"Meet the Robinsons" WW game - Robinsons win!

[Isgrimnur]

Cliff Notes Rules

Good Players – Robinson Family Members
Powered Good Players:

Lewis – Standard WW night scanner by possession of a machine, can only be passed off by losing the daytime vote.


Wilbur – Standard WW night protector. Can self-protect, cannot protect the same target two nights in a row


Uncle Art – Special, effectively has the one-shot hunter power, only triggered if the Bad Players “kidnap” the player holding the machine or obtain it by being passed the machine by a grounded player.

Bad Players –Bowler Hat Guy and DOR-15


Bowler Hat Guy – Standard alpha WW, determine night time kidnap.


DOR-15 – Standard WW night scanner, inherits “kidnapping” power in the event that BHG is eliminated in any manner.

Game mechanics:

Day vote: results in “grounding”, functionally identical to all WW voting rules. Player is eliminated, can not communicate for the remainder of the game.
If Lewis or subsequent machine holder is “grounded”, he will pass the machine off to another player. In the event that it is another family (good) member, the game continues. If the recipient is a bad player, special DUSK phase is triggered.
Night “kidnapping”: functionally identical to WW night kill if target does not hold machine. If night target is Lewis, special DAWN phase is triggered. If target holds machine, Evil wins.

Victory conditions:

GOOD – eliminate both evil players

EVIL – obtain the machine. This can be done three ways
1) Kidnap Lewis and have both members survive the DAWN phase
2) Kidnap a subsequent machine holder (no special phases triggered)
3) Obtain the machine through passing and have both members survive the DUSK phase.

Special Phases

DAWN (see EVIL victory condition 1) – Uncle Art “observes” a player. If that player is EVIL, that player is eliminated in the rescue mission put on by the Robinson family. The roles of Lewis , Uncle Art, and the EVIL player are revealed. Lewis may choose to pass the machine off to another player at this time.

DUSK (see EVIL victory condition 3) – Uncle Art “observers” a player. If that player is EVIL, that player is eliminated in the rescue mission put on by the Robinson family. The roles of Uncle Art and the EVIL player are revealed. Uncle Art takes possession of the machine, and may at that time choose to pass the machine off to another player

Only one Special Phase can be triggered during the game.

Game Start

Players:

1. Qantaga - kidnapped
2. Unagi
3. Scoop20906
4. msteelers
5. stessier - grounded
6. theohall - grounded
7. Lassr
8. Lagom Lite - grounded
9. Newcastle - kidnapped
10. Chaosraven
11. Remus West
12. Grundbegriff

Nighttime Boilerplate:
Lewis: Who will you scan?
Wilbur: Who will you protect?

Bowler Hat Guy: Who will you kidnap?
DOR-15: Who will you scan?

Orders will be resolved in that order.

[Newcastle]

Good Guys:
Lewis - Scanner
Wilbur - Protector

Bad Guys:
Bowler Hat Guy - Kidnapper
Doris - Scanner

Villagers: Frogs

Daytime voting is "grounding".

To win, Bowler Hat Guy and Doris must kidnap Lewis at night. In the event that BHG has not previously kidnapped Wilbur or Wilbur has not been grounded, he has the next night to go from protector to hunter to track down BHG and free Lewis. No kidnapped frogs may be freed.

I would appreciate any questions or feedback you guys could give on the idea. If the idea pans out, I'd like to try to run one.

Bolded does not compute - so are you saying Wilbur can potentially free Lewis in the evening if those two cases are met?

-so then if lewis is kidnapped by BHG team, then wilbur, if alive, has 1 shot at freeing lewis...if not team evil wins?

-so team evil, in order to win, must make sure they hold on to lewis for 1 night cycle, in case wilbur is alive?

Needs to be made more clear

[msteelers]

Would Wilbur be able to protect the same person multiple nights in a row, and do the good guys only need to ground Bowler Hat Guy to win (i.e. Doris would be nice, but not essential to victory)? And if Bowler Hat Guy kidnaps Lewis, can the villagers still win the game by grounding Bowler Hat Guy that final turn?

[Isgrimnur]

Yeah, that's pretty much what I was going for.

