The Unpopular King (Assassin's Game Thread)

PLEASE DO NOT POST HERE UNLESS YOU PREVIOUSLY SIGNED UP IN THE OTHER THREAD AS A PLAYER.

First, the standard rules:

1. You may only talk about this game in this thread ~~and in an appropriately named spoiler in the Discussion Thread~~. If you are not playing this game, you may not post in this thread.
2. You may not play to lose. This will be dealt with at the mod's discretion (expect an immediate modkill if you play against your faction).
3. Do not lurk. Replacements are not an option. Be active and don't put yourself in the position to be modkilled please.
4. You may not edit your posts.
5. You may not post your role PM, or quote verbatim from it. You may paraphrase.
6. Votes and questions must be posted in

bold, on a newline.

You may also ask questions to the mod in PM. 7. You may not post game content in this thread after you are dead. (You may post death flavor.) If you are lynched, you are dead when the deadline is reached. Else, you are dead when the mod says so. 8. ~~You may not post game content at night. It is night when the aforementioned deadline is reached.~~ This is a night-less game setup, once someone is lynched, the next phase will start. 9. You may not devise codes or otherwise arrange to pass information along as a means of trying to break the game. This also covers a general play in the spirit of the game and fairplay catch-all. 10. The mod's decisions are final.

At this time, due to limitation of the forums, I do not think spoiler tags exist, and as such, a discussion thread would be impossible to have without them. If someone can figure them out, then we could have one, but I've spent enough time looking and trying, and can't see how to do them in any guides. :(

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General INFO:

The Assassin has one kill that they can use at any time during the game, typically after being lynched. Their goal is to identify the King so that they can use this kill against him. If the Assassin successfully kills the King, then they win, otherwise the King and Guards win. The Assassin doesn't need to survive to win.

This setup differs from normal mafia in that the "town" has more information than the "mafia" does. Every Guard that is lynched narrows the number of targets the Assassin must consider, so the challenge for the Guards is to find out who the Assassin is as quickly as possible without giving away the identity of the King.

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Role List:

Assassin You are the Assassin.

Abilities: You have a one-shot assassination attempt, which you can make at any point in the game (even after being lynched).

Win condition: You win if you assassinate the king, regardless of whether you are lynched.

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King You are the King.

Abilities: You have no abilities, but your survival is crucial to the kingdom. It is your job to avoid the assassination attempt. The Guards all know your identity, but you do not know theirs.

Win condition: You win if you survive the assassination attempt.

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Guard You are a Guard.

Abilities: It is your duty to protect the King who is [Player Name] from being assassinated. You and every other guard know the identity of the King.

Win condition: You win if the King survives the assassination attempt.

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Player List: @Maylan
@Flimbo
@0zymandius
@HJFudge
@JNewhall @Eva

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The kingdom had thrived for centuries under the just and skillful guidance of the of Lucas family line. Unfortunately, the last prince had not attended to the lessons of court very well, and when he came to power, amid questionable circumstances, the country started to decay. He was abusive towards the people, more concerned with his own pleasures than the well being of the country, and had started numerous conflicts with neighboring states for his own amusement. He did however, have the sense to treat his private guard well, allowing them to take many liberties by assuming the role, and thus he was kept safe from the public, and those within court, who would rather see him dead.

A small group within the countries military ranks had decided that enough was enough, and so they contracted an outside group of assassin's, seeking assistance in dealing with their troublesome king. Getting word of this through a network of spies, the king summoned his personal guard, but soon realized there were more of them than there should be. Thus, the hunt for the assassin would start!

Day One has started, all roles are out! You may now post!

Please be sure to carefully read the first post for some general info on the game's strat, so that you understand the general concept.

Alright, well I'll be the first to say it. There is only one participant in this court that is named after a King. And that is Ozymandius. KING of Kings. And that's -exactly- what an Assassin would want us to think he is! He's a boy witch! Burn him!

Vote: Ozymandius

0zymandius looks carefully around the table at the other five occupants as an uncomfortable stillness settles over the room. Glances are cast about as the silent suspicion grows. Finally, he clears his throat and begins to speak.

"There seems to be an extra occupant at this table. Would anyone care to explain?"

Lets not vote anyone until we can have a bit more clarity.

