Werewolf LXII -- The BCS (Racer and Swaggs win)

[Passacaglia]

It's the time of year we've all been waiting for: football season. You've sat through a mind-numbing offseason, made it through intense practices, and tried to contain your anticipation. But now, it's time! Your goal: The National Championship. But what challenges await you?

The rules are currently written with the idea of 17 people, but I'm flexible about that.

1. RendeR
2. PurdueBrad
3. Lathum
4. st.cronin
5. claphamsa
6. SnDvls
7. jeheinz72
8. Barkeep49
9. Swaggs
10. Mr. Wednesday
11. Chief Rum
12. Anxiety
13. ntndeacon
14. Racer
15. chesapeake
16. molson
17. Alan T

Alternates:
path12

[Passacaglia]

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

[Passacaglia]

It seems like you’ve been through so much already, but then you realize you still have it all to do. The recruiting, the mini-camps, the scrimmages – they’re all meaningless now. As students start to clog the campus with their parents and all their crap, you’re ready for the football season to begin!

As the head coach of a major college football power, you have two goals. First, of course, is to win the national title. The second, more team-oriented goal, is to bring in more money for your conference by sending two teams to BCS Bowls.

There are three BCS Bowls – each conference winner gets a spot, Notre Dame gets a spot, and the last spot goes to the highest “at-large” team in the BCS Rankings. The BCS Rankings are comprised of an average of three rankings: the public poll, the private poll, and the computer rankings. If there is a tie in determining anything important at the end of the last day, there will be a revote of the public and private polls. If there is still a tie, order will be determined completely based on computer rankings.

The public poll is created by the coaches each day (including Day 1). At some time before deadline, each coach has a chance to rank up to 5 teams. 1st place will get 5 points, 2nd place will get 4 points, 3rd place will get 3 points, 4th place will get 2 points, 5th place will get 1 point. I’ll compile the votes and publish the results. I don’t have a specific format request for this ranking – just make it obvious that this is your official public ranking, and not discussion.

The private poll will be created in the same way, except coaches will send their lists to me via e-mail, agage1 AT gmail.com. Your submissions for the public and private poll do not need to be the same. I’ll compile the votes and publish the Top 5 teams.

The computer ranking will be determined based on your performance. During each of the first four days, you will schedule a non-conference game. Games are scheduled one at a time, each day – no scheduling in advance. There is no home or away – just an opponent. You may not schedule someone in your conference for a non-conference game. Please submit your schedule request in the thread, in bold, and on its own line, like:

SCHEDULE TEAM XX
or
UNSCHEDULE TEAM XX

XX should be an integer, 1 through 99. The chance you have of beating Team XX is (1-XX)%. If you win the game, you receive XX “powerpoints.” If you lose the game, you receive none. The computer rankings will only look at who has more powerpoints – it will not consider wins or losses.

You may also schedule out-of-conference games with “human” coaches from another conference, or Notre Dame. If you schedule an out-of-conference game with someone in your own conference, the game will not be played. You can submit a challenge in bold, and on its own line, like:

CHALLENGE PASSACAGLIA
or
UNCHALLENGE PASSACAGLIA

You may accept a challenge in bold, and on its own line, like:

ACCEPT PASSACAGLIA

Once a challenge has been accepted, it may not be “unaccepted” (or “unchallenged”).

Victory in a game between two human coaches will be determined based on powerpoints – whoever has more is more likely to win. If a human with A powerpoints plays a human with B powerpoints, the first human has an A/(A+B) chance of winning, and the second human has a B/(A+B) chance of winning. The winner of the game will receive a number of powerpoints equal to the number of powerpoints of the losing team, divided by the number of games the losing team had played prior to that game. If neither team has any powerpoints, both teams have a 50/50 chance of winning, and the winner receives 100 powerpoints. The losing team will receive no power points (in any week).

After the first four games, the next three games will be comprised of conference play. Each team must play every other team in its conference. Conferences will determine its schedule as a group, and submit it to me by the end of Day 4 – failure to submit an appropriate schedule by the end of Day 4 will result in me creating it for you, and a 50 powerpoint deduction for each team.

