WW XCIII - Mine Wars - Battle of Blair Mountain - SYMPATHIZERS WIN!!!
 

During the late days of the 19th century, various companies set their sights on mining coal from the hills of West Virginia. While the rest of the eastern US had its coal companies unionized, a few profiteers moved to the hills of central Appalachia and began a campaign of terror and exploitation that would not end until 1933 when the right to organize was officially made part of the New Deal legislation. The companies used every trick at their disposal, from gun-thugs to machine guns, from lawyers to detectives, from bombs to religion, whatever would work, they used. By maximizing their profits for as long as they could, a state once proud was stripped of its most precious resource and went from having a stronger economy than Virginia to being one of the poorest states in the nation.

You are all members of District 17 of the UMWA, the United Mine Workers of America. Your goal is to enter various mine camps and turn the miners into union folk. Together, you can try and fight the companies, but divided, you will not stand for long.



This is a werewolf game where one side you have the UMW unionists, and the other are company sympathizers and spies. For purposes of simplicity, one side is called Labor and the other Sympathizers.



Labor: Your goal is to convert camps into union camps. The game will end, and you will win, once you have successfully converted a certain number of camps. On each Day, you will move to a new area to unionize the miners. For each day, you must do what you can to convert the miners. Different camps will have different needs.

Sympathizers: You are spies, infiltrators and operator sympathizers. Your goal is to prevent the union from moving into camps. You have many deadly and dangerous weapons at your disposal. Whenever one of you does a task in public, you can pm me that you want to fake it, and not have it completed.




At the beginning of each day, you will be told where you have moved to, and what you will have to do on that day in order to convert the camp. On some days, you may have to do certain work, and perhaps on others different tasks will be required.

Usually, you can begin work on the camp immediately. All of you have various skills that might come in handy in certain camps and areas. At the end of the day, results will be posted, but not how much work each individual did. At that point, you will know whether or not you were successful.

Whenever you fail to convert a camp, you know that you have enemies in your midst. On the following day, you will vote to Oust a Member. Please place your Oust votes, as well as your Actions in bold.

Victoire: When the union converts EIGHT camps, they will win. When they have ousted or killed all Sympathizers from their midst, then they will. When Sympathizers has a 1:1 ratio with the remaining Labor, they win. After a certain number of days, if Labor has failed to convert their number of camps, Sympathizers wins. There is also a game ending event, which, if it is triggered, will decide the game right there and then.

There are some events in this game which may change the rules for a day or the rest of the game. Just letting you know upfront.


This game will begin on Monday afternoon, the 27th. Roles will be sent then. The first deadline will be on Tuesday. Deadlines are at 9 pm EST for Day actions, and 1 am EST for night actions


Do not edit posts for any reason
Due to the quirkiness of the rules for this game, Nightfall votes will not be accepted.

When a player dies or is Ousted, their role will be revealed, as well as a full description of that role

Notes on…

Race – Each of you is given a race in your pm. This will almost always not matter, but historically, the companies would bring in scabs with the intent to divide loyalties. Typically, they would bring in a trainful of black or Italian scabs hoping to split the union folk and flame any embers of prejudice into keeping them from uniting against them. Should this ever happen in this game, the consequences could be dire. The races are White, Italian and Black. (Yes, I know Italian is White, but this is not a game about anthropology, but history)

Bribery Point – Almost all of you were sent a price. This is how much money it will cost to bribe you. Companies regularly bought off anybody they could, from law enforcement to the governor, from the media to union officials themselves. Many high ranking officials in the UMW went to work for the company line after getting large offers of money and prestige. Most of you have a price point, which, if offered, will result in you switching sides and becoming a sympathizer. Some of you are cheaper than others. Also, a few of you are immune to any attempt to bribe.

Skills – Every player has one of eight skills which can help complete tasks for the day.

Roles – A few players have roles, and some are traditional while others are not. Enjoy if you have one!

Items – At the beginning of the game, most of you don’t have any items, but it is possible you may procure some during the course of the game. You may also procure certain allies during the game as well. In order to move an item, simply pm me who you want to give it to. Allies are not assigned to any individual but are people who help the cause.

I know that this one is a bit off the beaten path. No zombies, no wolves, no lightsabers, no vulcans, no mages, etc. I hope you will enjoy it!





A Quick Historical Note: Although this game is fictional, technically, it will be using a lot of the history of the Mine Wars to flesh it out. The places you go, the things you encounter, and more – all real and happened. I will occasionally post historically interesting posts, and they will all come from real history. The purpose is both to teach and to entertain by fleshing out the game. (As you can see, I’ve already started: District 17's Feisty Spirit - TIME – Note the date is 1977 on that article) Enjoy!

