Werewolf LXXII: Chess (Checkmate!)

[Passacaglia]

Your team is in its formation. King and Queen in the middle, Rooks at the edge of the battlefield, Knights and Bishops primed for battle, and Pawns ready to charge ahead. The terrain has been divided into 64 squares, arranged in 8 rows and 8 columns. Can you and your teammates dominate the other team and kill its King, or will you succumb to the wolves determined to wreak chaos? This game assigns a chess piece to each player, and puts you in your spot on the chess board. If you don't know how to play Chess, that's okay -- I figure the game will play out more like some kind of battle tactics, rather than Chess.

Here are your players:

King
You are the leader of your team, and the prime target of your enemies. Your opponents win by killing you. You cannot be lynched or killed by wolves. You must submit a name to me via PM -- that person will be lynched instead of you, if you're a leading vote-getter. This name can be changed at any time. If the person you submit is the other King, then the name that the OTHER king submits will be lynched. If both kings submit each other's names, then no one will be lynched as a result of voting for the King. The King's color will not be revealed in this process. On the board, you may move one space in any direction. You can see up to three spaces away from you. You may communicate via PM with your Queen.

Queen
You are the King's right (or left) hand...person. You are the most powerful piece on your team, and responsible for the ultimate defense of the significantly weaker and slower King. On the board, you may move as many spaces as you like in any direction. You can see up to three spaces away from you. You may communicate via PM with your King.

Rook
Strong and stout, you provide defense for the lesser pieces and Pawns. You may choose to protect one person each turn. For each color, one Rook will be able to protect against an attack on the board, and one Rook will be able to protect against a wolf attack. Neither of you will be able to protect a King or Queen. Neither of you will learn whether or not you prevented an attack. On the board, you may move as many spaces as you like, horizontally or vertically. You can see up to two spaces away from you. You may communicate via PM with the other Rook of your color.

Bishop
You have studied long and hard to learn the true nature of evil. You may choose to examine one person each turn, and find out if they are on the same team as you. On the board, you may move as many spaces as you like, in any diagonal direction. You can see up to two spaces away from you. You may communicate via PM with the other Bishop of your color.

Knight
You have trained all your life to fight the evil monsters known as werewolves, and learned in the code of chivalry enough to recognize a werewolf, should you come across one. You may choose to examine one player each turn, and found out if that player is a werewolf -- however, that player's piece (or one of his pieces) must be within your visible area on the board at some point in the night (if that player was not in that area, you will be told that the player was not near you that night). On the board, you may move two spaces in one horizontal or vertical direction and one space in the other direction, and you may "jump" over any pieces between you and your destination. You can see one space away from you, plus anywhere you would be eligible to move.. You may communicate via PM with the other Knight of your color.

Pawn
You are seen as the least important of your team, but you can be quite useful. Starting Night 4, you can learn the location on the board of one player (this will be their location as of the end of the night). If you end up controlling more than one Pawn (in the very likely event that there are less than 32 players in the game), your vote will count once for each Pawn you control (this will not be revealed as long as you're alive). On the board, you may move either one or two spaces forward on Night 1. On Night 2 and after, you move either move on space forward but if that space is occupied by a piece of either color you will not move at all, or attempt to capture to your right, which will capture a piece a space ahead and to the right if one exists but cause you to not move at all if that spot is empty, or attempt to capture to your left, which will capture a piece a space ahead and to the left if an opposing piece is there but cause you to not move at all if that spot is empty or the piece in it is friendly or protected. Each Pawn can see one space away, but only after it has moved. You may communicate via PM with the other Pawns of your color. If you reach the last row, you will be promoted to a piece of your choosing (Queen, Rook, Bishop, or Knight). When that happens, you will take on the powers of that piece (and lose your old Pawn powers), and be able to communicate with them (but not your old Pawn buddies).

