Mafia General Discussion Thread

[EEVILMURRAY]

Mine is raring and ready to go. I'll get a sign up thread by the end of the day.

 

Props for the consideration. I thought everyone had forgotten me :-(

[Jimbob]

Sweet, can't wait to see what you got in-store. Auto-signup.

 

Edit: I've started work on creating 2 more mafia games ready for next year. May as well get them set-up now. First is a Mass Effect Mafia (it's a big universe, endless possibilities and a lot of characters to choose from). 2nd, not sure on the theme yet. Either basing it on another popular TV show or something completly bizzare.

Edited November 13, 2012 by Jimbob

[DuD]

So i've been slightly bored at work and came up with some more ideas for mafias.. including new powers and game mechanics.

 

I have 4 new game formats i'd like to try at some point, but as they're new I can't say they will work 100%.

 

I'll see how my first game before i get ahead of myself though.

[Yvonne]

@Jimbob I want to be the kid that's on fire

 

@DuD intriguing!

[Rummy]

So i've been slightly bored at work and came up with some more ideas for mafias.. including new powers and game mechanics.

 

I have 4 new game formats i'd like to try at some point, but as they're new I can't say they will work 100%.

 

I'll see how my first game before i get ahead of myself though.

 

Certain aspects of mafia definitely need a shakeup imo, as much as you balance a game sometimes I feel there's an inherent imbalance, and so I am most certainly up for supporting trying new stuff. I love it when things are a bit different!

[Jimbob]

Sounds interesting indeed DuD, i'm all for trying new stuff. Anything to make the games more interesting and enjoyable.

[EEVILMURRAY]

Has anyone done a mafia where everyone is a mafia member, but of a different faction? Say for example there are threeteams of five, or five of three. And each team is allowed a kill on a certain night, so the battle for mafia supremecy would begin. A turf wars, as it were. An idea that occured to me at work... May play around with the idea.

[DuD]

I've got a similar idea that I'm working out. I won't go into specifics, but its different factions, but not how you've described.

[Dannyboy-the-Dane]

Has anyone done a mafia where everyone is a mafia member, but of a different faction? Say for example there are threeteams of five, or five of three. And each team is allowed a kill on a certain night, so the battle for mafia supremecy would begin. A turf wars, as it were. An idea that occured to me at work... May play around with the idea.

 

What would the day phases consist of? If there's no town, the day phase is essentially irrelevant.

[Jonnas]

The idea of multiple mafias is viable (with enough players playing, at least), but there needs to be general goal for the day phases.

 

I've tinkered with the idea of factions myself, but the best I can do is that certain factions aren't mafia at all, just townie groups (or at least secretly Neutral)

[Nintendohnut]

Then, of course, there is the issue of balance - with townie factions they already have a number of 'cleared' players, and will likely vote together, so the mafia would have to be either very large or very powerful to counteract it. It would be a really tough balance to get right!

[DuD]

I've got a way round it all. I think

[jayseven]

My robot mafia was supposed to be two mafias, one team of neutrals and a couple of rogues - the idea didn't get implelented completely though! Definitely thought about that sort of thing, but you do have to work against the player's pre-existing expectations of mafia games. If you tell people "this is a game where everyone's mafia" then it kinda loses the spark a bit.

[DuD]

My ideas are multiplying at the moment, some are only slight differences to our standard mafia concept though.

I agree about them losing the spark if you have to explain them beforehand, so I don't plan on saying what style of game I'm going to be running and hopefully they will catch people off guard.

 

I will say the one I'm running next is based on the standard format just so that I can get my first mod under my belt.

[Dannyboy-the-Dane]

Just to make it clear, the day phase being pointless in an all-mafia game isn't due to the players' attitude, it's due to the mechanic of the day phase breaking. The day phase is built around an uninformed majority trying to find an informed minority (i.e. become an informed majority), but in an all-mafia game everyone is part of an informed minority, and when there's no majority working towards the same goal (i.e. becoming informed), the day phase becomes pointless and eventually ends in a stalemate, and the game is then determined by who gets to kill whom first. Obviously I'm not saying such a game can't be fashioned, I'm just saying it would require a reshaping of the game structure.

[DuD]

Reshaping the games structure is what we're trying to do.

My Idea doesn't include all mafia anyway, so it's a moot point.

[Dannyboy-the-Dane]

Of course, I simply meant in addition to the suggested changes. In an all-mafia game new mechanics would need to be implemented to make up for the dynamic lost in the day phase in order to prevent a stalemate game decided by the chance of night outcomes.

[DuD]

A few questions for regular mafia players..

 

Do you prefer role heavy games where info is readily available? or do you prefer analysing what people are saying and their voting patterns to weed out scum?

 

How important is having a night action to you? would you lose interest in a game if you had no night action?

[Jonnas]

Having some info to work with is fine (namely, a simple starting point), but just that. The real meat of the game is the daily discussions.

 

Night actions help us get involved in the discussions and such, because it provides us with 1. A personal starting point; 2. A sense of usefulness.

It's not needed, of course, but it helps.

[DuD]

Thanks Jonnas. Anyone else? I'm hoping to get as many opinions as possible.

[Sheikah]

I don't mind a lack of info but I do mind too many overly cryptic elements that can be huge distractions for town (e.g. coded stuff that turns out to be just a minor thing). Or themed games that rely on lots of knowledge of that games/series. Or worse, themed games with characters that mostly have the alignments you'd expect them to.

[Yvonne]

I guess Sheikah didn't enjoy the Wire Mafia!

 

@DuD I like analysing behaviour, voting patterns etc. Information helps and is fun to work out, but I think in general the play here has gotten a bit complacent, with expectations of definitive proof before laying down votes (see D1: No Lynch). You definitely need some things to talk about though - you can see how well zero input went in the mnml mafia.

 

short version, I like psychology a lot and I like puzzles a bit and I dislike sameness and laziness

[EEVILMURRAY]

would you lose interest in a game if you had no night action?

Yes.

 

Because every day you'd end up saying "Well, I didn't do anything last night as I have no power." There wouldn't be a reason for someone to roleblock you/redirect you as you're essentially useless. Fuck, the mafia would have no reason to kill you as you wouldn't be a threat, it'd be far beneficial to have someone around who can do nothing than an alignment investigator who could fuck things up for you...

 

There would have to be a sexy day power to make up for it.

Edited November 28, 2012 by EEVILMURRAY

[Dannyboy-the-Dane]

A few questions for regular mafia players..

 

Do you prefer role heavy games where info is readily available? or do you prefer analysing what people are saying and their voting patterns to weed out scum?

 

How important is having a night action to you? would you lose interest in a game if you had no night action?

 

Info in the write-up can quickly screw the mafia over, so I prefer the night actions to be the meat when it comes to info. It also encourages discussion and participation.

 

(see D1: No Lynch). You definitely need some things to talk about though

 

Well, that's a contradiction. How are you supposed to make a lynch on day 1 when there's literally nothing to talk about? Unless you start asking for roleclaims, but I doubt many would be willing to come out that early.

[Nintendohnut]

So you start putting pressure votes on until they reveal something. That gets other people talking as well. All you need is one thing to start a discussion and it can last for pages and pages, as you know On other forums day 1 almost always ends in a lynch of someone, based entirely on how someone has posted.