Day One

[storyteller0910]

The New Canaan Town Hall is a domed building, with a glass paneled roof allowing a constant view of the ceaseless starscape above. A series of small offices, including the offices of the Ministers and the Office of the Governor - all now unoccupied and the latter freshly redecorated with what could have been mistaken for red paint - ring the outside of the circle described by the structure.

The dome itself stands above a single large room, the central gathering place for the Colony since its inception. The walls of the room are lined with large telescreens and small computer terminals, along with the early artwork of an alien land. But the twenty-five nervous colonists who gathered in the meeting room at the New Canaan Town Hall just after dawn were more interested in the object that had been placed at the center of the room, upon a hastily constructed dais covered in clear plastic.

It was just a chair.

High backed, unpadded, constructed of black steel. Small restraints, made of the same metal as the chair itself and thus barely visible, were built into the armrests and at the base. From below, unseen by the colonists who shifted nervously around the pedestal, a single, rubber-insulated wire ran from the ground below into the base of the chair.

The colonists regarded the chair. By the end of today, one of them would have a hell of a ride on that unassuming piece of furniture. No one appeared to be volunteering.

In little pockets around the room, the conversation began. The talk had already begun the previous night, nervous whispers exchanged in shadowed hallways, but little by little the discussion began in earnest. They needed a leader, and they needed someone to sit in the chair. By the time the day ended, they expected to have both.

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

Day One has begun. Since there is no active Governor, the Day will be extended to account for this; the election period will end in 24 hours - at 5:00PM EST on Friday, November 15. Whichever candidate has the plurality of votes at that time will be elected Governor, provided at least half the town has voted; if any candidate receives a majority of votes before this time, that candidate will be elected and you may proceed to lynch voting.

Good luck, and try to stay alive out there.

(Any player with a Day action may PM me at any time, starting now, with their choice. Off-board discussants may not discuss strategy off-board until the end of the Day).

[NAF1138]

[/b][/u]
[li]Color commentary counts.
[/li][li]At least 2 sides, colonists and replicants
[/li][li]It was important to have exactly 25 players at the start of the game.
[/li][li]We must elect a Governor on any Day that starts without one, if there is no Governor there is no lynch.
[/li][li]There is a group of mason type players
[/li][li]Above all, this is still just mafia. Everything else is here to confuse (entertain) us.
[/li][li]Some players have Day actions.

What we suspect (very probable):
[/li][li]A Blade Runner is in the game. Probably a cop, maybe a vig. MAYBE a cop vig combo. (I think that the combo is least likely because that is an insanely powerful role, but the color would indicate otherwise)
[/li][li]4-6 mafia members. Some with power roles. I think 5 members total is most likely.
[/li][li]Probably third faction with a separate win condition from Colonists/replicants (maybe people from the previous alien race?)
[/li][li]Day killer of some sort. Possibly a Crazy Townie


[/li][/ul]

[Santo Rugger]

Plurality? What's that?

Just kidding. So, does anybody have any ideas on what qualities, or lack thereof, we should look for in the Guv?

[Pleonast]

I've had a sudden insight on how to reduce the negative effects of the Governor. We electrocute the Governor every Day.

Pros:
Removes advantage the Replicants would otherwise have by occupying the office. (That is, they reduce their victory condition by one person.)

Cons:
Reduces the time we have to choose the chairee.

However, the Con isn't as bad as it may seem. It'll rush the choice for Day One (which is going to be ill-informed no matter what), but once the Governor/chairee is chosen, we can start talking about our choice for Day Two. And remember, we can discuss strategy at Night (not sure if we can vote at Night).

So, each Day will go like this: choose the new Governor/chairee, based on discussions from the previous Day and Night. Once that's taken care of and we're counting down the time, we start discussing the choice for the next Day.

[Hockey Monkey!]

I don't know that it really matters much for the first elected Gov to have any specific qualities. I like the idea of Pleonast being Gov. because I regard him as having a level head and having the ability to think things through. I guess I'll nominate Pleonast, but not officially vote yet pending discussion.

[NAF1138]

Story, you mean the election will end on the 16th right?

[Hockey Monkey!]

Obviously my nomination was made before seeing Pleonast's thoughts on the office.

[Merestil Haye]

Grudges.

Grudges held over from previous games are bad. Grudges warp your view of who has done scummy stuff for bad reasons. No one in this game is more or less likely to have come up with a replicant role than any other. So don't go voting for anyone based on their past record.<sup>1

1</sup> Except that SR. He's scum. Bound to be. And I'm always Simon-pure Town. Except when I'm not.

[NAF1138]

pleonast said:

I've had a sudden insight on how to reduce the negative effects of the Governor. We electrocute the Governor every Day.

