Long Game 65: Dancing through Life

[Karnage]

2 hours ago, Elbereth said:

HH didn't get the candy, but is not the person I was thinking of. They know who they are.

also y'all there's a BABY in the street and no one is taking it??? SOMEONE TAKE THE BABY

Highlight the second line and you will see Elbereth's secret message.

@Elbereth and @Sart Lasko will take the baby, but before I RP I want do a bit of complaining and some questioning. First of all, everybody ignored my offer at an RP, I guess I will just RP with the baby girl. Second, I wonder if this the candy thing is just a ploy by someone to distract us. Hmmm, nobody has claimed the sending of the candy or the lack of getting the candy/note. 

---

Grumbling a bit that those students completely ignored him, Lasko continued through the rest of the days classes. I mean who does that, I thought I asked at least one non-stupid question. This divide between commoners and nobles was starting to really get to be annoying. As Lasko sat through the last five minutes of his class, the thought that something happened gnawed on him, he just didn't focus at all during his classes and for one reason or another he couldn't ask any other students. He stopped a random student and asked what happened. That student told him to go away. What is wrong with people today! Lasko decided to try one more time at getting the answer he was looking for. He stopped one more student asking the question that burned into his head now. The answered the question by replying with the simple answer of, "Another student was sent to the Crockery after he was found to have gone crazy.", the student then left Lasko sputtering. What! He broke! He seemed all right when I saw him last. Turning his thoughts to the last time he saw Sagaer, there was another student. It was Knighter, right? I ought to put a complaint on him. GreenRover. 

---

Lasko turned to searching for Sagaer's baby, he decided that he would take care of her if no one else had already decided to. He eventually found the baby crying on the street. Tucked behind a trash can. How could nobody have noticed her, how could they have no wanted to take care of her and find her parents. Lasko decided that until Sagaer got out of the Crockery, he would take care of the little Murtoy. 

---

As for vote count-

 

Zilla(1): DeTess

Araris(1): Lord_Silberfarben

Lopen(1): Xino

Elandera(1): Young Bard

Karnage(1): Coda

GreenRover(1): Karnage

 

[Elkanah]

Kendel wandered through Imre somewhat aimlessly. The good musicians did not show up to play at the Eolian until near dark so he had some time to kill. 

He peered into shops selling all kinds of strange merchandise. Some sold iron to ward away evil spirits and intruders. Others advertised fancy drinks that could turn your hair different colors. There really was no end to what people would sell down here. Distracted by a shrunken head in one window, Kendel ran straight into a big man wearing a cloak with a hood that disguised his face. Recovering just enough to keep from falling, Kendel backed away from the man who hurried past.

A very disgruntled Kendel leaned against a wall hoping to catch his breath, but the wall fell through! Or rather, there was no wall there at all. He fell into a dimly lit room full of people betting on a strange dice game. They were casting a dice that changed based on who threw it. One unfortunate person guessed four numbers and when he threw the dice It landed on a forty six. He grumbled about rigged odds and stormed out leaving a pile of money near the table. Another person took the dice and guessed only two numbers. As the dice was thrown, it changed shape so as to reflect only six sides. Intrigued, Kendel stayed a bit to try to figure out how exactly the game worked. 

 

I second what Elbereth said. I'd take her, but I'm in Imre (ninja'd by Karnage. I am glad you caught that.) 

I'll vote for Lumgol right now for the tuition reduction, but I really want to have a reason to vote for someone this cycle other than that they are rich. I'm struggling to find actual reasons to vote for people with so much of the game being role play and the ease of slipping in helpful rule clarifications that do not actually help the village very much. (I realize I am the biggest culprit of taking and expanding on small parts of the rules and then just role playing, but it is mostly to keep school affordable. I suppose the best I can do is share my gut reads and ask that everyone else do the same. I am leaning that Xinoehp is good. I have to check myself on Zillah, Kynedath and Araris because my gut is auto set to be wary of them from the start of the game. I am also slightly wary of Karnage, but that is mostly because I have not played with them before and they seem like they are good and I do not want to be caught unaware. I have no actual solid suspicions.

 

[Devotary of Spontaneity]

18 minutes ago, Young Bard said:

She paused, almost halting in her tracks - Vol had almost walked by when she finally blurted out "Hi!"

There was a pause. "Uhhh... you're Vol, right? The alchemist?"

( [Devotary]- by the way, what gender is Vol?)

