Mafia! The Stadium Lockdown: Conclusion

[Lions]

Shortly after Magnus and Ulrich left with Vinny, Thomas Hutchins went over to his locker
and pulled out a pair of pistols. He casually tossed one of them to the younger Parsons.



"Sorry, Mr. Harrison," Thomas declared, "but this is where it ends."

"I knew you were a part of this!" Janet said. "If only I had figured it out a day sooner!"



"Todd!" cried Olivia, "You put that gun down right now. You are so grounded!"

"C'mon, Mom!" he replied. "I'm not a kid anymore. I'm sick and tired of you telling
everyone that I'm 12 just so we can get the free Clutchers give aways that are just for
fans 12 and under. Seriously!"



"Shall I bop her on the head again?" Suka didn't wait for a response before knocking
Olivia unconscious with a baseball bat.



"This is for being a traitor to the Clutchers and siding with that no good Beavers fan!"
Todd pulled the trigger.



The two gun toting mafiosa then turned their attention on Josef and Mr. Harrison.



"You think you're so smart," began Thomas. "With your hired 'detective' and his fake
magnifying glass. What good is a detective who can't actually investigate anything.
You had no idea until Laird started talking. But now that story will never be
told, Mr. Harrison."

"What about the team, Thomas?" Mr. Harrison's voice was far more calm than the situation
deserved. He was a man resigned to his fate. "You can't pitch every game."

"Nonsense," came the reply. "You listened for far too long to that pencil neck in the
basement. The 5-man rotation is quite literally dead!"

"And the police?"

"I'm not worried about them, either. There's a reason you hired Josef and those prissy boys in
red shirts instead of Bay City's finest, and you know it."

Thomas and Todd each pulled the trigger, and Mr. Harrison and Josef were no more.

Just then, having heard the gun shots, Magnus and Ulrich came charging into the room
with katana's drawn high.



"Ha ha! So it was you two," but that was all Magnus could say before both were shot
dead in their tracks.



"What about her?" asked Thomas pointing to the unconscious Olivia on the floor.

"She's pretty much harmless," said Suka. "Let's go take over the rest of this town."




***

This game has now ended. Anyone may post in this thread.

I'll post some thoughts and comments in a little bit, as well as everyone's role description.

Winners: Mafia: Suka (Paul), Thomas (John), Dan (Todd)

Survivors: Town: Olivia (Bob), Mafia: Suka (Paul), Thomas (John), Dan (Todd)



Neutral Characters

Ulysses G. Harrison - NPC - Killed on conclusion
Ulysses is the owner of the Clutchers, and has known that something fishy was going on, but has so far been unable to stop it, a situation reflected in his appearance if not his demeanor.


Josef - NPC - Killed on conclusion
Itís a bit unclear exactly where Josef is from, but he dresses like Sherlock Holmes and clearly knows what heís doing.


Magnus - NPC - Killed on conclusion
For some odd reason, he doesn't remind you at all of Inspector Fenwick. The beret doesn't help.


Ulrich - NPC - Killed on conclusion
A Royal Canadian Mountie with a black doo-rag and a Katana strapped to his back?


Players

Thomas Hutchins - Played by John (PEBA Commissioner) - MAFIA
You are the team's dependable ace, a veteran who's seen it all, and little phases you at this stage of your career. The offense may be bleak, but you're regularly among the league leaders in most pitching stats.


Olivia Parsons - Played by Bob (Bulldozers) - TOWN
A single mother and ex-college softball player, you love bringing your son Todd to Clutchers games.


Todd Parsons - Played by Dan (Bureaucrats) - MAFIA
You're the 12 year old son of Olivia, and have been a die hard Clutchers fan longer than you can remember.


Suka Tingenek - Played by Paul (Trendsetters) - MAFIA
You hail from Kivalina, AK and have been an avid follower of Laird Wausden ever since his days as a minor leaguer.


Deceased

Laird Wausden - NPC
Wausden was slated to start the first game of the Beaver series before he was found murdered in the showers.


Bob Scorat - Played by Mike (Borealis) - Lynched on Day 1 - TOWN
You are the player agent for Laird Wausden.


Spikes McGee - Played by Brian (Sandgnats) - Killed on Night 1 - TOWN
You are the speedy leadoff hitter that drives the Clutcher's offense. You're easily the best player in a troubled lineup and you know it.


Rick Leonardson - Played by Tyler (Alleghenies) - Lynched on Day 2 - TOWN
You are the Clutcher's head statistician, a position you have the education for but were ultimately given because you are the owner's nephew.


Gavin Black - Played by Kevin L (Featherheads) - Killed on Night 2 - TOWN
You are the Clutcher's cleanup hitter, and you're always trying to take the ladies deep, too, but you're more likely to swing and miss in both situations.


