Friday, March 05, 2021

Proposal: The Campaign for Real Fail

Timed out and enacted, 5-2. Josh

Adminned at 07 Mar 2021 20:24:49 UTC

Rewrite the rule Campaign as follows:

Each Elector has a Campaign, defaulting to “None”, which is publicly tracked. Once per Season, if their Campaign if not Jail, an Elector can change their Campaign; the list of valid Campaigns is included in this rule.

Once per Season, an Elector may Progress their Campaign, by carrying out its Activation, which is always an Atomic Action. Once an Elector has Activated their Campaign, either they (for public information) or the Doge (for secret information) should update the gamestate as directed in its Effect.

* None. Activation: None. Effect: None.
* Vatican. Activation: Respond to the most recent Masquerade post with a comment saying “Advancing my Vatican Campaign”. Effect: If your Scandal is positive, reduce it by 3.
* Foreign Powers. Activation: Respond to the most recent Masquerade post with a comment saying “Advancing my Foreign Powers Campaign”, Increase your Scandal by either 5 or the number of Electors with the same Faction as you, whichever is higher, and set your own Campaign to Jail. Effect: The Doge must increase your Political Power by 1 before the next Masquerade.
* Merchant Circles. Activation:Respond to the most recent Masquerade post with a comment saying “Advancing my Merchant Circles Campaign”, rolling a DICE4, and posting the result. Effect: Refer to the result generated in your Activation. If the result was 1 then you may reduce your Scandal by 5. If the result was 2 then nothing happens. If the result was 3 then you must gain 2 Scandal. If the result was 4 then the Doge must increase your Political Power by 1 before the next Masquerade.
* Gerontocracy. Activation: If your Campaign has been “Gerontocracy” at the start of 5 or more Seasons, you may respond to the most recent Masquerade post with a comment saying “Advancing my Gerontocracy Campaign” . Effect: The Doge must increase your Political Power by 2 before the next Masquerade.
* Revolution. Activation: Respond to the most recent Masquerade post with a comment saying “Advancing my Revolution Campaign” and naming a single other Elector whose Campaign is “Gerontocracy”. Effect: You may then set the Campaign of the named Elector to “Jail”. You may then reduce your own Scandal by 2.
* Mob Contacts. Activation: Respond to the most recent Masquerade post with a comment saying “Advancing my Mob Contacts Campaign” and naming a single other Elector. Effect: You must then set the Campaign of the named Elector to “Jail” and the Doge must increase their Power by 1 before the next Masquerade.
* Jail. Activation: None. Effect: You may set your Campaign to “None”.
* Dark Cult. Activation: If you have 15 or more Scandal, you may respond to the most recent Masquerade post with a comment saying “Advancing my Dark Cult Campaign”. Effect: You must then lose 3 Scandal and the Doge must increase your Political Power by 2 before the next Masquerade.
* Market Spy. Activation: Respond to the most recent Masquerade post with a comment saying “Advancing my Market Spy Campaign”, and increase your Scandal by 2. DM the Doge the name of another Elector. Effect: The Doge must privately inform you of the named Elector’s Political Power, and when it was last changed.
* Tavern Spy.  Activation: Respond to the most recent Masquerade post with a comment saying “Advancing my Tavern Spy Campaign”, and increase your Scandal by 2. DM the Doge the name of another Elector. Effect: The Doge must privately inform you of the named Elector’s Secret Faction, and when it was last changed.
* Society Spy.  Activation: Respond to the most recent Masquerade post with a comment saying “Advancing my Society Spy Campaign”, and increase your Scandal by 2. Effect: The Doge must privately inform you of your own Political Heft, and what the valuie of your Politcal Helft was at the last Masquerade.

If any Elector has Assassin Contract or Downtown Spy as their Campaign, set their Campaign to -.

A few balance tweeks, buffs and nerfs etc - but the big thing is making Activations into atomic actions, which needs a fix.

Comments

Zack: he/him

05-03-2021 20:52:21 UTC

You’ve got a typo in the Activation for Tavern Spy and Society Spy.

Josh: Observer he/they

05-03-2021 21:02:49 UTC

Ta

Brendan: he/him

05-03-2021 21:12:25 UTC

Hm. This reads to me as making the Foreign Powers->Dark Cult combo a little broken. It’s more efficient than straight Gerontocracy with less wait and less risk.

Clucky: he/him

05-03-2021 21:24:14 UTC

yeah I think Gerontocracy could be buffed a bit, simply due to the long activation cost.

Josh: Observer he/they

05-03-2021 21:25:43 UTC

It’s a massive nerf of Dark Cult, which at the moment is hilariously busted if you are eg Cuddlebeam!

I’ve tweaked it a little but I think that the cost of runing hot on Scandal - that your Power actually counts for nothing unless you bring it back down again - makes it okay.

Brendan: he/him

05-03-2021 21:26:23 UTC

I’m… less interested in buffing Gerontocracy than I am in nerfing Foreign Powers, which already has straight majority of players dedicated to it.

Brendan: he/him

05-03-2021 21:28:07 UTC

Scandal is a pretty ineffective brake in a system where Power is completely fungible, though. I can take all the Scandal I want as long as I have a proxy to dump my Power off to.

Josh: Observer he/they

05-03-2021 21:28:42 UTC

So the scandal cost on Foreign Powers has gone up a lot from the status quo; I do wonder whether that’ll work or just result in runaway Scandal inflation.

Josh: Observer he/they

05-03-2021 21:30:35 UTC

Good point, Brendan. I’m trying to think of a good way to nerf Foreign Powers but there’s surprisingly few disincentive levers in the game at the moment…

Josh: Observer he/they

05-03-2021 21:31:59 UTC

Okay, being an agent of Foreign Powers now sends you to jail, which at least slows its roll a bit.

Josh: Observer he/they

05-03-2021 21:32:40 UTC

@Clucky no way does Geronocracy need a nerf; it’s a reliable 2 Power for life once you’ve paid it off

Brendan: he/him

05-03-2021 21:33:37 UTC

That’s what I meant about the combo—Dark Cult turns Scandal into an asset, not a cost, and Foreign Powers netting you more Scandal means that swapping back and forth each Masquerade keeps a player well above the 15 minimum Scandal while offering 1.5 power per cycle.

Brendan: he/him

05-03-2021 21:34:35 UTC

Ah, Jail is a nice wedge in the gears, that works for me.

Zack: he/him

05-03-2021 21:49:43 UTC

against There’s such a thing as too much balance when your ability to win is based on having a certain percentage of a potentially unlimited resource- PP inflation is about to become a real issue

Madrid:

05-03-2021 21:53:41 UTC

against

Clucky: he/him

05-03-2021 22:08:20 UTC

for This makes it harder to get power, so should help with power inflation

Raven1207: he/they

05-03-2021 22:11:21 UTC

imperial

Madrid:

05-03-2021 22:25:24 UTC

Sorry, but I idle. Was a pleasure playing with you guys though.

Lulu: she/her

05-03-2021 22:53:14 UTC

against

Kevan: he/him

06-03-2021 08:52:51 UTC

against

Kevan: he/him

06-03-2021 10:57:09 UTC

for CoV.

Brendan: he/him

06-03-2021 17:45:46 UTC

for Because there’s clearly some kind of scam at work that I haven’t been able to figure out yet.