Inspired by the (very entertaining) ongoing game of MafiaScum, after doing some research (there are tons of variants out there) I've written my own ruleset for a game I propose to run in the future. I'd like to discuss them with the board.
Plot premise: Vampires and Villagers: a Vampire Lord has fled to the remote Alaskan town of Barrow and gone to ground there. Fortunately, the residents of Barrow know a bit about Vampires, and the Vampire has been tracked by a novice Hunter who has been living incognito amongst them, trying to find the Vampire.
Inspired by Dimrill's performance, I think I would like to leave room for in-character posting in the game.
Game premise: in game II I liked the creeping sinister element of the Cult, where as time goes on they will gradually control more and more of the game. However I think the game gets quite hectic with three opposing factions, so I've combined the Mafia and Cult into one group, the Vampires. I like the idea of some players facing a choice between a minor power or a major power with an associated risk element. I like the idea of there being two daytime voting blocks, so I've put Masons back in from game I, and they have the ability to communicate outside the game. I like the idea of loyalties shifting through the game, and discovering traitors in your midst.
So, here are my roles. We'll call this
VampireScum v0.2.
The game starts with one Vampire Sire:
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You are a Vampire Sire. You are the last remaining member of a clan of vampires that has been feeding on the town of Barrow, where the sun sets for a full month each year, for years now. You have the optional ability each night to choose a target to Embrace, turning them into a Vampire Childe. To do this you must visit the target two nights running. After the first night your target will receive a message saying that they awake feel weak and with bite marks on their neck, so they will be aware they may be turned on the following night. You are not required to return to the same target, however.
After two nights, every target except Van Helsing, the Costumed Vigilante, and the Priest are turned into a Childe, unless they are protected by Van Helsing. If the Sire comes to call on any target protected by Van Helsing he is killed in the struggle. The oldest Childe becomes the new Sire. Van Helsing and the Priest are warned if you target them but not told who the Lord is. Therefore they can attempt to take defensive measures the next night to prevent themselves being targetted by one of your childe.
The game starts with one Vampire Childe, the Sire has to make more as the game proceeds:
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You are a Vampire Childe. As group, the childe get one kill target ability; this can come from any childe of their choice. All the other childe get an optional ability; they can either roleblock a chosen target or visit a target and bite them. Bitten targets receive the same message as when the Sire visits them, but are not actually at risk of being Embraced on the following night. All vampires can communicate outside the game freely at all times. This means gradually the vampires will be able to roleblock more and more people until owning the night.
One serial killer:
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You are a Serial Killer. You are a homicidal maniac. You must kill one person each night to satisfy your blood lust. You will, however, be killed yourself if you targets the Vampire Sire, but you can succesfully kill a Vampire Childe. If you are turned into a vampire, your win condition remains Serial Killer i.e. you will be actively working against the other vampires still and will know who they all are. You will be able to lie to the coven in PMs etc. However you still cannot directly kill the Vampire Sire as he is too strong for you -- will have to somehow arrange his death, through a staking or by giving him up to Van Helsing. You will have both night powers, both your serial killer kill, and your childe kill or roleblock. You are a busy man! You are encouraged to be graphic in your kill descriptions.
2-4 Masonic Townies:
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You are a Masonic Townie. You are an ordinary Townie, but all the Masons are known to each other and can communicate at will. This means there are two groups of block votes in action during the day stage. If a Mason is turned into a Vampire Childe your win condition becomes Vampire but you can still communicate with his remaining Mason friends i.e. you will be misleading them. You can also tell the Vampires who all the other Masons are.
8-15 townies:
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You are a Vanilla Townie. You have no special abilities. Your only hope of survival each day is to try and identfy the vampires amongst you and drive a wooden stake into their heart. 'Course that's fatal for humans too....
1 Protownie Van Helsing:
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You are a Van Helsing. You are a junior vampire hunter, come to town chasing the fleeing Vampire Sire who killed your mentor just before the game starts. You vannot be turned. Each night, you can choose a person to protect. You will lay in wait near that person's sleeping chamber watching for the sire. If the Vampire Sire comes to turn that person, you ambush the him, and he will die in the subsequent struggle; the game ends unless the Serial Killer is still in play. If the Sire comes for you and you are protecting someone else, the Sire gets a message that he was roleblocked as he arrives at your quarters to find an empty room; he cannot tell the difference between you or the priest. You will get a warning that he came for you as you leave traps at your room. You can choose to protect yourself, if the Sire comes for you then you will kill him. You can be killed or roleblocked by the childe however.
1 Protownie Priest:
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You are a Priest. You cannot be turned as you sleep on holy ground. Each night you can pray to receive insight into a chosen character's role, including the Vampire Lord.
1 Protownie Costumed Vigilante.
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You are a Costumed Vigilante. Last year the town you lived in tore itself apart in fear and paranoia as it tried to root out the Mafiosa living in it's midst. You yourself placed the noose around the necks of many innocent neighbours. Wracked with the guilt, you fashioned a costume from brightly coloured lycra and decided to fight crime wherever you find it. You have come to Barren on holiday (you don't like warm weather) and you weren't expecting to find evil here and yet, here it is. You can kill one person freely each night if you choose, or, you can tail a target all night; you cannot work out the person's role but you will be told if they used a night action while you were following them. You will be killed yourself if you target the vampire lord though, but you can kill childe. You are out all night adventuring, so the Sire cannot find you at home to turn you into a Childe.
1 Loon.
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You are a Loon. You are a deeply insane local who suffers from Seasonally Affected Disorder and hence are trying to get yourself killed by any means you can. It beats another month of darkness. Being turned into a Vamp changes your win condition to Vampire i.e. you are no longer trying to die.
1 Psychiatrist.
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You are a Psychiatrist. You are trying to find the loon and save him from yourself. You can target one person each night to be told if they are the inmate or not, if you finds the loon you get your secondary win condition and play on as a Vanilla Townie. Being turned into a Vamp changes your win condition to Vampire i.e. you no longer cares about the loon.
Primary win types are
Town (all vampires and SK dead),
serial killer (everyone dead),
vampires (Vampire Sire still alive, vamps outnumber everyone else but there are still some other people alive. They do need food!)
The game would have an Afterlife thread in a locked subforum that only dead people would be allowed to read; they are allowed to freely share data there. This was inspired by Mr Craster telling me that watching the game is incredible fun to watch if you know who people are, and I would like to share that with the players where possible.
Game balance concerns me. I find it very hard to judge if the game is winnable for the various sides or not. I've spent a bit of time turning this over in my mind and working out the scenarios. There are some -- like the Vampires getting a Mason, or the Serial Killer getting Vamped -- that should result in absolute
carnage which may or may not be a good thing. There is also a risk of an early upset if the Van Helsing gets lucky, and that may lead to a slow start (the Sire may not choose to try and turn someone on the first night, but instead wait and try and pick someone vulnerable). The Sire then has an interesting strategic choice between attempting to build up a large number of Childe for the roleblock abilities -- they could essentially choke the game up towards the end -- or playing it safe and slowly trying to find the priest and Van Helsing.
ChangelogV0.2 -- added 1 starting childe, takes two nights to Embrace, childe have a "bite" action, gave Vigilante a minor investigate power