Anniversary Game 8 / AN11: Back to Beginnings

[Elbereth]

Hello everyone! The aftermath is currently planned to go up at the usual rollover time tomorrow (30ish hours from now). You have until then to make more memes (which, btw, are all amazing), vote for non-Sanderson pass recipients, and complete the "guestbook" for your anonymous account.

And thank you, everyone, for being silly and amazing and not delving into the Discussion(tm) stuff. It's very appreciated.

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Edited February 3, 2022 by Elbereth

[Melon Dingo]

I have received a request for Prequel Memes!

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Haven't seen this template before...

Reverse reverse!

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I feel like I've seen this one somewhere

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[Salmon Meerkat]

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[Mauve Crocodile]

On 2/3/2022 at 4:43 AM, Salmon Meerkat said:

Presumably the last batch of memes.

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[Salmon Meerkat]

36 minutes ago, Mauve Crocodile said:

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Drake arriving like a king to keep the thread going. The memes must flow!

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Edited to add:

More memes because why not.

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Also:

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The AG2 Smokers rest in peace:

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Edited February 4, 2022 by Salmon Meerkat

[Mauve Crocodile]

1 hour ago, Salmon Meerkat said:

Drake arriving like a king to keep the thread going. The memes must flow!

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Congratulations sir this one is really good:

1 hour ago, Salmon Meerkat said:

 

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Also

1 hour ago, Salmon Meerkat said:

The AG2 Smokers rest in peace:

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Also

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[Melon Dingo]

I, too, know what AG2 is.

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2 hours ago, Salmon Meerkat said:

More memes because why not.

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Also:

*Ahem*

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Edited February 4, 2022 by Melon Dingo
Okay maybe only 4 Village Tineyes but you also had a second Mistborn smh... or maybe it's THREE

[Salmon Meerkat]

39 minutes ago, Melon Dingo said:

I, too, know what AG2 is.

  Reveal hidden contents

 

*Ahem*

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Points of order

1. We were supposed to protect them from the Evil Soothers but were ruthlessly exterminated >> [Note to self make the meme, someone post after this so I can share when I'm back on PC please thanks] 

2. AG1 wasn't especially trolly apart from offensive Smoking and Wilson and Claincy and Araris being cute :|

2a. Current kel approves of then Araris's decision but I can also see why it was something that he got side-eyed for back then. 

3. I believe there are just three Village Tineyes this game. Five D2 messages were because Swan and Ellie both randed Tin N1. 

Edited February 4, 2022 by Salmon Meerkat

[Elbereth]

10 minutes ago, Melon Dingo said:

*Ahem*

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how could you miss AG6

[Salmon Meerkat]

27 minutes ago, Elbereth said:

how could you miss AG6

AG6 was a Tyrian reskin to Roshar and all Mistborn. Absolutely deserves to get called out too

Edited February 4, 2022 by Salmon Meerkat

[Melon Dingo]

2 minutes ago, Salmon Meerkat said:

Points of order

1. We were supposed to protect them from the Evil Soothers but were ruthlessly exterminated >> [Note to self make the meme, someone post after this so I can share when I'm back on PC please thanks] 

2. AG1 wasn't especially trolly apart from offensive Smoking and Wilson and Claincy and Araris being cute :|

2a. Current kel approves of then Araris's decision but I can also see why it was something that he got side-eyed for back then. 

3. I believe there are just three Village Tineyes this game. Five D2 messages were because Swan and Ellie both randed Tin N1. 

1. So I've heard 

2. Yeah... don't know if I've read it fully but it's been a while.

3. checks really? Then... what's with the Tineye Army all the time and still that's a lot

3 minutes ago, Elbereth said:

how could you miss AG6

Ah yes, Horneater Falls... oh my, that's a distro and a half.

[Salmon Meerkat]

18 minutes ago, Melon Dingo said:

1. So I've heard 

2. Yeah... don't know if I've read it fully but it's been a while.

3. checks really? Then... what's with the Tineye Army all the time and still that's a lot

Ah yes, Horneater Falls... oh my, that's a distro and a half.

I think a better summation of the trolliness (I love your meme so much I wish I could upvote that set more than once, but  ) -

Historically:

AG1 - Not especially spicy apart from Claincy, Wilson, and Araris getting cute. I believe it was meant to be a good match/map for LG1 - I remember Meta specifically went for an Evil Claincy distro, as Claincy had been Evil in LG1 as well. The idea was to see how much we'd progressed since then, almost.

AG2 - Two layers of distro madness. First, the eight Smokers (seven Village) and three Spiked Soothers everyone talks about, but also, more importantly IMO - all the Spiked were new players. Lopen wasn't especially new, but Lopen would not have been in the group of players everyone expected to form the Spiked anchor. This meant that despite Lopen getting lynched D1, all the 'experienced' players were warily side-eying each other.

Also some kayana like Kas getting sussed for Smoking, Hael the Seeker sniffing nicotine who eventually got lynched, and Wyrm posting a troll Tineye message claiming to be a Spiked Seeker and Kas insisting he would take the lynch for Wyrm.

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AG3 - Another two layers of distro madness. A three Mistborn Elim team, and all of them were experienced players (another meta no-no!) 

AG4 - IDK this one you gotta ask Orlok or Fifth im tired. But I believe this was a first for no Village Seeker.

AG5 - N/A

AG6 - Tyrian Falls reskin; all Mistborn holy chull.

AG7 - N/A

LG74 - Two Evil Seekers, no Village Seeker, Elim team probably skewed experienced though not deliberately.

