To Save a World

[James Gryphon]

This game is based on the board/card game "The Resistance". I thought it might be fun to try something like that on the forum, to see how it goes.
Description and the rules are as follows.

The Intergalactic Imperium has landed a Starship on your world. Their mission plan was to terraform the world to fit their dominant race's living standards (necessarily destroying all life previously on the planet). Your race's unexpected presence has thrown a loop into that plan. Imperium colonizing regulations require any forms of life present to prove themselves to prevent a terraforming operation from occurring on their world. They are willing to give your race a fair chance to speak for itself and show how its existence benefits the Imperium and the galaxy at large. As such, they are organizing several meetings, your ambassadors with several of their officials.

Tough enough odds as it is. To make it worse, however, your ambassadorial team has very likely been compromised! Foul Sniik shapeshifters have been known to be at large in your world's affairs for some time now. Your Intelligence Agency indicates that several of them have indubitably made their way into the team, and will be doing their best to foil the negotiations and ensure the demise of your race. It is unknown who is a loyal diplomat and who is an enemy shapeshifter, so you will have to figure this out entirely on your own.

There will be 5 meetings. For each meeting to go well enough to win that official's approval will require a complete effort from the entire team that you send. If even one* person doesn't do their part, the meeting will be a failure. For the negotiations to be successful, 3 officials must be convinced of your race's merits.

Each official only wants to see a certain number of ambassadors at a time (the details and order of this will be revealed once the game has started). Your team must vote to decide which ambassadors are worthy to meet with the Imperium officials. The Imperium wants the negotiations to take place in a timely fashion, so as such, you have adopted a "weighted" voting system: you will rank each member of your team, in order, from most to least desirable for the mission, and the totals will be added up to decide who should be sent for a certain meeting.

Best of luck to you; your world depends on it...

--- OOC Rules ---

I've re-enabled posting anonymously (as seen in the Grande Forum Masquerade). You must use this feature in every post that you make here, from registration onwards, with a callsign or signature in each post, also as in the Masquerade. (Impersonating other members will not be allowed!)

Each loyal ambassador gets a piece of information at the beginning of the game, telling them about another ambassador's alignment (whether loyal or shapeshifter). I'll PM this to each of y'all. (The shapeshifters, of course, know who each other are from the beginning.)

At the end of each round, after everyone has posted their votes, I'll add them up, and that will be the meeting team. Then, any Sniik shapeshifters on the team should PM me with whether they will sabotage the meeting or not. Once the Sniiks have spoken, I'll post the results of the mission (along with, probably, a small story to go with it), and y'all can begin the finger-pointing and the decision-making for the next mission.
*One sabotage will generally do it for a meeting (any exceptions to this rule will be noted in that meeting's notes).

I think that covers the basics. I'm bound to have missed something, though. If y'all have any questions about how this works, feel free to ask them here and I'll respond ASAP.

Registration is by posting here anonymously or PMing me with your chosen callsign.

CALLSIGNS:
1. |RC-1140 "Fixer"|
2. Catalea
3. Cheeto
4. Jerkon
5. "Totally Not A Cylon" John
6. Dier
7. Tropey the Wonder Alien
8. Minkowski

[Anonymous]

RC-1140 "Fixer" reporting for duty, Sir!



|RC-1140 "Fixer"|

[James Gryphon]

You're supposed to post anonymously.

Give it a wee bit of time and try again, so you won't be spotted.

[Anonymous]

   I would be most honored to aid in showing the worth of our race to the noble Intergalactic Imperium- and rooting out the Sniik interlopers, should their presence be confirmed. Catalea, at your service.

[Anonymous]

Aye, we'll soon blast the bugs off-planet.



|RC-1140 "Fixer"|

[Anonymous]

Ambassador Catalea has taken the words right out of my mouth. I, the mighty Cheeto, would like to help save our race and rid our planet of the evil Sniik.

@Fixer: You may want to try posting again later with a different alias, because I saw who you were.

[James Gryphon]

I actually thought about unlocking Forum Games to guests, so that y'all could be really secure, but decided on this system with anonymous posting as a compromise.

[Anonymous]

I am grateful for your concern Cheeto, but I will not rest until every foul Sniik has been destroyed and my planet is saved.

