Mid-Range Game 10: Divided Loyalties

[Kynedath]

I think it was a good game, and everyone played very well. Special mentions go to Kynedath who did an exemplary job for her (his?) first game, Ada for somehow staying alive for 5-6 cycles after revealing himself, and Lopen for pegging every single active eliminator in one fell swoop (okay, it was too late to do anything, but still, I thought it was impressive). Well done, everyone, and thank you for playing.

His. Thanks for GMing.

[Amanuensis]

So, first off, I apologize for my borderline inactivity in this game. I thought I would have enough time to actually spend here on analysis and other things. But I did not, and it cost me. There were several instances where I could have changed the game, but didn't because I didn't have the time to think through my actions clearly. Saving Ada was the worst of them - I have no excuse other than what I have already offered. I was tired, just barely waking up, and not thinking clearly. My apologies.

 

For the record, I was extremely thankful for you saving me. So much that I advocated letting you live until the end. Sadly that had to change once I found out you were the role I was most paranoid about due to your potential to royally muck things up for us. As pointed out by Wilson and yourself, there were multiple occasions where you almost did just that! Thankfully Agrigar's unwavering trust in the Diagram's guidance was not for naught, and with him having enough Terris blood in him to be born a Spinner, fortune certainly favored him when he needed it most.

 

That being said, once again I want to formally apologize to anyone who I killed, manipulated or even blatantly lied to in order to help ensure my team was the one that ended up victorious; especially the GMs. After reading through the Dead Doc it's pretty clear that the game drifted in a direction they had not expected relatively early on and that ultimately I only made things worse despite my best intentions. That aside, shout out to Wilson and Kasimir for GMing this great game for us all and on a more personal note for me, being considerably more gentle than I deserved when confronted for my actions.

 

♥️ you all and ☮ out

Edited January 6, 2016 by Adavantos

[TheMightyLopen]

First of all, good game Diagrammists! That was pretty impressive that with the amount of kill abilities and action changing abilities we had, only 1 of your members died.

 

Also, Lopen, that was actually some pretty damning evidence. Too bad I wasn't actually a Diagrammist. Though I was actually lowkey protecting PK, actually, because he was one of four people at that point who I actually knew was a Ghostblood. (He was under my command.)

 

Haha, I know right? Although I still wasn't convinced you were a Diagrammist, it seemed like your interactions towards some of them were so friendly! I wouldn't worry about it though, because I usually agreed with your posts when you posted them. (So by my own logic, I was suspicious too.  ) What's funny to me about each of us suspecting each other is that it's such a similar situation to LG15 in that we were both villagers, and I'm posting a lot trying to lead the town, and you're suspicious of me.

 

Thanks Wilson for GMing and Kas for helping out! I have some comments, but I know that they're what Wilson wants to say, so I'll let her say them.

Wow, when I first saw our Diagrammist team, I thought we had this in the bag and it seemed way too overpowered. But, as the game wore on, about half our team was inactive at one point, probably more. You guys almost came back. You were quite close and after I died, I began to worry. You all played a great game!

Lopen, these last couple games, you've figured everything out, you're just not able to get all the support you need. You've definitely moved up a couple threat levels. Great job!

 

Yeah, we had a couple chances to lynch Ada and we blew it every time. If we'd been able to do that, we would have had more players(because the Diagrammists wouldn't have been able to kill 2 players each Cycle), which would have given us more time to gather information(through whatever means, be it by my scans, Assassin scans or whatever) I know Seonid was upset with himself for not lynching Ada, but I didn't help out either, so I feel partially to blame as well. After Ada revealed himself I initially wanted to lynch him, but backed off when it seemed like the general consensus was that we could leave him alive for a Cycle or two. I'm kind of a coward when it comes to confrontation....

 

Thanks! I still feel like I'm learning the small details of this game(this is my only experience with Mafia/werewolves or anything, so these 8 or 9 games I've played is all I know), but I think I'm getting the hang of it some. I know I still need to work on some things, but it is nice to be right on occasion(even if it was far too late  ).

