Ruyi Zhuan Mafia Endgame

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#1 •••

Ruyi Zhuan Mafia Endgame


Winners: Wryly & Lunatic (3P Survivor), Whiteflame & Pie (Mafia)


With Lunatic choosing to side with the scum team, this game would have basically been over DP4. However, the scum team was debating still playing so they could recruit Wryly NP3 and I basically figured that if they did this they would inevitably succeed with no real way for town to stop them, so I just gave Wryly the joint win instead of subjecting town to that whole rigamarole. The scum team theme was scheming women who did not love the emperor (Jia loved the lord of her Yu clan, Wei Yanwan loved first Ling Yunche, then herself).


So it’s really a testament to the scum team that they managed to win. In reality, there ended up being a lot more semi-confirmations among the town players than in the simulations of this setup that I ran. In those simulations, the biggest problems that I ran into was that the optimal move was to always shadow poison the Empress, and that this could lead to false conclusions and several mislynches because the role is very novel. This is why I made the Empress Careful – receiving the info about that specific action helped town to at least have a heads-up trying to understand it. On town side, I originally in my drafts had the Dowager Empress’s spies feeding their results directly to the Dowager Empress, but that resulted in way too much town confirmation. In retrospect I should have just scrapped the idea, it was a bit too cute, but instead I tweaked it.


Pie and Whiteflame won by basically playing perfectly. They figured out the Empress before NP1, targeted them with the Shadow Poisoner, and recruited pretty much the ideal character while NKing the Dowager Empress DP1 (something that didn’t typically happen in my simulations). While the back to back DPs were bad for scum, the loss of the Empress Dowager with her using none of her potent abilities NP1 really crippled town, especially as Supa also waived. The jailer abilities that the Emperor and Dowager Empress had and her rolestopper were like the control rods that stopped this game from being role madness. With one of those gone, Supa had limited ability to counteract scum’s potent bag of tricks. The fact that Awesome and Supa each awarded favor to the scum team while other high favor players like Awesome were seen as too scummy to receive it also helped with scum’s runaway success.

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#2 •••

Emperor’s PM:

You are Aisin-Gioro Yongli, the fourth son of the Yongzheng Emperor. Your mother died young, and you grew up sidelined by the rest of the palace. You were adopted as the son of Niohuru Zhenhuan, Consort Xi, your father’s most favored Consort. However, you had a young romance with Qingying Ula-Nara, the niece of the Empress. Due to your mother’s rivalry with the Empress and her attempts to undermine her, your desire as a prince to take Qingying as your first wife was countermanded by your father, and she entered your manor as Consort Xian. Your mother is constantly inserting spies into your harem, intending to manipulate you as she did your father. You view her with both wary respect and guarded suspicion. As you work assiduously to expand the reaches of the great Qing empire, you become increasingly cold, distant, and suspicious of the women in your harem. Intervening to try and protect your favored consorts and your children, you eventually succumb to your own suspicious nature and give in to baser desires, resulting in a string of disasters which rock the inner palace. Each NP you may pick consorts to favor. They each gain one favor level. Formula is remaining players/3 rounded up. If you have three or more favor you may give two to one consort.


Aloof – You cannot be targeted with any action or killed. You also do not have a vote.


Twilight actions:

1x Governor: Once, you may override the lynch, resulting in a no lynch

Appointer – You may appoint any Noble Consort or Imperial Noble Consort as Empress if there is no current empress


Night actions:

1x Depose – Once, you may depose your Empress while she is living, reducing her favor by half and allowing another to rise to her place. Your ability to give favor is halved for the rest of the game

1x Jailer - You may banish a concubine to the cold palace, roleblocking and protecting her while stripping her of all favor

1x Silencer - You may silence a concubine for the duration of the next DP, depriving her of her ability to speak or vote and removing 1/3rd of her favor.

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#3 •••

The Scum Team

The scum team was Noble Consort Jia and Consort Ling. I love cults, but they are OP. I feel the same way about poisoners. So I devised two modified versions of them that formed the backbone of the scum team.


The Shadow Poisoner was based thematically on Concubine Jia’s tendency to ‘borrow a knife to kill’ – to basically prod someone else to act and take out an enemy while keeping her own hands clean. The role targets one player, and if that player visits another player their target will be poisoned. This is a double-edged sword. While it makes the poisoning difficult to trace, it also means that the shadow poisoner can inadvertiently poison themselves or their scummate if they aren’t careful with their target. Also, since favor is low DP1, the chances of randomly selecting someone who has a night action is low as well. They basically targeted perfectly with this one, selecting the Empress has she was guaranteed to have a night action for both even and odd nights.


The Schemer was based on Wei Yanwan’s reliance on shifting alliances and schemes to support her position in the harem Mechanically, the role acted exactly like a neighborizer that created separate PMs with one twist. At any time after opening communications with a player, Whiteflame could have their alignment changed to Joint Win Third Party Survivor. This would be independently verified by me with no direct connection to Whiteflame. This meant that the player using the schemer role could manipulate their targets and pretend that the alignment shift was unrelated or, if they felt as if they trusted the player enough, could level with them. They could also represent themselves as a sort of modified cult and also pretend to be hunting for scum. Because the converted players would still betray scum and stay within their wincon, it’s not nearly as powerful as a cult. If Whiteflame died, all people he had chats with would instantly have their affiliation changed.


