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Post #1
Post-Game Review
First and foremost, thanks for playing! It was a very interesting and enjoyable experience to watch the game unfold. I’ll be talking about the inspiration for the game, revealing information about Roles and the flow of money, summarising the events of the game, and pointing out the flaws that damaged the balance of the game.
Please, please, PLEEEEEASE give feedback on flaws, potential improvements or even just unrelated suggestions. Would you be interested in playing this format again in the future?
It was good fun hosting, thanks for your participation!
First and foremost, thanks for playing! It was a very interesting and enjoyable experience to watch the game unfold. I’ll be talking about the inspiration for the game, revealing information about Roles and the flow of money, summarising the events of the game, and pointing out the flaws that damaged the balance of the game.
Inspiration (click to show)
The simple idea that led to these extensive game mechanics was that Night Actions would be done using Items, bought by coins. A player’s Role would be less important than the way they used Items in the game’s progression. Naturally a currency had to be introduced, followed by earnings. But again, I wanted players to have influence over their access to coins, so the Mayor and Regimes were introduced, thus necessitating the splitting of the Day phase into Morning and Afternoon phases. As I thought about what Items could be created, I figured that in a realistic game, players would “see” other players using these Items on them during the night. That’s when the idea of masks came to me.
The theory was that players would only be able to find mafia by seeing which masks were attempting murder and then by working out who was under each mask. They would work out which mask belonged to each player using CCTV cameras (masks that keep showing up at the same house are statistically likely to be from that house). I expected the mafia to take an early lead due to the lack of easy detection, but then I thought the Store Owner would help balance the game by telling the town which masks were buying ‘mafia items’. Also, in these games mafia are usually discovered through their own mistakes in PM conversations or through obvious alliances in Lynch campaigns, so I was fine with giving them lots of cover. I even gave them the ability to buy anonymously, swap masks, or just buy their own.
All other elements (e.g. inside/outside at night, masked actions vs unmasked actions, auctions, town rich list) fell into place when I realised they were needed.
The theory was that players would only be able to find mafia by seeing which masks were attempting murder and then by working out who was under each mask. They would work out which mask belonged to each player using CCTV cameras (masks that keep showing up at the same house are statistically likely to be from that house). I expected the mafia to take an early lead due to the lack of easy detection, but then I thought the Store Owner would help balance the game by telling the town which masks were buying ‘mafia items’. Also, in these games mafia are usually discovered through their own mistakes in PM conversations or through obvious alliances in Lynch campaigns, so I was fine with giving them lots of cover. I even gave them the ability to buy anonymously, swap masks, or just buy their own.
All other elements (e.g. inside/outside at night, masked actions vs unmasked actions, auctions, town rich list) fell into place when I realised they were needed.
Role PMs (click to show)
Ok, here is the full, uncensored list of Role PMs. I didn’t reveal them as players were dying because of the Revival Elixir, which could have brought those abilities back.
It was a shame to see two of the town’s best assets being completely inactive (perceptive townie and poor townie)… just bad luck for the townies.
Anaxagore (click to show)
ANAXAGORE
You are the entrepreneur.
You start with 0 coins.
You start in the position of Store Owner.
Win clause: survive until endgame.
You are the entrepreneur.
You start with 0 coins.
You start in the position of Store Owner.
Win clause: survive until endgame.
Muzthebus (click to show)
MUZTHEBUS
You are the rich mafia.
You start with 10 coins.
You earn 3 coins at the end of every day phase.
Win clause: eliminate all members of the town and the hostile neutral.
You are the rich mafia.
You start with 10 coins.
You earn 3 coins at the end of every day phase.
Win clause: eliminate all members of the town and the hostile neutral.
Elysium5 (click to show)
ELYSIUM5
You are the speedy mafia.
You start with 5 coins.
You earn 2 coins at the end of every day phase.
You may perform as many actions as you wish each night.
Win clause: eliminate all members of the town and the hostile neutral.
You are the speedy mafia.
You start with 5 coins.
You earn 2 coins at the end of every day phase.
You may perform as many actions as you wish each night.
Win clause: eliminate all members of the town and the hostile neutral.
Mayba (click to show)
MAYBA
You are the poor, stealthy mafia.
You start with 3 coins.
You earn 1 coin at the end of every day phase.
You are immune to Stealing.
You cannot be seen by CCTV.
Win clause: eliminate all members of the town and the hostile neutral.
You are the poor, stealthy mafia.
You start with 3 coins.
You earn 1 coin at the end of every day phase.
You are immune to Stealing.
You cannot be seen by CCTV.
Win clause: eliminate all members of the town and the hostile neutral.
Hoodlum (click to show)
HOODLUM
You are a rich townie.
You start with 8 coins.
You earn 3 coins at the end of every day phase.
You are colour-blind.
Win clause: eliminate all members of the mafia and the hostile neutral.
