Werewolf XLVI - Sun And Shadow (Game Thread) - Game Over! Cultists win!

Peregrine · 04-30-2007, 01:56 AM

Long ago, wolves attacked a small village by a river, causing days of confusion and death. The wolves and mages from a certain evil cult were driven off, though they continued to brood over the village from their cliffside compound. What evil rites they practiced there were unknown. For a time the villagers assumed that the King's men, bearing the power of the Sun Gods, would wipe the place clean, but they waited for months, then two years, and it has not happened yet.

Meanwhile, in the cult itself, the Dark Pact has continued undisturbed. Unknown to anyone outside, the cliff their home is dug into is the home of an ancient civilization, and they have used the relics found within to improve their own powers. Though at the time of their defeat in the village by the river they thought they might be attacked, it hasn't happened, though rumors are rampant that a spy or spies might have infiltrated their ranks.

Deep in the cliffside tunnels, a mysterious relic was found, an ancient coffer encrusted with runes and fairly glowing with power, as well as a certain malevolence. The mages of the cult gathered together their best to perform a ritual to open the coffer, and safely contain whatever was inside. The power of eighteen of the cult's best was focused on the coffer, protected by a ritual circle and glowing with reflected magic.

Then something happened.

It was chaos, people shouting, some falling to the ground, but the coffer yawned open, and it seemed the mouth of Hell was inside. A great Shadow force leaped out, slashing past all barriers, and in the chaos it disappeared into one of the mages. One of you.

You were fortunate that the other members of your cult thought fast and managed to seal off your section of the fortress. If this evil force gets out, there's no telling what damage it may cause. In the meantime, you are all trapped here, with whatever relics and personal power you have, to contain this evil, or else it will overwhelm you all.

Are you up to the challenge?

Player List:

1) Mustang
2) BrianD
3) ntndeacon
4) Joe
5) Swaggs
6) Barkeep49
7) Kwhit
8) Lathum
9) Chief Rum
10) Schmidty
11) Mr. Wednesday
12) hoopsguy
13) DaddyTorgo
14) ImTheCrew
15) Tyrith
16) Path12
17) Alan T
18) SnDvls

Rules:

The Shadow

The Shadow starts with one player, and gains a second on Night 0. After that, each night they can try to gain more recruits. As a night action, each Shadow player chooses one player to try to convert, he focuses his shadow energies on him. As more are converted, the power of the shadow being is split among them. The first conversion had a 100% chance to succeed, when there are two players, each has 50%, when three, each has 33%, and so forth. The more the Shadow spirit is divided the harder it is for him to focus his energies for more conversions. Once the votes are sent to the GM I will total them up and start with the person receiving the most votes. Any total Shadow force that's 50% or more means an automatic conversion, IF the target player can be found and is not protected somehow. After that I will go down the list by percentage. It's possible no one will be converted in a given night, but there will never be more than one person converted.

Once a player has been converted by the Shadow, they can no longer use their original magical role. They can continue to use mundane roles if they wish.

The Shadow players will be able to communicate with all the other Shadow players, through a method I will reveal to them.

It's important to note that the Shadow players DO NOT know the identity of the other Shadow players. They can reveal themselves if they wish, but this will open them up to exposure if/when any of the other Shadows are cleansed. This also applies if they agree to vote for a certain person, but it might be worthwhile if they want to convert a key person. They will be able to communicate with each other, but anonymously.

The Sun

Two spies of the king and the Sun Gods have infiltrated the cult and are trying to learn about it to bring it down. Faced with the Shadow threat, they have no choice but to take action. The exact abilities of the Sun spies are known only to themselves. While the cult members naturally want to discover the spies and kill them, the threat of the Shadow is even greater, and they will take any ally they can get for the moment.

The Count

Fortunately for the cult members, one of the mages left outside is the powerful Seer, and has the ability to detect Shadow energy.

This means that at the start of each day, the players will receive an accurate count of how many Shadow players there are. This will not reveal anything about their identities.

Voting

Each day all players can vote publicly for whoever they want, and can change their votes as many times as they want. This is called the name vote. They also must vote publicly whether they want to punish the person who receives the most votes, or show mercy. This is a separate vote, called the punishment vote, and will apply to whoever gets the most votes! All name votes must be received by 7:30 pm EST, however, there is a small grace period until 8 pm EST, where anyone can change their punishment votes ONLY. This will allow players to make an informed decision knowing who the victim will be. If you won't be around for that time of day, make sure to get your punishment vote in before then!

Ties in the name vote can be broken by particular roles or magical items. If the tie is not broken, no punishment happens that day.

Ties in the punishment vote end in a result of mercy.

Punishment/Mercy

If the punishment vote ends in punishment, the most serious ritual known to the cult is applied - the cleansing. This powerful spell strips the player of all their magical powers, including their magical role! After a player is cleansed they can still use any mundane role they have, as well as magical items, and retain all voting power.

If a player was corrupted by the Shadow, the cleansing removes this, and they revert back to their previous loyalty to the cult.

Important Note - Cleansed players remember everything they learned as a Shadow player, including the identities of other Shadow players, and who they voted for. Of course, given the Shadow mechanic above, a vote doesn't mean that player was necessarily corrupted.

If the punishment vote ends in Mercy, another spell is placed on the player, the Circle of Sleep. This magical cirle will prevent them from taking any night actions that night (including Shadow attempts,) or being targeted by any night actions other than Search, Steal, or Dose.

The Complex / Sleep

The area that is sealed off is an L-shaped hallway and several rooms, in addition to the Ritual Room. Each night along with their night actions a player must indicate which room they want to sleep in that night. If nothing is sent in, they will sleep in the Ritual Room. Note that some of the rooms have space limits, so only a certain amount of people will be able to sleep there. Any extras will be kicked to the Ritual Room. Some players might have roles or abilities that let them hide in some way, in which case they can designate their hidden area.

