[Setup] Power Brokers

This forum is for discussion of individual Open Setups, including theoretical balance.
User avatar
Albert B. Rampage
Albert B. Rampage
Survivor
User avatar
User avatar
Albert B. Rampage
Survivor
Survivor
Posts: 27261
Joined: April 8, 2007
Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico

[Setup] Power Brokers

Post Post #0 (ISO) » Sun May 31, 2020 12:14 pm

Post by Albert B. Rampage »

14 players, 3 scum.

5 Nobles with a household guard and army

4 Power Brokers with a spy network

5 Court Officials


These roles are public.

Each noble and power broker can travel once per phase and each start with a second-in-command NPC, who can carry out one action per phase. Court officials carry out their own one action per phase. Players don't flip on death. Everyone starts in the capital city. Armies start in their respective Noble's castle. Scum start with an undetectable PT and a secret unblockable untargetable collective Spy Network NPC operative who always resolves actions fast. Actions cannot be withdrawn or changed once submitted, and will resolve during a brief lockdown period between phases. Power Brokers start in their own PT (doesn't count as secret alliance).

Locations:

-Capital City
-5 Castles, one for each Noble

Players and their second-in-commands in the capital city are revealed at the start of each phase. Players outside the city are hidden from public view. NPC/Player second(and third)-in-commands always follow their Noble or Power Broker unless arrested (upon release, they re-join the Noble's party). A Noble is alerted if a player is staying in their castle.

Each phase, the player and their second-in-command may take one action.

Action Resolution:
burst happen right away, fast happen in the next game phase, and slow happen at the start of two phases after next (if initiated week 1, will resolve week 3). In case of conflict, actions resolve first in this order: Burst, Fast, Slow, and then, Power Broker, Noble, Court Official Actions.

Player Actions


Travel Actions:

-Travel without household guard escort (move to specified location) (fast)
-Travel with household guard escort (move to specified location) (slow)

If a noble is separated from their household guard, the guards are automatically disbanded. Court Officials can't travel.

Castles belonging to a dead Noble can't be visited.

Court Official Actions:

-Investigate death (look at a dead player's flip) (fast) (hidden)
-Investigate plots (find out how many active kidnapping and assassination plots there are) (fast) (hidden)
-Investigate escape routes (will reveal if target player has any planned, and destination) (fast) (hidden)
-Disband household guard (type:
Disband: Player1's Guard
) (only works if they are in capital city) (fast) (public)
-Arrest second-in-command (type:
Arrest: Player1's 2nd
(only works if they are in capital city) (burst) (public)
-Release second-in-command (type:
Release: Player1's 2nd
) (burst) (public)

Noble Actions:

-Kill hostage / violate guest right (kill a player residing in your castle or a conquered castle by typing
Kill: player1
) (burst) (public)
-Release hostage (release a player taken hostage to their castle back to the capital city) (fast) (public)
-Recruit new household guard (can only use if lost household guard, must stay in home or conquered castle until resolution) (slow) (hidden)
-Call the banners (prepare your army) (fast) (publicly revealed next phase after use)
-Move the army (move a prepared army to a capital city or a designated castle) (slow) (publicly revealed next phase after use)
-Lay siege to castle (can only use once per game, conquer designated castle, targeted player can no longer prepare or move their army) (fast) (public)

When there are at least 2 armies moved to the capital, a vote can be taken by the army leaders to stage a coup, by typing
Support Coup: player 1, player 2, player 3, etc.
and with a majority vote, re-appoint all Court Officials. Nobles and Power Brokers can gain Court Official actions on top of their original actions, and former Court Officials lose all their abilities.

Court Officials who lose their abilities and Power Brokers who have all their followers killed gain the ability to become a 2nd or 3rd-in-command for a Noble or Power Broker by publicly typing
Pledge: player 1
. They gain all abilities associated with that player and must carry out their orders that will be given to them publicly by the Noble who can type
Player 1: Action
. They may use pledge once per phase, including to change allegiance from one Noble to another, and doing this can interrupt slow actions.