If the baddies capture Lewis, that's their end goal. Trick is, they have to spend time badgering him into fixing the machine so BHG can take it to the Invention company. During that evening, Wilbur has to go on the prowl and try to find BHG and/or Doris.

So concievably, the game could be over in two rounds, but that's no quicker than a bang-bang 2 WW game. The odds are slightly higher of an evil victory that way, since it puts the onus on the good guys to go into hunter mode.

[spitballing]

Any other night kidnap would function as a night kill normally, in that the player is out of the game. Once Lewis is kidnapped, it starts a countdown timer. If the frogs can vote off an enemy during the day, or Wilbur can free him in the next night, then that's satisfactory to free Lewis and win the game, as they've found BHG's base of operations. If neither group finds him, BHG and Doris sucker Lewis into fixing the machine and get to change the future to their purposes.

[msteelers]

So concievably, the game could be over in two rounds

Wouldn't it be one round if Bowler Hat Guy gets grounded the first day?

If the frogs can vote off an enemy during the day, or Wilbur can free him in the next night, then that's satisfactory to free Lewis and win the game, as they've found BHG's base of operations.

So Lewis is kidnapped, and the frogs vote to ground Doris, that's enough to trigger victory condition for the frogs? Would Wilbur, when in hunting mode, be able to free Lewis by choosing Doris instead of Bowler Hat Guy?

I like the twist on the victory conditions.

[stessier]

What if Lewis gets lynched?

[Isgrimnur]

So concievably, the game could be over in two rounds

Wouldn't it be one round if Bowler Hat Guy gets grounded the first day?

Doris could still kidnap if BHG were grounded.

If the frogs can vote off an enemy during the day, or Wilbur can free him in the next night, then that's satisfactory to free Lewis and win the game, as they've found BHG's base of operations.

So Lewis is kidnapped, and the frogs vote to ground Doris, that's enough to trigger victory condition for the frogs? Would Wilbur, when in hunting mode, be able to free Lewis by choosing Doris instead of Bowler Hat Guy?

I like the twist on the victory conditions.

I would say yes to either. They don't have a complete security system, so getting past one or the other should be sufficient to free Lewis.

What if Lewis gets lynched?

Something I hadn't thought about. What if Lewis fixes the machine and hands it off to a frog of his choice. Since the machine is then fixed, if the new owner gets kidnapped, it's an immediate win. If subsequent holders get grounded as well, the same thing happens: pass to a new player, immediate win if BHG or Doris kidnap the holder.

[msteelers]

Doris could still kidnap if BHG were grounded.

Would Doris get to scan AND kidnap, or does he lose his scanning ability because he's too busy kidnapping?

[Isgrimnur]

It would make sense that kidnapping would replace scanning, as Doris isn't really cut out for kidnapping, so that would take her whole faculties during the night.

[stessier]

What if Lewis gets lynched?

Something I hadn't thought about. What if Lewis fixes the machine and hands it off to a frog of his choice. Since the machine is then fixed, if the new owner gets kidnapped, it's an immediate win. If subsequent holders get grounded as well, the same thing happens: pass to a new player, immediate win if BHG or Doris kidnap the holder.

And if Lewis or his proxy pass to Doris/BHG, Evil automatically wins? (Not that it is a bad idea, just trying to talk through it.)

[Isgrimnur]

At first thought, I would have said yes, but the more I think about it, I would say that either party would need to take the night phase to get it out of the compound. That would leave wilbur one night in hunter mode to find (in this case) the carrier of the device to retrieve it. In that event, he would essentially get a night kill of the bad guy, retrieve the device, the ability to pass it off to another frog, and the game would continue if the other evil party were still present.

[Qantaga]

Awesome concept.

Meet the Robinsons is one of my all-time faves. I even tear up a little whenever I hear Little Wonders.

I don't care what the rules are, I want to play!!!!!!

Can I be Tom Selleck, er Cornelius? Although, I wouldn't mind being BHG, er Goob. Although, I wouldn't mind being Batman, er Uncle Art. Although, I wouldn't mind being Lucille... or Bud... or Coach... or Mildred... or one of the frogs... or Wilbur... or the couple that got sprayed with the PB&J device... or...

