[WW/Mafia] Prison Escape IC

[AvatarVecna]

Spoiler: Original Recruitment Post

Show

The Prison is considered one of the most impenetrable prisons on the planet, as well as one of the more corrupt. Nobody had ever escaped. But a fortuitous prison riot gave you the opportunity. As the riot commenced, you joined with a group of fellow prisoners. You all managed to steal the clothes of guards, as well as some secreted away money, and now all you have to do is wait until power is restored and you are “rescued” and you’ll be away free.

But, as you waited, a fight broke out as one of your number was recognized as a guard by one of the other prisoners. And not one of the corrupt ones that could be bribed, no, a legit guard. As he was beaten to death, he leaked that other guards were here as well, and the guards have weapons secreted on their persons. The power flickered, and one of the prisoners lay dead, proving the secret just uttered.

Now you know what you have to do. You have to find the remaining guards and kill them, before time runs out and they can out you to the rescue team. Or else you will be taken out one by one by the guards until only they are left to be saved.

As a reversal of a normal werewolf game, in this one the Town are actually bad guys and the Wolves good guys, but otherwise things are the same. And there of course could be a few Neutrals in the group.

Also, like the last game, the Day/Night phases are done mechanically but, in-game, it’s just a few hours passing. The “Night” is when the power flickers out for a few minutes.

Spoiler: Town Roles

Show

Corrupt Guard – you are a guard, but you were in on the riot and helped start it. And you know some of the other guards know it, too, so your only hope is that only prisoners remain. But fortunately, you know the guards’ mannerisms enough that with study you can probably sniff one out. Just a shame you lost your gun in the riot.

During Night Phase, you can scry one person and find out if they are Town, Neutral, or Wolf.

Guard in Withdraw – you are also a corrupt guard, but your bribes were drugs, not cash. And your stash was misplaced and your source killed, so you’re starting to feel withdraw. Like the Corrupt guard, you could usually sniff out a fellow guard, but your senses are a bit off right now.

You are informed you are the Corrupt Guard. During Night Phase, you can scry one person. If they are Wolf, you read them as Town. If they are Neutral or Town, you read them as Wolf. If you die while the Corrupt Guard is still alive, you are revealed as the Corrupt Guard; only when both are deceased do you find out which you really were.

Armed Rioter – you managed to secure a gun during the riot. You don’t dare reveal you have a weapon lest they think you are a guard, but you can at least try to finish off a guard when the lights darken.

During Night Phase, you can choose to kill one person or Bane one person (including yourself). You cannot choose to Bane the same person two nights in a row; that is to say, you can Bane two nights in a row, but it can't be the same person.

Snitch – although you got the loyalty of some friends, you are generally distrusted for eavesdropping and sharing info others don’t want shared.

During Night Phase, you can select one person. You know who they targeted (if anyone) and anyone who targeted them.

Smooth Talker – a con man, you manage to get on people’s good side and use that to your advantage. Fortunately, this also means you have an easier time convincing folk not to shive you.

Votes against you count as 1 less, to a minimum of zero.

Thief – you are used to inconveniencing others, usually by taking stuff that belongs to them. It’s not as applicable in this situation as it usually is, but you think you could manage to prevent a guard from snooping around by misplacing their gear.

During Night Phase, you can select one person and negate their Night Power.

Blood Brothers – you and your buddy grew up together, joined the gang together, and did time together. And you’ve got a plan for the future together. But the idea of living without the other doesn’t mesh with the idea of living at all.

The "Secret Lovers" start out in contact with each other, and can thus coordinate more easily than most other members of Town Faction, but if one dies for any reason, so does the other.

Spoiler: Neutral Roles

Show

Secret, for the most part. I'll be taking some inspiration from the original idea, but since it was semi-public I'll probably be twisting it around a bit.

Spoiler: Wolf Roles

Show

Sadist – you aren’t a corrupt guard, but you enjoy inflicting pain on the prisoners. You took this job to get a chance to indulge your tendencies, as it’s not really evil if you just do it to those who deserve it. Right?

If you are killed during Night Phase, you kill one random non-Wolf who voted for you the Day before (assuming anyone voted for you). If you are killed during Day Phase, you kill one random non-Wolf who voted for you.

