Long Game (3)2: Pulling on Strings

[Bugsy he/him]

22 minutes ago, Arraenae said:

I'd just like to say this now: I cannot understand High Imperial at all.

Hopefully I can help with that. When you see something in High Imperial, it will begin with either "Ising" or "Wasing". This is a tense indicator, the former of which indicates present tense and the latter of which indicates past tense. Once that word appears, another "-ing" word (gerund) will indicate what verb is actually occurring in the sentence. The subject is the most difficult aspect of High Imperial to grasp, as it is difficult to place in a sentence naturally. Rather, it's usually conveyed by context or gestures. To provide some examples, "Ising the being of fast" would mean "[Subject] is being fast", while responding to a question such as "What are you doing?" with "Ising the being of running" would mean "I am running". "Wasing the wanting of this", a line used by Spook in the first book, would mean "[Subject] wanted this". The subject, TLR, was indicated in this passage through his gestures at Kedrik Shaw. 

I'm going to let people know up front that my internet connection will be limited beginning Thursday, and I won't be able to check on regularly at any point in the following 10 days as things currently stand. I'll try to get on occasionally, but I can't guarantee I'll make every cycle

Edited March 27, 2017 by Bugsy6912

[Farnsworth]

Tekiel. Again. It wasn't enough to cripple my house, kill my father, and destroy everything every Daland every worked for. He had to kidnap me as well. Of course, that was something rather typical of Tekiel. Yes, I guess it did make sense. He couldn't just wait for me to come over, he had to bring me over in a small box. A small, rather splintery box. Hmph. Now I have splinters in my feet. Ah, well, I guess I'll just have to deal with it until I get there and manage to kill him. Agh! More splinters. Were am I even going? Is there even a road this bumpy anywhere on the planet? And this box stinks! What was it used to carry? TEKIEL! That rusting bastard! Arrg! More splinters!

[Jondesu he/him]

Remart grunted and sat upright, or mostly upright. The hall he found himself in was nice enough he presumed it was Tekiel's, though perhaps not the main one in his Keep. The other people waking around him were also waking and looking around, most of them at least, but few noticed the food in front of them as quickly as Remart. He picked up a nice roll of bread and a hunk of meat and dug in, storing away the calories for later. He might need those at some point. This Lord Tekiel was well-connected, and while Remart was glad to have been saved some of his journey, knocking out a pewterarm was no easy thing, so Tekiel must have sent his men prepared. Remart simply hoped that his Feruchemy remained a secret for now.

Just a note, I'm keeping Remart a pewter misting like he was in AG3, but it's just for RP. I probably won't draw on it much since he's gotten used to keeping his use of pewter subtle, if he has any in him in the first place.

[Bugsy he/him]

Jelwynd awoke, groggy. His head pounded. Where was he? He looked around, and found himself in a small, windowless room with ornate decor. A potted plant, different from the usual brown, sat nearby. It must have been cultivated especially for decoration. For some reason, his mind locked onto the plant until he felt as if he had to look closer. He lurched up from the cot he had been laid on, hobbled over to the plant, and promptly threw up all over it with the exertion. What was happening to him? This thought echoed in his brain for awhile as it shook off the cobwebs that came with a prolonged slumber and searing headache. I must have been drugged, he eventually concluded. This suspicion was only confirmed when he discovered a note in the room speaking of his kidnapping by Tekiel. Why would the man do this? He was headed here anyways. A better question, why would the man use such painful dosages of drugs on the 'guests' he had invited if he wanted them to be able to compete in any way? A brief flash of pain entered his mind along with this new question, but he eventually found the answer with the help of some tapped zinc. Rusts, he thought. They gave me a thug's dose. His head continued to throb in pain as he laid back down. I'm going to need to sleep this off

Edited March 27, 2017 by Bugsy6912

[Orlok Tsubodai he/him]

@Metacognition, PMs are indeed currently open.

[Amanuensis he/him]

Regarding the story, I hadn't anticipated our characters being kidnapped. It's given me what I think is a great idea for roleplay, but unfortunately my brain isn't being cooperative right now, and I need to take care of the LG30 finale before I tackle this game seriously, anyway. Until I can get RP up, I'll inform everyone that the character I'm playing, Mykal, is not currently present. Elosa Renaud was the person invited by Lord Tekiel and, after refusing to participate in his test, was inevitably taken against her will. She is not happy about the situation, and the stress on her is apparent. In case anyone wants to reference her, you should know that the Renaud family is an offshoot of House Renoux. The Renauds are not well known as their primary responsibilities are managing several plantations on the fringe of the Final Empire, which means that most, or perhaps all other characters, will not recognize her. As for her appearance, she has short, blonde hair (imagine Cersei Lannister's haircut in Season 5 of Game of Thrones) and has amber-colored eyes. For a Noble Lady, she is not very lady like, preferring to wear more practical clothing (like that of a skaa worker, except higher quality and stylized) rather than dresses. She doesn't wear make up, so the wrinkles on her face are noticeable. It's not that she's very old, just that she's had a rough few years since her parents died, so characters may be surprised to learn she's only 32. Tobacco is the main source of income at her late father's plantation, and as you can guess, growing up there inevitably led her to becoming addicted to the stuff, so chances are you will usually find her puffing from a long, thin cigarette in the corner of the room.

