The Syndicate

Bummer I didn't have time to follow the game, but glad that you pulled off a win in the end, Jay! Congrats!!!

Metalmarsh89 wrote:

MovingPictures07 wrote:I'm rooting for our adopted Syndicateer / resident RYMer mafia extraordinaire JaggedJimmyJay.

GO JAY!

Likewise. May you have 500 posts on Day 1 and rock their socks off Jay!

Thanks for checking in Thingyman. I hope things are running relatively smoothly. I haven't made the time to get into the chat, but I'll check in on the game status daily.

I'm sure Pizza will beat him to it.

I'm rooting for our adopted Syndicateer / resident RYMer mafia extraordinaire JaggedJimmyJay.

GO JAY!

S~V~S wrote:You did a great job, TH You brought it down to a real nail biter ending

This.

Well done, Turnip Head! You rocked!

Turnip Head makes the Final 3!

Go Turnip Head!!!!!!

Day 4's far from over!

Regardless of what happens, I'm proud of Turnip's behavior and I think he's made us proud. This game also has been insanely exciting to watch, for me anyway. I have plenty I have been saying in the spectator chat and to say upon postgame discussion.

This Game also has presented a fantastic opportunity to mingle with members from other sites via the spectator chat, so all around this has been a really great and super fun mafia game. So much so that it has distracted me immensely from studying during finals week. :P

Indeed!

Keep rocking it, Turnip Head!

Indeed, RIP Soneji. I know certain people feel you didn't post enough, but I thought you performed well.

Ah, well, a good point either way. I am talking about nomination voting. :P

juliets wrote:

G-Man wrote:Yeah, it seems like some people are just running up a post count. I wonder if they track that or if it plays a significant role into contestants' votes. I've always gone for quality over quantity myself.

They do track it just like we do and it does seem to influence voting if you're on the lower end of the scale. Of course, this round one of the hi posters is taking votes - so far at least. Lots of time left and a lot of vote changing can go on in that last 5 minutes.

I think G-Man was speculating (but he can correct me) on whether and how the votes to nominate someone to go forward to the finals are influenced by post count.

Inevitably, it's interesting to see how it's influencing lynch votes, but I too am curious on nominations.

Personally, I echo sentiments of others here in that it really is more about quality, not quantity, and even as a high poster myself I believe most of the posts in that thread are pretty low in terms of quality.

Regarding the peeks and fake peeks, not only do we not engage in infodumping to the extreme that they do, but it is actually actively discouraged, not encouraged.

This is mostly due to the fact that we play most of our games here with an open setup (roles are listed publicly) versus a closed setup (roles are not listed). To date, the only closed setup game on this forum was Rox and DP's Monty Python game, but I'm sure it won't be the last. Generally, in our open setup games here, we do not reveal the identity of NKed players. In closed setup games, the identities of all players are revealed.

Infodumping is logically fair game in a closed setup, but in an open setup there is a list of roles, so it much more easily breaks the game.

Interestingly, the Champions game is technically open setup, but infodumping is fair game, which can really only be chalked up to differences in adapting mafia to an online setting.

TURNIP HEAD!!!

We're rooting for you. You can do it. Show them what The Syndicate is made of!

Indeed! Pretty intense. I figured people would consider meta but not to that degree.

I think there is a very real risk that players or their supporters will be checking the thread because I'm pretty sure they already have (and I don't blame them).

Consequently, discussing what is happening in the game (as if they are current or historical events) I think is OK, but any sort of speculation or risk/strategy-assessment regarding those events seems not only unwanted by Thingyman but also likely unwise for that reason.

I've been so busy with studying today that I haven't had a chance to read any posts since early yesterday evening, but I hope to at least skim tonight. Meanwhile, Daisy has been keeping me at least somewhat updated. So while I don't know what situation he's currently facing, I am forever confident in his abilities. And regardless of how he performs, I'm sure he's representing us well, especially considering his schedule restrictions at the moment.

Good luck catching up on the thread. :P It's going pretty quickly.

Ricochet wrote:What's a "peek"?

The cop (seer) receives a pre-game check on a random vanilla civilian, so the n0 peek they are referring to is that ability.

More generally, peek essentially = role/alignment check.

Apologies for the multiple post, but FYI, wanted to remind everyone of this:

I double checked Thingyman's post and he expresses concern over discussing reads, as follows:

Thingyman wrote:

Made wrote:Omg, we could have a thread watch thread!!!!

Regarding this, I ask that the participating sites refrain from openly speculating on roles and such in places where your representative's competitors could see it if they wanted to. You could openly discuss and laugh at and comment on general matters that don't revolve around giving and expressing reads on the game without any issue though, of course.

