Assassin in the Palace

Name: Assasins in the Palace (AITP) Setup Size: Variable Players: ? Setup Type: Royal Variable Designer: Kelly Chen Notes: Can have any number of players.

Assassin in the Palace is a nightless mafia variant invented by Kelly Chen and first run for Marathon Day. A larger version ("Assassins...") was run subsequently in Theme Park.

There is one King , one Assassin , and the remainder of the players are Guards who are all told the identity of the King.

The Assassin has one kill that they can use at any time during the game, typically after being eliminated. Their goal is to identify the King so that they can use this kill against him. If the Assassin successfully kills the King, then they win, otherwise the King and Guards win. The Assassin doesn't need to survive to win.

This setup differs from normal mafia in that the "town" has more information than the "mafia" does. Every Guard that is eliminated narrows the number of targets the Assassin must consider, so the challenge for the Guards is to find out who the Assassin is as quickly as possible without giving away the identity of the King.

Setup

• 1 Assassin
• 1 King
• X Guards (X=4 is believed to be most balanced)

Role PM's

Assassin

• Welcome, [Player Name]. You are the Assassin.

Abilities:

• You have a one-shot assassination attempt, which you can make at any point in the game (even after being eliminated).

Win condition:

• You win if you assassinate the king, regardless of whether you are eliminated.

King

• Welcome, [Player Name], you are the King.

Abilities:

• You have no abilities, but your survival is crucial to the kingdom. It is your job to avoid the assassination attempt.
• The Guards all know your identity, but you do not know theirs.

Win condition:

• You win if you survive the assassination attempt.

Guard

• Welcome, [Player Name], you are a Guard.

Abilities:

• It is your duty to protect the King who is [Player Name] from being assassinated.
• You and every other guard know the identity of the King.

Win condition:

• You win if the King survives the assassination attempt.

Pro-Kingdom Strategy

It has been presented that the best odds for a town win is to merely quick eliminate every day having no other discussion. This effectively allows the kingdom to use its size to its advantage without exposing its information. Do not discuss who is scummy or why. Never scum hunt. That way info is zero. Uninformed scum remains uninformed. Then use your size by group voting/eliminating anyone once they get one vote on them. Get every elimination asap! Whilst the assassin(s) can still win with this play, it becomes much more a random coin flip than a calculated decision of who they should blow up.

With this strategy in play, the assassin's best chance of winning is to survive as long as possible to reduce the number of kill choices, however, if they are selected for a elimination at any time, it would be distinctly anti-town to plea their innocence and argue against their elimination, as the optimal town play is to merely eliminate and be eliminated silently without giving out any information at all.

This strategy is difficult to implement, mostly due to the fact that it cannot be discussed without lowering its effectiveness (as discussing its validity puts out information the assassin wants). However, it still allows the town a distinct advantage and turns the game into little more than a lottery.

The Importance of Reading and Understanding Role PMs

In the game Assassin in the (Amish) Palace, the Assassin failed to read and comprehend his role PM, and killed someone on what he thought was the first night, missing the King, and ending the game after only 3 real-life days and only 3 pages of discussion. Amished (the moderator) was sad, but the Guards were ecstatic! The King was safe, and there was much rejoicing. *yyaayyyy*