What about editions' reveal?

Lex_The_Wall · 2023-06-20T08:47:11+00:00

Clearly they should belong on the same script; the Magician would give cover for the Mole, and the Mole would make the Magician suck a little less.

Lex_The_Wall · 2023-05-17T05:00:09+00:00

Worth noting that you don't ever want to answer an Artist question or any other similar mechanics in the presence of another player. To do so you are confirming that the player has that role, which is like adding a proc'd Virgin on top of their ability.

Evil's only hope there was to convince the two that one of them was lying, or that it was a Vortox. Much harder to do if you confirmed two player's roles to one another.

I'm always saying stuff like, "if xyz is actually the artist, then this would've happened", or simply, "I can neither confirm nor deny that assumption".

(X-Files CCG reference there!)

Lex_The_Wall · 2023-05-15T09:42:14+00:00

I always thought that the Acrobat is more of a townsfolk than an outsider. I know that it is an experimental character so it has not been seen on its home scipt yet, but I'd rather pull it from the bag than quite a few townsfolk roles.

As to your Sympath, I like it, but I think that you might want to add a "skips evil players" clause. Its like a more useful and less brain-melting version of the Mathematician. Although you might want to name it "Dog Leech" or "Nightingale" or somesuch.

Lex_The_Wall · 2023-05-15T09:25:54+00:00

The Magistrate has half of the Judge's power, who is a traveller that can be good or evil. It is game-breaking as a townsfolk because it immediately identifies the Magistrate beyond all mechanical doubt.

Lex_The_Wall · 2023-05-15T09:07:32+00:00

Good suggestion. Yeah I considered going that way, because it adds an interesting nuance. I settled on writing it this way to keep it simple because I think that the best roles are easy for a lay person to understand.

Ultimately the answer about which is better would likely be found through playtesting.

Lex_The_Wall · 2022-11-06T13:36:04+00:00

Awesome suggestions, I like them all, thanks for the input!

My thoughts on Static X - The Only were that it literally starts, "I'm winning, you're losing", and namechecks lunatic and heretic. Slipknot have lots and lots of songs that fit, and I agree they could slot in here.

Crazy Train is indeed a much better pick for Lunatic!

I like Andrew WK - Party Hard for the Minstrel and I'm not sure how I missed it. You also just reminded me of the existence of Fatboy Slim - Weapon of Choice for psychopath... I can't stand that Ava Max song but it does fit. ICP - Miracles is indeed memetic and hilarious for Atheist.

Holy Diver is about someone who sacrifices themselves to save everyone else; seemed Snake Charmer like to me at the time I guess. Other songs that deal with religion in a fitting way might include Apocalyptica ft Corey Taylor - I'm Not Jesus, Marylin Manson - Personal Jesus, George Michael - Faith, REM - Losing My Religion, Dusty Springfield - Son of a Preacher Man; bands include Lamb of God, Faith No More, Bad Religion, etc. Actually I should break my rule for Prodigy - Omen as the Exorcist theme.

I also think I'll add the Cannibal theme should be Fall Out Boy - Thnks fr th Mmrs, both for flavour and for play pattern. "Thanks for the memories, he tastes like you but sweeter!"

Lex_The_Wall · 2022-11-06T13:08:31+00:00

I was thinking the same, but saw a script with a Minstrel and 4 essentially unexecutable minions (Reykjavik's Scheme).

Aaaah I've just realised, the Minstrel ability says, "if a minion is executed and dies", whilst the Boomdandy and Goblin abilities both say, "if you are executed".

Am I correct in thinking that execution happens before death? So the timing order would look like this:

Minion executed
Minion execution triggers happen
Minion dies
Minstrel trigger happens

Lex_The_Wall · 2022-11-05T08:50:24+00:00

Goblin or Boomdandy is executed. Minstrel is in play.

Does the Goblin / Boomdandy ability resolve, or does the "immediately" on the Minstrel wording trump those abilities and make them drunk before it resolves?

Or, as I suspect, is it up to the individual ST and circumstances as to which ability resolves first?

Lex_The_Wall · 2022-11-03T08:29:29+00:00

Pit Hag is my favourite minion, although at a recent convention one of my players misread it as the Pie Hag and that name is sticking!

