World Espionage II: You Only Have To Do The Impossible Twice

[Freshmeat]

WORLD ESPIONAGE II: You Only Have To Do The Impossible Twice

Sponsored by David Xanatos (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ThirtyXanatosPileup)!

http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/5391/triadlogo2.png


As the spyhunt in Europe continues and more and more fingers are being pointed at Eastern Europe and the SMERSH in particular, an entirely different power struggle is unfolding in the Orient. While the Yakuza hold firm control over vice in the cities of Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong, their power is fragmented and new enemies emerge to wrestle control from the rest and come out on top. Meanwhile, secret agents plot and scheme to overthrow or assassinate those individuals they consider a threat. Things only get more complicated when black market smugglers, vengeful assassins and merciless guns-for-hire enter the fray.

Welcome to World Espionage II, a mix of werewolf, paranoia, ultimate kaos, RAF and circle of assassins where betrayal and deception are par for the course.

In this game, the players assume the role of a secret agent pursuing shady goals, carrying out age-old vendettas or simply evading capture.
All players who sign up must PM me with the secret alias they want to use for this game, as well as the location where they would like to begin the game. When the game starts, I will send all players their roles and mission objectives.

As you no doubt have figured out by now, this installment takes place in Japan, China and all that jazz. Expect katanas and copious amounts of blood.

The locations are: Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shanghai.


Please read the rules thoroughly, even if you've played in the previous game.

Gameplay
Night phases last around 48 hours. Day phases last 24-36 hours. Send in actions in advance if you don't think you can make the deadline.

Players who don't me send me an action for two consecutive nights will be autolynched.


Night Actions:
Every night, all players send me a PM stating which two actions they would like to take that night (performing the same action twice is allowed unless stated otherwise) and which must be chosen from the following list:
Personal Scry: scry a player to learn that person’s ROLE and LOCATION (e.g. “Freshmeat (Sam Therfe) scries Mordokai and learns that he’s a Rogue Agent who currently resides in Shanghai)
Local Scry: scry to find out which aliases are being used in the same CITY as you (e.g. “I learn that the following players are in Tokyo: Bob McBob, Patrick Swayze, Jimmy Joe, Kurt Von Klinkhofen and Sam Therfe (myself).
Assassinate: send me the name and alias of the person you want to target. If both of them match and you’re in the same city as your target, you kill your target.
You cannot target the same player twice during one night, although aliases are fair game. The only exception to this rule is when you decide to target the same player/alias combination twice (in order to bypass 'toughness' [see "Roles: Templates"].

You are allowed to target your own alias or name (to throw off the scent), but not both. For example, Freshmeat (Sam Therfe) can send the narrator a PM stating "Mordokai is Sam Therfe" or "Freshmeat is Bob McBob" but not "Freshmeat is Sam Therfe".
Ambush: send me two aliases. If either (or both) of these people would successfully assassinate you this night, they will die instead. You will survive and the name/alias combination of the otherwise-successful assassination won't be reported in the narration (just your alias).
This action has a one-night cooldown (= usable every second night).
Disguise: send me a PM stating what role you'd like to appear as when scried that night. This ability has a two-day cooldown (= usable every third night). The class you disguise yourself as must be viable (including any templates you may wish to add to complete the disguise). If you decide to disguise yourself as a member of a certain organization or agency, you're free to choose which one (including those that aren't in the game). The same rules apply to specific 'names' or 'titles' (see the examples below).
It's possible to 'disguise' other players in order to aid teammates or frame enemies.

Examples:

"I'd like to disguise myself as a Treadstone assassin tonight" will work.
"I'd like to disguise myself as CIA agent Felix Leiter tonight" will work.
"I'd like to disguise myself as a Mercenary Rogue Commando tonight" will work (you'll scry as a 'mercenary' then, as if you had the mercenary template)
"I'd like to disguise Fleeing Coward as a GRU agent tonight" will work.
"I'd like to disguise TheGiant as Vaarsuvius, a Commando belonging to the Order of the Stick" will work (as you are free to choose whichever name and agency you want, even implausible ones)
"I'd like to disguise myself as a Tough FBI infiltrator tonight" won't work as infiltrators can't have the 'tough' template.


Day Actions:
During the day, agents may choose to travel to another city if they so desire. This is done by sending me a PM and telling me your new destination.

You can only travel once every two days.
Whenever you kill someone, this cooldown is reset.
Roles:
In this game, roles are based on three criteria. Combined, these provide a ton of possibilities. The criteria are affiliation, class and templates.

Be forewarned: these are possible roles. Not all of these are guaranteed to be in the game.

Disclaimer: You are not allowed to share your role PM with anyone.


***
Affiliation:
What side you're on, and whether you can count on backup or not.


Agencies: Most players will be working for some sort of agency or organization. This can be the CIA, the FBI, Treadstone, SMERSH, Quantum and so on and so forth. If you're part of an agency, chances are good there are people out there willing to help you, some of which you may already know at the start of the game. If you don't, then go find them!

Rogue agents: These are the people who have no unconditional allies. Nothing prevents them from making deals with whoever they want, however.
Unrestrained by official policies, rogues have an easier time using hit & run tactics and leave fewer trails. They can travel every day, rather than every two days.

Class:
Your class determines what kind of abilities you have and if you get any bonuses or penalties to them.

(Secret) Agents are the basic spy class. They have no special abilities.

Infiltrators are similar to secret agents, but get a free action every night which can only be used to disguise someone. In addition, their normal disguise actions have no cooldown. They may never disguise more than two people during one night.
Whenever infiltrators are disguised as a member of an agency, and someone belonging to that agency scries them, they learn something about that faction's win condition (such as one individual or group said faction needs dead). If the scrier can see through the disguise (by being a detective, for example), the scried infiltrator learns nothing.

Assassins are professional killers who gain bonuses to tracking down and assassinating enemy operatives. During the day, they can send me a 'stalk' action along with an alias. If the assassin is in the same city as the named alias, and this player moves to another city, the assassin will automatically travel to the same location, wherever that may be. This day action shares a cooldown with normal traveling, but only if the stalk attempt is successful (as it can fail if the target is in another city or doesn't move). Stalk actions can be 'if / then' statements, such as 'I'll stalk Sam Therfe tonight. If it turns out that he doesn't travel today, I'll go to Hong Kong instead.'

Every third night, assassins can turn one of their kill (assassinate) actions into an amplified kill instead.
Amplified kills cannot be prevented in any way and negate all protection. This includes voids, banes, ambushes and increased endurance granted by the 'tough' template. The alias of any assassin who executes an amplified kill isn't reported in the narration. Only the victim's body turns up.

Whenever an assassin kills someone with an amplified kill, its cooldown is reset.

Commandos are government-trained special forces who excel at mobility and combat versatility. Even though most commandos belong to agencies, they often work alone in the field. For the purposes of determining how often they can move from city to city, they always count as rogues.

Commandos can't use disguise actions and they can only use a personal scry once every night. Fortunately, what they lack in subtlety and spying skills, they make up for in combat utility. Commandos have the following three abilities:

whenever their ambush action isn't on cooldown, they can willingly put it on its regular 1-night cooldown. If they do so, they get a free action that night which can only be used to perform an assassination.
whenever their ambush action is on cooldown, they can sacrifice one of their two regular night actions to reset the cooldown. Using this ability increases the cooldown on their bane action by one night.
every four nights, a commando can bane someone in the same city as themselves, protecting them from all assassinations. This is a free action.

Thugs are muscle (whether guards, hatchet men or gang members), but still have their use. As they aren't too much into this spy business, they can only use a personal scry once every two nights. Whenever they kill someone using either an assassination, ambush or gang attack, this cooldown is reset.
Thugs know all of their fellow coworkers and gang members well enough that they recognize friendly thugs on sight when they scry them (even if they're disguised) and are never fooled by any other class disguised as a thug from their side. Furthermore, if a thug attacks a thug who's on the same team, the attack doesn't go through and they learn of eachother's identities.* Lastly, they gain the following two abilities:


Raid: every second night, you can target someone's house by sending me an alias. If that player is in the same city as you, you cause enough mayhem that that player cannot move to another city on the following day.
Form Gang / Squad: if two (or more) friendly thugs are in the same city and both confirm that they want to attack the same name/alias combination together, the kill cannot be negated (not even by ambushes**) and is otherwise similar to an assassin's 'amplified kill', with the exception that a gang attack can be stopped if any of the participants is voided.
The attack will be reported as a 'gang attack' in the narration and the names of anyone who participated won't be revealed. Thugs can only form gangs with thugs they've scried or attacked once already.

* if this is the case, the narration will report the attack as 'failed'.
** unless the ambush hits both thugs. If three or more thugs gang up on someone this way, they become impossible to ambush.

Detectives can be cops or PI's. They are good at tracking people down and figuring them out, and thus scry with perfect accuracy, even seeing past disguises and mercenary templates. Each detective also gets a reusable tracking device, which they can plant on someone during the day phase, even if they aren't in the same city as their target. From that point onwards, they always know where that person is. If a tracked player dies, the tracking device automatically returns to the detective. After the third time, the tracking device is lost.

Detectives are generally bound by laws or personal codes. Whenever they 'kill innocent bystanders' (by mis-matching an alias and name) they get temporarily suspended and cannot use any actions during the next night.
Detectives typically work alone, but some are known to sell out to whichever faction is willing to pay most.


Templates:
Unlike affiliations and classes, templates are optional. They represent abilities that make the agent in question special and often go paired with an extra ability. Some templates act as 'prestige classes' in that they replace the original role title to avoid redundancy (A super-spy scries as a super-spy, not as a 'super spy secret agent').


Faction Leader (any class): whenever you scry a mercenary working for you, you will be informed of his or her allegiance. Also, you gain the ability to track down people of a specific faction, class, city or template more easily. For example:

"If an FBI operative uses a basic night action in the same city as you, you will be informed of this and learn what kind of action they took (assassination, ambush, local scry, etc.) but not how many nor what the targets were."

"If a commando uses a basic night action in the same city as you, you will be informed of this and learn what kind of action they took (assassination, ambush, local scry, etc.) but not how many nor what the targets were."

"If anyone not on your team uses a basic night action in the same city as you, you will be informed of this and learn what kind of action they took (assassination, ambush, local scry, etc.) but not how many nor what the targets were. This ability only works in Hong Kong."

And other variations.

(basic night actions are: personal scry, local scry, assassinate, ambush and disguise)
Super Spy (secret agent only): super spies are highly versatile personnel and are capable of replicating almost any other ability or template in the game. At the start of the game, they send me a PM stating which three abilities they'd like to add to their 'utility belt' (so to speak). Throughout the game, they can use all three of these abilities once. Any templates they apply to themselves (temporarily) will appear on scries that night as well. 'Utility belt' effects last for exactly one phase.

They can choose from the following abilities:
Day Actions:

Freedom of Movement (see: rogue)
Stalk (see: assassin)


Night Actions:

Disguise Mastery [disguise actions have no cooldown] (see: infiltrator)
Free Disguise (see: infiltrator)
Amplified Kill (see: assassin)
Ambush Versatility [both abilities] (see: commando)
Baning (see: commando)
Raid (see: thug)
True Scry (see: detective)
Tracking Device (see: detective)*
Voiding (see: saboteur template)
Mercenary (see: mercenary template)
Tough (see: tough template)

* not reusable, but the effect lasts until the tracked target is dead

Saboteur (secret agent only): you can void someone, negating all of their actions. This ability has a two-night cooldown (= usable every third night). This is a free action.
Con Man (infiltrator only): going by the principle 'it takes one to know one', every second night you can use an amplified scry instead of a personal scry. Amplified scries pierce disguises. If your scry target was disguised, the amplified scry's cooldown is reset.
Mercenary (commandos, assassins, thugs and rogues (of any class) only): whenever you are scried, you scry as a nondescript 'mercenary'. Your precise role and affiliation aren't revealed. This can be either an advantage or disadvantage.
Tough (rogues, commandos, detectives and thugs only): the first time you would be killed, you survive instead.


***

To illustrate all of that, a few sample roles:

FBI Agent
Rogue Infiltrator
Red Grant, SMERSH Assassin
Spetsnaz Saboteur
James Bond, MI6 Super Spy
The Jackal, Mercenary Rogue Assassin
Tough Yakuza Thug
Mercenary GRU Commando (Faction Leader)
etc.

FAQ:
Aliases? Whuh?
For those unfamiliar with the concept: just send me an alias you'd like to use for this game.

For example:
Freshmeat's alias is Sam Therfe. At the start of the game, all aliases will be revealed. It's then up to the other players to figure out that the alias 'Sam Therfe' belongs to me, travel to whichever location I'm in and kill me. If they want me dead, that is.

For obvious reasons, it's quite important to choose an alias that other people won't readily expect you to pick.

If an ability says it has a two-night cooldown, does this mean I can start it using from the third night onwards and then every third night thereafter?
Not necessarily. All cooldowns are reset at the start of the game, so you can use it on the first night and use it again on the fourth night. By the same token, you can also use it on the second and fifth night.

Can I be a Jedi?
No.

What happens when someone scries a player who has been disguised multiple times during one night?
The scry will show one of the disguises, chosen at random.
There is also a chance the disguises will interfere, causing a mix. (a player disguised as a CIA agent and an FBI assassin may appear as a 'CIA assassin')

What happens when a detective or con-man or anyone else with a disguise-piercing scry scries a disguised person?
They see that player's true role, as well as any of the disguises that were on the target.

Is it possible to attack the same player twice during the same night if one of my attacks is a thug gang attack?
Yes.

It's allowed to send in the following set of actions:
- Assassinate Freshmeat, who is Jake McBlood
- (gang attack, along with Mordokai and Banjo) Assassinate Freshmeat, who is The Terminator

"You cannot target the same player twice during one night, although aliases are fair game"
Does this include scries, disguises or other actions?

No, that rule only applies to assassinations.

Would you agree, good sir, to my role being that of a Knight of the Jedi tradition?
No!

I think this guy is on my team. Would you mind if I sent in actions on his behalf or if you'd include me on any scry result PM's you send to him?
Even if he agrees, I'm going to have to say no. For the purposes of sneaky behaviour, I'd like all information to be second-hand, and I want to avoid 'you can trust me but I can't trust you' situations between two players where one forces the other to comply with an agreement like the above.
Previous Games:
1. World Espionage I: The Quantum Identity: (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=128123)
Won by: SMERSH & Ethan Hunt
Location: Central Europe (Paris, Rome, London, Berlin)

The game ends the moment an agency completes their objective. Rogue agents may have already completed their objectives at that point, however.
The exact details of their win conditions are known only to them.

Players & aliases:
Players
Aemoh
billtodamax
cd4
Dr. Bath
Elder Tsofu
Fleeing Coward
Geesi
MoM
Murska
Mustiado
Opeth Freak
Paul Muad'Dib
RedScholarGypsy
TehSheen
The Bookworm
Thufir
Tired 'N Drowzy


Aliases:
Conrad Jupiters
Fone Bone
Ham Thistleneck
Jack Simon
Kirei
Lucas Morrison
Matt Thissen
Michael Weston
Robert Jones
Shagi Yamura
Tamburlaine Reynolds
That guy
The Narrator
The Ninja King
Wai Con
Wallace Link Jr.
Yuzuna Takenaka

[Murska]

I'm in. :smallbiggrin:

[Elder Tsofu]

Screw the rules, I'm in! :smallbiggrin:
*Clicks on next on licence agreement and thus gives away his house, pet and everything else freshmeat decided to put into it*

Btw. is it to early to sign up for number 3? :smallwink:

[Opeth_Freak]

In, before someone will take away all the spots

[Dr. Bath]

In in iiiiin!

[Elder Tsofu]

Döh, Dr. Bath you were already in. :smalltongue:

After reading through the rules I expect that this will be even more caotic than the last game. ^^
(I suppose that reusing my foolproof alias "Gunnar Axelsson" won't be a good idea)

[Dr. Bath]

Döh, Dr. Bath you were already in. :smalltongue:

After reading through the rules I expect that this will be even more caotic than the last game. ^^
(I suppose that reusing my foolproof alias "Gunnar Axelsson" won't be a good idea)

But I need to confirm!

[Thufir]

I reserved a spot? I don't remember doing that... but, I wanted one anyway, so never mind.

Banjo sadly is 'AWOL until further notice', so I don't think he'll be playing.

[billtodamax]

Confirming my reservation here!

[Guancyto]

Free spots? I'm there!

Does my assassin's mouth have to be in sync with what he's saying?

[billtodamax]

Free spots? I'm there!

Does my assassin's mouth have to be in sync with what he's saying?

It's actually not allowed to be in sync with what he's saying.

[Mustiado]

God, this looks so complex. It reminds me of when I won Poirot for all the wrong reasons.

So obviously in. :smallbiggrin:

[Aemoh]

Yessir, count me as confirmed. I ain't missing the second one.

[TehSheen]

I'm officially IN!

[Tenuki]

If Thufir is right about Banjo, there should be one spot free, so I'm in!

[Thufir]

Yeah, from the goodbyes thread:


Good luck Mordy, hope you manage to graduate and that you come back here all qualified with a cool spiffy job! Look after your self buddy, and if you're reading this then stop, you have work to do! :smallbiggrin:

So, it's time for me to say my own goodbyes. I've managed to get on here once in the last week, I just have too many things to do right now to contribute to the board in the way you people deserve, and I can't abide turning up every week or so going 'hey, remember me?'. So I'm off for a while, at least until after Mordy gets back and most probably longer. If things clear up I may return, but quite honestly, it's definitely if rather than when. At least for those of you (read: most of you) who find me needlessly silly and annoying this is probably a good thing! :smallbiggrin:

Thanks for all the great times over the last two and a half years guys, this place is very special as far as the interwebs go :smallsmile: Those of you that want to keep in touch probably already have my MSN, if not just PM me, I'll probably check it a few times over the next few months. I'd advise emailing me rather than waiting for me to come online though, chat is one of the many things I don't have any time for anymore.

So long people, and thanks for all the fish. Even if I never come back properly, I'll definitely come on in June to post me and Mrs B's wedding photo's, to annoy and amaze you in equal measure. :smalltongue:

[Fleeing Coward]

Put me in as a reserve just in case anyone decides to drops out :smalltongue:

[The Bookworm]

I'm confirming my reservation!