Wolves
Though you are a member of your team, you have different victory conditions. While the two teams are concerned with killing the enemy King, your goal is to kill all non-wolves, leaving just yourselves and the two Kings. A wolf may not be a King. Each night you may kill one player. You may not kill a King, but if you attempt to kill a King before he has been outed through the process of being a top vote-getter (or if it happened at the end of the day before your night kill), then you get two kill attempts the next night. The wolves will not be able to convert anyone to their team -- there is no mechanism where someone would become a wolf after the game has started. You may communicate via PM with the other wolves.

A picture of the board as it looks at the beginning of the game is at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess#Setup. The Kings are at E1 and E8, the Queens are at D1 and D8, the Rooks are at A1, A8, H1, and H8, the Bishops are at C1, F1, C8, and F8, the Knights are at B1, G1, B8, and G8, and the Pawns are all over rows 2 and 7. However, only the Bishops, Kings, and Queens will know what color they are. Rooks, Knights, and Pawns will be told they're White, and the board will appear to them as if they're White, regardless of what color they really are.

A good pictorial description of the way each piece moves can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess#Moves.


Each day, you must do these things:

1. Vote (if you don't vote, you will not be able to do anything during that night phase)
2. Submit a night action if you have one
3. Submit a move on the board
4. Submit a "time" for the move

Explanations follow.

1. Vote

Each day, you must vote for a player to be removed from the game. You may vote "No Lynch" any day, and if that option has more votes than any other option, no pieces will be removed from the game. Ties will result in all the people tied being removed from the game (except for the Kings, of course). Votes must be in bold and on their own line. I will not remind people to put votes on their own line, either -- I simply won't count it.


2. Submit a night action

This is a 24-hour deadline, with a deadline at 3 PM Eastern, so night actions must be submitted during the day. Rooks, Bishops, and Knights have a night action every night. Pawns have a night action every night starting Night 4. Kings must submit a name at some point Day 1, but don't have to change it each day if they don't want to. Wolves must submit the name of the person they wish to chew up and spit out.


3. Submit a move on the board

I guess this one is optional, really. You don't have to move if you don't want to. I'll be using the algebraic chess notation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algebraic_chess_notation) for coordinates, but cardinal directions (White will be on the South end of the board, "facing" North, and Black will be on the North end of the board, "facing" South) for players to tell me which direction they want to go. Combining these two notations, Cell A1 is Southwest, A8 is Northwest, H1 is Southeast, and H8 is Northwest. If the moves are complicated, please feel free to ask questions, and talk with people in your group for ideas!

Queens: Tell me which direction you would like to move (North, South, East, West, Northeast, Northwest, Southeast, or Southwest), and how many spaces you want to travel, from 1 to 8. You will stop when you reach your desired number of spaces. If an opposing piece is in the way, you will capture that piece and stop there -- that piece will be removed from the game. If a friendly or protected piece is in the way, you will stop right before that piece.

Rooks: Tell me which direction you would like to move (North, South, East, West), and how many spaces you want to travel, from 1 to 8. You will stop when you reach your desired number of spaces. If an opposing piece is in the way, you will capture that piece and stop there -- that piece will be removed from the game. If a friendly or protected piece is in the way, you will stop right before that piece.

Bishops: Tell me which direction you would like to move (Northeast, Northwest, Southeast, or Southwest), and how many spaces you want to travel, from 1 to 8. You will stop when you reach your desired number of spaces. If an opposing piece is in the way, you will capture that piece and stop there -- that piece will be removed from the game. If a friendly or protected piece is in the way, you will stop right before that piece.

Kings: Tell me which direction you would like to move (North, South, East, West, Northeast, Northwest, Southeast, or Southwest). If an opposing piece is in that spot, you will capture that piece -- that piece will be removed from the game. If a friendly or protected piece is in that spot, you will not move. If it is easier, you can also use the algebraic chess notation to tell me which spot you want to move to.

Knights: Tell me where you want to move to, within the guidelines of your move description, using the algebraic chess notation. If an opposing piece is in that spot, you will capture that piece -- that piece will be removed from the game. If a friendly or protected piece is in that spot, you will not move.

