For End Master's Manifest Destiny Contest.

"Welcome to the experiment. A man is dead, and you have to find his killer. There will be a list of rules in your room once this briefing is over, but all you really need to know is this: There are five of you, but only one can solve the mystery. You will be given five days. Each night, one of you will die - no more, no less.

Ready? Even if you're not, it doesn't matter. You're in my world now."
 

This is also a War on Intfiction contribution.

Note: Aside from a few references to Dreamtruder characters/ events, this storygame is a standalone.

It is my first time writing a mystery storygame on this site, so I would appreciate if you could leave feedback on whether this mystery was too easy/ difficult to solve. If you find yourself stuck, don't hesitate to message me directly. That being said, do not feel discouraged if you are bewildered at first; as you progress further in the game, the clues and secrets would make everything clearer. Eventually, the secrets you find would allow you to make sense of most clues except a few, and these would point to the killer.

Make use of the notebook, which would keep track of the information you gained from the interviews and the secrets you may find out. Also, check the item descriptions of all the objects since some of these would have to be 'used' in order to access some clues.

Once you've solved the mystery, there are 3 possible endings you could get. Only one of these actually results in returning back to the 'real world'. If you're looking for this 'true ending', it requires you to play through the last of the five days rather than just skipping to the end and guessing the answer.

Good luck surviving the Halloween experiment!

Beneath the seas, hidden from the Ones Above, our society goes about our normal, routinely lives. I cannot help but feel bored with all that is going on, until I find the letter. A letter that sends me on a journey to deliver a magical item to the group of people that have been villainized over the years, the letter that challenges everything I thought I knew. But which side is on the side of good? How can I break out of the only world I have ever known? Should I join the heroic villains or the villainous hero? I have finally gotten the adventure I always needed, but not exactly the one I wanted.

(Edit - note from the author: I'll be going through the process of fixing any bugs/ problems in this storygame soon, like the inescapable loops, so apologies for those who encounter these or any other issues caused by the upcoming changes).

Note: This game was created for Camelon's break contest. During the part where a specialist is assigned to the breakers, there are three different paths (Lawbreaker, Breaker of People and Breaker and Enterer). Due to time constraints, for those who would like to know, Breaker of People is the longest path, followed by Lawbreaker and Breaker and Enterer, but aside from the epilogues, it all leads to the same chapter 5. As before, feel free to comment or message me if you encounter any issues or problems that I should fix.

"The delicate balance between the dream world and the real world is disrupted. You intruded and messed up the dream of an innocent. By talking about this with an Unknowing, the possibility of the dreamstage being unveiled is now greater than ever. The Jury has made a decision - we have no choice but to send you to The Jungle..."

Life was hard, balancing work and relaxation. Then the nightmares came, and all I ever wanted was to be free of them. Yet, I never accounted for this - finding out the truth about the dream world, exploring the vast plane of the imagination...only to be whisked away to the longest nightmare ever. 

Think a jungle's bad? Try a fictional jungle, where literally anything can happen, and the most creative minds have conspired to give you a hard time.

Note: This game was created for Mizal's 'Welcome to the Jungle' contest. There are several epilogues, and while the main one is the normal Dreamtruder path, others include Dream director, Dreamcaster, Dreamediator, and Dreamhero. Fancy a challenge? Try completing the Jungle challenge without picking up any dreampowers - it's possible, but requires a bit of thinking and planning ahead. Also, for some items, click the 'use' button as a link would not be provided (if this is the case, it would be specified in the object description)

Since this would be my first published storygame, I am still relatively new to this. Feel free to message me or spam the comments if you encounter any issues, have any suggestions for improvement, or just have something you want to say.

Enjoy!

A quest doomed from the start. A man with an unwavering yet unusual moral compass. A daughter in the darkest depths of the night sky.

It isn't truly over until all hope is lost.

'Good and evil, heroes and villains… they are all fantasies created by the world. There are only two types of people: the people you care about, and the people you don’t.'

Arnold Cyzila's best life may have been long since over, but he would do anything to save his daughter from the clutches of her confinement. Even stealing an airplane, killing the innocent, and entering a dangerous world where death is almost guaranteed. 

[Warning: There are some mentions of murder, deaths and several dark themes, so if those things make you uncomfortable, perhaps it is better not to read this story.]

Note: I initially did not plan on joining this contest, yet I'm glad I did since it has motivated me to publish a new storygame. It is related to Dreamtruder in a way… well, you’ll see. While this story may not be as long as my previous two, it was interesting to write a shorter project. 

Just like all my other storygames, commenting and rating this story are both highly welcomed and appreciated. Also, as I have used quite a lot of variables in several fight scenes, let me know if you ever encounter a page where there are no visible links. 

Lastly, there are a few different epilogues but the 'main' one would be an epilogue which mirrors the start of the story (you'll know it when you see it). There are three possible ways to reach that. Even though I may consider it to be the true ending, it is not a typical happy ending.

