Antrax on Mafia

This page gives an overview of the game of Mafia. The game described here is the basic, vanilla version. A number of games on Mafiascum (particularly Theme Games and Mini Theme Games) have altered Game Mechanics. Biut the following is true of the vast majority of games, and if you are playing a Newbie Games, Mini Normal Game or a Large Normal Game, you can rely on the this unless told otherwise by the mod.

What is Mafia?

At its most basic level, Mafia is a game pitting an uninformed majority against an informed minority. It is a game of cunning and deceit, along with logic and deduction. It is its dual nature that gives it the appeal. As opposed to most games, in Mafia you only know the real “board situation” after the game is over. While playing, you almost always have to play the odds, and count on many assumptions. The fact that every Moderator sets his or her own rules, and doesn’t have to POST these rules anywhere (except in Open games), makes Mafia more exciting than most other games.

How do I win at Mafia?

Your win condition should be spelt out in your role PM. In a basic game, the Town wins if it manages to kill off all the Mafia, while the Mafia wins if it kills off all the town. Note that this does not mean that you have to survive the game to win, unless this is specifically part of your role (e.g. in the case of a Serial Killer). One of the may attributes of a good Mafia player is knowing when to sacrifice themselves for the good of their team.

Playing Mafia on Mafiascum.net

Mafiascum is a place to play the forum version of Mafia. During the Day phase, the players post their thoughts and suspicions and analysis of other player's posts, in an attempt to achieve their win condition. That means that the pro-Town players try to find and lynch the Mafia, while the anti-Town players try to get a pro-Town player lynched. During the Night, players with nightchoices use them to try to achieve their win condition.

An attempt to generalize Mafia

Every game of Mafia is different, but there are certain general "moves" or "plays" that appear in most games. A comprehensive list would be impossible, but would include the following:

Moves that anyone can make

Post

See further below;Vote

Casting your vote to lynch someone.

These are (or should be, in a well constructed Setup), the most important things in the game. They are the only things that Townies can do, along with voting, to win the game.

Role-dependant moves

Kill

Any action during the night or day, meant to cause instant death to any player.

Investigate

Targeting a player at night, with the intention of gaining information about the game and/or roles of players. See

Protect

Any action during the night, with the intention of preventing harm from any player. See

Relay Information

Targeting another player at night in order for him to learn information you possess. Somehting that Masons and Mafia may both do.

Recruit

Targeting another player during the night in order to change his motives to that of your own, and/or adding him to your group. See Cult.

Other

Their may be other actions that players may perform during the night or day. The only limitation is the imagination of the Moderator.

Posting

A post may do some or all of the following:

Attack

Any post that tries to persuade other players to Vote for the attacked person.

Defend

Any post that tries to persuade other players not to Vote for an attacked person.

Accuse

Claiming to have solid information (as opposed to speculation) regarding another player, to persuade other players to Vote for that person.

Clear

Claiming to have solid information (as opposed to speculation) regarding another player, to persuade other players to not Vote for that person.

Affiliate

Posting in such a way to make other players believe you and another person or group of persons are related by your roles. Can be simple affiliation ("mith and I are in the same Mason lodge.") or a more complex one ("I agree with Antrax. Soothsayer must be Mafia").

Instruct

Posting in a way to try and affect the target choices made by any group tonight. Can be simple ("Docs, defend me!") or complex ("The Mafia will no doubt target Samadhi tonight." (which might have one of many effects)).

Plant Information

Posting something obscure, with an intention for the meaning to be revealed later on in the game. For example "lynching me will get you literally nowhere" with the intention of revealing later on that you are lynch-proof, or voting for someone early-on with the intention of people lynching him after you die and turn out to be a Cop. A different variation of that is still under debate, and that’s using cryptography to plant the names of your Mason buddies in your posts.