Available Rooms:

Ritual Room - This is the largest, a big shadowy area with lots of room to sleep.

Storage Room - A smallish room with old robes, unused magical paraphenilia, and so forth.

Kitchen - Luckily the kitchen of the complex is here, so no one will starve.

Alchemy Closet - A cramped closet with a heavy door to prevent any explosions from damaging everything else.

Sitting Room - A medium sized area with some comfortable furniture.

Chamber of Rest - This area contains a few cots for mages who needed to rest between experiments.

Actions available to all:

You can choose to do one of these three actions during the night, INSTEAD OF the night action given to you by your role. The only exceptions are that once per game each player can perform one of these actions in addition to another action, (ex. magical role + dose, or search + steal) and you can always dose yourself in addition to another action. (see below) All of these actions have a chance of you being seen by someone.

Note that a few roles have daytime actions or no nighttime actions (Signifier, Sorceror) and so they can take one of these actions each night.

Search - This action allows you to search a particular room you name for magical items. Message the GM with the room you wish to search. Note that some of the magical items listed below are easier to find early in the game and others are easier to find late in the game. All players will be given a free Search action during Night 0, representing the scramble to find weapons against the Shadow.

Steal - This nefarious action lets you name a person, and try to search them for magic items, robbing whatever you can (normally one item.) If the person can be found and is sleeping, stealing with have a good chance of success. If they are not in the room or are protected somehow the action will fail.

Dose - This action lets you give someone a potion. As stated above, you can dose yourself with a potion you have as a free action. Message the GM with who you want to dose, and what potion you want to use. If they can be found and are sleeping, dosing them will automatically succeed. If they are not in the room or are protected somehow, the action will fail.

Order of Actions:

Lynch by 7:30/8:00 PM EST
Night actions must be in by midnight EST
Remember each player should send in a sleep location each night!
Dose
Magical Night Actions
Shadow Corruption
Search
Steal
Morning Count

Peregrine · 04-30-2007, 01:57 AM

Magical Items

There are a number of magical items scattered around the complex. This is most of, but not all, the magical items that can be potentially found. Note that some of the items can only be used at night, others only during the day, and some at either time.

Message me with any specific questions.

Potion of Weariness - A person who drinks this potion is unable to cast a vote in either vote the next day, but able to speak normally.

Potion of Alertness - A person who drinks this potion is active and alert through the night, and able to see what goes on in his room. This gives him a good chance to identify people that come in and what they are doing. Also, this potion makes even the magical sleep of the mercy option or other magical abilities impossible.

Potion of Sleep - This potion will put a person to sleep for the night, they will not be able to take a night action, and night actions on them are more successful.

Potion of Power - This potion is said to drastically increase magical power, temporarily. If it is drunk by someone who has been cleansed, it miraculously restores their powers and their former role (but not any former Shadow corruption.) If it is drunk by a normal person, it boosts their magical powers for the next day and night cycles after it is taken. This allows night actions to be much more effective and useful (even for the Shadow!) and also makes a person immune to cleansing during the next day cycle.

Potion of Masking - This potion is only effective when taken at night. It sheathes the drinker in a magical mask that allows him to shrug off all night actions aimed at them, including Shadow attempts.

Potion of Darkness - IMPORTANT! This potion used to be something useful but has been corrupted by the Shadow's arrival. When found, it will look like one of the other potions. When drunk, horrible things can happen, up to and including being corrupted by the Shadow. This potion is fortunately rare.

Scroll of Identity - This magical parchment can be read one time, to magically learn the role of one player. This will reveal both magical and mundane roles, but not whether a person is corrupted or not. Note that in the case of the Sun spies, this will reveal their TRUE role.

Ring of Shadows - This ancient ring grants the power of invisibility by drawing shadows to the user. It can be used on two different nights to protect the player from harm. Also, if desired it can be used once (and destroyed) to use a night action to search out the shadow beings and find one of them.

Mask of Whispers - This is a small mask that can be put over the lower part of the face. It allows the wearer to once each day send one short (two lines or less) PM message to someone, and get a short message in reply. Must run through the GM, you can identify yourself or not.

Triune Pyramid - A small golden pyramid which if possessed, makes the bearer immune to other magical effects, including items, being corrupted by shadow, and even being cleansed. However, there is an increasing chance it will shatter if exposed to a lot of magical stress.

Ritual Dagger - This long dagger is made of gleaming silver and is used in certain darker rituals. It has been tied into the magical abilities of everyone in the coven, and so can be used to find a specifed person even if they are hiding or using another magical ability to hide themselves. The dagger can be used as a free night action.

Seal of Command - This seal of enchanted black wax boosts the user's command capabilities, people listen to him or her. It can be used to break a tie in either the name or the punishment vote. Contact the GM by 8:00 PM EST with who you choose.

Ring of Wisdom - This Ring allows the user to cast one secret vote each day. The vote is a name vote only, not a punishment vote. The vote must be sent to the GM before the deadline and will be announced immediately. It cannot be changed. Once the vote is cast the GM will announce "The Ring of Wisdom casts a vote for XYZ!"

Magical Roles

Each player will be assigned one of these roles. If you would like you can try to do a role revealing strategy, but note that some of these roles are going to be particular Shadow targets.

Signifier - The player has the powerful magic ability to once each day (as a day action) indicate one statement and learn whether it is true or false. Note that this is not intended to allow coerced situations where everyone is forced to say "I am good!" Such situations muddle the truth and the ability will be wasted.

Warlock - This role allows you to cast a powerful hex on another player, three times per game. This must be done as a night action, you choose another player and they sleep soundly, unable to perform any night actions.

Medium - As a night action you can see through someone else's eyes. What you see might reveal their role, or might reveal nothing.

