Q: Death is boring. What would you like to do/see when dead?

We looked at the issue of death in our game and we don’t want it to be boring. Who wants to be left out if you died on round 2? No one! Let’s fix that! What are your thoughts on:

  • Appear in a grim graveyard at night to roam with your dead buddies!
  • Non-Game-Breaking “death abilities”
  • Appear as a ghost the following day and join the round the table - able to socialize with the other dead

What else would you like to add? Or, as an alternative to our ideas, what would you like to see instead?

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I would like to see some objective ghosts could have, either outside the human realm or still be able to affect the human realm; appearing as a ghost of your dead character and being able to say cryptic things to hint players along might be kind of cool.

For example, Shakespearean society (as far as I’m aware) understood the ghosts of certain people not to be those actual people, but rather another being with his own agenda. So when Banquo appeared to MacBeth, that wasn’t actually Banquo; that was a spirit trying to drive MacBeth crazy. The thought that higher beings are affecting human politics is an idea that is beyond creepy and awesome. I would love to be able to do that in this game.

Granted, that might cause serious problems with the balancing since it weakens the seriousness of killing someone. Plus players could collaborate beforehand that, if anyone dies, haunt a particular room and that would mean a specific code. Too obvious. And maybe that’s not the feeling you’re going for. But spooking people out ingame sounds like loads of fun.

If that’s not a good idea, the three previous options sound fun, but I would also like to be in an observer mode where I can see all chats plus all character’s movements.

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Heya – Great ideas! Hmm, you’re right that we can’t have it effect the impact to the point of changing the game (unless it’s a role ability) due to balance, but cryptic messages for CERTAIN roles sounds fun. The Psychic originally had something similar (allow a ghost to speak 10 characters once, so youd have to fit whatever you have to say into something small), but in the end, we just allowed to talk to the dead instead (passive ability at night for the Psychic):

http://tol.wikia.com/wiki/The_Psychic

What about limited death emotes?

Would you want a death SKIN? Ghost… grim reaper… skinny ghost… happy ghost… fat ghost… badass ghost… cute ghost…

but I would also like to be in an observer mode where I can see all chats plus all character’s movements.

Granted :slight_smile: (although not in ghost form)

http://tol.wikia.com/wiki/The_Noble

We literally have a role called The Observer, but it’s not like you think:

http://tol.wikia.com/wiki/The_Observer

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Definitely. A way to communicate with other dead people would really make post-death more fun. In Town of Salem, I’d probably leave the game the second I die if there weren’t a dead chat.

Some sort of post-death minigame (like SC2 Mafia’s Russian Roulette) would also be cool. Although, if you wanted to go for a minigame in the style of SC2 Mafia Russian Roulette, it’d probably have to be reskinned for thematic consistency.

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Hmm I’ll need to check out their mini game.

At night, you get a customized room. What if, when you were dead, you would appear in the graveyard with the other ghosts - able to free roam. Maybe just have like a “tag” game. 1 superghost, tag someone, they become superghost. Just run around and left click, or simply stand still and don’t participate or chat – it won’t actually do anything.

What ya think?

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So would it only be playable at night? I suppose that, if that is the case, dead players would be able to focus on the chat during the day, but I think it could run the risk of not being all that fun unless the movement mechanics have some complexity to them (e.g. a button to sprint, slowly building up speed as you run etc.)

Regarding a Russian Roulette-style minigame, maybe a pass the bomb sort of thing? Lets say that someone in the dead chat can use a chat command to create a bomb on the “floor”. That bomb would have a random timer (random within reason, so there’s no chance of it having a 2 second timer or something ridiculous like that) hidden to players. A player would be able to pick up the bomb with another command and then pass it onto someone else if they wish, or just hold onto it. When the bomb explodes, whoever’s holding onto it and whoever’s not spent enough time holding onto it loses, and whoever’s spent the longest total time holding onto the bomb (without it exploding whilst they’re holding onto it) wins. I’d say either no prize for this or a small amount of in-game currency.

So, how would you address my concerns about the tag game, and/or what do you think of my suggestion?

Ha both sound fun - I like the bomb one. Maybe we could eventually do both over time, and have one randomly play at night. I like your ideas: We’ll see later which one we end up putting in first.

Cheers~

Thanks, I’m just glad I can contribute to the creation of this game.

I’ll try my best to donate to the Kickstarter as well. Probably won’t be much but it’s something, I guess.

Definitely feeling optimistic about this game. ToS has gotten kind of stale for me and I barely play it anymore, hoping to have something to fill that void.

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How about this as a idea, when cult member is killed by being sacrificed by the cult leader when the member dies it becomes a tainted spirit that continues to obey the leader even in death.

the tainted spirits job is to claim other spirits in a cat and mouse style of game, if it is able to do such a feat the Psychic is no longer able to hear it and the priest becomes unable to revive

there are many ways to balance this such as there can only be 1 tainted spirit in the game or it can only claim a spirit every 2 days.

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Very creative, cool idea!

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thank you very much :slight_smile:

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so yea this reason I think this would be a good idea is because the players are likely not gonna like the result from joining the cult, joining the cult and waiting to die makes sense for a cult but very boring for players.
I came up with the idea of the tainted spirit to encourage them to die and still have a purpose. (also I don’t want to see cult members kill the leader just to prevent them selfs from dying)

I understand that most games won’t have a cult in the game. so you could give the role of the tainted spirit to the 1st blue dragon member to die. (The Fiend Mithras bends the spirit to his will even the fact that no cult is under his command) The Purpose Of This Tainted spirit is to claim a target number of spirits and if he is able to get that target he will always win, the number of targets is dependent on a number of players in the current game (also he can’t win with blue dragon anymore)

also, I was thinking what happens to the paladin after the cult is all dead. I was thinking about giving the paladin a night power (Cleanse the unholy, 1 Night Cooldown) this power changes a tainted spirit into a normal one so it can’t claim the other souls but is still with the cult faction, and once all tainted spirits are returned to normal and the cult is finally defeated he then becomes a priest since he has fulfilled his purpose. (in noncult game’s since there is no paladin the tainted spirit will never be able to be cleansed and that means dead players will always be on the look out even in death) HAHAHAHHAHAH

The look of a claimed spirit is what they normally look like but they are in a depressed position, always watching on but with no response to what happens and they have a Spectral looking chain on their neck connecting to a demonic portal above them. This way they still have a way of knowing what go’s on in game without the power to talk with anyone even the other spirits

what else? I really can’t think about anything else well there they are my ideas for making death in throne of lies not only dangerous but fun as well

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Give the player the option to explore the whole castle during daytime. As a ghost, I would like to roam around the castle and take a look at the rooms like the Court Wizard Room, King’s Room, Black Rose Room, etc. Making things interactive to ghosts would also be cool like making ghosts lift objects, read books, and do stuff in the castle. It would be awesome if a living player sees the object floating, as the ghost is lifting it (e.g. a ghost is carrying a book and living players see the book floating freely in the air). Of course, do not forget to give The Psychic or any class that can see and talk to the dead the ability to see ghosts in the castle.

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also, I think it would be a good idea if the psychic or whoever talks to the dead to have a 2nd chat room just for talking with the dead during both the day and night.

this would be a good idea for if the person is put in a situation where they have to talk to the dead and someone else at the same time like the black rose or prince when jails you

Why not a death minigame called “Death Roulette”?

You can bet “Death Coins” or in-game currency on who will die, how soon they’ll die, and whether they’ll die by execution or at night. If you want even higher winnings, you could bet on who’ll they’ll die by (not by name, but by “Assassin” or “Cult”).

Of course, this could be shortened to individual nights, and just betting who’ll die and (maybe) which role they’re killed by.

The people with the highest “Death Coin” count can earn points towards a special skin or get in-game currency.

And maybe a fun little animation with a spinning light, and lights up the players that died that night, and with a blank space lit if no one dies.

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Noughts and Crosses :smirk:

You can challenge a dead person to this mini-game

@deadfrien We had the same idea. People will be able to bet in-game currency.

I’m a huge fan of dead life mechanics, so as long as there’s no chance of resurrection, I’d like to see:

  • Emotes like /rattlechains, /dance, /booo that only the few classes that can interact with the dead can see/hear.
  • I really like the “Death Roulette” suggestion, above.
  • Free roaming, everywhere, at all times: the castle, grounds, other rooms, etc. But if you leave the immediate area, you would miss the chat.

While I think it would be lots of fun for the dead players to be able to see all chat and/or eavesdrop, folks on voicechat can easily share information and give partner players a big advantage.

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Limited death emotes to certain classes is very interesting because you actually WILL be a ghost while dead. However, you’ll only be able to free roam while dead or in your room at night if our stretch goal is met. Day roaming would not be possible in the core game. Perhaps a future experimental mode.

The Priest can resurrect but that’s pretty much it. The Psychic can speak with the dead and some abilities allow similar manipulation. There’s quite a lot of social manipulation that other games don’t have.

Edit: oops on phone, posted early.

I have always been meaning to ask is the entire castle connected so when the ghost free roam they can pass right through past doors and see the layout of the castle.

And if this is the case ghost can easily see everyone in their class rooms making it easy to figure out whats alive