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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Circus: Mafia 2011: The Penultimate Frontier
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The Great Gumby
Ship's Brain Surgeon
# 10989
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Dafyd:
Question: one person contacted me privately to out themselves as the traitor and expressed a wish to keep playing on the innocents team. (They can identify themselves if they wish.) The mafia were weaker than they might have been given that the traitor was actively trying for an innocent victory. What do people think? Is this fair?
Possibly fair, depending on the drafting of the rules and roles for this game by mine host, but a typical Traitor should only achieve a win in the event of both a successful defection and a victory for the mafia, to prevent just this sort of situation.
The Traitor's meant to provide balance (as well as a slight check on the knowledge gleaned by a straight detective), but if you allow them this sort of option, it tends to make the game more unbalanced in one direction or the other, as it effectively allows them to bolster the winning side.
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The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool. - Richard Feynman
A letter to my son about death
Posts: 5382 | From: Home for shot clergy spouses | Registered: Feb 2006
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Ariston
Insane Unicorn
# 10894
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Posted
*sigh*
Alright, it's over. Time for the shroud to be lifted, our thought process to be revealed, and who won/lost . . .
That's as decisive a loss by the MAFIA as I could have ever imagined. Furthermore, as the turncoat (yes, there was one) never met up with the MAFIA—and, it seems, was even working against them—she lost as well.
Reverse Minuto, Astrea Alcyone, and Boa Languina, we hereby condemn you to an eternity of eternal horror—watching the Black-Eyed Peas Superbowl Halftime show with people who think it's amazing . . . until the moment it seems so-bad-it's-good. At that point, we'll force you to listen to seminarians delivering theologically-based sermons, with no chance of sleep.
Enjoy. ![[Devil]](graemlins/devil.gif)
The rest of you . . . well, we should be arriving soon. In the meantime, enjoy the following revelations:
We deliberately left the roles in play vague; as much as anything else, we wanted to see you discover what was really going on amongst yourselves as who was working for whom. Some of the roles were guessed at, some were self-identified, some were misappropriated, and others were never even mentioned . . . which is just fine, since a couple of them were weird. From our Power's Oculus Vantage, here's who you all were:
Their Netua———————-Empath (is aware that they are being investigated, as well as who is doing the investigation; cannot, however, tell what the investigator's role is)
Jorfh "The Moose"————-Psionic Adept (once per night, can determine guilt or innocence of one target)
Obble-42————————-Security Officer (if targeted by MAFIA, is killed, but takes one assailant along for the ride; if investigated by turncoat, kills her)
Eliabus Dautius Zurcon——Inscrutable (all investigations fail; alignment remains unknown at death)
Ruby/Red Cat Goddess——Bioweapon Smuggler (from nightfall to voting phase, target can neither act nor speak)
Neversaid A.I.——————-Clairvoyant (can determine role of target, but not alignment)
Gumblor————————-Medium/Conditioned (chooses two targets; if either of these two are killed during the night, they get an extra day to reveal anything they might have witnessed. In addition, the conditioned may choose to sacrifice her/him/itself, giving their role and alignment to any other player [e.g., a MAFIA-aligned turncoat would become an innocent medium])
We almost thought about making the conditioned role MAFIA-specific, but decided at the last minute that it would give the baddies too much of an advantage, so we assigned it at random. Additionally, we seriously thought about eliminating the turncoat and going with two MAFIA factions—one Presa, one Caadran—who had no knowledge of the other's existence, and only won when the other side was eliminated. Of course, we'd only take kill orders from whomever messaged me first, so it might take a little while for even the killers to figure out that there was something going on . . .
We also thought about not revealing any roles at all and seeing what you figured out. That seemed slightly cruel though, as did not revealing the guilt or innocence of anyone who was killed (or not revealing it after Jorfh died).
And now, for the Strange Things we were planning on. First, the Lockdown—divide the players into two random groups and spend a night phase that way. If the MAFIA get split up, each faction can act independently, albeit with something of a penalty due to the security restrictions. We've been playing with this idea for a while under different guises and settings. Second, A Masked Ball—there's a chance that your investigations/assassinations accidentally (but successfully) target the wrong person. Third (and in the list of things we kinda wish we'd included), a recruitment/cultist faction—each day someone gets the chance to convert someone to The Cult. The new convert, filled with missionary zeal, converts someone else. That new person does the same—and so on. Of course, the cultists don't know until the end who the others are, so there's a good chance that someone gets "converted" more than once. The cultists win, regardless of faction, if a majority of those left standing are members.
