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Wyrmhero

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  1. Wyrmhero
    This idea has been on my mind for a while, no real reason why other than rereading the series. It's a simple game, but with a small temporal twist. It also brings back the Naive Cop Role, which is something I'd like to see a bit more. Sandman: Endless Nights (MR) Everything that is, has a beginning. This is true of all things that are, even the Endless. Destiny, Death, Dream, Destruction, Desire, Despair and Delirium, each are a facet of reality, a creation born of the forces of the world and the consciousness of the universe. They are older than almost all things in Creation, and they will last until the end of it. They cannot truly die, for how can you kill a concept? Another aspect merely takes its place. Dream, also known as Morpheus, has many titles, and is said to accumulate them as others would friends. His is the realm of dreams, and also stories, magic, and hope. He creates both the dreams and nightmares that all living beings experience, populating The Dreaming with them, while he sits in his castle as lord and master of his realm. Morpheus takes great pain to ensure the smooth running of the dreams of mortals, and is meticulous in his duty, seeing it as the entire reason for his existence. Which just makes it stranger that he has gone missing. Without him, dreams will still mostly continue as they should, though oddities may arise here and there. But the problem is not with mortals, but with the beings that make up The Dreaming. Without their ruler, their core, the people start to unravel at the seams. Dreams have been abandoning their posts, realising that without anyone to command them, they have little reason to actually be here. All this would be acceptable, if not pleasing, if it weren't for the Nightmares. They were created by Morpheus to be cruel, to be the evil in the hearts of dreamers. They are not evil in themselves, though with their leash removed, such thoughts are bubbling to the surface. No longer do they want to hold themselves back, to inflict only minor discomforts on their victims. Now they want true freedom, and they will kill any Dream that stands in their way. General Rules The game is more-or-less a standard Elimination Game. Most normal rules apply. The Eliminators win when they outnumber the Village, and the Village wins if there are no Eliminators remaining in the game. Players may have a Dream Aspect in addition to their Alignment of being a Dream or Nightmare. There may be more than one of any Dream Aspect. However, the Dreaming is an odd place, and time is malleable in the dreamscape. As such, Night Turns do not necessarily follow Day Turns, or vice versa. At the end of each Turn, a coin will be flipped to determine the nature of the next Turn. Days and Nights are two days each in length. Dream Aspects The Raven - A symbol of wisdom and of death. The Raven visits the dead doc every Turn, ferrying messages back and forth. Each Day, The Raven may send a message to the dead of 140 characters or less. The dead may send a message to The Raven(s) each Night, of the same maximum size. The Genius Loci - An intelligent land, a heart of the Dreaming, anthropomorphised. The Genius Loci is very difficult to kill. They require two deaths to die fully. The first time they die, their Role is revealed. The Guardian - The Guardian is a defender of Dreams and dreamers. The Guardian may protect a player each Night from attack. If that player is attacked during that Night, they survive the first attack. The Cain - The first murderer. Each Night, your action is automatically used to kill your brother, Abel. You also bear the Mark of Cain on your forehead, a warning and a promise of retribution to any who dare slay you - Any player that kills you will also die. This mark lasts even if your brother dies. You know who your brother is at the start of the game, and if one of you wins as Nightmare, then you both win. The Abel - The first murder victim. Each Night, you will be killed by your brother, Cain, and then brought back to life the next Turn as if nothing happened, without anyone being told that you were killed. If another player kills you, however, you die as normal. You know who your brother is at the start of the game, and if one of you wins as Nightmare, then you both win. Your bumbling personality means you can coax information out of people. Each Day, you discover the Alignment of a person you voted for. The Dark Mirror - While you are closer to being a Nightmare than a benign Dream, you are still an adherent to the laws of Morpheus. It gives you a measure of sanity, but you are still willing to do the things other Dreams are not. You may kill a player each Night Turn. The Janitor - Yours is the job of reshaping the Dreaming according to the whims of Dreamers. During each Turn, you may choose Day or Night. The probability that the next Turn will be the one that you chose is increased by a flat 10%. While a Janitor is alive, messages may be sent between players without restriction. The Librarian - While not as prophetic as Destiny's tome, the books you take care of have every possible tale ever thought up within them, You may use this to find information out about a player, discovering their Alignment each Night. The Foolish Librarian - You just keep looking in the wrong places. All players you try to discover the Alignment of will show as 'Dreams'. You do not know you are the Foolish Librarian.