Internal Affairs – your job is rooting out corruption, and, wow, was today a bad day to get a call to audit this prison. Besides learning the prison is rife with corruption, you now have to lie to just survive the night.

During Night Phase, you can scry one target. You learn if they are the Corrupt Guard, the Guard in Withdraw, or Other.

Inside Man – you are a prisoner, but you are an informant for some of the clean guards and they protected you during the riot. You’re pretty sure you’ll get out on parole if you help them get through tonight. Your familiarity with the fellow prisoners puts you in a good position to interfere with them without being noticed.

During Night Phase, you can select one person and negate their Night Power.

Good Guy – you’re the one all the prisoners hope wind up as their guard for the day. You are kind, caring, and really want to help rehabilitate the prisoners. You refuse bribes and report on corruption, but on the other hand you are willing to be lenient and not always report a minor offense by the prisoners. In effect, you’re a really good guy.

Votes against you count as 1 less, to a minimum of zero.

Current Players (alphabetical):

1. BasketOfPuppies
2. Caerulea
3. DeTess
4. Elenna
5. flat_footed
6. flyinglemur
7. JeenLeen
8. Justicar
9. kgato503
10. Libro
11. The Outsider
12. Unavenger
13. Xihirli

Day One Begins

[Elenna]

RNGesus tells me that I should vote for kgato503.

Because someone needs to be the first to vote, I guess.

[Xihirli]

Now, now, you all have complicated backstories that interact with one another in intricate ways. But you... new guy. I don't know your story, The Outsider.

[Justicar]

I thought I saw the Holy Icosahedron hanging from around your neck, Elenna. Never figured you for the religious type before the riot. Will that be how you determine all of your votes?

[DeTess]

Hey everyone, let's get this thing started!

Actually, before I do that, a quick note on a term I might use at times. When I'm talking about an 'elim' or 'elims', I'm referring to the wolves ('elim' is short for 'eliminator'). I'll try to stick to wolves, but I might slip up in this regard once in a while.

Anyway, I'd like to start with just going over the roles and mechanics of this game.

Village roles
corrupt guard/guard in withdraw: This is an interesting pairing that I'm going to have to steal next time I run a game. Scryers are very useful for the village, but one of you gets the wrong info, because of his, I recommend a certain degree of care to start with. ideally, someone you scanned gets lynched or killed early on, and you then know which of the to you are, but until that point I'd be very careful about claiming, whether in the thread or in PM's (wait, are those even allowed?).
Armed Rioter: Having both the protect and the kill on the same person makes this a very powerful role, one that can do a lot of good for the village if it survives until the end. As usual, I would counsel restraint on the kill in the beginning though.
Snitch: Another scan role. If you manage to scan the night kill (or potential night kill) this can make for some useful information, but even other targeting info can be very useful, both for verifying role-claims and potentially picking up on villagers (if you see someone self-target, for example, they're almost certainly the armed rioter, as no other role gets much use out of self-targeting).
Smooth talker: You're a bit harder to lynch. This is nice to have, if it weren't for the fact that there's a wolf with the same effective role.
Thief: This power can be a kind of pseudo-scan as well. If you block someone, and the kill doesn't happen, you probably got a wolf (assuming that 'kill blocked by roleblock' and 'kill blocked by bane' are listed differently in the writeup.)

Wolf roles
The only wolf role I really want to discuss here is the good guy, as their role should have a publicly visible effect if they get voted on. Unfortunately a villagers has basically the same role, so lynching someone just ebcause they negated a vote isn't a good idea, but it can be part of a larger set of evidence.

Anyway, composing this post made me realize how much of the rules I don't actually know(which is like half the reason I made it in the first place), so here's a battery of questions:

1. Are negated votes shown in the writeup?
2. Is there a different between a roleblock and bane in the writeup if the night-kill is blocked by either?
3. How long do cycles last?

[AvatarVecna]

1. Are negated votes shown in the writeup?
2. Is there a different between a roleblock and bane in the writeup if the night-kill is blocked by either?
3. How long do cycles last?

