Mini 1859: D&D Curse of Strahd Mafia - Game Over

[Persivul]

Ooh, spooky!

[Andrius]

I'm shooting Dunn tonight. Please do not interfere unless you can help somehow or watch me tonight.

ty

[Pine]

I'll heal you again. Should be my last shot, then I'm a VT

[Persivul]

mod, can we get a prod on culted?

[Clumsy]

Lynch Votecount 3.1

Hammer! (5) Shaziro - Persivul, Andrius, SlySly, KuroiXHF, Shaziro

Not Voting:

Pine, Dunnstral, Culted

With 8 alive, Majority (50%+1) is 5.


Day Three is over.


Mod Notes: Pine, yes we were in lynching phase. Sorry if that was not clear. Also, Culted will be prodded, but we are going into night, so that 24 hour time span to respond will start when day starts. Sorry for late activity, I slept in really late. XP

Resolve renewed, the group quickly closed in on Shaziro, adamant about what they thought was true. Fast the accusations came, but faster did the life end.

Shaziro's Role PM

Veteran. War Hero. Right hand and sword of The Devil Strahd. Rahadin.

Many have fallen at the tip of your blade. Some without a sound, so clean, so sudden. Many have fallen screaming. Their terrified screams of pain and fear... they still echo in your head.

You can't help but smile.

Strahd has brought another band of

Adventurers

into the realm. You can hardly wait to introduce them to your blade. Another scream for the collection.



You have the following tools at your disposal.

Voices of the Dead

-Roleblocker, but can't target the same character more than once. Let them hear the anguish that awaits them.

Veteran

-1-shot strongman. Your expertise in the blade is unmatched. You will hear their pain.



You win when your mafia outnumbers the remaining town.

Confirm your spot next to The Lord Strahd by replying with your role and alignment.[/area]



Night actions are due by (expired on 2017-01-08 15:00:00)

[Clumsy]

Addendum: I prodded Culted, and if they don't respond during the night, may need to be replaced. If so, night will pause.

[Clumsy]

A cloaked figure stalked toward Culted while they slept. The fire was smoldering, casting dancing shadows around the landscape. Andrius was off collecting firewood, and the rest were asleep. Now's the chance. A blade emerged from the cloak, reflecting the fire's light.

Dunnstral

smiled wickedly, raising the blade above his head.

Kuroi had been having trouble sleeping. He hadn't slept a wink since the night Strahd had died. As he shivered, he turned to look at the fire smoldering down, only to see the cloaked figure walking towards Culted's sleeping bag. This must be the last servant of Strahd. Being a Lore Bard, he knew he didn't have the martial prowess to take the assailant on alone, and the Paladin was off collecting wood. Deciding quickly on what to do, Kuroi springs to his feet, his mind already reaching for the assailants. He couldn't stop the attack, but he can alter it.


Andrius hears the commotion before he sees it. Dropping his armful of wood, he draws his shining blade and rushes back to camp. There, the rest of the group is holding Dunnstral down, a bloody blade lay at his feet. Kuroi lay across from him, face hidden. Putting two and two together in his head, Andrius steps forward. With a quick prayer and a quicker thrust, the blade pierced into Dunnstral, stopping the struggle. The disguise faded, and a witch looking old woman emerged. Baba Lysaga is dead.

Dunnstral's Role PM

You've been around for many, many years now. Always looking out for the one important to you. Some call him A Devil.

But he's your little Strahd Von Zarovich, and you'll protect him in his adulthood, just as his childhood. By any means necessary.



Throughout the years you've attained power. You have the following abilities:

Crystal Ball
-Flavor Cop. You may gaze into your divination ball at night, targeting any player. You learn the flavor of this player, such as their Class name or Character name. This will no doubt give you clues to feed to Strahd to help him succeed.

Creeping Hut (1-shot)
Force the party to fight the Creeping Hut instead of selecting a quest. This is a 1-shot ability and only useable during Part 1 of the Day Phase (see rule section). Instead of whichever location/quest the group voted on, they are attacked by your Creeping Hut instead, killing one random adventurer. Be careful though,

Adventurers

are a clever and hardy bunch.


