As the vermillion sun descended, casting its warm rays across the water, the torches scattered across the palatial gardens shone brighter with their chill blaze. Guests trickled in through the tall gates and flowed off of grand yachts, swelling the number of revelers steadily. Variegated masks reflected the shifting light with myriad colors: gold, silver, red, blue, green, purple. The partygoers enjoyed the feast and the music, but had come mainly for each other and for that mystique that only the splendor and decadence of a masquerade can provide. Of course, this paradox characterizes all masquerades: they are, of course, social functions, but ones that occur, when executed to their full and intended extent, under a veneer of anonymity. The guests, being rather serious about their social engagements, embraced this aspect completely and indeed took full advantage of it, fulfilling the cynical maxim that when no one knows who you are, all your moral strictures collapse into oblivion.
Anonymity proved to be especially important this evening. The Magistrate had planned the social occasion as a celebration of the tenth anniversary of his magistracy, and he invited the entire
haut monde
of his port city. Although the Magistrate's rule had ushered in a period of financial prosperity that in turn funded lavish fêtes like his own, it came with a cost: the aristocracy that ruled in the environs of the city had been subjugated and disenfranchised, and the Magistrate's religious intolerance (worsened by his relative ignorance of philosophy and his overvaluation of material wealth) had alienated some of the local practitioners of the more institutionalized religions. All in all, the political situation was such that the Magistrate's ball, the most anticipated social event in memory, had a guest list that included both the Magistrate's sycophants and his most bitter yet hidden enemies. Of course, these guests more often than not engaged in deadly intrigue toward each other when they were not co-conspiring against their mutual enemy, the Magistrate. It was hardly a surprise, then, when a figure in a bauta mask -- resplendent with its gold inlay, but, in the shadows of the torches, reminiscent of a skull with its black finish -- collapsed, shrieking. The crowd surged toward the figure, now motionless on the ground. A puddle that shone redder than the sun in the firelight grew from the figure's side. When the mask was ripped off, the Magistrate's immobile face stared in fear and horror at his guests. Some felt perverse delight, others grim satisfaction, still others disgust and even sadness. It did not take long, however, for an oppressive shroud of fear to descend over the crowd as they realized that this death would not be the masquerade's last.
Mod:
Aegor
Backup mod:
farside22
Setup reviewed for normalcy and balance by:
mykonian, AngryPidgeon, and N
Players:
1. Slandaar
Aeronaut
2. AxleGreaser
Alina
3. Aneninen
4. Boonskiies*
5. Shiro
WBOCampire1104 Cho
6. reinoe
GrayFoxxxx
Csareo
7. davesaz
8. Egg
9. Pine
Josh_B
Garmr
10. goodmorning
11. flubbernugget
Goofyd00d
12. beastcharizard
hephaestus
13. DrippingGoofball
Izariael
14. Muffin
15. Nero Cain**
16. PeregrineV
17. Scripten
18. T S O*
19. Thor665
20. TierShift**
21. The Fonz
The following ruleset is non-exhaustive and I reserve the right to change it as needed.
If you want me to read it, please
bold
it (requests, clarifications, etc.).
Better to be safe than sorry – ask me if you have any questions.
Ethics and Behavior Rules
Spoiler:
No out-of-thread communication with other players in the game is allowed unless specified by a role.
Any use of information not publicly available (e.g. night action PMs accidentally sent to you) is strictly forbidden. If you have come upon such information for any reason, notify me immediately and cease to post, and I will be happy to replace you without prejudice.
Be respectful. Please PM me if you have a problem with the conduct or posting of another player -- do not create drama in-thread.
Play to win.
Posting Rules
Spoiler:
This
is my mod color. Please do not use it.
Once your death has been acknowledged by me in-thread, you may not post in-thread until after the game is over.
No forms of verifiable randomness are allowed, including screenshots of other websites (e.g. random.org).
No encrypted or invisible text is allowed, including anything that approaches those or relies on knowledge not publicly available.
