Mid-Range Game 2: Servants of Honor

[Renegade he/him]

I might compile all of the Messages sent by everyone with the analysis I'm doing tomorrow, so you can see all of the spam that people received.   (Plus, so that Gamma can see all ten of the secret codenames that people gave themselves.)

 

For awards, it's really up to you guys if/what awards you'd like to hand out.  Hopefully, the Master Doc is all correct, so that can be useful for determining award stuffs.

[+Quitecontrary she/her]

Oh wow, congratulations on surviving this game Panda!!!! And to everyone, well-played indeed! 

[Lightsworn Panda he/him]

Oh wow, thanks, Quismet. Just realised this was the first game I actually survived...

 

(Breaks down crying)

[Metacognition he/him]

Yeah, at least you survived this time, Jain!  

 

Ren, We're working on an award/achievement system* as is right now (Gamma, you need to check in again! ), so while you can definitely do any awards you like and all, they'll basically become unofficial once we finally get it out. 

 

*I'm thinking we need one called Clean Sweep in honor of this game.

 

Most of my thoughts on the game are either in the Skybreaker Doc, or the Dead Doc afterwards, since I didn't survive very long. That 2nd Cycle was insanely lucky for you guys. From there, it was just all downhill for us. Well done! 

[Sir Jerric he/him]

Well, I seriously didn't expect that to actually happen, but . . . wow. Congratulations to the village. A flawless game, all Eliminators down, no Villagers lost.

 

My first survival as well.

 

I'm curious as to what impact the eliminators think my plans had. All the fancy uses of Messaging were made and posted because I wanted to see if "changing the rules" messed with anyone's head. I'm guessing I didn't really wind up being that much of a bother. =)

 

Now we've finished both active games, and signups haven't started for another one yet. Perfect excuse to stop playing around and go get some work done.

[twelfthrootoftwo]

Nice GM work, Ren! And well done to all the villagers (in part for not jinxing us by commenting on our good luck).

-----

Tulir, I actually want to apologise for doing that analysis. At the time it seemed like a good idea, but as I worked through everything it felt more and more like a dirty trick. In the end, I decided to post it largely because I didn't want the time I spent on it to be wasted, and I regret doing so. Linguistic analysis like that disadvantages multilingual players, those who post greater volumes, and those who otherwise have a distinctive grammatical fingerprint. And while it's not possible to completely remove that aspect from the game, it shouldn't be focused on the way I did.

 

I'm sorry I did that analysis, and I'm sorry you were lynched because of it. In future, I will restrict my analysis to aspects of the game itself.

[Tulir he/him]

Its completely fine.  It was just a little mistake of allowing the messages in their entirety to be posted.  It was incredibly clever, and did probably lead to my lynching, but I carry no hard feelings from it.  

[Gamma Fiend he/him]

"You can't go out there, it's The Desolation!" Glys appeared and floated in front of The Famed Gamin, trying to hold him back and prevent him from casting open The Cellar doors and walking out into the storm that had landed over Telmont.

"So what?" The Famed Gamin replied defiantly, standing firm and puffing out his chest. "I'm The Master!" He boasted. "No storming storm is going to hurt me! Besides," he said, sweeping his hand out and pointing to the stockpile of spheres that had been gathered for visibility in the dark, dingy Cellar. "There's plenty of stormlight right there. I can just heal up as need be if anything does happen!" In the uneven glow cast by the random, assorted spheres, and in the gloom of the Cellar, The Famed Gamin's boots -- normally yellow  -- appeared an almost dark orange colour.

"Just imagine all of the puddles I could be splashing in right now!" He protested, jumping up and down, much to the chagrin of his fellow occupants huddled inside The Cellar with him.

Hey! Dol! Merry Dol! Worry not for Damnation!
Ring a dong, hop along, ignore the Desolation!
Fam Gam, The Fam-ed Gam, Herald of Salvation!

And with that he thrust The Cellar Doors wide open, prompting a cry of dismay from everyone else. Two large, looming monstrous shapes appeared at the door way, but with a quick flick of the wrist, The Famed Gamin took care of both of them. He didn't know how he had figured it out, but long ago, when complaining about the large and obtrusive shape and size of the Shardblade, Glys had informed him that it could change shape according to his will. And really, two small Shard Knives were much better than some big, boisterous blade.

The sky above was still a dark, foreboding red, the colour of doom and despair, but the wild and ferocious winds were starting to abate, and it appeared as if the storm had mostly blown itself out and west across the mainland. The Famed Gamin shrugged, knowing it wasn't his problem for the time being.

Some of the other Radiants kept mentioning some odd place called "Your-a-thoo-rou" -- or something like that, whatever it meant -- but he cared not. As long as it had some food, a warm place for him to crawl into for sleeping, and some pockets to pick, he knew he would be just fine. But he had begun to enjoy the small town of Telmont actually, even if it had been mostly destroyed by the storm.

He shook his head. "Who would have guessed that Crazy Doomsayer had been right the whole time? Was a darn shame he tried to kill us all, I was rather beginning to warm-up to his insanity."

Beside him, Glys sighed. "I doubt I'll ever begin to understand you people. What I wouldn't give to be bonded to some nice, quiet, respectable person. Maybe some sort of Scholar. But I doubt I'll ever be that lucky!"

