Mastin

Thought I'd make one of these eventually.

Join Date

October 8th, 2008. What's hilarious is that, back when there were only ten months, October was the eighth, and if we still had only ten months, the join date would've been 8/8/08 (It is common knowledge that Oct is eight). Well, we have twelve, so, ah, well. I missed by a little. No offense was taken to August, and Certainly Not July (the month my birthday is in), for throwing me off by two months. :P

EDIT: An anonymous commenter would like to point out that if there are ten months, each month would have roughly 35-37 days in it, which would mean that October 8th would fall on a different day than the one that is referred to here.

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Response to that Edit: Don't ruin the joke by explaining why it isn't correct. >_< It's not a case of DidNotDoTheResearch, but rather, a case of "F*CENSORED* the Facts; I don't care" :P --People really don't care about accuracy. Doesn't matter if it's a good action scene or a terrible joke.

First "Real" Game

My join date was 10/8/08. I joined wanting to prepare for games on the Battleon Forums, and that's what Newbie 688 was--but I SUCKED. Only when Newbie 688 ended did I come back. (I have [well, had. I'm doubting it, now.] a personal belief that those who flake/replace out of a game yet remain on site are more likely to be scum if no explanation is given. If they do give an explanation, sure, not scummy, if they don't...)

When I came back, it was my first rebirth. I need to track down the exact date, so that I can post it here.

Anyway, With that out of the way, let's get on to more details.

Facts About Me

• I am mostly self-taught from reading the wiki. (FLAKE EDIT: Well, was originally. I also learned from Mafia 1 on the Battleon Forums, and from EpicMafia. Now, I have dozens of games worth of experience, although unlike most people who get better with time, I was degrading and getting worse.)

• While I like to think that I've got all the fallacies/gambits/theories/tells memorized, this is far from the case, as I will very, very oftenly forget common knowledge. The bodyguard/chainsaw defense, for example, I forgot a key fact about, which--contrary to the speculation against me--was an honest mistake, a bad one which (eventually) forced me (well, at least, it was ONE of the factors; there were several others) to claim as cop. (742)

• In my free time, I practice on epicmafia (from replacing out of 688 to replacing into 735, this was my only other source of being taught besides spectating a few games here and there in mafiascum.net, although, now I have experience from completed games), a flash-mafia site where games go quickly. I like to use my pure logic to lead my side to victory, going off of scum tells, etc. See playstyle. (Assuming I am amongst smart players, it works, for the most part.) (FLAKE EDIT: Okay. So I learned to use far more gut as I went along. And my posts had VERY little "logic" in them--at the TIME, though, I THOUGHT they were logical. It was bad, irrational, extremely unconventional logic which might be an insult to that very word. But at the time, I considered it sound.)

• However, people love to lynch me in every game I participate in. See playstyle. (FLAKE NOTES: This got worse over time. Inventor Mafia was the first time I was lynched as a pro-town role. It would not be the last. It set off a chain-reaction of suck.)

• And night kill me when I'm not mafia. There's a 30% chance that if I don't die n1 in a game where half the players know me, I'm mafia. There is a 30% chance that I was protected, and a 40% chance that they are going to try and frame me for not dieing. (FLAKE NOTES: This WAS true near the beginning of my career on MS.net. I often got night-killed. Not so much later on. There were a few times, but not nearly as much as originally.)

• The above three points apply to epicmafia mainly, as I have not played in enough games to determine whether or not it is true for me here as well. However, at least being night-killed applies. See below.

• I am confirming I am a popular night kill--In MANY games, I've been the night-kill soon after I join. In 763, I was the night kill n1, and there are many others of this nature. :/

Win-Loss Ratio

Side/Win/Loss/Replaced Out or Flaked/Tie/Abandoned

Town/5/1.

Mafia/0/0/1/0/0 (BINARY! :P)

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Dunno when that was, but I sure need to update it.

Ratios On Other Sites

Not very impressive. I wish they didn't let games die. As a player, the mods left me. As a mod, I failed to get the players needed to start my own game of mafia, despite it being a relatively fun game, in my opinion. However, they are part of my mafia history, hence, I feel the need to include them here.

UCAG

Side/Win/Loss/Replaced Out/Tie/Abandoned

Town/0/0/0/0/2

Mafia. (All Zeros)

I need better mods for my UCAG games.

Epic Mafia

These stats are for my main account. Alts have been excluded.

Win/Loss

147/196

It's hard to get a better win ratio, due to players there believing logic is a scum tell. >_>

Playstyle

I'm aggressive. I pursue my targets with a vengeance and give every scrap of logic pointing to them being guilty. (FLAKE NOTES: Though what I called "Logic" might not have been the best wording... :P) Nowadays, I will also point out the defense of the player I am attacking, as to not do so apparently makes me scummy.

Contrary to popular belief, I don't, however, tunnel vision, despite what has been stated about me (and even if I did, my experience is that townies tunnel vision more often than scum). I do it on all players (assuming I have the time to do so). And to the *insert number of mafia in said game here, possibly +1* players who respond poorly in comparison to the others, they earn my vote and FoS on those I can't vote. (FLAKE NOTES: Okay, at the time I said this, it was true. Later on, yea, I did flat-out tunnel. :/)

My aggressive style, however, has been bashed against the rocks so many times, it is unbelievable. It is inheritantly scummy, apparently, to give my logic and vote on it. (FLAKE NOTES: More like inheritently scummy to be increasingly irrational. Now, I don't think it's a scum-tell, but it does look bad. Also, walls of text and dissecting don't help much, either.) This often results in a wall of text (both in my defense, and attacks on others), as when I gather loads of evidence, I really gather loads of evidence. Many dislike my playstyle, and when I am town (on epicmafia, at least), I am honestly surprised to see my name among the living...well, every day. I expect to be night killed, and probably am only not nightkilled because the scum want to set up my lynch, citing my natural playstyle as loads of scum tells, one after another.

I think that scum on epicmafia, at least, nightkill me partially just to see how I nailed them and was angry at the town for not seeing what I do. :P (Due to Bleach Mafia, this might apply to mafiascum.net in the future, though)

Largest influences

My largest playstyle influences come from Newbie 688. The belief of lynching a bad townie would be acceptable to teach them not to be scummy I inherited from mrfixij (this has somewhat changed recently). Going off of logic and reasoning, I've always done, but both Moses le fou, Battle Mage, and Alduskkel influenced that. Going off of my instinct is something CF_Riot and springlullaby influenced me with, but I still stick with logic first above all others. As for my huge walls of text, all of the above players are to blame for that. A two-month day one that lasts twenty-five pages should give you an idea of why my posts are so long.

Ha, trying to shift the blame onto the players of Newbie 688? No Mastin, I'm quite sure you developed your habit of posting walls on your own. -Alduskkel

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Lol. Okay, maybe they didn't flat-out cause the walls of text, but instead of quote pyramids (illegal on the site I come from, the battleon forums), I decided to go for Dissecting posts instead, which makes them far longer than any quote pyramid would.

Anyway, more recent influences are people like Albert B. Rampage. His short posts have done an equally powerful job of scum hunting as my novellas. He's encouraged me to, well, be shorter in my posts. (FLAKE NOTES: Of course, a few games later, I was back to my old bad habits. >_<) Now, when I replace into a game, if I remember to do so, I'll ask the players if they want me to do a short-version-short or huge gigantic novels. He's also fueled my aggressive side.

