[MAFIA] The Colossus and the Collective

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xopods: Oct 26, 2010

The Colossus and the Collective
A game of Mafia for 13 players

Signups are now open! Please join the Discord Server when you sign up.

The war with the Lowlands had raged on so long that only the oldest women in the kingdom of Aldersrange could remember its beginning. It had come to be known as the War of Generations for that reason. And now, Aldersrange was forced to admit that it was losing.

The tide had turned against them in recent years, as mutual attrition began to favor the more populous Lowlands. Neither mercenaries nor better weapons were going to change the math; in a few more years, their forces would be depleted and the kingdom would be overrun.

Desperate, they accepted a dubious proposal from the wizard Helrix, a researcher in the field of golems. They'd established that man-sized golems were vulnerable to the enemy's cannons and didn't contribute enough battlefield advantage to be worth the construction time. Yet Helrix had proposed a Colossus, one large enough to withstand cannon fire.

The shell stood as tall as ten men, and construction had taken years. Truly, it would be a fearsome sight on the battlefield. But when it came time to bring it to life, they encountered problems. A single human soul was not enough to provide the anima for such a large construct. It would need several minds in a single body if it was to move.

Early attempts ended in failure, as individual motivations proved too strong. Unable to let go of the sense of self, the volunteer souls clashed. Though the body stirred, its movements were uncoordinated, and ultimately, its fragmented mind tore itself apart, leaving the body deserted once more.

As it turned out, the Monks of Blackmoss Crag had been preparing their whole lives for this. Their meditative practices were aimed at dissolving the sense of self, overcoming the desires of the physical world and surrendering themselves to the cosmos and unity with one another. Thirteen volunteered to sacrifice their own bodies and transfer their souls to the colossus, for the sake of the Kingdom.

They gathered in the ritual glade, where the Colossus lay toppled amidst broken trees. They sat cross-legged in a circle around the channeling crystal at its feet.

The crystal began to glow as Helrix recited the words of the Ritual of Transference. After 40 minutes, it began to take effect. Wisps of light flowed from each monk's forehead, and in the direction of the mystic circle carved into the cheek of the Colossus, as the souls sought their new home. The monks' bodies slumped, then finally fell dead as the spell was complete.

Helrix and his assistants watched with bated breath as the Colossus rolled over and attempted to stand. It made it to its feet and they backed off as it took its first tentative steps. The experiment was already going better than previous ones, yet something was still wrong. It would take a step one way, then turn and step in another. It lurched to and fro and flailed its arms, seemingly unable to decide which way to go.

Afraid that it would topple over once more, Helrix ordered his assistants to flee. He himself stayed to watch and provide what help he could, as the Colossus struggled to make up its mind, so to speak. Would oneness and purity of mind prevail? Or were even the Monks of Blackmoss Crag unable to transcend the shackles of individualism?

Living players

Amnistar (He/Him)
Grandicap (He, Him)
Hal Incandenza (he/him/hal)
hambeet (he/him)
Jose Valasquez (he/him/his)
Nep-Nep (She/Her)
Retro Futurist (He/him/opop)
sandnavyguy
Somberbrero (He/him)
spacing in vienna (she, her)
Spoonsy (he/him/his)
Tom Tucker
yuming (she/her)

Rules and setup notes in the second post. Please, for the love of god, read them carefully.

xopods fucked around with this message at 02:50 on Jun 6, 2020

# ? May 23, 2020 13:46

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# ? Apr 18, 2024 06:40

xopods: Oct 26, 2010

Discord Server

Discord worked okay for Karens so I'm doing it again here. Click here to join the server when you sign up.

Setup Notes

This game is expected to be:

_{Boring | Traditional | Simple | Intermediate |} :siren:

ADVANCED :siren:

_{| Weird | Insane | Absolute Chaos}

Details about this rating can be found here.

This rating includes 3 points for the following known global mechanics:

Multi-tiered individual win conditions
Role empowering

These are detailed below. PLEASE READ CAREFULLY. Note that depending on how wild you consider these mechanics, you may end up thinking this game is "Weird" rather than "Advanced." However, I believe that they should only affect the gameplay slightly and you can approach this as you would any other moderately complex setup for the most part.

Win Conditions

Every player has three win conditions. For Town and Scum, the first of these is the standard one and the other two are related to how one contributes to it and also how much individual glory one achieves in the process. In other words, you should mostly be able to play your normal game and if you're doing well, you will naturally score well. There is also a Madness-aligned player who is a third party and whose goals are only partially known, but who you can assume is trying to keep the game close while causing chaos.

