Looney Labs Rabbits Mailing list Archive

[Rabbits] Ramblings (Started out as AYAW? Experience)

  • From"Nimrod Jones" <nimrod@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • DateMon, 12 Dec 2005 23:02:22 -0000
So I thought I'd share this little experience I had with the group to
see if anyone has had anything similar or similarly fun. You'll have to
excuse my preamble if stories are not your thing, otherwise:

I've been slowly getting a small group of my non-gamer friend into
playing games. It started with me bundling along a bunch of Looney Labs
games round one day and getting people playing Fluxx, for starters,
Chrononauts, Martian Chess and even a very small group for AYAWW?. Then,
at a later party I was asked to bring some games around if I wanted and
I had people playing during the night. As time has gone on every now and
again I get my (non-gamer) friends into doing a "games night" in which
we'd play other games, too. And do these guys know how to host a games
night! It's the kind of games night I always wanted!

When I actively roleplayed the most I'd get is maybe some folks sharing
their snacks and then even the snacks seemed to disappear or be reduced
simply to Pringles and pop. Now between the two houses that "host" the
infrequent nights in which I am hailed Gamesmaster, bringer of
entertainments, feeling much akin to a storyteller or magician with his
box of tricks (of which they still are yet to experience anything close
to half of the games I have available to play, including LL games), they
both make a big affair about it, each night the hosts cook food, get
lots of snacks and alcohol, and really make the thing into a social
event with games, rather than just the brutal "get in, play game, get
out" that some of my roleplaying nights seemed to become towards the
end. With this lot it's "arrive, chat, eat, drink, play, drink, chat,
play, drink, eventually leave" - which, frankly, is a lot more fun.

The one house had their Xmas party (of sorts) last Saturday, and
insisted that I bring some games, even setting up a "games room"
separate from the general socialising area for the express purpose of
playing games. Knowing it would be at a party I was very select about
what games I was going to bring, trying to stay away from anything with
too many pieces that might get lost or damaged, such as the pyramids.
For pretty much most of these guys, pyramids = Zendo and they only know
Zendo as "that pyramids game". As much as I'd like to get them playing
other pyramids games the moment I bring them out it's straight into
Zendo. Not so bad since it's my favourite and eventually one of them
will want to play Master and I'll get to play, so that'll be worth it.
However, I got many a stern expression of disappointment from having not
brought them with me on that night. Despite the disappointment, I still
think it was a wise move on this occasion.

However, knowing there would be a group I figured it would be the
perfect place to get a "party game" like AYAW? going. And sure enough,
after a few games of Fluxx (with quite a large group of people
interested in the game) we moved onto playing AYAW? since I sensed that
the time would be right (the height of the start of the party while
people were still getting going and before they'd drunk too much and
before the "token appearances" departed). All the same I only managed to
get about ten people (not so bad), but there were three kids, two of
which were constantly fighting amongst each other, and the third a
little girl who ended up being the Seer and after being killed on the
very night she found the werewolf had a bit of a problem not pointing at
the werewolf while she was dead. The kids weren't the only problems.
Parent spectators who wandered in during the game I caught pointing
behind my back at the werewolf and children and adults alike I had to
keep in line towards the end.

Despite all this, amazingly the werewolf survived to the end. I was
dumbfounded! Especially since she actually gave herself away at one
point. I started writing this with the intention of showing what I
considered to be a brilliant strategy, but as I remember this one
incident I wonder if it was brilliant strategy or sheer luck. But I get
ahead of myself. The werewolf fell on the hostess of the party who had
played AYAW? that one time before. She exuded an air of naïveté towards
the game that I think was what won her the game. For instance, with a
table in the way I could not reach everyone to tap them and indicate
that they were dead so she provided me with a feather duster with which
I could reach and tap people with. Once the first (and spectacularly
dramatic) death of the night happened she was, I think quite genuinely
clever, in puzzling aloud: "How does he know he's dead?" "Because I
tapped him to tell him he was dead," I replied. "Oh, I thought he was
just being dramatic, I didn't realise he was actually dead." If any
should accuse her, she mostly responded with an "Oh, shut up" and looked
hurt before successfully deflecting blame elsewhere. One time, though, I
thought she'd blown it. I think it was on the third night and I'd said:
"OK, everyone close their eyes [etc] Werewolf open your eyes" to which
she then said: "But A---'s got his eye's open!" A--- being her last
victim. The response from the villagers was, quite promptly (and with
eyes still shut) "Well, why have you got yours open?" Realising her
mistake she quickly covered it by saying she was peaking. I covered her
by then asking everyone to close their eyes and sternly saying "And no
peaking! Now, werewolf *only* open your eyes!" I possibly shouldn't have
helped, but I figured I'd be generous. This didn't dissuade people from
suspecting our cunning wolf, but still she survived to the end.

The game was quite hectic with the disruptive influences of loud and
overly energetic kids eager to show off and "impress" the adults around
them, so at the time I was just glad to end the game without actually
lynching anyone myself! However, on reflection I think what a wonderful
strategy it was on the part of the werewolf. Of course, none in the
group were seasoned AYAW? players, indeed nearly all of them had never
played before; it is a strategy I suspect wouldn't work were, for
instance, I to try it myself having played so much and simply getting
lynched by default most of the time. (Although at Dragonmeet my "I'm Not
A Werewolf" T-Shirt seemed to work - I survived as the Seer, but alas
without enough success to save the village - but I wasn't lynched!)

Nimrod, The Zen Cadet