6k Post (TL Mafia)

I've finally hit 6k so I'm back with my mafia blog summarizing the games I have played over the last 1000 posts by identifying a thought or lesson that I have come away with. For those who have no idea what I'm talking about, several individuals have put together guides explaining what exactly the game of mafia entails. A General Guide to Mafia is a great resource for starters.

We're always looking to bring in new players so be sure to check out the TL mafia forums here or on the sidebar in the other games section . In addition to forum games, we also try to run community events including video mafia, irc mafia, LoL and Dota 2 in-houses, a Hearthstone league, and Brood War games. If you are hesitant to jump right in, we regularly host newbie games where you have the opportunity to play with individuals of similar experience. Blazinghand is hosting the current newbie game and you can sign up to join his game here. Alternatively, you may type /obs in essentially any game thread to receive a quicktopic link to follow along with other observers.

Past blogs:
1k Post
2k Post
3k Post
4k Post
5k Post

Game: PTP IV - Demon's Run

Role: Weeping Angel/Madam Vastra

Theme: I manage to lose games in the most gut wrenching of fashions.

I'll start off by taking this opportunity to whine. This may not be the most insightful of topics, but you might enjoy my misery. If the goal is to try and bring in new players, this probably isn't the best place to begin, but nevertheless, allow me to introduce you to a brief history of my soul-crushing losses:

Exhibit A: Lord of The Rings Mafia (Mafia Roleblocker)

In this game, I had to exhaust every trick in the book to even make it to endgame.

We had a fake tracker claim on a Serial Killer night shot after taking a complete guess as to his identity:

On September 23 2011 22:17 kitaman27 wrote:
sup chaoser,
I saw you return to your house with blood on your hands. Which kill are you claiming?

Sincerely,
Your number one stalker.

We had a mass mafia bus on our favorite neutral, surviving barlog:

+ Show Spoiler +

On September 21 2011 11:28 iGrok wrote:

Show nested quote +

I've been thinking about this. And I think it is, in fact, time for me to claim.

So, as my meta, this is my incredibly huge post.

Ok, I've come under a lot of fire lately for lurking. And it's true, I have been. But trying to use meta arguments (other than lack of a monster post, which is never on D1 anyways) on me is stupid - I dare you to find two games in which I've played similar styles as similar roles. And in this game, I'm a role I've never been before.

I am the Balrog.

I am a Survivor.

I have a number of powers, but I'll start with my wincon: I win when any faction wins and Gandalf is dead. So, the second part of my wincon has been conveniently fulfilled. Gandalf probably wasn't supposed to die this early - I've got a few powers that would have aided me in my quest for Gandalf.

I can investigate a player each night and discover if they are Maia. Gandalf, Saruman, Sauron, and Radagast are Maia (I am told these 4 names - more on this after my full claim).
I have one unblockable nightkill.

But that only helps me kill Gandalf. I still need to survive. Fortunately, I have a passive power:

I know what happens when I get the ring. I become Bulletproof.

I'll take a quick breather to let you all think about everything I've just said. When you're ready, scroll down.

It's time for my favorite! Setup Analysis time! In a closed setup, its difficult - but as a 3rd party role, and with all the recent flips, I think I can figure a few things out.

I'll start with my role, as it is the most complicated.

Survivors suck. You have to somehow survive to endgame, against a mafia team who doesn't know not to kill you. So you have to be as non-threatening as possible, while avoiding lynch. This leads you to lurk hardcore. This is no fun.

But my role is a little different. I have a goal, and tools at my disposal. And I think I've figured out how Curu intended for Balrog to be played - Investigate people, when you find a Maia, use the thread to figure out what kind. Then get them lynched. Use the oneshot to get the ring once it pops up somewhere, and then go into heavy pro-town action to win the game.

With the death of Gandalf though, I can change things up a bit. After all, it's in my best interest to survive. And for me, the choice seems clear: Get the ring.

With this in mind, I have a proposal for the town. 2 Maia have died (Gandalf and Sauron). One, maybe two are left. Saruman definitely, lets be honest he's going to be in here. He's kind of a big deal in LotR. Radagast on the other hand...+ Show Spoiler +

If he's in the game, he's probably a miller or traitor with some sort of bonus power. He was a good guy who aided Saruman in Lotr lore. He's pretty obscure though, so idk if he's in the game.

Anyways, my proposal - give me the ring, and I'll trade you an unblockable KP, Saruman checks, and I'll actually contribute useful analysis. Who decides on the KP? Well, if you're a DT I'll give it to you - when you check me you'll get my role PM, If you want to use my power, post the first word in the name of my Checking ability in one of your posts. I'll use it on the next name that appears in your post. Also, I'll check whoever got the second-most votes each night to see if they are Saruman or Radagast.

Why should you trust me? Because this forces me to act pro-town. I'm basically saying, I'm 3rd party but with your help I can be a Bullet-proof Vigilante. Think about that. If I get the ring, I can still be lynched - so if I don't hold up my end, you can lynch me.

So thats the deal. I want to win. Give me the ring, and I hunt the other White Wizard, while scumhunting the best I can. As a sign of good faith, I'll include an analysis later on, and I'll tell you that Radfield is neither Saruman nor Radagast (I thought he might be Gandalf).

On to the rest of the analysis, what little I can do. Take it or leave it, but I've been known to perfectly guess setups before. I won't attempt to do so, but lets see...

First, look at Gandalf's Powers. He's called a Jack of all Trades, but he's not actually that strong. He has 4 powers, but he can't even combine them. Gandalf is supposed to be the strongest damn being in the lotr universe. But he's a purely information role.

In contrast, Sauron's Role: He, too, has investigative powers. He also has an unblockable kill, AND is godfather. Sauron just seems like a more powerful role than Gandalf. But what can we take from this?

Mafia seem to be pretty heavily loaded. Supporting this are the existence of a Jailkeeper and Messenger - Messengers are awesome for confirming players, and Jailkeepers are excellent on offense or defense against mafia.

So, with heavily loaded mafia AND at least one 3rd party, Town has to have some serious firepower and/or protection. I expect Aragorn to have KP (Curu if you make him and Legolas Trackers I will not forgive you - and if GIMLI doesn't have kp... They're the fucking heroes!) I don't forsee there being more than two medics (Eowyn and Galadriel are my guesses), but combined with a Jailkeeper and a vet or two we're starting to talk about some high-power games.

My final note about setup: Pippin (Peregrin Took). The existence of pm-oriented roles is cool, and I highly doubt there's just one. I wouldn't be terribly surprised if Merry was a clone of Pippin's role.

So now its time for some sample analysis.

And my focus today is Palmar.

Show nested quote +

This was his first post. Nothing scummy here, but it sets the mood for everything else he posts.

Now, here's a list of his opinions since then.
Radfield, WBG, Errandor
prplhz
DrH
Radfield, himself, Sandroba, Pyo

Pause. Next post.

Show nested quote +

Here, minimal interaction with DrH is played off as enough to auto-confirm him. This post sets off alarm bells in my head. Palmar contributed 4 posts before DrH died, 2 of which were "Herp I'm not reading the thread" (He was obviously reading the thread). Its his fourth post that interests me: "DrH is giving me really bad vibes." At the time, it looked like just another throwaway post. But post DrH's death, this post looks more like DrH new he was going to be modkilled and Palmar jumped out early to get a townie point.

