TWG VIII: Post-game Thread

Theslan · November 2006

It was an interesting ride. Here are some information throughout the game:

-------------------------

Starting wolves: <span style="color:#ff0000">Sky and Xentor</span>
Converted wolf: <span style="color:#ff0000">Swiftspear</span>

-------------------------
Night 1: NPC killed.
Day 1: <span style="color:#ff0000">Sky lynched (wolf)</span>
Night 2: - Isamil seered
<span style="color:#3333FF">Isamil killed (guardian)</span>
Day 2: <span style="color:#00FF00">Tigersmith lynched (human)</span>
Night 3: - im_lost seered
<span style="color:#00FF00">im_lost killed (human)</span>
Day 3: <span style="color:#00FF00">Stakhanov lynched (human)</span>
Night 4: - Blackmage seered (Psychic)
<span style="color:#00FF00">EMP Demon killed (human)</span>
Day 4: <span style="color:#00FF00">Mantrid lynched (human)</span>
Night 5: - Pulse seered
<span style="color:#00FF00">Pulse lynched (human)</span>
Day 5: <span style="color:#ff0000">Xentor lynched (wolf)</span>
Night 6: - Crispy seered
<span style="color:#00FF00">Crispy lynched (human)</span>
Day 6: <span style="color:#ff0000">Swiftspear lynched (wolf)</span>

<span style="color:#3333ff">Lolfighter (seer)</span> and <span style="color:#3333ff">Blackmage (psychic)</span> survived!

MVP: Lolfighter, Blackmage, and Crispy.

Summary:
The game started at a very odd start. One wolf got lynched quietly and it pretty much brought the wolves down in terms of morale. However, the next two days became wolves' favor: they took out the guardian early and prevented the seer from building a trusted network.

The turning point was when the seer found the psychic and they were able to build a trusted network. In fact, this was the only time the wolves managed not to kill the person the seer looked into. Somehow the seer picked up Crispy, and built a 3 player network. With both roles still in play as the last 6 players, they found the 2 wolves by process of elimination (the seer never found any wolves) and took them out.

--------------------------------

<span style="color:#33cc00">1. im_lost (human - Wolfed night 3)</span>
<span style="color:#3333ff">2. Isamil (guardian - Wolfed night 1)</span>
<span style="color:#ff0000">3. Xentor (Wolf - Lynched Day 5)</span>
<span style="color:#33cc00">4. EMPDemon (human - Wolfed night 4)</span>
<span style="color:#ff0000">5. Swiftspear (Converted Wolf - Lynched Day 6)</span>
<span style="color:#33cc00">6. Mantrid (human - Lynched Day 4)</span>
<span style="color:#ff0000">7. Sky (Wolf - Lynched Day 1)</span>
<span style="color:#33cc00">8. Stakhanov (human - Lynched Day 3)</span>
<span style="color:#33cc00">9. Crispy (human - Wolfed night 6)</span>
<span style="color:#3333ff">10. Blackmage (Psychic - survived!)</span>
<span style="color:#33cc00">11. Tigersmith (human - Lynched Day 2)</span>
<span style="color:#33cc00">12. Pulse (human - Wolfed night 5)</span>
<span style="color:#3333ff">13. lolfighter (seer - survived!)</span>

----------------------------------

As requested, the roles from the first round were:
1. im_lost (lerk - redemption) <-- psychic
2. Isamil (lerk - celerity) <-- seer
3. Xentor (skulk - silence/cloak)
4. EMPDemon (marine - jp/shotty)
5. Swiftspear (oh no!)
6. Hellfire3k (onos) <-- wolf
7. Mantrid (HA/SG) <-- converted wolf
8. Talesin (Skulk - silence/focus/redemption) <-- wolf
9. Petco (gorge - celerity with... gripping claws. ... ... ... ...)
10. Sky (JP/Shotty)
11. Stakhanov (onos, with celerity and SoF)
12. Crispy (fade -cara)
13. A wild blackmage appears!(silence/cloak/regen skulk) <-- guardian

BlackMage · November 2006

^_^

lolfighter · November 2006

The story with Crispy is an odd one, but it serves to illustrate why activity is paramount in this game. We managed to convince each other that we were both humans simply by talking at length about the game (and I'm talking an hour or so at a time).

