Newbie 1122 (Game Over|Scum Win)

[Robocopter87]

WELCOME TO NEWBIE 1122!!!

Hmmm...

Yesssss...

They will make fine specimens.

Journal Entry #1:

Today is our first day at the Lab, Doctor RoboCopter87 says that we are here for a completely safe medical experiment.

He says that test focuses on our reaction to certain situations. And how humans deal with certain struggles.

He assured us that no matter what happened, we would all be safe and nobody would be harmed. He is so reassuring, so nice and humble. An excellent Doctor and man who is nice but understands and is very wise. It is hard not to trust such a good man.

He led us into a room. Quite boring in fact, just a table with 9 chairs, a light above, and a rope in the center of the table.

Suddenly we heard Robo's voice.

"Ladies and Gentleman, I am terribly sorry to inform you that I lied. You are all in danger. You see, this test is to show how well Humans keep their wits about them when there is two killers in their midst. Yes. There is in fact two killers waiting for the chance to kill you. But listen, do not give up hope. I do not know where you come from, but I'm sure there might be some of you with special knowledge of certain fields. "

"Here is how the experiment works. There is a period known as Day. In which you all discuss who the killers might be. You vote on who to kill. Then you kill them. I then tell you if they were good or bad. Then Night falls, and the Killers can kill one person. Then Day starts again. This continues until the Killers successfully kill all of you or the Good people kill the killers."

"So good luck, oh yeah, did I mention you probably won't live through this. And I'll also mention we chose all our people from a list containing people without Life insurance. Haha."

I'm scared to death, but perhaps we can survive. Perhaps I can be of use. I must be strong. I can do this. Bring it on Killers.~

Player List (2/9):
Maruchan _Ellf, Mafia RoleCop, Lived to tell the tale
Panacea (SE), Mafia Goon, Lived to tell the tale

Dead Player List (7/9):

Vader2401, Cop, Lynched Day One
zMuffinMan, Vanilla Townie, Killed Night One
smallpeoples343, Vanilla Townie, Lynched Day Two
Packbat, Vanilla Townie, Killed Night Two
Stuntman, Vanilla Townie, Lynched Day Three
numberQ, Vanilla Townie, Endgamed
Oversoul, Vanilla Townie, Endgamed

[Robocopter87]

Rules:

General Rules

<1>My rule is Law, I settle debates. If you reject my rules then it shall result in a Modkill. Though I am awesome, I still make mistakes. Please do not hesitate to notify me when you think I have made a mistake.
<2>Darkred Is my color don't use it. Using it will be seen as impersonating the mod, which is a punishable offense.
<3>If you have private communication with me, the mod. It has to be secret. I allow paraphrasing for Roleclaiming. If you don't know if your allowed to tell what was said then ask me first. Assume it is bad to do so before my answer.
<4>Time does not affect anything in this game unless it is a game mechanic. The use of Timestamps as a reason against someone is prohibited.
<5>You are NOT allowed to talk outside the thread with any other player unless specified in your role pm. This is STRICTLY PROHIBITED. I have seen people been banned from queues for breaking this exact rule. Don't get banned.
<6>Don't post the links to quicktopics that are used unless I give you permission. If you do, you will be modkilled.
<7>Claiming to be scum, is prohibited. If you are scum, you are not allowed to claim your partners name. If you do, you will be modkilled.
<8>Don't use small, invisible, or encrypted text. if I can't read it, its unacceptable.
<9>If you find loopholes in any of the rules and use them it is considered not good sportsmanship and is punishable. This doesn't apply to game mechanics of course. If you find a loophole that seems important please do not hesitate to notify me immediately.
<10>Personal grudges, are NOT acceptable. Period.
<11>Swearing a lot isn't tolerated by me. If you are angry. Take a quick breather, take a walk, but don't let loose in thread. Once or twice is alright, get the point across, I'd prefer if you didn't but a lot of people swear naturally. But overuse is not allowed. I hope you would know what the limit is.
<12>HAVE FUN!!!!
<13>Modkills will be enforced, don't think I'm a coward. If you do something that is a modkill offense, It will be done in a way that hurts your faction. You will be changed to a nuetral surviver. And automatically lose. But don't constantly worry about breaking the rules, I understand if you accidentally do something you shouldn't.
<14>You are not allowed to discuss an outside ongoing game in thread. If it is a finished game, then it is allowed. If it still running, you are prohibited from discussing it.

