[Forum Game] Werewolf XI: The Thing Attacks

[Fury]

In a fortified private Artic outpost, The Thing has been captured and is under study. Unfortunately, due to lax security it has escaped and has probably already infected someone. Scientists of various disciplines (Psychologists, Researchers) and Interrogators are guarded by Mercenaries but Secret Government Agents have once again infiltrated this base and are planning a hostile takeover of the outpost and recover the Thing for an unknown government's nefarious project.


The Rules


Werewolf is a game of paranoia, deception and betrayal. Hidden amongst the unknowing humans is The Thing, an alien creature looking to kill them and ensure its survival. The humans outnumber the Thing, but they don't know who to trust. The Thing wants to kill enough humans so that it can reach parity and overthrow the humans openly; the humans want to destroy the Thing by uncovering its identity.

If that wasn't a dire enough situation for the humans, even amongst the humans there are secret Goverment Agents looking to preserve and capture the Thing even at the cost of their own lives. Fortunately the humans have the aid of the Torturers who can find the true identity of The Thing and of the Researchers who can discover information on the Thing, and even Psychologists who can tell if someone is lying or is hiding something, and of the Mercenaries who have to protect everyone. These characters must hide their identity just as much as the Thing must, as they are the greatest threat to the forces of evil and will surely be killed if revealed.

It may seem like a simple human is powerless in this clash of good and evil, but they are not. Every day the humans get to choose one person to lynch in their efforts to kill the Thing. The humans must vote to choose the person they think most likely to be the Thing. With their vote, the humans can reveal much about the motives of others. But they must be cunning, or more than a little lucky, if they are to survive.


Standard Big Rules


All roles will be handed out after the last person signs up, with all players receiving a PM containing their role and (known/unknown) traits. The game will then proceed to a night deadline.

The game is divided into two periods - night and day. For practical reasons these two periods are run concurrently, from one update till the next. Each update is 24 hours apart.

Each day, all players vote to lynch one of the players - the person they think is most likely to be the Thing or other baddie. Each night, the Thing decides who to kill. In each 24 hour period, the humans will lynch, and the Thing will hunt. The humans can try to lynch multiple people by creating a glorious, Lemeard-approved tie, and the Thing can also decide not to hunt anyone at all at night. Beware of Crovaxian slips as well!

The Thing (including any infected host) wins if it manages to reach parity with the humans. The Scientists, Mercenaries, Interrogators, Psychologists and Researchers win if they manage to destroy the Thing. The secret Government Agents win if they keep the IDENTIFIED Thing alive and reach parity with the other humans. For players with more than one role, their MAJOR role counts towards the win, their minor role does not.


Standard Werewolf Rules

• §1A. - You sign up to the game by requesting so in a post in this thread.
  §1B - No new players will be admitted after the game has started, except to substitute for another player.
  §1C - You may at any time be substituted out by requesting so in the thread.
  §1D - Failure to vote has NO consequence.
• §2A – Players will vote or can decide not to. See Rule 1D.
  §2B – Votes are valid or invalid according to the situation.
  §2C – In the event of a tie NO ONE will be lynched. Lynching also requires a minimum of 2 votes for the to-be-lynched person.
  §2D - The player(s) with the majority of votes at deadline will be lynched (subject to other player actions). They will not reveal any inside information after the deadline. The presumed dead player(s) should post in a non-default colour until their true role is confirmed.
• §3A - Orders and votes submitted after deadline are ignored.
  §3B - Orders (scans, hunts, et cetera) are sent to the Game Moderator via PM.
  §3C - Players are responsible for any Private Messages missed due to inbox being full.
  §3D - Orders take place in the DAY EVENTS and are determined in the NIGHT EVENTS (before lynchings) except for hunts which comes after lynchings in the NIGHT EVENTS.
• §4A - Spectators may comment, but never suggest a course of action, reveal any new information, including vote counts, or discuss any details of their former character, in the case of ghosts. Preferably spectators will comment only in a manner tangential to the actual game.
  §4B - When doing spectator commentary, please use a non-default colour.
  §4C - Please don't use the same color of text as the GM is using.
• §5. - Alliances and Feuds which aren't based on your characters or roles in the game between players are forbidden. Alliances and Feuds which continue from one game to another undermine the whole idea of the game.
• §6A – The Game Moderator has the last word on all matters.
  §6B – If the Game Moderator makes a mistake (e.g. with the vote count, hunt/scan orders), if critical information has been revealed, the mistake will be corrected or kept depending on the situation.
• §7A – Forging PMs is allowed. Screenshots of PMs is not.
  §7B – Posting or quoting of PMs from the GM is not allowed - real or forged with ONE exception only: Posting research information is allowed (whether you know it or not, real or forged).
  §7C – Players may use PMs to coordinate their actions.  Players are reminded to use the public thread where possible.
• §8A – Voting must be done in the following way. Write "VOTE" and the person you are voting for in bold text.
  §8B - If you wish to un-vote someone, write "UNVOTE" and their name in bold text.
  §8C - In case of re-voting without un-voting the original vote will be the counted vote.
  §8D - Do not edit votes after posting them. If you make a mistake, unvote and revote in a new post.
  §8E - Votes should be oversized or clear of other text to ensure they are not missed by the GM.
  §8F - We won't be super specific about how you must vote, but be a dear and hit at least two of these: bold, larger font, white/light colored text.
• §9 - The GM can and will remove players if the GM believes that player is adversely affecting the game, for example through deliberate violation of the rules. This will be done through the use of killing the player's role, or using substitutes, if they are available. All such decisions are made solely at the discretion of the GM.
• §10 - The game will start once an NPC dies. Orders can be sent by PM to the GM. Until then, life goes on as usual at the outpost.

