SAGA FRONTIER MAFIA (GAME END)

[Varsoon]

You sure you want to see the Bloodborne setup's public mechanics?
It's... pretty nuts. Like, a TON of information to take it, and it won't be useful until I run the game, which could well be weeks or months out from now.

[Varsoon]

Alright, I've gotten some interest in this, so here goes the public mechanics for Bloodborne Mafia.
Keep in mind, the setup is still in review, so these mechanics may be subject to change.

[Varsoon]

WHAT IS 'BLOODBORNE'?

Spoiler:

Hunt your Nightmares. Face your fears in this ancient city where danger, death, and madness lurk around every corner, and uncover the city's darkest secrets in order to survive.

Bloodborne is a 2015 action-adventure video game for the Playstation 4 entertainment system. In Bloodborne, the player arrives in Yharnam, home of blood healing, in order to receive treatment. However, the player soon realizes that Yharnam is overrun with beasts and, even worse, they are trapped in a reality called "The Hunter's Dream." So long as the player is trapped in this dream, they do not die, but they also will never be free of the hunt and the beasts of Yharnam. Bloodborne is a spiritual sequel to FROMSoftware's previous titles, Demons' Souls and Dark Souls, and while it takes several thematic and gameplay queues from these games, it stands alone as the company's magnum opus. Bloodborne is a darkly enchanting adventure through the beautifully rendered gothic streets of Yharnam, a city that has fallen to the madness of men and beasts alike.

The goal of this Mafia game is to reproduce the tragic struggle and overwhelming tension of Bloodborne and render its various core elements into Mafia mechanics. I will be incorporating both public and private mechanics that may be very reminiscent of previous games I have modded, which largely served as a testing grounds for those mechanics. Furthermore, this game may be the most mechanically overwhelming of any game I have run so far. This game will require its players to consider several avenues of play based on both private and public mechanics. Due to the overwhelming 'moving parts' of this setup, it may be hard to ever truly evaluate it for balance. My focus in this game was primarily on creating a set of both private public mechanics that drove player interest rather than singular, private roles. I hope that you will enjoy playing and reading Bloodborne Mafia. Bloodborne is one of my favorite video games of all time--I love Bloodborne and I love MafiaScum; I hope to share my passion for both through this game.

WHAT IS A 'VARSOON GAME'? WHAT SORT OF GAME SHOULD I EXPECT HERE?

Spoiler:

Bloodborne Mafia will be a 21 player Large Theme with very a large amount of public and private game mechanics, complete with substantial flavor compared to previous games that I have run.

As a moderator with a deep passion for rhetoric, expect a game with mechanics that will always supplement the rhetoric of the game rather than the usual sort of roles that are supplemented by rhetoric. My games are typical Role Madness games--I like to give every player some sort of unique 'something' to play with in tandem with the actual game. I try to include very engaging public mechanics in order to retain player interest, which can be a difficult thing to do in the Large games that I like to run.

'Varsoon Games' are typically characterized by heavy flavor, high quality moderation, and unpredictable yet satisfying mechanics. I am very cognizant of my moderator meta and I constantly keep even seasoned fans on their toes. I have achieved a Master's Degree in writing Fiction; I enjoy writing involved flavor that reflects the sensibilities of players and the game state while not revealing anything that would give a mechanical advantage. I also take Mafia very seriously; I spend over 8 hours a day with access to the site, always with a tab open, refreshing my games, re-reading them, and so on--even when I worked full time and went to college, I accomplished this endeavor. For me, Mafia is a labor of love and a full-time job. I want to deliver the quality experience that I came to love on this site. My games, hopefully, represent that.

As far as moderation goes, I see online Mafia moderation the same way I do moderating a face-to-face game with my friends. I am here to ensure all of my friends and guests have a fun time playing a game we all enjoy. That said, Mafia does get intense. Mafia is psychological. Mafia can feature very aggressive rhetoric. We lynch people here. I love those aspects of the game, and I want them to be in a game, although they will always run risk of ruining the experience for some players. I am far less draconic in my moderation than other moderators. I will always err on the side of the player. That said, I have no patience for players who do break the rules. Do not play my game if you are habitually in trouble with moderators and other players. I'll do everything I can to keep you in-game and having a fun time, but if you cross the line and it's clear you intentionally broke a rule, I will have no mercy in my judgment.

