Pirate Ship Mafia - Signup and rules thread

The following is a passage from the journal of one of the crewmen of the notorious pirate vessel, the Presence:

May 23rd, 1717

I’m still at a loss to explain how it all went wrong. Life on this ship has been absolute misery the past few days; a combination of extreme paranoia settling in with the growing sense of knowledge that I’m next. All of us to a man knew what we had signed on for when we joined the crew: a glorious but short life. I guess the “short” part is kicking in, but I never imagined the end would be like this. We’d take on a mission too big for us and get torn apart, or finally face our end in the form of one of those cursed British Man-O’Wars, but not this. Not the crew, men who I’d known and loved and shared drink with for years, getting picked off bit by bit in the night. Not a total breakdown of trust and an “every man for himself” mentality.

It all started right after our last raid. It was the most successful one I can remember, and I’ve been a part of this ship for more years than I’d like to count. We’d just looted Charleston through use of some brilliant tactics devised by our brilliant Captain, and then to top it off, just as we were leaving, a trade vessel carrying tons upon tons of sugar was entering the harbor, so naturally we raided that one too. Our Captain then turned the ship around, sailed right back into Charleston, and sold the sugar in the defenseless town at a 50% markup! That night was one of celebration and rowdiness.

The next morning, we set off to deposit our treasure back at base in Nassau. After making a quick pit stop to get the supplies needed to sustain our journey (rum), we were on our way. I know I said earlier that it had all started right after squeezing Charleston for every last piece of silver they had, but now that I think about it I suppose it wasn’t the case. After all, the two or so days of sailing it took to get to our pit stop were bliss. After that was taken care of, it all turned sour.

On the second morning of our sail back home, disaster struck. We were all woken up early by a shrill, terrifying scream. If we weren’t so scared of the possibilities we would have been grumbling, but it doesn’t take much to faze this crew and so up we went to the main deck to see whatever was the matter.

The answer greeted us as we emerged from below. Walking on the stairs, it was only natural that we were looking up. As doing so, we caught a glimpse of what was to be all the norm for the next several days. Our Captain, our brilliant, beloved Captain, was lashed to the mast and hung from the neck. Painted on his chest was the accursed English flag.

Somehow we were able to convene after that and take care of business. We elected a new captain, who promised that he’d find the scum who’d infiltrated the ship and send them to the end they so richly deserved. We held a quick funeral for our old, glorious leader and went back to work. It sickens me that his killers were present at the funeral, mourning him along with the rest of us. At the funeral, we vowed that his death would be avenged and that we would each take the effort to make sure that this was so.

Of course, we’ve failed. Not only have we not upheld our promise, but the deaths have continued. More hangings, and others, which I will get to shortly. At first, there were attempts at organization. Every day, we’d collect evidence, analyze behavior and vote for who we think killed the old Captain, for this is the way that free men do things. The problem is that we were wrong.

As the days wore on and we kept getting the vote wrong, organization broke down. The British dogs were still hanging people. We were all losing our trust in the system, and even worse, each other. More killings began to pop up at nights, some of them undoubtedly forms of vigilante justice, but some of them so barbaric that they could only have come from our rival crew, the rats from the Maven.

So now we have two enemies on board. We’re losing faithful crew members every night, friendships of a decade or more are being broken, and there’s talk of mutiny. People are killing to get a greater share of the loot raked in from the raid now, having abandoned any hope of defeating the enemy. An “every man for himself” mentality on a ship is never good.

Some of the superstitious are blaming the accursed treasure for it all, saying it started to go bad afterwards, that we pushed our luck too much with the British. Me… I’m past blaming anymore. I just want to make it back to Nassau alive.

If, by some miracle, I die and we manage to sort out the situation afterwards, consider this my last will and testament: I hereby give all of my treasure to Joanna at Milton’s Tavern, who was always the best at what she did.