Sign Up List


This game can hold any number


1. Poli - Killed by Bull Moose Special - Labor, Union Bodyguard
2. Lathum - Sympathizer, Killed Battle of Blair Mountain, Stage Five
3. Passacaglia - Ousted Day Three - Sympathizer, Gun Thug
4. dubb - Ousted Day Five - Labor
5. claphamsa - Sympathizer, Killed Battle of Blair Mountain, Stage Six
6. ntndeacon - Labor, Union Procurement Officer, Killed Battle of Blair Mountain, Stage Two
7. USFLTecmo - Ousted Day Eight - Labor, Union Firebrand
8. TheNorm - Removed From Game Night Seven - Labor, Union Recruiter
9. EagleFan - Killed in Battle of Matewan - Labor
10. Glengoyne
11. Chief Rum
12. DaddyTorgo - Labor, Union Sabateur - Killed Battle of Blair Mountain, Stage Three
13. Danny - Labor - Killed Battle of Blair Mountain, Stage Four
14. PurdueBrad
15. Autumn - Removed from Game Day Three - labor
16. path - Removed from Game Night One - Labor
17. The Jackal - Ousted Day Four. Sympathizer
18. RendeR
19. Barkeep
20. jeheinz - Labor, Killed Battle of Blair Mountain, Stage One

This post is for any events or allies that arrive, as well as the current score.

Monongah - Success!
Drawdy Creek - Failure
Bob White - Failure
Paint Creek - Failure
Cabin Creek - Success x2!!
Lens Creek - Failure
Matewan - Success x2!!


Ally:


Peter Urban - While Peter Urban is an ally of labor, all missions that involve mining accidents will automatically succeed.
Mother Jones - Automatically succeed in all oratory tasks
Sid Hatfield - No side, either Labor or Sympathizer, may take any action which is illegal. - KILLED by event - On the Steps of the Courthouse




Events:

Bull Moose Special
Gov. Glasscock Declares Martial Law
The Battle of Matewan
On the Steps of the Courthouse
Battle of Blair Mountain

This guy is in.

Abe, have to miss another one of your games since I'll be out of town for work all of next week. Hopefully this one is just as good as Dungeon was, if not as long :)

Damn it hoops!

in

I'll play.

in before DT starts complaining....:D

vote danny

in :hides:

You will know how many camps you have to convert and stuff like that once we have a set number of players

in

In, wonderful concept, Abe!

Thanks! I try to make my games a little different. This will be my first swing at a more BK-ish rules set.

Sure, I'll give it a shot. :)

Last game I ran was based on the US Senate in the 1950's, with a few senators being "spies." I like games based in reality, even if it means tweaking reality a bit. This'll be fun.

I see mention of possible rule changes for a day. Does this include the need for actions during the day? The deadline is very good for me for next week but if it may require actions during the morning/afternoon hours I won't be able to swing it so I wanted to verify before saying yes or no.

Sounds like an interesting concept though. If no possible daytime worries I am definitely in.

I can vouch for this, one of the most challenging but fun times I'd ever had playing a mafia/werewolf game. :)

Yeah, poor Norm had his two partners picked out by a spy role and the seer, but lasted to the last day anyway.

I bet you Abe must be a "wolf" this game...

:D ;)

The only time deadlines might change is with a major, masive game ending event. Then the game will completey change into something else for a day or two, if that event triggers. Otherwise, no, the deadlines will not change.

CR was talking about doing one with Republicans and Democrats in Congress a couple of years ago, but never did anything about it.

After my first few WW games used popular intellectual properties Star Trek, Magic, Lord of the Rings, I branched out into my own stuff. Now I consider myself solid enough as a GM not to need the IP to bring in players, but I was a crappy GM at first and I had to learn on the road. In this game, I'll be trying out a lot of new mechanics for me for the first time, so I cannot promise to make the game perfect I will try, however, to make it a lot of fun.

Oh, and in case anyone cares, I can provide a Bibliography at the end of the game with my various sources and such. Books, websites, archives, etc.

Pretty sure that Chief did end up running that game, although I did not play in it.

Also, I think you were a much better mod in those early games than you are giving yourself credit for here. But you did dive in with both feet; no starter rules (aka "simple game") for you out of the gate. When someone runs ambitious games they get to go through a little steeper learning curve.

Best of luck with the new ideas for this game. Looking forward to reading along when I'm back in town, or from my hotel room if/when I get curious next week :)

I'm in because I really like the deadline times.

Oh yeah! And they keep being ambitious. I like doing different games!

Always happy to have the GM who broke my WW cherry in my games!

