Sing, Ares, God of War, of the honor and courage of Phallia!
Resolute warriors, ever defiant in the face of Greece’s might,
Though doomed to be swept ‘neath unstoppable waves of mighty Acheans,
Still they fought true and drew Ares’ fond eye as they braved the coming storm.
Greece’s tremendous ambition, no secret to those of fair Phallia,
Rendered the city’s great army a maelstrom of fear and suspicion.
For, it had come to be thought, within their voluminous ranks there lurked
Spies and assassins, inclined to annihilate Phallia from within.
Jeffius, fleetest of Phallia’s messengers, left to discover the
Nature of Greece’s great onslaught, the identity of her treacherous spies.
Seven and twenty days later did Jeffius return, mortally wounded, and
Spoke of the terrible threat that confronted the warriors of Phallia:
“Brothers, dear Phallians, wretched is our fortune and ill are our chances, for
Athan himself has been secretly planted within our great ranks.
Watching and waiting for many a month, with six of his greatest champions,
Athan, the Scourge of the Achaens has learned of our strengths and our weaknesses.
“Watching and waiting, the monster within is poised to hinder our efforts,
And three days hence will the Grecians descend ‘pon our ill-fated city.
From without and within, both overtly and covertly, will our forces be assailed,
‘Til every last warrior lays on the ground, awash in gore and ignominy.â€
His tale related, the wound-riddled Phallian died in the arms of his captain.
Silence descended upon the town’s army as the weight of the messenger’s
Words reverb’rated through the halls, for no man, nor woman, nor child
Was ignorant to the might of great Athan, he who was blessed by the gods.
Favored by Hades, the Achaen was immune to mortal weaponry,
Impervious to death at the hands of any mere man or beast.
Armies of thousands had fallen ‘neath Athan’s implacable blade,
Head hewn from neck as their bodies slumped lifelessly down to the uncaring earth.
His deeds were well-known, but no man knew his visage, for Athan e’er wore
A great helm of pure black, which obscured every feature, eclipsed his identity.
Phallia’s great army knew well that the monster hid silent among them,
Yet powerless they were to recognize their foe - the serpent that lurked in their midst.
Near drew the day of the foretold assault, and weary grew the men.
Ramparts were fortified, walls reinforced, but the Phallians knew it for naught,
As the true challenge lay in their very own den: the immortal Athan of Greece,
And the cursed destruction that soon would be wrought by his wrath and his fury.
Posts
For those who’ve never played this type of game before, here are the general rules:
Most of you are normal, innocent citizens loyal to your town. Some of you, however, are bad guys of some sort. The innocent citizens don’t know the identities of any of the bad guys. The bad guys, however, generally know each other. Each night, everyone in the game – good and bad – publicly votes on who they’d like to execute for being a bad guy. That person dies at the end of the night. The bad guys, each night, privately choose one or more citizens to murder. If all of the bad guys die, the good guys win. If the number of innocent people shrinks to a certain level (that is, to a point where it’s impossible for the good guys to win), the bad guys win. In addition to the normal citizens and bad guys, there are generally a number of special roles assigned to certain innocents that grant them special powers, such as being able to determine if a person is good or bad, or being able to protect someone from death. Them’s the basics. Now onto the particulars.
The roles are as follows:
7 spies – Spies are the bad guys, here. Their leader is Athan, the chosen of Hades, and he is immune to death by mortal hand. Have fun with that one.
3 Oracles (seers)
Role Mechanics:
Every third night, an oracle may select one person about whom to have a vision. The vision will reveal if a player is a spy or a faithful soldier, but not any special powers. Each night, only one Oracle is active, such that each Oracle may have a vision every third night.
2 Phylakes (guardians)
Role Mechanics:
Every other night, a Phylakas may choose to protect one person from death by any means other than the vote. A Phylakas may protect against any number of attacks on a given night. That is, if every player capable of attacking tries to kill a person protected by a Phylakas, the person will survive. The Phylakes are that bad-ass. Phylakes operate on alternating nights.
A whole bunch of Hoplites (normal villagers)
Role mechanics:
You are the pride of Phallia, the heart and soul of her army. Your goal is to weed out the spies and their leader, Athan, before you all fall prey to his blade. Each night, you will vote for the player you’d like to see ritually beheaded before the enraged and paranoid masses.
In addition to these character roles, there will be an item in play:
The Staff of Asclepius:
This serpent-entwined staff has the power to resurrect any person who is killed by any means. The holder needs merely to designate any deceased person, and that person will be brought back to life the next day, with any powers intact (seers will remain seers, etc). If a person possessing the staff is killed, the killer takes possession of it. If the person holding the staff is voted for execution by the mob, the staff will go to one of the people who voted for the holder’s execution at random. The staff may be used twice before it loses its powers, and it initially is in the possession of a loyal hoplite. It may be freely given to any player – the person currently holding it merely needs to send me a PM. It may also be given anonymously, if the current holder desires.
Other Important Factoids and Miscellaneous Rules:
- There will be no secret rules. Everyone will have full knowledge of all the rules currently in effect governing all roles, with the exception of the precise nature of spy kills. However, the rules won’t necessarily remain constant. If a new game mechanic or role comes into play, it will be made abundantly clear.
- Specials are not revealed as such in the narration when they die. However, the demographics of the kills for any given night will be listed. For example, if 3 people are killed in a night, and 1 of them is an oracle, it will be revealed that 2 hoplites and 1 oracle were killed.
- In the event that a person is the target of multiple kill attempts – say, both the target of the spies and the highest vote-getter – the one credited with the kill will be chosen at random.
- No screen grabs of PMs.
- No anonymous communication between players. Email and IM is okay as long as the recipient knows who you are.
- No person may post or forward any PM that I have sent them to anyone else. The contents of the post can be communicated, but no actual posting or forwarding. For example, if an oracle wishes to post that I said person XXXX is a hoplite, that's fine. If an oracle wishes to copy and paste the text of my PM that says that XXXX is a hoplite, that is not okay.
- You can do whatever you wish with PMs you've received from other players.
- Please don’t violate the spirit of the rules, here. Role PMs have been tailored in such a way that they should be useless as a means of identifying yourselves to others. Still, I may have overlooked something, so kindly don’t try to find a loophole that allows you to use your role PMs as ID.
- The dead may not communicate with the living. No PMs between the deceased and the still alive-and-kicking.
Voting:
Votes for death should be bolded and in red, like this: “I vote to execute ElJeffe.”
Retractions should be bolded and in lime, like this: “I retract my vote for ElJeffe, he is an okay dude.”
The first vote will be at 7:00pm PDT on Monday night, and each night at 7:00pm PDT thereafter. There are no hard and fast rules on required voting, but if you miss too many, you WILL be weeded out. Phallia is no place for the idle.
Table of Contents:
Prologue
Night 0
Night 1
Night 2
Night 3
And Then There Were Forty
Night 4
Night 5
The Serpent Strikes
Night 6
Night 7
This list will be updated to show who has died, and how.
1. Smasher - Spy'd, Night three
2. DevoutlyApathetic - Spy'd, Night three
3. Gnasty - Spy'd, Night six
4. GrimmyTOA - Soul Slurp'd, Night five
5. Elendil
6. Lord Cecil Eaglelaser - Athan'd, Night seven
7. Tofu - Mob kill'd, Night three
8. Frosteey
9. Grid System - Mob vote redirect, Night six
10. AcidSerra - Vessel'd, Night five
11. Jdarksun - Spy'd, Night five
12. ArrBeeBee - Mob'd, Night four
13. Saburbia - Spy'd, Night three
14. Cantide
15. Precisionk
16. PsychoLarry1 - Spy'd, Night three
17. DarkPrimus - Spy'd, Night three
18. Redx - Wrath of Mod'd, Night five
19. Elkamil - Spy'd, Night three
20. Senor Fish - Vessel'd, Night four
21. Thorgot - Spy'd, Night three
22. MechMantis - Autofellatio'd, Night 8
23. Shamus - Mob'd, Night Nine
24. Rygar - Athan'd, Night seven
25. SUPERSUGA - Mob'd, Night five
26. Variable - Spy'd, Night five
27. Dynagrip - Soul slurp'd, Night four
28. Nerissa - Spy'd, Night three
29. Gundam470 -Spy'd, Night three
30. RonnieDobbs - Auto-fellatio'd, Night Eight
31. Last Son - Spy'd, Night three
32. Talonrazor - Mob'd, Night seven
33. Johannen
34. Squashua - Spy'd, Night six
35. TehSpectre - Spy'd, Night three
36. Bunyip - Spy'd, Night three
37. Visiblehowl
38. Jameserson - Wrath of Mod'd, Night five
39. Plutonium - Spy'd, Night three
40. XenoZergie - Athan'd, Night eight
41. Locus - Spy'd, Night three
42. Tuxkamen - Spy'd Night three
43. FunkyWaltDogg - Spy'd, Night three
44. A penguin
45. Hakkekage - Athan'd, Night nine
46. Ardor - Soul slurp'd, Night five
47. MrBlarney
48. Serpent
49. Malkor - Vessel'd, Night nine
50. Yar
51. jackisreal
52. Spawnbroker
53. ManningsEquation - Soul slurp'd, Night six
54. Picardathon - Spy'd, Night three
55. Buzz Buzz - Athan'd, Night nine
56. Bliss 101 - Spy'd, Night four
57. Andrew_Jay - Soul slurp'd, Night nine
58. Dread Pirate Cassandra Mobbed, Night two
59. Lady Eri - Spy'd, Night three
60. FarseerBaradas - Spy'd, Night three
I vote for SUPERSUGA. For the caps.
