# Mystery Mafia -- Game Thread **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [August 17, 2011, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mafia-game-thread/593025 "2011-08-17T14:03:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 34
**Author:** ![Dancecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Dancecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dancecat)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mafia-game-thread/593025/662 "2011-08-18T18:58:22Z")
> [@Zeriel](#): > > We have a custom around here–if there is one in the game, and that is not clearly stated in the opening, we call the mod a douchecanoe and continue playing as though it never happened. 😃 Ah. Ok. Love the word “douchecanoe,” may have to import (read: steal) it and use it much on my regular board. ---
**Author:** ![gnarlycharlie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/5f9b8f/32.png) [@gnarlycharlie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnarlycharlie)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mafia-game-thread/593025/663 "2011-08-18T18:58:29Z")
> [@TimeLady](#): > > I’m finding it really hard to follow this thread without avatars, but for now I have a slight town lead on Idle Thoughts (mostly his post in which he says (paraphrasing) “Wtf guys with all this offtopic talk, LETS BE LYNCHING SOME SCUM”). I don’t think a scum would be quite so gogogogo about it all. I have a small town lean on mykbot just for the way he’s posting, though him concentrating so much on offtopic things is bizarre and kinda freaks me out. > > I have a small scum lean on SisterChapel for “innocuous posting”. Scrolling through the thread he (she?) has made a few posts but none of them really stick out, and it very much seeming like they’re trying to blend in in the background and not attract attention to themselves. > > I was gonna multiquote their posts but I can’t seem to make that button work right now (fucking internet connection) > > Regarding my vote on Mykbot early d1, I did it because…I wanted to. It wasn’t a serious vote, and with a massive long d1 I figured it wouldn’t mean much. That’s basically it > > **vote: SisterChapel** ha ha ha! that’s **Sister Coyote**. not laughing at your mistake though. sounds like a religious name but she’s far from holy. she can be quite evil. 😃 _runs from Sister Coyote_ ---
**Author:** ![Normal\_Phase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Normal\_Phase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Normal_Phase)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mafia-game-thread/593025/664 "2011-08-18T18:59:16Z")
Oh, and the Seer thing. If fake-peeking is now supposed to be any sort of get out of lynch free card (or so much as a reason to even _consider_ not voting someone), I refuse to sign up. If its purpose is to WIFOM the scum, then it must remain there. As soon as it starts taking aim at the town it starts being a bad idea. I don’t know if this is also a cultural difference or just an excuse not to really fully consider a vote for Kraz, but it rubs me all kinds of wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Episkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Episkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Episkey)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mafia-game-thread/593025/665 "2011-08-18T18:59:48Z")
> [@Dancecat](#): > > \ > > This is a very, very good post. Too bad I can’t clear you for it, because I know you could do it in either role. > \ I think I want to clear you for this though. Any idea why? ---
**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:** [August 18, 2011, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mafia-game-thread/593025/666 "2011-08-18T19:00:28Z")
> [@Scuba\_Ben](#): > > Sach, why do you dislike that type of calculation so much that you find TL scummy? Because scum worry about looking townie because they aren’t, and Town don’t worry about looking Townie because they are. > [@TexCat](#): > > 1. Everyone, including lilflower and sachertorte, keeps ignoring the second part of reasoning that MykBot knew, or should have known, better. This was not the case for NAF. “should have known better” means that you think that MykBot both knew it was a bad idea and said it anyway. In other words, he said something he knew to be anti-Town, but decided to float the idea… because what? town wouldn’t notice? It doesn’t make logical sense. > [@Dancecat](#): > > You understand that lynching a seer is a catastrophic error, right? Did someone claim and I missed it? Or Something? And if someone did, then why would we even believe it? There was only one night action. Most everyone should have no idea what their role is. Am I to believe that we started the game with only the investigator allowed to act the first night? That’s kind of shitty, though perhaps less so given the large size and promised high mortality rate. > [@Dancecat](#): > > I’m going to throw this out there: Krayz would be an excellent vig target. How is this remotely helpful? > [@Dancecat](#): > > Ok, let me say it another way: when he dies, it should be by nightkill and not by lynch. Our vigs will figure out what they do pretty damn quickly and should be able to take care of it. This I can accept, sort of. But that won’t happen until n2 at the earliest by which time the game state would have shifted dramatically. Calling for a Vig kill at this point still seems rather useless to me. But I’d rather know what you are thinking rather than not know what you are thinking so, okay. ---
