So here's that report I promised finally. I took a lot of notes throughout the day, listing what I wanted to talk about. I am tired though, where I am it's almost midnight, so we'll see how big it will be in the end.
So to start with the basics, I was only able to do 6 pages today. And I see myself only being able to do around that amount for the forseeable future, though I think I will be consistent with this. This sucks for many reasons, but long story short, it would be nice to have more volunteers. Just show your interest in the thread and I'll give you directions like for Vector. Otherwise, we should begin having a serious conversation about what should be cut to save time. This wouldn't have been a problem if I could have started on Monday...
Most of the stuff in my notes was just fun stuff, like who was the first GM to use quicktopic after Mephansteras, but there are some serious things here as well. The most serious I think is my list of games that are missing public quicktopics. Whenever such a game came up, I would look through the players and figure out which of them would have the link and whether they were still active. Here are some names:
JoshuaFH was the GM of
Weirdo Mafia. A scum chat was posted by Vector years after the game ended, but no dead chat surfaced and all players who died that game are no longer on the forum. The only option is to contact the GM himself who is still very active. Joshua was also the GM of the unfinished
Weirdo mafia 2. Normally I don't pay attention to abandoned games, but this one made it quite far so I think it's worth recovering and preserving the quicktopics for those.
Persus13. When Skynet talked about the Mason chat in the aborted
Fallacy's BYOR 4 not working, I brushed it off as being unimportant. Turns out that Persus13 is still very active, so it won't hurt to ask if he can find it. My current theory is that the original link in the role PM was broken, so Persus Pmed the mod, and got a working one that he never posted.
Mephansteras. Meph basically Pioneered the use of quicktopics, and the protocol of posting them after a game ends, but even he makes mistakes. In
Paranormal 9 he had two allied aliens active which usually implies that they have a chat together that was never posted. The role names also made it seem like the Disciples of Truth were a mason pair, but no chat was posted. That last one was just speculation though, I need Meph to verify it. Additionally, I would like Meph to provide the quicktopics for the aborted
Paranormal 4 -SCRATCH-. It didn't last very long, but the deadchat in that game somehow had knock-on effects on the do-over game and as a result I believe the record should be preserved. You might as well provide a link to the Dopp topic at that point as well.
Webadict was around since the very beginning, and has both hosted and played in a lot of games, making him a treasure trove of exclusive information. It's unclear when he switched to quicktopic, but he was definitely slow to do so. In a perfect world I would ask him about each and every one the games he hosted to try to learn if there was a hidden quicktopic I had simply not gotten ahold of, but I am certain it would annoy the heck out of him. Plus he genuinely might not be able to remember.
What really gave me a mindfuck though was this line:
Webadict:
1) is there a dead chat?
1) There is not a dead chat, because no one tends to use them with my games.
In the timeline I constructed, this was the first game where Webadict used quicktopics at all, but here he implied that he had ran multiple games with quicktopics. Enough actually to decide that a dead chat wasn't worth including. Which then prompts the question: "Where are those games?". Did
Colour Mafia have a quick topic all along? Was it maybe Vote mafia (
1,
2,
3)? Could it be Dwarf fortress mafia (
1,
3,
4) of all things?! I need answers dammit!
Regardless, there are smaller mysteries I need web's help with. I need him to tell me if
BYOR-The ExKirby Version had a dead chat since he died in that one. I need him to post the scum quicktopic of
BYOR Mafia 2 since he had already been using quicktopics by that point and I doubt he would abandon them for this game. And finally, I want to know if any of the games he hosted in that era had dead chats, because the quote implies that he did (and it's better than asking for each game individually).
--
Vector's Bastard Mafia Game definitely had a deadchat though. Though
Vector was not the game's original mod, the GM definitely game them extra information and they are the last hope of acquiring that piece of missing information. The GM and the dead players have all left the forum.
Unfortunately I can't say there's any hope of recovering quicktopics for
Second Chance Mafia. All of the players who could have known something have left the forum.
inteuniso, one of the scum disappeared back in February, but stopped posting a few years ago. The only silver lining was that the GM came from an older era, and may have simply been one of the few not to use quicktopic. There may have been nothing lost, bu he didn't mention Pms either.
While doing this work, I learned a lot about the ways you can screw this job up. You have to be very careful, and a creative thinker to make sure you don't miss anything. I almost omitted the scum chat from
Kill Webadict now for example since it was only posted within the role PM. It would have been lost forever if I didn't go back to check after I discovered the more prominently placed scumchat of the sequel
sequel.
