# MAFIA: The Road to Canterbury - Game Thread **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [June 21, 2012, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-the-road-to-canterbury-game-thread/625807 "2012-06-21T01:57:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 46
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2012, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-the-road-to-canterbury-game-thread/625807/901 "2012-07-28T21:13:11Z")
**Hmmph.** ---
**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 28, 2012, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-the-road-to-canterbury-game-thread/625807/902 "2012-07-28T21:22:08Z")
New vote chart coming soon. Watching some Olympics first. Just to be absolutely certain: Hal, do you claim both of those kills? ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2012, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-the-road-to-canterbury-game-thread/625807/903 "2012-07-28T21:23:47Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > **Hmmph.** Haw haw! And as much as I wish I could claim that that was my doing, mine was **Malaloth**. Sorry…I went for the one in the unconfirmed pool who had laid low the most. And I have quite a bit more to say, but dinner is about to hit the table. Back with more. ---
**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 28, 2012, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-the-road-to-canterbury-game-thread/625807/904 "2012-07-28T21:26:26Z")
Well done, Shipman. ---
**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 28, 2012, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-the-road-to-canterbury-game-thread/625807/905 "2012-07-28T21:27:54Z")
Wait, gotta amend that. Kelly was the shipman. Read the bit about the sword, and jumped on the post. Well done, whomever you are. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2012, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-the-road-to-canterbury-game-thread/625807/906 "2012-07-28T21:38:09Z")
It was Mahaloth, I believe. Squire took shipman’s power, used it, and died. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2012, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-the-road-to-canterbury-game-thread/625807/907 "2012-07-28T22:07:27Z")
> [@MHaye](#): > > After all, the only plank this case has is that Hal claimed he tried to kill SP last Night, and if Hal is a lying liar who lies, he probably lied about that too. Well, you got me. I _am_ a lying liar who lies. As I say in just about every game, lying to scum is one of the effective tools town has (or, as in this case, a playing-pro-town 3rd Party). And let me tell you, lying to scum doesn’t work very often, but when it does, it’s a thing of beauty. > [@Astral\_Rejection](#): > > Hal Briston has a truly extraordinary claim, without a shred of evidence yet to back it up. But I’m also not so keen on the idea that he made it up. It’s very Storyteller, and the powers are pretty over-the-top. I’d expect a false claim to dial it back, and present fewer powers that require demonstration. It _is_ pretty over the top, isn’t it? Well, it gets better. My apologies to town for not coming clean yesterDay about what happened to the scum kill, but I was really, really hoping they’d be persistant. But, they went with the obvious kill instead. Anywhere, here’s the real deal… I can’t be nightkilled (well, not any more). There was a bit of discussion yesterDay about if I edited my posted PM. Well, time to come clean…yes, I did. Here’s the full, 100% unexpeguated version – I’ve bolded the section I left out of my original claim: > [@storyteller0910](#): > > I have bad news. > > You’ve been erased. > > That’s the bad news. > > The good news is, you get to find out one of the hidden elements of the game. And you still get to play! > > Yes, the Carpenter is no more. He’s been written out of the story, his pages scribbled away and replaced with your story. Which is interesting, because all of this is _your_ story. > > * * * > > Welcome to the game; you are Geoffrey Chaucer > [indent]All of this is your creation. No one is quite sure if you had finished your story. After all, the Tales people now know are built off of 83 manuscripts and put together in order as they think you intended, but no one is quite certain. No one, except you. And you were most certainly not done with the tale. All that remains is to see if you have written yourself into the _true_ ending of the story. > > You are a third-party Survivor. Your win condition is simply to be alive at the end of the game. If town wins, you win with town. If scum wins, you win with scum. But this doesn’t mean you’re powerless. This is a world of your creation, and you may use your archaic prose to change things to your liking. > > You may act any Night that you wish. You may choose as your action the power of any dead player who has not already used his or her power, though (like the player in question) you may use each power only once. So, for example, if the Man of Law dies on Day One, you may investigate a player on Night One. You may not subsequently investigate anyone, but if (for example) the Reeve dies on Night One without having used his/her power, you may use the Reeve’s investigation on Night Two (or thereafter). If a Scum player dies, you may not use his or her original Town ability. > > \*\*You are flatly immune to the Bloody Spear and the sacrificial knives. The only ways you can be Night-killed are by the Shipman, by poison or by the Carpenter’s deathtrap. > > You can be lynched like anyone else.