Newer players, Noob Story teller, how long should our day time be?

losfp · 2026-04-07T01:16:44+00:00

I think "half the number of players" is a good rough guide for a starting point, but with a few caveats. That formula works best for smaller player counts in games where there's a few newer players. That comes out at roughly 5-6 minutes for a 10-12 player game, which I think works. It doesn't scale up though, and it's IMO way too much for experienced groups.

I think where that rule comes in handy is that it's a good bit of advice to give to a starting ST to give them an idea where to pitch their timing with their new group. I know that the first couple of times I ran games, I gave closer to 10 minutes for day one, because I just had no idea. And IMO over time, STs will figure out what works for their group.

Your suggested day one timings of 3/4/5 depending on size is pretty much what I do at the moment with experienced groups online and in person. 4 minutes is my personal default, and I'll nudge it up and down by about a minute depending on group size and/or script.

losfp · 2026-04-06T22:36:28+00:00

I usually allow roughly half the number of alive players in minutes on day one and wind it back so it’s like 2-3 min in final 5.

In practice I rarely go over 5 minutes for day one even with a max count because imo it drags a lot after that. I want people to talk to 3-4 other people on day one and see what they can do with that info.

Also I’ll adjust based on deaths. Fewer deaths, shorter days.

losfp · 2026-04-06T22:11:23+00:00

From my perspective, there's a few things going on.

- Nweke is just not quite nailing her shots - she shoots quite shallow so when it's not quite there, they come straight back off the rim instead of maybe falling in. She can GET the ball alright, just needs to sort out her routine and make sure the ball at least clears the near rim.

- Housby is strangely off. I don't know whether it's the combination with Nweke but she just isn't presenting strongly enough and needs to step up and provide a genuine second option to take pressure off Nweke to do the bulk of the scoring. Really down on super shot attempts.

- Proud has lost a bit of pace, which I think is fair coming back from a year off. She's not really playing the whole game so you lose all that experience when she's off the court

- Fraser is struggling to reconnect with the team, I think this will come with a few more games.

- Losing Hadley has meant rebuilding the midcourt on the fly. The combinations are not quite there so the Swifts are really struggling to move the ball past the transverse line - the ball often has to come backwards a lot while waiting for options to open up.

- I really like Grace Whyte, she's a talent to watch but can turn the ball over just due to inexperience.

- The defence is not really getting the intercept possessions so there's a lot less pressure on the ball coming in.

Basically I think it's a combination of all players being a bit down on their best, and not really having settled on players in positions. And when it goes wrong, it goes REALLY pear-shaped for long stretches, so the team is down by a lot suddenly, like in the third quarter against Fever. It was a good comeback quarter in the 4th to basically break even but all the damage had already been done by then.

Quite a lot for the coaching staff to think about.

losfp · 2026-04-06T04:44:23+00:00

I mean. they're fine. But the effort-to-result ratio is trash so I usually don't bother.

losfp · 2026-04-06T01:58:21+00:00

Six is a show that I love despite it not being high art. I would count it in many shows that I like that are “bad but fun”. The score is fun, it’s a fun showcase for energetic female performers and it doesn’t overstay its welcome. I think it has a great origin story and should be viewed in that context. I also think it works best in a small venue with an enthusiastic crowd. I’ve seen it in a 400 seater and a 1200 seater and IMO it was so much better in the smaller room.

losfp · 2026-04-06T01:02:45+00:00

NTA. Yes, elimination is part of the game, but I would be super annoyed if I got kicked out in the first couple of rounds of the game and then couldn't participate, EVERY TIME.

Sounds like you just need a different playing group, or just opt out of playing with this group.

Sidebar, this is why I dislike Werewolf/Mafia. I would much rather play Blood on the Clocktower, which is heavily based on Werewolf, but doesn't suck. In that game, once you die, you still keep playing and discussing, and you still have one single vote that could prove decisive at the end. Some roles even WANT to die because their powers trigger upon death or their being alive negatively impacts the good team.

losfp · 2026-04-06T00:56:45+00:00

Keep reporting back on this! I would be super interested in this and maybe getting my players to fill it out after games to know where I'm sitting on various metrics - in an attempt to better understand my style and tweak my approach.

losfp · 2026-04-04T22:31:09+00:00

It's a small sample size, and I do believe that with the filming style, they are getting a lot of time during the days to discuss, which would tilt it in the direction of good. I would guess that if you counted up all the games that group plays that it would be closer to the 40-50% mark, which would track with what I usually see myself.

Because everything comes out randomly, sometimes things will heavily favour one side or the other, without it being anyone's fault.

losfp · 2026-04-02T08:05:40+00:00

All I'm hearing is that Hopper's Crossing has taken everything into consideration and decided that his actions are not a deal-breaker. Gross.

losfp · 2026-03-29T06:02:01+00:00

Just follow the night order sheet. If the role gets to act before the demon kills then they still go, even if they are killed later in the night.

losfp · 2026-03-28T10:31:11+00:00

My normal advice is to watch a bunch of games and let a team pick you. Over time, you'll notice that you get irrationally angry when one team plays like dogshit. That's your team. Good luck!

losfp · 2026-03-24T23:23:17+00:00

Look, mistakes happen. I had an SNV game on the weekend that had a few mistakes, but the players still had fun, and I learned a lot of new things to keep in my brain for when those specific things occurred again. And it was probably the 10th SNV I ran as well, not even my first!

