# Shakespeare Mafia-- Act I **URL:** \ **Category:** Thread Games\ **Created:** [July 12, 2025, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-mafia-act-i/1020789 "2025-07-12T15:19:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 16
**Author:** ![DemonTree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demontree/32/8646_2.png) [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2025, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-mafia-act-i/1020789/301 "2025-07-17T17:24:53Z")
> [@Thing.Fish](#): > > I’m assuming that being able to continue contributing after death IS LH75’s major power Is that not normal, then? I was surprised at that part. Or could this be the thing @Chronos was being vague about? ---
**Author:** ![storyteller0910](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@storyteller0910](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/storyteller0910)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2025, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-mafia-act-i/1020789/302 "2025-07-17T17:46:10Z")
This is quite unusual. Usually once you are dead you are out of the game, full stop, not allowed to play anymore. There are two possibilities: that this game is unusual in that respect (I kind of like it; it means the folks who die early can keep playing), or that LH75’s ability to talk after death is/was his power. In either case, I really wish LH75 had claimed, rather than just wished us all goodbye; it almost surely would have averted his ouster at least for toDay. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2025, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-mafia-act-i/1020789/303 "2025-07-17T17:56:16Z")
Playing and not being able to vote seems pretty frustrating to me. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2025, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-mafia-act-i/1020789/304 "2025-07-18T02:08:20Z")
How about somehow we actually give LH75 a vote? If, at EOD, someone has a vote on a one-off, and they do not wish to switch to major candidates, perhaps they could lend their vote ability to LH75, while acknowledging they would like it remembered who they wanted to vote for. So that one player ADDS LH75’s vote to their voting. Or maybe heck any player to be selected by LH75. With multi voting nothing is lost and you are letting a True Town player vote. Win/Win. Or we could agree to let LH75 decide a tie instead of the rules name tiebreaker. If we all agree that at EOD, we will let LH75 be the tiebreaker we have to all agree we will engineer it. While no one wants to lose voting autonomy, we would have a genuine Town player making the decision with guaranteed pro-Town motives. We have a player we can actually completely trust to have Town’s interests at heart. Don’t we sort of owe it to LH75? We incorrectly yeeted him. Now that indestructible pro-Town ghost could be our leader. Can we all, working together, come up with a plan. My mind is just spitballing here and would love to hear if others find merit in this and see where it could be taken. Or maybe we can let LH75 pick a player to piggyback a vote or votes. For instance say LH75 picks me. It may not be the player I’d choose and it might be opposite what I think, but I still must agree because we know LH75 is trusted pro Town. My meds are kicking in. We have been handed this unique Mafia opportunity. It has got to be beneficially exploitative for Town. Can some folks here help me figure this out? ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2025, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-mafia-act-i/1020789/305 "2025-07-18T08:26:43Z")
Biotop, I appreciate your thoughtfulness re LH75. It will certainly be useful to hear their analysis (as we know they are Town.) However organising votes around one player (especially close to the deadline) is extremely risky. Players can be in different time-zones (e.g. I’m in the UK); have real-life commitments and of course be Villains taking advantage of rushed decisions. 😨 I would be pleased to hear from LH75 on the situation. (It might even be that his Power only kicks in when he’s slain… in which case all is actually better than expected.) ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2025, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-mafia-act-i/1020789/306 "2025-07-18T11:15:33Z")
Sorry for the semi-incoherent post. I should not try to play after taking zolpidem. The gist of it is that LH75 can still vote. We just have to do it for them. Multivote gives us that option. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2025, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-mafia-act-i/1020789/307 "2025-07-18T14:39:23Z")
Another wonderful, beautiful, complex and potentially unworkable plan from Biotop! How I’ve missed this game. ---
**Author:** ![Bicycle\_Bill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bicycle_bill/32/6208_2.png) [@Bicycle\_Bill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bicycle_Bill)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2025, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-mafia-act-i/1020789/308 "2025-07-18T18:22:27Z")
OK, asking as a newbie to a Mafia game, the Townies have voted off, lynched, executed, or otherwise disposed of one person – who it seems was NOT one of the baddies. Now what happens? _ **-“BB”-** _ ---
