The Art of Game Creation

[Alvron he/him]

If a Rioter uses their ability and the Elims place kill orders during the Day, how would the Elims know to place a second kill?  Would they be allowed to submit a second order during the Night or would they have to submit an order each Day on the off chance a Rioter uses their ability?

[Mailliw73 he/him]

12 minutes ago, Gammalv Fiend said:

If a Rioter uses their ability and the Elims place kill orders during the Day, how would the Elims know to place a second kill?  Would they be allowed to submit a second order during the Night or would they have to submit an order each Day on the off chance a Rioter uses their ability?

Oh, good point. I’d probably say they can submit 2 during the day on the off chance of a Riot. 

[Furamirionind]

Hey Maill, this looks like a cool ruleset!

One question, if a Rioter uses their ability, but a Smoker also used theirs, if the Smoker was the person with the most votes, would they still die?

In other words, does smoking prevent lynch immunity when rioted, or only immunity to the extra rioted lynch?

[Mailliw73 he/him]

10 hours ago, Furamirionind said:

Hey Maill, this looks like a cool ruleset!

One question, if a Rioter uses their ability, but a Smoker also used theirs, if the Smoker was the person with the most votes, would they still die?

In other words, does smoking prevent lynch immunity when rioted, or only immunity to the extra rioted lynch?

Thanks!

It negates the Rioting completely, so if the Smoker was either the first or the second person with the most votes, they wouldn’t die. But the other person with the most votes would. So lynch immunity when there’s a Riot. 

12 hours ago, Mailliw73 said:

Oh, good point. I’d probably say they can submit 2 during the day on the off chance of a Riot. 

@Gammalv Fiend

I actually changed my mind on this. Burning Zinc will be a night action, that way everyone knows there is a second lynch and kill. 

[Straw he/him]

On 3/15/2019 at 9:06 PM, tiny wilson said:

Soother: A Soother can burn brass and Soothe a player each night, causing their zeal for justice to diminish. During the next cycle, the Soothed player cannot post in thread or use abilities.

Along with the points that Fifth Scholar mentioned, this role seems to be biased towards to elims. I can't really think of a situation in which the village would want a player to be silenced.

On 3/15/2019 at 9:06 PM, tiny wilson said:

Rioter: Once per game, a Rioter can burn their zinc during the day to encourage a second lynch. That day, the two players with the most votes will be lynched. The Eliminators will also get a second kill due to their anger being rioted.

I'm seeing a lot of possible problems with this role. First of all, giving the elim team this role would be very dangerous. At any point, the elim team has the opportunity to remove four players in a single turn, drastically swinging the balance of the game (especially if they manage to remove valuable players). On the other hand, it would also give the village the ability to gain a burst of information, and possibly remove two villagers. Essentially, this role seems very swingy and difficult to balance.

On 3/15/2019 at 9:06 PM, tiny wilson said:

Coinshot: As a Coinshot flies around the city at night, they spot any attacks. When they do, they have the ability to Push on the weapon and deflect it to the player above or below the intended target on the player list.

Lurcher: A Lurcher can choose to Pull attacks toward them and their protective shield, bringing the kill one person on the player list closer to the Lurcher’s own position.

How important is the player list in your game? Are there mechanics allowing players to change their position on it?

On 3/15/2019 at 9:06 PM, tiny wilson said:

Tineye: Tineyes have enhanced senses that they use to observe at night. To them, the city is an open book. Their senses enable them to evade any actions taken against them while burning tin at night. They’ll be told what action(s) were taken against them.

Either part of this role is powerful on its own, but when combined it seems a bit overpowered. Maybe change it to just be the latter part?

[Mailliw73 he/him]

Here's an updated ruleset for the Mistborn game. Lurchers are the role I'm least satisfied with. Does anyone have any other ideas for how we could use iron? I'm not attached to the player list idea for it. 

---

Soother: A Soother can burn brass and Soothe a player each cycle, causing their zeal for justice to diminish. During the next turn, the Soothed player cannot post in thread. Brass can be burned either turn of a cycle.

Rioter: Twice per game, a Rioter can burn their zinc. If burned during the night, it will encourage a second lynch the next day. That day, the two players with the most votes will be lynched. If burned during the day, players will get two actions the following night.

Seeker: A Seeker is told which players used abilities that night. The more they use their ability, they grow in skill and the more information they’ll receive. Each turn that bronze is burned, the Seeker will learn a new piece of information. For example, N1, a Seeker could learn that 3 players burned metals. N2, they could learn that Wilson and Meta burned metals. N3, they could learn that Wilson and Gamma burned a mental metal, and that Meta and Seonid burned a physical metal. And so on.

