I thought this game was fun, but see a couple of things that caused issues.
- The large (and interesting) variety of roles meant lots of special roles, so lots of players were needed. In all these games, there were some players who committed to play but either didn't, or posted sparingly. That's not so bad when they are generic, but it is when they are special.
- People seem to have a tendency to vote out players who are active, making the strategy of turtling effective. When everybody keeps their head down and hopes not to be noticed, RP suffers and so does the game.
- I know some people who wanted to play had changed life circumstances which didn't allow them to post much (if at all). This, too, seems to happen with somebody every mafia game, but was accentuated by the large number of players.
- Some folks either didn't read the rules carefully or used them strategically to look like they were ignorant. For example, were votes cast to lynch players who hadn't posted that round done so because the poster wasn't aware that you were culling inactive players, or did they want it to appear that way and avoid voting for an ally?
- After watching and playing in a few of these, I've come to the conclusion that gamers (being gamers) will work the system as much as possible to win instead of using RP to best effect. So they'll use the silent strategy to avoid garnering votes, then pop in at the last minute with a post to avoid being eliminated for non-participation. That's a strategic option tailored to the vehicle. There's nothing wrong with it, but it gets into the RAW/RAI argument.
I don't think you did anything wrong or poorly. Maybe pbp is better suited to simpler games which are more capable of dealing with absentees.
I've been having fun. I've actually been having a hard time keeping up with mose of my PBPs (life is taking it's toll). All of my PBPs are suffering for it sadly.
One issue I had with this one was trying to get into the character. The werewolf incarnation of Eldon I was really getting into, but BAM round 2 and out. The Mutants game same thing, though I think my RP of him kinda did him in that one. The nobles incarnation I was having abit of trouble finding his personality specifically. This time around I just couldn't find that key, this is who Eldon is. So the limited time I had, I spent too much trying to figure out 'How would Eldon respond'.
I would at least like to say thank you for taking the time to run another one, Meowlsworth. I think you did an excellent job!
This was my first PBP experience, and I thought it was a lot of fun. You made a very interesting scenario, and the little competitions provided a clear goal in each round rather than just a straight vote, that made jumping in to RP easy. As Treppa pointed out, in this style of game staying under the radar is a very good strategy, if you post just enough not to be disqualified people tend not to consider you a threat. Unfortunately the more people use that strategy the bigger the hit to RP.
I think you did a great job, and made the game very interesting, I very much enjoyed it. It was sad that there were so many disqualifications, but life can prevent people from being able to post. I don't think there's really anything you could have done differently to prevent that.
*Stupid not dotting here*
Yeah, this was a lot of fun & interesting how it's come down to the final 3! With them being strange psycho's as befitting the concept.
It's over! Congratulations, criminals, you edged out those robots! It seems rather pyrrhic though... but there are still potential hijinks to be had.
Wow. That was really close!
Quite the show!
Itchy trigger finger turned out to be an interesting role. I would have been terrified of it if I had been anything but a run of the mill criminal...