The voyage of the Fridtjof Nansen did not start well. The first two systems visited had no signs that the colony ships had ever arrived. The third, unfortunately, had. Without clear survey data, there had been no way to tell that the life-bearing planet of that system was too far inside the Goldilocks zone to support human life, as temperatures regularly neared the boiling point on all of the planet's land masses. Faced with a choice between a fast, hot death and a slow, cold one, the colonists had attempted to hold out as long as possible, putting as many of them into hibernation as possible while waiting for rescue. The life support systems had given out decades before, though, and all that was left waiting for the Nansen was an orbiting tomb, filled with even more casualties of the War.
It was with a sense of relief, then, that they entered the fourth system on their voyage to find both an inhabitable planet and the beacon of a colony ship in orbit around it. This relief deepened into wonder as more exact scans showed signs of cultivation and animal pastures scattered all over one of the major land masses, while also showing almost none of the expected by-products of an industrial society. How had the colonists managed to expand so far while still reverting to an agrarian society? How had they done so well without also damaging their surroundings? This was a question that would not be answered until the survey team finally made contact with the joyful colonists.
The colonist ship sent to Garama was one of the last and one of the best-equipped. When they arrived, they found to their surprise and delight that many of the native life-forms had powers that let them manipulate their surroundings (and the other life-forms near them) using their minds. Predators that could cloud the mind of their prey, or freeze them in place. Pack animals that could fly themselves or others across ravines to aid in migration. Flying creatures that could teleport out of danger, and so on. The colonists set their top minds onto this puzzle, and with tools that had been intended to identify and defeat plagues they were able to isolate the genes that enabled these abilities. More - they were able to retrofit them to the human genome, and allow the colonists (and, later, their descendants) many of the same abilities. An unexpected but welcome additional ability came to be known as the Connection. Two people could form a Connection that would boost the abilities of one of them while not adversely affecting the other. Because of this, people would offer each other boosts, and then (with the other's agreement) flip the Connection back the other way to also share the extra power. With this sharing at the core of their society, the Garamans were able to build a better world than they had ever expected.
Despite this, they were overjoyed to finally reestablish contact with Earth. It was quickly decided that some would return as representatives, to speak for Garama on the homeworld. Here, though, matters became complicated. Garama had no true central authority, and some fifty communities each wanted to send someone. After much discussion, the Life Sciences officer on the Nansen promised that they would be able to return to Earth if loaded with no more than two dozen people, and so seventeen Garamans would be able to travel with them. Several days later, the Terrans received the representatives, lodging them in temporary accomodations freed up by leaving one of their shuttles behind. Farewells were made, and what many saw as the first interplanetary ambassadorial mission departed.
The trip back to Earth was scheduled to be three weeks long. Despite the crowded conditions, and the fretting of some, no serious problems were forecast. Most looked forward to the journey as a chance to continue to learn and relearn from the other culture. A deeping of bonds, and a joining of spirit. However, as has happened so often in human history, there were those who were not content with rewards of knowledge and soul. There were those who lusted for a more tangible payoff for their part in this historic voyage - and who found others of like mind.
As has happened so often in human history, a peaceful time was ruined because, whatever type of human was involved - young or old; male or female; for the first time ever, Terran or Garaman - whatever type of human was involved, they were, in the end, only human.
[1a] I expect you to follow the spirit of the rules as well as the letter. If you think you've found a loophole that will get you around a rule, and you try to exploit it, the most likely outcome is a modkill for you. Don't be afraid to PM me to ask if something's okay, but be prepared to hear "No."
[1b] If you believe I have made a mistake, or if you require clarification on anything, feel free to inquire about it either in-thread or via PM. I will respond in the same manner. Don't be surprised, though, if my response is "You already have all the information I am going to provide." Also, questions to the mod in-thread should be prefaced with Mod: in order to get my attention.
[1c] This game is intended to be played. Please make an effort to follow along and contribute on a regular basis. If you do not believe that you will be able to do so, contact me privately and I will see if I can get you replaced. I won't be happy, but it's better than having an inactive player in the game.
[1d] Once you are dead, you are dead. Do not post anything further - not even "Damn, I'm dead" or "Go town!"
[1e] Do not use your avatar, custom title, or sig to convey information - these are too easy to change. Likewise, do not post a link to any information that can be easily modified.
[1f] Do not discuss the game with anyone unless your role PM specifically allows you to do so. This includes via e-mail or PM, or in real life.
Section 2: Role PMs
[2a] Role PMs contain several parts. The first line will welcome you to the game and tell you your character name, race, affiliation, and role. For example:
Welcome to Symbiote Mafia, Dagger. You are Andrej Masaryk, Terran Townie Example.
An italicized section will follow with a brief background on your character. All following paragraphs will be rules text.
[2b] You are allowed to quote from the first line of your role PM only. (Note that you can lie while doing so if you want.) Quoting from any other part of your role PM will be cause for immediate modkill. Any additional information that you want to reveal must be paraphrased - put into your own words, rather than mine.
[2c] The two available races are Terran and Garaman. Garamans are described in Section 4; Terrans are described in Section 5.
[2d] The townie win condition is: "You win the game when there are no scum left alive."
Section 3: Mechanics
[3a] At night, nobody may post in this thread. You may not communicate with other players unless specifically informed in your role PM that you are allowed to. Some of you will have actions that you may or must take at night; please try to get these decisions to me promptly, including, if you have an optional action that you choose not to use, the choice to do nothing. Once all actions are in, result PMs from the night will be sent out and the morning scene will be posted.
[3b] During the day, players may talk freely by posting in this thread. Players who may communicate privately may continue to do so during the day. A day will end when the majority of players vote to lynch a person; this will put us into twilight, during which you may continue to discuss. Once the lynch scene is posted, all discussion must cease, as the game proceeds to night. Numbers required for lynch will be provided at the start of the day and with each votecount.
[3c] Votes must be bolded and must be in the form vote: RobRoy or vote: no lynch. If you are changing your vote, you do not need to unvote; however this can be used when you wish to not vote for anyone.
[3d] When a player dies, I will provide that character's name, race, affiliation, and role in the death scene. No further game information will be provided.
[3e] Never edit your posts - not even lightning edits for grammar, spelling or BBCode screwups. Double- or triple-posting is preferred. Violation of this rule may result in modkill.
[3f] Never post in invisitext. Violation of this rule may also result in modkill.
[3g] There will be an automatic deadline for each day: three weeks for the first day, seventeen days for the second and two weeks for all subsequent days. If the deadline is reached, the day ends without a lynch. Deadlines may be extended at the mod's discretion.
[3i] You may vote not to lynch anyone. A majority vote: no lynch will end the day without a lynch.
Section 4: Garamans
[4a] The Garamans are a race of genetically modified humans with psionic powers. They are able to do this on their own, but they also have the ability to make a Connection to another person to draw on additional power - with that person's consent. Each Garaman character will have two sets of abilities listed. The first set may be used at any time; the second set (labelled Powered) will either add on to or modify the first, and is only available when they are Connected to another player who is providing this additional power.
[4b] The Connection requires two participants. The player initiating the Connection is known as the Symbiote; the one accepting the Connection is the Host. Once the Connection is made, the Symbiote is Powered, and may use their extra abilities. The Host, while providing the additional power, is still able to retain enough to use their normal abilities, and so does not suffer any ill effects from the Connection. However, the Connection can leave you vulnerable to the other person - be careful who you trust.
[4c] A given player may only be involved in one Connection at a time. Thus a player who is currently either a Symbiote or a Host may not become involved in a different Connection (as either Symbiote or Host) without breaking the one they are in.
[4d] Each Garaman may initiate one Connection per game day. They do so by PMing their intended Host and me. Both the title and the body of the PM should read "Connection request". Nothing else can be in the PM. If the Garaman was previously involved in a Connection, this will cause that to be broken off.
[4e] If the Host wishes to accept the Connection, they should respond to the PM, both to the Symbiote and to me. Both the title and the body of the PM should read "Connection accepted". At this point, if the Host was previously involved in a Connection, that original Connection will be broken off. The new Connection will be established, and will persist until one of the participants dies or the Connection is broken off.
[4f] If the Host does not wish to accept the Connection, they may respond to the PM, both to the Symbiote and to me. Both the title and the body of the PM should read "Connection rejected". Any Connection request that has not been accepted by the end of the day will also be considered to be rejected.
[4g] This point is being reiterated for clarity. The PM to ask for a Connection is used only to request the Connection, using the format listed above. The PM to accept a Connection is used only to accept the Connection, using the format listed above. The PM to reject a Connection is used only to reject the Connection, using the format listed above. They must not be used to convey any other information. Violation of this rule will result in modkill.
