Chance (Cage) Mafia

[Ricochet]

I got the inspiration when Omerta was created, but then got frustrated that I couldn't thoroughly design it and dropped it (and picked Inception from the drawer and finished it instead). But I reckon this is a good place to propose it and keep working on it.

Gameplay could be theoretically basic, but would also involve a lot of "shenanigans" regarding players actions, all drawn from the intederminate/aleatoric/chance pieces John Cage wrote with various weird indications, performance rules and such. In other words, a game with a lot of curses, if you will, or limitations to frequency, content or even style of posting.

Randomization could go a long way from determining roles/abilities/alignments placements themselves to how/when abilities would take effect or even how many times could a player use his ability throughout the game. Cage used the I Ching in writing most of his random/chance music, but honestly, I have no idea at this point how the I Ching works, I'd have to learn it myself.

For instance, Cage's 4'33'' could be stretched a bit to 4 hours and 33 minutes, at a random point during a phase, in which posting would be strictly prohibited - and any player that accidentally goofs and posts would get penalized. This could even mimic the faux-three-movements structure the piece has -I think it's 30''-140''-80'', but I don't remember by heart - with very short interludes in between in which posting could resume.

Another example that could be adapted could be his Number Pieces - in which, short explanation, performers have to play certain notes within certain flexible time brackets.
--This would be a curse in which the afflicted player would only be able, throughout a phase, to post during certain time intervals; also, he would only be able to post once during each of those intervals; the timing of his posting within that interval would be totally up to him. The player could choose not to post at all, too (especially if a certain interval is late at night or when he's simply unable to post/play), but he would still not be allowed to post outside of those intervals.
--This ability could also be duplicated, just like Cage wrote a lot of these pieces: an ability called One would mean that one player gets afflicted; an ability called Four would mean that four players get afflicted. This could potentially create a time canvas of a phase in which most of the players are restricted to posting at certain times and making their posts count - just like in Omerta.

Aaaand there are many other stuff by Cage that could be adapted. After all, we're talking about the guy who wrote music to be played on cactuses.

I said that, in theory, gameplay could be basic (town vs. mafia), but I'm actually pondering whether to make this an LMS, considering that it would be hard to design a clear civ-mafia dichotomy. Then again, an LMS would be also hard to design, because it would still basically resort to disposing of player by way of lynch, regardless of the many confusing, gameplay-altering abilities and mechanics.

Also, most likely a Speed game. Or Special.

[Tangrowth]

Love this idea.