[Vwulf DeMarcus]

Confirming reservation.

IN!!!!

[RedScholarGypsy]

Yea put a confirmed next to that reserve, and put a reserve on game 3 please.

Raise your hand if you think I'm going to die like a dog within three days?:smallamused:

[Wreckingrocc]

Confirming game participation.

I'm definitely in.

[Freshmeat]

Looks like everyone has confirmed then, with the exception of Banjo (his spot will go to Tenuki). FC will be a random reserve. That means we just have to wait until all players have sent me their alias and location.


Btw. is it to early to sign up for number 3? :smallwink:


Yea put a confirmed next to that reserve, and put a reserve on game 3 please.

It's early alright, but I'll note your names down.

[Elder Tsofu]

It's early alright, but I'll note your names down.

Wee - had quite a scare when I saw the thread (and only 4 spots) to be honest. :smallbiggrin:

[The Bookworm]

I'll reserve for the third as well...

[Jontom Xire]

Are we reserving for the third already? Sign me up for a piece of that action.

Now, I better just go read the rules. Someone said they're even more chaotic than the first game so ... perhaps reading them when I've just been at the pub drinking Belgian beer isn't the best idea, but what they hey!

:smallbiggrin:

[Vwulf DeMarcus]

Reserve for third!

[Opeth_Freak]

Guys, calm down. The second one didn't even started, and you want to already reserve spots for another one? Ok, I can understand if you missed the sign ups already but, you ARE already in the second, so why so hasty?

[happyturtle]

I will continue to ignore the rules and just show up for roleplay as the evil but sexy Hannah Pea Turtle. :smallbiggrin:

[Guancyto]

That's right, you two needed your rematch!

*grabs popcorn*

[RedScholarGypsy]

...I was just joking....

Edit: Still confirmed for second though. Just I think the third should wait until, you know, most of us are dead.

[Trixie]

Ah'll resurv un spat fur fourth, tank kou 'ery mucz :smallamused:

[Elder Tsofu]

Planning to do an Irbis? :smallwink:

[Murska]

I'll reserve a spot for World Espionage XI, please.

[The Bookworm]

Why is everyone forgetting about World Espionage 3.1415926...: The Spy Who Pied Me?

[Trixie]

Pied? :smallconfused:


http://brownninja.velociraptor.org/wp-content/uploads/2006/07/pieface.bmp

Trixie hits giant enemy Bookworm in the face...

For Massive Damage! :smallamused:

[The Bookworm]

http://janeheller.mlblogs.com/pie.mid-throw.jpg

Bookworm retaliates with explosive key lime pie at double-crossing agent Trixie...

For Lethal Damage! :smallbiggrin:

[Trixie]

http://images.cheezburger.com/completestore/2009/12/6/129046150829396706.jpg

[The Bookworm]

http://www.motifake.com/image/demotivational-poster/0902/i-have-a-rocket-launcher-rocket-launcher-lancher-invalid-arg-demotivational-poster-1233640342.jpg
Quantum! Quantum!

[Freshmeat]

Still waiting for the alias and starting location of the following people:

Mustiado
MasterOfMockery
Jontom Xire
PauL Muad'dib
Tenuki
Opeth Freak

[Vwulf DeMarcus]

Uh...bump?

[RedScholarGypsy]

Uh...bump?

Set...:smallamused:

[billtodamax]

I'll be away until Wednesday, so please don't AL, lynch, or nightkill me. Or whatever it is you do in this game.

[Freshmeat]

I'll be away until Wednesday, so please don't AL, lynch, or nightkill me. Or whatever it is you do in this game.

Duly noted.

Alright. I've got everyone's alias and starting location, with the exception of Tenuki. Since it's been more than two weeks and I have no idea when he'll no longer be AWOL, I've assigned his spot to Fleeing Coward, whose name/location I now have as well. I'll put Tenuki on an autolynch replacement list if he's still interested, but at least this way we can get the game going.

Role PM's will be sent out today. I'll make an official post that the game is starting when I'm done. Just for the record: since the Christmas holidays are starting soon, the first couple of nights might be a little slow, just to give everyone the chance to PM their actions.
Keep in mind that sending actions in advance is also possible at any time.

[Jontom Xire]

Hi, Freshmeat.

I've been playing Tenuki at Go on OG and he hasn't been making moves on there either. I don't know where he is.

In other news I'm away for three weeks starting 22nd December, so I think I have to bail out of this game. I'm really really gutted because I SO wanted to play this. Please save me a spot in the next one.

Thanks.

[Freshmeat]

In other news I'm away for three weeks starting 22nd December, so I think I have to bail out of this game. I'm really really gutted because I SO wanted to play this. Please save me a spot in the next one.

Thanks.

Fair enough. Not sure if you'd miss much though, so I'll put you on the autolynch replacement list as well.

I guess that means there's one more spot open after all, so I'll reopen recruitment until we get one more player.

[cd4]

Oh well, this seems like a fun game I take Jontom's place assuming no-one got there first. Sending a PM in a moment.

I've also found a good quote for this game, it came from the Lord of the Rings film:


"Certainty of death, small chance of success, what are we waiting for?"

[The Bookworm]

Freshmeat: Can I start in Hong Kong, please? As a location change, I mean, or is it already too late?

[Freshmeat]

Freshmeat: Can I start in Hong Kong, please? As a location change, I mean, or is it already too late?

Hm, tricky question to answer. I'm inclined to say no, for two reasons:

- If you indeed aren't in Hong Kong as you suggest (which I'm neither confirming nor denying) then I might help you have an easier time reaching your win condition if you already got someone to confess about their role during the role PM-sending-around stage by 'teleporting' you next to an enemy. Or ally, for that matter.
- If I say 'yes', your current location would be publicly confirmed, by a narrator no less, to be Hong Kong. That doesn't sound like fun to me, especially if it involves me doing the confirmation, even at your request.



***

It's been several months since the decimation of several top agents in Europe by the hands of the nefarious SMERSH, and now the world seems to have set its eyes on the Land of the Rising Sun and nearby ports of interest. More than a year ago, following a routine check on an informant's tip, James Bond led a a team of ninjas in a daring assault on the hidden volcano base of SPECTRE mastermind Blofeld. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Only_Live_Twice_(film)) With SPECTRE's influence in the Orient seemingly vanished, several factions have taken it upon themselves to fill in the power vacuum. While the battlefield shows similar signs of subterfuge and trickery than the one in Europe, it seems several key players are more than willing to use brute force and direct combat when necessary. Bodies pile up, crime is rampant and tensions are high. Whether out of curiosity, political scheming, a mad lust for power or just plain revenge, a variety of secret operatives are either activated in or sent to such cities as Shanghai, Tokyo and Hong Kong.
And if it's up to them, this power struggle is far from over yet...


Word Espionage II: You Onry Have to do the Impossibre Twice begins now!

Night 1 starts. PM all night actions to me.

[Murska]

Do we get a list of the aliases?

[Freshmeat]

Oh right, knew I'd forgot something.
The following people are still in the game:


Players
Aemoh
billtodamax
cd4
Dr. Bath
Elder Tsofu
Fleeing Coward
Geesi
MoM
Murska
Mustiado
Opeth Freak
Paul Muad'Dib
RedScholarGypsy
TehSheen
The Bookworm
Thufir
Tired 'N Drowzy


Aliases:
Conrad Jupiters
Fone Bone
Ham Thistleneck
Jack Simon
Kirei
Lucas Morrison
Matt Thissen
Michael Weston
Robert Jones
Shagi Yamura
Tamburlaine Reynolds
That guy
The Narrator
The Ninja King
Wai Con
Wallace Link Jr.
Yuzuna Takenaka

[Ziren]

Oh, this looks fun. I'm sad to see that the game is already full, but I'd like to be an autolynch replacement, please.

[Freshmeat]

Oh, this looks fun. I'm sad to see that the game is already full, but I'd like to be an autolynch replacement, please.

Sure.


I've got over two-thirds of all actions. Those who haven't sent in anything yet, you know what to do!

[Freshmeat]

Night 1 ends.

People got scried and stuff.
(scry result PM's will be sent out shortly)

Day 1 begins.

[Elder Tsofu]

Not a single death? :smallfrown:

[Mustiado]

I know, boring bunch, aren't we?

[Wreckingrocc]

F*ck, I thought we had an extra day or so... Holidays, and all. Shows what I know :smalltongue:

Ahh, well. I'll hopefully work into the schtick of things.

[RedScholarGypsy]

Given the 6.67% chance of getting someone(assuming we all started in the same city, so it's even lower), no one is going to take a shot at someone. That said, if Freshmeat gave us a free 1st night kill attempt to make things random, that'd be fun, in a not-really-fun-but-frustrating-way for whoever dies.:smallamused:

[Murska]

A free 1st night kill attempt would probably mean around fifteen kill attempts at me, organized to hit every possible alias in every possible city. :smalltongue:

[Guancyto]

Don't be ridiculous!

There are sixteen players that aren't you.

Oh, you said 'around' fifteen attempts. Never mind. :smalltongue:

[Wreckingrocc]

...Huh.

Holiday lull, then? I'm not complaining- it means I'm still in the game after my internet hiatus :D

[Freshmeat]

Day 1 ends

As the day draws to a close, more and more people gather on the streets of Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shanghai to celebrate the New Year. Even though it appears that only 'round-eyed Westerners' seem to be participating in the festivities, most people seem to be enjoying themselves. Even the secret operatives sent there for shady purposes take the opportunity to unwind for a bit, if only for a few hours.

As the festivities draw to a close, it's back to business as usual. What with nearly everyone already fast asleep or too drunk to notice anything, the time seems ripe to break into the homes of suspected agents and learn more about who they work for, or perhaps even kill them. Whatever the case, the night is still young...


Happy New Year!

Summary:
Conrad Jupiters moved to another city.
Shagi Yamura moved to another city.


Night 2 begins

Note: with the holidays now more-or-less over, keep in mind that I'll be a bit more strict with the day/night schedule. So send your actions in on time!

[happyturtle]

Baroness Hannah Pea Turtle looks out over the city from the balcony of her luxurious penthouse suite. "So, who shall I seduce and betray today?" she sneers.

From her bedroom can be heard muffled thumps. It seemed she hadn't tied up her bed partner from the previous night quite as tightly as necessary.

[Freshmeat]

Night 2 ends

Robert Jones whistled a jaunty tune as he crossed the street. He'd been staking out Fone Bone's place for several hours now, but at last his target had revealed himself to get the early morning paper. Jones felt confident that all conditions had been cleared. His disguise as a milk delivery man was perfect. His silenced pistol was cocked and loaded. He even had a cheesy one-liner prepared.

"Why Mr. Bone," he said, approaching his target. "I have a riddle for you! 'What did the cow say to th-?'

Boom!
From across the street, on top of a thai food restaurant, a shot rang out. Robert Jones was struck squarely in the head and dropped like a sack, his milk bottles dropping to the ground and breaking dramatically in slow-motion.

Fone Bone was more than a little surprised at this turn of events and looked in the direction where the shot came from, but the assassin had clearly already fled the scene.
"What a bummer." he thought to himself, picking up his newspaper and going back inside. "I love riddles."


Summary:
Robert Jones attacked Fone Bone, believing him to be TehSheen. The attack failed.
Someone shot Robert Jones (billtodamax) [amplified kill]


Robert Jones (billtodamax) was shot in Hong Kong.
He was Mr. 47, a Mercenary Rogue Assassin.


Day 2 begins


Players & aliases:
The Departed:
billtodamax / Robert Jones - Mr. 47, Mercenary Rogue Assassin [killed night 2]

The Living
Players:
Aemoh
cd4
Dr. Bath
Elder Tsofu
Fleeing Coward
Geesi
MoM
Murska
Mustiado
Opeth Freak
Paul Muad'Dib
RedScholarGypsy
TehSheen
The Bookworm
Thufir
Tired 'N Drowzy

Aliases:
Conrad Jupiters
Fone Bone
Ham Thistleneck
Jack Simon
Kirei
Lucas Morrison
Matt Thissen
Michael Weston
Shagi Yamura
Tamburlaine Reynolds
That guy
The Narrator
The Ninja King
Wai Con
Wallace Link Jr.
Yuzuna Takenaka

[Elder Tsofu]

Damn that was fast. :smalleek:

[billtodamax]

*dies horribly*

Well. Damn.

*shrugs* Good luck anyone who wanted to help me!

[Freshmeat]

Day 2 ends

Hong Kong is in an uproar. Word has leaked out that a variety of other governments, gangs and agencies have have joined in on the mysterious turf war on the streets of the Orient. Police officials investigate the grisly murder of Mr. 47, a shady assassin who has been linked to numerous high-profile contract hits, yet many are too afraid to dig any deeper by asking unnecessary questions. Unlike the police, the citizens of Hong Kong demand change - they riot and ask for immediate action from the government. The Chief Executive of Hong Kong has yet to issue a statement, but most figure he fears for his life just as much as the police.

A late-night news bulletin sheds no further light on the murder. In typical Chinese fashion, the exact relevance of a chicken, a donkey and the game Tetris to the hitman's death is unclear to Western audiences, although many people would later claim the news report was rather insightful and informative. Regardless, until a victor emerges from the urban battlefield, it looks like this assassination will prove to be the first of many to come.


***

Summary:
Shagi Yamura has traveled to another city.
Tamburlaine Reynolds has traveled to another city.
Yuzuna Takenaka has traveled to another city.


Night 3 begins

[Freshmeat]

This is quick notification that my PM box is empty again. This is for anyone who may have tried to send me their actions in the last couple of hours but was unable to do so.

[MasterofMockery]

edit: sonofa...nevermind

It appears I smote the 4th wall

[Guancyto]

???

Wait, you can do that?!

This changes everything!

[Murska]

Scry Freshmeat and Agent X.

[Freshmeat]

((Sorry for the delay, folks. Had quite a few changed actions, rules question responses and reminder PM's to send out.))


Night 3 ends
(once again, don't read too much into these narrations, where I'm taking more than a few liberties to uphold a semi-smooth narrative rather than list every action in a non-descript ambiguous way in a non-descript ambiguous city)

The streets were quiet once more, but the savvy citizen knew that this only signified a calm before the storm. At Tokyo plaza, the streets are about as calm as one could reasonably expect in a metropolitan hub, when suddenly an armored car pulls up and heads straight for a well-dressed passers-by, by some known as Michael Weston.
Immediately a man steps out of the car and fires an uzi at Weston, but only manages to hit two unfortunate bystanders. Fearing for his life, Michael Weston breaks off into a run, dashing past two more citizens - who are prompty gunned down in his stead when even more shots are fired from a nearby rooftop. Then, almost as soon as they had arrived, the mysterious hitmen vanish into the crowded streets of Tokyo.

Elsewhere, Yuzuna Takenaka counts down the seconds on his fancy Rolex watch.
3...
2...
1...
A hundred yards away, a loud explosion can suddenly be heard, and a car flies several feet up in the air before crashing into a heap on the street. Although Takenaka seems pleased, he would later learn that his target, Wallace Link Jr., had decided to take the bus that day.

In an alley on the other side of the city, Conrad Jupiters loitered about, shooing nosy neighbours away and generally making a nuisance of himself. When a uniformed officer approaches, Conrad seems genuinely surprised that the police would interfere... until he's face to face with the man and recognizes him as Kirei. In a flash, Conrad pulls his gun and fires, but the shot goes wide. Before he can readjust his aim, Kirei produces a knife and slices the thug's throat in one smooth arc.
After disposing of the body in a dumpster, he drops the knife in a trashcan and disappears into the night.


Summary:
Matt Thissen attacked Michael Weston, believing him to be TehSheen. The attack failed.
Matt Thissen attacked Michael Weston, believing him to be RedScholarGypsy. The attack failed.
Fone Bone attacked Michael Weston, believing him to be Dr. Bath. The attack failed.
Fone Bone attacked Michael Weston, believing him to be Geesi. The attack failed.
Yuzuna Takenaka attacked Wallace Link Jr., believing him to be Elder Tsofu. The attack failed.
Conrad Jupiters attacked Shagi Yamura, believing him to be Murska. The attack failed.
Kirei attacked Conrad Jupiters, believing him to be Fleeing Coward. The attack succeeded.



Conrad Jupiters (Fleeing Coward) was killed in Tokyo.
He was a Yakuza Thug.

Opeth Freak was autolynched. His role, alias and all intelligence he held have been passed on to Jontom Xire.


Players & aliases:
The Departed:
billtodamax / Robert Jones - Mr. 47, Mercenary Rogue Assassin [killed night 2]
Fleeing Coward / Conrad Jupiters - Yakuza Thug [killed night 3]

The Living
Players:
Aemoh
cd4
Dr. Bath
Elder Tsofu
Geesi
MoM
Murska
Mustiado
Opeth Freak Jontom Xire
Paul Muad'Dib
RedScholarGypsy
TehSheen
The Bookworm
Thufir
Tired 'N Drowzy

Aliases:
Fone Bone
Ham Thistleneck
Jack Simon
Kirei
Lucas Morrison
Matt Thissen
Michael Weston
Shagi Yamura
Tamburlaine Reynolds
That guy
The Narrator
The Ninja King
Wai Con
Wallace Link Jr.
Yuzuna Takenaka

Day 3 begins

[Murska]

Fleeing Coward... my, my, what have I ever done to you?

[Elder Tsofu]

Hm, Michael Weston was a popular target, no doubt about it.

[Fleeing Coward]

Fleeing Coward... my, my, what have I ever done to you?

You're Murska. I thought that was enough of a reason :smallbiggrin:
Back to the drawing board I guess.

[Freshmeat]

Day 3 ends

Yin Yang News: Balanced. Fair. Unbiased.

Hello, this is Uki Watahashi, live from Tokyo! Now that the incompetent police have confirmed that the dead body found earlier today belongs to a member of the vile Yakuza, our earlier suspicions of their involvement has at last been confirmed! This despite claims from Katana News and the Daily Seppuku that this murder was not gang-related. Once again, Yin Yang news tells the true story, whereas the wit of Katana News' reporters is as sharp as a butter knife!

While police officials were unclear as to how they will tackle this problem, the people and our loyal viewers have already voiced their dissent. There are even a few who have vowed to combat this problem single-handedly, in the image of American super heroes.

