Long Game 43: Under the Banner of Adonalsium

[Devotary of Spontaneity]

30 minutes ago, Fifth Scholar said:

Oh, also, Seonid- why didn’t I get a win con like the other Shards did, after three cycles of holding my Shard?

You wouldn't be corrupted unless you used a Shardic ability twice consecutively. Being roleblocked when Silverlight blew up stopped this from happening. Also, Joe has already given away his Odium.

14 minutes ago, _Stick_ said:

Though if one of you (Hoid/Khriss) had died in like any way, the village would have certainly noticed how similar the roles were shaping out to be to the former role distribution, and would have killed the other one of you via lynch just to see if the roles changed:

It would have taken a long time to lynch either Drake or I. Drake had his 11 starting charges of Investiture, and I could have given Ruin to Ripple, which would have allowed me to become an unlynchable Scadrian hemalurgist. Fifth probably would have killed me, though.

16 minutes ago, Magestar said:

One's broken, and is acting as a container for something else.

Ah well. We were only one turn away from getting your Shard, and then HH had to end the game on us. Seriously, 5 Shards invested in Ripple? I don't suppose you'll accept this as a new container?
I'm not sure what you need a container for, but this polestone will hold a being of Shardic power.

 

3 minutes ago, randuir said:

what would my win-con have been if I'd pushed a bit harder to get taken over by ambition?

Quote

When Ambition is corrupted, all Shades flip win cons to Ambitions (and all future shades too). The goal is to have half of all players (living and dead) converted by the end of the game. I was excited about that one.

 

[DeTess she/her]

Heh, that's actually pretty much what I expected teh win-con to be.

[Seonid he/him]

@Fifth Scholar The trigger for shardic conversion was two consecutive uses of the shardic ability.  Failed actions as a result of an invalid target counted, but roleblocked actions didn't.

@randuir If you had been converted, all of your shades would have flipped to your win con, and you would have had the goal of getting 11 players converted to your win con

[The Young Pyromancer he/him]

If you want to know why Devotary knows so much, read Nalthais, aka the time travelling party doc.

Like the name?

Edited April 1, 2018 by TheYoungPyromancer

[Arraenae]

This game was a blast to co-GM, and I'm glad to have this experience. I learned a lot about the behind-the-scenes work that goes into these games, and also how to work a basic spreadsheet (turns out that there is code in the hidden columns). I wish this game and the spec doc were longer, but I'm also looking forward to getting more sleep soon  

Congrats to HH for that unexpected sweep, and keeping people thinking that you were harmless.

[RippleGylf she/her]

Dang. So I would have become a Hemalurgist-Mistborn-etc. fusion role? That would have been a fascinating turn of events.

Also, don't worry Wilson. I'm not about to quit SE. The last QF was way too fun to stop now. I do admit I'm somewhat relieved that it ended this early so I can focus this last month of the semester. And Monster, I was perfectly happy to pinch-hit for you, lynch train and all. I honestly think I played those last couple cycles as well as I could, admittedly with a decent amount of help from Devotary.

[Elbereth she/her]

 

8 hours ago, Arinian said:

I think no one just expected that Shards win con will be game ending. 

I did. >> But I only said so in my world doc, because I didn't have time to point it out anywhere else. I've been in lots of rehearsals the past week, so I'm sorry for going silent near the end, but I had a great time before that, and am very happy with my new playstyle (which is definitely a product of time rather than being evil, to be clear). 

A few more thoughts will probably be coming later, but thanks to Seonid and Rae for running this, and Wilson for helping, and all three of you for dealing with all the issues. You're all fantastic. 

[Fifth Scholar he/him]

Oops. I forgot Joe had given his Odium. Any chance the new owner wants to sell it for the items listed above?

Reading through the Elim docs was fun, especially the PAFO cards. I honestly didn’t expect to be such a conversion target. But yeah, looking at all the action coordination, it would have been really tough to lynch either Hoid or Khriss. I was right about Khriss!Ruin, though, in a way. And that paragraph was basically just a giant non sequiter. (I know I spelled that incorrectly.)

Actually, looking at how difficult it would’ve been to lynch Hoid/Khriss, it kind of scares me to think about what would have happened if one of the Elim teams actually got Odium or Ruin on N0. They would’ve been nearly impossible to kill, and without vigilantes that could shear through Shardic protection, it might have been many turns before the village could get close to killing the two big Eliminators, not to mention their teammates. I’m not sure how that could be fixed (or if it needs to be), but it does seem like something worth considering when you realize Hoid can sit on Scadrial and survive 11 lynches in a row. But this game was very balanced from what I saw, and great fun to play, so thank you very much to @Seonid and @Arraenae, Rae in particular for her splendid writeups. 

[The Young Pyromancer he/him]

I was suspicious.  I kept it mostly to myself though, because if I was correct I would get a quick, easy win.  I mean, why would Seonid give you an incentive for lynching aspects if they weren't dangerous?