I can't wait until I get to do another one. I don't think I'll do another "Thing" one though. Nobody dying was a bit chaotic to say the least. :)

Yup, I ran the Politics game, pitting Republicans against Democrats, last July. It was a too ambitious affair, although designed with good intentions. There were things that went well, but in the end, I had to adjust some rules on the fly because I didn't properly plan for how clever you bastards would be with the bills. ;)

Speaking of Star Trek, if I ever run a game again, I intend to run Evil Star Trek, as I have put out in the past, which will also be a two thread style game like Pass's (and like the Political game). It will be simpler, though. It's based on the old (original) Star Trek episode where the Enterprise is linked to an alter universe Enterprise where the traditional good characters are matched up with their evil alter egos in the other universe, and the only way you can tell good Kirk from evil Kirk (and everyone else) is that the evil ones all sported "cool" goatees.

P.S. I am in.

I was out and not playing then. Sucks.

I also missed the infamous Clue game during my "I'm trying to find a job so I can;t spend time with WW" year of wandering.

I'll be in.

Haven't read rules yet, but I am in. Please no wolf!

There has to be a wolf, or there wouldn't be a game!

Aww, can't we all just dance around under the rainbow while voting who gets to receive the next compliment! :D

In seriousness though, being a wolf has worn me out and I'm hoping I roll villager this game.

Yeah, I know what you mean. Before these last two games where I was a good guy, I had something like three of the last four games I was in, I was a wolf. It does get tiring. And since I often get scanned right away, it's even more frustrating. ;)

I'm in too.

alright - i'm in

Clue was definitely worth missing -- that was the first game I ran, and it was just wrong all over the place (i.e. if you had problems with my last game, that was nothing compared to the problems in Clue). Maybe I'll try it again, though.

Sounds like an interesting one. I'm in.

Sweet. Now I can actually keep my promise about not voting for you day one. Last game really doesn't count for that, unless you want it to that is? ;)

Abe, any idea about the weekends? I'm tempted to jump back in but will be gone next Friday-Sunday.

No weekends.

Sweet. With the weather changing for the best that is a very good rule to live by for WW.

dola: I take it back, Abe isn't a wolf this game. ;)

OK. Sign me up.

I think weekend play has pretty much gone by the wayside. I can't remember the last game where we had a weekend deadline

I'm warning everyone now, I have 2 midterms next week so I may be quieter then usual.

Then again, I may need to blow off steam so I may be a total lunatic.

so... normal lathum?

I'll go ahead and play.

I'll say right now before roles go out that I'm going to try again to change my playing style and be far more reserved and less out in front in hopes to alienate less people. So if someone wants to lynch me for being quiet, so be it.

alan... you never alienate people.....

Alan who?

I don't know where the AlanT alienates people thing comes from. I've never had a problem with him or seen anyone else get overly annoyed to the point that it hurts their enjoyment of the game.

Alan is one of my favorite people to play these games with, but there have definitely been a couple of showdowns where both Alan and/or the other party have been pretty frustrated with each other by the end of the game.

I know that I've had two games (Chubby's Resident Evil and Barkeep's Spawn 3) with Alan where I was very much muttering under my breath about him for days because we had major differences of opinions on how to win the game and were both pretty strident. And, in both cases, we were on the same side so it was not something that was villager vs wolf that inevitably causes friction.

I guess what I'm saying is that I do understand where the thought process comes from, but I would be happy playing WW with Alan every day of the week and twice on Sundays.

I didn't play in either of those games.

I dunno, I certainly have had my share of blow ups and frustrating experiences with plenty of people but as soon as the game is over it is gone and I would gladly play another game with them again.

There have only been a rare few who wreck the games enjoyment. Blade was one and Render was headed that way but really turned it around.

Hawkeye, hoops's first Marvel game. Pissed me off something fierce. But that's it, and I've played with him bunches of times.

Heh...add one more to the list of "had experience with Alan showdown" when he and I went head to head rather ugly in hoops' last Marvel game, where I was the Silver Samurai and he was Mr. Sinister or Dr. somebody (I forget). Like hoops, I think I had a lot of muttering udner my breath, too, and that's coming from a guy who has a long history of playing in sim leagues with Alan.

Fact is, though, I know Alan well enough that something like that, while it might cause short term griping, I know it's not anyway about who he is or what kind of person he is (which is of tremendously high quality). A game's a game, he plays his role and advocates his position as he has a right to, and I do, too, and whatever we say in game, when it's over, it's all good. Alan, of course, is far from the only one who does this, and we see blowups like this between different players all the time. EF and Poli are still wrapping up a bitch fest in Pass's game. This is the nature of the beast when it comes to a game like WW, which is designed to be confrontational. Hell, I think Lathum wanted to kill me two games ago when I harped on the "bullying" thing.

In fact, it shows something I know well about Alan that he feels really bad about those confrontations. Outside of WW, he's basically one of friendliest, most nonconfrontational guys I know, and he really takes this stuff to heart, very much to his credit. He's got a good heart, and I think that's something more people need to keep in mind when they're playing with him, that whatever he says, he's doing it as part of the game and it's definitely nothing personal.