Marcy Swanson - Played by Nigel (Underground) - Killed on Night 2 - TOWN
You regularly sing the national anthem at Clutcher's games, but missed your opportunity with the cancellation of today's game.


Vinny Patek - Played by Kevn V (Evas) - Lynched on Day 3 - TOWN
A die hard Beavers fan living in Clutcher's country, you never miss a game when the Beavers visit, and you take plenty of joy in how your team has dominated the matchup in recent years.


Janet Ingram - Played by James (Longshoremen) - Killed on conclusion - TOWN
You are the Clutcher's public relations representative. You have recently denied any truth to rumors of romantic invovlement with Laird Wausden.

Curtain Call:

[Tyler]

Wow. Coulda sworn Vinny was mafia. Well played, organized crime, well played.

[Evas]

Wow. Coulda sworn Vinny was mafia. Well played, organized crime, well played.

Yeah very well played. The Mafia took out the townies about as fast as humanly possible I believe.

I didn't really catch on to how things were progressing until day 3. By then it was just too late.

A ton of fun though. The production values with the mini figs were fantastic. I can't wait for the next game.

I told you it was the kid!

[John]

Awwwww! I was hoping we'd have one last day to play with our characters! I had this incredibly fun speech that I planned to deliver to Olivia, the last townie remaining. It was going to reveal Hutchins's true, dark nature, and the motive behind his actions. I guess it will have to live in my head, but it wouldn't been neat...

I'm thinking we should hand out some post-game awards. I may concoct a few categories and post them up tonight. I'd also like to see about creating a recap to make it easy to read all the chatter in one uninterrupted document.

[Lions]

I'll share some thoughts on how this game went as a whole and from a team standpoint, but first some individual player feedback as well as everyone's role and night actions.

Please note that I really thought everyone played extremely well, so criticism is intended to help people learn to become better mafia players. I was hugely impressed with the dedication to the storyline in this game.


Bob Scorat (Mike) - Town Cop - Each night phase, you may investigate one player in the game by PM'ing the mod. You will get results back in the form of Town, Antitown or No Result.

I thought you actually did a good job on Day 1 even though you ended up as the lynch victim. I was impressed with your role play, and the cell phone thing actually gave you a night opportunity to fold your character into your role as Town Cop. Unfortunately, your claim late in the day was too little too late. It might have been more effective if you had revealed more clearly that you were the cop. Yes, it would've put a target on your head, but you also would've given the town someone they could focus their attention on. In basic games, there usually is a combination of an investigative and a protective role, so claiming cop would've made you a good candidate for protection. It's too bad you never were able to investigate the player you PM'd me as your target before day 1 was over: Thomas Hutchins. That would've really changed the game!

Gavin Black (Kevin L) - Town Doctor - Each night phase, you must select one player to protect from in the game from one nightkill.

From what I could tell, you were the town player who went to the most effort to communicate with other players behind the scenes. I think you did a great job of playing a middle of the road game where you didn’t come across too strongly or too quiet. The mafia astutely recognized that targetting ballplayers might help get Vinny lynched since people were basing votes heavily on storyline, and took you out as a result. I don’t believe they had any idea that you were the doctor. Unfortunately, one of the players you trusted and protected was the mafia roleblocker, Suka. You also gave me a lot of good material to work with in terms of fleshing out your character, so kudos on that! The journal thing was pretty funny to me, too, since I hadn’t pictured Gavin as the type to do that.

Janet Ingram (James) - Town 1-Shot Vigilante - Once at night, you may select a player in the game to target for a nightkill.

You were a strong town player who thought through things well. I loved the choice of having Janet lose it a bit, especially considering she is the public face of the franchise that’s supposed to be calm and composed when challenged by the press. I’m not sure who your other candidates for the night 2 kill were, but you unfortunately chose poorly. The danger of doing so meant that Day 3 was a “lynch or lose” situation for the game. The danger in not using your action was that you’d be killed before getting a chance to. In the end, town players need to take risks and this was a solid risk to take. It just didn’t work out.

Marcy Swanson (Nigel) - Town Voyeur - Each night phase, you may watch one player in the game by PM'ing the mod. You will learn what action was performed on that player, but not who targeted them.

You got into the character a bit, and it reminded me of the engaged prince in Holy Grail. I’m not sure exactly why James decided to kill you, but it was fun to write up. As for your game play, being a little more vocal in trying to get discussion going might’ve helped you look more like a friendly town player. Your vote for Bob Scorat came with no reason why. I appreciated your vote of Vinny on Day 2 as not going along with the bandwagon, but the reason you gave for it appeared based on story rather than analysis of who might be mafia.

Olivia Parsons (Bob) - Town Vanilla - Your weapon is your vote, you have no night actions.

