Wasn't boredom, I'm a rather big procrastinator usually but I wasn't going to put off a bunch of reading and papers I had due after Eri and everything turned it into some other game I wasn't interested in.
If Phalla is always like that here then it doesn't matter if I'm on the blacklist, but I'd try again if I could. Tux, you blacklist Eri for "ruining an interesting game" which is why I suicided, I'm not going to keep up on so many posts and trends in a game if there's no fun.
I was posting and intending to have fun despite being a noob and being just a peon, you can see I was contributing (nothing maybe). Maybe I should have stuck it out but things looked bleak and <insert RL bullshit here>. I wasn't out to destroy anyones game.
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cj iwakuraThe Rhythm RegentBears The Name FreedomRegistered Userregular
edited April 2007
So with all these ongoing ideas, what determines whose game takes priority after the Soviet one finishes?
So with all these ongoing ideas, what determines whose game takes priority after the Soviet one finishes?
For ODaM I was under the impression that you just say if you want to go next and see if anyone else states they've been waiting. I think that's what RBB and visible did for soviet phalla.
If you want to go next, you should just ask in this thread if anyone minds.
So, Puppy/Kitten Phalla. After thinking about it, the fleas would be a good idea. The puppy or kitten gets a disease, they have to go to the groomer, a family adopts the dog before they get back. I suppose the vigilante's could be monkey's, and they would pick the fleas' off, and the seer is just puppies who get their sense of smell back. Puppies and kittens work together, and I think that could work.
And also, how come no one has done a transformers phalla?
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tuxkamenreally took this picture.Registered Userregular
Wasn't boredom, I'm a rather big procrastinator usually but I wasn't going to put off a bunch of reading and papers I had due after Eri and everything turned it into some other game I wasn't interested in.
If Phalla is always like that here then it doesn't matter if I'm on the blacklist, but I'd try again if I could. Tux, you blacklist Eri for "ruining an interesting game" which is why I suicided, I'm not going to keep up on so many posts and trends in a game if there's no fun.
I was posting and intending to have fun despite being a noob and being just a peon, you can see I was contributing (nothing maybe). Maybe I should have stuck it out but things looked bleak and <insert RL bullshit here>. I wasn't out to destroy anyones game.
Lady Eri really did ruin the game, period, when she called the rest of the players a bunch of idiots. Not in a mechanical sense, but in a 'this is supposed to be fun' sense. I can see how her actions would sour some people, it did me. (The fact that she probably did contribute to ruining it mechanically doesn't help, either.)
However, despite the annoyance, I and almost everybody else kept playing, and the fact is you didn't say that you withdrew (that self-vote doesn't count). Having real-life things to do is a valid excuse, but it was way too early to say 'this game sucks, I'm voting for myself and not posting for six days'. These games are designed to run over a week and a half or so (less depending on how badly one side does).
So, yeah. Maybe you should have stuck it out. Too late now.
My list is not necessarily a 100% blacklist. If you were to sign up for my game and tell me that you intended to be around the whole time and play, I'd let you in for certain. But I'd ask you if you were sure. I wouldn't necessarily extend that courtesy to Eri or Rygar at this point.
So, Puppy/Kitten Phalla. After thinking about it, the fleas would be a good idea. The puppy or kitten gets a disease, they have to go to the groomer, a family adopts the dog before they get back. I suppose the vigilante's could be monkey's, and they would pick the fleas' off, and the seer is just puppies who get their sense of smell back. Puppies and kittens work together, and I think that could work.
And also, how come no one has done a transformers phalla?
Yeah, next time I'd just hang in there. It's a dumb excuse but I was pissed off at a lot of RL things, was busy with family surprises, and couldn't feel bothered to check up the little time I did have.
So, Puppy/Kitten Phalla. After thinking about it, the fleas would be a good idea. The puppy or kitten gets a disease, they have to go to the groomer, a family adopts the dog before they get back. I suppose the vigilante's could be monkey's, and they would pick the fleas' off, and the seer is just puppies who get their sense of smell back. Puppies and kittens work together, and I think that could work.
So everyone is a flea or monkey or kitten or puppy and nobody actually can tell the difference?
I know it's a game, and there's some suspension of disbelief and all, but...
ElJeffe on
I submitted an entry to Lego Ideas, and if 10,000 people support me, it'll be turned into an actual Lego set!If you'd like to see and support my submission, follow this link.
So, Puppy/Kitten Phalla. After thinking about it, the fleas would be a good idea. The puppy or kitten gets a disease, they have to go to the groomer, a family adopts the dog before they get back. I suppose the vigilante's could be monkey's, and they would pick the fleas' off, and the seer is just puppies who get their sense of smell back. Puppies and kittens work together, and I think that could work.
