The Syndicate

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Yes, the first thing I noticed was the mass killing power. That'll almost certainly decide the game, and maybe before it even sees a Night 3.

From a balance perspective, town has too many kills. On a per-cycle basis as long as the vigilante and day vigilante are alive, town has more than double their usual capacity to kill mafia and the serial killer. If you don't want to weaken them given the flavor they offer, I would suggest giving the mafia at least one more way to protect themselves. The SK doesn't need protection with the current win condition.

The role cop still has a lot of value to mafia, I think. Maybe the janitor can also be a limited shot mafia doctor or something.

With this is in mind, a game with claiming illegal is better for the mafia than a game with legal claiming. As such, I think the game balance should account for that as much as reasonably possible.

Most open claim-friendly games with numerous non-vanilla roles will trend toward 3:1 to 3.5:1 town:mafia ratios, I think. With claims illegal, I think you can justify a ratio closer to 4:1. You're already in that general vicinity at 11:3:1, so that's a good thing.

This is all apart from looking at the roles themselves, so I can do that separately (if you want me to do so).

Long Con wrote: ↑Fri Jun 04, 2021 8:39 pm Nonclaiming with a hinting modkill.

Roles are simply for functionality, not thread currency. If you want to be seen as town, you have to earn it.

Word. I like the spirit of that. So I think you'll need to be quite specific in your game rules about what is and is not kosher. Long-time Syndicate players are very accustomed to this and know what's expected, but for other folk this is a foreign thing and it might be hard for them to understand what they can actually do without a lot of explicit clarity.

For example, it should be against the rules to say "I know X, but I cannot say why." -- that's a hint. Even "I think X is mafia, but I cannot say why." is a hint. Instead everything must be based on the content visible in the game thread and only the content visible in the game thread.

Whatever you choose though, balance is impacted -- and that influences my view on the number of vanillas that would be most ideal.

Long Con wrote: ↑Fri Jun 04, 2021 8:33 pm LOL I didn't realize I was even in line yet. Fine though. What's the problem with a nonclaiming game? Too archaic?

I personally have no problem with them. I like them even.

Some of the newer crowd could be less enthusiastic. The important thing, I think, is that any and all gray area be obliterated. Role hinting is the same as role claiming. If anyone tries to skirt the line they get punished.

If you're not inclined toward that kind of hardline approach, a soup kill might be better.

Long Con wrote: ↑Thu Jun 03, 2021 8:21 pm

JaggedJimmyJay wrote: ↑Sat May 29, 2021 9:13 am Remind me to dig into this sucker when I am back from my trip in a few days.

I will, thank you!

I definitely need to dig since this game is suddenly next up in the queue (after some passes).

Remind me to dig into this sucker when I am back from my trip in a few days.

Long Con wrote: ↑Wed May 26, 2021 4:27 pm

JaggedJimmyJay wrote: ↑Wed May 26, 2021 2:08 pm Is claiming going to be legal?

Oh yeah, frikkin' claiming. I guess it needs to be illegal?

Not necessarily with vanillas involved, but I'll take a closer look in a wee bit.

Is claiming going to be legal?