And ThEN There Were Scum

The fifth EN mafia game and also the first to be hosted both off-site and anonymously. It was hosted by Curtis.

And ThEN There Were Scum had both a unique setup and style. Being off-site, every player portrayed the role of a predetermined characters. All posts in the game were then made anonymously as this character. The flavor involved a number of characters boarding a boat to a mansion on a place called Devil's Island. Once there, Sherrif Knives was executed and the town players had to work together to stop the massacre and defeat all of the scum.

The flavor utilised elements of the character portrayals to make each death and reveal consistent with the day threads.

Players and Roles
Town  Mafia Third Party
 * Ari - Jake: Hider
 * Aspen - Leo: Prolonged Killer
 * Bsrj22 - Kemp: Forensic Investigator
 * Drr - Uncle Greg: Door Watcher
 * Grimapple - Allan Davis: Watcher
 * Helios Garabandia - Schneider: Paranoid Gun Owner
 * Hupu - Stewie: Voyeur
 * Leaffan20 - Mr. Wallace: Hero
 * LIS - Jenna Davis: Interrogator
 * Paulus - Ned: Lie Detector
 * Ribs - Morris: Doctor
 * Simplton - Allie: Roleblocker
 * SkateGame - Harold: Role Flipper
 * TLG - Bear: Role Thief
 * Wikey - Ralph: Inventor
 * Boc - Colonel Sanders: Silencer
 * Budd - Marcus: Godfather
 * Krkv6 - Chrissy: Vote Thief
 * Robman46 - Mrs. Wallace: Janitor
 * Malion - Tim: Ninja
 * ff_zero - Cindy: Sibling
 * Triforce Wisdom - Teddy: Sibling

Reception and Analysis
ATTWS was very well received by almost everybody. In spite of the unnatural ending and Curtis admitting there were problems with the game running that left him dissatisfied, it was remembered fondly as being one of the best mafia games on EN.

The character aspect was a huge success. Curtis gave each player a choice of characters and they had to pick one. They then got some creative licensing with how they portrayed the character. This led to some interesting results. Most notable of these was TLG's decision to play Bear, intended as a wily used car salesman, as an actual bear, something Curtis insisted against time and time again. This would become something of an inside joke on the forum and in games to come.

The off-site format was hit and miss. While necessary for the anonymous character playing, it did result in a large amount of inactivity from players who weren't checking the site frequently. It was a format that would be used in other games to come, with a similarly mixed outcome.

The unique flavor and aspect of the roles allowed for a more case-building type game. External communication from the site was banned, as players were not allowed to know each other's identities. However the PM feature on the site was enabled, allowing players to communicate. Several plans and alliances were forged via the PM system, ultimately leading the town to winning their first ever victory.

Due to holidays and other issues, the game took a few breaks here and there which may have contributed to activity problems. On the player front, the siblings dropped out of activity altogether which resulted in Curtis allowing them to share a victory with the town, rather than announcing them as the overall winners. Budd was unable to continue playing at the end for personal reasons, so Curtis modkilled him when it was clear that the town winning was a foregone conclusion. Thus the game ended a day early.

This was also the first mafia game to feature each day in a separate, distinct thread. Because it proved to be a much more readable format, it was adopted for all future mafia games henceforth.

Unique gameplay mechanics involved the room system, whereby each player was positioned inside a room and roles were geared up to investigate the progression of players from room to room each night. There was also a jail, which allowed a player to be locked away for the night and prevented from performing their role, but also protecting them from any role usage in the process. Players would vote for who to jail, as well as who to lynch.

The overall success of ATTWS led it to spawning two sequels, co-hosted by Boc. They followed suit with their own brand of unique gameplay aspects and case-building type roles.

Game Links

 * Game: http://s4.zetaboards.com/ATTWS/index/