Shakespeare Mafia-- Act I

Thread Games
281

Looks like there are two main candidates right now, with an hour left. Neither has claimed. We should try very hard to avoid building last minute bandwagons like this in future Days; if both of these players make compelling last-second claims, we’re going to be scrambling and even less likely to make a good decision.

But we’re here now. How did we get here?

LH75

LH75’s wagon technically started with Angel at #146. In this post, Angel voted for 6 different players and explicitly stated that she was not particularly suspicious of any of them.

At #158, LH75 chips in with a Town read on Angel.

At #164, Pardel-Lux places votes on Angel and LH75. They do not give a reason in this post, but a bit later (173) references post 158 (“teaming up” between LH75 and Angel) as their primary reason. Notable quote: “LH75 suspicion leans on [Angel’s].”

At #174, Angel says “I find your explanations believable” but does not unvote. BUT THEN at 226, Angel says: “LH75: I can’t really tell. Without other information, they could have just thought I was Town or they could have been defending me because they know I’m town and Pardel-Lux’s vote will make him look bad.” The subtle shift in approach between these two posts is concerning. I am suspicious of Angel.

At #243, glee places the third vote (!) on LH75, essentially as a “me too” to Angel. @glee – what aspect of Angel’s reasoning seemed to make sense to you here? With what, specifically, do you agree?

At #261, Angel reiterates a vote on LH75 (having unvoted all in her previous post). Not much additional elaboration here.

At #264, DemonTree votes for both leading candidates, which amounts to a vote for LH75 given the tiebreaker method. No specific reasoning given here. Don’t like this, really – could be newbie Town at a loss, but something about the specifics (double vote for both leading candidates) feels off especially if it is eventually found that LH75 and Mahaloth are both Town.

At #271, Prof.P votes LH75 because “I think he is more likely Scum than Mahaloth.” I don’t know what to make of this vote.

At #273, Mahaloth votes for LH75 to save himself (neutral read).

At #277, Thing Fish votes for LH75 essentially to protect Mahaloth.

So far, many of the LH75 voters look suspicious to some degree, particularly Angel, and to a lesser extent DemonTree and ThingFish. Just to get it on the record:

Vote AngeloftheNorth

Mahaloth bandwagon analysis next.

282

Back just in the nick of time and everything looks good. See what happens tonight. No change in my votes.
Although, if I get it right: we can vote for more than one candidate, but only one gets kicked out.

vote Thing.Fish

As the scoreboard stands this is a vote of no consequence, but just so he knows I am watching.

283

Mahaloth 4 (Prof.Pepperwinkle 2-9, AngeloftheNorth 146-226, SunUp 254, Pardel-Lux 262, DemonTree 264, Biotop 265)
Biotop 0 (AngeloftheNorth 146-171)
DemonTree 1 (AngeloftheNorth 146-260, Thing.Fish 208-250, glee 244)
LH75 7 (AngeloftheNorth 146-260, 261, Pardel-Lux 164, glee 244, DemonTree 264, Prof.Pepperwinkle 272, Mahaloth 274, Thing.Fish 279)
Bicycle_Bill 2 (AngeloftheNorth 146-173, Dizzymrslizzy 227, Prof.Pepperwinkle 257)
DizzyMrsLizzy 0 (AngeloftheNorth 146-225, Prof.Pepperwinkle 213-217)
AngeloftheNorth 1 (Prof.Pepperwinkle 149-213, Pardel-Lux 164-234, storyteller0910 281)
Pardel-Lux 1 (LH75 212)
SunUp 0 (Prof.Pepperwinkle 228-239)
Prof. Pepperwinkle 1 (SunUp 233-254, Thing.Fish 235-251, storyteller0910 237, Mahaloth 253-274)
Thing.Fish 1 (DemonTree 238-255, Pardel-Lux 282)

284

Vote DizzyMrsLizzy

Because
1 – she voted against me
2 – by voting against me she violated the unwritten rule about not ‘yeeting the noobs’ (whateverinthehell THAT means!)
3 – nobody else has voted against her, so if she ISN’T Scum no real harm has been done

And just as a point of information, what do the numbers after some of the names mean or indicate?

-“BB”-

285

Mahaloth

The bandwagon on Mahaloth is the very definition of a late vote swing.

SunUp starts it at #253 (16 hours pre-deadline). In a curious post, he unvotes Prof.P (for whom he previously voted because Prof.P voted for him), and then votes Mahaloth for voting for Prof.P. This one has some wonky vibes, but at the time Mahaloth had no other votes so SunUp’s vote doesn’t strike me as particularly opportunistic.

Pardel-Lux adds a vote at #262 for “scummy vibes.”

DemonTree adds a vote at #264 (talked about her vote in the prior post – voting for both amounts to a vote for LH75 given the tiebreaker rules.

Worth noting: at this exact moment Mahaloth has three votes, all pretty “vibes-based,” from three new players. Given that Mahaloth often comes across as scummy-ish on Day One regardless of his actual alignment, this actually seems like a pretty understandable outcome.