You win when half of the remaining players are part of your Mafia. Please confirm by replying with your role and alignment.[/area]

Persivul rushes over to Kuroi, flipping him over and looking for the wound. Blood has already stained his entire front side. SlySly looks at Pine, but Pine sadly shakes his head. All his healing is gone.

Andrius takes Kuroi's hand, feeling the warmth fading from him. Through ragged breaths, Kuroi manages to speak.

"I've spent all my life reading tales like these. Heroes and villains, monsters and treasures. I've always wanted to be in one. Maybe now... I can?" With that, the light fades from his eyes. Pine whispers a prayer in his name as the fire finally goes out.

The sun is shining in the sky, for the first time since the group has been here. The mist has disappeared from the land, the only patch remaining being a small patch past the gate on the easternmost side of

the domain. Villagers have gathered, sensing the change in the air. It looks like this is the way out. Slowly, people begin leaving the land of Barovia, disappearing into the mist, although their destination is not known.

Finally, the remaining few of the group walk though, eager to see what comes of their destination. Perhaps they will emerge elsewhere together, perhaps back to their homes. As they cross through the mist, the sun sets on

the horizon, casting long shadows along the ground. A small but lovingly made grave stands before the gate, ringed with small stones. 5 flowers lay on the grave, 5 goodbyes to a good friend that gave his life for someone

he hardly knew.

---

[Clumsy]

So, the short of the explanation: Dunnstral agreed to surrender, which also helped out of another situation, namely Culted being absent, and I -really- didn't want to hold the game in night to get a replacement, only for the replacement to come in and have the game end at the resolution of night actions. Andrius would have killed Dunn in the night, Dunn would kill Culted, Kuroi redirected the night kill onto himself.

[Clumsy]

Dead Thread: http://forum.mafiascum.net/viewtopic.ph ... 9#p8620559
Mafia Topic: http://forum.mafiascum.net/viewtopic.ph ... 8#p8571778
Speak with Dead 1: http://forum.mafiascum.net/viewtopic.ph ... 5#p8690325
Speak with Dead 2: http://forum.mafiascum.net/viewtopic.ph ... 1#p8691181
Mason Topic: http://forum.mafiascum.net/viewtopic.ph ... 8#p8572098
Mod Topic: http://forum.mafiascum.net/viewtopic.ph ... 6#p8571736

So many topics. @_@ There could have been 3 more as well due to an ability. Roles coming soon.

[Clumsy]

Spoiler: Pine's Role PM

Hello!

You are the

Cleric

of the

Adventurers (Town)

. Your Cure Wounds spell will be invaluable during this game, as you can use it Day or Night! But you only have 3 shots. Use it wisely.

You have two abilities.

Cure Wounds

: 3-shot doctor ability, useable Day or Night. I can't give you specifics, but your ability is low on the priority list. If someone else uses an ability to save someone during the day the same time you use yours, theirs will likely resolve first and -yours will not be wasted-. Of course, you can also use this normally at night time.

Speak with Dead

: 1-shot ability that opens up a private thread with someone who has died in game. This thread will be open for the rest of the phase you use it in. As a fail-safe, if the dead player doesn't respond to you at all, you'll regain use of this ability. (Don't try to abuse this please)

If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

Please confirm to me your role and alignment in PM within 48 hours!

Spoiler: Shaddowez's Role PM

Well well. The Lord himself. The Master. The Ancient. The Land.

The Devil Strahd

himself.

I hardly need to remind you of your purpose here. Work with your allies, Shaziro and Dunnstral, to wipe out these

Adventurers.

You have the following powers as Darklord of this Realm.



Strahd Von Zarovitch

Godfather: Immune to investigations by cop-like abilities. Anyone as smart as you would make this a priority when dealing with adventurers.

The Land
You know the outcome of all quest locations. This is -your- domain after all.


The Ancient
If you are killed, you may continue to post in the mafia topic for the rest of the game. Death is not the end for you. The Dark Powers will see to it. While you are gone, however, you may continue to help your team.


The Darklord
1-Shot Strongman Day Vig (Not Day 1). Show them who is really in control here. Incite fear. Let them know powerlessness.

1-shot bulletproof. It won't be that easy.

You may PM the mod and have the mod post in thread anything you wish (site rules apply) as

The Devil Strahd.