Pirate Ship Mafia

https://i113.photobucket.com/albums/...e-distance.jpg

Overview:
Welcome to Pirate Ship Mafia, what I hope will be the third successful Huge mafia game hosted on the .Org after Capo di Tutti Capi I and II, respectively. For those of you who know me for my classic Mafia series, this is something entirely different. Pirate Ship Mafia blends elements from Capo, Cosa Nuova II, Stig’s Beer Salesmen game and even the Last of the Romans PBM game from the Throne Room, with a new feature that will add another entire dimension to the game: treasure. Maintaining a perfect balance between team cooperation and individual competition will be the key to obtain victory.

Setting:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The North Atlantic Ocean, spring of 1717.

It’s a bit past the Golden Age of Piracy, when buccaneers ruled the seas and king’s ransoms of gold were looted and spent in a matter of weeks, but the window of opportunity for those who sail under no colors but their own is still open. The British are trying to slam that window shut by both ridding themselves of a menace and by breaking the morale of pirates everywhere.

Basic rules:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

At the start of the game, you will randomly be PM’d a role and its description. Once all roles are sent out, the game will begin. Pirate Ship Mafia will begin with a day phase, taking place immediately after the death of the original Captain as per the above story. Instead of voting to lynch someone on Day 1, the only decision made will be who will be the new Captain. Upon conclusion of that phase, the Captain will appoint his two Officers (see below) and Night 1 will begin. In every night phase, players will PM me their night orders which may vary. Starting Day 2, players will vote to lynch and, if applicable, commit mutiny. This night/day pattern will continue until the game concludes.

Night actions:
Players may do a variety of things at night, depending on their roles. There is always the option to rest up, but treasure is awarded for those who take a more active role at night. Many of the actions must be coordinated with other players in order to be successfully executed, similar to Capo.

For the standard able seaman of the Presence (this game’s version of the townie), the following actions may be performed at night:

Sleep (no treasure awarded)
Kill an individual (treasure awarded) – must form a group of at least 4 to kill any individual
Protect an individual (treasure awarded) – must form a group of at least 3 to protect any individual

Other roles may do more or complete the same tasks with less people. You may only perform ONE action per night, unless otherwise noted in your role PM.

When actively performing at night, in your orders PM you must send me the exact specifics: What you are doing, the name of every person who is doing it with you, and who you are doing it to. If there is miscommunication and the orders do not match up, they will not be executed. Not only will this deprive you of treasure, but it may also put you at risk of dying! Beware!

Example orders PM:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by GeneralHankerchief

GH – night 3 orders

GeneralHankerchief, Sasaki Kojiro, Kommodus, and Kagemusha will kill Seamus Fermanagh.

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At the end of every night I will send feedback PMs detailing how successful you were at night. If the group failed, I will not reveal what exactly what went wrong. I will also let you know your current treasure count at the end of every night.

PMs:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

It is in your best interests to PM me every night with your orders. Active participation not only helps your team out, it also helps you individually. Not to mention the fact that it makes for a more exciting game! You will get two types of PMs from me: Role PM and feedback.

The Presence Able Seaman (townie) PM will be posted in the main thread shortly after the game begins, as will the skeleton feedback PM.

In addition, at any time, you may PM me with your Will. Wills, to be explained more later, dictate who some of your treasure goes to should you die.

Voting:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Voting is your primary action in the day phases. Every day, aside from Day 1, you will be voting to lynch the person you think is guilty. Voting will be done in the usual style, like so:

Vote: GeneralHankerchief

Should you wish to change your vote, please do the following IN A NEW POST:

Unvote: GeneralHankerchief
Vote: TosaInu

You may also Vote: Abstain should you have no preference as to who is lynched. You may NOT vote “No Lynch”. All votes must be bolded and votes may not be edited. Should you edit your vote and not change it in a new post, you are faced with a loss of treasure and potentially, removal from play. The person with the most votes at the end of the day phase is lynched. Should there be a tie, the Captain and his two Officers will vote to determine who is lynched. Should there still be a tie (say, if there are three players with the most votes and each Officer votes somebody different), the Captain’s vote gets lynched.