Posting, Voting, Deadline and Death
<1>Deadlines are a fixed 3 weeks. If there is a replacement I might allow an extensions. Extensions will not be longer than 1 week. Period.
<2>If you are going to be on vacation or unavailable for some time please inform me in thread or through a PM.
<3>If your V/LA covers too long a time I will replace you.
<4>If you do not post in 72 hours you shall be prodded.
<5>If you do not respond to the prod in another 24 hours. You shall be replaced.
<6>If you get 3 prods, you shall be replaced automatically. I will be lax with this if you start posting efficiently after third prod.
<7>Votes must be bolded or will not be counted, if you make the mistake of voting without bolding I will inform you that your vote was not counted in thread.(Ex. VOTE: Playername) This should be made easier by the new vote and unvote tags.
<8>Unvotes are not required but appreciated. Please Unvote before voting again.(ex. UNVOTE: Playername)
<9>Abbreviations are acceptable as long as I can clearly tell who you mean.
<10>Lynches will happen when a Majority is reached. Majority is half of available votes plus one rounded down.
<11>If players so choose, you can vote for No lynch. Normal Majority is required for a No Lynch to pass.
<12>If at deadline there is no Majority, a No Lynch will occur. If there is a tie at deadline, a No Lynch will occur.
<13>Once there is a Majority, votes cannot be taken back. The decision is final.
<14>As soon as I have posted the scene of your death. You are no longer allowed to post in thread. I will allow 'Bah' posts as long as they are completely content less, and you are only allowed one.


Just Have fun, follow the rules, play to your Win condition, and you won't have any problems!

[Robocopter87]

2of4 Setup

The 2of4 setup is a test game format we’re trying out in Newbie games to get around balance issues with the F11 setup. To prevent the development of game-breaking strategies, these Newbie Games are Semi-Open, wherein the actual game setup is randomly chosen as detailed below:

• 1 Mafia Goon
• 1 Mafia RoleCop
• 5 Vanilla Townies
• 2 of the following (no duplicates possible): (Cop 25%, Doctor 25%, Jailkeeper 25%, Vanilla Townie 25%)

Notes

1. The RoleCop has the option of submitting both the night kills and investigations, even when the Goon is still alive.
2. Mafia must specify who is performing what Night action when the Night action PM is submitted!

These are the Role PMs that have potentially been sent to the players:

Mafia-Aligned players:

Mafia

name (a Mafia RoleCop) and name (a Mafia Goon) are part of the local Mafia crime family. Since your plot to quietly overtake the town has failed, you will attempt take it by force by eliminating the others until you outnumber the populace.

• During the day, try to blend in with the normal Townies and attempt to get someone lynched.
• During the NIGHT cycle ONLY, you may talk with your fellow Mafia (via QuickTopic, linked below) and choose another player in the town to kill that night.
• One of you must send the moderator a PM with your choice of who to kill and who is performing the kill before the Night deadline.
• The Mafia RoleCop has the ability to investigate another player and learn their specific role (Townie, Cop, Doc, or Jailkeeper).
• One of you must send the moderator a PM with your choice of player that you want to investigate (usually along with the kill) before the Night deadline.
• If the Mafia RoleCop is blocked by a Town Jailkeeper then the RoleCop will receive a PM stating “No Result”.
• You may communicate privately via QuickTopic with your fellow Mafia up until the game thread is opened (this is called Night 0). Once the game begins, all outside communication must cease until the night cycle.
• Please do not communicate with each other outside of the QT.
• You win when the number of Mafia equals or exceeds the number of remaining Town players, whether you survive to the end or not.