As for the game... Arraenae. This subject was talked about quite a bit on the first day of LG31 so I'll try to keep my point short. What do you think poke votes accomplish? Judging by your post, I can infer that you're using it to get a new player involved in the game sooner rather than later. If that's the case, shouldn't @mentioning them be enough? Furthermore, why not @mention the other new players, or all of the players who have yet to post? Is there a specific reason you chose Ome from the twenty+ others who haven't? As for the vote, while it may give the target a little more incentive to respond, don't you think the lack of any substantial reasoning for it makes it unlikely that your target will do more than say hey, I'm here? Wouldn't it be better to ask Ome a question so that we can all get a feel about his perspective on things? For example, why not do this: @OmeGaster, have you played any games of mafia before? If so, tell us about your experiences. If not, do you have any questions? @Ornstein, I saw you express confusion a few times before the game began. Is there anything I can help clarify for you? @Yitzi2, @Iamspartacus, same questions apply to you. This game is your first, which makes you both potentially dangerous if you're the Inquisitor, or later converted, as we have no past interactions to refer to when trying to figure out your alignment. Can you help the village by giving us some insight into your minds?

@Arraenae, what reason do I have to believe you're not the Inquisitor trying to hide in plain sight? Poke votes are, in my opinion, unhelpful. Personally I think the only real benefit of poke votes is that they make a player seem more active and interested in promoting activity than they actually are, which is ideal for eliminators. Do you disagree? If so, why?

EDIT: @Ecthelion III, and anyone else who cares. I've tried to work on the LG30 finale, but I'm sleep deprived and unable to rest because I'm currently working night shift. Just wanted to let you know that I won't be able to finish it tonight like I hoped. Just writing this post took me three hours, which is ridiculous considering how short it is. I have no plans or commitments tomorrow, so after I get home I will go straight to bed, and immediately begin writing after I wake up. I would really like to RP for this game, so I'm hoping that I'll be able to get both the finale and Mykal / Elosa's introductions done before this turn is over.

Since I mentioned you, I might as well ask you something, too. How do you think that the Inquisitor would handle this game? For example, do you think they'd post infrequently, or lurk outright? How likely do you think they have posted already (not statistically, but strategically)?

Although I've directed these questions at Ecth, does anyone else want to weigh in on this? How about you, @Sart? You ninja'd me while I was editing this post so I know you're around. I guess I should also ask you what you hope to accomplish in voting on yourself. Your roleplay implies that you're trying to get people to vote, but can you explain how voting on yourself helps that?

Edited March 27, 2017 by Amanuensis

[Sart he/him]

4 hours ago, OrlokTsubodai said:

All PMs have now been sent.

You are quite correct - the Inquisitor must have a dead misting to convert someone.

"All righty then youngsters. I may be old, but I ain't stupid. I know a ploy when I see one. This Inquisitor needs dead mistings eh? Well, I ain't one, and I'm not going to be one anytime soon. Therefore, I'm the best candidate for lynching." Gaetan smirked. "Come on, I ain't getting any younger. Won't somebody vote on poor Gaetan? I'm too old for this crud, and there's no time like the present. You need to cure your soft hearts for voting, and I'm the best candidate. So come on, who wants a piece of the action?." Gaetan readied his dukes. He was itching for a fight, and with his vote, he was sure to get one.

[DrakeMarshall he/him]

Ah, the game wasing the start. Hello everybody. Ising called Serray (ising needing a nickname for speaking the high imperial though).

Ising not much to say. Ising sorry not to be as active as wasing usually. Ising going to be more active next cycle.

---

Feel free to ask me if anything I say doesn't make sense. I believe so far I've been reasonably intelligible.

[Amanuensis he/him]

1 hour ago, Drake Marshall said:

Ah, the game wasing the start. Hello everybody. Ising called Serray (ising needing a nickname for speaking the high imperial though).

Ising not much to say. Ising sorry not to be as active as wasing usually. Ising going to be more active next cycle.

---

Feel free to ask me if anything I say doesn't make sense. I believe so far I've been reasonably intelligible.

Why are you not going to be as active this cycle compared to the next?

Edited March 27, 2017 by Amanuensis

[Elenion he/him]

Ising the Inquisitor the having of special powers? Ising the hearing of references to that regard, but ising the not seeing of it in the rules.

Meta, wasing the GMing of LG2, right? Ising the having of any guesses about the number of conversions the Inquisitor ising having?

 

Ising the being of normal English:

Spoiler

Does the Inquisitor have special powers? I keep hearing people referencing them, but I don't see anything in the rules to that regard.

Meta, you GMed LG2, right? Have any guesses as to how many conversions the Inquisitor is packing?

@Metacognition

[Yitzi2]

48 minutes ago, Amanuensis said:

As for the game... Arraenae. This subject was talked about quite a bit on the first day of LG31 so I'll try to keep my point short. What do you think poke votes accomplish? Judging by your post, I can infer that you're using it to get a new player involved in the game sooner rather than later. If that's the case, shouldn't @mentioning them be enough? Furthermore, why not @mention the other new players, or all of the players who have yet to post? As for the vote itself, while it may give the target a little more incentive to respond, the lack of any substantial reasoning for your vote makes it unlikely that your target will do more than say hey, I'm here. Wouldn't it be better to ask Ome a question so that we can all get a feel about his perspective on things? For example, @OmeGaster, have you played any games of mafia before? If so, tell us about your experiences. If not, do you have any questions? @Ornstein, I saw you express confusion a few times before the game began. Is there anything I can help clarify for you? @Yitzi2, @Iamspartacus@Arraenae, same questions apply to you. This game is your first, which makes you both potentially dangerous if you're the Inquisitor, or later converted, as we have no past interactions to refer to when trying to figure out your alignment. Can you help the village by giving us some insight into your minds?

