Mini 914 ~ Mafia Reverberation (Game Over!)

[SpyreX]

I'm not sure what to make of that vote there mr.

[Mighty Orbots]

Good day everyone. This is the Zorblag head of the Mighty Orbots hydra posting. It'll be easy to tell which of us made any individual post as I always sign mine. If it doesn't have the Zorblag R`Lyeh at the bottom it was made by Papa Zito.

I've played with a good number of you before and this promises to be a fun game. I like that we're looking at mechanics already. I'm still trying to make sure I'm ready to handle twists and turns but here are a few thoughts.

We do have the ability to speed up deadlines if we want using no purge votes. Anytime we're ready for the game to go to triple speed we can safely vote no purge without worrying about it going through (unless we're getting down to the 0 threshhold.)

The idea being tossed around of confirming one or more townies has a couple potential ways to be broken. The ones that spring immediately to mind during the purge itself are double voters, Prominence, Luxomancy and liquid beings. If the scum (either the light or other potential third parties) have access to various combinations of those abilities they could make potentially turn any strategy of those sorts into an automatic loss. There's also the danger of kills outside of the purge. It seems likely that the light or at least some non-dark player/players will have either individual killing abilities or the faction killing ability so we might not have next days with which to deal with people who flinch at the last minute. Finally there's the trouble with actually confirming town players. There are potential godfathers (anti heros or reflectors) or redirectors that cut down on any faction cop ability's potential for success.

I do agree that we'll probably want to keep in mind our ability to purge multiple players on a single incantation but we shouldn't expect that we're going to be able to try to win the game with one mega purge near the start.

Like I said, I still need to think about how things potentially work together to get a feel for the game.

For now,

Incant: BloodCovenent

for being the first player alphabetically by name not to have posted since the game started. I imagine Papa Zito will override that but it'll do for now.

Mighty Orbots can be represented by the color

black

in the vote counts.

Mod, at what time of the day will the intensity increase? Will it be consistent from increase to increase in a given incantation? How about from incantation to incantation?

-Zorblag R`Lyeh

[VP Baltar]

Please note V/LA in sig. Posting this in all my games.

[Porkens]

Agreeing with the hydratic post in 51 almost in it's entirety. Most of all with the simple reminder about godfathers and reflectors. We should keep the idea of self-vote block in mind but not really consider it a viable option.

I had missed the nopurge-speedup-dynamic. I like the idea of fiddling with that as an option.

I'll go ahead and state that, for me, with this wide a range of possible roles, it's going to be difficult to see all possible RP-combination outcomes. I can handle cop/blocker/doc/vanillas, but I'm not going to be able to follow some of what you guys might come up with as far as "but if there's an X and he's a Y, then Z could happen because of G, R, and L, statistically." So if I ask you to restate or dumb-down, it's not because I'm not paying attention or am trying to trap you, but because I really don't have a grasp. //newbcard

A lot of my recent play (not here) has been based on simple, reliable (as far as I've seen) scumtells, and I'm trying to embrace that across the board. I'm sure I'll be happy to share the list if and when they come up.

Time for work, peace.

[Vi]

Incantation:

:arrow:

SpyreX (P-9)

~

VP Baltar

,

SerialClergyman

,

Porkens

VP Baltar (P-10)

~

Jahudo

,

Porkens,

SpyreX

Juls (P-11)

~

Sotty7

zoraster (P-11)

~

Jazzmyn

Rhinox (P-11)

~

Juls

Sotty7 (P-11)

~

zoraster

BloodCovenent (P-11)

~ Mighty Orbots

-No Decision-

BloodCovenent,

Mighty Orbots,

Rhinox,

SerialClergyman, SpyreX

-All of my deadlines are effective at 2100 EST.

--At Intensity μ, it will take 12 Incants to Purge...
--The Intensity will increase on Wednesday, January 27, 2010...

[Sotty7]

With a game this complex it is good to get some level of understanding at the start. But still I think we should be careful about letting this become all about the set up and not about the actual game itself.

With that said, Juls, why did you incant Rhinox when we know he is V/LA?

[Jahudo]

Agreeing with the hydratic post in 51 almost in it's entirety. Most of all with the simple reminder about godfathers and reflectors. We should keep the idea of self-vote block in mind but not really consider it a viable option.

So do you agree with Mighty Orbots stance on multiple purges per day? What about it is agreeable where Spyrex's stance is scummy?

[Juls]

Posting this in all my games:

Please consider me V/LA until Thursday night. I apologize for the inconvienance but this week is very busy for me

[Porkens]

Agreeing with the hydratic post in 51 almost in it's entirety. Most of all with the simple reminder about godfathers and reflectors. We should keep the idea of self-vote block in mind but not really consider it a viable option.