[4h] A Garaman who is in a Connection, either as Host or Symbiote, may break off the Connection at any point during the day by PMing me.
[4i] Twilight is still considered to be part of the day, so Connections may still be made and broken during twilight. Once the lynch scene for a day has been posted, all Connections are locked in until the next morning.
[4j] If a Garaman has a Connection request outstanding that has not been responded to, they may withdraw it at any time by PMing both the original intended Host and myself. Both the title and the body of the PM should read "Connection request withdrawn". Nothing else can be in the PM.
Section 5: Terrans
[5a] The Terran characters are the crew of the Fridtjof Nansen, the survey ship that rediscovered Garama. Each is responsible for use and maintenance of specific systems on board the ship, but they have also cross-trained extensively in case of emergencies. Because of this, they are very familiar with each other, and so their identities are known.
[5b] The crew members are:
Dagger: Andrej Masaryk, Captain (deceased). Overall command and oversight.
ZeDorkSlipeur: Major Narinder Singh, XO/Weapons Officer. 2nd in command; ship's weaponry; security.
Cantripmancer: Eiji Hoshino, Pilot. Plotting and helm for the ship; piloting of the shuttles; EVAs.
AsianInvasion: Alessandra de Medici, Data. Data analysis; computer systems.
KeyofDestiny: Hamish McClellan, Engineer. Maintenance of all ship's systems, together with those systems' specialists; power systems; propulsion.
Emo_Pinata: Elia Malawsky, Life Sciences. Life support; hydroponics.
ChrisXIV: Ka-Ping Wu, Medical. Crew health, physical and psychological.
Any player whose name is not listed here is a Garaman.
[5c] Terran characters may act as Hosts for a Connection, but unlike Garamans, are unable to voluntarily break the Connection. However, if they are acting as a Host and a second Connection request comes in, they may switch to this new Connection.
Section 6: Starting the Game
[6a] Before the game starts, I will expect each player to PM me back once they receive their role PM to confirm receipt. Once they do, players who are able to communicate privately may do so.
[6b] Once all players have confirmed, or 24 hours have passed, I will announce in the thread that Day 1 has started. Once I have made this announcement the game will begin and you may begin posting in this thread.
The Garamans milled around uncertainly. Why had they been woken up abruptly? Why were they being confined to the one room? Well, Elder Sammon would deal with it - he was the only one missing, after all.
Things didn't truly become ominous until the crew of the Fridtjof Nansen filed into the room as well - without Elder Sammon, or the captain. Major Singh - unusually wearing his uniform - immediately stepped forwards and announced, "Between 0200 and 0300 this morning, Captain Masaryk and Elder Sammon were murdered."
Pandemonium ensued. Questions, demands, threats, recriminations, and more questions were screamed across the room. Singh watched the mob for a moment, then bellowed, "Quiet!" After a moment the crowd subsided enough for him to continue delivering the bad news.
"Around that same time, many of the ship's systems were sabotaged. The drives have been shut down. The main computer systems are locked out. The armory is inaccessible. Whoever did this was trying to cripple any possible way for us to determine who they were, and also prevent a response that could damage them. It is unknown at this time how long it will take to work around these failures, and we also have no clues why our leaders were killed.
"However, for all this damage, we are still fundamentally sound. Life support and the oxygen garden are untouched. Communications are down, but we can rig a distress beacon before reaching Earth. When we fly past Earth's pickets, they will be able to send someone to rescue us. Until then," Singh glared at the Garamans clustered around him, "we will do absolutely nothing. Nobody - Terran or Garaman - will move around the ship unless escorted. We will not provide anyone with the chance to kill again. We just sit and wait."
"No."
It was said simultaneously by at least four Garamans. Singh froze in the process of turning away. After a moment, one of the Garamans stepped forward to speak.
"While we appreciate that you wish to control the situation, we have our own traditions for this. While it may seem barbaric, we have always found that the only way to root out a conspiracy in a case like this is to allow them their chance. Many will die, true, but on Garama, dead men do tell tales, and we," he gestured around him, "will know - know for sure - which of the dead were behind this. At the end of this ordeal, those left will have been purified, and the evil will have been discarded. It has always been thus. It must be so again."
The Terrans looked around. Outnumbered and unsure, none of them moved to argue with the unified Garamans. Singh made eye contact with each of them in turn, and then turned back to the Garaman standing in front of him. "What do you call this... tradition?"
"Mafia."
--
Before beginning the game, I will again ask all players to read the rules. Pay special attention to rules [4d] through [4g], as I am serious about the possibility of modkills for violating these rules.
It is now Day 1. With 22 players alive, it is 12 votes to lynch. The deadline for the day has been set for 5 pm Eastern on Wednesday, June 2nd.
Post #3 will be updated as the game progresses to always have a complete player list. Please refer to this post whenever you need this information.
Terrans -6
ZeDorkSlipeur: Major Narinder Singh, XO/Weapons Officer. 2nd in command; ship's weaponry; security.
Cantripmancer: Eiji Hoshino, Pilot. Plotting and helm for the ship; piloting of the shuttles; EVAs.
AsianInvasion: Alessandra de Medici, Data. Data analysis; computer systems.
KeyofDestiny: Hamish McClellan, Engineer. Maintenance of all ship's systems, together with those systems' specialists; power systems; propulsion.
Emo_Pinata: Elia Malawsky, Life Sciences. Life support; hydroponics.
ChrisXIV: Ka-Ping Wu, Medical. Crew health, physical and psychological.
We're going to want to establish a protocol for connecting to hosts, and we're also going to want to avoid making whether you're a host or symbiote public.
Most likely, the players with the least powered abilities are going to want to be hosts, while the most-powered players will want to be symbiotes. If that information goes public, the mafia have a better idea who might be more important to kill.
Unfortunately, the mafia probably have the best shot of figuring out that information, if we're not careful. If the mafia coordinate amongst themselves, they can identify players who consistently refuse connections as potential power roles. That's bad times.
We can try to get around this a few ways.
1.We can set up a system where players trade off activating powered abilities for one another. Unfortunately, this might mean that we only get to power up half the time.
2. We can set up a system where our most scummy players have to serve as hosts instead of symbiotes. However, if the vulnerability to connections that the mod hinted at goes both ways, we may want to isolate scummy players entirely.
3. We could have a limited number of players that wish to be hosts volunteer. That would help identify our players with weaker powered-roles, and aid process of elimination for the scum, but it would help ensure that the town can consistently activate its powers.
4. It practically goes without saying, but the town should form a "do-not-connect" list, as we accumulate folks we don't trust.
I am rejecting any connection requests that are directed my way this game. So no need to waste your time asking.
I have no opinion about creating some kind of "protocol" for requests either. The way I read the rules, it's impossible to "force" someone to connect with you. And even if they accept, they can drop you later and you wouldn't even necessarily know about it (unless you are a Terran, I guess). Even then, a scum Terran could get another scum to make another request to him and break it that way. My feeling is that it's mostly just going to be a trust thing, at least at first.
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Quote from Bateleur »
Ambush Krotiq makes me laugh so much. I keep rereading the card and it keeps not having Flash. In what sense is this an ambush again? I just have visions of this huge Krotiq poorly concealed in some bushes, feeling slightly sad that his carefully planned ambushes never seem to work.
I disagree with this hypothesis. There may very well be players who are weak in their base form and become strong when connected to a host, or players who are strong in their base form but don't gain much from their host. In fact, if anything, it would be more logical for low-powered players to want to be symbiotes, in order to maximise the pair's overall power.
Quite so. But in most cases, I would suspect the town's most powerful abilities are its powered abilities, and thus the abilities the scum are most concerned with hunting down and eliminating. We don't want to make that job any easier for them.
I am rejecting any connection requests that are directed my way this game. So no need to waste your time asking.
I have no opinion about creating some kind of "protocol" for requests either. The way I read the rules, it's impossible to "force" someone to connect with you. And even if they accept, they can drop you later and you wouldn't even necessarily know about it (unless you are a Terran, I guess). Even then, a scum Terran could get another scum to make another request to him and break it that way. My feeling is that it's mostly just going to be a trust thing, at least at first.
Trusting the person you're connecting to isn't the biggest issue, though preventing gullible townies from getting suckered is likely of some concern. But the biggest issue is that the scum can use knowledge of who is acting as a host or symbiote to gauge where our power roles are.
Vote ZeBorkSlipbad I hear their names all start with Z.
A very cheery gracias to Azrael for the comprehensive list of players/sides and concepts. As for getting around scum figuring out power levels based on refusals and acceptances:
As a (Terran) player with obvious space in his head (more than your average bear, some would argue), I admit to some trepidation of having my mind inhabited, particularly by someone who may be scum. No offense, but both flavorfully and game-wise, I'm not open for business. At least not yet.