I'm extremely honest...but of course that's what they'd all say, and if I were the Inquisitor, it would manifest differently in this game than in real life.    I haven't played any games of mafia before, though I have played other hidden identity games. For more insight into my mind...it might be informative that Kaladin is my favorite character largely because I'm a lot like him.

Edited March 27, 2017 by Yitzi2

[Arrae]

@Amanuensis, I poke-voted OmeGaster because nobody had voted yet and I wanted to kick off discussion. If your vote on me is any indication, it's working! Also, sometimes a mention isn't enough to get someone to post. If, 5 hours into a game, I have to choose between slapping a poke vote or nothing, I'll pick the poke vote. I couldn't really do much else at the moment. I was on mobile (still am) and was in no mood to do all the window-switching between the game thread and the rules post required to give advice on roles. To be honest, I've barely read the rules. Yeah, I know that's bad practice. I'll read the rules eventually. I'm a little sleep-deprived now (storming roomate had the TV on with sound at 1 something in the morning, approaching 2 and I had to get up at 6:30 today) and not up to thinking of what to do with each role at the moment. RP is nice, but doesn't advance discussion. Sure I could put in-game analysis in my RP, but that still requires having stuff to say. What else could I have done besides a poke vote? I know you just provided several examples of asking, but seriously, when have you ever seen me do that? It takes less time (and thought) to slap on a poke vote. And you resoonded to that and now I'm responding to you, so yay discussion!

I picked OmeGaster because I can vote on one person at once. Also because I looked at the player list and picked his name. Maybe it's further from returning player names so it stood out as being more new to me? Don't ask me, I'm not a psychologist. Honestly it didn't even occur to me that I could mention multiple people. I've gotten used to mentions not working for me and being able to mention OmeGaster in that post was a pleasant surprise. Maybe it works on mobile but not my laptop?

If I'm rambling, blame my tiredness, or maybe blame the roommate that kept the storming TV on. Next time I'm not rooming with a night owl. Hopefully less-filtered Rae is easier to get reads on for you. There, does that cover most of your questions Aman?

[Jondesu he/him]

Remart snorted. Youngsters and their street slang. He was hearing far too much of it in the room, which made him wonder about Lord Tekiel's standards (though his chefs were excellent).

"Listen, some of us don't go about ising and wasing all day. Anyone here going to figure out a plan? At least the lady with the cigarette is asking questions. Namely, what in the name of the Lord Ruler's ashes is this test we're supposed to pass?"

---

I was going to RP my vote, but it didn't make sense. @Elenion, this may be my usual tunneling on you, but you threw in a little role play, and a question about the Inquisitors that makes me suspicious you might be one, or that you're a role that would benefit from finding them. You're usually a vocal player, but something's feeling off so far. For now, Elenion has my vote, as a hopefully useful D1 vote.

On that note, I hope we don't have to go through the usual poke vote debate, but Aman said it well. I think I've become convinced finally that we have to put votes out with thought behind them, but aggressively enough to generate debate and make people defend themselves and others, and we need to have a Day 1 lynch as well (that might not be true in some games with unusual mechanics, but definitely in most games). I'll happily switch my vote if presented with a better option, but I am honestly suspicious of what Len has posted so far. Tomorrow I'll try analyzing all of the posts at the time I get a chance and put together some more information too.

[Herowannabe he/him]

Herwynbe awoke coughing and spluttering, at least until he spat out whatever had been shoved into his mouth. He sat up, rubbing the back of his head where he had been struck. I really should get around to filling a goldmind one of these days. Or really, anything other than my coppermind.

His eye fell on the wad of paper that had been shoved in his mouth. He picked it up and straightened it out. It was another letter. He quickly read through it.

"Aha!" he exclaimed, causing heads to turn and look in his direction. "How delightful! We've been roped into a sort of twisted plot where we kill each other one at a time trying to discover who among us is a traitor to our common cause!"

He looked around, grinning. By the looks on the other faces, they hadn't yet seen what an exciting opportunity this was. Fortunately, Herwynbe's copperminds were stocked full of situations like this; they had occurred with surprisingly regularity in the past. Well, Herwynbe had come here to educate the people of the forgotten knowledge of their ancestors, so that's what he would do. 

He stood up, and called for everyone's attention, then proceeded to lecture the people without waiting to see if anyone was actually listening. 

"This is indeed a rare and wonderful opportunity for us, my friends. Many of our ancestors participated in similar murder rituals, and some of those ancestors- well, the ones that survived the experience at any rate- even went on to describe the barbaric rituals as "fun" and "memorable" and "entertaining." Now we get the same opportunity that they had, to form plots and conspiracies and try to deceive and outwit and ultimately murder each other until one faction or the other is the only one left!

"But, my memories of the past contain a warning. It is quite possible for our gruesome death ceremonies to lose their fun qualities, and even to become 'boring' or 'dull' or 'dismal.' Yes, it is the plague of inactivity of which I speak. You see, if instead of participating in these homicidal rites you choose to sit in the corner and do nothing, then the ceremonies will cease to be fun. Both for you, and for those who are actively engaged in massacring each other. 

