Death and Taxes: An Economics Mafia [DAY 7]

[Tangrowth]

Bass now has 5 wins this year. I can't believe it.

[Tangrowth]

And 3 for Roxy.

[Golden]

G-Man, you have no idea how much I loved playing this game with you. Your dedication to the memes was nothing short of legendary.

I apologise for being a coward although when I read that post telling me to NK you, I literally laughed out loud at my screen. It was awesome!

[Tangrowth]

I'll update the Hall of Fame later when I know whether to include BWT.

[Tangrowth]

G-Man, you have no idea how much I loved playing this game with you. Your dedication to the memes was nothing short of legendary.

I apologise for being a coward although when I read that post telling me to NK you, I literally laughed out loud at my screen. It was awesome!

I agree, G-Man. It was a pleasure, despite the fact that your usage of pictures and WIFOM really annoyed me at times, I couldn't deny you were owning it. I laughed at so many of your pictures, they were perfect.

[Golden]

G-Man, I'm still floored. Your behavior was so textbook mafia, I just cannot believe this flip. You were WIFOMing all over the place and I don't understand why you did everything that you did this game. I don't apologize for pursuing my suspicion, but I was obviously mistaken.

I should have known it was too good to be true. :P

This. G-Man basically created a situation where no townie in their right mind would want to lynh anyone else, specially not on lylo (in facts this is probably why Golden pushed for the sanmateo lynch so he could have G-man on lylo). He was acting more scummy than the entire bad team combined.

I give you kudos for the gargantuan amount of commitment yiu put to your image thing, tho. Great game, it was a pleasure playing with you. G-Man.

Specially when I got to make you and MP sing.

Honestly I pushed sanmateo because I would have if I was civilian.

In the thread, I tried to stick to one single perspective. If I am not mafia, if I'm civilian, what is my theory of the game.

In my theory of the game, G-Man looked more civ than sanmateo did, to me.

I didn't care who died on lylo, but what surprised me is how hard it was to get things going on vomps. I was quite comfortable to see G-Man survive until the 1-1.

[Tangrowth]

Brilliantly played, Golden. Seriously. You have an outstanding civilian game and you replicated it well here.

[G-Man]

Hey look! G-Man's posting in words again! I bet that almost feels wrong to most of you.

Holy crap you guys, I made 252 posts in this game with just pictures, memes, videos, and/or links! I am officially certifiable.

This was a lot of fun for my first true speed game here at The Syndicate (LMS3 doesn't really count but it was lots of fun too!). Many thanks to our hosts, who not only tolerated my picture-posting craziness, but apparently enjoyed every minute of it. The picture posts were absolutely my choice after my hand was forced early on.

Almost everything I laid out in this post here was 100% true:

Spoiler: show

This will be the only time until after the game has ended that I will actually use words because this is going to take quite a few of them. After Last Man Standing 3, I thought I would take a break. For those of you who do not know, prior to Last Man Standing 3, I had not played a mafia game since 2011 or 2012. The years blur together. I think the last game I played before LMS3 was either Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy or The Big Lebowski on The Piano (may it rest in peace).

So anyway, my whole point of joining The Syndicate is to run a game of mine called Endgame: Secret Mafia III. I was excited to find a new forum with many familiar names from my days at The Piano. Realizing just how long I had been away from the game, I decided to do more than just put my game on the hosting poll (not this one but the next one- my wife is due in October and I'm not even about to make my life potentially any busier at that time). To properly reassess the structure of my game, and to reacquaint myself with the insanity that comes with a good mafia-playing crowd, I decided to follow the Roger Rabbit speed game.

Boy that was fun to follow! It seemed like I was transported back to old, familiar, and loveable times. Yes, I felt I had come to the right place and my game now had to happen. Then I decided to put myself back into practice by joining a speed game. LMS3 was perfect because it was so unlike normal mafia. It offered me the chance to get my feet wet with the rigors of posting and interacting with different personalities but without all the crazy that comes with hunting or being hunted. It was great.

I didn't intend to play the next game but then this one got bounced up the hosting queue. As an accountant, the geek in me screamed like a giddy little girl. I signed up, expecting this game to be like LSM3 and like the speed games from The Piano- light on commitment and heavy on fun. What I got was the opposite.

Spoiler: show

I never encountered a Day 0 at The Piano (or at least I never noticed one), so I more or less blew it off. Catching up on almost three full pages wasn't so bad and I figured it was just pre-game excitement. The next time I pop into the game to catch up on Day 1 I'm greeted by four new pages of content to read. "Eff me- are you serious!?" I thought to myself. That's 160 posts. My heart, brain, and gut (being years removed from serious game play, mind you) all agreed on the same decision: "Pfft! Nah." I skimmed page 7 and saw Epi harping on adverbs, which lead me to do a Google Image search for 'adverbs are the devil' hoping some English teacher somewhere made a meme of The Waterboy's mom. The image results were disappointing but I at least found one funny enough to post:

I thought I might be able to skate by on that and maybe a witty comment or two before calling it a night but then JJJ threw this at me:

~insert adverb devil image thing here~

what are your thoughts on... anything?