Each condition achieved equals 1 VP. Game outcome is evaluated on a player-by-player basis, depending on how many conditions you achieve:

3 VPs: Legendary victory!
2 VPs: Standard victory
1 VP: Standard loss
0 VPs: Abject failure

Some win conditions you won't know if you've achieved until after the game, though you'll probably have a good idea of how well you're doing.

The Selfless Townie: Superego-Alignment

Superego players are generally vanillas. There may or may not be Superego power roles, but if there are, they are passive powers. Superegos are attempting to play selflessly by voting correctly and drawing nightkills to protect the Ego players.

If empowered, a Superego-Aligned Vanilla acquires a One-Shot Bodyguard power.

The superego win conditions are as follows:

Virtue: Team condition. Eliminate all Id-Aligned players. (Ends the game immediately).
Sacrifice: Be chosen as a NK target by the scum (whether or not the kill succeeds). Successful use of the Bodyguard power also accomplishes this condition.
Wisdom: Have your vote on a non-Town player (i.e. Id- or Madness-aligned) at the end of at least 50% of days for which you're alive, whether or not the player is actually lunched.

The Selfish Townie: Ego-Alignment

Ego players are power roles, generally ones which target at night. Egos are attempting to play selfishly, but still in a pro-Town manner, by staying alive and using their powers effectively.

If empowered, an Ego-Aligned player acquires an improved version of their role.

The ego win conditions are as follows:

Virtue: Team condition. Eliminate all Id-Aligned players. (Ends the game immediately).
Self-Interest: Be alive at the beginning of the final day phase of the game (regardless of which team wins, and even if you are the final lunch).
Agency: Produce a useful outcome with your power. The specifics of this are provided along with your role, but e.g. a generic Doctor would accomplish this condition by preventing a kill, while a generic Cop would by obtaining a genuine Scum result.

The Bad Guys: Id-Alignment

Id players are the scum. Their win conditions are not so different from the Ego players, except for which team they're playing for. Their win conditions are as follows:

Violence: Team condition. At least 50% of surviving players are Id-aligned at any point. (Ends the game immediately).
Cowardice: Be alive at the end of the game OR be the last Id-aligned player to die.
Instinct: Produce a useful outcome with your power. The specifics of this are provided along with your role.

Abnormal Psychology: Madness-Alignment

The Madness-aligned player wants the game to go on for a long time and for the other alignments to tear each other apart.

:siren:

All alignments have an incentive to find and kill the Madness-Aligned player. :siren:

If they are lunched, all Superego and Ego-aligned players become empowered. If they are killed at night, the Scum receive a special bonus, known only to them.

Two of their win conditions are known only to them, but the first is public:

Self-Destruction: Contribute to the death of at least one player of each other alignment (i.e. one Ego, one Superego and one Id). This can be by voting for their successful lunch, or by causing or contributing to their death at night.
Erratic Behavior: ???
Delusion: ???

General Rules

Standard Mafia rules apply. If you don�t know what these are, ask before signing up.
Deadlines will be roughly 72 hours until there are 9 or fewer players left alive, 48 hours thereafter.
Flavor will be less important in this game than most, due to the abstract nature of the conflict.
All role descriptions are truthful, and are as precise and thorough as possible. Naturally, some powers may interfere with the results of others, but outside of such interference you can trust that your powers work exactly as described and you can ask me for clarification any time.
Role titles are all in the form XXXX-Aligned YYYY. When a player flips, all words included in the role title will be explained; you won't be left guessing what a "Tribble-Aligned Reverse Doodad Saboteur" does. In most cases, this means I'll include the exact description of powers that was in the player's own role PM, though there may be exceptions to this.
I�ll make every effort not to modkill anyone, but please don�t sign up if you intend to lurk. If your post count is unacceptably low, I�ll ask you to either step it up or replace out voluntarily.
If someone�s egregiously lurking and ignoring that request, then I will attempt to find a forced replacement and, failing that, modkill as a last resort.
If you do leave me no choice but to modkill you for any reason, including lurking, there are likely to be consequences in terms of your ability to sign up for future games of mine.

xopods fucked around with this message at 20:56 on May 26, 2020

# ? May 23, 2020 13:47

NAGA LIU KANG: Jul 17, 2015; by Nyc_Tattoo

Xopod's coming in hot with this return to mafia. Count me in.

# ? May 23, 2020 15:38

xopods: Oct 26, 2010

NAGA LIU KANG posted:

Xopod's coming in hot with this return to mafia. Count me in.

If a thing's worth doing, it's worth doing obsessively, that's what I always say.

# ? May 23, 2020 16:18

Nep-Nep: May 15, 2004; Just one more thing!

