Blinvitational Revealed

[mathcam]

The game has been called and the town wins. Congratulations.

I'll give out more details in a second, but at the end of the game the remaining players were Cuban Smoker, mith, Antrax, all of whom were pro-town, and mole (who replaced Polotet) as the sole remaining mafia. I decided to call the game for the town (sorry, mole) because it looked like the game was heading in that direction, and it would have been nearly impossible for everyone to reconstruct the scenario where we left off.

Below is the list of players in the game, their identities, their motive, and their role, horribly typeset for your convenience.

• Internet Stranger
  , Homer, Mafia Clan C, Soothsayer 2
  
  Antrax
  , Polyphemus, Townie, Psychic Master 2
  
  Jeep
  , Asabat, Townie, Mystic Triplet 1
  
  CS
  , Samson, Townie, Identity Protector
  
  mith
  , RayCharles, Townie, Psychic Lackey 1
  
  Polotet/Mole
  , Galileo/LeadingThe, Mafia Clan A, Mystic Triplet 2
  
  Gaspode
  , Braille Townie, Thought Vigilante
  
  MeMe
  , Tiresias Townie, Mystic Triplet 3
  
  Werebear
  , Handel, Townie, Mystic Constable
  
  GreenCrayons
  , StevieWonder, Townie, Soothsayer 1
  
  CaptainBlic
  , Tobit, Mafia Clan A, Psychic Master 1
  
  Sketch
  , Euler, Townie, Identity Investigator
  
  d8P
  , Oedipus, Mafia Clan B, Psychic Lackey 2
  
  DourGrim
  , Milton, Townie, OMGUS Cop

The basic setup of the game was 14 players: 10 townies, and 4 baddies. The four evil players were divided up into three evil clans, essentially a mafia clan of two people and two serial killers. The serial killers could kill only every other night, but they were immune to their first night kill. The mafia team had a challenge: essentially, they could only kill someone at night that had voted for both of them the previous day.

As for the roles, the basic premise I had going was that most roles were relatively weak by themselves (this also held true for the SK's and mafia above):

There were two pairs of Psychic Lackeys with Psychic Masters who essentially work combined to form one cop. One person got to choose the target, one person got the results, and neither knew if their partner had the same alignment as them.

There was a regular cop with a 75% accuracy, which I now concur is a little weaker than I had intended. If I were to do it again and still wanted a random role to weaken the cop, I would respond with "No Result" 25% of the time, instead of incorrect information.

There were three mystic triplets who were arguably a little weaker than masons, in that if all three of them were ever voting for anyone at the same time, they would die the following night,

and

they didn't know who each other were.

There were two roles (the identity investigator and the identity protector) which just went well with the theme.

A constable (i.e. blocker) that stopped people from acting seemed like it fit well with the mental/thinking theme.

There were two soothsayers who only once per game could PM the moderator one yes or no question and get a truthful reply posted in the thread (though the question would not be posted). This isn't really a watered down version of any other role, but I love this role so much I had to put it in.

And, of course, a vigilante, 'cause who doesn't like a vigilante?

In any case, I realize the game was annoying because of the aliases, so I apologize for that. Nonetheless, I hope most if not all of you had a good time playing.

Cam

[mathcam]

p.s. I would appreciate feed back from everyone, except maybe from Antrax, whose opinions are already widely known.

Cam

[MeMe]

Cam, if you hadn't called this for the town, I would have joined Antrax in kicking in your face...after all, I gave my

head

for the town!

I really got into the Mystic Triplet role -- but I love logic puzzles, so keeping a running tally of who couldn't possibly be/might just be one of our trio was right up my alley. I also

loved

being incognito -- that was the most fun I had posting in a game ever. I'd just sit there staring at screen...admiring the incoherent sentences I'd wrought. I realized in the late-stage game that my ideas were being ignored as they were couched in run-on sentences and exclamation points, which is why I reverted to my grouchy (but literate) self...