I do not enforce Blacklists, Wisdom of the Crowds, Wisdom of the One, or any similar requests to prohibit players from playing. The only players not welcome in my games are banned players. Do not ask me to prohibit a player from joining for personal reasons; I will never do so unless they currently have a ban or restriction. Everyone is welcome at my table. If you have a personal problem with a player, come to a happy agreement with them before creating drama in my signup thread or in my game. If you absolutely can't play with someone else, do not sign up for a game of mine if they are in the player list. If you do, I will allow you in, but don't think I'm going to shunt the other player because of your personal issues. I want everyone to get together and have fun here. I fully support even bitter rivals playing at the same table and learning to overcome their own differences in order to have fun with something we all enjoy.

PUBLIC MECHANICS MAKING A DEBUT IN BLOODBORNE MAFIA:

JUST GO OUT AND KILL A FEW BEASTS. IT'S FOR YOUR OWN GOOD.

Spoiler:

Several of the unique mechanics in Bloodborne Mafia will refer to a player being 'Slain'.
Any successfully resolved kill or a lynch will result in a player being 'Slain'--this does not necessarily mean that the player is dead, merely that the kill or lynch was successful. In most cases, Slain players will remain dead.
All players that were on a wagon that led to a player being 'Slain' and all players that submitted a kill against a player the night that the player is killed will be rewarded as if they have 'Slain' a player.

OVER TIME, COUNTLESS HUNTERS HAVE VISITED THIS DREAM.

Spoiler:

This game will feature several Private Topics that will be referred to as 'NIGHTMARE PTs'.
Every Nightmare PT will have a 'Host' player that can always view the PT and will be capable of inviting new players.
The Host of the Nightmare PT will be private information and the Host themselves may not post in their Nightmare PT unless they invite themselves to it.
Nightmare PTs MUST contain the Host as an invited target if they ever exceed 3 members.
Nightmare PTs may have events that are triggered by the Host of those Nightmares.
Nightmare PTs persist after the Host is slain.
Nightmare PTs allow dead members to continue to communicate after death.
Nightmare PTs all allow for NIGHTMARE EVENTS that are flavor-heavy actions that will affect all members of their respective Nightmare PT.

THE MESSENGERS FIND HUNTERS LIKE YOURSELF, WORSHIP, AND SERVE THEM.

Spoiler:

During the Night Phase, every single player has the ability to privately send a single, anonymous message to another target player.
You may indicate your identity in these messages or even lie about your identity--I will be the one delivering the message, though.
This ability may be used in addition to any other abilities used and may not be affected by any other abilities in the game.
There is no dead thread in Bloodborne Mafia.
Even if a player is dead, they may still send these messages, even from the grave.

THE FIRST HUNTER OF THE HEALING CHURCH ONCE RECRUITED YHARNAMITES TO SERVE AS HUNTERS.

Spoiler:

The game will begin with a predetermined 'Master of the Hunt'.
During each day phase, all players in the game may vote for a player to be the next 'Master of the Hunt'.
Any mechanic that affects voting does not affect voting towards electing the next 'Master of the Hunt'.
In order to submit a vote for the next Master of the Hunt, use the bolded tag [HUNTMASTER VOTE: Player Name].
Whenever the day phase ends, whichever player has the most votes will be the next Master of the Hunt.
In the case of a tie, the previous Master of the Hunt will remain Master of the Hunt.
Being Master of the Hunt confers a handful of mechanical benefits:
Unlike the Adventure Mechanic in my previous game, being Master of the Hunt confers absolutely no protective bonuses.
The game is balanced around the Master of the Hunt being a high-priority target.
During the Night that he is elected, the Master of the Hunt may select a Chalice Dungeon to investigate.
During the Night that he is elected, the Master of the Hunt may select up to three other players to join him in investigating the Chalice Dungeon.
The Master of the Hunt may choose no players to join him, but doing so may render him unable to defeat the Chalice Dungeon.
The Master of the Hunt may choose to pursue no Chalice Dungeon at all--he may still rally a party regardless.
The Hunter's Party, the chosen Chalice Ritual, and the Master of the Hunt will always be public information.
The Hunter's Party and the Master of the Hunt will be granted a private topic to chat in during all game phases.
This private topic will be locked if any member of the Hunter's Party changes.
This private topic will be locked if Master of the Hunt dies or changes.

IF THE BEASTS LOOM LARGE, AND THREATEN TO CRUSH YOUR SPIRITS, SEEK THE HOLY CHALICE.

