Murders, Trials and Incentives

[al2955]

☾ MURDERS, TRIALS, AND INCENTIVES ☽

The Cradle Project does not use RNG in the traditional manner it is usually applied to in murdergames. Instead, we use a system that we believe will allow players to flex their creativity, as it encourages players to plan their murders on their own. This system was used by murdermanor and cravencastle, and we were graciously given permission to use it by Cappy!

Mechanics
From our FAQ:

The game moves along with real time, so there is a 1:1 ratio for IC days. There will be five posts made by mods during the week: a weekly post, an investigation, day one of a trial, day two of a trial, and a retirement post. The weekly post covers four days: Monday through Thursday. Here, characters are encouraged to form bonds with other characters and explore The Pygmalion to attempt to solve some of its mysteries. The investigation will be posted at noon EST on Friday and continue until everything necessary for the trial is found. Day one of the trial will be posted on Saturday at noon EST and will continue until the mods decide to close it for the day. Day two will post on Sunday at noon EST, and will continue until midnight/12AM EST, upon which all votes must be cast.

In essence, sometime during the week, a murder will happen. By Friday, it will be uncovered and investigated. A trial will occur from Saturday afternoon until late Sunday night. By the deadline on Sunday, all votes must be cast, and the person chosen will be retired.

Murders
Adapted from the murdermanor information post:

If your character would like to commit a murder in a given week, you will need to reply to this page and fill out a form before Tuesday of that week. If we have more than one proposed murder, we will choose what we think will be most interesting. For reference, here is a particularly detailed murder proposal from cravencastle, linked with permission from Christy! Proposals don't need to be this detailed, but this should give you an idea of what you should think about when crafting a murder.

Note that you are responsible for crafting the murder, complete with means, method, opportunity, as well as potential clues and at least two other possible suspects. We, the mods, as well as possibly the chosen victim can assist with this, but the murderer is the one most responsible for what's crafted! We encourage players to suggest a few potential victims, but ultimately the victim will be left to mod discretion; because of this, we ask you err against constructing a narrow murder that could only be committed against one character. Even if your character is exceptionally skilled, the game won't allow for an unsolvable murder even if it is difficult, and you need to write a scenario that will work at trial. After you're chosen, we will put you in touch with the intended victim to plot together so you can alter the situation for the victims' response. You can also thread out the murder, but the mods will need to know the outcome in advance.

We will allow for the murder to go awry because of the victim's actions, although a death does have to take place. We will also allow the intended victim to kill the intended culprit if that outcome makes sense and the killer is amenable, but in most cases the murderer should prevail and we will definitely frown upon the player of a victim who does not cooperate in letting their character be killed.

We will also allow for multiple victims as well as accomplices; however, any accomplices will also be up for elimination as a suspect while prizes/motivations will only be given based on how many people are killed. One body, one murderer gets their motive fulfilled even if someone else helped.

Permission from players will be obtained from possible suspects, and no one will be included in the suspect pool without their permission. We would like to note that if someone does end up a suspect, their character is treated with a modicum of, well, suspicion. Please don't rely on arbitrary things or headcanon to prove your character's innocence, and please don't try to absolve them too fast; we don't want it to be too obvious who the true killer is.

Most of the time, victims won't have a say on whether they are or are not killed — if you're selected, well, it's unfortunately just how murdergames work, but death is not the end of playing in a murdergame! Despite this, we tentatively allow victims to opt out of being killed one time, provided we feel that their activity and involvement with the plot is especially exceptional. Later in the game, this privilege may be removed.

Trials
A murder must have a trial, right? To that end, there will always be a trial to go along with the week's murder, and it will always be posted on the weekends!

Adapted from the murdermanor info post:

Once a murder has been taken place, there will be a trial to find the culprit. A trial will always go up by Saturday and will last over the weekend. The trial discussions take place in the meeting room of The Pygmalion on the middle deck. At the start of each trial, an NPC will appear to share the rules of the trial and answer questions. The players will be presented with a list of suspects, and all clues found by players will be shared. Players will be given time to discuss the clues, determine how the murder took place, and make their case for which of the suspects is the culprit.

Once players are sure of their vote, they will use the datapads provided with information on the mechanics of trials and information cards to vote. Unless you are listed among the suspects, there is no way to vote for yourself or abstain. Attempting not to vote will result in a character being killed off; because of this, we encourage players who know they will be absent for a trial to let us know so that their vote can be randomized. Regardless of innocence, the suspect with the most votes will be executed.

If the killer is caught, he or she will be executed. If an innocent suspect is executed, the killer will face a choice: resign from the game with immunity, never again to be listed as a suspect or considered a valid target for murder, or continue playing with the chance to win more prizes from killing but vulnerable to becoming a victim. A killer who chooses immunity will be revealed as the culprit; a killer who keeps playing will not be revealed.

Incentives
Adapted from the murdermanor information post:

There are two types of incentives in the game - immunity for playing well, and rewards for getting rid of vulnerable players.

The immune list will be composed of those we felt contributed highly during that week's trial, whether through activity, deductions, or entertainment value. Characters who are immune cannot be targeted as a victim, but can very well be killers; this means that immune characters can and will show up in the suspect pool.

On the other hand, characters who are considered unhelpful will be made into targets. At the beginning of a week, a list will be posted, organizing characters into groups based on their status as an immune player versus a vulnerable player. Killing or targeting vulnerable characters may result in extra prizes, including an advance gift of tools to help commit the murder.

Activity is also an important facet of this; active characters may find themselves deemed as 'immune', while those that are consistently inactive may be deemed as 'vulnerable'. There may be other, more arbitrary factors at work, but on an OOC level, the mechanic is meant to be a reward for activity and constructive participation, and will usually be treated as such.