The 'Shroom:Issue 129/Pipe Plaza

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Director’s Notes
Written by:

Hello readers, and welcome what is my final edition of Pipe Plaza. I have been a 'Shroom writer since 2013, and it was mid-2014 that I took over Pipe Plaza alongside. It was great working with Paper Yoshi, and he helped show me the ropes before he eventually departed. And under my stewardship we have seen some highs and we have seen some lows.

I've seen Pipe Plaza made up of solely two section at times, and I was there when we only received one vote in the section of the month poll, and that was my own. But I've also seen Pipe Plaza have over 10 regular sections for what felt like the longest time, and my proudest achievement was being the director when we got third in the MarioWiki Awards. It seems a shame to be leaving it with these achievements, but I leave its stewardship in the hands of someone who will be incredibly passionate about it. Because it's passion that I feel I may have lacked in the past few months, and although Pipe Plaza may seem to many to be the boring part of our newsletter, it holds a special place in my heart, and it is so much more than that. Pipe Plaza is also losing, who has stepped down from Tip of the Month.

However, this address isn't entirely made up of sadness and reminiscing. As I leave my Pipe Plaza career, I wish you all a very successful future one. And speaking of the future, many of you may be aware that I am studying as a journalist, and that I did some work experience, and continued to contribute to that place after my stint there. Well now they've offered me a brilliant weekend position with them, so I leave one writing career to hop into another one.

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Now enjoy Pipe Plaza, as I turn out the lights for one last time.

Section of the Month

Tip of the Month
Written by:

Greetings, readers. It is bittersweet to be saying that this is my last Tip of the Month, as I will be leaving this section after this issue. Therefore, I will feature some tips that are always popular: tips to help you join the 'Shroom's team as a writer!

-Good spelling and grammar are a must. We've gotten a lot of submissions, and the ones that have poor spelling and grammar are docked points. We understand if you misspell a word here or there and don't catch it, we're humans too, but if it's hard to read because there are so many errors, it doesn't reflect well on you.

-Have a good flow for your article. If your section has to deal with long blocks of text, break up walls of text into shorter paragraphs so your readers don't lose their place. One of my own personal pet peeves is when writers expect you to read a long wall of text without getting lost. Make it manageable.

-Limit your swearing. Yes, you are allowed to swear, and yes, you can use a template warning box to warn readers that your article contains profanity. But keep in mind that there are younger readers still on this site, and even some older ones who would rather not read excessive profanity.

-Make your demo the real deal. If your application is approved, your demo will be used in the 'Shroom as your first section in the new position. So make sure it's your best work!

-Take comments to heart. If your application gets rejected, take a look at what the team found wrong with your article and re-work it with that in mind. We've had writers before re-submit demos without changing very much, and it's always hard to give better criticism when the same problems are repeated. If you want more clarification on something, don't be afraid to message the lead of the team you want to join, and ask them for help. It's what we're here for.

-Have fun. This is most important. You really have to have passion for what you do. Be motivated to write the best that you can each month, and make people smile! Be creative and bring some new life to a team!

It's been fun, readers! I hope my tips have been overall helpful over the years, and maybe soon you'll get someone new to take up the job!

Upcoming Game
Written by:

Greetings everyone! Alex95 here to tell you all about an upcoming game and my thoughts about it. Minecraft releasing on the Wii U, Nintendo 3DS, and Nintendo Switch was monumental, as the game is primarily owned by Microsoft's second party studio, Mojang. While the cobblestone wall between companies are being picked away, there's another company that decided to get in on the action: Square Enix. Dragon Quest Builders has already been released on PlayStation platforms and Dragon Quest Builders 2 has been announced for a Spring 2018 release on the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4. So let's jump right in and take a look at what could have…oh wait.

Odds are, you've played or at least seen Minecraft. A sandbox-styled game where you place blocks of various materials, build structures, fight zombies, craft spells, and blow up your previously constructed structures. It sounds like a "Choose Your Own Adventure"-styled role playing game, and Dragon Quest Builders aims to focus more on the role-playing game part. The game currently in the works is Dragon Quest Builders 2, but is simply titled Dragon Quest Builders for the Nintendo Switch, and is essentially Minecraft with Dragon Quest elements. You can still place blocks and fight monsters, but now you'll be doing it in the land of Alefgard. The game focuses more on the RPG elements than Minecraft does, such as side-quests, talking townspeople, and a story that ties it into the first Dragon Quest game.

