I've been working on a card game variant of Choose Your Own Mafia. It ditches the masquerade and nightless parts (though maybe Masquerade should be kept), and gives a sort of deck building aspect to it. Players make their roles up with cards.
Choose-Your-Own-Collectable-Card-Mafia
This is a Choose-Your-Own-Mafia game, and like every earlier version of the game, it has a different ruleset. In this game you will spend Experience Points (xp) to get Booster Packs. Each Booster Pack contains a number of role cards, from which you will construct your role. During the day, you may also trade cards with other players.
By default, each role is composed of the following four card slots. Some cards will grant you additional slots. You don't have to fill every slot.
1 Action
1 Target
1 Reflexive
1 Flaw
Players start with 5xp. Each night survived gets a player 1xp more. Additional cards are gained from buying booster packs (see Booster Packs). Unused cards are left loose in the player's inventory and may be used on subsequent nights. Replacing any card in one of your slots will destroy it.
An action (A) card does something to at least one player. A target (T) card sets who the action can target (usually during the night phase unless the card says otherwise). In order to use an action it must be accompanied by a target card.
If a player has multiple actions then they will all target the same target (e.g. someone may be watched and protected in the same act). If a player can target multiple targets, they may assign their actions to different targets. (e.g. 4maskwolf has a [Kill], a [Block] and a [Target Two Different Players], and so may use the block on one player, the kill on another.
A reflexive (R) card passively (or automatically) changes the nature of someone's role (usually giving them an immunity to some other action). A flaw (F) card gives a downside, but gives the player one of the following bonuses:
Common: +2xp OR a target slot OR an action slot
Uncommon: +3xp OR a target slots and another flaw slot OR an action slot and another flaw slot OR a reflexive slot
Rare: +4xp OR two slots of any kind
Example: When Tiruin joins the game, she opts to have get the standardised Booster Pack. At the start of play, she gets the following cards:
[(C) T: One action on one other living target]
[(C) T: One action on one dead player]
[(C) A: Protect (stop one kill affecting the target)]
[(C) F: Hardcore (all protects on you fail)]
[(U) R: Cautious (You ignore Reflects)]
[(U) A: Poison (target dies at the end of the next cycle)]
[(R) R: Double-Voter (You have one additional vote)]
During N1, she plays the following cards on her board:
Action: Protect
Target: One action on one other living target
Auto: Cautious
Flaw: Hardcore
Because she played a flaw, she has an additional slot. She doesn't want to play the [Poison], so she gives herself the double voter auto, becoming a cautious double-voting hardcore doctor. She later might opt to trade away the excess cards with another player.
Standard Pack - 5xp - 7 cards: four common, two uncommon, one rare. One target card guaranteed among these.
Lucky Dip - 4xp - 7 cards, each has 62% chance of common, 25% uncommon, 13% rare. One target card guaranteed among these.
Job Lot - 3xp - 10 cards, each has a 85% chance of being common, 10% uncommon, 5% rare. Nothing guaranteed.
Cards are listed by type and rarity below.
Action Cards
Cards that are {untargeted} may be equipped without a target card.
Common
[(C) A: Pray For (target with no effect)]
[(C) A: Give Fruit (gives the target a piece of fruit)]
[(C) A: Steal (takes a random loose card from the target)]
[(C) A: Scan (learn how much xp a target has)]
[(C) A: Randomise (Randomises the target of actions the target takes this phase)]
[(C) A: Gift (Give a loose card of your choice)]
[(C) A: Protect (protects target against kills this phase)]
[(C) A: Cleanse (One of targets flaw cards is removed; if the target is infected/poisoned, the infection/poison is removed instead)]
[(C) A: Reveal (One of target's loose cards is publically revealed)]
[(C) A: Swap (swap any loose card with a random loose card your target has)]
[(C) A: Delay (Target's action happens a cycle later)]
[(C) A: Point Share (give any number of XP that you have to a target)]
[(C) A: Bless (Target gains a random common auto card)]
[(C) A: Diversify (Target gains a random common action card)]
[(C) A: Corrupt (Target gains a random common flaw card)]
[(C) A: Little Helper (Target gains a random common card)]
[(C) A: Count (find out the number of target's cards in play and loose)]
[(C) A: Taunt (target is redirected to you)]
[(C) A: Upgrade (convert a random loose card belonging to your target into a random card of a higher rarity)]
[(C) A: Do-Over (at the start of the next phase, the target's cards are now all loose)]
[(C) A: Target Cop (Learn a random active target card your target has, if any)]
Uncommon
[(U) A: Track (see who your target targets this phase)]
[(U) A: Patrol (See who targets your target this phase)]
[(U) A: Redirect (redirect one target onto another]
[(U) A: Chi Block (the target's reflexive cards will fail this phase]
[(U) A: Sap (steal all a player's unspent XP)]
[(U) A: Return (Name a card you think the target has on their board. This is sold off and at the start of the next phase, the player gains +1/+2/+3xp for a common/uncommon/rare)]
[(U) A: Mixed Blessings (If the target has no flaw, at the start of the next phase they gain a random flaw in their flaw slot, and a random loose card of matching rarity)]
[(U) A: Curse (target player gains a random uncommon flaw card, which is automatically played to their board at the start of the next phase if possible)
[(U) A: Mulligan (Target loses all loose cards and gain random cards of the same rarity)]
[(U) A: Power-Cop (target a player and choose one: learn all active powers, learn all active reflexives, learn all active flaws)
[(U) A: Santa (target player gains a random uncommon power card)
[(U) A: Copycat (Choose two targets, you perform all of player 1's powers on player 2. Doesn't work for multi-targeted powers. This counts towards the scum-team kill limit.)