The other roles were standard night action manipulations and favor manipulation roles. Passives were Mirror for Pie, definitely one of the best passives in the game, and Godfather for Whiteflame. Them having both of these would be kind of pointless – the first Empress would either be dead or deposed for one of them to be Empress so a cop would no longer be at play at that point anyway.

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#4 •••

Scum PMS:


Noble Consort Jia: Jin Yuyan - Pie

You are Nobel Consort Jia. A master manipulator, you are the queen of misdirections within misdirections, often using subtle prompts and observations to prod several layers of catspaws into action. You successfully manipulated just about every other concubine, including the Empress, to eliminate other royal heirs while giving birth to three princes, including the first prince born after the Emperor’s rise to power. As the only consort from modern-day Korea, you are often out of your depth when it comes to Chinese arts and culture.


You were madly in love with the prince of your mother Yu clan, but instead of marrying him you were sent off to be a concubine to the Emperor of the Qing dynasty, a man you don’t love at all. Everything you do is for the benefit of your Prince, with the ultimate goal being to put one of your sons on the throne. To this end you deploy brutal means and exhaust your calculations, until eventually your own children become a target. Fiercely protective of your sons, in your clumsy rush to defend them you are caught up in your own maneuvers and exposed. When you are disgraced and out of favor, Ruyi reveals to you that Prince Yu has denounced you as a nameless adopted orphan who does not even belong to the Yu clan, to distance himself from you. Realizing that the Prince had been using you just as you used the Emperor, you die in bitter despair.


Due to your multiple catspaw poisonings, you are the shadow poisoner. On odd nights, you can target another player. If they carry out a night action, their target will be poisoned. Your manipulative nature allows you to redirect and boost favor or roleblock and remove favor on even nights. Your incredibly strong defensive maneuvers make you the mirror if you rise to the harem’s top two ranks. Your ferocity when defending your sons allows you to use a 1x strongman kill. Your starting favor is seven, making you a Noble Consort.


You describe your backstory and torment Yanwan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fh0DTbScJWE

Your downfall: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3s41_Gt-mO0

You confess to Ruyi and die: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PY88OUmUlX8


Consort: Even night Ostracizer (roleblock and reduce favor by one) or Manipulator (raise their favor by one and redirect their night action)

Noble Consort: Odd night shadow poisoner. Target someone. Their target will be poisoned. Acute symptoms are irrationality/insanity (random results for that night) and paralysis (roleblocked if no results), with death the following NP if not targeted by a doctor in either NP.

Imperial Noble Consort: Mirror – any action targeting you is deflected back at the person who launched it. Cannot block the emperor.

Starting favor: 7

1x Strongman


Consort Ling: Wei Yanwan

You are Consort Ling. You begin as a palace maid, with the palace guard Ling Yunche as your sweetheart. You are tormented by Concubine Jia, and eventually decide that becoming the Emperor’s concubine and rising up is preferable to remaining on the bottom. You are taken under the wing of influential palace eunuch Jin Zhong, who teaches you how to maneuver and calculate within the palace walls.


Originally an innocent, kind young woman, you hollow out your own heart piece by piece to rise to the top. The Mongolian consorts describe you as a piece of duckweed, floating without a root – with no powerful family or clan backing you, you rely entirely on schemes and the Emperor’s favor to maintain your position. You indulge the emperor’s worst impulses to curry favor, manipulate and weaponize the late Empress’s daughter, other consorts, and even the Dowager Empress for a time to form alliances and support your meteoric, brutal rise. Those who know too much tend to suddenly die, including your own mentor and your childhood sweetheart, and you end up being alone at the top, allowing a formidable alliance to pull you down. You are condemned to be poisoned regularly but kept alive for years by the emperor. Eventually, your son becomes Emperor, but before he is crowned your elderly husband finally has you executed – at this point a crazed old woman locked for decades in a decaying palace.


Because of your scheming, on odd nights you may open a PM with another player. At any point, you can have that player changed into a joint win third party survivor and they will receive mod notification of this. Because of your sycophantic, manipulative relationship with the emperor, you can redirect his favor to yourself on even nights. If you reach the upper ranks of the harem, you will become the godfather and investigate innocent, reflecting your penchant for disposing of people too deeply involved in your schemes to cover your tracks. You also have a 1x Ninja

You are tormented by Noble Consort Jia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eh0UY52Npnk

You follow Jin Zhong’s instruction and manipulate Consort Shu into despair and suicide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-h2-OWVat8

You kill your mentor, Eunuch Jin Zhong: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDsKQ_7DXiQ

You are exposed by Consort Yu and the Empress Dowager: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mswQFvzzbAo


Consort: Odd night schemer – target a player. You will start a chat with them. At any time, you can have their affiliation changed to Joint Win Third Party Survivor and have this status change mod-confirmed to them. If you die, they will all have their status changed, be notified, and placed into a group chat together.

