# Lord of the Rings Mafia **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [August 10, 2010, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-mafia/549867 "2010-08-10T19:56:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 15
**Author:** ![Gadarene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Gadarene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadarene)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-mafia/549867/281 "2010-08-12T21:40:18Z")
I have eight z’s! ---
**Author:** ![Chipacabra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@Chipacabra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chipacabra)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-mafia/549867/282 "2010-08-12T21:41:50Z")
I don’t think the handshaking is pointless, even if it doesn’t point out a single person as OMG OBVIOUS SCUM. People are talking, things are being said, and we’re starting to pick up little things about each other, even if it’s just getting a feel for playstyle. Last game, I did a lot of random poke-votes on Day 1, and a lot of people said that it didn’t do anything useful. But it did. It got conversation going, it got people reacting to me. The fact that it didn’t do much for the stated purpose (getting inactive players to start posting) doesn’t change the fact that it DID create useful data for the town to mine. Same deal here. We’re getting data. We may not know what the data MEANS yet, but it’s data. Maybe it won’t tell us who to lynch on Day 1, but that doesn’t mean it’s useless. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f07891/32.png) [@Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Plastic_Ninja)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-mafia/549867/283 "2010-08-12T21:43:07Z")
> [@Chipacabra](#): > > I don’t think the handshaking is pointless, even if it doesn’t point out a single person as OMG OBVIOUS SCUM. People are talking, things are being said, and we’re starting to pick up little things about each other, even if it’s just getting a feel for playstyle. > > Last game, I did a lot of random poke-votes on Day 1, and a lot of people said that it didn’t do anything useful. But it did. It got conversation going, it got people reacting to me. The fact that it didn’t do much for the stated purpose (getting inactive players to start posting) doesn’t change the fact that it DID create useful data for the town to mine. > > Same deal here. We’re getting data. We may not know what the data MEANS yet, but it’s data. Maybe it won’t tell us who to lynch on Day 1, but that doesn’t mean it’s useless. And I suppose I’m pretty comfortable with the notion that Hoopy Frood might well be town. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Chipacabra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@Chipacabra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chipacabra)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-mafia/549867/284 "2010-08-12T21:55:40Z")
Mind you, what we seem to be learning is that we are 23 players divided by a common language… ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-mafia/549867/285 "2010-08-12T21:59:31Z")
> [@peekercpa](#): > > btw, i just thought of this. does anyone have numbers in their pm or just letters? that might prove to be highly significant. The Numerals themselves, or the word spelled out? ---
**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:** [August 12, 2010, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-mafia/549867/286 "2010-08-12T22:05:16Z")
Well, if that’s what we need to learn, we might as well get it out of the way early. I do have a hunch concerning the handshakes, but there’s a whole mess of data here, and I need to sit down and take a look at it all before jumping to conclusions. Wouldn’t want to be too hasty, after all. Quoth **Little Plastic Ninja** : > [@](#): > > Honestly I don’t see a lot of point in this handshaking. If I were scum, couldn’t I just say “oh yes, I have eight z’s” after someone else did? Or whatever? I’d know they were town, though not necessarily vanilla. I’d just wait for a few people to claim and then steal their claims. The idea would be that you’d not just confirm the eight Zs (thus verifying that the Z person had the same PM), you’d also post some new piece of information, so others can confirm you. Of course, all this really proves is that you know what the town PM says, not that you actually are Town (after all, **Mahaloth** might have posted sample Town PMs to the Scum board). ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-mafia/549867/287 "2010-08-12T22:09:39Z")
> [@Normal\_Phase](#): > > Meeko, “sore thumb smoothing”? And I’m a she. And I wasn’t snuggling. > > Pleo is Pleo. It’s not worth worrying about. Blending in. Scum have to play both sides. They must appear town. The weight of that dichotomy might lead some scum to give advice that is pro-town. Just too much of it and it starts to become suspect. ---
**Author:** ![special\_ed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@special\_ed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/special_ed)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-mafia/549867/288 "2010-08-12T22:18:13Z")
> [@Meeko](#): > > > [@Normal\_Phase](#): > > > > Meeko, “sore thumb smoothing”? And I’m a she. And I wasn’t snuggling. > > > > Pleo is Pleo. It’s not worth worrying about. > > Blending in. > > Scum have to play both sides. They must appear town. The weight of that dichotomy might lead some scum to give advice that is pro-town. Just too much of it and it starts to become suspect. :smack: :smack: So, you advice would be, if you’re Town, be helpful, but not too helpful…??? ---
**Author:** ![Gadarene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Gadarene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadarene)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-mafia/549867/289 "2010-08-12T22:36:06Z")
> [@special\_ed](#): > > So, you advice would be, if you’re Town, be helpful, but not too helpful…??? To be fair, that’s pretty helpful advice. …It’s not _that_ helpful, though. ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-mafia/549867/290 "2010-08-12T22:38:14Z")
> [@special\_ed](#): > > So, you advice would be, if you’re Town, be helpful, but not too helpful…??? \*\*Everything in moderation, including moderation. \*\* ---
**Author:** ![peekercpa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@peekercpa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peekercpa)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-mafia/549867/291 "2010-08-12T22:38:25Z")
> [@Normal\_Phase](#): > > > [@Pleonast](#): > > > > See, there’s the problem. You post in a very idiosyncratic way, which is okay to a certain extent. But then it’s silly to complain when other players don’t exactly understand what you’re saying. You are never “very clear what you were looking for”. > > > > If you call posting facts in basic English bullshit, I think our ideas of pro-town discussion are complete opposites. > > He didn’t post facts in basic English, though – he first brought up the win condition (or responded to Chronos bringing it up, can’t remember which way around), then when Chronos said something like his win condition “section” read blahblah, responded that he didn’t have a win condition “section”. > > I didn’t find it exactly difficult to comprehend, myself, what he was getting at, but once it became clear that people were having difficulty with it, Ed still didn’t really clarify – it took Hoopy Frood to do so in plain terms, just now. > > I don’t get the point of the whole exercise. It doesn’t even make sense as handshaking unless you’re going to assume that the mafia’s role PMs, plus any covers they may or may not have, are formatted completely unlike the towns’ for no apparent reason. I think you’d be hard pressed to spin it as that being at all likely. Ed is just poking people for the hell of it. hey, **normal** don’t even bother trying. there is a certain subset on this board that is going to read into whatever they do what they fucking want. **ed** was pretty durn unclear as far as i could tell. now here comes one of the other souls that says i am being unclear because of _insert reason right here_ and give me shit for it. it is totally unjustified but not at all unexepected. ---
**Author:** ![peekercpa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@peekercpa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peekercpa)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-mafia/549867/292 "2010-08-12T22:42:36Z")
and who is this **sauron** that you folks are mentioning? i don’t see him/her on the player list so am getting rapidly confused. ---
**Author:** ![peekercpa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@peekercpa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peekercpa)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-mafia/549867/293 "2010-08-12T22:48:12Z")
and fucking **gadaren** is most likely scum. i think he has been following along just enough to know that a poke at me is relatively safe. even though i am right. and **ed** , i leave the garage door cracked. so you could probably wiggle out if you need. smarter course of action is just to meow or beat on the back door until the morning. then you can leave through the front door. but at that point if you want more food or water you are pretty much button holed into wiggling back in from the outside. ---
**Author:** ![peekercpa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@peekercpa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peekercpa)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-mafia/549867/294 "2010-08-12T22:52:23Z")
neta: oh fuck, **hoopy** has a role and apparantly is in the game. this creates all sorts of opportunities for mischief. **brains** p.s. good to see you back and playing. ---
**Author:** ![peekercpa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@peekercpa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peekercpa)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-mafia/549867/295 "2010-08-12T22:57:24Z")
> [@Gadarene](#): > > > [@special\_ed](#): > > > > So, you advice would be, if you’re Town, be helpful, but not too helpful…??? > > To be fair, that’s pretty helpful advice. …It’s not _that_ helpful, though. uh, fuck **gadarene** has basically confirmed **ed** as town unless he is not town. unless **ed** ’s advice was anti town which means he is definitely scum (see the dictionary - **chronos** v 3.2). thank god i am finally getting caught up. ---
**Author:** ![peekercpa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@peekercpa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peekercpa)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-mafia/549867/296 "2010-08-12T23:09:05Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > > [@peekercpa](#): > > > > he has no separate area for where his wincon is. > > > > it’s just separated by carriage returns. i called it a paragraph and he wants to discuss semantics. yeeps. > > > > that’s fucking obfuscation and bullshit. > > You brought up semantics first, not **ed**. And I was the one who called it a paragraph, not **ed**. > > Your misattribution of the conversation is the obfuscation. > > [oog] Yep, none of this personal. Except that I really do have trouble understanding **peeker**. He is getting more clear though these days or else I’m getting smarter figuring it out. I don’t think it’s the latter. [/oog] oh fucking hell are we going to have another of these debacles? and how the hell is me calling it a paragraph versus a section obfuscation. i mean shit in san antonio you can order a cerveza but you still get a beer. seriously, i have never ever in my life had a waiter/waitress come back to my table and tell me they are out of cerveza but they have a shit pot of bud lights, would i rather have one of them instead (not that bud light really qualifies as either beer or cerveza, but that is another discussion). ---
**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:** [August 12, 2010, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-mafia/549867/297 "2010-08-12T23:59:10Z")
The rumors grew until they were certainties in the minds of the Aliiance of Light. Sauron and his minions were among them and had to be stopped. ``` As dawn of a new Day broke, there was a great deal of tension within the Alliance of Light. Had some of them already been killed and replaced by Servants of Darkness? If so, who could they possibly trust? Direct battle against Sauron seemed unwise and destined to fail. The only option was to carefully discuss and deliberate what they think they know about themselves and find out which of their members seem different or are working against the Alliance of Light. Tensions were burning in the morning. This would be the beginning of a great mission to find and kill the Lord of the Rings and his servants. ``` \*\*It is now Day One. Day One will run longer to get us on a workable schedule. It will end on Thursday, August 19 at Noon. The player with the highest vote total at that time will die. Have fun!\*\* ---
**Author:** ![Chipacabra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@Chipacabra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chipacabra)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2010, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-mafia/549867/298 "2010-08-13T00:15:19Z")
Hah. “Carefully.” Right. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2010, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-mafia/549867/299 "2010-08-13T00:17:11Z")
A whole week? Eru Iluvatar help us. I’m off to Back to School Night now; try not to have too many pages for me to read when I get back… Oh, and Good Morning Everyone! ---
**Author:** ![peekercpa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@peekercpa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peekercpa)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2010, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-mafia/549867/300 "2010-08-13T00:17:33Z")
fucking hell, at least the gloves can come off now, lol [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-mafia/549867.md?page=14) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-mafia/549867.md?page=16)