[(U) A: Besmirch (Give a copy of one of your flaw cards to the target, which is automatically played to their board at the start of the next phase if possible)
[(U) A: Poison (target is killed at the end of the next cycle if they are not cleansed first. Non-circumspect players don't know they're poisoned.)
Rare
[(R) A: Blackmail (The target's vote counts for 0 votes until after the next lynch.)]
[(R) A: Nerf (Pick a power. That power now costs 1xp point to use each time. A power may only be Nerfed once; requires a target but does nothing to the target)
[(R) A: Vote Steal (take the vote from any other target)]
[(R) A: Reflect (Any action (other than reflects) that would successfully hit the target, hits the actor instead. This bypasses the usual restriction against self targeting.)]
[(R) A: Kill (kills the target)]
[(R) A: Hide (spend 1xp to become incapable of taking actions or being targeted until the next lynch; cannot use during the same phase as taking an action; doesn't require a target card)]
[(R) A: Infect (Target is Infected: Infected players have a 50/50 chance infecting players they target. Infection kills a player at the end of the following cycle. Non-circumspect players don't know they're infected.)]
[(R) A: Recall (pick a power - all players with that power sell it, gaining +1/+2/+3xp for a common/uncommon/rare, and the power card will no longer appear in draws; requires a target but does nothing to the target)]
[(R) A: Benefactor (your target gains either 3 random common, 2 random uncommon or 1 random rare card).
[(R) A: Pardon: Your target cannot be eliminated at the next end-of-day. Any votes on them will not count and hammers will not be in effect for them.]
Targets
[(C) T: One action on one other living target] *special: this card is 6x more common than other common target cards.
[(C) T: One action on a living target's target]
[(C) T: Two actions on two other living targets (no less than two actions, and they can't be the same action or target)]
[(C) T: One action on one dead player]
[(C) T: One action on one random player, dead or alive]
[(U) T: One action on two other living targets]
[(U) T: Two actions on one other living target (can't be the same)]
[(U) T: Two actions on two other living targets (can be the same)]
[(U) T: One action on yourself]
[(U) T: One action on everyone targeting your target]
[(U) T: One action on one dead target during the day]
[(U) T: One action on one other living player, and any number of other actions on any number of other players that do nothing]
[(U) T: Up to two actions on up to two other random living players]
[(U) T: One action on every dead player]
[(R) T: One action on one living target during the day]
[(R) T: One action on every living target]
[(R) T: Up to three actions on up to three other living players (can be the same)]
[(R) T: One action on one other target. Gain another slot of any kind.]
[(R) T: One action on everyone targeting yourself. This may bypass mafia kill limits.]
Reflexives
Common
[(C) R: Bloodthirsty (get 1xp every time an elimination occurs with your vote on the player that gets eliminated.)]
[(C) R: Thrill-seeker (get 2xp every time an elimination occurs with the number of votes on you equal to or one point less than the player with the most votes)]
[(C) R: Power of Healing (gain +1xp every time you successfully protect another player from a cause of death or remove an infection or poison from another player.)]
[(C) R: Bounty-hunter (gain 1xp every time an action you have performed was a necessary part of someone's death.)]
[(C) R: Cheapskate (you can ignore any xp costs to activate actions.)
