remember to set your alarm so you don't go more than 30 minutes between reveals, lissa
Type: Posts; User: Voxxicus
remember to set your alarm so you don't go more than 30 minutes between reveals, lissa
Ggs to all, was an entertaining one to spectate
I'm glad you enjoyed the show, and I'd certainly be willing to read thoughts you do on the future even if it's more recap-y and less liveblog-y.
I agree with you that it starts off a little slow, but then really starts to find its footing. Also agree that the overall cast is what makes the show great more than Lucifer himself, but also, well. It's 1 season out of 6, there's room for character development from a lot of the characters, even if sometimes it can come across a little heavy handed. I think on some level that ends up being part of the charm, even if it's a little formulaic at times.
For season 1 specifically I vibe with your readslist. Some of them might slide around a little in the future, not going to spoil anything in that regard. I think in the first season Lucifer himself mostly is a vehicle for the plot and premise, and requires a fair bit of suspension of disbelief/just accepting that it has to be this way, where Trixie, Chloe, Linda, Maze, and even Dan are what really drive the show. It's well casted and just fun in a kind of cheesy way.
Thanks for holding up your end up of the bet, and I'd still recommend future seasons (though I'll warn that S3 is a little bit of a mid-show slog, even if it's still decent).
Counterpoint:
no
oh hey long time no seeI'll happily /in, I love mountainous games
no this is not an in
The best thing is every time you throw an idiotic pick, you can just claim it was for the realism, and take no responsibility.
Article #26: Producing Meaningful Content
- written by Quick
Introduction
I think we all intuitively know what this means on a surface level. We all know content is the words on the screen we are reading in order to solve the game. But it goes deeper than that. There are good kinds of content and bad kinds of content. This article is aimed at Semi-Open to Mountainous setups consisting of the standard 13 players. This article does not apply to role madness or bastard games. This will be good for Automated Games and Light Games.
Definition
A general definition of content will be necessary here – not so that you can use my definition for the word content, but so that you know what I mean when I say the word content in this article.
My definition of content is: The degree to which a post helps Town win. to further extrapolate on this, content is the information that is presented by a player with the aim of posting in line with their win condition, that is, for Town to try and solve the game, and for Scum to Eliminate Town.
Content helps solve the game for Town. So how do we produce meaningful content? I will break this up into different conceptions of content starting from the beginning and (hopefully) provide an analysis that will help you produce more meaningful content in your games.
What is content?
Everything – every post is a form of content. As such, content is not a binary thing, but more of a sliding scale of percentage of effectiveness. Every post has it’s own content level. A post that has a High Content level will greatly help Eliminate Scum. A post that has a Medium Content level will help solve the game in other ways. A post that has a Low Content level will provide information about the current state of the game. A post with Very Low content level will be a post that does not accomplish much, does not help solve the game, or does not help Town to win in much of a meaningful way.
Effectiveness
We might think about these 4 levels of content in terms of percentage of effectiveness to help Town solve the game.
High Content posts would be about 75% effective, Medium Content posts would be about 50% effective, Low Content posts would be about 25% effective, and Very Low Content posts would be about 7.5% effective.
Let me explain this a bit.
A High Content post is helpful for all Town players in the game. So, Total Town/Total players*100~75%.
A Medium Content post helps about 1/2 of the Town players. So, .5*Town/Total*100~55%.
A Low Content post helps about 1/3 of the Town players in the game. So, .33*Town/Total players*100~25%.
A Very Low Content post might help 10% of the players on average. So, .1*Town/Total players*100~7.5%.
Content Levels: Definitions and Examples
Some examples of these content levels:
High Content: Any post that catches at least one Scum player in a single post (there are possibilities of catching more than one Scum in a single post, but that would be a Ultra High Content post and those hardly ever happens). So for example, if a cop gets a guilty on a Scum member, and then says that they have a guilty in the thread, then this would be a High Content post. Of course, High Content posts can be made without a hard guilty investigation. For example, if a player blatantly catches a Scum player in a lie then that could be a high content post as well. There are also situations where a cumulative case can be made on someone that would also be considered a High Content post.
Medium Content: Any posts content that helps solve the game for Town another way besides High Content posts. Some general examples of this are Scum hunting, changing the gamestate for the better, or motivating other players. From a successful gambit, to a post that is 10% new, to strange/different reasoning from the norm, to high WIM are the kinds of posts that make them good for Town’s chance to win. Medium Content posts can sometimes help catch Scum, but it would take more than one post to do so. I like to think about Medium Content posts as the bulk of a Town players posts you take as parts of a whole. A post that provides some sort of reasoning and conclusion associated with a post that is not a strict guilty on a player is also likely a Medium Content post. A medium content post is a post that makes Town think more clearly about the game.
Low Content: Any post that gives information about a player (or players) in the game that does not necessarily provide reasoning and/or a conclusion. This would be something like a Reads List, IIoA, or a recap of certain events that have happened in the game without providing any conclusive analysis or reasoning for the post. Low Content posts can be lengthy at times or they can be short. An example of this king of post would be when you are in a discussion with another player and you are going back and forth recalling what has happened in the thread already. And example would be, "Thingyman voted Ampharos after Makaze."
Very Low Content: Any post that does not have a well reasoned conclusion about a player, tells very little about any players in the game, or does not help motivate Town to win. An example of this is RVS/RQS, naked votes, or a single read on a single player with no explanation. Very Low Content posts have their place, but very sparingly (IMO). In short an example would be something like "Thingymna is Rand<V." And this is especially so if there is no context for the read/vote/statement. So for example, If I were to say "Thingyman is Scum" but I do not provide any context for that, then this would be a Very Low context post. You could say a step in between Low Content posts and Very Low Content posts would be to quote a post and simply say "Town," or something like that.
Game Stages
There are certain phases of content throughout the game. Generally content is Very Low in RVS/RQS but this is not always the case. But in the later states of the game, there are more and more opportunities for High Content posts. When the pressure rises, that is often when it’s easiest to spot Town and nail Scum.
Early Game: How do you produce content in early stages of the game? In this stage, you want to start with Very Low Content posts. I’m a firm believer that RVS/RQS must be as short as can be managed. In this stage, sometime providing Very Low Content posts such as naked reads or votes can help Town start thinking about the game more critically. For example, if everyone is just joking around and not doing much with game solving and you throw a naked vote down on the highest wagon at the time with no explanation, this is a good way to get out of RVS. Similarly, if you say in a neutral tone that someone is Scum and do not explain anything, then that can get people talking. You can also do these strategies and then just walk away from the computer for a few hours and come back and see what has happened in the game. Alternatively, you can give a Town read on a player with reasoning and see how the players react. This works because people will question what you are doing and may motivate them to get in the frame of mind to analyze the game more critically. It's early enough in the game that you don't really have to worry about that being something that will get you Elimed necessarily (as long as you can explain what you were doing later). Very Low Content posts help get Town in the frame of mind to solve the game because their immediate reaction to these kinds of posts is to try and figure out what you are doing.
Early/Mid Game: How do you produce content in the Early Middle of the game? In this stage, you want to be making Low Content posts. The first thing you should understand is that you have to have your facts straight as to what has happened in the game so far. Sometime during the last half of D1 or D2 you might want to do a reread of the game. This site has a fantastic notes system called bookmarks. I highly recommend using this. It will make your life easier (unless you are GeneralHandkerchief, in which case, he don't need no stinkin’ notes!). This should be the strategy stage for you. How are you going to approach playing the rest of the game? How do you plan to make your reads more concrete? How are you going to narrow a PoE? To do these things, you have to have the facts and a plan (do as I say, not as I do). And once you have understood what has happened in the game at this point in time, making posts that given information about what has already happened gives Town a way to digest all the craziness that happened in RVS/RQS. Low Content posts during this stage also help Town think by providing a springboard of information for them to start producing higher content.
Mid Game: How do you produce content in the Middle of the game? In this stage, you want to be making Medium Content posts. How do you start doing this? The first advice I can give here is to always, always always give a reason for your vote in the post you have voted a player. Not only is this really convenient for Town to see why you are voting that person by seeing the post you voted them itself, but it helps keep your ISO very organized. You can always just post a link to your reasoning if you don't have any new reasons (I fail at this at times because I learned bad habits when I first started). Secondly, this is a great stage to start to ask more thoughtful questions to other players in the game. And you also want to make sure you are Scum hunting. You might have a few strong TRs at this time. Bounce ideas off them and ask your PoE players more probing questions about their motives for what they have done in the game. You want to explain your reasoning for people and draw a definitive conclusion about players in the game. There is also an unconscious effect of Medium Content posts for certain kinds of content. For example, if a player is never within the consensus of the game, this actually helps Town solve the game. The reason for this is that the immediate reaction to a player having controversial reads is “Wut?” This has the effect of unconsciously causing Town players to question what they have been thinking about the game and reevaluate in a productive way. And of course, this works a lot better if you have reasons to back up these slightly-off-the-norm conclusions. It is akin to pruning a vine. If the player has a PoV that is off the beaten path from the norm just a bit, this causes the other players to want to correct themselves and make sure they have accurate reads.
