Bay 12 Games Forum
Finally... => Forum Games and Roleplaying => Topic started by: a1s on August 16, 2021, 04:39:22 am
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For this game I will need exactly four players.
Players are divided into two teams of two. Each team is given a "cypher" of four words (via PM from the gamemaster).
Each turn one member of the team get's a 3 digit message to transmit to their teammate. This is done in thread (in fact there shoud be no PM communication at all between players, whether teammates or enemies.) In order to do this stealthily the should somehow hint at the cypher words. The other team gets one attempt to decode this cryptogram, by guessing what the message might be. Once they fail, the teammate must correctly decode the message in thread . Next turn the teams switch.
The game ends when either a team manages to decode the opponent's message twice (in victory for that team) or decodes their own cryptogram incorrectly twice (in loss for that team and victory for their opponents.)
Example:
Team A has the words "pig" "toaster" "cup" "engine". The message to transmit is "4,2,1". a player might post the words "car, bread, pink". Their opponents guess that the message might be 1,2,3. This is wrong, so the other player on team A gets to decode. She says "4,2,1". The gamemaster than confirms that the message is correct.
Now it's Team B's turn. They have the words "post", "jail", "security", "apple". The message is "2,1,3". So the player says "convict mails a passport". Their opponents guess the message might be 4,3,2. This is wrong, so the other player on team B decodes the message to be "3,1,4" this is also wrong, so team B is halfway to a loss.
Players:
Maximum Spin
IronyOwl
Naturegirl1999
Waitlist:
(none)
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Sure, this sounds worth a try.
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Very peculiar. I'll give it a shot.
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Interested
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We just need one more.
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I’m bumping this so it isn’t on page 3 anymore
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Not good at the whole message decoding thing but if ya need a 4th person to start it im up for it (although if anyone else wishes to do it instead let em do it instead of me)
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I don't think anyone else is interested. Does anyone have preferences for who's on their team?
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No preferences. The game sounds fun
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Yeah no preferences
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Alright in that case Maximum Spin and IronyOwl are Team Red while Naturegirl1999 and Fluffe9911 are Team Blue.
Team Red transmits first. (specifically Maximum Spin transmits and IronyOwl decodes)
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Irony, you should pay close attention and carefully consider every sentence in this post. You have complete license to do whatever you want with this information. The crow flies at midnight. You don't need to know anything about salesmanship.
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Team Blue now gets one guess as to what the message might be. Discuss and when you're ready, post the guess in bold.
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I’m wondering if the word vigilant somewhere, though we need to somehow guess what order the words are in to determine their number order
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Yeah this is going to be difficult
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Let’s see, there’s a crow that flies at midnight, and apparently very specific;;y not knowing Jack about salesmanship, as well as complete license
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What I dont understand is how the message gets converted into numbers
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What I dont understand is how the message gets converted into numbers
Any way the sender chooses. It's unlikely you'll be able to guess the numbers on the first try, but by looking for similarities across all messages you'll start to suspect patterns.
For instance, let's look at the example from the OP:
Team A has the words "pig" "toaster" "cup" "engine". The message to transmit is "4,2,1". a player might post the words "car, bread, pink". Their opponents guess that the message might be 1,2,3. This is wrong, so the other player on team A gets to decode. She says "4,2,1". The gamemaster than confirms that the message is correct.
Team B has no real way to know what the message is on the first try, because they have no data. But once Team A is confirmed to be correct, they know:
1 is connected to the word "pink"
2 is connected to the word "bread"
4 is connected to the word "car"
Those are clues! And let's say next round, the message is "1, 3, 2". Team A then posts the phrases "bacon, tea, butter." Team B also guesses wrong, and Team A guesses right. Team B now knows the following:
1 is connected to the words "pink" and "bacon"
2 is connected to the words "bread" and "butter"
3 is connected to the word "tea"
4 is connected to the word "car"
So when on the third round, Team A gets the message "3, 4, 2", and posts the words "porcelain, gas, electricity," Team B has some suspicions. "Porcelain" might be related to a tea pot, and cars use "gas". "Electricity" is still a weird one, but if you HAVE to choose between "pink bacon" and "bread butter," maybe bread butter refers to breakfast or something? So they might well guess the right message despite not knowing exactly what the enemy cipher is.
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Oh right, we have more than one chance at this
3, 4, 2
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Oh right, we have more than one chance at this
3, 4, 2
+1
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That is not correct (but don't worry, getting it on the first time is basically just luck)
Now IronyOwl has to decode it correctly.
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2, 1, 3, 4
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messages only contain 3 digits (the last one would be pre determined anyway)
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Whoops.
