Wheel of Life Mafia -- Well of Being
 

Wheel of Life Mafia

Is there no escape from the eternity of existence?

This game has multiple realms. Each realm is like a mini Mafia game, with success and failure. Players will be active participants in the game until all realms have been resolved. That is, there is no permanent death in this game.

The three worldly realms are the Sacred Fig, the Serene Lotus, and the Sustaining Mango. The spiritual realm is the Well of Being. Each player will be active in one realm at a time. You may only post and vote in your current realm, but may freely read all of the other realms. Each player starts in one of the worldly realms. If a player dies, they move to the Well of Being until they reincarnate into their next world.

When entering a worldly realm, your caste there will be either Town or Scum, which will never change in that world. For Town to succeed in a worldly realm, there must be no current or future Scum for that world. For Scum to succeed in a worldly realm, Scum currently living there must strictly outnumber all current and future Town for that world. There will be a public announcement when a caste succeeds in a worldly realm, but which caste and which players will not be revealed. Each player will receive a private message notifying them of their success or failure in that world, but not which caste they are there. Play in a worldly realm will continue even after a caste has succeeded there, although the success cannot be undone.

To escape the Wheel of Life and to win this game, you must succeed as Town in at least one worldly realm and succeed as Scum in another. You do not need to have played in a realm in order to succeed there; if your teammates there win, you share in that win, even if you were never there. Each player will be Town in exactly two worldly realms and be Scum in exactly one. A player who has won the game may continue to play if they wish, or they may choose to be spoiled and removed entirely from play.

The worldly realms will follow a staggered Day-Night cycle. The Sacred Fig will have Dusk on Mondays, and Dawn on Wednesdays. The Serene Lotus will have Dusk on Wednesdays, and Dawn on Fridays. The Sustaining Mango will have Dusk on Fridays, and Dawn on Mondays. All times will be at noon California time. Day One of a realm may be longer to give players time to orient. The Well of Being has neither Day nor Night, Dusk nor Dawn, only a timeless existence.

Each Day in a worldly realm, players may vote for as many or as few players as they wish, including none. At Dusk, the player with most votes will be executed, unless No Execution has more votes than any player. If two or more players are tied for the lead, the one earliest on the player list for that world will be executed. The caste of an executed player will be publicly announced. This is the only way a player's caste can be revealed by the moderator.

Each Night, the Scum of a worldly realm may choose one player to murder at Dawn. Living Scum of a particular worldly realm may chat freely at a secret location. If there is no consensus, the Scum earliest on the player list for that realm has priority. The caste of a killed player will not be publicly announced.

Each Day or Night, any player may choose to transmigrate. You will die at the next Dusk or Dawn, but your caste will not be publicly announced. Transmigration will be blocked if you are executed at the same time. Note that a transmigration at Dawn is indistinguishable from a Scum kill.

When a player dies by any means, they will go to the Well of Being, where they may chat freely. Players in the Well of Being will reincarnate into their next worldly realm at its next Dawn. You will receive your role message for that realm at that time. A player will not reincarnate into a worldly realm more than once; when you die, you leave that world forever. Once a player has died in every worldly realm, they will spend the rest of the game in the Well of Being.

You may only post in the current game thread of your current world, except for your secret Scum chat while you are a living Scum. There are no restrictions on post content, except that you may not post screenshots of this game. You may read any public game thread at any time.

Sample role messages:

Realm: Sacred Fig
Caste: Town
Success Condition: You will succeed in this world when there are no current or future Scum.
Win Condition: You will escape the Wheel of Life and win the game once you have succeeded as both Town and Scum.
Power: Each Day and Night while in this world, you may choose to transmigrate. You will die, but your caste will not be publicly revealed. Execution blocks this power.

Realm: Sustaining Mango
Caste: Scum
Success Condition: You will succeed in this world when living Scum strictly outnumber all current and future Town.
Win Condition: You will escape the Wheel of Life and win the game once you have succeeded as both Town and Scum.
Power: Each Day and Night while in this world, you may choose to transmigrate. You will die, but your caste will not be publicly revealed. Execution blocks this power.
Secret: At any time while living in this world, you may chat freely with other Scum at [URL]. Once you have died in this world, you may no longer post there, but may continue to read it.

Realm: Well of Being
Caste: None
Success Condition: There is no success or failure in this realm, only eternal existence.
Win Condition: You will escape the Wheel of Life and win the game once you have succeeded as both Town and Scum.
Power: None, but you will reincarnate at your next world's Dawn.

There are no powers except transmigrate. Note that Scum can only determine their teammates through their secret chat.

