mafia as an educational tool?

[~deathsquiggle~]

If you want to keep the dead aplyers interested, a way to do so would be to put the dead players in a kind of mafia group during the second period you play in. Each night, the dead players decide on a person to torment, and the tormented person, if they are scum, are driven to confess their sin of witchcraft to the town.

Of course, that's not all that accurate historically, AFAIK, but it would keep them in the game.

[stark]

argh! not the guilt-inflicting zombies of salem!

[Yaw]

The issue, as I see it, is that the lesson should have both a functioning game as well as providing historical accuracy. Keep in mind that most of your class won't have played Mafia before. So you're proposing for their first ever game, that they should play Harry Potter Mafia. (That's Phoebus' large theme game, in which Harry Potter and close friends were scum. They swept the game, and my understanding is that to a large extent that was because all the players were looking for roles they thought were evil according to the books.) That isn't really fair to the players.

This isn't to say that you can't throw twists into simulations. I can remember a 1920's crash stock market simulation in which we were promised something like 9 rounds of trading before the market crashed, and in reality it hit bottom around round 5. That's perfectly fine, because the goal of the game (make the most cash possible) didn't change. But I wouldn't recommend moving the goalposts on your players the first game out. If you tell them to lynch the witches, you can't tell them at the end of the game that they were really supposed to lynch the epileptic girls that were framing everyone. It just isn't a satisfying game for them that way. (Now, it would be reasonable to tell them to hunt for witches in a game with

no witches or scum of any kind

, especially if you had a learning game first. At least that way they aren't trying to figure out that they have to do the opposite of what you're telling them.)

[Mr. Flay]

In my Reservoir Dogs mini, there were only two scum/undercovers (and one traitor/snitch), and they couldn't talk to each other initially. While this was not so much fun for the 'scum', it was immense fun watching the 'crooks'/town get into Mexican standoffs with each other. I also didn't tell them when all the scum were gone; they had to no lynch two days in a row.

That might be a way to handle the idea of there being no actual witches in the game; tell them that when they think they've eliminated the witches, they can choose to stop lynching. If they're wrong (there are witches left - which there aren't!), then they lose the whole game.

You might be surprised how far they will go lynching themselves.... it makes for a very paranoid game, not unlike the Salem trials.

[PolarBoy]

23 vs 3 is not balanced at all(39.72% chance of mafia win*). If you were playing by typical vanilla rules(one kill at night followed by one lynch during the day) the mafia have to slog through at least 10 days without blowing their covers(20 days if the mafia don't get to kill at night). I'm pretty sure this is impossible for a bunch of first time players. The idea isn't to give the players a balanced game here but to give them a quick introduction to mafia that the town will almost definitely win. This should sufficiently inflate them for when they play the game sans witches and don't know it (you might even tell them that there are more witches this time). Everyone will be so sure that someone is a witch, and they'll all have their favorite suspects. The game should be an out and out bloodbath.

Admittedly it's possible that the players will never figure out what's going on. That's why I like Mr. Flay's caveat of letting the players know that it'll be up to them to decide when all the witches are gone. It introduces the possiblility that there are none and makes a little easier to figure that there were none to begin with, while adding a level of indirection that should prevent the players from jumping to conclusions without discovering the answer for themselves.

The simpler(and even less historically accurate) way to this is to just do a standard mafia game, with "witches" as mafia.

None of these methods really follows the actual historical facts very closely. Instead they create the psychological climate that will allow the players to get a first-hand look at mob hysteria and paranoia as well as the proverbial witch-trial, where the only way to prove the defendant's innocence is to kill him.


* All figures derived from the output of the qbasic mafia simulator listed below. On second thought, it might be better to do a 2 mafia Vs. 24 town setup, yielding a 27.47% chance of mafia victory.

