biancospino's Micro Normal Review, February 2023

[biancospino]

Ego. Can Alianna have access to this?

[biancospino]

The concept here is that one wolf always being able to ping (up to) two players with two different Miscellaneous ability, combined with the Masonry knowing that there is exactly one of those roles roles, should be a massive confounding factor that the Wolves can actively fine-tune.
The Inspector and the JOAT serves as a way to possibly help figure out what's exactly happening, as they help confirm the veracity of such pings.

There are a couple main things I'm a bit afraid about. For one thing, the Miscellaneous wolf can possibly play kinda like a multitasking FV, which I'm not sure if it isn't broken with multitasking off by default; for another, I put in a lazy UB for the town since I feared losing the Inspector/JOAT very early would be very bad for town, however I'm not sure if having an UB that can potentially become a Mason is too swingy. If those are serious problems, maybe having multitasking on by default and/or axing the lazy UB and making the Inspector a Voyeur would help?

[biancospino]

Eh, I can change the flavor to Mafia if that's a problem.

The main thing here are the scum miscellanea role and the town Informed. The concept is to have a borderline negutility Informed, with the scums having a way of producing a gamestate that may appear to violate the information given.
Conceptually, if the FV and Messenger target claim to have received fruit/a message (or if any of them is a Mason), then the Informed would see that something is not right, possibly casting doubts on the veracity of both the fruit/message ping claims.
This is intended to be purely a confounding factor, and the Inspector serves as a mechanism to possibly get a confirmation on the likely truthness on such pings and so to alleviate the confusion.

Other than that, the scum UB is there because otherwise if the scum FV/messenger dies very early, like D1, then the setup basically deteriorates to Masons with additional TPRs and completely loses the concept.

The JOAT and/or the town UB are not particularly too important in my general idea of the setup, and may be changed in pretty much any direction needed, thou I like the concept of having a general theme of investigatives mostly caring about actions and here the concept is that both the personal Reporter and the SG are pretty useful to track down the origin of the fruit/message pings; the Psychologist I've thrown in mostly just so that there may be a potential for a strong guilty at all in the game, thou I'm not too enthusiastic about it and I believe it's gated enough to be pretty useless anyway given the scum knows and can play around it.

The lazy UB is there mainly because losing very early either action investigative looks to me it would be pretty bad for town, as then the game risks becoming just confusing without many tools to get confirmed insights as to what is going on; and it's lazy to gate it, since I though someone becoming a Mason in a late gamestate with only one scum would become borderline unwinnable for the scum for no real fault of theirs. That said I am really afraid that 2 mason + an UB that can become one is too many confirms (and the SG can very easily confirm their role too, which is pretty towny-looking); so it is the one I am less attached to. Unless peraphs we change the Masons to Neighbours, thou that would significantly alter the core idea; I would not necessarily dislike it per se, but it would hamper the chance of the informed knowledge going around and being cross-referenced with some action-investigation which I want to happen at some point

[biancospino]

Also, multitasking is off even if having it on would mechanically change nothing to make so that the confounding factor is more effective at doing its job, howerer I do worry a little that the strategy of, say, always vending to NK target and mailing someone else may be too strong a way to "prove" that the mailman can't be doing the NK; this only really works if the scum UB is the first of the two to die for obvious reasons, but maybe it's still broken, idk. I rekon the problem can be resolved just by making multitasking on by default, thou idk how much this would tip the balance toward town, and maybe giving scum a credible "town messenger" (or FV) fakeclaim may be needed.
Or the Inspector could maybe be made a Voyeur so that to be able to catch that?

[biancospino]

Uh, should I maybe send him a nudge, just in case he may have missed/forgot about this?

[biancospino]

The concept here is that the existence of two pingers would be bizarre, and the Informed had that function. What if, I split the Mailman/vend actions, drop the compulsive and the weak that would do very little anyway, and have both Wolves be able to do either things, but not both

VILLAGE
1 Mason Informed [all miscellaneous roles are identical]
1 Mason Inspector (or maybe Voyeur?)
1 JOAT (personal Reporter, SG, lazy Psy)
4 VTs

WOLVES
2 Informed JOAT(Mailman, Mailman, FV, FV)
[there is a Psy. There is an Informed Mason who knows...]

[biancospino]

Sure, just give me a couple minutes

[biancospino]

Welcome to Game!

You are a

Village Mason Informed

.

You have the following passive abilities:

• Informed
  — you know that all players who can perform a Miscellaneous action have the same role, but not necessarily the same alignment.
  (Note: Miscellaneous actions are those of Neighborizer, FriendlyNeighbor, Hider, FruitVendor, Visitor, Messenger, and Checker)
  
  
• Mason
  — you know that YYY is a Mason and is aligned with the Village, and you can talk with them at any time [here].