Late Game: How do you produce content at the end of the game? In this stage, you want to aim for High Content posts. It is crucial that everyone in the game knows where you stand on the majority of the players in the game at this stage. The best thing you can do as Town at the end of the game is be as transparent as possible. You should have a narrow PoE at this point. You need to work on making it smaller. I know, this is really really hard to do in practice, but at the end stages of the game, confidence is what wins games for Town. If you have been playing the way I suggest from before this point throughout the game, then you should be on track to make some devastating posts against Scum. This should theoretically be where you do most of your ISO work on the remaining players/PoE. At this point, you want to be able to make a case on at least one person who you are confident is Scum. Catching Scum in a lie, or in their Low Content post(From Town’s PoV) can help bring Town to victory. Also, don't be afraid to make wall posts. At this stage is do or die, so you have nothing to lose and no reason to hold back.
All of this information about the stages of the game compared to the level of content all hinges on psychological factors for the other members of the Town. For example, in the beginning stages of the game the key to providing meaningful content is to stick out and be different from the rest of Town by enough that you don’t kill the production of content altogether, while at the end of the game, you want to be the Town leader who everyone wants to sheep because you are playing so well. You can kill the content in the game for a period altogether if what you are posting is too different. Or if you start making exceptionally long posts that goes strongly against the grain then people cannot track with you at all and as such it can stall the game since no one knows how to handle that. They become like a deer stuck in the headlights. Be different, but not so different that people can't relate to you.
Game Pace
There is a correlation with how fast the pace of the game is as well. I will detail how to adjust what kind of content you produce based on the pace of the game. the general rule of thumb I would give is to match the general activity level of the thread. High Content posts require more effort than Low Content post.
Very Slow: It’s best to aim for High Content posts in this kind of game generally. You want to take your time to watch what you are saying and what others are saying very closely in these kinds of games. People theoretically should be scrutinizing every word you use in a game like this. As such, you would want to be doing the same. Sometimes a single word choice is enough to give you a good lead on things. So, when you make your posts in a Very Slow game, reread what you have written several times. And feel free to write in a more long winded nature. First, post what comes to your mind after taking some time to think about what you want to say. Then proof read what you wrote and change things as necessary. When the game is slow, but there are say, a half-dozen or so posts per hour or less, then it’s time to start transitioning to Medium Content posts. In a game where you are getting 2 posts per hour or less is when you have to both be more well read on the game than anyone else, and be able to explain in detail what you are thinking and why.
Slow/Medium Game: Its best to make Medium Content post in this kind of game generally. I recommend being able to generally recall what has happened in the game in this kind of game for all the time you are posting in the game. In this way, you want to have a aura of confidence in terms of knowing what you are talking about. You don't want to just make a bunch of one liners in this kind of game or you will come across as a little psycho. I’d suggest most of your posts in this kind of game to be about 3-5 separate lines of complete thought if you are not posting quote walls. Remember in this kind of game you don't have to post about everything as long as you know what is happening. Your posts should be well thought through in this kind of game. You also might want to try some elaborate gambits or other traps for Scum. Creativity in this kind of game goes a long way.
Medium Game: It's best to make Low Content posts in this kind of game generally. I recommend just getting your thoughts out there as they come to you. you want to stay current in the game and provide a kind of flow to your thoughts in these kinds of games. This will help other players TR you. You’re Town, you know you are Town, and so you automatically have Town thought process. Let that show. Not to say you can’t use spell check or anything like that, but you should be trying to throw ideas out there and seeing what kind of reactions players have in these kinds of games. Throw in some High Content and Medium Content posts every now and then. When the game is going at a good pace, say, 1200 posts for D1, then you can probably mix in some more Low Content posts to help the game slow down a bit. This might even be better if it’s a bit longer post (but not too long). I really don’t think there is much reason to give Very Low Content post regarding threadstate.
Fast Game: It's best to make Low Content post in this kind of game as well generally. In a Fast Paced game, I really recommend being as transparent with your thoughts as possible. It will be difficult to have a very good idea of all the things that have happened in the game or all the changes in reads players have in this kind of game. You can make sure you. Recapping on what has happened in the game already is a really good idea because it reminds people what that Scummy thing was actually about way back to page 5. In this kind of game, you would need someone to be a fact checker for the game to keep people honest. Until the heard thins a bit, you will want to work on giving reads and a bit of reasoning for them in these kinds of game. I would also suggest asking players if they could make a Reads List so when you go back to ISO in a later part of the game, you can see what people's reads were. Throw in some Medium Content posts for good measure.
Scum Content
There is some missing details here so let me try and fill them in. Scum are in the game. Scum do actually produce content for the game. Every post Scum makes is content for the game that helps solve the game for Town. As long as Scum do not post, Town cannot read them. Therefore, every post that a Scum player makes is content for the game. Now you might be thinking, “Yeah, but Scum lie.” Yes, Scum lie, but Town tell the truth. If Scum are lying then the goal is to shed light on what they are lying about. And Scum can’t lie as well as Town can tell the truth. So Town necessarily has a net gain compared to completely random votes and players (which is 11 Town to 2 Scum in case you wanted to know that). In this way, you can think about the content that Scum produce being the inverse of the content that Town produce.
Cliffs:
- Content is the degree to which a post helps Town win.
- The four primary levels of content a post has are High, Medium, Low, and Very Low. High Content posts have 75% effectiveness, Medium Content posts have 50% effectiveness, Low Content posts have 25% effectiveness, and Very Low Content posts have 7.5% effectiveness.
- High Content posts attempt to catch Scum. Medium Content posts helps solve the game in other ways. Low Content posts provide information on what has already happened. Very Low Content posts don't accomplish much.
- Very Low Content to High Content in general is correlated with the phase of the game from Early Game to Late Game respectively.
- Low Content to High content in general is correlated with the pace of the game from a Fast Game to a Very Slow Game respectively.
- Scum also provide content for the game but it is the inverse of what it is for Town.
Article #25: Principles of Town Leadership
- written by JaggedJimmyJay
After playing just a few iterations of this “Mafia” thing, we tend to begin building mental categories to describe types of play, both with respect to specific factions and in general. A popular term is the player “archetype” and for the purposes of this piece that is the term I will use. Some players tend toward slow, methodical analysis. Some are more inclined to play the game in real-time like a live chat. Others favor the silly, or that which is “outside the box”. There are countless possible archetypes we might describe, and these examples all invoke some notion of how does a player play Mafia?. That is perhaps the most general notion of “archetype”. There may be a certain hierarchy, however, and if we follow it down to the subordinate archetypes we ask a different question: what does a player think is the best way to play Mafia?
Some keep a low profile. Some engage the game thread with constancy and reckless abandon. Some wait patiently for the opportune moment to attack the game with fierceness. And many seek to lead. The “leader” archetype is a broad one, and sometimes it’s a controversial one. The very existence of “leadership” within Mafia begs a question: is this really necessary? That question will be a core theme of what I discuss here, and I will focus specifically on the town expression of leadership.
What is a leader in Mafia?
This question might initially strike you as trivial, or as so basic that it needn’t be addressed. I believe, however, that there is at least one critical distinction within the possible conceptions of “leadership” in a forum game that drives to the very essence of how it will be interpreted. I see a minimum of two loose definitions to describe a leader:
1) A town leader in Mafia is a player who makes a concerted, conscious effort to influence its direction for the betterment of the town faction by way of guidance, command, motivation, or encouragement of other players.
2) A town leader in Mafia is a player who becomes, by the natural progression of game events, a focal point of the broad town effort who would be able to (or be expected to) influence its direction by way of guidance, command, motivation, or encouragement of other players.
The difference is stark. Indeed, there’s a decent chance that some of you reading this might have clearly and distinctly different emotional responses to each of these descriptions. Generally I would anticipate that those who have doubts about the necessity or the wisdom of allowing a town leader to exist would view #1 with derision and #2 with less derision or even acceptance.
Who died and made you Dictator of the Thread?
If you have ever made the effort to take town by the horns and guide it, even with the best intentions, it’s quite likely that someone has expressed some form of this question directly or at least thought about it in response to your behavior. This is a natural human response to the presumption of authority. Many people will not respect such behavior in the general worldly environment – it may be viewed as arrogant, disrespectful, or dangerous.
Consider then how such a perception may be amplified when it is placed in the context of a game designed around the unknown. All of the same criticisms and interpretations may still apply, but now we also add the elements of suspicion and competition. This is a completely reasonable and understandable response to behavior associated with Leader #1. All too often, however, prospective or aspiring leaders fail to respect that. Through the lens of their motivation their perspective becomes colored, and negative reception of their behavior may become unfair or suboptimal or suspicious in their eyes. We have then already established a recipe for a splintered town and perhaps diminished our chance to win the game.