Noble Consort: Even-night petitioner – you can learn who the emperor targeted to distribute favor to and redirect two to yourself

Imperial Noble Consort: Godfather - you will investigate innocent

Starting favor: 5 (Consort)

1x Ninja – You may execute the night kill and be unobserved

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#5 •••

Other PMs:


Dowager Empress Chongqing: Niohuru Zhenhuan Mikal

You are the Empress Dowager of the Great Qing, Niohuru Zhenhuan. You rose up in the previous Emperor’s harem only to be exiled to a Buddhist monastery at the machinations of the Ula-Nara Empress. You return victorious, having hardened your heart, and fight your way to the top as Consort Xi, eventually disgracing that Empress’s foster son and exposing her crimes, then forcing her own niece Ruyi to force her aunt to kill herself and poisoning the former Emperor. Your adoptive son Yongli becomes Emperor, and you force him to take Empress Fuca as his wife over ‘that Ula-Nara woman’. However, as time wears on Ruyi proves to be both loyal and useful to you, aiding you at many critical junctures. You are a master manipulator and tough as nails, often vying with your son for influence and getting the upper hand about half the time. But, in the end the Emperor respects you and takes your counsel to heart, while those concubines who fail to fear you seldom escape unscathed.


You have limited control over favor in the harem, being able to either deduct or add two favor to one consort each night. You also have several 1x abilities which reflect your ability to intervene in harem affairs to protect or punish. You have no favor and cannot receive it – your position as head of the harem is unassailable save from death itself. If you do die, the next night phase will be skipped due to a period of mourning.


You threaten Ruyi with poison: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjNFIrScrLM

You discuss becoming Empress with Ruyi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzBEVdubgsI

You discuss Ruyi cutting her hair with the Emperor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzIHEBJk0D4


Every night, you may act as high slanderer or benefactor, either increasing or reducing a concubine’s favor by 2.

1x Jailer – You may target one player and both roleblock and protect them

1x Rolestopper – You may target one player and roleblock all players targeting them with a night action. This cannot block the emperor.

1x High Adjudicator – You may move two favor from one target to another.

If you are NKd, skip the next NP


Concubine Mei: Bai Ruiji Magoroth

You are Concubine Mei. A skilled pipa player, you are inserted into the harem by the Dowager Empress to act as her eyes and ears and to influence the emperor. A childish, willful beauty, you immediately draw the ire of Noble Consort Gao, who endlessly schemes to undermine and harm you, culminating in the death of your malformed newborn child under mysterious circumstances. You initially are manipulated into wrongly blaming Noble Consort Xian until you learn that there is more at play. When you learn that the Empress was the power behind Consort Gao, you plot revenge. After killing her own son by infecting him with the plague, you later conspire to murder her on the Grand Canal. However, while the mantis preys on the cicada, the oriole watches. A darker power was manipulating you all along, and your discovery of this leads you to accept suicide gladly when the new Empress delivers the Emperor’s death sentence. Due to your vengeful nature, you passive ability unlocked at the highest rank is Vengeful. Due to your spy status, you even-night ability is Watcher. Due to your infuriating needling of other consorts, you odd-night ability is Roleblocker. You start with two favor, placing you at the rank of concubine and making you vanilla until you gain more favor. You are town.


You are arrogant after getting pregnant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_-uf9P8V7Q

Ruyi foils attempt to poison you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wW973Veh4t4

The Emperor confronts you and forces you to poison Concubine Qing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKu_OIS_HpE

Your suicide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbSDSc0T1YU


Consort: Odd-night roleblocker. Each odd night, you may choose a player and negate all of their night actions.

Noble Consort: Even-night watcher. Each even night, you may target a player to learn who visited them. However, if the Dowager Empress is dead you simply visit a player instead.

Imperial Noble Consort: Vengeful. if you are lynched, you can choose to kill another player on the way out.

Starting favor: 2


Concubine Yu: Keliyete Hailan Luna

You are Concubine Yu. You enter the palace as an embroidery maid, but later catch the attention of the emperor. You give birth to Yongqi, his favorite son, whom you allow Noble Consort Xian (Ruyi) to foster. Consort Gao attempts to kill you by exposure until you are rescued by Ruyi. Originally timid, weak, and kind, Ruyi being exiled to the cold palace leads you to develop a backbone, standing on your own two feet and learning to hold your own without her support. Once she returns you become a staunch, unbending ally. When she becomes Empress, she is wrongfully accused of having an affair with imperial guard Ling Yunche, who saved her life. You enter the jail and have him tortured to death under her name. He understands that this must be done to clear Ruyis name, but Ruyi has difficulty forgiving you for your brutal methods. You seldom see her again before her death, at first due to her angst over Ling Yunche’s bitter, wrongful death, and later due to her tuberculosis diagnosis, which she hides from the world. Alone, you work with the Empress Dowager to lay low Ruyi’s remaining enemies and avenge all the wrongs visited on your friend and your own murdered son. You start at the rank of concubine with two favor. This makes you vanilla at the start of the game. Due to your fierce protect nature, you are the even-night bodyguard and odd-night doctor. If you reach the top ranks, you become a commuter as well, reflecting your serene, unassailable demeanor at the height of your power. You win with the town.


Ruyi saves your life: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqewDKp2gKg

You learn to stand up for yourself and ally with Consort Chun, then murder the Crown Prince: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRKRDRBiMBc

You tell Ruyi about Ling Yunche: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgnst0U4uA8

You see Ruyi for the last time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAsUoigIlw0

You expose Imperial Noble Consort Ling: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsiXBIMks1I


Consort: Even night bodyguard. Each even night, you may choose another player and die in their stead. This will also extend the lifespan of a poisoned player by one NP.