Artificer - You were the first to study the artifact, and a trickle of shadow energy made its way to you, despite the seals. It has been working through you enough that you believe embracing it would be the ultimate source of power. Each night you can make an action to study one player and determine if they have been embraced by the Shadow or not. You want to protect them, and hope to become one in time. Also, if you are cleansed, you are still loyal to the evil side, and don't have to confess their names.

Alchemist - During the course of the game, you can make three potions, either of Weariness, Alertness, Masking, or Sleep. You can only have one potion at a time - ie, you have to use the first one before you can make the second one. You can't make the same potion more than once.

Diabolist - You specialize in the summoning of demons, a dark and risky magic that is even shunned by most members of the cult. Three times during the game, as a night action, he can choose a player and find out what magical role that player has. He will not learn if a player if affected by the Shadow this way.

Ritualist - You can draw sorcerous circles that can keep magical powers out, or in. Three times per game you can choose to draw a barrier which will protect one room from any outside actions or influences. Players can take actions inside the protected room but they have a higher chance of being noticed. The circles will be drawn as a day action, so message the GM before the deadline if you want to do this, and which room you want to protect.

Spiritmaster - You have expertise in speaking with spirits and the dead. Twice per game you can summon up spirits that will protect the room you're in, guarding against any intrusion at night.

Researcher - You have the ability to identify magical items and have learned much about them. Each night you can pick a magic item from the list and try to find out where it is currently located, if successful you will learn which room it is in or who has it. You can also identify if a potion is a Potion of Darkness.

Sorceror - You care about nothing except magical power. You have quite a lot of it now, and if you were corrupted by the shadow, you're pretty sure you'd have even more. You are immune to magical sleep of any kind.

Summoner - You have a small imp as your creation, that can act independently and follow your orders. Each night you can give it a simple order - "Follow so and so" "Guard me and make sure nothing happens" "Steal an item from Player X." Your pet is not completely reliable, however, and there is a 25% each night that it will not follow your orders.

Augur - You have the power to follow magical trails through the ether. In this case, you can attempt each night to track the shadow (or Sun) energies. If you do so, you have a 50% chance of seeing either where the energy starts or where it finishes, a 25% chance of not seeing anything, and a 25% chance of having the energy focus on you instead!

Theurgist - You can focus a magical field which will block other forms of magic from taking place. Each night you may specify a person, and they will not be able to use any magical abilities. You can't choose the same person more than two nights in a row. Note that this does not give you any knowledge of what their abilities are.

Witch - You have the power to work through people's dreams. Each night you can take a night action to send someone a message through their dreams. The message is necessarily vague and will not always be sent accurately. Alternately, you can use the same action to study someone's dreams. You have to be near them to do this (in the same room) but if you are successful you may learn something about them, including their role and possibly their past actions.

Wizard - Despite being in the coven, you've grown increasingly worried about things here, because you're basically a good person and want to get out. Each night as a night action you can check someone to see if they are a member of the Sun faction. You also have a Sun Amulet which gives you a powerful ability - you can't be corrupted by the Shadow.

Enchanter - You command the power of the enchantments that run through the very walls of the complex. Each night you can specify one room, and you will be notified if any major magical powers are used there (this includes Shadow corruption but also some of the other roles.) You will have a smaller chance to find out who used them.

Craft Mage - You have the ability to build and unbuild magical items. It takes time to build a magical item, but over three night actions, you can make any of the non-potion items on the list. Also, if you choose, you can destroy a magical item. To do this, you have to know the item and who has it.

Elementalist - You have the power to command rock and stone, and can move through them from room to room without being seen. This will also allow you to escape from a magical circle created by the Ritualist.

Peregrine · 04-30-2007, 02:03 AM

Victory Conditions:

The overall victory conditions are that the cult members want to get rid of the Shadow, and the Shadow wants to overwhelm the cult members. The Sun spies want to avoid detection and survive.

If the Shadow players ever are the majority of the uncleansed players, they win the game.

If the cult members destroy all the Shadow players, or the Shadow is reduced to one player for two consecutive Counts, the cult members win.

The Sun players win if they defeat the Shadow and they have not been unmasked as spies.

There are other, individual victory conditions as well.

Peregrine · 04-30-2007, 03:14 AM

Roles have been sent out. If you found a magical item in your Night 0 search, it's been included in the PM. PM me with any questions.

Oh yes, I assume there will be no nonsense involving posting my PMs, editing posts, and so forth. Standard WW etiquette applies.

Game on!

Schmidty · 04-30-2007, 03:28 AM

Day off, and I should be waking up at 3 p.m. EST. I will likely be gone unti;; the dealine or so.

Peregrine · 04-30-2007, 03:29 AM

Just so everyone knows, I work at night, so I can handle all the night actions easily enough, but during the day I'm normally asleep from 8 am till 1-2 pm, then again at night after the lynch. I'll be around, but if I'm not, especially in the morning, be patient.

hoopsguy · 04-30-2007, 03:57 AM

Cultist checking in. Let's see if we can isolate this Shadow power before it perverts our order.

I'm counting 18 magical roles listed, which exactly matches the number of people in this section of the compound. So I expect that the roles listed are all-inclusive. I'll go out on a limb and state that my role is one of those listed.

The magic item section suggests that there may be a few additions so I would expect to see some non-listed mechanics from there.

I'm interested to hear what people make of the rules early - any non-traditional approaches for Day 1 that we should be considering?

Chief Rum · 04-30-2007, 05:25 AM

I'm a cultist as well. I don't think it's a good idea to say anything else about what I am, though, or for anyone to do it until we have a handle on what everything does.

Toward that end, I would recommend organize the roles and the items into "classifications" to help us get an idea what we have here, and what would be the most useful.

In other words, someone should go through the list and determine which roles/items are information-seeking, information-hiding, attack, defense types. Any other classifications to consider?

Once we have that set, then we can attempt to rank them from most important to least important and focus our efforts on getting the critical items and roles under our control.