I like this idea of multiple win conditions. Let's see if I can at least do better than abject failure.

# ? May 23, 2020 16:21

girl dick energy: Sep 30, 2009; You think you have the wherewithal to figure out my puzzle vagina?

I shouldn't, but there's lots of things I shouldn't do.

# ? May 23, 2020 17:10

Opopanax: Aug 8, 2007; I HEX YE!!!

# ? May 23, 2020 17:24

Referee: Aug 25, 2004; "Winning is great, sure, but if you are really going to do something in life, the secret is learning how to lose. Nobody goes undefeated all the time. If you can pick up after a crushing defeat, and go on to win again, you are going to be a champion someday."
(Wilma Rudolph)

Observing this one, which sounds fantastic but I need a break for a bit.

# ? May 23, 2020 18:06

xopods: Oct 26, 2010

IllegallySober posted:

Observing this one, which sounds fantastic but I need a break for a bit.

If you join the Discord I'll give you Observer/Deadperson status.

# ? May 23, 2020 18:16

Opopanax: Aug 8, 2007; I HEX YE!!!

I'm like 97% of the way to being burned out so if you need to bump me for a newbie do it.

# ? May 23, 2020 18:51

yuming: Feb 26, 2008; dance dance dance

I wanna play!

# ? May 23, 2020 19:31

Amnistar: Nov 6, 2008; I am a wizard, not a poet.

I can only play in one game. It will be this one.

# ? May 23, 2020 21:44

sandnavyguy: Sep 12, 2015

This sounds interesting, I�ll play!

# ? May 25, 2020 19:52

Spoonsy: Dec 6, 2005; Yeah, life is hilariously cruel.; Grimey Drawer

This sounds like something that won't arbitrarily lunch me day one!

I'm in

# ? May 25, 2020 23:48

xopods: Oct 26, 2010

Spoonsy posted:

This sounds like something that won't arbitrarily lunch me day one!

I'm in

I'd give you about a 1 in 13 chance of getting arbitrarily lunched D1 in this one as well.

# ? May 26, 2020 03:49

Spoonsy: Dec 6, 2005; Yeah, life is hilariously cruel.; Grimey Drawer

xopods posted:

I'd give you about a 1 in 13 chance of getting arbitrarily lunched D1 in this one as well.

Also your Discord invite is invalid in OP

# ? May 26, 2020 19:18

xopods: Oct 26, 2010

Spoonsy posted:

Also your Discord invite is invalid in OP

God drat it... it seems like those links expire after a few days, for no apparent reason. At least, that happened with Karens as well.

Anyway, here's a fresh link: https://discord.gg/tbf79u

# ? May 26, 2020 19:45

Sub Rosa: Jun 9, 2010

I would like to spectate

# ? May 26, 2020 20:31

Podima: Nov 4, 2009; by Fluffdaddy

xopods posted:

God drat it... it seems like those links expire after a few days, for no apparent reason. At least, that happened with Karens as well.

Anyway, here's a fresh link: https://discord.gg/tbf79u

Not a signup, but go into server settings and you can make the invite last forever. Default is to expire after 3 days but there's plenty of options there.

# ? May 26, 2020 20:52

xopods: Oct 26, 2010

Podima posted:

Not a signup, but go into server settings and you can make the invite last forever. Default is to expire after 3 days but there's plenty of options there.

Aha, I found it. It's actually not in Server settings, but in the window where you generate the invite link.

# ? May 26, 2020 20:57

spacing in vienna: Jan 4, 2007; people they want us to fall down
but we won't ever touch the ground
we're perfectly balanced, we float around
til no one is here, do you hear the sound?; Lipstick Apathy

Ok, I'm in. Will probably gently caress up quite a bit.

Are lunches plurality, or majority? VTs wanting to stay on scum targets to get credit for a win condition might make it harder to consolidate a lunch.

# ? Jun 1, 2020 06:34

girl dick energy: Sep 30, 2009; You think you have the wherewithal to figure out my puzzle vagina?

I might have to withdraw depending on when this starts. Awful Survivor begins soon.

# ? Jun 1, 2020 06:47

xopods: Oct 26, 2010

spacing in vienna posted:

Are lunches plurality, or majority? VTs wanting to stay on scum targets to get credit for a win condition might make it harder to consolidate a lunch.

This is a good question. I was going to do majority, but you make a good point.

The main problem with plurality lunching is that maybe the lack of vote movement makes it harder for Town to get reads, and maybe the lack of deadline rushes will lead to the thread stagnating.

I'll have to think about this a bit. If anyone else cares to opine, feel free.

