The Syndicate

Hokey smokes, Bullwinkle! I completely forgot! The secret hidden location, which none of the players seemed remotely curious about.

This location was the Plateau of Mirrors, and could be access by all of the players expressing desire or curiosity about the secret hidden location in a given game day. Sadly, that never even came close to happening. On the Plateau of Mirrors, all night action would reflect back onto the person using them.

The other locations were each assigned to one of the animals, whose night power was doubled while there (the animal in question was mentioned in each host post, but no one seemed to pick up on this.)

DFaraday wrote:

juliets wrote:This is still the end game for Oblique Strategies, not the mullholland Dr. sign up thread. Let people finish endgame please. Its confusing to see Mullholland Dr. as the game instead of oblique Strategies.

There is no Mulholland Drive Mafia. It's a running joke that at any point, a game in progress could be suddenly revealed to actually be Mulholland Drive Mafia. It's just referencing that.


Great game, Llama! This was definitely the most unusual Mafia game I've ever been part of!

Thanks, man! I'm glad you enjoyed it. Still not as unusual as Minimalism Mafia though (AKA: Llama's Folly).

I also want to point out that it was theoretically possible for every single player to die by the end of Night 6. In which case, the Animals would have been the only winners. That would have been fun.

I like to give people challenging win conditions. The Animals certainly didn't have it easy, but I think their goal was achievable in a number of different ways (personally, I would have gone scorched earth and tried to get as many people killed as possible in hopes of wiping out both opposing teams.)

The thing I keep learning over and over against a host is that there's no predicting how the players are going to play. I expected the Animals to use their info powers to learn all the roles, and attempt to lead alternate Gal/Fella lynches. I expected the Fellas to try to ferret out the animals based on their behavior and kill them. And I expected the Gals to try to find Blank Frank and dispose of him as quickly as possible.

None of that happened. At all.

I was cracking up about INH. He carefully chose his moment to strike, and when he did, it immediately backfired on him. Hilarious. But he still won, so I don't feel too bad.

I'd also like to give a special shoutout to Vompatti, whose contrariness and refusal to cooperate with others made this game immensely fun (at least for me).

Just kidding, this isn’t really Mulholland Drive Mafia.



If I were a dishonest man, the endgame post would look like this:

“I gave you all an opportunity to work together and achieve peace on Earth and goodwill towards men at Christmastime. A universal victory, fostered by trust and cooperation! What could be more in the holiday spirit than that?

“But greed and malice caused you to wreck it for everyone. Let this game serve a black reminder on the cruelness and depravity fundamental to our human nature. Shame on all of you.”

However, I am not a dishonest man, so instead I will admit that I totally missed the “everyone wins” loophole in the rules, and when INH proposed his plan, I had a few days of utter panic in trying to figure out how to handle the situation.

I debated modkills, special events, and other measures to upset the apple cart, but ultimately decided on non-intervention. As the game progressed, I was surprised and pleased to see that it held people’s interest and did not devolve into complete silence between votes. I regret that a couple of people may not have had the best time, but the presence of a couple of uncooperative players, as well as the devious MVP INH turned out to be, made this a very fun game to host. Thank you all for playing!

Congratulations to the winners, Black Rock, fingersplints, juliets, Bass_the_Clever, sabie12, insertnamehere, DFaraday, Dom, Mongoose, Snow Dog, and triceratopzeuhl.

Gals - Only surviving members win
Cindy Tells Me - Dom - winner
Baby ’s On Fire - Vompatti
Judy’s Jungle - Snow Dog - winner
Julie With... - Mongoose -winner
The Fat Lady of Limbourg - DFaraday - winner
Miss Shapiro - triceratopzeuhl - winner

Fellas - Kill as many animals as you can - Team wins if has more surviving members than animals
St. Elmo’s Fire - juliets - winner
Kurt’s Rejoinder - fingersplints - winner
Blank Frank - insertnamehere - winner
The Great Pretender - sabie12 - winner
Third Uncle - Black Rock - winner
Energy Fools the Magician - Bass_the_Clever - winner

Animals - Maintain an even balance between gals and fellas - Survival not necessary
Spider and I - A Person
Sombre Reptiles - MovingPictures07
Little Fishes - Metalmarsh89
The Camel - S~V~S
Mother Whale Eyeless - Roxy
An Arc of Doves - nijuukyugou

Winners, claim your badge here:

The travelers concluded their whirlwind tour of the strange dream landscape in China, whose totalitarian government had little impact on its scenic beauty. Sombre reptiles sunned themselves on rocks, and the Great Wall stretched out to the horizon like a stone ribbon.

