# Scum mafia: On Cecil pond \[Game Over\] **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [January 24, 2010, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scum-mafia-on-cecil-pond-game-over/526202 "2010-01-24T05:10:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![storyteller0910](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@storyteller0910](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/storyteller0910)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scum-mafia-on-cecil-pond-game-over/526202/181 "2010-01-28T23:46:39Z")
Confirmed. ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scum-mafia-on-cecil-pond-game-over/526202/182 "2010-01-28T23:47:20Z")
I see no reason to let Spawn live longer than they have to. Once we stop voting Spawn, they begin to mobilize. I do not see a reason to not vote for Spawn. To be clear on my double negative: \*\*Vote Spawn \*\* \*\*Chronos, I can not place a second vote on the Spawn, correct? \*\* ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scum-mafia-on-cecil-pond-game-over/526202/183 "2010-01-28T23:51:59Z")
I think both **Meeko** and **Drain Bead** have the right idea. If we know we’re going to get one spawn every summer, and we have no real idea of who the scum are, we should use one of those votes doing something constructive. **Vote Spawn** ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scum-mafia-on-cecil-pond-game-over/526202/184 "2010-01-29T00:03:12Z")
Confirming. ---
**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:** [January 29, 2010, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scum-mafia-on-cecil-pond-game-over/526202/185 "2010-01-29T00:07:38Z")
Vote total: Spawn 2 1: special\_ed 2: ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies 3: Drain Bead 4: Oredigger77 5: storyteller0910 6: Meeko – Spawn (182) 7: Mahaloth 8: Freudian Slit – Spawn (183) 9: USCDiver 10: Alka Seltzer 11: peekercpa 12: Natlaw 13: Zeriel 14: DiggitCamara 15: amrussell 16: KellyCriterion 17: Scuba\_Ben 18: sachertorte 19: fluiddruid 20: TexCat 21: Rysto ---
**Author:** ![peekercpa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@peekercpa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peekercpa)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scum-mafia-on-cecil-pond-game-over/526202/186 "2010-01-29T00:09:21Z")
confirmed/got mine. **vote spawn** **vote story** was going to vote either you or **sach** depending on who posted first. **quick question: can we give the spawn some sort of cute cuddly backstory as opposed to this horrible identifier. i mean seriously, its the 21th century we should have moved past labels. i mean let’s at least give a name and a protozoan face to those whom we will kill blindly. that way we can develop sutitable angst about their suffering and ultimate death although they be only tools of a repressive underground regime that expects to wreak havoc.** thanks for the consideration. ---
**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:** [January 29, 2010, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scum-mafia-on-cecil-pond-game-over/526202/187 "2010-01-29T00:09:48Z")
> [@](#): > > Chronos, I can not place a second vote on the Spawn, correct? Correct. Your two votes have to be on two different organisms. ---
**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:** [January 29, 2010, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scum-mafia-on-cecil-pond-game-over/526202/188 "2010-01-29T00:11:57Z")
Vote total: Spawn 3 storyteller0910 1 1: special\_ed 2: ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies 3: Drain Bead 4: Oredigger77 5: storyteller0910 6: Meeko – Spawn (182) 7: Mahaloth 8: Freudian Slit – Spawn (183) 9: USCDiver 10: Alka Seltzer 11: peekercpa – Spawn (186), story (186) 12: Natlaw 13: Zeriel 14: DiggitCamara 15: amrussell 16: KellyCriterion 17: Scuba\_Ben 18: sachertorte 19: fluiddruid 20: TexCat 21: Rysto > [@](#): > > quick question: can we give the spawn some sort of cute cuddly backstory as opposed to this horrible identifier. i mean seriously, its the 21th century we should have moved past labels. i mean let’s at least give a name and a protozoan face to those whom we will kill blindly. that way we can develop sutitable angst about their suffering and ultimate death although they be only tools of a repressive underground regime that expects to wreak havoc. You can come up with whatever backstory you want; don’t let me stop you. And the repressive regime is underwater, not underground. ---
**Author:** ![peekercpa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@peekercpa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peekercpa)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scum-mafia-on-cecil-pond-game-over/526202/189 "2010-01-29T00:13:14Z")
neta: apparently the cash offer was insufficient ---
**Author:** ![peekercpa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@peekercpa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peekercpa)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scum-mafia-on-cecil-pond-game-over/526202/190 "2010-01-29T00:18:00Z")
**oog** i am getting ready to build a deck so i may be a little bit of delays in responses. seriously, the builder delivered a ton of wood planks to my house today. cubicle heaven.[/oog]. ---
**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:** [January 29, 2010, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scum-mafia-on-cecil-pond-game-over/526202/191 "2010-01-29T00:40:18Z")
**[color]vote Spawn**[/color] ---
**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:** [January 29, 2010, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scum-mafia-on-cecil-pond-game-over/526202/192 "2010-01-29T00:41:59Z")
Jesus. Clearly I need some sleep. **vote Spawn** ---
