S-FM Pursuit of Happiness

[Gerik]

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." - preamble to the Declaration of Independence.

Welcome to the wonderful town of 'MURICA. In this town everyone can follow their dreams. Stuck in a job you hate? Why, get a new job. Or better yet, get a whole new profession! Unfortunately, many professions require somewhat costly schooling, so the only people who can afford it are the members of the Middle Class.

However, there is a group of counterfeiters who have started creating fake degrees for themselves and are pretending to be professionals in areas where they actually have no expertise, which is causing a lot of problems for 'MURICA. The upstanding members of the town have agreed to unite to find the counterfeiters and expunge them from the town.

Special Mechanics:
All power roles (Middle Class and Counterfeiters) may PM the host during the day to change their role when night begins. They may change to any of the possible roles in their faction.

However- If two people in the Middle Class select to become the same role (on the same day), both of them will fail to change roles and will be roleblocked for the night. Members of the Middle Class also may not change their role to one that they previously held. (ex. If you start as doctor and switch to vigilante, you may not become a doctor for the rest of the game).

Counterfeiters have a different restriction on their role-swapping. They may not change their role two days in a row. ie. if day 1, a mafioso changes to janitor, then he cannot change roles again until day 3.

Everyone in the Middle Class/Counterfeiters may also choose not to change their role on any given day if they wish.

All members of the Middle Class who attempted to change their role on a given day will be informed of whether or not they were successful once day ends. As mentioned before, if they were unsuccessful, they will be roleblocked for the night.

The Setup
'MURICANS
Citizen
Citizen
Citizen
Hidden Middle Class
Hidden Middle Class
Hidden Middle Class
Hidden Middle Class

Counterfeiters
Hidden Counterfeiter
Hidden Counterfeiter
Hidden Counterfeiter


Possible Roles
Middle Class: Blacksmith, Bodyguard, Coroner, Detective, Doctor, Escort, Journalist, Sheriff, Vigilante
Counterfeiters: Arms Dealer, Consigliere, Consort, Corrupt Journalist, Drug Dealer, Framer, Janitor, Mafioso

Spoiler : Roles :

Note: All abilities have unlimited uses unless otherwise specified.

Spoiler : Middle Class :

May target a player and give them a one-use gun (-1) or one-use vest (+1)

May guard someone at night. If the target is attacked, they will be protected from all attacks (+90), but you and the attackers will all die instead (-1.1 per attack on the target). You may survive a shootout by using a vest, however, provided you do not take more than 1 damage (via getting attacked by someone else).

You have the power of the vote! You may also write last wills.

May check a dead player at night, learning their role, their real cause of death, and all of their night actions (if any). You may also target a living player that you think may die in order to learn about them if they die. If they do survive the night, however, you will receive no information.

May follow a player and learn who they visit that night. If they visit multiple people in one night, you will see a list of all the people they visited.

May heal a player. (+1) Both you and your target will receive feedback upon a successful heal.

May roleblock a player. You are not immune to roleblocks.

During the day, can select someone to write an article that will be posted anonymously the following day. Article is completely indistinguishable from that of the corrupt journalist.

May check someone at night and learn their alignment.

May shoot someone at night. (-1)

Spoiler : Counterfeiters :

Note: All Counterfeiters may perform the factional kill instead of their night action.

May target the player performing the night kill, and change the resulting death description to anything of their choosing (ie. killed by a vigilante, shot by blacksmith gun, etc.)

May check someone at night, learning their exact role

May roleblock someone at night. You are not immune to roleblocks.

May select a person during the day who will write an anonymous article, to be published the following day. Being sent for the kill does not affect its article. Articles are indistinguishable from those of the journalist

May send feedback to a target (ex. attacked and healed, roleblocked, gun, vest, etc.) or prevent them from receiving feedback. May also give a black-market gun to a player. This gun appears to be a regular blacksmith gun in all feedback, but when used, will explode, killing the person wielding it (-1). Only one black-market gun may be given during the game (this limit is factional, ie. even if multiple drug dealers exist, only one of them may give the black-market gun, and once it has been given, no other drug dealers may give it.)

May frame someone at night. A Sheriff who checks them that night will see them as a counterfeiter. A detective that follows them will see them visit the player of the framer's choosing.