"What do you mean? I'm a scholar! Why, I'm so storming scholarly, I practically belch books, and stuff and whatnot."

"Oh yes, very scholarly, indeed."

The Famed Gamin frowned. Was that actually sarcasm? From a Spren? He shook his head. "Well, let's not waste any time. Let's go see what I can, uh, "salvage", from the wreckage. And see if we can find any more of those Shadow-Puppets along the way!" He paused. "Actually..... I should probably let those Windrunners handle that. Letting other people do stuff for you is The Patented Famed Gamin way, after all!"

And with that, The Famed Gamin went off skipping into the storm, whistling his nonsense tune.
 

[Mailliw73 he/him]

Wow. That's amazing! A flawless game! I kinda regret it though, I set up different codes with each of my messages and I never really used them. I did to inform Wyrm of my lashing and to let Serji know that Wyrm would be protected (because last cycle, I thought he might be the second WR. Aladdin was actually my second guess.). But I never had to relay anything very important.

Edit: Wow Meta, I really like that code you came up with. I'll make sure to remember it. And Wyrm, I like yours too. Not as complex, but gets all the info across. The codes were a fun part of this game. Even if I didn't really end up using them.

Edited August 25, 2014 by Mailliw73

[Wyrmhero he/him]

I must admit, I was not expecting that...

I would have said this victory was more to do with luck though, or at least skill heavily helped with luck (there will always be some of each in a game like this). The game would have gone very different on Night 2 if Ashiok had stuck to the original plan and Basic'd Meta instead of myself, for instance. For that matter, it was unfortunate that Meta was an Eliminator in a game with a Cop running around. If either of these two things were different, the game would have changed immensely.

I think the only one we really got with skill was Tulir, thanks to twelfth's excellent analysis. Don't feel bad about that though, its just using the tools at your disposal. Anonymous messages should definitely have been written in a different style to hide their senders.

So, thank you for a fun game, Renegade, just a little unfortunate that things unfolded as they did. I had fun thinking of how best to use my powers and organise things and troll people. My only regret is that I can't just surprise you all by not actually being a Windrunner

Thank you for saving my life multiple times Ashiok, though in all honesty I am surprised that you survive the game. That bit early on when you started an RP with me really made me wince, since it drew a connection between us. When I was revealed, your role became rather clear - hence all the Eliminators trying to get you lynched (nominating him here for an [annoyed grunt] award). You also kept asking what the Windrunner should do, which is kind of a flag saying you are one, we've noticed (just mentioning since after the last game you asked for advice). Still, I'm glad you changed your mind on Cycle 2, or else the game would have changed quite a bit in their favour.

Good game to the Skybreakers and their flunkies, despite the poor turn of events they sufferered. I look forward to reading your doc and seeig what your plan was, as well as seeing what my Squires were saying about me behind my back.

 

Edit: Also, two minor requests, Renegade - Could we have the link to the Spec doc, and would you mind giving us the non-editing link, if possible? Just want to get rid of that annoying error whenever you click...

Edited August 25, 2014 by Wyrmhero

[Binnut he/him]

This went well =) I did not expect us to choose right again.

 

We have certainly been lucky in some regards (Like most Squires getting Basic lashings except Tulir), but some things cold have made things go the other way, like 3 eliminators Squired for example.

 

I have read all the docs, and I'm impressed with the plan that the Skybreakers had, one or two of these lucky parts gone, and we would have been dead!

 

Also, well done Wyrm and Ashiok. The Windrunner plan worked really well! And Gamma organizing the Squire doc =)

 

Great work everyone! Especially Ren! Thank you for running this game!

[Wyrmhero he/him]

like 3 eliminators Squired for example.

 

Nope. Would never happen. Totally wasn't going to be three if we hadn't lynched Tulir that day instead >>.

 

I just wanted to complete my collection of Sharder-Squires (other than me, of course). Was that so wrong?

[Kasimir he/him]

Nope. Would never happen. Totally wasn't going to be three if we hadn't lynched Tulir that day instead >>.

 

I just wanted to complete my collection of Sharder-Squires (other than me, of course). Was that so wrong?

King's just a Pokemon Master--gotta catch 'em all! >>

[Ashiok]

Kas... At least a third of the spec doc was Ash-bashing.  

In truth, I'm really surprised the SB didn't attack me cycles 3 or 4...

Also, Wurum, I was supposed to basic you cycle two. I stuck with the plan in it's entirety...

You were the one who recruited all the bad guys, I was the one who saved your life repeatedly.

This was a fun game. My erratic playstyle seems to annoy most people. How does one go about fixing that? 

[+Quitecontrary she/her]

Ash, if you play differently than how you've been playing so far, people will be more suspicious of you. Lol.

 

It's just a good thing there were no misdirection devilry courtesy of Shiv this game. 

[Wyrmhero he/him]

Also, Wurum, I was supposed to basic you cycle two. I stuck with the plan in it's entirety...

 

My apologies - I think I was getting confused from the original ideas we were throwing around in the doc. I was also surprised that you weren't attacked on Cycle 3 - I even went and protected you then, after all.

 

As to your playstyle... I'm not quite sure what to say specifically. Just try and post logical discussions on what's going on, and draw them to a conclusion wherever possible. The main problems are due to three reasons, I would say - inactivity, vagueness and randomness.

