Tol-in-Gaurhoth CXV: On the Borders of Mirkwood - Game Thread

[Thinlómien]

Originally Posted by Pitchwife

Your response to my post about Rikae drawing the Ranger protection from Greenie. Nothing you couldn't have said as an ordo, but I got a feeling you might have a special investment in the matter.

I was wondering if I should comment on that at all but I couldn't quite restrain myself, because it made me belatedly suspect Mac (hellooooo why didn't I stick to that) and I wanted to point that out.

Mac, was that post of yours on Day2 where you made a list and similarly worded your innocent feelings of me and Rikae a deliberate protection lure?

I'm sad to say it worked.

But hey, if it hadn't, my other protection option for N4 was Sally for "possibly seerishly defending Nogrod" To clarify, I didn't think Sally was the seer, but I thought the wolves might think she was.

[Thinlómien]

Originally Posted by Legate

As some consolation to the innocents that Wolves can be also oblivious however: the first moment I literally started seriously considering Lommy might be the Ranger was about thirty-five minutes ago when she entered the room with a grin on her face that she clearly could not suppress. That was also the first failure at our home in keeping poker faces, as far as I am aware.

*shrug shrug*

I had an adrenaline hype tbh. And it didn't help that our lovely Mod God sent me a link to The Final Countdown on youtube and I was listening to it on repeat.

[Formendacil]

I think my biggest takeaway from this Game was: if it's another five years between games (seriously, I think my last one was the 10th anniversary in 2015), I need to deep dive into a couple of old games first to refresh myself.

And, uh, I think I'll consider the Excel thing a failed experiment.

[Thinlómien]

Upon request of the furry person sitting a meter away from me, a list of ranger protections aka oops oops and oops

N1 Boro well, I tried. He didn't let me do that.
N2 Brinn. Lottie was on my short list too. I wanted to go for someone who might be giving a "gifted vibe" and had clearly stated their trust in another player (possible see dream). I don't remember who I thought seer-looking Brinn could have dreamed of., and I probably don't want to.
N3 Mac (see previous post)
N4 Nilp
N5 Pitch (also see a previous post)

[Kath]

Honestly. That has to be one of the worst games I've ever played in terms of my own performance. Beautifully played wolves and Cobbler!

[Thinlómien]

Originally Posted by Kath

Honestly. That has to be one of the worst games I've ever played in terms of my own performance. Beautifully played wolves and Cobbler!

You have no idea how much it comforts me that it's you and me both. And that I at lest got your innocence right unlike pretty much everyone else!

But like looks like both the living and the dead villagers were mostly extremely clueless in this game.

It's just terrible that last game, I trusted logic too much and persecuted innocents based on it, and this game, I decided to favour gut feeling but it didn't serve me much better...

[Thinlómien]

Also one more thing I feel bad about is messing up interpreting Greenie's dreams. I didn't go through Greenie's posts myself, and if I had, I think I might have figured them out better. My N1 Lottie, N2 Nilp, N3 Legate interpretation was solely based on quotes picked from other people's analyses. ( = bad. But I had limited amount of time and energy to play this time thanks to work, so I thought I could afford to take the shortcut since there were several different greenielyses floating around...)

[Brinniel]

Originally Posted by Kath

Honestly. That has to be one of the worst games I've ever played in terms of my own performance.

Me as well. At the end I was so convinced that Pitch and Sally were wolves, and I was sure that the voting was coming down between two innocents. At least I was right about the first two.

[Boromir88]

A brief secretarial post...

Gifted:

Seer Greenie
N1- Shasta
N2- Nilp
N3- Rikae
N4- Legate

*Kudos to Huey in the dead thread for figuring out these exact and precise dreams. Then subsequently the head bashing that after her death the focus was on complicated messages to the Dead players and not actually reading Greenie's posts.

I will point out that Brinn and Rikae went through Greenie's posts and I think were the closest to figuring out her dreams. And the "dead communication" plots were mostly being stirred by a wolfy-Mac

Ranger Lommy
N2- Brinn
N3- Mac
N4- Nilp
N5- Pitch

You didn't protect all wolves! Even though I think you protected them more during the day this time than guarding them at night. Ah well, many of the dead will be eating a bit of humility too.