“Look how far we’ve come,” said Snow Dog.

“Yes,” said Dom. “It’s a shame we still have to kill someone.”

“I can live with it,” shrugged Bass the Clever.

“But who should it be?” said Ninja Blooper.

No one has died.
You have 24 hours to lynch someone.
The host will be on a plane 24 hours from now though, so you should either vote early or you’ll have to wait for the post.

WHere next?

Poll runs till Thu Dec 18, 2014 7:52:55 pm
You may select 1 option

China My China
10
nijuukyugou (3), triceratopzeuhl (4), Dom (5), DFaraday (7), sabie12 (8), Black Rock (10), Bass_the_Clever (11), Snow Dog (13), Mongoose (14), juliets (15)
67%

What is even the point of this poll? (Host/Mod/Dead/NP)
5
thellama73 (1), insertnamehere (2), Metalmarsh89 (6), MovingPictures07 (9), S~V~S (12)
33%


Total votes : 15

I'm missing three PMs. If I get them or an indication that they are not to be used, I will end the night early.

triceratopzeuhl wrote:

triceratopzeuhl wrote:Would the host tell us if all animals were dead?

bump

I might. It depends on how generous I am feeling.

In the wake of all the killing, a pall of apathy fell over the group. Nobody seemed even interested in voting in the lynch poll. But Vompatti, that brave little soldier, heroically gave everyone an easy out, so they wouldn’t have to think too hard about the vote.

After the slaughter, a traditional viking burial was in order.

God bless you Vompatti, and all the ships at sea.

Vompatti has been lynched. He was Baby’s On Fire.
Due to host unavailability, the Night will end at 7:00pm EST on December 18.
You have 47 hours to submit your night actions and decide where to go next.

Any volunteers this time?

Poll runs till Tue Dec 16, 2014 7:51:22 pm

Dominus
0
No votes

Black Rock
0
No votes

sabie12
0
No votes

Ninja Blooper
0
No votes

Mongoose
0
No votes

Vompatti
5
juliets (4), triceratopzeuhl (5), Snow Dog (6), nijuukyugou (7), sabie12 (8)
63%

Bass Something Something Clever
0
No votes

DFaraday
0
No votes

Snow Dog
0
No votes

Juliets
0
No votes

triceratopzeuhl
0
No votes

Brian Ferry (Host/Mod/Dead/NP1
3
thellama73 (1), fingersplints (2), Metalmarsh89 (3)
38%


Total votes : 8

Three hours to go. Still no votes.

Is anyone planning to vote in the lynch poll? Four hours to go.

INH was despondent. Sure, the beach was lovely, and the whale spouting water out in the distance was a sight capable of inspiring wonder in anyone, but his plan of pacifism had been disrupted. The kill on the previous Night had upset the proverbial apple cart, and the team of remaining players had little sense of where they should go from here or what their strategy would be.

As if this were not bad enough, a feeling of foreboding had fallen over all of them, as if they were running out of time. No one could explain it, but it was, as I believe the kids are saying these days, a real bummer.

As he sulked like Achilles in his tent, his musings were disturbed by the cries of Fingersplints, who was dramatically dying nearby.

“I’m dying!” said Fingersplints, which was true at the time, but quickly became inaccurate as she gasped her last gasp.

INH rushed over to investigate, but then he promptly fell down dead as well, like some grotesque slapstick. There was stillness for a while, and then INH’s body burst into flames.

“Well, that seems gratuitous,” said juliets.

fingersplints has been killed by Blank Frank.
insertnamehere has died.
insertnamehere has been killed by Baby’s On Fire, but he was already dead, so it doesn't matter.
You have 24 hours to lynch someone.

Only Three Left

Poll runs till Mon Dec 15, 2014 7:51:40 pm
You may select 1 option

On Some Faraway Beach
7
Dom (2), Mongoose (8), juliets (9), Black Rock (10), sabie12 (12), triceratopzeuhl (13), Snow Dog (14)
50%

China My China
3
insertnamehere (3), Vompatti (7), fingersplints (11)
21%

A Milk Sea (Host/Mod/Dead/NP)
4
thellama73 (1), Metalmarsh89 (4), Roxy (5), S~V~S (6)
29%


Total votes : 14

triceratopzeuhl wrote:wonder what tonight will bring

Dom wrote:So... does anyone know what MM was?

