Long Game 24: The Godless City

[Mailliw73]

9 minutes ago, The Young Bard said:

Really? I haven't got any yet  I'll go send out some now. You don't mind one more, do you?

I had 3. That post was just a bit of baiting more of you to PM me.  Of course I don't mind more PMs.

[Eolhondras]

@The Young Bard Seriously man, a heads up in our doc before voting for me would have been nice..

[Mailliw73]

10 minutes ago, Eolhondras said:

@The Young Bard Seriously man, a heads up in our doc before voting for me would have been nice..

That's the worst. 

[Young Bard]

35 minutes ago, Eolhondras said:

@The Young Bard Seriously man, a heads up in our doc before voting for me would have been nice..

Uhhh... You do realize you're not supposed to let them know we're eliminators, right? :-P

All right then, Eol. @Silverblade5, welcome to Sanderson Elimination. Have a poke vote. Any reason you didn't say anything when you were on? You were online after rollover...

Edited July 28, 2016 by The Young Bard
Weird phrasing...

[Orlok Tsubodai]

@Elenion - it's all very well using second votes to put more pressure on a player, but it's a little immaterial as a poke vote - all Stink has to do is post to get rid of both votes, which is no more difficult than were there only a single vote.

[STINK]

3 hours ago, Ecthelion III said:

Stink. Defend yourself with logic, please.

 

3 hours ago, Elenion said:

Bandwagon poke-vote time! Stink

Alright, defending myself with Logic? That's a weird request. I think I got his Facebook somewhere...

STINK: Hey Logic, mind helping me with something? 

Logic: Sure sure, if it doesn't take too long.

STINK: Someone in SE said that you had to defend me? I got pretty confused by it, but hey, at least you can get involved.

Logic: Alright, not sure why I should help you but fine

STINK: So basically, some peeps are trying to start a bandwagon on me, so I was wondering if I could just steal one of their wheels so that the bandwagon would stop later on?

Logic: Uh, I'm not sure if that would really work haha. Maybe try pointing out that you woke up to two poke votes that can't be about how active you were during the few hours the game was up for?

STINK: Yeah I'm sure I could do that, but I've always wanted to have a wagon wheel, they're pretty big around some areas.

Logic: Or point out that the second vote on you was purely to give you the threat of death and also has no real reason, and that the first vote was just because they felt the need to vote on someone so chose you?

STINK: Everyone chooses STINK when they can, I'm just that great

Logic: Eh, overall I just don't see that much logic in voting for you so don't worry about having to write really long posts like Ada or Elb that actually are just really long versions of what you can say in like a paragraph.

STINK: Heh, thanks for the advice Logic, we should do this more sometimes

Logic: I don't think we should You're already annoying enough and you rarely even talk to me!

 

[Magestar]

Logic, as per usual, does not seem to be putting up much of a fight.    

Edited July 28, 2016 by Magestar

[Renegade]

And so the game is afoot, my friends, and I have been tasked to find which amongst you may be enemies of the Crown.  There are several things to take note of in our current situation, I believe.

Number one: We know not of the nature of our enemies, but this should not change our means of discovering them.  The noose, however morbid, will always be our strongest ally in the days to come.

Number two: Our own mortality is but arbitrary, and we cannot divine who shall live and who shall die.  As such, I suggest that we all participate usefully to discussion (on this point I cannot stress enough), and that we use our abilities when we see fit.

Number three: Messages with others should be used with caution.  We naturally grow more at ease with those whom we speak to regularly, so we should not let personal messages allow us to turn a blind eye towards another’s potentially more devious intentions.

That is all I have to say at this moment.  I shall await the words of others before deciding upon what course of action I shall take on this first day.

[STINK]

Thanks for the advice Ren, I like how it's all posh and stuff

[Amanuensis]

Brace yourselves. Aman's-first-giant-post is coming.

Quote

LG Rules are in effect. Each Day Turn will be 48 Hours long. Each Night will be 24 Hours. Each Day has a lynch as normal. A tied lynch results in Both players being lynched.

Underline mine.

