# Screamers Mafia **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [September 21, 2009, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screamers-mafia/510938 "2009-09-21T13:16:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 68
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screamers-mafia/510938/1341 "2009-10-13T09:33:25Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > As I said, **Drain Bead** was the logical choice for a Town roleblocker. So, what is wrong with this plan? Daphne blocks Drain Bead tonight. If she blocks someone else, we lynch Daphne tomorrow. If Daphne is town, the block does no harm regardless of Drain Bead’s alignment, and we might get investigative information. If Daphne is scum, her role-block is either neutralised or she outs herself. ---
**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:** [October 13, 2009, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screamers-mafia/510938/1342 "2009-10-13T09:53:52Z")
Or the scum takes me out tonight and we learn exactly nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screamers-mafia/510938/1343 "2009-10-13T09:55:28Z")
That’s still a win for town, as it means they don’t get to kill a power role tonight. ---
**Author:** ![One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/838e76/32.png) [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screamers-mafia/510938/1344 "2009-10-13T09:57:09Z")
> [@Alka\_Seltzer](#): > > So, what is wrong with this plan? Daphne blocks Drain Bead tonight. If she blocks someone else, we lynch Daphne tomorrow. > > If Daphne is town, the block does no harm regardless of Drain Bead’s alignment, and we might get investigative information. > > If Daphne is scum, her role-block is either neutralised or she outs herself. It’s not quite as cut and dried as that. If Daphne and Drain are BOTH scum then they can claim to block and be blocked rather easily. That said, if one of them later shows up scum, we would be able to take another look at the other one. I would really really like to hear from Freudian Slit too, but I have no problem with the plan proposed. ---
**Author:** ![Gryff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/919ad9/32.png) [@Gryff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gryff)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screamers-mafia/510938/1345 "2009-10-13T09:58:40Z")
> [@Drain\_Bead](#): > > This, I think, deserves its own point. You are the first to suggest that the Scum are responsible for **Texcat** ’s death. It seems up until this point to have been the unanimous opinion that the Scum killed **jpei** , leaving **Jimmy** and **texcat** up to a potential Vig and SK, or perhaps a **texcat** attempted recruit of a robot that ended up in his death. But the one consistent concept from the Night actions is that Scum took out the one confirmed Town. > > What makes you think that the Scum killed **texcat** , of all people? I think it is almost certain that **Texcat** died as a result of attempting to recruit scum. Every recruiting mechanism of this nature I have seen kills the recruiter if they accidentally try to recruit scum. Hopefully there is an existing mason who knows who she (he?) attempted to recruit. That allows for a failed recruiting kill, a scum kill and a self defence or vig kill on our part. Plus the alleged theft gives us a healthy set of night actions going on. ---
**Author:** ![One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/838e76/32.png) [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screamers-mafia/510938/1346 "2009-10-13T10:10:56Z")
> [@Gryff](#): > > I think it is almost certain that **Texcat** died as a result of attempting to recruit scum. Every recruiting mechanism of this nature I have seen kills the recruiter if they accidentally try to recruit scum. Hopefully there is an existing mason who knows who she (he?) attempted to recruit. > > That allows for a failed recruiting kill, a scum kill and a self defence or vig kill on our part. Plus the alleged theft gives us a healthy set of night actions going on. Wouldn’t an existing mason who knew the identity of a scum come forward? In other games I have played, recruiting mason’s start out alone. ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screamers-mafia/510938/1347 "2009-10-13T10:38:46Z")
Thanks for clarifying things mods. > [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](#): > > If Daphne and Drain are BOTH scum then they can claim to block and be blocked rather easily. Even then, we’ve still neutralised the role-blocker. It’s hard for me to see the lynch of a claimed investigator at this stage, even a weak one, as anything other than scum motivated. The town role-blocker role is somewhat nebulous, and can hurt or help town, but with an investigative element it’s a useful one. It’s likely we’ll have a mass claim at some point. If Daphne is town and still alive she can be safely be directed at the vanilla pool. It makes little sense to me that a scum blocker would claim to be a town blocker. Town is in a bit of a hole right now with so many players dropping off the radar. Where are Tiltawhirl, FS and USCDiver? Who else is missing? ---
**Author:** ![GuiriEnEspana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc79bd/32.png) [@GuiriEnEspana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuiriEnEspana)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screamers-mafia/510938/1348 "2009-10-13T10:57:41Z")
> [@Alka\_Seltzer](#): > > Town is in a bit of a hole right now with so many players dropping off the radar. Where are Tiltawhirl, FS and USCDiver? Who else is missing? As far as I can see: **Oredigger** seems to gone quiet since Thursday. **amrussel** ’s last post was on Fri morning although I see she’s posted elsewhere today. \*\*Tilta \*\*and **USC** ’s last posts here were last Wednesday, a fairly long time ago… ---