Vol was being addressed, who was that? Ah yes, the transfer student who had showed up in classes halfway through the first term. Nethwyl? Vol remembered thinking the girl was uninterested in learning and an unworthy student, but the impressive fire in the Fishery and her new title of E'lir showed that wasn't the case. Evidently, she had already mastered the basics of alchemy and that first month had been spent conducting practical experiments rather than sitting through lectures covering already known material. Vol had wanted to do the same, but the first month had clearly outlined the flaws of learning Alchemy from books rather than from an experienced Master. Now that the basic scientific foundations of Alchemy had been covered and lessons had progressed beyond chemistry to the workings of Alar and principles bound and unbound, it was time to resume experimentation. Perhaps this time, some collaboration would be useful. A fellow pyromaniac with the Master's trust could be a good ... ally? Was that the right word? Vol was trying to think of a better term for a few seconds before realising that Nethwyl would be expecting a response.

"Oh, sorry! Vol, yes; an Alchemist, though not as good as you, E'lir. Did you need something?"

(Vol does not have a gender, and goes by name only, or title should one be earned.)

[TheMightyLopen]

Woot! For some reason I'm getting surprisingly lucky this game. First a Noble, now an Elevation first try!  (ok I should be quiet before I jinx myself...)

I do think we should pay close attention to who has been elevated and how many times each player has been elevated. I remember in LG18, it actually helped me track down why one of the Skindancers went insane, as well as being aware of who could possibly do certain things(Relar and E'lthe can do more powerful things in certain fields and whatnot). Don't really need a list right now though, since there's only been one set of Elevations.

Another thing I would suggest is being careful revealing which field you were Elevated in, as not only could that make you a target, it could also help the Skindancers narrow down who got other fields.

I would put a poke vote or two down since I've got a vote on me, but I kinda want to actually use my votes this Month. I haven't gotten around to doing much real analysis as I've actually been fairly busy the last 2 days, but I'm gonna try to look back at the previous Term somewhat and choose my votes afterward. I will say I did go back and check Sart's posts, but there's not a lot there. He voted on Walin and Burnt, mostly to prod them into posting more game thoughts. Seems doubtful he was sabotaged for those imo, but it's worth pointing out.

I guess that's it for now. I may do some RP in a bit and put my votes down then.

[xinoehp512]

A low murmur interrupted Maern's thoughts. The person in front of him was whispering something in a hushed voice to the person to their left. He listened in, curious, but could only pick out snatches of their conversation. ...left outside the gates... terrible shame... the Crockery...

Disturbed, he leaned forwards. "What was that?" he whispered urgently. The person in front of him turned around in surprise. "Someone left a baby on the foot of the University steps," she whispered back. "They think it belonged to a student by the name of Sagaer Murtoy."

"What happened to him?" hissed Maern back.

The girl raised an eyebrow. "He went insane," she said quietly. "He'd been admitted to the Crockery earlier that day. They managed to put together who the baby belonged to from what other students said, but..." she sighed. "He's hardly in shape to take care of her now. Barely even recognizes her, the poor thing..."

Maern leaned back in his seat, disturbed. Another insanity? 

The skindancers, he thought. It must be.

So what was he going to do about it now?

----

I will, unfortunately, likely be unable to post again for the latter part of this cycle- or at least, not any of sufficient magnitude. To make sure I don’t get hit by PM’s, I have a question (you’d think the last post I made would have gotten them out of my system, but nope :P). For PM/thread, what gets counted? Is it the total number of posts (irregardless of content) that is counted, or is there some other metric? @Elbereth

I suppose I had also better prepare a vote to cast- although people will probably fill in the gaps by tomorrow, if my experience so far has been any guide, it’s best to be as much a part of the solution as possible. Having been unfortunate to land On the Horns myself, I can say with relative certainty that I would not want the same fate to befall anyone else- not without cause. So, Devotary.

As a final note, what do all of you think about my statement earlier regarding Literary Analysis and a potential scanner? Do you think that we should all publicly assert our honesty/villagerness, do you think that it’s a horrible idea and should be avoided at all costs, or are you ambivalent? I must say, I am curious to see what people think in regards to this.

Edited May 5, 2020 by xinoehp512

[StrikerEZ]

Ryykal was whistling a tune to himself while he got ready that morning. He couldn't tell what it was, but he knew he'd heard it recently. Maybe one of the musicians who had been practicing at the Eolian when he was there? That could be it. He had been spending a lot of time practicing there recently. Wouldn't be a surprise if he'd overheard something and now it was stuck in his head.

His stream of thought was interrupted when he opened his door and saw a piece of candy and a little note on the ground. Happy New Term!!! It read. Ryykal smiled, unwrapping the little candy and plopping it in his mouth as he began to walk to class. Good to know that there's still a little kindness in the world, he thought to himself.

As he made his way to campus, his mood soured as he saw the way people were talking to each other and whispering to each other. Something had happened. 

Quickly glancing around, he ran up to a nearby student and tapped their shoulder to ask them what had happened. 

~

If anyone wants to be that student, go ahead!

[xinoehp512]

Oh, someone's posted! That's good. I'm going to post at least this much, just to make sure I don't get penalized for talking too much in PM's.

Hmm, RP...