Noble Consort: Odd night doctor. Each odd night, you may choose another player to protect. This can also prevent or cure poison.

Imperial Noble Consort: Commuter. You cannot be targetted by any actions.

Starting favor: 2


Consort Shu: Yehe-Nara Yihuan Wryly

You are Consort Shu. A gentle woman with a love of poetry and calligraphy, you have loved the emperor from affar since your adolescence. The Empress Dowager places you close to the emperor as a spy, but you are in turn using her to get close to the man whom you genuinely love. Sharing the Emperor’s interest in high art, you become close, also forging an alliance with Consort Xian, though you generally stay aloof from harem drama.


The Emperor has his imperial physicians give you prenatal tonic regularly, however oddly enough you get pregnant shortly after you stop taking it. The pregnancy eventually results in your son being born weak and only living for a day. His death devastates you, Consort Ling later has your ‘prenatal’ medicine smuggled out of the palace to be analyzed by third party physicians. While you are in mourning, she confronts you with the results: the medicine was actually a harsh contraceptive which damaged your kidneys and resulted in your son’s eventual death. When you confront the emperor he reveals that he did it because he knew that she was inserted into the harem as his mother’s spy and didn’t want a prince controlled by the Empress Dowager. Broken by this revelation, you dismiss all the servants from your palace, lock the doors, and burn down your palace with you inside it.


You start with four favor, in the rank of Consort. Because of your association with the Empress Dowager, you are an odd-night tracker. On even nights, you are the 1x cypher and enable communication between the Emperor and Dowager Empress. If you reach the top ranks, you gain the passive role of ‘perceptive’.


You first meet the Emperor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5Qtrtixyuo

The truth is revealed by Consort Ling: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-h2-OWVat8

You confront the Emperor and commit suicide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwobtjarJ3c


Consort: Odd-night tracker. If the Empress Dowager is dead, you simply visit a player instead.

Noble Consort: Even-night Cypher – you allow the Dowager Empress and the Emperor to share a chat for the next DP and NP.

Imperial Noble Consort: Perceptive – you see whatever roles target you in a given night.

Starting favor: 4


Noble Consort Rong: Han Xiangjian Banana

You are Noble Consort Rong, the legendary Perfumed Consort. You are the only Muslim consort of a Qing emperor. The famously beautiful daughter of a distant Turkestan tribe (historically the Uyghurs), you are sent by your father to deepen ties with the Qianlong Empire after your tribe helped to destroy the Dzungar people. Your betrothed, Hanqi, follows your convoy in a doomed attempt to stop you from being married away, perishing in an avalanche. This leads you to attempt to commit suicide before the Emperor – however, he is so captivated by you exotic beauty and hypnotic dance that he insists that you be taken into his harem. Ruyi convinces you to give up on your suicide, and the Emperor showers you with attention and praise, building a mosque for you in the Forbidden City and taking the old and sick members of your tribe under his wing. Your disdain for the emperor cools a bit, but his ardor for you only deepens, to the point where the Dowager Empress and Empress conspire with you to render you infertile, as the excessive favor was inciting havoc in the harem and you did not want to bear the Emperor’s children. You continue to live in the palace, untouchable by the drama, aloof from it and detached from a world that you see as increasingly cruel and senseless. Because of the Emperor’s infatuation with you, on odd nights you learn any night actions chosen by the emperor and may choose to veto it. Your magnanimous nature towards your sister concubines allows you to bestow additional favor to one of them each even night. If you rise to the top two ranks of the harem you become an ascetic, immune to all non-lethal actions. You begin with five favor, at the rank of Consort. You are town.


Your dance and suicide attempt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-2lKcbK8O0 (just first ~10 minutes)

The Emperor slowly wins you over by bringing you things that remind you of home: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABtMcePRfXc

The Emperor builds you a palace and mosque and takes your tribe members under his wing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yfrEafpa_k

You excoriate the Emperor for his behavior: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfpoYE3vytM


Consort: Odd-night Siren – you learn the emperor’s night action and may veto it

Noble Consort: Even-night Benefactor – you may choose one player to bestow one favor upon

Imperial Noble Consort: Ascetic – you are immune to all non-lethal night actions

Starting favor: 5

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#6 •••

Concubine Shen: Soco Lun A’ruo Wylted

You are Concubine Shen. A former dowry maid of Ruyi, you are brash and arrogant but initially loyal to your mistress. When you see her attempts to protect you from palace intrigues as the jealous sabotage of your potential rise to power, you betray her, lying to implicate her in the poisoning of the pregnant Concubine Mei with cinnabar. You are adopted into the Empress’s circle and your former mistress is exiled to the cold palace. You are then highly favored by the emperor, inviting the jealousy of the harem. Unbeknownst to the rest of the harem, the Emperor knew you were lying all along, and forced you to simply kneel at his bedside whenever you came to serve him - never sleeping with you, yet allowing you to suffer the barbs of the other jealous concubines as a punishment for your disloyalty. Once Ruyi returns to favor, your former benefactors quickly abandon you, as they see you as a loose end, and Ruyi ruefully sends you off to the cold palace where you hang yourself.