1) I will post a summary of votes, and I will post who got lynched. Any info beyond that is up to you to find. If, for example, the first day there's a 5-2-2 split and the guy with 5 votes gets lynched, doesn't tell you much about negated votes. If if the day has a 4-4-3 split and the one with three votes gets lynched...that tells you something. I'm not confirming that any of these roles are or aren't for sure in the game, though.

2) No. If no kill occurs, then the majority of players will not be necessarily aware of why. It could be a baner blocked the kill. It could be a voider blocked the kill. It could be the wolves are abstaining from killing anybody, for some reason.

3) Cycles will be 48 hours each. It'll probably vary, but by no more than a couple hours in either direction, and that's less on purpose as much as me getting to things around the right time (but not right on time).

[DeTess]

1) I will post a summary of votes, and I will post who got lynched. Any info beyond that is up to you to find. If, for example, the first day there's a 5-2-2 split and the guy with 5 votes gets lynched, doesn't tell you much about negated votes. If if the day has a 4-4-3 split and the one with three votes gets lynched...that tells you something. I'm not confirming that any of these roles are or aren't for sure in the game, though.

Ah, okay. I suppose the village has enough roles that can gather information without a wolf role also revealing itself automatically when voted on.

[Caerulea]

I was going to vote for Xihirli, but the random number seems to heavily disagree with that. By the will of random.org, I vote for kgato503.

Spoiler: random.org

Show

[JeenLeen]

I PMed this to AvatarVecna before the game started, but my wife and I are expecting our child to be born any day now. It will probably have me incommunicato for about 24-36 hours, so I should still get something in each cycle.

That said, I might vote a bit early with plans to change my vote as needed. And I wanted to note that if I am unusually quiet, that's a possible reason. (I also less post during weekends.)

And with all that said, I'll go on and throw a vote on Xihirli, though I could be persuaded to change.

but until that point I'd be very careful about claiming, whether in the thread or in PM's (wait, are those even allowed?).

AvatarVecna should confirm, but I think you can't PM others unless some power has you already networked. E.g., the Blood Brothers are probably in the same QuickTopic and thus can converse together, and the Wolves are in the same QuickTopic.

For my own safety, I'll note my confidence in the latter statement is because last game I was a Wolf and the wolves shared the same quick topic. It's not because I'm a wolf this time. (I'm not one, but of course folk won't likely believe that with confidence until proof is found.)

[AvatarVecna]

AvatarVecna should confirm, but I think you can't PM others unless some power has you already networked. E.g., the Blood Brothers are probably in the same QuickTopic and thus can converse together, and the Wolves are in the same QuickTopic.

For my own safety, I'll note my confidence in the latter statement is because last game I was a Wolf and the wolves shared the same quick topic. It's not because I'm a wolf this time. (I'm not one, but of course folk won't likely believe that with confidence until proof is found.)

PMs in general are allowed (and I should be CC'd on them), and can be used to set up QuickTopic chats if lots of back-and-forth is desired. You can't PM somebody a link to your QT, but that's about it for limits there.

[DeTess]

I PMed this to AvatarVecna before the game started, but my wife and I are expecting our child to be born any day now. It will probably have me incommunicato for about 24-36 hours, so I should still get something in each cycle.

That said, I might vote a bit early with plans to change my vote as needed. And I wanted to note that if I am unusually quiet, that's a possible reason. (I also less post during weekends.)

And with all that said, I'll go on and throw a vote on Xihirli, though I could be persuaded to change.

First, congratulations!

Secondly, based on your wording it seems you have a reason for voting specifically on Xihirli? It seems all previous votes are either poke-votes (Xihirli) or RNG (Elenna and Caerulea), and yours stands out in that regard.

Speaking of RNG votes, I'm not certain how I feel about those. I get that D1 is incredibly low on information, and any lynch most likely will be for pretty silly reasons. However, if a lot of people just vote randomly early on then D2 won't be much better, as there's not been much discussion D1. Wolves could also more easily creep in a vote D1 if all the reasoning they need to give is 'RNGesus said so'.

[JeenLeen]

PMs in general are allowed (and I should be CC'd on them), and can be used to set up QuickTopic chats if lots of back-and-forth is desired. You can't PM somebody a link to your QT, but that's about it for limits there.

