Role Feedback and Theorycrafting Thread

When I host games, I tend to really like basing them around flavor and designing factions and roles based on flavor. Most of the time, it comes out a little unbalanced, and I have to pull myself back. Sometimes, I come up with a role that just sounds SO COOL in my head, and perfectly fits the character I'm assigning it to...and it turns out to be broken as hell.

This has happened to me even when I was paired with cohosts; Auramaster and I talked over Grovyle in PMD mafia for a while, and both of us assumed people would use the Time Gear mechanic as it was intended (strategically pass Time Gears to hook enemy players when Grovyle steals them). We never stopped to think that Lady Salamence would walk up to the village leader on IRC and say "Yo, can you just give me the Time Gears?"

In Twilight Princess Mafia, More Cowbell and I had the opposite happen. We thought the recruiting Masons in the village would be far too powerful, and put in several mechanics that were designed to nerf them and keep endgame balanced (Recruiter dies if he targets mafia, has the lowest priority in the game, and neither Mason can claim Mason in the thread). It turned out that the RNG gave the Mason roles to Metal Sonic and Obbmud99, who barely even used the Mason chat and guaranteed their recruit would be hooked every night by claiming PR Day 1.

I'm sure I'm not the only person here who does stuff like this, which is why I wanted to make this thread.

Basically (I'm so bad at writing thread intros lol), if you have a novel role idea but aren't sure of how it'll interact with other roles/affect game balance, post it here. If we all get together and give feedback on crazy roles people come up with, it may help make future games more interesting while keeping them reasonably balanced.
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If you want to post up a specific role PM and have your own role PM format, go ahead and use it so I can steal it (mine's both a little messy and a little too rigid). If you don't have hosting experience or don't have a set role PM format, then I have some templates below:
Generic NOC Role PM

Dear <USER>, you are a <FACTION><ROLE>. (During the day/At Night), you may post "D/NX-<ACTION FLAVOR> in (your Role PM Conversation/the game thread). If you do, <ACTION FLAVOR>, causing <ACTION EFFECT>. You are allied with <FACTION>. You win if you eliminate all hostile players, or if nothing can prevent the same.
Generic NOC Informed Team PM

Dear <USER1>, <USER2>, <USER3>, ..., and <USERN>,
you are <FACTION>.

Your members are as follows:

<USER1>-<FACTION><ROLE>
<USER2>-<FACTION><ROLE>
<USER3>-<FACTION><ROLE>
...
<USERN>-<FACTION><ROLE>

Additionally, you have the following team abilities:

Team Chat: You can communicate in this topic at the following times:

Team Kill: At night, you may post "NX-Sending <ALLIED USER> to kill <USER>". You will send the player you choose to kill your target.

You are allied with <FACTION>. You win if you eliminate all hostile players.

These PMs are intended for OC-legal play, not NOC. They're also ideal for themed games because they leave plenty of room for bios and unique action flavor.

Don't feel obligated to fill in flavor if you're just using the PM for this thread. Also, the number of actions listed here is really large for pretty much any mafia game; just cut out all the templates for abilities you don't want your role to have and fill in the blanks on the ones you want to use. Duplicate as necessary.

Sample OC Role PM:
Dear (<USER>/<ALIAS>),
you are <ROLE NAME> (from <SOURCE>).
<IMAGE>

<X sentences of character background>

You are a <FACTION> <ROLE>. You have the following abilities:

<INFORMATION PASSIVE> (Information) (Passive): You know <information>. Use this information however you wish.

<OTHER PASSIVE(s)> (Passive): <ABILITY FLAVOR>. <ABILITY EFFECT>.

<RAPID ACTION(s)> (Rapid Action): (During the Day/At Night), you may post “<trigger>” (in your Role PM conversation/in the thread). If you do, you will <ABILITY FLAVOR>, causing <ABILITY EFFECT>. This action resolves immediately upon receipt.

<NIGHT ACTIVE(s)>: At night, you may post “NX-<ACTION FLAVOR>” in your Role PM conversation. If you do, you will <ABILITY FLAVOR>, causing <ABILITY EFFECT>.