Deadline


The deadline of this game is BM Sunset Time (forum time will be used).
Votes and orders made on 17:59 will count, while those made on 18:00 WILL NOT.


The Roles


ALL Roles will partly depend on player choices and MAY, not will, be in the game.

• Scientists: The simplest role - without corroborative evidence, a Scientist knows nothing for sure, but can use the power of his vote to help lynch others. Scientists win when the Thing is killed.
• Interrogators: May torture someone once per day (PM Order to GM). If the Thing is tortured, its identity is revealed to the Interrogator but it will escape the Interrogator. If a human is tortured he'll reveal one of his roles. Subsequent tortures may be needed to reveal more roles. Interrogators win when the Thing is killed.
• Mercenaries: May choose to protect one person per day. Cannot protect the same person twice in a row and cannot protect themselves as they are paid to protect others. Mercenaries win when the Thing is killed.
• Psychologists: May study a person's speech (anytime, anywhere) once per day to attempt to determine if they are lying or hiding something (PM the order and the quote to the GM). Psychologists win when the Thing is killed.
• Researchers: May study clues to the Thing's origins, behaviour, history, etc. once per day. Can work with another researcher for more relevant clues. Researchers win when the Thing is killed.
• Escape Artists: Will escape the first time he's lynched and then hide from lynching for a day and cannot vote. Can vote and will be vulnerable after that.
• Secret Government Agents: Will attempt to stop the other humans from killing the Thing. May recruit someone to be a Secret Government Agent if he is the only remaining agent left. The would-be-recruit has a choice to join or not. Recruitment is only official and valid when done by a real secret Government Agent that fulfills the stated condition and validated by Headquarters (GM). Secret Government Agents win when they reach parity with the other humans as long as the IDENTIFIED Thing lives. They will then call in their black OPs to capture the Thing and kill everyone else. Calling in their black OPs when the Thing has not been identified or misidentified leads to bad RP. Secret Government Agents win when the Thing is captured.
• The Thing: May kill one person per day until it reaches parity and will then openly kill everyone. The Thing's special ability (ONE TIME USE only) can only be discovered through research and even past research from other scientific outposts (may or may not be relevant) Only research can narrow it down. Any infected host will NOT count towards parity and will not be active until the original Thing dies and it takes over. Has a more successful attack against the quieter humans who don't speak much and keep to themselves. After several successful attacks can then attack anyone successfully. The Thing wins when it reaches parity and kills everyone.

FAQ

Do I have to roleplay? No. It's fun and helpful to, but it's not required. Some players don't really roleplay at all, and instead simply post votes and accusations, and that's okay too.

What do I post?/I don't understand! You can post anything you like, really but preferably in an IC POINT OF VIEW. Typically humans will post accusations. "I think he did it, just because!" or "I think she did it, because last turn she voted against the guy who turned out to be the Thing" Accusations work better when you can back them up with some reason. Trash talking is allowed and encouraged.

I'm The Thing. What do I do? You pretend to be a human and do and say WHATEVER IT TAKES to survive.

I'm a Psychologist! Great. You can try to figure out who is lying or hiding something from what they say. What if they don't say anything? Then you can't tell anything about them so get them to talk. If they don't want to or try to avoid then you don't need to be a Psychologist to suspect they are hiding something. Communicate wisely though. If you post "Hey I'm the Psychologist!", you might find the Thing visiting you that very night.

I'm a Researcher. What do I do? You try to find information about the Thing to help your fellow scientists.

I'm a Mercenary. What do I do? Protect the humans and do your job. It's what you're paid for.

I'm an Interrogator. What do I do? Do what you do best.

I'm a secret Government Agent. What do I do? You pretend to be one of the others but you also try to find the Thing in order not to lynch it and try not to let it kill you.

