(Despite my history of memeing on 4/1, this is a legitimate suggestion!)
In a way this would be an expansion/ generalization of Detrimental Characters: game modes where players get special Roles which affect the game, usually assigned at the start of the game - but see below ;)
But while Det.Char Roles are public knowledge, we could experiment with other types too:
Public: these are fully known to all players.
Secret: these are each only known to their assigned player.
Hanabi: these are known to all other teammates, but not to each of their own players.
Mystery: these are unknown, only revealed at the end of game.
I'm sure we could get creative with these, and in fact I've played in a few of these where we (very clumsily) handled the logistics off-site. Here are the ones that come to mind:
Amogus Mode: (Secret) One person is the imposter[...] <-- this would require an additional voting feature, which I guess could be a pain to code. Maybe a special [vtk] note function could work though?
Anonymous: (Public) All players' identities are masked as being simply Alice, Bob, etc. No special rules, but just an interesting change.
Secret Quest: (Secret) a set of unique 'quests', assigned randomly at the start.e.g. "clue Bob at least 4 times" // "only ever clue 1s". Sort of a secret version of DetChars. At the end of the game, you get minus 1 point for each incomplete quest.
And finally, here's two fresh proposals. These are intentionality pretty difficult, but imo pretty interesting & strategically promising.
Radioactive Mode
(Hanabi-style)
Each player starts the game as either Radioactive or Stable, independently chosen with 75% stable & 25% radioactive. [Or 50/50 if you want to get wild!]
If a Radioactive player attempts to play a card, that card actually gets discarded. If they attempt to discard a card, that card gets played instead.
After every turn, re-randomize that player's Role, using the same odds.
Contagion Suit
(Hanabi-Style)
(Special Suit with accompanying Hanabi-style Role)
Each player starts the game as Healthy.
Whenever a Contagion Suit card is drawn, after turn 1, that player becomes Sick (replacing Healthy).
Whenever a Contagion Suiy card is played, that player becomes Sick.
Touching a Contagion card with any clue makes you Sick.
Being Sick:
Drained Plays: Playing any card while Sick costs the team a clue, but the player becomes Healthy at end of turn (NOTE: even if they immediately draw a new Contagion card, they will still complete their turn Healthy - temporary immunity!)
Infectious Clues: If a Sick player gives a clue, the clued player also becomes Sick. (The cluing player remains Sick.)
Restful Discards: Discarding removes Sickness, unless a new Contagion card is immediately drawn.
(Despite my history of memeing on 4/1, this is a legitimate suggestion!)
In a way this would be an expansion/ generalization of Detrimental Characters: game modes where players get special Roles which affect the game, usually assigned at the start of the game - but see below ;)
But while Det.Char Roles are public knowledge, we could experiment with other types too:
I'm sure we could get creative with these, and in fact I've played in a few of these where we (very clumsily) handled the logistics off-site. Here are the ones that come to mind:
And finally, here's two fresh proposals. These are intentionality pretty difficult, but imo pretty interesting & strategically promising.
Radioactive Mode
(Hanabi-style)
Contagion Suit
(Hanabi-Style) (Special Suit with accompanying Hanabi-style Role)