The Art of Game Creation

[|TJ| he/him]

7 hours ago, Qianweilian said:

I had a lot of fun with the previous quick fix, so I wanted to try running one. What do y’all think of this concept? Any suggestions? Is it okay? How many elims should I have?

Very interesting, I always like games with alternate wincons. Thoughts/questions below - 

• Firstly, any particular reason you want to run it as a QF? This is bit more than your run-of-the-mill game, and I think it will benefit both the players, and you as the GM to be given a bit of breathing space. I think this game would work perfect as MR. 
• My opinion would be to not include conversion in this game. You would not want too many elements to complicate your game just for complexity's sake. 
•  Currently, Journey Counter is being affected only by Navigator (and Alendi). This would put one aspect of the wincon only on these roles, and then the game would revolve around trying to distribute (Distro) the Navigator evenly. You might need to bring another source which alters the Journey Counter. It could be something as simple as "executing village decreases the Journey Counter by 1, whereas executing an elim increases the Journey Counter by 1". Perhaps some limit on the number of times this can be used by the Navigator may be helpful as well. 
• Why would Alendi need to decrease the Journey Counter? 
• It's not quite clear from the 'in lieu of' line, but I assume players can only take 1 action per cycle, unless otherwise mentioned. Make sure to decide and include if elim kill is consider one of these actions per cycle. 

Regarding the number of elims, you will have to wait to see the player count, and best discuss it with the IM of your game, or your co-GM if you have one. 

[Qianweilian He/him]

13 hours ago, |TJ| said:

Firstly, any particular reason you want to run it as a QF? This is bit more than your run-of-the-mill game, and I think it will benefit both the players, and you as the GM to be given a bit of breathing space. I think this game would work perfect as MR. 

No, I just have only played a QF. You may be right about the length, I’ll think about it.

13 hours ago, |TJ| said:

My opinion would be to not include conversion in this game. You would not want too many elements to complicate your game just for complexity's sake. 

Okay. I was conflicted about it anyways.

13 hours ago, |TJ| said:

Currently, Journey Counter is being affected only by Navigator (and Alendi). This would put one aspect of the wincon only on these roles, and then the game would revolve around trying to distribute (Distro) the Navigator evenly. You might need to bring another source which alters the Journey Counter. It could be something as simple as "executing village decreases the Journey Counter by 1, whereas executing an elim increases the Journey Counter by 1".

That’s not a bad idea...

13 hours ago, |TJ| said:

Why would Alendi need to decrease the Journey Counter? 

That was a mistake.

13 hours ago, |TJ| said:

It's not quite clear from the 'in lieu of' line, but I assume players can only take 1 action per cycle, unless otherwise mentioned. Make sure to decide and include if elim kill is consider one of these actions per cycle. 

I was planning to include elim kill as an action.

I’ll work on it a bit more, than post an updated version later.

[Hoid Slayer He/Him]

What would y'all think about a mechanic where, the cycle after a player is exed, the living players get to vote on one free use of their action?

So, for example, Coinshot gets exed C1, C2 everybody gets a vote on who to Shoot

Votes are public and made alongside exe votes. Thinking of adding this to my worldhopper game, alongside with some other slight changes I'mma make to that ruleset

[Amanuensis he/him]

1 minute ago, Hoid Slayer said:

What would y'all think about a mechanic where, the cycle after a player is exed, the living players get to vote on one free use of their action?

So, for example, Coinshot gets exed C1, C2 everybody gets a vote on who to Shoot

Votes are public and made alongside exe votes. Thinking of adding this to my worldhopper game, alongside with some other slight changes I'mma make to that ruleset

Sounds neat to me. I always enjoy throwing alternative votes like this into games as it makes another point of analysis

[Jo and the Bush all/any]

3 hours ago, Hoid Slayer said:

What would y'all think about a mechanic where, the cycle after a player is exed, the living players get to vote on one free use of their action?

So, for example, Coinshot gets exed C1, C2 everybody gets a vote on who to Shoot

Votes are public and made alongside exe votes. Thinking of adding this to my worldhopper game, alongside with some other slight changes I'mma make to that ruleset

If it's in a long game, it would also make for a much more active night turn discussion. I think it's a good inclusion, though some roles may not  generate a lot of discussion/voting.

