The Art of Game Creation

[Steeldancer he/him]

So, I saw that a while back there was this cool SE game based in the forums. Seems really meta. It was recently brought back to mind by the flood of bots the 17th shard has recently experienced. Unfortunately, this person, Adamir, seems to have not gotten on the shard for like a year, but I think this game would be uber cool to run at some point, in some form. Here's the original idea- 

 

[MacThorstenson he/him]

That does sound really awesome, if it were able to be run, it would need a lot of people tho.

[Steeldancer he/him]

I was thinking it would probably need to be simplified a bunch, all the items and forums we could get rid of. Although, we could add new elements- like a Discord PM mechanic, and an Arcanum thing, and call code monkeys Mestivs instead. We could have various roles named after various sharders, which would be hilarious. But I agree, its a little complex for how many players we would be able to get on this. It would also be fun as an Anonymous game. 

[MacThorstenson he/him]

The anonymous game Idea is really a great idea, we would also probably have to get rid of the reputation points.

How successful was the location mechanic is QF8? It sounds cool, but really hard to implement, if people really liked it, then I think that it should be kept, but if not then completely get rid of it.

I also had this idea where there could be a role that temporarily gets the opportunity to spy on the spammers doc, but the only way they can talk about what they found is by encoding it into their posts. The code would be set by the GM, and that person wouldn't be allowed to tell their teammates the code.

[Sart he/him]

The Melee (QF Game)

Flavor: Every year, students from Armedius Academy participate in a free-for-all tournament known as the Melee. You're going to be one of those students, hoping to take top prize.

Rules: This is a free-for-all game. There are no teams in this game. Each player starts the game with 1 HP. When you have 0 HP, you are eliminated. The last man standing wins the cup. If the game ends with all players dying, the person who survived longest with the most kills will be the winner. Cycles are 48 hours long, but have no day-night distinctions.

Cycle 0: To prepare for the upcoming battle, each student is given ample time to prepare their defenses. You can choose from these options.

• Ballintain Defense (4-point circle) The simplest defense, perfect for those who favor going on the offense. You cannot make Lines of Forbiddance, but your Lines of Vigor deal double damage.
• Matson Defense (6-point circle) A medium difficulty defense that relies heavily on chalklings. You start with 1 chalkling already drawn.
• Taylor Defense (9-point circle) One of the hardest defenses to draw, but it is highly defensible. You start with 1 additional HP.

Be wary! If more than a third of the players chooses one defense, people will be expecting it, so half the players who chose that defense will be eliminated at the start of the game.

With defenses up, our brave Rithmatists will frantically draw 3 types of lines to defend themselves. Each cycle, you can choose one of these options.

• Line of Forbiddance: Give a player (usually yourself) one HP this turn only.
• Line of Vigor: Attack another player, causing them to lose one HP.
• Line of Making: Draw a chalkling on the ground, or send them towards your enemies. When they attack, they deal N damage to N players, where N is the number of chalklings you control.

The order of actions is Forbiddance, then Vigor, then Making. Have fun.

[MacThorstenson he/him]

That sounds like a fun game.

[Devotary of Spontaneity]

16 hours ago, Sart said:

Cycle 0: To prepare for the upcoming battle, each student is given ample time to prepare their defenses. You can choose from these options.

• Ballintain Defense (4-point circle) The simplest defense, perfect for those who favor going on the offense. You cannot make Lines of Forbiddance, but your Lines of Vigor deal double damage.
• Matson Defense (6-point circle) A medium difficulty defense that relies heavily on chalklings. You start with 1 chalkling already drawn.
• Taylor Defense (9-point circle) One of the hardest defenses to draw, but it is highly defensible. You start with 1 additional HP.

Be wary! If more than a third of the players chooses one defense, people will be expecting it, so half the players who chose that defense will be eliminated at the start of the game.

Unless the number of players is divisible by 3, you're guaranteed to lose over a sixth of the players before the game starts. Maybe increase the threshold to ~40% or round it up to the nearest whole number?

