Mini Normal 2058 (Endgame)

[mastina]

-I think it was still a bit scumsided.

GEE, YOU THINK?

I do indeed.
As the reviewer who passed it, I feel ashamed.
I kinda gave up in the review to be honest.
I don't even remember passing it, to be frank.
I knew it wasn't a good setup.

[mastina]

who the fuck passed this setup

I'M SORRY; I DON'T REMEMBER DOING IT
I do remember giving up on the review tho so presumably out of apathy.

[mastina]

can i have opinions from the players on whether this setup belonged in the normal queue

My main opposition to it was pretty much exactly that, actually.

This seems like a theme game?

So I'll step in and say:

This game is technically normal; it fits the strict requirements of a normal game.

However, it will not fit the expectations, I suspect, of a good majority of players entering the normal queue.

Having a single nearly all-powerful role like a bulletproof IC that is given a free division of the player list in half goes against the expectation of a "normal game of mafia." If that person shares the information publicly then the game turns into "hunt the two scum from each subgroup" which feels distinctly like a theme mechanic because it becomes the entire focus of the game. If they don't share that information, then the game becomes essentially one person playing solitaire and directing all of the lynches while everyone else is forced to blindly follow (and in fact, this is probably the optimal way to play the role, as it prevents scum from knowing how the groups are laid out and planning nightkills around it).

^A more wordy way of what I was getting at, basically.

I realize people tend not to consider Neighbors as roles in the design world, but I'm a bit concerned that from the play perspective, the setup only has two VTs?
Yes, there's essentially-vanilla-neighbors, but they aren't actual bona fide VTs.

I'm still uncomfortable with how there's only two legitimate VTs--even the neighbors aren't just neighbors; they have a modifier which makes them stand out even more than just being a neighbor would. It still feels like a theme more than a normal with that mechanic.

(You can just see the progression in my willpower eroding and for that I do apologize; I take full responsibility for failing as a reviewer here. I have no defense. Normally when I pass a setup and players complain about it postgame, I can defend my actions--I've nothing for this game.)

[mastina]

Can I also say that the modkill was bullshit, by the way?

[mastina]

Btw relevant to this game.
MONTHS before I was a reviewer on this setup.
I designed this setup. (It was in the queue for longer because nobody took it. >_> <_<)

If you look at what the town had there, you have

my

idea of what town needs against four groupscum.