Actually, neither of us was 100% sure, but we both agreed that if the other guy was a wolf after all, he was the best goddamn wolf there had ever been, and deserved to win. Turns out we were both just mere humans though. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" />

Well played to the wolves. And curse you for killing my allies! Xentor gets props for having me pretty fooled - until we lynched Mantrid, I thought the wolves were Mantrid and Swiftspear, with the humans being Xentor and Pulse. Xentor was actually the one I was most certain of. It was only after Mantrid got murdered and BM didn't confirm a wolf kill that I got suspicious of Xentor.

I'd like to thank Crispy for his support (I think he was the only euro in the game, so he was the only one I talked to regularly), and BM for trusting me despite the limited talking we had due to those bloody timezones. Also, sorry that I killed you, Mantrid.

Oh, and I agree with BM: ^_^

BlackMage · November 2006

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(lolfighter @ Nov 12 2006, 05:19 PM) [snapback]1576389[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'>BM for trusting me despite the limited talking we had due to those bloody timezones.</div>

it's not the quantity, look over the lines i sent you and you might find the trick

im_lost · November 2006

I realized that there isn't much point in me starting the days off with the first vote. I did it at first for the purpose of starting up activity for the day, but I realized this game that nobody cares about my vote anymore, so it doesn't actually do anything. So, when I don't rush to vote at the beginning of the next game, don't rush to kill me for it.

Byeka · November 2006

Just like to get a little feedback here, I asked in the channel but no-one responded.

What would be better,
a) Having the host elections now and getting started on TWG IX right away
b) Having the host elections now or the near future, having the signups near the end of the month, and starting TWG IX right on December 1.

If we did the 2nd then we would probably try to aim for having one TWG per month, sign ups would always be around the end of the month and the game would always start on the first. (unless weird circumstances or something).

EMP_Demon · November 2006

XD

I started the bandwagon that got a wolf killed on the first day?

Wow, that's a first for me! (No offense, Sky!)

As to Freak, I'm indifferent either way; I probably won't be able to participate next game due to exams in early December.

lolfighter · November 2006

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Black_Mage @ Nov 13 2006, 02:40 AM) [snapback]1576443[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'>
it's not the quantity, look over the lines i sent you and you might find the trick
</div>
I'd prefer if you just told me. I did far too much thinking during that game and really don't feel like doing even more of it now. The only thing I can remember is that thing about you claiming that there were three wolves in the game which I accepted unconditionally, then you switching to two wolves left and me still accepting that.

Swiftspear · November 2006

Ironically, as much as it seemed to play to our advantage, taking out the seer network quite hurt us, because it wasn't being done intentionally and it caused us to believe we had got the seer already, when that was not the case. I didn't think either lolfighter of blackmage had roles, if I did they would have been dead much earlier.

Honestly BM and LolF, you really deserved that win, which was in large part why when it was the soul decision up to me on the last night, I took out crispy rather then Lolfighter. Definately in consideration was the guess that I might be able to turn someone against BM, but I figured I had about an equal chance of getting lolf as crispy, and frankly I thought that crispy was too adacious to let win from my perspective as a wolf. As a human player he was the kind of player that made wolfs want to kill him.

lolfighter · November 2006

Oh right, that leads me to one of the questions that are still open: How the HELL did I survive that? Wolves, tell me. I was certain I wouldn't make it.

Crispy · November 2006

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Swiftspear @ Nov 13 2006, 11:21 AM) [snapback]1576578[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'>
As a human player he was the kind of player that made wolfs want to kill him.
</div> <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin-fix.gif" />

Okay, lolf, now you have to show everyone your diary, I think it would make interesting reading for most. This is the thing that most convinced me lolf was the Seer, because to go to all the trouble to fake a diary takes a lot of determination. I also made sure to demand it on the spot the second he mentioned it so he couldn't throw together a quick fake.