AG8 - Evil Coinshot, three Tineyes, all V! Emotional Allomancers, 1 V!Smoker...do I really need to go on  

18 minutes ago, Melon Dingo said:

3. checks really? Then... what's with the Tineye Army all the time and still that's a lot

Probably because PM volume made El and Fifth very tired of us

45 minutes ago, Mauve Crocodile said:

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Congratulations sir this one is really good:

Also

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Also

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(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

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>:(

im kel but for axl's sake u should desist sir

Edited February 4, 2022 by Salmon Meerkat

[Melon Dingo]

wait wat

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[Elbereth]

AG8: Finale - Tyrian Falls No More

"The world, or a single life, is never saved for all time. One day, the village will no longer be destroyed by koloss. One day. One day. We can but hope. Salvation is always ever temporary. It must always be fought for, and earned. And you have won it, on this day." —Kaddar

 

~

 

That day, in the town square, something fundamental in the world changed.

 

It was the sort of thing you might not have noticed, as Scimon Tlag pushed, with the force of a god within him, with the last remnants of a friend betrayed and slain. As Scimon Tlag pushed, and a storm of metal descended upon Tyrian Falls.

 

As the sun slipped below the distant horizon, as the mists drifted across the town square, curiously shying away from Scimon Tlag, something fundamental in the world shifted and snapped.

 

It was the sound of metal screaming as the last living Spiked in Tyrian Falls pushed and metal bent to his will and tore and rushed towards vulnerable flesh. It was the sound of villagers shouting and ducking for cover.

 

It was the quiet, cut-flower sound of Lord Ischarus Loenthal collapsing, his life-blood trickling into the dust. It was the terrified scream of a boy watching his protector die before his eyes.

 

But it was more than that.

 

It was—

 

~

 

It was the ragged quality of betrayal in the screams that tore themselves from Wilson’s throat, as she huddled by the low wall next to Dyring’s Inn, even as the koloss tore through Tyrian Falls, even as Beetle giggled at his deception.

 

It was the derisive cough from an old curmudgeon, as Aralis stared down the Spiked weaving their pretty little lies about koloss marching on Tyrian Falls, and the sharp shock—the sudden cessation of breath—as the sword ripped through his chest and the last of his Bronze faded into nothingness.

 

It was the quiet exhalation of an apothecary who knew that his days of running and hiding among the skaa were over, that sometimes, the past still crept up on you, even as Kassien steeled himself for the killing stroke and prayed that El would survive his death.

 

It was the pitying scoff of a liar and a guardsman who’d learned that sometimes, you had to create your own justice, who looked coldly into the eyes of his business partner even as Kast died, his last gasp a wheezed question. Ruin demanded justice, and Wyl Sharpe was more than ready to mete it out.

 

It was the mumbled mantra (“Nononononono”), the sharp hitch where breath caught and tore, where it had always caught, as Ruin reached into Marll’s mind and yanked, the sobbing cries of a man who’d run as far as he could only to discover that he could never escape the blood on his hands.

 

It was the cries of Tyrian Falls, another Tyrian Falls, and yet another Tyrian Falls, the village always burning, always slaughtered by Spiked and koloss, always betrayed, ever-doomed, ever-damned.

 

It was the crackle of the flames consuming Dyring’s Inn.

 

It was the loud crack of the barricades splintering, of the walls broken and sundered.

 

It was the sound of watchmen dying as they tried to slow down the koloss, men and women screaming in agony on the ground, flesh cruelly torn, grievously wounded.

 

It was the sound of Ruin. It was the sound of slaughter. It was an unholy exaltation.

 

And it was a protest.

 

~

 

“No,” slurred Zebra, the Jaist standing tall and proud in the town square, the calm eye of the storm that raged.

 

“No,” screamed Maill, as they tied him onto the pyre and prepared to set flame to kindling.

 

“No,” whispered Herwynbe, as the dagger slid into his back in a shiver of cold steel and the tracery of blue lines faded from the world around him.

 

“No,” Edrab managed, poison-ravaged, dying, crawling with the last of his strength, watching the plate roll across the floor of his home as though it were a wheel.

 

“No,” said Felix, glaring defiantly at the blade of the sword. The Survivor sheltered him, and Felix did not fear the bright sheen of the descending sword, or the storm to come.

 

“No,” said Kast Speirs, gravely, as though he was pronouncing a sentence. All his life, he had struggled. Wyl had been that one shining point, that one bright star, a compass by which to plot the course of his life. But even the brightest fell, and even now, at the end, Kast knew his duty.

 

No.

 

No.

 

“No,” sobbed Roseanne Ghetti, as the voices rose in her mind. “No.”

 

No.

 

A single shining word that had stopped emperors, felled kings, and drew up walls that no koloss could breach.

 

No. No. No. No.

 

The word rose in a chorus from the dying, from those who had fallen again and again in defense of Tyrian Falls, but never forgotten, never futile.

 

Each word was a weapon. Each word was a promise. Each word was a stone hurled unerringly at the glass pane that was the doom that hung brooding over Tyrian Falls.

 

We will never give up. We will not break. We will never give in.

 

No.

 

It echoed down the corridors of time, from one Tyrian Falls to another. It echoed and bounced, a message to posterity, a message from the past to the present.

 

No.

 

A curse shattered.

 

Zebra burned iron.

 

Zebra pulled.

 

~

 

Nails, iron fittings, hinges, and all the trimmings and coins and pins and bits and pieces of metal that everyone used in their everyday lives, the little quotidian things that fastened the world together, that kept it ticking, as Kellehrt and his father and his father’s father laboured for a time at the smithy in Tyrian Falls—

 

Zebra pulled.

