ESPIONAGE: A brand new simple forum game! (Central Rules & Information Topic)

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Jd-
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ESPIONAGE: A brand new simple forum game! (Central Rules & Information Topic)

Post by Jd- »

Welcome to the central topic for the new forum game ESPIONAGE. This game is designed as a simple social game in which literally everyone can participate. Unlike our larger Mafia games, Espionage requires very little time to play on a daily basis and is much more open to beginners. The game, depending on which side you're on, involves testing your skills of deduction and manipulation.

For this game, you will only need to check the forum and make a decision once per day. Apart from a forum account, that's all that is required. The game is made to suit both large and small games alike, be it 10 players or 20 or more. One thing that sets Espionage apart from other games is that no private communications between players regarding the game are permitted at all—all dialogue and discourse between players takes place openly, in the designated topic for each game.


NOTE: This topic is meant to serve as the general information source for the game. Actual games will be carried out in dedicated threads also available here in the Forum Games section of the forums.

Previous Results
Spoiler: Round One (Civilians/Detective Win)
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Spoiler: Round Two (Civilians/Detective Win)
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Spoiler: Round Three: TEAM ESPIONAGE (Spies/Informants Win)
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Spoiler: Round Four (Spy/Informants Win)
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Spoiler: Round Five (Spy/Informants Win)
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Spoiler: Round Six (Civilians/Detective Win)
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Spoiler: Round Seven: Campaign Round (Civilians/Detectives Win)
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The Game

Please note that the rules found below are only to provide base familiarity with the idea of the game. Actual rounds may feature significantly different rulesets. Please review the rules for each round before play begins.

Espionage revolves around the interplay between two special roles: the Spy and the Detective. The goal of the Spy is to eliminate the Detective by whatever means possible, while the goal of the Detective is to assist the other players in locating and arresting the Spy. Two players will be assigned these roles at random, while the remaining players will be civilians tasked with identifying and eliminating the Spy before they escape. Civilian players are all given a unique list of names of fellow players, with each list containing Detective's name somewhere amongst the list of players. The details of each list are fully shareable in the game topic, but because the Spy is watching, this will result only in an expedited death for the Detective. It is the job of each civilian to work their way through their list and decide who can be trusted and who cannot. But, an addition threat also exists: The Informant. An Informant is a civilian who has been corrupted and is now an asset and assistant to the Spy and knows their identity from the beginning of the game. Their aim in the game is to assist the Spy by whatever means necessary in winning the game. Depending on the size of the game, there may be from one to three Informants per game.

During each phase (typically lasting 24 hours in total), each player is expected to send in their vote via PM to the Game Master (GM) for who should be arrested as the Spy. Whichever player receives the most votes will then be arrested and removed from the game (ties result in no arrests). If the arrested player is the Spy, the civilians and Detective win the game. If the arrested player is the Detective, the Spy then begins their escape—the civilians then have two phases to arrest them or else they lose the game. The results of the vote are revealed by the GM at the end of the phase, announcing any arrests that have resulted from the vote as well as who voted whom.

In addition to voting for the daily arrest, the Spy, Detective, and Informant each have special abilities unique to their roles. Neither receive lists at the beginning of the game and instead are to rely on their abilities to progress in the game. The Spy has the ability Execute in which they are able to kill another player each time the Spy survives a phase. The Detective has the ability Investigate which allows them to send a list of three suspected players to the GM and receive the name of one random player who is definitively NOT the Spy. The Informants in a round also have the one-time-use ability Assassinate. This allows the Informants to perform a special kill on another player that turns up as a suspicious accident. Whether there are one, two, or three Informants, Assassinate can only be used once per round by one Informant. The results make it clear a kill is a result of Assassinate as opposed to the Spy's Execute by mentioning that the deceased party died in an accident. These abilities are used in addition to the daily vote and the results of which will be sent privately by the GM once each phase's results are announced.

For the daily vote, the Spy will be attempting to mislead the public while also aiming to mislead the investigation. The Detective will be attempting to sway public opinion in order to see the Spy arrested.

The Rules

General Rules

Do NOT discuss the game in private messages or anywhere that is not the original game topic.
Unlike our other Mafia games, all correspondence and interaction amongst players in Espionage takes place in public in the designated topic. The only person you should contact in private in regards to the game or its operation is a given round's GM. They will assist you with anything you may need help with.

Once you have been killed OR been arrested, you are considered out of the game.
If you are killed in the course of a round or are arrested by the votes from your fellow players, you are no longer allowed to post in the game topic from the moment it is announced that you are out. At this point, you can consider yourself dead for game purposes. You may still PM the GM with any questions you have, but please refrain from any further posts in the topic, including posts wishing good luck, smileys, etc. This is to ensure that everything is fair for all sides. Once you have died, you are also still not allowed to correspond with any other players about the game, in order to ensure everything is even for all sides. If the round in question is a team round, you may no longer advise or contact your teammate in ANY FORM if they are still alive and in the game. However, you may do so if you are both dead or arrested, but please respect the above provisions. Once the game has been completed, you are free to post again.

