xkcd

by **ForAllOfThis** » Sun Nov 21, 2010 4:00 pm UTC

My idea's on the theme:

I think that the cloning might give people more than one vote a day?
The genetic testing sounds like a role-cop.
Scanner specialist sounds like some form of alignment cop or maybe someone who can listen in on scum conversations?
Cyropods seem to be some sort of resurrection.
Then on top of all that there must be people with magic powers.
Any chance that we have an inventor of sorts as well?

by **Dr Ug** » Sun Nov 21, 2010 11:01 pm UTC

I would have thought the most obvious role will be the anti-mages who I would have thought would be roleblockers. There are probably quite a few of these (even if there are less than half - i think that was just "in storage").

I'm not sure what the 13 could mean. I didn't interpret it as being in second person (ie you plus 13 people), but rather that one of us is not in the squad. I think the rogue mage(s) are probably in the squad, so it remains to be seen if the 14th role is town or anti-town.

by **Elvish Pillager** » Sun Nov 21, 2010 11:14 pm UTC

I agree that the "second-person" explanation leaves something to be desired. However, the "Thirteen squad members plus some weird other thing" explanation satisfies me even less, because of this piece of flavor from the first post:

Aardvarki wrote:You were all employees of Terrunci, sent on a mission.

That sure makes it sound like all fourteen of us are in the squad.

I suppose it could mean that we're assuming that there's exactly one rogue mage and we're not counting them. (Imagine answering the question "What resources do we have to hunt the rogue mage with?"; the answer would obviously include thirteen squad members, not fourteen, even if the rogue mage is a squad member.) We haven't actually been told that we have in-character beliefs that there's more than one scum, so this seems like the most convincing explanation.

by **VectorZero** » Sun Nov 21, 2010 11:31 pm UTC

Aardvaki: Can you clarify the 13 vs 14 any further?

by **Aardvarki** » Mon Nov 22, 2010 1:02 am UTC

The 13/14 is not a second-person confusion. There are 13 of you in the group. Beyond that, I cannot explain.

by **Aardvarki** » Mon Nov 22, 2010 1:37 am UTC

The room grows quiet. Even the mundane members of the squad know something isn't right. The hair on the back of your neck stands up.

You look around, terrified, unsure what's about to happen. Then, someone in the group yells something which makes everyone's heart stop.

"There's a BOMB! Duck for cover!"

The next thing you hear is the loudest sound you've ever heard in your life.

Please refrain from chatting while I process this action. It will take me a while. Please check your PMs and follow the instructions you receive.

by **Aardvarki** » Mon Nov 22, 2010 1:51 am UTC

BOOM!

The bomb explodes. Shrapnel flies everywhere. Smoke fills the room. You look around, to survey your losses.

Jayhsu is dead.
ElectricHaze is dead.
Existential_Elevator is dead.
Elvish Pillager is dead.
VectorZero is dead.
Mavketl is dead.
ForAllOfThis is dead.

There are now two threads for this game. You have been told via PM which one you belong in. Please only read and post in the thread you have been assigned to.

by **Aardvarki** » Mon Nov 22, 2010 1:57 am UTC

I have added two new rules:

7. This is thread "ALPHA". You may only read and post in this thread if you have been informed that you are in thread ALPHA.
8. If you have been assigned to this thread, you may NOT read or post in THREAD BETA. Everyone in that thread is dead.

I assure you this game is really not that complicated. When I said there would be bastardry, this is what I meant by it. There are two threads for this game, each (currently) with seven players. The other seven players are dead. Mostly dead, at least. However, they get to continue acting, in some manner. Unfortunately, because they are dead (mostly dead), you can't interact with them. You should just continue, as you were... The only difference, is now there are 7 players, instead of 14.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

by **greenlover** » Mon Nov 22, 2010 2:12 am UTC

Well. . .that was interesting. Now, a few questions:

Is Secret Mafia now effectively two different games, though slightly interconnected?

Is this game still balanced as it was previously, just half of everything?

Was what just happened caused by a player-power, or by a mechanic in-game?

Not like I am expecting to get a straight answer out of those questions, but w/e. It's worth a try.

by **Aardvarki** » Mon Nov 22, 2010 2:25 am UTC

Is Secret Mafia now effectively two different games, though slightly interconnected?

That's a very good way of thinking about it.

Is this game still balanced as it was previously, just half of everything?

I assure you I took every effort to ensure that both halves of this game would be balanced after what just happened. The win conditions are shared between the two threads, though, so if one thread is skewed in mafia's favor, the other thread will be skewed equally in town's favor, balancing out the two. I believe it will all work out quite well.

Was what just happened caused by a player-power, or by a mechanic in-game?

Someone set up us the bomb. (By "someone", I mean a player - I just wanted to say that... Too soon?)

by **Dr Ug** » Mon Nov 22, 2010 2:33 am UTC

I get the feeling that our cryo-chambers just came into play. I think the 7 players in beta thread are probably in cryochambers, and thus "still sort of alive". I daresay there is a possibility of return to alpha thread. Interesting that there are 7 players in there, which means they're not "mage-antimage balanced" unless the 14th player is also in there.

But all this doesn't really help us work out who da scum is.

by **greenlover** » Mon Nov 22, 2010 2:50 am UTC

Do players who die in this thread go over to the BETA thread, or do they just. . .die?

Now some spec. I am guessing that we are dealing with a 5 town v 2 scum situation here. I am also guessing that the scum have only one night kill, and that there are no other "bombs" siting around. So, that means we need to hit scum either today or tomorrow, or else we are sunk.

Of course, that doesn't exactly help us find out who the scum actually are, but, considering that only 2-3 of the players in the game have posted so far. . . I don't think that is actually all that bad.

by **Aardvarki** » Mon Nov 22, 2010 2:57 am UTC

Do players who die in this thread go over to the BETA thread, or do they just. . .die?

What happens to people when they die? No one is exactly sure.

by **Dr Ug** » Mon Nov 22, 2010 4:13 am UTC

I think some people will go to stasis (beta thread), some will just die. Then again, there was a distinct lack of flavour suggesting that my "beta=stasis" idea is true....

hmm...

by **mpolo** » Mon Nov 22, 2010 7:18 am UTC

So... Things just got interesting. I wonder if the other group got flavor saying that we all died and they are the ones alive. I guess that will have to wait a while.

Meanwhile, I would suggest that in the original setup there were probably 3 rogue mages and one "something else" (Independent 14th guy), and that one of our two groups now has two coordinated mafia and the other has one mafia and one SK or other sort of bad guy. If that's the case, the lone mafioso probably has some sort of extra power to compensate (godfather?)

by **roband** » Mon Nov 22, 2010 9:25 am UTC

Hi guys.
Well, this is all a bit exciting, right?

I was agreeing with FAOT's spec about the roles, but now he's no longer here.

This is going to be a very unusual game.

by **roband** » Mon Nov 22, 2010 1:41 pm UTC

Ok, let's make this more interesting.

Cryo-stasis: Elvish Pillager

by **Lataro** » Mon Nov 22, 2010 3:18 pm UTC

awaiting modly info before I can post.

by **roband** » Mon Nov 22, 2010 3:44 pm UTC

*waits*

by **Van** » Mon Nov 22, 2010 3:47 pm UTC

Uh, hm. I guess that explains a lot. Like the reaaaally long D1 in a turbo (5 days) especially one where he said days would be 3ish days, iirc. It also un-explains a lot by which I mean what the fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-

I think it is pretty obvious none of them are actually dead. I should sanity check this vs flavor, but we're hunting a rogue mage, right? Like, a psion or something. Psions don't use bombs, they use awesome. So instead of being dead, we're all trapped in this dude's mind and that's why people can probably come back from the dead (e.g. "Don't read spoilers after death unless I okay it") It makes sense.

Also, this would explain the weird end of day/vote mechanic, because I am willing to bet that they can vote for us and vice-versa which, uh, considering we can't communicate, could be interesting.

I don't think 2 scum per makes much sense, unless town is pretty heavily weighted. That'd be 4 scum in a "14" player game, which doesn't seem balanced to me at all. My money is on 3, almost certainly randomly distributed and very much likely to still be able to communicate. Day talk. Scum with daytalk, and town can't even freely talk, that's great.

I'd like to know what exactly roband is doing, and I have some more theories of my own, but I (also) need mod info first. And sleep.

by **roband** » Mon Nov 22, 2010 3:54 pm UTC

I would also be inclined to think that there are 3 scum (between both games).
The good thing (or potentially bad) is, that would mean one of the games has a much higher chance of being won by town.
6 vs 1 in one game, and 5 vs 2 in the other.

The "5 vs 2" game is tough, because a mislynch on D1 results in LYLO on D2 (assuming there is a NK in each game).

I suspect the mages have gone rogue and the anti-mages have to try and find them, or something.

@Van, I want to hear from the mod too, but maybe some more spec from everyone will be useful.

by **Aardvarki** » Mon Nov 22, 2010 5:08 pm UTC

Roband places Elvish Pillager in Stasis. The machine boots up and starts reading Elvish Pillager's brainwaves.

Elvish Pillager is "mostly dead". His brain is still active. He has been successfully placed into stasis.

by **roband** » Mon Nov 22, 2010 5:17 pm UTC

Hmm. Anyone care to communicate with EP, should they have the ability?

I can see that Aardvarki has also posted in the other thread, so I wonder if EP cannot post there whilst in stasis..

by **Lataro** » Mon Nov 22, 2010 6:01 pm UTC

Assuming my power works like others and must be used publicly, I'm gonna hitch my hopes on the use of the word any in my role.

Cryo-Stasis: Jayhsu.
Cryo-Stasis: ElectricHaze.
Cryo-Stasis: Existential_Elevator.
Cryo-Stasis: VectorZero.
Cryo-Stasis: Mavketl.
Cryo-Stasis: ForAllOfThis.

by **Dr Ug** » Mon Nov 22, 2010 10:10 pm UTC

I'll be surprised if that works, but shall wait for implementation.

I do want to try something else though.

Vote: vectorzero

by **greenlover** » Mon Nov 22, 2010 10:57 pm UTC

Aardvarki wrote:4. No information is revealed about the dead in the morning flavor.

Just saw this. This means that we will have no idea whether we hit scum with our lynch. Which. . .is going to cause problems with scum hunting. In fact. . .what should town do in this case? Most of town strategy that I have heard of hinges on knowing who we lynched. From there, we have a good starting point for determining who is and is not scum. However, without that basic starting point. . . I have no idea how town should act.

by **Dr Ug** » Tue Nov 23, 2010 12:22 am UTC

Hmm... that's not so great...

I think that means we're probably in two 6vs1 games. Without knowledge of dead-alignments, town is a lot weaker than normal.

by **Aardvarki** » Tue Nov 23, 2010 3:01 am UTC

Lataro sets to work hooking everyone up to the machines. After a long arduous effort, all of the remaining bodies are hooked up to the cryo-pods and the systems come online.

Jayhsu is "mostly dead", and has been successfully placed into stasis.
ElectricHaze is "mostly dead", and has been successfully placed into stasis.
Existential_Elevator is "mostly dead", and has been successfully placed into stasis.
VectorZero is "mostly dead", and has been successfully placed into stasis.
Mavketl is "mostly dead", and has been successfully placed into stasis.
ForAllOfThis is "mostly dead", and has been successfully placed into stasis.

Votals:
Lataro (1): Van

by **Lataro** » Tue Nov 23, 2010 3:22 am UTC

so.. awesome.

by **Dr Ug** » Tue Nov 23, 2010 3:35 am UTC

I tend to agree with that sentiment.

That still doesn't really explain the whole we don't get to find out dead people's alignment.

by **mpolo** » Tue Nov 23, 2010 9:03 am UTC

Hopefully we have some mages with some sort of a cop ability who are on our side. Otherwise this is going to be pretty difficult. If we can't clear up wine by lynching, ick… That is, of course, a bridge that we have to cross on D2, though. For now, it would be enough to find scum. We don't want to rush this, though, because the only information we're getting is from the day period.

by **roband** » Tue Nov 23, 2010 9:12 am UTC

Yeah, if our mages (or a scanner?) can tell the alignment of a dead player, they just have to use that power during the night after we lynch them.

Of course that means we have to choose between knowing the alignment of the dead player, or possibly finding the alignment of an existing player.

[b]If the game is 6 vs 1, we don't need to know the alignment of the dead player, as if they're scum we will have won, so the mod will tell us, right?

by **roband** » Tue Nov 23, 2010 9:13 am UTC

EBWOP:

If the game is 6 vs 1, we don't need to know the alignment of the dead player, as if they're scum we will have won, so the mod will tell us, right?

by **Aardvarki** » Tue Nov 23, 2010 12:04 pm UTC

Town wins when ALL non-town factions have been eliminated. That means in both threads. If one thread eliminates their scum but the other does not, they will not be informed of such.

by **roband** » Tue Nov 23, 2010 12:18 pm UTC

And no-lynch is not permitted?

So if we kill scum, we need to continue killing town until the guys in the other game get their act together.
Awesome.

Not.

This is meant to be a turbo right? Anyone want to post some content?
I believe that someone must be able to communicate with those in stasis.

by **mpolo** » Tue Nov 23, 2010 1:19 pm UTC

I'm kind of at a loss as to what to do to provide content here. I think it is a bit early for me to be claiming a role. And our rolenames probably don't say all that much about scum/non-scum, presumably, since we're looking for rogue mages. I have a tutoring session now, so I'll try to think in the background about what I can say to pep things up here.

by **roband** » Tue Nov 23, 2010 1:22 pm UTC

I want to try something

Communicate with Elvish Pillager

I don't think I can do that, but it's worth a shot

by **Aardvarki** » Tue Nov 23, 2010 1:25 pm UTC

Correct. No lynch is not an option.

If you have a communication ability, it is submitted privately and is specifically stated as such in your role PM.

by **roband** » Tue Nov 23, 2010 1:25 pm UTC

by **greenlover** » Tue Nov 23, 2010 1:43 pm UTC

As good as all this spec is, it really doesn't help us find scum. Considering that we gain all of our content from the day's discussion, do you all think it would be acceptable to lynch lurkers? I have noticed that we haven't really gotten anything from weiyaoli yet, so lynching him is possibly an option. That lynch should stimulate some more discussion, none the less.

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