait, why did she remember that and not her own name? The pulse. Something had happened - some kind of new weapon, perhaps? Or maybe this happens all the time - she wouldn't know, after all.
 
She looked down at the Interceptor's control panel, where lights were slowly flickering to life. Some green, some red, some flashing, and a host of numbers without context. She hesitated a moment, and then closed her eyes and let her muscle memory do the work. She flipped some switches, tapped a few screens, and a robotic voice spoke. "Systems diagnostic engaged. Evaluating . . . Severe damage to Interceptor. Life support systems, online. Propulsion, offline. Communications, offline. Weapons, offline. Sensors, online. Shields, offline. Hull integrity at 15%." Okay, she thought, at least I won't die immediately. Now to find out what's going on. She tapped a few screens. "Ship's logs, unavailable. Data corruption in memory core. Attempting to recover . . . recovery failed." Great, she thought as she continued moving, tapping screens to her left and then flipping a switch on the main console.
 
"Command: Engage short range scan. Query: What is out there?"
 
"Short range sensors engaged," the voice droned. "30 ships detected. One space station detected. One planet detected. Debris detected."
 
"Query: IFF on the ships."
 
"IFF, offline. Data corruption in memory core."
 
Well, that's just great, she thought, well, at least there's a station nearby... "Query: Information on space station."
 
"Error. Data corruption in memory core," the computer intoned.
 
She sighed, but expected nothing else. "Query: Which planet am I orbiting?"
 
This time, she said it with him. "Error. Data corruption in memory core."
 
"Might as well see what I can get working here," she thought aloud before addressing the computer. "Query: Detailed damage assessment and repair times."
 
"Life Support Systems: fully operational. Propulsion: ion drive heavily damaged, but fuel stores intact. Autorepair estimate: fuel injector - three days, engine housing - one day..." The computer droned on, giving a detailed summary of each part and continuing through each system. She sighed. It was grim, but salvageable. Right now, she was more worried about the other ships. From what she could see on the sensors, they weren't moving either, each drifting lazily. Perhaps they too were caught in the blast? "Command: Divert all autorepair to communications," she ordered, and the ship complied.
 
She examined herself for injuries while the computer worked. It seemed she was fine, apart from the splitting headache. "Partial repairs, successful," she finally heard. The computer continued, "Short-range communications online, but heavy damage remains. Only wide-range broadcast available. Tight-beam communication, offline. Continue repairs?"
 
"No," she ordered, "Command: Divert all autorepair to subspace distress beacon." She was going to have to get out of here sometime, and now at least she could communicate with someone. "Command: Begin wide-range broadcast. Hello? Is anyone out there?"
 
"THANK GOD," a male voice immediately shouted over the line. "I thought I was all alone out here!"
 
"Please identify," she requested cautiously. She had just been attacked, after all. Who knew what side this man was on? Who knew what side she was on?
 
"You first," the man said, suddenly sounding suspicious. She sighed - there didn't seem to be any other choice.
 
"I cannot identify. My memory appears to have been wiped - I can't remember a thing beyond how to fly this floating coffin," she told him. And, well, everyone else in the area. They were too far away from the station though for short-range comms to reach, but there were so many other ships, just like hers.
 
"You too?" said a third voice, a woman this time. More voices chimed in. Apparently, whatever happened to her happened to all of them. And they were clearly in the middle of a battlefield and piloting military spacecraft, which meant they were soldiers. Soldiers who were likely not all on the same side. But no one could remember, and no one's IFF was working. Or at least, no one would admit to it.
 
But she knew that each pilot would be trying to send a distress signal. Some may have already succeeded. The debris field was likely their capital ships, but when more arrived, those ships would have working IFFs and a lot more firepower than a couple dozen Interceptors. If those ships arrived, they would likely get caught in the ensuing firefight and die, not even knowing which ship to flee to.
 
She now knew what had to be done. The enemy ships must be destroyed to stop them from transmitting their signals, or from continuing to transmit for those who had completed their repairs. She would find her compatriots - she couldn't be alone here - and they would find a way. She would survive this. She was going to be okay. She would see her family again. Even if she didn't know who she was.
 
"Command: End outgoing communication," she ordered. "Command: Divert all autorepair to weapons. End outgoing communication and inform me when repairs complete." She took a deep breath. It was time to find her friends. "Command: Open outgoing communication."