So is Leader #1 just wrong, period? I don’t think so. Sometimes it really takes a player with the personal drive and motivation to lead to fill that role when town needs them. Suppose a game is played where town is struggling and without a general sense of cohesion. Some player or subset of players is trusted enough that they could lead in some capacity, but they have no desire to do so – they may find it unenjoyable or they may distrust their skills. If town needs leadership, sometimes a player must take it. There then emerges our next core question.
Does town need leadership?
To answer this, we are forced to segment our thoughts into contextual spaces. Let’s reframe the question a number of ways that might help us to answer it conclusively, and I will attempt to provide concise perspectives (now purely my own opinions).
1) In a vacuum, with all other factors disregarded, does town benefit from a player or players serving in a deliberate leadership capacity?
I believe it would be too great a leap to suggest that in a vacuum town benefits from leadership full stop. There are situations where it is not needed. There are also situations where it is needed.
2) Is there a clear and visible distinction between a game where a leader would be beneficial and a game where a leader would not be beneficial (or perhaps detrimental)?
I believe there is a visible distinction, but it may not necessarily be clear. Mafia posts can exist in essentially infinite permutations, and our capacity to grasp precisely the correct permutations where leaders are good is going to be limited. Still, I think we can see the need where it exists at least some of the time.
3) Is the necessity for town leadership better assessed within game stages rather than generally?
Yes, I believe so. It is not necessarily a good idea to enter a game with a prepared mindset for asserting immediate town leadership. This inherently implies that you distrust your teammates to handle their business appropriately without your guidance. However, one is still well-advised to compartmentalize that leadership energy so that it may be harnessed when the game calls for it. A game that doesn’t need a leader one day may absolutely need a leader the next day.
4) If there are cases where town does need leadership, when and how do they occur?
Opportune moments for leadership can come in a thousand forms, so isolating this question to consistent conceptual truths is difficult. I believe though that a few general themes apply. If a game feels as though it is meandering in that the broad hunt is not coalescing upon any kind of agreement, consensus, or teamwork – a leader might help. If a game is adverse for town, perhaps after one or two mistaken eliminations, the paranoid energy and toxicity can accelerate the problem – a leader might help. If a game is sputtering toward inactivity and/or there is a general atmosphere of demoralization – a leader might help. If a leader already seems to exist, but you have strong and compelling reasons to believe that they might not be genuine or that their leadership is harmful – it may be prudent to step in and usurp.
Okay, so how do I lead?
Here I will make many of you groan by borrowing some terms from popular leadership research/presentation. I draw this personally from my own experience in military leadership training. Please note that I employ these terms because they are easy to understand – you don’t have to use them specifically. If you’ve seen them in unbearable seminars at work, I understand if you don’t want to. I want to focus on four general styles of leadership:
Autocratic – generally characterized by authoritarian command or control. Autocratic leadership is heavily leader-centric, and external perspectives receive low emphasis. I’m going to veto this suggestion right now. We’re simply not doing this.
Transactional – generally characterized by reinforcement and punishment. Transactional leaders motivate others with the promise of reward. If you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.
Democratic – generally characterized by greater involvement from the group. Democratic leadership is less leader-centric, and external perspectives receive high emphasis. So what do all of you think would be the best way to handle this?
Transformational – generally characterized by an effort to change the core motivational dynamic within the team for the better by way of inspiring a sense of team identity. We’re in this together, and we’re going to do amazing things.
Now, when these sorts of terms are presented in abysmal leadership seminars, there tends to be a common theme: some of the styles are frowned upon, and others are praised. You’ll be hard-pressed to find an office that at the corporate level brazenly encourages autocratic leadership. However, when I discuss these styles as Mafia constructs, my perspective is quite different. Which one is the best for Mafia? All of them are important, at least given contextual considerations. There is a time and a place for each of these to apply and to be beneficial to town. Does that mean any player focusing on any one of them is justified? Nope, at least not necessarily.
Suppose a game is progressing with a relatively clear mechanical structure that facilitates something to close to objective optimality and suboptimality. A large portion of players begin to engage in behaviors that could be called objectively suboptimal – almost certain to cause harm to the town win chance. In such a situation, is it prudent for a leader to enact a democratic approach and be highly receptive of the views of those engaging in the behaviors? I would argue that no, this is a scenario where autocratic leadership might truly be needed. In such a situation, town must be made to see the error of their ways and corrected, otherwise they may run the game into the ground inadvertently. Letting them to do so by way of democratic acquiescence is no better. It is very important though that in any moment of autocratic command, a leader be mindful of how they are perceived. It is possible to be firm and persuasive without being a huge asshole. Indeed, being a huge asshole will likely discourage anyone from heeding the concerns of the leader. That isn’t entirely their fault – it is also the failure of the leader to grasp basic human nature. Be firm, be authoritative, be assertive, and also be respectful. It’s not just about flowers and daisies. It’s about winning the game. Any other mindset is atrocious. That may be the most severe sentence I write in this thing.
I believe that all four of these forms of leadership have a place in town Mafia play, and that all of them can be beneficial to town when they are employed appropriately and responsibly. Even the oft-maligned transactional leadership has many important Mafia applications. Indeed, I find myself employing this style quite a lot. Some players simply aren’t responsive to cheerleading, inspirational speeches, and certainly not autocratic dictation. It may be prudent sometimes to consider ways to sweeten the deal when you are asking for something from someone else. This might come in the form of a trade in literal hunting effort. If you agree to look at Player X’s ISO and tell me how you feel, I will do the same for you with Player Y’s ISO. It might even take a less game-relevant form: If you agree to look at Player X’s ISO and tell me how you feel, I will write you a lovely poem. If that feels absurd to you, dear reader, then that’s okay. But an optimal leader is willing to do what it takes, at least within reason (but never engage in angleshooting please).
That said, I find myself personally employing the democratic and transformational styles (or some vague approximations of those) the most consistently. It’s simply common sense that most people will be more inclined to respect the leadership of anyone else if that leader is receptive to what they have to say. If a leader is dismissive, then a leader is maligned. A maligned leader is going to struggle more to promote their own perceived pro-town agenda than a leader that has earned the respect of the group. More importantly, the game is more fun for everyone including the damned leader when the leader does not come across like a jerk. What’s more: a town that is having fun is generally going to play better than a town that is miserable. Do you want to have more fun and win more games? Then take heed.
It is the transformational style that most describes my own efforts – if I am able to contribute in some meaningful way to the development of a cohesive, congenial, and effortful town team, then I feel that my leadership had a positive impact. Motivate your friends and they will in turn motivate you. Perhaps the most obvious example in my own Mafia history of this coming to fruition was in the Season 7 Game 6 Mafia Championship qualifier. You needn’t read the whole thing if you don’t want to. What’s important is that in my efforts to lead by example, I eventually found myself square in a town machine that outworked me. We played the game as a team with absolute love, and the result was beautiful to behold. Most games won’t end up so perfect, but if you can manage to capture even a spark of that flame then you have something good cooking.
It's almost over
I haven’t written this thing because I perceive myself to be an optimal town leader. Rather, I write it because I have learned the hard way time and time again what it’s like to be a terrible leader. I have made some god-awful, supremely arrogant, and suboptimal posts in my efforts to be a leader of town. I like to think that, or I hope that, I have grown from those experiences, and that I have begun to piece together a better way. Everyone’s mileage may vary, as with just about Mafia strategic approach. I welcome dissenting views with enthusiasm. In this thread, my leadership is democratic. Thanks for reading, especially if you made it all the way to this sentence.
Cliffs
- A leader can be the product of one’s own motivation to win or of the natural progression of game events. The former brings more controversy and demands more care.
- Leadership isn’t pre-ordained or imbued into the basic makeup of a player. It should be earned, or at the very least necessitated.
- The need for leadership is best assessed at the local level within game situations. It is important to understand how a game looks when a leader might be beneficial to it.
- Leadership ought to be dynamic. Understand what style the game situation calls for, and know your audience. Tailor your leadership to the needs of the game and to the personalities of your potential teammates.
- Don’t be a jerk. It isn’t fun, and it will help you lose.
- Towns are at their best when they feel like they are truly enduring the struggle together, and that their collective efforts contribute to a team.
Spec chat spec chat: https://discord.gg/vBaug2acdM
gg to all, thanks for playing. And thanks to the spectators for putting up with my mild trolling.
https://discord.gg/7d3RJYYkQt
Made a wolfchat, will get it fully set up soon
Season 8, Game Spec: A Spec Chat Warrior Semi-Invitational: Game Information!
This is an automated game of Mafia.
Setup - 15 Players
x1 Mafia Roleblocker | Non-consecutive
x2 Mafia Goon
x1 Town Vigilante | 1-Shot, Cycle 2+
x9 Vanilla Town
x1 Town Doctor | Non-consecutive
x1 Town Motion Detector
Example Role PMs
- Majority is not in effect.
- Town wins when there are no threats to Town remaining.
- Mafia factions win when they achieve Parity and there are no other evil factions remaining at any time.
