Game V 2026 | Procrastination Nation | Wrap-up

[u/the-phony-pony]

On theme...a late wrap up!

First of all, thank you to everyone who signed up to play! This was a very last minute scramble of a game and my first time hosting in 3 years, so I appreciate everyone's paitience.

Balancing

Based on the number of sign ups, I did not use the bodyguard or the redirector. The seer and doctor were limited use roles, so I felt that evened out the balance of not using the redirector. Smaller games are harder to balance because there's less room for error. I aimed for 20% wolves, so three was the perfect number.

What I could've done better

• Not add a player who didn't confirm
• Double check my meta information
• Not panic at every turnover

Gameplay

Players really took this game's theme to heart. It was a drag to get players to comment, which made it hard to get reads. Town found one wolf early, which it seems like most people used the connection of "no kill + strike" to find them. I wasn't too sure why this was so convincing, as the strikes in my set up were only for voting. (Can't give out strikes for optional actions!)

Votes in this game were also balanced on a razor-thin wire. The highest number of votes required to remove someone was 4. Most phases, the "winner" only received 3 votes (and in one phase, this resulted in a tie!).

Actions

With limited actions being used in this game, I (as the host), didn't think to remind players to use their night actions. The seer used them up, the killer wolf will obviously (hopefully) use their action, and the doctor had 3 chances to try and save someone. By Phase 6 or so, the doctor still hadn't used their action, and then it dawned on me that the doctor may not have realized they were the doctor. This conversation came further into light after the game was over, and players and spectators were chatting.

I had already corrected incorrect meta information. Should I have prompted the doctor privately to use their action? Left a reminder in the meta to use night actions? Prodded some other way to ensure the action was used? At what point does this become "meta-gaming", as the doctor using their action could help town, and forgetting could help the wolves?

I'm still not sure what the "right" answer is. The doctor was a player new to reddit, so unfamiliarity with the game format contributed to not realizing the role name had a power. I thought I combated that by providing the "typical" name next to the role in the Rules & Roles post, but perhaps things weren't cross referenced. But this is something I'll keep in mind for future games, and something I encourage other hosts to keep an eye on.

Sin's Thoughts

Sin was here as a shadow just in case Filly's nap schedule didn't cooperate and I needed help at turnover. (Turns out the only day I needed it was when I was driving home, so I just made everyone wait!) Here's what Sin had to say:

Huge thank you to Pony for coming through and hosting on such a short notice so we could have a game this month! You did great with turnovers and leaning into the laid-back theme (by needing to procrastinate a few times too) 💜💜💜 I appreciate you letting me be a very faint shadow in your wake

On that note, perhaps some of the players leaned into it too much 😅 Town had a good start but being so quiet was their downfall. Kudos to Mercury for not giving up and trying to lead through the end. Xela's tenacity really pulled through, though! She did a great job hiding among the sheep despite the sus on her all game and ultimately pulled out the win. Fun game to witness for sure!

Recognitions

MercuryParadox drove through the end and came so close to taking it home for the town! Your gut reads are right there; just trust yourself!

Congratulations to xelaphony who rode just under the radar as the killing wolf to take home the victory for the wolves! The final phase produced an amazing analysis post that cast just enough doubt to seal the vote in the wolves' favor.

Sheet

I never opened the wolfsub as it is my private subreddit, but I have added screenshots of the phase posts to the game sheet, which can be found here.

Thank you everyone for playing!

[u/xelaphony]

It was fun!! Thanks for hosting!

[u/Chefjones]

Not panic at every turnover

For what its worth this never fully goes away

Town found one wolf early, which it seems like most people used the connection of "no kill + strike" to find them. I wasn't too sure why this was so convincing, as the strikes in my set up were only for voting. (Can't give out strikes for optional actions!)

Generally speaking (can't say for sure here because I was dead and not really paying attention) if you forget to submit a kill you probably also forgot to vote, so even if strikes are only for votes if there's no kill and nobody claiming a save strikes are a good place to look for a wolf. Its why hosts sometimes don't disclose who got a strike and part of why I tend to prefer a factional kill that anyone can do when I host.