Vote ZeBorkSlipbad I hear their names all start with Z.
A very cheery gracias to Azrael for the comprehensive list of players/sides and concepts.
Brown noser.
Quote from Cantripmancer »
As for getting around scum figuring out power levels based on refusals and acceptances:
As a (Terran) player with obvious space in his head (more than your average bear, some would argue), I admit to some trepidation of having my mind inhabited, particularly by someone who may be scum. No offense, but both flavorfully and game-wise, I'm not open for business. At least not yet.
The second paragraph isn't an answer to the first one...
[quote=Cantripmancer
@Axelrod: Why close all doors with such finality?[/QUOTE]
Good question - but ten Azrael points say he's not going to tell you. Another five says someone calls you on fishing.
It's not temporary, I couldn't get my name changed back so I was proactive about it.
Also, I cannot choose to voluntarily drop someone from being my symbiote, so I'm all for public disclosure. I would hate to accept someone in secret only to regret and and have no way of changing the situation.
As is, I'm curious about how the mechanic works, and want to fire it up.
Despite this, they were overjoyed to finally reestablish contact with Earth. It was quickly decided that some would return as representatives, to speak for Garama on the homeworld. Here, though, matters became complicated. Garama had no true central authority, and some fifty communities each wanted to send someone. After much discussion, the Life Sciences officer on the Nansen promised that they would be able to return to Earth if loaded with no more than two dozen people, and so seventeen Garamans would be able to travel with them. Several days later, the Terrans received the representatives, lodging them in temporary accomodations freed up by leaving one of their shuttles behind. Farewells were made, and what many saw as the first interplanetary ambassadorial mission departed.
We have only 16 listed Garamans....
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Quote from Bateleur »
Ambush Krotiq makes me laugh so much. I keep rereading the card and it keeps not having Flash. In what sense is this an ambush again? I just have visions of this huge Krotiq poorly concealed in some bushes, feeling slightly sad that his carefully planned ambushes never seem to work.
[I]The Garamans milled around uncertainly. Why had they been woken up abruptly? Why were they being confined to the one room? Well, Elder Sammon would deal with it - he was the only one missing, after all.
Things didn't truly become ominous until the crew of the [/I]Fridtjof Nansen[I] filed into the room as well - [/I]without[I] Elder Sammon, or the captain. Major Singh - unusually wearing his uniform - immediately stepped forwards and announced, "Between 0200 and 0300 this morning, Captain Masaryk and Elder Sammon were murdered."
Awww, that doesn't net me any Azrael points, does it?
Quote from Azrael »
The second paragraph isn't an answer to the first one...
It is for me. But that's temporary, as far as I'm concerned, for two reasons: one, I think you're right that the town will have better chances at success if we utilize the mechanic setup that gives the game the distinction. And two, I'd feel like an awful poor sport to sign up for a specialty, then toss all of RobRoy's hard work out the window.
For me, since I have no known benefit of being powered, it makes more sense for the time being to exclude myself from the calculations, but I plan on participating. Axel indicated complete and total shutdown of the system, and he's a Garamon. The only reason I can think of for a Garamon, who has a good example of how a powered ability could better benefit the town, to utterly refuse to be a host would be a fear of what the symbiote could find once connected. And while not completely pointing toward scum, I do find it rather suspicious. Which would be my response to the five points on fishing.
EWP:
@Axel: Good catch on the numbers. @Azrael: Better catch on the plot. (Still not getting any Az-points, am I?)
@ZDS: It wasn't that important, but I didn't want to remember it, then forget the next time! My memory is the suxxors...
And as for accepting a blacklisted symbiote...I don't know if we can so easily define an action like that as a scumtell, but I agree that I would find it suspicious.
Oh. Another reason to make sure we have a coherent plan for symbiote linking: the rules say we can only attempt to initiate one link per day.
So, if you try to link to someone who rejects you, that amounts to a powered ability RB. We'll want to avoid that, so folks should keep their requests in their pants for the time being.
Oh. Another reason to make sure we have a coherent plan for symbiote linking: the rules say we can only attempt to initiate one link per day.
So, if you try to link to someone who rejects you, that amounts to a powered ability RB. We'll want to avoid that, so folks should keep their requests in their pants for the time being.
Agreed.
Although since we have no idea how you folk might have otherwise modified yourselves, let's just keep it all in our pants for the time being, shall we? No need to succumb to cabin fever quite yet...
Terrans -6
ZeDorkSlipeur: Major Narinder Singh, XO/Weapons Officer. 2nd in command; ship's weaponry; security.
Cantripmancer: Eiji Hoshino, Pilot. Plotting and helm for the ship; piloting of the shuttles; EVAs.
AsianInvasion: Alessandra de Medici, Data. Data analysis; computer systems.
KeyofDestiny: Hamish McClellan, Engineer. Maintenance of all ship's systems, together with those systems' specialists; power systems; propulsion.
Emo_Pinata: Elia Malawsky, Life Sciences. Life support; hydroponics.
ChrisXIV: Ka-Ping Wu, Medical. Crew health, physical and psychological.
We're going to want to establish a protocol for connecting to hosts, and we're also going to want to avoid making whether you're a host or symbiote public.
Most likely, the players with the least powered abilities are going to want to be hosts, while the most-powered players will want to be symbiotes. If that information goes public, the mafia have a better idea who might be more important to kill.
Unfortunately, the mafia probably have the best shot of figuring out that information, if we're not careful. If the mafia coordinate amongst themselves, they can identify players who consistently refuse connections as potential power roles. That's bad times.
We can try to get around this a few ways.
1.We can set up a system where players trade off activating powered abilities for one another. Unfortunately, this might mean that we only get to power up half the time.
2. We can set up a system where our most scummy players have to serve as hosts instead of symbiotes. However, if the vulnerability to connections that the mod hinted at goes both ways, we may want to isolate scummy players entirely.
3. We could have a limited number of players that wish to be hosts volunteer. That would help identify our players with weaker powered-roles, and aid process of elimination for the scum, but it would help ensure that the town can consistently activate its powers.
4. It practically goes without saying, but the town should form a "do-not-connect" list, as we accumulate folks we don't trust.
Thoughts?
1. I don't think that swapping around will be a very good idea.
2. I think that this is probably a good idea, it sounds like it's most vulnerable for the host.
3. This sounds like a reasonably good idea, but I think #2 is better.
Most likely, the players with the least powered abilities are going to want to be hosts, while the most-powered players will want to be symbiotes. If that information goes public, the mafia have a better idea who might be more important to kill.
That can lead to a logical fallacy though. Non-town roles, because of their reduced numbers compared to townies, tend to have more powerful roles in games.
Unfortunately, the mafia probably have the best shot of figuring out that information, if we're not careful. If the mafia coordinate amongst themselves, they can identify players who consistently refuse connections as potential power roles. That's bad times.
The mafia by its nature can coordinate better than the town, because of nighttalk at the very least.
We can try to get around this a few ways.
1.We can set up a system where players trade off activating powered abilities for one another. Unfortunately, this might mean that we only get to power up half the time.
This likely leads to randomly powering up players whose alignments are unknown. Not a really appealing option.
2. We can set up a system where our most scummy players have to serve as hosts instead of symbiotes. However, if the vulnerability to connections that the mod hinted at goes both ways, we may want to isolate scummy players entirely.
Unless a scum buddy establishes a connection to them, then our work's wasted. Plus, what if the scum kill method is for them to serve as a host. I think Axelrod has the right idea regarding connections right now.
3. We could have a limited number of players that wish to be hosts volunteer. That would help identify our players with weaker powered-roles, and aid process of elimination for the scum, but it would help ensure that the town can consistently activate its powers.
Unless the scum tend to volunteer, and powering them up gives them unpleasant things like extra kills.
4. It practically goes without saying, but the town should form a "do-not-connect" list, as we accumulate folks we don't trust.
See the comment for #2 above....
Metagaming though would be that the town need to make SOME connections to have a decent chance at victory. If only the scum power themselves up (and most likely the scum are distributed among the Terrans and Garamans), it's probably going to be tough for the town.
Fos: Azrael for voting me for a lame random vote (that I'm keeping because it's not entirely random).
Expound on this, please. E_P was in my first game of mafia, then I lost track of him, then I discovered that I had been playing with him as shibui without realizing it. It wasn't a silly question; it seemed very odd to me for him to be swapping back and forth (although I admit that I like Emo_Pinata better than shibui).
Quote from ZDS »
And because I don't see how Terrans disclosing whether they are free can hurt (it doesn't say anything about our roles).
I don't know that Terrans disclosing that they are free can hurt this early in the game, but identifying any connections runs some risk of giving the scum information about who might be more or less powerful. I'm surprised that you don't agree with this, and I'm wondering whether your misrep of Azrael's assertion was intentional.
