I didn't write about Werewolf XIV since I assumed someone else would want to write a more in-depth article than the short blurbs I do.
The Culture Reviewby Gerrick
(Link to the image if you're doing that)This is the fourth installment of the Culture Review, written by me, Wintreath’s Jarl of Culture. I’ll be talking briefly about some events going on in the cultural areas of the forums, such as Ministry news, forum games, and contests that took place during this past winter season.
Thanes (Vice Ministers) were made elected positions in late December with Wintermoot announcing
Decree 012: Regarding the Structure of the Cabinet. As Jarl of Culture, I created four Thane positions to manage and represent four distinct areas of Wintreath: Roleplay, Werewolf, LGBT Affairs, and Gaming. I felt each were integral parts to the region’s culture and so giving them Thanes would help to ensure necessary activity and growth. Each Thane also moderates their respective boards on the forums. The Thane of Roleplay acts as the Patriarch of the RP Guild and is tasked with managing the forum roleplays, the Thane of Werewolf is tasked with getting games of Werewolf up and running, the Thane of LGBT Affairs is tasked with leading Wintreath’s LGBT community, and the Thane of Gaming is tasked with organizing regional multiplayer games. The first group of Thanes consisted of
Doc, Laurentus, Mariam, and
Gattoartico, and the second and current group elected in March consists of
Laurentus as Thane of Roleplay and Werewolf and
Gattoartico as Thane of LGBT Affairs and Gaming.
Wintreath’s Finest is the name for Wintreath’s citizen of the month. Nominations are for those who stood out as contributing or showing dedication to the region or having been extra active, caused activity, or been a good influence on others. The winner of December 2017 Wintreath’s Finest was
Kane lives, a citizen who had joined Wintreath just earlier that month and yet was incredibly active and even hosted a game of Spyfall (see below). Besides the monthly contests, we also hold citizen of the year contests, which are made up of all the winners of Wintreath’s Finest throughout the year – the winner of Wintreath’s Finest of 2017 was
taulover, co-winner of October 2017 Wintreath’s Finest and the citizen with by far the most forum posts for the year. The winner of January 2018 Wintreath’s Finest was
Laurentus, nominated for helping taulover to make Werewolf XIV into one of the most ambitious games to date. Finally, the winner of March 2018 Wintreath’s Finest was again
taulover for hosting the great success that was Werewolf XIV.
Avatar Theme of the Month is, unsurprisingly, the theme (or themes) nominated and voted on by citizens who then incorporate the winning theme(s) into their avatars for the month. Themes are often related to current events, though they may also include themes nominated at the random whims of citizens. December 2017 had a five-way tie (out of a total six nominations) between
Ajit Pai/FCC; Battlefront II/EA; Ironically, Summer; 2003 Avatars; and
Thinly-Veiled Jesus Allegories in Fiction (with “Pie” of all themes being the only losing nomination). January 2018 had a single winning theme:
Sequel Memes, nominated for the release of
The Last Jedi and the resulting dank memes that poured from the r/SequelMemes subreddit. February 2018 had a three-way tie between
Ancient Greece, Bread, and
History, though some citizens also sported avatars relevant to the Game of Thrones-themed Werewolf XIV taking place at the time. March 2018 had an incredible 13 nominations but (thankfully) only a two-way tie between
Rorschach Symbols and
Big Cats, nominated for the release of
Black Panther.
Werewolf (aka Mafia) is a forum game where the few undercover werewolves attempt to kill all the other players, who try to in turn try to kill the werewolves -- and while the werewolves know who each other are, the other players do not. Werewolf XIV, which took place from late January to late February, was hosted by
taulover, and a teaser trailer was created by
Hydra to help spark interest and was included in the invites to allied regions. This game of Werewolf, which was played by 22 people, was special because it was Game of Thrones-themed as well as our first double elimination game. The first part of the game took place in King's Landing, where three factions -- the Lannisters, the Baratheons, and Varys and his little birds (the werewolf faction) -- vied for control by sending the members of the other factions to the Wall. Players sent to the Wall over the course of the first part of the game automatically joined in this second part of the game, where the Night's Watch fought the Others, or White Walkers (the werewolves in this game). At King's Landing, the surviving Lannisters (
Aragonn, Mathyland, and Evelynx) won after the Baratheons' power roles were quickly sent to the Wall and Varys' faction was narrowly defeated at the end. At the Wall, the remaining Night's Watchmen (
Laurentus, North, 13ricity, and Gattoartico) were able to kill off the last of the Others. We had a few players from allied regions show up to play, so be on the lookout for our next game of Werewolf, and come join in!
Spyfall is an easy-to-learn forum game where the lone undercover spy tries to figure out the location of the game while all the other players, who act in their given roles related to the location, try to figure out who the spy is. In January,
Kane lives, a new citizen at the time, hosted Spyfall VII and decided the location and created the roles each player was assigned for the game. The location was a zoo, and the amusingly creative roles included a sick zookeeper, the corrupt zoo owner, an eco-terrorist, a rugby coach looking for his new team's mascot, and even “Garfield who was at the zoo because he was sentenced to life in prison for killing Mickey Mouse”. The spy was played by yours truly, and I have the satisfaction of announcing that, after nearly being voted off as the spy, I won the game by correctly guessing the location at the last minute. Spyfall VIII, hosted by
North, has also just started in early March.
Mage War is a new forum game inspired by Battleship that
Wintermoot developed for Wintreath and debuted during the 2017 Summersend Festival. Players are scattered randomly across a 30x30 grid board and then take turns launching magical missiles around the board in hopes of killing each other and remaining the last one standing. With eleven players and 900 grid points at the start, the game lasted 20 weeks. Players slowly were knocked out by other players, who gained more shots each turn. New spells and monsters that gave special powers when hit were added to the board to speed up and add an extra layer to the game. By round 68, the game was down to just two players, Aethelia and me – both of us had by then collected a variety of powers, and there were a dwindling number of tiles left to uncover. In early January, on round 74 (almost a month later and with only 30 tiles left uncovered), I managed to hit my rival’s tile and destroy her, winning the game. The duration of the game notwithstanding, Mage War was an enjoyable game, and with all the new powers created since it began, I hope to play again. Props to Wintermoot for creating and hosting it.
Arena is a forum game of strategy and chance that I adapted for Wintreath where players choose RPG classes with special abilities that they then use to fight to the death. At the start of each round, players are given a roll for initiative, which decides the combat order for the round. Players then send me their actions, which I roll for damage and then announce the results in-character in graphic detail. While previous games had players fight each other, this fourth game of Arena was two teams of players versus waves of monsters (creatures created by Wintrean citizens as part of the region’s lore, and in-game I as the host controlled). Starting in late October, the game began with the two teams fighting the same waves of monsters, but it was later decided that the teams should face their own separate beasts to prevent players from solely playing defensively and waiting for the opposing team to die off. After a few more hiccups and unclear game rules, the game continued more smoothly. In early December, after 21 rounds, the silver team, consisting of
Elbbsas, Hydra, taulover, and the deceased
Doc, finally won after the monsters defeated Aethelia, the final member of the gold team, which also consisted of Lily Polisesul, Mathyland, and Wintermoot.