Excellent job making a strong character choice and sticking with it. I can’t tell you how much I was longing for Todd to be killed so that I could see your reaction to learning that he had gone and been recruited by the mafia. That said, your refusal to vote looked scummy to some people – and is generally considered an anti-town move. This is especially true when you are vanilla, as that’s the only tool you have to counter the mafia. The mafia didn’t see you as kill worthy because a non-voting townie is a much lesser threat to them. You were enigmatic enough to earn a block, though, as no one really had a good read on you. In the end, every vote is needed for town to win, and you could’ve extended the game by voting for Thomas on Day 3 before Todd voted for Vinny. More on non-voting later.

I loved that you sent in a night action on Night 1 (try to free Bob Scorat and escape with your son), and I really wanted to include it in the storyline, but I was afraid it would be misleading to imply that you really had a night action. I also couldn't really have you take off with Todd since he was against you!

Spikes McGee (Brian) - Town Vanilla - Your weapon is your vote, you have no night actions.

You did a nice job adopting the character of Spikes, but unfortunately didn't get a chance to stick around very long. Your willingness to give Bob Scorat the benefit of another night on his claim was a very pro-town move that contributed to being targeted by the mafia. Sorry I don’t have a lot more to say, you just weren’t around long enough to give me a big impression.

Vinny Patek (Kevin V) - Town Vanilla - Your weapon is your vote, you have no night actions.

You were one of the most effective town players in terms of trying to figure out who was mafia and who wasn’t. You did a good job of reminding everyone that your character didn’t make you mafia. Some on the mafia thought they could get you voted out for your character. You voted Rick on Day 1 because he cast the first vote. Your early vote for Todd on Day 2 had the mafia thinking that perhaps you were the cop. I didn’t really understand what convinced you to switch your vote off of Todd and back to Rick on Day 2. There hadn’t been any sort of defense that should’ve warranted this. You even said later that you weren’t buying his story, but kept your vote for Rick. Voting Suka to start Day 3 was again an interesting choice, and it was clear that you had the mafia mostly figured out, but at this point the big thing you were missing was a cohesive group of townies to work with. Had Olivia voted for Thomas before Todd voted, you’d have survived.

Rick Leonardson (Tyler) - Town Vanilla - Your weapon is your vote, you have no night actions.

It’s too bad you weren’t able to continue contributing, but I agree that it’s not a terrible thing to be voted off if that’s going to be the case. You were a major contributor in Day 1, casting the first vote for Bob Scorat. This was actually a good, pro-town move, as casting votes and getting discussion going is exactly what town should be doing early. However, you should've backed off when Bob started talking about being able to provide information the following day (this goes for ALL the townies other than Janet!). You were one of the few who posted after he began talking in those terms. Unfortunately, this made you the initial lynch candidate for Day 2 and with no defense forthcoming, the lynch was sealed.

Suka Tingenek (Paul) - Mafia Roleblocker - Factional kill: Each night phase, one of you or your partners may perform the factional kill. Roleblock: Each night phase, you individually may perform a roleblock on another player in the game. You cannot block and kill in the same night.

You were the quiet sneaky member of the mafia. Your contribution to the day threads was well calculated and reasoned, and I don’t think too many town people suspected you as a result. Your decision not to block anyone on night 1 allowed you to avoid suspicion of a watcher or tracker, although in this game, we didn’t have one. In general, that’s an extremely conservative play, and one that isn’t terrible but also not entirely necessary. Early in games, it’s quite a bit harder for people to know who to target. They have less information and there are more players, so your safest night was actually night 1. No big deal, though. You also managed to get in the good graces with Gavin, even earning his protection the night you had him killed.

Todd Parsons (Dan) - Mafia Goon - Factional kill: Each night phase, one of you or your partners may perform the factional kill.

You played the kid thing pretty well. I kind of wish I had made you a few years older, so that people wouldn’t base their opinion of you on your age so much, but I couldn’t change it until the conclusion. You completely ignored the accusations against you on Day 2, and ultimately that worked out. Personally, I would’ve voted you pretty quick given that you had multiple people defending you for no game reason, although I’d probably have voted for Thomas first.

Thomas Hutchins (John) - Mafia Goon - Factional kill: Each night phase, one of you or your partners may perform the factional kill.

You were easily the scummiest scum on the team. I got more of a feeling that people suspected you than the other two mafia because of your abrasive demeaner. In a game like this one, where people make strong character choices, that didn’t end up hurting you, but it could’ve. You were quick to defend Todd and Suka for no game reason. It made sense from a storyline perspective, but storyline is something scum will hide behind. Lumping the enigmatic Olivia in there with them allowed you to have a townie in the mix, but not one that was very trustworthy. In general, defending another player in the game looks scummy unless you have a valid game reason to do so. You need to know more about the player and have a way of backing it up before putting your trust in them. Mafia know who is and who isn’t mafia, so they already know who is trustworthy and who isn’t. The town doesn’t, so if you want to look like town, you need to pretend you don’t trust anyone. In the end, this didn’t hurt you, but you almost got voted out on Day 3 as a result.





