Post by Beelzebibble on Jul 1, 2011 12:21:12 GMT -5
Introduction
Welcome to Archipelago Exodus’ first installment of The Mole. This game will follow a format inspired by the TV series of the same name, whose debut in the U.S. in early 2001 forever captured my young heart. It’s time to bring this devastatingly clever game of deceit and subterfuge to Archie Exie.
Now if you’re a serious geezer, you might recall that there were a few installments of The Mole played back in the old old old days of Pokeschool – thanks, Loogs, for uncovering a link to one such thread. You might, however, if you read that topic, notice that it is basically stupid bullshit, a half-baked pseudo-RP posing as some kind of challenge. We can do better. I think we SHALL do better!
The game is a series of challenges that will test your knowledge, cunning and moral stamina. Every episode will run roughly two real-time weeks and will contain three challenges. In these missions, the players will work together to achieve objectives that will add EP to a group pot which will ultimately be bestowed upon the winner of the game. The pot will easily run into the hundreds of EP. It’s hard to pin an exact maximum payout since some games are partially based on chance, but I’d cast 500 EP as a pretty reasonable estimate.
But will it accumulate to such a high sum? That won’t be easy – because one player among the twelve of you has been selected as the Mole. The Mole’s duty is to work against the others and sabotage the missions to reduce the team’s earnings. The Mole will get paid whatever EP doesn’t go into the pot, so it’s in the Mole’s best interests to undermine the group’s efforts as much as possible.
At the end of each episode, the players must answer a quiz about the Mole’s identity. The player who scores lowest on the quiz is executed – removed from the game immediately. The winner is the player who can survive all ten episodes, make it through all ten quizzes and answer the question: who is the Mole?
Cue badass theme music.
The Players
The Challenges
There should be little to say about the challenges that I didn’t cover in the introduction. Each episode contains three challenges, which will run on average two weeks between all three of them. The deadline for a challenge – the number of days you have to complete it – will always be stated at the outset. Sometimes, the EP payout of a challenge will also be made explicit; sometimes, you won’t find out until after that challenge is over.
In addition to EP, there is another prize players will be competing for in the challenges: exemptions. In most episodes, there is at least one possibility of a player gaining an exemption by fulfilling a certain objective in one of the missions. This objective might go hand-in-hand with winning the challenge; it might represent a “side quest”, so to speak; or, taking the exemption might actually hinder or outright prohibit victory for the team. Again, sometimes you’ll know from the start of the challenge that an exemption is at stake, while other times, you’ll find out over the course of the task.
What is an exemption? Simple: it protects you in the upcoming quiz. A player who wins an exemption cannot be executed at the end of that episode. Which brings us neatly to:
The Quiz
At the end of each episode (that is, once every three challenges), the players will take the quiz, a set of twelve questions about the Mole’s identity and activities. The quiz will be sent to the players by PM and will last twenty-four hours. During that time, each player must PM all twelve of his/her answers to the host.
Of course, the Mole does not need to take the quiz, nor does any player who has earned an exemption in that round. However, these people will receive the questions by PM anyway, merely to know what was asked that round.
All questions are multiple-choice, and each response should consist of nothing but the letter associated with the player’s answer. Although they may seem to vary in significance, all questions are weighted equally – that is, each one accounts for one-twelfth of the overall score, with no question being allotted a higher value.
While we’re in this section, I should also mention that there’s a special contingency in place for when a player receives two exemptions in the same episode. (A number of episodes, especially around the middle of the run, contain more than one challenge that might grant an exemption, although it is never true that all three challenges in an episode can grant an exemption.) If a player who already holds an exemption in an episode manages to earn another one, the following occurs: first, the player maintains their original exemption and doesn’t need to sit the quiz for that episode; second, that player automatically receives a +1 on their score for the next quiz. So there’s certainly some incentive to try to hog exemptions, although that obviously won’t make you too popular with your fellow players!
Scoring
Assuming all players submit their quiz answers within twenty-four hours, the player who scores the lowest will be executed. If two or more players are tied for the lowest score, he among them who submitted his score last will be executed. Swiftness is a virtue while completing the quiz, as long as you don’t allow haste to cloud your judgment.