Because you rose to power by slander, you have the ability on even nights to reduce another concubines favor by one. On odd nights, you can kill another player, due to your forthrightly vicious nature. If you rise to the top ranks, you will simply become a miller, reflecting the inescapable trap which your clumsy attempts to rise enmeshed you in. You start the game with two favor, at the rank of concubine, and so are vanilla. You win with the town.


Your frame Ruyi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qg_AiuXrDdI

You are exposed in front of the harem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oa8PJ5UE-IY

You are forced to confess by the Emperor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiPnTX_zmwo

Ruyi confronts you and sentences you to the cold palace: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4X2IClQjhk


Consort: Even-night slanderer – you may target another player and reduce their favor by one.

Noble Consort: Odd-night vigilante – you may choose another player to kill

Imperial Noble Consort: Miller – you will always investigate guilty

Starting favor: 2


Consort Ying: Barin Meiruo Thoth

You are Consort Ying, the most prominent of the Qianlong Emperor’s Mongolian consorts. After the Dzungar rebelled against the Qing, many other Mongol tribes allied with the Qing to extirpate the tribe to the last woman and child. This overwhelming victory over an old, bitter foe led to deepening ties between the other Mongols and the Emperor, culminating in you entering the palace. You are at once fierce and childish, and are all too aware of how your powerful clan’s backing makes you nigh untouchable in the harem. You ally yourself with Empress Nara and unabashedly clash with her enemies. You raise Imperial Noble Consort Ling’s daughter as a foster child, and when her birth mother attempts to take the child back you fearlessly confront the higher ranked woman, winning out when she unwittingly insults the Empress Dowager by implying that foster mothers are not ‘real mothers’.


Your deft maneuvering within the harem make you an even night redirector. Your explosive personality and fiery resolve make you the odd-night bomb – if you are targeted with a night kill, you will also kill the person who targeted you. If you reach one of the top two harem ranks you will also become a bulletproof due to your tough personality. You start with three favor at the rank of consort. You win with the town.


You arrive at the palace: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03J0m2_JS0Y

You confront Consort Lin when she attempts to take back her daughter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n83XNnfVrDI


Consort: Even-night redirector – you may choose one player and redirect their night action to another target

Noble Consort: Odd night bomb – if you are targetted with a night killing ability your assailant will also die

Imperial Noble Consort: Bulletproof – you self-protect from night kills every night

Starting favor: 3


Empress Fuca: Fuca Langhua Shining

You are Empress Fuca, the main wife of the Emperor and his first Empress. A beautiful, frugal woman, you are subjected to intense pressures from both your illustrious clan and the imperial household. The fact that Consort Xian was the Emperor’s first choice as his main wife causes you the be eaten away by jealousy. You clandestinely poison both Noble Consort Hui and Consort Xian, your chief rivals, rendering them both infertile for years even though Hui is a stalwart ally of yours. You frame Consort Xian for poisoning the unborn child of Concubine Mei and have her exiled to the cold palace. However, you are in delicate health as well, and your children follow suit. You push your first son to study too hard, and he eventually passes away. Your second son is targetted by a vengeful Concubine Mei and infected with the plague. You clash with the Empress Dowager over whether your daughter Jingse, your last surviving child, or her own daughter will be forced to marry a Mongol Khan and lose that fight catastrophically. Distraught and heartbroken, Concubine Mei torments you psychologically and conspires to have you fall off the royal barge on the Grand Canal. The Emperor confronts you with your misdeeds on your deathbed and you pass away still bitterly hating Consort Xian with your last breath, realizing that the Emperor would never have loved you as he loved her. Because of your network of spies and informants, you are the odd-night Rolecop and the even-night Cop. Because of your methodical schemes and immaculate public facade, you receive the passive role of Careful when occupying a top rank. You begin the game with eight favor in the top rank of Empress, which gives you a doublevoting ability so long as you maintain it. Your character is town.


You frame Ruyi for the poisoning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuRgBNoJTm4

You clash with the Empress Dowager: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfYkQroZsdE

You are manipulated by Concubine Mei and fall into the canal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Am6_-DPD2zM

The Emperor levels with you on your deathbed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IG7qp1JB0Ao


Consort: Odd-night rolecop – each odd night, target a player. You learn the name of their role.

Noble Consort: Even-night cop – each even night, target a player. You learn whether or not they win with the town.

Imperial Noble Consort: Careful – Each night, you learn which types of actions targetted you.

Starting favor: 8


Noble Consort Xian: Ula-Nara Qingying/Ruyi/Empress Nara Awesome5000/Kohai

You are Noble Consort Xian. You were the childhood sweetheart of Yongli and the niece of the previous Empress. The poisonous relationship between Yongli’s adoptive mother (the current Empress Dowager) and the former Ula-Nara Empress lead to Yongli being unable to take you as his main wife, and to intense suspicion from his mother, who forced either you or you aunt to drink poison. You suffered under the first Empress, being rendered infertile and framed by her mechanations, ultimately resulting in you being exiled to the Cold Palace. The Emperor came to your rescue, and you even gained the trust of the Empress Dowager, becoming the Step-Empress after Empress Fuca’s death. However, the emperor became cold and remote, suspicious of you and infatuated with Consort Rong, a woman who would never love him. Throwing himself into his indulgences and ignoring mounting indignities against you, you ultimately fall out of love with him and cut your hair defiantly before him, a grave taboo that leads you to be confined to your palace. You contract tuberculosis later, and work to undermine those who harmed you from within your sealed palace gates, eventually passing away and leaving the Emperor heartbroken and remorseful. Before you go, you burn your portrait, and the Emperor follows suit, erasing you from history in order to free you from the burdens of palace life.