"Fortunately, our ancestors developed an sacred organization meant to combat the curse of inactivity, and they called this organization 'the Contribution Crusade.' 'What is this contribution crusade?' you ask."

Nobody had asked. In fact most people had started ignoring the Terrisman, instead trying to find a way out of their predicament. 

"Let me explain. We all chose to be here- or well, technically we were forcefully kidnapped and trapped here, but surely if we had been given the choice we would have gladly accepted- and so let us make a commitment to make the best of it- to contribute to the game, if you will. Whether you have a lot to say or not, speak up and share your thoughts! Whether you have an intriguing history or are engaged in a dynamic struggle against the forces that confront you or you are just an ordinary guy off of the street, share your story with us! Whether you have Allomantic powers or you have nothing more than your vote, use those gifts to aid your team! Whether you have managed to deduce who your opponents are and who your allies are or you are completely clueless and have no idea who to trust or suspect, cast a vote anyway. If nothing else, cast a vote for the annoying Terrisman who won't leave you alone. And if you have other concerns that occupy your thoughts and your time and you can only contribute a small bit of your time to the business of manslaughter, that is okay, spend a little bit of time each day doing what you can.

"But above all, make the most of this experience. Have fun with it. Give what you can and participate as much as you are able, and I'm sure we will all have an enjoyable time!

"Except for those of us that will undoubtedly be killed. They will, of course, be dead. But the survivors will surely have fun, right my friends?

"Right?

"Hello? Isn't anybody paying attention to me?"

---

I wanted to get my traditional Contribution Crusade post in before the game actually began, but I didn't get the chance to. However, (and I'm putting this in blue text and giving you my word of honor so you can trust I'm not lying) I have not yet looked at my role PM, so you can trust that I am advocating the Contribution Crusade not as part of a scheme to favor one faction or the other, but because I genuinely believe in it.

I outlined it pretty well above in the highlighted sections, but if you are curious about it, it basically boils down to this:

1. Most importantly, participate and have fun, and encourage others to do the same. 
2. If you have no better suspicions, or don't like any of the candidates up for the lynch, considering voting for a player that has gone less active. It is (debatably, I admit) often better to lynch a player who is no longer playing the game than to lynch someone who is actively participating and helping their team. Let the players who are engaged in the game survive to play for another cycle or two, and weed out those that are inactive. 

You can also check out some of my previous posts in other games about the Contribution Crusade, such as this one or this one or this one.

 

EDIT: Well I tried to @mention everyone who hasn't posted yet, but had formatting issues and when I edited the post it messed up the mentions, too, and now they're not working. I think the mentions went through the first time though, so I won't add them back in now. I'll do it again later in the cycle. 

Now its time to go read my role PM.

Edited March 27, 2017 by Herowannabe
formatting

[Bugsy he/him]

30 minutes ago, Elenion said:

Ising the Inquisitor the having of special powers? Ising the hearing of references to that regard, but ising the not seeing of it in the rules.

Meta, wasing the GMing of LG2, right? Ising the having of any guesses about the number of conversions the Inquisitor ising having?

 

Ising the being of normal English:

  Hide contents

Does the Inquisitor have special powers? I keep hearing people referencing them, but I don't see anything in the rules to that regard.

Meta, you GMed LG2, right? Have any guesses as to how many conversions the Inquisitor is packing?

@Metacognition

You clearly know that this game is essentially a rerun of LG2, yet you apparently didn't read the rules of that game (despite them having been mentioned multiple times in thread, I might add). I'm confused as to why that would be. Care to clarify, @Elenion? I'm slightly suspicious of you, as it currently stands.

@Amanuensis, I'm on mobile and too tired to reformat your earlier post to quote the section I want to answer, but I feel as if the Inquisitor will be primarily focused on getting roleclaims in PMs to try and find good converts, and will try to avoid attention in-thread by posting infrequently or with medium frequency 

[Yitzi2]

Garshin looked at the man who'd talked about the "contribution crusade".  "Your copperminds have memories of previous incidents of this sort?  How long ago was this?"

[DrakeMarshall he/him]

48 minutes ago, Amanuensis said:

Why are you not going to be as active this cycle compared to the next?

Frankly, I just don't feel up to full activity tonight. If the cycle is still alive in the morning, I'll talk more.

[Arrae]

Alright. Read over the LG2 rules. So there's one elim now: the Inquisitor. This reminds me a bit of LG31, where Mage was some elim equivalent. The GMs said that they picked him to be a elim because he had the lowest lynch rates as an elim. Obviously, this game is different, but maybe Orlok and Stink would have had similar principles for distribution? There's one elim in this game and one elim in that game (I think, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.) obviously, no two players will play exactly the same, but I feel like the Inquisitor might act similarly to the way Mage did in LG31.

Also, analyzing relationships in D1 to find elims is probably going to be useless, because there's only one elim now. The only type of elim relationship in this game at the moment is Inquisitor-self. Obviously this will change after a Misting dies, though.

@OrlokTsubodai @STINK, there is only one Inquisitor in this game, right? Also, could you put a link to the LG2 rules in the LG32 Quicklinks? K thnx love u bai.

[Herowannabe he/him]

23 minutes ago, Yitzi2 said:

Garshin looked at the man who'd talked about the "contribution crusade".  "Your copperminds have memories of previous incidents of this sort?  How long ago was this?"

Herwynbe perked up. Somebody was listening!

"Oh, it is a grand tradition that goes back hundreds of years, and will certainly continue on for generations to come. I would not be surprised to learn that these murder rituals take place in other cultures, or even on different worlds!