 

In response to Wilson about the make-up of the Diagrammist team. I think the big mistake that I made in my assumptions was that I didn't factor in the Artifabrians and Lightweavers abilities enough, since they could help us get around the Dia protects as well as the 3 Cooks. I even said during the game that all roles are useful, but I didn't listen to my own advice(which was stolen from Meta. I'll admit that.  ). 2 protections, an extra kill, the ability to cast doubt on our information(the Elsecaller), and 8 players does still seem like too much to me personally, but I still think that if the village had been more communicative and active, we would have had a fair enough shot at winning. The Diagrammists did a good job avoiding fire and blocking lynches(AAAAAAA, that was annoying ), and in my mind, they deserved the win. I do like your idea of taking away the Diagrammist doc, because that does seem like it might have evened things out better, and made the information game a whole lot more intriguing with PM's and spying and stuff. 

 

All in all though, I really did enjoy this game! I especially liked the faction aspect of it. Although I must say, the only time I let it really affect my decisions was the Creccio lynch. I was practically certain that she was a Lightweaver(she claimed that, and it matched up with Zas' inability to kill her), and at that point in the game I knew that 2 Ghostblood Radiants were dead(Mace and Alv), and i didn't think any SoH Radiants were dead. My hope was that we could kill Creccio and then the SoH Elsecaller, and even up the count(we would have had to kill another SoH Radiant too though, since one of the GB Radiants was a Diagrammist as well).

 

Adavantos, I really wanted to lynch you for that lynch of Alvron. I know I went after Clanky for it, but I was trying to go for the tactic of watch someone who is suspicious to see if you can catch more of their friends. Kipper had already put a vote on you for your last minute vote of Alvron, and thinking back on things, it probably would have been best to drop a second vote on you to put pressure on you or to get one of your teammates to defend you, but I really thought people would discuss that lynch more than they did and Ada would get questioned more than he did. I couldn't believe it when my scan of Alv came back as Elsecaller of all things. I was like, no way did the Diagrammists just get that lucky. Turns out you kinda did, since I don't think you knew about his role? Man, an invincible(except by lynching) Alvron would have been so perfect, and just the thing the village would need. Darn that RNG that allowed you to sway Kippers vote away from Venture! 

 

Ada, personally I'm not really upset at you for your lies. I put too much faith into something a known Diagrammist gave us. Lesson learned. One thing I want to point out is that I really wouldn't have minded if you'd killed me. Winning is way above surviving for me. I honestly could care less about surviving these games. So in the future, feel free to kill me! Oh, wait......

 

Also, just wanted to explain myself a little. The reason I didn't include Tony Shark in the Diagrammist numbers was because I didn't see any way for him and Aonar to both be evil and the game to have continued for as long as it did, because it would have put the numbers at 7:5 in favor of the Diagrammists, which is what it turned out to be. I just thought the win condition was for the Diagrammists to outnumber us. So I was playing with the assumption that we still had numbers on them, which would mean it was 7:5 in our favor.

 

Thank you Wilson for the compliment, and even though I was too late in finding the Diagrammists, it was fun figuring (most) things out that last Cycle.

 

Another thank you to Wilson and one to my Skaa Bro Kas as well, for being awesome GM's.   I loved the write-ups, and the complexity that this game had was really fun(if frustrating at times) for me.

 

I think that's about all of my thoughts. Elbereth, maybe me and you should go recruiting! Return of the Ghostbloods! We'll be back..... #Ghostblood4life

[Haelbarde]

This was a cool game to watch. It was a bit sad to die N2. If I had PMd Twei earlier, would that have kept me alive a bit longer?

[Elbereth]

Haha, I know right? Although I still wasn't convinced you were a Diagrammist, it seemed like your interactions towards some of them were so friendly! I wouldn't worry about it though, because I usually agreed with your posts when you posted them. (So by my own logic, I was suspicious too.  ) What's funny to me about each of us suspecting each other is that it's such a similar situation to LG15 in that we were both villagers, and I'm posting a lot trying to lead the town, and you're suspicious of me.

Exactly my thoughts. There were lots of callbacks to LG15 near the end of the game. We're suspicious of each other, the Diagrammists coming in for a last minute lynch, etc.

 

I think that's about all of my thoughts. Elbereth, maybe me and you should go recruiting! Return of the Ghostbloods! We'll be back..... #Ghostblood4life

Of course! I would definitely look forward to a rerun of this game when it happened.

Other than that, I forgot to say earlier that my RP character really didn't come up as much, particularly as she was so similar to me. I'm going to try to work on that in future games, which should be easier to be a little different because all of the other characters are quite different than me.

Great game, everyone!

[Paranoid King]

This was a great game. It seemed like the diagrammist team was too powerful, but looking back, Wilson balanced it pretty well, luck just favored us.

[Kasimir]

I should probably have some comments as the secondary GM on this, but sadly, I don't, so I just want to thank all of you for playing and hope you've had a good ride

[Araris Valerian]

Well, thank you for running the game Wilson! I'm a bit sad that the first night that I failed to steal a protection role was also the night I got targeted, but there wasn't too much I could have done about that. Overall, I don't think that the teams were imbalanced, there was just a big pile of inactive players for a while. I think the game might have benefited from either a method to kill inactives easily/automatically, or if the game had just stopped for a while over Christmas. Because I think inactivity is becoming a larger issue in these games than it has been in the past, and it makes teams really hard to balance.

[twelfthrootoftwo]

If I had PMd Twei earlier, would that have kept me alive a bit longer?

Did you not get around to making the PM? It might have helped for a cycle or two.

 

Ada, do you mind if I use Agrigar in future RP? (Also, why are you in the dead doc!?)

 

Good game all, and thanks to the GMs. I think the Diagrammists just about exhausted our chromium-minds in the second half of the game.

[Haelbarde]

Did you not get around to making the PM? It might have helped for a cycle or two.

I did make one, but with something like an hour till the end of cycle, and I'm not sure if you were online in that time. Plus, I don't think I was targeted till shortly before rollover anyway.

[Amanuensis]

Ada, do you mind if I use Agrigar in future RP? (Also, why are you in the dead doc!?)

 

Go for it I'll probably get around to RPing in one of these games soon myself.. maybe. I'm curious what you have in mind

Edited January 11, 2016 by Adavantos

[Arrae]

Everything hurt.

Arina opened her eyes and quickly shut them again. Stormfather, everything hurt, from her eyes, which were blinded by the sunlight despite the fact that her eyes were closed, to her head, which throbbed with an aching pain,  to her feet, which she could barely feel beyond the sensation of pins and needles, to her stomach, which felt like it was trying to digest itself.

Arina cracked an eyelid open and saw a cocoon of orange painspren surrounding her. Stormfather, how long had she been out? She hoped the Sons of Honor hadn't noticed her disappearance. Or her editor. Storms, if she'd missed a deadline... well, dying to that blackbane would have been a better fate.

Arina raised her head to look around and her muscles immediately started screaming in protest. Almighty above, that surgeon must have put enough poison in that food to kill a chasmfiend!

Unfortunately for that surgeon, Arina was much more intelligent than the average chasmfiend. She hadn't spent three whole years training undercover as a surgeon in Karbranth for nothing -- with the right antidotes, the most lethal poisons could become mere annoyances.

Well, first things first. Time to get out of wherever the surgeon had dumped her body and back into civilization. Arina forced herself into a semi-upright position, and started shuffling back towards her quarters.

-----

For the second time in a week, Arina sat before a plate of probably poisoned food and contemplated whether eating it would be worth the risk. On one hand, she didn't want to be poisoned again. On the other, she didn't want to give the Diagrammist cook sitting in front of her any possible reason to be offended.

Arina inspected the man in front of her for a moment. Despite the fact that he was shorter than her, his stocky build and missing left ear suggested that he could easily kill someone like her, and there was a deadness in those mauve eyes that suggested that he had killed someone like her -- multiple someones.

Arina smiled at Agrigar. "You've mentioned a Diagram multiple times," she said. "What is it?"

Agrigar frowned. "You're not eating," he said. "Don't worry, I didn't poison your food, scholar."

Storms. He'd noticed. Arina dipped her spoon into the stew and cautiously tasted it. It didn't taste like there was any poison in it, but any half-decent cook could mask the taste of blackbane. At least the stew tasted good.

"I'm a journalist, not a scholar. The Devotary of Truth is rather picky about these names," she said. "But you're avoiding the question. What is a Diagram?"

"Loosely speaking, the Diagram is a set of instructions on how to save the world," Agrigar said. "It was created by King -- well, let's just say that it's accuracy is assured. It contains information on how to ensure the survival of the human race, including how to manage the Desolation."

Arina sipped her soup as she listened to Agrigar speak. Storms, this was much more complicated than she'd imagined. Luckily, Agrigar didn't seem to mind talking to her. Maybe she could schedule a follow-up interview, if she survived until then.

-----

The Diagrammists have just destroyed the remains of the Sons of Honor and the Ghostbloods, Arina wrote. She stopped writing for a moment and considered. I've found a source within the Diagrammists, and I think he can be trusted.

The spanreed stayed still for a few seconds. Then it started moving. Who is it? Arina's editor, Tarah, asked. 

Agrigar Leiken, Arina wrote. He's an Alethi lighteyes. Kills the people that the Diagram tells him to kill.

Tarah didn't respond, which meant that she was thinking. Storms, if Tarah ever learned about the risks Arina had taken to get an interview with Agrigar, or that she'd followed Agrigar around on his trips to murder people to confirm that he really was an assassin... well, it was the type of risk that either made a career, or left a journalist dead.

The spanreed suddenly jerked on the paper, as if Tarah was thrashing around.

theyre here, Tarah wrote. diagrammists are here weve been compromised RUN

The spanreed shot away from the paper and cracked against a wall, as if Tarah had thrown it. No, not Tarah. The Diagrammists.

Arina stood up and tried to ignore the frantic pounding of her heart. Storms, what was happening? How had the Diagrammists found out? Had Agrigar betrayed her? Had the Diagrammists killed him for talking to her? No, no time to think about that. She needed to move!

Arina grabbed her notes and her bags of spheres. Everything else was unnecessary. She needed to storming run! But a carriage would probably be faster. Tarah's office was in Kholinar, so she still had a few weeks before the Diagrammists got here. Wait, weren't there Diagrammists here? All it would take was one spanreed message...

Storm it!

She burst out of the door and looked around the streets wildly. Nothing but a roiling mass of purple fearspren. Almighty, what if the Diagrammists could track Arina by following the spren? Stop it, that wasn't a rational thought, fearspren couldn't be tracked, the Diagrammists might not know she was here, that would buy her some time to escape. Or maybe it was an elaborite prank no that wasn't possible Tarah wouldn't do that.

Where were the carriages? Arina could hear the sound of a chull's claws clacking on the stone floor; they had to be around somewhere! There! Up ahead, a carriage, all in black. Arina clutched her notes and her spheres and sprinted towards the chull.

"Excuse me, do you require assistance?" a darkeyes carriage driver asked.

Arina stopped and panted. Sweat drenched her forehead, her armpits, her feet, her -- stop, focus on the carriage driver. "Yes," she managed to say. "I need to get away." She fumbled with her pouch of spheres and waved two diamond marks.

Storms, the carriage driver probably thought she was crazy. Still, he took the spheres and helped her into the carriage.

"Do you have a destination in mind?" the carriage driver asked.

Arina paused. Stormfather, did she know a place safe from the Diagrammists? Urithiru was in the middle of nowhere, which made it impossible to escape from. "Just circle around until I tell you to stop," she said. Hopefully this would be better than just staying in one place.