If not all players complete the quiz within twenty-four hours, things get slightly more complicated. An incomplete quiz is given a score of -1, so if exactly one player fails to complete the quiz, she will automatically be executed regardless of how the other players performed (that is, even if other players bombed it utterly). That’s easy enough.
Where it gets tricky is if multiple players fail to complete the quiz within the same round, which I trust very strongly will not occur. Should, say, two players both fail to complete the quiz within one round, he among them who scored lowest on the previous quiz will be executed. (If they were tied last round, then whoever had submitted their quiz later then will now be executed.) Most bogglingly, if both of those players also failed to complete the quiz last round as well as this one, or if there is no previous round at all (that is, if it’s the first episode)… well, then I’ve got no choice but to flip a coin. Or worse, pretend to flip a coin, but actually execute whomever I happen to like less out of the two. You really don’t want to put that kind of power in my hands. I’ve been known to abuse such a position.
The bottom line is, to avoid that quagmire of errata, just submit your quiz answers on time. Failing to do so is the best way to book yourself a one-way ticket out of this game. (I’ll give you early notification of when each quiz is booked to take place, because I definitely don’t want to catch anyone off-guard.)
Execution
Rather than being announced straightaway, the execution ceremony takes place over the course of twenty-four hours. Why? The generous answer is “To increase suspense.” The less generous answer is “Because Pohatu’s a bastard.”
Throughout those twenty-four hours, players may volunteer by posting in that episode’s topic. I will respond with a post indicating that they are either safe or have been executed. If the execution victim has not been revealed within the twenty-four hours, I will announce the victim and the game will proceed.
Post-Episode Interviews
Between episodes, I will be PMing all active players (even the Mole) with a short set of questions. This is not a quiz; it is, rather, a survey to see how the players are feeling about each other and about the game as a whole. Your answers will remain private until the game has concluded.
Why do I want to conduct these interviews? Mostly to spruce up the finale. As I unveil the course of the game and the trajectories of its players, it’ll help to have some firsthand info about how their feelings changed from start to finish. I realize I may not be making the world’s greatest pitch here, so I’ll sweeten the deal by offering 5 EP per interview to all those who participate, whether they’re the winner, the Mole, or a losing player. Those EP will be handed out after the game wraps up.
Honesty
The PM system, obviously, stands at risk of breaking this game, and I’ve tried to set it up as much as possible so that the game will bend rather than break under PM stress. That is, my hope is that you should be able to say anything you like to each other by PM (or any other form of private communication) without causing the entire game to collapse.
The fact is that lying to your fellow players will prove to be an immensely useful part of the game. Both within challenges, and in external discussions of your suspicions, etc., the ability to tell a good lie will serve you very well. As such, you should always be prepared to take anything your fellow players tell you with a grain of salt. Indeed, even players who’ve already been executed and who are no longer actively competing do not deserve your full trust! This will become clear when I introduce the betting pool later.
Prizes
The two largest monetary prizes, of course, go to the winner and the Mole. The winner receives whatever store of money exists in the pot by the final episode. The Mole wins whatever money was diverted from the pot throughout the course of the game.
However, this isn’t the only way to make EP over the course of The Mole. I mentioned above the 5 EP payout for the post-episode interviews. That’s one of several ways in which players who ultimately lose the game can still go home with a little compensation for their efforts. You’ll be notified of other opportunities as they arise.
Final Suggestions
That's about it. You guys can and should use this topic for any questions that you have, plus any general discussion of the game you like. Executed players and spectators are free to post here, but not in any topic on this board that doesn't specifically allow it as this one does. Mostly it's the actual episode topics that are reserved for still-competing players only.
But here and now, go ahead. Remember, we start the first episode on July5th 9th.
Welcome to Archipelago Exodus’ first installment of The Mole. This game will follow a format inspired by the TV series of the same name, whose debut in the U.S. in early 2001 forever captured my young heart. It’s time to bring this devastatingly clever game of deceit and subterfuge to Archie Exie.
Now if you’re a serious geezer, you might recall that there were a few installments of The Mole played back in the old old old days of Pokeschool – thanks, Loogs, for uncovering a link to one such thread. You might, however, if you read that topic, notice that it is basically stupid bullshit, a half-baked pseudo-RP posing as some kind of challenge. We can do better. I think we SHALL do better!