I'm very interested in seeing the nightly lists -- I couldn't figure out anyone's identity and I'm curious as to how everyone else was doing on that score. I'd especially like to know as whom I was most often guessed!

[mathcam]

I'd be happy to share the lists if I could think of a good way of formatting them that wouldn't take me forever. There currently in spreadsheet format, and it looks horrible pasting them in.

[edit]Though if I remember correctly, people guessed you correctly more than anyone else, MeMe... [/edit]

[edit again]Though looking through the records, one night three different people thought you were Dragon Slayer.[/edit]

Cam

[Antrax]

I didn't like the added element of the secret identities -- I felt it added an element to the game that didn't necessarily had much to do with mafia. I think the limitation on the mafia group is way too severe, almost crippling.
Antrax

[gslamm]

I followed this game as a bystander and wasn't able to guess anyones identity. I did much better at the mafia part of the game and agree with Anthrax ( <---- Did I just say that?) the identity part was unecessary and annoying.

Nice roles and balance.
The mafia limitation is excellent! Especially since it was unknown to the town. I like the conditional powers thing.

examples:
the leper cultist.
the sandwich SK.
the mafia drive by.
the traveling salesman/townie

[jeep]

Wow, that game was rough on the mafia. They not only had the serial killers, they also had weakened ability. It's an interesting mechanic, but I think it was harsh. Better if the mafia group was the only killing group and two had to be voted for... but otherwise rough.

I didn't like the aliases. It was quite a bother.

I didn't like the "guess other's identity and hide your own" business. I did well at it, but didn't like it.

I didn't like the 75% cop.

Mystic triplets aren't "arguably wearker" they are "clearly weaker" than masons. I kind of liked the role though.

Overall it seems like it was dramatically in favor of the town.

-JEEP

[mole]

So would any of you have believed me if I had tried to claim that one of mith/Antrax was mafia? It was the only thing that occurred to me after they passed up my lych to go after Braille on the last day... :)

[mathcam]

To address the "mafia weakness", I didn't and don't really think of the game as mafia vs. town with serial killers. It was a game with a town and three mafia clains, two of which were individuals, one of which was a pair. You really think the serial killers were stronger than the mafia? There were

two

mafia, which is a huge advantage, and as soon as one of them dies, the other just needs to get voted for to make a kill. The SKs on the other hand, could only kill every other night.

To me, it depends on what people think is the "right" distribution of win conditions. If you think every player should have a 50/50 shot of winning, then you're right...this game did deviate horribly from that. If I had to guess, I would guess the percentage of Mafia A/Mafia B/Mafia C/Town winning is about 15/15/25/45, where Mafia C is the clan with 2 people.

I'm certainly not attacking anyone's playing style, but the two-person mafia team this time does a lot better with very active players, and players who post a lot, which it didn't get this game.

Cam

[mathcam]

Mystic triplets aren't "arguably wearker" they are "clearly weaker" than masons. I kind of liked the role though.

I'm not sure it's that clear. First, before the role is announced in the thread, it's possible to guess at who your fellow triplets are by their cautiousness of voting. Second, if it's ever established who the three of you are, you can get a leg up on evil by getting the town an extra kill over night. Masons, on the other hand, simply get bandwagonned until one of them comes out, another supports them, and then get killed at night.

Cam

[jeep]

You really think the serial killers were stronger than the mafia?

No, but their role require significant amount of luck to win, so I dismiss them. Their only purpose is to weaken the mafia.

-JEEP

[PolarBoy]

The mystic triplet. I invented that role!!! BOOYAH!! Although I like the modifications you made to it. The fact that they couldn't really trust each-other was a neat twist.

[mathcam]

Their only purpose is to weaken the mafia.

You're right. I should've included in their role description "Your goal is not to win, only to weaken the mafia." How do they weaken the mafia and more than they weaken the town? You think the mafia would have been stronger if instead of the two serial killers there had been two regular townies? In fact, I think the serial killers

help

the mafia by providing more dead townies.

