# 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:** 69
**Author:** ![peekercpa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@peekercpa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peekercpa)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-mafia/549867/1361 "2010-08-22T18:13:04Z")
what i am trying to figure out **ed** is whether you are scum are not. right now, i would tend to believe based on game state and comments that you are not. but doing the jesus self immolation thing is really not making me feel real comfortable about maintaining that stance. fuck, now we get pontius pilate into the mix as well. ---
**Author:** ![peekercpa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@peekercpa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peekercpa)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-mafia/549867/1362 "2010-08-22T18:14:04Z")
neta: and i really do sincerly apologize **ed**. you are good folk but you do get under my skin at times. kind of like my siblings. ---
**Author:** ![peekercpa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@peekercpa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peekercpa)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-mafia/549867/1363 "2010-08-22T18:20:01Z")
and i may be totally wrong about the mason thing. but i am also not _redacted_ or _redacted_. and if i am right **maha** , **story** and **sach** are going to have to watch their backs for a very long time. ---
**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 22, 2010, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-mafia/549867/1364 "2010-08-22T18:36:13Z")
While we’re at it, I’m not Goodgulf, Moxie, nor Pepsi, and I’ll be deeply suspicious of anyone who claims any of those names. ---
**Author:** ![Gadarene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Gadarene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadarene)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-mafia/549867/1365 "2010-08-22T18:46:18Z")
I am, however, Spartacus. Also Tiger Woods. ---
**Author:** ![peekercpa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@peekercpa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peekercpa)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-mafia/549867/1366 "2010-08-22T18:55:11Z")
> [@Gadarene](#): > > I am, however, Spartacus. \ of fuck haven’t we already done this one. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Skeezix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/aca169/32.png) [@Red\_Skeezix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Skeezix)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-mafia/549867/1367 "2010-08-22T18:58:35Z")
> [@Gadarene](#): > > I am, however, Spartacus. Bullshit, _I’m_ spartacus. Consider that a counter claim. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-mafia/549867/1368 "2010-08-22T20:27:11Z")
Spartacus Mafia sounds like a really bad idea. ---
**Author:** ![peekercpa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@peekercpa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peekercpa)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-mafia/549867/1369 "2010-08-22T21:46:39Z")
> [@Drain\_Bead](#): > > Spartacus Mafia sounds like a really bad idea. actually i think it sounds cool. we could do a mass name and role claim instantly and really settle that issue for once and all. ---
**Author:** ![GuiriEnEspana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc79bd/32.png) [@GuiriEnEspana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuiriEnEspana)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-mafia/549867/1370 "2010-08-22T22:09:36Z")
> [@Gadarene](#): > > I still don’t know why people are voting to lynch the one guy with a (basically) confirmed vanilla Town PM. Seems like Ed having that PM _and_ being scum hinges on several tenuous assumptions that I’m not comfortable making at this point, particularly when we have better candidates. While I was working on (yet another) WoW on **Chipacabra** , I was reminded of this: > [@Chipacabra](#): > > OK, trying something less stupid: Double letters in the paragraph immediately BEFORE the heading “Powers:” = five. Has that already been covered? and this: > [@Chipacabra](#): > > I believe, without evidence backing it up, that the paragraph I used should be identical for at least all vanilla town, maybe all town. Aren’t you making the same tenuous assumption that **Chipacabra** had access to a VT PM _and_ is scum? I appreciate that his handshake attempt isn’t part of your case against him but the fact is that he offered a handshake based on a previously non-public section of the VT PM. > [@Gadarene](#): > > Ouch. Sorry, **Telcontar**. ☹ I knew I trusted you for a reason. Could you let us know what made you trust **Telcontar**? It certainly wasn’t mutual: > [@Telcontar](#): > > Oh, someone remind me to reread Gadarene Tomorrow. I continue to be happy with my vote, but I had an early ping there I want to visit in the next game day. > [@Telcontar](#): > > I just want to reaffirm that I’m in favor of giving **suburban a night to see what he does, but I don’t actually trust him. I also don’t trust peeker or Gadarene** (and will be very worried about the latter if **suburban** turns out to be town). So, Ed, we at least have some suspicions in common. ---