[Amanuensis he/him]

Idea for a game:

The rules are more like Laws of Politics than Laws of Physics; they can be broken but there are consequences if accused and convicted: example, Postman role breaks the rules by opening and tampering with mail. If they don't get caught, they get away with it, but if they get investigated and found guilty then they lose their role and go to jail

Then you just apply this concept to various other mechanics. Like Cops that do the investigating / handle the jail, but there are Dirty Cops too, etc. Could be neat!

 

Edited February 27 by Amanuensis

[CoderDrag0n8 He/They]

6 hours ago, Amanuensis said:

Idea for a game:

The rules are more like Laws of Politics than Laws of Physics; they can be broken but there are consequences if accused and convicted: example, Postman role breaks the rules by opening and tampering with mail. If they don't get caught, they get away with it, but if they get investigated and found guilty then they lose their role and go to jail

Then you just apply this concept to various other mechanics. Like Cops that do the investigating / handle the jail, but there are Dirty Cops too, etc. Could be neat!

 

That would be very cool

you have my official stamp of aprovalTM

[KaladinsSenseOfHumourSpren He/Him]

Alright, so I've made some changes to my taynix game

Here's the link again:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/16gvW0r8KneAmPXX_7D9v0ZK7Y1nXZuIya77M-_qweLY/edit?usp=sharing

I made some small tweaks, but the major changes are:

1. It has a name now, Spies in Detritus
2. I made it so that Inhibitor Slug's Trust 4 ability just adds one more person and you cannot provide exceptions anymore. This means that anyone shielded by it is vulnerable to the elim kill, as it blocks saves, though this may make it a little overpowered in elim hands. I might change this again.
3. The Hyperslug's Trust 3 ability, saving someone, cannot be used on the same person 2 cycles in a row.

I'm still thinking about whether I should add a way to speed up trust or not.

Thoughts? 

[Qianweilian He/him]

On 2/27/2026 at 2:56 PM, Amanuensis said:

they can be broken but there are consequences if accused and convicted

How would they be convicted? Would you have a trial with a jury of players, or is it just the player accuses them and the GM confirms or disproves? If you would have a trial, how does evidence work? Would the GMs give investigators copies of PMs? It sounds really interesting (maybe you could even have a judge role who could abuse courtroom authority to benefit their side), I’d like to hear more.

[Amanuensis he/him]

13 minutes ago, Qianweilian said:

How would they be convicted? Would you have a trial with a jury of players, or is it just the player accuses them and the GM confirms or disproves? If you would have a trial, how does evidence work? Would the GMs give investigators copies of PMs? It sounds really interesting (maybe you could even have a judge role who could abuse courtroom authority to benefit their side), I’d like to hear more.

TBH I did think about including Investigator and Lawyer roles as well (with me being the Judge, although offloading that role to players might be even better), but I was thinking you'd need 2/3 evidence of Means, Motive, and/or Opportunity to convict. Adding a jury into it could be interesting. Maybe only for specific accusations like Murder, though at that point it could possibly go for any and I could have multiple "cases" on trial each turn. Jury votes would probably be sent in the GM PMs rather than in the thread.

For accusations, I was thinking you need one piece of Means, Motive, or Opportunity evidence, and if you have it, you can either publicly declare it for the thread to "Grand Jury" vote on, or submit it anonymously to be "Grand Jury" voted on without revealing who the "Accuser/Witness" is, if your evidence is more sensitive / puts your own life at risk to the other elims.

This is definitely something I'm going to think more deeply about when I finish running my current game. Glad to see interest!

Edited March 2 by Amanuensis

[Qianweilian He/him]

2 hours ago, Amanuensis said:

TBH I did think about including Investigator and Lawyer roles as well (with me being the Judge, although offloading that role to players might be even better), but I was thinking you'd need 2/3 evidence of Means, Motive, and/or Opportunity to convict. Adding a jury into it could be interesting. Maybe only for specific accusations like Murder, though at that point it could possibly go for any and I could have multiple "cases" on trial each turn. Jury votes would probably be sent in the GM PMs rather than in the thread.

For accusations, I was thinking you need one piece of Means, Motive, or Opportunity evidence, and if you have it, you can either publicly declare it for the thread to "Grand Jury" vote on, or submit it anonymously to be "Grand Jury" voted on without revealing who the "Accuser/Witness" is, if your evidence is more sensitive / puts your own life at risk to the other elims.