 

The world came alight to him, lines of blue metal kindling into existence around him.

 

This was a task that required a master, and as Zebra pulled, he felt as though the Ja had descended upon him, as though the Ja was smiling on his efforts.

 

People always thought in straight lines, because that was how Allomancy worked. He did not meet Scimon Tlag’s push with force but gave way, gracefully.

 

He pulled on each bit of metal, each floating blue line, redirecting them just slightly, nudging them away from their targets.

 

Aethex had picked up a shield from somewhere—likely just ripped off the top of a table—and was batting away at the detritus. Zebra helped him out, pulling so that a flying spear narrowly missed impaling the Thug.

 

Dyring pushed Vincero away from a flying poker, having barely dodged it himself. Zebra nudged a series of nails out of the way, pulling them off-course just enough that they harmlessly flew off to the side and embedded themselves in the soft plywood of a bulletin board.

 

Jerrien had slid under a low fence with preternatural, pewter-enhanced grace, and was casting about for a suitable weapon. The torn fragments of metal fencing would probably have missed him anyway but Zebra pulled all the same, yanking them ever so slightly off course and then letting go.

 

Albatross was shielding Mouse and Freddie, who had taken shelter on the far side of the square. As soon as Zebra ascertained they were fine, he turned his attention elsewhere.

 

The storm of metal surged through Tyrian Falls, and the wrath of Ruin with it.

 

But Zebra stood fast, and the Ja was with him. (Praise the Ja!)

 

Perhaps it would have taken a god to take in the carnage, the chaos, the destruction, to understand what Scimon Tlag was doing.

 

But Zebra stood fast, and the Ja was with him, and patiently, meticulously, swiftly, he called to the storm, iron burning within him.

 

And the storm answered.

 

~

 

“Come on,” Dyring said, glancing about him warily. Metal fight like this, there was only so much a Rioter like him could do. But Dyring wasn’t planning on going quietly into the good night, not with all the damage that Scimon Tlag and the others had done to his inn.

 

All the cleaning he would have to do afterwards made him want to twitch.

 

Vincero nodded, scurrying off with him.

 

They ducked behind a low wall and huddled there, sheltering briefly from the storm. Loenthal was dead—that much was clear. Dyring resolved to protect Vincero. He supposed it was a brief lapse into sentimentality. That death was a loose end, a snarled knot. It seemed the least he could do to neaten things up a little.

 

More metal flew over their heads.

 

Dyring narrowed his eyes. It was time to fight back.

 

He flared zinc.

 

~

 

The training held fast. They’d drilled into them, back with the Hazekillers. How to take on a Misting and win. Maybe even a Mistborn, if you were lucky. Coinshots and Lurchers were the absolute worst, though.

 

Sidor went low the moment the storm of metal scythed through Tyrian Falls.

 

Stay low, said the training. It was better to have a wooden shield, but Sidor didn’t have one, so that just meant she was better off improvising. She hunkered down and picked up a long, jagged, wooden splinter.

 

Something, perhaps an axe, had struck a door and carved this chunk off. And Sidor was going to use every bit of her training to survive and to end the last threat to Tyrian Falls.

 

Scimon Tlag was still in the centre of the square.

 

Perhaps someone else would have thought this was dangerous. The Spiked merchant seemed to be armed with both iron and steel now.

 

But even Mistings were men and men could be killed, and Sidor knew exactly how it was done.

 

She stayed low and crawled forward on her elbows and knees, eyes fixed on her goal.

 

~

 

Colour bled back into the world.

 

Dyring had deliberately stayed away from his metal over the past days. It was a strange feeling, burning zinc, as though the world had taken on extra layers of texture and nuance. 

 

There was Sidor, crawling towards Scimon Tlag. He felt the earthen solidity of Sidor’s determination, that warm blaze of courage in her stomach, and encouraged it, let the emotions grow within her.

 

Edeis and Mouse huddled in a corner of the square. They would be afraid, of course. Edeis had no metal, and tin was no good in a metal fight either. A Soother would have suppressed the fear. But Dyring was a Rioter, and instead, he encouraged their certainty, their pride.

 

Scimon Tlag was the last of them. They had stopped the Spiked. What need was there for fear?

 

Ellie crouched low, likely burning metals. The Mistborn had been hesitant, indecisive. But in the end, Ellie had still come forward, had still spoken about his abilities to Kellehrt—there, anger mingled with the sharpness of grief at the loss of his oldest friend—and to Aethex. 

 

There was courage there.

 

Dyring kindled it.

 

It was not the sudden blaze of a fire.

 

It was a gradual, patient task, like rubbing flint and steel together, and gently puffing on the sparks until they caught and became a growing flame. Fire was not simply wild; fire required patience, and courage was the most subtle fire of all.

 

Courage made Edeis drag Mouse out of the line of fire. Courage made Kellehrt walk into the night, knowingly, to his death. Courage made Dyring stand fast, where he was, and stare right back at the neighbours and fellow villagers who had tried to condemn him to death what felt like a week ago.

 

Fear made Freddie and Dragonfly hide beneath an upended cart, but there was courage there too, and determination was the steel in them as they whispered and conferred and tried to work out their next course of action.

 

Courage worked in small, subtle ways, or large, magnificent ways. But it was fed from the same seed.

 

Dyring kindled courage, and felt Dragonfly help him, felt courage flare to life within his own heart and watched as Ellie’s back straightened, as their Mistborn advanced on Scimon Tlag.

