Mini Game Q1: TOWN WINS!

[Planky]

If Gaspode isnt Mafia, that would mean Vegt2001 is and the only thing that stands out against Vegt is the fact he has a gun. So unless Vegt is townie, Im a thinking I'll be dead tonight

[Gaspode]

Vegt is not scum either.

------------------
You can't lose if you win.

[Gaspode]

Actually, I don't know that for sure, but I'd bet good money that I'm right.

------------------
You can't lose if you win.

[Planky]

So you think Im mafiascum?

[Robinson]

Day 6.

So it was Gaspode, after all.

He died unhappily, saying he was so close to something. This seemed enough for the Town. When the Town searched his house, they found nothing.

You're kidding, Robinson.

That was his downfall. Digging deeper, they found his stores of guns, ammo, explosives, and traps hidden in the basements of those he had killed. With the death of Gaspode the Town eliminated the nameless fear among them.

The Mafia!

No...

THE TOWN WINS WITH TWO LEFT ALIVE. ROLES AND QUESTIONS COMING.

[quercitron]

First of all, thank you all for playing in an experimental game. If feedback is good, I'll run a Q2. Planky and Vegtable2001, you have spots reserved if you want them since you survived this game.

So, what was going on/what was I trying to test?

THE ROLES

Hitchhiker and Polotet - Vegondi Mafia

You are the Vegondi Mafia. Oh goody, you think, we get to kill people and cause mayhem!

No, you don't. You're peaceful. You used to do a little political intrigue and bribery while running a casino in New York, but the arrival of bigger families with many more guns drove you into this small Town. You've never used a gun in your life.

But you do have a criminal record. See where this is going? Read Bladerunner? It's quite possible that someone could frame you for any crimes they wanted to commit, purely because no one really trusts you, and the only reason you've fit into the community is that you've hid your past.

It may be time to change that. You win when the Town wins, if the Town trusts you. Naturally, they can still decide to lynch you if they want to, but you're with them.

So what do you do at Night? You plan strategy, talk, remember the old days. The days when you threatened people, maybe, but never killed anyone. And yes, you do have one Night ability. Should anyone approach you during the Night, whatever their intent, you can brandish a knife and generally look menacing - trust is probably out of the question. I'll ask you how you want to respond should anyone come near.

ACTIVE ABILITIES: Holding up the knife, should the real killers have attacked, would have warned the real killers that killing one of these players would destroy their cover.

PASSIVE ABILITIES: If one of them was lynched, the other would become a limited vigilante.

Gaspode and jesternl - The Killers

They always called you names when you were a kid. Even made your real name into an insult. You never had a name to call your own, and never made one up - I call you The Nameless. You don't know how it happened, and don't think about it much, but something changed you. Made you into a collection of dark thoughts and memories.

You were always intelligent. Still are. Know what to do in this small Town. Kill them all, all of them. Hired a local boy called Blade to help you. He believes in your cause. He's your errand boy, to put it that way.

Two of the Townspeople used to be part of the Vegondi Mafia, a group that never hurt anyone, just did a little extortion. Not very evil, just making a living.

But most of the Town doesn't know that. See where this is leading? No one trusts them. They don't kill at Night, you do. You're the force. They're the victims.

Every Night you can kill one person in this Town, and it'll look like the Vegondi Mafia did it. You win when you're the only people left alive. You do the kill. Blade's not as clever as you are; he can't frame the Mafia, just knows how to use a knife.

Of course, if the Town figures this out, they'll try to stop you. Your only asset is surprise, and the Night kill, and the fact that the Cops and any other local men aren't looking for you.

Of course, you and Blade can talk at Night. All I need from you, every Night, is a kill choice. I'll let you know if anything else comes up.

(Blade's email was similar.)

ACTIVE ABILITIES: one kill every Night.

PASSIVE ABILITIES: while Blade was alive, The Nameless had semi-Godfather protection from being seen by random Townies.

TANSTAAFL - Mad Encyclopedia Bomber

You used to lead a dual life in other Towns. Sold Encyclopedias by day, made pipe bombs by Night. Then you realized how worthless your life was, that no one read your Encyclopedias, that there must be some purpose...