Code: Select all

DECLARE FUNCTION MafiaWins! (Mafia AS INTEGER, Town AS INTEGER)
DECLARE FUNCTION PossibleGames! (Mafia AS INTEGER, Town AS INTEGER)

DIM Mafia AS INTEGER
DIM Town AS INTEGER

INPUT "How many mafia?", Mafia
INPUT "How many townies?", Town

PRINT MafiaWins(Mafia, Town) / PossibleGames(Mafia, Town) * 100

FUNCTION MafiaWins (Mafia AS INTEGER, Town AS INTEGER)
IF Town > 0 THEN
  IF Mafia = 0 THEN
    MafiaWins = 0
  ELSE
    x = MafiaWins(Mafia - 1, Town - 1) + MafiaWins(Mafia, Town - 2)
    MafiaWins = x
  END IF
ELSE
  MafiaWins = 1
END IF
END FUNCTION

FUNCTION PossibleGames (Mafia AS INTEGER, Town AS INTEGER)
IF Town > 0 THEN
  IF Mafia = 0 THEN
    PossibleGames = 1
  ELSE
    x = PossibleGames(Mafia - 1, Town - 1) + PossibleGames(Mafia, Town - 2)
    PossibleGames = x
  END IF
ELSE
  PossibleGames = 1
END IF
END FUNCTION

[stark]

ok guys, thread necromancy! i've made a setup which will be posted shortly.

[stark]

ok, ha, i am having some difficulty making a setup, but here are some descriptions of some of the towns folk of Salem. Perhaps you guys could help me think of some roles? i have 3 days to hold this, so the first day im going to give an introduction to both Mafia and the Salem Witch trials. Second day, half the class gets worksheets while the other half playes mafia. 3rd day they switch.

Tituba- a slave that spread rumors of witchcraft among the towns girls. admitted to being possesed by the devil and became a prosecutor herself.

Reverend Samuel Parris- Leading prosecutor of the witch trials

Ezekiel Cheever- Testifies against Elizabeth Proctor by planting a voodoo doll in her house. Also accuses John Proctor of not coming to church and plowing on Sundays, thus incriminating him(John Proctor)

Betty Parris- 9 year old daughter of Samuel Parris, accused of witchcraft after convulsions and contortions, cured of illness after moving away.


these are just a few. ill work on looking for more, but right now, any, and i mean any, help you guys can provide would be super.

[stark]

Finaly! the day before the project is due, and here is our setup! what do you guys think?


Rebecca Nurse
Rebecca was a 71-year-old invalid who had raised a family of eight children. The Nurse family had been involved in several land disputes which could have caused ill-feeling among some of the residents of Salem. The dignity and nobility of her character which she showed throughout the trials undoubtedly helped turn public opinion against the trials. Soon after the first of the women had been accused of witchcraft, Rebecca Nurse discovered that her name had also been mentioned as a suspect. She is reported to have said "I am innocent as the child unborn, but surely, what sin hath God found out in me unrepented of that He should lay such an affliction on me in my old age." She repeated her assertion that she was innocent but was committed to the Salem jail. Rebecca Nurse was tried on June 29, 1692. Her accusers included the four young girls who initiated the witchcraft hysteria in Salem, Rev. Parris and several members of the Putnam family. On July 19, she was driven in a cart with four other women to Gallows Hill where she was hanged. Tradition says that at midnight Francis Nurse, his sons and sons-in-law found Rebecca's body in the common grave where it had been flung and carried it home for a proper burial. You have no special powers, and must use your wit and cunning to outsmart those who wish the town ill.

George Burroughs graduated at Harvard University in 1670, and became the minister of Salem Village in 1680, a charge which he held till 1683. Burroughs was arrested and charged, among other offences, with extraordinary lifting and such feats of strength as could not be done without diabolical assistance. Though the jury found no witch-marks on his body he was convicted and executed on Gallows Hill, Salem, on the 19th of August, the only minister who suffered this extreme fate. You have no special powers, and must use your wit and cunning to outsmart those who wish the town ill.