The mafia by its nature can coordinate better than the town, because of nighttalk at the very least.
No reason to help them, though.
Quote from ~Tilde~ »
Unless a scum buddy establishes a connection to them, then our work's wasted. Plus, what if the scum kill method is for them to serve as a host. I think Axelrod has the right idea regarding connections right now.
Unless the scum tend to volunteer, and powering them up gives them unpleasant things like extra kills.
Erm...the rules seem to indicate that hosts don't become "powered" from the connection, so scum volunteering to host wouldn't grant extra powers, as far as we know, beyond whatever information might leak (if info leaks both ways).
And obviously any submission to a "do-not-connect" list would be scrutinized and evaluated the same as any other info, not blindly followed.
In my defense, RR made the first post yesterday and the thing about the dead Garaman just a little bit ago.
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Quote from Bateleur »
Ambush Krotiq makes me laugh so much. I keep rereading the card and it keeps not having Flash. In what sense is this an ambush again? I just have visions of this huge Krotiq poorly concealed in some bushes, feeling slightly sad that his carefully planned ambushes never seem to work.
That can lead to a logical fallacy though. Non-town roles, because of their reduced numbers compared to townies, tend to have more powerful roles in games.
I'm talking about hiding power roles, not determining alignments.
Quote from Tilde »
The mafia by its nature can coordinate better than the town, because of nighttalk at the very least.
Yes...I agree we can expect that. And that we should take steps to counter it.
Quote from Tilde »
This likely leads to randomly powering up players whose alignments are unknown. Not a really appealing option.
And if we don't keep tabs on this, what do you think is going to happen?
Coming up with a plan is going to prevent indiscriminate power-ups, not encourage them.
Quote from Tilde »
Unless a scum buddy establishes a connection to them, then our work's wasted. Plus, what if the scum kill method is for them to serve as a host. I think Axelrod has the right idea regarding connections right now.
So your argument is that we shouldn't use any of our powered abilities because the scum might get some too?
Let's think how this might play out. The scum get to cooperate with one another, so they can almost certainly hook themselves up, especially if the town drops the ball on monitoring connections.
Meanwhile, we're handing the scum the ultimate powered ability: all townie powered abilities are disabled. Does that sound like a good plan to you? *folds arms*
Quote from Tilde »
Unless the scum tend to volunteer, and powering them up gives them unpleasant things like extra kills.
See the comment for #2 above....
Metagaming though would be that the town need to make SOME connections to have a decent chance at victory. If only the scum power themselves up (and most likely the scum are distributed among the Terrans and Garamans), it's probably going to be tough for the town.
We don't just need to make some connections. We want to max out our powered roles, while avoiding scum contacts as best we can.
Fos: Azrael for voting me for a lame random vote (that I'm keeping because it's not entirely random). And because I don't see how Terrans disclosing whether they are free can hurt (it doesn't say anything about our roles).
Terrans disclosing whether they are free is fine. Feel free to try again.
Publicly discussing an AzPlan Day 1 is just asking the Mafia to hand us our hats heads.
Its also likely to raise irrational fear in some crazy poster (Niv, Tilde, Seppel) who decide to blow az up, and therefore give the mafia a fighting chance
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[19:59] greymon90210: Hey StormBlind how tall are you? "I'm six money *****, don't forget it"
"The Critics always said that we'd only have a black president when pigs flu"...
Hmm... I seem to get into all the fun games with the crazy game mechanics (ala Manipulator).
I think for today, a good rule would be to have no one become a host. I just don't think we have enough info for that to even be a reasonable suggestion at this point. But I think that once we get some more info and are able to tell who we believe is scum and who we believe is town, we should try to power up the ones we think are town. And to that end I am finding Axelrod's no symbiosis ever slightly disturbing, and unless he has a good reason for doing it, I am not liking him currently.
Also I will agree with Cantripmancer, why do you, Axelrod, not want to ever become a symbiote?
Fascinating mix of players here. Haven't played with some of you in ages. Seppel, Toastboy (ok like half a day in Eco's basic doesn't count), Chris, KoD, Tilde...
Axelrod? Have I ever even played with him? ...ah yes, Fleet Mafia.
StormBlind...haven't played with him since that time he made a gimmick just to troll me. Good times.
bolmedias and tordeck are new to me, everyone else I've crossed paths with at least once.
The name Emo_Pinata is better. And it reminds me of the glory of Dictionary Mafia.
It looked great until I saw that one name that would wreck everything. It looks so unassuming, beginning as it does with a lowercase letter. And that's how he lures you into his trap.
Yes, the name I speak of is a sinister one - like Yossarian, filled with many esses (ok, 2.) A sibilant, subversive name, like its owner. And like the angler-fish, his lowercase "d" baits you, allures you, until the capital "C" surges out of nowhere - mouth-looking as the letter is - and swallows you. Verily, the villain I describe is none other than desCoures! VOTE: THAT FIEND!
StormBlind...haven't played with him since that time he made a gimmick just to troll me. Good times.
Hey, you WERE in your "jackass" playstyle at the time ;). Honestly, playstyles like yours and cyans always drove me nuts. Cyan just had this overwhleming degree of arrogance that tended to disarm me a little bit. Yours didnt.
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[19:59] greymon90210: Hey StormBlind how tall are you? "I'm six money *****, don't forget it"
"The Critics always said that we'd only have a black president when pigs flu"...
Publicly discussing an AzPlan Day 1 is just asking the Mafia to hand us our hats heads.
Yes, that's an ideal option, but that's very unlikely to occur Day 1.
The AzPlan wouldn't have failed because it wasn't good, or because the scum could anticipate it. It would have failed because it was good enough that Bat needed to plant a hidden landmine to give the mafia a fighting chance against us.
We're in a modern game with a much different design philosophy. We've gone from a period where the mod pitted himself against the players with hidden mechanics put in place to stop cunning plans, to a period where the mod has publicly disclosed two risks from failing to work together: "vulnerabilities" from picking the wrong person, and losing the chance to use your powered abilities.
You're right, we don't give the mafia the information they need to use this to screw us over. You're right, we don't give them information they can use to anticipate our moves and figure us out.
The problem is, if we don't take action together, they already have all the tools they need to see right through us, peg our connections, and watch us stumble around blindly failing to activate ourselves while they milk their own abilities.
We're not talking about making a plan to create an unfair advantage for ourselves. We're talking about making a plan to keep up with the mafia's next move, and stop it.
Hmm... I seem to get into all the fun games with the crazy game mechanics (ala Manipulator).
I think for today, a good rule would be to have no one become a host. I just don't think we have enough info for that to even be a reasonable suggestion at this point. But I think that once we get some more info and are able to tell who we believe is scum and who we believe is town, we should try to power up the ones we think are town. And to that end I am finding Axelrod's no symbiosis ever slightly disturbing, and unless he has a good reason for doing it, I am not liking him currently.
Also I will agree with Cantripmancer, why do you, Axelrod, not want to ever become a symbiote?
Get stuffed.
Scum.
Vote: Guardman
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Quote from Bateleur »
Ambush Krotiq makes me laugh so much. I keep rereading the card and it keeps not having Flash. In what sense is this an ambush again? I just have visions of this huge Krotiq poorly concealed in some bushes, feeling slightly sad that his carefully planned ambushes never seem to work.
The first part sounds like traditional paranoid Guardman. The second part is pretty bad.
Which part? The me wanting to know why he doesn't want to symbiote? I want to know why because if he has a reason then we should know why and understand why. because the only good reason why I can think of is because it is somehow role related. And if some Terrans are more than just to be hosts and actually can interact with the symbiote in some way, i think that we should know before we have people make random blind connections and get screwed over. But if he is just being, well I wouldn't even call it paranoid (I know paranoid), just being thick-headed, then I think it is more likely he is scum that doesn't want to power up people.
Given his response of "Get stuffed", especially for such a simple question, I think he is more likely scum that doesn't want to power up people.
1.We can set up a system where players trade off activating powered abilities for one another. Unfortunately, this might mean that we only get to power up half the time.
2. We can set up a system where our most scummy players have to serve as hosts instead of symbiotes. However, if the vulnerability to connections that the mod hinted at goes both ways, we may want to isolate scummy players entirely.
Will probably lead to isolation of scummy players anyways, as there is a high chance of either the scummy player rejecting them, or the scummy player accepting the connection (which if they are scum, could be a bad thing).
3. We could have a limited number of players that wish to be hosts volunteer. That would help identify our players with weaker powered-roles, and aid process of elimination for the scum, but it would help ensure that the town can consistently activate its powers.
Mm. Maybe. Problem is, what if a scum volunteers? How would we know? Combined with the unknown vulnerability...
