Back to Basics IV: Pick Your Poison (Game over - Victory to the Workers!)

[Roswell]

Welcome to my humble abode, dear friends. My name, for the unaware, is Roswell, and I shall be your host for our game.

 

Compared to most games of mafia, you'll find this one to be more... pure. Rather than focus on overblown role interactions and night-time chicanery,
this game will be simpler, with a greater focus on the core tenets of mafia: deduction, analysis and co-operation. There's still something there to keep it interesting, but if you're new to the game, this will work just fine for getting you used to how to play.

 

And it's always nice to have a refresher on how to deceive people, don't you think?

 

"Don't worry if you don't know how to play, I'm more than happy to help~" [Overview - Credit to Jason Grace]

Spoiler

 

Mafia is a social deduction game which requires analysing, cooperation, and looking through lies.

 

There are two main factions in a mafia game: the Uninformed Majority [Town], who have to find others of their kind while hunting for the mafia, and the Informed Minority [Mafia], who have a private chat, where they can plan out how they should trick the town and who they should kill. There may also be Third Party or Independent roles, which have different agendas and win conditions.

 

At the beginning of the game, players receive a PM or a DM with their role and alignment.

 

There are two major phases in a Mafia game:

(1) The Day Phase – Typically lasting 48 hours, players use this opportunity to discuss about several things, which may include the outcome of the previous phases, behavior of players, and flow of the game; the ultimate goal in the day phase is for the Town players to find the Mafia slowly while Mafia players have to blend in carefully. Before the day ends, players must vote for a player whom they want to be eliminated on grounds of suspicion and the player receiving the most votes will be eliminated.

(2) The Night Phase – Typically lasting 24 hours, the thread is considered “locked” at this point and players may not comment at all. Instead, players with night actions, special abilities related to their role, may use these to aid their faction. The Mafia also discusses in the private chat on whom to dispose of.

 

The game continues until one of the major factions attains their win condition or unless it is no longer possible.

 

 

"But why are we here, you ask? Well..." [Narrative]

Spoiler

 

Here at the regal Roswell Manor, we take pleasure in providing the pinnacle of entertainment to our guests. From party games to poker, from blackjack to bingo, we aim to please all lovers of entertainment.

 

But lately some among our guests have been looking for a more dangerous game, and one that lets them truly show off how much smarter they are than their compatriots. This game of ours was created in order to satisfy that desire.

 

Our game on this occasion emulates a battle between the upper class, whose connections control all that those underneath them can do, and the working class, whose anger at the upper class wears may ending up saving them in the end.

 

But, when the nobility acts like they are themselves the working class, who can you trust? Who will prove themselves here, I wonder? 

 

 

"Now, we get to the fun bit!" [Roles and Mechanics]

Spoiler

 

This game will have 13 players, with roles divided up into 3 distinct categories: Labourers, Specialists, and Nobles.

 

Labourers (The "Vanilla Townies") - 7 players:
"A common worker, with no particular qualities here except for their anger against the Nobles."

 

The Labourers have no special roles (considered a "Vanilla Townie" in common parlance). They win when every Noble has been eliminated and at least one Labourer or Specialist is still alive.

 

Nobles (The "Mafia") - 3 players:
"The members of the upper class, despised by those underneath them."

 

Due to their connections to each other, the nobles are able to communicate with each other, apart from the other members of the game. IN addition, each night, one of the Nobles may assassinate one of the other players (known as the "factional kill"). Finally, before the game properly begins, the mafia will decide the potential roles that the Specialists will have.

 

Beyond this, the Nobles have no individual abilities (they are "Mafia Goons", so to speak).

 

The Nobles win when every Labourer and Specialist has been eliminated, or when there is no measure by which the Labourers and Specialists can prevent this from occurring.

 

Specialists (The "Town Power Roles") - 3 players:
"A worker whose talents has given them something they can contribute in the fight against the nobility."

