Proposal: Be prepared. Your team depends on you.
Reaches quorum 6-2 with an Emperor DEF, and is enacted -SingularByte
Adminned at 10 Apr 2025 16:24:53 UTC
If “A Measure of Competence” failed, do nothing. Otherwise:
Create a new rule, “Preparation Actions”:
Some actions are defined as Preparation Actions. If an Agent performs a Preparation Action, that Agent cannot perform another Preparation Action (nor another copy of the same Preparation Action) until after the next Break-In action has been completed.
An Agent cannot perform Preparation Actions unless at least one of the following statements is true for that Agent:
* There are at most 2 other Agents whose Fame is greater than or equal to that Agent’s, or
* There are at most 3 other Agents whose Infamy is greater than or equal to that Agent’s.
Create a subrule “Distractions” of “Preparation Actions”:
“Plan a Distraction” is a virtual Preparation Action that only Burglars can perform, and a number must be specified in order to perform it. During the next Break-In action after a Burglar performs the Plan a Distraction action, Burglars are not considered to have the same Location as Guards while the Minute is the specified number, even if their Location values are the same.
If “The Way In” was enacted, create a subrule “The Back Door” of “Preparation Actions”:
“Create a Back Door” is a virtual Preparation Action that only Burglars can perform, and a lettered Spot must be specified in order to perform it. When this action is performed, until the next Break-In action has completed, the specified Spot is considered to connect to “Grounds” for the purpose of determining whether Routes submitted by Burglars are complete.
If “The Way In” and “Loot Grabbin’” were both enacted, change “a lettered Spot must be specified” to “a lettered Spot that does not contain an Artifact must be specified” in “The Back Door”.
If “Treasure” was enacted, create a subrule “Treasure Radar” of “Preparation Actions”:
“Locate the Treasure” is a virtual Preparation Action, and three Spots must be specified in order to perform it. When an Agent performs this action, the Concierge should as soon as possible inform that Agent of the amount of Treasure in each of the chosen Spots.
Create a subrule “Camera Trap” of “Preparation Actions”:
“Place a Camera Trap” is a virtual Preparation Action that only Guards can perform, and a lettered Spot must be specified in order to perform it. During the next Break-In action after a Guard performs the Place a Camera Trap action, any time a Burglar’s Location becomes equal to the specified Spot, that Burglar is considered to have Encountered a Camera Trap.
In “The Break-In”, change “who encountered Guards, and naming the Guards that each encountered” to “who encountered Guards or Camera Traps, naming the Guards that each encountered and specifying whether each encountered a Camera Trap”.
In “The Break-In”, after “For each Burglar that encountered no Guards, set their Infamy to 12 minus the number of spots in their Route that are Grounds” add “minus 4 (to a minimum of 0) if they encountered a Camera Trap”
A revised version of “Be prepared. Be very prepared.”
The game as currently designed has the issue that the Guards have a very large advantage over the Burglars – with optimal play, the Burglars cannot do anything other than kingmake to decide which of the Guards they want to give the most points to. (I think this sort of game is best when the Burglars could score very well if they knew what the Guards were doing, and vice versa – but in the current gamestate, the Guards can guarantee that no Burglar can escape even if the Guards have no information on what the Burglars are doing, a problem that’s exacerbated by the high player counts as those benefit Guards more than they benefit Burglars.) As such, Burglars need some fairly powerful actions to have any chance at all. I have therefore given the Burglars some fairly powerful actions, and the Guards some somewhat weaker actions (giving both sides equal access to equally powerful Preparation Actions wouldn’t help to fix the balance).
This is now designed to handle large player counts better – you need to have done well in the previous Break-In to be able to prepare for the next one, a mechanic designed to cap the number of Preparation Actions available without causing any timing issues. It still doesn’t handle the first Break-In well, but we can fix that later (or just let it happen and be very Guard-sided, allowing preparation for the next one).
Abstaining, now that teams have been assigned.
revise it.
Trapdoorspyder: he/him
I think that this is a much better version! I’m a bit worried that it could become a “the ahead get more ahead” situation based on the criteria for actually taking the actions. I’m not sure if throttling who can take the actions is a fun gameplay solution to the wider issue that the “Plan a Distraction” is really strong.