40 minutes ago, StrikerEZ said:

Ryykal was whistling a tune to himself while he got ready that morning. He couldn't tell what it was, but he knew he'd heard it recently. Maybe one of the musicians who had been practicing at the Eolian when he was there? That could be it. He had been spending a lot of time practicing there recently. Wouldn't be a surprise if he'd overheard something and now it was stuck in his head.

His stream of thought was interrupted when he opened his door and saw a piece of candy and a little note on the ground. Happy New Term!!! It read. Ryykal smiled, unwrapping the little candy and plopping it in his mouth as he began to walk to class. Good to know that there's still a little kindness in the world, he thought to himself.

As he made his way to campus, his mood soured as he saw the way people were talking to each other and whispering to each other. Something had happened. 

Quickly glancing around, he ran up to a nearby student and tapped their shoulder to ask them what had happened. 

~

If anyone wants to be that student, go ahead!

Maern jumped as another student tapped him on the shoulder.

"What happened?" he said as the student made his inquiry. "Someone went insane again, that's what happened. They left a little girl behind." He hesitated. "A lot of people seemed to be more concerned about the baby, but I don't know..." He sighed. "Something fishy's going on, that's all I can say."

He turned back around, mind spinning with worry. He wasn't sure he dared tell anyone else what the Master had revealed to him- the truth of things had likely been kept secret from the student body for a reason. They probably didn't want people panicking. They needed income, right? If students became afraid to attend, then they wouldn't make enough money. Tuition would probably be even higher for those that remained.

And, of course, there was always the danger that people would start taking things into their own hands. Use these troubles as an excuse to pursue old feuds, whether intentionally or subconsciously. They had enough with students going mad: the last thing the whole school needed was murders.

Maern forced himself to relax. None of this had happened yet; he didn't need to worry about it. Not now. Right now he needed to focus on his schoolwork, so he could impress the Masters and advance in the Arcanum.

Deep down, though, he couldn't quite shake the feeling of unease that something terrible was about to happen.

[Elbereth]

5 hours ago, xinoehp512 said:

Is the person who didn't get the candy the person who sent out the candy? Are you allowed to tell us? Will this have any impact on the game whatsoever??

Another question, perhaps? (Could I potentially do this entire discussion segment in questions?) Does Fae Lore activate for RP actions? What about Rhetoric & Logic actions, or Linguistic actions, or Sympathy actions? What about the other kind of actions- is there a differentiation between what activates Fae Lore and what doesn't, or do just all actions work?

No comment, I could but I won't, no.  

RP actions do not affect the game mechanically in any way. If Fae Lore activated for them, for instance, Skindancers would be incentivized to stop putting any in out of fear of being caught for doing nothing except a bit of fun. 

2 hours ago, xinoehp512 said:

I will, unfortunately, likely be unable to post again for the latter part of this cycle- or at least, not any of sufficient magnitude. To make sure I don’t get hit by PM’s, I have a question (you’d think the last post I made would have gotten them out of my system, but nope :P). For PM/thread, what gets counted? Is it the total number of posts (irregardless of content) that is counted, or is there some other metric? @Elbereth

 

Total number of posts. High Quality Participation is not required (though it is, of course, encouraged ). 

 

Also! Clarification: Please make new PMs every month. I previously said you'll only have to do so every cycle, but we've decided that's way too much of a headache.  Label your PMs with the current term/month and the names of the players in it (unless it's a group PM). Thanks!

[Burnt Spaghetti]

6 hours ago, xinoehp512 said:

 

On the subject of the Crockery, isn't it quite crazy that a +4 Insanity Point bonus, with any of an has almost a 50 percent chance of driving you insane (with an 8, 9, or 10) in just 2 turns? And isn't it even crazier that that's the IP bonus that you would have if you wanted to learn enough names to gain the bonus chance of breaking out of the crockery unless you were a master?

Does anyone else think that Naming is a rather ridiculously risky field to go into?

(Speaking as someone who went naming LG33)
It can be risky. Depends on how far you go in it. If you only gain one rank, have the name of the wind, and use names only when necessary, you might only end up with a +1 from gaining a second name. If you use names all the time then for sure you're going to learn a lot of names and go insane quickly. Sorta one of those fields that you can use to be very deadly, but either you'll be targetted quickly to be stopped, or go insane. a little glass-cannony. Not a field for everyone, thats for sure. But if you want to make a big splash all at once, then its an OP field. If you have a buddy giving you counselling,  you can probably survive a while using multiple names. And theres a lot you can do. Its very easy for a namer to potentially mass murder half the university with enough names. Just wind and fire and the mews is entirely engulfed in flames for example (to what extent would be up to the gms- thats not exactly something I had attempted as i didn't have the name of fire in lg33). And that's only a +2 insanity bonus. Remember that its a +1 per extra name you've learnt, and additional +1 per name used in the turn. so if you only used one name per turn and had learnt another 2 names you'd still only have a +2 which is a risk of cracking but a low one.
For whoever got naming this turn, have fun, its a crazy field to go into. But if you try for master, may the odds be in your favour

Actually,

Hm

you could become a master without having learnt additional names beforehand though right? just putting in that EP and sitting pretty
Tbh i kinda both want to and dont want to see someone become a master namer. Because that would be one massacre of a turn when that happens o_O
 

3 hours ago, Elkanah said:

I second what Elbereth said. I'd take her, but I'm in Imre (ninja'd by Karnage. I am glad you caught that.) 