[Stick. she/her]

Oohh about that Bard write up, I almost asked if the Stick shirt meant anything in-thread but then shrugged it off as nothing more than a cosmere reference and decided against asking about it.  I wouldn't have gotten a straight answer to that anyway but still

As for Auto's win con, I was pretty sure he had been corrupted but for some reason I didn't think it would be a game ending win con...

7 minutes ago, TheYoungPyromancer said:

I mean, why would Seonid give you an incentive for lynching aspects if they weren't dangerous?

I kind of just assumed lynching them was an option because an Elim!Auto could've had a lot of control over the lynch with their aspects and not being able to somehow take aspects out would be OP for Auto. And because I was certain that HH wasn't on team Hoid/Khriss, lynching the aspects just wasnt high on my priority list

[Jo and the Bush all/any]

1 hour ago, Fifth Scholar said:

Joe, I’ve got a trade for you.

Deal, @A Joe in the Bush?

Even if I had the Shard still, i wouldn't give it to you. I focus on clearing debts first. I currently owe Drought, Devo, and Ecthellion shards. Of course, you might be able to buy my debt from them so that i owe you a shard, but that is up to them.

I have reached out to the current owner of Odium!43, both to ask them if i might reveal their identity, or if i can negotiate prices on their behalf.

(I'm tempted to open up a bank, and start keeping items safe from future games. . . We should standardize how items work from game to game so that i can abuse the system.)

[MonsterMetroid]

Congrats HH and Pyro it was fun to play and observe everything unfold, see how much chaos and distraction ruin unfolded and HHH take advantage of the rule change so thoroughly.

 

Edit. Just curious @Megasif why?

Edited April 1, 2018 by MonsterMetroid

[Seonid he/him]

Just for the curious, here were the win conditions for the remaining shards.

Ruin - destroy all planets

Honor - prevent 4 attacks between their ability and their windrunners

Endowment - return 4 players

Devotion - prevent 3 lynches

Dominion - be the vessel of all shards out of containment

Preservation - pick a player and keep them alive until the end of the game.

[Stick. she/her]

@Seonid could Preservation have picked Survival's Vessel?:P 

[The Young Pyromancer he/him]

Yep

[Fifth Scholar he/him]

Okay. My wincon would have been...infeasible, to put it lightly.

I read through all the docs. Devotary, that’s not a terrible impersonation of my speech patterns, actually, but I don’t make a habit of talking to myself in front of others :P. 

The main impression I got from the Hoid doc was nonlinearity, and of course the weird deal(s) centering around the deal with Orlok/Joe. Would one of the parties involved care to explain that?

Spec doc- yeah, I was a bit of an idiot about HH. To be fair, I did have suspicion that his win con had something to do with aspects on every world, and I didn’t interfere because I didn’t think it would end the game. Because when you think about it, that’s a fairly easy win con to acheive, especially for one that will end the game- Ruin won’t waste his planet destroying action killing one of your aspects, and will likely destroy other planets, minimizing the number of planets you need to put aspects on. So while it could be argued Ruin and Autonomy offset each other, in practice they’ll try to steer clear of each other to maximize action efficiency. Which is why I think Autonomy’s wincon was a tad too simple to pull off, and though I may not have changed the win con itself, I wouldn’t have made it end the game. In fact, if HH hadn’t attracted the suspicion he did, had to out himself, and use his actions to ward off lynch attempts, he could have won a cycle earlier. And if Ruin hadn’t changed hands so often, well, that’s another planet dead that Autonomy doesn’t need to put an aspect on. So Ruin’s win con was practically unacheivable- he would have had to kill planets first that had aspects on them to ward off Autonomy’s wincon, but then he can’t actually kill any planets, making his ability near useless- in addition, on the single planet left remaining even if Ruin had killed the other five and there wasn’t an aspect there, Autonomy just places an aspect during the Day and wins. So I think that’s a bit weird from a balance standpoint. And my eventual wincon? Hold all U.N. Shattered Shards? Ha. First, I have to either find Odium and Shatter a ton of Shards (Which I was on the way to accomplishing, to be fair, but that would have taken forever with little more than guesswork to go on, and while I’m being hunted by Odium and the Elim factions) or convince people to pass me Shards. And why would somebody just surrender me their Odium or Ruin? I’d have to lynch them, and hope it ended up in my hand- except the Shard passes to a random non-Vessel, so I couldn’t get it. And then we’re back to square one. That win con, too, would have been near, if not completely, impossible. It doesn’t help that I couldn’t have won with anyone else, either. Not saying this game was broken, but there were a few aspects of it that could be improved, I think. And I’m not saying that any of this reduced the enjoyment I got from this game, either (which is why I play: because it’s fun), but I do think balance could be better in a few areas. 

Finally, yes, I see the autocorrect. But it’s absolutely beautiful, and it’s staying.