<head explodes with joy>

[Unagi]

What if Lewis gets lynched?

Something I hadn't thought about.

I'm just not sure how well this plan was thought through.


(I'm also a huge fan of the movie, so I'd love to see it turned into a little game)

[Newcastle]

In all seriousness...what is "meet the robinsons?" Guess will have to google it or something. Maybe it's on wikipedia.

[Isgrimnur]

Unagi:

Newcastle: 2007 Disney film that I thought was better than Ratatouille. Lewis is an orphan that's an inventor, trying to get adopted, but usually too wrapped up in his work to pay too much attention to the meetings with prospective parents.

Wilbur shows up from the future and press-gangs him into helping him find and stop the Bowler Hat Guy that has stolen his father's time machine.

It's an excellent film and one of the best that Disney has done in a while. It came after Home on the Range and Chicken Little, but before Bolt and the Princess and the Frog.

[Isgrimnur]

New polish on rules:

Good guys:
Lewis - scanner
Wilbur - Protector
Uncle Art - hunter (special; see below)

Evil guys:
Bowler Hat Guy: Kidnapper
DOR-15: Scanner

Rest of players: family members (who wanted to be a frog anyway?)

Day Phase: majority vote results in Grounding.

Lewis (or subsequent machine holder) Grounded:
Machine holder passes machine to new target.
New holder inherits scanner power (it's all in the machine, after all).
If new owner is EVIL, trigger Dusk Twilight Phase (special; see even further below)

Wilbur Grounded:
No special effects, protection power for good guys lost

Uncle Art Grounded:
No special effects, Twilight phases lost (special; no, not here yet)

Random family member Grounded
No special effects

Bowler Hat Guy Grounded
Kidnapping role passes to DOR-15
DOR-15 power usage is scanner OR kidnaper for each night

DOR-15 Grounded
No special effects, scanner power for evil guys is lost

Night Phase

Lewis (or machine holder) Kidnapped
If Lewis is kidnapped, trigger Dawn Twilight phase (special; I promise, I'll get to it)
If not Lewis; evil wins

Wilbur Kidnapped
No special effects, protection power for good guys lost

Uncle Art Kidnapped
No special effects, Twilight phases lost

Twilight Phases (finally)
Lewis kidnapped (Dawn)
Uncle Art hops in the Anchovy Saucer to go searching for Lewis. He targets one player for investigation. If that player is Bowler Hat Guy or DOR-15, that evil player is eliminated, Lewis is freed (returned to game) and the machine (with scanning power) may be passed to another player. If that player is the other evil player, evil wins.

Machine passed to Evil player (Dusk)
Uncle Art is taking off for a delivery run in the Anchovy Saucer, and can pass over home on a vector that lets him wave to someone as he leaves. If he picks the vector that lets him see Bowler Hat Guy or DOR-15, he is able to stop them (eliminate the player), retrieve the device and may pass it to another player. If that player is the other evil player, evil wins.

Only one Twilight phase may be triggered per game, meaning that Uncle Art can not eliminate both evil players single-handed. Uncle Art's role will be announced upon the triggered phase.

Groundings will announce alignment only, not role.

Feedback wanted: Should change of ownership of the machine be announced? Obviously, this would make it clear that Lewis had been grounded on the first case, but denote no other role information afterward.

[msteelers]

Sounds good. The only thing I'm not clear on is Uncle Art's role during the Twilight Dawn phase. It sounds like if Lewis hands off the machine and that new person is kidnapped, Uncle Art wont try and save them. Am I reading that correctly? And if so, why is it like that?

[Isgrimnur]

Per the film, BHG needs to get Lewis to convince him to show him how the machine works, meaning that it's going to allow time for a rescue attempt in the evening. If Lewis has already been grounded, then he's passed the machine off to someone else who isn't going to have the same motivations that Lewis did and pass off the instructions, allowing for an easier escape. BHG isn't as tied to grilling and taunting another Robinson family member once he's got the machine.

From a game standpoint, I'm trying to keep the number of successes equal for the evil team in that if they've already successfully gotten Lewis grounded, they only need one more success to obtain the machine. If they combine the removal of Lewis and obtaining the machine in one fell swoop, then the Robinsons have the potential to ensure that it's not a single day victory with Uncle Art.