It did go right up to the wire, though. Because of the fact lolf was claiming both his initial Seered players had been killed there was no proving that he'd actually been in contact with them. I have to say Xentor played very well, although there was one point where I started to really suspect him, and that was when I had my vote on Pulse on day 3. Basically I wanted to find out why Pulse and Xentor were voting together, so about 5 mins before the vote was due to end I contacted them both to get some preliminary info and then hit them both with a "Tell me why I should swap my vote off you, Pulse / tell me why I shouldn't switch my vote to you, Xentor". I figured that with only 2 minutes left they'd have to think fast, and under that amount of pressure cracks would start to appear. From this Pulse helped convince me he was human, but I got no hints either way from Xentor. However, at the beginning of the convo with Xentor I'd asked him why Pulse was voting with him, to which he replied "I dunno. Probably to make me look suspicious." To me that comment was (A) over-agressive and (B) symptomatic of a wolf's way of thinking, not a human's.

But despite this I was never 100% sure of Xentor being a wolf, and even when me and BlackSeer had started the instalynch on Xentor, before lolfighter had placed his vote Xentor still managed to make me question lolf and BlackSeer (I'll dig the quote out when I get back).

As for Swift, I think it all hinged on one particular commewnt that I can't find atm (I'll fish it out when I get home). Also you were uncommunicative on the forums and your voting reasons were usually pretty unsubstantiated.

FYI I first was told lolf was the Seer on day 4 (I think), and all the accusing BM, etc. was to keep him in the game because I thought the wolves would want to keep in someone who was looking ripe for the vote.

GG at the end, but it could have been more interesting if people had been more active.

lolfighter · November 2006

I actually made my last update to the journal shortly after I showed it to Crispy. I kinda forgot afterwards, I went home to my parents over the weekend (they offered me duck, I could not refuse), and stuff... Keep in mind that I wrote the journal as I went, so a lot of stuff we be just plain wrong, and later entries will contradict previous ones.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'>So I'm the seer. Finally a special role for lolf.
I shouldn't complain really. In the two previous games I was seered first, and was part of the network from the get-go. So I was never as out-of-the-loop as many other people (or as I claimed I were).

Night 1 (Prologue): Uneventful.

Day 1
A few votes get moved back and forth, a few people stand out by voting for people who already have votes or "evening out the votes" (saving other people with multiple votes?). One of these people is Isamil, furthermore he's a seasoned player, so I decide to seer him first unless something changes my mind. I also make up my mind that if he's a wolf, Stakhanov is guilty by association.

Sky gets lynched. I make up my mind to seer Isamil.

Night 2
Isamil is a human. I PM him immediately and we talk at length. I don't think he trusts me yet, as we both agree that I could be a wolf too. Like I said to him, the only thing we are both 100% sure of is that he's a human, so that's what we have to work with. But that isn't much to work with. I don't think he trusts me yet, but I think he's open to the possibility that I am speaking the truth. That's at least something, for now. Night 2 drags out because the forums are once again down. I can't even think of sarcastic remarks about the forums being down anymore.

Day 2
Isamil is a stiff. Great. Just as I had what could have been a valuable ally, he gets killed off. I can't say I'm incredibly surprised, he was an experienced player so the wolves had an interest in getting him out of the way. Now I'm back to square one.
The forums go down again shortly after the post for day two is up, which may be a contributing factor to the current problem: None of the players are talking. im lost is the only player except me to post so far. I make a post chiding them for that. It'll probably get me lynched or wolfed for "sticking out." But eh, if they don't wanna play, I can't be bothered to play for them. Let 'em kill me off and go ahead and lose if they're so keen on it.

Well, I don't get lynched. Activity is just low low low. I vote for EMP Demon just to get my vote out of the way. Stakhanov stacks his vote on top of mine, and EMP Demon votes for himself out of apparent frustration. It seems as though he will be lynched, but Stakhanov didn't bold his vote, so it doesn't actually count.

End result: EMP Demon with two votes, Tigersmith with two votes and a phantom. Three more players receive phantom votes. I decide to seer im_lost.

Night 3
im_lost is a human. That's good, I guess. Means I have someone I can trust. Now to hope he doesn't get killed like Isamil.