- Votes are automatically locked in when the Town must eliminate correctly.
- Sleep is enabled. Vote for Sleep to forgo an elimination that Day.
- Mafia factional kills are mandatory. Mafia must submit a factional kill each night, or a player outside their faction will be chosen at random.
- Mafia factional kills are assigned. They can be tracked, watched, or roleblocked.
- Mafia share a factional Night Kill, which is a single standard shot for their faction.
- Mafia may communicate at any time.
- Tied votes will result in a player being eliminated at random from among the tied players.
Phase Lengths
Days are 36 hours in length. Nights are 12 hours in length.
Players
@Dyslexicon
@Ephemeral
@Gira
@Hally
@LanMisa
@Lissa
@Makaze
@Mistyx
@moonstermash
@neopest
@nutella
@SmartBomb
@soah
@Sunbae
@Visorslash
FAQ
Are you unsure about how actions are processed or how roles interact with each other? Then read more here:
ORDER OF OPERATIONS
Night actions are processed in this order:
Strongman kills
Roleblocks
Jails
Doctors
Bodyguards
Kills
Investigations
Backups
When an action was submitted during the night will never matter when the actions are processed.
ACTION FEEDBACK
These are the results you will get when you submit certain actions.
Non-investigative roles when they submit an action (they also receive this if they are roleblocked):
Investigative actions return results even if the target dies on the same night.
Actions that count as visits are counted as visits even if the actor dies on the same night.
Investigative roles (Tracker, Cop, etc.) when roleblocked:
Trackers when tracking a person that didn't visit anyone (or if they targeted a Ninja):
Watchers when watching a person that wasn't visited by anyone (or only visited by a Ninja):
Alignment Cop when investigating a town-aligned player (or a Godfather):
Watcher when watching a person that was visited by multiple people:
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
How do I submit my action?
Use the form below the game thread. If your role has a night action, the form will only be visible during night phases. It's not possible to submit actions in advance of the night phase.
What does it mean if the Mafia Host says that night kills are assigned?
In games with this setting turned on, the member of the mafia team that made the most recent night kill submission will be the one assigned to the kill, which means that the kill can be blocked if a Town Roleblocker or Town Jailkeeper target the mafia player in question. Similarly, the kill can be tracked and watched by Town Trackers and Town Watchers. If this setting isn't turned on, then it doesn't matter who the last person to submit the mafia kill is, as the kill is unblockable and untrackable in this case.
Where do I find example role PM's?
This thread contains example role PM's for all roles currently supported by the Modbot as well as information on the various modifiers. Here you will find the answers to a lot of questions not covered in this FAQ section.
Which roles can self-target?
Only Watchers are able to use their ability on themselves at night. This means that Doctors or Jailkeepers aren't able to protect themselves, for example.
Which roles are not able to target the same players on consecutive nights?
Doctors, Jailkeepers, and Roleblockers are not allowed to target the same player twice in a row. Everyone else is, including Bodyguards. Note that this non-consecutive restriction still holds true even if one of these three roles were blocked the night before when targeting the person that they're attempting to target again.
What happens if Jailkeeper A and Jailkeeper B or Roleblocker A and Roleblocker B target each other (and are not targetted by other blockers)?
In the case of Jailkeepers, they will block and protect each other. In the case of Roleblockers, they also block each other. This means that the two players are trackable to each other that night by Trackers and Watchers. It also means that if one of them is mafia and happens to simultaneously be the one submitting the factional kill that night in a game with assigned kills, then this kill is blocked. This same principle applies to longer loops. I.e. in a A > B > C > D > A loop, everyone is blocked.
What happens if Jailkeeper A targets Roleblocker B who targets Jailkeeper A?
Jailkeeper A will be blocked in this scenario. Refer to the order of operations: Roleblocks process before jails.
What happens if Jailkeeper A targets Roleblocker B who targets Player C?
As stated above, roleblocks process before jails, so Roleblocker B will successfully block Player C. I.e. Jailkeeper A will fail to block Roleblocker B, but will still protect Roleblocker B.
What happens if Jailkeeper A targets Jailkeeper B and Jailkeeper B targets Jailkeeper C (who isn't targeting any of the former two)?
In this case, Jailkeeper A would prevent Jailkeeper B's block from occuring, meaning that Jailkeeper C's action is not blocked.
If an X-Shot role is blocked while using a shot, do they lose that shot forever?
Yes. A 1-shot Vigilante being blocked while attempting to kill someone will not have their shot refunded.
If someone with a Strongman modifier kills Player A who is protected by Bodyguard B, who dies?
Player A will die, and Bodyguard B will survive.
Can a mafia team choose not to kill anyone during a night?
The host can determine this using the Mafia Factional Kill setting. Kills can be mandatory, optional, or disabled altogether.
The default is No. The mafia factional kill is compulsory. This is done in order to avoid deadlocked games where the town keeps no eliminating and the mafia refuses to submit a kill. If the game has assigned kills, it will be randomized which member of the team is carrying out the kill.
If there is only one mafia member left in a game without assigned kills, can the mafia factional kill then be blocked and/or tracked?
No.
Can the mafia submit a kill for one of their own members?
No.
If I kill someone, does their night action, if they have one, still succeed?
Yes, killing someone doesn't prevent them from performing their night action (unless they investigated someone, in which case they will not receive a report). Refer to the order of operations: All kills happen at the end of the night, and everyone pulls the trigger simultaneously.
Can individual night actions be proxied on mafia teams?
No. If the mafia team has a Mafia Roleblocker, for example, and they want to use this role's action, then the player occupying that slot must submit the action themselves.
If a Lover is shot during the night, while the other Lover is protected that night, does the other Lover still die?
Yes. It's not possible to prevent a Lover from dying of love sickness.
If a Bodyguard protects Lover A, while Lover B is shot during that same night, what happens?
A dies of love sickness and Bodyguard lives.
If there are any Innocent Childs in the game, are these confirmed in the thread right when the game begins?
No. Innocent Childs are able to decide themselves when or if they wish to have the Modbot confirm their role and alignment in the thread. Note that this is exclusively a day action and that it can take up to one minute for the Modbot to process the action.
What results are Alignment Cops, Full Cops and Role Cops given if they investigate a Godfather or a Miller?
Alignment Cops are told "Town" for Godfathers and "Mafia" for Millers. Full Cops are told "Vanilla Town" for Godfathers and "Mafia Goon" for Millers. Role Cops are told "Godfather" for Godfathers and "Miller" for Millers.
Can Role Cops tell the difference between a Vanilla Town and Mafia Goon?
No. They are told "Vanilla" when investigating either of these two roles.
If I roleblock someone with a Bulletproof Vest, will that nullify the effect of the vest?
No. Bulletproof Vests are passive modifiers that cannot be blocked from working.
If I roleblock Masons, Neighbors or Lovers with out of thread communication privileges, can I prevent them from talking at night?
No.
If I roleblock a Godfather, will they still be revealed as being town-aligned to Alignment Cops and Full Cops that night?
Yes.
Are you wondering about how to vote, submit night actions or multi-isolate players? Read about this and more here:
HOW TO VOTE
Our forum votes for someone by using the vote tags: [V]Thingyman[/V]. Preview:
##Vote Thingyman
Make sure that you spell out the full, correct name. Abbreviations or misspelled names will not be registered by the Modbot.
To unvote, use the tags: [UNV][/UNV] . When unvoting you do not need to enter the name of the person that you are unvoting. Preview:
##Unvote
VOTING BUTTONS
You can also quickly vote for someone by clicking on the box with a checkmark icon, which will bring up an alphabetized dropdown containing the names of living players:
This will insert [V][/V] tags with the name of the player you selected in the dropdown, perfect every time.
Click the empty checkbox button to insert [UNV][/UNV].HOW TO SUBMIT NIGHT ACTIONS
If you have a night action, simply submit this at night by scrolling to the bottom of the game thread. Here you will find a night action form like this:
Click the dropdown and select the player whom you wish to use your night action on. You can change it as many times as you wish before the deadline expires.HOW TO REQUEST A VOTECOUNT
Votecounts will appear automatically at various intervals, but you can also call up votecounts yourself by following these steps:
First, you need to apply to join "Mafia Game Hosts" under Permission Groups.
Second, once your request has been approved, you will be able to call up votecounts by simply pushing the "Post Votecount" button in the top right corner of any game thread that you'd like an updated votecount for.
OTHER SPECIAL FEATURES
VIEWING VOTE HISTORY
There are three ways to access the vote history for any game.
- Click on the "Vote History" button in the top right corner of the game thread:
- Click on the "View Vote History" link, which accompanies all votecounts:
- Click on Modbot in the top forum menu. This will give you a list of ongoing and completed games:
Next, simply click on "Vote History" to view all votes for that game.
Following any of the above three steps will bring you to an overview like this one:
Click on a Voter's username to view all of the votes by their slot.
Click on a Target's username to view all of the votes for their slot.