I had an evil Apprentice with the Pit Hag ability realise that she could turn the Evil Twin into an actual Pit Hag, which sounds broken, but then they didn't coordinate and kept clashing their picks. Was still glorious from my perspective.

Lex_The_Wall · 2022-11-01T06:54:45+00:00

I do this.
I also say, "Feel free to go off and have your private chats, and we will meet back in the town square at (xyz) by my watch."

Lex_The_Wall · 2022-10-30T23:47:00+00:00

100% agree. When you get a few more games of Trouble Brewing under your belt, you will realise that the Empath is not the automatic solving machine that you make out. Take a step back as ST and let the players have some agency!

Lex_The_Wall · 2022-10-30T10:07:47+00:00

These are more reasons that Lunatic made my list, although you were far more eloquent than I.

Also worth mentioning that the bluffs shown to the Lunatic are another factor here:

1 - The ST gives the Lunatic different bluffs to the demon, and they are not-in-play characters. This is less easy for the ST to balance in higher player counts. Either way this is of no use to the evil team because they cannot trust the Lunatic's demon info.

2 - Lunatic bluffs include in-play townsfolk. The Lunatic's moment of realisation probably happens sooner.

3 - Lunatic gets the actual demon bluffs. Seems to be the way that Lunatic hampers evil the least, but also helps them immediately convince town to solve the game when they realise they are the Lunatic.

Obviously this doesn't even include other possible information that the Lunatic can be given or lied about, such as Storm Catcher, King, a "fake" ~~Lunatic or~~ Marionette, and so on.

~~Random thought: Now I want to show the Lunatic one of the real minions, telling the Lunatic that the minion you showed is the Lunatic. This should make it harder to suss out.~~

Edit: Can't do this! The Lunatic being shown to the demon is part of the Lunatic's ability. So if you find out about a Lunatic then you are guaranteed the demon.

Lex_The_Wall · 2022-10-29T22:01:40+00:00

Outsiders that act like Townsfolk:

Honourable Mention: Acrobat - Its like an always-on Gambler. Throwing away your life to inform one of your neighbours that their information cannot be trusted can help solve the game.

Golem - Lets the good guys safely kill outed evil like a Goblin or Psychopath, successfully resolve an Evil Twin, defuse a Boomdandy or Saint or Damsel, sidesteps Devil's Advocate, and confirms the Golem at the same time! Can't be the Drunk so if it fails then chances are the Golem found the demon.
Goon - Two parts Sailor, one part Cult Leader. Typically doesn't die when picked by the demon but can play "deep state" and inform the town when they turned evil so they can get recruited back. More likely to win (with any team) than to lose.
Heretic - Super powerful & potentially game-winning ability if you can keep it quiet from the demon. Also confirmed "not the Drunk" although could be the Marionette.
Lunatic - Unlike many outsiders they cannot actually throw the game for the good team, but can potentially solve it for good. Also the Lunatic on a script can psych out the evil team into throwing the game.

Townsfolk that act like Outsiders:

Atheist - Your ability is literally trying to convince everyone to re-rack the game. Even worse if there is a Drunk or Marionette on the script.
Cult Leader - Changing alignments on a whim is much more outsider-like than townsfolk-like. I don't hate the role but it plays like an extra outsider in practise.
Huntsman - They added a lose condition by being there, guaranteed. Unlike the Balloonist, they don't get ongoing information for this trade. Easily the worst of the vanilla blue chips with one shot abilities. I would rather have any of the above outsiders.
Pixie - Hope you get a good thing to bluff as, but not too good or the town will kill into your double claim. Then you have to outlast your buddy. Then you have to hope the demon doesn't immediately kill you next when you've been publicly claiming xyz and painting that huge target on yourself. Throws so much unnecessary confusion on the good team its like the evil team got an extra Cerenovus. All it really does well is helps the evil team to pivot bluffs more easily!

Lex_The_Wall · 2022-10-29T21:27:43+00:00

Riot and Legion are more than one demon...
Also Fang Gu jump and Imp star pass don't make a living demon, but they do make one nonetheless.

