Pixar Mafia! (#102) Duh-duh-duh-done!

[mathcam]

Bullshit? Moi? Why, I never.

Cam

[JereIC]

The course of action is clear for shadyforce and Fuldu: mathcam must die. A simple precipice forms in front of them, and they slowly but surely push mathcam to the edge. Mathcam walks silently backwards, his eyes never straying from shadyforce or Fuldu. Finally, having pushed their prey to the edge of certain doom, shadyforce address mathcam.
"We've rounded up your brother and sister in crime, cam, and now all that's left is for you to reveal yourself before we end this," he says in a confident voice.

"Reveal myself? Like this?" Mathcam asks, and in a swirl of black and orange, mathcam transforms himself into the gaunt body and disfigured face of Scar, nemesis of

The Lion King

. He takes a pace towards shadyforce. "Why I'm just an old cat." A sudden fire enters his eyes as he crouches down and turns to Fuldu. "And I'm about to learn a new trick."

Before either shadyforce or Fuldu can react, mathcam pounces on Fuldu, crushing Fuldu in his powerful jaws. Shadyforce charges mathcam, hitting him in the shoulder all his stingers out. mathcam roars in pain before slapping shadyforce away.
"That HURT!" mathcam yells, Fuldu still limp like a ragdoll in his mouth. With a flick of his mane, mathcam sends Fuldu flying past the edge. As Fuldu disappears in the depth, the landscape begins to change dramatically. The featureless precipice suddenly turns to a vulcan rock cliff, the red rocky walls suddenly come in, and the floor cracks and crumbles, revealing geothermal vents underneath. The air is filled with the smell of sulfur and the sound of cackling hyenas.

"You can't win this, Scar!" shadyforce yells. "With your wound, you won't be able to kill me tonight, and tomorrow I'll just sting you again! It's a draw and you know it!"
"Yes, that has been troubling me," mathcam replies. "But you see, this is my barren rocky canyon, and if you intend to sting me again, you'll have to catch me in it. Here, you are just... a fish out of water."
Mathcam, still limping from the sting, approaches shadyforce, towering over the squirming form on dry rock. His teeth and eyes glowing in the moonlight, he raises one massive paw over shadyforce.
"I win," mathcam says, tensing his muscles for the kill.

"Reach for the sky!" a voice calls from nearby. Mathcam snarls with rage and turns to see Fuldu, standing at the apex of a rock pile.
"I thought you were dead," mathcam says.
"Afraid not," Fuldu says.
"We'll have to fix that, won't we," mathcam says, rearing his body up. He pounces suddenly and savagely, throwing his full weight at Fuldu. While mathcam is still in mid-air, Fuldu whips his revolver out, emptying it into mathcam. mathcam crashes into Fuldu like a graceless sack of bricks, sending out a loud crunching sound. For a moment, everything seems to stand sill, but then the surroundings dissolve back into the featureless white abyss the day started with. Shadyforce watches mathcam's body for any signs of life. As the body remains still, he begins to calm down. The virus is finally gone from render farms, but at such a great cost, he thinks, before noticing the movement in mathcam's paw. Stingers out again, he hurls himself at the paw.

"Whoa, easy there!" Fuldu yells as he emerges from under mathcam's paw, stopping shadyforce in his tracks.
"I thought you were dead!" shadyforce says, a shocked ripple coursing through his tendrils.
"Yeah, I get that a lot," Fuldu says, dusting himself off.
"So what do we do now?" shadyforce asks. "Not much here anymore, no signs of life except for you and me."
"Not quite," Fuldu says, and points to crack in the abyss. From it, during the last few minutes, a single blade of grass from the old hope-filled fields has emerged.
"I think it's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen," shadyforce says, sounding genuinely choked up. "What do we do with the big guy here?" he asks, pointing to mathcam.
"Fertilizer." Fuldu smirks.
"Wow, how very... circle of life."

mathcam, Scar from The Lion King, has been lynched. He was mafia.