For the rest of the game, two things are going on. He puts faith in Radfield, and he continues to stress Sandroba town. (yes theres other shit but those're the important parts)

Palmar already feels scummy. So lets continue on that assumption, and introduce possibilities.
1)Radfield and Sandroba are both town. If this is true, then Palmar is trying to gain town cred when they flip. With sandroba acting scummy and a possible lynch, and Radfield a good mafia target, thats two points for him. Fits with calling DrH scum.
2)Radfield is town, Sandroba is scum. This is using Radfield's town cred to make Sandroba look better. Even those who don't trust Palmar will subliminally put them on closer levels. If sandroba didn't look so damn scummy, it might work.
3)Radfield is scum, Sandroba is town. I just... don't see this as possible.
4)Both are scum. I don't know what this would mean actually

Alright guys, well you've heard me out. Give me the ring, and I'll start working a hell of a lot harder this game, hunt down Saruman, and give a DT an unblockable shot. Otherwise, I'll basically keep doing what I've done so far. Your move.

We had a set of fake mason logs with my mafia scumbuddy, where I purposely withheld the time stamps, hoping that someone would ask for them so that I'd be able to post them instantly:

+ Show Spoiler +

On September 28 2011 07:36 kitaman27 wrote:
Ok so here is the deal.

EVERYONE READ THIS POST

Radfield masoned me on night one. Nobody can counter claim this. I didn't claim it earlier because I wanted to trap mafia. Obviously, they would have known that I was in contact with him so they would be weary of going after me knowing that I had the claim in my back pocket. Tonight, we lynch the serial killer choaser. Tomorrow, we clean up based on today's mess.

Here are my logs. Radfied played it very carefully. He gave me hardly any reads and mainly bussed his own teammates. Its possible I may have missed something however. Everyone should be switching over to chaoser now.

Show nested quote +

On September 28 2011 07:54 chaoser wrote:

Show nested quote +

I still want the time stamps

And I was able to follow through...

+ Show Spoiler +

On September 28 2011 07:54 kitaman27 wrote:

Show nested quote +

We had a last minute shenanigans mislynch, where 75% of the votes moved from myself to a town player at the end of the cycle.

And we had a game winning plan that involved the mafia bomberman. For those who are unfamiliar with how a bomber man works, at night you may target a player with an obscure trigger phrase and if they happen to say the phrase in the thread, they explode instanstly.

On the final day, there were five players remaining and both myself and GGQ were exposed as mafia. Four votes were immediately cast on myself so we were in a really tough spot. The plan was to put the bomb on myself, state the trigger seconds before the lynch to explode myself, and then have GGQ cast a single vote on another player, resulting in a mafia victory.

Well, things didn't exactly go as planned...GGQ never showed up:

On October 07 2011 07:59 kitaman27 wrote:
Hopefully I'll be joined by somebody else rather shortly.

Also, SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPLODEALIDOCIOUS

On October 07 2011 08:03 Curu wrote:
kitaman27 as The Witch-King, Lord of the Nazgul, Mafia Roleblocker blew up!
Hello and welcome to Middle-Earth!

You are The Witch-King, Lord of the Nazgul, Mafia Roleblocker.

Active Ability
Fear: You are able to instill absolute paralyzing fear on your target. Each night phase, you may choose to roleblock a target.

Factional Ability
You may carry out kills on behalf of the Mafia. Your personal kill flavor is “devoured by a Fellbeast.”

You win when the Mafia outnumbers every other faction in the game.

On October 07 2011 08:05 Curu wrote:
Night 7

No one was lynched!

Sigh.....

Bonus: Driving chaoser to pick up a smoking habit

+ Show Spoiler +

On October 07 2011 06:55 kitaman27 wrote:
Also, how do you pronounce your name chaoser?

On October 07 2011 06:59 chaoser wrote:
chow-ser. Like Bowser but with Chao. Cause there's a Gandalf the White in the game already? Why is your name kitaman?

On October 07 2011 07:02 kitaman27 wrote:

Show nested quote +

Is it chow-ser or chowser?

On October 07 2011 07:03 chaoser wrote:
It's pronounced chowser like bowser. You didn't answer my question about your name.

On October 07 2011 07:04 kitaman27 wrote:

Show nested quote +

Hahahahahahahahaha bomb triggered.

On October 07 2011 07:05 chaoser wrote:
you're kidding me..

On October 07 2011 07:41 chaoser wrote:
i'm tilting so hard right now...

On October 07 2011 07:42 chaoser wrote:
I need to go out for a smoke...i don't even smoke...i hate you...

Exhibit B: Responsibility Mafia! (Mafia Roleblocker)

This game also had a pretty bizarre ending.
Going into the night, we have three players remaining: myself, bum and RoL. As everyone was a vigilante this game, I knew that bum was the only player remaining with a gun so I roleblocked him, figuring that if he was going to shoot me, I'd have 48 hours to change his mind and if he shot RoL, then he'd simply lynch him with me the next day.

Well, he did shoot RoL, which was roleblocked and the game was extended. However, at the beginning of the cycle, bum decided that I should be lynched, rather than the player he had decided to shoot.

Putting in a latch ditch effort, I posted a fake spreadsheet of all my notes from the game:

+ Show Spoiler +

On January 06 2012 15:13 kitaman27 wrote:
bum, look at it his way: Mafia has absolutely nothing to gain from not roleblocking you. RoL knows you are the only vig alive. With him being in such a strong position today, it makes little sense that he would risk being shot. Instead, he rb's you and goes for the safer mislynch today.

If you did indeed shoot RoL then at least you're willing to listen to a case if I wrote one? There must be a reason you decided to shoot RoL instead of me right?

Here are all the notes I have taken this game. It might not change your mind, but I'm desperate to prove that I'm really town. If you're the scum, please just let me know so we can save everyone some time. I'd be willing to hammer myself if that were the case. Otherwise, let me write up my final case tomorrow.

[*]Foolishness's filter
[*]RebirthOfLeGenD's filter
[*]wherebugsgo's filter
[*]kitaman27's filter
[*]syllogism's filter
[*]SamuelLJackson's filter
[*]Jackal58's filter
[*]Liquid`Sheth's filter
[*]GMarshal's filter
[*]L's filter
[*]Mr. Wiggles's filter
[*]Palmar's filter
[*]Chezinu's filter
[*]chaoser's filter
[*]bumatlarge's filter
[*]BloodyC0bbler's filter
[*]LSB's filter
[*]GGQ's filter
[*]prplhz' filter
[*]VisceraEyes's filter

Liars:
bum: made up responsibility points
chez: "Ver is not one to try and eliminate bad play"
LSB: Fake claiming role, as evidenced by GM's counter claim
hydra: "At this point I'd rather lynch Chezinu or Foolishness", yet still votes for LSB even after mentioning how LSB's claim makes no sense as scum
Sheth: Claims to be on sleeping drugs, yet posting in other thread and streaming. Proof?
syllo: "Leaning scum based on my last read, I'll probably have time to reread him later today...never mentions me as scum in an earlier read, setting himself up for mislynch at lylo"
Meapak: "Hi all, I just got to the part where chez claimed rb. That was false just for the record. Chez never got RB'd"