...that you could combine the two lives, the two professions.

Every Night you select one person to sell Encyclopedias to. Most people buy them, a couple don't. Hidden in the Encyclopedias are bombs. They all activate upon your command.

A command you will give only when all people in the Town have these bombs planted on them.

Basically, you're a Serial Killer who wins automatically when all other players have bombs planted on them. Naturally, you want to plant bombs on players who will survive late into the game, because every person who dies with a bomb on them is a waste of a Night. We'll see how this goes, won't we...

ACTIVE ABILITIES: Obviously, the whole 'bomb planting' thing.

PASSIVE ABILITIES: Should a Townie be following TANSTAAFL and TANSTAAFL be attacked, there was a chance the Townie would die instead.

Trevize - Cop

You're a Cop. Looking for the evildoers in the Town. Some of the Vegondi Mafia moved in here, and you know they're just itching to start "business." Offers you can't refuse, cement shoes, etc, if you know what I mean. They're tricky, too. Used to bribe the law enforcement. Better have your gun ready.

You can investigate one person per Night. I'll tell you about them when you encounter them, and if they attack you or look menacing you can kill them. Cops have guns too, right? Right.

ACTIVE ABILITIES: One detailed investigation per Night, recorded in a logbook.

PASSIVE ABILITIES: I was lying about the whole "you can kill people aspect." The killers were smart enough to get through anyone. Also, when dead, the logbook went to the Retired Cop.

Hitman/MacadamiamaN - Retired Cop

You're a Retired Cop. Used to be with the local force, now you're part of the silly Veterans Force, the Retired Force. Got a different type of uniform, don't carry a gun, sit at home reading mysteries. But hey, maybe sometime they'll need your help again.

You know the deal. Should a Cop die, you'll take over his abilities, and I'll email you with the added information and choices then. You might be a bit rusty, but hey, better rusty help than no help.

You also keep a gun in the house. Just in case.

ACTIVE ABILITIES: Same as Cop, if the Cop died.

PASSIVE ABILITIES: Would take over Cop's role.

Werebear - Gunsmith

Bullets. You sell bullets. Guns, too, but not just everyone can buy a gun. That's what being a Gunsmith in a small Town is all about. People have to hunt, right? And might have to defend themselves too.

You've been selling a lot of bullets lately, more than usual. Some by mail, you haven't bothered to match the addresses and the cryptic communications with actual people.

Seems you might want to. Mafia might need them, or worse. Even Townies you grew up with own guns.

You can check one person per Night, see if they've bought bullets from you. This indicates that they are, in some fashion, armed. You own a gun yourself, too, might get to use it in self-defense or some other way.

It's a small Town, too small. Be careful.

ACTIVE: could check one person for gun/bullet purchase each Night.

PASSIVE: none.

amb - Drunken Seer

Psychic powers aren't given to everyone. Aren't given equally to all Seers, either - those who see things, see visions, see secret thoughts.

You're one of the weaker Seers. Maybe you see things, but it takes effort. Great effort. And great focus, too. And generally some liquor.

You're that type of Seer.

Doesn't mean you have no power at all, though. I don't begin Mafia emails with "psychic" for nothing. Every Night you can do one of two things. You can focus your powers and effort on one person to learn whatever you can draw from them, or conserve your powers to build up strength.

The more you wait, the more strength you've built up, the more effective your powers will be.

ACTIVE: Obviously, the psychic thing. How much information amb got depended on how generous I was feeling.

PASSIVE: amb was so drunk he wasn't always told about Night encounters (people talking to him, etc.)

MatthewV, Planky, Vegtable2001 - Townies

MatthewV - The Runner

You're a local boy, a normal Townsperson with a normal past. I don't want to call you Townie except in your death scene, so I call you The Runner. You've always been a runner. You ran from fate, from love, and all across the country in high school. You still run, long runs, at night under the moon.

There's something happening, though. Something bad's coming. Maybe you don't want to run, it could catch you. Maybe you're too scared to run.

