Golden Border of Prester John

[livid crag]

Stormcatcher favors the Gossip

A Gossip & Yagga focused script where the words spoken matter most and the reality of many characters is inverted from their purpose into a fantastical version of themselves.

Many of you might initially be thinking "WTF??" at putting Yagga and Gossip together, as the Gossip should have no idea if the deaths are caused by them.

Yet with this script, the question of night deaths is far more fascinating, with different townsfolk having different effects depending on which of the two killers killed them. If a series of events didn't play out how a role should have functioned, what was the cause? The Gossip, poison, or simply a lie crafted by Evil?

Interesting interactions:

• The Soldier can die to the Gossip but not to the Yagga.
• The grandchild can die to the Gossip without killing the Grandmother.
• The Gossip can kill during a Princess Night.
• The person protected by the Monk can die to the Gossip
• The Sage doesn't receive info if killed by the Gossip.

All of these can be simulated with careful poisons or the lies of Evil Minions dying for the cause or falsely claiming such effects.

[rocky venture]

it's... so peak

[livid crag]

Evil double claiming the Gossip on this script could go hard.

• Demon double claims the Gossip to add ambiguity between the two of them.
• The Boomdandy double claims the Gossip to bait themselves getting executed.
• The Demon and Boomdandy claiming Gossip when no Gossip exists to try to fake the prior situation.

[mighty dove]

Oh...

interesting

And King as a Mayor like

[livid crag]

Yeah, the King is meant to be left alone for the most part to die later in the game (if they die at all). ST has to be careful to balance the info here, since they control all the kills.

King also fits with the script theme given 'Prester John' is a fictional king

[livid crag]

Trying to think of which Travellers to recommend.

At the moment, Barista seems like a really interesting option. Being made sober while Good means you know certain deaths have to be caused by the Gossip with roles like Monk or Soldier or Grandmother, which is a powerful confirmation chain between the Gossip and the sobered person. But Widow appreciates being doubled on N1 and Yagga also appreciates doubling.

Bishop is interesting as you can put more danger on the Boomdandy, or choose the Marionette or Recluse. It also really fits the theme of the script. However, it should not be present on Day 1 to avoid clashing with the Princess. Also clashes with the Golem, but Golem is an outsider so deal with it Golem, lol.

Voudon works I think, the Minions will want to die at some point, potentially even early, in order to fake certain effects, so they will eventually be among the voters.

---- Ones I don't want to add ----
Apprentice - Boring. You can put it on any script pretty much. Also, it'd not make a great Evil, as Boomdandy just doesn't work, Marionette is a ???, and Xaan is very specific. And if you make them a Widow, they're outed if they joined later and poison someone.

Judge - Evil Judge knows who the Gossip is and and just sentences them to death immediately. No.

Bone Collector - Not great for Evil. Only helps Widow. Maybe helps Xaan if they died before the night of their number.

Also on the 'Do not add'

Gangster - If next to the Gossip claim, they can always test them by punching them in the face. If they live, confirmed by the Stormcatcher. If they die, confirmed Evil.

Gunslinger - Can always test the Gossip claim.

Gnome - Can always test the Gossip claim.

[rocky venture]

thoughts on beggar? i think i'd be cool here

[livid crag]

I think Beggar works fine here. Helps analyze potential cases of lying Evils who died claiming roles like Soldier or Sage, or in framing them.

If I include Beggar, that leaves as options....

Bureaucrat, Butcher, Deviant, Harlot, Matron, Scapegoat, and Thief for the 5th recommended traveller.

Scapegoat messes with the Cannibal (or allow STs to do something a bit weird), so not good.
Harlot can check Gossip claims without fear of killing them, which may be a bit much. They can also do the kills a Gossip can do, which is not helpful here.

[rocky venture]

thief always works here i think

no extra evils

[livid crag]

I wonder if Lycanthrope would make for a good addition to the script, maaaaybe replacing Sage? Because Sage fulfills the same role as Soldier, dying in a way it shouldn't, while the other roles do different things.

If Lycanthrope sees someone else also die when they kill someone, either

(1) The Lycan really did kill the target, and Gossip also killed someone.
(2) The Lycan targeted an Evil player (or Faux Paw)

Either of which is fine information. Also, roles here aren't strongly affected by the Faux Paw. Grandmother can't see the Faux Paw as their grandchild, while Cannibal gets poisoned if they eat the Faux Paw which introduces interesting conundrums.

The Lycan also can't test the Gossip claim, because even if the Gossip is real and good, Storm Catcher prevents the kill. I suppose it is a funny way to ping Math though if Lycan felt like it.

Lycan also appreciates Soldier, Monk, Grandmother, because it can also just murder through their abilities and be tested. It's Princess who won't appreciate the Lycan. Of course, Lycan can be nice to the Princess by just attacking the Gossip claim, as they're either Evil or the Stormcaught (which also gets tested by Math!)

I do worry though that Lycan + Gossip would just rip through the available resources for testing themselves pretty quickly

[livid crag]

I do wonder about switching out the Sage since it serves the same function as the Soldier here.

Perhaps Acrobat? It can be a role that searches for the Widow poison, Sweetheart drunkenness, checking the Cannibal, or testing if Philo is legit. An Acrobat here serves more of a purpose to not die since it can eliminate candidates for drunk effects.

Banshee serves as similar resources for the Gossip but does serve a good purpose if it goes off if killed by the Demon. But since it's so dependent on the ST, this ones feels bad for the Evil Team.