You are a rich townie.
You start with 8 coins.
You earn 3 coins at the end of every day phase.
You are colour-blind.
Win clause: eliminate all members of the mafia and the hostile neutral.
Kyla (click to show)
KYLA
You are a jealous townie.
You start with 8 coins.
You earn 2 coins at the end of every day phase.
You receive the information of a random richer player instead of your own in the Town Rich List.
Win clause: eliminate all members of the mafia and the hostile neutral.
You are a jealous townie.
You start with 8 coins.
You earn 2 coins at the end of every day phase.
You receive the information of a random richer player instead of your own in the Town Rich List.
Win clause: eliminate all members of the mafia and the hostile neutral.
Huskers01 (click to show)
HUSKERS01 [inactive]
You are a perceptive townie.
You start with 2 coins.
You earn 1 coin at the end of every day phase.
You may #QUESTION a masked player who is outside. You will be told if they are in your faction or not, with 75% accuracy.
Win clause: eliminate all members of the mafia and the hostile neutral.
You are a perceptive townie.
You start with 2 coins.
You earn 1 coin at the end of every day phase.
You may #QUESTION a masked player who is outside. You will be told if they are in your faction or not, with 75% accuracy.
Win clause: eliminate all members of the mafia and the hostile neutral.
CheekyTeeky (click to show)
CHEEKYTEEKY [inactive]
You are a poor townie.
You start with 2 coins.
You earn 1 coin at the end of every day phase.
You can #USE a Knife to kill a player during the night. If you kill a townie, you will be lynched in the morning.
You are immune to stealing.
Win clause: eliminate all members of the mafia and the hostile neutral.
You are a poor townie.
You start with 2 coins.
You earn 1 coin at the end of every day phase.
You can #USE a Knife to kill a player during the night. If you kill a townie, you will be lynched in the morning.
You are immune to stealing.
Win clause: eliminate all members of the mafia and the hostile neutral.
Dough_boy (click to show)
DOUGH_BOY
You are a popular townie.
You start with 2 coins.
You earn 3 coins at the end of every day phase.
When running for election, you get voted one extra time automatically.
You must be voted one more time than necessary to be lynched.
Win clause: eliminate all members of the mafia and the hostile neutral.
You are a popular townie.
You start with 2 coins.
You earn 3 coins at the end of every day phase.
When running for election, you get voted one extra time automatically.
You must be voted one more time than necessary to be lynched.
Win clause: eliminate all members of the mafia and the hostile neutral.
Jimmy1066 (click to show)
JIMMY1066 [inactive]
You are a speedy townie.
You start with 5 coins.
You earn 1 coin at the end of every day phase.
You may perform as many actions as you wish each night.
Win clause: eliminate all members of the mafia and the hostile neutral.
You are a speedy townie.
You start with 5 coins.
You earn 1 coin at the end of every day phase.
You may perform as many actions as you wish each night.
Win clause: eliminate all members of the mafia and the hostile neutral.
AlexCheckMate (click to show)
ALEXCHECKMATE
You are a scavenging townie.
You start with 0 coins.
You earn 1 coin at the end of every day phase.
You gain all items and money left at the houses of players who are nightkilled.
You can survive being nightkilled once.
Win clause: eliminate all members of the mafia and the hostile neutral.
You are a scavenging townie.
You start with 0 coins.
You earn 1 coin at the end of every day phase.
You gain all items and money left at the houses of players who are nightkilled.
You can survive being nightkilled once.
Win clause: eliminate all members of the mafia and the hostile neutral.
Sygmassacre (click to show)
SYGMASSACRE
You are a creative townie.
You start with 5 coins.
You pay 2 coins to #INVENT an item during the night. In the morning, it will be sold to the highest bidder (you stay inside your house while performing this action).
Win clause: eliminate all members of the mafia and the hostile neutral.
You are a creative townie.
You start with 5 coins.
You pay 2 coins to #INVENT an item during the night. In the morning, it will be sold to the highest bidder (you stay inside your house while performing this action).
Win clause: eliminate all members of the mafia and the hostile neutral.
GM_Archiee (click to show)
GM_ARCHIEE [inactive but lynched anyway]
You are a learning townie.
You start with 1 coin.
You earn 1 coin at the end of Day 1, 2 coins at the end of Day 2, 3 coins at the end of Day 3, and so on.
Win clause: eliminate all members of the mafia and the hostile neutral.
You are a learning townie.
You start with 1 coin.
You earn 1 coin at the end of Day 1, 2 coins at the end of Day 2, 3 coins at the end of Day 3, and so on.
Win clause: eliminate all members of the mafia and the hostile neutral.
Paulcha (click to show)
PAULCHA
You are the accountant.
You start with 1 coin and a Cane.
You earn 1 coin at the end of every day phase.