Despite warnings from the government, claiming that civilian involvement will only put even more innocents at risks, we of Yin Yang News wholeheartedly support these Oriental heroes. We have, in fact, received the first page of a diary, which reportedly comes from one such 'super hero':


"Yakuza carcass in alley this morning, stabbing wound on burst stomach. This city is afraid of me. I have seen its true face. The streets are extended gutters and the gutters are full of blood and when the drains finally scab over, all the vermin will drown. The accumulated filth of all their sex and murder will foam up about their waists and all the whores and politicians will look up and shout "Save us!"... and I'll look down and whisper "No."

This hero of the people has called himself Rorsch- the Shaolin Soldier! We will no doubt hear more from him in the days to come!
This was a special news report from Yin Yang News!

We now go back to our regularly scheduled cooking programme Sushi - A Dish Best Served Cold.


Summary:
Fone bone has traveled to another city.
Kirei has traveled to another city.
The Narrator has traveled to another city.


Night 4 begins

[Jontom Xire]

I have information I am willing to trade for similar information. It goes along the lines of <player name> is not any of <list of aliases>. I also think I have identified the player/alias pairings of another player, but not one that I am interested in killing myself (I don't think).

PM me if interested.

[Freshmeat]

Update coming in around 6 hours.

[Freshmeat]

Night 4 ends
It is already late when Wallace Link Jr. leaves his house to grab something to eat. The memories of his dear father, unjustly murdered by the SMERSH somewhere in Europe, weigh heavily on his heart. But like any true Scotsman, he doesn't show this.

Just as he is about to order chop soy at a shady, nearby restaurant, a throwing knife suddenly embeds itself into the wall next to him. Spitting a poorly-articulated curse under his breath, he ducks away and runs into an alley. There, a man wielding two wakizashis is already waiting for him, a malicious grin on his face. With an unexpected shove and some fancy karate moves Wallace manages to fight off this new would-be killer, and jumps into a small canal. Fone Bone, for it was him, leans over the railing, nods to himself and walks off, muttering to himself "No one could have survived that!"

Hearing something rustle behind him, Fone Bone turns around, throwing his wakizashi at a figure in the darkness. A painful cry erupts from that direction, and The Narrator (not me, mind you, but him - no, not that guy, him!) slumps down, a sword through his chest.

Satisfied that he killed at least someone, Fone Bone walks on. As he turns the nearest corner, a quick shadow tells him that something is wrong. The katana that someone forces through his stomach pretty much confirms that suspicion. With one dramatic swing, the assassin withdraws his blade, sending blood flying everywhere. Seriously, you should've seen the mess.

Elsewhere in the city, Tamburlaine Reynolds sneaks closer to a building, trying to get a good look inside. Then, without warning, someone presses a sai to his neck and slits his throat. How rude.

Shagi Yamura is practicing a few sword swings when someone rings at his door bell. Only a split second before he's about to open the door, a shotgun blast can be heard and Yamura is hit square in the chest. Wai Con blows some smoke away from his shotgun in a very cliché fashion and smiles to himself when he sees Yamura lie on the ground, covered in blood. Just before he enters his car to leave, he seems compelled to make sure Yamura is dead, runs up the front porch and drops a grenade down the hall.
To the soundtrack of a some Japanese pop music, he drives off in his Ferrari as the building explodes behind him.

Then Wallace Link Jr's. gloved (but very much Scottish) hand presses a button on a detonator. To the soundtrack of some Japanese rock music, he walks off as Wai Con's car explodes behind him.


Summary:
Tamburlaine Reynolds tried to assassinate Wallace Link Jr., believing him to be Dr. Bath. The attack failed.
Fone Bone tried to assassinate Wallace Link Jr., believing him to be Dr. Bath. The attack failed.
Fone Bone tried to assassinate The Narrator, believing him to be Geesi. The attack succeeded.
Wallace Link Jr. tried to assassinate Wai Con, believing him to be cd4. The attack succeeded.
Wai Con tried to assassinate Shagi Yamura, believing him to be Murska. The attack succeeded but Yamura survived.
Wai Con tried to assassinate Shagi Yamura, believing him to be Murska (again). The attack succeeded and Yamura died.
Someone shot Fone Bone (RedScholarGypsy) [amplified kill]
Someone shot Tamburlaine Reynolds (Thufir) [amplified kill]


The Narrator (Geesi) was killed in Shanghai.
He was O-Ren Ishii, Assassin and Faction Leader of the Yakuza.

Fone Bone (RedScholarGypsy) was killed in Shanghai.
He was a Secret Agent working for the Purple Lotus Triad.
He was also secretly a Blue Dragon Triad rebel leader.

Wai Con (cd4) was killed in Shanghai.
He was Brad Whitaker, Saboteur and Faction Leader of the ICBM*.
(* International Consortium of the Black Market)

Tamburlaine Reynolds (Thufir) was killed in Shanghai.
He was an IMF Infiltrator.

Shagi Yamura (Murska) was killed in Shanghai.
He was The Bride, a Tough Rogue Assassin.


Master of Mockery was autolynched. His role, alias and all intelligence he held have been passed on to Ziren.

I cannot possibly express my glee when I saw some of these actions entering my PM box, watching with increasing interest as the inevitable carnage grew ever larger. Five kills in one night is, at the very least, another new record.

Players & aliases:
The Departed:
billtodamax / Robert Jones - Mr. 47, Mercenary Rogue Assassin [killed night 2]
Fleeing Coward / Conrad Jupiters - Yakuza Thug [killed night 3]
Geesi / The Narrator - O-Ren Ishii, Yakuza Leader / Assassin [killed night 4]
RedScholarGypsy / Fone Bone - Purple Lotus Triad Secret Agent / Blue Dragon Triad Rebel Leader [killed night 4]
cd4 / Wai Con - Brad Whitaker, ICBM Faction Leader / Saboteur [killed night 4]
Thufir / Tamburlaine Reynolds - IMF Infiltrator [killed night 4]
Murska / Shagi Yamura - The Bride, Tough Rogue Assassin [killed night 4]

The Living
Players:
Aemoh
Dr. Bath
Elder Tsofu
MoM Ziren
Mustiado
Opeth Freak Jontom Xire
Paul Muad'Dib
TehSheen
The Bookworm
Tired 'N Drowzy

Aliases:
Ham Thistleneck
Jack Simon
Kirei
Lucas Morrison
Matt Thissen
Michael Weston
That guy
The Ninja King
Wallace Link Jr.
Yuzuna Takenaka

Day 4 begins

[Murska]

Wait, wait, wait.


You cannot target the same player twice during one night, although aliases are fair game.

:smallannoyed:

[Freshmeat]

I do believe you missed the line following that rule:


You cannot target the same player twice during one night, although aliases are fair game. The only exception to this rule is when you decide to target the same player/alias combination twice (in order to bypass 'toughness' [see "Roles: Templates"].

[Murska]

Aw. :smalltongue:

Oh well.

Seriously though, I had a friggen nuke after me. No chance.

[Elder Tsofu]

Haha, can't be many left in shanghai now. :smalltongue:

[billtodamax]

Wow. That's quite the kill count.

[RedScholarGypsy]

I knew my death was coming. Damn amp kill. :smallmad: Still, at least I got Geesi. Good game, go Blue Dragon Triad!

[Guancyto]

I knew my death was coming. Damn amp kill. :smallmad: Still, at least I got Geesi. Good game, go Blue Dragon Triad!

I knew I should've ambushed you instead. :smallamused:

Oh well. Carnage like that doesn't happen every day. Go Yakuza!

[Trixie]

Aw. :smalltongue:

Oh well.

Note to self - check every ruling Murska wants twice :smallbiggrin:

[Thufir]

Well, that's annoying.

[cd4]

What a night, now I suspect that this day phase those still left in Shanghai will move as fast as they can away from Shanghai.

I had double-checked the rules on kills to be certain that I could do that though I think the better option would have been to ambush Wallace Link Jr. I decided that the best option to be certain to take you out would be a double kill with a void to stop any ambushes.

Oh well, the rest of ICBM knows what I know so they can still win it for me.

[RedScholarGypsy]

BTW, whoever WLJ is should get a trophy titled "survived Shanghai". All those in favor?:smallamused:

[Elder Tsofu]

Aye!
*Raises hand*

It's almost a bit sad that he wasn't Dr. Bath - think of the scene. ^^

[Murska]

In favor. :smallbiggrin:

I survived Shanghai Massacre, and all I got was this lousy T-shirt. ?

[Freshmeat]

I actually created this yesterday:

http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/1775/shanghaisamurai.png

That includes people who died or killed others (often the same, as should be obvious) and adds a few alliterations too. Everyone wins*!

* winning may cause side effects such as death, horrible mutilation, evisceration, decapitation and stomach aches

[Freshmeat]

Day 4 ends
Katana News: forged by Truth, tempered by Honor!

"...this concludes our report on how the "Shaolin Soldier" has claimed responsibility for the recent massacre that has been dubbed 'The Shanghai Slaughter'.

In other news, corporate tycoon Joe Walker of the International Transport Corporation has announced that the million-dollar project to create a railroad between Moscow and Shanghai will be put on hold until the locals, quote "Got their act together". Taking the hint, the government has declared martial law in Shanghai for an undefined period of time, although few doubt this will make any real difference.

On a lighter note, poker fans should tune in next tuesday for our live coverage of a grand-scale Texas Hold 'Em tournament, live from Montenegro. The tournament, an idea from self-proclaimed mathemetical genius Le Chiffre, is rumoured to h-"

Summary*:
Ham Thistleneck has traveled to another city.
Lucas Morrison has traveled to another city.
Wallace Link Jr. has traveled to another city.

* yes, the "summary" rarely has anything to do with the narration :smallbiggrin:


Night 5 begins

[Freshmeat]

Before I forget: since close to half the playerbase has died already, and the autolynch replacement list has run out, this is me saying officially there will be no more replacements from this point onwards. If you get auto'd, you and your role are dead, gone and kaput.

[Freshmeat]

Night 5 ends
Yuzuna Takenaka was driving at full speed on his motorcycle on the highway, on the lookout for danger as usual. Even though his colleagues often told him he was getting too old for this, he kept on going. Besides, he was going to retire next week. His boss had often called him a loose cannon, but a damn fine soldier, and this last job he was working on wouldn't blemish his perfect arrest record. It was a real shame he couldn't bring his wisecracking sidekick along, but then the situation was already cliché enough as it is.

Suddenly, a shot rang out and Yuzuna's front tire was blown apart in an instant. Yuzuna tried his best to keep his vehicle under control as it skidded ever closer and ever faster to the cars ahead of him, but to no avail. At the last moment, he jumped away from his motor cycle, right into a nearby canal. "It worked for some other guy last night, so why not now?" he figured. Meanwhile, stuff exploded behind him.

Lucas Morrison was a little disappointed that his target had survived, but fortunately he had a back-up plan. Okay, maybe not so much a 'back-up plan' as 'killing someone else'. He grabbed his sniper rifle and moved to another window, from where he had a clean shot at a Chinese restaurant downstairs. There, Michael Weston stood guard in a traditional 'bored guard' fashion (i.e. chewing gum).

Matt Thissen, an old Chinese guy with a beard, was enjoying a fine meal of chop soy when all of a sudden screams could be heard. Apparently a guard outside had been shot by a sniper. Cursing his luck, Matt Thissen left the restaurant through the back door. Just as he thought he had escaped, someone ran up to him from the shadows and slit his throat. As he turned around with his last strength, he recognized the face as that of Kirei and spat a curse at him. Or at least, he would've, had his throat not been slit and all. So instead he kind of looked angrily at Kirei.
All things considered, it was a rather awkward way to go.


Summary:
Matt Thissen set up an ambush, but none of his intended targets attacked him.
Wallace Link Jr. set up an ambush, but none of his intended targets attacked him.
Lucas Morrison attacked Yuzuna Takenaka, believing him to be Dr. Bath. The attack failed.
Lucas Morrison attacked Matt Thissen, believing him to be TehSheen. The attack succeeded.
Kirei attacked Michael Weston, believing him to be Ziren. The attack succeeded.



Matt Thissen (TehSheen) was killed in Hong Kong.
He was Pan Lee, Secret Agent and Faction Leader of the Purple Lotus Triad.

Michael Weston (Ziren) was killed in Hong Kong.
He was a Secret Agent working for the Purple Lotus Triad.
He was also secretly a Blue Dragon Triad rebel

Players & aliases:
The Departed:
billtodamax / Robert Jones - Mr. 47, Mercenary Rogue Assassin [killed night 2]
Fleeing Coward / Conrad Jupiters - Yakuza Thug [killed night 3]
Geesi / The Narrator - O-Ren Ishii, Yakuza Leader / Assassin [killed night 4]
RedScholarGypsy / Fone Bone - Purple Lotus Triad Secret Agent / Blue Dragon Triad Rebel Leader [killed night 4]
cd4 / Wai Con - Brad Whitaker, ICBM Faction Leader / Saboteur [killed night 4]
Thufir / Tamburlaine Reynolds - IMF Infiltrator [killed night 4]
Murska / Shagi Yamura - The Bride, Tough Rogue Assassin [killed night 4]
TehSheen / Matt Thissen - Pan Lee, Purple Lotus Triad Faction Leader / Secret Agent [killed night 5]
Ziren / Michael Weston - Purple Lotus Triad Secret Agent / Blue Dragon Triad rebel [killed night 5]

The Living
Players:
Aemoh
Dr. Bath
Elder Tsofu
Mustiado
Opeth Freak Jontom Xire
Paul Muad'Dib
The Bookworm
Tired 'N Drowzy

Aliases:
Ham Thistleneck
Jack Simon
Kirei
Lucas Morrison
That guy
The Ninja King
Wallace Link Jr.
Yuzuna Takenaka


Day 5 begins

[Ziren]

That was a very short appearance for me. Good luck to all blue triad that might or might not be left.

[Elder Tsofu]

It seems like Tokyo is the safest place around then. :smallsmile:
Hm, or maybe not - remember Shanghai. :smalleek:

[Freshmeat]

Day 5 ends

An excerpt from Karl Maring's recently-published novella "Global Domination: An Analysis of Current Political Trends":

"...Thus, even if the CIA had not interfered with the GRU's operation at Tselinoyarsk, it seems likely that the USSR would have planned to push into the heart of Europe regardless. To better understand this conflict, one needs to go back in time about eight years, to the times of the infamous "Moscow Murders". Had a few key political figures survived that massacre back then, our world would perhaps have been a whole lot different. My esteemed colleague Yuri Rashenko (primarily known for his scientific research on the subject of the brain), a savant and reporter who works from behind the 'iron curtain', has done a private investigation on this matter, parts of which he felt compelled to share with me during a personal interview I conducted with him last year in Tangier.

He claims that the hits of the "Moscow Murders" were carried out by Treadstone operative Jason Bourne, an assassin believed to have been killed in action in Rome. While the CIA has always denied their involvement in such black ops, and the Treadstone project was shut down several months prior to this writing, it is my belief that Yuri Rashenko was on the right track. Regrettably, all proof he possessed to back up these claims were destroyed in a fire in his office earlier this year. A coincidence? Perhaps, but we live in a world where it becomes increasingly clear that even our most trusted friends can be working covertly for organizations and nations on the other side of the world.

While I will detail my theory in full in Chapter III, I predict that if any USSR-controlled arm (be it the GRU, SMERSH, KGB or any other organization) takes control of the European theatre, waves of conflict will spread over to the Middle East, North Africa and the Americas (Cuba in particular). The Far East will be hit hardest of all. Due to a string of political assassinations - the source of which Rashenko may have already hinted at - the oriental governments are destabilized to such an extent that they are ripe to be overtaken by any of the factions that have a hand in such cities as Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shanghai. The results of such an inevitable power struggle would reach far and wide.

In the following chapter, I will detail my research on several key individuals who I believe are operating as spies or saboteurs on our soil, so as to prevent any similar backlash should the European struggle go bad for us. The first, and perhaps most shocking, name on that list is undoubtedly that of Auric Goldfinger, renowned for his keen business sense and love of things gold. But there are many more dirty secrets that even our own agencies would not want you to know..."


Summary:
Lucas Morrison has traveled to another city.
That guy has traveled to another city.


Night 6 begins

[Freshmeat]

Night 6 ends

(again, don't read too much into the following)

Through his sniper scope, Kirei surveyed the area. He felt reasonably certain that his target would visit the plaza at some point during the next couple of hours. There were some rumors about a hand-off at the plaza tonight - something involving shady documents. Kirei didn't care. The hand-off didn't so much concern him as this golden opportunity to put a bullet through someone's brain tonight. Unfortunately, the plaza was rather crowded - even at night - with protesters, policemen, vagrants, reporters and the like everywhere. It would be a pain to find his target. At last he settled on a man on the other end of the street, dressed in a long overcoat.

"That Guy!" Kirei exclaimed in surprise. "It's got to be him!"

Readjusting his scope within seconds, Kirei took careful aim and pulled the trigger. To his surprise, the shot went wide, impacting several feet above That Guy's head on the wall. Kirei did a quick inspection of his rifle, only to see the label "Made in China" near the trigger guard.

Meanwhile, That Guy had disappeared into an alley, whereupon he bumped into Ham Thistleneck. Immediately, he reached for his silenced pistol and fired two shots at point-blank range in Ham's chest, before breaking off into a run again in case that sniper still had a clear shot on him.

Moments later, Ham Thistleneck stood up with a groan. He opened his button shirt to reveal the bullet proof underneath, and smirked every so slightly when he saw neither of the two bullets had punched through the thick armor layers. They still hurt like hell though.

Lucas Morrison had other worries. He'd been inspecting the plaza as well, and had witnessed the silenced shot missing That Guy by inches, even though no one else around on the plaza that night did. He didn't quite remember That Guy's name, but well, he was just... That Guy. Then something caught his eye - or rather, someone. Up on a nearby roof, someone was peering down through a pair of binoculars, doing his best to stay hidden. Since this seemed rather fishy, Lucas walked over to the base of the building - which he discovered was an abandoned apartment block - and dashed inside when no one was looking. Quiet as a guttermouse, or perhaps a more Oriental-themed animal such as a panda or something, he crept up the stairs, hoping to catch the mysterious man and probable spy by surprise.

