Minstrel and Pukka Travel Out

[dreamy urchin]

LATEST VERSION: v1 (here)

I made this script off the idea "what if I put a Boomdandy and Fang Gu on BMR"? I then messed around in the script tool, burning down the kitchen in the process but producing this script which I think is all right? I plan to playtest this in the future, since it's hard to evaluate the dynamics of this script by looking at tokens on a grim, but have not had the chance to do so yet.

v1 thoughts:

• The Demon type should be somewhat hidden, at least for a day or two. Then, the paranoia can start: is it a Zombuul, Po charge, Exorcist hit, Mastermind day... spooky stuff. By the endgame, though, like BMR, the demon type should mostly be narrowed down by tracking who dies when, like in BMR.
• The Minions make it harder for the Townsfolk to get what they want done. The Boomdandy in particular is nasty here, making Sailor/Tea Lady/Pacifist science scary. The Marionette gives an alternate explanation for things going wrong - is the person the Sailor drank with really evil, or should be looking at their neighbors for puppet strings? The D/A and Assassin help the evil team bluff as good characters, and the Mastermind can cover for the Po and Zombuul or bring about an unexpected game-end.
• The Townsfolk mostly come from the BMR suite, with some changes to suit the new evils. The Shugenja's info is rarely incorrect, letting them build up trust with the neighbor they weren't pointed to. The Snake Charmer can team up with the Exorcist to find the Demon, but it can take a turn for the worse if they actually succeed. The Farmer draws kills at night and builds confirmation chains (something that the Huntsman can do, too, if they find their Damsel), and the Fisherman lets the ST help dictate a course of action if town is truly lost.

v1 concerns:

• The Outsider lineup is something I'm not very happy with. I like Damsel here and how it can give cover for an evil team who hasn't managed to break into the good chains of confirmation, and the Drunk is necessary negative outsider modification. But I feel my hand is forced as a scriptbuilder to include the Tinker to temper the Gossip, Innkeeper, Tea Lady, and Exorcist while providing much-needed cover for the Po, Zombuul, and Mastermind. The Klutz, honestly, was a bit of an afterthought: I'm considering swapping it for Plague Doctor, but worry it might be too destructive for goods to deal with.
• Sects and Violets has the Dreamer, SC (not really), Flowergirl, Oracle, and Artist to help find out where a new Fang Gu is. The BMR suite? Not so much. Though the intentional lack of a Godfather and the Damsel incentivize executing shifty Outsiders early, I worry the town isn't able to adequately fight the Fang Gu most of the time, and that it'll boil down to socials or become frustratingly unsolvable.
• • Why not put an Imp on instead? I would, but positive outsider mod then becomes an issue. Balloonist doesn't work at all here, Godfather has its role of disincentivizing executions taken by Boomdandy, and I'd rather not put a Sentinel on if I can help it. (possible revision: FG --> Imp, Drunk --> PM, put a Sentinel on?)
• Does the D/A not have a meaningful identity here? Without a Goon to flip, I worry players might not be able to engage with the role beyond "bluff XYZ town characters, maybe throw shade on an Outsider claim, protect the Demon in the endgame".

JSON:

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[ember palm]

I would honestly love to see this playtested, because on its surface this script seems very odd? Maybe in a way that works but I have no idea. BMR is very execution-heavy, and I'm curious if the Boomdandy would completely destroy that or not; it would be really interesting to see, but I love the idea of evil wanting having extra incentive for executions. However, with the Fang Gu, I fear this might kind of completely shift the script's identity? There's no Godfather, so executing outsiders is nbd (especially Damsel who wants that), but does that make outsider an easy Boomdandy bluff that then stops evil from executing outsiders, which lends Fang Gu lots of strength in town's inability to counterplay against it effectively? This is the kind of thing that I think would be really interesting to examine on a playtest, because the good team really has very little ability to figure out the difference between a Boomdandy and a jumped Fang Gu. I think BMR allows the good team to figure out good vs evil decently well but struggles with demon vs minion (other than Exorcist and Gossip I suppose)