There will be at least one occasion in which you will vote to elect a Captain. The format for choosing a Captain is as follows:

Elect: GeneralHankerchief

Unelect: GeneralHankerchief
Elect: TosaInu

In addition, at any point in the day phase you may vote to mutiny. You may do this by adding in a Vote: Mutiny in with your normal vote. If over 50% of alive players vote to mutiny, the Captain is lynched along with whoever has the most votes, and instead of proceeding to night, a new Captain selection process follows. If the vote is tied, the status quo remains.

Should you decide you don’t want to mutiny, you may simply write in Unvote: Mutiny at any time in the day phase. There are no official consequences for participating in a failed mutiny, but the Captain will almost surely remember those who were not loyal to him. A successful mutiny results in treasure gained for all those who voted for the mutiny.

The factions:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Unlike in Capo, there is a set amount of factions: 3. However, it is possible to switch allegiances in the middle of the game. Pirate Ship Mafia is designed for 50 players and any starting numbers assume that amount.

The crew of the Presence: The main faction of Pirate Ship Mafia. Having just engineered a wildly successful raid on Charleston, they are heading home to Nassau and just trying to get back alive. They have two enemies on their ship: The British agents, determined to destroy them in the name of the Crown, and the saboteurs from the rival pirate ship Maven, determined to take the treasure for themselves. Of course, if all trust is lost and vigilante justice becomes common, they themselves could be their greatest enemy.
Primary goal: Elimination of all starting British Agents and Maven saboteurs.
Secondary goal (individual): obtain the most treasure. Assuming a Presence victory, the player with the most gold will be considered the true winner of Pirate Ship Mafia and get an awesome write-up at the end of the game. The more treasure you accumulate, the better off your write-up will be.

British agents (starts with 3 players): One of the two villains in the tale. Operating with only three agents , the odds would appear stacked against them. However, the British agents can work to determine which members of the crew are susceptible to their influence, and eventually, offer them a Letter of Marque. Letters of Marque allow Presence crewmen to switch over and let the British numbers grow. Agents can, of course, kill as well.
Primary goal: Elimination of every non-British affiliated person on board, survival of at least one original agent.
Secondary goal: N/A (treasure not a motivational factor).

Saboteurs from the Maven: Jealous pirates that have always rivaled the Presence. The Powers That Be on the Maven have decided that the haul from Charleston was just too much to let go without making a try at it. They too have sent three agents on board the ship who can work and try to get some Presence crewmen to defect to their side. However, they, unlike the British, cannot offer Letters of Marque, and thus must tempt their targets with gold. The Maven saboteurs may, at any time, unanimously vote to leave the ship with the current gold, but they must be careful to get enough – otherwise their captain will be mad and his anger will be reflected in the final write-up. Saboteurs may kill at night as well.
Primary goal: Accumulation of the most treasure possible/survival of at least one original saboteur.
Secondary goal: Elimination of every non-Maven affiliated person on board.

Once you are dead:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I am going to quote from Seamus Fermanagh’s rules from Capo II on this one, with a few edits:

Quote:

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The dead may post, but not vote/select nor carry out any night actions. Dead players may not reveal their roles publicly or privately and may not reveal their faction or role particulars either. Dead players may not quote from a PM unless that PM has been posted in the public thread by a living player. Dead players may not reveal, recount or allude to their previous night actions (or results thereof in the case of investigations) publicly or privately – even to confirm a previously made public or private reveal. Remember, even if dead not all of your treasure goes away – pirates do have *some* honor. Your participation must be circumspect, but your continued participation IS encouraged.

No screenshots may be used, from or to anyone, for ANY purpose – this includes during PMs. Feel free to quote from my Role PM’s to you or to fabricate as you see fit. Chatlog conversations may be referenced/quoted, but may not be copied via screenshot. Note: it can be difficult to maintain role secrecy during chat conversations.

