# Mafia: Evil Dead - DAY/NIGHT ONE

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-evil-dead-day-night-one/477854>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Created:** [December 19, 2008, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-evil-dead-day-night-one/477854 "2008-12-19T03:11:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![storyteller0910](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@storyteller0910](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/storyteller0910)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-evil-dead-day-night-one/477854/1 "2008-12-19T03:11:59Z")

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**EXT THE EDGE OF THE CORNFIELD - DAWN OF DAY ONE**

_Overhead shot of the group, 27 strong, seated in a circle at the edge of the cornfield. Close on a few nervous faces. Someone’s eyelid twitches. Everyone looks strained, sweaty, and irritated. They have been arguing for some time. The silence is suddenly broken by a familiar, guttural voice._

HOOPY FROOD’S VOICE  
God, the tension is killing me!

_Pan to: HOOPY FROOD’s head, laying on its side just outside the murderous cornfield, where it has rolled to rest on his small pink towel._

HOOPY’S HEAD  
Throw someone else into the cornfield already!

SOME GUY  
Isn’t there some way to shut that guy up? He’s dead, for Pete’s sake!

SOME OTHER GUY  
There’s a wood chipper out behind the cabin.

_Cut to: the woodchipper. HOOPY’S HEAD looks down into it._

HOOPY’S HEAD  
Hey, guys, let’s not get crazy about this, I mean, come on now, I’m a decent guy, look, I like puppies, my heart’s in the right place - well, my heart’s out in the cornfield, but my carotid artery’s in the right place, ha ha, see what I did there? - come on guyyyyyyysssss…

_He trails off as they toss his head into the wood chipper. There is a terrible racket, and a considerable amount of blood and gore sprays the onlookers. They don’t seem particularly fazed. After a moment, there is the sound of METAL GRINDING, and the wood chipper comes to a halt._

SOME GUY  
We broke it.

SOME GIRL  
What are we going to do with the next one?

SOME GUY  
Guess we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Now, enough talk.

_They all look toward the cornfield_

SOME GUY  
Let’s start talking.

**TITLE CARD: DAY ONE: DAWN… OF THE DEAD**

* * *

Day One has begun. It will end just slightly less than five days hence, at around 1:00PM Eastern Standard Time on Tuesday, December 23rd. No power on Earth will cause this period to lengthen or to shorten. Day One actions must be received via PM by the moderator by no later than 12:45PM EST on the 23rd in order to be processed.

Following Day One, there will be a special elongated Night to allow for the holiday; after that, we will resume the regular schedule as outlined in the rules.

A vote count will be posted presently. Happy lynching!

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**Author:** ![storyteller0910](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@storyteller0910](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/storyteller0910)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-evil-dead-day-night-one/477854/2 "2008-12-19T03:21:07Z")

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DAY ONE, Day One – Vote Count 1

**pedescribe** (1) – Pleonast  
**Pleonast** (1) – Natlaw

* * *

So now I need tech help. For the post above, I clicked on the “show signature” box, and I previewed, and preview showed my signature just fine. Then I posted, and \<poof\>, no signature. Does anyone know if there’s anything I can do to correct that?

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**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-evil-dead-day-night-one/477854/3 "2008-12-19T03:33:58Z")

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At a guess, the box got unchecked after previewing. It appears in the second post, so problem solved?

Gonna start with not-random vote: Pleonast.

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**Author:** ![Hockey\_Monkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a183cd/32.png) [@Hockey\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hockey_Monkey)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-evil-dead-day-night-one/477854/4 "2008-12-19T04:58:38Z")

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Any explaination for the not-randomness? If it’s not random what are you basing it on?

I do need to make sure I’ve read all of the initial thread, so it could be explained in there. It was further down on the page so I started here. Back in a few.

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**Author:** ![ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-evil-dead-day-night-one/477854/5 "2008-12-19T06:20:34Z")

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Note to self:

Habitual checking of your Control Panel is not going to show you that posts have been made to the fresh threads that you have not yet posted in or subscribed to. Try not to miss the first half of each Day or wonder if everyone else forgot about the game.

Regards,

Cookies

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**Author:** ![Chucara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Chucara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chucara)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-evil-dead-day-night-one/477854/6 "2008-12-19T08:41:04Z")

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Does anyone have an idea on how we can find out if power roles have alpha/beta status as well… without outing a power role?