Cam

[mith]

I wouldn't have voted for Antrax, mole. I considered it a possibility, yes, but it was still less likely, and you weren't particularly convincing.

As for the game... well, I think we all know where I stand on a certain role. Possibly the 2-person Mafia was a bit weak, but maybe not. Other than that, I thought it was very well balanced. I may have been the only one who enjoyed the alias thing, but then, I also completely ignored the fact that I was posting under an alias most of the time. I especially enjoyed being the most incorrectly guessed on the first night; I thought it was obvious who I was from my very first post, but maybe that threw everyone off.

[Gaspode]

Well, I think most of you know how much I hated the alias thing. Twice I posted from Gaspode. (That'll teach me to post at 12:30 AM. ) The idea of it was great, and I wish you would've integrated it more into the game. If I had kept in the alias and the identity guessing affected everybody, rather than just one person a night, the idea would've been perfect.

I loved the mystic triplet role, especially with the traitor in there. As for the mafia, I usually like the more traditional one- or two-family games, but I think this one worked out pretty well.

[Antrax]

If you want many active players who post a lot, don't hold an alias mafia game where you try to hide your identity. I tried to confuse everyone by posting rarely (also figured I'd give it a shot), but mith started spewing his crap (;)) and I had to start posting, then I just stopped caring altogether.
Antrax

[mole]

Yeah, I wasn't really trying to be convincing, at the time we were guaranteed to lose. ;)

[jeep]

You're right. I should've included in their role description "Your goal is not to win, only to weaken the mafia."

Please don't take any of this personally. I'll post the reasons I think this tomorrow or later tonight if I get ambitious.

-JEEP

[mathcam]

Unmerited sarcasm? Probably. I didn't mean as defensive as it came out. I appreciate all the suggestions I've been getting.

Again, I've learned my lesson on the alias thing. Although I think it was a neat twist, it made it a pain in the ass to post (for some people), so consequently undermined what I thought were the cooler parts of the rest of the game.

Cam

[Werebear]

I just don't check aliases as much. *shrug* I don't think anyone does, except maybe MeMe. *G* I *was* having fun, despite noone liked the sad clown face. I certainly didn't, which is why I got a good laugh out of using it.

I think the rule about mafia getting votes SEVERELY limits them. When there's two, it would be rare that both would get a vote by the same person without one of them ending in a lynch. Also, a lot of people look at voting patterns. "X voted Y, and that night X died" is rough to avoid if you can only kill someone who voted for you. This isn't even mentioning the days where noone votes for the mafia character(s)... "Sorry, you can't kill tonight...

[Antrax]

By the way, why is it so difficult to post under an alias? Personally, I used Mozilla for regular posting and IE for posting as Polyphemus, so the cookies didn't mix and everything worked nicely. Anyone with two browsers could manage that, and who has only one anyhow?
Antrax

[CaptainBlicero]

Yeah, I definitely was not a fan of the kill restriction. We only had the chance to make ONE "vengeful" kill attempt the entire game, and it failed. I knocked off whoever had that really ugly clown avatar because I guessed the most aliases Night 3 or whatever, but that was our only kill. I think we would have had a much better chance if we could have killed anyone who voted for either one of us. Even with more active players, trying to manipulate people into voting for yourself, and then your mafia partner -- without successfully lynching either one -- is just impossible.

In retrospect, I should have just investigated Galileo Night One and got him lynched, then tried to ride that into the endgame. That would have boosted both my "innocence" and killing ability (since I could kill anyone who voted for just me). However, at the time I thought that getting my only partner killed on the first day would be a totally classless move. Had I known Galileo was going to post barely at all then vanish after Day Two, I might have decided differently.

[mathcam]

Oh yeah, I thought I should hand out some props to Jeep who by the middle of the game had identified everyone except Galileo/LeadingThe.

Cam

[Norinel]

As a bystander, I liked the roles in this game and think the role/motive split thing has merit.