Mafia! Mafia! Mafia! Character Role Discussions

[Schillok]

Not sure... messing with others vote sounds dangerous.

Yoko could just also have a secret double-vote. Then again that ability alone wouldn't make me want to play as her. But maybe it is stronger than expected?

Similar for Kazuha. I will add her to the suggestions later.


I think 2 parties are enough for now. Though a small (1 or 2 players) third party which will only present in some games sounds nice too.

[Tanner-kun]

Though a small (1 or 2 players) third party which will only present in some games sounds nice too.

*cough- lovers -cough*

[Sakina]

I think 2 parties are enough for now. Though a small (1 or 2 players) third party which will only present in some games sounds nice too.

*blinks*

*blinks more*

That's what the lovers ARE.

[Tanner-kun]

I think 2 parties are enough for now. Though a small (1 or 2 players) third party which will only present in some games sounds nice too.

*blinks*

*blinks more*

That's what the lovers ARE.

I already said that, you just cant see it.

[Sakina]

I think 2 parties are enough for now. Though a small (1 or 2 players) third party which will only present in some games sounds nice too.

*blinks*

*blinks more*

That's what the lovers ARE.

I already said that, you just cant see it.

.... if you put things in white font you're supposed to make sure they're readable.  That's the whole point.  You failed to realize that white font does not work and does not exist here.  So your supposed-to-be-white-lovers-text did not show up, period.  And yes, I know that's what you meant by that elongated space.  However, since you didn't say it, I did. 

[Tanner-kun]

I think 2 parties are enough for now. Though a small (1 or 2 players) third party which will only present in some games sounds nice too.

*blinks*

*blinks more*

That's what the lovers ARE.

I already said that, you just cant see it.

.... if you put things in white font you're supposed to make sure they're readable.  That's the whole point.  You failed to realize that white font does not work and does not exist here.  So your supposed-to-be-white-lovers-text did not show up, period.  And yes, I know that's what you meant by that elongated space.  However, since you didn't say it, I did. 

no its transparent text, not white made just so you cant see it even a little bit, but on some browsers it doesn't work and you see the text. I saw them before I upgraded to Firefox and now they're actually transparent.

[Chekhov MacGuffin]

I was looking over the roles, and I don't think it's bad that the mafia snipers might counter the protector roles. The counterbalance to that is a frequently assigned killer runs a higher risk of getting interrogated, arrested, investigated, whatevered, and then found out. Ran's role might present a problem: if the target dies and thus her protection fails, and she dies because of it, then no one gets to learn the identity of the attacker. It might be wise to rephrase her night rule to specify if the person being protected is sniped, it is as if Ran didn't protect the person- her protection fails but she doesn't die and doesn't learn the identity of the attacker. Then again it would be interesting to create the possibility of a double death not unlike the lovers.
Also question about Ran's protection role being tricked: if she is protecting someone who is not targeted during the night and she is tricked, does she and the target die regardless? That seems a bit harsh.

When it comes to the mafia being evenly tied over who to assassinate, the side with the highest hierarchical member breaks the tie. The order could go Vermouth > Gin > Pisco > Vodka > Bourbon > Chianti > Korn... .

Also one mafia power I think would be worthwhile to add:
Mafia Cleaner/Eraser:
Version 1: Once during the game, separate from the mafia member who does the killing, the Mafia Cleaner/Eraser may tamper with the scene to make the assassinated victim appear to be the role of the Cleaner/Eraser's choosing. The next morning, the victim's false role will be announced instead of their real one. If the Cleaner/Eraser fails because s/he was tricked or the victim didn't die because of healing, protection, etc., then the mafia cleaner/eraser can try again the next night as long as s/he is still in the game (i.e not dead or in jail) until they succeed once. If the disguised victim is one of the lovers, the other lover will still commit suicide because they would know their partner went missing, but the rest of the town still doesn't get to know the assassinated lover's announced role was false. In the same vein, if the vic is disguised as one of the lovers, the other lover would realize the deception and not commit suicide.
Version 2: Same as above but instead of disguising the assassinated victim, the mafia cleaner/eraser will prevent the townspeople from uncovering the identity of who died during the night. (i.e. The town learns someone died, but they don't know who.) If the vic is one of the lovers though, the other will still find out and commit suicide; however, the town still doesn't get to learn who the erased person is.

I kind of like version 1 because it can be used to throw a wrench in people's theories that they build up later in the game if played well. It might be a good role for Pisco.

