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~Sylph~ · Posted: Sat Apr 29, 2006 10:43 pm Post subject: Mafia Rules

The Rules

Theme

Each season of Mafia will have its own theme, as selected by it's Host. The theme describes the setting of the 'town' and the sort of 'people' that would populate it. Each person signing up for a season will select a character that fits with this theme. As the theme changes, so too will the name of this forum.

Beggining a Game:

When the next Host in line sees that there are enough players for a game, he or she will start a new thread for that game. (This is not an established number as the number of players will differ depending on the size of the game desired and the number of roles used.) The first post will contain the theme (which kinds of characters people play as) the rules and roles being used, who the players are, and decides when each portion of the game will conclude (day, night, voting, etc).

Simultaneously, all players will be PMed their role after which they may choose to accept it and play the game or opt out, at which time the role will be offered to the next player in line. When all players for a game have confirmed participation, the game will begin.

From now on, a * denotes optional roles that may be included at the discretion of the Host. She will be solely responsible for choosing which roles to include and will post a complete list of these roles on the first post of the game thread.

Night Phase

The Host will announce nightfall. All roles will be allowed to use their powers as outlined below. The Host will record all actions. Players are not allowed to hold private conversation at any time, including the night. Special groups may communicate as indicated below in "The Powers" section. When all tasks have been completed, night concludes. Play alternates between day and night with one phase beginning when the other concludes.

Although it is at the discretion of the Host, it is generally accepted as a game courtesy not to make posts on the thread at night.

Day Phase

The Host announces daybreak. Players may resume conversation. The Host announces who died in the night and the roles they played. (Alternatively, some Hosts reveal only player status: guilty or innocent.) Failed murders, inspection results, and the cause of death are not noted in any way. Discussion begins. "Dead players" are no longer allowed to discuss the game in any way with other players. Any player may accuse any other player. If the accusation is seconded, the accused player is on trial. He will then be given an opportunity to give a defense and discussion continues. After a time, the Host may call for a vote. No votes given before the accused player posts a defense will be counted. Votes may not be changed once the Host counts them (but may be changed up until that point.) If the majority of the living players vote to convict the player on trial, he is lynched and dies (unless a Governor* is in the game). The player is acquitted otherwise. Accusations and votes may continue until more than 50% of the players are acquitted or players vote to go to sleep, in which case the day ends without a lynching.

The Object of the Game

Innocent players win when there are no guilty players left in the game. Mafia win if they are no longer outnumbered by innocent players.

The Game Roles

Each player may hold only one role. In some of the below descriptions I use ratio comparisons. 1:3 implies 1 per 3. (e.g. 1:3 Masons to Civilians would imply 3 Masons if there are 9-11 Civilians)

Civilians do not have special powers. They are considered innocent and win the game only if they eliminate all guilty players. Civilians are standard to the game of Mafia and make up anywhere from 1/3 to 2/3 of the innocent players.

Mafia are guilty. Every night, they may choose to kill one person. Mafia are also a standard role in the game. They may communicate with other Mafia members and should be advised as to who else is Mafia. The number of Mafia is a highly debatable issue and is furthermore very dependent on which roles the Host chooses to include. Inexperienced Host may wish to open this for discussion before assigning roles.

The Inspector is the final standard role. Each night, the inspector chooses one person to ask about. The Host then reveals to the inspector whether or not this person is a Mafia member and nothing else about them. This information is not automatically disclosed to the remaining players in the general discussion, but the Inspector may choose to identify himself along with any information that he has. There is nothing preventing a false Inspector from claiming this status, however. The Inspector is innocent.

Angel(s) may choose to protect one person each night. If this person is the victim of either the Mafia or the Vigilante, he or she will not be killed. In games of more than 20 innocent people, there are generally 2 Angels with an additional 1 Angel per 10 innocent players. When such cases occur, Angels are advised concerning the identity of the other Angel. Angels are considered innocent.

*For even more roles see the Additional Optional Roles Section at the bottom

Game Notes

The game of Mafia relies on the fact that no one knows what anyone else plays at the beginning of the game. A few exceptions to this are that everyone knows who *the Governor is and members of some groups know the identity of the other members. For fairness and to have fun, please do not cheat by revealing who you are to someone else. It makes the game more pointless every time someone does that.