This prompted the only moment of panic I have felt all game. If I lied and said I was catching up on the thread, I would be expected to contribute my findings. My heart, brain, and gut all shouted "oh, hell no!" to that, so I took advantage of JJJ's open-ended question and threw out some Jack handy videos. Then MP, on the basis of two stinking posts, throws this at me:

G-Man, are you cursed?

Heart and Gut say "hot damn, now there's an idea!" but Brain says "yeah but who the hell gets cursed on Day 1?" So I decide to be ambiguous about it:

G-Man, are you cursed?

I make a few more no-word posts and call it a night, thinking I can somehow actually get caught up on the game the next day at lunch.

Spoiler: show

So what does lunch bring me but another 3 pages to catch up on. "This is not the speed mafia of old," I say to myself. "These guys are treating speed mafia as seriously as a full game. That's not for me." It was at this point that out of sheer laziness and a little bit of goofiness that I decide to only use pictures, videos, and smileys to communicate. I figured that I would keep expectations on me pretty low for a little while. I made a few posts but made sure never to acknowledge a curse. Right around here:

is where I went off the deep end. I figured I'd turn my participation in this game into a weird hybrid: part sociology experiment and part performance art. I was going to push people to their limits. I would give the appearance of trying to participate and see if the rest of you would tolerate something different. I'll save my criticisms of your openness to new ideas and methods for after the game.

Spoiler: show

At first I went after JJJ with the evil teddy bear image because, on the surface, he seemed pretty intense and accusatory. He was also posting a buttload of content and was one of the chief reasons I wasn't about to try and catch up.

The next day I upped the ante yet again. If I was going to communicate, I had to have a glossary. I came up with pictures for every player and began building up a list of words that would help me get varying points across to the thread. I now have a working picture glossary spreadsheet of almost 100 picture words. It's awesome! Posting in pictures really, truly does suck but I was determined to suffer for my art to the end. (Well, I suffered for my art until I discovered just how darn easy and funny meme generation can be.)

My Day 1 vote was utter shit. It was a 100% uninformed vote. I knew from see other people's posts that Epi usually gets taken out early and he certainly seems like a pretty rash (but probably loveable) guy. From what little I actually did skim, I thought MP was being a mini-JJJ but a little less objective. In the end I voted for Golden only because I had no read on Golden out of the three of them.

During the Night 1, I actually tried to skim through the first 24 pages of the game thread. My eyes glazed over somewhere around page 15 I think, but it was somewhat informative. I latched onto JJJ's mostly objective posts and based much of my first Player Read posts on his sus list but with a few modifications- remember, I skimmed the thread instead of actually reading it so I missed a lot of stuff that others probably caught while paying more attention. From Day 2 onward though, I actually did try to read as much as I could.

My Day 2 vote for Elo was legit- from my skimming, it sounded like MP was trying way too hard and was getting to emotional in the thread so it sounded to me like they were manufacturing distance from each other. When Elo flipped Serial Killer, I was stuck on the fence with MP. He and Epi may have been manufacturing distance from each other but it made no sense for Elo to get in the middle of it. Very weird.

I loved making this post:

because When Harry Met Sally is a terrific film and it was true- I'm not faking a curse. I made a conscious decision to post in an unorthodox manner. Plus, any time you can incorporate a fake orgasm scene into a mafia game is just awesome.

Spoiler: show

Since actually starting to try on Day 2, my reads have mostly been tone reads but still partially based on the rainbow lists some of you have been making. You know- being blendy and all that. I actually have been very busy at work and it's been insane trying to participate in this game during work hours. On top of it, my wife doesn't even know I'm playing this game, so it's been difficult to play at home too. I just tell her I'm working on stuff for our development's Home Owners Association (I'm one of the board members- yay adult responsibilities!).

Black Rock's tone and the fact that she missed a second vote was a legit concern to me. I figured a Piano veteran like her might still do what we did at The Piano- the baddies would either dial their games in or intentionally miss votes. I hadn't noticed the posts about her being sick until after I voted for her. So TH's meta-read totally did it for me. She was already on my list but now I was sold on BR being baddie.

My first self-created meme post was probably my undoing. It was taking so much time just to copy picture addresses from my spreadsheet, format them, and preview it to make sure the post came out right. DDL wanted a more specific response so I went with a meme:

G-Man, could you attempt to explain why you suspect me?