For EndMaster's Prompt Contest

Prompt: A story involving an old Oriental style setting
 

A simple quest for revenge turns into a deadly competition.

The Shi Empires, governed by the Ten Emperors, appear to be undefeatable. But Liu Longyi's desire to avenge Mother tranports her to four deadly battles, marked by the sudden appearance of a chaos deity.

As she battles competitors for the throne, Liu Longyi learns the truth about the mighty Shi Empires, along with the most closely guarded secret of Yue Palace. 

Author's Notes:

1. This story makes use of delayed consequences, so replaying would grant different outcomes, even if they aren't always visible at first.
2. There are some instances of violent and slightly mature content, so reader's discretion is advised.
3. If you prefer to read the storygame in the same browser, you could click the title page instead of the 'play' button.

Hope you enjoy the storygame!

For EndMaster's Prompt Contest 2

Prompt: A story involving fairies in some way


 

"Save your breath. We both know how this story ends."

As a spellsinger from an illustrious family, Aubrynne Spelwinter has always sought greatness. Yet, in an attempt to shatter a notorious curse, she becomes one of its casters.

In seven days, the curse will take effect. However, Aubrynne's mission leads to an unlikely alliance with the Cursed King, with whom she races against the clock to save her kingdom from conquests and faceless enemies.

Author's notes: 

1. There are 5 epilogues and it'll be obvious which the 'main' one is. 
2. This is a retelling of a classic fairytale, Sleeping Beauty, although aside from a few plot points, it features unique characters, settings, and narratives.
3. If you prefer to read the storygame in the same browser, you could click the title page instead of the 'play' button.

Hope you enjoy the storygame!

Link to video trailer: https://imgur.com/9T3UWTW

For End Master's Prompt Contest 4

Prompt: A story about being a collector of very rare exotic things and/or unique things

Link to a video trailer

Bly’therra of the Illusions

Genie of the Lamp • Collector of Souls • The Sly Shapeshifter 

Ever since she was shackled to her lamp, Bly'therra wants nothing more than to reclaim her freedom. This leads her to strike an ambitious bargain: in three days, she must grant three wishes to the Sultan's future heir and collect his soul.


Zasper Aldaricus

Son of the Sultan • Master of Disguise • The Traitorous Thief

As the fourth son of the Sultan, Zasper desires to prove himself worthy by winning his father's title. To do this, he has to compete against his brothers to form an unbreakable alliance with a neighboring kingdom. 


Author's Notes:

1. This storygame features two points of views. The choices you make in one point of view can—and will—affect the other story. 
2. Although this is a retelling of Aladdin, the plot, characters, and overall narratives deviate from the original tale. 
3. If you prefer to read the storygame in the same browser, you could click the title page instead of the 'play' button.

Hope you enjoy the storygame! 

If you don't like letters, extremely short stories or cliched moral lessons, don't read this. I found it when I was browsing through the old storygames I had created a long time ago. If I'm not mistaken, this was made for Mizal's Tiny 'Topias jam although I never really thought it was good enough to add to the thread. I don't think I'll publish this, but it's completed if anyone happens to browse my profile and wants to read it.

On a dark and chilly night, you visit the Skeleton to ask for hints in order to solve the mystery of 'A Hunted and Haunted Halloween'.

If you find yourself stuck while trying to complete A Hunted and Haunted Halloween, this is the guide for you! Since it is a walkthrough, there are bound to be spoilers, so I recommend reading the storygame before referring to this.

Do let me know if you find any inconsistencies between the storygame and this walkthrough. As this would remain unpublished, I should be able to fix errors rather quickly.

That's all from me. Enjoy!

So, did you hear about Stargirl's ascension and decide to return?

It's funny how both your choices have you liking men.

That's actually a good idea, it reminds me of a multi-stage scavenger hunt I planned a while back which would get players to read stories, articles, profiles, the history page and even comments for hints to progress. It was very elaborate so I'll probably save it for a special occasion if I ever decide to run it.

Just out of curiosity, what other bluffing games do you enjoy playing?

My bad, next time I'll create a third game for dead players and if you die again, you get moved to a fourth game, then a fifth, and you will never be able to stop playing CYS Mafia until the world ends!

(Or actually, I could use this to leverage productivity. The first player to write three featured reviews, challenge someone to a Thunderdome and win, and publish a commended storygame will be revived!)