 

The Specialists will each have one out of 3 of these 5 roles, as chosen by the Nobles before the game begins. The 3 roles chosen for this will not be revealed when the Nobles choose them, only when the Specialist dies or when The Trusted asks to be revealed.

The Talents 

Spoiler

 

1. The Trusted (The "Innocent Child")
"This one is known for his honesty and integrity, and can be trusted as one of the workers."

 

Once, at any point during the game, the Trusted may message me directly to reveal themselves. When they do, I will reveal their identity to all other players.

 

2. The Observant (The "Tracker")
"This one is known for their quick wits, and ability to identify where someone has been... and what they've done."

 

During each night, the Observant can track ones of their fellow players, discovering which player (if any) that person visited during that night.

 

3. The Truthseeker (The "One-Shot Cop")
"This one is very suspicious, and will not rest until they find out whether the object of their suspicions is on their side."

 

Once during the game, on any night, the Truthseeker can investigate one player, and be informed if they are a Worker or a Noble. The Truthseeker will not be informed as to whether or not that player is a Labourer or a Specialist, however.

 

4. The Keeper (The "Jailor")
"This one is very good at making sure everyone keeps working, both preventing them from flourishing, but also protecting them from the others."

 

During each night, the Keeper can "jail" another player, preventing them from taking an action that night, but additionally protecting them from 1 attack that night.

 

5. The Assassin (The "Two-Shot Vigilante")
"Originally brought in to silence dissent, this one now hunts the nobles instead, with a gun hidden from view."

 

Twice during the game, on any given night, the Assassin may attempt to kill another player.

 

 

The Specialists are on the same team as the Labourers, and as such share the same win condition.

 

 

"Here's a few more things to mention before we begin. Don't worry, it won't take too long" [Other Rules]

Spoiler

 

1. The Reborn Community Rules apply here. Double posting is allowed.

2. All Player Discussion must be kept in the thread. The mafia private chat can also be utilized. Any other form of communication outside of those will result in a modkill.

3. Day Phase usually lasts for 48 hours. Players must make at least 2 posts, and must vote in some fashion. Failure to fulfill this requirement will result in a warning, followed by replacement or modkilling.

4. Voting for elimination is done in this format [Vote] Player. To remove your vote, use [Unvote] Player. Each player must vote (and cannot abstain) but can vote for No Lynch. 

5. Night Phase usually lasts for 24 hours. During that time you are not allowed to post in the thread. As with failure to meet post requirements, posting during the night results, in a warning, followed by a modkill.

6. Sharing of Role PMs/DMs in any form is not allowed, and leads to instant modkill.

7. If you are eliminated in any way, you may leave a final post, which cannot contain any information pertinent information to the game.

8. Actions, Day or Night, should be sent via Discord ((Ross) 404 Hope Not Found#1114, for those who aren't aware).

9. Editing of posts is discouraged. Minor corrections are fine, but you're better of using multiple posts. Quote or Highlight your previous posts to show changes, if you need to.

10. The game will start with a Pregame Phase, where the mafia members are given their role, and asked to choose the 3 roles the Specialists will have, followed by a starting Day Phase.

11. Upon a player's death, both that player's alignment and role will be revealed.

12. The order of operations at night is as follows: Keeper->Innocent Child -> Truthseeker -> All attacks -> Watcher.

12. Good luck, and have fun~

 

...so, shall we begin?

 

Participants:

1. L'Belle
2. Walpurgis
3. Psychic Sheep 
4. Purplecicada
5. DigitalAmber
6. Jason Grace
7. Alistair
8. Alaris
9. LykosHand
10. Caimie
11. Seal
12. Jace Stormkirk

13. Andracass

 

Jurors:

1. ShadedMud

2. Bam the 25th (AKA Amine)

[L'Belle]

Man, i'm so excited for a back to the basics game where I survive! In.

