I’d like to begin by saying thank you for providing us with such an interesting and involved experience. You clearly worked hard to construct this story, and modding a murdergame is no easy task, especially with the amount of involvement the players had with regards to the plot. The premise was intriguing, and I was very excited to dive into my first mafia experience on DWRP and having the opportunity to be able to finally play Ellen Ripley in a murdergame setting. I also greatly enjoyed being able to play a character that had direct conflict with the other player characters in the resort based on her past experiences and I loved the positive and negative CR that I got with the other player characters. I truly wanted to be able to enjoy my experience during SCP, but, that being said, there were numerous issues that popped up that I could not ignore and put a significant dampener on my enthusiasm.
First off, the story. If I’m being entirely honest, I don’t know what narrative you were aiming for because of how much information was just being given out by the NPCs and how fast paced everything was, leaving me incredibly confused at times as to what the players were supposed to do from there. The first few weeks were incredibly fast paced with regards to the story and I frequently felt as though a lot of important information was just being given out to the players without allowing them to draw their own conclusions or investigate for themselves. I am aware that active player involvement pushed this story along even faster, but as mods, it is your responsibility to try and maintain your narrative and not allow the story to go too far off the rails because of player intervention. Additionally, the plot seemed to revolve solely around the conflict regarding Ichigo (the Apprentice) and Reyes (the Outsider). It largely felt as though the player characters were outsiders to this interpersonal conflict, and, unless the characters specifically chose to seek CR with Ichigo or Reyes, they had no stakes and otherwise would have no reason to get involved with or care about the characters. Considering all the themes and elements at play, the conflict resolved in an underwhelming way and ultimately, I felt as though there was little effort required on the part of the players in order to reach the “Golden end”. Of course, I may being overly nitpicky with this, as I was too busy to actually participate very much in the graveyard during endgame, but as I read over the comments again I couldn’t help but feel somewhat unsatisfied with the way things concluded.
Next, the lack of focus on the promised premise. This is somewhat related to the problems regarding the story. You initially advertised your game to be based off The Thing (1982), and at first, I was very excited at being able to play a horror movie protagonist in this setting. However, from what I could see, there was virtually nothing playing off any concept regarding The Thing besides the inclusion of the Doppleganger, which barely had any spotlight or fanfare. Maybe this was just me and holds no bearing regarding other players, but there was no sense of paranoia or danger, and there was little reason for the characters to be afraid of one another, so the whole basis and theme seemed somewhat out of place. (And, despite how much the Foundation was stated to be the “bad guy” in the situation, we never got anything besides memories to demonstrate this. I know one of the rules of storytelling is to show, and not tell, and it disappoints me that such a solid premise and narrative was lost along the way.) There was more focus on the Bleach characters than The Thing, which left me feeling rather confused.
Speaking about Bleach characters, I was surprised and a little confused at how much plot significance Syazel held over the other characters to the point where he almost felt like an NPC. As far as I was aware, he held no role in the game, so I am unsure why you decided to pursue this narrative thread besides the fact that he was also a Bleach character. I want to make it clear that I have no ill will towards Fishbone, but I was a little alarmed at how you allowed them to write the player’s memories. I know that you guys said that you were tired and wanted a break, but as mods, you have an obligation to your players and running the game effectively. If I’m being honest, I don’t know why you guys didn’t just make Fishbone a third mod. Additionally, the last memory written by Fishbone had downright sexual undertones which rubbed me the wrong way, given that Syazel is an adult and many, if not most of the characters in the game are underage. As one of the first memories of the player characters arriving at the resort, there was no real way to opt out of this and I felt deeply uncomfortable about it.