Let them hear your voice.

If you lead the kill onto Tatyana's Incarnation, she joins the Mafia team as a Mafia Goon. Ah, Tatyana... To be reunited at last.



Mafia Topic Here: http://forum.mafiascum.net/viewtopic.php?f=90&t=69449

Please confirm to me your role and alignment by PM. (Oh, and for the posting as The Devil Strahd thing, it's mostly a flavor thing, so try to keep it in character if you don't mind. It's supposed to be this big, booming, foreboding voice echoing over the mountains or through the mist, striking fear into the town. Going on about something silly kinda breaks the feel.)

Spoiler: KuroiXHF's Role PM

Hello!

You are the Bard in this group of

Adventurers

. Specifically a College of Lore Bard, you may know some things that other may not.


Here are your bardic abilities:


JOAT

Message

(Unlimited, 1/day)
-Daytime neighborizer, neighborhood locks at end of day.

Legend Lore

(1-shot, day ability)
-When presented with quest locations, you may PM the mod with this ability. This will reveal whichever location has the best outcome, and what that outcome is, to you in private. This is only usable in Part 1 of the Day Phase (please see rules)

Suggestion

(1-shot)
-Target changes their target for the night to the Bard's choice. They are notified that their selection has changed, but not to whom.


You win when all of the

Mafia

threat is eliminated!

Please confirm by responding with your role and alignment! May you live to sing of your own success!

Spoiler: Culted's Role PM

Hello!

You are Rudolf Van Richten, renowned monster hunter, traveling with the

Adventurers

. If anyone knows anything secretive about

The Devil Strahd

, it's you.

Your expertise grants you the following abilities:

Monster Hunter

-You know the following:
-Strahd knows the outcomes of all quest locations, good and bad.
-He is extremely hard to kill. (bulletproof)
-Your research shows that he has 2 allies with him. You don't get this far without planning.


Augury
Every night, you learn a random ability of target player. This counts as a cop investigative.

Apprentice
-You share a private topic with Ezmerelda (Persivul), and are Masons together. She inherits your information and items if you die.


You win when the Mafia threat is eliminated from the Party.

Game Topic: http://forum.mafiascum.net/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=69447

Mason topic: http://forum.mafiascum.net/viewtopic.ph ... 8#p8572098

Please confirm with your role and alignment via PM.

Spoiler: Shaziro's Role PM

Veteran. War Hero. Right hand and sword of

The Devil Strahd.

Rahadin.

Many have fallen at the tip of your blade. Some without a sound, so clean, so sudden. Many have fallen screaming. Their terrified screams of pain and fear... they still echo in your head.

You can't help but smile.

Strahd

has brought another band of

Adventurers

into the realm. You can hardly wait to introduce them to your blade. Another scream for the collection.



You have the following tools at your disposal.

Voices of the Dead

-Roleblocker, but can't target the same character more than once. Let them hear the anguish that awaits them.

Veteran

-1-shot strongman. Your expertise in the blade is unmatched. You will hear their pain.



You win when your mafia outnumbers the remaining town.

Confirm your spot next to

The Lord Strahd

by replying with your role and alignment.

Spoiler: SlySly's Role PM

Hello!

You know not the means of which you came here. Rune-laid

Planar Shift

? Other worldly deity intervention? Either way, as interesting as your books had been, this may be much more so.



You are the

Wizard

of the

Adventurers

, and while your spells are limited, they are useful.

JOAT 1 shots

Scry

Watcher ability. You can see who visits your target, but not what they do. Information and knowledge are more powerful than a blade.

Fly

Force any target to commute for the night, including yourself. A useful trick.

Cone of Cold

Knowledge of geometry and angles (as well as some arcane knowledge) will let you freeze 2 targets, roleblocking them for the night.



You win when all

Mafia

threats are eliminated from the party.

Please confirm with role and alignment via PM.

Spoiler: Persivul Role PM

Hello!

You are

Ezmerlda

, apprentice to Rudolf Van Richten (Vedith), legendary monster hunter. You are Masons together, and share a private topic together. You are working with the

Adventurers

. If/when Richten dies, you will inherit all of his items (if any) immediately. Despite it being a bastard game, I can guarantee the legitimacy of your Masonry together.


