Stars Aligned - GAME OVER

[Percy]

The Paranormal and Extraterrestrial Conference is in town, and they are offering tours of some of the more notorious haunted sites in the area. As a paranormal investigator, you decide to jump on the bus and make your way to an old, abandoned mansion, reportedly the site of a demonic ritual back in the 20's.

There are some on the bus who have been preparing for this trip for a long time; masters of the demonic magicks, they will attempt to complete the Final Ritual which failed all those years ago.

Can you outwit the Cultists and escape alive? Or will you succumb to the unnatural forces there unleashed, determined to drive you into the depths of insanity?

Welcome to Stars Aligned.

Moderator:

Percy

Backup Moderator:

curiouskarmadog

This game has finished - Investigators win!

Those who survived - 11

12Keyblade

Seraphim

SlySly,

Investigator

,

Survived

AshMC1984

Sajin

arelian

sykedoc

Nachomamma8,

Investigator

,

Survived

Datadanne,

Investigator

,

Survived

itacv2

Sajin,

Investigator

,

Survived

JamesBond

Looker,

Investigator

,

Survived

jasonT1981

ryan2754,

Investigator

,

Survived

Sarag,

Investigator

,

Survived

Pim

semioldguy,

Investigator

,

Survived

sideney

Pablo Molinero,

Investigator

,

Survived

xxFabianxx

Jebus

Chaco,

Investigator

,

Survived

ZykeZero,

Investigator

,

Survived

tiny text

- did not participate before replacement

Those who died - 4

Drench, destoryed by an unspeakable being on the First Night,

Murderer

. Insanity Count:

2

.

Exalt

RestFermata

Furpants_Tom, destroyed by an unspeakable being on the Fourth Night,

Investigator

. Insanity Count: 0

.
Kise, driven insane by the Elder Gods,

Investigator

. Insanity count:

3

.

Magua, lynched on the Fifth Day,

Cultist

. Insanity count:

3

.

Those who have returned to dust - 10

EriktheRed, lynched on the First Day,

Cultist

.

Insanity Count: 0

zwetschenwasser

Tuberkulos, found murdered on the First Night,

Investigator

.

Insanity Count: 0

.
Mastin, found murdered on the First Night,

Cultist

.

Insanity Count: 0

.

Cephrir

Knight of Cydonia, destroyed by the gods on the Second Day,

Murderer

.

Insanity count:

1

.

Santos

zwetschenwasser, found murdered on the First Night,

Cultist

.

Insanity Count:

1

.
chenhsi, lynched on the Second Day,

Murderer

.

Insanity count:

2

.
DeathNote, found murdered,

Murderer

.

Insanity Count:

2

.
nhammen, found murdered,

Investigator

.

Insanity Count:

2

.
dramonic, lynched on the Third Day,

Murderer

.

Insanity Count:

3

.

Nyx

Cass

CSL, lynched on the Fourth Day,

Cultist

.

Insanity Count:

1

.

Ruleset

Roles

Investigator

: Honest individuals caught in the deadly machinations of the Cult. You must outwit and outplay the evil Cultists and deranged Murderers, fending off the strange and horrifying supernatural world that threatens to overwhelm you.
Around three quarters of the playerbase begin as Investigators.

Special Ability

:
-Preparation - All Investigators begin the game with a piece of

Equipment

assigned at random. Equipment types will be (roughly) evenly distributed amongst the Investigators.

Win Condition

:
The Investigators win when all Cultists and Murderers have been killed, provided there is at least one Investigator still alive.

Cultist

: Depraved individuals intent on slaughtering the Investigators. They command the dark, supernatural forces that threaten the lives of every Investigator and Murderer, but at a price; their sanity will slowly be eaten away by the very beasts they try to control.
Around one quarter of the playerbase begin as Cultists.

Special Abilities

:
-Secret communication - All Cultists will receive a link to a QuickTopic thread with their PM. During the

Night

phase cultists may communicate with each other in this thread, provided they are still alive.
-The Ritual - Cultists may select the night actions

Craft Fetish

and

Participate in the Ritual

.

Win Condition

:
The Cultists win when they number at least half the remaining players, and there are no surviving Murderers, at the beginning of either the Night phase or the Day phase.

