Mafia Headquarters V4

[BBM]

I know several people here RP, so I'm sure you'd get at least some signups. But as Proto said, this seems more like a mafia-themed RP than a mafia with RPing.

[Percivalé]

I had a similar idea in mind when I made the Choral Mafia series, actually, and the 6th game is going to have a Create Your Own Character option.

I don't know how close or far your game will be to actual mafia but either way I'd be interested in that idea.

[eclipse]

Hello people. I'm quite new and I just like to know if anyone would be interested in a Mafia game with "actual" role-playing where you create your own characters and tell a story as the game unfolds? I know these type of games don't really focus much on RP but I'd like to try hosting a game with this idea in mind. What do you guys think?

That depends how much of it is mafia, and how much is RP. May I suggest that you play a couple of games on this site, so you can gauge whether or not your idea will work?

[euklyd]

Just chiming in. The mafia on the forum I was a part of was really different than SF, and sounds a lot more like what you're describing (maybe).

It had rules like "No metagaming" and "All posts must be in-character", in addition to a few mechanical differences, like only displaying alignment (not Role PM) after a flip.

Pretty big culture shock between there and SF, but it was certainly still mafia, even if there was a lot more flavor involved.

It is arguably more entertaining to watch, though.

It does seem like more work, however, since posts had to be IC.

[Aya Enoshima]

My Mafia idea will try to balance both the RP and Game dynamics. I actually tried this on other sites but they proved unsuccessful due to the lack of interest.

One main issue I've been encountering is that having game mechanics in an RP tends to interfere with a character's personality since they are given specific roles and it limits their freedom to do anything else outside their role.

Fortunately, I came up with a way to bridge both RP and game dynamics together in such a way that it doesn't affect the character's personalities and that events especially during the Night phase are justified and make sense in an RP context.

The story and plot of my Mafia would look something like this:

"A group of people are kidnapped and are confined together in an unknown location. Their captors tell them that they are all trapped here and are forced to live together. They then tell them that the only way to escape is that they all have to play a twisted version of the popular party game Mafia where they have to find the killer among them before they all die."

This is essentially a virtual reality version Mafia where the participants play as though they were playing a game of Mafia but only that they could actually die. In an RP context, their actions could be justified by having a mind control device embedded in their bodies. When activated at a certain time, they all go into "Night mode" where they become real life Mafia players and perform specific roles. When deactivated, the players will have no memory of their actions during that period thus it would not affect their IC.

I intend to have a 12 player game though the minimum would be 8. I just need people who are interested in this idea and can write at least a 2 sentence RP post.

[BBM]

Just chiming in. The mafia on the forum I was a part of was really different than SF, and sounds a lot more like what you're describing (maybe).

It had rules like "No metagaming" and "All posts must be in-character", in addition to a few mechanical differences, like only displaying alignment (not Role PM) after a flip.

Pretty big culture shock between there and SF, but it was certainly still mafia, even if there was a lot more flavor involved.

It is arguably more entertaining to watch, though.

It does seem like more work, however, since posts had to be IC.

That sounds terrible.

And also, rules that inhibit things like that are lame because you can't prevent players from doing it subconsciously or even consciously in their own heads. All it does is stop people from explaining reads from that properly, which doesn't help anyone, not even the person being meta'd, because they can't defend themselves if the person metagaming them can't explain properly.

[euklyd]

That sounds terrible.

And also, rules that inhibit things like that are lame because you can't prevent players from doing it subconsciously or even consciously in their own heads. All it does is stop people from explaining reads from that properly, which doesn't help anyone, not even the person being meta'd, because they can't defend themselves if the person metagaming them can't explain properly.

It was...interesting. I pretty sure that rule was dropped pretty early on, as a metagame had obviously developed by that point, and it was clear that people were using it and trying to circumvent the rule; I wasn't there for long, so I'm not positive.

[MRDRHAWK]

Metagames should be fine regardless. I preferred mafias with no role PM after lynching, though it only works with certain mafia types. For example, that's how I plan to run Persona Mafia once I've finished it, and I really think it adds a different element to the postgame because it shows who had what right at the end, leading to a lot of what-if extrapolation.