 

Ooh if you're in the Imre, are you able to tell us if theres anything interesting there? What items are available, if theres any weird contracts or anything?
Also, its not super relevant currently, but when people start being expelled, i'd recommend not advertising that you were in the imre. If we expell people we suspect, remember they can only target people who've left the uni to go to the imre. Its not relevant now because no one's expelled, but just for future you's sake, keep that in mind

[Elbereth]

As a reminder to anyone in or hoping to go into Alchemy or Artificery: 

Quote

Each item in those fields requires students to be a certain level before they can make that item. Items take 2 action periods to create. This can be spread through one turn or two. If a student uses two action periods in a single turn to make an item quickly, they will not be able to file a complaint or impress a Master (flavor-wise, because they’re too busy creating the item to focus on anything else).

 

[Haelbarde]

12 hours ago, xinoehp512 said:

On the off chance that whomever was raised in Linguistics rolled Linguistic Analysis and wants to target me, I am not a Fae. Or a Skindancer, or an elim, or... well, you get the idea. And I promise not to lie for the rest of the cycle, either.  That way, the analysis scan becomes a sort of alignment scan. (Although you still might not want to use it on me- not sure if I'm the most important player to scan, to be honest. (And, of course, that assumes that you got Linguistic Analysis, which you might not have. (Did I say that already? I do believe I did. (Oh, dear, these parentheses are getting ridiculous... hopefully I don't forget to include one of the closing ones on my way out. ))))

 

1 hour ago, xinoehp512 said:

As a final note, what do all of you think about my statement earlier regarding Literary Analysis and a potential scanner? Do you think that we should all publicly assert our honesty/villagerness, do you think that it’s a horrible idea and should be avoided at all costs, or are you ambivalent? I must say, I am curious to see what people think in regards to this.

So I have very mixed feelings about it. It's an excellent observation of the possibilities found within the rules of this game, and I'm assuming that's something you've come up with yourself, so well done.

This was actually done in the first iteration of this game (LG18), albeit the first person to get Linguistic Analysis in that game was I believe Burnt who was a skindancer that game (eventually a student got it also and took over once they found out Burnt had been a skindancer). 

What often happens in these scenarios (or any game with a scanner really), is you have a Village Trust Group form, and the more powerful they get, the more often they start pressuring people to conform to how they want people to play the game. While it can be fun to be part of the core Village Trust Group, being someone who was cleared but isn't part of the group 'doing the work' isn't fun, and being not scanned and being pressured to do what the Trust Group says or else is even less fun. My experience of LG18 (albeit from the view of a skindancer in that game) was that everyone was forced to use the phrase and then not lie at all for the entire rest of the game in the name of trying to catch skindancers.

Less important than that forcing people to conform isn't fun for them, but still worthy of note is that some players can do an excellent job as villagers messing with Skindancers by being deceitful, which is something that would be much harder to pull off for them if they're being told to be utterly truthful in addition to saying "I am not a skindancer".

To share past!me's thoughts on the matter from the signups to LG33:

Quote

Something I want to say now is that I will be refusing to play along with any schemes that use linguistics to directly scan for skindancers (for example,  forcing everyone to include the phrase "I am not a skindancer" in a post,  and then not lie in posts). There is an entire faculty for finding skindancers.  Use that,  not linguistics.  Plus strats that encourage village trust groups to try force people to play a certain way is something I'd rather avoid. It was something that bothered me about the last game but as a skindancer I wasn't really in a position to effectively complain about it.

I stand by that, and will not be saying "I am not a skindancer" in any posts for purposes of being scanned by Linguistic Analysis.

If you want to force people to tell the truth, that's the point of Alchemy: The Plum bob does exactly that. Half of Archives is about dealing with Skindancer actions. Sympathy is about dealing with Skindancers. And Naming, given the names, could probably replicate anything any of those other fields could do, in additional to all the other possibilities. 

Now I want to be clear. I'd like to discourage the scenario from LG18 where the ability was being used to force people to say "I am not a skindancer". I'm against in people in general saying the phrase and making sure to be truthful, because once enough people do it, the choice of 6 people to do a thing ends up forciwong the other 21 people to do the same thing, because they must be skindancers otherwise.