• Inactivity - This is simple enough,  just ensure you can be present enough to offer some useful input each Cycle and get any actions/votes you want to make in.
• Vagueness - Give specific details on what you think. When you post your thoughts on previous Cycles/actions, don't leave it at 'this happened', or 'this happened and this could have happened'. Tie it together in a meaningful conclusion. 'This happened and this could have happened. If so, then I think this player is guilty for it'.
• Randomness - Don't do things, especially votes, without a solid reasoning behind it. More than that, share your reasoning with the class, unless it contains very sensitive information.

As for things specifically for you though... I think the main issue here was that you were rather active this game compared to normal. It made it obvious that you were more excited for this game than any other, that you had a special role to use. You were involved with all the discussions and pointing things out, but in short bursts. In addition to that, while what you were doing was helpful, there was little of your own thought process behind them, other than agreeing with what people said. So it made you more prominent in peoples' minds, but less useful, if you see what I mean.

 

Also, it's never a good idea to draw connections between yourself and another player in a game like this where we are the win conditions for a side, like you did between us in Cycle 2. As soon as one of us was revealed, the other was too, basically. Since we couldn't just turtle it out due to the cooldowns on Basic Lynching, that could have led to a very quick loss because of a single mistake. This was kind of made worse by your requests of 'what should the second Windrunner do', because as I said before, it was obvious that you were asking for yourself. I'm not sure what I would have suggested here instead though. Maybe use that method we had discussed in the doc of checking with the other player and saying yes/no.

 

But yes, I hope that helps, and I'm sorry if it seems a little harsh here and there. Also note that these are just my thoughts - Other people will tell you otherwise, I've no doubt.

[Sart he/him]

Well, good job guys. To be honest, I completely forgot to send in my night actions for the next cycle; I was also considering taking up Gamma's RP. I heavily suspected Ashiok of being the other Windrunner, but I didn't attack him last cycle because I feared that he would be protected.

 

In other news, I think I know why this game and the previous one went so poorly for the Eliminators: Too many protective roles, and inherited roles. First, the people the eliminators needed to kill were protected, and we couldn't do anything about it. Yes, I suppose we could have guessed better, but there were only so many targets available to us. Secondly, the Windrunners could create more protection. The whole point of killing good guys, besides winning the game, is to get rid of powerful players. When you can just create more powerful ones, it makes the game unbalanced. Hopefully my Mid-Range Game (coming soonish) will address these issues, while still having these mechanics in play.

[Tulir he/him]

We just got unlucky, and the good guys got lucky with having so many Squires with Basic Lashings.

[Kasimir he/him]

Ash, I'd like to apologise, then, for how the commentary in the spec doc came over as. Looking back over it again, I think some of it got a bit overboard at certain points. To be honest, Ren and myself were not especially targeting you--you just happened to be the player making the moves which particularly called attention (and those moves were therefore the ones I commented on in the spec doc.) If Meta, for instance, had been able to play his Truthwatcher gambit, even as Jeno, no doubt I'd have commented more on that move instead.

 

Still, that doesn't detract from the fact that I think some comments were especially harsh, and I apologise for them.

[Ashiok]

Stupid internet and issues with expressing tones in text form!!!!
I wasn't upset about it, I'm amused by it... I never get that much attention, and if somebody points out my bad behavior, I can weed it out and make myself a better person/ SE player.

 

In conclusion, I'm genuinely grateful for the Ash Bashing.

[Kasimir he/him]

I see: even so, Ash, I'd still seriously like to apologise? I think there are points when game commentary gets entirely out of line, and in my judgement, some of it did get out of line, so I think an apology was called for, one way or another.

[Aonar he/him]

Huh. Apparently all it takes for me to survive a game is to appear inactive for a period of three days or more. I'll have to remember that.

 

That was a great game though, everyone. I can't say I expected to come back to find the game already won, and flawlessly at that. 

[Tulir he/him]

Looking through the Spec doc, nice job Kas at identifying the rest of us.

[Renegade he/him]

Here's my (slightly belated) post-game analysis!

 

Postmortem

 

Yeah, so this game did not end up at all like I expected.  But, that’s okay, because we can learn from these mistakes and make better games in the future.  So, some things to consider:

 

Change Messaging.  90% of the Messages I received were either spam to be the target of Reverse Lashings, or secret codes that were never used.  So, the Messaging ability needs to be changed/removed, along with the Reverse Lashing ability, for it to become a more integral part of the game.  Plus, for a regular darkeyes, it’s not all that useful.  Also, the Reverse Lashing ability is not as useful as the other abilities.  It was only used once in the entire game.

 

Don’t let people copy/paste messages!  I honestly don’t know why I decided to allow that in the first place, and it’s what got Tulir lynched, unfortunately.  It takes away from the Eliminator’s bag-o’-tricks, and it makes verification easy.  Not much fun.

 

Temporary Docs.  I think this part actually worked out pretty well, and it was interesting to watch each side make up their own codes and such.  However, the fact that codes were used made Messages between players on the same team basically obsolete (which is mostly what I intended Messages to be used for).