<X SHOT(s)> (X shot): (During the Day/At Night), you may post “NX-<ACTION FLAVOR>” in your Role PM conversation. If you do, you will <ABILITY FLAVOR>, causing <ABILITY EFFECT>. However, <X SHOT FLAVOR>, so you can only do this (once/X times) in the game.

You are allied with <FACTION>. You win if <WIN CONDITION>.
Host notes: <any mechanic that this role works off of, but doesn't know about>

Sample OC Informed Team PM
Dear <USER1>, <USER2>, <USER3>, …, and <USERN>,
you are <TEAM NAME>.

<TEAM FLAVOR>

Your members are:

<USER1>--<ALIAS1>--<ROLE NAME> (from <SOURCE>)--<FACTION><ROLE>--<ITEM>
<USER2>--<ALIAS2>--<ROLE NAME> (from <SOURCE>)--<FACTION><ROLE>--<ITEM>
<USER3>--<ALIAS3>--<ROLE NAME> (from <SOURCE>)--<FACTION><ROLE>--<ITEM>

<USERN>--<ALIASN>--<ROLE NAME> (from <SOURCE>)--<FACTION><ROLE>--<ITEM>

Additionally, you have the following factional abilities:

<FACTION> Falseclaim (information): You know that <ROLE NAME 1> (from <SOURCE>), <ROLE NAME 2> (from <SOURCE>), <ROLE NAME 3> (from <SOURCE>), …, and <ROLE NAME N> (from <SOURCE>) are not in the game. Use this information however you wish.

<TEAM KILL>: At night, you may post “NX-Killing (<USER>/<ALIAS>)” in your team conversation. You will kill your target.

<OTHER SHARED ACTIONS>: (During the Day/At Night), you may post “NX-Sending (<USER>/<ALIAS>) to <ACTION FLAVOR>” in your team conversation. If you do, you will send a member of your faction to <ABILITY FLAVOR>, causing <ABILITY EFFECT>.

You are all allied with <FACTION>. You win if <FACTION WC>.
Sample Item Information (if the role is meant for a game with items):

You have no item.
You have (a/an) <ITEM NAME>. <ITEM EFFECT>.
Host notes: <insert any hidden mechanics of the above item here>


Yeah tl;dr

-if you have a new role you're thinking of using but aren't sure about balance, post it here
-if you're just dropping in, give somebody else feedback on their role
-if this thread is bad for OSI just lock it
 
I don't know if any of this is old or not, but I'll just list ideas I haven't seen that I came up with for my never-to-be anime game that are probably super OP.

There's a role that steals an item but leaves a fake of it that doesn't do anything.
Kidnaps/Absorbs first night Uses Power/Spits out the next.
Several that deal with priority. Up, lower, guarantees.
Item Modifier and Item Protector Roles.
A freelancer that had a higher kill priority than others..

Just things like that. Also had an item that the player immune to sheriffs and ability checkers, but their vote never counted.

I'd love to see more roles that involve cooperation and "unlocks"
 
Hmm, these roles seem interesting.

I don't know if any of this is old or not, but I'll just list ideas I haven't seen that I came up with for my never-to-be anime game that are probably super OP.

There's a role that steals an item but leaves a fake of it that doesn't do anything.
Kidnaps/Absorbs first night Uses Power/Spits out the next.
Several that deal with priority. Up, lower, guarantees.
Item Modifier and Item Protector Roles.
A freelancer that had a higher kill priority than others..

Just things like that. Also had an item that the player immune to sheriffs and ability checkers, but their vote never counted.
Out of these roles, I really like the Kidnapper+Power Absorber. It's a good way of making a strategic kidnapping role as opposed to "this guy declared himself village leader, keep kidnapping so he can't play the game". Item Modifier and Item Protector are interesting roles as well, but I don't know exactly how Item Protector would work. Is it like a thiefblock (i.e: "whoever you targets can't have their item stolen") or a BG+SG that only blocks item actions? The latter sounds a lot more useful to me because thiefblock is just a super nerfed safeguard.