John Proctor
Proctor, although this is a somewhat disputed fact, had an affair with Abigail Williams, which made him hesitate before finally telling that she wasn't truly afflicted by the Devil. He knew the truth from the start, but chose to try and protect his own good name. Elizabeth (his wife) had cast Abigail out of their household when she found out about John's lustful relations with her. When Abigail tried to send Elizabeth to the gallows, John brought one of the girls, Mary Warren, to testify against Abigail. When situations were not advantageous for him during the trial, he confessed to having had relations with Abigail, casting away his good reputation forever. Abigail denied the claim, and so Elizabeth Proctor was called in to testify. Trying to protect her husband's name, as well as having told herself that her husband's actions were her fault, she did not confess to her husband's acts of lechery. Reverend John Hale tried to convince the court that Abigail and the other girls were lying, but Abby pretended to be afflicted by Mary Warren. Judge Danforth believes this act, and when Mary Warren saw no way out, she, in a last ditch effort blamed John Proctor, calling him the devil's man. John was then convicted of witchcraft, and, not being able to control his anger, John cried out, "God is Dead!". He signed a confession so as not to hang, but then refused to let the paper be shown to the public. He ended up going to the gallows and hanging, because he refused to lie for his life, thinking that if he did that he would desecrate the brave, truthful lives already extinguished. Though some of these events did not happen during the real Salem witch trials, Proctor's character was definitely inspired by a farmer with the same name who was hanged during the trials. You have no special powers, and must use your wit and cunning to outsmart those who wish the town ill.

Giles Corey was a farmer and a famous victim of the Salem witch trials in early colonial America. Accused of being a wizard and finding his conviction highly likely, he refused to enter a plea. Corey died after having increasing numbers of rocks laid on him for two days, during which time he still refused to enter a plea. It is traditionally held that all throughout the trial he did not speak, except for his last words before his death: "Put on more weight." A contemporary report indicates that "About noon, at Salem, Giles Corey was press'd to death for standing mute." If you remain silent for one day, if you are ever executed by the town you will not be killed that day, but on the next day, you will die instantly, ending the day.

John Hale
Hale devoted most of his life to the study of witchcraft and other demonic arts in the hope of being able to destroy them in the name of god. He has found a 'witch' in his home town of Beverly, where he preaches. Ironically, Hale is the impetus behind the witch trials and later is the advocate against them. As a devout Christian, Hale sees it as his duty to seek out the witches, and to 'save their souls'. Hale, after seeing the horrors of the witch trials and watching the loss of both civil and human rights, has a conversion of heart and speaks out against them telling Judge Danforth that they are morally wrong. Once per game, you may announce that you think that killing people is moraly wrong. When this happens, no one will die that day.

Thomas Danforth (double voter) was a stern, but fair judge who was extremely loyal to the rules and regulations of his position. He was a Deputy Governor and already a well known judge. He is also very devout. Due to his religious conviction, he is taken in by the girls cries of witchcraft, which he seems to believe to have the holy duty to destroy. Despite this, he also seems very willing to work with the accused and genuinely wants them to confess and save their souls. When you vote, your vote counts as double, because you are a very respected person among the townsfolk.

Samuel Sewall was an associate magistrate at the Salem witch trials. He also entered local politics, and was elevated to the judiciary that in 1692 judged the people in Salem accused of witchcraft. Sewall was perhaps most remarkable among the magistrates involved in the trials in that he was the only magistrate who, some years later, publicly regretted his role in the trials, going so far as to call for a public day of prayer and fasting and reparations. You have no special powers, and must use your wit and cunning to outsmart those who wish the town ill.
Elizabeth "Betty" Parris was the nine-year-old daughter of the Salem villages' reverend Samuel Parris (1653–1720) and was the first to become ill after being "bewitched" as most people thought. Her contortions, convulsions and outbursts of gibberish at first baffled everyone, especially when other girls began to show similar symptoms. Shortly after her illness, the Salem witch trials began, with the girls accusing neighbours of witchcraft. Betty Parris's role soon diminished as she was sent to live with relatives of magistrate Samuel Sewall, after which her afflictions seem to have subsided. You have no special powers, and must use your wit and cunning to outsmart those who wish the town ill.
Sarah Good
Born in 1653 to well-to-do innkeeper John Solart, Sarah Good’s life was a struggle. Her father’s estate was enmeshed in litigation after his death in 1672, and when finally settled, she was left with virtually nothing. Her first marriage to a poor indentured servant named Daniel Poole, ended with his death in 1686 and with his estate in debt. After her marriage, to William Good, the couple was forced to make good on her former husbands debts, and this left them in near poverty. Sarah was known to beg food and lodging in Salem Village for her family which in 1692 included two young children. Her sullen manner and mutterings at those who did not help her and her perceived curses upon them made her an unwelcome and suspicious neighbor. Following her arrest and eventual trial, Good was hanged on July 19, 1692, but not before her "suckling child dyed in prison." This infant daughter has been born in December 1691. You have no special powers, and must use your wit and cunning to outsmart those who wish the town ill.


