The Art of Game Creation

[Master Elodin]

1 hour ago, Nyali said:

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

Hmm. That does make sense. I'll think about it.

[Bugsy he/him]

My family recently got a Mafia style game called "1 night: Ultimate Werewolf". As the title suggests, it's a 1 cycle game. It starts at night, and then a day turn starts where people try to figure out the identity of the werewolves and lynch them. The village wins if a werewolf dies. The werewolf wins if a player who is not a werewolf dies and no werewolves die. It's a really fun game, and has a bunch of roles that make it more interesting (plus it's quick, each game lasts about 10 minutes). Anyways, it seems like some of these one cycle games could be played here, maybe as part of the BT games or maybe as games that run in that period between the end of a QF/MR and the start of the next. It works best with 10 players or so, and could be done in 48 hours easily and is for the most part super easy to GM. What do you all think?

[Master Elodin]

2 hours ago, Bugsy6912 said:

My family recently got a Mafia style game called "1 night: Ultimate Werewolf". As the title suggests, it's a 1 cycle game. It starts at night, and then a day turn starts where people try to figure out the identity of the werewolves and lynch them. The village wins if a werewolf dies. The werewolf wins if a player who is not a werewolf dies and no werewolves die. It's a really fun game, and has a bunch of roles that make it more interesting (plus it's quick, each game lasts about 10 minutes). Anyways, it seems like some of these one cycle games could be played here, maybe as part of the BT games or maybe as games that run in that period between the end of a QF/MR and the start of the next. It works best with 10 players or so, and could be done in 48 hours easily and is for the most part super easy to GM. What do you all think?

Hey, I just got that game too! 

[Nyali she/her]

That's a really solid game. I don't really like Mafia in person (to make the game go fast, people are random and not logical), but One Night Werewolf means it's supposed to be random, it's over in seconds, there's still some logic in there, and it's surprisingly interesting and fun. I need to get a copy... I've only played with other peoples'. But, given how hard it is to get people in my playgroups to play hidden role games, like BattleStar Galactica and The Resistance, dunno if I could get people to play that one except at parties.

Oh, and speaking of hidden role boardgames, "Traitor Mechanic: the Traitor Mechanic Game" is almost out. You are all mechanics trying to repair various things and have to get the parts just right, but one of you is a traitor trying to sabotage the garage and make it go bankrupt. It's by the same people who did "Deck Building: the Deck Building Game" last year (which is a deck building game where you are all building decks, like for houses), and who are also working on "Trick Taking: the Trick Taking Game" (a trick-taking game where you're all magicians trying to steal each other's tricks) and "Time Management: the Time Management Game" (which is an action-management game where you are all time travelers helping rearrange time). I have a fondness for meta jokes.

[Elenion he/him]

Okay guys, I'm looking for some feedback on this Lord of the Rings game that I've created.

MR??: Terror in Minas Tirith

The year is 2756 in the Third Age. The land of Gondor lies dark and silent, menaced by an ever-growing shadow on its eastern frontier. Minas Ithil has fallen to the Enemy, and it will not be many years until Osgiliath suffers the same fate. But the plans of Sauron wait for no man. Even now, when the forces of Gondor are watching the expansion of Mordor, a few of Sauron's most cunning servants are ready to strike a blow at the heart of Gondor itself.

Story Outline/Basic Rules:

Spoiler

This adventure takes place within the city of Minas Tirith. The eliminators are the servants of Mordor, and the villagers are the brave men of Gondor. Mordor characters will compose about 15-20% of the general population. The game begins with a day cycle, representing the day's head start the men of Gondor have before the followers of Mordor put their evil plans into motion. Mordor has a kill every night cycle, and the players as a whole have a lynch every day cycle. Night and Day are 24 hours each. Victory conditions are standard: either all Mordor characters must die or they must outnumber all remaining Gondor characters.

Roles:

Spoiler

Steward of Gondor: Gondor only

     Palantir of Minas Tirith (active): Each day, the Steward may choose to observe one player. The choice is made using a PM to the GM, and the result (both role and alignment) is returned by PM immediately after night falls.

 

Lieutenant of Mordor: Mordor only

     Authority of Mordor (passive): The Lieutenant chooses which of the Mordor players visits the target's house

     Unsuspicious (passive): All attempt to reveal this player's identity show him as a Gondor Outlaw.

 

Guard of the Citadel: Gondor/Mordor

     Guard's Training (active): Each night cycle, the Citadel Guard may choose a player to protect (using a PM to the GM). That player is protected from the Mordor kill, but not from any lynching the next day and not from the Noblemen's kill (see Nobleman, below). The guard is notified if he defended from an attack, but does not learn the identity of any of the attackers.

 

Morgul Spy: Mordor only

    Clandestine Surveillance (active): The Morgul Spy can spy on character using the same mechanic as the Steward of Gondor (see above).

 

Politician: Gondor/Mordor

    Liar (active): A politician's in-thread lynch votes are not binding. Instead, a Politician votes directly to the GM. If the Politician does not send a PM with their actual votes, their vote defaults to whatever they posted in-thread. Due to this mechanic, the GM's write-up will include only lynch vote totals, not names of voters.

 

Nobleman: Gondor/Mordor

    Elite Company (passive): Noblemen have access to a special doc where they can discuss among themselves.

    Personal Assassins (active): The noblemen may vote in their doc to assassinate a character at night. This assassination disregards protection from Guards of the Citadel and the Outlaw's ability, but can only be used once per game.

 

Outlaw: Gondor/Mordor

     Underworld Connections (active): Once per game, the Outlaw may choose to disappear into the criminal underworld for one night. While there, he is immune to the Mordor kill, but not to the Noblemen's kill. In addition, the Outlaw learns the identity of all visitors to their house that night, but does not learn their alignment or role. If an Outlaw catches the Mordor kill coming to his house, the Mordor player who was selected to make the kill is revealed (see Lieutenant of Mordor).

 

Jailor: Gondor only

     Jail (passive): The Jailor has no ability in and of himself except to keep the prisoners locked up (see Prisoner).

 

Prisoner: Gondor/Mordor

     Imprisoned (passive): While the Jailor is alive, prisoners may post and vote as normal; however, these votes do not count.

    Liberated (triggered): When the Jailor is killed, prisoners lose their special condition and instead gain the ability of an Outlaw. 

 

Scribe: Gondor/Mordor

    Publish (triggered): After the Scribe dies, he/she may make one post in the thread. It may not contain more than 50 characters or a vote.

 

Edited July 12, 2016 by Elenion

[Elbereth she/her]

Ooh, a LotR game! We can always use more LotR games.