Before I forget, here are a few strategies I've thought about which might be helpful in future games. Feel free to discuss your own ideas too! Some are very context-dependent and can involve a bit of double-bluff/ assumptions about the other team, though:

1. Shifting the target: the Investigator Mod could, upon discovering someone is good, get them to pose as their role and feed information to the group that way. Alternatively, this person could claim to be receiving investigative results from an anonymous detective to protect their identity - but of course, that might limit credibility, which leads me to my next potential play.
2. Using the Productive CYStian to clear members: when creating this role, I was inspired by a youtube series called 'Killer Game', and this method was used whenever more than one person claimed to be an investigator. Killing off an investigator could ruin the game if they are the real one. Essentially, the productive CYStian can instantly clear or kill one person in a way where information is revealed to all, which would reveal who can and cannot be trusted. And even if the actual investigator is killed by trolls the night that the Thunderdome match happens, that's what the revival function is for.
3. Faking protection: the goal of the trolls is to kill all the Mods or all the CYStians. The latter is much harder, hence if the trolls know---or at least, are led to think---that a person is protected/shamed, they would kill someone else instead. Thus, if a powerful role reveals themself out of necessity, they could publicly ask to be protected. But here's the thing: the trolls may not go after them because of this, and instead, kill someone else, so if the Contest Mod shames a different player (especially at a later stage in the game where there are fewer members), this could result in a night where no one is killed and that can be very powerful. 

Also, if you're a good person who is revealing their role, there has to be a valid reason to do so. For instance: when you're about to be eliminated or will take a specific action the next night. Then, the best play would be to give everyone all the information you have, eg who you protected each night and why, the results of your investigations, the room you plan to kill, etc. There's no point in putting a target on your own back without sharing any information with the team. Next, you want to seek protection from a coder or contest mod (or if you know that the other half, Mod or CYStian, is lower on numbers, ask specifically to not be protected since your role does not matter as much). This is one of the better ways to boost your credibility as a team player. 

Despite the apathetic CYStian being, well, apathetic, this makes them the perfect role for risky plays in the game. They could be a valuable asset when faking a role for someone else or even just proving themself to be good after getting voted out. This also means they can voice their suspicions more freely with less fear of getting killed. 

If anything, I saw the Cogite's role as beneficial towards the villagers: the first death would almost always be a non-troll and statistically, the person to die from the first round of voting will too. In fact, up until the second day of voting, it's highly unlikely a troll would be eliminated, hence the team that's much more likely to get an extra member would be the good team. But I'll replace it with a jester-adjacent role if I run this again (and also strengthen the good team with another ability, maybe a doppelganger or mayor). 

The revive function gave the good team an extra life too. As for the suicidal troll, you're probably right that it is a bit overpowered, but funnily enough wasn't used in either games.

Commentary

Once again, thank you to everyone for your participation in this game! RK and I enjoyed hosting this event and reading all your strategies, in-character posts and analysis of the game. Here's our commentary on everything that happened behind the scenes! We may have missed out some of the details so feel free to fill in the gaps with what you did, any plans you had, schemes you made with other members, etc.

Preliminary thoughts: To be honest, I wasn’t sure if the game was skewed against the trolls from the start since we had twelve members. That meant their best route of winning was to eliminate all the Mods (if they went after the members, that meant having to kill five times including the Apathetic CYStian). But they exceeded my expectations by not only winning, but purging non-trolls from the forums!

Evening 1

Let’s take a look at some of the strategies from the start. Clayfinger instantly portrayed himself as someone who prioritizes group harmony, Enter started his monologuing poems (though is it really a monologue if several mice are speaking?) and MHD graciously offers everyone tea! Now, who could ever suspect them of being trolls?

Spicy, that’s who. He accused Clayfinger of being Liminal and killing him! At the same time, Anthraxus casted doubt as to whether the tea and noodles are poisoned, Blister spammed a lot of messages, and Unscapeable introduced himself by a nickname no one ever uses for the rest of the game (sorry, Scape). 

Night 1

The trolls met one another in a discord chat RK set up. It was a very wholesome meeting where their first words were ‘Mercer Gang’! They each revealed their roles and decided on two potential plans:

1. Kill Blister and Spicy for everyone's sanity
2. Kill smart players to make it easy for them later on

In the end, they decided to target Milton because he 'seemed the type to really get into any investigation'. They also had a side mission of framing Blister and Spicy for their kills!

What about the good guys, then? Milton—the Investigator Mod—decided to find out whether his friend and fellow Gazette editor was on the same team. He discovered that Anthraxus’ alignment was good (that part wasn't a lie)! UnescapableDeath chose to use his coding abilities to protect the Newbie Central. Then we had Gryphon, who threw themself in the pit, knowing that would secure them a round of safety.

Day 2

This was hilarious. Milton, the Investigator Mod, aka the most powerful role in the game, is the first to be killed off. To make matters worse, his last words did not clear the one person who was almost certainly good. I mean, even from a credibility perspective, it makes sense that Milton would investigate his closest friend first. He even mentioned wondering what Ant was up to in his night post which further reinforces that narrative.

Enter didn’t realize there was a reviving mechanism and after I wrote a Gazette article mentioning he was in the room, he decided to deflect suspicion by campaigning for Milton’s revival. MHD took the opposite approach of going against the crowd. Clay, however, decided to appear hesitant to make decisions—this is honestly a great technique as it later helped him get away with murder! 