Another wierd thing that happened was that in
Bay12 mafia, the very first post of the scum quicktopic was not visible in "all messages" mode. I had to create seperate archive of just that first post alongside the regular archive. It may have been acceptable to just let it perish, but I refuse to accept defeat. My point is, always scroll all the way to the bottom when you're archiving your QTs. Who knows what you'll miss. This bug only happened once btw <_<
I share these stories because I want them to be learning experiences for all those who volunteer to help. Not every topic is going to have all of the links compiled in one convenient place, so it's up to you to go out of your way to search for them. I always read the role Pms to check for masons for that reason. But with some of the paranormal games, I had to go further than that.
Paranormal 5 and its 4 mason pairs was a good example of that. No mention of that in the role PMs.
Its scary to rely on others to maintain that same standard of scrutiny, but I've got no choice. Just be careful guys.
Anyway I'm too tired to end this gracefully. I'll PM the
bolded parties in the morning. Since a lot of people are intent on archiving the NGA, I've provided a list of all of the games from it that I archived while doing my usual process. If it's crossed out, it means you can skip it cause I already got it.
This is the Notable Games Archive, where we keep all of Bay12's best rounds of Mafia. The rounds that, due to some high-quality aspect, deserve to be remembered. Since the forum is pretty old, there's a lot of great games here. If you're a newbie, you should probably start with the Vanilla games, though everything else is awesome, too.
If you've just finished playing, reading, or running a particularly excellent game, come to this thread and nominate it! This is the place to squawk about it for future generations of mafia players.
Beginner's Mafia I (This one got Necroed so I haven't reached it yet)The very first Beginner's Mafia round ever run. The scumteam, inexperienced as it was, managed to pull the wool over the town's eyes after nearly getting caught the first day. Notable both for terrible scum play and excellent scum play, as well as a number of attempted gambits. Shows the downside to townie gambles, as well as being a good guide on trapping beginners and structured, end-game oriented scum play.
Beginner's Mafia III
This was the game that moved ICs from "player" status to "observer/tutor" status. Both ICs rolled up scum and proceeded to thrash the town in a manly fashion--other than the fact that one of them died D2 after a carefully launched townie assault. The other one was Webadict. Despite the thrashing, this was a surprisingly tense game. A last-minute townie replacement resulted in a near-loss for the scum team. Demonstrates insightful playing at its best, on both sides.
Beginner's Mafia IV
Near-flawless scum game, along with a doctor gambit near the end that played out surprisingly well. This is the game to look at if you want to see how to fake town.Mostly up for its obscenely good flavor. The town played a strong game in this one, as did the scum, despite numerous replacements. Nothing especially new, but it's a truly great read.
Beginner's Mafia XXXIIIBoth IC's were scum. Need I say more?
Beginner's Mafia XXXVDon't let the scum lurk to victory. Do enjoy the magnificent flavor.
Not-So Beginner's Mafia
The scum convinced a townie to lynch confirmed town. Good and bad play abound here from both sides. If you didn't know what buddying was when you started reading, you'll certainly know by the end.This is basically the fastest town victory the board has ever seen. Ever. It was entirely behavior-based, too. Of course, the scum were relatively inexperienced, but this is still an absurdly high-powered game.
Oh, and the flavor was also awesome--pity we couldn't see more of it.
Near-Mountainous Mafia
Good town play--unfortunately against some rather poor scum, but the hunting was relentless, and the scum gave a strong fight.
Dwarf Fortress Mafia 3
One of the more audacious scum claims ever seen, and an excellent use of night game logic. The day game is somewhat murky, but improves throughout. Also historical as one of the first games of mafia played on the board. (This predates quicktopics actually so there's nothing to archive)Vote Mafia 1
The very first round of Vote Mafia, introduced by Webadict. This game marks not only the beginning of a popular series, but also the beginning of B12's insight-based day game. The end result is a particularly close game, with high emotional tension towards the finish.Wizard Duel 3
In a gametype characterized by the "there can only be one" mentality, this was one of the best examples of the scum working against themselves at the same time as they destroyed the town. It's also one of the more curious instances of town WIFOM usage where, although it didn't work in the end, PrinnyBaal laid a most intriguing and intricate net.Paranormal 13(I'm getting real close to this one, it'll certainly be archived tomorrow)One of the best games of Paranormal ever played. The scum lost an early-game advantage due to some clever work by a Paranoid War Veteran, and were soon reduced to one player. That player then successfully controlled the lynches for the rest of the game to his advantage. Excellent work from both town and scum.
Paranormal 16A particularly strong game from scum, town, and third parties. Though a lack of trust destroyed much of the headway made by the exterminator, the game was still quite close and ended with a clever scum victory.
Paranormal 20In the immortal words of Shakerag: "Hardcore Dopp hosing. Xeno shenanigans. Hivemind shenanigans." What else could a body want?
Vengeful Mafia 11This game showcases both the benefits and the dangers of taking one's time. In a hammer-only setup, caution and a wish to take things slowly led to extreme fatigue on both teams' parts and no change in the D1 mislynch, but gave the opportunity for thought that led to a last-minute town victory.