**Author:** ![Gadarene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Gadarene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadarene)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-mafia/549867/1371 "2010-08-22T23:45:44Z")
> [@GuiriEnEspana](#): > > > [@Gadarene](#): > > > > I still don’t know why people are voting to lynch the one guy with a (basically) confirmed vanilla Town PM. Seems like Ed having that PM _and_ being scum hinges on several tenuous assumptions that I’m not comfortable making at this point, particularly when we have better candidates. > > Aren’t you making the same tenuous assumption that **Chipacabra** had access to a VT PM _and_ is scum? I appreciate that his handshake attempt isn’t part of your case against him but the fact is that he offered a handshake based on a previously non-public section of the VT PM. I wasn’t making that assumption knowingly, but that’s a good point that I hadn’t picked up on. I want to think about it a bit, but I guess the initial distinction I’d make is that others seem to be voting for **Ed** in large part _because_ of his claimed knowledge of a vanilla Town PM, which just seems bizarre to me. My suspicions of **Chip** are founded solely on his seemingly scummy posts at the end of Day One, the seeming scumminess of which is irrespective of his participation in the handshaking. IIRC (and perhaps I don’t), there’ve been a few people who are voting for **Ed** while saying that his actions and posts are consistent with him being town, which makes no sense at all. > [@](#): > > Could you let us know what made you trust **Telcontar**? It certainly wasn’t mutual I know it wasn’t mutual; I asked him to expand on why he felt I was untrustworthy near the end of Day One, but he never responded. And I dunno; I just got a strong Town vibe from him. ---
**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 22, 2010, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-mafia/549867/1372 "2010-08-22T23:51:42Z")
Hey, if we have a Vig, toNight might be the time to start shooting at the people who aren’t posting too much. Just an idea. Do what you think is wise, but we aren’t getting any data on them ---
**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 23, 2010, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-mafia/549867/1373 "2010-08-23T00:17:26Z")
For that matter, toDay might be the time to start lynching those folks. Unless, of course, we find some better reason to lynch someone. Likewise, the hypothetical Vig might find better reasons to choose some other target, too. ---
**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 23, 2010, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-mafia/549867/1374 "2010-08-23T00:20:54Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > For that matter, toDay might be the time to start lynching those folks. Unless, of course, we find some better reason to lynch someone. Likewise, the hypothetical Vig might find better reasons to choose some other target, too. I’d rather get the information from lynching. Lynching a lurker really gives us no data. ---
**Author:** ![peekercpa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@peekercpa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peekercpa)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-mafia/549867/1375 "2010-08-23T00:35:10Z")
> [@special\_ed](#): > > > [@Chronos](#): > > > > For that matter, toDay might be the time to start lynching those folks. Unless, of course, we find some better reason to lynch someone. Likewise, the hypothetical Vig might find better reasons to choose some other target, too. > > I’d rather get the information from lynching. Lynching a lurker really gives us no data. well lynching a lurker does kind of like provide alignment, dont you think. ---
**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 23, 2010, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-mafia/549867/1376 "2010-08-23T00:58:46Z")
> [@peekercpa](#): > > > [@special\_ed](#): > > > > I’d rather get the information from lynching. Lynching a lurker really gives us no data. > > well lynching a lurker does kind of like provide alignment, dont you think. but no information on the motivation of the voters. Well, now that I think about it, if they flip Scum, we might get some information. ---
**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:** [August 23, 2010, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-mafia/549867/1377 "2010-08-23T01:37:04Z")
Lurking is a slight scum tell, in my opinion. All of us in the upper-half of post totals have been voted for, largely because we’re talking. That’s a good thing. Voting for me, for instance, gives good information on how I react. Voting for Suburban Plankton, and his reaction to it, outed him as scum. I’m in favor of putting some pressure on those low-post-count folks. ---
