Post by Izumiko (Emi) on Nov 23, 2021 10:45:15 GMT -6
Welcome to the rules and guidelines our newly adopted Trial System(v1.2)
(also dubbed as the Emi System for some reason... We really need a better name, LOL)
Red text = A technical term which often reappers as part of the trial system
Blue text = A color showing examples. You can copy pasta or write similarly, as a direct guide
A short introduction first as always! This is an attempt by Emi to create a new, challenging and a more immersive trial system that is meant to be more flexible and not set on very specific aspects to win. The goal with this system is to attempt to bring out more evidence, critical/logical thinking and the "howdunnit" into the spotlight. Any questions can be PM'ed to Emi for clarification.
Difficulty:
When a blackened is chosen, they hand in an idea of plan to the host and Nightly phase proceeds as normal. Once the blackened plan is executed and Nightly ends, The host will base a set Difficulty Level around the case provided by the blackened. Difficulty Level IS NOT MADE TO GIVE A HINT TO SOLVING A TRIAL. It is meant to be a guideline to show how complex the trial will be and how hard whiteneds (and blackened) will need to work to win the case. Note that as a host, you do NOT need to follow the suggested Completion Rate percentage! Every trial is unique and must therefore be freely judged case-by-case!
List of available "Difficulties" of a trial:
(Completion Rate is explained further down the guide)
Simple:
Stab 'n run or alike. The simplest, fastest and easiest murders to execute. By standard, Completion Rate is to be expected around 90-100%
Average:
Fairly simple or standard murder cases. Not very open and shut, but still not something that takes the biggest effort. Completion rate is expected to be around 80-100%
Challenging:
A case where where nothing is as it quite seems to be. There is much to consider and much to review. Achieving perfect victory is very difficult, but the case is solvable with fair effort and teamwork. Completion rate varies the most here by far, ranging anywhere between 60-95% in order to avoid going into Depsair diffculty.
Despair:
The highest difficulty a case could possibly achieve. Thereby also inherently UNFAIR. Depair difficulty cases require considerable effort from all innocents involved and out of box thinking. Mastery of logic is absolutely necessary. Witnesses are unreliable and evidence could be too scarce due to destruction, be confusing or be full red herrings. This difficulty is meant for tryharding ultimate challenges only. This difficulty will never require a 100% solution rate, as that is simply meant to be impossible. Expect a standard Completion Rate set anywhere between 50-75%
Objectives/Questions:
Once difficulty of the murder case is set, the case will be split into smaller Objectives (also known as Questions!) formed in a to-do list format. Objectives are discussed and decided in a cooperation between the Blackened and the host. Alternatively, the host is allowed to handle the questions alone, even if latter is recommended.
These questions are presented when the trial starts, and the entirety of trial phase is all about discussing and coming up with answers to these questions.
Note: This phase is for DISCUSSION of these questions. Do not spam answers right away, even if you somehow know the full truth. Think carefully and take one step at a time!
Examples of Objectives include (based on each unique case)
1. How did the lights in the basement go out?
2. Where did the water puddle in the kitchen come from?
3. What is the cause of death of the victim?
4. Who is the killer of this case?
5. What is the key item/weapon behind this murder?
6. Was there an accomplice involved?
Locked Objectives/Questions:
Sometimes, player alibis during Nightly, or exclusive information obtained through Investigation Phase will have critical info that may make or break the case or provide the light of a new perspective. Such witness accounts are not openly known by anyone and will remain hidden until the person holding the information reveals their witness account during the trial.
Alternatively, some questions may reveal too much relevance, information or perspective to a case. This system is not meant to hand out information on a silver platter. Therefore, until a specific piece of information is mentioned as a post during trial, you may risk encountering some Locked Questions.
Locked Objectives/Questions will be automatically unlocked when there is 24 hours left of the trial. A trial with all objectives unlocked this way cannot be extended for more than 12 hours (in order to prevent system abuse).
Example to unlocking a Locked Question:
- During Nightly, Tetsu walked through a hallway and saw a suspicious shadow of a person carrying something sharp in their right hand.
- Finding this very suspicious, Tetsu reveals during trial phase, that he saw someone suspicious and describes his situation
A Locked Question will appear as a bunch of questionmarks or simply say "Locked" Here is a simple example of how it looks:
"Question x: Locked"
By describing the strange events Tetsu saw, the host sees a mention of this suspicious individual and goes on to unlock the question for all to see:
"Question x: Who did Tetsu see and what were they carrying?"
Locked Objectives/Questions are recommended for advanced or very specific use only. These questions can be unpredictable and be the wild cards of the case. As such it is difficult to set a Percentage on Locked Questions in a balanced and fair manner. As such, Completion Rates of such Objectives will not always be set in stone.
Answers and Voting
Obviously, the set questions must be answered eventually. The Answering/Voting Phase is separate from trial discussion phase. During discussion, you seek information and gather the puzzle pieces scattered around with different players. During Answering Phase, you put together the puzzle pieces you gathered to create the full picture of what exactly happened during the murder. You may use this phase to fill out the last blanks of the case. Cooperation is key.
When the trial ends, another thread will be posted where you will get 24 hours to answer objectives. Some hosts may choose to start this phase sooner and thereby give you more time to submit answers. DO NOT SUBMIT ANSWERS THAT ARE NOT WELL CONSIDERED. The Answers thread is very easy to spam and people do not appreciate having to look through 5 pages to find that one answer they wish to support.
To answer an objective, include the objective number and a clear, precise wording of your answer.
Example on how to answer a Question:
Objective 2:
"Where did the water puddle in the kitchen come from?"
Answer:
"2. Where did the water puddle in the kitchen come from?
The culprit of this case destroyed the sink pipes using a wrench. We think it is with intent to cause electrocution."
The answer will then be registered as Correct (Full points), Incorrect (No points), or Incomplete(Partial point gain) in host's private notes. Never submit guesses as your answers. Submit only serious and considered answers.
When in doubt, then it's alright to express it as shown in the example above with "We think". However, never submit an answer with an "either, or" format, such as "Either a knife or a spear killed them". The host will be allowed to choose in this case and take the most incorrect answer, thus costing you valuable points
Voting
Voting usually happens at the same time as the Answering Phase. You are given 24 hours to both answer the questions and vote for contested answers at the same time. Hosts may choose to do it differently. In which case, you must always follow the rules of the current host. This guideline is only a template that may be adjusted at will.
IMPORTANT NOTE:If there is only ONE post answering a question then NO VOTE NEEDS TO BE HELD. That one post WILL BE THE DEFAULT ANSWER TO THE QUESTION. You do not need to spam ping the question answerer by piling votes on their post(RIP Toasty and his 73 pings, big yikes)! Everything with moderation and consideration!
Should multiple people answer the same objective, only then, a vote must be held! The least voted objective answers will be deemed completely invalid and will not earn you any potential points, even if it happened to be more correct than the most voted answer!
To vote for an answer, press the like button on the Objective Answer you support the most. You are not allowed to submit an answer that directly contradicts evidence found. If the victim has died of blood loss, you cannot claim they drowned in a pool instead, unless you can successfully argument for it. This leads us back to not being allowed to submit answers that are not well considered and thought through.
Completion Rate (and how to win!):
The goal of the Innocents is to answer as many of the objective questions as possible. Correctly answering a question grants the Innocents points into the Completion Rate of the case based on Percentage. The goal of the Innocents is to get as close as possible to the 100% Completion Rate.
More difficult Objectives/Questions yield more into the Completion Rate than a simple "What is the murder weapon?" in a case where the murder weapon is obviously a knife stuck in the victim's chest.
Do you like winning? Here's how you do it:
Over the course of the trial, players are meant to get as close as possible to the 100% Completion Rate, however that will not always be necessary especially in the more difficult cases. As stated above in "Difficulty" section: depending on each individual, unique case, Innocents can win by reaching a set Completion Rate Percentage which will be stated by the individual case for Blackened's eyes only. (For more information on Percentages and Completion Rate, scroll back up to Difficulty section)
(also dubbed as the Emi System for some reason... We really need a better name, LOL)
Red text = A technical term which often reappers as part of the trial system
Blue text = A color showing examples. You can copy pasta or write similarly, as a direct guide
A short introduction first as always! This is an attempt by Emi to create a new, challenging and a more immersive trial system that is meant to be more flexible and not set on very specific aspects to win. The goal with this system is to attempt to bring out more evidence, critical/logical thinking and the "howdunnit" into the spotlight. Any questions can be PM'ed to Emi for clarification.
Difficulty:
When a blackened is chosen, they hand in an idea of plan to the host and Nightly phase proceeds as normal. Once the blackened plan is executed and Nightly ends, The host will base a set Difficulty Level around the case provided by the blackened. Difficulty Level IS NOT MADE TO GIVE A HINT TO SOLVING A TRIAL. It is meant to be a guideline to show how complex the trial will be and how hard whiteneds (and blackened) will need to work to win the case. Note that as a host, you do NOT need to follow the suggested Completion Rate percentage! Every trial is unique and must therefore be freely judged case-by-case!
List of available "Difficulties" of a trial:
(Completion Rate is explained further down the guide)
Simple:
Stab 'n run or alike. The simplest, fastest and easiest murders to execute. By standard, Completion Rate is to be expected around 90-100%
Average:
Fairly simple or standard murder cases. Not very open and shut, but still not something that takes the biggest effort. Completion rate is expected to be around 80-100%
Challenging:
A case where where nothing is as it quite seems to be. There is much to consider and much to review. Achieving perfect victory is very difficult, but the case is solvable with fair effort and teamwork. Completion rate varies the most here by far, ranging anywhere between 60-95% in order to avoid going into Depsair diffculty.
Despair:
The highest difficulty a case could possibly achieve. Thereby also inherently UNFAIR. Depair difficulty cases require considerable effort from all innocents involved and out of box thinking. Mastery of logic is absolutely necessary. Witnesses are unreliable and evidence could be too scarce due to destruction, be confusing or be full red herrings. This difficulty is meant for tryharding ultimate challenges only. This difficulty will never require a 100% solution rate, as that is simply meant to be impossible. Expect a standard Completion Rate set anywhere between 50-75%
Objectives/Questions:
Once difficulty of the murder case is set, the case will be split into smaller Objectives (also known as Questions!) formed in a to-do list format. Objectives are discussed and decided in a cooperation between the Blackened and the host. Alternatively, the host is allowed to handle the questions alone, even if latter is recommended.
These questions are presented when the trial starts, and the entirety of trial phase is all about discussing and coming up with answers to these questions.
Note: This phase is for DISCUSSION of these questions. Do not spam answers right away, even if you somehow know the full truth. Think carefully and take one step at a time!
Examples of Objectives include (based on each unique case)
1. How did the lights in the basement go out?
2. Where did the water puddle in the kitchen come from?
3. What is the cause of death of the victim?
4. Who is the killer of this case?
5. What is the key item/weapon behind this murder?
6. Was there an accomplice involved?
Locked Objectives/Questions:
Sometimes, player alibis during Nightly, or exclusive information obtained through Investigation Phase will have critical info that may make or break the case or provide the light of a new perspective. Such witness accounts are not openly known by anyone and will remain hidden until the person holding the information reveals their witness account during the trial.
Alternatively, some questions may reveal too much relevance, information or perspective to a case. This system is not meant to hand out information on a silver platter. Therefore, until a specific piece of information is mentioned as a post during trial, you may risk encountering some Locked Questions.
Locked Objectives/Questions will be automatically unlocked when there is 24 hours left of the trial. A trial with all objectives unlocked this way cannot be extended for more than 12 hours (in order to prevent system abuse).
Example to unlocking a Locked Question:
- During Nightly, Tetsu walked through a hallway and saw a suspicious shadow of a person carrying something sharp in their right hand.
- Finding this very suspicious, Tetsu reveals during trial phase, that he saw someone suspicious and describes his situation
A Locked Question will appear as a bunch of questionmarks or simply say "Locked" Here is a simple example of how it looks:
"Question x: Locked"
By describing the strange events Tetsu saw, the host sees a mention of this suspicious individual and goes on to unlock the question for all to see:
"Question x: Who did Tetsu see and what were they carrying?"
Locked Objectives/Questions are recommended for advanced or very specific use only. These questions can be unpredictable and be the wild cards of the case. As such it is difficult to set a Percentage on Locked Questions in a balanced and fair manner. As such, Completion Rates of such Objectives will not always be set in stone.
Answers and Voting
Obviously, the set questions must be answered eventually. The Answering/Voting Phase is separate from trial discussion phase. During discussion, you seek information and gather the puzzle pieces scattered around with different players. During Answering Phase, you put together the puzzle pieces you gathered to create the full picture of what exactly happened during the murder. You may use this phase to fill out the last blanks of the case. Cooperation is key.
When the trial ends, another thread will be posted where you will get 24 hours to answer objectives. Some hosts may choose to start this phase sooner and thereby give you more time to submit answers. DO NOT SUBMIT ANSWERS THAT ARE NOT WELL CONSIDERED. The Answers thread is very easy to spam and people do not appreciate having to look through 5 pages to find that one answer they wish to support.
To answer an objective, include the objective number and a clear, precise wording of your answer.
Example on how to answer a Question:
Objective 2:
"Where did the water puddle in the kitchen come from?"
Answer:
"2. Where did the water puddle in the kitchen come from?
The culprit of this case destroyed the sink pipes using a wrench. We think it is with intent to cause electrocution."
The answer will then be registered as Correct (Full points), Incorrect (No points), or Incomplete(Partial point gain) in host's private notes. Never submit guesses as your answers. Submit only serious and considered answers.
When in doubt, then it's alright to express it as shown in the example above with "We think". However, never submit an answer with an "either, or" format, such as "Either a knife or a spear killed them". The host will be allowed to choose in this case and take the most incorrect answer, thus costing you valuable points
Voting
Voting usually happens at the same time as the Answering Phase. You are given 24 hours to both answer the questions and vote for contested answers at the same time. Hosts may choose to do it differently. In which case, you must always follow the rules of the current host. This guideline is only a template that may be adjusted at will.
IMPORTANT NOTE:If there is only ONE post answering a question then NO VOTE NEEDS TO BE HELD. That one post WILL BE THE DEFAULT ANSWER TO THE QUESTION. You do not need to spam ping the question answerer by piling votes on their post(RIP Toasty and his 73 pings, big yikes)! Everything with moderation and consideration!
Should multiple people answer the same objective, only then, a vote must be held! The least voted objective answers will be deemed completely invalid and will not earn you any potential points, even if it happened to be more correct than the most voted answer!
To vote for an answer, press the like button on the Objective Answer you support the most. You are not allowed to submit an answer that directly contradicts evidence found. If the victim has died of blood loss, you cannot claim they drowned in a pool instead, unless you can successfully argument for it. This leads us back to not being allowed to submit answers that are not well considered and thought through.
Completion Rate (and how to win!):
The goal of the Innocents is to answer as many of the objective questions as possible. Correctly answering a question grants the Innocents points into the Completion Rate of the case based on Percentage. The goal of the Innocents is to get as close as possible to the 100% Completion Rate.
More difficult Objectives/Questions yield more into the Completion Rate than a simple "What is the murder weapon?" in a case where the murder weapon is obviously a knife stuck in the victim's chest.
Do you like winning? Here's how you do it:
Over the course of the trial, players are meant to get as close as possible to the 100% Completion Rate, however that will not always be necessary especially in the more difficult cases. As stated above in "Difficulty" section: depending on each individual, unique case, Innocents can win by reaching a set Completion Rate Percentage which will be stated by the individual case for Blackened's eyes only. (For more information on Percentages and Completion Rate, scroll back up to Difficulty section)
The set win requirement percentage will be set by the host in cooperation with the Blackened. As mentioned before, the host is also allowed to handle this on their own and not reveal any information to the blackened they are working with. We do however, recommend a healthy cooperation and flexibility, so that both sides can have as much fun as possible.
The required percentage to win the trial will not be revealed to the Innocents until the Results are posted. Only the blackened will know the percentages of both the Objectives and the Completion Rate, IF and ONLY IF the host chooses to do so. In the end, the host knows their game best and they will have the last word on this matter.
Perfection Rewards!
The further up the difficulty levels you go, the harder it will be to reach the 100% Completion Rate. While it is quite doable in the Simple difficulty, achieving such in Average and Challenging will not be. Despair difficulty is considered outright impossible to reach 100% Completion Rate on.
Solving trial 100% on Average and above difficulty gives special bonuses or rewards to the Innocents, as a way to motivate everyone to aim for the top!
Reach 100% on Average:
Rewards the Innocents with game related plot such as a special NPC interaction or grants special items to the MVPs of the trial.
Reach 100% on Challenging:
Gain an achievement (WIP) and be handsomely rewarded for your efforts through either in-game methods or earn bonus money when the game ends.
Reach 100% on Despair:
This would be an absolute achievement of the lifetime. Emi specifically made this to be impossible, so getting there would be worthy of the highest Achievement, special title or even setting up the Hall of Fame. Might as well just end the game there with a full victory. Yikes.
That is all! In case you have any questions or even requesting assistance to host a trial with this system, make sure to reach out to Emi!
The required percentage to win the trial will not be revealed to the Innocents until the Results are posted. Only the blackened will know the percentages of both the Objectives and the Completion Rate, IF and ONLY IF the host chooses to do so. In the end, the host knows their game best and they will have the last word on this matter.
Perfection Rewards!
The further up the difficulty levels you go, the harder it will be to reach the 100% Completion Rate. While it is quite doable in the Simple difficulty, achieving such in Average and Challenging will not be. Despair difficulty is considered outright impossible to reach 100% Completion Rate on.
Solving trial 100% on Average and above difficulty gives special bonuses or rewards to the Innocents, as a way to motivate everyone to aim for the top!
Reach 100% on Average:
Rewards the Innocents with game related plot such as a special NPC interaction or grants special items to the MVPs of the trial.
Reach 100% on Challenging:
Gain an achievement (WIP) and be handsomely rewarded for your efforts through either in-game methods or earn bonus money when the game ends.
Reach 100% on Despair:
This would be an absolute achievement of the lifetime. Emi specifically made this to be impossible, so getting there would be worthy of the highest Achievement, special title or even setting up the Hall of Fame. Might as well just end the game there with a full victory. Yikes.
That is all! In case you have any questions or even requesting assistance to host a trial with this system, make sure to reach out to Emi!
Happy Trial solving~
you got this
