Bay 12 Games Forum

You stand up, and walk toward the stand. The bailiff approaches you and offers a bible. You place your hand on it. "Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? So help you God." You nod. "Out loud, please." "I do." The bailiff nods. You take a seat at the stand. The Judge speaks up. "Please state your name for the court." "Edwin Sheffield." The judge nods. The prosecutor steps forward. "Mr. Sheffield, you stand here in front of the court accused of two counts of firearms trafficking, four counts of Breaking and Entering, eight counts of assaulting a police officer, three counts of murder, and numerous other charges. Now, this ID card was found on you at the time of your arrest, can you please read the name on it?"

What is the name on the card? (What was your alias at the time of the arrest?)

So, with a 50 million dollar government grant, and a good team of experts, you finally purchased an island. You are just off the Alaskan coast, the grey sea is cold, and snow falls eight months out of the year. The ground is frozen solid year round, but you have the resources to build. The island is approximately five miles by five miles, and mostly flat. So, what are you doing here?

This is a suggestion game. What are you doing here, why did the government give you money to start this place, and what are your first plans?

So, I've been reading my Shadowrun books recently, and I've decided to at least attempt running a game. (If you don't know what shadowrun is, just think The Matrix with Orcs, Elves, Gnomes, and magic.) The game would be played over IRC, most likely.

So, anyone interested?

So, I got bored and began reading the GURPS books that I have to many of. Suddenly, I found one that seemed pretty terrible for an actual GURPS game, but could be absolutely wonderful for a forum game. GURPS Biotech. So, here we are. The system is a dumbed down GURPS system, using the Biotech rules.

You are fresh out of college with a shiny new Bioengineering degree. You currently live in a small apartment, your contract is going to expire within two weeks so it's probably time to move out. You have ₩5000 sitting in a bank account linked to your debit card, enough to live on for a few months. A job would be nice, though. Even if it's some one-time gig like 90% of Bio jobs seem to be these days. What is your name, and what do you do?

Breaking news today: A mine in southern Africa collapsed, trapping 9 people underground and killing countless more. Foul play is suspected, as several witnesses heard an explosion directly before the mine collapsed.

You are in the mine, along with 8 others. Two of you are saboteurs, the others are simple miners. Probably. There was rumored to be a Doctor visiting the mine in disguise for some reason, he may be among you. An inspector visited as well, also undercover. You need to get out, but the saboteurs may impede progress. You can't risk digging until they are found, so get hunting.

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Player List [7/7]:

Griffionday - Miner
RangerCado -Sneaky saboteur
borno - Doctor
Imperial Guardsman - Miner
Okami No Rei - Miner
Nerjin - Shinigami_King - Miner
swordsmith04 - Miner
Spectr Lenglon - Miner


ICs [2/2]:

Deathsword - Saboteur


Scum IC:
Urist Imiknorris Tiruin


Replacement List:

• Remuthra
• The Soldier
• Shinigami_King

Introduction

Welcome to Beginner's Mafia XL. As the title suggests, this game is for beginners. If you have no idea how to play or you have some experience but you're still not quite sure what to do, then this is the right place for you. If you sign up, you have one goal: Learn how to play the game of mafia. Since this is not an easy thing to do on your own and we wouldn't dream of forcing you to do it, you will be assisted by two 'inexperience challenged' players, or ICs. The ICs are experienced players on the board who have signed up to help you learn. You can always trust that the advice they give is genuine, however, you cannot always trust the IC, as they are players in the game and have the same likelihood of being scum as every other single player.

If this is your first time playing, keep in mind that games of forum mafia take several weeks, and can sometimes run longer than a month, and that you are expected to be able to play continuously through that time. If you can't anticipate being able to play for that long for whatever reason, then maybe the game of mafia isn't for you. But if it is, then welcome to the mafia subforum, and I hope you have a great time playing.

