Nearly every single Wizard round I have witnessed goes one of four ways. Prepare for a wall of text on why I think this antag is being wasted during most rounds.
- The wizard plays like a proper antagonist and does antagonist things. Kills people, acts silly but still antagonistic, etc. This is the intended way I think, but also the least common.
- The wizard acts like a free agent, trying to be friendly with the crew. They roleplay like a clown on super space magic steroids, doing all their magic for âteh funniâ. This inevitably leads to them killing someone or getting killed themselves.
- The wizard does not make their intentions known, but the crew treats them like a free agent anyway. Cap/HoS issue statements of âDonât AOS the Wizard, they can perhaps be reasoned with!â This inevitably leads to them killing someone or getting killed themselves.
- The wizard turns everyone into a Free Agent and the station devolves into chaos.
Scenario 1 I have no issues with, its scenarios 2 and 3 (or a combination of both) that always lead to feelsbad moments regardless.
Say its scenario 2, and the wizard announces âHey guys just here to make people slippery!â Well, nothing is stopping Sec from shooting them on sight. They arrive at the station, and are promptly gunned down by a cadet. Feelsbad for the wizard. Lets say its scenario 2 still, and the crew actually obliges them instead. Well, thereâs always the potential the wizard is packing the instagibber9000 in their spellbook, so its always tense. Sec is armed, and ready for a confrontation. They can never be truly at peace. Unlike the Rat King, whose power can be gauged from a quick visual, its impossible to tell what the wizard might be capable of until you witness it, leading to being forced to treat them as teetering on the edge of valid at all times. If the cadet does shoot and kill the âfriendlyâ wizard, the entire station (and probably the lobby too in LOOC or OOC) bitches at them for being a spoilsport. Feelsbad for the cadet.
Lets cover scenario 3, the wizard is spotted sneaking onto the station! The HoS is a big of an idealist however, and he tells Sec NOT to arrest or attack the wizard, but to reason with them. This is followed by an announcement that the wizard âhas yet to show hostilityâ so we should treat them the same. Lo and behold, the cadet finds the wizard in maints. They stop to say âHey, the HoS wanted to se-â and theyâre gibbed. Feelsbad for the cadet. Ok, what if instead the cadet goes in guns blazing, manages to kill the wizard, what then? They get bitched at by HoS, maybe demoted even, for objectively making the correct choice given the wizardâs potential. Feelsbad for the cadet again.
Scenario 4 seems very wizard like, but in my experience, the RP for the round dies as a consequence.
Unless the wizardâs antag status is updated to Free Agent or its explicitly outlined that the wizard needs to be antagonistic (and enforced via the rules, or mechanically through wizard objectives becoming more antagonist aligned), these situations will continue to happen. I have asked for admin response on how to deal with the wizard, and been told âtheyâre especially valid to killâ and that "the wizard is arguably an existential threat " on par with nukies. It also been said that âyou can ignore unreasonable orders to allow a wizard to stay on stationâ but that is not gonna stop people from bitching at you for it.
Overall I see the wizard being wasted most rounds. Itâs silly for all of 3 to 5 minutes of âFree Agentâ before something lights the powderkeg. Actual antagonistic wizards are rarer than they should be, but theyâre far more fun to play around.