[Walpurgis]

I'll play

[Chickens]

Spoiler

THE mental features discoursed of as the analytical, are, in themselves, but little susceptible of analysis. We appreciate them only in their effects. We know of them, among other things, that they are always to their possessor, when inordinately possessed, a source of the liveliest enjoyment. As the strong man exults in his physical ability, delighting in such exercises as call his muscles into action, so glories the analyst in that moral activity which disentangles. He derives pleasure from even the most trivial occupations bringing his talent into play. He is fond of enigmas, of conundrums, of hieroglyphics; exhibiting in his solutions of each a degree of acumen which appears to the ordinary apprehension pr�ternatural. His results, brought about by the very soul and essence of method, have, in truth, the whole air of intuition.

    The faculty of re-solution is possibly much invigorated by mathematical study, and especially by that highest branch of it which, unjustly, and merely on account of its retrograde operations, has been called, as if par excellence, analysis. Yet to calculate is not in itself to analyse. A chess-player, for example, does the one without effort at the other. It follows that the game of chess, in its effects upon mental character, is greatly misunderstood. I am not now writing a treatise, but simply prefacing a somewhat peculiar narrative by observations very much at random; I will, therefore, take occasion to assert that the higher powers of the reflective intellect are more decidedly and more usefully tasked by the unostentatious game of draughts than by all the elaborate frivolity of chess. In this latter, where the pieces have different and bizarre motions, with various and variable values, what is only complex is mistaken (a not unusual error) for what is profound. The attention is here called powerfully into play. If it flag for an instant, an oversight is committed, resulting in injury or defeat. The possible moves being not only manifold but involute, the chances of such oversights are multiplied; and in nine cases out of ten it is the more concentrative rather than the more acute player who conquers. In draughts, on the contrary, where the moves are unique and have but little variation, the probabilities of inadvertence are diminished, and the mere attention being left comparatively unemployed, what advantages are obtained by either party are obtained by superior acumen. To be less abstract --Let us suppose a game of draughts where the pieces are reduced to four kings, and where, of course, no oversight is to be expected. It is obvious that here the victory can be decided (the players being at all equal) only by some recherche movement, the result of some strong exertion of the intellect. Deprived of ordinary resources, the analyst throws himself into the spirit of his opponent, identifies himself therewith, and not unfrequently sees thus, at a glance, the sole methods (sometimes indeed absurdly simple ones) by which he may seduce into error or hurry into miscalculation.

    Whist has long been noted for its influence upon what is termed the calculating power; and men of the highest order of intellect have been known to take an apparently unaccountable delight in it, while eschewing chess as frivolous. Beyond doubt there is nothing of a similar nature so greatly tasking the faculty of analysis. The best chess-player in Christendom may be little more than the best player of chess; but proficiency in whist implies capacity for success in all those more important undertakings where mind struggles with mind. When I say proficiency, I mean that perfection in the game which includes a comprehension of all the sources whence legitimate advantage may be derived. These are not only manifold but multiform, and lie frequently among recesses of thought altogether inaccessible to the ordinary understanding. To observe attentively is to remember distinctly; and, so far, the concentrative chess-player will do very well at whist; while the rules of Hoyle (themselves based upon the mere mechanism of the game) are sufficiently and generally comprehensible. Thus to have a retentive memory, and to proceed by "the book," are points commonly regarded as the sum total of good playing. But it is in matters beyond the limits of mere rule that the skill of the analyst is evinced. He makes, in silence, a host of observations and inferences. So, perhaps, do his companions; and the difference in the extent of the information obtained, lies not so much in the validity of the inference as in the quality of the observation. The necessary knowledge is that of what to observe. Our player confines himself not at all; nor, because the game is the object, does he reject deductions from things external to the game. He examines the countenance of his partner, comparing it carefully with that of each of his opponents. He considers the mode of assorting the cards in each hand; often counting trump by trump, and honor by honor, through the glances bestowed by their holders upon each. He notes every variation of face as the play progresses, gathering a fund of thought from the differences in the expression of certainty, of surprise, of triumph, or of chagrin. From the manner of gathering up a trick he judges whether the person taking it can make another in the suit. He recognises what is played through feint, by the air with which it is thrown upon the table. A casual or inadvertent word; the accidental dropping or turning of a card, with the accompanying anxiety or carelessness in regard to its concealment; the counting of the tricks, with the order of their arrangement; embarrassment, hesitation, eagerness or trepidation --all afford, to his apparently intuitive perception, indications of the true state of affairs. The first two or three rounds having been played, he is in full possession of the contents of each hand, and thenceforward puts down his cards with as absolute a precision of purpose as if the rest of the party had turned outward the faces of their own.