 

Truthwatcher.  The Truthwatcher was designed to be a balance for the fact that the Skybreakers had two kills.  However, I think it’d be simpler to do without the Truthwatcher, and give the Skybreakers a single kill per cycle.  Skybreakers could still be rooted out the good-ol’ fashioned way (lynching suspicious people) or by using Full Lashings to cancel their attacks.  The problem with the Truthwatcher (and Windrunner role, to a lesser extent) was that they were able to easily get enough protection by the time they were revealed/revealed themselves.  One problem with that is it allowed enormous trust groups to be made.  A second problem was that the sheer number of incoming Squires made protecting the Truthwatcher and Windrunners easy.  So, maybe limiting the Windrunners to recruiting one player a cycle could be better.

 

The main problem I had with balancing this game is that there were a lot less players than I would’ve liked involved.  With a smaller number of players, the Windrunners/Truthwatcher would be far more likely to discover a Skybreaker or Henchman early on, as with what happened on Day Two of this game.  I was really on the fence about keeping the Truthwatcher role in, with the number of players involved.  Apparently, it would’ve been better to keep it out.  Another possible change could be to add more Henchmen, so that the Skybreakers have a greater number of abilities at their disposal.

 

Overall, this type of game, with the number of players we had, is very hard to balance.  I did a number of mock scenarios before the game, but those sort of scenarios aren’t completely accurate without real people involved.  So, we’ve learned a lot from this game, and many of the elements from this game (Messaging in particular) could probably be used in other games in the future with some modifications.

 

As promised, here are all of the Messages sent throughout the game, for analysis (and humor).  Hopefully, I got all of them.

Cycle 1

 

SerjiàFamed Gamin

 

“(13) Famed Gamin,
 
Having noted many of your past fiendish deeds, and noting in particular the occasion when a similarly named fellow suffered an ignominious death on the pointed end of your awakened shardblade, I wonder if this time you would be willing to work together on the problem of these rogue Radiants.
 
With all due respect,
Serji”

 

WurumàFamed Gamin

 

“We're counting on you to keep an eye on Faisan.”

 

MetamàFamed Gamin

 

“You going to be uber-paranoid of me again or can we work together this time? ”

 

TunnibàFamed Gamin

 

“Hi!

 

I just wanted to contact someone on this first night, and with your experience I guess you will be one of the people who will drive the village forward, and thus will need as much information a possible. Unless you are one the Skybreaker side that is. In either case, Revealing that I am a simple Darkeyes is not that valuable, but could be something in the hunt. It's no real worry if it falls into the wrong hands either, so i feel that I can trust the odds enough that you are not with the Skybreakers. Of course, you would need to believe me too for it to be useful. Ok... I'm babbling, I just wanted to use this message for something.

 

Anyway, to confirm that you have gotten the message, can you please steal a pouch of spheres from me in RP, I'll come and take them back to confirm messages from you if I get any =P (Or if you request anything else as confirmation)

 

I will sign any Messages from now on with Alai. You could use the name Dallet, or choose one on your own if you'd like. =)

 

/Binnut”

 

KaladenàFaisan

 

“You seem to do pretty well whenever you're on the side of good, so I hope you're a good guy this time. I (Kal) am a humble Darkeyes. You can add that to whatever graph I assume you're making. Not much else to discuss this cycle.”

 

Madame QuismetàFaisan

 

“I'm happy laying low for now (maybe waiting to be recruited). Sending a message to let you know I'm alive though and am looking for someone more experienced in these games to help me.

I know I shouldn't trust anyone, but I have to trust somebody so have chosen you.

- Quis”

 

MallawàFaisan

 

“Aonar/
I regret how last game turned out. I feel bad for helping Racine betray you and hope we can work together better this game.
If we ever need this:
Regular word/Common word
A=14/3
B=83
D=48
E/I=1/38
F=52
G=11
H=7
J=12
K=56
L=27/44
M=39
N=25
O=47/94
P=33
R=17/9
S=91/49
T=54/4
U=53/62
V=6
W=72
Y=15
Z=88
SPACES=46/32/79
C is interchangeable with S or K, depending on the sound. X is made with KS. Q is KU. E and I use the same characters.
Common words are:
A/an
The
Aonar
Mail
Will
Who
Is
Message

Abbreviations:
SB: Skybreaker
WR: Windrunner
TW: Truthwatcher

Please don't scramble words like Wilson did.
-Will/Mallaw”

 

AladdinàStormfather

 

"I'll be waiting for the mid game highstorm... Don't dissapoint me"

 

TwlvàLyce

 

“Hello. I was impressed with your work last game; just about all your assessments of the skaa plan were correct. That's why I decided to contact you.

There's not that much to say at this point. Serji gets a point for sparking some useful discussion. Something that drew my attention was Tunnib saying we may not need to worry about messages being intercepted; he might be right, with the Skybreakers preferring Division as their more powerful surge, or he might be trying to get people to reveal more sensitive info on the off chance it's picked up.

-Twlv”

 

RulitàAladdin

 

“Hey, I am contacting you in a venture of trust.  I am a normal darkeyes, and by revealing this to you I hope to gain some trust.  Of course, you could be a Skybreaker or Henchman, but trying to get trust between people can make us win the game faster.  However, if you use this to kill me, I will view this arrangement as void, and work on to null the trust agreement I am offering”

 

Tahrin RestenàRulit

 

“Hello, it's Theory.

