Oh all right. Twist my arm why don't you. (However, I'm gone for a week from August 7-14 and I don't know if I'll have internet access at all, so if that's a problem, feel free to give the spot to someone else.)
As I said, everyone played well. Don't mean to slight anyone's performance by these, but I enjoy the MVP awards as a player, so I figured I'd give some back.
Mafia MVP: must go to God Child, for perservering in the face of almost insurmountable odds. It was 9-1-1 after day three, and many would have simply folded, but god child stuck it out, and after 6 straight town deaths (not to mention the SK) he actually got into a position where he could have won even if Frodo had not put on the Ring. Great job.
Town MVP: much tougher to decide, many good performances, but I'm going with Puzzle for doing a really bang-up job day three, insightful (and accurate) guesswork about the set-up, and "one man unanimously team bandwagoning" Rhinocero until people voted for him. He also identified god child and swinkee as top suspects. I certainly thought the game was over.
Honorable Mention: aurorasparrow, obviously. Doesn't quite fit into either category, frankly. Perhaps I should create a new one.
LVP: I will cop out and name kpaca/Titus. Kpaca didn't really even play, and Titus wasn't a whole lot better, and then disappeared. If he had been more active, chances are that Enigma91 would have vigged god child instead, which would have basically clinched the game for the town.
Until next time. Cheers! (b/t/w Star Trek Mafia is almost complete! Man, that game is going to be nuts, and also completely unfair, so no whining about it).
(also, if you guys could just spam this thread up to 900 replies, that would make me happy )
Overall, I was really happy with everyone (with one notable exception). People weren't replaced for inactivity but for personal reasons (WAWB) or extended vacations (armlx/SOS) and all the replacements did well.
The mafia was full of inexperienced players, which I realized as soon as roles were assigned, but I stuck with it. I think it showed with the early lynches, but I also thought Rhinocero in particular played a very good first game, right up until his role-claim. Didn't seem like a newbie at all to me. God Child clearly played the best as a pure mafia, successfully finding one of the better "false-claims" that I had left open for them.
God Child quite annoyed me, however, with his "error" voting for Fayul day one. He did that without informing me ahead of time, leaving me to "guess" at his true intention. Which meant I either had to count the vote anyway (which I probably would have done if he had been a townie or had been voting for a townie) or basically cover for him and not count the vote. Which, as you saw, was what I did.
On the town side also, everyone seemed to be playing really well. It seemed like a different player stepped up virtually every day.
Day 1: dazbog in particular did an excellent job analyzing posts and correctly pegging Fayul, while it was bateleur who pulled WAHB back from the brink of being lynched when he was just one vote away only 24 hrs. before deadline.
Day 2: LJustus stepped forward, quite literally, and nailed Deadly Budah with a nice piece of analysis.
Day 3: Puzzle stormed the town, convinced everyone to lynch Rhinocero, and almost locked the game up right there. Seriously, some of the things you said were freaky:
Quote from Puzzle »
Caution for next days : a Mithril plate wouldn't prevent an inspection. I suspect Frodo (AuroraSparrow) used the ring to be invisible. If he uses it again, we may have to lynch him (potential sleeper).
Quote from Puzzle »
@ Rhinocero :
You get names only ? like Witch-king of Angmar or Orc ? very limitating, yes...
We had 1 cop + 1 spare cop, which is more than the usual 1 cop. I don't believe in a 3rd, in a Mafia investigator (like Saruman), maybe, but not a 3rd townie cop.
Quote from Puzzle »
No, because I doubt Axelrod would make a perfect pattern for the game,
having played in Warcraft 3 Mafia (this is the point at which I return to foetal position sucking my thumb).
Pretty much dead on the money here. Unfortuantely, his aggressive vigging plan backfired (but Puzzle himself was pushing for a vig. of god child which would obviously have made quite a difference).
Day 4: this came down to a choice between swinkee and dazbog, with a helping of suspicion on god child and aurorasparrow for good measure. Everyone was this close to getting it right. Epeeguy knew Frodo's claim smelled funny, and was also suspicious of swinkee. Puzzle voted for both god child and swinkee, before turning on dazbog using the (correct) logic that he or swinkee must be lying. Here's another good quote:
Quote from Puzzle »
By the way : @ Gollum : if Dazbog is town, a mislynch today may give the game to the Mafia. I suggest you consider strangling Swinkee then, else you may lose together with the town.
Very true, he just had the roles mixed up.
I'm sorry again about the extended night 5. It was that or replace swinkee, who was the probable lynch, so that didn't seem fair, or start day without letting him make a choice, which would have given away the structure. Even so, swinkee should have warned me ahead of time that he would be away (in fairness to swinkee, he told me that he thought he had given me his night choice in advance, but I never got it.)
Day 5: Lynching swinkee was not "wrong" obviously. Especially since the town believed he was mafia, as opposed to Gollum. But, as I noted before, that was the worst possible lynch for the town at that moment.
Aurorasparrow deserves special recognition as well. He played his role perfectly, always appearing to be on the side of the town (which he was for the most part), but also hedging his bets just enough, and lying about his ability just in case. Can't really blame him for taking the sure thing at the end.
So, all in all, the town played extremely well. I'm sad some of the fun roles never really got to come out and play, but I knew that would happen.
@swinkee: you would have received the same powers Frodo had. Immunity to night-kills with the ability to see who targeted you. Plus, you would have been able to use the Ring to make one kill. You would have received the same warnings as Frodo about the corrupting power/potential for betrayal, but the truth was that you were already corrupt and would suffer no negative consequences from wearing the Ring.
On Balance
I am a little surprised myself that the town hit 4/5 lynches and still lost (even with all the Vig. kills). The game didn't seem unbalanced in favor of the mafia when I was setting it up. Basically it was a fairly standard 14/5/1 set-up in which the mafia had three advantages (one of which they didn't even know about).
1. Palantir. This was a good role, I thought, and very powerful. It allowed mafia to identify good targets/find safe claims.
2. Morgul Blade. This was, as Fayul says, a mediocre ability. I kind of sacrificed function for flavor here. I liked the idea that a vanilla townie could get "stabbed" during the night (again, trying to make it more interesting for the vanillas--and in flavor with the Novel) and then have to convince the town the next day what happened. The ability could have served a strategic purpose anyway, drawing the Doc attention to one player while the mafia hit another. I also wondered whether or not one of the mafia themselves might try a "gambit" and claim to have been stabbed themselves, drawing away the Doc protection. But Fayul died early and none of that happened.
3. The Ring Corrupting someone. The mafia didn't know this could happen. They didn't even know for certain that there was a Ring in the game. In hindsight, I probably should have told the mafia flat out that there was a Ring that could be acquired (like I told Gollum) instead of hinting. That would have increased the chances they would actually go after Frodo, making it even harder for him, not knowing that he could end up on their side.
So that was it for the mafia. Against that the town had it's regular Cop/Doc/Vig. Both the Cop and the Doc had a little something "extra" as well. Aragorn got a nifty summon spirit ability if he lived, and Elrond could self-protect/protect against multiple night kills, at the cost of giving up his next night protection.
There was a back-up Cop and Doc, who were secret and couldn't be identified by the mafia Palantir. They had Galadrial, who was potentially very powerful (but, then again, she could give stuff to the mafia too).
And there was Frodo, who was on the side of the Town at the start (and aurorasparrow was playing it that way too). Frodo who could self-protect while possibly seeing mafia, and who also had a night-kill. If Frodo was lynched, the Ring would pass to another member of the town who could use it "fresh," including the night-kill.
So, what I'm saying is it looked fair to me. I would welcome any comments people might have in that regard, first game and all.