I think Lingusitic Analysis works the best when its an invisible thing happening in the background. The linguist can be reading someone's post and think "Hey, that seemed a little weird" or "They've made some claim about being here or doing this and I'm not sure I trust that", and then choose to scan them. Maybe they'll catch someone out in a lie, maybe they'll find they were telling the truth, but either way they've still been able to do something cool. I'd love to get Linguistic Analysis and actually catch someone in a lie. Not because I forced them to say a phrase, but because I was able to notice them something off about what they said. 

And if you don't want to be as passive as that is, just looking a thread, then head to PMs - Linguistic Analysis works on what is said in PMs with the linguist too. If you've been active in PMs, you can try turn the discussions to topics that encourage the other person to say stuff worth verifying. If you're carefully with how you do it, you can get a ton of info out someone in PMs, and being able to then get the GM to confirm that the person was truthful is very powerful. 

So anyone who gets their hands on Lingusitic Analysis. Please consider using the ability with finesse - read thread carefully and see if you can spot things that could be lies and use the ability to verify it, or use PMs carefully to learn information that you can verify through your ability. Please use the ability in a way that is fun for everyone, not just you. 

5 hours ago, Elbereth said:

HH didn't get the candy, but is not the person I was thinking of. They know who they are.

also y'all there's a BABY in the street and no one is taking it??? SOMEONE TAKE THE BABY

I was going to volunteer to look after her, but figured my timezone and availability otherwise makes it hard for me to RP along with others beyond Burnt and Bard. Figured I'd wait 24 hours to see if others jumped in first, but... well, you said it better than I would have.  But I guess @Karnage got to it eventually - Karnage, I'm not sure if Seoras would help out with someone else looking after her, but if you decided you weren't going to keep RPing with the baby, I could probably take care of it.

[Young Bard]

There was a pause. Nethwyl shuffled her feet, and looked around - her classmates slowly drifted towards their next class, and she'd probably be late as it was. Maybe she'd upset the Noble? She really had to get to her next class - she was just about to apologise for bothering them and walking away when Vol finally responded.

"Oh, sorry! Vol, yes; an Alchemist, though not as good as you, E'lir. Did you need something?"

Well, that sounded flattering. Unless they were being sarcastic? Nethwyl had been surprised when she'd been elevated so quickly to E'lir, and there was still so much she didn't know. And now, she had even more homework and tasks to perform that it became difficult to continue to find the time to conduct her experiments - doubly so since she didn't want to be brought on the Horns again so soon after last time, and she was very sure that at least a couple of the Masters had it out for her. She tried to figure out whether or how to respond, but flustered, she eventually decided to just ignore the compliment.

"I guess I was wondering if - I mean, if you're interested - in working and experimenting together. I've heard you have a skill with Alchemy, and perhaps we could learn from each other."

1 hour ago, Devotary of Spontaneity said:

(Vol does not have a gender, and goes by name only, or title should one be earned.)

(Ooohh, that's really interesting.)

[Furamirionind]

The lie detector ability in linguistics, In my opinion, is best used as gimmicky/fun way of gaining info, but not directly to find elims. Personally, I'd be interested in looking at what some people say about what fields they are, or are not, going into.

On the other hand, it only says if someone lied across the entire turn, so someone attempting to break the game could be fairly easily offset by thread activity.

As much as I want/need to get in more/longer posts, I haven't been getting any sleep these past couple nights, and I barely stayed awake enough to type this out... So I think I'm just going to let myself go to sleep, and see if I can make some of this up next cycle.

[Elkanah]

I appreciate this discussion on truth seers. It is one I've been very interested in since I first saw it in quick fix forty two. The issue for me is playing mafia games is an opportunity to lie about things that have no consequences. I am honest outside of the game. Some would say brutally so. But lying here gets my adrenaline going so I do it as much as I think I can get away with.

It has bit me a few times, too. I think it was Zillah who said something like "I think Elkanah is village, but I in no way trust him." Wise words. 

I am happy to confess to all truth seers that I am not a skindancer. I do not mind other people using that as evidence to prove their innocence. I like it for the same reason I like day 1 lynches. It increases information and it comes down to drawing lines using patterns to figure out who is lying.

It also adds a complexity to the game that you have to decide if you trust the seer. Even if there are two seers that confirm each other, in a game this big we still do not know if they are both village.

All this as a way to say that I am totally fine with people using linguistics however they like. I will warn you that any scan on me will show I have lied at least one time in any turn. I recommend you use it on someone who plays these games more honestly.

Edit: purple

Edited May 5, 2020 by Elkanah

[DeTess]

Evelyn was fuming. The entire month she’d been kept busy with designing posters, writing pamphlets and checking over and correcting arcane rules documents for people all over the university. And then, when she’d finally found some time to work on her own projects, she’d gotten a letter from the master of Arithmetics, requesting she’d help a noble-born El’the with a project. As if the too-rich-for-his-own-good idiot couldn’t hire a scribe to help him out. Evelyn had seriously considered just ignoring the request, but she really couldn’t afford to annoy  one of the masters. So if she went to the horse and four to see what the noble-born brat needed her for.

At the upscale inn she was pointed to one of the larger rooms. There she found the man she’d been send to help out, scribbling away on a chalkboard. “What is it you needed me for?” She just about managed to  keep her tone civil, but if the noble expected her to bow for him, he had another thing coming.

“Ah, y-you must be Evelyn, right?” The noble turned his bespectacled face towards her. “P-please, take a seat. The master said you could help me with my current project, you see…” He launched into a complicated explanation of the scribbles on the board.

Evelyn managed to follow along for all of ten seconds before the noble’s explanation lost her, and her patience followed shortly after. “For god’s sake man, I’m not elevated in arithmetics. If you were under the illusion that I could help you prove your theory or whatever, then this has been a monumental waste of our time.”

“O-oh, I’m sorry.” The noble stammered. “That isn’t it at all. You see, I’d work out a proof showing that the overall standard of education at the university could be raised if only the more well-to-do students would do more to support  those worse off financially, b-but I couldn’t get anyone to give my theory the attention it d-deserves. B-but the master said t-that you…” His voice trailed off.

Evelyn blinked twice as she slowly processed hat the noble had just said. “I… right, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have snapped at you.” She responded. “How about you start your explanation again, but go a bit slower this time.” She got paper and ink out of her bag and prepared to take notes. “And I’ll see what I can do about making this theory understandable for everyone.”

***

@Elbereth and @little wilson, this talk about the linguistics analysis made me curious about something. Would lies about your character in RP count? For example, in the above RP Evelyn claimed to not be elevated in arithmetics. If I had, in fact, been elevated in that field, would that count as a lie?

Regarding the rest of the discussion around the ability, I'm with Elkanah on this one. People should play that ability how they want, but they shouldn't force others to play it their way either, even if it would be the 'optimal' way to play. 

One funny little thing I picked up from Elkanah's previous post is how different our play-styles tend to be. I try to lie as little as possible, especially when I'm an elim. So if someone does try to use that ability on me, I'd love to hear it if it ended up picking up a lie.

Edited May 5, 2020 by DeTess

[TheMightyLopen]

Vote tally:

Zillah(1): DeTess
Araris(1): Lord Silberfarben
Green Rover(2): Karnage, Karnage
Lopen(1): Xino
Elandera(1): Bard
Karnage(1): Coda
Lumgol(1): Elkanah
Devotary(1): Lumgol
Rathmaskal(1): Lopen
Burnt(1): Lopen

Hm. I'm only about halfway done with my read through the past Term, and I'm getting pretty sleepy. For now, I will drop my votes on Rathmaskal and Burnt(sorry it was RNG I swear ). That's 10 players with votes on them. Kinda low actually. These are the Nobles and Commoners left, if anyone wants to spread them out more: Coda(already got lashings though), Bard(brought on the Horns once), Stink, Straw, DeTess, Lord Silberfarben, Walin, Experience(brought on the Horns this Month), Xino(brought on the Horns once).

I wanted to a more in depth post here, but I'm finding it pretty difficult to notice anything worth voting on so far. I suppose I'm not against relying a bit more on abilities rather than the lynch this time around, but I'll keep looking regardless. As Hael mentioned, there are actually quite a few creative ways to find eliminators in this one, so it's ok to be less aggressive with votes.

I agree with pretty much all of the points being made about Linguistics Analysis. This is a game for fun, so everyone should be allowed to play as they like. As for me, I am almost always honest in the thread. PM's are where I tend to be a bit more shifty with what I say.  I will keep try to keep that ability in mind though, so if someone does scan me, it will come up as honest.

Anyways, I might be able to get another post out tomorrow before rollover, but for now, goodnight!

[Burnt Spaghetti]

No worries lopen, I respect Rng  Its been nice to me so far so tis only fair :1
For the sake of spread and tuition reductions i'll put a vote on Straw but I won't be putting a second vote down unless I have a better reason. 

In theory we should start seeing vote worthy things happening soon. Attacks are starting to have chances of being defended against, abilities are going to be coming into play. Whoever was elevated in naming and physicking will be able to self protect, and any noble who went to the imre last cycle would have been capable of at least buying a bloodless for protection. Plus theres chances for roleblocks and redirects and all sorts of shenanigans starting up which can be telling. I'm very curious to see what goes down from this point on. 
 

If i were to pitch in on the whole linguistics thing, the "i am not a skindancer" truth thing is certainly very effective. but since i've already been in a game thats done that, and it really did work well but, i instead really want to see a game where things like plumbobs are getting used- i don't recall if theyve been used at all previous games. Well, if they were, I didn't know about it which is entirely possible  If someone does have that ability, please do go ahead and scan as you like. Just be cautious- if skindancers know theres someone lie scanning and asking people to say the phrase, you've immediately gone to the top of the kill list.

Besides. all this conversation may be useless and we may be instead blessed with mysterious bulletins each cycle with random jokes and riddles. 

 

in anycase I feel like you might actually get more information from bribe the messenger if you use it right. Skindancers aren't gonna wanna help you with linguistic analysis. But i'm just saying,  you not only get to know what people are pming, but pms usually are where people info dump everything. and few elims will be spamming their own buddies. You can learn a tonne of puzzle pieces from that, with potentially capabilities to learn much more per cycle than you would from trying to see whos lying or what they lied about.

[Straw]

3 hours ago, TheMightyLopen said:

That's 10 players with votes on them. Kinda low actually. These are the Nobles and Commoners left, if anyone wants to spread them out more: Coda(already got lashings though), Bard(brought on the Horns once), Stink, Straw, DeTess, Lord Silberfarben, Walin, Experience(brought on the Horns this Month), Xino(brought on the Horns once).

I will put my votes on Bard and STINK.

We now need votes on DeTess, Lord_Silberfarben, Walin, Experience, Xino, and possibly Coda.

Edited May 5, 2020 by Straw

[Karnage]

Okay...

The Linguistic ability dynamic is really interesting, and the overlordish core village group sounds like it wouldn't be fun at all. I haven't really looked into the plum bobs but hat would be interesting as a way to get information, that is a good way to not get friends. 

6 hours ago, Haelbarde said:

I was going to volunteer to look after her, but figured my timezone and availability otherwise makes it hard for me to RP along with others beyond Burnt and Bard. Figured I'd wait 24 hours to see if others jumped in first, but... well, you said it better than I would have.  But I guess @Karnage got to it eventually - Karnage, I'm not sure if Seoras would help out with someone else looking after her, but if you decided you weren't going to keep RPing with the baby, I could probably take care of it.

For those who have played Sanderson Elimination before at what point do you start to wonder at statements that are seemingly innocent. Are they saying that he doesn't have enough time to RP with me but he does for the baby? How much has Haelbarde interacted with other through RP. Why would he distance himself from me while asking for the baby. How often to eliminators only stick to other eliminators for RP'ing. Maybe I am just going crazy but something seems a bit off with this post, anybody else? 

Also, how often do Skindancers go after people that are after them, how much at this point should we pay attention to the theories and I dea of those sent to the Crockery that the Skindancers theoretically want to get rid of.

---

Lasko sat in his kitchen, silently rocking the little Murtoy. Sagaer had never told him what her name was and at this point he was a bit tired of saying "little Murtoy". "I think that until your father gets back I will call you Cas." "Where is your mother Cas? Do you have any family that can take care of you?" The baby answered with a babble, the little girl was still red faced from being out in the street for a whole day. "How did Sagaer manage his studies, schooling, and taking care of you, what did he do with you while he was at school?" Lasko needed to search the school records, he would never have an opportunity though, he needed someone that was studying in the Archives. Lasko then got up and took the baby to the makeshift bed that Lasko had made in the corner of the couch. Lasko then opened his side bag and put some of his books on the couch as well. He would study here by the baby, just like Sagaer did. Hopefully he wouldn't go crazy like him... He just had to find some help for some in the Archives.

[DeTess]

25 minutes ago, Karnage said:

For those who have played Sanderson Elimination before at what point do you start to wonder at statements that are seemingly innocent. Are they saying that he doesn't have enough time to RP with me but he does for the baby? How much has Haelbarde interacted with other through RP. Why would he distance himself from me while asking for the baby. How often to eliminators only stick to other eliminators for RP'ing. Maybe I am just going crazy but something seems a bit off with this post, anybody else? 

The answer to all these questions is  'yes'. Or 'no' depending on how you're feeling.  

Quote

Also, how often do Skindancers go after people that are after them, how much at this point should we pay attention to the theories and I dea of those sent to the Crockery that the Skindancers theoretically want to get rid of.

In general, a good elim team won't go solely after people that are after them, but they will eliminate threats when they think they can get away with it. What this means is that it's generally impossible to tell whether someone got taken out because they where being a direct threat to the elims or not unless it is because of a role they have. However, you should definitely check on what those sent to the crockery by a clear sabotage have had to say. Not because they are confirmed to be right but because they are highly likely to have come from a village mindset.

Now, in this game, it's a bit trickier to analyze the content of those sent to the crockery, as it's harder to tell who is good, but its generally a good idea to take a look, and in a more 'standard' game, analyzing the words of the dead is always a good idea. Though always keep in mind that confirmed good is not the same as confirmed right.