 

[Sart he/him]

@Devotary of Spontaneity I was planning on rounding up, so that we wouldn't lose too many people. Still, it's very likely that people will die on Cycle 0. This game will not be merciful.

[Jondesu he/him]

I’m still working out the rules, but I wanted to put out there that I have an LG planned with a LotR theme that needs a pass from one of the AG winners if I’m going to be able to run it. It’s based around a journey to discover and then defeat a Balrog in the southern nations, past Gondor. I did a role playing story years ago that I saved, and the write ups will largely come from there, and should be extremely detailed and entertaining. My own character will provide the main storyline, and since he can’t die, I know the arc I’ll have it take. :-D

The rules will involve treachery, spying, sabotage, etc, and some fun rules, including the return of mid-cycle kills (though not via guns, since that wouldn’t fit the flavor). I’ll post them here too once I pull it all together, but I wanted to see if I could pique the interest of whoever gets to be in control of the passes for non-Sanderson games ahead of time.

[Straw he/him]

@Sart Will there be PMs? What will players use the thread for?

Edited January 25, 2018 by Straw

[Sart he/him]

38 minutes ago, Straw said:

@Sart Will there be PMs? What will players use the thread for?

PMs will be open on Cycle 0, so that friends can coordinate strategies together. After Cycle 0, PMs will be closed, so the thread will be the only place to make arrangements. There will be an inactivity filter based on people not posting in the thread. Hopefully there will be some roleplay in there as well.

[MacThorstenson he/him]

On 1/23/2018 at 0:27 AM, Sart said:

Cycle 0: To prepare for the upcoming battle, each student is given ample time to prepare their defenses. You can choose from these options.

•  

would this be put in a pm to the gm, or posted on the thread?

[Sart he/him]

2 hours ago, MacThorstenson said:

would this be put in a pm to the gm, or posted on the thread?

This would be an action submitted to the GM.

[Straw he/him]

Silence (QF):

Basics:

 

-There are PMs in this game.
-This game is role madness.
-At the start of each cycle, the roles and alignments of the dead will be announced. However, the names of the dead players will not be announced.
-There will be no vote counts in the writeup.
-This is a conversion game.
-If a player doesn’t post for two consecutive cycles, they will die.

Alignments:

 

Radiants: Your win condition is to kill all of the Skybreakers.
Skybreakers: You have a doc and a kill. Your win condition is to outnumber the Radiants.

Roles:

 

All roles in red are Skybreaker only, and all roles in green are Radiant only.
Nale: You start the game as the only member of the Skybreakers. You have an extra life. Over the course of the game, you can convert three people to the Skybreakers.
Windrunner: Each cycle, you can protect one player.
Skybreaker: Each cycle, a random Skybreaker will have the ability to scan a player, discovering their role and alignment.
Dustbringer: Each cycle, you can kill a player.
Edgedancer: Each cycle, you automatically have one random vote removed from you.
Truthwatcher: Each cycle, you can scan one player, discovering if they are dead.
Lightweaver: You can choose how you will appear to scans.
Elsecaller: Each cycle, you can roleblock a player.
Willshaper: You can survive on kill.
Stoneward: Your vote cannot be manipulated.
Bondsmith: You cannot be converted by the Skybreakers.

Edited January 28, 2018 by Straw

[Jo and the Bush all/any]

Fake Lives

This is a Sanderson Elimination Quick Fix game set in the Perfect State Universe. If you haven't, you can learn everything you need to know by reading the first chapter for free.

This conflict takes place in the Virtual World of Alornia. Kai's Machineborn are being hacked, and turned into Melhi's Bots.

Melhi's Bots are a Conversion Faction, only starting with one player: Sophie who has multiple lives. She can trade them in to convert players to her cause. If there is a Bot who is not Sophie, all the Bots have access to a doc, and the faction can make a kill.