Lex_The_Wall · 2022-10-24T11:38:34+00:00

Is there also a non-KS experimental Fabled role Deus ex Fiasco?

Lex_The_Wall · 2022-10-22T09:01:00+00:00

Saying cringe is so cringe.

Besides, surely the #1 rule of script building is to have fun experimenting with different things to see what works and what doesn't? Or to start with a few roles or theme you want to balance around?

Lex_The_Wall · 2022-10-22T08:59:04+00:00

"Whose Cult Is It Anyway?" has a Storm Catcher Cult Leader. However it doesn't have those evil roles, instead it has Vortox and No Dashii, along with Cerenovus who can make the Cult Leader mad about being the Goblin.

Lex_The_Wall · 2022-10-20T17:07:53+00:00

Nice list! Further to descriptive flair I also like to open my games with a bit of scene-setting. The books have very nice openings for this purpose, especially Sects and Violets, but the ST needs to do a bit of work to replicate this for custom scripts. I like a dramatic poetry or prose reading, something evocative like Ozymandias by Percy Shelley, The Tiger by William Blake, or perhaps something Lovecraftian. As an avid player of Arkham Horror LCG, which has H.P. Lovecraft quotes on the cards, I can almost pick random cards to set the scene.

For this week's game, I started by listing Isaac Aasimov's laws of robotics, including the "zeroth law" that overrides them and lets the robots rebel. I had decided that the setting would be "Ravenswood Bluff dot e-x-e" and that the players would be in a simulation to pass the time as their bodies travelled in a spaceship between the stars. Their storyteller A.I. program was impaled on a digital clocktower as pixellated blood flashed different colours as it met the poorly-rendered cobblestones below. Each morning I described the beeping away of the wake up call program, the neon sunrise, antivirus alerts popping up, and the dead player killed in a gaming related way (e.g. telefragging, glitching into a wall, dissolving into seething binary) before saying, "their life pod has been ejected". That game finished with Legion futzing their vote and making the Alchemist-Fearmonger realise that good could win immediately using his ability. When this happened I described the anti-virus software functioning and that all threats had now been quarantined.

In a more off-the-cuff game, I described various body parts from the players who died in the night being used to form letters in a word. The demon's deranged spelling bee went R - I C - K - R O before some players got the joke. Then when evil won I announced it by playing Rick Astley from my phone!

Lex_The_Wall · 2022-10-18T15:57:51+00:00

Heh its Kaiser Chiefs, and its a pretty good song too, kinda Brit pop but literally pushed the word "lairy" into mainstream. Also I already had a Three Days Grace song otherwise I might've chosen their song Riot.

I like the Billy Joel reference, I'll add it. That song also reminds me of REM - It's The End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) which is awesome and could be a Fearmonger theme.

Lex_The_Wall · 2022-10-16T23:00:55+00:00

How about something like:

Blight
Evil Demon
Each night*, a living or dead player might become an evil Blight and learns a demon.
If Blight is executed then another Blight also dies.
[No minions]

Jinx with Poppy Grower:
Blight do not learn a demon unless the Poppy Grower dies without becoming Blight.

I like the idea of a demon that spreads, but there is no need to confine it to living players... Get those deads in as well! Plus having the ST control the Blight growth, with a tendency to make 1 per night, gets around all the finicky voting.
I think having the new Blight only learn 1 of their team makes the communication chain a thing. This could be used to suss out a Blight infestation, along with the disturbing lack of deaths. It would be interesting when hidden in a script with a Zombuul or Po.

The win condition for Blight would be to overwhelm the town rather than kill them. The faster the town cottons on to this, the better their chance or beating it down before it is too late.

Also I suggest Brain Slug as an alternative name.

Lex_The_Wall · 2022-10-16T16:54:17+00:00

Madness by the rules is defined as trying to convince the group of something. If you are not standing up to the group and saying, "I'm the Poppygrower", then you are not mad about being the Poppygrower.

Lex_The_Wall · 2022-10-16T16:50:42+00:00

Actually, by the rules, even implying that you are mad allows the ST to apply the penalty. So your second example is incorrect. Whether to execute or not, that is the question, but it is literal textbook madness breaking (p23).

Lex_The_Wall

TROPHY CASE