  2. Wyrmhero
    The GM's 2p So, it's time for a little analysis. There are four areas to focus on here, with two of them being 'new' mechanics: Money, and the Smoking Gun. After that, I'll look at Roles, and then Role distribution. Money There were three reasons for the existence of money. First of all, it was to limit players when it came to throwing around messages, it give people more things to do, and finally, it was to provide a target for Lurchers as a Cop-Role. Now, it probably won't surprise those of you who played to learn that Money actions were basically unused. Gambling went pretty perfectly, but then it wasn't too difficult a thing to get right. People gambled, and some won and some lost, but the average number of coins in the game increased. As intended, the expectation return was always positive. I wouldn't change this mechanic in future games unless I wanted a more carefully controlled money influx. Auctioning votes was a pretty lame duck of a mechanic. We had two vote-sells at the beginning of the game only, and it's not really hard to see why: It's a nice idea in theory, but it is basically an anti-Village mechanic, as it benefits the Eliminators more, and allows them to make pseudo-secret votes. I think that idea was actually discussed on the Eliminator doc. Its intended use was for information-gathering rather than gathering money. I'm of the opinion that it could work in a more team-based game (such as a House War game such as Winter's that's currently gearing up), but not in a two-sided Village vs Mafia game. Messaging surprised me. It's a very powerful ability to create secret discussions between the Village, and I'm still trying to figure out a way to limit it enough that it's not too strong but is still useful. In this game, I think it swung too far to the useless end. End-of-Cycle PMs, and only one per Cycle were way too weak, as you couldn't discuss the results of that Cycle, so you would always be one behind. The financial and opportunity costs involved were sufficiently negligable though that it could be used, in theory. I think it might work better if you simply charged players 1 coin per PM they sent in a Cycle, but it may get a little fiddly. It was also intended that the Eliminators could offload excess coins onto other players, and make them targets for Lurchers. That didn't come up, for obvious reasons Overall... I'd say this version of money wasn't a success. There weren't enough interesting actions to choose from, and while they were always meant to be small, they had too little (or too detrimental) an effect to bother with. Without using the other actions, this made Gambling actually potentially harmful as well. As such, I'd probably scrap it entirely from the game unless I could rework it and add more actions. The Smoking Gun A few months ago, I realised that the Smoking Gun was effectively a second lynch if used correctly, rather than a pseudo-random kill. I revised my evaluation of this game to consider one question - How powerful were two lynches? It strengthened the Village, but it was difficult to judge how much by. Effectively, if used as a lynch (as it probably should be), it was only as good as the Village lynch discussions. I hoped however this could be tempered by people having different ideas about who was guilty (as it did not require a majority vote or anything) and the fact that an Eliminator could use it. In this game, it seemed to manage to not be overpowering. I would probably this was a successful test, perhaps hinting that it's not quite as strong as I think due to the Village loss. Of interest though is that it didn't encourage activity. Surgebound Rainspren was inactive from Cycle 1 onwards, came back for Cycle 4 when he had the Smoking Gun, and then went inactive again on Cycle 5. Arguably, it would have been better for him to bite the bullet, let the Smoking Gun kill him, and let the game continue. I find his return to inactivity to be curious, and I'm not sure what can be done about it on a larger scale - Particularly since I was also messaging each player every Cycle already with the number of coins they had, even if they didn't earn any. Maybe Joe's suggestion for inactives may bear fruit. Do I think the Smoking Gun must be changed? That's a good question. The Smoking Gun is a relatively simple mechanic, after all. I'm not sure what I would change about it on its own. I might consider, however, changing the game rules so the identity of the dead player remains hidden, by doing what I did in my House War game - Lynched kills reveal Alignment, Kill Actions (and the Smoking Gun) would not. This would weaken it a bit more and potentially encourage more discussion about the results of it, which would be nice. It may not even be a real nerf due to the discussions it could bring about. But weakening it is probably a good thing, to make sure that the game is a bit easier to keep balanced. Roles My thoughts on the Roles was that I should mitigate the speed of the game a little. Koloss-Blooded and the Archivist were intended to reduce the possibility of mistakes (or successes, arguably) being made by the lynch and/or Smoking Gun, to provide a little bit of a buffer to stop either team losing too quickly. I think I might have added an additional Koloss-Blooded to the Village side if I was running this game with hindsight, again to slightly prevent the Village hunting itself down. Overall, as these are pretty much standard Roles, there's not much to say on them. I might remove the Archivist though, as it's a bit too defensive for what is meant to be a faster-paced game. The Spinner was a Role I was interested in testing out - The Two-Shot potential-killer. Essentially, something you couldn't defend against, something to add an inevitability to the game, as it were. They were also meant to be a failsafe against the Pulser, as Roleblocking is very powerful if used right. However, by weakening the Pulser as I did to only target in the future (a change I don't really regret in this game), I weakened the Spinner quite a bit as well. It was also a Role that didn't really do much for the Village side while being ridiculously good on the Eliminator side. I'd probably remove it if I removed money from the game. Certainly it needs to be made less variable for each side. The Rioter is kind a Role I'm not sure about. It's kind of a standard Role in the games we play, but it always feels lackluster to me. I'd like to buff it a little, and considering Auction-bonuses were not