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2025, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-mafia-act-i/1020789/309 "2025-07-18T18:39:24Z")
Night has fallen, and the villains are chatting to see who they decide to off. We’ll find out at sunrise\* who they took out, and then start figuring our next move. \* Yes, username/post combo checks out. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2025, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-mafia-act-i/1020789/310 "2025-07-18T18:43:10Z")
Good question. We show contrition. At least I do, also as a newbie, and ask my fellow townies, in case they know how to proceed from here: imagine you had a power, but you did not know what this power is. Should you use it? Tonight may be the last chance to do so, but we have seen how unintended consequences end in tragedy with the wrong character dead. What to do? Oh, my fellow citizens of the ancient and most noble city of Verona! I need counsel and guidance. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2025, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-mafia-act-i/1020789/311 "2025-07-18T18:44:06Z")
NETA: That was in reply to **Bicycle\_Bill** , but adressed to everyone. ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2025, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-mafia-act-i/1020789/312 "2025-07-18T19:16:10Z")
What an oddly specific, yet vague, question. It would be quite unusual for a player to have a “mystery” power whose effects are unknown to him, but then again the “ghost” mechanism, which we know exists, is also fairly unusual. By implying you have such a power, you’ve probably increased the chances that you won’t live through the Night, so I guess you should probably go for it. ---
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2025, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-mafia-act-i/1020789/313 "2025-07-18T19:25:53Z")
Perhaps Pardel-Lux is HAMLET, who can’t make up his mind about how to act? I mean, BANQUO’s power was so very specific to the character that I’d imagine that other major characters have powers that relate to their own Shakespeare characters as well. ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2025, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-mafia-act-i/1020789/314 "2025-07-18T19:27:37Z")
One thing we typically do at this point, which will become increasingly enlightening as the game proceeds, is carefully examine the final votecount and the history of how it got there. Which leads me to ask: @Pardel-Lux and @DemonTree, why did you choose to vote for _both_ LH75 and Mahaloth? @Dizzymrslizzy and @Bicycle_Bill, why did you vote only for each other while declining to get involved in the main question of the Day? ---
**Author:** ![Bicycle\_Bill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bicycle_bill/32/6208_2.png) [@Bicycle\_Bill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bicycle_Bill)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2025, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-mafia-act-i/1020789/315 "2025-07-18T19:49:32Z")
I didn’t get involved in the question because I’m literally feeling my way here. As I observe more interactions and begin to better understand what is going on here, I expect to become more involved … assuming I don’t get offed in the meantime. And I voted only to avoid being replaced for non-participation, as Chronos alluded to [here](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-mafia-signup/1020456/51). As for why I voted for @Dizzymrslizzy, I think I explained that in my vote post… although I am somewhat curious to know why she wanted me gone. _ **-“BB”-** _ ---
**Author:** ![DemonTree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demontree/32/8646_2.png) [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2025, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-mafia-act-i/1020789/316 "2025-07-18T19:57:15Z")
> [@Biotop](#): > > How about somehow we actually give LH75 a vote? Interesting idea. @LH75 won’t have any special knowledge, but we do at least know for sure that he’s town. The biggest benefit is that reluctance to vote as he asked would be pretty suspicious, though as @glee said, time zones and busyness could be either a genuine reason not to or an excuse. * * * > [@Thing.Fish](#): > > Which leads me to ask: @Pardel-Lux and @DemonTree, why did you choose to vote for _both_ LH75 and Mahaloth? I had no idea who to vote for, but I thought I ought to vote for someone, so I decided to follow other players’ lead. And I couldn’t see anything to choose between the two of them, so I voted for both. Then yesterday, the vote became so lopsided that there was no point reconsidering. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2025, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-mafia-act-i/1020789/317 "2025-07-18T20:07:29Z")
