Principia Discordia

Who's up for another round of this?

I had fun running it... it's also a daily writing challenge, which is always good exercise.

Anyway, a brief rundown of the rules:

There will be three Spiders.  They will be known collectively as The Spider.  They will initially not know who the other Spiders are.  Each round ("round" is defined later), one of the Spiders will choose a Citizen to subsume.  If subsumed, the Citizen is out of the game and will sit on the couch to watch Jersey Shore reruns.

There will be initially one Discordian.  No one else will know who this is.  Every round, one Discordian can evangelize a Citizen.  There will be a 50% chance that the Citizen will convert and become a Discordian.  The new Discordian will know who converted him.  If not converted, the Citizen will not know who the Discordian is.

If a Spider tries to subsume a Discordian, there will be a 50% chance they will not succeed.   If a Discordian is not subsumed, they will be given two names.  One will be the Spider that attacked him, and one will be another player.  They will not know which is which.

If a Discordian tries to evangelize a Spider, there will be a 50% chance they will be subsumed.

If a Discordian tries to convert another Discordian they did not convert themselves, they will create a CABAL.  The CABAL has a 100% chance of converting a Citizen, who will then be part of that CABAL.  It will be up to the CABAL if they want to make it public. The CABAL will be broken if its members are subsumed or Put On A Bus.

If a Spider tries to subsume one of the other Spiders, they will begin to create The Machine™.  All three Spiders must be subsumed in order to create The Machine™.  Once created, The Machine™ has a 100% chance of crushing both Citizens and Discordians, but only a 50% chance if the Discordian is part of a CABAL.  If The Machine™ has not been created, the Spider still has a 50% chance of subsuming a Cabal member.  Once created, The Machine™ will continue to exist, even if one of the Spiders is Put On A Bus (see below).

Every round, the Citizens will discuss and choose a fellow Citizen to Put On A Bus (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PutOnABus), where they will be forced to surf TVTropes.com for the remainder of the game, and can not participate.  A simple majority will choose who to Put On A Bus.  If no simple majority is reached, then no one gets Put On A Bus that round.

A Round will be defined as the length of time it takes for EVERYONE playing the game to make a post.  The game will not continue until everyone has posted in that round.

Depending on how the game is going, there may or may not be clues in the various narratives as to the identities of the Discordian and the Spider.

The game is over when either all the Spiders have been Put On A Bus, or all Citizens have been Subsumed.

If all Citizens are Discordians at the end of the game, and all Spiders have been Put On A Bus, then the game ends with REVOLUTION.

To Recap:
-At the beginning of the game, no one will know who the Discordian is. 
-A Spider will not know the other Spiders.
-A converted Discordian will only know who converted them. 
-Each round, there will be a vote for who gets Put On A Bus. 
-A Discordian has a chance of not being subsumed by a Spider.
-A Discordian has a chance of converting a Citizen into a Discordian.
-A Discordian can create a CABAL by converting a Discordian.
-A Spider can create The Machine™ by subsuming all three Spiders.
-A round is not over until all eligible players have made a post.

RARGH MEMEMEMEMEMEEEE!

I guess.

Just hope I make it past round 2 this time.

I'm in!!  :lulz:

Ok, some comments or suggestions on how the last game went:

First, NO NAME CHANGES while the game is going on, because it really bugs me, and it makes it hard to keep track of who is who.

Lack of participation (i.e. only posting to cast a vote) will cause you to be discounted, but not out of the game.  That is, if we're all waiting on you, and you haven't made any meaningful contributions, I have the choice to just move on.

Everyone should be aware that all Narration/Tallying/Narrator involvement will take place between 8:00am and 3:30pm EST.  If you are not available to post at that time, make sure that you have your posts and votes done beforehand.  If you PM me with a request to hold off, I will do so.

Ok, now for a judgement of the game:  

It seems that with the players who were kicked off or subsumed, their ability to communicate with the others gave the Citizens too large of an advantage.  Case(s) in point is that both Pho and TGG were outed by the people they subsumed, and none too subtly, either. The problem is that there's no reasonable way I can prevent players from PMing each other on their own, apart from an Honor System, which is why I allowed it in the first place.  If the narration is to be believed, those who are subsumed are lifeless husks; it seems unlikely they would be available to help the others.

Once the Discordians get going, they really can't be stopped.  Even if they don't form a cabal, they'll certainly PM each other.  If the Spiders don't ferret them out quickly, it's pretty certain the Discordians win.  That seems like an unfair balance of power, but maybe it just means that the Spiders have to nab that first Discordian before he can convert.

With that in mind, I was thinking of two additions: Have two of the Spiders know each other (the third being a Mystery), and having two Discordians (neither knowing the other).  The potential for Machine™/CABAL (which didn't happen) would be greater, and it may equal out the balance of power.

Finally, it would be really fun if everyone would stay in character when they are subsumed/kicked off.  Semaj is an expert at it, and cudgel wrote his message about pho as a radio transmission.  Maybe that would be the way to get around everyone posting, even after they're out of the game.  Maybe not.  But it would add more of a RP to the RPG.

Any other thoughts?

No, that basically sounds like a good plan, LMNO.

Sounds good!
Butter my nipples, bitch Sign me up!

