Wednesday, March 25, 2009

How the Mafia game Works, Rules and Roles

Welcome to the first blog post of the DDO mafia game blog. This will explain to new players how the game works, the rules involved, and the roles that are in the game.

Please note that with themed games, the works, rules, roles and objectives of the game can be changed ,therefore this will only apply to the bread and butter version of the game.

THE WORKINGS:


To start, you must familiarize yourself with 2 sides: The Townies and The Mafia.

The Townies aim to kill all the mafia before the Mafia kill them. Each day phase, they can lynch one player. There are also roles that benefit the townies, such as the Cop, the Doctor, and various others that will be discussed later.

The Mafia attempt to win the game by having an equal or greater number of player's than the townies( In the situation where the mafia are equal than the townies, they have complete control over the Day Vote, therefore there is no point in continuing the game and the Mafia have won). They do this by killing one player once a night. They, like the townies, have roles that benefit them, and that will be discussed later. Naturally, they start in smaller numbers than the Townies.

The main difference is the Townies don't know who the Mafia are!, but the Mafia know who the Townies are!
The game works in 2 phases: The Day Phase and The Night Phase.
Day Phase:

During this phase, the Townies and Mafia choose to lynch one player. Each player has one vote (With a few role exceptions) and a verdict comes when the majority has spoken. More often than not, a day phase that drags on too long will end with the moderator ending the day phase with a no-lynch. Also, some roles are used here.

Night Phase:

During this phase, the mafia and most roles come into play. The Mafia have a vote on who to kill, much like the lynching process. However, unlike the lynching process, only the mafia have a vote. Most roles are used during the night phase. These will be discussed later.

The game ends when The Mafia are equal to or greater than the Townies, and The Townies win when all the Mafia are dead. Also specific roles (such as the Survivor or Jester) can have their own objectives that don't end the game. (Will be discussed i nthe roles later)

THE RULES:


There are various rules in the Mafia games, and many of them vary with the game host and indeed the game theme. However, here are some basic rules:

1) Unless their role enables them to, regular townies cannot PM eachother. The penalty is usually a Modkill (Insta-death courtesy of the mod)

2) Once the Night Phase commences, talk regarding strategy and theories is not allowed.

3) Vote and unvotes to lynch must be bolded. This makes them easier to count for the moderator and for players.

THE ROLES:

Roles are divided into 3 groups:
1) Townie
2)Mafia
3)3rd party

1) TOWNIE:


REGULAR:
  • Regular Townie: Has 1 vote per day, and no special abilities during the night phase
  • Hated Townie: The same as a Regular Townie, except he takes 1 less vote to lynch
  • Voteless Townie: Same as the Regular Townie except he has no vote
  • Doublevoter: Same as the regular townie except he has 2 votes
  • Mason: A group of people who can communicate throughout the game via PM. These and the mafia are the only exception to the rule.
  • Mason Recruiter: A mason with the ability to recruit one new member per night. If he chooses a mafia he dies.
  • Miller: A townie with the exception he shows up as guilty to the cop.
  • Death Miller: A miller that also shows up as Mafia when killed as well as being shown as Mafia to the Cop.
  • Beloved Princess: A regular townie with the exception that a day phase is skipped for her funeral once she is killed
  • Politician: A role that once a night can steal a persons vote and utilise it against another player.
  • Priest: The same as a regular townie except they cannot cast the lynching vote
  • Actor: The same as the regular townies except he HAS to cast the lynching vote.
  • Bus Driver: Once a night, this person can switch two players places (E.g. the doctor with the cop). If the Doctor was to be killed by the Mafia, the cop would now be killed.
  • Role Blocker: Once a night this person prevents a player from doing their role.
  • Bullet Proof townie: A townie that is immune to night killings.
INVESTIGATIVE:
  • Cop: Has 1 vote and the special ability during the night phase to investigate one player during the night phase.
  • Day Cop: The same as a Regular cop with the exception he uses his role during the da
  • Naive cop: A cop with the exception that everyone he investigates comes up as innocent. He is not told he is Naive
  • Paranoid Cop: A cop with the excpetion everyone he inspects shows up as guilty. He is not told he is paranoid
  • Crazy Cop: A cop with the exception his results will always show the opposite of what the REAL answer is (E.G. Townies are guily and Mafia are innocent)
  • Watcher: Chooses one person a night and is told who visits them. However, he does not know what they were doing nor if they went elsewhere)
  • Burglar: Once a night he can steal an item from a player, however he only has the item that hints to the role (E.g. Gun from a cop or mafia, and a knife from a serial killer or doctor)
  • Tracker: Chooes to follow one member each night. He then knows who they visited, however, he does not know what they did there.
  • Forensic Investigator: He can examine a dead body to see who has followed them, during the game.
  • Gunsmith: once a night, he can investigate a player to see fi they have a gun ( Cops, Vigilantes, and Mafia are likely to have guns, Doctors, Townies and Serial Killers are not)
PROTECTIVE:
  • Doctor: Once a night, the doctor chooses one person to protect.
  • CPR Doctor: A doctor with the exception that he kills his night choice if they are not attacked.
  • Naive Doctor: A doctor with no real powers, but however believes he is a doctor.
  • Weak Doctor: A doctor with the exception he dies if he protects a mafia role.
  • Insane Doctor: A doctor with the exception he has a 50% of killing his target (not told he is insane)
  • Jailkeeper (Paranoid doctor): This is a two-in-one role. The person not only protects their target, but prevents them from using their not action.
  • Bodyguard: Once a night he can choose to protect someone, however he will die in the process
  • Elite Bodyguard: Like the bodyguard in that he can protect someone, however, he will kill the attacker and die.
  • Faith Healer: A doctor with a 50% chance of healing their target.
  • Reviver: A role with the ability to bring a dead player back to life (NOTE: This role is EXTREMELY POWERFUL and is normally limited to once in the whole game)
  • Governor: A role with the ability to stop a lynch during the night. He cannot stop his own lynch nor can he stop someone's lynch twice in a game.
  • Role Blocker: Blocks a persons role once a night.
KILLING ROLES:

  • Vigilante: Can choose to kill someone once a night.
  • Day Vigilante: chooses to kill someone during the day.
  • Overeager Vigilante: A vigilante that MUST kill somone once a night.
  • Paranoid Gun-Owner: A gun owner that kills anyone that targets him, regardless of alliance.
  • Bomb: If targetted. he and the targetted die.
  • Vengeful Townie: A townie with the ability to kill someone when he si lynched

OTHER/ SPECIAL ROLES:
  • Skitzo: Once a night he chooses a target, and will randomly kill, protect or investigate them.
  • Jack of all trades/ Inventor: Has a number of one-use abilities (Usually Cop, Vigilante, Doctor, Roleblocking, and reviving, or a combination of the following.). If he is the inventor, he can be unaware of what his abilities are (e.g. device A and device B) or they have a name that hints to the ability (Seeing crystal or Forcefield Genarator)
2) MAFIA:

REGULAR ROLES:

  • Mafia Goon: A regular Mafia that, once a night, talks with his fellow Mafia and votes to kill someone.
  • Mafia Godfather: The mafia leader who reports to the Moderator with the Mafia kill choice. he is immune to investagion (i.e. he shows as innocent)
  • Mafia Mason: A regular mason that is pro-mafia. However, the other masons are unware of this.
  • Mafia traitor: A role which knows who the mafia are, but the Mafia do not know who he is. He works to stop Mafia being lynched. The trator does not become active until he is activated by the Mafia Godfather.
  • Mafia Janitor: Prevents the towns from knowing the dead persons role.
  • Mafia usurper: Works with the Mafia to kill the town, but also to kill the Godfather. In some versions of the agme, he becomes the Mafia Godfather once the original Godfather is killed.
  • Mafia Framer: Once a night, he can frame one person to make them come up as Guilty in an investigation.
  • Mafia Roleblocker: Stops a player from using their role at night time.
KILLING:
  • Mafia Hitman: A killing role that can bypass Roleblockers and Doctors.
  • Mafia Ninja: A role that cannot be watched by Watchers or Followed by Trackers. Can also incorporate the Hitman ability of dodging RoleBlockers and Doctors.
  • Suicide Bomber: Can choose to target one player during the day. He will blow himself up, killing himself and his target.
  • Mafia Poisoner: Targets a person to die at night time, and they die the next night.
INVESTIGATIVE & PROTECTION:
  • Cop: Can investigate a player once a night
  • Doctor: Can protect a player once a night.
3) THIRD PARTY:

Third parties contain 3 kinds, singular, dual and party roles.

SINGLE ROLES:
  • Serial Killer: The serial Killer's goal is to be the last one remaining. He can kill one player a night.
  • Survivor: has the lone goal of surviving the game.
  • Jester: Has the soel purpose of being lynched. (Note: His death does not end the game)

DUAL ROLES:
  • Arsonist: A serial killer that kills by setting fire to people's homes at night.
Fireman: Acts as a doctor that prevents players from being killed by the arsonist.
  • Psychopath: A serial killer
Psychiatrist: Targets one person a night in an attempt to find the Psychopath. Finding the Psychopath cures him
  • Cannibal: A serial killer.
FBI Agent: Acts like a cop and investigates a player each night to see if he is a cannibal.

PARTY ROLES:


  • Multiple Mafias: When the game contains multiple mafia families. They are hostile to each other and try to win the game by eliminating each other. All Mafias have the goal of elminating the Townies, however, neither Mafia wins without eliminating the other first.
  • Cult: Like the masons, they can communicate with eachother at night. They win by overthrowing the Townies and Mafia via lynching. They often have a CULT RECRUITER, which can recruit a new member each night. The cult recruiter functions the same as a mason recruiter.
I hope this clears up any difficulties with the mafia game. Message me (http://www.debate.org/I-am-a-panda/) if you have any difficulties or questions.

Written by I-am-a-panda

9 comments:

  1. This is a pity comment from PoeJoe.

    I hope you enjoy it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. "soel"

    Fail.
    But very thorough article.

    ReplyDelete
  3. What about a mafia recruiter? That would be beastly.

    ReplyDelete
  4. But too powerful. Besides, in a few night the Mafia would outnumber the Townies.

    ReplyDelete
  5. But then we could start out with 2 mafia (1 the recruiter). I think it's a wonderful experiment idea.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I don't get what the mafia traitor does...

    ReplyDelete
  7. Mafia Traitor: Can be recruited by the Mafia at any point in the game. Prior to recruitment: He knows who the Mafia are, but they don't know him. He shows up innocent in Investigations, and works through his vote to help Mafia members. When he's recruited, he is a full Mafia member.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Need help... if a cop finds out that a player is a mafia member, and reveals it, will the day phase with the voting be skipped? Because if they decide to kill that mafia member, they have already killed someone. So would they have to vote for another one anyway?

    ReplyDelete