2, 1, 3
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correct!
Team Blue's turn. Naturegirl1999 transmits and Fluffe9911 decodes.
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A job involving photos in a specific area
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Any reason not to guess 1, 2, 3?
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Fluffe9911 decodes
Wait your turn
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1, 3, 2 ?
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Fluffe9911 decodes
Wait your turn
No, we get a chance to guess first.
... I guess 1, 3, 2.
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No, we get a chance to guess first.
... I guess 1, 3, 2.
Darn wish I guessed that
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Fluffe9911 decodes
Wait your turn
This is my fault, I should have worded that better. It goes transmitter -> opposing team -> decoder.
Now, I don't know if Fluffe9911 played Maximum Spin (kudos if you did), but 1,3,2 is in fact not correct. And Fluffe9911 now gets to decode correctly.
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1, 3, 4d Chess baby!
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That is correct. :D
Team Red's turn again. IronyOwl transmits, Team Blue guesses and then Maximum Spin decodes.
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1, 3, 4d Chess baby!
Wait, you're kidding.
That's what I was originally going to guess.
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What a weird twist.
Anyway, have I got a deal for you! You're free to make of that what you will.
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4, 1, 2 ?
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That is... correct. Didn't expect you to crack it so soon.
Team Blue is 50% towards a victory.
It's also their turn. Fluffe9911 transmits Team Red tries to guess and Naturegirl1999 decodes.
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A scientist cackles with glee as he immortalizes his latest monstrosity for that is his purpose in life you see. (Just dont stare too closely at the bees)
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My inclination is 1, 3, 4, but I'd like to get my partner's input.
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I'll just officially guess 1, 3, 4 then.
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That is not correct. Naturegirl1999 now decodes.
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1, 2, 4
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That is also not correct. The message was 2,3,1. Team Blue is now both 1 point away from victory and 1 point away from defeat. edge of the seat stuff.
The game is temporarily on haitus, since I don't know if I will have internet for the next week.
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My inclination is 1, 3, 4, but I'd like to get my partner's input.
My deepest apologies. I didn't expect to be out of contact these past two days.
To make matters worse, I actually thought it was 2, 3, 1, too. "Immortalizes" <-> "photos", "purpose in life" <-> "a job". With no previous significant information corresponding to scientists or cackling, I assumed that was 2. Although there was a minority possibility that the "bees" part was the real clue, I thought that was less likely.
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It seems like I will actually have internet. So it's time for Team Red to pass their message secretly.
Maximum Spin transmits, Team Blue tries to guess and IronyOwl decodes.
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Oh, okay.
Well, let's start here. Starting in three sentences from now, any information I present COULD BE related to the cipher, or maybe not. Roughly speaking, every topical passage corresponds to a different element of the cipher. I am either going to tell you a story about an event that did not really happen, but could have, or I am going to tell you a story about an event that really happened but could not have. The most important thing is to understand where to start, so I will start with the story of Isis. Isis was, of course, a goddess of ancient Egypt, one with many important functions that changed over the years; but her role as it eventually crystallised centred around her position as the Queen Mother - wife of the previous, dead pharaoh, as represented by Osiris, and mother of the new pharaoh, Horus. Now, of course, the new pharaoh eventually grows old and dies and becomes Osiris, so the relationship of Isis to the pharaoh is simultaneously wife and mother, which is creepy by modern standards, but it is what it is. The reason I am telling you about Isis, though, is that Isis had a sister named Nephthys, primarily remembered as the goddess of death. Because of complicated Egyptian reasons, though, Nephthys is also the wife and mother of Horus. Perhaps they originated as the same goddess, since they have parallel roles - both are goddesses of childbirth and magic, but Isis is linked with the sun and sky while Nephthys is a goddess of night and darkness. In any case, the purpose of bringing up Isis and Nephthys is to say this: According to some myths, Osiris is the father of Nephthys' son Anubis, because Nephthys' husband, Set, is sterile. So what did Isis say to Nephthys when she found out she had slept with her husband? "Why, sis?"