While it's meant participating more and crafting more detailed responses, it's been liberating in a way. Almost like reaching the second level of this crazy thing I am doing. And I love how there always seems to be a meme picture on tap that fits the tone I want to convey with my words. Love. It!

Spoiler: show

This was a legitimate thought. Then DDL came in and poo-pooed it all Ivory Tower like so I went back and looked up what he thought about it because I saw a lot of chatter about Adam Smith. For the record, I totally missed this post by DDL:

And now that I notice the write-up is called "Invisible Hands". I doubt hosts would give away roles like this, but it's a big coincidence lol.

Had I seen it I wouldn't have gone on my snide and snarky streak on DDL but it was still fun and constructive for me to put a little pressure on him. I couldn't let well enough alone though and tossed another comment his way this morning. I do think he is bad but that suspicion is based entirely on tone and how he talks to people.

Then MP comes flying out of nowhere firing on all cylinders, wailing on me about faking this whole picture thing. My only question is this: what the hell took yo so long? I was pleasantly surprised at how long I was able to coast in this game. MP, I really did re-read over lunch and my last batch of player reads are legit. Maybe I never played a game with you back in the day where you went off like you've been doing this game, but damn. I should have been the bigger man and ignored him but I can't help but goad a little with all these cutting memes at my disposal.

All of my reads have been individual reads. I'm just not skilled enough at people reading to read people in terms of relationships. I'm a little too linear that way. I wasn't good at it when I first started playing mafia but I never bothered to hone that skill. When you've got it, flaunt it. When you don't have it, why bother?

So where am I right now? I think I would vote for Roxy if I had to vote right now. Some of the interactions that were pointed out and some of the meta looks pretty sound to me. But, then again, what do I know? I'm terrible at reading people.

Spoiler: show

So that pretty much sums it up. Instead of watching the Rangers-Lightning game on TV, I've been here for two hours working on this post. Glad I won't have to do that tomorrow because I'm much more pumped for the Blackhawks-Ducks game than I was for tonight's hockey game. This has been a fun little experiment and, if I don't get lynched today, I will continue to post in pictures for the remainder of the game.

I am a civvie. Not a particularly good one but a civvie nonetheless. I have been playing more for myself than for the civvie cause in general, which is probably poor form. Then again, I never knew speed mafia to be this darn important and serious. Definitely some culture shock on my part.

As a closing bit of fun, here is a song that I considered singing for my required video but I was told that rap was not acceptable and wasn't sure if the first part would get me in trouble. It's sort of my theme song, you know.

In truth, I probably didn't start to care until Night 2 or early Day 3 before TH posted his scathing case on Black Rock. All I cared about doing was skimming the thread well enough to pick up on people's suspicions and balance mine out so as to not be blatantly copying anyone verbatim. Once I started caring, my suspicions became my own but my suspicions grew out of my lame-o copy cat suspicion lists.

Here's some truth for you: I was originally part of the mafia team. Before the reset, the mafia team comprised of:
-G-Man
-Jimmy
-Roxy
-Sloonei

After the reset, and once I started truly caring, I ran some probability on the likelihood that one of the original mafia team would be randomly chosen to be a baddie role (mafia or serial killer) a second time. I believe the exact number was something like 22% probability that one of the four of us was bad. When I went after 3-J early on (hey angry bear!) I had actually forgotten that he was originally to be my teammate. Once I checked the original role PM, I did a 180 on him and never suspected him again at all during the game. Once Roxy flipped mafia, I trusted that the odds were too remote for two original mafia members to repeat as mafia. It also didn't hurt that he was an absolute civvie stud with all his analysis.

My terrible civvie spider sense reared its ugly head with the Aether and Sanmateo lynches. That hurt bad and I knew we were screwed at that point because there was no way anyone was going to let me get through another lynch. I had dug a hole too deep and it was my undoing, but like Vomp, I embraced my inner viking and went ahead with it. I was telling the truth with my read on Vomp. I got BTSC with Mises and that fellow kept weird hours and seemed to line up with when Vomp was or would be active. So I went into the final day pretty confident Vomp was civ.

It took me a while to realize that Golden the Coward was most likely the last mafioso. Your reaction to my tin foil seemed to fit the bill. I walked into Day 8 knowing full well that I was going to die and that it would probably cost the civvies the game. I had zero trust in Vomp actually joining me in voting for Golden. I figured you out way too late but that gap in voting history really gave you the cover you needed.

I probably could have requested a replacement but I figured I ought to stick with the game even though you guys turned the post volume up to 11. If I'm going to get reacquainted with the game, asking for a replacement is counterproductive, no? I'm just glad that our hosts were okay with my antics. I was fully prepared to give it up had they mandated it but to my surprise, they enjoyed my little experiment of insanity. It certainly made this game one I will never forget, even if I ever want to.

