International Mafia Month 2024

[AniX]

That's right, after a very short 13 year break, it's back!

International Mafia Month traces back to the 2006 Scummies when mith, in honor of the then upcoming fifth anniversary of Mafiascum on March 28th, 2007, declared the whole month of March "International Mafia Day". Yes, the whole month. This gag would become reality a mere week later, when the first International Mafia Month dropped. This tradition would continue over the next few years, occurring in 2008, 2009, and 2010, before mysteriously ending (some say because mith was ousted from power!) after its 2011 incarnation. Flay tried to bring it back in 2014 (Thanks Who for the find!) before it once again faded away. But now that I am

formally

in charge, I want to bring it back. And so, every day during the month of March, a new theme day will be posted. Some will be old classics! Some will be shiny and new! But all of them will invite you to celebrate this site, its community, and its amazing members.

International Mafia

Day

Month Daily Events

February 29 - "Wait, what do you mean it's not March yet?" Day
March 1 - "Today's Theme Is 'Theme'" Day
March 2 - "Do Some Work, You Slackers!" Day
March 3 - "

Brainwashing

Sharing Is Caring" Day
March 4 - "Obligatory Sappy Niceness" Day
March 5 - "Adopt A Newbie" Day
March 6 - "Constant Vigilance" Day

March 7 -

"Green Shirt Thurs" Day

March 8 - "Mark it Read, It's in a Thread" Day
March 9 - "Mafiascum 3024" Day
March 10 - "Knight In Shining Armor" Day
March 11 - "Power of the 11th Hour" Day
March 12 - "Don't Break the Site, AniX" Day
March 13 - "Thank God It's (Not) Friday" Day
March 14 - "Open Up About Opens" Day
March 15 - "Beware the 'Itles of March" Day
March 16 - "Tech Crew Appreciation" Day
March 17 - "Window into the Soul" Day
March 18 - "Get to Know a (lot of) Scummer(s)" Day
March 19 - "Role for Initiative" Day
March 20 - "Define Yourself" Day

March 21 -

"What Color Even IS This, Anyway?" Day

March 22 - "Just A Normal, Ordinary" Day
March 23 - "Purple Badge of Courage" Day
March 24 - "Treasured Memories, Old and the Newbie Queue" Day
March 25 - "Small Social Games" Day
March 26 - "It's Not Easy Being Green" Day
March 27 - "Like Sand through the Hourglass, so are the Day Phases of our Lives" Day
March 28 - "Happy 22nd Birthday, Mafiascum!" Day
March 29 - "MishMashiaScum.net" Day
March 30 - "Mish Mash (Of Reality Competition Tropes)" Day
March 31 - "An Offer You Can't Refuse" Day

[AniX]

February 29 - "Wait, what do you mean it's not March yet?" Day

In the grand tradition of previous IMM leap years, a bonus day for the world is a bonus IMM day for us! It's time to pre-game: I've linked all the old threads, any days you are hoping get brought back this time around? Tell me what parts of the site you think deserve their own IMM day in the sun. And if you are a true veteran of the site, share good memories you might have of the IMMs of yesteryear.

[AniX]

In the spirit of "link old IMM threads day", I present this link.

You know, I thought there was one more I was missing, but didn't think to check if Flay was the one who made it. Good catch!

[AniX]

March 1 - "Today's Theme is 'Theme'" Day

Theme games, be they micro, mini, or large, are a very popular format on this website and the source of some of our most memorable games, both because of the interesting flavor wrapped around the game we all know and love but also because it is the site's hub of innovation, with every new mechanic and role showing up here first. If you want to see what the future holds for the game of Mafia, you NEED to be reading Theme Games!

So let's give it some love. What have been some of your favorite Theme games to have read or played on the site? What are some of your favorite mechanics and roles to come out of there?

And if you REALLY want to give the Theme Queue its due, run and play some games there! There has never been a better time to bring out that game you've been tinkering with because the Theme Queue only has one game in sign-ups and is ready for intrepid mods!

[AniX]

I also posted before the game even ended, a game I did not play even a second of, to to basically shitpost "lol 11th Hour" (I think my special keyword search was triggered)

Just goes to show you can openly break the rules, take nothing seriously, suffer no consequences for my actions, and eventually rise to the highest ranks of power.

[AniX]

March 2 - "Do Some Work, You Slackers!" Day

The work week may have ended, but that just means you all have some time to devote to improving the site, right?