Interestingly, Isis was occasionally associated by the Greeks with their virgin moon goddess Artemis, although Artemis was also often identified with other Egyptian goddesses, including the cat goddess Bast, who is sometimes Isis' daughter. However, while the Greeks seem to have associated female power, both temporal and mystical, with female virginity, i cannot say the same for the Egyptians; unlike Artemis, Isis was of course not a virgin and her power was always intertwined with erotic potential. To the ancient people, this is a conflict, but perhaps not so today; it's easy to imagine Isis, at least before actually having a child, as preserving "technical virginity" after the fashion of a modern Catholic girl. I have no more clues related to the Egyptian goddesses, so I will stop talking about Isis now. Incidentally, have you ever been to Times Square, or seen pictures? With all the billboards everywhere? I'm sure you have, it's pretty well-known. The other day I saw a photo of Kyoto, Japan, where there was some kind of concert or something going on. The thing that struck me about it, though, was that except for one sign declaring it Kyoto - in Latin letters - you would just as easily have believed it was Times Square if I had said so. The event being for tourists, all the billboards were in English. I scoured the entire photograph and there was not a single CJK character in sight. I thought to myself, man, some day only weebs are going to know Japanese. As I'm not a weeb, this isn't something I'm very concerned about, but it does seem like a loss. Anyway, that photo doesn't really have anything to do with the story, but what I was describing before reminded me of an ad I saw not that long ago, and that reminded me of the photo indirectly because I saw them in the same context. Actually, I hardly ever see ads, since I don't watch TV, and I always use adblock online. I only ever see them when I see somebody else watching TV, or of course in the case of billboards, but as I don't live near Times Square or Kyoto I don't see many of those either. That's kind of beside the point, though. What I wanted to say is, man, have television commercials gotten really weird or what? I don't even know what the point of most of these is supposed to be anymore. I guess it's just a way to say "hey, look how clever and high-status we are!", in the end. You know, the etymology of "advertisement" comes from Latin, "a turning toward" - "ad" is of course Latin for "toward", as seen in "adapt", "adept" (probably closely related words), "address" (literally 'ad-direct' in formation; the meaning as a verb, to address eg a crowd, is more historical), and so on, while "vertere", to turn, is also seen in vertical, vertex, adverse, and versus. So I guess anything that turns your eye ultimately counts as an advertisement, regardless of whether it seems to serve any purpose after having done so. Still, I'm glad I don't see more of them than I already do. It must be a really unpleasant life being one of those proles without adblock. Anyway, I actually just remembered something else I wanted to say about Isis. The Egyptians were all really committed to their gods turning into animals. Of course this is not unique in itself, as we see Zeus turning into bulls and eagles and swans and even rains of gold, which is not an animal but bespeaks a totally different fetish, all the time; but for the Egyptians this wasn't so much "just a thing gods do when they want to fuck with somebody, usually literally", but deeply symbolic. Because of her maternal role, Isis can often be represented as a sow or a cow, and in her role as a magical protector she might be a serpent or a scorpion, but one of her most prominent representations is as a kite, the falcon-like bird, not the children's toy. It's not certain exactly why that is, except that most scholars seem to think it has some connection with her role in mourning the death of her husband, Osiris.
Despite the similarity of the Greek forms of the names, though, she does not turn into an ibis - that's Thoth, god of writing and a bunch of other stuff. Ibis - ibides to the Greek - were sacred in Egypt, but the sacred ibis is a pest in many parts of the world, and the Australians have a hilarious tendency to call them nasty names like "bin chicken" or "tip turkey" because they get into trash. Thoth can also turn into a baboon, because baboons were for whatever reason perceived as wise, and like every Egyptian god mentioned thus far is associated with the moon. The Egyptians had a real hardon for the moon, let me tell you. Another moon god was Khonsu, who was also a fertility god and the protector of travellers at night, who could be invoked against attacks from wild beasts, among other things. All of the gods associated with the moon represented some aspect of it or another, but the actual visible disks of the sun and moon as objects in the sky had their own names and personifications, although they don't seem to have been as significant for the most part - except for a brief period when a particular pharaoh devoted to the personification of the visible sun, Aten, made the monotheistic worship of Aten mandatory across all Egypt and banned the other gods. This is interesting because Aten's counterpart, the physically visible moon, was Jah, whose name is strikingly similar to the name of the monotheistic deity whose worship would later spread across most of the known world. This could be nothing more than a coincidence, and probably is, but it's not impossible that there's a connection. Nevertheless, I've said all the important things, and more than a few unimportant things. I hope you'll be able to recognise the web of puns I made and work your way to the right answer by discarding what doesn't fit. End with the word.
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Ah screw it 1, 4, 3? I hope this as confusing for Irony as it is for me curse you Spin!
also might as well share this to my teammate here is a general jist of what I think each number corelates to be aware this is just a educated guess and could be extremely wrong
1:Freedom
2:Think
3:Moon/Midnight
4:Advertising⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Please feel free to suggest your own guess if you happen to have a better guess that could be more likely to be right
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That is not correct. IronyOwl decodes.