So everyone is a flea or monkey or kitten or puppy and nobody actually can tell the difference?
I know it's a game, and there's some suspension of disbelief and all, but...
All newborn, they can't see yet. Yes, I know a lot of suspension is there, but people will forgive me for all the animal pictures littered throughout the thread.
I've been brainstorming ideas for classes and abilities for my Phalla game, but I think I've got enough. While I had as many as 6 villager classes and 5 monster classes at one point, I decided it's best to keep things simple and just go with 3 on each side. Time for balancing. I'm going to dump some information here for you guys to look at. My goal right now is to make all 3 villager classes equally appealing and useful. I know classes probably won't end up perfectly distributed, but I really don't want half the village or more in the same class.
So here are the stats. This is for a 30 man game, with 5 monsters. I've also provided the current abilities of the monster classes, since those may influence the players' choice. Oh, and if you're completely confused, I made a post much earlier in thread describing the game's basics.
Villager Classes
Note: Multiclassing is allowed. Abilities can be saved up, and multiple different abilities may be used on the same night, but the same ability cannot be used more than once in a given round( example: a Fighter may choose to hold onto his Strikes until late in the game, but he can never Strike more than once per round ).
Heal: Heals 5x(Current Cleric Level) damage to one target.
Prevent Poison: Target cannot be inflicted with poison that round.
Cure Poison: Eliminates poison from one target. Any HP or levels lost are restored.
Shield: Standard guardian ability. Can target themselves or someone else. May be affected by the Bruiser's Smash ability.
Divine Shield: Same as a normal Shield, but unless Smashed, the attacker takes the damage they were trying to inflict.
Strike: Deals 5x(Current Fighter Level) to one target.
Double Strike: Deals 10x(Current Fighter Level) to one target.
Monsters
Monsters get 4 attacks each night. Each attack does 5x(Current Round) damage. Monsters can also choose to level up in villager classes if they wish.
Monster classes
No leveling details are given, so that villagers do not know when or how often the monsters can use their abilities.
Bruiser
HP: 7/level
Strike: Deals 5x(Current Bruiser Level) to one target.
Double Strike: Deals 10x(Current Bruiser Level) to one target.
Smash: Breaks out a shield, allowing the target to be damaged by Strikes or normal monster attacks that night.
Assassin
HP: 7/level
Note: Poisons cannot be prevented by Shields.
Dust of forgetfulness(Poison): Target loses their last 3 levels. If this would drop the target's HP or level to 0 or less, the target dies.
Potion of invisibility(Poison): Target cannot be targeted by anything, including monster attacks, other than staking. Lasts 3 rounds.
Venom(Poison): Target loses 2x(Current Assassin Level) HP every night, until the target dies or is cured.
Toxic Gas(Poison): 4 targets each lose 3x(Current Assassin Level) HP.
False Panacea(Poison): Target cannot be healed, although they gain HP from leveling as normal.
Watchful Eye: The assassin is told if he is seered, although he is not told who seered him. This is a passive ability.
Nightmare
HP: 7/level
Spy: Learn the HP and levels of the target.
Hide: The Nightmare will seer as innocent that night. NOT a passive ability.
Whisper Lies: Target shows up as a monster if seered that night.
Deception: Changes narration of that night to make dead target be listed as a villager or a monster.
Well, that was a lot. Please let me know what you think, if any villager classes seem signficantly weaker or stronger than the others, or if you see something exploitable, or whatever.
Quoting so you have the information on this page as well Cantide.
Per your request, I've looked over the information here and have to admit I'm not very interested in some form of rpg-style game.
Is this because it seems too complicated, or feels too different from a standard Phalla?
Clarification question. Do they have to assign attacks per person? So do I have to say I want to hit Cantide 3 times and Ardor once, or do I just have to say who I want to kill and you would somehow split the damage up between the targets? Or, do they have to attack 4 different targets?
Monsters can hit the same person multiple times in one night, yes. Your scenario of hitting me 3x and you 1x is possible.
Also, if the monsters get extra attacks, does this mean the villagers get to perform the usual voting for each round, which would either kill someone outright or deal them damage?
Voting happens as usual and ignores HP. Or to put it another way, staking someone does a bazillion damage, so it just doesn't matter how much HP they have.
Do you plan on having limits as to how many people can start out as a class? If everyone became a fighter for example, the nightmare class wouldn't be very useful and there'd be a lot of damage flying out every other round. With some form of vote, I can also see the village having everyone as fighters make the potentially more difficult for the monsters. Everyone who took damage below, if they were combing for wizards, can pretty much be a confirmed innocent and go from there, depending upon how you tell people who got attacked etc.
