Jo and the Bush

I honestly don't see it. I only see 2 sizes. Am I missing something? Now, this game is taking place before the Nalthians have fancy text to speech boards, so presumably they're trying to sound your name out when speaking it. Something like As-fidick-jas-jif, and if we use a common shortening technique, where we take the first two and last two letters of your name, we can call you As If. . . . All be honest, As If's name was easier to figure out how to pronounce. Do me a Zolid and drop a pronunciation guide to that name? You. I like you. You can choose your starting Court.

One God will expend their power per cycle. They go in order of seniority. When they expend their power, the priests in their court will determine who receives the expended power. All priests and players will be assigned seniority once the game begins. Welcome Compact Disk! Good to have you. I have edited that into the OP. Can't believe I forgot to right that. Welcome KSOHS! Thank you thank you. I'm not suspicious of her in the slightest!

Welcome! You're signing up as the luckiest man alive in a game where there is no RNG. I hope that works out well for you. Oh hey, a Typo I need to fix. Thank you for pointing that out. You're signing up as a Returned God? When all the players are going to be priests of the gods? I don't understand, but alright.

Welcome to MR74 The Politics of Gods! You and your fellow priests must serve your Gods well! Traitors and Heretics have infiltrated some of the priesthoods, and seek to corrupt the Court of Gods. They whisper false words into the ears of the Returned, and sabotage the bureaucracy of Hallandren. You must help your God find them, and exile them from the Courts! Advise your deities well, or die trying. Timekeeping: Day and Night are combined in a single 48 hour Cycle. Cycles end at 7pm PDT (2AM UTC) The Game will begin at 7PM on September 2nd PDT (2AM September 3rd UTC) Faction: Chosen Priests This is the Village Faction. None of them know anything special, and they do not have a factional ability. They win once all the Pahn Kahl Dissidents are killed. Faction: Pahn Kahl Dissidents This is the Eliminator Faction. They have a secret Google Doc to communicate in, and start knowing each other’s identity. Each cycle, they may kill one player. They win once they outnumber the Chosen Priests. Court Docs: Each of the 10 Returned Gods has a Court (Google Doc) that is accessible to only their priests. The priests inside the Court know who each other are, but that information is not publicly available. Inside the Court, the priests may discuss at will. During the Cycle their God will be Giving Away their Divine Breath, the priests of their court will vote via PM on whom the Recipient of that Divine Breath will be. All Courts will have at least 3 players in them. If a priest’s death brings the occupancy of the court to 2 or less, the court will either be scattered to other courts, or an excess priest from another court will be brought in to make up the numbers. Whenever a new priest is added to the court, the Doc will be made anew, so they do not have access to prior conversations. If there is not enough players to populate all 10 courts, some of the courts will have Zero players inside them. These are referred to as Empty Courts, and is not publicly known information. There are no PM's in this game. Seniority: All Priests and Gods have a Seniority ranking that is Public Knowledge. All ties will be broken in favor of Seniority, leaving nothing to RNG. Gods will give up their Divine Breaths in order of Seniority, from oldest to youngest. Voting: In this game, Voting is done via Bold, Red Names in the thread as normal, but the Gods will also be voting. Each God votes in favor with the majority of their Priesthood. If someone votes when there is less than 15 minutes left in the cycle, the cycle will be extended to end in 15 from that vote. This will continue until the cycle has been extended for a maximum of 1 hour. Players deliberately abusing this to annoy me may be punished TUO. Gods and Divine Breaths Player List @TwinStorm as Matrim Cauthon @The Unknown Order as D'delaier @CoderDrag0n8 as CD @KaladinsSenseOfHumorSpren Lharir @xxGaea as Leucosia Thalassa @ThatOneWorldhopper as As If @KelsierApologist as Zyvoxid Linezolid @Amanuensis as Kosm @IcedOutPenguin @Doc12 as Evi @Hoid Slayer as Ekkar Loral @BigBadBagsworth as Iggdraz the Confused. @Araris Valerian as Arlun Pinch Hitters @Aeternum @xinoehp512

I am absolutely down to run an MR. I don't have one ready to run, due to the player count we're getting right now. Tell y'all what. If no one above me claims the game, what Mid Range game would y'all like to see rerun? I can run anything probably, as long as I think it will get enough players, and it is a Sanderson non-Anonymous game.