You are NOT allowed to in any way showcase correspondence from the GM during a round to confirm your role or any information therein.
This means you are not allowed to present screenshots, no copying and pasting of role assignments or results, no hinting at anything other players wouldn't have access to based on information from the GM, and no replicating of anything the GM has said to confirm your role. If it seems unfair and outside of how the game is intended to play out, it probably is, and as such should not be utilized in the course of a round. Additionally, you are not allowed to encrypt any such content and present codes that need to be decrypted to confirm your role or someone else's. Anything outside of the intended scope of the game in regard to presenting any such information is considered out of bounds and illegal. Should you have any questions, please message the GM prior to posting in order to preserve the balance of the game and ensure fairness for all players.

You are required to vote for the daily arrest.
If you do not vote, your vote for a given phase will be a vote for yourself. For example, if a player doesn't send in a vote for a phase, the inactive player will already have a vote against them going into the results of that phase. As such, you are strongly urged to vote or else you'll be out of the game pretty quickly.

The game will end with either a Spy & Informant or a Civilian & Detective victory.
If the Spy is arrested, the game ends immediately and the Detective and civilians win. If the Detective is executed by the Spy or is arrested in the daily vote, the civilians then have only two phases remaining to find the Spy and arrest them before they escape. If only the Spy and Detective remain at the end with no other civilians still in play, the Spy wins automatically.

No wills are allowed.
Last wills and testaments are not permitted for use in the game. If you are killed as a civilian, two names on your list will be revealed upon death.

The GM will not share the identities of special role players while the game is ongoing, even with dead players or non-players.
This is to ensure the integrity of each round and ensure no one is put at a disadvantage inadvertently.

Keep in mind that once you have posted information in the topic, it cannot be taken back, so please ensure no rules are broken.
From the second something is posted, it's possible another player has seen it. Once that player has seen it, it's not only unfair to other players to withhold that information by deleting it, but its sheer removal validates the information that the players saw in the first place. All players are asked to be extremely diligent and careful with information you post in the topic regarding information that is not meant to be posted publicly. If you are in any way hesitant about posting something, confer with the GM. The GM is there to ensure the game is played fairly on all sides.

Role-Specific Rules

As a Civilian: Your list is the key to finding and protecting the Detective.
Your list is unique to you and is meant to inform your decisions and help you along. Because every list always will contain the name of the Detective, it is your foremost concern to covertly locate the Detective and ensure they survive as the game progresses. It is legal to post details of your list in the topic, but this is inadvisable given that the Spy will be watching. Each civilian's list will be completely random and will be generated to contain the name of the player holding the Detective role. The size of the list will include seven names in games that include at least ten players. Smaller games will contain lists of a size determined by the GM.

As the Detective: You are advised to be discreet.
Hide yourself the best you can from the Spy while attempting to catch them. Your Investigate ability is key to identifying non-Spy players. Use of your Investigate ability is to be sent prior to the end of a phase, preferably along with your choice for the vote that day. When you Investigate, you are to send in the names of three living players. The GM will then randomly select a non-Spy player from the list and send you a PM stating: "________ is NOT the Spy". Any player identified in this way as a non-Spy is no longer eligible to be included in any future uses of Investigate. Additionally, no player may be included in more than two uses of Investigate in a given game.

As the Spy: You are free to lie.
You are encouraged to mislead other players within the confines of the game topic. Hiding your identity is paramount, thus blending in to the civilian population is ideal. Use of your Execute ability to kill any player you would like is to be sent prior to the end of a phase, preferably along with your choice for the vote that day. It is also at this time that you should use Orders: messages you send via proxy through the GM that will be delivered at the end of a phase to your remaining Informants. Your messages can contain specific commands, such as, "Show me who the three of you each mentioning one of the following: a hug, a high-five, and jumping in excitement." However, even once you have established one another's identities, the Order system is the only means by which you should make contact (with only the Spy able to send messages to the Informants but not vice versa).

As the Informant: You must protect the Spy.
For all intents and purposes, you are a corrupted civilian who is now a partner of the Spy. Unlike a normal civilian, you are NOT given a list at the start of the game and must pretend to have one to blend in with others. You will be told the identity of the Spy at the start of the game but are NOT permitted to in any way contact that player except through creative public posts in the game topic (meaning absolutely NO private messages between you and the Spy or any other Informants). However, the Spy can use a special proxy messaging system through the GM known as an Order. This is a message sent by the Spy that will be forwarded to the Informant. The Spy can use Orders throughout the game beginning with Prep Phase (with the message to be delivered Day One) and can use them to request information from the Informant including their identity (such as saying, "Post in the game topic something including a hug so that I know who you are"). The Informant's only means of contacting the Spy is to speak creatively in public in the game's discussion topic without arousing suspicion toward themselves or the Spy. However, even once the two have established one another's identities, they may not communicate outside of Orders forwarded by the GM at the end of each phase. If the Informant is arrested or killed by the Spy accidentally prior to their identity being known, it is announced by the GM with their arrest or death that they were the Informant. Informants are also not allowed to message each other privately even should they discover one another's identities, though the Spy may use Order to forward their identities to each other for public coordination purposes.