Due to your subtle maneuvering and strong slate of allies, you are the Odd-night benefactor and Even-night adjudicator. If you reach the peak harem rank, you become Loved and take one additional vote to lynch. At any point of having one of the two top ranks, you may cut your hair, becoming deathproof but losing all other abilities and permanently having zero favor. If you are still Loved at LYLO/MYLO, you will be forced to cut your hair. You start the game with six favor, giving you the Noble Consort Rank.


You save the Empress Dowager’s life: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-KDif8o2CM

You help Consort Rong to come to terms with her situation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNHwEjCfPoI

You attempt to take down Noble Consort Ling: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZ4WxwsML3k

You confront the emperor and cut your hair: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aHCJMw0upY


Consort: Odd-night benefactor. On odd nights, you can give one favor to another concubine.

Noble Consort: Even night adjudicator. On even nights, you can take one favor from one concubine and give it to another.

Imperial Noble Consort: Loved. You require one additional vote to eliminate.

1x Cut your hair – become deathproof but become a concubine with permanent zero favor. Forced to cut your hair at LYLO/MYLO if you are Imperial Noble Consort or Empress

Starting favor: 6

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#7 •••

Night Actions and Favor:


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#8 •••
--> @Banana, @Kohai, @Lunatic, @Magoroth, @Mikal, @Shining, @Thoth, @Vader, @whiteflame, @Wryly, @wylted

Endgame up

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#9 •••

Answers to some questions:


Mikal never used any of his 1x abilities. Wylted lost two favor because the Dowager Empress also has the ability to either increase or decrease any player's favor by 2 each NP. People seemed to all miss this in her flip in both DPs. That favor was not moved anywhere.


Shining and Wryly did have different roles. Shining's only revealed which actions targeted him in the night. Wryly's would have revealed the entire role card - basically role copping anyone who visited her. It was more powerful.


The Siren exists to give town some way to counter an absolutely schizo emperor. Without it, the powerful abilities which the Emperor had access to made the game waaaay too swingy.

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#10 •••

Thoughts on the game set up:


Complex mechanizations ultimately kind of ruin the experience for the players, I can say this from experience when I've tried complex ideas they don't work out well. The last time I tried game show mafia with a trivia mechanic it was abused heavily for example. This one was just needlessly complex and I think a lot of people were confused with the favor and mechanics. Its crazy how little that even came into play in the end, since there was only ever one night phase. I can respect the amount of hard work that went into the theme and I could tell Rex has a lot of passion for this theme, so at the same time I am giving you props for the dedication, though I know with your activity and how busy you are in general I imagine trying to keep track of all the favor and votes must have been a major pain in the butt. Lastly I mentioned this a bit in the mason PM, but I honestly really really don't understand you always make it 2 v 10 in 12 player games. I ranted and raved at you for this in your last game, it makes it such an uphill battle for mafia. Whiteflame and pie were literally about to quit if I didn't take the third party deal with them, even after making a choice to not out pie as scum. You need to do the mislynch math here in the future, because 3 scum works way better here, I even would put three scum in an 11 player game. This worked out for mafia literally only because I decided not to expose them, and because town was literally retarded.


Game thoughts:


Mago, I am sorry, not trying to be a dick here, but you are the most frustrating player ever. You are literally all over the place man. I get being mad that you almost got lynched, but you were not being objective in the slightest. I had told you multiple times even when I was pushing you that I wasn't hell bent on you being scum, but I didn't want a no lynch and you were the best lead. You held that shit over me for the ENTIRE game and never let go of it even when I immediately retracted my scum read on you, and then blamed me for mislynching thoth. Well you just mislynched kohai after I was on the correct wagon. I can be a dick here and say "I told you so" but I would rather you just learn a lesson from that so we don't make these kind of mistakes again. I went over every thought I had in the game and fleshed out every idea. I was never voting something without a solid reason to do so and I was happy to defend any action I made or any thought I had, but no matter what I did you held your grudge against me from day phase 1. There was literally no winning with you. Even if I wasn't converted to TP, I almost don't think I would have cured your poison because you were so anti town in this game, keeping you alive would probably have only muddied the waters more. Sincerely hope you never play that way again.


As for the rest of the town, I don't know how you guys scum read banana. She was in POE but she was lowkey cooking with her pie arguments. And lynching Kohai was kind of lazy when there was so much to read with pie. I made a deal with scum since they turned me into a third party to work with them. I kind of had no choice, I told whiteflame I didn't want to like 5 times, but then I realized they could force my hand and just turn me into a third party and kill me anyway forcing us both to lose. I was still almost tempted to do that and expose them to help town win, but mago was being such a little shit and nobody was being active, plus I owed whiteflame a favor from russian mafia where he scum sided with me as a third party, so in the end I agreed to their plan and helped them. All I really did though was not continue pursuing pie, I even left my vote on him in hopes town would come to their senses and vote pie.


