GM AAR - Setup
This is the complete setup list:
Lemeard Seer Rival 2 Bereaved
Snoopdogg Priest Religious
Paendrag Guardian Angel Skittish
the_hdk Padre Blessed Can't Move On
Kriszo Sorcerer Leader Arrogant
Reis91 Wolf A Leader Can't Move On
Rendap Wolf A Brutal Can't Move On
Enhkuush Wolf A Spiritually Attuned Terrified
Falc Cultist A Hunter Roleblocker Religious
Boris ze Spider Wolf B Brutal Can't Move On
Mr. G Wolf B Hunter Religious
Kingepyon Wolf B Brutal Rival 1 Can't Move On
Taiisatai64 Cultist B Hunter Spy Can't Move On
Randakar Apprentice Self Defense Can't Move On
Walrus Apprentice Blessed Rival 4 Arrogant
Capt. Kiwi Apprentice Rival 2 Can't Move On
Suirantes Villager Blessed Rival 3 Arrogant
pevergreen Villager Blessed Terrified
Tamius23 Villager Spiritually Attuned Terrified
marty99 Villager Cursed Terrified
Trinitrotoluen Villager Hunter Skittish
Yakman Villager Spiritually Attuned Religious
Humancalculator Villager Rival 3 Bereaved
Esemesas Villager Cursed Rival 1 Can't Move On
EUROO7 Villager Self Defense Rival 4 Bereaved
Johho Villager Roleblocker Arrogant
Lord_D Villager Hunter Skittish
jonti-h Villager Leader Bereaved
Slinky Villager Cursed Brutal Bereaved
Najs Villager Brutal Can't Move On
jacob-Lundgren Villager Spy Terrified
I began by writing out the roles. I put in one seer, one priest, one guardian angel, one padre/confessor, one sorcerer, and two packs of three wolves and one cultist. Everyone else was a villager. This resulted in 29% baddies to start the game, which falls neatly in the middle of the 25-33% band that is usually suggested. At some point in the game it seemed that people were expecting more like 4 wolves 1 cultist or 3 wolves 2 cultists which with the sorcerer would have been 35.5% bad, too high a proportion IMO.
I then began allocating traits, starting by putting traits on the evil team that I thought would be useful. Originally they were symmetrical packs, but I ended up making them asymmetric. Chaos Pack had the advantage of a Leaderlynch, plus SA coupled with Roleblocker: this would be a potent combination if things went well, and powerful enough even without a great SA result. Taiisatai64 expressed his disdain for his "useless scanner trait" but Kingepyon saw how useful it could be: he was going to ask Tai to spy on his rival Ese later in the game rather than hunt him and risk something like hunting a Self Defense. I had actually considered a "Reconnaissance" trait that would scan for traits as opposed to role, but this seemed like railroading: if wolves think to spy on potential hunts to see if it's clear, that's one thing, giving them a specific trait to do so is going too far (opinions on this would be appreciated since Recce could be used by goodies as well to find hunters, roleblockers, etc to bolster their team). Returning to the topic at hand, Genestealer had the ability to inflict more kills with the two brutals and two hunters and the spy trait could have been extremely useful. Chaos pack's leaderlynch would help it survive, the SA might help it see scanners, and it could roleblock. So all things considered I think a fair mix. The sorcerer got a leaderlynch in order to protect himself or allies, or alternatively to obliterate a valuable target like the seer if he scanned one.
Once I had given the wolves their traits I began allocating others. I blessed the padre/confessor so that he didn't die on Night 0 at least, and would likely last a long time. I put in one villager leader, I'd have put in 2 but I was worried about how annoying the game would be if all four got used. I put in a villager spy so they had something to balance the evil one. Ditto for the roleblocker. I put in a brutal cursed villager, and I was doing mostly 2s so that meant another brutal, un-cursed in order to prevent predictability. 2 spiritually attuned villagers. After this I allocated rivals, and once that was done I noticed that only a few lacked some sort of trait, so I ended up throwing in an extra hunter, blessing, and curse IIRC. I have previously suggested having a "baroque" WW in which everyone had at least one trait but I didn't mean to implement one for risk of making a real mess when my main intention was to try the padre/confessor and some other things. Nonetheless I ended up with everyone having at least one (non-RP) trait, excluding goodie roles. Once I had the list I worried it was maybe too much, but then when I thought about removing traits it felt too barren. It worked out well IMHO, although it did make for a bloodier game than most (31 at game start, 9 days, 9 nights, 8 survivors, that's 2.5 kills per day/night cycle - pretty high when you consider there were 2 no-hunts!). When the list was complete I began allocating players to roles: I would use random.org to generate a number between 1-31, with numbers corresponding to sign-up. First I rolled 18, Lemeard, so he became the Seer in slot 1. I deleted #18 and generated a number between 1-30. And so on.
The traits definitely contributed to a quicker game than usual, as we had 5 extra deaths than 1 lynch 1 hunt per night would cause: 2 brutalization, 2 shootings (I am trying to avoid using the term "hunt" for the hunter role because it creates unnecessary ambiguity), 1 repulsion. However the 2 no hunts balance that slightly. There were also ties on Day 2 and 4 which meant 2 more additional deaths, for a total of 7. What also caused such a quick end was the total baddie wipeout.