The Informants also have the one-time-use kill ability known as Assassinate. This ability cannot be used more than once per game, no matter how many Informants are present in a game. If multiple Informants are present and both use the ability in a given phase, whichever sent the action last prior to the phase ending will be considered the valid use with the others being canceled. Any kills achieved with Assassinate will be specified as having been the result of an accident in the results for a given phase, thus signaling to the remaining players that the ability has been exhausted. If the Spy uses their own kill ability, Execute, on the same target as Assassinate in a given phase, the Spy's action goes through and the Assassinate action fails and is considered unused. The Informants may then re-use the action again the next phase until it has been exhausted. If the Informant using Assassinate is arrested in the phase they have sent in the kill, the kill is canceled and remains usable for any remaining Informants the next phase. If two Informants send in a kill, only one of them is valid, so should two send in a kill and the one who sent last is arrested, the other's kill action was already canceled and does not happen in its place. In addition, if they for some reason attempt to use the ability on the Spy, the action is automaticallycanceled and does not take place.

NOTE: Depending on the size of a game, additional Informants may be added prior to the start of the game at the GM's discretion. Any such additions will be announced in the topic prior to the game beginning. Should this be the case, the Spy may then send Orders to "Informants #1" and "Informants #2" separately.

Informant responses to Orders from the Spy should take place in the form of posts in the designated game topic.
In other words, your responses to cues from the Spy received through the GM should take place in the game topic and should not involve anything outside of it, including posts in other topics elsewhere on the forum or the changing your signature or altering any other profile information as confirmation of your role. Additionally, such confirmation posts must not be edited later to remove identifying information.

The Spy & Detective are NOT forced to use their abilities.
Special roles do not have to use their abilities on a given phase. For example, the Spy may wish to not use their kill ability to, for whatever reason, create an alibi or cause confusion amongst civilians. This is not especially recommended due to a lack of kills creating less opportunities for the Spy, but it is an option.

Variants

Below are any and all variants on the original game that may be used as the basis for future rounds.

Team Espionage Variant

An all-new variant of the game known as Team Espionage operates very much so like the original game but with a twist: players are now randomly assigned a partner at the start of the game. In this variant, there is one team of Detectives, one team of Spies, one team of Informants, and several pairs of civilians. Unlike in the normal game of Espionage, in Team Espionage, you are allowed to communicate in private messages but ONLY WITH YOUR TEAMMATE. All votes and actions (such as Investigate and Execute) target a team, not an individual player. Teammates must work together to decide on actions and votes, with only one member of the team being required to send their actions to the GM. If both players send in actions to the GM, whichever arrived the latest will be taken as their action for a given phase.

Secret Team Espionage Variant

Another concept based on Team Espionage with players again being randomly assigned teammates at the start of the game from the pool of players, but with the added facet of other players not knowing who your teammate is. In this variant, only you are privy to the identity of your partner and you may still communicate privately. However, actions and votes in general are not shared, with players living and dying separately.

Spy vs. Spy Variant

In this variant, there are three sides battling it out for victory, with the primary conflict taking place between two separate Spies that are at odds. Each Spy is attempting to kill the other while being aided by their own separate teams of Informants. Caught up in the chaos are innocent civilians and a Detective attempting to put an end to the conflict by eliminating both Spies. Unlike in normal Espionage, the Detective's demise does not trigger the escape of either Spy party, instead only giving the civilian side less opportunity to catch the Spies. For the civilians and Detective to win, both Spies must be eliminated before either escapes. For one Spy team to win, they must see that their opposing Spy is arrested or killed, and then have a set amount of phases prior to their escape. During this time, they must continue to evade the civilians.

Spy Ring Variant

In this variant, a number of Spies (generally three) operate in tandem and are in full communication with one another, while Civilians are still without private messaging as in the normal game without partners. The Spy Ring still only get one kill per phase and are without Informants, instead acting as their own throughout the game.

Role Assignment Templates

Below are templates for role assignments for the use of future GM's as well as players who wish to familiarize themselves with the inner-workings of each role.

Normal Espionage Templates
Spoiler: CIVILIAN TEMPLATE
Welcome to the latest round of Espionage! Your role has been determined, and you are...

A Civilian!

Your job:
Find the Spy through your deductions! Cast your votes for each phase (Day One, Day Two, etc) as to who you believe the Spy is. Whoever receives the most votes in a phase will be arrested--if it is the Spy, your side wins! You have extra help in the form of a teammate known as the Detective. The Detective is an ally of the Civilian population, but if the Detective dies or is arrested, you will have a very short amount of time to catch the Spy before he gets away. Find the Spy and have them arrested before they kill the Detective and get away! But, don't forget: There is one more role to keep in mind, which is the Informant. This is someone who is a corrupt civilian that will try to mislead you in order to protect the Spy and help them escape.