**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 23, 2010, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-mafia/549867/1378 "2010-08-23T01:46:48Z")
> [@Astral\_Rejection](#): > > Lurking is a slight scum tell, in my opinion. All of us in the upper-half of post totals have been voted for, largely because we’re talking. That’s a good thing. Voting for me, for instance, gives good information on how I react. Voting for Suburban Plankton, and his reaction to it, outed him as scum. > > I’m in favor of putting some pressure on those low-post-count folks. Little participation is considered by some to be a Scum tell. I look at it as a null tell. Not participating is a null tell, and as peeker says, anti-game. Some players are high content, low volume posters though. I would include Nanook and MHaye in that category. Here is the post count (a place to start, but not the be-all-end-all of measuring participation for all the players: 1. Peeker 257 2. SpecialEd 191 3. Gadarene 139 4. Chronos 99 5. Suburban Plankton 68 - Dead 6. HoopyFrood 61 7. Astral Rejection 59 8. Red Skeezix 56 9. Pleonast 54 10. Meeko 34 11. USCDiver 33 12. Telcontar 32 - Dead 13. Chipacabra 30 14. Guiri 25 15. Drain Bead 24 16. OneandOnly 24 17. Cucuy 23 18. Normal Phase/Inner Stickler 22 19. MHaye 20 20. Oredigger 11 21. Natlaw 11 22. NanooktheNorthShore 9 23. LittlePlasticNinja 6 ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-mafia/549867/1379 "2010-08-23T01:56:21Z")
As promised, a WoW on **Chip**. [153:](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12793106&postcount=153) > [@](#): > > Wow, at least people are talking this time! > > Chronos, FWIW, last game I voted for you primarily because of your predecessor’s actions. The funny thing, though, is that when you randomly threw out a name as a sample role name, you threw out MY NAME. Total coincidence, but it seemed fishy at the time. > > Besides Special Ed lying or Chronos lying, there’s a third possibility that seems obvious to me. [159:](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12793201&postcount=159) > [@](#): > > I was responding to Chronos’s post immediately before mine. > > The question is who, if anyone, is lying about the existence or lack thereof of a win condition section in their PM. The third obvious answer is that Chronos and Special Ed are operating on different definitions of what a win condition section is. [282:](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12795658&postcount=282) [quote] 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. > [@](#): > > 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. [284:](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12795711&postcount=284) > [@](#): > > Mind you, what we seem to be learning is that we are 23 players divided by a common language… [298](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12796114&postcount=298) is a joke post, the first post after Dawn of Day One. [389:](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12798513&postcount=389) > [@](#): > > I haven’t been chiming in much because, while I find the handshaking conversation interesting, I don’t have all that much to say about it that hasn’t already been said. FWIW, I think Special Ed is right about the value of finding vanilla town. Even if it hands the power roles to the scum on a platter, that just locates the scum by elimination. Big win. > > I suspect that at least some of the inconsistencies in the handshaking is just from unclear definitions. > > Chronos: I just woke up, and my brain isn’t up to speed, but I’m having trouble imagining what sort of information would be worth keeping from the townies, especially since you’ve rather marked yourself for a nightkill if you’re telling the truth. > > Oh, may as well include a handshake. My win condition sentence, the sentence beginning with “You win” includes three instances of double letters. [391:](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12798635&postcount=391) > [@](#): > > Hurr, right. Like I said, just got up. Heh. > OK, trying something less stupid: Double letters in the paragraph immediately BEFORE the heading “Powers:” = five. Has that already been covered? [396:](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12798715&postcount=396) > [@](#): > > By my definition, each paragraph is separated by line breaks. Your post 394 has 4 paragraphs. > > I believe, without evidence backing it up, that the paragraph I used should be identical for at least all vanilla town, maybe all town. [458:](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12799486&postcount=458) > [@](#): > > The scum are going to kill someone every Night. If the scum have to choose between killing a confirmed vanilla town, or an unconfirmed power, scum is basically boned. If they kill vanilla, the power roles have effectively been protected. If they kill a power role, the scum cover has been reduced. > > Meanwhile, the townies are shrinking the size of the unconfirmed pool with every lynch. > > Handshaking had a chance of confirming townies. It didn’t pan out perfectly, but what in life does? > I’m curious about Chronos’s half-mason claim. Does the other party know Chronos’s identity? Do they know Chronos knows? I suspect there’s more going on here. [534:](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12801890&postcount=534) > [@](#): > > I’m