My proposed twist on Mafia

Thread Games
1

So I was channel-surfing some time ago and came upon one of my favorite movies, John Carpenter’s The Thing. As I watched, I started thinking about the Mafia game I was then embroiled in, and started to imagine a cool-sounding variant of the game and wondering if something like it had been done.

The setup would be mostly straightforward Mafia. Instead of Villagers or Town, there’d be Expedition Members. And instead of Mafia or Wolves, there’d be Things. There’d be Day Lynches and Night Kills, like normal. Here is the big twist:

During the Night cycle, Things would have the option of either killing an Expedition Member — or turning them into a Thing.

The game would end, like a normal game, when Things outnumber EMs.

It seems to me this setup gives the scum a huge advantage, so there need to be mechanisms to counter that. Here are my ideas for making the game more balanced:

Numbers. The game I played had a town-to-scum ratio of about 4:1. To make the victory more challenging for the Things, that ratio would be much wider. I even contemplate beginning the game with one Thing, who then has to choose between building up his side and taking out Expedition Members. (And hope to hell he doesn’t get taken out the first Day.)

The Thing Test. EVERY Expedition Member can PM the mod ONCE during the game to learn the (current) alignment of one player. How this info is then used/received is of course another matter. The fact that alignments can change makes timing a key factor in using this power.

Movie-inspired power roles:
[ul]
[li]Garry, the Station Manager. Beginning on Day Two, he can discreetly name one player per Day to be Tied to a Chair (see below). [/li][li]Blair, the Biologist (Detective). Blair can investigate a player on every turn.[/li][li]Copper, the Expedition Doctor (Guardian). Can protect one player a Night from being killed. He CANNOT protect players from Day Kills (see below) or from being turned into Things.[/li][li]MacReady, the Second in Command. If Garry is killed, MacReady inherits his power.[/li][li]Clark, Childs and Palmer. Like Masons in the newbie game I played, these three begin the game knowing each other are human. (That can change, of course.)[/li][/ul]
Other ideas to bring cool shit from the movie into the game:

[ul]
[li]Tied to a Chair. A player Tied to a Chair can participate in the discussion, but cannot vote for the Day’s lynch, and if he is a Thing, he cannot join the discussion with the other Things at Night. Assuming he is not lynched or NK’ed, the tied player is automatically released from the chair the next Day. The same player cannot be tied twice consecutively. Garry may tie himself to the chair if he chooses.[/li][li]Day Kills. A Thing may, if its back is truly against the wall, reveal itself and kill any EM at any point during the Day. This attack also kills the Thing in question. A Thing who is Tied to a Chair cannot commit a Day Kill. Not sure how much this would potentially unbalance the game.[/li][/ul]
Anyway, that’s my idea. I’m curious to have some experienced players poke some holes in this setup and help fix it up. And if there’s enough interest and enthusiasm — and everyone isn’t Mafia’d out after this year — I’d be willing to try modding this game sometime over the winter.

2

Day 1: All agree to use their once only power on another specified unique person (in RL this would be something like the person on their left in a circle.)

Everyone allegedly does so is asked to reveal if their target is the Thing; non-Things speak truth here.

If the Thing claims their assigned person isn’t the Thing, then the group sees only one person has been accused, and that person is the Thing.

If the Thing claims their assigned person is the Thing, the group will see two accusers… but one of them was assigned the other accuser in step 1 and the other was assigned someone who isn’t accusing anyone. The person who is accusing a person who isn’t also an accuser must be the Thing.

With no guessing, the Thing is always lynched at the end of day one.

3

The bigger problem is that recruitment to the other side doesn’t actually make for a fun game. It seems like it ought to, because it makes for high levels of paranoia and a new level of complexity in trying to detect when people change. But in practice, it doesn’t really work:

For one thing, Town tends to better in Mafia after a few days because they can see a vote record and posts from opponents who have been consistently Scum. Recruitment takes that away - Things will have at least one Day of genuinely pro-Expedition posts and votes rather than leaving a trail. Similarly, Barry’s investigation results are worth less than in a Mafia game because they’re out of date almost as soon as he gets them.

But the main problem is for people who are recruited: it’s kind of depressing. If you’ve been playing enthusiastically for the Expedition for, say, four game Days or perhaps a month in real time, it really sucks to be suddenly told to forget all that and shift your allegiance to the team you’ve just been trying to beat. It’d be like starting a competitive game of chess as White, only to be told half way through that we’re turning the board round and you have to finish as Black. (Or, if you like your analogies more active, being told you have to start scoring against the team you’ve just been playing on.) It really destroys motivation among players.

I’m sorry for being so negative because it’s always worth looking for new twists on Mafia but recruitment tends to lead to unsatisfied players.

4

As presented I see no reason why the Things would kill anyone.

5

Good points. Well, it was a fun mental exercise anyway!

6

We need to get Astral to run DeeEnDee Mafia 3 so we can try a mix-up game again.

7

The Thing is my absolute favorite movie. Count me in to help play test.

8

I’m trying to remember how the Thing’s powers worked in that movie. Did it invade people’s bodies and take them over, or did it merely shape-shift to resemble people?

Here’s another possible way to do it that could address some of the problems that have been pointed out: the number of Things cannot increase. If a Thing takes over a new player, the Thing’s previous identity is declared dead. The newly taken-over player is secretly dead, and may not compose their own posts; instead they receive PMs from the Thing player telling them what to post. (This part would be tricky to implement. How promptly is the taken-over player expected to obey?)

This way, the Things reveal information if they choose to use their special power. Also, no one is actually expected to switch sides and play against their old team.

9

It either killed them out right, or it took them over/invaded their bodies. It was never clear, though, if after being taken over, that they were all of one hive type mind, or another separate Thing that could act independently.

My personal belief is that they were independent, and didn’t necessarily know who else was a Thing, except for of course the one who took them over, and the ones they themselves take over. I’m not sure how that can be translated into the game however.

10

There was a game over on domebo 9spin off board) called Pod people

seams like it had a similar set up of one scum who recruits every night and various town roles.

It worked pretty well if I remember , although you obviously have a recruitment mechanic , and that is not everybodies cup of tea