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Mafia! Evil Unearthed

Posted: Thu Apr 11, 2019 2:57 pm
by Lions
Mafia! Evil Unearthed
I promised Mike that when I came back to the league I would run another Lego Mafia game... but of course that depends on YOU! I'll only run a game if there's enough interest in playing. "That seems reasonable," you say, "Of course I want to play!". Right, now you've got it!

For those of you who don't know what Mafia is, it's a game where a group of "Townies" are trying to eliminate the "Mafia" among them, but only the Mafia know who each other are. This is done through voting out players and special actions that help each team manipulate others or learn about them. A more comprehensive overview is below, but you can also check out Mafiascum.net. The Wiki there is a great resource.

I've hosted a few games of Mafia here before. I highly encourage anyone who hasn't played to read through some of them.
Game 1: Mafia! The Stadium Lockdown
Game 2: Mafia! Mutiny In Bay City
Game 3: Mafia! Return To Bay City
Game 4: Mafia! Under Cover of Darkness
Game 5: Mafia Bloodbath! (slightly different format)

Logistics
A Mafia game is divided into day and night phases. We'll have 120 hour day phases (5 real days) and 48 hour night phases. That should give everyone plenty of time to contribute no matter what time zone you live in. I'm aiming to start the game either during the PEBA postseason or early in the offseason, depending on how quickly sign-ups go and how fast I can get sets built and photos taken.

I'm looking for a minimum of 8 players, but would really love it if we can get at least 12. The more players, the more interesting roles I can assign out to everyone. Once sign-ups are complete, I will send out character information via PM's and then post a confirmation & discussion thread. The game will begin once everyone responds there.

This game is open to anyone affiliated with the PEBA. If you're an ex-GM who's lurking and want to play or if you want to invite a friend to join, that's ok.

Sign Up Details
To sign up, simply post in this thread with answers to the following questions:
  1. Will you be able to contribute regularly for 6-8 weeks?
  2. What Mafia experience do you have?
  3. Town, Castle, Space, or Pirates?
Signed Up
  1. Mike T (AUR)
  2. John R
  3. Drew (DUL)
  4. Dylan (TOY)
  5. Kevin V (SS)
  6. Dan V (BAK)
Mafia Overview
A typical game of Mafia pits two teams against each other. The "Town" team consists of the majority of players, and the town's goal is to eliminate the mafia who've infiltrated their town. Town players don't typically know who each other are. The "Mafia" team consists of a small number of players whose goal is to take over majority control of the town. Mafia players typically know who each other are at the start of the game. At the start of the game, each player will be randomly assigned a character, team alignment, and character role.

The game takes place in Day and Night phases. During the day phase, players are encouraged to discuss their theories about who is and who isn't mafia, with the ultimate goal of voting one player to be "lynched" by the end of the day. Naturally, the mafia will be trying to convince the town to lynch another townie, while the town will be trying to figure out who is mafia in order to lynch them. In our games, each day phase will last serveral days real time so that everyone has ample opportunity to contribute to the discussion.

The night phase is when each character's role comes into play. Roles are things like professions that allow players to influence the outcome of the game. Some roles are investigative, allowing you to learn information about another player's alignment or role, and others are protective, allowing you or your target to avoid being harmed. There are numerous roles possible in mafia, but the most important one is that of the mafia killer, who acts under cover of darkness so as to go undetected.

As each new day begins, the alignment of players killed at night or lynched the previous day will be revealed. Ultimately, the town must use a combination of the evidence before them (role results, alignment revelations upon death, and voting/discussion behavior) to determine who the mafia are. The mafia, in turn, will be doing their darndest to blend in.

At its core, mafia is a game of behavioral analysis and deception. It's also an opportunity to dive into a character and role play while back stabbing your friends. The game is most fun when people blend character role playing with detailed game discussion. In that vein, I will be illustrating the game with Lego characters and sets to tell the story that I've placed you in, but that you're building as the game goes on.

Re: Mafia! Evil Unearthed

Posted: Thu Apr 11, 2019 3:00 pm
by Borealis
1) All In...
2) I'm with JR, but have played plenty of Werewolf
3) Pirates... Just to be cont-arrrrrrrrrrr-ian...

Re: Mafia! Evil Unearthed

Posted: Thu Apr 11, 2019 5:53 pm
by John
Well, of course!

EDIT:
1.) Yes
2.) You are my experience, Frank. :)
3.) Castle

Re: Mafia! Evil Unearthed

Posted: Thu Apr 11, 2019 6:44 pm
by DrewV
1) Sounds awesome! Sign me up.
2) No forum mafia experience, played the "normal" game a few times.
3) Castle

Re: Mafia! Evil Unearthed

Posted: Thu Apr 11, 2019 8:21 pm
by Wind Dancers
I'm in as well and as to answer those questions:

1. Yes I can
2. I've played plenty of Mafia, usually my go-to party game
3. Castle

Re: Mafia! Evil Unearthed

Posted: Thu Apr 11, 2019 9:40 pm
by John
Edited my response above to add answers to your questions, Frank.

Re: Mafia! Evil Unearthed

Posted: Thu Apr 11, 2019 10:28 pm
by Lions
Wind Dancers wrote:2. I've played plenty of Mafia, usually my go-to party game
Forum Mafia is a bit of a different beast to meat Mafia. You don't have physical tells, and there's a track record of everything you've said.
Have you played Blood on the Clocktower?

Re: Mafia! Evil Unearthed

Posted: Fri Apr 12, 2019 11:16 am
by Wind Dancers
Badgers wrote:
Wind Dancers wrote:2. I've played plenty of Mafia, usually my go-to party game
Forum Mafia is a bit of a different beast to meat Mafia. You don't have physical tells, and there's a track record of everything you've said.
Have you played Blood on the Clocktower?
Yea I figured as much. Same idea, but a different way of playing it.

I have not played Blood on the Clocktower.

Re: Mafia! Evil Unearthed

Posted: Fri Apr 12, 2019 6:05 pm
by John
Wind Dancers wrote:
Badgers wrote:
Wind Dancers wrote:Have you played Blood on the Clocktower?
I have not played Blood on the Clocktower.
Neither have I, Dylan, but I'm jumping in on the Kickstarter, which has already earned over $420,000 with 12 days remaining. I've been reading reports about the game for a while now. People have been playing a prototype version for years and the word is it's an amazing social deduction experience. Very much in the spirit of Mafia, but in BotC, you're always going to have a different role because the game comes with 100 out of the box! Each one has a completely different power, so you never know how the game is going to play out.

Here's the Blood on the Clocktower homepage, if you're interested in learning more. And again, the game can be pre-ordered through Kickstarter for another 12 days. It's a bit pricey, but it looks like it'll be a blast.

Frank, I'm assuming you've played BotC? What are your thoughts on the game?

Re: Mafia! Evil Unearthed

Posted: Fri Apr 12, 2019 6:46 pm
by Lions
John wrote:Frank, I'm assuming you've played BotC? What are your thoughts on the game?
I haven't actually. I don't really play any social deduction in person other than One Night Ultimate Werewolf with my kids, which is... not terribly fun yet. The folks I game with aren't big social deduction fans. From reading a lot about BotC, it strikes me as a well tuned version of forum mafia suitable for in person games. It takes out one of the big meatspace problems of player elimination, and adds a novel voting mechanism to the wide role variety. I've read through one forum game of BotC, which had a few problems, but I think a tweak or two could make it work. My interest in it is more along those lines.

Re: Mafia! Evil Unearthed

Posted: Fri Apr 12, 2019 11:48 pm
by DrewV
No judgement, but my wife and I are big D&D advocates. Our 5 year old loves it, and we see a lot of math and deductive reasoning improvement through a medium he enjoys. Nerds for life.

Re: Mafia! Evil Unearthed

Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2019 9:32 am
by Wind Dancers
D&D is great. There's certainly no judgment coming from this RPG and tabletop player!

Re: Mafia! Evil Unearthed

Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2019 9:41 am
by John
Wind Dancers wrote:D&D is great. There's certainly no judgment coming from this RPG and tabletop player!
Quoted for truth!

Re: Mafia! Evil Unearthed

Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2019 11:48 am
by Evas
Man it has been a while since we've played this.

1. I'll play.
2. I've played on here.
3. Castle is best, then pirate.

This should be good. I think it would be good to wait a few days to try to snag more players. I'd wager forum traffic has gone down a smidgen as the regular season winds down.

Re: Mafia! Evil Unearthed

Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2019 9:40 pm
by Ghosts
I'll give it a whirl. Any additional opportunities to beat Kevin work for me.

1. I'll contribute
2. None
3. Pirates