\*\* > > You have one ability accessible to you from the outset: > > 1. On any two nights, you may edit your manuscript, writing someone out of the game (i.e., killing them). However, be aware that the color of the kill will clearly distinguish your kill from all of the known methods of killing in the game. You cannot kill the Seraph. Your kill can be blocked or protected against as if it were a standard Scum kill. > > You will note that investigations always deliver a Scum/not-Scum response. Thus they will not reveal your identity. However, if you happen to be investigated while under the influence of the Canon’s potion of True Sight, your true alignment will be revealed to the investigator. I figured I’d likely be regarded as a threat to scum and would likely draw their fire. Since I knew it wouldn’t work, why not let them piss away their kill for a Night? When it worked, I decided to see if they’d figure I had some one-off protection and take a _second_ shot at me. Greedy, greedy me… When **Mosier** claimed Seraph, I knew there was a very good chance that he’d be the scum’s target – but what if scum thought there was a secret protector out there who covered me Night Five? Maybe they’d think that protector would cover **Mosier** on Night Six – meaning they’d likely take another crack at me. So, I decided to keep hushed up about the scum no-kill for one more Day. Best case, we have two nights without scum kills, worst case, there was a Day with an unanswered question – definitely worth the risk. I’m sorry there was so much “what happened to the scum kill?” talk going on that I could have answered\*, but the chance to screw scum over a second time was too tempting. I know this will cause scum to seriously trumpet the horns toward lynching me – they have no other way of getting rid of me, so if they’re successful in getting another bandwagon going, definitely check there for scum once the smoke clears. Also, I’m obviously very much for the idea of a mass claim. Someone is either going to have to claim Prioress, or come up with a very creative load of crap. \*For the sake of clarity, I can’t say with 100% confidence that I was the scum target. But I’ll go with a 99.8% chance that they failed in an attempt on me, and 0.2% chance that there is some _other_, unknown-to-me reason for it. ---
**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 28, 2012, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-the-road-to-canterbury-game-thread/625807/908 "2012-07-28T22:25:18Z")
The Seraph’s role explicitly says that the Seraph cannot be protected by any means beyond roleblocking the killer. You were exceedingly unlikely to be attacked last Night. That’s strike one. Your role is now even more ridiculously overpowered than before. That’s strike two. You’ve pre-emptively tried to poison any discussion about you by declaring that scum will “seriously trumpet the horns towards lynching” you. Or… they could just play the game, and trust you to make the right decision when they’re close to winning. Especially as you probably don’t count against their win condition. That’s strike three. You hit town with your kill. That’s strike four. With kills, and power absorption, and immunity to night kills, you seem more like a PFK than ever. That’s strike five. I strongly suspect you’re still lying about something, and I find your claim hard to swallow. **Vote Hal Briston.** This vote is just to kick the day off. There’s still scum to be found. Time to do some digging. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2012, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-the-road-to-canterbury-game-thread/625807/909 "2012-07-29T00:22:21Z")
Uhhhh huh. So, since you’re so quick to toss out the vote, I take it you won’t have a problem with a role claim to go with it? Or at least your position on the pros and cons of a mass claim? 'Cause the way I see it, all other things being equal, you have a one in three shot at being scum. ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2012, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-the-road-to-canterbury-game-thread/625807/910 "2012-07-29T00:22:23Z")