Rather than set limits, I'd rather make all 3 classes look equally appealing. Having everyone be the same class won't work out too well for the village. Remember, the monsters can choose which class they take too, and if the village decides on an overall plan like having lots of people take the same class, the monsters can easily adapt. In your example of a village full of fighters, the monsters would probably go with 2 nightmares and 3 assassins. Without any seers, and unable to rely on the narration, the village has nothing to go on, and every staking and vigilante attack becomes a stab in the dark. When the village starts throwing around lots of attacks, the assassins can just use their invisibility potions on themselves and be immune to everything but stakings for a while. Or, they can use their potions on others and go "Hey, that guy's protecting himself! He must be a monster!"
The village should have the best chance of success with a mix of classes. If this isn't the case, then something needs to change.
Just taking a look at the hps of various classes along with the 4 monster kills, they can comb for wizards pretty quickly. On night one, they attack 4 different people and any wizards will outright die, then night two they can (if the rules allow) attack 2 different people 2 times, etc. I'm not sure if this is simply the risks of being a class that can get a few seerings by the end of the game, which it probably is. I might voice that the wizards should get more seerings and the nightmares get more whisper uses to counter it. Why? The wizard class has a pretty good chance of dying within the first few days due to low hps as the assassins can deal them some pretty nasty damage and the searching for wizards idea I posted above, just for the chance to have 3 seerings by late game.
If you think 3 seerings is too low, I could try giving them a seering at 3/5/7/9, which would let them start seering 1 round earlier and potentially get 4 total. Remember that multiclassing is possible. Someone who starts out with a single level of fighter and then switches to wizard will be able to survive a stray attack, at the cost of waiting an extra round for their abilities.
So, Puppy/Kitten Phalla. After thinking about it, the fleas would be a good idea. The puppy or kitten gets a disease, they have to go to the groomer, a family adopts the dog before they get back. I suppose the vigilante's could be monkey's, and they would pick the fleas' off, and the seer is just puppies who get their sense of smell back. Puppies and kittens work together, and I think that could work.
So everyone is a flea or monkey or kitten or puppy and nobody actually can tell the difference?
I know it's a game, and there's some suspension of disbelief and all, but...
All newborn, they can't see yet. Yes, I know a lot of suspension is there, but people will forgive me for all the animal pictures littered throughout the thread.
Ehhh, still the suspension of disbelief, hard to wrap around the theme that no one can tell each other apart with such varying physical differences.
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GoslingLooking Up Soccer In Mongolia Right Now, ProbablyWatertown, WIRegistered Userregular
edited April 2007
Call it stupidity and remind everyone that eventually they'll sniff each other out (seer each other, start networks).
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Wasn't boredom, I'm a rather big procrastinator usually but I wasn't going to put off a bunch of reading and papers I had due after Eri and everything turned it into some other game I wasn't interested in.
If Phalla is always like that here then it doesn't matter if I'm on the blacklist, but I'd try again if I could. Tux, you blacklist Eri for "ruining an interesting game" which is why I suicided, I'm not going to keep up on so many posts and trends in a game if there's no fun.
I was posting and intending to have fun despite being a noob and being just a peon, you can see I was contributing (nothing maybe). Maybe I should have stuck it out but things looked bleak and <insert RL bullshit here>. I wasn't out to destroy anyones game.
Wasn't boredom, I'm a rather big procrastinator usually but I wasn't going to put off a bunch of reading and papers I had due after Eri and everything turned it into some other game I wasn't interested in.
If Phalla is always like that here then it doesn't matter if I'm on the blacklist, but I'd try again if I could. Tux, you blacklist Eri for "ruining an interesting game" which is why I suicided, I'm not going to keep up on so many posts and trends in a game if there's no fun.
I was posting and intending to have fun despite being a noob and being just a peon, you can see I was contributing (nothing maybe). Maybe I should have stuck it out but things looked bleak and <insert RL bullshit here>. I wasn't out to destroy anyones game.
What if you had been a special?
I probably would have tried to stick it out so as to not screw people over. I likely wouldn't have been able to follow much and depending on the special I might have been a detriment to my own team, but I'd give it a shot solo anyways. I gave up easier because I was "just a soviet", and it is a difference, look at the concern over myself versus Spawnbroker.
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tuxkamenreally took this picture.Registered Userregular
edited April 2007
Spawnbroker and jdarksun (I believe?) are the ones who really screwed the villagers with their (in)actions this time, but I don't recall them playing in earlier games, so I can't say whether it was inexperience or incompetence.
EDIT: Don't mean it to sound deliberate or willful. Just that that's the result.