Thoughts: 

• What result does the Steward receive? You don't specify role, alignment, or both.
• The Authority of Mordor power... doesn't really make much sense. If you go back and read any previous evil docs (which I highly recommend, if you haven't - my personal favorite may actually be the LG20 GB doc, although I do not recommend it unless you have a lot of free time (131k is a lot to slog through), and I'm not sure it's a perfect example of how evil teams usually function), you'll see that kills aren't decided by everyone voting formally on who they want to kill, and then whoever gets the most votes dies. It's whoever the group decides on as a whole. So... not sure the concept of that power makes sense, not in this format.  
• Love the Liar mechanic. That's great. 
• Just to make sure, the Outlaw power tells them everyone who targeted them. Not only kills. And regarding the group Mordor kill, if you'd like you can make it so that one person from the evil team sends in the kill as their night action. Often that's the case, but not always, so it's your choice. 
• Other than those things, looks like a great game! In its current state, I'd almost put it at QF status more than MR, but it could probably work as a MR as well. Looks great, and I shall certainly be excited to play it!

[Ecthelion III he/him]

The GM lists are quite long, so be prepared for a wait!

(Speaking of which, when will the next QF be starting? I bet @jaimeleecee is eager to get back in the action, R.I.P.)

Edited July 12, 2016 by Ecthelion III

[Elbereth she/her]

Next QF will be starting when MR15 finishes.  But LG24 should be going up in a week or so, I believe. So that's probably the next game. 

[jaimeleecee she/her]

1 hour ago, Ecthelion III said:

The GM lists are quite long, so be prepared for a wait!

(Speaking of which, when will the next QF be starting? I bet @jaimeleecee is eager to get back in the action, R.I.P.)

Yes sir I'll be eagerly waiting for LG24  

Edited July 12, 2016 by jaimeleecee

[Elenion he/him]

3 hours ago, Elbereth said:

Ooh, a LotR game! We can always use more LotR games.

Thoughts: 

• What result does the Steward receive? You don't specify role, alignment, or both.
• The Authority of Mordor power... doesn't really make much sense. If you go back and read any previous evil docs (which I highly recommend, if you haven't - my personal favorite may actually be the LG20 GB doc, although I do not recommend it unless you have a lot of free time (131k is a lot to slog through), and I'm not sure it's a perfect example of how evil teams usually function), you'll see that kills aren't decided by everyone voting formally on who they want to kill, and then whoever gets the most votes dies. It's whoever the group decides on as a whole. So... not sure the concept of that power makes sense, not in this format.  
• Love the Liar mechanic. That's great. 
• Just to make sure, the Outlaw power tells them everyone who targeted them. Not only kills. And regarding the group Mordor kill, if you'd like you can make it so that one person from the evil team sends in the kill as their night action. Often that's the case, but not always, so it's your choice. 
• Other than those things, looks like a great game! In its current state, I'd almost put it at QF status more than MR, but it could probably work as a MR as well. Looks great, and I shall certainly be excited to play it!

1. The Steward receives both role and alignment; I have edited the rules for this and the other clarifications.

2. Now, the Authority allows the Lieutenant to choose which elim must take the night action, solving two problems.

3. I love the Liar too; combine it with the Prisoner and almost half of the game votes might not be legit.

4. They learn everyone, but in no particular order. They will see all Citadel Guards, the Eliminator, and the Morgul Spy. They won't see the Steward because he stays in his tower and uses the Palantir.

5. I want it as a MR because of all of the vote switching. In a game of 25, somewhere around 8 votes (or almost a third) might not hit their target. Ferreting out Mordor Liars would take some serious analysis, much more so than I think falls under a QF. The game might not have as many roles as a standard MR, but the complexity of the reasoning needed should be more than enough. And yes indeed, there will be Gondor liars eager to throw seemingly secure Mordor characters under the bus, adding to the chaos.

6. About me thinking that the Elims voted, you can tell that I'm not an Elim in MR15... 

7. Who do I contact about being added to the GM rotation, and how many players can I expect?

Edited July 12, 2016 by Elenion

[Elbereth she/her]

1 hour ago, Elenion said:

2. Now, the Authority allows the Lieutenant to choose which elim must take the night action, solving two problems.

4. They learn everyone, but in no particular order. They will see all Citadel Guards, the Eliminator, and the Morgul Spy. They won't see the Steward because he stays in his tower and uses the Palantir.

5. I want it as a MR because of all of the vote switching. In a game of 25, somewhere around 8 votes (or almost a third) might not hit their target. Ferreting out Mordor Liars would take some serious analysis, much more so than I think falls under a QF. The game might not have as many roles as a standard MR, but the complexity of the reasoning needed should be more than enough. And yes indeed, there will be Gondor liars eager to throw seemingly secure Mordor characters under the bus, adding to the chaos.

7. Who do I contact about being added to the GM rotation, and how many players can I expect?

2. I mean, still not really necessary. It's usually decided through consensus. On the other hand, if you wanted to make it so that the team could only kill if the Lieutenant was on to place the order, that would work. Although either way it raises the question of what happens with the Lieutenant dies. 

4. Just to make sure - they see specific people, not roles. So they see "Wilson targeted you." not "An elimiantor targeted you.", yes? 

5. Okay. I can see that, although I'd refer you to QF11, in which everyone's votes were private and just sent to the GM, and QF14 and 15, which were certainly complicated enough to require a good deal of reasoning. The thing that makes it a QF rather than an MR is... two things. One is simplicity, and one is just time. MRs are 48 hour cycles or 24 hours days and nights. QFs are just 24 hour cycles. Up to you which you want. 

7. Just say you want to sign up and for which format in the General Rules thread, and you'll be put on the list. Players... Between 12 and 36. Generally QFs and MRs have fewer, particularly QFs, so I wouldn't expect more than 20, or less than 14 or so. Hope that helps. 

[Elenion he/him]

9 hours ago, Elbereth said:

2. I mean, still not really necessary. It's usually decided through consensus. On the other hand, if you wanted to make it so that the team could only kill if the Lieutenant was on to place the order, that would work. Although either way it raises the question of what happens with the Lieutenant dies. 

4. Just to make sure - they see specific people, not roles. So they see "Wilson targeted you." not "An elimiantor targeted you.", yes? 

5. Okay. I can see that, although I'd refer you to QF11, in which everyone's votes were private and just sent to the GM, and QF14 and 15, which were certainly complicated enough to require a good deal of reasoning. The thing that makes it a QF rather than an MR is... two things. One is simplicity, and one is just time. MRs are 48 hour cycles or 24 hours days and nights. QFs are just 24 hour cycles. Up to you which you want. 

7. Just say you want to sign up and for which format in the General Rules thread, and you'll be put on the list. Players... Between 12 and 36. Generally QFs and MRs have fewer, particularly QFs, so I wouldn't expect more than 20, or less than 14 or so. Hope that helps. 

Could I put it in as a QF but still keep separate days/nights, because I think that would be important for story flow as well as helping the players keep track of all of the lying better?

