# Forbidden Forest - Unspoiled Harry Potter Mafia Discussion **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [June 27, 2010, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-forest-unspoiled-harry-potter-mafia-discussion/544719 "2010-06-27T22:22:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2010, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-forest-unspoiled-harry-potter-mafia-discussion/544719/161 "2010-07-20T23:14:01Z")
> [@sachertorte](#): > > Magic as in “Watch me pull a rabbit out of this hat?” Or Magic the card game thingy? > Is that game still popular? I have a pile of cards from my college days. The card game. It’s still very popular, and going stronger than ever. Your cards may possibly be worth something, depending. > [@mhaye](#): > > Which board? (If you don’t mind my asking.) [Goodgamery.com](http://Goodgamery.com), which evolved from the ruins of [misetings.com](http://misetings.com). ---
**Author:** ![Astral\_Rejection](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/258eb7/32.png) [@Astral\_Rejection](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astral_Rejection)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-forest-unspoiled-harry-potter-mafia-discussion/544719/162 "2010-07-21T02:59:16Z")
I’ve been reading this game from the beginning (never played before) and I was planning on letting it surprise me. However, I’ve changed my mind and now I’m wondering, would it be possible to spoil me? I’m interesting in following along and seeing how each of the remaining players plays based on their role. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-forest-unspoiled-harry-potter-mafia-discussion/544719/163 "2010-07-21T03:04:34Z")
Yes, Astral, but you have to allow Private Messages, first. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-forest-unspoiled-harry-potter-mafia-discussion/544719/164 "2010-07-21T03:58:57Z")
If the Townies manage to lynch Scum today then maybe this weird and mysterious **Meeko** day kill will have been worth it. He was almost certainly going down today anyway, and this gives the Town the chance to use their lynching power on someone else. This incident also gives the players something to talk about; player reactions and voting behavior in the wake of **Meeko** ’s death may lead the Townies to the last of the Scum. On the other hand, if the Townies lynch one of their own today then this day/night cycle will end with three Townie deaths rather than the usual one or two. Not good. If this was a Town-aligned killing then the best explanation I can think of is that there’s a Vigilante who is nervous about his/her power and didn’t want to use it earlier, and still doesn’t want to use it to go against the general consensus. As the game progressed s/he started getting nervous about the Town’s odds, and decided to take out **Meeko** to give the Town the chance to catch two Scum in one day. The big problem with this theory is that only 3 of 10 players had voted for **Meeko** when he was killed. That’s not a consensus. It’s not even a majority. Since there were no other clear candidates for lynching today then **Meeko** probably was done for, but a cautious Vigilante should have realized that one or even two of the votes against him might have been Scum and held back. Since there’s no obvious good reason why either a Town or Scum aligned power role would day-kill a player who was probably going to be lynched, I’m wondering if there might really be a third-party role with the ability to kill. A player of any alignment might have just gotten bored and decided to speed the game up by killing someone who seemed doomed anyway, but this makes more sense for a player who doesn’t have a team to think about. ---
**Author:** ![Astral\_Rejection](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/258eb7/32.png) [@Astral\_Rejection](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astral_Rejection)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-forest-unspoiled-harry-potter-mafia-discussion/544719/165 "2010-07-21T04:21:48Z")
Private messages enabled! I didn’t even realize they were off by default. ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-forest-unspoiled-harry-potter-mafia-discussion/544719/166 "2010-07-21T13:55:25Z")
