Mafia: Mutiny on the SS Incorrigible

The Game Room
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Mafia: Mutiny on the SS Incorrigible

Preface

This is a small Mafia/Werewolf game, without many players and a short turn-around. New players are welcome! The rules are open and have a couple novel mechanisms which I hope will keep things interesting. Because this is a small game, please do not join if you won’t be able to participate fully–you will definitely disadvantage your teammates.

Introduction

The Space Ship Incorrigible has been on a long, uneventful mission. Some blame the Captain, others the Headquarters, but it has been too long and too uneventful. The crew is restless. Most simply complain under their breath or make snarky remarks to the officers. But others have taken a more sinister approach to relieve boredom: mutiny!

Yes, a few to several malcontents have started eliminating other crew members. While there are official procedures to handle the situation, even the Loyal crew has become slightly crazed. Assumed Mutinous crew members will be spaced; that is, forced to take a long space-walk with short oxygen tank.

Game Rules

The game is divided into Days and Nights. Game Days last three real-life days, game Nights last one real-life day. Only weekdays are considered for this; weekends do not count. All Days and Nights will end/begin at noon Pacific Time (3pm ET). The game will begin with Day One, which will be five real-life days long.

Crew members must restrict game communications to the game thread, unless otherwise permitted by their role. Post editing is prohibited in the game thread. “Strategy” posts are discouraged at Night, but there is no strict rule about it. There are no post restrictions otherwise; you are free to quote PMs on any forums your role permits you to post.

There will be no substitutions. There is no enforcement of crew member participation. Crew members are encouraged to use their own means to enforce play styles and participation levels as they see fit.

This rules set is open, except for the distribution of roles. All crew members will have one of the listed roles below; missing or repeated roles are possible. All crew members are either Loyal or Mutinous, and no one will change sides. All rules questions must be directed to the moderator via PM.

This game requires 16 crew members. The game should take less than 6 weeks.

Each crew member may vote to space N distinct crew members, where N is the number of remaining Mutinous crew members. No votes by any crew member making fewer or more than this number will be counted. The number N will be announced at the beginning of each Day; on Day One, it will be 4. Votes should be bold and blue, and on their own line:
vote Pleonast, Huey, Dewey, Louie

A vote stands until the voter removes it or is detained in the Brig (see below), or a new Day begins. The crew member who has the most votes and has the votes of at least half of the crew members eligible to vote is spaced at the end of each Day. Any ties are resolved by the vote of the highest ranked crew member voting for a tied player. Unvote in bold and red on a separate line:
unvote Pleonast, Huey, Dewey, Louie

Crew member deaths are announced at the end of each Day and Night. Their role and side will be revealed at that time.

Officers

Every crew member has a rank. The top-five ranked living crew members are officers, with special abilities. Crew members advance to fill missing offices. Crew members in the Brig cannot be officers, but will regain their former position if released. If there are five or fewer crew members available to be officers, the Head of Engineering and Ship’s Doctor positions will not be filled. If there are three crew members available, the Executive Officer will also take on the Chief of Security’s authority. If there is only one or two, the Captain will be vested with the power of both the Executive Officer and Chief of Security. If somehow all living crew members are in the Brig, the ship’s fail-safe protocols will automatically release all prisoners.

  1. Captain
    Each Day the arrest order for any one crew member may be issued by the Captain. Also, each Day one arrest order may be cancelled by the Captain. It is up to the Chief of Security to actually detain or release the crew member. These actions are public. Place your orders in bold green in the game thread like this,
    arrest/release Pleonast
    Once issued, these orders may not be rescinded. They take effect immediately.

  2. Executive Officer
    Each Day one crew member may be promoted or demoted (except the Captain or Executive Officer) one position by the Executive Officer. This is a public action. Place your order in bold green in the game thread like this,
    promote/demote Pleonast
    Once issued, this order may not be rescinded. It takes effect immediately.

  3. Chief of Security
    Each Day one crew member with a standing arrest order may be detained by the Chief of Security. Detained crew members are placed in the Brig. Also, each Day one crew member who no longer has a standing arrest order may be released from the Brig by the Chief of Security. It is up to the Captain to issue and cancel arrest orders. These actions are public. Place your orders in bold green in the game thread like this,
    arrest/release Pleonast
    Once issued, these orders may not be rescinded. They take effect immediately.