Leaving two town survivors:
shadyforce was Squishy from Finding Nemo, and was a role-blocker

Fuldu was Woody from the Toy Story movies, and was a vigilante

Congratulations town, you have won! And good job to the mafia and Flying Dutchman!

Game details to follow.

[mathcam]

What??? I demand a recount!

Cam

[JereIC]

Roles:

The Evil

Three mafia: Scar, Ursula and Hades. Like most mafia, each night one of them can go out and make a kill. They will delete their targets.
Mathcam

Welcome to Pixar mafia. You are...

Scar, from Disney's The Lion King. You, Ursula (the silent speaker), and Hades (Fletcher) are the mafia. Life's not fair for the denizens of Pixar's render farms, or at least it hasn't been since Disney spies installed you three onto Pixar's network. Each night, y'all have the option of going and killing any other player. Just tell me who you kill, and which of y'all does the killing. Please confirm in thread, and send me y'all's night choice. Good luck, and have fun!

the silent speaker

Welcome to Pixar mafia. You are...

Ursula, from Disney's The Little Mermaid. You, Hades (Fletcher), and Scar (mathcam) are the mafia. It is y'all's task to eliminate these poor unfortunate souls on the Pixar render farm, one at a time. Life's full of tough choices, innit? Each night, y'all have the option of going and killing any other player. Just tell me who you kill, and which of y'all does the killing. Please confirm in thread, and send me y'all's night choice. Good luck, and have fun!

Fletcher

Welcome to Pixar mafia. You are...

Hades, from Disney's Hercules. You, Scar (mathcam), and Ursula (the silent speaker) are the mafia. The denizens of the Pixar render farms must die, and let's face, they're going to need some help from the pros. That's where you, Hades, god of the underworld, ferryman of the river Styx, keeper of the shades on damned, come in, along with those two other villains. Each night, y'all have the option of going and killing any other player. Just tell me who you kill, and which of y'all does the killing. Please confirm in thread, and send me y'all's night choice. Good luck, and have fun!

Flying Dutchman
Geri: Serial killer. Hacks his targets to bits (have him go cannibal and take a byte out as well?)

Welcome to Pixar mafia. You are...

Geri, a.k.a The Cleaner from Toy Story 2. In this game, you are the Serial Killer. Here's a picture of Geri with a meat cleaver to illustrate.

I am totally not getting sued for that! Anyway, after your cameo in Toy Story 2, you realized how maligned the other shorts characters were, and decided to get revenge by killing all the feature-length characters. Each night, you have the option of killing any other player in the game. You are anti-town, and win if you are the only player alive. Please confirm in the thread, and send me your night choice. Good luck, and have fun!

Pro-town

Leondias
Marlin: Doctor. In order to protect, he must tell a successful joke sometime during the day. With luck, Boo will be there to laugh at his jokes.

Welcome to Pixar mafia. You are...

Marlin from Finding Nemo, and you're a doctor! As a clownfish, you should know better than anyone else that laughter is the best medicine. Each day, you have to post something that makes somebody else laugh, and each night you can protect anyone besides yourself. If you don't make somebody laugh, you won't be able to protect anyone that night. Please confirm in thread (and tell a joke), and send me your night choice. Good luck, and have fun!

shadyforce (replaced Medicated Lain)
Squishy: Roleblocker. Can block up to two people each night, but must sandwich their posts twice.

Welcome to Pixar mafia. You are...

I shall call you Squishy, and you shall be a roleblocker, and you shall be the roleblocker Squishy. C'mere, Squishy!

Er, sorry, as I was saying, you are the little jellyfish Squishy from Finding Nemo, and you are a pro-town roleblocker. You block people by touching them with you stingers, and then knocking them out for the night. In order to hit people with your stingers, you have to "sandwich" two of their posts, that is post immediately before and after two of their posts. You can block up to two people a night, but you can sandwich as many people as you want. Each night, I'll let you know who you can block, and you tell me which one(s) you want to block. Please confirm in the thread, and if you sandwich somebody twice in the confirm thread, let me know if you want to block them. Good luck, and have fun!