May clean a person at night. If the cleaned player dies on the night they are cleaned, their role and last will (if applicable) will not be revealed upon their death. If the player left a last will, the janitor will receive it.

May be sent for the factional kill. The counterfeiters also have a single, factional "perfect kill" which may only be used by a mafioso in place of the regular factional kill. The "perfect kill" bypasses all roleblocks, healing, vests, and bodyguards (-99). (To clarify: if a bodyguard guards the target of the perfect kill, the mafioso, bodyguard, AND the guarded/attacked target will ALL die regardless of heals/vests (the -99 damage will apply to all involved))

Spoiler : OoO :

1. Role changes take effect
2. (Corrupt) Journalist target is informed of article
3. Night Chat Opens
4. Vests are used (+1)
5. Roleblockers roleblock
6. Framers frame
7. Arms Dealers Deal Arms
8. Sheriffs sheriff
9. Consiglieres… investigate
10. Killers kill (includes blacksmith guns) (-1)
11. Doctors doctor (+1)
12. Bodyguards bodyguard (+90 to guarded person)
13. Detectives detect
14. Drug Dealers deal drugs
15. Janitors janit
16. Coroners coron
17. Blacksmiths blacksmith
18. (Corrupt) Journalist article is published

Win conditions:
'MURICA - Survive to see the counterfeiters eliminated.
Counterfeiters - Survive to see 'MURICA eliminated.


Rules:

• Starts on Day 1 with lynch
• # of votes to lynch = (50% of living players +1) votes
• Lynch ends day
• Days/Nights are 24 hours long
• No discussion of the game outside of the game thread or night chat if applicable (including rep messages, visitor messages, avatars, signatures, PMs, skype, the phone, your couch, etc.)
• English only
• No autoplay videos (will result in a swift modkill. Seriously. I hate that shit)
• Otherwise, videos/images are ok
• Use whatever codes you want (as long as they are created entirely within this game)
• No editing/deleting posts
• No quoting PMs/feedback messages
• No lurking (must make at least 10 relevant posts per day or be modkilled)
• No death notes
• Only citizens may have last wills
• Questions in green, rainbow, or via PM to me.

Miscellaneous:

• Self-targeting is impossible
• Blacksmith guns may be used in addition to night actions, vests, and other blacksmith guns
• All abilities have unlimited uses unless otherwise specified
• All counterfeiters may be sent for the factional night kill instead of using their night action
• If you are a power role that is intentionally not taking action on a particular night, it is preferred that you send a "do nothing" PM so I know you're not AWOL
• It is recommended that you read all role cards before the game begins, as some roles may be different from how you would expect
• Parentheses containing numbers [ex. (+1) (-1)] are indications of changes (healing and damage, respectively) to "health bars". If your bar falls below 0, you die. All health bars are reset to 0 at the end of every night.

[Azuriae]

Mafia seems kinda OP, honestly!

[Poriomania]

Agreed. I would change it to two mafia, or put a neutral evil into there.

[Gerik]

Mafia seems kinda OP, honestly!

Agreed. I would change it to two mafia, or put a neutral evil into there.

Why do you guys think mafia is OP? I'm open to changing the setup, but I'd like to know what you think makes it imbalanced, specifically.

[Azuriae]

3v7 already seems pretty tight. Town will probably end up picking some double roles at some point which will roleblock them. And if they decide to decide in the day which roles they will pick, then It's a free go for the Mafia to counter that.

One mislynch and town could potentially already be screwed.

[Gerik]

3v7 already seems pretty tight. Town will probably end up picking some double roles at some point which will roleblock them. And if they decide to decide in the day which roles they will pick, then It's a free go for the Mafia to counter that.

One mislynch and town could potentially already be screwed.

Well 3 v 7 means 4 town need to die consecutively in order for there to be a stalemate on the lynch votes. Which means at least 2 mislynches/misfires are required. And town can have docs/escorts to mitigate this. Or bodyguards to trade 1 for 1 (a winning ratio for town). Not to mention even with a vote stalemate, town can still pull it out via successful vigilantes/doctors/etc.

I put in the roleblock mechanic to avoid having everyone become doctors or escorts on day 1 and just roleblocking/healing everyone until they win. I guess I could just cap the number of each role that can exist at the same time instead and just have it fail if people will exceed the cap (without roleblocking). If I capped each role at 2 and removed the other role-switching restrictions for town, would that balance it in your eyes?

[Cryptonic]

Queue Requirements:

13 or less players:	Yes
25 or less possible roles:	Yes
Role list:	Yes
Possible roles:	Yes
Win Conditions:	Yes
Rolecards (including host options):	Yes (might want to be more specific with all your host options)
Order of Operations:	Yes
Investigative Pairings:	N/A
Rules of Conduct:	Yes
Mechanics:	Yes, located under Rules.
Action:	Added to queue.

ps i don't think mafia is op, 3v7 is good

[Azuriae]

I think that would be much better! Only my opinion, though~

[Damus_Graves]

I like how we give town wins simply because they have an advantage of too many townmembers. I miss the days where you didn't have six days and some change to find scum before you have a chance to lose as town.

[Azuriae]

I like how we give town wins simply because they have an advantage of too many townmembers. I miss the days where you didn't have six days and some change to find scum before you have a chance to lose as town.

I think 3v7 is fair, though it is tight. 3v6 would be too few, yet 3v8 (With these mechanics) would proabably be too many.
I do believe that the double roleblock mechanics for the PRs would've given them a disadvantage, but the changes Gerik proposed does balance this.

[Gerik]

I think that would be much better! Only my opinion, though~

Crypt seems to think it's ok, so I'll leave it for the time being. He's the expert, after all. If the game turns out to be ZOMG IMBA, then I'll probably re-host it with some balance tweaks. This concept is something I'd like to base a larger fm around in the future if I can balance it at this level.

I like how we give town wins simply because they have an advantage of too many townmembers. I miss the days where you didn't have six days and some change to find scum before you have a chance to lose as town.

Are you saying the town is OP? Because in that case, you and Azuriae must both be wrong and it must be completely balanced!

I think 3v7 is fair, though it is tight. 3v6 would be too few, yet 3v8 (With these mechanics) would proabably be too many.
I do believe that the double roleblock mechanics for the PRs would've given them a disadvantage, but the changes Gerik proposed does balance this.

For now I'm going to leave it as is since Crypt seems to think it's fine. I still might decide to change it, but I'm leaving it for now.

[ika]

its gonna be broken real fast as i see it

day 1 roles taken: blacksmith, vig, doc, bg

day 2 conduct mass role call and go from there. the middle class can just take roles that mafia cant and then it would just be a battle of cit claimers.

i think the concept of it is good but it will still be broken by a mass role call come day 2.

day one will be just directing who takes what roles. this might just end up being anohter game of s-fm democracy where everyone becomes lurkfest and the mafias tried to take all blackmailers

edit: also the mechanic can be abused becasue if 2 middles pick same role come next day they can say "i picked role X" "so did I" 2 auto confirmed middleclass

[Gerik]

its gonna be broken real fast as i see it

day 1 roles taken: blacksmith, vig, doc, bg

day 2 conduct mass role call and go from there. the middle class can just take roles that mafia cant and then it would just be a battle of cit claimers.

i think the concept of it is good but it will still be broken by a mass role call come day 2.

day one will be just directing who takes what roles. this might just end up being anohter game of s-fm democracy where everyone becomes lurkfest and the mafias tried to take all blackmailers

edit: also the mechanic can be abused becasue if 2 middles pick same role come next day they can say "i picked role X" "so did I" 2 auto confirmed middleclass

If town decides on day 1 "Hey PRs, switch to role A, B, C, & D". One of three things will happen.
One- they can't coordinate who's going to take what without claiming, so they will likely end up with duplicates and roleblock each other.
Two- They claim, and then mafia knows who the PRs are and GGnubs.
Three- They won't claim, and (miraculously) don't roleblock each other, and mafia knows exactly what roles they have and can pick roles that counter those.

Also note that the roles you suggested include no investigation, which would allow a skilled mafia to easily blend in and avoid being lynched.

As for the roleblocked "auto-confirm" thing... They will then be confirming themselves to scum. And scum can just as easily lie about being roleblocked.

And I specifically did not allow blackmailers in this game because of Democracy.

[ika]

If town decides on day 1 "Hey PRs, switch to role A, B, C, & D". One of three things will happen.
One- they can't coordinate who's going to take what without claiming, so they will likely end up with duplicates and roleblock each other.
Two- They claim, and then mafia knows who the PRs are and GGnubs.
Three- They won't claim, and (miraculously) don't roleblock each other, and mafia knows exactly what roles they have and can pick roles that counter those.

Also note that the roles you suggested include no investigation, which would allow a skilled mafia to easily blend in and avoid being lynched.

As for the roleblocked "auto-confirm" thing... They will then be confirming themselves to scum. And scum can just as easily lie about being roleblocked.

And I specifically did not allow blackmailers in this game because of Democracy.

but you assume the scum will be good and be able to dictate it. its still can be broken by mass roel call by day 2. if mafia takes cj and none take journal the prs will immetatly know its cj. there are many things i can see happening that will cause it to be broken is all im saying.

[Gerik]

but you assume the scum will be good and be able to dictate it. its still can be broken by mass roel call by day 2. if mafia takes cj and none take journal the prs will immetatly know its cj. there are many things i can see happening that will cause it to be broken is all im saying.

Yes. I expect players to be skilled. Sue me. Bottom line is: You think town is OP. Azuriae thinks scum is OP. Crypt, arbiter of balance, thinks it's balanced. I am going to proceed under the assumption that it is balanced.

[ika]

very well i just know that both side have an imballenece with this mechanic and i know how maifa can expliot it. but i rather wait

[Slaol]

ps i don't think mafia is op, 3v7 is good

Agreed.
I would say Town having more Power Roles than Scum is more OP than Scum having 3. But then Town has to come into communication and agreement to get things done.
As Gerik said there need to be 4 Town deaths without a Mafia death to lose it for Town. One of these would be a Power Role which decreases the chance of that death coming at a lynch.
As well, having a potential Town of Sheriff, Escort, Vigilante, Blacksmith would be strong against a single night kill.

[Titus]

The mafioso "-99" kill is OP unless the mafioso dies if reaching a BG. Getting two kills and surviving is ridiculous.

[Gerik]

The mafioso "-99" kill is OP unless the mafioso dies if reaching a BG. Getting two kills and surviving is ridiculous.

Somebody needs to reread the setup.

[Slaol]

Drug Dealer suicide gun is OP.
Arms Dealer should give out guns to non-mafia. Either real or fake, but fake should not kill the person....


.....


But you already knew all these things.

[Gerik]

Drug Dealer suicide gun is OP.
Arms Dealer should give out guns to non-mafia. Either real or fake, but fake should not kill the person....


.....


But you already knew all these things.

Meh. No blacksmith in-game = lol wtf is this. There are other scenarios that could also make it obvious. And blacksmith being confirmable = op, and regular fake guns are easy to see through with no real risk involved on town's end, so there's no incentive to NOT use them. The inclusion of this ability means that people will at least consider the possibility of not using the gun.

I would give arms dealer that ability in a larger game, but for this size the KPN would be too damn high!

[Slaol]

Meh. No blacksmith in-game = lol wtf is this. There are other scenarios that could also make it obvious. And blacksmith being confirmable = op

You tired bro? You spent all night becoming the one true Gerik, so I guess you are. Great job btw ;)
Blacksmith could happen. So how is it 'No in-game'?
It might be obvious, but the end result is that there are Guns afoot. With the Town possibly making good on them, or possibly failing miserably with them (like everyone other than Raptorblaze will do)
Also, Blacksmith being auto-confirm would infact be countered by my suggestion. However your idea also does this to a degree.

[Gerik]

You tired bro? You spent all night becoming the one true Gerik, so I guess you are. Great job btw ;)
Blacksmith could happen. So how is it 'No in-game'?
It might be obvious, but the end result is that there are Guns afoot. With the Town possibly making good on them, or possibly failing miserably with them (like everyone other than Raptorblaze will do)
Also, Blacksmith being auto-confirm would infact be countered by my suggestion. However your idea also does this to a degree.

I was tiredbro. I meant that it is possible for none of the PRs to be/select blacksmith. So if no one is getting guns/vests all game and then a random gun pops up, town might be wary of using it...

I considered putting in fake weapon/vest-giving for arms dealer to counter blacksmith confirmability, but I decided to leave it out. I'd rather try my idea and see how it works out. Not that the two abilities can't co-exist, I just don't want them both in this game.

[Cryptonic]

Drug Dealer can be used to give fake items, as well. Then when someone "uses" a gun, they think someone was healed lol.


Edit: oops I'm tired too apparently, you already have that huehue. Anyways, I would agree the suicide gun is OP, but then it's countered by the only being one. Just scares people out of using their gun, its a good idea.

[Cryptonic]

if town has no night kill, town gets one misslynch before they're at mylo.
if town has a night kill, it might even be sooner.
3v7 w/ vigi
n1 -1 town
d2 -1 town
n2 -2 town
3v3 game ends.
I'd consider adding another Citizen, or two, depending one what your power roles are.

If you want, you can increase your player to above 10. It will remain in the same position on queue.

Can a Detective see Blacksmith Guns & Vests?
OoO says vests are +1.5, but Blacksmith rolecard says +1, please make them the same.
Vests aren't immunity? Can multiple vests be used at the same time, like multiple guns?

[Gerik]

if town has no night kill, town gets one misslynch before they're at mylo.
if town has a night kill, it might even be sooner.
3v7 w/ vigi
n1 -1 town
d2 -1 town
n2 -2 town
3v3 game ends.
I'd consider adding another Citizen, or two, depending one what your power roles are.

If you want, you can increase your player to above 10. It will remain in the same position on queue.

Can a Detective see Blacksmith Guns & Vests?

Yes. A detective will see gun usage of their target as a visit of the player the gun was used upon. If used alongside another night action/gun, the detective will see the names of both targeted players, in no particular order. A vest will appear as a self visit.

OoO says vests are +1.5, but Blacksmith rolecard says +1, please make them the same.

I'm sure I must have had a reason for making vests 1.5 when I submitted this 2 months ago, but I can't think of what that is now. I have changed the OoO to reflect thats vests are +1. But that may change if I happen to remember why I wrote that initially.

Vests aren't immunity? Can multiple vests be used at the same time, like multiple guns?

Vests are not immunity. Like doctor heals, they may only protect someone from a single attack. Multiple vests may be used on a single night.

Comments on balance:

My thinking was that as it stands, town needs 4 members to die without getting any mafia in order to make it a 3v3 and even if that happens, a vig/bs gun could swing the balance back in town's favor by killing maf, especially if combined with a successful heal/vest/escort block. However, If you still think town is a bit weak, I can add 1 more citizen to give town an extra cushion. That would mean there would need to be 5 consecutive town deaths without a single mafia death in order to even the numbers, and as I said before even at equal numbers, town could still pull out a victory.

[Cryptonic]

Comments on balance:

My thinking was that as it stands, town needs 4 members to die without getting any mafia in order to make it a 3v3 ad even if it does, the vig/bs gun could swing the balance back in town's favor by killing maf, especially if combined with a successful heal/vest/escort block. However, If you still think town is a bit weak, I can add 1 more citizen to give town an extra cushion. That would mean there would need to be 5 consecutive town deaths without a single mafia death in order to even the numbers, and as I said before even at a equal numbers, town could still pull out a victory.

nono i guess you're right. I wasn't taking into consideration any protective roles ^^;
Ok, thank you.

[Gerik]

nono i guess you're right. I wasn't taking into consideration any protective roles ^^;
Ok, thank you.

So... Does this mean I should not add a citizen?

[ika]

So... Does this mean I should not add a citizen?

add in a stump

[Cryptonic]

So... Does this mean I should not add a citizen?

It's really up to you. I trust that you know if your setup is balanced.
You're right, though. With possible blocks, vests, and heals, town should be able to pull off a successful lynch before losing majority.

[ika]

i still see ways to will make it semi-broken or could cause a repeat of the first game....

but i dont want to spoil it

[Gerik]

i still see ways to will make it semi-broken or could cause a repeat of the first game....

but i dont want to spoil it

You raised a possibility before that you thought would break the game which I am not worried about. I'm pretty confident my game is un-breakable, but feel free to try and prove me wrong.

[ika]

You raised a possibility before that you thought would break the game which I am not worried about. I'm pretty confident my game is un-breakable, but feel free to try and prove me wrong.

its not super gamebreaking, its more of how the system can easily be abused. to cause myslynching

[Cryptonic]

Approved

[Gerik]

Approved

Excellent. Here are the signups for anyone who's interested.