Mason Topic http://forum.mafiascum.net/viewtopic.php?f=90&t=69450

You win when all the

Mafia

are eliminated from the party.

Spoiler: Creature's Role PM

Hello!

You are

Ireena Kolyana

. You travel with the

Adventurers

. You have no powers, but

Strahd

has a special interest in you.

Traitor

: If

Strahd

leads the nightkill on you, he will instead convert you to a vampire, as well as the mafia team as a Mafia Goon.


Unless you are turned by Strahd, you win when all of the Mafia is eliminated from the party. If you are turned by Strahd, you win when the Mafia Faction controls 50% of the town.


Please confirm by replying with your role and alignment.

Spoiler: Kuror0's Role PM

Hello!

You are the Thief Rogue of the

Adventurers

, but don't worry, I won't tell anyone. Here are the tools at your disposal:


Hider
At night, you may target a player. You hide behind this player for the night, becoming untargetable. However, if you target mafia, you die. If the person you're hiding behind dies from the night kill, you die as well.

Thievery (1-shot)
-When an item is discovered, you may steal it for yourself! Everyone is alerted that the Rogue took the item however. If you activate this ability, you gain the hated modifier for the rest of the game, but it is secret. You may also use this ability to take it instead of whoever got the votes for the item. Usable only in Part 2 of Day Phase (please see rules).

You win when all Mafia is eliminated from the party.

Please confirm with your role and alignment via PM.

May your blade stay sharp and your hands subtle.

Spoiler: JasonWazza's Role PM

Hello!

You are the

Fighter/Eldritch Knight

of the

Adventurers

. You will protect your party with the following abilities.

Bodyguard (Useable during day events as well)
You may select someone to guard, refocusing the attack on you instead. This is usable during quest events where someone would end up getting killed as well. However, you have something to help you survive better. You have training in abjuration wizard spells to protect you when your armor fails.

Platemail
1-shot Bulletproof

Shield 1-shot
-Take this action at night to replenish your 1-shot bulletproof.


You win when the

Mafia

threat is eliminated from the party.
Please confirm by replying with your role and alignment.

Spoiler: Dunnstral's Role PM

You've been around for many, many years now. Always looking out for the one important to you. Some call him

A Devil.

But he's your little Strahd Von Zarovich, and you'll protect him in his adulthood, just as his childhood. By any means necessary.



Throughout the years you've attained power. You have the following abilities:

Crystal Ball
-Flavor Cop. You may gaze into your divination ball at night, targeting any player. You learn the flavor of this player, such as their Class name or Character name. This will no doubt give you clues to feed to Strahd to help him succeed.

Creeping Hut (1-shot)
Force the party to fight the Creeping Hut instead of selecting a quest. This is a 1-shot ability and only useable during Part 1 of the Day Phase (see rule section). Instead of whichever location/quest the group voted on, they are attacked by your Creeping Hut instead, killing one random adventurer. Be careful though,

Adventurers

are a clever and hardy bunch.


You win when half of the remaining players are part of your

Mafia

. Please confirm by replying with your role and alignment.

Spoiler: Andrius's Role PM

Hello!

Strong and Stalwart, you are the

Paladin

of the

Adventurers

. Your dedication to the divine has given you the following holy abilities.


Divine Sense (2 shot, night ability)
-Cop ability, tells you whether your target is Villain (Mafia) or Adventurer (town). See the wicked, judge the wicked.

Smite (Unlimited, night ability)
-Vigilante, but lose both powers if you kill an Adventurer. Your blade must be sure and just.


You win when all of the mafia is eliminated. Confirm to me via PM with your role and alignment.

Spoiler: drealmerz7's Role PM

Hello!

You are the

Ranger

of the

Adventurers.

Your training in the wilderness has given you the following benifits:

Animal Companion

-Allows the Ranger to track 1 target a night, and grants 1 shot bulletproof. If bulletproof is used, Ranger loses this feature. Your faithful beast, always at your side, willing to die for it's master.

Animal Messenger

1/day
-1 way communication via mod with 25 word limit. You may send this to any player in the game, day or night. If you use it Day One, for instance, you can use it again Day Two, but not Night One. You may have me sign it in 1 of 3 ways that do not impact your word limit. One of: -Ranger, -Drealmerz7, or no signature.