 

Rules

Overview

The players are split into two or three teams of equal size. There may be some special roles that are not part of a team (especially if needed for parity). Most players have amnesia and will not be told their alignment (some special roles may not have amnesia and may know their alignment). There is no day/night cycle, only Turns. There is no lynch, but there is a public thread where players can speak and RP. There is a PM mechanic, and much of this game is likely to take place in PMs, but the PMs are very limited. Each player is aboard a small spaceship that only has enough power to activate one specialty system at a time, and only specific systems are available at any given time. Each system gives a role-like power and all players begin with one system active (chosen by the GM and included in your initial Role PM).

 

 

Role PMs

At the start of the game, most players will be told which system they have active and which system (if any) they have the option of switching to at the end of the first turn. Most players will not be told their alignment/team. They will have to deduce it during the game. Some players may start out with special roles. These players may or may not know they have a special role, and they may or may not have amnesia. If you have a special role, your PM will tell you anything you need to know. An example special role will be listed at the end of this document, but that role may or may not be in the game as written.

 

 

Winning and Ending the Game

For normal players, the game ends in a victory for your team when more than half of the remaining players belong to your alignment/team.

 

Players with special roles will be told their win condition (or that they do not know their win condition), but it will likely not be public knowledge. Players with special roles may have win conditions that trigger the end of the game, or they may not. Some will win alongside another alignment/team, and some will win instead, causing everyone else to lose. Example special win conditions include surviving until one team wins, being the only player alive at the end of the game, reducing the teams to 1-2 people each, being in a PM with every living player at the end of the game, and so on.

 

Hidden special role win conditions that both win instead of other players and end the game will never end the game with more than 4 other players (or 1/6th starting numbers, whichever is lower) alive.

 

 

Actions

Each turn, players may submit an Action PM to the GM stating how they would like to use their current active system at the end of the turn. No system works passively - all players must submit Action PMs or they do nothing. If someone using Private Comms does not send in an Action PM, all of their PMs close. Players may change their actions before the turn ends by sending followup PMs. Please include the turn number of the current turn in your PM for clarity.

 

 

Results PMs

At the end of each turn, you will receive a PM from the GM stating whether you successfully used your system (see below for clarifications) and any additional information from your action (like, if you used an information-gathering ability). Unless you used Boosted Sensors, you will not be told who you targeted, so you do not know if you were redirected. You will not be told if you were protected even if you were attacked, but you will be told if you are killed. Note that you will not always have the option to switch systems. The longer the game goes on, the more often you will have the option to switch, especially if your team is losing.

 

 

Changing Systems

In your Results PM, you may be given the choice to switch to a new system. If you do so, you will power down your current system. All switching happens at the end of the action order. This means that you may use your current system just before switching away from it, but you may not use a new system the turn you switch to it. Everyone will start with one system active and some players may start with the option of switching to a new system.

 

Changing Systems Example

On Turn 1, you start with Private Comms active and are told that you have the option of switching to ICM. Sometime during the turn, you send the GM an Action PM that lists three sets of players (two each) who you wish to open communication with, and you include that you are switching to ICM. Then, when Turn 2 starts, you receive a Results PM that says you successfully opened communication, you have switched to ICM, and you now have the option of switching to Missiles. During Turn 2, you send the GM an Action PM that says you want to protect someone with your ICM system, then switch to Missiles. When Turn 3 starts, the GM sends you a Results PM that says you successfully used your ICM (which does not mean your target was attacked, only that you protected them if they were), you have switched to Missiles, and you may not switch systems this turn. And so on.

 

 

Balancing Systems

Each turn, every team will have access to the same set of systems, but may choose to keep different systems active. All of the systems active on all of the teams will be pooled together, and someone on each team will be offered the chance to switch to a system that another team has and theirs does not.

 
Balancing Systems Example

There are 9 people on each team. After switching systems, the teams have the following systems activated:

- On Team 1, all 9 people have Private Comms currently running.

- On Team 2, 8 people have Private Comms and one has Missiles.

- On Team 3, 5 have Private Comms, 1 has Missiles, and 3 have ICM.

 

Adding these together gives us 9 Private Comms, 3 ICM, and 1 Missiles.