I would do all this myself, but I am unfortunately at the beginning of another two-day, two-job stretch and will be available to post only early in the morning or late, late at night.

It's going to be a bear to try and catch up on what this thread will be tomorrow night. Oh well...

Alan T · 04-30-2007, 07:27 AM

I agree that my role is also listed as one of the 18 there. As far as I know, my PM didn't say anything about me having any items or such, so as far as I know, I just start with my magical role.

hoopsguy · 04-30-2007, 07:56 AM

As a default action, do people see Punishment or Mercy to be the better choice for the benefit of our cult? Why?

DaddyTorgo · 04-30-2007, 08:22 AM

got my PM. checking in. didn't get to read up on the game rules+mechanics last night, so i will refrain from commenting about anything, it seems pretty confusing.

will try to sneak a peak at reading it during the day, for sure.

Barkeep49 · 04-30-2007, 08:25 AM

Ok just as I did in Alan's tombstone game I advocate a mass reveal. In that game certain roles turned out to be bad guys and I think when we find our first baddie and see what kind of role he has we could gain possible insight.

As for the punishment/mercy vote, I'm torn. I have a feeling mercy will be the Day 1 result, but all that does is place us in a holding pattern. With no deaths, I think it's quite obvious that the shadows have a conversion ability. Not sure what to make of that and how that should affect the punishment/mercy decision.

DaddyTorgo · 04-30-2007, 08:26 AM

okay i lied. apparently i have very little to do this AM, so i am going to try to catch up now before things get busy, and see what exactly is up.

Alan T · 04-30-2007, 08:28 AM

It appears that mercy won't tell us much about who is affected by the shadow, and definitly won't help us release people from that corruption. As always, our most powerful tool for fighting the evil is the punishment. Those that are afraid to inflict that punishment are the doorways for the shadow to enter.

The only time mercy should be shown is in the case of a person's neck being on the line and giving indisputible last minute evidence that they are not affected by the shadow. That leads us to a second question, if all of the roles listed above are in the game, simply stating a role there won't necessarily be an indicator of innocence.

hoopsguy · 04-30-2007, 08:30 AM

Barkeep, do you think a certain role was granted the lead bad guy or that it was random.org assigning it?

If the latter, then I think certain roles would be more attractive for the first Shadow to target for his 100% conversion ability. And following that logic, I can see some benefits in the mass reveal strategy. But we also give the Shadow a road map to attack us if there is no correlation between role and Shadow. Maybe I haven't spent enough time looking at each of the roles but I don't see that strong linkage that there was in Alan's game.

DaddyTorgo · 04-30-2007, 08:32 AM

sure...a mass reveal sounds like a great idea. it will render my role effectively useless, but *shrug*

Okay, I think I'm caught up on a lot of things here, so I think I'm ready to dive in.

DaddyTorgo · 04-30-2007, 08:33 AM

so since we're on Day 1, I take it Night 0 has already happened right? So there are 2 shadow among us?

DaddyTorgo · 04-30-2007, 08:51 AM

not quite sure i understand the value of a mass-reveal...if the shadow doesn't have that information it would make it harder for them to target powerful roles for conversion. and if someone is on the block and they have a powerful role we have the mercy option if it gets that far.

look at the artificer or the sorcerer...do we really want them identified for the shadow?

DaddyTorgo · 04-30-2007, 08:52 AM

werewolf quad-dola

i've probably said too much, but i don't think i agree with you on the mass-reveal strategy barkeep.

DaddyTorgo · 04-30-2007, 08:55 AM

so can the craft mage build another ring of shadows? I think that might be a really good idea...just don't answer and make yourself a target

DaddyTorgo · 04-30-2007, 08:57 AM

that's 5 posts in a row...i'm on fire

Tyrith · 04-30-2007, 09:08 AM

Checking in. We can be a little more willy nilly with the punishment in this game than normal, I feel, because we do keep the count correct. I would sure like to know what we're targeting before we strip it, though.

DaddyTorgo · 04-30-2007, 09:11 AM

i don't think a mass reveal is wise though, contrary to what Barkeep suggests. there are 2-3 people who look like their roles would be VERY attractive to the Shadow. No reason to draw a roadmap for the Shadow, as we can't possibly protect them all, every night.

or am i missing something?

KWhit · 04-30-2007, 09:12 AM

Cultist checking in. I do indeed possess one of the magical roles listed above.

DaddyTorgo · 04-30-2007, 09:13 AM

magical roles rock. i've got one.

hey guys! welcome to the thread!

Tyrith · 04-30-2007, 09:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

i don't think a mass reveal is wise though, contrary to what Barkeep suggests. there are 2-3 people who look like their roles would be VERY attractive to the Shadow. No reason to draw a roadmap for the Shadow, as we can't possibly protect them all, every night.

or am i missing something?

No, I mostly agree with you, it'd be pretty easy for shadow to manipulate us into a situation where we start stripping our good roles out if we let them know who they are.

BTW, I also possess one of the listed roles. It's going to be useful to us that people stay alive after they're stripped, so we can detect any fake role reveal jazz that wolves might use to keep themselves in business. Another game for that thread to discuss :P

DaddyTorgo · 04-30-2007, 09:20 AM

i'm hoping the Shadow won't be long for this world.

KWhit · 04-30-2007, 09:35 AM

I think DT wants to make sure he doesn't get lynched for inactivity.

BrianD · 04-30-2007, 09:39 AM

I will join those that suggest a mass-reveal might be bad. That seems like a perfect way to ensure that our really helpful roles go over to the bad side.

DaddyTorgo · 04-30-2007, 09:47 AM

KWhit...it's not one of the things i'm generally worried about. just...trying to avoid work on a rainy, tired monday morning (didn't have any coffee...laid back down after i ate breakfast for 20 minutes, etc.). Well that and I've been having great success with AGEOD's ACW game, particularly last night, so I'm trying to plan my next moves in my head as I work. And thinking more about the interview I have at 3:30 than the database updating I'm doing for this client company.