My Legacy

Who knew it was possible to become famous so quickly? (FLAKE NOTES: I still don't know if it's possible to become famous rather quickly. However, I DO know it's possible to become INfamous rather rapidly. Like, in only a few games being remembered forever as the worst scourge ever seen on MS.net, infamous. :P) I sure didn't. For my huge walls of text (Newbie 742 is where the walls of text name I use for the most part was introduced; it is other players who call my posts Mastin-sized), my name--at least in one of the games I am playing in--has come to have a meaning along these lines. You see, I started the game out with a supper massive black h--errm, I mean, super massive post that was over thirty pages in Microsoft Word. I then made another long post, and a few more. Soon enough, people in that game started calling posts "Mastin-sized". So the term loosely means "Any post of insanely long lengths". JoeCool360 is the first to have used the adjective form of the word, Mastinity. Alduskkel created two in one post, Mastin-ish, meaning resembling a post of insanely long lengths, and Mastinian, which, umm, I can't put a meaning on. :/

(FLAKE NOTES: Of course, later on, this term was expanded. It became more well-known for dissecting posts, chopping up sentences as small as I could. Another common term for it includes self-voting. And another, scum claiming. Yet another is irrational, illogical, extremely suicidal posts, and I've become well-known for being mentioned as a policy vote/lynch.)

(Note: My Legacy is mainly due to reasons given in the Playstyle section of this page, but has expanded to include so much as to be separate from Playstyle)

Signatures

I like sigs. This is what my sigs have said.

• 1:

Current MS Record:

Side/Win/Loss/Replaced

Town/3/1/0

Mafia/0/0/1

Total 6

UCAG: I hate modkilled games

Epic Mafia Wins/Loss: ~147/196

"If television makes your brain lazy, reading Mastin's posts will give you mind atrophy." -Albert

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It's a little outdated, but I update it every once and a while. When I think of more things I want in my sig (as it's near the character limit), the record will be dropped, though I'll keep Albert B. Rampage's quote.

• 2:

"Holy sh**, you guys just started yesterday and already 11 pages! Mastin must be behind this" -Kise

"If television makes your brain lazy, reading Mastin's posts will give you mind atrophy." -Albert

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Sooo many good possibilities for quotes in my sig...

Post-retirement

After I became indefinitely V/LA, my signature I decided was in need of updating. So, I changed it somewhat:

Unforseeable circumstances have rendered me involuntarily and unexpectedly V/LA, indefinitely.

"If television makes your brain lazy, reading Mastin's posts will give you mind atrophy." -Albert

To this day, that has not changed. I am trapped, unable to come to a place which made me realize...just how great of a failure I am.

However, I think it should change. I can't come, 'cept Tuesdays and Every Other Thursday from 6:20 to 7 PM, and during Vacation time (like now, Christmas). But maybe I never should've come back, for it made me see certain elements about me, more than just my failure in games--WORSE. And so, the Albert quote which had served me for so long is gone, for my current sig:

Funny, how only after you've done the deed and there's no undoing it, that you'll somehow always end up regretting it. I spend my time here searching my name, with new results every day. Despite permanently being V/LA, I'm infamous.

--Which keeps the note on how I can never play another mafia game due to V/LA, yet also emphasizes how I've realized what I've done. It is not a good picture, a picture of myself I'll never be able to erase. And I'll have one heck of a hard time starting again.(Yes, I am a Linkin Park fan. :P)

My name has come up in many various different ways. Some, I'm just a footnote for an experience in a game (that's alright, happens all the time). Sometimes, I'm pretty much defined as "self voting"-at least, in the RVS. Sometimes, people will refer to long was as being me-That's actually not that bad, because text walls aren't bad per se. But there's far more than that, things I'm not going to mention on my wiki page because they hurt. Were they insulting to me? No. The players might've been flat-out insulting me, but I took no offense. Doesn't mean I'm not immune to mental scarring. What they were saying was the TRUTH, and the truth HURTS.

So, I'm famous. But it's a bad fame. The infamy kind of fame, one which I can never remove. After I flaked, I KNEW how bad it was, yes, I did. My eyes were opened to just how bad my actions had been. But they had been closed to what I had left behind until I returned, and saw just how much...how it'll be impossible to forget my name, now.

Title Suggestions

I have been nominated for several different titles, and have rather the list of my own which I can name myself that could be used. However, these are my favorites of the ones listed so far:

• Paperback Writer (Kublai Khan).

Reasoning: "For his excessively long-winded posts. Search any one of his games for proof." <--It's true, for the most part. While I'm holding back, nowadays, I am known for long posts, and part of the reasoning for it is that I write novels in my spare time.

• Unabridged (Xylthixlm said it originally, Seraphim made it official [which I consider a second], and DrippingGoofball made an official second, which I consider a third. Kublai Khan dropped the hammer on this choice being the clear leader).

Reasoning: None given. <--The title suggestion made me laugh. It didn't need a reason. But I like it. Unabridged reflects my unlimited post length--and I think this is actually not a bad thing. It's alright to have a post of any length, really. If it's too long, I can give a shortened version. (I HATE shortened versions. I hate abridging my work. But having an abridged version which people will read and not complain about...is better than having a long wall which nobody will.) It's a suiting title, and I can't wait to receive it. :)

• Stylish. After I admitted my mistakes, animorpherv1 made this title suggestion, and VPBaltar seconded it. However, I denied this title. I don't think I'd be worthy of something like that. I certainly have a unique sense of style, and I did take a good step towards fixing my mistakes, in that I admitted them, but a title just for me basically...complaining about just how much a miserable failure I've been? A title for me masochistically whining about just how many mistakes I've made? No. We're not supposed to give titles rewarding bad things. I felt honored by the suggestion, but don't feel myself worthy.

My Own

• Sir Suicidal Scum Slayer, SuperSized.

It's so many levels of awesome.

Sir references my honor in games. I never lie about, say, game mechanics or beliefs. I never lie about role (with the exception of Newbie Games as scum, where, well, I pretty much *have* to claim a power role or die), etc.

Suicidal references my extremely (admittedly) anti-town playstyle, as well as referencing how many times I've been night-killed. I commit suicide, via catching scum, because they end up killing me. :P

Scum Slayer references the fact that I have a *really* good record at catching scum.

Sir Scum Slayer itself is what my occupation is listed as, anyway.

SuperSized references two things: The fact that I am in *many* games and manage to catch scum in almost all of them (Supersizing my scum slaying ability), and also references the fact that I like really, really, *really* long posts. ;)

The who thing put together makes a very long title, further referencing my posting length, *and* pays homage to my writing skills, via the alliteration involved. Move aside, Unabridged. You just got pwned. :P

Let's recap: Put together, it references...

• • Honor

• • Anti-town playstyle

• • Amount of NK's

• • • (As well as lynches. <_<)

• • My good scum catching record

• • Pays Homage to my current profile Occupation

• • References the fact that I am in many games

• • References my origins as a writer, via alliteration

• • And references my posting length.