 

When the Results PMs are sent out, the following players will have the options of switching systems:

- On Team 1, 3 players will have the option of switching to ICM and 1 player will have the option of switching to Missiles.

- On Team 2, the player with Missiles active will get the option of switching to Private Comms, and 3 players with Private Comms active will get the option of switching to ICM.

- On Team 3, the players with Missiles or ICM active will have the option of switching to Private Comms.

 

 

From time to time, additional systems will get thrown in, so in addition to providing a team with the roles that other teams have and they do not, all teams (as in, one person on each) may be offered a new system to activate. When enough roles are moving around and/or when one team gets much smaller than another, sometimes people will be offered a choice between three or more systems, but they can still only pick one.

 

Kills

There is no lynch or voting mechanic. The only way to kill is with the Missiles system.

 

 

Write-up

At the start of each turn, a write-up will be posted that will list any players who died along with their alignment (team name or special role). [This game may play better with no alignment reveal on death, but I'm currently leaning toward alignment reveal on death.] The write-up will usually also contain some RP about the turn. No other information will be included in the write-up unless a special rule says otherwise.

 

Systems

For normal players, the following systems exist (special roles may have different systems):

Missiles: Kill another player by launching a cloaked missile that locks onto their ship. You will not be told if you successfully killed them or not, only whether you successfully launched the missiles. You will not be told if you were redirected by an Autohack.

 

 

Pulse Cannon: Block another player's action. They are told their action was unsuccessful. You will not be told if you successfully prevented their action or not, only whether you successfully fired your Pulse Cannon. You will not be told if you were redirected by an Autohack. If you try to fire a Pulse Cannon, but are targeted by another Pulse Cannon, your action is unsuccessful.

 

ICM (Ionic Counter Measures): Defend another player from the Missiles action by firing bursts of ionic energy that surround and shield another ship. You cannot protect yourself - your ship's personal ICM is damaged beyond repair and you can't fire this defensive weapon at your own ship. You will not be told if you successfully prevented a missile from striking your target, only whether you successfully fired your ICM. You will not know if you were redirected by an Autohack.

Private Comms: Open PMs with other players, but only in a very specific way. Do not open any PMs yourself. If you have the Private Comms system as your active system, you may send a PM to the GM with a list of PMs you wish to open (or keep open). You may only have three PMs open at once, and all PMs must have exactly three players in them (you and two others) - the systems are malfunctioning, after all. At the end of the turn when all systems act, unless you were blocked or hacked, the GM will open the PMs you requested and close all others. You may change systems away from Private Comms on the same turn you open PMs (but you may not open PMs on the turn you switch to Private Comms). But, if you switch away from the Private Comms system, when the turns ends, all of the PMs you've created will close.

 

Please note that if you are targeted by an Autohack system while using Private Comms, your Comms are scrambled and you open three PMs with two randomly chosen participants in each instead of whatever you requested. If you are hit by a Pulse Cannon, your attempt to open new PMs will close and any PMs you have open will also close.

 

 

IFF (Identification, Friend or Foe): Scan another player and learn if your target has the same alignment as you or a different alignment. No additional information will be given. If redirected with an Autohack, you will not be told you were redirected and will not be told which player you actually checked. You will simply get the response for your new target.

 
Datacore Recovery: Investigate another player and learn their alignment. You may not choose yourself. If redirected with Autohack, you will not be told you were redirected and will not be told which player's alignment you actually receive. You will simply get the response for your new target.

 
Autohack: Redirect another player's action silently. You cannot make someone target themself. You are not told any information about the redirected action, only if you successfully affected your target or not. Autohacking has some special cases:

 

Autohackers targeting Private Comms: If an Autohack (or more than one) successfully targets a player using Private Comms, the Autohacker(s) are told they were successful, but the redirection target is ignored. Instead, any PMs the player requested be opened at the turn change are ignored, and that player automatically creates three new PMs with two randomly selected participants in each, closing any PMs they had open the previous turn (unless random chance randomly selects two people they had an open PM with on the previous turn, in which case it just remains open - no need to close a PM, then immediately open a new PM with the same participants).

 

Autohackers targeting Autohackers: Every Autohacker who was targeted (otherwise successfully) by an Autohack is told their action was unsuccessful. Every Autohacker who successfully targeted an Autohacker, but was not themselves targeted by an Autohack, is told their action was successful. In all cases, all Autohackers in the chain or circle have no effect other than canceling all other Autohackers in the chain or circle.