Okay, I know this may be hard to hear, but Enter played you all like a fiddle. He made up a lie about it being against the rules not to vote and Blister got eliminated, lol. At this point in time, none of the trolls had any inkling that Milton was the Investigator Mod, so they were perfectly fine with wasting the revival ability.

The trolls suspected Blister was the apathetic CYStian since he did not make much of an effort to protect himself. This is one of the reasons I was confused as to how so many people believed one of the Spicy/Blister pair was a troll. Wouldn’t a troll vehemently provide a defense or at least fake a role? Oh well, I suppose Blister would have gotten banned eventually, so voting him out didn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things. 

Night 2

Onto the second night. RK and I were excited that Milton actually investigated MHD, and since she had changed her alignment the night before, this was perfect timing because she couldn't use the ability on herself twice. But guess what? Gryphon came along and threw him in the Pit of Shame, lol. It was a smart play to protect Milton, but the trolls (or more specifically, Enter) were one step ahead the whole time.



And he was right! Unscapeable protected Milton, shielding him from death, exactly like Enter predicted. (Perhaps at least one of them should have known the other role would protect Milton). The trolls took advantage of this distraction to kill Shadow in the shadows. 

Unfortunately for the good guys, the CYStian with the highest survivability, Spicy, was killed off by End. Even being an apathetic CYStian with two lives is no match for the powers of EndMaster. This also makes sense thematically since he likes to ban unproductive, apathetic slugs!

Day 3

That round had everything to do with Milton. He was killed, revived, shamed, protected, and finally, voted out. Truly the main character of the first two days. Let’s examine how the trolls pulled this off:

First, Shadow accused MHD after his death. He was the Cogite Refugee, but if I had to guess, I would say he was either going off the fact she was the only one who voted against Milton's revival or just causing chaos in an unwinnable game. 

The voting here was hilarious. I didn't expect Clayfinger to start attacking MHD first, nor did I expect her to vote for him either. Both trolls casting the blame on each other, especially where no one else was voting, would have convinced me into thinking at least one was innocent. 

The trolls devised many brilliant plots, including Clay’s idea that if MHD were a troll she wouldn’t have voted alone, MHD’s plan to claim the role of Investigator Mod and Enter’s trollish idea to also fake the Investigator role for maximum confusion and chaos. MHD started with her plan first. Soon enough, Milton charged into the room, shouting that MHD was lying. That was a smart move, but it was somewhat weakened by him not providing any details as to who he investigated (revealing all your information rather than only part of it is the best way to gain trust imo). It also meant his role was revealed. If he had, perhaps, used Ace’s technique in the other game to PM Anthrax, then he might have been able to use him as a cover to reveal information to out MHD without betraying either of their true roles. But that hypothetical does presume Ant would trust Milton’s message in the first place.

The ‘fight’ between MHD and Clay was definitely a risky play considering no one else cast a vote beforehand, and for a long time, it seemed they would force a re-vote between themselves and the Investigator Mod. Enter took this time to flesh out a few theories: based on Milton’s closing speech, he believed he was either a cogite, noob, or coder CYStian. The one role he ruled out was the Investigator Mod (lol). 

There was a lull in voting and the trolls’ initial plan was to wait out the voting period. The only problem? I never specified a time limit for voting in the first place. So I went ahead and fixed that, much to the trolls’ annoyance, though I never expected what came next.

No longer wanting to be deceived by Enter, most players chose to exercise a right they didn’t know they had: abstaining from a vote! Yet, Anthrax trusted Milton and voted for MHD. Enter retaliated by voting for Milton. Mousecore voted for MHD. I have to double-check with RK, but I suspect that since Mousecore is the Noob CYStian, they found either Milton or Anthrax was a Mod, hence was willing to cast a vote despite everyone else's reluctance. Remember what I said about Clay’s hesitation? This worked out extremely well here: he pretended to be unsure of who to vote for, to the point of manufacturing a tie, which then allowed MHD to cast the final vote against Milton. I’ll be honest: Clay's explanation of wanting to tie the vote would have fooled me too if I were in the game.

Ironically, it was Gryphon’s decision to protect Milton that ultimately killed him. If he hadn’t put the Investigator Mod into the Pit of Shame, not only would Milton know MHD’s true identity, but he would have been able to vote (resulting in a tie). 

The tensions were high in the trolls’ group chat. They were waiting for the timer to count down, praying no last minute votes came in, and tagging RK and I to ask when the voting period would end. For a moment, I thought RK was trolling the trolls when he said the time was up! …Only to correct himself and say there was another hour left.

RK, in his totally unbiased fashion, closed the voting period for the first and only time in the whole game so the trolls could guarantee Milton was voted out. This had to be one of the funniest moments overall. How could everyone have trusted Milton enough to use their one-time ability to revive him, use both protective abilities on him in the night, only to allow him to get voted out the very next day? Dying on the first night made him extremely unlikely to have faked being the Investigator Mod too. 