Alan's a very good WW player, for the new guys who don't know. I think the problem he runs into is that he is an opinion maker and conversation driver, because he puts a lot of thought into his posts and analysis, he has a job that allows him to post more often at times, and he confidently defends his stances to a fault. The only problem I have ever had with Alan play-wise is that I sometimes thinks he gets too welded to an idea, and will reject alternate theories if he believes strongly enough that that idea is the correct one. I do that, too, frankly, so he's no different there.

I personally think people who seriously gripe about Alan in WW games (if there is anyone, I think this is a little overblown) should get to know him better.

I love having him back playing and look forward to this game with him, even if we end up in a showdown. ;)

I've been frustrated in games with Alan in the past, but it's not anything personal. Alan is one of the nicest guys around here. But when he gets on something that smells fishy to him he is a bulldog. It's only frustrating when you're the one he finds suspicious and you know he's wrong, or when you really are bad and you know he knows it! :)

Sorry, I didn't mean to make Anxiety's signup thread all about me. Several people lately (last few months) have been comparing me a bunch with Blade is all and I simply was saying that I was going to try a more laid back approach in hopes that people who stated before that they don't like playing with me wouldn't sit out of the game simply because I was playing similar to how people did with Blade.

Didn't mean to make a huge deal of it all. I'm looking forward to the game, Anxiety always has good ones.

Nah, you are no Blade. To be fair, I didn;t mind Blade that much though, I have rough skin and it takes a lot to set me off (although that happened last game without any AlanT around, so there you are ;). I think I've only been angry maybe three times in WW, so they all stick in my head, you know?

Hopefully no one will be angry in my game of love. And Coal. And Machine Guns.

I too, am planning on changing my playing style - Back to old school. Lot's of fucking swearing and anger and angst. I plan on being Schmidty circa early '05.

Watch out bitches.

Sweet!!! Now we need to get RendeR in the game and we've got a powder keg a brewin'

;)

I got my peacemaker right here.

everyone is changing styles! I wonder if I could come in and start conversating over and over again. .. that would sure surprise those that know my style.

The art of fighting without fighting.

yes it would. Helen Keller would be more active then you.

As a reminder, roles will go out on Monday afternoon/early evening and the first deadline is Tuesday.

I'll sneak in if there's still room.

RendeR play too?

Fuck you.




I'm in ;)

Now that's what I'm talking about... :D

Oh how I miss thee. Something tells me I'll be in the headlights at some point, if for nothing else than old times sake.

This hasn't even started and it already has the potential to be a train wreck. I love it.

I'm going old school as well. I promise, if elected seer, that I will have every wolf I scan owe me a dinner by the end of the game.

Oh hai, hoops!

Poli, I promise that I'm not a wolf this game. Don't even bother scanning me.

Seriously.

Oh rats, there are no wolves in this game. I'll have to develop a new out of the box strategy that concludes with yet another new WW rule banning what I did.

;)

If still possible, I'd like to play.

Assuming Alan and I are both alive on Sunday, then we will be playing together twice on Sunday (Alan and I have a weekly Europa Universalis game).

Alan's playing?? YAYYYYY!!!!

I'm so happy!!!:D :D

I felt bad like it was somewhat of my doing in Cathedral 2 that caused the problems, when I never really meant for there to be problems - I was just a wolf trying to wriggle away from him.

WB Alan!!!

I'll be probably pretty quiet at least until Friday - I just walked into work this morning to find an RFP for $50m worth of business from Chevron on my desk that's due by 5pm Friday, so my attention likely won't be too much on analyzing stuff (unless I just tear through it).

I know the game starts tonight, but its my birthday. Don't expect anything from me until I sober up tomarrow.

You mentioned something about 'no wolves' -- is that just because there's another name for them (sympathizers) or are the rules different for sympathizers compared to basic wolf rules (like they don't get to PM with each other or something)?

Happy birthday, dubb! You should PM SkyDog about changing your name to dubb94. Man, I never realized how old you are..kudos.

Some differences, some similarties, but I was talking more about flavor.

you better be careful with giving away information. Hoops got lynched once on his birthday.

Actually hoops got wolf killed on his birthday. And it was by me. And I have no regrets about it.

i think i was a wolf that game too....

Well I can't let the game sit on 19 players. So presuming there is time, let's make the magic happen.

Never regret killing Hoops, whether he's good or not.







;)

Funny clappadappadingdong.

I am starting to work on roles now. I can still take another signup or two, but not for too much longer.

Woo hoo I made it!

PMs will looks like this:

Alignment: Labor or Sympathizer
Skill: Listed (description below)
Race: White, Italian or Black
Role: Role or None
Bribe Price: $$
Items: Almost always none

Then below are descriptions for your skill, items, roles, sympathizer info, etc.

Nightfall votes will nto be accepted for this game, and that has been added to the rules.

You're awesome