Night Action Results
Night 1:
Gavin Black protects Vinny Patek - successful
Marcy Swanson watches Gavin Black - no information learned
Janet Ingram does nothing
Suka Tingenek does nothing
Thomas Hutchins kills Spikes McGee - successful
Olivia Parsons attempts to free Bob Scorat and escape - unsuccessful

Night 2:
Gavin Black protects Suka Tingenek - successful
Janet Ingram kills Marcy Swanson - successful
Marcy Swanson - *no action submitted*
Suka Tingenek Blocks Olivia Parsons - successful
Todd Parsons Kills Gavin Black - successful

Night 3:
Suka Tingenek blocks Olivia Parsons - successful
Todd Parsons kills Janet Ingram - successful

Note that Mafia actually won with the lynch of Vinny, and night 3 was for storyline purposes. Normally, I'd have killed off Olivia, too, but that just didn't seem to fit.


I set up a couple of Writeboards fo the mafia team and deceased players. Here are the links to those:
Mafia Writeboard, Password: pebaScum
Afterlife Writeboard, Password: pebaDead

[klewis]

Ha, I guess I am really Gavin Black. I hit a few homers and completely struck out. I struck out on Suka. I for sure thought he was the Town. I actually PMed Paul first reaching out to him as a Townie. Haha curse you Paul for pretending to be friends with me

After reaching out to Paul, I reached out to Kevin V. I was really hopeful that trio of Paul, Kevin V., and myself could help deduce who the Mafia was. But alas Paul was an insider.

My hunch was that John was part of the Mafia. I even went as far as to PM him trying to pretend that I thought he was a Townie. I was leaning towards Dan as a Mafia as well. But it was hard to make judgement on Dan because he roleplayed as child.

I struck out on Nigel as well. I guessed he was Mafia because his votes aligned with John. I also thought he was Mafia because he didn't give solid reasons for his lynch votes.

The ones that I really had no idea about were James and Bob. James was a little aggressive and made me question his allegiance. In contrast, Bob was too neutral to the point where I didn't know which side he was on.

Mike, Tyler and Brian were killed too early to make a judgement on.

The biggest curveballs to me were the 3 Mafia members. I didn't expect there to be that many - thinking there was two or less. The other curveball was the two night kills on Night 2. Also for the record, I was the doctor.

I look forward to seeing Frank's comments. It was fun and thanks for hosting it!

Edit: Thanks for the recap, Frank! I was surprised of the amount of specialized roles out there. I suppose I was meta-gaming by trying to come up with the different roles and possible Mafia/Townie split. I figured there would be two Mafia and nine townies with just a cop and doctor. I didn't think that our first game would include so many roles. That was definitely a surprise!

[Reg]

I sort of feel like I have disqualified myself from future games....who is going to trust me???

Sorry Kevin L. I never actually said I wasn't mafia...I just sent along misinformation. For what's it worth, I would have much preferred killing Kevin V. and taking the next day vote to James...who happened to take out two townies in one day (the mafia thanks you) with leading the charge on Tyler and the poisoning of Nigel. I did pm Tyler and tell him that they were after his head...to no avail.
I was out voted on who to kill so Gavin got the axe instead.

Things could have been very dicey if Bob had ever voted for John on the last day.

The only mistake I felt I had made was falsely accusing James of voting for Spikes (which I just totally read wrong in the previous days thread)...but it seems like nobody even noticed that I had come out against James wrongly....

I have played many a game of mafia in person, so it was both unique and familiar to me this go roune

[DanD]

Thanks Frank! That was loads of fun, and the Lego panels were a treat!

I found it bit challenging role playing a 12 year old kid in a situation where we were voting to kill people Act too innocent, and Vinny Patek smells you out. Act too mature or eager to lynch someone, and townies will get suspicious.

Being Mafia and know that Olivia was town, I initially decided to play the "little kid" card and mimic Olivia's voting. I hoped that it might cause some confusion or people might see it as Olivia technically having a double vote. We then could have used our faction kill on her to reveal her to be Town, so my association with her might give me some absolution. However, Olivia's refusal to vote threw a wrench in my initial plan

I learned a lesson the third day - I didn't realize (or forgot about reading) that in a tie, the player who reached the vote total first would be the one lynched. I got busy over the weekend and decided to jump in at the last minute to prevent revealing a voting pattern, since Suka and Hutch had already voted for Vinny. It wasn't until I logged in on Monday and realized that my vote would have sealed the deal several hours before and that my waiting was jeopardizing Hutch! Luckily, Olivia continued to abstain and it didn't hurt us.

The only mistake I felt I had made was falsely accusing James of voting for Spikes (which I just totally read wrong in the previous days thread)...but it seems like nobody even noticed that I had come out against James wrongly....

