Mafia 75 -- Revolution in Vanillaville

[House Targaryen]

Welcome to Game 75 of A Game of Thrones Mafia, in which you must save Vanillaville from a horde of evil mods before their avant-garde set-up ideas ruin the social order.

Please tell me your availabilities when signing up. The game can start on Friday, November 26th (in which case Day One will last until the weekend is over). But if enough people can't manage a Friday start, the deadline will be pushed back to Monday, November 29th.

Ideally, I'd like at least eleven or twelve players, but the set-up and number of events will depend on how many sign-ups I receive.

Events will occur that may change roles or mechanics as this game progresses. However, most of these changes are cosmetic, for the purpose of flavour. I will try as hard as possible not to be deliberately misleading, and to ensure that changes do not interfere too much with balance or gameplay. Just try to keep an open mind.

Co-mods (particularly European ones) are welcome to help to warn me if I'm doing anything stupid if you absolutely can't play under any circumstances, but I'm in more desperate need of players.

I may provide a role list, depending on the final set-up, but expect to see a few rarely used roles.

And finally, all similarities to living members of the esteemed Westeros Mafia community and/or past games are totally coincidental.

[House Targaryen]

In the heart of the Westeros Riverlands lies a sleepy little town called Vanillaville. It's a tiny community of no more than a few dozen regulars, all of whose families have lived there for generations.

Nothing unexpected happens in Vanillaville. The houses are all identical, surrounded by picket fences ranging in shades from off-white to cream to eggshell. Everyone in this hardworking community is awake at the crack of dawn tilling the fields, and in their beds by twilight.

Vanillaville's contact with the outside world has been sporadic, but a few foreign professions have found a niche in the community. The friendly local maester. The friendly local coroner. The friendly local police officer (who often has a partner, and who, for some reason, only shows up for work when the coroner is away on vacation). The friendly local vigilante, able to strike only once and admired by all as an upstanding citizen, unless Mina is around. The not-so-friendly local Mafia sympathizer, who most often appears in groups of thirteen.

In their spare time, citizens amuse themselves by sitting on their porch, twiddling their thumbs, discussing the weather, watching paint dry, and eating porridge.

But all of Vanillaville unites for a game of Mafia.

City Hall uses good old-fashioned mob justice to deal with such appalling crimes as who littered in the town square and who stole one of Farmer John's cabbages. Vanillaville being more democratic than your average feudal community, influential locals all get their turn to moderate a round of Mafia. But in the interests of maintaining the spirit of the game, city law mandates that set-ups stay simple, balanced, consistent...and above all, vanilla.

And so things went on peacefully for generations. But all this ended when unrest brewed in Vanillaville, and a town meeting was called in City Hall.

"All right," said Mayor Beige. "We have gathered here today because I've been hearing a rash of complaints. Apparently, some of you--"

He shot a distasteful look at a group in tie-died shirts in the back corner of the hall whose feet rested insolently on the bench in front.

"Some of you have made...ah, unorthodox Mafia set-ups."

Sunshine Gaia Rainbow Karma rolled her eyes. "You squares are stifling my creativity, man! A moderator is, like, an artist, and the game is her canvas. Tell me, what was wrong with having a vampire zombie cult in my game?"

"Because it's not what we signed up for," said Farmer Jack. "Because players find it frustrating when they don't have all the information. Because we want to play Mafia, not 'Sunshine Gaia Rainbow Karma's Vampire Zombie Cult Game.'"

"Dude, you've played seventy games without vampire zombie cults," said Sunshine Gaia Rainbow Karma. "Open your minds, man. There's a world of groovy power roles and wild mechanics and psychedelic themes out there."

"Goodness," said Farmer Jane. "Who raised you? Don't you have any respect for traditions?"

"It's a strain on our hearts," said old Farmer Joe, turning his anachronistic hearing aid down. "I've lived in this here town for eighty-three gosh-darn years. That's the way things have always been. You young whippersnappers are not going to change the way we do business."

"You're oppressing us!" cried Mao Trotsky Pinko, a tall lanky youth sitting beside Sunshine and wearing a Che Guevara T-shirt and a beret. "You're enslaving the proletariat with your authoritarian principles of balance."