**Author:** ![TimeLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6f9a4e/32.png) [@TimeLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeLady)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mafia-game-thread/593025/667 "2011-08-18T19:03:14Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Oh, god, someone block wikipedia on Special Ed’s computer. > > Wouldn’t a scum mason just open up the masonry to NKs? > > SCUM BOARD: > Wolf Mason: Oh hey, I found a mason who found another mason Yesterday; so we kill this mason tonight and that mason Tomorrow and I go hunting again. well, if wolves wanna hunt masons over cops they’re more than welcome to imo that being said, if a wolf had a mason they’d be more inclined (at least I would be) to keep that person alive, as it narrows down the pool of power role suspects, as well as having that mason clear them somewhat in the thread ---
**Author:** ![Normal\_Phase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Normal\_Phase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Normal_Phase)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mafia-game-thread/593025/668 "2011-08-18T19:03:53Z")
**Polite request for vote count, as I have no freakin’ idea how things stand.** ---
**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:** [August 18, 2011, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mafia-game-thread/593025/669 "2011-08-18T19:06:51Z")
> [@TimeLady](#): > > well, if wolves wanna hunt masons over cops they’re more than welcome to. I’m thinking in this game specifically as I’d be amazed if the wolves have only one killing move a night. In more traditional games, yes, a scum mason should probably be working more on decption and subterfuge. (Of course scum masons kind of blow up the whole point of masons.) ---
**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 18, 2011, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mafia-game-thread/593025/670 "2011-08-18T19:07:30Z")
> [@Normal\_Phase](#): > > Oh, and the Seer thing. If fake-peeking is now supposed to be any sort of get out of lynch free card (or so much as a reason to even _consider_ not voting someone), I refuse to sign up. If its purpose is to WIFOM the scum, then it must remain there. As soon as it starts taking aim at the town it starts being a bad idea. I don’t know if this is also a cultural difference or just an excuse not to really fully consider a vote for Kraz, but it rubs me all kinds of wrong. Excellent post. Jesus Christ, **Normal** , we’re not supposed to agree so much on Day One. It’s not seemly. ---
**Author:** ![TexCat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/texcat/32/9041_2.png) [@TexCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TexCat)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mafia-game-thread/593025/671 "2011-08-18T19:08:56Z")
> [@sachertorte](#): > > “should have known better” means that you think that MykBot both knew it was a bad idea and said it anyway. In other words, he said something he knew to be anti-Town, but decided to float the idea… because what? town wouldn’t notice? > It doesn’t make logical sense. Yep. MykBot has played this mystery game before. Targeting yourself wasn’t that bad an idea, and MykBot might have thought some naive townies might actually take him up on it. Not the worst Day one vote I’ve ever made. MykBot has since come back and explained further. I’ve unvoted and moved on to lilflower, who is the one who mis-stated so egregiously my case on MykBot. ---
**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:** [August 18, 2011, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mafia-game-thread/593025/672 "2011-08-18T19:08:59Z")
> [@Dancecat](#): > > do you guys call it fool or jester or something else? guy who wins (and ends) the game if lynched. I don’t know why I seem to be constantly responding to your posts (I’m not stalking you, really), but here Jesters/Fools are not used. We find them dumb and boring. Similarly, long ago we had a few Millers, but general consensus is that they suck and are unfun to play, so since we all play for fun, generally no millers no jesters. ---
**Author:** ![MykBot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@MykBot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MykBot)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mafia-game-thread/593025/673 "2011-08-18T19:09:41Z")
septimus, to be totally honest, if people are too naive to reflect upon that possibility unless I spell it out in a careful crayon step-by-step, that’s on them. I can’t imagine that you really believe that my nefarious plot is to trick everyone into suicide. That’s absurd. ---
