Starless Dusk Rules

[The City [EclipseZwolf]]

Starless Dusk Rules

Welcome to the Rules Page for Starless Dusk! I strongly encourage fully reading this page before signing up for Starless Dusk as this season will be VERY different from our normal fare. Starless Dusk will be using a Hosting Style known as Story Mode as compared to the norm.
Most of the basic mechanics remain unchanged excluding the act of murder itself.

Movement, Actions, and Examinations work according to the MMG Basic Rules for all players excluding the current Murderer. The Murderer receives an alternative method to play and execute their murder plan.

Character Roles

All players and NPCs are split into various roles. This indicates what they can do at any one time. Below are the roles and what they are generally allowed to do.

:Innocent:

A character who is a participant in the Starless Dusk Game who has not decided to commit murder. Innocents operate with all basic actions with no special privileges. Innocents may not commit murder, though they can fight. An Innocent may volunteer to become the Murderer or be Selected as the Victim for each section of the game.

:Murderer:

A character who is a participant in the Starless Dusk Game who has decided to commit murder and been accepted as the Murderer by the host. The Murderer operates the same as innocents, though they are one of the only people who can actively control themselves while a murder is being executed. The Murderer also gains access to a special Arcana called The Murderer which grants numerous abilities.

:Victim:

A character who is a participant in the Starless Dusk Game who has been selected as a Murderer's Target. The Victim has the same privileges as the Murderer and will assist in constructing the murder itself. Any player, when informed they have been chosen as the Victim, may politely refuse to take the role of Victim once.

:Mastermind:

The character who performs the primary management and control of the Starless Dusk Game. For the most part this character can do anything and make anyone do almost anything. This character cannot be targeted as a Victim or assume the role of Murderer.

:Observer:

A character who has no role in the Starless Dusk Game. They cannot be targeted as a Victim or become the Murderer. They cannot directly influence the game, though they can speak with players and share their opinions.

Story Mode 

Starless Dusk uses the Story Mode system for Murders and associated events. There are a few changes to the base rules in Story Mode. They are as follows:

1. Forbidden Murder: During standard play, all characters are forbidden from taking murderous action against other players.

2. Murderless Hosting: Due to murder not being a consideration, regular hosting hours are extended to 24x7. Players may walk around the map and send examinations as well as basic action to the host at all times. The Host will not be available to reply immediately at all times, but will address PMs en masse after being unavailable. Players DO NOT need to wait for a response between actions due to this. Players may not start Fights unless the Host is present.

3. Murderer's Plot: Once the Murderer and the Victim are selected in a Segment of the game, they will work together with the mastermind to concoct a Murder Plan. While they are concocting the plan, regular play during Murderless Hosting will continue.

4. Murderous Execution: After the Murder Plan is complete, the Host will shift the game mode to Murderous Execution. At this point all player actions are forbidden, including movement and actions. The Host will, in a new thread, describe the scenario that leads up to the murder. During this the Host may ask players for a basic idea of what their character would be doing during this period, but if not the host will use the Character's personality to determine their actions. The Thread will contain any public information regarding the scenario and players will be directly PMed what they did, saw, and heard during the period of the Murder. The Murderous Execution concludes when the Body Discovery Announcement sounds and players regain control.

Excluding these four areas, the main progression of Story Mode is the same as a regular game. The Investigation phase is unaffected and works like regular 24x7 Hosting. Players will get to investigate the body and map for evidence as to who the culprit is. Evidence will be determined and placed during the Murderous Execution prior to control returning to regular players. After a set amount of time has passed or enough evidence has been gathered, the Trial will be called.

Game Progression
The game will proceed in the following Order
of events.
Chapter Begin->Standard Phase->Murderous Execution->Investigation->Trial ->Chapter End

Chapter Begin: Essentially the Prologue of events each section of the game. Normally this includes a new section of the map being unlocked and any special events run by the mastermind being declared. During this time the Mastermind will also place any NPCs around the map. Once that management is done the game shifts to standard phase.

Standard Phase: Players can freely move around the map and send examination and action PMs to the host. At the start of this segment the mastermind will request that any players who wish to be the culprit for the chapter send them a note. The murderer will be selected 1-2 days into the standard phase. Once selected the Murderer gets to pick their victim and concoct their plan. Once the plan is complete the game shifts to Murderous Execution.

Murderous Execution: See Murderless Execution under Story Mode. Essentially this mode has the murder occur and evidence be sent/placed where necessary.

Investigation: All players will get to investigate with rules the same as Standard phase. This phase ends after a certain amount of time has passed or all evidence is located by at least two different people.

Trial: All players are summoned to a trial room to determine who the murderer is. See the Trials section below for more details. This concludes after the vote is held.

Chapter End: This contains the execution and any final statements from the mastermind or players in roleplay. Afterwards all players return to their rooms and the game shifts to the next Chapter's Beginning.

Trials

 Trials in Starless Dusk will operate similarly to normal trials with the following rules. Trials will operate on a Colored Truth System(Red for Fact, Blue for Theory, Purple for Testimony, Green for World Rules). Colored Truth has two purposes in each trial. First is to provide players with a basic system with which to debate. Arguing in all black still possible, but the colors I feel help get your points across more effectively. The second purpose to to help determine the votes of any NPCs(see NPC roster below Trials section). NPCs will vote according to their personality, but will be heavily influenced by player based arguments! Be prepared to push theories in this manner, especially in the early trials where it is highly likely the NPCs will have equal too or greater numbers than actual players.