Hell, you've never been too scared to run. But you're your own person, and you decide...

Essentially, you're a Townie. But you can choose to run at Night and you might see something, something bad or good, something that's going on. I need a choice every Night of "run" or "no run."

And you bought a gun. Don't know how to use it, but it's there, and you run with it. Just in case fate catches up with you...

Planky - The Seeker

You're a local boy, a normal Townsperson with a normal past. I don't want to call you Townie except in your death scene, so I call you The Seeker. You've always been a seeker. You sought truth through five different religions and studied hundreds of philosophies. You looked for knowledge wherever you could find it. You tried whichever path was open to you, and when there was more than one you let chance decide.

There's something happening, though. Something bad's coming. Maybe you don't want to seek it out, it could see you, drag you down. Maybe you're too scared to seek whatever truth can come out of it.

Hell, you've never been too scared. But you're your own person, and you decide...

Essentially, you're a Townie. But you can choose to go out at Night, to seek answers, and you might see something, something bad or good, something that's going on. You might even end up joining a group or cause, so be careful. I need a choice every Night of "seek" or "no seek."

And you bought a knife. Don't know how to use it, but it's there, and you go with it. Just in case there's something seeking you.

Vegtable2001 - The Dancer

You're a local girl, a normal Townsperson with a normal past. I don't want to call you Townie except in your death scene, so I call you The Dancer. You've always been a dancer. You danced around all the men in the Town and ended up alone. You danced around your family and you danced around your studies and you ended up dancing by yourself, writing constantly in your journal and looking at the stars. But life is a dance to you, and you're still dancing it, so you're happy.

There's something happening, though. Something bad's coming. Maybe you don't want to dance, it could see you, drag you down. Maybe you're too scared to dance.

Hell, you've never been too scared to dance. But you're your own person, and you decide...

Essentially, you're a Townie. But you can choose to go out at Night, to seize the adventure, and you might see something, something bad or good, something that's going on. I need a choice every Night of "dance" or "no dance."

And you bought a gun. Don't know how to use it, but it's there, and you go with it. Just in case any of those men catch up with you...

For all three...

ACTIVE ABILITIES: just the choice of action/no action.

PASSIVE ABILITIES: each would, if out, witness a random Night action, event, meeting, or spy on a particular house.

[This message has been edited by quercitron (edited 02-19-2003 08:34 PM).]

[quercitron]

And questions. Answer as many or few as you like.

1. Would you like to see details of Night actions?
2. What do you think of...

A. the Mafia being on the Town's side?
B. Robinson repeating and keeping track of role claims?
C. the interactive nature of night choices?
D. treating the bad guys as Townies?
E. messing with amb and Vegtable2001 through their roles? (Townies could be framed as well.)
F. TANSTAAFL's role?
G. Moderator discretion on how much information was revealed?
H. the narrative style and discussion?
I. the play of the Mafia?
J. the play of the killers?
K. the play of the Town?

And...

3. What was the strongest role?
4. What was the weakest role?
5. What would you have done differently?
6. What do you think of the following key/interesting Night choices/Day actions by players?

A. Werebear asking if he could investigate a corpse, since he was looking up data in a ledger?
B. MacadamiamaN picking "Stay home, sit in chair, read book, keep gun loaded" as his final investigation?
C. Gaspode killing TANSTAAFL by framing a Townie with a gun?
D. amb's claim of semi-protection at Night?
E. the Mafia, (especially Hitchhiker's,) constant hint-dropping and role-claiming?
F. Gaspode's role claim of Bartender?

7. Who would you nominate for "Best Player" in this game?
8. Want to play in Q2?

[Robinson]

That about wraps it up, sire.

Excellent. Well, that's another day lost. Time to get some sleep, I think.

Very well.

Er. Robinson?

Yes, sire?

Tell me another story?

THE END.

[Planky]

Great game Quercitron, this is the first mafia game I have won, yay! Not much of a town left thou

I'll join Q2 seeing the spot's there for me.