 

And there, following on the heels of the Rioting, was an emotion that Dyring had not expected to find within himself, within all present in the square.

 

Hope.

 

~

 

For a moment, Sidor thought she was caught.

 

Scimon Tlag saw her, and in the next moment, a hail of metal flew at her, the Spiked pushing and pulling with superb control. Keys, coins, bits and pieces, all sharp enough to scratch her.

 

She rolled away, and came to her feet in a fluid motion, still crouched low. Blood trickled and she wiped it away—something had cut her above the eyebrow, probably a coin. She hadn’t felt it. Adrenaline was funny that way.

 

She wasn’t about to give up. If she had to go down, she would take Scimon Tlag with her.

 

A hail of metal flew at her as she advanced.

 

Sidor dodged, as best as she could, still keeping low. You never gave up, not in Hazekiller training. You knew your limits, and you knew how to nudge them, ever so slightly.

 

A knife tumbled towards her, and for a moment, for a long moment caught in amber, Sidor thought this was where it was going to end: a knife in the town square, before she’d even taken down her target.

 

The knife jerked away and flew harmlessly to the side.

 

Someone stood between her and Scimon Tlag.

 

“Hello there,” said Ellie.

 

The last Mistborn standing in Tyrian Falls had come to join the fray.

 

~

 

In the mists that had enshrouded Tyrian Falls, like a soft pall with the drawing near of dusk, the koloss advanced.

 

Tyrian Falls was vulnerable. Tyrian Falls was focused on the last, lone Spiked that remained within them, ignoring the greater threat that still bore down on them relentlessly. Ruin urged them on, urged them to slaughter and maiming and destruction.

 

In the mists, there was a sound.

 

It might have been a child’s laugh. Or the peal of a small silver bell.

 

It might have been the resounding, glorious clarion call of a horn.

 

But such horns did not exist, not in Tyrian Falls. Surely not.

 

But as night fell and the koloss marched, the mists grew thicker, and the call of the horn seemed to echo, seemed to urge valiant battle.

 

Dyring had called to courage.

 

And now, courage answered him.

 

Even from beyond the grave.

 

~

 

Heroes and shades of the fallen flooded the mists.

 

“Do you feel like making a bet?” Riggs chuckled.

 

Kellehrt eyed the koloss, a simple farmer’s reaping scythe in his hand, the blade sharp and clean as though it had newly come from his forge. “Never tell me the odds,” he replied. Warmmha had called, and ever the faithful servant, Kellehrt had answered.

 

Su felt the mists reach into him, somehow, and his metal stores blazed to furious life within him. “Praise the Ja,” he whispered. The mists faded into translucency and he saw the advancing koloss and knew what had to be done.

 

Newan knelt, his sword in his hand. A simple, battered sword. But he’d always wanted to be a hero, and sometimes it was the wanting that mattered the most. Sometimes you had to stop wanting, though, and to be a hero. And that was where he was now, with the koloss bearing down upon them, and the village he had bled for, the village he had died for in danger.

 

So he was a hero. It was that simple.

 

The smith’s hammer was surprisingly light in her grasp. Wyra weighed it, and stared coolly at the enemy. The frustration, the fear, and the grief faded away. Now there was only annealing to be done, and she would exact vengeance for Edgar’s death.

 

Maill hefted his club and glared at the army of koloss. After so long, he thought. After so rusting long. At long last. Perhaps it felt a little like atonement. Or perhaps it felt a little like peace.

 

Eoladdin. Rent. Tivend Elons. Arinian. Sothe. Matilda. 

 

The shades of the fallen thronged the mist.

 

The dead were legion; all the dead, all the fallen, all those who had given their lives or had them ended tragically in the defense of Tyrian Falls at one point or other flooded into the mists, answering the call, answering the courage in Tyrian Falls right here, right now, with their own courage.

 

The koloss became very aware of the fact they were no longer alone, as a god screamed in cheated fury.

 

Light gleamed, the bright wicked slice of a scythe blade.

 

~

 

Metal filled the air as Scimon Tlag and Ellie fought.

 

Sidor kept low, advancing as best as she could. Scimon Tlag knew she posed a threat to him, and sharp bits of metal kept flying at her, and Ellie yanked them off course and hurled them back at Tlag, forcing him back, forcing him on the defensive.

 

She could take a little pain. Her Hazekiller training held firm.

 

She sprinted the last few metres to Scimon and brought the splinter forwards, scraping her own hands in the process.

 

It was so quiet.

 

His mouth gaping in a silent scream, Scimon Tlag fell.

 

Sidor pulled an obsidian knife from her boot and slit his throat, for good measure.

 

And then it was over.

 

It was all over.

 

Blood spread out in a large pool on the ground.

 

“Did we…did we win?” Ellie asked, cautiously. Some of the other villagers had begun to poke their heads out from cover.

 

Sidor looked about her, at the destruction that the metal storm had wreaked on Tyrian Falls. She couldn’t figure out where High Prelan Ferac was, and decided she didn’t particularly care if the Spiked had murdered him.
 

“I think,” she croaked, and had to try again. Her throat was bone dry. “I think we did.”

 

---

AG8 is officially and completely over! And thank you to @Kasimir for the fantastic final writeup.