I do.

Who reduced Metalmarsh to hot stuff?

Poll ended at Sun Dec 14, 2014 7:48:14 pm

insertnamehere
1
Vompatti (9)
7%

fingersplints
0
No votes

Dominus
0
No votes

Black Rock
0
No votes

sabie12
0
No votes

Ninja Blooper
0
No votes

Mongoose
0
No votes

A Person
10
A Person (4), Mongoose (5), triceratopzeuhl (6), insertnamehere (7), juliets (8), sabie12 (10), fingersplints (11), DFaraday (12), Bass_the_Clever (13), nijuukyugou (14)
71%

Vompatti
0
No votes

Bass Something Something Clever
0
No votes

DFaraday
0
No votes

Snow Dog
0
No votes

Juliets
0
No votes

triceratopzeuhl
0
No votes

Laraaji (Host/Mod/NP/Dead)
3
thellama73 (1), MovingPictures07 (2), Metalmarsh89 (3)
21%


Total votes : 14

Unfazed by the passing of Metalmarsh, A Person still boldly stepped up to be sacrificed next.

“My body is ready!” he proclaimed, and then they were upon him, and some time later (not very long, but long enough) he was dead.

“Ew, a spider,” said Dom.

“Let’s not eat this one,” said DFaraday.

“Ture,” said Vompatti.

A Person has been lynched. He was Spider and I.
You have 24 hours to send in your night actions and decide where to go next.

juliets wrote:

thellama73 wrote:Meh, I decided not to end the Day early after all. Expect the host post at the scheduled time.

Just a suggestion, why not end it early tomorrow night and announce it in tonights post. Then everyone will have plenty of time to adjust.

I will do a realignment of the time on Wednesday, a day on which I have an all day meeting followed by a party that will run late. At that point I will give people something like 46 hours, and we will be back on track.

Meh, I decided not to end the Day early after all. Expect the host post at the scheduled time.

triceratopzeuhl wrote:

Mongoose wrote:

thellama73 wrote:I'd like to end the pol a little early today, since there is a clear majority, to counteract "Host Post Creep." I'll probably try to close it out around an hour early, if nobody minds too much.

But what if there's a lynch switch?

I don't see any listed in the roles, though granted I have no idea what St Elmo's Fire is supposed to do

St. Elmo's Fire splits ions in the ether.

There are no lynch switch mechanics in this game.

I'd like to end the pol a little early today, since there is a clear majority, to counteract "Host Post Creep." I'll probably try to close it out around an hour early, if nobody minds too much.

Are people listening to the songs I post anyway? They are supposed to. The whole point of this game was a secret ruse to get more people to listen Eno. :P

MovingPictures07 wrote:

Hey, that's my job.

Where next?

Poll ended at Sat Dec 13, 2014 7:44:25 pm

By this River
8
insertnamehere (2), Metalmarsh89 (4), Vompatti (7), Mongoose (8), triceratopzeuhl (10), Black Rock (11), Snow Dog (12), Bass_the_Clever (16)
47%

On Some Faraway Beach
4
juliets (3), Dom (14), DFaraday (15), nijuukyugou (17)
24%

China My China
1
A Person (9)
6%

Some Backwater Somewhere (Host/Mod/Dead/NP)
4
S~V~S (1), Roxy (5), thellama73 (6), MovingPictures07 (13)
24%


Total votes : 17

What a nice river! It babbles along peacefully, while little fishes flash golden scales brightly in the glistening sunlight. So still the scene, no one could imagine that anything would ever disturb it, but then something did.

"Ow!" said Metalmarsh as he burst into flames.

"Metalmarsh is on fire!" said Bass the Clever (and it was indeed a clever remark.)

"Better throw him in the water," observed A Person.

And so they did, and the little fishes were disturbed, but it was too late.

Metalmarsh89 has been killed by Baby's On Fire.
You have 24 hours to lynch someone.

Metalmarsh89 wrote:

Vompatti wrote:

Metalmarsh89 wrote:

Vompatti wrote:

Metalmarsh89 wrote:

Mongoose wrote:OMG Maddie. I almost cried when you came forward.

Me too. This game is so hard to bear.

