Newbie Game 720 -- Game Over!

[Yaw]

There's danger and crime in Calzone (home of small, defenseless newbies), and it's up to the nine of you to figure out whodunnit.

Players:

Charrat
insanepenguin02
magisterrain
Azhrei


Vamparific*, Townie, lynched Day 1.
LongShanks, Townie, killed Night 1.
Benmage (replacing Erato), Mafia Goon, lynched Day 2.
qwints*, Townie, killed Night 2.
jayfin3 (replacing T-Rex), Mafia Roleblocker, lynched Day 3.

IC Players have been asterisked for easy identification.

Setup:

This game uses the 9-player setup called F11, which consists of four possibilities:

• 1 Mafia Goon, 1 Mafia Roleblocker, 1 Sane Cop, 1 Doctor, 5 Townies.
  
• 1 Mafia Goon, 1 Mafia Roleblocker, 7 Townies.
  
• 2 Mafia Goons, 1 Sane Cop, 6 Townies.
  
• 2 Mafia Goons, 1 Doctor, 6 Townies.

One of these was chosen totally at random, as were all role assignments.

[Yaw]

Of course, this would all be a lot easier if you weren't so sure that some of you haddunit. Two of you, in fact, though you're not sure who else is what. Here are the possibilities:

Mafia:

You are a

Mafia Roleblocker

, along with your partner _________ (who is simply a Goon). Your goal is to eliminate the pro-town players so that only your side remains; you win if this happens. During the Day, try to blend in with the rest of the players, and get someone lynched.

You may talk with your partner at Night, and send me a choice via PM of who you would like to kill/roleblock (your team can do both so long as you live).

Note: You may talk with your partner privately during confirmations to plan strategy, but no night actions will take place until Night One.

---
The game is located here.

AND

You are a

Mafia Goon

, along with your partner _________ (who is a pro-Mafia Roleblocker). Your goal is to eliminate the pro-town players so that only your side remains; you win if this happens. During the Day, try to blend in with the rest of the players, and get someone lynched.

You may talk with your partner at Night, and send me a choice via PM of who you would like to kill (if your partner also lives, they can send in a separate choice to roleblock someone).

Note: You may talk with your partner privately during confirmations to plan strategy, but no night actions will take place until Night One.

---
The game is located here

OR

You are a

Mafia Goon

, along with your partner _________. Your goal is to eliminate the pro-town players so that only your side remain; you win if this happens. During the Day, try to blend in with the rest of the players, and get someone lynched (if that someone is not your partner or yourself, that will make things much easier). You may talk with your partner when it is not Day, and send me a choice via PM of who you wish to kill.

Note: You may talk with your partner privately during confirmations to plan strategy, but no kills will happen until Night One.

---
The game is located here

Town:

You are the

Doctor

, and you can protect people from harm. Each Night, you may send me a choice via PM of who to protect; if they come under attack by the Mafia, they will live. You win if the scum are eliminated, so choose wisely at Night, and try to lynch correctly during the Day.

Note: Doctors are 100% effective in Newbie Games (the person you protect will never die on the night they are protected), unless you are roleblocked. You may not protect yourself.

---
The game is located here

You are the

Cop

, and you can tell good from bad. Each Night, you may send a player's name to me; I will let you know if your investigation shows that they are Mafia or Town. You win if the scum are eliminated, so choose wisely at Night, and lynch well during the Day.

Note: Cops always get a correct result in Newbie Games (no sanity issues), unless you are roleblocked. You cannot investigate yourself.

---
The game is located here

You are a

Townie

, and you've got no special powers at Night. No investigations, no protection, no gun to shoot people. Your only powers are the ability to post, vote, and think. Help lynch Mafia during the Day, and you will win the game, along with the rest of the Town.

---
The game is located here

Even though many games start with Night, Newbie Games begin with Day once everyone has confirmed that they understand their role. Scum are allowed to talk by PM in the pre-game stage, but no other "night actions" may be taken.

[Yaw]

The Rules:

(Stolen from MeMe, then modified)

Procedures:

• Do your best within the rules to attain your win condition.
• Votes must be in bold (

Vote: IS

). If you do not bold your vote, it will not be counted.
• Please be attentive and unvote, if necessary, before casting a new vote. This is not a requirement – every vote will count -- but it makes vote counting easier and clearer for other players to read.
• Lynches will require a simple majority of votes. Once a player has reached the necessary majority, his pleas are useless and any attempts to unvote will be unheeded. You may vote: no lynch – majority votes of this kind are necessary to end the day without a death.
• If the game is stalling, or a game day is taking an inordinate amount of time (generally considered to be over a month), I will impose a deadline. Failure to reach the normally required number of votes to lynch before the deadline will result in no lynch.