Your list:
In order to help aid in your mission, below is a list of seven players in the current round. Among these seven is the name of the Detective player; in other words, the Detective is in EVERY civilian list. The remaining players are filled in at random, with the only provision being that your own name is not present. The Spy may or may not appear and will be included randomly as with any civilian player.

You are free to share your list in the topic but are reminded that doing so will likely reveal the Detective's identity to the Spy. Naturally, you are still not permitted to private message any other player. The purpose of your list is to protect the Detective to the best of your ability.

Below is your unique list:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

To vote: Send me (the GM) a private message with your vote as to who you believe should be arrested. You have 24 hours per day to get in your vote. At the end of a given day, the votes will be announced (including who you voted for) with who was arrested. In your message, you only have to say: "I vote for _____". You may change your vote any time with a new message, such as: "I change my vote to _____" anytime prior to the phase ending.

PLEASE NOTE: In this game, you are NOT ALLOWED to private message or in any other way privately contact other players about the game. All discussion between players is to take place in THIS TOPIC. Please take a moment to very carefully read through the rules, thank you!

PM ME, THE GM OF THIS ROUND, WITH YOUR VOTES AND ACTIONS, AS WELL AS ANY QUESTIONS YOU MAY HAVE.
Spoiler: DETECTIVE TEMPLATE
Welcome to the latest round of Espionage! Your role has been determined, and you are...

The Detective!

Your job:
You are the Detective. Your job is to blend in with the civilians while hunting down the Spy. Once the Spy has been arrested, you and the civilians will win the game. If you are arrested or killed by the Spy, the Spy will then begin their escape and soon after win the game. Your job is to stay hidden and try to locate the Spy through your Investigate ability. It is essential that you keep a low profile, because should the Spy kill you, they will be much closer to victory. You are allowed to legally disclose publicly in the topic that you are the Detective, but the disadvantages are clear. As the Detective, it is your job to stay alive and out of jail while quickly locating the Spy lest they kill you first!

Your ability: Investigate
As the Detective, you have a special ability that no other role has: Investigate. With this ability, you will send THREE NAMES to the GM for a given phase. The GM will then randomly select one non-Spy player from those three names and send you a result saying "________ is NOT the Spy". This non-Spy player can NOT be included in any future Investigate lists. Additionally, no player of any sort can be included on more than two Investigate lists on any occasion. Deceased or arrested players from previous phases may also not be included on lists. You may share your Investigate lists in the topic if you wish to do so for whatever reason, but this will signal your identity to the Spy.

To vote and send an action: Send me (the GM) a private message with your vote for who you want arrested and who you want to investigate as a Spy suspect. You have 24 hours per day to get in your vote and action. At the end of a given day, the votes will be announced (including who you voted for) with who was arrested by receiving the majority of the votes. At the same time, you will receive a private message from me about your action of eliminating someone as a Spy suspect. In your PM to the GM for each phase, you only have to say: "I vote for _____ and want to investigate ______". You may change your vote or investigate action any time with a new message, such as: "I change my vote to _____ and want to investigate _______" prior to the phase ending.

PLEASE NOTE: In this game, you are NOT ALLOWED to private message or in any other way privately contact other players about the game. All discussion between players is to take place in THIS TOPIC. Please take a moment to very carefully read through the rules, thank you!

PM ME, THE GM OF THIS ROUND, WITH YOUR VOTES AND ACTIONS, AS WELL AS ANY QUESTIONS YOU MAY HAVE.
Spoiler: SPY TEMPLATE
Welcome to the latest round of Espionage! Your role has been determined, and you are...

The Spy!

Your job:
You are the Spy. Your job is to blend in with the civilians while hunting down the Detective. Once the Detective has been killed by you or has been mistakenly arrested in your place, you will then escape after two additional phases have passed. During this mission, it is important to ensure your identity stays concealed no matter what. You are free to lie and mislead the civilians, but be careful to not appear suspicious by being forceful. Luckily, you are not alone: Here to assist you in this game are ___NUMBER OF INFORMANTS HERE ("TWO" / "THREE" / etc)___ allies known as the Informants. They know your identity and are here to help you survive while misleading the civilians. If you are arrested, you will lose the game, so do whatever you can to avoid being suspected and voted out!

Your abilities: Execute & Order
As the Spy, you have a special ability that no other role has: Execute. This allows you to kill one other player and have them removed from the game. Your goal is to seek out and kill the Detective, because only then will your escape timer begin (unless they are arrested, in which case the timer likewise begins). Keep in mind: Your Execute ability does not take effect until after the vote, so if you are arrested, your kill will not take place. This kill cannot be otherwise stopped or tracked, so use it strategically as you see fit. If your Execute target was arrested, no kill will take place for that phase.