Murderer

: Players who succumb to the urge to strike out against unseen horrors and go on a killing spree become Murderers. They become lone wolves, fighting for themselves alone. They descend the dark steps to insanity as they strike out at former friends and foes with equal ferocity.
No characters begin as Murderers.

Special Abilities

:
-Traitor - Murderers who began the game as Cultists retain their Special Abilities when they become Murderers.
-Killer - Murderers may take the

Murder

action more than once.

Win Condition

:
A Murderer wins instantly upon the completion of a Murder action, provided that they:
-are the only Murderer alive,
-have completed more successful murders than any deceased Murderer, and
-have completed at least two Murders before this one.

Global Mechanics

Night and Day

The game is broken into two phases,

Night

and

Day

. During the Day, the spirits retreat from the harsh sunlight; at night, they come out to play.... if the Investigators get too close to each other, the spirits will whisper and curse, pushing and pleading with them to strike against one another. The Investigators retreat to dark corners and small rooms to await the day, managing only small bursts of activity to do what they can to save their fellows and root out the Cultists.

Each Night, all players may perform a single

Night Action

. The Cultists may perform

The Ritual

and communicate secretly in their QuickTopic thread. Characters may not publicly post at night.
During the Day, all characters discuss events in the game thread and perform a

Lynching

. Play then proceeds to Night again.

The game begins at Night.

Lynching

During the day, a

Lynch

is performed. Each character has one vote as to who they want lynched, which can be changed at any time. Once at least half of the characters left alive have voted to lynch a player, that character is killed. Once the required number of votes has been reached, no further vote changes will be counted. The lynched player may not speak, though others may continue to post until the thread is locked by a moderator. The option to lynch nobody is available (

Vote: No Lynch

). If a majority of players vote for No Lynch, the game moves to the Night phase.

Votes must be marked in bold in the format

Vote: Herbert West

. You may

Unvote: Herbert West

to undo the previous vote. Whilst they are encouraged when changing your vote,

Unvote

s are not mandatory.

A successful lynch will reveal the

Insanity count

of the lynched player, but not his role (but see

Rob Grave, below

).

States

Bloody

- Characters may get blood on their Night clothes from the

Resuscitate

and

Murder

actions, as well as from

The Ritual

. The

Investigate

action can detect blood. The

Launder

action will clean the blood away.

Hearing Noise

- Night actions that target a character will often make noise. If your character is the target of at least one of

Craft Fetish

,

Resuscitate

,

Investigate

,

Ward

or

Stalk

, or if your character performs the

Ward

action, you will receive the message "You heard noises in the night" upon the start of the next day. You will receive the same message, even if multiple noisy actions target you.

Insane

- Every character begins the game with an Insanity Count of 0. As they are exposed to the bleak horrors of their environment (willingly or unwillingly), their count rises. The

Rob Grave

,

Stalk

,

Murder

and

Research

actions all cause Insanity, as will being saved from death by a successful

Resuscitate

and participating in

The Ritual

.

Launder

and

Ward

can also cause insanity, as will receiving a

Fetish

of yourself from a Cultist.

Each time a player's insanity score goes up, they will receive a PM from the Moderator. They must choose an insanity from the list below at the start of the next day, prior to posting. You can only choose the insanities marked

*

more than once, and then not twice in a row. You can never remove or change your insanities.

(i) Taboo

*

- Choose an action you have Equipment for, Launder or (if a cultist) Craft Fetish. You may no longer take that action. If you choose Taboo (Launder), you may not take Compulsion.
(ii) Hallucination - You always hear Noises each night regardless of actions taken.
(iii) Compulsion - If you are Bloody, you must Launder. You may not choose Taboo (Launder) in the future.
(iv) Aversion

*

- Choose a player who is alive. You may no longer discuss that player, or even vote to lynch that player. You may mention the player only if you discuss every other living player in your post. If you are a Cultist, you may not choose another Cultist.
(v) Distraction - Your lynch vote, once placed on another player, cannot revert to a player you voted to lynch earlier today or yesterday.
(vi) Paranoid - If any living player has voted to lynch you, you may only vote to lynch players who have voted to lynch you.
(vii) Twitchy - All posts by you must contain "*twitch*" or "*twitches*". If *twitch* or *twitches* is

the only thing

in your sig, the Moderator will edit it into the body of your post.
(viii) Avolition

*

- For two days, your vote no longer contributes to a lynch. Your vote still shows up in vote counts.
(ix) Sadism - You may only place your votes on players who are one or two votes away from a lynch.
(x) Psychopathy - You are now a Murderer.