Town-Aligned players:

Townie

You are a normal townsperson, trying to make a living and survive this insanity.

• You have no abilities at Night other than getting a good night's rest.
• Although you do not have any special abilities, your voice and vote are powerful weapons in their own right. Use them to your best advantage!
• At no time may you privately communicate with any other player.
• You win when all the Mafia players are gone, whether you survive to the end or not.

Cop

You are a member of the local law enforcement, and can tell the good guys from the bad.

• Each NIGHT, you may send the moderator a PM with your choice of player that you want to investigate before the Night deadline.
• The Moderator will inform you as to that person’s guilt or innocence.
• If you are blocked by a Town Jailkeeper you will receive a PM stating “No Result”.
• At no time may you privately communicate with any other player.
• In a Newbie game, you will always get a correct result (no sanity issues).
• You win when all the Mafia players are gone, whether you survive to the end or not.

Doctor

You are a physician, and can use your medical training to protect people from harm.

• Each NIGHT, you may send the moderator a PM with your choice of player that you want to protect before the Night deadline.
• If someone attempts to kill that player during the Night, they will be spared.
• You will not be informed as to whether your protection was successful or not.
• You may not protect yourself.
• At no time may you privately communicate with any other player.
• In a Newbie game, your protection target will always live through the night.
• You win when all the Mafia players are gone, whether you survive to the end or not.

Jailkeeper:

You are a prison guard, and it’s your job to ensure the undesireables are kept in their place.

• Each NIGHT, you may send the moderator a PM with your choice of player that you want to send to jail before the Night deadline.
• If the jailed player attempts to use a Night action (Investigate, Protect, or Kill), their action will not resolve.
• If the jailed player is the target of a Kill that action will not resolve. Any other actions (Investigate or Protect) will resolve.
• Neither you nor your target will be made aware of whether your own action was successful.
• You may not put yourself in jail.
• At no time may you privately communicate with any other player.
• You win when all the Mafia players are gone, whether you survive to the end or not.

[Robocopter87]

Thread is up. But Role PMs are not out yet.

Will send them in the morning. Needz sleep.

[Robocopter87]

Eh, 6 o'clock at Night. I think this is morning enough!

Role PMs going out!

[Robocopter87]

Role PMS are out!

Waiting on Confirmations.

[Robocopter87]

Starting game later tonight. Like in 3-4 hours.

Still waiting on 1 confirmation. But enough players have confirmed to start the game.

[Robocopter87]

With most players confirmed, Day One begins.

__________
:|Vote Count|:

Oversoul [0]
smallpeoples343 [0]
ValiliaRei [0]
Scholsey [0]
numberQ [0]
Ellf [0]
Panacea [0]
zMuffinMan [0]
Packbat [0]

:|Not Voting|:
Oversoul, smallpeoples343, ValiliaRei, Scholsey, numberQ, Ellf, Panacea, zMuffinMan, Packbat

:|Amount to Lynch|:
With 9 Alive it is 5 to Lynch.

:|Deadline|:
Midnight of July, 19^th, EDT.
__________

[Ellf]

Yay, we begin. Hi everyone, I'm Ellf, and this is my second game on this site. Let me begin by saying that I really dislike RVS when I don't know who I'm playing with. Still, I figure I'll kick it off with the following:

VOTE: numberQ

Why? Because that name just doesn't make sense to me.

[ValiliaRei]

This is my first game on this site. I've never played on a forum before, but I played irl years ago.

Random voting? I suppose I'll...

VOTE: Scholsey

He's the only one not to confirm yet.

[Packbat]

Hey, everyone! I will be your IC, or Inexperience-Challenged Player, for this game; it is my job to answer your questions about how to play Mafia on Mafiascum.net - both in the sense of "what are the site rules" and in the sense of "how do I win". I'll start with the former and move on to the latter in later posts - if nothing else, because some of our esteemed SE companions will probably have bones to pick about what I say there!