**Author:** ![Blaster\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mafia-game-thread/593025/674 "2011-08-18T19:10:34Z")
Reading through this whole **peeker** thing… I’m disinclined to think scum from his behavior for two reasons. First, there seems to be an assumption that being called on his post style and then “reverting” is a scum tell. If anything, it reads to me as frustration, and frustration at being wagoned for style could easily surface as both scum or town. Instead, I’d expect a rational scum response to be to maintain his style, not change it when called on it. Second, I generally frown on excessive use of previous play-styles because it could mean anything. Say someone played a bit recklessly as town in one game and got lynched for it, then they’re more reserved in the next game. It could mean that they’re scum and they saw that the attention got them lynched so they lay low. It could also mean that he’s a power role and he’s worried about becoming a lynch target and being forced to claim. Or it could mean he’s town and realized he made a mistake and learned from it. Obviously the power role aspect is moot in this game at this point, but I don’t see any meaningful way to distinguish the scum and town motivations. Instead, I see it as potentially an opportunistic vote. I think those who initially pointed out the difference is probably a null tell, but I do think that the “me too” votes could be hiding scum, regardless of what **peeker** ’s alignment actually is. Obviously, if he’s town, it’s an easy chance to get a miss-lynch and shrug the blame off onto those who started the wagon. If he’s scum, they might see him as a lost cause and simply be trying to hop on the wagon early to gain some town cred. Either way, I would think that there’s probably a decent chance of one of the scum being in there. ---
**Author:** ![Episkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Episkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Episkey)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mafia-game-thread/593025/675 "2011-08-18T19:10:43Z")
> [@Scuba\_Ben](#): > > Thanks Mah, you’ve helped me finally understand **peeker** ’s Mafia play style. He uses the Chewbacca Defense. > > \ legit Lol’d irl ---
**Author:** ![Gadarene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Gadarene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadarene)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mafia-game-thread/593025/676 "2011-08-18T19:10:57Z")
**MODERATOR NOTE** Sangaman will be subbing in for Meeko. Sanga is _also_ an otherboarder (heh; I like that name), but he’s only played a total of one game over there, so he’s relatively new and probably quite impressionable. Another vote count also coming up. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Jan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Silver\_Jan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Jan)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mafia-game-thread/593025/677 "2011-08-18T19:11:57Z")
> [@MykBot](#): > > septimus, to be totally honest, if people are too naive to reflect upon that possibility unless I spell it out in a careful crayon step-by-step, that’s on them. > > I can’t imagine that you really believe that my nefarious plot is to trick everyone into suicide. That’s absurd. But quite a funny too, maybe it’s just my sense of humour about tricking everyone into a mass suicide. ---
**Author:** ![Dancecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Dancecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dancecat)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mafia-game-thread/593025/678 "2011-08-18T19:12:15Z")
> [@Normal\_Phase](#): > > (Meta-ish comment: but what’s the _point_? Clearing townies is as easy as pie for wolves, and a bit dangerous for townies (self-induced blind spots can kill later on). It’s also effort spent that is directly contrary to what a townie is supposed to be doing, which is finding people who are acting scummy and holding their feet to the fire. I get this far less than the fakepeek stuff (though more on that below).) At one point you give Ed a town lean because you agree with his reasoning, that just … argh. It hits every “don’t DO that” nerve I own. > > Well. yes it was. I have doubts that that was really your objective. That “therefore he’s scum” bit, or however you phrased it, looked much more pointed. The whole thing did, really. > > Did you vote him for purposes of discussion, or did you vote him because he did something that only scum would do? You gave every impression of it being the latter, despite what you’re saying now. > > Silver Jan I understand even if I don’t feel like voting for it, but it’s someone else’s case. Krayz has disputed your characterization; he’s also getting a lot of votes that feel to me as much like “lynch the loud” as like “lynch the scummy” (Mahaloth’s for instance, which is as weak as it has been characterized). Your vote here in that context isn’t reassuring me much. > > I’m not sure if you missed my reference to your comments on TimeLady or just failed to respond to them: you had a temp clear-or-vote thing going on that she responded to, and I wanted to see what you have to say. 1. Clearing townies early isn’t always easy for wolves, as they don’t always know who’s going to be a viable mislynch candidate down the road and don’t want to have to incriminate themselves by going back on a strong read. A player clearing half the thread on d1 is, in my experience and observation, much more likely to be a villager than a wolf. There are also some people that suck at hunting wolves without a couple days’ worth of information to go on. Sometimes, I am one of those people. Ok, most times I am one of those people and don’t really get good at scumhunting 'till midgame. But even though I can’t necessarily find a wolf d1, I can _always_ find a villager (or three) which will often be tremendously helpful when it comes time to determine the remaining wolves by process of elimination. If this doesn’t make sense, just say so and I’ll be happy to elaborate on it further, but clearing villagers can be just as vital to winning as scumhunting. All player dependent, of course. 