Scummies Nominations 2021!

[fferyllt]

Paperback Writer
04/12/21	fferyllt	penguin_alien	Warehouse 13: The Mafia Game	penguin_alien outdid herself as a thematic writer in Warehouse 13. Which isn't easy! She's a deft and creative game flavor writer who always weaves the game events with impeccable, on point flavor. Not only was the event/flavor weaving amazingly well done, and not only did the role cards encapsulate each character's relevance to the game as well as to the theme. As players, we expect these aspects of a high-flavor game and some of us probably take that level of writing for granted. PA went so far beyond that, though. Each artifact (a fascinating game mechanic in its own right) was described in loving detail. Every communication - every death notification, every artifact transfer PM was lore-accurate and flavoricious. Even the private thread titles was built on Warehouse 13 lore -- not lifted from the series -- built upon it. The game in toto was an extrapolation of the Warehouse 13 world in a mafia game setting. By comparison, many theme games weld pieces of flavor onto a mafia game format. In this game, penguin_alien melded the Warehouse 13 concept and mafia game frameworks into a captivating whole that I'm struggling to do justice to in this write-up. The feature of her writing that impressed me most during the game was the dialogue. PA nailed the voices of every character who spoke in the game scenes. These weren't simply lifted from episodes. The dialog was crafted for the game, for the event, and served to further players' sense of being in the Warehouse 13 world, not just playing a game about it. This is a level of writing that I think will inspire other theme mods to up their storytelling levels and strive to make their games equally immersive.

[fferyllt]

Agree, /nth MT. Her replace-in play was amazingly on point and impressive!

[fferyllt]

White Knght
26/07/21	petapan	Dannflor	Not Quite Normal Multiball	Replacing into a slot that had not only faked a scumslip but fakeclaimed a role that did not fit the setup, Dannflor amended the claim to his true role, vanilla townie, and seemed resigned to dying as his slot was being run up, only to post so hard and so townie that enough people started having doubts and decided to give him time, with him becoming a top townread of the masonry that took charge of the game. This lead to a turnaround into a day 1 scum elimination, and continuing from there, with Dannflor staying alive to endgame. Truly an impressive turnaround for a slot most would have written off as doomed.

nth Dannflor for White Knight. It was a stunning turnaround of the slot.

[fferyllt]

Nth Lukewarm. I'll write up a game or two to add this weekend.

[fferyllt]

I second notscience's Rising Star nomination for Lukewarm and want to add a couple more games for consideration.

Rising Star
04/01/22	fferyllt	Lukewarm	In the Not Quite Normal large theme game, Luke was a significant member of the town that pulled off a perfect win. The setup was advertised as multiball with a double traitor. He went through the entire game coming under only the slightest suspicion early Day 1. His arguments for the day 1 elimination were strong enough to move several players onto the werewolf's wagon. He was extremely concerned that he was in a monkery (neighborhood guaranteed to not contain werewolves) with possibly two mafia, but kept his cool, fake claimed bulletproof just in case he was the planned night 1 kill, and ultimately came around (correctly) to seeing his hood as all town. It's easy to get lost in the fog of a multiball game, but Luke stayed focused and, as I said was a signficant factor in the win. In the first running of Guardians of the Fortress, Luke had the correct solve of his mini-game. Unfortunately, my heel-dragging led him to putting down a vote he correctly believed was wrong. This was a tough game with a very experienced player list. Luke used his prior experience with unwnd in his first newbie game to correctly call him scum. One of Luke's strengths as a player is his ability to take all the role-claim jigsaw pieces and see which ones don't fit from a balance AND flavor perspective. That takes a lot of homework sometimes. As his reputation as a player has amassed this year, his solves are getting listened to more and more, and his influence on games is going to continue to grow. To me, this is the very definition of Rising Star. Potential and reputation combine and lift a player into "beyond the ordinary" territory.

[fferyllt]

nth Roden

[fferyllt]

Nth catboi

Damn, that's impressive.

[fferyllt]

paragon

rising star?