I'd love to see more roles that involve cooperation and "unlocks"
There was a bastard mafia game I was designing a while ago that I got bored of that had the following role in it:

Dear <USER>,
You are General Grievous (from Star Wars).

You were once a Kaleesh terrorist/freedom fighter before you were the victim of an assassination attempt by Count Dooku’s Confederacy. Now, you’re here to aid the Inglorious Bastards because you need something to do.

You are a Mafia Hydra. You have the following abilities:

General
(passive) : You are a General. This may or may not have game significance.

Robot
(passive): You are a robot. This may or may not have game significance.

Falseclaim
(information): You know that Padme Amidala (from Star Wars) is not in the game. Furthermore, you know that Padme Amidala would have been a Pacifist Bodyguard who won if there was a no lynch.

Kill Flavor
: If you are ordered to perform the mafia kill, your kill flavors are:

Chopped up by Lightsabers
Shot with a Laser Pistol
Pacified

Hydra
(Rapid Action): This player slot is a Hydra that posts through the Host and through the original slot filler. At any time while you are alive, any member of the Hydra may send me a message titled “D/NX-Hydra Post”. In the body of the PM, include a message you want me to post in the thread in your name. I will post the message the next time I come online. Only the original member of the Hydra, <USER>, can post in the thread on their own. Any actions targeted to <USER> will hit the Hydra as a whole, and if <USER> is lynched or killed the entire Hydra dies.

Extra Limb Attachment
: Once each night, one of you may send a PM to me titled “NX-Storing <USER>'s personality in another artificial limb”. <USER> must be a Smogon user who has played at least one mafia game on Circus Maximus and has not been a player in this game at any time. If these conditions have been met, you will add your target to the Hydra.

At night, each member of the Hydra may choose to use ONE of the following two abilities on whoever they wish.

Duel
: Each night, you may send a PM to me titled “NX-Dueling <USER>”. You will force your target to fight you in a lightsaber battle, preventing them from carrying out their highest priority night action.

Whirling Lightsaber
: Each night, you may send a PM to me titled “NX-Spinning my Lightsaber like a highly lethal fan near <USER>”. You will protect your target from the first action that would be used on them that night, no matter the source of the action or the action itself.

You are allied with the Inglorious Bastards. You win if you eliminate the Bastards and any harmful neutrals.
So essentially, they had two methods of posting: through the player who everyone else sees as the entire slot and through the host. At night, they would add players not in the game to the Hydra (which doesn't take much activity at all, so it's okay). Over time, as the Hydra got bigger and bigger, it became more and more powerful, allowing them to put out potentially 6 or more Hooks or Single Action Safeguards a night.

The role was obviously broken, and so was every other role in that game. The General passive, for example, was related to Major Major Major Major (from Catch-22) who could prevent a target from winning so long as he was alive unless they outranked him.
 
Out of these roles, I really like the Kidnapper+Power Absorber. It's a good way of making a strategic kidnapping role as opposed to "this guy declared himself village leader, keep kidnapping so he can't play the game". Item Modifier and Item Protector are interesting roles as well, but I don't know exactly how Item Protector would work. Is it like a thiefblock (i.e: "whoever you targets can't have their item stolen") or a BG+SG that only blocks item actions? The latter sounds a lot more useful to me because thiefblock is just a super nerfed safeguard.
The game was thought up in the heyday when you had 50+ users playing and everyone had to have an ability so it really is just an item safeguard. I don't remember my exact train of thought with it, so I don't know if I planned the character to just be able to not have any item he had on him be thiefed, or if he protected others items. It could've gone either way, but my game and the game I had in mind made extensive use of items so it wouldn't be THAT bad. Item Modifier was going to be able to turn any item he had into a different item he had come into contact with.