valid, I'm not sure what could be done about it. I could perhaps allow a secret additional vote rather than changing a vote? It's something that could work, at least. The Tineye is a standard tracking Role, able to find both killers in this game. It's rather weak when the kill can be passed around, but that's fine in this game. Other games have it so that a single Mafia player must make the kill each time, which could be a way to make it stronger if I wanted to. I might also consider informing the player of a random action instead of a kill, weakening and strengthening it. I'd fold it in with the Seeker in this case, who is another Role we always have. The Lurcher was interesting. It was a third Cop-Role, but not one people picked on until after the Village managed to lynch all their Lurchers. It was meant to be a response to the ability to stack coins up. Stealing coins was only a side-effect of finding out how many coins a player had, as the more coins meant the more likely the player had killed someone. Again, it's not a definite, as it could've been a Smoking Gunner who had that much money, but that was fine. These would obviously disappear if there was no money element to the game. Role Distribution I gave the Eliminators four players this game, as I wanted to have ~25% of the players as Eliminators, rather than ~20%. The fact that we had two players either inactive or massively inactive meant that in practice it was more like ~30%, which is obviously too much. I can't account for that when distributing the teams, but in hindsight 3 Eliminators would've been more of the right number, I think. Distribution was done pretty simply - I picked four players at random, and rerolled if I didn't get at least one experienced player on their team. I also wanted to give them a slightly larger team due to the presence of the Smoking Gun, which harms them quite a bit. That was very much in my mind when I gave them the players they had - A vanilla guy, an Archivist, a Spinner and a Lurcher. The Lurcher was meant to be a semi-vanilla player, but one who could harry the Village a little by stealing their coins and limiting their messaging capabilities. Obviously that didn't happen. Now, the two more controversial decisions - An Archivist and a Spinner. I admit a part of me was rather pleased to deny the Village a Doctor Role, but that's not why I did it. As mentioned before, I did it to stop a very quick Mafia death to the Smoking Gun. I did not give them anything to interfere with the lynch, and left them vulnerable to it, but I wanted to mitigate the Village advantage a bit. The Spinner is due to how I saw each Village Role. Without an Archivist, I considered the Koloss-Blooded to be more about blocking lynches and the Smoking Gun, rather than defending themselves against the mafia. For that matter, there were so few defensive Roles that I thought it unlikely that the Spinner would have a large effect on the game. If someone less experienced than Mailliw got it, we may have seen no Spinning-related deaths all game. To pair with this somewhat stronger Mafia team though, I gave the Village a strong set of Roles too - Two Koloss-Blooded to reduce them destroying themselves too quickly, and more important, four 'Cop' Roles of various flavours. The Lurchers, as discussed, were meant to check the amount of coins other players had, but died a bit too quick for that. The Seeker was meant to counter the Spinner - If they did manage to hit a Koloss-Blooded, they had a semi-confirmed Mafia Role to search for. The Tineye was, as mentioned, a somewhat more long-shot Role, but it played its part too. Conclusion It was a very close game at the end, but ultimately the Village did not discuss enough on at least one Cycle, in my opinion, to collect the information that was needed. It was a very quick game compared to most, and I think people underestimated how much discussion would need to happen to get the lynch and Smoking Gun to go off properly. The Village was originally going to lose (most likely on) Cycle 4, if it weren't for Alvron's excellent targeting. I also think it was lost on the back of the inactivity, right at the end. It was still winnable on Cycle 5 by the Village if it was 2:3 instead of 2:1, regardless of votes being lost due to Spinning. If Feligon was lynched, then there would have been no Village deaths, and it would've been 1:3, which was more than winnable. If Clanky was lynched, then the game would have been declared a draw the next Cycle as long as each player voted for the other, as I wouldn't declare either side a winner on the back of a coin flip. That would've been rather fun. So, what would I change when running it again? Well, there's two ways to go about this, I think. This game has a rather good potential for a Mid-Range game, I think, if the money aspect was extended properly. This is difficult though, as there's only a certain amount of different actions that could be used. I could probably also delay the Smoking Gun for a few Cycles to let it last a bit longer and let the Village get up to speed, but that might make the teams a little too unbalanced. It's something I would look at when team-balancing, I think. The best thing though, I think, would be to simplify the game massively as a Quick Fix again - Remove most of the Roles, remove money, and run it almost vanilla + Smoking Gun. The Roles I would keep would probably only be the Koloss-Blooded and a simple Alignment Cop. That lets the Smoking Gun take center stage as the unique aspect of the game, while also making it a lot easier to balance. As Meta said recently, games don't need to be complicated to be well designed, and I think it's something that this game could showcase quite well. Regardless of questions of balance though, it hit my usual goal for games - People seemed to have fun. Certainly I had fun running it, though there were despairing moments when I couldn't think up any tags... I also want to apologise again to spencer12347 for killing him without a coin flip. I feel really guilty about that. People had fun, and that's what matters. I hope to see you all again when I run my next game
  3. Wyrmhero
    As it was pointed out to me on both Spec, Eliminator and (I think) Dead Docs that our four Lawmen were... A Suspicious Man, a Suspicious Scottish Man, a Lawman, and a Suspicious Panda. All coincidental, but weird . Also, if I didn't give you a link to the dead doc, I apologise. Not too important, just a place to discuss the game after people have died.