**Author:** ![ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scum-mafia-on-cecil-pond-game-over/526202/193 "2010-01-29T00:48:17Z")
Confirmed. **Vote Spawn** We could call the first one Dino, short for dinoflagellate… ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scum-mafia-on-cecil-pond-game-over/526202/194 "2010-01-29T00:48:56Z")
Confirmed I don’t understand the spawn mechanic but I don’t see any harm in voting for the spawn with our extra vote which should just leave us in a normal game. On the other hand I think that killing scum should be more important then voting for the spawn even if the odds are much lower. That being said: **Vote spawn** ---
**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:** [January 29, 2010, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scum-mafia-on-cecil-pond-game-over/526202/195 "2010-01-29T01:00:56Z")
Killing Scum is ultimately the most important thing. However, and I’m sure someone who can do math will come along and confirm this, not voting Spawn has the potential to greatly shorten the game. If we kill two Pondies toDay, and wake up Tomorrow with the same amount of Scum and TWO Spawn, it really puts us in a much worse position. Voting for Spawn every Day basically removes that mechanic from the game in any meaningful way, and turns this into a normal game of Mafia. Of course, there could be mechanics built into roles that make this plan problematic–in fact, I’m sure that **Chronos** , in designing this game, realized that it was easy to neutralize the Spawn game mechanic and may have done something in his role design to counteract that. But up to the point where that becomes obvious, we should probably all be splitting our votes between players and Spawn. ---
**Author:** ![ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scum-mafia-on-cecil-pond-game-over/526202/196 "2010-01-29T01:01:43Z")
> [@Oredigger77](#): > > Confirmed > > I don’t understand the spawn mechanic but I don’t see any harm in voting for the spawn with our extra vote which should just leave us in a normal game. On the other hand I think that killing scum should be more important then voting for the spawn even if the odds are much lower. That being said: > > **Vote spawn** But the Spawn are technically scum, and they are randomly voting scum. **When it comes time for Spawn to vote, will those votes be itemized as they are for the living players?** Apologies if this has been asked and answered. ---
**Author:** ![peekercpa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@peekercpa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peekercpa)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scum-mafia-on-cecil-pond-game-over/526202/197 "2010-01-29T01:04:17Z")
> [@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](#): > > Confirmed. > > **[color=blue]Vote Spawn**[color] > > We could call the first one Dino, short for dinoflagellate… or we could call them **pollux** ---
**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:** [January 29, 2010, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scum-mafia-on-cecil-pond-game-over/526202/198 "2010-01-29T01:17:41Z")
confirmed and **vote spawn** I think we have to get rid of a spawn every summer. Lyse the known threat and hopefully get lucky on a scum. ---
**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:** [January 29, 2010, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scum-mafia-on-cecil-pond-game-over/526202/199 "2010-01-29T01:20:21Z")
Vote total: Spawn 7 storyteller0910 1 1: special\_ed 2: ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies – Spawn (193) 3: Drain Bead – Spawn (191) 4: Oredigger77 – Spawn (194) 5: storyteller0910 6: Meeko – Spawn (182) 7: Mahaloth 8: Freudian Slit – Spawn (183) 9: USCDiver 10: Alka Seltzer 11: peekercpa – Spawn (186), story (186) 12: Natlaw 13: Zeriel 14: DiggitCamara 15: amrussell 16: KellyCriterion 17: Scuba\_Ben 18: sachertorte 19: fluiddruid 20: TexCat – Spawn (198) 21: Rysto > [@](#): > > When it comes time for Spawn to vote, will those votes be itemized as they are for the living players? Assuming I’m interpreting this question correctly: At the end of Summer, it will be revealed whom the Spawn is/are voting for. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scum-mafia-on-cecil-pond-game-over/526202/200 "2010-01-29T01:26:38Z")
> [@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](#): > > But the Spawn are technically scum, and they are randomly voting scum. But that random vote is a good thing for town. Let’s say we have a doc that gets outed a true scum is going to try and kill the doc, either through lyseing or night kill, but the spawn won’t try to kill the doc and that hurts the scum. I think that’s a pretty good reason to leave the spawn around even over a mildly suspicious person. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scum-mafia-on-cecil-pond-game-over/526202.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scum-mafia-on-cecil-pond-game-over/526202.md?page=11)