"I'm Too Busy To Play This" Mafia

The Game Room
1

So it’s come to this. You like playing mafia. You love playing mafia. Or, you’re indifferent to playing mafia but for some reason, you keep signing up because it’s bleeding addictive. Now, you find yourself without a game to play, but you’re too busy IRL. Or, you’ve signed up to way too many games, and you’re absolutely sure you won’t have time to play in this one as well.

Yeah, I know. I understand. :cool:

But you know what? You’re going to sign up for this one anyway. Why? Because you know that you’ll get killed off in that other game or three, or you’ll suddenly come down with debilitating phlebitis and won’t be able to do anything but lay in bed and play mafia games, and your schedule will suddenly open up. Here’s hoping!

Or you’ll post that you’re unable to play, just to make me look silly. HOW DARE YOU, SIR OR MADAM! :mad:

I’ve heard it all before. “My interwebs aren’t working, the tubes are clogged! I have to wash my hair that month! I’m going through severe chest pains and will likely be dead shortly or at the very least, quite grumpy!” Blah blah blah. :rolleyes:

Yes, yes, I know. But I also know that somewhere out there in this great big marble there’s a group of insane mafia-addicted freaks who don’t care about how many other mafias they’re in, or how clogged are thy tubes. Huddled in the dark, away from the evil sunlight, hovering over the faint glow of their computer screens, they lurk… buried under empty soda cans and bags of Doritos they wait… oblivious to the outside world, or whatever television programming there might be. They bravely forgo normal and healthy relationships with actual sentient beings, and return to the forgotten corners of the internet machine, and like advertising spam bots, post incessantly and in pseudo-human fashion, all for the sake of mafia. A game where you get nothing if you win, and the purpose of the game is to lie to your friends and murder them good and dead, and keep murdering them until they stop twitching or the chainsaw runs out of gasoline. :eek:

This is how we spend our free time, and it does NOT make us sociopaths, your honor. They were **all **totally dead when I found them. I was clipping my toenails the whole time they were being butchered, up to and including the part where I hid the murder weapon underneath the cement floor of my basement. The crime is therefore unsolvable!

I propose that until the true culprits are found, I write a book, sort of a hypothetical “if I did do it”, where I talk about how I did it, where I did it, who I did it to, and where I hid the bodies, in graphic detail. And the rest of you can sign up to my mafia game.

Rules and story information will come later, if the game gets enough players. If not, I will quietly bury this thread in the backyard. I have to move the bodies anyway, so it kills two birds with one shovel.
Sign up already. I can host a game with 25 players or more, that would be enough to be interesting. Or you can abandon me and let it gnaw on your conscience for all eternity. :slight_smile:

2

/in

3

/in. I can handle two.

4

I’m afraid I’m already playing in two games, with another one in the wings as soon as one of those is done.

/in

5

If you’re accepting first time mafia players, I’m in.

6

Yes, absolutely I’m accepting first time players.

If you’d like some general advice/orientation information please let me know.

7

/In

8

I hate you.

/in

9

Eh, what the hell. Let’s do this thing!

10
  1. Mahaloth
  2. Drain Bead
  3. Suburban Plankton
  4. Mosier
  5. Scathach
  6. Fubbleskag
  7. Astral Rejection
    Good start! We have seven, so we’re about 1/3 to 1/4 of the way there. I have not done personal invitations yet, but I think I should start. Methinks grabbing some folks from the last game is a good place to begin. I’ll keep in mind some folks said they wouldn’t be able to play.
11

But wait, there’s more.

So I’ve hosted all sorts of games before, from the classic vanilla setup where everyone is a basic townie and the mafia are basic goons with murder powers, to all-power role setups, to themed games where everyone is a familiar character, to highly experimental games with very unusual mechanics.

As this is my debut game on this forum, I’d like to play to my audience’s taste as best I can before I open up a can of craziness that only appeals to a certain few.

Please indicate what sort of games you enjoy, and what sort of games you would regret having signed up for.

  1. A basic vanilla setup with a decent story.

  2. A “vanillesque” game where most folks are vanilla but not everyone is.

  3. A themed game with familiar characters, such as The Little Mermaid mafia I’m hosting on another site, or a game based on Futurama or The Simpsons, etc; not specifically those, but something like that.

  4. A more complex game where even the basic roles have something to do.

  5. A mostly specialist-role game, such as Gadarene’s Mystery Mafia, where everyone has a night action or special power.

  6. An advanced, role-playing type game similar to Astral Rejection’s De’endee Mafia, where you can gain experience points and become more powerful, and there may be mechanics like hit points and special “events”.

  7. I’m not afraid, Pizzaguy. You’re a mad, mad, mad, mad scientist, and I want to see your most insane creation yet.

12

3, 4, 5, and 7. I prefer all-power games.

13

Invite list

If you’d like to invite a friend to come play this game, please consult the invite list first.

I’ve already invited these people, please do not spam them with additional invites.