  4. Wyrmhero
    Final Cycle When Nifergo entered the cavern the next day, he was greeted by a rather amusing sight. John Smith and McNinja were standing opposite each other, eyes locked in a deadly staring game. The air around them shimmered slightly, before returning to normal. "Oh, it's a cadmium bubble," Nifergo said, as comprehension dawned on him. He nodded to himself a little, and wondered if he should find a seat to watch it. Well, it wasn't as if there was any other entertainment here. The only other way he could occupy himself would be if he tried to dig at the cave-in at the entrance, which - while useful - was very dull. Then the white-coated man in the mask pushed off from the ground, very slowly, a sword in his hand. He hung in mid air, as though held there by invisible ropes, before descending, blade headed for Mister Smith's neck. 'Where did McNinja get a sword from?', Nifergo wondered. But no, he had more important things to deal with right now. However fast McNinja was, John was ready for him before he'd even sprung the attack. His hand was already drawing his revolver, his eyes locked on where McNinja would land. It was almost comical how slow the scene played out. Nifergo drew his own gun from its holster and aimed, taking his time. He could afford to, after all. He tapped a bit of luck, and fired. The bullet struck the field and then slowly down instantly, as though it were suddenly flying through water. As it hit the boundary, it refracted off its original path. John brought his gun level, prepared to aim, drew his finger back... ...And the bullet struck him in the shoulder. He fired, the bullet missing wildly even as McNinja landed. The doctor's sword struck the side of his neck, off-target thanks to John's unexpected movement. But it was enough. John hit the ground, blood trailing from his throat. He was still alive, enough to raise his gun again, but by then, McNinja was already exiting the bubble. "Aren't you worried he's going to drop it and shoot you?" Nifergo asked. McNinja shrugged. "Why would he? The longer he leaves it up, the longer he survives in our time. The more chance there is someone will come to help him." The gun fired behind them, the noise drawn out to their ears. "Besides, he'd never be lucky enough to hit me from this dist-" He swore suddenly as the bullet hit his foot. He collapsed to the ground, holding his foot and letting out more curses. "Bastard shot me in the foot! Dammit! Nifergo, get this bullet out of me!" Nifergo gave him a disappointed look. "Physician, heal thyself, and so on. Come on," he said, pulling McNinja to one foot. "Let's get you out of here before he can try again. I'll finish up here." * For a man who got up every day to painstakingly apply makeup to himself to make himself look normal, The Doctor was disappointingly asleep when Nifergo visited him that night. More of his luck, Nifergo supposed. Even if it was a bit anticlimactic. Though he'd rather not get into a scuffle with a Koloss, even if this one was a bit young. He decided to use both guns for this. It was not a good idea to underestimate his target this late in the game, no matter how simple it seemed. He couldn't help but thing of this as a game, if a high-stakes one. A consequence of his Feruchemy, he supposed. And while he might play games, while he might see things in terms of risks and rewards... He didn't like to gamble. Both guns were placed under The Doctor's throat. The Doctor stirred, started to open an eye, and Nifergo pulled the trigger. It was messy, but at least it was quick. * One last person left. Another dangerous one, this one a mercenary. A man trained to kill, rather than just being biologically more capable of doing so. That made him seem much more dangerous to Nifergo, for some reason. Well, his disposal of the Suspicious Man was proof enough of that. Clean knife-work. Disturbingly so. Slowly opening the bedroom, Nifergo looked in. When he saw no-one inside, he crept in further. Something heavy fell on him from above, something human. "Got you, you damned copper!" Karlin shouted, as his knife struck through Nifergo's right shoulder. Nifergo let out an exclamation of pain and rolled over, trying to pin Karlin under him instead. This was not good, not good at all. He had no weapons suitable for a melee, while Karlin had a very sharp - and now very bloody - knife. This was not good. He hit the wall as he rolled, failing to reverse the grapple between them. He was now on his back, looking up at Karlin. There was murder in the mercenary's eyes, but something was different too. There was a sense of desperation there too. He was almost manic. Karlin's dagger came down, on the same shoulder he'd wounded while Nifergo was face down in the dirt. "I'm not going to make this quick, lawman. You'll spill your guts before I spill your guts, yeah?" Another slash on his shoulder. Nifergo's clothes were stained with red, but the adrenaline stopped him feeling the pain of his open wounds. Nifergo tapped his luck again, and the fourth strike went for his left shoulder instead. He struggled, trying to push himself up to throw off Karlin's strike. Rather than tearing into his chest, the knife glanced off the lawman's badge in his pocket. It surprised Karlin, made him pause. Nifergo used the opportunity to kick Karlin in the groin, and made an attempt for safety. Karlin wasn't one to be put off by that though. He grabbed for Nifergo, even through the pain, and managed to pull on his belt. A pair of revolvers slid out of the holsters, across the floor. They looked at each other. Nifergo leapt for the nearest gun. Karlin leapt for Nifergo. Even as Nifergo's hand closed around the handle, Karlin was on his arm with his dive. There was a snap inside Nifergo's arm, and his hand went limp. Karlin picked the gun up himself, and slowly stood up. He spat a little blood and a tooth out from when he hit the floor, and grinned at Nifergo. "Looks like this is the end for you, lawman," he said, flashing a bloody smile at the hunter who had become the hunted. His foot came down on Nifergo's back to stop him moving, and the gun aimed at his head. "Any last words?" He didn't give Nifergo a chance to reply. "Too bad!" He pulled the trigger, and his hand exploded. Karlin fell backwards, cradling his hands to his chest. Nifergo picked the other gun up and levelled it at Karlin. "You should've let me finish. My last words would have been 'I'm still tapping luck.'" He put a bullet in Karlin's chest, and left the body to the earth. * When Nifergo returned to where he left McNinja, he found the man bandaging himself up gingerly on a seat. He gave him the secret policeman handshake and sat down beside him. "I'm not a doctor or anything, but isn't it unhygenic to do that in the kitchen?" Nifergo asked. McNinja shrugged. "Well, not like we're going to eat in here. Best to leave as quickly as possible. It'll take us a bit of time to dig through the rubble. Well, you, I suppose. I can't exactly dig like this. Is Smith dead yet?" Nifergo nodded. "Either he run out of cadmium, or he realised it was all futile. One way or another, his soul's with Ironeyes now. I need a bit of bandaging up too, for that matter. Crazy mercenary almost killed me." "It happens," McNinja said with a small smile as he took out another set of bandages. * It took Nifergo what felt like the rest of the day to shift the last of the rubble - clearly it wasn't quite as bad as they had thought - with some help from the injured doctor, but all the physical strain he had endured was just washed away when he saw daylight outside for the first time in almost a week. "It's a pity about the other two, but we knew this was high risk when we signed up for this. Should be worth a pretty commendation, don't you think? Might even get a bit more money as well," Nifergo said as he finished moving the last rock out of the way so they could leave