"Suicide" will not be allowed in this game (it is possible to create an unplayable game with nothing but suicide pact challenges going on. This is not the intended mode of play for this game).
Players who must remove themselves from play for schedule reasons should send me a PM. I will then write them out of play.

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The roles:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Crew of the Presence:

Able Seaman
The standard Townie of Pirate Ship Mafia. Able Seamen have no special powers but may form groups of 4 and 3 to kill or protect a target, respectively. Their goals are to rid of the Presence of its many threats and get enough treasure to have a rousing good time back on land. Some Able Seamen may be susceptible to offers of Letters of Marque or promises of even greater treasure from the Maven. Players will not know how susceptible they are to either.

Steward
A position of moderate power on the ship, in this game the Steward is responsible for the crew’s well-being. A Steward acts as your standard Doctor, being able to protect people on certain nights. They will be able to thwart normal villain two-person kill teams and town four-person teams, but should either group attack with more than the minimum amount of people required, the Steward’s chance of success diminishes and may even die in a protection attempt. The exact percentages will be given out in the role PM.

Watchstander
As evidenced by the title, the Watchstander’s job is to stand watch every night. The Watchstander may investigate one person every night and get a general idea of their activity at night. A second investigation will reveal susceptibility to treasure and/or Letters of Marque, and a third will reveal the person’s true affiliation and a list of all of their activities up to that point.

Elected/Appointed Roles:

Neither the Captain nor his Officers can switch sides for as long as they hold their offices.

Captain
The Captain is elected by the crew on Day 1 and will remain Captain unless he is removed by a mutiny. This is a position of extreme power in that the Captain gets a set salary of treasure every turn he is Captain without having to actively do anything. Most importantly, the Captain gets to appoint his two Officers, the First Mate and Quartermaster, who, if loyal, can represent the greatest threat to the enemies of the Presence. The Captain cannot be killed at night but may take part in nighttime activities. The Captain has no vote unless there is a tie (see above), however, activity treasure is still given to him for posting in the day phase.

First Mate
The Captain names his First Mate to me privately before the Day 1 voting phase is over when it appears that he has a legitimate chance of becoming Captain. The First Mate can be replaced at will at anytime either by PM (preferred) or posting in the thread. Changes in officer position will take effect at the end of the phase, day or night. The First Mate is the Captain’s right-hand man on the ship and may individually kill or investigate one person per night. Attempts on his life at night have a 50% chance of failure, regardless of numbers used against him. The First Mate also collects a salary for his efforts.

Quartermaster
The Captain names his Quartermaster to me privately before the Day 1 voting phase is over when it appears that he has a legitimate chance of becoming Captain. The Quartermaster can be replaced at will at anytime either by PM (preferred) or posting in the thread. Changes in officer position will take effect at the end of the phase, day or night. The Quartermaster is in charge of discipline on the ship and may individually protect or block one person from committing an action per night. Attempts on his life at night have a 50% chance of failure, regardless of numbers used against him. The Quartermaster also collects a salary for his efforts.

British agents:

British Special Officer (1)
The Godfather of sorts for the British agents. The British Special Officer is the only one out of the three starting agents that can determine susceptibility to Letters of Marque among the crew of the Presence. He may investigate one person per night to find out how susceptible they are in addition to sharing the same powers as the British Lieutenants, described below. The British Special Officer is extremely important to the British cause, as without him, the British agents take a huge risk whenever they offer Letters of Marque to uninvestigated targets.

British Lieutenant (2)
The British Lieutenant, working in pairs, may kill any one target at night. In addition, a Lieutenant acting alone may offer a Letter of Marque to any one target at night. Should that person be susceptible to Letters of Marque, he immediately joins the crew as a British Convert (below). Should he not be susceptible, the British agent who offered the Letter of Marque has a chance of being discovered (percentages vary from player to player, power roles have a better chance of discovering who offered Letters of Marque to them). If only one British Lieutenant remains and there are no British Converts, the British Lieutenant may kill on his own. Treasure is not a motivational factor to any of the British.

