What makes a closed setup fun? (design, not generally)

[OkaPoka]

well i think its easier to identify a blatantly scumsided setups than a blatantly townsided setup which is probably a part of the problem

nrg and reviewers want to strive for a 40-60/60-40 balance or whatever etc. etc. but usually it means they look at it and see if it feels one-sided, if it's not then it's passed. it's a lot easier to glance at a very scum-sided setup and be like yeah that's disgusting no then look at a town-sided setup and be like yeah that's disgusting because the town-sided setups in question usually are a result of pr interplay and require effort in simulating the games and night actions blah blah

another way to put it: scum-sided setups are usually a result of town having no power, that's almost always something you can identify by a cursory glance

town-sided setups can come in two forms, too much power on paper which is identifiable with a glance

and 2) enough power on paper but simulate the game 1000 times and you realize the powers synergize more than they do or the antisynergy was less significant that you expected. this requires you to process the game out to at least day 3 and ask yourself did town create too many clears and guilties?

which is why i think most of us hate townsided setups, because well we've all experienced the grossness of townsided setups probably from both sides. if we experienced gross scumsided setups we'd hate it too but i don't recall the last time i've played a grossly scumsided setup.

[OkaPoka]

yeah there is definitely the factor where its nearly impossible to design a setup where town has very little agency/options to win so designing with a scumsided metric in mind just means dayplay is more emphasized which everyone likes