def

There was a little humor there, but the main message is that I'd like to see you pay attention to what's going on. The main reason we've caught so many so fast is that a lot of town is working together, and when players start slowing down, that's when the scum catches you!

Let's break this down nice and slow, and maybe you can spell out the joke for me, since I don't see it. Never said I had a doctor protecting me. I said I was protected from all night kills. There's a difference Anyway, the arsonist action usually doesn't plant seeds for four nights before detonating them. Thanks for the "help" By no help, I mean that your "night results" have done nothing to help us. All the scum did the same thing. Zsasz had an open line of communication most of the game, and he wasn't able to help us once. By obtuse today, I mean that we have a scum in our sights, and your main target is someone planting seeds, who we can block and investigate tonight, so they're no threat whatsoever. Seems obtuse to me. Your conclusion really doesn't seem helpful, unless by "helpful" you mean extending the life of a scummy for a day. And as for fishing, it was a minor thing, but not unnoticed at all. From the Creeper's private stash. Fishy remarks bolded. How can you be helpful in narrowing down who we can't trust? Either you have info or you don't, and you really don't. So, just to get beyond all that, I didn't call you scum, and I didn't call Black Mask scum either. The only person I called scum today is Ra's, and you want to keep him around Got it? A lot of town have done things to help take the scum out. You haven't. It doesn't make you scum, but I'm not going to pronounce you as "safe". Flailing in thread and getting uppity isn't going to make you look any better either. Much better to cooperate like a big boy (Same thing to Black Mask, I just don't want to go through it all again)

Whatever. Until you can explain why you lied... Nevermind. You lied. You got caught. You're out. That's just the way it goes

Well, I have some results. It seems that of those who voted Zsasz last night, only 10 were criminals! fourteen voted for him... Now, some of these people are cleared, through investigation or otherwise. Those investigated could still be scum, if one was the Godfather. Which only highlights the importance of good communication. KielDaMan, clear Brickdoctor, WhiteFang, mostly clear Captain Tamamono, clear Alopex, clear JimButcher, clear JediAnakin, clear Sirius Black, clear Oky, clear badboytje88, not town Fred Fred Burger, Scum Jedi master Brick, clear Capt. Redblade, pretty clear K-nut clear We've had a Hell of a time investigating Blackmask (Brickdoctor) and haven't yet, plus he's claimed investigator, which is easy to fake. I'm leaning toward him being scum, unless new results come up soon. Of the rest, if there was a fake clear result, I'm leaning toward Hush (JimB; hasn't done anything for town, and also tried to fish me for information, and was peculiarly obtuse in thread today) and Two-Face (K-nut; hasn't been able to prove his worth at all). The rest of the town have either been investigated or have helped bring these scumbums down. It's just a matter of time

Well, better to kill the scum we know than the one we don't. I'm safe at night, unless there is a special meaning to "all kills" that I don't know There is no telling if he is the last, but statistically, he should be. Six of them is already at 25%, but seven of them would be nearing a third. That would just be stupid. Anyway, we still have a bunch of night results we're waiting to hear back on. Once those are in, we'll have a much better idea of the numbers (yes, the number of criminals was being checked last night ) Also, Ivy sent me this much earlier. Maybe we can trust it, maybe not... So, I do wonder if she could detonate them. Just for safety's sake, we may just block her until the end of the game. I think she probably was telling the truth at first, and is just playing a stupid game now since we're nearing the end. And by stupid, I mean that we can block her until the end of the game and prevent her from winning, whether she's harmful or not. Just to teach her a lesson about cooperation. Because she's not cooperating today.

That wasn't what I meant with that comment, but fair enough

Independent is independent. For the sake of investigations, they tend to get lumped in with one side or the other. In that case, they were lumped in with town. Ivy hasn't been investigated, so it's hard to say which way she'd fall if checked.

You did follow the day yesterday, right? He was caught lying about his night action, then he just pulled the same "flock of sheep" whine the rest of his scum buddies pulled. He claimed to target Freeze, and he actually targeted Tammo. There was no reason to lie except that he was up to monkey business. On top of that, he ignored my messages for a week, then messaged me within 10 minutes of me accusing him in thread. That is an under the radar scum having a flail meltdown if I ever saw one. The circumstantial evidence against him is pretty strong.

I know I can't, or Ra's would be dead already I don't know what it is with some of you people. Yesterday I have to listen to Mr. Freeze explaining that I'm not infallible despite never having said anything of the sorts. Now today Ivy is informing me I can't control everything. No shit? Seriously? I really think this "information" I'm getting about what I can and can't do has a lot more to do with the speaker's perception of me than of my own. Last I checked, I was working with people. They weren't working for me. And you have now decided you aren't working with me. Your choice. Because I don't control you

Keep in mind, Ivy claimed Independent. We have not checked her out yet. It's her word on things.