British Convert
Individuals who have accepted offers of Letters of Marque become British Converts, who immediately obtain the same powers as British Lieutenants. However, at least one original British Lieutenant or the British Special Officer is required to survive the game – should all three original agents be killed, all British Converts will immediately commit suicide out of shame for abandoning their original comrades.

Maven saboteurs:

All Maven saboteurs, whether original or converted, may at any time privately vote to leave the ship with the treasure they have collected and, essentially, end the game for all involved. However, they must leave with a sufficient amount of treasure or otherwise they will be punished by their Captain in the final writeup. Further mechanics of this will be discussed upon request from Maven saboteurs.

Maven Crewman (3)
Unlike the British, the Maven crewmen have no distinction between each other and all three original crewmen share the same powers. Every night, one of the three (and only one, though this may alternate) may investigate one individual to find out how susceptible to treasure. The other two may team up and kill one person per night. The Maven crewmen cannot begin converting people over to their side until one of them is the active leader in treasure accumulated (will be made clear in a PM).

If one of them is the active leader in treasure accumulated, at night, any amount of members of the team may go around at night offering Presence sailors the opportunity to switch. If the sailor is question is susceptible to treasure, he will immediately switch and become a Maven Convert (below). Should he not be susceptible, the crewman who offered the opportunity to switch has a chance of being discovered (percentages vary from player to player, power roles have a better chance of discovering who offered the opportunity to switch to them). If only one original Maven crewman remains and there are no Maven Converts, the Maven Crewman may kill on his own.

No treasure will be subtracted from the Maven’s stash upon successful conversion – it is the promise of further treasure that lures the Presence’s crewman in.

Maven Convert
Individuals who have accepted offers to switch crews become Maven Converts, who immediately obtain the same powers as Maven Crewmen. However, at least one original Maven Crewman is required to survive the game – should all three original saboteurs be killed, all Maven Converts will immediately commit suicide out of shame for abandoning their original comrades.

Secret role(s):

Naturally, any and all details about secret role(s) will remain secret. :evilgrin: I will say that there will be at least one.

Treasure and Wills:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Treasure
The primary standout feature of Pirate Ship Mafia, the pursuit of treasure will significantly motivate you and guide your actions. Everyone starts out with 100 treasure and can accumulate more through various means. Unless you’re a British agent, the more treasure you have at the end of the game, the better off you’ll be. Treasure is disclosed privately to each individual at the beginning of every day phase.

The list of actions you can take and the amount of treasure accumulated for each is below:

Quote:

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100: Base amount
10: For each person you recruit to play Pirate Ship Mafia
3: For each round in which you lodge a legitimate vote (for Captain, you get the three if you make a post in the day phase)
2: For each round in which you submit a night order, whether it is successful or not (can even be simply “sleep”)
40: Amount awarded for successfully killing an individual, divided up evenly among killers (if treasure is left over, the remainder goes to those who sent in orders earlier)
30: Amount awarded for successfully protecting an individual, divided up evenly among protectors (if treasure is left over, the remainder goes to those who sent in orders earlier)
15: Captain’s daily salary
12: Daily salary of First Mate and Quartermaster (kill/protection awards do not apply)
100: Amount awarded for a successful mutiny, divided up evenly among mutineers (if treasure is left over, the remainder goes to those who mutinied earlier)
50: Amount awarded for a successful mutiny in the endgame – changed at host’s discretion

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Wills
Players may privately message me at any time, saying, in the event of their death, who their treasure goes to. Players may not donate more than 50 of their treasure total – the remainder stays to their name. Players may divide up their 50 to multiple persons if they wish or choose not to have a Will at all. A Will may be changed at any time and must be sent to me (or updated) at least 3 hours prior to the individual’s death to be considered valid.

Legalese regarding wills:
A player is considered “dead” at the exact minute I first post his death in a public thread, either the main game thread or the game’s story/reference thread.

For example, let’s say Player X’s original will was as follows:

Quote:

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Give GeneralHankerchief all 50 of my treasure.