 

Any further communications should be in the Steel Alphabet letter to number system (found in Coppermind). So, I'm trusting you to not be evil. If you don't trust me don't respond. To prove it's me I'll mention the fabrial I have has a ruby gemstone in it.

 

Good luck with the game.”

 

 

Cycle 2

 

SerjiàMallaw

 

“(1687) Mallaw,

I am curious whether you think my messaging system is a move that the Skybreakers might be able to use against the Village. And I've noticed that no one responded to any of my requests for opinions on Gamma's reveal of my message. What do you suppose that means?

Humbly,
Serji”

 

TwlvàMallaw

 

“(279)
Greetings from Sydney, Australia. You said you hadn't received any messages, and since we had a fair bit of interaction last game, I thought I'd say hello.

There's not a lot to go on at this point. I have difficulty seeing Serji's work as an elaborate plot, given it's a lot of work for little gain. Quismet's behaviour did seem a little strange, but Wurum's defence of her is stranger. I don't see how little time to play results in really fast responses. The only other thing that got my attention was Gamma posting Serji's message. Something about his reaction didn't seem right to me, and I can't put my finger on why.

Well, there you have my thoughts so far.
-Twlv”

 

Madame QuismetàMallaw

 

“Dear Mailliw (768),

 

So you encouraged my death the last time huh? I'm honestly okay with it, although I had lots of things planned for the character. Besides I survived my first game so I'm pretty ok.

 

For this game though, no reason to suspect me to be Team Evil, because honestly, I'm not. No evil bones in my body at all.

 

Sincerely,

 

Your innkeeper”

 

FaisanàMallaw

 

“(697)[sequence #]Hopefully we won't have to use the code, but it'll be good to have, assuming you aren't a Skybreaker. Not much more to say, this message is largely just to start to get a system set up, and give it a trial run.(337) [Reference to your first message]

~Aonar”

 

JainàWurum

 

"Wyrm.

 

I'm going to have to trust someone. I'll have to hope you aren't a Henchman or Skybreaker. Not that it really matters. I am on TEAM GOOD AGAIN (5 TIMES IN A ROW HOW COULD YOU BE SO CRUEL WORLD). What's more, I'm a vanilla player. 

 

Of course, you have every right not to believe me. Or kill me, if you happen to be a Skybreaker with a cruel treak.

 

A (Sick) Panda"

 

AladdinàRulit

 

“Lord venture! I have decided to trust you... For now. The code is as below. Please post the word accepted in code next cycle.

A. !
B. ;
C. 4
D. $
E. 9
F. @
G. 2
H. 0
I. 1
J. "
K. ,
L. 8
M. /
N. &
O. 7
P. 5
Q. '
R. -
S. 6
T. 3
U. :
V. (
W. ?
X.)
Y. .
Z. '

Yes, Z us the same as Q...

Good luck!”

 

MallawàRulit

 

“Message 1: (183)Tulir, (I keep wanting to call you Tonul by the way)
Hello there. I'm doing this to open a wide range of communication if I ever need it. If I start a post with a white character T, put together the first letter of each sentence. It will have a code for you. I don't have much else to say. Good luck surviving. (Unless you're a Henchman/Skybreaker.
-Mailliw”

 

MetamàRulit

 

“If Jeno dies, and it looks like he will, go ahead and use someone else. Use your name as the Header and the name of the person as the Footer.”

 

TunnibàRulit

 

“(356)Hi Tulir!

 

I'm mostly sending this to start a communication channel with sequence number in case I want to reach you. I just decided to send it to you on random.. I do not have anything to add that I haven't said in thread however.

 

Kind Regards

Binnut”

 

WurumàMetam

 

"(1.618033...)

                       

Ho there, madman. You've been pressganged into the Windrunner Squire Initiative (WSI)!

 

Considering how you acted in game 7, way I see it is that you're dangerous on either side. I really hope you're with us and not against us. So if you're good, that's great, and you can keep an eye on everyone there. If not, well, maybe you'll slip up. I guess we'll see.

 

I feel this is appropriate as well."

 

Famed GaminàMetam

 

“I will assume you are the one that sent this to me:

“You going to be uber-paranoid of me again or can we work together this time? ”

In response: Of course I'm always willing to work together, just doesn't mean I'll necessarily trust you right away.   That being said, since it is still only Cycle 2, there of course isn't much I can actually go on right now, so working things out in Messages won't really be able to do much at the moment. But I am open to trying to hash things out and hopefully narrow down a list of suspects. Right now I am of course very wary of Serji for
a) from the message he sent me. While I did pretty much suspect it might have just been him testing me out to see how I would react to determine if I was on his side..... that argument could still work if he was part of the Skybreakers. (Who I am calling SBs, or S(O)Bs, this game).

And his whole "fancy" step of coding messages just seems like a huge distraction to me, and I really hope people don't spend that much time and effort worrying about that aspect. (You'll notice I didn't even include those basic-level code numbers.) For a "confirmation" of you receiving this post by going into The Eye of the Storm tavern and trying to order something, but you find your sphere-pouch was pick-pocketed at some point. ”

 

RulitàTahrin Resten

 

“well, you were right in the idea that i didn’t get any other messages.  because you included that portion in your rp, i trust you more now.  i assume this is what you meant when you mentioned the steel alphabet, but not positive.  unlike in previous games where i have an exciting role, i am just a normal villager this game.  to make sure you got this, mention how you are switching gems in your fabrial, so i can tell if anyone stole this.”