Foolishness (vig) ###
-trolling, lists Ver as giant wall of text, supporting BC
-"Ignore Chezinu, silence bugs, kill L"
-Soft defends L for his vote on palmar
-http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=295384&currentpage=28#541
-Lists four people that will call him out. Traitor attempting to contact scum team?
-"Please remember, mafia are given a list of blues AND their role description" scumslip?
-Spammy
-"I'm fairly confident that if GM lied about who he shot then he breadcrumbed the real victim in his post."
-Distractionary tactic, why would GM lie if he posted when mafia couldn't change their actions?
-Posts analysis against bugs
-Breadcrumbs L shot

RoL
-Never returns after placeholder on chez, never comments on LSB
-Mentions multiple times how GM's missed shot means he is confirmed, attempts to argue that GM's role is different than LSB's
-Analysis against BC

bugs ###
-analysis against LSB, posting confident
-talking about SK
-Supports LSB lynch even after claim
-Soft defends BC
-OMGUS on foolishness

syllo
-soft defends GM
-calls bugs case stupid but votes LSB anyways
-prpl looks exactly like his town play
-non-committal on L lynch, votes him when forced to by rest of town
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=295384&currentpage=52#1035
-"Leaning scum based on my last read, I'll probably have time to reread him later today"

sandro/curu ###
-random bible quote: Ezekiel 25:17 traitor?
-drops case on chez rather quickly, jumps on bug's lsb analysis
-hard defends palmar
-supports LSB lynch, but not with confidence
-Mentions how LSB's claim makes no sense as scum, yet still wants to lynch him ***

jackal ###
-shoots down chez policy lynch
-questions chezinu about possible scum slip
-jumps on LSB for "no day 1 vet lynch", doesn't address bugs anaylsis
-wants to kill Foolishness. GMarshall GGQ for information
-Strongly opposing the GM lynch for LSB instead, even though he calls GM scum

Sheth
-soft defends hydra/chez
-posting in election mafia, but not here
-weak vote on LSB at the last minute
-mentions that he is sick multiple times and unable to post, yet he is streaming sc2
-Incredibly forced analysis against myself. Brings up several irrelevant points. Only real analysis all game.
-After providing analysis against me, votes RoL. Doesn't vote me at all. ***
-Last on L lynch

GMarshal (Justice vigilante) ###
-hydra policy vote
-useless setup wall of text
-says this game perfectly matches my scum meta and compares it to my town play mini mafia, however in mini mafia he was certain my play was scum as well
-supports and defends LSB in the same post
"Fuck, my head hurts. This game is making no sense to me right now, and I feel stupid. "
-Not pushing his read on my confidently, pleas to have the day off and contribute in the future
-Counterclaims LSB, but isn't willing to believe the roles are the same with different names.
-Claims to shoot rol

L xxx
-metric? Claims it is a trap, but never mentions who got trapped
-weird vote on Palmar based on day 1 scum lynch %
-read on every player in the game: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=295384&currentpage=23#457
-claims blue
-Insists GM lied about his shot ***
-After people question him, asks others to provide an explanation of what happened
-Claims that GM leaving us in the dark is "pro-town"
-Promises to share his scum suspects later. Instead provides jackal's suspects rather than his own
-Mentions me as a vig target, without providing a strong explanation
-Pushes RoL for lynch
-Changes his read on bum, after calling him clear town earlier

Wiggles ###
-first post wall of text
-noncommital on LSB read, seems to go both ways
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=295384&currentpage=33#650
-Presents scenarios in large post, yet never posts which option he prefers
-another useless scenario post

Palmar (black...likely traitor) ###
-not actively pushing a lynch on day one like usual
-votes GM for hydra comment
-weird vote on L based on day 1 scum lynch %
-Hard defends me. Comes off as overconfident

Chezinu
-traitor?
"mafia know all of the blue roles" scum slip?
"mafia knows how the blue roles are triggered."
-defends bum, mason?
-votes palmar without any strong reasoning
-roleblocked
-Lied about roleblock???

chaoser (Liar vig) ###
-Defends L for metric post
-Shoots Palmar, possible accidental mafia hit? liar vig explanation doesn't provide necessary proof
-Questions L after weird post that GM lied about hits

bum (good manner vig)
-responsibility points???
-soft defends chez, mason?
-unvotes hydra, seems unconfident
-claims trigger/blue
-supports GM's claim over LSB's, doesn't want to let both shoot
-Wishy-washy analysis of wiggles, no real conclusion
-only person around before lynch
-timing of role claim is weird

BC (vig?) ###
-pushes palmar for uninspired play/neutral topics after talking about rng
-"was only able to shoot gm, and the possibility of him claiming "i got rbed" was far too likely if he was red. As such I fired."
-Claims vig late into the cycle, poor reasoning

LSB (Overly righteous Vigilante) xxx
-green read on bugs, despite LSB anaylsis
-red read on hydra, weak reasoning
"I'm against the Foolishness lynch simply because it's a bad idea to lynch a vet day 1" (mentions BC also should be exempt)
-Claims blue....scum have names of blue roles

GGQ ###
-Several walls of text

prpl (spam vig, shoots bugs) ###
-random votes VE
-Waking up in middle of night for lynch, votes lsb with little reasoning, after shooting down the analysis against him ***
-Provides an analysis on BC, comes to the conclusion "hostile"...doesn't directly imply he is scum
-jumps on the chezinu roleblock (knows he wasn't as scum?), isn't willing to consider 2 rbers if gm was rb'd?

VE ###
-talking about SK
-moving his vote around a lot, pressuring players
-"SLJ, Foolishness, and chaoser."
-Makes a case against GM, changes his vote, then immediately changes back
-Doesn't want LSB to get a chance to shoot
-Pushes suspicion on GM being traitor, which doesn't make sense with blue claim since a kp would be missing
-Casts doubt on anyone that wasn't on LSB

Foolishness

Foolishness is considered by a large number of people to be TL's strongest town player. His reads are almost always dead on and he is willing to put in the necessary time as town.

This game, Foolishness has displayed nothing that would lead me to believe he cares about town. Most of his posts are one-liners, many which are spam or trolling. He is putting little effort into promoting a strong town environment. In Ver's analysis thread, he mentions how important day one is in establishing oneself as town. I haven't seen one example where he is trying to do so.

In his most recent game as scum (Pick Their Power Mafia), Foolishness displayed similar behavior. He invented his own post restriction and trolled the entire game. As maifa, I also have a habbit of trolling because it is so easy to do.

Show nested quote +

Neither of these posts promote a good town environment. He is trying to be a comedian, rather than hunt scum.

As for the reads he does have, he provides little explanation. He mentions we should "Ignore Chezinu, silence bugs, kill L", but never explains why. Foolishness has made little attempt to pressure anyone into making a scum slip.

Show nested quote +

His votes provide absoultely no explanation at all. Foolishness really doesn't care who town lynches. All he cares about is his own survival. He makes sure that he doesn't upset anyone the entire day. He does post an analysis finally against bugs, but that is only when he realizes he will have to make a contribution or he will be lynched. In PTP, Foolishness made a similar case against myself.