You can't ask for much more than that. :P

• Snowflake--Really. Search this page for the word "Flake" and see how many times it comes up. It'll certainly be more than almost anything else. :P

I also am posting most of these 'Flake Notes' during my Christmas Break, y'know, in the Winter and all that? Hence, Snow (time of year) Flake (what I seem to say most often). :P This is, of course, written after I've flaked, so it is a FLAKE NOTE. :P

Famous Quotes

The ones that make me laugh. (Note: Some quotes might be combined, while others abridged)

"If television makes your brain lazy, reading Mastin's posts will give you mind atrophy."

---Albert B. Rampage, Newbie 763. He was rather annoyed at my long posts that seemed rather contentless in his mind. I disagree, but apparently, that's just me. (Further evidence of how I'm a writer: The word before both commas and the period in those sentences rhyme. :P)

"Mastin killed Night 1, was always the plan. He seems way too competent a player to be left hanging around."

---Battle Mage explaining his gameplan as scum (763 as well). Considering other players' view of me in the game, this was a hilarious comment to me, as well as a compliment. But, really, what on earth makes me so night-killable? The fact that I'm unlynchable thusfar? :/

"Mastin talks. A lot. Without saying much. I'll probably kill him just for *content censored*. And giggles. Oh, and because he suspects me even though I *content censored* steam rolled sera-scum into a lynch. That irks me. Really, really does."

---Green Crayons, in his monologue for who he plans to kill (Bleach Mafia). I took offense, but it made me laugh.

"OhGodMyLife wrote: Mastin replaces Giuseppe. Thanks, and welcome to the game Mastin!

OH *censored for content* NOT THIS GUY. I just hope he doesn't scare anyone off the site!! LOL"

---Albert, again, this time in Bleach Mafia. (Mini 760) Really, they just night-kill me, honest. :P

"I am among the folks who scrolled past all of Mastin's posts, lol. The excessive quote -->comment --> quote --> comment --> quote --> comment that just drove me NUTS."

---Phaen, a spectator to 763. Sheesh, really, what's so bad about my posts? :/

"My God.

Unvote, vote Mastin

Either we lynch him, he reduces his post length, or I ask for a replacement. "

---Albert, earlier on in 763. Seriously, I'm not that bad. Surely, there's worse out there...

No, there isn't ---Amished

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Lol.

Gems of MS.net

Mentions in other games that I'm not playing (...yet. :P)

"I can pad my posts with as much shit as I want. It's not a scumtell, unfortunately. Ever play with Mastin before?"

---Seraphim. My posts are filled with content, Seraph! Long, but filled with content. <_<

"Ether should play with Mastin.

And I think dank is a fink for preferring to play with Mastin than this "exploded" game. 4 pages? hah. "

---Phoebus. Can I interpret that as a compliment? XP

"I don't get how people like Goat and Mastin can say so much. "

---Xtoxm. It's in my nature. I'm writing a rant about it, actually. You'll see it eventually.

"Self-voting in RVS is anti-town because it robs the town of some potential connections; c.f. dice rolling and OMGUS in RVS. Any attempt to reduce the amount of information you're giving in the early game is scummy, because only scum have a motive for it. That said, silly townies do sometimes make these hilarious japes, not realizing the anti-town nature of what they're doing. It would be much better if they would realize they're going to get heat for their anti-town actions and resist the urge.

For what it's worth, I don't agree that it's a universal scum tell in that it applies across all possible metas. The obvious counter-example is that unfortunate fellow who always self votes at the start of the game (e.g., Mastin). "

---ekiM. I have to disagree with the fact that it's anti-town. It gets discussion going. It gets scum hunting done. It'd worked wonders in the past, and snaps us out of the random voting stage. I'll never stop doing it, ekiM. ;)

The Compliment Quotes

A bit hard to judge, but roughly ordered from most to least valuable, to me.

"@Mastin: Good call on Kronos & jeffcole1 at the beginning. You bascially had the game called. Next time you're cop though, don't push the case so hard (especially don't make up stuff), play it subtle. You did drop some cop-tells, but I had thought you had investigated Caleb as innocent. "

---Kublai Khan, 742. Complimenting me on my scum hunting abilities, criticizing my playstyle as the cop (which I find fine)

"I think Mastin made many of the right objections and comments in response to my defense."

--Andrigan, 735, commenting on my playstyle.

"I think the main reason the town won this game came down to Mastin making a good choice of investigation on N1. Not so much that he hit scum (though obviously, that helped), but that he did not make the dumb choice of investigating Caleb that I think many people would do.

Having found himself a guilty, Mastin was in a tough situation for D2. Normally, I'd advocate a cop claiming as soon as they get a guilty (maybe not in a large game, but certainly in a newbie), but with D1 pretty much wasted, the town really needed to get some conversation on D2 to catch the partner, so holding back was the right thing to do. But overall, your method worked well enough, and I have to say, I was truly impressed when you were onto both the scum on Page 2. I've never seen anyone get on completely the right track that quickly before. "

--iamausername, the mod of 742, complimenting me.

"Mastin, I think it's time to retire the last-to-confirm scumtell. You got killed for being on the right track on SisterCoyote, and for being troubling for scum to leave in the game. "

---Mikek under the name ekiM, 763. 'Compliment' noted.

"<3 Mastin

You're going to counterbalance PhilyEc perfectly. For every question PhilyEc asks, Mastin will provide five answers! No, six!! "

---Albert complimenting me, Mini 760 (Bleach Mafia).

" I looked fairly suspicious of Mastin for most of day 3, and I was, and if he had messed up that claim things might have turned out differently. "

---Scien, 735, explaining why I had been scummy, yet I did things well.

"Mastin: Well played as well. When Scien asked for your previous investigation, I was prepared to be suspicious of pretty much anything you said because it was all so predictable... until you said that you didn't get a result at all, which was the most believable scenario considering deadline's level of participation."

---Dourgrim, yup, 735.

"BTW mastin even though I felt you were anti town in your posting style and easy accusations you were also a valuable player by giving many different points of view and still being open minded after an accusation."

---Ivanavich, 763.

"I wanna congratulate Mastin for his awesome cop play."

---Alexhans, yea, 735.

"MASTIN your cop claim was perfectly timed. I think you do tunnel (the danger of being a cop). I won't fall for that again. Tunnel like that again and I will NK you as mafia because you will be clear cop!"

---Kieraen, also 735. A further compliment of my play as cop. I got a lot of compliments for my play that game.

"Our game started pretty quick because we had active posters and aggressive players *cough* Mastin *cough*"

---Fallen Angel talking about the speed of 763.

"I didn't know what to think of Mastin."

---Also Fallen Angel, commenting on my playstyle.

Games completed

Reverse-chronological order:

NOTE: Anything without 'Flake Notes' which contains a link might have the link not work properly. I haven't tested them, after all.

• Mini 808--Rabbit Doubt Mafia. A flaked game.

My predecessor started out as a vanilla townie, although I ended up as a flavor cop. I didn't do nearly as well as I would've liked to have done this game. For one, I had a scumdar which was WAY off for the most part. I didn't use my abilities as I should have, I missed KMD's response to my breadcrumb, etc. Not to mention, I was purposefully talking half-heartedly, kinda like I did in Nightless Vanilla. I was NOT doing well, to say the least. However, this time, I *believe* it was intentional simply because I wanted to lay low as a cop. I flaked, so that didn't happen, but I got night-killed before a replacement could be found, same as Soul Society where I--despite not being present--got endgamed. I count it as a failure.

