If I might just chip in here zebe, I know gilgamesh IRL (He's my brother in fact), he's kinda lazy and likes things to be simple hence the dislike for new roles. But I can't speak to the others that might dislike them. Personally I take a more neautral stance on it, I may not like having to keep track of all of them, but adding more roles might make the games better or at the very least more interesting to more people, so I just take that in stride.
Alrighty, I get it. Though I'm not sure how many people are finding more roles interesting. Like you said, it's just "might". And if people find too many roles confusing it might even make the games worse. :L This is so difficult. I should make polls. Polls make opinions easier.
NEW ROLES D'YA HEAR ME Yes, I've updated the role list. For those who don't wish additional roles, I've got bad news and good news and good news. The bad news is that we have 8 new roles and 6 new variants, so quite a lot. The good news is that you probably won't have to learn all of those any time soon, since it's very likely I'm not using them in Game 10. And the second good news is that those are probably the last roles I'm adding. Along with adding new roles, I made all of the variant descriptions more straightforward. Now they're just like the normal role descriptions, with the accurate description of the abilities above the "what zebe thinks is a funny/witty description" -thing. New roles: Protectorate Compatriot You are sided with the Civilians. You have one vote. Every night, you can attempt copy an ability from another player. If succesful, you can use that ability freely. If you copy another ability, you will lose the previous one. Humans are said to be very adaptable. As a official member of the great Terrene Protectorate, you are one of the most adaptable of them all. That ability is useful in the vast, dark universe... especially now, after you've failed to protect the Earth. Fighting cosmic horrors didn't turn out good, and now you're fighting penguins. Which isn't easy either, so better learn a few tricks from others. Role idea by @Arra Rookie Instead of copying abilities, you are able to use the latest ability you've been targeted with. You may not be very observant, but you learn fast. You just have to see it yourself first... Grand Protector You won't lose abilities after copying more. As the highest-ranking member of the Protectorate, you just are better. No question. Just stay away from all graduation ceremonies, okay? Aquatic Ambassador You are sided with the Civilians. You have one vote. Every night, you can send an anonymous message to any player. As an excellent diplomat, you understand interracial relations. Languages, traditions, manners, politics... you know it all better then the most. Probably better than anyone else, actually, since you are a Hylotl. You know the other races so well you know they just lack the finesse on a Hylotl can have. Your knowledge is useful here, where communication is limited by inferior species. Slily Lily You are sided with the Civilians. You have one vote. Every night, you can switch two players, so any action performed on one player affects the other one instead. As a Floran, you can track you prey down unlike an other creature in this Universe. Hunting is in your nature. As such, you know how hunting works. By laying false tracks, tricking your opponents and using all your schemes, you can trick people to follow the wrong prey. Role idea by @611 Cosmic Court You are sided with the Civilians. You have two votes. You're a gas-bag judge that has read the book of law. Too bad you don't remember any of it. But that can't stop you from serving justice! Your word holds twice the power compared to everyone else. You're the law, and everybody knows it. Condemner You have one vote. Once in a game, you can choose the lynch victim and end the day. Your is the law. If you see someone is guilty, they will face their final judgement. Avian Scholar You are sided with the Civilians. You have one vote. At any time, you can anonymously write a report that will be posted at the beginning of the next day. As a well-read intellectual, you know one way to foil the plans of the wrongful forces that threaten you; share your insights. Put your thoughts into words, and share them. Role idea by @zeskorion Tabloid At any time, you can anonymously write a report that will be posted at the beginning of the next day. Sometimes you need to tell the unsuspecting fools your version of the events. The good version. The correct version. A newspaper might do the job just right. Role idea by @zeskorion Messenger Every night, you can send an anonymous message to any player. Silently, you send notes to the enemy. Spread rumors and suspicions. Lies and half-truths. Lead them to a wild goose chase when they should be chasing penguins. Penguin Illusionist You are a Penguin. You have one vote. You can talk with the other Penguins privately any time. During the Night you choose a victim with your Penguin confederates. Every night, you can switch two players, so any action performed on one player affects the other one instead. You might know what you're doing, but your foes certainly won't. Is your heart black and cold or white and warm? Are they investigating an Avian or an Alpaca? Are they trying to kill a foe or a friend? It's almost like magic... They fall into your tricks so easily... Penguin Engineer You are a Penguin. You have one vote. You can talk with the other Penguins privately any time. During the Night you choose a victim with your Penguin confederates. Every night, you can give out a one-use ability to any player, but each type only once during a game. The abilities are suicide (appears as nightkill), protection (doesn't work, and nullifies any protection the user may have for the night they use the ability), role investigation (result is a random role from another alignment) and roleblock (does not block Penguin actions). Building the same mech suits from day to day? Are flamethrowers getting boring? Is your job simply uninteresting? Do you want to work in front lines of the Syndicate? Well now you can! Get your tools, because now your job is to provide your waddling companions high-quality tools... and give your worst failures to the enemy. Role idea by @611 Poptop You are a Poptop. You know all alignments in the game, and you must choose one to ally with before the second day begins. Your allies will be informed that you have sided with them. You cannot communicate privately with any of your allies. Every night, you can choose one player and find out their role. You win if your allies win or you're the last player alive. You aren't sided with anyone. You're just a Poptop, hopping across the wilderness, singing songs, and eating more or less unsuspecting travellers. However, you could pick a side in this conflict of strange species. You could achieve great things with your newfound friends. But choose wisely, since you can choose only once... Adult You cannot die. You're unable to investigate. If your allies die, you lose and are unable to affect the outcome of the game. You are tough, but not exactly the most subtle of creatures. Better forget the investigating.
