Well, perhaps @Vsotvep or @Gia or another experienced player could link me to a generic ruleset that I can modify appropriately?
I can bash out a set of rules out later tonight, after Iāve finished procrastinating my anki deck
My humble opinion would be:
-Decide on the setting and story. However, donāt be too specific and detail-rich, since itās best for the spiderās web to develop organically during the game.
-Few players, few special roles. More players, few special roles. Many, many players, many special roles.
-Expect exceptions to the rules, or non-anticipated occurrences. Theyāll happen.
-Be kind, but firm. An open world game is as good as its invisible walls ( ).
-It seems 48h day/ 24h night works best for everyone, since only special roles are active during the night (I know there have been some suggestions, but they require very careful planning IMHO and they may derail more often than add to the enjoyment).
-Be creative, but smart, with the special role assignments.
Start a thread for general questions and recruiting, and then a thread for the actual game.
If you feel like it, the previous games have the Forum Games tag and thereās not a lot (threads, thereās a LOT of posts). You might enjoy skimming them.
By the way, obviously Vsotvep, since he has credit as Game Master, will have more solid advice, but I have to offer my wisdom, although Iām sitting this one out.
Alright then.
This is the setting: a British merchant vessel c. 1830, on a trading voyage to Shanghai with the aim of selling opium for spices and porcelain; though large, with several decks and holds, it is running with a skeletion crew to save money. Drifting on poor winds through the sea northwest of the Indies (Indonesia), the ship was attacked at night by fishlike savages, who tried to clamber aboard from the open ocean.
The crew hoped that all the āfish-menā had been repelled, and eased themselves with idle pastimes over the next day and tried to forget; but the next morning, Captain Bugcat is found murdered ā have some of these piscine predators snuck on board?
We will have four roles:
One Fishman. He has the option to kill every night.
The Doctor: He can save an attacked player, but only if another player brings the victim to him during the night. The victim will not remember who attacked them.
The Stevedore: He can guard a player at night, and when the fishman attacks he can drive it away and bring the player to the Doctor. He also cannot see who the fishman is.
The Lieutenant: Each night, he can check the bedroom of one player to see whether theyāre asleep.
How does that sound?
Waitā¦ this way, the whole idea breaks down because the fishman needs to be impersonating someone. Damn. Gotta think about it againā¦
I guess the fishmen are shapeshifters and only transform at nightā¦
@yebellz An Amazonian warrior goddess on a 19th century British merchant ship?
Whoa, you replied to my post with an edit in an earlier post, so naturally I should ninja-edit here to reply to you:
@bugcat, maybe she got stuck in this era because the time machine (used by the 25th century scientist/explorer) broke and stranded her with little options, but to join this crew in order to make a living and survive. Iām sure her strength and fighting skills come in handy.
Why are you assuming that all the sailors are male???
Note: this is not some sort of politically correct thing. I just want to leave open the possibility for someone (even if they are male in real life) to roleplay as, say for example, a 2-meter tall Amazonian warrior goddess.
They are werefishmen
@yebellz Iāve got a more practical idea: since weāre set in the buildup to the First Opium War, how about the āwerewolfā in this case is a Chinese sabateur? Perhaps we even have the ship carrying secret military gear with the opium as a frontā¦
Also, vis.-a-vis. female characters, Iām perfectly happy to have women pretending to be men, thereās even room for special restrictions there to thicken the plot~
So the saboteurs can somehow mimic the crew?
If this is meant to be set before the Opium Wars broke out, then it makes little sense for there to be some sort of operation to smuggle in military gear under the guise of active opium trade, since the trade crackdown triggering the wars happened quite suddenly, and the eventual outbreak of war was probably not foreseen. And, of course, it would make no sense to smuggle military gear under the guise of opium after it was banned.
I think the main currency sought was silver, which was heavily needed by the British to support their addiction for tea, which was monopolized by China at that point.
So the saboteurs can somehow mimic the crew?
No, that crew member would have been a saboteur the entire time but only now taken their moment to strike. They wouldnāt actually be Chinese, but in the pay of the Chinese state.
You know, Iām actually not too enthusiastic about this setting.
I think Iāll return to my first idea, the African expedition, and I should have a write-up with roles ready fairly soon.
Do people want to
a) Design and choose their own characters
b) Pick from a list of characters I designed
or c) Just be assigned one?
Iām fine with just being assigned one.
As far as the rules are concerned, I think theyāre fair and interesting
Iām sure we can make something out of the story wherever it is played. Iād say @bugcat just chooses a setting and rolls with it. I also never really discussed the setting when hosting a game.
Iām also fine with being assigned a role. But Iād really like to see some diversity, just because it would be more fun.