Second(or third)-in-command Actions


Noble Actions:

-House arrest (Must have household guard. Roleblock a player without a household guard (or if they are busy arresting) from using Player Actions (fast) (public)

Spy Network Actions:

-Plan assassination (kill a player's second-in-command if there is one accompanying him, if none, then kill player. Must designate location of player at time of resolution or action fails) (slow) (hidden)
-Infiltrate intelligence network (Has a chance to unlock after the first Secret Alliance is made. Pick 2 players you suspect of having a secret alliance and become a hidden observer in their PT) (fast) (hidden)
-Take hostage (must target a player without a household guard (or busy arresting) to a designated castle and jailkeep them, must designate target player's location at resolution) (slow) (hidden)
-Distract Court Official (this ability is rotated between Power Brokers every phase) (burst) (public)

Special Actions:
(has a chance of being given each time a player takes an aggressive action: arrest, kill, kidnap, disband):
-Recruit ally (gain an NPC third-in-command that will give you an additional action per phase, can only be used once per game) (slow) (hidden)
-Secret alliance (neighborizer, 1-shot) (burst) (hidden)
-Escape route (1-shot evade assassination or hostage execution) (triggers upon threat) (hidden)

A player cannot have a fourth-in-command (player or NPC). If a 2nd-in-command dies or is arrested, the 3rd-in-command becomes the 2nd-in-command (but cannot resume actions started by 2nd; they are interrupted).
Last edited by Albert B. Rampage on Fri Jun 05, 2020 3:57 am, edited 24 times in total.
Guard your honor. Let your reputation fall where it will. And outlive the bastards.
User avatar
Something_Smart
Something_Smart
He/him
Somewhat_Balanced
User avatar
User avatar
Something_Smart
He/him
Somewhat_Balanced
Somewhat_Balanced
Posts: 23115
Joined: November 17, 2015
Pronoun: He/him
Location: Upstate New York

Post Post #1 (ISO) » Sun May 31, 2020 12:52 pm

Post by Something_Smart »

Ego. I'll look at this in a bit.
It's always the same. When you fire that first shot, no matter how right you feel, you have no idea who's going to die. You don't know whose children are going to scream and burn. How many hearts will be broken. How many lives shattered. How much blood will spill, until everybody does what they're always going to have to do from the very beginning... SIT DOWN AND TALK!
User avatar
farside22
farside22
Mafia Mum
User avatar
User avatar
farside22
Mafia Mum
Mafia Mum
Posts: 35785
Joined: October 24, 2007
Location: Buffalo, NY

Post Post #2 (ISO) » Sun May 31, 2020 2:06 pm

Post by farside22 »

Ill take a look tomorrow. My brain is checked out for today
Sarcasm is just a way of saying how stupid you think someone is but in a more polite way.
User avatar
farside22
farside22
Mafia Mum
User avatar
User avatar
farside22
Mafia Mum
Mafia Mum
Posts: 35785
Joined: October 24, 2007
Location: Buffalo, NY

Post Post #3 (ISO) » Mon Jun 01, 2020 1:21 am

Post by farside22 »

Questions: Does this game have a vote phase? Like if you think a court official is scum then how do you lynch that player?
Reading this sounds more like a board game then a mafia game.
Sarcasm is just a way of saying how stupid you think someone is but in a more polite way.
User avatar
Albert B. Rampage
Albert B. Rampage
Survivor
User avatar
User avatar
Albert B. Rampage
Survivor
Survivor
Posts: 27261
Joined: April 8, 2007
Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico

Post Post #4 (ISO) » Mon Jun 01, 2020 1:29 am

Post by Albert B. Rampage »

In post 0, Albert B. Rampage wrote:Voting functions as usual to lynch.
Yeah theres voting each phase.
Guard your honor. Let your reputation fall where it will. And outlive the bastards.
User avatar
farside22
farside22
Mafia Mum
User avatar
User avatar
farside22
Mafia Mum
Mafia Mum
Posts: 35785
Joined: October 24, 2007
Location: Buffalo, NY

Post Post #5 (ISO) » Mon Jun 01, 2020 11:29 am

Post by farside22 »

This game would confuse me as a player. I would defer to someone else to give you feed back.
Sarcasm is just a way of saying how stupid you think someone is but in a more polite way.
User avatar
Something_Smart
Something_Smart
He/him
Somewhat_Balanced
User avatar
User avatar
Something_Smart
He/him
Somewhat_Balanced
Somewhat_Balanced
Posts: 23115
Joined: November 17, 2015
Pronoun: He/him
Location: Upstate New York

Post Post #6 (ISO) » Tue Jun 02, 2020 9:52 am

Post by Something_Smart »

Okay this is cool but also REALLY hard to evaluate.

