Mafia question

[Rodion]

I've never played a mafia game and I'd like to learn it.

1 - Is it anything like the game inside this manga?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doubt_(manga)

"The series focuses on the "Rabbit Doubt" cell phone game, in which the players must find the wolf, or killer, amongst their group of rabbits as they are picked off one-by-one."

2 - Can anyone guide me through a step-by-step of how a regular mafia games unfolds?

3 - It appears each game has its own "special rules"?

[Rodion]

viewtopic.php?f=213&t=68065

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafia_%28game%29

Alright, I found 2 links that can help me. I'll read them, but please feel free to drop by and add any information you deem useful!

Thanks!

[safariguy5]

The first post in the stickies are definitely useful. Also, the Scum Insider in the Newsletter is a pretty good read.

[Commander9]

Heya Rodion - long time no talk. I guess we'll be waging battles not just in CC tournaments, but mafia games as well

1. I guess they do have similarities, but mafia games in CC are much more complex.

2. To put very simply, this is what usually happens:

Day 1 starts - people have a joke vote stage, then go out of it and trying to find someone scummy and in the end usually lynch someone.
Night 1 starts - people send in their actions (both mafia and pro-town roles) and we find a scene on Day 2.
Day 2 - people again pick the scummiest players, discuss and lynch.
Night 2 - rinse and repeat Night 1.
Day 3 - rinse and repeat Day 2.

And so it goes until someone wins.

3. Most of them have pretty much same rules and they don't vary much from game to game.


As far as information goes, just read a couple of older threads - they explain things pretty well. Furthermore, read one of the already finished games (Nostalgia can be a good read, but I'm biased) and try to see what's happening.

[DoomYoshi]

The first post in the stickies are definitely useful. Also, the Scum Insider in the Newsletter is a pretty good read.

Obviously a totally unbiased opinion there

The easiest way to learn (how I learned) is joining one. Terminator is a good choice to start.

[Rodion]

Thanks everyone!

I was reading the Nostalgia game and found some terms that were not in the sticky.

"L-1" -> does that mean a player is 1 vote away from being lynched?
Hammer -> is that the action of doing the "last" vote needed to lynch someone? (with 7 players, the one who votes on someone that already had 3 votes "hammered" him?)

Also, can you explain more on joke votes? I saw votes in bold, votes in red...
Do votes in red count or are they a joke?
Or is a joke vote a joke simply because you have no clues on day 1 to make an informed decision, so whatever decision you make has no solid basis and is thus considered a joke?

[safariguy5]

Thanks everyone!

I was reading the Nostalgia game and found some terms that were not in the sticky.

"L-1" -> does that mean a player is 1 vote away from being lynched?
Hammer -> is that the action of doing the "last" vote needed to lynch someone? (with 7 players, the one who votes on someone that already had 3 votes "hammered" him?)

Also, can you explain more on joke votes? I saw votes in bold, votes in red...
Do votes in red count or are they a joke?
Or is a joke vote a joke simply because you have no clues on day 1 to make an informed decision, so whatever decision you make has no solid basis and is thus considered a joke?

Red or Bold both work for voting someone. Spot on on the lynch and hammer definitions. Joke voting is simply for fun.

Some rules not covered or emphasized.
1. No editing posts.
2. No talking after being killed.
3. If you don't post often, expect people to be suspicious.
4. Voting no lynch day 1 is considered scummy.

The rest is pretty easy to pick up after a while.

[Rodion]

1 - So, a joke vote does not compute, right?

2 - How can I differentiate a joke vote from a real vote (lack of bold/red font)?

[Commander9]

1 - So, a joke vote does not compute, right?

2 - How can I differentiate a joke vote from a real vote (lack of bold/red font)?

Joke votes are written just like any other votes and they are counted, but generally don't have any real reasoning behind it. Think about as a way to get started to a game - there's absolutely no info on the game and you can't really make a case, so joke voting is sort of to serve the purpose of the initial posting and gaming.

[Rodion]

Alright, think I know enough to start. I joined 2 games!

Is it common that games don't list all the available roles and "night powers" before the game starts?

[Commander9]

Alright, think I know enough to start. I joined 2 games!

Is it common that games don't list all the available roles and "night powers" before the game starts?

Good luck and I'll see you around. One of them won't start for a while (Pokemon one) and my own game is likely to start sooner, but Terminator is probably your best as of now.

Yes, that's usually the case and it's really uncommon to have the roles out before the game starts - sort of ruins it.

[Mr. Squirrel]

Hey great to see someone new.

It seems like everyone above gave you a lot of help already so I just wanna share a couple things that helped me when I first started.

Here is a little flash animation that outlines the most basic game and how it is run and also give examples of many of the roles you will encounter:
http://mikeburnfire.deviantart.com/gallery/#/dip7yy

For more information on town, mafia, and third party roles, here is this flash animation:
http://mikeburnfire.deviantart.com/art/Mafia-Roles-72597749
^that one basically outlines 95% of all roles you will ever find here on our forum.

Good luck!

[TA1LGUNN3R]

Just to clarify, the font of the vote is just so the mods can spot them. Sometimes, in the course of lengthy dialogue like Fircoal's gigantic post in POTC, it would be hard to find a vote for someone. So colors or bold are used so the mod can easily count them up. A joke vote counts, but generally they never add up to a lynch because that would be too silly.

Is it common that games don't list all the available roles and "night powers" before the game starts?