 

Autohackers targeting Boosted Sensors: You redirect BOTH of their scans to the specified player, but they are informed who they targeted (unlike in all other cases).

 

Two or more Autohackers targeting the same player: If two or more people use Autohack on the same target and that target is not using Autohack or Private Comms, all of the Autohacks fail (the Autohackers are told they were unsuccessful) and the mutual target's action is not redirected. You may use Autohack to target another player and choose not to redirect their action, simply protecting them from other Autohacks (assuming they are not using Autohack of Private Comms, both of which will still be affected), but keep in mind that your success/failure response will be inverted (if you successfully protect them from an Autohack with an Autohack, you will be told your Autohack was "unsuccessful," but if you successfully target them and no one else does, you will be told that you were "successful" - sounds confusing, but it's consistent!).

 

 

Boosted Sensors: Analyze the space around a player to gain information. When this system is active, you may perform two scans from the following list on two targets. You may choose the same one twice and you may choose to scan the same target with both scans if you wish. You may not scan yourself.

• Find out which players targeted your target, if any.
• Learn one randomly selected system used against your target.
• Find out which player your target targeted * (special rules, see below)

* If you scan for your target's target and they used Autohack, the person they redirected is considered their target. You will not learn who they redirected that person to, and you will not know they used Autohack.

 

* If you scan for someone's target and they used Boosted Sensors, you learn both of their targets and you learn that they used Boosted Sensors (even if they targeted the same player twice).

 

* If you scan for someone's target and they used Private Comms, instead of learning their target, you tap into their communications. At the end of the turn, you will be given a snippet of conversation from one of the PMs they created. You will not be told who is speaking, and you may get bits of more than one message. Please do not fill your PMs with garbage in an attempt to interfere with this ability. You are welcome to, and encouraged to, be vague or use codenames and codewords to obfuscate your messages, but meaningless spam used to pad messages is not encouraged and will not give you any benefit.

 

If you are using Boosted Sensors and you are targeted by an Autohack, both of your scans are redirected to the player they specified (both to the same player), but you are told who you targeted. This is the only system that is not silently affected by Autohack.

 

Order of Actions

Autohack (redirect)

Pulse Cannon (roleblock)

ICM (protect)

Datacore Recovery (scan alignment (absolute))

IFF (scan alignment (relative))

Missiles (kill)

Private Comms (open PMs)

Boosted Sensors (track)

Change to New System

 

Sample Special Role

This role may or may not be used in the actual game. There will be about five Special Roles, with this being one of them, and 0-3 will be used based on the number of players.

 

Role: Raider Scout

Alignment: Nightwolves

 

Win condition: 4 or fewer other players live and no 3 players share an alignment/team. You still win if only you and 2 people who share a team are alive, even though they would normally win in that situation.

 

Situation: You are a raider. You belong to the raiding party known as the Nightwolves who prey primarily on civilian and trading vessels in the vicinity of Outreach Station. Recently, while watching traffic out of Outreach, your long-range scanners detected the detonation of some kind of weapon you've never seen before. You were sent to investigate and found what you presume was a battlefield, strewn with debris and interceptors. Your sensors detect that the interceptors are still functional, so you tuned into the open comm channels.

 

It seems the pilots of these interceptors are indeed still alive, but whatever that weapon was, it gave them amnesia. They don't know who they are or which side they're on. There is so much debris here, the Nightwolves would love to salvage it, but these ships probably set of distress beacons. The Nightwolves need to move in before their backup arrives, but they won't be able to handle more than four of these Interceptors without taking heavy losses. Also, the band won't face three or four Interceptors working together, so you'll have to make sure no more than two ships are from the same side before calling in your backup.

 

Special rules: You are flying a scouting vessel and do not have a Missiles system or Pulse Cannon, and these ships are unfamiliar to you so you won't be able to use Datacore Recovery to figure out what faction they belong to or IFF to determine if they're on your side. However, your ship does have access to a special system, the Electronic Cloak. Even though your ship isn't damaged, it has a small power plant and can still only power one system at a time. All four systems you are not currently using will be available every turn to switch to.