Ah. That makes sense. So we can privately (copying you) talk to other players, but just not with the QuickTopic. That makes sense, as the QuickTopic would provide proof of claims, while a PM could be believed or disbelieved.

Secondly, based on your wording it seems you have a reason for voting specifically on Xihirli? It seems all previous votes are either poke-votes (Xihirli) or RNG (Elenna and Caerulea), and yours stands out in that regard.

Speaking of RNG votes, I'm not certain how I feel about those. I get that D1 is incredibly low on information, and any lynch most likely will be for pretty silly reasons. However, if a lot of people just vote randomly early on then D2 won't be much better, as there's not been much discussion D1. Wolves could also more easily creep in a vote D1 if all the reasoning they need to give is 'RNGesus said so'.

Not much of a reason. She showed a lot of good "confusion-fu" (to borrow a term from another player) last game, so I'm wary of her skill should she be a wolf this game. Thus, I'm hoping to draw out some information by putting 1 vote on her.
On the other hand, as there's now a lot of folk with just 1 vote, it seems relatively unlikely the one-votes will do significant harm, so I don't feel bad about the vote and hope I don't draw a grudge by putting a vote.

I'll agree that RNG votes would provide good cover for wolves. We should probably keep an eye out for if a RNG vote starts the vote-chain that leads to a non-Wolf being lynched. If it does... well, of course everyone in that chain could be a wolf, but probably at least one person actually is. I was going to say that we should be suspicious of the RNG-user who started it (since that's such good cover), but it'd also make sense if the wolves use that vote as the starting point to get a second vote and hope we'd suspect the RNGer.

[Xihirli]

Confusion fu, my good friend? I assure you: if you can hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards.

Early poke votes are important to lead to wagons. We learn a lot about the roles by who changes their votes last minute, who starts wild accusations to avoid being lunched, who gets convinced to drop a wagon.

And sometimes, when a wolf gets a poke vote D1 they panic and have another wolf vote on them for distancing and then die.

[Unavenger]

RNGsus says flat_footed so get poked I guess?

[DeTess]

Early poke votes are important to lead to wagons. We learn a lot about the roles by who changes their votes last minute, who starts wild accusations to avoid being lunched, who gets convinced to drop a wagon.

And sometimes, when a wolf gets a poke vote D1 they panic and have another wolf vote on them for distancing and then die.

Just for the record, I don't object to early poke votes*, just to the 'RNGesus says X gets a vote now', and even then only if its persists past the first 12-20 hours of the cycle. I suppose using RNG isn't a worse method than just looking at who still hasn't checked in for those opening votes, but I do hope it won't persist after that, and any RNG votes get replaced with real votes by the end of the cycle.

*though I almost never place early votes myself, as I try to get some discussion going first.

[JeenLeen]

Rules question: if 2+ people are tied for the highest vote, is it that the first person to reach that count gets lynched OR is it random?
Assuming no powers manipulate vote totals.

Confusion fu, my good friend? I assure you: if you can hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards.

Indeed. I think I parse what you said. Confusing skill.

Early poke votes are important to lead to wagons. We learn a lot about the roles by who changes their votes last minute, who starts wild accusations to avoid being lunched, who gets convinced to drop a wagon.

That is a helpful insight. Thanks.

[Grand Arbiter]

I’ll poke flyinglemur until they vote.

[Elenna]

Just for the record, I don't object to early poke votes*, just to the 'RNGesus says X gets a vote now', and even then only if its persists past the first 12-20 hours of the cycle. I suppose using RNG isn't a worse method than just looking at who still hasn't checked in for those opening votes, but I do hope it won't persist after that, and any RNG votes get replaced with real votes by the end of the cycle.

*though I almost never place early votes myself, as I try to get some discussion going first.

Yeah, I agree, RNG is only a reasonable reason for a vote at the very start of the game. My thought process was basically "might as well post something to get the game started, and a vote (even a random one) will provide more information in the future than anything else I can think of to say."

[JeenLeen]

Hmm... going on the discussion about RNG uses, and that both Elenna and (later) Caerulea voted for the same person and neither have votes on themselves, I feel inclined to shift my vote to one of them.

