Looking for advice: RL Mafia game

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Looking for advice: RL Mafia game

Post Post #0 (ISO) » Tue Jul 11, 2017 12:40 pm

Post by Zoan »

Hello everyone, as the title says, I am looking for advice about hosting an RL-Mafia game, I'll just jump right to the facts and what I came up with so far.
(Ps: I am a total newb so every kind of constructive critic is welcome, but pls fast, this is about to happen in 13h from now :eek: )

The group:

I expect around 15-25 people (20-30), all students of different subjects for becoming teachers who attended one semester of theater-something class together.
We know each other more or less and are pretty motivated in engaging roleplay as playing games in general, still, the main reason for the gathering will be a barbecue.
Some have experience with live Mafia games, (Werwolves) some don't.

My goal:

To create a game with lots of Roles since I believe them to be fun and more interesting, but not go full out on night actions to still have a decent overview and not take it too long.
Since the group will be somewhat big, I wanted to speed it up by adding more kills.
To somewhat counter unfortunate kills though, (either game-wise or people who were extremely fun), I wanted to have a revive option.
Also, it's important to enable time (day) where people can walk freely and just enjoy the gathering or plan their intrigues.
It would be nice to stay somewhat within 2h, but that's something I really can't forsee yet.

What I came up with so far.


The setup depending on the number of attendants:

http://imgur.com/a/V9CJE
red = active
blue = passive
yellow = backup
black = vanilla

Further explanation:


Cupid:
I like the Idea of the Lovers, it enables an additional random-kill, and since Cupid is a god, why not give him the revive.

Day-Cutler:
Rather than adding an additional night action, I like the Idea of giving him like 3(not sure about the number) physical knives of which he can give 1 away each day in the walk-around time. (More kills again !)
Not sure yet which time would be the best (advice ?) but since knives are supposed to break and reveal the stabber, I guess its coolest to let the stabbers actively stab someone they choce at some point within the gathering, putting the stabbed person into the bleed mode. (dying the next day)

Farmers:
For more killing and the feel of "everyone matters" I thought about adding additional story events of which the people don't necessarily know before.

1 Farmer provides food for 3 people (counting himself), the Grande Farmer counts as 3 Farmers.
Once the food requirements are not met,
starving
takes place. While starving, the town feels the need for an additional lynching to enhance their collective chance of survival, additionally.. power roles could be blocked while starving (everyone is weakened).

I had additional ideas of named-townies whose death would result in an event( tailor ->
freezing
, blacksmith -> vig is left with 1/2 shots, governer looses bp) but In the end, I found the other roles more interesting and there needed to be space for enough farmers.
But I'd be still very interested in ideas for random events, especially if they'd help in balancing.. or killing ;).

Governor:
After assigning the roles, either I'd start with Night 0 (not sure about this one) or proceed to Day 1, where they may walk around and get to know each other (at this point the barbecue will just start so people will want to get the grill going etc.). But before they may take off, I will let them know that there will be a voting for the governor later that day, so people may already start advertising for them self. The governor will exchange his former role with the governor. (Only the Godfather or the Grand Farmer would become both.)

My main idea behind this was to give the game a stronger theme and whoever likes it a stronger rp-role, along with some convenience to myself since the governor would have to somewhat monitor the discussion and lynching process. Also, I think it can be interesting to see if the Mafia tries to push for a governor of their own, but no matter what, this could be a nice take off to get the discussion going later on. Giving him a bullet-proof west just feels like additional theme-flavour.

Well.., that's basically it so far.., let it rain on me!
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Post Post #1 (ISO) » Wed Jul 12, 2017 6:43 am

Post by PeregrineV »

Seems pretty complex. Might try a smaller, simpler version first as an icebreaker and to give everyone a taste of what it's like. Something like basic roles, and short discussion days, to end the game in like 30-45 minutes.

Then, once everyone has an idea of how to play, try the longer version.

I like the events ideas, but seems to add a level of complexity you may not even need.
The added stories/backstories that do not affect game-play but allow for role-play will get you more enjoyment, I think.
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Post Post #2 (ISO) » Thu Jul 13, 2017 7:13 am

Post by Backhand »

Add a theme most everyone will be familiar with! Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, whatever pop culture your group is familiar with. It'll help some people get into it and more quickly grasp weird roles, if you can tie it to flavor.
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Post Post #3 (ISO) » Fri Jul 14, 2017 9:38 am

Post by chamber »

I would strongly suggest not playing mafia with a group that large. It's inherently exclusionary as people get killed, and can take hours with that many people.
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Post Post #4 (ISO) » Fri Jul 14, 2017 11:47 am

Post by BBmolla »

I don't like to have more than 4 power roles with 13 players because it ends up taking too long. Let that sink in.

Play a very simple setup or 2RoomsandaBoom instead
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Post Post #5 (ISO) » Fri Jul 14, 2017 11:51 am

Post by BBmolla »

Also, I guarantee at least 30% of the players will be one of the following:
  • Unengaged and on their phone
  • Lynching someone because they have a hat on (or one of many other dumb reasons that are irrelevant)
  • Confused about their role and have to ask you how it works
  • Speak up day 2 to ask if you started playing
  • Lynching just because
  • Not speak, just vote
If you're fine with having the above, then all fine and good.

I've only ever had the correct amount of seriousness it would take for a game like this at the Mafiascum meetups. Even when I host mafia nights you always have a couple of players who do the above.
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Post Post #6 (ISO) » Wed Jul 26, 2017 4:13 am

Post by wavemode »

Watch The Town

They keep the roles very simple and I think their setup is relatively balanced.

You really need to have competitive players for it to be fun though. The whole fun of the game is the debates.
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