ZONEACE
Boo: Movie cop. Investigates once a night, and is told what movie the target is from. Marlin should provide some material to laugh at.

Welcome to Pixar mafia. You are...

Boo from Monsters Inc., and you're a cop! Each night, you can stay up past your bedtime to take a peek at another player. You've seen all the Disney and Pixar movies about a thousand times each, so you'll remember what movie each player is from, but not their actual name. Note that you won't be able to identify characters unless they were in a feature-length Disney or Pixar movie. Also, note that you're using a DVD player from the monster world, and each day you have to laugh at something another player posted in order to charge it up (I don't count as another player). Please confirm in thread, laugh at somebody there, and send your choice for tonight. Good luck, and have fun!

Werebear
Randall: Stalker. Investigates once a night and is told all players who target or are targetted by his stalkee.

Welcome to Pixar mafia. You are...

Randall from Monsters Inc, and you're a stalker! Ok, that's not so great, but you are pro-town, and you can get some helpful information for the town. Each night, you can follow any other player, and you'll find out everyone they interact with, that is everyone they target or who targets them. Note that I won't tell you whether each person targeted or was targeted by your stalkee, you just get the name(s). Please confirm in thread, and send me your choice for tonight. Good luck, and have fun!

indentureddjinn
Hopper: Replacement. When other people die, the exact details of their role will be hidden, so giveaways are not exposed (say, Marlin's joke-telling).

Welcome to Pixar mafia. You are...

Hopper from A Bug's Life, and you're a replacement! As the former leader of a vicious grasshopper gang, you posses a variety of useful skills, which you can put to use as soon as somebody else. Each day, you have the option of assuming the role of anyone who has been killed or lynched. You have to get the choice in between the time I start the day and when I post the lynch-scene and lock the thread. You will remain Hopper to all appearances, but you gain the powers and burdens of whomever you replace. Right now, you are pro-town, and win when all evil is eliminated, but you can become anti-town by deciding to replace an anti-town role. Your choice is permanent, so choose wisely. Please confirm in the thread, good luck, and have fun!

boomer sooner
Dim: Night choice manipulator. Each night, can bring another target to any other player. Unless they kill or are the alien, they'll target Dim's cargo as well.
What happens when Dim brings another target to...
Scar, Ursula, Hades, Geri, Woody: Nothing happens.
Marlin, Squishy, Boo: Target Dim's cargo in addition to their target, even if they don't make their restrictions.
Randall: Stalks Dim's cargo as well.
Alien: Dim is told that he searched high and low for the the alien, but couldn't find him.

Welcome to Pixar mafia. You are...

Dim from A Bug's Life! Each night, you have the option of bringing another target to some other player, and they'll target whoever you've brought to them in addition to their night choices. The exception is killing roles; your cargo won't get killed because you took them to the mafia or any other player that kills for night choices. There may be other roles that can only target one person per night. After that's done, everyone goes on with their lives. You won't know what happens to your targets or the people you've brought them to, but you can rest assured that you are helping. Please send me your night choices (if you make them) by PM, and confirm in thread. Good luck, and have fun!

Fuldu
Woody: Vigilante. Gets first shot, so he blocks killers as well as kill his target, depending on precedence.

Welcome to Pixar mafia. You are...

Woody from the two Toy Story movies, and you are a vigilante! As the rootinest-tootinest sheriff in the west, you are the fastest draw in the game, so you shoot before anyone else. If you shoot a bad guy who's trying to kill somebody else, you'll block that kill. Please confirm in the thread, and tell me whether or not you want to attempt a kill tonight. Good luck, and have fun!

PBuG
Three-eyed squeaky alien: Hides, and can't be targeted. However, if whomever he hides with is targeted by a killer, he takes the bullet, essentially acting like a blood donor. But will he use alien this way?