When trying to do analysis in character, it's really difficult if one only has one character, so, yes, they will be showing up periodically. Yuto Itto is a Zora, and a Postal Inspector in Training. Connor Burrows is a Terminian Entomologist who contacted the Postal Inspectors about the missing postman, and has been hired as Niall and Yuto's guide to the region, as he's a native, unlike Yuto and Niall.

A trio of people in uniform strode through the festive streets, ignoring the festivities being set up around them. They didn't weave around people in their way. Either the bystanders would move, or they would be moved. Either bowled over by the bulk of the Goron in the center, or quickly grabbed and tugged away with apologies by the Terminian on the left. The Goron never reacted beyond a flick of the eyes to watch. At each intersection, the Terminian would call out a direction, and the Goron would pivot, followed in lock step by a younger Zora on their right. They reached their destination shortly after entering the town, and stopped in the middle of the street to stare it down. An old building, as old as the town, but not as old as the institution it represented. "It is said," spoke the Goron who had been silent until now, "that as many days as there are in the whole journey, so many are the men and horses that stand along the road, each horse and man an the interval of a day's journey; and these are stayed neither by snow nor rain nor heat nor darkness from accomplishing their appointed course with all speed." "I've never known the postman to ride a horse, not in all the time I've been here." The Terminian shrugged. "And I think it's just him. No other men. "It's not literal. It's just our creed." The Zora said. "It's also unofficial. A statement from way back when. Don't worry about it." "It is said," spoke the Goron, "as an ideal to strive for." He strode forward, and lifted the rotting sign from the door. "An ideal that the mail must be delivered. An ideal that communication is important. A creed that says without messages being delivered, a kingdom can fall." He dropped the sign to the ground, and twisted the door knob. It did not open. From his pocket came a ring of keys, attached to his hip by a chain. "You said that no one has entered since he 'went on vacation'?" "Umm, yes. At least, not that I've seen, but I don't come by all that often. Just to mail my findings out. Had to remake two reports when I realized he still wasn't back." The Goron was already halfway through his ring of keys. Each one would be flicked out, pressed against or into the lock, and would fail to turn. He never reacted, as each key only confirmed the story he had heard of this strange Post Office. "You've asked around, you said. How long has the postman been missing?" The Terminian shrugged. "Don't know. 3 weeks I think?" The Zora whistled. "Damn boss. That's a pretty cold case. Where do we start?" The Goron slid the final key into the lock. It did not unlock. "Apparently, we begin with finding a hat." He turned to face the Terminian. "Mr. Burrows, you said that by the stories told about this place, only someone wearing the Postman's Hat can enter? That sounds ridiculous, but these hub worlds all have strange logics to them." "Uh, yeah, Hats and Masks. It's been that way for 30 years, ever since the Hero of Time's day. It's what the festival is celebrating you know." "Very well. Yuto, please do your best to fish all of the mail out through the slot. We need to get it delivered while the Postman is gone." The Zora sagged. "Yeah, okay boss." He slid his satchel of his shoulder and pulled out a thin rod and string, not unlike a fishing rod in many respects. "I hope no one tried to mail any fruit this time." The Goron withdrew a poster from his satchel, and flattened it against the glass of the door where the vacation notice had been rotting. He held it flat for 7 seconds while Yuto finished setting up. At the end, he turned and faced the Terminian. "Mr. Burrows, besides the residence of the postman, where else might I find the Postman's Hat?" The Terminian shrugged. "Happy Mask Salesman might have it. He often ends up with strange, magical headgear." "Lead on then." The two walked away, leaving Yuto to snag mail through the slot, next to a large poster that read ONGOING INVESTIGATION BY THE POSTAL INSPECTION SERVICE If you have any knowledge pertaining to this case, please contact INSPECTOR NIALL EXTERNAL CRIMES DIVISION

I've pinged the Discord. Amanuensis indicated he could probably run a game. Steeldancer can only run a game if he gets a Non-Sanderson Pass, but I think the spreadsheet says Non Sanderson LG's are currently unavailable? No one else has responded yet.