 

LyceàTwlv

 

“(522)Twlv

Thanks for the compliment and for contacting me. I was surprised to get any messages. I hope we're on the same side this time.

I still don't have strong suspicions. I should be more active after today, and hopefully there will be more to go off then. I'm inclined to trust Serji, and I hope the Skybreakers don't decide to kill him off. I've been feeling a bit suspicious of Tunnib, but I think that's because the only game I've played with him we didn't have any interaction. It's not enough to say anything in the thread.

I think I won't sign my name, just as a bit if a precaution against future message-stealing, so they won't know who it's from. It should be sufficient to say that it's from the same person you sent your previous message to. I’m going to use Serji’s idea of sequence numbers, but I don’t have time for the other right now.

-K”

 

 

Cycle 3

 

AladdinàFamed Gamin

 

“hey, It's the second windrunner here.

I used a full on tulir cycle 3, and recruited Twelthrootoftwo for y'all...

I'm gonna post something about explosions if you say in thread: 

"I got the memo"

Best of luck

-Your friendly neighborhood windrunner”

 

TwlvàWurum

 

“[spam]”

 

MallawàWurum

 

"(246)Hey there, Wyrm.
This is partially to help the TW talk to you and partially to help set up communication. If necessary, here's a code I'll use once you give me the go-ahead in the form of one of your posts saying something about Kings. I want to make sure this wasn't RL'd. Here is the code:
If I RP about Mallaw and something to do with an Oak Leaf, put together the first letter of the last word in each sentence. It'll be a message for you.
-Will, your ex-GM(Sorry about that forced sacrifice in LG4. This to reassure you of my identity.)"

 

Famed GaminàWurum

 

“i new meta was a baddie the whole day. b more careful who u recruit.”

 

TunnibàWurum (Stolen by Metam)

 

“(784) Hi!

This is mostly to try to make sure that any sensitive message sent to you isn't stolen.

But I really hope that you are alive to get it.

I added a sequence number in case of further messages.

Kind Regards
Binnut”

 

NaiharàWurum

 

“Dear Sir,

Are you tired of running out of stormlight just when you need it most?  Does your spren complain about your lack of progress?

This is spam mail.  Its sole purpose is to be absorbed by a lashing.

Then do we have a deal for you!

However if you get even one smile from this then I recommend a green arrow to show your approval.

Increase your glow and surprise your spren with Naihars miracle stormlight.  Guaranteed to increase your glow by at least 10%.

 

Just for you we have a limited time offer.  Purchase three special infused spheres for the price of two.  But wait there's more.  Use the code Od1n during purchase and we will throw in a one of a kind spren hat for that special someone in your life.

Side effects may include but are not limited to: diarrhea, insomnia, voidbinding and/or death.”

 

LyceàWurum

 

“Wurum,

I'm mostly sending this so you have a buffer against reverse lashings. I don't really have any other plans for messages. The only thing I've noticed is that it seems like Ash might have an important role, but others have noted that too.

-Lyce”

 

WurumàGart

 

“Well met!

 

Justice demands Retribution!

 

Squire, attend me!”

 

RulitàTunnib

 

“Well, Metam was right about one thing, I am the Truthwatcher.  I didn't, however, scan him, I instead scanned you.  I am sending this because obviously I found out that you are a villager, and I don't want to reveal myself.  Most people will be sending messages to Wurum, so this one will probably get through to you.  I may contact you in the future if I scan an Eliminator, but good luck on surviving the game.

-Aladdin(3869)”

 

GartàSerji

 

“Post this message reversed. Message this post.

 

You lame?”

 

Tahrin RestenàRulit

 

“By steel alphabet I meant 1=b, 2=p, etc. but that would probably be too long to code and decode so never mind.  I'm probably just going to use Serji's thing with numbers. (The number being 493). I was going to say don't reveal roles to each other, but you already did so I'll tell you my role too. I'm a normal Darkeyes. Of course that's going to complicate my rp because darkeyes don't have last names but whatever. I hope what I wrote about gems was good enough and if you wrote something in your rp (like your character saying storms or something) saying you get my message that would be nice. I feel like I wrote way too much in this message, sorry about that. –Theory”

 

 

Cycle 4

 

SerjiàWurum

 

“(90863) Wurum,

Sorry about not sending anyone a message last cycle. I've been writing them at about the last moment in general, so missing the last 40 hours of the cycle didn't help me any. I plan to do better.

 

Don't know if you're expecting a message from your partner, but perhaps this will improve the odds of your receiving the theoretical message.

Sincerely,

the Munificent Net Mender”

 

AladdinàWurum

 

“I didn't sign up for this!

oh well. Here are my actions so far

Actions so far:

cycles 1 and 2 followed the chart

cycle 3 Full on tulir, recruit Twlv, message Gamma (damnation I got lucky there) revealing myself as WR (used that cycle's recruiting to prove it)

cycle 4 Basic you, recruit Luckat

 

IDK who to recruit from here on out... But really, Mail just isn't adding up

 

Confirm by quoting the doc.

 

Good Luck!”

 

TwlvàWurum

 

“(52197)
I have a Basic Lashing, which I used on Gamma this cycle (as of writing).
If you want to confirm me as the author, have Wurum ask for blue wine in an RP. I'll include the sequence number in my next post.