Today, I'd like to call on all users to make an effort to contribute to the site in some way, large or small. Pick an entry or three on MafiaWiki and make it/them really fantastic. See anything on the site that needs to be cleaned up? Let us know! It can even be something as simple as creating a new post in Mafia or General Discussion that prompts interesting conversation!

This is also a great day to volunteer for ongoing site projects too! If you a talent or passion for art or graphics (or making merchandise I guess), we are looking to get our Art & Merchandise Group going and Save the Dragons, the appointed director of that effort, would love to have you. Followed my advice and did a little work on the Wiki and think you'd like to keep that going? Let one of our Wiki Managers (TemporalLich, Ariel, wgeurts, RH9) know! And if you think you'd be an asset to planning and writing for the Scummies going forward, Ircher is ready and waiting to take your call.

[AniX]

March 3 - "

Brainwashing

Sharing Is Caring" Day

No better time to invite someone to join the site than the month where there is brand new exciting content every day! So get out there and talk to people! Tell a friend about Mafia and/or mafiascum.net! Start up a face-to-face game. Invite someone give the forums a try. Create propaganda information flyers to put up in prominent places. When someone mentions Mafia, say you "know a guy" and give them my personal cell number. Write "MAFIA" in tiger's blood on the doors of the non-players. The possibilities are endless!

[AniX]

No thanks, I only play Werewolf.

[AniX]

I have already said it on this website 8 times.

[AniX]

March 4 - "Obligatory Sappy Niceness" Day

It's the first Monday of the month, so I think we can all use a bit of kindness in our lives! Let's all be extra nice to everyone today. We can save that cutting remark for tomorrow.

Today, compliment someone on their good play in a game. Show your appreciation for someone's continued presence with a nice PM. And if someone does something nice for you today (or even in the past), make sure to post about it in this thread to let them know you appreciated it!

[AniX]

Thank you for all the hard work you do with the Wiki, TemporalLich (RH9 and Ariel too of course)!

[AniX]

March 5 - "Adopt A Newbie" Day

On Sunday, we had you recruit new players. Yesterday, we had you show them how friendly we are. Today, it's the final part of the combo: Take those new players and make sure they have everything they need to succeed. While the Newbie Queue may be gone, Newbies are still coming every day and they could use your help. Today, really make an effort to take some under your wing. If you see them struggling in a game, help them work through their theory and logic. If you see them being confused in Mafia Discussion, take a moment to answer their questions. If you see them in a thread (most especially our Newbie thread), say hello!

To get into the spirit of things, the mods (shout-out to Save the Dragons for spearheading the project) will soon be releasing a new Newbie Guide for the home page to replace the outdated image. But until then, YOU are the guides, so get guiding!

[AniX]

March 6 - "Constant Vigilance" Day

Yesterday's crisis where Facebook and Instagram collapsed reminds us that we need to be ever-vigilant in keeping the site safe from the dreaded tiger threat to our servers. If you notice any suspicious activity, report it immediately. Review your Tiger Attack Emergency Plan regularly. Check your tiger traps. Spy on your neighbors to be sure they are not working for the enemy. And if you notice any glitches on the website these scoundrel tigers may have done, make sure to report it to your designated Tiger Defense Specialists (that's the mod team!)

But don't live your life in fear, either. Remember, if we stop playing Mafia because we're fearful of a tiger strike, the tigers have won.

[AniX]

March 7- "Green Shirt Thurs" Day

For many years, Green Shirt Thursday was an institution on the site, a weekly event uniting Mafiascum users to post themselves wearing, you guessed it, green shirts on Thursday. Glork was the one who brought the tradition to the site and he really loved seeing people celebrate it. You can even still see him advertising for it in his signature!

Glork was a site institution in his own right too. He was one of the earliest generations of Mafiascum users and one of the most prominent even a decade and a half later, as well as a respected former member of the Mafiascum Moderator team. I knew him for many years (when you are members of the same site for nearly 15 years together, you tend to bump into one another) and while I wasn't as close to him as many of the others he met on the site, including the love and family he found here, I was very fond of him.

The site will have lost Glork to cancer 5 years ago this October. It seems only fitting that any International Mafia Month have its own Green Shirt Thursday in honor of him, the connections he created through the tradition, and all the others we have lost throughout the years.

So tomorrow, if you can, wear a green shirt. For bonus points, take a selfie of yourself doing so and post it here or in FWAN. For those who can't (and those who want to get even more into the Green Shirt spirit), change your text color to green for the day!

[AniX]

March 8- "Mark it Read, It's in a Thread" Day

An often overlooked aspect of the site is, as a companion to us being the best place to PLAY Mafia on the internet, we are also THE biggest and best collection of completed Mafia games on the internet. We have 22 years of gaming history in our archives and they are all yours to read at the click of a mouse.