Sleeper roles wake on the third night, perhaps?
NNID: Hakkekage
For not letting me play in her game after the sign-ups were closed.
Because Aroduc isn't playing, and supersuga just kind of stands out in the player list?
Of course, you know, irony of ironies if he actually is a monster. Bluegh.
NNID: Hakkekage
It's my first Phalla, so be gentle.
NNID: Hakkekage
Wait until I cut off my boob and go Amazon, though. The Snoo-snoo will not be gentle then.
NNID: Hakkekage
That sounds a bit like spy-talk to me. Do you mean you stand with THEM then?
Oh shit.
My flesh.
In response to Thorgot, yes. I realize that. So maek poast more.
You realize you don't need to have half the posts in the topic, right?
Just responding to Fishy's inappropriate apostrophe, and also that I stand outside the bandwagon.
Also, I have to leave in a little while so I wanted to get my thoughts out there before the inactives list goes up.
NNID: Hakkekage
It would be very beneficial for us to link the 3 oracles together. Between the guardians and the resurrection staff, this should be pretty easy. Assuming that the oracles know which night they get their vision, the oracle who gets the third vision should go public today. The other two oracles can seer him tonight and tomorrow night and get in contact, and the third oracle can check one of them out on the third night if he feels it necessary. The guardians should protect the public oracle, and if that somehow fails, we have the staff.
Another word or two about the staff: it should probably be saved for use on the oracles, or on whatever else we get when the mechanics change. And please, if the staff holder thinks he's going to die, please pass it off to someone known not to be a bad guy.
SoogaGames Blog
I agree that it's early to cast a vote.
Standard questions regarding your proposed tactics:
1 - What if the staffholder hoplite dies tonight (from vote or assassin)?
2 - What's to stop a "I'm Spartacus" rush to claim to be the oracle? If several people claim to be the oracle RIGHT NOW, which one do you choose?
3 - How do you know which one of the "ones that died tonight" was the Oracle if you can't really confirm it (for resurrection purposes)? We're going to get a "2 hoplies and one oracle died" but not a "bob the oracle died" message.
There are 7 spies. It would be simple for 3 of them to "throw it in for the greater good" and pretend to be an oracle group.
Last game I was in, there was a pretender all the way (ArrBeeBee, you scoundrel. :-) ), so please understand that I'm a mite cautious.
I'm just saying here that we shouldn't rush things; your proposal is good, but I see some potential flaws in the logic. If we can iron those out, we're probably good to go.
A hoplite would simply be hurting everybody by claiming to be the third day seer, so it would have to either be a defender, seer, or spy claiming. And those are all fine targets for investigation.
It should be fairly obvious if he's the oracle based on the fact that it will say "an oracle died." There is only a very slight chance the spies will manage to hit a different seer, after all.
Edit: Senor Fish has now drawn my aggro by voting for me.
Pie is good
And back to Manning'sEquation is petty.
What a jerk!
Simply shocking.
This is the first day, so there really is nothing that we can do except for bandwagon. But I like you, kid. I think a spy would have more finesse and tact.
Speaking of lack of finesse and tact, I !vote for Rygar
1 - The staffholder dying by assassin tonight has no bearing on my plan; there's nothing we can do about that. If they're the vote target, they may as well pass it off to someone they think is less suspicious rather than risking an assassin who voted for them getting it.
2 - If the villagers are paying attention (*coughRygarcough*) they won't falsely claim to be an oracle. Traditionally such a move is considered too risky by the bad guys, but if we have multiple claimiants then we've almost assuredly got an assassin on our hands, which is not really a bad thing.
3 - That's been addressed already; for us to make a mistake we would have to have a villager stupidly lie about being an oracle and get killed AND another, unknown oracle would have to die as well. This strikes me as unlikely, particularly if the hoplites can restrain themselves from being so terribly stupid.
As for 3 spies pretending to be 3 oracles, we will still have real oracles and so the pretenders would almost certainly be discovered. 3 spies is a lot to risk for a plan like that.
We should start by creating a solid network of Phallians.
I'm for the idea that spies may be keeping low for the first days. As such, I don't want to make a vote until tomorrow, and wait to see who checks in and who stays absent. Even if we take out a hoplite, removing someone who isn't that active won't be too bad for the good guys.
(Once again, if you missed it: spreadsheet for your reference.)
Also, Hades wouldn't take part in this conflict. That God was basically neutral and a non-factor in the Iliad. Now, Apollo, Hera, Athena, and many others...
Quiet, you.
Only an assassin would use huge fonts like that!