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[Jack A T]

I like to play around with the relationship between the flavour and the game.  The line between flavour and, well, everything else in my games tends to be thin and porous.  I tend to try to integrate the mechanics, particularly unrealistic ones.  Reacting to player behaviour is also fun.  All my flavour, though, is generally hastily written.

[Teneb]

Since it looks like I'll be the one running BM LV (wow, 55 BMs already. I think I joined in the 30s), I think I'll attempt to get as much flavour in it as I can without affecting the game itself.

Also crossposting from the beginner thread since I need an answer on this.

Should the next BM still include the old OP, despite the consensus that it is outdated? If not, should we decide on a new BM OP before the next one starts?

EDIT: ...and ZU goes and answers that in the beginner thread just as I post this here.

[Jim Groovester]

I'd love a bit of a discussion of flavour: what people want and/or expect in it, what they see the role of it as being, how they approach writing it, etc.  Any thoughts?

It depends on the game it's in. If it's a Beginner's Mafia or other standard setup I don't really care about the flavor. If it's a Paranormal or other Meph game, I pay attention to the flavor since it's mechanically important. If it's a lordnincompoop game I am going to analyze every word since the flavor is basically the whole point of the game.

Of course, well-written flavor is never a bad thing, but if the flavor isn't well-matched with the game type it's included in, both can suffer. Writing a character-driven novel in a BYOR would be a mistake.

Basically if it's a good match with the game type it's in and it's well-written then the flavor is good.

[Toaster]

I'm not good at flavor that much, so I tend toward humor.  The Roguelike series was an interesting flavor experiment, since I needed to try to make item fairly consistent, which proved difficult.

Good flavor can make a good game better, but it's rare for it to be distracting (unless it's a bastard game where players are trying to outguess the mod.)

[Persus13]

One of the people who seems to care about flavor the most is Tiruin, so a post from her should be the most interesting on this topic.


My favorite game flavor is probably Jim's opening post to the terminator Beginner's Mafia game he ran awhile ago, because it made me crack up. Do you all have any game's flavor you particularly like or are proud of?

Flavor tends to be one of the first things I think up. GBU for instance I thought up partly because of the flavor, and partly because a game with two different games running within it seemed like a cool idea. Flavor can be fun yet a bit tedious at the same time, but if you change it up it can be fun. In GBU, for instance, I wrote individual backstories for every soldier that I tried to make fairly historical.

[Jack A T]

Writing a character-driven novel in a BYOR would be a mistake.

Someone has to do this.

Do you all have any game's flavor you particularly like or are proud of?

Great flavour: Anything by Tiruin and any of LNCP's flavour-focused games.  I also rather enjoyed the flavour for the original CYOM.  BYOR 6.3 was also great, particularly the ending.  As for my best, probably my best moment was the highly assisted suicide in NSBM 4.

EDIT: And no discussion of good flavour can go without alien zombie demons.

[TheDarkStar]

Bring Someone Else's Role also had good flavortext if I remember correctly.

[notquitethere]

I've tended to add impromptu flavour text to vote counts, which (if there's a strong theme) isn't too hard to do but can be quite fun if it's tailored to reflect what's been happening in the game.

[birdy51]

I have always liked Flavor text. It is probably one of the things that drew me in when I was still playing.

[TheDarkStar]

Good flavortext can make a good game better by adding some humor. Why play a game with a few power roles and an otherwise normal town when you can have alien zombie demons and atrocious spelling?

[Tiruin]

I have always liked Flavor text. It is probably one of the things that drew me in when I was still playing.

^ This. So much.

Good flavortext can make a good game better by adding some humor. Why play a game with a few power roles and an otherwise normal town when you can have alien zombie demons and atrocious spelling?

And this one too.
I'm planning to run a (non-BM) Mafia when I can *finally* get a stable connection. Hopefully it'll be...ok. -_-

[spruce]

So is the Supernatural game not happening? I need to know for other commitments.

[origamiscienceguy]

Nope. He's just closing signups. Game will start soon.

Tomorrow morning I will close sign-ups and the game will start sometime later that day.

Have faith young Baahdawan

[spruce]

Baaaa-rammmm, you.

I waited all day yesterday... in like the rain and stuff... Now my wool smells like wet sheep wool.

[spruce]

Is OK. Is OK, everybody. I know you worried. I take bubble bath, smell all pretty now. Here, have a whiff...