...added a few more details to some Role descriptions.
Obviously the game was very, very close. Any number of factors could have made it fall the other way. God Child almost committed suicide Night 4, figuring there was almost no way for him to win, that Enigma91 was vigging him (as many had suggested) and that he might as well try and take out Frodo for the SK. As it turned out, Enigma91 didn't pick him, and since Frodo was wearing the Ring, he would have seen God Child, the mafia kill would have been missing the next day, and that would have been that. As it was, Enigma91 died instead.
Night 5 God Child almost killed Puzzle. That was actually his first choice, which would have been another double kill, and left the town a man up. But again, at the last minute, he changed his mind and went for LJustus.
SOS's plan was to Role-Claim saying that he did not have the ability to self-protect, hopefully drawing mafia and SK fire, and then self-protect with the Greater Healing. But neither side went for him, and he lost the ability to protect anyone the next night.
Swinkee stumbled into the one situation that could cause people to believe that he wasn't Gollum--choosing to use his inspect ability, as opposed to his night kil, on aurorasparrow, on a night that aurorasparrow chose to wear the ring, and getting a successful kill elsewhere. Again, ironically, swinkee almost got caught for the wrong reason. SOS was protecting bateleur, so Gollum's kill would have been missing the next morning, people would assume that he tried to kill Frodo, and swinkee would have been exposed. But instead, the mafia also targeted bateleur, thus getting through the Doc protection, and making it look like swinkee couldn't be Gollum.
Mafia:
Deadly Budah: Kill Hawkeye7 (Azrael becomes new Investigator)
Rhinocero: Inspect Draygn_Mage (Soldier of Gondor)
Fayul: No Attack
Town:
Hawkeye7: Investigate Azrael (Azrael is Good)
Enigma91: Kill StevieT92
SOS: Protect aurorasparrow (normal healing)
Pibbly: No Gift
aurorasparrow: does not wear the ring
Swinkee: Kill help im a bug; inspect Azrael (Azrael does not have the Ring)
Town:
Pibbly: Gives Elvish Cloak to Azrael
aurorasparrow: does not wear the ring
Enigma91: No choice
Azrael: Does not wear cloak; Investigate Titus (Titus is Good)
SOS: Protect Enigma91 (Normal healing)
Swinkee: Kill Pibbly; inspect god child (god child does not have the Ring)
Night 3:
Mafia:
God Child: Kill bateleur
Rhinocero: Inspect LJustus (Rider of Rohan)
Town:
Aurorasparrow: wears the Ring (sees Swinkee)
Enigma91: No Choice
SOS: Protect bateleur (Normal healing)
Town:
SOS: Protect self (Greater healing)
Aurorasparrow: wears the Ring; kill Draygn_mage
Enigma91: kill Titus
Swinkee: kill Enigma91; inspect Puzzle (no ring)
Night 5:
Mafia:
God Child: Kill LJustus
Town:
Aurorasparrow: Does not wear ring
SOS cannot protect
Swinkee: Kill Puzzle, inspect epeeguy (no ring)
Night 6
Mafia:
God Child: No kill
Town:
Aurorasparrow: Wears ring (corrupted)
SOS: protect self (greater healing)
Comments/Points of Interest
As people are gathering, this game was designed to ensure that a mass role-claim would not break the game open in favor of the town. That's the danger with any kind of "Theme" setting, especially one as well known as this, and I was really, really trying to avoid it. I did this in several ways:
1. Large number of "generic sounding" roles. There were "Riders of Rohan", "Soldiers of Gondor", and "Elves of Rivendell," in the game. By using many different generic sounding names, it gave the mafia a choice of "hiding" as a role already revelaed, or making one up completely, such as "Dwarf of the Iron Hills" or "Hobbit of the Shire" which were roles I actually considered putting in.
2. Varying up the numbers. Detecting patterns is one of the easiest ways for the town to spot false-claims, so I tried to make sure there were no patterns to be detected. There were 4 Riders, 2 Soldiers, and but 1 Elf. I knew this would cause problems for the Riders, as people would naturally assume there were too many, and even if a mafia tried to hide there, he would still have cover.
3. Leaving out major roles. This was, by far the hardest thing for me to do. I left out over half the Fellowship, by necessity, I felt, because anyone claiming Fellowship member would be "cleared" so I just couldn't have too many. By the same token--there were major roles available for a daring mafia to seize, but no one tried.
Lesson: mafia will always be scared to claim major roles. Rhinoceo, in particular, had a wide open field day three, when I think the only unrevelad role was Titus', but he still claimed the incredibly obscure Radagast, and got lynched.
4. Named roles who were "vanilla". The other reaons mafia are scared to claim named roles is that people expect the familiar names to have abilities. This was largely true in this game also. So I gave 2 people "Named" roles (one of which was a major character in Sam) but no abilities at all. Leaving open the possibility for the mafia to claim a named role, but no ability.
For all that, the mafia got lynched three days in succession claiming obscure people--Erestor, Denethor (who is not so obscure, actually, and was considered for the game), and Radagast.
The Town built up an impressive lead. It looked to me (and the last mafia) like it was going to be a rout. Reasons the Town still lost (in my opinion):
1. Unnecessary Vigging: The Town vigged away three of it's own this game, squandering the advantage they were gaining from lynching correctly.
2. Failure to Hit the SK: Leaving a SK alive too long is brutal, and this game showed it. The mafia and SK also worked very well together (even double killing bateleur night three when he was actually protected.)
3. No successful Investigations/Doc Protections: The town lost the Cop and back-up Cop nights 1 and 2 in succession along with Galadrial who could give someone else a one-shot inspect. The Doctor did not successfully protect anyone the whole game, despite living to the end (obviously SOS picked bat correctly night 3, but it didn't matter).
4. Frodo turning: despite the above, the town could still have won. If aurorasparrow doesn't wear the Ring it's three to one on Day 6, and god child had been under suspicion since day three.
Ironically, lynching swinkee Day 5 was the only lynch that would guarantee a loss for the town Night 6 (assuming Frodo wore the Ring). Swinkee was perhaps the only one who could have figured that out, since he knew that he was Gollum, and therefore not the last mafia. And if he suspected Frodo could turn Evil, the lynch of himself would doom the town (whereas, if he were alive, he could have possibly killed one of them for the town).
Biggest Disappointment: Galadrial getting killed Night 2. that was my favorite role. One I made to off-set the large number of "vanilla" roles by giving them the chance to get something to do. (They could also have gotten the Ring--more about that later). But Galadrial gave only one gift before kicking the bucket. Ironically, the one gift was the Elvish Cloak which Pibbly gave to Azrael night 2, and which would have saved him, had he chosen to wear it, but he chose to use his newly gained inspector powers instead.
You are Aragorn. Ranger and Elf-Friend. Heir to the throne of Gondor. You fight for the forces of Light. Your skills at tracking, honed over the decades, make you an able investigator. Each night you may pick one player to investigate (PM me your choice) and you will be informed whether or not they are Good.
In addition, should you survive into day four, you will be crowned King of Gondor and gain additional abilities.
Win Condition: Eliminate all the Evil Players
Mod. Notes:
-if he survived to Day 4 Aragorn would gain the ability to summon spirits. He would be able to call deceased players back into the game for 1 day/night cycle each. That player could vote and use any abilities they had for that cycle.
-This was my way of "cheating" Galadrial back into the game if she was killed early.
2. Elrond (SOS/epeeguy)
You are Elrond, Half-Elven, ruler of Rivendell, sanctuary against the forces of evil. You are an extremely skilled Elvish healer. Each night you may select one player to protect (PM me with your choice). If anyone attempts to kill that player during the night the first such attempt will fail. A second attempt would still be successful, however, so you also possess the power to bestow a Greater Healing. A Greater Healing will protect the player from any and all attempts to kill them during that night. If you use this ability, however, you become exhausted and you may not protect anyone on the following night. You may not protect yourself with a normal healing. You may protect yourself with the Greater Healing.
Win Condition: Eliminate all the Evil Players
3. Boromir (Enigma91)
You are Boromir, son of the Steward of Gondor, Lord Denethor, and brother of Faramir (characters who may or may not be appearing in this game). You are a mighty warrior, determined to rid the world of the scourge of evil. You are a Vigilante. Each night you may select one player as your target and, unless protected, that player will die (PM me with your choice). You are Good.
Win Condition: Eliminate all the Evil Players
Mod. Notes:
-if Boromir killed the Ringbearer he would gain possession of the Ring. He would be corrupted immediately, however, if he chose to wear it.
4. Galadrial (Pibbly)
You are Galadrial of Lothlorian. You are a powerful ally of the forces of Light. You have the ability to bestow gifts on your fellow players. Each night you may choose to bestow one gift on one player (PM me with your choice). Each of your gifts may be given only once, and no player may receive more than one gift during the course of the game. You may not give your gifts to yourself. The player receiving the gift will be informed that he has received a Gift from Galadrial, but will not learn your identity.
The gifts you have available are:
1)The Phial of Galadrial—the Light of Earendil’s Star. The player who receives this gift gains the one-time ability to shine its light on another player (not themselves). The player who has the light shined on them will be protected from all harm that night (i.e. turns another player into a Doctor for one night only). If the player who receives this gift chooses to use the Phial, it will be in lieu of any other night actions that he might have. He may use the gift the same night he receives it, or he may save it for a future night.
2)The Mirror of Galadrial—The player who receives this gift gains the one-time ability to look into the Mirror and determine the identity of another player. He will be informed of the players role-name as well as his alignment (i.e. turns another player into a Cop for one night only).
3)Elvish Bow and Arrow—The player who receives this gift gains the one-time ability to kill another player during the night (i.e. Vigilante).
4)Elvish Rope—The player who receives this gift gains the one-time ability to tie up another player during the night, thus preventing them from performing any actions (i.e. Roleblocker).
5)Elvish Cloak—The player who receives this gift gains the one-time ability to wear the cloak during the night. The cloak disguises them and if they wear it they will be untargetable for that night (i.e. Self-Protector).
Choose Wisely.
Win Condition: Eliminate all the Evil Players
5. Faramir (dazbogeaterofsouls)
You are Faramir, son of the Steward of Gondor, Lord Denethor, and brother to Boromir (characters who may or may not be appearing in this game). You are steadfast and true and fight for the cause of Good. You have no special abilities in this game, however.
Win Condition: Eliminate all the Evil Players
6. Sam (StevieT92)
You are Samwise Gamgee, Hobbit and faithful companion of Frodo Baggins (who may or may not be appearing in this game). You are an able gardener and loyal follower and most definitely on the side of Good. You have no special abilities in this game, however.
Win Condition: Eliminate all the Evil Players
Mod. Notes:
-Sam was first in the Order of Succession to inherit the Ring.
7-9. Rider of Rohan (LJustus, armlx/HAWKEYE7, titus)
You are one of the Rohirrim, a rider of Rohan in the company of Lord Eomer (who may or may not be appearing in this game). You fight on the side of Good, however, you have no special abilities in this game.
Win Condition: Eliminate all the Evil Players
Mod. Note:
-there were three normal Riders of Rohan. All received PMs along these lines, but worded slightly differently. One Rider received a slightly different PM.
10. Rider of Rohan (Azrael)
You are one of the Rohirrim, a rider of Rohan sworn to serve King Theoden. You are also friend and student of Aragorn, son of Arathorn. (King Theoden and Aragorn are characters who may or may not be appearing in this game). Your cause is just and you are a loyal soldier, however, you have no special abilities at this time.
Win Condition: Eliminate all the Evil Players
Mod. Note:
-this Rider was the secret back-up investigator. He would show up as a simple Rider of Rohan to a Mafia Palantir investigation.
-Player was not told specifically he was the back-up Investigatior.
11-12. Soldier of Gondor (worthawholebean/Puzzle, draygn_mage)
You are a Soldier of Gondor, one of the company of Boromir, serving the Steward, Lord Denethor (characters who may or may not be appearing in this game). You are allied with the forces of good, but you have no special abilities in this game.
Win Condition: Eliminate all the Evil Players
Mod. Notes:
-there were 2 normal Soldiers of Gondor. This number was deliberately varied from the number of Riders (or Elves for that matter) to prevent people detecting a pattern/give the mafia room to false-claim.
13. Elf of Rivendell (bateleur)
You are an Elf of the valley of Rivendell. Servant and student of the Lord of Rivendell, Elrond Half-Elven (who may or may not be appearing in this game.) You and the rest of your kind are shining lights set against the forces of Darkness. You are Good. You have no special abilities at this time.
Win Condition: Eliminate all the Evil Players
Mod. Notes
-this was the secret back-up Doc. role, written similarly to the back-up investigator role.
-would show up as an Elf or Rivendell to a mafia Palantir investigation. Player was not specifically told he was the back-up Doc.
-there were no other vanilla Elves, again to prevent pattern detection/give room for false-claims.
14. Frodo (aurorasparrow)
You are Frodo Baggins, Hobbit. You are the Ringbearer. You hold the One Ring of Sauron, which possesses great powers. Each night you may choose whether or not to wear the Ring (PM me with your decision). If you choose to wear the ring, you will become “invisible” and all attempts to target you shall fail. In addition, you will see anyone who attempts to target you at night (but you will not necessarily learn what they were attempting to do).
The Ring also gives you the ability to strike down another player one time during the game. If you decide to use this ability PM me with the name of the player. That player shall die. You must wear the Ring to use this ability. You are Good.
A word of warning, however. The Ring is evil. It wants to return to its Master. It will betray you if it can. Beware the corrupting power of the Ring.
Win Condition: Eliminate all the Evil Players
Mod Notes:
-So, kill me if you want to, this is how it worked. Frodo could wear the Ring three nights before he would be "corrupted" and join the mafia. If, however, he used the power of the Ring to kill, the time would be reduced by one day.
-Frodo didn't know for certain when/if it would happen, but he got Night PMs which gave increasingly strong hints. Aurorasparrow deduced what would happen at the end there.
15. Saruman (Rhinocero)
You are Saruman, ruler of Isengard (mafia). Once you were a power for the forces of Good, but those days are in the distant past. You are now firmly allied with the forces of evil. You know the identity of your fellow evil players:
Your goal, to destroy the forces of good and recapture the Ring of Power. Each night the evil players may talk freely among themselves and decide whom they wish to eliminate from the game. You must also select which of you will perform the kill (as ruler of Isengard, it is your responsibility to PM me with the group’s decision).
You are also in possession of a Palantir, a magical crystal sphere. Each night you may gaze into the Palantir and learn the identity of one of the other players (PM me with your choice). You will not learn their abilities. Gazing into the Palantir occupies all of your time, however, so you may not do this and also perform the nightly kill (another evil player may still be assigned the kill).
Win Condition: Eliminate all Non-Mafia (or reduce to such numbers as would make victory inevitable)
Mod. Notes:
-would not detect the "Student" part of a Role, only the primary name.
16. Witch-King of Angmar (Fayul)
You are the Witch-King, Ringwraith and Lord of the Nazgul (mafia). You serve your master Sauron in all things. Your mission, to destroy the forces of the Light and reclaim the One Ring for your master.