All of a sudden, Yuzuna Takenaka kicked open a nearby door, slamming it against Morrison as he did so. He pushed his would-be assassin aside, swinging a combat knife feverishly at his opponent . Since Lucas dodged his attacks effortlessly, Yuzuna turned around and ran downstairs, even as he heard Morrison fire several more shots his way. He didn't stop, instead keeping his eyes peeled for shortcuts. Then he saw a window ahead of him and jumped straight through it.

... and crashed onto the pavement in a bloody mess, right next to a hay cart.

Wallace Link Jr. appeared from behind the cart, swiping some sweat from his brow. Clearly confused, he looked at Yuzuna's corpse on the road, and then up at the window.
"How was I s'ppos'd ta know tha' cart stood thar for a reason? It was blocking tha' road!"
After a whole string of Scottish curses, he revved up his car and drove home.


Summary:
Wallace Link Jr. set up an ambush, but none of his intended targets attacked him.
Yuzuna Takenaka set up an ambush, but none of his intended targets attacked him.
Kirei tried to assassinate That Guy, believing him to be Jontom Xire. The attack failed.
That Guy tried to assassinate Ham Thistleneck, believing him to be Jontom Xire. The attack failed.
Yuzuna Takenaka tried to assassinate Lucas Morrison, believing him to be Aemoh. The attack failed.
Lucas Morrison tried to assassinate Yuzuna Takenaka, believing him to be Dr. Bath. The attack failed.
Wallace Link Jr. tried to assassinate Yuzuna Takenaka, believing him to be Dr. Bath. The attack succeeded.



Yuzuna Takenaka (Dr. Bath) was killed in Tokyo.
He was Johnny Mo, a Yakuza Thug and important lieutenant of the Crazy 88's (Yakuza).

Players & Aliases:
The Departed:
billtodamax / Robert Jones - Mr. 47, Mercenary Rogue Assassin [killed night 2]
Fleeing Coward / Conrad Jupiters - Yakuza Thug [killed night 3]
Geesi / The Narrator - O-Ren Ishii, Yakuza Leader / Assassin [killed night 4]
RedScholarGypsy / Fone Bone - Purple Lotus Triad Secret Agent / Blue Dragon Triad Rebel Leader [killed night 4]
cd4 / Wai Con - Brad Whitaker, ICBM Faction Leader / Saboteur [killed night 4]
Thufir / Tamburlaine Reynolds - IMF Infiltrator [killed night 4]
Murska / Shagi Yamura - The Bride, Tough Rogue Assassin [killed night 4]
TehSheen / Matt Thissen - Pan Lee, Purple Lotus Triad Faction Leader / Secret Agent [killed night 5]
Ziren / Michael Weston - Purple Lotus Triad Secret Agent / Blue Dragon Triad rebel [killed night 5]
Dr. Bath / Yuzuna Takenaka - Johnny Mo, Yakuza Thug [killed night 6]

The Living
Players:
Aemoh
Elder Tsofu
Mustiado
Opeth Freak Jontom Xire
Paul Muad'Dib
The Bookworm
Tired 'N Drowzy

Aliases:
Ham Thistleneck
Jack Simon
Kirei
Lucas Morrison
That guy
The Ninja King
Wallace Link Jr.


Day 6 begins

[Dr. Bath]

BAWLICKS.

Go Yakuza! The lack of scries was really annoying as a thug, I must say.

[Jontom Xire]

I think I'm going to die very soon. I have lots of information and have narrowed several players down to a very few suspects. As I guess you all have.

In exchange for leaving me until last, and perhaps a little information, I will give you all the information I have.

[Elder Tsofu]

Go Yakuza! The lack of scries was really annoying as a thug, I must say.

Must have been horrible, I'd feel blind without them. :smalleek:

[Thufir]

Yeah, scrying was so useful. Just a few scries allowed me to determine beyond a shadow of a doubt that Dr. Bath was Wallace Link Jr! :smallsigh:
Still not sure where my reasoning went wrong there...

[Freshmeat]

Day 6 ends

The people of the Far East wait with bated breath at what will happen next. Most have lost their confidence in the government or in self-proclaimed vigilantes and people's rights committees. The number of riots are dropping sharply, perhaps because citizens already know another organization will soon reign over the Orient, whether openly or invisibly, and that risking the ire of such new regimes would be most unwise. Even reports of new murders, such as that of the late Johnny Mo, are only mentioned briefly in the news. For the first time in several decades, a grandiose feeling of defeatism is washing over China and Japan, increasing only in magnitude as the end of this bloody spy war draws ever nearer.


Summary:
Jack Simon has moved to another city.
Kirei has moved to another city.
The Ninja King has moved to another city.

Night 7 begins

[Freshmeat]

Night 7 ends
As the amount of spies and assorted hustlers dwindles, paranoia invariably settles into the minds of those that remain. Everyone fears to be the next victim of unseen assassins and gangsters. One such person is Wallace Link Jr., who stands vigil near his window, nervously smoking cigarette after cigarette. After several hours his watchfulness begins to wane, which is why a single gunshot is all that's needed to send him scrambling for cover in surprise. While the sound of gunfire is quickly becoming commonplace on the streets of large, bustling cities in the area, Wallace can tell by the loudness and proximity of the shot that he must've been the guman's target. He reaches for his handgun, jumps up and fires several shots in the direction of his attacker. All he hears is the sound of someone running, and that of a trashcan being knocked over. Wallace Link sighs. He's safe. For now.

At the other end of the city, Lucas Morrison finds himself in a similar situation. After staying several hours too long at a local restaurant, he decides to hurry home before getting in trouble with the police for coming outside after curfew. The curfew, the result of a recent governmental edict, the last gasps of a dying regime, is probably one of the first things that will, at the very least, make things more difficult for those that prefer to act under the cover of darkness. When he arrives home and fumbles with the keys, hoping not to wake the hotel owner, a car suddenly pulls up and someone leans out the window, brandishing a high-calibre submachinegun. Instinctively, Lucas dives for cover as the man fires his weapon. He watches the bullets tear into the wall and window glass above him, missing their target only barely. And just like that, the car speeds away and Lucas' assailants are gone.

Ham Thistleneck nods contentedly. He'd pad himself on the back if it wouldn't look so silly, but he feels proud nonetheless. He'd just finished barricading the door to his room, as well as the window and other possible (and cliché) entrances (such as air ducts). The only thing he apparently forgot was checking his room for possible assassins who had already been there before he arrived to barricade his room. Out of nowhere, someone appears and wraps a thorny garrote around Ham's neck.
The irony turns out to be painful indeed.


Summary:
Ham Thistleneck set up an ambush, but none of his intended targets attacked him.
Jack Simon set up an ambush, but none of his intended targets attacked him.
Lucas Morrison set up an ambush, but none of his intended targets attacked him.
The Ninja King set up an ambush, but none of his intended targets attacked him.
Wallace Link Jr. set up an ambush, but none of his intended targets attacked him.
Lucas Morrison tried to assassinate Wallace Link Jr., believing him to be Aemoh. The attack failed.
The Ninja King tried to assassinate Lucas Morrison, believing him to be Mustiado. The attack failed.
Someone shot Ham Thistleneck (Mustiado) [amplified kill]


Ham Thistleneck (Mustiado) was killed in Shanghai.
He was Ethan Hunt, a Con Man and Faction Leader of the IMF.

Players & Aliases:
The Departed:
billtodamax / Robert Jones - Mr. 47, Mercenary Rogue Assassin [killed night 2]
Fleeing Coward / Conrad Jupiters - Yakuza Thug [killed night 3]
Geesi / The Narrator - O-Ren Ishii, Yakuza Leader / Assassin [killed night 4]
RedScholarGypsy / Fone Bone - Purple Lotus Triad Secret Agent / Blue Dragon Triad Rebel Leader [killed night 4]
cd4 / Wai Con - Brad Whitaker, ICBM Faction Leader / Saboteur [killed night 4]
Thufir / Tamburlaine Reynolds - IMF Infiltrator [killed night 4]
Murska / Shagi Yamura - The Bride, Tough Rogue Assassin [killed night 4]
TehSheen / Matt Thissen - Pan Lee, Purple Lotus Triad Faction Leader / Secret Agent [killed night 5]
Ziren / Michael Weston - Purple Lotus Triad Secret Agent / Blue Dragon Triad rebel [killed night 5]
Dr. Bath / Yuzuna Takenaka - Johnny Mo, Yakuza Thug [killed night 6]
Mustiado / Ham Thistleneck - Ethan Hunt, IMF Con Man [killed night 7]

The Living
Players:
Aemoh
Elder Tsofu
Opeth Freak Jontom Xire
Paul Muad'Dib
The Bookworm
Tired 'N Drowzy

Aliases:
Jack Simon
Kirei
Lucas Morrison
That guy
The Ninja King
Wallace Link Jr.


Day 7 begins

[Jontom Xire]

Whoo hooo. I'm still alive. And a pity about Mustiado. He was promising to work with me.

[Elder Tsofu]

Hm, the player-list gets shorter and shorter.
Well, I'm still on it - and I intend to stay there. :smallamused:

Ethan should have known better than to stretch his luck.

[Mustiado]

The only night I take an offensive action, and I get amplified killed? BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. :smallmad:

[cd4]

I scried Mustiado when he had disguised himself and thought that it was an amusing scry to post when he was dead and it didn't matter whether it revealed anything, so here it is:


Mustiado scries as a commando called 'Mork', working for, uhh, the planet Ork. He's also armed with a spork covered in cork. No joke.
He's in Tokyo.

[Elder Tsofu]

Man, will this day never end? :smallbiggrin:

[Freshmeat]

Day 7 ends
Katana News: The Weather

"Against all expectations, today, the 8th of June 1994, will go down in history as one of the hottest and longest days in China and Japan since the great summer of 1956. Our weather stations report temperatures upwards of 42 degrees, although most meteorologists are more concerned about the unusual length of the day. Leading expert Haki Oranzo had this to say:

"It's highly unusual, even under the current circumstances, that we get so many hours of sunlight during one single day. Normally, the sun goes down at least seven to twelve hours earlier. We are at a loss as to what may have caused this unusual phenomenon, but some believe that the nuclear tests executed by our northern neighbours in the Kremlin may have caused the climate to go 'a little wonky'."

Despite Oranzo's theory, there are several meteorologists who describe his explanation as 'bogus'. Tiaoi Makarate of the National Weather Institute simply claimed that "...the idea that today's sundown got 'delayed' by several hours is simply ridiculous. Our climate, or anyone else's climate, simply doesn't work that way! Who the hell comes up with that kind of crap?!"

Regardless, reactions concerning this unusual phenomenon were mixed. Plenty of people enjoyed the warmth, whereas others cried "this is the longest day ever!" and "man, will this day never end?!"

We will undoubtedly hear more of this as plenty more experts consider the cause and after-effects of this most unusual day."


Summary:
Lucas Morrison has traveled to another city.


Night 8 begins

[Elder Tsofu]

Haha, good one Freshmeat. ^^

[Wreckingrocc]

Agreed.Filler

[Freshmeat]

((Sorry for the late update. Wasn't feeling too well yesterday.))


Night 8 ends
The Ninja King stood guard outside a shady-looking warehouse at the docks. Most that knew him found his chosen moniker rather odd, considering he was neither a ninja nor a king, but few dared to point this out to him. After several boring hours of standing watch, he heard something rustle behind him. When he turned around to investigate, he stood eye to eye with Kirei, who sprang forward with a katana and stabbed the Ninja King in the gut. Kirei then pushed his victim aside and entered the warehouse.

As the Ninja King lay there, bleeding to death, reaching for his submachinegun, another figure appeared - none other than Lucas Morrison. He walked up to the dying man and shot him twice in the chest and once through the head, before disappearing as suddenly as he had arrived.

Meanwhile, Jack Simon was inspecting a shipment of weapons inside the compound, casually twirling a golden gun around his finger. He'd escaped two assassinations earlier today already, when Wallace Link Jr. did a drive-by shooting just as he exited a restaurant. What caught him completely by surprise was that Wallace Link Jr. actually drove back and tried to shoot Jack Simon again when his first assassination attempt failed. Fortunately, the second one didn't kill Simon either. Still, Jack was somewhat confused by this unusual practice. Drive-by shootings were usually a one-way only affair. If you fail to kill your target, you don't just try again, right? You just don't do that. It's like there an unwritten rule against that.

As he was considering all of this, Jack Simon almost didn't hear Kirei sneaking up on him. He spun round quickly and fired a bullet at his attacker, striking him squarely in the heart, but to his horror, this failed to stop Kirei.
"Did you really think that would stop me?" Kirei mocked, revealing a metal sheet underneath his combat vest. "I stole that trick from a Clint Eastwood movie, and what do you know, it worked!"
With a swift kick, he pushed Simon down on the ground. Then, in one smooth arc, Kirei brought his katana down once more and stabbed Jack Simon straight in the chest.


Summary:
Someone was baned tonight.
That guy set up an ambush, but none of his intended targets attacked him.
Wallace Link Jr. tried to assassinate Jack Simon, believing him to be Paul Muad'Dib. The attack failed.
Wallace Link Jr. tried to assassinate Jack Simon, believing him to be Aemoh. The attack failed.
Kirei tried to assassinate Jack Simon., believing him to be Aemoh. The attack succeeded.
Kirei tried to assassinate The Ninja King, believing him to be Paul Muad'dib. The attack succeeded.
Lucas Morrison tried to assassinate The Ninja King, believing him to be Paul Muad'dib. The attack succeeded.



Jack Simon (Aemoh) was killed in Shanghai.
He was Fransisco Scaramanga, a Mercenary Assassin working for the ICBM.

The Ninja King (Paul Muad'dib) was killed in Shanghai.
He was a Mercenary Commando working for the ICBM.


A rogue agent (or equivalent commando flying solo) has completed all of his objectives.
He has decided to stay in the game for now*, but can leave the game during any day phase.
He will still lose, despite completing his objectives, if he gets himself killed before the game ends.

* presumably to satisfy an unquenchable thirst for bloodshed

Players & Aliases:
The Departed:
billtodamax / Robert Jones - Mr. 47, Mercenary Rogue Assassin [killed night 2]
Fleeing Coward / Conrad Jupiters - Yakuza Thug [killed night 3]
Geesi / The Narrator - O-Ren Ishii, Yakuza Leader / Assassin [killed night 4]
RedScholarGypsy / Fone Bone - Purple Lotus Triad Secret Agent / Blue Dragon Triad Rebel Leader [killed night 4]
cd4 / Wai Con - Brad Whitaker, ICBM Faction Leader / Saboteur [killed night 4]
Thufir / Tamburlaine Reynolds - IMF Infiltrator [killed night 4]
Murska / Shagi Yamura - The Bride, Tough Rogue Assassin [killed night 4]
TehSheen / Matt Thissen - Pan Lee, Purple Lotus Triad Faction Leader / Secret Agent [killed night 5]
Ziren / Michael Weston - Purple Lotus Triad Secret Agent / Blue Dragon Triad rebel [killed night 5]
Dr. Bath / Yuzuna Takenaka - Johnny Mo, Yakuza Thug [killed night 6]
Mustiado / Ham Thistleneck - Ethan Hunt, IMF Con Man [killed night 7]
Paul Muad'Dib / The Ninja King - ICBM Mercenary Commando [killed night 8]
Aemoh / Jack Simon - Fransisco Scaramanga, ICBM Mercenary Assassin [killed night 8]

The Living
Players:
Elder Tsofu
Opeth Freak Jontom Xire
The Bookworm
Tired 'N Drowzy

Aliases:
Kirei
Lucas Morrison
That guy
Wallace Link Jr.


Day 8 begins

[Elder Tsofu]

You Both were ICBM?!

Mwahahahahahahaha. :smalltongue::smallbiggrin:

But I'm a bit disappointed that you didn't even try to kill me. :smallannoyed:

[Murska]

I knew it!

[Elder Tsofu]

Knew what? :smallwink:

[Murska]

That Aemoh was one of my targets.

[Elder Tsofu]

Out of curiosity - did you get any network up and running?
I think you sent out a pm early in the game about it.

[Murska]

Let's just say that on the day I died me and a few allies knew the alias/name combinations of 11 of the players and had strong suspicions about two others, knew the roles of all but three of the players and had suspicions about all of those three, were linked through associates to over half of the living playerbase and knew the locations of everyone in the game.

[Elder Tsofu]

Pretty much an "aye" then. ^^
It seems like Shanghai was a really fortunate event for the surviving players. :smalltongue:

[RedScholarGypsy]

You knew Aemoh was your target, Murska, but I knew that both of those mercs were working for ICBM. But yeah, If Shanghai didn't happen...oh well:smallsigh:.

Also, Freshmeat, perhaps a request? If the player says that s/he'll get amplified killed from a name/alias combo and uses both ambushes, and is right, could there at least be a chance of surviving? I knew Geesi had me and could do nothing but go Spike/Vicious. I do worry that if an amp killer makes it to the endgame, they can pretty much autowin.

Note: This could be biased as I did get amp killed so if it seems sour grapes please tell me. I don't think I'm bitter, but who knows/

[Elder Tsofu]

Sounds like we were in the same position - just that my assassin for some obscure reason didn't even try to get me.

It does sting a bit that the amp kill is so powerful, not even a void stop it.
To put it to the level of a gang-attack as RSG says would probably even the field a little.
Or maybe change it so the assassin get some sort of debuff that night or the night after. (Maybe something like the commando, if amp-kill is used together with an ambush the amp-kill or ambush get one extra day of cooldown - to add a bit more risk into it)

Hm, maybe you could have a "form ambush" option - two people doubles up and can defend against 3 predetermined aliases instead of two?