I have more things to say but this post is long enough as it is.

[Tangrowth]

Here's some truth for you: I was originally part of the mafia team. Before the reset, the mafia team comprised of:
-G-Man
-Jimmy
-Roxy
-Sloonei

Holy fuck. That team...

[G-Man]

Oh, and while I have done some very off-the-wall things in past games, this has to be THE craziest thing I have ever done in a mafia game. Does this count as a gambit or is it just 100% unadulterated cray cray?

[G-Man]

Here's some truth for you: I was originally part of the mafia team. Before the reset, the mafia team comprised of:
-G-Man
-Jimmy
-Roxy
-Sloonei

Holy fuck. That team...

Tell me about it. I would have been in good hands.

[Golden]

Anyway golden what have I said that's pinging you?? Kind of disappointed tbh, thought you had my back unless golden 2.0 is golden ressurected to the dark side.. say it ain't so, dear golden. I thought your intuition was pretty accurate?

This was the smoking gun you missed...

Not who TB already had if she was akerlof - but who she was going to get next! It's why TB died. I had to ask and plead Roxy and Bass to change their plan - it was to be MP or TH. They were right, and I was wrong.

[Tangrowth]

G-Man, I will at least apologize for tunneling and not believing your explanation. For the record, I thought it was mostly true, but that you were omitting the aspects of your decision that were influenced by your alignment. I honestly thought it was more likely Rox's idea than yours.

There's another reason too that I thought you were lying but I can't talk about it yet! I think.

[G-Man]

And for the record, had the game not been reset, I would most certainly NOT have done the picture thing.

[Tangrowth]

Anyway golden what have I said that's pinging you?? Kind of disappointed tbh, thought you had my back unless golden 2.0 is golden ressurected to the dark side.. say it ain't so, dear golden. I thought your intuition was pretty accurate?

This was the smoking gun you missed...

Not who TB already had if she was akerlof - but who she was going to get next! It's why TB died. I had to ask and plead Roxy and Bass to change their plan - it was to be MP or TH. They were right, and I was wrong.

Wow, that is scary in retrospect. Well played game by TB! I'm looking forward to playing with TB again as well.

[Golden]

Everyone would be wise to respect TB. She's quiet, but she's got game.

[Tangrowth]

Everyone would be wise to respect TB. She's quiet, but she's got game.

I feel like practically everyone played a good game. This was such an awesome game.

[Golden]

You know how there are some mafia games you play and then you sort of forget in the mists of time?

This is not one of those games.

[G-Man]

G-Man, I will at least apologize for tunneling and not believing your explanation. For the record, I thought it was mostly true, but that you were omitting the aspects of your decision that were influenced by your alignment. I honestly thought it was more likely Rox's idea than yours.

There's another reason too that I thought you were lying but I can't talk about it yet! I think.

Yeah, you crossed a line that day but I'll forgive you for peeing all over my face.

It was bound to happen at some point but I didn't expect you to come at me so hard, so persistently, and for nearly as long as you did.

I thought about giving up on it a few times but every time I found the will to go the distance.


Heh. Sounds like I'm warming up for The Office Mafia game.

[Tangrowth]

You know how there are some mafia games you play and then you sort of forget in the mists of time?

This is not one of those games.

Agreed 100%. Awesome play from everyone, awesome hosting from our hosts.

[G-Man]

You know how there are some mafia games you play and then you sort of forget in the mists of time?

This is not one of those games.

THIS. I can't believe we pushed the final lynch vote down to the final three minutes. That was so amazing! I can't imagine what all the dead players and hosts must have been thinking.

I'd also love to see what all the naysayers faces looked like when I flipped civ.

[Epignosis]

I had MP pegged as Adam Smith at the end of Night 1. As soon as he started the "Epi is bad news I'm 100% sure" nonsense and I died I was shaking my head. He was simultaneously taking credit for killing me and placing a huge target on his back; I knew he would be night killed soon. He was.

Taking out Eloh early on was bad move too. Serial killers are put in games to balance things in favor of civilians, as they can pick off Mafia (if you don't agree with me, then ask yourselves why people put civilian ninjas in a game- they function the same way). When Eloh got lynched (and Golden, MM, and I were already gone by Day 2), I predicted the Mafia would win.

My "ruse" against MP was less of a ruse to gauge reactions (it was partly that). It was a ruse within a ruse: My real plan was to behave outrageously enough to keep myself alive long enough for the role checker to target me. One cannot account for the power thief to take over the SK kill Night 1 and kill one, can one?

I also had Golden pegged as the last Mafia as soon as he posted this:

So the game hasn't ended yet?

Yeah, I had quite a bit of nervous excitement about this lynch because I thought there was a legitimate chance the game could be over. Clearly not. Sorry epi on the bright side, I won't ask JJ to look at meaningful interactions between you and bass.

Golden was not in the game when I died. He had no reason to say "Sorry epi." Why did no one call him on this?

[Golden]

I'd like to think most of the dead players were thinking "provided there are no manipulations, we've won".

In fact, I think that is what most of them were thinking.

[Tangrowth]

G-Man, I will at least apologize for tunneling and not believing your explanation. For the record, I thought it was mostly true, but that you were omitting the aspects of your decision that were influenced by your alignment. I honestly thought it was more likely Rox's idea than yours.

There's another reason too that I thought you were lying but I can't talk about it yet! I think.

Yeah, you crossed a line that day but I'll forgive you for peeing all over my face.

It was bound to happen at some point but I didn't expect you to come at me so hard, so persistently, and for nearly as long as you did.

I thought about giving up on it a few times but every time I found the will to go the distance.


Heh. Sounds like I'm warming up for The Office Mafia game.

I was just trying to see how you'd react to pressure. :P I honestly had no anticipation of going after you like that either, but based on your responses, I really thought I was onto something.

YES, I can't wait for The Office Mafia. Your Dwight pictures were the best.

[G-Man]

My real plan was to behave outrageously enough to keep myself alive long enough for the role checker to target me.

Next time try posting in pictures. Apparently people cut you a looooot of slack even after they realize you're not cursed.

[Tangrowth]

Indeed, I thought we pretty much had this game.

And my face was surely PRICELESS when I saw G-Man flip civilian. I was shocked. I wish I could have seen my own face.

[Tangrowth]

My real plan was to behave outrageously enough to keep myself alive long enough for the role checker to target me.

Next time try posting in pictures. Apparently people cut you a looooot of slack even after they realize you're not cursed.

I could not believe how much slack you were getting, it's all the more reason I pursued you so hard on Day 4.

[G-Man]

The following three posts were my favorite to write:

I LOVED writing with the Joker memes. I actually listened to a few of his most demented scenes when I worked on this one. As I proofread it, I said it out loud to make sure it sounded like something the Joker would say. I was actually being totally serious but Golden the Coward didn't bite. Imagine the confusion killing me would have unleashed upon the game! You probably could have still won it all.

WAITING WITH BATED BREATH, G-MAN.

put your idea in motion.

Spoiler: show

Another Joker post. I wonder- did the first half of this "confession" sound legit. I actually tried very hard to make it sound so. Also, the post-Bass lynch would have been my actual strategy. Once a FEB, always a FEB.

G-Man, that was a seriously awesome post.

I completely agree with your sentiment, and that IS exactly what JJJ would have us do, and I hope we do it. I'm very committed to looking at all options, and that includes splints even though I feel it is very unlikely I'm changing my mind there.

So, here are the questions your post raises for me.


What kills does a mafia g-man make? Does he really have an alternative but to make those kills?

Spoiler: show

Finally, I worked so hard on creating this post and I was sad that I only finished it in time to post it right at the deadline. I really wanted the other three players to try to make sense out of it. I consider this one a sort of companion piece to my rez campaign in LMS3.

Spoiler: show

[Tangrowth]

It's so weird but awesome to re-read those realizing you were actually town, G-Man. Lol.

[Dragon D. Luffy]

G-Man, sorry to say that, but you're not very good at probability.

You keep looking at the chance of a particular player being mafia after being mafia the first time, but the truth is that those events are independent. Every player has the exact same chance of being mafia, no matter how many times they were before.

Likewise, that thing you said about there being a low chance at all 6 noobs being town doesn't make sense. Pick any group of random 6 players, and you have the exact same chance of they all being town, regardless of them being noobs or not.

Just because something is unlikely doesn't mean it's more unlikely than the other things you should be comparing it to.

[Marmot]

I had MP pegged as Adam Smith at the end of Night 1. As soon as he started the "Epi is bad news I'm 100% sure" nonsense and I died I was shaking my head. He was simultaneously taking credit for killing me and placing a huge target on his back; I knew he would be night killed soon. He was.

Taking out Eloh early on was bad move too. Serial killers are put in games to balance things in favor of civilians, as they can pick off Mafia (if you don't agree with me, then ask yourselves why people put civilian ninjas in a game- they function the same way). When Eloh got lynched (and Golden, MM, and I were already gone by Day 2), I predicted the Mafia would win.

My "ruse" against MP was less of a ruse to gauge reactions (it was partly that). It was a ruse within a ruse: My real plan was to behave outrageously enough to keep myself alive long enough for the role checker to target me. One cannot account for the power thief to take over the SK kill Night 1 and kill one, can one?

I also had Golden pegged as the last Mafia as soon as he posted this:

So the game hasn't ended yet?

Yeah, I had quite a bit of nervous excitement about this lynch because I thought there was a legitimate chance the game could be over. Clearly not. Sorry epi on the bright side, I won't ask JJ to look at meaningful interactions between you and bass.

Golden was not in the game when I died. He had no reason to say "Sorry epi." Why did no one call him on this?

Is it just me, or have you and I been nightkilled very early in speed games a lot recently. Let's take a look at the last 4 speed games.



Economics: Epignosis and MM NK'd on Night 1

Last Man Standing: Epignosis and MM both suicide via the lover's death, Epignosis on Night 2, MM on Night 5.

Roger Rabbit: MM NK'd on Night 2 (Epignosis hosted)

Donner Family: Epignosis and MM NK'd Night 1



By golly, if somebody nightkills me on Night 1 in the next speed game.

[Dragon D. Luffy]

That said, your image posting antics were one of the most memorable things about this game. Well played, man.

[Marmot]

Good game mafia. There wasn't much I could do.

[Golden]

MM, I wanted to rez and recruit you. I even asked the hosts if I rezzed a civilian, would they become a recruit. They said 'it depends how grateful they are'....

Although, if I really could have done it, TH would have been the logical option.

[Marmot]

MM, I wanted to rez and recruit you. I even asked the hosts if I rezzed a civilian, would they become a recruit. They said 'it depends how grateful they are'....

Although, if I really could have done it, TH would have been the logical option.

Oooh, now that would have been fun. I haven't had a baddie role in a while.

[Marmot]

Also Golden, my vote was worth double. So you were in a 3-0 hole when I placed my vote on Day 1.

[Tangrowth]

A Turnip Head recruit would have been ridiculous.

Wow, I can't believe we reached almost 4,000 posts in this thread.

[Marmot]

A Turnip Head recruit would have been ridiculous.

Wow, I can't believe we reached almost 4,000 posts in this thread.

Says the fellow who literally made 4,000 posts on Day 1.

[Tangrowth]

A Turnip Head recruit would have been ridiculous.

Wow, I can't believe we reached almost 4,000 posts in this thread.

Says the fellow who literally made 4,000 posts on Day 1.

[Tangrowth]

SUPATOWN

[Marmot]

Bass was looking to switch up his playstyle in his next game. Perhaps he can use your example from this game to follow, MP.

[Tangrowth]

Bass was looking to switch up his playstyle in his next game. Perhaps he can use your example from this game to follow, MP.

Damn straight.

[Dragon D. Luffy]

Ok I've been meaning to make this post for days.

I wanna tell you a story. Not the story about how I played this game because frankly, to me, as much fun as that was, it was only secondary to the real big thing that happened in this game.

The story begins when I get my first role. Jean Baptist Say. It was a pretty cool role (though his economic theories are full of shit, but that's another story). It had the ability to produce a lot of money, and I had some pretty cool plans for how I'd spend that money. So I was pretty frustrated when the hosts told me they were going to replace this role.

The frustration did not last long, though, because eventually I realized I had received something legendary. Something that would certainly make this game one of the most memorable experiences in my mafia career:

Spoiler: show

Once per night, I could take two poor souls of my choice and force them to play a game for my amusement. I would be the emperor at the coliseum, making players fight for the entertainment of the masses and then deciding myself who would be allowed to live or die.

And so it began.

Night 1: Chess Game at the Syndicate

Alright, for my first game, it's going to be chess. It's a simple game this time because I want to learn how this works, and also because I don't wanna scare the shit out of the players this soon.

The match will be between JaggedJimmyJay and Sloonei.

I propose that they use http://www.chess.com/ for it. It's easy to make a login, and it lets you link the game after it ends in order to prove who won. They can use another site if they want, as long as it provides them a way to prove their victory.

They will be able to schedule the match whenever they want, but after they play I want them to post (or to PM to you) the link to the game, so we get to see who won. Like this: http://www.chess.com/livechess/game?id=1159800159

Also, I want it to be 30 minute chess, or some number close to that (20-40 minutes). No bullet chess or anything of the sort.

Remember in Death Note, when Yagami Light spends the first few episodes doing some random kills in order to find out the extent of his powers? That was me in night 1. A simple game of chess to see what I was allowed or not allowed to do. I was imagining this would be more of a public thing, with games being posted in the thread, but I soon f. The mods took a minimalist approach to this role, only let me know the things I absolutely needed to know. So I don't even have any idea of who won the game. Sloonei or Jay? I hope you guys could tell me that, and maybe show me the game.