Spoiler:

Chalice Dungeons are ancient tombs that the Master of the Hunt and his Hunting Party may investigate.
Chalice Dungeons all have a depth rating; the higher the Depth Rating, the more dangerous and rewarding the Dungeon.
Chalice Dungeons may only be successfully cleared a single time. A failed Chalice Dungeon may be revisited, however.
During the Night after The Hunter's Party has been selected, the Master of the Hunt and all members of the Hunter's Party will enter the chosen Chalice Dungeon.
The Hunter's Party will be assigned a 'LineUp' with the Master of the Hunt in the 'front' and the other players proceeding in an order chosen by the Master of the Hunt.
Certain events in the Chalice Dungeons will affect different members of the LineUp.
The Chalice Dungeon will feature role-play heavy events, complete with a boss encounter.
The events in the Chalice Dungeons will always happen regardless of the role-play flavor.
The events in the Chalice Dungeons will always be detrimental to the players involved.
The Master of the Hunt may always 'back out' when faced with the detrimental effects of the Events or Bosses.
Every Chalice Dungeon will culminate in a Boss encounter.
If all of the players involved can muster enough votes, they will slay the boss.
Slaying a boss will reward all involved players adequately.
The Master of the Hunt will always receive a more potent reward.
If the boss is not slain, all players are simply given a lesser reward.
If the boss is slain, a new Chalice Dungeon will appear with more difficult challenges and more rewarding payouts.

MAKING CONTACT WITH ELDRITCH WISDOM IS A BLESSING.

Spoiler:

Throughout the game, players may earn a resource called 'Insight'.
Town-aligned players will earn Insight from slaying scum players.
Scum-aligned players will have a different, hidden means of earning Insight.
All players may earn Insight from various events in the game.
Insight may be spent to purchase a large variety of both public and private rewards, ranging from one-shot powers to permanent passive abilities.
Insight is spent privately, during any phase of the game, so long as the player has enough Insight to purchase what they want.
A player may also simply hold onto their Insight, effectively 'banking' it.
Depending on how much Insight is banked, a player will have access to a number of public mechanics.
There will also be several detrimental mechanics designed to punish those who bank their Insight.

THE DISCOVERY OF BLOOD ENTAILED THE DISCOVERY OF UNDESIRABLE BEASTS.

Spoiler:

Some players will not earn Insight.
Instead, these players will earn a resource called 'Beasthood'.
Beasthood is earned by slaying town players.
Beasthood may be spent in several ways, all of which will be unique to the player themselves.
There are several mechanics in the game designed to be a detriment to players who can carry Beasthood.

WE ARE BORN OF THE BLOOD, MADE MEN BY THE BLOOD, UNDONE BY THE BLOOD.

Spoiler:

Every single role in the game has an assigned 'Blood Echoes' value.
Upon being slain, the dead player will reward Blood Echoes to all of the players involved in slaying them.
Blood Echoes are a resource that exists solely to be spent.
There are two ways that Blood Echoes may be spent.
Blood Echoes may be spent on private rewards, tied to a player's role.
Any time a player has enough Blood Echoes to make a purchase privately, they may do so.
Blood Echoes may be spent to purchase various weapons, armor, tools, and consumables from a public Bath Messenger store.
Any time a player has enough Blood Echoes to make a public purchase, they must do so in the game thread, during the Day Phase.
Public Purchases are made on a single line of their own, with the bolded tag

PURCHASE: [ITEM NAME]

.
Whenever a non-consumable item is purchased publicly, it is removed from the Bath Messenger store forever.

[Frozen Angel]

fuck me

I prein and reserve a hydra spot (with Shiro ? RC ? Or Jeanne ?) depends on time.

[Gale Wing Srock]

fuck me

I prein and reserve a hydra spot (with Shiro ? RC ? Or Jeanne ?) depends on time.

Can I please join that Hydra FA?

[Varsoon]

I'm not currently accepting pre-ins for it, since it's so far out. Once Space Dandy starts to wrap up, I'll probably do so.

Right now, I'm making extra sure that the Blood Echo rewards and costs are balanced. They're pretty close to what I want, but it can be difficult to assign a 'value' to certain mechanics. It really becomes a game of, "Okay, I want players to, on average, get access to purchasing these mechanics during this day..."

[Frozen Angel]

oh GWS ... You can really handle me? Its too hard you know?:D

@Varsoon Just pm me when you were accepting pre in's.

you guys should join my next micro game too! Its going to be a madness

[Varsoon]

But I have drafted all the role PMs in their final iterations, I've done a lot of the checks and balances on it that I can do on my own, I've designed all the Chalice Dungeons, I've written up a lot of the pre-written flavor, and I've got the entire Insight and Blood Echo stores practically finalized.