    The analytical power should not be confounded with simple ingenuity; for while the analyst is necessarily ingenious, the ingenious man is often remarkably incapable of analysis. The constructive or combining power, by which ingenuity is usually manifested, and to which the phrenologists (I believe erroneously) have assigned a separate organ, supposing it a primitive faculty, has been so frequently seen in those whose intellect bordered otherwise upon idiocy, as to have attracted general observation among writers on morals. Between ingenuity and the analytic ability there exists a difference far greater, indeed, than that between the fancy and the imagination, but of a character very strictly analogous. It will be found, in fact, that the ingenious are always fanciful, and the truly imaginative never otherwise than analytic.
 

 

[cicada]

wow you're old af now.

 

Sign me up.

[DigitalAmber]

God this is so small. 

 

Nicki signs up not even an hour after Venus... hmmm...

 

In

[cicada]

Shut up, Amber.

[Daniel Blackworth]

In

[Alistair]

I'm in

[Alaris]

in please make me mafia and break the dreadful 11-games-being-town-or-3rd-party-streak

[LykosHand]

I'm in  

[Caimie]

I'm in !!

[Seal]

Sign me in!

[Jace Stormkirk]

i am in 

[andracass]

fine.

sure.

whatever.

[Roswell]

And with that, we have 13 players. Still looking for Jurors, but Jason Grace said I can start without them for now, so the roles will be sent out soon~

[Roswell]

PREGAME PHASE

 

OK, the roles should have been handed out to everyone via Discord DM (I don't think I missed anyone, but let me know if I did with your Discord name) so now the Pregame has begun!

 

During the Pregame, the Nobles will choose the 3 roles that will dispersed amongst the Specialists (Note that the Specialists have been informed that they are Specialists, but not what role they have been given yet).

 

After that, Day 0 will begin!

 

Participants:

1. L'Belle
2. Walpurgis
3. Psychic Sheep (...I think)
4. Purplecicada
5. DigitalAmber
6. Jason Grace
7. Alistair
8. Alaris
9. LykosHand
10. Caimie
11. Seal
12. Jace Stormkirk

13. Andracass

 

Jurors (Still looking for some  )

1.

2.

 

[Roswell]

DAY ZERO

 

'Twas a normal working day for most of the workers in a run-down factory, out in the middle of nowhere. Well, beyond the fact that these workers were on strike, feeling that the noble class who were reaping most of the rewards from their work had done nothing to earn the money they were making for them, and that they deserved more (what said "more" was referring to varied from person to person, naturally). Indeed, right now, most of them were just wandering around the factory, striking up conversation and finding ways to entertain themselves.

 

However, this all changed when one of the workers came in, having intercepted a letter between two Nobles, referring to a plan to have some of their own hide amongst the more outspoken leaders of the strike and assassinate them, in order to end the strike and get the workers back to work and making them a profit.

 

Once news of this plot reached said leaders, rather than descend into anarchy and break the leadership, the group came together and, all meeting together one day, decided to use the opportunity they had been given. After all, they now knew that, of the thirteen of the leaders present, three of them were acting against the interests of the rest. If they could identify and kill them, then not only would the integrity of the strike be regained, but they'd show that they meant business and, perhaps convince those in power to actually meet their demands.

 

And so, this tale of the battle between Workers and Nobles begins...

 

Day 0 will end at 8pm July 31st BST (approximately 48 hours from now). Don't forget post requirements.