Night 2: The Voice: Mafia Edition

Ok, today it's going to be a singing contest.

The two players have to send videos of them singing. It can be any song, no restrictions of genre. They can play instruments of they want, or have them played in the background if they want. Or nothing except their voice only. Doesn't matter as long as they are the ones doing the singing. Also rapping is not singing.

Just for the sake of estabilishing a limit, the song should have no more than 10 minutes. More than that and I'll start doubting if they're singing a song or a whole album.

No other people singing with them. Just the person who was targetted by the action, alone. Other people playing instruments is okay though, but remember the point of this is to show how well they can sing, not how well their friend can do guitar solos.

They should, at some point of the video, show clearly that they are the forum user who was challenged. Either by saying their name out loud or showing it written on a paper.

The targets will be MovingPictures and G-Man.

As for the winning criterium. I want to hold a vote. One idea I have it to open a separate thread with a poll in the forum so people can vote for who was the best singer. People who are not playing the game should be allowed to vote too, the more the better. If for some reason that can't be done, then I just suggest using this: http://www.poll-maker.com/poll321446xA8044a58-12

On Night 2, I decided to go all guns blazing. Making MP sing was my secondary winning condition for this game. So I pulled out my best game idea right away, before either me or him died.

Why MP? Well I was wanting to do this prank since the first day I got the role, but I was feeling uneasy about pranking random people I didn't even know. But MP was already my friend, and it's a lot easier to do that with friends, and he strikes me as the type not to get angry about such pranks. Finally, this post of his sealed the deal:

Also listening to Skylarking thanks to Jay's 'singing'. :P

Just kidding, it's way better than my singing.

Anyway, it's an amazing album that I haven't listened to in WAY too long.

After that I really wanted to know what MP's singing was all about.

G-Man was picked for a similar reason. The whole image posting thing striked me as a guy who would like the joke. I'm glad I wasn't wrong.

So G-Man won this one, as per the poll result. Next:

Night 3: Make your master laugh.

Okay, the next game is a less cruel one. It's a Funny Video Contest.

It's simple. Each of the two players sends me a video they found in the internet. Whoever makes me laugh the most, wins.

Note that, unlike the Singing Contest, it doesn't have to be recorded or made by the player. It can be any video whatsoever. Just find something you think is funny, and send me the link.

The targets are:

sanmateo

vs

Vompatti

This game was the balance between something I'd be able to see the results of (unlike the chess game), and an easier game to give town a rest before I unleashed my other ideas.

What can I say is, you two have a very... unique... sense of humor. Check it out:

Here are your two videos to judge:

I have no idea who sent each video. I gave the win to the one about the computer cooler. It was weird, but the comments in the video were actually pretty funny. I still don't know what to think of the other... thing. I suppose it made me smile?

So that's another one you guys will have to tell me who won. Who sent me each video, Vomps and sanmateo?

Night 4: Fountain of Memes.

So, how about this:

Whoever does the best job at expressing their thoughts with images and videos wins. I'll decide the winner myself when the day phase is over.

If they say something with text, they are not automatically disqualified. But if their opponent can do a better job than them at expressing themselves without text, they are at a disadvantage because I may pick the opponent instead of them.

Likewise, they can do the G-Man thing of posting meme-like images full of text, but if their opponent can do that without the text, they have a better chance at winning.

In the end, it's up to the player to handle the trade-off between playing John Nash's game and playing the normal game, and finding a way to say what they want without losing the John Nash game.

I got this one from G-Man's image posting thingy. Felt perfect at the time.

I honestly thought aether would have a big advantage since she is literally an artist irl. But she didn't even show up to play. Maybe that was because she was under heavy fire at the time though, so perhaps I should have thought that one better.

Splints did a pretty good job though, and won the game automatically.

Night 5: EEEEEEEEEEEEEEPIC RAP BATTLES FROM HISTORYMAFIA SYNDICATE

The next game is: RAP BATTLE!

The two players will have to engage in a rap battle in the thread. It won't be video contest, instead they will have to write their raps in text form.

Each player will be allowed a single text. In this text, the player will be allowed to write a maximum of 24 lines.

The two players will send their raps to the hosts, and they will be posted in the night, along with a poll so people can vote for the winner, just like in the music contest. Likewise, anyone can vote regardless of whether they are playing the game or not.

To help with the theme, I propose them a question: "Why are you better at mafia than your opponent?"

Rhymes are not mandatory, but are recommended. Remember this is a competition.

It's a rap battle, so swearing and being rude is allowed. Expect your opponent to be rude too. But try to avoid saying things you think would insult them in real life. Common sense is advised here. Remember this is just a game.

The targets for this action are Golden and JaggedJimmyJay.