Each night the evil players may talk freely among themselves and decide whom they wish to eliminate from the game. You must also select which of you will perform the kill (it is Saruman’s responsibility to PM me with the group’s decision. Should Saruman fall, the responsibility will pass to you.)
You are also in possession of a Morgul Blade. One time during the game you may use the blade to perform a special attack against a player. The blade then disappears. This attack may be performed in addition to the normal nightly kill, but you may not do both yourself. The victim of your attack will not die immediately, instead they will be informed that they have been stabbed by a Morgul blade and will die the following night unless they receive Elvish healing. (If there are no Elvish healers around—too bad for them.)
Win Condition: Eliminate all Non-Mafia (or reduce to such numbers as would make victory inevitable)
Mod. Notes
-The Witch-King was immune to the effects of the Ring (could not be killed by it, and any kill of his would not be blocked by it)
-If the Witch-King killed the Ringbearer he would gain possession of the Ring, but would not be allowed to wear it.
17-19. Orc (Deadly Budah, help im a bug, god child)
You are an Orc (mafia). Your basic evil grunt. You know the identity of your fellow evil players:
Each night the evil players may talk freely among themselves and decide whom they wish to eliminate from the game. You must also select which of you will perform the kill. (It is Saruman’s responsibility to PM me with the group’s decision. Should Saruman fall, the responsibility will pass to the Witch-King. Should both fall, the Orcs will have to figure it out for themselves.)
Win Condition: Eliminate all Non-Mafia (or reduce to such numbers as would make victory inevitable)
Mod. Notes:
-if the Ringbearer was killed by an Orc. the Ring would pass to the next person in the Order of succession (Orcs being too stupid to find it).
20. Gollum (swinkee)
You are Gollum, wretched creature (Serial Killer). You care about one thing and one thing only, finding the Precious that was stolen from you (the One Ring of Sauron). You know that the only way to ensure that you will possess the Precious forever is to eliminate all the other players. Each night you may target one player to kill (PM me with your choice). Unless that player receives protection, he will die. You are Evil.
You also possess one additional ability; you may inspect one player each night to see whether or not they currently have the Precious. This inspection is in addition to your nightly kill ability (PM me with this selection also). Your choices must be made together (i.e. you will not receive the results of your Ring inspection before you decide who to target for your kill that night). If you successfully kill the current Ringbearer you will gain possession of the Precious and gain additional abilities.
‘We cannot use the Ruling Ring. That we now know too well. It belongs to Sauron and was made by him alone, and is altogether evil.’
The Lord of the Rings, Book 2
J.R.R. Tolkien
Frodo (aurorasparrow) sat quietly in his chamber, contemplating the Ring of power. He had kept its existence hidden from the other members of the Council for so long, even as he worked to aid their cause, for he was uncertain how they might react if they knew the truth.
But now he was faced with a choice (and it was always a choice).
Twice before had he chosen to wear the Ring. Twice before had he felt its seductive power. And now he sensed that to wear the Ring again would change him. To wear it again would spell certain doom for the rest of the Council.
Or he could put it away. He could return it to the chain around his neck, and in the morning, he knew there would still be a chance for victory with his fellow Council members.
But why shouldn’t I wear it, he wondered? After all, they are no better than me. They are not “more worthy.” They are nothing. Nothing! What should I care what happens to them.
Decision made, Frodo slipped the Ring onto his finger, and felt its Evil force flowing through him once again. This time he did not balk--and so the fate of the Council was sealed.
The last servant of Saruman, his remaining faithful Orc (god child), masterless for so long, came to Frodo then, and bowed down low before his power. And together, they set out to remove the few remaining threats.
The final Rider of Rohan (Hawkeye7) stood little chance against them. The Orc hacked his body to pieces while Frodo stood by and laughed. And then they turned to Elrond (epeeguy). Him they could not reach, shielded as he was by his own powerful magics. Alas, such magics do not last forever, and Frodo now had all the time in the world. And when Elrond’s power finally failed him, they were waiting.
The game is over. Evil has won.
Congratulations to the Mafia (plus their corrupted friend). It does seem somewhat appropriate that, in the end, everything came down to the final Choice of Frodo.
I’ll post the roles and night choices shortly, along with some commentary of my own. I hope people enjoyed it. It’s been a pleasure.
Here's a theory I just came across which is kind of interesting. It goes like this:
Snape is the person referenced in the Prophecy--not Harry.
Check out the actual wording again:
"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches. born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies.
And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not. And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives."
So, with the information that Snape was the person listening outside the door the night the prophecy was made, the first line could be read much more literally. Snape is physically approaching the room. As opposed to the strange use of the term "approaches" to refer to someone who is about to be born.
The second part is more ambiguous. We know almost nothing about Snape's parents. Hermionie discovered that Prince was Snape's mother, but who was she? It has been suggested, however, that the "him" in the second line doesn't even refer to Voldemort, however, but could be Snape himself. I.E. Snape's parrents have defied Snape in some way. That's kind of a stretch.
The Dark Lord marking him as his equal could refer to the Death Eater mark, which is not a mark of equals, but now that Snape has killed Dumbledore (something Voldemort himself could not do), perhaps he will consider Snape more of an equal. Mark him in some special way because of that.
The power he has that the Dark lord knows not--could be the power of love? (the theory that Snape loved Lilly Potter is appealing). Could also refer to the fact that Snape is able to keep his true loyalties concealed. Occlumency?
Finally, the last part could simply mean what everyone has been thinking it means with regard to Harry--one or the other must die. It's also possible "other" might still be refering to Harry--suggesting that Harry may have to kill Snape?
Could this have been part of Dumbledore's plan, to manipulate the Prophecy so as to make it possible that it could be referring to Snape? To "save" Harry by transferring the burden to Snape?
That's really stretching to make some of it fit, but fun to speculate about.
Once more the few who remain are called upon to make a decision. This time, however, the discussions are short.
It must be him! It cannot be otherwise. His own words condemn him, for if he spoke truly, why then, no one among us could be the horrible creature Gollum. Moreover, it appears that his removal will give us the greatest chance of prevailing in our noble cause.
"You are making a mistake," says the Councillor, but no one listens to him.
Should we plan for tomorrow, some wonder? Who should be next? It would seem that we are in good position, for Lord Elrond may guard himself tonight, while good Frodo cannot be killed. On the morrow, victory should be ours!
Could it truly be so easy?
"You will be surprised," says the Councillor, but none pay attention.
Yes, this plan is best! And with that, the guards are called once more.
"No! No!" screams the Councillor, struggling in their grasp. "It is mine! Mine!" And with that, another spell is dispelled. You see his wretched form, old, withered and twisted, yet wiry. With large hands still possessing of great strength.
"My preciousssss!" he cries out, as he is dragged from the room. "Where are you, Precious!"
swinkee - (GOLLUM-Serial Killer) has been lynched.
In is now NIGHT 6. Players please submit your choices. Night will end sometime on Sunday, July 24, or sooner (hint, hint) if everyone submits a choice sooner.
The night seems to last an eternity. But, finally, as it must, the day does come. You soon wish, however, that it were otherwise.
The household staff is all in a commotion again. Despite their best efforts, more deaths have occurred and more bodies have been found. You sense things are rapidly reaching a crisis point. The closest chamber is the one occupied by Councillor LJustus--formerly occupied, that is. His body lies, bloody and hacked, on the floor, his arm still outstretched towards his weapon, which he never reached. You note the now familiar markings and insignia, and see how he spoke the truth concerning his identity. Ljustus was a RIDER OF ROHAN (Town).