KWhit · 04-30-2007, 09:49 AM

As far as the mercy/punish question goes:

I think what we should do is as we get later in the afternoon and the votes start coming in, we should require the main candidates for lynch to reveal their roles.

It can be valuable information for us to use to solidify our votes and determine if we want to consider mercy if they win the vote. In fact, we should make it an unwritten rule that in order to even be considered for mercy, you have to reveal your role. If you don't, then we definitely choose punishment.

Note: I'm not advocating a mass role reveal - only a reveal for those that are in the running for lynch vote as the day goes on - especially when it becomes obvious that it is a two or three horse race for lynch.

Mustang · 04-30-2007, 09:51 AM

Checking in.

Everyone should have a magical role until they are cleaned.

As for everyone revealing, I'm not too sure about that. Although, there are a handful of roles that would be helpful to be revealed at the right time. Am I correct in assuming there is a little better than a 5% chance this game could end in the next 10 hours?

DaddyTorgo · 04-30-2007, 09:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mustang

Checking in.

Everyone should have a magical role until they are cleaned.

As for everyone revealing, I'm not too sure about that. Although, there are a handful of roles that would be helpful to be revealed at the right time. Am I correct in assuming there is a little better than a 5% chance this game could end in the next 10 hours?

where do you get that 5% chance from mustang?

hoopsguy · 04-30-2007, 10:04 AM

Mustang, the Shadow got a Night 0 conversion if I'm reading the rules correctly. So I don't think it can end today. However, if we catch Shadow today and tomorrow we would keep them at one member for back-to-back days which is a victory condition.

SnDvls · 04-30-2007, 10:06 AM

cultist checking. I'll also confirm I have a listed role

ImTheCrew · 04-30-2007, 10:06 AM

Checking in..... ill reveal if nessicary

ImTheCrew · 04-30-2007, 10:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ImTheCrew

Checking in..... ill reveal if nessicary

cultist BTW

DaddyTorgo · 04-30-2007, 10:10 AM

mmmm...i want me some Shadow.

DaddyTorgo · 04-30-2007, 10:15 AM

think i want me some coffee more though

ntndeacon · 04-30-2007, 10:18 AM

The only reason I am concerned about the punishment phase is the loss of a potential useful role against the shadow.

ntndeacon · 04-30-2007, 10:19 AM

Oh I am a cultist with one of those magical roles listed.

DaddyTorgo · 04-30-2007, 10:19 AM

i might vote ntn just cuz he didn't make it back to his computer so i could point out how CR was the wolf in the small game *winks*

naw, i'm not really upset bout that though ntn. just playin

BrianD · 04-30-2007, 10:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hoopsguy

Mustang, the Shadow got a Night 0 conversion if I'm reading the rules correctly. So I don't think it can end today. However, if we catch Shadow today and tomorrow we would keep them at one member for back-to-back days which is a victory condition.

Anyone else think the back-to-back days at one member might be a tough condition to reach? At one member the shadow gets a 100% conversion. We would have to know about both of the last two shadow members to vote them out consecutively. Sounds like it could be tough.

Peregrine · 04-30-2007, 10:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

so since we're on Day 1, I take it Night 0 has already happened right? So there are 2 shadow among us?

That is correct.

Tyrith · 04-30-2007, 10:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrianD

Anyone else think the back-to-back days at one member might be a tough condition to reach? At one member the shadow gets a 100% conversion. We would have to know about both of the last two shadow members to vote them out consecutively. Sounds like it could be tough.

The conversion could fail somehow. The 100 percent only looks like if it's unimpeded.

DaddyTorgo · 04-30-2007, 10:24 AM

well that's why i think the mercy thing is there. if people want mercy they can role-reveal hmm?

although, one other thing to note. i gather since there are the same # of roles as players that the shadow players likely have a public "role" that is sort of a disguise, so for all we know, even if someone role-reveals as something it doesn't discount them being the shadow.

now time for mid-day coffee!

ntndeacon · 04-30-2007, 10:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

i might vote ntn just cuz he didn't make it back to his computer so i could point out how CR was the wolf in the small game *winks*

naw, i'm not really upset bout that though ntn. just playin

I shoulda listened to you ...you werent a wolf after all. May the shadow stay away from you as well as me.

Peregrine · 04-30-2007, 10:24 AM

Also, just to clarify the roles and the way the Shadow works. There aren't specific Shadow roles, there's just the Shadow. It's like one spirit divided up among a bunch of people, like a hive mind.

BrianD · 04-30-2007, 10:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyrith

The conversion could fail somehow. The 100 percent only looks like if it's unimpeded.

Good point. I had overlooked that.

Mustang · 04-30-2007, 10:25 AM

Ahh.. ok. Was thinking there was one shadow and then they would convert at night to make 2..

Didn't think Peregrine would allow the game to end after 12 hours on a fluke.

04-30-2007, 03:14 AM	#4
Peregrine Pro Starter Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Cary, NC	Roles have been sent out. If you found a magical item in your Night 0 search, it's been included in the PM. PM me with any questions. Oh yes, I assume there will be no nonsense involving posting my PMs, editing posts, and so forth. Standard WW etiquette applies. Game on! Last edited by Peregrine : 04-30-2007 at 03:14 AM.

04-30-2007, 09:51 AM	#32
Mustang Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Wisconsin	Checking in. Everyone should have a magical role until they are cleaned. As for everyone revealing, I'm not too sure about that. Although, there are a handful of roles that would be helpful to be revealed at the right time. Am I correct in assuming there is a little better than a 5% chance this game could end in the next 10 hours? __________________ You, you will regret what you have done this day. I will make you regret ever being born. Your going to wish you never left your mothers womb, where it was warm and safe... and wet. i am going to show you pain you never knew existed, you are going to see a whole new spectrum of pain, like a Rainboooow. But! This rainbow is not just like any other rainbow, its...