[Planky]

I would like to see the night actions that targeted me if you wouldnt mind querc?

[Werebear]

Told ya. By the way, you all know my first two choices - amb and Veg. Who was my third, the night I died? Any guesses?

quote:

---

Night 1.

You brought your records book home, ready to do some research. Got
Vegtable2001's phone number and address, started doing some rapid
scanning, looking for matches, for anything. You're in your living room
with the fireplace blazing for hours, searching, searching.

There's his name. The light dancing on the pages of the book seems to
give it a glow. He bought a handgun a while ago, bullets too. Didn't
give a reason, but you do a lot of orders, don't ask for a reason. He
had the permits and a clean record. Everything checked out.

The remainder of the night is uneventful.
Night 2.
You sit down yet again with your ledgers, this time searching for amb.
In your living room with your fireplace blazing, shadows dancing across
the windows, your gun at the ready, you look for his name but find
nothing. No gun matches, no records, nothing. If he owns a gun, he
didn't get it from you...and there would be no reason to get it from
anyone else.
Night 3.
You have almost become used to your new sleep schedule, poring over the
book of names and records in your living room, now with a gun at the
ready in case anyone decides to pay you a visit. Like Polotet,
Hitchhiker's partner. You have trained yourself already to watch for
his thin silhouette peering through a window, his pale hand knocking on
the door. Trying not to think of him, you look for Hitchhiker's name.
A Mafiosa. A killer.

It's not there. It's not there the first time, or the second. And when
you look, feverish, wondering, neither is Polotet's. You sit back in
your chair in some shock, your mind racing, the shadows around you
flickering, your gun hand relaxed.

One of the shadows has been waiting for this moment. A bullet finds
your heart.

---

I chose Hitchhiker for night 3, and querci let me. I knew I was going to bite it that night when I sent my choice in, I was the only one who cound find the truth of the mafia. I was already believing the mafia were harmless, "the gun appears as if by magic" and with how easily they came out. GOOD JOB TOWN!!!

And Veg, no bet. I had prior knowledge. But I'd kept my big furry mouth shut for SO LONG watching this game, I *HAD* to say something when it was over. I've never had such a problem with wanting to post post-mortem as I did with this game.

THANKS, QUERCITRON for playing an interesting game.

[Gaspode]

I gotta read all the post-game stuff, but WHAT AN AWESOME GAME! Q2, here I come! I'll be back tomorrow to talk about more specific things, but I just wanted to thank Querci for one of the two coolest roles I've gotten so far.

------------------
You can't lose if you win.

[SaberKitty]

Can i have an explanation of this lovely quote from chat?:
"There is no mafia, there's just Robinson"


-SK

[Vegtable2001]

Go vegt! In for round two!

[ralphmerridew]

What did you mean by "HE HAS HIS OWN OBJECTIVE, which is NOT NECESSARILY YOURS."? What was that objective?

[quercitron]

SK: This referred to a theory that there were no actual killers and that I (the Mod, or the Narrator) was doing the killing.

rm: Robinson wished to prolong the story to enjoy the telling of it, so he told his lord that the Mafia were the killers and supported this all he could, only changing his tune when they were all dead. He also repeated all role claims and 'confirmed' them. Basically, his objective was to prolong the game.

[MacadamiamaN]

Excellent game. I don't have time to answer all those questions, but excellent game

I'll definetely be in for Q2. These games are a mafia of their own.

[Amb]

E. messing with amb and Vegtable2001 through their roles? (Townies could be framed as well.)


This was evil

In for next

[Vegtable2001]

That was indeed evil. Sooooo very evil.

[TANSTAAFL]

So far this was my favorite game, even though I failed miserably with my mission. Everyone I sold to died early. I would like to know if people knew when I sold them encyclopedias, and what they thought of it.

Definitely in for the next game.

[Werebear]

My main question - was my role the only real investigative role? I found a townie with a gun, and the email made that pretty clear... What would I have seen if I'd investigated Gaspode?

