Suggestions for my phaseless, irl mafia variation?
Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 12:46 pm
I’ve created a custom mafia variation my friend group plays by, and it’s proven to be really really fun! We’re bringing in a bunch of new members and I’m trying to think of new roles to add, just to make things more interesting with a larger group.
Rules
~~~~
Basically, there is no night phase, no narrator, and no investigative roles. To set the game up, someone shuffles a deck of cards with the following roles: two gunsmiths (ace), one or two jesters (jack), one mafia (king), and the rest civilians. They do not look at the cards while they shuffle. They then place the cards face down on a table, everyone grabs a card, and the game begins.
Players die by either being lynched or being shot. The jester wins by being lynched, and upon their victory can choose one person to kill. The gunsmith is with the civilians and can choose when to reveal that they are a gunsmith, and then gives their card to another player. That card now works as a gun with one bullet and can be used to kill any player at any time. The gun can also be passed to another player, and can in fact be handed back to the gunsmith. The mafia wins by being one of the last two players alive. The civilians win when the mafia player is lynched.
Lynching requires two players to first “vote up” a player, who then has an opportunity to defend themselves. After they make their defense, players vote “guilty” by raising their hands. Every player, besides the accused, must vote guilty in order for the player to be lynched. They then reveal their role, step out of the game, and the game continues.
What We’ve Tried
~~~~~~~~~~~
This obviously isn’t as intricate as regular mafia, but as a seasoned mafia player I’ve actually been enjoying this more. The game is mostly about reading body language and anticipating how specific individuals might behave depending on their role, rather than relying on concrete information. No narrator/night/investigation makes it so there is always action, the game isn’t ruined by a poor narrator (and no one has to volunteer to narrate), and it’s way easier to teach to new people.
We have tried increasing the number of gunsmiths (pretty fun but only with large groups) and increasing the number of jesters (makes the game a little *too* chaotic). We have also tried having multiple mafia members. This adds a brief phase at the start of the game where everyone puts their heads down, the mafia raise their heads briefly to see who their team is, everyone puts heads back down, and we begin. Most of us like just how challenging having a lone mafia is, though. If you get the mafia card, you’ve got the hardest role in the game, which adds lots of tension. It also means that the game isn’t ever overly in the mafia’s favor (example: there are 4 players left and 2 of them are mafia). That way there are no “town has already lost” moments. Since there are jesters and no investigative roles, the mafia member actually almost always makes it to the final 4 so it’s not like mafia is an impossible role.
So, any suggestions? The roles we have so far have actually sprouted so many strategies that we have a list of the ones we have discovered (I could post some if you’d like!). Because of that, we’re looking more for new roles than to modify our old ones. We’re trying to avoid adding a night phase given our success without it, but if an idea is good enough we’ll try it.
Thanks a bunch!
Rules
~~~~
Basically, there is no night phase, no narrator, and no investigative roles. To set the game up, someone shuffles a deck of cards with the following roles: two gunsmiths (ace), one or two jesters (jack), one mafia (king), and the rest civilians. They do not look at the cards while they shuffle. They then place the cards face down on a table, everyone grabs a card, and the game begins.
Players die by either being lynched or being shot. The jester wins by being lynched, and upon their victory can choose one person to kill. The gunsmith is with the civilians and can choose when to reveal that they are a gunsmith, and then gives their card to another player. That card now works as a gun with one bullet and can be used to kill any player at any time. The gun can also be passed to another player, and can in fact be handed back to the gunsmith. The mafia wins by being one of the last two players alive. The civilians win when the mafia player is lynched.
Lynching requires two players to first “vote up” a player, who then has an opportunity to defend themselves. After they make their defense, players vote “guilty” by raising their hands. Every player, besides the accused, must vote guilty in order for the player to be lynched. They then reveal their role, step out of the game, and the game continues.
What We’ve Tried
~~~~~~~~~~~
This obviously isn’t as intricate as regular mafia, but as a seasoned mafia player I’ve actually been enjoying this more. The game is mostly about reading body language and anticipating how specific individuals might behave depending on their role, rather than relying on concrete information. No narrator/night/investigation makes it so there is always action, the game isn’t ruined by a poor narrator (and no one has to volunteer to narrate), and it’s way easier to teach to new people.
We have tried increasing the number of gunsmiths (pretty fun but only with large groups) and increasing the number of jesters (makes the game a little *too* chaotic). We have also tried having multiple mafia members. This adds a brief phase at the start of the game where everyone puts their heads down, the mafia raise their heads briefly to see who their team is, everyone puts heads back down, and we begin. Most of us like just how challenging having a lone mafia is, though. If you get the mafia card, you’ve got the hardest role in the game, which adds lots of tension. It also means that the game isn’t ever overly in the mafia’s favor (example: there are 4 players left and 2 of them are mafia). That way there are no “town has already lost” moments. Since there are jesters and no investigative roles, the mafia member actually almost always makes it to the final 4 so it’s not like mafia is an impossible role.
So, any suggestions? The roles we have so far have actually sprouted so many strategies that we have a list of the ones we have discovered (I could post some if you’d like!). Because of that, we’re looking more for new roles than to modify our old ones. We’re trying to avoid adding a night phase given our success without it, but if an idea is good enough we’ll try it.
Thanks a bunch!