You can #EXAMINE a player’s financial records during the night (you stay inside your house while performing this action).
Win clause: have the highest net worth when there are five players or less alive.
You are the accountant.
You start with 1 coin and a Cane.
You earn 1 coin at the end of every day phase.
You can #EXAMINE a player’s financial records during the night (you stay inside your house while performing this action).
Win clause: have the highest net worth when there are five players or less alive.
Graphs of Finances (click to show)
Here are some graphs tracking the account balances, the net worths, and the rich list standings of players throughout the game. Note that I have removed the inactive players from the graphs to reduce crowdedness. Graphs including Anaxagore’s data are included later. Player’s data lines are the colour of their original mask.
Account balances fluctuated rapidly due to changes of Regime and spending. Not much info here to be honest but you can clearly see when people got their Mayor bonuses.
Net worth was more telling. I only kept data for net worth at the start of each morning phase, since that is what the town rich list was based from. Nearly all losses in net worth were caused by players buying and using Fake IDs in the same day. There would be many more of these sudden losses of net worth, but those players were often lynched and so the data stops before the loss of net worth can be seen.
Anaxagore is included in this one. Predictably he took the number 1 spot as soon as purchases could be made. It can be seen that generally, the rich players remained rich and the poor players remained poor throughout the game. This is mostly due to the lack of thefts attempted by knife or brick.
Account Balance (click to show)
Account balances fluctuated rapidly due to changes of Regime and spending. Not much info here to be honest but you can clearly see when people got their Mayor bonuses.
Net Worth (click to show)
Net worth was more telling. I only kept data for net worth at the start of each morning phase, since that is what the town rich list was based from. Nearly all losses in net worth were caused by players buying and using Fake IDs in the same day. There would be many more of these sudden losses of net worth, but those players were often lynched and so the data stops before the loss of net worth can be seen.
Town Rich List (click to show)
Anaxagore is included in this one. Predictably he took the number 1 spot as soon as purchases could be made. It can be seen that generally, the rich players remained rich and the poor players remained poor throughout the game. This is mostly due to the lack of thefts attempted by knife or brick.
What Went Down (click to show)
Game Synopsis:
The game started off with lots of confusion, no-one really understanding how to find mafia. I deliberately provided non-town players with the town win clause to try and stop the game being based solely off fake Role PM mistakes (after all, I had invested heavily in complex game mechanics). Anaxagore tried to use this to gain everyone’s trust – which only worked momentarily.
After producing questionable fake Role PMs, paulcha and Anaxagore fell under scrutiny from attentive players. Paulcha #EXAMINED Anaxagore’s financial records and saw that Anaxagore had lied about his Role PM. When confronting Anaxagore, Paulcha was forced to admit that he had also faked his own Role PM, and then accidentally revealed his neutral win clause to Anaxagore. Anaxagore seized the opportunity to work together with Paulcha to maximise his own chances of avoiding suspicion and surviving until the end.
Anaxagore suggested that Paulcha pretend to be the Store Owner and provide evidence against mafia, so as to gain the trust of the town. Anaxagore gave Paulcha full access to the list of purchases so that Paulcha could post it in the forums “proving” he was the Store Owner. He also told Paulcha his mask colour so people would see everything they expected when buying things. Effectively, Anaxagore and Paulcha swapped roles, masks, positions… everything… without ever actually changing a thing. It was a great move for Paulcha since it saved him from a lynch and gained some temporary trust, but for Anaxagore it was a master-stroke – the crazy revelation that Paulcha was Store Owner diverted all suspicion away from Anaxagore, and yet he still had a bulging bank account and inventory from being the real Store Owner.
They decided to frame Elysium5 by making up a purchase of a Protective Vest and accusing him to be mafia. This was incredibly unlucky for the mafia, since Elysium5 had come up with a flawless Role PM (exactly the same as the inactive Jimmy1066’s PM) and could have deceived the town for a long time. On the other hand, it was extremely lucky for the townies and for the neutrals, since they now found themselves more trusted. The lynch war that followed completely blew the cover of the remaining mafia due to their blatant alliance with Elysium5.
Somehow people became convinced that Hoodlum was a neutral, and he was lynched the following day. This was strange to see because hoodlum was spot on with his suspects and yet the neutrals didn’t even need to use Fake IDs to get him lynched.
With the mafia struggling to make nightkills (everyone stayed inside their houses) and the Store Owner (Anaxagore pretending Paulcha was doing everything) stockpiling Fake IDs, the rest of the game continued somewhat inevitably towards Anaxagore’s victory. Paulcha may have snatched it from Anaxagore by stealing his stuff during the night time but he was fatefully lynched by players eager for Store Ownership.