King of the MafiaKing of the Mafia ContinuedKing of the Mafia 3King of the Mafia 4King of the Mafia 5The King of the Mafia series is a long-running proving ground for the forum's top members, and for those who want to test themselves. It's a concentrated series of mind games and psychological tactics, a form of Mafia which doesn't end until someone wins. So far Webadict, Leafsnail, ToonyMan, Toaster, and Teneb have taken the crown.
Wild West MafiaA forum veteran executes a nigh spotless scum game while detailing his thought process in scum chat. The scum player's victory was so thorough and well-documented that the game earned a reputation as an excellent game to learn scum from.
Bring Your Own Role Mafia 1
The very first BYOR run on the boards. Most of the roles were fairly weak at this point, but the end result was still a complex and enjoyable game. The end result pitted a serial killer against the remaining scum and a weak townie. Also notable for the serial killer's fake roleclaim, which required a heavy post restriction throughout the entire game--and which no one saw through.
uPick Mafia: Panda Edition
Notable chiefly for the use of hammers, 19 players, and a scumteam that bussed two of its members, had 3/4 of itself replaced, and spent most of its scumchat arguing with itself, but still made it to victory. It is also extremely long, so consider yourself warned.If uPick is where the players pick the rolenames, iPick is something of an opposite. The rolenames were chosen at random from Wikipedia, and then distributed to the players. Besides flavor, which somehow managed to incorporate the scenario perfectly, town played a very strong game during both night and day. The jester was also exemplary.
Bring Your Own Role Mafia 4One of the few cult victories this board has ever seen--by ponies. A fairly skilled scum game was cut short by a serial killer and massive stupidity on the team's part, which resulted in the rest of the town being taken over by the Pony Cult. Particularly notable for the skillful fakeclaiming in a difficult setting, which ushered in the cult victory.
BYOR 8Insanity, poetry, survivor masons.
Bring Someone Else's RoleIn this form, everyone submits a role... for someone
else to play as. This resulted, of course, in the inevitable: Bookthras roleplaying the Wall of Flesh. See also: amazing flavor.
BYOR 0The 16th Webadict BYOR, BYOR
15 0 took his trademark high-power chaos to a new level. Two players merged to become one two-headed super-SK, then lost their shared role to a thieving cultist. Both the SK and the cultist were brought into a secretive mason chat to control the game and collaborate against the mafia. The last mafioso had two kills per cycle, convincing the anti-mafia conspirators that the remaining independent townie was an SK. Murder ensued.
Time Travel Mafia
A game with a unique time-traveling mechanic. Though both town and scum play was fairly average, the game makes the list due to its sheer ingenuity.(Nothing to Archive actually)
Liberal Crime Squad Mafia
An interesting mafia game, in that the rules constantly changed based on the scum's night actions and the town's votes during the day. Not only that, but the third party dynamics were interesting as well.
Color Mafia
A game where each player was assigned a color. Not only was the mild bastard modding solved, but the game ended with two masons against the remaining scum, after a risky survivor gambit where the masons pretended to be scum. A very strong game all around, save the jester gambit at the beginning. Don't copy that.Toon Mafia IV
Has a Tom Cruise cult. You should read it for this reason alone.
(Nothing to archive)Toon Mafia V
Has an embedded dethy setup and the board's first successful staged fight. One role gains power from being insulted. Another one grows stronger by behaving angrily, which is mirrored by a second role which must act happy. Successful town victory over a very strong scumteam.Bay12 Mafia
This is the first run of Bay12 Mafia, which contains roles based on players here at the subforum. Other than brilliant flavor written by Leafsnail, the game represents the first scum victory over a confirmed townie directing the town.MSPA Mafia
Everyone was scum and won. This is what happens when you hand out horribly broken survivor roles. Also notable were the death cult, survivors, multiple scumteams, and multiplicity of cults... all in a game with 11 players. Perhaps better left unmentioned was the sudden change of one player's role to "a fish."
Rysith's Semi-Bastard Mod Mafia (I'm getting close to this one)The scumteam was able to make fake mod posts, and the first two or three days were spent with the town trying to figure out how to vote. In the end, the remaining scum player (and Pal Erdos) won when the scum "gave up" and asked to be lynched. Seriously, you have to read this one to believe it.
Cybrid Mafia: Infiltrate//Seek//EliminateTwo towns versus a cult. Somehow, despite the entire cult being weeded out (due to an internal traitor), they still managed to win. This may have been slightly cheap, but at least it was interesting.
Cybrid Mafia 5An interestingly constructed scumteam, comprising an allied SK and Survivor combo, complete with a win from behind and excellent endgame play from all factions.