> [@storyteller0910](#): > > **Mosier** , who was the SUMMONER and the SERAPH, has been slain. Aw, shit! ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2012, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-the-road-to-canterbury-game-thread/625807/911 "2012-07-29T00:28:29Z")
Sorry to see you go, **Mosier**. And needless to say, I’ll be keeping my one remaining kill holstered toNight. Here’s the latest, as I see it. Any additions/corrections? Updated Player List w/claimed roles and actions **Unknown** 4. Babale 9. MentalGuy 12. Tengu (now known as Kamino Neko), replaced by Astral Rejection **Claimed** 5. gnarlycharly - Friar - investigated Stanislaus N1 - result: S is non-scum 6. [del]Alka Seltzer[/del] RyJae - Physician - protected self & visor N1 - no kill? 11. Enderw24 - Nun’s Priest - watched Visor N2 - no activity 18. MHaye - Clerk - checked Cloak N1 - Cloak not in play 19. Hal Briston - Chaucer - gained Shipman power - attempted NK on SP N4 - SP lived – killed Mahaloth N5. **For All Intents and Purposes, Claimed** **13. Visorslash - Pardoner** -Pardoned self D1 **Other** 3. Stanislaus (investigated as non-scum by fubbleskag, while MHaye says the _Cloak of Lies_ is not in play) **Dead** \*\*7. Texcat - Miller - died with power unused 10. sinjin - Canon - used potion - presumed Restorative, presumed on visor 14. fubbleskag - Man of Law - investigated Stanislaus N1 - S reported non-scum 17. Snickers - Knight - used action - presumably drew attack 16. KellyCriterion - Shipman - power unused - apparently claimed by Hal 15. Mosier - Summoner/Seraph - watched SP N1 - no activity. Watched Babale N4 1. Mahaloth - Squire - presumably killed Inner Stickler N5 - killed by Hal N5 2. Suburban Plankton - Reeve - didn’t die N4 (despite claimed but unverified attack) 3. Inner Stickler - Parson \*\* ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2012, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-the-road-to-canterbury-game-thread/625807/912 "2012-07-29T00:29:39Z")
By the by – it might just be color (and I might just be being dense), but does anyone get the reference to the “otherworldly” cards **Inner Stickler** was carrying? ---
**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 29, 2012, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-the-road-to-canterbury-game-thread/625807/913 "2012-07-29T02:05:39Z")
No. I was actually curious about that myself. I couldn’t guess what it might be a reference to. Maybe it’s just fun color? I can’t remember any other important clues in the color. ---
**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 29, 2012, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-the-road-to-canterbury-game-thread/625807/914 "2012-07-29T02:09:15Z")
Also, no, I don’t object to a mass claim. There aren’t too many of us left, but would it be wise to have Visorslash decide the order, if he’s available? The way I see it, the scum prioress will have to false claim something, and I assume they’ll false-claim to match whoever we as a town already suspect the most, to increase the chance of surviving one more night. I’d prefer to at least try to stymie that. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2012, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-the-road-to-canterbury-game-thread/625807/915 "2012-07-29T03:27:48Z")
So let’s assume we believe Hal’s new new claim. Here’s a list of questions that it opens up. 1. Hal’s claim was that his kills would be in a different color. There were only the known colors of red and blue in today’s killing. Why is that? 2. Hal says that the lack of scum kill was because he can’t be night-killed and scum targeted him the Night before last. Putting aside the other reasons why scum may have failed in a kill, what rationale would scum have to target Hal? Scum don’t win killing third party. Scum win killing town. Sure Hal _may_ be a threat to them, but Hal could just as easily turn around and be an ally when the need arises. Besides, on a pure % basis, Hal’s more likely to shoot and hit Town than Scum, as last Night’s kill clearly showed. 3. Why would Hal make his new new claim today? What benefit is this information to Town? Hal, if you suspected Scum to come after you again in the future, your claim of almost complete Scum immunity would stop that in its tracks. So if you’re pro-town like you claim, wouldn’t you be striving for Scum to come at you in a knowingly futile effort? ---
**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:** [July 29, 2012, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-the-road-to-canterbury-game-thread/625807/916 "2012-07-29T07:11:05Z")
Right, I’m going to be posting from my phone for this week so posts will be staccato. Mahaloth was turnedinto a skeleton and is now “part of the scene” This is different colour. However I agree that his claimed role seems very overpowered. I’m less convinced than apparently everyone else about theguilt of the prioress.It just seems a bit convenient that sp claimed in a way that gave up another scum. They had time to plan this. ---