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**Author:** ![macey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f14d63/32.png) [@macey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/macey)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-evil-dead-day-night-one/477854/7 "2008-12-19T09:59:49Z")

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> [@JSexton](#):
>
> Gonna start with not-random vote: Pleonast.

**JSexton** , where’s the reasoning for voting **Pleonast**? If it’s not random.

Sorry I couldn’t find anything in the Night 0 thread; only parts about random voting.

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**Author:** ![Total\_Lost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e56c9b/32.png) [@Total\_Lost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Total_Lost)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-evil-dead-day-night-one/477854/8 "2008-12-19T11:38:10Z")

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> [@Mafia: Evil Dead - Signups and Night Zero](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-evil-dead-signups-and-night-zero/476736/242):
>
> And now I remember why I forgot the idea again. What about just revealing targets then? That would give nothing away and make it harder for scum to lie..
> 
> However even this is flawed (kinda).. Suppose a power role is forced to claim (or be lynched).. if a doc would protect him, his action would be known.. Of course, if ever confronted, it could be explained.. Hmm..
> 
> Unless someone can see flaws in that idea, I’d be willing to give it a try this game.

I don’t think this is such a good idea. If the doc wanted to self-protect then wouldn’t it be fairly obvious what was going on?

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**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-evil-dead-day-night-one/477854/9 "2008-12-19T12:27:25Z")

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Having power roles admit their targets, albeit in the context of a large number of fakes, is just giving scum information. They’re also quite capable of using it to lay the groundwork for a false claim. So I think it’s a bad idea.

However, speaking as someone who frequently has bad ideas, it’s not good to vote for people just because they have bad ideas. It squelches conversation; town needs conversation.

Having said that, here’s my big warning/admonition - could any Masons that we may have kindly NOT come out swinging on Day One? I know it feels good to know that your homeboys have your back, but just because you’re confirmable doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to out yourself with a claim on Day One. We need you to stay under the radar until you can cut down the suspect pool. Being out is just a good way to get killed early, which benefits us not at all.

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**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:** [December 19, 2008, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-evil-dead-day-night-one/477854/10 "2008-12-19T12:31:12Z")

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> [@Total\_Lost](#):
>
> I don’t think this is such a good idea. If the doc wanted to self-protect then wouldn’t it be fairly obvious what was going on?

Couldn’t the doctor use a bit of dishonesty and end up appearing as Vanilla in the end? We would just have to keep that in mind in the event of a role claim.

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**Author:** ![Chucara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Chucara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chucara)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-evil-dead-day-night-one/477854/11 "2008-12-19T12:31:52Z")

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> [@amrussell](#):
>
> Having power roles admit their targets, albeit in the context of a large number of fakes, is just giving scum information. They’re also quite capable of using it to lay the groundwork for a false claim. So I think it’s a bad idea.
> 
> However, speaking as someone who frequently has bad ideas, it’s not good to vote for people just because they have bad ideas. It squelches conversation; town needs conversation.
> 
> Having said that, here’s my big warning/admonition - could any Masons that we may have kindly NOT come out swinging on Day One? I know it feels good to know that your homeboys have your back, but just because you’re confirmable doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to out yourself with a claim on Day One. We need you to stay under the radar until you can cut down the suspect pool. Being out is just a good way to get killed early, which benefits us not at all.

Here, I agree. There are a number of reasons that masons should claim:

- Only two left
- Risking a lynch
- The scum:town ratio is so low it would greatly reduce the possible scum pool
- etc

But having 0-4 confirmed townies on day 1 that scum can pick off is not a great idea IMO.. Unless there’s a town bomb hiding among them.

I see your (totalost as well) points. I’ll drop the idea of putting names in the top of posts, and go work on the theory for next game 😉

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**Author:** ![Millit\_the\_Frail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/51bf81/32.png) [@Millit\_the\_Frail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Millit_the_Frail)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-evil-dead-day-night-one/477854/12 "2008-12-19T12:50:59Z")

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> [@Chucara](#):
>
> Does anyone have an idea on how we can find out if power roles have alpha/beta status as well.. without outing a power role?

Possibly, but again, I’m not sure why we want to know. I’m still thinking that a mass roleclaim is a great deal more likely to out power roles to scum than to out scum to town. Can someone who supports the roleclaim lay out a better case for it? If I see the logic, you could change my mind. It just seems really hasty, like the Masons claiming early.

I’m also wary of naming people in posts–those who are using powers will be using them on the most logical targets, and that will be easy to spot. For instance, the Dr. will protect the most likely scum targets (Townies who are “on to them”), the Detective will investigate the scummiest looking players…very risky, IMHO.

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**Author:** ![Almost\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/919ad9/32.png) [@Almost\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Almost_Human)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-evil-dead-day-night-one/477854/13 "2008-12-19T13:27:10Z")

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> [@Millit\_the\_Frail](#):
>
> Possibly, but again, I’m not sure why we want to know. I’m still thinking that a mass roleclaim is a great deal more likely to out power roles to scum than to out scum to town. Can someone who supports the roleclaim lay out a better case for it? If I see the logic, you could change my mind. It just seems really hasty, like the Masons claiming early.
> 
> I’m also wary of naming people in posts–those who are using powers will be using them on the most logical targets, and that will be easy to spot. For instance, the Dr. will protect the most likely scum targets (Townies who are “on to them”), the Detective will investigate the scummiest looking players…very risky, IMHO.

I don’t think anyone’s asking for a mass roleclaim, just an ‘Alpha’ ‘Beta’ claim. I’m not sure how effective it would be but I don’t see much harm in it either.

Also IMO detectives don’t always investigate the scummiest looking players - it’s just as important to confirm the person you instinctively trust is really town and not just scum trying to lead you up the garden path.

This bit of your post: “**For instance, the Dr. will protect the most likely scum targets (Townies who are “on to them”)**”.

confused me for a few minutes. I think you mean the doctor is most likely to protect townies who appear to be onto scum but it really doesn’t read like that at first!

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**Author:** ![Rapier42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/90db22/32.png) [@Rapier42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rapier42)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-evil-dead-day-night-one/477854/14 "2008-12-19T13:32:22Z")

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> [@storyteller0910](#):
>
> So now I need tech help. For the post above, I clicked on the “show signature” box, and I previewed, and preview showed my signature just fine. Then I posted, and \<poof\>, no signature. Does anyone know if there’s anything I can do to correct that?

I believe I’ve seen somebody reference that you lose the checkmark when you preview, and have to hit it again.

Conversly, do you see other folks sigs? You could have signatures completely turned off in your profile.

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**Author:** ![Thing\_Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@Thing\_Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing_Fish)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-evil-dead-day-night-one/477854/15 "2008-12-19T13:38:27Z")

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I’m not seeing the scum motivation for **Pleonast’s** pointing out \*\*Pedescribe’s \*\*possible slip. Since we know from the rules (post 37 in the signup thread) that the scumboards are open 24/7, why would scum point out a potential power role slip in the main thread?

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**Author:** ![Hawkeyeop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/958977/32.png) [@Hawkeyeop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hawkeyeop)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-evil-dead-day-night-one/477854/16 "2008-12-19T14:35:00Z")

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I was going to point out Pede’s slip as well and rant about it, so I can’t really hold that against Pleo. In fact, I would say revealing it was a very townish action. If scum find slips there is no reason to reveal them. They could use it later to kill a possible power role, or support a claim (I’m a detective and I know Pede is a power role, but I won’t reveal which. Also, vote Shadowfacts.)

People like to say Mafia is a game of numbers vs information, but in a game with a significant amount of power roles that really isn’t the case. Rather, it is a game of information vs information. Town needs a specific type of information, namely the alignment of each player.

Town has no great need to know the powers of other town players, they need to trust each townie to do what they think best. They just need to know who is pro-town and who isn’t. Scum on the other hand have no real interest in each player’s alignment, since they know most of them already. Rather the information they need is each player’s powers. Anything that reveals the powers of townies helps scum. In Marvel, scum was helped several times by townies, unprompted, revealing abilities.

The problem of course is that it is often necessary to reveal powers to prove towniness. However, things like saying I have a power role or saying I’m a vanilla help the scum narrow down power roles, while doing nothing to help town determine your alignment. Those are the types of things we need avoid. Any reveal should have the precise purpose of keeping townies alive or finding scum.

Scum are always going to want you to reveal powers. This doesn’t mean anyone hounding you for information is scummy, since townies might be trying to test your truthfulness, and if townies are then scum don’t need to. We just need to remember we don’t to prove to everyone that are likely pro-town. If you aren’t likely to be lynched don’t reveal information to protect yourself. Don’t try to please everyone, since some of the people wanting to be pleased is scum.

