Role Deck of Madness Draft Feedback

[zakalwe]

For my part, the things that I liked about WW35 were a) the ability to influence the actual setup through your own choices, and b) the fact that we had something to kickstart the discussion on day one, i.e. "Why would you discard THAT?". (I agree that day one obviously has meaning, but we got down to serious business much faster in WW35.)

The flaw was that the game/endgame could be solved almost entirely through role claims. So that's really the main thing that I would want to address in the next game, and there are many ways to do so. Either draw some safe claims, or add some secret cards, or hide the entire deck, or show the deck but don't reveal how many duplicates exist of each card.

Of course you'd want some fresh roles while you're at it, but that's mainly just for variety.

This is just my perspective, I realize there could be many different ideas here about what needs to be fixed or not.

Oh, and maybe do something to avoid rerolls? Or just hope we get lucky.

[Qgqqqqq]

For my part, the things that I liked about WW35 were a) the ability to influence the actual setup through your own choices

This has always been the main point of this setup to me. Sure, it helps kickstart discussion on D1, but IMO that's a very minor feature - discussion just gets started, one way or another, pretty quickly. I'd rather make day 1 slightly longer than have an entire game setup based around that early beginning.

I like zaks idea around secret roles drawn, but you'd probably want to increase number of roles again then, to prevent the scum working things out too fast.

[Rowain]

(I agree that day one obviously has meaning, but we got down to serious business much faster in WW35.)

Agreed

... show the deck but don't reveal how many duplicates exist of each card.

That looks like a good idea It adds some chances for scum to claim but still involves the risk of Will the village believe that that many cops are in game or not.

[BRickAstley]

I'm thinking up an alternative setup based on your input, thank you all by the way. Quick question though: what if instead every player were given 3 roles, and you picked one to discard, and then your favorite of the two left. I'd then take all the nondiscards, and finalize a setup with the remaining cards by trying to pick as many people first choice while keeping the setup balanced. The goal of this would be to preserve player choice while keeping from having to reroll if the balance of what people pick is off. Obvious downside is you might get unlucky and only get your second preferred role.

Just from the perspective of player agency, would that still be fun or would you feel that robs you of really picking?

[BRickAstley]

I also like zaks idea of show the roles but not the # in deck. So people know what is possible but can't narrow down what someone has to be. I can even slightly randomize the number included so people can't meta guess it.

Another idea in my head, probably not needed but might be fun, would be for all of the X-Shot roles, have the number of shots be slightly randomized per card (like you could be a 1,2, or 3 shot seer), which would make choosing more interesting. Do you pick 1 shot seer, 2 Shot Vig, or 3 shot tracker?

[Rowain]

Quick question though: what if instead every player were given 3 roles, and you picked one to discard, and then your favorite of the two left. I'd then take all the nondiscards, and finalize a setup with the remaining cards by trying to pick as many people first choice while keeping the setup balanced. The goal of this would be to preserve player choice while keeping from having to reroll if the balance of what people pick is off. Obvious downside is you might get unlucky and only get your second preferred role.

Just from the perspective of player agency, would that still be fun or would you feel that robs you of really picking?

On principle this idea sounds good and still fun but OTOH lets assume I get 2 loverroles and one useful role and you feel compelled to give me the not-discarded lover I would then feel compelled to hunt you down and massacre you

In short your risk

[BRickAstley]

Pshh I've learned long ago to only run games if you are OK with all the players hating you.

Also note I removed all the lovers so nyeah.

[Jkaen]

Not looked at all the roles, but have you considered (as a variant on zaks idea) having a scum powerole that 1/day identifies a role that wasn't drawn?

Or maybe a powerole that alters/disguises another persons discarded role?

[BRickAstley]

Not looked at all the roles, but have you considered (as a variant on zaks idea) having a scum powerole that 1/day identifies a role that wasn't drawn?

In the first role deck (with more varied roles), I have a role called the "Cheater", which can find out if any of a particular role is in the game. Not quite the same, but I could modify if it was deemed needed.

[BRickAstley]

So here's what I'm thinking now:

• Have a deck of roles, with a variety and number of roles of my choosing (nothing unplayable though)
  
• Inform the players of all of the possible roles, but not the total number of each role.
  
• Give the players 3 roles each to choose from, and have them order them "Preferred", "Alternate", "Discard"
  
• I throw out all discards, and then finalize a setup that seeks to best fulfill 1) A balanced setup and 2) Giving as many players their "Preferred" over their "Alternate" as possible
  
• On start of game, still show discards and who made them.
  

With the above setup in mind I'd probably go with the 'simplified' role deck i made in here earlier, but maybe add a few of the nonstandard roles back in (I have in mind Cheater/Neighborizer/Motivator at the moment).

Whatcha think?