An idea I was waiting to implement for the entire game. Golden was the only victim left alive (excluding Turnip but I wasn't expecting him to survive the night, which was a good prediction), and Jay hadn't played in a long time. It was kind of tricky to make the rules for this one. I thought of doing it in multiple rounds, but then I realized it could be hard to fit it in real life time. So I made it a single-post thing. The results were better than I'd expected.

Golden won due to the poll.

Night 6: none.

I did not send any games in this night (and I have no idea whether my death would have stopped the game from happening or not). For two reasons: First, I was completely out of good ideas. At least ideas that did not leave me in the dark like the chess game (I originally had a plan of making two players play pokemon online, which would be amusing but I wouldn't get to see the battle). Second, at this point I'd already realized the incredible self-confirmation potential of John Nash. So I decided I'd lay low for a phase, then make the remaining unconfirmed players (sanmateo and Vomps again) play some public game on Day 8, and confirm myself as John Nash in lylo. The plan looked pretty good, but I died.

And that's it. This is simply put, the most awesome role I've ever had, and likely will ever have, in my mafia carreer. It gave an entire new dimension to the game. Now not only I had to hunt scum, I also had to design games.

I thank the hosts for giving me that opportunity. And for giving me overall a very good first game for me on this site. I'm looking foward to play more games here in the future.

[Dragon D. Luffy]

And I forgot to add:

RIP John Nash, the great economist who coincidentally passed out in real life while this game was going on. I hope my games were good enough a homage for you.

[Dragon D. Luffy]

Sorry, "passed away", not "passed out". My bad.

[Epignosis]

Pleased to see the role was not wasted.

[Dragon D. Luffy]

Pleased to see the role was not wasted.

So I suppose you were the previous John Nash?

The thought of that is scary.

[G-Man]

G-Man, sorry to say that, but you're not very good at probability.

You keep looking at the chance of a particular player being mafia after being mafia the first time, but the truth is that those events are independent. Every player has the exact same chance of being mafia, no matter how many times they were before.

Likewise, that thing you said about there being a low chance at all 6 noobs being town doesn't make sense. Pick any group of random 6 players, and you have the exact same chance of they all being town, regardless of them being noobs or not.

Just because something is unlikely doesn't mean it's more unlikely than the other things you should be comparing it to.

Well, I am an accountant, not a mathematician or statistician. It was a quick and dirty calculation that very well may have been wrong.

I took the fact that everyone had a 4 in 19 chance of being mafia the first time or a 21.05% chance. I then multiplied that first 21.05% chance by another 21.05% chance of being mafia twice. The odds of being picked as mafia twice are 4.43%. That, I believe is pretty sound.

What I did next was multiply that 4.43% by four players to give me a quick and dirty number. I was going for a 4-player double mafia OR scenario: A is double mafia OR B is double mafia OR C is double mafia OR D is double mafia. That gave me a 17.72% chance of one of us being mafia twice.

The I went for the odds of someone being picked mafia first and then serial killer second or 4/19 x 1/19 for a 1.11% chance of switching from mafia to serial killer.

I then multiplied that by four to represent the odds of one of the four of us being the serial killer the second time (another OR scenario). That gave me a 4.44% chance that one of us went from mafia to serial killer.

Then I added the 17.72% double mafia odds and the 4.44% mafia-to-sk odds to arrive at a 22.16% chance that one of the four of us was a baddie role after the reset.

If that's wrong, it's probably due to my adding of %'s together. Regardless, it served me well, as Roxy did indeed wind up a double mafia.

That said, your image posting antics were one of the most memorable things about this game. Well played, man.

Thanks. It was far more work than I intended it to be but it was a fun way to express myself. Probably a frightening way to introduce myself to so many new people though. Now you guys are going to have such high expectations for me the next time I play.

[Golden]

DDL - I'm glad you loved that role, because the syndicate brand of mafia is full of potential for getting and playing those kind of roles.

Canuck, in Roger Rabbit mafia, had a role which allowed her to come up with a way of getting the entire mafia team to out themselves one after the other in the thread. It was one of the most epic uses of a civilian role I have ever seen.

And I have a 'lawmaker' function in my Battlestar Galactica game where a player can create laws to bind everyone playing - I haven't seen that type of role before so I'm hoping it plays out well.

And as much as MP peed all over the thread, I peed all over my inbox when I was targetted by Nash. That rap competition was so much fun!

[Dragon D. Luffy]

Oh yeah that's something I realized later. The singing game was a match between two accountants.

I should have made the two of you sing about accounting or something like that. :P

G-Man, what I mean is, it's not that your calculations are wrong, it's your premise that someone being mafia before does anything to the chance of them being mafia now. But whatever, it worked for you.