Wasn't boredom, I'm a rather big procrastinator usually but I wasn't going to put off a bunch of reading and papers I had due after Eri and everything turned it into some other game I wasn't interested in.
If Phalla is always like that here then it doesn't matter if I'm on the blacklist, but I'd try again if I could. Tux, you blacklist Eri for "ruining an interesting game" which is why I suicided, I'm not going to keep up on so many posts and trends in a game if there's no fun.
I was posting and intending to have fun despite being a noob and being just a peon, you can see I was contributing (nothing maybe). Maybe I should have stuck it out but things looked bleak and <insert RL bullshit here>. I wasn't out to destroy anyones game.
What if you had been a special?
I probably would have tried to stick it out so as to not screw people over. I likely wouldn't have been able to follow much and depending on the special I might have been a detriment to my own team, but I'd give it a shot solo anyways. I gave up easier because I was "just a soviet", and it is a difference, look at the concern over myself versus Spawnbroker.
One thing you should consider infidel, is that most of us have been a normal villager before. I personally find it interesting to pick out a person or two prior to gamestart and ask if they'd like to work together with the assumption that we are all normal villagers. Typically you can keep your interest in the game and make it a bit more fun because you have people to work with right away. While they cannot be 100% trusted, you figure you won't usually try to kill each other.
Spawnbroker and jdarksun (I believe?) are the ones who really screwed the villagers this time, but I don't recall them playing in earlier games, so I can't say whether it was inexperience or incompetence.
Jdarksun has played in phallia and thisgame to my knowledge. I thought he participated in some older ODaM games as well. I don't see what he did as a bad thing, if everyone's getting those messages and people come out saying so in the public thread, people start to suspect him to the point where he would usually live a little longer from the bad guys.
Spawnbroker hasn't been online since 3-30-07 according to his profile, so I don't know if something cut his interenet or something's going on with his life. I certain hope nothing happened to him.
Another strange idea I had about seers. We know seers can essentially start the networks that usually topple the bad guys. What if their powers were nerfed a little bit? For example, what if the seer had to submit a list of people they want to seer, and in what order for the next 3 days? That way, there's a chance their target ends up dead or otherwise and they actually have a small vested interest in protecting those people. They would get a vision every night, provided their pre-picked target is still alive. It gives them less room to strategize, but it does still give them the chance every 3 days to get up to speed with current events for choices.
As far as the special thing goes, it doesn't screw us up that much usually, unless, you know, there's a very specific plan involving all of them. If we hadn't relied on the influencers to represent their special status to the network, then it's really true that they aren't necessarily any more useful than a normal villager. That was the case with Variable in the Mole game.
I'm not sure how those events weren't entertaining though. I thought it was delightful, from a non-trying-to-win-the-game perspective.
The three day plan for seering-It's not really all that different from the risk of someone you look at being killed after the fact, as far as the risk of death=no seering goes, except for maybe getting a day of utility out of a network member(the importance if which could obviously vary drastically). But I think the fact that you're limiting the amount of information available to the seer when he chooses his targets does provide a hindrance to searching out spies.
Spawnbroker and jdarksun (I believe?) are the ones who really screwed the villagers this time, but I don't recall them playing in earlier games, so I can't say whether it was inexperience or incompetence.
Jdarksun has played in phallia and thisgame to my knowledge. I thought he participated in some older ODaM games as well. I don't see what he did as a bad thing, if everyone's getting those messages and people come out saying so in the public thread, people start to suspect him to the point where he would usually live a little longer from the bad guys.
Spawnbroker hasn't been online since 3-30-07 according to his profile, so I don't know if something cut his interenet or something's going on with his life. I certain hope nothing happened to him.
Yeah, when we talk about people ruining games and such, we really need to distinguish between someone making unwise decisions, and someone engaging in meta-game behavior that ruins things for other people. jdarksun, at worst, is guilty of making a risky gamble that blew up in his face. It's not quite in the same league as Lady Eri's tantrum.
And yeah, hope Spawnbroker is okay.
edit: Prior to 3/29, Spawnbroker had many posts per day in the game thread, and lots of posts throughout PA. It seems likely that something happened to either him or his connection.
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tuxkamenreally took this picture.Registered Userregular
edited April 2007
Oh, absolutely. 'Ruining' is the wrong word for their actions. I'll edit it.
Their (in)actions may well have flubbed it irreparably, let's put it that way--that's why I said inexperience or incompetence (and I should add plain inactivity). But I wouldn't necessarily exclude them in the future because of that.
Eri, on the other hand, ruined it.
EDIT: hay mistar jeffe i didn't say 'ruined' for them
But you were thinking it. I used my mod powers to read your mind.