Smoker: Smokers interfere with Seeking. At night, a Smoker can choose one player to Smoke. When they do this, it distorts the information the Seeker receives about that person. If a Smoked player is one of the two most voted for players up for a lynch when the Rioter uses their ability, the Smoker will not die. Only one lynch will happen that day, either the first or the second most voted for player, whichever is not the Smoked player.

Coinshot: As a Coinshot flies around the city at night, they spot any attacks. They will be told who is being attacked that night by the eliminators. They have the ability to Push on the weapon and deflect it to the player above or below the intended target on the player list.

Lurcher: A Lurcher can choose to Pull attacks toward them and their protective shield, bringing the kill one person on the player list closer to the Lurcher’s own position.
-Switch positions?

Tineye: Tineyes have enhanced senses that they use to observe at night. To them, the city is an open book. They can either go on alert at night and evade any actions that target themselves or they can sneak around, following a player to see who they target. A Tineye cannot take one of these actions two nights in a row. Being on alert all night causes them to sleep through the voting the next day; any vote they take will be negated.  

Pewterarm: When a Pewterarm is attacked, they will fight for their survival. They will stay alive for one turn after being attacked or lynched. During that turn, they can choose a player to kill. If they kill their attacker, they will survive.

Eliminators: The Eliminators get a group kill each cycle. This kill must be decided on during the day turn and one player on the eliminator team must use their action during the night to go out and make the kill.

Messengers are easy to come by and as such, PMs are open. Please include me in all PMs. Day turns are 48 hours and will include a lynch. Nights are 24 hours.

---

@Straw I think this new one answers your questions. If not, let me know.  

[Lumgol she/her]

@The Storm, I think it would be super interesting to utilize the player list more - for example, have bronze, brass, and/or zinc have a range such that only players within a certain distance in the player list can/do get affected by the metal. However, you have stated that you aren't fond of the player list idea. Perhaps for another game, eventually?

As for other ideas for Lurchers, an option I see is to have them be able to find out who the elims attack like a coinshot does, and be able to redirect said attack to themselves with a 50% chance of surviving.

They could also target up to a certain small number of people during the night, and if any of them are targeted with a kill, they become severely injured instead and survive until the end of the next day.

Edited March 28, 2019 by Mailliw772

[Straw he/him]

23 hours ago, Mailliw772 said:

@The Storm, I think it would be super interesting to utilize the player list more - for example, have bronze, brass, and/or zinc have a range such that only players within a certain distance in the player list can/do get affected by the metal. However, you have stated that you aren't fond of the player list idea. Perhaps for another game, eventually?

As for other ideas for Lurchers, an option I see is to have them be able to find out who the elims attack like a coinshot does, and be able to redirect said attack to themselves with a 50% chance of surviving.

They could also target up to a certain small number of people during the night, and if any of them are targeted with a kill, they become severely injured instead and survive until the end of the next day.

Yeah, having the player list be a larger component would be a really interesting mechanic.

[Mailliw73 he/him]

On 3/28/2019 at 0:24 PM, Mailliw772 said:

@The Storm, I think it would be super interesting to utilize the player list more - for example, have bronze, brass, and/or zinc have a range such that only players within a certain distance in the player list can/do get affected by the metal. However, you have stated that you aren't fond of the player list idea. Perhaps for another game, eventually?

As for other ideas for Lurchers, an option I see is to have them be able to find out who the elims attack like a coinshot does, and be able to redirect said attack to themselves with a 50% chance of surviving.

They could also target up to a certain small number of people during the night, and if any of them are targeted with a kill, they become severely injured instead and survive until the end of the next day.

I like those Lurcher ideas! What about this?

Lurcher: A Lurcher can pull metal, so each night, Lurchers stand watch and choose to protect 1-3(subject to change) players. If any of those people are targeted by the eliminators' kill, they are injured. The injury depends on how many people the Lurcher was focused on: if only one, that player will only be injured by not being able to vote the next day; if two, the injured player loses any abilities they have, if the player has no abilities, they lose their vote for the rest of the game; if three players were under the Lurcher's watch, the injured player survives till the end of the next cycle (if this player is a Pewterarm, they survive completely, but due to the amount of pewter they are burning to heal, they aren't able to use their regular pewter ability).

On 3/29/2019 at 11:32 AM, Straw said:

Yeah, having the player list be a larger component would be a really interesting mechanic.

I think so too! I'm just not sure it's what I want to do with this game specifically. With the Coinshot, my goal is to have them do something that can interfere with kills, but not stop them. The player list was the only way I could think of doing it without an RNG. And an RNG might not be bad. I could roll for two random players and those would be the Coinshot's two options. Thoughts?