In the original Dragon Quest, at the end of the game, the villain Dragonlord asks the hero, the descendant of the legendary Erdrick, if he would join Dragonlord in his quest to take over the world. The hero chooses "no", defeats Dragonlord, marries Princess Gwaelin, and leaves to parts unknown, happily ever after… Or did he? Dragon Quest Builders goes the "what if the hero chooses Yes" route. Alefgard has fallen, Dragonlord has betrayed and defeated his new buddy, so now it's up to a new hero to put everything back together. Literally. Block by block, it's your job to rebuild Alefgard from the ground up, save the residents of the world, and defeat the Dragonlord once and for all.

If you've played the first Dragon Quest Builders, you'll notice some changes in this one. Multiplayer is the big addition, allowing four players to rebuild Alefgard together. The Windbreaker from Dragon Quest II lets players guide from high elevations, dashing is now implemented, slopes are built into the physics engine, animals like dogs are found in various places, and waterfalls are added due to fan demand. Players are also accompanied by a young Malroth, which is the final boss of Dragon Quest II. With that alone, it appears Dragon Quest Builders takes place shortly after the first Dragon Quest, before the events of Dragon Quest II.

Thoughts
This game looks like a lot of fun! I'm a fan of Dragon Quest, but haven't really been able to get into Minecraft, so this looks like a perfect way for me to get into the genre. Even if you haven't heard of Dragon Quest, but you're a fan of Minecraft, this is also a great title to pick up. If you're not a fan of either, then well, I can't help you there. You can learn more on the Dragon Quest Wiki on their DQB pages. Until next time, see you around!

Forum Update
Written by:

Hey guys, welcome back to the Forum Update! I'm MCD, and let's get straight into it - this month we're looking at September, October and November!

News Ban Log Permanent
 * Shy Guy Forever was banned on September 5th for constant zero-quality posting. https://ltquick.nl/h1OJA32.png

Temporary
 * memoryman3 was banned for 2 months on September 19th for dragging unrelated arguments about Daisy into a number of situations. His ban expired on November 19th.

Statistics September

October

November


 * 3810 is the lowest amount of posts in one month since December 2009 - 8 years ago.

Bold means a new entry. Italics mean inactive for at least a month. Bold and italics haven't been seen around these parts for the last 300 years.

Thread(s) of the Month(s) September's Thread of the Month went to mario 64 in a nut shell by TheFreshPrince - containing a number of fun pictures from the Super Mario 64 online multiplayer mod that got popular earlier this year. Runners-up were Sifi's Knuckles is even more of a liar than we thought. and Shokora's Recyclable Lord Bowser images.

finally, we're learning something useful in film class by Nabber won October's Thread of the Month. quick, throw this in topic storage by SiFi and is this goomba wearing shoes by 2257 get special mentions.

Finally, November's Thread of the Month went to Luigi 64DD's The definitive MarioBoards Thinking emoticon, which contained a lot of worthy candidates for the title (and also the first use of the word "emoticon" that I've seen in a while). mariowiki.png by Banjonator1 was close behind, as was Mario games found on Osama bin Laden's hard drive by YellowYoshi398.

Quotes
 * "-Live a couple more years -wing it from there Ah I might not be good at planning ahead" - Crackin355


 * "Prince Peasley x Luigi is the only ship that matters to be brutally honest." - DragonFreak


 * "if mario is the same species as daisy does he have a secret third eye too" - Lord Bowser


 * "How dare you hide the word "moderator" behind "global"? That's just not fair. Oh those pesky moderators and their wily tricks!" - Mr. Edo


 * "Well, thats enough marioboards for one day." - Shokora

Forum Games GBAToad and Meta Knight's The 'Shroom Killing Game ( Lounge ) is underway, however it's currently in an Intermission phase until December 27th.

Ninelevendo's Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Mafia ( Lounge ) was won by the Innocents, despite a lot of third parties.

On the other hand, the Mafia won Stargazing's Star Mafia ( Lounge ), without losing a single member of their team. Stargazing noted that he wasn't 100% happy with how the game went, but on the whole found hosting it enjoyable.

"im just sad i never got to kill shoey" - Freakworld

Thanks for reading.

Poll Committee Discussion
Written by:

Hey there everyone, it's your local 'Shroom Director. I'm here writing the Poll Committee Discussion this month. I've never done it before so bear with me but I'll try my best to do it justice! Let's just get right into it and see what there is to cover this month.