Wait, there was actually a Spiked Coinshot? I'm so mad that I was too busy to sign up to play now. This will be fun to read through now.

That was a fascinating read. I like it. I'm glad I asked this question, and the responses are very interesting. I definitely lean towards agreeing with Kas here, I'd rather people get a change to experience the game and community then not get to. I think we should keep the norm of not killing new players or first game returners.

I'm almost tempted to start asking for volunteer. Who here would be genuinely upset to be night killed, either by villagers or eliminators, on Night 1? That's part of my struggle with SE as an Elim, is I generally don't like killing people. It feels rude.

That reminds me, why did you try to kill me? I gave you bread!

I really wish there was a way to simulate running a game with different role distributions. I try every time, and I've never found a good way to do it. It's always going to be a struggle.

@Kasimir, I can be chill dude. Sometimes I just want to be chill and not push an early execution. Also, and no one ever commented on this, I was playing how Jox would act, because it was an RP game! At least, early on I was. My plan was to see who liked talking in PM's. That was it. There's too many bits in D1/N1 where you guys think I'm hinting I have a role of any sort. I don't think I've done that in years. I don't even know what to think at this point. I don't even remember the last game I GM'd, let alone the third storming Mid Range, what?! And like, why would I take the shot? Is that an accepted part of my playstyle? Did I N1 kill someone as a villager at some point? I really don't think I would kill until like, N3 as a villager. Sometimes, the way people talk about me makes me worry that someone else has been playing on my account. I don't think I'm nearly as good as people think I am. Hmmmm, I'm not sure if I was being naive or just playing badly there when it's laid out like this. Especially since, like, there wasn't a village Lurcher? IDK. You really can't decide how to spell my name huh

Well dang, GG. I was completely taken in by Kas. Am I allowed to be proud of figuring out two of the spiked for the complete wrong reasons?

"Josha, @TwinStorm, did Kéamen come to your house in the night, claiming to be a Mistborn, looking for a Seeker or Lurcher? Because he came to my house saying the same thing. I told him that if I was a seeker, Antari was the only person I knew he shouldn't kill, because he was a Villager, and if I was a Lurcher, I would protect Kéamen. I am neither of those things, but Antari died. It is why I am now more certain than ever that Kéamen is spiked."

Jox stumbled into the town square, vaguely confused to still be alive. He looked around for Keamen. @Hoid Slayer "Kéamen Wither! What the heck was with all those lies you were spouting off in my bedroom last night?! Nothing you said made me believe you're not one of the Spiked alongside Var!"

"No, i'd want you dead so that you stop weaseling out of executions. Twice now it's happened. If I were spiked, i'd kill you. I'm not, so I'll vote you instead."

"Yeah, I don't buy it. I will absolutely be voting for you tomorrow Var. For fun though, if I was a Lurcher, I would protect my parents, Kistaris and Gurvani, and if I was spiked, I would kill you."

"For the record, and I hope Aral can corroborate this afterwards, I attempted to change my vote seconds after Var changed his vote to ensure that Var was executed. I wasn't fast enough. I then realized less than a minute later, and said as much to Aral, that I should have retracted my vote on Madiane when I was replying to you, to ensure that Var was executed." "I'm not spiked, I'm just not quick enough of thought."