##Vote Foolishness

Day 1 Vote Count

With 20 alive, it takes 11 to lynch.

Current votes:

LSB (12): wherebugsgo, SamuelLJackson, Jackal58, BloodyC0bbler, VisceraEyes, syllogism, -VisceraEyes, VisceraEyes, Palmar, Foolishness, bumatlarge, Liquid`Sheth, GMarshal, -Liquid`Sheth, GGQ, prplhz, -Foolishness, Mr. Wiggles

GMarshal (2): Palmar, -Palmar, GGQ, VisceraEyes, -VisceraEyes, kitaman27, Liquid`Sheth, -GGQ, Foolishness, Mr. Wiggles, -kitaman27, -Mr. Wiggles

L (1): chaoser, Palmar, -Palmar

Palmar (1): VisceraEyes, -VisceraEyes, VisceraEyes, Chezinu, bumatlarge, -VisceraEyes, L, -bumatlarge, -Chezinu

Foolishness (1): VisceraEyes, -VisceraEyes, kitaman27

SamuelLJackson (1): GMarshal, bumatlarge, Chezinu, VisceraEyes, -bumatlarge, -VisceraEyes, -Chezinu, LSB, -GMarshal, -LSB, Chezinu

Chezinu (1): RebirthOfLeGenD

VisceraEyes (1): prplhz, LSB, -prplhz

kitaman27 (0): GMarshal, -GMarshal

BloodyC0bbler (0): Mr. Wiggles, -Mr. Wiggles

Liquid`Sheth (0): kitaman27, -kitaman27

Voting ends at December 22 2011 14:00. (It's over.)

Day 2 Vote Count

With 14 alive it takes 8 to lynch.

Current votes:

BloodyC0bbler (7): RebirthOfLeGenD, Mr. Wiggles, Liquid`Sheth, prplhz, syllogism, bumatlarge, kitaman27

wherebugsgo (1): Foolishness

syllogism (1): chaoser

Foolishness (1): wherebugsgo

Mr. Wiggles (1): bumatlarge, -bumatlarge, GGQ

prplhz (0): kitaman27, -kitaman27

Chezinu (0): prplhz, -prplhz

Voting ends at December 27 2011 14:00. (It's over.)

Well it worked.......For about half a cycle until bum changed his mind for the fourth time in one day. Oww.

On January 08 2012 15:33 Ver wrote:
The biggest WTF part of the game was the roleblocker. Let's look at what the roleblocker did specifically.

N1:

roleblock Gmarshal (shooting RoL , being shot himself anyway by other vigis)

N2:

roleblock Foolishness (shooting L, shot by mafia)

N3: Roleblock Sheth (shooting Meapak , would have committed suicide too)

N5: Roleblock Bum (shooting RoL )

Basically mafia roleblocks always hit the mark except the no shot/no lynch cycle and over the course of the game saved 4 townies and 1 mafia from death! Some of the roleblocks made sense (foolishness), while others were bizarre (gmarshal). Sheth summed it up perfectly:

Show nested quote +

In a very hilarious scenario, Sheth agonized the entire night 3 over who to shoot, Kita or Meapak. For the entire day he's going with Kita but is not entirely certain. An hour left in the night he starts second guessing himself and in the last minute changes to Meapak. Then after all that agonizing, he gets roleblocked instead of killing 2 townies

Over the course of 5 nights, my roleblock had saved FOUR different townies from night shots. If any of those had been allowed to go through, we would have won the game. QQ.

Exibit C: PTP IV - Demon's Run (Third Party TARDIS seeker/survivor/mafia survivor traitor)

And now we're back to the latest chapter in my series of crushing defeats. This game I was given a really difficult role for which I had to obtain an item from a player whose identity was unknown and survive until the end of the game. I could not win with town, however, meaning that I had to either act as a serial killer with no protection from night shots or act as a traitor who had to avoid a lynch.

I decided to claim survivor on night one to avoid night hits, received the item related to my win condition, and masoned myself with the mafia team in order to work together. After shooting Dandel a couple of times, I managed to make it to endgame, but this was quite possibly the most bizzare scenario yet.

Four players remained: myself (third party), austin (mafia), gonzaw (town), and crossfire (town with protective role). I don't control my own vote due to a night action, so I had convince gonzaw and crossfire to lynch austin and I would win the game as a serial killer.

Under normal circumstances, this should have been increddibly easy, considering what austin did next:

On July 02 2013 09:55 austinmcc wrote:
I dunno what to tell you. I don't gots.

Here's relevant chat starting with D3. BC had just checked geript.

Heck, even if i DID gots, I dunno that it's functional (but again, don't gots)

+ Show Spoiler +

148
austinmcc
06-29-2013
04:55 PM ET (US)
I don't know that I am though.

How am I exposed? I acutally think BC isn't lying when he says cross or gonzaw might be scum. AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.
147
GeriptPerson was signed in when posted
06-29-2013
04:51 PM ET (US)
Just trust me best option.
146
GeriptPerson was signed in when posted
06-29-2013
04:51 PM ET (US)
We're dead either way if you don't. You're already exposed.
145
austinmcc
06-29-2013
04:45 PM ET (US)
There's too much crap to risk unvote imo. Whatever crossfire does, gonzaw's crap, like...there's a LOT of unknown.
144
austinmcc
06-29-2013
04:39 PM ET (US)
YOYO. Were you forced to vote for kita or die? Did you get that PM?
143
austinmcc
06-29-2013
04:34 PM ET (US)

Ugh. I don't like this at all.

e: With him popping his head in over and over, asking if he needs to vote, i DO believe him. Stump roles not all that common on TL, I could see them giving him a last hurrah.
Edited 06-29-2013 04:36 PM
142
GeriptPerson was signed in when posted
06-29-2013
04:33 PM ET (US)
No he can't. At least don't believe him. Just switch got at last second.
141
austinmcc
06-29-2013
04:26 PM ET (US)
Also, WoS can unstump and vote apparently, making it 4-3 and we'll all be in open
140
austinmcc
06-29-2013
04:26 PM ET (US)
I don't know that we are though.

Ask if you have to vote for kitaman.

If xatalos's power is real, then ... we can't be 3-3 can we?
139
GeriptPerson was signed in when posted
06-29-2013
04:25 PM ET (US)
We are 3-3 and kill town tonight.
138
GeriptPerson was signed in when posted
06-29-2013
04:24 PM ET (US)
Go vote for not BC, not Gonzaw not Kita.

Deny the lynch.
137
austinmcc
06-29-2013
02:41 PM ET (US)
Or does kita not have to kill mason buddy? Can kita still you? AAAHHHHHHHH. We've either won or lost or something but I can't tell.
136
austinmcc
06-29-2013
02:34 PM ET (US)
Did kita have the tardis today and use it? Or...how else does DI die?

Okay, trying to math it up. If we lynch kitaman and get a kill tonight, we're good.

If we lynch you, then kitaman probably kills me tomorrow and town wins. No reason for them not to. There's a chance we get one cycle with town killing crossfire, if BC checks me, but unsure.