First, player identities:

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1. @Orlok Tsubodai: Amber Vulture Vanilla Villager
2. @Devotary of Spontaneity: Amethyst Scorpion - Sidor, newly resigned Hazekiller (Guardsman) Vanilla Villager
3. @Teia/@Droughtbringer: Azure Mouse Village Tineye
4. @Amanuensis: Charcoal Hyena Spiked Mistborn
5. @_Stick_: Chartreuse Penguin - Aethex (Jester) Village Thug
6. @Matrim's Dice Coral Swan - Su (Jaist) Village Mistborn
7. @Illwei: Emerald Falcon Village Lurcher
8. @|TJ|: Fuchsia Ostrich - Freddie (Glutton) Vanilla Villager
9. @Azmine_king/@Haelbarde: Ivory Dragonfly (Unlucky) (Replaced) Village Rioter
10. @Karnatheon: Magenta Albatross (Past Lives) Village Thug
11. @DrakeMarshall: Mauve Crocodile (Gambler) Vanilla Villager
12. @Ashbringer: Melon Dingo - Scimon Tlag (Merchant) Spiked Lurcher
13. @Sart: Mint Heron - Tivend Elons (Casanova) Village Smoker
14. @Biplet: Onyx Flamingo (Gossip/Casanova) Vanilla Villager
15. @Lotus: Opal Lion Vanilla Villager
16. @Elandera: Oxblood Beagle Spiked Coinshot
17. @StrikerEZ: Pearl Chameleon - Var (Two-Faced) Spiked
18. @JNV/@Experience: Plum Rhinoceros (Prophet-ish) Village Thug
19. @Dannnex: Quartz Zebra (Drunk/Jaist) Village Lurcher
20. @Archer: Saffron Iguana (Helpful Heckler) Village Soother
21. @Kasimir: Salmon Meerkat - Kellehrt, local farmer and possible madman Village Tineye
22. @Walin: Sapphire Elephant Village Mistborn
23. @The Unknown Aon: Scarlet Octopus (Neat, Extremist Priest) Village Tineye
24. @Habo: Sunburst Toucan Village Thug
25. @Szeth_Pancakes: Turquoise Gorilla (Game Show Host) Spiked
26. @Araris Valerian: Violet Axolotl - Dyring (Neat Innkeeper) Village Rioter

Doc links (including the spreadsheet this time):

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Master Spreadsheet
Dead Doc (note: contains copious amounts of memes and is ~200 pages; be cautious on opening)
Evil Doc

I am delighted to announce that this year’s non-Sanderson pass winners are Melon Dingo (@Ashbringer), Pearl Chameleon ( @StrikerEZ), Coral Swan (@Matrim's Dice), and Salmon Meerkat (@Kasimir)! (We decided to give out four rather than three, since those four players were well ahead of everyone else in the running, and the last two were literally tied.) Congrats to all of them on playing a great game. (Note that the pass rules are changing slightly; see the next post for details.)

The post immediately following this one contains my post mortem for the game, and will start off the Discussion(™) that we’ve been holding back on for the past week. That’s important and needs to happen, but I want to remind everyone to be considerate and to remember that we all ultimately want SE to be better. We may disagree about how, but the underlying goal is the same. (In other words: please do discuss, please don’t make me sit on the thread to make sure everyone behaves. ) The mods are also planning on some rule changes based on events of this and recent games; those can be found in Meta Discussion and we’d prefer if rule-specific discussion mostly happened there and this thread can be reserved for thoughts specifically about this game. 

 

But before that, something lighter:

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Awards
Amber Vulture (Orlok), for having the most thorough analysis.
Amethyst Scorpion (Devotary), for the most underappreciated jokes, and being the quickest anagram cracker.
Azure Mouse (Teia/Droughtbringer), for being the only reason PMs stayed around.
Charcoal Hyena (Aman), for being the most voted on player.
Chartreuse Penguin (Stick), for the most sporadically correct takes.
Coral Swan (Matrim) for being the best street preacher. Praise the Ja!
Emerald Falcon (Illwei), for being the most accidentally evil villager.
Fuchsia Ostrich (TJ), for having the best PM paranoia.
Ivory Dragonfly (Azmine/Hael), for being the most confused player.
Magenta Albatross (Karnatheon), for having the most confusing identity to everyone else.
Mauve Crocodile (Drake), for the best scam PM and great dead doc gambling schemes.
Melon Dingo (Ash), for perfect semiactive elim play, and trying so hard even as the last elim alive.
Mint Heron (Sart), for the most underrated analysis.
Onyx Flamingo (Biplet), for the chillest PMs and best calming influence.
Opal Lion (Lotus), for saying no to pronouns.
Oxblood Beagle (Elandera), for playing a great innocent village coinshot.
Pearl Chameleon (Striker), for having the most suspicious cosmetic role and sticking to it anyway.
Plum Rhinoceros (JNV/Experience), for best late entrance to the game.
Quartz Zebra (Dannex), for best Lurching.
Saffron Iguana (Archer), for the best puns (and being the most stubborn, especially once dead ). 
Salmon Meerkat (Kel), for being absolutely insane about everything.
Sapphire Elephant (Walin), for best undercover power role.
Scarlet Octopus (The Unknown Aon), for winning the first Oops Award and being a Steel magnet.
Sunburst Toucan (Habo), for being the best self-correcting role distribution error.
Turquoise Gorilla (Szeth), for most Oops Awards and having the most killable CR.
Violet Axolotl (Araris), for subtlest trolling and bringing back Dyring.
Little Wilson, for best unexpected late trolling payoff.
And finally @Fifth Scholar, for literally everything, but especially writeups and paying attention to the game when I got too busy with school to focus on it enough. 

 

Congrats and thanks to all of you, for making this a great game.