This is definitely something I'm going to think more deeply about when I finish running my current game. Glad to see interest!

Means, Motive, and Opportunity gets weird for mafia. Means would be near impossible to prove or provide evidence for if the roles are secret, and always possible if the roles are public. Motive also feels weird, especially for your example of a postman. Generally, players in mafia are going to want to have as much information as possible, so this will be another slam dunk. Opportunity just feels like a rehash of means, unless you’re tracking exactly what time actions are submitted and who lives in what times zones.

I would use the “grand jury” to determine if stuff should go to PMs and court. Someone accuses someone else, and then a grand jury decides if it goes to trial, which would have a judge and a jury. Maybe add a prosecutor role who can immediately bump something to court. I don’t think a secret submission is a great idea, as it limits evidence and reduces analysis. Maybe only for a specific role, but you should have to put your neck on the line for a trial. I would also recommend using a two-thirds supermajority to convict/acquit instead of the tradition American unanimity, else the mafia would have it too easy.

With a trial system, you might be able to remove lynching altogether, or only enable it after a couple rounds and many people are killed. I wouldn’t add a lawyer role, as that only makes sense in a professional context where the lawyer is essentially hired by the defendant/prosecution. You’d have lawyers pressuring/investigating their clients or not trying their hardest in an odd way. A judge role would be great though, you could argue if the judge if mafia or not based on their actions.

I had an idea for the postman, if they could modify PMs. Perhaps all the PMs get routed through the GMs and the postman gets a chance to modify them. (Although you might need a couple of volunteer GMs in different time zones for that)

Instead of the rules being breakable, you could make the court stuff the game. You have to find out who the mafia is by traipsing through legalese. Possible settings I guess could be the Court of the Gods, Lasting Integrity, Alcatraz (if you’ve read it, you’ll know what I'm talking about), or (what I think is best), the Trustwarren with the Kandra.

Edited March 2 by Qianweilian

[Myst He/Him]

Finally made a Ruleset for my QF. Thoughts? 
(Isles of the Emberdark Spoilers)

Spoiler

Premise:

You are on first of the Sun, this is during the time Dusk is in Shadesmar. During this time the Ones above are trying to get the government to agree to its terms. The Government of First of the Sun does not want to. The Skybreakers are also there, trying to win their support 

 

Alignments

Skybreakers 

Ones Above

Government Officials 

 

Roles:

(Both Skybreakers and Ones Above have a NK)

Protection Aviar: your Aviar can use its abilities to prevent one person from dying per cycle(from the NK or the vote) you cannot protect the same person twice.

FutureSight Aviar: your Aviar allows you to target a player and learn either their role or alignment but not both

Mystic Aviar: your Aviar grants amazing abilities. If only it would share them with you…

 

Wincons:

The Eelakin Government: wins when all Skybreakers and Ones above are dead

Skybreakers: wins when all Ones Above and the Eelakin Government is dead.

Ones Above: wins when all the Skybreakers and Eelakin Government is dead.

 

[KaladinsSenseOfHumourSpren He/Him]

30 minutes ago, Mistfallen Soldier said:

Finally made a Ruleset for my QF. Thoughts? 
(Isles of the Emberdark Spoilers)

  Hide contents

 

Premise:

You are on first of the Sun, this is during the time Dusk is in Shadesmar. During this time the Ones above are trying to get the government to agree to its terms. The Government of First of the Sun does not want to. The Skybreakers are also there, trying to win their support 

 

Alignments

Skybreakers 

Ones Above

Government Officials 

 

Roles:

(Both Skybreakers and Ones Above have a NK)

Protection Aviar: your Aviar can use its abilities to prevent one person from dying per cycle(from the NK or the vote) you cannot protect the same person twice.

FutureSight Aviar: your Aviar allows you to target a player and learn either their role or alignment but not both

Mystic Aviar: your Aviar grants amazing abilities. If only it would share them with you…

 

Wincons:

The Eelakin Government: wins when all Skybreakers and Ones above are dead

Skybreakers: wins when all Ones Above and the Eelakin Government is dead.

Ones Above: wins when all the Skybreakers and Eelakin Government is dead.

 

Cool idea!

Are the Skybreakers and Ones Above allowed to have aviar, or will be a village-only thing?

[Myst He/Him]

6 minutes ago, Through The Living KSauce said:

Cool idea!

