The Round Table

[Zexy]

In the meantime, I'll be taking on the War Room Playing and Hosting Guides Rewriting Program because now that ME's the head the days of me being lazy are over.

Recently there have been players and hosts who pointed out that the guides are lengthy, technical and overall not newbie-friendly.
They were written by former War Room staff years ago for the needs of that era and to this day, we only edited them a little so they wouldn't be obsolete when it comes to rulings, forums interface and terminology. While we apprecite the work of the former staff and may be keeping some parts, there are a few others that may require heavy editing and maybe even a complete rewrite.

Some of said players and hosts have also expressed interest in volunteering with this project, and the War Room staff would be more than happy to take them on. These are guides written by players/hosts for their fellows, not rulings that need to be written by staff, so the entire community is welcome to help!

If you are interested in helping War Room's newbies get a better introduction to the game, this is the chance. All people who work on parts of the guide will be credited, of course. Those interested may contact me here or in our Discord server.

Looking forward to working with you all on this project!

 

[Pikochu]

I'm interested in helping out with the guides.

 

[Doctor Floptopus]

I'm interested with helping with the hosting guide.

 

[Maniacal Engineer]

A few brief announcements and some Mentor Program information.
First, with regards to this post:

Something I want to bring up. Yesterday Zexy informed me that VGB was nearing the end of its 20 day period. When I mentioned that was just for sign ups, he said yeah + 3 days to send the first role PM, which I mentioned that makes sense for normal games, but not for games like Bonanza style games, which Zexy admitted the staff hadn't given much thought to.

So I would like to propose that games with pre-game setup, such as Bonanza and Chaos style games, among others, get a 14 day window to create their role PMs.

I propose 14 days, two weeks, just incase real life decides to interfere.

No one wants to see the trouble we had with #Pokemon20 happen again, which was about 2 months in creation before we cancelled it, but I don't think 14 days is unreasonable.

It was decided that, with 20-30 days for signups, combined with 14 days for PM writing, it's a bit much from the time a person signs up for a game until the game is ready. As such, at least for now, a grace period of 7 days will be given to write the PMs for games that require player participation. A suggestion so as not to fall too far behind would be to begin writing the PMs as people sign up and send you the information you need.

Next up, and this segues into my Mentor Program announcements, in case you haven't heard yet, Enzap has stepped down as Section Head for Fun and Games, which includes The War Room. I was chosen to fill his shoes which explains the pair of shoes full of sand in the corner, and am now the Section Head for F&G/TWR.
This means that I will be fully taking over the hosting of Ice Cream Mafia, which I will be starting shortly. I've been a tad busy myself, lately, but that should start to settle down starting next weekend. At least I don't have anymore weekends where I'll be gallivanting off to other places...at least not until August, and an extra day off next week will help me catch up on things I have fallen behind on.

Now then, onto the main announcement. Like I said, been meaning to post this for a while, but never seemed to be able to find the time. I've come up with a basic outline for how to handle the Mentor Program in this section, and I would like your advice and input. I've already gotten preliminary advice both from the other War Room moderators, as well as some of the non-War Room moderators that frequent this section. Some of these ideas have already been implemented or are currently being implemented.
Without further ado, here is my proposal:

1. Mentor games (students join the game and are assigned a mentor to guide them throughout the game) - Ice Cream Mafia is the first such game.
2. Interactive observational games (mentors join the game and are assigned a student, who will interact with them and learn from them by observing their playstyles)
3. Player/Mentor/Student Bios and List (essentially a slightly redirected and expanded version of the bio section that I suggested earlier, I'll provide a draft example in a later post) - Has been done in the Mentor Program + Contact List thread.
4. Easier setup games and/or revisiting the idea for "novice" vs "advanced" games.
5. "Simulations" (essentially threads setup as specific situations that one may encounter in a mafia game, but not "official" mafia games) - this may need further elaborating, but, essentially the idea is to setup mock games where students would be assessed based on their responses to a given scenario presented in a thread.
6. Hosting Mentors (not just players need mentors, you know. An experienced host can help out a newer host with things like setup and flavor text.) - Fruit Bowl Mafia 2 was a successful testing of this initiative.
7. User specific feedback (mentors observe patterns and trends about a student throughout multiple games and provide feedback regarding what the user is doing well, what the user can do better, and what the user is doing wrong.)
8. Mentor Queue (in the process of writing up these posts, I considered the possibility of creating a queue solely for games designated for mentoring purposes.) -it's been done.
9. Lesson of the Week (a thread in which guides to various topics, such as how to write win conditions, how to softclaim, how to write flavor text, or how to fakeclaim, written by various mentors, are posted.) - This would be a sort of "common" area to discuss various "detailed" or "specific" questions regarding playstyles or hosting styles. It would be complimentary to the guides that are currently being rewritten, since those give general tips and pointers.