I'm still confused/I don't know who to vote for. Either watch other players in action and see how they're doing it, or jump right in yourself.  This game is both deadly serious, and quite comical, where people will accuse others for the slightest and most vague of clues, or just in retaliation for voting against them!  The first round of voting is difficult, as the only way to try to tell who's the Thing and who's not is to listen to what people are saying. In later rounds you can try to identify patterns, or look for groups that vote together, or people who changed their votes to keep the Thing from being lynched.

Are votes private or do they go in the main thread? Very definitely public!

Does the Thing vote with the humans? Absolutely. The Thing wants to do everything it can to keep the naive humans from suspecting that it's the Thing.  If the humans think you're the Thing, they'll vote to lynch you! So the Thing's job is not only to kill the humans, but also to convince the humans that it's actually an innocent human as well!

Aw man, I'm just a human. We can't all be the Thing (or maybe you can). Have fun being a human. Root out the evildoers! Try not to be confused for the Thing and be lynched by your fellow humans!

How does a substitute work? If a player cannot continue to play, another player may jump into that role. Subs may be players who were previously killed in the current game (though there are caveats, a Bad Guy is often not a good sub because he Knows things) or a late signup. In either case, when someone subs in, they assume the identity of that slot. Thus if someone who was playing and was the Psychic/Psychologist, if he gets subbed, the player who comes in is the Psychic/Psychologist, and pretends that he's been there the whole time.

How long does a game last? Depends on setup and what happens in the game. Could be as short as 2-3 days, or as long as 10 days!


CHARACTERS


Zaki The Thing / Researcher is head-shot and killed!
Ketchum the Mercenary / Psychologist is asssasinated
Lefanis - (MI6) Secret Government Agent / Interrogator
Sonya (KGB) the Secret Government Agent / Interrogator breaks her neck in a skydive
D'Espana the Mercenary / Psychologist is attacked and killed
Velax (IMF) the Secret Government Agent / Interrogator is executed
Penchant the Researcher / Escape Artist is bashed to death
Arundel the Escape Artist / Scientist is attacked and killed
Richard Leonecouer the Psychologist / Escape Artist infected Thing is captured
DK - Researcher / Scientist recruited as MI6 Agent
Disturbedyang the Mercenary / Scientist is is blown away

[Zakilevo]

Awesome Sign me up for this.

[Ketchum]

I am in.

[Lefanis]

IN!

[Sonya]

 

[D'Espana]

Do I have to say anything at all? 

[Fury]

Looks like these WW games are becoming more niche. Can't start a game with only 5 players. So, in the time-honoured tradition of BM, how about each player getting to control 2 characters? 

This means each player will be considered one pack. There will be good packs and bad packs. And how about: each player gets to CHOOSE one role for one of their characters and I will assign the rest of the roles to your characters. Depending on what is chosen, I will then do the balancing of strengths and weaknesses. And yes, if everyone chooses to be the Thing then the game will be full of Things and the scenario will reflect that and the objectives will change accordingly but no one except the GM will know it and it will be up to the players to find out.

For ease of play, your first character will be your main character and your second character is your quiet, non-speaking, non-voting, less important assistant. Any vote or scan or hunt for a player will always be for the assistant unless the assistant is dead then the it goes to the main character. Your characters can be good and bad. If bad, then it will be the main character. (funny how bad always overcomes good when placed together)

This means every player has 2 lives but both their lives come with functions. If you loose one life you loose part of your function (assistant character).

What do you think? And let me know if there's anything I should consider / have neglected to consider.

[Ketchum]

I am okay, let hear how the rest think. Maybe you can PM the rest of us?

[Sonya]

Relax!

Lets just wait a little, until we have more players, meanwhile we can spam WW IX.   




Peace!

[Velax]

I'm in.

[D'Espana]

Relax!

Lets just wait a little, until we have more players, meanwhile we can spam WW IX.   




Peace!

I agree. If after some days we see that we are pretty much stagnant, then we could start to consider adding more characters. However, the issue here is the same as the one with BM: more characters can only solve to certain point the problem, what we really need is players. We should try and get some new blood, possibly by inviting again people from our realms. Hopefully, some will try it, at least for a game.

[Ketchum]

Let us try PM the active forum Posters, besides our usual Werewolf members as a start

[Lefanis]

I agree. If after some days we see that we are pretty much stagnant, then we could start to consider adding more characters. However, the issue here is the same as the one with BM: more characters can only solve to certain point the problem, what we really need is players. We should try and get some new blood, possibly by inviting again people from our realms. Hopefully, some will try it, at least for a game.

I hope a few from this list may join- Lanyon, Indirik, Slapsticks, Perth, Ross, Barek, Telrunya, Cren, Ehndras or Penchant...  that's more than enough

[Penchant]

I am in.

[Fury]

We've got 7 now. 2 or 3 more will do nicely.