Pros:
Removes advantage the Replicants would otherwise have by occupying the office. (That is, they reduce their victory condition by one person.)

Cons:
Reduces the time we have to choose the chairee.

However, the Con isn't as bad as it may seem. It'll rush the choice for Day One (which is going to be ill-informed no matter what), but once the Governor/chairee is chosen, we can start talking about our choice for Day Two. And remember, we can discuss strategy at Night (not sure if we can vote at Night).

So, each Day will go like this: choose the new Governor/chairee, based on discussions from the previous Day and Night. Once that's taken care of and we're counting down the time, we start discussing the choice for the next Day.

Interesting idea. Do you think that we can reliably make sure that we get the Gov lynched?

[Merestil Haye]

I don't like the idea of auto-executing the Governor.

This is a game; we play games to have fun. Whoever is in the Governor's chair won't be having much fun if he knows he's going to be executed in three days time. Its three days in which he knows he's dead and everyone else knows he's dead. But time has to pass.

No thanks.

[NAF1138]

mhaye said:

I don't like the idea of auto-executing the Governor.

This is a game; we play games to have fun. Whoever is in the Governor's chair won't be having much fun if he knows he's going to be executed in three days time. Its three days in which he knows he's dead and everyone else knows he's dead. But time has to pass.

No thanks.

Well look at this rule:

A Governor is elected by plurality of votes at the conclusion of the 24-hour election period, or by true majority of eligible voters at any time. The election of a Governor may occur only if at least 50% of the town has cast a vote. Failure to elect a Governor will result in another 24hour election cycle and no extension of the Day.

So we could thoretically put off voting for a Governor until the last 24 hour cycle is ready to go, then auto lynch.

I don't think we will ever be able to get it together enough to make it happen, but it isn't an impossible idea if we decide that we want to circumvent the governor aspect of the game (and I am not sold that we do, but am open to the posibility.)

[Santo Rugger]

Plus, killing the Guv basically forces us to use information from Yesterday, which gives the scum a half Day or one and a half Day advantage, depending on how you want to look at it.

[Santo Rugger]

"Failure to elect a Governor will result in another 24hour election cycle and no extension of the Day."

Looks like trying to circumvent becomes a recipe for a NoLynch to me.

[Pleonast]

naf1138 said:

Interesting idea. Do you think that we can reliably make sure that we get the Gov lynched?

A plurality chooses both the Governor and the chairee (is there a better word than that for the soon to be electrocuted?). I see two potential catches.
1) A majority of the players must vote for the Governor in order for one to be put into office. Since we need a Governor to electrocute, all Colonists should vote for someone for Governor, even if it's a singleton vote. I think we can overcome this.
2) A plurality for the Governor could be overcome by a larger plurality for electrocution. If we have a consensus that electrocuting the Governor is the way to go, we should avoid this. That means once we start down this path, role claims after election and before electrocution should be extremely suspect. Role claim before you are elected (if we go this route)!

On preview:
mhaye, the problem is the Colony gains nothing by having a Colonist Governor (won't have any more information than any other Colonist in breaking ties). The Replicants gain a little in the early game by occupying the office (they have the info to break ties in their favor), and gain a lot in the end game (their win condition is improved by one).

Rationally, it is in the Colonists' best interest to first elect whoever we plan to electrocute.

Another pro: it gives the Colony extra time each Day.

I'm open to counter-argument, though.

[sinjin]

pleonast said:

I've had a sudden insight on how to reduce the negative effects of the Governor. We electrocute the Governor every Day.

Pros:
Removes advantage the Replicants would otherwise have by occupying the office. (That is, they reduce their victory condition by one person.)

Cons:
Reduces the time we have to choose the chairee.

However, the Con isn't as bad as it may seem. It'll rush the choice for Day One (which is going to be ill-informed no matter what), but once the Governor/chairee is chosen, we can start talking about our choice for Day Two. And remember, we can discuss strategy at Night (not sure if we can vote at Night).

So, each Day will go like this: choose the new Governor/chairee, based on discussions from the previous Day and Night. Once that's taken care of and we're counting down the time, we start discussing the choice for the next Day.

Wow and I thought being a Chairperson was thankless. So you're actually advocating that we decide who to elect/electrocute in the next 24 hours? Then spend the next four days talking about who to elect/kill Gov. tomorrow while the present Gov. sits quietly waiting to be executed (good thing Idle isn't playing ). And how do you stop the replicants from night-killing the once and future Gov. during the night which would put us back in the position of deciding the next Gov./electrocutee in 24 hours. Talk about a rush to judgement.