The game would start on a Day Phase with a Grounding, since it's not tied specifically to a "lynch" mechanic, I think it makes it easier to hand-wave the motivations.

[msteelers]

Ok. Thanks for clarifying.

[Unagi]

Maybe I'm missing something. (good chance)

Is it correct that no one is actully dying in this, right? (just "groundings" that may have some kind of effect on that player's powers)

So, if "FamilyMember" tries to ground...

Lewis: Lewis perhaps keeps quiet and passes the machine. (perhaps we hear about the machine pass...)
Wilbur: Wilbur perhaps protests his grounding and warns that we will lose our protection. On Grounding - He is Proven Good.
Uncle Art: Exposes the Twiglight Phase to be lost. Uncle Art will protest his grounding heavily.
Villager: No effect
BHG: passes his power to DOR15 (i.e. No Effect)
DOR15: losses scan. (would never lose the "passed Kidnapped power")

So, is this sorta a shell game - looking for the Machine.

Is the Twighlight Phase announced that it is ongoing?? and/or Does Uncle Art get asked about what Vector he will take Each night, (boiler plate). (Same question regarding the Kidnapped Lewis Twighlight Trigger) but it only goes into effect if your two Twighlight Phase conditions are met (Lewis Kidnapped / Machine Passed to Evil)

OK, and then here is my big question... What is the winning condition for the Good Guys. I see a whole bunch of places where the Bad Guys win, I don't see what the point of the Good Guys is (maybe that's what I missed).

[Isgrimnur]

"Grounding" is just this game's version of lynching. Grounding eliminates you from the game as you sit out the rest of the event. As for revealing roles prior to grounding, that's up to the players, as always. I have a story idea for covering the hidden roles, to be revealed on start.

Twilight phases would only be triggered when needed.

Good's victory condition would be the elimination of the evil characters. Nothing really out of the ordinary there.

[Unagi]

"Grounding" is just this game's version of lynching. Grounding eliminates you from the game as you sit out the rest of the event.

OOOhhhhh. See, for some reason I thought you were specifically not eliminating players. Not sure if anyone else had that brain fart.

I think it was the special deliniation of what would happen 'when someone was Grounded' that threw me.
Saying "No Effect" when a "Villager" is grounded, for instance.

So then, is this about right?:

General Rules:

• Players are removed from game via Grounding (day lynch) and Kidnapping (night kill)
• "Twilight Rules" can only happen if Uncle Art is still in the game.
• The "Machine Holder" is granted a "scan power".
• Lewis is the original "Machine Holder"
• When a "Machine Holder" is Grounded, his last act is to secretly Pass "The Machine" to a new player of his choice (if that Player is Evil - See the "Twilight Rules")
• When a "Machine Holder" is Kidnapped - Evil Wins (Unless Machine Holder is Lewis - See the "Twilight Rules")

Twilight Rules:
Once Per Game, ONLY ONE of the following may be triggered

• If "The Machine" is passed to an Evil Player: Uncle Art is asked to Guess The Bad Guy with "The Machine", if correct - The Bad Guy is Eliminated and Uncle Art mustmay then pass "The Machine".
• If Lewis is Kidnapped: Uncle Art is asked to Guess any-old Bad Guy, if correct - The Bad Guy is Eliminated and Lewis is Freed. Lewis mustmay then Pass "The Machine"
• Uncle Art is announced in Game (proven) by the Moderator if a Twilight condition is met
• Again: once one of the above Twilight conditions is met, Uncle Art is no longer 'special' and No second Twilight condition will ever be triggered.

[Isgrimnur]

Change "must" to "may" on the passing rules, and that's pretty much it. If Lewis is freed or Uncle Art liberates Lewis or the machine, they certainly can hang on to it.

That leads me to wan to leave machine passing a secret. The Twilight phases are obvious, and Lewis/machine holder/Uncle Art will be revealed, and machine passing is subject to strict timing rules, but there's no reason to strictly enforce that the rescued holder or machine liberator pass the device off upon that eventuality. The only required pass would be on the Grounding of the device holder, in order to keep it in play for the evil team.