The first thing any new player should do, if they have not done so already, is read the site rules. This is mith's place, he is our benevolent overlord, and his word goes. I looked them over with the thought of summarizing the key ones in witty little phrases (e.g. "Don't be a dick"), but while a few will be familiar, you pretty much need to read through the whole list. Like I said, if you haven't done so already, read the site rules. It's short and it's important.

The second thing any new player - and the first thing any experienced player - should do is read the moderator's rules. A lot of them are common between games, but every moderator has their own way of doing things and following their rules makes that work better for everyone.

The third thing is to learn the general way these games go. A lot of it is described in the mod's rules, but like with any game, the rules are only a shadow of the play. Basically, the game will go something like this.

1. Confirmation stage. Some mods ask the players to send private messages - PMs - and others ask them to post in the game thread, but either way the moderator needs to know that everyone has received and read their role PMs and is ready to play. We've finished this stage (or nearly so).
2. Random voting or random question phase. Right now, we don't know who is in the Mafia and who is in the town, and the only way we can find out is to force everyone to start talking and voting, acting and reacting. The Mafia are not like the town, because the goals of the Mafia are not like the town, and this will be reflected in their behavior. But we have to force everyone to start participating so we can detect the players who are acting suspicious.
3. Serious voting and discussion. As the random stage extends, various players will decide that they see something real and move their votes and voices to reflect that. Not all players will do this simultaneously, but eventually you'll find that most of us are voting people we really think are guilty.
4. Lynching. As the discussion burns through the time alloted for the first "day", a loose consensus will eventually form on one or a few candidates. Sometimes it will dissipate, but as the deadline looms, we will likely see the town buckle down and pick one of these leading candidates to be the first lynch.
5. Twilight. After a majority of living players vote to hang one of their comrades, there is often a wait before the moderator gets back to report the result of the lynch and lock the thread. People will often continue to post ... but there's no undoing the lynch, it's already happened.
6. Night. The moderator tells us the role of the fellow we just killed, locks the thread, and we wait, with bated breath, for the dawn to come. This is when the Mafia chat in their secret quicktopic to pick someone to kill, and when any town power-roles - PRs, they are called; they include the doctor or the cop - decide what they are doing, and both Mafia and PRs send PMs to the moderator with instructions.
7. Dawn. The moderator tells us what happened during the night - both by sending PMs to investigator power roles and by posting in-thread with who died and what they were.
8. Loop back up to 3 - serious voting and discussion. From the basis of what they learned from the previous day and night, town no longer needs to force participation (usually) - they pick up where they dropped off and go for scum again.

Steps 3-8 will continue until one of two things happens: town wins by killing all the mafia; or mafia win by gaining parity or majority in the town.

[Packbat]

Right now we're in RVS, as Ellf said; one of the things I like to do in this stage is to start a bandwagon by voting for someone with one or more votes already on them. It's not often a good idea to put too many votes on one player early, just because it's important to get a feel for everyone in the player list before the end of the day, but votes tend not to have much effect if there isn't the threat of a lynch behind them.

VOTE: numberQ

For the record, another vocabulary term to learn if you haven't already is "L-x": when someone says that a certain player is at L-1, L-2, or whatever, they mean that this player is 1 vote or 2 votes or however many away from being lynched. So, to rephrase what I said before more specifically: it's a bad idea to put anyone at L-1 early in the first game day, because there's always the chance that someone doesn't read the game carefully and accidentally "hammers" (i.e. places the vote that causes the lynch) before we have a chance to get a feel for everyone in the game.

In this game, because 5 players is a majority, 3 votes is L-2 and 4 votes is L-1. It's a good idea to try to keep track of how many votes are on each player so you are ready when that point is approached. It's very common for players to see someone else place an L-1 vote and immediately remove their own vote, for example.

[Ellf]

Yeah... speaking of that L-X stuff... I made a really stupid decision last game. I wasn't paying attention and the bandwagon was at L-1, and I thought my vote was bringing him to L-1 and I was the hammer instead.

Eh, live and learn. I'm curious to how numberQ will react.