If a character posts before PMing their Insanity choice(s) to the Moderator, or if they contradict one of their Insanities in any post, the Moderator will insert the text

Insanity Infraction

into the post. If a character receives 3 Insanity Infractions between posts by the Moderator (including Vote Counts) in a single Day, or receives 5 Insanity Infractions between posts by the Moderator over the course of the game, they will be modkilled.

Dead

- Once you have been lynched, murdered or killed by the Ritual, you may no longer post. You may still be the target of the

Rob Grave

action.

Dust

- You may no longer be the target of

Rob Grave

. All of your Equipment is destroyed (if it was not taken by a grave robber), and your alignment is made known to the players.

Chaos

- If

every living player

is Bloody at any time, all Investigators gain the Psychopathy insanity, and the Day phase no longer occurs. For this state to be triggered, there must be at least three more Investigators than Cultists remaining.

Night Actions

The following are the available Night Actions. They take place in the listed order.

Participate in the Ritual

Each night the Cultists may perform a ritual to raise a horrific beast from beyond reality to slay one of their foes. Each Cultist may submit a name to the Moderator. If one name has a clear majority, the beast will slay that character. If no name has a majority, the Ritual will fail. In order to slay the victim, one of the Cultists submitting the name of the victim must possess a

Fetish

linked to the target. A Fetish cannot be used in the Ritual the night it is crafted. If for some reason the target of the Ritual is a Cultist (the other Cultists suspect they might be a Murderer, for instance) no Fetish is needed.

All Cultists who submit a name for the Ritual gain an

Insanity

. When the beast returns to report success, any Cultist who submitted the name of the victim will get

Blood

on them. Investigators can distract the spirits by taking the

Research

action (see below). The Ritual will also be disrupted if its target is

Murdered

(see below). If the ritual is disrupted, the Cultists do not get Blood on them.

A Cultist who dies during the night will still contribute to the Ritual. Cultists may participate in the ritual and perform another Night Action. The Ritual resolves at the end of the Night.
Sample PM: I submit

Herbert West's name

to the Ritual.

Launder

You make a dash to the Laundry machine. All blood on your clothes is washed away. Blood earned by events tonight will get your clothes dirty again. A character who launders their clothes when they are already clean will gain an

Insanity

.
Sample PM: Tonight I will

Launder

.

Equip

You search the surroundings for items. You acquire your choice of Forensic Tools, Resuscitation Kit, Protective Wards or Occult Books.
You may not Equip a Medical Kit if you are Bloody. If you become Bloody with a Medical Kit equipped, your Medical Kit is destroyed.
Sample PM: Tonight I will

Equip: Occult Books

.

Ward

You draw elaborate warding symbols around another player's room, covering their walls and doors to protect them from human surveillance. This will cause the

Craft Fetish

and

Stalk

actions to fail if they target that player. This action requires Protective Wards. If you took this action last night as well, you gain an

Insanity

. Stalk And Craft Fetish will work on you tonight even if someone is using Ward on you (and thus targetting yourself wastes your action). You generate

Noise

for your target. You hear

Noise

.
Sample PM: Tonight I will

Ward: Herbert West

.

Craft Fetish

You wait outside another player's room, waiting to sneak in and steal some hair or toenail clippings while they sleep. You make a Fetish linked to the character of your choice. This creates

Noise

for your target.
As an additional free action, you may pass one fetish you possess to another player. You may not pass fetishes immediately after creating them. Receiving a fetish of oneself causes the character to gain an

Insanity

if the player would not otherwise get one tonight.
Only Cultists may take this action.
Sample PM: Tonight I will

Craft Fetish: Herbert West

. I will also

Pass Fetish (Walter Gilman) to Edward Derby

.