One of the mechanics I felt did not work in your favor was the IC = OOC timing. Don’t get me wrong—I very much liked the fact that trials ICly and OOCly took place over the course of six hours—after all, the characters can’t be expected to stall forever, and it helped in creating a sense of urgency and pressure missing throughout the rest of the game. But all other aspects in which IC time reflected OOC time left me feeling somewhat confused as to why this was included. For example, during the second to last investigation, the investigation took place at 12 PM EST as opposed to 6 PM EST. I understand that you wanted to reflect the abruptness of the explosion and how the player characters were awoken, but I felt that it was an unnecessary change that I didn't really think worked in the intended way. Additionally, during the second-to-last trial where eight people were supposed to be killed, your initial plan was to take 20 minutes OOC to vote for each person. As it takes several minutes for people to reply to each other, there was no real way for any significant discussion to take place or for people to make choices in reaction to what was occurring. After several people expressed the fact that this was too little time, you changed it so that OOC time would not equal IC time, and I greatly appreciated this adjustment and willingness to cooperate with your players. I understand that you wanted to create more of a tabletop RPG sort of experience, but I do not feel as though that this mechanic works with the format of DWRP.
Finally, I’d like to say that towards the last few weeks, I grew confused regarding my role as The Knight, as it seemed like what I was told was not the same as what was implemented. I understand running a game with so many roles can sometimes get confusing, and as far as I am aware, this is your first time running a mafia-type game. However, I will copy and paste what you wrote for my role on this post: “- The Knight is a Town aligned role that can protect one player from being killed on Thursday night. The Knight will either be with them that night if the protection isn't activated, or elsewhere if someone makes an attempt on their charge's life. - The Knight has a 50/50 chance of surviving an attack, provided the would be murderer is human. If it's a mafia member, the Knight will die in their charge's place.” If I am correct in my information, Ripley decided to protect Akira that night, and Akira was initially going to be targeted by Makoto. This is also reflected in the fact that you stated that Ripley’s protection had gone through that week. Makoto at the time was possessed by the Barghest and was thus a mafia member. If this was the case, then, using the information regarding my role, Ripley would have died in Akira’s place. Later on, however, in a PC between Makoto and Ripley, Makoto had stated that she had been blocked from attacking Akira and thus decided to attack someone else. Beside it not seem to reflect the information I had been given regarding my role, I assumed some other role must have blocked her from attacking, but I was later lead to believe that Ripley had actually protected Akira that night. I am confused whether I was given the wrong information regarding my role or whether you misremembered the rules regarding The Knight role.
Many of the mod decisions had me feeling lost, and with them all together I felt dissatisfied with the round as a whole. I hope I've been able to put across my concerns well; if you have any need for further clarification, I will be happy to elaborate. I applaud you both for for running such a high-activity murdergame (especially during the holiday season) and I hope that you find this feedback to be helpful. I wish you success in your future murdergame endeavors.
no subject
First off, the story. If I’m being entirely honest, I don’t know what narrative you were aiming for because of how much information was just being given out by the NPCs and how fast paced everything was, leaving me incredibly confused at times as to what the players were supposed to do from there. The first few weeks were incredibly fast paced with regards to the story and I frequently felt as though a lot of important information was just being given out to the players without allowing them to draw their own conclusions or investigate for themselves. I am aware that active player involvement pushed this story along even faster, but as mods, it is your responsibility to try and maintain your narrative and not allow the story to go too far off the rails because of player intervention. Additionally, the plot seemed to revolve solely around the conflict regarding Ichigo (the Apprentice) and Reyes (the Outsider). It largely felt as though the player characters were outsiders to this interpersonal conflict, and, unless the characters specifically chose to seek CR with Ichigo or Reyes, they had no stakes and otherwise would have no reason to get involved with or care about the characters. Considering all the themes and elements at play, the conflict resolved in an underwhelming way and ultimately, I felt as though there was little effort required on the part of the players in order to reach the “Golden end”. Of course, I may being overly nitpicky with this, as I was too busy to actually participate very much in the graveyard during endgame, but as I read over the comments again I couldn’t help but feel somewhat unsatisfied with the way things concluded.
Next, the lack of focus on the promised premise. This is somewhat related to the problems regarding the story. You initially advertised your game to be based off The Thing (1982), and at first, I was very excited at being able to play a horror movie protagonist in this setting. However, from what I could see, there was virtually nothing playing off any concept regarding The Thing besides the inclusion of the Doppleganger, which barely had any spotlight or fanfare. Maybe this was just me and holds no bearing regarding other players, but there was no sense of paranoia or danger, and there was little reason for the characters to be afraid of one another, so the whole basis and theme seemed somewhat out of place. (And, despite how much the Foundation was stated to be the “bad guy” in the situation, we never got anything besides memories to demonstrate this. I know one of the rules of storytelling is to show, and not tell, and it disappoints me that such a solid premise and narrative was lost along the way.) There was more focus on the Bleach characters than The Thing, which left me feeling rather confused.