Edited May 5, 2020 by DeTess

[Burnt Spaghetti]

41 minutes ago, Karnage said:

For those who have played Sanderson Elimination before at what point do you start to wonder at statements that are seemingly innocent. Are they saying that he doesn't have enough time to RP with me but he does for the baby? How much has Haelbarde interacted with other through RP. Why would he distance himself from me while asking for the baby. How often to eliminators only stick to other eliminators for RP'ing. Maybe I am just going crazy but something seems a bit off with this post, anybody else? 

In regards to hael- He (and I for that matter, as we be siblings for those who are not familiar with us) is Australian. This can make rp tricky to do sometimes because of the whole timezone difference. Its far easier to just rp with your own npc like a baby then it is to rp with another player when you're fighting for tuition reductions so need as many rp posts as you can fit into a cycle. So personally I wouldn't look too much into that specifically. 
Rp in general can be really hard to gauge alignment from. It honestly depends on whose character meshes well with your own. If two elims have characters that get along really well then they might rp, or there might be a villager their character can interact with easier.

[Elandera]

54 minutes ago, Karnage said:

How often to eliminators only stick to other eliminators for RP'ing.

I echo pretty much what Burnt said, speaking as an American with a sleeping schedule that aligns better with Australians than my own time zone. I just wanted to add something about this question specifically. It tends to lean closer to elims not RPing with fellow elims so if one gets caught they don't have an obvious link. This is especially the case if the RP seems really coordinated (looking at you @Kynedath and @Zillah... ). Of course, this is definitely not always the case. Some older players tend to gravitate towards each other for RP simply because they know styles. I (usually) just do solo RP. Anytime I've tried with someone else, it never lasts more than a few posts.

Don't let that keep you from RPing or trying to find someone to RP with you. 

[Straw]

@Elandera would you mind placing your vote(s)? We're getting closer to the end of the turn and votes aren't fully spread out.

---

Straw had found some more books in the library:

"Crimes of the Scarred Librarian" - This book was about an ancient Master Archivist. They had apparently used their powers to learn dark abilities and then murdered several students when they were confronted. It was interesting that the university had been through dark times before and survived mostly intact.

"A Practical Guide to Cats" - This book contained advice for owning and raising a cat. It also contained several tables that helped you identify your cat's breed. Straw thought it seemed useful enough, even if he wasn't much of a fan of cats.

"Board Games for the Bored" - Straw wasn't particularly into board games, but he was bored, so he decided to read this book. It was filled with complex diagrams describing board game design and the history of board games in the Four Corners. Overall, Straw found it rather boring.

"Burnt Spaghetti" - This cooking book was written by a fanatical chef with a unique style of cooking. They thought that burnt food was delicious and was particularly fond of burnt noodles. They claimed that the added crunchiness made the pasta several times better. Straw didn't really believe them, but he'd never had burnt spaghetti, so he couldn't really say for sure.

[Haelbarde]

1 hour ago, Karnage said:

For those who have played Sanderson Elimination before at what point do you start to wonder at statements that are seemingly innocent. Are they saying that he doesn't have enough time to RP with me but he does for the baby? How much has Haelbarde interacted with other through RP. Why would he distance himself from me while asking for the baby. How often to eliminators only stick to other eliminators for RP'ing. Maybe I am just going crazy but something seems a bit off with this post, anybody else? 

Also, how often do Skindancers go after people that are after them, how much at this point should we pay attention to the theories and I dea of those sent to the Crockery that the Skindancers theoretically want to get rid of.

It's never too early to start being suspicious. 

But for more context - when I most regularly have the time/motivation to generate written content for games like this (whether analysis or RP) is in the evenings, which based on timezones is when americans should be well and truly asleep. The best RP is when you can good back and forths, which is normally isn't a problem to have it spaced out across cycles. But when each cycle represents a month of time's passage, in this game it only really makes sense if you can have the entire scene play out in a cycle, thus favouring RPing with someone who is online at the same time as you.

I'm actually not the sort to do much RP at all normally. This game already has more RP in it than I've done for almost any other game I've played I think. Heh. It probably has more RP than one or two of the games I've GM'd. That's mostly because last cycle was on the one freeish weekend I'm likely to have this game, and I needed a creative outlet at the time also. I also really wanted to get as close as I possibly could get to zero tuition. I doubt there's very many people at all who've specifically RP'd with me - probably Wilson and El are the most likely to have. 

As far as RPing with the baby, I'd had some thoughts about how I'd do some solo RP, which weren't really compatible with what it looked like you were going for with your RP, but didn't really have any ideas for anything more collaborative. Because I know sometimes people try a thing and then abandon it after finding it doesn't work for them, figured I'd at least say I could take the baby on board if you decided that you weren't interesting in continuing on with it.

[STINK]

Now all these people saying how it shouldn't be said have said it to demonstrate what shouldn't be said and it feels like Voldemort or something where every time its gonna be discussed people are gonna be throwing it in and that just defeats the point y'all