(018) Inquest

[Bloodcinder]

This is discussion for Inquest, game 018 at UEF. The IC thread is here (http://www.unitedempire.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1753).

The rules are at Paper Wagers (http://pw.bloodcinder.com). It's a Mafia variant with one "killer" role and four "detective" roles... but the detectives are not identical. Check it out.

Host
Bloodcinder

Participants
1. Arainach
2. chefTENGU
3. Z
4. deathofcheese
5. Killer_Man_

[Z]

Z = N

[deathofcheese]

Z = Negatory or Z = "IN"?

My name'll go up once I confirm anyways, so I'll just say here, "what the hell? sure". I wasn't considering doing this before, but whatever, I'll give it a shot.

[Z]

Z is iN. I would have replied to the invite by PM but I forgot and once the thread was up, I didn't see the point anymore.

[Bloodcinder]

Mac, since you're not allupons it, I'll consider you tentative for now and see if anybody wants to play more than you do. Fair?

[deathofcheese]

Ok, whatever.

[DAMAGE]

I don't have enough time to play a private communication game.

[Bloodcinder]

Man, the word "whatever" used as a sentence is really disconcerting.

[deathofcheese]

Whatever.


:P

[Killer_Man_]

I'm in.

[Bloodcinder]

There's our list.

Host
Bloodcinder

Participants
1. Arainach
2. chefTENGU
3. Z
4. MacCready
5. Killer_Man_

After Snowbound 8 is over, when would anybody want to start? Before Snowbound 9? After? Concurrent?

[Z]

I'm fine with concurrent right now. Since there's 2 different hosts, I don't think it will be an issue. I may have to be sure to keep my notes separately but that shouldn't be an issue, either, heh.

[Killer_Man_]

I don't care, I'm open for anything.

[chefTENGU]

Concurrent is fine with me.

[deathofcheese]

That works for me. I'll probably be just as attendant as I would be with any other method, so I'm ok with that.

[Bloodcinder]

I think that's a consensus. We'll start sort of in the middle of Snowbound 9.

[Arainach]

Concurrent is fine.

[Arainach]

What's the status on this? Is it still planning to start soon, or is it stalled?

[Bloodcinder]

It's ready to start soon. I just forgot about it. I'll start it tonight I guess if I remember.

[Bloodcinder]

I will state that I assigned the roles truly at random. You'll receive your PM's soon.

[Killer_Man_]

My question is, before the night phase ended. Can I say what I was doing at night?

[Bloodcinder]

Yeah, basically.

[Bloodcinder]

A good test run. Some changes I think might help...

1) I shouldn't have let people talk publicly at night.

2) I shouldn't give a report to a person who will be dead in the morning. This would keep it in line with de facto Snowbound rules.

3) I think a six-player game (two killers allied with each other and picking kills by agreement) would be a neat alternative setup... or perhaps even the standard?

But since this first game used rules completely unmodified from the original source, I think this was not bad. Next game should be better, and I do plan to do a next game.

[Z]

Indeed, it was pretty fun.

[chefTENGU]

Agreed. I've been thinking how I could try different approaches and strategies.

I think one of the key elements for this victory was the established trust between Z and I. Without it, I don't think we would have been able to figure things out this quickly.

Also, are detectives allowed to investigate themselves?

[Bloodcinder]

No. The rules specify that they have to investigate "another" detective.

I think it may help the killer(s) if only living people can be investigated, too. What say folks?

[Z]

It would help the killers, yes. Any dead folks, while the game is still going, would have to be a detective. However, if the detectives can't investigate the dead, there is no longer a control that they can investigate.

Although, we managed well enough without having to investigate the dead so I suppose it should still work our okay.

---------- Post added at 17:54 ---------- Previous post was at 17:53 ----------

Actually, if you're going to have multiple killers, then there is no longer a guarantee that dead people are actually detectives so I guess it's your call because, no matter what, there wouldn't be a control anymore.

[Bloodcinder]

Well, the killers would kill by agreement (as in Mafia, not as in Snowbound) and win as a team.

But, yeah, the inability to investigate dead people removes the simple control check. Seeing how easy it can be to correlate investigations, however, I don't think this makes it too easy on the killer(s).

---------- Post added at 19:27 ---------- Previous post was at 18:58 ----------

I did some projections with these second edition concepts and find that most games will last 3 to 4 nights.

Single killer: succeeds with his murder choice every time. Can vote however he sees fit. Wins if there is only one surviving detective.

Dual killers: succeed with their murder choice if they agree on it. Can vote however they see fit, meaning that one can betray the other. Win if there is only one surviving detective left, giving an incentive to betray each other when there are two detectives left.

---------- Post added at 19:29 ---------- Previous post was at 19:27 ----------

The betrayal factor is what makes a two-killer game not too hard for the detectives.

The living-only investigation factor is what makes the game not too hard for the killers.

I think I like this theory.