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tuxkamenreally took this picture.Registered Userregular
Wasn't boredom, I'm a rather big procrastinator usually but I wasn't going to put off a bunch of reading and papers I had due after Eri and everything turned it into some other game I wasn't interested in.
If Phalla is always like that here then it doesn't matter if I'm on the blacklist, but I'd try again if I could. Tux, you blacklist Eri for "ruining an interesting game" which is why I suicided, I'm not going to keep up on so many posts and trends in a game if there's no fun.
I was posting and intending to have fun despite being a noob and being just a peon, you can see I was contributing (nothing maybe). Maybe I should have stuck it out but things looked bleak and <insert RL bullshit here>. I wasn't out to destroy anyones game.
What if you had been a special?
I probably would have tried to stick it out so as to not screw people over. I likely wouldn't have been able to follow much and depending on the special I might have been a detriment to my own team, but I'd give it a shot solo anyways. I gave up easier because I was "just a soviet", and it is a difference, look at the concern over myself versus Spawnbroker.
One thing you should consider infidel, is that most of us have been a normal villager before. I personally find it interesting to pick out a person or two prior to gamestart and ask if they'd like to work together with the assumption that we are all normal villagers. Typically you can keep your interest in the game and make it a bit more fun because you have people to work with right away. While they cannot be 100% trusted, you figure you won't usually try to kill each other.
I wasn't saying "screw it" because of being a villager, I meant that it's much easier to do so when you are. I now would rather have played, even though it would have been probably like a post a day and rather misinformed. My contributions would probably have just been securing bandwagons against soviets or something.
Actually, maybe I would have found some way to amuse myself even if I was working alone, seeing how everything blew up. At the time everyone was "omg we win" and it was hard to get excited about following a game and posting when it would all be ignored and all was required of me was following the sanctioned bandwagons of a network that looks down with contempt. O_o Let this be a lesson for all, don't bail even if it looks like the game has no use for you.
I wasn't saying "screw it" because of being a villager, I meant that it's much easier to do so when you are. I now would rather have played, even though it would have been probably like a post a day and rather misinformed. My contributions would probably have just been securing bandwagons against soviets or something.
Actually, maybe I would have found some way to amuse myself even if I was working alone, seeing how everything blew up. At the time everyone was "omg we win" and it was hard to get excited about following a game and posting when it would all be ignored and all was required of me was following the sanctioned bandwagons of a network that looks down with contempt. O_o Let this be a lesson for all, don't bail even if it looks like the game has no use for you.
Nearly everyone tends to stick to the game, even if they only post to vote when they are no longer interested or having fun with the game. You don't have to be acidserra crazy to enjoy the game, scheming is something I've found to be a particularly fun part of the game. Most of the fun I tend to have with these games happens in pm's with other people. Planning, scheming, working together, getting screwed over etc.
There's very rarely some instant-win mechanism that people find. With ElJeffe's game for example, the network was incredibly harmful to the monster's chances of winning, but ElJeffe upped the ante with his later game rules that nobody knew about to compensate to where it was still very close at the end.
Anyways, I suggest contacting someone next game prior to game start, that you know will be playing, and ask if they would be willing to work together during the game. Go under the assumption that you are both normal villagers, don't share what roles you are, don't try to kill each other and have some fun, that might help a bit too.
Thinking about how close the Phalliad actually was I started wondering something. Has a game ever ended in a draw? IE: everyone died on the last day.
Not to my knowledge, because the win conditions are typically:
-all monsters die
-# villagers <= # monsters
Each game typically had an order of how kills worked. So if the staking went first and got the last monster, he couldn't carry out his kills, etc.
The soviet phalla is an odd duck in that category not because it'll end in a tie, I don't think that's possible, but it has the bad guys getting their kills first (I believe).
Besides, I think just about everyone would feel pretty cheated if a tie would occur.
Making games with original twists is all and good, but wouldn't you all agree that if the game setting is good and the narration written well-enough, it doesn't matter if there's a bunch of new mechanics to make it enjoyable?
I have a good idea for a Phalla, but I'm not too keen on having to reinvent the wheel, you see.
Making games with original twists is all and good, but wouldn't you all agree that if the game setting is good and the narration written well-enough, it doesn't matter if there's a bunch of new mechanics to make it enjoyable?
I have a good idea for a Phalla, but I'm not too keen on having to reinvent the wheel, you see.
For the most part, yes. But playing in something new is also fun, and there's also the question of how to counter any techniques that people have discovered that automate too much of the gameplay, like allowing unbreakable networks.
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Making games with original twists is all and good, but wouldn't you all agree that if the game setting is good and the narration written well-enough, it doesn't matter if there's a bunch of new mechanics to make it enjoyable?