"That's a load of gosh-darn nonsense," said Farmer Jerry. "You're enslaving us by designing games that are broken!"

"Exactly," said Farmer Jim. There were red marks around his neck--old rope burns. "Like in that game Pinko modded. I was an FM, and I was lynched because the roleless innocents all had the words 'Marxist-feminist theory of literary criticism' in their role PMs."

Voices piped up throughout the hall.

"I had the last killer nailed until three different players claimed healer."

"I lost because I didn't think you'd ever mix innocent and FM friends."

"Settle down!" shouted Mayor Beige, over the rising din. "Listen." He sighed. "We as a community, through years of experience and trial and error, have decided on certain conventions and rules. Breaking with these conventions leads to confusion, and injustice, and unforeseen consequences."

"So?" said Sunshine Gaia Rainbow Karma. "You're too uptight. Unwind! It's just a game. Who says everything has to be all mathematical and logical? What matters isn't who wins but who has the grooviest experience."

"B'ut thats un'fair, ev'il mod'ding!" cried the local barrister. "My wi'n re'cord will be ru'i'ned if ga'mes swin'g on th'e se't-u'p ins'te'ad of me bo'ssi'ng ev'eryo'ne a'ro'und and ge'tti'ng the'm to do w'hat I sa'y."

"Well, too bad," said Mao Trotsky Pinko. "I don't condone your bourgeoisie, achievement-oriented fixation on your win record. Instead of being a cog in the machine, why not fight the system? Let's reexamine our basic assumptions of what it means to play Mafia. Like, why do we need randomly assigned role distribution? Roles are just an extension of the aristocracy. What if we used a more egalitarian method of assigning powers? Like gifts, or gold mechanics, or a point system?"

"Too capitalistic and structured," said Sunshine Gaia Rainbow Karma. "Let's not even keep track of those points. Strict modding is authoritarian, man."

"Deconstruct motivations!" added Mao Trotsky Pinko. "We've moved past conventional black-and-white morality. Throw in a shocking plot twist wherein everyone is a symp to a different evil team. Pit the innocents against each other on rival teams, or even in a dog-eats-dog survivor contest. It's like, a metaphor, man. Who's the real scum, now?" He paused, moved by the profundity of his statement. "Like, who's the real scum?"

"Break the fourth wall, man! Give incorrect CF results. Or even better, defy expectations and reveal a killer's identity in the thread. It's the ultimate performance piece."

At that, the hall erupted in fury. "This is treason," they cried. "Lynch them!"

Mayor Beige cleared his throat. When the town hall settled down, he looked at the back row of the room in disgust. "It is clear that you do not share the values of our community," said the mayor. "We must remove these dangerous antisocial elements from our midst. You evil mods are henceforth banished from Vanillaville. Show your faces again, and you'll hang faster than you can say 'Marxist-feminist theory of literary criticism.'"

And so the poor avant-garde moderators were chased out of Vanillaville by an angry torch-and-pitchfork-wielding mob.

But not all Vanillavillians felt the same way. A few carried subversive sympathies in their hearts. Late at night, when the law-abiding citizens were in their bed, these traitors ran out to the woods in the outskirts of Vanillaville, where they met with their outcast comrades.

In secret meetings, they discussed revolutionary doctrine and tactics. Some suggested enforcing change by overt violence. Others preferred covert subversion of the system from within. Finally, they came up with a plan.

"Something must be done," they said. "I'm tired of vanilla. It's time to change this boring village forever. And if it means blood must be spilled for us to take over...well, sacrifices must be made in the name of revolution."

[House Targaryen]

RULES

Section 1

Introduction

1.1

Welcome to the latest installment of A Game Of Thrones Mafia. Even if you've played before, please at least skim these rules.

1.2

If you're new to the game, you might find the following links useful:

A Short Introduction to Mafia

This introduction is primarily aimed at people who have never played the game in any form before, but also contains some information that might be useful for people who have merely not played on this board before.

Flash Introduction To Mafia

Another quick introduction, featuring a short sample game. However, note that the rules used here vary in several key ways from the rules of this game.