Expert Explorer

(1 -shot)
-Prevents the first negative Exploration effect of the game. This has top priority when it comes to preventing daytime disaster. It will activate automatically the first time something goes wrong, and you will guide your team to safety.

You win when all of the Mafia has been eliminated from the town.

Please confirm to me with Role and Alignment via PM. May your senses and instincts guide you.

[Clumsy]

I want to hear your guys' opinions of this game. It was only my 2nd game, and I think there's a lot I can learn from it.


Self reflections:

This game seemed to be townsided after being able to look back on it, which was a shame. I don't think it was as townsided as it looks, however, because Shaddowez never used his day-vig, which when combined with the flavor cop (that Dunn also forgot to use N1) could take out a big town PR, like Cleric or Paladin, and would have changed the game considerably. The traitor dying was also unfortunate for mafia. Town also performed very well with the information they received, although I do think that town should have had less Informative Roles looking back.

The first iteration of this game actually had both sides a bit stronger, but Mafia much more so. Strahd in my initial iteration was 2-shot bulletproof instead of 1, and had the ability to cast a hammer vote while dead (once only). In the second iteration, that was made to deactivate in Lylo, and in the third, removed altogether because I thought mafia was too strong.

The reason I thought that this game may have been scum sided (and thus the strong town here) is because of the potential of the scum team.


10 Town 3 Scum
Day 1 town mislynches (as is statistically normal), 9/3
Night 1 Kill, Crystal ball finds Cleric/Paladin/Other strong role, 8/3
Day 2 Day Vig found target, mislynch. 6/3
Night 2 Kill, 5/3
Starting Day 3 at 5/3


5/3 that quickly is a big deal. It gets even crazier when you consider if Strahd found Ireena, those numbers turn into

End of Day 1: 9/3
Conversion in night: 8/4
Day vig, mislynch: 6/4
Night 2 kill, starting day 3 with: 5/4


None of this is even counting the quests, which could result in (at max in 3 days) 3 deaths, or at the very least some protective charges being blown (and therefore not used during the night). Realistically, I was expecting about 1 item to be found, 1 death prevented, and 1 death not prevented.


Scum took several gambits that ended up making the game harder for them. Dunn's Miller claim, Shaziro trying (and successfully, for a while) to guide the group onto item paths, for towncred. Unfortunately, that towncred ran out with the Paladin finding him, and the items just made town stronger.


While I feel like town was a good bit too strong, I do think that if I ran this setup again 5 more times, the outcomes would be fairly different, but ultimately townsided.


Also, mod mistakes on my part:

I included Shaziro's name in a cop PM, which was a result of getting too into the flavor. :shifty: I honestly don't think it would have changed anything in this game, but an important lesson to learn for future games, especially since we did indeed have a re-director in the game.

Dunnstral's Role PM didn't include the link to their scum chat. Sloppy on my part.

Too many of the same type of role. I had a Hider, a Cop, a Watcher, two Masons, and a Tracker at the same time. While all fit flavor-wise, it was a bit too easy to figure out the game. I also think I had too many ways to defend against the bad outcomes of quests. 3-shot Doctor, Bodyguard with realistically 2-shot bulletproof, and Ranger with 1-shot auto escape was too much, because I didn't really think about the fact that we would probably only have 3/4 days of quests, with at most 75% being bad outcome. The intention was to have them decide whether or not to use their shots at night, or the random person that got killed during the day, as well as the cleric not being able to target himself. Especially with me rolling the refresher item so early, it was too much. This amount in a large game might be more suitable.

Scum team balance. I put a lot of scum's power into Strahd because it fit the flavor, big vampire lord and his henchmen. I knew that if Strahd was hung, mafia was down a big big bit of power, so I made some of his power useful after death (Day Vig could be early enough to be used 83% of the time, the ultimately nixed From the Grave Hammer Vote, and knowing the quest locations in conjunction with being able to talk to the team after death as well). Knowing what I do now with how this game turned out, I would have taken a little bit of investigation power away from town, and added in 1 power for each Dunnstral and Shaziro.