Alas, the deaths do not end there. You are next led to the chamber of Puzzle--he of the many plots and plans. He clearly did not plan for this. His body is found slumped over the table he was working at, neck twisted and broken. His armor and effects identify him clearly. Puzzle was a SOLDIER OF GONDOR (Town).
Distressed, the remaining Council members re-convene, though now your numbers are few. And you sense that some of the Councillors are not quite as distressed as they ought to be by this turn of events.
As I said, everyone played well. Don't mean to slight anyone's performance by these, but I enjoy the MVP awards as a player, so I figured I'd give some back.
Mafia MVP: must go to God Child, for perservering in the face of almost insurmountable odds. It was 9-1-1 after day three, and many would have simply folded, but god child stuck it out, and after 6 straight town deaths (not to mention the SK) he actually got into a position where he could have won even if Frodo had not put on the Ring. Great job.
Town MVP: much tougher to decide, many good performances, but I'm going with Puzzle for doing a really bang-up job day three, insightful (and accurate) guesswork about the set-up, and "one man unanimously team bandwagoning" Rhinocero until people voted for him. He also identified god child and swinkee as top suspects. I certainly thought the game was over.
Honorable Mention: aurorasparrow, obviously. Doesn't quite fit into either category, frankly. Perhaps I should create a new one.
LVP: I will cop out and name kpaca/Titus. Kpaca didn't really even play, and Titus wasn't a whole lot better, and then disappeared. If he had been more active, chances are that Enigma91 would have vigged god child instead, which would have basically clinched the game for the town.
Until next time. Cheers! (b/t/w Star Trek Mafia is almost complete! Man, that game is going to be nuts, and also completely unfair, so no whining about it).
(also, if you guys could just spam this thread up to 900 replies, that would make me happy
Also @Kenji: I'd be happy to look at your set-up if you want another opinion.
Overall, I was really happy with everyone (with one notable exception). People weren't replaced for inactivity but for personal reasons (WAWB) or extended vacations (armlx/SOS) and all the replacements did well.
The mafia was full of inexperienced players, which I realized as soon as roles were assigned, but I stuck with it. I think it showed with the early lynches, but I also thought Rhinocero in particular played a very good first game, right up until his role-claim. Didn't seem like a newbie at all to me. God Child clearly played the best as a pure mafia, successfully finding one of the better "false-claims" that I had left open for them.
God Child quite annoyed me, however, with his "error" voting for Fayul day one. He did that without informing me ahead of time, leaving me to "guess" at his true intention. Which meant I either had to count the vote anyway (which I probably would have done if he had been a townie or had been voting for a townie) or basically cover for him and not count the vote. Which, as you saw, was what I did.
On the town side also, everyone seemed to be playing really well. It seemed like a different player stepped up virtually every day.
Day 1: dazbog in particular did an excellent job analyzing posts and correctly pegging Fayul, while it was bateleur who pulled WAHB back from the brink of being lynched when he was just one vote away only 24 hrs. before deadline.
Day 2: LJustus stepped forward, quite literally, and nailed Deadly Budah with a nice piece of analysis.
Day 3: Puzzle stormed the town, convinced everyone to lynch Rhinocero, and almost locked the game up right there. Seriously, some of the things you said were freaky:
Pretty much dead on the money here. Unfortuantely, his aggressive vigging plan backfired (but Puzzle himself was pushing for a vig. of god child which would obviously have made quite a difference).
Day 4: this came down to a choice between swinkee and dazbog, with a helping of suspicion on god child and aurorasparrow for good measure. Everyone was this close to getting it right. Epeeguy knew Frodo's claim smelled funny, and was also suspicious of swinkee. Puzzle voted for both god child and swinkee, before turning on dazbog using the (correct) logic that he or swinkee must be lying. Here's another good quote:
Very true, he just had the roles mixed up.
I'm sorry again about the extended night 5. It was that or replace swinkee, who was the probable lynch, so that didn't seem fair, or start day without letting him make a choice, which would have given away the structure. Even so, swinkee should have warned me ahead of time that he would be away (in fairness to swinkee, he told me that he thought he had given me his night choice in advance, but I never got it.)
Day 5: Lynching swinkee was not "wrong" obviously. Especially since the town believed he was mafia, as opposed to Gollum. But, as I noted before, that was the worst possible lynch for the town at that moment.
Aurorasparrow deserves special recognition as well. He played his role perfectly, always appearing to be on the side of the town (which he was for the most part), but also hedging his bets just enough, and lying about his ability just in case. Can't really blame him for taking the sure thing at the end.
So, all in all, the town played extremely well. I'm sad some of the fun roles never really got to come out and play, but I knew that would happen.
Great job everyone.
On Balance
I am a little surprised myself that the town hit 4/5 lynches and still lost (even with all the Vig. kills). The game didn't seem unbalanced in favor of the mafia when I was setting it up. Basically it was a fairly standard 14/5/1 set-up in which the mafia had three advantages (one of which they didn't even know about).
1. Palantir. This was a good role, I thought, and very powerful. It allowed mafia to identify good targets/find safe claims.
2. Morgul Blade. This was, as Fayul says, a mediocre ability. I kind of sacrificed function for flavor here. I liked the idea that a vanilla townie could get "stabbed" during the night (again, trying to make it more interesting for the vanillas--and in flavor with the Novel) and then have to convince the town the next day what happened. The ability could have served a strategic purpose anyway, drawing the Doc attention to one player while the mafia hit another. I also wondered whether or not one of the mafia themselves might try a "gambit" and claim to have been stabbed themselves, drawing away the Doc protection. But Fayul died early and none of that happened.
3. The Ring Corrupting someone. The mafia didn't know this could happen. They didn't even know for certain that there was a Ring in the game. In hindsight, I probably should have told the mafia flat out that there was a Ring that could be acquired (like I told Gollum) instead of hinting. That would have increased the chances they would actually go after Frodo, making it even harder for him, not knowing that he could end up on their side.
So that was it for the mafia. Against that the town had it's regular Cop/Doc/Vig. Both the Cop and the Doc had a little something "extra" as well. Aragorn got a nifty summon spirit ability if he lived, and Elrond could self-protect/protect against multiple night kills, at the cost of giving up his next night protection.
There was a back-up Cop and Doc, who were secret and couldn't be identified by the mafia Palantir. They had Galadrial, who was potentially very powerful (but, then again, she could give stuff to the mafia too).
And there was Frodo, who was on the side of the Town at the start (and aurorasparrow was playing it that way too). Frodo who could self-protect while possibly seeing mafia, and who also had a night-kill. If Frodo was lynched, the Ring would pass to another member of the town who could use it "fresh," including the night-kill.
So, what I'm saying is it looked fair to me. I would welcome any comments people might have in that regard, first game and all.
Obviously the game was very, very close. Any number of factors could have made it fall the other way. God Child almost committed suicide Night 4, figuring there was almost no way for him to win, that Enigma91 was vigging him (as many had suggested) and that he might as well try and take out Frodo for the SK. As it turned out, Enigma91 didn't pick him, and since Frodo was wearing the Ring, he would have seen God Child, the mafia kill would have been missing the next day, and that would have been that. As it was, Enigma91 died instead.
Night 5 God Child almost killed Puzzle. That was actually his first choice, which would have been another double kill, and left the town a man up. But again, at the last minute, he changed his mind and went for LJustus.
SOS's plan was to Role-Claim saying that he did not have the ability to self-protect, hopefully drawing mafia and SK fire, and then self-protect with the Greater Healing. But neither side went for him, and he lost the ability to protect anyone the next night.