Conferences must also decide its tiebreakers. The winner of the conference will be the team with the most wins, but if there is a tie, the conference may choose any method they wish to decide the winner. This must be sent to me by the end of Day 4 as well. Failure to submit a tiebreaker rule will result in a head-to-head tiebreaker, and a 25 powerpoint deduction for each team.

Conferences may elect to have a conference championship game. You may either have the top two teams play in the conference championship, or split your conference into two divisions of two teams each, and the winner of each division will play in it. A conference championship game is just like any other game between two human coaches, except for that the losing team will lose a number of powerpoints equal to the number of the powerpoints of the winning team divided by 7. If you’re going to have a conference championship game, you must notify me how it will be decided by the end of Day 4.

Conferences must also agree to a name for the conference by the end of Day 4. Failure to submit a name will result in me choosing the dumbest name I can think of for your conference, and a 13 powerpoint deduction for each team.

In case it wasn’t clear by this point, you have the ability to PM with everyone in your conference. At the end of Day 4, I’ll publish the names of the conferences, which teams are in which conference, and the remaining schedule. At the end of each day after that, I’ll publish conference standings.

After all 7 regular season games and any conference championships have been played (which will happen immediately following the 7th game), we’ll have a day with no games. There’ll be a final public and private poll, and at the end of the day, the national championship game will be played.

Of course, there’s a catch. One of the major teams in your conference is being courted to join a superconference. Should one of these “detractors” end up as the at-large team in the BCS Bowls, they will pocket the extra money and share it with the members of its new conference. The victory condition for the detractors is to get one of their own to be the at-large team in the BCS – if this happens, that team’s old conference does not win. The detractors may PM each other.

Even more evil than the detractors is the team that’s already independent, Notre Dame. Notre Dame has one victory condition – win the national title. At the end of Day 4, Notre Dame will receive a 15% powerpoint bonus. Also, Notre Dame will automatically play in the National Championship game is they are #1 in the computer rankings. If Notre Dame’s victory condition is met, no one else gets credit for any other victory conditions (when Notre Dame wins, college football in general loses).

Luckily, your means of fighting the evil detractors and the even more evil Notre Dame is not limited to the field. The BCS conferences will get together each day, and vote on which team is most deserving of having sanctions imposed on it. Sanctions will result in a 50 powerpoint deduction for that team. Notre Dame is exempt from sanctions, but they still get to vote on them. If there is a tie vote, no sanctions will be imposed that day. Sanctions are imposed after games have been played. A vote of "no sanctions" is acceptable. Vote for which team you think should receive sanctions in bold, on its own line, like this:

VOTE PASSACAGLIA
or
UNVOTE PASSACAGLIA

Unfortunately, the detractors will stop at nothing to receive the much sought-after BCS money. They will sabotage practice fields, training facilities, and cause all sorts of havoc to create problems for their opponents. This will result in 50 powerpoints lost in total – the detractors may split these points any way they wish. Notre Dame is not exempt from sabotage.

Teams have the ability to throw the game by sending me a PM indicating that you would like to. If you throw your game, you will lose. If both teams throw a game, then the game will be played like a normal game, except the better team now has a better chance of losing. You may throw a game against either a computer or human opponent. It will not be revealed if you have thrown a game.

Each conference will have one of each of these special roles: A scout, who can scan one team per day to find out if they are a detractor (but may not scan a coach in their own conference); a lobbyist, who can change the result of a sanctions vote (this will not reveal your role); a saboteur, who can make one team lose 15 powerpoints; and an equipment manager, who can protect from sabotage. The detractors will have one of each of these roles. In order to perform these actions, a team must throw its game that day. Keep in mind that there will be a detractor with each of these abilities -- the detractor also must throw their game to use them. The detractor who is the seer will be able to learn the role of one team, and will show up as not being a detractor if scanned if they throw their game.

To summarize, there are 8 days in this game. On Days 1 through 4, everyone must:
1. Schedule a game.
2. Vote in the public poll.
3. Vote in the private poll.
4. Vote for sanctions.
5. PM me if you’re throwing a game, and declare your action.

By the end of Day 4, each conference must:
1. Send me a conference name.
2. Send me a conference schedule.
3. Send me tiebreaker rules.
4. Decide if they want a championship game, and if so, how.