That, by the way, was the inspiration for my little card trick—we mostly just wanted to see who was talking to whom. It's what we would have done if we were playing—though, of course, the possibility of someone lying out their ass was something we were counting on. Just a little experiment, nothing more.
Thank you all,
The Power That Was
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“Therefore, let it be explained that nowhere are the proprieties quite so strictly enforced as in men’s colleges that invite young women guests, especially over-night visitors in the fraternity houses.” Emily Post, 1937.
Posts: 6849 | From: The People's Republic of Balcones | Registered: Jan 2006
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Sylvander
Shipmate
# 12857
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Imaginary Friend:
What was with the round-robin letter by the way?
I was given the letter by the Master of the Universe with the instruction to add my name to the list and send it on to whom I liked. Once it came back to me I was to give it back to where I got it from with the list of names at the bottom.
I was not allowed to tell from whom I got it.
It never made it back to me.
As to its purpose Ariston best can tell.
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A martyr is someone living with a saint.
2509
Posts: 1589 | From: Berlin | Registered: Jul 2007
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Banner Lady
Ship's Ensign
# 10505
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Posted
Well, by the great god Insinuous, the rainbow serpent and his spirit Belinda, I did not expect the ride to finish so quickly.
Yes, yes, I was the snake who was really a snake. I was allowed to investigate the role of one person each night. On the first night I investigated Eliab, simply because he's a combative player and I wanted to find out whose side he was on. At the same time he was obviously targeted by the Mafia, so that was really a wasted night.
On the second night I decided to investigate either obble or Zoink, as they were laying low in below deck service roles. Typical mafia behaviour, methought. I went for Zoink, and discovered Zoink was innocent, while obble was killed along with Reverse Minuto. Obble proved to be the security-bot. So for the second night I failed to find any felons.
I decided that I would try to make use of the free contact rule, and carefully chose Dafyd. Dafyd got knocked out very early in the last game of Mafia, so I thought he might make a keen ally. His voting pattern indicated he might be innocent, and possibly in private contact with the Red Cat, who I also assumed to be innocent. At the back of my mind was Gumby's last game plan where he held off contacting mafia until right at the end, which made for an extremely interesting game.
I was prepared to be incredibly traitorous. To play for no-one but my self. To get Dafyd believing I didn't want to be a traitor, to play the part of the 'good' snake, and then quietly pick people off. I nominated AA in order to make myself look extremely innocent, not realizing she was the last mafioso - but then, most everyone else also thought she had to be mafia by the way the votes fell out. Had the game gone two more turns, I think my strategy might have paid off; but it didn't.
It was an interesting scenario, Ariston, and I really think the mafia had quite bad luck very early on. It's always a huge gamble as to how many mafia to appoint - perhaps, given the free contact rule, it should have been three. That would be my only suggestion.
BL. Failed traitor. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
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Women in the church are not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be enjoyed.
Posts: 7080 | From: Canberra Australia | Registered: Oct 2005
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Adam.
Like as the
# 4991
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Posted
It was a fun game. We haven't really had one decided by luck recently, so I guess we were due for one. I'd probably be up for a mafia rest too, but at some point I'd like to go on another outing as the clueless-but-keen historian who ended up being rather fun to play.
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Ave Crux, Spes Unica!
Preaching blog
Posts: 8164 | From: Notre Dame, IN | Registered: Sep 2003
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An die Freude
Shipmate
# 14794
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Posted
I thought I'd change my strategy from the rather unsuccessful one last game. At first I was somewhat disappointed with getting the psionic abilities - it means you have to be careful and stay alive and lots of responsibilities to the team. To play it well takes some skill. I first thought of researching Eliab the first night, but changed that to La Vie when he outed his ability. Good choice. I didn't trust him - I still thought of investigating him the next night - but it seemed reasonable to go with what he said for at least the first night. La Vie proved to be a lucky stroke, as I got to know for certain that she was innocent and thus could use her as my mouthpiece - and what a mouthpiece! I contacted her and she trusted me immediately, possibly because I quoted AristonAstuanax's rather vivid depiction of her.
quote:
Though this is probably the only time it's ever been (or will be) said about her, Ruby the Red Cat Goddess is innocent.
Her reasoning is what I wish I'd sit down and think. Greatly impressed.
Either way, for the next night the problem was to clear her of accusations, so that she could become a more permanent mouthpiece - protected by the doctor she'd stay alive, and I'd remain hidden (which didn't turn out too well). Therefore I picked Smudgie for the second investigation. If innocent, she's rather clever (proven by how quickly she caught on to the "Jorfh is checked and declared innocent" bluff) and could declare La Vie innocent too, via a network of pm's, but most of all she's rather quiet, which in my mind made her somewhat expendable (the declared innocents tend to be killed off). Had she been guilty, La Vie had been able to point her out and get the credit for it. It seems La Vie didn't need any such help.
Trying to lay low and roughly following the majority eventually got me a nomination, but I didn't think I'd get any votes. I was the alternative to a rather obvious kill-off. Not an obvious mafia member, but an obvious suspect.
It was a fun game, which I believe would have been exciting as those strange things started happening. Also, a double mafia would be a great idea, I think. If they all had to be killed off but could kill off each other, it would have made it all pretty exciting. I think one might have gotten it as soon as the first mafia fell to the floor at night, but it would still make the entire game trickier and it would be a great surprise. Thank you AristonAstuanax!
As for the rest of you, thank you for this round. It was a lot of fun playing with you!
[eta: code fix.]
[ 10. March 2011, 06:47: Message edited by: JFH ]
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"I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable."
Walt Whitman
Formerly JFH
Posts: 851 | From: Proud Socialist Monarchy of Sweden | Registered: May 2009
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Surfing Madness
Shipmate
# 11087
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Posted
Thanks everybody for an enjoyable game. quote:
Originally posted by Banner Lady:
On the second night I decided to investigate either obble or Zoink, as they were laying low in below deck service roles. Typical mafia behaviour, methought. I went for Zoink, and discovered Zoink was innocent, while obble was killed along with Reverse Minuto. Obble proved to be the security-bot. So for the second night I failed to find any felons.
Sorry laying low had nothing to do with guilt, but lack of internet access and moving during the game!
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I now blog about all my crafting! http://inspiredbybroadway.blogspot.co.uk
Posts: 1542 | From: searching for the jam | Registered: Feb 2006
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la vie en rouge
Parisienne
# 10688
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sylvander:
quote:
Originally posted by Imaginary Friend:
What was with the round-robin letter by the way?
I was given the letter by the Master of the Universe with the instruction to add my name to the list and send it on to whom I liked. Once it came back to me I was to give it back to where I got it from with the list of names at the bottom.
I was not allowed to tell from whom I got it.
It never made it back to me.
As to its purpose Ariston best can tell.
The letter stopped at me - I sent it to Obble (he was keeping quiet and I wanted to know if he was hiding or just off line) and then he promptly get murdered.
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Rent my holiday home in the South of France
Posts: 3696 | Registered: Nov 2005
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Smudgie
Ship's Barnacle
# 2716
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by JFH:
Therefore I picked Smudgie for the second investigation... She's rather quiet, which in my mind made her somewhat expendable
![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
I reckon I am getting old. I love a puzzle and I love sci-fi but I think lack of time to commit to this plus a gently mouldering brain made it hard to keep track of something so much more complex than the basic Mafia game. (Not a criticism - I think it was an amazing thread and would have had me rivetted a couple of years ago!) Thank goodness I was innocent - by far the easiest role to play. Expendable, though? Expendable?? Where else would you get a decent cup of coffee?
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Miss you, Erin.
Posts: 14382 | From: Under the duvet | Registered: Apr 2002
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The Great Gumby
Ship's Brain Surgeon
# 10989
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Hart:
I'd probably be up for a mafia rest too, but at some point I'd like to go on another outing as the clueless-but-keen historian who ended up being rather fun to play.