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Gameplay and Concept

The game of mafia has a simple concept. A large group of players known as the town plays against a smaller group of players known as the mafia. In this setup, there are nine players, with seven town and two mafia.

Before the game begins, each players is given a role and an alignment by the moderator. There are two alignments in this setup: Town and Mafia. The town outnumber the mafia, but each individual member of the town does not know the alignment of any of the other members. The mafia know the alignment of everyone on their team and they can discuss the game privately in a special mafia chat. The mafia has access to a nightkill that they may use in the Night phase, while the town occasionally has roles with abilities that are used during the night.

Once everyone has a role, the game begins in the Day phase. During the Day phase, players may discuss the game and each player has a vote that they cast publicly to lynch a player. At the end of the day after some predetermined amount of time, the player with the most votes is lynched. Lynching does two things: it reveals a player's role and alignment, and it removes a player from the game. Once lynched, a player is no longer allowed to post in the thread.

Once the day ends, the game proceeds to Night. During the Night, discussion is prohibited. The mafia team picks a target to nightkill. If available, any town power roles use their actions as well. At the end of the night, the target the mafia chose to nightkill has their role and alignment revealed, and that player is removed from the game in a similar way to being lynched. Once the night ends, the game proceeds to another Day.

Both teams win by eliminating the other. However, due to the nature of the teams, they win very differently. The town win by finding and lynching the mafia, while the mafia win by avoiding being lynched and nightkilling.

Potential Roles

Vanilla Townie - A member of the town with no special abilities.
Mafioso - A member of the mafia with no special abilities.
Cop (Town) - A cop may choose to inspect a single player during the night and learn that player's alignment.
Doctor (Town) - A doctor may choose a single player to protect during the night, preventing that player from being nightkilled.
Role-blocker (Mafia) - A role-blocker may choose a single player to block, preventing that player from performing his action.
Godfather (Mafia) - A godfather appears town to Cop inspections.

The only role that receives the success of their results in this setup is the Cop. All other roles are not informed if they were successful or not.

There is no limit to the number of Vanilla Townies or Mafiosos the game may have, but all other roles have a maximum of one. There are 2 Mafia-sided roles and 7 Town sided roles in the game, each special role has a 50% chance to appear on a random player of that alignment.


Notes about the ICs

The ICs are here solely to teach new players how to play, but remember, they are also players in the game. This means they have the same chance to be scum as any other player and it is entirely possible for one IC or even both ICs to be scum. Regardless of their alignment, they are obligated to provide you with genuine advice, so that even if you don't trust the IC, you can trust the advice they give. Some ICs will use a special 'IC voice' to alert players that they are delivering honest, unfiltered advice, while some don't.

The ICs have the special privilege of being able to talk while dead. This is so that they can continue to give advice even if they are killed during the course of the game.

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Rules

• Voting - Votes are cast in red and should include the name of the targeted player. Other colors may be ignored.
  • Scelly9,
  • Vote Scelly9,
  • Forsooth, Scelly9 is scum!,
  • Vote Scelly9,
  Are all acceptable ways to cast a vote if the target is clear enough.
  • If you want to remove your vote, you may put unvote in red text. You must explicitly state this.  It is possible to put the name of the player you were voting afterwards, but it is not recommended as it can lead to confusion.
• Death - When you are dead, you are prohibited from posting in the thread. You may make a single 'bah' post after you die, however, it must not contain any game-related information.
• PMs - PMs between players are prohibited. You may freely PM the moderator to ask game-related questions, however, what the moderator may reveal is limited.
  