Swinkee stumbled into the one situation that could cause people to believe that he wasn't Gollum--choosing to use his inspect ability, as opposed to his night kil, on aurorasparrow, on a night that aurorasparrow chose to wear the ring, and getting a successful kill elsewhere. Again, ironically, swinkee almost got caught for the wrong reason. SOS was protecting bateleur, so Gollum's kill would have been missing the next morning, people would assume that he tried to kill Frodo, and swinkee would have been exposed. But instead, the mafia also targeted bateleur, thus getting through the Doc protection, and making it look like swinkee couldn't be Gollum.
Night 1:
Mafia:
Deadly Budah: Kill Hawkeye7 (Azrael becomes new Investigator)
Rhinocero: Inspect Draygn_Mage (Soldier of Gondor)
Fayul: No Attack
Town:
Hawkeye7: Investigate Azrael (Azrael is Good)
Enigma91: Kill StevieT92
SOS: Protect aurorasparrow (normal healing)
Pibbly: No Gift
aurorasparrow: does not wear the ring
Swinkee: Kill help im a bug; inspect Azrael (Azrael does not have the Ring)
Night 2:
Mafia:
Deadly Budah: Kill Azrael
Rhinocero: Inspect aurorasparrow (Frodo)
Town:
Pibbly: Gives Elvish Cloak to Azrael
aurorasparrow: does not wear the ring
Enigma91: No choice
Azrael: Does not wear cloak; Investigate Titus (Titus is Good)
SOS: Protect Enigma91 (Normal healing)
Swinkee: Kill Pibbly; inspect god child (god child does not have the Ring)
Night 3:
Mafia:
God Child: Kill bateleur
Rhinocero: Inspect LJustus (Rider of Rohan)
Town:
Aurorasparrow: wears the Ring (sees Swinkee)
Enigma91: No Choice
SOS: Protect bateleur (Normal healing)
Swinkee: Kill bateleur; inspect aurorasparrow (can’t find)
Night 4:
Mafia:
God Child: Kill Enigma91
Town:
SOS: Protect self (Greater healing)
Aurorasparrow: wears the Ring; kill Draygn_mage
Enigma91: kill Titus
Swinkee: kill Enigma91; inspect Puzzle (no ring)
Night 5:
Mafia:
God Child: Kill LJustus
Town:
Aurorasparrow: Does not wear ring
SOS cannot protect
Swinkee: Kill Puzzle, inspect epeeguy (no ring)
Night 6
Mafia:
God Child: No kill
Town:
Aurorasparrow: Wears ring (corrupted)
SOS: protect self (greater healing)
Comments/Points of Interest
As people are gathering, this game was designed to ensure that a mass role-claim would not break the game open in favor of the town. That's the danger with any kind of "Theme" setting, especially one as well known as this, and I was really, really trying to avoid it. I did this in several ways:
1. Large number of "generic sounding" roles. There were "Riders of Rohan", "Soldiers of Gondor", and "Elves of Rivendell," in the game. By using many different generic sounding names, it gave the mafia a choice of "hiding" as a role already revelaed, or making one up completely, such as "Dwarf of the Iron Hills" or "Hobbit of the Shire" which were roles I actually considered putting in.
2. Varying up the numbers. Detecting patterns is one of the easiest ways for the town to spot false-claims, so I tried to make sure there were no patterns to be detected. There were 4 Riders, 2 Soldiers, and but 1 Elf. I knew this would cause problems for the Riders, as people would naturally assume there were too many, and even if a mafia tried to hide there, he would still have cover.
3. Leaving out major roles. This was, by far the hardest thing for me to do. I left out over half the Fellowship, by necessity, I felt, because anyone claiming Fellowship member would be "cleared" so I just couldn't have too many. By the same token--there were major roles available for a daring mafia to seize, but no one tried.
Lesson: mafia will always be scared to claim major roles. Rhinoceo, in particular, had a wide open field day three, when I think the only unrevelad role was Titus', but he still claimed the incredibly obscure Radagast, and got lynched.
4. Named roles who were "vanilla". The other reaons mafia are scared to claim named roles is that people expect the familiar names to have abilities. This was largely true in this game also. So I gave 2 people "Named" roles (one of which was a major character in Sam) but no abilities at all. Leaving open the possibility for the mafia to claim a named role, but no ability.
For all that, the mafia got lynched three days in succession claiming obscure people--Erestor, Denethor (who is not so obscure, actually, and was considered for the game), and Radagast.
The Town built up an impressive lead. It looked to me (and the last mafia) like it was going to be a rout. Reasons the Town still lost (in my opinion):
1. Unnecessary Vigging: The Town vigged away three of it's own this game, squandering the advantage they were gaining from lynching correctly.
2. Failure to Hit the SK: Leaving a SK alive too long is brutal, and this game showed it. The mafia and SK also worked very well together (even double killing bateleur night three when he was actually protected.)
3. No successful Investigations/Doc Protections: The town lost the Cop and back-up Cop nights 1 and 2 in succession along with Galadrial who could give someone else a one-shot inspect. The Doctor did not successfully protect anyone the whole game, despite living to the end (obviously SOS picked bat correctly night 3, but it didn't matter).
4. Frodo turning: despite the above, the town could still have won. If aurorasparrow doesn't wear the Ring it's three to one on Day 6, and god child had been under suspicion since day three.
Ironically, lynching swinkee Day 5 was the only lynch that would guarantee a loss for the town Night 6 (assuming Frodo wore the Ring). Swinkee was perhaps the only one who could have figured that out, since he knew that he was Gollum, and therefore not the last mafia. And if he suspected Frodo could turn Evil, the lynch of himself would doom the town (whereas, if he were alive, he could have possibly killed one of them for the town).
Biggest Disappointment: Galadrial getting killed Night 2. that was my favorite role. One I made to off-set the large number of "vanilla" roles by giving them the chance to get something to do. (They could also have gotten the Ring--more about that later). But Galadrial gave only one gift before kicking the bucket. Ironically, the one gift was the Elvish Cloak which Pibbly gave to Azrael night 2, and which would have saved him, had he chosen to wear it, but he chose to use his newly gained inspector powers instead.
Even more to come....
1. Aragorn (HAWKEYE7)
You are Aragorn. Ranger and Elf-Friend. Heir to the throne of Gondor. You fight for the forces of Light. Your skills at tracking, honed over the decades, make you an able investigator. Each night you may pick one player to investigate (PM me your choice) and you will be informed whether or not they are Good.
In addition, should you survive into day four, you will be crowned King of Gondor and gain additional abilities.
Win Condition: Eliminate all the Evil Players
Mod. Notes:
-if he survived to Day 4 Aragorn would gain the ability to summon spirits. He would be able to call deceased players back into the game for 1 day/night cycle each. That player could vote and use any abilities they had for that cycle.
-This was my way of "cheating" Galadrial back into the game if she was killed early.
2. Elrond (SOS/epeeguy)
You are Elrond, Half-Elven, ruler of Rivendell, sanctuary against the forces of evil. You are an extremely skilled Elvish healer. Each night you may select one player to protect (PM me with your choice). If anyone attempts to kill that player during the night the first such attempt will fail. A second attempt would still be successful, however, so you also possess the power to bestow a Greater Healing. A Greater Healing will protect the player from any and all attempts to kill them during that night. If you use this ability, however, you become exhausted and you may not protect anyone on the following night. You may not protect yourself with a normal healing. You may protect yourself with the Greater Healing.