Illegal Acts:

• The game is not to be discussed outside of the thread (unless you are scum, and then only at night with your partner). This includes strategy advice. Don’t worry, we’ll have time to discuss strategy after the game.
• Once you have been killed, stop typing.
• Don’t edit/delete previously submitted posts.
• Don’t use smaller-than-normal text, invisible text, or any other board tag-related way of encoding extra information in your posts.
• Don’t quote any PMs from me in the game.
• If something is illegal to do, it is also illegal to fake (for example, posting a made-up mod PM).

Activity Requirements:

• If you have a night choice to make, it is due by the posted deadline. I will mod-prod if necessary at least 12 hours prior to a night deadline, but I will not wait for you – if you do not submit a choice to me, tough! No choice will be made.
• If you anticipate being unavailable for more than a 48-hour period, please post a notice to that effect in the thread and/or PM me. Treat this game as a commitment. Be considerate – don’t leave us hanging.
• I will send out automatic prods to any player that has not posted for 5 days (and has not otherwise provided notification). I expect prods to be responded to either by PM or a post in thread within 48 hours. Failure to do so will result in replacement.
• Remember, it’s a game. It’s supposed to played. It’s supposed to be fun. Do your part.

If you see something you don't understand,

ASK!

Newbie games are here for people to learn and understand; either I or one of the other players will respond to your question. If it has to do with your role, feel free to PM me directly.

[Yaw]

Roles are now out. Please confirm that you have received your role in thread. Any questions about your role should be directed to me by PM. We'll begin as soon as we have a full complement.

[Yaw]

Looking for a replacement for DanGR. Should have one shortly. Sorry about the delay.

[Yaw]

T-Rex replaces DanGR, effective immediately.

[Yaw]

And that is the last confirmation. You may begin.

[Yaw]

Vote Count:

Azhrei (2): Erato, qwints
Vamparific (1): T-Rex
insanepenguin02 (1): Charrat
T-Rex (1): magisterrain
LongShanks (1): insanepenguin02
Erato (1): Azhrei

Not Voting: LongShanks, Vamparific

I'm counting insanepenguin02's vote, but both the vote and the name of the person should be bolded in the future.

[Yaw]

On that note, thanks to magisterrain for letting me know about his upcoming absence. Since this is the season for family gatherings and trips, I'd like to remind you all to please let me know if you'll be away for an extended period of time (meaning, a time likely to get you replaced according to the rules on the front page). I promise not to replace people for legitimate absences, but you have to let me know you're going to be away.

[Yaw]

Vote Count:

Azhrei (2): Erato, qwints
Vamparific (1): T-Rex
insanepenguin02 (1): Charrat
Erato (1): Azhrei

Not Voting: Vamparific, magisterrain, insanepenguin02, LongShanks

[Yaw]

The rule is actually that you can't discuss

ongoing

games. I was assuming by the way the conversation was going that the game in question was finished. If not, then yes, it should not be discussed. (Nor should this game be discussed outside the thread.)

[Yaw]

Erato has requested replacement due to family obligations. I'll get a replacement for her as soon as I can.

[Yaw]

Benmage replaces Erato, effective immediately.

[Yaw]

Vote Count:

insanepenguin02 (3): Charrat, Benmage, Vamparific
Azhrei (1): qwints
Vamparific (1): magisterrain

Not Voting: insanepenguin02, LongShanks, T-Rex, Azhrei

5 to lynch

[Yaw]

Relax, folks. First time I'm getting to the thread today. And to answer Benmage's question, no, exact spelling is not required. As long as you've uniquely identified who you want to vote for in bold, I'll count it. (So just "Vamp" was sufficient.)

Final Vote Count:

Vamparific (5): magisterrain, qwints, T-Rex, insanepenguin02, Benmage

Not Voting: LongShanks, Azhrei, Vamparific, Charrat

And with that, Vamparific is led...well, not so much led to the gallows. He actually runs up to them, puts his head in the noose, kicks out the chair himself, and tries to dance at the end of the rope while suffocating. His jerky movements release a business card from his clothing, identifying him as a mere, Calzonian townie.