  • Do not quote any direct correspondence with the moderator, including role PMs and rule-related queries.
• Edits - Editing posts is prohibited. Do not edit your post for any reason, even if your post comes out as a train-wreck of formatting, spelling, punctuation, and/or grammar. The preview button exists; use it.
• Replacements/Activity - If you find yourself unable to play, you may, and should, request a replacement. We may try to talk you out of it if it's for any other reason besides you not having enough time to play.
  • Prods may be requested for a player. If they have not posted in the thread within 24 hours, excluding weekends, they will be prodded.
  • If you stop playing my game altogether without notifying me, I will come looking for you.
  • Please be active. The greatest killer of beginner games is poor activity.
• Day/Night Length - Days will last 72 hours, excluding weekends. Nights will last 24 hours, or until all night actions are received. Neither of these include weekends.
• Extensions/Shortens - A player may vote for an extension to increase the length of the day. It requires >33% of the current number of players to request an extension for an extension to be granted. A player may also vote for a shorten. It requires >50% of the current number of players for a shorten to be granted. Extensions increase day length by 48 hours, while shortens will immediately end the day as soon as possible. There is no limit to the number of extensions that may be granted with one exception. If an extension goes through and players do not make use of it there will be no more extensions on that day. If you request an extension USE IT!
  • Votes for extension/shorten are done in boldface. Extend, Extension, Extend it up yo, Shorten it out y'all are acceptable ways to vote for an extension/shorten.
  • Extensions/shortens can be opposed by declaring opposition (Oppose Shorten/Extend, I oppose this notion!, My Oppose goes to this), and they count against the total number of votes for an extension/shorten. Extensions count as opposition to shortens and vice versa.
• External Participation - While the game is ongoing, if you are not a player, an IC, or a mod, refrain from posting in the thread.
  • Play to win! There is no hopeless situation, so don't ever give up. And remember, be bold! You learn nothing and you gain nothing by holding back.
  
  

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  Resources and Guides
  
  Our own Bay12 Mafia tutorial
  The Mafiascum wiki. Lots of theory, terminology, and game analysis.
  An Interactive Flash tutorial by one of the Mafiascum.net people. Helpful visualization!
  The Notable Games archive. Read a famous game from start to finish! Learn some Mafia history.
  
  
  Spoiler: On D1 No-lynches (click to show/hide)

  Quote from: Bookthras

  I'm not an IC, but I once wrote a rant about nolynches on Day One that I think would be beneficial for this audience, so I quote it below. In brief, you can (i.e., it's a valid vote, and if it has majority no lynch will happen) but you shouldn't unless you have a very very good reason. Actual ICs will, of course, chime in with their own thoughts, and there are different considerations to be had in subsequent days; the below applies only for D1.
  
  

  Quote from: Bookthras on May 08, 2012, 09:31:27 pm

  Even in a game like this, or a role-heavy game like a BYOR, paranormal, or bastard, without a D1 lynch people will lack context for the conversation during the day, which is the very point of the day game. The information lost is not just the flip of a person, but who voted them, with what arguments, and forms the very foundation of how the town power roles will choose their night actions. Information is key, and timely information moreso. People flipping at the start of D2 is not nearly as useful, and a nolynch will result in people using their powers on whoever they were voting (if block/investigate) or a crapshoot for protections and the like, due to lack of context and closure.
  
  A D1 no-lynch pretty much wastes all of D1 content, and gives scum a chance to NK/convert/whatever while town has to shoot in the dark. The amount of information lost is not small, but most importantly, you lose the opportunity to use it. N1 will never come again. Even if you learn the information later, you'll never get that night back, which scum got for free. Not good for town at all.
  
  

  Quote from: Hapah on May 08, 2012, 07:22:06 pm

  Also considering the fact that the D1 lynchee is almost always town (when was the last time anyone saw a scum hang D1?),

  Not that rare. The very last game I played (Cybrid Mafia 3) we lynched scum D1. A couple games before that (Politibastard) as well, though that was a... different sort of game. I'm sure there are several others.
  
  So sure, it doesn't happen that often, but it certainly does happen. Plus the possibility of a mislynch is built into the balance of the game. If there is going to be one, it's best for town that it happens sooner rather than later, so maximum information is provided early. It's never good, but a D1 no-lynch is worse.
  