# ? Jun 1, 2020 13:57

xopods: Oct 26, 2010

PMush Perfect posted:

I might have to withdraw depending on when this starts. Awful Survivor begins soon.

Okay, LMK if you do decide to drop out. I'll confirm with you directly if you're still in it and we get full or almost-full so I don't end up sending out roles and then immediately needing a replacement.

# ? Jun 1, 2020 13:58

xopods: Oct 26, 2010

Also, loving LOL at NLK failing Toxx in Thunderdome yet again.

# ? Jun 1, 2020 13:59

Amnistar: Nov 6, 2008; I am a wizard, not a poet.

xopods posted:

This is a good question. I was going to do majority, but you make a good point.

The main problem with plurality lunching is that maybe the lack of vote movement makes it harder for Town to get reads, and maybe the lack of deadline rushes will lead to the thread stagnating.

I'll have to think about this a bit. If anyone else cares to opine, feel free.

Instant run off voting!

# ? Jun 1, 2020 14:13

xopods: Oct 26, 2010

Amnistar posted:

Instant run off voting!

Unfortunately, we need to work within the confines of Votefinder. I'm thinking something like the following:

(1) A majority vote instantly hammers, as usual.

(2) If the day ends with no hammer, there will still be a lunch provided the following:
(a) The vote leader has more than half the votes needed to hammer, and
(b) There is no tie for vote lead

So on D1 when it's 7 to hammer, if no one's got at least 4 votes you need to build at least some consensus. And if there's a 4-4 (or 5-5 or 6-6) tie, someone needs to break the tie before deadline or you end with no-lunch. I think that simultaneously fulfills the goals of creating information for Town, while minimizing the odds of accidental no-lunch due to stubborn Superegos.

# ? Jun 1, 2020 14:48

Opopanax: Aug 8, 2007; I HEX YE!!!

I think majority works better because it requires town to sacrifice individual glory for the greater good

# ? Jun 1, 2020 15:33

spacing in vienna: Jan 4, 2007; people they want us to fall down
but we won't ever touch the ground
we're perfectly balanced, we float around
til no one is here, do you hear the sound?; Lipstick Apathy

Retro Futurist posted:

I think majority works better because it requires town to sacrifice individual glory for the greater good

Yeah, I realize I'm the one who raised the issue, but I'm coming around to this. Also it can be pretty telling who is easy to execute vs who gets swerved away from at the last minute via scumbro push.

I'm just going to resign myself to failure if I'm a VT; I tend to suck at IDing scum, and I don't get NK'd very often.

# ? Jun 1, 2020 15:50

Hal Incandenza: Feb 12, 2004

Just vote with me SiV, I'm a mafia savant

# ? Jun 1, 2020 16:55

Opopanax: Aug 8, 2007; I HEX YE!!!

Hal Incandenza posted:

Just vote...me... I'm (a) mafia...

Bout to blow this thing wide open

# ? Jun 1, 2020 17:19

xopods: Oct 26, 2010

Alright, majority lunches it is. We'll see how it goes... if no-lunching due to stubbornness turns out to be a problem, I'll keep that in mind if I ever do multi-tiered wincons again.

One compensating factor is that if the Superegos are in fact way more stubborn than the Egos, it makes it easy for Scum to identify the power roles, which in turn runs against the other Superego wincon, namely drawing NKs. So there's a compensating incentive against being TOO stubborn about one's reads.

# ? Jun 1, 2020 20:29

spacing in vienna: Jan 4, 2007; people they want us to fall down
but we won't ever touch the ground
we're perfectly balanced, we float around
til no one is here, do you hear the sound?; Lipstick Apathy

Hal Incandenza posted:

Just vote with me SiV, I'm a mafia savant

Retro Futurist posted:

Bout to blow this thing wide open

obvious d1 bussing, 2 scum down!!

I like to pretend that I don't get NK'd because I am delightful, but let's be real, it's actually because scum know very well how badly I play.

# ? Jun 1, 2020 23:56

Grandicap: Feb 8, 2006

Coming out of my extended retirement (3 whole weeks) for this game.

# ? Jun 2, 2020 02:20

Jose Valasquez: Apr 8, 2005

Coming out of my extended retirement (1 whole hour) for this game.

# ? Jun 6, 2020 00:08

hambeet: Sep 13, 2002

# ? Jun 6, 2020 00:24

xopods: Oct 26, 2010

Excellent. Unfortunately, I don't think NLK is coming back based on what's been said in the discussion thread, so I still need one more person, or two if Pmush is dropping out.

# ? Jun 6, 2020 00:37