Rules Updates, Clarifications, and Commentary

This rules set has been in the works for a long time. I started the design back when I was running my Apocalyptic Mafia on IdleMafia, circa 2013. It was also a multi-level game, but much more complicated than this one. Really, way too complicated. I learned my lesson and I've boiled this rules set down to the bare essences; there are no unnecessary complexities. I believe it is well balanced, but until it's tested in play, I can't be sure. You will probably think of a gambit or three and wonder if it's okay to do it. I've almost certainly already considered it and adjusted the balance to account for it--go for it.

There is no randomness in this game once it's initialized. The sequence of worlds into which you will reincarnate is predetermined, but unknown to you. Your caste in each world is unknown to you until you reincarnate there, but is predetermined. The player list order for each world is predetermined, but will only be revealed as players reincarnate into that world.

Each living Scum should send a private message to the moderator at Night if they wish to murder someone. There is no tracking or watching, so it doesn't matter who does the murdering. If no Scum currently living in a world chooses to murder, there will be no murder that Dawn. Thus, if there are no currently living Scum in a world, there can be no murder.

Under some circumstances, a player will skip the Well of Being and reincarnate directly into their next worldly realm. For example, if someone executed in the Serene Lotus is predetermined to go to the Sacred Fig next, since the Dusk of the former matches the Dawn of the latter, the Well of Being would be skipped.

Any unspoiled non-player is welcome to post in the Well of Being (that is, this thread). The peanut gallery is part of this game! However, anyone who is spoiled, must not post outside the spoiler thread.

By the way, it's impossible for everyone to win. But it's definitely possible that everyone loses. Have fun!

Can scum murder one of their own if they choose to do so?
Yes, although since players may also transmigrate, there's little need for it.

How many scum chat threads are there?
Three, one for each world. Scum receive access when they are reincarnated into the world where they are scum. They may post there as long as they are alive in that world. They may always read it, once they have access.

Sign Up List

Askthepizzaguy
Archangel
babale
BillMc
Dead Cat
LightFoot
Lion
Mahaloth
Merestil Haye
Metallic Squink
raventhief
Silverjan
SNFaulkner
sturmhauke
TexCat
TheCatsMeow

We need at least 12, but can take many more.

My head hurts just reading the set up, but tally ho, in.

It's basically three concurrent, but not independent, games.

Interesting idea. Looking forward to your games.

/in

I love modding, but I've been doing it since November or so and really can't wait to be in a game again!

Are you using three subforums for the game?

No. One sub forum. It’s one game, with the action staggered about. Players may read all the threads. You could focus on just the one you’re in, but since alignments are not independent it will help to read more.

In please, even though it looks complicated I need the distraction.

A few questions, because I would like to play but don’t understand parts of the setup.

1. Why would one continue to play after they’ve succeeded at their wincon?
2. Am I correct that there really aren’t teams to win the (whole) game? Each player is playing for themselves only?
3. If you win in a different realm than the one you currently exist in, you’re notified that you won but not your alignment, right? So if my understanding of 2 is correct, you won’t know if you’ve won the game until you’ve won it?

1. A player might choose to continue playing in order to affect the outcome for others, by votes or advice.

2. You'll obviously have fellow caste-mates in each world that will share success or failure in that world. But looking at the game as a whole, the rule "each player will be Town in exactly two worldly realms and be Scum in exactly one" creates teams. If Archie and Betty are scum together on one world, they know they'll be town together on the other two worlds.

3. You will be notified if you've won the overall game.

I'm not sure if I'm actually addressing your question 3. Please rephrase if I'm not.

:eek:

In response, I can only offer the following.



Given the last game, and especially this set-up (As I think I might have hinted earlier) .... It's a no from me, ... I'm out. [American Idol / Shark Tank]

/Out

(Using same numbers from previous post):

2. Oh, so there are 3 overarching teams? By overarching I mean a team you can win the game with, not a team you can win the realm with.

3. I can’t remember what I was actually asking here but if the answer to #2 is yes then I understand the setup now I think.

Yes. To put it simply: scum of one world are masons in the other worlds.

Okay, thanks for the further explanation. In, thanks.

possibly
in

I was planning to take a longer break, but this looks so intriguing that I have to play, if only to see how/if it works!

In please.

How long are the day / night phases?

I've been home from work for a month due to catching the disease that shall not be named. It looks like I will be home for a while longer, and sitting in one room all day is no funsies.

I just need to know if it would be feasible for me to be a sub or an active player.

This looks like a mafia-style game but the rule set is so different that I feel like players will get lost. For one, you're trying to catch mafiosi but you may not have much or any history to base that off of. And while I have some anti-mafia tactics that can be helpful, you're also supposed to win somewhere as mafia as well to win.

You get one chance to win the game, when you are scum. You have two chances to win as town.