 

Electronic Cloak: All actions targeting your ship fail and the players performing those actions are told they were unsuccessful. This system activates after Pulse Cannons (which can still stop it from activating) and it is not affected by being Autohacked (though the Autohack will seem successful). When you use the Electronic Cloak, you may not act on the following turn (it eats up a lot of power), and you may not use the Cloak again on the turn after that (though you can use a different system). This will be made clear in your Results PM, as no systems will be available the turn you use the Cloak (and you will be told you have no active system), and on the following turn, the Cloak will not be an option you can switch to.

Edited June 9, 2016 by Nyali

[AliasSheep]

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?

I have an incredibly (intentionally) broken idea and this would be the best way to play it (I wouldn't want to inflict it on anyone who's looking for anything longer than a few days). I'd appreciate the testing aspect as well, of course.

[Young Bard he/him]

Something that would be great for a BT, if it's set up.

All villagers get told something or other. It might be game relevant, or it might not be (I haven't decided yet.) The eliminators aren't told. Then, the villagers can try to work out who the eliminator is by their knowledge (or lack there-of) of this fact.

E.g. Villagers are told that the eliminators only have to lynch The Young Bard to win the game.

The villagers can then cross-examine everybody else to see whether they know this fact. However, if it's in a public thread, then the eliminators will know the answer if it's too obvious, or they could get lynched if it's too vague or cryptic. Even if it's in a PM, the asker could be an eliminator, trying to fish for information.

What do you think?

[Paranoid King he/him]

On 6/18/2016 at 11:31 PM, The Young Bard said:

*snip*

Spyfall, anyone?

That sounds fun. My only issue with it is the information being fished for. If it's game relevant, like the above example, some villagers are rather lax with their info sharing. Once the secret's out, it's just a matter of time until the eliminators win. Either that, or Young Bard turns into a mayor.

I'd suggest a more arbitrary piece of info, such as "Lord Penrod eats a doughnut every day." It's an additional mechanic without the entire game hinging on that info being leaked. Perhaps you could even give the eliminators a few guesses as to what the code phrase is, and if they PM the GM with the right phrase, they receive a small bonus, such as another protection role.

Edit: Missed that The Young Bard is the GM. I still wouldn't want to give a piece of info that would win or lose the game, though.

Edited June 28, 2016 by Paranoid King

[Master Elodin]

Here's a game that I've been working on for the LG list. Questions and critiques are appreciated. It is based on the Young Wizards series by Diane Duane. Elbereth and Bugsy also helped a ton.

Spoiler

In the Universe, Life is fragile. Wizards like you and your allies have sworn to protect it. But The Lone power, embodiment of entropy, has seeded your friends minds with doubt and corruption. As a wizard, it is your duty to find and destroy The Lone Power and his allies, no matter what the cost.

Lifesworn- You are loyal to the Powers and have sworn to protect Life up until your dying breath.

Corrupt- You have been corrupted by the Lone Power. You have a doc to conspire in and a group kill. 

PM Policy:
You may make only one pm per cycle, except for the Hive Mind species.

Roles
Each role has different tiers. You may use any combination of the tiers adding up to the number of the tier you have. (For example, as a Tier 4 you may use Tiers 1 and 3 or T2 twice).

Inorganic Specialist: You specialize in inorganic materials and spells.
Power Tier 1: You build someone a shield of stone. They are protected from all actions for one cycle. You may not self-protect.
Power Tier 2: You build a wall around someone. They are roleblocked for one whole cycle.
Power Tier 3: You create a sinkhole under someone. They are killed unless they have protection.

Organic Specialist: You specialize in organic materials and spells.
Power Tier 1: You distract someone with beautiful flowers. You may redirect their vote.
Power Tier 2: You control someone with vines. You may redirect one of their actions.
Power Tier 3: You send an insect to spy on someone. You may scan their alignment.

 

Regional Supervisor: You make sure that those Young Wizards don’t get themselves into trouble.
Power Tier 1: You may cancel one vote.
Power Tier 2: You may spy on one PM. This means you can see one random game-relevant paragraph (seven sentences) that is not the first. This works on the Hive Mind doc and/or PM.
Power Tier 3: You may kill one person.