Screenshots of and links to QTs or Private Threads used for the game are not allowed. You also may not quote from them. Paraphrasing in a general fashion is fine. PM me if you are unsure about whether something is allowed under this rule.
Voting and Lynch Rules
Spoiler:
Votes must be
bolded
or put in VOTE: tags. Unbolded votes will never be counted. Abbreviations and typos will be counted at the mod’s discretion, but do not test me.
Unvoting (
Unvote
or UNVOTE: , or with the name of the player currently voted specified in either of the two previous formats) is helpful but not necessary.
Once a majority of votes on a player is reached during the day, a lynch occurs.
You may also vote to
No Lynch
. If a majority votes for a No Lynch, the day will end without a lynch.
If there is no majority at deadline, a No Lynch occurs.
Twilight begins once a majority is reached or after the deadline expires. Votes after the lynch vote or deadline will not be counted, although players who are alive (including the player just lynched) may still post in-thread. Twilight will end as soon as I am able to close the thread, and therefore Twilight length is variable.
Deadline and Activity Rules
Spoiler:
Day deadlines will be equal to
the number of living players or two weeks, whichever is greater
. Night deadlines will be approximately
72 hours
; consider this when going V/LA. Deadlines will be included in the VCs, although changes to deadlines partway through the day/night render earlier deadlines obsolete.
You must post at least once every 48 hours, unless you have stated you are V/LA. If you do not, you will receive a prod. I reserve the right to do anything to you if you need to be prodded more than once, and players will either be replaced or modkilled instead of being prodded a third time. Prod dodges may as well not exist.
If I cannot find a replacement in a suitable amount of time, I will have to consider a modkill.
If you must go on V/LA for an amount of time I consider detrimental to the game, I may replace you.
Day/Night Action Rules
Spoiler:
Actions must be submitted by PM/QT/PT before the deadline, even if I am not online at deadline.
No submitted night action means no night action. The exception is with compulsive roles, which will have a randomly determined target if no night action is submitted.
You may change your night action and/or target at any point up to deadline. It is therefore in your interest to get an order in early if you are indecisive or are worried about missing the deadline.
You may submit your night actions by QT or PT, as applicable. If you do so, you must bold them and make it clear who is performing each action. If there is any ambiguity, I will not attempt to resolve it and will instead ignore the order.
I do not follow Natural Action Resolution exactly. Specifically, all actions of identical type are simultaneous. This is straightforward for kills (two players shooting each other would both die), but may differ from what you are used to in the case of Roleblocks especially. Two Roleblockers blocking each other both perform their Roleblocks; a Roleblocker blocking a Roleblocker blocking a Doctor would result in both Roleblocks succeeding (and the Doctor being unable to protect). The blocked Roleblocker would also be unable to perform any subsequent night actions (e.g. using an invention, etc.). Jailkeepers block and protect simultaneously and are Roleblocker type in the NAR. Similar reasoning applies to other applicable roles. Otherwise, you may assume that NAR and the breakdown order apply. PM me if you have questions about this.
Day and Twilight actions must be executed in the manner specified in your Role PM. If posted in-thread Day and Twilight actions must be
Post
Post #351 (isolation #10) » Mon Sep 29, 2014 6:17 pm
Postby Aegor »
AS AN EMPHATIC MOD NOTE, PLEASE EITHER BOLD ALL MOD REQUESTS OR PM THEM TO ME. This includes all questions and all complaints against other players and their actions, including any kind of rules violation.
I do the best I can, but I am mainly skimming for votes and egregious issues (bad language, claiming scum in a one-line post, etc.) and am not picking apart the thread. Please help me out by drawing things to my attention ACTIVELY rather than hoping I notice.
Consider the deadline suspended until replacements are found.
Hephaestus has been prodded. Cho and Aeronaut are still being replaced. Izariael has one or two more days given that he told me he was going to be V/LA until last Friday.