ISOLATING A PLAYER'S POSTS
If you wish to read a player's posts in isolation, simply click on "ISO" in the top right corner of one of that player's posts in the relevant thread as illustrated here:
Alternatively, you can access a player's posts in isolation by clicking on the number next to "Replies:" in the forum lobby.
Doing so will pull up a window listing the post counts for everyone who has posted in that thread. You access someone's posts in isolation by simply clicking on the number next to "Posts:" for that person.
The ISO view itself has Quote and Multi-Quote buttons inside it, which will make it very easy to quickly quote a lot of a player's posts for analysis or commentary:
MULTI-ISOLATING
If you wish to read not just one player's posts, but you want to ISO multiple players, then click the "Multi ISO" button to the left of "Game Tools" and select the players in question as shown here:
MULTI-QUOTING WHILE THREAD IS LOCKED
Note that you can multi-quote posts from even locked game threads. This is useful for when you wish to reread the game and do work during night phases.
After quoting the relevant posts, you simply open a different, opened thread and press "Go Advanced". Then add the quotes to your post by clicking the prompt below the post area as shown here:
Now, of course you can't post your work in the game thread while the thread is locked, but you can copy paste and save your work to a local file or the cloud and have it ready to post the very next day phase (if you're still alive, that is).
BOOKMARKS
Whenever you open a game thread, you are able to bookmark posts. This is for many players an important tool for keeping track of and remembering vital pieces of information, reads, claims etc.
Also, note that these bookmarks are saved to your user account, meaning that it eliminates the trouble associated with keeping notes between different computers/devices.
If you want to bookmark a post, you simply scroll to the post that you want to bookmark and press "Set Bookmark" as shown here:
This will call up 5 different colored icons (Blue, Red, Yellow, Green, and Black) on the right side of the post in question. You can click any of these icons, which will then prompt you to include a note for the post.
If you don't want to include a note, you don't have to - just leave it blank. The color coding in itself can be a valuable tool. Maybe you want to use Red bookmarks for posts that you find suspicious, Green bookmarks for posts that you find townie, Black bookmarks for posts containing claims, or whatever system you can think of that will be helpful to you.
Once this is done, you have now successfully bookmarked a post with a certain color and maybe even a note. If you wish to remove the bookmark again, click on "Unset Bookmark".
How do I access bookmarks?
There are two ways to access your bookmarks.
- Inside a game thread, you can access the bookmarks for that specific game by simply right clicking on the "Bookmark" button and opening the link.
This will bring you to a separate page that is automatically filtered to only show bookmarks from the game thread that you accessed the page from.- You can also access your bookmarks by going to Features in the site's top menu:
This will bring you to a page where no bookmarks are shown by default. However, you have several filtering options.
You can filter by Game, by Player and by Color - and all of them at once if you so wish.
Here's an example of filtering by only red bookmarks in one specific game:
If you want to be taken directly to one of your bookmarked posts, you just click the post number.
How do I quote bookmarks?
You can also multi-quote bookmarked posts by clicking the little "+" button seen above on the far right side of each bookmark.
Once you have multi-quoted all the bookmarked posts that you want to quote, you will then have to go to the game thread in which you wish to quote the bookmarked posts.
Here you have two ways of quoting the posts.
- Click on "Reply With Quote" on another post as shown here:
You will then probably want to delete the last post quoted in the reply box, but otherwise you should be good to go.- Or you can do the more smooth option and click the "Reply To Thread" button at the top and bottom of the game thread - as shown here:
By doing this you will open up a reply box containing only your multi-quoted bookmarked posts.
Season 8, Game Spec: A Spec Chat Warrior Semi-Invitational Graveyard Chat
Welcome to the Season 8, Game Spec: A Spec Chat Warrior Semi-Invitational Graveyard thread!
If you are seeing this, you must be dead. Now that you are dead, you are no longer allowed to talk to living players. You can discuss the game here.
This thread will be made public at the end of the game.
Season 8, Game Spec: A Spec Chat Warrior Semi-Invitational Mafia Chat
Welcome to the Season 8, Game Spec: A Spec Chat Warrior Semi-Invitational Mafia thread! You may interact with your Mafia team here.
Mafia Team
Hally (Mafia Roleblocker | Non-consecutive)
LanMisa (Mafia Goon)
moonstermash (Mafia Goon)
This thread will be made public at the end of the game.
SEASON 8, GAME SPEC: A SPEC CHAT WARRIOR SEMI-INVITATIONAL
Welcome to Season 8 of spectating the Mafia Championship!
An international discord-based spectacle for $%#!poster supremes from all over the world
Hosted By: Our automated @Mafia Host w/ @Voxx definitely not providing flavor.
Start Date: July 26th, 2021
Start of Day/End of Day: 8 AM EDT / 8 PM EDT
Phase Lengths: 36/12
Elimination Mechanics: Deadline Elimination (person with most votes is eliminated at the end of the deadline). In case of a tie, one of the tied players will randomly be eliminated. No elimination is a valid vote. Starting Day 2, Majority is enabled, meaning the players can end day early if someone attains a majority of the votes.
Night Chat In Thread: No, thread will be locked during Night Phases
Out of Thread Communication: Only the Mafia team may communicate with each other outside of the thread (24/7).
LILO Rules: Votes are automatically locked in at LILO. I.e. when the game reaches a point where one more mis-elimination leads to a loss, you cannot change your vote once you have cast it.
Minimum Posting Requirement: Minimum 25 posts per Game Day. This is marginally flexible if your posts are very dense/long, but - there's a lot of interest in this game expressed, only sign up if you plan to participate.
Maximum Posts Allowed: 150 posts per player per Game Day (restriction is lifted 2 hours before EOD though, so if you've reached your max you can post again at that time).
2x Mafia Goons
1x Mafia Roleblocker
1x Town Motion Detector
1x 1-Shot Town Vigilante (n2+)
1x Town Doctor
9x Vanilla Townie
Flips are alignment only.
Relevant mechanics info:
- Day start.
- Majority elimination is enabled Day 2+, but majority is not required at any point for the elimination.
- Tied votes will result in a player being eliminated at random from among the tied players.
- No outside communication. I.e. you may not contact the other players outside of the thread (unless you are Mafia and wish to speak with your teammates).
- Phase Lengths and Deadlines will be up to the players themselves (I’ll organize your representative into a game with deadlines that suit their preferences).
- Thread is locked during Night Phases.
- Votes are automatically locked in at LYLO.
- Mafia factional kills are assigned. They can be tracked, watched, roleblocked, etc. (In this setup, that means they display as an action to the Motion Detector action.)
- Mafia share a factional Night Kill, which is a single standard shot for their faction. The mafia factional kill is mandatory.
- Mafia may communicate at any time.
- Each individual player may make a maximum of 150 posts per day phase (this restriction is lifted 2 hours before day end).
- The game will have a host to oversee everything and make sure everyone’s following the code of conduct, but otherwise the game is completely automated (automatic votecounts, thread locks and reveals alignments automatically, the bot receives and processes actions, etc.).
Mafia Roleblocker Role PM:
Originally Posted by Mafia Host
Town Motion Detector Role PM:
Town Vigilante (n2+) Role PM:
Role PM for Example Game
You are 1-Shot Town Vigilante | Cycle 2+. You win when all threats to Town have been eliminated.
Town Vigilante
As Town Vigilante, you have access to the Shoot Night Action. Players targeted with this action will die at the end of the Night unless protected. Submit your Night Action each night using the form below the game thread. You may change your target as many times as you want. The last action submitted will be used.
If you do not submit an action, you will forego your action on that night.
Cycle X
The Cycle X modifier makes your role restricted to one cycle. You may act during that cycle but will be unable to act before and after.
You can act on Cycle 2+ in this game.
X-Shot
The X-Shot modifier limits the number of times you can use your Night actions. If you spend all of your shots then you will not be able to use Night actions anymore.
You have 1 shots at the start of the game.
Game Thread: ...[/QUOTE]
Town Doctor Role PM:
# REPRESENTATIVE COMMUNITY 1 @Sunbae Spec Chat 2 @Gira Spec Chat 3 @neopest Spec Chat 4 @Visorslash Spec Chat 5 @Lissa Spec Chat 6 @Hally Spec Chat 7 @Mistyx Spec Chat 8 @Makaze Spec Chat 9 @Ephemeral Spec Chat 10 @soah Spec Chat 11 @moonstermash Spec Chat 12 @nutella Spec Chat 13 @SmartBomb Spec Chat 14 @Dyslexicon Spec Chat 15 @LanMisa Spec Chat
To Spectate this game, contact Voxxicus (Cynical#2964) on discord, or PM me on the site. Do not discuss this game publicly.
Alrighty, playerlist locked, randing very soon. No more discussing this game anywhere outside of my DM's or in spec chat spec chat.
DM me on discord if you want into the spec chat spec chat!