Day 3
When will I learn to keep my big mouth shut? Murphy's law strikes for the second time, im_lost is dead. Being the seer is supposed to be fun because you can build a network, this just sucks.
We're now down to nine players, and there is no reason to believe we have killed a wolf yet. The low activity also means that the wolves have an easy time staying under the radar. If we don't kill a wolf on day three or four, the game will be lost. Figures that the first wolf victory would be due to dumb luck and inactivity.
I decide to seer Black Mage. It's early in the day, and I still have plenty of time to change my mind. But I've got a hunch. I'll write about it if BM turns out to be a wolf.
Crispy votes for me because I'm active. Wow. His words: "PM ftw or my vote stays where it is." That's not much to go on, but I'll PM him all the same.
Stuff. More talks with Crispy. Cba to write so much. Still going to seer BM, now more than ever. Hope he doesn't get killed.
The day ends with a lot of drama. Stakh gets lynched due to a last-minute vote change by Crispy. Well, last minute plus two, actually.
I'm pretty sure Pulse is a human. Crispy reasonably, but not completely. If I need to confide in someone after I know what BM is, Pulse is my choice.

Night 4
BM is human. And I think he's genuinely inactive, not just lying low. I'm just about ready to give up now. This game has been jinxed from the start. Assuming that there are still three wolves alive (and I'm still inclined to believe that), we need to play flawlessly now. And I don't even know the identity of any of the wolves. Dammit.
I manage to reach BM, and we chat. I don't really learn anything new, but I think I won BM's trust at least.
45 minutes before the night ends, I get the idea to give BM a contingence plan in case I should get wolfed: The idea is to contact Pulse and Crispy (the only two people besides BM I trust at all). We'll probably have to do that anyway, but if I get killed now, that's the only option left I think. BM hasn't answered, and he probably won't see my PM at all until the day is over.
I decide to send a forum PM to him as well, just in case. Nothing left to do but wait now.

Day 5
EMP Demon is dead. Phew. My sympathies, of course, but at least that means that me, BM and the two most likely humans are still alive.
BM says he "sees three wolves." Cryptic. Is he the psychic?
Apparently he is. And he sees only two wolves. That's good news.
I speak at length with Crispy. Again. I still think he's human. I'm even considering telling him that I'm the seer. But not yet, not yet.
Well, the cards are on the table. I've told Crispy everything. I've told BM everything. They both have my journal. I think I bought Crispy's trust with it, and I hope the same will go for BM. If Crispy is a wolf, he is playing so well that he deserves to win.</div>

lolfighter · November 2006

The postgame thread is too inactive! I demand more activity!

Crispy · November 2006

I think it says a lot about this game, tbh. Barely anyone's bothered to drop by to see how it ended, or comment on it, at least. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/confused-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="???" border="0" alt="confused-fix.gif" />

Byeka · November 2006

Annoying for sure... what happened? <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":(" border="0" alt="sad-fix.gif" />

In the meantime feel free to send any host applications to my email freak83 @ gmail . com

Usual guidelines:
Forum name
# of players

Full game description or just "Standard game" with the appropriate number of wolves. We'll work out when the game gets started later.

Xentor · November 2006

Oh, wow... I had the roles completely backwards... Here's my synopsis from memory, since I didn't keep a diary.

From Day 1, our luck went straight to hell. Sky got lynched randomly, and thanks to the forums being on port 90 at the time, I couldn't log in from work. I got home and saw our team cut by 2/3rds. Not a good start, but I tried to recover.

My initial plan was to point everyone towards EMP and Stak, though it never worked entirely. I figured all of the experienced players would see through a "revenge" vote, so would initially think Sky human when we took out Isamil (Votes on Sky were EMP, Isamil, Stak, in that order). They'd think the wolves made an early move, since 3 votes on day one is already a bit odd. Stak's last-minute vote was just ridiculous, so was an easy target.

Of course, that didn't seem to work out, so I switched gears and went to a pattern of revenge votes, to make it look like the wolves were all newbies, trying to steer suspicion towards our first-timers. Sorry, guys, but we were in a tight spot.

This had the side effect of making the votes seem random, and I couldn't exactly bring up the pattern myself without drawing attention. I spent most of the time trying to strike the right balance of activity and inactivity, so as not to be noticed any more than necessary.

As Swift said, our dumb luck actually screwed us in the end. Since we didn't see a human network forming, we thought the Seer had died. My suspicions actually leaned towards Pulse being the psychic and Mantrid being the guardian (Which was why I pretended to suspect Mantrid of being a wolf).

See, I thought lolf and Pulse were together, and that lolf's vote on Pulse (On whichever day) was just a placeholder so no one would start a random bandwagon. This was on the day that Stak died, where it was almost a toss-up between Pulse and Mantrid. Crispy moved his vote off of Pulse suddenly, just after talking to me, and I thought lolf had brought Crispy into the network and told him about Pulse right then and there.