If we no lynch, it's...unclear what happens.
135
austinmcc
06-29-2013
01:59 PM ET (US)
Ugh, do we go for this? We could 3-3 it up, but probably better to kill kita, and then kill a townie overnight, yeah?

Whatever WoS's thing is is the only thing left that can screw us over really, right? Kita dies today. Townie dies overnight hopefully.

That leaves 2 of crossfire/BC/gonzaw alive, WoS stumped, and the two of us.
134
austinmcc
06-29-2013
12:44 PM ET (US)
kita def not traitor if that was him, or I think we would have won right there.

But apparently working with us now, guess pissed at DI and WoS.
133
austinmcc
06-28-2013
10:42 PM ET (US)
I'ma try and push things towards lynching you. You've got magical powers town doesn't know about, and can possibly "absorb kp." Gotta lynch you since you're more difficult to deal with, natch.

I think you've done a really nice job of causing the right amount of havoc and distraction in thread. I dunno if you need to ramp that up to be visible, or if that will make it look like you're trying to get yourself lynched over kita, making town want to lynch him more.

So silly. Our scum team needs them to lynch a specific scum because then it's basically a no-lynch, whereas them lynching another scummy guy blows for us.
132
austinmcc
06-28-2013
04:47 PM ET (US)
Worst part is I can't tell if this is all a ploy. Based on Gonzaw's posts, I think he legitimately believes he's got this figured out. But he made the role earlier, when he didn't feel that way. So he probably created a role that really does something, and it's not a bluff to pull action out of us? Not that we can really do anything except for kita, whatever he is, maybe shooting.
131
austinmcc
06-28-2013
04:18 PM ET (US)
#YUBJUB#YUBJUB#YUBJUB#YUBJUB#YUBJUB#YUBJUB#YUBJUB#YUBJUB#YUBJUB#YUBJUB#YUBJUB#YUBJUB#YUBJUB#YUBJUB#YUBJUB#YUBJUB
130
austinmcc
06-28-2013
04:02 PM ET (US)
PLEASE DON'T RUIN OUR PLANS EWOK WHISTLE

#YUBJUB
129
austinmcc
06-28-2013
03:39 PM ET (US)
I never really considered scum getting my role, wanted to see it end up in townie hands. Thought they could maybe get some extra information, discern some alignments, based on choices that others made. But in scum hands, you either let town do stuff with it or incriminate yourself and maybe teammates.
128
austinmcc
06-28-2013
03:37 PM ET (US)
I haven't been using my power to give us vigi powers because I'm dumb/didn't want to get caught by role usage. I'm paranoid about that since it semi-happened in another game. Like, I had to send out 4 PMs each day, so town knows about the PMs. If I ever have to reveal that I'm the source, it wouldn't look good if I sent PMs to you guys and had you vig someone, but I could have asked them to choose ME and vigi and shoot someone N1. Woulda been better usage. Blech.

So...kita can only shoot you? And you'll die, right before deadline, but resurrect or whatever?
127
GeriptPerson was signed in when posted
06-28-2013
03:29 PM ET (US)
Essentially try to use the shot as a pardon.
126
GeriptPerson was signed in when posted
06-28-2013
03:28 PM ET (US)
The plan is to have Kita shoot me. I'll come back from it. Also why haven't you been using your power to give us vigilante powers?
125
austinmcc
06-28-2013
01:34 PM ET (US)

Ah, shitballs.

If Zephirdd wrote his role so that the mason dude HAS to vigi his mason partner, I think kita is shooting YOU today and not anyone else. It fits with nobody claiming yesterday, nobody being dayvigied yesterday by an unknown role.

He masons solstice D1, shoots solstice. Masons you D3, shoots you. This is super mega balls for us if that's the case...I think? Means only one death today and it's you, whether by lynch or shot, and kita comes out looking great if he shot you, except maybe we can play it as a bus.

Ack.

e: Can you just absorb kita's shot?
Edited 06-28-2013 02:31 PM
124
austinmcc
06-27-2013
09:24 PM ET (US)
Only... 43.5 more hours of this.
123
austinmcc
06-27-2013
09:16 PM ET (US)
Okay, our chances kind of turn on him.

There's a pretty good chance he still thinks I'm mafia. If he wants, he can royally screw us by shooting me as they lynch you.

If he shoots at town though, takes out either gonzaw or BC, then we've got a shot. Maybe with DI being town he'll shoot at them.
122
GeriptPerson was signed in when posted
06-27-2013
09:04 PM ET (US)
yes so far as i know. If they hit me, then i'll tell him so he can boot me out for 24 hours at a minute out... or that's the plan at least. If they don't hit me, then he kills someone else... likely gonzaw.
121
austinmcc
06-27-2013
07:18 PM ET (US)
Can he dayvig today?
120
GeriptPerson was signed in when posted
06-27-2013
07:18 PM ET (US)
yes and yes
119
austinmcc
06-27-2013
07:16 PM ET (US)
Did he kill solstice or rb BC D1? We still don't actually know what either of those things was.

There's a chance BC is actually some kind of 3P or...something. I dunno.

Dis game.
118
GeriptPerson was signed in when posted
06-27-2013
07:09 PM ET (US)
well 2 cycles 144 hrs... not gonna happen clearly.
117
GeriptPerson was signed in when posted
06-27-2013
07:07 PM ET (US)
i'm quite sure he's some sort of 3p b/c if i stay masoned with him for so long then i become starcrossed lovers with him.
116
austinmcc
06-27-2013
07:02 PM ET (US)
This game finally turned into a PTP.

We don't know if kita is actually recruited. If he is, and flips mafia, we may be in a good spot.

Oddddddddddddddddddddddddd
115
austinmcc
06-27-2013
06:35 PM ET (US)
Yeah, sorry. The don't overplay it was for thread, but frankly I don't have any clue what's going on anymore. Just worried about everyone firing off KP and us getting smoked.

Lol KP formula. Wtb moar kp. Maybe we recruit him and get a second or something completely dirty like that and then lose it within a day because ACK ACK ACK. KITA I SORRY.
114
GeriptPerson was signed in when posted
06-27-2013
06:31 PM ET (US)
Ie. I'm not telling him KP formula or anything.
113
GeriptPerson was signed in when posted
06-27-2013
06:31 PM ET (US)
Dude give me some credit. And not Traitor is comple bullshit on top of it.
112
austinmcc
06-27-2013
06:25 PM ET (US)
Uuuuuuurg. We should have considered traitor with only 3 mafia. I'd been thinking he'd be an assassin or some other 3rd party with KP to help drop numbers.
111
austinmcc
06-27-2013
06:23 PM ET (US)
Don't overplay it.

Oh goddamn it. Figure out if there's a way to activate it or something I guess. Do NOT tell him I'm mafia, in case he's actually some other 3P.
110
GeriptPerson was signed in when posted
06-27-2013
06:19 PM ET (US)
FYI Kita claimed mafia traitor. Idk what to believe w/ him. In mason chat w/ him.
109
GeriptPerson was signed in when posted
06-27-2013
06:14 PM ET (US)
I'm just trying to hijack the thread as much as possible.
108
austinmcc
06-27-2013
06:13 PM ET (US)
It still sent out PMs, lololololol.

Maybe this wastes BC's action? I dunno. Almost bad for us if it does and we could get kita shot today, 1 less player to worry about.
107
GeriptPerson was signed in when posted
06-27-2013
06:10 PM ET (US)
No TARDIS. Btw. Totally can't mortal combat again. Just fucking up the thread
106
austinmcc
06-27-2013
05:54 PM ET (US)
Really hoping that you can actually do that AND got the TARDIS. We're so almost close to being in an okay spot...ish. Did you get it?
105
GeriptPerson was signed in when posted
06-27-2013
05:40 PM ET (US)
Fuck no I protected you.
104
austinmcc
06-27-2013
05:35 PM ET (US)
lololol. Are you actually protecting kita or just dicking with folks?
103
austinmcc
06-27-2013
04:12 PM ET (US)
BC WHY YOU GOTTA TRY AND RUIN MY SCUMGAMES
102
austinmcc
06-27-2013
04:07 PM ET (US)
Balls.

Not only did he claim mafia, but he posted the mafia quicktopic in the thread to prove it!

Town believed that they had a 50% change of blocking a shot if they sided with mafia. Since my shot was during the day, they couldn't prevent it. I had to convince them that the game would end after austin's death and that I was a survivor, rather than a mafia traitor survivor (lame).

After spending the entire cycle yelling at each other, it came down to the final minutes, where they appeared to have finally broke.

On July 03 2013 05:59 Crossfire99 wrote:
gonzaw, we got 2 minutes. What are we doing lol?

On July 03 2013 06:00 gonzaw wrote:
Well, last minute switch to austin?

On July 03 2013 06:01 Crossfire99 wrote:
gonzaw you voting austin?

On July 03 2013 06:01 gonzaw wrote:
xfire if you want to swap i have the vote made

I won't swap first just in case lol

On July 03 2013 06:01 gonzaw wrote:
do we have time?

- Deadline is reached -

On July 03 2013 06:03 gonzaw wrote:
I didn't want to swap so fast because if you DIDNT swap this would be even more fucked up lol

On July 03 2013 06:04 Crossfire99 wrote:

Show nested quote +

i was here, i was waiting for you to switch lol?

On July 03 2013 06:07 gonzaw wrote:

Show nested quote +

I was waiting for YOU to switch

...well this is embarrasing :/

Hope he flips SK lol

Oh god, that hurt.

Game: TL Mafia LXII: TL Noir

Role: Mafia Roleblocker

Theme: It is really easy to earn town cred when replacing an inactive player.

Mafia replacements can be incredibly difficult to catch sometimes. On day one or two, the original player has likely contributed very little to the thread, while managing to avoid a policy lynch. When they are eventually replaced due to activity, the replacement player is usually given a grace period where they have the opportunity catch up with the thread and start posting. By the time they have finally started contributing, it's possible that you're only a cycle or two away from LYLO. While a replacement is better than the alternative option of a modkill, a mafia replacement can put the town in a disadvantage. As town one of the goals has to be to get the replacement talking as soon as possible. Sometimes this requires putting additional effort into questioning and pressuring them since there is so little to go by otherwise.

I replaced into this game as mafia on day three on page 240/323. Obviously with a game of this size, people aren't going to expect that I'm caught up immediately, but I was surprised to find out that how little people expected me to contribute during my first cycle. Essentially the only opinion that I provided initially was that the lynch seemed "reasonable". My next six posts were essentially mentioning that I was reading the thread and trying to catch up. Nobody actually attempted to ask my opinion until I confirmed that I was completely caught up.

By the end of day three, people were starting to pick up on the lack of contribution and started asking for reads. Essentially I came up with two large posts summarizing my thoughts on the game and proceeded to be active for a 48 hour period. I think people were so happy to see that I had contributed something compared to the player that I replaced that they didn't put much thought into my alignment. My short burst of activity seemed to be viewed as townie enough that I was able to sit through the next few mislynches without much effort or consideration for a lynch. Nobody really even attempted to verify that I had read the thread.

During postgame, JAT made the following two statements:

On October 05 2013 12:21 justanothertownie wrote:
Kita... really? ...
This effort was not needed.

On October 05 2013 12:33 justanothertownie wrote:
Yeah.. Kita would have won this game anyway because he was the towniest player still in this game.

These statements were rather curious, considering that in a game which lasted 360 hours, I had been active for only a 48 period, which comes out to only 13% of the game. I'm sure I benefited by replacing into a position where the mafia team already had a firm grasp on the game, but I definitely was let off easy. I know that I've been guilty of ignoring the replacement myself, simply hoping that they would eventually step up their game.

The question is, what is the best way to deal with a replacement player? Should most day one or day two lynches be determined based on policy? Perhaps, but that isn't very realistic. Policy lynches are usually considered a last resort and it would lead to some pretty uninteresting games if you only decided to lynch based on filter size, although I'm sure there are a few individuals with 30 page filters that wouldn't mind. Is there a good way to pressure an inactive player into posting without resorting to a lynch? Well, not really. If they're inactive, they likely aren't even around to be aware of the pressure. Should the replacement player be pressured to contribute earlier into the replacement? I'm not so sure. An uninformed opinion is nearly as useless as someone without an opinion. Asking a replacement player to comment on certain events also delays their ability to catch up with the thread and post something useful. I suppose the best way is to scrutinize the contributions they do eventually make and hope you're able to pick up on something before it's too late.

Game: Aperture Mafia 2: Episode 2

Role: Speaker for the Dead

Theme: The timing and execution of a role claim has a huge impact on it's effectiveness

An important part of a role claim is deciding when the value of the claim outweighs the benefit of keeping your identity a secret. One of the costs of role claiming is that you're likely going to be targeted with a night hit immediately after the claim. A well timed role claim can be used to gain control of the thread and use the town cred to direct the lynch, reveal information about the alignment of others or to reveal information about ones own alignment. Avoiding a lynch is an important part of playing town and if you have a means of proving your alignment to the thread, then that can be used as a powerful tool to swing the direction of the cycle and possibly the game. Now I'm not saying that claiming medic at the deadline is going to prove anything. However, if there is evidence that you used your role in a pro-town manner than it's possible to get yourself out of a sticky situation. Obviously the toughest part is to pull off the medic save or an investigative check first, but once you do, you need to decide how the timing of the claim can best impact the game.

I'm going to focus on the timing of investigative claims by relating it back to past games I have played in. You generally have seven options after obtaining the results of a check:

1) Breadcrumb the check.

This is often a risk since if it's too obvious, the mafia team will pick up on it immediately and target you with a night hit. If it's not obvious enough, you run the risk of having it completely ignored upon your death. Always keep an eye out for these kind of breadcrumbs as town after a cop is killed. If you happen to pick up on a statement where they suddenly post the alignment of a player with 100% certainty, it may be a breadcrumb. As a detective, you also need to be aware of not accidentally posting a statement that could be misinterpreted upon your flip.

Insane Mafia
-Town "Watcher"-

This game I was actually a tracker and had tracked Ace to a kill. The process of claiming became a huge headache when several individuals suddenly thought that I had messed up the fake claim because I had received the wrong role name from the host. I breadcrumbed the check initially and then revealed the claim when I felt we needed to pull off the red lynch to win the game at that point.