[(C) R: Virtuous (you can't be blackmailed or receive a flaw from mixed blessings)]
[(C) R: Silent (you can't be tracked and you don't appear on patrol reports)]
[(C) R: Immovable (you cannot be redirected, taunted or randomised)]
[(C) R: Hasty (You cannot be delayed and any attempts to copy your actions fail)]
[(C) R: Holy (cannot be cursed or besmirched.)]
Uncommon
[(U) R: Super-Saint (The person who casts the final vote on you will also die if you are successfully eliminated. This doesn't count towards the scum-team kill limit.)]
[(U) R: Radiant (Each time someone successfully targets you, that action is also copied onto a random player)]
[(U) R: Hardy (you cannot be sapped or have your vote stolen)
[(U) R: Circumspect (you always know the reason why your actions fail and you always know if you've been poisoned or infected)]
[(U) R: Cautious (you ignore any reflects, super-saints or explosiveness)]
[(U) R: Secure (your loose cards cannot be taken by others and you cannot be sapped)]
[(U) R: Alibi (Gain a dummy action, target, reflexive and flaw slot: if you have a card in those slots, it will be revealed instead of your actual cards if you are inspected by a cop)]
[(U) R: Grandfathered (Ignore returns and recalls)]
Rare
[(R) R: Prolific (gain an additional target or action slot)
[(R) R: Explosive (you kill anyone targeting a kill at you if you die. This doesn't count towards the scum-team kill limit.)]
[(R) R: Resurrection (After dying, you come alive again- you still get any day xp etc, but this card disappears on use.)]
[(R) R: Double-Voter (you have two votes)]
[(R) R: Immune - (you can't be poisoned or infected)]
Flaws
Common
Gain an additional
[(C) F: Insidious (You gain +1 xp at the end of each day but cannot spend xp on buying new packs)]
[(C) F: Hardcore (all protects on you fail)]
[(C) F: Filthy (all cleanses on you fail)]
[(C) F: Dense (you gain no experience points for surviving the day)]
[(C) F: Minimalist (If you ever receive a card from an action or reflexive card, it is randomly given away to a non-minimalist player if there are any non-minimalist players alive.)]
[(C) F: Mole (At the end of each day, a random player on a different team gets 1 xp.)]
[(C) F: Simple (You cannot receive more than 1xp per day)]
[(C) F: Sentimental (You cannot trade away your cards.)]
[(C) F: Basic (You have a 50% chance of gaining a common card instead when you gain any random non-common card, including from standard packs)]
[(U) F: Generous (you will give away a random loose card to a random player at the end of each night. This giving doesn't count as targeting for action-resolution purposes.)]
[(U) F: Mercenary (all your powers cost 1xp to play. )]
[(U) F: Blinkered (You can only target one target each phase, regardless of what your target cards say.)
[(U) F: Pariah (You are unable to vote.)]
[(U) F: Unreliable (your powers and reflexives have a 50% chance of failure whenever activated.)]
[(U) F: Magnetic (your powers have a 50% chance of targeting yourself.)]
[(R) F: Lover (a random living player is picked; while you have this card played if they die, so do you)]
[(R) F: One-Shot (your powers disappear after they've been used.)]
[(R) F: Intermittent (your powers only work on even phases.)
[(R) F: Fragile (Any rare power that targets you also counts as a kill. This kill counts towards the actor's kill-limit.)]
[(R) F: Guilty Conscience (You die if your vote is on a town player and they get mislynched.)]
You may agree to any trade in principle with any player during the day. At night, as part of your action, you may freely give any player any number of cards. You don't have to honour trades made. Trades are processed after actions and may be disrupted by theft.
Mafia are card thieves. They have a special card theft ability, which they may target 1+(xp spent) players, stealing either: a random loose card OR a specific card which they name (whether loose or played)- if they fail to take a specific one (they name it and the target doesn't have it), they will take a random loose card from their target instead. Theft happens before actions are processed and cannot be tracked. It cannot be guarded against except by not broadcasting what cards you have.
Mafia may also subvert the rules: each night, one mafia player may treat their action as if it were a Kill. The card still appears as normal if inspected.
If you're town you win when all scum team members are dead.
If you're scum, you win when all living players are of your scum team. Scum players have access to the Theft and Subvert abilities (see above). Mafia cannot Kill more than once per cycle, though they may Poison or Infect.
The whole design is that players still get to make their roles, but they're limited at any given time by the number of powers they can take, and what powers are available to take. This should limit really cheesy game-breaking strategies, but still give players some flexibility.