You should probably read the boards you're not in, particularly if the board you are in has little activity.

Days are 5 days, Nights are 2 days. It's a fixed weekly schedule, with each world having Dawn on a different day.

I don't do substitutions, except for replacing players who sign up and then don't show up. I find replacing players to be too disruptive and prefer to mod-kill.

Each world is like vanilla mafia, except that new players enter from time-to-time. Those players will have records from their previous worlds, and since alignment is not independent, it might matter.

Hope you're feeling OK with no lasting effects. Would be awesome if you could play (one good thing to come from this?).

From the OP:

So basically Nights are 48 hours, except over the weekend when they are 72 hours - and it's always Day somewhere. Days are 5 days long, so plenty of time to play.

I personally like the fact that Dusk always falls at noon PST, as that is 8pm for me - so no need to stay up late in case of shenanigans.

There will be days where I have a doctor's visit or a dentist's visit and may be under the effect of painkillers. (I passed out due to lack of oxygen and broke my front tooth, tore up my mouth)

So the 5 day day phases are helpful to me. I'm sure I will have time to play, basically only because of the illness and injury.

Just a heads up, I flat out do not have the energy to go ham- if you compare me in this game to my previous games you will see a different level of engagement and pace. Also because of illness/injury.

I'll probably still be far from the bottom of the post count or post length standings. Just, subdued. And this setup requires a different approach, because it's a very different game.

Meta is weak, etc.

Put me in. No Bowser this time.

This is a really cool concept and I may need to come back for it.

Oh Pizza, I am so sorry to hear that. This virus is awful and yet some people still insist it's just the flu. I hope you feel better soon and I look forward to playing with you again.

Yay! At least you are using your "real name" again :)

/in

Pizza, feel better!

Pleonast, I just have to say this is one of the most creative setups I’ve ever seen.

I thought about running a similar kind of game, so I have thoughts.

Will share when game starts.

There's no "may", you're in it. :p

Thanks. I think it'll be a lot of fun to play. It's difficult to explain the set up, but it'll be straight-forward once you're in it.

I am looking forward to this, I do wish more players would sign up for it.

/in

I think I'll be able to play. I currently have electricity, heat, and water (even if we're supposed to be boiling it).

We at least two more players.

@Prof. Pepperwinkle -- Was this an /in???

Each player will receive a private message notifying them of their success or failure in that world, but not which caste they are there. umm OK

So If Town wins in Sacred Fig ( while I am not there) I will receive a PM of success ( if I was scheduled to be Town in that realm) or Failure (if I was scheduled to be Scum there?)

Have I got this right?

Yep.

It's these little things that make the game balanced. :science:

No, sorry. I'm gonna be a bit busy the next few weeks.

Trying a bunch of mentions.

We need at least two more players, and no upper limit. Any of you want to play?

@antialiasis
Archangel
@Argyle1
Askthepizzaguy
babale
@Bashorian Clement
@Bear_Nenno
BillMc
@Biotop
@brownie55
@Chameleon
@Colby11
@Dante G
@Dead Cat
@Dizzymrslizzy
@Flying Squid with Goggles
@gnarlycharlie
@goreae
@HookerChemical
@Inner Stickler
@Jackofhearts2005
@Kimble
@Kindredkindling
@Knowed Out
@Koldanar
@LightFoot
Logic
@Magicalundies
Mahaloth
Meeko
@Merestil Haye
@Metallic Squink
@Mrs McGinty
@Oxirane
Pleonast
@Plumpudding
@Pogo
@Precambrianmollusc
Prof. Pepperwinkle
@raventhief
@Red Skeezix
@Sario
@Scáthach
Silverjan
@SisterCoyote
@SmartAleq
@SNFaulkner
@storyteller0910
@sturmhauke
@Suburban Plankton
@Sunny Daze
@Swammerdami
TexCat
@The Mighty Quinn
@TheCatsMeow
@Vanta Black
@Visorslash
@Zeener Diode
@zuma

I am already here :)

Every time I log into this I hope there will be a message for me. so far no luck :(

This is creatve, but that's wha I have come to expect fromPleo.

/in

#metoo :)

With Lion and TexCat already involved, hoping to hear from TheCatsMeow so we can have our first 4-cat game.

What the hell, I'm in. Been a long time since I last played.

Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

Sorry but I’m out. Last game I was useless, anyways

Looks like we have 12. I’ll start the game maybe Monday. We can still take more players, if anyone else is interested.

That just means you have them where you want them. /judo

Thanks for the mention but I just do not have time to play (although I would love to). Work is really kicking my ass lately. If you really need me and won't lynch me for not posting enough*, then I'm in.

*Downplaying my scumminess already!

I’ll count you as in. There are no posting or voting requirements at all.