Thursday, May 7, 2009

On glasses and bottles as weapons

A bottle of water or a glass full of water doesn't strike me as a great choice but I've decided that yes they are legal means to kill, as it would indeed get the target wet.

It still has to be water, no dumping beer or some other beverage on your target.

I think what bothers me is that it's less shooting or throwing water through the air as it is simply pouring water onto somebody. I guess if you can manage to get close enough and control the direction of water well enough...

So while I look down on it, it will still kill.

Visit Pictures

Earlier today, I received these photos from a visit paid by one Assassin to their target:



Death Report: The Killinator (and brief mention of El Columbiano, Ender, Martin Q. Blank, The Other Woman, and whitman)

One account of the scene at Saddle back on the fifth of May (this one of the murder of Kristen S aka “The Killinator”):

The night started off safely enough, out to dinner at a Japanese place in the company of trusted friends (including the now also deceased Greg H, aka “whitman") and equipped with a stealthily disguised weapon, home-made and concealed in an old McDonalds bag. The food was good and the drink was sake.

At first there had been plans to avoid the Saddle, in spite of its somewhat renowned revelry on the fifth of every month, _especially_ on the fifth of May. Such a large and varied crowd would surely draw a large group of ready killers, after all.

However as the meal continued so too did the flow of that delicious Japanese rice wine. It should come as no surprise that so too did concern about getting shot diminish.

The group departed for the Saddle, but having not yet completely lost their sense of self-preservation, did briefly scout the courtyard for obvious signs of carried water cannons before entering. Their fears allayed by the brief survey from afar, they made their way first to and then through the courtyard of the Saddle.

Soon after, it was over. In the hot Beijing night, the splash of water was at first refreshing, but quickly that relief was replaced with the cold realization that she’d been shot. She turned to see her assailant standing victorious, if only for a moment, since minutes, maybe even seconds, later Mellissa A, aka “Ender” was cut down with the abandoned weapon of “The Killinator”.

“Art Vandalay” emerged from this sequence of kills alive, and as I later heard, also witnessed some of the other kills that night. I imagine those to have happened under similar circumstances, not yet having had any details provided by witnesses or participants.

The other deaths, all in Sanlitun if not the Saddle itself:
Hernan L aka “El Columbiano” being killed by “Martin Q. Blank”
Carey N aka “Martin Q. Blank” being killed by “Melosa”
Greg H aka “whitman" killed by “Augustus”
Cassie W aka “The Other Woman” killed by “Smith”

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Cinco de Mayo

A lot of action tonight. I hadn't thought about holidays and such at all when I was planning this.

Rules Update Thoughts: Self Defense

The text before:
If the Target should detect imminent danger from their Assassin, they may shoot their Assassin in self-defense. If the Target should successfully manage to shoot the Assassin before being killed, the Target is protected from assassination for 6 hours. Both Target and Assassin should agree on the time at which the Target becomes vulnerable again.

In the case of Self Defense, there are no Safe Zones for the Assassin. Furthermore should the Target miss and a shoot out ensues, the Target forfeits rights to sanctuary in Safe Zones until the conclusion of the encounter.
Suppose that I were playing in this game. Why wouldn't I just shoot every person I see with a water gun? Arguably, if I were willing to suffer the consequences of pissing everybody around me off, why wouldn't I shoot everybody I see who I think could possibly also be playing?

I stand to gain a significant reward in information if by chance I do manage to hit my would-be killer because they will presumably have to notify me that they have me as a target so we can agree that I am safe for a few hours.

This leads me to reduce the incentive to shoot everybody. If you shoot your assassin, they will NOT need to reveal themselves to you.

This however may not be enough, because I still need to discourage shooting everybody and claiming imminent danger with just a hunch. Imminent danger means you know they are trying to kill you (for example, because their gun is pointed in your direction). If you are not in imminent danger and preemptively shooting people, that's kind of annoying and very much not in the spirit of what I use self-defense to mean.

So, here's the revised text:
If the Target should detect imminent danger from their Assassin, they may shoot their Assassin in self-defense. If the Target should successfully manage to shoot the Assassin before being killed, the Target is protected from assassination for 1 hour. The Assassin is NOT obligated to self-identify as the assassin for that specific Target.

"Imminent danger" should in this case mean that the Assassin has their weapon in hand and is directing it at their Target, or having some other persuasive reason to think that they are about to try to kill.

In the case of Self Defense, there are no Safe Zones for the Assassin. Furthermore should the Target miss and a shoot out ensues, the Target forfeits rights to sanctuary in Safe Zones until the conclusion of the encounter.
which is now in the rules.

I hope this is more clear and less prone to abuse.

Leaderboard Live

It's kind of quickly thrown together, but it's there.

Death Report: Gavrilo Princip

Last night, Matt R aka “Gavrilo Princip” was betrayed and killed.

Orchestrated by “The Other Woman”, Matt’s roommate and one additional (former?) friend conspired to lure him away from the safety of his home.

On the evening of May 4, 2009, Matt’s roommate called to say that she’d left her keys and needed to be let into their house. This seemed innocent enough and so Matt politely agreed. This was quickly turned around when his roommate invited him to go grab a drink nearby first. Not yet suspicious about his looming demise, he accepted the invitation.

Shortly thereafter, Matt’s roommate contacted him again to ask if he was still coming. In retrospect, this might have tipped him off but alas he continued unaware towards his death.

He arrived at the nearby bar to find his roommate and two other people waiting. Knowing immediately that there were other players present he demanded that all guns be taken out and placed on the table before he’d join.

The more cautious player would have walked out before even getting that far, but not Matt. He continued either undeterred by or unaware of his peril.

His intent was to pick up the gun on the table, thinking it would afford him some modicum of safety but “The Other Woman” realized this and was upon their weapon too fast.

Matt had turned to flee and was moving for the door as “The Other Woman” opened fire from across the room.

At first he thought he had made it out dry, and consequently alive. After running a safe distance away, he stopped to check and discovered there were a few water marks on him. They were faint, maybe it was only a glancing shot, maybe they had faded during his flight, but they were marks nonetheless.

And so was ended the brief life of “Gavrilo Princip”, whose time in this game was too short to do justice to the name.

A roommate relationship ruined? With his trust betrayed, Matt never did end up getting those keys to his betrayer.