Last edited by Aegor on Sun Oct 12, 2014 6:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Post
Post #1642 (isolation #32) » Thu Oct 16, 2014 11:41 am
Postby Aegor »
I am having a problem finding replacements. I do not want to modkill any slots, but that is an option that I am now considering. I will not allow the game to proceed to night when there are inactive slots. Accordingly, I will again post in the Replacements Requests thread, but I urge you strongly to reach out to players you enjoy playing with to see if they will replace in. Feel free to PM me about any of this.
Post
Post #2552 (isolation #46) » Tue Oct 28, 2014 12:39 pm
Postby Aegor »
When one witnesses the murder of a stranger or enemy, what ought one do? Mourn? Retreat? Gloat? Does one act differently if one is in public, hoping to impress or appear sympathetic? Or does one use this morbid opportunity to make known one's true thoughts?
Most of the Magistrate's guest chose to honor (or defile, depending on your point of view) his illustrious yet not entirely cherished memory by continuing the evening's festivities. Wine flowed into the partygoers as quickly as the river next to the Magistrate's estate ran down its course. This lubricant only made the evening more intense, more intimate, more Bacchanalian. And like the god of old, the revelers began to regard their masks as personas and sought to assume the fictional and depraved identities they created for themselves. In a dark alcove, two attendees were undressing each other. In the shadow of a statue of an angel, a large group broke into disharmonious and rather ribald song. Still others began reciting poetry in the torchlight. The more restrained and pragmatic guests continued with their political discourse, now made even more timely by the power vacuum the Magistrate's death opened. Few bothered to think about whether such talk was in good taste. After some time, a scream rang out over the messy cacophony of the evening. All those not intensely engaged (such as our lovers) ran to the noise, only to witness a gasping figure masked and clad in yellow clutching his throat, which was spurting blood copiously. Those nearest to him drew back to avoid the effluent, lest it stain their party clothes. As the figure fell to his knees, a voice whose source was concealed by the aforementioned anonymity intoned, "Murderers will suffer the fate they deal to others." The guests could only hope that their collective action had found an appropriate target.
Post
Post #2555 (isolation #49) » Sat Nov 01, 2014 10:11 am
Postby Aegor »
Despair over the fruitless death yesterday subsided when the musicians started to perform in earnest, drawing the guests' attention in true Orphic fashion. While the lutenists and harpists were entertaining, they were present only to maintain the ritual order of performance, mere placeholders until the magnificent focal point of the musical program arrived. Yet they did not arrive: they materialized, unseen until they started streaming through the guests from all directions, converging on the center stage. Even then, they were barely visible in their black robes and cowls. Of course, this was hardly an unexpected sight: when called to provide entertainment for the most illustrious, the city choir elevated its art to a transcendental experience. Part of their specialty was to disembody their voices through constant movement and camouflaged clothing, drawing the listener's attention exclusively to their music. They succeeded marvelously, enrapturing the audience completely with their strange music. Harmonies and consonance drew the audience in but soon yielded to almost atonal passages, building to a cacophonous crescendo that both unsettled and captivated the revelers. As the choir released from its climax and sank into a soothing harmony once again, some of the shrill voices remained. Those near the stage looked around. The choir stopped. Two corpses lay on opposite sides of the stage, their deaths having been obscured by night and song. The choir members leaped off the stage and fled; this was far more than they had agreed to. Yet when the guests sought escape as well, finally realizing that this evening should come to an end, they found the gates locked and the barges gone. Either they would unmask the killers, or this masquerade would prove more dangerous than even the most ill-behaved guests had expected.
Aneninen,
Town Neighbor
, has been killed Night 1.
Egg,
Town Neighbor
, has been killed Night 1.
Day 2 begins now. With 18 alive, it takes 10 to lynch.
Post
Post #2762 (isolation #51) » Sun Nov 02, 2014 5:09 pm
Postby Aegor »
A reminder that specific references to posts in private threads without paraphrase or summary of their content on this forum or any other violates the following rule:
No encrypted or invisible text is allowed, including anything that approaches those or relies on knowledge not publicly available.
That is, posts such as "Remember what I said in that email" and "Check post 34 of our QT" are not allowed. Boonskiies' 2748 would qualify as a violation. Heed this warning.