Let's take an example: an Outlaw character triggers his ability. The Mordor faction has sent Jimmy to kill him, and Frank the Citadel Guard has used his guard action on the Outlaw as well. The Outlaw gets a message to the effect of "Jimmy and Frank visited your house last night, while you were hiding." The Outlaw has no idea if one is an eliminator, both, or none. However, Frank would be notified that he blocked an attack, and Jimmy would be notified that his attempted kill did not succeed (but isn't doesn't know about either Frank's guarding or about the Outlaw's hiding).

[Ecthelion III he/him]

As Of Yet Unnamed Game - An Alternate Story of Roshar

 

Introduction:

Spoiler

Backstory stuff, backstory stuff. This game takes place in an alternate version of Roshar with a united Alethkar taking the fight to the Parshendi. It has enough roles and complicated stuff and requires enough players that it would probably have to be an MR or LG. I know what you’re thinking—“This guy’s a complete noob and he already wants to GM a game?!” but the list is soooo loooong that I might as well sign up now and only actually run it when I have more experience. I need input from experienced players like Maill and Meta about role balancing, simplicity/complexity, etc. This is a [very] rough draft.

Teams:

Spoiler

Alethi: The villagers. Consist of the 10 Highprinces and any number of Guardians, Sentinels, Pickpockets, Scribes, and Darkeyes. Win by lynching or killing all Parshendi and the Assassin.

Parshendi: The eliminator faction. Spies and warriors aligned with the Parshendi army. Win by outnumbering the Alethi.

The Assassin: A loner. The infamous Assassin in White is unstoppable. It is unclear what he wants or how he wins. Only the Highprince of War can match him in martial skill; you'll need to rely on your cunning to defeat this dastardly foe.

Roles (and the turn order):

Spoiler

 

Items:

Spoiler

Still to come!

Other Mechanics:

Spoiler

Death Rattle: At the end of each night, each player should submit a message of no more than 50 characters (including spaces) to the GM. (Posts that break this rule will be cut down to 50 characters.) Each player who dies that night will have this message revealed during the GM’s write-up in the morning. If a player dies and did not submit a death rattle that night, the write-up will display the message: “[name] died silently.”

Items Upon Death: The eliminator who made the kill DOES NOT take the dead player’s Common or Rare items, but DOES take the dead player’s Epic items, if any.

 

Thoughts? Does the turn order need clarifications? Are any of the roles too strong?

[Elbereth she/her]

54 minutes ago, Ecthelion III said:

Backstory stuff, backstory stuff. This game takes place in an alternate version of Roshar with a united Alethkar taking the fight to the Parshendi. It has enough roles and complicated stuff and requires enough players that it would probably have to be an MR or LG. I know what you’re thinking—“This guy’s a complete noob and he already wants to GM a game?!” but the list is soooo loooong that I might as well sign up now and only actually run it when I have more experience. I need input from experienced players like Maill and Meta about role balancing, simplicity/complexity, etc. This is a [very] rough draft.

First off, I don't agree with this mindset at all. You should be posting games as soon as you come in, if you want to. (And more people do than you'd think.) If you want help, you can always ask for a co-GM or have your impartial mod help when you actually run it. Second, the list isn't as long as you think it is - the number of passes make it likely to be more like eleven or twelve games before we reach the end of the current list. Still a while, though. 

Second, some questions. And comments. And stuff. 

• Parshendi - do they have a group kill and a doc to plot in? That's fairly standard but it should proabbly be clarified anyway.
• Assassin's cool. I like that. Sounds like it's going to be a variation on a SK or possibly Odium from LG21 (with the equivalent of Shards being Highprinces), but there's some nice uncertainty there. 
• I really like the format for the highprince roles and such, but I'm also a little worried that the images aren't going to show up for some people. 
• Highprince of Commerce is quite a cool role. By "background" ability you probably mean passive, I'm guessing. 
• Highprince of Finance - I assume that "3 times" is three times per game? Other than that, I quite like it. 
• Highprince of Foreign Affairs - so just to make sure, this is an action you take, it's not automatic? And if that's the case, how does that show up to anyone targeting them? Are they just told the action failed, or that they were blocked, or something else? 
• Uh... Highprince of Information. This one I have problems with. So. First off, can you do both actions? Second, why is it a day action? I don't have any particular problem with that, but in general (MR15 is an exception here) everything except the lynch and vote manipulation happens at night. 
• This deserves its own point, although I'm still talking about Highprince of Information... Public Investigation. This essentially allows you to get a GM-confirmed good player every single turn. This is a bad idea. So, you might have noticed how I was concerned about the Korathi Acolyte being able to essentially clear him/herself to one person every night turn. And that's a minor thing, but if Aman had it instead of Straw it could very well be a problem. Invite someone into the doc, have that person confirm him (or two people or whatever), then ask publicly for protection and be essentially untouchable for the rest of the game. It's worse with PMs. That's the thing that broke LG4, for instance. One GM-confirmed innocent can coordinate the entire village and gather all of the information (generally referred to as being a dictator or Mayoring), which makes things ridiculously difficult for the eliminators. So you can see why I'm mildly concerned about a GM-confirmed good player every turn, hmm?  
• Highprince of Judiciary Admission is actually quite cool. 
• Oh, something just occurred to me. Can Parshendi be highprinces? Because if not there could be problems with the same confirmation stuff I talked about above. Highprince of Food calls that there'll be a feast night ahead of time? Confirmed. Highprince of Domestic Affairs calls who the extra vote'll be on before the end of the night turn? Confirmed. Highprince of Judiciary Admission has the same problem as the Korathi Acolyte. Etc. So if Parshendi can't be highprinces, I'd highly recommend changing that, even though I know it doesn't fit as well flavorwise. 
• Highprince of Law is nice. I always liked that mechanic with the Whitecloaks.
• Autopsy for Highprince of Research seems a little strong. That's a good chance of revealing at least one eliminator over the game, basically guaranteed.'
• Just to make sure, Highprince of War only kills the Assassin, right? I like that.
• Stormform's great.
• Sentinel is interesting. I don't remember seeing that variation before, although Assassin from MR10 might be close. 
• Ooh. I like Informant. Quite a lot, actually. 
• For the Spanreed - Is the PM perpetual or only one turn? And if perpetual, can you create more PMs while the first is still going?
• I'm supposed to be doing something else, so I won't look closely at the order of actions, but I think it's fine. 
• Items: Will each player start with at least one item? Can items be passed? Does that take an action? (For that matter, is everyone limited to only one action?)
• Mm. Death rattles. Death rattles are my favorite thing. 50 characters is so short...  Probably a good length, honestly. I just don't like being brief, and I had trouble with 200 characters in LG20. Most people would only be putting information, though, not fluff about twilight and death and Wilson being the paragon of light and good (oops...) and such. 

Okay, don't have much time, but in general I really like the roles and such of the game. It's currently very village-balanced, though. But I would love to play this. So many fun roles. Great game! 