[Packbat]

Yeah... speaking of that L-X stuff... I made a really stupid decision last game. I wasn't paying attention and the bandwagon was at L-1, and I thought my vote was bringing him to L-1 and I was the hammer instead.

One suggestion I forgot to mention on that note: if you place L-2 or L-1 votes - the third or fourth vote - announce that it is the L-2 or L-1 vote, respectively. It's not any requirement in the rules, but it helps avoid mistakes.

(This goes for non-newbie games as well, I will note - I was in a 13-player Mini Theme game that just finished a week and a half ago where a player accidentally placed the lynching vote on Page 4, literally in under 48 hours from game start.)

[Oversoul]

Vote: zMuffinMan

[Panacea]

Hello, hello! I'll be one of your SE's for this game. This is actually my sixth game on this site, but this will be my first since a year-long hiatus, so please bear with me as I reacclimate (Look at how much easier it is to code these days!! Ooooh, a "vote" button?!)

But I digress!

Looks like we've already gotten started on the Random Vote Stage of the game (my personal favorite). To that end,

VOTE: smallpeoples343, because "Peoples," is like a double-plural.

Now then, the other option to the RVS stage is the Random Question Stage. Though I like RVS for its entertainment value, a little bit of RQS is also good for kicking off a game and getting some basic information. So! Could you all try to answer a few for me, if you haven't already?

1) About how many games have you played on MafiaScum.net? About how many have you played elsewhere?
2) Which time zone are you in?
3) Cake or pie?
4) Are you scum? Why or why not?
5) Do you prefer scum or Town roles?

1) As I said, this will be my sixth after a year away. None played elsewhere.
2) Central time, U.S.A.
3) Cake. Definitely cake. Oooh... Cake would be amazing right now! Yes, I know it's 1 AM.
4) Nope. Because I'm not. (Rush fans in the house? Yes? )
5) Town. I find it's a lot less stressful.

Looking forward to a good game.

[zMuffinMan]

VOTE: Packbat

First step to winning is killing off the IC.

[smallpeoples343]

Hello, hello! I'll be one of your SE's for this game. This is actually my sixth game on this site, but this will be my first since a year-long hiatus, so please bear with me as I reacclimate (Look at how much easier it is to code these days!! Ooooh, a "vote" button?!)

But I digress!

Looks like we've already gotten started on the Random Vote Stage of the game (my personal favorite). To that end,

VOTE: smallpeoples343, because "Peoples," is like a double-plural.

Now then, the other option to the RVS stage is the Random Question Stage. Though I like RVS for its entertainment value, a little bit of RQS is also good for kicking off a game and getting some basic information. So! Could you all try to answer a few for me, if you haven't already?

1) About how many games have you played on MafiaScum.net? About how many have you played elsewhere?
2) Which time zone are you in?
3) Cake or pie?
4) Are you scum? Why or why not?
5) Do you prefer scum or Town roles?

1) As I said, this will be my sixth after a year away. None played elsewhere.
2) Central time, U.S.A.
3) Cake. Definitely cake. Oooh... Cake would be amazing right now! Yes, I know it's 1 AM.
4) Nope. Because I'm not. (Rush fans in the house? Yes? )
5) Town. I find it's a lot less stressful.

Looking forward to a good game.

Wow. Amazing. Already. -_-

1) MafiaScum: I am playing 3. Completed 0.
2) EST, US. Oh yeah, for all you other stalkers out there, I live in California
3) Cake, I hate pie.
4) No. Because I am awesome like that. (Hmm... if it makes the game more interesting, I'd be willing to change my answer to yes )
5) Actually, cult. Because how long they survive depends on a lot of variables.
6) WOOT for Overkill!

Now, VOTE: Ellf for starting an awesome wagon.

[smallpeoples343]

EBOWP:

Someone get me a phone. I'm calling the big guns. That's right. Aflac.

[Packbat]

Now then, the other option to the RVS stage is the Random Question Stage. Though I like RVS for its entertainment value, a little bit of RQS is also good for kicking off a game and getting some basic information. So! Could you all try to answer a few for me, if you haven't already?

[ic]I highly recommend answering questions under all circumstances, even when the answer is "No comment".[/ic] I'm not actually convinced of the value of RQS, but some people have had a goodly bit of success with it.

1) This is the eleventh game of Mafia I have started playing on Mafiascum, and twelfth on the Internet; I have never played in RL.

2) I am in the US Eastern Time Zone - which is currently Eastern Daylight Time, not Eastern Standard Time, so...

3) Lean cake, despite some delicious attempts that have been made to sway me the other way.

4) The roles in newbie games are assigned completely at random; no-one chooses scum or town. That said, it shouldn't take long for it to become pretty obvious which one I am.

5) Honestly, I haven't been playing long enough to make a fair judgment.

VOTE: Packbat

First step to winning is killing off the IC.

This isn't actually true, obviously. The more useful criterion for deciding whether or not to lynch is the obvious one: is this person acting more like scum than like town? Which segues into my First Rule of Scumhunting:

Town players want to kill scum. Scum players want not to be killed. All tells are consequences of this difference in motivation.

More vocabulary terms: scum is any anti-town role - in this game, that being just the Mafia; tells are, like in poker, behavioral traits which reveal facts about the hidden knowledge of that player.

Now, that said: why this rule? Well, analyze the game, and you will find that all the scum need to do in order to win is survive long enough that their night-kills can wear down the town. While sometimes one scum will aid in the lynching of another (this is called bussing, from the phrase "throwing your partner under the bus"), as a rule scum will avoid actions likely to lead to their deaths. In contrast, there are lots of townies, and the survival of any one town player only affects the odds of town victory if scum is killed instead - and therefore townies don't need to care if they live or die, just if they can take down scum.

There are, of course, caveats and footnotes to this - for example, scum want to kill the town power-roles, and therefore find out who these power-roles are - but the single most valuable question you can ask is this: under what assumptions does this player's behavior make more sense: that they are town, or that they are scum? And the way to answer that question is to consider town's winning condition and contrast it with scum's.

[smallpeoples343]

That being said, scum players don't try to get killed. So, people who are desperate are scum. Let's try a wagon!

VOTE: Packbat

[Robocopter87]

2) I am in the US Eastern Time Zone - which is currently Eastern Daylight Time, not Eastern Standard Time, so...

<sub>...I have no clue what you are talking about >.> *runs and changes it*

Actually I have a Votecount template setup and it says EST and I just plop the date and time in there. But I don't normally keep track of daylight savings time. In my mind, the sun goes up and the sun goes down and there is nothing we can do about it!

At least it tells me you read the votecount so thanks.</sub>

[smallpeoples343]

_{In my mind, the sun goes up and the sun goes down and there is nothing we can do about it!}

Hooray for the truth!

[Packbat]

2) I am in the US Eastern Time Zone - which is currently Eastern Daylight Time, not Eastern Standard Time, so...

<sub>...I have no clue what you are talking about >.> *runs and changes it*

Actually I have a Votecount template setup and it says EST and I just plop the date and time in there. But I don't normally keep track of daylight savings time. In my mind, the sun goes up and the sun goes down and there is nothing we can do about it!

At least it tells me you read the votecount so thanks.</sub>

Err...

2) EST, US. Oh yeah, for all you other stalkers out there, I live in California

(Gentlefolk and ruffians: don't follow my example; read the votecounts. If nothing else, it'll tip you off if you miss someone's vote in your own records. And it won't be nothing else, because it will let you know how close to deadline we are.)

[Ellf]

1) About how many games have you played on MafiaScum.net? About how many have you played elsewhere?
2) Which time zone are you in?
3) Cake or pie?
4) Are you scum? Why or why not?
5) Do you prefer scum or Town roles?

1. Answered earlier, but I'll repost with more detail. Second game of Mafia on Mafiascum, seventh overall on the net... possibly eighth.
2. I am in GMT-05:00 or EDT.
3. Cheesecake. (It's both a cake and a pie!)
4. No. Because I'm just not.
5. Really it depends. I can have fun playing both sides of the coin.