Our goal is to protect the King.

I think we need to protect his identity at all costs, first and foremost. So maybe some ground rules. Dont in any way shape or form implicate who they are. Use non-personal pronouns. No clues.

"Ozymandius, the explanation is simple. Obviously this sixth person is an assassin. I propose an inquisition. Starting with Flimbo, who is a little too quick to throw around accusations!"

Vote: Flimbo

While I agree that we need clarity, the only way we get there is by voting. The assassin can sit around all day. Let's lynch some people, and see who votes for whom. It's the only way to out the assassin.

I swear to god I'm gonna go get the marmots if you try to lynch me! You don't lynch me! I lynch you!

Unvote: Ozymandius

Vote: JNewhall

Ozymandius rubs his forehead, but it doesn't seem to help much.

"Please... please... let's avoid bringing marmots in here if at all possible. That said, I believe we're right to take action. The assassin could strike at any time, and the longer we sit here the more information that person could be gleaning."

Ozymandius glances at Flimbo and resumes rubbing his forehead.

"Marmots..... aside...... I do believe we should hear from everyone before we do our initial voting, but once each has spoken, it is incumbent on us to act."

It's too early for me to vote, so I'll refrain for now. But I'm watching you all very very carefully! I do find it suspect that some are very quick and eager to vote.

Who are we waiting on? @Eva yes?

Fair enough. I too will refrain until everyone says something.

I call upon @Flimbo and @JNewhall to explain their votes. To me they seem flippant and random. Surely I am missing some greater insight you have to offer?

@maylan

I'm sure that Flimbo's reasons are marmot-related, but for myself I'll admit I was being flippant. My thinking was that it doesn't matter who we vote for in the first round. The assassin isn't going to accidentally say "I'm an assassin." We need to vote to learn. Unfortunately, the assassin also learns from our votes, so doing anything is a double-edged sword.

Since then I've thought more, and have a proposal. We are six. One is assassin, and knows only the assassin. One is king, and knows only the king. But four are guards, and they each know TWO people: king and him/her self (as guard).

The king and assassin have a 1 in 5 chance to guess. Guards have 1 in 4. We can use this.

The primary obstacle to us now is that the assassin is watching and learning from what we say. If we vote for different people, the assassin learns about us from our voting. Since we cannot reliably pick the assassin the first time out, it is very important that we ALL vote for the same person each round. That way the assassin learns nothing.

I propose this: We all vote to kill the same person. It doesn't matter who, as long as we don't pick the king. The person we pick votes LAST and whomever they vote for, that's who we all vote for next. Repeat until assassin is dead.

In all rounds except the very first, the pick is guaranteed to be by a guard (we know cause they're dead) and that means we can trust it as not being the king AND as having best available odds to get assassin (1 in 4, then 1 in 3, and so on).

Everyone who is not the assassin can pick someone other than the king. If we kill the assassin, s/he gets to guess at the king and then the game ends. (And since by following this system we've given away no clues, the guess is as hard as it can be.) If we kill ANYONE else, they were a guard and there is a 1 in 4 chance that they named the assassin, so we should all vote for the person they named. The next time, odds will be 1 in 3. We will out the assassin quickly and, so long as we all vote the same way, our votes reveal nothing about the king's identity.

Since we all win as long as the king lives, this should be optimal play for everyone except the assassin.

I'm already an accused assassin, so I won't try to pick the first to die. But I will vote with whomever votes next, and ask all others to do the same except - and this is vital - if you are the one we pick, please vote last and we will all kill next whomever you name. Unless you were the assassin, in which case, see ya!

K, even though my King sounds kind of shitty, it is my duty and sworn oath to protect his life.

Thus I vote to lynch @JNewhall . We all know you are shady.

Down with the assassin! Don't let him ruin our reign of prosperity and extra liberties!

(I expect to be compensated with scantily clad women feeding me exotic fruits, should my guess prove correct)

Is this what we are doing? Very well. @JNewhall IS right in that we gotta start with SOMEONE.

*Vote: @JNewhall *

I find their hasty vote and subsequent flip-flop to be very telling.

Vote: JNewhall

That is the end of the day one! @JNewhall was lynched and is dead! He was a guard! Day two starts now!

Be aware, it only takes three to lynch today, due to five plays alive.

:(

I told you that guy was a guard! Probably. I thought it at any rate. Mostly.

Flimbo skips merrily over to a corner where stands a large prize wheel. He jumps, latching on to the wheel and pulling with all of his might. As the wheel begins to spin, Flimbo releases his grip and falls to the ground. Beepbeepbeepbeepbeep goes the wheel as it passes the one dollar space once, twice, then three times, and then begins to slow....beep-beep-beep..beep..beep...and then once again it comes around...beep...beep.beep.....ONE DOLLAR!!!!

Flimbo cheers joyfully, jumping and pointing at Maylan

Vote: Maylan

Okay well.....at least we're down to three suspects now, so we have a one in three chance of killing the assassin tonight. I'm hoping to refine this a little bit into an educated guess - I'm not yet ready to spin a wheel like Mr. Flimbo over there. Let's see what the day reveals!

Eva offers suspicious glances at the remaining party members, her eyes narrowing. She seems rather disdainful of the method @Flimbo has utilized for determining the assassin and scoffs aloud once the wheel has come to a halt.

"I'm outraged at the lack of empathy for our beloved lynched guardsman! We killed the wrong target and only hours later are cavalierly tossing about a new name to kill off!"

Eva seems to gloss over the fact that she initiated the vote to lynch @JNewhall last night. Instead, she produces a crisp parchment seemingly from thin air and begins to read, her voice ringing with sorrow.

"Fondly do we remember the honorable guard @JNewhall and the years of service that he dedicated to our King. Even when pelted with rotten vegetables and booed in excess, @JNewhall performed his job admirably and we all wish him well in the afterlife. May he never again be invaded by the stench of moldy zucchini."

Eva gives a flick of her wrist and the paper disappears, alongside any hint of emotion. Her shoulders straighten before she makes a loud proclamation.

"That being said...we still have a killer on the loose! Burn the heretic!"

Well, what do we know? 3 guards, 1 assassin, 1 king left. Flimbo's just throwin out people left and right.

Anyone have a good way of outting this assassin? Im drawing blanks here

Eva's sentiments seem a tad over the top to me, but that's the only thing I have to go off of at the moment.

Eva...hmmm....That's only two letters different from evIL. Coincidence?! PROBABLY!!! The wheel has spoken!!

Unvote: Maylan

Vote: Eva

I'm noticing that Ozy never voted yesterday, which is probably something I would do were I an assassin trying to play it coooooooooool.

Vote: 0zymandius

Although I'm a little torn between Eva and Ozy, to be honest!

Hmm. Im torn between Eva and Ozy as well. I'll go with you Maylan. Choose!

@eva said in The Unpopular King (Assassin's Game Thread):

:(

Well, we know that this type of reaction is a known "tell", although I've seen townies post this way before. You know what? I'm gonna go with Eva.

Unvote: 0zymandisu Vote: Eva

Very well then! I mean, WE know that since we played the last game...but she didnt since she did not.

Vote: Eva

And Eva is lynched! She was a guard! Another loyalist is down! Two remaining! Day Three starts now!

4 alive, 3 to lynch.

Eva's body twitches several times as she is unfairly lynched by her supposed friends and peers.

*Eva found high noon

(You traitorous fucks. That's the last time I ever give a good eulogy.)

Alright FINE! The bad news is, I've killed another guard. The good news is, we're down to 2 suspects. HJFudge you either think very very highly of my deductive reasoning skills, or you're playing the buddy while I act as your lackey to pick off more guards.

Vote: HJFudge

Well, I know for a fact it is not me and one other person. So if I had to guess, I might as well choose the person choosing me

Vote: Maylan

Yeah well, that's what you get for trying to be my friend. A guard's life is a lonely life. ::cries::

Sure. 'Guard' Uh huh.

I'm going to side with Maylan. Methinks HJFudge doth protest too much.

Vote: HJFudge

Soooo..what you're saying is...I could tie the vote...OR I could be the vote that kills somebody...

I think we all know where I'm going to gSTRINGHIMUP!!!

Vote: HJFudge

STOP POSTING!

@HJFudge has been lynched, he was the assassin, only HJFudge may now post at this time.

Please make your post along with your choice for your kill.

Ah! You found me out! No matter...I think it is time....

