# Backseat Hitmen (Off limits to living Mafia players) **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [March 27, 2007, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backseat-hitmen-off-limits-to-living-mafia-players/397683 "2007-03-27T14:43:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 19
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backseat-hitmen-off-limits-to-living-mafia-players/397683/361 "2007-05-09T13:13:28Z")
[QUOTE=Malacandra] I was thinking of pirates vs. ninjas, but I’ve managed to dream up a sort of alternate-world Treasure Island backstory… although it’s still developing, I’m becoming attached to it. Sadly I have to write Jim Hawkins out, but if we think of him as R L Stevenson’s forerunner of Wesley Crusher I’m sure we’ll cope. [/QUOTE] Care to PM/email me what you have so far? If you’ve put it into words, that is. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backseat-hitmen-off-limits-to-living-mafia-players/397683/362 "2007-05-09T14:24:34Z")
[QUOTE=Pygmy Rugger] Care to PM/email me what you have so far? If you’ve put it into words, that is. [/QUOTE] Check your email. ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backseat-hitmen-off-limits-to-living-mafia-players/397683/363 "2007-05-09T14:32:54Z")
[QUOTE=Malacandra] Which phrase is that? I was forced to put a gender hint in my location again 'cos so many people (despite the location having read “I’m a dude” for about a year) kept thinking I’m a girl. But “Kudos, the executioner” was a [Trek](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodos_the_Executioner) reference. Welcome, **Pygmy Rugger**! Looks like some play left in the end-game, but my word what a fight the scum have made of it - well done all round! _slides one along the bartop_ [/QUOTE] The phrase I referred to was, You See What I Did There?.. ---
**Author:** ![Gadarene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Gadarene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadarene)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backseat-hitmen-off-limits-to-living-mafia-players/397683/364 "2007-05-09T14:35:55Z")
> [@](#): > > But in return you have to hold a spot for me. I want to live longer that a single day this time. Me too. I’m really looking forward to playing in the next one. ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backseat-hitmen-off-limits-to-living-mafia-players/397683/365 "2007-05-09T15:59:20Z")
[QUOTE=kivvik] Hey, **MonkeyMensch** , if you get a minute (more like a lot of them), wanna throw us a post about why you chose to kill who you did and when? I really just wanna know what got me killed, although I guess low post count. But I figured others might wanna know too 😛 [/QUOTE] Only too damn happy to. First night: \*\*One and only Wanderers \*\* made the remark about, "I’ll probably be in here tomorrow morning saying, “Bah! Go Town!”, and I couldn’t resist. To his credit that was exactly what he said, good on him. Apparently all the night-killers got into the “don’t kill a rookie” feeling that evening. Second night: I killed\*\* CaerieD \*\* on a near-total lack of information and apparently so did **Blaster Master**. This was actually kind of cool in that there were only two deaths and I tried to gently throw out the red herrings of the **SK** possibly holding fire, or maybe the **Millers** had found a killer. Third night: I thought I had caught a subtle tell, that I think has been discussed in this thread, of, "I ( **MM** ) caught a whiff of her ( **nesta** ) referring to a night kill as a lynch. I speculated that if she’s Mafia she might have thought that any Mafia death is the equivalent of a “lynch.” Fourth night: I thought I got a tell on you, kivvik, with this line of reasoning: "In #1983 he says lynching FCoD was a good idea because it would yield more information. I couldn’t see how. Dead is dead, you learn the deceased’s assignment and move on. I took it as an attempt to keep the FCoD bandwagon hitched up. In #2238 he points out that he’s not piling on SB, which would be seen as a Mafia tell: you know, voting for a fellow family member late in the lynch to clear your name. That would have been fine, but he goes to the trouble of telling me he’s not doing something that might be seen as a Mafia tell. It sounded like he was laying out an alibi to me. And also in #2238 speculates on the SK/Mafia kill of FCoD tonight. It gave me a sense of a set-up. If I had to guess, I’d say the Mafia is whacking FCoD right now." ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backseat-hitmen-off-limits-to-living-mafia-players/397683/366 "2007-05-09T16:31:29Z")
[QUOTE=kivvik] Hey, **MonkeyMensch** , if you get a minute (more like a lot of them), wanna throw us a post about why you chose to kill who you did and when? I really just wanna know what got me killed, although I guess low post count. But I figured others might wanna know too 😛 [/QUOTE] I got cut off there. To continue: Fifth night: I got **Blaster Master**. I thought the timing was about right for non-protection from the **Doc** or \*\*GA \*\* and I just didn’t need him following me around at night. Sixth night: Here’s where I started running into trouble. I had a simple spread sheet of suspicions upon which **nesta** and **kivvik** had been top suspects. \*\*Blaster Master \*\* was a kill of self-protection, so I had three successful hits in a row, baby! I think this was the time that Suburban Plankton got roped, so with a few more on-target town lynchings I thought the game was in the bag. So I nailed **glee** , my next most suspicious player. Shit. Seventh night: “No worries”, I said and went to my next scumball on the sheet: **Arizona Teach**. Double-shits! Either I was backing away from the target or the barn was getting smaller. No matter. I think this was around the time when **Storyteller** (?) posted a few end game scenarios and switching to anti-town looked pretty attractive, since my Mafia-sniffing ability had apparently fled like bandits from a burglar alarm. Eighth night: With **cowgirl 2.0** ’s claim of **GA** I went after her. Hey, desperate vanilla townie or true **GA** I figured it was a nice tactic. And even though I was unsure of the accuracy of my hit (after a while everybody looks like Mafia and Townie at the same time) it turned out sweet. Ninth night: I just went after my best townie guess at this point, **Rysto**. And got him, as it turned out. Unfortunately I got nailed at the same time. I noticed something from **NAF** near the end (eighth day?) where he said “the Mafia’s got their backs to the wall” or some such and I thought that meant for sure there wasn’t four Mafia left, but three or maybe even only two left. But I had no time to act on that info. As for the tell that I think the Mafia whacked me for was I think **storyteller** ’s summation of me as a player who was flying so low under the radar as to be invisible. Great **SK** tell and damn it that it should have been said at that point. As always, thanks to all. Youse all so damn much fun to play with. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backseat-hitmen-off-limits-to-living-mafia-players/397683/367 "2007-05-09T16:48:31Z")