Archives How do you feel about Mario Party: The Top 100's minigame selection? (, November 12th, 2017)

Do you think it's time for a brand new Nintendo handheld system? (, November 19th, 2017)

Super Mario Odyssey has now been available for over a month. What are your thoughts on it? (, November 26th, 2017)

Nintendo and Illumination Studios, the makers of Despicable Me, are reportedly working on a Mario movie together. Do you think Illumination was a good choice? (, December 3rd, 2017)

Which of these Mario games released in 2017 would you want most for the holidays? (, December 10th, 2017)

Analysis
 * How do you feel about Mario Party: The Top 100’s minigame selection? - This poll seems to show that most people enjoy the minigame selection of Mario Party: The Top 100 for the most part, but isn't perfect. The other option that was prominent is that a lot of people don't really have an opinion. Perhaps this game is just not really that popular, and it's not hard to think that as Super Mario Odyssey is much more popular right now. The other thing is that Mario Party: The Top 100 has minigames such as Tug o' War, which is awful (I already wrote about it). Maybe it's improved in the remake, but it shows that there was a lot to be desired, and some minigames that were odd to be in there. There's no way to determine exactly what people are disappointed with for every individual, as there's so many different opinions on the matter, but I'm positive that the inclusion of minigames such as Tug o' War while leaving out favorites is why our userbase does not think the minigame selection is perfect.
 * Do you think it's time for a brand new Nintendo handheld system? - For this poll, the majority would rather Nintendo focus on the Switch than bringing a new system to the table. Some people also would rather have the 3DS stick around. With a new system having been released this year, the general public thinks it is too soon to be thinking about something else already. The 3DS has been around for a long time, and may also have some value left. However, with such great titles as Super Mario Odyssey and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, it's not surprise that people want Nintendo to keep focusing on the Switch to produce even more amazing games.
 * Super Mario Odyssey has now been available for over a month. What are your thoughts on it? - There's a huge majority in our userbase that believe Super Mario Odyssey is one of the best core games in the franchise. Super Mario Odyssey is huge, with expansive worlds to explore, and has an excellent presentation. It also manages to feel refreshing. There hasn't been so much hype for a Mario game since Super Mario Galaxy, and this poll goes to show that Super Mario Odyssey has met many expectations, if not surpassed them. Most people love Odyssey, but there's also people that haven't had a chance to play it. This is probably because they either don't have a Switch, are waiting to get it for the holidays, or both. Either way, it seems Super Mario Odyssey has set a high bar that will be tough to top.
 * Nintendo and Illumination Studios, the makers of Despicable Me, are reportedly working on a Mario movie together. Do you think Illumination was a good choice?  - Results for this poll are fairly spread out. The top answer is that people think Illumination Studios is a good choice, but another studio could do it better. Disney/Pixar and Dreamworks for example have been around far longer than Illumination, and have had more films that are truly astonishing, so I think that has a factor in why people think another studio could do a Mario film better. There's several people that feel Illumination is perfect for a Mario movie though. Some of our userbase like the films made by Illumination Studios, and feel that Mario would be good for the role. Since Mario recently had a crossover with the Rabbids, many people have compared them to Minions, which would lead them to think that Illumination would be a great choice.
 * Which of these Mario games released in 2017 would you want most for the holidays? - Super Mario Odyssey completely outnumbers everything else. There's more votes for Super Mario Odyssey than the rest of the options combined. This once again proves that the hype for Super Mario Odyssey is huge, and there's a lot of our userbase that haven't had a chance to play it that would love to. It also reassures the results of the Mario Party: The Top 100 poll, where many people had no opinion. This poll proves that many people want Super Mario Odyssey more than Mario Party: The Top 100. Super Mario Odyssey has had so much hype, and excellent presentation to keep it feeling refreshing, so it's no wonder that so many people want to play it. Hopefully our userbase has their holiday wishlist fulfilled and get a chance to experience this odyssey.

That's all for now! Be sure to keep voting in the polls on the front page (as well as 'Shroom Section of the Month polls)! Happy holidays everyone, and be sure to read us next month when will be writing! For now though I'll see you all later!

Retro Feature
Written by: Hello, readers! I'm your Spotlight manager and Pipe Plaza Director, Yoshi876. Welcome to Retro Feature, a section in which I delve deep into the archives to bring you the best blasts from the past.

We've covered Marioguy101 quite a bit, but one thing that we haven't covered is Mafia. This game is one of the community's favourite pastimes, at least until came along. However, there are many inexperienced people who do play and may not know what they're doing, which sadly can cause some irritation. Happily however, there's a section that might make all that frustration go away, enjoy!