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...but then at 13:00 he changed it to:

Quote:

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Give TosaInu all 50 of my treasure; GeneralHankerchief has been written out of my will.

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Let’s say that I first posted Player X’s death at 15:59 that day. If this was the case, GeneralHankerchief would get the 50 treasure. If I waited one minute later and posted the death at 16:00, 3 hours would have passed and TosaInu would have gotten the treasure.

Signing up:
I’m looking for 50 players to start the game. I think, with your help, it can be sufficiently epic and possibly even one of the greatest .Org Mafia games of all time. If you need any more motivation, please keep in mind that you get 10 extra treasure for every player you recruit (that player must PM me and explicitly state that you recruited them for the treasure bonus to kick in). :eyebrows: Without further ado, post here to sign up and best of luck to all!!!

Signed up (11/50):
Reenk Roink (courteously in)
seirei "I still can't get over those lost 3 minutes" khaan
Sigurd Fafnesbane (don't anger him, he's a viking AND an AM)
YLC (wonders what those letters used to stand for)
Seamus "I graciously let GH steal half of my Capo ideas" Fermanagh
glyphz (Reenk's protege)
Rythmic (halfhearted pirate)
pever "I am one of the few who can truthfully state I actually bothered to read the rules" green
Andres (probably wants all that referral treasure)
shlin28 (still operating off his BR3 high)
Aries "I can't be bothered to read the rules of the game I signed up for" 777777
Boudica

Hahah first and I actually am first! :2thumbsup::2thumbsup::2thumbsup::2thumbsup::2thumbsup:

:charge:

third on the wagon

:clown:

GH, I think we should include an incredibly tiny, very well hidden, be still legal clause that signing up for your mafia game means your automatically signed up for LotR :deal2:

In, please.


Why do pirates have such difficulty in reciting the alphabet? They can't get past RRRRRRRRRR.

I'm here all week! :wiseguy:


Any chance of a gold bonus for identifying your lovely rag-wagon in the picture as a brigantine?

IN:bow:

Arrr. In.

Yup im here, as per that pm.

In.

In!

i want to be in but cant bring myself to read all that text! im in, but i cba to read it yet :no:

We'll have uniform advertising soon, so if you don't want the Gameroom mods to get all of that referral treasure, you'd better start inviting people! :yes:

Also, signup sheet has been tweaked a bit.

Shlin talked me into it.. Ill join!!It looks fun too :yes:

Make sure you PM me with who recruited you just to make it official.

Ahoy, mateys! In.

First GH mafia for me!

Why Pirate Mafia when ninjas are obviously superior? :7ninja:

I'm in anyway though.

Quite... I think this is worthy to come out of retirement. Long live Don Pentangeli! Wait... wrong thread :wink:

IN IN IN IN IN IN IN IN OMGBBQ IN.

Beefy187 has :whip: my attendance. And I wouldn't be doing justice to the great Jean Lafitte, if I didn't.

Let's get some more sign-ups! I came out of retirement for this!

I'm waiting for Andres to post the adverts. In the meantime, you can always take an active role yourselves. :laugh4:

Hi, I'm new here. This sounds very interesting, so I'm in :yes:

I'm in although schoolies starts in a couple weeks so if the game starts before or during that I will be away from internet

In.

-Bogs down to read through rules-

In if the game starts on December 1st or later. If it starts earlier than that, I must decline.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TinCow

In if the game starts on December 1st or later. If it starts earlier than that, I must decline.

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excellent ...

Now we only need Privaterkeev, Sasaki, Ichigo and the rest of the old-school players and this will be a blast. :yes:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sigurd Fafnesbane

excellent ...

Now we only need Privaterkeev, Sasaki, Ichigo and the rest of the old-school players and this will be a blast. :yes:

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I doubt we'll get PK though :cry:

He's been awol since September and I've never been able to get a hold of him again.

In cant wait to start.

\.../
.:skull:
/...\

What the heck, I'm in too