That’s right, for the ultimate mixer of human carnage, I’d like to propose and run a Humans versus Vampires versus Things game; a real, three way paranoia and death-fest. I’m still trying to nail down possible mechanics to make this happen, though. Here’s what I’m thinking, so far:
Before Day 1 Begins, the Alpha Vampire is randomly picked by the GM, and then the Vamp picks another player to turn as the Beta Vampire.
The GM then randomly picks the Alpha Thing from the remaining players, followed by a random pick for the Psychic.
Each Day, the players Test one person to determine if they are Human, Vampire, or Thing. If the Test comes up Human or Thing, they get a 2nd Test. If the initial Test comes up Vampire, they Incinerate the Vampire but in the struggle the Vampire destroys the 2nd set of testing equipment. If a Thing is detected, the Thing is Incinerated.
Each Night, the Vampires pick one person to Eat, and the Things pick one person to Infect. The Psychic focuses on one person, and learns if they are Human or Non-Human. The order of action goes Vampires -> Things -> Psychic. Because of this, if the Things pick someone who the Vamps just ate, then the Things come across only remains and no other Thing is created that night. The Psychic picks 2 people with priority; if the 1st pick was eaten that night, then the Psychic defaults to learn about the 2nd pick.
5a. Things cannot infect the undead flesh of Vampires. Vampires will equally devour both Humans and Things (although the alien flesh will give them a bit of a tummy-ache), but Things can’t convert what’s already both dead and magical.
5b. Things cannot infect the Psychic. The Psychic will get a premonition if the Things choose to Infect him, and will choose suicide rather than life as a Thing.
Because of this, it is in the best interest of the Things to sway tests both away from themselves, and towards suspected Vampires. Vampires cannot multiply like the Things, but they can both attempt to sway tests towards suspected Things, and directly eat them in the night. The Humans are really just completely freaking out at this point, and the Psychic is their primary weapon in the fight against the Unhumans.
The Humans win if they kill both Vampires and all Things.
7a. The Vampires win if they survive to the end.
7b. The Things win if they outnumber the combined Humans and Vampires.
I’m sure changing the game to 3 sides makes balancing this a nightmare, which is why I’d like to get suggestions on improving and balancing such a game.
What happens when the things try to convert a Vampire? Since they cant make them a thing, all the things will know they are a vamp. I don’t know if that will really cause any problems or not. But when you get it figured out I want in.
Suddenly it seems like its own Dwarf Fortress knockoff. “Zombie and Thing and Vampire and Ninja and Pirate Fortress.” Of course everyone would be (un)dead within 24 hours NO MATTER WHAT…
Ah, but see, then it’s up to the Things to convince the majority of players to test that Vampire player now. Does a Thing pretend to be the Psychic? If the real Psychic is still alive, that could throw up a red flag that could lead to a Thing’s testing. And if the Things spearhead a Vampire’s killing, that means the Vampires now have potential Thing targets to eat in the night based on that information (Vampires can’t identify individual Things that attempt to eat them, as the Things attack en masse, as one tentacled hive-mind-beast).
Tilted way towards things and against humans. Suggested changes:
One Thing (the youngest) needs to die if they attempt to infect a vampire. If the first Thing attempts to infect a vampire, the Things are out of luck.
Seer should be able to pass on his gift if he is about to be killed; if he passes on to a human, that human becomes a seer.
I like this, but I’d change it so that the Alpha Thing can’t die this way. This way, the Things can be reduced in strength through bad decisions, but can’t be wiped out entirely during their “night visits”.
Seer should be able to pass on his gift if he is about to be killed; if he passes on to a human, that human becomes a seer.
Definitely a good idea, and it would keep the humans more competitive as the game went on. Plus, there’s still the chance that the Psychic will pass his gift to a “human” that’s actually a Thing, and thus end the humans’ special.
If the rules can be codified into something that seems senible, I don’t see why not. Id would be a neat litmus test for a game. If it works out, count me in.
Since this seems to be heavily biased against the humans, you could include a guardian angel type character.
He could choose a villager each night to protect (not himself of course) and if that villager gets targeted for thingification/biting, he prevents that.
Oh and I think adding a third vampire would make sense, because the things profit from the presence of the vampires, but the vampires are disadvantaged compared to a normal game( two tests, thing voting block, 15 villagers, things can identify vampires)
Well, both the Things and Vampires have to sort of ally with the humans against the other’s presence, with respect to voting. And when the Things run into a Vampire, they lose a turn to reproduce. There is a sort of balance there.