Vamparific, Townie, lynched Day 1.

It is now Night 1. Because of the holidays, I'll make the night a little bit long to allow people to spend some time with their families. So let's have it end

Sunday, December 28 at midnight EST

. To clarify, that's the end of Sunday, so you still have Sunday to get in choices if you have them.

[Yaw]

On a cold grey morning, you awake and walk to the town square. After learning there are only seven of you, you search for the missing Calzonian. Dead inside his house, you find LongShanks, a poor Calzonian townie.

LongShanks, Townie, killed night 1.

It is now Day 2. With 7 alive, it will take 4 to lynch.

Also, qwints is on V/LA until after New Year's (around a week).

[Yaw]

I don't think anyone was mad at all. I'm just not quite used to Newbie impatience yet.

[Yaw]

Vote Count:

Benmage (1): magisterrain

Not Voting: Charrat, insanepenguin02, T-Rex, Benmage, Azhrei, qwints

4 to lynch.

[Yaw]

Fixed, thanks.

[Yaw]

MOD: can we have some of the other players here prodded?

You could, but since the game opened up yesterday there's nobody close to the 5-day limit for automatic prods. Is there someone specific (who is not on vacation/limited access) you'd like me to prod?

[Yaw]

My point wasn't that I'm unwilling to prod people. My point is that "prod some people" isn't particularly useful. If I'm going to prod someone by request, I need to know specifically whom.

[Yaw]

Vote Count:

Benmage (1): magisterrain

Not Voting: Charrat, insanepenguin02, T-Rex, Benmage, Azhrei, qwints

4 to lynch.

[Yaw]

qwints said a week in his PM, though I'm not sure what he was measuring from. I'm assuming he'll be back by Monday at the latest.

And now that we're out of the holidays, I'd like to see this pick up, especially as we head into next week.

[Yaw]

Vote Count:

Benmage (1): magisterrain

Not Voting: Charrat, insanepenguin02, T-Rex, Benmage, Azhrei, qwints

4 to lynch.

[Yaw]

Whoops, got out of poking people for the holidays. A prod has been sent out to T-Rex. Everyone else is fine as far as posting goes.

[Yaw]

Vote Count:

Benmage (3): magisterrain, insanepenguin02, Azhrei
magisterrain (1): Benmage

Not Voting: Charrat, T-Rex, qwints

4 to lynch.

[Yaw]

Welcome back. Here's an update on what happened:

On Monday, Bluehost shut down the forum. The "official" reason was inefficient SQL scripts causing excessive load on the server. The reality is that we've simply outgrown the service they can provide. Because of this, mith has switched hosting companies. We're now on a VPS with a host that has very good feedback, so the "grey screens of death" should be a thing of the past.

That said, it will take 48 hours for the DNS to propagate throughout the world, so people will be trickling back in. For that reason, I'm declaring an amnesty on prods, since there's no fair way to enforce the ones that are already out. The next set of prods, if needed, will go out on Monday, January 12. That gives enough time for the new site to become visible to everyone, plus 3 days, including a weekday. At that point, things will proceed as normal.

Apologies for the inconvenience.

[Yaw]

Final Vote Count:

Benmage (4): magisterrain, insanepenguin02, Azhrei, Charrat
magisterrain (1): Benmage

Not Voting: T-Rex, qwints

And that's a lynch. Benmage is strung up, and when he is dead you find a business card identifying him as a Mafia Goon.

It is now Night 2. Night will last until...let's make it

Monday the 12th at midnight EST

, just to give a bit of extra time for the DNS to propagate. This is a bit of an awkward position because T-Rex hasn't checked in yet, and allowing night to finish without a player being here allows people to start making inferences about whether or not they may have had a night choice. That sort of thing really shouldn't happen.

So I'm going to require a PM from T-Rex during the night, regardless of whether he has a night choice or not.

If I don't receive a PM, I will replace T-Rex during the night, and ensure his replacement has a chance to submit a choice if such a choice were required. To be clear, I am doing this regardless of whether or not T-Rex has a night choice to avoid getting into a situation which allows inappropriate metagaming.

[Yaw]

Sorry about the holdup. jayfin3 replaces T-Rex. Will open tomorrow.

[Yaw]

Again, sorry for the delay.