Communication between individual players is prohibited and those who do not respect this policy should be immediately removed from the game. Host should consider not including these individuals in future games. It is not only rude and cheap, but there are plenty of people who put time into making each game and all participants expect to play fairly. Of course, if you are a Mafia, or *Mason you can talk with the others in your group during the Night phase. At all other times and for all other roles, communication with other players about the game is illegal. Charging someone based on what you two discussed individually should also not be considered valid.

Hosting can be a lot of fun but since there can only be one host per game. The Host is in charge of the entire game, and, as you can see above, that can be a lot of work, especially if one is inexperienced. If you wish to Host, please be extremely organized. As you can easily see, employing only half those roles can be a massive headache as far as keeping records go. However, if you are accepted for the job people will expect you to take responsibility.

*Additional Optional Roles

Please note that it would take a very large number of players to suport all these additional roles (30-40) and so it is not wise to try to incorperate too many of the additional roles to a game unless you have enough players to support them all. Also it is best to only introduce a new roles to the game only after every several games have been played with the current set of roles (whatever they may be). This will allow players to become familiar with the roles, how to play them (or with/against them) effectively and to understand their impact on the game.

*A Vigilante, like Mafia, can kill one person each night. However, there is only one Vigilante, and he is considered innocent. He may target either an innocent or guilty person. The Vigilante, like Civilians, win if there are no Mafia remaining. This is an optional role.

*The Fairy may choose to remove the powers of the Vigilante for one night. There is no limit to how many times this may be done. If the power of the Vigilante is removed, his victim will not be killed. The Fairy is not advised as to who the Vigilante is and is considered innocent. It is generally advised that there be a Fairy in every game that includes a Vigilante.

*A Prosecutor is in every respect like an Inspector except that he is searching for the Vigilante instead of Mafia. The Prosecutor is considered innocent. It is generally advised that there be a Prosecutor in every game that includes a Vigilante.

*The Priest is in many ways like the Inspector. However, the Priest inquires conerning the Angel, Inspector, and Devil (described below). To clarify, the Priest will name one player and the Host will reply that the person is either an Angel, Inspector, Devil or none of the above. Priests are considered innocent and their main goal is to protect the previous two occupations. It is generally advised that priests only be present when there are 2 or more Angels playing.

*A Devil is the opposite of the Priest. He inquires concerning the Angel, Inspector, and Priest and will receive a reply that a player is one of the above or none. The Devil is guilty. Furthermore, he is told who the Mafia members are. However, they do not know who the Devil is. The Devil may communicate with the Mafia in no manner other than through the general discussion thread which all players can view. The Devil and the Priest are complimentary. It is unwise to play with one and without the other.

*Law enforcement Officers cannot be killed by either the Vigilante or Mafia (because of their bulletproof vests). They may, however, be killed in any other manner. Officers are innocent and present in a ratio of 1:4 Civilians (not 1:4 innocent players). Officers are like civilians in all other capacities. They are advised at the beginning of the game concerning the other Officers. Officers generally do not find their way into games of less than 25 people.

*A Governor (and there can be only one) has the authority to issue a pardon for the previous day's lynching. The Governor is the one role that is revealed at the beginning of the game and may be lynched (the Governor may not pardon himself) or killed in any other fashion. The Governor is considered innocent. When a Governor is present in the game, all lynchings are stalled and announced the following morning. During the night following a lynching, the Governor will notify the Host as to whether or not he wishes to issue a pardon. If such a pardon is granted, the lynch will be announced as failed. It is a somewhat common practice to remove the right of the Governor to participate in votes and debates as his lynching powers compensate for those rights. This is, like other things, up to the discretion of the Host.

*Masons are a secret order of citizens. There are generally 1 Mason for every 2 Civilians (not 1:2 innocent players). They know who each other are. They know that they are all innocent. Masons may also hold conversation within their own group at night (but not during the day). They may communicate with no other players individually. Many times, players have liked the idea of assigning Masons to role of Priest and Wizard (described below). For example, having one Mason as Priest and another as Wizard. This is the only exception to the rule concerning players holding one role only. Players are notified that there is a Mason holding dual roles before the game begins, but the identity of this particular Mason (or any other Mason) is not disclosed and neither is his second role. In all other respects, they are like Civilians.

(These rules were moderately copied and ammended from multiple sources)

_________________
~Sylph~
Whoever fair and chaste
Rejects mankind
Is by some sylph embraced

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