Truthseeker: 
You may test a PM that you have with someone for a lie. If there is one you will be informed. If there is no lie you will be informed clearly. If you are redirected to someone that you do not have a PM with, your action will be reported as “unsuccessful”.

Saboteur:

You are highly trained in the art of sabotage. Each Night turn you may target a player and one of their items (if any) are destroyed.
Extraneous Win Condition: You can not win if the Trader does not die.

Trader:
You start out with two random items. You may switch one of your items for those of another upon mutual agreement once per Night turn. You may create a PM for only that purpose and nothing else.
Extraneous Win Condition: You can not win if the Saboteur does not die.

Items:
Thaumic Conduit: Increases your tier by one. Passive use.
Hair Curler Blaster: Kill one person. Is destroyed when used.
Intergalactic Ticket: Effectively remove yourself from the game for one cycle. You are put back in the next cycle. Is destroyed when used.
Wizards Manual: Turn a random nonspecialist into a specialist along with any other roles they might have. When a nonspecialist is passed this, they will always have the option of giving it away and losing their specialty. If it is passed to a specialist it is destroyed or given to their partner.

Partnering:
During the day you may publicly ask to become someone's partner in blue. They may then decide privately whether or not to accept your request. Partners will also be given one extra tier (not each), which may be passed between them at the end of every Night cycle. If a partner dies the extra tier is lost and the tier of the one left alive goes down by one. You may only have one partner.

Species: When you sign up you may choose a species that your character is a part of.

Cephalid: You may shroud yourself in murky ink on rare occasion. The first action that you take that is attempted to be Roleblocked goes through anyways.

Ghost: You may only post in thread five times per cycle and not vote, but the first three actions taken against you fail.

Hive Mind:
Only up to 5 people may be Hive Mind. They all have their own group PM, or, if they request it, a doc to talk in. 

Tardigrade:
You are tiny, but you can survive anything. You get no role and only one PM, but you have 1 extra life.

Human: 
You're normal, and that matters to people. Twice per game you may vote twice.

 

Edited June 30, 2016 by Master Elodin
Forgot to give credit because I'm dumb

[Master Elodin]

For some reason I can't edit that post, so here's the one reformatted by Bugsy. Please comment on this.

In the Universe, Life is fragile. Wizards like you and your allies have sworn to protect it. But The Lone power, embodiment of entropy, has seeded your friends minds with doubt and corruption. As a wizard, it is your duty to find and destroy The Lone Power and his allies, no matter what the cost.

Lifesworn- You are loyal to the Powers and have sworn to protect Life up until your dying breath.
Corrupt- You have been corrupted by the Lone Power. You have a doc to conspire in and a group kill. 
Roles

Each specialist role has different tiers. You may use any combination of the tiers adding up to the number of the tier you have. (For example, as a Tier 3 you may use Tiers 1 and 2 or 1 twice).

Inorganic Specialist: You specialize in inorganic materials and spells.
Power Tier 1: You build someone a shield of stone. They are protected from all actions for one cycle. You may not self-protect.
Power Tier 2: You build a wall around someone. They are roleblocked for one whole cycle.
Power Tier 3: You create a sinkhole under someone. They are killed unless they have protection.
Organic Specialist: You specialize in organic materials and spells.
Power Tier 1: You distract someone with beautiful flowers. You may redirect their vote.
Power Tier 2: You control someone with vines. You may redirect one of their actions.
Power Tier 3: You send an insect to spy on someone. You may scan their alignment.
Regional Supervisor: You make sure that those Young Wizards don’t get themselves into trouble.
Power Tier 1: You may cancel one vote.
Power Tier 2: You may spy on one PM. This means you can see one random game-relevant paragraph (seven sentences) that is not the first. This works on the Hive Mind doc and/or PM.
Power Tier 3: You may kill one person.
Truthseeker: 
You may test a PM that you have with someone for a lie. If there is one you will be informed. If there is no lie you will be informed clearly. If you are redirected to someone that you do not have a PM with, your action will be reported as “unsuccessful”.
Saboteur:
You are highly trained in the art of sabotage. Each Night turn you may target a player and one of their items (if any) are destroyed.
Extraneous Win Condition: You can not win if the Trader does not die.
Trader:
You start out with two random items. You may switch one of your items for those of another upon mutual agreement once per Night turn. You may create a PM for only that purpose and nothing else.
Extraneous Win Condition: You can not win if the Saboteur does not die.