Are the Skybreakers and Ones Above allowed to have aviar, or will be a village-only thing?

The current plan is to let everyone have Aviar, but submitting a NK counts as your action. 

[KaladinsSenseOfHumourSpren He/Him]

4 minutes ago, Mistfallen Soldier said:

The current plan is to let everyone have Aviar, but submitting a NK counts as your action. 

Ah.

Two elim teams will be... interesting.

However, for the elim wincons, if they must play until the entire village is dead, I feel like that could drag on for too long

Perhaps it could be that the Ones Above win when the Skybreakers are all dead and they outnumber the villagers, and the Skybreakers win when the Ones Above are all dead and they outnumber the villagers?

[Myst He/Him]

1 minute ago, Through The Living KSauce said:

Ah.

Two elim teams will be... interesting.

However, for the elim wincons, if they must play until the entire village is dead, I feel like that could drag on for too long

Perhaps it could be that the Ones Above win when the Skybreakers are all dead and they outnumber the villagers, and the Skybreakers win when the Ones Above are all dead and they outnumber the villagers?

That’s true, especially since this a QF, yeah. That would work… yeah, I’ll change that. 

though I do expect that what will happen is that the village dies quickly and it comes down to One’s Above vs Skybreakers.

And in case it wasn’t obvious, the Elim Teams will be aware of who’s on their team, but not on the other Elim team 

[|TJ| he/him]

1 hour ago, Mistfallen Soldier said:

Mystic Aviar: your Aviar grants amazing abilities. If only it would share them with you…

Is this going to be a partial-blackout where we do not know some of the rules? Or is this just a funny way of saying they're vanilla? xD

[Myst He/Him]

funny way of saying vanilla 

[Through the living Wahr He/Him]

So I have been working on a Ruleset for quite a time, I was a bit reluctant to share it, but the ruleset cant get better if I dont get feedback and this is the best place for it. I know its quite complex, probably a bit too complex for a first Game.

Its a Wheel of Time Game set in the White Tower hunting the Black Ajah. 

So anyway heres the link Black Sister in the White Tower

[KaladinsSenseOfHumourSpren He/Him]

8 hours ago, Wahrheitswächter said:

So I have been working on a Ruleset for quite a time, I was a bit reluctant to share it, but the ruleset cant get better if I dont get feedback and this is the best place for it. I know its quite complex, probably a bit too complex for a first Game.

Its a Wheel of Time Game set in the White Tower hunting the Black Ajah. 

So anyway heres the link Black Sister in the White Tower

Alright so before I click, how heavy are the spoilers?

Because I'm reading the Dragon Reborn right now

Spoiler

Where I'm up to, Elayne, Nyneave and Egwene know that they exist (they're headed for Tear), and 13 of them, including Liandrin, have left. 

Are there are spoilers for stuff beyond this point?

[Through the living Wahr He/Him]

Aside from the Black Ajah,

There are Spoilers about certain Talents existing, which will come up later in the books.  

There are also Spoilers for the existence and usage of Certain Ter'Angreal. Most of which you haven't read about yet.

 

 

[KaladinsSenseOfHumourSpren He/Him]

1 hour ago, Wahrheitswächter said:

Aside from the Black Ajah,

There are Spoilers about certain Talents existing, which will come up later in the books.  

There are also Spoilers for the existence and usage of Certain Ter'Angreal. Most of which you haven't read about yet.

 

 

Ah

So I shall pass for now

To what book are there spoilers?

[Through the living Wahr He/Him]

I think the Spoilers go to Book 10, 

But its really only These are things that exist/are possible to do. 

 

[KaladinsSenseOfHumourSpren He/Him]

5 hours ago, Wahrheitswächter said:

I think the Spoilers go to Book 10, 

But its really only These are things that exist/are possible to do. 

 

Ah.

I might look at it after this book then.

[Myst He/Him]

I had an idea for a game, this most likely would be very… weird and potentially boring, so I don’t think I’d ever run it if I could. Anyways, the idea was to basically have a small group of people(3 or so) and each of them has a NK, except that the NK is just making the person they targeted unable to talk for a cycle in the thread. The people with NKs would be unable to talk in thread(who they kill would be their only way of communication) and the the players have to somehow find some piece of info about one of them. And yeah, the NKs would be differentiated between each other.

How bad would this go?