Seriously, how did the trolls vote out the guy everyone collectively revived in the first round and manage to get away with it?

Naturally, Anthraxus had his suspicions. He confronted Clayfinger about his vote. This was funny because the day before, Ant was willing to vote for anyone except Clay. Oh, Ant, you were so close to getting it right: 

‘I still think that your earlier arguments for suspecting MHD hold water, and that is what swayed my vote. MHD has done nothing since starting the voting with you to alleviate that suspicion. That is actually the only thing making me doubt that you are the third troll in the set of MHD, Enter and ?. Yet, the fact that the three of you were the only votes for Milton, who is the only person to offer any kind of proof of their role when demanded, weighs strongly against that.’

Somehow, through the power of textwalls (a strategy I am biased towards myself), Enter utilized weaponized confusion to get Ant to doubt himself. Now they shared the belief that either Blister or Spicy was a troll. This was a dangerous belief which created a false sense of security for the non-trolls.

Also, the rest of you good guys should be ashamed, Mizal knew all along that Enter was a troll and she wasn't even playing the game! Though later on, she changed her mind and predicted Enter was just handing the game over to the trolls on a silver platter, which does seem like something he would do tbh.

Night 3

Whilst I secretly thought that the trolls targeting Shadow was a wasted kill due to his neutral role, in hindsight, it was actually a strong benefit to them. Were he to have survived, he would’ve guessed Milton’s alignment and kept his role around. (The Cogite role was my way of strengthening the good team by letting them maintain an ability even when a player is dead. This is especially true for the Investigator Mod, since if they die early on, there aren’t many roles that can reveal the alignment of players. But it’s funny how neither Cogite took on a new role in these games. I'll probably replace this with a jester or doppelganger role if we were to play again).

That night, the trolls were full of worries, especially since it was the three of them who voted out Milton which would be a dead giveaway…right? So Clayfinger brainstormed a number of theoretical possibilities as to how MHD might be able to defeat death, including this idea: does shame exempts a player from participating in a Thunderdome match?

Now, the thing is, I never got back to resolve this gray area. I was distracted by how unbelievable the whole situation was. Little did I know that this exact situation would happen later…

This night went as follows:

• Anthraxus purged Newbie Central to get rid of MHD (you all know this one)
• Gryphon threw MHD in the Pit of Shame
• Unscapeable didn't protect any room 
• …but Yummy challenged MHD to a Thunderdome duel

This was the round where everyone targeted MHD. They just hate seeing a woman in power, smh. Okay, here's the aforementioned gray area I never got to resolve: as MHD was shamed, could she still take part in the Thunderdome Challenge? Because of this uncertainty, I thought about which outcome would be the most fair.

What did the trolls do this round? Well, after Enter and Clay accurately guessed Gryphon’s identity as the Contest Mod who protected themself in the first round, they had a target. But they later changed it to Anthraxus, then changed it again before finally settling on Yummyfood. In hindsight, RK and I should have kept a better watch on the time limits for actions.

When I returned to the site a few days later, I realized: only two non-troll members were left. In normal Mafia games, this would have qualified as a win since 50% were trolls. (Except that I thought it would be too difficult to achieve with 11 players so I set the win condition to either killing all the mods or noobs). Since neither Anthraxus nor Scape had the power to kill a troll, it honestly didn't matter whether MHD was dead or alive, the game would still end with the trolls winning:

Option 1: Voting ends with a tie. Trolls kill the last player and win.
Option 2: Trolls vote out one member and win instantly.

Despite the game having technically ended, the official win conditions weren’t met and I wanted to cause some chaos. This is why I let MHD survive and introduced Malk into the game to troll the two good guys (I added him to the troll group chat since RK came up with a cool scifi parallel-reality idea that we wanted to use in some capacity). 

Scape became a scapegoat and shook hands with Enter to vote himself out. Anthrax did the best he could without realizing how dire the situation was. As for the trolls? If anything, this social experiment shows that CYS is lucky they’re on our side and not the enemy’s.

From then on, I bought popcorn and watched as everything was consumed by chaos, then clapped as the credits rolled.

Fin.

RK here. Before we fully close this out, I just wanted to include some quotes I collected from everyone in the middle of the game and towards the end.

Here are some mid-game thoughts everyone had, along with some troll screenshots I thought were funny. I asked people this question around night 2, so this is before people really knew how the game would go. A lot of these were really interesting, and I hope you guys enjoy!:

Yummy:

I definitely think Blister was either innocent or the spammer. I still don't know what to think about MHD. Shadowdragon ended up kind of like Gandalf saying "fly you fools". If he meant to say he was a credible source he didn't say it very well. I think if she isn't voted and no better evidence arises I might use my duel on her.