This rule is a double-edged sword if I've ever seen one. Anyone who knows me knows how often I like to instigate ties, either to find out who's got certain powers allied with them, or to prolong the death of myself or someone I trust / a teammate. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't sad about this ruling, as it strips me of one of my staple tactics, but there is some good to it, at least. If there are several players we think are suspicious enough to warrant being lynched, we'll be able to remove them simultaneously, and thus gain more information quicker. However, depending on the results, this could mean twice as many village casualties as usual, and therefore I would recommend we do this sparingly. I can think of several instances where I was certain of someone's guilt, but the death of another player, or interactions that occurred thereafter, ended up convincing me the opposite was true. Personally, while I know that players need to die for the game to progress healthily, I seldom like to condemn a player to death unless I have a real reason to believe they are evil, so I think in most scenarios I'm going to advocate that we avoid ties as much as possible.

Now, things to look out for. If a tie occurs and two villagers die, there's a decent chance, depending on the circumstances, that one of the players who helped make that tie happen was an eliminator trying to get more villagers killed quicker. If you are a (village) Merchant or Duke, I ask that if you use your power, seriously consider the consequences of it. If vote manipulation is used to create a tie and two villagers die as a result, I am very likely going to assume that the manipulator is evil. While it may not be an issue this early in the game given how many players we have, please think of it this way. Every villager dead is a turn the eliminators are closer to victory, and given how long these turns are (48 hours apiece), that's a lot of time that we can use to generate discussion, conduct analysis, and gather information.

Quote

Failure to post for five Turns in a row will result in the player’s death. Posting in a doc* or PM does not count for thread activity. If a player dies of inactivity at the start of Night 3 (Meaning they never posted) then their alignment and Role will be given to a Noble. If a player dies of inactivity after Night 3, then tough luck. Their role and alignment are gone, even if they’re on an eliminator team.

In regards to this, I'm mostly going to discuss my opinion inactives. Especially with an inactivity filter in place, I will not support lynching inactives. There is nothing alignment indicative about a player remaining offline for a prolonged period of time, and in my opinion, lynching someone who hasn't been online when they very well could return after the fact is a bit unfair. I propose that we let the five-turn-filter take care of inactives, and progress the discussion by focusing on the players who can actually respond and defend themselves instead.

Personally, I am not fond of lurkers. I don't like seeing people viewing the thread yet seldom posting. I know that's just how some players go about their business, and I try not to condemn them for it (Burnt and Alvron come to mind), but it is a great way for eliminators to hide. Take dowanx in LG23, for example. He has a reputation of pretty-much-never posting unless prodded first. People know this is typical of him, and therefore usually take little note of it. Well, dowanx continued this trend in LG23, and turned out to be the Inquisitor. While a player who is lurking might not being doing it because they are evil, I am automatically going to distrust anyone who does, and advise that everyone at least pay attention to it, as well as ask you to call a player out if you see them guilty of this act, either with a post or via PM.

Quote

There are no secret Citizen roles. All possible Citizen roles are in the rules. Eliminators and Neutral players may or may not have identical, similar, or completely different roles. The various roles might have secret abilities or rules that relate to how they interact with Secret roles. Those rules will be revealed when the corresponding secret rule or role is revealed.

There are Secret roles. There can be Neutral, Neutral-Evil, or Eliminator Secret roles. Neutral roles have win conditions that can be fulfilled with any team, Neutral-Evil Roles have win conditions that can only be fulfilled with Eliminator or Neutral teams. Eliminators have win conditions that can be fulfilled only at the cost of the Citizenry team’s win conditions. The Citizenry do not need to kill all the Neutral or Neutral-Evil players to win, only the Eliminators. All alignments can have Factions, or independant players. Eliminator Factions need to kill all other Eliminator Factions, if there are multiple factions. There is at least one Eliminator as of the start of Day 1.

Not much to comment on here, aside from the obvious. I expect eliminators to either claim the Citizenry equivalent of their role if their ability matches one of the 9 we know (in which case there's nothing we can really do to confirm they're innocent, other than have a Dula scan them), Beggar / Noble, or a neutral role. No matter what someone claims to you, try to figure out a way for them to prove it, so you can at least have that piece of mind. I'm not going to bother preaching PM safety, mostly because I'm sure someone else will, but also because I don't really agree with never claiming your role to anyone. I just ask that if you do claim to someone, it's either because you have a really good reason to trust them, or because you suspect they are an eliminator and are trying to trick them by revealing that information only to them.

Quote

PM's are Day use only, which means they can be started, read, and replied to only during the Day turns. During the Night, players cannot PM eachother. PM's must include the GM. PM's can have as many players as you want in them. You may PM only yourself.

Couple things I'm confused about regarding PMs. @The Only Joe, I understand that PMs can't be started and replied to during the night, but how are you going to keep people from reading them? And if I do open up a PM during a night turn just to read it, what kind of punishment am I going to receive? Also, what's the point in only PMing myself? I don't really expect an answer for that last question, and am likely going to just PM myself now to test it, but the rest I would love some clarification on.

I'll probably get around to sending everyone PMs at some point, as there's a few things I'll want to ask people one-on-one, but if anyone is looking for someone to chat with now, fee free hit me up. 

 

That's all I really see worth me commenting on regarding the rules. So, I guess I'll provide some suggestions for roles.

• Legionnaire: I see this as more of a protective role than a kill-preventing one. If you Arrest an eliminator, it'll be obvious to their teammates since they won't talk in either the doc or the thread for the entire turn, and therefore someone else will just put in the kill order in (that is, assuming that the eliminators work like most eliminator teams in these games, and not more like ToS where only one or two eliminator roles can do the killing). Personally I'd recommend you use this ability on someone you want to have a private conversation with during the night turn to see if you can trust them, or simply keep them safe. Until you have good reason to trust them, I'd recommend you avoid revealing your identity, just in case. That being said, if any Legionnaire out there is having trouble figuring out who they want to arrest tonight, I volunteer as tribute.
• ChayShan Practitioner: My best advice is be cautious with your kills. Ultimately it's up to you, but I've come to find that early game analysis is too weak to condemn someone on your own. At least with a lynch, there's a lot to learn from the discussion surrounding it, but with a kill decided by you and you alone, it's better to save that power until you've got more to go on.
• Retired Pirate: Typical extra-life role. When I get 'em, I sometimes try to bait attacks to prevent the eliminators from killing someone more useful. Not always the best decision, as having an extra-life can be storming useful in late game, but something for you to consider.
• Bodyguard: You've got a really useful ability so at the very least always make sure to use it. Some good advice is to ask yourself who you would attack if you were an eliminator and protect that person, or just keep protecting yourself until you have good reason to believe that someone else will be attacked, so that you can at least be preserved for the late game, when there are fewer players to debate over.
• Merchant and Duke: Like I said earlier, try to avoid making ties unless you're really confident that the extra death will end up on an eliminator. Otherwise feel free to prove your ability by affecting irrelevant votes, I.E. removing a single poke vote or placing one on a random player without any. If you haven't claimed it already, you might be able to claim it later on to help prove yourself innocent. Personally, I would like to see all of the Merchants and Dukes use their power on players not up for the lynch this term, so that we can get a rough idea of how many there are out there.
• Beggar: Pretty dependent on where the game goes from here. I'd rather see more Bodyguards than anything else, but it's entirely up to you and what role you want to be. There might be some pretty sweet True-Neutral roles out there, so I guess there's no rush in picking up a role as soon as it's available. That being said, @The Only Joe, if a role is taking by taken by one Beggar, is it still available to other Beggar's to take?
• Noble: Another question for @The Only Joe; is this a day action or a night action? If it's a day action, I would recommend that every Noble vote for the player with the most votes at the end of the turn to avoid any attempts at the eliminators inciting ties. If it's a night action... I guess everyone vote for me tonight, so that I can at least see that there's Nobles out there. In LG22, despite a similar role being mentioned in the sign ups, it turned out there were none, effectively turning the game into role madness. If Joe did something similar I think that would be useful information to know, and am willing to take on the extra vote if it means spelling it out for everybody.

And that's about it. It's really hard for me to make plans for catching the eliminators when so much remains unknown. Since I know some people (like Stink) don't even bother reading my long posts half the time, I guess I'll do a TL;DR real quick.

1. Avoid ties, and be suspicious of anyone who tries to make one.
2. Let the filter kill inactives; be wary of lurkers.
3. Eliminators without Citenzry equivalent roles will probably claim Beggar, Noble or Neutral. If someone claims to you, have them prove it before you trust them completely.
4. Feel free to PM me. If you don't, I'll probably PM you eventually, anyway.
5. If you're a Legionnaire with no idea who to Arrest, please Arrest me.
6. If you're a ChayShan Practitioner, I recommend you use your kill only when you're certain.
7. If you're a Retired Pirate, do whatever you feel like. Except sail boats and raid ports, of course.
8. If you're a Bodyguard, protect who you think is likely to be attacked or preserve yourself until the end game.
9. If you're a Merchant or a Duke, please try to avoid making a tie. I would personally like it if you take away a vote from a player with only one or put a vote on someone with none, respectively.
10. If you're a Beggar, pick up whatever role you think you'll have most fun with, though you may want to wait a while before taking a role.
11. If you're a Noble and your power is a day action, help add an additional vote to whoever is in the lead at the end of the turn, in order to prevent malicious vote manipulations. If it's a night action (which I'm pretty sure it's not), vote for me so that we can confirm this game isn't role madness.

 

Also, I don't know how I feel about being right under Alvron. I always thought of myself more aligned with the Light rather than the Darkness, but that player list suggests the complete opposite.

[Arrae]

8 hours ago, Burnt Spaghetti said:

I must say, that i do like how the embodiments of dark and light are as far away from each other as possible in the playlist. Oh look! Elbereth is near the middle -ok, like only a third down but still, she's nearer to Alv. Wonder if that means anything

It means that E is closer to A than W, of course.

Or maybe the Lord of the Shadows is turning his daughter from the Light. That's also a valid interpretation. Your name is close to Alvron's, and we all know how you're aligned. Then again, by that logic, I've fallen into the Darkness a long time ago...

@OrlokTsubodai I agree that it's immaterial to put a second poke vote on someone, especially in this case qherw Stink was asleep at the time. On the other hand, does it really hurt to place a second poke vote? Votes aren't set in stone and can always be moved.

[little wilson]

32 minutes ago, Amanuensis said:

Also, I don't know how I feel about being right under Alvron. I always thought of myself more aligned with the Light rather than the Darkness, but that player list suggests the complete opposite.

I know someone who's like a verdant meadow filled with frolicking puppies who will still accept this alignment despite your position to such opposition.

In other news, I have no idea how to strategize for this game. I've no idea what I'm up against. This is....problematic...to say the least. And yes, yes, I know that in standard elimination games, you don't know exactly what you're up against, but you can usually approximate the number of evils. This is not a luxury to be had in this game. I didn't realize how painful that was going to be when I signed up. Thanks, Malv, for manipulating me into that. Much appreciated. 

Malv = The BROTP of Maill and Alv

[STINK]

Hey guys I'm feeling pretty lazy so if you could start PMs with me then that would be great (also I'm on mobile)

[Silverblade5]

7 hours ago, The Young Bard said:

Uhhh... You do realize you're not supposed to let them know we're eliminators, right? :-P

All right then, Eol. @Silverblade5, welcome to Sanderson Elimination. Have a poke vote. Any reason you didn't say anything when you were on? You were online after rollover...

I didn't say anything because I've had nothing to say

[Amanuensis]

11 minutes ago, little wilson said:

I know someone who's like a verdant meadow filled with frolicking puppies who will still accept this alignment despite your position to such opposition.

Happy to hear it. I was concerned that Joe was trying to sow mistrust among the forces of light. Since I'm totally not a double-agent or anything crazy like that

11 minutes ago, little wilson said:

In other news, I have no idea how to strategize for this game. I've no idea what I'm up against. This is....problematic...to say the least. And yes, yes, I know that in standard elimination games, you don't know exactly what you're up against, but you can usually approximate the number of evils. This is not a luxury to be had in this game. I didn't realize how painful that was going to be when I signed up. Thanks, Malv, for manipulating me into that. Much appreciated. 

Malv = The BROTP of Maill and Alv

Same. My detective strategies are very dependent on knowing what powers there are and how they are being used, then figuring out who it is who's using them. With so many unknowns, I'm pretty much forced to take a reactive approach to this game rather than a proactive, which I don't like. My main concern is that since the eliminators have more information than the villagers, they'll be able to influence the lynch in a way that prevents us from learning anything helpful. I'll have to wait at least a cycle or two before I can make any potentially accurate assumptions.