**Author:** ![Gryff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/919ad9/32.png) [@Gryff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gryff)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screamers-mafia/510938/1349 "2009-10-13T11:28:25Z")
> [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](#): > > Wouldn’t an existing mason who knew the identity of a scum come forward? In other games I have played, recruiting mason’s start out alone. Do they? Well that explains that, and makes **Texcat** ’s loss even worse than I had thought. I thought someone was going to pop up with her (his?) last words. ---
**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:** [October 13, 2009, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screamers-mafia/510938/1350 "2009-10-13T13:04:43Z")
> [@Alka\_Seltzer](#): > > Even then, we’ve still neutralised the role-blocker. For one Night, and then the same problems continue on until the next Day. Also, there’s one important fact left out of the equation. I’m pretty sure I won’t get an answer to this, but… **Mods, would a Vanilla find out from you if they’d been blocked?** Because if not, there’s no way for me to confirm that **Daphne** blocked me. If **Daphne** is Scum, she can block their target, they can kill their target, and nobody will ever be the wiser. She can say she blocked me and I’ll have no way of knowing if this is true or not. > [@](#): > > It’s hard for me to see the lynch of a claimed investigator at this stage, even a weak one, as anything other than scum motivated. Normally I am not a fan of claims, but at this point I’d like to see her let us know more about the investigator portion of her role before I unvote. As is, too many things seem very convenient about that part of her claim, especially the fact that she investigated/blocked **Freudian Slit** , who was being pointed out for lurking and hasn’t been to the thread so far toDay. My concern is that she said she blocked **Freudian Slit** in hopes that **FS** doesn’t come back to the thread, or if she does, she doesn’t have a Night action and therefore will have no idea she’d been blocked. If **Daphne** is truly what she says she is, at some point it becomes increasingly more anti-Town for her to not tell us what she knows about **FS** , and maybe more about the mechanics of her role. I’d hope she does it before **Boozy** places a vote, so we’re not scrambling to find someone else in 24 hours if what she says makes us change our minds. Clearly if **Daphne** is telling the truth, **FS** is some flavor of Town, because if she were Scum, **Daphne** would have told us when she claimed. So that cat’s already out of the bag. Being secretive about that, and about the investigative properties of her role (or if she even got a hit at all on **FS** , which is the other possibility) is anti-Town as well. > [@](#): > > The town role-blocker role is somewhat nebulous, and can hurt or help town, but with an investigative element it’s a useful one. It’s likely we’ll have a mass claim at some point. If Daphne is town and still alive she can be safely be directed at the vanilla pool. At this point in the game the Roleblocker has more of a chance to be harmful than helpful, and the way **Daphne** has been playing it is harmful. What, for example, if **Daphne** is Town, **peeker** is scum, and **Freudian Slit** was our real Doctor, who last night was protecting **jpei**? I’m not saying that this was the case, of course, but the Town Roleblocker’s job is to stay out of the Town power roles’ way, and this is even more important if the Roleblocker has an investigative function. Use it to investigate people who you find suspicious enough to say so no less than three times (four, I guess, if you count the vote) and who claimed a role that if true, would not be harmed by being blocked. I’ll have to check back in the thread and see if **Daphne** ever verbalized her suspicion against **FS**. Because she sure did against me, but when push came to shove she went looking elsewhere, even though there were dangers in doing so. If **Daphne** mentioned suspicion of **FS** pre-Morning, it would go a long way in repairing some of the issues I have with her. > [@](#): > > It makes little sense to me that a scum blocker would claim to be a town blocker I have been a scum roleblocker twice (in a row, no less) and claimed town roleblocker both times. The first time we had prepared a nice list of who I blocked and why (when in reality I think we had just blocked who I killed every time), and the second time I just said “seriously, do you think I’d be Scum Roleblocker in two games in a row?” 😉 There was something else I wanted to say, but I’m running on about four and a half hours of sleep, so I’ve lost it. If I remember I’ll try to get it in, but my day is going to be busy as hell. ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screamers-mafia/510938/1351 "2009-10-13T13:14:29Z")
Yes, FS’s absence is really screwing us over. I am assuming that the blocked player recieves indication of this. My idea breaks down if that is not the case. > [@Drain\_Bead](#): > > I have been a scum roleblocker twice (in a row, no less) and claimed town roleblocker both times. The first time we had prepared a nice list of who I blocked and why (when in reality I think we had just blocked who I killed every time), and the second time I just said “seriously, do you think I’d be Scum Roleblocker in two games in a row?” 😉 That’s interesting, and suprises me. In those games, were blocked players told they were blocked? ---