An Order is the ability to use a secret proxy message system between the Spy and their allies, the Informants. For each phase, you may send a message to the GM to be delivered to your Informants at the end of the phase. This message will be delivered only after the phase has ended and the votes and results from the phase have been revealed. The Informants will all begin the game knowing your identity, but you may use your Orders system in order to ask them to identify themselves in public with coded tasks (such as, "Informant 1, show me who you are by mentioning a hug in the topic, while Informant 2, I'd like you to show me who you are by mentioning a high-five in the topic"). A single message to all Informants is not encouraged, so it is better to specifically organize an Order for each Informant. However, keep in mind: Even after you have established each other's identities, you are NOT allowed to private message or in any other way correspond privately about the game. Your only private correspondence about the game are to happen through the one-way Order system through the GM. As the Spy, you may use the Order system beginning with the Preparation Phase prior to Day One, the first actual phase of gameplay. This means you may have Orders delivered to your Informants for the start of Day One. You may also use this system to suggest who you wish your Informants to use their one-time-use kill ability Assassinate on.

To vote and send an action: Send me (the GM) a private message with your vote for who you want arrested and who you want killed. You have 24 hours per day to get in your vote and action. At the end of a given day, the votes will be announced (including who you voted for) with who was arrested by receiving the majority of the votes. At the same time, anyone you successfully killed will also be announced as having been found dead, but of course without mention of your name. Additionally, your Order message to your allied party will also be delivered at this time. In your PM to the GM, you only have to say: "I vote for _____ and want to kill ______. My orders: Informant 1, please _____________. Informant 2, please _________". You may change your vote, kill action, or orders at any time prior to the phase ending with a new message, such as: "I change my vote to _____ and want to kill _______. My new order to replace the old one is: Informant 1, please _________ and Informant 2 please ___________."

PLEASE NOTE: In this game, you are NOT ALLOWED to private message or in any other way privately contact other players about the game. All discussion between players is to take place in THIS TOPIC. Please take a moment to very carefully read through the rules, thank you!

PM ME, THE GM OF THIS ROUND, WITH YOUR VOTES AND ACTIONS, AS WELL AS ANY QUESTIONS YOU MAY HAVE.
Spoiler: INFORMANT TEMPLATE
Welcome to the latest round of Espionage! Your role has been determined, and you are...

An Informant!

Your job:
You are an Informant. For all intents and purposes, you will appear to be a civilian and blend in with the rest of them. However, you are in reality corrupted and an ally to the Spy. Your job is to help the Spy find and kill the Detective, or have them arrested. From there, it is up to you to ensure the Spy escapes. No matter what happens, you must keep the Spy protected from being arrested in the daily vote by the civilians. You have a special ability as well, known as Assassinate, to kill one player per game (in rounds with multiple Informants, the ability may only be used once by one Informant). The Spy will be sending you one-way Orders that you will receive at the end of each phase with information and directions on how to proceed. Keep in mind: You are NOT allowed to directly communicate, in private messages or otherwise, in any way with the Spy. Your only contact with them with regard to this game should be the Orders you receive from them through the GM. You are not allowed to send responses, and can only respond by speaking of specific cues in the game's discussion topic in a manner that only they will recognize.

The Spy you are protecting is... ___NAME OF SPY___

Your ability: Assassinate
A one-time-use ability, Assassinate, is available to the Informants. This allows the Informants to kill one player per game, but may only be used once (no matter how many Informant players are present in a game, it may be used by one of them and no more). Any kill achieved with Assassinate is reported to the public as having "resulted from an accident" in the daily results, in order to differentiate it from kills by the Spy. If you are attempt to Assassinate a player that is then arrested before your kill takes place, your use of Assassinate is considered canceled and usable for a future phase instead. If multiple Informants send in Assassinate for a given phase, whichever use is sent last is considered the valid use of the ability. If you target the Spy, a dead player, or an arrested player with Assassinate, the ability will fail and be considered unused. Additionally, if you attempt to Assassinate a player that the Spy also targets for a given phase, the Spy's kill takes priority and the use of Assassinate is considered canceled and usable for a future phase instead.

To vote and send an action: Send me (the GM) a private message with your vote as to who you believe should be arrested along with your action, should you wish to use it at that time. You have 24 hours per day to get in your vote and action. At the end of a given day, the votes will be announced (including who you voted for) with who was arrested. In your message, you only have to say: "I vote for _____ and want to kill ______". You may change your vote any time with a new message, such as: "I change my vote to _____ and still want to kill ________" anytime prior to the phase ending.

PLEASE NOTE: In this game, you are NOT ALLOWED to private message or in any other way privately contact other players about the game. All discussion between players is to take place in THIS TOPIC. Please take a moment to very carefully read through the rules, thank you!

PM ME, THE GM OF THIS ROUND, WITH YOUR VOTES AND ACTIONS, AS WELL AS ANY QUESTIONS YOU MAY HAVE.

