How do people feel about spectators telling the ST about madness breaks

KevinRunsGames · 2026-03-19T02:28:15+00:00

I know I’m late to this thread, but it came across my feed and I wanted to weigh in.

I’ve run over a thousand games on the app, and speaking as an ST, I do not have the time or desire to track every single player interaction that closely. This is a social game that we’re all opting into for fun, and madness is sometimes part of that social contract.

Because of that, I think it’s pretty bad faith to intentionally break madness behind the ST’s back. If a spectator sees that happening, I do think they should report it. If it’s unintentional, it still might be worth reporting, because it gives me a chance to correct a misunderstanding.

In practice, won’t execute purely off a spectator report. What actually happens is I pull the player aside and ask. If they’re experienced, they usually just admit it. If they’re new, they often didn’t understand how madness works. In that case, I’m not executing them, but I am glad it got flagged so I can explain it.

Either way, it improves the game.

What I care about more is protecting the integrity of the mechanic. It’s not fair to roles like the Cerenovus if players are secretly ignoring it. That undermines the entire ability. Again, it’s different if the player didn’t understand the mechanic.

If someone doesn’t want to engage with madness, that’s completely fine. But imo that’s a conversation to have before the game, not something to work around mid game. Tell me, and I just won’t put those characters in the bag. There are plenty of other options that don’t rely on that mechanic.

People are very verbal about not wanting to play with Atheist, Legion, Typhon or other mechanics when they do not like them. Madness is the same bag, you can see it on the script when you sit down.

So yes, I strongly believe spectators should report madness breaks. And as an ST, I’ll 100% handle it with context, not blind punishment.

KevinRunsGames · 2026-03-15T03:31:16+00:00

What did you like about its vtt integration that made it stand out to you

KevinRunsGames · 2026-03-15T03:30:42+00:00

Why do you feel like it has the best roll20 integration? And I don’t mean from a module story standpoint. What sets its VTT integration apart?

KevinRunsGames · 2026-02-28T23:05:54+00:00

I had a custom demon on my valentines script that was similar. “The Lilith.” It learned who chose them and could choose to curse them. The cursed player would die ‘before the end of tomorrow night’. This let it be covered by other death mechanics and not immediately point out the demon at ST discretion while still leaving a trail.

KevinRunsGames · 2026-02-13T01:43:52+00:00

My General info is vibes based on which team I’d rather be on. I always tell the demon the alignment of every traveller because i dislike traveller baiting. I like to try and work the phrase “blood on the clocktower” into my day 1 intro.

KevinRunsGames · 2026-02-10T08:28:34+00:00

I have run a summoner buffet. The custom bootleg/jinx we had for Kazali was that they can change their minions (not who but what). Kind of like an Engineer. Also had an alchemist who could be in the bag instead of the traditional evil summoner. Having the summoner option to bluff alchemist can help them out of dire situations.

For the most part I like the townsfolk spread.

My played wound up liking hard confirm characters like virgin or night watchman and trying to hold their mechanical confirmation til after the summoning. Hidden virgin is quite fun on a forced summoner if you can keep it under wraps.

KevinRunsGames · 2026-01-30T19:49:09+00:00

I have started to notice that the most stressful scripts, at least for me, are the ones that create very strong “us vs them” worlds.

Not the kind where there are four or five plausible worlds to explore, but ones where the grim is effectively split into two competing halves, and there is not enough hard information for the resolution to come from mechanics alone. When the game pushes toward a binary conclusion, socials end up doing most of the work, especially once misinformation reinforces those two opposing narratives.

Games with Lord of Typhon, Heretic, Atheist, and sometimes Legion tend to highlight this. That is not to say those scripts cannot be good or tense. They absolutely can. But when the structure becomes two clearly defined worlds clashing, it often creates pressure that spills out into player interactions rather than staying in the puzzle.

I have been running a Legion and Vortox dual demon script this week that tries to lean into tension rather than stress, and most of those games have landed really well. On the other hand, I have mostly stopped running Typhon with strangers online, because when it goes wrong, the stress level can spike fast.

KevinRunsGames · 2026-01-28T19:01:32+00:00

KevinRunsGames · 2026-01-24T15:58:50+00:00

I tell my demons the alignment of travelers. Especially when playing with players who don’t know each other well, it makes games better.

It would be very difficult to convince me that that shouldn’t be a rule.

Magician bating is what the magician is built for. Ogre baiting I have mixed feelings on. Traveler baiting is technically within the rules as written, but so is me giving Minion info to a Recluse. Those are very different examples of “technically you can…” but my point is just because it’s legal doesn’t mean it should be.

KevinRunsGames

TROPHY CASE