Umlaut's Mini Normal Review, June 2020

[implosion]

Hi implosion,

I just gave my /in to mod another mini normal, since my last has just completed. Here's the setup.

Roles

2x

Mafia Goon

1x

Town Gunsmith

1x

Town 1-Shot Vigilante

6x

Townie

Mechanics

• Daystart
  
• Majority lynch rules
  
• Private threads have daytalk

Possible tweaks

• If townsided, could add a Mafia investigative role, or further restrict the Vigilante to e.g. Night 3 or Novice 1-Shot.
  
• If scumsided, could add some minor town PR such as X-Shot Commuter, or simply disallow daytalk.

Spoiler: Role PMs

Mafia Goon

Welcome to Mini ####! You are a

Mafia Goon

.

You and your teammate(s) share a private topic in which you can talk during all phases of the game, as long as you are alive.

Each night you and your teammate(s) may together choose one living player to shoot and kill. You must specify which of you carries out the shot.

You win when the Mafia is the sole surviving faction, or when nothing can prevent this.

Town Gunsmith

Welcome to Mini ####! You are a

Town Gunsmith

.

Each night you may choose one living player to investigate. You will learn whether that player has a gun.

(All Mafia roles have guns except Doctor and Traitor. The following town roles have guns: Cop, Vigilante, Gunsmith, Role Cop, Vanilla Cop, Backup of any role with a gun, and Jack-of-All-Trades where any component role has a gun.)

You win when the Town is the sole surviving faction.

Town 1-Shot Vigilante

Welcome to Mini ####! You are a

Town 1-Shot Vigilante

.

On one night of your choice, you may choose one living player to shoot and kill.

You win when the Town is the sole surviving faction.

Townie

Welcome to Mini ####! You are a

Townie

.

You win when the Town is the sole surviving faction.

Spoiler: Result PMs

Gunsmith negative

You determined that {

target

}

does not have a gun

.

Gunsmith positive

You determined that {

target

}

has a gun

.

Spoiler: Rules post

Rules

None of these rules supercede or contradict the Forum Rules and Guidelines, all of which are in full force.

---

Tl;dr

• This game is Normal.
  
• Days are
  240 hours (10 days)
  ; nights are
  48 hours (2 days)
  .
  
• Standard 48/24 prod timers; naked prod dodges are not counted.
  
• Standard majority-only lynch mechanics.
  
• Private threads have daytalk.

---

Conduct

1. Don't use
   orange
   , it's my color.
   
2. Play to win.
   
3. Don't discuss the game outside of the game until it's over.
   
4. Don't flame. Don't harass. Don't use insults that target minority, disadvantaged, or legally protected classes.
   
5. Keep interpersonal disputes out of the game thread.
   
6. Don't quote or misquote private communications from the moderator.
   
7. Don't use encryption, tiny/hidden/unreadable text, or anything that could be easily confused for such.
   
8. All replacement requests will be taken as serious, irrevocable, and immediate. Once you request replacement you are no longer a player and may not post.
   
9. Don't game the rules, pretend to break the rules, or intentionally test the limits. All pretended violations will be dealt with identically to actual violations.
   
10. Don't break the rules of any other ongoing game in this thread.
    
11. Don't argue moderator actions in the game thread. If you want to dispute a ruling, do so via PM.

---

Game mechanics

Day

• Days begin with a deadline of
  240 hours
  (10 days).
  
• Days will end when one of the following events occurs:
  • The deadline is reached.
    
  • A lynch (or no-lynch) is achieved.
    
  • A town-aligned player is modkilled.
• Votes should be made via the vote tag: “[vote]<playername>[/vote]” or “[v]<playername>[/v]”. Full player names or initial segments thereof are preferred.
  
• When more than half of living players are voting for the same player, that player will be lynched and the day will end. Votes are irrevocable once a majority is achieved.
  
• You may vote not to lynch by voting for “No lynch”. When half or more of living players do so, the day will end without a lynch.
  
• If the day reaches deadline without a majority, there will be no lynch.
  
• I will interpret malformed votes according to my own discretion. In general, if it looks like a vote, I will probably count it as a vote. I reserve the right to edit malformed votes for easier counting.
  
• When a majority vote has been achieved but not yet recognized by the moderator, the game is in
  twilight
  . Players, including the lynchee, may continue to post during this period.
  
• Under certain circumstances I may elect to extend the deadline. I will announce this in thread if it occurs.

Night

• Nights will last
  48 hours
  , or until all living players give me their approval to end the night early.
  
• During the night, you should be unable to post in the public game thread. If for some reason you are able, doing so is still against the rules.
  
• Mafia night abilities should be submitted in the Mafia's private thread. Factional kills must specify which mafioso carries out the kill.
  
• Town night abilities should be submitted via PM.
  
• Use of active night abilities is optional unless otherwise specified in the role PM; if no action is submitted, no action will occur.

---

Activity requirements

• Players who do not confirm within
  48 hours
  of receiving their role PM will be replaced.
  
• Players who do not post any game-related content for
  48 hours
  in a single game-day will incur a prod.
  
• Players who do not post any game-related content for
  24 hours
  following a prod will be replaced.
  
• Players who incur three prods will be replaced.
  
• “Prod dodges” (posts with no game-related content) will be disregarded for purposes of the prod timer.
  
• If for any reason you are temporarily unable to meet these requirements, you may declare V/LA status
  in thread
  and be excused. V/LA declarations must include a definite end date.
  
• Notwithstanding V/LA status, any player who does not post at all for
  7 days
  of consecutive day time will be replaced.
  
• These are minimal requirements, not recommendations; please keep the game active.

---

Sample role PM

At least one player will receive the role of

Townie

and the following role PM:

Welcome to Mini ####! You are a

Townie

.

You win when the Town is the sole surviving faction.

[implosion]

Primary: northsidegal
Secondary: Ircher

[Umlaut]

Ego

[northsidegal]

hello again!

i don't have too much experience reviewing sub-13 player setups so i'm interested in ircher's thoughts on this one. i do know, however, from doing the mini normal archives that sub-13 player setups tended to be won by mafia more than 13 player setups, although for whether or not that means that they were consistently scumsided or just consistently better balanced than more townsided 13 player setups i couldn't say.

anyways, that's enough preamble. i want to say that this is ~probably~ close enough to balanced to just be an instant pass? given what i know about the tendency of previous sub-13 player normal games i would say it probably leans more scumsided than townsided, but i don't think it's really that significant. it's fairly swingy around the gunsmith and probably skewed only slightly in town's favor (compared to most normal games, which i consider to be skewed more heavily in town's favor)

i dunno, maybe a 1-shot town commuter would be better? not really sure, might just be my bias for commuters (i'm quite a fan of that role). gonna let ircher chime in.

[northsidegal]

really my main reason for even adding the commuter would be to try to reduce the swing centered around the gunsmith, although thinking more i'm not sure if it even does that.

your gunsmith role PM is incorrect which is absolutely not your fault because the wiki was not updated. i have updated the wiki to correctly include vengefuls, detectives, and neapolitans, all of which return positive to gunsmiths. also, this is a minor point, but i would probably remove the word "town" from "The following town roles have guns". i would probably just say "Additionally, the following roles have guns:"

[northsidegal]

apart from that i didn't notice anything wrong, although i'll probably give it another check over tomorrow.

[Ircher]

I think this is pretty balanced as-is. The main thing about starting with evens is you need a good way to get back to odds, and the vig accomplishes that. Otherwise, this setup is very close to a 9p setup with 1x Cop (there are some differences, but the gunsmith only gets a false positive on the vig, so it's a close enough comparison), and that has traditionally been viewed as relatively balanced.

[Umlaut]

Ircher, do you think adding a Town 1-Shot Commuter per NSG's recommendation would make it more balanced or less? I'm indifferent to adding it.

[Ircher]

I'd lean towards less balanced. Having too many power roles in a small setup cam be an issue due to clearing too many people. (As it is, I actually think this setup leans more towards the townsided side than scumsided, but admittedly, I don't have a lot of experience with balancing evens.)

[Umlaut]

If you're both willing to pass it as is then I'll run it as is. (And if you disagree on whether it's slightly townsided or slightly scumsided then it's probably perfect.)

Spoiler: Updated role PM

Town Gunsmith

Welcome to Mini ####! You are a

Town Gunsmith

.

Each night you may choose one living player to investigate. You will learn whether that player has a gun.

(All Mafia roles have guns except Doctor and Traitor. Additionally, the following roles have guns: Cop, Vigilante, Gunsmith, Role Cop, Vanilla Cop, Vengeful, Detective, Neapolitan, Backup of any role with a gun, and Jack-of-All-Trades where any component role has a gun.)

You win when the Town is the sole surviving faction.

[northsidegal]

Otherwise, this setup is very close to a 9p setup with 1x Cop (there are some differences, but the gunsmith only gets a false positive on the vig, so it's a close enough comparison), and that has traditionally been viewed as relatively balanced.

That setup is balanced as an open, but that consideration changes as a closed. One of the reasons I liked the commuter in the first place was because people (at least in my experience) tend to be fairly suspicious of the role. I don't think it's clearing at all. Even if the commuter tries some gambit where they fakeclaim a role just to get scum to shoot them, the vig shot would still introduce a ton of doubt over everything, especially if claimed after the gunsmith. (I'm trying to be more conscious of the effect random gambits can have)

Anyways, that's neither here nor there. Whether or not it would make the setup better, we both agree that the setup's passable as is, so /pass

[Umlaut]

So is this good to go or are we waiting for Ircher?

[Ircher]

I'm secondary reviewer, so technically, I do not need to pass the setup. That said, everything looks fine to me.

[Umlaut]

Updated rules post for compliance with the new site rule. Changes are highlighted in blue. Elimination is referred to as “launching” (and the game will be lightly themed around images of trebuchets and cannons and the like to reinforce this).

Spoiler: Rules post

Rules

None of these rules supercede or contradict the Forum Rules and Guidelines, all of which are in full force.

---

Tl;dr

• This game is Normal.
  
• Days are
  240 hours (10 days)
  ; nights are
  48 hours (2 days)
  .
  
• Standard 48/24 prod timers; naked prod dodges are not counted.
  
• Standard majority-only
  elimination
  mechanics.
  
• Private threads have daytalk.

---

Conduct

1. Don't use
   orange
   , it's my color.
   
2. Play to win.
   
3. Don't discuss the game outside of the game until it's over.
   
4. Don't flame. Don't harass. Don't use insults that target minority, disadvantaged, or legally protected classes.
   
5. Keep interpersonal disputes out of the game thread.
   
6. Don't quote or misquote private communications from the moderator.
   
7. Don't use encryption, tiny/hidden/unreadable text, or anything that could be easily confused for such.
   
8. All replacement requests will be taken as serious, irrevocable, and immediate. Once you request replacement you are no longer a player and may not post.
   
9. Don't game the rules, pretend to break the rules, or intentionally test the limits. All pretended violations will be dealt with identically to actual violations.
   
10. Don't break the rules of any other ongoing game in this thread.
    
11. Don't argue moderator actions in the game thread. If you want to dispute a ruling, do so via PM.

---

Game mechanics

Day

• Days begin with a deadline of
  240 hours
  (10 days).
  
• Days will end when one of the following events occurs:
  • The deadline is reached.
    
  • A
    launch

    (elimination)
    or
    no-launch

    (no-elimination)
    is achieved.
    
  • A town-aligned player is modkilled.
• Votes should be made via the vote tag: “[vote]<playername>[/vote]” or “[v]<playername>[/v]”. Full player names or initial segments thereof are preferred.
  
• When more than half of living players are voting for the same player, that player will be
  launched

  (eliminated)
  and the day will end. Votes are irrevocable once a majority is achieved.
  
• You may vote not to
  launch
  by voting for
  “No launch”
  . When half or more of living players do so, the day will end without a
  launch
  .
  
• If the day reaches deadline without a majority, there will be no
  launch
  .
  
• I will interpret malformed votes according to my own discretion. In general, if it looks like a vote, I will probably count it as a vote. I reserve the right to edit malformed votes for easier counting.
  
• When a majority vote has been achieved but not yet recognized by the moderator, the game is in
  twilight
  . Players, including the
  launchee
  , may continue to post during this period.
  
• Under certain circumstances I may elect to extend the deadline. I will announce this in thread if it occurs.

Night

• Nights will last
  48 hours
  , or until all living players give me their approval to end the night early.
  
• During the night, you should be unable to post in the public game thread. If for some reason you are able, doing so is still against the rules.
  
• Mafia night abilities should be submitted in the Mafia's private thread. Factional kills must specify which mafioso carries out the kill.
  
• Town night abilities should be submitted via PM.
  
• Use of active night abilities is optional unless otherwise specified in the role PM; if no action is submitted, no action will occur.

---

Activity requirements

• Players who do not confirm within
  48 hours
  of receiving their role PM will be replaced.
  
• Players who do not post any game-related content for
  48 hours
  in a single game-day will incur a prod.
  
• Players who do not post any game-related content for
  24 hours
  following a prod will be replaced.
  
• Players who incur three prods will be replaced.
  
• “Prod dodges” (posts with no game-related content) will be disregarded for purposes of the prod timer.
  
• If for any reason you are temporarily unable to meet these requirements, you may declare V/LA status
  in thread
  and be excused. V/LA declarations must include a definite end date.
  
• Notwithstanding V/LA status, any player who does not post at all for
  7 days
  of consecutive day time will be replaced.
  
• These are minimal requirements, not recommendations; please keep the game active.

---

Sample role PM

At least one player will receive the role of

Townie

and the following role PM:

Welcome to Mini ####! You are a

Townie

.

You win when the Town is the sole surviving faction.

[Ircher]

The changes look good to me. I didn't see any missed instances of the word.

[Umlaut]

If one of you is still reading this: I was asked by a player whether the role of

Backup Bulletproof Townie

is normal. It sounds "normal enough" to me but the wiki says that Backup roles are normal if the role it backs up is normal

and active

, whereas Bulletproof is a passive ability, so as far as I can see there is nothing explicitly saying it is normal and therefore it isn't? Can I get official word on that? I can't ask publicly because it would compromise my game.

[Ircher]

The wiki tends to be accurate, so I would go with that.

(That said, it might be an interesting discussion topic for the NRG as to why backups are only normal for active roles and not for passives. I imagine it has to do with role interactions or something of that nature.)

[Umlaut]

Hunh, the plot thickens: implosion says it actually is a normal role and "That word [active] probably just shouldn't be there." I'm not sure how to proceed if the players ask me more questions about this but that's outside the scope of this thread so thanks for the answer anyway. I'll just hope it doesn't come up as a question again and bring it up after the game is over.

[northsidegal]

Hunh, the plot thickens: implosion says it actually is a normal role and "That word [active] probably just shouldn't be there."

this is probably what i would have said

i consider myself fairly up to date on random arcane normal rules and that one seemed really wrong

[Umlaut]

This game is over and this thread can be made public now!