But there are a few twist's on this conversion. If a player had the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th most votes on them that cycle, or the previous cycle, they cannot be converted, allowing for preventative voting. In addition, Sophie cannot convert villagers that have a role. Because of this, Sophie can target a list of up to 3 players to convert per turn. If her first choice has a role, they are notified that Sophie attempted to convert them, and the next player on the list will be converted.

The Machineborn only have 3 Unique roles. These roles pass on to a random roleless player of any Alignment when they die, and each time they pass on, they get Stronger.

The Knight can defend a player from an attack. The Knight Errant can Defend a player from an attack or a conversion. And The Knight Lancer can Defend or Kill a Player.

The Steward can Target a player and learn if they have been converted. The Grand Steward can move a player's vote. The Royal Steward can learn a player's alignment.

The Lover can cancel one vote on a player. The Fiance can cancel a player's action and vote. The Spouse can block a player's action and vote, and prevent them from speaking outside the thread for the next cycle.

Edited February 6, 2018 by A Joe in the Bush

[MacThorstenson he/him]

6 hours ago, A Joe in the Bush said:

But there are a few twist's on this conversion. If a player had the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th most votes on them that cycle, or the previous cycle, they cannot be converted, allowing for preventative voting. In addition, Sophie cannot convert villagers that have a role. Because of this, Sophie can target a list of up to 3 players to convert per turn. If her first choice has a role, they are notified that Sophie attempted to convert them, and the next player on the list will be converted.

This sounds like a really fun game! Two questions though, the first is what happens with two people tied with the most votes for a lynch? Is it randomly decided, or multiple lynchings. The second is, what happens for tied votes for second, third, and fourth place? if the person with the most votes has 3 and then there are 2 people with 2 votes and 2 people with one vote, how would that turn out? Would the people with two votes be tied for 2nd so they couldn't be converted, or would they be 2nd and third so they couldn't be converted? If the second scenario is true, then how will you determine which of the next players gets the 4th place for most votes?

[Jo and the Bush all/any]

Tied votes will be randomly decided.

If there is a tie in the 2nd 3rd or 4th most votes, 3 players at random will become unconvertable.

[Seonid he/him]

So - got a question for the community.  I'm going to be GMing a game in the near future.

However,  I'm up for both an MR and an LG, and they look like they'll overlap. So, i wanted to know which sounded more interesting to play next.

The LG would be another Shard game, a sequel to LG29, incorporating a number of new insights about the nature of the shards.

The MR is an anonymous game involving kandra and bodyswapping.

I'm taking suggestions as to which one I should run and which one I should delay.

[Steeldancer he/him]

Shard game? OH heck YEAH. 

And the Kandra game?????
HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO CHOOSE THEY BOTH SOUND COOL

[Jo and the Bush all/any]

Shard Game definitely

[Fifth Scholar he/him]

I’d love to hold Shardic Power!

(yeah, Shard game. Could you put Harmony in this one though? I think it’d make for an interesting switch-up)

[Seonid he/him]

6 minutes ago, Fifth Scholar said:

I’d love to hold Shardic Power!

(yeah, Shard game. Could you put Harmony in this one though? I think it’d make for an interesting switch-up)

Harmony has been in all of mine, I think. It just hasn't shown up because nobody held both ruin and cultivation at the same time...

[Droughtbringer]

Shard game! Shard game!

LG 29 was my first, and probably my favorite game. I'd love a sequal

[Straw he/him]

My vote is for the Shard game.

[DrakeMarshall he/him]

1 hour ago, Seonid said:

So - got a question for the community.  I'm going to be GMing a game in the near future.

However,  I'm up for both an MR and an LG, and they look like they'll overlap. So, i wanted to know which sounded more interesting to play next.

The LG would be another Shard game, a sequel to LG29, incorporating a number of new insights about the nature of the shards.

The MR is an anonymous game involving kandra and bodyswapping.

I'm taking suggestions as to which one I should run and which one I should delay.

Both of those sound fantastic 

I've been waiting for a bodyswapping kandra game since before I even knew we were getting anonymous accounts that would make it possible.

And I have heard quite a lot about your shard games, but have yet to see one firsthand.