{| border="1px solid black" align="center" http://www.thexephyrboard.net/XLights2.gif http://www.thexephyrboard.net/XLights2.gif http://www.thexephyrboard.net/XLights2.gif http://www.thexephyrboard.net/XLights2.gif http://www.thexephyrboard.net/XLights2.gif http://www.thexephyrboard.net/XLights2.gif http://www.thexephyrboard.net/XLights2.gif http://www.thexephyrboard.net/XLights2.gif Mafia 101 by

Mafia? Isn’t that an Italian crime syndicate? That’s what you used to think. But today, I, Marioguy1, am here to explain the intricacies of the lesser-known definition of mafia – the party game.

Mafia is a common game played at camps or in group meetings to help break the ice and get people active. It involves the majority of the people, dubbed “innocents”, taking votes to kill each other off in an effort to find the two or three “mafia” among their ranks. However the real life game requires that all participants be trusted to close their eyes when it comes to their turn, and determining facial expressions is a crucial part of the game. When it comes to mafia on a forum, these two things play no part.

Mafia on forums, as can be found in our mafia board, is a game revolving around the use of “roles” to determine who is mafia and who isn’t. Here are a few general rules of mafia:
 * The game is split into night and day phases – each one lasting 24-48 hours
 * During the day phases, all players will vote publicly and explain their logic for getting rid of other members of the game in an effort to kill the mafia.
 * During the night phases, the mafia will converse amongst themselves and pick one innocent to kill. The innocents will use their roles during this time.
 * When the mafia outnumber the innocents, they win the game.
 * When the mafia are eliminated, the innocents win.

For more info about playing mafia games, contact me on the forums

Glossary
These are some terms that should help in comprehending what is happening in a mafia game:


 * Bandwagon - A group of people all voting for the same person.
 * Flip - Die (i.e. he flips scum = he dies as mafia).
 * Godfather - The leader of the mafia. Has different powers depending on the game.
 * Host - The player in charge of hosting the mafia game.
 * Independent - A player with no teammates who has a solo goal. They are usually overpowered.
 * Innocents - The good faction of the game. The majority of the players are innocent and use their roles to try to kill off all the mafia before they are killed off. They do not know eachother, and must vote to kill mafia.
 * Lynch - Voting someone off is referred to as "lynching" them.
 * Mafia - The villainous faction of the game. They seek to kill all the innocents and can kill one innocent per night. They know the identities of eachother and talk to eachother either through other websites or through Personal Messages.
 * Masons - Two or more innocents that know eachothers' identities and can work together to vote off mafia.
 * Role - A special power granted to every player. See section below for more details.
 * Roleclaim - Announcing your role publicly; can either be a false roleclaim (lying about your role) or a true roleclaim (telling the truth).
 * Scum - A term used to refer to the Mafia.
 * Sheeping - Voting for someone without believing in the cause. Voting just for the sake of voting.
 * Third Party - a third faction, similar to the mafia that is unknown to the rest of the players until one of their members dies. Their goal is usually to kill all the innocents and mafia.
 * Town - A term used to refer to the Innnocents.

Roles
Here is a list of the common roles. These roles can be combined together, made more powerful or altered in many ways - but these are the main categories of roles.


 * Role-checkers - This category includes only cops. Corrupt cops, mafia cops, innocent cops - all kinds of cops. They can select a player each night and are told that players' role.
 * Protectors - This includes doctors, martyrs and clerics. Doctors can protect one player per night, usually including themselves. Martyrs can select one player per night, if that player is attacked, the martyr dies instead. Clerics can select a certain number of players to revive from the dead at any point during the game.
 * Roleblockers - This includes roleblockers and jinxes. Roleblockers can prevent one person per night from using their role. Jinxes can jinx a certain number of players causing their powers to backfire (i.e. instead of protecting someone, the doctor kills them).
 * Killers - This includes vigilantes, bombers, grannies and hunters. Vigilantes can choose a certain number of players per game and kill them instantly (usually with no chance of protection). Grannies kill all those who visit them, regardless of alignment. Bombers and hunters both kill whoever killed them when they die.
 * Changed Votes - This includes public speakers and drunks. Public speakers' votes count twice in vote counts. Drunks' votes do not count at all.
 * Defended Users - This includes zombies, bulletproofs and bribers. Zombies can come back to life after death once, sometimes immediately and others a while later. Bulletproofs are immune to all night killings and can only be killed by voting (alternatively, a lynchproof can only be killed at night). Bribers can survive a certain number of deaths.
 * Trackers - This includes watchers and trackers. Watchers can see what actions were performed on themselves or other people. Trackers can see what actions a certain person performed at night.
 * To Be Defined - This includes inspired innocents and users with hidden powers. Inspired innocents pick one of a few roles after those roles have died and they inherit those powers. Hidden powers can appear on any role, and give it a special effect.

Mafia specific roles:
 * Cop-proof - The cop's checks will say the mafia is an innocent.
 * Yakuza - Can sacrifice themselves to convert an innocent to the mafia.
 * Confused - Does not know they are a mafia.
 * Infected - Becomes a mafia midway through the game.

Strategies Here are a few strategies to help with mafia games. Remember, this section is not fact, it is my opinion. However since I am always right, it could be stated to be fact.

Bandwagoning has been given a bad name due to its confusion with a similar term - sheeping. Bandwagoning is like saying "per all" on a proposal. It is just you saying you agree with the above user, but don't want to retype their reasons. SHEEPING however, is voting when you don't agree with the above person, but don't want to look bad by not voting. Bandwagoning is perfectly fine, but sheeping should be avoided.
 * Bandwagoning

The user that kills an innocent is not always scum! This is a common misconception! The user who randomly kills another user probably is scum. But the user who comes to the logical conclusion that another user is scum and shows their reasons is almost always simply mistaken. Scumhunting does not imply killing the user that makes mistakes - you will usually end up killing your most proactive members.
 * Scumhunting

Scumhunting implies doing exactly what the user who made the mistake was doing, looking at people's posts and how they coordinate with known information. For instance, if a mafia was killed on Day 5, for the Day 6 lynch it would be a good idea to look and see who supported that mafia on Days 1-4. If there are any consistencies, this could be mafia members banding together. If a mafia defends someone and dies a few days later, the person they defended could have been their ally. Looking through the past posts of the person is always a way to scumhunt.

Another way is to look for any users that are trying too hard to look innocent. A true innocent does not have to try to look innocent as they are innocent. Any user who is constantly lamenting the loss of other innocents or repeatedly asking if there's any way to kill the mafia could be a mafia member trying to look eager to help. Or it could just be a very inexperienced innocent; that's where the threat lies in this method of scumhunting.

Something I have noticed a lot around the forums is a lack of trust. Look at the game from an objective point of view. Every single player has around a 75% chance of being innocent. The players around you are most probably innocent. Trusting them should not be hard for you. If someone comes out accusing someone else, trust that they have knowledge you don't. There is rarely motivation for the mafia to randomly accuse another user as, in the long run, the mafia will end up losing a member. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule but not many. The rule of thumb should be to trust your companions as they are most probably on your side.
 * Trust

Roleclaiming is a useful tactic. It can be used to convince others of your innocence, it can be used to gain doctor's protection as a cop, it can be very useful. But it can also be very dangerous. Remember that when you are roleclaiming you are telling everyone about your role. If it is valuable, the mafia will usually have some way to make it useless or to kill you. Roleclaiming as soon as you are voted for is a horrible idea, you can easily just tie up the voting or start a counter-bandwagon if their logic is faulty.
 * Roleclaiming

If their logic holds true however, this is the scenario for roleclaiming. When users are voting for you and they actually have strong logic behind their votes. Roleclaiming could help you survive if you are something valuable.

Is not the end of the world. Don't treat it as such. True it does not help in the long run, but one or two no lynches won't kill anyone.
 * No Lynch

This is the last topic I want to touch on. PMs not between third parties, masons or mafia members. If you are PMing other users behind the host's back, it could be defined as cheating. The host should really know all the actions going on in their game and cannot see PMs sent to other people. A simple way to solve this would be to send the PM to both the other person and the host. If the host sees a problem, they will intervene - it is their job to be impartial. It can't hurt to send the PM to the host, and it prevents any cheating so why not?
 * PMs

Thank you for reading this special section (at least I hope you read this special section), feel free to go onto the forums and start playing mafia! It is an excellent pass-time and lots of fun overall. I might contribute a special section to the January issue about hosting mafia games, but in case I don't, this has been Marioguy1! Merry Christmas!


 * }

The 'Shroom Report
Written by:

HI, everyone! I'm your rational Statistics Manager, Tucayo, here with a brand new edition of The 'Shroom Report! As a reminder, in the Milestones section, writers will get mentioned every 10 team sections and every 50 overall sections, teams will get mentioned every 100 sections, and The 'Shroom will get mentioned every 500 sections. All information is based off our Historical Sheets. This section will cover Issue 128.

Tables are based off the End-of-the-Year Awards tables, so credit goes out to.