S48 Mafia Game VI - Lucky Piece (Game Over)

Character PM's: The Ribbon Pirates (Part 4)​

twilightkappa

Spoiler

Here was a case where Cy and I tried coming up with a character to match one of the Straw Hat Pirates of One Piece, namely Brook. I had to make up the role by utilizing a Devil Fruit ability, and settled for Shizuka since she seemed chill enough for the part.

The character name came about from the fact that she beatboxes, and that she's played around with Rino in the past with the whole rap group idea. Since I had "MC U-Bee" for Rino, I figured I'd go along with a similar musician title, so I took Shizuka's nickname and turned it into "DJ Shii." The character description was also inspired by the fact that Shizuka beatboxes, and with a bit of creativity I came up with the back-story. (I actually had the idea of a freelance DJ in mind when I fleshed out this character.)

If i'm not mistaken, I think the player complained about how useless this character is, but I suppose that person defines useful as being able to do something to someone else, like Role Block, Investigate, or Kill. I personally thought this character was really powerful because Shizuka can actually SURVIVE a death aside from lynching. Imagine a player who's really good at piecing elements together from both narratives and players' posts. If I was an antagonist in the game, I know I'd want that player killed off to keep that person from figuring me out. But if such a strong player can survive a kill, then 1.) a kill by an antagonist has been wasted, and 2.) the player can continue contributing to their own faction until killed off later on. And even if that player isn't really good at piecing elements together, then at least they could've done something to get themselves targeted to negate a kill that could've gone to another member of their own faction.

Seriously, it seems that people take for granted the value of actually BEING ALIVE in a Mafia game. I mean...some people would actually APPRECIATE getting a second chance at the game, ya know? But I suppose it's a matter of perspective. *shrugs*

vikacong

Spoiler

Here the role came first since a Cop character is pretty much a staple in all of Mafia games we play around here. And Sayaka was picked for this role since she seems the most kick-ass for it.

The character name was actually inspired by the other Cop character in the game, Miyazawa Sae. I wanted to combine a particular quality of the real-life girl with her nickname, but I don't think Sayaka has a particular nickname so I stuck with "Sayaka" for the second part, and went with "Uber" for the first part because...well, I couldn't think of anything else. (Not like Sayaka ISN'T uber in her own way, ya know?) The character description came from a really old conversation I had with Ange in the chatroom years ago when I shot out ideas of a some unit with Sayaka involving an Amazon theme. This worked out well since there's Amazon Lily in One Piece with the all-female Kuja Tribe. And the back-story just naturally flowed from there.

At one point I thought about setting up Sayaka as the new captain of the Ribbon Pirates, but wasn't sure if I'd actually narrate it since I had no idea if Sayaka would actually survive until the end of the game. But lo and behold she did. And besides, I didn't think that any of the other survivors would've been a really good captain figure. Interestingly enough, Sayaka did become captain again for Team K, so I guess things really did work out well in the end.

Tyzer

Spoiler

Here I deliberately picked the role first because even though we've had a Nexus in a previous Mafia game, I don't think the person's power was actually used; so I figured I'd give it a go this time around in hope that something would set it off. And Mika was picked because she seemed...well, just right for it.

The character name came about after some playing around with her nickname, Mikapon. I thought of the song "Pon de Replay" by Rihanna, and from there changed things around to get "Pon de Mika." Kinda dumb I suppose, but considering how there's that Spanish explorer, Juan Ponce de Loen y Figueroa, I thought at the time the character name could fly. The character name came up because...well, Mika can be spacey. And I used both the fruit ability (which was based off of Alvida's Sube Sube no Mi) and Mika's spacey-ness to build up her back-story.

It was a damn shame that I forgot about the Nexus's ability when ra-nyan/The Gish targeted her, though I'll admit it would've taken a bit of creativity on my part to narrate the purchase of Mika's vote "slipping off" to another player. I could've played off error such that the player "really was" a Naive Nexus but 1.) that'd have been an odd role to implement given the other roles I came up with, and 2.) It'd have been a really dick move for me to do, especially since the player seemed to have long resigned to being the Nexus for Mafia 6. So in the end, I reinstated the Nexus ability during the Night 6 narrative, and had Cy score everyone's performance up until Day 6 out of fairness. (And besides, I figured at that time that the game would've ended soon, and that anything that could've happened during Night 6 would've most likely not affected the scores significantly.)

