With Open Eyes

[rich sage]

Synopsis

Every hundred years, an ethereal light engulfs the town of Tampere. This unrelenting glow pierces every corner, eliminating shadows and leaving no place to hide. Streets pulse with blinding light, revealing every secret and every lie.

Evildoers, who once relied on the cover of darkness, find themselves adapting to this new reality. Yet, as they adjust, they find their misdeeds made easier, no longer hindered by the need for stealth. The townsfolk, confident and comforted, have yet to learn that the greatest of danger can happen even on the brightest of days.

In this glaring clarity, there is no refuge, no escape, only the stark reality of living…

With Open Eyes.

---

Development
I made this script to run with my friends. Since then, we've played around 5 times in-person, as well as several games online with a few strangers.

This script is tested enough to be playable, and most people seem to enjoy it.

I hope you enjoy it as well. 😊

---

The main goals of the script are:

• Town has lots of info and want to actively nominate and execute each day
• Starting Demon wants to play quite aggressively during the day (although they have many roles to hide behind)
• Evils have lots of ways to mess with info, as well as cause chaos during the day (such as forcing players to nominate each other)
• Starting Demons may want to die to create a stronger Demon

This is my first time making a script and I appreciate all your feedback, thank you.

Script:
#1271152004953276448 message

• Almanac

Acknowledgements: Standard Bearer is from Fall of Rome

[empty light]

These demons are super loud, in a way that doesn't work too well

Mustamakkara for example pretty much just reveals itself when it starpasses

Shadow is pitifully weak for a minion

[rich sage]

For the loud part, would you still be concerned if the goal is for demon to be loud?

[empty light]

Yapper is also pretty much unsolvable

[empty light]

Loud demons are fine, just these don't work well

Handler and Nokia arena are unnecessarily wordy, and don't seem that mechanically interesting

Nightmscissors is weak, compare to

Alchemist is a townsfolk, and these minions don't justify making it an outsider

[stoic sparrow]

Reasearcher seems like an EN Seamstress which is already pretty strong

[rich sage]

what is EN?

[stoic sparrow]

Each Night

[empty light]

Candidate and saboteur can create 2 extra evils (yes saboteur does count), which is bad for game balance

Candidate is also a weird combination of in a way that isn't very cohesive

[stoic sparrow]

Also Setamines can just be “Each night, choose a player. You learn who they visited and who visited them”

You don’t need the “follow home” keyword

[empty light]

Thrillchaser is similar in that it's too many abilities in one

[rich sage]

Here was the idea behind Candidate and Saboteur, I'm not sure I accomplished them though:

• 2 roles that could claim to be each other (ST should only put 1 in the game though)
• They are similar in concept: they change alignment
• However, one wants to play for their team (while being hindered by being forced to vote)
• The other wants to play against their team and has bluffs to help them do their job
• Overall, both will cause chaos for town

[empty light]

Saboteur is a cool concept but it can really be boiled down to "each night, become the opposite alignment of one of your neighbors"

[rich sage]

What do you think of the balance? I think it's not too strong because they are not comparing 2 players of their choice, they are only comparing 1 player to the Control (which they don't know the alignment of)

Do you think this is sufficient? I think it's a valuable info role for Town

[empty light]

No need for bluffs at all

Goon and ogre don't get bluffs

[rich sage]

Ideally I would write it like that, but I wanted them to be the same alignment to avoid Town getting too much false info

[stoic sparrow]

The thing is, Seamstress is strong enough that it can still gain use even on N1, when it does really have info

And Researcher can still do longer hand version of a Seamstress check by D2

I do think that it quickly becomes stronger than Seamstress, since getting more alignments is just as or more valuable than choosing 1 pair

[empty light]

Researcher would be cool if you never learned who the control was. Still broken tho

Compare to

[rich sage]

I agree that Mustamakarra is the most clunky

How would you rework Musta around these concepts?

• forces active day phases or something about nominations
• relatively weak demon, so probably doesn't get to choose kills

[rich sage]

Do you think we can balance it by comparing it to the previous check (instead of comparing it to Control?)

[empty light]

Conspiracy theorist is just savant but unnecessarily complicated

Abilities should be able to be affected by other abilities

[empty light]

Each night* a player dies. Is already SO much better

[stoic sparrow]

The thing is, it’s still a multi use Seamstress. If it’s by previous check, then it’s just Each Night Seamstress who doesn’t pick their first night

Seamstress is strong even as an OPG

[empty light]

Oh, and currently it's more extra evils. Not good

This could be an outsider mod character tho

[rich sage]

You are right

How would you balance it around the concept of a Control?