The GOT Mafia Discussion Board

For spectators who want to discuss the game away from the players.Everyone playing should have created an account here before the game starts. If you do not have an account here you will not be allowed to play.

1.3

If you would like to play in the game, then send a PM to me indicating your desire to do so.

Section 2

Before The Game

2.1

Everyone who is playing will be sent a PM assigning them an alt and telling them their login name and password just before the game starts. If you think you should have been given an alt but haven't been, please contact the mods. Do not post about it on the thread.

2.2

As soon as you have been given an alt you are an active player. You will continue to be an active player until your character is killed in the game or you are replaced by the mods. If you are replaced, please do not post on the thread any more.

2.3

The alt that you have been assigned should have received a PM listing your role and alignment. Your alignment is your team. Mafia is a team game, and there is no individual winning or losing.

You are either playing for the Vanilla Mods (innocents), or for the Evil Mods (FM). If you are playing for the Vanilla Mods, your goal is to uncover all of the Evil Mods before they kill all of you. If you are playing for the Evil Mods your goal is, obviously enough, to not get caught until you have killed all of the Vanilla Mods.

2.4

In addition to your faction you will also have been given a role (this role may of course be 'no role'). Players with any role other than simply Killer or Roleless Innocent may belong to any faction(except where the role list states otherwise).

For a list of roles, see the post below. Not every role listed will be used in the game, but no role will be used if it is not listed.

Section 3

During The Game

3.1

The game is divided into two phases: day and night. During the day people can vote for people they want to lynch (remove from the game) or vote to go to night without lynching. At night people with roles can perform special actions; in particular the Killers can pick one innocent to target and attempt to kill. Some roles may also have the ability to perform special actions during the day.

Discussion on the thread can continue freely during both phases of the game.

3.2

During the day, people can vote for someone to be lynched or vote to end the day without lynching anyone ('vote to go to night'). You can only have one vote outstanding at any time, but need not have any vote at all. To remove a vote without voting for night, simply 'remove vote'. You cannot ever vote for yourself.

All votes must be in bold to be counted. Please make new votes in new posts, don't just edit old ones; this makes it much easier for the mods to keep track of votes properly.

3.3

As soon as a majority of votes have cast for one decision, the day is over. While the mods will post to officially declare this, the day actually ends as soon as the final vote is cast. Anyone lynched is now dead and cannot post on the thread any more. When the mods post to announce their death they will reveal the faction to which that player belonged. Votes cannot be withdrawn and new votes cannot be made.

A majority means either more than half the number of people playing (for a conviction) or half or more of this number (for a vote to go to night)

3.4

The day will also end without anyone being lynched if the players cannot reach a consensus within 36 hours.

3.5

During the night, some players will have the ability to perform special actions. To do so, they should PM the mods either before night falls or up to 8 hours after it does so. Note that no player ever has to perform an action, but that to do nothing they should PM the mods stating their desire to carry out 'no action'. Also note that it is acceptable for PMs sent in before night falls to list alternative actions depending on the outcome of the day. If such a PM is sent which does not specify what action to take given the way the day actually ended, the mods will act as if no PM was sent. In this case, it is the player's responsibility to send in a new night action PM.

If not all PMs are received within this time, everyone who has failed to send in a PM will be considered to have taken no action. In addition, those who failed to send in a PM will be warned by the mods or may risk further penalties (up to and including modkilling or replacement).

Because of this, we strongly recommend that players send in provisional night action PMs. Such PMs may be sent in during either the day or the night, and may be changed at any time up until the point they become definite. A provisional PM becomes definite as soon as the mods have received definite PMs from all other players who can perform night actions or as soon as the time limit for the night is reached. Provisional PMs may also be confirmed as definite by the people who sent them in, and in fact the mods urge people to confirm any provisional PMs they send as soon as they are happy with them in the interests of shorter nights.

To be clear: the night can last as long as it does so that everybody who needs to will have time to send in a PM. It does not last this long to give people lots of extra time to think about their choice of night action. Shorter nights make the mods happier.