"My metalminds have record of over 70 separate occurrences, though only 30 or so have been as large in scale as this one appears it will be. The others tended to be smaller and to span a shorter period of time. Some of them only lasted a handful of days before the killing stopped, leaving the majority of the participants dead.

"No, we are quite lucky here, our deaths will be prolonged and spread out over the next several weeks and maybe even months. I'm quite certain tha- Hey, where are you going? I haven't even begun expounding the various iterations of these death cults. The earliest recorded incident was instigated by a bloodthirsty tyrant by the name of Metacognition and was centered around a small village by the name of Tyrian Falls..."

Herwynbe droned on, not even noticing that his audience had grown bored and wandered off. 

---

And yes, Herwynbe is breaking the fourth wall here. Sort of. Not really breaking it I guess, just bending it a bit. 

[Silverblade5 he/him]

*Sees arinian asking about inquisitors*

*Is suspicious *

[little wilson she/her]

For some reason, I thought this game was starting tomorrow. 

A couple things I want to say.

First, Rae, there's one critical error in your logic. Mage couldn't convert. The Inquisitor can. So the Inquisitor might act similarly to Mage at the beginning of the game. Might. But it's just as easy for him not to as well. That said, most past conversion games where the converter started alone, they were pretty quiet at the beginning, and then as they built up a base of allies, they'd tend to get a little more vocal. Still player dependent since some players still stay quiet, like Sart in QF4, but I think the Contribution Crusade will help with that. I'd suggest watching those who start out quiet and then get more vocal. (Of course, now that I've mentioned this, they'll probably play differently, if they were going to do that.)

Len, the conversions are based on the number of powers the Inquisitor starts with. They have to give up a power for every conversion they make. The number of powers they have will be dependent on player count and I don't know how many players we have and I'm on mobile and too lazy to check the previous page for the player list. It'll likely be between 20-25% of the player count. And I'm nearly certain the Inquisitor would've started with an Uber thug type power, where they have multiple lives.

Which makes what we do today interesting. See, usually, I advocate for D1 lynches. For this specific game, in these specific circumstances, for these specific mechanics, I am going to advocate against a D1 lynch. Why, you ask? Let me explain:

1) There is only one evil player out there right now, and they almost certainly will not only survive the lynch, if it were to hit them, but they also likely have a cover for their alignment/role (LG 2 had one that showed up as a Thug first hit, Inquisitor second hit, and died third hit) so even if it does hit them, we won't know for sure they're the Inquisitor.

2) The Inquisitor cannot convert until a Misting is dead. The village lynched their Coinshot on the first lynch, in a bout of terrible luck, and the Inquisitor used that spike to convert someone. The spike took, giving the eliminators an additional kill right at the start. I was that Spiked Coinshot. I would prefer to avoid the risk of lynching an important village role and thus putting more potential power into the eliminator's side too early. Plus, if we don't lynch, there's no way we'll kill a Misting, and therefore the Inquisitor cannot convert tonight. Easy peasy.

3) The game would be lame if we lynched the Inquisitor on the first lynch. 

That is all I have. I'll RP next time, but like I said: mobile. It's now late and I must sleep. Good night.

[Amanuensis he/him]

7 hours ago, Yitzi2 said:

I'm extremely honest...but of course that's what they'd all say, and if I were the Inquisitor, it would manifest differently in this game than in real life.    I haven't played any games of mafia before, though I have played other hidden identity games. For more insight into my mind...it might be informative that Kaladin is my favorite character largely because I'm a lot like him.

I'll keep this all in mind  although I feel it necessary to advise you that some things are better left unsaid. Specifically, if a player sends you a PM and asks you for your role, I recommend you wait a couple turns before you say anything about it, to make sure that player is trustworthy first. Even the Inquisitor finding out who isn't a Misting is useful information because it will likely convince them to kill someone else who might be a Misting. Considering this is a conversion game, it's important to keep in mind that a villager you claim to can become an eliminator later on. For that reason I think it might be best if most Mistings and all roleless don't claim anything at all. A Seeker is the only role I believe would really benefit from claiming, and that's mostly because they have the ability to clear players.

On that subject, anyone who gets contacted by a Seeker, I suggest you don't tell anyone uncleared by them. I recall AG2 when myself and several other players who had been confirmed good by a Seeker were killed by the eliminators to prevent a trust group from forming. The benefit of openly being cleared is not much in most scenarios, especially early on in the game, and association with a Seeker paints an unnecessary target on your back, either for assassination or conversion. Likely the second, as then the Inquisitor would learn the Seeker's identity so they can kill or convert them, too.

7 hours ago, Arraenae said:

@Amanuensis, I poke-voted OmeGaster because nobody had voted yet and I wanted to kick off discussion. If your vote on me is any indication, it's working! Also, sometimes a mention isn't enough to get someone to post. If, 5 hours into a game, I have to choose between slapping a poke vote or nothing, I'll pick the poke vote. I couldn't really do much else at the moment. I was on mobile (still am) and was in no mood to do all the window-switching between the game thread and the rules post required to give advice on roles. To be honest, I've barely read the rules. Yeah, I know that's bad practice. I'll read the rules eventually. I'm a little sleep-deprived now (storming roomate had the TV on with sound at 1 something in the morning, approaching 2 and I had to get up at 6:30 today) and not up to thinking of what to do with each role at the moment. RP is nice, but doesn't advance discussion. Sure I could put in-game analysis in my RP, but that still requires having stuff to say. What else could I have done besides a poke vote? I know you just provided several examples of asking, but seriously, when have you ever seen me do that? It takes less time (and thought) to slap on a poke vote. And you resoonded to that and now I'm responding to you, so yay discussion!

I picked OmeGaster because I can vote on one person at once. Also because I looked at the player list and picked his name. Maybe it's further from returning player names so it stood out as being more new to me? Don't ask me, I'm not a psychologist. Honestly it didn't even occur to me that I could mention multiple people. I've gotten used to mentions not working for me and being able to mention OmeGaster in that post was a pleasant surprise. Maybe it works on mobile but not my laptop?

If I'm rambling, blame my tiredness, or maybe blame the roommate that kept the storming TV on. Next time I'm not rooming with a night owl. Hopefully less-filtered Rae is easier to get reads on for you. There, does that cover most of your questions Aman?

Yes, this covers most of my questions. While I cannot argue that your first post kicked off discussion, I'm hesitant to credit you for it, since I can't say for sure if anyone else would have responded the way I did. I'm sorry to hear about you being sleep deprived. Hope you can get some rest soon. As for what else you could have done besides a poke vote... plenty of things, really, but I don't blame you for not feeling up to it. As for seeing you ask people questions like I did, I've never seen you do it, but that wasn't really the point I was trying to make. I just wanted to show you that for the intentions you seemed to have, there are more effective ways to accomplish what you want.

6 hours ago, Jondesu said:

I was going to RP my vote, but it didn't make sense. @Elenion, this may be my usual tunneling on you, but you threw in a little role play, and a question about the Inquisitors that makes me suspicious you might be one, or that you're a role that would benefit from finding them. You're usually a vocal player, but something's feeling off so far. For now, Elenion has my vote, as a hopefully useful D1 vote.

On that note, I hope we don't have to go through the usual poke vote debate, but Aman said it well. I think I've become convinced finally that we have to put votes out with thought behind them, but aggressively enough to generate debate and make people defend themselves and others, and we need to have a Day 1 lynch as well (that might not be true in some games with unusual mechanics, but definitely in most games). I'll happily switch my vote if presented with a better option, but I am honestly suspicious of what Len has posted so far. Tomorrow I'll try analyzing all of the posts at the time I get a chance and put together some more information too.

I'm going to go on a limb here and say that I disagree about Len, but I'll talk about this more in a second, when I respond to Bugsy. Likewise, I'll talk about my opinion on whether or not we should lynch anyone today after I quote Wilson.

6 hours ago, Bugsy6912 said:

You clearly know that this game is essentially a rerun of LG2, yet you apparently didn't read the rules of that game (despite them having been mentioned multiple times in thread, I might add). I'm confused as to why that would be. Care to clarify, @Elenion? I'm slightly suspicious of you, as it currently stands.

@Amanuensis, I'm on mobile and too tired to reformat your earlier post to quote the section I want to answer, but I feel as if the Inquisitor will be primarily focused on getting roleclaims in PMs to try and find good converts, and will try to avoid attention in-thread by posting infrequently or with medium frequency 

Personally I don't think Len's post was suspicious. Considering the fact that I've only seen people mention the Inquisitor's "special powers" in LG2, I'm of the opinion that he has read the rules for that game, just not enough of the game itself to have any context. I, myself, was also confused about what "special powers" meant exactly, but instead of asking, I just thought about the concept thoroughly enough to figure out what the original wording meant to convey. I could be wrong about this, but through my eyes, my conclusion is more logical / likely than yours. That being said, @Elenion, don't take me defending you as an excuse to shrug off Bugsy's question. I'd also like to ask who you were specifically referring to when you mentioned people referencing them.

6 hours ago, Drake Marshall said:

Frankly, I just don't feel up to full activity tonight. If the cycle is still alive in the morning, I'll talk more.

Fair enough. I look forward to seeing what you do have to say in the morning.

6 hours ago, Silverblade5 said:

*Sees arinian asking about inquisitors*

*Is suspicious *

To clarify, you're referring to this post, yes?

12 hours ago, Arinian said:

Okay firts what I would say... that I still don't get my GM PM so I don't know my role. And also I have question:

That's quote from rules for LG2... so question. Is that same for this game and Inquisitor needs dead misting to convert someone?

I just want to point out that logically there's no reason to be suspicious of Arinian for this post. Considering he was the first to point out the delay in the GM PMs being sent out, I trust that he did not indeed know his alignment at the time of posting this. That being said, @Arinian, any more thoughts now that you know your role?

5 hours ago, little wilson said:

For some reason, I thought this game was starting tomorrow. 

A couple things I want to say.

First, Rae, there's one critical error in your logic. Mage couldn't convert. The Inquisitor can. So the Inquisitor might act similarly to Mage at the beginning of the game. Might. But it's just as easy for him not to as well. That said, most past conversion games where the converter started alone, they were pretty quiet at the beginning, and then as they built up a base of allies, they'd tend to get a little more vocal. Still player dependent since some players still stay quiet, like Sart in QF4, but I think the Contribution Crusade will help with that. I'd suggest watching those who start out quiet and then get more vocal. (Of course, now that I've mentioned this, they'll probably play differently, if they were going to do that.)

Len, the conversions are based on the number of powers the Inquisitor starts with. They have to give up a power for every conversion they make. The number of powers they have will be dependent on player count and I don't know how many players we have and I'm on mobile and too lazy to check the previous page for the player list. It'll likely be between 20-25% of the player count. And I'm nearly certain the Inquisitor would've started with an Uber thug type power, where they have multiple lives.

Which makes what we do today interesting. See, usually, I advocate for D1 lynches. For this specific game, in these specific circumstances, for these specific mechanics, I am going to advocate against a D1 lynch. Why, you ask? Let me explain:

1) There is only one evil player out there right now, and they almost certainly will not only survive the lynch, if it were to hit them, but they also likely have a cover for their alignment/role (LG 2 had one that showed up as a Thug first hit, Inquisitor second hit, and died third hit) so even if it does hit them, we won't know for sure they're the Inquisitor.

2) The Inquisitor cannot convert until a Misting is dead. The village lynched their Coinshot on the first lynch, in a bout of terrible luck, and the Inquisitor used that spike to convert someone. The spike took, giving the eliminators an additional kill right at the start. I was that Spiked Coinshot. I would prefer to avoid the risk of lynching an important village role and thus putting more potential power into the eliminator's side too early. Plus, if we don't lynch, there's no way we'll kill a Misting, and therefore the Inquisitor cannot convert tonight. Easy peasy.

3) The game would be lame if we lynched the Inquisitor on the first lynch. 

That is all I have. I'll RP next time, but like I said: mobile. It's now late and I must sleep. Good night.

I was considering bringing this subject up myself after seeing Jondesu's post, but I wanted to see if anyone else would if I didn't. When I first thought about it, I was of the same opinion as you (that it may be better to not end up lynching anyone today) for the very reasons you've mentioned, but I believe it's important that we treat this day like we should kill someone. Now that I've thought more about it, I think that it would be a waste not to try. The lynch is the most useful way for the village to gather information, not necessarily because of the lynchee's role and alignment being revealed upon death, but because of the ability to see player's opinions and the way they interact with one another. While there is a 96.7% that the lynchee will be a villager, and an indeterminable-but-decent risk that said lynchee will be a Misting and thus allow the Inquisitor to convert tonight, I would prefer we not waste any time getting discussion started.

For that reason, I'll retract my vote on Arraenae and vote on you, Wilson. If we come to the consensus that no one should be lynched today, what do you propose we talk about instead?

@TheMightyLopen, I've seen you viewing the thread quite a few times, including right now. I'm guessing you're in the process of writing a post, but just in case you're not, I figured I'd mention you to get you talking. What are you thinking so far? @Mark IV, same thing applies to you, now that I've checked the player list to see you're in. I was about to mention El too, since she's following the thread, but apparently she's spectating this one. @_Stick_, as of 1 minute ago, you're using personal messager. I'm assuming you're looking at your GM PM, so I hope that means you'll chime in soon.

@OrlokTsubodai, are you following this thread invisibly? I see that 6 people are following it, but one of the names is not mentioned.

---

Day One Vote Tally

(1) OmeGaster: Arraenae, 

(0) Arraenae: Amanuensis, 

(1) Sart: Sart, 

(1) Elenion: Jondesu, 

(1) little wilson: Amanuensis, 

Edited March 27, 2017 by Amanuensis

[Stick. she/her]

@Amanuensis I was viewing the spec doc PM XD 

 

[Amanuensis he/him]

1 minute ago, _Stick_ said:

@Amanuensis I was viewing the spec doc PM XD 

Checks player list.

Whoops. Carry on, then  

[Mark IV he/him]

6 hours ago, Amanuensis said:

Since I mentioned you, I might as well ask you something, too. How do you think that the Inquisitor would handle this game? For example, do you think they'd post infrequently, or lurk outright? How likely do you think they have posted already (not statistically, but strategically)?

In my Opinion, (And I agree with wilson somewhat here) the Inquisitor would be more quiet earlier on. I'm assuming the inquisitor would most likely be someone who the GM knew would not go inactive, because having the only eliminator in the game also be inactive would not be the best. And, I also agree with the fact that they would likely become more vocal later on, as they accumulate more and more converts (the max would be 5 elims, isn't it?).

However, one thing I'd like to add is that perhaps it might also be in the best interests of the elim to speak up in the early cycles. Sure, they need not say anything useful, but given that we already have some talk of the contribution crusade going on, I doubt the elim would risk being killed because they weren't talking enough. This is another thing I think might happen.

Now, I know that there last couple of paragraphs sound contradictory, so I would like to clarify: I feel that the first paragraph is the more likely of the two, but I thought I'd point out the second scenario too.  

4 hours ago, Arraenae said:

Alright. Read over the LG2 rules. So there's one elim now: the Inquisitor. This reminds me a bit of LG31, where Mage was some elim equivalent. The GMs said that they picked him to be a elim because he had the lowest lynch rates as an elim. Obviously, this game is different, but maybe Orlok and Stink would have had similar principles for distribution? There's one elim in this game and one elim in that game (I think, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.) obviously, no two players will play exactly the same, but I feel like the Inquisitor might act similarly to the way Mage did in LG31.

Also, analyzing relationships in D1 to find elims is probably going to be useless, because there's only one elim now. The only type of elim relationship in this game at the moment is Inquisitor-self. Obviously this will change after a Misting dies, though.

@OrlokTsubodai @STINK, there is only one Inquisitor in this game, right? Also, could you put a link to the LG2 rules in the LG32 Quicklinks? K thnx love u bai.

