Our First Gameboard: "The Author's Banquet"

Gameboards
#17

Alright, adding you in!

Timezones won’t really be that problematic. I’m planning to just advance once everybody’s made a move. If somebody is away for several days I might have to make an automated move for them, but that aside…

2 Likes
#18

Good to hear, and that makes sense. I’ll be eagerly awaiting the 5th.

#19

This sounds legendary. I’m game!

cue Umineko door opening SFX

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#20

Well, I’ve thought about it and decided that I would also be willing to participate in this game board (and hey looks like I’m getting the last slot!)

I do hope this ends up becoming less of a guessing game and more of a genuine game of logic and induction rather than deduction :stuck_out_tongue: But that’s just my personal bias speaking!

2 Likes
#21

Well, we’re all filled up on slots at the last minute! Welcome to the game @Funyarinpa and @Pepe. ^_^

I’ll be sending PMs out to everyone to figure out which roles you’ll be assigned. Once everyone has replied, we’ll proceed with “chapter 1!” From there you’ll be able to control your pieces. (Ask questions, investigate rooms, etc.)

I don’t think you’ll be (too) disappointed!

EDIT: I think I’ve sent out all the PMs now! If you’re participating and don’t have a PM, please let me know!

3 Likes
#22

I’m so excited! I wish I could join you guys as a participant.

What’s fun about this is, there’s a degree of uncertainty about how things will turn out, being an interactive RPG! You guys are going to determine how this game will end. Maybe it’ll be a boring game where nothing exciting happens, or maybe it’ll be super exciting and full of twists. Either way, I can’t wait to find out with everyone!

I’d like to talk a little more about victory conditions. The goal of the challengers is to declare their answer to the mystery in blue. Each challenger only gets one chance to correctly solve the mystery with a blue statement, and if they fail, they surrender their right to claim victory. Your proclaimation can include however much detail on the who, how and why as you want, but in order to win, you must correctly identify all culprit(s). It is also possible to achieve victory by proxy through teams, and being on the same team as the player who makes the blue declaration. There’s no regulation on teams, feel free to team up with whoever you want.

But then, I got thinking. Wouldn’t it be kind of boring if all 12 players just formed a single team and worked together to solve the mystery? I mean, not that there’s anything wrong with that, but I feel like things could be so much more interesting. So, in repsonse to that, I’d like to introduce a new mechanic to introduce to this gameboard. Or rather, gameboards on Rokkenjima in general.

There are now awards up for grabs! Specifically, forum badges! Depending on how you solve the mystery, you could win one of three awards: Bronze, Silver, or Gold. Here’s how it works.

Golden Award - The player solved the mystery without the assistance of other players in a team, providing sufficient detail on the who, how and why in their blue declaration.

Silver Award - Either the player solved the mystery without the assistance of other players, but failed to provide sufficient detail in their blue declaration, OR the player successfully solves the mystery with the assistance of other players in a team, while providing sufficient detail on the who, how and why in their blue declaration.

Bronze Award - Either the player solved the mystery with the assistance of other players in a team, but failed to provide sufficient detail in their blue declaration, OR the player assisted the teammate who solved the mystery with a blue declaration.

Of course, the awards aren’t anything physical, but I can already tell some of you are itching to claim that Golden Award to display on your forum profile. It might even come with a forum title! It’s an extra challenge though, and I’m sure other people will be perfectly content playing a supporting role and earning a humble Bronze award. But at least the introduction of this mechanic should introduce some variation into the group dynamics.

And I won’t hear any talk of covert alliances! Any sort of cooperation that doesn’t fall into the realm of public discourse must be expressed in this topic as the formation of a team. And, each team must reach an agreement on who gets to make the blue declaration! Final backstabbing and stealing the credit for the team at the end won’t be rewarded. Since not everyone will like the idea of playing a supporting role to a team leader, I would suggest using RNG to determine who gets to make the blue declaration once your team has reached an answer together. This should create incentive for smaller teams over big ones. For example, a team of 2 means a 50/50 chance at the silver, while gaining the advantage of a partner to bounce ideas off.

Let me know if you have any questions or require clarification on anything I just introduced! I look forward to seeing what kind of dynamics result from this~

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#23

@Pepe how does an alliance sound?

#24

I’m fine with making an alliance with anyone invested in solving this and forfeiting my chance at the Silver Award if my partner wants it. It does sound interesting to tackle it on my own, but I think for the first gameboard I’d rather try using a group instead. Reasoning with others sounds fun.