[Freshmeat]

It's a fair point, and one that others have pointed out to me as well. This version did/does have a fairly high number of assassins so I'm not sure how often it'll prove to be a problem, if at all, but it's something I'd prefer to deal with nonetheless. I've been playing around with an ambush-related idea myself, and might do something like this for WESP III:

Amplified Ambush (available to all, choose one of the following):

Amplified Range: same as normal ambush, but choose 4 targets instead, rather than 2 [increases ambush cooldown by 1]
Amplified Power: same as normal ambush, but also counters amplified kills and negates voids [increases ambush cooldown by 1]
Amplified Aggression: same as normal ambush, but also triggers on enemies who are in the same city as you and try to assassinate you (= your alias) but link it to a wrong player name [increases ambush cooldown by 2]
(a variant which uses two night actions rather than one seems interesting as well)

I also intend to change the effect of a successful amplified kill cooldown to something like 'decrease your current amp kill cooldown by 1 [or perhaps 2]' so as to avoid chainkills. But most of the planned changes are still in the planning stages and merely amount to brainstorming. For example, the above ambush change might interact poorly with commando's ambush versatility power. The only things that are set in stone are a nerf to assassins and a buff to thugs, and a rewording of certain rules so they're less confusing. I'll review it in full when this game is over.

[Elder Tsofu]

Hehe, just make sure that you don't have to send a manual to the players when WEIII launch. :smallwink:

Interesting possible changes, and they come at a price which is good.
If the commando clash with the changes you could always change the commando if it leads to better overall game-play.

Nice to see a buff to the thugs, I felt quite blind with one personal scry/night - I can only imagine what it would have been with half of that.
(But my class had abilities which compensate more than enough for that)

[Jontom Xire]

<Points at Aemoh and does the "I told you so" dance>


I was extremely curious why Aemoh was so confident in all his PMs to me. Here's an excerpt:







I'm fairly sure you are the assassin Jack Simon and currently in Shanghai. I am not the only one who knows this.

You have a very powerful enemy who knows exactly who you are. I have enemies too. We can help each other. I can help you to survive one more night if, in return, you help me by killing someone.

Oh, and since you used up your ambush tonight, you are vulnerable.

I knew I was forgetting to reply to my *** friend.

But anyways, I don't need you dead. Point of fact, I think basically everyone on my kill list is now dead, heh.

As for me dying tonight, I wouldn't count on it. I'm very slippery.

But yeah, I'm fine with teaming up with you for the moment. Who you need dead-ed though?

Just out of interest, who is on your kill list?

*********************

EDITED


******* is probably the best plan.

Unless you have a better one.

Bah. I don't need PLT dead, just their former leadership. And I don't need you dead, just that lieutenant of yours, the late Johnny Mo. Oh, and naturally, the IMF. And the late Bride as well.

The last one on my list is Elder Tsofu, aka Sam Fisher.

As for a plan... well, kill Elder Tsofu. Not much of a plan I admit, but I don't really need one. He's welcome to try and kill me first. Doubt he'll have much luck.

As for your targets, well, I'll look into it.

Also, concerning your plan, if you think they will try and kill you tonight it's probably best to leave if you can then, don't you think? But you can't though, since you're *****, no?

If you try and kill Elder Tsofu tonight you'll wind up dead. I can guarantee that. EDITED

So working together we both win. If you don't work with me then you end up dead.

Is that fair?

Sounds fair, yes it does. But I don't think I will be following this plan of yours at the moment.

See, I have confidence in my ability to not die. Once Elder Tsofu is dead I will have completed all my objectives. Afterwords, I won't have a problem helping you.

He had me very very confused. I actually thought he did have something up his sleeve, but it turns out he didn't.

I too am surprised he didn't try to kill Elder Tsofu though.

[Ziren]

*scrubed*

Erm... did you just post the identity (though luckily not the alias) of a player who is still in the game?

I doubt that it makes much of a difference right now, as all the other players most likely already knew who he was. But still, bad form.

[Dr. Bath]

Jontom is still in the game, so fair play, I would say.

[Elder Tsofu]

Jontom is still in the game, so fair play, I would say.

I agree with Bath, as long as you're in the game pretty much anything is fair play. If not then cooperation and backstabbing would be severely cut down. :smalltongue:

And by revealing an other player you can pretty much reveal yourself this late in the game - so it is a strategic mistake from the poster.

[Wreckingrocc]

Except, in being only four people left in the game, I think everyone already knows who everyone else is.

That's pretty awesome that the ICBM just wanted all leadership dead, though. Quite unique.

Though I feel like we had the hardest objective :P So many to kill...

[Elder Tsofu]

That's pretty awesome that the ICBM just wanted all leadership dead, though. Quite unique.

They had at least one rival with almost the same objectives... :smallwink:

[Wreckingrocc]

You... Monster! You didn't!

That's it. After the game, if we both win and survive, meet me on Mount Fuji. We're settling this, Man to Man. :smallwink:

[Jontom Xire]

Yeah, we had quite a lot to kill too, and some bad luck too.

As for the rest, I was kinda surprised that Aemoh didn't seem to know my alias. As a thug I get the least scries yet I was identifying alias name pairs ages ago and now know completely who everyone is and exactly where they all are. Tired 'n Drowzy is "That Guy" in Hong Kong and The Bookworm is "Wallace Link Jr." in Tokyo. I also correctly guessed who Aemoh and Paul Muad'Dib were. I had a 50-50 chance, but even so got it exactly right. Psychology.

So now you can all go kill each other. Feel free to do so. :smallbiggrin:

I've been wanting to post people's aliases for ages, but couldn't without giving myself away. However I'm fairly sure that everyone knows who everyone else is by now anyway. And after my failed kill on Dr Bath I reckon everyone knows who I am too. In fact I'm surprised I'm still alive.

[Freshmeat]

Day 8 ends

From [classified] to [classified]
Concerning our [classified] in [classified]

Dear [classified],

Despite repeated attempts to establish contact with [classified] we have not yet heard of [classified] for at least [classified] hours. From our sources in [classified] (such as [classified] and [classified]) we have received word that Operation [classified] was a [classified]. However, despite the apparent [classified] of Operation [classified], Agent [classified] failed to be present at the designated extraction point. Our analysts are currently investigating the matter, and are primarily keeping the following five possibilities in mind:

- Agent [classified] was taken hostage or killed in action.
- Agent [classified] may have defected to [classified], [classified] or [classified].
- Agent [classified] may have already defected to any of the factions named above prior to Operation [classified]
- Agent [classified] has gone rogue for reasons as of yet unknown.
- [classified] and [classified] [classified], but [classified]. So, [classified] [classified] sideways.

We of the [classified] Department will keep you posted every [classified] hours until this matter is cleared up.

Yours sincerely,
[classified]

Summary:
Kirei moved to another city.
That Guy moved to another city.


Night 9 begins

[Elder Tsofu]

Hehe, I wonder if they couldn't have saved themselfs the trouble and just handed over a note with the word [classified] on it. :smallwink:

But what the heck is that last line:

- [classified] and [classified] [classified], but [classified]. So, [classified] [classified] sideways.

I'm probably going to go nuts figuring out that line...

[Freshmeat]

Night 9 ends
That Guy gripped his wakizashi tightly. At night, the streets of Shanghai were eerily quiet. Ever since the long string of murders that took place there, most citizens had decided to flee to safer regions. But rumor had it that Lucas Morrison was in town, so he had no intentions of leaving Shanghai just yet.

After an intense search that would put Batman to shame, That Guy finally tracked down Lucas to an abandoned warehouse at the docks. He snuck in through a window and crept closer, hoping to catch his quarry unaware. And with success! After a few minutes of sneaking about, he saw Lucas Morrison up ahead, apparently busy with cleaning his gun.

For a moment, That Guy pondered whether he should stab Lucas in the back or slit his throat, but then decided to play things safe and reached for the handgun inside his pocket instead. Better to shoot him now than risk making any noise when moving closer. After taking careful aim, he gently squeezed the trigger.

*thud!*

That doesn't sound much like a bullet hitting fl- That Guy thought before someone kicked his gun aside, took hold of his arm and threw him in the ground with a judo move. Realizing that the figure up ahead must've simply been a wooden decoy or something, and that this sudden assailant therefore must be the real Lucas Morrison, That Guy feverishly sliced his blade left and right as he stood up, to no avail. A powerful kick brought him off-balance and the follow-up haymaker sent him back down to the ground. As That Guy laid there, half-groggy from the beating he just received, Lucas walked over to the gun his opponent had dropped earlier, picked it up and emptied it in That Guy's chest without so much as a word.


Summary:
That Guy tried to assassinate Lucas Morrison, believing him to be (That Guy was ambushed by Lucas Morrison)
Lucas Morrison tried to assassinate That Guy, believing him to be Tired 'N Drowzy. The attack succeeded.


That Guy (Tired 'N Drowzy) was killed in, you guessed it, Shanghai.
He was a Secret Agent working for the Purple Lotus Triad.
He was also secretly a Red Dragon Triad rebel.

Players & Aliases:
The Departed:
billtodamax / Robert Jones - Mr. 47, Mercenary Rogue Assassin [killed night 2]
Fleeing Coward / Conrad Jupiters - Yakuza Thug [killed night 3]
Geesi / The Narrator - O-Ren Ishii, Yakuza Leader / Assassin [killed night 4]
RedScholarGypsy / Fone Bone - Purple Lotus Triad Secret Agent / Blue Dragon Triad Rebel Leader [killed night 4]
cd4 / Wai Con - Brad Whitaker, ICBM Faction Leader / Saboteur [killed night 4]
Thufir / Tamburlaine Reynolds - IMF Infiltrator [killed night 4]
Murska / Shagi Yamura - The Bride, Tough Rogue Assassin [killed night 4]
TehSheen / Matt Thissen - Pan Lee, Purple Lotus Triad Faction Leader / Secret Agent [killed night 5]
Ziren / Michael Weston - Purple Lotus Triad Secret Agent / Blue Dragon Triad rebel [killed night 5]
Dr. Bath / Yuzuna Takenaka - Johnny Mo, Yakuza Thug [killed night 6]
Mustiado / Ham Thistleneck - Ethan Hunt, IMF Con Man [killed night 7]
Paul Muad'Dib / The Ninja King - ICBM Mercenary Commando [killed night 8]
Aemoh / Jack Simon - Fransisco Scaramanga, ICBM Mercenary Assassin [killed night 8]
Tired 'N Drowzy / That Guy - Purple Lotus Triad Secret Agent / Red Dragon Triad rebel

The Living
Players:
Elder Tsofu
[S]Opeth Freak Jontom Xire
The Bookworm

Aliases:
Kirei
Lucas Morrison
Wallace Link Jr.


Day 9 begins


((I'll be updating as soon as I get all actions now (what with there only being three players left), so make sure that whatever you send in is final. Feel free to PM me when you already know you won't be doing anything during a day or night phase.))

[Jontom Xire]

I am so glad I used my ambush :smallbiggrin:

Well that night went more or less as planned. Except in one regard.

[Wreckingrocc]

Well, called that one.

Thanks for bailing on me, Elder. :smallannoyed:

[Elder Tsofu]

Hush, Jontom isn't supposed to know that. :smallsigh:
And I'll wait till morning to make plans (and think more clearly), it isn't like Bookworm is in a vulnerable position anyway...

[Wreckingrocc]

...Whoah, did you just arbitrarily betray me? Damn, I feel unloved :(

[Elder Tsofu]

Sigh, no - it will be almost impossible to lead Jontom to his death now he knows I'm on TB's side.

[Jontom Xire]

Huh! Now I feel doubly lucky! And unlucky at the same time. :smallconfused:

So, two against one, but at least that's better than three against one.

You know, Elder Tsofu, you would be better off staying out of this one. You've already won, if my calculations are correct, so you risk losing after all if you get involved.

[Freshmeat]

Day 9 endsAnd now for a special bulletin:
After a cutthroat campaign that has spanned the previous couple of months, David Palmer has been elected as the new president of the United States of America. In his inaugural speech, he has vowed to combat widespread corruption, improve relations with the USSR and centralize military spending. The latter is a clear jab at the surge of private military companies which have appeared all over the USA in the past few years, typically backed by a variety of corporate cartels. Notable industrialists such as Hugo Drax and Willard Whyte have already expressed their doubts about Palmer's capabilities and fear that his time in office will leave a considerable gap in national security.

David Palmer's stance on the recent troubles China and Japan has faced is unclear and many theorize that he is merely sitting things out before committing himself to any faction present. So far, he has publicly denied any US involvement in the conflict in the Orient.

Summary:
Kirei has moved to another city.
Lucas Morrison has moved to another city.
Wallace Link Jr. has moved to another city.


Night 10 begins

[Jontom Xire]

Whoah. That was much quicker than I expected! I barely got my action in in time and was expecting to need to change it!

In other news, I'm unlikely to be able to get online over the weekend. If I survive tonight then I'll either have won or be dead or be unable to travel during the next day, so I shouldn't mind missing the next day phase, but in the case where I'm alive and haven't won yet I'll need some time to do diplomacy and planning and stuff, so that time might be very useful. I get back online Monday morning. An extension would be nice if necessary.

[Elder Tsofu]

Don't worry about my safety Jontom, I feel that you have enough with worrying about your own. :smallwink:
And who wouldn't trade their place on the sideline to be able to join the game? :smallconfused:

[Jontom Xire]

That was meant to be a veiled threat, you know, "stay away from me or else" kind of thing.

:smallbiggrin:

[Elder Tsofu]

So was mine. :smalltongue:

[Freshmeat]

Night 10 ends
The night was quiet. Lucas Morrison found a poisoned spider in between his bedsheets but disposed of it easily (the spider, not the bed sheet) and went to bed.

Other than that, nothing much happened. For the first time in many days, everyone lived through the night.

Summary:
Kirei set up an ambush, but none of his intended targets attacked him.
Wallace Link Jr. tried to assassinate Lucas Morrison, believing him to be Jontom Xire. The attack failed.


Day 10 begins

[Freshmeat]

((Considering I've got all day actions of those who had the option to move today...))


Day 10 ends

Summary:
Kirei has moved to another city.


Night 11 begins

[Elder Tsofu]

Congratulations to the shortest day in history. :smallcool:

[Freshmeat]

Night 11 ends
Wallace Link Jr. stands guard near his own house, hidden behind a bush, hoping to catch any assassins by surprise. Several bottles of whiskey lie next to him, as if to keep the Scotsman company. Cigarette butts litter the ground all around him, with many more on their way.

Patiently, Wallace waits and waits, but as dawn breaks, it becomes clear that another uneventful night has passed by.

Summary:
Wallace Link Jr. set up an ambush, but none of intended targets attacked him.


Day 11 begins

[Jontom Xire]

Whoohoo!!!!

So, now all I have to do is make sure I'm in the same location as The Bookworm tonight and I have won!

I can't believe I am doing as well as I am, all things considered. I've been very very lucky somehow, even though it seems like in many ways I've been very unlucky.


I'm also surprised that The Bookworm didn't set up an ambush for the previous night! He couldn't be sure that we weren't in the same location, and he also couldn't be sure, if we were in the same location that I wouldn't try to assassinate him, going for a mutual kill. To be honest, Night 10 was a much better choice for an ambush, because that way he protects himself if we were in the same location, and if we're not, neither of us can travel so it will have cooled down by the time we can travel (today).

[Freshmeat]

Day 11 ends

Summary:
No one moved today.

(apparently everyone made the metagame decision not to move today :smalltongue:)
(remember: you can always speed up day/night cycles by notifying me by PM even if you don't intend to do anything during any given phase)


Night 12 begins

[Wreckingrocc]

How is this game still not over...?

Elder Tsofu needs only Personal Scry one of the two remaining people the night after they move, and move in the next day for the kill. Otherwise, I don't see why he doesn't just leave and take the victory.

On another note, can I sign up for the next game, or WESPIV if III is full? :smalltongue:

[Elder Tsofu]

You have a point, hm why didn't I think of that? :smallconfused:

[Wreckingrocc]

...So I died because I didn't state my point clearly enough? :smalltongue:

[Ziren]

On another note, can I sign up for the next game, or WESPIV if III is full? :smalltongue:

I'd like to reserve a spot as well and will hopefully survive more than one night this time.

[Jontom Xire]

How is this game still not over...?

Elder Tsofu needs only Personal Scry one of the two remaining people the night after they move, and move in the next day for the kill. Otherwise, I don't see why he doesn't just leave and take the victory.


Won't work unless the same night as Elder Tsofu scries, that person uses their ambush. That hasn't happened yet.

Freshmeat, I'd like to go chat that cute girl at the Sushi bar up as my night action, please. Again. Let's see if I can't get a bit further than last night.

:smallbiggrin:

[Wreckingrocc]

Won't work unless the same night as Elder Tsofu scries, that person uses their ambush. That hasn't happened yet.Except that he can assassinate...

[Freshmeat]

@ TnD & Ziren: All right, I've put both of you on the reserved list for WESP III.


Night 12 ends
Once again, the night is quiet. Somewhere, a man in a sushi bar strikes up casual conversation with a waitress. They decide to go out and see a romantic comedy later that night. One starring Meg Ryan and Hugh Grant. :smalltongue:

Elsewhere, a pizza is delivered.*

* makes sense in context

Summary:
Nothing happened.


Day 12 begins

[Elder Tsofu]

I must say that I'm very pleased with the "Freshmeat corporation" - they've managed all my orders with ease. :smallsmile:

[Murska]

Oh, right. I wish to join the next game aswell, although I'll give newcomers priority.

[cd4]

If we are starting the reserves for the next one then I would like to reserve a spot.

[Fin]

Can I please reserve a spot, with Cake?

[The Bookworm]

Spot for me as well, please.

[Elder Tsofu]

Maybe we should go at the world next time - 3 continents with say 3-4 cities each (where 2 connect to an other continent, so all of them are connected) and lots of players. :smalltongue:

Edit: And send in those actions people so we can end this game already. :smalltongue:

[Murska]

Maybe we should go at the world next time - 3 continents with say 3-4 cities each (where 2 connect to an other continent, so all of them are connected) and lots of players. :smalltongue:

Edit: And send in those actions people so we can end this game already. :smalltongue:

Imagine the horrible pain to Freshmeat's PM box that would entail? :smallbiggrin:

[Freshmeat]

No kidding. Although an actual 'world' game spanning several continents does sound pretty cool... :smallamused:

[Fin]

It could be a case of three co-narrators each taking charge of a continent each, that way each co-narrator will only be doing the work of one narraor in this game :smallwink:

[Elder Tsofu]

that way each co-narrator will only be doing the work of one narraor in this game :smallwink:

Until all players decide to huddle at one continent. :smalltongue:

But it would probably be quite hard to find players for 3 continents - would probably be better with 2.
Ex. North and South America.

or something.