We will have a Skype spectator chat that everyone is invited to join (and where you should feel more than free to discuss reads). It was a lot of fun in season 1. We had more than a hundred people at one point.

So feel free to comment about the game here, but make sure not to speculate on roles and such!

Soneji is WolfPrinceKiba over at NF and 2 + 2.

Despite having a busy schedule, I have every intention of keeping up with this game completely. Hopefully I can.

Rico, I think it's a great idea to post updates about what's going on in here. I will try to do so as long as I don't get beaten to it by someone else (which would be fine, since I may not always be timely).

GO TURNIP HEAD!!!

Everyone who is so inclined should cheer him on in the spectator chat. I've been in there from time to time and it's a real good time, but now is the chance to cheer on our rep.

You ready, TH? It's game time.

GOOOOOOOOOO TURNIP HEAD!!!!!!!!!

Spacedaisy wrote:

MovingPictures07 wrote:

Spacedaisy wrote:

thellama73 wrote:

Spacedaisy wrote:I have been participating in the spectator chat and it has been really interesting so far . I would recommend any who have the time and inclination should check it out.

Is it a video chat or text? I don't want a bunch of strangers to see my ugly handsome face.

The truth is he is afraid of them seeing his mustache. All the women will want him and all the men will want to be him...

And you would be the founder of the Llama's Mustache Fan Club, lol.

Spacedaisy wrote:

thellama73 wrote:

Spacedaisy wrote:I have been participating in the spectator chat and it has been really interesting so far . I would recommend any who have the time and inclination should check it out.

Is it a video chat or text? I don't want a bunch of strangers to see my ugly handsome face.

The truth is he is afraid of them seeing his mustache. All the women will want him and all the men will want to be him...

GO TURNIP HEAD!!!!

YES!

Mongoose wrote:Congrats, Turnip Head!

I hope you can "root" out all the baddies in the championships! You are totally tubular amongst the tubers.

This probably made me laugh more than it should have.

I am very excited to announce that Turnip Head has been selected to represent The Syndicate in this tournament. I feel confident that he will do an amazing job.

What an amazingly close race though! Thanks for sending in your votes, everyone!

Metalmarsh89 wrote:Am I allowed to self-vote?

Sure, nominees can vote for whomever they want!

Keep those votes coming! I expect to have an inbox packed FULL of everyone's votes.

I am very stoked about these nominees!!

Members of The Syndicate, I am pleased to present... your nominees for the Mafia Championship Season 2, hosted by Thingyman:

blindfaeth
Epignosis
Long Con
Metalmarsh89
thellama73
Turnip Head

You may submit to me your top three selections. I will be awarding weighted points as follows: 3 for highest preference, 2 for second highest preference, and 1 for third. The nominee who receives the highest weighted accumulation of votes will be sent as our representative!

Please indicate to me clearly your preference order, otherwise your submission will be invalid and not counted.

You have 48 hours maximum to send me your votes. This means you must submit a PM to me before Tuesday, March 31st at 10:30AM Eastern time. Help make your voice heard by ensuring you send your PM to me before that deadline.

I am incredibly excited to send one of these nominees on behalf of our community at this gathering of mafia's best and brightest, and very much look forward to announcing the player that our community has awarded with that honor.

Sigh. Why would I state times in a time that we are no longer using? :P

No. Just ignore the "S" and input a "D" then. :P

Just a reminder, I will both PM and post here the players who have elected to represent us in this Championship. Everyone will therefater have 48 hours max to PM me their selection from among those players.

I already have multiple players, so I can confirm we will indeed be having a secret ballot, but I'll keep accepting new folks up until 9:30AM CST/10:30AM EST tomorrow.

Thingyman wrote:
Stay tuned for the biggest mafia game ever; 200+ people :P

That sounds absolutely crazy, but awesome.

Thingyman wrote:

MovingPictures07 wrote:

Thingyman wrote:
On our site we don't have such a rule - we believe that the players themselves should know what they're getting into if they're playing a game hosted by an inexperienced mod. Plus, in reality, it's never a big deal, because mods usually ask other mods to look their setups over anyway to make sure it's okay.

I agree completely with this.

Here we also have a Mod on Duty function to help the host (what otherwise you and other sites would call the mod) deal with conflicts, usually of a personal nature, in an arbitration fashion. But the host has full authority over constructing and running the game. Hosts can have co-hosts as well, which has been a really good way to give new hosts experience without the trial by fire of hosting alone. I'm not sure how frequent that is on other sites though.

I think it's somewhat rare. But it's super common on our site. I think it's probably been years since we had a Mish-Mash (that's what we call our big "role madness" games with a bunch of different roles) with 40+ players that wasn't hosted by several people.