It's not like Ra's is going to do anything

I wonder if there's more to this too, but really, we've cleared most of the Criminals here. There are just a few left to take care of. As for the seed, the Joker told me. A few others (ie. Clayface, Harley) told me the same thing

Poison Ivy has been dropping seeds on people while they sleep. What does it mean? I'm not sure She's on the list though.

What the Hell, vig? Why wouldn't you kill Ra's He all but admitted that he was scum. Geez.... At least we got rid of the useless Zsasz. Good riddance. We have tow choices today: the all but confirmed scum Ra's, or the guy who refuses to pay attention to everything, Mr. Freeze. I'm leaning toward Ra's, but Freeze is ever so tempting In other news, I specifically told Poison Ivy not to put a seed on me... And she did! I'm pretty pissed What kind of phrase is that? It sounds like the least useful statement one can make.

It can be done, but you need to do it a little selectively, and you need to give much more than you take. Asking for opinions or theories on roles is called fishing. So, for example, a first PM might be like this (sent to someone not voting for Nihious): "This day thread is unbelievable. I can't believe everyone is voting for Nihilous. He's unhinged in thread, but he made a roleclaim, and nobody's doubting that. They should have unvoted him. I'm glad to see you seem to be working for town." Even that might attract negative attention, but there's little you can sincerely say on day one. And it's good to open the lines of communication. I think what you did with adding bricksandparts to your PM list is a good plan. When you're accusing, making friends, etc, always mix a scummy in, unless it's a massive 30 player game, and there is less need to. No matter what, you should throw one of your own in the mix. It statistically looks like town, and can help your defense later.

It's really hard until you've played two or three games. At this point, when I'm scum, I look over my older town games and just plagiarize what I did there. I don't know what it is, but when you become scum, you just change. You don't do, "What you would do if" you were town. You play a little wiser, more conservative. It's hard to say exactly, but there is a certain kind of sensibility that looks scum. And parroting the town in your own game won't do the trick, since that will look suss too. You need to be original and town at the same time. But I encourage you to look at the 'tells' you had this game.

This is definitely on my radar. Beyond being an interesting property, it's being directed by Andrew Stanton, the director of Wall-E. That alone makes it worth giving it a look. If it's worth Lego, well, that's hard to say. Prince of Persia was certainly a boring, forgettable movie, but its sets were awesome. I don't think there is any connection between the worth of a movie and its Lego. (* for that matter, I can't be bothered to watch Pirates 4. 2 & 3 are vague, storyless blurs in my mind)

You did, no worries. As a mafia school host, I need to know that the people 'passing' have a solid approach to the game, and I can't say that about you. The thing about the 'full' mafia games is that they are filled with silliness. If you are a newb, it can be baffling, but with some experience, you can easily roll with the punches. Don't think of it as a punishment of any sort, but a challenge to show us all the next round. I'd like to see you compete in full-fledged games

I meant to explain that in the overall 'lesson' I really wanted to emphasize the randomness in this game. I put it up front in the sign ups, but 'meta-logic' has plagued regular and mafia school games for a long time. So that puzzle was meant to encourage meta-logic folks to think beyond things. 12 pieces were given out. There were 17 players. If all 12 piece receivers were town, the game would positively suck. So, the pieces doled out a pinch of information, and doled out a fat lesson on who the scum are. It was a deliberately misleading piece of the puzzle.

Thanks, I hope to see you in the next few games too You are already a hardcore player. I liked the story of this a fair bit. I'm a big fan of gray story-telling (no real good guys or bad guys) and hopefully, the scum in this game felt justified in their kill spree. They weren't killing people per se, but these primitive anthropods on the planet they were on. I think in the future, I will make all the scum 'good' in future games Off hand, no, there will not be another, but, if I decide to, it'll be further in the past, either in Egypt or Central America. Honestly, I'm mafia'd out. I hosted five games this year (four here, one elsewhere) and I need to air out for a bit. I'm sure I'll do a sharp 180 after New Years though.

I thought you couldn't speak English at first, to put it nicely Your posts were very short, weird punctuation, no avatar or signature. I really thought you were living in China or somewhere. After the game started, there was no problem at all, but before it started, I had a lot of worries. If I had to consider it now, I guess, as a new member, you just weren't taking much care in your posts at that point, and after you started playing, you considered things a little more. No worries.

I was really worried you would be the 'crash and burn' player in this game, so I was really pleasantly surprised. I don't know what approach you took, but it seems you were both just distanced and involved enough to do well

Alright, now is the time everyone loves, getting their feedback I'm dividing this into four ranks. -Big pass -Pass -Undecided -Fail This is based on what I saw in thread, from what I could tell in the decisions and votes made behind the scenes, and the degree to which people continued to follow and pay attention to the game after they died. I am not all-seeing, so if you think I didn't give you credit for something, by all means, speak up scubacarrot - Pass I think you played well. There were some little things I would correct, mainly, claiming vanilla to Nihilous. I don't think there was any need to make a role claim, truthful or otherwise, to someone asking people stuff on day one. I'm assuming you revealed your role to Voltana after she made a cop statement in thread, which was safe enough, since she was unlikely to be lying, but hopefully you waited until after Wully basically confirmed her story. Darth Nihilous - Pass. This is a grudging pass, since you made what I would have to call a massive blunder on day one, but I think you get what went wrong, and you followed the game through somewhat. The blunders? Your day one strategy made zero sense, and all you ended up doing was nominating the doctor Then you revealed your role well before you were really in danger. Regrets, regrets. You've had two flame out games, and I don't hold it against you. I flamed out in my first game, and I'd like to think I'm pretty comfortable playing now. You seem interested, and I think if you build toward a strategy, rather than loudly throwing one out there, you can develop a good game. You were over-confident and aggressive here, and you need to feel things out. Don't treat hunches as fact darkdragon - Pass I think you did well enough in thread, but I think your behind the scenes game seemed iffy. The main reason was that Voltana cleared you as Town, and the obvious thing to me would to be to trust her and become part of her voting block. There is a chance that she was lying about clearing you, but it was unlikely. She had come out with a cop claim on day two. Scum would only do that if they knew for a fact that they had killed the cop night one. That is very very unlikely. So, I think you should have been in heavy, trusting communication from the moment she cleared you, and voting with her would have been your best play. Gingerwookie Fail You shouldn't be surprised by this. I realize you had some personal issues that took you away from the game. Real life is always going to be more important than an online game, I understand. All the same, 2-3 days off is fair, but you weren't all that much here before your personal thing came up. I would encourage you to try again, and put yourself into it as best possible volcanicpanik Pass You had some good points and bad points, and luckily it all worked out for the better. The problem was coming out in thread and saying you had been told by the cop a night results. In all my time playing mafia, this story has only been true once. Every other time, it was actually that person who had the role in question. With a little help, scum got pretty confused, but you were definitely the planned night kill after that reveal. After that, you did well, sharing info with just the right people, it seems. Overall, well done! Chromeknight Big pass I think you took the advice I gave at the start of the game to heart, and I was very impressed at the tightrope act you pulled off. As I said to the scum somewhere, I hate the responsibility of being scum, where PM'ing people seems like an invitation to be investigated. Whereas a townie has no worries and can snoop with whoever they like. So, you need to PM enough to be in the loop, but not so much that you become a target. But, at the same time, there were enough floater townies that they would take the heat before you would. I really meant that day one advice to everyone: active townies are terrifying for town. If everyone who was town was active, the scum have nowhere to hide. You played a bold game, and lo and behold, you were the final scum taken out. Let that be a lesson to all scum in the future. Seriously. (Take a look at Gotham Mafia where we are in the process of picking off the last useless players, all scum. The only time being lazy pays off is when the town is lazy) zakura Big pass You bluffed that you were the cop even though it put your life on the line. You realized this was a team game. Voltana had a strong value to the team and you sacrificed yourself for her. This is amazing play This was the most true mafia play of the entire game, in my opinion. One player died, and the cop survived to keep clearing town. Skipper Undecided You survived, but in mafia, surviving is often not a complement. You didn't do so much. In the last day, I feel you picked up and start doing more, communicating with people. But, I think you fell into a vanilla hole, where you figured you didn't know anything and couldn't do anything, so you sat on the sidelines. Please play again, and get excited about it. Wuntin Big pass You really made lemonade out of lemons. I think you expected to be lynched day two (and you should have!), but I asked you to fight, you did, and you were able to win! Even though you killed a townie, even after you'd targeted a townie night three. Really, you were obligated to kill each night, and more likely to kill town than scum, but you managed to get town to let you live. A really impressive feat. I'd like to see you pull that off in an experienced game. People tend to hate independent factions and will just take them out ASAP. Like Chrome Knight, I think you really took the advice I gave you to heart, and it showed in your play. Great job! Piratedave Pass You were active enough, but you got put on that "under the radar" list that some townies did. If you were more active, you would have had a better support base as the lynch came around to you. I also thought your scrambling on Day Four was a little "scum flail," though you did convince Darkdragon One other, major point: when you were going for the fake doctor role claim, you informed Chrome Knight on the Writeboard, but you didn't consult him. I was home at the time, and was about to tell you to wait for him, but then decided not to intervene, mafia school or not. You really should. As scum, I have gone out on my own, but usually, I post about it, then wait four or five hours to see who's around. Time is of the essence, but being a cowboy can hurt your team. So, I'd be timely, within consideration. A case converse to that is when townies are PM'ing scum. It looks bad to read a message and not reply, and in that case, just make a banal excuse, like, I'm at work on my cellphone, I'll reply when I get home... Then do it! Yumiyoshi Pass You really helped win the game. fhomess would have been cleared if not for you, and the game would have been far longer. I hate having a vig role, because it's a lot of stress, but you did the absolute best you could have done with it The reason this is not a Big Pass is because of the rest of your game. I think you had a hard time building alliances, to the point that even after an uncontested vig claim, people were doubting you. In order to play stronger, you need to do a little more communicating with people in a trustful way. After your vig kill, you could have PM'ed Voltana to try working with her. As the claim to the cop, she was the one town should have been working toward. Bricksandparts Fail I don't think you played bad per se, but you had by far the least communication with your teammates. Not much theorizing, not much strategizing. You were taken out for being in that "Under the radar" crowd, I think, and it directly relates to your level of play. Please try again, and boost your participation. Flare Undecided You were taken out early for little reason (often a great scum strategy; baffle the town). But I have little to judge your play on, not in the game, and not in the afterlife Writeboard. The Customizer Undecided Much like Flare, there is little to grade you on. You spoke a little in the Afterlife, but it was a very casual thing for you. fhomess Pass You seemed genuinely involved. I wonder if your activity in thread outweighed your behind the scenes to the extent that you were worth being investigated and vig-killed. But you showed a certain passion toward the game, so I can award you a solid pass. Cecilie Pass You were killed for being logical. The scum disliked you from day one, and that is the biggest compliment you could have. You didn't quite make that inner-circle of town, those who voted together on the last day, but I'm sure you would have if you survived. halomaster96 Fail I sent you a PM asking you to participate more. You were lynched for being lazy in thread. After dying, you showed no interest in the game. I'd welcome you to play again, but I'd like you to genuinely consider if this is the type of game you find interesting. If so, please try again Thank you all, this write up has consumed a fair amount of time Personally, I've been playing mafia games for just a few years now, but I find them really stimulating. At their heart, there's a lot to do with reading people. It makes games with more "vanilla" players much more stimulating than just relying on night results. I really think the scum who were killed in this game, without use of the cop, were much more thrilling than the night result on Wully. They were killed through deduction! If you'll allow me to get pretentious for a moment, this is really something that you can't buy; a video game, a TV show, whatever, they aren't nearly as involving as your personal success in a human game. For those that were new, I hope this whetted your appetite, and for those on there second game, I look forward to killing you in a future game

We need to accept that as part of the game. By your third game here, you will 'know' some other players, and when you start PM'ing in a game, they will be the ones you bother with first. It's a force of habit. You'll also be able to 'read' them a lot better than new players. You'll see a lot of EB'ers complain about meta-gaming, and not only is it annoying (not aimed at you, but at the umpteenth time I heard it in a game I played, which is every one), it is impossible to avoid. The scum will usually target the player they think is the best day one. There is no advantage to pulling a name out of a hat. There is no brain-wipe to help you start fresh each game. So no worries, and no complaints of meta-gaming If she showed her role info to another, that would be a problem....

I won't be able to give a run down of everyone player by player until tomorrow, but I think overall it was a very successful game This was really a case of town winning, rather than scum losing. Both sides played well, but two major things tilted the game in favor of town: 1) the vig taking out the godfather night two. Without that, I'm sure this game would have lasted until day seven. 2) town deciding to let the Serial Killer live. I was frankly surprised, and surprised he didn't get nominated after targeting Zam, a townie, but it worked out for the best. Town can feel good that they won through smart play (including keeping the cop alive!) and not because their opponents were weak. I was, overall, very impressed, and I think there are some longterm mafia players in this crew Players, feel free to post your character roles, and any advice I specifically gave you that was useful. I gave a little bit of specific advice to players, so I hope it wasn't intrusive.