Turns out I was off, and a later conversation with Crispy told me that he and Pulse weren't networked. I thought lolf was holding together a 3-way, and that we could sever it by dropping lolf.

Now, lolf, here's why you dodged the bullet that hit Pulse. Just before the end of the day, you PMed me on IRC, and we chatted a bit. We discussed who we thought were the wolves, and you let it slip that you were in touch with the psychic. You didn't realize it, but that saved you. Swift and I had already decided to drop you, but that conversation made it sound like a trap. I knew you were networked, and I figured you were testing me, and had sent out a PM like "If I die tonight, Xentor is a wolf"... That's why we took you off our list. Crispy was the next obvious target, but we figured you still suspected him, and thought he was a new addition to the network. Wolfing you (lolf) would have made the rest of your network target Crispy, but that plan was ruined. Pulse, who we thought was the psychic, was the next on the list.

Blackmage, my compliments to you. You played the newbie card all too well. The entire game, I never suspected you of having a role at all. In fact, Swift and I were leaving you alive, because you seemed the easiest one to point the wolf finger at, and keep everyone distracted. Well played, indeed.

Hell, even at the very end, I thought I had Crispy and lolf pointed at Black, and was completely shocked, while in PM with Crispy, when that rapid-fire three-shot took me out. It wasn't until that point that I realized I had everything backwards, and had just enough time to /msg Swift with "You're on your own", before the third vote went in and I was obligated to step away.

I was all set to see Black lynched on the last day (The day I died), and bring home the first wolf win on these forums... So close, yet so far away.

Anyway, I'm on vacation down in Florida, and I think it's time to stop messing around on my laptop and hop in the pool. Later guys...

BlackMage · November 2006

^_^

sucks that it only works once, though...

lolfighter · November 2006

Well played Xentor, well played. You had me pretty fooled right until we lynched Mantrid and it turned out that he wasn't a wolf at all. When I was talking to you in PM, I let my guard down because I was reasonably sure that you were a human, and that's why I messed up and admitted to being in contact with the psychic between the lines. And as dumb luck would have it, that saved me. Ah well. I guess I deserved some dumb luck after the completely fiasko with Isamil and im lost.

The instalynch was pretty sweet though. Three posts within only half a dozen minutes, and suddenly the day was over. And poor Theslan found himself having to deal with nightfall when he wasn't at all expecting it.

Theslan · November 2006

And you three had to choose that day to do it! Especially when I was going out of town, AND I had several other projects due. >.<

Oh well. I've finished the first two parts (Xentor and Crispy's death). Expect the last two to be done within this week.

Soul_Rider · November 2006

Well it seems lolf finally had a game where he was a role...

Are we still waiting for Sky to not have a role??

Would love to join in again but alas, can only hop on from work at the moment..

Will defo look to join in again sometime in the future..

Oh and I had BM down as a defo wolf!!

lolfighter · November 2006

Oh right, Sky STILL has a flawless "special role every game" streak going. Ridiculous. Come on, let's talk about it lots and jinx him so he doesn't get one next game!

im_lost · November 2006

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(lolfighter @ Nov 15 2006, 10:26 AM) [snapback]1577498[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'>
Oh right, Sky STILL has a flawless "special role every game" streak going. Ridiculous. Come on, let's talk about it lots and jinx him so he doesn't get one next game!
</div>
Except that Sky didn't have a special role in TWG VII.

lolfighter · November 2006

Oh? Oh.

Pulse · November 2006

Damnit! I <i>was</i> going to PM Swiftspear in a rather selfish attempt to save myself, but the day started earlier than I thought it would.

Petco · November 2006

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(lolfighter @ Nov 15 2006, 02:24 PM) [snapback]1577583[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'>
Oh? Oh.
</div>

Yeah, Sky didn't believe in the power of gorges in my game, so he was stuck as a human.

Theslan · November 2006

Just a quick update. The last two portions of the story have been constructed in my head (ie, the plotline is already done). I have a term paper due Monday. When that's finished, I'll write down the last two parts and posted it, replacing the placeholders.

Sorry for the delay. This week's been a horrible week with many many papers due.

TWG VIII: Post-game Thread

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