Blaster Master ;
brewha ;
bufftabby ;
crackedquads ;
Dancecat ;
Episkey ;
Giraffe ;
gnarlycharlie ;
GuiriEnEspaña ;
Hirka T’Bawa ;
Idle Thoughts ;
Inner Stickler ;
Krayz ;
LightFoot ;
lilflower ;
Meeko ;
MykBot ;
Normal Phase ;
peekercpa ;
PetW ;
Precambrianmollusc ;
sachertorte ;
Scuba_Ben ;
septimus ;
Silman ;
Silver Jan ;
SisterCoyote ;
TexCat ;
TimeLady ;
Zeriel ;

14

6, because I’d love to see another take on my DND-style game, and
7, because that sounds awesome.

3, 4, and 5 also sound cool!

15

in if you’ll have me for 4, 5, 6, or 7.

16

You know what’s funny, Astral, is I’ve been thinking heavily on how I would build on your DND game, but there was talk of you hosting a sequel and I didn’t want to infringe on your creative designs. If you honestly don’t mind, I have already done a lot of the heavy thinking as to where I would go with it. That said, I have personally never played Dungeons and Dragons but once or twice, and so therefore it would be in that style, but it would most definitely look very different from true DnD.

It’s one of four or five ideas I’m batting around in my brain cavity.

17

Also, the popularity of option 7 is scaring me. You folks really are unafraid, aren’t you?

:wink:

I’d better get the juices flowing then. Looks like we’re gearing up for another truly unique design.

18

Heads up for folks who are seeking a game where every player has something to do. I can do those games, but as game host, I have developed a certain set of principles which differ from other game hosts. You may be interested to know, you can’t always rely on those roles to save you… you must still use your gut.

[spoiler]All-power-role games are sometimes susceptible to being solved by mass claim, solved by spreadsheet, or solved by brute force. Fair warning; all of my game designs are specifically made to thwart that kind of stuff.

What I mean by that is that if every townie truthfully claims their role on day one, the game will still be difficult to solve, and it may in fact be detrimental to the town side for them to do so, because it will give the mafia exactly what they need to know to destroy them.

I don’t like having a guessing/mystery game solved by mass reveal, because that takes no creative thought or strategic brilliance. So generally, such strategies will blow up in your face whenever I’m hosting.

Solved by spreadsheet: I’ve played in games where groups of people can attack someone, even if the group is comprised of townies. And, groups of people can defend someone, even if the group is comprised of basic townies. By ordering everyone to attack and defend for the purposes of occupying them and gaining information, it is possible to prevent the mafia from attacking successfully without outing themselves. In games with mostly-powerful roles, similar behaviors can result in an unbalanced game that is solvable by forcing others to behave a certain way in order to create a paper trail and resolve the game via spreadsheet, interrogation, and careful note-taking. While it is challenging, it also sucks all the fun out of the game for folks who would prefer to solve it on their own, instead of following the orders of the appointed town leader. Their input is no longer required, for either lynching or night actions, and they are essentially acting as the puppet of the town puppetmaster. That’s not what I consider mafia and I’ve seen this happen enough times, and seen how un-fun it is for 90% of the players, that I design my more complex games with loopholes which allow the mafia to break free of such boxes and still kick the town’s ass.

Finally, solving by brute force.

Doctor, roleblocker, vigilante, investigator. Suppose you anticipate that all four roles are in the game. Basic vanilla townie volunteers to lead their efforts by coordinating, without asking for reveals.

“Roleblocker, block player 1. Vigilante, kill player 2. Investigator, look at player 3. Doctor, cover someone besides players 1, 2, and 3.”

Now, the game is being solved by brute force due to townie power roles.

Nope. I have played enough games to have seen this strategy. it’s good, don’t get me wrong. It’s a very efficient strategy and if at all possible, town should use it because it’s fantastic.

That said, when I design games, I design them to avoid brute force solutions, and I absolutely hate perfect information (such as true detectives) and 100% effective roleblockers, doctors, etc unless certain conditions exist where they won’t break the game for the scumbags.

So, in a mostly power role game of mine, you can expect the following:

  1. Mass claims are more likely to hurt the town than help.
  2. Mafia will be able to blend in, or have an alibi, or otherwise break free from attempts to solve the game via spreadsheet
  3. Town power roles may not always be 100% effective against the scum, but they will generally still be useful. They just won’t provide you with the kind of data you could use to solve the game outright.

The bottom line is, at some point you will have to make guesses. They could be educated guesses but you won’t be able to simply solve the game. It’s a limited information guessing game. So most attempts to solve by brute force will fail.

You must use your gut sometimes. I hate obvious solutions. So be prepared for that, and expect the unexpected.[/spoiler]

19

Will this game use http://www.quicktopic.com/ for secret boards, e.g. for scum and masons?

If so, I may be unable to play. For unexplained reasons I can’t access that site. (Blacklist? Censorship?)

(I could sign up, then ask to be subbed out if I’m assigned a scum role. That would make my innocence clear if I don’t ask for the sub-out. :smiley: )

20

I generally assist the players by setting up quicktopics for them to use, however for instances where folks such as yourself cannot access that site, alternatives will be presented.

No one will be unable to play the game due to the inability to access quicktopic.com. In fact if players prefer that none of the hidden boards are on quicktopic, that’s fine, just give me some options for a different site that is preferred.