Welcome to Pixar mafia. You are...

a three-eyed green alien from the Toy Story movies! In this world of danger, you have one ace up your plastic sleeve: the ability to run like hell to somebody bigger than you. Each night, you can seek protection from another player. When you are being protected, anyone who targets you will fail, no matter what they're targeting you for. However, if the person you're seeking protection is attacked, you'll die instead of them, and if you seek protection from an anti-town player, they'll kill you instead of who they chose that night. Please confirm in the thread and send me your night choice, if you want to seek protection tonight. If you chose not to seek protection during the night, please tell me that as well, so I know that you don't want to make a choice. Good luck, and have fun!

Mechanic info: Squishy can't block an alien seeking protection, and the alien is still protected if his protector is blocked.
Randall can't stalk an alien seeking protection, but if he stalks the protector, he'll see the alien.
Geri, Scar, Hades and Ursula are all anti-town, and will kill an alien seeking protection. If an alien seeks protection from the mafia, they'll kill him instead of their target whether or not he's seeking protection from the killing mafioso. Marlin can't block these kills, since he can't target the alien.
Dim is totally ineffective in transporting people to the alien.
All other roles behave like you'd expect.

Presedence:
The alien seeks protection.
Squishy roleblocks, Randall begins to stalk, and Dim transports (so Squishy will roleblock them, but otherwise they can affect and see his actions).
Marlin protects.
Woody kills.
Maifa, SK kill simultaneously.
Boo and Randall receive info.
Everyone has a bagel.
Day breaks.

[mathcam]

Very fun as always, Jere. Thanks for modding.

Cam

[JereIC]

Night Choices

Night 1:
mathcam kills Leondias for the mafia
Flying Duthman also kills Leondias
ZONEACE laughs investigates Werebear, gets back "Monsters Inc."
Werebear follows PBuG, sees him alone
Everyone else reserves their choices

Night 2:
Fletcher kills indentureddjinn for the mafia
Flying Dutchman kills ZONEACE
Boomer Sooner carries mathcam to Flying Dutchman, nothing happens
ZONEACE fails to laugh, can't investigate
Werebear stalks Fletcher, sees him with indentureddjinn
Everyone else reserves their choices

Night 3:
mathcam kills Boomer Sooner for the mafia
Flying Dutchman Werebear
Werebear stalks Flying Dutchman
Shadyforce replaces Medicated Lain
Everyone else reserves their choices

Night 4:
mathcam attepmts to kill shadyforce for the mafia
Flying Dutchman attepmts to kill mathcam
Fuldu kills Fletcher
shadyforce stings and blocks mathcam and Flying Dutchman

Night 5:
mathcam attempts to kill Fuldu for the mafia
Fuldu attempts to kill shadyforce
Shadyforce stings and blocks Fuldu and mathcam

[Fuldu]

Life's full of tough choices, innit?

That made me laugh. Can I investigate someone?

I knew there was importance to Marlin's being a comedian.

[JereIC]

My Thoughts

First, this was a really fun game for me to mod. I want to thank everyone for contributing and keeping it fun and civil.

On the game-design front, I made some mistakes with the roles, which were probably frustrating to some players. Dim was close to useless, and confusing to boot, so I'd like to apologize to Boomer Sooner for it. I like the idea of a Dim-style night choice manipulator, but it was pretty difficult to make the role useful in its current form.

Hopper was originally going to be a nurse (and that had a pretty coherent backstory), but having played the nurse before, I can say it's frustrating to just sit around and wait for the doc to die. Additionally, I really relished the idea that somebody who was nominally pro-town had the option of becoming an anti-town role, say the serial killer. So Hopper became a replacement. However, I also originally intended to spill everything about a role as soon as the player was killed, but that would obviously have been bad if ID had wanted to replace Marlin or Boo, since ID would have had to fill those same role-restrictiono. The kludge I worked out was not good enough, since ID could have been taking on a role with potentially hidden mechanics. A possible solution would have been to send Hopper the role PMs of dead players, editing to hide mafia co-conspiritors.