04-30-2007, 10:25 AM	#50
Mustang Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Wisconsin	Ahh.. ok. Was thinking there was one shadow and then they would convert at night to make 2.. Didn't think Peregrine would allow the game to end after 12 hours on a fluke. __________________ You, you will regret what you have done this day. I will make you regret ever being born. Your going to wish you never left your mothers womb, where it was warm and safe... and wet. i am going to show you pain you never knew existed, you are going to see a whole new spectrum of pain, like a Rainboooow. But! This rainbow is not just like any other rainbow, its...

04-30-2007, 01:57 AM	#2
Peregrine Pro Starter Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Cary, NC	Magical Items There are a number of magical items scattered around the complex. This is most of, but not all, the magical items that can be potentially found. Note that some of the items can only be used at night, others only during the day, and some at either time. Message me with any specific questions. Potion of Weariness - A person who drinks this potion is unable to cast a vote in either vote the next day, but able to speak normally. Potion of Alertness - A person who drinks this potion is active and alert through the night, and able to see what goes on in his room. This gives him a good chance to identify people that come in and what they are doing. Also, this potion makes even the magical sleep of the mercy option or other magical abilities impossible. Potion of Sleep - This potion will put a person to sleep for the night, they will not be able to take a night action, and night actions on them are more successful. Potion of Power - This potion is said to drastically increase magical power, temporarily. If it is drunk by someone who has been cleansed, it miraculously restores their powers and their former role (but not any former Shadow corruption.) If it is drunk by a normal person, it boosts their magical powers for the next day and night cycles after it is taken. This allows night actions to be much more effective and useful (even for the Shadow!) and also makes a person immune to cleansing during the next day cycle. Potion of Masking - This potion is only effective when taken at night. It sheathes the drinker in a magical mask that allows him to shrug off all night actions aimed at them, including Shadow attempts. Potion of Darkness - IMPORTANT! This potion used to be something useful but has been corrupted by the Shadow's arrival. When found, it will look like one of the other potions. When drunk, horrible things can happen, up to and including being corrupted by the Shadow. This potion is fortunately rare. Scroll of Identity - This magical parchment can be read one time, to magically learn the role of one player. This will reveal both magical and mundane roles, but not whether a person is corrupted or not. Note that in the case of the Sun spies, this will reveal their TRUE role. Ring of Shadows - This ancient ring grants the power of invisibility by drawing shadows to the user. It can be used on two different nights to protect the player from harm. Also, if desired it can be used once (and destroyed) to use a night action to search out the shadow beings and find one of them. Mask of Whispers - This is a small mask that can be put over the lower part of the face. It allows the wearer to once each day send one short (two lines or less) PM message to someone, and get a short message in reply. Must run through the GM, you can identify yourself or not. Triune Pyramid - A small golden pyramid which if possessed, makes the bearer immune to other magical effects, including items, being corrupted by shadow, and even being cleansed. However, there is an increasing chance it will shatter if exposed to a lot of magical stress. Ritual Dagger - This long dagger is made of gleaming silver and is used in certain darker rituals. It has been tied into the magical abilities of everyone in the coven, and so can be used to find a specifed person even if they are hiding or using another magical ability to hide themselves. The dagger can be used as a free night action. Seal of Command - This seal of enchanted black wax boosts the user's command capabilities, people listen to him or her. It can be used to break a tie in either the name or the punishment vote. Contact the GM by 8:00 PM EST with who you choose. Ring of Wisdom - This Ring allows the user to cast one secret vote each day. The vote is a name vote only, not a punishment vote. The vote must be sent to the GM before the deadline and will be announced immediately. It cannot be changed. Once the vote is cast the GM will announce "The Ring of Wisdom casts a vote for XYZ!" Magical Roles Each player will be assigned one of these roles. If you would like you can try to do a role revealing strategy, but note that some of these roles are going to be particular Shadow targets. Signifier - The player has the powerful magic ability to once each day (as a day action) indicate one statement and learn whether it is true or false. Note that this is not intended to allow coerced situations where everyone is forced to say "I am good!" Such situations muddle the truth and the ability will be wasted. Warlock - This role allows you to cast a powerful hex on another player, three times per game. This must be done as a night action, you choose another player and they sleep soundly, unable to perform any night actions. Medium - As a night action you can see through someone else's eyes. What you see might reveal their role, or might reveal nothing. Artificer - You were the first to study the artifact, and a trickle of shadow energy made its way to you, despite the seals. It has been working through you enough that you believe embracing it would be the ultimate source of power. Each night you can make an action to study one player and determine if they have been embraced by the Shadow or not. You want to protect them, and hope to become one in time. Also, if you are cleansed, you are still loyal to the evil side, and don't have to confess their names. Alchemist - During the course of the game, you can make three potions, either of Weariness, Alertness, Masking, or Sleep. You can only have one potion at a time - ie, you have to use the first one before you can make the second one. You can't make the same potion more than once. Diabolist - You specialize in the summoning of demons, a dark and risky magic that is even shunned by most members of the cult. Three times during the game, as a night action, he can choose a player and find out what magical role that player has. He will not learn if a player if affected by the Shadow this way. Ritualist - You can draw sorcerous circles that can keep magical powers out, or in. Three times per game you can choose to draw a barrier which will protect one room from any outside actions or influences. Players can take actions inside the protected room but they have a higher chance of being noticed. The circles will be drawn as a day action, so message the GM before the deadline if you want to do this, and which room you want to protect. Spiritmaster - You have expertise in speaking with spirits and the dead. Twice per game you can summon up spirits that will protect the room you're in, guarding against any intrusion at night. Researcher - You have the ability to identify magical items and have learned much about them. Each night you can pick a magic item from the list and try to find out where it is currently located, if successful you will learn which room it is in or who has it. You can also identify if a potion is a Potion of Darkness. Sorceror - You care about nothing except magical power. You have quite a lot of it now, and if you were corrupted by the shadow, you're pretty sure you'd have even more. You are immune to magical sleep of any kind. Summoner - You have a small imp as your creation, that can act independently and follow your orders. Each night you can give it a simple order - "Follow so and so" "Guard me and make sure nothing happens" "Steal an item from Player X." Your pet is not completely reliable, however, and there is a 25% each night that it will not follow your orders. Augur - You have the power to follow magical trails through the ether. In this case, you can attempt each night to track the shadow (or Sun) energies. If you do so, you have a 50% chance of seeing either where the energy starts or where it finishes, a 25% chance of not seeing anything, and a 25% chance of having the energy focus on you instead! Theurgist - You can focus a magical field which will block other forms of magic from taking place. Each night you may specify a person, and they will not be able to use any magical abilities. You can't choose the same person more than two nights in a row. Note that this does not give you any knowledge of what their abilities are. Witch - You have the power to work through people's dreams. Each night you can take a night action to send someone a message through their dreams. The message is necessarily vague and will not always be sent accurately. Alternately, you can use the same action to study someone's dreams. You have to be near them to do this (in the same room) but if you are successful you may learn something about them, including their role and possibly their past actions. Wizard - Despite being in the coven, you've grown increasingly worried about things here, because you're basically a good person and want to get out. Each night as a night action you can check someone to see if they are a member of the Sun faction. You also have a Sun Amulet which gives you a powerful ability - you can't be corrupted by the Shadow. Enchanter - You command the power of the enchantments that run through the very walls of the complex. Each night you can specify one room, and you will be notified if any major magical powers are used there (this includes Shadow corruption but also some of the other roles.) You will have a smaller chance to find out who used them. Craft Mage - You have the ability to build and unbuild magical items. It takes time to build a magical item, but over three night actions, you can make any of the non-potion items on the list. Also, if you choose, you can destroy a magical item. To do this, you have to know the item and who has it. Elementalist - You have the power to command rock and stone, and can move through them from room to room without being seen. This will also allow you to escape from a magical circle created by the Ritualist.

