Star Trek: The Next Generation (GAME THREAD)

soah · #1 12-03-2006, 09:34 PM

Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before.

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"Captain's Log, Stardate 44482.3:

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Five months have passed since the Borg were defeated at the Battle of Wolf 359. Starfleet Command has been preparing for the day that they would return. That day has come. Two hours ago we received a distress signal from a freighter in deep space. By the time we arrived, the freighter was destroyed, and in its place we found a Borg Cube. We are waiting now to see if it will react to us."

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Without warning, the Borg Cube opens fire. The defenses of the Enterprise are hopelessly outmatched and its shields fail. The Borg materialize immediately on the ship and begin assimilating the crew.

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A few Borg drones are killed, but they have the advantage of surprise, and prevail easily. The entire crew of the ship has been assimilated, and they now lie unconscious.

When they awaken, things have changed. Most of the crew has vanished. Only 21 people are left. They are all outfitted as Borg drones, but it seems that not all have been properly assimilated.

"What is going on?" Worf shouts. "I am covered in ridiculous Borg technology, but I am still a Klingon!"

The others mutter their agreement.

"It's him," Guinan says. "He's here. Q is here. He's one of us."

There is a blinding flash of light, and Q appears in the midst of it.

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"Well now, Captain Picard. Off to save the universe again I see, in your own pathetic way. You were failing, of course, until I intervened. You've been the source of much amusement for me, almost like a pet really, and I would hate to lose you, so I am giving you this chance to save humanity again. In this room there are 5 Borg, 15 Starfleet members, and me. As for the rest of your crew... don't worry, they are quite safe. If you manage to kill the five Borg before they can kill you, you might get to see them all again. Now I've made this challenge absurdly simple, so that even your puny human brains might have a chance to succeed. Good luck, Captain."

With another flash of light, Q vanishes. 21 people are left, all outfitted as Borg drones, unable to tell each other apart.

The challenge is about to begin.

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It is Night.

soah · #2 12-03-2006, 11:10 PM

Win Conditions:

The Borg and Q win if at any time there are at least as many Borg as there are Starfleet members. Q does not count towards either side.

The Starfleet officers and civilians win if all five Borg are killed.

ROLES AND POWERS:

There seem to be 21 Starfleet officers and a few civilians. Five of them have been taken over by the Borg, and one of them has been replaced entirely by Q. The Borg and Q can be ANYONE except for Worf.

Worf - From Worf's outburst earlier, everyone is certain that Worf is fully himself -- he cannot be Borg, and Q would never degrade himself to the point of impersonating him. He is certainly a Starfleet officer still. Each night, Worf may kill one player. But strength, not stealth, is his specialty. Each kill leaves behind clues to his identity. Also, it's important to note that Captain Picard and Q are immune to Worf's kill, and Counselor Troi (Deanna) is also immune, IF she is not Borg. If he attempts to kill Captain Picard or Deanna, he instead gains night chat with them.

Lwaxana Troi - Deanna's mother Lwaxana was unforunately onboard the Enterprise during the attack and is caught up in this deadly game. As a Betazoid, she is fully telepathic and can discern the identities of other players except for Q. No one really knows how often she is doing this, though. If she discovers her daughter, the two of them will be able to communicate privately at all times via telepathy.

Deanna Troi - Deanna is only half Betazoid, but she still has some ability to read other people and find their true identity (although Q is beyond the scope of her powers). It's hard to determine just how much information she'll be able to get, though. If she discovers her mother, the two of them will be able to chat privately at all times. Discovering Commander Riker will allow her to send him telepathic messages at all times, but unfortunately he cannot return any of them. If Worf tries to kill her and she is not Borg, she will gain the ability to chat with him each night.

Guinan - Guinan is a member of a very mysterious race from far away who were attacked by the Borg long ago. She has a sixth sense about the universe, and in particular she is very aware of Q. Each night she learns who Q voted for and who he visited. If she believes she has discovered Q's identity, she may make a public accusation against him (in bold text). If she is correct, Q will be exposed and leave the game. She only gets one chance at this. Also, Guinan has the ability to learn the identities of other players during the course of the game. But no one is sure how much she can learn...