  4. Head of Engineering
    Each Night the Head of Engineering may jury-rig the ship’s sensors to monitor any one crew member. The sensors are not well designed for this and will only detect proximity to other crew members. You will receive a single list at the end of the Night of all crew members who your target interacted with or who interacted with your target, in a randomized order. This is a secret action. Send a PM to the moderator with your order.

  5. Ship’s Doctor
    Each Day the Ship’s Doctor may order any one crew member to the medical bay for a complete psycho-physical exam. After the automated analysis, at the end the Day, the Ship’s Doctor will learn whether or not that crew member is Loyal or Mutinous. This is a public action, although the result is private. Place your order in bold green in the game thread like this,
    examine Pleonast
    Once issued, this order may not be rescinded.

Roles

Most crew members are Loyal. Their role PM is:
You are a Loyal crew member. You win when all Mutinous crew members are dead.

Other crew members are Mutinous crew members. Their role PM is:
You are a Mutinous crew member. Your comrades are (…). You win when, at any time, the number of Mutinous crew members not in the Brig is strictly greater than the number of Loyal crew members not in the Brig. You may secretly talk any time at the forum below, where you may choose one of your own (not in the Brig) to kill any one crew member each Night.

There may also be some special roles. These crew members can be either Loyal or Mutinous, except for Mates who will always be Loyal and Ring Leaders who will always be Mutinous. Their role PM will have an additional paragraph:
You were school Mates with (…). You trust them implicitly and know they must be Loyal crew members.

You are the Ring Leader of the mutiny. You are a smooth liar and if examined by the Ship’s Doctor, will pass as Loyal.

You are a Hacker. One time only, you may change during the Night the rank number of any one crew member, including yourself, to any number of your choice. The new rank ordering will take effect and be revealed to all at the beginning of the Day, including new officers, if any.

You are a Cracker. One time only, you may release at Night one prisoner of your choice (except yourself) from the Brig. The release will happen at the beginning of the Day. This does not remove any standing arrest orders.

You are a Commissar covertly placed on board the SS Insipid by the Secret Police to prevent the kind of mutiny that is now occurring. Each Night, you may opt to eliminate one crew member who is not in the Brig. However, your authority is limited; if you kill a Loyal crew member, you must resign your commission (lowering your rank to the bottom), place yourself in the Brig (although you will not have a standing arrest warrant), and you will no longer have the ability to kill each Night.

The Brig

Crew members detained in the Brig may still participate in discussion, but may not vote to space crew members, are relieved of any officer position (but still retain their rank), and cannot use any powers (including Mutinous murder). They are still vulnerable to being spaced by the crew, but are protected against being killed by other means.

Previous Game

A similar rules set “Mutiny on the SS Insipid” was run earlier:Game Thread
Scum Board
Unspoiled Discussion Thread
Spoiled Forum

2

Sign me up. I don’t mind playing two games at once.

3

Ooh, interesting. So some of the power roles can be held by Town or Scum, in essence, but never go away - there will always be a Cop, for example, but the player who holds the role will not always be the same and will not be certain Town?

4

Yep. The powers (except for a few one-shots) are detached from the roles. This guarantees that information becomes available, but adds uncertainty to its reliability. Most powers are also used publicly. This has the potential to be very useful to town. Scum won the first version of this rules set, mostly because there were only 10 players, but 3 scum.

Also note the voting system. Each player must multivote based on the number of remaining scum. I’m hoping this will encourage participation.

Sign ups so far:

  1. Mahaloth
5

A quite interesting modification to the standard rules that looks to allow for a lot of analysis. I skimed the previous game and agree with the idea that the Town has some pretty big advantages, but those advantages take time to actually be useful. I suspect that this game might be too heavily biased towards Town in response, but we’ll see.

Sign me up.

6

I think it’s a neat way to avoid the “lynch everyone and win” plan discussed in one of the unspoiled discussion threats with a multilynch (only there it was a mass tie). It’s better than borda voting since at the end game you only have a single vote so scum can’t abuse secondary votes as much then. I think I like it so

/in
since Monty Python should wrap up in a couple of weeks as well I think.

