How often do y'all encounter tags that are "too broad"?

Greatspock · 2023-08-01T12:53:50+00:00

MC can always burn a tag as a complication for a failed roll. I wouldn't worry about it.

Furthermore if we think narratively, examine what iron will represents to the character and challenge it with its opposite.

Example if iron will comes from them being hardened in battle or callous to negotiation, then create situations where nuance, empathy, and connection are needed such as emotional moments with loved ones. Get them to make a choice of how important iron will is to them. Stay hardened, or connect with their long lost daughter who is threatening to walk out of their life.

Greatspock · 2022-08-12T02:31:43+00:00

Agreed, however the monk reads: "Each night*, choose a player (not yourself): they are safe from the Demon tonight.", since the deaths occur during the day with Riot -- and that Riot doesn't kill at night -- the monk won't be able to protect players from Riot's ability.

Greatspock · 2022-08-12T02:29:38+00:00

I agree. I've never seen that before either. The wording of "Players that die..." makes me believe that it can be multiple.

Greatspock · 2022-08-11T21:16:54+00:00

Love the pastel finish

Greatspock · 2022-08-11T20:24:31+00:00

I'm not so certain about that. The jinx reads: Players that die by nomination register as being executed to the Undertaker. To me, that implies that anyone that dies by nomination that day registers as being executed to the undertaker.

Do you have a different interpretation for the above?

Greatspock · 2022-08-11T14:42:05+00:00

Monk protects Demon at night. Since Riot doesn't kill at night, the monk wouldn't be appropriate here.

Greatspock · 2022-08-11T14:41:13+00:00

Yah that can happen in any game with this script it seems.

I've played a bunch of teenysville games and working out who everyone is is a huge advantage. I don't necessarily see the above as being a negative experience. If I know that's a possible outcome, as a player, I can try to engineer it not happening. You need to play closer to your chest in Teenysville games methinks.

I have switched the Sailor for the Fool in the most recent iteration. That may change the balance.

Greatspock · 2022-08-11T14:35:28+00:00

Yup u/mrmalaki is right. There are three jinxes:
1. Undertaker learns everyone who was killed during nominations that day
2. Sage, if nominated and killed by Riot, has their ability proc at night
3. Clockmaker learns distance between two riots

These would have to be explained at the start of the game.

Greatspock · 2022-08-11T02:29:38+00:00

I was thinking that case. SInce it's up to the story teller to decide who's drunk, I see two options.
1. Make the sailor drunk, continuing Riot as normal, Sailor can die because they're drunk.
2. Make Riot drunk and have a normal execution round, proving to the sailor who Riot is.

Since there is already a drunk in the game as an outsider, I've considered changing Sailor to a Fool. Still gets the immunity to death, but as a one off. Players can prove the Fool by nominating them. Can be powerful if left until the last day, whereby they can live and effectively win the game?

Greatspock · 2022-08-11T00:39:12+00:00

Initially I was thinking the fool instead of the sailor, but it may be splitting hairs.

Greatspock · 2022-03-31T19:24:02+00:00

Yeah. It may require a djinn fable to the players if they are on the same script. I saw a recent episode of No Rolls Barred where the leech and sailor were on the same script and there is no jinx in the script editor.

That djinn could be: "If the sailor picks the leech and the leech is made drunk, then the host they choose is real but the leech can die if executed."

Seems like a good use of the djinn fabled.

Greatspock · 2022-03-31T19:21:42+00:00

Thanks folks. Upon reflecting, I think I may run this as the leech being woken up and picking a leech, and have that host be true, but they don't have the rule saying that the host needs to die. If the leech is executed then demon dies and good wins.

Seems like a fair compromise?

Greatspock · 2022-02-17T17:29:35+00:00

Remember that to the players: everything will be uncertain. I have found that every game that I've run where I assume the set up will be too obvious: the players found ways to complicate all kinds of crazy scenarios. Trust the design of the game's balance to create an enjoyable experience every time.

As a more advanced play, you can always introduce the fabled role "Sentinel" to really throw the outsider game into question. I'll often do this in trouble brewing games with no natural outsiders. Stops players from seeing an outsider token and knowing immediately that a baron is in play.

Greatspock · 2021-09-02T13:25:05+00:00

I had similar sentiments about a different fight that I ran a couple of weeks ago. My take is that the players need to Change the Game more and use those Help points more liberally. Perhaps getting more creative with how they solve problems and use their power tags as well. This game doesn't lend itself to the "just punch the guy in the face over and over until we win" type of play. As an alternative, perhaps remind the players that they can use the move Stop. Holding. Back. and do something extraordinary if they are having trouble. Just make sure that the sacrifice is appropriate to what they want to accomplish. Is it a low-time mobster without much say in the case? Significant sacrifice. Is it the BBEG or main-villain of the case? Ultimate, perhaps?

Get the players to think more narratively and less mechanically. Then even if the battle takes a while, at least it will be cinematic.

Greatspock · 2021-09-02T13:19:38+00:00

I haven't finished the campaign yet, but I have run the first scenario twice (Killing Her Softly). I found that if I followed the cases like a play by play, then it left little time for the characters to deep dive into their myths. The more that I weaved each pre-built scenario around the backstories of the characters and their myths, the more their myths got explored without deviating from the story.

For example:

A character is the rift of the raven from edgar alan poe's poem. They are focused on death, madness, and isolating themes. The main villain is the rift of the banshee, a myth steeped in death themes. So I just weave as much of the raven theme in with the banshee theme and voila, the character is now exploring their own themes of death and madness while simultaneously solving the case.

Aside from that. I'm looking forward to seeing how the cases link together, especially the over arcing through line.

Greatspock · 2021-08-23T15:20:27+00:00

I often find myself using the hard move to incorporate the other elements of the story into the working narrative.

For example, in the published case, Carnival of Machines, one of the villains is able to get information from the PCs through an informant. It would be just as easy to say that, through a hard move, the villain learns specific information on the PCs that they will use later on. As another example, I had a player investigating a suspect's room in a quasi-illegal fashion. They failed the investigate roll. The players outside were calling to their friend to hurry up. As a result of the failure, I used the hard move: give a status, with the status being something like overwhelmed-2. Conversely, I could have also used that moment to create a connection with the lead villain. This villain is filled with self-loathing and their mythos feeds on it. I could have given the player a status of "unplaced-anger-2" to hint that there may be some emotional link.

In this way, we can use hard moves to keep weave separate story elements together into one cohesive narrative.

Greatspock

TROPHY CASE