safely. "Job well done and all that." "But killing thieves was pretty lucrative anyway, right?" McNinja asked. "Certainly think that taking out these thieves single-handedly would be worth a promotion though." "I wouldn't say single handed really," Nifergo shrugged. "I mean, that weird guy took out one, and we all tricked them into killing each other..." he trailed off when he felt something metallic placed against his neck. "That's not really what I meant," McNinja said. "What?" Nifergo asked, not daring to look around. "But- that's not what we signed up for! We're Lawmen! What happened to upholding the law?" He tapped into his chromiummind, and found nothing. "In this place, with this finely crafted gun pointed at you... I am the law," McNinja replied. He pulled the trigger. Nifergo's luck had run out. * One hundred and fourteen boxings. It had taken him quite some time to count up the contents of Nifergo's purse. Didn't help that they were all of different denominations. Still, combined with the fourteen he already had... Well, it made a pretty nice bit of danger-pay. Add in the fact that he had the crew's other spoils to come back for as well, and the very likely possibility of promotion... He picked up a plank of damaged wood from one of the crates damaged a week ago in the cave in, and used it to prop himself up. Walking forward, using it as a walking stick, he ventured out into the open air again. It was sunrise. Smiling to himself, he started to make his way back to the station, coins jangling in his full pocket with every step. Who said that crime didn't pay? The Scoundrels fought the Lawmen, and the Lawmen won! Sorry Nifergo about killing you there at the end, even if you did actually survive the game. I just felt you were hogging the spotlight just a little this Cycle, so had to do something to put McNinja back in . Dramatis Personae Master Spreadsheet Speculator Doc Eliminator Doc Dead Doc GM's analysis of the game will be uploaded tomorrow. Thank you all for playing. I hope you had fun
  5. Wyrmhero
    And the Cycle is over!
  6. Wyrmhero
    As I've said on the Dead Doc, I think this could work. The deletion of the spec doc is a little inelegant though. It could perhaps be done more smoothly if you asked players who are spectating to sign in on the doc using emails, and then boot them off if they get chosen? But then not everyone wants to give out their email for that sort of thing. The main question here though other than that is how to define an inactive. Different GMs have different ideas of what makes a GM, and it is very different depending on the game size. It is certainly worth a trial run though, in my opinion.
  7. Wyrmhero
    Cycle 5 "So," the shadowy man said. "Here we are again. Who wants to say something first?" Ralon sighed. "You know what we're going to say. Only reason you're here is because you know there's no escape." "Wrong," The Suspicious Man laughed a little. "I am here because I'm not going to run from people like you. It's as simple as that. When I took the badge..." His hand tapped the badge on his shirt. "Well... I took an oath. An oath to pursue criminal scum like you anywhere and everywhere. And, well... Here I am. This is where I want to be. So why would I run?" "You haven't been wearing that under your coat all this time, have you? Really?" Nifergo asked, in a bemused tone. "As I said, I'm not afraid of you all," The Suspicious Man shrugged. "Admirable, I suppose," The Doctor commented. "But bravery and stupidity are often hard to distinguish between." "Well, will you choose brave stupidity, or smart cowardice?" He asked. "I'll tell you a truth, between me and my boys, we have the numbers to take you out. So, are you going to come quietly, and let us arrest you? Or are we going to have to deliver justice in the form of a bullet rather than a Cell? Either's fine by me." There was silence as every man there (and the woman) considered their position. "If we're arrested, we're only going to face the noose anyway," Cloud' eventually said slowly as she thought about it. "You're telling us to die here or to die later. Seems to me that the choice you offer is no choice at all." "Seems you have your answer," Ralon said, his mouth tugging up into a small, grim smile. "Looks to me like you're bluffing, trying to save your own sorry hide. We're not playing your game." The Suspicious Man suspiciously reached into his pocket, and then there was a pistol pointed at the group. "Well, well, looks like I've got an ace in my pocket. So, we're going to do this nice and slow, alright? No sudden movements, no-one gets hurt." "Except you." Karlin's knife cut across the Suspicious Man's throat from behind. The Suspicious Man's hand went up, almost in a trance-like state, to feel the deep cut that was oozing blood. His legs lost their strength and he keeled over. The gun went off as he hit the floor, though it hit no-one. Karlin gave the Suspicious Man's body a kick, and then he grinned up at the group. "So... What'd I miss?" * Ralon returned to his room. He locked his door, then double locked it, then triple locked it. They had killed two Lawmen. True, it was not the first this group had killed - Warn had particularly liked to try and shoot their helmets off - but they weren't locked away with a load of them too. He was not going to take chances, not when he'd survived this long. He looked over to his bed, and then hesitated. He crouched down, slowly. Warn was killed by someone hiding under his bed, wasn't he? He looked under the bed. Was that a glint of metal? He jumped back. No, it wasn't. He was safe, he was fine. He wasn't going to be killed today. He stripped off and got into his bed, hoping that if he slept, he might wake to find the whole mess solved. Hm, strange. His bed was rather lumpy today. He turned around and found himself face-to-face with a fully dressed Lawman. "...Bet you didn't expect to find me here. Well, needs must." A gun found itself pressed against Ralon's neck. Then the trigger was pulled. In the haze of the moment, Ralon's last thoughts were that he really didn't want to be the one to clean the blood off his linen... * Doctor Cloud' Wintre was reading on her bed when there was a knock on the door. "Doctor?" A muffled voice said from outside. "We've got a situation. Ralon's been wounded. We kind of need someone to look at him." "Ralon?" Cloud' asked, stopping her writing as she thought. Well, he was being rather outspoken, only made sense that he would be next to be targeted. "Well... I'm not exactly a medical doctor. Can't someone else look at it?" "Would you trust the other two doctors? Besides, they said the same thing." Cloud' sighed. Half a dozen doctors in this crew, and not one a medic. "Very well, I suppose I can have a brief look... For Ralon's sake." She opened her door. "Thanks. This way," he said, gesturing with a hand down the corridor. "After you ma'am." "Thank you," Cloud' said. And they said chivalry was dead. You could even find it down here, in a hive of scum and villainy. Then she realised it was probably a little less chivalrous than it seemed. The bullet placed in her back suggested that. Her face hit the ground, but she wasn't dead yet. "Still breathing?" her attacker asked. "Well, can't have you surviving long enough to tell anyone you saw me..." He said. He put a foot on her back, pressing down where the bullet entered her. She gave out a groan of pain, unable to muster the strength to shout for help. "Sorry about this," he said, as he aimed at her neck and fired again. * The Suspicious Man (The Only Joe) was lynched! He was a Suspicious Lawman. The Suspicious Man (5): Ralon, Karlin, Doctor McNinja, Nifergo, Mr John Smith Ralon was killed! He was a Scoundrel. Doctor Cloud' Wintre was killed! She was a Scoundrel. Cycle 5 begins! It will end at 9PM GMT, on Friday the 24nd. Dramatis Personae
  8. Wyrmhero
    The Cycle is over!
