'Best Friends'

[Wake1]

Been reading through some of the articles on the wiki, and stumbled upon the 'Best Friends' roles when reading up on Masons.

In short, the pair of

Best Friends

know each others' alignments, but can't communicate like Masons can.

To me that sounds like an underrated and fun combination to any Mafia game.

Instead of Masons in any Normal game here, could we substitute the 'Best Friends' pair, and still have a slot left for a unique role?

I'd like to see a duo or trio of Best Friends used in a Large game sometime.

What do you guys think about it? Should they be utilized more?

[Majiffy]

Sounds pretty solid.

[Aeronaut]

I actually recently saw that on the Wiki too, and thought the same thing; might be a cool thing to add to a game that can't quite support masons.

[xRECKONERx]

I don't think the communication part of it is "that much more powerful" enough than just knowing each other's alignments, unless you give masons daytalk as the norm (which is a bad idea). For a 'nerfed mason' I much prefer friendly neighbor. This just feels like a double friendly neighbor, or maybe "slightly less powerful mason" but I don't know when I'd ever say "I'd prefer to just have best friends over masons".

[Cogito Ergo Sum]

Instead of Masons in any Normal game here, could we substitute the 'Best Friends' pair, and still have a slot left for a unique role?

Nope. You could use two in a Large Normal, but that's it.

[N]

It's quite clear on the wiki page what is Normal.

Masons are a group of players who can speak to each other privately and know that everyone in their group is not a member of the Mafia. Whether the Masons' ability to privately communicate can be used at any time or at Night only is up to the moderator's discretion. The number of Masons can vary from game to game, and it is not impossible for there to exist separate Mason groups within the same game.

The above version of Mason, and only the above version of Mason, is considered Normal on mafiascum.net, provided they are Town-aligned. (See Variations below.)

At the moment, if you want to use Best Friends in a Normal, it would have to be in a Large, using both new/experimental slots.

If we start seeing a rise in Best Friends use, I'd consider adding it as a whitelisted role, but at the moment there are other roles more likely to be added.

[Mr. Rogers]

I don't want to be masons with you. I'd rather just be friends...

[Brian Skies]

Alternatively, you can just do what Natirasha did in Advance Wars and make them symmetrical informed townies.

[SleepyKrew]

I'm best friends with the mailman.

[Marquis]

1 Town Odd-Night Mason
1 Town Even-Night Mason

[Wake1]

1 Town Odd-Night Mason
1 Town Even-Night Mason

If it's essentially the same thing and is legit, that's clever.

N, what do you think?

[Aeronaut]

THEN THEY COULD LEAVE EACHOTHER MESSAGES IN THE QT

[Wake1]

Well, s***.

Or I could ask them nicely: "Hey, guys, this QT here... please don't post in it. Uh-huh. Yep, you heard me right. Thanks."

[Marquis]

I used the role "Backup Neighbor" in my Mini Normal, and interpreted it so if any Neighbor died they would join their hood. Quirky new twists are fun.

Odd/Even Masons are close but not the same thing as your suggestion, with any possible Normal interpretation; I would interpret each as a Mason who knows all other Masons and has access to the game's one Mason PT, but each can only post on Odd/Even-Nights.

Adding a regular Town Mason and daytalk mechanics could result in a setup with some one-way, two-way, but not three-way talking.

Of course this is all just spec assuming N allows it, but there's precedent for allowing previously unseen roles that conform to Normal roles/modifiers in.

[Marquis]

but then on the flipside something that also conforms to normal roles/modifiers and probably isn't that normal is weak doublevoter

[N]

1 Town Odd-Night Mason
1 Town Even-Night Mason

If it's essentially the same thing and is legit, that's clever.

N, what do you think?

even night/odd night modifiers are usually for active abilities

pedit: also weak

[Marquis]

but think of all the fun w(ak)e could have

[House]

I like the Best Friends role and think it could be a way of (sorta) having mason-like players but without the overpowering ability of allowing them to communicate privately... it opens up more options for balancing games, doesn't it?

Say a mod wants to have a game with masons, a tracker, and a doc, but the reviewer says that's too town-sided, and that mod could have masons and either a tracker or doc... OR best friends, tracker, doc.

[Magua]

"Overpowering"

[House]

"Overpowering"

Get rid of masons then, because they're even stronger.

[House]

"Overpowering"

And if you're grumbling about

my

use of the word, the ability to communicate privately, away from the eyes of scum, is indeed a powerful weapon if it's used properly.

[Magua]

The power of masons is that they're confirmed town to eachother. If one flips, the other is mod-confirmed.

Unless they somehow have role information to share, their ability to speak privately is by comparison of little consequence. See also: Neighbors having little effect on a game unless they also include a pr.

[House]

The power of masons is that they're confirmed town to eachother. If one flips, the other is mod-confirmed.

Unless they somehow have role information to share, their ability to speak privately is by comparison of little consequence. See also: Neighbors having little effect on a game unless they also include a pr.

Neighbors having little effect is due to the lack of their mod confirmed status.

2 mod confirmed town with the ability to scheme away from the eyes of scum is a hell of a weapon. If you don't think so, I don't want to be masons with you. o_o

Saying masons are only valuable as 2 mod confirmed town and that the mason chat is of little consequence is akin to saying they might as well be Best Friends anyway. But then if you actually try to run a game with masons that don't have the mason chat, enjoy the shit storm when they can't talk to each other.

[Kublai Khan]

I agree more with Magua.

Mod-confirmation is by far the most objectively powerful aspect of the mason role and spinning that aspect to a separate role (Best Friends) makes that role still pretty powerful.

The talking aspect can possibly be a strength, but it depends entirely on the skill of both the players picked to be masons.

[House]

If that's true, where's the harm in allowing Best Friends in the place of Masons? o_O