In a recent discussion @ArsenLapin1 suggested a great idea for a Werewolf-inspired go variant:
I love the idea and would like to try it, who is with me?
We can also think about adding other secret roles. Here I suggested one possible setup that (I believe) could work well:
Setup
9 players, 1 arbiter
roles:
4x Villager
is told at the start that they are a villager
places stones with hidden colour “Village”
3x Werewolf
is told at the start that they are a Werewolf
places stones with hidden colour “Wolf”
is told at the start the set of players with hidden role Werewolf, Amnesiac or Spy (i.e. they don’t know exactly who is Spy or Amnesiac)
1x Spy
is told at the start that they are a Spy
places stones with hidden colour “Village”
1x Amnesiac
is told at the start that they are a villager
places stones with hidden Colour “Wolf”
All communication in one public thread, random sequencial playing order. After any player submits a move (done via the public thread), the arbiter resolves captures, if there are any (+ the next move can’t be submitted before the arbiter confirms captures).
Team Village: all players placing stones with hidden colour “Village”
Team Wolf: all players placing stones with hidden colour “Wolf”
The goal of each team is to gain more points for their colour than the other team. (not all players know for certain which team they are on)
I imagine this will be especially fun on smaller boards, where players can’t easily build safe groups without relying on other players.
If we believe that one team is advantaged over the other, we can always try to even the playing field with komi.
I would like to use this thread to discuss the rules and - if there are enough people who are interested in playing - setup for a first game!
Thoughts about how to end and score the game, that you probably don't need to read
I’ve been thinking about the rule-gaps that still need to be filled. Given that it will be a competition for the higher score, it makes sense to allow passing, and to end the game when all players pass consecutively.
We also need to decide how the end position will be scored, for example territory or area scoring. Here there is a big difference between the two, since in each round, the number of Village stones is not equal to the number of Wolf stones played.
Note that the ending position with revealed colours may be very different from what we expect a usual end position to look like, due to the uncertainty of the players, and our rule should be able to handle all positions.
A reason against (or for?) area scoring is the following: Assuming no komi, and that no capture occurs in round 1. Then team Village is already in a position where they win if the game proceeds to counting, and everybody knows this. Thus a strategy is for all villagers to pass in round 2. At least one Wolf needs to place a stone during round 2, effectively revealing their role.
I would suggest that we use territory scoring, except that dead stones need to be taken off, or it does not count as territory.
Another rule detail: I assume suicide is allowed? Makes sense since you can’t know for sure if a move will be suicide or not, so disallowing it would make the mechanics somewhat awkward. (Unless I’m missing sonething which is entirely possible.)
Mmm, I told myself I wouldn’t join such games after Codenames but I don’t see how I could ruin things here
I would play but I would also gladly give my place to someone else
If there are enough players without me, the others should feel free to start without me. Otherwise maybe place me last in the move order in which case it might not be my move that much earlier anyway.
I personally don’t mind pausing the game for a few weeks, as long as we continue afterwards (although I don’t know how other participants might feel about it).
This variant is rather flexible with regards to the number of participants. So I’d like to give an opportunity to all who want to try it out. Waiting a few weeks is no problem in my opinion.
