The cell was a room with bare brick walls and a closed door. In it was a mattress with a blanket and a pillow. On the mattress, under the blanket, with his head on the pillow, slept a blond man.
The blond man awoke.
By the light of the bare bulb hanging from the ceiling he noticed that the door was ajar.
He got up, folded the blanket neatly, plumped the pillow up, and walked to the door.
The door wouldn't budge.
The blond man looked around and, in the gloom, noticed a shelf. On it was a laptop computer, with a piece of paper wedged under it. He lifted the computer and looked at the paper. It was a white glossy paper, folded on itself like a fancy party invitation. On the cover was painted a smiley face, smudged in red crayon.
The inside was blank.
The man looked around himself once more.
He opened the laptop. It was already running.
The screen was black, with only text in red characters showing on it, as if it were a dark parody of MS-DOS.
NETSCAPE LAN BROWSER 1.0
HELLO, PATRICK! THIS IS YOUR OLD FRIEND. I KNOW YOU LIKE CHALLENGES, SO HERE'S ONE. YOU ARE IN AN ABANDONED WAREHOUSE THAT HAS BEEN RECONVERTED INTO A SERIES OF CELLS LIKE THE ONE WHICH YOU CURRENTLY INHABIT. I KNOW, ABANDONED WAREHOUSES ARE SO CLICHÉD, BUT THERE'S A REASON WHY TROPES ARE TROPES. IN EACH OF THESE CELLS THERE IS A FELLOW PRISONER. YOUR FELLOW PRISONERS ARE ALSO FELLOW PLAYERS. AS YOU KNOW, IF THERE ARE PLAYERS THERE IS SOMETHING TO PLAY. THE GAME IS A GAME OF MAFIA.
THIS IS A GAME IN WHICH YOU, AND EVERY SINGLE OTHER PLAYER, HAS BEEN ASSIGNED A LAPTOP LIKE THIS ONE, CONNECTED ONLY TO A LOCAL AREA NETWORK. YOU WILL USE A MESSAGE BOARD STRUCTURE OF MY OWN DESIGN, AND IN IT YOU WILL HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO SAVE YOURSELVES.
HOW?
FIRST, DURING WHAT WE CALL THE “DAY” PHASE, I.E. 48 OF YOUR HOURS, YOU WILL DEBATE ON THIS MESSAGE BOARD WHICH ONE OF YOU SHOULD BE REMOVED FROM THE FACILITY AND SHOT. A TEAM OF MEMBERS HERE WILL BE THE INFORMED MINORITY WHO PLAY AGAINST THE UNINFORMED MINORITY. USING MY PATENTED MODBOT™ SOFTWARE, I WILL COUNT THE VOTES AT THE END OF EACH “DAY” PHASE, AND REMOVE THE PERSON WITH THE MOST VOTES. SHOULD THERE BE TWO OR MORE OF YOU TIED FOR FIRST PLACE THEN I HAVE PROGRAMMED THE MODBOT™ TO WAIT UNTIL SOMEBODY CASTS A TIEBREAKING VOTE AND THEN KILL THE PERSON. DON'T WORRY, PATRICK. IF YOU VOTE OUT ONE OF MY OPERATIVES I SHALL SHOOT THEM ALL THE SAME, BECAUSE HOW CAN SOMEBODY WHO LOSES AT MAFIA BE ALLOWED TO LIVE? MAFIA IS SERIOUS BUSINESS.
THEN, DURING WHAT WE CALL THE “NIGHT” PHASE, WHICH LASTS FOR 24 OFF-GAME HOURS, SOME PEOPLE MIGHT CARRY OUT “NIGHT ACTIONS”. I AM NOT GOING TO TELL YOU WHAT THOSE ARE. THAT IS FOR YOU TO FIND OUT.
AFTER THE “NIGHT” PHASE YOU WILL FIND OUT THAT ONE OF YOUR FELLOW PRISONERS HAS BEEN KILLED IN THEIR CELL. THAT IS, OF COURSE, MY EXECUTION BUT NOT MY CHOICE. I SHALL JUST KILL WHOMEVER MY ACOLYTES CHOOSE.
SO, PATRICK, JUST ABOUT A FEW THINGS.
I DISLIKE LURKERS. I LIKE HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT, AS LITTLE WORMS LIKE YOU LIKE TO DO. SO ANYBODY NOT MAKING, SAY, TEN POSTS A PHASE SHALL BE SUBJECT TO MY WRATH.
I ALSO DISLIKE SHOUTY PEOPLE. SO, I'LL SET A POSTING CAP OF FIFTY POSTS A DAY.
EARN YOUR FREEDOM, PATRICK. I KNOW THAT YOU MIGHT JUST BE SMART ENOUGH TO DO IT.
Patrick Jane noticed that a second message had just been uploaded for him.
SO, LET'S START, PATRICK. TELL ME WHO IS PLAYING. WHAT ARE THE MONICKERS OF YOUR FELLOW PLAYERS?
SETUP INFORMATION
48/24
Alignment revealed upon death.
Closed setup in terms of rôles/factions. MANUAL.
Posting limits: minimum 10, maximum 50 (Red John will be onto you if you're not willing to play along!)
There might be twilight chat.
SOD/EOD (might change depending on players) let's say 8 p.m. GMT.
Start date: as soon as possible so as to end before atpg's October game.
Quote
Originally Posted by DaisyCloud