> [@Thing.Fish](#): > > By implying you have such a power, you’ve probably increased the chances that you won’t live through the Night, so I guess you should probably go for it. I agree with the first part, but I fear the Villains already suspected this. Pondering the second. I already stated why I voted for **Mahaloth** : mainly because he did not react to me answering his request in post ~80 (where I already hinted at my troubles, just nobody seems to have understood them - except, I fear, as stated, the Villains, who did not react openly) and his vagueness thereafter. I voted for **LH75** because the general tone of his answers seemed negative to me, and I did not unvote him when I could have when he voted for me. My suspicions now center around **Mahaloth** and you, **Thing.Fish**. We’ll see whether I am wrong again – perhaps. Maybe the Villains let me live if they see that I am good at eliminating fellow Townies by mistake: I started **LH75** ’s bandwagon and was only the second voter in **Mahaloth** ’s. I seem to be good at doing the devil’s work. Would you like to explain too why you voted for whom you voted, @Thing.Fish? > [@SunUp](#): > > BANQUO’s power was so very specific to the character Was it? Are you sure you know what his power was? In the play he was killed by Macbeth’s henchmen, but his son became King of Scotland as foretold by the three witches. I remember nothing about him becoming a ghost and acting after his death. The only ghost I remember was in Hamlet. I don’t know whether coming back as a ghost is **LH75** ’s specific power or whether this would have happened to any first dead or even whether all dead will be able to do the same. And he may say whatever he wants, but he has so far not. > [@SunUp](#): > > I’d imagine that other major characters have powers that relate to their own Shakespeare characters as well. I suspect so too, **Chronos** has thought hard about this game. > [@Chronos](#): > > But you’re all smart. Right now I feel like he expects too much of ~~us~~ me. I am sure things look much clearer to him, I guess he is having a good time. ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2025, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-mafia-act-i/1020789/318 "2025-07-18T20:14:17Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > Would you like to explain too why you voted for whom you voted, @Thing.Fish? Pretty sure I already did. I didn’t find anyone especially suspicious, and at the time I voted it looked like it was going to be a choice between LH75 and Mahaloth. As I believe others have said, I felt based on extensive experience that the votes on Mahaloth were just for normal Mahaloth behavior, and that Mahaloth was probably Town, so I went the other way. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2025, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-mafia-act-i/1020789/319 "2025-07-18T20:29:37Z")
> [@Thing.Fish](#): > > By implying you have such a power, you’ve probably increased the chances that you won’t live through the Night Assuming that somebody has protecting powers I also have increased the chance that they will protect _me_. > [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > I need counsel and guidance. But I also need help. And, of course, I might be lying. This is also a game of paranoia. Speaking of which, I am also suspicious of **AngeloftheNorth**. ---
**Author:** ![AngeloftheNorth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/angelofthenorth/32/19559_2.png) [@AngeloftheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngeloftheNorth)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2025, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-mafia-act-i/1020789/320 "2025-07-18T20:33:31Z")
Well, we probably only have 4 town powers (more would be overpowered), so I am going to vouch for Pardel-Lux here. I am also a town power and I also don’t know what my role is. It’s why I’ve been insisting he’s town, I knew exactly what he was getting at with the questions. It’s also why I overreacted to his post about name claiming. I’m claiming because right now he has a target on his back, it will give scum some WIFOM. (I think I know who the 4th town power is if there is one, and I’m not going to out them but if I could figure it out scum could probably too. Scum will also know P-L is town so they’ll know he’s telling the truth. Also, Biotop, sorry to lie to you, dear friend, but _that_ was the real reason for the questions about the vig. When I first read my PM I thought I was a vig. You all have successfully convinced me that there’s probably not one, or at least I hope not. @Pardel-Lux, I still don’t know what my power is but I have used it tonight. This post may also put a target on _my_ back, but I won’t share my post-exile reads until end of night. (When does night end?) @LH75, I’m sorry for my role in your exile. I need to remind myself that sometimes what looks like scum tells are power tells. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-mafia-act-i/1020789.md?page=15) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-mafia-act-i/1020789.md?page=17)