I did, but I figured it would be best if I left it alone

[Lions]

I'll probably be repeating myself on some occasions, but here are some collated pieces of information I put together throughout the game. Sorry for how long this is!

Game Balance
One of the things that you always have to look at when hosting a game is whether or not both teams start the game with roughly an equal chance of winning. In this game, I think that was the case, however I think the game skewed heavily in favor of the mafia after the town cop was killed so quickly.

In general, you can expect 1 mafia for every 3 townies. Obviously, if the number of players isn't divisible by 4, then you have to make a decision whether or not to increase the ratio. You also might adjust it based on the power roles included. Giving the mafia fewer players but more powerful roles (like a Godfather who returns town on investigation) or giving the town more powerful roles can balance out a game where a good ratio can't be found. The key is that it should be possible, but hard for the town to confirm enough other townies that they can no longer mislynch.

I liked the role distribution with the exception of the voyeur. In order to be helpful, a voyeur really needs to have corroborating evidence. That requires either more time or other complementary roles. With the cop out, there wasn't either, and Marcy was never really able to learn anything that could help.

FWIW, I did consult with two people who have more experience hosting than I do on role distribution, so I wasn't shooting in the dark. Ultimately, I chose to go with 3 mafia so that the game would last at least 3 days. Our setup could only have finished in 2 days if the first two lynches and the vigilante kill all snagged Mafia. It could've lasted a maximum of 5 days.

Lastly, remind me not to give a character the same first name as one of the players. I found our Bob's slightly confusing!

Game Summary
Day 1
I always like the first day because no one has any night actions to go on. Mafia starts with the advantage of knowing who's for and against them as well as a chance to coordinate. Town starts with an advantage of numbers. In our game, town needed to find a voice and rally around an effort to figure out where everyone's allegiance lay. That never really happened. Pouncing on a first voter usually doesn't end well, as that's a risky place for mafia to be. Pouncing on quiet people usually doesn't either. We had tremendous character and story line that you guys built in day 1 and carried through the rest of the game. It made the game a lot of fun. Bob's role claim was too little too late, and since he just happened to be the cop, that put town in a real bind.

In general, Cops and Doctors should try to blend in on the first day - not being too quiet or too talkative. Mike just got caught in a bad situation. It happens.

Night 1
Gavin protecting Vinny was funny to me given the Clutchers-Beavers sentiment in the game, but it proved Kevin knew that appearances didn't matter. Thomas killing his teammate was good for storyline at the end. I wasn't a fan of the mafia skipping their block. They didn't have any way of determining if town could discover it, but even if town had, the first night is the one you're least likely to be seen simply due to sheer numbers. Take the risk!

Day 2
The big lead, to me, on Day 2 was the votes surrounding Todd. When other players came to Todd's defense, the town players should've started drilling them on why. Thomas' quick and aggressive response screamed scum to me, but it's really hard to not see things as suspicious when you know that a player is mafia. His later insistence that the Mafia are trying to bump off all the Clutchers and therefore it must be Vinny was metagaming scumtell. Unvoting Vinny and voting Rick with the "I don't trust Vinny, but I'll go with the bandwagon" was a slight contradiction scumtell, but it was covered well. That said, I thought Vinny did a bit of the same with his Todd vote being replaced with Rick.

Janet's list of players to consider was a very pro-town approach in trying to narrow down the list. All 3 mafia appeared on that list. Rick was a reasonable person to start with due to leading the vote on Scorat. I liked Gavin's "It's either me or Hutch next" comment. You got that right! Vinny ignoring the vote against him by Marcy was a towntell.

Night 2
I love that Olivia was crazy enough to get blocked by Suka. I wasn't sure if I'd get another Olivia night action or not, but it would've been an easy out for me to not write up a detailed account of what happened.

Janet killing Marcy was a good choice, IMO, as she did appear somewhat scummy just because of her terse responses. It was hard for me not to think that Thomas and Todd were more suspicious.

Poor Gavin protected his "friend" Suka!

Day 3
I didn't really understand why Vinny initially accused Suka. It seemed like the sentiment was already against either Todd or Thomas. Thomas' reaction screamed mafia, though, and I was hoping that Olivia would jump in and vote for Thomas before Todd voted for Vinny. That would've lynched Thomas on the first to 3 votes, and extended the game another day. I suspect that Vinny would've been the night target in that case.

Olivia also came out and told everyone that she had been bonked on the head - which was the result of Suka blocking her. No one commented on this from either side. If neither Olivia or Todd had voted, Vinny still would've been the lynch as he got two votes before Thomas.

Night 3
Superfluous, but it gave me a decision on what to do with Olivia at the end.


Mafia Tutorials Continued
I held off on these during the game, but here are some things you can look for in reading back through it. Some you'll see, others you wont.

