Commander Maria Hill (TOWN Special)

[Frank]

Welcome to the game; you are S.H.I.E.L.D. Commander Maria Hill[/i]

REAL NAME: Maria Hill
YOU LOOK LIKE THIS: www.screenprintingasap.com/megawatts/lwatts_mariahill_web.jpg

ALIGNMENT: Town
GENERIC: Special
WIN CONDITION: All Anti-Registration forces have been neutralized

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BACKGROUND:

Politeness is over-rated.

You never attended charm school, and people close to you think that you... well, come to think about it, there are no people close to you.

Well, except for your good pal the President of the by-God United States, who apparently thinks highly enough of you to have appointed you Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. after Nick Fury's ill-advised goofiness in Latveria. Unlike Colonel Fury, you have no intention of wasting time and effort playing kissy-face with the caped contingent. You have a job to do: register and direct the activity of all superhuman actors working within the borders of the United States, and imprison or neutralize anyone who resists. Nowhere in that job description do you see a requirement to be nice.

So: you have your orders, Commander. Get to work.

ABILITIES/POWERS:

1. You have no superpowers, fancy armored suits, or clever nickname. What you do have is jurisdiction, and sufficient force of personality to get things accomplished. You will guard against mishandling of the complicated lynch system that has been put into place, and apply pressure, if necessary, to avoid any sort of Anti-Reg hijinks that might occur.

You may do each of the following things once per game:

1A: Cause a lynch to occur instantly, with the vote leader at the time you use the ability lynched, regardless of whether the vote threshold for that Day has been reached. To use this ability, send a PM to the moderator at any time that there is a vote leader (the ability will not work if the current vote count is tied); the Day will end at the time-stamp on the PM.

1B: Your second ability activates by Night action. On the Day following your use of this ability, the Day will last a minimum of 72 hours regardless of whether or not the vote threshold is reached before that time. After 72 hours, the Day will end if a player has reached the threshold or continue if a player has not. PLEASE NOTE: The 72-hour hold will be announced in the Dawn post of the Day to which you apply it.

2. You cannot be recruited.

[sachertorte]

It's not clear what happens during the grace period. - extending day alone doesn't seem very functional.

[Frank]

Well, the intent here was to guard against late-game shenanigans. Like, say there are two Scum and three Town remaining, Iron Man and She-Hulk both dead. So the vote threshold is 2. Theoretically, the Scum could quick vote at the beginning of the Day. If Commander Hill is alive, she could halt the vote and give 24 hours for the Town to handle the situation.

On the other hand, the timing will be hard to manage, won't it? I mean, if the Scum quick vote (per the above), Commander Hill might not check in until after they've both voted, at which point her power is pointless. Maybe she could have a one-time Night ability to place a hold on the next Day's lynch, allowing it to proceed only after a certain amount of time has elapsed? This would prevent the quick-vote scenario (but only if she's alive, of course).

Also, do you think it's more compelling if she can do each of her abilities once, instead of having to choose between them? Maybe not. I don't know.

[Frank]

How's that?

[sachertorte]

I suppose it is useful, but it is a very peculiar situation where it is useful, and possibly game breakingly 'useful.'

Assume N town and N-1 scum remain in the game and a Dead Iron Man. Vote threshold is N-1. Scum control the lynch. Scum 'know' that they control the lynch. So they can vote as a block to 'win' the game.

BUT! Maria Hill has put a 72 hour hold on the day. Scum have now exposed themselves and managed to go from winning the game to losing the game, based on one Town power being played in pretty much the only way it is useful. I have a problem with this.

The power is mostly useless except for one situation where it is extremely powerful. I'm generally averse to 'swingy' design features like this.

[Frank]

Nov 23, 2009 12:26:28 GMT -5 sachertorte said:

I suppose it is useful, but it is a very peculiar situation where it is useful, and possibly game breakingly 'useful.'

Assume N town and N-1 scum remain in the game and a Dead Iron Man. Vote threshold is N-1. Scum control the lynch. Scum 'know' that they control the lynch. So they can vote as a block to 'win' the game.

BUT! Maria Hill has put a 72 hour hold on the day. Scum have now exposed themselves and managed to go from winning the game to losing the game, based on one Town power being played in pretty much the only way it is useful. I have a problem with this.

The power is mostly useless except for one situation where it is extremely powerful. I'm generally averse to 'swingy' design features like this.

Well, what if the 72-hour hold is announced in the Dawn post? You know, blah blah blah, color color color, "this Day will last for a minimum of 72 hours, regardless of when the vote threshold is reached."

That would reduce some of the swinginess. It would keep the Scum from insta-winning at N-1 - which I think is a good bonus for Commander Hill if she manages to stay alive and not use her power until that point - but since the Scum would be forewarned they would not even attempt to quick vote, so they wouldn't out themselves.

[sachertorte]

Eh. Better, I guess.
Perhaps the role should be notified when the lynch threshold has become fixed by rule and what that threshold is. Then at least the power can be used with relevant information. Otherwise, there is no reason for the role to be aware of the danger of a rapid scum hammer at all.