Advanced Chem Lab

Notes

This script is inspired by a particularly difficult class I took, and the theming (to me) involves a chemistry lab full of dangerous potions, none of which you know. The main gameplay idea is poison vs. knowledge! Disclaimer: This script exists purely in theory. It has not been play tested at all, so if you do decide to play it, you will probably be the first. It may be horrendously unbalanced - I have no idea. Recommended for experienced players (lots of logical reasoning is needed) and for experienced Storytellers (not a whole ton going on during the day, but night phase can be a nightmare.) All the Demons have poisoning capabilities, though each works differently. Two of the Minions (Poisoner, Xaan) additionally allow for poisoning, while the other two (Scarlet Woman, Baron) obfuscate the true game state by messing with player count and registration. Add the Puzzledrunk and the Recluse and there are a ton of opportunities for information to go bad. The Demon-Minion combos in this script can be devastating. Although the raw kill power is capped at one per night, the multiple possible combinations of evil roles makes it difficult to determine which Townsfolk information to trust. You may notice that there are no "you start knowing" roles. This is both a blessing and a curse. I find first-night-only info roles to be quite boring, and the play pattern is predictable. As soon as they claim their role and share their info, the town immediately moves to execute them. My main goal for players is for them to have fun throughout the whole game; I don't want them to get bored and check out after the first or second day. Every good character role gets to do/know something every day/night, gets to choose when to use their ability, or keeps their ability up until they die. Plus, most of the Townsfolk abilities are incredibly powerful and useful to counteract the poisoning - the true info can be immensely useful in identifying or outright confirming evil players. Corroboration between the Dreamer, Fortune Teller, and Flowergirl can pin down the Demon. The Undertaker, Ravenkeeper and Sage exist to confirm players as the roles they say they are. And amidst all the toxicity, the Mathematician's pure calculations can cut through the fog of lies. Of course, all of this can come crumbling down if the evil team coordinates well. However, it also comes with a price - these are not expendable characters, so good has to determine very carefully who must be kept and who can be executed with the least cost. Thus, good players must apply their information extremely precisely and carefully. The game state is high-risk, high-reward. Outsider roles can also influence the game. The chosen roles are mostly helpful - Golem and Moonchild are actually the most Townsfolk-friendly Outsiders there are, and their abilities can hard confirm good characters at the cost of an execution (that is, if they aren't poisoned!) But they are also relatively easy outsiders for evil to bluff as, especially due to the Sentinel/Baron/Vigormortis combination obscuring the possible number of Outsiders. There are certain roles that I considered but ultimately did not include. - Drunk: There is already a Puzzledrunk in play. Additionally, I wanted the main source of misinformation to be solely from the evil team (again, Puzzledrunk excepted.) Plus, I am pretty happy with these Outsider choices. - Vortox: Although it seems like this Demon should be an obvious inclusion, I actually designed this script with the avoidance of the Vortox. It leaves some uncertainty as to what Townsfolk information is true and false. Also, the Demons in play fit better with the "chemistry laboratory is full of dangerous chemicals" theme. - Poppy Grower: Far too disruptive for the evil team, whose effectiveness relies on coordinating Demon and Minion actions to cause maximum confusion. Plus, it doesn't really work well with all the poisoning mechanics. If the Poppy Grower is poisoned even once, they might as well be dead because their ability won't keep working even when they become sober again. - Courtier: Another role that in theory would fit with the theme, but I decided it would make too many layers of misinformation. If the Courtier picks a good role, the Storyteller may just call the game for evil right then and there. - Spy/Widow: I initially gravitated towards the Widow role because of its poisoning mechanic. However, the Grimoire viewing ability doesn't really work with the rest of the script mechanics - it's fairer if the evil team needs to figure out organically who to target rather than sniper-poisoning all of the best roles from the start. - Marionette: I originally had a Marionette on the script instead of the Baron but replaced it to make room for Outsider manipulation. (Plus, the Marionette also functionally acts as an unknowingly evil Drunk, so the same arguments against the Drunk apply here.) I almost published a five-Minion script but took the Marionette out right before because I realized that the evil team already has a ton of misinformation resources. - The earliest version of this script included a Homebrew character that could choose each night to make a player immune to poison that night. (It's a little more complicated, but essentially it is the Monk for droisoning.) I chose to remove it because it would be more fun for the good team to not counteract poisoning so directly. - Ravenkeeper and Sage on the same script seems too OP, but it's to make Demon kills a little harder to decide (along with the Soldier.) Otherwise, with no demonbane roles, every night is a free buffet for the Demon. The Mayor also adds a layer of uncertainty to night kills.