February 13th, 2005 |
Karla and I hosted a fundraiser for the Action Wisconsin campaign to prevent hateful, fascist amendments, and near the end we sneaked in a couple of games.
| Werewolves of Miller's Hollow |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Role | |
| Jamie | Lived | Werewolf | |
| Rakesh | Lived | Werewolf | |
| Karla | Eaten | Villager | |
| Jim | Hung | Villager | |
| Oliver | Eaten | Cupido | |
| Jill | Hung | Villager | |
| Sam | Died of Despair | Villager | |
| Howard | Eaten | Fortune Teller | |
Notes: After a couple silly games of telephone, one of which we translated pretty well and the other ended up sounding pretty poorly, I pulled out Werewolf and we played it, though Ann and Kim bolted. (I doubted Ann was going to play anyway as she wouldn't even take part in the telephone game.)
I played moderator, and handed out the cards. Since it was Valentine's Day, we played with Cupido, something we hadn't done before. Oliver ended up with Cupid, and named Howard and Sam as the lovers. I soon found out that Jamie and Rakesh were the Werewolves, and when it came to choosing their first victim, they selected Howard, who was the fortune teller. Not only was Howard the fortune teller, but when day broke, Sam was in such despair at his beloved Howard's death, that he killed himself - being another Villager. The Villagers were thus in pretty bad shape.
Oliver was eventually elected sheriff after much wrangling (too much, in fact). Jamie nominated Rakesh, and Rakesh nominated Oliver. Rakesh was very clever, being very careful not to go along with anyone too much. Jamie, I felt, was obviously acting like a Werewolf, as he both 1) nominated Rakesh for sheriff, and 2) defended him when Jill mentioned his name.
In fact, the group did a very poor job here. No one knew whom to accuse (except Jamie and Rakesh). Jill made a half-hearted accusation against Jamie, and leaped all over her. Here, Jill said, "I was the werewolf last time, and how Jamie's acting now, that' just how I acted. Jamie's a werewolf. I know it." She almost won the day, and there was a vote. Rakesh voted for Jim (a clever move, I thought. Rakesh kept saying, "I don't know about Jim. Look how quiet he's being." Jim's response was, "So are you."). Jamie, Karla, and Jim voted to hang Jill, and Jill and Sheriff Oliver voted for Jamie. That resulted in a tie, since the Sheriff gets 2 votes. I then made them re-vote, focusing only on Jill and Jamie. Rakesh, now safely determined to be not a werewolf, voted for Jill and she was killed. This was a crucial point in the game. When Jill was killed, it was obvious that Jamie was a werewolf, for certain. When she was killed, Jamie didn't shout, "Oh no!" which he indubitably would have done. (In the last game, he really complained whenever he and his fellow villagers accidentally hung another villager.)
With only three villagers left, the werewolves focused on Sheriff Oliver, and he was killed, naming Rakesh, in his last gasping breath, to be Sheriff. This was the stroke of doom. Even if Jim and Karla knew that Rakesh and Jamie were the werewolves, they no longer had the votes to hang them. Jamie and Rakesh teamed up on Jim and Karla inexplicably followed suit. Though, in all honesty, it wouldn't have mattered. When Jim was revealed to be the Villager, Karla flipped a double bird of despair and said, "Fuck you guys!"
Afterward, Jamie said that the Cupid card imbalanced the game. I said, "What if both werewolves were selected, or a werewolf and a villager?" Then Jamie realized that it could have been a good move.
The game was lost in three quick steps. One, the first kill was Howard/Sam, two villagers, one a fortune teller. (Jamie also afterwards said, "I thought Howard was the fortune teller!" Unless he cheated, he was only guessing.) Two, no one listened to Jill's obviously passionate and logical advice except for Oliver. Three, Oliver passed his sheriff badge on to Rakesh, which was not a bad move based on what was known. Rakesh had cast doubt on Jim, Jamie was probably a werewolf, and Karla was really vociferous in hanging Jill. Still, it was a bloody time for the villagers of the hollow, who will need to be more on their toes next time.
| Bang! |
| Results | ||||
| Player | Role | Character | Place | First Time? |
| Jamie | Sheriff | Kit Carlson | (Won) Lived | |
| Jill | Deputy | Lucky Duke | (Won) Lived | |
| Karla | Outlaw | Slab the Killer | (Lost) 4th Killed | |
| Mike | Outlaw | Bart Cassidy | (Lost) 3rd Killed | |
| Oliver | Outlaw | Vulture Sam | (Lost) 2nd Killed | * |
| Sam | Renegade | El Gringo | (Lost) 1st Killed | |
Notes: We fended off May from the cards for the most part - by distracting her with an extra set of real cards - but she still wanted to play every once and a while. We quickly explained the rules to Oliver and then got going.
Slab the Killer started out by trying to shoot the sheriff, but Kit Carlson was on his horse and was too hard to fire at. After Lucky Duke looked leerily at the dynamite Slab lit, El Gringo took a shot at Bart Cassidy, with no provocation! Bart took this ill and spent some time making El Gringo dance.
Vulture Sam gathered cards and then Kit Carlson tried to lay into Slab the Killer - without much success. Slab then avoided the dynamite and proceeded to carve up Kit for two points of damage. El Gringo and Bart continued their war, as El Gringo tried to throw Bart in jail. Bart escaped, relying on a cunning use of his wits, a whiskey bottle, and a pair of blunt spurs to somehow break out. Two gunshots later, El Gringo was in a world of hurt, as Bart revealed his Vulcanic.
The dynamite continued its rounds, as Vulture Sam lobbed it to the Sheriff. While the sheriff was distracted, Sam shot him, putting Sheriff Carlson down to one point of damage. Kit, though, drank a beer, just in time to take another shot from Slab the Killer. Lucky Duke passed the dynamite to El Gringo, who fired another shot at Bart, who sat wounded with only two bullets left. He challenged the card-depleted El Gringo to a duel, and we had our first casualty. Bart licked his chops and waited for the next turn.
It was long in coming, as Vulture Sam was killed by Sheriff Carlson. No beers came, and he was plum out of Missed! cards. The barrel did him no good. Slab was short on bullets, so he focused on stockpiling cards. Lucky Duke avoided the dynamite (as he tends to do) and with space between him and Sheriff Carlson reduced to one, Bart Cassidy was ready to fill the wounded Sheriff full of lead. It wasn't to be, as he was betrayed by the failing wick of the Dynamite. Kaboom!
Slab put up a valiant fight, but Sheriff Carlson (who was able to draw 3 cards and pick the 2 he wanted) kept leaving Slab with Missed! cards rather than Bang! Kit kept leaving Slab hearts, though, and Slab was able to dodge behind his barrel every time Kit shot at him. Slab focused on Kit exclusively, getting him down to two bullets a lot, but Deputy Duke was able to take his time and pin down the nasty Slab bit by bit while making sure the Sheriff survived, by means of Saloon cards and mistresses. Eventually, a worn out and depleted Slab bit the dust, and Sheriff Carlson said, "Whew! That was a tough one!"