I like that penguin illusionist. Imagine this scenario: There are four penguins, three agree to kill off someone of lesser importance relatively speaking leaving the forth outvoted. He wants to play smart and kill off one of the smart ones early, he's also the illusionist. He can switch the penguin's nightkill target with the person he wants dead. DISSENT IN THE RANKS! I'TS GLORIOUS!
My favorite play with that role was actually when I was arsonist. Basically I got caught and was able to buy several days by blaming it on the transporter who died that night.
I think there is some vagueness in the descriptions for the Poptop and I can see a problem with the Penguin Engineer. For the Adult variant, you have it stated that an Adult cannot die, which would be completely overpowered. I assume that you mean they are probably immune to either night kills or to day lynches. However, if they survive day lynches, then if the Adult was lynched during the day and survived, that would mean that whichever side that did not get the joining message would automatically know which team the Poptop was on. As for the Penguin Engineer, I think it's a lovely trick role, perfect for the penguin side, but it has no civilian counterpart, which would immediately alert whoever received a night action that an Engineer is in the role setup, and it would not be prudent to use it. Whether you plan on making an equivalent for the role or not is up to you, I guess, or maybe I just missed it in the massive pile of roles you've worked very hard in creating. Guess that's mostly food for thought.
It has a town counterpart. It was added in the last batch. (And I think someone who got lynched in the current game was that role Apex Scientist I think)
About the Poptop though. Adult's description is vague, but in a different way. It really is absolutely invulnerable. Adult can't die, not in any way. I sorta intended it to be a immortal Boring Human that can choose their own alignment. But I forgot to mention that the Adult has no effect on the game's outcome if it loses all of it's allies. Poptop knows literally every alignment in the game, which means the third party roles as well. So it can align itself with Agarans, Cultists, Shadows, and even Alpacas. So even if people know that a Poptop is in the game and not on their side, they don't necessarily know which of the various possible groups the Poptop has teamed up with. Actually considering the amount fo roles that have been added I'm not surprised about the problems everyone's having with them... these are the final roles i add i swear EDIT: Changed Adult Poptop's description a bit.
I love those roles! A bit of a question about the Cosmic condemner: Are the players shown that he has two votes or are they only shown when they use them both? And if the second is true can they use only one vote?
So, here is an idea to incentivise activeness any players who have not made 3 posts per ingame day, or not submitted a night action twice without clarification, will be turned into a boring human of whatever alignment they had. Penguins who go inactive will be revealed as such, and if they reveal their companions, they will be penalized Posts made must be relevant and have content related to the current game to count
Two votes are shown in the votecount, and they can be used separately. So basically they are a confimed Civ too. Thus a powerful role. The amount of votes needed for a lynch isn't changed by the role, though. I've actually thought about this. My limit was 3 posts as well. However, I'm not changing roles permanently at any point. If a player doesn't post, they lose their night action for the next Night. If they won't post the necessary amount of posts two days in a row, they'll die "by accident". Of course if the player has a good reason to be away, they won't die. Those are the rules for Game 10, but after I end my watch as the GM, the new mods can adopt new rules freely. I post about TPSX after this game is over.
I can't help but wonder how many players will make up "good reasons" just to have an excuse to keep lurking. Maybe I'm just a pessimist.
Pessimism has upsides, and downsides, helping and hurting in different ways and I guess I'd call myself a pessimist too