04-30-2007, 02:03 AM	#3
Peregrine Pro Starter Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Cary, NC	Victory Conditions: The overall victory conditions are that the cult members want to get rid of the Shadow, and the Shadow wants to overwhelm the cult members. The Sun spies want to avoid detection and survive. If the Shadow players ever are the majority of the uncleansed players, they win the game. If the cult members destroy all the Shadow players, or the Shadow is reduced to one player for two consecutive Counts, the cult members win. The Sun players win if they defeat the Shadow and they have not been unmasked as spies. There are other, individual victory conditions as well.

04-30-2007, 03:28 AM	#5
Schmidty Coordinator Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Early, TX	Day off, and I should be waking up at 3 p.m. EST. I will likely be gone unti;; the dealine or so.

04-30-2007, 03:29 AM	#6
Peregrine Pro Starter Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Cary, NC	Just so everyone knows, I work at night, so I can handle all the night actions easily enough, but during the day I'm normally asleep from 8 am till 1-2 pm, then again at night after the lynch. I'll be around, but if I'm not, especially in the morning, be patient.

04-30-2007, 03:57 AM	#7
hoopsguy General Manager Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Chicago	Cultist checking in. Let's see if we can isolate this Shadow power before it perverts our order. I'm counting 18 magical roles listed, which exactly matches the number of people in this section of the compound. So I expect that the roles listed are all-inclusive. I'll go out on a limb and state that my role is one of those listed. The magic item section suggests that there may be a few additions so I would expect to see some non-listed mechanics from there. I'm interested to hear what people make of the rules early - any non-traditional approaches for Day 1 that we should be considering?

04-30-2007, 05:25 AM	#8
Chief Rum Hall Of Famer Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Where Hip Hop lives	I'm a cultist as well. I don't think it's a good idea to say anything else about what I am, though, or for anyone to do it until we have a handle on what everything does. Toward that end, I would recommend organize the roles and the items into "classifications" to help us get an idea what we have here, and what would be the most useful. In other words, someone should go through the list and determine which roles/items are information-seeking, information-hiding, attack, defense types. Any other classifications to consider? Once we have that set, then we can attempt to rank them from most important to least important and focus our efforts on getting the critical items and roles under our control. I would do all this myself, but I am unfortunately at the beginning of another two-day, two-job stretch and will be available to post only early in the morning or late, late at night. It's going to be a bear to try and catch up on what this thread will be tomorrow night. Oh well...

04-30-2007, 07:27 AM	#9
Alan T Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mass.	I agree that my role is also listed as one of the 18 there. As far as I know, my PM didn't say anything about me having any items or such, so as far as I know, I just start with my magical role.

04-30-2007, 07:56 AM	#10
hoopsguy General Manager Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Chicago	As a default action, do people see Punishment or Mercy to be the better choice for the benefit of our cult? Why?

04-30-2007, 08:22 AM	#11
DaddyTorgo Hall Of Famer Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Massachusetts	got my PM. checking in. didn't get to read up on the game rules+mechanics last night, so i will refrain from commenting about anything, it seems pretty confusing. will try to sneak a peak at reading it during the day, for sure.

04-30-2007, 08:25 AM	#12
Barkeep49 Coordinator Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Not too far away	Ok just as I did in Alan's tombstone game I advocate a mass reveal. In that game certain roles turned out to be bad guys and I think when we find our first baddie and see what kind of role he has we could gain possible insight. As for the punishment/mercy vote, I'm torn. I have a feeling mercy will be the Day 1 result, but all that does is place us in a holding pattern. With no deaths, I think it's quite obvious that the shadows have a conversion ability. Not sure what to make of that and how that should affect the punishment/mercy decision.