[Pollux Oil]

I don't like the idea of autolynching the Governor. I'll leave it at that, because debating the possibility of autolynching the Governor could turn into one of those pointless many-page arguments that gives the scum the advantage.

[Pleonast]

sinjin said:

Wow and I thought being a Chairperson was thankless. So you're actually advocating that we decide who to elect/electrocute in the next 24 hours? Then spend the next four days talking about who to elect/kill Gov. tomorrow while the present Gov. sits quietly waiting to be executed (good thing Idle isn't playing ). And how do you stop the replicants from night-killing the once and future Gov. during the night which would put us back in the position of deciding the next Gov./electrocutee in 24 hours. Talk about a rush to judgement.

If the Replicants kill the soon-to-be-elected Governor, that keeps us from electrocuting a Colonist. Another point in favor of the plan.

The Day One victim is going to be ill-informed no matter what. Does it really matter if we decide in one day or three?

After the Day One, well, we will have spent the previous Day and Night talking about it. Hardly a rush.

From Rugger: Plus, killing the Guv basically forces us to use information from Yesterday, which gives the scum a half Day or one and a half Day advantage, depending on how you want to look at it.
This is a good point, but not really applicable until we have a role claim with actionable information. When we get to that point, we'll obviously need to make adjustments. Doesn't mean electrocuting the Governor isn't a good strategy until then.

[Santo Rugger]

Although it may give the Colony extra time each Day, it severely limits the amount of time we have to select lynchee. Some, if not most, people don't log on every day. Forcing the town to chose who's going to die in a 24 hour period limits discussion about candidates severely.

[Pleonast]

pygmyrugger said:

Although it may give the Colony extra time each Day, it severely limits the amount of time we have to select lynchee. Some, if not most, people don't log on every day. Forcing the town to chose who's going to die in a 24 hour period limits discussion about candidates severely.

That's only for Day One. For Day Two, we'll have the rest of Day One, all of Night One, and the first 24 hours of Day Two. And forcing an election, gives us an extra 24 hours every Day. So it's actually increasing the amount of time to decide each electrocution (after Day One).

atarus, if we quickly adopt the strategy, we won't waste any more time on it.

[Santo Rugger]

pleonast said:

<snip>
This is a good point, but not really applicable until we have a role claim with actionable information. When we get to that point, we'll obviously need to make adjustments. Doesn't mean electrocuting the Governor isn't a good strategy until then.

It puts us at a disadvantage now, because we'd be deciding Tomorrow's lynch Today, with absolutely no additional information.

But, if you're convinced it's such a good idea, vote Pleonast for Guv.

[Pollux Oil]

pleonast said:

atarus, if we quickly adopt the strategy, we won't waste any more time on it.

Yes, but I highly doubt that within 24 hours all 25 of us are going to be 100% ready to support this strategy of lynching without any further questions.

Here's an idea. You said yourself the following:

At the beginning, the alignment of the Governor doesn't matter that much. He'll be accountable for any tie-breaks or no lynches. However, at the end game, his alignment is critical. A Scummy Governor changes the Scum's victory condition from strictly greater than half the players to greater or equal. That difference of one player is huge.

This is the beginning. In your own words, the alignment of the Governor doesn't matter that much right now. How 'bout we elect a Governor normally, and wait until we're nearer to the end-game, when the Governor's alignment is more important, and talk about the idea of autolynching the Governor then?

[Drain Bead]

pygmyrugger said:

pleonast said:

<snip>
This is a good point, but not really applicable until we have a role claim with actionable information. When we get to that point, we'll obviously need to make adjustments. Doesn't mean electrocuting the Governor isn't a good strategy until then.

It puts us at a disadvantage now, because we'd be deciding Tomorrow's lynch Today, with absolutely no additional information.

And that, in a nutshell, is why I think that Pleonast's idea isn't a very good one. I want as much info as possible before I decide to send someone to the chair. Trying to decide who the next day's lynchee is going to be, before we have even learned all the information we're going to learn from the identity of our lynchee and the nightkills, is an exercise in futility at best and a ploy that will play right into the scum's hands at worst.

I think a bit more discussion of the Governor's role in this game, as well as how we should go about selecting one, is in order. Honestly, I think on Day One when we have no info, it might be best to discuss the mechanics of the position for as long as possible, and then randomize the pick at the end of the time period. I just don't know how best to go about randomizing a pick that needs a plurality vote. Maybe just have everyone random.org, and then hopefully get a plurality from there? That seems too easily manipulated, though. Hrm.

Or, we could just vote for Pleonast.

[Pleonast]

pygmyrugger said:

But, if you're convinced it's such a good idea, vote Pleonast for Guv.