You have no active abilities.

You win when at least one member of the Village's faction is alive and all members of the Wolves' faction are dead.

The game thread is located [here].
Confirm by replying to this PM with the a summary of your role.

[biancospino]

Oh, and there's a typo in the /confirm line of course...

[biancospino]

Ok, give me 20' or so. The lazy UB I was thinking on just axeing?

[biancospino]

Spoiler: ROLE PMS

Welcome to Game!

You are a

Werewolf Informed Jack-of-All-Trades (FruitVendor, FruitVendor, Messenger, Messenger)

.

You know that the Wolves' faction is composed of you and XXX.

You have the following factional abilities:

• Wolf chat
  — you can talk with the other members of the Wolves' faction at any time [here]
  
• Wolf kill
  — each night, if no other member of the Wolves' faction use this ability, you may target a living player. Assuming no interference with your action, your target will die.

You have the following nonfactional passive abilities:

• Informed
  — you know that there is a Psychologist.

You have the following nonfactional active abilities, but you may only use one of them each night:

• two-shots FruitVendor
  — each night, but only twice during the game, you may target a living player. Assuming no interference with your action, your target will receive a piece of fruit.
  
• two-shots Messenger
  — each night, but only twice during the game, you may target a living player and compose a message. Assuming no interference with your action, your target will receive from the moderator the message you composed.

You win when at least one member of the Wolves' faction is alive and all members of the Village's faction are dead, or when nothing can prevent the same.

The game thread is located [here].
Confirm by replying to this PM with ta summary of your role, or by posting the same in the Wolves' PT.

Welcome to Game!

You are a

Werewolf Informed Jack-of-All-Trades (FruitVendor, FruitVendor, Messenger, Messenger)

.

You know that the Wolves' faction is composed of you and XXX.

You have the following factional abilities:

• Wolf chat
  — you can talk with the other members of the Wolves' faction at any time [here]
  
• Wolf kill
  — each night, if no other member of the Wolves' faction use this ability, you may target a living player. Assuming no interference with your action, your target will die.

You have the following nonfactional passive abilities:

• Informed
  — you know that there is a Town Informed who received the following information:
  "All players who can perform a Miscellaneous action have the same role, but not necessarily the same alignment."

You have the following nonfactional active abilities, but you may only use one of them each night:

• two-shots FruitVendor
  — each night, but only twice during the game, you may target a living player. Assuming no interference with your action, your target will receive a piece of fruit.
  
• two-shots Messenger
  — each night, but only twice during the game, you may target a living player and compose a message. Assuming no interference with your action, your target will receive from the moderator the message you composed.

You win when at least one member of the Wolves' faction is alive and all members of the Village's faction are dead, or when nothing can prevent the same.

The game thread is located [here].
Confirm by replying to this PM with ta summary of your role, or by posting the same in the Wolves' PT.

Welcome to Game!

You are a

Village Mason Informed

.

You have the following passive abilities:

• Informed
  — you know that all players who can perform a Miscellaneous action have the same role, but not necessarily the same alignment.
  (Note: Miscellaneous normal roles are Neighborizer, FriendlyNeighbor, Hider, FruitVendor, Visitor, Messenger, and Checker)
  
  
• Mason
  — you know that YYY is a Mason and is aligned with the Village, and you can talk with them at any time [here].

You have no active abilities.

You win when at least one member of the Village's faction is alive and all members of the Wolves' faction are dead.

The game thread is located [here].
Confirm by replying to this PM with a summary of your role.

Welcome to Game!

You are a

Village Mason Inspector

.

You have the following passive abilities:

• Mason
  — you know that YYY is a Mason and is aligned with the Village, and you can talk with them at any time [here].

You have the following active abilities:

• Inspector
  — each night, you may target a living player. Assuming no interference with your action, you will discover whether or not any player other than you targeted your target this night. If this action fails, you will get a "no result" PM.

You win when at least one member of the Village's faction is alive and all members of the Wolves' faction are dead.

The game thread is located [here].
Confirm by replying to this PM with a summary of your role.

Welcome to Game!

You are a

Village Jack-of-all-Trades (personal Reporter, SecurityGuard, lazy Psychologist)

.

You have no passive abilities.

You have the following active abilities, but you may only use one of them each night:

• one-shot personal Reporter
  — each night, but only once during the game, you may target a living player. Assuming no interference with your action, you will discover whether or not your target used a nonfactional active ability this night. If this action fails, you will get a "no result" PM.
  
