Tol-in-Gaurhoth LVII - Chess Game for Middle Earth: Game Thread

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Originally Posted by Rikae

I can't believe Fea was in on Kath's and my dream picks! Sally, did you know about that (*points to remark about hunting Kath's dream*)? Fea, you must have had me pegged as the black bishop early on, with all my hints to Izzy and Lari, right? What an interesting setup!

Well... Here's how it worked:

I didn't receive the roles, just the names. But that still left me able to make a logic list of who wasn't certain roles. After asking Shasta to make sure nobody knew I was getting the dreams, I was able to narrow it down even more, knowing that the wolves wouldn't dream of themselves. (I asked this because if I was a Seer and knew somebody was getting my dreams, the FIRST thing I'd do was dream of myself. "Ah. Well then. She's not that!")

Anyway, I was able to say definitely, "These people aren't wolves." I'll never doubt myself again, though, about White Seers- I had Kath pegged at post 33 (I think it was 33) and then doubted myself. "Nah, she was just joking."

There was also the problem of attacking the Seers: I didn't want to, because I'd lose all this good information I was getting, and I didn't want to just casually pick off whoever was being dreamed of, because how long could my secret last if the WS spotted all their dreams dying the next Night?

So... What I'm trying to say is basically that my tragic downfall was that on that last eventful Day of my life, I knew that Izzy was the Ranger (but for the wrong reason, interestingly enough), and I knew that Sally was the Hunter (though I had no idea how, and kept reverting to thinking she was the Cobbler, due to knowing both sides had dreamed of her, but neither had done anything about it), and I was pretty sure that the phantom was the Cobbler (though there wasn't a chance I was going to attack him to find out because then I'd lose some of my power, even though I'd gain an ally (BQ attacking the cobbler meant deputizing the cobbler into a Gifted on my side, however I'd no longer have automatic protection against the first time the Wolves tried to kill me at Night))...

The problem was that nobody had dreamed of Brinn or Rikae, so I had no real way to determine which of them was lying. Especially because Rikae didn't contradict anything that I knew was true (apart from voting for Sally, who I knew wasn't a wolf).

So... That last Day? I saw where Sally said she was hunting Kath's last dream, and I knew that Kath's last dream was Rikae, and I couldn't figure out how Sally could possibly know that, since Kath died before she could find out Rikae's role anyway. Which sealed my thought that Sally was - convincingly - lying through her teeth.

But yeah... My plans for everything hinged on Rikae being the WQ, and the wolves killing her at Night. It was interesting that I had all of this Nightly intelligence, and my loss of the game still came down to the two people I couldn't be sure of.

Originally Posted by Sally

And nope, hehe, I didn't know about all Fea's mad skills until well after I was dead. I pretty much did one of these....

Do you know how hard it is for me to play stupid? I had to go through the entire game pretending like I didn't have an ever expanding detailed list of secret information. It was worse than actually being a Seer, because, if I slipped and it was noticed? If I claimed White Seer, the first thing that would happen is I'd be dreamed of, probably by both sides. At least if a real Seer comes out, there are Rangers around for them.

I would also just like to register my incredulity that I was never dreamed of by either side.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

The phantom will like this:

There was actually a [short] time when I was going to attack the cobbler.

Because my attack would give me the ability to turn xem into a Seer, Ranger, or Hunter that was on my team... I asked Shasta if I could Queen the Black Pawn.

He said, "I suppose, but I don't see why you would."

So I explained: Turn the BP into a BQ at Night, sacrifice them during the Day, have everybody think that the BQ was dead. Skip a Night kill so that they wouldn't suspect, and then massacre them all unexpectedly later.

And I totally would have attempted it without batting an eyelash if he hadn't told me that he planned on posting the BP death information as something that was along the lines of "Black Queen's Rook." "Dead: Black Queen's Queen" really wouldn't have been that useful...

[Shastanis Althreduin]

My all time favorite quote from the game has to be something Brinn had in her Night PM about raising Phantom's voting power:

"...for the first time in his life, the phantom is actually more important than he thinks he is!"

[Mithalwen]

Originally Posted by Brinniel

Anyway, Mith must have an awfully powerful singing voice considering it managed to knock four pieces off the board...

Emphasis on the awfully ... but wow ... I should not play more often... And Shasta don't be tough on yourself ... it is so hard to balance a game ... modding is much harder than realised so just embrace the divine rights... and this was always going to be demanding because of the sophisticated set up.

Anyway I had a blast...

[Rikae]

Originally Posted by Feanor of the Peredhil

I would also just like to register my incredulity that I was never dreamed of by either side.

Well, I promised. Even as a baddie, I have some honor. When it suits me.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Originally Posted by Rikae

Well, I promised. Even as a baddie, I have some honor. When it suits me.