Rivals. As people noticed before the game ended, I engaged in some shenanigans with the rivals. People had said a while back that putting a villager with a wolf was a bad idea, to which at least one person suggested a pairing like hunter villager - wolf. I saw several ways to have boundless fun. The first was wolf + cursed villager rival pair. The dull wolf hunts the cursed villager and makes his situation worse. But Kingepyon was too canny, and ruined my fun - I should have known he wouldn't walk into the trap, and put someone with less intellectual prowess in his slot. Oh well. Second was the seer-apprentice pair. If the latter kills the former, he's just pooched terribly. If the former kills the latter, he's just removed one of his potential successors. Better yet, said scanner might scan his rival in order to get an excuse to kill him - and then make a real mess for himself. Unfortunately Lemeard, too, ruined my fun - I don't know if he concluded that as he was going to kill Kiwi anyway, it didn't matter, or if he suspected the trap. There were other variations, like SD-Hunter rivals, so that if the hunter shoots the SD they both die. Obviously these are somewhat novelty value: I have now poisoned the well for a long time to come, as no longer will it be a given that rival = villager. It's now likely that rivals will view one another with a lot more wariness. The good news is that this does mean that nonstandard rival pairs are viable long-term: pairing a wolf with a cursed villager isn't setting up two trains facing one another on the same track, because people are suspicious. This allows delightful permutations like vanillager (neologism?) paired with wolf, and the wolf doesn't dare hunt the harmless rival. Other amusing propositions are wolf v. wolf, seer v. priest. It's just a thought for anyone who likes the idea.
To RP traits again, I had seven types:
Terrified. This RP trait meant the player would predict his own death loudly and frequently, to appear certain that he was going to get hunted, or lynched, or shot, or brutalized, et cetera.
Arrogant. Basically the opposite of terrified: insist that you were going to win, because you were a genius.
Skittish. The aforementioned troublesome one (TNT had a reasonable objection, so I gave him a unique one "verbose" which meant he had to reiterate himself as much as possible) which required one to act indecisive about placing votes.
Bereaved. Pick a player, or several players, and lament their death. This was inspired by the way many longtime players really do express their unhappiness when a friend is killed in the game.
Religious. Yakman. Yakman to a T, and I admire the way he used it. Strong faith in the God-Emperor, constantly referring to him.
Can't Move On. This was my favorite, and also the most common, issued to pretty much everyone who was in Lite CCXXIII. You had to reference the events on Saumarez. Along with religious this was the only one I really liked. The callbacks to CCXXIII were nice, I enjoyed the immensely.
Allocation for RP traits wasn't random. I put virtually all the CCXXIII veterans into Can't Move On even though this meant it was overdone. Why waste an opportunity? How often will there be a same-themed game to refer to? I'm aware of the old EUROO7 Space Nazi Lites but I'm not familiar with a situation that could be profitably used this way. Bereaved went to people I thought had someone they'd probably miss anyway; EUROO7 and Lemeard for example. Terrified I tried to give to people who I thought die more often than is normal. Religious I gave to people I thought might know enough fluff to use it. Arrogant went to the left-overs, and it wasn't a personal judgement
so people just got their trait randomly (Can't Move On excluded) but mostly I tried to match them up. Graverobber. I should have mentioned in the recap that I wasn't happy with apprentices. I dislike apprentices when they start claimed, and I dislike unclaimed ones just as much on occasion. With a claimed apprentice it means the evil team has to kill two seers or priests right off the bat, thereby making it very challenging for the evil team. Not only do apprentices add a backup, in systems where apprentices can't be subverted they're a totally trustworthy JLbird (bar curses), and they can have the whole scanlist, ready to return to the fray as though nothing happened once the master dies. Having them unclaimed gives the wolves a chance to kill the opponent and have done with it, but then if an apprentice is claimed it's the same as being claimed from start. It has the addition problem that you can end up having a seer with three apprentices, or a seer who dies on Night 0 with no successor to help the team, or the priest dies without an apprentice while the seer lives to the end with his apprentices. The unclaimed system seems like it can introduce serious imbalances because of random chance (lucky scans get lots of backups, bad ones get none) but the claimed system means the bad team has to crash through two of either type of scanner, and rarely is there any indication who the seer is, bar through infiltration.
So now I wish I had tried a graverobber trait. I already mentioned it but let me flesh it out: no apprentices, but instead there are graverobber trait villagers. With this trait they can assume the role of any dead good player. It is expended on use. Example: on Night 0 the seer is hunted. Disaster! No, the graverobber says "I shall rob Mr. Erstwhile Seer's grave" and you've got a functioning seer on Night 1. Another scenario: on Night 5 the seer is hunted. Coup for the wolves: the seer is dead! Graverobber acts and becomes the new seer - but he has no scanlist unless he was already in an exceptionally trusting JL. This means killing the seer is actually a setback for the village even though he is replaced. It would also be possible for the GA or Doc to die, and the graverobber assumes his place.
Trait Thief. Another one I wish I had included. The idea of stealing traits while running a slight risk of dying seems worth trying.