I have a good idea for a Phalla, but I'm not too keen on having to reinvent the wheel, you see.
For the most part, yes. But playing in something new is also fun, and there's also the question of how to counter any techniques that people have discovered that automate too much of the gameplay, like allowing unbreakable networks.
I don't know how that would work, other than allowing a guardian to protect more than one person a night, thus making him able to protect himself and another special at the same time.
No, I meant we were trying to come up with ideas to prevent that, not facilitate it.
ElJeffe on
I submitted an entry to Lego Ideas, and if 10,000 people support me, it'll be turned into an actual Lego set!If you'd like to see and support my submission, follow this link.
No, I meant we were trying to come up with ideas to prevent that, not facilitate it.
Sorry, I just meant that I can't really think of any examples of unbreakable networks. Even if someone outs themself, they can be killed.
I can and I was in it. What did our castle network get up to, 7 people? Three of which (myself included) turned items into methods to know for sure who was a good guy? By the end of the game, the network was so large that we could have won by default- simply eliminate everyone not in the network, and be able to make it happen because we'd gotten at least half of the entire remaining group into the network. The bad guys can't do anything about it, the non-network good guys can't do anything about it either.
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tuxkamenreally took this picture.Registered Userregular
No, I meant we were trying to come up with ideas to prevent that, not facilitate it.
Sorry, I just meant that I can't really think of any examples of unbreakable networks. Even if someone outs themself, they can be killed.
In most games the Guardian can out themselves as the network spokesman without fear.
Guardians shouldn't be able to defend themselves.
In my experience, if they can do that, it is all they do. It's pretty tedious.
100% agreed (at least until they find a seer, at which point they remain tedious but also become altruistic).
Guardians are the primary headache of a Phalla, in my opinion. At the very least, however, you can force them to remain under the radar (or force the person they're guarding to stay non-public) with restrictions on their ability.
Thus, the others all die before tuxkamen dies to the vote. Hence, tuxkamen survives, village victory.
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tuxkamenreally took this picture.Registered Userregular
edited April 2007
Okay, so that tactic was ingenious, and I'd absolutely have used it myself.
But it would probably be wise to make sure to tell players that invisible mode during Phalla is good for your health. Or, prohibit people from using the Who's Online page.
Just prohibiting people from using Who's Online isn't going to stop the monitoring. I personally put everyone in the game in my buddy list, and so I see who's on in a separate window, and a simple click tells me where they are at the moment.
As I mentioned the in the game thread, all you have to do is load another page in another tab after you've loaded the PM form and you're fine. You'll be shown as looking at the other page, and as long as that's not suspicious and the monsters didn't happen to get lucky and catch you in that split second between, you're completely fine. It makes more sense to encourage players to cover their tracks than to force people not to use the resources they have at their disposal.
So, I've been pondering over my idea for a Phalla, and do you guys think this would be a good idea:
Instead of voting publicly, everyone PMs me their vote. I would also have a rule that you can only change your vote once, or perhaps not at all.
Debate in the thread would still be encouraged, obviously, but it would be interesting to see how people would go about formulating new tactics without full vote counts to look on.
cj iwakuraThe Rhythm RegentBears The Name FreedomRegistered Userregular
edited April 2007
Well, on the V:TM drawing board, I guess the only grey area are still the 'vigilantes'. Instead of the Assamites, I was considering using Hunters, but there's no way they'd be able to get away with being part of the Kindred gatherings every night without being noticed. So basically, no one could play one, since they wouldn't be able to contribute to the discussions. Are NPCs ever used in Phallas, or is that a bad idea?
Beyond that, I think the rules are pretty solid, shy of deciding a few clan specialties and balancing clan roles out.
Posts
If Phalla is always like that here then it doesn't matter if I'm on the blacklist, but I'd try again if I could. Tux, you blacklist Eri for "ruining an interesting game" which is why I suicided, I'm not going to keep up on so many posts and trends in a game if there's no fun.
I was posting and intending to have fun despite being a noob and being just a peon, you can see I was contributing (nothing maybe). Maybe I should have stuck it out but things looked bleak and <insert RL bullshit here>. I wasn't out to destroy anyones game.
For ODaM I was under the impression that you just say if you want to go next and see if anyone else states they've been waiting. I think that's what RBB and visible did for soviet phalla.
If you want to go next, you should just ask in this thread if anyone minds.
And also, how come no one has done a transformers phalla?
Lady Eri really did ruin the game, period, when she called the rest of the players a bunch of idiots. Not in a mechanical sense, but in a 'this is supposed to be fun' sense. I can see how her actions would sour some people, it did me. (The fact that she probably did contribute to ruining it mechanically doesn't help, either.)