[QUOTE=MonkeyMensch] Ninth night: I just went after my best townie guess at this point, **Rysto**. And got him, as it turned out. Unfortunately I got nailed at the same time. [/QUOTE] I assume that you expected the Mafia to go after **Pleonast**? ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backseat-hitmen-off-limits-to-living-mafia-players/397683/368 "2007-05-09T16:59:35Z")
[QUOTE=Rysto] I assume that you expected the Mafia to go after **Pleonast**? [/QUOTE] That’s who my vote was for, but the others wanted to go after the SK. I thought getting rid of confirmed town was best for our endgame. We figured we only had 3 shots at it, our godperson argued that going after the SK _was_ our endgame, and we could always get **Pleonast** later. ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backseat-hitmen-off-limits-to-living-mafia-players/397683/369 "2007-05-09T17:09:03Z")
Just in case anyone is reading when they shouldn’t be I am spoilering this, even though it is probably too vague to be of any use. Lakai made a brilliant observation in his last post, but he drew eniterly incorrect conclusions from it. It will be interesting to see if the town pulls this one out. They have a very real shot if they don’t get stuck on a single wrong track. ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backseat-hitmen-off-limits-to-living-mafia-players/397683/370 "2007-05-09T17:17:18Z")
[QUOTE=NAF1138] Just in case anyone is reading when they shouldn’t be I am spoilering this, even though it is probably too vague to be of any use. [/QUOTE] Sorry, the poster I was reffering to in the spoiler should be Fretful, not Lakai. ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backseat-hitmen-off-limits-to-living-mafia-players/397683/371 "2007-05-09T17:32:55Z")
I do have to hand it to you, **NAF** , you did come up with a ruleset that’s ending with an incredibly close endgame. ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backseat-hitmen-off-limits-to-living-mafia-players/397683/372 "2007-05-09T17:41:35Z")
[QUOTE=Pygmy Rugger] I do have to hand it to you, **NAF** , you did come up with a ruleset that’s ending with an incredibly close endgame. [/QUOTE] Thanks, I just wish it didn’t force the town side to be completly frustrated for most of the game. I wanted to keep telling them that they were doing better than they thought, but I didn’t want to mess up the game by overstepping my role as moderator. The last couple of days have been facinating to read. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backseat-hitmen-off-limits-to-living-mafia-players/397683/373 "2007-05-09T17:57:23Z")
[QUOTE=Pygmy Rugger] I do have to hand it to you, **NAF** , you did come up with a ruleset that’s ending with an incredibly close endgame. [/QUOTE] Ditto that. Something that’s going right to the wire and might end with literally one man standing? You can’t argue with that. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backseat-hitmen-off-limits-to-living-mafia-players/397683/374 "2007-05-09T17:58:06Z")
Do you think a large part of the frustration is because there were so few Mafia to begin with? That is, finding them randomly in the begining was pretty tough? ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backseat-hitmen-off-limits-to-living-mafia-players/397683/375 "2007-05-09T18:33:44Z")
[QUOTE=Pygmy Rugger] Do you think a large part of the frustration is because there were so few Mafia to begin with? That is, finding them randomly in the begining was pretty tough? [/QUOTE] Maybe, although I was concerned that I started with too many. I almost took one of you off the mafia side at the last minute. I think there were just too many people. The game didn’t really start to matter until about day 5, up until then it was just noise and getting to know you information. I thought that this could have been a good thing, but it turned out to just be frustrating and confusing for everyone involved. ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backseat-hitmen-off-limits-to-living-mafia-players/397683/376 "2007-05-09T18:37:35Z")
[QUOTE=Rysto] I assume that you expected the Mafia to go after **Pleonast**? [/QUOTE] Oh, absolutely. I figured I had a free pass into the next day. ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backseat-hitmen-off-limits-to-living-mafia-players/397683/377 "2007-05-09T18:47:57Z")
[QUOTE=NAF1138] Maybe, although I was concerned that I started with too many. I almost took one of you off the mafia side at the last minute. I think there were just too many people. The game didn’t really start to matter until about day 5, up until then it was just noise and getting to know you information. I thought that this could have been a good thing, but it turned out to just be frustrating and confusing for everyone involved. [/QUOTE] I agree with you about the day 5 thing. The funny part is that _so much_ effort was put into days prior. Especially the **Effiant Terrible** lynching, on the FIRST DAY!!! Heck, I wasn’t even around a computer those couple days! ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backseat-hitmen-off-limits-to-living-mafia-players/397683/378 "2007-05-09T19:12:30Z")
OK. I admit it. On the first two days I did a Bible Code style interpretation of all posts and came up with everyone’s name, including Lynn Bodoni. ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backseat-hitmen-off-limits-to-living-mafia-players/397683/379 "2007-05-09T19:18:35Z")
Huh? ---
**Author:** ![DiggitCamara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@DiggitCamara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiggitCamara)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backseat-hitmen-off-limits-to-living-mafia-players/397683/380 "2007-05-09T19:41:29Z")
Didn’t post #3721 by brewha just give away the name’s of the mafia? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backseat-hitmen-off-limits-to-living-mafia-players/397683.md?page=18) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backseat-hitmen-off-limits-to-living-mafia-players/397683.md?page=20)