-Twlv”

 

Famed GaminàWurum

 

“Here's some Yakkety Spam for your inbox. Doubt you need to worry about Reverse Lashings still, but might as well. I don't have anything important to add at the moment.”

 

TunnibàWurum

 

“(1785) Hi!
I really hope that this message actually reach you this time. Not that it actually contains anything Important.

I mostly send it so that a message from your colleague will be harder to steal, but I also put a new id number just in case.

/Binnut”

 

WurumàNaihar

 

"(3.14159)

 

Well, you can probably guess who this is. Just your friendly neighbourhood Windrunner popping in to say hi and tell you to keep an eye on things in the Squire doc for us. Keep an eye on them all, would you? ”

 

MallawàSerji

 

"(7861)Hello, Serji.
Sorry for the late reply, I had to contact some others. I am setting up codes so that I may communicate more freely and as I need with others. Hers one I'll use with you, once you RP about seeing my character's uncanny ability to shoot arrows. Once you do so, I will confirm it by RP'ing about receiving a letter from Alys. Here's a key: If I RP with
Erak: I trust whoever I mention first.
Thick ropes: I will be Lashing whoever I mention first in my post.
Round buckler: A confirmed ally(the one I mention immediately after) will be protected.
Axe: Death to the next person I mention.
Hope this finds you well,
Will"

 

GartàRulit

 

“We've got protection, but I can't figure out who my friends are. I have a bad feeling that there's too many inactives. However, they could also be posting to the thread. I need your help to find them. Do you have any suspicions?

Sart (07734)”

 

 

Cycle 5

 

SerjiàFamed Gamin

 

“Password: Bellmaker

Codename: RubyWise

The keyword will be used in a roleplay involving an axehound. One of the following adjectives will be applied.
Basic: "gregarious"
Full: "magnanimous"
Reverse: "snuffling"
None: "quizzical"

If none, on a future cycle one of these adjectives may be attached to a different entity if squired later.”

 

AladdinàFamed Gamin

 

“Hey, WR2 here

Actions so far:

cycles 1 Recruit Aonar, message stormfather, Tulir sent me a message.

cycle 2 Basic Wurum, Recruit meta, Respond to tulir's message.

cycle 3 Full on tulir, recruit Twlv, message you, and you know how that went...

cycle 4 Basic Wurum, recruit Luckat, Message wurum.

cycle 5 Full QC, Recruit Jain, Message you again.

So if you want me to do an action, here's what you'll do.

Full: Applesauce

Basic: Please

Reverse: Useless

Squire: Bacon

 

to acknowledge, I will say "OK, mighty Truthwatcher type person"

 

Good luck!”

 

TwlvàFamed Gamin

 

“Codename: Saxamaphone
Password: a link to Yakety Sax
Keyword: I'll begin my next post with "Oh, wonderful" on its own line.

I have a Basic Lashing, used on you on day 4.”

 

WurumàFamed Gamin

 

"(i)

 

This is a message in case I die tonight. If I do, then we have a traitor in the Squire Doc. Two players have claimed the same Lashing to me in previous messages - One arrived in the Doc the same Cycle as Meta, the other the same Cycle as Gart. If they claim differently, then say something in the thread. Please mention if you got this message in the thread. To prove who it is that's messaging you, let's just say that I'll never give you up :P"

 

Madame QuismetàFamed Gamin

 

“Hey Gamin!

As instructed inthread:

Codename: Sooki
Password: Waffle
Keyword: Cellar

And don't read too much into it.
Happy hour is standard. Orange wine doesn't mean distraction here. And seriously, orange wine? It sounds vile. Bleh.

Do not bite the hand that feeds you,

*quis*”

 

MallawàFamed Gamin

 

"(712) Gamma,
I have a Basic lashing. As you know.
Password: Saxe
Keyword: Tug

From, Halt."

 

TunnibàFamed Gamin

 

“Hi!

Spam: http://m.youtube.com...h?v=anwy2MPT5RE

Codename: Rashek
Password: HorseStapleBattery
Basic: Warbreaker
Full: Elantris
Reverse: Mistborn
None: White sand

/Rashek”

 

Tahrin RestenàFamed Gamin

 

“Codename: Axolotl

Password: Walrus

 

I am pretty sure that I am not going to become a Squire because people find me suspicious and everything, but these are my keywords either way.

 

BL: awesomeness (It'll never happen so why not)

FL: coat (I tend to wear these in the winter...)

RL: chicken (I don't like it, but it's a Shin delicacy)

Normal self: the number ten (to say I'm completely normal)

 

From your friendly neighborhood, Axolotl”

 

NaiharàFamed Gamin

 

“Lashing: Reverse (not in use this round)

Codename: Logaan

Password: Trickster

Keyword: Riddle”

 

LyceàFamed Gamin

 

“Lashing: Reverse. Unused, as of yet.
Codename: Turtle
Password: broken in pieces
Keyword: lovely”

[Wyrmhero he/him]

Just going to give my thoughts on the points you've raised. I agree with the issues you've raised there, and have a few suggestions to make, though I'm not really sure what to do about Messaging in general.