Despite the power of Fake IDs, the game boiled down to a close finish after AlexCheckMate led an unlikely alliance between townies and mafia to try and kill Anaxagore. With Anaxagore homeless and limited to one cane, it became possible to knifesteal from him if two people coordinated their actions. With their two night actions, AlexCheckMate and Muzthebus looked for a Leaf Green and an Orange masked victim… but Anaxagore was wearing a fflufffy lllaama mask that night, and so fortunately survived, and drew the game clinically to its close.
Perhaps the town and mafia should have realised at an earlier stage that buying Fake IDs was not a viable strategy… it was merely giving their money to the hostile neutral for no net benefit (Fake IDs cancelled out by the Store Owner’s). They could have launched a coordinated attack to #IGNITE Anaxagore’s home and steal his things before it was too late. But Anaxagore’s pretended swap with Paulcha may have protected him from this anyway.
The game started off with lots of confusion, no-one really understanding how to find mafia. I deliberately provided non-town players with the town win clause to try and stop the game being based solely off fake Role PM mistakes (after all, I had invested heavily in complex game mechanics). Anaxagore tried to use this to gain everyone’s trust – which only worked momentarily.
After producing questionable fake Role PMs, paulcha and Anaxagore fell under scrutiny from attentive players. Paulcha #EXAMINED Anaxagore’s financial records and saw that Anaxagore had lied about his Role PM. When confronting Anaxagore, Paulcha was forced to admit that he had also faked his own Role PM, and then accidentally revealed his neutral win clause to Anaxagore. Anaxagore seized the opportunity to work together with Paulcha to maximise his own chances of avoiding suspicion and surviving until the end.
Anaxagore suggested that Paulcha pretend to be the Store Owner and provide evidence against mafia, so as to gain the trust of the town. Anaxagore gave Paulcha full access to the list of purchases so that Paulcha could post it in the forums “proving” he was the Store Owner. He also told Paulcha his mask colour so people would see everything they expected when buying things. Effectively, Anaxagore and Paulcha swapped roles, masks, positions… everything… without ever actually changing a thing. It was a great move for Paulcha since it saved him from a lynch and gained some temporary trust, but for Anaxagore it was a master-stroke – the crazy revelation that Paulcha was Store Owner diverted all suspicion away from Anaxagore, and yet he still had a bulging bank account and inventory from being the real Store Owner.
They decided to frame Elysium5 by making up a purchase of a Protective Vest and accusing him to be mafia. This was incredibly unlucky for the mafia, since Elysium5 had come up with a flawless Role PM (exactly the same as the inactive Jimmy1066’s PM) and could have deceived the town for a long time. On the other hand, it was extremely lucky for the townies and for the neutrals, since they now found themselves more trusted. The lynch war that followed completely blew the cover of the remaining mafia due to their blatant alliance with Elysium5.
Somehow people became convinced that Hoodlum was a neutral, and he was lynched the following day. This was strange to see because hoodlum was spot on with his suspects and yet the neutrals didn’t even need to use Fake IDs to get him lynched.
With the mafia struggling to make nightkills (everyone stayed inside their houses) and the Store Owner (Anaxagore pretending Paulcha was doing everything) stockpiling Fake IDs, the rest of the game continued somewhat inevitably towards Anaxagore’s victory. Paulcha may have snatched it from Anaxagore by stealing his stuff during the night time but he was fatefully lynched by players eager for Store Ownership.
Despite the power of Fake IDs, the game boiled down to a close finish after AlexCheckMate led an unlikely alliance between townies and mafia to try and kill Anaxagore. With Anaxagore homeless and limited to one cane, it became possible to knifesteal from him if two people coordinated their actions. With their two night actions, AlexCheckMate and Muzthebus looked for a Leaf Green and an Orange masked victim… but Anaxagore was wearing a fflufffy lllaama mask that night, and so fortunately survived, and drew the game clinically to its close.
Perhaps the town and mafia should have realised at an earlier stage that buying Fake IDs was not a viable strategy… it was merely giving their money to the hostile neutral for no net benefit (Fake IDs cancelled out by the Store Owner’s). They could have launched a coordinated attack to #IGNITE Anaxagore’s home and steal his things before it was too late. But Anaxagore’s pretended swap with Paulcha may have protected him from this anyway.
MVP?? (click to show)
MVP goes to Anaxagore, since he was the only winner. He played very well indeed - faking Paulcha as the Store Owner was a masterstroke that probably was the main reason he ended up winning and not being targeted earlier in the game. Also, using the Revival Elixir as evidence for his faked Role PM was a cunning move. Trying to earn the trust of the town with the town win clause in the early game was also a nice strategy.
Despite the fact that Hoodlum was the first to sus most things out, town MVP goes to AlexCheckMate, whose instincts and logic were almost flawless throughout the game. And his communication with fellow townies via the forum could have proved invaluable. Cunning exploitation of capitalism and sneaky manipulation ensured that he survived until the very last phase despite his constant low funding. Well played.