Days 5 through 8, everyone must:
1. Vote in the public poll.
2. Vote in the private poll.
3. Vote for sanctions.
4. PM me if you’re throwing a game, and declare your action.

Days 5 through 7, Notre Dame must schedule games as well.

On all days, the detractors must decide how many points of sabotage to allocate to each team.

The Schedule
Days 1 through 4: Non-conference games
Days 5 through 7: Conference games
Day 7: Conference Championships
Day 8: Final polls and national title game

[RendeR]

Oh dear god a Football WW game, IN!

[SnDvls]

swaggs might want in per the GM signup thread so double check with him.

[PurdueBrad]

Cool idea and I'm most certainly in.

[Lathum]

in

[hoopsguy]

When is this likely to start? Monday of next week? The following week? Middle of next week if the current game is still in progress Monday?

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by hoopsguy

When is this likely to start? Monday of next week? The following week? Middle of next week if the current game is still in progress Monday?

I was thinking I'd send out roles the day after the game ends, and Day 1 would be the next day.

[Passacaglia]

And if PB's game ends this week, I'll look at a Monday Day 1.

[hoopsguy]

OK, I'll keep an eye on the other game then. I'm a definite "no" for the first half of next week, so that will more or less determine if I'm playing this one.

[st.cronin]

In

[claphamsa]

in`

[SnDvls]

in

[jeheinz72]

IN bounds, clock still running.

[Passacaglia]

Rules are posted. Ask any questions you've got!

[claphamsa]

u guys have waaaaay too much free time

[Barkeep49]

in

[Swaggs]

I'm back in!

[path12]

Independent.

[Mr. Wednesday]

In.

[PurdueBrad]

I challenge Passacaglia and argue that we should treat Notre Dame like the dog crap on the bottom of my shoe that they are and make this game more realistic by leaving them out of the BCS.

Stupid Notre Dame.

I hate Notre Dame.

Damn Notre Dame.

Sorry, I'm done for now...rant may continue later.

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by PurdueBrad

I challenge Passacaglia and argue that we should treat Notre Dame like the dog crap on the bottom of my shoe that they are and make this game more realistic by leaving them out of the BCS.

Stupid Notre Dame.

I hate Notre Dame.

Damn Notre Dame.

Sorry, I'm done for now...rant may continue later.

The good news is that Notre Dame is pretty much everyone's enemy in this game (sorry, Mr. Wednesday)!

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by PurdueBrad

I challenge Passacaglia and argue that we should treat Notre Dame like the dog crap on the bottom of my shoe that they are and make this game more realistic by leaving them out of the BCS.

Stupid Notre Dame.

I hate Notre Dame.

Damn Notre Dame.

Sorry, I'm done for now...rant may continue later.

Also, Notre Dame might not be included in the game, anyway. They're really only in there to make the numbers nicer, if I need to.

By the way, some rules were changed regarding Notre Dame (if they're included), and I added the possibility of a "no sanctions" vote.

[Chief Rum]

In if there's room.

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

In if there's room.

You bet there is.

[Abe Sargent]

I'm in if there is still room

[hoopsguy]

Originally Posted by PurdueBrad

I challenge Passacaglia and argue that we should treat Notre Dame like the dog crap on the bottom of my shoe that they are and make this game more realistic by leaving them out of the BCS.

Stupid Notre Dame.

I hate Notre Dame.

Damn Notre Dame.

Sorry, I'm done for now...rant may continue later.

I <3 PurdueBrad

[RendeR]

Now that is a confusing rule set =)

holy crap Pass =)

[ntndeacon]

INNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

[Racer]

In.

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by RendeR

Now that is a confusing rule set =)

holy crap Pass =)

Yeah, it does seem rather involved. I wanted to combine the politicking of the coaches polls with the politicking of a WW game, while adding in an element of "gaming" the BCS. It might be a bit much, but that's why I wanted to get it all out there and answer any questions that may come up.

[chesapeake]

I've got a manageable week coming up, so I'll give it a shot.

[path12]

Pass, I'm going to ask to be moved to alternate. There's a lot going on and my WW concentration may not be where it should for a game like this....

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by path12

Pass, I'm going to ask to be moved to alternate. There's a lot going on and my WW concentration may not be where it should for a game like this....