So do you agree with Mighty Orbots stance on multiple purges per day? What about it is agreeable where Spyrex's stance is scummy?

I thought that SpyreX's response to 46 had a tone of "I know what your suggesting won't work, but go ahead and run around in circles 'till you figure it out on your own...meantime I'll be over here doing my own thing."

Theoretically, yes. However, with just A confirmed town it gets a little tricky.

Layout the numbers though - that may work.

See how he mentions the flaw but doesn't emphasize the obvious pitfalls.

meh, anyways.

[Rhinox]

I

/confirm

that I have not yet read the thread, the rules, or even my role, but I am back from V/LA and I will be getting to that shortly.

[SpyreX]

Well this game is sure off to a slow start.

While I don't mind preaching caution, to a degree, overall 51 gets me a little - probably because of its focus on the megapurge (which I highly doubt would happen regardless).

I'm firmly of the opinion that utilizing at least 2 lynches is going to be far more beneficial in most situations than a single and am expecting that to be the course.

I thought that SpyreX's response to 46 had a tone of "I know what your suggesting won't work, but go ahead and run around in circles 'till you figure it out on your own...meantime I'll be over here doing my own thing."

What?

I'm saying in theory with just A confirmed town a megapurge could work but, due to factors such as the above and the simple fact that scum would weasel somehow at least one member alive, it gets a little tricky.

However, if later we see a block of "more than lylo" "confirmed" (I'd say 4, just to account for an NK) then hells yes I could see doing a purge of the leftovers.

[Jazzmyn]

This game appears more complicated than other games that I have played, so I might not twig to all of the possible permutations immediately, but I'm looking forward to trying to figure them out, and looking forward to learning.

I like the potential for multiple purges to the extent that it could mean lynching more than one scummy player as opposed to having to choose between two scummy players, which is often the case in games with 'regular' mechanics. While I think that we have to be cautious about multiple purges because scum could take advantage of the multi-lynch potential to push separate wagons against townies simultaneously, I am inclined to think that overall we can use the multi-lynch to our advantage so long as it is utilized carefully.

I also like - very much - that the Game Mod frowns upon lurking and that the game has a relatively short activity requirement, as I really dislike lurkers and would change the site-wide mindset about not lynching lurkers if it was up to me. I am of the view that lurkers suck the life out of games and that the mindset against lynching lurkers gives far too much opportunity to scum to fly under the radar. So, I am hoping that this game, with its short activity requirements and its being non-friendly to replacements, will encourage everyone to participate actively and regularly.

Of course, no sooner than I say that, I also have to say that I will be out after work tomorrow (Wednesday) evening and do not expect to get home until quite late (midnight-ish) so I may miss a night there but, generally, I am home and able to get online on weeknights after 7 p.m. EST and on weekends at various times during the day and evening. (This site is blocked at my office, so I cannot read or post during business hours on weekdays).

Also, I'm not familiar with some of the terms used in the GM's opening posts or some of the abilities described, or Spaceballs™ which is referenced a few times, so I'm going to go and do some investi-Googling to see if I can make some sense out of the parts that I don't understand.

Regards,
Jazz

[SerialClergyman]

Hey, lets purge Porkens and not tell him why.

incant Porkens

[Vi]

Incantation:

:arrow:

SpyreX (P-10)

~

VP Baltar

,

SerialClergyman

,

Porkens

:arrow:

VP Baltar (P-10)

~

Jahudo

,

SpyreX

Juls (P-11)

~

Sotty7

zoraster (P-11)

~

Jazzmyn

Rhinox (P-11)

~

Juls

Sotty7 (P-11)

~

zoraster

BloodCovenent (P-11)

~ Mighty Orbots

Porkens (P-11)

~

SerialClergyman

-No Decision-

BloodCovenent, Rhinox

-All players have confirmed!

--At Intensity μ, it will take 12 Incants to Purge...
--The Intensity will increase on Wednesday, January 27, 2010...

[Porkens]

SC, I don't know if that reasoning is parody, but I said my reasons for incanting spy.

I honestly think this is dead-ending till all the V/LAs get back

[SerialClergyman]

Nope, no parody. I just want to have votes on you without really explaining it for a little while.

That'll stick it to those V/LAs who are missing the fun.

COME ON SPYREX, OMGUS THE BASTARD

[Jahudo]

@Rhinox, do you think Juls used appeal to emotion on her random vote?

@Mighty Orbots: How are you handling the hydra in this game? Are you using it to split up time? Are you running by ideas or suspicions before you post? Like is there a way to tell if something one half says speaks for the other half?

Also, I'm not familiar with some of the terms used in the GM's opening posts or some of the abilities described, or Spaceballs™ which is referenced a few times, so I'm going to go and do some investi-Googling to see if I can make some sense out of the parts that I don't understand.

It looks like the Moychandiser role is a cult recruiter, who probably would also have the Marketing ability which looks like a random powerrole enabler. They both have that Spaceballs theme, which is a Mel Brooks spoof of Star Wars.

[Sotty7]

Serial, why Porkens out of everyone?

As far as multiple purges go I think we have to be careful but I wouldn't be against purging two people at first and see where that gets us.

[Mighty Orbots]

I don't have much time just now but this seems worth answering now to make sure things are clear. Either Papa Zito or I should hopefully be able to get on later today and add some actual content to the game.

@Jahudo, Papa Zito and I will both be playing as full time as we've got time to. Thus far that's been very little for either of us as evidenced by the lack of posts. We do have a quick topic where we will be discussing game issues but there is no requirement that either of us run anything by the other before posting here. You shouldn't assume that one head of the hydra necessarily speaks for both but we are going to make an effort to sort through any disagreements in private rather than here; if we strongly disagree about something we'll try to make it clear that we hold different views on that particular issue from the start.

Papa Zito and I do have very different play styles; the reason that we decided to run this hydra again was to try to capitalize on that; if we know that we're both working towards the same ends we know that we can fully trust each other which gives each of us better access to more ways to view the game. Needing to speak as a combined individual would hamper that to some degree. We're aware of the potential confusion issues that stem from hydra's in general and we are going to be working to avoid them cropping up but we'll also be retaining our individualities as that gives everyone access to both lines of reasoning. A consequence of that is that we're more open to attacks (i.e. attacks on either of our reasoning at any time) but that's a tradeoff we're willing to make.

-Zorblag R`Lyeh

[SpyreX]

A consequence of that is that we're more open to attacks (i.e. attacks on either of our reasoning at any time) but that's a tradeoff we're willing to make.

Color me confused - why would you worry about attacks versus, ya know, finding scum?

Sure there is a bit of a issue with handling differentiating opinions when running a hydra but the idea of that being a high concern is just flabbergasting.

Unvote, Vote: Mighty Orbots

Ohh snap I'm doin stuff

[VP Baltar]

Catching up. And first order of business is Happy B-Day, SpyreX! You're one of my favorite scummers and I hope you have a great day.

Even without confirmed town utilizing this for 2-4 lynches instead of one has some advantages (even with, of course, the fact that if we frak up then game-set-match for scum MUCH quicker)

Well, that latter part is a decent deterrant in my opinion, but if I survived (and won) a game where nearly everyone has a daykill, I guess lynching 2 people early on isn't too bad of a prospect.

Your ability is special, right? Oh it's not? That's crazy.. what could the explanation be? Oh wait, you changed your mind, it IS special!

You slanderous bastard! My claim was perfect. It was Llama who was shifting back and forth.

Well wait a minute, not to game the setup without cause but...If we have AW confirmed town, don't we just lynch EVERYONE else and those who wont play ball get slung?

Well there are certain roles that would F that up pretty bad if the scum have them, aren't there?

edit: ah, this was addressed.

Hey, lets purge Porkens and not tell him why.

Cool with me. (and there is actually a valid reason)

Incant: Porkens

[Rhinox]

@Rhinox, do you think Juls used appeal to emotion on her random vote?

I don't really see how a random vote can be an appeal to emotion.

The votecounts are dreadfully missing a splash of

YELLOW

, so thats where I'll fit in.

When did this whole hydra thing start? I go away for a few months and now they're everywhere. I thought they were only going to be utilized in that one theme game.

Anyone find it odd porkens is playing the newbcard when he's not a newb?

Just my initial thoughts so far. Need to get my head back on the ground before really getting into things.

[BloodCovenent]

Incant: Jazzyman

I'll take whatever color is available. Not sure how many are. Worst case scenario, i'll take italics.

I've gotta go to dinner, but i should be back up reading more later.

[Mighty Orbots]

@SpyreX, the advantages to the hydra with regards to finding scum are that we've got two different lines of reasoning that we know that we can rely on. The disadvantage that comes into play from having that going on publicly is that we will be more open to attacks. I think that's what I said in my previous post. It's curious that you're focusing on the acknowledged consequence rather than the benefits that were mentioned and that you're interpreting what I said with my last sentence to be an indication that I find it to be a topic of high concern.

The only other experience that I have playing in a hydra was in California Trilogy: City of Angels where, in the post game discussion, this was an issue raised for hydras in particular. That experience certainly colors my expectations for what others will expect from hydras to some extent.

-Zorblag R`Lyeh

[Porkens]

Cool with me. (and there is actually a valid reason)

Incant: Porkens

ohh this better pan out