I am down for a second game, the first was super fun. :)

I agree with the subsumed not being able to report who the Spiders are.  I already mentioned it in the other thread, it was why I didn't vote for one of the Spiders.  With TGG it was a bit different, because I figured the Discordians who were living would know who Freeky tried to convert, and so if Freeky didn't report herself the others would have the same information.

I think things did come down pretty close in the last game.  The Spider subsumed quite a few and our own paranoia shipped off a lot of allies.  If it weren't for taking down Pho, we genuinely might have been fucked.  It was Ippie's reaction to that move that outed him, so it could have been a crucial few rounds that they gained momentum.  You are right about Discordians ruling the game toward the end.  It was why I was pushing to not vote the second the last round.  As the Discordians got more powerful, there was literally no stopping them and it was just a matter of time before they won.

Don't take this as a sign up, though.  I had a blast the first game, but because of some personal business that's bee popping up I wasn't able to offer much toward the end of it.  I don't want that happening again, so I'll catch another game when it starts up.

I'm in.

I think Discordians should be able to tell each other who they PLAN to convert, but nobody should be allowed to say out loud who subsumed them.

I'm in again. I like your ideas for balancing power, too.

Perhaps something should happen if a Discordian/Cabal and Spider/Machine attempt to subsume/covert the same citizen in the same turn?  I'm not sure what though, it could be a randomized decision, the Citizen gets to choose which side they wish to join, there is a percentage chance (say 25%) of either the Spider or the Discordian revealing their identity to the citizen etc etc

Count me in

me. thho i wont commit to no name changes :lol: but my name always contains fred anyway so im not the confusing one :P

Quote from: Doktor Howl on October 05, 2010, 05:32:35 PM
I think Discordians should be able to tell each other who they PLAN to convert, but nobody should be allowed to say out loud who subsumed them.

Certainly.  Discordians who know each other (or anyone who forms a PM alliance) can know who they plan to choose, but once subsumed, the only thing your mouth is good for is consuming MOAR PILZ.

Also, in the Narration, if a Discordian tries to convert a Spider and escapes, it will only be revealed that the conversion was unsuccessful, not that they had escaped a Spider.

Quote from: Cain on October 05, 2010, 06:02:27 PM
Perhaps something should happen if a Discordian/Cabal and Spider/Machine attempt to subsume/covert the same citizen in the same turn?  I'm not sure what though, it could be a randomized decision, the Citizen gets to choose which side they wish to join, there is a percentage chance (say 25%) of either the Spider or the Discordian revealing their identity to the citizen etc etc

I went with Vote>Spider>Discordian for this reason, so that the vote took precedent over the Spider's choice, which took precedent over the Discordian's choice.  However, I'd be willing to go with vote>Spider/Discordian, where each round there's a 50% chance to see who gets to go first.

I think that would be better, since the previous system obviously gives the Spiders an advantage over the Discordians, which causes something of a power imbalance.

WhatWouldProfessorQuirrelDo?




And does this mean you'd be interested in playing, Cain?

I'll play again.  :)

Playing.

I plan to post more in character this time.  The setting is a really cool concept, the rules probably took some work, and the excellent narration demands a certain tone of gameplay I think.

Sounds good!
Sign me up!

Playing

I'm in.

Quote from: Doktor James Semaj on October 05, 2010, 11:52:56 PM
I'm in.

Remember the first rule of Spiders. Semjah dies first. Always.

QuoteRemember the first rule of Spiders. Semjah dies first. Always.

Bring it on you Bastards! I'll take all of you on!

...All joking aside though, I'd really like to survive at least a couple rounds this time. It'd be something new.

I'm in for another round!  :argh!:

I was really angry I missed the last one, yay, now I get to join! :D

JOIN

Quote from: Sigmatic on October 05, 2010, 08:18:57 PM
Playing.

I plan to post more in character this time.  The setting is a really cool concept, the rules probably took some work, and the excellent narration demands a certain tone of gameplay I think.

i think posting in character would be excellent...

I vote Semaj. 

QuoteI vote Semaj.

Fine. Be that way, man. Lynch me, shoot me, subsume me, whatever the fuck you want. I'll just keep on posting and having fun!

Bring it on!

:lulz: I want a tee shirt that says that.

votes
Semaj- 2 :lulz:

QuoteI want a tee shirt that says that.

Vote Semaj?

Or like those stickers you get at the election polls?  "I voted Semaj".

Quote from: Doktor James Semaj on October 06, 2010, 03:51:00 AM

QuoteI want a tee shirt that says that.

Vote Semaj?

Quote from: Doktor Alphapance on October 05, 2010, 06:48:31 PM
WhatWouldProfessorQuirrelDo?




And does this mean you'd be interested in playing, Cain?

Add a third faction, besides the citizens.

And no.

Heh.  Fair enough.


Ok, we've got 16 people.  I think that's a good amount.

I'll give it until about noon (I need to write more narration), and then start up the new game.

Quote from: Doktor James Semaj on October 06, 2010, 03:24:57 AM

QuoteI vote Semaj.

Fine. Be that way, man. Lynch me, shoot me, subsume me, whatever the fuck you want. I'll just keep on posting and having fun!

Bring it on!

:lmnuendo:


:wink:

I want to play again, but since i just moved im internetless for 3-8 days, can we work around that?

Browsing thru "cyber-cafe" places i can hear/feel/see the bytes taking shape to make words, its ridiculously slow.

PLX

The new game has already started...

Sorry about that.