UPDATES

(3/5/14): Civilian lists have been overhauled. Every civilian list now includes the Detective, but unlike before, whether or not the Spy is included is entirely random as they are included as if they were a normal civilian. Most importantly, civilian lists may now be discussed in the game topic freely without restriction. However, this is disadvantageous as it will quickly assist the Spy and their Informants in identifying the Detective and winning the game. Additionally, lists are also no longer partially revealed upon death in any form.

(3/5/14): The Detective's ability, Investigate, has been altered. Now, the Detective sends a list of three living players of their choice to the GM. The GM then randomly selects one of the three that is NOT the Spy. This player is then mentioned in the result to the Detective as "_______ is NOT the Spy" and this non-Spy player can not be included in any future Investigate lists. Additionally, no players may be included in more than two Investigate lists on any occasion. The Detective may also share their Investigate results if they somehow wish.

(3/4/14): The Spy now escapes in two phases no matter how many players remain. Originally, the Spy would escape in just one phase if less than half the player population remained. However, due to the introduction of the Informant role and their abilities, this has been permanently set at two phases.

(3/3/14): A new one-time-use ability, Assassinate, has been added for the Informants. This allows the Informants to kill one player per game, but may only be used once (no matter how many Informant players are present in a game, it may be used by one of them and no more).

(3/2/14): Several new ruling clarifications have been added. Please review the rules above to ensure you are up to date as of this posting.

(2/17/14): Those that do not vote will automatically be entered for a vote for themselves as opposed to a random name being drawn from their list.

(2/16/14): All civilian lists will now include seven names in games of at least ten players. Additionally, all civilian deaths will reveal two names from their list instead of two-to-three from previous rules. A rule clarification has been added to confirm roles such as the Spy and Detective are not forced to use their abilities during a given phase.

(2/8/14): New role added: "The Informant". The role is essentially that of a corrupted civilian that is now an asset and assistant to the Spy. They know the Spy's identity from the onset and are tasked with helping them survive throughout the game. While they are NOT permitted to speak privately with the Spy in any way, they are able to receive Orders from the Spy. These Orders are delivered at the end of a phase through the GM. Depending on the size of a game, there may be between 1 and 3 Informants per round.

(2/7/14): Civilian lists are now partially revealed upon death. The first death has three random names revealed, while the second and all subsequent deaths have only two random names revealed. The rest of the names are illegible and not revealed from a victim's list.

(1/15/14): To avoid any possible confusion for players, the Detective's ability "Eliminate" has now been changed to "Investigate". This is to avoid any connotations the word "eliminate" may share with the Spy's ability, "Execute".

GM List

Below is a list of past and scheduled future Game Masters for Espionage games. We will only schedule a couple of rounds ahead at most, to avoid any hold-ups or issues.

Round 1: Jecka
Round 2: Stopwatch
Round 3: Yuri Iwamoto
Round 4: dumytru
Round 5: googleearth (now bash7353)
Round 6: Fujiwara
Round 7: Edogawa4869
Round 8: ???
Iwamoto Yuri
SPARKLES

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Re: ESPIONAGE: A brand new simple forum game! (Rules & Information Inside)

Post by Iwamoto Yuri »

Is it bad this both reminds me of a TV program called De Mol and a G-Mod called Traitor in Terrorist Town?
I like it though :3
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Re: ESPIONAGE: A brand new simple forum game! (Rules & Information Inside)

Post by dumytru »

This certainly looks like fun.
When are we going to do it ?
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Re: ESPIONAGE: A brand new simple forum game! (Rules & Information Inside)

Post by Jd- »

dumytru wrote:This certainly looks like fun.
When are we going to do it ?
Sign-ups should begin... within 24 hours I hope. Anyone that wants to sign up already can do so here and be ready for the game to start within a few days I imagine. Full info on the way.
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Re: ESPIONAGE: A brand new simple forum game! (Rules & Information Inside)

Post by Iwamoto Yuri »

then I sign up \o/
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Re: ESPIONAGE: A brand new simple forum game! (Rules & Information Inside)

Post by Jecka »

Yo también! \o/
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Re: ESPIONAGE: A brand new simple forum game! (Rules & Information Inside)

Post by Kleene Onigiri »

Looks fun \o/ I join :)

Could you add a "Jail" maybe? :D So the people that are out/dead/arrested can discuss stuff in that topic only? :D Shouldn't be against the rules if I didn't misread anything :)
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Re: ESPIONAGE: A brand new simple forum game! (Rules & Information Inside)

Post by Jd- »

So, some of the ideas that popped up. Keep in mind not all of these will happen or anything, just some possibilities:

Idea #1: Reveal partial civilian lists on death. When the Spy kills someone (not when they are arrested), their list is revealed to the public except for one name. For example, it may say a piece of paper was found near the body that read:

1) KleeneOnigiri
2) shinichi'sapprentice
3) kkslider5552000
4) Commi-Ninja
5) PhoenixTears
6) Jd-
7) [illegible]


The last name on the list would always be the illegible one. With this reveal happening, there's still a chance that the Spy/Detective isn't on the list and it should be fairly useful to both the civilians/detective as well as the spy. This also gives the civilians more to work with in making their own decisions, but they can never be 100% sure just how useful the list is. If the revealed list proves too useful, we could potentially try having two illegible names from each one.