Edited February 5, 2022 by Elbereth

[Elbereth]

Post Mortem AG thoughts

Balance: This was discussed at length in the dead doc, but I think the distribution for this game was reasonably well balanced, though not perfectly so. Part of this is that I decided to go with the more insane of the two e!Coinshot distributions that Fifth wrote up, i.e. to give the elims a Mistborn, Lurcher, and Coinshot. That has huge potential for gambits, but a somewhat more well-rounded option would have been Coinshot, Thug, Smoker, Soother, vanilla, and the village got a Seeker in place of one of the Thugs - on which note, we did definitely have too many Thugs in the game.

But, at the same time, an e!Coinshot distribution is inherently volatile. Beagle could have died C1, and the elim team would be screwed. Or, had she not hit so many thugs and protects, the elims could have curbstomped the village. All told, I’m okay with how it all played out, albeit fairly surprised (I was definitely more nervous about the village being underpowered than the elims, pre-game-start :P). Now, on to how exactly it did play out...

Overview: My thoughts on why/how the game played out exactly as it did are twofold: one, the elims went for a strategy of killing mid-active players and leaving the really active ones alive. That strategy isn’t usually a problem in most games, though, and I’m definitely not advocating for killing all the active people first every time here. But there was also Meerkat’s D3 scanned-himself-as-spiked gambit. That made several of the elims stand out, and then it was worsened when Gorilla immediately flipped evil - see, an elim flip means the living analysis-heavy villagers are going to be much more accurate and dangerous to the elims, and there were enough of those still alive that a lot of the elims came and stayed under heavy suspicion for the rest of the game. (And some villagers, it wasn’t 100% accurate or anything, but it was enough to win the game.) The elims also weren’t helped by the number of failed kills - again, some of that is on us for the number of Thugs, but there were also a couple key protects by Quartz Zebra.

There are other factors, of course - Beagle falling under enough suspicion that she had to claim limited her kills a lot, Penguin was scanned village and that was confirmed by Swan’s death, etc. But I think that’s the basics, and it ended up feeling like the elims were really disadvantaged, but I do think a lot of that goes to the village just playing a really excellent game. The curse was broken, fair and square. 

 

Now, onto the Discussion(™) part. A bunch of pretty tense stuff happened this game. I’m not planning to go into details, but I do have some overall thoughts:

On emotional manipulation: The amount of emotional manipulation that an elim is willing to do varies widely depending on the player. The amount our community is willing to tolerate has also fluctuated somewhat - I think from an objective standpoint it’s all been relatively small, but SE is more tight-knit than a lot of mafia communities and way more than the internet as a whole. We care because we’re friends, and the idea of a friend using that caring against us can hurt. In addition, the end result of emotional manipulation (or, more broadly, just expressing strong emotions when evil) is that people in the future feel compelled to be suspicious when someone is being vulnerable, which is hard for everyone. There was more emotion expressed than usual in this game, because tensions were running high, so this has come up and I think it’s important to discuss.

We also don’t want showing emotion to be a village clear. Nor do we want to say that no one is allowed to show emotion in the game. So it’s a tricky balance. In general, my thoughts are that we should limit showing emotion, and try not to tie it into arguments you’re making, especially ones about alignment. (So for example, “hey I’m really upset that everyone is tunneling so hard on me” is imo better than “I’m really upset that y’all think I’m an elim because I’ve been trying really hard” (regardless of alignment).) I would also suggest, when possible, venting first to a friend or to the IM before spilling all your emotions out into thread. If you’re unsure about a post, you’re always welcome to run it by the IM to check if it’s too much. (Though obviously we’re not available 24/7, this approach may be impractical if the post is especially time-sensitive.)

The other thing I want to point out is that often that emotion happens because players get really, really invested in a game. So another way to address this problem is to just be less emotionally invested in particular games. I know that saying that is much easier than doing it, but it is in the end just a game that you’re playing with friends. Try not to take it too seriously.

 

On expectations: This was mostly an underlying issue, I think, not one that came too prominently into the light, but let’s talk about it. A problem adjacent but not quite the same as reputation is what other people expect of you, or what you perceive they expect. I say “confirmed good is not confirmed right” a lot, and that’s not only because confirmed villagers can be wrong - it’s also because you shouldn’t expect more from a confirmed villager than from yourself (especially as, from your perspective, you’re also confirmed village). You also shouldn’t expect other people to do the analysis for you.

As someone who’s been here, it can be really frustrating to feel like a lot of people are relying on you because you happen to talk a lot or be mostly village-read. I would encourage people to try to find their own reasoning for votes/suspicions as much as possible (or at least expand on someone else’s and not just say “I agree with so-and-so”), but I’m not sure what else you can do other than keep this in mind. At least a couple people felt that pressure this game, and plenty of you have in past games - does anyone have any thoughts on how to minimize it?

It’s also worth noting that a lot of the time those expectations come from yourself as much as anyone else. I personally expect myself to read the entire thread, no matter how behind I am, and in the past that’s led to me just going inactive because the idea of catching up on so many pages was too daunting but I couldn’t let myself rejoin without doing that. This is, honestly, a harder problem to solve than external expectations. I don’t have much advice here other than that it’s just a game, and try not to be afraid to be imperfect in front of others.
 

On trust groups: So there was a trust group this game. And trust groups always have the potential to cause friction, but that was realized this game due to a few factors that don’t usually happen. One, it was public. Usually trust groups stay secret or die. But two, it didn’t die - or at least, multiple of its members lasted for much longer than usual. From my perspective, I honestly don’t think the trust group did anything bad, but also my perspective was without fog-of-war. The trust group didn’t actually have much more information at all than the rest of y’all, but there was no way for you to know that. Ironically, I think this was actually exacerbated by Meerkat’s anonymized info dumps - they narrowed the knowledge gap substantially, but they made it feel like the trust group had a lot more information/connections.