2. I softcleared Ed because he basically typed what I was thinking when I read Silver Jan’s post. Maybe he can thoroughly fake a villagery process as a wolf, but it’s more likely that he can’t (although I admit I know nothing about his level of experience) and therefore I’m inclined to think that since I’m a villager and I thought that way, he is probably also a villager since he is also thinking that way. 3. The early vote on NAF wasn’t a one trick pony. Its purpose was made evident by what followed it. If NAF had reacted in a scummy way or defended his idea 'till he was blue in the face despite all evidence to the contrary, my vote would have stayed put. Instead, it generated good strat discussion in which NAF was decently villagery, so I moved my vote elsewhere. 4. I can’t always control when I’m able to post. That I wasn’t able to make that case on Silver Jan myself was a function of timing, but since Ed was there and I wasn’t, he did it first. I can’t really help that. Of course, you have no way of knowing whether I’m telling the truth, so this is probably moot to you. 5. Timelady was half right. I wanted to clear her for her mentioning how awesome her wolf game is (she has historically downplayed it when she’s wolfed), but she didn’t get why I wanted to vote her. The early vote on Mykbot, who is an excellent player, without any real reason didn’t sit well with me. But now it looks like it was a joke “because i can” type of vote. ---
**Author:** ![Normal\_Phase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Normal\_Phase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Normal_Phase)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mafia-game-thread/593025/679 "2011-08-18T19:12:58Z")
> [@Drain\_Bead](#): > > Excellent post. Jesus Christ, **Normal** , we’re not supposed to agree so much on Day One. It’s not seemly. Between this and the recent references to classic-game debacles (hah, I said debacle) like the Wikipedia thing, I’m suddenly in a giggle-fit. 'Scuse me, I’ll be back when I’ve composed myself. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![SisterCoyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@SisterCoyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SisterCoyote)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mafia-game-thread/593025/680 "2011-08-18T19:15:49Z")
> [@TimeLady](#): > > I’m finding it really hard to follow this thread without avatars, but for now I have a slight town lead on Idle Thoughts (mostly his post in which he says (paraphrasing) “Wtf guys with all this offtopic talk, LETS BE LYNCHING SOME SCUM”). I don’t think a scum would be quite so gogogogo about it all. I have a small town lean on mykbot just for the way he’s posting, though him concentrating so much on offtopic things is bizarre and kinda freaks me out. On the contrary – this is how Idle plays, period, even as a Wolf; he’s very interested in keeping people “scum hunting”. I don’t know from mykbot. And for whoever it was complaining that we do tend to lean toward “scum will do that” – it’s because Scum Will. Scum will do _anything_ to win the game; that’s their _job_. Saying that Scum wouldn’t do “x” just gives Scum a free pass. But then, I’m paranoid enough that I don’t even trust claimed Masons until one of them is dead, so take that for what it’s worth. > [@](#): > > I have a small scum lean on SisterChapel for “innocuous posting”. Scrolling through the thread he (she?) has made a few posts but none of them really stick out, and it very much seeming like they’re trying to blend in in the background and not attract attention to themselves. > > \ > > vote: SisterChapel That would be SisterCoyote, I think, and I do tend to stay in the background on Day One. I haven’t had anything to add that hasn’t been said by quicker and wiser posters than I, and I’m used to smaller games at a much slower pace so I’m having a little trouble keeping up. ---
**Author:** ![Episkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Episkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Episkey)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mafia-game-thread/593025/681 "2011-08-18T19:16:10Z")
> [@SisterCoyote](#): > > I got so far behind on the game it isn’t even funny. Yikes. > > That said, I’m inclined to agree with **NAF** that something feels not quite right about **Ed’s** play, particularly the response to **Jan**. > > So I’m going to plunk my vote down on **Special Ed**. Can you elaborate on what seems off to you? I had a pretty similar thought process as Ed about Jan’s vote. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mafia-game-thread/593025.md?page=33) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mafia-game-thread/593025.md?page=35)