[RedScholarGypsy]

I'd like a slot in next game, and UI think you need to return to at least 4 cities, otherwise early alliances can make local scries into all-city scries with data trading

[Freshmeat]

I'd like a slot in next game, and UI think you need to return to at least 4 cities, otherwise early alliances can make local scries into all-city scries with data trading

It's a possibility I'm certainly considering, but I'll discuss this at length at the end of the game.


Day 12 ends

Summary:
Kirei has moved to another city.
Lucas Morrison has moved to another city.


Night 13 begins

[Elder Tsofu]

And so it begins.

[Freshmeat]

Night 13 ends
Wallace Link Jr. clutches his rifle tightly as he once again sits out in the cold, on the lookout for those that would seek to murder him. After waiting for several hours, he dozes off, but is awoken shortly thereafter by the sound of breaking glass. With a jump, he springs into action, running towards the direction of the noise. He aims his rifle in improbable and impractical ways as he rounds corners and performs a couple of unnecessary combat rolls too (because that's how things are done!), until at last he finds... no one?

Instead, Wallace finds that someone has set his house on fire, most likely with a handful of molotov cocktails. The proud Scotsman tries valiantly to douse the flames, but to no effect. Cursing the heavens, he watches as everything burns down, including his only means of transport - a 4x4.
It's clear that whoever intruded on his property had no intentions of killing him just yet, but rather wanted to slow him down...

Summary:
Someone raided Wallace Link Jr.
Wallace Link Jr. set up an ambush, but none of his intended targets attacked him.


Day 13 begins

[Jontom Xire]

Didn't see that coming, did you! Muhahaha!!

Freshmeat, I'm gonna stay where I am, wait until nightfall. Then I'm going to ambush Wallace Link Jr, aka The Bookworm, and do an assassinate action on him too.

Game over unless Elder Tsofu interferes.

I love it when a plan comes together! :smallbiggrin:

[Elder Tsofu]

Bah, I might use my bane on Mr. Bookworm yet.
Just to spite you. :smalltongue:

[Freshmeat]

Day 13 ends
Tokyo Station:
Crowded even at this early hour, Tokyo Station stands proud at the center of Japan's most bustling metropolis. By some strange twist of fate it has eluded much of the conflict and assassinations of the past few weeks. Other cities, such as Shanghai, were not quite so fortunate. Cautious feelings of hope and optimism begin to resurface and a considerable portion of the populace indeed feels that the peaceful days of late are a sign of better times to come. Yet still there are cynics who believe that the terror has not yet reached its climax.

Amidst the crowd stands Kirei, casually holding a newspaper in his hand as he waits for his train to arrive. His thoughts drift back to the carnage he is in no small part responsible for as well, and a wry smile forms itself on his face. In the distance, he can see his train arriving, and almost instinctively he checks both of his pockets for the umpteenth time to ensure that he brought his silenced pistol and combat knife along.

After taking a long drag from his cigarette, he gives a final, wistful look at the city of Tokyo and boards the train.

One way or another, things were going to end tonight.

Summary:
Kirei has moved to another city.

Night 14 begins

[Murska]

You know, I'm thinking the continents might be interesting in the form of two games between which you have a bunch of connections(such as allied factions) and some (maybe not too easy) way to switch between them. That way if I end up in the same game as FC again I can try to flee. :smallbiggrin:

[Jontom Xire]

If I haven't already bagsed a space in the next game I would like to now.

This game is everything I thought it would be when I read the rules of the last one after I missed signup.

I spent the first few turns finding my feet, the next few turns feeling I'd had really bad luck and was about to die at any minute, the next few turns amazed at my luck, and then, thanks to some really nice allies, spent the rest of the game with an actual expectation that I might win.

Now, unless Elder Tsofu betrays me, I've won.

For those who haven't played yet, this is perhaps the game that requires the most skill of any on these forums. Diplomacy to make allies, analysis to work out who is who, psychology to help the analysis along, strategy, and so on and so forth.

My decision not to use ambush last night was based on psychology (predicting The Bookworm's action based on what I know about him), strategy (if I had used ambush I would need to rely fully on Elder Tsofu tonight to survive; now I don't need to), and diplomacy.

I have made mistakes, but also made achievements that had no effect. I successfully worked out who some people were through use of psychology as well as analysis and diplomacy (to get extra information), but they died before I could use the information.

I wish I had been playing since the start. Some of my allies might still be alive if I had.

Thanks to Freshmeat for an awesome game.

---

A few notes for improving the next game:

If you are down to two people who need each other dead, then it takes a great deal of luck or skill to win. If The Bookworm had guessed that I wouldn't use ambush last night I'd be dead. If I had used ambush then we would probably both be dead tonight after I raided him. If he had guessed I wouldn't use ambush and I had used it, he would be dead. The game becomes little more than paper-scissors-stone.

If there are more then three cities the end game becomes massively drawn out. Even with just three cities there have been days where nothing has happened as each player tries to guess where the others will go and decide to sit tight and hope the enemy comes to them. And with just two people you can easily end up with a really bad mutual wipeout situation, so it may be that people both try to avoid each other and the game lasts until the GM decides to call it a draw.

[Elder Tsofu]

You know, I'm thinking the continents might be interesting in the form of two games between which you have a bunch of connections(such as allied factions) and some (maybe not too easy) way to switch between them. That way if I end up in the same game as FC again I can try to flee. :smallbiggrin:

Hm, wouldn't it be nice to be able to truly "go rouge" for the people employed by the larger organisations?
And maybe even join the enemy (if you have contact with their leader or something).

One way to compensate for switching between areas would be to charge maybe a full nights actions for the trip?
And maybe have people going in the same direction know the alias of the other traveller? (long trips, larger chance of seeing each other)

Well, this games not officially over yet so maybe we should wait for that. :smallwink:

[Wreckingrocc]

I feel like, in future games, players who've won should just have to leave. Elder Tsofu has totally tipped the balance of this game, methinks, for better or worse on my team. It was 2v1, then he pretends to be both parties' allies simply so he can laugh at everyone (unless I'm really missing something). After I got a plan on board with him, he bails and I get killed for it (and I'm really thinking this one was intentional)...

So, I think 3 main points should be addressed next game.

1) Assassins and Commandos should lose a great deal of power. It seems ridiculous that they can just bolt around every day and automatically kill, provided they know aliases. The power level is exceedingly prominent.

2) People who've won should win, and not be able to kill everyone else for lul'z.

3) There should be something to speed the game when it becomes a standstill like this. I think having an assassin, depending on him, and dying on his betrayals is the only thing that's moved this game around. If he kills Jontom Xire and Bookworm, too, he'll have killed at least half the players. Were he not an assassin, this game would have taken forever.

To fix problem the third, I really like the raid move available to thugs. Perhaps it would work if you anyone sent in a name and alias, and they were correct, it could delay transport for a day, but they wouldn't know about it until it's too late. Essentially, it'd be an ambush block.

I really like how the game played out, though. It was fun, and I felt extremely involved (though I was extremely hesitant to go for kills and got off to a late start).

The other thing that sorta threw me off, though, was when I successfully assassinated Jontom Xire on one of the really early days (might've been 5), but he got baned. The fact that the attack failed really, really threw me off. Perhaps it could have a different message, publicly displaying name only, and saying they were baned... To make it less unfair for determining if alias is completely correct, even, you could make any attacks against that person a failure in this manner.

Also, do I still win if I'm dead?

[Fleeing Coward]

Personally, been able to personal scry once every 2 days as a thug sort of sucked especially when your partner autos.
Murska, even if you escape to the moon, I swear I'll kill you next game :smalltongue:

[Elder Tsofu]

Well, personally I think the win-loss if you die might weigh up staying after the victory. :smallwink:
Being able to stay behind gives the opportunity to finish of old affairs and feuds - quite nice in my opinion.

And of course I semi betrayed you TnD, but I actually suggested you'd go to Tokyo instead of Shanghai - if you'd done what I suggested things might have played out differently. :smallwink:

The commando, well I can move every day - but I can only get one personal scry/night and can't disguise myself. As I was alone in the field I was a rouge anyway so I didn't get any extra bonus from this fact.
The every day ambush is quite nice, but it only make me invincible when I'm last and the other two aren't an assassin, super spy or a voider. And then I can't assassinate.

Alone commandos actually feel quite balanced in my opinion. (for what it is worth)

[Jontom Xire]

3) There should be something to speed the game when it becomes a standstill like this. I think having an assassin, depending on him, and dying on his betrayals is the only thing that's moved this game around. If he kills Jontom Xire and Bookworm, too, he'll have killed at least half the players. Were he not an assassin, this game would have taken forever.


You have been told, multiple times, that Elder Tsofu is a COMMANDO and NOT AN ASSASSIN. I know because Elder Tsofu has sent me copies of PMs between you and him in which you were saying things like "why don't you use your unstoppable assassinate ability on him" and Elder Tsofu replied that he couldn't because he was not an assassin.

Maybe if you paid more attention to the game you might have not died.

Even after you were dead you contradicted me on something I posted saying it would work because Elder tsofu could use his extra-power assassinate. An ability HE DOES NOT HAVE.



The other thing that sorta threw me off, though, was when I successfully assassinated Jontom Xire on one of the really early days (might've been 5), but he got baned.

Never happened. I have extensive notes from when I started playing. In fact, actually checking back I see that I must have gone and read the thread from the start because my notes date back to the start of the game. I won't post them all here, but for your benefit, here are your open actions:


Day 5: I travelled to Tokyo, "That Guy" also travelled.

Night 6:

Kirei tried to assassinate That Guy, believing him to be Jontom Xire. The attack failed.
That Guy tried to assassinate Ham Thistleneck, believing him to be Jontom Xire. The attack failed.

Night 8:

That guy set up an ambush, but none of his intended targets attacked him.

Day 8: Kirei and That Guy moved to another city.


My notes end there, pretty much. I think you died the following night and we were down to three and I had by then created a spreadsheet to track everyone's locations, so I didn't need the notes any more as I knew who everyone was.

[Trixie]

By the way, FM, will you mind if I borrow WE template for a (not that) similar game in the future?

[Elder Tsofu]

You have been told, multiple times, that Elder Tsofu is a COMMANDO and NOT AN ASSASSIN.

You've wanted to shout that out for a long time now haven't you? :smalltongue:

And the only bane in the game which I've seen is the one from me on me.

[Freshmeat]

If I haven't already bagsed a space in the next game I would like to now.

This game is everything I thought it would be when I read the rules of the last one after I missed signup.

I spent the first few turns finding my feet, the next few turns feeling I'd had really bad luck and was about to die at any minute, the next few turns amazed at my luck, and then, thanks to some really nice allies, spent the rest of the game with an actual expectation that I might win.

Now, unless Elder Tsofu betrays me, I've won.

For those who haven't played yet, this is perhaps the game that requires the most skill of any on these forums. Diplomacy to make allies, analysis to work out who is who, psychology to help the analysis along, strategy, and so on and so forth.

My decision not to use ambush last night was based on psychology (predicting The Bookworm's action based on what I know about him), strategy (if I had used ambush I would need to rely fully on Elder Tsofu tonight to survive; now I don't need to), and diplomacy.

I have made mistakes, but also made achievements that had no effect. I successfully worked out who some people were through use of psychology as well as analysis and diplomacy (to get extra information), but they died before I could use the information.

I wish I had been playing since the start. Some of my allies might still be alive if I had.

Thanks to Freshmeat for an awesome game.

That's quite the compliment. Much obliged.


3) There should be something to speed the game when it becomes a standstill like this. I think having an assassin, depending on him, and dying on his betrayals is the only thing that's moved this game around. If he kills Jontom Xire and Bookworm, too, he'll have killed at least half the players. Were he not an assassin, this game would have taken forever.

But Tsofu is not an assassin. And if he kills JX and Bookworm, he'll have killed 6 players, which is also not even close to being at least half of the 17 players.


Also, do I still win if I'm dead?

We're all winners here!
*cough*
What I meant to say was: you win as a faction, so if the Purple Lotus Triad wins the game, you'll win too, being a PLT member and all.


By the way, FM, will you mind if I borrow WE template for a (not that) similar game in the future?

Not at all. Go right ahead.


Night ends when I get the Bookworm's action since the game seems to be pretty much over. Tsofu already sent me his actions, and JX posted them in post #175 in this thread. I don't think the Bookworm can still affect the current outcome, but there may still be some unexpected changes and plot twists. Probably not though.

[Elder Tsofu]

Freshmeat!
Don't brutally crush TnD's image of me as an mass-murderer! :smallbiggrin:

My actions are as I sent them, I see no reason to change them. :smallsmile:

[Freshmeat]

Night 14 ends
In the midst of the night, Lucas Morrison is stalking the streets of Hong Kong, making his way towards a warehouse in the Kowloon district He knows Wallace Link Jr. has holed up there ever since the man's house was burnt down last night. Despite many attempts to mislead any pursuers on Wallace's part, Morrison tracked him down easily.

Confident that subtlety is unnecessary at this point, Lucas kicks down the door, gun drawn, and quickly makes his way through the compound. He shines his flashlight in every dark corner, in case Wallace still has any tricks up his sleeve. When he finally enters some sort of atrium in the warehouse, he finds Link standing in the middle of the room, completely unarmed. Apparently he has already resigned himself to his fate. Lucas ponders if he should say something witty, but then decides there's no point in doing so and puts two bullets in Wallace's head. To his surprise, Wallace is struck several times more, this time in the chest.

As if on cue, another figure approaches from the other side of the room, a silenced, smoking gun in his hand.

"Kirei!" Lucas shouts as the man's face comes into view.

Without skipping a beat, Kirei raises his handgun again and fires off a quick shot at Lucas Morrison, but the Yakuza thug seems oddly agile and jumps aside easily. Before Kirei can readjust his aim, Lucas draws a wakizashi and lunges forward. The blade catches Kirei right in the gut.
For a moment, Lucas pauses, looking Kirei right in the eye, his every action giving away the sheer malice that's driving the thug at this point.
Then, after readjusting his grip for a second, Lucas twists the blade and pulls it out in a crimson shower of blood. With a soft -thud-, Kirei, expert commando of the NSA, drops to the ground.

His face contorted by a wide grin, Lucas Morrison throws his wakizashi aside.

Just as planned!


***

Following the events of the all-out spy war in the streets of Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shanghai, the Yakuza emerged as the clear victors. In the weeks to come, they would tighten their grip on the populace, and crime rates soared. Before long, they would control all of the Orient, establishing their own puppet regime to keep up international appearances.

What little remained of the Purple Lotus Triad was wiped out in a string of assassinations and kidnappings under the rule of the Yakuza's new leader, Lucas Morrison. The IMF never dared set foot in the Orient again, fearful of another catastrophe. While rumours abound that their leader, Ethan Hunt, was killed in action, his body was never found...

The ICBM begrudgingly accepted a deal from the Yakuza to deliver and distribute weaponry and narcotics to all prominent cities in China and Japan, but without a solid foothold of their own in the Orient, their profits drop to an all-time low.

The NSA was more than a little surprised to at last hear word of their operative Sam Fisher, whom they hadn't heard of for several weeks since the destruction of the ICBM stronghold in Shanghai. They ultimately attributed his strange behaviour to post-traumatic-stress-disorder, but even so, most NSA operatives believe something more sinister was going on.

The Agency regretted the loss of their prized hitman, Mr. 47, but seem to have weathered the blow rather well. In fact, they were rather quick to announce that one of their newest assassin clones was ready for service.

As for the Bride... that last bullet actually put her in a coma...


Summary:
Lucas Morrison tried to assassinate Wallace Link Jr., believing him to be The Bookworm. The attack succeeded.
Kirei tried to assassinate Wallace Link Jr., believing him to be The Bookworm. The attack succeeded.
Kirei tried to assassinate Lucas Morrison., but was ambushed.
Kirei tried to assassinate Kirei, believing him to be Elder Tsofu. The attack succeeded. (*)

(*) he wanted to shoot himself with his free assassinate action for the Lulz, so yeah


Wallace Link Jr. (The Bookworm) was shot in Hong Kong.
He was a Secret Agent working for the Purple Lotus Triad.
He was also secretly a Red Dragon Triad Rebel Leader.

Kirei (Elder Tsofu) was stabbed in Hong Kong.
He was Sam Fisher, an NSA Commando.

Lucas Morrison (Jontom Xire) completed all of his mission objectives.
He was a Yakuza Thug.


The game has ended with the Yakuza as the victors!

Awards!

For all members of the Yakuza and JX in particular:
http://tf-2.fr/ach.php?a=Yakuza Victory&b=Win as the Yakuza in World Espionage II.&c=u&e=114&f=1&short
For Murska, who was the first to kill someone:
http://tf-2.fr/ach.php?a=First Blood, Part Two&b=Be the first to kill another agent in World Espionage II&c=u&e=313&f=1&short
For The Bookworm, for being lucky enough to survive Shanghai:
http://tf-2.fr/ach.php?a=Shanghai Survivor&b=Survive the Shanghai Massacre In World Espionage II&c=u&e=1212&f=1&short
For anyone else who happened to be in Shanghai on night 4:
http://tf-2.fr/ach.php?a=Shanghai Samurai&b=Take part in the Shanghai Massacre in World Espionage II&c=u&e=303&f=1&short
And, at last, for Elder Tsofu, for his valiant attempt at causing everyone to lose:
http://tf-2.fr/ach.php?a=Omnicidal Maniac&b=Winning is for losers anyway&c=u&e=1603&f=2&short


Thanks to everyone for playing!

[Elder Tsofu]

Hehe, congratulations Xire - you did win at last. :smallbiggrin:

Great job Freshmeat, this game just get better and better. :smallsmile:

[The Bookworm]

Yay! Good job, JX! Could we have a list of the goals of each side/role PMs etc?

[Murska]

I thought I had a pretty good protection going with one extra life, a few disguises now and then, someone attacking my name/alias in the wrong city and having almost everyone in the city I was in be my ally. Darn doublekill. :smalltongue:

[RedScholarGypsy]

The main problem Murska was we drew WAY too much attention to ourselves with the Hong Kong sweep early on. And you moved too often as well. Perhaps a special ability to move without it being declared. Heh, THAT'd screw with people.:smallamused:

[Jontom Xire]

Whoohoo! I really cannot believe I pulled it off. I was so sure after the first few nights that I had next to no chance. Thanks to Elder Tsofu for helping out so much. But seriously, ET, did you REALLY expect me to miss you out of my final ambush action? :smallbiggrin:

Great game everyone. I just wish I could have played from the start.