Good question - but ten Azrael points say he's not going to tell you. Another five says someone calls you on fishing.
Fishing! I'll take those Azrael points now.
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I'm unwilling to submit to a Connection at this time. We have no idea what the vulnerability mentioned is. If we link to a scum, what would occur? Rules insinuate that the answer is "nothing good".
You know, even if I was "touchy" (which, in this case, I'm not) it would have precisely zero to do with me being scum or not.
I have my perfectly sufficient reasons (like, duh) and just prefered to say that up front rather than have people continue to ask me and for me to have to keep rejecting people and than have someone eventually go "hey, Axelrod isn't ever connecting to anyone...."
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Quote from Bateleur »
Ambush Krotiq makes me laugh so much. I keep rereading the card and it keeps not having Flash. In what sense is this an ambush again? I just have visions of this huge Krotiq poorly concealed in some bushes, feeling slightly sad that his carefully planned ambushes never seem to work.
Hmm... I seem to get into all the fun games with the crazy game mechanics (ala Manipulator).
I think for today, a good rule would be to have no one become a host. I just don't think we have enough info for that to even be a reasonable suggestion at this point. But I think that once we get some more info and are able to tell who we believe is scum and who we believe is town, we should try to power up the ones we think are town. And to that end I am finding Axelrod's no symbiosis ever slightly disturbing, and unless he has a good reason for doing it, I am not liking him currently.
Also I will agree with Cantripmancer, why do you, Axelrod, not want to ever become a symbiote?
Get stuffed.
Scum.
Vote: Guardman
Wow, I hate it when other people find the blatently scummy crap before I do.
And Guardman's responce it pretty bad too. It's got OMGUS and everything, and a baseless deflection that he dosen't want to power up townies, beacuse he's scum.
I can tell you right now, it is not adviasable for me to power up townies at all. Bad things happen when I power up townies, so there is some merit to Axel saying that he dosen't want to power people up. oh and in the post you vote Axel, you also further fish into the terrans and pointlessly fearmonger. I'd hope that when the issue comes up regarding a dangerous conection, the person whith the hazard involved would logically pipe up about it. Vote Guardman
I think Seppel's post is more hilarious since everyone has ignored it completely. Apparently the pictures gag has gone stale, my friend. (FTR, it's "D&D free" instead of "clean" - glaring mistake)
@Cyouni, Gigas1: Any reason why you guys don't like Az's #1? I'm curious.
Personally I feel like we should force all really scummy players to try to initiate a connection with someone we believe has a high chance of being town, and then have that player reject it so scummy players can't go into night with power-ed up abilities in case they are scum and try to get their scumbuddy to serve as a host.
Az's idea 2 works for this as well, as long as we make sure they all end up being hosts.
Either way both ideas fail if the person we trust (in my idea) or the symbiotes in Az's idea end up being scum.
Vote:E_P for hiding behind Shibui
Don't like Guardman wanting to know Axel's reasons, but not so much that I'll vote him.
Wow, I hate it when other people find the blatently scummy crap before I do.
And Guardman's responce it pretty bad too. It's got OMGUS and everything, and a baseless deflection that he dosen't want to power up townies, beacuse he's scum.
I can tell you right now, it is not adviasable for me to power up townies at all. Bad things happen when I power up townies, so there is some merit to Axel saying that he dosen't want to power people up. oh and in the post you vote Axel, you also further fish into the terrans and pointlessly fearmonger. I'd hope that when the issue comes up regarding a dangerous conection, the person whith the hazard involved would logically pipe up about it. Vote Guardman
Really, That's all you've got to say. Elaborate. Axel seams touchy: vote is not really sufficient evidence for a vote, ever.
Also, any of the Terrans know anything about the exsistance of dagger in this game?
Unvote Axel
The way he responded to my question seemed to me to basically said: Go stuff yourself I am not answering you ever. Which lead me to believe that it was more like he was taking the stance of not wanting to power anybody ever because he didn't want to power them, not because he shouldn't.
Also as for fishing for info, it doesn't give the scum any edge to know if their are terrans have anti-symbiot abilities since hosts have to accept the connections anyways. Therefore it is only to the towns advantage to know about these connection abilities, so that when we formulate plans and stuff we understand what we can and cant do.
That last post by Guardman doesn't sit well with me. Combination backpedaling and stating that public info re: connections is solely for the town's benefit.
"...do you realize how much a parasite must give up in order to not be discarded?"
Vote: Cyan
Wait, he's not in this game?
Vote: zindabad then. For smallcase discrimination.
-----------------------------
A quick question to all: Who thinks that we should avoid becoming a host today, and who thinks that we should be actively requesting/hosting?
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Esper Simperer; Even the court homonculi need someone to look down on.
Jund Fangirl; Few things can describe the bliss of the fangirl's cries fading to silence (broken by occasional munching sounds).
Grixis Emo; 'Why should I go out there? They're all uncaring zombies! *sniff* No one understands me...' Bant Wageslave; Behind every successful knight is a corporate drudge doing his taxwork.
Naya Overenthusiast; Because there is such a thing as too much enthusiasm.
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It was with a sense of relief, then, that they entered the fourth system on their voyage to find both an inhabitable planet and the beacon of a colony ship in orbit around it. This relief deepened into wonder as more exact scans showed signs of cultivation and animal pastures scattered all over one of the major land masses, while also showing almost none of the expected by-products of an industrial society. How had the colonists managed to expand so far while still reverting to an agrarian society? How had they done so well without also damaging their surroundings? This was a question that would not be answered until the survey team finally made contact with the joyful colonists.
The colonist ship sent to Garama was one of the last and one of the best-equipped. When they arrived, they found to their surprise and delight that many of the native life-forms had powers that let them manipulate their surroundings (and the other life-forms near them) using their minds. Predators that could cloud the mind of their prey, or freeze them in place. Pack animals that could fly themselves or others across ravines to aid in migration. Flying creatures that could teleport out of danger, and so on. The colonists set their top minds onto this puzzle, and with tools that had been intended to identify and defeat plagues they were able to isolate the genes that enabled these abilities. More - they were able to retrofit them to the human genome, and allow the colonists (and, later, their descendants) many of the same abilities. An unexpected but welcome additional ability came to be known as the Connection. Two people could form a Connection that would boost the abilities of one of them while not adversely affecting the other. Because of this, people would offer each other boosts, and then (with the other's agreement) flip the Connection back the other way to also share the extra power. With this sharing at the core of their society, the Garamans were able to build a better world than they had ever expected.
Despite this, they were overjoyed to finally reestablish contact with Earth. It was quickly decided that some would return as representatives, to speak for Garama on the homeworld. Here, though, matters became complicated. Garama had no true central authority, and some fifty communities each wanted to send someone. After much discussion, the Life Sciences officer on the Nansen promised that they would be able to return to Earth if loaded with no more than two dozen people, and so seventeen Garamans would be able to travel with them. Several days later, the Terrans received the representatives, lodging them in temporary accomodations freed up by leaving one of their shuttles behind. Farewells were made, and what many saw as the first interplanetary ambassadorial mission departed.
The trip back to Earth was scheduled to be three weeks long. Despite the crowded conditions, and the fretting of some, no serious problems were forecast. Most looked forward to the journey as a chance to continue to learn and relearn from the other culture. A deeping of bonds, and a joining of spirit. However, as has happened so often in human history, there were those who were not content with rewards of knowledge and soul. There were those who lusted for a more tangible payoff for their part in this historic voyage - and who found others of like mind.
As has happened so often in human history, a peaceful time was ruined because, whatever type of human was involved - young or old; male or female; for the first time ever, Terran or Garaman - whatever type of human was involved, they were, in the end, only human.
[1a] I expect you to follow the spirit of the rules as well as the letter. If you think you've found a loophole that will get you around a rule, and you try to exploit it, the most likely outcome is a modkill for you. Don't be afraid to PM me to ask if something's okay, but be prepared to hear "No."
[1b] If you believe I have made a mistake, or if you require clarification on anything, feel free to inquire about it either in-thread or via PM. I will respond in the same manner. Don't be surprised, though, if my response is "You already have all the information I am going to provide." Also, questions to the mod in-thread should be prefaced with Mod: in order to get my attention.
[1c] This game is intended to be played. Please make an effort to follow along and contribute on a regular basis. If you do not believe that you will be able to do so, contact me privately and I will see if I can get you replaced. I won't be happy, but it's better than having an inactive player in the game.
[1d] Once you are dead, you are dead. Do not post anything further - not even "Damn, I'm dead" or "Go town!"
[1e] Do not use your avatar, custom title, or sig to convey information - these are too easy to change. Likewise, do not post a link to any information that can be easily modified.
