As always, the Capo series is a mafia battle game rather than a classic mafia game. I enjoy hosting it because, though I set the tone for things, the story that is enacted is a team effort. I find the results endlessly surprising and terribly funny – of course it helps that I know who’s who when I’m reading things.
Setup and Opening
I’m simply going to have to go to mass mailings next time. Too many individual mailings – though nicely personalized – left the opening dragging a bit. Next time, everyone will get the normal townie role and then I’ll send off the other roles in batches. I’ll do the red text info and allegiance info (where needed) in separate PMs. That should drop me below 40 opening PMs and let me get it up and running in 3-4 hours as opposed to 8.
I was happy with the numbers, but really think Capo will peak at around 100 for ideal numbers play and energy. I hope you all will recruit some more. I’m thinking February 1st for a start with sign-ups in Jan.
This Year’s “Theme”
The first Capo was an homage to film noir and the Godfather series. The second iteration featured a full cast of families and should have featured a clash between the anti-mafia crusaders and the mafia families. The crusaders never quite took off and without that counter-balance, the mafia ended up in the lead – and the fact that darn few townies stayed with the town didn’t help. One specific change made was to include “incorruptible” townies in mini-mason pairs. I wanted a core of “townies” (aside from the detectives and doctors) who were committed to town success. Capo II was practically “townie-free” after day 4 or so.
Now, since we’re into the 1950s, it was time for the Red Menace! Capo 3 was set against the Early Cold War background of McCarthyism and the Chinese intervention in Korea. We had a trio of commies – including a detective! – and a trio of mafia hunters. This time, it was the communists who didn’t get off the ground smoothly. However, they were a factor throughout the game, which helped a bit. It may have ended up giving too much detective power to the town, however.
The “threat” of communism – head to the Monastery for a debate of the history if you wish – did influence most U.S. national policies for decades, and quite a few aspects of daily life. McCarthy, of course, was a political opportunist. He took a host of vague allegations, stapled them to the facts of Alger Hiss, and ran with it. He ignored due process, used scare tactics and intimidation, and encouraged people to be “black-listed” for having any affiliation with any communist or quasi-communist group of any kind. He was also considered a hard drinker by reporters of the 1940s and 1950s. THAT means he was probably a functional alcoholic. It is a certainty that one of the key components of his effort was to create personal political power for Joseph McCarthy.
Playing off the fears of a Soviet bomb (they’d toggled one off in 1949), McCarthy gained a huge amount of political capital very quickly. He also managed to put pressure on communists and soviet agents in the media and in government. He may have been leading a witch hunt, but a few of his targets did apparently ride brooms. Unfortunately, McCarthy’s gross abuses of civil rights and the powers of his office overshadow any successes he may have had. For every communist he discomfited, a hundred or more Americans whose only crime was an inclination toward left wing politics suffered.
During that same era, the FBI more than doubled in size, largely to increase its abilities in the counter-intelligence area. Moreover, since we’d disbanded our bureau of spying and dirty tricks at the end of the war – and suddenly found we needed one since the threat of Soviet spying was real – we established the CIA. As with all good government efforts, the two bureaus are in a constant “pissing match” over funding and reputation. Politics sweet politics.
In Capo 3, I had a CIA agent with mafia ties – and they did have some based on old OSS connections to Luciano’s organization in Sicily in WW2 (the thread already mentions that the CIA was probably using Mafia connections to attempt to kill Castro in the late 50s/early 60s). I also had FBI counter-intelligence types. The Mafia has been fairly strongly anti-communist in its leanings – more because of a perception that communist dictatorships would be bad for business than for any noble civic virtues. In retrospect, I needed to curtail the FBI/CIA investigative powers a bit more than I did. I had thought the loyal/questionable stuff would be more limiting. Perhaps that was moot the moment random.org gave the CIA role to askthepizzaguy.
As Time Progressed….
Day One:
I really wasn’t paying a lot of attention at first, but we ended up with a Capo 1st! Reenk Roink not only said he’d like to be Director, but campaigned for the job with actual evidence – here’s how I do write-ups etc. He ended up taking the job in a landslide. GH was willing to risk his Don in the early game, no doubt assuming he could parlay the lynch write-ups/sense of him leading the town to an even greater measure of safety for his family. Gutsy call that, most mafia roles do NOT benefit from being Director (Mades/Lucas can’t function fully and Dons get put in the spotlight a bit).
Night One:
Blade and YLC made this one fun. Blade had entertainment in mind from the get-go, so I wrote it up with an emphasis on imagery and tried to make the town think SK – just to add to the tension. Meanwhile, YLC’s take on the conflicted serial killer was dramatic and engaging and very edgy on its own (and 90+% his in all but one case). Stranger managed to tip one of the “triggers” by accident. A pair of my “incorruptibles” led a townie hit team on night one. NOT in the spirit I had intended the role, but within the rules. QJC was, to the extent I could tell, a random choice. He was also one of the other incorruptible townies. There is a lesson here for townies of the future. YES you want to up your skills for the endgame battle, but on the first night or two you are significantly more likely to take out a pro-town or neutral-might-get-them-to-our-side role than you are to kill a Mafioso or SK. If you’ve got evidence on someone things may be different, but random kills probably do more harm.