Jean Luc Picard - Captain Picard has almost a magical presence that compels everyone to listen. His vote counts for 1.5, which is just strong enough to break a tied vote. He can convince Worf not to kill him if it comes down to it, and instead they would gain the ability to chat at night. He also has the ability to accuse Q one time, the same as Guinan.

William Riker - Once per night, Commander Riker can search for Deanna Troi. If he finds her, he will be able to receive messages from her for the rest of the game... but not return any of them. If Captain Picard dies, his vote will count for 1.5.

Data - Data has computer access.

Geordi La Forge - Geordi has computer access.

Reginald Barclay - Barclay has computer access.

Wesley Crusher - Wesley has computer access, and can chat each night with Beverly Crusher.

Miles O'Brien - Chief O'Brien has computer access, and can chat each night with Keiko O'Brien.

Beverly Crusher - Each night, Doctor Crusher can check on one player. If that player has died, she will revive him. She also can chat with Wesley Crusher each night.

Alyssa Ogawa - Each Night, Nurse Ogawa can check on one player. If that player has died, she will revive him.

Keiko O'Brien - Keiko can chat with Miles O'Brien each night.

Plain crewmembers - There are seven players who have no special powers... just special dogs.

Q - Q has replaced one of the other players entirely -- it could be a plain crewmember, or it could be one of the others... anyone but Worf. Q has many powers:
- He may choose to appear as anyone he wants to when peeked by Deanna or Lwaxana. (Guinan can still spot him, though.)
- If he gets peeked, he learns which character did it and exactly what information they got from it.
- He cannot be killed by Worf, and learns Worf's identity if an attempt is made.
- He may change his vote in private.
- He knows the identity of the Borg. However, they do not know who he is.
- Each night he may visit one player and either prevent them from doing any night actions, or learn their identity.
- If he is voted off he does not die of course, but he does leave the game.
- His "death" is irrelevent towards the win condition of either side.

Description of computer access:

Five players have access to the computer. Each night they may do one of the following:
- Attempt to create a force field around someone's room. This has a 33% chance of success and will prevent anyone from entering or leaving the room. This only affects Worf, Beverly Crusher, Alyssa Ogawa, and the Borg (night kills). Their action is blocked if their room OR their target's room has a force field. Any other actions can take place despite any force fields. For the sake of gameplay, everyone is considered to live in their own, separate room as far as the force fields are concerned. Creating a force field around Wesley Crusher's room would not stop Beverly Crusher from doing her night action, for example.
- Block a force field from appearing around a certain room. This has a 100% chance of success.
- Check the computer logs to see all actions and attempted actions from the previous night. This has a 100% chance of success and will tell you the character name (not the player) who took each action, and whether or not that attempt was successful.
- Block another player from using the computer that night. This has a 100% chance of success. The target will fail any attempts they make that night unless they also choose to block someone, which would still go through.
- Research a player's personal file. Careful biometric analysis can match a player to their character name (but they will still not know if that person is Borg or not).

Any questions should be sent to me privately and I will clarify things in a new post.

soah · #3 12-03-2006, 11:22 PM

Question:

The 5 Borg were picked specifically as to what character they would impersonate, (not random), right?

I assigned each character a number from 1-21 with Worf being 1, and then I selected 5 random numbers between 2-21. Those 5 numbers became the 5 Borg. Then I assigned players randomly to those roles.

Important note:

I had intended it to be like this from the very beginning, but forgot to ever post anything about it: The Borg can communicate amongst themselves privately AT ALL TIMES.

soah · #4 12-03-2006, 11:23 PM

Speaking of assigning players, here is your player list:

amplify
areinitz
bluffblank
boiler
chucklsovakian
clowntable
cpfb
dmk
fnord
iy
lastchance
luckay
madtown
mornelth
nich
spook
tabako
trufloridagator
traz
valenzuela
voraciousreader

soah · #5 12-03-2006, 11:58 PM

The 5 Borg were picked specifically as to what character they would impersonate, (not random), right?

I assigned each character a number from 1-21 with Worf being 1, and then I selected 5 random numbers between 2-21. Those 5 numbers became the 5 Borg. Then I assigned players randomly to those roles.

If Q gets targetted by death by Worf, does Worf learn who Q is?

Yes

When the seers peek, do they learn the target's role and whether the target is Borg?

