Vanilla Cop

Vanilla Cop Alias: Neapolitan Alignment: any Role type: Informative Choice: Night

A Vanilla Cop is similar to a Role Cop, in that it is an investigative role that can receive the role name of its target, but not an alignment. The difference between the two is that a Vanilla Cop only receives results in the form of "Vanilla" or "Not Vanilla".

The original Vanilla Cop appeared as a possible role in /in-Vitational Game 4, as the third variant listed below. It did not appear in that game, as the similar Goon Cop was selected instead.

Variations

There are three variations of Vanilla Cop:

• "Vanilla" results are given for any role that doesn't have any individual powers (e.g., Vanilla Townie, Mafia Goon, a Serial Killer with no other powers); "Not Vanilla" results are given on all others.
• "Vanilla" results are given only for Vanilla Townies; "Not Vanilla" is given for all other roles, including Mafia Goons. (This is sometimes called a Neapolitan.)
• "Vanilla" results are given for any role that has the word Vanilla in it (including other Vanilla Cops).

Normal Guidelines

Vanilla Cop is considered Normal on mafiascum.net. When the role is called "Vanilla Cop", Vanilla Townies, Mafia Goons, and Serial Killers with no additional powers return a "Vanilla" result, while all other roles return "not Vanilla".

The Neapolitan variant is also considered Normal, but must be named "Neapolitan" to distinguish it from the preceding version.

Use and Power

Although slightly weaker than a Role Cop, a Vanilla Cop can be useful for both town and scum; they can help town players catch out a lie or help mafia narrow down the pool of town power roles.

A Normal Vanilla Cop is considerably weaker than a Neapolitan in town hands, but the roles are more or less equivalent for scum. As such, a Vanilla Cop claim is often seen as mildly scummy (just like a Roleblocker claim is), despite the fact that the role works for both factions; this means that scum often claim Neapolitan instead, as it's perceived as a more townish claim. Moderators may want to take this tendency into account when determining whether to give scum a Vanilla Cop or Neapolitan, especially if there's also a full Role Cop in the setup (although this is an unlikely combination except in very large setups).