• one-shot SecurityGuard
  — each night, but only once during the game, you may target a living player. Assuming no interference with your action, your target will discover which players other than you targeted them this night.
  
• one-shot lazy Psychologist
  — each night, but only once during the game, if at least two anti-Village players were alive at the start of the night, you may target a living player. Assuming no interference with your action, you will discover whether or not you target has an unused active killing ability. If this action fails, you will get a "no result" PM.

You win when at least one member of the Village's faction is alive and all members of the Wolves' faction are dead.

The game thread is located [here].
Confirm by replying to this PM with a summary of your role.

Welcome to Game!

You are a

Villager

.

You have no passive abilities.

You have no active abilities.

You win when at least one member of the Village's faction is alive and all members of the Wolves' faction are dead.

The game thread is located [here].
Confirm by replying to this PM with a summary of your role.

Spoiler: RESULT PMS

Inspector positive/negative/no result:

You discover that someone other than you targeted XXX this night.

You discover that nobody other than you targeted XXX this night.

Your Inspector action failed, and you get no result.

Personal Reporter positive/negative

You discover that XXX used a nonfactional active ability this night.

You discover that XXX used no nonfactional active ability this night.

Visited by SecurityGuard, also visited by A,B,C

You received the following report from a SecurityGuard:

This night, you were visited by A,B,C.

Visited by SecurityGuard, not visited by anyone else

You received the following report from a SecurityGuard:

This night, you weren't visited by anyone else.

Psychologist positive/negative

You discover that XXX is capable of killing, but has not done so yet.

You discover that XXX is either incapable of killing, or has already done so.

Received fruit

A basket of fruit was left on your doorstep this night.

Received message

A Messenger delivered you the following message:

---MESSAGE---

[biancospino]

Sorry, there is a slight mistake in the Mason Informed PM. Here's a rectified version

Welcome to Game!

You are a

Village Mason Informed

.

You have the following passive abilities:

• Informed
  — you know that all players who can perform a Miscellaneous action have the same role, but not necessarily the same alignment.
  (Note: Miscellaneous actions are those of Neighborizer, FriendlyNeighbor, Hider, FruitVendor, Visitor, Messenger, and Checker)
  
  
• Mason
  — you know that YYY is a Mason and is aligned with the Village, and you can talk with them at any time [here].

You have no active abilities.

You win when at least one member of the Village's faction is alive and all members of the Wolves' faction are dead.

The game thread is located [here].
Confirm by replying to this PM with a summary of your role.

[biancospino]

Do I need to post my ruleset here?

[biancospino]

Also, it's not entirely clear in the end, but I suppose multitasking should be on by default?

[biancospino]

Spoiler: ruleset

Ruleset

(in large part

shamelessly stolen

inspired from Northsidegal)

the tl;dr

1. Abide by site rules, and be mindful of your fellow players.
   
2. Majority executions, but half of the voters are enough to end the Day with no execution.
   
3. Days will last about 168 hours, Nights 48 hours.
   
4. 36 hours prods; if you are prodded, you have 24 hours to respond, and if I have to prod you three times I may replace you immediately.
   
5. I have some unusual rules about multimedia content, night prods, and last words.

General

1. Adhere to all site rules.
   
2. Always play to win. This specific game, not some unspecified future one.
   
3. Claiming wolf by yourself is acceptable (if it isn't gamethrowing), claiming wolf with partners is not.
   
4. Remember that this is a game — heated discussion is allowed, but personal attacks are not.
   
5. Pretending to break the rules will be treated similarly as actually breaking the rules.
   
6. Alianna is my comod. She has full mod authority.
   
7. You may use the following colours, as long as you don't do so to attempt to impersonate a moderator:
   #663399
   , which is my colour; COLOR, which is Alianna's colour.
   
8. Do not quote any out of game communication regarding this game — this includes your role PM and any other PMs I may send you.
   
9. If you need to get my attention, please include "
   @mod
   " in your post or PM me.
   
10. Do not use encryption, hidden text or excessively small text (
    size 70
    is the smallest I'll allow) in your posts. Crumbing is fine.
    
11. If you wish to include large images and/or gifs, you may do so, but you must put them in a [⁣spoiler=] tag.
    
12. A player who is only able to access the thread via raw text should be able to play the game to its full extent. If you include any non-textual game-relevant multimedia, you have to provide an adequate alt-text and, if you're posting an image with embedded text or any kind of audio content, a full transcription. In any case, posting multimedia that include audio is
    strongly discouraged
    .
    
13. Do not use any form of provable randomness. This includes dice tags, screenshots of random.org, etc. Saying you flipped a coin is okay, providing some sort of proof that you did isn’t.
    
