Spyfall-inspired mechanic; input welcome

[Keirador]

Maybe give each scum a guess every day, and make the kill occur immediately, as well as no NKs at all (maybe nightless, if you want to be a bit harsh to the scum?). Then run it pretty close to normal, maybe slightly scumsided.

This might be what I would do under ideal conditions, with automatic features, but it does require CONSTANT VIGILANCE on the part of the GM that I cannot promise, so just functionally I don't think a set-up where anything occurs immediately at a player's convenience will work.

If you want to be an evil GM, a la Condude, you can do the above and make it so that the mafia don't start knowing each other. Maybe give them a guess every day for other scum, and they get communication rights if they're right? Make it 7-3 or 8-3 and laugh at the poor, flailing scum!

The first one's simpler, but the second one adds complexity and swinginess. Again, it's all up to you, I'm just spitballing.

I think ratio-wise I want to it to tilt slightly toward the scum if the town ends up playing vanilla, ignoring the Spyfall mechanic.

I'm zeroing in on a game design, largely due to limitations and rule-outs of other designs. I'm currently thinking of using an unusually high scum ration, 6:3 or 8:4 depending on interest. Scum will lack day chat, and at EOD two or three scum will be selected to offer a guess at the location and a target (if we have the interest to run 8:4, I'll divide the scum into two two-person teams that each get a joint guess, and perhaps daychat). If they're right, their target dies. There are no other night roles and no other possibility for a night-kill. Once guesses and targets have been submitted, scum will get 12 - 24 hours to chat privately.

The town will get a list of 10 or 12 (depending on how large the game is) locations at the start of each game day, which will roughly coincide with the setting of Archer episodes in a season. And sorry asudevil, I'll leave Doctor Who to you, as I think Archer's locations, which are at least set on Earth in the modern era, are going to require far less flavor knowledge than Doctor Who.

[Keirador]

I'm also considering adding a largely function-driven mechanic from Spyfall: the pointed question. I'll randomly select a player to start, and that player asks a direct question to another player using blue:

sjg how long have we spent in this location?

You can use it however you want, though, so it needn't necessarily relate to the location:

sjg did you ever respond to Crunkus' case against condude?

The subject of the blue question must respond, but they can respond however they want and they then ask the next question. This would be more of an organizing tool than anything else, but failure to respond in a timely fashion to a blue question will count as a lynch vote against you at EOD.

[sjg11]

Yeah a multi-faction game could work pretty well with this set-up, allows for multiple kills which increases the town penalty for revealing the location information while ensuring the game doesn't end too quickly.

Plus it's been a while since we had a multi-faction game here.

If it's 8:4 and the 4 get two night kills then you're potentially looking at 6:4 on Day Two and then the Mafia are just one lucky guess away from victory. Particularly if multiple people are putting in guesses, the chances of one of them getting it right increases significantly.

[sjg11]

If you want to be an evil GM, a la Condude, you can do the above and make it so that the mafia don't start knowing each other. Maybe give them a guess every day for other scum, and they get communication rights if they're right? Make it 7-3 or 8-3 and laugh at the poor, flailing scum!

You're gonna like Fable 9.

[Keirador]

If it's 8:4 and the 4 get two night kills then you're potentially looking at 6:4 on Day Two and then the Mafia are just one lucky guess away from victory. Particularly if multiple people are putting in guesses, the chances of one of them getting it right increases significantly.

Well it would only be 6:4 if the town didn't lynch. More likely it would be 6:3 or 5:4. I guess I'm ok with the possibility of a very early game end, because it would mean the town played exactly wrong, divulging the location without even securing a good lynch for having done so.

[sjg11]

If it's 8:4 and the 4 get two night kills then you're potentially looking at 6:4 on Day Two and then the Mafia are just one lucky guess away from victory. Particularly if multiple people are putting in guesses, the chances of one of them getting it right increases significantly.

Well it would only be 6:4 if the town didn't lynch. More likely it would be 6:3 or 5:4. I guess I'm ok with the possibility of a very early game end, because it would mean the town played exactly wrong, divulging the location without even securing a good lynch for having done so.

Fair enough, for that to happen the town would have to call it wrong at least three times maybe four to lose like that so I see your point.

[Crunkus_old]

I saw your post in the game requesting interest in this development thread.

Interest? I don't know what you were looking for. But...interest.

interest;
interest*
interest:
(interest)

I cannot bring myself to use an exclamation point, or perish the thought, more than one. I assure you it is not because I am without enthusiasm for the prospect of the Keirador Experience (trademark patent pending).

[Keirador]

I can think about re-starting the ruleset for this if there's interest and space in the calendar. Will defer to anything more developed, like Telleo's set.

[Keirador]

To clarify, with the numbers we've been rocking lately I would probably run this as a 6:3 game rather than an 8:4 or the speculated 8:2:2. Scum would have night chat, but no day chat, and would be asked to make guesses about the location at EOD BEFORE scum chat begins. Scum get 1 night kill for one correct guess, and one more night kill for any additional correct guesses (so a max of just two night kills for 2 or 3 right answers).

I would also run this with some hidden mechanics aimed to curb game-breaking by forced reveal. Namely, there may be one or more town players who DO NOT receive the location, or receive the WRONG location. There also may be one scum that IS given the location, but (obviously) is not permitted to guess at the location for a Night Kill. There may also be something in play like a different randomized town player not receiving the location per game day. Li'l miller-style traps.

[Keirador]

I'm also happy to take input on which Archer characters should be in the game. I think I'm reserving Barry for GM flavor text.