As always, I open the floor to you all and welcome your thoughts and suggestions. If you have any questions about any of these 9 points/ideas, please ask.

 

[Snowy]

It was decided that, with 20-30 days for signups, combined with 14 days for PM writing, it's a bit much from the time a person signs up for a game until the game is ready. As such, at least for now, a grace period of 7 days will be given to write the PMs for games that require player participation. A suggestion so as not to fall too far behind would be to begin writing the PMs as people sign up and send you the information you need.

Only thing I worry about with 7 days is if life gets in the way.

Question: What are your thoughts on taking sign ups for a pre-game setup style game before the game is ready in the queue? Like if I were to place a game on the queue right now, and immediately take sign ups for it, even through the game could be 2 months away from reaching it's point in the queue?

Just an idea that popped into my head just now and would give the host more time (Which is good for larger games like #Pokemon20 was supposed to be)

 

[Maniacal Engineer]

Question: What are your thoughts on taking sign ups for a pre-game setup style game before the game is ready in the queue? Like if I were to place a game on the queue right now, and immediately take sign ups for it, even through the game could be 2 months away from reaching it's point in the queue?

People can already "reserve" slots in a game. If they submit their characters during that time, as well, it would certainly be helpful.

 

[SoaringDylan]

The only other way I personally see for changing it is having the game be in signups shorter vs the time to send out role PMs. But I think it'd be better for the hosts of said games to start working on PMs (or at least roles) before signups close.
Or you could get a co-host to help you.

 

[DarthWolf]

I'm interested in helping with the guides.

 

[CheffOfGames]

I would also be interested in helping with the guides.

 

[Maniacal Engineer]

Greetings War Room Regulars! It is I, your beloved Section Head, and it's almost that time of year again.

What time of the year, you might ask. Why, time for the War Room Awards, of course. Season 17 is about to draw to a close at the end of this month, and the new Awards poll will be up at the beginning of next month.
In the meantime, we would like to have your suggestions as to possible new awards to consider for this season.

As a reminder, here is the voting thread from last year, complete with all of the awards: The War Room Awards 2016 - Voting Has Ended

I should note that we are already adding two new awards this year:
1. Best Sub Performance: for players who subbed into a game after it started.
2. Host of the Best Bastard Game: for hosts who have hosted any bastard games. This is the only award that Everyone is Jester Mafia will be eligible for.

 

[Snowy]

I want to suggest Best Original Game. Which would include games or formats that haven't been attempted before. Like DTB and MSW reboot.

Assuming that makes sense.

 

[DarthWolf]

Wooh! My first award period on the forum. Excited!

 

[ReturnofMCH]

Best flavor writer
Same as best FT, but consistently

Best role PMs
Best role pm writer
These should be self explantory

 

[DarthWolf]

Best Custom Role.

 

[Elementar]

2. Host of the Best Bastard Game: for hosts who have hosted any bastard games. This is the only award that Everyone is Jester Mafia will be eligible for.

*cough*is creating more roles that mods can win*cough*

Best Custom Role.

*cough*Destruction Starter*cough*

Maybe Most Improved Awards? I can't think of many others. But I do like the custom role one...

Also, do we to have a theme for the awards this year? Like announce the awards in an Oscar fashion? Maybe we could announce the winners in real time on Discord one by one, then put all the winners up afterwards on the thread? I know not everyone has Discord though.

 

[Maniacal Engineer]

Hey, someone else suggested the Host of the Best Bastard Game Award long before it got mentioned here.

 

[Lone_Garurumon]

Oh come on! You mean I'm probably gonna miss this award session before my first game goes out?
I really don't know about any new awards to suggest, but I know who I'm voting for Best Individual Mafia Performance.

 

[Elementar]

I really don't know about any new awards to suggest, but I know who I'm voting for Best Individual Mafia Performance.

Are they a prophet?

 

[SoaringDylan]

1. Best Sub Performance: for players who subbed into a game after it started

Flop and I should get this for subbing in for Calvin in U-pick Mafia

 

[Elementar]

Flop and I should get this for subbing in for Calvin in U-pick Mafia

Don't forget Zexy in GotG Vol. 2 Mafia xD