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also might as well share this to my teammate here is a general jist of what I think each number corelates to be aware this is just a educated guess and could be extremely wrong
1:Freedom
2:Think
3:Moon/Midnight
4:Advertising⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Irony, I would like to propose that, if we end up getting to a next turn, we should consider the word which Fluffe has gotten most wrong and the word Fluffe has gotten most right switched. I hope it is as obvious to you as it is to me what those are - one of the last two letters of the former is among the first two of the latter. Let me know if you agree.
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1, 3, 2
also might as well share this to my teammate here is a general jist of what I think each number corelates to be aware this is just a educated guess and could be extremely wrong
1:Freedom
2:Think
3:Moon/Midnight
4:Advertising⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Irony, I would like to propose that, if we end up getting to a next turn, we should consider the word which Fluffe has gotten most wrong and the word Fluffe has gotten most right switched. I hope it is as obvious to you as it is to me what those are - one of the last two letters of the former is among the first two of the latter. Let me know if you agree.
4.1
4.11
1.2
1.4
4.4
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That is even less correct. the message was 2, 4, 3. Team Red is now half way to defeat.
Naturegirl1999 transmits, Team Red tries to guess and Fluffe9911 decodes.
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Darn I lost the coin flip!
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A device is used in an area to film by a person paid to use said device
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I'm thinking 4, 3, 1; irony?
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That would be my guess as well.
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Well, if you're not going to bold it, I will: 4, 3, 1.
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That is not correct.
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3, 4, 1
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That is correct.
IronyOwl transmits Team Blue guesses and Maximum Spin decodes.
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The planet Mars is a fascinating subject, don't you think? Named after the Roman god of war, its red coloration and distinctive appearance has long made it a foreboding and noteworthy place. Suspicions that life might be free to thrive here go back a long ways, fueled by everything from outright hoaxes to detailed scientific calculations. Nonetheless, observable organisms remain elusive for the moment, despite a host of missions to locate or disprove such a thing. A far more grim, but arguably more likely, possibility lies in the idea that simple life existed once but has since gone extinct, likely due to solar winds liberating all of the planet's water and most of its atmosphere in the distant past.
One thing these missions will probably not find is termites. This is tragic for a number of reasons, but the main one is that red-earth alien termite mounds would be rad as hell. Termite mounds can grow absolutely massive relative to their builders, far outstripping the largest skyscrapers in comparative scale. A cluster of termite mounds could therefore be compared to Times Square, with all that entails. Despite this impressive feat, most models suggest the actual mound part has no function save for generating air flow, with the actual city-like nest parts all located well underneath it. Waste of prime real estate, if you ask me.
Another fun-but-unlikely discovery would be ravening monsters. Horrible things are a common discovery in Mars-related fiction, often starting with tantalizing clues and ending with terrified screaming. A fun example of this would be the movie Doom: Annihilation, which is about as high quality but enjoyable as you'd expect. A team of marines is sent to figure out what happened to a research facility located not on Mars proper, but on its moon Phobos- which they call "The Doomed Moon." Now is that metal or what? Anyway demons eat all of their faces, except whoever makes it through the hellportal which will eventually enable demons to invade Earth. Call it a draw, then?
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2,1,3 is what im guessing not gonna bold it this time cause I want to make sure @Naturegirl1999 is fine with it so if ya are then just bold what I put if not give me a reason and we can discuss it.
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2,1,3
If I may ask, what are your guesses as to the numbers so far?
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2,1,3
If I may ask, what are your guesses as to the numbers so far?
Posted my guesses earlier near the start of page 4
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2,1,3
If I may ask, what are your guesses as to the numbers so far?
Posted my guesses earlier near the start of page 4
thanks
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That is not correct. Let's see if Maximum Spin can do it.
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Man, this is difficult. If I picked up the right hints, and didn't just make some up in my own mind, I think the answer is 1, 3, 4. If this is not wrong, I hope you will be less subtle next time!
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Sadly, that is also not correct. This is the second decoding mistake, which means Team Blue wins!
Would you like to share guesses as to what the words were, or for me to just post them?
Also, would you like to lay again?
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Oh sweet we won! Good game everybody!
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Ah, that was my bad. I got paranoid about hints and didn't adequately red herring for contrast. The intended clue was a single instance of alliteration each paragraph- "observable organisms" (bird, though in retrospect that could have been analysis), "most models" (analysis), and "eventually enable" (permission).
Should have included a "double down" instruction somewhere at the very least, but I was paranoid about spelling out the clue. The key swap might also have been sufficient to do it normally.