[1f] Do not discuss the game with anyone unless your role PM specifically allows you to do so. This includes via e-mail or PM, or in real life.
Section 2: Role PMs
[2a] Role PMs contain several parts. The first line will welcome you to the game and tell you your character name, race, affiliation, and role. For example:
Welcome to Symbiote Mafia, Dagger. You are Andrej Masaryk, Terran Townie Example.
An italicized section will follow with a brief background on your character. All following paragraphs will be rules text.
[2b] You are allowed to quote from the first line of your role PM only. (Note that you can lie while doing so if you want.) Quoting from any other part of your role PM will be cause for immediate modkill. Any additional information that you want to reveal must be paraphrased - put into your own words, rather than mine.
[2c] The two available races are Terran and Garaman. Garamans are described in Section 4; Terrans are described in Section 5.
[2d] The townie win condition is: "You win the game when there are no scum left alive."
Section 3: Mechanics
[3a] At night, nobody may post in this thread. You may not communicate with other players unless specifically informed in your role PM that you are allowed to. Some of you will have actions that you may or must take at night; please try to get these decisions to me promptly, including, if you have an optional action that you choose not to use, the choice to do nothing. Once all actions are in, result PMs from the night will be sent out and the morning scene will be posted.
[3b] During the day, players may talk freely by posting in this thread. Players who may communicate privately may continue to do so during the day. A day will end when the majority of players vote to lynch a person; this will put us into twilight, during which you may continue to discuss. Once the lynch scene is posted, all discussion must cease, as the game proceeds to night. Numbers required for lynch will be provided at the start of the day and with each votecount.
[3c] Votes must be bolded and must be in the form vote: RobRoy or vote: no lynch. If you are changing your vote, you do not need to unvote; however this can be used when you wish to not vote for anyone.
[3d] When a player dies, I will provide that character's name, race, affiliation, and role in the death scene. No further game information will be provided.
[3e] Never edit your posts - not even lightning edits for grammar, spelling or BBCode screwups. Double- or triple-posting is preferred. Violation of this rule may result in modkill.
[3f] Never post in invisitext. Violation of this rule may also result in modkill.
[3g] There will be an automatic deadline for each day: three weeks for the first day, seventeen days for the second and two weeks for all subsequent days. If the deadline is reached, the day ends without a lynch. Deadlines may be extended at the mod's discretion.
[3i] You may vote not to lynch anyone. A majority vote: no lynch will end the day without a lynch.
Section 4: Garamans
[4a] The Garamans are a race of genetically modified humans with psionic powers. They are able to do this on their own, but they also have the ability to make a Connection to another person to draw on additional power - with that person's consent. Each Garaman character will have two sets of abilities listed. The first set may be used at any time; the second set (labelled Powered) will either add on to or modify the first, and is only available when they are Connected to another player who is providing this additional power.
[4b] The Connection requires two participants. The player initiating the Connection is known as the Symbiote; the one accepting the Connection is the Host. Once the Connection is made, the Symbiote is Powered, and may use their extra abilities. The Host, while providing the additional power, is still able to retain enough to use their normal abilities, and so does not suffer any ill effects from the Connection. However, the Connection can leave you vulnerable to the other person - be careful who you trust.
[4c] A given player may only be involved in one Connection at a time. Thus a player who is currently either a Symbiote or a Host may not become involved in a different Connection (as either Symbiote or Host) without breaking the one they are in.
[4d] Each Garaman may initiate one Connection per game day. They do so by PMing their intended Host and me. Both the title and the body of the PM should read "Connection request". Nothing else can be in the PM. If the Garaman was previously involved in a Connection, this will cause that to be broken off.
[4e] If the Host wishes to accept the Connection, they should respond to the PM, both to the Symbiote and to me. Both the title and the body of the PM should read "Connection accepted". At this point, if the Host was previously involved in a Connection, that original Connection will be broken off. The new Connection will be established, and will persist until one of the participants dies or the Connection is broken off.
[4f] If the Host does not wish to accept the Connection, they may respond to the PM, both to the Symbiote and to me. Both the title and the body of the PM should read "Connection rejected". Any Connection request that has not been accepted by the end of the day will also be considered to be rejected.
[4g] This point is being reiterated for clarity. The PM to ask for a Connection is used only to request the Connection, using the format listed above. The PM to accept a Connection is used only to accept the Connection, using the format listed above. The PM to reject a Connection is used only to reject the Connection, using the format listed above. They must not be used to convey any other information. Violation of this rule will result in modkill.
[4h] A Garaman who is in a Connection, either as Host or Symbiote, may break off the Connection at any point during the day by PMing me.
[4i] Twilight is still considered to be part of the day, so Connections may still be made and broken during twilight. Once the lynch scene for a day has been posted, all Connections are locked in until the next morning.
[4j] If a Garaman has a Connection request outstanding that has not been responded to, they may withdraw it at any time by PMing both the original intended Host and myself. Both the title and the body of the PM should read "Connection request withdrawn". Nothing else can be in the PM.
Section 5: Terrans
[5a] The Terran characters are the crew of the Fridtjof Nansen, the survey ship that rediscovered Garama. Each is responsible for use and maintenance of specific systems on board the ship, but they have also cross-trained extensively in case of emergencies. Because of this, they are very familiar with each other, and so their identities are known.
[5b] The crew members are:
Dagger: Andrej Masaryk, Captain (deceased). Overall command and oversight.
ZeDorkSlipeur: Major Narinder Singh, XO/Weapons Officer. 2nd in command; ship's weaponry; security.
Cantripmancer: Eiji Hoshino, Pilot. Plotting and helm for the ship; piloting of the shuttles; EVAs.
AsianInvasion: Alessandra de Medici, Data. Data analysis; computer systems.
KeyofDestiny: Hamish McClellan, Engineer. Maintenance of all ship's systems, together with those systems' specialists; power systems; propulsion.
Emo_Pinata: Elia Malawsky, Life Sciences. Life support; hydroponics.
ChrisXIV: Ka-Ping Wu, Medical. Crew health, physical and psychological.
Any player whose name is not listed here is a Garaman.
[5c] Terran characters may act as Hosts for a Connection, but unlike Garamans, are unable to voluntarily break the Connection. However, if they are acting as a Host and a second Connection request comes in, they may switch to this new Connection.
Section 6: Starting the Game
[6a] Before the game starts, I will expect each player to PM me back once they receive their role PM to confirm receipt. Once they do, players who are able to communicate privately may do so.
[6b] Once all players have confirmed, or 24 hours have passed, I will announce in the thread that Day 1 has started. Once I have made this announcement the game will begin and you may begin posting in this thread.
Azrael - Durian, Garaman Mafia Dominator.
Wrath_of_DoG - Roel, Garaman Mafia Stowaway.
zindabad - Evey, Garaman Mafia Overloader.
Dead:
AsianInvasion - Alessandra de Medici, Terran Mafia Tracker. Lynched Day 1.
vezokpiraka (r. bolmedias) - Arren, Garaman Townie Demagogue. Shot Night 1.
Seppel - Identity unknown. Disappeared Day 2.
Toastboy - Torral, Garaman Townie Regenerator. Lynched Day 2.
Cyan (r. Gigas1) - Deem, Garaman Townie Investigator. Throat slit Night 2.
Guardman - Seon, Garaman Townie Inciter. Throat burned Night 2.
desCoures - Jhan, Garaman Townie Death Speaker. Shot Night 2.
~Tilde~ - Teng, Garaman Townie Operative. Lynched Day 3.
StormBlind - Petra, Garaman Townie Gunsmith. Died Night 3.
KeyofDestiny - Hamish McClellan, Terran Mafia Inventor. Died Night 3.
Cantripmancer - Eiji Hoshino, Terran Serial Killer Ascetic. Shot Night 3.
joboman (r. Niv) - Conn, Garaman Townie Self-Destructor. Lynched Day 4.
Zebi - Falk, Garaman Townie Hunter. Shot Night 4.
Cyouni - Elissa, Garaman Serial Killer Absorber. Lynched Day 5.
kpaca (r. ChrisXIV) - Ka-Ping Wu, Terran Townie Motivator. Shot Night 5.
mystery meat of doom - Gull, Garaman Townie Negator. Lynched Day 6.
ZeDorkSlipeur - Narinder Singh, Terran Townie Self-Protector. Shot Night 6.
Emo_Pinata - Elia Malawsky, Terran Townie Evolutionary. Killed during endgame.
tordeck - Sani, Garaman Townie Prankster. Killed during endgame.
Axelrod - Xarn, Garaman Townie Juvenile. Killed during endgame.
Things didn't truly become ominous until the crew of the Fridtjof Nansen filed into the room as well - without Elder Sammon, or the captain. Major Singh - unusually wearing his uniform - immediately stepped forwards and announced, "Between 0200 and 0300 this morning, Captain Masaryk and Elder Sammon were murdered."