On November 08 2010 06:04 kitaman27 wrote:
Ace was involved in last night's hit and is also responsible the spread of M-Rus. He must be lynched.

On November 08 2010 07:54 Ace wrote:
He didn't do this because he was waiting...right. Waiting to see who the lynch wagon was going to hit today before coming through with this "breakthrough" information.

This is one of the worst role claims ever since it doesn't even make SENSE. How are you so quick to believe this?

On November 07 2010 08:39 kitaman27 wrote:
Agreed. Carefully watching the lurkers should be a priority. Especially those who disappear for periods of time after the town has formed a majority opinion.

The breadcrumb definitely helped validate my claim since it showed that I wasn't being opportunistic with the reveal. Looking back, I definitely shouldn't have used the word "watching" to breadcrumb a watcher role, but nobody happened to pick up on it thankfully. Claiming at this point actually cost me a red check on L the following night as I was shot. I think the timing of the claim was still reasonable, but the execution was incredibly poor, as Ace actually wasn't lynched this cycle. I attribute most of this to being a newbie and not completely understanding all the mechanics of a game, but it's still something that never should have been allowed to happen.

2) Post the check from the previous cycle at the deadline.

Deadling posting allows you to guarantee that the thread will be aware of the check, even if you die. Ideally, you want to make it so the mafia team is unable to react to the claim and target you with a night hit. If you survive the night, you have the opportunity to pull off one last check.

TL Mafia XXXVIII
-Town Watcher-

I decided to sit on the check during the day since town was in a decent position. I had watched DropBear and bumatlarge both visit a player who had been targeted with a roleblock. Therefore, I knew that one of these players was the mafia roleblocker and the other was a blue role. On night three, I had a difficult choice to make at the deadline because I wasn't sure if I should reveal the entire results of the night action or only one name. At this point, I was concerned about a night hit and wasn't confident that that a simple case would be enough to convince the town to follow through with a lynch after I died. I had about an 80% mafia read on DropBear and a town read on bum, but it wasn't a sure thing in my mind. The reason that I revealed the names of both players was that if DropBear was mafia, then the game was close to won by claiming both names. However, if DropBear happened to flip town, there was a strong chance that bum would win in endgame. I'm still not really sure if this was the best decision as we did trade the watcher and medic for only one mafia, but it did happen to work out in the end.

3) PM the result of the check to certain players that you trust.

This obviously works in PM games. You need to find a balance between ensuring that the check can survive a round of night kills and ensuring that you aren't revealing the check and your identity to a mafia player. If this option is available, it can be a really strong way to start a town circle and figure out the rest of the game.

4) Create a case against the player that you know is mafia.

When you have the knowledge that a player is mafia, you want to get the most info out of this info. If the mafia team is unaware that they are facing a 1:1 trade, they are more likely to be willing to defend their scumbuddy during the day. Flipping 1 out of 6 mafia in a unanimous lynch is not nearly as valuable as flipping a mafia in a contested lynch and using that information to identify others. By singling out the player that is mafia, you're setting yourself up for a night hit or roleblock and you are less likely to receive medic protection compared to a flat out claim, so be aware of the risk.

Harry Potter Mafia!
-Town Medic-

This game can be applied to both options above. The setup was rather broken in the fact that each player had a named role that correlated with their alignment and that everyone was allowed to use PMs. Some people argue that scum slips don't exist, but that obviously isn't the case with this one. My role was the medic, Madam Pomfrey. While exchanging PMs with another player, they were convinced to share their role, claiming that they were Madam Pomfrey as well. As town, this is like hitting the Jackpot since I knew they had to be lying, as duplicate role names were impossible. Soniv knew my role due to his own investigative night actions, so I shared the information with him. A case was made against the confirmed mafia player and the mafia team chose to hard defend him in this situation. Based on the results of the vote and PM exchanges, we were eventually able to coordinate night actions and name claims until the game had been solved.

5) Immediately claim the check.

This is generally the best option during late game situations where the check will end the game or you're certain that you cannot lynch this player without it. Generally I'll always try option 4 first.

Storm Mafia
-Town Hider-

As a hider, you have the benefit of being able to reveal checks, while being able to protect yourself from night hits. In fact, it actually benefits you to draw mafia night actions since they are essentially wasted. Generally, you want to identify town targets that are unlikely to be night hit, rather than mafia players, since a red check will result in your death. In this case, I used the green check to solidify my control over the thread. Sometimes the ability to confirm yourself as town through your role is more important than the check itself. Town was in a position where we needed to pull off five consecutive lynches to win the game, so I attempted something drastic.

I fake claimed a town check on a Toad in attempt to swing a mislynch onto a mafia player. Generally, a player who does this is incredibly selfish because they willing to risk the game on their own reads. Knowing that I wouldn't have enough influence to push a lynch based on a case alone, I was willing to make this gamble. If toad was indeed mafia, then I would be throwing the game. Smelling blood, the entire mafia team decided to oppose my check, keeping their vote on my "green check". Town did manage to all vote together to secure the next four lynches, but I should probably have added this to my list of gut wrenching losses, since at 2v1, the remaining townie decided I was the Serial Killer, despite the investigative checks.

6) Keep the check to yourself and hope that you don't get shot.

I don't actually have a good example for this one. In most cases, I think the first five options are going to be superior. There is just too much risk in taking the information to the grave unless you know that you almost certainly aren't a night hit target or you have guaranteed medic protection.

7) Troll the town with the dt claim, without actually posting the results

Team Melee Mini Mafia - Couples Therapy
-Town Parity Cop-

As a parity cop, we had a different check, between two sets of players, but it wasn't completely apparent who was guilty immediately. It was also a 5v2 scenario so we need to identify both mafia teams within the next two cycles. We decided to claim parity cop without revealing the results in an attempt to gauge thread reaction. By claiming a role that wasn't counter-claimed, we would have complete control at LYLO and then attempt to figure out alignments based on how certain teams reacted. We intended to reveal the check eventually, but what actually happened was that the other town players got so frustrated that they decided to throw down their vote at LYLO in an instant majority setup before the check was actually revealed. They actually voted for a team that wasn't part of the opposite parity check. While both scum pairings were lynched, this really could have backfired due to poor execution.

Now how does this tangent on revealing investigative checks relate back to Aperature Mafia 2? Well, I forget, but that is beside the point. Lets be honest, who is still reading by now anyways? As speaker for the dead, I was able to reveal the actions performed on them when they died. Hassy claimed to have medic protected VE so I decided to use my role to verify that he was telling the truth. It was revealed that Hassy was lying about his role and in hilarious fashion, we mislynched him as town since he forgot to submit his action. I give myself a 10/10 in execution on this one.

Game: PYP: League of Legends Mafia

Role: Co-Host

Theme: Adding complexity to a setup doesn't necessarily make it more entertaining.

Usually I just cover games that I've played in, but this time I'm going to discuss my experience as a co-host. Wave was incredibly ambitious hosting his first game. As a Pick Your Power game, there was approximately 60 champions to choose from, each with 2 roles a piece. On top of that, players were given a HP total, rather than a single life, and abilities and night hits were based on modifying one's HP total. Add to that a banning phase, a draft phase, and a whole lot of weird role interactions and you can see how things could get pretty crazy.