 

[Ecthelion III he/him]

27 minutes ago, Elbereth said:

First off, I don't agree with this mindset at all. You should be posting games as soon as you come in, if you want to. (And more people do than you'd think.) If you want help, you can always ask for a co-GM or have your impartial mod help when you actually run it. Second, the list isn't as long as you think it is - the number of passes make it likely to be more like eleven or twelve games before we reach the end of the current list. Still a while, though. 

Second, some questions. And comments. And stuff. 

• Parshendi - do they have a group kill and a doc to plot in? That's fairly standard but it should proabbly be clarified anyway.
• Assassin's cool. I like that. Sounds like it's going to be a variation on a SK or possibly Odium from LG21 (with the equivalent of Shards being Highprinces), but there's some nice uncertainty there. 
• I really like the format for the highprince roles and such, but I'm also a little worried that the images aren't going to show up for some people. 
• Highprince of Commerce is quite a cool role. By "background" ability you probably mean passive, I'm guessing. 
• Highprince of Finance - I assume that "3 times" is three times per game? Other than that, I quite like it. 
• Highprince of Foreign Affairs - so just to make sure, this is an action you take, it's not automatic? And if that's the case, how does that show up to anyone targeting them? Are they just told the action failed, or that they were blocked, or something else? 
• Uh... Highprince of Information. This one I have problems with. So. First off, can you do both actions? Second, why is it a day action? I don't have any particular problem with that, but in general (MR15 is an exception here) everything except the lynch and vote manipulation happens at night. 
• This deserves its own point, although I'm still talking about Highprince of Information... Public Investigation. This essentially allows you to get a GM-confirmed good player every single turn. This is a bad idea. So, you might have noticed how I was concerned about the Korathi Acolyte being able to essentially clear him/herself to one person every night turn. And that's a minor thing, but if Aman had it instead of Straw it could very well be a problem. Invite someone into the doc, have that person confirm him (or two people or whatever), then ask publicly for protection and be essentially untouchable for the rest of the game. It's worse with PMs. That's the thing that broke LG4, for instance. One GM-confirmed innocent can coordinate the entire village and gather all of the information (generally referred to as being a dictator or Mayoring), which makes things ridiculously difficult for the eliminators. So you can see why I'm mildly concerned about a GM-confirmed good player every turn, hmm?  
• Highprince of Judiciary Admission is actually quite cool. 
• Oh, something just occurred to me. Can Parshendi be highprinces? Because if not there could be problems with the same confirmation stuff I talked about above. Highprince of Food calls that there'll be a feast night ahead of time? Confirmed. Highprince of Domestic Affairs calls who the extra vote'll be on before the end of the night turn? Confirmed. Highprince of Judiciary Admission has the same problem as the Korathi Acolyte. Etc. So if Parshendi can't be highprinces, I'd highly recommend changing that, even though I know it doesn't fit as well flavorwise. 
• Highprince of Law is nice. I always liked that mechanic with the Whitecloaks.
• Autopsy for Highprince of Research seems a little strong. That's a good chance of revealing at least one eliminator over the game, basically guaranteed.'
• Just to make sure, Highprince of War only kills the Assassin, right? I like that.
• Stormform's great.
• Sentinel is interesting. I don't remember seeing that variation before, although Assassin from MR10 might be close. 
• Ooh. I like Informant. Quite a lot, actually. 
• For the Spanreed - Is the PM perpetual or only one turn? And if perpetual, can you create more PMs while the first is still going?
• I'm supposed to be doing something else, so I won't look closely at the order of actions, but I think it's fine. 
• Items: Will each player start with at least one item? Can items be passed? Does that take an action? (For that matter, is everyone limited to only one action?)
• Mm. Death rattles. Death rattles are my favorite thing. 50 characters is so short...  Probably a good length, honestly. I just don't like being brief, and I had trouble with 200 characters in LG20. Most people would only be putting information, though, not fluff about twilight and death and Wilson being the paragon of light and good (oops...) and such. 

Okay, don't have much time, but in general I really like the roles and such of the game. It's currently very village-balanced, though. But I would love to play this. So many fun roles. Great game! 

First off, thank you so much for taking the time to review this. It’s a lot to read! It’s good to know that the GMing list isn’t actually that long. Speaking of which, what format would you recommend this as: LG or MR?

All right, on to the clarifications:

• ·         Yep, the Parshendi do indeed have a plotting doc and group kill.
• ·         I can’t say much about the Assassin, it being the wild card role. There are some secret shenanigans going on behind the scenes.
• ·         I made the images because my role list was looking like a hard-to-read wall of text, but I can transcribe them if that will be an issue.
• ·         Thanks! Highprince of Commerce is a passive ability.
• ·         “Limit 3 times” does mean “Limit 3 times per game”, similar to how the abilities like Stormform say “Limit once” to mean “Limit once per game”.
• ·         This is an action you take (since it’s limit 2 times, it can’t be a passive ability). It’s similar to the Merchant in MR15, but the targeting player will receive the message “You could not kill the target because they were not home” or something like that.
• ·         Highprince of Information—thanks for the input, I’ve never designed an investigation role before. I’ll think about alternatives. Also, if a role has 2 actions, you can only perform 1 per cycle. Sorry, I didn’t clarify. I don’t see any reason why not to have actions in the day, but if that’s standard procedure I’ll take that into consideration.
• ·         Is Private Investigation fine, or does that need work as well?
• ·         Hmmm, that’s an interesting point about Parshendi being Highprinces. I don’t care too much about flavor for this game (it doesn’t really make sense anyway that Parshendi are hiding among Alethi villagers despite being an entire different race). I’ll definitely think about this one.
• ·         I got Highprince of Law kind of from Town of Salem’s Jailor.
• ·         I was considering lowering the % chance for Autopsy to 15%, maybe 10%. What percentage do you think is balanced?
• ·         Correct, Highprince of War only kills the Assassin. Think the Spy from Stratego.
• ·         I was wondering if Stormform was balanced. Thanks!
• ·         Is Sentinel too powerful?
• ·         The PM is not perpetual, it only lasts for the turn. Though if you want you can strike up another PM with the same person next Day turn.
• ·         Each player starts with a random item, with maybe 3 or 4 players getting Rare items and only 1 (or possibly rarely 2) getting an Epic. Keep in mind that Epic items are taken by the person who makes the kill. Items cannot be passed with an action. Each player does only get one action per cycle, though, and many items will require an action to use.
• ·         I intended for death rattles to be very short so you could only pass the most important information on after you die. Do you think it’s tedious to have to submit every night?
• ·         What do you mean by “village-balanced”?

 

And a couple questions for you:

• What are your thoughts on the Pickpocket?
• How many Parshendi would you recommend having?

Edited July 16, 2016 by Ecthelion III
added questions for El

[Elenion he/him]

@Elbereth Will you check this out for any more inconsistencies? I put in a new role, destroyed another, made the Lieutenant make sense, added basic rules, and transitioned it to the QF's cycle system.

Anyone wanting to make observations or corrections: your thoughts are appreciated.