Sure thing! Signups will probably go until Monday, so if you change your mind, there's still time.

[jeheinz72]

Pass - I should ask this since I don't think people die in this one (Haven't read the rules closely). Will we be playing on the weekend?

[Barkeep49]

Pass you plan on starting this game then before the other one ends?

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by Barkeep49

Pass you plan on starting this game then before the other one ends?

No -- sorry, I should have said that signups would go until at least Monday.

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by jeheinz72

Pass - I should ask this since I don't think people die in this one (Haven't read the rules closely). Will we be playing on the weekend?

Good questions, I hadn't thought of that. Yes, no one dies, so you're all committed for 8 days. We will not play on the weekend. You guys will just have to speculate about who played what kind of schedule over the weekend, and what the conference alignments might be.

[claphamsa]

do we pick our schools? or is it random? or will it be claphamsa state?

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by claphamsa

do we pick our schools? or is it random? or will it be claphamsa state?

I hadn't planned on schools really having names. It's just the coaches, really. If you want, you can name yourselves whatever you want, but everything is predicated on the player's name. The only real name in this game was Notre Dame, and that was more of a joke that turned into a possible role. Even the conference names aren't supposed to be real -- that was just a fun little thing to add something to being in a conference together. You don't have to take your conference names from real conferences, you can call yourselves the flaming buttwads for all I care.

[claphamsa]

ok! MD superkittens here!

[Passacaglia]

I'm looking at sending out roles sometime Monday, with Day 1 ending Tuesday.

[molson]

I'm intruiged...

In

[Passacaglia]

Very cool, molson! I'm not sure if this is your first werewolf game, but if so, I encourage you to try another one after this to get a feel for the game! I don't think being a first-timer will really affect how you play this game, but it might not give you the best idea of what it's like to play werewolf.

Small changes to the rules..

I clarified that if the lobbyist uses his powers, it willl not result in a reveal, and added some powers to the detractor's seer (since being a seer really doesn't do anything for him).

I'm looking to start sending roles at around 10 AM central, but I might do it earlier if I get antsy.

[Passacaglia]

Another fix...fixed the saboteur -- he only causes someone to lose 15 powerpoints, not 50 (I think that was a typo?)

[Alan T]

I'll play as long as there is very limited weekend play next weekend.

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by Alan T

I'll play as long as there is very limited weekend play next weekend.

There will be NO weekend play. We'll have a 24-hour clock, with a 2 PM Central deadline. Day 4 will end Friday at 2 PM, and Day 5 will end Monday at 2 PM. And since there are only 8 days, the game will not run into the weekend after that.

[Passacaglia]

I'm adding Alan T (since I believe I've met his criterion), and getting roles ready now.

[Passacaglia]

Here are the PMs. Notre Dame just gets one of these -- everyone else gets two.

You are the coach of Notre Dame. You do not belong to a conference, and may schedule 7 games with any team you want. Your only victory condition is to win the National Championship. No one will find out that you are the coach of Notre Dame until the end of Day 4, unless you are the winner of a sanctions vote (which you are exempt from). Also, you will receive a 15% powerpoint bonus at the end of Day 4 (the polls love Notre Dame).

You are detractors. You may PM each other freely. Your goal is for one of you to be the at-large entry into the BCS.

You are members of a conference. You may PM each other freely. One of you is a scout, one of you is an equipment manager, one of you is a lobbyist, and one of you is a saboteur. Also, one of you is a detractor. Your goal is to take the at-large spot in the BCS – but make sure that the detractor isn’t the one who takes it!

You are a scout. If you throw your game, then that day you may scan one team to find out if they are a detractor. However, you may not scan a team from your own conference.

You are an equipment manager. If you throw your game, then that day you may allocate 15 powerpoints to be protected from sabotage, among any number of teams you want.

You are a lobbyist. If you throw your game, then that day you may change the result of a sanctions vote. If more than one person tries to change the result of a sanctions vote on the same day, the choice of the equipment manager with more powerpoints will be used.

You are a saboteur. If you throw your game, then that day you may cause another team to lose 15 powerpoints.

You are the detractors’ scout. If you throw your game, then that day you may scan one team to find out what role they have. Also, you will show up as not being a detractor if someone scans you that day.