(OOC: Besides, I like this callsign too much. I don't see how it can affect the game that much. For example, in Mafia we can see each other's identity, yet we still can't see each other's positions. If James calls me out, I'll resign, however- I wouldn't play to the detriment of other players.)



|RC-1140 "Fixer"|

[Anonymous]

I am Jerkon, Ambassador to my people, and I will not stand by while a disgraceful Sniik is among us. I am ready to help.

[Anonymous]

Hello!  My name is "Totally Not A Cylon"! You may call me "John" for short, though.



You can trust me!

[Anonymous]

Greetings, I am Dier.

[Anonymous]

Eeeeeeeeee...

Teeeeeeeee...

Phone...

Home...?



My name is Tropey the Wonder Alien, or Ty for short. Those sniik scum'll have to answer to me!!!

[Anonymous]

I am grateful for your concern Cheeto, but I will not rest until every foul Sniik has been destroyed and my planet is saved.

(OOC: Besides, I like this callsign too much. I don't see how it can affect the game that much. For example, in Mafia we can see each other's identity, yet we still can't see each other's positions. If James calls me out, I'll resign, however- I wouldn't play to the detriment of other players.)



|RC-1140 "Fixer"|

I would like to request that you please type my name correctly. It is not Cheeto, it is Cheeto. My parents were very adamant that my name be always written in bold red text.

[James Gryphon]

I'm glad to see so many people enthused about this!

I'll probably give it 'til tomorrow evening, then get things started.

[James Gryphon]

REGISTRATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED; CHECK THE LIST AT THE TOP TO SEE WHO ALL IS PLAYING

---

The team exits the transport shuttle and file their way into the sealed ambassadorial chamber. They are greeted by a short, gray-haired, bespectacled clerkish looking man.

"Hello and welcome to the quarters you'll be sharing until this is all over, for better or worse. I've been appointed your team's general secretary, which means that I'll be handling the paperwork and all of the fine details while you go back and forth from the meetings, hopefully saving our planet. I'm also in charge of explaining the relevant procedures and other things that you need to know before carrying out your duties."

"The Imperium has demanded that we present our ambassadors to them in a timely fashion. As such, for the sake of that time, you will be using what is called a weighted voting system to choose who should go on each mission, in each case before it happens. I'll show you one of those ballots now..."

8.
7.
6.
5.
4.
3.
2.
1.

"You are supposed to put the names of your team, including your own, on this list, in order of preference. After everyone has gotten their ballots in, I'll add up the numbers, and the ones with the strongest support, that is, the highest numbers, will go on that mission."

"As you already know, there will be five meetings with Imperium officials: Dougary, Jenster, Hantha, Tedothy, and Muth. Each one wants to meet with a set number of ambassadors, no less and no more. They have presented those preferences on this sheet of paper right here."

Dougary: 3
Jenster: 3
Hantha: 3
Tedothy: 4
Muth: 4

"The Imperium has presented us with biographies of each official. Tedothy is considered to be more forgiving and will likely let us off the hook in the case of one mistake or weakness in our meeting. The others are more conservative and will tolerate only the best from us."

"It's worth mentioning that our cutting-edge bioscanners have detected 3 of you are undoubtably shapeshifters. Unfortunately for the mission and our planet, we have no way to tell which of you those are. You've already spent some time together, so perhaps some of you already have some ideas about that. Needless to say, all of you will be closely watched during this meeting, so as to prevent any of you from talking to each other privately."

"We call you 'ambassadors', but the truth is that we don't know exactly what each meeting will entail. There could be physical or mental scans or ordeals, in addition to or instead of diplomatic conversations with the officials. We're in no position to refuse them, so we recommend that each of you undertake whatever challenges they may present you with. The two things that we do know are that 1) the Imperium has claimed that none of these tests should be overly difficult for a 'wise' species, and 2) each of you will be interviewed separately. If a meeting does fail, we will have no way to know exactly who caused the problem, so you will have to use your best deductive reasoning skills to ferret out any shapeshifters that might be sabotaging the missions."

"I will process your votes and announce which of you are to be sent once all of your ballots have been received. If any of you have any more questions about the mission or the procedures, I am here for you. Otherwise, the Imperium has requested that our first delegation meet with Dougary as soon as possible, so I recommend that you begin discussing and voting on the first team to send immediately."