1. The Vote: Trials are on a Innocent Vote basis. Everyone votes to determine the Murderer. The Murderer gets to Vote.

2. Judge, Jury, and Executioner: If the Murderer receives the Majority Vote, they are executed and the game proceeds to the next Segment.

3. Getting Away with It: If the Murderer does NOT receive majority vote, all innocents will be executed. In this scenario, the Murderer AND the Victim(as they helped come up with the murder) are considered the victors of Starless Dusk.

NPC Roster

Starless Dusk, due to its setup, requires a minimum number of participants to run without any issues. If there are not enough regular applicants to meet that minimum number, the game will be populated with NPC characters. NPCs will have everything a regular player has, including an application, arcana, and personality. Beyond that the Major differences between them and players are as follows:

1. Innocent Statue: NPCs will not move around the map during regular hosting. Each NPC will be placed in a designated room each chapter and remain their unless extreme circumstances force them to move.

2. Investigation NPCs: NPCs will not move during investigation. They are assumed to perform basic investigative actions and will each be given a few pieces of evidence they can use in trial.

3. Trial NPCs: NPCs will mostly provide banter in class trials, but they can contribute. The host will use them to both assist and hinder the discussion. NPCs GET to vote though, so it is important to present convincing arguments within the trial in order to make them vote in your favor.

NPCs CAN be murdered and CAN commit Murder, though if a player volunteers as the killer, they will be preferred over NPCs. If an NPC is paired with another player as a Murderer and Victim pair and they get away with it, just the Player is considered the victor, not the Mastermind controlling the NPC.

Fated Fighting

Starless Dusk is using a system that I am calling "Fated Fighting" for situations in which players find themselves competing in contests of physical strength.To begin I am going to loosely define what a Fight is and then I will give a few examples on how I am going to be calculating this behind the scenes. The goal of handling fights in this way is to rapidly accelerate how long a "fight" takes and reduce the amount of player management involved. 

Fights 

A Fight refers to an extended physical conflict between two or more players that takes more than one action between each player to resolve.
This could be something as straightforward as a fistfight or as complicated as some kind of mountain climbing race. The fight begins the moment the characters involved have acknowledged the fight is happening. Maybe that is when you get punched in the face or see them lift up a weapon, it varies depending on situation(aka the Mastermind's decision). 

The fight ends when the participant count drops to 1 or fewer. The following are the methods with which a player may leave a fight. 

- Death
[If the Fight occurs during the Murderous Execution]

- Knocked Unconscious 

- Escape the Scene 

- Restrained to the point of being unable to participate 

- All participants agree to stop 

What Happens? 

When a Fight begins, the host will tell all the involved players that they are calculating the fight and may ask for some basic information from players to determine what their goal in the fight is. That way the mastermind doesn't end a fight with someone who doesn't intend to KO, KOing something intentionally. With this information the Mastermind will then calculate based on various player values who wins the fight and how the fight played out. They will type this out as a cinematic scene and send it to those involved. Afterwards the host may alert other players to noise or etc from the scene. 

How Fights are Calculated 

This system will be invisible to the players as there are many factors that the mastermind may know about that the players don't, say a weakening drug in someone's system, or a secret strength hidden from the others. The mastermind will take into account the character's body type, items, and current state to determine who wins the fight. Big characters may find themselves able to naturally win fights while others will need to find tools to enhance their chances. The host will indicate vaguely how good a character looks at combat if asked. The value may be entirely incorrect due to hidden variables.

Arcanas

In Starless Dusk, instead of receiving powers based on your title, characters will be given one of the Major Arcana from a Tarot Deck. There are a few things of note to remember regarding the Arcanas which are shown below.

1. Major Power: All Arcanas carry a primary ability that players can use as they please according to any special limitations. In most cases the power will make life more convenient, assist in murder, or allow for a Roleplaying situation. As a result, the ability of the Arcana will not be considered when giving it to a character since balancing the Arcanas between players is less important.

2. Murderous Power: Most Arcanas carry a secondary ability that players will not be told. This ability is in fact a weakness that the Murderer can Manipulate. The secondary ability can be activated by the Murderer during their Murder Plan to manipulate the Arcana to do something. One for example, causes a player to move to a certain location while another causes a player to seal a door. The thing to note with this is you CANNOT resist the Arcana manipulation. This is different as to the culprit just trying to manipulate you normally, in which case your personality will come into play, IE you are to scared to venture out at night or unlock a door.

3. Plot Arcanas: There are a few Arcanas which are considered Plot, and their activation is part of the story itself. These Arcanas are the following: Judgement, The World, and The Murderer. The Murderer Arcana is given to the player who becomes the culprit and they gain its powers. The World Arcana is a list of conditions one must meet to trigger the Final Trial. Judgement has to do with a plot character directly.

4. Secret Arcanas: Telling another player about your Arcana or its ability is forbidden. This is purely for the enjoyment of the game. Since players can be manipulated based on Arcana, revealing that information could influence people's deductions about the culprit based on those manipulated. Revealing your Arcana is grounds for having the ability stripped completely or your execution.

Victory Conditions

A Night with No Light: As either The Murderer or The Victim, concoct a Murderous scheme to kill someone without getting caught and have it succeed.


A Light for the Night: Survive through the Black Clash and End the game in the Final Trial