And I held to my promise that I'd never dream of you. Never said I wouldn't appreciate the effort of somebody else doing the work for me, though.

[Lariren Shadow]

Good game everyone and congratulations Mith!

So I was at least innocent enough for Brinn to triple my voting power...nice. Or it was nothing of the sort and I'm just inflating my own ego with that one. And that now makes sense for the death of Nog.

Fea, did you know I was evil? And I do realize I could just walk over and ask you right now.

Originally Posted by the phantom

If you want smugness from me, let me show you this post I made at the end of Day 2. I correctly name Nog, Kath, and Brin as the three gifteds and I name Izzy, Lari, and Rikae as WereCreatures.

I almost died when I saw that. Literally almost died. And then stopped freaking out so much. Did you guess or what?

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Originally Posted by Lariren Shadow

Fea, did you know I was evil?

I did once you didn't die properly.



I thought about not killing you after that, since I didn't really have a grudge against you any more, but I thought it would have been a criminal waste of intelligence to let you slip away when I knew you were vulnerable.

Every time I wasn't sure about something, I shrugged and reminded myself that you all had to die eventually anyway.

[Mithalwen]

Originally Posted by Lariren Shadow

Good game everyone and congratulations Mith!

Aww it was nothing... really

[the phantom]

Originally Posted by Lari

I almost died when I saw that. Literally almost died. And then stopped freaking out so much. Did you guess or what?

I had everyone's posts listed next to their names in a notebook, and every time a certain post made me think something (she knows something, she's nervous, she's paranoid, etc.) I would write a note next to the post. I would also mark any time someone said anything about anyone that, upon death, could be seen as a Seer declaration.

Anyway, the three Wolves I listed (Lari, Izzy, Wilwa) I had flagged for seeming to withold info and looking sneaky and Wolfish. I listed Rikae as the WereBear simply because I thought she was gifted, but was leaning evil for her.

Two of my gifteds (Brin and Nog) were there because they had by far the most number of posts where I had written "Gifted?" next to it. Kath hadn't made as many posts, so she didn't have an overwhelming number of checks next to her name, but as she was my prime Seer suspect I listed her as such.

I threw Fea in as an extra Bishop because I figured she was something but at that point I had no idea what (due to the vague clue that I thought she had left "VIP show").

But yeah. When I made that post those were my best guesses at the roles.

Not bad I'd say.

(as a treat for Sal and Duck, I plan on bringing my notebook to show them how insane I am when playing Werewolf- they'll get a kick out of some of the little side-notes that I wrote)

[the phantom]

Oh, and just so you know, I enjoy Mith winning so much that I plan on declaring her the victor in every game I mod in the future.

[Mithalwen]

But of course, Phantom, if I win, you win....

[Gwathagor]

I'd like to take this opportunity to point out that Nogrod and I were right about Fea on Day 1...when you guys lynched me...

[Mnemosyne]

Originally Posted by Gwathagor

I'd like to take this opportunity to point out that Nogrod and I were right about Fea on Day 1...when you guys lynched me...

Yeah, totally didn't notice that when you PUT IT IN YOUR LOCATION...



I hope you manage to survive past Day One, Gwath... someday...

[Gwathagor]

Actually, I more often run into trouble around Day 2 or 3, when I can't survive by simply being inconspicuous. Then something I've said gets blown out of proportion and I get strung up. I usually handle Day One by just trying to avoid drawing attention to myself - but this time I tried to take a stand for something, and look what happened.

[Nogrod]

I've had just terrible RL the last week and have had no chance to even see how this is going! What a nice mess it all turned around!

And by God was I right this time! Too right for my health that is...

I had Fea and Izzy (I was quite comfortable of their bad intentions) and tp (he just looked foul) on my top list, and Rikae trailing back there in two Days (and just looking back I wrote in the first half of D1 that if I needed to make a shot in the dark Lari would be my top choice...). So it was clear I had to go.

But I mean, sometimes two or three games pass and one gets a frustrating feeling that you can't just tell who's a baddie and who's not and it's just pure guessing, but this kind of game kind of heals that gnawing suspicion and gives one more confidence on the possibility of actually finding the baddies out by reason!


Good work baddies! Although we whites were clearly the underdogs this time. So well fought whites as well!

And a nice concept Shasta! I would have loved to play this more than two Days - but on the other hand I have really been busy RL so it was probably good I died so early.

And congrats to Mith for winning!

[Mithalwen]

Originally Posted by Nogrod

And congrats to Mith for winning!

A status only attained by standing on the shoulders of giants....