Beast Hunter Nilp
N2- Brinn
N3- Himself
N4- Greenie

I'm very glad that this role's gift played out. Especially seeing that Nilp had fun with it too made it more enjoyable.

It's the game I think I will dub Nilp was soooo close, but yet not quite.

Night 2 he sent the PM wondering if he booby traps Brinn's house or Lottie's. He settled on Brinn unfortunately. And that could have changed things pretty quickly. Because at that time Pitch was the the NW and was the chosen sacrifice if they were caught in the trap.

But when it became evident that Legate would go down sooner or later (I think after Nog's lynch) they switched to sacrifice him. Which was a well timed move, since Greenie dreamed of him only that same night.

Then he had a bold plot to openly accuse Mac of being a werewolf and tried to bait the wolves to come after him that night. (I'd be interested to hear from the pack what they thought about Nilp that day he voted for Mac). Only the wolves did not take the bait, which convinced him that Mac was innocent and well...the rest is history.

I think Nilp lacks mine and Lommy's resilience (to help Rikae in their point system )

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by Pitchwife

Legate (thy Lord Annatar bids you rise from the grave!), good choice to take my place as BH trap bait when you did. It hurt to lose you, but you've been avenged!

And you certainly made me watch you proudly from the grave, and not regret leaving it up to you one bit!

Incidentally - I just remembered your "potential Seer post" (well, as we dubbed it retroactively) where you announced my guilt to the whole village in your very first post... that never came into play. But perhaps that was good!

Originally Posted by Boromir88

Then he had a bold plot to openly accuse Mac of being a werewolf and tried to bait the wolves to come after him that night. (I'd be interested to hear from the pack what they thought about Nilp that day he voted for Mac).

I at least recall suggesting killing Nilp as one of our initial (perhaps two) options, but we pretty quickly decided against it as it would implicate Mac.

That actually reminds me: I think our Night kills, including the Greenie one, were pure chance for most part! Correct me, Wolfmates, if I am wrong, but I think we did not have very clear reading on anything special at least during the time I was alive.
Also on the Night we killed Greenie, we nearly went for Rikae. Imagine if that had happened. But yes, our dear Sestra Wolfcake <3 talked us over into a better idea.

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by Thinlómien

I think I'm heading to bed, but there's still a lot to mull over tomorrow. I want to read the dead thread, it sounds fun (why do I never get there??) and it might make me feel a little better about my cluelessness.

Originally Posted by A Little Green

I highly recommend it. You get called a wolf a lot.

Also recommending it to anyone of you who are missing Kafka on your to-read list, you might be able to cover quite a bit of it from there

[Pitchwife]

Bedtime. I'll leave the Dead Thread for tomorrow. I love you all! And to be sure, thanks to Boro for modding an insanely fun game!

[Galadriel55]

Congratulations, baddies! That was a very close game. It was fun to watch both threads from the side without being personally involved. For the record, I was cheering for whichever side was losing at any given time. ^.^

With pride, I can claim I suspected sally from Day 2, when she started to participate actively. However, I was completely lost about all the gifteds, and even at the very end when it should have been nearly process of elimination I thought the Ranger was Kath.

The game was epic and intense. I am glad I wasn't playing but got to watch. It's a shame the NW didn't get to use his role though. That was an interesting role twist that was debated a lot before the game but never played out. Overall though great game Boro! Turns out gifteds and wolves do occasionally die in your games - but it's still gonna be a votes race!

[Thinlómien]

I think I'm heading to bed, but there's still a lot to mull over tomorrow. I want to read the dead thread, it sounds fun (why do I never get there??) and it might make me feel a little better about my cluelessness.

Also, I really liked Rikae's random comment on categorising players based on perceptiveness, persuasiveness and resilience. Where do you guys think you stand?

Personally I think I'm very resilient (I almost always make it to the endgame, or at least Night/Day 4-5ish, regardless of whether I'm ordo, wolf or gifted).

I can also be fairly persuasive I think (see for instance getting Sally lynched last game)...

...but it isn't really a blessing because my weak point is perceptiveness. Which was proven AGAIN in this game.

[A Little Green]

Originally Posted by Lommy

I want to read the dead thread, it sounds fun (why do I never get there??) and it might make me feel a little better about my cluelessness.