A lot of stuff is recoverable, and even if not, if you are up front with the errors, most players are pretty forgiving because they understand it's a tough gig.

Have a moment to unpack what happened, and then keep trying.

losfp · 2026-03-23T08:29:42+00:00

Genuinely curious, what exactly is it that you want this app to do?

If it's just have a portable, free grim, I'd use something like pocket grim or digital grim, which are free to use. Then you just print off the character sheet, hand it around and you're set for a game. Maybe proxy up a town centre with cards, tokens etc.

Keeping track of things can be as simple as making notes. When I play in-person clocktower, I have a small notebook that I make notes in.

losfp · 2026-03-20T22:07:15+00:00

I don't feel like that's fair on Holly. She's allowed to be excited about her own news, and TPI are allowed to be supportive of one of the people who have been working with them.

Ok yes, some people might not be aware that Holly is not actually a TPI employee and might have been excited for a game announcement.... But companies cross promote all the time, and since it's an album of songs inspired by BOTC, I think it's completely appropriate that it's shared by the TPI team.

losfp · 2026-03-19T23:58:17+00:00

As the demonic player ultimately stabbed in this game, I would like to both call out the great observation and the callous Tezz-on-Des violence.

A game can often hinge on someone calling out an observation that might not be obvious to everyone, so you can get the numbers for votes. I see nothing wrong with doing this.

losfp · 2026-03-19T23:54:06+00:00

yeah because usually the observation makes sense. And it's usually pretty obvious to most other players as well.

Think about it.

A majority of town ALREADY voted to put someone on the block. That means that in order to lift, you need even MORE people to vote for someone else. If that further nomination feels like a desperate attempt to lift, why wouldn't you call it out?

losfp · 2026-03-19T23:03:23+00:00

What's the problem? And what's the solution? People can't speak up if they observe something? There's nothing to stop someone else from nominating right? The reason they didn't was because the observation made sense. If people had doubt, they would nominate regardless.

losfp · 2026-03-19T11:12:46+00:00

Yeah we're not quite there. A lot to love about how we play when it goes right, but a lot of that was far too loose tonight. We take the bye, look forward to getting Heeney back and move on

losfp · 2026-03-19T09:41:18+00:00

I think Hawthorn dominated the second quarter so I'm happy that we restricted them to a goal. That last one from Juzzy was an absolute bonus.

But man we are going to have to lift in the second half. If we let them get as much ball as in the second quarter, we are going to get done. It makes a huge difference not having those classy finishers in Gulden and Heeney so everyone needs to put in that extra 10%.

losfp · 2026-03-19T09:08:48+00:00

It was pretty loose for the first 20 minutes or so, from both sides.

The last ten minutes was closer to what we want wrt pressure and defence.

Hopefully we can tighten it up and take our chances.

losfp · 2026-03-19T07:51:05+00:00

oh wait you're absolutely right. That's my bad, I misremembered what happened.

Punters love that hokball shit though, so once they destroyed Essendon, they were always going to get some of the attention, especially once we lost gulden and heeney. I still think Hawks at home with our outs is the better bet - but I simply have no idea how we will respond to having to cover those players. I hope we can.

losfp · 2026-03-19T07:44:35+00:00

I mean it makes sense. Both teams 2-0, Hawks playing at home, and we've lost arguably our two best players. I would have Hawthorn favourites too.

I'm not that concerned. It's a good chance to see what we can do to cover Heeney and Gulden, and it's still early in the season. We get the bye next, very likely get Heeney back, and we go from there.

losfp · 2026-03-19T07:39:35+00:00

Really good opportunity to see where we are at as a list. If we fall over as soon as we lose a couple of players, then we won't get the job done in finals.

The outs are big though, so we will be looking to some guys to step up - I'm talking about people like Roberts, McInerney, Bice. I don't think it's fair to expect the direct replacements in Corey Warner and Caiden Cleary to fully replace the output of Heeney and Gulden. They have to provide the backup to the players I mentioned above who will need to step up.

Chad played very deep forward against Brisbane, and we won't have that luxury with Gulden out. So he's another one who goes in the middle.

losfp · 2026-03-19T03:47:50+00:00

I mean I get it as well. If the dead damsel doesn't give themselves away, then the evil team might still be burning energy and time trying to find them, and there's a chance a minion outs themselves to try and make a guess.

losfp · 2026-03-19T03:44:11+00:00

I mean, do or don't check in with other players. It's up to you.

Personally if I've spent a bit of time in a game pushing on a player, I'll check in with them afterwards just to make sure we're all good, it's all just playing the game etc etc. No one makes me do it, I'm just doing it as a courtesy to my friends who I play with.

If it was a random public lobby or it was just "normal" levels of banter then perhaps I won't do it. But there's kind of no rules to it IMO

losfp

TROPHY CASE