Unknown.

What is the % chance of success of doctors protecting anyone? 100% for all?

Doctors must be alive in order to revive someone, and thus cannot protect themselves. They are 100% effective on anyone else, provided they are not blocked by a force field or Q.

Do seers get a peek on night 0?

Unknown.

Do we learn if Worf attempts to attack Picard, Counselor Troi, or Q and get clues or does it just appear as a non-kill night?

Only Worf and his target are aware of what happened.

I'm not sure I understand the Dr. Crusher and Alyssa Ogawa characters. When a player dies in the game, is their role revealed? If so, can't they just revive their team members? Do revived people become vanillagers/vanilla-Borgs, or do they get all of their powers back? Or is this power something to block night kills?

The doctors must revive people on the same night that they die. People who are voted off are left to die as that was the wish of the majority, and players killed at night cannot be saved if they are not revived before morning. Revived players are the same as players who never died (although it IS mentioned in the morning writeup). Identities are revealed upon death.

What about role-claims? Are there specific role claim rules, or is it just a free-for-all?

No quoting of PMs or any other outside communication of any kind. fwiw, I did NOT just copy/paste the same message to each player, so some players will have messages that read somewhat differently than other players who have the same role... but just don't go there.

I am assuming that borg doctors can stop the vigiliante kill each night if they target the correct person?

Yes.

soah · #6 12-04-2006, 12:27 AM

Do force fields stack? If two people both do force field on the same target, do they each get 33% chance, or is it still just 33% total?

Each chance is calculated separately, so two people combined would have roughly a 50/50 chance.

Do the engineers get n0 comp access?

No.

What happens if someone dies who is doing a night action?

All actions will go through unless they are blocked. If two people tried to kill each other, both would die. I am trying to avoid using rand() to determine outcomes as much as possible (I had to make an exception for the force fields as they just seem overpowered otherwise).

No one asked this question, but I'm giving an answer anyway?

I wrote that Q is immune to Worf. Since he is omnipotent, he is of course immune to a kill from the Borg as well. If they try to kill him, they fail and learn his identity, and Q learns what happened.

Wait, no one asked this question yet either?

A specific member of the Borg must do the night kill, and the one who does the night kill cannot do any other night actions for that night.

Game flow:

Night actions are due by 9 AM. If I get them all sooner and I'm awake, I MIGHT open the game earlier. I might oversleep and open it later. No promises. Night falls at 10 PM each night. 10:00 votes are good, 10:01 not so much.

Minor warning: My flashy PM icon hasn't been working sometimes so I might be slow to notice new messages, but I'm checking frequently.

renodoc · #7 12-04-2006, 12:53 AM

my brain hurts.

soah · #8 12-04-2006, 12:55 AM

What kind of clues does Worf leave behind to his identity if he vigilante kills?

Each time he kills, a list will be posted of half of the remaining players. Worf will be included on that list, and the rest will be filled out at random.

What happens when Picard/Guinan accuses Q?

They should bold their accusation in the thread and if they are correct, Q will immediately leave the game. Note that I have no problem with other players making a fake accusation if they so desire... it will be ignored, just as an incorrect guess from Picard/Guinan will be ignored. If I'm not online at the time of the accusation, Q should refrain from posting until I show up to deal with it.

Note: I am going to bed soon. I will answer more questions in the morning.

soah · #9 12-04-2006, 01:04 AM

Must Worf kill every night?

No.

My next post will be in ~9 hours to make it day. Any new questions will be answered at that time.

soah · #10 12-04-2006, 10:07 AM

I didn't think out the answer to one of the previous questions too well before posting, and I'm going to change my response. If someone makes an accusation against Q and I am not around, Q may still post "normal" messages while he waits to find out if the accuser is valid. However, it is not appropriate for him to reveal any special knowledge he acquired that the Borg would like to know about (for example, if he discovered one of the seers, etc).

Also, after further thought I am making some additional changes to the computer access, which are as follows:

- Checking the computer logs gives you all information from the previous TWO nights, or you may elect to view the logs for ANY SINGLE night.
- Checking a player's file gives only a 67% chance of discovering that player's identity (but you still don't know if they are Borg, or if they are Q).

I will ask one of the mods to edit this into the previous post.

IT IS DAY.