ircher's micro normal review, June 2019

[implosion]

Subject: Micro Game Queue

/in to Mod

Game Name:

A Normal Game

Game Type:

Is your game a Theme, Normal, or Open?

Normal

Game Size:

How many players can join your game?

9

Co/Backup Mod:

Not required, but strongly recommended

To be determined.

Reviewed By:

Not required, but strongly recommended

The NRG will review it.

Hydrae Allowed?:

Will you allow hydra to sign-up?

Hydrae are prohibited in normal games.

Other Restrictions?:

Are there restrictions for who can play your game?

Wisdom of the moderator applies; players may appeal to the moderator if they do not wish to play with a certain player. (Whether or not the moderator grants the request is for me to decide.)

Deadlines?:

What Day/Night deadlines will you use for your game?

14 day day 1, 10 days day 2, 7 days for other days. 48 hour nights that may be accelerated if all living players request such. Note that prods will occur every 36 hours (60 hours on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday).

Is it possible your game has any of the following bastard roles or mechanics?

cults, mid-game alignment changes, moderator lies that cannot be reasonably anticipated (for example, Godfather, Tailor, Miller, Ninja, and mechanics like that are generally fine. Telling someone they are a reflexive doctor when they're actually a PGO is not), secret win conditions, un-divulged non-randomness in player role/alignment generation, direct moderator influence during the game

No; it is a normal game.

Description:

Is there any other information players should know about your game?

This will be just a small and fun normal game.

Role List:
1. Town Loud Mailman
2. Town Loud Mailman
3. Town Traffic Analyst
---
4. Vanilla Townie
5. Vanilla Townie
6. Vanilla Townie
7. Vanilla Townie
---
8. Mafia Roleblocker
9. Mafia Encryptor

Role PMs:
1. Town Loud Mailman

Spoiler: Town Loud Mailman

Welcome, {Player}, to Micro {X}: A Normal Game.
You are a

Town Loud Mailman

!

Each night, you may attempt to send a message to another player. If your action succeeds, your target will receive your message and learn that you targeted them that night. (Note that the two messages (your message and the loud notification) will be sent as separate pms.)

Sample Message

You have received some anonymous mail! The contents are as follows:
{Your Message Goes Here}.

Loud Notification

{Player} visited you last night.

You win when all threats to the town are eliminated, and at least one townie is alive!

Please confirm both by PM and in-thread.

2. Town Traffic Analyst

Spoiler: Town Traffic Analyst

Welcome, {Player}, to Micro {X}: A Normal Game.
You are a

Town Traffic Analyst

!

Each night, you may investigate a player to learn if they can communicate privately with another player. (Please note that if there is only one player left in a private thread, you will get a negative result.)

Can Communicate

{Player} can communicate privately.

Cannot Communicate

{Player} cannot communicate privately.

No Result

No Result.

You win when all threats to the town are eliminated, and at least one townie is alive!

Please confirm both by PM and in-thread.

3. Vanilla Townie

Spoiler: Vanilla Townie

Welcome to Micro {X}: A Normal Game.
You are a

Vanilla Townie

!

You possess no special abilities, but you possess both a voice and a vote. Use them well!

You win when all threats to the town are eliminated, and at least one townie is alive!

Please confirm both by PM and in-thread.

4. Mafia Roleblocker

Spoiler: Mafia Roleblocker

Welcome, {Player}, to Micro {X}: A Normal Game.
You are a

Mafia Roleblocker

!

Each night, you may attempt to prevent a player from acting.

As a member of the mafia, you may also select a person to kill; however, you cannot roleblock and kill at the same time.
You may talk freely with your fellow mafioso in a private thread. The link will be sent in a separate pm. Note that by default, the two of you do not possess daytalk.

You win when the mafia equal or outnumber the town, or nothing can prevent this from happening.

Please confirm both by PM and in-thread.

5. Mafia Encryptor

Spoiler: Mafia Encryptor

Welcome, {Player}, to Micro {X}: A Normal Game.
You are a

Mafia Encryptor

.

You allow the mafia to converse during the day as well as during the night.

As a member of the mafia, you may also select a person to kill; however, you cannot roleblock and kill at the same time.
You may talk freely with your fellow mafioso in a private thread. The link will be sent in a separate pm. Note that by default, the two of you do not possess daytalk.

You win when the mafia equal or outnumber the town, or nothing can prevent this from happening.

Please confirm both by PM and in-thread.

[schadd_]