Lesson 5: How to find a Mafia: Scumtells
A "scumtell" is when a mafia player does something that reveals to the non-mafia players that he is mafia. A scumtell doesn't have anything to do with nigth actions. Mafia who are discovered as part of a night action, whether that be from investigator results, or being watched killing a townie, can be outed in that fashion, but that's not a scumtell. A scumtell is a behavioral clue. Scumtells are hugely important for town players to watch out for because most town players don't have any investigative night action. If you wait around for an investigation to catch the mafia, then you'll probably lose while waiting. Scumtells are also the only way to find a mafia on day 1, when no night action results have yet happened. Here are some of them. They’re useful things to look out for as town, or to try to avoid as mafia.

Unwarranted Defense - One thing the mafia will do is come to the defense of another player without due cause for said defense. Sometimes the player they're defending is mafia, but it's also not uncommon for it to be a townie who they think it would be worth protecting to look like a townie themselves. True town players are distrustful of everyone, and will only defend players they believe strongly to be town. In this game, Todd Parsons was defended early on by Suka, Thomas Hutchins, and Olivia. You now know that of those 4 players, only Olivia was town. I cannot state often enough how disappointed I was that Todd wasn’t killed early just to see Olivia’s reaction to him being mafia.

Refusal To Vote - This one can be quite subtle and you need to understand the motives behind it. In general, refusing to vote can be seen as avoidance of the necessary task of building evidence with which to find mafia. Because behavioral clues are so important, and evidence from night actions tends to be only partially helpful, the single most effective way for town to catch scum is to get a lot of discussion going in the day. The best way to get someone to talk? Vote for them! Bob Scorat revealed that he had a night action while in the line of fire. I was quite fascinated by the fact that Todd decided to follow Olivia's lead and not vote on Day 1, and then vote on Day 2 after being targeted by Vinny for his Day 1 behavior. Another reason that refusing to vote is seen as anti-town is because it gives the Mafia a free kill. There are times when it makes sense not to vote, but it’s pretty rare and you have to be truly convinced that doing so would cause you to lose. The only way to know for sure what someone’s alignment is is through death. A townie’s death via lynch can teach you about the other players, so it’s a necessary evil at times.

Contradicting Oneself - Sometimes a mafia player will put forth an argument for another player but not vote for that player because they want to see how the town reacts. If they buy it, then the vote comes, but if not, they can move along and vote with the town. Suggesting one player looks the scummiest to you, but voting for someone else is also looked on pretty poorly. Town should always vote for the player they think is most likely to be mafia.

Being Too Eager to Appear Town - This one is hard to describe and also quite hard to recognize when it's happening, but a player who is too eager to appear town is usually scum. The most obvious way this usually manifests itself is when a player keeps changing their stance on things as other players, who they know are town, suggest alternate theories. Todd deciding to vote on Day 2 after not voting on Day 1 was a very subtle example of this, but it came only after getting some heat for his lack of a vote from Vinny, and that would've been the tip off.

Inexplicable Knowledge - Sometimes the mafia will spill some information that they wouldn't have if they were town. A fairly uncommon but clear example would be when a mafia player says something like, "We've got three mafia to lynch, so let's get them!" That would've told town that there were 3 mafia players, but unless the moderator has revealed this, the only reason this player would know that is if he/she was mafia. Players will sometimes speculate on how many mafia there are, but this is usually met with skepticism, and especially so if the attempt to make it look like that speculation comes after the initial statement, which was worded authortatively.

Avoiding Allegations - Sometimes you can get away with ignoring someone's accusations against you, especially if there is another player that appears more scummy and the focus is shifted to them. This is a tactic that town and mafia players will both use. However, continuing to ignore the accusation, or trying to cast the blame elsewhere instead of responding is suspicious. True town players aren't afraid to explain their actions because those actions are done with town's best interest in mind.

Claiming a Lie - In this game, had the Mafia known that Bob was the town cop, they could've easily claimed to be a cop later in the game when on the chopping block themselves (not that they needed it). This would've been incredibly easy to fake because the Mafia know exactly who is Mafia and the cop is gone. The times when this does not work is when there really is a real town cop still alive. If you claim to have a role that someone else has, you can bet that at some point, both of you will be put to the test. For mafia, this may be a smart gamble if you think you can get the town player knocked out first and are willing to take a loss on your side as compensation. In the case of a cop, this is sometimes worth it. It can be very obvious when you have multiple claims of the same role that one of you is lying, but it's not always clear who.

Well Thought Out Defenses – This is another really subtle one, but sometimes a player who seems to have an answer for everything just appears scummy. The reason is that players who easily come up with defenses have probably been thinking about them for some time, and the only players who tend to think about their defense in advance of needing it are mafia. I was once taken out by a vigilante for this very reason. I was playing as a scum godfather (returns innocent on investigation), and had been playing an outspoken game to try to get investigated. I got investigated as town the same night I was killed!

Metagaming the Lynch - In mafia, the roles and alignments are assigned at random. There is a tendency, and we saw a lot of it in this game, to place too much emphasis on the character's background in trying to determine alignment. The Mafia in this game recognized that and decided to take out Spikes and Gavin early in order to frame Vinny as a Beavers fan. Do NOT metagame the team alignments based on the character descriptions. They’re assigned at random.

Unneccesary Role Claims - Has someone claimed a role without really needing to? Have they revealed their role to you in private without good reason to trust you? Be suspicious! One of the best ways for a mafia player to get in town's good graces is to convince a townie they have a useful town role. That said, the fact that the mafia have the added knowledge of who is and isn't mafia means they have a chance to fake some roles. Townies should always be wary of sharing information, as any information the mafia gets a hold of adds to their knowledge advantage early on. That said, it is important for townies to take calculated risks and share information at times, but to also have back-up plans in case some information is leaked. This didn’t happen in this game, as the only role claim was Scorat, and it came under appropriate duress.

Refusing to Trust an Anti-Town Investigation Result – This one is pretty obvious, but it does happen. Let’s say Bob had lived and found Thomas to be mafia. He comes out and tells people. Everyone should immediately vote for Thomas. Anyone who doesn’t and tries to argue that the investigation could be false (which it could!) is anti-town. Why? Because the investigation result can be tested by lynching and town would rather keep their investigator around than the lynch target. There are situations where a solid defense or a counter claim should make you reconsider, but first reaction should always be to lynch.

Adding Nothing – A lot of talk from a player who never adds anything to the discussion will often look suspicious. The mafia will frequently try to appear like they’re contribution to the conversation, but when you look at what they’ve actually said, there’s nothing there of substance. I have a coworker like this and often think if my office was a mafia game, I’d vote for her.

Lesson 6: Who's Got Your Back? How to Spot Townies
If you're town, the most important thing you can do to help find the mafia is to narrow the list of suspects. If you haven't been able to figure out who is mafia, the next best thing is to figure out who isn't. It’s usually easier to identify a townie than it is to identify a mafia. Remember, you have numbers on your side, so don’t be afraid to make a mistake if you can use that choice to learn from it. If you're the mafia, you already know who's not on your side, so you don't need to be on the lookout for townies. That said, these are some things that might help you appear pro town. The only problem is, at some point, you're going to have to lie to keep up appearances.

Early Claiming - In general, the first player to claim a role, if it happens in the first two game days, usually has that role. The reason for this is that a role claim is a risky move for the mafia, and the more time that claim has to be tested, the more likely they'll be lynched when it's proven false. Early in the game, if a mafia player claims a role, they're likely going to claim a role they actually have, but advertise their actions as pro-town. An example of this would be if Suka had claimed role blocker, and then pretended to try to block the mafia killer. He eventually would've come under suspicion for never blocking the killer, but he might've got a lot of helpful information for his team in the meantime. All that said, this goes hand-in-hand with the Unneccesary Role Claim scumtell. A solid time for town to role claim is one that's done in private based on some evidence for trust, or one that's done to avoid a lynch. Just remember the town credo: always be suspicious!

Lynch Based Role Claims - This one could fall into either category, but a lynch based role claim where the player is claiming as a result of being the lynch target is a good time to get evidence for their allegiance as well as the allegiance of other playes. A mafia player who is the target of a lynch will usually claim a role, as that becomes risky for town to let die. For that reason, a player who claims to be vanilla in the face of a lynch often is telling the truth, especially if they've had some time to change that and don't.

Giving the Benefit of the Doubt - In general, town players don't want to make a mistake with another townie who might be a power role. The first person to unvote a player after a strong town role claim is often town. As other players bandwagon on that idea, scum will try to blend in, but usually they won't be the first. Again, they're trying to blend in and go with the crowd more than lead it.

Out in Front - The single best way to catch mafia is to talk. A lot. The more you get people to talk, the more likely it is that mafia will make a mistake, contradict themselves, or simply give evidence that can later be used to convict them. For that reason, the most vocal players early are often players that are worth placing some tentative trust in early. Mafia may try to take that role of town leader, but usually that player is targeted by early night actions like investigations, so it's not something that often works out for them. They'd rather get into that early group and have insight while being able to say that they allowed their night actions decisions to be made by someone clearly pro-town. Those trying the hardest to root out scum in the day threads are usually town. This isn’t just about in-character chatter that gets you no information, but about impressions of other players and night actions. Throw theories out there and see how people react.

Sacrificial Virgins - Sometimes, a vanilla townie is referred to as a virgin because they have no night action. Vanilla townies may not always feel important, but they're vital to the town's success. First off, they should recognize that they're a better target for a lynch than the town power roles. Claiming vanilla is pretty safe for Mafia since they don't have to do anything to prove it. However, when putting a vanilla to the lynch test, see how they and others react. Scum will almost always claim a role with their dying breath, but vanilla townies will only very rarely do so.

Townie Intent - Determining someone's intent is rather difficult, but the way they respond to accusation is often a key indicator. Town players don't have to hide the truth about their past behavior. A player who is open about why they made a lynch choice or why they chose to respond in a certain way is more likely to be town.

[John]

I'm bad at this game! I guess my problem is that I find the fun of the game more in throwing myself into character and storyline, not so much worrying about the actual roles or mechanics of the game. I much prefer building myself a character, then asking myself, "How would this person react in this situation?" From a pure gameplay perspective, that's clearly not a smart way to go, but it sure was fun. I don't think I would have found the game as enjoyable had I been playing the way I should have, actively wondering, "Is this guy the town doctor? Is that guy the town cop?" I like letting the storyline and my character choices dictate my actions, even if that is "metagaming scumtell that places a target on my forehead.

I sort of feel like I have disqualified myself from future games....who is going to trust me???

I was thinking the same of myself. I'm sure I would play future characters much as I did Thomas Hutchins; make defined character choices and act out a role dictated by those choices and the overarching storyline. Like Frank said, that will probably get me killed more often than not. But darnnit, it's fun to play that way!

[Evas]

My biggest mistake was not taking in to account the possible Super roles I think. The "Bump on the head" incident should have been a tell about something, but it fell on deaf ears. I think I'll do a little more research next time.

But playing it cold and having my meta options limited was very fun as well.

[Reg]

I think the bump on the head would have been useful is Olivia was going to be voted on...but she was never really strongly suspected...by that point, it was really too late to make a difference anyways...

As far as not blocking anyone on night one, while I agree that there was much less of a chance that anyone could see me if indeed there was a tracker and watcher...or a voyeur in this case...there also wasn't much of a chance to successfully block anyone meaningfully....and what are the chances that the cop gets lynched straight out the box....it's conservative, but conservative worked this time around

[Lions]

Awwwww! I was hoping we'd have one last day to play with our characters! I had this incredibly fun speech that I planned to deliver to Olivia, the last townie remaining. It was going to reveal Hutchins's true, dark nature, and the motive behind his actions. I guess it will have to live in my head, but it wouldn't been neat...

Let's have it!

I sort of feel like I have disqualified myself from future games....who is going to trust me???

Oh, I'm sure you would find a way to use that to your advantage.

The only mistake I felt I had made was falsely accusing James of voting for Spikes (which I just totally read wrong in the previous days thread)...but it seems like nobody even noticed that I had come out against James wrongly....

You got called out on this, by James, but it didn't matter. A mistake like that isn't a problem by itself if you handle it the way you did and acknowledge that you misremembered.

I'm bad at this game! I guess my problem is that I find the fun of the game more in throwing myself into character and storyline, not so much worrying about the actual roles or mechanics of the game. I much prefer building myself a character, then asking myself, "How would this person react in this situation?"

I tried to make it clear that I really loved that aspect of this game. I think most people were doing it this way. Bob certainly was, and you were, too. You can always use a strong character and react however you like. Ultimately, its your actions that reveal who you are. The choices you make from a gameplay standpoint can be folded into the choices you make from a character perspective just fine. You don't need to prioritize one over the other to be successful.

FWIW, calling you the scummiest scum doesn't mean you were a bad scum member. After all, you survived just fine. The shortest NBA center isn't short by any other standard.

My biggest mistake was not taking in to account the possible Super roles I think. The "Bump on the head" incident should have been a tell about something, but it fell on deaf ears. I think I'll do a little more research next time.

I very much wanted this to be a newbie friendly game that introduced some of the more advanced concepts. I didn't expect people to understand everything, but I wanted you all to have something to look back on that would give a sense of the possibilities if we were to play again.

As far as not blocking anyone on night one, while I agree that there was much less of a chance that anyone could see me if indeed there was a tracker and watcher...or a voyeur in this case...there also wasn't much of a chance to successfully block anyone meaningfully....and what are the chances that the cop gets lynched straight out the box....it's conservative, but conservative worked this time around

It's a perfectly valid strategy. I will however, point out that using your block would give you some chance of randomly hitting someone useful. Anyway, it worked fine for you guys, so no harm done by missed opportunity.

[Borealis]

I'll have to read through these later, but I want to thank Frank for his excellent work - I love the Lego scenes! Awesome!!!

I hope we get a chance to do this again, that was lots of fun!!!

[Reg]

I could see where you could possibly convince people to not vote on day one, that way you have an extra person for day two versus losing two (or three if the vig strikes) ...but it is a more conservative strategy...(just like the roleblock discussion it's 6 in one hand and half a dozen in the other)...but you guarantee that the most number of roles come into play on the first night...