**Author:** ![MHaye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bbe5ce/32.png) [@MHaye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MHaye)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2012, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-the-road-to-canterbury-game-thread/625807/917 "2012-07-29T08:51:19Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > 1. Hal’s claim was that his kills would be in a different color. There were only the known colors of red and blue in today’s killing. Why is that? The description of the dead body doesn’t match being stabbed to death with a knife. (“Colour” in this context means how the death is described.) > [@](#): > > 1. Hal says that the lack of scum kill was because he can’t be night-killed and scum targeted him the Night before last. Putting aside the other reasons why scum may have failed in a kill, what rationale would scum have to target Hal? Scum don’t win killing third party. Scum win killing town. The Brotherhood’s wincon makes no reference to Town - just non-Brotherhood. > [@](#): > > Scum win if at the beginning of any Day, the number of Scum is greater than or equal to half the number of living players, and at least one Scum player is alive. Assuming for the moment that Hal is telling the truth, Hal is a warm body that counts against the Brotherhood’s wincon. They have to get the number of living players down to 4 now; if Hal and two Townies are also alive the Brotherhood isn’t in a winning position. ---
**Author:** ![Visorslash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ee59a6/32.png) [@Visorslash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Visorslash)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2012, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-the-road-to-canterbury-game-thread/625807/918 "2012-07-29T09:08:53Z")
Well done Squire. I should have something a little more substantial for you guys, depending on how tired I am. ---
**Author:** ![gnarlycharlie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/5f9b8f/32.png) [@gnarlycharlie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnarlycharlie)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2012, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-the-road-to-canterbury-game-thread/625807/919 "2012-07-29T16:10:06Z")
good job, **Mahaloth**. two down, two more to go. > [@Stanislaus](#): > > Right, > > I’m going to be posting from my phone for this week so posts will be staccato. > > Mahaloth was turnedinto a skeleton and is now “part of the scene” This is different colour. However I agree that his claimed role seems very overpowered. > > I’m less convinced than apparently everyone else about theguilt of the prioress.It just seems a bit convenient that sp claimed in a way that gave up another scum. They had time to plan this. i don’t see any explanation for the Prioress not being scum. i think the only plausible rationale for scum to take that risk is that they chose the Bloody Spear and should the real Prioress be lynched, that same player will use it. ---
**Author:** ![Visorslash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ee59a6/32.png) [@Visorslash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Visorslash)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2012, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-the-road-to-canterbury-game-thread/625807/920 "2012-07-29T16:23:30Z")
**Vote: Enderw24** I’ve had a feeling on you, since you sent that PM to me about the scum strategy. > [@](#): > > Just wanted to give you a heads up. If I were playing on the scum team, I’d lobby to make you one of the first night kills. Here’s my reasoning. Everyone now knows that you’re town. So every night they kill someone other than you, the odds increase that any other person is scum. But when they kill you, the odds don’t increase because they’re killing a known entity. > > For instance, there’s 10 left and 3 scum. We all know you’re town so there’s a 3/9 chance of lynching scum. They kill you off, there’s STILL a 3/9 chance of us lynching scum. But they kill someone else off, there’s now 9 players left and a 3/8 chance. > > You can do what you like with this message, but I will not be posting this thought to the boards. It doesn’t help town any, but it gives scum a strategy tip they may not have thought of already. Formalities rescinded. This seems like buddying up to me, and his defence of Suburban is a bit damning. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-the-road-to-canterbury-game-thread/625807.md?page=45) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-the-road-to-canterbury-game-thread/625807.md?page=47)