 

Character PM's: The Ribbon Pirates (Part 5)​

ra-nyan

Spoiler

Here, the role came first since I don't recall seeing a Politician featured in a previous game, so I figured I'd give it a try here. And Minegishi seemed like the right person for the role.

The name came from the chat room because one person referred to Minegishi as imply "The Gish." (Or maybe it was just "Gish" and I added the "The" to the name. I forget.) And the character description came from the Politician's ability to buy out another player's vote. The back story was inspired in part by Minegishi's past role in her middle school's yearbook committee and her role as class president in Majisuka 1, though I had to tweak it such that it made sense for a politician to be part of a pirate crew.

And speaking of buying out the vote, I used the word "purchase" because that's what the Mafia websites used when describing the Politician's ability. But then people were complaining that they didn't get anything useful, so they considered it "stealing." Even when I narrated The Gish purchasing a vote from another player - with a death threat involved, too - people were still complaining that their votes were "stolen."

That particular narrative was meant to show that the character did get something - 3 gold pieces - in exchange for their vote. And also at the same time it showed that the character got to LIVE in exchange for their vote. Seriously, I was sitting at my computer thinking, "Wow...maybe I should just have Gish give you death. Then you CAN'T complain. Literally because you're out of the game (unless you choose to complain in the General Discussion thread), and figuratively because you're character DID get something - DEATH." I mentioned to Cy the idea of a combined Politician-Vigilante where the characters kills another character for their vote, and he jested how that'd be like an actual politician. And then I laughed.

But nevertheless, I opted to limit The Gish's ability to how I presented it in the PM, and then carefully took note of the players' reactions.

katastr0phical1

Spoiler

Here the role came first, but not because I haven't seen it before in a previous game (first saw it in Mafia 2), but because I figured it'd be a good idea. And Koji was picked because...well, I couldn't think of anyone else.

The name was kinda weak. I tried the same tactic as I did with Ami and used a body feature for an idea. And I ended up working with Koji's ears. They're pretty prominent, and the Japanese word for "ear" is "mimi," so I went with "Mimi Big." (I actually thought about making it "Biggs" and then incorporating "Wedge" in another character's name, but 1.) I couldn't think of a name that could fit with "Wedge," and 2.) I don't think sneaking in a Final Fantasy reference into a One Piece-themed game would've worked too well.) The character name was inspired by the Fruit Ability. Cy and I figured Koji could work with the Doa Doa no Mi that allows her make doorways at will, and I figured it'd be good to have Koji applied it to storing items for the Ribbon Pirates. And the back story stemmed from the Devil Fruit ability, too.

Narrating some of the switches was tricky, especially the ones involving the Tree. However, thinking about it...I thnk switching places with the Tree was a damn smart move since it made Koji essentially invincible, since any kill attempt would've hit the Tree instead. And to target Koji, players would have to target the Tree, which would've been unlikely since it seemed that everyone understood that the Tree can't be killed. (Now watch someone try that conscientiously try that tactic out the next time there's a Tree and Bus Driver in the same game, haha.)

Meroron♥

Spoiler

Here the role came first again, but I was inspired in part by the fact that there was a Day Cop featured in a previous Mafia game, so I figured it'd be a good idea to use again, especially in conjunction with a standard Night Cop. And Sae was picked because she seemed all right for the role.

When I was coming up with the name, I tried combining the girl's nickname with a personal quality. And while "Genking" is more of catchphrase than a nickname, I went with it anyway since it's a pretty cool word to use. And the "Hyper" part was a given - Sae's pretty damn energetic. The character nickname was an offshoot of her high energy. And the back story was inspired in part by the fact that Sae really has older brothers.

It was a damn shame that the Day Cop's results couldn't be presented during the game since the first Day Phase closed out quickly, but I tried making her departure as character-worthy(?) or at least as memorable as possible.

 

Character PM's: The Ribbon Pirates (Part 6)​

AikyiTaizne

Spoiler

Here was a case where Cy and I tried coming up with game equivalents to actual One Piece characters, and in this case, we came up with an equivalent to Franky. Mayu just fit in perfectly because of her CG character.

I came up with "M.A.Y.U." on the spot, but it was a joint effort between Cy and me to get the full acronym. The character nickname came from the fact that Mayu's the Franky equivalent, and since Franky takes care of the Straw Hat Pirate's ship, the Thousand Sunny, in One Piece, I figured I'd make Mayu the head ship caretaker. And the back story was just as influenced by Franky.

I had the different abilities set in advance, but I had to think of how Mayu would implement each one on the spot, especially the random ability that was used early in the game. I thought to myself, "How would a cyborg go about picking an item at random? And make it look... plausible?" Maybe I could've used some of Franky's abilities in the manga, but it never came to that since Mayu died.

Silver Rain

Spoiler

Here was another case where Cy and I were constructing an in-game equivalent to a One Piece character, namely Tony Tony Chopper. And it was actually's Cy's idea to use Kasai.

Cy came up with "Chiyuu-per," but after sleeping on the idea I told Cy about using "Tomo Tomo Chiyuu-per. He liked it, so we rolled with it. The character description was kinda pulled up either spontaneously or after long deliberation because I was creatively stuck. I forget. But either way, it turned out okay. And back-story was just written up to reflect the Chopper influence.

Sorting out the abilities for Kasai was a challenge because Chopper can not only change into a bunch of different forms, but he's actually the doctor for the Straw Hat Pirates. So what Cy and I did was combine the Jack of All Trades with a Doctor but set the abilities up so that the player either acts like a Jack or acts like a Doctor every night. Of course that was just "on paper." When the game started up and ran through its course, I eventually realized during a drive home from errands that a character like that was very powerful, especially in the hands of the character we assigned it to. So I made it a point that if ever I GM'ed a game, I'd avoid a combination like that again.

Kanki

Spoiler

For this character, I actually decided on the character role first because I felt bad that there was no way of curing a poisoned character. Tanabe was picked because she seemed just right for the role.

The name came was a result of both Rino's and Shizuka's name; they had hip-hop-ish names so I kinda went with one for Tanabe by manipulating her nickname. The character description was result of creative mishmash between "Anti-Drug" from those Anti-Drug advertisements and "scurvy" because pirates tended to lack vitamin C and in turn suffer from scurvy. And the back-story was written up based on her character role. (Pharmacy seemed like a good profession for her to have.)

Over the course of the game, I realized that the player would have a very hard time figuring out which player got poisoned, unless sufficient hints were dropped over the course of discussion. Nevertheless, Tanabe proved to be useful character in terms of story because her professionalism as a pharmacist pretty landed her the position of new first mate under Captain Sayaka. (I have no idea of real-life Tanabe has the potential to be a leader, but if she does...werd to that.)

MaxtheMan

Spoiler

Here again I came up with the role first because at the time I didn't recall seeing a Beloved Princess used in any of the games prior to Mafia 6. And Kashiwagi just fit the role perfectly.

Now there's actually a long...story (?) to her character name. And unlike some people who have interesting life stories from which an inside joke can arise, I tend to make up inside jokes first and then work backwards to produce a fake life story to justify it. (It's a weird habit I have that arises from time to time, but I recently read that telling a joke in the first person makes it funnier - even if it really didn't happen.) And I even told the fake life story to the people in the chat room, and it was one of them who coined the exact words, "Cashy Waggy," because at the time I just explaining the bad pronunciation.

So yeah...here's the fake life story:

Again, I came up with the fake story as a response to first coming up with the mispronunciation of "Kashiwagi," and even now I make variations of the name - "Cash," "Cashy," "Waggy," "Wags," "K-Wags," "C-Wags," "Kwags," "Kwaggy." All depends on my mood at the time.

The character description took some time to come up with because I didn't wanna give away that fact that she's a Beloved Princess under investigation. "Snow Country" worked fine since there is a snow country in One Piece and "yuki" can mean "snow" depending on the kanji. However, Cy and I had to toss some ideas back forth before finally settling for "Madame." And the back-story was inspired by Vivi in One Piece who's a princess who needed to help her country in need, but Cy and I modified it to have Yuki's country suffering from climate problems since Yuki is a weather girl in real life. (The economic aspect was thrown in there by me to justify the the Marines going on high alert when Yuki dies in the narrative.)

Just like the Kraken, deep down inside I wanted the Beloved Princess to die, too, because I had a such a good idea for her death in the narrative. And thankfully she did. However, If she didn't die, I probably would've just written it out as "Bonus Feature" to this game, though I'll admit I don't think I'd have been able to come up with something equally creative in the end-game had she actually lived.