Sanderson Elimination: Questions & Answers and Game Meta Discussion

[Araris Valerian he/him]

@Fifth Scholar I think that is a great summary. Personally, if I'm going to be relatively busy IRL during some or all of a game (which recently has been almost always), the deciding factor for me to join is how complicated the ruleset is. I'll join pretty much any game with "standard" rules, with the basic mafia roles, some flavor, and maybe PMs. A separate google doc with rules was enough to scare me away from the spren LG. The rules could even be really complicated, but hidden, so that I as a player don't have to deal with an information overload at the start of the game.

One thought I just had about concerns about signup length and RP: Perhaps GMs could extend signups and encourage players to RP during that time. I know that some players use the signups as a time to introduce their character, but perhaps the GM could take a more direct role in creating one or more settings for this RP to occur. This could take the form of pre-game day/night cycles with writeups or something else. I don't usually do much RP, but when I have, it has greatly enhanced my SE experience, especially when the GM actively used my character in the writeups.

 

[xinoehp512 he/him]

9 minutes ago, Araris Valerian said:

One thought I just had about concerns about signup length and RP: Perhaps GMs could extend signups and encourage players to RP during that time. I know that some players use the signups as a time to introduce their character, but perhaps the GM could take a more direct role in creating one or more settings for this RP to occur. This could take the form of pre-game day/night cycles with writeups or something else. I don't usually do much RP, but when I have, it has greatly enhanced my SE experience, especially when the GM actively used my character in the writeups.

Let's do this! Having RP be more supported would definitely encourage me.

[A Joe in the Bush]

Why do we make a new thread for each new turn? Is there any benefits to it? It often breaks links that players post to previous posts in the thread once it gets merged.

[Furamirionind]

15 minutes ago, A Joe in the Bush said:

Why do we make a new thread for each new turn? Is there any benefits to it? It often breaks links that players post to previous posts in the thread once it gets merged.

My concern with keeping the same thread throughout the game is:

 1. It doesnt look as good. - It is aesthetically pleasing to have the write up be the first post on a page

2. It allows for quickly and easily finding stuff that happened in the ongoing turn.

On MU they keep the same thread throughout the game, however, they also have a button at the bottom of the page that allows you to jump to the start or end of any day/night. While it doesnt look as good, it does allow easily finding info.

I think if we were to merge everything to one thread, that would work, but we should try adding a quicklinks section to every rollover then, as otherwise going through the thread will be pretty frustrating I think.

Edited June 2, 2019 by Furamirionind

[Steeldancer he/him]

15 minutes ago, A Joe in the Bush said:

Why do we make a new thread for each new turn? Is there any benefits to it? It often breaks links that players post to previous posts in the thread once it gets merged.

 

[Furamirionind]

Sure, and that. : P

Personally though, I find it easier to use. Though perhaps that is just because it is the format I learned to play with.

[Elandera she/her]

Some GMs are pretty good about adding quick links to each new turn in the intro post of the main thread. If we could get all of them to do that, it would make things a lot easier. I agree with Joe. It would mechanically make things easier. Links wouldn't break, and we wouldn't have to keep going back to the main thread or have 50-ish windows open just to do analysis.

That might also mean creating banners for new turns to help them stand out a bit more as you're scrolling. Or at least large, bolded font with the turn and name.

Edited June 2, 2019 by Elandera

[Alvron he/him]

On 6/2/2019 at 2:11 PM, Elandera said:

Some GMs are pretty good about adding quick links to each new turn in the intro post of the main thread. If we could get all of them to do that, it would make things a lot easier.

None of the GMs are putting the quick links into the OP.  Fifth and I do that when we merge the threads as we are able to edit posts in locked threads.

One of the reasons we have separate threads for each cycle is so that it appears in the recent topics on the main page.  This allows others who don't know about us the chance to see and easily find us if interested.  We would lose a lot of advertising if we just went to one thread for the whole game. If a game lasts five full cycles then we would go from 12 topics down to one.  This also has the added benefit of possibly reminding those playing that a game has started or changed cycles.

As Steel pointed out, tradition.  It began in LG2 and has just continued.  There wasn't any vote or much discussion on it, it simply happened.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

But what I consider more important is that it allows someone to start at rollover.  Let's say you were unable to log in for a day or two, that could be a lot of posts you would have to scroll through to find the start of a Turn.  Yes, we could add Quicklinks to the start of every cycle and some games have those but if you are halfway through a cycle then even those will not help you get to the start of the latest cycle.  You could go to the OP and then to the quicklinked start but again, that's an extra amount of time when currently you can jump right to the beginning of the current cycle.  (I know this pain firsthand as there have been times when the one merging didn't quicklink and I had to scroll through post after post, page after page to find the write up.)

There was also the habit of players putting quicklinks into a post and using that as their 'post of the day' to avoid suspicion/inactivity filter.  This was partly why we started quicklinking in the first place.  That and it made it so much easier to find things when reviewing.  If we were to ask the GMs to do that every cycle, it could add extra time to rollover and discourage new GMs from signing up.

But that's just my opinion.

[Kasimir he/him]

Have survey, and it should be automatically set to display results/responses so that's great. I'm not collecting any personal information, including usernames: the survey is 11 questions long but most of the questions are just asking you to rank factors. It's basically about SE from the perspective of a player, and then of a GM.

Would appreciate it if people filled it out if they find themselves with a bit of spare time!

[Snipexe he/him]

This may have been answered somewhere and I just missed it, but what is the plan for the next anniversary game?

[StrikerEZ he/him]

So I'm working on a Scadrial LG right now, and I was hoping I could get some help from the community with figuring out how to do all the feruchemical powers. I've only got 3 so far.

