I would like to propose the following game, which is a fairly standard WW game, with a few twists here and there. I would run it at some point after the conclusion of stessier's current game, either before or after Lassr's, whichever folks prefer.
"The Monstrumologist And The Vampires Of New Jerusalem"
The game "universe" is loosely based on the Monstrumologist book series by Rick Yancey. The books are set in the late 19th-Century, and involve the adventures of Monstrumologist Dr. Pellinore Warthrop and his young assistant, Will Henry. As a Monstrumologist, Dr. Warthrop has dedicated his life to the scientific study of "monsters": those creatures normally hidden from mainstream science who naturally prey upon humans.
While Warthrop has evidence and belief in a wide variety of fantastic and horrible creatures, he firmly denies the existence of such prosaic things as vampires. To him there is no evidence of their existence. This is a source of great conflict among "The Society", the academic worldwide group of Monstrumologists. The president of The Society--Dr. Von Helrung--firmly believes they may exist.
They do.
And they're coming for Warthrop's assistant, Will Henry. Will's blood has been tainted by unnatural forces (Will, born in 1876, will live until 2007 as a result), and a group of vampires have discovered this fact and desire that blood; it will make them invulnerable--to sunlight, stakes, garlic, crosses...you name it. It would be Very Bad Indeed if the vampires were allowed to perform their ritual to ex-sanguinate Warthrop's assistant. The only solution? Disguises for all to root out the vampires who have descended on the tiny village of New Jerusalem in upstate New York!
1. I would prefer at least 19 players if possible. Can easily play with more.
2. Game is a fairly standard WW game in framework. No PMs between "village" players except as noted. "Wolf" team will have its own forum. No edits to posts except for grammar or spelling or to fix tags, please. Game begins on a day turn where the village votes to hang one of their own, and then proceeds to a night turn where the "wolf" team may take action against the village. Play proceeds in that framework until all "wolves" are dead, or until the number of "wolves" in a day turn is equal to or more than the number of "villagers". (May be the start of a day, or end of a day after a hanging.)
3. Not all roles will be in the game. For the "Village" side, there are two roles guaranteed to be in the game: Dr. Warthrop and Will Henry. For the "Wolf" side, Walter Sickert (the "Seer" for that team) is guaranteed to be in the game. The number of roles beyond that, and the number of players on each side will be determined by randomization within a certain range.
ROLES!
The Monstrumologist And His Associates:
Dr. Pellinore Warthrop
Dr. Warthrop is a keen student of human nature, even though most of the time he would seemingly prefer to have nothing whatsoever to do with the fellow members of his own species. Mercurial, stoic, given to mad passions of academia that fuel him for weeks without sleep...and then result in weeks of crippling melancholia. Every night turn, Dr. Warthrop may scan any player in the game and will be told that player's role and faction. Should the Doctor scan Will Henry, Will and the Doctor will be able to PM one another throughout the remainder of the game as long as they both are alive. If Will is voted to the gallows, Dr. Warthrop will recognize him and save him...but this involuntary act will identify both players to all others in the game and confirm their roles, however then both players may PM one another for as long as both remain alive in the game. Guaranteed to be a role in the game at the start. If Dr. Warthrop is the target of a conversion attempt, that attempt fails and he will be told the identity of Landru.
WIll Henry
Young Will Henry, orphaned at 12 and taken in by Dr. Warthrop as his assistant, is a resourceful lad. Although seemingly constantly being exposed to the greatest of perils, Will Henry always manages to survive...somehow. "Infected" by a disease caused by a hellspawn that resulted in the death of his mother and father (who both worked for Dr. Warthrop), the taint did not kill Will--it unnaturally extended his life and seems to give him preternatural good luck when it comes to surviving even the most dire of situations. Will Henry cannot be killed at night unless he is expressly identified and confirmed by the game mechanics or scanned by Walter Sickert. If Will Henry is scanned by Dr. Warthrop, the two may converse freely throughout the game via PM. If Will Henry is voted to the gallows and if Dr. Warthrop is alive he will involuntarily save his protege which identifies both players to every other player in the game--however at that point Will and Dr. Warthrop may pm one another as long as both are alive in the game. If Will Henry is identified by scanning, he will be notified of that fact at the break of day following the night he was scanned. Will Henry is the only player who survives being Jack Kearns's "bait", but such survival identifies Will to all players in the game. Guaranteed to be in the game. If Will Henry is the target of a conversion attempt, that attempt fails and he will be told the identity of Landru.
