Beginner’s Mafia XXXVIII
Welcome to Jackalope. A small western settlement where the need for law enforcement is about as frequent as the rain. This dry dusty patch of land has always been on the fringe of society and on the border of becoming a ghost town. However a familial bond holds the people together and stops many from leaving. It has never lacked supplies though it has never been in surplus either. It’s not much, but for most of you it is home.
Yesterday however a wonderful, town changing, event occurred. Ol’ Jimmy Pete found a lump of gold worth more than any of the other townsfolk had seen in their entire lives put together! This joyous occasion was celebrated by all. Ol’ Jimmy Pete stated that he would share the profits with everyone on account of his old age and lack of any actual family. “Each an’ e’ry on’a ya is family ta me!” He stated as he patted the gold lump. Even better, though never stated by Ol’ Jimmy Pete himself, was that once word got out about this magnificent find treasure hunters and gold diggers would come from all over the west to seek their fortune! The resulting boom in business would make each and every one of you rich!
However it seemed that a few of you were not prepared to share or put off gratification for the future. Ol’ Jimmy Pete was found murdered in his home the next morning with a single bullet in his skull. Luckily it would appear that the gold was still within his safe.
After several hours of investigating you can only find very basic clues. You know for sure that it must have been one of the townsfolk as no one else would have known about the gold. You also found a few sets of bootprints so you know just how many people were involved in Jimmy’s murder.
You all decide to take justice into your own hands to avenge Ol’ Jimmy. However, in the back of your minds, you think “What if they kill again?”
Player List [7/7]
notquitethere - Town Sheriff - Night Killed: Night 1Kadzar Burn_heal superBlast - Regular Townsfolk - Lynched: Day 3 Onyxjew944 - Regular Townsfolk - Night Killed: Night 6Captain Ford - Regular Townsfolk - Overpowered: Day 7ReDeadEr - Regular Bandit - Lynched: Day 2Fraxert lynx_ - Regular Townsfolk - Night Killed: Night 3+!!scientist!!+ - Regular Townsfolk - Lynched: Day 1
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ICs [2/2]
- Tiriun - Bandit Wrangler - Got Out of Dodge: Day 7
Ironyowl - Regular Townsfolk - Night Killed: Night 5
Scum IC [1/1]
- Bookthras - Bandit Over-Seer - Got Out of Dodge: Day 0
ReplacementsSpoiled Spectators- zombie urist - Undercover Agent - Got out of Dodge: Day 0
- Skyrunner - Undercover Agent - Got out of Dodge: Day 0
Not-Quite-So-Spoiled Spectators- Jim Groovester - Local Marshall - Got out of Dodge: Day 0
- Scelly9 - Local Marshall - Got out of Dodge: Day 0
IntroductionWelcome to Beginner's Mafia XXXVIII. 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.
Gameplay and ConceptThe 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 RolesVanilla 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.
Here is the list of potential role PMs. This is to discourage flavor claiming from confirming role.
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(Mafia)
You loved Ol’ Jimmy like a brother and, just like with your actual brother, killed him in order to obtain the money. It was nothing personal… only business. As a regular Bandit your goal is to kill all of the townsfolk so that you and your gang can escape with the loot. After that well… It’s only business.
You can converse with other Bandits at the Bandit Chat. Every night your team may decide on a target to kill.
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(Mafia Role-blocker)
You and the others left the gang years ago to try to start over. You had all tired of being shot at by the law and decided the fringe town of Jackalope was the best place for a fresh start. Unfortunately spending all your time as a Wrangler for a rancher has left you with a bit of yearning for the old days. So it wasn’t really your fault when Ol’ Jimmy started waving his gold around like that… He was basically asking for it. After all if you didn’t do it someone else would right? Unfortunately the rest of the town is onto you and your buddy. You and your buddy decided that you are better suited for distracting the others as your skills with hog-tying will keep them out of the way for at least a night.
You can converse with other Bandits at the Bandit Chat. Every night your team may decide on a target to kill.
At night you may Block another players night actions. This will prevent them from doing anything at night.
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(Mafia Godfather)
As the Ringleader of your old gang it was you who suggested that you all took up the bandit business again. Unfortunately for you the people you work with got too hasty. Your plan was to ‘escort’ Ol’ Jimmy to the nearest town when he went to sell the lump o’ gold and then slip away once he had an accident. Your compatriots however just couldn’t wait and went to steal the gold by force. Not only did they not get the gold but they alerted the entire town to your presence. Luckily no one seems to know who is a bandit and who isn’t. You can use that to your advantage. You’ll wait until the perfect time to strike. Not even a sheriff would be able to find out who you are thanks to your patience and planning!
You can converse with other Bandits at the Bandit chat. Every night your team may decide on a target to kill.
