The Syndicate

a2thezebra wrote:
My intent with the 36/24 cycle was to get the deadlines spinning to spice things up a bit. But if that doesn't sound appealing then I can change it to 36/12 or the standard 48/24.

Idk, you'd have to ask more players, just felt like pointing it out, especially considering you'd also issue a miss-and-it's-curtains-for-ya participation.

I could manage deadline spins better than I can usually manage deadlines that are far up in the dead of night's ass over here.

a2thezebra wrote:My consolation here is that the player who possesses these worlds is town-aligned, meaning they would have to be smart to enact Vigilante Wars and Forensic Mafia at the right time. If this player was the SK or mafia then it wouldn't be fair, but I think since the player has to use these abilities with caution for both their own survival and the rest of the civs, I don't think it would make things unbalanced. Crazy, absolutely, but unbalanced? I'm not so sure.

Fair point, but it's still a "free vigi kill for everyone". Do vigi killers usually think about their actions that hard or do they shoot at first or second impulse? Multiply that by 8 civilians.

a2thezebra wrote:I wasn't sure which power role to give to the mafia in this setup, and I think you may be right here. Do you have another suggestion for a mafia role that would compensate for town's?

Again, the more traditional a design is meant to be, the less I'm sure what the right design is. So far I've seen the mafia being attributed a Godfather to compensate for town having civs, doctors, etc. Or maybe a Stronghold? Or maybe a blocker? Either way, I think the principle is, it should be something to either loosen the strength of the civ's important power or make it worthwhile for the mafia to evade something in the process.

a2thezebra wrote:This is a very good point. Do you think it would be improved by combining the three slots into a single game? If the players' role cards are randomized for each slot then their wins could be tallied up and ranked at the end of all three to determine who won the most times and so on? Again my concern here would be that it wouldn't qualify as a bank heist game, but then again, with as much madness going on in this setup as there is, even with as a game with three sequences it might not be too lengthy. Let me know if that sounds good.

It's worth considering it, G-Man already projected a series of heist-size games and that one is more than likely to receive green light. A three-peat game would compensate, overall, in case one of the three games would go tits up, nonetheless I still feel it's worth trying to give each of the three slots a fair chance of going smoothly.

Slot One sounds too kill friendly and the issue with it is in what direction it might drive the game's balance and dynamics. Let's just imagine the scenario in which Tessa would use her vigi kill on D1 + get killed on N1, taking with her the killer and the protected player + the other killing faction (either Mafia or SK) would not be affected and would kill as well. That's a maximum range of 5 casualties for a single cycle, meaning D2 would commence with 8 players (in which the town-mafia-sk balance would be hard to project) instead of the traditional 11 (one lynch, one kill). And if from those 8 players, the SK would be unscathed by Tessa's demise and the Mafia would also successfully recruit, that'd be a 4-3-1 structure, sounding like sudden lylo for the civs...on Day 2.

Even if none of the above happen at such a worse-case alarming rate, a mafia team of already three gathering, gradually, new recruits, sounds awfully unbalancing. Usually, only a loner role, such as the SK/LMS, should be invested with possible recruitements abilities.

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Reviewing Slot Two fared much better, meaning that in principle a protector against the SK and the mafia having a shot to remove either the civ powered player's or the SK's powers sounds fair enough (not sure what the SK's voyeuring would amount to, though), until a few of the "worlds" made me rub my eyeballs. Vigilante Wars sounds like total mayhem, Forensic Mafia would require a lot of deaths already having taken place (or everyone will basically just sniff the same one or two corpses). The others are ok, I think the civs could handle one phase of slightly shenanigan'd voting (because of Democracy) and the baddies could survive a Night in which their kill will probably bounce off anyone (because of Hospital Utopia).

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Slot Three looks fine. I'm not sure if a mafia Silencer is the kind of role that can compensate for there being a cop and a chatty guy on the town's side (especially since the silenced can still vote, therefore potentially affect the Mafia), others will have to pitch in on this.

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Please note that these observations are only based on judging the slots as being implemented for a classic/traditional/heist game, which, at its standard 13-player dimensions, doesn't usually have a lot of wiggle room for shenanigans and complex outcomes (...says the guy who pitched multiple twists for his Chromatic Scale Mafia ). I would otherwise have no personal issue giving it a go with either of these three installments. Slot One definitely sounds like it could use a more substantial roster than 13 - aka maybe a Speed, if not a Full game.

Hope this feedback is helpful.

Also, why is the indy ??? always a she?

Metalmarsh89 wrote:This looks like a three game sequence, is that correct?

And the 36/24 split on day/night phases will be interesting. I've always wanted to play a game where the phase ended in the morning.

I think it's rather like your four-paradigm tree-hugging game. One gets picked at the start of the game.

I think a 36/24 cycle would send the deadlines spinning too much. Let's say D1 starts at 10pm (evening); it'll end at 10am two days later (morning); but then N1 will also end at 10am (morning) the day after and then D2 will last until 10pm (evening), two days later etc. See how morning and evening deadlines keep switcherooing? It may be problematic to different players, having different timezones or schedules.

I'd endorse a 36/12, though.

I'll review later how feasible it is for a traditional game, but you know me, I'll like them peppered with intricacy.