Teppy sent out an email announcing a ‘welcome back’ event for ATITD III. Go back and see what’s happened since you left, etc. Standard stuff. What caught my eye was his announcement of a cool Halloween-themed event. While most in-game events net you trinket and baubles, and meaningless candy, this ATITD event sounds hella cool:

I’m attending a games conference next week, and on the newsletter, one of the people attending mentioned a game called “Mafia.” A local friend from Burning Man suggested playing a game called “Murder,” and while browsing the web, I noticed an old acquaintance had written a web page about a game called “Werewolf.” It turns out that these are all essentially  the same game, but how strange to encounter this three times in one week! I’ve decided to adapt Andrew Plotkin’s “Werewolf” version as a special Halloween event. After doing some research online, I believe the biggest Mafia-type game ever played was around 100 players, so my goal is to beat that: To have the biggest such game in history, within ATITD. I’ll explain how it works:

• Starting Friday at 7:00PM EST (GMT-0500) you will be able to build a Mortuary Temple. The cost is 13 boards, 13 Slate, and 13 Bricks. Mortuary Temples must be built within 100 coordinates of a Chariot Stop. You’ll have 24 hours to build your Mortuary Temple.
• On Saturday at 8:00PM EST (GMT-0500), you’ll find out if you are a Villager, a Werewolf, or a Seer (special Villager). Don’t reveal this information publicly!
• Play proceeds in a series of 60 minute rounds. The first round takes place at “night.” Werewolves sniff around at the Mortuary Temples to pick up the scent of Villagers. Werewolves can also pick up a Villager’s scent by sniffing them directly. Any Villager whose scent has been picked up can be attacked. If three werewolves attack a Villager in the same night, the Villager dies. Werewolves can recognize other Werewolves by scent, and may do this up to 3 times each day.
• During the “day,” it’s the Villagers’ turn to play. Each Villager votes on one person to lynch – hopefully a Werewolf! If a person gets 7 votes, they die, and it is revealed whether they were a Werewolf.
• Some Villagers are Seers. A Seer can check to see if a player is a werewolf up to twice a day. In other words, because of their knowledge, Seers are dangerous to Werewolves! If you are a Seer, it’s best not to let that be commonly known, or you are likely to be targeted by Werewolves the next night. Seers can not vote.
• The game ends when there have been no killings for 2 consecutive days. If there remain more Villagers (including Seers), then the Villagers win, otherwise the Werewolves win. Ghostly prizes will be awarded to only one side, and only to those that remain alive until the end.

Given the appreciation gamers already having for play, this is a no-brainer win-win situation that I’m surprised I haven’t seen elsewhere. Certainly, there have been instances of classic games in massive titles before (clone-alikes of puzzle games in Puzzle Pirates, Pipes in Dungeons and Dragons Online), but this is an intuitive, easy Real Life game ported to a game world in a somewhat logical manner. I think it’s brilliant, and I hope the event goes well.

Waaaay back in the WoW Beta I remember talk floating around about mini-games in taverns. Darts, or games of that nature. I’m not sure that such simple fair would get used all that much, and the developers obviously decided to invest their time elsewhere. Just the same, the promise of games-within-games is intriguing.

For example, licensing the mechanics of Settlers of Catan would allow for an interesting form of PvP. Two teams rush to claim an island, utilizing the resources to greatest effect before the other side can. So, it’s like: “I’ll trade you two wood for my … AXE TO THE FACE!” Now that would be some good times.

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