3.6

PMs to the mod can be changed at any point before the new day is announced, provided there is a legitimate reason for the change. What exactly constitutes a legitimate reason is left to the discretion of the mods.

Note that you do not need to give a reason for changing a provisional PM.

To help the mods, please state the reason you are changing your PM when you send in a new choice.

3.7

Once the mods have received all PMs (or the time limit for night has been reached) they will post a morning scene to inform everyone on the thread of the result of the night's actions. If an action was blocked or prevented for some reason no mention will be made of this fact. There are no hidden clues in the death scenes. All night actions sent in will be considered to have occurred simultaneously. As soon as this post is made the new day will begin and any players who have been killed at night will be dead. The mods will reveal the faction of any dead players. The time limit for the new day will begin with this post.

3.8

The game begins during a day phase and will continue to alternate between phases until the game ends. The game can end during either the day or the night.

Section 4

General Conduct

4.1

By signing up to play, you agree that you will do your best to be involved in the game and will be able to post on the thread as long as you remain an active player. In particular, all players must make at least one post every 24 hours (and PM the mods within 8 hours of night falling if you have a role with night powers). If, during the game, you realise you will have to be inactive for (slightly) longer than the required period please contact the mods privately to let them know. The mods will then post an announcement on the thread so that everyone will be aware of the absence in advance. Intentionally not posting for 24 hours for strategy reasons is an egregious breach of this rule and the spirit of the game.

Anyone who fails to post within the required time and has not informed the mods will be automatically mod-killed or replaced if a replacement is available. Though the mods will post to announce the death, this will only be as confirmation of an event that has already happened.

4.2

PMs from or to the mods should stay private. Please do not post them on the thread or offer to do so. Please also avoid discussing the timing of your PMs if you are a roled player. That is, while you may post on the thread during the night to say you have sent in your PM, please do not post to tell people that have sent in your PM at a certain time, you have not yet sent in a PM, or that you plan to wait a certain length of time before doing so.

4.3

Discussion of the alts of players on the thread is frowned upon. In particular we ask that you do not reveal your own alt or attempt to make arguments based on it. Note that this rule does not simply mean you cannot explicitly say who you are on the thread; references to past games that make no attempt to hide your role in them or changes to your alt's signature are also strongly discouraged and the mods may ask you to edit any post in which you are considered to have implicitly revealed your alt in this fashion.

4.4

Please try not to use off-thread information such as which players have recently been active, who is currently viewing the thread or anything of the sort as a basis for either your arguments or your actions.

More specifically, do not post any such information on the thread. If you do so we will certainly ask you to edit it out and may take further action.

To be clear: it is perfectly fine to discuss the times at which a player has posted as this information is available on the thread. However, discussing the times at which the player was viewing the thread is not, as this information is not on the thread. We recommend that all players log in anonymously - both when viewing the game thread and when on the discussion board - while the game is ongoing.

4.5

Active players should not discuss any part of the game with each other outside the thread. Active players should also avoid discussing the game with people who aren't playing (other than the mods), and should certainly limit themselves to general comments about the game if they do choose to do so.

4.6

Active players should also not give anyone else access to the their alt. Please do not change the password of your alt account as it is important that the mods know all the passwords in case you need to be replaced. In rare circumstances you may be allowed to have somebody else make a post for you using your alt. However, this can only be done with the consent of the mods, and it is up to them to give the account information to the person standing in for you.

4.7

Please avoid making personal attacks on other players in the thread. If you feel someone else on the thread has said something objectionable, you may contact the mods to register your feelings. However, what exactly constitutes a personal attack is left to the discretion of the mods.

If the mods feel a personal attack has been made, they will ask the player in question to edit the offending posts (and to not make any such comments in future, of course). In exceptional circumstances, or if the behaviour in question continues, they may feel forced to take further action.

4.8

Please remember that this a team game, and that by signing up you agree to do your best to help your faction win. The mods will not be amused if anyone playing decides (for whatever reason) to try to stop their own team from winning. Anyone who does this should expect to be modkilled ... and should not expect to play in any other game the mods run, for that matter.