[empty light]

Actually, should*

[empty light]

You don't learn the control, and once per game (decided by the ST), it changes players and you learn when that happens

I think that's how I'd balance the ability

It's still very strong tho

Is now a good time to mention that you're missing 2 townsfolk btw

[rich sage]

if you don't learn who the Control is, doesn't that just make the role useless?

Each night, you just get thumbs up, thumbs down with no way of learning anything from it

[empty light]

It's like balloonist, your info is useful relative to your other picks

A single night of info is useless yes

But 2 nights of info is a seamstress ping

[rich sage]

Ah, I see, so it's less about the Control actually. It's about knowing whether n2, n3 picks are the same alignment.

[empty light]

Yeah

[rich sage]

If I want to keep the Control aspect for theme reasons, how would we balance it?

Require something? ie. Researcher must vote each day to get their night ability?

I agree with you, as is, it's too strong

[empty light]

It might also make sense to say "Each night, choose a player. Then*, learn if they were the same alignment as your previous choice". And then for the balancing bit "One player registers falsely to you" maybe

[empty light]

What exactly about the control do you want to keep

[rich sage]

that there is a Control (like in experiments)

[rich sage]

how would you buff Shadow?

[empty light]

Each night, choose a player and learn a number determined by their character type. You start knowing how you register to yourself.

In this version, you are the control

And it could be stuff like:
Townsfolk: 2
Outsider: 3
Minion: 4
Demon: 1

This is still very powerful as it can directly find the demon

Maybe the demon registers as a minion?

[rich sage]

yeah could just be Evil

[empty light]

Idk, not my favorite ability, but that's kinda what you get when you try to stick too closely to a theme

[rich sage]

I think this is prob better

[empty light]

What do you like about the character

What's worth keeping

[empty light]

For the record, it's still extremely powerful

You might need to make it so like 3 players register falsely

But maybe it's unsolvable at that point idk

[rich sage]

I like that they fit the theme of bright night time

In general, they can learn a lot and pretend to be a town

let's say they Shadow the Researcher, next day, they could also claim Researcher and now Town has no way of learning which is the real one

[empty light]

spy does this way better

[rich sage]

yeah its my restricted version of Spy

I think Spy takes away too much player choice

[empty light]

Spy doesn't need a nerf tho

[rich sage]

Shadow you can pick your own adventure and play almost like a Town

[empty light]

HUH??? There are so many ways to play spy!

In the night there's not much choice, fine

[rich sage]

Thinking through this again, what if:

Each night, pick a player to Shadow. You learn their character, who they picked tonight and any information Storyteller tells them. ⇧ They receive false info tonight.

[empty light]

But most of the game happens during the day

[empty light]

This is still super super super weak

Spy gives the player more choice, trust me

[rich sage]

Wouldn't relatively weak minions be balanced by Starting Demon dying, and 1 Minion -> strong Demon?

[empty light]

Imp does that and TB minions are some of the strongest in the game

Spy is actually often considered one of the weakest TB minions

Or just the weakest

[rich sage]

lamest too

well not as lame as Baron

[empty light]

I mean, if you want

[rich sage]

if you wanted to make a "fun" Spy that makes a choice at night, how would you design it

[empty light]

I love baron for script building reasons, it's also fun to play as because you can just draw fire for no drawback

[empty light]

Widow probably

[rich sage]

not EN though

[empty light]

Each night, see the grimoire and choose a player (not the Demon, different to last night): they register falsely to abilities

This is probably too powerful btw

Why is it so important to you that it chooses each night

[rich sage]

I want the Minion to feel like they can impact the game throughout

[empty light]

Spies can ABSOLUTELY impact the game throughout

Remember, the vast majority of the game happens during the day, not at night

[rich sage]

I understand 🙏

[empty light]

That kind of knowledge can be EXTREMELY useful when pushing worlds throughout the day

Especially because it'll also misregister at night

[rich sage]

Yeah

I like this direction:

Each night, pick a player. You perform their night action for them and also learn the result from Storyteller. ⇧ Also learn their character.

I think this increases the fun, and increases the power?

scenario:

You are the Shadow. You have a feeling I am a strong town (I am Obeliski)

You shadow me tonight and pick someone you think is quiet weak (let's say the Candidate)

I (Obeliski) didn't get to help who I wanted tonight and you learn who I am

---

scenario 2:
You are the Shadow. I have told town that I found some evil players.

You shadow me tonight and pick the Demon who is already outed.

We both learn the Demon is evil, and you learn who I am

---

Does this work?

[rich sage]

Thinking through Researcher some more

I think a slight nerf and then it's not too powerful. In this script, even if Researcher does find Evil, it's still going to be hard to convince town

There are so many characters that are incentivized to nominate and execute that any real Town with real info will struggle to get heard

Do you agree?

[empty light]

Nah, people will still listen

[rich sage]

There are multiple characters that need to nominate, vote, or are mad that someone is Evil though

Also: Saboteur + Candidate, or an Evil claiming to be Town info role, or Town receiving false info

[empty light]

That's half the town at worst

People will listen

[rich sage]

Is there a way to edit the image attachment for this thread?

So I can update the script

[rich sage]

I think I found a way to nerf Researcher while keeping the concept and encouraging active days:

You are told a player who is the Control. Each night*, if a player is executed, learn whether they are the same alignment as the Control.

[empty light]

Not that I know of, just post a new image

[empty light]

A little weak (compare to ), but it should be fine

Just keep your control alive until you're confident they're evil

Actually... I change my mind, I don't think it's weak

This is good

To be more consistent with TPI wording (if that matters to you), I'd do:

You start knowing a player. Each night*, learn whether they're the same alignment as the most recent executee.

It's also just shorter

Enforcer is a good start, it's similar to godfather. I'd add [-1 or +1 Outsider] and get rid of the sentinel, because that's actually completely sufficient outsider mod. Disabling private discussions is really unfun though (especially because it gives the entire town a TC yes but on the demon). I'd make the ability have something to do with outsiders

[rich sage]

Hmm

I want to keep no private discussions for Radical

But I agree maybe it's too much for Enforcer

[empty light]

Radical is SUPER unfun for everyone, and it's strictly more harmful than sweetheart

[rich sage]

I think you're right

[empty light]

Don't stop people from talking in a game about talking. The closest you should get is redirecting it via madness, and even that is a super tricky balance

[rich sage]

Is there a way to keep the theme of transparency/bright days? I agree the private discussion part is not good

or perhaps just shorter private discussion time

[empty light]

You can shorten it, that's fine

[rich sage]

so it's a ST discretion thing

[empty light]

Kinda confirms the radical though right? That's bad for an outsider

It's also very hard to enforce a shorter day because different STs run that differently

[rich sage]

Possibly if we use the same mechanic for Enforcer, it wouldn't confirm Radical?

[empty light]

Mutant and cerenovus pull that off with an execution that starts becoming available by players breaking madness

Simply ending the day early is pretty hand wavey, which isn't great

[empty light]

Having it come from both a good and an evil source is very good yes (again think )

[rich sage]

Is there a concern that Radical would trigger this for day 1, but Enforcer wouldn't?

[empty light]

Yeah, they both need to be mechanically possible at the same times

[rich sage]

The best fix would be to have Radical effect start working day 2 then?

a bit unclean but I guess it works

[empty light]

What exactly are you thinking the effect should be

Just ending the day early?

[rich sage]

Yes as in calling people back to town earlier

[glad forum]

If the best friend picks the demon and a good player, said good player now knows exactly who the demon is when their choice of kill goes through, and might even end up killing the demon. The best friend also confirms themself as a good player to multiple people instantly

Wappu guy can also stop the demon from killing while confirming themself to half the town. In general I'm not sure why these characters are required to nom+vote, as their abilities have nothing to do with that

Obeliski is a much, much stronger version of the empath, lacking its interesting restriction (on a script which also has empath for some reason)

[rich sage]

Thanks for the feedback! I agree I'm struggling to tune these 3 roles

[grave topaz]

Gave +1 Thanks to @glad forum (current: #939 - 13)

[rich sage]

In my initial version, there wasn't any nominating requirements, and when I tried running it, Town was very passive and refused to nominate or execute anyone.

I wanted this script to encourage active and chaotic days with lots of accusations. That was my attempt.

How would you balance these characters while keeping the concept?

Best Friend

• letting players perform someone else's night action

Wappu Guy

• a town poisoner, but has to be way weaker

Obeliski

• nerfed fortune teller

[glad forum]

If this is your goal, I'd suggest thinking more in detail about how to create abilities that encourage/discourage nominations and executions, rather than passively adding it as a requirement to unrelated abilities. Think of how the undertaker and minstrel encourage executions from good players

[rich sage]

Good point

My thought was there's enough info all around for people to want to nominate and execute

[glad forum]

For best friend, how does town benefit from being able to use each other's night actions, other than confirming each others' characters?

Wappu guy: how does town benefit from poisoning each other?

Obeliski: what is your intention in creating a nerfed fortune teller? Why wouldn't you just use the fortune teller?

[rich sage]

But somehow it was not enough

[rich sage]

like if a Townsfolk finds an Evil, they should want to do something about it

also, there's also people being mad about each other being Evil as well

[rich sage]

really good point, thank you

[grave topaz]

Gave +1 Thanks to @glad forum (current: #916 - 14)

[glad forum]

Some stray notes- what does setämies's ability mean?
Why would the mustamakkara or yapper want to kill themselves?
Why does the yes dashii have a weakened version of the no dashii ability?

[rich sage]

Why would the mustamakkara or yapper want to kill themselves?

I wanted this concept of the starting Demon being quite weak, having to play aggressively during the day to buff their Minions (required Fearless Leader fabled)

And then starting Demon can decide to kill themselves to create a stronger Demon

Combined with the dilemma for Town that they may know who the Demon is quite early, but killing them may not be the smartest choice right away

Why does the yes dashii have a weakened version of the no dashii ability?

My concern was poisoning neighbors could lead to a scenario where the game is too biased against Town, so it is nerfed to just "false info" instead

what does setämies's ability mean?

They learn who a player used their night ability on, and who used a night ability on that player

setämies means creepy/perverted uncle

[glad forum]

Setämies can both confirm characters and narrow down demon candidates very quickly

Why would the no dashii 's ability lead to the game being too biased against town?

Just phrasing-wise the fabled calls out executions but not night deaths. If the mustamakkara or yapper kill themself (which btw is a thing demons are always technically allowed to do) the game would just end no matter what

[rich sage]

After discussing this with you, I agree it should just be No Dashii

[rich sage]

Yeah I agree it's too powerful. I wonder if this works:

Each night*, choose a player. You learn who they targeted tonight.

[glad forum]

That could work sure, although i'd have some concerns about whether it's fun to play as (it's a bit like a somewhat more limited chambermaid)

It still runs into the problem of confirming the demon although this can be bluffed pretty easily

[rich sage]

Good point, a more fun option would be:

Each night*, choose a player. You learn who targeted them tonight.

This gives you more info to play around with (fun to solve this puzzle), while ensuring it's not too strong

[placid flax]

why r there so few tf?

[rich sage]

I've been tinkering with them, I think the first few games will have to be gardened

[zinc panther]

Explain usfel idiot and noble arena to me. But otherwise this script is great

[rich sage]

Hi!

Useful Idiot is like a weaker Poisoner, because I think Poisoner is too powerful, especially in this script

However, with the required fable, Handler can create lots of chaos for town

This is the same with Nokia Arena

In this script, there are Townsfolk that will get useful information or find Evil that they want to kill.

However, minions like Nokia Arena can simulate this as well by make Townsfolk mad that each other are evil.

It creates very eventful days with lots of accusations and you don't know who you can trust

[glad forum]

What's sticking out to me about this script rn is how weak the minions are

The handler is an awkward mix of the poisoner and the harpy that loses both of their strengths

Their "bonus ability" confirms two different players' info as false, which is often super useful, and soft-confirms both as good - why would the handler want to waste a day choosing an evil player?

The shadow struggles because information isn't very valuable to the evil team. Compare "choose a player learn their character" to "you learn literally the entire Grimoire every night"

Nokia Arena is fine I guess, but I'm not sure why the script needs two different harpies, and its secondary effect will be very noticeable most of the time

And the enforcer is not particularly fun to play as, its bonus ability can easily hurt its own team

[rich sage]

I agree with all these points

[glad forum]

Obeliski is a bit too easy to take advantage of BUT I do like it conceptually - probably needs "if you voted at least twice" or something

[rich sage]

True

But I also like the simplicity of it right now

The earlier Obeliski was more complicated if you remember

In terms of tweaking the minions I agree

I think Handler’s ⬆️ ability should not be madness. I don’t have any ideas though

For Enforcer’s ⬆️: There may not be more than 2 nominations tomorrow

I think that is more fun and interesting

It’s something that Evil can take advantage of, but with a cost

[glad forum]

The effect is good, but as a bonus ability it would publicly confirm that the demon nominated yesterday, a huge problem for evil

Simplicity is good but by only voting a single time each day the Obeliski can hard check an individual player's alignment

[rich sage]

Another good point, how would you design it?

[glad forum]

To be honest the conceit where if the demon nominates their minions are stronger is cool, but requires the minions abilities to be completely silent (i.e. not mechanically confirmable)

Any extra benefit the minions get will be outweighed by publicly confirming one of a few players as the demon

So if you want to stick to that mechanic you need to stick to minions like poisoner, spy, Scarlet woman

[rich sage]

Actually I'm ok with starting Demon having to put their life on the line

its intended

the starting Demon can starpass

and town also may not want to kill them early