Tituba was one of the first women to be accused of witchcraft in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Tituba was a Carib Indian from Barbados, a slave owned by Reverend Samuel Parris in the town of Salem, Massachusetts. As she had been known in the town to tell tales of omens, voodoo, and witchcraft from her native folklore, she became the first to be accused along with Sarah Good and Sarah Osborn. Tituba confessed to being a witch and that she and four other witches, including Good and Osborn had flown through the air on their poles. Tituba's confession succeeded in transforming her from a scapegoat to a key figure in the expanding prosecutions. Her confession also served to silence most skeptics of the trial, and Parris, along with other ministers began witch hunting with zeal. She was jailed rather than being hanged. You are against the town, and when the moderator of the game says “ Those who wish the town ill, please wake up” you will lift up your head, and see who is helping you destroy the town of Salem. Once per night, you and your friends will select one other person who you will plant evidence on in the night, so as to make them look like they are an agent of the Devil.

Samuel Parris was the Puritan minister in the town of Salem Village (now Danvers, Massachusetts) during the Salem witch trials, as well as the father and uncle of two of the afflicted girls. The events that lead to the Salem witch trials began when his daughter and niece accused Tituba, a Carib slave who was living with the family as a servant, of bewitching them. Parris beat her and compelled her to confess herself a witch. The delusion thus commenced lasted 16 months, concluding with the Salem witch trials. You are against the town, and when the moderator of the game says “ Those who wish the town ill, please wake up” you will lift up your head, and see who is helping you destroy the town of Salem. Once per night, you and your friends will select one other person who you will plant evidence on in the night, so as to make them look like they are an agent of the Devil.

Ann Putnam was born 1679 in Salem Village, Essex County, Massachusetts, she was the eldest child of Thomas Putnam (1652–1699) and Ann Carr (1661–1699). An intelligent and well-educated young lady, she was friends with some of the afflicted girls and, in March 1692, became afflicted herself. Ann was one of the most active accusers during the trials. She claimed to have been afflicted by 62 different people, and testified in many trials. Some believe the continuance of the Trials was due to the attention given to the accusers, which was unheard of in Puritan times. Some historians have speculated that her parents and community elders coerced Ann to accuse those they were feuding with or sought revenge on. Many of the accused had some sort of relationship with the powerful Putnam family. You are against the town, and when the moderator of the game says “ Those who wish the town ill, please wake up” you will lift up your head, and see who is helping you destroy the town of Salem. Once per night, you and your friends will select one other person who you will plant evidence on in the night, so as to make them look like they are an agent of the Devil.



as soon as i run it, ill let you guys in on all the details.

[PolarBoy]

Interesting setup. Could you explain more specifically what the effect of planting evidence is?

[stark]

eh, it was just something to substitute instead of night kills. i figured that without night kills it would be 1, a longer game and 2, more accurate. We shall see how this turns out, my teaching dates are the 14-16.

[fadeblue]

Won't the evidence planting only work once or twice? I mean, after the town lynches one of them, shouldn't they realize that people are being framed? Or maybe it works differently from how I think it works...

[stark]

Yeah, i guess. I don't know, that didnt stop the salem trials, repeated false lynching. Perhaps it would be best not to reveal roles?

[PolarBoy]

Ok, so instead of night kills, but what happens? Does the town discover the evidence the next day, when the person is killed, or only when they are investigated?