Wow. Did I say this game was sideways? Ok, just making sure. Ok, let me get caught up in here. And I didn’t think Mods could serve up that much Wine. WOW. ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-forest-unspoiled-harry-potter-mafia-discussion/544719/167 "2010-07-21T14:06:06Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > And I really don’t understand the motivation of whomever just did that. If they were Scum (though I think the consensus is that Scum getting a Day-kill is unfair), then they should have picked anyone but **Meeko** , who was headed for the lynch anyway, and they should also have saved it for later in the day, when it’d be more confusing for Town. I Agree wit… wait a second, I totally don’t agree with you at all here, Chronos. What is REALLY going to piss me off, is that **no one** is going to go back and re-read anything I said. I obviously pissed the wrong person off. **AT ALL.** Then agian, I guess I survived a game with out my Post numbers being an issue. OMGUS or not, I was so going to vote the first person who made that an Issue. It was too late in the game for a Town player to bring it up. Thus who ever did bring it up, wouldn’t have been town. who was headed for the lynch anyway, Por Que? ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-forest-unspoiled-harry-potter-mafia-discussion/544719/168 "2010-07-21T14:09:14Z")
> [@JSexton](#): > > The card game. It’s still very popular, and going stronger than ever. Much to the chagrin of those who have been playing for a majority of the time, and surviving the Hasbro buy-out and systematic destruction and dumbing down of the game. D&D 4.0 Sucks, Magic is headed in the same direction for the same reason. Yeah, we now have Planechase, 2 dollar six-card boosters, and Archenemy, but are we going to get Unglued 3? And the frames need to revert back. But all of this, for someplace else. ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-forest-unspoiled-harry-potter-mafia-discussion/544719/169 "2010-07-21T14:16:06Z")
I think what threw us off is that Chronos came in from the outside, and may have had speculation from the peanut gallery in his head that the rest of us haven’t encountered. The fuck? I only covered this a few days back. Can someone give me a good reason why I should continue playing ANY mafia game? ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-forest-unspoiled-harry-potter-mafia-discussion/544719/170 "2010-07-21T14:23:19Z")
1. Meeko Ah, Meeko. I have trouble getting a ping on Meeko either way; I can tell that his way of thinking of things is very different than mine, and motivations get lost in the translation. Right now, my gut feeling is that he is town. And possibly also a crazy person. Heh. **Thanks?** ---
**Author:** ![sachertorte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sachertorte/32/3727_2.png) [@sachertorte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sachertorte)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-forest-unspoiled-harry-potter-mafia-discussion/544719/171 "2010-07-21T14:36:55Z")
> [@JSexton](#): > > Your cards may possibly be worth something, depending. Too bad I’m insanely lazy. I’m going to guess, not worth money. If I recall I started buying in 1994. On Topic: I think the Day Killer wasn’t so bad. I do question why he didn’t off Red Skeezix when the opportunity was there staring him in the face, but functionally, one can mentally assume that Town would have lynched the same way and Meeko would have just died a day earlier (Not true, but he can still think it). Anyway, I think the kill happened as best as can be expected given the towns gross apathy. Killing late in the Day would suck for Town. It’s not the Day Killer’s fault that Town was ignoring the game and only had 4 votes posted more than halfway though the Day. At the very least, it is more _entertaining_. Go Day Killer! Kill some more. They all deserve it! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-forest-unspoiled-harry-potter-mafia-discussion/544719/172 "2010-07-21T18:17:21Z")
**Meeko** , it would have been nice if you had posted that defense of me before I died. Especially since you were one of the ones voting for me. On the Day-kill, my hunch is that it was **Hardly Sanguine** , and that he’s Town. The failure to hit **Red** can be attributed to inexperience (he is inexperienced, right? He looks it) and to relative inactivity, and obviously he was very suspicious of **Meeko** at the time. And on current events, the probability is on the low side due to the target-poor environment, but I’m OK with the **Zeriel** lynch. He defends his vote for me by saying that I have a history of making unjustified assumptions even when Town (which, wait, isn’t really a justification), and he’s currently not being consistent with his reasons for his vote on **Hardly** (he voted “purely defensively”, but then claimed that “My vote is where it is because lurking is a valid scum strategy in these low-post-count games”). ---
**Author:** ![sachertorte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sachertorte/32/3727_2.png) [@sachertorte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sachertorte)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-forest-unspoiled-harry-potter-mafia-discussion/544719/173 "2010-07-21T19:21:48Z")
Chronos, did it occur to you to mention the forbidden thread when you were on the block? Do you think you could have wiggled out of it by saying we discussed Red in the Forbidden thread and concluded he was a Godfather? Or do you think that would have been bad? I suppose it couldn’t have been worse, considering. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-forest-unspoiled-harry-potter-mafia-discussion/544719/174 "2010-07-21T19:42:52Z")