Almost never. Only some games like dethys, a pre-determined set-up, have the roles known. I believe Violet's San Francisco game had the roles spelled out, but she edited it out and changed them up before the game started because people complained. A lot of the fun of mafia comes from the ability to lie, so obviously it would make it harder to, as scum, roleclaim a town role if the roster didn't add up.

You sound like you've got it so far.

[bravado]If you want to read a good game, read the Dexter game (I won, so of course it's awesome). Not to mention I won as a Serial Killer (actually a poisoner), so that was even better. And I managed to get the town to lynch the doc with a false claim, and they ate it up like the fools they were. And I was responsible for edocsil's first lynch, ever. My skillful maneuvering and evil machinations and plots were brilliant to behold. So, all in all, a good read if you want to learn to play.[/bravado]

However I think edocsil is still angry at me for getting him lynched.

-Tails

[TA1LGUNN3R]

Also, LaL= Lynch all Liars, a code we follow here. However, you have to be careful with any gambits you decide to use then, because those will be problematic.

And to paraphrase nagerous:

SILENCE IS SCUMMY!!

-Tails

[nagerous]

I was smashed when I made that post.

[strike wolf]

I've never played a mafia game and I'd like to learn it.

1 - Is it anything like the game inside this manga?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doubt_(manga)

"The series focuses on the "Rabbit Doubt" cell phone game, in which the players must find the wolf, or killer, amongst their group of rabbits as they are picked off one-by-one."

that manga does appear to have the same concept. mafia is about trying to build cases to against who each person feels is scummy in order to flush out the mafia that are hidden amongst town. A simple set up would be a town of an uninformed majority each only aware of their own specific role and a mafia, the informed minority who are aware of the other members. Town wins if they eliminate the mafia, mafia wins if they are equal to or greater in number than the town.

The game consists of two phases, a day phase in which people vote for the person who was the most scummy during the day and a night phase in which the mafia submit their kill and any town power roles target others depending on the nature of their role.

2 - Can anyone guide me through a step-by-step of how a regular mafia games unfolds?

see above.

3 - It appears each game has its own "special rules"?

Most games follow the basic concept above with similar rules as to proper behavior (votes must be bolded, no editing/deleting posts, etc.) that are usually provided at the beginning of a thread. However each game usually has a unique role set up in which different roles are used and different mafia sizes.

As far as your question about why roles are hidden. It's funner that way figuring out which roles are in the game and which are not. It also like Tails (cheers on the Dexter reference ) said provides a good background for lying scums to hide themselves. The least fun way for a mafia to end is a mass claim day 1, where everyone knows which roles are in it and look at who stands out.

[Commander9]

The least fun way for a mafia to end is a mass claim day 1, where everyone knows which roles are in it and look at who stands out.

Amen to that!

[nagerous]

The least fun way for a mafia to end is a mass claim day 1, where everyone knows which roles are in it and look at who stands out.

Amen to that!

I know it seems like nagerous is harping on about deadlines again but deadlines are generally effective in preventing that happening, because otherwise all that happens is we have a bandwagon, someone claims pro-town, bandwagon dies, another bandwagon, someone claims pro-town, bandwagon dies until eventually like / we find the mafia godfather. I'd rather see a day one end with a no lynch than a mass claim to that extent.

[Commander9]

I know it seems like nagerous is harping on about deadlines again but deadlines are generally effective in preventing that happening, because otherwise all that happens is we have a bandwagon, someone claims pro-town, bandwagon dies, another bandwagon, someone claims pro-town, bandwagon dies until eventually like / we find the mafia godfather. I'd rather see a day one end with a no lynch than a mass claim to that extent.

I'm fairly sure that majority agree with you here - this is one of the main reasons I'll have a soft deadline for each day (to hopefully prevent something like this from happening) in my next game. In a way, I would like to that to make a rule for the forum, but I'm afraid that it would scare off too many people and would ruin the quality rather than improving it.

[Rodion]

The least fun way for a mafia to end is a mass claim day 1, where everyone knows which roles are in it and look at who stands out.

But can't mafia players create chaos by claiming fake pro-town roles as well? We'd then have everyone claiming roles, some truth, some false, and deductions wouldn't be so easy to make, I assume?

[strike wolf]

Well it just wouldn't be mafia if it was easy. Most mods at least make efforts to balance their games town in most cases are much bigger than mafia and will often have ways of discerning town from mafia beyond just discussion and voting. Plus if mafia wasn't able to use fake claims then town would almost always win because under normal circumstances they outnumber mafia by more than 2:1 which is already beyond the breaking point for mass claims with known roles to be effective.

Also the chaos is part of the fun part.

[TA1LGUNN3R]

I was smashed when I made that post.

Of course. That doesn't mean it wasn't valid.

-Tails

[Rodion]

I read the thread again and things make a lot more sense now!

[MoB Deadly]

I am reading around these forums and it definitely looks interesting to me, couple questions.
How long do Mafia games typically last from start to finish?
How active do I need to be? It seems like the more active the better, but what is the average?

[safariguy5]

I am reading around these forums and it definitely looks interesting to me, couple questions.
How long do Mafia games typically last from start to finish?
How active do I need to be? It seems like the more active the better, but what is the average?

Depending on how many people are in the game, anywhere from one month to like three or four. Of course, it depends on whether you are killed early or not.

I think at least 1 post every day or two is good. Quality posts of course, people don't really like fluff.