1. Would you like to see details of Night actions?yes!
2. What do you think of...
A. the Mafia being on the Town's side?it's tough to break paradigms.
B. Robinson repeating and keeping track of role claims? I think every game should do this... it was helpful.
C. the interactive nature of night choices?I enjoyed it, looked forwards to reading each email, much better than an email saying "amb is town". You can also throw curveballs that way.
D. treating the bad guys as Townies?evil... so very evil... depends on town investigaton abilities (see main question)
E. messing with amb and Vegtable2001 through their roles? (Townies could be framed as well.) I actually felt sorry for them. *grin*
F. TANSTAAFL's role? One question - if Gaspode had been lynched day 2, the threat would have been gone. How would anyone have discovered TANSTTAFL's role? (see my note at the bottom)
G. Moderator discretion on how much information was revealed? (see my note at the bottom)
H. the narrative style and discussion? Excellent. It was a fun game to play.
I. the play of the Mafia? I was skeptical as well, but tended to believe them. Of course, it's also a good gambit to play now, "We're mafia, and we're innocent"...
J. the play of the killers? Gaspode was awfully quiet, which is why he lasted so long... but it got him in the end. I think if he'd had a running narrative all along about what he saw, he'd have done better than coming out at the last moment with bartender.
K. the play of the Town? The town had a tough job, with the mod framing various ones of them. At one point, I read amb and Vegt's argument, where amb were saying if he was lynched, make sure and lynch Veg tomorrow... and was cringing, thinking the day was over.

And...

3. What was the strongest role? Mine, I think. I hated to come out so early (thanks, HitchHiker!!! *Grin*) but I feel my role was the only one that would have found the killers accurately.
4. What was the weakest role?The cop and the asst. cop. Their whole job was to find innocent town members and get them lynched.
5. What would you have done differently?Investigated Gaspode night 2.
6. What do you think of the following key/interesting Night choices/Day actions by players?

A. Werebear asking if he could investigate a corpse, since he was looking up data in a ledger?not mine to answer. I thought I was moderately clever.
B. MacadamiamaN picking "Stay home, sit in chair, read book, keep gun loaded" as his final investigation?It would have been interesting to see if he could have killed Gaspode with his gun...
C. Gaspode killing TANSTAAFL by framing a Townie with a gun?[b] A good choice. Framing is always good for a killer.
D. amb's claim of semi-protection at Night?
E. the Mafia, (especially Hitchhiker's,) constant hint-dropping and role-claiming?I don't know how they could have done it better... I thought they did a good job of coming out. They were framed, though.
F. Gaspode's role claim of Bartender? I would have chosen "peeping tom" myself. *laugh*

7. Who would you nominate for "Best Player" in this game?One of the winners. They had the toughest job towards the end...
8. Want to play in Q2? YES!!!

One of my main problems with this game - and what made it really fun as well - a lot of it was "how much does quercitron reveal vs. how much misinformation does he deal". And yes, I mean quercitron, not Robinson (the bastard! *G*) If Gaspode's car wasn't recognized the last night, the game probably would have ended differently. The incident with amb and Vegt almost cost the game too. There must have been hundreds of choices each night of what you could or couldn't reveal. Did you roll a d20 and give information based on how high each player rolled I'm just curious...

One last note - who did you sell encyclopaedias to, TANSTAAFL?

[TANSTAAFL]

Night 1: Polotet
Night 2: MatthewV, but he died the same night
Night 3: Werebear
Night 4: Noone, I died before I ever got a choice in

So Polotet was the only one who survived the night after I sold to him. And I still haven't received his payment!

[Werebear]

[TANSTAAFL]

hey, it's not my fault you were shot after I sold you the books. I guess that means you didn't know about it.

[Gaspode]

Originally posted by Werebear:

---

If Gaspode's car wasn't recognized the last night, the game probably would have ended differently.