The common action cards are mostly trash (by design), so players will want to get uncommon or rare action cards. Uncommon and rare targeting gives them more power, flaws of all kinds give them more flexibility and power. All of the reflexive (previously called 'auto') cards are useful, so but there are only so many slots, which limits the power. I might add 3rd parties in, or have multiple scum teams, I'm not sure yet.
Some questions:
- Should there be more cards in the packs or is 7 a sweet spot? Here's a selection of random draws for reference:
In the real game, the draft draws would be fresh each time and so cards may occur between them, but to maximise variety for this I used unique cards in each of the standard and lucky dip draws.
Standard Pack 1
[(C) A: Corrupt (Target gains a random common flaw card)]
[(C) A: Target Cop (Learn a random active target card your target has, if any)]
[(C) A: Cleanse (One of targets flaw cards is removed; if the target is infected/poisoned, the infection/poison is removed instead)]
[(C) A: Taunt (target is redirected to you)]
[(U) R: Super-Saint (The person who casts the final vote on you will also die if you are successfully eliminated. This doesn't count towards the scum-team kill limit.)]
[(U) R: Grandfathered (Ignore returns and recalls)]
[(R) T: Up to three actions on up to three other living players (can be the same)]
Standard Pack 2
[(C) F: Dense (you gain no experience points for surviving the day)]
[(C) F: Basic (You have a 50% chance of gaining a common card instead when you gain any random non-common card, including from standard packs)]
[(C) T: One action on one other living target]
[(C) R: Cheapskate (you can ignore any xp costs to activate actions.)
[(U) A: Power-Cop (target a player and choose one: learn all active powers, learn all active reflexives, learn all active flaws)
[(U) T: Two actions on one other living target (can't be the same)]
[(R) A: Recall (pick a power - all players with that power sell it, gaining +1/+2/+3xp for a common/uncommon/rare, and the power card will no longer appear in draws; requires a target but does nothing to the target)]
Standard Pack 3
[(C) R: Bloodthirsty (get 1xp every time an elimination occurs with your vote on the player that gets eliminated.)]
[(C) A: Protect (protects target against kills this phase)]
[(C) A: Bless (Target gains a random common auto card)]
[(C) A: Diversify (Target gains a random common action card)]
[(U) F: Blinkered (You can only target one target each phase, regardless of what your target cards say.)
[(U) F: Unreliable (your powers and reflexives have a 50% chance of failure whenever activated.)]
[(R) T: One action on one other target. Gain another slot of any kind.]
Standard Pack 4
[(C) A: Do-Over (at the start of the next phase, the target's cards are now all loose)]
[(C) A: Pray For (target with no effect)]
[(C) A: Randomise (Randomises the target of actions the target takes this phase)]
[(C) A: Upgrade (convert a random loose card belonging to your target into a random card of a higher rarity)]
[(U) T: One action on yourself]
[(U) A: Copycat (Choose two targets, you perform all of player 1's powers on player 2. Doesn't work for multi-targeted powers. This counts towards the scum-team kill limit.)
[(R) R: Double-Voter (you have two votes)]
Lucky Dip 1
Common x2, uncommon x2, rare x3 (great!)
[(C) F: Minimalist (If you ever receive a card from an action or reflexive card, it is randomly given away to a non-minimalist player if there are any non-minimalist players alive.)]
[(C) T: Two actions on two other living targets (no less than two actions, and they can't be the same action or target)]
[(U) A: Mulligan (Target loses all loose cards and gain random cards of the same rarity)]
[(U) A: Chi Block (the target's reflexive cards will fail this phase]
[(R) F: Fragile (Any rare power that targets you also counts as a kill. This kill counts towards the actor's kill-limit.)]
Lucky Dip 2
Common x3, Uncommon x3, Rare x1 (good)
[(C) A: Count (find out the number of target's cards in play and loose)]
[(C) F: Filthy (all cleanses on you fail)]
[(C) T: One action on one other living target] *special: this card is 6x more common than other common target cards.
[(U) A: Curse (target player gains a random uncommon flaw card, which is automatically played to their board at the start of the next phase if possible)
[(U) A: Track (see who your target targets this phase)]
[(U) A: Mixed Blessings (If the target has no flaw, at the start of the next phase they gain a random flaw in their flaw slot, and a random loose card of matching rarity)]
[(R) R: Explosive (you kill anyone targeting a kill at you if you die. This doesn't count towards the scum-team kill limit.)]
