Extended the night round a couple of hours due to my asking the Mafia to switch power roles. I think the balance in the game has been largely corrected with the switch to a Hooker, though the Mafia will want to take out a Town power role ASAP.
FAW's dream: Jo Nathan, Black Yoshi, chiefsonny
Screams light up the night, but instead of going out to investigate the disturbance, the entire Town simply rolled over in their beds and reached for their earplugs. How selfish. Guess you all figured you'd find out what that was about in the morning, which, hey, you did! The lovely fountain in the middle of Town runs red, as the eviscerated corpse of Roxas, bearing 12 distinct stab wounds, is found there. Rest in peace, Townie.
Also, there's a notice for the Town! It appears the notorious Ballot Forger has decided a change of occupation is necessary. Instead of sticking as this role, they have decided to take up a more...wordly occupation as the Town Hooker. Perhaps the Town might rejoice, but remember that the Hooker could, uh, distract the Dreamer or Oracle from exercising their powers in the Night rounds.*
1. Black Yoshi
2. MajorasMask9
3. chiefsonny
4. Jo Nathan
5. White Thunder
6. 'Roxas'
7. Female Alpha Wolf
8. hezekiah
9. Castrael
10. Count Dooku
11. CtR Black
12. Xhin
Town-Mafia ratio:
7-4
*Note: the Ballot Forger in this game was removed and replaced with the Hooker because of how powerful the role could have been. There was a chance the Ballot Forger could have ended the game after a single round, so I felt as though it should be removed and the Mafia consented. This is also the reason for the slightly longer night round. There will be no more role swaps during this game and the rounds will close on schedule from now on.
Welp, looks like this game is going to wrap up early (idiot Town (no)), so Imma post my wrapup for tomorrow morning. I doubt anything will change between now and then (but I'm really hoping it does!).
The Town debated its options back and forth, but while there were many active in discussion, it took only a few scattered votes to seal the deal. Castrael fought her hardest, but she was unable to rouse the apathetic Town members to save her, and so she was wrestled to the Town Square where her execution awaited. There, with her head on the chopping block and the Town screaming (or, rather, a few scattered members of the Town vaguely muttering) for her blood, she locked eyes with the man who stood on the deck across from her, and she suddenly knew.
"Wait! It's him! I know it's him!" she screamed at the crowd, but most of them didn't bother even to acknowledge her words. As the guillotine blade came down and her nemesis smiled, Castrael had just one final thought:
I should...have told them...I was the Oracle..
Standing above the fray and observing it all, Black Yoshi, the Godfather, knew the end was nigh. His Mafiosos had managed to turn the Town against each other with mere rumors of their presence--accusation after accusation flew, but almost none of them even struck a single Mafia member. On top of it all, he knew he had an ally in their midst, and with that ally came the numbers he needed to take over this Town. It was all too easy--the Town had done all the work for them.
Heads turned as Black Yoshi fired a flare gun into the air, but while half of the Town scratched their heads in confusion, the other half sprang into action. Jo Nathan, who had chosen to abstain from the vote in order to ensure someone was lynched, suddenly found himself with a knife to his throat. "Thanks for whittling them down for us," his assailant, hezekiah the Traitor, murmured smugly, just before he slit the poor Townie's throat. Screaming filled the air as the Town, finally and too late, showed signs of life, fleeing to the hills...and leaving the rest of them to hunt them down.
CtR Black, Townie, rushed down a nearby alleyway, but he quickly discovered he wasn't alone. There, the dreaded Town Hooker awaited, and it took just one sharpened stiletto to the throat to bring him down. MajorasMask9, proud of his handiwork and happy to get the win he was denied last game, stepped lightly over the corpse and followed the sounds of gunshots coming from near the fountain. It was lucky, he surmised, that so few noticed his relative absence from this game--otherwise they might have actually stood a chance at taking the Mafia down.