However, despite the annoyance, I and almost everybody else kept playing, and the fact is you didn't say that you withdrew (that self-vote doesn't count). Having real-life things to do is a valid excuse, but it was way too early to say 'this game sucks, I'm voting for myself and not posting for six days'. These games are designed to run over a week and a half or so (less depending on how badly one side does).
So, yeah. Maybe you should have stuck it out. Too late now.
My list is not necessarily a 100% blacklist. If you were to sign up for my game and tell me that you intended to be around the whole time and play, I'd let you in for certain. But I'd ask you if you were sure. I wouldn't necessarily extend that courtesy to Eri or Rygar at this point.
Games: Ad Astra Per Phalla | Choose Your Own Phalla
Because everyone is in disguise by default.
Games: Ad Astra Per Phalla | Choose Your Own Phalla
On-topic, I really like Shinto's ideas.
So everyone is a flea or monkey or kitten or puppy and nobody actually can tell the difference?
I know it's a game, and there's some suspension of disbelief and all, but...
Is this because it seems too complicated, or feels too different from a standard Phalla?
Yes.
Monsters can hit the same person multiple times in one night, yes. Your scenario of hitting me 3x and you 1x is possible.
Voting happens as usual and ignores HP. Or to put it another way, staking someone does a bazillion damage, so it just doesn't matter how much HP they have.
Rather than set limits, I'd rather make all 3 classes look equally appealing. Having everyone be the same class won't work out too well for the village. Remember, the monsters can choose which class they take too, and if the village decides on an overall plan like having lots of people take the same class, the monsters can easily adapt. In your example of a village full of fighters, the monsters would probably go with 2 nightmares and 3 assassins. Without any seers, and unable to rely on the narration, the village has nothing to go on, and every staking and vigilante attack becomes a stab in the dark. When the village starts throwing around lots of attacks, the assassins can just use their invisibility potions on themselves and be immune to everything but stakings for a while. Or, they can use their potions on others and go "Hey, that guy's protecting himself! He must be a monster!"
The village should have the best chance of success with a mix of classes. If this isn't the case, then something needs to change.
If you think 3 seerings is too low, I could try giving them a seering at 3/5/7/9, which would let them start seering 1 round earlier and potentially get 4 total. Remember that multiclassing is possible. Someone who starts out with a single level of fighter and then switches to wizard will be able to survive a stray attack, at the cost of waiting an extra round for their abilities.
There are no mason groups for the village, but the monsters all know each other.
Ehhh, still the suspension of disbelief, hard to wrap around the theme that no one can tell each other apart with such varying physical differences.
I probably would have tried to stick it out so as to not screw people over. I likely wouldn't have been able to follow much and depending on the special I might have been a detriment to my own team, but I'd give it a shot solo anyways. I gave up easier because I was "just a soviet", and it is a difference, look at the concern over myself versus Spawnbroker.
EDIT: Don't mean it to sound deliberate or willful. Just that that's the result.
Games: Ad Astra Per Phalla | Choose Your Own Phalla
One thing you should consider infidel, is that most of us have been a normal villager before. I personally find it interesting to pick out a person or two prior to gamestart and ask if they'd like to work together with the assumption that we are all normal villagers. Typically you can keep your interest in the game and make it a bit more fun because you have people to work with right away. While they cannot be 100% trusted, you figure you won't usually try to kill each other.
Jdarksun has played in phallia and thisgame to my knowledge. I thought he participated in some older ODaM games as well. I don't see what he did as a bad thing, if everyone's getting those messages and people come out saying so in the public thread, people start to suspect him to the point where he would usually live a little longer from the bad guys.
Spawnbroker hasn't been online since 3-30-07 according to his profile, so I don't know if something cut his interenet or something's going on with his life. I certain hope nothing happened to him.
Another strange idea I had about seers. We know seers can essentially start the networks that usually topple the bad guys. What if their powers were nerfed a little bit? For example, what if the seer had to submit a list of people they want to seer, and in what order for the next 3 days? That way, there's a chance their target ends up dead or otherwise and they actually have a small vested interest in protecting those people. They would get a vision every night, provided their pre-picked target is still alive. It gives them less room to strategize, but it does still give them the chance every 3 days to get up to speed with current events for choices.
I'm not sure how those events weren't entertaining though. I thought it was delightful, from a non-trying-to-win-the-game perspective.
The three day plan for seering-It's not really all that different from the risk of someone you look at being killed after the fact, as far as the risk of death=no seering goes, except for maybe getting a day of utility out of a network member(the importance if which could obviously vary drastically). But I think the fact that you're limiting the amount of information available to the seer when he chooses his targets does provide a hindrance to searching out spies.