  9. Wyrmhero
    You would not. No recursion allowed .
  10. Wyrmhero
    The information is basically all available in the dead doc now, yes, but there's also information out here too - You now know that Walin was a Tineye Scoundrel as well. While it might seem inconsequential, it has implications in certain circumstances (which may or may not even actually apply here). As such, I think it's best to simply say that the coin did not, sadly, favour Walin in this case.
  11. Wyrmhero
    It's been brought to my attention that I've screwed up the vote count last Cycle, and unfortunately this time it's in a way that had a chance to matter. It's not that the coin didn't favour spencer, it's actually my mistake in not letting him have the coin flip in the first place. I apologise to spencer for accidentally denying him a 50% chance to have lived.
  12. Wyrmhero
    Cycle 4 When Ralon next left his room, it was almost depressing how few of them were left. You didn't have to be a doctor to not like the odds of survival here. It was, however, louder than he had expected, considering they had lost so many over the past few days to murders. It seemed like the rest of the outlaws were currently occupied with one of their favourite past-times: arguing. To be accurate, it was mostly Walin arguing with the Suspicious Man, who just stood there and took the brunt of the verbal assault, suspiciously. "What now?" Ralon asked, scowling. "What's wrong this time? As if this sorry mess wasn't enough..." When he didn't get a response from either of them, John spoke up for them. "Walin's claiming he saw Mister Suspicious over there acting suspicious." "No kidding," Ralon replied with a roll of his eyes. "Mind being a bit less general there?" It was at this point that Walin had clearly had enough of being silent. "I saw him on that first day... He was the one who killed Piffington! Shot him in the chest while we were all distracted. Killed him stone dead!" "Or that's what he's saying," Cloud' muttered, her voice echoing off the caves' walls enough that there was no doubt in anyone's mind as to what she said. "And what do you say?" the Soother turned towards the shadowy figure being accused. "Is that true?" "Not at all," the Suspicious Man replied as he shook his head. "I think this is just some kind of Lawman plot to discredit us. To discredit me. I won't stand to hear it a moment longer." His hand went to his waist, ready to pull his revolver out of his holster. Walin's eyes shifted as he performed a similar motion. "Wait!" Rab said, as he jumped in between them. "We'll do this fair like, see? Just like we did yesterday, and the day before that. And the day before that." "...The day before that, our old boss killed someone without a second thought," Jain pointed out, picking some greenery out from between his teeth. Real upstanding guy, right?" "So democracy, right?" Walin asked. "That's what you said just before Piffington got killed. We vote and make it all fine." "I think that would be best," Ralon nodded. "So... Who finds Walin to be suspicious then?" Three hands went up. "And this... Fine gentleman?" He asked, gesturing at the shaded figure. Two hands went up. "Well, I think that solves that problem then," he said. As their hands lowered, another person realised he should've put his hand up, and lowered it again when he realised that they were no longer voting. "So, any last words, Walin?" the Suspicious Man asked, as he drew his gun almost lazily from its holster. "Not for the likes of you," Walin spat. "Noted," the Suspicious Man said, before firing. * Rab sighed as he tore through one of the hempen bags in what could loosely be defined as the 'kitchen' of the complex. They were running out of food. Warn never stocked that much, for whatever reason he had. They always just went out on more raids whenever their supplies dwindled. There was nothing in this one. He moved on. Finally, he found some oats in the bottom of one of the barrels, and started to scoop it out into a wooden bowl with his badge. It was as close to porridge as any of them would get right now. A few spices and it would almost be a proper meal. Not that he was overly concerned about the taste. It paid to keep your strength up with psychopaths and lawmen around, after all. The wooden door creaked open behind him in the draft. He sat at the table and started to eat, using the badge as a makeshift spoon. He grimaced with every bite. It was granular and stale, but he would bear it. A few seconds later he wondered where a draft would come from in a cave. Something metal pressed against his head. "We all gotta eat, Rab. Not enough for us all, right?" There was a bang, and his head hit his bowl. * "Say, Jain, I got a riddle for ya. What's black and white and red all over?" "I'm not sure," Jain said, pausing for a moment as he thought about it. He wiped sleep away from a black eye. He never slept so good in this place. Caves were good, yes, but not one filled with lowlife. "I've heard of those things," he waved. "Something to do with ice? Like... those birds they have in the south?" "No, no, you're overthinking it," the riddler said. "it's much closer to home." "So... Black and white and red... Read? Is it one of them broadsheets?" The riddler sucked in air between his teeth. "Nearly, nearly... But not quite." Jain shrugged. "I give up. What's the answer?" The response was a gunshot, and black and white was stained with red. * Doctor Walin (spencer12347) was lynched! He was a Scoundrel Tineye. Doctor Walin (2): Cloud' Wintre, Suspicious Man Suspicious Man (2): Ralon, Doctor Walin Ralon (1): Nifergo Karlin (0): Rab Heatherlocke The Doctor (0): John Smith Haelbarde was killed! He was a Scoundrel Seeker. Jain was killed! He was a Lawman Lurcher. Cycle 4 begins! It will end at 9PM GMT, on Wednesday the 22nd. Dramatis Personae
  13. Wyrmhero
    The Cycle is over!
