Essentially, an at-a-glance scorecard to show you what a game brings to the table, and you can know what your own preferences are to see if a game is for you.
Each is scored one to five. Some may overlap slightly in what they mean...
A score of 1 means the game is bastard.
A score of 2 means that you should expect role madness, or near role madness, with complex and custom roles for each player
A score of 3 means that you should expect a mix of normal roles and custom-built roles
A score of 4 means that almost all roles are normal, but there could be a select few fancier ones.
A score of 5 means the game would qualify to run in the normal queue.
A score of 1 means that the game is fully closed. You should expect entire mechanics are not explained and must be discovered as you go.
A score of 2 means that the underlying custom mechanics are explained, but all roles are a mystery.
A score of 3 means that the game has at least one role that can expected to be present (typically VT)
A score of 4 means that the game is a semi-open.
A score of 5 means the game and all mechanics contained within are fully spelled out in the opening rules.
A score of 1 means the game is incredibly newbie friendly, players should expect to not have to read anything to understand the game or setup.
A score of 2 means at least one special clarity rule in place. (In our example of NewD3, the roleblocker vs jailkeeper rule)
A score of 3 means the game has some mechanic that will need to be studied to fully enjoy the game and play optimally.
A score of 4 means that newbies may have issues understanding the mechanics of the game, but veterans should pose few issues understanding.
A score of 5 means that underlying knowledge of the flavor may be required, and even veteran players will need to adapt their game play around the mechanics.
A score of 1 means there is no theme present. The game is completely mechanical in nature.
A score of 2 means there is flavor that is completely unrelated to the game writ large. Most newbie mods put their games into this bucket.
A score of 3 means that roles may share flavor names from the source material, but no knowledge of the flavor is needed to play to full capacity.
A score of 4 means that knowledge of the source material flavor may provide a slight advantage in game.
A score of 5 means that knowledge of the flavor is practically required to play optimally.
A score of 1 means no players have additional game-altering abilities other than their vote and the mafia's nightkill.
A score of 2 means that there are a few power roles, but the majority of the game is vanilla town/goons.
A score of 3 means that there is around a 40%-60% shot of drawing a PR, but it is not assured.
A score of 4 means that every player has SOMETHING to do at nights. (Light role madness)
A score of 5 means that every player has multiple options to act in nearly every instance. (Heavy role madness)