Link: http://www.mafiascum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11675

--No flake notes as this was written after I flaked.

• Open 131--Nightless Vanilla.

Townie, obviously. This was another game which I never really got into. I had TEN other games going on at the same time; what would you do if your style involved hours per game via posting walls of text and extensive reading? Probably learn the lesson and stop. Nope, not me. At my peak, I was in fifteen games at any given time, and that was far, FAR too many. I got WC as scum, but was voting Hewitt almost the entire time due to seeing the two as scumbuddies. I SUCKED. Really, really badly, worse than in 141. And that should say something. Technically would fit into my 'flake' category, as the game was still going when I flaked, but due to my low activity, I was probably going to be replaced, anyway.

Link: http://www.mafiascum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10967

--No flake notes as this was written after I flaked.

• Boost Mafia 2.

Mafia Cop. I'd rather not talk about just how much of a failure this was on my part. It was, let's just leave it at that, please. I don't want to talk about it.

Link: http://www.mafiascum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1750204

--No flake notes as this was written after I flaked.

• Mini 778--Inventor Mafia.

Oh, boy. How miserably I failed...to say the least. This game was full of tunnel visioning, arrogance, walls of text, and fluff. I was hammered JUST as I was working on my case, because I was posting what I had gotten so far, but it wasn't enough and was mostly fluff due to, y'know, NOT HAVING FINISHED IT. >_< This game was yet another example of why lurking, active, passive, whatever, is NOT a scumtell from me. I did it equally as scum and town. This game was an all-around disaster, to say the least.

Link: http://www.mafiascum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11294

--No flake notes as this was written after I flaked.

• Mini 822--Bleach Mafia Soul Society. A flaked game.

Townie, I suppose. Because I had become far more erratic since my last Bleach game, my antics were far more poorly received than last time. I flaked at the end of day one, but the mod couldn't get a replacement for me before the game ended. Needless to say, this was NOT one of my prouder moments. In fact, this was about as low as I ever sunk, really. It showed just how badly I had done.

Link: http://www.mafiascum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1866546

--No flake notes as this was written after I flaked.

• Mean Mod Lovefest.

Vigilante. Although I first thought I was a serial killer, and then, after my first few posts, I realized I wasn't. Then I went on thinking I was a death-miller of sorts that would show up as a serial killer upon lynching, even though my win condition clearly said that I won with the town. And I was V/LA, so I didn't get to send in a single kill. Naturally, this VERY bad combination left me as a rather exposed target, ESPECIALLY with my incredibly anti-town playstyle. By this time, it had fully flourished into the grand infamous work I have become well-known for. Surprisingly, though...I don't count this game as a failure. I misread Tajo/Random as scum, ESPECIALLY with them defending each other (justified, in that they were lovers, and Lovers tend to do that. How was I supposed to know? <_<), but I had a VERY strong townread on BC, and rather than letting him be lynched (he appeared to be heading that way), I willingly put MYSELF in his place. I also was getting close to a scumread on Kai, and on day one, I'm fairly certain I was going hard against Ash as well. I had a town-read on Crazy, too. I was definitely thinking that Syke was town due to BC, although the possibility of a godfather was still there. In other words...well, for the most part, I got my suspicions correct. So, while not my best, it wasn't a failure, either.

Link: http://www.mafiascum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11819

--No flake notes as this was written after I flaked.

• Newbie 748--OhGodMyHamlet.

Mafia Goon. Man, I wanted to win this game so much. Early-on, I was giving my 125% to this game. I had never played that good as either town nor scum before, and I doubt I ever will again. I was giving this game as much as I could...until day three. By that time, I was ensnared in dozens of games clogging up my time, and I simply couldn't give the game my all. Add to that, V/LA, and sadly, I failed. Again. This was the one time where I had ANY chance of winning--by myself--as scum. I got close. I was playing my cop meta perfectly. I had all the facts set out. I wanted to believe SO MUCH that I was a cop, not scum, and had gotten myself PERFECTLY into that mindset. I had every meta link in the world pointing to how I was innocent. I WANTED to be innocent. And even if I couldn't win, I wanted to (possibly) earn a draw. I tried playing my best. But sadly, lasaki tunneled on me. Now, I had thought that Peace was the doctor day 1, 2, and early day 3. But due to breadcrumbs, I was definitely fearing it was lasaki. By day four, I KNEW. I knew it was Lasaki, but Peace. I needed it to be Peacesells. Lasaki was tuneling on me, and without Lasaki's support, victory would be impossible. Without Lasaki on my side, the best I could hope for was a draw. I was pleading to the mod, begging, TRYING to get a draw. I tried something like three, or four times. I was practically crying, wanting to succeed so badly... But I didn't. I failed. As scum, doing the best that I could...I failed. I had thought everything out in my head. I knew that I had four options: 1--Kill Peacesells, who I believed to be the doctor. However, Lasaki had given me doubt Day Three. 2--Kill Manho, the only person who I knew NOT to be the doctor due to a VT kill. I was VERY reluctant to do this, because he was--at a time--one of my main suspects. 3--Kill Lasaki, who 'crumbs pointed to being the doctor. I didn't want THIS, either, because Lasaki was my primary suspect, and vice versa; it would make ME look bad. 4--No Kill, try to get a draw. I had thought it would be Peace, then I thought No Kill, then Manho, then No Kill, then Manho finally ended up the victor---what had once been clear in my mind became blurred, and I was far less positive. But Lasaki--based off of the misunderstanding that I thought Manho was the doctor when it was clear I thought it was peace--saved Manho, leaving me--essentially--screwed. There were a few points where I could have recovered. Things took a downward spiral day three, when I wasn't NEARLY as cleared as I would've liked to have been from the Amished vs. Mastin debate. So, yes, I was somewhat in a bad situation. But so many points...could have been done better. I didn't do that. I failed. I tried, but I failed.

Link: http://www.mafiascum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10684

--No flake notes as this was written after I flaked.

• Open 148--Jungle Republic.

Vanilla Townie. Another good example of why a drop in activity is not a scum tell from me. Shows why my unusual logic can be wrong, but how it isn't a scum tell. Nailed Kore+Kham day one, but got distracted by Fallen Angel. Thought I found the last Mafia Member, Wulfy (who was scum), and both werewolves, Yos2+Iamausername.

When Hero flipped werewolf after I was dead, I was forced to reevaluate the game and realized that Yos2 wouldn't be a werewolf. As Iamausername was night-killed, that left me with OGML and Wulfy. Sotty7 flipping the last Mafia made me doubt my read on Wulfy. I had dismissed scummy things from Wulfy due to thinking last mafia. With that information, I correctly deduced that Wulfy was the last werewolf.

Link: http://www.mafiascum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11516

FLAKE NOTES: I count this game as a failure. Yes, I got two of the scum, and later--to myself; I have no proof of it--got the last scum as well, but, oh, dear Lorithia, you should see my play here. I claimed scum, and I think this was one of the first times I had done so, in the RVS with my self-vote. I also became increasingly irrational, illogical, and lashing out at the two I saw as scum with such blindness you would never imagine. Confirmation bias had become one of my strongest calling cards. This game, I essentially made everyone angry, and nobody was happy. I did nothing noteworthy, other than scummy activities that got worse over time. It was truly an epic failure.