You awake on a dull morning to find a missing qwints. Indeed, your fellow Calzonian lies dead, still carrying his official townie card.

qwints, townie, killed night 2

It is now Day 3. With 5 alive, it will take 3 to lynch.

[Yaw]

Vote Count:

jayfin3 (1): Charrat

Not Voting: insanepenguin02, magisterrain, jayfin3, Azhrei

3 to lynch

[Yaw]

Vote Count:

jayfin3 (1): Charrat

Not Voting: jayfin3, Azhrei, insanepenguin02, magisterrain

3 to lynch

[Yaw]

Vote Count:

jayfin3 (2): Charrat, magisterrain

Not Voting: jayfin3, Azhrei, insanepenguin02

3 to lynch

[Yaw]

Vote Count:

jayfin3 (2): Charrat, magisterrain
magisterrain (1): insanepenguin02

Not Voting: jayfin3, Azhrei

3 to lynch

[Yaw]

Final Vote Count:

jayfin3 (3): Charrat, magisterrain, insanepenguin02

Not Voting: jayfin3, Azhrei

And with that, jayfin3 is led to the gallows. When he is dead, you find on his person a Mafia calling card.

jayfin3, Mafia Roleblocker, lynched day 3.

Town win!

[Yaw]

Setup:

Charrat – doc
insanepenguin02 – townie
magisterrain – cop
jayfin3 (replacing T-Rex) – rb
Benmage (replacing Erato) – goon
Azhrei – townie
LongShanks – townie
qwints – townie
Vamparific – townie

Night Actions:

Night 1:
magisterrain investigates Benmage (guilty)
Charrat protects magisterrain
Scum kill LongShanks
T-Rex roleblocks nobody

Night 2:
magisterrain investigates T-Rex (no result, blocked)
Charrat protects magisterrain
jayfin3 roleblocks magisterrain
Scum kills qwints

Thread is now open for commentary.

[Yaw]

Well, then I guess I have a few notes...

That was fairly well-played by jayfin3. He replaced into a difficult spot, and did well to keep the dogs away that long.

The Vamparific thing from day 1...I actually had the listmod look into his IC status, just because someone with a habit of being lynched fairly quickly on day 1 might not be someone we want to put out there as an example of good play. Though with that said, I did appreciate his being in this game. It was worthwhile in that he made the point very well that strange play, and even illogical play, does not necessarily mean the person doing it is scum.

magisterrain was really on the ball as cop. I happen to agree with whoever said that the best way to play as cop is to track down evidence in thread to back up your guilty result, and then push the lynch based on that evidence. Especially in a newbie, if you come out as cop you're either getting nightkilled or roleblocked for the rest of the game. If the scum isn't sure you're the cop, you may be able to get off more investigations. Though it did still work out fairly well.

I'm a it curious as to the decision by Charrat not to claim as doc. I'll admit I've only figured out the possibilities if he claims in that position, but I'm curious as to how he envisioned the game playing out with the townie claim.

[Yaw]

Well, with point 1, I would have done the same thing were T-Rex town. I've been in games where it's possible to conclude stuff about players because they flaked through a night, so I'm making it a point to try to ensure a full complement in every newbie game to avoid that kind of thing happening. It just happened in this case that letting T-Rex go unreplaced would have proven him guilty, rather than proven a town role innocent. Neither case is good for a game of this size.

Though in the future, it's probably worth my putting those intentions into the front post so it doesn't look like I'm manipulating stuff to help scum. Point taken.

[Yaw]

With the doc thing, I think the key was that magisterrain claimed on day 3 to get no result. That meant he had to have been roleblocked, which meant that if he were honest about being cop, there had to be a doc. So as people found out, not claiming doc in this situation cast doubt on his cop claim -- if there wasn't a doc in the game, he couldn't have been roleblocked because there'd be no roleblocker.

The way I saw claiming doc in that situation, if Charrat claims doc the remaining scum has a choice. If they counterclaim, they're screwed because you just lynch one of the duplicates day 3 and the other on day 4 for a town win. So scum has to claim townie. That means there's three townie claims left, with 2 chances to lynch correctly, so town wins 2/3 of the time based only on probabilities. As town, I probably take those odds.

Then again, I haven't worked out the consequences of claiming townie as doc in that situation, besides that it's more swingy a situation because it introduces doubt into the cop claim. I could see situations in which it really pays off, and situations in which it backfires horribly.