Less understandable: at #265, Biotop pushes Mahaloth into a tie with LH75, reasoning as follows:

I do not like this vote. Scum do not generally do anti-town things on Day 1.

To coin a phrase, I do not like this vote. Scum will do almost anything at almost any time, and calling out anti-Town behavior is essential. If we’re going to punish players for calling out and voting for anti-Town things, we’re hamstringing ourselves.

Given the context, this is the most suspicious thing I’ve seen so far. It puts the two candidates into a tie with less than 4 hours to go, and LH75 still with a vote in hand (admittedly, Mahaloth also has a vote in hand at this point).

Unvote all

Vote Biotop

And then LH75 pops in while I was writing my last post, says goodbye, and does not claim a role.

On the whole, the Mahaloth bandwagon, such as it was, seems to have been primarily based on vibes coming from newer players unfamiliar with Mahaloth’s playstyle.

Vote LH75

  • I see absolutely no substance in the Mahaloth bandwagon

  • LH75’s non-defense feels a lot like a caught Villain trying to minimize damage, and almost definitely means that they are a Minor Character at worst.

  • LH75’s flip will give us good information about the other participants in the game.

286

The number after the name refers to the number of the post wherein the vote was cast.

287

The tiebreaker rules are based on the game names, not the board names. We don’t know (most of) the board names yet, so it is factually a coin toss.

I don’t feel part of a bandwagon when I was either the first or the second to vote for what became a bandwagon. If the bandwagon came after my vote it is not a bandwagon from my point of view.
But I am a new player, that much is right.
No new votes, no unvotes.

288

NETA: I meant we don’t know most of the game names yet. The board names are there for all to see.

289

I don’t have anything specific (surely not be expected this early on?), but I thought Angel was active and trying to be helpful.
(I did also vote for DemonTree for the same reason.)

290

Mahaloth 4 (Prof.Pepperwinkle 2-9, AngeloftheNorth 146-226, SunUp 254, Pardel-Lux 262, DemonTree 264, Biotop 265)
Biotop 1 (AngeloftheNorth 146-171, storyteller0910 285)
DemonTree 1 (AngeloftheNorth 146-260, Thing.Fish 208-250, glee 244)
LH75 8 (AngeloftheNorth 146-260, 261, Pardel-Lux 164, glee 244, DemonTree 264, Prof.Pepperwinkle 272, Mahaloth 274, Thing.Fish 279, storyteller0910 285)
Bicycle_Bill 2 (AngeloftheNorth 146-173, Dizzymrslizzy 227, Prof.Pepperwinkle 257)
DizzyMrsLizzy 1 (AngeloftheNorth 146-225, Prof.Pepperwinkle 213-217, Bicycle_Bill 284)
AngeloftheNorth 0 (Prof.Pepperwinkle 149-213, Pardel-Lux 164-234, storyteller0910 281-289)
Pardel-Lux 1 (LH75 212)
SunUp 0 (Prof.Pepperwinkle 228-239)
Prof. Pepperwinkle 0 (SunUp 233-254, Thing.Fish 235-251, storyteller0910 237-285, Mahaloth 253-274)
Thing.Fish 1 (DemonTree 238-255, Pardel-Lux 282)

291

Enter BANQUETERS, who sit at the table. Enter also BANQUO’S GHOST, who sits at the head of the table.

LENNOX Here is a place reserved, sir.
MACBETH Where?
LENNOX
Here, my good lord. What is ’t that moves your
Highness?

LH75, who played the part of Banquo, a major character, has died, but his restless spirit lingers on. He cannot vote, be voted for, or be targeted, but he can continue to participate in discussions until th’ crack of doom the end of the game.

Act 1, scene 2: Birnham Wood, just outside of the city, later that night

292

PFUI!

Ya shoulda oughta claimed.

293

Oh shit. That’s about the worst possible outcome.

294

Yes - surely that would make the Villains spend time slaying you?

Well now we know there are major Town characters (though one less. :nauseated_face:)

295

If he had claimed, we might have had players whocould watch him by night or protect him.

296

Well that puts us behind the metaphorical eight-ball now.

Can someone explain to a newb how we might have avoided such a bad early outcome? Other than LH75 making the claim to have been a major character, which (as I see it) might have stopped it or might not have.

Chronos, can LH75 tell the rest of us what their major character power was?

297

I’m assuming that being able to continue contributing after death IS LH75’s major power, in which case this is actually a less bad outcome than killing a minor character would have been. Now we will have the advice and guidance of an experienced player who is known to be Town for the rest of the game. Presumably that is why LH didn’t claim or even seem particularly upset to be dispatched.

298

I doubt he can tell, even if he wants to. As I wrote in post 80 this is, I believe, the ambiguity we are facing. I was not clear enough, or rather, I fear it was clear for the wrong people, who are now rejoicing. How do we survive the night? What can we do?

299

I don’t think Lh75 should tell us his power. I think the Villains would profit more from knowing than Town at this late time.

300

He can tell you whatever he wants.