The mafia struggled due to players remaining inside at night, but no-one realised that they could each target two mask colours each night with their knives if they wanted. It was also strange to see them blow their cover so blatantly trying to save Elysium5 from the lynch. Nonetheless the mafia survived until the endgame and had a good chance to steal the win at the end. Mayba's calculated guidance was key in their survival hopes, especially as the game went on.
I disagree with the labelling of players as wooden spoon. Completely unnecessary to rub salt into the wound in my opinion. But if I had to choose one, it would have to be Huskers01, purely because his Role would have been amazingly valuable if commanded by an active player. In such a tight game, inspecting Anaxagore early would probably have brought the town a win.
Despite the fact that Hoodlum was the first to sus most things out, town MVP goes to AlexCheckMate, whose instincts and logic were almost flawless throughout the game. And his communication with fellow townies via the forum could have proved invaluable. Cunning exploitation of capitalism and sneaky manipulation ensured that he survived until the very last phase despite his constant low funding. Well played.
The mafia struggled due to players remaining inside at night, but no-one realised that they could each target two mask colours each night with their knives if they wanted. It was also strange to see them blow their cover so blatantly trying to save Elysium5 from the lynch. Nonetheless the mafia survived until the endgame and had a good chance to steal the win at the end. Mayba's calculated guidance was key in their survival hopes, especially as the game went on.
I disagree with the labelling of players as wooden spoon. Completely unnecessary to rub salt into the wound in my opinion. But if I had to choose one, it would have to be Huskers01, purely because his Role would have been amazingly valuable if commanded by an active player. In such a tight game, inspecting Anaxagore early would probably have brought the town a win.
Mistakes and Flaws (click to show)
Mistakes and Flaws:
So I did make a small mistake near the start of the game by reporting the Store Owner’s mask colour to Hoodlum even though he was colour-blind. This may have slightly increased suspicion upon home, and although I don’t think it really affected the game I can only apologise for my error.
Also, when I made the Spray Paints buy one get one free at the dawn of a Capitalist regime, a certain AlexCheckMate realised that the Capitalist income bonus for Items essentially made them free, so he bought 8 cans (with all his coins). Fair play I guess, that was very clever haha.
Flaws though. There were a few:
The most obvious was the seemingly infinite supply of Fake IDs to the Store Owner, essentially making him unlynchable. If the town had really thought about it, they could have starved the Store Owner of his income and lynched him. But in the heat of the moment, players gave in and tried to buy themselves out of trouble every single time. Solution: limit players to one Fake ID per day.
Related was the problem that the Store Owner became too rich (see graph with Anaxagore included). Solution: Store Owner only receives half of the coins spent in the Store.
Another flaw was the seemingly invincible combination of Protective Vest and staying outside. Immunity to Oil and Knives… only poison could threaten them, with time to buy an antidote. Yes it was over-powered but the way around it was to steal the Protective Vest… not easy and needs changing.
Another one: players had little incentive to leave their homes at night, so mafia struggled to make kills. The town limited its ability to discover mafia by staying inside, but nonetheless they preferred the protection. Solution: reduce the price of Oil to increase the risk of staying home. Solution: introduce an Item/ability to threaten people who are inside, or to force people to come outside.
Finally, the #DEAL for information was fundamentally flawed and needed removing.
So I did make a small mistake near the start of the game by reporting the Store Owner’s mask colour to Hoodlum even though he was colour-blind. This may have slightly increased suspicion upon home, and although I don’t think it really affected the game I can only apologise for my error.
Also, when I made the Spray Paints buy one get one free at the dawn of a Capitalist regime, a certain AlexCheckMate realised that the Capitalist income bonus for Items essentially made them free, so he bought 8 cans (with all his coins). Fair play I guess, that was very clever haha.
Flaws though. There were a few:
The most obvious was the seemingly infinite supply of Fake IDs to the Store Owner, essentially making him unlynchable. If the town had really thought about it, they could have starved the Store Owner of his income and lynched him. But in the heat of the moment, players gave in and tried to buy themselves out of trouble every single time. Solution: limit players to one Fake ID per day.
Related was the problem that the Store Owner became too rich (see graph with Anaxagore included). Solution: Store Owner only receives half of the coins spent in the Store.
Account Balance (including Anaxagore) (click to show)
Another flaw was the seemingly invincible combination of Protective Vest and staying outside. Immunity to Oil and Knives… only poison could threaten them, with time to buy an antidote. Yes it was over-powered but the way around it was to steal the Protective Vest… not easy and needs changing.
Another one: players had little incentive to leave their homes at night, so mafia struggled to make kills. The town limited its ability to discover mafia by staying inside, but nonetheless they preferred the protection. Solution: reduce the price of Oil to increase the risk of staying home. Solution: introduce an Item/ability to threaten people who are inside, or to force people to come outside.
Finally, the #DEAL for information was fundamentally flawed and needed removing.
