Herowannabe

Some good thoughts there @The Young Bard, and I'm not just saying that because you say you trust me. one thing though, your death count is off: there has been at least one death each cycle: Cycle 0: Rubix (GM kill) Cycle 1: Wilson (cause of death unknown) and Eternum (lynch) Cycle 2: Majestic (lynch) Cycle 3: SteelDancer (cause of death unknown) and we're on Cycle 4 now. EDIT: also, you wondered if this might be a role madness game, which would suggest that you have a role of some sort. Care to share what it is with the group?

That is exactly what happened last cycle (unless there was a secret vote on Steelrunner that we didn't know about) and Aman didn't die. So either a no-vote does NOT count as a tied-vote, our our esteemed GM made a mistake and forgot to kill off Aman (in which case shhhhhh, don't bring it to her attention).

Do we know if the doll even can be voluntarily passed? As best as I can remember, the only thing concrete we know about the doll is this, from @Rebecca a few cycles ago: That's makes it sound like the passing happens automatically and the players have no control over it. Anyway, I feel like as a group we still know very little. I would urged players to strongly consider revealing what items/roles you have. If you want to play it safe then pick someone who trust and PM them and have them reveal it to the group to keep your identity secret. But I worry about the players that are dying and what info we may be losing with each additional death. So let's share what we know and try to figure this puzzle out, because we sure as Braize aren't going to figure it out by staying quiet. Also, it's interesting to learn that @Amanuensis the scapegoat survived when there was no lynch. So our first step towards stopping the deaths should be to stop voting for people, at least for now. @Ecthelion III I urge you to withdraw your vote.

Okay, I have a couple minutes during my lunchbreak. First, a few relevant quotes from last cycle: So, we've learned that there is a scapegoat role, and mysterious doll with it's own win condition that gets passed around and triggered by something, Also, only 1 person died last cycle- the one we lynched. Which means that 1) the eliminators didn't submit a kill order, 2) They did submit one but the target was protected or invalid, or 3) There are no eliminators and something else caused Little Wilson's death on cycle 1. I'm kind of leaning towards #3, honestly, at least until we get more evidence that there actually are eliminators in this game. Remember, this game is not like any others, due to it's blackout nature. And also remember, our goal isn't to "kill all the eliminators," it is (in @firstRainbowRose's own words: So, that being said, here's my theory: There are a number of things that can cause people to die. We've seen votes, the Lover role (I'm assuming that when 1 lover dies the other does, too), a scapegoat, and whatever caused Wilson's death. I think we need to work together and get the right pieces in the right places to make it so that nobody dies. The trick (or at least one of them) is the scapegoat role. It doesn't go away, which means that either we vote to lynch somebody or the scapegoat dies. Impossible to avoid a death each cycle, UNLESS there is a role or item (the doll, perhaps?) that can protect someone from the lynch and/or negate somebody's role. Does anybody have any item or role that they know of that could save the scapegoat in a no-lynch situation? @Amanuensis Do you still have the scapegoat role or does it pass to someone else each cycle? If nothing else, I think we ought to try lynching the doll holder, just to see what happens. As much as I love a good contribution crusade, I don't think we're going to figure this game out unless we're willing to experiment and try different things.

Just popping in to... well, just say that I'm here, I guess. I had some thoughts about the game and our goals that I wanted to discuss, but even though the GM left the thread unlocked I feel it would be against the spirit of the game to discuss them until the new cycle is posted and we find out who survived and who didn't. So I'll hold my tongue, for now.

Okay, I took a little break from work (against my best interests) and tallied up who has posted and who hasn't. So far, we haven't heard from the following: @Eternum @Julio @King Cole @Majestic @Dani @Rebecca Until we get an idea of what to do with this game I am still in favor of voting for Inactives first. I would love to go for a no-vote, but experience has taught me that it's impossible to convince everybody to withhold their vote, unless basically everyone still playing the game is inactive, which is just sad (and is exactly the scenario I hope to avoid). I mean, we might as well keep the active players alive and around to help us figure this game out, right? Straw posted, so I'll withdraw my vote from him. Moving down the list, Eternum you're up. Post or face the unrelenting wrath of my solitary vote!

I believe they're talking about Rubix's corpse

We finally get @Chaos to pop in and comment on an SE game and what does he find when he gets here? this:

Typically Cupid doesn't have any alternate win conditions, they're basically a regular villager (or whatever alignment) with the added ability to troll two people at the beginning of the game. Again, I haven't been told anything by the GM that contradicts that.

Typically the Cupid role lets you pick two people at the beginning of the game to fall in love. These two become the "lovers." If one lover dies, the other dies as well, so their goal becomes to survive together until the end of the game. I ASSUME (can't emphasize that enough) that that is how it works in this game, too. At least, I haven't been told otherwise.

I was not told. All I was told was that my role was "Cupid" and to pick two people. I should also mention that I was not given any sort of alignment.

I received it before this thread was created.