It seems to me like the optimal strategy is for the nobles and power brokers to move around randomly, so that the scum's spy network assassination plot has a low chance of succeeding, and it has to hit twice anyway because the first one only kills the second-in-command.

I guess the other important aspect is to make sure all the power brokers' spy networks are accounted for so they can't be used for assassination. Probably having them plan escape routes every phase and having the court officials count escape routes would work for that.

As a result, I feel like there are a lot of actions here that just won't ever be used. The army stuff feels very slow for not much benefit, and the arresting stuff doesn't really seem to benefit town at all. Violating guest right is obviously going to be punished by a lynch if unsanctioned, and otherwise I guess can be used to get lynches out faster.
It's always the same. When you fire that first shot, no matter how right you feel, you have no idea who's going to die. You don't know whose children are going to scream and burn. How many hearts will be broken. How many lives shattered. How much blood will spill, until everybody does what they're always going to have to do from the very beginning... SIT DOWN AND TALK!
User avatar
Albert B. Rampage
Albert B. Rampage
Survivor
User avatar
User avatar
Albert B. Rampage
Survivor
Survivor
Posts: 27261
Joined: April 8, 2007
Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico

Post Post #7 (ISO) » Tue Jun 02, 2020 10:15 am

Post by Albert B. Rampage »

Good points, a lot of things can be done for re-balancing this, making more actions hidden, perhaps, and making moving armies more useful. Maybe making escape routes unverifiable until the moment they are used/wasted.
Guard your honor. Let your reputation fall where it will. And outlive the bastards.
User avatar
Albert B. Rampage
Albert B. Rampage
Survivor
User avatar
User avatar
Albert B. Rampage
Survivor
Survivor
Posts: 27261
Joined: April 8, 2007
Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico

Post Post #8 (ISO) » Tue Jun 02, 2020 10:16 am

Post by Albert B. Rampage »

What could we give scum to be more powerful?

Should we remove the 3rd in command altogether?
Guard your honor. Let your reputation fall where it will. And outlive the bastards.
User avatar
Something_Smart
Something_Smart
He/him
Somewhat_Balanced
User avatar
User avatar
Something_Smart
He/him
Somewhat_Balanced
Somewhat_Balanced
Posts: 23115
Joined: November 17, 2015
Pronoun: He/him
Location: Upstate New York

Post Post #9 (ISO) » Tue Jun 02, 2020 10:22 am

Post by Something_Smart »

I would like to strike a balance between power broker actions being verifiable and unverifiable, because if they are never verifiable then scum can just assassinate every day and claim something else, and if they always are then town can leash them. So I don't know exactly how to go about that. Having the game be nightless really ties your hands there.
It's always the same. When you fire that first shot, no matter how right you feel, you have no idea who's going to die. You don't know whose children are going to scream and burn. How many hearts will be broken. How many lives shattered. How much blood will spill, until everybody does what they're always going to have to do from the very beginning... SIT DOWN AND TALK!
User avatar
Something_Smart
Something_Smart
He/him
Somewhat_Balanced
User avatar
User avatar
Something_Smart
He/him
Somewhat_Balanced
Somewhat_Balanced
Posts: 23115
Joined: November 17, 2015
Pronoun: He/him
Location: Upstate New York

Post Post #10 (ISO) » Tue Jun 02, 2020 10:24 am

Post by Something_Smart »

In post 8, Albert B. Rampage wrote:What could we give scum to be more powerful?

Should we remove the 3rd in command altogether?
That's a mechanic that could potentially be cool if there are actions worth using with it.
It's always the same. When you fire that first shot, no matter how right you feel, you have no idea who's going to die. You don't know whose children are going to scream and burn. How many hearts will be broken. How many lives shattered. How much blood will spill, until everybody does what they're always going to have to do from the very beginning... SIT DOWN AND TALK!
Post Reply

Return to “Open Setup Discussion”