Pawns: On Night 1, you can either move two spaces forward, move one space forward, or not move. On Night 2 or later, you can not move, move one space forward, or "attempt to capture" to your right or left. Keep in mind that if you're a Black Pawn, you'll be facing South (or down), so the left-right might get confusing. But when you say left or right, I'm going to interpret it as left or right from your perspective ON THE BOARD. If it's easier, you can give your attempt to capture in cardinal directions -- Northeast or Northwest for White Pawns, and Southeast or Southwest for Black Pawns.


4. Submit a "time" for the move

With your move, you must submit a number from 1-8, telling me how early or late in the night you want to make your move. 1 is the earliest, 8 is the latest. If no time is submitted, I'll place the move at time 4.5, right in the middle. Moves done at the same time will be simultaneous. That means that if two pieces move into the same spot at the same time, neither will be able to occupy it, and if one piece is trying to capture another and at the same time, that piece is moving away, the capture will not take place. The wolves must also submit a time that their kill occurs.


After each night phase is completed, I will:

1. Post a report of what pieces were captured, and what players were eaten by wolves.
2. Send a PM with scan results for Bishops and Knights (and Pawns as of Night 3).
3. Send a PM informing you where on the board you are, and which pieces are within your visibility. I'm not going to do this for Night 0 -- all the beginning positions are known, and can be seen at the link I provided earlier.


Endgame

The game ends in one of four ways:

1. If the White King dies, Black wins.
2. If the Black King dies, White wins.
3. If only the two Kings and wolves are alive, the Wolves win.
4. If only the two Kings are alive, the game ends in a stalemate.

A note about PMs -- please cc me in all communications. There is no mechanism that allows that PM to be read by anyone else -- I just want to see everyone's thoughts on the game. If it's via PM, you can send it to me. If it's email, you can send it to [email protected]. If it's chat, you don't have to bother, but if you have something interesting cooked up, feel free to let me know!

[Passacaglia]

Players:

1. claphamsa -- Lynched in place of ntndeacon Day 3, Black Bishop, Villager
2. The Jackal -- Lynched Day 7, White Knight, Wolf
3. mccollins -- Killed by Wolves Night 6, White Pawns, Villager
4. Lathum -- Lynched Day 3, Black Bishop, Villager
5. jeheinz72 -- Lynched Day 8, White Rook, Wolf
6. st.cronin -- Killed by Wolves Night 5, White Bishop, Villager
7. Anxiety -- Lynched Day 4, Black Knight, Wolf
8. KWhit -- Killed by Wolves Night 2, Black Pawns, Villager
9. Narcizo -- Lynched Day 8, White Rook, Villager
10. PurdueBrad -- White Pawns, promoted to White Queens, Villager
11. RendeR -- Lynched Day 6, White Bishop, Villager
12. hoopsguy -- Lynched Day 1, Black Rook, Wolf
13. Chief Rum -- Lynched Day 2, Black Queen, Villager
14. oliegirl -- Killed by Wolves Night 7, Black Rook, Villager
15. ntndeacon -- White King
16. path12 -- Killed by Wolves Night 3, White Queen, Villager
17. Barkeep49 -- Killed by Wolves Night 1, White Knight, Villager
18. Sonic Youth -- Lynched Day 5, Black Pawns, Villager
19. Neon_Chaos -- Black King
20. Qwikshot -- Killed by Wolves Night 4, Black Knight, Villager

[Passacaglia]

Significant events:

[claphamsa]

wow! i grew up playing chess... yes I was a nerd, even won a national team title in high school! That beign said im goign on vacation from thursday May 1 thrugh monday May 5....... I gotta play tho!

[The Jackal]

in

[mccollins]

IN!! I just started playing chess again after a couple year hiatus. Fun fun!

[Lathum]

In, how many people will you need?

[Lathum]

dola- I'll try and get Saldana to play, he can be the Queen

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by Lathum

In, how many people will you need?