Idea #2: Allowing the Spy to abduct someone, at least as a Prep Phase action. With this, the Spy would be able to abduct a fellow player and get access to their full list. This person may not be able to vote during the phase they were abducted or something along those lines. Not sure what would happen if the Spy abducted the Detective right off the bat. Maybe the ability only has a 75% success rate, and it's automatically 0% if the person is the Detective? Something to consider.

Idea #2.5: Allowing the Detective to ALSO get a list as a Prep Phase action. Theirs could be something like Interrogate or whatever we decide, and we can inform the targeted player that the contents of their list was leaked whether it's an "in your face" action or not. Perhaps we should do the same with the Spy so that it is not instantly obvious that the Detective was responsible. We can also give it a 75% probability to actually work, so that in case they do target the Spy without a list it won't instantly end the game.

I'm not sure the exact effect this will all have on balance, so thoughts are welcome. However, I do like the idea of allowing them to not get just a list like everyone else but to get someone else's list. There's a certain dynamic to that that could make for some interesting situations.

Idea #3: Introduction of the Spy's Assistant, or Corrupt Civilian. This is one that came up right before the game and one of the more interesting ones. Essentially, you would have a civilian player whose sole job is to aid the Spy in their escape. Upon death, it is revealed they are the Spy's Assistant (name pending). They are tasked with helping add a layer of protection to the Spy should they come under suspicion, but of course the public will know to be looking out for an assistant that defends someone too heartily, so there will be an element of creativity involved to be successful.

Most importantly, with concern to the Spy's Assistant, there are a couple of options to consider about how far it goes from there. My initial thought was the Spy's Assistant would know the Spy's identity, but the Spy would not know theirs. We can take it one further and allow them to communicate ONLY through a special communication system. By this I mean the Spy would send a message (an "Order") through the GM to the Spy's Assistant suggesting a way to identify themselves publicly so that they may ascertain their (the assistant's) identity but no one else notice. For example: "Post something in the topic involving a hug." From there, they would know each other's identities, but of course there's potential for hilarious confusion. Let me note that EVEN FROM THIS POINT, the two ARE NOT TO DIRECTLY COMMUNICATE IN PMs. Whether we allow the Spy to continue to send messages to the assistant is another matter, but that's for another time.

Please fill free to offer your own thoughts on these as well as suggesting your own. Whatever's fun without being too complicated is fine, let's go!
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Re: ESPIONAGE: A brand new simple forum game! (Rules & Information Inside)

Post by shinichi'sapprentice »

Jd- wrote: Idea #1: Reveal partial civilian lists on death. When the Spy kills someone (not when they are arrested), their list is revealed to the public except for one name. For example, it may say a piece of paper was found near the body...
i don't know. if the rest of the civilians find the deceased's list, why not the spy? it would be stupid not to take it especially it's the spy who was with the body in the crime scene first.

on the other hand,
Jd- wrote: Idea #3: Introduction of the Spy's Assistant, or Corrupt Civilian. This is one that came up right before the game and one of the more interesting ones. Essentially, you would have a civilian player whose sole job is to aid the Spy in their escape. Upon death, it is revealed they are the Spy's Assistant (name pending). They are tasked with helping add a layer of protection to the Spy should they come under suspicion, but of course the public will know to be looking out for an assistant that defends someone too heartily, so there will be an element of creativity involved to be successful.

Most importantly, with concern to the Spy's Assistant, there are a couple of options to consider about how far it goes from there. My initial thought was the Spy's Assistant would know the Spy's identity, but the Spy would not know theirs. We can take it one further and allow them to communicate ONLY through a special communication system. By this I mean the Spy would send a message (an "Order") through the GM to the Spy's Assistant suggesting a way to identify themselves publicly so that they may ascertain their (the assistant's) identity but no one else notice. For example: "Post something in the topic involving a hug." From there, they would know each other's identities, but of course there's potential for hilarious confusion. Let me note that EVEN FROM THIS POINT, the two ARE NOT TO DIRECTLY COMMUNICATE IN PMs. Whether we allow the Spy to continue to send messages to the assistant is another matter, but that's for another time.
instead of having someone who's exclusive responsibility is to aid the spy, why not have the arrested civilian have the option of being ally with the spy or still continue to help the rest of the civilian?
if they decided to team up with the spy, the above abilities should be observed.
if they decide to remain loyal, [insert possible actions the arrested civilian may do]

*i posted this with my phone, i'll get back to it when i get access to the nearest computer...
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Re: ESPIONAGE: A brand new simple forum game! (Rules & Information Inside)

Post by Jd- »

shinichi'sapprentice wrote:
Jd- wrote: Idea #1: Reveal partial civilian lists on death. When the Spy kills someone (not when they are arrested), their list is revealed to the public except for one name. For example, it may say a piece of paper was found near the body...
i don't know. if the rest of the civilians find the deceased's list, why not the spy? it would be stupid not to take it especially it's the spy who was with the body in the crime scene first.
This is more of a purely gameplay function. I included that just for the sake of perspective, so there would be no confusion as to what was happening and who was announcing it. We can change that to simply, "A piece of paper was found in their belongings" if that makes it easier to accept. I'm not really very keen on limiting things to practical descriptions and such, but that's a fair change I'd say.