  14. Wyrmhero
    The order of the non-lynch kills in the write-up does not matter. Again, I have placed no clues in the writeup - any that you see there are ones you want to see. Also, a small clarification, since I saw it mentioned: A Pulser skips both actions the next Cycle - They cannot Pulse and Smoking Gun/Eliminator Kill the next day.
  15. Wyrmhero
    Lynching takes place before both kill actions. Therefore, Marl had half of Arnad's coins at the time of death, and they are also now in the possession of Marl's killer.
  16. Wyrmhero
    As you requested... Storms, am I really taking tags by request? Maybe it should be on commission >>.
  17. Wyrmhero
    Cycle 3 "When I said lock your doors," Ralon sighed, "I didn't mean all day." People had come out, yes, but only for the briefest of moments. Hell, Ralon was only out of his room at the moment because he was hungry. Six of them were outside at the moment, that was all. He looked at them, and then shrugged. "You know what? I'm going back to bed." The sound of his footsteps echoed down the hallway, and then a door was slammed. A thin layer of dust fell on the other five. "...Well my vote's going on him," the Suspicious Man pointed a finger suspiciously down the corridor, in the direction Ralon had just left in. "Anyone who thinks its a good idea to sleep right now's clearly got insider knowledge." "What about Arnad?" Marl piped up. "I mean, he was all for shouting at Warn earlier. Couldn't you hear it? I think it might be an idea." He caught the look everyone was giving him. "Um, or not... I guess it could be a terrible idea..." He trailed off and looked at the floor. "Never meant it seriously..." He muttered. Nifergo sighed a little and scratched the back of his head. "You'd think people would do something about this, rather than hide away like that. I mean... Well, there was an accusation from her before Piffington died, right? Could that be something?" "Could be," John Smith said with a shrug. "I mean, I don't know, doesn't seem very smart, does it? But it still could be. Lawmen aren't that smart, after all." "You're not going to say anything definite?" The Suspicious Man asked, giving him a suspicious look. "Trust you to say something forgettable." "Alright, alright," Smith said as he raised his hands defensively. "I think that Doctor guy's a bit weird. Just spent all of yesterday studying. I mean, he's already a doctor, what does he need another degree for?" "...You'll need to be a bit more specific when you say that," Nifergo said. "Which doctor did you mean?" "That one," Smith waved his hand dismissively. "The one always giving himself airs and graces. The one that claims to be... Original. So... What about you then, Rab?" "...You know..." Rab said, clearly deep in thought. "I wasn't going to say anything, but since you was all complaining about your money going missing... I could swear I saw Arnad with more money than anyone like him should ever have." Marl's eyes hardened. "He's the one who stole it? I'll wring his neck-" "Well, we certainly can't have people stealing from us like that, behind our backs, can we?" Smith asked. "Good a place as any to start, I suppose." They made their way towards Arnad's room. Rab, as the accuser, knocked on the door. When Arnad opened it slightly, he forced his foot in and pushed it further open. "We're here to have a little chat with you," he said with a smile as he walked in. "Come on in, guys." As Marl followed them in, at the back in his usual place, a hand grabbed his shirt collar. "Not you, you're coming with me," its owner said, before dragging him off. A pair of gunshots were heard shortly after. * Nowko was a genius. After smuggling a desk into his room here, it seemed simple enough to him that he should start writing about his distant relatives. Everyone could use a book about the Lord Mistborn, after all. ...Though there was probably as much truth in this book as there was to the claim that the Lord Mistborn as his distant relative, if he was honest with himself. But honesty didn't sell books now, did it? He was deep within writing about the affair of the Lord Mistborn and the Heir - a love scene always sold better, particularly when he could insinuate he was a descendant of it - when there was a knock at his door. He closed his book, lest someone read over his shoulder and steal his brilliant ideas, and answered the door. "Oh, it's you," he said, smiling a little nervously. The nervousness was because of the barrel placed against his throat. "Uh... Hi." There was a third gunshot, and then there was silence. Cycle 3 begins! It will end at 9PM GMT, on Monday the 20th. Arnad Ladrian (Araris Valarian) was lynched! He was a Scoundrel Lurcher. Arnad Ladrian (2): Rab Heatherlocke, Marl Ralon (1): Suspicious Man The Doctor (1): Mr John Smith Doctor Cloud' Wintre (1): Nifergo Nowko Lestibournes was killed! He was a Scoundrel. Marl was killed! He was a Scoundrel Koloss-Blooded. Dramatis Personae
  18. Wyrmhero
    Just under two hours left this Cycle. The Cycle is over! Also, forgot to answer Haelbarde's other questions. PMs are sent out at the end of the Cycle. You cannot reply to PMs unless you send a Message to the person who sent it to you.