[Freshmeat]

Wall of text! Straight ahead!

Whew. Yet another eventful ride, all the way to the end. Suffice it to say that this game was a lot more complex than the previous one, with a host of new abilities and roles, more open-ended alliances and non-standard win conditions. On the whole, I'm rather pleased. A few roles will need reworking (more on that later) and I've already got a large portion of an improved ruleset ready for WESP III. But I'll detail the win conditions first.

I was a little disappointed with some of the inactivity. Particularly the Evil™ factions (ICBM, Yakuza) suffered from this. I probably won't be running a game around the holiday period again. Several other games had the same problem as well. Numerous abilities went largely unused which was also a bit annoying (Trixie inadvertedly summed up my feelings rather well in WW Central (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7732694&postcount=30) some time ago). But in the end, things still came down to the wire, so I can't really complain.

Murska, RSG and a few other Purple Lotus people created a veritable Death Star network around night 3, and had indeed figured out almost everything by that point. This was caused by most PLT members scrying eachother almost as early as the first night and pooling all of their resources from that point onwards. They were pretty spread out too, making local scries that much better. In addition, the Death Star network seemed to be able to get information from people who needed them dead too, which was rather surprising. Anyway, even if the circumstances factored in considerably, I'll still be keeping a more vigilant eye against the threat of such 'explosive networks'. But again, this, along with power blocs, will be discussed later.


Win Conditions:
As with the previous game, faction balance was based on several criteria such as the difficulty of their win conditions, their faction size, the amount of special roles they held, etc.

The Purple Lotus Triad: (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ZergRush)
The PLT can best be described as: "what if the SMERSH were good guys, but epitomized the zerg rush aspect even more, and all members were even more expendable. Oh, and actually were such an unruly bunch that they wanted each other dead too." The concept didn't quite come up in my head like that, but gradually took form, resulting in their current incarnation.

With a whopping 5 members, they were the biggest faction in the game. Sheer numbers can make a world of difference. As a predominantly ‘good’ faction, they had to kill the Yakuza, the ICBM and Mr. 47, which is about as clear-cut as it gets. They could cooperate freely with the IMF and the Bride, and pretty well with Sam Fisher too (to some extent). All members were basic secret agents. With the exception of Pan Lee, their faction leader, none of them held special roles or templates, which limited their options considerably. If anything, the lack of such special tricks did make the Lotus good networkers though. After all, thugs and commandos have scrying penalties, and mercenaries are often distrusted and never contacted at all.

Unfortunately for them, the Purple Lotus Triad lacked internal consistency big time. As the uneasy mixture of the Red and Blue Dragon Triad, they were facing a civil war among themselves.


MoM/Ziren and RSG belonged to the blue dragon triad and had the secondary mission objective to kill off all red dragon triad members.
TnD and The Bookworm belonged to the red dragon triad and had the secondary mission objective to kill off all blue dragon triad members.
Pan Lee (faction leader) was neutral in this war and had the secondary mission objective of bringing unity to the Purple Lotus Triad. He could do this by either eliminating all Blues, all Reds or both rebel leaders (The Bookworm and RSG).

Being a rebel or rebel leader didn't give you any special abilities, and all PLT members (rebels included) scried simply as PLT agents. Rebels were supposed to find their allies with a password system similar to that in Spytrap. I figured I'd add a twist, so I made the password laughably common. I opted for Hong Kong for the Reds and Shanghai for the Blues. Both passwords are so straightforward and simplistic, that I imagine most PLT members would be second-guessing every other use of either of these words, which were bound to show up in regular conversation constantly.

Most PLT members seemed wise enough to ignore the Red/Blue conflict and instead work together against their common enemies at the start of the game.

Pan Lee's faction radar was about average, and deliberately vague and ambiguous. It could pick up activity from assassins, commandos and detectives.


The IMF:
With a measly two members, the IMF was the smallest faction in the game. Faction size is pretty important, so this was a huge setback. Still, the IMF had unparalleled sneakiness and deception potential as both members were infiltrators (with one of them even being a con man). By virtue of the IMF being the clear ‘good guys’, they arguably had even better networking capabilities than the Purple Lotus. Their mission objectives were in fact precisely the same as the Purple Lotus, with the exception that their secondary mission objective was to bring unity to the Purple Lotus (similar to Pan Lee's secondary mission). Both IMF members knew each other at the start too, so they could coordinate their scries and deceptions more effectively. I was a little disappointed to see that Mustiado spent most of his disguise actions disguising himself as something silly, but all in all, it was rather amusing.

Despite their poor numbers, the IMF had a strong advantage in that no one in the PLT needed them dead which, in addition to their own numbers, ruled out 7 potential enemies right off the bat. But those that did hunt them would only need to strike once or twice to deal the IMF a very heavy blow.

Ethan Hunt had a radar which picked up commando activity.


The International Consortium of the Black Market
The ICBM had rather poor networking potential, at least where the other factions where concerned, what with two out of three members scrying simply as ‘mercenaries’ and their win conditions (presumably) involving killing lots of people (due to them being obvious ‘bad guys’). They had a commando which diminished their scrying potential a little as well.

Their strength laid in their highly capable personnel, including a saboteur, a commando and an assassin. As far as combat was concerned, they had plenty of options. Both mercenaries (the commando and the assassin) also knew each other at the start of the game. Brad Whitaker’s faction leader radar was also one of the better ones, being attuned to any actions performed by commandos and rogues.

Furthermore, the ICBM could outpace some of the other factions precisely because most of them were mercenaries. If Whitaker scried one of his own mercenaries early in the game, his faction leader template would cause him to know for certain that the person he scried was on his team indeed. The ICBM could then, once properly unified, use their superior abilities (voids, amp kills, banes...) all the more effectively against their opponents.

The ICBM had to kill all Purple Lotus leaders, the IMF, Johnny Mo, the Bride and Sam Fisher. They could cooperate freely with Mr. 47 and more-or-less okay-ish with the Yakuza. They didn't really play well with most people in the game as the ICBM was intended to be an opportunistic, self-serving, we-don't-need-your-help kind of faction, a concept that is witnessed in the Yakuza as well.


The Yakuza:
The Yakuza were the card-carrying bad guys. With 4 members, they were a semi-large faction who needed to kill all Purple Lotus Triad members, all IMF members & all enemy assassins. This meant that quite a few bridges would burn for them right off the bat. In this respect, their PR potential was even worse than the ICBM. Not a single player or faction in the entire game didn't have to hurt them one way or another to meet their mission objectives. None of the rogue agents would help them (although deals with Fisher weren’t out of the question, and a temporary agreement with Mr. 47 could perhaps be made too), which only left the ICBM as a somewhat-friendly faction to them (and even those relations were bound to be a little sour as both the ICBM and the Yakuza needed precisely one person dead of the other faction).

The Yakuza employed many thugs, which were somewhat underpowered. Inactivity didn't help either. Add to this that just about everyone hated their guts and the Yakuza had quite the drawback to overcome.

Undoubtedly, O-Ren had the best and most versatile faction radar in the game, which could be set to pick up any type of role or anyone belonging to a certain faction depending on what O-Ren wanted (excluding "Yakuza members"). One night it could be set to pick up assassins, the other night it could be set to pick up IMF members, whereas the following night it might help track down mercenaries. In addition, Johnny Mo had a bit of a bastardized radar as well (making the Yakuza the only faction with two radars) although his' was more restrictive. It only picked up Yakuza members. It functioned normally whenever Johnny Mo was in the same city as the one he chose to start the game in (Shanghai). If Johnny Mo was in a different city, the radar would only work every other night.

Lastly, the two regular Yakuza thugs knew each other's identities at the start of the game. When all of these advantages are combined, the Yakuza could still pose a considerable threat if they found eachother soon enough.


***

At this point you’ll note that two possible ‘power blocs' are present: the Purple Lotus/IMF and the ICBM/Yakuza. Trust was a big factor here. I consider the IMF Lotus coalition the weaker of the two, but they had a much easier time cooperating since their win conditions were exactly the same. The ICBM Yakuza were a lot stronger and had far more combat tricks at their disposal (unlike their adversaries they could bring assassins, commandos, saboteurs and thugs to the playing field) but had some internal beef to settle first (the ICBM wanted Johnny Mo dead whereas the Yakuza wanted Scaramanga gone). Rogues could join the fray as well to round out some of the more interesting abilities.

Ultimately, the idea of power blocs was merely optional and all factions had their strengths and weaknesses to come on out on top entirely of their own accord.


The Bride was a good-aligned tough assassin with rather straightforward objectives: kill all Yakuza and kill Fransisco Scaramanga. She could work freely with nearly every faction other than the Yakuza and (to some extent) the ICBM. However, she had the additional mission objective that whoever targeted her player name OR alias with an attack four times throughout the game (gang attacks and amplified kills excluded) would be put on her ‘to kill’ list. Thus, while the Bride had to kill the least enemies, she couldn’t afford to slack off or she’d be forced to kill an ever-increasing number of people. The last part of her win condition was, without a doubt, too easy since it never really came into play. This made the Bride a rogue agent with incredibly open-ended alliance possibilities.

Agent/Mr. 47 was a mercenary rogue assassin and an evil/neutralish-aligned counterpart who had to kill all leaders of the PLT (rebel leaders included), the IMF, O-Ren Ishi and the Bride. He could work perfectly with the ICBM, and - as long as O-Ren was dead - the Yakuza too. Too bad Mr. 47 died so soon.

Sam Fisher was somewhere in between. Other than the ICBM, a faction he needed dead in its entirety, he had to kill Johnny Mo, Mr. 47 and at least one of the two Triad rebel leaders. He could work well with the IMF, although his win conditions was designed in such a way that he could offer his services to nearly everyone in the game, depending on the circumstances. Relatively few people needed him dead, hence why - all things considered - his win conditions were a tad bit more difficult than the other rogue agents (although 47 could give him a run for his money). He was the only rogue who had a scrying penalty to overcome too, and he'd show up on faction radars pretty much constantly.


***

With all of that being said, here are a couple of things I'll be changing:

Thug penalties to scrying will get either reduced to that of a commando or removed altogether (still mulling it over).
Thugs will get a bonus to 'Disruption Actions' (which include Raid). Raid itself will get a buff.
Amplified kills will be removed. It's not so much that it's a real balance problem (although that factors in too), but that it's simply not considered a very fun ability. Assassins will still be good at killing people, but in a more interesting way, probably by using slow/immobilization effects and counters.
In an effort to spice up/speed up the late game, there'll be more trickery. Disguises will now be able to display fake locations too, in addition to a fake role. The Raid buff has already been mentioned. I've already toyed with the idea for some time now to include a Stealth Move action, and I think it might actually work without being too unbalancing if it comes at a large enough cooldown.
There will also be a basic night action called 'Speed Burst' which increases your movement speed for the next two days, allowing you to move every day as opposed to every two days. Rogues and commandos get a permanent Speed Burst effect (which isn't really a change, as they can already move at that speed right now). That way, the slower classes won't get (literally) outmaneuvered in the endgame and you won't get situations where two players end up in different cities twiddling their thumbs as they wait for their move actions to cool down.
Other things I'm still considering but which aren't set in stone yet are the ability to Lockdown cities, which ought to be particularly handy late in the game, and illusory effects that can replicate most abilities in the game. This includes move actions and ambushes.
More clearly structured rules. By WESP VIII, I aim to have the rules indistinguishable from a legal document.
Narrow, niche abilities that take too long to explain (gang attacks, the stalk ability, tracking devices) will probably be ditched.
Many of the questions from the FAQ or which have been asked me throughout the game will now be added somewhere to the rules.

[Jontom Xire]

I found Freshmeat's description of the factions fascinating, and his analysis too. I'm amazed that such a big network formed so early, had so much info, and yet came to nothing.

I thought, in light of Freshmeat's background info that people might be interested in a brief description of what happened to me.

I think I started day 3 or thereabouts. Certainly on Day 3 I opened communications with a few people, just feeling my way really. I believe by that stage I had not only had Freshmeat give me all of the intel from the person I was replacing and Fleeing Coward who he was in touch with from the start, but had also allowed me 50% (sort of) of the actions that were missed through inactivity. I also perused the previous thread making notes, and found that:


Yuzuna Takenaka was in the same city as Wallace Link Jr, then travelled to a different city then tried to kill him and failed.

This led me to think that the two were in cahoots and had a plan to try and disassociate Wallace Link Jr from his player name. Otherwise why move to a different city from your target before trying a kill attempt??? :smallconfused:

RSG replied to my PMs and gave me lots of useful info that, while not immediately useful, filled a few gaps allowing me to work stuff out a lot later.

Night 4, RSG gets shot. My first and only contact and he's dead. At that point I learn he was actually an enemy and probably wanted me dead. After that I was much more wary about making contacts.

Night 5, make a few kill attempts to try and rule out a few possibilities. To be honest, because of the lack of scries I have no idea who is who, and I am completely unaware that there is anyone who might be on my side. Freshmeat, for future games I think all agents should know that there are others out there, even how many, and perhaps code names like "Johnny Mo". So anyway I am believing that I am on my own, that there are many more factions than there really are (I believed my faction size was 2. Allowing other factions to be between 1 and 3 in size and then dividing the number of players by the average to get an approximate number of factions...), as far as I am concerned everyone is either an enemy or a neutral and even the neutrals may be helping enemies, so I just figure the more kills I get in the better as it clears the playing field.

Dr. Bath is my main target, simply because I have the most information about him. However I have also acquired enough information to allow me to kill TehSheen as Matt Thissen.

After Night 6, Elder Tsofu gets in touch. At this point I believe I have lost. My failed attempt on Dr Bath at the same time as an identical successful attempt clearly indicates to everyone that I am Yakuza and where I currently am. Moreover I cannot travel as the attack failed.

Elder Tsofu gives me lots of information, including that he thinks Lucas Morrisson (me) is someone else. I give away that he's wrong and in return get a few more driblets of info. I now have so much info I can cross out most possibilities of who is who. I start a spreadsheet to track it all. Also, by great chance I used one of my bonus "inactivity" scries on Elder Tsofu for night 3 and as far as I can tell he's completely neutral to me. I remain a little paranoid though.

After night 7 I get even more info. I also have a stroke of genius. Paul Muad'Dib is a flashy username, taken from a book. A very egotistical choice, really. There are two possibilites for his alias: Jack Simon and The Ninja King. So an egotistical person who picks the name of an all powerful warrior type guy would be more likely to pick "Jack Simon" or "The Ninja King" as an alias? The other alternative is Aemoh. A very non flashy name with no obvious allusions. BINGO! I pass the info to Elder Tsofu. That night they both die. I think ET got The Bookworm to cover the alternatives, but really ti wasn't needed. It turns out that both targets were enemies. That was lucky. They could have been more Yakuza, but after the death of Dr Bath I'm sure I'm the only one left. There are too few people left for it to be otherwise.

After night 8, from information received from Elder Tsofu, plus my own scries, I am now sure who everyone is, but I leave them marked as maybes in my spreadsheet. I still don't fully trust Elder Tsofu. My notes start becoming vague. I have by now added locations to my spreadsheet and updated it from my notes and as I know who everyone is the only question left is where they are and how to kill them. Elder Tsofu starts copying me on PMs from The Bookworm and Tired n Drowzy. Those guys just don't see what's coming. They don't put up ambushes when Kirei moves to their location, they trust everything that Elder Tsofu says, and Tired n Drowzy seems convinced that Elder Tsofu is an assassin even after ET explicitly states that he isn't in a PM. Is he even reading what is being written? ET and I are co-ordinating all actions by now. Killing Tired n Drowzy is like shooting fish in a bucket.

We then enter a game of bluff with The Bookworm who still trusts ET. I come up with a great plan but Elder Tsofu rejects it. His plan isn't bad, and less risky, I decide to go with it.

Before the penultimate night I realise two things. One I am fully dependant on Elder Tsofu, and Two, he probably has an ulterior plan. I also realise that the only reason he has to back me over The Bookworm is that I may be more fun to plot and scheme with. Not a great reason. I decide to take a chance and not use my ambush. The Bookworm has been behaving fairly predictably with his ambushes, so have I. I am sure he'll think I'll use mine and I'm sure he'll use his. So I break the pattern and don't use mine. I also have a backup plan in case Elder Tsofu protects The Bookworm the next night, but it's not great. I now believe that with Elder Tsofu not around I can take The Bookworm out without too much difficulty. The fear has gone.

Final day, The Bookworm is wide open. It's a relief. Waiting for the update, having left myself wide open and not even being sure exactly where ET is, it might all go wrong. I've taken a gamble and once the update comes in I know it paid off and I've won rather than lost. I've scried The Bookworm at least once, I double check all the roles, he's got nothing. I openly declare what I intend to do in thread. I then send an addendum to ambush Elder Tsofu by PM to Freshmeat. It doesn't cost me anything and better safe than sorry.

Final update. I have to re-read the post several times before it sinks in that it was Elder Tsofu and not The Bookworm that tried to attack me.

Muahahaha. Hoist by his own petard. If he had stuck to the deal he would still be alive. As I write this I realise that a lot of the "disagreements", if you can call them that, weren't due so much to the fact that discussing plans by PM is disjointed and slow, as to the fact that he never intended to go along with my plans and really did always have a very definite ulterior motive. It wasn't that he had already submitted another order and never got to change it, but that he never intended to do anything different. Luckily I never changed my actions in anticipation of him changing his. Paranoia rules!

[Aemoh]

Well... suppose I should say something too.

The night I died, I fully expected not to. I was supposed to baned that night. Also, I totally did try and amplify kill Elder Tsofu. I just didn't have all the info and choose the wrong alias :smallfrown:

Also, for the record, I took Jack Simon from the anime Darker than Black. Rather than go with his code name of November 11, I went with his civilian aliases Jack Simon. Don't ask me why :smalltongue:

[Elder Tsofu]

Final update. I have to re-read the post several times before it sinks in that it was Elder Tsofu and not The Bookworm that tried to attack me.