Rob Grave

You unearth the body of a

Dead

player and burn their corpse. This turns them to

Dust

, revealing their alignment. You gain an

Insanity

. If you were the only player to target the Dead player with the Rob Grave action, you gain their Equipment (if they possessed any). Cultists also gain their Fetishes (if they possessed any).
Sample PM: Tonight I will

Rob Grave: Herbert West

.

Resuscitate

You watch over another character, ready to save them from the brink of death. If they would die tonight, due to

The Ritual

or a

Murder

, that kill is prevented. Further kills are not prevented.
This action requires a

Resuscitation Kit

as Equipment. If you prevent a death, your Resuscitation Kit is consumed, you and your target each get

Blood

on your clothes and your target gains an

Insanity

. If your target is not threatened by death, you generate

Noise

for them instead. This ability resolves even if you are also targetted by The Ritual or a Murder.
Rescuscitate will fail if your target also chooses Resuscitate (and thus targetting yourself wastes an action).
Sample PM: Tonight I will

Resuscitate: Walter Gilman

.

Investigate

You sneak into another player's room, scanning for blood. You determine whether your target has

Blood

on their clothes. This action requires

Forensic Tools

as Equipment. If Blood is found, the Forensic Tools are consumed and must be replaced. Investigate creates

Noise

for your target.
Sample PM: Tonight I will

Investigate: Edward Derby

.

Stalk

You prepare to murder another character, studying their movements and readying your tools to suit the task. This creates

Noise

for them, and gives you an

Insanity

. A Cultist may not take this action unless they are already a Murderer.
Sample PM: Tonight I will

Stalk: Erich Zann

.

Murder

You kill another character, satisfying your lust for vengeance, for power, for the sheer thrill of it. You may only Murder a character if you

Stalked

them last night. You cannot take this action for a second time in a game unless you are a Murderer. You get

Blood

on you. You gain an

Insanity

. Your Murder will resolve even if you are Murdered.
Sample PM: Tonight I will

Murder: Erich Zann

.

Research

You perform spells to identify a character's connection to the otherworldly, drawing the spirit world through your mind. This action requires

Occult Books

as Equipment. Choose a player. If they have more Insanity than you, the result is a

Yes

and the books are consumed. Otherwise the result is a

No

. You gain an

Insanity

. This action causes

no Noise

.
Sample PM: Tonight I will

Research: Walter Gilman

.

Ritual Resolves

If the number of Cultists submitting a name to the Moderator is equal to or greater than the number of Investigators performing Research, or half the number of surviving Cultists (rounded up), whichever is smaller, then the target of the Ritual is killed.

Other Game Rules

Do not discuss this game with other players outside this thread. The only exception to this rule are the Cultists, who may post in their QuickTopic thread, though only at night.
Do not directly quote any PMs you receive from the Moderator. Do not mention any content in an attempt to learn the content of another PM ("its third and fifteenth letter is g", etc.). Don't fake a PM and quote it, either.
Your Night Action choices are due to me by the posted deadline. If I do not receive your choice via PM by the posted deadline (usually 72 hours from the threadlock) you will forfeit your action(s).
I will attempt to post Votecounts once per 3 pages or once per three days, whichever is less.
The Moderator may set a deadline for the lynch. At this time, whoever has the majority of votes will be lynched. If there is a tie, whoever received their final vote first will be lynched.

This game is a commitment, and should be treated as such. If you're going to be unable to post for a significant period of time, let me know (it will help to let the other players know as well, of course).

I will prod players for being inactive for 5 days, and then possibly replace at my discretion. Players who receive multiple prods throughout the course of the game may be replaced as well.
All of the Moderator's decisions are final. The Moderator reserves the right to modify the rules during the course of the game.

Purple is the Moderator's colour

. Do not use it. Do not use small/invisible text.
Violating any of these rules will result in a punishment according to their severity, from a private or public rebuke up to and including a Modkill. Modkills may be accompanied by a change in phase, at the discretion of the Moderator.

If you see something you don't understand, ASK! If you have any questions feel free to PM me directly, or

mark your question in bold

in the thread. If they are asked publicly, I will append them to the list below for ease of reference.