pretty sure that Mahaloth is writing down notes for his next game… [549:](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12802714&postcount=549) > [@](#): > > @Cucuy: It’s not about being more posts making you a better player. It’s just that lurking IS a strong scum strategy, so as town we can’t allow anyone to lurk. > > Your reaction is, to be honest, suspicious. It sounds like newbietalk. If you were a new player, I could write off your defensiveness as just not catching on to the game yet. A newbie might conflate being a “better player” with being pro-town, but you’re not new, you should know better. [772:](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12811217&postcount=772) Like **Oredigger** , it took a while to get to one that was too long to C&P. Not that there’s anything wrong with that–I can tend to be concise as well. Oddly enough, this is the first time that he’s even come close to making a case against someone. He thinks that both he and **peeker** should be doing more prod votes. Notes that **peeker** left a policy vote in place without following up on it. Thinks **ed** is Town, but isn’t sure. Also believes **Chronos** , although comes up with some scenarios in which we don’t know everything about his claim. Explains to **Pleonast** that people use acronyms without explaining them all the time. Says he doesn’t suspect anyone enough to put a vote down. [774:](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12811248&postcount=774) > [@](#): > > Oh, I do have one more thought. Self-preservation is not a townie virtue! Was Plankton in the Malazan game? Such an attitude would make sense there. Here, no. Just, no. A townie shouldn’t be concerned about staying alive, a townie should be concerned about dying usefully. > > In fact, I’m going to put my vote where my mouth is. > Vote Suburban Plankton > > I’ll still do the review later today. [789:](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12811849&postcount=789) > [@](#): > > No. No, no, no. You’ve almost got the right logic, but you’ve got the wrong conclusion. > > The important thing for a townie is to die usefully. Yes, being lynched on day 1 because you said something stupid is a useless death. Townies should avoid this not out self-preservation, but out of town preservation. > > Even a townie lynch can be a useful death, if the voting record for that lynch exposes scum or collaborates a townie claim or other condition I can’t think of offhand. > > Self-preservation is anti-town. It’s semi-scum (with fewer players, each scum’s life is more precious to their team, but when the writing is on the wall even scum should happily take it for the team). Self-preservation is primarily a third-party virtue. [844](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12813375&postcount=844) complains about the thread length. [930](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12815234&postcount=930) unvotes **SP** post-claim while reserving the right to return to it later. [1005](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12815894&postcount=1005) is another long-ass post. He is unsure that **peeker** has been playing like someone who doesn’t want to permit lurking. (?) Thinks that **ed** and **Chronos** arguing over the definition of the win condition section of the PM was **ed** trying to spring a trick question on **Chronos**. Thinks **Red** has been discussing game mechanics more than Scum-hunting, perhaps due to being gun-shy from HP. Thinks that **SP** is not false name-claiming because it’s one of a list of names **ed** mentioned in one of his posts. Thinks that **ed** ’s comment about lynching the loud was a bit premature, as **SP** was the lynch leader by a good margin at the time. Thinks **Ed** is Scum who had the vanilla PM, and votes for him, but says that he thinks **SP** may also be Scum with **ed**. [1024:](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12816099&postcount=1024) > [@](#): > > Ed is the safer first lynch, because if Ed is telling the truth and we lynch him, we lose a VT. If Plankton is telling the truth and we lynch him, we lose an investigator. By that token, I’m willing to give Plankton a little time. > > My thinking was if Ed is scum, he’s seen a VT role example and quite likely a cover story. So he knows a name that isn’t being used by the townies. So he slips it into the list of names, adding in a connection to the palantir to provide Plankton with a plausible cover. Basically, Ed being scum introduces the possibilty of him trying to rescue Plankton. > > This isn’t a guaranteed scenario, just a plausible one, hence it’s not enough to nail in Plankton’s coffin, so I only said ‘good chance’. > > And if Ed turns out town, then the whole scenario didn’t happen, which is basically just null for Plankton, since he could have gotten the cover name himself just as easily and added the palantir connection based on Ed’s list. So yes, Gadarene and Hoopy, it’s obvious that Plankton isn’t absolved if Ed is town. I say obvious things sometimes. That’s all. [1025](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12816106&postcount=1025) upset with **peeker** for saying he’s a low-participation player. [1028](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12816148&postcount=1028) points out **ed** ’s post 694 where he lists all the characters that have held a Palantir. [1029:](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12816158&postcount=1029) > [@](#): > > I know. Sometimes I don’t say obvious things, too, especially when it’s only obvious to my own twisty ways of thinking and not to everyone else. Sorry about that. 