Given the constraints story mentioned, I’d say he did as good a job with his day kill as he could have. ---
**Author:** ![sachertorte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sachertorte/32/3727_2.png) [@sachertorte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sachertorte)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-forest-unspoiled-harry-potter-mafia-discussion/544719/175 "2010-07-21T19:50:09Z")
Oh my god. I’m oddly in tune with storyteller this game. This is a weird feeling. ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-forest-unspoiled-harry-potter-mafia-discussion/544719/176 "2010-07-21T19:59:45Z")
Ok, I understand what story was doing a lot better now. Better to get that mandatory day kill out of the way now rather than at end game where a miss could lose the game for Town. I’m hoping that there’s at least one really sweet pro-Town power role out there, because the setup as I understand it seems a bit slanted towards scum. ---
**Author:** ![sachertorte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sachertorte/32/3727_2.png) [@sachertorte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sachertorte)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-forest-unspoiled-harry-potter-mafia-discussion/544719/177 "2010-07-21T20:13:32Z")
I don’t know. I don’t see anything glaring that says “unbalanced” to me. Even the extra scum kill isn’t too terrible. At this point if drain bead hadn’t died, the town would be winning quite handily. Losing the main character so early in the game hurts Town bad. I do find it odd that both sides have been very lucky with their kills. Town going 2 for 2 to begin, and scum taking out the Detective and Doc and Mason on their kills. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-forest-unspoiled-harry-potter-mafia-discussion/544719/178 "2010-07-21T20:23:40Z")
The only thing slanted against town in this game is the lack of participation, which has been depressing(for me), frustrating(for everyone), and wonderful(for scum, I assume). The game is well balanced. Better than any game I’ve made before. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-forest-unspoiled-harry-potter-mafia-discussion/544719/179 "2010-07-21T20:26:41Z")
I did consider mentioning the Forbidden Thread, but since the other players have no way of knowing what’s going on in here (and hence, couldn’t know if I was telling the truth), I figured it wouldn’t do any good. And **Storyteller** ’s actions do in fact make more sense now. I’m still not sure it was the right play, or the one I would have chosen, but I can see the reasoning. Personally, I think I would have just sat on it: Assuming the Masons were symmetrical (that is, whichever one survived got the bonus kill), they’d never have to worry about the power being lost, and one of them would be Night-killed eventually, and by waiting, they’d have more information to base the kill on. The ideal way to use one-shot Vig kills in general, I think, is to wait until there are as many confirmed or semi-confirmed Town as possible, and then start thinning out the unconfirmed pool. But then again, with the Detective (and to a lesser extent, the Doctor, since Doctors can often semi-confirm themselves) dead, there might never be enough confirmed to make that worthwhile, so maybe that was the right move after all… I dunno. Certainly, once **LPN** was killed, I think that **Storyteller** made the best decision he could: There were people voting for **Meeko** , so the death had some accountability to it, and he managed to get people talking again, which the game desperately needed. I’m just not sure about his Mason claim from yesterDay. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-forest-unspoiled-harry-potter-mafia-discussion/544719/180 "2010-07-21T20:29:27Z")
Oh, and as for “a bit slanted towards Scum”, that’s really not possible to say without knowing how many Scum there are. And certainly, the game balance has been significantly altered (again, which way is hard to say) by the rapid deaths of two Scum, three important power roles, and a third party. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-forest-unspoiled-harry-potter-mafia-discussion/544719.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-forest-unspoiled-harry-potter-mafia-discussion/544719.md?page=10)