  Please disabuse yourself of the notion that a D1 no-lynch is good for town ever. Except in very narrow types of games where constant (not just D1) no-lynch can be used to break the setup (which is not the case here), whenever you think a D1 no-lynch is good because it's cautious, it's misapplied caution, and will hurt town much more than a possible mislynch would.
  
  
  [spoiler=Dakarian's Scumhunting Bible, reposted here for your convenience]
  A VERY rough sketch of how a scumhunt is done (to help those who aren't sure now).
  Step 1: When you have no suspicions on anyone, pick someone at random (I MEAN random.. some use Random.org for this!), take a glance as their past posts, and talk to them, usually with a vote.  The goal is not to kill but to learn more about them.  The vote is a "Pressure Vote", simply used to make sure they don't ignore you.
  
  Step 2: When someone feels 'off' to you: perhaps you disliked their answer, or maybe they scare you, or confuse you with their text.  Perhaps they look fine but your feelings or your gut says something is wrong. Perhaps you see them do one scumtell.  Don't ignore it: make them your target.  Attack them.  Tell them what bothers you about them.  Push them, harass them.  Tell them how scummy they are.  Ask them every question in the book.. and I mean EVERYTHING:
  
  Litia: "You bother me.  Vote Dakarian!"
  
  Dak: Meh.  Why?
  
  Litia: "Because you bother me.  Why are you pushing me off as if it doesn't matter?"
  
  Dak: "What? No, you just have nothing on me."
  
  Litia: "You're voting for Vector.  why?"
  
  Dak: "He looked scummy.."
  
  Litia: "Vagueness is a scumtell!  "Scummy.. how is he scummy!"
  
  Dak: "He just is.. you don't have a reason to go after me either."
  
  Litia: "OMGUSing now Mr.Scum?  Being defensive?  You also didn't answer my question!"
  
  Note, this is Step 2: Litia doesn't feel like she knows Dakarian is scum.. just had a 'feeling'.  She has no hard evidence, nothing real.  The questions are to add pressure.. make Dakarian crack and panic.  If you did it right, they WILL town or scum.  WHEN they do, you will be able to see more of their true self.  From there, decide if you can find them as scum for truth.  If you don't: pull out and go to your next suspect: if no one else is there, go back to Step 1.
  
  If you do believe they are scum after that, Step 3:
  
  Step 3: When you believe someone is scum, gather evidence.  Find every scum tell, every sign of their true

So, I've recently been going on a Wheaton binge and found this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXJxQ0NbFtk
It's him, playing Fiasco and it is glorious. Fiasco is a freeform RP game, with a ton of different starting scenarios. The video probably explains it better, and there's one of them setting up that's also instructive.

So, who wants to play some Fiasco?



Relationships: Scelly9->Government(President and Advisor)<-Wyrm->Allies<-Kadzar->Rivals(Vigilante and by-the-book)<-scrapheap->Ally(Forced Alliance)<-Scelly9
Objects: Scelly9-><-Wyrm->Puzzle Pieces(Key to other-dimensional portal)<-Kadzar-><-scrapheap->Weaponry<-Scelly9
Locations: Scelly9-><-Wyrm->Precariously Perched(on top of a speeding train, airplane, or trainplane)<-Kadzar->Famous<-scrapheap-><-Scelly9
Needs: Scelly9->To Conquer the World<-Wyrm-><-Kadzar-><-scrapheap->To Get Revenge(for keeping you from your rightful reward all these years)<-Scelly9

You own a company, not big big company, at the current time, but big enough to be noticed. This is both good and bad, and since you aren't big enough to be making serious cash, it's mostly bad. See, your business is war. You help people kill other people in horrific and sometimes illegal ways. The large defense contractors make enough that they can pick and choose the contracts they take, you don't. Approximately half of your business is illegal, and the other half is almost always skirting the line between federal offense and legitimate business. Anyway, that's enough backstory. You just hired your twentieth employee, and several new contracts just hit the table. Business is booming.

Name:
Age:
Company Name: