Mini 170 - Time Travel Mafia, Game Over!

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The date was September 14, 1983. I've just finished...wait, hold on, no...it's definitely sometime in the 60's. Or did I go back to the 60's yesterday? Right right right...it's

definitely

March 11, 2004. This time travel business can be confusing. In any case, journal, I've just finished the last touches on my time machine, and the last few test runs have been a perfct success. If only it didn't require quite so much expensive time fuel, this could be the next------------------

.

That, of course, was the last journal entry of scientist Jenna Ricinventor, found the night she was murdered, already a year ago today. Since that time, cheap imitations of Jenna's time machine have flooded the market. Though the problem of time-fuel consumption is still very restrictive, the last year has seen remarkable advancement in fuel production. So while nearly every household possesses (at least!) one time-machine, few can afford to use them very often.

Now will have to be one of those times. As was bound to happen, the local mafia has begun to use these time machines to terrorize the lives of the citizens. The town must band together, using their brains, their skills, and their time machines to combat the forces of evil, and eradicate them from the town.

Current History

:

Night 1

You awake to find that armlx, townie, has been killed.
You awake to find that MGM, non-townie, has been killed.
You awake to find that Darklight, non-townie, has been killed.
You awake to find that DragonSlayer, townie, has been killed.

Day 1

You lynch SapphireVerde (non-townie) with the following vote count:

SapphireVerde (4, Drummer, Axelrod, Fuldu, Crola)
Electra (2, MoS, Sapphire)
Not Voting: Nanook, SubtleTactix
Dead: armlx, Mgm, DragonSlayer, DarkLight140

Night 2

You awake to find that Fuldu (townie) has been killed.

Day 2

:
You lynch MoS (townie) with the following vote count:

MoS (2, Axelrod, Uraj)
Not Voting: Crola, Drummer, MoS, Tactix
Dead: armlx, Mgm, DragonSlayer, DarkLight140, Sapphire, Fuldu

Night 3

:
You awake to find that everyone has survived the night.

Day 3

: In Progress

Not Currently Dead (5)

:
Axelrod
Crola
Drummer (replacing Electra)
Uraj (replacing NanookTheWolf)
SubtleTactix

Currently Dead (7)

:
armlx (townie, murdered night 1)
Mgm (non-townie, murdered night 1)
DarkLight140 (non-townie, murdered night 1)
Dragon Slayer (replacing Dmi) (townie, murdered night 1)
SapphireVerde (non-townie, lynched day 1)
Fuldu (townie, murdered night 2)
Mastermind of Sin (townie, lynched day 3)

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I absolutely insist that you thoroughly read these rules before starting the game.

Major Rule Changes

:

Q: How is time travel incorporated into the game?

A: Many night choices will occur on nights that are not the current one. For example, some roles could be used on night 2 to enact a change on night 5, or on night 1. Performing actions in the

future

will just have a delayed effect. Performing actions in the

past

may cause time to be rewritten. If/when this happens, I will post an updated timeline, though I'll leave the old timeline in its original post to keep for your records.

Q: Wait, so if I die, I might come back to life? How does that work?

Sure, if a doctor goes back in time to protect you on the night you were killed. If this happens, you'll be caught up to the game, and history will be re-written because of your presence in each intermediate day. Because of this (IMPORTANT), all dead players must keep up with the game, and submit votes and night-choices to me (privately, through PM) as if they were still alive. These will be their actions if they are brought back to life.

Q: Any weird rules on lynching?

Yup, 'fraid so. It is not the case that a player will be lynched as soon as a majority is hit. Instead, I will set a dealine each day, and the player with the most votes at deadline is lynched, regardless of how many. No lynch is still a possibility...if no lynch has the most votes at deadline, then it wins. Keep in mind that dead players coming back to life will have a say in re-writing the history.

Q: Will roles be revealed upon death?

Not all roles will be revealed on death. This seems reasonable enough normally, as it's not clear that seeing a mafia's dead body would tell you that they were mafia. It's important in this game, seeing as how players can come back to life, that their life stories not be completely revealed. All that will be revealed upon death is whether or not the player was a generic townie. Players with roles that are not generic townies will not be revealed.

Q: What happens if I go back in time and kill myself?

While obviously a bad play, this is a question that needs addressing...if there's any possible way of making a scenario work, then I'll process any night choice I get. If there's just no way to resolve a certain collection of night choices, I may PM you and disallow your choice.

Q: Couldn't this game go on for ever?

No. The key component to the time-travel mechanism is time-fuel, of which there is a limited quantity in this game. It

is

possible, however, in the case that everyone uses up all of their time fuel, that the game will turn in to a regular mini game.

Q: Anything else I should know?

Sure. First, if you've played any of my games before, you might be expecting a split-motive/role game. That won't be the case. On the other hand, I

have

done a decent amount of work to make sure that mass role-claiming will not benefit anyone very much. For instance, I will post the townie role PM:

You are a townie with a time machine, though unfortunately without time fuel...or at least much of it. You have just enough fuel to send a time shield into the future to protect yourself on a future night. Please confirm by PM, including which night you would like to send your time shield forward to.

Please confirm by PM and PLEASE be sure to read all of the rules in the second post.

And, of course, there are the below regular rules:

Rules

• 1) All communication outside this thread by me will be by PM. So, if you're wondering when that role e-mail will be sent, it won't be.
  2) Once the day's deadline has been reached, the lynchee is dead and Twilight has begun. Posting is allowed during Twilight, though additional votes will not be counted.
  3) Once you are deceased, also decease from posting. Because of possible back-to-life issues, do not post
  anything
  else until/unless you are brought back to life.
  4) Votes must be in bold. If you do not bold your vote, it will not be counted. Unvotes are appreciated, but not required.
  5) Please do not discuss this game out of thread unless your role specifically states you may communicate with other players.
  6) Do not edit/delete any post on pain of being disinvited from playing and/or smiting.
  7) If you anticipate being unavailable for more than a 48-hour period, please post a notice to that effect in the thread. Treat this game as a commitment to 12 others. Be considerate: don't leave us hanging.
  8 ) Do not quote any private communication from me.
  9) If there are four consecutive periods (where a period is either a night or a day) without a kill, the game will be ruled a draw unless I see convincing evidence to keep it going. For example, no lynch followed by no night kills followed again by no lynch and no night kill will probably be ruled a draw.
  10) If a player is targeted to be killed more times than the number of times he is protected, he will die.
  11) Remember that this is a game, intended to be enjoyable for everyone. I hope you play to win without giving in to name-calling or general meanness. I will give a warning PM to the offenders if it gets out of hand, and a subsequent infraction will be punishable by smiting.
  12) If I do something stupid, please indicate this to me privately. I may or may not have made a mistake.

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Okay, I'm back in town. Thanks for your patience. Let me first say that I appreciate the questions being asked via PM by all players...I'm glad people are actually thinking about how this game will work.

If you still owe me a night choice, then try to get it to me ASAP. If you've asked me a question that I haven't answered yet, please resend it. I got a little swamped with PMs while I was away.

Cam

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The town spends their night preparing for the worst of it. With scum on the loose, they had to set up their defences quickly and efficiently. Despite the town's sudden bout of preparedness, however, the first night ends with the death of a beloved townie, armlx

.

Reminder: Time history can change, so

armlx

, you're not out of the game yet. Please remember to vote for a player or for no lynch privately to me through PM. That vote will be enacted if you are ever brought back to life. Similarly, don't forget to submit a night choice tonight. Finally, don't forget that there is

no

posting once you're dead.

To keep all information available, I'll post the death scene each night in two places: Here, and in the opening post. In case of a timeline re-write, I will edit the one in the opening post, but leave the one here so that this information is available for piecing together what happened.

With 11 alive, it will take 6 to lynch.

Cam

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Whoops, forgot to set the deadline...let's say 5 days, i.e.

120 hours from this post.

. This can be extended by popular demand. Remember that the day does not end when a majority hits...read the rules again if you don't know what I'm talking about.

Cam

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In response to a good question, you can not vote for the dead.

Current Official Vote Count

:

Mgm (2, SapphireVerde, Crola)
Axelrod (1, Dmi)
Sapphire (1, Electra)
Nanook (1, Mgm)
Darklight (1, MoS)
Tactix (1, Nanook)

Not Voting: Axelrod, DarkLight140, Fuldu, SubtleTactix

6 to lynch.

Cam

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Yeah, your post came through in the middle of my vote count. It's fixed now.

For ties, it's the standard mafiascum policy of whoever got there first gets lynched.

Cam

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No. Not voting just leaves the decision in the hands of fewer people. The vote "No lynch" works just like any other vote, including in regard to my previous post on ties.

Cam

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If someone is modkilled, can they come back to life? Or do they get erased from the timeline or something.

Hm, well done in finding a question to which I didn't have a ready answer. I'll play this one by ear depending on the context of the game when the infraction occurs. In the meantime, please don't get modkilled by, for example, revealing your role PM.

Cam

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Current Official Vote Count:

Mgm (3, SapphireVerde, Crola, Fuldu)
Sapphire (2, Electra, Mgm)
Axelrod (1, Dmi)
Darklight (1, MoS)
Tactix (1, Nanook)

Not Voting: Axelrod, DarkLight140, SubtleTactix

6 to lynch.

Cam

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Okay, thanks for the heads up, Dmi. I appreciate it.

Effective immediately, Dragon Slayer is replacing Dmi.

Cam

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Current Official Vote Count:

Sapphire (3, Electra, Mgm, Crola)
Mgm (2, SapphireVerde, Fuldu)
Electra (1, MoS)
Tactix (1, Nanook)

Not Voting: Axelrod, DarkLight140, SubtleTactix, DragonSlayer

6 to lynch.

Cam

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I'm quite happy to extend the deadline given the good levels of participation. Let's renew for another 5 days, starting from this post.

Cam

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Current Official Vote Count:

Sapphire (3, Electra, Mgm, Axelrod)
Mgm (2, SapphireVerde, Fuldu)
Electra (1, MoS)
Axelrod (1, Crola)

Not Voting: Nanook, DarkLight140, SubtleTactix, DragonSlayer

6 to lynch.

Cam

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If there are no votes at the end of a day (through time manipulation or not), there will be no lynch.

Cam

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Current Official Vote Count:

Sapphire (3, Electra, Mgm, Axelrod)
Mgm (2, SapphireVerde, Fuldu)
Electra (1, MoS)
Axelrod (1, Crola)

Not Voting: Nanook, DarkLight140, SubtleTactix, DragonSlayer

6 to lynch.

And I just realized that setting a deadline for Sunday night probably isn't wise, so we'll make it

60 hours

(2.5 days) from this post. Given current levels of posting, this might not be removable.

Cam

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Current Official Vote Count:

Sapphire (3, Electra, Mgm, Axelrod)
Mgm (2, SapphireVerde, Fuldu)
Electra (1, MoS)
Axelrod (1, Crola)

Not Voting: Nanook, DarkLight140, SubtleTactix, DragonSlayer

6 to lynch.

And I just realized that setting a deadline for Sunday night probably isn't wise, so we'll make it

60 hours

(2.5 days) from this post. Given current levels of posting, this might not be removable.

Cam

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Official 6-hours-or-so-until-deadline Vote Count

:

Electra (3, MoS, Sapphire, Mgm)
Sapphire (2, Electra, Axelrod)
Mgm (1, Fuldu)
Dragon Slayer (1, Crola)

Not Voting: Nanook, DarkLight140, SubtleTactix, DragonSlayer

6 to lynch.

Cam

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Official End-Of-Day Vote Count:

Sapphire (4, Electra, Axelrod, Fuldu, Crola)
Electra (3, MoS, Sapphire, Mgm)

Not Voting: Nanook, DarkLight140, SubtleTactix, DragonSlayer

And with that, night 2 begins.

SapphreVerde (non-townie)

, has been lynched.

Get those night choices in!

Cam

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It was just pointed out to me that there were some errors in the last vote count (though the correct lynch was made). I think they've been fixed now. Sorry about that.

Keep those night choices a-comin'!

Cam

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The following is your new history, as posted in the front post.

Current History

:

Night 1

You awake to find that armlx, townie, has been killed.
You awake to find that Mgm, non-townie, has been killed.

Day 1

You lynch SapphireVerde (non-townie) with the following vote count:

SapphireVerde (4, Electra, Axelrod, Fuldu, Crola)
Electra (2, MoS, Sapphire)
Not Voting: Nanook, DarkLight140, SubtleTactix, DragonSlayer
Dead: armlx, Mgm

Night 2

You awake to find that Fuldu, townie, has been killed.

Day 2

:
In progress.

With 8 alive, it takes 5 to lynch.

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3) Once you are deceased, also decease from posting. Because of possible back-to-life issues, do not post anything else until/unless you are brought back to life.

Just a friendly reminder.

And I forgot to set a deadline, so let's call it

7 days from this post

. As always, this is moveable.

Cam

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Official Vote Count

:

Nanook (1, Tactix)
Axelrod (1, Crola)

Not Voting: Axelrod, DarkLight140, Dragon Slayer, Electra, Mastermind of Sin, NanookTheWolf

Cam

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Agreed. 5 days from this post.

Cam

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Especially appropriate since

Uraj

is replacing Nanook.

cam

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Current Official Vote Count:

MoS (3, Axelrod, Darklight, Uraj)

Not Voting: Crola, Dragon Slayer, Electra, Mastermind of Sin, Tactix

Cam

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Prodding MoS, Electra, and Dragon Slayer. About 50 hours until deadline.

Cam

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Current Official Vote Count:

MoS (3, Axelrod, Darklight, Uraj)
warpdragon (1, MoS)
Crola (1, Tactix)

Not Voting: Crola, Dragon Slayer, Electra

Dead People: Don't froget to submit votes by the deadline.

This is in

12 hours from this post.

(This is a slight extension, but I probably won't be able to spend time on this until then, so there's no sense cutting you off earlier than I have to).

Cam

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Crola, you are confused. You are not voting for anyone, and at the time of the count, Tactix was still voting for you.

Sorry about the warpdragon thing. I didn't have much time to do the vote count. In any case, 20 minutes until deadline.

Current Official Vote Count

:

MoS (3, Axelrod, Darklight, Uraj)
Crola (1, MoS)

Not Voting: Crola, Dragon Slayer, Electra, Tactix

Deadline in 20 minutes.

Cam

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Current Official Vote Count

:

MoS (3, Axelrod, Darklight, Uraj)

Not Voting: Crola, Dragon Slayer, Electra, Tactix

And with that,

(Mos, townie)

, has been lynched.

Get those night choices in!

Cam

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Night deadline in 48 hours. If I get all choices before then, we can start early. Don't forget to submit a night choice if you want to, dead people.

Cam

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Great news for the town...you awake to find that everyone has survived the night!

Yet somehow, there's less of you....

See the front post for your detailed new current history, but in short:

DragonSlayer (townie) and Darklight (non-townie) are now dead, and fuldu is now alive.

Finally, Drummer is replacing Electra.

Cam

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Right. With 6 alive, it'll take 4 to lynch.

We'll start with a leisurely 10-day deadline. Don't make me regret it.

Cam

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Darn, I was hoping to catch the thread before anyone posted...despite having stared at the night choices for an hour, I messed up. My apologies to Fuldu, who is still quite dead.

Cam

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Current Official Vote Count

:

Tactix (2, Axelrod, Crola)
Crola (1, Tactix)

Not Voting: Uraj, Drummer

3 to lynch.

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Official End-Of-Day Vote Count

:

Tactix (3, Axelrod, Crola, Drummer)
Crola (1, Tactix)

Not Voting: Uraj

And with that,

SubtleTactix (non-townie)

, has been lynched.

Congratulations to Axelrod and Drummer, the two mafia.

Mafia win!

I have a lot of comments on this game, but they're all unfortunately at home. I unfortunately made a couple of small errors in modding this game, which I'll be ready for next time (I plan to run something similar again). I'd like to hear your comments about the format of the game more than anything else...we can all argue until the cows come home about how balanced the game was. I think it was pretty close, and scum did a very good job this game of staying under the radar.

Roles coming soon.

Cam

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ROLES:

armlx - Townie
Fuldu - Townie
NanookTheWolf - Townie
Crola - Townie
Dmi - Townie
Mastermind of Sin - Townie

DarkLight140 - Doc
SapphireVerde - Backup Doc
SubtleTactix - Vigilante

Electra - Mafia
Axelrod - Mafia
Mgm - Serial Killer

Time Shields

armlx - Night 4
Fuldu - Night 3
Nanook - Night 2
Crola - Night 2
Dmi - Night 4
MoS - Night 3

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Thanks for the comments, Crola.

Responses (not really in order to what they're responding to)

1) This time around, it was definitely short. I'm not so sure it would repeat like that. Plus, who's to say short games are bad?
2) Well, Tactix killed your serial killer, too, or at least would have had the mafia not done so on the same night.
3) I think the town got really unlucky in some aspects. First, the mafia never hit a night shield...I was

very

surprised that none of the town chose to place their time shields on night one. Also, the town's major strengths were its two docs...one of which got lynched on day 1, and the second of which chose not to revive until it was too late.
4) I was extremely wary of putting in any kind of investigative roles, especially with the town's ability to revive

mod-confirmed

townies.

Last, I apologize for the early lynch today, and I have to confess further that this was intentional. I had earlier and repeatedly made the mistake of putting "3 to lynch" all over the place. This was extremely misleading, and I felt that changing that would have been unfair to Drummer, who would have been an immediate target. There was just no way out, so I made the call that I thought was least unfair.

Could we have some more specifications on the roles, such as time fuel each person had, and more specifications of the roles in general.

Absolutely, as soon as I get home.

Cam

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Time travel huts my head.

Heh.

NIGHT 1 Choices
Mafia - Axelrod Kills armlx night 1
MgM - Kill Fuldu night 2 (uses 1 day of fuel)
Tactix - No action.
Darklight - Protects Fuldu night 1
SapphireVerde - None yet

NIGHT 2 Choices
Mafia - Electra kills MGM night 1 (uses 1 day of fuel)
Mgm - Kill Nanook night 2
Tactix - Kill MGM night 2
Darklight - Protect MGM night 2
SapphireVerde - None yet

NIGHT 3 CHOICES
Mafia - Axelrod kills DragonSlayer night 1 (uses 2 days of fuel)
Mgm - No choice
Darklight - Back to night 2 to save Fuldu
Tactix - kill Darklight night 1
SapphireVerde - None yet

Comment: Night 2 was awesome, the vig killed the serial killer, but the serial killer was protected by the doc. The SK's kill was blocked by a time shield, and despite all this, the SK and another person woke up dead.

Additional fact: If Darklight had survived that night, he would have received SapphireVerde's unused stash of time fuel (another single usage).

Cam

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As to the modkill question, it was going to depend on how replaceable the infraction was. For example, if I was going to modkill someone for being a jerk, I'd probably try to find a replacement instead. If a quoting of the role PM occurred, then yeah, I'd probably remove them from the timeline altogether (and make a note not to allow that person to play in future games).

Cam

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The reason I didn't have a cop was (as I mentioned in the SuperMini time travel game) is that I dislike the following scenario:

Cop outs scum
Mafia goes back in time and kills cop before he investigated them
Town lynches scum anyway because the information is already out there.

There are several solutions to this, each less patable than the previous. The one I ran in the supermini was to shuffle everyone's roles, so that the information became worthless. While clever (I think), it goes a long way to making the game less fun. Alternatively, I could have done something like keeping the thread hidden from the general public, and replacing players who had information that the timeline suggested they shouldn't. This also has (many) problems, mostly logistically, but also on the fun scale. So my conclusion, which I rather like, was that it was best just to not have them at all.

Cam