Classic mafia

[Kerplunk]

There's a cry for back to basic mafia. Well not really, but it was interesting what mith and Leonidas said in the game HHGG2.
mith thought that his first game of mafia (only townies and cops, docs) was the funnest game he ever played. And leonidas said that maybe classic mafia is the best way to learn mafia. Do they have a point here? Is classic mafia a good learning school and are there more people who would like to see more classic mafia?

If so, in lack of too many sign-up lists in queue, maybe we could add another one: For classic mini-mafia. In the signup-thread all the roles displayed, with their abilities. Each game the players know how many mafia there are, etc. If they signup they only get a PM with

Town

or

Mafia

etc. The descriptions are in the thread. I never modded before (so I don't know), but I don't think it would be very much work to mod a game like this. So if you sign up to mod a classic, you can still participate in all the games you want and

still

have a life outside mafiascum.

Is this a good idea? If so, what roles should there be in a classic?

[Antrax]

We ran some "back to basics" games on the GL. Mafia is fun, in any format. IMO the old games used to be more fun simply because the game was newer, thus less analysed, so you could do all sorts of wacky stuff. Imagine playing before people lynched other people for being silent, the term "crap logic" wasn't used as an umbrella to attack anyone you feel like, people would lynch during the day even if it was the bad play because hey, that's what you do during the day, etc.
But I'm a big fan of basic roles anyway, because I believe too many roles turn the game into an RPG. Not bad, but not mafia, either.
Antrax

[shelper]

Dont we have a forum for games like these? (New York, seems pretty deserted)

I'd be interested as i still have a few basics to learn about mafia.

[mith]

yet that very first game was possibly

one of

the more

interesting

I've

watched

.

If you're going to quote me, please do so accurately.

[mlaker]

MeMe is running a back to basics mafia right now and in the long line to mod a regular game there should be a couple of basics mafia games.So I think we aren't completely without basics but I think we certainly could stand to have more of the games played here.

mlaker

[Norinel]

mlaker and shelper, I think what Kerplunk is talking about to some extent is a game with no roles- just townies and mafia.

One thing that I think mtgnews.com uses in their basic mafias that I think could work here would be to make the mafia recruit instead of kill Night 1 and start with an odd number of players. That'd add some more who-would-the-mafia-recruit type discussion.

[mlaker]

If they signup they only get a PM with Town or Mafia etc.

The etc. in that sentence means to me Cop Doc maybe GF.I don't know but that is just how I read it.

mlaker

[Norinel]

Oh, yeah. I missed it. So basically, all potential roles would be known publicly, but the mix might not be.

[Kerplunk]

yet that very first game was possibly one of the more interesting I've watched.

If you're going to quote me, please do so accurately.

, sorry mith. Should've put a disclaimer on that.

In the sign-up thread you can display in the first post the roles which the mod can use (or must use, if you want). The mod only has to send "Townie", "Mafia" or "Cop" to a player. Question is what kind of roles are classic roles and can (or has) to be used in a classic game?

• - Townie
  - Mafia
  - Cop
  - Doc

These are the obvious ones. But what about a backup-doc/cop, SK, masons? Should they be in a classic mafia-game? And, as Norinel said, should the mix be known or not or is that for the mod to decide?

[Dragon Phoenix]

Why not real basics? Town and mafia. That's it. No cop, no doc.

Too often nowadays, mafia degrades to 'let a cop please tell me what to vote', or 'everybody claim'. The original game required much more active participation, going through all the posts in detail looking for wsomething fishy. We are now at a stage that when I vote someone explicitly on a hunch (quoting 'based on posts and frequency'), players follow me blindly because they think I must be a cop.

[Electra]

I think that without an inspector, the town is basically screwed, since the Mafia don't have to worry about anyone ACTUALLY knowing their role.

I prefer Mafia with many roles, because it is my belief that in basic Mafia, the game becomes 'Mafia kills all the smart people and wins.'

[Dragon Phoenix]

I think that without an inspector, the town is basically screwed, since the Mafia don't have to worry about anyone ACTUALLY knowing their role.

So if the mafia get lucky and kill the cop night 1, game over?

See, that's what I mean that people rely too much on the cop.

[Stewie]

but if it's only mafia and town, when the mafia is accused they will say "I'm town" And the town will believe him/her because there aren't any other roles.

I'm gonna run a very basic game, but I signed up in the Normal Mini thread.

[Electra]

I think that without an inspector, the town is basically screwed, since the Mafia don't have to worry about anyone ACTUALLY knowing their role.

So if the mafia get lucky and kill the cop night 1, game over?

See, that's what I mean that people rely too much on the cop.

From what I've seen, yes. =p It's just too easy for Mafia to blend in if they don't have any negative factors placed on them.

[Kerplunk]

Why not real basics? Town and mafia. That's it. No cop, no doc.

That can be done. But there should be some basic roles where the mod can choose from and only from those roles displayed. The mod could choose only to let mafia and townies play, if he wants to and if he can find players for it.

Real basic (no cop, no doc) would be interesting. Lynching only through analyzing voting patterns and using (crap) logic.

[rite]

Might as well announce it here-- when I run my normal game (who knows when that will be, heh), it will be an open game, no cops. I'm thinking four scum, two docs, one SK, thirteen townies.

Does that sound balanced?

[mlaker]

I like back to the basics games but I also enjoy some of the more advanced roles.I like the FBI Agent and cannibal roles.I think these types of roles add to the mix of the game.

mlaker

[Dragon Phoenix]

It could be interesting to run two games in parallel, each with say 2 mafia, 10 townies, no cops, no docs. One game populated by old hands who have played gmes like this (like mith, mole and so on), one by experienced scummers who have not. No peeping at eachothers games until they are finished. Then compare.

[mikehart]

i think back-to-basics would be good to learn to play

when i first played their were 3 maf 1 cop and 8 townies and its a good way to earn to play which is how i set up games to introduce mafia to other boards. but i only think those games should be used for learning cause they are a lot simpler but no fun with experienced players.

Disclaimer:Anyone who sees this post and plays at utopiatemple do NOT assume that is how i set the game up there

[Werebear]

I'd like to play, please. I argued FOR the cop back on the old board, I would like to be part of the experiment where there were no cops. BUT - to be fair, the game should be run a set number of times, for instance, 6 or 10. If we ran two games and the mafia won one, and the town one the other, it's not a big sampling set to say it's fair... if we ran 10 games and the town only won one, then we'd know the game was biased.

[Stewie]

Disclaimer:Anyone who sees this post and plays at utopiatemple do NOT assume that is how i set the game up there

You don't want me to get extra info, do you?

[mikehart]

nope its unfair if we even can have a organized gane going

[Stewie]

i gotta admit, they are never gonna learn...

I'm gonna run a normal mini with pretty much basic roles: mafia, cops, doctors, and backups. (and town)

[mikehart]

i hope you can keep them under control

[Stewie]

i hope you can keep them under control

I'll try btw, you still don't have all night choices in? You should PM everyone that didn't get the night choice in.