I feel that that is a bit of a generalisation there, Rae. You make a good point, but I'd like to point out that you shouldn't count on the fact that the elim will play similar to Mage's playstyle in the last LG. I say this because I do not know how Mage had played then. And, if I was the Inquisitor (I am neither confrming nor denying that), I obviously wouldn't try to imitate Mage's playstyle. I'm sure there's others here who are not in a very different circumstance. 

But still, you do make a good point.

4 hours ago, little wilson said:

For some reason, I thought this game was starting tomorrow. 

A couple things I want to say.

First, Rae, there's one critical error in your logic. Mage couldn't convert. The Inquisitor can. So the Inquisitor might act similarly to Mage at the beginning of the game. Might. But it's just as easy for him not to as well. That said, most past conversion games where the converter started alone, they were pretty quiet at the beginning, and then as they built up a base of allies, they'd tend to get a little more vocal. Still player dependent since some players still stay quiet, like Sart in QF4, but I think the Contribution Crusade will help with that. I'd suggest watching those who start out quiet and then get more vocal. (Of course, now that I've mentioned this, they'll probably play differently, if they were going to do that.)

For some reason, this sets off the alarm bells in my head. Because, in my opinion, if you stuck the line "And now that I've mentioned it, I have more freedom to do so", it wouldn't seem out of place as thoughts in someone's head. And, I've heard wilson can be a very good manipulaor when she's elim. Which would be particularly useful if she was the only elim right now. (Note that wilson has not actually said this. I'm just trying to make a point, albeit a weak one). 

Secondly, if the elim thinks they'll be particularly vulnerable if they speak up, then they will not speak up as much in any case. Because, from their point of view, it is either speak up and be a target, or speak less and potentially be vulnerable to someone's analysis later in the game, when they have more converts on their side, and their death will not affect the elims that much. I know this again contradicts with para 2 of this post, but again, I still think para 2 as slightly unlikely.

However, I do agree with wilson that we should watch out for the latently vocal players.

4 hours ago, little wilson said:

And I'm nearly certain the Inquisitor would've started with an Uber thug type power, where they have multiple lives.

Which makes what we do today interesting. See, usually, I advocate for D1 lynches. For this specific game, in these specific circumstances, for these specific mechanics, I am going to advocate against a D1 lynch. Why, you ask? Let me explain:

1) There is only one evil player out there right now, and they almost certainly will not only survive the lynch, if it were to hit them, but they also likely have a cover for their alignment/role (LG 2 had one that showed up as a Thug first hit, Inquisitor second hit, and died third hit) so even if it does hit them, we won't know for sure they're the Inquisitor.

2) The Inquisitor cannot convert until a Misting is dead. The village lynched their Coinshot on the first lynch, in a bout of terrible luck, and the Inquisitor used that spike to convert someone. The spike took, giving the eliminators an additional kill right at the start. I was that Spiked Coinshot. I would prefer to avoid the risk of lynching an important village role and thus putting more potential power into the eliminator's side too early. Plus, if we don't lynch, there's no way we'll kill a Misting, and therefore the Inquisitor cannot convert tonight. Easy peasy.

3) The game would be lame if we lynched the Inquisitor on the first lynch. 

First you say you're almost certain that the inquisitor has uber-thug. So, not only do they survive the first and second lynches, they show up as a thug at first. Then, you go on to say in the third point that it wouldn't be fun if we did indeed lynch the inquisitor. Which is not possible because of the previously mentioned facts.

If you're referring to us getting suspicious that they survived, and that that would kill the fun, you yourself say that they would appear as a thug, which is highly unsuspicious.

So, in essence, you're saying that it is nearly impossible to spot the inquisitor and kill them on the first lynch, but it wouldn't be fun if we lynched them on the first lynch (which is impossible), so we shouldn't vote. 

Lastly, you yourself state that the inquisitor themself would remain passive at the start of the game, and would only speak later on. Why then are you worried about hiitting them in the first place? 

Care to explain this, Wilson?

 

That brings me to the last part of my post- what does everyone think of thugs roleclaiming? Now, hear me out first-

1) If thugs do roleclaim, the inquisitor has to spend two kils on them. It would be far better for them to attack others first.

2) The inquisitor has to decide whether to claim with the thugs. If they do, then sure, they have an alibi for surviving the lynch. However, scanners can then check the roles of the claimed thugs to see who's lying. @OrlokTsubodai Am I right in assuming that scanners will not see the inquisitor's rle as 'Thug'?

3) If the inquisitor doesn't claim, then they have no alibi for surviving the lynch, thus, they'd be caught red-handed.

What do you guys think?

(I'm sorry for any typos. I'm used to autocorrect, but I'm on computer because mobiles aren't conducive to substantial posts)

One thing I'd like to mention is that I'm confused by all these new terms- ' Rioters', 'Thugs', 'Mistborn'. Tell me, are they Feruchemists who have found new metals to store in and tap?

I would like to make one thing clear: I shall, over the next few days, do what I do in the name of the Ja. The Ja will prevail. The Ja is ultimate!

Praise The Ja!

(crosses fingers that I don't have to re-write this post a second time)

(Edit: I just realised I spent one hour on this)

(EDIT 2: That is a looong post... O.o)

Edit 3: If anyone wants to PM me, go ahead. I'm just too lazy to open up PMs right now.

Edited March 27, 2017 by Mark IV
Praise the Ja! The Ja shall prevail!