When in doubt... Contribution Crusade! The door to the inn swung open and a tall figure wearing a ridiculously wide-brimmed hat stepped in to the inn, the thumping of his boots echoing in the now silent inn. Nobody dared to whisper- for they all recognized this man, despite not being able to see his face. It was The Heron- fiercest bounty hunter in the forests since the White Fox died. The Heron strips forward to the center of the room then raised a hand to point at Straw. People nearby gasped- not at the accusation, but at the Heron's hand. It was withered- the skin black and shriveled like that of a long-dead corpse. Yes I know it's early to begin the Crusade, but when we have literally nothing else to go on, why not? We might as well try getting rid of players that aren't playing the game and keep those around who are playing, at least until we figure out what's going on. Also, as far as roles go, I can confirm that at least one player has received a role PM- myself (and I am assuming up to 2 other players). I don't mind revealing this because to the best of my knowledge it doesn't provide any further benefit to me for the rest of the game. I am Cupid. I was able to select two players to be lovers for this game. No I'm not going to say who those two players are.

Jayne! The man they call Jayne! He robbed from the rich and he gave to the poor. Stood up to the man and he gave him what for. Our love for him now, ain't hard to explain, The hero of Canton, the man they call Jayne!

It looks like the clones were eliminated, so we're back up to 3 spots.

I probably shouldn't, but I'm going to sign up. Give me a little bit to figure out a name and character... EDIT: Okay, character is a bounty hunter simply known as "The Heron." He's a tall, lanky man characterized by the wide-brimmed hat that he wears pulled down low over his face.

Retail release is being planned for November

Ah, that's a clever use of Augur! I wouldn't worry about it too much, as in practice it probably doesn't occur very often- my experience with the heirs is that you usually get the ones that get points for resources you don't produce and they're basically worthless. For example, in the game I mentioned above I played the Political Heir very early in the game (I think turn 1 even). Didn't get a single Prestige Resource token the entire game. The heir sat there all game and earned me 0 points (come to think of it, I should have held it in my hand to use for Lesser Noble fodder). And if the augur/heir combo does pop up frequently, well then it just gives you incentive to go heir-hunting with your coinshots and augur-hunting with your seekers.

Just got back from our non-release-party-thing- It was a lot of fun. We got two games in- the first one was relatively short with @Emerald101 swooping in to single-handedly solve Vin, which boosted his score well above anyone else's. The second game was tense. @Blaineabus started aiding the Skaa rebellion right from his first turn and was soon joined by one of the other players, while Emerald and I stayed loyal to the Lord Ruler. As best as I could tell, the scores stayed pretty even for most of the game between the two rebel players and between the two loyal players. The rebels were able to stir up a lot of unrest, and when Sazed erupted fairly early on they were sitting at 7 unrest. (EDIT: Here's a couple pics of the game right before Sazed came out) The unrest hung by a thread for the rest of the game until Vin finally arrived, at which point all out war broke out (basically). There were probably over a dozen cards played the turn that Vin appeared, including (IIRC), a soother, 2 seekers, a Thug, a Lesser Noble, a Mistborn, a Tineye, a Political Informant, a Financial Informant, a couple of Smokers, and several Hazekillers. In the end though, Emerald and I were able to thwart Vin and quash the rebellion. Very fittingly, the Lord Ruler had just come out a couple turns before Vin appeared, so all our points that round were doubled. Unfortunately for Emerald, even as we beat Vin I stabbed him in the back (It's okay, he's a Sanderson Elimination Vet, so I knew he could take it) by playing a Slanderer on him and turning all his Favor into Disgrace for the round, and thus secured a solid victory for myself. Good times! Again, I had a lot of fun, and I can't wait until the retail release so that we can do this again!

This is a good time to mention that I developed a 2-player variant for M:HW, in case anyone hasn't seen it yet. The gist of it is this: The players are working together to hold the Final Empire together and prevent the Skaa from rebelling. If the Unrest track reaches 8, both players lose the game. If they successfully solve the Vin Problem card before the Unrest track hits 8, then the player with the highest score wins. I've tried it out and this variant does a surprisingly good job at capturing the feel of a regular 3+ player game. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Give it a day or two. Remember that they shipped out 2,500 copies of the game this week. It takes a lot of time to process all those packages, and they're not all going to get delivered on the same day. (EDIT: and remember that in their latest update they said that packages were picked up in 3 separate groups- yours may have been in the last group which was only picked up on Monday, which means you'll probably see it in a day or two) Now, if you haven't received it by the end of the week I would shoot them an email. Or, have you received an email from Gamerati with a shipping notification yet? If not, then you may want to contact them. If yes, then there should be a tracking number so you can see exactly where it is.

*checks your profile* I see you live "somewhere in Oz." I know Australia is a pretty big place, but you could always check with @Claincy and/or @Kadrok and see if either of them live nearby. Both of them are Ozzies, and I bet either of them wouldn't mind having a friendly get together once the game reaches Ozzie.

Came home today to find a package on my doorstep. Guess what was inside...?

OFFICIAL UPDATE!!! We finally got official word from Ed with Crafty Games- they are asking that we hold off on the Release Party until the Retail release date, which should be in a month or two. That actually makes a lot of sense, and I fully support them in their request. So if you're interested in coming to that party when it happens, follow this thread or send me a PM and I'll keep you updated. UNOFFICIAL UPDATE: Assuming my copy of M:HW arrives in time, I'd still like to head over to Game Night Games on Saturday, 8/26, at around 6pm to get in a game or two with anyone who cares to join me. Very unofficial, and definitely not a release party. PM me or reply to this thread if you'd like to come to that. EDIT: Este Pizzeria is right next door, and if you mention that you're at Game Night Games they will "deliver" your order to you at GNG and give you a discount. Just throwing that out there.