[redrun]

New polish on rules:

Only one Twilight phase may be triggered per game, meaning that Uncle Art can not eliminate both evil players single-handed. Uncle Art's role will be announced upon the triggered phase.

Groundings will announce alignment only, not role.

Feedback wanted: Should change of ownership of the machine be announced? Obviously, this would make it clear that Lewis had been grounded on the first case, but denote no other role information afterward.

-- A couple of items. First, looking at the case where Uncle Art has eliminated one evil player and has the machine with the option of passing it. He'll have been outed. If change of ownership is announced, it'll reduce the pool that evil must go after - if it's not announced, they'll have to decide if he held it or passed it. Second - can passing the machine be a method of searching for Evil? From what I'm reading, no - anyone but Uncle Art can only pass on grounding (and thus, should they pass the machine to evil, they won't be able to say "hey, get so_&_so), if a player announces before being grounded that they are passing the machine to Mr_X, then Mr_X will be kidnapped that night, and if Uncle Art gets his hands on the machine in twlight mode & passes it to evil the game is over.

-- I'd say that change of ownership of the machine should not be announced - in late game with Uncle Art getting the machine in twlight mode notice of passing ownership would be a great help to evil. I think the idea of the scan power passing with the machine is neat, especially given that if the scanner revels themself they also revel the location of the machine.

[Isgrimnur]

Okay, passing of the scanner will not be announced. However, that means that DOR-15 is scanning for the holder of the machine only and will not get the role of the person scanned (all humans look alike). So if she scans Wilbur or Uncle Art, all she'll get is (likely) that they don't have the machine.

Passing the machine is only on grounding or rescue, with Uncle Art the only one that has the option to pass or keep the machine. In the event that he rescues Lewis, they can collaberate together to determine who will keep/receive the device, with Lewis getting the final say.

I'm kind of liking this idea in that instead of just determining who is evil, there's also the aspect of thinking about who is trusted. If Lewis (or a subsequent holder) can't defend himself from grounding, he's really got to think about whom he will pass the device.

[Unagi]

I think the idea of the scan power passing with the machine is neat, especially given that if the scanner revels themself they also revel the location of the machine.

Raises a question.
Can a "Machine Holder" maybe Pass it even if he's not yet kidnapped?

[Isgrimnur]

My thoughts on that would be to restrict the passing of the device to necessity only. I don't want to have the evil team hanstrung by the good team playing keepaway with the device.

I could be convinced to let any non-Lewis holder pass it at night if they were willing to forego its use. But I doubt Lewis would pass it off without either being grounded or having been rescued.

[Unagi]

IN ?

[Isgrimnur]

Absolutely. Now that the Nuke War is getting started, I'll work on getting the opening phases set up so I can be ready to go when it ends.

[Scoop20906]

In too please.

[Qantaga]

You've probably figured this out from my earlier post, but I wouldn't want to miss your Meet the RobINsons' game.

[Isgrimnur]

Nukes has come to a close. I will be working on this over the weekend and hope for as early next week as possible. Of course, we still need players:

1. Qantaga
2. Unagi
3. Scoop20906
4. msteelers
5. stessier (?)
6. theohall
7. Lassr
8. Lagom Lite

[theohall]

I have no idea what these rules mean, never seen the movie, but that's not stoppINg me from signing up for another one. Will figure out the rules later.

[msteelers]

You can remove the question mark from my name. IN!

[Isgrimnur]

Done and done.

[Lassr]

[Newcastle]

i think i'll sit this one out, sorry isgrinmur, good luck running it though.

[redrun]

Nukes has come to a close. I will be working on this over the weekend and hope for as early next week as possible. Of course, we still need players:

1. Qantaga
2. Unagi
3. Scoop20906
4. redrun (?)
5. msteelers
6. stessier (?)
7. theohall
8. Lassr

-- This looks fun, but life is just too busy right now for me to be able to commit to a game. Have fun all!

[Lagom Lite]

I'll join, but only if you work on the rules presentation a bit.

[Isgrimnur]

There will be a new thread with more concise rules forthcoming.