[Mithalwen]

It is slightly unnerving though - I feel my reality has become completely irrelevant to my identity here and Mithalwen has become an unhoused fea that I no longer have complete control of... perhaps 'twas ever thus....

[Kath]

You have become a figure of legend Mith! It's a wonderful thing.

[Brinniel]

Originally Posted by Shasta

My all time favorite quote from the game has to be something Brinn had in her Night PM about raising Phantom's voting power:

"...for the first time in his life, the phantom is actually more important than he thinks he is!"

Hehe, indeed. I believe the exact quote was:

Originally Posted by Brinn

Indeed...that's the joy of it. For the first time in history, the phantom is more important than he thinks he is.

And it's true. At that early stage of the game, I had no idea about anyone's roles so I was ready to pick just about anyone. I found the idea of picking phantom to be rather amusing. That, and I figured he wouldn't get Night killed and probably wouldn't vote me...

I'm sure Shasta was also amused by all my long explanations for each choice. I always find it difficult as a gifted to not have anyone to discuss my decisions with. So instead I just blabber all my thoughts to the mod.

I actually did save some PMs:

Night 3

Omg, this was so tough. Sorry I'm cutting it a bit a close; I hadn't made a decision until now and I'm still not entirely confident. I admit it'd be so much easier if I could wait until the Day since it'd really suck if one of my choices is killed (especially since the hunter can't use her power yet)...but of course I don't expect you to let me wait that long..

Okay, I decided I want to give voting power to Mnemo. I still can't decide whether she's evil or not, though I'm slightly leaning towards innocent. And anyway, at least I agree with her on some things.

As for the rook, this is much more difficult...particularly because I'm worried whoever I choose will be Night-killed. I'm debating between Sally and Lari. But which one? Gah, I don't know...I keep switching back and forth! *thinks* Hmmm....Sally it is. Though if that doesn't work out, you can always make Lari the rook instead. ; )

-Brinn

Look, I was so convinced about Lari, I almost scried her. Luckily I didn't. I think this was the only Night I didn't pick a baddie...

Night 4

You have no idea how difficult this decision is, especially since I feel like whatever I choose could heavily affect the outcome of the game. To top if off, I'm really bad at figuring out roles, which is why I do better as a werewolf or seer. But anyway, I must make my decision now since I'm sure you'd like at least some time to write the narration. There's a 60% chance I'm wrong on either of these choices, but the best I can do is cross my fingers and hope I'm right (though I'm probably not).

ToDay I'll give voting power to Lari. There's a possibility she's evil but I feel it's more likely she an ordo (and I've also realised she's never even played an ordo before so I rather hope she is). She's made no move towards wanting me dead so far, and I certainly hope she doesn't decide to toMorrow, though you never know...

As for the White Knight, I'll choose to scry Fea. This is a big risk because while I'm sure she's not the seer, I can't exactly say whether she's evil or not. For some reason my logic says that she and tp both aren't evil, though there's really no reason for that. I always worry she's evil, and often I'm wrong. Of course the one time I give her the benefit of the doubt, I'll probably be wrong again. Hmm...well even if she doesn't get successfully scried, at least I can safely assume she is a Black piece of some sort. The worst case scenario is if she's killed toNight, which I doubt, but anything's possible.

So yeah, that's about it. At least I can say I'm not a complete failure as a gifted since I did successfully scry Sally...

-Brinn

Ehm, I'm not sure where I got the idea that both tp and Fea couldn't be evil because soon after I discovered Fea was evil, I seriously started to suspect tp was the cobbler. Hmm...I think what I meant was I didn't think those two were wolves together, but I'm not sure...

Night 5

*has a mental breakdown*

Yeah, I keep changing my mind about those final three. One minute I decide one must be evil therfore the other innocent, next minute I change my mind...

So, I think I'll go with my gut instinct and scry Izzy. Though if she turns out to be the Black Queen, I'll be so peeved! It's totally possible, though I feel most trails lead to her innocence.

*has butterflies*

-Brinn

Yeah, I was just a little stressed out that Night.. I believe another reason I chose Izzy was because I thought her role would be more enlightening...and I wanted to know whether Rikae was bluffing about calling her a baddie or not.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Originally Posted by Brinniel

I believe another reason I chose Izzy was because I thought her role would be more enlightening...and I wanted to know whether Rikae was bluffing about calling her a baddie or not.

My list of people, that one day? Where I went down the player list and crossed off who I didn't think were wolves until all I had left was Izzy? That was so legit.

The most interesting thing about being a werebear, I think, is that you're gunning for the wolves to die at least as much as the villagers are.

By that point I didn't have a solid idea of who the wolves were, but I sure knew who wasn't one. So I honestly did just sit there and do process of elimination voting. It works surprisingly well in all aspects of my life, I've noticed.