[Sakina]

I was looking over the roles, and I don't think it's bad that the mafia snipers might counter the protector roles. The counterbalance to that is a frequently assigned killer runs a higher risk of getting interrogated, arrested, investigated, whatevered, and then found out.

We've been over this, already. The mafia can only kill once before every one gets a second turn.  The games have been quite short and we have never had every mafia member kill someone twice.  Also, the larger the games get the larger the number of mafia members.  So there really won't be someone who kills more than the others.

Ran's role might present a problem: if the target dies and thus her protection fails, and she dies because of it, then no one gets to learn the identity of the attacker. It might be wise to rephrase her night rule to specify if the person being protected is sniped, it is as if Ran didn't protect the person- her protection fails but she doesn't die and doesn't learn the identity of the attacker. Then again it would be interesting to create the possibility of a double death not unlike the lovers.

You are confused.  Ran only dies if she is tricked by the trickster AND the mafia decides to kill the one she is protecting at that time.  This has nothing to do with snipers.  Ran does not learn the identity of a sniper if she is protecting that person.  She lives but her target still dies.

Also question about Ran's protection role being tricked: if she is protecting someone who is not targeted during the night and she is tricked, does she and the target die regardless? That seems a bit harsh.

Why would she die if she were tricked?  There's no one there to kill her. 

When it comes to the mafia being evenly tied over who to assassinate, the side with the highest hierarchical member breaks the tie. The order could go Vermouth > Gin > Pisco > Vodka > Bourbon > Chianti > Korn... .

This is unnecessary.

Also one mafia power I think would be worthwhile to add:
Mafia Cleaner/Eraser:

I like the second one better.

[Schillok]

Also one mafia power I think would be worthwhile to add:
Mafia Cleaner/Eraser:
Version 1: Once during the game, separate from the mafia member who does the killing, the Mafia Cleaner/Eraser may tamper with the scene to make the assassinated victim appear to be the role of the Cleaner/Eraser's choosing. The next morning, the victim's false role will be announced instead of their real one. If the Cleaner/Eraser fails because s/he was tricked or the victim didn't die because of healing, protection, etc., then the mafia cleaner/eraser can try again the next night as long as s/he is still in the game (i.e not dead or in jail) until they succeed once. If the disguised victim is one of the lovers, the other lover will still commit suicide because they would know their partner went missing, but the rest of the town still doesn't get to know the assassinated lover's announced role was false. In the same vein, if the vic is disguised as one of the lovers, the other lover would realize the deception and not commit suicide.

Well, at first I didn't like the idea... but the more I think about it the more interesting it becomes. I don't know if choosing a role (Detective, etc.) or choosing a character (Conan, etc.) would be better. The flavor is a bit strange though... and most important: Which BO member(s) would you suggest for that job?

Version 2: Same as above but instead of disguising the assassinated victim, the mafia cleaner/eraser will prevent the townspeople from uncovering the identity of who died during the night. (i.e. The town learns someone died, but they don't know who.) If the vic is one of the lovers though, the other will still find out and commit suicide; however, the town still doesn't get to learn who the erased person is.

As long as the player name (e.g. Sakina) is given it should work.


Well, one of the strange results from both versions is that the BO as well won't know who they killed there. It might be even more important to them to know which roles they have eliminated...

[Chekhov MacGuffin]

Well, at first I didn't like the idea... but the more I think about it the more interesting it becomes. I don't know if choosing a role (Detective, etc.) or choosing a character (Conan, etc.) would be better. The flavor is a bit strange though... and most important: Which BO member(s) would you suggest for that job?

When I said "role" I meant a specific character i.e. Heiji (but not a player name i.e. Schillok's char). The cleaner could pick any role to disguise the vic as regardless of whether the character is or isn't in the game. (except Matsuda which wouldn't make much sense.) I'd pick Pisco for the mafia member to have this power since he has nothing better to do and Vodka's attributes are still being sorted out.

Well, one of the strange results from both versions is that the BO as well won't know who they killed there. It might be even more important to them to know which roles they have eliminated...

Sorry, I wasn't clear. In both version 1 and version 2, the mafia, or at least the cleaner, gets PMed about the real role of the victim come morning, but the publicly posted result is false.

You are confused.  Ran only dies if she is tricked by the trickster AND the mafia decides to kill the one she is protecting at that time.  This has nothing to do with snipers.  Ran does not learn the identity of a sniper if she is protecting that person.  She lives but her target still dies....
Why would she die if she were tricked?  There's no one there to kill her.

I figured that was the case, but the way Ran's rules are currently stated, it isn't clear that she would still live if the trickster tricked her regardless of whether the mafia targeted her protected person. Also the sniper rule vs. Ran is relevant since it wasn't clarified whether she would die or not die if her protection failed. (i.e does "ignore the protection of Ran" mean that the bullet goes through her and gets the target anyway or does she fail to do anything.)

When it comes to the mafia being evenly tied over who to assassinate, the side with the highest hierarchical member breaks the tie. The order could go Vermouth > Gin > Pisco > Vodka > Bourbon > Chianti > Korn... .

This is unnecessary.

It was one of the specific conflicts Schillok brought up in the original post, so it is relevant.

The problem is how the mafia decides on how to kill. Everything is fine as long as all players agree on a target and which of them should be out to kill the victim. Or as long as Anakota is in the game to make the final verdict. But if the players can not agree on a target they could all vote for different players. Who should be killed then? This will probably rarely matter, but for example in a game with 4 mafia - 2 of them are lovers - what would happen if the lovers suddenly decide to start killing their own team members? None of the two mafia-internal fractions would ever get the majority.

We've been over this, already. The mafia can only kill once before every one gets a second turn.  The games have been quite short and we have never had every mafia member kill someone twice.  Also, the larger the games get the larger the number of mafia members.  So there really won't be someone who kills more than the others.

Well, Schillok indicated it was still a problem in the first post...

The second problem concerns the snipers (Korn, Chianti, Calvados). At the moment nothing would hinder them to be assigned the killer every round, which would make the protector roles completely useless.

I don't like the rule that the B.O. must alternate assigned killers. There may be a good reason for one player wanting to go twice in a row, like if one of his compatriots are taking heat from the detectives/police/FBI. I'd think it would be wiser if the sniper rule simply said this person must have a one night cooldown period.

[Tanner-kun]

why is the "don't vote this" option wining 

[Akonyl]

why is the "don't vote this" option wining 

because I deemed it so.

[xpon]

why is the "don't vote this" option wining 

because I deemed it so.

i vote for that one too.. ha ha ha

[Conia]

It shows people tend to do and action that is preceeded by a DON'T.

[blurfbreg]

I would also put Pisco under Intimidator along with Vodka.  He certainly seems intimidating.  Just look what he did to Haibara. 

Haibara is intimidated by every BO member. Tequila is much more intimidating.

It sounds fitting for the story, but I don't think it works with Haibara's ability. If every BO intimidates her, then she'll never get the job done when it's BO (which means that the person must be a BO, knowing that she can't be tricked), and consequently takes out the intimidate clause from all BO.
Wait... is Tequila the guy who got blown up in the washroom during the gaming convention?

About pawns and townspeople:
I don't think that every character has to make some kind of gigantic change in the game. It's okay to have normal people without abilities who just kill or who just live in the town.

Neutral people should have a goal in the end. Otherwise, the GM can do random things for these neutral people instead (e.g. random stalking of a person is revealed to some random player; the watch that a person had was stolen). Robbing items would make it hard to find out who might have done it, since it's random and it's not something that one can account for (it could be that: the trickster stopped Agasa from giving the watch to person A; there was a sniper who killed person A; or the GM decided to steal watch from person A, which no one can account for). Even the uncertainty of the player's alignment can be known to a certain degree by their actions and neutral parties can complicate the game.

Kazuha seems interesting, but the ability isn't practical. If the majority of the town votes for a person that should be killed by the town, why would Kazuha ever decrease the vote? The ability is useful only when BO numbers are higher than townsfolk numbers, which by then probably means that the BO should win (at least it becomes a game of rock, paper, scissors, where the BO guesses who is being protected/tricked/healed/etc. AND the townsfolk would have to know each other)

The cleaner has potential. If the role (or the alignment of the person) is unknown at death, it can totally mess up the both sides. If one side were to know the role of the person, the balance between mafia and town would turned upside down. The game was designed so that death gives certainty, similar to players revealing their hands after their bets in poker and blackjack. If you don't reveal what you have, no one can verify if you win or not. It's like having a game of poker in which the remaining players who didn't fold at the end of the round aren't required to show their hands to everyone to determine the winner of the round.

If the character is in, maybe the cleaner just burns the face and breaks the teeth so that no one can identify the person. I can't think of a name of someone who annihilates evidence like that...