I also don’t think the trust group (or Meerkat in particular, being the public face of it) did anything to try to coerce people to do things or vote with him - in fact, he was pretty frustrated by how many people weren’t arguing and instead just following his logic without much input. But I also know that a couple people felt some pressure anyway, for which I have two responses. One, if you haven’t been playing for that long of a time you may not actually realize how anti-mayor SE is, because nowadays we tend to avoid rulesets where that’s even an option and it doesn’t come up much even when it is (because of the aforementioned “usually they’re not public or they die fast” bit). But just to be clear, we do not like mayoring. If you feel like you’re being pressured by someone because they’re a trusted villager, say so and anyone who’s been around long enough will yell at the person on your behalf. That’s something I take for granted enough that I don’t consider there to be pressure implied at all by a trusted/cleared villager, but I realized not everyone will have that context.

Two, I think it’s worth discussing how trust groups should handle themselves publicly to minimize this kind of friction. I genuinely don’t have an answer here - should you be as open as possible, so people feel like they know what’s going on and aren’t left out? Should you be as quiet as possible, because if people don’t know it’s happening then they won’t feel left out? Is there a way to word things that helps? I don’t know. But I’m interested to hear if anyone has any ideas, because I don’t think I’ve ever seen it talked about before and it’s a valuable question.
 

On moderation: There’s been some discussion about moderation recently, mostly (though not entirely) because of events in this game. On this I’d make two points: one, it has been pointed out that there is some amount of expectation on GMs to do mediation, and that players will go to the GM well before they go to an IM. The GM signed up to run a game, not to do mediation, and as such we (the mods) are planning to make IMs a more active presence in the game. This means something like posting every cycle or two to remind everyone the IM is there, plus a little more interaction and keeping an eye on GM PMs for issues.

But, two, we cannot be held responsible for reading every PM and checking the thread every few hours so we can proactively address potential issues. In this game, Fifth and I did most of the mediation rather than Wilson (which is fine, I’m a mod and he’s been one and we’ve both got lots of practice - Wilson knew about the problems but there was no reason for her to step in because we could handle it), and I’d point out that we addressed issues proactively as soon as we saw them. I couldn’t expect an IM to be paying closer attention than we did, and we were proactive, and yet problems still happened. Sometimes they’re sudden. Sometimes they’re hard to stop (Falcon’s frustration about being tunneled is a notable example here; we talked to her and Meerkat plenty and helped calm things but it couldn’t really be properly solved without revealing her alignment). And that’s okay! Problems do happen, and we can’t prevent them all.

More generally, just because the GM shouldn’t be expected to mediate doesn’t mean they aren’t partially responsible for flagging issues where they see them. Same goes for players - again, the IM won’t read every player-player PM and sometimes the GM won’t either (I certainly gave up this game after the second trust PM  or so >>). Hopefully us being more visible in games will help here - and IMs will be checking on GM PMs, so raising something in there works too. (There is a class of issues that only the GM and IM can see, and the GM may not be experienced enough to recognize - those things we do keep an eye on particularly, especially for less-experienced GMs.) We’re happy to help, but we aren’t omniscient. You need to put in the work too. 

 

Some other smaller notes / thoughts:

If you want a particular alignment in a game or don’t think you can handle an alignment, tell the GM! If you tell them (and no one else), there’s a good chance the GM will take that into account. It’s not guaranteed, but if you’re really hoping to be a villager this game because being an elim would be too much pressure, it is okay to tell the GM. I occasionally ask people I know are under a lot of IRL pressure about this - Meerkat was the elim Coinshot in one of the rolled distributions and that’s one of several reasons I decided not to go with it, because he would’ve gone insane. More insane.

As was particularly noticed by Falcon in this game, but is true more generally, too much tunneling can easily turn bad. Believing that someone is evil and refusing to consider any other possibility is very frustrating for that someone (especially, but not exclusively, when they’re good); everyone should try to keep this in mind when convinced someone is evil. Even if you’re absolutely certain, think about how you act on it. And, on the other side, recognize that this will happen to you sometimes. It’s just a game in the end, and if you get frustrated try to take a step back and chill a little, and if you can talk it out with the IM or the player in question.

Multiple people, as a result of the various dramas in this game, expressed that they were considering no longer playing because they felt they’d done something wrong or were bad for the community. In all cases, I think you’re wrong. (I’m not talking here about anyone who has ever thought about leaving because the community was bad for them; that’s your call entirely, and I can’t speak to it.)  Seriously, even if you did cause problems, none of you did so intentionally, and hopefully the resulting discussion will make SE better as a whole. You’re part of this community, and in my opinion sticking around to learn from your mistakes is much better than leaving.

This anonymous game was, uh, not anonymous. At all. I’m starting to think that anon games should mostly be QFs and MRs, which are short and chaotic enough to avoid revealing who you are, but the point stands - identity was not only often obvious this game, but also often used for logic. That’s not strictly a bad thing; this game wasn’t intended to be a “you MUST hide your identity and never claim at all” sort of deal, but it is worth discussing. Anon games are in part intended to let people avoid their rep for a while, and to keep people on more equal footing rather than listening more to some players based on their past reputation. We don’t have an official line here (and I don’t know if we should), but there were a couple points where I think things may have crossed into dubious territory (notably D4 pre-openwolfing, the discussion of Aman’s reputation was understandable and not wrong, but perhaps used as reasoning a little more than I’d have been comfortable with). But, as I told Kas, you can’t really be annoyed about someone using your identity when you’re screaming it to the entire world. The anonymous accounts facilitate this anonymity, but the player has to put in some of the work too.