14. If you have the ability to edit your posts, do not do so.
    
15. If you accidentally post with an incorrect alt account, you have to immediately make an identical post with the correct account, so to preserve ISOs' readability.
    
16. My decisions are final. If I feel you are violating any of the rules, I will take the appropriate action.
    
17. As a general principle, whenever moderator action is required I will attempt to make the decision that has the least impact on the natural flow of gameplay. For example, force replacing instead of modkilling whenever possible.
    
18. I reserve the right, under extraordinary circumstances, to change this ruleset. If I do so, I will acknowledge having done so in-thread.
    
19. Have fun!

Deadlines and Activity

1. Each Day will have a 168 hours (7 real life days) deadline, and each Night will have a 48 hours deadline.
   
2. I may grant deadline extensions in extraordinary circumstances.
   
3. If a player replaces in during the Day with less than 48 hours remaining to the deadline, I will extend it to 48 hours.
   
4. During the Night, players may ask for a quick night. If all players do (including those with no night action) and I'm not busy, the Night ends immediately.
   
5. You are expected to confirm your role PM no longer than 72 hours after I've sent it to you. If you don't, you will be replaced.
   
6. You are expected to make at least one game-relevant post every 36 hours. Players who go 36 hours without posting will be prodded.
   
7. If you are prodded, you have 24 hours to post in-thread. If you do not respond within 24 hours, you will be replaced. Additionally, if I have to prod you 3 or more times, you will be replaced at my own discretion.
   
8. Abuse of prod dodges will result in you being replaced at my own discretion.
   
9. If your prod timer would expire during the Night, you may respond to it by PMing me. If you do so, you also have to make a game-relevant post in the first 24 hours of the next Day.
   
10. If you are going to be V/LA, please announce it in thread or PM me. If your V/LA will last 5 days or longer I may be forced to replace you.

Voting

1. All votes and unvotes must be in
   bold
   or in VOTE: vote / UNVOTE: unvote tags, with vote tags being preferable.
   
2. Votes in spoilers will not be counted.
   
3. If you wish to change your vote, unvoting first is not mandatory.
   
4. Abbreviations and nicknames are acceptable, as long as I can understand them.
   
5. Dabble in false votes shenanigans at your peril. If I think something is a vote, it is.
   
6. As soon as a majority (half of the living players plus one-half, rounded up) is voting for the same player, that player is hammered and their fate is sealed. If no majority is reached before deadline, the day will end with no execution.
   
7. You may vote for VOTE: No Execution. Voting to end the day with no execution requires only half of the living players, not a strict majority.
   
8. Once a hammer has occurred, the game is in "twilight". Discussion may continue until I lock the thread but no further votes or unvotes will be counted. As soon as I lock the thread, the hammered player will be executed and the Day will end.

Miscellanea

1. You may ask for a personal Notes PT for confessional purposes. Don't talk in-thread about you having, or not having, a Notes PT.
   
2. Once you are dead, you may no longer post in the thread or in any PT you may had access to. You will however be granted access to the Deads' PT. You may post spoilers there, but if you do put them in [⁣spoiler=] tags.
   
3. You may ask to be replaced out by PM; in any case, you may not discuss in-thread the reasons you may have for replacing out. As soon as I acknowledge your request, you may not rescind it and you are no longer a player.
   
4. If you request to be replaced out, you may PM me with a "last words" message. I will relay it to your successor.
   
5. The Wolves' faction may concede, if all of its members agree.

Endgame

1. The Village will win if all Werewolves are dead and at least one Village-aligned player is left alive.
   
2. The Wolves will win if all Town-aligned players are dead and at least one Werewolf is left alive, or if nothing can prevent the same.
   
3. If all players are dead, the game ends in a "Scorched Earth" Draw.
   
4. If there are no deaths for four consecutive phases, the game ends in a "Happily ever after" Draw.
   
5. After the game has ended, the thread will be opened for post-game discussion, and everyone (including dead players and non-players) may post in it.

Game Notes

1. This game is Normal.
   
2. Night actions this game will follow Natural Action Resolution.
   
3. If you do not send me an action for the night, I will assume that you are not taking one.
   
4. All existing PTs are open at all times, regardless of the presence of an Encryptor.
   
5. Players are multitasking by default, and may submit any number of actions they may perform each phase.
   
6. The setup is confirmed to be 7:2 and to contain no Millers.
   
7. At least one player has received the following role PM:

   Welcome to Game!

   
   
   You are a

   Villager

   .
   
   You have no passive abilities.
   
   You have no active abilities.
   
   You win when at least one member of the Village's faction is alive and all members of the Wolves' faction are dead.
   
   The game thread is located [here].
   Confirm by replying to this PM with a summary of your role.