Right now, I'm hoping my reviewer (Aeronaut) can help me balance out some of the sheer hugeness of the game in terms of 'moving parts' such that no one slot gets totally out of hand too fast to be dealt with. Furthermore, I need to be very precise with the Blood Echo rewards and costs, and while I have a functional and good-looking set of values for them right now, there may be some tweaks to make going forward. A good deal of the work I'm doing between now and launch will be playing through the game again in order to stock images for every possible flavor scenario.

[MaxwellPuckett]

Holy shit.

PM me when THAT goes into the pre-in phase. Technically, you owe me. Actually fuck it I'd really rather just be in every one of Varsoon's games that I have time for. Damn. Damn. Space Dandy also sounds great, damn. Wish I had time for that one. How many more times can I say damn

[Gale Wing Srock]

oh GWS ... You can really handle me? Its too hard you know?:D

@Varsoon Just pm me when you were accepting pre in's.

you guys should join my next micro game too! Its going to be a madness

I know

Also too much love is not good for me >.<

[Frozen Angel]

I will post its details today. I'm just making sure if its ready and ok in all aspects

[Frozen Angel]

Game details are all there : http://forum.mafiascum.net/viewtopic.ph ... 4#p7744644

[Cerberus v666]

Holy shit.

PM me when THAT goes into the pre-in phase. Technically, you owe me. Actually fuck it I'd really rather just be in every one of Varsoon's games that I have time for. Damn. Damn. Space Dandy also sounds great, damn. Wish I had time for that one. How many more times can I say damn

Yeah. After SU, I decided I wouldn't miss any of Varsoons games, and luckily he's going to be kind enough to limit himself to one game at at time from now on!
Also, I hate you Varsoon. You make these mafia games that I REALLY want to have full knowledge of flavor for...and thus by letting me know such a game is in the works, you indirectly reduce my free time by dozens of hours... I watched Parasyte, played (some) SF, watched Space Dandy, and now I'm going to play Bloodborne.

[SirCakez]

Holy crap Varsoon that's insane!

Count me in :p

[MaxwellPuckett]

Holy shit.

PM me when THAT goes into the pre-in phase. Technically, you owe me. Actually fuck it I'd really rather just be in every one of Varsoon's games that I have time for. Damn. Damn. Space Dandy also sounds great, damn. Wish I had time for that one. How many more times can I say damn

Yeah. After SU, I decided I wouldn't miss any of Varsoons games, and luckily he's going to be kind enough to limit himself to one game at at time from now on!
Also, I hate you Varsoon. You make these mafia games that I REALLY want to have full knowledge of flavor for...and thus by letting me know such a game is in the works, you indirectly reduce my free time by dozens of hours... I watched Parasyte, played (some) SF, watched Space Dandy, and now I'm going to play Bloodborne.

I hope you play Wakfu mafia, if Varsoon does end up running it sometime in the future! What a great cartoon.

[Varsoon]

Yeah, I've got some fun stuff planned for Wakfu mafia. :3

[SirCakez]

What is wakfu O.o

[Varsoon]

Wakfu was originally a MMORPG, but it was given an animated series that was more popular than the MMO.
I'd be basing the game around the animated series;

[Varsoon]

The entire series is also on Netflix right now.
I'd recommend the original French dub, as the English dub really messes up a lot of the voices, imo.

[MaxwellPuckett]

Seconding everything that Varsoon just said.
In addition to the cartoon on Netflix, there are three 45 minute OVAs that continue the story, and a prequel series geared toward a younger audience called Dofus, based on an earlier MMO by the same people. I haven't watched it, though.
And I believe Season 3 of the show has been confirmed, taking place after the three OVAs. HYPE

[Klingoncelt]

*packing my bags and checking for reservations at a hotel in or near Bloodborne*

[Cerberus v666]

It happened. I bought Bloodborne yesterday.

...


Damnit Varsoon.

[Varsoon]

It's a good game!
Unless you really want to swag it up with the Threaded Cane or cheese enemies with the Hunter's Axe, I highly suggest getting the Saw Cleaver as your starting weapon. It is easily one of the most useful weapons in the game due to its fast attacks, great range, and serration bonus damage against beasts.

[Cerberus v666]

Haha. Too late, already played for a bit and got the threaded cane.. Also went with waste of skin cause, ya know, I like making things hard on myself.

[Varsoon]

Threaded Cane is still a very good weapon--all the starting ones are. Keep in mind that its transformed state does boast serrated damage, which will do extra damage to beast enemies. Pretty much all the enemies in the game are beasts enemies, too.