• Mini 767--Cubic Mafia.

Vanilla Townie. Kai invited me during lylo. Speaking of which, that's kinda important. This game represents perhaps the most significant moment in my mafia career. Why?

It's the only game where I've been in an endgame. Only. I've always died well before then. Either I've been lynched for being too scummy, or I've been night-killed for being too town. Okay, so I've seen lylo several times...but never a three-person endgame. This was my first three-person endgame lylo. I am proud that I got it right. Introduced my iso-reading strategy, which has worked fairly well. Helped catch the last scum with vote count analysis as well.

Overall, good scum hunting from me.

Link: http://www.mafiascum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10974

FLAKE NOTES: One of the games I considered my greatest successes. It proved to me how I could get things right again, how my earlier successes weren't just flukes. Okay, so most of the work was already done for me by my predecessor, so it's not really THAT impressive. But this game is the only game where I nailed scum, since 735 and 742. I got one in The Purple Flower, and was doing alright, but was at far from my optimal playing strength at the time. HERE, however...I won. It's this game which gives me hope for if I come back, this game which makes me think that I might JUST have the skill needed to play Mafia without being a *insert foul language here*.

• Mini 791--Beard Mafia.

Vanilla Townie. Never got into the game. Was promised walls of text, and I liked that. But I never got into the spirit, I suppose you could say. Was shot by the sk trying to look like a vig. Oh, well. Good proof of why lurking isn't a scum tell from me, in stark contrast to 779, LAL, and Polygamist.

Link: http://www.mafiascum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11482

FLAKE NOTES: Really. The Purple Flower was somewhat of a success as a Vanilla Townie, sure, so I was not a failure. I knew that. But after failing REALLY hard as a VT in 141, and THREE TIMES IN A ROW as scum, with this, you'd think that MAYBE I would think that--just possibly--my SUCCESSES were flukes? Nope, not really. This was most painful to me, simply because alexhans I considered a good friend by this point, and with him as the mod, I FAILED!!! I...by this point in time, I had already learned to regret my actions. I regretted my failures as scum as I made them, due to disappointing the players who I considered my closest friends on MS.net at the time, players who I knew by reputation and thought were amazing, and mods I had come to respect. I regretted 141 because of similar reasons, due to friends involved witnessing me being *insert foul language here*. And here, I failed another close friend. It would not be the last.

• Mafia 91--HATPurple Flower.

Vanilla Townie. I replaced an inactive user. With a flurry of posts which were somewhat decent, I was able to theorize a few aspects of the setup, although most of it was wrong. However, I did get the flavor for the kills correct, as well as singling out a particular member of the J. Mafia. When I came back, I was thinking the same target as before, but was about to switch to KMD when Mole Stargazer was hammered. I did a decent job overall, but this is certainly far from my best. I got OP's VT status right. And, earlier on, I nailed two scum from two different factions, too! :P (And, then, got another. Lol, I did get some good notes in 'bout some scum. ;)) Let's see, I got Pablo+Star, Pablo+Monkey, VPBaltar, suspicions of WC...I also got a great deal of town reads correct as well. Interesting to note is how I not once voted anyone other than scum--my votes were on Pablo and MoleStargazer, even if my suspicions were shifting elsewhere. :P

Link: http://www.mafiascum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10946

--No Flake Notes for this is all written AFTER I flaked due to me having not put it in BEFORE I flaked.

• Newbie 779.

Mafia Roleblocker. I suck as scum. I ruined my gameplay by having read the entire thread before having replaced in. It got me into the mind of a spectator, not a player. Replacing someone scummy didn't help, either. Then I learned that the person I thought was the most pro-town (in fact, only person I saw as pro-town), Tael, was--in fact--scum. Seeing Tael flake was heartbreaking. I never got into my true play, here.

Link: http://www.mafiascum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11324

FLAKE NOTES: Another excuse. That's all it really was, an excuse. Really, it was all my fault. I has wanted to play--eagerly--in another game, and messed up, big time. Yes, I contributed several reasons to my failure, including that I was scum and I am not good at scum. But, really, Mastin, THREE GAMES IN A ROW SHOULD HAVE SENT YOU A MESSAGE! It didn't. I was still too arrogant. I was too thick-headed.

• Lynch All Lurkers.

Again, I hate it when I'm scum (in an all-goon mafia team, no less, nearly mountainous minus the masons) and I go inactive. I had THOUGHT I was staying within the posting limit. Yea, I was wrong. I got lynched for it. I had considered claiming that doctors receive an extra bonus for lurking, like maybe my protection only has a 75% chance of going through, but lurking makes it 100, but decided against it. I messed up as mafia. Again. (I do that a lot, don't I? Now people think I have a lurk-as-scum meta. Sometimes, I'll lurk as town JUST to prove them wrong.)

Link: http://www.mafiascum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11246

Scum Quick Topic: http://www.quicktopic.com/43/H/NQPvq7JWX4fi

FLAKE NOTES: And this had an identical problem to Polygamist Mafia. I had something like five games going on simultaneously, with limited access and problems with MS.net. I was lurking, I was being scummy. I accidentally went over the limit when a post I thought I had posted...well, didn't post. Like Polygamist Mafia, the reason my team lost was because of me, so this was a HUGE failure on my part. Yet again, I attributed it to how I suck at scum.

• Open 145--Polygamist Mafia.

Uhg. I hate it when I'm scum (basically, I was a four-man-all-mafia lover-mafia group) and I go inactive. I had done fine until I fell behind...and kept falling behind...and fell behind even more...it ended up eventually being too late. I had to recover from being AFK, but couldn't. Worse, MS.net broke for me around that time. It really, really sucked. I failed ekiM, AceMarksman, and ZazieR, players who I respect and who I know are good, and my overconfidence in my abilities and my activity level lead to my downfall. And by extent, our whole group.

Link: http://www.mafiascum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11397

Scum Quick Topic: http://www.quicktopic.com/43/H/mLyexE2Ew8y?m1=-1&mN=-1

FLAKE NOTES: This was yet another warning sign. I was stretched beyond my limit, in several games. On top of that, I had limited access. I went from being scummy, to scummier, to scummiest as the game when on, due to my playstyle and general lack of content. I refused to be replaced due to 688, though. I shouldn't have let my failure blind me to the fact that I wasn't that good. I should've stopped, after this--my second failure--but still I did not. Why? I went and looked at 688, thinking that I just suck at being scum. I do, yea. But that doesn't mean I wouldn't be bad as town. I failed.

• Open 141.

Vanilla Townie. One of my absolute low points in scum hunting. I was busy, did not have a lot of time on my hand, and ended up tunneling on the cop. It shows why falling behind is not a scum tell for me, and shows how I am not always in my game. THIS game managed to deflate my ego.

Link: http://www.mafiascum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11336

FLAKE NOTES: Unfortunately, it did not last long. Why, I don't know. Why I managed to still become who I am remembered for, even after this massive failure, even after having failed in front of good friends, I don't know. Maybe I just thought it was a fluke, that it wouldn't happen again? I should've stopped after this game, reevaluated my style. I didn't. I would pay the price for it, too. This...was my first failure--at least, since 688, that is. My first failure since my return to the site. Many more would come later.

• Newbie 762.