Are you insinuating that you have info that A Person is not only an Animal but also the Bear to be exact? Does that not count as role outing?

There's a bear?

I done goofed. Go ahead and cook me in stew you silly person.

It's on the Brian Eno bootleg album Ambient 11: Music for Woodlands.

I dunno why llama overlooked that one.

Oh man, I wish that existed.

Who is the next sacrifice?

Poll ended at Fri Dec 12, 2014 7:13:38 pm

insertnamehere
0
No votes

fingersplints
0
No votes

Dominus
0
No votes

Black Rock
0
No votes

sabie12
0
No votes

Metalmarsh89
1
Metalmarsh89 (3)
6%

Ninja Blooper
0
No votes

Mongoose
0
No votes

A Person
0
No votes

Vompatti
0
No votes

Roxy
12
Dom (4), Vompatti (5), A Person (6), insertnamehere (8), sabie12 (9), Bass_the_Clever (10), DFaraday (11), Mongoose (12), Snow Dog (13), juliets (14), Roxy (15), nijuukyugou (16)
71%

Bass Something Something Clever
0
No votes

DFaraday
0
No votes

Snow Dog
0
No votes

Juliets
0
No votes

triceratopzeuhl
1
triceratopzeuhl (7)
6%

Robert Fripp (Host/Mod/Dead/NP)
3
thellama73 (1), MovingPictures07 (2), S~V~S (17)
18%


Total votes : 17

Poor Roxy. Blind and confused, and now dead. You people are monsters.

After the sacrifice, the great whale lay on the forest floor, incongruently. Metlmarsh’s mouth began to water.

“Do you think it tastes like tuna?” he asked.

“Ture,” said Vompatti.

Roxy has been lynched. She was Mother Whale Eyeless
You have 24 hours to send in your PMs and decide where to go next.

Haha, charade you are.

Where next?

Poll ended at Thu Dec 11, 2014 7:09:57 pm

In Dark Trees
5
Black Rock (5), Mongoose (6), Vompatti (8), Roxy (9), Metalmarsh89 (12)
29%

On Some Faraway Beach
5
nijuukyugou (3), Dom (11), fingersplints (14), juliets (15), Snow Dog (16)
29%

By This River
4
insertnamehere (2), triceratopzeuhl (7), sabie12 (13), Bass_the_Clever (17)
24%

China My China
0
No votes

Another Brown World (Host/Mod/Dead/NP)
3
thellama73 (1), S~V~S (4), MovingPictures07 (10)
18%


Total votes : 17

The dark trees were cool and soothing, but a little bit spooky. The still silence was broke only by the sound of a spider scurrying across the bark, in search of its dinner, or heading back to the safety of a well-tended web.

“It’s a little spooky in here,” said Mongoose.

“But not so spooky that anyone of us will die,” said INH.

“Theosophy arglebargle,” said Vompatti.

No one has died.
You have 24 hours to lynch someone.

triceratopzeuhl wrote:Hell, the game is literally called OBLIQUE STRATEGIES. I think a lot of people completely miss the insinuations of that

i.e. that typical mafia tactics (arguing and trying to fabricate lynch cases on random people) will accomplish nothing

Who next shall be sacrified?

Poll ended at Wed Dec 10, 2014 6:59:21 pm

insertnamehere
2
Roxy (8), Vompatti (10)
13%

fingersplints
0
No votes

Dominus
0
No votes

Black Rock
0
No votes

sabie12
0
No votes

Metalmarsh89
1
Metalmarsh89 (2)
6%

S~V~S
12
insertnamehere (3), Dom (4), triceratopzeuhl (5), S~V~S (6), Mongoose (7), Snow Dog (9), juliets (11), sabie12 (12), A Person (13), Bass_the_Clever (14), nijuukyugou (15), Black Rock (16)
75%

Ninja Blooper
0
No votes

Mongoose
0
No votes

A Person
0
No votes

Vompatti
0
No votes

Roxy
0
No votes

Bass Something Something Clever
0
No votes

DFaraday
0
No votes

Snow Dog
0
No votes

Juliets
0
No votes

triceratopzeuhl
0
No votes

Harold Budd (Host/Mod/Dead/NP)
1
thellama73 (1)
6%


Total votes : 16

They finally reached the top of Tiger Mountain, lungs burning and gasping for breath.

“We made it!” said INH. “Yay cooperation!”