Lucky Dip 3
Common x5, Uncommon x1, Rare x1 (ok)
[(C) A: Little Helper (Target gains a random common card)]
[(C) A: Gift (Give a loose card of your choice)]
[(C) A: Reveal (One of target's loose cards is publically revealed)]
[(C) T: One action on one other living target]
[(C) A: Point Share (give any number of XP that you have to a target)]
[(U) R: Hardy (you cannot be sapped or have your vote stolen)
[(R) A: Infect (Target is Infected: Infected players have a 50/50 chance infecting players they target. Infection kills a player at the end of the following cycle. Non-circumspect players don't know they're infected.)]
Lucky Dip 4
Common x6, Uncommon x1 (bad!)
[(C) T: One action on one other living target] *special: this card is 6x more common than other common target cards.
[(C) F: Simple (You cannot receive more than 1xp per day)]
[(C) R: Bounty-hunter (gain 1xp every time an action you have performed was a necessary part of someone's death.)]
[(C) T: One action on one other living target]
[(C) A: Swap (swap any loose card with a random loose card your target has)]
[(C) R: Holy (cannot be cursed or besmirched.)]
[(U) R: Circumspect (you always know the reason why your actions fail and you always know if you've been poisoned or infected)]
Job Lot 1
x8 common, x1 uncommon, x1 rare (fine)
[(C) T: One action on a living target's target]
[(C) A: Randomise (Randomises the target of actions the target takes this phase)]
[(C) A: Gift (Give a loose card of your choice)]
[(C) F: Simple (You cannot receive more than 1xp per day)]
[(C) A: Count (find out the number of target's cards in play and loose)]
[(C) R: Hasty (You cannot be delayed and any attempts to copy your actions fail)]
[(C) A: Taunt (target is redirected to you)]
[(C) A: Give Fruit (gives the target a piece of fruit)]
[(U) F: Mercenary (all your powers cost 1xp to play. )]
[(R) A: Pardon: Your target cannot be eliminated at the next end-of-day. Any votes on them will not count and hammers will not be in effect for them.]
Job Lot 2
x7 common, x3 uncommon (bad)
[(C) R: Immovable (you cannot be redirected, taunted or randomised)]
[(C) T: One action on one other living target]
[(C) A: Corrupt (Target gains a random common flaw card)]
[(C) A: Diversify (Target gains a random common action card)]
[(C) A: Do-Over (at the start of the next phase, the target's cards are now all loose)]
[(C) T: One action on one other living target] *special: this card is 6x more common than other common target cards.
[(C) F: Mole (At the end of each day, a random player on a different team gets 1 xp.)]
[(U) T: One action on one dead target during the day]
[(U) T: Up to two actions on up to two other random living players]
[(U) R: Grandfathered (Ignore returns and recalls)]
Job Lot 3
x6 common, x3 uncommon, x1 rare (good)
[(C) A: Target Cop (Learn a random active target card your target has, if any)]
[(C) T: One action on one dead player]
[(C) T: One action on one other living target]
[(C) F: Hardcore (all protects on you fail)]
[(C) T: One action on one other living target]
[(C) F: Dense (you gain no experience points for surviving the day)]
[(U) R: Secure (your loose cards cannot be taken by others and you cannot be sapped)]
[(U) A: Curse (target player gains a random uncommon flaw card, which is automatically played to their board at the start of the next phase if possible)
[(U) A: Redirect (redirect one target onto another]
[(R) T: Up to three actions on up to three other living players (can be the same)]
Job Lot 4
x7 common, x1 uncommon, x2 rare (great)
[(C) F: Filthy (all cleanses on you fail)]
[(C) R: Thrill-seeker (get 2xp every time an elimination occurs with the number of votes on you equal to or one point less than the player with the most votes)]
[(C) T: One action on one other living target]
[(C) T: One action on one random player, dead or alive]
[(C) R: Holy (cannot be cursed or besmirched.)]
[(C) A: Steal (takes a random loose card from the target)]
[(C) R: Power of Healing (gain +1xp every time you successfully protect another player from a cause of death or remove an infection or poison from another player.)]
[(U) A: Mulligan (Target loses all loose cards and gain random cards of the same rarity)]
[(R) R: Resurrection (After dying, you come alive again- you still get any day xp etc, but this card disappears on use.)]
[(R) A: Benefactor (your target gains either 3 random common, 2 random uncommon or 1 random rare card).
- Is Job Lot too good? From the testing above, I think it might actually need to cost as much or more xp than the other booster packs.
- Are there any cards that should be outright removed? The list is based a lot on my revised list after CYOM3 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=148604.msg6108600#msg6108600). It massively reduces active power stealing that was common in the previous CYOMs.
- Are there any cards that should be included?
- What rules are currently unclear?