I mentioned a while back that I was working on a spot of Cluedo, which would allow everyone to roleplay to their hearts' content in a non-mafia environment. If you give me a while, I should be able to get that in order for a game.
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The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool. - Richard Feynman
A letter to my son about death
Posts: 5382 | From: Home for shot clergy spouses | Registered: Feb 2006
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Banner Lady
Ship's Ensign
# 10505
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Posted
GG: after Easter perhaps?
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Women in the church are not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be enjoyed.
Posts: 7080 | From: Canberra Australia | Registered: Oct 2005
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Ariston
Insane Unicorn
# 10894
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Posted
I'm ready whenever, but that's just me—certainly a month of "no mystery" might be permissible.
And, when the time comes (next year, perhaps), I'd be up for hosting another game . . . like I mentioned, this setting only came about after I scrapped my original Name of the Rose-esque one. By that time, I may even have more ideas to make the game Interesting.
Thank you all for playing! Though it was short, it was extremely enjoyable—though I tend to become a little attached to all my Mafia characters, I'm going to miss Mycroft and (especially) Xhosimina. It's fun getting to play an eight-foot-tall angel with an attitude—who knows, she may be appearing elsewhere on the Ship one of these days.* To think that she spawned mostly from an attempt to make a few bad jokes (yes, I did manage to work all nine choirs of angels into her introductory text, as well as the obligatory Weeping Angel gag), but turned into . . . well, what you might expect the child of Thomas Aquinas, Arthur C. Clarke, and Russell T. Davies to be like.
Once more, I thank you all for a most enjoyable experience. We should be landing shortly.
*ETA: we're about due in for another name change amnesty, no? It can't be any weirder than my current name—and now that Antisocial Alto is on board, it seems we've got two AA's running about!
[ 11. March 2011, 06:01: Message edited by: AristonAstuanax ]
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“Therefore, let it be explained that nowhere are the proprieties quite so strictly enforced as in men’s colleges that invite young women guests, especially over-night visitors in the fraternity houses.” Emily Post, 1937.
Posts: 6849 | From: The People's Republic of Balcones | Registered: Jan 2006
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Eliab
Shipmate
# 9153
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Posted
It's good to see the innocents win. Well played to vie for spotting Reverse, and sort-of well played to BL for picking Astrea as the best possible nominee to cover her treacherous designs. And, of course, to everyone who voted correctly and made it work.
Yes, the MAFIA were very unlucky - the security officer's ability is a big hit against a two-being mob, and taking that hit at precisely the moment that Astrea was blatantly compromised by the revelation of Reverse's guilt would have been next to impossible to recover from: but the town still had to identify Reverse as a nominee for us to have the chance to get that lucky. The Red Cat Goddess may have been a stage name, but some of the deity's wisdom had rubbed off.
I think it was perfectly fair (indeed, excellent play) in this game for a traitor commited to a MAFIA win to claim to be playing for an innocent victory. The lie was simple, plausible, and difficult to expose, given that we weren't told the traitor's win condition.
A traitor who genuinely can elect which side to play for is (as TGG says) an inherently unbalancing factor, because he or she will obviously pick whichever side already looks like winning, and make it stronger. I don't see that as an automatically bad thing, but I'd think very carefully before running a set up in which one player stood a very good chance of being kingmaker.
I loved the background and the narrative links, and I'm pleased that the Ariston got through safely in the end, even without Tribune Eliabus (and even before I could come up with a plausible haunting). I liked playing Demosthenes 0.9 (really? you could tell?) and for the record, I had, personally, no suspicion of the Red Cat Goddess whatever at the time of writing. D.0.9, a true advocate, was prepared to spin any remotely credible story to provide an alternative to convicting his client.
I'm inclined to suspect, at that point that Reverse survived the vote, he was unlikely to have been lynched in the near future unless something happened to change public opinion. Astrea should probably have been carrying out the hits at that point - Astrea was far more compromised by Reverse's guilt than the other way around.
Thanks to AristonA for running the game.
I'd be up for Cluedo.
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"Perhaps there is poetic beauty in the abstract ideas of justice or fairness, but I doubt if many lawyers are moved by it"
Richard Dawkins
Posts: 4619 | From: Hampton, Middlesex, UK | Registered: Mar 2005
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