In that same vein, I'm a little cautious of removing face-down night deaths; without Godfather, Shab, and Moonchild ig, night deaths feel a little bit more predictable, which gives Gossip more power and lets the good team pin down the demon easier, which might be enough of a counter balance to the Fang Gu issue, so maybe it counteracts? I'd be really really curious to see how that plays out

Also I understand why Drunk is sort of necessary here, but also... I think it's kind of bad here? BMR has droison very carefully limited to the good team with somewhat obvious sources, aside from the Pukka which is pretty telegraphed. I think adding in a Drunk might completely wreck the metagamey aspects of BMR to the point of frustration. Also I don't love the Fang Gu + Drunk interaction, especially on a script which such little information (I think Mario is fine here tho with its demon tether)

So really a think a playtest would reveal if these differing aspects counteract to be something fun or if it's a coin toss fest by the good team to see if they win or not 😅 I'd be super interested to play/run this at some point to see what it does, this feels like a "vibe that's independent from the sum of its parts" type of script that might be difficult to understand just by looking at the character list

[dreamy urchin]

• That's kinda why I prefaced this with "I burned down the kitchen" - Boomdandy on a script like BMR is super interesting to me but I'm not sure if it's actually a fun idea. Maybe the answer is "it's not a good idea to put Boomdandy/Goblin on BMR-like low-info scripts; don't do it" and I'm alright with that.
• I see the point about FG and Boomdandy potentially being too hard to deal with (with "I'm the Boomdandy, do it" being a pretty good defense for someone who just got jumped) but that's part of why I wanted to see if this worked at all. I'd rather not put a Sentinel on there but if FG making an extra evil is too oppressive then Sentinel goes on.
• Shab felt too loud and GF + Fang Gu is super rough for team good. Moonchild works (probably over Klutz) and I don't know why I didn't think of it earlier, but it's also real Townsfolky for the same reasons as BMR. Maybe Shab as a 4th Demon to help cover Gossip better? I'm not a big fan of Gossip being the answer to FG since that restricts bag building ("oh no, there's no Gossip in this Fang Gu bag, it's so over")
• Yeaaaah the Drunk is kind of rough as the only negative outsider mod I felt fit here. FG + Drunk struck me as double ouch while building the script but there isn't a lot that works in terms of Outsider mod here.

-Klutz +Golem could be interesting, especially in Fang Gu? It's a way to defuse the Boomdandy but at a steep price of not being able to nominate

drafting some changes if I take FG off:

+Sentinel

-Drunk, -Klutz (Sentinel + Drunk is mean; Klutz didn't really fit well)
+Goon, +Golem (Pseudo-negative outsider mod + something for the d/a and assassin to do, Boomdandy defusal but also ends up framing Sailor/TL neighbors super hard which is outsidery)

-Marionette (Marionette can end up pinpointing a Demon when your science fails which hurts evil)

-Fang Gu, +Imp (fang gu can be very hard to deal with; Imp provides the mobility FG did)
+Shabaloth (more cover for Gossip)

[ember palm]

I almost wonder if the lack of night death ambiguity could be helpful? It probably gives more power to the Po to fake a FG game, but the demons are loud enough that the problem of FG being overpowered might be mitigated by its greater clarity?
At the very least I'd love to see this game tested once with Fang Gu just to see how it plays out
There mayyyybe could be enough bluffing space with Damsel/FG that evil can very limitedly bluff outsiders? The one outsider claim is less "confirmed" because Fang Gu is in-play, but I understand that's still no where near ideal. I could see Goon being a solid replacement tbh
I think shake up the outsiders a little but I'm at the very least curious to see how an initial playtest would go

[dreamy urchin]

maybe just -Klutz +Golem for an initial playtest

If nothing else, Golem is a funnier bluff

[shadow yarrow]

golem can defuse boomdandy which will lead to a very different boomdandy playstyle

[dreamy urchin]

The thing is, I think good might just be screwed on this script if they have no way to defuse it