Pandemonium ensued. Questions, demands, threats, recriminations, and more questions were screamed across the room. Singh watched the mob for a moment, then bellowed, "Quiet!" After a moment the crowd subsided enough for him to continue delivering the bad news.
"Around that same time, many of the ship's systems were sabotaged. The drives have been shut down. The main computer systems are locked out. The armory is inaccessible. Whoever did this was trying to cripple any possible way for us to determine who they were, and also prevent a response that could damage them. It is unknown at this time how long it will take to work around these failures, and we also have no clues why our leaders were killed.
"However, for all this damage, we are still fundamentally sound. Life support and the oxygen garden are untouched. Communications are down, but we can rig a distress beacon before reaching Earth. When we fly past Earth's pickets, they will be able to send someone to rescue us. Until then," Singh glared at the Garamans clustered around him, "we will do absolutely nothing. Nobody - Terran or Garaman - will move around the ship unless escorted. We will not provide anyone with the chance to kill again. We just sit and wait."
"No."
It was said simultaneously by at least four Garamans. Singh froze in the process of turning away. After a moment, one of the Garamans stepped forward to speak.
"While we appreciate that you wish to control the situation, we have our own traditions for this. While it may seem barbaric, we have always found that the only way to root out a conspiracy in a case like this is to allow them their chance. Many will die, true, but on Garama, dead men do tell tales, and we," he gestured around him, "will know - know for sure - which of the dead were behind this. At the end of this ordeal, those left will have been purified, and the evil will have been discarded. It has always been thus. It must be so again."
The Terrans looked around. Outnumbered and unsure, none of them moved to argue with the unified Garamans. Singh made eye contact with each of them in turn, and then turned back to the Garaman standing in front of him. "What do you call this... tradition?"
"Mafia."
--
Before beginning the game, I will again ask all players to read the rules. Pay special attention to rules [4d] through [4g], as I am serious about the possibility of modkills for violating these rules.
It is now Day 1. With 22 players alive, it is 12 votes to lynch. The deadline for the day has been set for 5 pm Eastern on Wednesday, June 2nd.
Post #3 will be updated as the game progresses to always have a complete player list. Please refer to this post whenever you need this information.
You may begin posting.
Try not to kill azrael or axelrod this time, k tilde?
ZeDorkSlipeur: Major Narinder Singh, XO/Weapons Officer. 2nd in command; ship's weaponry; security.
Cantripmancer: Eiji Hoshino, Pilot. Plotting and helm for the ship; piloting of the shuttles; EVAs.
AsianInvasion: Alessandra de Medici, Data. Data analysis; computer systems.
KeyofDestiny: Hamish McClellan, Engineer. Maintenance of all ship's systems, together with those systems' specialists; power systems; propulsion.
Emo_Pinata: Elia Malawsky, Life Sciences. Life support; hydroponics.
ChrisXIV: Ka-Ping Wu, Medical. Crew health, physical and psychological.
Garaman or Non-terran - 16
~Tilde~
Axelrod
Azrael
bolmedias
Cyouni
desCoures
Gigas1
Guardman
mystery meat of doom
Niv
Seppel
StormBlind
Toastboy
tordeck
Zebi
zindabad
That list should be accurate.
We're going to want to establish a protocol for connecting to hosts, and we're also going to want to avoid making whether you're a host or symbiote public.
Most likely, the players with the least powered abilities are going to want to be hosts, while the most-powered players will want to be symbiotes. If that information goes public, the mafia have a better idea who might be more important to kill.
Unfortunately, the mafia probably have the best shot of figuring out that information, if we're not careful. If the mafia coordinate amongst themselves, they can identify players who consistently refuse connections as potential power roles. That's bad times.
We can try to get around this a few ways.
1.We can set up a system where players trade off activating powered abilities for one another. Unfortunately, this might mean that we only get to power up half the time.
2. We can set up a system where our most scummy players have to serve as hosts instead of symbiotes. However, if the vulnerability to connections that the mod hinted at goes both ways, we may want to isolate scummy players entirely.
3. We could have a limited number of players that wish to be hosts volunteer. That would help identify our players with weaker powered-roles, and aid process of elimination for the scum, but it would help ensure that the town can consistently activate its powers.
4. It practically goes without saying, but the town should form a "do-not-connect" list, as we accumulate folks we don't trust.
Thoughts?
No need to give him any ideas. *scowl*
I have no opinion about creating some kind of "protocol" for requests either. The way I read the rules, it's impossible to "force" someone to connect with you. And even if they accept, they can drop you later and you wouldn't even necessarily know about it (unless you are a Terran, I guess). Even then, a scum Terran could get another scum to make another request to him and break it that way. My feeling is that it's mostly just going to be a trust thing, at least at first.
Quite so. But in most cases, I would suspect the town's most powerful abilities are its powered abilities, and thus the abilities the scum are most concerned with hunting down and eliminating. We don't want to make that job any easier for them.
Trusting the person you're connecting to isn't the biggest issue, though preventing gullible townies from getting suckered is likely of some concern. But the biggest issue is that the scum can use knowledge of who is acting as a host or symbiote to gauge where our power roles are.
A very cheery gracias to Azrael for the comprehensive list of players/sides and concepts. As for getting around scum figuring out power levels based on refusals and acceptances:
As a (Terran) player with obvious space in his head (more than your average bear, some would argue), I admit to some trepidation of having my mind inhabited, particularly by someone who may be scum. No offense, but both flavorfully and game-wise, I'm not open for business. At least not yet.
@Axelrod: Why close all doors with such finality?
Brown noser.
The second paragraph isn't an answer to the first one...
[quote=Cantripmancer
@Axelrod: Why close all doors with such finality?[/QUOTE]
Good question - but ten Azrael points say he's not going to tell you. Another five says someone calls you on fishing.
Also, I cannot choose to voluntarily drop someone from being my symbiote, so I'm all for public disclosure. I would hate to accept someone in secret only to regret and and have no way of changing the situation.
As is, I'm curious about how the mechanic works, and want to fire it up.
We have only 16 listed Garamans....
@Axelrod- Probably this guy.
It is for me. But that's temporary, as far as I'm concerned, for two reasons: one, I think you're right that the town will have better chances at success if we utilize the mechanic setup that gives the game the distinction. And two, I'd feel like an awful poor sport to sign up for a specialty, then toss all of RobRoy's hard work out the window.
For me, since I have no known benefit of being powered, it makes more sense for the time being to exclude myself from the calculations, but I plan on participating. Axel indicated complete and total shutdown of the system, and he's a Garamon. The only reason I can think of for a Garamon, who has a good example of how a powered ability could better benefit the town, to utterly refuse to be a host would be a fear of what the symbiote could find once connected. And while not completely pointing toward scum, I do find it rather suspicious. Which would be my response to the five points on fishing.
EWP:
@Axel: Good catch on the numbers.@Azrael: Better catch on the plot. (Still not getting any Az-points, am I?)@ZDS: It wasn't that important, but I didn't want to remember it, then forget the next time! My memory is the suxxors...
And as for accepting a blacklisted symbiote...I don't know if we can so easily define an action like that as a scumtell, but I agree that I would find it suspicious.
So, if you try to link to someone who rejects you, that amounts to a powered ability RB. We'll want to avoid that, so folks should keep their requests in their pants for the time being.
Agreed.
Although since we have no idea how you folk might have otherwise modified yourselves, let's just keep it all in our pants for the time being, shall we? No need to succumb to cabin fever quite yet...
1. I don't think that swapping around will be a very good idea.
2. I think that this is probably a good idea, it sounds like it's most vulnerable for the host.
3. This sounds like a reasonably good idea, but I think #2 is better.
4. I agree.
That can lead to a logical fallacy though. Non-town roles, because of their reduced numbers compared to townies, tend to have more powerful roles in games.
The mafia by its nature can coordinate better than the town, because of nighttalk at the very least.
This likely leads to randomly powering up players whose alignments are unknown. Not a really appealing option.
Unless a scum buddy establishes a connection to them, then our work's wasted. Plus, what if the scum kill method is for them to serve as a host. I think Axelrod has the right idea regarding connections right now.
Unless the scum tend to volunteer, and powering them up gives them unpleasant things like extra kills.
See the comment for #2 above....
Metagaming though would be that the town need to make SOME connections to have a decent chance at victory. If only the scum power themselves up (and most likely the scum are distributed among the Terrans and Garamans), it's probably going to be tough for the town.
Note to self: Your mafia theories are usually wrong, so don't act on them.