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**Author:** ![Millit\_the\_Frail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/51bf81/32.png) [@Millit\_the\_Frail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Millit_the_Frail)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-evil-dead-day-night-one/477854/17 "2008-12-19T14:36:40Z")

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> [@Almost\_Human](#):
>
> I don’t think anyone’s asking for a mass roleclaim, just an ‘Alpha’ ‘Beta’ claim. I’m not sure how effective it would be but I don’t see much harm in it either.
> 
> Also IMO detectives don’t always investigate the scummiest looking players - it’s just as important to confirm the person you instinctively trust is really town and not just scum trying to lead you up the garden path.
> 
> This bit of your post: “**For instance, the Dr. will protect the most likely scum targets (Townies who are “on to them”)**”.
> 
> confused me for a few minutes. I think you mean the doctor is most likely to protect townies who appear to be onto scum but it really doesn’t read like that at first!

Yeah, excuse my bad grammar constructions, it was before 7AM. 🙂

I guess you’ve got a point. The power roles aren’t always going to do the most obvious thing. And confirming town is just as important as finding scum, since there’s no recruiting. Still, there might be patterns there. Unless we could set up a system of vanilla townies pretending to be power roles when “admitting their targets” and listing who we would protect/investigate/whatever _if_ we were that power role. False positive power roles to confuse scum. I don’t know how that would play out…I’m not suggesting it seriously yet, anyone care to comment on it? There’s probably some huge reason why it won’t work…and I’m still not sold on the entire idea, for the reasons **amrussell** mentions.

I understand the gist of the Alpha/Beta claim, and I do think it’s a mass roleclaim of sorts. Even if some are lying about their true status. Some are going to be lying in any sort of mass roleclaim, it’s just that in this game, the good side is going to have to lie (even if only by omission) as well as the bad. That’s where I feel it’s tricky. I guess it’s basically harmless, but I don’t see its usefulness. That said, I’m fine with claiming my group if majority say we should go that route.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Total\_Lost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e56c9b/32.png) [@Total\_Lost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Total_Lost)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-evil-dead-day-night-one/477854/18 "2008-12-19T15:06:11Z")

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> [@amrussell](#):
>
> However, speaking as someone who frequently has bad ideas, it’s not good to vote for people just because they have bad ideas. It squelches conversation; town needs conversation.

This is a very good point! All to often is Town play a “safe” game relying on Power roles and catching scum in actions “scum would do”. The more I play then more I see that “scum would never do that” is the biggest joke of all. Scum will do anything - and if Town wants to win - we need to allow for us to change our game and try out new ideas!

> [@amrussell](#):
>
> Having said that, here’s my big warning/admonition - could any Masons that we may have kindly NOT come out swinging on Day One? I know it feels good to know that your homeboys have your back, but just because you’re confirmable doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to out yourself with a claim on Day One. We need you to stay under the radar until you can cut down the suspect pool. Being out is just a good way to get killed early, which benefits us not at all.

I second that 🙂

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Hawkeyeop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/958977/32.png) [@Hawkeyeop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hawkeyeop)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-evil-dead-day-night-one/477854/19 "2008-12-19T15:24:44Z")

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> [@amrussell](#):
>
> Having said that, here’s my big warning/admonition - could any Masons that we may have kindly NOT come out swinging on Day One? I know it feels good to know that your homeboys have your back, but just because you’re confirmable doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to out yourself with a claim on Day One. We need you to stay under the radar until you can cut down the suspect pool. Being out is just a good way to get killed early, which benefits us not at all.

I don’t think having a revealed Mason early is the worst thing in the world. During SDMB I theorized that the town should have let the masons decide who to lynch, and the rest of the town should follow. It would allow the town to vote without any scum interference. I would say that no mason should reveal himself to confirm another mason absent a counter claim. I will believe any unchallenged mason, since there isn’t enough of an upside for scum to claim mason short of lynch or lose. Also, masons should be careful with breadcrumbing. After one of you is lynched the scum will look closely to see if you revealed your cohorts.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-evil-dead-day-night-one/477854/20 "2008-12-19T15:42:57Z")

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> [@Mafia: Evil Dead - Signups and Night Zero](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-evil-dead-signups-and-night-zero/476736/244):
>
> I see your “Very risky!” and “Townies need not and should not lie” and raise you the following scenario:  
> Deadites fail to kill and anyone who targeted their target is possibly the Doctor!

That’s assuming a Doctor’s protection is the only reason a kill could fail. And even if it is, it can be mitigated by vanilla Townies choosing their claimed target like a Doctor would. But your point is a good one.

[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-evil-dead-day-night-one/477854.md?page=2)