 

QF-in-waiting: Terror in Minas Tirith (Final Draft unless revisions are necessary)

Story Outline

  Hide contents

The year is 2756 in the Third Age. The land of Gondor lies dark and silent, menaced by an ever-growing shadow on its eastern frontier. Minas Ithil has fallen to the Enemy, and it will not be many years until Osgiliath suffers the same fate. But the plans of Sauron wait for no man. Even now, when the forces of Gondor are watching the expansion of Mordor, a few of Sauron's most cunning servants are ready to strike a blow at the heart of Gondor itself.

Basic Rules:

Spoiler

• The game is divided into cycles (not like an MR or LG that has days and nights) that are 24 hours long each.
• The Mordor team get a kill every cycle, submitted as an action by one of their players, and win if they outnumber the remaining Gondor players. The Mordor faction also gets their own doc to scheme in. Gondor players, of course, are not permitted in the doc, but dead players will be provided with the link upon request through PM.
• Each cycle, the players as a group chose one player to lynch. The lynch is decided by voting in the active thread. A tied lynch will result in the kill being made at random among the players tied for the lead. This choice will me made with a die roll, RNG, or other impartial method.
• The Gondor players win if all Mordor characters are killed.
• All actions for the game will be triggered by sending a PM to the game master (referred to later as the GM) unless they are marked passive or triggered. Such actions are always in effect (or, in the case of triggered, only brought into effect when a particular condition is met).
• Roles are assigned by the GM. Any requests to the GM for a particular role will be denied.
• After each cycle a write-up will be posted outlining who was lynched and their role, anyone who was killed and their role, and other information subject to the discretion of the GM.
• Players are not allowed to PM other players for game purposes. Out-of-game PMs are permitted but frowned upon.
• A player who does not post for 72 straight hours (3 cycles) will be killed. Should a player wish to lurk without posting, a PM sent to the GM to that regard will count as a post for this requirement, but one must still be sent at least every 72 hours.
• Turnover (the transition between cycles) will be at 9:00 PM Mountain Daylight Time (Brandon Sanderson's time zone).

Roles:

  Hide contents

Steward of Gondor: Gondor only

     Palantir of Minas Tirith (active): Each cycle, the Steward may choose to observe one player using the Palantir. This does not count as visiting the player's house. The target player's role and alignment will be revealed in a return PM at the same time as the write-up is posted.

 

Lieutenant of Mordor: Mordor only

     Authority of Mordor (passive): The Lieutenant chooses who in the Mordor doc must submit the Mordor kill as their action. The chosen player cannot submit another action and counts as visiting the target player's house.

     Observe (active): The Lieutenant of Mordor may learn the role and alignment of a player. This counts as visiting the player's house. The role and alignment will be revealed at the same time as the Steward's action, and will also be in a PM.

 

Guard of the Citadel: Gondor/Mordor

     Guard's Training (active): Each night cycle, the Citadel Guard may choose a player to protect (using a PM to the GM). That player is protected from the Mordor kill, but not from any lynching  and not from the Noblemen's kill (see Nobleman, below). The guard is notified if he defended from an attack, but does not learn the identity of any of the attackers. The guard's action counts as visiting that player's house.

 

Politician: Gondor/Mordor

    Liar (active): A politician's in-thread lynch votes are not binding. Instead, a Politician votes directly to the GM. If the Politician does not send a PM with their actual vote, their vote defaults to whatever they posted in-thread. Due to this mechanic, the GM's write-up will include only lynch vote totals, not names of voters.

 

Nobleman: Gondor/Mordor

    Elite Company (passive): Noblemen have access to a special doc where they can discuss among themselves.

    Personal Assassins (active): The noblemen may vote in their doc to assassinate a character at night. This assassination disregards protection from Guards of the Citadel and the Outlaw's ability, but can only be used once per game and with a majority vote in the Noblemen's doc.

 

Outlaw: Gondor/Mordor

     Underworld Connections (active): Once per game, the Outlaw may choose to disappear into the criminal underworld for one night. While there, he is immune to the Mordor kill, but not to the Noblemen's kill. In addition, the Outlaw learns the identity of all visitors to their house that night, but does not learn their alignment or role. If an Outlaw catches the Mordor kill targeted at him, the Mordor player who sent in the action is revealed and the Outlaw is not killed.

 

Scribe: Gondor/Mordor

    Publish (triggered): After the Scribe dies, he/she may make one post in the thread. It may not contain more than 100 characters and may not contain a vote.

 

Jailor: Gondor only

     Jail (passive): The Jailor has no ability in and of himself except to keep the prisoners locked up (see Prisoner).

 

Prisoner: Gondor/Mordor

     Imprisoned (passive): While the Jailor is alive, prisoners may post and vote as normal; however, these votes do not count.

    I'm Free! (triggered): When the Jailor is killed, prisoners lose their special condition and instead gain the ability of an Outlaw. 

 

[Elbereth she/her]

Will comment again, on both, when I have time. (And you don't have to @ me.  I'll see it regardless. )

[Ecthelion III he/him]

Lazy Ecthelion didn't want to the fix the formatting, so he just used the Snipping Tool...

 

Edited July 16, 2016 by Ecthelion III

[Young Bard he/him]

1 hour ago, Elenion said:

Anyone wanting to make observations or corrections: your thoughts are appreciated.

 

1 hour ago, Elenion said:

Players are not allowed to PM other players for game purposes. Out-of-game PMs are permitted but frowned upon.

Uhh... What's wrong with OOG PM's that they're frowned upon?

Slight Note about the roles - usually, alignments are designated a colour. If a role is alignment specific, then they will be given that colour. 

1 hour ago, Elenion said:

Guard of the Citadel: Gondor/Mordor

     Guard's Training (active): Each night cycle, the Citadel Guard may choose a player to protect (using a PM to the GM). That player is protected from the Mordor kill, but not from any lynching  and not from the Noblemen's kill (see Nobleman, below). The guard is notified if he defended from an attack, but does not learn the identity of any of the attackers. The guard's action counts as visiting that player's house.

What's the point of having a Mordor aligned guard that can protect from the Mordor kill? Maybe if they had the power to protect from the Noblemen's kill as well, this could make a bit more sense.

1 hour ago, Elenion said:

Politician: Gondor/Mordor

    Liar (active): A politician's in-thread lynch votes are not binding. Instead, a Politician votes directly to the GM. If the Politician does not send a PM with their actual vote, their vote defaults to whatever they posted in-thread. Due to this mechanic, the GM's write-up will include only lynch vote totals, not names of voters.

The cynic in me loves this role. I am incredibly amused.

1 hour ago, Elenion said:

Nobleman: Gondor/Mordor

    Elite Company (passive): Noblemen have access to a special doc where they can discuss among themselves.

    Personal Assassins (active): The noblemen may vote in their doc to assassinate a character at night. This assassination disregards protection from Guards of the Citadel and the Outlaw's ability, but can only be used once per game and with a majority vote in the Noblemen's doc.