04-30-2007, 08:26 AM	#13
DaddyTorgo Hall Of Famer Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Massachusetts	okay i lied. apparently i have very little to do this AM, so i am going to try to catch up now before things get busy, and see what exactly is up.

04-30-2007, 08:28 AM	#14
Alan T Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mass.	It appears that mercy won't tell us much about who is affected by the shadow, and definitly won't help us release people from that corruption. As always, our most powerful tool for fighting the evil is the punishment. Those that are afraid to inflict that punishment are the doorways for the shadow to enter. The only time mercy should be shown is in the case of a person's neck being on the line and giving indisputible last minute evidence that they are not affected by the shadow. That leads us to a second question, if all of the roles listed above are in the game, simply stating a role there won't necessarily be an indicator of innocence.

04-30-2007, 08:30 AM	#15
hoopsguy General Manager Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Chicago	Barkeep, do you think a certain role was granted the lead bad guy or that it was random.org assigning it? If the latter, then I think certain roles would be more attractive for the first Shadow to target for his 100% conversion ability. And following that logic, I can see some benefits in the mass reveal strategy. But we also give the Shadow a road map to attack us if there is no correlation between role and Shadow. Maybe I haven't spent enough time looking at each of the roles but I don't see that strong linkage that there was in Alan's game.

04-30-2007, 08:32 AM	#16
DaddyTorgo Hall Of Famer Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Massachusetts	sure...a mass reveal sounds like a great idea. it will render my role effectively useless, but shrug Okay, I think I'm caught up on a lot of things here, so I think I'm ready to dive in.

04-30-2007, 08:33 AM	#17
DaddyTorgo Hall Of Famer Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Massachusetts	so since we're on Day 1, I take it Night 0 has already happened right? So there are 2 shadow among us?

04-30-2007, 08:51 AM	#18
DaddyTorgo Hall Of Famer Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Massachusetts	not quite sure i understand the value of a mass-reveal...if the shadow doesn't have that information it would make it harder for them to target powerful roles for conversion. and if someone is on the block and they have a powerful role we have the mercy option if it gets that far. look at the artificer or the sorcerer...do we really want them identified for the shadow?

04-30-2007, 08:52 AM	#19
DaddyTorgo Hall Of Famer Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Massachusetts	werewolf quad-dola i've probably said too much, but i don't think i agree with you on the mass-reveal strategy barkeep.

04-30-2007, 08:55 AM	#20
DaddyTorgo Hall Of Famer Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Massachusetts	so can the craft mage build another ring of shadows? I think that might be a really good idea...just don't answer and make yourself a target

04-30-2007, 08:57 AM	#21
DaddyTorgo Hall Of Famer Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Massachusetts	that's 5 posts in a row...i'm on fire

04-30-2007, 09:08 AM	#22
Tyrith College Starter Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Houston, TX	Checking in. We can be a little more willy nilly with the punishment in this game than normal, I feel, because we do keep the count correct. I would sure like to know what we're targeting before we strip it, though.

04-30-2007, 09:11 AM	#23
DaddyTorgo Hall Of Famer Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Massachusetts	i don't think a mass reveal is wise though, contrary to what Barkeep suggests. there are 2-3 people who look like their roles would be VERY attractive to the Shadow. No reason to draw a roadmap for the Shadow, as we can't possibly protect them all, every night. or am i missing something?

04-30-2007, 09:12 AM	#24
KWhit Coordinator Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Conyers GA	Cultist checking in. I do indeed possess one of the magical roles listed above.

04-30-2007, 09:13 AM	#25
DaddyTorgo Hall Of Famer Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Massachusetts	magical roles rock. i've got one. hey guys! welcome to the thread!

04-30-2007, 09:20 AM	#27
DaddyTorgo Hall Of Famer Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Massachusetts	i'm hoping the Shadow won't be long for this world.

04-30-2007, 09:35 AM	#28
KWhit Coordinator Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Conyers GA	I think DT wants to make sure he doesn't get lynched for inactivity.

04-30-2007, 09:39 AM	#29
BrianD Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Appleton, WI	I will join those that suggest a mass-reveal might be bad. That seems like a perfect way to ensure that our really helpful roles go over to the bad side.

04-30-2007, 09:47 AM	#30
DaddyTorgo Hall Of Famer Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Massachusetts	KWhit...it's not one of the things i'm generally worried about. just...trying to avoid work on a rainy, tired monday morning (didn't have any coffee...laid back down after i ate breakfast for 20 minutes, etc.). Well that and I've been having great success with AGEOD's ACW game, particularly last night, so I'm trying to plan my next moves in my head as I work. And thinking more about the interview I have at 3:30 than the database updating I'm doing for this client company.

04-30-2007, 09:49 AM	#31
KWhit Coordinator Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Conyers GA	As far as the mercy/punish question goes: I think what we should do is as we get later in the afternoon and the votes start coming in, we should require the main candidates for lynch to reveal their roles. It can be valuable information for us to use to solidify our votes and determine if we want to consider mercy if they win the vote. In fact, we should make it an unwritten rule that in order to even be considered for mercy, you have to reveal your role. If you don't, then we definitely choose punishment. Note: I'm not advocating a mass role reveal - only a reveal for those that are in the running for lynch vote as the day goes on - especially when it becomes obvious that it is a two or three horse race for lynch.

04-30-2007, 10:04 AM	#34
hoopsguy General Manager Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Chicago	Mustang, the Shadow got a Night 0 conversion if I'm reading the rules correctly. So I don't think it can end today. However, if we catch Shadow today and tomorrow we would keep them at one member for back-to-back days which is a victory condition.

04-30-2007, 10:06 AM	#35
SnDvls Pro Starter Join Date: Jul 2001	cultist checking. I'll also confirm I have a listed role