I highly recommend it. You get called a wolf a lot.

[Thinlómien]

Originally Posted by A Little Green

I highly recommend it. You get called a wolf a lot.

I can't say I didn't deserve it yesterDay. But if also before that, then it's rude.

[Thinlómien]

Also since I should have said it earlier, thaks Boro for modding the game. <3 Despite all the suffering, it was fun.

And I quite liked the rules, even though I must say I prefer the other version of the dead thread ie where they get a vote instead of empowering a villager. It's less... chaotic, and it saves everyone the kind of headache we all had yesterDay about the stupid communication scheme.

Now I'm REALLY off to bed.

[Formendacil]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

Congratulations, baddies! That was a very close game. It was fun to watch both threads from the side without being personally involved. For the record, I was cheering for whichever side was losing at any given time. ^.^

So... the village pretty much the whole game?

And to those wondering: the Dead Thread is definitely a keeper, whatever its role. This theme came up several times over there. I think it will be a staple of Downsian WWing henceforth. In some form or other.

[Boromir88]

Originally Posted by Formendacil

So... the village pretty much the whole game?

And to those wondering: the Dead Thread is definitely a keeper, whatever its role. This theme came up several times over there. I think it will be a staple of Downsian WWing henceforth. In some form or other.

I'm going to hold you to sharing that Ghost writer role you were brain-storming.

Inspired by Legate's Kafka quoting.

[Formendacil]

Originally Posted by Boromir88

I'm going to hold you to sharing that Ghost writer role you were brain-storming.

Inspired by Legate's Kafka quoting.

I mean... that does sort of bring up the question: who's modding next?

Because while I most definitely do not need to (there were Lists once! With a capital L), I *am* actually in a mood to play again!

Like it's 2006.

[Loslote]

Phenomenal game play, wolves and cobbler. That's probably one of the best wolf packs I've ever seen. You all completely deserved that win.

Boro, thank you for a really fun game!!! And my Dead Thread Friends, thanks for a delightful time commentating all game long.

[Loslote]

I died pretty early, so I don't have much to say in terms of my actual gameplay, but I will say that I was trying to bait the wolves into thinking I was a Seer who dreamed of an innocent Huey N1, and apparently I was second choice on both Nilp and Lommy's lists, so I came very close to the plan working!! Oh, well.

[Brinniel]

Originally Posted by Formy

And to those wondering: the Dead Thread is definitely a keeper, whatever its role. This theme came up several times over there. I think it will be a staple of Downsian WWing henceforth. In some form or other.

I'm all for this. One of the bigger downsides of dying (other than that is in fact, dying) is that you don't get to participate anyway. And it always has me feel bad for the ones who die early on. A Dead Thread continues to make the game fun for those who are lynched/killed.

Originally Posted by Formy

I mean... that does sort of bring up the question: who's modding next?

Because while I most definitely do not need to (there were Lists once! With a capital L), I *am* actually in a mood to play again!

Like it's 2006.

Haha, 2006 was a good year...though I didn't start playing WW until 2007. Welp, my wedding is offically postponed thanks to covid, and as of now I literally have nothing else to look forward to this year, so I might as well keep playing at least while I'm still working from home (which will probably be at least until September). I will say I could use a few weeks off from WW - maybe another game at the beginning of July?

[Loslote]

I definitely want to play again. Werewolf has been a massive highlight this summer. Formy, your Ghost Game sounds amazing, I would love to play that kind of game.

[Boromir88]

I drew for the wolves first.

The first round, I drew 4 names 3 times. And all 3 times I pulled Legate and Mac's names. So, I figured it must have been meant to be this time...especially also being set near Amon Lanc.

I set them aside as 2 of the wolves and then pulled 4 names 3 more times. This had a little more variety, but there were 3 names I pulled twice... Pitch, Sally, Wilwa. I debated various combinations and thought maybe whoever is left out could be the cobbler.

But I settled on a pack of Legate, Mac, Pitch and Wilwa.

I pulled names for the gifted roles 3 times.

1 time Greenie was the seer and another time the Beast Hunter. 1 time Nilp was the ranger and another time the Beast Hunter. So I settled on Greenie seer, and Nilp BH. I pulled Lommy's name twice for the ranger and figured that was meant to be. Lommy messaged that she rarely ever was the Ranger and always seemed to protect the wolves more than innocents.

