[Barkeep49]

Please note, I had an older version of this up. I deleted it as I left out an important paragraph.

Ok so here's the deal. Barkeep's grand theory of what makes a good werewolf game, boils down to one idea: agency. The players must feel like they can control the outcome of the game. WW, at its most basic, is about making the choice of who is a wolf? Of making the choice who do I vote for? Of making the choice who do I kill?

My goal, when running a game, is to take the idea of choice and put it on steroids. I want lots of people, hopefully everyone, to not only have to make a choice, but to have to make a MEANINGFUL choice. And hopefully to have to make several meaningful choices.

I don't think this game offered the villagers meaningful choices. There were choices, alright, but the villagers were completely unable to judge the effects of those choices. For instance the missions. Day 1? That was a complete waste and we lost a camp. But was losing a camp a big deal? Impossible to say since we didn't know how much leeway we had there. The cost benefit of the tension between mission and work was just impossible to judge. We could make some guesses, but who knows.

It’s very hard to offer meaningful choices when you don’t even know the end game. Sure there was the 8 camp bit. But early on that seemed like it was out of reach. So it became a traditional WW game, except the preconceived events messed that idea up. SO instead there was this strategic end game. It’s hard for either side to plan when they don’t even understand what goal it is they’re trying to reach. I don’t think the wolves had any more idea than the villagers did that we were about to enter a whole new phase of the game. And it seems, from what I’ve put together, that the choices were kind of pushed in that direction on all sides. I don’t begrudge Abe this. Seeing how a different end game plays out, is a fun interesting idea. But it made planning, in the end for both sides, an effort in futility.

As did the preconceived events. The villagers were completely helpless there. And there were no events that were going to auto help the villagers. Having some oh shit moments for both sides? That can be great game play. I think to the Mythology game where the voting all of a sudden ended early. Some people were pissed. But that was a great moment (though one that I'm glad that don't get repeated). Of course the ending early was not only an "oh shit" moment, it was one controlled by the players. In the final stages, the gas/bombing is just like that. It's an "oh man I can't believe that happened" moment controlled by the players. I think the problem here is that Abe was trying too hard to tell a story. I had a game, Spawn 2, where I know I fell into this trap. It wasn't enough to just have a game of WW. No I had to tell a story. And so certain things were done, which the players couldn't account for and which denied the players their agency. I won't repeat that mistake again. And I don't think Abe will either. The story is not the thing in WW, the play and the choices, that's the thing.

And because of that story, we didn't just have 1 "oh shit" moment in that final stage, we had 2. And that second time, wasn’t an “oh shit” moment in a good way it was an “oh shit” I have no idea what’s coming and perhaps should just give up. Which is too bad, because that end game was a neat concept. I like new mechanics, and this was certainly it. I think structurally it had the huge disadvantage of turning it from a game of villagers vs wolves into barkeep vs wolves. As I’ve thought it over these past couple days I’m not sure how you prevent that from happening, other than to do a complete role reveal. Villagers can only discuss in the thread, thus continuing to give the wolves the advantage of public discussion, but at least there can be a legitimate discussion, and perhaps even a vote.

That idea of the villagers having to conduct their business in public while the wolves can influence that public business and still scheme behind closed doors is the biggest advantage the wolves have. I’m pretty certain you could design a game where the wolves can’t even night kill someone and they could still have a chance simply by that advantage. In this game not only was there uncertainty over who to trust, as there was in a normal werewolf game, there was also the bribing mechanism. If we're playing a traditional WW game, it becomes VERY hard to ever kill Lathum at the end. He’s been cleared. Having to make that conclusion, a conclusion we could clearly have drawn based on what we did know? That’s meaningful game play.

And that’s what I want to emphasize in the end. I don’t have a problem that Abe took some risks with new mechanics. I try stuff out all the time, some of it works, some of it, even stuff that I found really neat, doesn’t work. If we’d had a pretty traditional game of WW up until that final stage, I think people, especially with the writing and research, would feel differently about the game. But without the ability to have any real understanding of what was going on, no plans could be made. Without plans, the villagers could never really get their act together. Without coordination the villagers don’t have a chance. So the thing that I hope everyone takes away from this, is that they make sure to give the players agency, and then step back and let the game unfurl. It can be complicated or simple. It might be a blowout, it might be close. But when the players have had to make some difficult decisions, and been proven right or wrong on those decisions, it will be a game they’ll remember fondly.