[Lumgol she/her]

On 4/1/2019 at 5:02 PM, Mailliw73 said:

With the Coinshot, my goal is to have them do something that can interfere with kills, but not stop them. The player list was the only way I could think of doing it without an RNG. And an RNG might not be bad. I could roll for two random players and those would be the Coinshot's two options. Thoughts?

I like that. I feel like it might be OP for the village near the end of the game if the elims decide to out themselves and hammer it out, since a coinshot can just redirect a kill onto a known elim (who has a good chance of appearing as one of the random names given). Also, since a Coinshot finds out who is going to be nightkilled, those people are almost guaranteed villagers, and that'll greatly narrow down the potential number of suspects. (And an elim Coinshot will make little to no sense, so a Coinshot by nature is pretty much cleared if they can prove their role.) However, it's a really cool idea and those are just some possible interesting things that can happen with it.

Edit: Some updated rules for my hemalurgy LG are going to be posted soon, so there's also that.

Edited May 8, 2019 by Lumgol

[Snipexe he/him]

This is just a quick mechanic for a Snapshot game that I'd like to get thoughts on:

Cycle 0 (The first cycle is neither an A or a B cycle): An anonymous cycle, with every player using an anonymous account. People would have actions during the cycle, and most importantly there would be an elim kill.

Cycle 1A: The aftermath of whatever events took place during Cycle 0. All roles that players had on their anonymous accounts carry over to their actual ones. There is a lynch this cycle, as well as an elim kill.

Cycle 1B: Back to anonymous accounts. These are the "snapshot" cycles. All players automatically do their exact same actions, with the exception of the detectives, who can change their actions. All players who have previously died, are still alive in their anonymous accounts, though they are still dead in the non-Snapshot cycles. Anyone who the detectives pm and show their reality badge to (they would have to pm the gm that they have done this), proving that they are the detectives, will be broken free, and be able to change their actions. People may still talk freely in already created pms, and in the thread.

The game continues like such, alternating normal and snapshot cycles until either both of the detectives are killed, or the elim is killed (I am currently thinking that this would have a single elim, though I could see an elim team working as well.)

So, thoughts?

edit: I need to give credit, this is heavily inspired by Joe's time travel games, which I think are super interesting.

Edited May 11, 2019 by Snipexe

[A Joe in the Bush]

2 hours ago, Snipexe said:

This is just a quick mechanic for a Snapshot game that I'd like to get thoughts on:

Cycle 0 (The first cycle is neither an A or a B cycle): An anonymous cycle, with every player using an anonymous account. People would have actions during the cycle, and most importantly there would be an elim kill.

Cycle 1A: The aftermath of whatever events took place during Cycle 0. All roles that players had on their anonymous accounts carry over to their actual ones. There is a lynch this cycle, as well as an elim kill.

Cycle 1B: Back to anonymous accounts. These are the "snapshot" cycles. All players automatically do their exact same actions, with the exception of the detectives, who can change their actions. All players who have previously died, are still alive in their anonymous accounts, though they are still dead in the non-Snapshot cycles. Anyone who the detectives pm and show their reality badge to (they would have to pm the gm that they have done this), proving that they are the detectives, will be broken free, and be able to change their actions. People may still talk freely in already created pms, and in the thread.

The game continues like such, alternating normal and snapshot cycles until either both of the detectives are killed, or the elim is killed (I am currently thinking that this would have a single elim, though I could see an elim team working as well.)

So, thoughts?

edit: I need to give credit, this is heavily inspired by Joe's time travel games, which I think are super interesting.

Also makes a lot more sense then my time travel game.

As a bare bones mechanic, i like this. It's a good way to do it, though i'd worry about most of the players not having anything to do every other turn.

[Alvron he/him]

How would people feel about a crazy game?  A game where players could have up to 4 roles with the chance of gaining (or losing) more.  One designed more for fun than balance.

[Mailliw73 he/him]

Just now, Alvron said:

How would people feel about a crazy game?  A game where players could have up to 4 roles with the chance of gaining (or losing) more.  One designed more for fun than balance.

Up to 4? Shoot, you want to go through all your new roles at once, huh?

[Alvron he/him]

1 minute ago, Mailliw73 said:

Up to 4? Shoot, you want to go through all your new roles at once, huh?

At moment I have 47 roles.  Highly doubtful I would use them all in one game but if players enjoy the fun over the mechanics, it could have endless replayability.

[Mailliw73 he/him]

2 minutes ago, Alvron said:

At moment I have 47 roles.  Highly doubtful I would use them all in one game but if players enjoy the fun over the mechanics, it could have endless replayability.

I’m always down for more fun. 