I really should have made it clear that the alien could be used as a blood donor, but not forced that option on the role. Sorry, PBuG.

And then there's Squishy. Shadyforce played this role about as well as I had thought possible, and he deserves kudos for using this role to its fullest, but I think that revealed just how overpowering it was. Hindsight is 20/20, but I must have been insane letting Squishy block

two

people at once. Sandwiching was a pretty bad restriction as well; when I was placing the posting restrictions, I decided that they should encourage people to post more, not less. I think I accomplished that with Boo and Marlin, and I thought I was doing the same with Squishy, but I realize now that once his secret got out, people would have an incentive to post

less

, although shady obviously posted like a maniac to make his role powerful (did I mention he deserves kudos for using his role to its max?). As Flying Dutchman pointed out to me in a PM, it was insanely hard for scum to win against a roleblocker and a vigilante, much less a double-roleblocker and a first-shot vigilante. So, sorry scum, bad Jere, nice work Shady!

Speaking of Flying Dutchman, I wanted the serial killer to look innocent if investigated and have an escape if forced to role-claim, so I decided to make him a Pixar character. For some reason, I couldn't get the idea of Geri with a big knife out of my head, so I made him the serial killer, and used some Photoshop mojo to get the knife in his hand. Then I set up the rest of the game, with the intention of putting some other shorts charecters in. But as you can see, I never did, so Geri lost the easy escape, although I though the Nemo claim looked credible.

Anyway, enough from me. What did y'all think? This is only my second succesful game, so I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts, comments, rants, raves, cookie recipes, and any other constructive criticisms. I'm considering running a big theme version of the game, so any theme-specific comments would be helpful too.

[mathcam]

Geri with a knife is eerie.

Cam

[the silent speaker]

If inddjinn had chosen to replace me, what would have happened? Would he have joined the Mafia for all purposes, or become a serial killer, or what? Would he have known them and they him?

[JereIC]

If inddjinn had chosen to replace me, what would have happened? Would he have joined the Mafia for all purposes, or become a serial killer, or what? Would he have known them and they him?

ID would have become a full-fledged member of the mafia, and emulated you in every way. The only difference is that if ZONEACE had investigated him, he would have gotten back "A Bug's Life" instead of "The Little Mermaid".

[shadyforce]

[Aside]Replacement is similar to my "Copy-Cat" role in Mini 85.[/Aside]

Very nice end-game scene Jere! Lol, I was on a rollorcoaster ride there. I almost thought that Woody was going to turn around and kill me then and there, after we got rid of Mathcam, lol. Bloody suspense... hehe it was wonderful.

Thanks for an excellent game Jere! Go town, woohoo! Hard luck scum.

[Flying Dutchman]

*sigh*

I did the best I could, but against a double role blocker, a vigilante, and a mafia godfather, what would you expect...........

[Werebear]

Well, I broke one of my own rules about Mafia... I lied to the town as a townie. Actually, I manipulated words to try and make it seem like someone else had sent me the note on Fletcher. Dammit, if he had been hiding in his stinking box, how would I see him out and about? It seemed like a good idea at the time, that's all I can say. Fletcher, you scum, that role was way too perfect to be true. Something the other killer wouldn't want to attack, while allaying the town's suspicions. Massive kudos to you. *Grin*

[mathcam]

I wasn't actually the godfather, FD.

Yeah, good claim, Fletcher.

Cam

[Fuldu]

The other good thing about FD's claim was my reluctance to shoot him the night after he claimed because of my quick draw ability. If I had been a plain vig, I would have shot with no qualms, but because I had concerns I might shoot a hider before he could hide, I didn't. Looking at my actions Night 5, you can see that, even had the claim been true, it wouldn't have been relevant. I couldn't shoot shadyforce, I probably wouldn't have been able to shoot Stinky Pete, either.

[Fletcher]

Stink!

Oh yeah, good game. I tried.

[MeMe]

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