(color removed)

Yeah, lynching based on disagreements of strategy always works so well for the good guys. Oh, but wait, you're not used to being a good guy.

Discuss the merits of the strategy. We're not going to use it unless most of the Colony agrees to it, anyway.

On preview: you know, I forgot that most Mafia games reveal role information at the time of death. Forgive me for not having brain-wiped my own rules. However, since storyteller's Basic Rules don't say when role info is revealed, and the color is vague at best, let's ask the horse:

storyteller, when are dead player's roles publicly revealed?

[Merestil Haye]

Time to set up my notes file.

I'm having trouble remembering what our narrator / GM means by "Plurality". Fun eh?

Storyteller :

What do you mean by "plurality/"

• Simple majority (the winner is the person who received the largest single number of votes)
  
• Overall majority (The winner received one-half or more of the votes cast)
  
• Absolute majority (The winner received one-half or more of the number of possible votes).

[diggitcamara]

mhaye said:

I don't like the idea of auto-executing the Governor.

This is a game; we play games to have fun. Whoever is in the Governor's chair won't be having much fun if he knows he's going to be executed in three days time. Its three days in which he knows he's dead and everyone else knows he's dead. But time has to pass.

No thanks.

Not only that but it would functionally reduce the time we have to debate any Day's lynchee.

FOS Pleonast

[episodeofblonde]

I think auto-lynching the Guv'nor in the early game, when any Guv is much more likely to be town, is pretty anti-town behaviour. Maybe in the endgame when things are tighter, it would make more sense.

I am not going to vote Pleo for Guv yet, but I am tempted... his idea seems to really limit and control the way days play out. This is not good and could lead to some very rushed decisions.

Are we going to keep Guv-voting records like past games have done with regular votes? They might be useful...

[Merestil Haye]

With regard to the "Lynch the Governor" suggestion, my main issue isn't that the plan might not work - I haven't thought about whether it would work.

My objection is a purely gut one - it's unfun to the person picked. And we play games for fun.

You may think it metagaming, and it is. But I think it's more important than "will it work?" What's the point in doing this if it destroys the fun for a player or two right out of the gate?

If you contend that it is worth the cost, are you then willing to agree to be the first?

[Pollux Oil]

I have a different suggestion about who we elect to be Governor.

Some people have already said that the Governor will be a prime target for WIFOM. (Basically, the internal debate that would be caused would be: If the scum don't kill the Governor at night, he must be scum, but the scum know this, so they might not kill a townie to draw suspicion on him.)

I think it might be a good idea to vote somebody who the general town finds suspicious into Governor. If the general population of the town already finds somebody somewhat suspicious, it basically removes the WIFOM situation the scum could use to mess with the town. Sure, the scum could leave the suspicious person as Governor for a few Days to mess with the town's heads, but if the town's already suspicious of said person, it has little to no added effect.

I guess this is sort of a modification of Pleonast's idea, but we're not electing a Governor to auto-lynch, instead we're putting a lynch candidate in the Governor position, but we're not necessarily going to lynch them at the end of the Day.

Does that make sense to anyone, or am I off my rocker here?

[episodeofblonde]

I agree mhaye and I also think that there is no reason to worry about the Governor doing us horrible damage right now. It will be obvious enough if the Guv does something shady, and he can't stay his own execution after all. Why do we need to try to restructure the game before we've even seen how this new twist will work? I don't see why we should. If anything, lynching Guv 1 will cause us to gain even less information than usual from day one.

[Pleonast]

diggitcamara said:

Not only that but it would functionally reduce the time we have to debate any Day's lynchee.

Have you even read my posts? Under the electrocute-the-Governor plan, the Day Two lynch would be decided over the course of most Day One, all of Night One, and the first 24 hours of Day Two. And, each Day will last 24 hours longer, because we'll have to elect a Governor. The plan functionally increases the time to decide. Only Day One is sped up.

episodeofblonde said:

I think auto-lynching the Guv'nor in the early game, when any Guv is much more likely to be town, is pretty anti-town behaviour. Maybe in the endgame when things are tighter, it would make more sense.

Yes, but early game, we're going to electrocute more Colonists than Replicants. Electing the chairee before electrocuting him doesn't change that.

For those of you considering voting for me for Governor, do you not see how it's kind of self defeating? If you agree with the elect-the-chairee plan, then why you are voting for me? You agree with me.

If you don't agree with the plan, then you're voting for a scummy person (the advocating it) for Governor. Colonists don't want scum in the office.

On preview: atarus, your plan is actually a good one. How's this:

The Governor is the default target for electrocution. It's up to him to make a case to electrocute someone else.

So it's not automatic. The Governor is in the hot seat, but not necessarily the electric chair. The Colony can then decide.