Quite a few mistakes in orders or sloppy coordination – that being par for the course in all three capo games so far. This is probably an inevitable component of Capo, especially as we seem to always draw at least a few players new to mafia in general, much less the capo system.
Day Two:
Reenk promised entertaining lynches and delivered. Club30 rapidly became an icon and will be on the “map” of Fatlington if I ever get around to cobbling one together. Unfortunately, the initial target was FactionHeir – the chap I had just wheedled into replacing one of my Mafia Mades who wanted to bow out early. FH was kind enough to help out and then was dead before he’d had a chance to properly re-read his role PM. Don’t get me wrong, the town’s choice was a good one. Some evidence had surfaced that Imperator was a made – he revealed privately?!? – and any first lynch that can actually respond to semi-credible evidence is a great thing for the town.
I had no idea that I was handing FH an impossible task. If Imperator had told me he’d revealed privately to others not in his family I’d have force him to stay in the game on his own – knowing that it would NOT be a long stay. Revealing your true role to anyone not listed on your sheets as already knowing is highly dangerous and should only be down after that other party has earned a few “points” in your eyes. Security being what it is, early private revelations by Mafiosi generally get them a quick lynch. Early private revelations of simple townie status put you on the list for mafia removal. I’d recommend to all players that you take an hour or so just after getting your role PMs and pump out a few “alternate identities.” You need to be able to adapt quickly when the time comes.
Night Two:
“Trouble” joined into the game with a vengeance (she’d missed the start), hooking up with wiseguy Leet and killing Death. I made that one professional looking enough. Twilightblade continued his entertainment. Chaotix, Death is Yonder, and Split successfully protected DJG (Mafia Don!) from the attack of Gibs, W_E, Khaan, & Dutch (most of the crew who whacked QJC) – Ichigo didn’t have to Luca at all really, though he too got credit for the save.
Day Three:
Losing CountArach this early probably hurt the game a lot. As it was conceived, his detective (commie!) would be in the perfect place to have done what Pizzaguy ended up doing -- and then betray things from within. Instead, too many people got interested in his codeword effort and it got him killed post-haste. Without him there, the FBI ended up too far in front over the commies. Rhyf's never connecting with Chaotix more or less sealed their fate, despite his excellent efforts to mingle and survive -- even managing a recruit! Club30 was a focal point by the end of the lynch though, which made things entertaining on that level. By the way, I'd like to acknowledge RR's efforts there. I made only minor cosmetic changes to put the club in the Bayside district and smooth out a few logistics issues -- the themes and the gore were pure Reenkster.
Night Three:
Fatlington's "Viscious Vigilante" squad (W_E, Gibs, 'Khaan, and a 4th {scot this time} was still operating more or less at random, apparently, targeting Double A for elimination. Since he was a doctor, they were probably happy, at least later on, that his luck held for that night. Double A did have some folks protecting him and all of them (El D, glyphz, 'Goat) submitted orders, but as one of the three, Disgruntled Goat, was a Don, the effort failed. Double A continued his chain of Pizzaguy protection efforts. As near as I can figure it, Pizzaguy was protected every non-director night save for n6, n13, and n17. This was the most consistent component of the entire game. Actually, he would have been vulnerable n4 as well, since his 4-person protection team included two mafia Dons (DJG, who gave orders to stay home and Atheotes who did show to protect)! The only mafia effort night 3 was the Leet & "Trouble" pair. This time they did for Myrddraal (detective) who was heading out on vacation anyway, so that was one less replacement for me to find. Kagemusha, Joe Monks, and Disco all listed in orders to kill Beskar, but Kage switched back to protecting jht so the effort failed.
Day Four:
With the success of the first double lynch in some time on day 3, there were calls for a repeat. Instead, disco ended up as a sole choice for the day. As near as I can figure it, he’d revealed privately to Prole early on Day 1. Since the FBI counter agents were, essentially, pro-town, his death was more or less assured. If anything, I was surprised that GH preceded him.
Night Four:
Jolt’s kill was the most fun to write. Scottish sent me a “do something with Lewis Carroll” command and I went to town. The rabbit suit WAS my idea, not CR’s – I suspect he probably had a skipped heartbeat or two when he read it. I did surmise that the crowd had gone past such obvious referants and would assume I would never do such a thing – so I did! Can’t go to that well next game. Blade kept up his entertainment and Leet & Vernonica only missed due to luck, because the protection team included Luca Ironsides (a fact that came back to haunt him).