Expound on this, please. E_P was in my first game of mafia, then I lost track of him, then I discovered that I had been playing with him as shibui without realizing it. It wasn't a silly question; it seemed very odd to me for him to be swapping back and forth (although I admit that I like Emo_Pinata better than shibui).
I don't know that Terrans disclosing that they are free can hurt this early in the game, but identifying any connections runs some risk of giving the scum information about who might be more or less powerful. I'm surprised that you don't agree with this, and I'm wondering whether your misrep of Azrael's assertion was intentional.
No reason to help them, though.
Erm...the rules seem to indicate that hosts don't become "powered" from the connection, so scum volunteering to host wouldn't grant extra powers, as far as we know, beyond whatever information might leak (if info leaks both ways).
And obviously any submission to a "do-not-connect" list would be scrutinized and evaluated the same as any other info, not blindly followed.
Ah. Right.
In my defense, RR made the first post yesterday and the thing about the dead Garaman just a little bit ago.
I'm talking about hiding power roles, not determining alignments.
Yes...I agree we can expect that. And that we should take steps to counter it.
And if we don't keep tabs on this, what do you think is going to happen?
Coming up with a plan is going to prevent indiscriminate power-ups, not encourage them.
So your argument is that we shouldn't use any of our powered abilities because the scum might get some too?
Let's think how this might play out. The scum get to cooperate with one another, so they can almost certainly hook themselves up, especially if the town drops the ball on monitoring connections.
Meanwhile, we're handing the scum the ultimate powered ability: all townie powered abilities are disabled. Does that sound like a good plan to you? *folds arms*
We don't just need to make some connections. We want to max out our powered roles, while avoiding scum contacts as best we can.
Terrans disclosing whether they are free is fine. Feel free to try again.
Publicly discussing an AzPlan Day 1 is just asking the Mafia to hand us our
hatsheads.Yes, that's an ideal option, but that's very unlikely to occur Day 1.
Note to self: Your mafia theories are usually wrong, so don't act on them.
Its also likely to raise irrational fear in some crazy poster (Niv, Tilde, Seppel) who decide to blow az up, and therefore give the mafia a fighting chance
I think for today, a good rule would be to have no one become a host. I just don't think we have enough info for that to even be a reasonable suggestion at this point. But I think that once we get some more info and are able to tell who we believe is scum and who we believe is town, we should try to power up the ones we think are town. And to that end I am finding Axelrod's no symbiosis ever slightly disturbing, and unless he has a good reason for doing it, I am not liking him currently.
Also I will agree with Cantripmancer, why do you, Axelrod, not want to ever become a symbiote?
Axelrod? Have I ever even played with him? ...ah yes, Fleet Mafia.
StormBlind...haven't played with him since that time he made a gimmick just to troll me. Good times.
bolmedias and tordeck are new to me, everyone else I've crossed paths with at least once.
The name Emo_Pinata is better. And it reminds me of the glory of Dictionary Mafia.
It looked great until I saw that one name that would wreck everything. It looks so unassuming, beginning as it does with a lowercase letter. And that's how he lures you into his trap.
Yes, the name I speak of is a sinister one - like Yossarian, filled with many esses (ok, 2.) A sibilant, subversive name, like its owner. And like the angler-fish, his lowercase "d" baits you, allures you, until the capital "C" surges out of nowhere - mouth-looking as the letter is - and swallows you. Verily, the villain I describe is none other than desCoures! VOTE: THAT FIEND!
"...a talisman against all evil, so long as you obey me."
Hey, you WERE in your "jackass" playstyle at the time ;). Honestly, playstyles like yours and cyans always drove me nuts. Cyan just had this overwhleming degree of arrogance that tended to disarm me a little bit. Yours didnt.
The AzPlan wouldn't have failed because it wasn't good, or because the scum could anticipate it. It would have failed because it was good enough that Bat needed to plant a hidden landmine to give the mafia a fighting chance against us.
We're in a modern game with a much different design philosophy. We've gone from a period where the mod pitted himself against the players with hidden mechanics put in place to stop cunning plans, to a period where the mod has publicly disclosed two risks from failing to work together: "vulnerabilities" from picking the wrong person, and losing the chance to use your powered abilities.
You're right, we don't give the mafia the information they need to use this to screw us over. You're right, we don't give them information they can use to anticipate our moves and figure us out.
The problem is, if we don't take action together, they already have all the tools they need to see right through us, peg our connections, and watch us stumble around blindly failing to activate ourselves while they milk their own abilities.
We're not talking about making a plan to create an unfair advantage for ourselves. We're talking about making a plan to keep up with the mafia's next move, and stop it.
Get stuffed.
Scum.
Vote: Guardman
Which part? The me wanting to know why he doesn't want to symbiote? I want to know why because if he has a reason then we should know why and understand why. because the only good reason why I can think of is because it is somehow role related. And if some Terrans are more than just to be hosts and actually can interact with the symbiote in some way, i think that we should know before we have people make random blind connections and get screwed over. But if he is just being, well I wouldn't even call it paranoid (I know paranoid), just being thick-headed, then I think it is more likely he is scum that doesn't want to power up people.
Given his response of "Get stuffed", especially for such a simple question, I think he is more likely scum that doesn't want to power up people.
Vote: Axelrod
Don't like this idea.
Will probably lead to isolation of scummy players anyways, as there is a high chance of either the scummy player rejecting them, or the scummy player accepting the connection (which if they are scum, could be a bad thing).
Mm. Maybe. Problem is, what if a scum volunteers? How would we know? Combined with the unknown vulnerability...
This is good. It's also very much like #2.
Fishing! I'll take those Azrael points now.
---
I'm unwilling to submit to a Connection at this time. We have no idea what the vulnerability mentioned is. If we link to a scum, what would occur? Rules insinuate that the answer is "nothing good".
Guardman sounds like Guardman, Axel seems really touchy.
Unvote ZeBorkSlipbad, Vote: Axelrod.
I have my perfectly sufficient reasons (like, duh) and just prefered to say that up front rather than have people continue to ask me and for me to have to keep rejecting people and than have someone eventually go "hey, Axelrod isn't ever connecting to anyone...."
Wow, I hate it when other people find the blatently scummy crap before I do.
And Guardman's responce it pretty bad too. It's got OMGUS and everything, and a baseless deflection that he dosen't want to power up townies, beacuse he's scum.
I can tell you right now, it is not adviasable for me to power up townies at all. Bad things happen when I power up townies, so there is some merit to Axel saying that he dosen't want to power people up. oh and in the post you vote Axel, you also further fish into the terrans and pointlessly fearmonger. I'd hope that when the issue comes up regarding a dangerous conection, the person whith the hazard involved would logically pipe up about it. Vote Guardman
Really, That's all you've got to say. Elaborate. Axel seams touchy: vote is not really sufficient evidence for a vote, ever.
Also, any of the Terrans know anything about the exsistance of dagger in this game?
Millionaires, I hear it's good Music (Disclaimer: lyrics not PG-13) Thanks, CC
Millionaires, I hear it's good Music (Disclaimer: lyrics not PG-13) Thanks, CC
unvote, vote Guardman
Personally I feel like we should force all really scummy players to try to initiate a connection with someone we believe has a high chance of being town, and then have that player reject it so scummy players can't go into night with power-ed up abilities in case they are scum and try to get their scumbuddy to serve as a host.
Az's idea 2 works for this as well, as long as we make sure they all end up being hosts.
Either way both ideas fail if the person we trust (in my idea) or the symbiotes in Az's idea end up being scum.
Vote:E_P for hiding behind Shibui
Don't like Guardman wanting to know Axel's reasons, but not so much that I'll vote him.
Unvote Axel
The way he responded to my question seemed to me to basically said: Go stuff yourself I am not answering you ever. Which lead me to believe that it was more like he was taking the stance of not wanting to power anybody ever because he didn't want to power them, not because he shouldn't.
Also as for fishing for info, it doesn't give the scum any edge to know if their are terrans have anti-symbiot abilities since hosts have to accept the connections anyways. Therefore it is only to the towns advantage to know about these connection abilities, so that when we formulate plans and stuff we understand what we can and cant do.
Vote Guardman
Note to self: Your mafia theories are usually wrong, so don't act on them.
Vote: Cyan
Wait, he's not in this game?
Vote: zindabad then. For smallcase discrimination.
-----------------------------
A quick question to all: Who thinks that we should avoid becoming a host today, and who thinks that we should be actively requesting/hosting?
Jund Fangirl; Few things can describe the bliss of the fangirl's cries fading to silence (broken by occasional munching sounds).
Grixis Emo; 'Why should I go out there? They're all uncaring zombies! *sniff* No one understands me...'
Bant Wageslave; Behind every successful knight is a corporate drudge doing his taxwork.
Naya Overenthusiast; Because there is such a thing as too much enthusiasm.