The Council: The Thing

From BlogNomic Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Started on the 30th November 2020, with Kevan as the Outsider:

Welcome to Outpost 38! You're a group of scientists and specialists being flown in to an Acheron Antarctic Research Group station on the McMurdo ice shelf, to take over from a team who've just reached the end of their six-month contract there. You'll be generally responsible for running the base through the winter, with the biologists among you scanning and cataloguing the core samples that have been collected from under the ice, and investigating any interesting discoveries that may arise.
Players are Researchers. Five of you are Human, and two are secretly shapeshifting alien Things that replaced a couple of the team a few days after you all arrived at the research station. The Things are coordinating telepathically with the Hive Mind buried deep below the ice sheet. During each night they are easily able to reach and kill another member of the team.

Players

In turn order, players of this game are: 1. Bais; 2. Clucky; 3. Josh; 4. Raven1207; 5. Jake Eakle; 6. P Scholasticus; 7. TyGuy6.

Rules

No Dice

Players may not use public random methods such as die rolls to influence their decisions in the game.

DNA Testing

During the day, a Researcher (the Tester) holding three or more DNA samples may announce they are performing a test and destroy all DNA samples which they are holding (the Test Group). When they do so, the Hive Mind must (at their earliest convenience) privately inform the Tester if any of the Researchers whose names were in the Test Group are Things.

Research Quotas

If the current turn has lasted for more than 30 contiguous hours and it has not featured a proposal being seconded, any player may eliminate the Researcher whose turn it is. If the Outsider interrupts with a proposal, the interrupted turn is put on hold until that proposal is accepted/rejected, and then resumed (with timer reset if it didn't have a seconded proposal, already).

Each night, there is a publicly-rolled 25% chance that there is no elimination that night, and it passes through to the next day uneventfully.

Norwegian Shepherd

The Shepherd is a physical item which starts on the floor. The Researcher who holds the Shepherd is known as its Owner. The Shepherd's Owner can publicly command it to either defend its Owner or attack a Target Researcher. A command overrides any previous command. While the Shepherd is used to defend, the Owner's vote (for the purpose of any votable matter) counts as 2 votes. While the Shepherd is used to attack a Target Researcher, that Researcher's vote (for the purpose of any votable matter) does not count.

Christmas Truce

No game actions may be taken during the hours of the 25th of December 2020 (in UTC), and those hours are not considered to count towards Research Quotas.

Countermeasures

The Flame Thrower is a Large physical item which starts on the ground. During the day, A Researcher who holds the Flame Thrower may publicly declare they are using it and name another Researcher as the target. Upon doing so, 1 hour of time is removed from the current day, the Flame Thrower is destroyed, and the target is eliminated. If there is a pending proposal which now would cost more time than is left in the day, or if there are now 0 hours left, it immediately fails.

Large physical items may only change ownership as part of a physical proposal if the only thing that proposal does is change the ownership of that one item.

Gamestate

Researcher inventories
Bais
Clucky
Josh Flame Thrower
Raven1207
Jake Eakle
P Scholasticus
TyGuy6

Objects on the floor: The Shepherd.

Endgame

The Things were Raven and TyGuy.

TyGuy was targeted after the Outsider raised suspicion by accidentally trying to enact Endgame early. Raven then proposed to give Josh the Flame Thrower and approached him privately on his own initiative, admitting he was a Thing and suggesting that Josh propose "Josh becomes a Thing" which would allow him to win: Josh instead chose to burn Raven with the Flame Thrower and win as a Human.

Rulings

  • "Researchers whose names were in the Test Group" would be the player names that the sample objects are named after.
  • DNA Samples are physical objects, anything described as an "object" is considered to mean that it is a physical object.
  • The first paragraph of the Research Quotas proposal creates an ongoing rule, not a one-off effect.
  • Any reference to "Raven" will be read as referring to Raven1207.
  • The Outsider does not get "a tiebreaking vote" for a proposal that's at 0-0 because people can vote but haven't started doing so yet.
  • If it's a Researcher's turn to propose and they pass, their turn ends and the next player's turn begins with a fresh 30 Research Quota clock.

Proposals

Reverting to Type (0 Hours, Vetoed)

Proposed by Kevan:

When cornered, a Thing will lash out instinctively, abandoning its disguise to do so. A Physical Proposal can only kill a Researcher if it also nominates two Researchers as Aggressors. When such a proposal is resolved and its target was a Thing: its true nature as a Thing is revealed, and an Aggressor of the Hive Mind's choice becomes Wounded. (A Wounded Researcher cannot be chosen as an Aggressor in future.)

P Scholasticus, Raven, Clucky, Josh, TyGuy were FOR, Jake AGAINST. The Outsider cast a VETO. (After submitting the proposal, one of the Things objected to the costing and the Outsider silently vetoed it.)

No Dice (-2 Hours, Passed)

Proposed by Kevan:

Players may not use public random methods such as die rolls to influence their decisions in the game.

(The -2 Hours was part of a negotiation, this being prompted that the DNA Testing proposal valued at 3 hours should be adjusted to 5 if players were free to roll dice to assign objects and resolve other decisions, which the group disagreed about.)

Josh, TyGuy, Clucky, Bais, Raven, P Scholasticus were FOR, Jake AGAINST.

DNA Testing (5 Hours, Passed)

Proposed by Clucky:

Each Researcher gets a object called "<name> DNA sample" where <name> is their player name.

During the day, a Researcher (the Tester) holding three or more DNA samples may announce they are performing a test and destroy all DNA samples which they are holding (the Test Group). When they do so, the Hive Mind must (at their earliest convenience) privately inform the Tester if any of the Researchers whose names were in the Test Group are Things.

Raven, Josh, Clucky, TyGuy and Jake were FOR, Bais AGAINST.

The Show Must Go On (1 Hour, Vetoed)

Proposed by Jake:

The active player is the player whose turn it currently is.

A valid proposal is a post that describes a secondable proposal that “does something” (The Outsider must use their honest judgment to determine whether a proposal meets this criterion; the intention is to eliminate the ability to pass your turn).

A proposal countdown is a 30-hour window of time in which the active player must make a valid proposal. If they fail, they are eliminated and a new proposal countdown begins. If they succeed, the proposal countdown ends early. A proposals may not be seconded unless it is the first one made by the active player during the most recent proposal countdown, or an out-of-turn-cycle proposal by the Outsider.

When a non-Outsider proposal passes, fails, or is vetoed, a proposal countdown begins, unless a Night phase would begin at that time, in which case the proposal countdown begins when the Night phase ends instead. For clarity, this explicitly applies to the passage of this proposal. If an Outsider proposal passing causes the Night phase to begin, any active proposal countdown is paused for the duration of the Night phase.

If for any reason there is no active proposal countdown and the active player has not yet made a proposal this turn, a proposal countdown begins.

At the beginning of the the Night phase, before the Outsider chooses a Council member, there is a publicly-rolled 25% chance that they skip that choice instead

The Outsider cast a VETO, having said during the discussion that this proposal should cost at least 2 hours.

Research Quotas (2 Hours, Passed)

Proposed by TyGuy:

If the current turn has lasted for more than 30 contiguous hours and it has not featured a proposal being seconded, any player may eliminate the Researcher whose turn it is. If the Outsider interrupts with a proposal, the interrupted turn is put on hold until that proposal is accepted/rejected, and then resumed (with timer reset if it didn't have a seconded proposal, already).

Each night, there is a publicly-rolled 25% chance that there is no elimination that night, and it passes through to the next day uneventfully.

Bais, Raven, Clucky and Jake voted in favour; Josh and Scholasticus against.

Helicopter Repair (2 Hours, Vetoed)

Proposed by Bais:

If clucky and Raven are on the same team, their team wins. Otherwise nothing happens.

Josh, Scholastic, Raven and Clucky voted in favour; Jake against. Proposal was vetoed by the Outsider. (Privately, the Things felt that 2 hours was not worth 100% confirming that Clucky and Raven were on different teams.)

Countermeasures (4 Hours, Failed)

Proposed by Clucky:

The Flame Thrower is a Large item which starts on the ground. During the day, A Researcher who holds the Flame Thrower may publicly declare they are using it and name another Researcher as the target. Upon doing so, 1 hour of time is removed from the current day. If there is a pending proposal which now would cost more time than is left in the day, or if there are now 0 hours left, it immediately fails. Then Flame Thrower is then destroyed and the target is eliminated.

Large items may only change ownership as part of a physical proposal if the only thing that proposal does is change the ownership of that one item.

Clucky voted in favour; Jake, Josh, TyGuy, Bais and Raven against.

Evacuation (0 Hours, Vetoed)

Proposed by Josh:

All non-Rebel Researchers win the game. All Rebel Researchers and the Outsider lose the game. The game then ends.

Proposal was vetoed by the Outsider.

Time for Analysis (1 Hour, Failed)

Proposed by Raven:

There is a Computer that counts as a physical object but can not be carried. If a Researcher obtains 2 vials from other Researchers(meaning they can not test their own vial against someone else's), then they may insert them into the computer. Then Kevan will privately message the Researcher(that is using the Computer) if the vials that were inserted into the Computer are the same(meaning the players of the vial are from the same alignment) or different(meaning the players of the vial are from the different alignment). After the Researcher(that is using the Computer) is informed of this, the vials that were inserted are destroyed.

Additionally, when using the Computer, an hour of the day is used.

TyGuy and Raven voted in favour; Josh, Bais, Clucky and Jake voted against.

Centrifuge (0 Hours, Failed)

Proposed by Jake:

The first time each proposal would be vetoed, if fewer than 3 games of RPS have been played during this game day, instead all timers are paused and a game of RPS for the proposal begins.

A game of RPS for a proposal P proceeds as follows: The Outsider privately chooses Rock, Paper, or Scissors and publicly posts a message consisting of "RPS move: " and the sha256sum of some text unambiguously identifying their choice. Then any Researcher may post a message containing only the word "Rock", "Paper", or "Scissors". Once one does, the Outsider posts their plaintext. If the Outsider chose Rock, 3% is permanently subtracted from the chance to skip the night kill established by the Research Quotas proposal. If the Outsider chose Scissors, 3% is permanently added to that chance. If the Outsider's choice matches the Researcher's choice, the game of RPS ends and P is vetoed. If the Outsider chose Rock and the researcher chose Scissors, the Outsider chose Scissors and the Researcher chose Paper, or the Outsider chose Paper and the Researcher chose Rock, the game of RPS ends, P is vetoed, and 1 hour (or all remaining hours if there are less than 1) are removed from the current day. Otherwise, the game of RPS ends and the Outsider must choose one of the following: 1. P cannot be vetoed; 2. P is vetoed and a new vial of a Researcher of the Outsider's choice's DNA is created in that Researcher's possession.

TyGuy, Raven and Jake voted in favour; Josh, Bais, PSS and Clucky voted against.

Under the Ice (0 Hours, Vetoed)

Proposed by Scholasticus:

The Outsider can only veto a proposal with the assent of all living rebels.

The Outsider vetoed the proposal after Raven seconded it before costing: "a proposal whose only effect is to limit my options is plainly not a perfectly neutral zero-hour mechanic".

Ice Cream Sunday (0 Hours, Vetoed)

Proposed by TyGuy6:

The game ends. All Human players win.

The Outsider vetoed the proposal.

Norwegian Shepherd (3 Hours, Passed)

Proposed by Bais:

The Shepherd is a physical item which starts on the floor. The Researcher who holds the Shepherd is known as its Owner. The Shepherd's Owner can publicly command it to either defend its Owner or attack a Target Researcher. A command overrides any previous command. While the Shepherd is used to defend, the Owner's vote (for the purpose of any votable matter) counts as 2 votes. While the Shepherd is used to attack a Target Researcher, that Researcher's vote (for the purpose of any votable matter) does not count. When this proposal passes, the Hive can publicly name one Researcher to destroy their vial.

Josh, Scholasticus, Raven and Bais voted in favour; Clucky and Jake against. Jake's vial was broken with the arrival of the Shepherd.

Christmas Truce (0 Hours, Passed)

Proposed by the Outsider:

No game actions may be taken during the hours of the 25th of December 2020 (in UTC), and those hours are not considered to count towards Research Quotas.

Josh, Raven, Bais and Clucky were in favour.

Cotton Swabs (4 hours, Failed)

Proposed by Clucky:

If the only thing a proposal does is create a new vial of a researcher's DNA and give it to that researcher, it is a physical proposal costing 2 hours.

Josh, TyGuy, Bais and Scholasticus voted against; Raven and Clucky in favour.

Teamwork (0 Hours, Vetoed)

Proposed by Raven:

OPG for each Researcher, on their turn, they may declare, "I'm declaring Teamwork" and then name 5 Researchers. If all 5 named Researchers are Humans, Human Team wins. Otherwise, nothing happens.

Josh, Raven, Bais and Clucky were in favour. Proposal was seconded before costing; Outsider vetoed.

Realistic Deaths (3 Hours, Failed)

Proposed by TyGuy:

Whenever a Researcher dies, the Outsider must reveal that Researcher's role.

Bais, Clucky, TyGuy and Jake were against. Raven, Josh and Scholasticus were in favour.

Don't wound me, bro (4 Hours, Vetoed)

Proposed by Bais:

Researchers who die during a night kill become Wounded. A Wounded player can talk, and remains a Researcher in the same team as when strictly alive, but they cannot vote and cannot carry vials.

Josh, Scholasticus, Bais, Raven and TyGuy were in favour, Clucky against. The Outsider vetoed: "Partly for not ruling out all physical items as I requested, and partly based on further reflection on how much it inverts the basic concept of the night kills silencing players in a social deduction game (amplifying them instead, here)."

Lamb to the Slaughter (4 Hours, Failed)

Proposed by Clucky:

If Clucky has not already been Eliminated this game, the Outsider must pick Clucky for Elimination tonight. If he does pick Clucky for Elimination, the Elimination succeeds.

Josh, Scholasticus, Raven and TyGuy were against.

The Dead Council (0 Hours, Vetoed)

Proposed by Raven:

When a player is eliminated, they become a Zombie during the next phase(So if they are eliminated at night, they become a Zombie the next day. If they are eliminated during the day, they become a Zombie the next night). Zombies have their own private together to communicate in. At night, after the Things have choose to eliminate a player, the Zombies choose together to eliminate a player. If the Zombies can't agree within 48 contiguous hours after the start of night, then the Zombies don't kill that night. Zombies still maintain their alignment they were prior before being eliminated.

The Outsider vetoed (proposal was seconded before being costed).

The Dead Council II (2 Hours, Failed)

Proposed by Scholasticus:

When a player is eliminated, they become a Zombie during the next phase(So if they are eliminated at night, they become a Zombie the next day. If they are eliminated during the day, they become a Zombie the next night). Zombies have their own private together to communicate in. At night, after the Things have choose to eliminate a player, the Zombies choose together to eliminate a player. If the Zombies can't agree within 48 contiguous hours after the start of night, then the Zombies don't kill that night. Zombies still maintain their alignment they were prior before being eliminated.

Bais, Josh, Scholasticus, Raven and Clucky voted against.

Countermeasures, Take 2 (4 Hours, Enacted)

Proposed by TyGuy:

The Flame Thrower is a Large physical item which starts on the ground. During the day, A Researcher who holds the Flame Thrower may publicly declare they are using it and name another Researcher as the target. Upon doing so, 1 hour of time is removed from the current day, the Flame Thrower is destroyed, and the target is eliminated. If there is a pending proposal which now would cost more time than is left in the day, or if there are now 0 hours left, it immediately fails. Large physical items may only change ownership as part of a physical proposal if the only thing that proposal does is change the ownership of that one item.

Scholasticus, Raven and TyGuy voted in favour; Bais, Josh and Clucky against. The Outsider broke the tie to enact the proposal.