A cost of having all of these complex mechanics was that it gave us hosts less control over how we wanted the game to play out. It was a balancing nightmare and it was incredibly difficult to predict possible outcomes. Despite our attempts at predicting the flow of the game based on a couple mock runs, we quickly discovered that balancing the HP and KP was an extremely difficult task.

Looking back, I think there are a few things that we could have done to make the setup cleaner, without necessarily removing the aspects that were considered fun.

1) Reduce the role list to 30.

Coming up with a ton of potential roles was really entertain, but in the end, the vast majority of the roles were never used. Rather than including 60 interesting champions, I believe we should have selected the 30 most interesting champions. With crazy role interactions like Leblanc using mimic to copy another role, it's a lot easier to consider each scenario and identity any potential game breaking actions when the champion pool is smaller.

When considering a mechanic, I think you have to evaluate it from two perspectives: as a host and as a player. While I can certainly see a player enjoying a larger role pool during the selection phase, once the game begins, those 30 unused roles are pretty irrelevant. However, from the hosting side of things, there is a large amount of overhead that goes along with each role. With 30 players, choosing from 60 roles there are 118,264,581,564,861,424 possible role assignment combinations. As in 118 quadrillions. That's larger than our national debt, the size of this blog, and the number of times Toad admires himself in the mirror per day! We're not even taking into account the drafting phase or the fact that for each role, during each night cycle they can choose between multiple night actions across 30 potential targets. It was simply too difficult to manage.

Some may make the argument that a themed game like this is not meant to be balanced. People sign up for the experience, rather than the assurance that everyone has a fair shot at winning. While there are certainly merits to this argument, in the end, I think the benefit to the players was too small to make up for the issues that it caused.

2) Remove the PYP aspect of the game.

I know a ton of people enjoy the Pick Your Power draft, myself included. However, I don't think this game was the best fit in retrospect. By attempting to use a HP system, we really needed to know roles available to the mafia and town factions in order to get a good idea of each faction's potential killing power every night. Without knowing the roles assigned to each faction before the game begins, who knows whether a mafia kp of 2000 or 5000 makes more sense. A pick your power game that uses normal roles is much more stable because each role has a more relative power level and there are less interactions that could completely swing the game. In this setup, it was probably possible for ten different players to end up dead on the first night if things lined up the right way. Furthermore, in a standard PYP game, you know what you're getting during role selection. However, in this setup, 50% of the champion's abilities were hidden. With a lot of the champion-defining mechanics being unknown, players were unable to "Pick Your Power" if they weren't completely sure what they were getting.

The problem with removing the PYP phase would be that it removed a player's ability to select their favorite champion. Obviously I'm not referring to anyone in particular, but if we had an individual who happened to have an unhealthy obsession with Viktor, the PYP mechanic would allow them to play as that role. One option we could have considered would be to allow players to send in a champion preference prior to starting. That way we would could have attempted to still assign roles based on preference, without giving up the knowledge of which powers were available to each faction. Another issue would be that we would need to nerf the strength of each blue role as we would remove the possibility of a draft overlap, resulting in a vanilla assignment.

3) Keep the PYP aspect of the game and balance the numbers after the picks were made.

This was discussed a bit during the balance phase, but eventually we decided against it. The biggest advantage of this option would be to include the draft that many players enjoy, while still maintaining the ability to balance based on the roles assigned to each faction. The drawback was that it would essentially invalidate any advantage gained during the drafting phase. If town happened to overlap eight times and mafia got 4 out of the top 6 roles, the numbers would still be balanced based on the picks and the game would begin on an even foothold.

I considered discussing the removal of the Hit Point aspect of the game, but I think that was one of the aspects that made the game so unique. Sure, it's been done a couple times in games like Chrono Trigger or Game of Thrones, but many of the HP modifying mechanics were new and creative. From a player perspective, I think it brought several options to the table that would allow town to coordinate night actions without having the outcome as clear cut as a lynch or standard vig shot. It also allowed more players to be involved by scaling back the effectiveness of the damage dealing and protective roles. I wasn't completely satisfied by the mafia kp values and certain shielding roles available to town by the end of the game. I think this should have been our focus while working on the setup, rather than devoting so much time to other aspects of the game.

Despite the concerns, I think the game went off as good as we could have hoped for. There were obviously some problems that we experienced along the way, but overall I think the outcome wasn't completely one sided, the night actions were interesting, and the game was entertaining for most players involved.

Game: Shadow Mini Mafia

Role: Vanilla Town

Theme: Never start to cook pork chops at the lynch deadline.

Theme: It's important to find a balance between the amount of time invested into a game and the enjoyment that you get out of playing.

It's no secret that playing mafia can be incredibly time consuming at times. Occasionally, I'll find myself thinking that a game seems more like a chore than a source of entertainment. I wouldn't say that the stress of a game ever bothers me, but it's more the obligation of activity that you commit to when joining a game. Certain aspects of a mafia have always been more appealing to me than others. I enjoy the challenges in analyzing a setup, arguing with others to convince them that your opinion is valid, and the community in general. However, scum hunting is actually something that I rarely look forward to. Sure, it's satisfying to know you're right afterwards, but the process to get there can be painful. Identifying scummy characteristics throughout the day isn't too bad, but deciding who I want to push for a lynch is the toughest part. I find myself pushing that decision off later and later into the cycle, until I finally have to bite the bullet and do the dirty work.

In the Shadow Mini, each cycle, I'd find myself having a short list of 2-3 players that I would consider for a lynch, but I was struggling to pick out the best one. On day one, it was between Promethelax and Sandroba, on day two between VisceraEyes, Foolishness and Toadesstern, and on day three between Foolishness and marvellosity. I actually ended up choosing wrong all three times.

Being wrong happens a lot, even to the best players. However, the frustrating part is putting in the time to look for mafia players, rereading the thread, reading individual filters numerous times, and investigating their past history, only to find out that your time was wasted. On three separate occasions a coin flip would have been more effective than spending 5+ hours a cycle struggling to come to a decision.

Obviously I'm not arguing that all lynches to be chosen at random from now on, but I do think that there are times where putting more effort into a game isn't always worth the return. For example, do I feel that spending four hours a day on a game is going to cause my reads to be more accurate than two hours a day? Probably. Do I feel that spending the additional two hours is going to greatly improve the accuracy of my reads? It's less clear. Is devoting the extra time to something that I don't enjoy going to negatively impact my overall experience? Definitely. It's totally possible that I'm not utilizing the extra time in the most efficient way, but that's a separate issue. At times this game, rather than rereading the thread, I do feel that taking a step back and getting a fresh start the next day would have been more effective. I think I fell into the trap of making certain assumptions about the game, rather than looking at the big picture. Spending more time isn't going to put me on the right path if I've already eliminated that path. After looking at the game with each players alignment in mind, some things seem pretty obvious now. However, when you're trapped in the moment things are rarely as clear.

Anyways, I've probably rambled on for long enough. Thanks for reading and hope to see you around!

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