13 minutes ago, STINK said:

Hey guys I'm feeling pretty lazy so if you could start PMs with me then that would be great (also I'm on mobile)

I suppose I could send you a message. Though I do have coursework I really should be doing instead...

[STINK]

Alright, gotta admit I'm more suspicious of Aman now.

[Amanuensis]

1 minute ago, STINK said:

Alright, gotta admit I'm more suspicious of Aman now.

Uh-oh 

[STINK]

I mean, I could explain why, but really it's only D1 and I'm still set to die.

[Amanuensis]

2 minutes ago, STINK said:

I mean, I could explain why, but really it's only D1 and I'm still set to die.

I had considered asking why, but I figured it'd be for a nonsensical reason, or that if I asked you wouldn't actually say it, anyway. What do you mean by "still set to die" though?

[Eolhondras]

Eight days Eoltias had kept his troupe camped outside of Kae, waiting to make the perfect entry. Eight mediocre sunrises had meant most of the food had been eaten, nearly all the rum was gone and everyone was getting impatient. Whilst this morning was distinctly unexceptional, it would simply have to do.

“Actors at the ready! Limber yourselves up, plaster on those smiles, and merciful Domi, do something to cover up the liquor vapor that’s streaming from the pores of you miscreants!”

The orders were met with a mild amount of movement… But alas, the hangover after over a week of drinking had left the players in no mood for showmanship. Luckily this wasn’t the first such occurrence, and Eoltias was not without methods of ‘motivation’…

“First one ready drinks for free tonight!”

And just like that their little camp was abuzz with activity. Fires were put out, tents pulled down, wagons packed. In the space of ten minutes, everyone was ready to enter the town and looking (plus smelling) respectable enough to not get thrown straight back out.

Slowly but surely the troupe made their way towards the main gate of Kae, and as they did, Eoltias began to notice the familiar weight of anxiety dragging on his mind. These were turbulent times for ‘la Petite Troupe D'âne’ after all. Since one of their finer actors had walked out after their last performance, something about wanting to portray a role other than a tree… the troupe was in an awkward position. If they didn’t find a replacement or some new material, there would be a number of new job seekers roaming the streets.

Despite the authoritarian bravado that Eoltias used to control his players, he himself was sincerely dismayed by the thought of disbanding what he considered to be his life’s work. Sure he’d had better days, worked with brighter talents, but in the end, this was what he loved and the possibility of losing it was beyond painful. All the more reason for a good first impression.

“Alright, let’s go with the mounted human pyramid! Haven’t done that one in a while. Change your ways, change your luck! Smiles people! Ready… Let’s dazzle these simpletons!”

 ---

Hear ye hear ye! Looking for and RP buddy, anyone who feels like their character might be a brilliant new talent that will bring new energy and life to deteriorating acting troupe, or perhaps a budding play write setting out to make their mark on the world, all ideas are welcome J

Edited July 28, 2016 by Eolhondras
spelling

[STINK]

4 minutes ago, Amanuensis said:

I had considered asking why, but I figured it'd be for a nonsensical reason, or that if I asked you wouldn't actually say it, anyway. What do you mean by "still set to die" though?

I don't do nonsensical reasons, Aman. And if you asked I would have explained.

[Amanuensis]

Just now, STINK said:

I don't do nonsensical reasons, Aman. And if you asked I would have explained.

So tempted to look through your post history and find all of the examples of you doing things for nonsensical reasons  well then, I guess I'll go ahead and ask. Why is Stink suspicious of me?  Also, I now realize you're referring to the two votes on you by "still set to die." What's that have to do with you explaining why?

[Mailliw73]

4 hours ago, Renegade said:

 

Number three: Messages with others should be used with caution.  We naturally grow more at ease with those whom we speak to regularly, so we should not let personal messages allow us to turn a blind eye towards another’s potentially more devious intentions.

Did you read the signup thread?

1 hour ago, little wilson said:

I didn't realize how painful that was going to be when I signed up. Thanks, Malv, for manipulating me into that. Much appreciated. 

Malv = The BROTP of Maill and 

You're welcome.

Stink, I'll help you out with a vote on Len. 

[Renegade]

2 minutes ago, Mailliw73 said:

Did you read the signup thread?

Yes? I'm not sure what you're referring to here.

[Mailliw73]

5 minutes ago, Renegade said:

Yes? I'm not sure what you're referring to here.