Endgame (10 hours, Failed)

Proposed by Clucky:

Eliminate P Scholasticus and Tyguy6

Clucky and TyGuy were for; Raven, Josh and Scholasticus against.

Elimination: TyGuy (6 hours, Enacted)

Proposed by Josh:

Eliminate TyGuy

Josh, Raven and Scholasticus were in favour; Clucky was against.

God's Hands (1 hour, Enacted)

Proposed by Raven:

Josh picks up the large item named "Flame Thrower" and it is added into their inventory and they have ownership over large item named "Flame Thrower" until Josh gives "Flame Thrower" to another researcher or until a future proposal changes the possesser of "Flame Thrower".

Raven, Josh, Clucky and Scholasticus were in favour.

Spitball Ideas with value Estimates

This was an area of notes made by players about possible ideas and costings.

During the night phase, instead of killing a Human as usual, the Hive can instead kill *2* Things and secretly recruit a Human to be a new Thing. The next day lasts +6h longer.

Est. Value: -1 hours

The night kill can only target a Thing. If a night kill happens, the Hive secretly recruits a Human via PM to become a Thing, and the next day lasts +3h longer. If an ex-Human wins as a Thing, it is considered a minor form of victory. If an ex-Human loses as a Thing, it is considered a major form of loss.

Est. Value: -3 hours

A single test kit as an object that starts on the table (so you have to spend 1h on a further physical proposal to assign it); it's single use, and only the user is told the outcome.

Est. Value: 2 hours

Every Researcher has a DNA vial; as a future physical proposal, a subset of DNA vials can be tested to determine if any of those vials are associated with a non-Human player (which is announced publicly by the Hive).

Est. Value: Too high

Make Bais the Medic. The Medic can heal all scars for anyone else by DM to that person. Each person must then randomly determine for themselves (exactly once) whether they have scars, with a 25% chance for a Human, or a 50% chance for a Thing. As a physical proposal, someone can be inspected for scars, and that person must reveal whether they have them.

Est. Value: 2 hours

One Human is promoted to Intergalactical Heretic that is aligned with Humans and wins with them. As long as the Intergalactical Heretic is alive, the team that would have lost would win and the team that would have won would lose.

Est. Value: ???

Create physical item, Portal of Rebirth, which can only be used by spending 12 hours, and returns a selected dead Researcher to life.

Est. Value: ???

A Scientist (the Tester) holding three or more DNA samples may announce they are performing a test and destroy them all. If they do, the Hive Mind must privately inform the Tester if any of the Scientists whose names were in the destroyed set of DNA samples are Things prior to resolving the next proposal."

Outsider offered 3 hours for it

Things can not do their nightly kills. The Research Center becomes unstable. During the day, all Researchers must choose X-2 Researchers and agree a pawn to survive the next day.(Where X is the number of current Researchers). Any unchosen Researchers die at the end of day.

Est. Value: ???

One Thing is promoted Shadow and the other is promoted Morgan. One Human is promotes to Chief, another is promoted to Right Hand. Shadow and Morgan are aligned with the Thing Team and count as Things and Chief and Right Hand are aligned with the Human Team. Shadow and Morgan know each other's identities, Chief knows who Morgan is but not Shadow, and Right Hand knows who Chief and Morgan but doesn't know who is which. Along with normal wincons, Shadow and Morgan can win if Chief dies. If Chief dies, Humans and Human team lose.

Est. Value: 4 or 5 hours

A flamethrower exists as a physical object. A Researcher holding the flamethrower may use it at any time to immediately kill a single other Researcher. If the flamethrower is used in this way then it runs out of fuel and is removed from the game.

Seems to be 6h value, but Kevan won't let us have 3 kills in 1 day.

OPG for each Researcher, on their turn, they may declare, "I'm declaring Teamwork" and then name 5 Researchers. If all 5 named Researchers are Humans, Human Team wins. Otherwise, nothing happens.

Should probably just be game ending, after all humans have guessed. It doesn't seem like there's any reasonable cost for something like this.