Werewolf LI Major League (GAME OVER!!! INDIANS--GOOD GUYS--WIN!!!)

[Chief Rum]

Harry Doyle: In case you haven't noticed, and judging by the attendance you haven't, the Indians have managed to win a few ball games, and are threatening to climb out of the cellar.


Intro

Welcome to Cleveland, circa 1989, where the most sad sack franchise in baseball history is trying to pull off an amazing comeback and earn a long awaited trip to the playoffs.

New owner Rachel Phelps instructed new GM Charlie Donovan to find some players who could earn her a sweet stadium in Florida, along with a membership at a ritzy countryclub. That meant losing, and Donovan went at it with gusto. He found society's rejects and put them in a uniform. He found them in Mexico, in Cuba, in the California State Penitentiary.

But these guys were ball players once, and now their pride has been tested. They know no matter what they do, they will be traded or outright released at the end of the year. So there's only one thing left to do.

"Win the whole damn thing!"

Rules

This will be a 24 hour, one deadline per day WW game. Night actions and day actions will be due at the same time, and all actions run at once. The daily deadline will be at 10 p.m. EST (7 p.m. PDT), except when changed by the GM (the most notable exception is Day One is tentatively scheduled on Tuesday for 7 p.m. EST/4 p.m. PDT). Roles will go out Sunday night.

Everyone will get a role, although, depending on the numbers, not everyone will be a character from the movie. Everyone will start the game with an action they can choose to take every day.

Most of you will be members of Major League's Cleveland Indians, and all of you, for appearances sake, will start that way. As a team, your goal is to win ballgames every night, and to catch the Yankees for the division championship. You are a game back of the mighty, evil Bronx Bombers at the start of the game. The time left in the season is indeterminate from the game's point of view, but will end shortly after the WW game within ends.

Not all are on your side. Phelps and Donovan are around to cause trouble, and you have seen signs not everyone in the clubhouse is giving their all. Is there one amongst you whom has succumbed to a bribe? Or is someone half assing it in expectation of a sweetheart deal from Phelps in the offseason?

Manager Lou Brown comes up with a solution. Every day, you will vote for a player to sit the rest of the season, until the slackers have been eradicated, and you can concentrate on catching the Yankees. And every day, one more baseball game will be played. If you find the traitors throwing the game, you should win the rest of your games and catch the Yankees (if you haven't fallen too far behind, that is). If Phelps and her cronies get as many in their numbers as team members left playing, you will fail to catch the Yankees--and that's a certainty.

Can you get Cleveland back to the playoffs for the first time in over 30 years?

The Opening Roster

The following players and associated members of the Cleveland Indians may or may not be represented in the game.

Owner: Rachel Phelps (Margaret Whitton)
GM: Charlie Donovan (Charles Cyphers)
Manager: Lou Brown (James Gammon)

C: Jake Taylor (Tom Berenger)
C: Rube Baker (Eric Bruskotter)
C/DH: Jack Parkman (David Keith)
3B: Roger Dorn (Corbin Bernsen)
LF: Pedro Cerrano (Dennis Haysbert)
CF: Willie Mays Hayes (Wesley Snipes--but if you squint real hard, Omar Epps)
RF: Isuro Tanaka (Takaaki Ishibashi)
P: Rick "Wild Thing" Vaughan (Charlie Sheen)
P: Eddie Harris (Chelcie Ross)

Other possible names (to fill out the roster):

Ivan Molina
Jake Tomlinson
Tom Kettner
Ken Parkhurst

Good luck and Go Indians!

[Chief Rum]

Expanded Rules and Role Information

Daily Schedule

The deadline schedule will be as follows:

Day One (Tuesday, 7 p.m. EST)
Day Two (Wednesday, 10 p.m. EST)
Day Three (Thursday, 10 p.m. EST)
Day Four (Friday, 10 p.m. EST)
Day Five (Sunday, 3 p.m. EST--tentative)
Day Six (Monday, 7 p.m. EST)

Further scheduling beyond Day Six will be announced as we go forward and if necessary.

All actions and voting for the day are due by that day's deadlines. This is a hard deadline. No votes or actions received after the deadline, as it is shown in the forum time stamps, will count for that day. They will count for the following day if allowed to stand.

There may be occasion when I will hit traffic on the way home and not be at the computer at deadline. If this happens, the deadline is still in effect, and I will carry out the deadline when I am able.

Standard Rules

All of the usual rules of WW apply. There are no direct quoting of PMs except where I myself have allowed it or posted it. No editing of posts is allowed in this thread except by me, or by Barkeep, and only in his role as the forum moderator. Unless expressly given the ability to do so, no one may communicate with anyone else in the game about this game outside of this thread. No one is allowed to post in this red color, which will be reserved solely for use by the GM.