Speaking about Bleach characters, I was surprised and a little confused at how much plot significance Syazel held over the other characters to the point where he almost felt like an NPC. As far as I was aware, he held no role in the game, so I am unsure why you decided to pursue this narrative thread besides the fact that he was also a Bleach character. I want to make it clear that I have no ill will towards Fishbone, but I was a little alarmed at how you allowed them to write the player’s memories. I know that you guys said that you were tired and wanted a break, but as mods, you have an obligation to your players and running the game effectively. If I’m being honest, I don’t know why you guys didn’t just make Fishbone a third mod. Additionally, the last memory written by Fishbone had downright sexual undertones which rubbed me the wrong way, given that Syazel is an adult and many, if not most of the characters in the game are underage. As one of the first memories of the player characters arriving at the resort, there was no real way to opt out of this and I felt deeply uncomfortable about it.
One of the mechanics I felt did not work in your favor was the IC = OOC timing. Don’t get me wrong—I very much liked the fact that trials ICly and OOCly took place over the course of six hours—after all, the characters can’t be expected to stall forever, and it helped in creating a sense of urgency and pressure missing throughout the rest of the game. But all other aspects in which IC time reflected OOC time left me feeling somewhat confused as to why this was included. For example, during the second to last investigation, the investigation took place at 12 PM EST as opposed to 6 PM EST. I understand that you wanted to reflect the abruptness of the explosion and how the player characters were awoken, but I felt that it was an unnecessary change that I didn't really think worked in the intended way. Additionally, during the second-to-last trial where eight people were supposed to be killed, your initial plan was to take 20 minutes OOC to vote for each person. As it takes several minutes for people to reply to each other, there was no real way for any significant discussion to take place or for people to make choices in reaction to what was occurring. After several people expressed the fact that this was too little time, you changed it so that OOC time would not equal IC time, and I greatly appreciated this adjustment and willingness to cooperate with your players. I understand that you wanted to create more of a tabletop RPG sort of experience, but I do not feel as though that this mechanic works with the format of DWRP.
Finally, I’d like to say that towards the last few weeks, I grew confused regarding my role as The Knight, as it seemed like what I was told was not the same as what was implemented. I understand running a game with so many roles can sometimes get confusing, and as far as I am aware, this is your first time running a mafia-type game. However, I will copy and paste what you wrote for my role on this post:
“- The Knight is a Town aligned role that can protect one player from being killed on Thursday night. The Knight will either be with them that night if the protection isn't activated, or elsewhere if someone makes an attempt on their charge's life.
- The Knight has a 50/50 chance of surviving an attack, provided the would be murderer is human. If it's a mafia member, the Knight will die in their charge's place.”
If I am correct in my information, Ripley decided to protect Akira that night, and Akira was initially going to be targeted by Makoto. This is also reflected in the fact that you stated that Ripley’s protection had gone through that week. Makoto at the time was possessed by the Barghest and was thus a mafia member. If this was the case, then, using the information regarding my role, Ripley would have died in Akira’s place. Later on, however, in a PC between Makoto and Ripley, Makoto had stated that she had been blocked from attacking Akira and thus decided to attack someone else. Beside it not seem to reflect the information I had been given regarding my role, I assumed some other role must have blocked her from attacking, but I was later lead to believe that Ripley had actually protected Akira that night. I am confused whether I was given the wrong information regarding my role or whether you misremembered the rules regarding The Knight role.
Many of the mod decisions had me feeling lost, and with them all together I felt dissatisfied with the round as a whole. I hope I've been able to put across my concerns well; if you have any need for further clarification, I will be happy to elaborate. I applaud you both for for running such a high-activity murdergame (especially during the holiday season) and I hope that you find this feedback to be helpful. I wish you success in your future murdergame endeavors.