I was the doctor. I replaced in the pre-game. This game was significant in many ways. First of all, along with 763, it was the first game where I demonstrated my self-voting technique. Second of all, it also is the first game which I lost. Along with 763, this game was also the first game where I got night-killed n1. It also again showed how pro-town I was; I was considered fairly pro-town and I also had managed to peg the mafia by the end of the game.

Link: http://www.mafiascum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10973

FLAKE NOTES: Yup, as you can see by the above, I was becoming increasingly arrogant as time went along. While I lost this game, I still don't count it as a failure. I was doing well enough to be night-killed, after all. Also worth noting is how OGML needed two replacements at the same time. One was his doctor, the other, his cop. Had I gotten the cop, that would've been three times in a row.

• Mini 760--Bleach Mafia.

I was a townie. (I replaced in around page fourteen) Well, mostly. Latent powers are awesome. Due to not knowing Albert's full playstyle, I thought he was scummy, and I am thinking this is what stopped me from early-on nailing all of the scum. But, hey, even though I thought he was scum at the time, and I was swayed into thinking GLaDOS was scum due to Gorrad's flip, I DID have two of the three scum down in what I consider my first true post of content.

Link: http://www.mafiascum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10857

FLAKE NOTES: My erratic style was beginning to bloom by this point. In fact, it was flat-out flourishing. While there were warning signs, and while I was told about what I hadn't done as well in the game as what was possible, very little of it actually got through to me. This game was probably what finally actually made me cross the line. Still, not a failure. While I did not do good, I also was not doing bad, and so--while this game came close to becoming infamous--it did not.

• Newbie 763.

A townie. In this game, I thought I had nailed the scum on page one. Well, I was half-right, half-wrong. Both increasing and smashing my confidence. I got night-killed n1, something which is becoming rather my legacy (I suppose it was a blessing in disguise--I would've fallen behind again, likely, considering how I had fallen six pages behind once, it was a real risk). I'm disappointed that nothing deflated my ego significantly from that game--I have rather the large one. Albert helped lessen my ego somewhat, but it's still there, due to me having been half-right.

Link: http://www.mafiascum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10972

FLAKE NOTES: Perhaps I should've been paying more attention. I was doing this game simultaneously with 762, and--later--Bleach Mafia as well. The fact that I was stretching my schedule SHOULD have been a warning. If I got the message, I ignored it, needless to say. Another warning was how in THIS game, I was bashed for my self-vote, AND my walls of text. The same--to a lesser degree--also happened in 762. I said, essentially, "Screw you; it worked in the past, and it'll work again!"--though I did eventually tone it down in this game.

• Newbie 742.

The cop. This game felt like it was Deja vu of Newbie 735. I replaced in day one for a player who I don't remember the name of as the--as mentioned--cop (again), obviously with no results. This was a faster, more bloody game than 735 was, and while it mirrored many aspects of 735, I actually ended up completing my part in 742 before I did in 735. (Was shot during the night.) Town won, and the result made me wish I had stuck with my original thoughts, which nailed both scum day one.

Link: http://www.mafiascum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10609

FLAKE NOTES: And this, in combination with 735, is where things began to go wrong. Here, the main criticism was not on many of the aspects of me, but rather, the fact that I was going so hard against a single player, which was justified. Nailing both scum by PAGE TWO made me rather...arrogant.

• Newbie 735.

The cop. Now, in this game, I replaced in for deadline (ah, I wish deadline would've stayed--I mean, that name is just so hilarious it's a shame to have it wasted), day two--as mentioned--as the cop, finding that I had no results to give. It was a close game at first (the lack of result irked me), and only later ended up the way it did because of my play style and--ironically--lack of result. Town won when the scum were dealt the fatal blow in their coffin via my claim, which shocked them. I consider this my first true game.

Link: http://www.mafiascum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10445

FLAKE NOTES: I was tolerable this game. I tunneled on Hohum, yea, and that was bad. My posts were a bit lengthy, but had not yet degraded into the massive headaches you see later on. And I did well because I was still new. My art of infamy was still being honed. :P

(If you didn't notice, I likely need to do a little updating of my wiki. I keep on forgetting to update it often. :/)

Old

• Newbie 688.

Mafia Roleblocker. I do not count this as a game of mine. Why? I replaced out, circa page ten. Only my current games (listed above) count, as they're the only games where I have my playstyle. I had a completely different playstyle, then; why should it count? And when I replaced out, how can I consider it a win for me? Alduskkel is the one who won that game for the scum team, not I.

Link: http://www.mafiascum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9622

FLAKE NOTES: The fact that I replaced out, no matter how bad I would've done when I stayed, despite still having good enough access...I think it left me permanently left believing that replacing out/flaking was simply the worst crime I could do--a decision which would later cost me.

Other Sites

Now, now, you don't think I just randomly came here from nowhere, do you? Sure, it's possible, but I didn't do that. I have games from other sites under my belt, although these sites are not known by most. They're fun to play on, if you have the capability to do so, though. I recommend trying it, sometime.

The Battleon Forums

URL:

forums2.battleon.com

Specifically, it was the Unofficial Contests and Games section of the forum, as that's where all forum games are played.

The first Mafia game was why I came to mafiascum.net. At least two or three of the players in the original mentioned that they have experience from mafiascum, and when I googled it, it didn't take long for me to find what I was looking for. These players are who I owe my MS.net career to. The original Mafia game (run by Dawn of Shadows) was amazingly balanced, and had a great outcome (the end was a Paranoid Gun Owner claim who was extremely scummy, a mason partnered with the lynch day one and a night kill, and the last scum--a fine example of Lynch or Lose).

• Mafia II: Alien Attack.

I was the doctor (I believe I successfully saved my target, Superemo) in this particular game until the game was modkilled (abandoned, whatever you want to call it) nearing the end of day two. A shame. Sixteen players, two scum factions, and a darn-good town to play with (and I'm fairly confident we had nailed scum day two as well), yet the game disappeared due to the mod going inactive.

This game is what introduced me to Epicmafia, via a player on there and my famous method of googling what I do not know the URL of. The game itself was my first true practice to forum Mafia (I joined this game after having left Newbie 688, but like I said, I don't count that as a game [and 688 didn't end until far after this game was abandoned. ;)]), and I did fairly well.

• Mafia, Atlantic Stowaway.

I was also one of two doctors in this very fun game, but, surprise, surprise! It was modkilled as well. The mod just vanished from the site. I later learned that there were two scum factions, numbering three each, in this fourteen-player game when people revealed their roles. It was revealed that there were two (or was it three?) cops in the game, as well as two doctors. Seemingly town sided. However, as the scum's goal was just to outnumber the town (and the scum all had the ability to target multiple people), they really only had to get it down to nine players (assuming no scum casualties) to win. I would've loved to see this game continue, see if my limited doctor (two-shot) ability allowed self-protect, if the 50% save from the other doctor would go through...

We never got to see day two. We lynched a werewolf day one...and the mod never got to the next day, due to vanishing. ;_;

(These two games are why my sig says "I hate modkilled games", for that's essentially what they are. The mod abandons the games to death...allowing them to essentially die, as if killed, via the mod.)