Role List: 1. Town Loud Mailman 2. Town Loud Mailman 3. Town Traffic Analyst --- 4. Vanilla Townie 5. Vanilla Townie 6. Vanilla Townie 7. Vanilla Townie --- 8. Mafia Roleblocker 9. Mafia Encryptor Role PMs: 1. Town Loud Mailman Spoiler: Town Loud Mailman Welcome, {Player}, to Micro {X}: A Normal Game. You are a Town Loud Mailman ! Each night, you may attempt to send a message to another player. If your action succeeds, your target will receive your message and learn that you targeted them that night. (Note that the two messages (your message and the loud notification) will be sent as separate pms.) Sample Message You have received some anonymous mail! The contents are as follows: {Your Message Goes Here}. Loud Notification {Player} visited you last night. You win when all threats to the town are eliminated, and at least one townie is alive! Please confirm both by PM and in-thread. 2. Town Traffic Analyst Spoiler: Town Traffic Analyst Welcome, {Player}, to Micro {X}: A Normal Game. You are a Town Traffic Analyst ! Each night, you may investigate a player to learn if they can communicate privately with another player. (Please note that if there is only one player left in a private thread, you will get a negative result.) Can Communicate {Player} can communicate privately. Cannot Communicate {Player} cannot communicate privately. No Result No Result. You win when all threats to the town are eliminated, and at least one townie is alive! Please confirm both by PM and in-thread. 3. Vanilla Townie Spoiler: Vanilla Townie Welcome to Micro {X}: A Normal Game. You are a Vanilla Townie ! You possess no special abilities, but you possess both a voice and a vote. Use them well! You win when all threats to the town are eliminated, and at least one townie is alive! Please confirm both by PM and in-thread. 4. Mafia Roleblocker Spoiler: Mafia Roleblocker Welcome, {Player}, to Micro {X}: A Normal Game. You are a Mafia Roleblocker ! Each night, you may attempt to prevent a player from acting. As a member of the mafia, you may also select a person to kill; however, you cannot roleblock and kill at the same time. You may talk freely with your fellow mafioso in a private thread. The link will be sent in a separate pm. Note that by default, the two of you do not possess daytalk. You win when the mafia equal or outnumber the town, or nothing can prevent this from happening. Please confirm both by PM and in-thread. 5. Mafia Encryptor Spoiler: Mafia Encryptor Welcome, {Player}, to Micro {X}: A Normal Game. You are a Mafia Encryptor . You allow the mafia to converse during the day as well as during the night. As a member of the mafia, you may also select a person to kill; however, you cannot roleblock and kill at the same time. You may talk freely with your fellow mafioso in a private thread. The link will be sent in a separate pm. Note that by default, the two of you do not possess daytalk. You win when the mafia equal or outnumber the town, or nothing can prevent this from happening. Please confirm both by PM and in-thread.

[schadd_]

mastina voice

So like.

If you were to run this setup blind, 100 times, maaaaybe it would have a reasonable winrate.

Maybe.

Like, the big question is, will town trust that the Loud Mailmen are town? Will they, in the knowledge that this setup is balanced, assume that the Loud Mailmen are essentially Town Neighborizers?

If they do, sure, this is a fine setup. If they don't, well..... I don't think it's good enough.

.

i tend to be even more skeptical of this sort of thing than mastina is, though i do believe it would be at least in the 40% range in practice. i don't trust loud mailman to be, like, a utility role very much (and neither does the mastina that i'm summoning up for that matter) since not only is it a purely communication role, it's a one-sided non-anonymous communcation role. the only difference between sending mail and just posting in thread at someone is that its a secret message (from someone who might not have anything to hide) and that the recipient knows somebody did a visiting night action (not even necessarily that they specifically gave them the mail). maybe you're thinking they arrange some clever way for the traffic analyst to encrypt results but that's really hard to make happen even under assumption of perfect play

i think the town power of the mailmen comes from setup spec and from the assumption that they are probably not multitasking since they already have a modifier. and if they're assumed both town + a traffic result or two comes in, sure, that might be ok town power - but its not really reliable, in my opinion. i'd also go as far as to say i like this setup for the normal queue because it duplicates a new & complicated role which doesn't happen often. but it's the sort of thing that lends to really rough balance scenarios (this would be close to a mountainous game in a lot of circumstances) that make people frustrated, and i don't think it's all that great for scum play either (all they can do is try to find the one useful rb target and maybe argue against the mailmen being masons). i'd pass as is if you were really married to the idea but i'd prefer if one of the mailmen were replaced with some other (not even that strong!) role, such as loud rolecop, night 2 loyal voyeur, loud innocent child for a few examples.

other notes:
-i don't have a problem with anything if you already know this but the current ruling is that traffic analyst doesn't get a positive on mailmen. just seemed like that might be something that might be a confusion
-i'd encourage removing the encryptor and making this a confirmed daytalk setup. thats mostly because as is there is a minority of vanilla roles and removing encryptor takes out some of the noise (no pun intended) without changing the way the setup plays. im also just partial to publicly confirmed daytalk in general but etc

[Ircher]

[quote="implosion from normal changes thread in mafia discussion]Mailman: Target a player at night, and the mod will relay a message of your choice to them. Note that as this role can communicate privately, it should receive a "can communicate privately" result when investigated by a traffic analyst. The mod should make it explicit that this message is coming from a mailman, but not what player sent it.[/quote]
Doesn't that mean they do get a positive result on mailmen?

I could do this instead:

1. Town Loud Mailman
2. Town 2-Shot Friendly Neighbor
3. Town Traffic Analyst
---
4. Vanilla Townie
5. Vanilla Townie
6. Vanilla Townie
7. Vanilla Townie
---
8. Mafia Roleblocker
9. Mafia Goon

Global daytalk is enabled.

[schadd_]

oh lol i misread the wiki page lol

yeah itd be rather scumsided with 2 mailmen then.

/pass for the above

[schadd_]

theres something about u and friendly neighbors.....................