I also had caught onto whiteflame. That was the "conspiracy theory" I was talking about after wryly claimed her mason. Her mason sounded actually legit from a mech standpoint, so I figured if there was two masons, one probably had scum. I was trying to publicly town read whiteflame so he would keep me alive, hoping he would think he could manipulate me if I town read him. When I told him about wanting to lynch pie, he got cagey about it and didn't want to and I was starting to suspect heavily I was right about my conspiracy theory, but then he exposed that he and pie were mafia and about to quit, so they made me a deal to work with them and they would convert me to TP. I reluctantly agreed in the end, because town was playing pretty badly. Like at this point I don't think we would have won as town even if I stayed on course with pie and got him lynched. Yall fell for the manipulation "let me confirm myself" Bullshit so hard. I've seen pie play that game before, you gotta realize if pie is ever doing that, its likely because the game isn't going another day phase lol. Unbelievable..



Oh well fun game, would have rather won with town, but town wasn't on their A game here, not even close. Not even their C tier. Town was cooked, and I was talking to myself or arguing with mago for 90% of it, so yay.



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In loving Memory of Lannan and Ajab, fallen debaters.

#11 •••
--> @Lunatic
Lastly I mentioned this a bit in the mason PM, but I honestly really really don't understand you always make it 2 v 10 in 12 player games. I ranted and raved at you for this in your last game, it makes it such an uphill battle for mafia.

Instead of Rex, you should rant and rave at Mikal for his bullshit about, "you can't know who is recruitable unless you played Suikoden", and at me for swallowing that bait hook, line, and sinker. Rex clearly designed that game as 3v10.

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Forum signatures are bullshit. Nobody wants to waste their time and bandwidth reading something they have read 29,998,559,671,349 times before.

#12 •••
--> @Lunatic
 Lastly I mentioned this a bit in the mason PM, but I honestly really really don't understand you always make it 2 v 10 in 12 player games. I ranted and raved at you for this in your last game, it makes it such an uphill battle for mafia. Whiteflame and pie were literally about to quit if I didn't take the third party deal with them, even after making a choice to not out pie as scum. You need to do the mislynch math here in the future, because 3 scum works way better here, I even would put three scum in an 11 player game. This worked out for mafia literally only because I decided not to expose them, and because town was literally retarded.

This effectively was an 11 player game for calculating mislynches as one player could not vote. The issue with doing 3 scum would be that if the poisoner and conversion went off with three scum town would have literally had ONE mislynch before LYLO.


With poison:

8-3 DP1

(NK, Conversion, Mislynch)

5-3-1 ML1 DP2 (LYLO)

(NK, Mislynch, Poison Death)

2-3-1 DP3 Scum Victory


Without Poison:

8-3 DP1

(NK, Conversion, Mislynch)

5-3-1 DP2 (LYLO)

(NK, Mislynch)

3-3-1 DP3 (Scum victory w/ 3p as deciding factor)


In both of these, town can be at LYLO in DP2.


I think WF and Pie were doing fine until DP3. The issue for them was that the internal town confirmations narrowed POE too much and made it very difficult to maneuver and pursue mislynches. Magoroth and Wryly confirming one another, Shining and Wylted confirming one another. They were only left with Banana (who was largely playing well) or an inactive slot as mislynch targets. I feel like without that town confirmation caging them in WF and Pie wouldn't have been nearly as stressed out at the end of those two DPs in a row.

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#13 •••

I keep forgetting vader wasnt a player

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In loving Memory of Lannan and Ajab, fallen debaters.

#14 •••
--> @ILikePie5, @RexFavilla, @whiteflame
I think WF and Pie were doing fine until DP3. The issue for them was that the internal town confirmations narrowed POE too much and made it very difficult to maneuver and pursue mislynches. Magoroth and Wryly confirming one another, Shining and Wylted confirming one another. They were only left with Banana (who was largely playing well) or an inactive slot as mislynch targets. I feel like without that town confirmation caging them in WF and Pie wouldn't have been nearly as stressed out at the end of those two DPs in a row.

If whiteflame wasn't the homie I would have never taken that deal lol but yeah I know if roles were reversed whietflame would 100% do it for me lol.


No offense pie, obviously your a friend too, but its more competitive with you lmao. I would have rejected that deal all day if it were literally anyone else.

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In loving Memory of Lannan and Ajab, fallen debaters.

#15 •••
--> @RexFavilla

I am interested in your thoughts on the game and player interactions. Seems like mod rarely comment these days. Was this a frustrating game for you to watch, did you enjoy it, what did you think of certain players and their performances, etc etc

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In loving Memory of Lannan and Ajab, fallen debaters.

#16 •••

aww pie was actually scum... darn it i tried guys

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#17 •••
--> @Lunatic

It was interesting to me how little theme was discussed. One of the reasons I settled on this theme was because at the time I was annoyed by the softclaiming meta. This theme to me seemed pretty impervious to softclaiming for multiple reasons, so I was glad to see that town agreed and was stumped by it. I think this led to theme as a whole falling to the wayside, with many people role claiming before character claiming.


I found Magoroth just as baffling as others did, but he's probably used to other site metas and is still adjusting to ours. The constant vote switching, the call more a mass claim DP1, and the legendary fixation on you, the claimed poison doc, even as he was literally dying of poison were all kind of baffling to me.


I thought Castin and Banana both played well. Banana held her own against Pie, which is no small feat. Thoth was oddly quiet. You were probably the best town player out there. Mikal actually baited the NK as the Empress Dowager intentionally to trigger the Beloved Princess aspect of the role, which I thought was a waste of a powerful role - but he was also busy in real life so I can't fault him for wanting out. There were a lot of instances where looking at a PM carefully could have resolved misunderstandings because it was literally spelled out - the difference between Wryly and Shining's passives, why Wylted was thematically Miller at high rank, why Magoroth's watcher was deactivated.


It was great to watch Pie and Whiteflame work together. You could clearly see the difference between them and town - they meticulously recorded facts and snippets of the game to piece together how various mechanics worked, independently tracked favor and the roles available to different players, constantly asked question which I answered. The rest of town was treading water - I think you were the only other person keeping extensive notes and you were recruited. Shining was good with his night actions and also played well as the Empress, even piecing together how the Shadow Poisoner worked very quickly. Supa had me cracking up a couple times with his commentary. I even made a meme for the scum chat when he mirrored the Qianlong Emperor's in-show lazy streak later in the game.


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#18 •••

Also, the game was actually very active - I believe it had more posts than any other on DCraft thusfar.

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#19 •••
--> @RexFavilla
It was interesting to me how little theme was discussed.

You quite literally said this in the OP of DP1:


"Theme split is not simple. Most of these women have at least one screw loose and have done some evil shit – don’t take villainy as equivalent to being scum. Roles have justification. Scum have been given two fake claims to use if they see fit, so overall theme analysis will be of limited use."


It was discussed several times that there was probably no point discussing the theme since you said that in dp1. Ngl though even if it wasn't said, its a pretty complex theme that I doubt many people are familiar with.


I think this led to theme as a whole falling to the wayside, with many people role claiming before character claiming.

Definitely. And yeah the soft claim meta is pretty bad. It's not really the idea imo its the execution. Almost every game people end up claiming far too frivously or more than was asked. Its an odd phenomon




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In loving Memory of Lannan and Ajab, fallen debaters.

#20 •••

Good game. Sorry to Lunatic for tunnelling on you so hard. You triggered a bunch of my scum tells which pretty much made it so that I never trusted you. It’s not your fault, I shoulda listened to my gut when I initially figured out you were Town back on D1, but was like “I’m not letting this go if he is scum”.


I misread Pie on the last day. Figured there was little chance of scum winning on D4.

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#21 •••
--> @Magoroth

All good it was annoying but we'll get em next time

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In loving Memory of Lannan and Ajab, fallen debaters.

#22 •••
--> @Banana

Your posts were pretty fire despite being under pressure, props

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#23 •••
--> @Wryly
Your posts were pretty fire despite being under pressure, props

ty, i just need to work on my skills at convincing other people the way pie does, that whole ordeal was an uphill struggle but it seemed ez for him lol


and i knew you were town, i had town read u from the beginning, ur my only read that i was like 100% sure on and never changed all game

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#24 •••
--> @RexFavilla
I thought Castin and Banana both played well. Banana held her own against Pie, which is no small feat.

ty and no it wasn't. hes just too good.

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#25 •••
--> @RexFavilla
Also, the game was actually very active - I believe it had more posts than any other on DCraft thusfar.

That made me curious to check for myself. Here's the list, not that number of forum posts is a perfect measure of activity. It doesn't count, e.g., the Neighbor chats in Retro Mafia.


1514 Heartbreaking Chicago Bears Moments

1428 Ruyi Zhuan

1361 Suikoden

1259 Madoka Magica

1019 90's-00's Nostalgia

923 Alien

675 Barry

670 Retro

593 Deltarune

572 MAGA

452 Ranger's Apprentice

431 Ted Lasso

368 K-Pop Demon Hunters

232 Ryan George Cinematic Universe

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Forum signatures are bullshit. Nobody wants to waste their time and bandwidth reading something they have read 29,998,559,671,349 times before.

#26 •••

Put me and Mikal in a game together, you’re gonna have a high post count. Pie circa getting his new girlfriend and job was a very high poster as well.

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In loving Memory of Lannan and Ajab, fallen debaters.

#27 •••

GG scum. I ended up jailing Banana last night. Something about the mechanics of that role didn’t sit right with me but I was 50/50 between Pie and Banana. Even from my perspective it was fun, but I think the withholding info thing just led me to getting burned out, especially with work getting super busy as of late.


I also thought waiving would be some big IQ play so that we have more info on DP2-4, but I was wrong lol

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Kick logic to the curb and do the impossible!

#28 •••
--> @Vader

lmao


https://imgflip.com/i/ajxygm

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In loving Memory of Lannan and Ajab, fallen debaters.

#29 •••
--> @Banana, @Lunatic

No good deed goes unpunished

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Forum signatures are bullshit. Nobody wants to waste their time and bandwidth reading something they have read 29,998,559,671,349 times before.

#30 •••
--> @Lunatic
Like at this point I don't think we would have won as town even if I stayed on course with pie and got him lynched. Yall fell for the manipulation "let me confirm myself" Bullshit so hard. I've seen pie play that game before, you gotta realize if pie is ever doing that, its likely because the game isn't going another day phase lol. Unbelievable..


One of these days it’s going to be true as Town and I’m going to regret it lol

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