Epic Mafia

I have also been very active on Epicmafia.com, with the same username I have here, Mastin. Link here, if you can view it: http://www.epicmafia.com/user/index/7469 I have two alternate accounts as well, but would prefer not to link them, as some still don't realize they are me. I haven't played recently a lot due to computer problems, yet this is one of the reasons I play the way I do in Mafia games.

Activity in Games

My activity in games.

Games which I consider Active:

735, 742, 760, 762, 767.

Scum In: 0.

Town In: 5.

Games I consider Semi-Active:

763, 141 (pushing inactive, though), 148.

Scum In: 0.

Town In: 3.

Games I consider Inactive:

145, LAL, 779, 791.

Scum In: 3.

Town In: 1.

Failure List

I'm working on a list. Here, I'll list all of my failures, why they were failures, how many MS.net members I need to redeem myself for having taken an element of their game which they will never recover (in three levels: 1: Number of people, excluding repeats, number of people WITH repeats, and the optional third, in any game where my name was mentioned negatively after I left or was a bad influence), and how many games I ruined. (Three levels: pre-flake, flake, and the optional post-flake influences.)

It'll be in chronological order.

• Newbie 688--General newbieness. I replaced out when I could've stayed, but had I stayed, I would've done terribly.

Games: 1

People: 11 (9 players, minus me, plus the mod, plus my replacement, plus my first replaced partner.)

Retirement

I have virtually zero access. This caused me to mass-flake from my games, and I had practically a mental breakdown over just how large a failure I was. I certainly gained a reputation. Six months after I flaked, my name still comes up in games every once and a while. ...It's just the kind of reputation: Extremely negative, for the most part. It made me realize just how bad I was in games.

So, I vowed that if I ever regained access, I would redeem each and every failure of mine. ...I am second-guessing that decision. Sure. If I come back, and actually try to do my best, to not only scum hunt, but keep the game fun (In many cases, while my scum hunting might've actually been fairly good, I was definitely killing the fun in the game for others in order to enjoy it the most.), what if I fail? If in my attempted redemption...I end up worse than when I left?

I decided that when I regain access (still haven't), I'll give myself one last chance, one final shot at redemption. If I succeed, I stay, and try to redeem my failures. If I fail, I'll permanently give up Mafia, good ridance, the nuisance is gone forever.

As I have limited access, I can't play right now, anyway. I have other things to do. For example, I'm a writer. NaNoWriMo has become an excellent home for me to do some critiquing on, like I did way back before I joined MS.net on L&L. I also write a great deal. I have four webcomics, and I update most of 'em regularly. I write poetry, and can focus more on Tae Kwon Do, too. Still...you won't believe me, but I really...do have nightmares. And they're about MS.net. About my failures, mainly, or futures-that-will-never-be.

When I DO come on here, I spend my time mostly browsing. I'll look at the title fairy, look at games where I participated in to see if they've got a new response, and search for my name to see who is using it, and why. (About half of them only fuel the nightmares, though. They normally use ME as an example of what NOT to do. Heck, I use the me I used to be as an example of what not to be. It sure doesn't help my dreams. Ah, well.) Sometimes, I can get a good laugh or two, in 40-minute sessions, reminicing about days of ol'...

Games Laid To Rest

A few ideas of mine which I've had, but which I probably will never get the chance to mod. I have virtually no access. That doesn't look like it's going to change any time soon. I doubt it ever will, really. I like the sound of these games, but the facts are, they'll likely never see the light of day. They'll never be played out. I'll never have the chance to mod 'em. Yet I like them, and so, I post the ideas here.

• Writers Mafia. 12P Mini Theme. I am a writer, after all, and I thought it'd be nice to have a game where the flavor is based off of famous writers.

• Forest Mafia. Currently 16 Large Theme, but with room for extra. One of my oldest ideas, and probably too heavy on power roles right now, with a mechanic which I feel makes the game a bit too swingy. The game has randomly shifting seasons, with some roles having altered poweres due to the four different possible seasons. I could always try again to balance it, but considering how I'll never get the chance to mod it...

• Chrono Trigger Mafia. 12P Mini Theme. I almost actually got to do this one. I was in the Que, waiting my turn, and had the setup reviewed by a couple of people. It still isn't as balanced as it could be, and a few mechanics are still shaky, so perhaps it is for the best that I DID flake before my Game-account (Spekkio) got the chance to mod.

• Mostly Mountainous Mean Mod Mafia. Currently, 12P Mini Theme. An idea of mine, where the setup is MOSTLY mountainous--however, the elements which are NOT are flat-out in the B-mod category almost certainly. It was an interesting idea (if someone PM's me, I'd show them the basic concept), and while I think it would've certainly been FUN to play, I doubt it would've been balanced properly.

What Are You Up to NOW, Mastin?!?

What do I do, now that I don't have access to MS.net?

Restless nights where I have trouble having anything other than nightmares, for one. >_<

But, well, I do have other activities.

Anyone who views this, You Should Know This Already

I'm a huge novel writer. Big surprise! I've only advertised it, like, a hundred times. <_< :P At last count, I've started around eighty novels (Think I'm lying? I WILL list off EVERY single one of them, with an excert and a plot summary, if you don't believe me.) and have well over a hundred planned. And that's not including my short stories, which probably bump my "started work" up to the hundred mark.

One of my largest and most recent novels I have been writing, I hope to make the first that I will actually FINISH. (Eighty Novels started in only three or so years. Think about that, when writing novels is a hobby which probably took up less than an hour per day on average--do you honestly think I could complete even one in that time? :/) Life of a Mortal--I started it as my NaNoWriMo project. (Which, I technically won. I got the word count I needed, however, I feel that I still didn't do as well as I should've--my goal was 120,000, and I only got 60k.)

I had the prologue reviewed by a few people, and they kindly gave me feedback which I'm using to rewrite it. I can give you the plot summary, along with an excerpt from the original, along with its accompanying rewrite version, along with full notes as to why I made the change. (Mainly, the feedback was that--while I certainly grabbed their attention, and wrote it in an apparently rather poetic way--it was too vague for many people's tastes.)

I've started plans to rewrite United Hope from two books into a trilogy. I've also outlined a few projects, many of which are ambitious beyond belief. One of my projects combines the ideas for something like five Anime, to name an example. (And these aren't small anime, either. Most of 'em are well-known.) Of course, I can outline 'em, but writing them with my current skill and experience would be an insult to the concept.

It Should Be Obvious I Have a Bad Sense of Humor

But, well, I can still laugh at my works from time to time. ;)

Mainly, I have four/five webcomics, with a fifth/sixth started this Chistmas Season. I do have some rather humorous moments in my stories, and some of them are considerably humor-driven for rather some time, but my main outlet for my particular brand of humor comes in the form of webcomics.

My first Webcomic would be Comic Battle Q. It was the original. It's what started me down the path of humor, making my works light. (Of course, I later got branded with darkness in my stories, but I still have the light of webcomics! :P) This is how I originally envisioned Comic Battle. It's terrible. It's horrible. I know most people will probably hate it; even I have a slight distaste for it. But it is the one I owe all my others too, and for that, it holds a spot in my heart. The most recent rambles I've done on 'em can be found at ComicFury.

This is the link: http://comicbattle.thecomicseries.com/ --There are others, of course, if you need 'em; I was given around four URLs that all work equally as well.

