Sirius9121's Mini Normal Review, October 2020

[implosion]

Mafia 1-shot Role Cop, Mafia Roleblocker vs. Town Doctor, Town Neapolitan, 1-shot Bulletproof, 4x Town Vanilla

[implosion]

Primary: callforjudgement
Secondary: Flavor Leaf

[callforjudgement]

Assuming that the scum are Multitasking (they nearly always should be in a 9p, for swing reasons), I think this has got to be scumsided. Roleblocker versus Cop + Doctor is slightly townsided when run as a semi-open (probably balanced when Closed). This setup has a number of false positives for the Neapolitan (and scum have some ability to claim their way out of a guilty, although they'd be better off fakeclaiming something other than their actual roles!). The 1-shot Rolecop probably does improve the setup (despite making it more scumsided), making it less likely that scum will get caught out in their fakeclaims.

Town does have the potential to gain another Day through stopping two kills, in theory; in practice, Doctor + 1-shot Bulletproof is unlikely to actually accomplish this, especially against a Roleblocker (if there is a known power role, scum's best option is to block them repeatedly whilst killing elsewhere, which makes it hard for the Doctor to hit).

My suggestion for the smallest fix to balance this would be to replace the Neapolitan with a Gunsmith; this is a similar role, but has fewer false positives in this setup and is harder for scum to claim out of (whilst still allowing some counterplay, especially from the Role Cop, who looks a bit like a Gunsmith Miller).

[Flavor Leaf]

Hmm, alright. A lot of no kills potential, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing by any means.

I think full Roleblocker is strong here.

Neapolitan confirms VT’s as town here,

Yeah, I like the Gunsmith change. There aren’t any false positives for Gunsmith, and really, anyone with a gun is scum here, but town won’t know that.

[Sirius9121]

Mafia 1-shot Role Cop, Mafia Roleblocker vs. Town Doctor, Town Gunsmith, 1-shot Bulletproof, 4x Town Vanilla

[callforjudgement]

/approve setup

I think you need to post the role PMs / rules posts too, so that we can approve those. We were meant to be standardising them but never got around to it.

[callforjudgement]

Err, that approve is assuming that the setup has global multitasking. (Without it, scum are in too much trouble if one dies early.)

[Flavor Leaf]

Yeah, definitely needs to be multitasking stated beforehand or else scum could essentially fail into mountainous vs PR heavy.

Yeah, nice easy review. It just needs to be approved by CFJ, right?

/approve if it needs both.

[callforjudgement]

It doesn't need an explicit approval from the secondary reviewer, although it's always nice when the reviewers agree with each other!

[Sirius9121]

Yeah, definitely needs to be multitasking stated beforehand or else scum could essentially fail into mountainous vs PR heavy.

Yeah, nice easy review. It just needs to be approved by CFJ, right?

/approve if it needs both.

/approve setup

I think you need to post the role PMs / rules posts too, so that we can approve those. We were meant to be standardising them but never got around to it.

Yes its multitasking, thanks!

[Sirius9121]

Spoiler: Role PMs

Vanilla Townie

Welcome!

You are a

Vanilla Townie

.

You have no special abilities.

You win when all threats to the Town have been eliminated.

The game thread is here.

Confirm by replying with your role name and alignment.

Town Gunsmith

Welcome!

You are a

Town Gunsmith

.

You may target one player per night phase. At the end of the night phase, you will be informed if they

have a gun

or

do not have a gun

. If you are roleblocked, you will receive no result.

You win when all threats to the Town have been eliminated.

The game thread is here.

Confirm by replying with your role name and alignment.

Town Doctor

Welcome!

You are a

Town Doctor

.

You may target one player per night phase. This player will be protected from kills during that night phase. You cannot target yourself.

You win when all threats to the Town have been eliminated.

The game thread is here.

Confirm by replying with your role name and alignment.

Town 1-shot Bulletproof

Welcome!

You are a

Town 1-shot Bulletproof

.

You will be immune to the first kill directed at you.

You win when all threats to the Town have been eliminated.

The game thread is here.

Confirm by replying with your role name and alignment.

Mafia 1-shot Role Cop

Welcome!

You are a

Mafia 1-shot Role Cop

.

