2010-07-22, 12:10 AM
Hey everyone. I'm a bit of a newbie to this forum (read: I made my account today), but from what I've seen after poking around and from what I've heard from Doctor Omega, no one really does this here. So I thought to myself "I really want to host a game. Maybe people here will want to play!" So here's a thread to see if people are interested.
For those who have played Mafia on a forum, ignore these next few paragraphs. For those who have played in real life or not at all, you may want to read.
Mafia is a game of manipulation, lies, and (best of all) murder. Each player gets assigned a role in secret and is aligned with either the town or the mafia. The townspeople (an uninformed majority) all know nothing beyond their own roles and are charged with figuring out who amongst them is in the mafia and then killing them by voting. The mafia members (an informed minority) all know the other mafia members and can communicate in secret (usually via private messages on a forum) to decide who they want to kill each night. The game goes in phases. At night, the mafia kills (and any other special roles act - I'll get to that in a bit). During the day, the mafia's victim is announced, a clue is (usually) given, and discussion and voting ensue, resulting in the democratically decided death of one player.
Beyond alignment (town and mafia), several players usually have special roles. On the town side, the most common roles are a doctor, a detective, and a vigilante. The doctor acts at night and can protect one player of his or her choosing. If that person is the target of a mafia kill in the same night, the kill fails. The detective also acts at night and can investigate one player of his or her choosing. The detective will then learn that player's role. The vigilante (unsurprisingly) also acts at night and can kill one player of his or her choosing. Vigilantes are often limited to 2 or 3 shots to prevent them from abusing their power too much. On the mafia side, there is usually a Godfather who acts as the leader of the mafia. The Godfather is special in that if investigated by the detective, he or she will be reported as a townsperson rather than a mafian. There are many other roles, but those are the biggest ones. If there's interest, I can go into more detail.
The mafia is typically outnumbered 3 to 1 (e.g. in a 16-person game, there are typically 4 mafians and 12 townspeople). The goals of the two sides are as follows: the town wants to eradicate the mafia from their midst, so they win if they manage to successfully vote (or vigilante-kill) all of the mafians. The mafia wins if they manage to kill enough townspeople so that the two sides are balanced (e.g. 3 mafia and 3 townspeople left), at which point they can tie the votes and prevent any more of their deaths.
One role I failed to mention is generally unique to forum games (if anyone has played in real life but not on a forum): the cluegiver. More often than not in these games, one of the townspeople will be a cluegiver. He or she has no active powers, but as long as the cluegiver lives each mafia kill at night will result in a clue to the killer's identity the following morning. If the cluegiver dies, no more clues will be written.
Each day and each night usually last 24 hours to give plenty of time for people to get in night actions and to discuss the clues/vote, regardless of their time zone.
===For everyone who skipped the explanation, start reading again.===
If you want to read up about the game yourself, you can do it here. If you want to see an example of a game, you can find it here (this was the most recent game I hosted - the forum that it's on has lost interest in Mafia, sadly). I tend to like themed games (the one I linked to is Oregon Trail themed), and at the moment I'm planning out a Zelda-themed game and a Pokemon-themed game, so let me know which of those you would prefer. If neither, I could also host a simple, unthemed game with regular mafia and townsfolk. Either way, I'll try to make as epic of a story as I can.
So to sum up: If people are interested, I'd like to host a game of Mafia. Let me know if you're interested and if so which theme (or lack thereof) you would prefer.
On a side note: As I said, I'm pretty new here, so if this isn't the best place for this thread, I apologize.
For those who have played Mafia on a forum, ignore these next few paragraphs. For those who have played in real life or not at all, you may want to read.
Mafia is a game of manipulation, lies, and (best of all) murder. Each player gets assigned a role in secret and is aligned with either the town or the mafia. The townspeople (an uninformed majority) all know nothing beyond their own roles and are charged with figuring out who amongst them is in the mafia and then killing them by voting. The mafia members (an informed minority) all know the other mafia members and can communicate in secret (usually via private messages on a forum) to decide who they want to kill each night. The game goes in phases. At night, the mafia kills (and any other special roles act - I'll get to that in a bit). During the day, the mafia's victim is announced, a clue is (usually) given, and discussion and voting ensue, resulting in the democratically decided death of one player.
Beyond alignment (town and mafia), several players usually have special roles. On the town side, the most common roles are a doctor, a detective, and a vigilante. The doctor acts at night and can protect one player of his or her choosing. If that person is the target of a mafia kill in the same night, the kill fails. The detective also acts at night and can investigate one player of his or her choosing. The detective will then learn that player's role. The vigilante (unsurprisingly) also acts at night and can kill one player of his or her choosing. Vigilantes are often limited to 2 or 3 shots to prevent them from abusing their power too much. On the mafia side, there is usually a Godfather who acts as the leader of the mafia. The Godfather is special in that if investigated by the detective, he or she will be reported as a townsperson rather than a mafian. There are many other roles, but those are the biggest ones. If there's interest, I can go into more detail.
The mafia is typically outnumbered 3 to 1 (e.g. in a 16-person game, there are typically 4 mafians and 12 townspeople). The goals of the two sides are as follows: the town wants to eradicate the mafia from their midst, so they win if they manage to successfully vote (or vigilante-kill) all of the mafians. The mafia wins if they manage to kill enough townspeople so that the two sides are balanced (e.g. 3 mafia and 3 townspeople left), at which point they can tie the votes and prevent any more of their deaths.
One role I failed to mention is generally unique to forum games (if anyone has played in real life but not on a forum): the cluegiver. More often than not in these games, one of the townspeople will be a cluegiver. He or she has no active powers, but as long as the cluegiver lives each mafia kill at night will result in a clue to the killer's identity the following morning. If the cluegiver dies, no more clues will be written.
Each day and each night usually last 24 hours to give plenty of time for people to get in night actions and to discuss the clues/vote, regardless of their time zone.
===For everyone who skipped the explanation, start reading again.===
If you want to read up about the game yourself, you can do it here. If you want to see an example of a game, you can find it here (this was the most recent game I hosted - the forum that it's on has lost interest in Mafia, sadly). I tend to like themed games (the one I linked to is Oregon Trail themed), and at the moment I'm planning out a Zelda-themed game and a Pokemon-themed game, so let me know which of those you would prefer. If neither, I could also host a simple, unthemed game with regular mafia and townsfolk. Either way, I'll try to make as epic of a story as I can.
So to sum up: If people are interested, I'd like to host a game of Mafia. Let me know if you're interested and if so which theme (or lack thereof) you would prefer.
On a side note: As I said, I'm pretty new here, so if this isn't the best place for this thread, I apologize.