One, you got rid of the day night cycles, so you might want to rephrase that.

Second, isn't this basically a second, exclusive lynch? (If that's what it's meant to be, then that's fine. I'd just like to clarify.)

2 hours ago, Elenion said:

Outlaw: Gondor/Mordor

     Underworld Connections (active): Once per game, the Outlaw may choose to disappear into the criminal underworld for one night. While there, he is immune to the Mordor kill, but not to the Noblemen's kill. In addition, the Outlaw learns the identity of all visitors to their house that night, but does not learn their alignment or role. If an Outlaw catches the Mordor kill targeted at him, the Mordor player who sent in the action is revealed and the Outlaw is not killed.

Are you planning on making this the vanilla role? Because it's the only role that can detect who's visiting who's house, which seems to make up a fairly large part of the game. If there are only 3-4 of these in the game, including the prisoners, then the visiting house feature might not be worth it. Maybe make another role of a voyeur or something that can see who's visiting a target player's house or something?

2 hours ago, Elenion said:

Jailor: Gondor only

     Jail (passive): The Jailor has no ability in and of himself except to keep the prisoners locked up (see Prisoner).

 

Prisoner: Gondor/Mordor

     Imprisoned (passive): While the Jailor is alive, prisoners may post and vote as normal; however, these votes do not count.

    I'm Free! (triggered): When the Jailor is killed, prisoners lose their special condition and instead gain the ability of an Outlaw. 

If the prisoners knew their vote wasn't going to count, then why would they bother voting?

I get that the aim is to encourage the prisoners to find and kill the Jailor, but if they can't use a role to kill him, and they can't lynch him, then how are they going to do that. Either a) have the Jailor choose a Prisoner each cycle so that their votes/actions don't count the next cycle (a bit like the Whitecloak in LG22), or have the prisoner have some additional power that somehow gives them the ability to find/kill the Jailor more easily and get their proper role. (I think having all the Prisoners becoming Outlaws is a bit dull too, but that's just me. Perhaps if it were a random unknown role that they receive upon breaking free, it would be more interesting.)

[Elbereth she/her]

Whee, longish post! I'm kind of amused that I'm currently going over four other people's games to help them out. Two here, one in PMs, and one I've recently become the co-GM for (yay!). So that's fun. 

Note: I will be using bold instead of quotes, because... well... you'll remember how well quotes turned out for me last time.  I have no desire to repeat that experience whatsoever.  

First off, thank you so much for taking the time to review this. It’s a lot to read! It’s good to know that the GMing list isn’t actually that long. Speaking of which, what format would you recommend this as: LG or MR?
You're very welcome. And it's fun. At the moment... I'd say it's straddling between LG and MR. Could be either. Maybe MR, but I'm mostly saying that because it's still more village-balanced (and I suspect it will still be slightly in its final form) and village-balanced MRs are much better than having village-balanced LGs. Items might bring this into more LG territory, though. 

·         I can’t say much about the Assassin, it being the wild card role. There are some secret shenanigans going on behind the scenes. 
Secret roles are fun. You'll want to go over that with whoever your mod turns out to be when you run the game, to make sure it's balanced, but I won't say any more about it, then. 

·         I made the images because my role list was looking like a hard-to-read wall of text, but I can transcribe them if that will be an issue.
It shouldn't be, not if I can see them on my tablet. Haven't checked in the mobile version, but I'm guessing your fine. (And it probably wouldn't be a hard-to-read wall of text, or at least... not that bad. Go look at LG18's rules, and then decide whether this would be a textwall. )

·         This is an action you take (since it’s limit 2 times, it can’t be a passive ability). It’s similar to the Merchant in MR15, but the targeting player will receive the message “You could not kill the target because they were not home” or something like that.
Sure. Essentially my question was more like "will the person targeting them know that the person they targeted is indubitably the Highprince?", to which the answer I have realized is yes, since there are no more roleblock/etc roles. So that's a consideration to be taken into account - basically another role that can be confirmed. 

·         Highprince of Information—thanks for the input, I’ve never designed an investigation role before. I’ll think about alternatives. Also, if a role has 2 actions, you can only perform 1 per cycle. Sorry, I didn’t clarify. I don’t see any reason why not to have actions in the day, but if that’s standard procedure I’ll take that into consideration.
Well, the basic reasoning for that is pretty much that it's easier. In particular, the one-action-per-cycle thing is easier to handle if most or all of the roles take place at the same time. And this way the scanner can be roleblocked and manipulated or whatever. 

·         Is Private Investigation fine, or does that need work as well?
It's essentially a traditional scanning role. I'm of the opinion that it's fine in general. In this game? Not sure. Scanning roles are very advantageous to the village. Pretty sure that at this point the village does not need that extra advantage. It's okay, though. 

·         I got Highprince of Law kind of from Town of Salem’s Jailor.
Yeah. Probably where Gamma got it from as well (in LG22/LG6). I like it. 
 
·         I was considering lowering the % chance for Autopsy to 15%, maybe 10%. What percentage do you think is balanced? 
15 or 10 would be nice. 10, probably... If it's a LG definitely ten. Hm. As you have it at the moment (you may put in an item kill role, I don't know - speaking of items, if you want ideas for potential flavortext names for them check out LG20), the only thing that the Autopsy can affect is the eliminator kill, correct? 

·         I was wondering if Stormform was balanced. Thanks!
In this game? Stormform is definitely balanced. 

·         Is Sentinel too powerful?
Hm. Possibly a bit. It's two different powers, essentially. One is whether your target took a night action and one is who targeted your target. Both of them together are a little OP. By themselves they wouldn't be as bad. 

·         The PM is not perpetual, it only lasts for the turn. Though if you want you can strike up another PM with the same person next Day turn.
And to make sure, the PM can only be between two people, correct? And one of them must be the Scribe? And does it last for the turn (i.e. only the day) or the cycle (i.e. the day and the next night)? 

·         Each player starts with a random item, with maybe 3 or 4 players getting Rare items and only 1 (or possibly rarely 2) getting an Epic. Keep in mind that Epic items are taken by the person who makes the kill. Items cannot be passed with an action. Each player does only get one action per cycle, though, and many items will require an action to use.
Right. That'll be fine, then, pending the items. 

·         I intended for death rattles to be very short so you could only pass the most important information on after you die. Do you think it’s tedious to have to submit every night?
Hm. I mean... the way that it was done in LG20 is that if you submitted your death cry within the next turn after you were killed (and before you were given the link to the dead doc, of course), the GM posted it then, separate from the writeup. And that way they didn't have to send one in every night. I kinda like how you have it, though, so they have to send one in every time. Requires people to be paying attention and such. Your choice. 
·         What do you mean by “village-balanced”?
Ah. Good question. Basically, in the ideal game, if you played it over and over again, villagers win 50% of the time and eliminators win the other 50%. That's perfectly balanced. The idea is to get it so that both sides have a good chance of winning. Village-balanced means that the chance for the villagers to win is higher than the chance for the eliminators to win. In the previous iteration of your game, I'd say it's about 90-10 in the village's favor. Maybe 95-5. Now with your changes it's better, though still somewhat village-balanced. I'd say 70-30? Not sure yet. Haven't thought through all of the changes. 