STABBY STAB STAB

KILL: Flimbo

Really hard choice here. Ozy...I dunno. I think they may have been picked to throw me off, thinking its not them. Maylan is always suspicious. I was hoping to narrow it down more.

But Flimbo is a good idea of a Mad King. So Flimbo it is.

The bodies were dropping quickly in the chambers, as each one was searched, determined to be a guard, and discarded with little ceremony, until they group grew small and tried to corner HJFudge. As they went to strike him down, he dashed madly at Flimbo, and plunged his stiletto into Flimbo's chest. As he did so, the remaining guards closed in, and slashed deep into HJFudge, ending his life as well. With his last moments, HJFudge overheard the commotion around Flimbo's body, from the sounds of it, he had hit his target, and the honor of his sect would endure, his mission was a success.

As King Flimbo, last of his line lay there in the arms of his guards dying, he summoned the last of his strength to enact his final plan. If these fools couldn't keep him alive, then they would not get to live either. With that, he pulled on a tassel off to the side, and fell over dead from his wounds. As he did so, the chambers flooded with a greenish haze, and soon after, the rest of the guards started choking to death on the noxious mixture. Those who failed the king did not deserve life in his eyes.

And so, with the wicked king dead, the military took over the reins of power, and ushered in a new era. Was it prosperous? Was it corrupt? Those are the questions to be answered, another time, for now, though, the world moves on...

The game is OVER! HJFudge as the assassin has won!

Congratulations and thank you to all the players, I hope this was a fun game for you.

I had fun. These are some good games

::applauds:: another fun one! Pretty sure I made some missteps and gave Flimbo away, but at least I finally figured out that wiley assassin!

That game went by pretty quick, which is generally good for town in this case. JNewhall actually put forth a pretty solid strat that if followed, would have helped IMO. Ya'll speed lynched him so fast though you didn't give him a chance to post who to target next. I think Flimbo played the king role too boldly in my opinion, and when you didn't call him on some of it or kept letting him slide, I took that as a pretty strong indication that he was the king, Maylan.

I'm on the fence about trying to run another game here. I enjoy doing it and hope that folks enjoy playing, but we just need more folks playing. If there is sufficient interest, I'd run another, but without that, I dunno. Any mafia game less than 7 is pretty hard to balance for a newbie game, and alt games like this one, several exist for 5-6 players, but, like this, they go pretty quickly and are easy to determine optimal strats and just follow them mechanically.

Congrats @HJFudge, you sneaky assassin! This was fun, if shorter than I anticipated. Would be down for another go in the future with more players.

I had lots of fun, even after I got bumped off it was fun to see what happened next.

I would like to play this game again. I think people who are used to mafia get thrown by the assassin game. The town has to lie in the assassin game, because we only win if we trick the assassin into picking the wrong person. That's an added wrinkle that I like.

Long live King Flimcarl! AVENGE ME

And for the record, Claudaro, my play may seem bold and stabby, and that's because it is, but five games from now when all of my plays have all been bold and stabby, noooobody will know what's going on.

That is true Flimbo. It is also true that I tend to play boldly as well and gambit frequently. It is also true that I have a tendency to get lynched early out of inability to read me and fear of what I'll pull off late game if I'm allowed to go unchecked and am anti town. It's a double edged sword. The more stuff you pull off to get away with, the more of a target you paint on yourself in future games as someone who can not be allowed to live to the endgame.

Speaking of which, you should be able to play next game if you want! I'm sure I or somebody else having played twice now grasps the idea behind it enough to be the host or whatever.

Yes, please, Flimbo, start a marmot-themed assassin game! (Not joking)

@jnewhall said in The Unpopular King (Assassin's Game Thread):

Yes, please, Flimbo, start a marmot-themed assassin game! (Not joking)

I'm game if you are Claudaro.

If folks here want to take a turn at running the games, that would be great. If you are not using a pre-designed setup, and have any balance questions, I'd be happy to look the setup over and give any feedback on it.

Could do a one night (non-elimination) setup with this player count.

Sorry. One of my teeth rebelled against me and I had to have surgery to remove it. I'll be putting up a sign up sheet shortly.

Ow.

Feel better soon, @Flimbo !

Damn that tooth. At least it will learn the price of insubordination is removal!