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Old 09-09-2010, 05:40 PM   #3
mormegil
Maundering Mage
 
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Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: New Hampshire
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Helpful Glossary of Terms

Glossary

General Terminology


Analysis: The systematic investigation of a player, kill, or voting. Differs from a summary by being rich in observations, opinions, and conclusions.

Bandwagon: A large number of votes for the same person.

Bolding of names
: The practice of bolding player names occurring in your post. Usually required when casting a vote.

Bus: (Of a wolf) to betray your packmates or allies. (From "throw under the bus".) See also: Wolf-on-wolf.

Day: The phase during which players can post on the game thread, and at the end of which a lynch (q.v.) takes place. Usually lasts 24 hours.

Day One: First Day of the game. Lacking the information provided by previous kills and lynches, Day One is regarded by many as random and not very useful. This is debated, however.

Drive-by Fenris: A wolf who is Fenrissed (q.v.) seemingly by accident.

Endgame: The last stage of the game, in which most players have been eliminated and the outcome will soon be decided.

Fenris: A wolf who is lynched on Day One; (as a verb) the act of lynching such a wolf.

Gifted: A player with special abilities. The term is usually only applied to good-aligned players. The standard gifted roles are Ranger, Seer and Hunter (q.v.) but others are possible.

Kill: (also a noun) To eliminate a player directly through the use of a special ability. Roles with this ability include the Wolves, Hunter, Werebear, Assassin and (sometimes) the Lovers (q.v.)

Known innocent/wolf/etc.: A player whose role has been revealed, usually by a known seer. Players with known roles frequently have quite a limited life expectancy.

Legate-180: A sudden reversal of opinion about another player. (From Legate of Amon Lanc, d. 11-15-2006.)

Lynch: (also a noun) To eliminate a player from the game by general vote.

Meta-reasoning: The practice of trying to deduce roles from factors outside the current game. This tends to be frowned upon.

Modfire: Ejection of a player from a game, usually due to prolonged absence.

Multiple Lynching: Happens when the mod rules that a voting tie is not broken. All players (sometimes limited to two) that received the maximum number of votes die.

Night: The phase in which no one may post on the thread, but in which designated players (wolves and certain gifteds) can pm, and during which the wolves pick a player to kill. Usually lasts 24 hours.

Night One: The first Night phase of the game. Occurs before Day One. Generally, players with pm-ing abilities may use them on Night One, but no kill may take place.

Pack: The wolves.

Packmate: One's fellow-wolf.

Reveal: To openly claim a special role, such as the Seer.

Submarine: Quiet player who is overlooked by the majority.

Summary: Synopsis of information available about a certain player, kill, or voting. Differs from an analysis by missing the poster's individual opinions.

Tally: A list of votes cast on a Day up to the point of posting.

Throwaway
: A vote which is highly unlikely to affect the outcome of the lynch.

ToDay/toNight
: The current phase of the game. "YesterDay", "last Night" "toNight" and "toMorrow" are used to refer to past and future, to avoid confusion with day and night in the real world.

Turning: The transformation of a Cursed Villager (q.v.) into a wolf.

Under the radar: A player who has largely escaped another player's attention.

Under the reindeer
: See "Under the radar".

Village: 1. The good-aligned players ("a village victory"). 2. The entire group of players ("there are three wolves in this village"). Comes from the fact that early games were always set in an actual village.

Villager: A player who counts for the village (in sense 1.) in the tally. 2. Any player. 3. An "Ordinary Villager" (q.v.).

Vote Count
: See "Tally".

Wolf-on-wolf
: A tactic in which members of the wolf-pack accuse and even vote for one another, in order to make the survivor(s) look good.


Roles

Basic Roles

Cobbler
Alignment: Evil. Counts for the village in the tally. Wins if number of wolves becomes equal to that of villagers. Special abilities: appears as ordo to the Seer. Note: typically, cobblers do not know the identity of the wolves.

Hunter
Alignment: Good. Counts for the village in the tally. Wins if wolves are eliminated. Special abilities: chooses a player to hunt each Night. If the Hunter is killed or lynched, this player will die also. Note: there are many versions of this role, however, the two standard ones are the Logical Hunter (kills target only if a wolf) and the Non-Logical Hunter (kills target regardless of role).

Ordinary Villager ("ordo")
Alignment: Good. Counts for the village in the tally. Wins if wolves are eliminated. Special abilities: none.
Note: By default, all players are "supposed" to be ordinary villagers, though in reality some have other roles.

Ranger
Alignment: Good. Counts for the village in the tally. Wins if wolves are eliminated. Special abilities: chooses a player to protect each Night– this player cannot be killed by the wolves. Note: typically, the Ranger may not protect the same person two Nights in a row.

Seer
Alignment: Good. Counts for the village in the tally. Wins if wolves are eliminated. Special abilities: chooses a player to "Dream" each Night– this player's role is revealed to the Seer (with some exceptions).

Werewolf
Alignment: Evil. Counts for the wolf-pack in the tally. Wins if the number of wolves becomes equal to that of innocent villagers. Special abilities: may pm other wolves at Night. May choose one player to kill each Night.


Typical Special Roles

In theory, special roles can be almost anything, but in practice most fall broadly into one of the following categories.

Assassin
Alignment: Good. Counts for the village in the tally. Wins if wolves are eliminated. Special abilities: can kill another player, typically either once a Night/Day or once during the game at a time of the assassin's choosing.

Cursed Villager

Alignment: Variable. The Cursed is an ordinary villager who becomes a wolf if "turned" (attacked by Night). Note: The Cursed may or may not be aware of his or her status from the start.

Lovers
Alignment: Neutral/Good (usually). Count for the village in the tally (usually– see note). Win if both survive the game. Special abilities: may pm each other. Often the death of one will kill the other, or the survivor may be allowed a "revenge-kill". Note: there are many possible variants of Lovers; sometimes one or both has another role, which may be evil. Otherwise Lovers are generally assumed to play for the village, but this is not always the case.

Werebear
Alignment: Evil. Counts for neither team in the tally. Wins when everyone else is dead. Special abilities: May choose one player to kill each Night. Often has one or more extra special abilities.
Note: typically, though not always, gifted abilities work on the werebear just as on the wolves. The presence of a werebear changes the victory conditions for the other players, as they now have to kill the bear as well as the wolves in order to win.
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