I was going to draw for the cobbler a few times, but 1st go was Rikae. I thought, perfect. They can put their wolf-finding skills for nefarious purposes.

Night 1 after roles had gone out, threw a big wrench into the start of the game. The next morning Wilwa messaged me she had to withdraw. Legate messaged me around Noon (with Day 1 starting in 6 hours) that he had not heard yet from either Mac or Pitch. So I rushed to figure out if I just regroup and restart in a few days or what to do.

I thought the best course was even if I couldn't get someone to be the 16th player for Wilwa to stick with 4 werewolves (I probably would have then just said forget about the NW). So, I quickly messaged sally, since she was sort of that '5th name' that if she wouldn't mind switching sides and being a wolf. She quickly got back and accepted. That was set.

I thought this might be really unfavorable to the village but essentially losing an "ordo" before Day 1 wouldn't be the most insurmountable setback. But I thought I better try to find someone to take a villager spot. I messaged Form and Eomer. They both responded Yes, Form just maybe 5 minutes before Eomer. And I thought...oh maybe I can insert Eomer into the game too! Wait...idiot, roles have already been sent out, it would be obvious what Eomer's role would be! But it's ok for Form to come in because the only people who knew Wilwa was meant to be a wolf were the other members. And the only person who knew sally was supposed to be an ordo was sally.

I'm very glad to pull Form out of retirement and that he and Nienna enjoyed it! From the very first post of "I'm just house-sitting for Wilwa, I wasn't even supposed to be here" post I was super happy. Thank you again!

Thank you BG for also stepping back into the game and glad you enjoyed it too!

I'm very happy that the BH role was used. When I was reading other Mafia-inspired games I thought it would be cool, but also over-powering in a smaller village.

I regret all that planning of the NW didn't go into effect. In the first email to the pack the randomizer spit out Pitch's name, but I gave them the option to discuss during Night 1 and change it to another one of them if they wanted. Pitch graciously accepted to keep it.

I think it would have been better to go with the other option of maybe once 2 wolves were dead, or when 1 wolf died and there were X number in the dead thread, instead of having 1 pre-chosen wolf to be the NW. Because while that set up an interesting dynamic for the pack to decide who to sacrifice and not. I think it also left quite a lot of confusion for the innocents to untangle as well. As the NW sort of became a psuedo-cobbler wolf, that people assumed would be the first wolf sacrificed/to die. That was probably more of a disadvantage to the village during the Day that this wolf pack used to their advantage.

Still, I guess that's the way of gaming and fortune. All the best laid plans of players and mods...Because had Nilp chosen Lottie night 2, or had the wolves taken the bait and tried to kill him Night 3, Pitch would have been the one sacrificed. If I'm remembering that correctly. They wisely chose Legate Night 4, figuring he was the one most likely to go down in a lynch soon. Also, fortunate that he was the wolf Greenie dreamed of already.

I can't say I was too disappointed though, because my end goal is just a balanced game that hopefully everyone enjoyed playing. And there will be another time to tinker with a NW possibly.

So much stuff I wrote down to comment on, but having to keep it to myself

I think I will leave it at this and call it a night...

Haha, 2006 was a good year...though I didn't start playing WW until 2007. Welp, my wedding is offically postponed thanks to covid, and as of now I literally have nothing else to look forward to this year, so I might as well keep playing at least while I'm still working from home (which will probably be at least until September). I will say I could use a few weeks off from WW - maybe another game at the beginning of July?

I'd be good with a break...because I definitely need to get back to some RL matters, but same boat. I'll still be pretty much free in July and August to play. Also, congratulations on your marriage!

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Formendacil

So... the village pretty much the whole game?

In the middle Days I kinda ended up flip flopping, cheering for the DT but also cheering for living wolves. And hoping against hope that the villagers will be able to rally on the last Day.

And to those wondering: the Dead Thread is definitely a keeper, whatever its role. This theme came up several times over there. I think it will be a staple of Downsian WWing henceforth. In some form or other.

Absolutely. There needs to be a place to chat when you die, in some form or another. ++Dead Threads.

[satansaloser2005]

Dying laughing at Nilp's post. ❤️