Black Yoshi stalked his prey with a smile on his face as the last two remaining members of the Town fled from his imposing presence (or, more likely, the very very large submachine gun he held in his hands). They seemed to be escaping, but Yoshi knew something they didn't, and his smirk turned into a cackle as Count Dooku, the Mafioso, came out of the Town Hall building wielding dual pistols. The two Town members collapsed in despair at the base of the fountain, holding hands one last time; the two Mafia members nodded to one another and opened fire; and Xhin and chiefsonny, the Lovers and the last members of the Town, fell together in a hail of bullets.
1. Black Yoshi -- Godfather 2. MajorasMask9 -- Ballot Forger Hooker 3. chiefsonny -- Lover 4. Jo Nathan -- Townie 5. White Thunder -- Townie 6. 'Roxas' -- Townie 7. Female Alpha Wolf -- Dreamer 8. hezekiah -- Traitor 9. Castrael -- Oracle 10. Count Dooku -- Mafioso 11. CtR Black -- Townie 12. Xhin -- Lover
---
Well, that didn't exactly go how I'd hoped. It's true that the game slanted towards the Mafia, but it was far from unwinnable for the Town (at least not after I removed the Ballot Forger). Here's what happened that killed the Town's chances:
1. The Mafia's nightkill of FAW--This one really hurt for you guys, because the Dreamer is a powerful role and would have had three nights to gather information if FAW had survived the night. If the Mafia had gone with what appeared to be their second choice, they would have accidentally offed one of their own (leaving you guys with a 6-3 ratio), and if FAW had come forward that day, Castrael's innocence would have been confirmed and Black Yoshi would have been highly suspect. If you had voted out Yoshi that day based on the Dreamer report, Xhin, chief, and Jo would have been confirmed innocent and the Mafia would have had a hard time winning the game. A lot wound up hinging on that decision and I'm still not even sure why FAW was chosen as a target--did you Mafia members have even an inkling that FAW was a power role?
2. The general lack of investment--I think this was a big one that really helped the Mafia. My philosophy about setting up Mafia games is that when in doubt, you should lean the games a little toward the Mafia. The reason for this, and the reason the Town wins more often, is because it's harder to lie convincingly and consistently than it is to figure out when other people are lying or playing inconsistently. That's why you see so many Mafia players going for an under-the-radar game--it's a lot less work and it's harder to slip up. When people aren't active or engaged in the game, though, this part doesn't apply because it's a lot easier for the Mafia to slip through the game without saying or doing much of consequence--they don't have to post as often, and people aren't looking as closely for signs. I remember noting more than one post of Yoshi's that seemed super sketch and I was surprised no one jumped on him for them; even worse than that, though, is the fact that NO ONE other than Castrael picked up on MM9's inactivity. That just blew my mind.
3. The Town was too single-minded--This kinda ties into the Town's not being engaged, but this game was reminiscent of the one waaaaay back when LLight was the Cop and half the Town was 100% confident he was guilty. The main problem with that isn't that it can lead to a single mislynch, it's that by focusing on one target you tend to pay less attention to others and so you miss the more subtle cues in others' posts. This also leads to you interpreting other's actions in light of your false suspicion, giving you more wrong suspicions (I've fallen into this trap before, so I understand it).
4. Castrael didn't roleclaim on Day 3--I really don't understand why she didn't come out as the Oracle when the Town was turning against her. There is literally no reason not to roleclaim if you're about to be voted off anyway, and it might have saved the Town or at least forced one of the Mafia members to put themselves in the spotlight by counter-claiming. My guess is that they would have instead tried to get chief lynched, but chief would have been able to claim as well (the Bulletproof Vest makes this feasible) and maybe Yoshi (or Jo) would have gotten the axe.
So, yeah. In hindsight, I probably should have anticipated quieter early rounds based on Thunder's game and made the ratio a little less demanding (although 9-3 is a pretty steep hill for a Mafia to climb anyway). I think the setup (sans Ballot Forger) could have worked had everyone been engaged in the game, but as it was it took people too long to get into it for the Town to do much. Player scores will be up soon, and I'll be frank: I wouldn't expect there to be many 'good player' points. Neither side was particularly committed to the game and so brilliant play was a rarity (at least it'll balance out my last game of hosting, where I was far too generous with the points :P).