Please, please, PLEEEEEASE give feedback on flaws, potential improvements or even just unrelated suggestions. Would you be interested in playing this format again in the future?
It was good fun hosting, thanks for your participation!
[b][size=18px]Post-Game Review[/size][/b]
First and foremost, thanks for playing! It was a very interesting and enjoyable experience to watch the game unfold. I’ll be talking about the inspiration for the game, revealing information about Roles and the flow of money, summarising the events of the game, and pointing out the flaws that damaged the balance of the game.
[spoiler=Inspiration]The simple idea that led to these extensive game mechanics was that Night Actions would be done using Items, bought by coins. A player’s Role would be less important than the way they used Items in the game’s progression. Naturally a currency had to be introduced, followed by earnings. But again, I wanted players to have influence over their access to coins, so the Mayor and Regimes were introduced, thus necessitating the splitting of the Day phase into Morning and Afternoon phases. As I thought about what Items could be created, I figured that in a realistic game, players would “see” other players using these Items on them during the night. That’s when the idea of masks came to me.
The theory was that players would only be able to find mafia by seeing which masks were attempting murder and then by working out who was under each mask. They would work out which mask belonged to each player using CCTV cameras (masks that keep showing up at the same house are statistically likely to be from that house). I expected the mafia to take an early lead due to the lack of easy detection, but then I thought the Store Owner would help balance the game by telling the town which masks were buying ‘mafia items’. Also, in these games mafia are usually discovered through their own mistakes in PM conversations or through obvious alliances in Lynch campaigns, so I was fine with giving them lots of cover. I even gave them the ability to buy anonymously, swap masks, or just buy their own.
All other elements (e.g. inside/outside at night, masked actions vs unmasked actions, auctions, town rich list) fell into place when I realised they were needed.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Role PMs]Ok, here is the full, uncensored list of Role PMs. I didn’t reveal them as players were dying because of the Revival Elixir, which could have brought those abilities back.
[spoiler=Anaxagore]ANAXAGORE
You are the entrepreneur.
You start with 0 coins.
You start in the position of Store Owner.
Win clause: survive until endgame.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Muzthebus]MUZTHEBUS
You are the rich mafia.
You start with 10 coins.
You earn 3 coins at the end of every day phase.
Win clause: eliminate all members of the town and the hostile neutral. [/spoiler]
[spoiler=Elysium5]ELYSIUM5
You are the speedy mafia.
You start with 5 coins.
You earn 2 coins at the end of every day phase.
You may perform as many actions as you wish each night.
Win clause: eliminate all members of the town and the hostile neutral. [/spoiler]
[spoiler=Mayba]MAYBA
You are the poor, stealthy mafia.
You start with 3 coins.
You earn 1 coin at the end of every day phase.
You are immune to Stealing.
You cannot be seen by CCTV.
Win clause: eliminate all members of the town and the hostile neutral. [/spoiler]
[spoiler=Hoodlum]HOODLUM
You are a rich townie.
You start with 8 coins.
You earn 3 coins at the end of every day phase.
You are colour-blind.
Win clause: eliminate all members of the mafia and the hostile neutral.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Kyla]KYLA
You are a jealous townie.
You start with 8 coins.
You earn 2 coins at the end of every day phase.
You receive the information of a random richer player instead of your own in the Town Rich List.
Win clause: eliminate all members of the mafia and the hostile neutral.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Huskers01]HUSKERS01 [inactive]
You are a perceptive townie.
You start with 2 coins.
You earn 1 coin at the end of every day phase.
You may #QUESTION a masked player who is outside. You will be told if they are in your faction or not, with 75% accuracy.
Win clause: eliminate all members of the mafia and the hostile neutral.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=CheekyTeeky]CHEEKYTEEKY [inactive]
You are a poor townie.
You start with 2 coins.
You earn 1 coin at the end of every day phase.
You can #USE a Knife to kill a player during the night. If you kill a townie, you will be lynched in the morning.
You are immune to stealing.
Win clause: eliminate all members of the mafia and the hostile neutral.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Dough_boy]DOUGH_BOY
You are a popular townie.
You start with 2 coins.
You earn 3 coins at the end of every day phase.
When running for election, you get voted one extra time automatically.
You must be voted one more time than necessary to be lynched.
Win clause: eliminate all members of the mafia and the hostile neutral.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Jimmy1066]JIMMY1066 [inactive]
You are a speedy townie.
You start with 5 coins.
You earn 1 coin at the end of every day phase.
You may perform as many actions as you wish each night.
Win clause: eliminate all members of the mafia and the hostile neutral.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=AlexCheckMate]ALEXCHECKMATE
You are a scavenging townie.
You start with 0 coins.
You earn 1 coin at the end of every day phase.
You gain all items and money left at the houses of players who are nightkilled.
You can survive being nightkilled once.