32 would rock. 20 is kind of the minimum I have in mind, where everyone gets to PM with someone else.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

32 would rock. 20 is kind of the minimum I have in mind, where everyone gets to PM with someone else.

hmm, 32 is a severe longshot, 20 may be tough.

[hoopsguy]

24 hour + 3PM deadline = not ideal for me.

Do you have an expected start date?

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by hoopsguy

24 hour + 3PM deadline = not ideal for me.

Do you have an expected start date?

NC would probably know more about that than me. Maybe Wednesday?

[hoopsguy]

OK, just looking to get a sense if it was a mid-week start (right after other game) or looking at the following Monday regardless of end date for Neon's game.

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by hoopsguy

24 hour + 3PM deadline = not ideal for me.

Do you have an expected start date?

By the way, I love how you posted that at 3:06 Eastern.

[claphamsa]

I would certainly prefer a monday the 5th start hopefully the villegars can hold out for another week!

[jeheinz72]

I'm all about this. I suck at chess but I like to knock peoples pieces over in fits of complete frustration

In like Ted Ginn.

[st.cronin]

I'll play.

[hoopsguy]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

By the way, I love how you posted that at 3:06 Eastern.

Heh, all depends on the day and the client I'm visiting. I know that I'm going to have no FOFC access at one of my clients at some point next week ... if it looks like it is going to be a frequent issue during the run-time of this game then I'll be sitting another one out. If not, then I'll play.

[Abe Sargent]

In

[Abe Sargent]

Hold up, I'm in, assuming I can send in conditional orders. I forgot I'm away in Olympia for an interview next Tues Night through Thurs Night.

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by hoopsguy

Heh, all depends on the day and the client I'm visiting. I know that I'm going to have no FOFC access at one of my clients at some point next week ... if it looks like it is going to be a frequent issue during the run-time of this game then I'll be sitting another one out. If not, then I'll play.

Any deadline work better? I'm pretty flexible.

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by Anxiety

Hold up, I'm in, assuming I can send in conditional orders. I forgot I'm away in Olympia for an interview next Tues Night through Thurs Night.

Whatever crazy conditional order you can think of, I'll do it.

[hoopsguy]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

Any deadline work better? I'm pretty flexible.

Evening (9PM EST and later) always works best for me personally, but I'm not trying to rock the boat here. I'm sure the time you have picked works better for others.

[KWhit]

In like Kasparov.

[Narcizo]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

A note about PMs -- please cc me in all communications. There is no mechanism that allows that PM to be read by anyone else -- I just want to see everyone's thoughts on the game. If it's via PM, you can send it to me. If it's email, you can send it to [email protected]. If it's chat, you don't have to bother, but if you have something interesting cooked up, feel free to let me know!

Good luck keeping your PM box from overflowing with that one Pass. If 20 people are the minimum and everyone gets to PM someone else, there's the wolves PMing each other and individual orders then there's no way that's going to be viable.

Time constraints over 3/5 of the week mean that I wouldn't really be able to contribute a huge amount in what looks like it could be a complicated game. I'm not really sure I like these extreme theme games either but I'll give this ago and you can add me if you need to make up the numbers. I just won't be able to be very active, particularly if the thread is as big as I suspect it could get.

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by Narcizo

Good luck keeping your PM box from overflowing with that one Pass. If 20 people are the minimum and everyone gets to PM someone else, there's the wolves PMing each other and individual orders then there's no way that's going to be viable.

Time constraints over 3/5 of the week mean that I wouldn't really be able to contribute a huge amount in what looks like it could be a complicated game. I'm not really sure I like these extreme theme games either but I'll give this ago and you can add me if you need to make up the numbers. I just won't be able to be very active, particularly if the thread is as big as I suspect it could get.

I was able to do it for the BCS game, which had 16 people, and each conference of 4 could PM themselves. I think I'll be all right.

[PurdueBrad]

I don't know crap about Chess, will I be able to get through this? If so, I'm in.

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by PurdueBrad

I don't know crap about Chess, will I be able to get through this? If so, I'm in.

I don't think that should be a problem.