What are your thoughts on the Pickpocket?
Hm. I mean... hard to say. It'll depend on the items and how they work. It does rather remind me of the Thief in LG5/LG20, which ended up being almost a neutral role instead of village-aligned (and in the rerun it was made into a neutral role), but that was slightly different for... reasons. >> Um, by itself it seems like it could be OP pretty fast, although the one-action limit and items having actions should be helpful. Not sure. It'll be easier to tell when you figure out the items. 

How many Parshendi would you recommend having? 
Ooh, tricky question. Generally, the ratio of eliminators to villagers is either the square root of the number of players, or about 15-25% of the number of players (which can end up being about the same anyway, depending on player numbers). Given that this game is fairly village-balanced, I'd recommend on the high end of a reasonable number. But it'll also depend on the number of players you get. So. That's not something you'll have to deal with for a while, anyway. Not until you're actually distributing the game. 

1 hour ago, Ecthelion III said:

Lazy Ecthelion didn't want to the fix the formatting, so he just used the Snipping Tool...

The Vengeance Pact - Version History.docx

Right. This looks a lot better. Everything's great, except. I'm still worried about village-aligned Highprinces. Because if that one Parshendi highprince dies early, you have nine (or even 4 or 5) suddenly confirmed good roles, many of whom can prove themselves. This is... not a good thing. At all. Even with limited PMs. That's the thing that breaks this game, in my opinion. And really, what happens? The Highprince of Information (who is still confirmed good) reveals him/herself and gets protection, proves their role by scanning one or two people, and then goes through the highprinces one by one until they get to the Parshendi. Who is then killed in short order and the rest are automatically cleared. 
You can see how that could be problematic.  
And why is Foreign Affairs a confirmed good role as well? Not sure I see the logic there. 

Oh, can someone have more than one role? 

Other than that, it looks like a great game, though.  

Elenion, will do yours in the morning (maybe - I'm rather busy tomorrow, but I promise to get it done at some point). For the moment, I should really go to bed...  

[Elenion he/him]

37 minutes ago, The Young Bard said:

Uhh... What's wrong with OOG PM's that they're frowned upon?

I'm afraid players (especially new ones since this is a QF) might be tempted to drop hints over the PM. Should I remove that note?

38 minutes ago, The Young Bard said:

What's the point of having a Mordor aligned guard that can protect from the Mordor kill? Maybe if they had the power to protect from the Noblemen's kill as well, this could make a bit more sense.

The Mordor guard (If they even get one; there might not even be one since space on Mordor would be limited) would be useful for WGGs. About the noblemen's kill, see below.

40 minutes ago, The Young Bard said:

The cynic in me loves this role. I am incredibly amused.

I love that between the liar and the prisoners, somewhere around 35% of the votes won't count. This is what I trust to make the game exciting, because a player that commands a clear majority of votes might not be lynched.

41 minutes ago, The Young Bard said:

One, you got rid of the day night cycles, so you might want to rephrase that.

Second, isn't this basically a second, exclusive lynch? (If that's what it's meant to be, then that's fine. I'd just like to clarify.)

I'll rephrase that: I missed it when I rephrased the day/night. Basically what the noblemen have is a nuke. The Mordor characters of course would want to use such a weapon against a protected character, but they won't start with a majority in the doc. Basically their role is to be a battleground: players on the doc don't want to reveal their names because they will then be targets of a Mordor faction who wants the ultimate weapon once their leader identifies the Steward. Inversely, the Noblemen (well, most) will want to use their ability on someone allied with Mordor, and early enough that Mordor can't control it.

 

43 minutes ago, The Young Bard said:

Are you planning on making this the vanilla role? Because it's the only role that can detect who's visiting who's house, which seems to make up a fairly large part of the game. If there are only 3-4 of these in the game, including the prisoners, then the visiting house feature might not be worth it. Maybe make another role of a voyeur or something that can see who's visiting a target player's house or something?

Okay, here's a slight change: no starting Outlaws. Escaped prisoners take on the outlaw role and respond to scans as such. I don't really want a second scrying ability out on the field too early, because I want the Palantir and the Steward to be the biggest targets for the Mordorians. Based on my calculations, there should no be about 5 prisoners, enough to make the Mordor players angry if they accidentally kill the Jailor and release the scrying roles. The house visit rules were notes to clarify who will be caught by the Outlaw and who can't, not to create a whole sub-mechanic. In my next draft I'll probably just move them all to under Outlaw.

 

48 minutes ago, The Young Bard said:

I get that the aim is to encourage the prisoners to find and kill the Jailor, but if they can't use a role to kill him, and they can't lynch him, then how are they going to do that.

Here were my thoughts when I created him.

1. A Mordor prisoner would not be able to support his faction with actual votes, only bluffing. Killing the Jailor would help Mordor, but

2. Killing the Jailor releases detection roles, making it more likely that a Mordorian gets caught red-handed.

Maybe, the prisoners' votes do count, but only against the Jailor. That would make it funny as prisoners are killed as bandwagoners while they're really only trying to get their freedom, and give the Mordor characters the option to fight against the prisoners' release to limit the number of detection roles, at the expense of not focusing on finding the Steward or fighting for the noblemen's nuke.

53 minutes ago, The Young Bard said:

If the prisoners knew their vote wasn't going to count, then why would they bother voting?

1. To obfuscate the real voting results. Mordor prisoners would love this.

2. To start bandwagons. If nobody knows your vote doesn't count, then they're likely to follow it if it makes sense.

 

Thanks, and I should have another draft up tomorrow with my changes.

[Ecthelion III he/him]

@Elenion--you should let the prisoners know at the beginning of the game who the Jailor is, so that way they can cunningly arrange for him to get lynched (like the Executioner from Town of Salem, kind of). THAT would be great.

[Elenion he/him]

1 minute ago, Ecthelion III said:

@Elenion--you should let the prisoners know at the beginning of the game who the Jailor is, so that way they can cunningly arrange for him to get lynched (like the Executioner from Town of Salem, kind of). THAT would be great.

I guess I'd need that for my bandwagoning scenario to work. Thanks.

[Ecthelion III he/him]

Quote

the only thing that the Autopsy can affect is the eliminator kill, correct? 

Incorrect. Autopsy can be used on anyone who died last turn, except someone killed by the Assassin.

Quote

And does it last for the turn (i.e. only the day) or the cycle (i.e. the day and the next night)? 

Only for the day turn.

Quote

Hm. I mean... the way that it was done in LG20 is that if you submitted your death cry within the next turn after you were killed (and before you were given the link to the dead doc, of course), the GM posted it then, separate from the writeup. And that way they didn't have to send one in every night. I kinda like how you have it, though, so they have to send one in every time. Requires people to be paying attention and such. Your choice. 