So today, I invite you all to find a completed game in our archives and read through it. There is no wrong way to pick! Choose one you've seen mentioned before as a particularly good example of some aspect of Mafia, or a past Scummies winner or nominee, or one of the handful of "Special Event" games we've run, or one by your favorite Mod or involving your favorite player, or even just choose one at random! You could even review an old game of your own to see how you've improved!

After all, one of the best ways to improve your play is to read completed games - you can see how other players approach a situation, what works, what doesn't, what tells various players might give off, and so on! And, hell, it can be just plain entertaining too!

[AniX]

March 9- "Mafiascum 3024" Day

As we come to the end of the first full week of International Mafia Month 2024, I'm sure we are all looking forward to what the rest of the month will bring. But we also ought to look even further than that! Today is for thinking about how we can make Mafiascum.net even better in the future. What would you like to see on the site in the coming year? What could we do differently?

Brainstorm fantastic new roles, setups, mechanics, themes that haven't been tried. Figure out how you are going to spend even more of your time playing Mafia in 2024 (and beyond!) than you did in 2023.

[AniX]

Blood on the Clocktower actually has futuresight evil team setup, where the Pukka role poisons a player (effectively, turns them into a vanilla role) n1 and then the next night, they poison another player and the previously poisoned player dies.

[AniX]

March 10- "Knight In Shining Armor" Day

Need some more games for your Mafia fix? Rather than signing up for a new game today, why not go and see if any games have replacement slots in need of filling? Sure it's a bit of reading, but you will undoubtedly earn the eternal* gratitude of the moderator and the players.

*Eternal being defined as however long the game lasts.

[AniX]

March 11 - "Power of the 11th Hour" Day

[AniX]

AniX are you going to post a livestream of you killing a tiger with your bare hands?

I have managed to avoid posting an image of myself on this site in nearly 21 years and I don't intend to start now.

[AniX]

March 12 - "Don't Break the Site, AniX" Day

The first annual International Mafia Month was going off without a hitch when mith made a critical mistake: He announced that day's theme was Trademarks, asking questions to flaunt their trademarks and gimmicks. I wore a younger man's clothes then, full of vim and vigor, and decide to take him at his word. Over the course the day, I made 11 threads, fill to the brim with paragraph upon paragraph of Xithian poetry, rants, raves, and everything else under the sun. The site groaned. It couldn't take the weight. And Trademark Day ended earlier than planned as the site collapsed and crashed.

The next year, mith, in an offer of appeasement, decided to go with a different theme for IMM's Trademark Day: "Don't Break the Site, AniX" Day. How could I NOT bring back that one?

So have at it. Definitely don't repeat my arrogance, but if you have something on the site you are known for, let it fly today! Does someone else have a gimmick you find really fun and brightens your day whenever you see them post? Let them know!

[AniX]

March 13 - "Thank God It's (Not) Friday" Day

As luck would have it, we managed to have the 13th of the month NOT become a dreaded Friday the 13th, so let's celebrate our lucky break by talking about...our lucky breaks! As much as Mafia games are a game of skill, they are also games of luck. And it only seems right that if skillful play gets a whole award ceremony (plug for the Scummies!) that lucky plays at least can get a day during IMM.

What are your favorite moments of luck in a game, where everything seemed to line up purely by chance to help you pull victory from the jaws of defeat? A random vigilante kill that struck gold? A last minute roll of the dice on who to lim that came up in your favor? Or maybe even simply the luck of getting assigned a role you've never played before and loving it!

[AniX]

March 14 - "Open Up About Opens" Day

It is sometimes said (for example, by me, right now) that Opens are like the Chess of Mafia: All the pieces are on the board and everyone knows how they work. There are no surprises or twists, just a pure contest of skills, move against countermove. So let's give it some love!

What have been some of your favorite Open games to play, moderate, or even just read? Are there any setups you particularly enjoy?

[AniX]

March 15 - "Beware the 'Itles of March" Day

Titles are one of my favorite little quirks of Mafiascum, where users who have stood out from the crowd get a little marker of that contribution to the community. Think a user you know deserves the honor? Have a title you is exceedingly clever? Head to the Title Fairy thread and suggest one!

And while we're at it, make sure to thank mastina for all her hard work running the Title queue!