Playerlist:
Dyslexicon
Ephemeral
Gira
Hally
LanMisa
Lissa
Makaze
Mistyx
SmartBomb
Sunbae
Visorslash
moonstermash
neopest
nutella
soah
1 open spot. Need a hero, preferably someone who has been reasonably active in spec chat this champs season, but not played in a qualifier! Randing in like, 12-15 hours from this post, will pull in someone from a qualifier who is willing to play if I don't get a hero by that point.
Still looking for two more active spec chatters to fill this, so I don't have to dip into people who played in qualifiers!
If I don't get those 2 within ~24 hours I'll just first come, first serve from the rest of the list. Will rand before I go to bed Sunday night.
Still have 2 open slots for people who have been active in spec chat, but did not play in qualifiers this season.
I do have enough players to run the game if I dip into the rest of the names who played in champs, but would prefer to give them a break before potential semi-finals, regardless.
Yeah, that's the problem. SK's are usually included to make the game more interesting for everyone else and add some unexpected swing, and be kinda fun to play, but.... you don't really get a realistic chance to win, usually.I thought a lot about how to best play the role, and I think being obvtown was like, the best shot to get utr and get to endgame, but like, you need to avoid poe/yeet and also woof and pr eyes, and survive 7 gamedays or smth wehyeah dobby took it pretty far and could for sure have won this game if i didnt sink a shot into him thinking he was a villager and it randomly didnt work
tough setup for the sk for sure
A game balanced around the SK having an even chance to win is also just kinda sucky though so like. Yeah. I think just giving them less ways to get dunked at night and the setup staying similar to this is the best way to handle it overall, as long as there's not a chance of a "false clear" win.
Making the SK unblockable is probably ~fine, if it's a public part of the role.
GG, was fun to follow this.
Well played to the wolves, Lissa, Beck, Cuth, Manti, especially Lissa obviously for dragging it out and almost getting there.
Well played to Dobby, SK wins are near impossible, but this was even closer than it looked.
And of course, well played to the villagers, I think especially Apoc, C4, Dya, Empoof, Gira, GQ, Hally, Ladd, Nutella, Psycho, Variance and Zack played well.
SEASON 8, GAME SPEC: A SPEC CHAT WARRIOR SEMI-INVITATIONAL
Welcome to Season 8 of spectating the Mafia Championship!
An international discord-based spectacle for $%#!poster supremes from all over the world
Hosted By: Our automated @Mafia Host w/ @Voxx definitely not providing flavor.
Start Date: July 26th, 2021
Start of Day/End of Day: 8 AM EDT / 8 PM EDT
Phase Lengths: 36/12
Elimination Mechanics: Deadline Elimination (person with most votes is eliminated at the end of the deadline). In case of a tie, one of the tied players will randomly be eliminated. No elimination is a valid vote. Starting Day 2, Majority is enabled, meaning the players can end day early if someone attains a majority of the votes.
Night Chat In Thread: No, thread will be locked during Night Phases
Out of Thread Communication: Only the Mafia team may communicate with each other outside of the thread (24/7).
LILO Rules: Votes are automatically locked in at LILO. I.e. when the game reaches a point where one more mis-elimination leads to a loss, you cannot change your vote once you have cast it.
Minimum Posting Requirement: Minimum 25 posts per Game Day. This is marginally flexible if your posts are very dense/long, but - there's a lot of interest in this game expressed, only sign up if you plan to participate.
Maximum Posts Allowed: 150 posts per player per Game Day (restriction is lifted 2 hours before EOD though, so if you've reached your max you can post again at that time).
2x Mafia Goons
1x Mafia Roleblocker
1x Town Motion Detector
1x 1-Shot Town Vigilante (n2+)
1x Town Doctor
9x Vanilla Townie
Flips are alignment only.
Relevant mechanics info:
- Day start.
- Majority elimination is enabled Day 2+, but majority is not required at any point for the elimination.
- Tied votes will result in a player being eliminated at random from among the tied players.
- No outside communication. I.e. you may not contact the other players outside of the thread (unless you are Mafia and wish to speak with your teammates).
- Phase Lengths and Deadlines will be up to the players themselves (I’ll organize your representative into a game with deadlines that suit their preferences).
- Thread is locked during Night Phases.
- Votes are automatically locked in at LYLO.
- Mafia factional kills are assigned. They can be tracked, watched, roleblocked, etc. (In this setup, that means they display as an action to the Motion Detector action.)
- Mafia share a factional Night Kill, which is a single standard shot for their faction. The mafia factional kill is mandatory.
- Mafia may communicate at any time.
- Each individual player may make a maximum of 150 posts per day phase (this restriction is lifted 2 hours before day end).
- The game will have a host to oversee everything and make sure everyone’s following the code of conduct, but otherwise the game is completely automated (automatic votecounts, thread locks and reveals alignments automatically, the bot receives and processes actions, etc.).
Mafia Roleblocker Role PM:
Town Motion Detector Role PM:
Town Vigilante (n2+) Role PM:
Role PM for Example Game
You are 1-Shot Town Vigilante | Cycle 2+. You win when all threats to Town have been eliminated.
Town Vigilante
As Town Vigilante, you have access to the Shoot Night Action. Players targeted with this action will die at the end of the Night unless protected. Submit your Night Action each night using the form below the game thread. You may change your target as many times as you want. The last action submitted will be used.
If you do not submit an action, you will forego your action on that night.
Cycle X
The Cycle X modifier makes your role restricted to one cycle. You may act during that cycle but will be unable to act before and after.
You can act on Cycle 2+ in this game.
X-Shot
The X-Shot modifier limits the number of times you can use your Night actions. If you spend all of your shots then you will not be able to use Night actions anymore.
You have 1 shots at the start of the game.
Game Thread: ...[/QUOTE]
Town Doctor Role PM:
# REPRESENTATIVE COMMUNITY 1 @Sunbae Spec Chat 2 @Gira Spec Chat 3 @neopest Spec Chat 4 @Visorslash Spec Chat 5 @Lissa Spec Chat 6 @Hally Spec Chat 7 @Mistyx Spec Chat 8 @Makaze Spec Chat 9 @Ephemeral Spec Chat 10 @soah Spec Chat 11 @moonstermash Spec Chat 12 @nutella Spec Chat 13 @SmartBomb Spec Chat 14 @Dyslexicon Spec Chat 15 @LanMisa Spec Chat - @Holyflare Spec Chat/Champs Participant - @alexa Spec Chat/Champs Participant - @Marluxion Spec Chat/Champs Participant - @Esooa Spec Chat/Champs Participant - @illario Spec Chat/Champs Participant
Signups are open to anyone who was an active participant in #champs-spectators for Season 8 of the Mafia Championships. Preference will be given to more active participants, and to non-qualifier-playing participants over those who participated in the Championship so far this season. These restrictions will be relaxed if necessary to ensure game fills and fires on time!
------------
To Spectate this game, contact Voxxicus (Cynical#2964) on discord, or just ask for it in championship-spectator channel, with a tag for Voxxicus.
https://www.mafiauniverse.com/forums...28by-Amrock%29
This is something all people signing up to their first (or first few) mashes should take a look at. Given this is Anni and a lot of people are trying out mashes, it's not a bad look to see what you're getting into.
Unfortunate. Won't get many starts as good as that, presumably.
Dragon rage seems utterly absurd early on.
I burst into laughter at the item. 10/10 comedic value.
Enjoying this, even with the understanding that it's going to be a series of fresh meats
There is apparently no gym in Jubilife City, but there's still some things to do. I check out the Pokémon School, and school some nerds there by defeating their pathetic Pokémon. Don't do drugs, kids, stay in school. You need it.
Also, Modbot was there. I give him the item his mother gave me and scurry on before he talks to me more.
After exciting the school, a guy comes up to me and starts raving about clowns. No joke, there are apparently clowns around this City and I have to go find them and answer questions. I waited for the punchline, but there was not one.
That's a clown question, bro, says trainer Voxx as he answers all three and gets some Pokétech thing.
I pick up a Quick Claw item (20% chance to go first), and slap that sucker on my slowest pokemon, who, let's be real, is always Cuthalion. Bidoof is slow as molasses.
There's an old rod in a building leading west out of city, so I examine a few things and backtrack out of the city and down the road to my home, 'ol
Twinleaf Town:
I whip out my rod, set my feet shoulder width apart and...fish. For 4 minutes, until I finally get a bite.
I name him Visor, because he's also floppy and useless, and check his nature.
Unfortunately, it's complete and utter poop, so I dropkick the Magikarp into some tall grass, and hear a bunch of snarling and chomping as I whistle, walking away.
There's some water south of Sandgem Town, in
Route 219:
I catch another Magikarp here, with a much, much better nature (Jolly, +speed/-spec attack), and toss it in my PC for later. I really, really don't feel like switch training that right now so I'll just wait until I get xp share later, to turn that into a proper powerhouse.
(Strategy note: I looked at the other water encounters and decided rerolling the Magikarp into a strong Gyaraos nature-wise was better than the encounters offered in 219. There's some other water types I plan on trying to isolate and target later on, but nothing here appealed to me, so fishy fishy it was, and it worked out splendidly.)