Here's the rules. Everyone can comment on it if they want.

[Feruchemical Skybreaker he/him]

Sorry to ask but, how do I join a game?

[Elandera she/her]

35 minutes ago, Feruchemical Skybreaker said:

Sorry to ask but, how do I join a game?

Welcome to SE! When a new game starts, a sign-up post will be posted to the forum. You just reply to that post, indicating you'd like to play and possibly an RP character if you wish. If you'd like, we can tag you when the next one begins. We should have a QF starting soon, though the MR has stalled.

Have you played forum mafia before?

Edited January 11, 2020 by Elandera

[Feruchemical Skybreaker he/him]

15 minutes ago, Elandera said:

Welcome to SE! When a new game starts, a sign-up post will be posted to the forum. You just reply to that post, indicating you'd like to play and possibly an RP character if you wish. If you'd like, we can tag you when the next one begins. We should have a QF starting soon, though the MR has stalled.

Have you played forum mafia before?

I would love it if you could tag me when the next one starts up. 

And no, I have not played a forum mafia before.

[Elandera she/her]

18 minutes ago, Feruchemical Skybreaker said:

I would love it if you could tag me when the next one starts up. 

And no, I have not played a forum mafia before.

We're glad to have you join! You can read up on how it goes in the General Rules thread. A QF (quick fix) is a good place to start as the rules are generally simple, though they do move quickly. The current long game is winding down, but I'm sure @Elbereth or @Fifth Scholar could provide you with the spectator doc link if you wish. We do a lot of chatting there about the game and other things. It's a good place to ask questions as you observe the flow of a game. 

[Feruchemical Skybreaker he/him]

On 1/10/2020 at 7:48 PM, Elandera said:

We're glad to have you join! You can read up on how it goes in the General Rules thread. A QF (quick fix) is a good place to start as the rules are generally simple, though they do move quickly. The current long game is winding down, but I'm sure @Elbereth or @Fifth Scholar could provide you with the spectator doc link if you wish. We do a lot of chatting there about the game and other things. It's a good place to ask questions as you observe the flow of a game. 

thanks.

@Elbereth and @Fifth Scholar, could you please provide me with the spectator link?

Also, does anyone know when the next game starts up?

Edited January 18, 2020 by Feruchemical Skybreaker

[Elbereth she/her]

The next QF starts on Monday! Sign up here. And if you haven’t already, I’d recommend looking through the General Rules for a general idea of how all this goes.  Welcome! 

[Elkanah he/him]

On 9/22/2019 at 6:11 AM, Kasimir said:

Have survey, and it should be automatically set to display results/responses so that's great. I'm not collecting any personal information, including usernames: the survey is 11 questions long but most of the questions are just asking you to rank factors. It's basically about SE from the perspective of a player, and then of a GM.

Would appreciate it if people filled it out if they find themselves with a bit of spare time!

Would you be willing to post the results? I already submitted my answers once but it won't let me see the results again unless I submit a new form.

[Elbereth she/her]

Here's the results as of my submission. But I'll ask Kas for a link that updates itself, too. 

[The_God_King]

I figured I’d throw this in since it’s been a problem from the start of me playing. Should code making be banned for players In the basic rules? I feel GMs can be discretionary and allow it for some games. (Maybe instead of PMs have people giving codes and keys but that’s an idea I won’t be fleshing out any time soon). I know there are limitations already in place but it seems to have caused some disgruntled conversations that are outside of the game in a couple of recent games. 

[StrikerEZ he/him]

On 3/31/2020 at 10:45 PM, The_God_King said:

I figured I’d throw this in since it’s been a problem from the start of me playing. Should code making be banned for players In the basic rules? I feel GMs can be discretionary and allow it for some games. (Maybe instead of PMs have people giving codes and keys but that’s an idea I won’t be fleshing out any time soon). I know there are limitations already in place but it seems to have caused some disgruntled conversations that are outside of the game in a couple of recent games. 

I think codes are perfectly okay for players to do. I just know that, for me personally, it's sometimes distracting, especially when someone's posts are just codes. I wouldn't be opposed to players having to put their codes and stuff in spoilers though! I don't want people to have to stop doing them if they love doing them, it's just not my thing.

[Karnage]

Can anyone give me an idea of how long the gap is between Long Games? I am so excited to get in my first Sanderson Elimination!

[StrikerEZ he/him]

49 minutes ago, Karnage said:

Can anyone give me an idea of how long the gap is between Long Games? I am so excited to get in my first Sanderson Elimination!

Well, the signups for the next LG should be going up in the next couple days or so. However, that game is going to be very, very complex. I wouldn’t recommend any new players try to play it, but if you already have experience with Mafia, you could read the rules when the signups are posted and see if you think you could handle it. If you wanna wait a little bit longer, the current Medium Range (MR) will be over in about a week or so. And the signups for the next Quick Fix (QF) will go up after that.

[CadCom he/him]

2 hours ago, Karnage said:

Can anyone give me an idea of how long the gap is between Long Games? I am so excited to get in my first Sanderson Elimination!

My first game was a somewhat complicated one. There have definitely been more complicated games since that one, but yeah. If you've played mafia before, jump right in. If not, feel free to join the spectator document. Many current players join that and just talk casually if they dont think they'll have time to play.

[Elbereth she/her]

Well, thanks for the final bit of motivation to actually finish the signup RP.  It's.... well, it'll be a ton of fun if you're willing to handle the rules being a 27-page doc?  (It's also not Sanderson-themed, unlike the vast majority of our games, but setting knowledge isn't required.)