FMK

FMK was an original, semi-asynchronous, social-deduction card game, hosted privately by sus as part of TAROTBER over the course of three days. In service of THE LOVERS, the game was loosely based upon the premise of Fuck, Marry, Kill, with mechanics inspired by TheFullestCircle's I Can't Tell series as well as the season six Game Changer episode Ratfish. Fullest co-designed several aspects of the game, generally providing feedback on its mechanics and structure; he then passively spectated alongside sus as it played out. Full logs and spectator commentary of the game have been archived here in their original form.

Gameplay

At an hour past midnight on October 7th, each of seven privately recruited Witscorders were sent the login information to a nondescript, anonymized Discord account, each of which had joined a central Discord server that served as the "play area". These accounts were named One through Seven, and each assigned a color as well as a characteristic emoji. Sus, as the game master, assumed the digit Zero, and Nine was used in spirit for Fullest as a spectator. "Eight" was ultimately unused, but said to represent players who had been eliminated, with such players' pfps turning black upon death.

The players' profile pictures, heart colors, and designated emoji.

Within the Discord server, each player was allotted a "personal channel" accessible only to them and the game master, to be used for taking notes and interfacing with the game. Additionally, all players could view a designated channel for public announcements, as well as a channel in which the rules of the game were gradually revealed as they became relevant.

The game as a whole was divided into twelve total phases: three mornings and three evenings, each flanked by brief personal meetings with sus at noon and midnight. During each morning and evening, players would travel to three "date" locations—those being a picnic, a theater, and a beach—and be granted full access to a corresponding channel to chat with any other players that had also selected that location. Unlike in I Can't Tell, no rules were imposed on what could be communicated between players. However, concealing one's own true identity was encouraged; during noon meetings, players were given an opportunity to guess the identities of their peers. For each correct guess, players were granted one face-down card from the deck to be used later. However, exactly which guesses were correct remained unconfirmed, and cards could only be earned off of each opponent's successful identification once (meaning a maximum of six cards could be drawn this way throughout the game). After submitting their guesses, players were told to select which location to travel to for the following evening phase.

During the midnight meetings, players were instead instructed to take their three main actions of the day: Fuck, Marry, and Kill. For each action on each night, one opponent (any player other than the one taking the action) could be chosen as the target; multiple actions could be taken upon the same target, but abstaining from an action was not allowed. By Fucking, a player would draw from the deck and then select one card from their hand to place its effect upon the target. Card effects were, naturally, based upon the major arcana, and ranged from extra actions to passive buffs to the revealing or concealing of certain information. Upon playing a card, any others left in one's hand were shuffled back into the deck (and thus did not persist between days). Used cards would be removed from the deck, not to be drawn again for the duration of the game.

The 22 cards available in the deck, and the graphic used when face-down.

By Marrying, a player would choose one opponent to protect from any attacks that night. A player could be married multiple times by multiple people within a given night. If two players chose to marry each other within the same night, the same protections would be granted mutually, but news of this interaction would be broadcast publicly the following morning. This would allow the affected parties an opportunity to form an alliance, but also grant any opponents an opportunity to disrupt it. This event was known as a wedding.

By Killing, a player would attempt to lethally attack one opponent. This attack would be mitigated if the target had been married that night; under normal circumstances, any number of marriages applied to a player would mitigate any number of attacks, rendering them completely immune. However, if unprotected, an attacked player would instantly be killed, eliminating them from the game. When this occurred, it would be announced the following morning, with the deceased given a blackened pfp and granted access to the spectator lounge. Two players could attack each other mutually to no special effect; both would be eliminated if left unguarded. After selecting their Kill target, players drew a new face-up card to be used the following night and to enable strategic conversations about what to do with it. They would then choose a new location to travel to in the morning and the cycle would continue.

Official Rules

WELCOME TO FMK.
F.M.K. is a social-deduction-survival game about secrecy, strategy, and a fair bit of luck. The object of the game is to figure out the identities of your fellow players and be the last one standing. To reiterate: YOU DO NOT KNOW WHO YOU ARE PLAYING WITH. If you've ever seen Ratfish, it's a little bit like that. Everyone in this room is an anonymous Witscorder. The number-one rule and priority of you as a player is to stay anonymous. As such, please do not discuss this game on your main account, and avoid using this account anywhere other than this server until the game ends. Thank you kindly.
GAMEPLAY
For each of the next three days, you will follow a four-part schedule, as follows: Morning: From 2:00 AM to 1:00 PM, you will be granted access to your choice of one of three public spaces to chat with your fellow players. Noon: From 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM, these channels will close, and you will be asked to meet with me. Not for the whole time, mind you; just for some 5-minute stretch within it. Evening: From 3:00 PM to 12:00 AM, the channels will reopen and you'll get to choose another space to travel to for mingling. Night: From 12:00 AM to 2:00 AM, you will again be asked to meet and submit some important game actions. Again, not for the whole thing, but it will be slightly more involved than the noon meeting. [editor's note: times listed are in EDT.] These times are a little bit flexible; if need be, you can send information to me early, and if the deadline passes I will simply decide the necessary information at random. If you have any questions, or even just comments, please reach out in your personal den channel.
NOON MEETING
During the noon meeting, you will choose to visit the Picnic, Theater, or Beach, where you will be allowed to talk and strategize with your fellow players during the Evening. Additionally, during this time you will be given an opportunity to guess the identities of your fellow players. Hence why anonymity is so crucial! You won't be told which guesses you got right, but every correct answer will earn you a card later on in the day. More about cards will be revealed later, but for now, know that there's a catch: you cannot identify a person twice. That is, once you have earned a card off of identifying someone correctly, the same correct guess will not earn you another card later. There's only three days and nights to guess everyone, but do be mindful of how you budget your earnings.
MIDNIGHT MEETING
The midnight meeting is when you will take your main three actions of the day. Those actions are, of course...
FUCK
At the start of the midnight meeting you will draw a card from the deck and then choose one card from your hand to play upon any player other than yourself. This is fucking. Once you have played a card, the others in your hand will be removed and put back in the deck. The specific behaviors of the deck will be revealed in due time—for now it's just worth noting that the functions of cards are not revealed until you read them for yourself... but they are very powerful.
MARRY
After fucking, choose a player to marry. This may be the same player you've fucked that night, but it again may not be yourself. Marrying a player will shield them from any attacks that night. Multiple players can marry the same person, but even just one will protect against any number of attacks by any number of players. But be warned: if two players marry each other, that will cause a wedding and be announced to everyone at the end of the night.
KILL
And lastly, choose a player to attempt to kill. If you successfully land the hit, your target will immediately be eliminated from the game—everything is a one-hit-KO. But as stated, a marriage placed upon a player will nullify your attack entirely. If you are eliminated, your tragic death will be reported to the remaining players, but the culprit will remain a mystery. You will be asked to change your PFP and will be reinstated as a spectator. You will be gone, but not forgotten.
These actions are not optional. You must choose three targets each night, lest they be selected for you randomly. Just like the noon meeting, you will then select a new location to travel to in the morning... if you live to see it. Please do not hesitate to ask any questions in your personal den.
CARDS
Cards are the most powerful and chaotic aspect of this game. In total, there are 22 of them, each with their own unique effect. Some are good, some are evil, some only serve to confuse or distress, but all of them can have drastic effects on the tide of the game if you know how to play them... and possibly even the rules. Each day, you will be dealt one base card to play during the Fuck stage, in addition to any further earned cards drawn through identifications. On Day 1, this base card was dealt at the same time as the earned ones. Going forward, however, it will be drawn and revealed when the morning begins. Armed with this knowledge, you are free to strategize with your peers by divulging—or withholding—as much of it as you'd like. In terms of the deck, cards are deleted once played and otherwise are drawn how you would expect; if a card is in your hand at a given moment, it cannot be in anyone else's, and it could not have been played prior.

Events

A portrait of the FMK players, drawn by jony.

On the first night of the game, player Two was killed by Three using a combination of THE HIGH PRIESTESS and a Kill action. Six was given complete knowledge of the deck through Seven's THE WORLD card, and the pair also incited a wedding, though it was not publicized due to Four's use of THE MOON. It is also worth noting that players received their first card at the beginning of the night, as opposed to carrying one in their pocket from the very start of the game.

A diagram of the three actions taken by each player on each night, with yellow, green, and red lines indicating Fucks, Marries, and Kills. Thin dashed lines represent cancelled actions and thick dotted ones represent actions caused indirectly in some way.

On the second night, Six was killed by Three by a simple attack. However, Seven had targeted Six with THE HANGED MAN, thus killing Three as automatic retribution. Five then used THE HIEROPHANT to broadcast the message "seven killed five" to all except Seven. Ironically, the two held a wedding that night, though the two notices were sent in different spaces to reduced comedic effect. One and Four were also wed that night, once again concealed by the other half of THE MOON from the previous—but more importantly, Four cast THE MAGICIAN upon One, swapping the two players' bodies for the rest of the game. Both of their accounts' passwords were changed and then given to the new resident, with their personal channels simply being renamed and reconfigured to preserve message history; you can see the exact moment of the swap as the person speaking suddenly changes. All this is to say that any and all actions taken by One or Four on the final day are in fact being committed by the user originally piloting the other.

At noon on the final day, sus announced that it had begun to dramatically rain in-universe, and as such the picnic location had closed "due to flooding concerns". This was done to increase tension in the final moments and ensure that the four remaining players would all stand a chance to meet with one another on the final evening. In a twist of fate that night, Six was revived via Seven's DEATH card and allowed to take a full suite of actions. Combined with the prior affliction of THE WORLD, their time as a spectator, and a naturally-drawn JUDGEMENT card, Six became effectively omnipotent, with the power to apply any effect to any user they wished. Unfortunately, they landed on targeting One with THE HIGH PRIESTESS, which ultimately did not result in a kill. The newly-reborn Four abstained from Fucking by intentionally using a defunct THE FOOL card, rolled into by way of THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE. They were then killed off by standard attacks from Five and Seven. This left players One, Five, and Seven as the ultimate winners of the game.

[identities? spreadsheet? remind me later]

Trivia

See TAROTBER.