---

These thoughts are only my own thoughts, not those of the moderation team; please don’t hesitate to argue or disagree. Please do remember to be considerate of the people you’re talking to/about - lots of people have lots of strong emotions about this game, and I’d prefer for this thread to be a productive discussion rather than a threadfire that I have to come put out.

Edited February 5, 2022 by Elbereth

[Biplet]

7 minutes ago, Elbereth said:

Onyx Flamingo (Biplet), for the chillest PMs and best calming influence.

Haha nice! This is an award I can accept

[Elandera]

Wonderful game, everyone. Before we get into serious topics... May I introduce one more meme:

Spoiler

 

[Araris Valerian]

9 minutes ago, Elbereth said:

bringing back Dyring.

I didn't actually know that Dyring was from a previous Tyrian game. I just didn't have a character picked out and also didn't want to do something Aralis/Arenta-like that would give me away instantly. Glad he turned out as well as he did, though I didn't stick with the CR as much as I could have.

Many thanks to @Elbereth and @Fifth Scholar for running the game. Anniversary games are one of the highlights of SE, and this one was no exception. Also, @Kasimir(who totally isn't Kel)'s final writeup is amazing and captures the breaking of the curse better than I could have imagined it.

[Elbereth]

Just now, Araris Valerian said:

I didn't actually know that Dyring was from a previous Tyrian game. I just didn't have a character picked out and also didn't want to do something Aralis/Arenta-like that would give me away instantly. Glad he turned out as well as he did, though I didn't stick with the CR as much as I could have.

Dyring is literally from LG1. I didn't realize you didn't know!

[Araris Valerian]

Just now, Elbereth said:

Dyring is literally from LG1. I didn't realize you didn't know!

Yeah, I caught it reading through the dead doc, but was oblivious while the game was ongoing.

[Mat]

24 minutes ago, Elbereth said:

Sunburst Toucan (Habo), for being the best self-correcting role distribution error.

xD

I guess I'm currently in that post-AG awed buzz after reading @Kasimir's writeup and such. The headspace where I have a whole lot to say but also can articulate none of it :P. But this game was amazing! I think, in retrospect, probably my favorite. Su was an amazing character to play (Praise the Ja!) and I really am sad he died, but I'm glad kel and I could give him a good ending. If there's a way to bring him back somehow, he will return.

I'll read the post-mortem and be back later when I'm hopefully more able to articulate myself  

Praise the Ja!

[+Lotus]

So, did anyone guess I was playing?

Edited February 5, 2022 by Lotus

[StrikerEZ]

6 minutes ago, Lotus said:

So, did anyone guess I was playing?

I did not and I am very sad we killed you N1. 

Also, thank you to everyone who said at some point during the game or after that my CR was cool. I had a lot of fun playing with it and it was a huge motivator to keep playing. Even more thanks to everyone who voted for me to get the pass. It means a lot.

Also huge thanks to @Elbereth and @Fifth Scholar for running such an awesome game. I don’t quite have the time to read that giant writeup yet, but I will soon.  

[Karnatheon]

Thank you so much @Elbereth and @Fifth Scholar this was an awesome game to jump back into SE with! Congrats to the winners of the passes, everyone's CRs were awesome I just wish I would have stuck to mine more because it would have been fun. @Kasimir thanks for being someone to bounce things off of in pms, sorry the game got to be so much, and thanks for such an amazing finale writeup! 

I'll take the confusing ID award, I think 2 people told me they thought they knew who I was but I'm pretty sure they probably guessed wrong. 

[Kasimir]

54 minutes ago, Araris Valerian said:

I didn't actually know that Dyring was from a previous Tyrian game. I just didn't have a character picked out and also didn't want to do something Aralis/Arenta-like that would give me away instantly. Glad he turned out as well as he did, though I didn't stick with the CR as much as I could have.

This actually surprises me too. Thought you were doing a deliberate tribute.

1 hour ago, Elbereth said:

Salmon Meerkat (Kel), for being absolutely insane about everything.

I mean:

1 hour ago, Elbereth said:

21. @Kasimir: Salmon Meerkat - Kellehrt, local farmer and possible madman Village Tineye

I believe it's called playing to my CR on a meta-level

I too have a meme:

Spoiler

Thanks for the game. I enjoyed it and it really means a lot to me to see the curse has finally been broken after being part of two successive Villages that threw themselves against it to no avail. I haven't been around for LG1, but I think I've been around early enough that it felt like the curse was a fixture that was never going to be moved.

Apologies for stealing Fifth's thunder here

I had a bit of RP to post reflecting my thoughts after the game was done and anonymity lifted, but the urge to do so has kind of left after pinch-hitting the write-up which I think hit some of the emotional notes/thoughts I'd wanted to anyway.

I dunno. I think I just really need sleep right now. Be back later.

And thanks for the pass, I appreciated it.

I don't usually embark on lying sprees, gambit sprees, or trolling sprees this elaborate in my regular playstyle so it was nice to get to mess things up a bit as kel and let my chaotic/trolling side loose.

@Elbereth @Fifth Scholar Oh good Lord thank you for not picking the E!Coinshot me distro it's disturbing how close I came to damnation :sob:

Edited to add:

For anyone who wants the story on why @little wilson has the award for best unexpected late trolling pay-off, I did it by accident  

Good night/day y'all I need sleep.

Edited February 5, 2022 by Kasimir