Anthraxus: ​​

​At this point I think Milton is safe.  Either MHD or Clay finger are a troll, although I am leaning towards MHD. Everyone else has been pretty quiet so they are just guesses.

Gyphon:

Hm, no firm guesses as it's still early in the game. I wasn't persuaded by Shadowdrake's last words (may he rest in peace), but MHD's response was a little suspicious. She may well be up to something (or just playing it up lol)

UD:

Right now, I'm thinking that using up our only revive so early on was a bad idea, and we should have saved it for when we know who we are reviving. I also think that MHD is one of the citizens or mods, as they were the only one who voted against the revive. If there was even one more person, then I might have thought that they were both trolls, but it doesn't make sense for just one troll to vote against it.

Shadowdrake:

Oh, I appreciate your confidence in me! However, I'm not that good... 

I know MHD is a troll. Not using the metadata I got from knowing Milton's role, she is the only person who voted out Milton. This was after being explained the logic of Milton not being a troll and keeping as many people alive as possible. When accused (with my dying breath) of being a troll, she claimed to be the investigator. This was a mistake, in my opinion.

Being not just a mod or a CYStian, but also the most important player on the game is a big deal. It's too convenient to be true. Also, if she really were the investigator, she wouldn't put a target on herself like that. No one would--unless they were a troll and didn't have to fear being targeted by the trolls. Basically, if the towns people don't vote for her now and she doesn't get killed by trolls tonight, it should be painfully obvious she is a troll.

if that wasn't enough, she accused Blister and I of being trolls conspiring against her as a mod. We both were killed by trolls... so we are either both really dumb trolls, or she is standing over our body with a bloody teapot and accusing us of killing ourselves with it. She overplayed her hand.

I know Milton is the investigator mod because I tried to take his role when he died... only for him to be revived (perk of being the COG refugee I guess). However, he is the only member we know is alive and not a troll, since he survived a troll attack. He should vote for MHD quietly and hope that everyone trusts him enough from this. If the trolls find out who he is this early, the game is probably over.

I also think that Enterpride is innocent of being a troll. He wanted to revive Milton before I did. A troll wouldn't suggest that. However, I think Blister was innocent and a CYStain because of how he accepted his death. I think if he was a mod or troll he would have fought harder to stay in the game--either claiming to be a mod as a troll or revealing he is a mod to get votes changed. 

The only other players have information about are clay finger, who I'm suspicious of, but that's mostly because he is the most active person in the game right now. Anyone who votes to keep MHD around I would suspect of being a troll. Clayfinger basically said, "I'll vote against her if you do but I'll vote for someone else if I'm given a reason" which to me felt like a clever troll covering his tracks.

Unfortunately, no one else has revealed enough for me to be suspicious of them. The banned player (spicy noodles, I think?) was not a troll. I tired to take his role when he was banned and guessed wrong. So I know he was a Mod/CYStian... however, I have no way to tell which.

Mouse: 

Howdy RK! 

As of right now, I am honestly wary of MHD. I still stand by the fact that Milton is likely not siding with the trolls, and MHD's contrarian choices may be intentional. I don't think at this time that I have a definite clue as to who is a troll though. 

Epilogue

Location: The Lounge
Time: 12 AM(Midnight)

Five days have come and gone. The true identities of our guests remain cloaked in deception and lies, but somehow, our final six are still standing. It's a pity one of them would soon be voted off.
 

Roles are revealed. MHD claims to have investigated Enter, who says he is the Contest Mod, and she instantly trusts him! Now, these two 'mods' team up against Scape, the popcorn-eating, sandwich-making troll. Because he's obviously dangerous, duh. No one looks for a kitchen in the forums unless they're hiding something. 

Clayfinger joins in, taking the role of the Coder CYStian, driving Scape to the verge of a mental breakdown as he mutters about homework. Enter draws up a list of targets to kill next in plain sight of everyone else. Malk shares his experiences of being French. Anthraxus...well, he pulls the other guests aside to speak one-on-one, attempting to use logic and common sense to sway the votes, but alas, the forums are too far gone. They have been for a while, actually. 

UD is voted off. Five remain, but only one of them is...a non-troll!

RK enters the room with a wide grin. "Enter, Clay, and MHD, you guys really sold your roles as best as you could have! Like even though there was reasonable suspicion on you guys, you managed to turn it around in an interesting way!"

Anthrax falls to the ground in anguish: he had suspected this, perhaps, for quite a while, but despite his best efforts, the trolls won. Though if he listens carefully, he hears a barely discernible voice over the speakers. "This experiment has proven successful indeed. Yes, while only one mod survived, we have discovered RK is a troll sympathizer! I will inform the others at once."

Red lights sweep over the room, bathing the warhammer in an ominous glow and shining on the fresh blood on the ground. The doors to the forums fly open. Despite their victory, trolls lack the skills to create their own community, so they take their leave, searching for the next forum to destroy. 
 