His exultation was drowned out, however, by the screams of S~V~S. Her eyes were bleeding profusely, someone having shoved some rather long needles into them. She toppled over backwards and fell down the mountain with a sound like thumbadumpadump.

“Supper’s ready!” said Metalmarsh.

S~V~S has been lynched. She was The Camel.
You have 24 hours to send in your night action, and to decide where to go next.

Where next?

Poll runs till Tue Dec 09, 2014 6:53:33 pm
You may select 1 option

In Dark Trees
1
Vompatti (8)
6%

By This River
2
Roxy (5), triceratopzeuhl (10)
11%

On Some Faraway Beach
0
No votes

China My China
0
No votes

Tiger Mountain
13
Mongoose (3), S~V~S (4), insertnamehere (6), Metalmarsh89 (7), Black Rock (9), sabie12 (11), juliets (12), Snow Dog (13), A Person (14), Dom (15), Bass_the_Clever (16), fingersplints (17), nijuukyugou (18)
72%

Nowhere Fast (Host/Mod/Dead/NP)
2
thellama73 (1), MovingPictures07 (2)
11%


Total votes : 18

Moving on from Fire Island, the group, down one animal, but with full bellies at least, moved on to Tiger Mountain.
There, they climbed and they climbed. Oh, how they climbed. And when they got tired of climbing, they climbed some more. The main thing they noticed was that there were fewer tigers than advertised, but they did see quite a few camels roaming easily over the slopes.

"Look at that camel," said INH.

"Yes, peculiar," said S~V~S.

"I am tired of climbing this mountain," observed Black Rock.

But nobody cared about that, and they just kept climbing.

No one has died.
You have 24 hours to lynch someone.

Mongoose wrote:Which is a good look!

And leads me to my next bit -- my favorite Eno/Bowie collab, which is also my favorite Bowie album because it is the best.

Pitchfork Magazine named it the best album of the 70s. They are not wrong.

Mongoose wrote:Hey, do y'all remember when Jennifer Lopez starred in that biopic about Eno?

I understand the concept of "artistic license" but this is ridiculous. There have to be limits.

Mongoose wrote:If you lived on an island and could pick 10 animals to live on there with you, what would you pick? (No need to count food animals).

here is what I would pick

1. Mongooses
2. Foxes
3. Stoats
4. Otters
5. Rabbits
6. Cats
7. Oscelots
8. Bears
9. Chris Pratt
10. Goats

No llamas?

Did anyone listen to the song? It seems disrespectful to MP not to.

And so it was that MovingPictures07 nobly offered himself up for the good of the group. Offering nary a movement of resistance, he allowed his body to be hoisted up and hurled downward towards the rocky coast of Fire Island. No one could bear to look as his body broke on the stones below.

“It’s wrong to kill animals unless you eat them,” tutted Vompatti, shaking his head sadly.

“This is depressing,” said MetalMarsh89. “Let’s go somewhere else.”

MovingPictures07 has been lynched. He was Sombre Reptiles.
It is now Night 1. You have 24 hours to send in your Night Actions, and to decide where to go next.

Who will hang by the neck until dead (over Fire Island)?

Poll ended at Mon Dec 08, 2014 6:42:41 pm

insertnamehere
1
Vompatti (8)
6%

Boogs
0
No votes

MovingPictures07
14
insertnamehere (2), S~V~S (3), Mongoose (4), MovingPictures07 (5), Bass_the_Clever (6), triceratopzeuhl (9), Black Rock (10), DFaraday (11), Dom (12), Roxy (13), Snow Dog (14), sabie12 (15), juliets (16), nijuukyugou (17)
82%

Dominus
0
No votes

Black Rock
0
No votes

sabie12
0
No votes

Metalmarsh89
1
Metalmarsh89 (7)
6%

S~V~S
0
No votes

Ninja Blooper
0
No votes

Mongoose
0
No votes

A Person
0
No votes

Vompatti
0
No votes

Roxy
0
No votes

Bass Something Something Clever
0
No votes

DFaraday
0
No votes

Snow Dog
0
No votes

Juliets
0
No votes

triceratopzeuhl
0
No votes

David Byrne (Host/Mod/Dead/NP)
1
thellama73 (1)
6%


Total votes : 17

Mongoose wrote:David Byrne as the non-player option? Supafrown.

You brought this on yourself.