😕 > > At the time that I had written that part of the post, I was still thinking of Ed as probably town. I hadn’t flipped yet. Keep in mind, I was going through the ENTIRE FREAKING THREAD IN ONE GO YOU WORDY BASTARDS.[/fakeanger] When I flipped to thinking of him as scum, I didn’t go back and edit that part of my post with my further thoughts. I should have, but at that point my brain wasn’t working in top gear anymore. I just wanted to get the post over and done with and I skipped a bunch of steps to put my conclusion out. [1032](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12816232&postcount=1032) > [@](#): > > No, that’s not why I think Ed is scum. I think Ed is scum primarily because of the ‘win condition’ trick question nonsense with Chronos, and because of the cries of lynch the loud when he wasn’t really being lynched and when the person being lynched wasn’t being loud. > > The Ed plankton connection is that I believe that if Ed is scum, there are scenarios where Ed’s behavior is to try to protect another scum. From what I have seen of previous games, Ed is too good of a player to make an obvious attempt to rescue a fellow scum in trouble. But posting that role list put the idea of denethor = palantir out there, on the chance that it makes Plankton’s claim more credible. > > The scenario does depend on Ed being scum. I believe that Ed is scum for other reasons, which is why I consider the scenario. That’s not the same as saying I believe Ed is scum BECAUSE I considered that scenario. [1037:](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12816300&postcount=1037) > [@](#): > > Um. No? Not really. Those numbers, combined with the actual vote justifications look like an attempt to obfuscate things. As a group, it looks more like lynch the slightly-above-mean-and-also-peeker. [1039](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12816309&postcount=1039) > [@](#): > > I don’t think Ed was trying to draw out VTs. I think he was trying to draw out power roles. I just hope there really is more than one phrasing for the VT condition, and that the discrepancies we saw weren’t our power roles waving big stab me flags. [1042](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12816339&postcount=1042) > [@](#): > > Sloppy phrasing. I just mean the entire VT role message. > > And I can think of lots of reasons for that to be. Most of them are consistent with what I’ve said so far. Okay. So that’s it for yesterDay. ToDay, all I’ve seen is his suspicion that the Scum were provided with a vanilla PM, as well as a renewed vote for **ed**. No idea what it means. The only thing I noticed during the whole long-ass C&P job was that he was more likely to discuss game strategy than to make a case against someone. I also need to revisit the timing of the vote on **ed** , because in searching for his posts, I can’t see how that went down. I seem to recall it being weird, like right when **SP** started to really pick up votes again after his claim. Obviously, knowing **ed** ’s alignment will make a huge difference here–if **ed** is Scum, **Chip** seems much more like Town, but if he’s Town, **Chip** seems like Scum trying to get people to vote for someone other than his buddy. This is more so the case seeing as he started out the Day leaning Town on **ed** and ended it (and began this one) voting for him. ---
**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 23, 2010, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-mafia/549867/1380 "2010-08-23T02:09:39Z")
My comments on Drains WoW of Chip" Post 396, he seems to have outed himself as Vanilla as well. Though he uses that fact in his case against me. Post 1024 he implies that I could be providing cover for Suburban. Which might be true, but I pushed hard for Suburban’s lynch. And Suburban’s mangling of the Role Claim seems odd if the Scum do have cover roles. (At least it should seem odd to Chronos who thinks Scum wouldn’t make a mistake if they had that information) Post 1032 He had earlier seen the value of my trick question for Chronos regarding the wn condition section (as I expect any Vanilla would) but now thinks that I was Scum using the trick (and I do see the value in that for the Scum.) He still goes on about the helping Suburban with the Denethor information. This ignores the fact that anyone with a good knowledge of LotR would know that Denethor had a palantir. He also comments on the lynch the loud comment I made, which ignores that fact that all but 1 of the people with votes on them were ‘loud’ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-mafia/549867.md?page=68) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-mafia/549867.md?page=70)