Ghost Screen Google Doc
Mod Q&A
Where'd you get the idea for this?
Espeonage suggested the previous game, which was Dixit with MS Telephone Pictionary art. Following that, chamber suggested trying a similar concept but with Mysterium. I really like Mysterium so I wanted to try to make that work.
What was the basis for the suspect/location/object cards?
Suspect cards were what I focused on first and spent the most time on. I brainstormed about some scummers who are associated with a particular face (usually from their avatar.) Then it was a matter of figuring out which ones can be associated with a lot of different things and fulfill some sort of individual niche. I leaned more into the background objects with my paint.net collages than the base game does because the base game suspects tend to be more obviously affiliated with some sort of occupation or hobby and thus easier to clue. Some examples of users that were also in consideration for inspiring a Suspect card that I didn't end up including were: xRECKONERx, FakeGod, Vi, pablito, shaft.ed (there just isn't a good enough larger version of his avatar anywhere!!!), PookyTheMagicalBear, Datisi and GeorgeBailey.
Objects were my next focus and easiest. I just went with avatars because they were similarly small to the base game objects. Right off the bat, I wanted to include Raskol's and Mina's, and then collected some more over time with SleepyKrew's help.
I got stuck on what to do about Locations for months. I wondered if I could teach myself to draw in perspective so that I could draw things like the "Speakeasy User Popularity Poll" and "DrippingGoofball's art and science lab" in a similar style to the base game. An alternative was to try to convince some people who already have that skill. Ultimately, I just couldn't be bothered! So, I reached out on the MS discord asking for advice on what to do instead. I got some from Silverclaw and lilith about possibly using images from Pinterest or inspired from past meets. I ended up deciding it was fine to just use photographs. Some of the locations were themed after the mafia subforums (Coney Island, Central Park, and the last-minute-cut Mayfair Club). Some were past meet locations (the actual kitchen from Survivormeet 3; a Disney World spot; also an escape room and planetarium because I've personally been to those at meets). Finally, we had a med student's desk (inspired by lalaladucks's discussion thread about studying).
How did you choose the Telephone Pictionary art to include?
Uhhh honestly I went through every chain on the wiki and saved 300-something pictures that I thought were contenders. This time I named them by artist, game and chain title to make it easy to give credit later (learning from my Dixit mistakes where I begged Ether for help a few times because of my inability to find this info later). I narrowed that down to a 100 card deck by selecting a few cards each that I personally could see matching up to the available suspects/locations/objects. Then I think I just threw in some extra cards that I particularly like while trying to maintain some variety of artists and art styles/subjects.
Thoughts on the difficulty level of this game?
I honestly wasn't really sure whether it was going to be easier or harder than the base game. I originally tried setting it at slightly-below medium difficulty level. Then when we lost a psychic, I just left it at the medium difficulty level it turned into for a fun challenge. In hindsight, I do think the objects may have been particularly difficult in this game - some were clearly a lot easier to associate things with than others.
What surprised you the most?
I expected the psychic players to take a more collaborative approach than they did, just based on my own personal experience with the game. It still was interesting to watch and obviously worked out.