**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:** [October 13, 2009, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screamers-mafia/510938/1352 "2009-10-13T13:35:51Z")
I’m trying to get my head round all the different scenarios presented: One theory seems to be that: peeker’s scum; Daphne, who tried to protect him, is also scum; Daphne lied about blocking Freudian, making Freudian also scum. It would be great if this theory were true, because scum would have implicated three of their members. Even if only the first two elements were true, we’d have done well to ferret out two scum. Unfortunately for me, I don’t really believe that peeker is scum, for reasons I’ve given above. (Crucially, I think Jimmy was pushing the peeker as false-claimer idea to distract us and possibly net a mislynch.) So, if I don’t accept that peeker is scum, can I still believe that Daphne is scum? The first motive for bandwagon voting (protecting peeker) doesn’t apply now. So why would a scum Daphne do that? The obvious other reason is the one that applies to all bandwagon voting - to hide among the crowd. But is appearing on three bandwagons in one Day really hiding among the crowd? Anyone whose motive is to try to avoid attention should surely see that this would be self-defeating. I’m more inclined to think that Daphne’s following of the crowd yesterday had as much to do with Day One uncertainty as with subterfuge. ---
**Author:** ![Scuba\_Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Scuba\_Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scuba_Ben)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screamers-mafia/510938/1353 "2009-10-13T13:52:18Z")
Just a public service notice (I am running off to a staff meeting, and may actually have to do my day job for a bit): **Freudian Slit** is listed as presently online and active, last activity about a minute ago. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screamers-mafia/510938/1354 "2009-10-13T13:56:59Z")
> [@Scuba\_Ben](#): > > Just a public service notice (I am running off to a staff meeting, and may actually have to do my day job for a bit): > > **Freudian Slit** is listed as presently online and active, last activity about a minute ago. Well, she’s been posting various places on the Dope over the weekend & yesterday, but that’s very different from wading through 500 new posts of a mafia game. ---
**Author:** ![One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/838e76/32.png) [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screamers-mafia/510938/1355 "2009-10-13T14:05:44Z")
having a pm from ped sould at least prompt a “i’ll post soon post” ---
**Author:** ![tiltawhirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e99b99/32.png) [@tiltawhirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiltawhirl)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screamers-mafia/510938/1356 "2009-10-13T14:10:24Z")
> [@Alka\_Seltzer](#): > > Town is in a bit of a hole right now with so many players dropping off the radar. Where are Tiltawhirl, FS and USCDiver? Who else is missing? I have been trying to keep up with the game and-it chagrins me to say-I’ve been kind of overwhelmed with the sheer volume of analysis, actions, scenarios, claims, counter-claims, and strategizing. I’ll try to jump back in & do my newbie best; will have a substantive post by end of day (Tuesday). ---
**Author:** ![CatInASuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3be4f8/32.png) [@CatInASuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CatInASuit)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screamers-mafia/510938/1357 "2009-10-13T14:11:18Z")
Here’s hoping for something from Freudian Slit, which will either clear up some details or just add to the mystery. This game is getting really large and it’s only Day 2 ---
**Author:** ![CatInASuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3be4f8/32.png) [@CatInASuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CatInASuit)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screamers-mafia/510938/1358 "2009-10-13T14:28:00Z")
Other thoughts: **Drain Bead** : I’m less certain about what I thought before of Drain Bead, although it hasn’t gone away totally. **peekercpa** : I read back over the original claim and more importantly the initial conversation where Drain Bead suggested using a Vig and the responses from Tom Scud, peekercpa and so on. It looks like it was rehashed and later on as well, and so it is possibly JC was just chiming in to look towny. His roleclaim was suspicious, but I am going to have to agree with others that the best thing to do is wait and see. I am also beginning to wonder if he is not scum but just enjoys screwing with us for kicks. Given the circle of Night actions that could have occured I will wait for Freudian Slit to post something. ---
**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:** [October 13, 2009, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screamers-mafia/510938/1359 "2009-10-13T14:52:13Z")
Kinda tangential to the main discussion going on, but **Drain Bead** , why do you keep bringing up the idea of Scum killing you, or pushing your lynch? Scum has no motive I can think of to want you dead, if you are Town. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screamers-mafia/510938/1360 "2009-10-13T15:08:38Z")
> [@Drain\_Bead](#): > > I’m pretty sure I won’t get an answer to this, but… > > [bleached]Mods, would a Vanilla find out from you if they’d been blocked?[/bleached] Well, in any case, **Daphne, does your role pm indicate if your target is told about the block?** Based on the “bartender” color, I’d think so, but who knows. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screamers-mafia/510938.md?page=67) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screamers-mafia/510938.md?page=69)