On the protection side, Pizza WAS vulnerable on n4, as noted above, with only two valid protectors. Sigurd drew doctor protection (Double A) as did Psycho (SSNeo). Also vulnerable were s&b (two separate protection efforts BOTH of which failed due to Mafiosi on the teams and one missed order by Caius) and Doc Double A (withdrawn orders from Sasaki). Had the Kagemusha team gelled, and had the Jolt and Diana kill teams had any inkling what was going on, then it would have been possible for ATPG, S&B and Dbl A all to have gone down to death in one night. That would have changed the game of course, but it was not to be.
Day Five:
Atheotes caught the chop based on another private reveal. The FBI team garnered 3-4 of these early on and the mafia all paid. Thought for the future: Early efforts to get others to show their role sheets should be viewed with much skepticism. It is better for a Mafioso to say no, get told “reveal or we’ll denounce you” and to respond with ‘lynch away’ than to try to deal with the early reveal shenanigans. Early reveal Mafiosi die. To those who ask, please remember that YOU might be the baddie in a future game. As Sasaki taught me long ago, if you want to keep playing you cannot have strategies that force all or nothing decisions every time.
Night Five:
It was Prole’s night for some fun. She was protected by SSNeo, but targeted by both a vig team (gibs, w_e, ‘khaan) that failed when Scottish didn’t turn in orders, and a mafia team (leet and kage) who failed only because of luck. Craterus stared Diana into inactivity, but then died at the hands of Xehh II based on the vote. Psycho was killed by CR and Scottish while Leet (newly Made) was vig killed by Tincow, Andres, Kommo, and Joe M. Rogue Ricera then used his Buntline to take out Iskander, who’d he’d ID’d as a criminal. Iskander survived on his luck. Rice knew W_E was guilty, but assumed he was a vigilante and never targeted him as he could have.
Tincow had two separate failed protection efforts on n5, one of s&b’s protection teams failed, and so did Double A’s with Diana sidelined. Pizza, Prole, Sigurd, and s&b all had angels on n5.
Day Six:
The lynch was another successful double. However, the real results were only 50/50. Kagemusha had been cozy with the mafia from the outset, and had started to do kill missions the preceding night. AVSM, however, had no mafia connections and was, as far as I could tell, pro-town at that point in the game. Both had detective results on them which indicated criminal (AVSM) or unclear (Kagemusha) and that was apparently enough.
Night Six:
CR and Scottish teamed up to kill Tincow, drawing a blank against his luck. Centurion1 and w&f fared better against Kommo. Rice finished the job on Iskander. ‘Blade continued his entertainment.
Then the two vig efforts swung in. Gibs and W_E, usually a team, were each on separate efforts. FBIc guy slashandburn teamed up with Kukri, W_E and Don Haudegen to kill Khazar an unaffiliated wiseguy who was relatively inactive. Gibs led a squad of one wiseguy commie (Chaotix) and two Mafiosi (Don Goat and Luca Iron) to kill Luca scottishranger.
Days and Nights Five and Six broke the back of the mafia. The mafia families were already hurting, having lost 1 Made and 2 Luca’s in the first 4 days. That still left them with some reasonable if uncoordinated hitting power. Days 5 and 6 killed a Don and a half-Made. Nights 5 and 6 killed off 2 Mades, 1 Luca and a pair of wiseguys who may have been or were being recruited.
By contrast, the town lost 1 pro-town wiseguy, 1 incorruptible townie, 1 townie vigilante, and the FBI guy. That’s 5 mafiosi and 2 possibles for 4 townies – nearly two to one.
Re: Capo di Tutti Capi III (IN PLAY)
Originally Posted by Crazed Rabbit
So what side does Reenk end up on then?
- the pharaoh joins the part
- underage pot smoker at midnight in bedroom
- mommy tucking in good night
- string of emotions of she goes through
sees mom
- oh **** I should have played Capo
)...
I demand to always be the center of attention.
Reply With Quote
I guess it's easy to understand, if I were a basic townie with very limited information, most of the interest would be on me, over the other suggested lynchees and vigilante targets. Don't really have a plan except to keep chugging along and to expose mafia when I see them. Hopefully I'll someday get a result besides questionable... or maybe I'm supposed to be killing off questionable people?
who will – despite all his bluster – not get the job done when it comes to stopping the commies. You’ve seen what they were doing in Greece and helped to fight them to a stop. You were part of the group saying the Chicomms WOULD intervene in Korea. Now some of the folks who’ve been interrogated have mentioned another name – Fatlington. Irregardless of the law prohibiting domestic activity by the CIA, you will NOT let the communists create a foothold in the USA. You’ve heard the mafia is making a play for Fatlington too, and you couldn’t care less. In fact, you cut a few deals with them in Greece to remove certain members of the opposition and you know they worked well with the OSS in Sicily. They may be criminals, but they’re not commies. Your victory hinges on your ability to defeat the communist 5th column – and to beat Hoover to the punch. See below:
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