#25

No diplomacy before the game has started! You haven’t even been assigned pieces yet.

5 Likes
#26

I was gonna say: it’d be more fun to do it in-character. Wouldn’t make much sense for mortal enemies to pair up.

1 Like
#27

Yeah, I’ll let the progression of the game decide if I’m a lone wolf or not

#28

Guess I’ll have to wait till the game starts!

#29

I’m excited to see what kind of characters we get to portray

#30

That was way too fast :stuck_out_tongue: I refuse to make such an alliance until, well we have our own characters and that sort of alliance can come naturally in the story

#31

Hey everybody! Just wanted to let you guys know that I’m still waiting on one other survey before we can proceed. I’m giving it another twelve or so hours before going ahead.

Sorry for the delay here. We should be ready to go soon!

2 Likes
#32

Sorry didn’t notice the PM until I was about to leave for work so that got delayed just a bit. Quick question though, seeing as how it sounds like we have to collect missing pieces from each other to put together the puzzle is subterfuge allowed? Like intentionally throwing someone a red herring to make them chase those wild geese?

1 Like
#33

No problem!

Yes. I’ll leave the exact rules of that to @Aspirety though.

#34

Okay everybody! I’ve been a bit busy with some miscellaneous things, but I’ve got roles figured out for everybody. I’ll send you each your “schedules” soon, then post “Chapter 1.” (Expect to see it within a day from this post.)

For now, here’s a brief introduction to everybody’s characters. (More details will be given via PM later.)

  • @Bowiie: A nature photographer who was apparently acquainted with Hachijo in the past.
  • @HeliosAlpha: A fan of the series of books Hachijo had written; is a member of a website dedicated to them. Was invited as a friend of Shannon’s.
  • @Karifean: The current husband of Rosa; stepfather to Maria. It seems he didn’t get along well with Hachijo.
  • @ctom42: Battler’s friend and a fan of the series! Has met Hachijo several times at book signings. (Wahhh, I’m jealous!) He seems to have left a pretty good impression!
  • @RedEspeon: Dedicated fan and works as one of the official translators of Hachijo’s books.
  • @tanasinn: Artist for the book covers! Works within the publishing company as well. Good friends with Rosa (and of course Maria too).
  • @ghagler: Journalist, tasked with covering the events.
  • @EisenKoubu: Main scenario writer for a VN company that works with Hachijo’s publisher. (Hmm. Maybe they’re planning to adapt one of her books…)
  • @StarTurner: Another journalist!? That’s unusual. He has also been tasked with reporting on the banquet.
  • @Aulin: Current editor of Hachijo’s (and, as of recently, Battler’s) books.
  • @Funyarinpa: A fan of Hachijo’s books, and a friend of Battler.
  • @Pepe: Battler’s papa! Maria also considers him her honorary grandpa. Battler and Maria “encouraged” him to come along it seems.

Well that’s about it for now. Expect more within about a day or so~

If anybody has any questions or comments, feel free to leave 'em here or PM me!

11 Likes
#35

Well, I’m quite fond of my role, thanks. I can now be Grandpapa Peeps!

7 Likes
#36

Alright everybody! This took me a bit longer than I was expecting honestly, but now it’s ready! To each of the participants, you should have received a PM from me with “Prologue Schedule” in the title. That will have explained what your character did roughly between 17:00 and 18:00 on day 1.

We’ll start by filling in some blanks, progressing the story, and explaining how to play.

Before that though, please let me know if you have any questions or would like clarification on something! Preferably ask here if it could be beneficial to others. :)

Let’s go!

Chapter 1 (Part 1/3)

Day 1

This is a crime scene… That’s right. It’s dark, and raining. What should we do? It’s decided that we’ll just leave Hachijo in the tree. She’s dead; there’s no bringing her back. While her silhouette was easily visible in the tree, there’s also a decent level of coverage, so the crime scene will be about as preserved as it can be.

Who is the killer though? We could go searching for the killer right now, he or she should be nearby, right? However, it’s apparent that they have a weapon, and are prepared. So, everybody returns to the mansion.

Once we get back, the time is about 18:20~ or so. We decide to lock the mansion up, just in case, then we search inside to make sure that nobody has entered. We conclude nobody is here.

Later on, everybody went to sleep.

Day 2

It’s a sunny day, despite the terrible storm from yesterday.

At around 08:00~ Battler discovered something, and had Shannon wake up the guests. One after another, the guests arrive in the mansion’s breakfast room. This is near where Hachijo was, which is a bit unfortunate. Battler then asks the guests:

“Did anybody move Hachijo?”

Everybody looks perplexed. Nobody answers.

“Hachijo was moved, at some point between yesterday and near 08:00 this morning.”

Someone asks, “What do you mean by ‘moved’?”

“Hachijo… She’s not in the tree. She’s not there anymore!”

He points out to the tree, where her body should have been. Battler suggests investigating what happened, as well as why she went to that tree in the first place.

Shannon goes to make breakfast. Battler decides that everyone should perform a short investigation then discuss it over breakfast. Shannon declares that breakfast will be ready at 09:00; the time now is approximately 08:15.

That’s it for the first part of chapter 1! The following manual will explain “how to play” this gameboard. (Please note that anybody making their own gameboard will not need to use these rules. They are specifically for this gameboard.)

Also, at this point in time, after reading the following, it would be a good idea to consider whether you would like to join a team, or just go solo.

RTFM (Read This Fancy Manual)

That’s what that acronym stands for, right? :slight_smile:

Okay! There will be three points per chapter where “investigations” can take place. At the end of each “investigation” there will be a discussion point, where each player can (naturally) discuss what they found if they like. Teams have an advantage here though; they will discover information uniformly.

Investigation Points
There are a fixed number of “investigation points” per investigation. This is meant to roughly match the amount of time available for that investigation.

Moving Your Piece
Each time you move your piece, you spend investigation points. (Just like spending time.) Once you’ve made a move, I will log it in the post for that investigation.

Here are the list of moves you can make:

  • Speak with a NPC. (Battler, Shannon, Rosa, Maria.) [cost: 1 point]
  • Speak with a player; you must know where the player is. [cost: 1 point]
  • Investigate a room, or area. (e.g., dining area, foyer, Hachijo’s office, the tree, etc.) [cost: 1 point]
  • Skip remainder of investigation. This move will be invoked automatically if a player has not shown up in three days (selected by shady dice roll!) and is holding up the investigation; you will receive a reminder PM the day before however. [cost: remaining points]

Additionally, you can supplement a particular move with the following attribute:

  • Make the move discreetly; other players, even among your team, will not be informed of where or who you’re talking with unless it they are also there. If there are others in the room, then the details of your move will be very vague. [cost: +1 point]

At a later point, we may think up more creative ways to use investigation points, or adjust the costs between investigations. (I had considered a “Thinking” move, where you receive a tip regarding what has happened, at the expense of forfeiting all of your investigation points for that investigation… but decided against that. Sorry.)

Move: Speaking With a NPC
To speak with a NPC, you must choose one from the list of available NPCs for that investigation, or that are known to your player. (See below for details on what “available NPCs” means.) You will need to post your question to the NPC here, phrasing it exactly as if you were there. I will respond to you as that NPC. If the question is phrased vaguely, you are likely to get a vague response.

(If you’re speaking with the NPC discreetly, then you may just PM me, and I will respond in PM. Your actions will still be logged, but they will be logged vaguely.)

There will be a list of available NPCs. That is because the location of some NPCs may not be known to the players in general. Visiting rooms/areas or speaking with available NPCs might cause the whereabouts of some NPCs to become known to your player, or the players in your team.

Move: Speaking With a Player
This is effectively the same as speaking with an NPC. However, you must know the room the other player is in. The investigation point cost will affect you and the other player. Thus the other player may refuse if they like. If trying to speak discreetly (none of the conversation made public), then the additional cost of making the move discreetly will apply to both of you.

Keep in mind that speaking with others is “free” during the “after-investigation discussion.” Discussion within teams is also “free.”

(Please do not use PMs, or some other method, to avoid the investigation point cost.)

Move: Investigating a Room or Area
You declare here which room or area you would like to investigate. This will be logged, and you will be PM’d with details of your investigation. You will be given a chance to look into additional points of interest within the room or area, at the expense of extra investigation points. (Immediately visible things will all be explained, however.)

If you want to investigate a room or area discreetly, you may PM me instead of posting here. It will be logged that you went off somewhere. If you happen into a room or area that other players are discreetly investigating, you will each be made aware of each other. Thus, your investigation among those players will no longer be discreet.

What Can I Speak to NPCs About?
Whatever you like! How their day was, what they think of X (some unknown person), what they think of X (the letter), what they think of X (the place that marks the treasure on the map), what they think of x (the variable), why they were so willing to answer so many questions about ‘X’, if they’re the culprit, “Maria, will you be my loli?” (to which Battler would be confused about why you’re calling him Maria), etc.

What Can I Investigate In Rooms/Areas?
Be creative! If I say there’s a clock in the room, then you can take it down, look at the batteries, and get detailed information on the model numbers! Or perhaps you’ll want to make note of how many light bulbs are in the room exactly, or go through drawers, etc. Some responses might be vague though. (I only really see that happening if that detail is too unrelated to the mystery.)

Can I Mess With the Room?
To an extent, yes! You can rearrange the furniture, remove lights, write on the wall, write on paper, realize that pen has no ink so throw it out the window before grabbing another pen and then writing, etc. Surveillance devices will not be allowed though. (I’d have to do way more work. ;_;)

Discussions (After the Investigation)
After each investigation is over (all players have spent their investigation points), public discussion and exchange of theories is permitted. Players may ask other players questions here freely. NPCs will also contribute to discussions, and can thus be questioned freely at this time. (Note that some NPCs may feel awkward about answering certain questions in front of everybody. If they feel bullied by your questions, they might be apprehensive in responding to you later!)

Lying, Deceiving, and Silence
Players may spread rumors and deceive other players. However, I ask that you only do so if it is strategically advantageous. If I notice somebody abusing this, they will be issued a warning.

Please note that remaining silent or refusing to answer questions other players pose during discussions is perfectly fine. “Lying by omission” is also fine for this gameboard.

It is possible for NPCs to omit certain details; they will also be explaining things from their perspectives.

Teams and Private Messages
When a team member makes a move that requires sending a private message to me, they need to include all team members into the conversation. Once I respond, if I notice team members not in the conversation, I will invite them to that conversation. Thus information will be shared as the investigation occurs.

Team Clarification
I’d like to clarify a few things about teams for this gameboard.

  • Teams can only be formed during the after-investigation discussions. (There is one discussion that comes per-investigation, after that investigation has completed.) During that time, players can discuss whether they’ll join a team or not.
  • Once a team is formed, you cannot break your alliance.
  • Forming a team should probably be done in-character so that it remains consistent with the nature of the gameboard.

Player Personalities
Players, you are completely free to act out your role in whichever personality or style you like! We’re all here to have fun, after all. ;)

Player Belongings
Guests are allowed to define their own personal belongings if they so desire. (e.g., plushies, writing utensils, etc.) Please PM me if you want to do so. I meant to note that, sorry if this has caused any problems for your investigation.

A few restrictions:

  • No weapons.
  • No surveillance devices. (Cameras and such are fine, but they cannot be used for investigation or trapping purposes.)
  • Nothing that would not be possible to bring onto the island from a boat without being noticed. (Think “carry-on rules” at airports.)

On the other hand, things like duct tape and such are fine. Not sure what you’d want to do with it.

So, how do I get the Battler/Shannon/Maria route?
ｎｏ

But being nice to them wouldn’t hurt. Probably.

Has the culprit been introduced yet?
That is part of the mystery. For those that really want a hint: The culprit is not any character that gets introduced later.

How much coffee did this take to write?
About two gallons. (Wait, nobody is actually curious about that? … Oh…)

Investigation Details (Ch.1, 1/3)

Here we’ll keep track of which NPCs are available to speak with, which rooms/areas can be explored, and player information.

Available NPCs

  • Battler
  • Shannon
  • Rosa

Available Rooms/Areas

First Floor

  • Breakfast Room / Kitchen
  • Dining Room
  • Kitchen for Dining Room
  • Pantry
  • Foyer
  • Basement (technically below the first floor)

Second Floor

  • Guest Rooms (Give the name of the NPC or player who’s room you wish to visit)
  • Hachijo’s Office
  • Hachijo’s Bedroom
  • Attic (technically above the second floor)

Outside

  • Tree where Hachijo’s body should be. (Barely visible from Breakfast Room.) It’s to the west.
  • Forest to the north, east, or west. (Spend one extra investigation point to go inside the forest.)
    • There is an unusually dense cluster of trees in front of the forest to the east.
  • Grass patch to the southwest, where Battler and Maria left to go play at yesterday.
  • Garden to the north.
  • Beach to the south, or the dock at the southeast.

Player Stats

NPCs

  • Battler
    • Investigated Hachijo’s office with (in order of appearance) Aulin, Karifean, ghagler, and tanasinn.
    • Returned.
  • Rosa
    • Walked upstairs.
    • Returned with Maria.
  • Shannon
    • Not investigating; making breakfast
  • Maria
    • With Rosa.

Players not on a team:

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