BTW I guess the Commissar(s) who were covertly placed on board the SS Insipid are fleeing from the successful mutiny there to the SS Incorrigible as we speak? :slight_smile:

7

I expect to be working my balls off until next Thursday at least (a deadline that I forgot was so imminent), so unless it takes a long time to fill up, count me out.

But to be clear on the multivoting: Can a person vote one at a time, so long as it’s the correct number of votes in place at Day-end, or must all three votes be cast and uncast simultaneously? It’d be annoying if, say, one of the people you’re voting for claims Mate, and you therefore have to unvote all three and then re-vote two of them plus someone else.

8

/in

9

I’m slightly nervous about the balance favoring the town as well, but my balancing analysis assumes a level of coordination among town that typically does not happen. So I think it’ll be fair enough.

I tried multi-lynch in one game (Munchkin Mafia here on the SDMB) and it is way too powerful for the town. Never again. Multi-voting also favors the town, but in a less overpowering way.

The Commissar was a role I had planned for the first game, but not enough players signed up, so it wasn’t used. The Loyal crew could’ve used one. :slight_smile: Games less than about 15 are too hard to balance and too swingy, so I’ve fixed this one at 16.

Votes can be single or multiple, as long as the player is voting the required number, they’ll count.

Sign ups so far:

  1. Mahaloth
  2. glowacks
  3. Natlaw
  4. Drain Bead
10

This looks like fun ruleset to cut my Mafia teeth on. Count me /in.

11

Since I’m always a fan of your games, Pleo, I’ll play.
(Saving the next Conspiracy for my boards? :slight_smile: )

12

Ok, this is intriguing. Count me in.

Advanced warning to other players in the game, my life has changed dramatically since the last time I played mafia so my play schedule will be different. I don’t really know how it will effect things, but I am in the eastern time zone these days and I am a full time dad (at least for the moment), so don’t read anything into any difference in how I participate.

13

Welcome to Mafia, Crackrat! We bite, but you’ll get used to it. :wink:

Yes, I am. :smiley: Conspiracy is too complicated for this board–it’s easier to manage Days and Nights in separate threads and have the three secret boards all in one place.

Sign ups so far:

  1. Mahaloth
  2. glowacks
  3. Natlaw
  4. Drain Bead
  5. Crackrat
  6. Idle Thoughts
  7. NAF1138
14

I don’t remember, but I think I’ve missed most of the Conspiracy games. I may have subbed into one and then immediately been Nightkilled. I would like a spot in the next one, whenever it runs.

15

Oh heck, I’ll give it a go.
You say that only Mate and Ringleader roles will have fixed alignments, but I’m struggling to see how there can be a Mutinous version of the Commissar, especially with respect to the remorseful self-Brigging. Is the Commissar a Loyal-only role too?

16

Drain, keep an eye on Idle’s mafia board. Whenever my turns come up to mod, it’ll be a Conspiracy game. I have like three more ready to run. :slight_smile:

The Commissar can be either Loyal or Mutinous. A one-time bonus kill with a small penalty is a fair scum role.

Half way there:

  1. Mahaloth
  2. glowacks
  3. Natlaw
  4. Drain Bead
  5. Crackrat
  6. Idle Thoughts
  7. NAF1138
  8. Stanislaus
17

By the way, Crackrat,

Be advised: Pleonast’s rulesets are usually fun, but they’re also very different from most Mafia games, in having vastly more hard, concrete information. The skills that help you here won’t necessarily transfer over to other games, or vice-versa.

18

True. For many of us that is the fun of it.

Newbies should have fun either way.

19

I’m /in if we’ll be finished by May 1? I won’t have internet access after May 1 for a couple of weeks.

20

The unusualness of my rules sets also means that new players are at less of a disadvantage, since the experienced players are more used to closed games.

TexCat, it’s unlikely the game will last more than 6 weeks. It should be over before May. And even if it’s not, most players will be dead before then. :smiley:

Sign ups so far:

  1. Mahaloth
  2. glowacks
  3. Natlaw
  4. Drain Bead
  5. Crackrat
  6. Idle Thoughts
  7. NAF1138
  8. Stanislaus
  9. TexCat