Jack Kearns
"You're a naughty one, Saucy Jack." Jack Kearns is a loose cannon. Put more bluntly, Jack Kearns is absolutely batcrap crazy. Jaunty, cheerful, supremely confident and possessing no conscience whatsoever, were he alive today, Kearns would be best described as a sociopath. There are dark hints that he may be a certain "From Hell" letter writer who did bloody work with a knife in Whitechapel in 1888, if you get my drift. Kearns is a longtime co-hort (and sometimes antagonist) of Dr. Warthrop and the Society. It isn't that Kearns isn't valuable for his dogged ability to ferret out and destroy monsters...it's the way he does it, which brings new meaning to the notion of the cure being more deadly than the disease. Kearns has the one-time ability that allows him to choose to "sacrifice" (as in "kill") any player in the game during a daytime turn by using him as "bait" in order to discover the true identity of another player in the game. Kearns tends to get impatient and a bit impetuous, too. There is a 10% chance of this ability auto-proccing on day 2, a 20% chance of it happening on day 3, a 30% chance of it happening on day 4, a 40% chance of it happening on day 5, and a 50% chance of it happening on Day 6 and any subsequent days. If Kearns chooses to use his ability of his own volition, he may pick both the person to be sacrificed as "bait" as well as the player to learn the identity of. If the ability happens automatically, the bait player will be chosen at random, but Kearns may select the target to learn the identity of. If Kearns selects Will Henry as his bait, Will survives but the identity of the target is still revealed. Kearns may not choose himself to be "bait." (If Kearns selects a Vampire as his bait, the Vampire will be killed in a fearsome struggle with the psychotic, crazed Englishman. If Kearns's ability auto-procs, the pool of "bait" players shall be restricted to members of his own team. Kearns may elect to use his ability at any time during the daytime turn segment, but the auto-proc check is made when n-5 total unique votes have been cast during the day.)
Dr. Abram Von Helrung
The estimable Doctor Von Helrung is the President of the Society For The Advancement Of The Science Of Monstrumology ("The Society", as it is known to its member monstrumologists). He is a mentor and dear friend of Warthrop, even if the two disagree frequently over matters of monstrumological science (for instance, while Warthrop insists that vampires do not exist, Dr. Von Helrung is rather convinced they do.) Using his medical training and years of experience, Dr. Von Helrung is the ideal person to serve as a coroner in the matter of the vampire problem descending on New Jerusalem. Every night Dr. Von Helrung may submit the name of a player who has been eliminated from the game and be told that person's full and real role within the game.
Adolphus Ainsworth
If Dr. Von Helrung is the face and leadership of The Society, Adolphus Ainsworth represents a much closer representation of what the membership of that august group of academics actually resemble. Reeking of formaldehyde and the decay of his work area, Ainsworth is the keeper of the Monstrumarium, the dark and dank archives and holding area of all recovered evidence and specimens of The Society. Need to see the bones of a Wendigo killed in 1712? Ainsworth's your man. Cranky and reclusive, Ainsworth's formidable eye for detail and remarkable ability to stay on the pulse of happenings within The Society allow him to know at the start of each day the number of players on both teams, as well as the number of players with roles on the Monstrumologists' side.
The Pinkerton
While they prefer to think of themselves as brilliant deducers and detection artists, in truth the Pinkertons are no great shakes at their avowed profession as detectives. If the Pinkerton sent to New Jerusalem lacks any particular brilliant insight into detecting the vampires descending on the village, he is at least good in a fight and an excellent guard. The Pinkerton may choose to protect any player at night. A player under the protection of the Pinkerton man cannot be killed at night, and that player is protected the following day against daytime attacks--not including hanging by lynch or selection by Kearns as bait. The Pinkerton may not protect the same player on consecutive nights. He may self-protect.
Jacob Torrance
Jacob Torrance is rather new to The Society, a Monstrumologist who has recently celebrated reaching "The Thirty"--his 30th birthday, considered something of a milestone in The Society owing to the number of prospective monstrumologists who fail to see that particular birth anniversary owing to the danger of their profession. Torrance lacks the deductive brilliance of Warthrop, or the clinical skills of Von Helrung. He's no Ainsworth either. What the hard-drinking, brutish Torrance is good at is serving as muscle. He's huge, he may have been a fisticuffer in his youth, and when pressed he's hardly adverse to taking bold, destructive action. Torrance has a one time ability that allows him at any time during the day choose to kill any other player in the game during the day cycle. If Torrance selects someone under the protection of The Pinkerton, his attack will fail.
Algernon Blackwood
A writer who would achieve his greatest fame in the 20th century for such stories as The Wendigo, in 1891 Blackwood was a young, muck-raking reporter in New York City, a writer possessing strong enough flourishes and lyrical chops to easily sway public opinion. In that regard, Blackwood--who knows of The Society, but keeps its secrets as a rich vein for future literary material--is a friend and confidant of Society members. They see his access to the public through the newspaper as both a curse and a boon. Thanks to Blackwood's ability to shape public opinion, he possesses an extra, secret vote each day which he may place by PM'ing the GM. Once placed, Blackwood's secret vote may not be moved. His public vote, of course, may be moved at will and whim.
Arthur Conan Doyle
Although Doyle is certainly at this point in life given over to occasional flights of fancy, this friend of The Society is considered a bit flighty for rejecting the notion of the existence of anthropophagi and wendigos, but somehow finding room in his mind to believe in the existence of fairies. While many in the Society dismiss Doyle as a fantasticist, sharp-minded members like Warthrop and Von Helrung recognize Doyle's sharp mind and spirit for adventure. Even a fellow like Doyle--so wrong so often about the "unnatural sciences" is occasionally right--at least in his own mind. Doyle possesses a one-time ability to cast three secret votes on a player in the game during the daytime phase. Those votes may be freely moved during that daytime period via PM, but once the day expires, the ability does as well.