I would go for Caerulea as she posted second (solidifying the kill on kgato), but her picture gives some evidence of true RNG. Thus, Elenna.

[Xihirli]

Kgato503 is in the lead right now.
I'd pile on the wagon just to get something done but Kgato hasn't even had a chance to speak yet. Seems rude.

[Elenna]

Kgato503 is in the lead right now.
I'd pile on the wagon just to get something done but Kgato hasn't even had a chance to speak yet. Seems rude.

We're less than halfway through D1, I don't think there's a need to "get something done" right now?
Not really sure what the advantage would be of adding more votes to a wagon based on pure RNG.

[DeTess]

Hmm... going on the discussion about RNG uses, and that both Elenna and (later) Caerulea voted for the same person and neither have votes on themselves, I feel inclined to shift my vote to one of them.

I would go for Caerulea as she posted second (solidifying the kill on kgato), but her picture gives some evidence of true RNG. Thus, Elenna.

I mean, I could throw the player list into an RNG generator and then press 'redo' until I get the order I want, so I don't think that really means anything (if anything, the inclusion of 'proof' could point to the kind of over-thinking and covering of bases that a wolf would be more inclined to do than a villager).

That having been said, I see no reason why the elims would want to risk an early pile-up like that, unless they where trying to draw heat off of the outsider. And even then, there are better ways to try to do that than trying to push a counter-lynch based on RNG.

[flyinglemur]

I'll go with unavenger, since I don't think he has any votes on him yet and I don't want to build a wagon.

[The Outsider]

Aack, we started!
Aack, I've been voted for!
(Sorry folks, I thought we were starting later. For now I'm nonvoting, I'll come back tomorrow when I have more time and actually read through things.)
It wasn't me, it was the one-armed man!

[Grand Arbiter]

Moving vote to BasketofPuppies, as I believe they have neither posted nor been poked yet.

[kgato503]

Ack, I thought this was starting next week.

*looks through votes, realizes I'm in the lead*

Crud. For now, I'll second the vote on Elenna for defensive reasons. If the vote moves off of me (or a better opportunity to save myself is presented), I'll probably change my vote.

[BasketOfPuppies]

Shoot, forgot that we started. I’ll take a look when I get home and vote then.

[DeTess]

So far, only flat_footed hasn't checked in.

Vote tally:
Kgato(2): Elenna, Caerulea
The outsider(1): Xihirli
Xihirli(0): JeenLeen
flat_footed(1): Unavenger
Elenna(2): JeenLeen, Kgato
Unavenger(1): Flyinglemur
Basketofpuppies(1): libro
flyinglemur(0): libro
Caerulea(1): DeTess

The two people currently in the lead are Elenna and Kgato, but the vote is currently still wide open.

So, some questions for people.

@Elenna, you questioned the utility of adding a vote on a wagon based on pure RNG:

Not really sure what the advantage would be of adding more votes to a wagon based on pure RNG.

Yet you do seem to think there's utility to you keeping your own vote there. What is it, if I may ask?

@kgato, you voted on Elenna in self-defence. If you didn't need to do that, who would you vote for?

@unavenger, @Caerulea, your only contribution so far has been an RNG vote. Do you think the wolves would be more or less likely to use RNG as a smokescreen for their votes? Why, or why not?

@Libro, apart form those needing poking, has anyone else stood out to you?

Anyway, I'm going to put a vote on Caerulea. The inclusion of the actual proof for them using RNG feels a bit off to me. This vote is not set in stone though.

[Elenna]

@Elenna, you questioned the utility of adding a vote on a wagon based on pure RNG:

Yet you do seem to think there's utility to you keeping your own vote there. What is it, if I may ask?.

Mostly just that I didn't see anything actually suspicious that would be a better target. (Plus now I can't move it because self defense, especially since I'm not sure I'll be on again before end of day)

[kgato503]

@kgato, you voted on Elenna in self-defence. If you didn't need to do that, who would you vote for?

Probably flat_footed (due to current silence) or one of the people who have spoken and not voted yet.

After considering things, I have decided to move my vote to Caerulea. Still self preservation/retaliation, but it makes more sense to me to go after the one who needlessly jumped on me early on, than the person who just so happens to have voted first.