Good to know. I am super excited for this Championship, but equally so for the prospect of cross-site games. I know we would absolutely love to have any number of "new" players here, especially very active ones; also, I know there would be some folks, myself included, who would love to play some games elsewhere.

Yeah, TP and RM really are branches from the trees of LP and STV, if you think about it that way.

Thingyman wrote:

Metalmarsh89 wrote:

G-Man wrote:Wow, the sheer size of some of those Mafia communities is intimidating.

I recall checking out a few of the big ones years ago when I was on LP, TP, and STV. I got scared away by all the tiers and rating systems some use. Can't remember which one it was but at least one of them required you to play in so many games before you could move into more complex games and another one required you to win so many games as civ and as baddie before you could even host a game. I like hosting more than playing, so...

I like to think that TP, RM, and now The Syndicate are nice little niche locales where people like to create intricate and fun-themed games. A plain Jane game has its place every now an again but it would need a good story building with the simple events to keep things captivating for me.

Mafiascum does that. Their community is so big, the won't allow new players to hop into complex games. They must play "qualifiers" first.

That goes for the hosts too. Hosts cannot host any big, complex games until they've "paid their dues" hosting small, vanilla games with new players.

On our site we don't have such a rule - we believe that the players themselves should know what they're getting into if they're playing a game hosted by an inexperienced mod. Plus, in reality, it's never a big deal, because mods usually ask other mods to look their setups over anyway to make sure it's okay.

I agree completely with this.

Here we also have a Mod on Duty function to help the host (what otherwise you and other sites would call the mod) deal with conflicts, usually of a personal nature, in an arbitration fashion. But the host has full authority over constructing and running the game. Hosts can have co-hosts as well, which has been a really good way to give new hosts experience without the trial by fire of hosting alone. I'm not sure how frequent that is on other sites though.

That said, I have recruited Russtifinko, birdwithteeth11, Boomslang, etc. from RL, and I know others have been recruited by word of mouth as well (Mongoose, Elohcin, Nevinera, Hedgeowl, etc.). Some of them don't come around as much recently though.

That Skype chat sounds AMAZING. Oh man.

And regarding big sites v. little sites, I echo your sentiments, G-Man. I did hop around and check out mafiascum, but I didn't end up venturing into it because the atmosphere seemed too intimidating and I didn't have adequate free time.

DharmaHelper wrote:Lostpedia, The Piano, and SpoilerTV. Most if not all of us are from any combination of those 3 sites.

Don't forget ProgArchives.

But other than that, and obviously RM, I think you're right.

And, assuming Vomps commits to this, anyone that actually votes Vomps in the secret ballot, your secret will not be safe with me.

Just kidding. :P

Made wrote:Omg, we could have a thread watch thread!!!!
This is so exciting. It'll be like the goblet of fire of mafia. I'm sure that whoever we send will kick ass. (also, secret ballet for real when we vote)

Also, smashboards does mafia? The more you know!


Linki zeek:OMG YESSSS

Pretty much this.

Also, I have definitely some folks in mind that I'd be REALLY excited to send over, so I'm stoked to see who it'll be in the end!

Agreed, I'd love to play, but I just can't handle it right now due to my PhD workload. If only this opportunity had presented itself a few years ago... old MP would have been all over this. I can't even follow along right now, but I will definitely be checking in with whoever we send as well as occasionally visit the thread to see how it's going, especially since I'm not playing any mafia right now.

If Vompatti actually did get sent over there, I am absolutely certain Thingyman would never think of inviting us back again. :P

I can't get over the idea of sending Vomps. Oh my god.

On D1 I can just see him saying something like "I haven't read the thread, but I'm voting for ____, because I think they're a baddie. "

And when asked why, he'd cite "personal reasons".

But seriously, I agree, zeek, I think it is insanely awesome that the overlap should be minimal. That just makes it even that much cooler.

Sending Vomps.

I can't get over how cool this is though. I've always wondered how many mafia communities there were out there, whether on their own mafia-based sites or hidden within other sites' OT subforums, but never knew about almost all of these.

Thingyman, that's really interesting! It doesn't surprise me that BGG is up there.

Metalmarsh89 wrote:

Canucklehead wrote:I'm on Board Game Geek all the time browsing/reading ratings/trying to get good enough at board games to beat my damn gloaty BF. Had no idea they played mafia there! Will definitely have to look into it. I bet they're good!

Looking at the championship game from the first season, there were quite a few reps from BoardGameGeek.

I've not been to any of these sites except for MafiaScum, and really don't have any interest in going back there, lol.

Yeah, Mafiascum is intense. :P

Didn't know GameFAQs had mafia, that's interesting.