[AniX]

March 16- "Tech Crew Appreciation" Day

If you enjoy not having to play your game by sending letters through the Post Office, give it up for our technical admins, Kison and borkjorfkin! I can absolutely assure you, beyond a shadow of a doubt, every site suggestion you make that we implement that involves doing more than operating a dropdown level is handled solely by them, not me.

[AniX]

March 17- "Window into the Soul" Day

Today we celebrate those little images that are associated with us: Avatars! Avatars in many ways are the first thing we notice about another player, often even before (or even to the exclusion of!) usernames. Who among us has talked to a person only to discover, whoops, it is an entirely different user with a similar profile picture. Or stared blankly at a stranger's friendly post before realizing it is your dear friend, just with a different funny little meme image.

How did you end up choosing your current avatar? Is there any avatar, yours or someone else's, you think really stood out? And if you feel really daring, consider making an Avatar Bet on what tomorrow's Theme is going to be!

[AniX]

March 18 - "Get to Know a (lot of) Scummer(s)" Day

A picture's worth a thousand words, but that doesn't tell us the whole story. Tell us a little bit about yourself today - your hobbies outside of mafiascum, your goals and dreams, something unique and interesting about you - or if you can't think of anything, bump your GTKAS thread or, if you don't have one, sign up and have people do the work of thinking of things for you to tell for you. And while you're there, do everyone else the same favor and ask some questions!

And don't forget to thank our GTKAS mod hellbooks for all her hard work there!

[AniX]

March 19 - "Role for Initiative" Day

Today, we celebrate the spice in our games: Roles! Have a great new Role idea that you want to run by the MD crowd? There's a thread for that. Have a hilariously bad idea? There's a thread for that too. Want to just talk about your favorite role to play or a cool role you invented? There's also a thread for that (It's this one!)

I myself am credited with the invention of a role: The Mailman, which I invented 20 odd years ago for Newman in an AIM Seinfeld UPick.

[AniX]

March 20 - "Define Yourself" Day

Take some time today to define yourself... the profile options are there for you to set yourself apart. Avatar, signature, pronouns, location, maybe even profession or interests? Explore what's there for you to tell us a little more about yourself. If you find you need more room, start your wiki page!

[AniX]

Did the profession field get removed, or am I just blind and unable to see it?

It got deactivated somehow (maybe during the update?). Should be back on now.

[AniX]

March 21 -

"What Color Even IS This, Anyway?"

Day

While the mod team often gets the lion's share (and blame) for the day to day running of Mafiascum, it would be a much more dreary site without the assistance of our community contributors.

As we've already discussed on previous days (but definitely worth reminding on), mastina is the one who keeps our Title system functioning. And hellbooks is who you have to thank for keeping the GTKAS queue running on time!

The Wiki is one of the most important features within the Mafiascum (and greater Mafia community!) and we have our Wiki Team to thank for that, headed by our Wiki Managers (TemporalLich, Ariel, wgeurts, RH9)

We can't discuss those who contribute to the community without discussing the team that will help us soon celebrate the community, the Scummies Committee (with Ircher in his inaugural year as Committee Chair!)

Our newest Contributor is Farren, our Mish Mash Janitor. Farren's contributions may be a little less public than some of the others, but he is no less important in making sure the Mish Mash forum is kept neat and organized.

And while we recently took the Replacement Queue in house under mod control, shout out to Morning Tweet for having done a great job!

Let's give them all a round of applause for all they do for the site!

[AniX]

March 22 - "Just A Normal, Ordinary" Day

Today is the day we celebrate the always standardized, rarely boring format of Mafia known as "Normal Games". What have been your favorite Normal games to play over the years? What is the wildest combination of modifiers you've seen? What are some prompts I could have written as a third thing if we had Normal Games back when I was actively playing and I knew what I was talking about?

And if you like Normal Games so much and think you have a good grasp on what makes them tick, you ought to consider applying to join the Normal Review Group!

[AniX]

March 23 - "Purple Badge of Courage" Day

If you've ever discussed any number of controversial topics here or on the Discord and wondered "Wow, nobody has cursed me out and called me a slur yet", today is your day to thank the team trying their best to make sure that remains the status quo. The role has changed over the years (the number of reports we get weekly used to be what we were getting DAILY) and expanded (Discord is purple territory too!), but the passion of the Discussion Moderation Team to keep this site a safe and fun place to discuss issues of the day remain.

This is a particularly important Day because I am the first Purple Mod to ever ascended to the ranks of Admin*!

*In so much as there have been two new admins since the color code was instituted and Zor was a Green.

[AniX]

That was unintentional but also perhaps my brain is too powerful when it comes to puns.