Questions and Answers

Q: Are Wards consumed upon usage?
A: No. They're yours for the duration of the game.

Q: Does the target of a successful Resuscitate action know that a save occurred?
A: They will be informed that they have been saved, but not by whom.

Q: Can anyone choose Psychopath upon receiving their first insanity?
A: Yes.

Q: Are Research results always accurate?
A: Yes.

Q: Also, the cultists cannot kill night 0 because they must first craft fetishes, right?
A: Yes, Investigators are safe from being killed by the Ritual on Night 0.

Q: For research, do you gain an insanity before or after the research calculations?
A: Afterwards.

Q: With the ritual, you gain insanity at the start and blood at the end?
A: Yes.

Q: It seems that the only useful actions that could be made on N0 are Equip, Ward, Craft Fetish, and Stalk.
A: This is true!

Q: The Murderer win condition actually doesn't require everyone else to be dead. What happens when a murderer wins? Does the game continue?
A: Game ends, murderer wins. Winning as a Murderer takes at least 6 nights worth of effort, and a lot of luck.

Q: If a Stalk is disrupted by wards, do you know about this? Do you still gain insanity?
A: You do know about it, and do not gain an Insanity.

Q: Does a disrupted ritual still cause insanity, but no blood, for the cultists?
A: Yes. Any cultist who submits a name to the ritual gains an Insanity, regardless of its success or failure.

Q: Can I submit "No Action"?
A: Yes.

Q: Can I have more than one piece of Equipment?
A: Yes, there is no limit.

[dramonic]

/confirm

yeah first post!

[Percy]

You arrive at the mansion in the early hours of the afternoon. It is a dusty, desolate place, creaking and groaning in the wind.

The others on your tour begin to conduct their own surveys, and you follow suit - electronic devices, books, tuning crystals, all trying to pierce the veil.

The guide attempts to marshal you together, but clearly some have wandered off. The short walking tour goes through the house's stranger features - the medical lab, the tired old library, and slowly winds down to the basement.

The site of the ritual all those years ago. The death and violence seems to congeal in your lungs as you descend into the darkness.

"I know there is a light switch around here somewhere..." says the guide.

Your stomach lurches, you scramble for something to hold on to, it feels as if the world itself is turning and leaving you behind. Terror. Cruelty. Madness.

Whispers...

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wagn'nagl fhtagn...
wagn'nagl fhtagn...
Cthulhu wagn'nagl fhtagn...

The lights never come on. It is with mobile phones and cigarette lighters that you discover the tour guide, flayed and disembowelled on the floor.

Terror. Cruelty. Violence. Insanity.

A sudden urge grips you, and you must get away from these people. They can't look at you. They can't see you. All the doors to the outside world are locked. The windows are sealed shut with magic far greater than you've ever seen before.

You retreat to a far corner of the house, and prepare to find out who did this to you.


Not everyone is so afraid, however. They sharpen their knives, recite their mantras, and give glory and praise to the Elder Gods.

It is now Confirmation/Night 0. Please reply with a "\confirm" in this thread once you have received your PM, and send in your Night Action. Both Investigators and Cultists have Night Actions available to them.

Do not post other than to confirm, as it is currently Night

.

Cultists may also discuss in their quicktopic thread.

The Day will begin on Wednesday the 22nd of July. If you have not confirmed by the 21st, I will seek your replacement.

PMs going out now.

[ZykeZero]

/Confirming.

[Sarag]

/confirm

[sideney]

/confirm

[Drench]

le /confirm

[jasonT1981]

/confirm

[12Keyblade]

/confirm

[xxFabianxx]

/confirm

[Cephrir]

/confirm

[Datadanne]

/Comfirm

[Nyx]

/confirm

[curiouskarmadog]

back up mod checking in, if you need me PM me.

[EriktheRed]

Confirmed.

[nhammen]

/confirm

[Exalt]

/confirm

[chenhsi]

/confirm

[DeathNote]

/confirm

[JamesBond]

/confirm

[Magua]

/confirm

[Santos]

confirmed

[Kise]

/confirm

[Mastin]

/

Confirm

.

Not get us playing so that I can have my fun!

[itacv2]

Confirmado