Letters (An alternative to pming)

[yzb25]

Similarly to how anonymous ballot is an alternative way of election to vote + trial, letters are an alternative secretive form of communication to pming.

It might have been kinda subtle, but I discovered the obsessive joys of formatting with this post... It feels... So... GOooOOOoood

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-l write [letter number] {brings up UI box similar to LW but with more lines}
-l send [letter number] [player number x], [player number y], N[night number]
-l list
-l public [letter number] [day number]
-l delete [letter number]

• You can write letters any time of the day, but you can only send them at night. (The letter will reach your recipient on the same night you send it, or whatever night you choose. This town has an EXTREMELY efficient post network :P) You can also send the same letter to multiple people in the scenario you want to send some light-yagami-esqued-epic-super-awesome-deathnote-master-plan to your whole mafia team and screw over the whole town, or perhaps vice-versa.
  
• Letters are sent at the end of the night phase but precede all night visits and orders of operations. (this means you don't have to worry about crazy bus drivers switching letter recipients). Because letters are received at the end of the night, however, this means you can't send messages mid-night (pun intentional).
  
• "You cannot afford to post so many letters at once!". Though you can send as many letters as you want on one night, only a maximum of 2 can be delivered on any given night. Clone letters still count to this maximum 2. After sending 2 immediate letters for the same night, you have to send letters for later nights if you want to send more letters.
  
• Another major thing is your recipient can't see who the letter is from. This in most cases means surprisingly little and is a very situational nerf as you can always just have a code between your allies to prove your identity. It's moreso actually for the sake of being able to send epic letters anonymously. "I don't know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don't have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. "
  
• The -l list will bring up a list of all the letters you have written, the number of the letter (every letter is assigned a small, unique number once it enters your list) and the first few words of each letter. This is for ease of use more than anything.
  
• The -l public is kinda like a weak last will. Every player has the ability to "put a brief message in the local newspaper". Your letter will be read out at the start of the day (or whatever day you choose). (but only once because it's very expensive having your message put in the newspaper and because we don't want too much spamming xP). This, along with other reasons and scenarios, can be a nice alternative to the classic lw.
  
• Received letters go into your -l list as well as written letters, effectively making -l list an inbox as well as a draft box. This effectively means you can forward a letter at the cost of 1 nightly letter. This is useful if you want to spread a message to many trusted allies.
  
• Just typing -l will bring up all these commands and a decent explanation of the letter system.

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This is notably more complex than the PM system but I think it could be vastly superior in terms of gameplay mechanics than the pm system. (and, sometimes, in extension, the last will system too.) I've thought about it alot, particularly as someone who uses a clue save with a slow death rate and a lot of pming / secretive talk. Just a few of the major benefits I come up with of this secretive communication system over pming are:

1)It's a nice change from the old "ok I'm mayor everyone pm your roles to me". It doesn't totally remove the aspect of the mayor being a scary force stomping down on all the mafia's lies with the town's information to back him up. But it slows down the rate at which mayors can prove people, find people out to be who they are, and generally makes it more interesting from his perspective. It'd also be theoretically a lot more organised than "receiving 10 pms at once to organize all at once". It's far more likely the mayor would slowly be trickled with digestible information and it'd be a lot less overwhelming.

2)If you get unexpectedly lynched or killed, particularly in a game with no lws or a save you don't want to reveal your information so early on, you can still write epic letters on n4 detailing your crucial information on what you've deduced but choose to have the letter sent to a trusted ally in the far future when they can use the information.

3)In one of the many endgame situations of a few town vs a few mafia, you can send a letter in advance of how you plan to win the tie. This is also useful with plans in general. And it could even become an alternative to night chats.

4)A nice way to make more consistent and more solid plans that don't run the risk of "THAT GUY PMED SO HE'S OBVIOUSLY EVIL LYNCH". I believe the limitations of this system encourage creative and long-term thinking without removing too much from the game.

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Other potential ideas:

Lookout / agent sees postman visiting target if target receives mail.

One letter can be sent out during the day for a same-phase delivery as well as the 2 letters that can be sent for same-phase delivery during the night.

Crier can see the person who sent a letter to him. Crier can also exceed the sending limit. (His enthusiastic personality has gained him a slightly unprofessional yet a certainly useful friendship with his local post office).

Judge, Auditor and Witch can exceed the letter sending limit.



Don't judge me, summer holidays stimulate unimaginable expanses of free time

[Citrus]

It also allows for the mechanics of the old spy (which was able to read PMs), perhaps in another role if desired

[yzb25]

It also allows for the mechanics of the old spy (which was able to read PMs), perhaps in another role if desired

I thought about something like that but if that was the case it would heavily discourage people from relying on and using letters, which is kinda what I DID want. I didn't want it to be like PM where everyone barely ever uses it because the fact you PMed often gives away a little of what you were saying and pming often results in someone going "HE PMED THAT MEANS HE'S MAFIA LYNCH UNLESS HE TELLS US WHAT HE SAID AND DOESN'T TROLL!"

If that was added, there must be reasonable ways to circumvent spy interception and a reasonable ways for spies to intercept.

What I also thought might be cool is if coroner found letters that had not been sent yet and only written. But again, that might make evils paranoid about using letters, and it'd allow town to make lws for coroners almost, which also seems very town favored.

[Slaol]

I used something like this in an M-FM. I'm all about this.

[Helios]

I´m also for it, I dont see anything that would speak against it, nice work.

[Cryptonic]

I used something like this in an M-FM. I'm all about this.

How exactly did they work in your M-FM? I thought they got sent anonymously the following night, and 1 per night. I'd like it if it were like this lolol.

[Slaol]

How exactly did they work in your M-FM? I thought they got sent anonymously the following night, and 1 per night. I'd like it if it were like this lolol.

Your thoughts are correct.

[ika]

Your thoughts are correct.

its how apple got caught by fragos

[Helz]

1 letter per night would be nice. I think all the delivery delays and such is a bit unnecessary though. Great idea

[yzb25]

Meh I feel 1 letter per night is a bit of an excessive limitation. In the standard pub 9-3-3 save the game tends to end very quickly with 2-3DPN roughly (including the inevitable suicides/leaves) and lynches plentiful. I think the ability to be able to send a couple letters that will reach the people you want it to reach within the same phase is very important in such a fast-evolving style of game.

If we nerf it too hard, it might end up merely becoming a cool little feature that is almost never used effectively apart from with certain, well-known mechanic exploits. I do feel with only 2 receives per night / 1 receive per day + 1 receive per night people can still feel the pressure of being limited in what they say.

I guess in a cult save or in a generally more tense, slowly paced game the 1 letter per night can be justified. But even in that scenario there is generally more to be said to more people.

But thanks for the positive feedback =3.

[Beuzmoker]

I like this idea.

Also maximum letter send per day could be set at the start of the game, just like day time and stuff like that.

[MisterL2]

I like this idea. However I would also like the "old spy back" maybe in another role, that can read PM and/or letters.