4.9

In short: please remember that this is a game, and that the aim is to have fun, but not at the expense of other people playing. Any questions about conduct that are not answered here can almost certainly be decided by considering this fact. If you think you shouldn't do something, you probably shouldn't. At the very least, please PM the mods for advice before you do anything you think may be considered questionable by other people playing.

Mafia is run on the honour system and only works as a game if we trust in the good faith of our fellow players.

Section 5

Endgame

5.1

The game is only over when a mod posts in the thread to announce that it is over. Even if you know (or believe you know) the result of the game before then, please do not post in the thread if you are not an active player.

5.2

The mods will declare the game over and a win for one side or the other as soon as one faction achieves its winning conditions, listed below. If for any reason it becomes impossible for either faction to achieve its winning conditions, the mods will declare the game a draw.

The Vanilla Mods win if every one of the killers is killed, and at least one innocent is still alive.

The Evil Mods win once all the Vanilla Mods are dead. (Note that if everybody dies this faction will win.)

5.3

Additionally, the mods reserve the right to end the game at any time before this (as a win for either side, a draw, or any other result they deem appropriate) provided there are exceptional and compelling reasons to do so. In general, the mods will end the game early as soon as one faction's victory becomes inevitable.

5.4

When the game is over, the mods will reveal the alts and roles of everybody who played and also give everyone access to the spectator threads on the other board.

Section 6

Miscellaneous

6.1

Despite the best intentions of the mods, it is possible that these rules contain mistakes, ambiguities or contradictions. If you think you have spotted any, please PM the mods as soon as possible to let them know. If the mods agree that there is a problem with the rules, they will post on the thread to announce this and change the rules accordingly.

6.2

Players are in general encouraged to send in their thoughts to the mods throughout the game, to be posted on the spoiler discussion thread. The mods reserve the right to edit any thoughts they receive before posting them, but will generally post all thoughts unchanged.

6.3

In general, only the mods and active players should post on the game thread during the game. Dead players and spectators should ask the game mods for access to the spoiler forum on the discussion board if they wish to comment on the game. Equally, people posting on the game thread should try to restrict themselves to comments about the game - if they wish to make an out of character comment on the thread they should clearly denote their comment as such by writing it in italics. However such comments should be made very rarely, if at all.

6.4

If something happens in the game that is not covered by these rules, it is up to the mod to decide how to deal with it. The mods' decision on this matter is final. However, the mods will endeavour to have as small an impact on the game as possible, intervening only when they feel it is necessary to keep the game running and not doing so to favour any one side or group of players over another.

These rules have been adapted from the Westeros mafia standard ruleset by the game mod for this game and are copyrighted by the Westeros mafia community at A Song of Ice and Fire discussion board and aGoT mafia discussion board. These rules are not to be copied or adapted for use on another board without permission from the Westeros mafia community, which can be applied for by contacting one of the metamods: Plessiez, unJon or Sophelia.

[House Targaryen]

This is the roleless innocent (or vanilla mod) PM:

Faction: You are a vanilla mod. You are an honest, hardworking citizen of Vanillaville who double-checks Plessiez's guide to balance when you design a set-up. After the murder of your mayor, you are even more determined to keep things the way they've always been and ferret out the antisocial elements in your midst.

Powers: You are a roleless innocent. You have no special powers beyond your vote and your brain. After all, power roles are so swingy. They're too much excitement for you.

Powers may be subject to change at any point.

Win Condition: You win when the evil mods have all been eliminated.

This is the FM (or evil mod) PM:

Faction: You are an evil mod: You are, like, a totally groovy rebel, interested in, like, social change and stuff! Sure, some may call your unstable, unbalanced set-up ideas evil modding, but you prefer to call it "artistic modding." Now you and your partner, House X, will tear down the system that restricted your creativity! Some of the means at your disposal include subtle propaganda, while others include not-so-subtle machete strikes to the head.

Powers: CENSORED

Win Condition: You win when you outnumber the vanilla mods, or when nothing can prevent this from happening.

If everyone is dead, it's a draw. :P

Roles

All roles may be given to either faction, and will have additional restrictions beyond what I'm posting in the thread. These are all the potential roles at the start of the game. By which I mean, at the start of the game. AT THE START OF THE GAME.