Commentary

Thank you to everyone who participated in this game! It was really fun to host and I loved how involved all of you were in it. I hope you enjoyed this little activity as much as I have :)

Here's my commentary of how the game progressed. You will find out what happened behind the scenes, some theories that were formed, and the consequences of each choice made!

Evening 1

I liked seeing the different strategies emerge from the first day. For instance, both Liminal and Ben attempted to blend in by engaging in conversation with the other players, whereas Malk didn’t post until much later in the game. 

One little detail that I noticed was how Goodnight, the apathetic CYStian, really embodied her role, choosing to read books, ignore discussions and stay in Reading Central for most of the game. Suranna’s roleplay as a character who wasn’t fully sane was fitting for her role too. Then we had Celicini, who instantly went up to the banhammer—I wondered if that was a strategy to act as the Chaos Mod or just him wanting to go for the obvious weapon in the room. Personally, if I were playing this game, I would have mistakenly believed Will was the Investigator Mod, since he did put a lot of effort into writing down all of his observations about everyone else.

Night 1

It was a bit more difficult for the trolls in this game because not all of them could use Discord. They initially thought that it was only possible to kill a person in the same room as one of them (I should have clarified that) and almost went for Fresh, but she had to opt out of the game.

So, the vote was nearly changed to Avo. She was just lucky that her interactions with both trolls—namely, vacuuming Liminal and ignoring Malk—meant they believed that killing her would cast them both in a suspicious light. Yep, Avo never realized how close she was to getting killed on the first night. I even wrote a Gazette piece titled ‘Death, Drugs & Demon Dolls’.  

The gun was pointed at Will next. Due to his wholesomeness, the trolls decided to go for Cat instead, who was killed for the crime of being a ‘smart player’. And of course, who else but Ben would suggest Cat should die ‘hung from the rafters by her neck and bludgeoned to death’ because that would be, in his words, ‘an amusing scene’. (Don’t worry, he said he liked Cat so it wasn’t anything personal…or so I would hope).

Now, onto the CYS team. Ace investigated Cavus the first night. Upon finding out he was good, he had a smart strategy of dming Cavus rather than revealing it to everyone on the thread (though, of course, that would have backfired on the very slim chance his alignment had been altered). Then he had to ruin this by committing Aceisms through misspelling ‘charasmatic’, ‘invesitgator’ and ‘invesitgate’, all in a single message (though in his defense, it was a pretty long message). 

When I asked Cavus his strategy for the game, he told me Ace was buttering him up in his recruitment. But he found his story believable, so they exchanged roles and formed what I believe was the first official alliance in this game!

As for the other roles: Malk changed his own IP address, Cavus chose not to protect any room since that could lead to him taking a bullet for someone else, and Avo chose to imprison Liminal in the Pit of Shame. Apparently vacuuming him wasn’t enough, smh. 

Day 2

You already know how this went. I would mention, though, a bit about what happened in the troll’s chat. Ben wondered if Liminal was found out by the Investigator Mod because he was shamed and proposed that Malk should change his alignment the next night. Avo, who had nearly been killed the night before, was giving the trolls a bit of a scare.

The vote to revive Cat was nearly tied. As time almost ran out, it was down to Suranna, Malk and Goodnight as to whether she would be brought back. I found it ironic that the decision was left to a troll and a neutral role.

Another thing I found hilarious was how Cat actually gave everyone a good reason to revive her, yet they didn’t. Whereas in the other game, Milton’s last words were ‘It’s up to you whether you want to bring me back’ and that led to everyone choosing to do so. 

Night 2

I wrote down a note about the crazy events of night 2 and this was the reason I came up with the idea for this commentary in the first place. Let’s start with Avo. She somehow put a troll in the Pit of Shame both times (Liminal and Malk). That’s the second smartest play that could be made there, with the best option, of course, being to have shamed herself. But this led to her having a perfect record in the game.

That night, she was killed. But she wasn’t the only one: Will made a decision which was, in my humble opinion, extremely lucky and also the catalyst for the game being won. Let me explain.

First, he intended to purge Newbie Central because Suranna was there. The reason? She made an offhand comment about suspecting Cavus, who Will was now in an alliance with. And second, if Ben had posted his room choice earlier—or at least before I had published the update post—he would have survived. But Will essentially made a lucky guess that changed the course of the whole game.

For a moment, I thought the night would get even crazier because had Celicni been in a ‘productive’ room, he would have challenged someone to a Thunderdome match, meaning the three deaths in a night would have been four. Ace also investigated Celicni that night.

Speaking of the Cavus and Will alliance, I found it interesting how both of them mostly trusted each other, but they each still had a sneaking sense of paranoia about being misled by the other. Suspicion and secrets go hand-in-hand during games like these.

Cavus protected the Reading Corner that night as Ace (who he knew was the Investigator) was in the room. I was laughing at how he seemed so convinced he was going to be killed off that night when three other people had died instead. Cavus also suspected Malk was the Triggered Troll who followed him into the room to kill him.