Win clause: eliminate all members of the mafia and the hostile neutral.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Sygmassacre]SYGMASSACRE
You are a creative townie.
You start with 5 coins.
You pay 2 coins to #INVENT an item during the night. In the morning, it will be sold to the highest bidder (you stay inside your house while performing this action).
Win clause: eliminate all members of the mafia and the hostile neutral.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=GM_Archiee]GM_ARCHIEE [inactive but lynched anyway]
You are a learning townie.
You start with 1 coin.
You earn 1 coin at the end of Day 1, 2 coins at the end of Day 2, 3 coins at the end of Day 3, and so on.
Win clause: eliminate all members of the mafia and the hostile neutral.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Paulcha]PAULCHA
You are the accountant.
You start with 1 coin and a Cane.
You earn 1 coin at the end of every day phase.
You can #EXAMINE a player’s financial records during the night (you stay inside your house while performing this action).
Win clause: have the highest net worth when there are five players or less alive.[/spoiler]
It was a shame to see two of the town’s best assets being completely inactive (perceptive townie and poor townie)… just bad luck for the townies.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Graphs of Finances]Here are some graphs tracking the account balances, the net worths, and the rich list standings of players throughout the game. Note that I have removed the inactive players from the graphs to reduce crowdedness. Graphs including Anaxagore’s data are included later. Player’s data lines are the colour of their original mask.
[spoiler=Account Balance][img]https://i.ibb.co/cb4thns/Account-Balance-graph.png[/img]
Account balances fluctuated rapidly due to changes of Regime and spending. Not much info here to be honest but you can clearly see when people got their Mayor bonuses.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Net Worth][img]https://i.ibb.co/HPFhZRW/Net-Worth-graph.png[/img]
Net worth was more telling. I only kept data for net worth at the start of each morning phase, since that is what the town rich list was based from. Nearly all losses in net worth were caused by players buying and using Fake IDs in the same day. There would be many more of these sudden losses of net worth, but those players were often lynched and so the data stops before the loss of net worth can be seen.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Town Rich List][img]https://i.ibb.co/Rz3bS25/Rich-List-graph.png[/img]
Anaxagore is included in this one. Predictably he took the number 1 spot as soon as purchases could be made. It can be seen that generally, the rich players remained rich and the poor players remained poor throughout the game. This is mostly due to the lack of thefts attempted by knife or brick.[/spoiler][/spoiler]
[spoiler=What Went Down]Game Synopsis:
The game started off with lots of confusion, no-one really understanding how to find mafia. I deliberately provided non-town players with the town win clause to try and stop the game being based solely off fake Role PM mistakes (after all, I had invested heavily in complex game mechanics). Anaxagore tried to use this to gain everyone’s trust – which only worked momentarily.
After producing questionable fake Role PMs, paulcha and Anaxagore fell under scrutiny from attentive players. Paulcha #EXAMINED Anaxagore’s financial records and saw that Anaxagore had lied about his Role PM. When confronting Anaxagore, Paulcha was forced to admit that he had also faked his own Role PM, and then accidentally revealed his neutral win clause to Anaxagore. Anaxagore seized the opportunity to work together with Paulcha to maximise his own chances of avoiding suspicion and surviving until the end.
Anaxagore suggested that Paulcha pretend to be the Store Owner and provide evidence against mafia, so as to gain the trust of the town. Anaxagore gave Paulcha full access to the list of purchases so that Paulcha could post it in the forums “proving” he was the Store Owner. He also told Paulcha his mask colour so people would see everything they expected when buying things. Effectively, Anaxagore and Paulcha swapped roles, masks, positions… everything… without ever actually changing a thing. It was a great move for Paulcha since it saved him from a lynch and gained some temporary trust, but for Anaxagore it was a master-stroke – the crazy revelation that Paulcha was Store Owner diverted all suspicion away from Anaxagore, and yet he still had a bulging bank account and inventory from being the real Store Owner.
They decided to frame Elysium5 by making up a purchase of a Protective Vest and accusing him to be mafia. This was incredibly unlucky for the mafia, since Elysium5 had come up with a flawless Role PM (exactly the same as the inactive Jimmy1066’s PM) and could have deceived the town for a long time. On the other hand, it was extremely lucky for the townies and for the neutrals, since they now found themselves more trusted. The lynch war that followed completely blew the cover of the remaining mafia due to their blatant alliance with Elysium5.
Somehow people became convinced that Hoodlum was a neutral, and he was lynched the following day. This was strange to see because hoodlum was spot on with his suspects and yet the neutrals didn’t even need to use Fake IDs to get him lynched.
With the mafia struggling to make nightkills (everyone stayed inside their houses) and the Store Owner (Anaxagore pretending Paulcha was doing everything) stockpiling Fake IDs, the rest of the game continued somewhat inevitably towards Anaxagore’s victory. Paulcha may have snatched it from Anaxagore by stealing his stuff during the night time but he was fatefully lynched by players eager for Store Ownership.
Despite the power of Fake IDs, the game boiled down to a close finish after AlexCheckMate led an unlikely alliance between townies and mafia to try and kill Anaxagore. With Anaxagore homeless and limited to one cane, it became possible to knifesteal from him if two people coordinated their actions. With their two night actions, AlexCheckMate and Muzthebus looked for a Leaf Green and an Orange masked victim… but Anaxagore was wearing a fflufffy lllaama mask that night, and so fortunately survived, and drew the game clinically to its close.
Perhaps the town and mafia should have realised at an earlier stage that buying Fake IDs was not a viable strategy… it was merely giving their money to the hostile neutral for no net benefit (Fake IDs cancelled out by the Store Owner’s). They could have launched a coordinated attack to #IGNITE Anaxagore’s home and steal his things before it was too late. But Anaxagore’s pretended swap with Paulcha may have protected him from this anyway.
[spoiler=MVP??]MVP goes to Anaxagore, since he was the only winner. He played very well indeed - faking Paulcha as the Store Owner was a masterstroke that probably was the main reason he ended up winning and not being targeted earlier in the game. Also, using the Revival Elixir as evidence for his faked Role PM was a cunning move. Trying to earn the trust of the town with the town win clause in the early game was also a nice strategy.
Despite the fact that Hoodlum was the first to sus most things out, town MVP goes to AlexCheckMate, whose instincts and logic were almost flawless throughout the game. And his communication with fellow townies via the forum could have proved invaluable. Cunning exploitation of capitalism and sneaky manipulation ensured that he survived until the very last phase despite his constant low funding. Well played.
The mafia struggled due to players remaining inside at night, but no-one realised that they could each target two mask colours each night with their knives if they wanted. It was also strange to see them blow their cover so blatantly trying to save Elysium5 from the lynch. Nonetheless the mafia survived until the endgame and had a good chance to steal the win at the end. Mayba's calculated guidance was key in their survival hopes, especially as the game went on.
I disagree with the labelling of players as wooden spoon. Completely unnecessary to rub salt into the wound in my opinion. But if I had to choose one, it would have to be Huskers01, purely because his Role would have been amazingly valuable if commanded by an active player. In such a tight game, inspecting Anaxagore early would probably have brought the town a win.[/spoiler][/spoiler]
[spoiler=Mistakes and Flaws]Mistakes and Flaws:
So I did make a small mistake near the start of the game by reporting the Store Owner’s mask colour to Hoodlum even though he was colour-blind. This may have slightly increased suspicion upon home, and although I don’t think it really affected the game I can only apologise for my error.
Also, when I made the Spray Paints buy one get one free at the dawn of a Capitalist regime, a certain AlexCheckMate realised that the Capitalist income bonus for Items essentially made them free, so he bought 8 cans (with all his coins). Fair play I guess, that was very clever haha.
Flaws though. There were a few:
The most obvious was the seemingly infinite supply of Fake IDs to the Store Owner, essentially making him unlynchable. If the town had really thought about it, they could have starved the Store Owner of his income and lynched him. But in the heat of the moment, players gave in and tried to buy themselves out of trouble every single time. Solution: limit players to one Fake ID per day.
Related was the problem that the Store Owner became too rich (see graph with Anaxagore included). Solution: Store Owner only receives half of the coins spent in the Store.
[spoiler=Account Balance (including Anaxagore)][img]https://i.ibb.co/K0MnSdP/Account-Balance-graph-Anax.png[/img][/spoiler]
Another flaw was the seemingly invincible combination of Protective Vest and staying outside. Immunity to Oil and Knives… only poison could threaten them, with time to buy an antidote. Yes it was over-powered but the way around it was to steal the Protective Vest… not easy and needs changing.
Another one: players had little incentive to leave their homes at night, so mafia struggled to make kills. The town limited its ability to discover mafia by staying inside, but nonetheless they preferred the protection. Solution: reduce the price of Oil to increase the risk of staying home. Solution: introduce an Item/ability to threaten people who are inside, or to force people to come outside.
Finally, the #DEAL for information was fundamentally flawed and needed removing.[/spoiler]
[b]Please, please, PLEEEEEASE give feedback on flaws, potential improvements or even just unrelated suggestions. Would you be interested in playing this format again in the future?[/b]
It was good fun hosting, thanks for your participation!
It is now Day 8. Please submit your Lynch vote, as well as any Role-specific Day actions you wish to perform (countdown).
Day Actions:
• #LYNCH [player], #NO LYNCH, #ABSTAIN in forum thread.
• Role-specific actions (via PM with V98).
Day Actions:
• #LYNCH [player], #NO LYNCH, #ABSTAIN in forum thread.
• Role-specific actions (via PM with V98).