You and your partner share a factional kill each night. You must choose which of you will commit the kill. You also share a factional PT, located here, where you may talk at any time.

Once per game, you may choose a player and know their exact role. If you are roleblocked, you will receive no result.

You win when the Town has been eliminated, or nothing can stop this from occurring.

The game thread is here.

Confirm by replying with your role name and alignment or by posting in your PT.

Mafia Roleblocker

Welcome!

You are a

Mafia Roleblocker

.

You may target one player per night. This player will be prevented from performing their own action, if any.

You and your partner share a factional kill each night. You must choose which of you will commit the kill. You may commit the kill and perform a roleblock in the same night phase. You also share a factional PT, located here, where you may talk at any time.

You win when the Town has been eliminated, or nothing can stop this from occurring.

The game thread is here.

Confirm by replying with your role name and alignment or by posting in your PT.

[Sirius9121]

Spoiler: Role PMs

Vanilla Townie

Welcome!

You are a

Vanilla Townie

.

You have no special abilities.

You win when all threats to the Town have been eliminated.

The game thread is here.

Confirm by replying with your role name and alignment.

Town Gunsmith

Welcome!

You are a

Town Gunsmith

.

You may target one player per night phase. At the end of the night phase, you will be informed if they

have a gun

or

do not have a gun

. If you are roleblocked, you will receive no result.

You win when all threats to the Town have been eliminated.

The game thread is here.

Confirm by replying with your role name and alignment.

Town Doctor

Welcome!

You are a

Town Doctor

.

You may target one player per night phase. This player will be protected from kills during that night phase. You cannot target yourself.

You win when all threats to the Town have been eliminated.

The game thread is here.

Confirm by replying with your role name and alignment.

Town 1-shot Bulletproof

Welcome!

You are a

Town 1-shot Bulletproof

.

You will be immune to the first kill directed at you.

You win when all threats to the Town have been eliminated.

The game thread is here.

Confirm by replying with your role name and alignment.

Mafia 1-shot Role Cop

Welcome!

You are a

Mafia 1-shot Role Cop

.

You and your partner share a factional kill each night. You must choose which of you will commit the kill. You also share a factional PT, located here, where you may talk at any time.

Once per game, you may choose a player and know their exact role. If you are roleblocked, you will receive no result. You may perform multiple actions per night.

You win when the Town has been eliminated, or nothing can stop this from occurring.

The game thread is here.

Confirm by replying with your role name and alignment or by posting in your PT.

Mafia Roleblocker

Welcome!

You are a

Mafia Roleblocker

.

You may target one player per night. This player will be prevented from performing their own action, if any.

You and your partner share a factional kill each night. You must choose which of you will commit the kill. You may commit the kill and perform a roleblock in the same night phase. You also share a factional PT, located here, where you may talk at any time.

You may perform multiple actions per night.

You win when the Town has been eliminated, or nothing can stop this from occurring.

The game thread is here.

Confirm by replying with your role name and alignment or by posting in your PT.

[callforjudgement]

The Doctor PM should say "will be targeted from one kill"; if a player is double-targeted by scum and a Vigilante, a Doctor can't save them, and the role PM needs to take that possibility into account.
The Rolecop PM should imply that the Rolecop doesn't learn the alignment of the targeted player (e.g. the result when scanning a Vanilla Townie is "vanilla", not "Vanilla Townie". Getting the details wrong here may end up inducing scumslips, when scum accidentally claim knowledge of alignments that they wouldn't have as a Town Rolecop.

The Rolecop needs to be told they're multitasking in the role PM, in addition to the Roleblocker. (This also needs to be mentioned in the game rules.)

The game thread link points to the wrong game (although I imagine it's just a placeholder).

If those issues are corrected, I'm willing to approve.

[callforjudgement]

Err, that's "will be protected from one kill". Sorry, I'm a little tired atm.

[Sirius9121]

Spoiler: Role PMs

Vanilla Townie

Welcome!

You are a

Vanilla Townie

.

You have no special abilities.

You win when all threats to the Town have been eliminated.

The game thread is here.

Confirm by replying with your role name and alignment.

Town Gunsmith

Welcome!

You are a

Town Gunsmith

.

You may target one player per night phase. At the end of the night phase, you will be informed if they

have a gun

or

do not have a gun

. If you are roleblocked, you will receive no result.