The game is a series of challenges that will test your knowledge, cunning and moral stamina. Every episode will run roughly two real-time weeks and will contain three challenges. In these missions, the players will work together to achieve objectives that will add EP to a group pot which will ultimately be bestowed upon the winner of the game. The pot will easily run into the hundreds of EP. It’s hard to pin an exact maximum payout since some games are partially based on chance, but I’d cast 500 EP as a pretty reasonable estimate.
But will it accumulate to such a high sum? That won’t be easy – because one player among the twelve of you has been selected as the Mole. The Mole’s duty is to work against the others and sabotage the missions to reduce the team’s earnings. The Mole will get paid whatever EP doesn’t go into the pot, so it’s in the Mole’s best interests to undermine the group’s efforts as much as possible.
At the end of each episode, the players must answer a quiz about the Mole’s identity. The player who scores lowest on the quiz is executed – removed from the game immediately. The winner is the player who can survive all ten episodes, make it through all ten quizzes and answer the question: who is the Mole?
Cue badass theme music.
The Players
- BULBS: Maybe our guilty party is the Wild Card himself, Bulbs Q. Hamuu. Why not? His long-cultivated persona of goofy good cheer would make him a very attractive candidate for the part. He drew a bad card in the first installment of Mafia. Perhaps now it’s time for him to make us his BulbaBitches.
- NINETY: Eager and fresh off the track from his victory in the latest Post Race, Ninety could be ready to take another trophy home if he can uncover the Mole. But who’s to say he couldn’t be the traitor himself? Perhaps it’s time to let someone else land the grand prize, and lay down his champion’s mantle in favor of a darker cloak.
- TESTBUG: Seems like we could have a culprit right here. Testbug’s been one of the most driven and proficient Househeld players since that RP began, and it’s only natural to want to pick a Mole who’ll put that same energy into playing the part. When the challenges start going haywire, you’d all do well to test this game… … for bugs.
- SEM: Sem is arguably the least-established member in the lineup, lacking the Househeld connection that’s provided footing for some of the other newer players. But he ain’t no slouch, as his substantial contributions to LaDC and Reemergence demonstrate. Don’t make the mistake of letting that cute otter avatar swim under your radar.
- BISCUIT: Interesting that Biscuit was the first player to throw an actual accusation out there, even as a transparent joke. Is he covering something? You’d imagine the Mole would lie lower than that in the early stages, but that could be exactly what our smart cookie wants you to think.
- DL: Even in light of his recent inactivity, DL still brings a rich history of contribution and respect onto the field. He’s the “big man”, a player archetype who typically gets ruled out because his authority suggests he’s working for the team. But I’ve seen two “big men” revealed as the Mole, and most of the players never saw it coming…
- LUGIASIAN: Look, Loogs is already basically a Soviet spy, okay? Taking up Mole duties wouldn’t even be nothin’ but a thang. Enough said.
- TANGROW: Oh, dear Tangrow. So adorable and self-deprecating in his mannerisms. But the hidden depths to his character Kitten have shown us Tangrow’s own savvier side. With a tenacity demonstrated full well by his silver medal in Post Race IV, Tangrow might make a surprisingly good Mole.
- IRON MOUSE: Miss Swift over here clearly knows a few things about biting satire. There’s nothing that serves the Mole better than a sharp wit, and the ability to express that in a crowd-pleasing way would only bolster her team-player persona. Best take whatever comes from this barbed pen with a grain of salt.
- GEO: Emerging once again from the shadows just in time for signups to begin, Geo represents a variable factor on the table. The oldest members are well familiar with his behavior, but to the fresher faces, he’s a blank slate. What better way to inaugurate his most recent return to the forum than by Moling the whole place up?
- BELLE: Househeld’s resident femme fatale is such an intuitive choice for the Mole, it can’t possibly be her, can it? Or did I just pull a MOEBIUS DOUBLE RED HERRING? Wait – there’s probably going to be, like, some second-guessing and stuff going on in this game, right?
- ELLIOT: The fellow knows a lot about obscuring the truth. He’s writing a damn RP about it. Make no mistake: a game of lies, subterfuge and treachery is a game Elliot is perfectly well-equipped to play. All that would serve him quite decently as a contestant, of course. But it’d serve him even better as the saboteur.
The Challenges
There should be little to say about the challenges that I didn’t cover in the introduction. Each episode contains three challenges, which will run on average two weeks between all three of them. The deadline for a challenge – the number of days you have to complete it – will always be stated at the outset. Sometimes, the EP payout of a challenge will also be made explicit; sometimes, you won’t find out until after that challenge is over.
In addition to EP, there is another prize players will be competing for in the challenges: exemptions. In most episodes, there is at least one possibility of a player gaining an exemption by fulfilling a certain objective in one of the missions. This objective might go hand-in-hand with winning the challenge; it might represent a “side quest”, so to speak; or, taking the exemption might actually hinder or outright prohibit victory for the team. Again, sometimes you’ll know from the start of the challenge that an exemption is at stake, while other times, you’ll find out over the course of the task.
What is an exemption? Simple: it protects you in the upcoming quiz. A player who wins an exemption cannot be executed at the end of that episode. Which brings us neatly to:
The Quiz
At the end of each episode (that is, once every three challenges), the players will take the quiz, a set of twelve questions about the Mole’s identity and activities. The quiz will be sent to the players by PM and will last twenty-four hours. During that time, each player must PM all twelve of his/her answers to the host.
Of course, the Mole does not need to take the quiz, nor does any player who has earned an exemption in that round. However, these people will receive the questions by PM anyway, merely to know what was asked that round.
All questions are multiple-choice, and each response should consist of nothing but the letter associated with the player’s answer. Although they may seem to vary in significance, all questions are weighted equally – that is, each one accounts for one-twelfth of the overall score, with no question being allotted a higher value.
While we’re in this section, I should also mention that there’s a special contingency in place for when a player receives two exemptions in the same episode. (A number of episodes, especially around the middle of the run, contain more than one challenge that might grant an exemption, although it is never true that all three challenges in an episode can grant an exemption.) If a player who already holds an exemption in an episode manages to earn another one, the following occurs: first, the player maintains their original exemption and doesn’t need to sit the quiz for that episode; second, that player automatically receives a +1 on their score for the next quiz. So there’s certainly some incentive to try to hog exemptions, although that obviously won’t make you too popular with your fellow players!
Scoring
Assuming all players submit their quiz answers within twenty-four hours, the player who scores the lowest will be executed. If two or more players are tied for the lowest score, he among them who submitted his score last will be executed. Swiftness is a virtue while completing the quiz, as long as you don’t allow haste to cloud your judgment.
If not all players complete the quiz within twenty-four hours, things get slightly more complicated. An incomplete quiz is given a score of -1, so if exactly one player fails to complete the quiz, she will automatically be executed regardless of how the other players performed (that is, even if other players bombed it utterly). That’s easy enough.
Where it gets tricky is if multiple players fail to complete the quiz within the same round, which I trust very strongly will not occur. Should, say, two players both fail to complete the quiz within one round, he among them who scored lowest on the previous quiz will be executed. (If they were tied last round, then whoever had submitted their quiz later then will now be executed.) Most bogglingly, if both of those players also failed to complete the quiz last round as well as this one, or if there is no previous round at all (that is, if it’s the first episode)… well, then I’ve got no choice but to flip a coin. Or worse, pretend to flip a coin, but actually execute whomever I happen to like less out of the two. You really don’t want to put that kind of power in my hands. I’ve been known to abuse such a position.
The bottom line is, to avoid that quagmire of errata, just submit your quiz answers on time. Failing to do so is the best way to book yourself a one-way ticket out of this game. (I’ll give you early notification of when each quiz is booked to take place, because I definitely don’t want to catch anyone off-guard.)
Execution
Rather than being announced straightaway, the execution ceremony takes place over the course of twenty-four hours. Why? The generous answer is “To increase suspense.” The less generous answer is “Because Pohatu’s a bastard.”
Throughout those twenty-four hours, players may volunteer by posting in that episode’s topic. I will respond with a post indicating that they are either safe or have been executed. If the execution victim has not been revealed within the twenty-four hours, I will announce the victim and the game will proceed.
Post-Episode Interviews
Between episodes, I will be PMing all active players (even the Mole) with a short set of questions. This is not a quiz; it is, rather, a survey to see how the players are feeling about each other and about the game as a whole. Your answers will remain private until the game has concluded.
Why do I want to conduct these interviews? Mostly to spruce up the finale. As I unveil the course of the game and the trajectories of its players, it’ll help to have some firsthand info about how their feelings changed from start to finish. I realize I may not be making the world’s greatest pitch here, so I’ll sweeten the deal by offering 5 EP per interview to all those who participate, whether they’re the winner, the Mole, or a losing player. Those EP will be handed out after the game wraps up.
Honesty
The PM system, obviously, stands at risk of breaking this game, and I’ve tried to set it up as much as possible so that the game will bend rather than break under PM stress. That is, my hope is that you should be able to say anything you like to each other by PM (or any other form of private communication) without causing the entire game to collapse.
The fact is that lying to your fellow players will prove to be an immensely useful part of the game. Both within challenges, and in external discussions of your suspicions, etc., the ability to tell a good lie will serve you very well. As such, you should always be prepared to take anything your fellow players tell you with a grain of salt. Indeed, even players who’ve already been executed and who are no longer actively competing do not deserve your full trust! This will become clear when I introduce the betting pool later.
Prizes
The two largest monetary prizes, of course, go to the winner and the Mole. The winner receives whatever store of money exists in the pot by the final episode. The Mole wins whatever money was diverted from the pot throughout the course of the game.
However, this isn’t the only way to make EP over the course of The Mole. I mentioned above the 5 EP payout for the post-episode interviews. That’s one of several ways in which players who ultimately lose the game can still go home with a little compensation for their efforts. You’ll be notified of other opportunities as they arise.
Final Suggestions
- Well, okay, this first one isn't a suggestion, it's a bit of terminology: I want to draw a distinction between the words "player" and "contestant" so no one will get confused if I use them separately. By "players" I want to mean all twelve of you, since you are all assuredly playing the game. By "contestants" I want to designate the eleven of you who aren't the Mole, since you're the ones contesting against each other to expose the Mole and win the grand prize.
- This isn’t Mafia. I can’t stress that enough. In Mafia, everyone wants to a) look innocent and b) make a public show of outing alleged mafiosi. In The Mole, you should want to do exactly neither of those things. Look innocent? But there’s no surer way to throw competitors off your own prime Mole suspects than by drawing mistrust toward yourself. Accuse the Mole in public? Sure, as long as you don’t mean it. Keep your true suspicions close to the chest. You don’t want to unwittingly put another contestant on track to win the game.
- Deception is your best friend in this game, but the truth is a steadfast ally as well. You just have to know when to use each.
- Make friends. Coalitions are very, very useful. It’s quite possible to have a mutually beneficial partnership in this game without putting 100% faith in each other. I’ve seen contestants win after forming alliances in which both partners told each other how they planned to vote on the quizzes; once one of them fell by the wayside, the other was able to use the knowledge of how his fallen comrade had (apparently) wrongly voted to guide his own further selections. Moreover, while both partners are still in the game, it's very easy for them to draw suspicion onto each other to shield their real targets.
- You are emphatically not required to focus on just one target for an entire quiz. In fact, you can hedge your bets as much as you like by splitting the questions up among multiple suspects. (Remember that all questions are weighted equally.) This gets riskier and riskier as the game proceeds, but is quite a productive technique in the early stages.
- Take notes. If you don’t, you’ll wish you had.
- Unless you’re the Mole, any act of sabotage is useless and self-defeating if no one else finds out it was you. The single solitary reason for a legitimate contestant to sabotage a challenge is to cast suspicion upon himself. Otherwise, you’re only throwing away money that could eventually have ended up in your pocket. Don’t worry: I’ll make it easy for others to discover your wrongdoing.
- In your profile options, choose to go invisible. This certainly isn’t mandatory, but you’ll find it can be very handy for other players not to know when you’re online and when you’re off.
- I know this is a corny way to end any such list, but seriously, have fun. No, honestly. If you guys don’t enjoy this, I have failed you.
That's about it. You guys can and should use this topic for any questions that you have, plus any general discussion of the game you like. Executed players and spectators are free to post here, but not in any topic on this board that doesn't specifically allow it as this one does. Mostly it's the actual episode topics that are reserved for still-competing players only.
But here and now, go ahead. Remember, we start the first episode on July