Now that I checked off the previous zones I'd not done anything in prior, I wander around Jubilife a bit more before healing up and heading east out of town where I was promptly ambushed by
I turn his Starly into fried chicken, and Cuth slugfests his way to a victory against his Piplup. I was being all cautious and worried he'd have bubble or something but nooope, whatever. He dead.
Modbot sulks and whines about how he'll never lose again and I snort drinking my water, because he's surely going to lose many, many more times over the course of this game.
Hopefully.
With him out of the way, I head into
Route 203:
Bunch of trainers here, plenty of grass, and some interesting Pokémon to possibly encounter! I gleefully hop into the tall stuff, and...
Welp.
I name this Kricketot Dobby, because this Pokémon is pee pee poo poo. Or whatever that stupid thing is he spams in discord nonstop.
I retreat to the city and slam it in the PC with force to never get out again.
At least it enables it for the Dupe Clause in other routes I guess, but that was a trash encounter.
I make my way through the trainers, and level up a bit on all the wild pokemon, before finding a hole in the wall, and slipping on into
Oreburgh Gate:
I look up the encounter rates, and hope for a geodude, for strategic reasons, or maybe a
Billy the Zubat. Dunno why I named this guy Billy, but Billy's a solid dude, and this is a solid Pokemon. Completely neutral nature, which is fine.
I know, I know, Zubat is historically a pretty trash encounter and are just annoying and kind of weak. But in Nuzlockes they are apparently pretty damn good, as you can evolve them rapidly into Crobat by the power of friendship, or some such tripe. This is also known as "Get on your bike and ride in circles for 20 minutes until he evolves, idiot", but that's a future event. For now, Billy just goes into the box, as I have no plans on using him for the first gym. Pretty happy with the encounter though, as Crobat is strong in the mid game, and it removes it from encounter tables in a few upcoming zones, including:
Route 204:
With the capture of Kricketot and Zubat, that frees up Route 204 to only have one possible encounter remaining that I have not captured. It takes me a solid 30 minutes because somehow Modbot is rigging the RNG against me, but I inevitably run into
Empoof the Budew is added to the team.
I named it Empoof because... I dunno. Someone in spec chat said the Pokémon reminded them of his avatar, and we just started calling all Budews Empoof. It works surprisingly well, especially since Budew and Bidoof sound way too similar in voice chats.
Empoof has a +special attack nature, which is pretty solid, and I'm thrilled to add him to the squad because he's a grass type. The first gym is a rock gym. Leaf beats rock.
Somehow.
Pokémon makes no $%#!ing sense.
Regardless, with Empoof in tow, I head back across the map and through the cave and into a new city
Oreburgh City
Apparently the only "encounter" I can have in the city proper is trading a Machop for an Abra, which I'm kind of meh about. Neither one can actually evolve to third form on an emulator, so will lack in late game viability.
I ask around town and learn that the Gym leader is down in the mines, probably abusing Pokémon to do his dirty work. I resolve to go down and set him straight, or, at least, tell him to get his $%#! back in the gym so I can slaughter him, and head out of town to check off my nearby encounters.
Route 207:
First stop is up in Route 207 north of the city, where I'm very, very much hoping to snag a Geodude. If I do that, it enables me to isolate Onix in the mines, which gives me some excellent cave encounter options later in the game.
Look, I really don't want to do this again, so if I have to strategize like a nerd, I'm gonna straetgize like a nerd. Efficiency!
I hop into the grass, and
Amrock the Geodude is tossed into the PC.
The name is obvious. It's a $%#!ing rock. Amrock. AM ROCK. You get it.
I don't care what the nature is, nor the ability, it's just going into the box for dupe clause purposes. I can't evolve it into third form, and it's just not that good of a Pokémon. If I really want a rock/ground type I'll pick up one later, there's several that are near guaranteed encounters, especially now that I have a Geodude evolution line boxed.
I do a bit of grinding in the grass here at 207 since Ponytas are plentiful and give surprisingly good xp, before heading down south of the city to the
Oreburgh Mine:
There's only one Pokémon on the encounter tables down in the mines that I don't have. 8 $%#!in' pokeballs later...
Welcome to the box, Limestone.
Gonna go on a bit of a rant here, but why is Onix so dog$%#!? It's a massive, massive pile of rocks. That $%#! should hurt when it smacks into something. It's HUGE. IT's MADE OF ROCK. WHY IS IT SO $%#!ING AWFUL WITH LOW ATTACK?
Whatever. I can't evolve it because it requires trading, so it just goes into the box to never be used unless I have a sacrifical plot.
Sorry, Limestone. You're a chill dude, and this is a chill Pokémon, it's just too trash for me to actually use.
But seriously, why does this massive pile of rocks hit like a wet noodle, explain that?
Anyways. Onix aside, I spend a few minutes grinding Empoof up to 14 as that's the level cap for the first Gym, and poke the Gym Leader with a stick and send him packing up out of the mines.
I take stock of the squad, and decide I'm just going to take five of them into the first gym, as nothing else is actually worth leveling at this point.
The team:
It's time for the Oreburgh Gym.
There's two trainers, and then the Pokémon Slave Laborer himself.
The trainers fall over to Empoof throwing some leaves at them (well, Giga Drain, I guess), and the battle for badge number one begins.
Roark leads with a Geodude, and the dude looks hella weak. I set up on him with a Growth. He throws rocks at me, and my health barely moves. I confidently hit growth again...
And he crits.
I have 6 health remaining.
Giga drain makes me have near full health remaining.
Honestly, this battle is super trivial with an Empoof, 10/10 experience very much recommend just spamming Giga Drain, just make sure you aren't actually dead to a Rock Throw crit, and spam that Giga Drain.
One down, seven to go.
MVP of Oreburgh Gym: Empoof, the Budew.
Kind of a creepy $%#!, innit?
Anyways, I fire up the game, and meet Professor Oak. I mean, he says his name is Rowan, but who is he fooling, really? How many of these old dudes studying Pokémon can there truly be?
I inform him that I am, indeed a boy:
and that my name is Voxx.
He informs me that I apparently have a rival, and I found myself nodding along:
Oh. He means like, an actual person. Whatever I'm naming my rival Modbot, anyways, because it's entirely their fault I'm doing this stupid thing.
My first impulse was that this dude has a bit of a punchable face, and oh man, was I ever about to find out how right I was. This dude is the most hyperactive, obnoxious little $%#!goblin I've had the misfortune to come across in any game in quite a while.
The game actually begins proper after I name myself and my rival and I get going.
The story begins in a quaint little town called Twinleaf Town. There are no Pokémon to be caught here. I have no pickleballs even. I don't know why it autocorrected that from Pokéballs but I find it hilarious at 4:30 in the morning, so I'm keeping it.
I run around like a chicken with my head cut off talking to my mother and.. other people? I'm gonna be real I just spam clicked buttons to get the text off my screen. How important could it really be, anyways?
I head onwards out of the town and meet Modbot once again. The devil themselves. The incorrect alignment flipper. He further cements himself as having the most punchable face in existence as he tries to yeet himself into the tall grass to his death. I was pretty sad to see Professor Oak stop him, and after he has an existential crisis about it, gives us Pokémon.
I carefully examine my options, before picking:
Meet Manasi the Chimchar.
Named because I mean, c'mon, it's a fiery ape.
It has an adamant nature (+attack, -special attack), which I'm more than fine with. It'll punch $%#! in the face. With flames. It has Blaze as an ability, which, frankly, I hope I never have to use in this run. I lack the testicular fortitude to hang out at low health so I punch things with fire a little bit harder.
I've elected to not have my starter count as my encounter for any specific town or route, so I slap Manasi in a Pokéball and... oh.
Modbot wants to battle.
Manasi leers at his pathetic water thingo and scratches it a few times (man, these moves sure are flavorfully apt), and it falls over. Not quite as satisfying as punching him myself, but as the children say, we take those.
After the battle I magically teleport home and am talking to my maternal unit. She gives me running shoes, for which I am forever grateful. This game is $%#!ing slow even with a turbo button.
I hotkey the boots and zoom back to Route 201 where I'm looking forwards to properly beginn- oh. It's Modbot again.
Looks like he wants to be friends more than he wants to be rivals. It's kind of adorable if he wasn't such an irritating little $%#!.
Anyways, I follow him on some grand adventure to a lake, before dip$%#! realizes we don't have any p-o-k-accent-e-balls, and vanishes. Good riddance, honestly. I take note of some grass here to catch pokemon in shortly, and follow him at a much more sedate pace. Zoom go my running boots.
I take note of route 201's alluring grass that I cannot catch anything in due to my lack of p-o-k-accent-e-balls, and arrive in Sandgem town. I get a pokedex, a TM that seems potentially useful (TM 27, Return. Normal type move, increases in power with friendship), and a spam-clicking-button tour of the town I give zero cares about. There is a Pokémart wherein I purchase a $%#!load of Pokéballs, and happily backtrack to get my proper first encounters and add to the squad.