If you are observed at night you will return the result of Vanilla Townie.
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(Town)
At the end of the day you were always just an average citizen on the frontier. During the day-light hours you’d work hard and at night you’d take care of your family. Years of frontier life have taught you that you have to do what you have to do… and right now that’s avenging Ol’ Jimmy.
You were never trained in much so your only weapon is your voice and your vote. You win when all of the Bandits have been hanged.
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(Town Cop)
You’ve been the Sherriff here for years. Most people tend to forget that though as your services were never required much around these parts. You used to spend your nights drinking whisky and reading old romance novels [“For the fight scenes.” You assure others.]. Now however you finally have a crime to investigate! As such you plan on using your skills to help rid the town of the Bandit infestation.
Every night you may choose a target to investigate what their alignment is. You win when all of the Bandits are dead.
=====================
(Town Doctor)
Sawbones is how you’ve always explained your profession to the general populace. Unfortunately they seem to assume that this means you are a lumber-jack of some sort. It never bothered you; you were always willing to keep a distant view of others. Now however you see that your aloofness may lead to more deaths. Not on your watch! You swore once Ol’ Jimmy died that, not only would you avenge his death but, you wouldn’t let any more innocents die. At night you await the call… Your satchel filled to the brim with miracle cures and bottles of leeches. No one is going to die anymore.
Every night you are able to choose a target to protect. This prevents them from being night-killed. You win when all of the Bandits are dead.
=====================
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.
Rules- Voting - Votes are cast in red and should include the name of the targeted player. Other colors may be ignored.
- Nerjin,
- Vote Nerin,
- I reckon that there Nerjin is scum!,
- Vote Scumbag Nerjin,
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 motives. Pull more from them. DON'T LET GO! Even if the town ignores you or even votes for you because of it, DO IT ANYWAY! Push, push, PUSH, ***PUSH*** until you have solid proof of what they are.
If you can't find enough to prove them and run out of things to say, check one more time to see if you still feel he's scum, then pull back, look at others (Step 2) but be ready to go back to them at any time. If your convinced and ready to kill them, Step 4
Step 4: Final step. It's time to convince the town. Show what you have. Push the target so they show more scumminess. Attack, but do it only to demonstrate to the town what you KNOW is true. You aren't trying to argue with the mafia anymore.. you are trying to show the town why you are right and Mr.Mafia MUST be lynched. If you are at this point, only 3 things can happen:
1. The scum is lynched.
2. You are given so much information that you become CONVINCED that the target is town. (no less than CONVINCED.. doubt, maybe, 'perhaps' won't due)
3. You are dead.
That's how a basic scumhunt is done. One last note on doubt:
Doubt is something that's ok to have but UGLY to show. If you doubt or have second thoughts, DON'T DISPLAY IT. If you think "He looks passive but I don't know..." you SAY "You scum! Stop being passive!!!" If you think "He may have a good reason to attack guy really." say "Give me your reasons and stop being vague."
Doubt is something for yourself. When you have doubt, go back and see if your original ideas still hold up. If they do or if you find yourself saying "I'm not sure" then go back to the attack until you are sure. This ain't the USA: we play by Guilty until Proven Innocent here. Unless you can get yourself to believe they may be honest, keep the attack.
So doubt is ok to have if used right.. but the town does NOT need to hear it. If you doubt, accuse anyway as if you know. If you wonder, accuse as if you know it. If you know the answer, ASK ANYWAY and let THEM answer. Make them convince you they are town: don't do the job for them.
And that's scumhunting in a nutshell. Everyone, try to figure out what Step you are on and work accordingly. Note that you should be almost done Step 1 by the end of Day 1 (though some may be higher by then). If you aren't, keep random voting and consider an Extension.
If you don't know WHAT you are.. you're in Step 1. Get to random voting.
Last note: 'Not voting' should only be done when you are doing a quick look over everyone's past. Otherwise, your vote and your attention should always be on SOMEONE, even if it is at random.
It's best for a lynch to be for a reason reason.. but it's better for someone to be lynched randomly than for no lynch to occur at all.
[spoiler=CEAs (Commonly Encountered Abbreviations) and Other Terminology Commonly Found in Bay12 Mafia]
Alignment - Who you share a victory condition with. Town-aligned, Scum-aligned, or third party alignments.
Bandwagon - Multiple votes on a single person. Can be justified, or unjustified. Unjustified bandwagons are scummy. Joining bandwagons blindly or without reason is also scummy.
BM - Beginner's Mafia (Or, Bastard Mod, a Mafia game with a purposefully unreliable moderator, or misleading information)
Bus - (noun: the bus ; verb: bus
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Author
Topic: BM XXXVIII: Jackelope Bandits: Scum Win: Across the Border (Read 57793 times)