Items

Thaumic Conduit: Increases your tier by one. Passive use.

Hair Curler Blaster: Kill one person. Is destroyed when used.
Intergalactic Ticket: Effectively remove yourself from the game for one cycle. You are put back in the next cycle. Is destroyed when used.
Wizards Manual: Turn a random nonspecialist into a specialist along with any other roles they might have. When a nonspecialist is passed this, they will always have the option of giving it away and losing their specialty. If it is passed to a specialist it is destroyed or given to their partner.

Partnering

During the day you may publicly ask to become someone's partner in blue. They may then decide privately whether or not to accept your request. Partners will also be given one extra tier (not each), which may be passed between them at the end of every Night cycle. If a partner dies the extra tier is lost and the tier of the one left alive goes down by one. You may only have one partner. A non-specialist may not partner, but they may ask to throw people off.

Species

When you sign up you may choose a species that your character is a part of.
Cephalid:
You may shroud yourself in murky ink on rare occasion. The first action that you take that is attempted to be Roleblocked goes through anyways.
Ghost:
You may only post in thread five times per cycle and not vote, but the first three actions taken against you fail.
Hive Mind: 
Only up to 5 people may be Hive Mind. They all have their own group PM, or, if they request it, a doc to talk in. 
Tardigrade:
You are tiny, but you can survive anything. You get no role and only one PM, but you have 1 extra life.
Human: 
You're normal, and that matters to people. Twice per game you may vote twice.

PM Policy:
You may make only one pm per cycle, except for the Hive Mind species.

[Bugsy he/him]

Hmmm. That BBCode did not work as planned. I forgot a "/" in the spoiler tag right before "partnering". The spacing in the roles category and items category got all screwed up, too. Not sure how or why.

Edited July 1, 2016 by Bugsy6912

[Nyali she/her]

18 hours ago, Master Elodin said:

For some reason I can't edit that post, so here's the one reformatted by Bugsy. Please comment on this.

(I'm having a lot of trouble quoting specific parts of your post, by the way. It's all weird.)

Regarding Ghosts, I personally feel that discouraging, penalizing, or preventing posting and/or voting takes away from the game rather than adding to it. It's hard enough to get some people to vote or post as is, and giving people incentive to not post/vote who normally don't do it much anyway just gives them an excuse not to. I think giving bonuses for posting is better to the overall game than penalties for posting.

And then you get into the complicated issue of, how many times can they edit a previous post to add more info? At what point are they not allowed to edit a previous post to append more to the end of it? Also, the first three actions fail - is that per game or per cycle?

 

"Wizards Manual: Turn a random nonspecialist into a specialist along with any other roles they might have. When a nonspecialist is passed this, they will always have the option of giving it away and losing their specialty. If it is passed to a specialist it is destroyed or given to their partner. "

I don't quite understand this one. Are you saying you pick a target to use it on and that person gains a specialty, but if they wish, they can then give up that specialty they were just given to use it on someone else. And, if a specialist is ever targeted with it, the item is destroyed to no effect. Is that right? Also, who chooses the specialty - the one using it, the one gaining the specialty, or RNGesus? And can you use it on yourself? And what tier does the person become?

 

Personally, I think the racial powers would be more interesting if people didn't choose their race, or if they chose their race in private. Having that be public knowledge seems less fun than it being secret knowledge. But that's a matter of personal preference!

 

Overall though, this looks like a fun game!

Edited July 1, 2016 by Nyali

[Master Elodin]

Tier and specialty are chosen by RNG. For Ghosts it's per game. It's not a penalization, it's a choice. Private race choice does seem like a good idea.

[Nyali she/her]

2 minutes ago, Master Elodin said:

Tier and specialty are chosen by RNG. For Ghosts it's per game. It's not a penalization, it's a choice. Private race choice does seem like a good idea.

I didn't mean it was a penalization, I meant it was a discouragement/prevention. I was just speaking broadly about such posting/voting restrictions. But, yeah, it's a matter of opinion. Personally, I love what the voting and posting rewards have done so far in LG23 - it's a super active game so far, and I feel that's in a large part because people are given bonuses for posting and voting. Telling people they can't vote just stifles discussion.

*shrug* Your game, obviously, so go with what you'd enjoy