Win Condition: Eliminate all the Evil Players
3. Boromir (Enigma91)
You are Boromir, son of the Steward of Gondor, Lord Denethor, and brother of Faramir (characters who may or may not be appearing in this game). You are a mighty warrior, determined to rid the world of the scourge of evil. You are a Vigilante. Each night you may select one player as your target and, unless protected, that player will die (PM me with your choice). You are Good.
Win Condition: Eliminate all the Evil Players
Mod. Notes:
-if Boromir killed the Ringbearer he would gain possession of the Ring. He would be corrupted immediately, however, if he chose to wear it.
4. Galadrial (Pibbly)
You are Galadrial of Lothlorian. You are a powerful ally of the forces of Light. You have the ability to bestow gifts on your fellow players. Each night you may choose to bestow one gift on one player (PM me with your choice). Each of your gifts may be given only once, and no player may receive more than one gift during the course of the game. You may not give your gifts to yourself. The player receiving the gift will be informed that he has received a Gift from Galadrial, but will not learn your identity.
The gifts you have available are:
1)The Phial of Galadrial—the Light of Earendil’s Star. The player who receives this gift gains the one-time ability to shine its light on another player (not themselves). The player who has the light shined on them will be protected from all harm that night (i.e. turns another player into a Doctor for one night only). If the player who receives this gift chooses to use the Phial, it will be in lieu of any other night actions that he might have. He may use the gift the same night he receives it, or he may save it for a future night.
2)The Mirror of Galadrial—The player who receives this gift gains the one-time ability to look into the Mirror and determine the identity of another player. He will be informed of the players role-name as well as his alignment (i.e. turns another player into a Cop for one night only).
3)Elvish Bow and Arrow—The player who receives this gift gains the one-time ability to kill another player during the night (i.e. Vigilante).
4)Elvish Rope—The player who receives this gift gains the one-time ability to tie up another player during the night, thus preventing them from performing any actions (i.e. Roleblocker).
5)Elvish Cloak—The player who receives this gift gains the one-time ability to wear the cloak during the night. The cloak disguises them and if they wear it they will be untargetable for that night (i.e. Self-Protector).
Choose Wisely.
Win Condition: Eliminate all the Evil Players
5. Faramir (dazbogeaterofsouls)
You are Faramir, son of the Steward of Gondor, Lord Denethor, and brother to Boromir (characters who may or may not be appearing in this game). You are steadfast and true and fight for the cause of Good. You have no special abilities in this game, however.
Win Condition: Eliminate all the Evil Players
6. Sam (StevieT92)
You are Samwise Gamgee, Hobbit and faithful companion of Frodo Baggins (who may or may not be appearing in this game). You are an able gardener and loyal follower and most definitely on the side of Good. You have no special abilities in this game, however.
Win Condition: Eliminate all the Evil Players
Mod. Notes:
-Sam was first in the Order of Succession to inherit the Ring.
7-9. Rider of Rohan (LJustus, armlx/HAWKEYE7, titus)
You are one of the Rohirrim, a rider of Rohan in the company of Lord Eomer (who may or may not be appearing in this game). You fight on the side of Good, however, you have no special abilities in this game.
Win Condition: Eliminate all the Evil Players
Mod. Note:
-there were three normal Riders of Rohan. All received PMs along these lines, but worded slightly differently. One Rider received a slightly different PM.
10. Rider of Rohan (Azrael)
You are one of the Rohirrim, a rider of Rohan sworn to serve King Theoden. You are also friend and student of Aragorn, son of Arathorn. (King Theoden and Aragorn are characters who may or may not be appearing in this game). Your cause is just and you are a loyal soldier, however, you have no special abilities at this time.
Win Condition: Eliminate all the Evil Players
Mod. Note:
-this Rider was the secret back-up investigator. He would show up as a simple Rider of Rohan to a Mafia Palantir investigation.
-Player was not told specifically he was the back-up Investigatior.
11-12. Soldier of Gondor (worthawholebean/Puzzle, draygn_mage)
You are a Soldier of Gondor, one of the company of Boromir, serving the Steward, Lord Denethor (characters who may or may not be appearing in this game). You are allied with the forces of good, but you have no special abilities in this game.
Win Condition: Eliminate all the Evil Players
Mod. Notes:
-there were 2 normal Soldiers of Gondor. This number was deliberately varied from the number of Riders (or Elves for that matter) to prevent people detecting a pattern/give the mafia room to false-claim.
13. Elf of Rivendell (bateleur)
You are an Elf of the valley of Rivendell. Servant and student of the Lord of Rivendell, Elrond Half-Elven (who may or may not be appearing in this game.) You and the rest of your kind are shining lights set against the forces of Darkness. You are Good. You have no special abilities at this time.
Win Condition: Eliminate all the Evil Players
Mod. Notes
-this was the secret back-up Doc. role, written similarly to the back-up investigator role.
-would show up as an Elf or Rivendell to a mafia Palantir investigation. Player was not specifically told he was the back-up Doc.
-there were no other vanilla Elves, again to prevent pattern detection/give room for false-claims.
14. Frodo (aurorasparrow)
You are Frodo Baggins, Hobbit. You are the Ringbearer. You hold the One Ring of Sauron, which possesses great powers. Each night you may choose whether or not to wear the Ring (PM me with your decision). If you choose to wear the ring, you will become “invisible” and all attempts to target you shall fail. In addition, you will see anyone who attempts to target you at night (but you will not necessarily learn what they were attempting to do).
The Ring also gives you the ability to strike down another player one time during the game. If you decide to use this ability PM me with the name of the player. That player shall die. You must wear the Ring to use this ability. You are Good.
A word of warning, however. The Ring is evil. It wants to return to its Master. It will betray you if it can. Beware the corrupting power of the Ring.
Win Condition: Eliminate all the Evil Players
Mod Notes:
-So, kill me if you want to, this is how it worked. Frodo could wear the Ring three nights before he would be "corrupted" and join the mafia. If, however, he used the power of the Ring to kill, the time would be reduced by one day.
-Frodo didn't know for certain when/if it would happen, but he got Night PMs which gave increasingly strong hints. Aurorasparrow deduced what would happen at the end there.
15. Saruman (Rhinocero)
You are Saruman, ruler of Isengard (mafia). Once you were a power for the forces of Good, but those days are in the distant past. You are now firmly allied with the forces of evil. You know the identity of your fellow evil players:
Your goal, to destroy the forces of good and recapture the Ring of Power. Each night the evil players may talk freely among themselves and decide whom they wish to eliminate from the game. You must also select which of you will perform the kill (as ruler of Isengard, it is your responsibility to PM me with the group’s decision).
You are also in possession of a Palantir, a magical crystal sphere. Each night you may gaze into the Palantir and learn the identity of one of the other players (PM me with your choice). You will not learn their abilities. Gazing into the Palantir occupies all of your time, however, so you may not do this and also perform the nightly kill (another evil player may still be assigned the kill).
Win Condition: Eliminate all Non-Mafia (or reduce to such numbers as would make victory inevitable)
Mod. Notes:
-would not detect the "Student" part of a Role, only the primary name.
16. Witch-King of Angmar (Fayul)
You are the Witch-King, Ringwraith and Lord of the Nazgul (mafia). You serve your master Sauron in all things. Your mission, to destroy the forces of the Light and reclaim the One Ring for your master.
Each night the evil players may talk freely among themselves and decide whom they wish to eliminate from the game. You must also select which of you will perform the kill (it is Saruman’s responsibility to PM me with the group’s decision. Should Saruman fall, the responsibility will pass to you.)
You are also in possession of a Morgul Blade. One time during the game you may use the blade to perform a special attack against a player. The blade then disappears. This attack may be performed in addition to the normal nightly kill, but you may not do both yourself. The victim of your attack will not die immediately, instead they will be informed that they have been stabbed by a Morgul blade and will die the following night unless they receive Elvish healing. (If there are no Elvish healers around—too bad for them.)