Now, as for the actual gameplay consequences?
shinichi'sapprentice wrote: instead of having someone who's exclusive responsibility is to aid the spy, why not have the arrested civilian have the option of being ally with the spy or still continue to help the rest of the civilian?
if they decided to team up with the spy, the above abilities should be observed.
if they decide to remain loyal, [insert possible actions the arrested civilian may do]
There's actually quite an interesting idea in there. It may complicate things a little more than the game was designed for, but potentially tying the Spy's Abduction ability to causing someone to change sides is an interesting prospect. However, it lends to some other questions such as motivation for winning for a side you didn't begin with. That can cause some weird stuff to rear its head, so we can decide on that in future rounds maybe.
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Re: ESPIONAGE: A brand new simple forum game! (Round 2 Rule Proposals up! Share your thoughts!)

Post by Commi-Ninja »

I definitely like the idea of a Spy's assistant, however we get it to work. I think that adds a bit more of a dynamic to make it less of a free-for-all like we had in the beginning of the last game.
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Re: ESPIONAGE: A brand new simple forum game! (Round 2 Rule Proposals up! Share your thoughts!)

Post by Stopwatch »

Commi-Ninja wrote:I definitely like the idea of a Spy's assistant, however we get it to work. I think that adds a bit more of a dynamic to make it less of a free-for-all like we had in the beginning of the last game.
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Re: ESPIONAGE: A brand new simple forum game! (Round 2 Rule Proposals up! Share your thoughts!)

Post by Jd- »

NEW ROLE PROPOSAL
The Informant

The Informant is a civilian who has been corrupted and is now an asset and assistant to the Spy. Their aim in the game is to assist the Spy by whatever means necessary in winning the game. For example, if the Spy is suspected by the civilians, it is the Informant's job to distract them and ensure they focus on arresting someone else. If the Spy successfully escapes, the Informant is considered victorious as well.

The Informant is told the Spy's identity from the beginning of the game. The Spy does not begin the game knowing their Informant's identity. However, these two roles are NOT ALLOWED to directly communicate in private messages of any kind. Their only means of direct communication is done through an ability known as an Order. An Order is sent from the Spy to the GM before a phase ends, along with who they intend to kill and their vote for a given phase. At the end of the phase, the Order is then passed on to the Informant (the Order may be changed at any time prior to the phase, as with other actions). The Order can be of any length and say anything, and can begin by asking the Informant to identify themself in the topic with a certain keyword or action (such as, "Let me know who you are by mentioning a hug in a post"). The Spy may continue to send an Order for each phase to their assistant through the GM for the duration of the game. The Spy may begin to send an Order beginning with the Prep Phase, which will then be delivered at the start of Day One. Keep in mind only the Spy can send an Order. The Informant's only means of contacting the Spy is to speak creatively in public in the game's discussion topic without arousing suspicion toward themself or the Spy.

If the Informant is arrested or killed by the Spy accidentally prior to their identity being known, it is announced by the GM with their arrest or death that they were the Informant.

NOTE: Depending on the size of a game, additional Informants may be added prior to the start of the game at the GM's discretion. Any such additions will be announced in the topic prior to the game beginning. Should this be the case, the Spy may then send Orders to "Informants #1" and "Informants #2" separately.
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Re: ESPIONAGE: A brand new simple forum game! (Round 2 Rule Proposals up! Share your thoughts!)

Post by Kleene Onigiri »

I also like the assistant idea :D

With that, I have a Idea #4: Assistant hiring
During Prep all civilians can apply to become an assistant (PMing the GM they want to). Not everyone has to, it's volunteer. So, let's say 5 people applied, then each special role (spy/detective) would get one assistant, and those 2 would be randomly selected out of the 5 applicants.
The spy and detective would then receive the list of their assistant too. (so both the assistant and the special role are sharing the list) But the spy/detective will not know the identity of their own assistant.
The assistant will know the identity of their special role, but they will not know whether it is the spy or detective! Their mission now is to protect their special role. Meaning, they can't even vote for that person anymore even if they wanted to.
The list the spy and detective receive can be useless (just their own name on it) or good (both spy and detective on it) or the best list ever (the "enemy" on it)

If there is just one person that wants to be an assistant, then it's also random chosen whether the spy or the detective get's the assistant.
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