You win when all threats to the Town have been eliminated.

The game thread is here.

Confirm by replying with your role name and alignment.

Town Doctor

Welcome!

You are a

Town Doctor

.

You may target one player per night phase. This player will be protected from one kill during that night phase. You cannot target yourself.

You win when all threats to the Town have been eliminated.

The game thread is here.

Confirm by replying with your role name and alignment.

Town 1-shot Bulletproof

Welcome!

You are a

Town 1-shot Bulletproof

.

You will be immune to the first kill directed at you.

You win when all threats to the Town have been eliminated.

The game thread is here.

Confirm by replying with your role name and alignment.

Mafia 1-shot Role Cop

Welcome!

You are a

Mafia 1-shot Role Cop

.

You and your partner share a factional kill each night. You must choose which of you will commit the kill. You also share a factional PT, located here, where you may talk at any time.

Once per game, you may choose a player and know their exact role, but not alignment. If you are roleblocked, you will receive no result. You may perform multiple actions per night.

You win when the Town has been eliminated, or nothing can stop this from occurring.

The game thread is here.

Confirm by replying with your role name and alignment or by posting in your PT.

Mafia Roleblocker

Welcome!

You are a

Mafia Roleblocker

.

You may target one player per night. This player will be prevented from performing their own action, if any.

You and your partner share a factional kill each night. You must choose which of you will commit the kill. You may commit the kill and perform a roleblock in the same night phase. You also share a factional PT, located here, where you may talk at any time.

You may perform multiple actions per night.

You win when the Town has been eliminated, or nothing can stop this from occurring.

The game thread is here.

Confirm by replying with your role name and alignment or by posting in your PT.

[callforjudgement]

/approve Role PMs

Have you run a Normal before? If not, we'll need to approve your rules post (post #0 / post #1), too.

[Sirius9121]

/approve Role PMs

Have you run a Normal before? If not, we'll need to approve your rules post (post #0 / post #1), too.

No, please see Micro 972.

[Sirius9121]

Rules

Definitely not stolen from Plotinus.

important bit

• Day: 7 days, Night: 24 hours.
  
• Majority eliminations
  
• 36 hours before prod, 24 hours before replacement, 24 hour weekends
  
• Bah posts allowed (limit: 1, free of game related content)
  
• I have some unusual rules about animated GIFs, tiny text, and prodging. Scroll down for details.
  
• Don’t be a dick

1. Follow all site rules.
   
   
2. Mod colour
   – My mod colour is
   #800080 or Purple
   ; don't use it.
   
3. Behaviour
   - Don’t be a dick. This is a heated game but toxicity will not be tolerated. Attack the play not the player. If your fellow players tell you to stop, you must stop. If you do not stop, I will tell you to stop. If you still do not stop, you will be force-replaced. Asking people to stop voting you or to stop scumhunting you entirely doesn't count for this rule and you may find yourself eliminated if you try it.
   
4. Don't talk about ongoing games
   - You may not talk to each other about this game outside of threads I have created for this purpose. You may not talk about other ongoing games in this thread.
   
5. Animated GIFs
   - are of the devil, but they are permitted behind spoilers if clearly labelled as such.
   
6. Tiny text
   - is also of the devil, keep it 70+ please.
   
7. Provable randomness
   - is against the rules. Saying that you rolled a dice is fine, using dice tags or random.org is not.
   
8. Claiming scum
   - by yourself is fine. Claiming scum with another player is against the rules.
   
9. Cryptography
   - is forbidden. Breadcrumbing is okay.
   
10. Confirmation
    - You have about 72 hours to confirm your role and your alignment by PM. Game will start sooner if everyone confirms. Posting in a private topic counts as confirmation.
    
11. Days
    - Days last 7 days. Extensions may be granted if there are replacements or sudden events such as modkills.
    
12. Activity
    - You must post at least once every 36 hours or I will Prod you. You then have 24 hours to post in the game thread or I will replace you. If you come back before I find a replacement, you can stay. The activity timers run at half-speed on weekends. Players can request me to prod somebody early. This will only count as an official prod if you don't post before you would have been due for a prod. If you haven't posted in the 24 hours before the thread is locked for night, you must reply to the night start PM or you will be replaced during the night.
    
13. Vacation/Limited Access
    If you need to be absent for longer than this, you should declare
    V/LA
    in bold in the thread like this: [
    b]

    @Mod: I will be v/la until Thursday

    [
    /b]. While you are V/LA, you will be nudged once every 54 hours. Two nudges equals one prod. If you have not posted game advancing content in 5 days, regardless of V/LA status, you will be replaced.
    
14. Prodging
    - A naked "prod dodge" does not reset the prod timer. To avoid being prodded/replaced for inactivity, include some game advancing content in your prodges, such as "got prodded; xxxx is still scum."
    
15. Quoting
    - You may not quote (or copy paste) any private information into the thread, including your role PM and any mod communication.
    
16. Voting
    - Votes must be in bold in the format VOTE: Sirius9121 or
    Vote: Sirius9121
    . Strong preference for using vote tags instead of bold tags. Unvotes are nice but not required. If I think it’s a vote, it’s a vote, no tricks. Type [
    v]Sirius9121[
    /v] to vote and [
    uv]Sirius9121[
    /uv] to unvote.
    
17. Elimination
    - Days end early when a simple majority of players (50% of living players + 1 rounded down) vote to eliminate somebody. If a majority is not reached at deadline or if a majority of the players vote for no elimination, the day will end without an elimination. At evens, 50% is sufficient for no elimination.
    
18. Twilight
    - Begins when a majority is reached and lasts until I lock the thread. You're still alive until I flip you so you can talk in any game threads you have access to until then, but no votes or unvotes will be counted.
    
19. Night
    - Night lasts at least 24 hours. The night phase can be shortened if every living player -- even those with no night actions -- agrees to it and if I'm not busy.
    
20. Action submissions
    - You may submit actions via PM (if town) or PT (if scum). If the actions are not submitted by the deadline then you do nothing. You can change your mind as many times as you like before the deadline.
    
21. Notes PT
    - Let me know if you want a private thread to store your thoughts and feedback for the other players. This thread will be made public immediately after the game. You may draft posts in your notes PT but you may not talk about your notes PT in public. You definitely may not use the notes PT to demonstrate that you've had a town mindset in private all along; just put your town mindset in public to begin with and keep your notes to yourself.
    
22. Play to win
    - this particular game, not some future one, and keep it fun!

[Sirius9121]

Deadlines will change

[callforjudgement]

That's pretty much enough for a Normal. You will also need to add

"The Mafia have Multitasking."
"All private topics have daytalk enabled."

and a sample Vanilla Townie role PM (either in post #1 or post #2).

As for your deadlines, anything outside the range of 10-14 Days, or a prod timer faster than 36 hours, should be advertised during signups (so that players don't end up in a game with deadlines vastly different from what they're hoping for). You may also advertise that the game is 7:2 (this really doesn't make much difference, everyone will assume 7:2 even if you don't).

[callforjudgement]

/approve

[Sirius9121]

That's pretty much enough for a Normal. You will also need to add

"The Mafia have Multitasking."
"All private topics have daytalk enabled."

and a sample Vanilla Townie role PM (either in post #1 or post #2).

As for your deadlines, anything outside the range of 10-14 Days, or a prod timer faster than 36 hours, should be advertised during signups (so that players don't end up in a game with deadlines vastly different from what they're hoping for). You may also advertise that the game is 7:2 (this really doesn't make much difference, everyone will assume 7:2 even if you don't).

I think I'll rather put that into Post #2. Setup information belongs in post 2, including the PM and "The Mafia have Multitasking.", "All private topics have daytalk enabled."

I think i'm using a 7day:1day deadlline for this time.

[callforjudgement]

Having a night deadline that's faster than your prod timer can be a little risky, as there's a chance that a player with a night action will miss night entirely. With night deadlines that short, it pays to have precautions (like allowing players to pre-submit actions, and allowing scum to submit actions for each other), and even then it might not be enough. I think there's a reason why 48-hour nights became standard, even though they feel frustratingly long. In fact, they can be too short for some players if they happen to happen over a weekend; mods with a 48-hour night deadline will sometimes flake strategically in order to avoid starting it on Friday night or Saturday morning.

[Sirius9121]

Noted, 7 to 2 days then

[Sirius9121]

is this all done