Votes will be made in bold and at the end of posts like this:

VOTE PLAYER X

In order to vote for a new player, you must unvote any previous vote for that day.

All players must vote every day. Please see the Baseball Game Actions section for the consequecne of not voting. "No lynch" votes are not allowed. Votes must be for players still active in the game. In the case of a tie, the lynch candidate will be the one who received the first vote that day, regardless of whether that first voter still holds to that vote.

If you are voted out, you are allowed one "in-character" post to react/say goodbyes. You may continue to read and post in the thread, but you are no longer a part of the game as a playing member, so please respect your "death" within the game.

Actions are to be PM'd to me. Conditional actions are allowed within reason. If you have any questions as to what is or is not allowed, you may PM me.

Some antagonism is to be expected in contentious games like WW, but please keep personal attacks out of this thread.

Most day times I am unavailable here at the forum. If it is a critical question that cannot wait, I can be reached at [email protected]. I would ask I only be contacted there, though, if the answer to the question would be one that could have significant impact on the day's proceedings.

Victory Conditions and the Two Games

There are two games running concurrently in this thread. There is the common WW game. And the game within the game, the daily baseball game. There are actions related to both, and not all players will be given the ability to affect both games.

For villagers, a major victory is achieved if all wolves have been exposed AND the Indians win the division. A minor victory is achieved if the wolves have been exposed, but a pennant was not won.

For the wolves, a major victory is achieved if the wolves drop the villager numbers to an even ratio with the wolves. This automatically loses the pennant for the Indians. A minor victory is achieved if the Indians do not win the pennant, even if the wolves are exposed before reaching their major victory.

Here is the order of actions at the deadline.

1. The day's "lynch" will be carried out, and any actions attached to it.
2. Non-baseball game actions from remaining players will be enacted, with results.
3. Baseball game actions from remaining players will be enacted, with results.
4. The baseball game results will be calculated and announced, followed shortly by any remaining PMs.

For most players, steps 2 thru 4 will be just one final action post following the lynch post.

Baseball Game Actions

Every baseball player will get three "step it up" actions for the entire game. This is an action where your on field character will step up his game for that night and perhaps help the team win the game. Only one player's action will be chosen every night. If you choose to use one of your three actions and it is not used, you still lose it, so use them wisely. When you are out of these actions, you will no longer be able to affect the outcome of the nightly game any more than any other player. Some baseball players will be more able than others to affect the outcome of the nightly baseball game. The best player's action will be considered before those of lesser talent.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Any player who does not vote in the daily lynch will lose one of his three baseball game actions.

Not everyone will be a character from the movies, although everyone will have a name. Roles and allegiance are not related to the character names. The only characters that are absolutely allied one way are Rachel Phelps and Charlie Donovan, the owner and GM, and they will be wolves.

Some or all of the players listed in the roster in Post #1 could be in the game. The wolves will know which ones are in the game, and so will be able to assume absent character identities, so as to not limit the potential pool of wolves based on name.

WW Roles

Whereas the baseball game roles and abilities are spelled out, the WW role abilities will largely be hidden, except for what follows here. These roles will be handed out at random, and can end on any player in the game.

BODYGUARD: This is the traditional bodyguard role. This character will be able to protect himself or another character of his choice from the wolves' actions.

SEER: This is the traditional seer role. This character will be able to investigate one player every day to determine his true identity and allegiance.

SCOUT: This is a nontraditional seer role. There is an in-game talent ranking for all players in the game which will determine how they can affect the nightly baseball game. The scout can investigate one player per day and will be told where in this ranking that player's character lies, be it first, second, third, last, etc. This ranking will remain static regardless of whether the players in are still alive. So if the fourth ranked talent is the top remaining talent in the game, the scout will still nonetheless be told that player has the ranking of fourth. The scout will NOT be told the player's in-game identity or allegiance. Wolves will also have talent rankings.

DUKE: This is the traditional duke role. This player, who is particularly well-liked in the clubhouse, will have the option to stop the "lynch" of any player once in the game, including his own. There will be no lynch that day when this happens.

Everyone will receive two PMs, one with their real names, roles and other instructions. The other will be a generic PM of instructions that is being sent to all players. In many cases, the first post will contradict what is sent in the second. The first post will always take precedence with respect to abilities and instructions. The generic post will only cover those areas not already addressed in the first post.

GAME START

The game will begin when the generic PMs have been sent out, and a post announcing the game has been posted in this thread. Final PMs are currently being written and sent out.

GOOD LUCK, EVERYONE!

[Chief Rum]

Player List

1. DaddyTorgo-- LYNCHED DAY FIVE Ivan Molina (regular ballplayer)
2. Barkeep-- KILLED NIGHT FOUR Ken Parkhurst (regular ballplayer)
3. KWhit LYNCHED DAY SIX Rachel Phelps (WOLF! faking Tom Kettner)
4. Passacaglia-- LYNCHED DAY THREE Charlie Donovan (WOLF! faking Rocky "Wild Thing" Vaughan)
5. Celeval-- KILLED DAY ONE Jake Taylor (regular ballplayer)
6. Lathum
7. MikeVic-- KILLED DAY TWO Roger Dorn (regular ballplayer)
8. hoopsguy-- LYNCHED DAY FOUR Pedro Cerrano (the Scout; converted WOLF!)
9. path12
10. Jonathan Ezarik
11. ntndeacon-- LYNCHED DAY ONE Rube Baker (regular ballplayer)
12. Gonzo-- KILLED NIGHT FIVE Willie Mays Hayes (the Seer)
13. PurdueBrad
14. st.cronin-- LYNCHED DAY TWO Eddie Harris (regular ballplayer)

[DaddyTorgo]

in

[Barkeep49]

I will play.

[KWhit]

I'm in.

Cool idea.

[Passacaglia]

Cleveland Rocks (oops, wrong one).

I'm in.

[Celeval]

What the hell, it's been a while. In.

[Pumpy Tudors]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

CF: Willie Mays Hayes (Wesley Snipes--but if you squint real hard, Omar Epps)

I'm not playing, but I loved this.

[Lathum]

in

[MikeVic]

I've never played, but I would like to try since this is one of my favourite movies. So I'd like to join the game, but please don't throw rocks at me if I don't play te game "correctly."

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

I've never played, but I would like to try since this is one of my favourite movies. So I'd like to join the game, but please don't throw rocks at me if I don't play te game "correctly."

Welcome to WW! We'll go easy on you!

[hoopsguy]

I'll play. The deadline is going to be problematic for me, but I'm guessing it will be for a few others as well.

[KWhit]

Originally Posted by hoopsguy

I'll play. The deadline is going to be problematic for me, but I'm guessing it will be for a few others as well.

Yep. Me too. I won't be able to be around for any of the lynch deadlines.

[path12]

I'll play.

[Jonathan Ezarik]

I'll play. The early deadline will be a problem for me as well, but hopefully with the 24 hour deadline it shouldn't be too big of a deal.

[ntndeacon]

I will play too

[Gonzo]

I'm in...despite knowing absolutely nil about baseball.

[PurdueBrad]

Another newcomer, but I would like to give it a shot as well.

[RendeR]

I'd love to join but we'll be camping the weekend of the 10th-12th and will be utterly out of touch.

Sounds like a great concept though! I'll be watching!

[hoopsguy]

Purdue, congratulations on racing ahead of Gonzo on total FOFC posts.

[DaddyTorgo]

7pm EST deadline means that I will normally post my vote before I leave work (at 5pm EST), as typically I don't get back to the house until around 6:30 and then I have to shower and have dinner before I can think about getting online, and that will be way after 7. There is the possibility of me voting from my super-phone, but the web browser has been not working lately and i'm not entirely sure why.

[st.cronin]

I'll play.

[Lathum]

I'm excited to taste some new blood, err, see some new blood in the games.

[MikeVic]

I think 0 posts is a sign of the werewolf.

Is that how you play this game?

[Swaggs]

This looks like a good one and I enjoyed CR's last game, but the deadline and the fact that I'll be out of town next weekend knocks me out.

[hoopsguy]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

I think 0 posts is a sign of the werewolf.

Is that how you play this game?

Easy for a Grizzled Veteran to say

And yes, that is pretty much how you play on Day 1. After that, some logic and reasoning should start to bleed into the process.

[Chief Rum]

Question: I felt that keeping the deadline at 7 p.m. EST (4 p.m. PDT) was important for consistency, but knew I had to do it because of work schedule early in the week.

But I only work that other job Monday and Tuesday during the work week (Saturday, too, but with malleable weekend schedules and the like I wasn't worried about Saturday).

So how about this? I push the game back one day, to start on Tuesday. Roles will still go out late Sunday night, so you get them early enough, so a bit of an extended Day One. Pushing the game back one day eliminates one of my work nights.

Then on Tuesday we have the 7 p.m. EST (4 p.m. PDT) deadline for Day One. The rest of the week it would be 10 p.m. EST (7 p.m. PDT), weekends to be determined (a lighter schedule, I presume).

By the time we get to next Monday, when the deadline would have to drop to 4 p.m. again for two days, most people will likely be out of the game (if it's still going).

So would that be more workable from a deadline perspective?

[DaddyTorgo]

I don't mind inconsistent deadlines. As long as everyone is made aware of them. So how about mon+tues 7pm EDT, and then the rest of the week 10pm EDT ??

[MikeVic]

I don't mind pushing the game to start Tuesday, and then having the times as you mentioned. It's a holiday here on Monday so I won't be on too much.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

I don't mind pushing the game to start Tuesday, and then having the times as you mentioned. It's a holiday here on Monday so I won't be on too much.

you canadians and your wacky holidays

[MikeVic]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

you canadians and your wacky holidays

Hah.

[hoopsguy]

I would prefer to start when:
1.) the game is ready
2.) we have our numbers

I don't have any issue at all with deadlines at different times, as long as they are communicated ahead of time and properly reflected in the thread title.

[Chief Rum]

I think this might be a good way to do it, since even some of you who are participating admitted you might have troubles with the early deadline. I will include a projected schedule in post #2 or post #3 once the game gets going as well (along with mentions at the deadline and in the thread title). So making people aware shouldn't be an issue.

I think the only thing to be sure about right now is whether we should push the game back one day to simply take Monday night out of the equation. I can go either way, but am leaning toward pushing it back, because Day Two is starting to get rolling in the game (usually), and it would be better done at the later deadline.

I'm not too worried about numbers at this point, just making sure those who are playing will be able to play at the times which work best for them.

[Gonzo]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

I've never played, but I would like to try since this is one of my favourite movies.

It's a film?? I did not know that.

[KWhit]

I like the idea of the later deadlines when possible. I'm fine with starting Monday or Tuesday.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Gonzo

It's a film?? I did not know that.

Yup, it's one of the most popular baseball films ever made and considered by most fans, I believe, as the funniest of what I believe are the big four of baseball movies (Field of Dreams, The Natural, Bull Durham being the others, with all due respect to other baseball movies). Here's a link to its IMDB's page.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097815/

Knowledge of the movie is not a prerequisite for playing in the game. You can know nothing about the movie, but follow the game rules, and you will be fine. But of course knowing about the movie certainly helps you get in to the theme.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Gonzo

It's a film?? I did not know that.

[Lathum]

I am good either way but since I died early last game I would love to star Monday!!

[Gonzo]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

Yup, it's one of the most popular baseball films ever made and considered by most fans, I believe, as the funniest of what I believe are the big four of baseball movies (Field of Dreams, The Natural, Bull Durham being the others, with all due respect to other baseball movies). Here's a link to its IMDB's page.

Field of Dreams: vaguely familliar

The Natural: never heard of it

Bull Durham: is that a person?

[Gonzo]

They all star Kevin Costner!

[st.cronin]

O, those wacky brits.

[MikeVic]

Originally Posted by Gonzo

They all star Kevin Costner!

Bull Durham is funny too. But it has more seriousness than Major League, and less funny (to me).

[Jonathan Ezarik]

Originally Posted by Gonzo

Field of Dreams: vaguely familliar

The Natural: never heard of it

Bull Durham: is that a person?

I know who's getting my day one vote.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Gonzo

They all star Kevin Costner!

LMAO. Only two of them.

He is well known for his baseball movies, though (also did For The Love of the Game; decent, not anywhere near the top four in quality), and for his other sports characters (Tin Cup leaps to mind, a movie I do think is good enough to belong with most great sports movies; it's about golf).

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

Bull Durham is funny too. But it has more seriousness than Major League, and less funny (to me).

Yup, the serious side of Bull Durham brings it below Major League for comedic quality, IMO. But it is as funny in moments and quoteable as Major League.

[MikeVic]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

Yup, the serious side of Bull Durham brings it below Major League for comedic quality, IMO. But it is as funny in moments and quoteable as Major League.

Yeah I still like Bull Durham a lot.

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

LMAO. Only two of them.

He is well known for his baseball movies, though (also did For The Love of the Game; decent, not anywhere near the top four in quality), and for his other sports characters (Tin Cup leaps to mind, a movie I do think is good enough to belong with most great sports movies; it's about golf).

In order of my favorites:

Bull Durham
Major League
Field of Dreams
For the Love of the game.

In order of which I watch the most:

For the love of the game
Field of Dreams
Bull Durham
Major league..

Dunno why.. but something about For the Love of the Game just speaks to me.

[Passacaglia]

No love for Summer Catch?

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Alan T

Dunno why.. but something about For the Love of the Game just speaks to me.

Actually, I really enjoy For the Love of the Game as well, but I know that's not really consensus opinion, so I leave it out when discussing great baseball movies.