Choose-Your-Own-MasqueradeAlmost a regular semi-open mafia game, but with the following points: there were no nights, players start with a number of points they can by role powers with, and there were mechanisms for gaining new points, and buying & selling powers throughout the game, and each player had a secret mask colour. Powers could only target masks and there were ways to swap masks in play. Scum put all their eggs in one basket, with one scum taking a kill and two others supporting him. The killer immediately had their kill stolen by a changeling randomly picking targets, and 4maskwolf viciously bussed his two scum mates getting everyone to believe he was town, right up until a townie killed him on a hunch.
Choose-Your-Own-MafiasLike Choose-Your-Own-Masquerade, but with two mafia teams, two third parties, and twice as many points per player at the start of the game. The system was brilliantly gamed. In the words of Flabort and Deathsword:
"A game so thoroughly mechanically broken by its players that it merits mention; where between one scum team resurrecting eachother incessantly and the other one abusing hyperinflation to steal every single vote in the game and quickhammer 8 times consecutively. Self-targeting changelings. Town players were thoroughly confused by random powers showing up in their possessions and vanishing, and many streaks (good and bad) were broken."
ElectionAn election game in which two town players had to successfully vote for the town candidate, while a scum voter had to push a vote for the scum candidate. The twist being, the scum voter didn't know who their candidate was, leading to a series of dramatic turns as various players came to realise that they had each been championing the wrong candidate.
Kill Webadict Now
Exactly what it sounds like. The goal of the game was to kill Webadict. Shockingly, Webadict (the player) managed to survive through most of the first day, after which he was summarily lynched. This game also features use of the "cells" tactic, originally pioneered in one of the early Paranormal games. Sadly, the game ended due to a fluke, but what existed was fun.Kill Webadict Now: Dakarian Edition
Besides being a spinoff of the already popular Kill Webadict Now, this game introduced a Roll-to-Dodge subgame in the flavortext. Other than some unanticipated challenges for The Webadict, there was very little result--and again, the game ended on a fluke, albeit a more exciting one. Also unusual were the "special guests," who were non-player characters with their own agenda and introduced the concept to the subforum.Ill-Met By Moonlight
The mechanics of this game are still left undisclosed. All that is known at this point is that the town played valiantly, the scum lost, and the flavor was absolutely brilliant.Neruz's Bastard Mod Game
They lynched a player and got a 5-headed hivemind back. They recruited the mod to a cult. They lynched the mod. They received another mod. The cult members died. Then the cult won.
No, I don't quite understand it either, but it was pretty hilarious when it happened.Bellsounder
One of the few bastard mods that actually worked as planned. The town got a good idea of what was going on, the scum outwitted them, and fun was had by all. The simplistic flavor was also quite welcome. This is a good example of how bastard mods should be played and created.Gryph's Quick Bastard
The only game ever run here using the standard tactic of needing to lynch the mod. The town didn't manage to figure this out, despite the copious hints. On the other hand, this is another example of a particularly well-designed bastard puzzle. For increased novelty, one of the players was the mod's puppet account, and he recruited spectators to help him play with the town.
Witches' CovenBeautiful flavor. Unwinnable wincons. Complicated setups. Crazy gambits. Just go read it, will you?
PolitibastardAnother game in the vein of Liberal Crime Squad mafia, but bastardized even further for everyone's amusement.
Mein Kampf: A Tale of Vainglourious BasterdsNominated and placed here for Bay12's first game enriched by not only Quentin Tarantino, but also actual historical research. Beyond that, the setup truly merited the Bastard Mod title, leading to a great many Shenanigans... no more can be said here without ruining the surprise, of course, but needless to say, the game is one worth reading.
Kill Your Own Shakerag NowIt actually was a bastard mod, but a bastard mod would advertise it as a semi-bastard just to be a bastard.
So incomprehensible and convoluted that it took about eight months for the main mod to figure out who won. Theoretically a semi-bastard (only theoretically), it revolved the idea of the player Shakerag, sort of. At one pivotal point, a non-player velociraptor ate a player and became a Shakerag. Nobody quite understands KYOSN, but it was hilarious and entertaining, particularly as the bastard mechanics piled up higher and higher.
Flabort's High-Powered Bring Your Own Role 2A full-bastard BYOR variant in which each player submits 2-8 roles, which are largely distributed randomly. The result: 13 players. 80 roles. Infinite actions. 1 loser. 16 winners. 10 days.
Mafia Marathon23 four-five player setups, each deeply different and each more bastardy than the last, nestled in a point-based metagame. Almost a whole year of Mafia, Mafia Marathon deserves archival not just for the perseverance of the players and the quality of the play, but for Tomasque's ingenuity in setup creation as well.
Bastard Paranormal 2Interesting mechanics.
I've saved you guys a decent chunk of work.
FakeEdit: And I finished this at 3. Next report won't be as big as this, don't worry.
Author
Topic: Oh jeez, Quicktopic is shutting down (Read 61840 times)