Yeah, when we talk about people ruining games and such, we really need to distinguish between someone making unwise decisions, and someone engaging in meta-game behavior that ruins things for other people. jdarksun, at worst, is guilty of making a risky gamble that blew up in his face. It's not quite in the same league as Lady Eri's tantrum.
And yeah, hope Spawnbroker is okay.
edit: Prior to 3/29, Spawnbroker had many posts per day in the game thread, and lots of posts throughout PA. It seems likely that something happened to either him or his connection.
Their (in)actions may well have flubbed it irreparably, let's put it that way--that's why I said inexperience or incompetence (and I should add plain inactivity). But I wouldn't necessarily exclude them in the future because of that.
Eri, on the other hand, ruined it.
EDIT: hay mistar jeffe i didn't say 'ruined' for them
Games: Ad Astra Per Phalla | Choose Your Own Phalla
Games: Ad Astra Per Phalla | Choose Your Own Phalla
I wasn't saying "screw it" because of being a villager, I meant that it's much easier to do so when you are. I now would rather have played, even though it would have been probably like a post a day and rather misinformed.
Actually, maybe I would have found some way to amuse myself even if I was working alone, seeing how everything blew up. At the time everyone was "omg we win" and it was hard to get excited about following a game and posting when it would all be ignored and all was required of me was following the sanctioned bandwagons of a network that looks down with contempt. O_o Let this be a lesson for all, don't bail even if it looks like the game has no use for you.
Just name all the puppies Runt and you'll be good
Nearly everyone tends to stick to the game, even if they only post to vote when they are no longer interested or having fun with the game. You don't have to be acidserra crazy to enjoy the game, scheming is something I've found to be a particularly fun part of the game. Most of the fun I tend to have with these games happens in pm's with other people. Planning, scheming, working together, getting screwed over etc.
There's very rarely some instant-win mechanism that people find. With ElJeffe's game for example, the network was incredibly harmful to the monster's chances of winning, but ElJeffe upped the ante with his later game rules that nobody knew about to compensate to where it was still very close at the end.
Anyways, I suggest contacting someone next game prior to game start, that you know will be playing, and ask if they would be willing to work together during the game. Go under the assumption that you are both normal villagers, don't share what roles you are, don't try to kill each other and have some fun, that might help a bit too.
Not to my knowledge, because the win conditions are typically:
-all monsters die
-# villagers <= # monsters
Each game typically had an order of how kills worked. So if the staking went first and got the last monster, he couldn't carry out his kills, etc.
The soviet phalla is an odd duck in that category not because it'll end in a tie, I don't think that's possible, but it has the bad guys getting their kills first (I believe).
Besides, I think just about everyone would feel pretty cheated if a tie would occur.
I have a good idea for a Phalla, but I'm not too keen on having to reinvent the wheel, you see.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
For the most part, yes. But playing in something new is also fun, and there's also the question of how to counter any techniques that people have discovered that automate too much of the gameplay, like allowing unbreakable networks.
I don't know how that would work, other than allowing a guardian to protect more than one person a night, thus making him able to protect himself and another special at the same time.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
Sorry, I just meant that I can't really think of any examples of unbreakable networks. Even if someone outs themself, they can be killed.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
In most games the Guardian can out themselves as the network spokesman without fear.
Guardians shouldn't be able to defend themselves.
In my experience, if they can do that, it is all they do. It's pretty tedious.
100% agreed (at least until they find a seer, at which point they remain tedious but also become altruistic).
Guardians are the primary headache of a Phalla, in my opinion. At the very least, however, you can force them to remain under the radar (or force the person they're guarding to stay non-public) with restrictions on their ability.
Games: Ad Astra Per Phalla | Choose Your Own Phalla
But it would probably be wise to make sure to tell players that invisible mode during Phalla is good for your health. Or, prohibit people from using the Who's Online page.
Games: Ad Astra Per Phalla | Choose Your Own Phalla
As I mentioned the in the game thread, all you have to do is load another page in another tab after you've loaded the PM form and you're fine. You'll be shown as looking at the other page, and as long as that's not suspicious and the monsters didn't happen to get lucky and catch you in that split second between, you're completely fine. It makes more sense to encourage players to cover their tracks than to force people not to use the resources they have at their disposal.
Instead of voting publicly, everyone PMs me their vote. I would also have a rule that you can only change your vote once, or perhaps not at all.
Debate in the thread would still be encouraged, obviously, but it would be interesting to see how people would go about formulating new tactics without full vote counts to look on.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
Beyond that, I think the rules are pretty solid, shy of deciding a few clan specialties and balancing clan roles out.