MAFIA 71: "PAPERS PLEASE" - GAME THREAD [Hidden]

[TheFlyingBoat]

To be clear because timezones can be confusing 2:30am IST Jan 4 = 1:00pm PST Jan 3. Unless I am bad with dates. Then just focus on the IST part and do the math yourself. But I am pretty sure I am right

[Jamiet99uk]

=== MINISTRY of SURPRISE ENDINGS ===

Game has ENDED. Please HOLD.
Await further announcement.

[Jamiet99uk]

The checkpoint had gotten quiet. As border guards Dzhmiet and Chakha were about to end their shift and head home to see their families, having secured just enough money to afford heat in the cold winter of Arstotzka, a clicking could be heard coming from somewhere in the line.

Mere seconds later, a large explosion engulfed the checkpoint.

A few weeks later, a very different scene. Happy children from both sides of the border can be seen playing in the rubble of the former checkpoint. Next to it, a memorial commemorating the lives lost in the bombing that killed members of all three groups.

Public outcry and international pressure (along with a sizable donation from a mysterious group of Kouncilors) led to a peace settlement. All three groups finally could rest.

MAFIA 71 HAS ENDED IN A WIN FOR ALL THREE SURVIVING FACTIONS

[Jamiet99uk]

GM NOTE
It was determined by members of the Council, in liaison with myself and Chaqa (in his capacity as co-GM) that a technicality of the wording of the Role PMs meant that if all three factions were eliminated, all players would share in a win. As the game had reached the point where all alignments had been revealed and most of the remaining "gameplay" simply focussed on manipulating the win/draw conditions, it was felt that the game should be brought to a close.

I am sorry if that's an anti-climax but thanks to all for playing and happy new year.

(You can post).

[BesharamSabi]

Well that was anticlimactic but I'm going to take this as a solo win since votes wise I didn't die

[President Eden]

On December 28, it was ruled that a game state where only 1 Ezic and 1 Kolechian player still lived would result in a draw for the two mafia factions, and a loss for town:

@GM if it is left with 2 scum is it a 2 way draw, a 3 way draw (ie an auto 3wd at 1-1-1), or nobody wins?

If 2 scum are left and nobody else, then town loses and scum share in a draw.

1-1-1 however is *not* an automatic draw.

On December 31, however, we discovered that the plain language of the role PMs would actually result in this scenario being a shared win by all three factions. All three role PMs only require the elimination of the other factions, not the survival of their own, and so if everybody dies, everybody wins.

Because it was not possible to announce this fact without drastically changing the way players approached the game - and because letting them continue with the December 28 ruling was leading to a lot of negotiations that shouldn’t be a part of mafia, and only were so because of unanticipated exigencies - it was determined that calling the game was the best course of action.



This was obviously a failure of setup review, and the Council takes full responsibility for this unintuitive and unsatisfying endgame. Our setup reviews are oriented toward ensuring balance between the factions to ensure enjoyable gameplay, and while we obviously do look at win conditions and other more rules-oriented aspects of setups, it’s rare that a setup that crosses our desks has the potential for non-standard endgames like this. Additionally, while running the game partially via Discord was generally a success, this took up extra front-end setup time that ordinarily would have been devoted to a more careful review of rules interactions. These don’t justify or excuse our failure to catch ambiguities like this endgame situation and provide explicit guidance beforehand on how they should be resolved, but hopefully they at least help to explain how it is that we missed this issue.

We flat out missed it, and that is our fault, not that of the GM who submitted the proposal and trusts our process or of the players who do their best to win the game with what is made available to them. We understand you may be frustrated with this outcome, and all we ask is that you direct that frustration at the proper targets, which is us and not the GM or players.

The Council is already reviewing our internal processes and the default game rules in the interest of clarity and transparency, and this result has made it abundantly clear where we need to improve in our setup review process to prevent similar failings in the future.

On behalf of the Council, we hope everyone enjoys the rest of the holidays, and we look forward to a more successful 2022 for everyone.

[worcej]

Taking this from GT to here, my votes for MVP and LVP’s are the following:

Scum MVP to Sabi for the townslip that prevented any real wagon or attention until it was far too late.

Town MVP to Squigs for naturally piecing it together faster than anyone else did.

Scum LVP to Fluminator, only because he feels that way himself.

Town LVP goes to Macca - the fake scum claim when town was in a solid position and had attention on the actual scum was awful. Could they have been day killed still? Maybe, but there is no world where a claimed scum doesn’t automatically die and thinking that would garner a reaction was foolish.

[Durga]

Thanks for hosting Jamie and Chaqa, it was fun

[TheFlyingBoat]

Thanks for hosting Jamie and Chaqa, it was fun!

[kgray]

Thanks for hosting Jamie and Chaqa, it was fun!

Adding an exclamation point doesn’t change the fact that you were sniped from 25 minutes ago…

But yes, thanks GMs! And gg to everyone I guess lol

[Durga]

Omg did he actually blatantly copy me like that smh

[TheFlyingBoat]

Omg did he actually blatantly copy me like that smh

As explained, completely unintentional and I need sleep

[DeathLlama8]

Thanks for hosting Jamie and Chaqa - it was fun!

[damo666]

Thanks GMs, a fair outcome in the end.

Kouncil members don't beat yourselves up, it was difficult to foresee.

[Chaqa]

For the bot:

GAME HAS ENDED

[Jamiet99uk]

For the bot:

GAME HAS ENDED

I did that already...?

[Chaqa]

For the bot:

GAME HAS ENDED

I did that already...?

Dargo messaged me saying to end the game for the bot, but he hadn't refreshed the bot

[damo666]

Has this game ended?

[bozotheclown]

I do not think the wording of the role PM win conditions was a problem. As worded, they provided the best solution to a 1-1-1 final day, where the town is motivated to let themselves get DKed by the mafia so the mafia can NK each other, rather than the town being in a position where they are going to be eliminated yet gets to decide which mafia team wins.

[brainbomb]

congrats on the tie. all sides.

I will be retreating back to my hole in the internet to run Sci Fi Simulator 10, an epic journey into 2071, a world where anti vaxxers are the new united states government and the planet is mostly chlorine gas contaminated