[RendeR]

How do we go about getting our PM box inreased in size? who do we ask? I know I kep hitting my limit running my games every time. I just want a bigger PM box =)

[RendeR]

Oh and put me IN, wtf, I'll probably not be around for any deadlines but I can get my input in the night before while at work.

[Passacaglia]

Render has a good point. hoops, is it really a big deal to be around at deadline? I've played in tons of games where I haven't been around at deadline, and still had a great time playing when I was around. People have all sorts of schedules that we accommodate in the game -- being around at deadline is hardly a prerequisite.

[hoopsguy]

Pass, go ahead and sign me up for the game.

In terms of playing the game, as a rule I want to know that I'll have a consistent presence over the lifetime of the game. So if I'm going to be missing days, I won't sign up. If my work commitments are going to keep me away for huge chunks of time, I won't sign up because I don't want to be a slave to the game at home.

Obviously everyone plays a style that gives them a high level of enjoyment. I don't enjoy playing nearly as much when I'm forced into a more passive observer role for large chunks of time. But I'll give it a go this time and see how it works out.

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by hoopsguy

Pass, go ahead and sign me up for the game.

In terms of playing the game, as a rule I want to know that I'll have a consistent presence over the lifetime of the game. So if I'm going to be missing days, I won't sign up. If my work commitments are going to keep me away for huge chunks of time, I won't sign up because I don't want to be a slave to the game at home.

Obviously everyone plays a style that gives them a high level of enjoyment. I don't enjoy playing nearly as much when I'm forced into a more passive observer role for large chunks of time. But I'll give it a go this time and see how it works out.

Sounds good, hoops.

If other people would prefer an evening deadline, I'll definitely do it, since I think this game will work infinitely better with 20+ people. Let me know.

[st.cronin]

I think afternoon deadlines actually generate larger numbers of players, Pass.

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by st.cronin

I think afternoon deadlines actually generate larger numbers of players, Pass.

You're probably right -- the last afternoon deadline I remember had several people around. I'm just trying to do what I can to get a lot of people in this one.

[Chief Rum]

I think afternoon deadlines==good for East Coasters and people who can post from work. Evening deadlines==better for Left Coasters and people who can only post after work.

That said, I can't pass this one up.

[Chief Rum]

Oh, to be clear, that means I am submitting my name for entry into the game being proffered. Which I would have gone back to edit into the last post. But I am not supposed to do that. So I didn't.

[claphamsa]

adn there is only one coast......

[oliegirl]

Well I am home from our honeymoon, complete with kick ass tan, and am ready for another game. Count me in...I don't know anything about chess though so I may have to ask some relatively stupid questions at some point in the game. Though new hubby does play and he said he'll help me if I need it...

Anyway, I'm in like Bobby Fischer

[claphamsa]

your dead?

[oliegirl]

Originally Posted by claphamsa

your dead?

LOL, no...he's just the only chess player I could think of off the top of my head

[oliegirl]

Dola, I don't even think I knew that Bobby Fischer was dead...I only know his name b/c of the movie from a few years ago, Searching for Bobby Fischer. Told you I didn't know anything about chess...

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by oliegirl

Dola, I don't even think I knew that Bobby Fischer was dead...I only know his name b/c of the movie from a few years ago, Searching for Bobby Fischer. Told you I didn't know anything about chess...

Good movie. One of the very few where I liked the movie more than the book, I think.

[ntndeacon]

I will be in like Karpov.

[path12]

Sign me up. I'll castle yer rook. Just like the way that sounds.

[ImTheCrew]

in? to late?

[claphamsa]

never too late... unless youhave been mated already, then its to late.

[Passacaglia]

Definitely not too late. I'll send out roles sometime over the weekend, with the first deadline being 3 PM Eastern, Monday, May 6.

[claphamsa]

and ill check once or 2 X on sunday.... and I guarantee a check before i leave... but i wont talk day one.

[KWhit]

Originally Posted by claphamsa

never too late... unless youhave been mated already, then its to late.

I haven't been mated in over a month.