Route 201:
I do a bit of research and see that there are three options here. A bird, a mouse and a bug. I decide in no way do I want a bug, and hop into the tall grass with fingers crossed.
A few seconds later, and
Stanari the Starly is caught.
I named Starly Stanari because I used to send her funny bird gifs. It's appropriate, though haven't seen her around in ages. Hi Satanair.
Stanari has a Naughty nature (which after some googling seems pretty good for this evolution line), and will have Intimidate once it evolves. Looks like I have two solid long term options in my first two minions. Nice.
I amble on down the road and head back to that grass I noticed at
Lake Verity:
After a few Starly encounters that Manasi slays with a kind of alarming ferocity, I run into my first non-duplicate of the zone, and obtain
I don't know a ton about Pokémon, but I name this Bidoof Cuthalion, because in Nuzlockes, Bidoof is a supremely underrated Pokémon. He has pretty good defensive typing, access to some strong STAB moves, while being able to use almost every HM, and can actually be a well rounded addition to any team, as a bulky part water type with some decently strong physical att- oh.
Bidoof has a minus attack nature, and not the ability I wanted.
Whatever, ignore all my hyping up of this dude, he's an HM slave. Sorry Cuth, you're great. This dude, not so much.
I wander back to Sandgem town, heal up, and proceed northwards.
Only to run into Dawn, who reminds me I was going to go tell my family I was gonna be gone forever or something. I don't even care about my own family, why should I tell my video game family anything? Whatever.
I go home to mother, slaying anything in my path, get a book, an item, don't know, don't care, I'm spam clicking buttons, and then finally advance onwards once all that nonsense is over with.
Route 202:
I finally make my way north of Sandgem town, and run into Dawn who...shows me how to catch Pokémon. Despite the fact that I already have three. Not the brightest cookie in the shed, that one.
I promptly walk into grass and obtain Pokemon number four:
This cute little $%#! I named Mist, because... I don't actually know. Everyone named their Shinx after Mist, and I assumed there was a reason, so I did, too. Just roll with it.
Mist comes with an Adamant nature, and Intimidate and I'm reasonably happy. Not sure how I feel about +Attack/-Special Attack on an electric type, but some poking around reveals Shinx and her evolutions can learn some physical electric attacks, so, sure, why not. Intimidate is strong, multiple of them on one team even stronger, so I'm happy.
I spend some time leveling up the squad and fighting some trainers, because there's a city up ahead and word on the streets is Modbot is lurking there to ambush me, so ensuring I don't have my run end immediately.
I get everyone up to the 7-8 level range, and head into
Voxx's Platinum Nuzlocke
It was a dark and stormy night, or something like that, and I made a series of questionable bets in #champs-spectators channel on discord. One of these bets involved me googling what the hardest Nuzlocke was to do, and betting Hornet that the loser of the bet would do it. Surely this would never be me, as I don't lose bets.
Unfortunately, Modbot betrayed me, and Amy A. Ampharos flipped villager.
I had not played Pokémon since generation 1, many, many moon ago when I was a wee lad, but I dove into my new adventure with gusto. Also, much complaining.
I had a couple runs aborted by things like forgetting to save, and my computer needing to be rolled back and losing data, but ultimately this run was borne from the ashes, and I decided to properly record my adventures as I went, rather than in haphazard fashion retroactively.
The rules for this adventure were dictated as follows:
1) You may only catch the first Pokémon you encounter in each area/route. The exception is the duplicates clause - if your first encounter is of an evolution line you've caught before, you may catch the second Pokémon you encounter in the area.
2) If the Pokemon faints, you may no longer use it. I'll just be releasing them into the wild, away from being mercilessly used to fight others.
3) If you white out, the run is over (others aren't using this, but I've elected to do so. Seems more appropriate to the theme).
4) No over-leveling. Your Pokémon are capped at the highest level of the next Gym Leader. This is locked in once I enter the gym, so if I level fighting trainers previously, it's fair game. If I have to exit to heal, it is no longer fair game.
5) No using items in battle. I can use them out of battle to save time, and I can hold items (berries, power boosting, money generating, etc), but no cheesing with potions or stat boosting items mid-fight. That completely trivializes the game.
6) Pokémon caught must be named after MU members. I make some attempt to make the names fit, but sometimes it'll just be me opening up discord and picking the first name I see, especially if it's not a Pokémon I plan on keeping in my active team, barring disaster striking.
I'll note that a pretty standard Nuzlocke rule of using set mode over shift is not active here. It probably will be if I ever do a more hardcore run, but I'm pretty new to this type of thing and Hornet was kind enough to give me this boon.
There is also no rule against catching and using legendary Pokémon or extremely strong ones. I do plan to abuse this mercilessly, for I do not wish to have to do this run over again, as per terms of the bet. I must complete this run, or fail five times over without completing it. I cannot stress enough how much I do not want to do this run five times, so I will endeavor to do my best to win.
What have I gotten myself into?
We shall find out, as my Pokémon journey is about to begin
Regretfully, I must decline, as I'm participating in...
Actually, gonna quote GH here, and just go "$%#! no".
But thank you for the thought and $%#!.
Thanks to everyone for playing and making it a generally enjoyable game worthy of the playerlist.
Wolves played pretty well, but got dunked by PR's and villagers also playing pretty well.
I hope the setup was ~satisfactory in terms of providing a little bit of funkiness as requested while still staying out of the way of the players and letting the game be played properly in the day phase.
Yes, I recognize the irony of that given trackers dunked the $%#! out of the wolves, but yanno. It do be like that.
All credit for the flavor goes to the falling rocks. Couldn't have done it without them.
Rocks fell.
Everyone dies.
Death is inevitable.
Game over, Town Wins!
Rocks fell.
Ladd dove under it.
They were Mafia Goon.
Rocks fell.
Mantichora died.
They were Mafia Night Two Vigilante.
Rocks fell.
Beck died.
He was Vanilla Town.
Rocks fell.
Lissa died.
She was Town Babysitter.
@Beck
@Cuthalion
@Ephemeral
@Hally
@ladd
@Lissa
@Mantichora
@staypositivefriend
@Sunbae
@Visorslash
Day is being extended 30 mins, officially (from original time). Ends in like, 15 minutes or something, now. No further changes barring massive additional site shenanigans.
Moderator note:
Day has been extended 30 minutes due to site issues. I think. If this even goes through. Do not comment or read into, blah blah.
Rocks fell.
Ampharos Died.
She was Town Odd-Night Tracker.
Rocks fell.
Alette died.
She was Town Vanilla.
Rocks fell.
Zack died.
They were Vanilla Town.
---
More rocks fell.
Newcomb died.
They were Mafia Vanilla Cop.
Rocks fell.
GeneralHankerchief died.
They were Mafia Goon.
Rocks fell.
Dyachei died.
They were Town Vanilla.
Rocks fell.
Arapocalypse died.
She was Town Vanilla.
Rocks Fall and Someone Dies, an Invitational Graveyard Chat
Welcome to the Rocks Fall and Someone Dies, an Invitational Graveyard thread!
If you are seeing this, you must be dead. Now that you are dead, you are no longer allowed to talk to living players. You can discuss the game here.
This thread will be made public at the end of the game.
Rocks Fall and Someone Dies, an Invitational
No alignment cops. No game ending neutrals. No cults. No bastard elements. Fully closed. Roles and alignments flip on death. Balance somewhat guaranteed. Low-medium power. Slight funkiness to roles requested, as to whether that is adhered to, unknown.
- Game Start: January 29, 2021.
- Phases: 48/24 (hours) with deadline at 8:00 Eastern.
- Majority on starting on D2. Votes locked at endgame.
- 15 posts/day phase minimum. 150 post/day maximum, lifted 2 hours before phase end.
- If you want to spectate this game, PM me on forums, or (preferably) contact me on discord at Cynical#2964, or Voxx on MU.
- This is an invitational. Site rules still apply, but go above and beyond that. Make this game genuinely enjoyable. Play hard, play to win, but make people remember why they enjoy this game rather than why they hate it. I'll be quite displeased if I have to act in a moderator capacity in any way, shape or form in this game.
- Have fun. This is not optional.
- Alette
- Ampharos
- Arapocalypse
- Cuthalion
- Dyachei
- Ephemeral
- Mantichora
- Newcomb
- Beck
- GeneralHankerchief
- Hally
- Jumpluff
- Lissa
- Visorslash
- Staypositivefriend
- Sunbae
- Zack
Yeah. Long phase anon game, wanted to dip toe in and see how I felt. Probably not playing anything faster than 5/2 in future I think, if I play at all. Even this game was a bit too much investment for me.
gg
Sorry friends, I had a very poor d1, should have followed through on the Vulture/Hornbill thoughts more.
Thanks to all for playing.
You wehll be missed, Smartbomb