---

I agree. I had a whole big plan about claiming my role and incriminating Planky and loads of other sneaky stuff, but it was all KILLED by Planky's recognition of my car. Once he said that, all my claims would've looked like paranoid defenses. I might be a bit biased , but I think querci should've only told Planky one thing about the car--its color OR the fact that it was owned by me. Saying it was black let Veg connect Planky's story to the night three incident, and saying it was my car obviously connected both incidents to me. That's what got me lynched. But I can't complain--I had some unfair advantages too, and I also made some costly mistakes; for example: I never got a chance to unvote Jesternl on day one. I'm not sure this would've made much of a difference, but it didn't help. (Btw, my vote for him was entirely random. When I saw the result from my calculator, I figured it couldn't hurt--it was a good way to separate us.)

Werebear, you're 100% right about me being a little too silent. I should've made a semi-role claim early and stuck to it.

What do you all think of my night choices? Any good? Also, did you think Bartender a good thing to claim? I actually thought of "peeping tom", but it was a good thing I didn't use it (Werebear would've been suspicious right away, and Planky would've known I was lying since he had a similar role).


------------------
You can't lose if you win.

[Vegtable2001]

The thing that really convinced me of Planky's innocence was the way he presented his role "The Seeker" Very similiar to the way i got mine.

[Werebear]

No, I had no idea I bought a set of encyclopedias. You're a better salesperson than you thought!!!

Gaspode - I would have bought "peeping tom", at least for a while. Bartender probably would have been perfect if you'd made up scenarios and contributed a little.

[MatthewV]

well it sticks to die so early, but I continued reading the thread. even managed not to post, cause Q said not to...

I like the way you told the story
I like the extra information and story responces for our choices
Giving everyone a choice make everyone want to play more. I recommend it strongly.

I have no comments about the roles, and I like the bomber role alot.

How could I use my gun??? or could i use it?

editing! in a mafia game oh no ill be voted for after dying and the game ending!
I would love be in miniQ2

[This message has been edited by MatthewV (edited 02-21-2003 04:08 AM).]

[Hitchhiker]

Yay town!

Being Masons who look like Mafia is...interesting. If we'd come out on the first day, how many people would have believed us? I was considering it but I figured that whoever the "real" killers were, there were probably enough of them to sway some Townies and force a lynch.

Good game quercitron!

[MacadamiamaN]

Querci: Why do you think my last night choice is significant?

[quercitron]

Why were the guns significant?

1. Werebear could find them, and gain information.
2. They made you feel better about going out at night.
3. People could see them, and suspect you. Muaha.

How did I control how much information I gave out?

Of the various possible scenes that could be witnessed at night, which one was seen was random. A roll of a six-sided-die coupled with whether the Townie had seen a similar scene (if they had seen something similar, they got +2 to the die roll) determined how much information, plus I fudged it whenever I felt like it. The last day, everyone still didn't trust each other. Had Gaspode role-claimed early and kept it up, along with "Planky, what are you talking about, everyone knows there's a black car and whoa, I suddenly have it, how fortunate that you happen to find out who the bad guy is last night" instead of "Er, yeah, that's mine. Dunno why you saw it at a crime scene though," I think it would have been fine. Who knows. Some would say the 2nd to last night framejob was too much in favour of the bad guys.

Why was Mac's last night choice significant?

Had he gone out, it's another thing Planky could have seen instead of the black car. Same with Veg, who chose to stay home. Since Mac and Veg were in their houses, Planky had to witness the only night event going on.

Dilemma: I'd like some new blood in Q2 along with old players. Several people reserved spots before the game, and others have them automatically. How should I manage this?

1. Start Q2 with as many players as have indicated, and then take the last lucky few.
2. Start Q2 but expand it to, say, 16 players.
3. Start Q2 and Q3, and let players choose which they want to sign up for by giving brief summaries of both.

[Vegtable2001]

Bah, i liked my hypothesis about the guns better! It fit perfectly!

------------------
Flame Away

[MacadamiamaN]

My vote is go with Q2 and Q3... though it could be hard for you to manage both at once.

[Werebear]

I think you should PLAN Q2 and Q3, and give everyone a choice which one they want to be in. If you get 9 Q2 and 3 Q3, then just randomly pick enough Q2s and move them over. That way, you can have half old blood, half new blood in each of the new ones.