[Elandera she/her]

1 hour ago, Alvron said:

At moment I have 47 roles.  Highly doubtful I would use them all in one game but if players enjoy the fun over the mechanics, it could have endless replayability.

I love role madness games. I think it gives everyone a little more incentive to stay involved.

This sounds like role insanity.

Do it.

[Furamirionind]

10 hours ago, Alvron said:

At moment I have 47 roles.  Highly doubtful I would use them all in one game but if players enjoy the fun over the mechanics, it could have endless replayability.

Sounds awesome!

[CadCom he/him]

On 5/11/2019 at 11:06 PM, Alvron said:

At moment I have 47 roles.  Highly doubtful I would use them all in one game but if players enjoy the fun over the mechanics, it could have endless replayability.

The potential for this is endless. You could literally just make it completely random, and if it's unbalanced, oh well, a new game will eventually be run.

Or you could spend some time actually trying to balance roles, or choose between 3 randomly generated role assignments to determine which is the most balanced.

Edited May 14, 2019 by Cadmium Compounder

[Alvron he/him]

8 hours ago, Cadmium Compounder said:

The potential for this is endless. You could literally just make it completely random, and if it's unbalanced, oh well, a new game will eventually be run.

Or you could spend some time actually trying to balance roles, or choose between 3 randomly generated role assignments to determine which is the most balanced.

It's not about balance.  It's about having fun.  Win, lose, balanced or chaos, it doesn't matter.  What matters is if people have fun.

A small sampling of the roles:
Voodoo Practitioner:  Each Night you can choose one player and one six letter word.  If your target says that word during the following Day, they will die.  (Player/RP names cannot be selected.)
Good Neighbour:  Each Night you can choose the protect either the person above or below you on the player list.
Alarmist:  Once per game you can choose to roleblock every player for that Night cycle.
Torturer:  Each Night you can torture someone to learn their role.  They will be informed that they were tortured.
Karma:  Each Night you can target a Player.  Any action the target takes is also applied to them.
Sleepwalker:  (Passive/Hidden)  Each Night you randomly visit another player but no actions are taken.
Dependent:  (Passive)  You are reliant on the {Redacted} role.  Should all players with this name in their role die, you will lose all your roles.

As you can see by the last two, the player might not even know they have a role and they aren't all beneficial.  There are some negative roles/traits.

[Elandera she/her]

50 minutes ago, Alvron said:

It's not about balance.  It's about having fun.  Win, lose, balanced or chaos, it doesn't matter.  What matters is if people have fun.

A small sampling of the roles:
Voodoo Practitioner:  Each Night you can choose one player and one six letter word.  If your target says that word during the following Day, they will die.  (Player/RP names cannot be selected.)
Good Neighbour:  Each Night you can choose the protect either the person above or below you on the player list.
Alarmist:  Once per game you can choose to roleblock every player for that Night cycle.
Torturer:  Each Night you can torture someone to learn their role.  They will be informed that they were tortured.
Karma:  Each Night you can target a Player.  Any action the target takes is also applied to them.
Sleepwalker:  (Passive/Hidden)  Each Night you randomly visit another player but no actions are taken.
Dependent:  (Passive)  You are reliant on the {Redacted} role.  Should all players with this name in their role die, you will lose all your roles.

As you can see by the last two, the player might not even know they have a role and they aren't all beneficial.  There are some negative roles/traits.

Those are amazing. I love the Voodoo Practitioner. It sounds wonderfully chaotic.

[CadCom he/him]

@Alvron if we all get multiple roles, will we be able to perform multiple actions in one turn? Also, it looks like I'll avoid using six lettered words. 

[Alvron he/him]

9 hours ago, Cadmium Compounder said:

@Alvron if we all get multiple roles, will we be able to perform multiple actions in one turn? Also, it looks like I'll avoid using six lettered words. 

Still working on that part.  My upcoming Zombie game allows unlimited actions.  If you can think it, you can do it.  Will depend on how that goes as to how many actions I'll allow in the chaos game.

Good luck with that.  That particular incarnation might not even make it into the game.  It might be the 4, 5 or 7 letter Practitioner. 

[xinoehp512 he/him]

3 hours ago, Alvron said:

Still working on that part.  My upcoming Zombie game allows unlimited actions.  If you can think it, you can do it.  Will depend on how that goes as to how many actions I'll allow in the chaos game.

Good luck with that.  That particular incarnation might not even make it into the game.  It might be the 4, 5 or 7 letter Practitioner. 

How do you access that emoji?

[Alvron he/him]

7 minutes ago, xinoehp512 said:

How do you access that emoji?

The Alvicon?  It's one of several that @Burnt Spaghetti created for me.  I have them in a Doc for me to grab whenever needed.