"I'm super suspicious that Var hasn't changed his vote. A tie now gives the village one more chance to win, so Village Var should have changed his vote." Var (3): Keldorn 1, Antari 4, Kéamen 9, Madiane 10 Mil (0): Var 2 Madiane (2): Josha 3, Jox 11 Josha (0): Jox 5 Kéamen (2): Var 6, Mil 8 Antari (1): Keldorn 7 Jox (0): Keldorn (0):

Jox wondered where Var had been to smoke him. Like, the man couldn't have an infinite range, so he would have had to be nearby the Bakery. Had he bought one of the surrounding buildings? Had he just curled up in the alleyway behind the bakery? Had he broken into the bakery at night and hid inside just to smoke him? It was a really weird thing to picture. Kinda funny, if completely irrelevant to their current hunt. Instead of vocalizing that, Jox asked the much more important question. "What was the point of smoking me on night two? What was the point of smoking at all honestly? Like, what was the thought process that led you to smoke anyone. Madiane had the right idea I think with not smoking at random to let village seekers, which I no longer actually believe exist, do their work."

Jox rubbed the back of his head. "I'm desperate for something to cling to right now. I probably would have been satisfied with it if he could give any other scans. I'm not saying I would have taken it at face value, but I do think in my current mental state I would have been easier to fool than usual. But you do raise a good point that the spiked might not have believed that. So I guess I'm back to being completely neutral on him again."

"I would hesitantly guess he's village. I've already said otherwise in past analysis, but his last minute desperate defense of Fox, followed by him saying he wasn't a Seeker in private, leads me to lean he's village. I feel like there is enough benefit for a spiked to claim Seeker at this point in the game, even with the risk, that Antari would have if he had been evil. I likely would have accepted it, and then he could have lied to me today about the results of his scan. Either saying a Spiked was a villager, or saying a villager was a Spiked." Jox shook his head. "There are flaws in that I can't quite articulate. Do you assume that all of the spiked will be in the square at the last minute? Why would they run that risk when they could simply defend eachother during the day. Trying to get everyone to Unite right now feels like a waste of effort. If we all unite on a Villager, as the spiked would want us to do, they don't need to hammer vote on one person." Jox shut up. He tried to picture it in his head, and tried to figure out how to speak it. "Let's assume 3 possible scenarios. In Scenario A, eight people vote on a Spiked, who votes on anyone else. The Spiked team cannot perform a Hammer vote to save the Spiked. This is the ideal scenario that you want, with Var as the Spiked getting executed. In Scenario B, eight people vote on a Villager, who votes on anyone else. The Spiked team do not bother to perform a Hammer vote. Obviously, I want Scenario A, as do all the Villagers, but we cannot differentiate between Scenarios A and B until it is too late, and someone dies. Equally obviously, we're not going to reach Scenario A or B. There is no clear consensus on who to vote for." "That leaves us with Scenario C, in which some combination of people have votes on them. Since there are 9 people alive, that leaves us with 3 sub-scenarios. C-2, there are 2 people with 4 votes each. C-4, there are 4 people with 2 votes each." "If we manage to get multiple spiked up for execution, we can attempt to prevent a Hammer by counter hammering on whomever people hammer off of. As in, if Alvron and Wilson both have 4 votes, and Meta and Claincy last minute switch from Alvron to Wilson, we can try to prevent that by having anyone who is voting for Wilson switch to Alvron. But, the obvious problem with that, is what to do if Alvon and Wilson are both Villagers? We're once again at Scenario B, in which the spiked do not need to bother with hammering." Jox leaned to the side, wishing he could somehow speak in parenthesis. "For simplicity's sake, I'm pretending that a Tie still results in an execution. I'm pretending as such because we're not going to have a perfectly tied execution, and assuming otherwise means I won't finish talking until after the execution happens." "I think I've talked myself into wanting to having the votes spread out for maximum spread, so that we can watch for last minute hammers, and try to counter-hammer. I think I need to do some statistics to figure this out though, and I simply don't have the time." Jox kinda wished he hadn't said anything now. "Also, I realized my previous vote tally was wrong. This one is correct, I hope." Var (3): Keldorn 1, Antari 4, Kéamen 9, Madiane 10 Mil (0): Var 2 Madiane (2): Josha 3, Jox 11 Josha (0): Jox 5 Kéamen (2): Var 6, Mil 8 Antari (1): Keldorn 7 Jox (0): Keldorn (0):