---

I liked the idea of the quest system, however I do think that it has more of a place in a large game, because we only got to do 3 locations out of the 14 I had planned. A large game with this system would be more interesting and allow more quests to be done.

I think there was a little bit of confusion with the quests as well. I saw that drealmerz7 was talking about "Actually going on a quest, not getting items". However, the outcomes of the quests were one of the following:

Beneficial, usually an item or clues to where the good items were
Neutral, where nothing of note happens (Skeletal Rider)
Detrimental, usually a party member dying (but opportunities for Cleric/Fighter/Ranger saving them), sometimes roleblocking at random or losing shots of abilities.


I think I will nix this quest system until I run a Large game version of D&D. Minis just don't last long enough to make it worthwhile.

[culted]

Oh nicely done!

[Persivul]

Really good game. Great roles (although I got one of the weaker ones), great flavor. Would have been better if shaddowez had actually played, but what are you gonna do. Thanks Clumsy!

[KuroiXHF]

Great flavor. Great game. Sorry I had trouble getting into it. Thanks, Clumsy!

And yes, I used my other power to redirect and take the shot. I told the mod to give me a heros death.

It was beautiful.

[culted]

I agree!

Setup was fun. Adventures were kinda meh but that's probably just because I didn't really get the flavor.

Kuror0 sorry for the misread bro that hammer on shaddowez, though.

Persi -- couldn't have asked for a better mason-buddy.

Everyone else sorry for being such an absolute lurkfuck at spots but when I was around I tried.

I thought dunn was recruited but apparently he was just aligned with another faction or something??

[Clumsy]

Dunn was with the Mafia from the beginning.

[culted]

Ah. I got confused by the different colored red and strahnd not being specifically mentioned anywhere in his PM.

And also in shaddowez flip you only redacted 1 name so I thought it was like 2 scum + a couple recruitable things or a traitor. : 3

[Pine]

Good game.

I don't think it was unbalanced, it was

swingy

. If things had gone scum's way, they'd have gone that way hard.

Dunn claiming Miller was kind of his undoing. I don't think I'd have suspected him otherwise. Then getting a Traitor and Godfather flip, there's way too much negative utility there.

[Andrius]

VICTORYYYY

Sorry Kuroi had to die to see it through though.

I liked the idea of the quest system, however I do think that it has more of a place in a large game, because we only got to do 3 locations out of the 14 I had planned. A large game with this system would be more interesting and allow more quests to be done.

I loved it. This is basically what I always wanted to do with Dungeon-Crawl Mafia but never got around to it.
A mini might be too small, but a larger large is too big. I think there's a sweet spot in 16-18 players though.

I mean, Town was stacked, yeah.
But it could have gone 100% wrong very quickly.
If shaddows had dayvigged town, and I had shot town N1, we would have been looking at 6:4 D2 if they actually recruited Creature.
It would have been swingy any way you dice it.
Hider could have died N1 too. So much could have gone completely wrong for town.

I included Shaziro's name in a cop PM, which was a result of getting too into the flavor. I honestly don't think it would have changed anything in this game, but an important lesson to learn for future games, especially since we did indeed have a re-director in the game.

I don't really think this was that bad.
I mean, 'YOUR TARGET IS ALIGNED AS TOWN' is more frustrating than getting a different result.

Reading Role PMs next.

Much <3 to Sly and Pine. Former for being a bro with me and latter for saving my bacon. <3

[Andrius]

Like seriously.

Lynch Town D1.
I shoot Town.
Hider kills himself on scum.
Daykiller shoots Town.
Nighktill.
Scum recruit Traitor.
4:4 game over N1.

[Pine]

Hey Andrius, Drealmerz PMed and told me that he still thinks you're scum. He wants to lynch Clumsy after you for lying to Town about your flip.

[culted]

dreal still thinks im scum too

[Clumsy]

OMFG

[Dunnstral]

Dunn claiming Miller was kind of his undoing. I don't think I'd have suspected him otherwise.

I didn't know I was in the mafia pt for the first half of the day

Anyway we actually made a boatload of mistakes that made this impossible to win

[Clumsy]

It's very interesting to look at reads from a mod perspective. For instance, Creature's early reads were almost spot on.

P-edit: That was my fault, yeah. Sorry.