So essentially, they had two methods of posting: through the player who everyone else sees as the entire slot and through the host. At night, they would add players not in the game to the Hydra (which doesn't take much activity at all, so it's okay). Over time, as the Hydra got bigger and bigger, it became more and more powerful, allowing them to put out potentially 6 or more Hooks or Single Action Safeguards a night.

The role was obviously broken, and so was every other role in that game. The General passive, for example, was related to Major Major Major Major (from Catch-22) who could prevent a target from winning so long as he was alive unless they outranked him.
Wow, broken is an understatement. He definitely needed some limits. It's a neat use of the character's history though, which I always enjoyed.

But when I say unlocks I mean. User A gets Item A and receives Powers B or User B dies and User A gets new power, etc. And cooperation being Users A and B must both target Users C for action to work.
 
But when I say unlocks I mean. User A gets Item A and receives Powers B or User B dies and User A gets new power, etc. And cooperation being Users A and B must both target Users C for action to work.
So like a pair of twins who gain powers when the other dies?

I'm working on a game right now and one thing I was considering was a set of Twins who had one combined power when they were both alive, and then if one was killed the other would get a 1 shot vigilante kill or something.

How would "Player gets item A, gains powers" interact with a thief role?
 
So like a pair of twins who gain powers when the other dies?

I'm working on a game right now and one thing I was considering was a set of Twins who had one combined power when they were both alive, and then if one was killed the other would get a 1 shot vigilante kill or something.

How would "Player gets item A, gains powers" interact with a thief role?
Yeah, they'd be 'twins' but they wouldn't know one anothers identity to begin with. You could buff them with a 1 shot ability if you felt they were weak, yeah.

In my game the item was turned into a different one upon use. For example, I had a role based on Shredder from TMNT. He was normally a thief but if he consumed the item TGRI Ooze he would be incapacitated for one full cycle then come back with 2 One Time kills as his power thus losing his thief abilities. The TGRI Ooze item would become a Broken TGRI Ooze Cannister and be just a useless flavor item.

EDIT: More to what you were asking, I had another role based on Lord Zedd who had his staff as an item that let him power up a target and be able to target 2 targets at once. Course he couldn't use it on the same target over and over, but if it was stolen he lost his ability until he got it back.
 
So, I had an idea for a role based off the Inventor.

The first time the player is target with a type of action, they invent a device for performing that action, and that device acts as a normal Inventor gadget. So, for example, if he was targeted with a hook, he would get a gadget that bestowed a one-shot hook. However, he could invent no more hook gadgets.
 
So, I had an idea for a role based off the Inventor.

The first time the player is target with a type of action, they invent a device for performing that action, and that device acts as a normal Inventor gadget. So, for example, if he was targeted with a hook, he would get a gadget that bestowed a one-shot hook. However, he could invent no more hook gadgets.
Or, alternatively, a stronger version of that ability: if you're targeted by the same role twice in a row, then you can gain the hook ability permanently.
 
Welcome <player>, you are a Mafia Thief. Once during each night, you may PM me a name and a target, by typing I stole <name>'s role, to use on <target's name>. If the player has no role, this effect does nothing. If the player you stole from targets you that night, you die.
 
That's basically a nerfed Redirector, isn't it? It leaves a little too much to chance in the early game, though, and possibly later if it's not inspected. But I can see it working.

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Wolf Spirit which is untargetable but revealed at the beginning of the game. At night it uses some werewolf powers such as kill, some info role and some defense role, and kills, possessing a predetermined player. Wins if the player it's possessing is the last one standing, and has a different WC than it's host, who is a villager.
 
That's basically a nerfed Redirector, isn't it? It leaves a little too much to chance in the early game, though, and possibly later if it's not inspected. But I can see it working.

_______________

Wolf Spirit which is untargetable but revealed at the beginning of the game. At night it uses some werewolf powers such as kill, some info role and some defense role, and kills, possessing a predetermined player. Wins if the player it's possessing is the last one standing, and has a different WC than it's host, who is a villager.
Doesn't that like entirely invalidate that player's role in the game and make them a deadweight? Seems a bit unfair.
 

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