[AniX]

It would be the worst if I could think of another pun to insert in there to complete the set. [Third sentence with a very funny pun on Ydrasse.]

[AniX]

March 24 - "Treasured Memories, Old and the Newbie Queue" Day

This day is just to show I didn't write these all in advance and am just copy-pasting them each day. There has been a lot of talk about how to revitalize the Newbie experience on the site in the past week, only makes sense we'd end that week by talking about the most recently retired queue, the Newbie Queue. If you played a Newbie Queue game as your first game on the site, today's the day to go back and read it and see how you improved. Or maybe you'd like to read the first game of a veteran you think is a great player, to humble them in your mind. Or you can just post in this thread about a favorite moment or game you had through the Queue!

[AniX]

you kind of laundered a really villainous idea in there

[AniX]

March 25 - "Small Social Games" Day

While it may not be mentioned in the title, Mish Mash is a critical part of the site and a shining jewel in what makes Mafiascum great. So let's talk about it! What have been your favorite Mish Mash games to play? Any moment that really stands out to you from games you have played or read? Any games you haven't seen (or haven't seen lately) you'd like to see?

And if you answered yes to the final question, why are you reading this when you could have made the Mish Mash thread for it already?

Please note this day is NOT about Large Social Games AKA LSGs AKA Original Reality Games AKA ORGs. I better not catch anyone discussing this legally distinct class of game today, for no reason in particular. That said, if you wanted to write up something about them in a word document and then paste it here at some future point where such discussion was permitted, I can't stop you!

[AniX]

March 26 - "It's Not Easy Being Green" Day

Like playing Mafia here? Thank your local List Moderator. From keeping games filling smoothly to examining new setups and dealing with rule infractions, the List Mods (present and past) do a lot to make this site what it is. You might want to just drop them a word of thanks... though probably not in their Queue thread, those get spammy enough as it is.

[AniX]

March 27 - "Like Sand through the Hourglass, so are the Day Phases of our Lives" Day

As with any long-running community, Mafiascum has seen its users through their fair share of life changes. Take me for example! Everything I have done since I began puberty until now (standing here as a 35 year old lawyer) has been witnessed in some small part by the Mafiascum Community. And for many people, Mafiascum did more than that, with romances formed and even marriages made in threads of this forum.

What has Mafiascum seen YOU through? How are you different now than you were when you joined?

[AniX]

I work for the government, I clock out like Fred in the Flintstones opening credits promptly at 5pm

[AniX]

March 28 - "Happy 22nd Birthday, Mafiascum!" Day

I feel like this entire month has been bits and pieces of explaining who and what makes this site special, so I'll keep this one simple: Whether you have been here since the beginning or you just joined today, thank you for being a part of this site! 22 years of an empty site is worthless, so it is the users who deserve to be heralded today. So celebrate yourself, because just by being here you make the site better!

[AniX]

March 29 - "MishMashiaScum.net" Day

Today we celebrate what some (me, right now) call the unsung heroes of Mafiascum.net: The members of the moderation team who make sure you can play games on this site that AREN'T the one in the title! It can be hard work being below the fold when it comes to prominence and still making your mark, but the Blues have always done a great job at being an essential part of why this site is great. So make sure you let them know how much you enjoy the fun stuff they help you run and play in! And if you really want to show them your appreciation, there is always room for more players and ESPECIALLY more mods, both in Mish Mash and in LSGs.

[AniX]

March 30 - "Mish Mash (Of Reality Competition Tropes)" Day

You can now go ahead and post that rant about LSGs I told you not to post a few days ago because today is the day to celebrate them. Whether you find them a gaming challenge or just want to pretend you are playing on your favorite show, there is no question that LSGs have made their mark on the internet and on this website. What has been your favorite LSG to play? Any moments that really stand out?

And remember, the Mish Mash moderation team is always looking for new volunteers to mod!

[AniX]

March 31 - "An Offer You Can't Refuse" Day

International Mafia Month is winding down, but the game goes on. And so does this website! Running a website this size isn't free and mith has been gracious enough as to fund the website from his own pocket for the past 22 years. If you would like to contribute to the server costs of the site, you can do so either on the Donation Page or by subscribing to the Patreon; Donating is of course by no means required, this website is free to use and always will be, but if you weren't aware of the option before, now you are.

We've also been working toward offering t-shirts and playing cards again to our users, as an additional way to support the site and server costs while at the same time getting you something cool and unique to Mafiascum in return. If you would like to lend a hand on the project, let Save The Dragons know and he'll add you to the Art and Merch usergroup!