Muahahaha. Hoist by his own petard. If he had stuck to the deal he would still be alive. As I write this I realise that a lot of the "disagreements", if you can call them that, weren't due so much to the fact that discussing plans by PM is disjointed and slow, as to the fact that he never intended to go along with my plans and really did always have a very definite ulterior motive. It wasn't that he had already submitted another order and never got to change it, but that he never intended to do anything different. Luckily I never changed my actions in anticipation of him changing his. Paranoia rules!

If you didn't notice, I did assassinate myself - so I never intended to survive the night. :smalltongue:
I didn't expect you to actually not ambush me (why wouldn't you - duh), I just went along with the long list of actions I sent to Freshmeat which cowered the eventuality if you'd used your ambush the night before.

I was truly your pal until TnD died, then I just got annoyed of your (although true) ranting about them - so I decided that it would be fun to try and kill you and The Bookworm (substitute for TnD - I didn't like the fact that he never understood that I were a commando).

And my mistake was to assault you with my gun - up to this point my kills were successful knifings! :smallamused:

[Jontom Xire]

If you didn't notice, I did assassinate myself - so I never intended to survive the night. :smalltongue:

Yeah, I realised that, but I still foiled your plan!



I didn't expect you to actually not ambush me (why wouldn't you - duh), I just went along with the long list of actions I sent to Freshmeat which cowered the eventuality if you'd used your ambush the night before.

I realised that too, and that the true victory was the previous night by not using my ambush then. It's just that I almost didn't use my ambush on you and then was very very glad that I had.

[Elder Tsofu]

For the record, I'd use mine against you every day I could - I never trusted you more than say 20%. :smallwink:
But that might be due to that I judge others based on myself. :smalltongue:

And a comic strip which sum up my mindset at the end...
http://i681.photobucket.com/albums/vv173/Tsofu/Various/ga100225.gif

[Wreckingrocc]

See, then, that's where my confusion emerged. For some reason I remember, though I knew ET to be a Commando, that he was assassinating people. I was using the term "assassin" to refer to those with the super-assassination ability, which was crazily OP. The thing is, Elder Tsofu never actually said he didn't have an assassination ability, which I somehow got into my mind that he did have. Towards the end, I began to think Commandos might have a secret assassination ability for some reason. I actually did look over things quite a bit and piece them together, but being fricking betrayed by someone with no reason to do so is what got me. The double ambush is totally overpowered against anyone other than assassins and multiple thugs, too, by the way.

I feel like, had ET not existed, we'd have had that game, no doubt... That kinda pissed me off.

The other thing that screwed me was that I scried and contacted The Bookworm early on, but he didn't respond at all. I did it again later, for the same reaction. It wasn't until there were only 6 of us or so left that he finally started sending response PMs. Redscholargypsy also contacted ET and told him to tell me "Shanghai", so I managed to learn that password quite easily. I was trying to use it, as well as Hong Kong, to weed out Blues, but I was epically failing. The other thing that made me sad was the fact that nobody was really paying attention in my faction. They were either being blatantly obvious about the password (RSG), or not looking out for it in conversation. When ET stated "Not many left in Hong Kong now," I thought he might be referring to the subfaction. He was thoroughly confused. The fact that the password was so common made it too hard to weed out people who were actually trying to contact other PLT's.

For some reason, I also remember assassinating Lucas Morrison, not Ham Thistleneck :P And god dammit for that, too, as I'd narrowed you down to one of those two. Had I picked the other option, we would've had it.

Elder Tsofu, the fact that you did betray me says that, were I actually to head to Tokyo, you would've just sent JX there anyways. That's the stupid thing about third-parties; even if they have no incentive to betray you, they always do. This is not the first time this has happened to me in one of these games, and I've yet to actually be on a third party's good side. It just pissed me off that you got your info from me, and I helped you out, and you just arbitrarily pick the 50-50 side that I'm not on. Once objectives are done, at the very least, just leave.

Overall, I think being a secret agent sucked. Sure, I could scry quickly, but people can still disguise, and not being able to ransack, super-assassinate, or break ambushes was a huge hindrance. Top that with the fact that half of my faction wanted me dead, and we were pretty much screwed from the beginning. It also didn't help that Redscholargypsie died the night after I contacted him :smallsigh:

We essentially had to rely on other parties to help us get our kills, by the looks of it, as it's way too hard to kill people without any special abilities. I think I do have insight if there's another game, though.

I think it would do a lot for this game to go without regular secret agents. With all the potential ambushes, and people who could be after me, I was scared to move or try to assassinate. Being inactive for the first one or two days didn't really help either.

[Guancyto]

The Shanghai Slaughter just gets better with every post-game denouement.

cd4, I owe you a drink. And JX too for going the distance. You're right, this is probably the toughest game on this forum. Serious props for winning it for us.

TnD, this all seems less an issue of Tsofu being neutral and more of him being Tsofu. The man is the original loose cannon. <3

[Ziren]

Tired N' Drowzy, you're forgetting a couple of things:

1. Elder Tsofu didn't just betray you, he tried to betray everyone. So was hardly picking a side, he just tried to set it up in a way that would most likely allow him to kill everyone at the end of the game.

2. Him working together with JX on night 5 to kill two Triad members (including the leader) should have tipped you off that you couldn't count on his loyalty. You might have not known his alias by then, but certainly you found it out before you died?

3. I don't know the stance of the other Triad members, but I wouldn't have started killing people among my own ranks before all other targets were eliminated. That would be a really dumb thing to do, because I knew that even the red triad had mostly the same targets as me. Also, there wasn't any way for to identify the different rebels other than the password system, which was already useless by the time I entered the game.

[Wreckingrocc]

Yeah, I'm probably just bitter because I lost when I was so close... :smallsigh:

To be honest, I didn't really look back at who killed who. I almost started a spreadsheet, but for some reason decided against it.

And Tsofu really was only betraying the PLT towards the end, as he was giving our actions to JX... It wasn't very hard to call what he was doing after he pulled out and left me to die.

[Elder Tsofu]

TnD, you only have my word on it but I wouldn't have told Jontom to travel to Tokyo. :smallsmile: (and I think I actually didn't give him the info of where you travelled anyway)

That's the thing with me, I tried very hard to make all our plans so we didn't have to trust the other party (by ending up in the same city if we didn't need it and such) - just that it would be an favourable arrangement for both.
(that's why I travelled from Shanghai the day before so I didn't need to use my extra ambush and set my bane on an extra days cool down)

---

And by the way, I didn't trade any information I got from you to Jontom or the other way - that I didn't already know myself. I just hoarded it for my own benefit.
It wouldn't have mattered if you targeted right that night as you were in the wrong city, Jontom went to Tokyo (to meet up with Bath?) the day before - as I informed you when I asked you to sod of.

---

I didn't cooperate with Jontom on night 5, I just went after the first man I had identified for a long time. (Sorry Ziren, my spreadsheet pointed out that your alias had been inactive from the start - until you joined.)

If I hadn't existed you might have won, or might not - its hard to tell.

And sure, I gave him all the suggested PLT actions at the end as I more or less directed them myself...

---

And TnD you couldn't believe my trouble to get Jontom on the train as his damn paranoia made him jump of at regular intervals - for some reason he seemed to think that I betrayed him on daily basis. :smallsigh:

---

Edit: Bah Geesi - it was more or less a coincidence that I got these kinds of roles in the two games (operating under the same damn alias even). Murska might have influenced me a little, but I added my homicidal nature from the last WE...

But I fully expect to be high on certain peoples kill-list next game - but I'm waiting for you. :smalltongue:

[Jontom Xire]

For some reason, I also remember assassinating Lucas Morrison, not Ham Thistleneck :P And god dammit for that, too, as I'd narrowed you down to one of those two. Had I picked the other option, we would've had it.


That's why I kept notes.



That's the stupid thing about third-parties; even if they have no incentive to betray you, they always do. This is not the first time this has happened to me in one of these games, and I've yet to actually be on a third party's good side.


Try practicing your diplomatic skills. It's not just about being nice it's about knowing, or guessing, what the other person wants. I'm not great at it, I've been betrayed a lot, particularly by Murska. I've also been in situations where I got nothing useful because I and the other guy didn't trust each other.



Overall, I think being a secret agent sucked. Sure, I could scry quickly, but people can still disguise, and not being able to ransack, super-assassinate, or break ambushes was a huge hindrance.


Try being a thug then! Being able to raid - used once at the only time it ever might be useful. Being able to recognise team members - never useful all game. Being able to form gangs and attack in force - never useful all game. On top of that I got 1 personal scry every other day.



I think it would do a lot for this game to go without regular secret agents. With all the potential ambushes, and people who could be after me, I was scared to move or try to assassinate. Being inactive for the first one or two days didn't really help either.

No FEAR!!! I know how you felt though, but my attitude was to just play the game, dive in head first, and work my way through any problems later. I spent most of the game expecting to be killed at any moment, but you can't let fear rule you. Fear is the little death...etc. etc.



And TnD you couldn't believe my trouble to get Jontom on the train as his damn paranoia made him jump of at regular intervals - for some reason he seemed to think that I betrayed him on daily basis. :smallsigh:


Paranoia rules!! :smallbiggrin:

Kept me alive in the end.

[Bahumat]

*Puts hand up for next game*

I read all of this and go, whoa.

THIS IS SO AWESOME.

Really, from the outsider's perspective, I think you all played very well :smallbiggrin:

[Elder Tsofu]

With all of that being said, here are a couple of things I'll be changing:
[LIST]
Thug penalties to scrying will get either reduced to that of a commando or removed altogether (still mulling it over).
Thugs will get a bonus to 'Disruption Actions' (which include Raid). Raid itself will get a buff.
Amplified kills will be removed. It's not so much that it's a real balance problem (although that factors in too), but that it's simply not considered a very fun ability. Assassins will still be good at killing people, but in a more interesting way, probably by using slow/immobilization effects and counters.
In an effort to spice up/speed up the late game, there'll be more trickery. Disguises will now be able to display fake locations too, in addition to a fake role. The Raid buff has already been mentioned. I've already toyed with the idea for some time now to include a Stealth Move action, and I think it might actually work without being too unbalancing if it comes at a large enough cooldown.
There will also be a basic night action called 'Speed Burst' which increases your movement speed for the next two days, allowing you to move every day as opposed to every two days. Rogues and commandos get a permanent Speed Burst effect (which isn't really a change, as they can already move at that speed right now). That way, the slower classes won't get (literally) outmaneuvered in the endgame and you won't get situations where two players end up in different cities twiddling their thumbs as they wait for their move actions to cool down.
Other things I'm still considering but which aren't set in stone yet are the ability to Lockdown cities, which ought to be particularly handy late in the game, and illusory effects that can replicate most abilities in the game. This includes move actions and ambushes.

Good changes across the board.

I think that giving the thugs the same scrying ability as a commando might be a good thing - it leaves you a bit unknowing but it is bearable. Rather than give them the same as an secret agent buff their other abilities to match - it gives more diverse roles. :smallsmile:
I'm not sure if I'm going to use scries in the future if everyone can disguise themselves to everything - I'll just go berserk from the beginning stabbing people at random and hopefully get lucky. :smallbiggrin: (probably good change)
Speedburst, how long cooldown had you thought of there? Maybe it should be like the bane and usable every 4:th night? That way you can use it twice in a game without risking too much but not zoom all over the map either.
Lockdown cities - that would be fun. Would it be time-dependent or permanent? Will it move people out of the city or can it only be used on empty cities?
Time dependent could work as a defensive action if it didn't move people away - or as an offensive as people can't leave. Might be fun.


Well... suppose I should say something too.

The night I died, I fully expected not to. I was supposed to baned that night. Also, I totally did try and amplify kill Elder Tsofu. I just didn't have all the info and choose the wrong alias :smallfrown:

Glad to hear that you didn't forget me, I was a bit down when I didn't meet any resistance. :smallsmile:
I suppose I should thank Jontom here for pretending to be Kirei in those pm's. ^^

But that's the problem with relying on others - sometimes they won't be there for you. :smalltongue:

[Jontom Xire]

I suppose I should thank Jontom here for pretending to be Kirei in those pm's. ^^



Huh? Who? What? When? Where? Huh? :smalleek:

[Mordokai]

Wouldn't mind participating in WE III, if there's place left. But if people have already reserved every possible space, I'll just wait out :smallsmile:

[Murska]

And I really wish I actually could work with JX some game, honestly. The problem is mainly that with our history he's bound to attempt to betray me since he thinks I'm sure to do it and he'll try to pre-empt me. And then I have to attempt to betray him before he betrays me for attempting to betray him. And you see how it goes. :smallbiggrin:

[Elder Tsofu]

Huh? Who? What? When? Where? Huh? :smalleek:

If I remember correctly you said that Aemoh had mistakenly thought your alias was Kirei, but you didn't bother to correct him on this point.
As he targeted me as Morrison I survived the night.

[Jontom Xire]

Hmm, I don't remember my notes saying I was in contact with Aemoh...Oh yeah! I remember! That was the time we had Aemoh and Paul Muad-dib about to die and I tried to squeeze them for info. I seem to remember that Aemoh's response was along the lines of "I don't need you. I'll survive the night easily. Go away, puny mortal!" Oh how I laughed when he got thoroughly killed that night EXACTLY as I had told him he would if he didn't co-operate with me.

To be honest though, he would have died anyway that night, but at least he could have done something useful for me before he died! I think I wanted him to kill Tired 'n' Drowzy for me. :smallbiggrin:

[Elder Tsofu]

Well, if Paul had actually baned Aemoh as he apparently had promised then he wouldn't have died - but Paul would have done it in his stead. :smalltongue:

[Ziren]

I didn't cooperate with Jontom on night 5, I just went after the first man I had identified for a long time. (Sorry Ziren, my spreadsheet pointed out that your alias had been inactive from the start - until you joined.)

If I hadn't existed you might have won, or might not - its hard to tell.

The funny thing is that I should have contacted you after I joined (I found your identity out with one of the backwards scries for joining late) - TehSheen just gave me the wrong name and I didn't think enough to notice that he had confused you with Dr. Bath. So I accidentally contacted a Yakuza to ask about an alliance :smalltongue:

Somehow it's good to know that this error on our part didn't make any difference to the outcome at all.

[Elder Tsofu]

Hehe, I would probably have grabbed an alliance as I at the time still were quite upset about RSG going and dying like that. :smalltongue:
TnD contacted me about the codeword (which I apparently used on accident), so who knows - with a bit of luck I'd been the PLT's dirty worker to the end. :smallwink:

[Ziren]

Hehe, I would probably have grabbed an alliance as I at the time still were quite upset about RSG going and dying like that. :smalltongue:
TnD contacted me about the codeword (which I apparently used on accident), so who knows - with a bit of luck I'd been the PLT's dirty worker to the end. :smallwink:

Oh well, to late now.

Though TnD and me had obviously different codewords since I was blue and he red...

[Wreckingrocc]

Potential agent type: Demolitionist - Every fourth day, can give a name and alias. If correct and that person enters or leaves the city the Demolitionist is in that day, they die. Whether a success or failure, it will be announced that a Demolitionist (But wouldn't give the alias) has used this power on Alias, believing him to be Name, on a train bound for/from City (Doesn't matter on failure). Maybe, to compensate, they could only do a regular assassination once each night.

Essentially, they'd destroy their modem of transit in an epic way (train crash, exploding taxi, etc.)

It'd be a quick end to any standoffs towards the end if used correctly, and would give incentive not to travel. They'd still need to know name and alias, though.

[Freshmeat]

That's actually a pretty interesting concept. I might use it as a SA-only template, give or take a few changes.

On an unrelated note, these are the people who are currently on the Reserved List:

Ziren
TnD
Murska
cd4
The Bookworm
JX
RSG
Tsofu
Paul Muad'dib
Fin
Bahumat
Mordokai


If I missed your name somewhere (rather likely), feel free to let me know.

[billtodamax]

You didn't miss my name anywhere, but I would rather like to get onto said Reserved List.

Pwease? I'm so cowd. *shivers*

[Fleeing Coward]

I'd like to go on the reserve list too please. It'd be abit hard to kill Murska without been in the game :smalltongue:

[Irbis]

I don't see my name, either. :smallamused:

[Trixie]

What he ^ said.

[Elder Tsofu]

Just saying I'm glad to be on it. :smallamused:

[Aemoh]

I tend to think everyone wants on the list, myself included :smallamused:

[TehSheen]

Aemoh is right. :smallamused:

[lostlittlebear]

Can new players sign up here? If so, I'd like to!

[EleventhHour]

*tries to slip name into list under the Miner's Vacation Papers*

<.< >.>

[Wreckingrocc]

That's actually a pretty interesting concept. I might use it as a SA-only template, give or take a few changes.Wait, did I say agent? Yeah, I meant Special Agent type; like Thug, Assassin, or whatnot.

They should probably only appear in "evil" agencies, who don't care about civilian casualties. I doubt blowing up a train would go well with popularity or "upholding justice."

[Freshmeat]

Since I've got 20 players (which is a little over the amount of players I had planned but oh well), I won't be accepting any new reservees anymore. WESP III should start somewhere between now and next week, depending on when I finish updating the ruleset and when I settle on a good location/theme (though I'm leaning towards the Carribean or the West Coast).

It has also come to my attention that some of the image links to the awards have gone bad, in part because the site that hosts them seems to be having problems. I'll be remaking them as soon as I am able.

[BishFish]

Dang it! too late.:smallfrown:
Could I be in if there is an autolynch?

Please?

[RedScholarGypsy]

Unless Freshmeat is willing to allow another narrator to take up a parallel game, I think we should hold off on the reserving. I think new players should be allowed to get on the fun, so next game, the list should go:

*New players
*Old players not in current game
*Players in current game who died in order of when they died.

So if you died night 1 you'll be higher than on night 5. Thoughts?

[Elder Tsofu]

Bah, then I'd be banned from these. :smalltongue:
You've got a point thou.

Maybe going by days/nights played would be fairer than the night they died as you can come in as an autolynch-replacement and be killed by some utter bastard the night after.

[BishFish]

Unless Freshmeat is willing to allow another narrator to take up a parallel game, I think we should hold off on the reserving. I think new players should be allowed to get on the fun, so next game, the list should go:

*New players
*Old players not in current game
*Players in current game who died in order of when they died.

So if you died night 1 you'll be higher than on night 5. Thoughts?

I like that Idea!
:smalltongue: