Thanks for your comments on the setup, roflcopter. The balance is largely due to my reviewers Vi, Empking, and Llamafluff. My original design was more town-sided.
Set-up
The core of the set-up was the Hider and Traitor roles. I think the Hider role is pretty interesting, and I like the dynamic the Traitor makes for the scum team. They're both double-edged roles. The Hider is obviously a powerful PR, but it suicides when it gets a guilty. There's also the possibility of the mafia (or vig) hitting the same target as the Hider. The Traitor subverts the notion of informed-minority v. uninformed-majority. The natural assumption that a two-member mafia team makes in a mini game is that there's another team or an SK floating around--an assumption I expected to be reinforced by the JoAT's vig shot. That weakness of the Traitor role can also be a strength, though; it muddies associations which, in theory, muddies scumhunting somewhat. Witness how scum had a PR-read on Arugula in the early game.
The Innocent Child was an anti-swing measure. An unskilled or unlucky Hider would be devastating to the town in this set-up. At best, I expected the IC to just stop a mislynch if the town seemed to be heading in the wrong direction; there was a good chance the town would end up on even numbers, so it wasn't likely to make lynches more accurate. roflcopter's use of the role was something I didn't anticipate though, and I think it was a great play.
The JoAT was there because, well, I felt town needed to be a little more well-rounded in its PRs. Another investigative role was out of the question; a protective role would be too powerful with the possible numbers of innocents; a killing role would make the game too swingy, but town was underpowered with just the IC and Hider. After a few iterations, we settled on vig-track-block for the JoAT. I was surprised to see Junpei hold his shot N1; I don't think it's common for people to give up a chance at killing.
His restraint proved to be dangerous for scum, though, as he still had his track and block available when there was only one scum left. I admit to being nervous about the JoAT on D3; I didn't really think about how powerful the track and block were with 1 scum left during design. If Junpei had been comfortable not claiming on D3, the game might have been broken. (Essentially a chance at a guilty result N3 and N4 and even if he doesn't target scum he generates an innocent result.)
The Mafia roleblocker was a bit of a red herring. It's only of use against the JoAT. I felt that scum didn't really need a PR, but giving them a not-very-useful roleblocker played into the informed-minorty subversion a little bit.
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I was unhappy with the number of replacements D1. To be completely honest, if I hadn't been scrambling to keep up with the growing number of inactives, I might have thought twice about allowing UberNinja in to the game. By that time, though, I was on to the fifth replacement (the game being only ten days old) and I was just glad to have the slot filled quickly. Apologies again if you feel his play ruined your enjoyment.
I don't think Town really got screwed over with the replacements, though. IceGuy, a scum replacement, was caught quite quickly. Junpei, a replacement, is a formidable player. absta101 held his own.
I have played with both Elmo and UberNinja before. I know that, as town, they can hinder the town's efforts to find scum. Should I have refused their offers to replace in based on that? Should I be ok with it if they're replacing a scum slot? I think doing either compromises the integrity of the game. They're not trolls; they do genuinely want to play mafia. That's what we're all here for.
A lot of players took issue with UberNinja's posting when he entered the game. Humble Poirot PM'd me during Day 1 and complained that I allowed a player like that in to the game. Honestly? Even if I had refused him, it wouldn't have been because he's a spammy poster. That was something entirely new to me about his playstyle.
There were also complaints about his V/LA in the late game. Yeah, a weeklong V/LA sucks, but town rushed the day anyway (yes, I know UberNinja's hammer could not have been predicted). There were also complaints about it being a 'fake' V/LA. I was confused by those. I'm a game moderator, not the internet police; no one PMed me to tell me he was posting elsewhere during his V/LA. When in doubt, PM the mod.
(Also my wife gave birth toward the end of his V/LA. Sorry if my inattentiveness for that day or two contributed to the frustration.)
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I'd like to hear some feedback from the players about their roles.
roflcopter, did you enjoy playing the Innocent Child? I've noticed being conftown can be a bit of a motivation-killer.
Arugula and regular scum: what's your opinion on the Traitor role? Interesting mechanic? Annoyingly non-standard? Arugula, I noticed you paired your vote to one of the scum through Day 1 (and maybe Day 2, my memory is fading). Were you trying to signal them? What was your strategy for the early game?
I can give individual play feedback if anyone's interested. Off to work for now, though.