  19. Wyrmhero
    I did once think about making an 'Epic' Game, but that was Epic in length of time (over many months), not complexity
  20. Wyrmhero
    I do not post hints in the writeup as to who killed whom. The sixth shot was always meant to be Dowc's failed attempt at retaliation. There was no significance as to the fact that he was hit by three bullets.
  21. Wyrmhero
    They do indeed get that extra coin.
  22. Wyrmhero
    Sorry, minor mistake fixed in the votes. Piffington's been restored to his rightful name as well.
  23. Wyrmhero
    Cycle 2 Leave a thief alone for long enough, and he will become paranoid and jump at shadows. The problem was that in this cave were seventeen thieves, all alone. At the start, all that could be heard was the click, click, click of people checking their guns, loading them, unloading them, cocking them, uncocking them in a repetitive mass display of nervous... One false move and there would be a firefight. Thankfully, the silence was broken first. "So... What do we do now?" Dowc asked as he adjusted his coat awkwardly. Why was he even wearing this? He didn't even like this sort of stuff, he only wore it because he wanted to fit in. "I mean... Can't we just dig out?" "Oh, I bet you'd like that," said a doctor in a black face-mask. "Then, just as we're leaving... Bang!" he made a gun with his hand and mimed pulling the trigger. "Right in the back." "Have to leave," another said, a little gruffly. He was the only person whose hand was not at a gun. Instead he was polishing an axe. "If not now, later." "What are you suggesting?" Jain asked, wiping a few leaves from his mouth. "We just take our chances that we won't get shot while we leave?" "Is obvious," the axe-man shrugged. "Kill them." "Kill them?" John asked. "How are we meant to find them first?" "If Warn was here, he'd just shoot someone and tell us not to worry," Karlin said, a small smile across his face. "Thank Ironeyes he's dead," Marl muttered. He whimpered as a knife was immediately pressed to his throat. "That sounds like lawman talk to me," Karlin whispered, his smile widening to a manic grin. "Lord Ruler, Karlin, calm down," Ralon sighed as he worked a minor soothing on the mercenary. It was a shame, it was his last brass, but there was no point to just killing people like that for a minor infraction. If that was even an infraction in the first place. "Look... We'll do this all fair like, right? All democratic." "A good idea," Piffington said as he walked forward and clapped Ralon on the back. He beamed at the rest of the crew. "Democracy's a wonderful thing. I've studied it for quite some time, I'm sure that following its principles will help us now." "I thought your degree was in chemistry?" Rab asked. "Chemistry's very democratic," Piffington waved it away. "All those chemicals acting... democratically..." "We'll vote, right?" Ralon asked. "We'll discuss and vote like gentlemen. Even if we're not." "I like to think we embody all the best of the gentlemen of The Final Empire," Walin said. "Or if not that, at least all the worst." "So we vote, right?" Ralon repeated. "We'll have a show of hands." They went through, one-by-one, eventually ending on Dowc. "So... 3 for Is, and... one, two, three, four... five? for Dowc." Piffington counted. "Sorry Dowc, looks like you're our man." "What? But I'm not... Seriously guys, this isn't funny." Dowc put a shaking hand to his belt and drew his revolver, pointing it at the crowd. "I'm not going to let you kill me!" Six bullets shot. One went sailing over the crowd. Three hit Dowc, a neat triangle on his chest, above his heart. Piffington was standing next to Dowc after the vote. The bullet that hit him went through his throat. Is Axe was standing on Dowc's other side. The bullet glanced off his axe and struck his temple. All three went down. "Ah... We should ask Kas to tidy this up, shouldn't we?" Ralon asked, a flash of uncertainty across his face. He'd never had to do cleanup before, and certainly not of bodies. "Oh, he's dead, isn't he..." He sighed. So many dead people these days. "Well... let's try again tomorrow. We should all lock our doors tonight. What are you doing?" he added, looking down and the black-covered figure by Dowc's body. "What?" the Suspicious Man asked. "No sense in wasting these coins... Let's divide them democratically, shall we?" Dowc Holliday (dowanx) was lynched! He was a Scoundrel Lurcher. Dowc Holliday (6): Dr Nowko Lestibournes, Dr Is Axe?, The Suspicious Man, Nifergo, Doctor McNinja Dr Is Axe? (3): Arnad Ladrian, Dowc Holliday, John Smith Doctor Cloud' Wintre (1): Doc Piffington Doc Piffington (1): Doctor Cloud' Wintre Karlin (1): Jain Auctioned (2): Marl, The Doctor Doc Piffington was killed! He was a Scoundrel Rioter. Dr Is Axe? was killed! He was a Scoundrel Spinner. Cycle 2 begins! It will end at 9PM GMT, on Saturday the 18th. Dramatis Personae
  24. Wyrmhero
    The Cycle is now over! Could a mod please lock this thread for me?
  25. Wyrmhero
    Oh, I see what you mean, sorry. You would have those coins on you, yes.
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