 

I think the problem with the Reverse Lashings was that there was no real reason for the Skybreakers to check messages instead of killing the person instead. If you reduced Division to one Skybreaker per Cycle, that would probably help to get the other Lashings used, but I still think Reverse Lashing needs a bit of a buff. Perhaps let it change votes as well, to give the Skybreakers a little lynch-control?

 

The Messaging system though... As I said, I'm not quite sure what could be done about that. Part of the problem is that most players in these games highly value being able to talk to each other, and while the codes we saw were rather excessive, they made message-stealing somewhat useless because they hid all the information away. Of course, this sort of thing can't be fully stopped in a game where messages can be stolen like this. One possible way I can think of that could combat this is to limit the number of words that can be sent this way, to stop the more complex codes being shared. That might make it used more for information sharing rather than code sharing.

 

For what it's worth though, I have no regrets sending spam Youtube links to my Squires, though generally I made sure there was more than that in them. At least it worked for showing who I messaged each Cycle?

 

I will also add that I really enjoyed the temporary doc idea, and I thought that worked really well. They may invalidate messages a bit, I agree, but that couldn't be helped in a game with temporary docs, I think. For that matter, as we can see for your list, three inter-team messages were sent anyway, so they didn't totally make Messaging unused by them.

 

I would have said that there would have been a trade-off between planning and creating the code in the docs, but 48 hours was enough for us to do both easily. Maybe 24 hours, though that might really punish players on different timezones. With more players, planning would become more complex and take more time, so codes may take too much time to set up anyway in that case. As such, I probably wouldn't really change anything here.

 

I disagree a bit with only one Recruit per Cycle though, but I don't not agree with it either. If there was an average of one kill a Cycle, two Recruits would definitely be too much. But at the same time, it decreases the rate that the Henchmen get Squired, which could be an issue. Maybe remove the free Recruit at the start of the game if there are two Recruits per Cycle? I'd probably actually suggest just remove the first Cycle completely, to help combat the number of codes being set up while Reverse Lashings weren't a problem. Overall, I'm not sure what to suggest with Squires. Perhaps make it use an action? Then it would really be a difficult choice, but I feel that Squiring wouldn't be the right one to make in this case, at least not after the very early game. So that's probably a bit too much of a nerf. I'd say just that one Recruit per Cycle would probably be better than two, but I think the ideal number is something like 1.5.

 

Generally speaking, the Henchmen exist to get Squired, and are meant to be a counter to the idea of Squiring everyone as we did. However, only really one of the Lashings benefits them, so I wasn't too worried about getting the wrong person (as we saw...). I think the Basic Lashing needs to be changed a little to be useful for the Henchmen to get, since at the moment it doesn't do anything for them other than let them be softconfirmed if they use it or use a WGG to softconfirm two people (with extensive setting up, of course) - at the expense of a kill. The only way I can think of using it, however - Saving from a lynch - may be too strong though, as it makes the Skybreakers nigh-unkillable until we find and lynch their Henchmen. I've also already suggested a small way to buff Reverse Lashings as well, though this is already useful for Henchmen to get.

 

I would consider buffing Division so that double-tapping a player hits through a level of Basic Lashing. This would help decrease the problems we saw here a bit with the Basic Lashings being so common, even if only one player's Basic Lashings came into effect this game. I think it's worth the possibility of wasting the extra kill to be sure. If Division was once a Cycle instead of twice, this would also stealth-nerf Full Lashings unless you got really lucky, which is good.

 

As a thought - What if all Surgebinding was once every other Cycle instead? So Lashings, Division, (maybe) Illumination and (maybe) Progression could only be used every other day? That would make Division more consistent with other powers rather than if you let it be done on alternating days by the Skybreakers. It also means they can choose how to stack it as well, which could be very interesting. For instance, it would mean that you couldn't be sure whether you'd Full Lashed a Skybreaker - They could be saving it to double-tap a player the next day, for instance, if you found no-kills that Cycle, rather than knowing you'd certainly hit one because the kill is that much more valuable.

 

The weakening of the Truthwatcher abilities here could be a little too much, but it was just a thought for extra consistency. Perhaps this weakening could be an answer to smaller-player-number games like this? Alternatively, it might be a good idea for one-Division/Cycle games, since that would slow the Truthwatcher down comparably. Making Progression an active ability is an idea, but probably a terrible one, so feel free to completely disregard that

 

So summing up the suggestions I've made:

• Remove the 'free' First Cycle (or keep as is if there is action-Recruiting, but either prevent messages or give free Reverse Lashing to the Skybreakers (i.e, it doesn't start the cooldown) to prevent safe-messaging).
• Add a cooldown to Division similar to Lashings, but let double-tapping go through Basic Lashings.
• Buff Reverse Lashings slightly and let Basic Lashings be useful for Henchmen (I don't know what to suggest here though).
• Nerf the Truthwatcher a bit for low-player games/games with an average of one Division/Cycle (not sure whether this is really needed though).
• Add cooldown to Squiring (or consider it requiring an action, which may be too punishing but could work with a free First Cycle).
• Limit the length of Messages, and obviously in this case prevent players like me from adding links.

These are just my thoughts, and obviously they're as valid/invalid as the next person's. Something to keep in mind is that it may be a little knee-jerk to think about so many changes this quickly though, with the game going as it did.

 

Still, regardless of the issues that may have cropped up in this game, I enjoyed playing. Thank you for a fun game, Renegade