I wonder if Suranna intentionally misguessed Cat’s role as a Mod. After all, her last message did seem, at least to me, to reveal she was the noob CYStian (the only role which would gain information as the game progresses). 

A strategic play which went unnoticed: Malk’s double bluff of framing himself. Avo was killed by a capybara—the very animal Malk is associated with—right after Malk publicly announced his disdain for her. I would have thought at least one person would think it’d be too obvious for him to be a troll. It’s a pity we didn’t see more reactions to this scheme.

A strategic play which worked: Ben fully believed Will was the Investigator Mod for a good portion of the game. Turns out Will’s plan to claim Ace’s role worked. Not that it mattered, though, since neither of them were killed in the end.

Day 3

The juxtaposition between the treatment of noobs in Games 1 and 2 was not lost on me. While the former chose to vote out Blister (who Avo seemed to be friends with at that time), in this game, the choice was made to revive Avo instead. Yep, the players chose to bring her back instead of longer term members like Suranna and Ben. While the latter attempted to get members to revive him out of spite, this method didn't work.

But of course, the votes to revive Avo was a purely strategic choice. By now, the Mods (and Coder) alliance was growing stronger, through a web of private messages, made up of four members—an easy majority. This gave them a huge advantage in the game and in fact, if I wanted to place a bet, I would say they had stacked the odds highly in their favour at this point. 

Funnily enough, Celicni had messaged Cavus about his role and the latter pretended not to know anything. This led to Celicni later forming a conspiracy theory: Will and Cavus might be trolls who, following Suranna’s takedown of Ben as the Triggered Troll, faked Will’s role as the Chaotic Mod. Yet, it was the last words mechanism which refuted this idea.

Let’s talk about faking roles. Liminal messaged Cavus claiming to be the Noob CYStian. This is, imo, a smart play, since the trolls had theorized that Cat was likely to have been that role. But Liminal, why would you say that you found out Cavus was a mod? You could have chosen anyone. There was even Will, who not-so-subtly hinted at being a mod on multiple occasions. And this wasn’t noticed by anyone else, but if I were Cavus, I would remember that prior to this, you were voting against him, which would not have been logical had you found out he was a mod. 

It was Ace who noticed the wording of the Noob CYStian card. Kudos to him for being reading the rules carefully! This led to them immediately suspecting Liminal, and based on my observation as the host, I knew the trolls had lost from this moment.

These were Cavus’ suspicions at that point in the game. I must say, it’s pretty impressive how he almost got them all right:

Trolls:
- benholman44
- Liminal
- Suranna

Cogite:
- hetero_malk

Cystians:
- Will11 - Chaotic Mod
- MrAce321 - Investigator Mod
- V_V - Contest Mod
- Celicni - Productive Cystian
- goodnight_a - Apathetic Cystian
- Cat2002116 - Noob Cystian
- CavusRex - Coder Cystian

As you can see, distrust is in the nature of this game, but effective teamwork is rewarded. The trolls nearly voted out Malk, which was funny to me because they thought he was a CoGite refugee. Perhaps it might have been better if he claimed to have taken on a new role (though he would need to claim a role no one else had). In fact, if they had voted him out, the game would be instantly lost. 

This was my analysis before the voting concluded:

Option 1: Malk gets voted out and Avo is revived. This means the game becomes unwinnable, with one troll against three mods (Avo, Will and Ace) and two CYStians (Celicni and Goodnight). Because Goodnight has two lives, three kills have to be made for either win condition to be satisfied. The alliance knows Liminal’s alignment. In order to win, the most he can do is to hope someone else gets Thunderdomed (unlikely), kills in the night, spam the forums the next day, and get one last kill.

Option 2: The forums are spammed. This is the slightly better option for the trolls, since Avo’s death means they only need to kill both remaining mods to win. Having two members would let them survive two voting rounds. Still, they would still need to be incredibly lucky, as their win is contingent on them killing one mod tonight and another the next. It also assumes Celicni does not challenge either of them to a Thunderdome match. 

Night 3

Order of events:

• Malk changed his own alignment
• Ace investigated him and found out he was ‘good’
• Celicni challenged Liminal to a Thunderdome match and won
• The trolls attempted to kill Will
• Cavus protected the Advanced Editor room and took a bullet for him

Day 4

Looking back, there were three decisions that ultimately won the ‘good team’ the game:

• Cavus forming an early alliance with Ace, Will and Avo
• Will taking out the Triggered Troll and CoGite
• Ace and Cavus discovering Liminal's lie

I considered adding Celicni's Thunderdome challenge, though arguably, the game was already won by this point. However, it guaranteed the victory.

One of my highlights for this game was reading all the theories that were thrown around. If you have been playing or following along with this thread, let us know some of your thoughts! Who did you suspect in the game? Did any of the roles surprise you?