Minstrel is interesting, it doesn't actually get in the way of the Cannibal (if a Minion got executed, Cannibal is poisoned anyway), but it can have interesting play patterns with Gossip, Dreamer, and King... It also doesn't get in the way of most roles here. It allows some slow down of the game as well from the kill happy Yagga & Gossip.

[main blade]

Great xaan bluff too!

Gonna see if i can playtest a version with one of these characters!

[keen igloo]

I kinda wanna run that in longtext but I dont have the time

[wise tree]

can a widow poisoned sage learn nothing when killed to simulate gossip?

[livid crag]

I think so, yep

[velvet kernel]

Oh yeah I did play this, people generally did seem to like it

Voudon entered Night 2 and did impact the game a fair amount, I just saw it was a recommended traveller here and rarely get to use Voudon since it's usually way too imbalanced.

Overall was a very interesting game -- it looked pretty terrible for Evil as Good chained 3 princesses into one another and the Widow chose to poison the Gossip which people had a long debate about after the game as either being really bad for Evil or pretty good.

However, the Demon managed to big brain everyone by making themselves seem like a Minion on the final day to the Stormcaught Gossip who never procced. They managed to get in 3 "if the gossip was true" (the Yagg phrase).

Probably would not Pixie Princess again on this script, that was definitely a crazy choice on my part lol.

[livid crag]

Interesting, glad it was fun!
How did the princess procc three times though? I see Pixie-Princess, yeah, but where was the third proc?

[velvet kernel]

Princess, Pixie-Princess, Cannibal Princess

I think it was Princess > Cannibal > Pixie

[livid crag]

Ah gotcha.

[livid crag]

Updated Version of Golden Border of Prester John

@keen igloo Here is the updated version

[keen igloo]

Ooh okay thanks

[main blade]

Does marionette register as drunk in this script?

[livid crag]

They shouldn't? Unless you mean for pings for the Mathematician as per the jinx, then yes they would.

[main blade]

To the acrobat

Do they register as drunk to the acrobat i mean

@livid crag sorry for ping but im going to run the script

Like rn

[livid crag]

Oh cool! And no, they shouldn't register as drunk to the Acrobat? Unless there's something I'm unaware of with Marionette

[main blade]

Thanks!

[vocal gulch]

Checking this out because you mentioned Princess in #1399777176902963360

I'm thinking through the Princess/Gossip interaction to stress test this script, because I'm worried a stormcaught Gossip clears too many worlds.

Consider this sequence of events, as a strategy collectively taken by town.
(1) The Gossip announces themself first thing on D1.
(2) Nobody claims to have seen Widow, which clears good players from being Widow poisoned here
(3) Someone claims Princess and asks for a willing nominee; they ensure the nominee is not claiming Sweetheart, which might otherwise drunk the Princess or Gossip; this is easy because good players have little reason to keep their roles private, since evil characters don't choose anyone at night
(4) The Gossip gossips that they are the Gossip
(5) The Princess nominates and town executes their nominee

[livid crag]

Sure, you could do that. Has pitfalls though:

1. If the Princess is fake (Evil), the ST can use the Gossip kill as normal and sink any Yagga kills.
2. If the Princess and Gossip are both fake, then someone can still die by Yagga as normal.
3. Xaan 2 could be the reason for a fake Gossip but real Princess.
4. Risks the Boomdandy who'd be happy to volunteer.

I will likely adjust some parts of the script, I was thinking of expanding the number of demons as the main engine portion here is satisfactory, but I can keep in mind Princess here.

[vocal gulch]

As I typed I realized there's a decent number of alternate explanations for both a peaceful N2 and N2 with one death. Though, it still seems to limit worlds and strategic possibilities. Evils can't really bluff Gossip when a Princess is in play, unless they have a Xaan trusting that the ST bagged exactly two Outsiders, or a Widow who poisons the Princess specifically. Yagga, Marionette and Boomdandy do little against the worldbuilding. I'm obviously speculating, and this could be fine.

It makes me wonder why Gossip is stormcaught here, though. Minions have no means of targeting Gossip (besides Widow, who would see them anyway) and Yagga doesn't choose their kills. Stormcatching Gossip causes Xaan and Boomdandy to have that bluff, but it restricts the ST from killing a Gossip soft-confirmed through worldbuilding (through the Princess interaction). The Gossip can't even die to a Boomdandy explosion. Not trying to be overly critical, just thinking through this.

[livid crag]

Main reason to have the Gossip stormcaught is because the script is focused on making the Gossip + Yaggababble situation workable, plus to ensure Evil knows whether or not the Gossip is in play.

If there's no Gossip claim, the core concept does fall apart mostly

[vocal gulch]

Well the rest of the script might hold up fine without a Gossip claim. That's just the coolest part

Amazing name for the script btw

[livid crag]

One time this script was run, there was no Gossip and Evil refused to claim it out of fear... only to realize their bluffs made no sense as the Monk who can't do anything without a Gossip.

[livid crag]

Ah, it's from a video game song, one second as I retrieve a youtube link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTp4QX_rZ7E

The theme matched well, as 'Prester John' is a fictional christian king in myth that supposedly ruled an asian country. Fits well with the script, as there's numerous 'Christian kingdom' theme characters (King, Princess, Soldier, Monk, Noble) but also plenty that make fun of Prester John for being a complete work of fiction (Dreamer, Gossip, Yaggababble)