And finally finally, I don’t mean any offense to Seonid or Rae or anyone who created or ran the game by saying this. I’m not angry, and I think overall each of you did a great job with this, I’m just making suggestions for next Shard game, which will hopefully be just as fun .

[MonsterMetroid]

2 minutes ago, Fifth Scholar said:

in addition, on the single planet left remaining even if Ruin had killed the other five and there wasn’t an aspect there, Autonomy just places an aspect during the Day and wins.

Haha yeah I made that point in the spec doc too. Actually throughout the sepc doc a couple of us said it seemed too easy for autonomy to pull it off compared to the others but at teh same time HH did take full advantage of the ruin panic and remained ignored whihc I think the point of this game is to never ignore a shard ( whic when there is eleven of them hurts your brain)

I think seonid said it though that it looks like the shardic individual win cons might need some balancing but overall the flavors of the shards felt fun and satisfying and I dont think Autonomy will win next shard game to say the least after this one haha.

[Seonid he/him]

@Fifth Scholar note that your win con would not have been you hold unshattered shards, just all shards out of containment. Also, it wasn't game ending, so it was compatible with other win cons.

But yes, very difficult, even more so given the state of the game as it turned out, not just in theory.

Autonomy was probably too easy, and Ruin perhaps too hard. I like MMs proposed alteration to autonomy (outnumber all living players with you + your aspects).

[The Young Pyromancer he/him]

If all the planets are blown up, Autonomy wins, because they have an aspect on each remaining planet.

Also, there should be more charges of investiture floating around.

[Fifth Scholar he/him]

Just now, Seonid said:

@Fifth Scholar note that your win con would not have been you hold unshattered shards, just all shards out of containment. Also, it wasn't game ending, so it was compatible with other win cons.

But yes, very difficult, even more so given the state of the game as it turned out, not just in theory.

Autonomy was probably too easy, and Ruin perhaps too hard. I like MMs proposed alteration to autonomy (outnumber all living players with you + your aspects).

Okay, that does make a bit more sense. Though nobody really returned Shards to containment, either. Can’t really fault them though, because I didn’t. I do like that alteration to Auto’s win con, though. Makes them more of a proper “faction.” 

Thanks again for running this. I know I’m saying this a lot, but you two had a very complex game to keep track of, and with the last minute vote and action switches people were pulling, including myself, it didn’t make your job any easier, and your number of mistakes considering these factors is actually remarkably low. And the Shard game format is a ton of fun, so I appreciate you running such a complex, intriguing game.

[Jo and the Bush all/any]

Quote

By the way, I hate to be the paranoid one, but Joe has a history of lying about his win con in Shard games - how confident are we this is the truth? Fairly? It makes sense that his win condition wouldn’t be shattering every Shard, as that would take too long and too much luck, and Joe doesn’t have much reason to lie

 I like Bard.

Also, @Steeldancer, i apologize for killing you, since i literally had no reason to. I just chose you mostly at random, and partially because it amused me to kill the one who most wanted Odium.

[Steeldancer he/him]

11 minutes ago, A Joe in the Bush said:

 I like Bard.

Also, @Steeldancer, i apologize for killing you, since i literally had no reason to. I just chose you mostly at random, and partially because it amused me to kill the one who most wanted Odium.

*sniffs* Joe, you've hurt my feelings you massive troll. I thought *sniff* we had something. 
Whatever. I kind of wish this game had lasted longer. I will post some more RP tomorrow though, because I still have more to do. 

Also, I was totally suspicious of Devotary. I was really suspicious of them after how badly they wanted me dead. Glad I was on to something.

Edited April 1, 2018 by Steeldancer

[Hemalurgic Headshot he/him]

@Seonid, @Arraenae, thank you for this great game. It was very fun (I won). It was a very interesting game to play, and if I hadn’t focused on Autonomy, I’m sure I would have been overwhelmed by everything going on, even everything I wasn’t aware of.

Mentions to Arraenae again for the superb write ups. Excellent.

[The Young Pyromancer he/him]

I won too.  Shardic bros for the win!!!

[DrakeMarshall he/him]

I had figured Autonomy's win condition would be to have an aspect on every intact world... But I also had figured that this would only cause the end of the game if this happened while all planets were intact. Oops.

Congratulations to the shard of Autonomy, and their vessel's distinctively Autonomous sense of fashion 

Also to Pyro for Surviving their first game.

4 hours ago, Steeldancer said:

Also, I was totally suspicious of Devotary.

SAME  Though we may have been protecting each other more than anything else.

There was no reroll, but everything considered that was pretty fun. I was planning contingencies for how to play it when people caught on. (although honestly, my title should have tipped you all off ) I had plans for some interesting RP which went incomplete. Ah well.

And finally, big thanks to @Seonid and @Arraenae for putting on a game that can't have been easy to handle, but came out pretty well anyhow.