Actually, maybe I wasn't clear enough. AT THE START OF THE GAME. Don't whine to me later about how I didn't give you fair warning.

Bulletproof

Finder

Friend

Guard

Healer

Hider

Martyr

Mystery Voter

No quoting of role PMs or discussion of flavour allowed. However, any players planning a fakeclaim interested in the nuances of a certain role may ask me to send them a sample role PM with flavour were it assigned to the innocent faction. THAT STILL DOES NOT MEAN YOU CAN DESCRIBE FOR SAID FLAVOUR. I reserve the right to modkill if I think the spirit of the rules is being broken.

[House Targaryen]

Since I've been working all day, the game won't be ready to start until about 8 or 9 PM EST. I'n sorry to all the Euro players who'll have to wait until morning.

ETA: I'm so sorry for the delay! Writing and sending out role PMs took much longer than expected. I won't keep you waiting any longer and will start the game even though the opening scene isn't ready (so yeah, the "mayor is murdered" stuff in your role PMs didn't come from nowhere).

Since no Euro co-mod was around to veto the final balance (and since mentat's idea of balance is different from mine), I won't rule out the possibility that subtle changes to the roles may be made before Day One ends, just in case my role distribution makes my comods cry. :P

Days will last thirty-six hours, nights eight.

There is a CF that reveals innocent mod/evil mod but not alt.

Your mods are Mina, mentat, and HT Reddy. And expect changes to happen during this game.

[House Targaryen]

Players

House Ashford

House Bolton

House Connington

House Estermont

House Fossoway

House Frey

House Reed

House Tarth

House Vance

House Westerling

Role PMs have been sent out.

You may start posting...NOW!

[House Tyrell]

w00t!

I vote House X... I have a good feeling about this one guys.

[House Targaryen]

It is day 1.

10 players remain: Ashford, Bolton, Connington, Estermont, Fossoway, Frey, Reed, Tarth, Vance, Westerling.

6 votes are needed for a conviction or 5 to go to night.

10 players have not voted: Ashford, Bolton, Connington, Estermont, Fossoway, Frey, Reed, Tarth, Vance, Westerling.

[House Velaryon]

Mayor: "I'm not dead! I'm getting better!"

Targ: "No you're not, you'll be stone dead in a moment!"

[House Tyrell]

I predict that House Estermont and House Tarth are guilty. You heard it here first!

BTW, what is a 'hider'?

[House Velaryon]

I also notice that the FM powers are CENSORED. You know what this means... we're obviously looking at X-rated FM abilities! :smileysex:

[House Pommingham]

10 players????? :stunned:

Balance?!?!? :stunned:

:ack:

[House Velaryon]

BTW, what is a 'hider'?

No idea. That and the mystery voter role haven't been used before in any games I've played.

[House Targaryen]

This is a hider. A mystery voter can place an additional vote on a player.

[House Pommingham]

This is a hider. A mystery voter can place an additional vote on a player.

Vanilla, eh? <_<

* looks for rope *

[House Velaryon]

This is a hider. A mystery voter can place an additional vote on a player.

Thanks. Hider's interesting - kinda like a finder, but much riskier.

Vanilla, eh? <_<

* looks for rope *

Targ must be a Marxist-feminist literary theorist... :commie:

[House Pommingham]

All roles may be given to either faction, and will have additional restrictions beyond what I'm posting in the thread. These are all the potential roles at the start of the game. By which I mean, at the start of the game. AT THE START OF THE GAME.

Actually, maybe I wasn't clear enough. AT THE START OF THE GAME. Don't whine to me later about how I didn't give you fair warning.

At the start of the game, right?

[House Pommingham]

Kay, I'm going to check Wikileaks to find out the setup for this game - and to see what the Capitol thinks about Targ.

[House Pommingham]

Thanks. Hider's interesting - kinda like a finder, but much riskier.

I see. :mellow:

So my role also works kinda like a finder:

once I get lynched I'm going to learn who the killers are! :hat:

[House Dalt]

Well hello, and welcome, if you could wipe your feet on the doormat...please, come in.