My second Webcomic is really just the same as the first. Comic Battle R. The redone version of Comic Battle Q. The canonical Comic Battle. Because this one is essentially just a slightly revised version of Comic Battle Q, I really don't consider it to be, well, a full webcomic, at least, not yet. The fourth comic I was working on before I left on Christmas Vacation. This version I find better, with a generally superior feel to it, but it is far from perfect. Like Q, I've done multiple versions of a ramble for R, but the most recent is on ComicFury.

This is the link: http://stormyfighters.thecomicseries.com/ --There are others, of course, if you need 'em; I was given about four URLs that all work equally as well.

My second (as I currently have five/six--depending on whether you count Q and R as two separate webcomics or different versions of the same webcomic--and I like the number five better, I count this one as my second) webcomic is called "In Real Life"--look, alright, I suck at naming things! I thought it was a good idea at the time! <_< Now, this comic is mainly to poke fun at things, general jokes I make from time to time, with influence from Real Life experiences and occasional fun with TVTropes--I don't do it nearly as often as my others, as a good deal of College replaces what once was used in IRL. However, College can't do some things that IRL can--mainly, UPDATE. :P

Now, I haven't made a ComicFury page for these yet, so my Flikr account will have to do. (I'm only using other sites because 1: I want to have 'em located in as many places as possible, and 2: 'Cause I'm nearing 200 photos on Flikr and don't have the ability to pay for Pro at this time.)

The Link to the set is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/21393642@N06/sets/72157622557521240/

Now, my third was a bit of a problem. College (full title: College: Gaming, 'Troping, 'Pediaing, Studying, Writing, Working, or C:GTPSWW for 'short') is very similar to IRL, only with better art and defined characters. I only have one currently uploaded, 'cause it's taking me FOREVER to do the background of the second. It's the most demanding of my webcomics, simply because it's the one with the most amount of artwork.

As with IRL, I don't have a ComicFury page for it--not really worth it, with only one image to view, really. The Flikr set is located here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/21393642@N06/sets/72157622477873849/ --Not very impressive. If you ask, I can upload College2 as it is; I have the dialog and the positioning of the characters down, so the only thing NOT finished is the scenery.

My fourth is interesting, in that I originally viewed it as a story. However, I found that with the perspective I was going for, it easily fit as a webcomic. Now, I had already drawn a few figures already on paper. So, I figured, why not take that a little further? I made it my first hand-drawn webcomic. Unfortunately, my scanner's broken right now; the one time I got it to work, it supersized the image. >_<

It's still possible to see the teaser art; I don't feel like linking it, 'cause it's really just one image right now, where as with College, I at least have a good deal of teaser art in the set.

My fifth is the one I just started recently, called The Descended. Now, I really like this one. Similar to Earth, this one started as a completely different idea, mainly, that I wanted to build my own system with inspiration from Dungeons & Dragons, Artix Entertainment Games (Specifically, Adventure Quest), Ratchet & Clank, and Fable/Fable2. This was mainly in the form of the spells, and the system for them. And from there, I expanded. A lot. It's become rather a project, in fact. Hey, these fictional worlds take YEARS to finish, to lay out how things work, to explain the system it detail. I've had less than five days.

Eventually, I came up with the idea of The Outcasts, mainly from what became Descended2, essentially, just referencing the Webcomic Anti-Heroes. And from there, things evolved. The Elementals/Latens...were actually built upon from THREE (two and a half, really) sources. The first was a game that I'm outlining in Microsoft Word. (Yes, a video game. It was heavily inspired by Final Fantasy Seven, but there are definitely my own elements thrown in.) It had at least nine characters in it, most of the elements of which, you'll see thrown in.

The second (really, just a half) was a fangame of...my own game, where I turned the game from similar to FF7, into a 2-D Platformer. ...Long story, that is. >_< It gave me a good deal of the art, and defined my style of drawing for rather some time.

The third was a later drawing, where I had two groups, The Protagonists and The Antagonists--Wind, Fire, Earth, and Water, against Darkness, Ice, Light, and Energy. Sound familiar? That's because it got worked into The Descended.

Now, I ended up combining The Second and The Third into another, calling it the "New Heroes", which took the best of both styles and incorporated them into new sprites--and these sprites, almost completely without fail, are what eventually made it into the webcomic (well, what I had. I only had The Elementals, and really, things weren't that well laid out). Because of the elements found in the second being related to the first, I decided to try and incorporate as much as that plotline into the webcomic.

And the idea was formed. I finalized The Outcasts, made whatever revisions I needed, and started. With a strong storyline planned (the storyline evolves as quickly as the world does. Soano [The name of the world; it's the abbreviation of Something Or ANOther, if you're curious. What? I *DID* say I'm bad at making names! :P] is a rather complex place, to say the least.

Now, with such a complex element to the webcomic, and with the experience of College, I decided to abandon scenery. Now, I WANT scenery in there. I want to add it so badly, you can't imagine the feeling. However, I know it takes time. And in a webcomic which is fastly evolving, that's the one thing I do not have. (Okay, I don't have several things, but time is the thing I lack MOST, okay? :P)

If you're interested, it IS on ComicFury, here: http://descended.thecomicseries.com/ --And as usual, if that doesn't work, I can give alternative URLs.

That's A Lot of Writing. Do Anything Else?

Reading, of course! :P

Mainly, I've become a TVTropes addict. I was first linked to TVTropes from...well, this site, actually, believe it or not. It was in a mafia game I was following, the last day of Amnesia Mafia, I believe. It also came up in M/GD from time to time. Things got bad...fast. I have something like five-hundred tabs saved in a folder from TVTropes. No, I am NOT exaggerating. (Okay, so some are Wikipedia, but still, at least three-hundred TVTropes Pages.) EVENTUALLY, I learned to control myself developing the following technique:

-Read the description of the page I'm interested in, to learn of its proper meaning. Look at the scroll bar. If it's a small page, read everything, but don't click on a link unless I'm really curious. If it's not a small page, only read the examples if I have a LOT of time on my hand and have nothing better to do. Do NOT click links unless i REALLY want to know about the example given.

-If I find myself at an example page, read the entry. If it has a character sheet, it's permitable to open it, if I have the spare time to read it. If the entry is short, read it all. If the entry is NOT short, don't read the Tropes it involves unless I have the time.

--It doesn't always work, but it at least keeps the tab count down. ;) I won't XKCD 609 again! :P

Another activity I participate in is reading webcomics. Surprise, surprise! Most of them were linked to me through TVTropes! :P

Let's see...there's Questionable Content (I mainly read for the author's comment, but by the time they became less frequent, I was addicted. It took me a week to read it all; I consider that slow.), There's Order of the Stick (I read all 681 [at the time, anyway] comics in three days, it was so good.), there's Anti-Heroes (a webcomic INSPIRED by OotS; quite personally, I enjoy it MORE than I enjoy OotS; I read all 206 in one night), there's Goblins - Life Through Their Eyes (liked it enough to read all of it in one day), there's 8-Bit Theater (I don't remember how long it took me; I think it was two days?) there's VGCats (knew about it before TVTropes, though), there's XKCD (again, before TVTropes), the list is long enough that I can't really remember them all.

But I actively follow all of them. :)

And that's it. That's what I'm doing in my spare time, nowadays. It's far from impressive, but it at least lets me know that I'm alive. Maybe it'll let you know I am, too! ;)