Win Condition: Eliminate all Non-Mafia (or reduce to such numbers as would make victory inevitable)
Mod. Notes
-The Witch-King was immune to the effects of the Ring (could not be killed by it, and any kill of his would not be blocked by it)
-If the Witch-King killed the Ringbearer he would gain possession of the Ring, but would not be allowed to wear it.
17-19. Orc (Deadly Budah, help im a bug, god child)
You are an Orc (mafia). Your basic evil grunt. You know the identity of your fellow evil players:
Each night the evil players may talk freely among themselves and decide whom they wish to eliminate from the game. You must also select which of you will perform the kill. (It is Saruman’s responsibility to PM me with the group’s decision. Should Saruman fall, the responsibility will pass to the Witch-King. Should both fall, the Orcs will have to figure it out for themselves.)
Win Condition: Eliminate all Non-Mafia (or reduce to such numbers as would make victory inevitable)
Mod. Notes:
-if the Ringbearer was killed by an Orc. the Ring would pass to the next person in the Order of succession (Orcs being too stupid to find it).
20. Gollum (swinkee)
You are Gollum, wretched creature (Serial Killer). You care about one thing and one thing only, finding the Precious that was stolen from you (the One Ring of Sauron). You know that the only way to ensure that you will possess the Precious forever is to eliminate all the other players. Each night you may target one player to kill (PM me with your choice). Unless that player receives protection, he will die. You are Evil.
You also possess one additional ability; you may inspect one player each night to see whether or not they currently have the Precious. This inspection is in addition to your nightly kill ability (PM me with this selection also). Your choices must be made together (i.e. you will not receive the results of your Ring inspection before you decide who to target for your kill that night). If you successfully kill the current Ringbearer you will gain possession of the Precious and gain additional abilities.
Win Condition: Eliminate all the other players
Further explanations to follow....
Frodo (aurorasparrow) sat quietly in his chamber, contemplating the Ring of power. He had kept its existence hidden from the other members of the Council for so long, even as he worked to aid their cause, for he was uncertain how they might react if they knew the truth.
But now he was faced with a choice (and it was always a choice).
Twice before had he chosen to wear the Ring. Twice before had he felt its seductive power. And now he sensed that to wear the Ring again would change him. To wear it again would spell certain doom for the rest of the Council.
Or he could put it away. He could return it to the chain around his neck, and in the morning, he knew there would still be a chance for victory with his fellow Council members.
But why shouldn’t I wear it, he wondered? After all, they are no better than me. They are not “more worthy.” They are nothing. Nothing! What should I care what happens to them.
Decision made, Frodo slipped the Ring onto his finger, and felt its Evil force flowing through him once again. This time he did not balk--and so the fate of the Council was sealed.
The last servant of Saruman, his remaining faithful Orc (god child), masterless for so long, came to Frodo then, and bowed down low before his power. And together, they set out to remove the few remaining threats.
The final Rider of Rohan (Hawkeye7) stood little chance against them. The Orc hacked his body to pieces while Frodo stood by and laughed. And then they turned to Elrond (epeeguy). Him they could not reach, shielded as he was by his own powerful magics. Alas, such magics do not last forever, and Frodo now had all the time in the world. And when Elrond’s power finally failed him, they were waiting.
The game is over. Evil has won.
Congratulations to the Mafia (plus their corrupted friend). It does seem somewhat appropriate that, in the end, everything came down to the final Choice of Frodo.
I’ll post the roles and night choices shortly, along with some commentary of my own. I hope people enjoyed it. It’s been a pleasure.
Check out the actual wording again:
"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches. born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies.
And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not. And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives."
So, with the information that Snape was the person listening outside the door the night the prophecy was made, the first line could be read much more literally. Snape is physically approaching the room. As opposed to the strange use of the term "approaches" to refer to someone who is about to be born.
The second part is more ambiguous. We know almost nothing about Snape's parents. Hermionie discovered that Prince was Snape's mother, but who was she? It has been suggested, however, that the "him" in the second line doesn't even refer to Voldemort, however, but could be Snape himself. I.E. Snape's parrents have defied Snape in some way. That's kind of a stretch.
The Dark Lord marking him as his equal could refer to the Death Eater mark, which is not a mark of equals, but now that Snape has killed Dumbledore (something Voldemort himself could not do), perhaps he will consider Snape more of an equal. Mark him in some special way because of that.
The power he has that the Dark lord knows not--could be the power of love? (the theory that Snape loved Lilly Potter is appealing). Could also refer to the fact that Snape is able to keep his true loyalties concealed. Occlumency?
Finally, the last part could simply mean what everyone has been thinking it means with regard to Harry--one or the other must die. It's also possible "other" might still be refering to Harry--suggesting that Harry may have to kill Snape?
Could this have been part of Dumbledore's plan, to manipulate the Prophecy so as to make it possible that it could be referring to Snape? To "save" Harry by transferring the burden to Snape?
That's really stretching to make some of it fit, but fun to speculate about.
It must be him! It cannot be otherwise. His own words condemn him, for if he spoke truly, why then, no one among us could be the horrible creature Gollum. Moreover, it appears that his removal will give us the greatest chance of prevailing in our noble cause.
"You are making a mistake," says the Councillor, but no one listens to him.
Should we plan for tomorrow, some wonder? Who should be next? It would seem that we are in good position, for Lord Elrond may guard himself tonight, while good Frodo cannot be killed. On the morrow, victory should be ours!
Could it truly be so easy?
"You will be surprised," says the Councillor, but none pay attention.
Yes, this plan is best! And with that, the guards are called once more.
"No! No!" screams the Councillor, struggling in their grasp. "It is mine! Mine!" And with that, another spell is dispelled. You see his wretched form, old, withered and twisted, yet wiry. With large hands still possessing of great strength.
"My preciousssss!" he cries out, as he is dragged from the room. "Where are you, Precious!"
swinkee - (GOLLUM-Serial Killer) has been lynched.
Final Vote Count:
swinkee - 4 (aurorasparrow, Hawkeye7, god child, epeeguy)
aurorasparrow - 1 (swinkee)
In is now NIGHT 6. Players please submit your choices. Night will end sometime on Sunday, July 24, or sooner (hint, hint) if everyone submits a choice sooner.
swinkee - 1 (aurorasparrow)
aurorasparrow -1 (swinkee)
With 5 alive it takes 3 to lynch.
The household staff is all in a commotion again. Despite their best efforts, more deaths have occurred and more bodies have been found. You sense things are rapidly reaching a crisis point. The closest chamber is the one occupied by Councillor LJustus--formerly occupied, that is. His body lies, bloody and hacked, on the floor, his arm still outstretched towards his weapon, which he never reached. You note the now familiar markings and insignia, and see how he spoke the truth concerning his identity. Ljustus was a RIDER OF ROHAN (Town).
Alas, the deaths do not end there. You are next led to the chamber of Puzzle--he of the many plots and plans. He clearly did not plan for this. His body is found slumped over the table he was working at, neck twisted and broken. His armor and effects identify him clearly. Puzzle was a SOLDIER OF GONDOR (Town).
Distressed, the remaining Council members re-convene, though now your numbers are few. And you sense that some of the Councillors are not quite as distressed as they ought to be by this turn of events.
But who?
It is now DAY 5.
With 5 alive it takes three to lunch.
I hate's de Rap
Cause it is Crap
It's also crude
And really rude
Come be my *****
I'm filthy rich
Don't think it's true
Well **** you