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Ah, that was my bad. I got paranoid about hints and didn't adequately red herring for contrast. The intended clue was a single instance of alliteration each paragraph- "observable organisms" (bird, though in retrospect that could have been analysis), "most models" (analysis), and "eventually enable" (permission).
Should have included a "double down" instruction somewhere at the very least, but I was paranoid about spelling out the clue. The key swap might also have been sufficient to do it normally.
Oh my god that was way too subtle! I don't even notice alliteration normally.
I picked up on the red herring references to Fluffe's incorrect interpretations, but I thought the intended clues were: "detailed scientific calculations", "Times Square and all that implies", and "ravening" (bird).
BTW. I know you didn't get it at the time, and I'm sorry, but did you, after seeing a1s the intended sequence, get the "anal Isis" pun? I was so proud of it. :P
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Well, our guesses of your words wore way off, well Fluffle’s guesses to be more accurate. What did you guys think our words were? Also yes let’s go again once our guesses to words and your posting of said words for this game is done
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Well, our guesses of your words wore way off, well Fluffle’s guesses to be more accurate. What did you guys think our words were? Also yes let’s go again once our guesses to words and your posting of said words for this game is done
Not that far off except for the moon one. Think and analysis are at least SIMILAR, as are freedom and permission.
I'm more of an abstract thinker so I can't say that I ever considered what your actual words were instead of just what network of ideas went with them, but I guess I'd say
1) profession, maybe vocation? Something like that.
2) Something to do with laughter or joy. This one only came up once so I don't have much data.
3) I'm almost certain this word was camera, given that, in your last round, it attached in the sequence to "device" (that is, coming before 'in an area' instead of after it) and not "film".
4) region maybe?
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Well, our guesses of your words wore way off, well Fluffle’s guesses to be more accurate. What did you guys think our words were? Also yes let’s go again once our guesses to words and your posting of said words for this game is done
Not that far off except for the moon one. Think and analysis are at least SIMILAR, as are freedom and permission.
I'm more of an abstract thinker so I can't say that I ever considered what your actual words were instead of just what network of ideas went with them, but I guess I'd say
1) profession, maybe vocation? Something like that.
2) Something to do with laughter or joy. This one only came up once so I don't have much data.
3) I'm almost certain this word was camera, given that, in your last round, it attached in the sequence to "device" (that is, coming before 'in an area' instead of after it) and not "film".
4) region maybe?
1. profession
2. lab
3. camera
4. scene
2 exact matches, any region can be a scene so partial?
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I'm more of an abstract thinker so I can't say that I ever considered what your actual words were instead of just what network of ideas went with them, but I guess I'd say
1) profession, maybe vocation? Something like that.
2) Something to do with laughter or joy. This one only came up once so I don't have much data.
3) I'm almost certain this word was camera, given that, in your last round, it attached in the sequence to "device" (that is, coming before 'in an area' instead of after it) and not "film".
4) region maybe?
1. profession
2. lab
3. camera
4. scene
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Interesting. Not sure I would have seen "scene" as "area" over, say, "vignette". The lab/scientist connection isn't something I necessarily would have made either. If I'd been translating that first one of yours, I probably would have thought "a specific area" meant "lab" over "scene", honestly.
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I picked up on the red herring references to Fluffe's incorrect interpretations, but I thought the intended clues were: "detailed scientific calculations", "Times Square and all that implies", and "ravening" (bird).
Ravening = bird would have been a good one, but the Times Square thing was me trying to red herring and not being nearly blunt enough about it (and about each paragraph having an obvious message that must be wrong). I wouldn't have dared to make that reference on its own, given that they cracked it last time.
BTW. I know you didn't get it at the time, and I'm sorry, but did you, after seeing a1s the intended sequence, get the "anal Isis" pun? I was so proud of it. :P
AUGH, I didn't!
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I wouldn't have dared to make that reference on its own, given that they cracked it last time.
They did, but they didn't know we agreed to switch that one. :P
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So, how about another game? Is everyone still in?
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So, how about another game? Is everyone still in?
Sure
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Ill pass
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I’m in
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I'm in
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just waiting for one more player
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Hi, I would like to try it. I went through the whole topic and I think I got how it works.
Some of the long code message surprised me a bit, though. But it seems, as long as the teammate is able to figure it out, it is fine to hide hints to those three signal words in any text.
P.S.: I found this via link in a1s' signature.
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Great! I hope we didn't lose any of the old players. (please post if you're still in)
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I'm here, but I am sick right now, so it's possible I might have some lag time.
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Still in.
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And Naturegirl hasn't been around since the 16th.