[Sunwoo]

Metagames should be fine regardless. I preferred mafias with no role PM after lynching, though it only works with certain mafia types. For example, that's how I plan to run Persona Mafia once I've finished it, and I really think it adds a different element to the postgame because it shows who had what right at the end, leading to a lot of what-if extrapolation.

Do you mean that a person's role PM will never flip throughout the course of the game, or that regular NKs will flip but lynched people do not flip? While I've played in one mafia game without flips on this site, I absolutely hated it because there were no flips, and another announced "flip-less" game failed to even garner enough signups to start. Flips give information, which allows people to draw associative reads and make sense of claimed night actions. Taking away the flip leaves us all shooting in the dark, and many people do not enjoy such a thing.

[MRDRHAWK]

Do you mean that a person's role PM will never flip throughout the course of the game, or that regular NKs will flip but lynched people do not flip? While I've played in one mafia game without flips on this site, I absolutely hated it because there were no flips, and another announced "flip-less" game failed to even garner enough signups to start. Flips give information, which allows people to draw associative reads and make sense of claimed night actions. Taking away the flip leaves us all shooting in the dark, and many people do not enjoy such a thing.

Like, they'll have their alignments and shit posted upon their deaths, and their character's name & super-brief description, but their role PM won't show up until post-game. Typically with this type of mafia you can tell which characters will have which role (for example, sticking with my planned Persona mafia, Dojima is Deputy, Naoto's a Tracker and Takaya would be a Sniper working with Tracker Jin).

I wouldn't do it outside of an obvious theme mafia, though, because that's just superbly dumb.

[Sunwoo]

Like, they'll have their alignments and shit posted upon their deaths, and their character's name & super-brief description, but their role PM won't show up until post-game. Typically with this type of mafia you can tell which characters will have which role (for example, sticking with my planned Persona mafia, Dojima is Deputy, Naoto's a Tracker and Takaya would be a Sniper working with Tracker Jin).

I wouldn't do it outside of an obvious theme mafia, though, because that's just superbly dumb.

So ... slightly more information than a Prims-style flip?

[MRDRHAWK]

So ... slightly more information than a Prims-style flip?

More or less. It was how the mafia games I played prior to coming here worked in terms of flipping alignments, and I thought it worked well because people would be forced to communicate more about the goings on during the night phase (by the way, I'd also allow night talk because it makes the game feel much smoother, as long as you don't have too many OP roles) as opposed to just spouting off individual cases. It really does give the sense of a true scumhunt as it would likely play out, but that's just my opinion.

[BBM]

Like, they'll have their alignments and shit posted upon their deaths, and their character's name & super-brief description, but their role PM won't show up until post-game. Typically with this type of mafia you can tell which characters will have which role (for example, sticking with my planned Persona mafia, Dojima is Deputy, Naoto's a Tracker and Takaya would be a Sniper working with Tracker Jin).

I wouldn't do it outside of an obvious theme mafia, though, because that's just superbly dumb.

Probably a good idea not to tell people what roles are in the game and what roles aren't before it even starts.

A heads up though, having a mafia based heavily on flavour can be sort of lame, because people who don't really know the flavour well are at a disadvantage, and also because people who do know the flavour might be able to break it and find who the scum are without actually using scumhunting. Themed games are cool, but IMO the theme should stop before it gets into the mechanics, unless all people playing have an equal knowledge of that theme.

Edited October 21, 2013 by BigBadMarshmallow

[MRDRHAWK]

Probably a good idea not to tell people what roles are in the game and what roles aren't before it even starts.

A heads up though, having a mafia based heavily on flavour can be sort of lame, because people who don't really know the flavour well are at a disadvantage, and also because people who do know the flavour might be able to break it and find who the scum are without actually using scumhunting. Themed games are cool, but IMO the theme should stop before it gets into the mechanics, unless all people playing have an equal knowledge of that theme.

Eh, the ones I did just spout off are the obvious ones knowing how Mafia works.

I mean, all the roles are set up just like a traditional mafia, I'm just trying not to flip role PMs. It's an easy enough fix, though, if it seems like it would make things too clusterfucked as the game moves along.

[BBM]

Not all games have Deputies and Trackers and Snipers.

Well, I don't mind role PMs not fully flipping, but if your expectation is that people should see someone flip as Dojima or Naoto and expect them to have some sort of investigation role, that's not good.

Also, while I can see the reasons someone might not want to flip role PMs fully, personally I find it detracts from the experience to only get the role PM at the end, especially in games with flavour. What's the point of writing role PMs if only one person is really going to read each one?

Edited October 21, 2013 by BigBadMarshmallow

[MRDRHAWK]

Eh, fine, I'll flip role PMs after. w/e.

[Percivalé]

Where I first started playing forum mafia we didn't get flips with role PMs, either. We got flips with character name (if applicable), alignment, and role. All of the roles PMs were revealed at postgame.

[riariadne]

Also you mentioned names, so whoever has that role can now claim it and be confirmed on it (plus what BBM said. Some games don't have cop, much less sniper)

[MRDRHAWK]

I'll probably screw around with the roles still anyways, I'm still finalizing them all including my two indys

[Prims]

Flipping entire role PMs is for babies like Paperblade and eclipse and Snike and Elieson and BBM and scorri and Boron and Kaoz and General Spoon, just flip flavor name/alignment/role name

[Prims]

oh and a pretty picture too. the pretty picture is essential.

[Elieson]

Flipping entire role PMs is for babies like Paperblade and eclipse and Snike and Elieson and BBM and scorri and Boron and Kaoz and General Spoon, just flip flavor name/alignment/role name

No, babies only flip entire RolePMs if they ban posting RolePMs in all of their games.

[Prims]

Planning on putting a small game on the queue, but not sure which of these people would rather play:

1. Spiritual sequel to Volcanic Mafia, a 14-player anonymafia with an open set-up:

- 1 Town Oracle
- 10 Vanilla Townie

vs.

- 1 Mafia Gunsmith
- 1 Mafia Backup / 1-Shot Rolecop
- 1 Mafia Goon

Gunsmith is compulsive and gives out a 1-shot dayvig that may only be used during the following day. The entire town will be informed who has the gun.
If the Backup has the Gunsmith's ability, it may opt to use its 1-shot rolecop instead.
Oracle reveals the alignment and role of its most recent target on any form of death.
Gunsmith may not self-target or target the same player as the scum nightkill.
Guns may not be fired in LYLO with an odd number of players alive.
No Lynch and No Majority will kill the current gunholder as a necessary sacrifice (or the Oracle on Day 1). No Kill is not allowed.

Haven't picked a name yet but currently contemplating such quality choices as "Everybody Loves Vigs Mafia / I'm Gay Mafia / Rage Mafia / Manix Mafia / ffffffffffffffffffffffff Mafia / ƒƒƒƒƒ Mafia". It's pretty much Double Day but somewhat mafia-controlled!


2. Nostalgianonymafia. Roles are ripped directly from past games, but pre-decided rather than drafted like the actual Nostalgia Mafia series. Players are given a list of flavor characters who were anti-town in past SF mafia games and must pick one as their anonymous alias, a gimmick I blatantly stole from Kilgamayan. Would be anywhere from 13-15 players depending on interest.


so yeah, which of these sounds better???

Edited October 22, 2013 by Professional Mafia Player

[Percivalé]

I like the second idea a lot but I might also like to play the first setup at some point?

Actually this reminds me of something I've meant to bring up and it's the issue of anon games/smaller games being less active than others. Small games and anon games here often tend to die out in activity in ways games with more than 15 players/are non-anon don't and the reason I'm concerned about this is I'm planning on CM6 to be anon but I'm not motivated enough mentally to host a game that's just going to be super inactive

THIS INTERNET IS A LITERAL PILE OF SHIT AND CUT OUT MY POST

Edited October 22, 2013 by The Best SK

[Percivalé]

actually yeah I really like that first setup idea