Maybe I'll do it so you don't have to send one in every night, but if you don't, it'll be the last one you submitted. That way you're not submitting the same one over and over and over again if that happens to be the case.

Quote

And why is Foreign Affairs a confirmed good role as well? Not sure I see the logic there. 

Foreign Affairs was confirmed good because it would be practically worthless for a Parshendi. It's most elemental use is escaping the Parshendi, but if you are a Parshendi, it's not doing you much good.

Quote

Oh, can someone have more than one role? 

Not in this version of the game, although I've never thought about it before, so maybe. Maybe.

Quote

I'm still worried about village-aligned Highprinces. Because if that one Parshendi highprince dies early, you have nine (or even 4 or 5) suddenly confirmed good roles, many of whom can prove themselves. This is... not a good thing. At all. Even with limited PMs. That's the thing that breaks this game, in my opinion. And really, what happens? The Highprince of Information (who is still confirmed good) reveals him/herself and gets protection, proves their role by scanning one or two people, and then goes through the highprinces one by one until they get to the Parshendi. Who is then killed in short order and the rest are automatically cleared. 
You can see how that could be problematic.  

Okay. I still think that the Highprince of Information (and Highprince of War) should be Alethi-only roles, but for the sake of gameplay over theme I might have to permit Parshendi spies into the other roles.

 

Overall, it sounds like the game is too village-balanced. Time to come up with some more powerful evil roles! Mwahahahaha...

Would it be all right if I added an item bonus for good roleplaying?

Thanks so much for the input! It'll be a while until I bog you down again because I have to come up with all the items for next version.

 

@Whoeverdoesthis Please add me to the LG list. Roshar; working title The Vengeance Pact.

Edited July 16, 2016 by Ecthelion III

[Elbereth she/her]

Right, Elenion's game. First off, I like that it's a QF now. I think that fits much better.

The Mordor team get a kill every cycle, submitted as an action by one of their players, and win if they outnumber the remaining Gondor players. The Mordor faction also gets their own doc to scheme in. Gondor players, of course, are not permitted in the doc, but dead players will be provided with the link upon request through PM.
While you can certainly do this if you'd like, GMs have generally found that it's easiest (and most fun) to make a separate doc for all of the dead to talk in (sometimes combined with the doc for the spectators to talk). And that way as long as an eliminator hasn't died (or even if one has, sometimes), the doc isn't spoiled, which makes things much more fun for the GM.

Each cycle, the players as a group chose one player to lynch. The lynch is decided by voting in the active thread. A tied lynch will result in the kill being made at random among the players tied for the lead. This choice will me made with a die roll, RNG, or other impartial method.
While you're clarifying the lynch, might as well do them all: How many votes does it take to lynch a player? 

A player who does not post for 72 straight hours (3 cycles) will be killed. Should a player wish to lurk without posting, a PM sent to the GM to that regard will count as a post for this requirement, but one must still be sent at least every 72 hours.
Ah, nice, an inactivity filter. Good idea. Haven't had one of those in a couple games. 

Side note about the generic stuff like this - if you haven't already, I'd highly suggest going back and looking at some past games for an idea of what's assumed and what isn't. (For instance, everyone knows that turnover is the break between cycles. You don't need to explain that. And if someone's new and doesn't know, they can just ask.) Wyrm's games are excellent examples for that kind of thing, as I recall. 

    Authority of Mordor (passive): The Lieutenant chooses who in the Mordor doc must submit the Mordor kill as their action. The chosen player cannot submit another action and counts as visiting the target player's house.
Same question as last time: what if the lieutenant is inactive or dies? 

    Observe (active): The Lieutenant of Mordor may learn the role and alignment of a player. This counts as visiting the player's house. The role and alignment will be revealed at the same time as the Steward's action, and will also be in a PM.
Ah, very nice. Yay for evil Seekers. (I'm a little concerned about the Steward being confirmed good, but not nearly as much. Particularly with this thrown in as well. And the fact that it's a QF. Should be fine.)

     Guard's Training (active): Each night cycle, the Citadel Guard may choose a player to protect (using a PM to the GM). That player is protected from the Mordor kill, but not from any lynching  and not from the Noblemen's kill (see Nobleman, below). The guard is notified if he defended from an attack, but does not learn the identity of any of the attackers. The guard's action counts as visiting that player's house.
Is the attacked player notified if they were attacked? (For that matter, does their name show up in the writeup?)
 
   Publish (triggered): After the Scribe dies, he/she may make one post in the thread. It may not contain more than 100 characters and may not contain a vote.
Nice. Might want to add that they don't gain access to the dead doc until they post that. (And I might suggest having them send the message to you and you posting it instead? That way you can make sure they're fine to post.)

Jailor: Gondor only
     Jail (passive): The Jailor has no ability in and of himself except to keep the prisoners locked up (see Prisoner).
Why is this role Gondor only? Mordor Jailor could be interesting. EDIT: Actually... I don't know. More thoughts about this to come later. 

   I'm Free! (triggered): When the Jailor is killed, prisoners lose their special condition and instead gain the ability of an Outlaw.
Nice. I like that.

I'm afraid players (especially new ones since this is a QF) might be tempted to drop hints over the PM. Should I remove that note?
Especially since it's a QF? Actually... only 26 of the 175 people who've ever played SE have joined in QFs. They're much more likely to join for LGs than anything else, I think, because people will advertise for them outside SE more often if there aren't enough numbers. Plus LGs are generally just larger. And new players are fairly rare. There've been plenty of games where no one new joined at all. So you don't have to worry much about that. 
Besides, you're a new player and you know better, obviously. People have common sense. We can probably trust them not to use OOG PMs to talk about the game. (Particularly any that are eliminators. They'll realize very quickly that talking about the game is a bad idea. )

The Mordor guard (If they even get one; there might not even be one since space on Mordor would be limited) would be useful for WGGs. About the noblemen's kill, see below.
Sure. But at the same time, they're essentially a vanilla role unless the team does decide to pull a WGG. That said, I don't think you should change it. More uncertainty is a good thing. 

Basically what the noblemen have is a nuke. The Mordor characters of course would want to use such a weapon against a protected character, but they won't start with a majority in the doc. Basically their role is to be a battleground: players on the doc don't want to reveal their names because they will then be targets of a Mordor faction who wants the ultimate weapon once their leader identifies the Steward. Inversely, the Noblemen (well, most) will want to use their ability on someone allied with Mordor, and early enough that Mordor can't control it.
Nice. I think I like it. (I say 'I think' because something in there about your assumptions of what would happen is bothering me. No idea what, though, so I'll have to think about it.)

I've a few more comments about the Outlaws but must leave now. I'll try to find a moment to post that and my comments about Ecthelion's LG this afternoon.

Edited July 16, 2016 by Elbereth