 

Players (13/13 alive):

1. L'Belle
2. Walpurgis
3. Psychic Sheep
4. Purplecicada
5. DigitalAmber
6. Jason Grace
7. Alistair
8. Alaris
9. LykosHand
10. Caimie
11. Seal
12. Jace Stormkirk

13. Andracass

 

Still looking for Jurors, if anyone is interested!

[Caimie]

Here we go bois

[cicada]

Hello my lovelies.

[Alistair]

owo yay it begins!

 

There isn't a whole lot we can discuss for now, but if I understand correctly, only 3 townies have special roles chosen among 5 possibilities by the mafs. I think it would be interesting to try and determine which roles we are likely to have on our side. Here's my opinion about it.

 

The Trusted: Likely to have been chosen. Although they can make a difference by revealing themselves (and therefore avoid a mislynch or reduce the number of suspects) at the right time, this ability is not quite as powerful as investigating, jailing or killing other players. Besides, their ability being a one-shot thing, it can be lost forever if they are killed early. It would make sense for the mafs to allow a Trusted to exist, compared to most other roles.

 

The Observant: Good chance. Tracker roles can sure be quite useful to expose a maf killer, but in my experience they can also spend entire games without finding anything interesting (unlike a detective type of person, who can at least attest that someone is innocent even if they don't manage to expose a maf). This one can go either way, but I personally think it has been picked.

 

The Truthseeker: Unlikely. It's one role we shouldn't really count on in my opinion; given that it can potentially pinpoint a maf with absolute certainty, I highly doubt they allowed it to exist. Even if they did, the Truthseeker can also die before being able to use their ability if they're unlucky.

 

The Keeper: Middling chance. This role can be very powerful (protecting a townie, or preventing a maf from performing their kill) but they can also potentially handicap the town by blocking one of the other Specialists. For this reason, it might not be such a terrible idea for the mafs to have chosen this role. Still, the Keeper is hands down one of the most powerful players in this set up, so friend, if you exist, take care.

 

The Assassin: Unlikely. In theory, the same logic would apply to the assassin: they can handicap the town as much as they can help it, so why not allow one to exist? But in this case, I think it's just too risky. The assassin has 2 shots; if one of them hits a maf, that would be a tough blow. If by extraordinary luck both do, it would be devastating. In the eyes of a mafioso, an assassin is probably way too dangerous to be allowed the chance to exist.

On the other hand, if an Assassin does exist, I think that means we are opposed to mafs who are experienced and confident in their ability to stay hidden.

 

In short, I believe we are likely to have a Trusted, an Observant, and maybe a Keeper. It is possible the third one might be a Truthseeker if they mafs felt confident it would be less of a hindrance than a Keeper though.

[andracass]

I pretty much agree with Ali. The assassin and the truthseeker would both be the most powerful roles here, so they're probably not in the game.

[Alaris]

Hi there~

 

I also agree with Ali. Picking the truthseeker or the assassin is only useful (for the Mafia) if they don't use their ability because they're not sure about who might be scum. So they may have picked them only if they think that can blend among the townies quite well. If I had to bet on one of the two, I'd say that the assassin is the most likely among the two, since the truthseeker can have the mafia kill guaranteed if he picks the right target to investigate, whereas the assassin always shoots without confirmation of the alignment of their target.

 

The Keeper is also probable because, as in the killing roles, they may choose not to jail unless they're very sure of their target. They basically act as a doctor that roleblocks their target and the actions directed to them.

 

And I guess that the Trusted and the Observant are bound to be picked because they are the less threatening for the Mafia, as the Observant must pick the scum who will perform the kill, and the Trusted is only useful to avoid a mislynch, as Ali said above.

 

So: Trusted, Observant, and Assassin or Keeper.

[DigitalAmber]

The assassin is a double edged sword that can be powerful late game with accurate scum reads, but before then it is honestly a town threat. Fair warning, I will be kinda inactive this game due to life. 

[Chickens]

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh