Monday, December 12, 2022

Proposal: I once caught an Explorer and it was thiiiis big!

Withdrawn and therefore failed -SingularByte

Adminned at 13 Dec 2022 11:21:23 UTC

Create a subrule of Items called Covert Items:

Some items are Covert Items. While an Explorer is holding such an item, they privately track it rather than publicly keeping it in their items field. If they would ever lose the item in such a way that it would not be immediately revealed to all of the other Explorers, they must inform the Narrator of how they have lost the item as soon as they are aware of it. This is not required if the Narrator is the one who knowingly removes the item from that Explorer, nor if the item is being directly used as part of a Malfeasance which unambiguously costs that item. The Narrator is permitted to request information from any Explorer about which Covert items they have, and that Explorer must respond truthfully when they can.

Make Covert Items the first subrule of Items, and Flashlight the second subrule.

Create a subrule of Items called Snares:

A Snare is a Covert Item. An Explorer holding a Snare gains access to a Special Malfeasance for as long as they are holding it, which is to Lay a Snare Trap. When a Snare Trap is Laid in a room, all Explorers in the room are privately informed that the Explorer has laid a snare trap. Until it is triggered or removed, Explorers that enter the room while it is Lit are privately informed of the presence of the snare trap. The next time an Explorer enters that room while it is Dark and the Snare Trap is present, they are Snared. In the case of multiple explorers entering the room simultaneously while it is Dark, one of those Explorers is privately chosen at random to be Snared. In either case, when it is triggered, all Explorers in the room are privately informed of the Explorer being snared.

An Explorer being Snared prevents that Explorer from willingly setting their ploy to a movement planned action for as long as they are Snared, and Malfeasances used on them ignore all of their Advantages for the purpose of checking Defences. The Snared Explorer’s Malfeasances are considered to take place after any other Explorer’s Malfeasances that turn. For as long as an Explorer is Snared, they gain access to a special malfeasance - Break Free. If an Explorer is Snared and has no Ploy, their Ploy is considered to be Break Free.

There is a Special Malfeasance that everyone has access to: Retrieve Snare Trap.

The attributes of the three Special Malfeasances are:

{| class=“wikitable”
|+ Special Malfeasances
! Name || Effect || Restrictions || Defence || Hindrance
|-
| Lay a Snare Trap || A Snare is removed from the Items of the Explorer using this Malfeasance, and a Snare Trap is laid in the room that the Explorer is in. || The Explorer must have a Snare. || N/A || N/A
|-
| Break Free || The Explorer using this Malfeasance is no longer Snared. If they are Fast, they are nimble fingered enough to disentangle themselves without breaking it, and therefore gain a Snare. || The Explorer using this must be Snared. || N/A || N/A
|-
| Retrieve Snare Trap || The Explorer using this Malfeasance gains a Snare if there is an untriggered Snare Trap in the room. The Snare Trap is removed from the room. || The room has an untriggered Snare Trap in it. || N/A || N/A

This proposal introduces Covert Items, which are used to lay traps. It’s known publicly when you pick one up, but if you could be seen losing it when you activate it, it would defeat the whole point so they effectively turn invisible on being taken although the Narrator should be able to keep track of them at all times easily enough. Just to be on the safe side, I’m giving the ability for the Narrator to ask though.

Comments

Brendan: he/him

12-12-2022 16:10:35 UTC

imperial In a dynasty where the Narrator is already tracking secret information, I’d rather see secret items unambiguously tracked by them as the source of truth. It’s also a little strange that Break Free and Retrieve Snare Trap are Malfeasances, since they’re not, you know, mal.

Trapdoorspyder: he/him

12-12-2022 16:19:59 UTC

imperial

JonathanDark: he/him

12-12-2022 17:55:21 UTC

I’d be willing to patch it later if there’s enough support for the idea.

Bucky:

12-12-2022 18:30:35 UTC

against

SingularByte: he/him

12-12-2022 18:55:30 UTC

So, to explain my logic for Break Free and Retrieve Snare Trap being malfeasances:

Retrieving a Snare Trap essentially can screw up other people’s plans and also gets you a trap that other explorers might not even be aware that you have.

Breaking Free isn’t an evil action as such, but I had a desire to make it so people don’t necessarily know if someone is actually trapped or faking it, which would allow them to potentially mask their own malfeasances by claiming they’re taking a turn to get free. Plus, having people trapped does nicely tie into the Dread Level mechanics because Dread will naturally go up if people are trapped and struggling to break free.

As for letting secret items be tracked by the Narrator, I’m more or less counting on it always being 100% auditable by them - there shouldn’t be any circumstances where an Explorer gets an item without it being either on the wiki or known to the Narrator - and the same for dropping or using it.

quirck: he/him

12-12-2022 19:05:30 UTC

for

Kevan: he/him

12-12-2022 19:57:08 UTC

against A lot of moving parts for what it is.

Josh: Observer he/they

12-12-2022 21:12:45 UTC

against There are simply too many notes

JonathanDark: he/him

12-12-2022 22:03:48 UTC

Great movie!

SingularByte: he/him

13-12-2022 11:20:40 UTC

against Withdrawn