-----

Eventually, the repetitive motion of the carriage lulled Arina to sleep.

-----

When Arina woke up, the first thing that she was aware of was that the carriage had stopped moving. The second thing she noticed was that she wasn't the only person in the carriage anymore. She stood up and backed away from the other person.

Storm it! Storm it storm it storm it storm it storm it storm it storm it storm --

"Really, if you wanted to escape you should have used the Oathgate," Agrigar Leiken said. Stormfather, there was someone else next to him, another Diagrammis, a darkeyes. Agrigar shook his head disapprovingly. "I thought you were more intelligent than that."

Okay. This was a dangerous situation. Nothing Arina hadn't experienced before. She could try to pretend that. "What do you want?" she asked. Almighty, she almost sounded calm! "Why are you here?"

Carriage door behind her. She could run for it. Arina shifted he weight onto her back foot.

Agrigar tsked. "I wouldn't recommend doing that," he said. "See, my friend here is pretty handy with a shardblade. He can chase down a journalist fairly quickly, and he will if he has to."

Storm it. Arina was already dead, departed, deceased in every way except that her soul hadn't yet left her body. Her knees threatened to buckle. By Nalan's left hand, was that a cake in Agrigar's hand? She remembered what a cake had done to Moros. Almighty, she'd witnessed Moros's death in an attempt to find observed scenes!

"Just cut the pleasantries already," Agrigar's partner said.

Agrigar sighed with annoyance. "Very well. You've proven your interest in the Diagram already," Agrigar said. "Unfortunately, my superior says that we can't afford to let people know about the Diagram and live unless they wish to carry it out. We'd like for you to become a Diagrammist."

Wait.

What?

Arina must be hallucinating. Or dreaming. Or crazy. Because Agrigar most definitely hadn't said that he wanted Arina to become a Diagrammist.

"Diagram or death," Agrigar prompted. "It's your choice."

Storms! Storms, this was a no-brainer. "Diagram," Arina croaked out. Then she collapsed onto the carriage seat. Almighty willing, she might actually survive this.

"Unfortunately, we'll have to destroy your notes," Agrigar said. How did he switch from threats to cheerfulness so quickly? "I would have been fine letting you go, but Graves here says that discovery by anyone not carrying it out will be disastrous for the world." He brought out the small festive cake. "Here, have something to eat."

Arina shook her head mutely. She didn't trust that cake. Storms, she didn't know if she could trust anything or anyone at this moment.

Agrigar shrugged. "Your loss," he said. Then he popped the cake into his mouth.

"Get some sleep," Graves said. "Tomorrow we're officially introducing you to the Diagram."

-----

Thoughts on MR10: Not much, but I think it might have gone better for the villagers if the Sons of Honor hadn't sent every single rank PM straight to a Diagrammist. It was interesting seeing a game from the dead doc. If only Seonid had more luck with the redirects...

@Adavantos Be careful what you wish for. This is what happens when you say that you wish I'd been a Diagrammist.   

EDIT: typos in the text.

Edited November 2, 2016 by Alvron

[Metacognition]

I think it's about time we closed this game, so a final congrats to the Diagrammists! 

 

Personally, I really liked how this one played out. There's a lot of neat mechanics in here (like the ranking system) that I thought turned out really well. I'm hoping that we'll see something like that again sometime in a game I can play in (*wink. wink. nudge. nudge, future GMs*)! Wilson and Kas did a great job of balancing a lot of the difficulties in a faction game as well as a regular game and that's no easy task. So definitely a round of applause for our GMs! 

 

Now, as always, if anyone would like to try your hand at running a game, please get a hold of Gamma, Wilson,  Alvron, or myself. Not only will we get you added to the list, but I'm sure we'd be more than willing to help out in any way we can as well!

 

You can also ask questions and get some hints and feedback from everyone over here in our Art of Game Creation thread as well. With all the games that we've run so far, we have plenty of experienced GMs that can help you refine any game you're thinking about!

 

Thanks again to everyone that played and we look forward to seeing you in future games!