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Dec22-Jan23 Mafia Game Rules & Roles
The Proper Rules

First off, these rules are by no means exhaustive, the moderator (TopGun2) may feel the need to add to them, clarify them or just downright change them halfway through, if that happens, tough!

Any rules questions should be asked in this thread, not the game thread.

The Roles

We have 10 players, each player has one of the roles listed in the post below this one. This game is an 'open setup' which means you know the exact roles in play. Every role on the list below is in play, with the number of each stated in brackets after the role name.

The Moderators will PM each player with details of their role along with how to use their special abilities if they have any.

Game Play

The game is split into 2 types of phase, Night and Day. There will be several days and nights making up the game but they alternate. Each day or night phase will last 1-3 days but the Moderators will specify exactly how long each phase is when it starts. The title of this thread will be changed to show which phase we are in and when it ends. The Moderators will also post in the thread whenever we change phases. The game starts with a Day phase.

The Night phase is for the Mafia and those with special abilities and is generally slightly shorter than the day phase because fewer people are involved. During the night phase, the Mafia discuss privately (see communications section below) to determine who they want to attack. The Mafia can organise themselves however they wish but once they have decided who to kill then one of them must PM the moderator (on IAG) with the user name. If there is any dispute amongst the Mafia about who they attack or who does the attack then the Godfather has the final decision.

Also during the night, any player with a special ability can choose to use it, or not. If they want to use it they send the Moderators a PM naming who they want their ability to be used on.

At the end of the night phase, the Moderators announce any deaths that may have occurred but the Moderators do not give any details of how special abilities were, or were not, used. The next day phase then begins. During the day, all players make posts in this thread, discussing their ideas of who is or isn?t Mafia, who should be lynched and who should be protected or investigated etc.. The Mafia will be trying to steer the lynching towards a Townies member, protect their own (usually) and generally disrupt the Townies' plans however they can (without making themselves obvious of course!). The Townies will be trying to work out who they can trust and who they can?t, as well as identifying who has special abilities to be used or protected.

Also during the day , EVERY PLAYER MUST vote towards the lynch. You ARE NOT allowed to vote for 'No lynch'. Anyone who doesn't vote gets a warning, after two warnings you will be removed from the game and either wiped out, or replaced by a substitute (playing the same role). At the specified end time of the day phase (give or take half an hour), the Moderator will count up the votes and announce who, if anyone, has been lynched (whoever has the most votes is lynched). The Moderator will also announce that person's role.

If two or more people end up topping the vote with the same number of votes then no lynch will occur.

Winning / Losing

The game is won, or lost, when one team is wiped out or when it becomes impossible for one team to avoid being wiped out. Being killed does not mean you have lost, you are working as a team and Your death can be beneficial to your team. You win, and lose, as a team. However, once you are dead you take no further part in the game; you cannot make any further posts and any information you have is lost.

Communication

Forms of communication are limited.
The role PM received MUST NOT be quoted anywhere, or be tested/interrogated by questions etc., punishable by a warning or even removal from the game. Communication by PM is NOT allowed in any circumstances, other than with the Moderators.

All other communication MUST be done by the methods listed below:
The game thread is for communication during the day phase only and will be locked during the night phase. All players can (and should) use that thread for discussing the game. No posts can be edited once posted (unless they break general IAG forum rules of course).

Votes for lynching should be made in this thread and should take the form: Vote: *Insert Username* (in bold - put [ b ] without any spaces at the start of your vote and [ /b ] without spaces at the end). You can change your vote, as long as you do so before the end of the day phase, post a new 'vote' and the previous one will be discarded.

Mafia private discussions will take place on an external forum which only they (and the Moderator) will have access to. This thread will only be accessible using a link and password provided to the Mafia by the Moderator

Communications between players and the Moderator should either be on this thread for rules clarifications, or IAG PM for night actions (e.g. Mafia attacks and special ability usage) and any other communications necessary.

Users in Play

Users playing this game are (those in bold are still alive):

1. wilson23
2. Stripey
3. pleasantsurprise
4. BlueBoar
5. Uxua
6. Jamesimp
7. Euro
8. Hoopie
9. MrBlock
10. LoveLee


I may choose to update this post with the users' status as the game
develops but I might not

The following roles are in the game:

Town (x6)

Vanilla Townie (x2) This role has no special abilities. Their goal is the same as the rest of the town, simply to help the town win by killing the godfather.

Doctor (x1) The doctor can protect 1 player each night (not themselves), preventing any attempt to kill that protected player.

Cop (x1) This cop can investigate 1 player each night. At the end of the night they will be told whether their target was mafia or not mafia.

Medium (x1) Communicates with the dead once per game. The Medium can choose, at night, once per game, a dead player. The moderator will inform the Medium which Mafia member killed the dead person. In the event that multiple Mafia members killed them then the moderator will choose 1 of them, if no Mafia were involved in the kill then the Medium will find out that fact instead.

Boxer (x1) Puts one player out of commission each night if they choose to. They select a player at night (must be a different player to previous night) and that player's ability will be cancelled for that night. The boxer does not stop a mafia kill, only the effects of the player's individual ability, if they have one.

Mafia (x3)

Mafia Godfather (x1) The godfather is head of the Mafia who will be mis-detected by investigations. Cop investigations will show him as not mafia. However, as the head of the family, if the Godfather dies, the mafia team loses immediately.

Mob Wife (x1) The Mob Wife is only known to themselves and Godfather - they do not join the Mafia private discussions and the Godfather is NOT allowed to tell his mobsters who the Mob Wife is [until she dies]. If the Mob wife gets killed, the Godfather's rage will be felt as the Mafia get 2 kills on the following night.

Mafia Lawyer (x1) The Lawyer selects a player each night to defend the following day (must be a different player to the previous night). The selected player cannot get lynched during the next day. The town does NOT know who the Lawyer is defending each day and will only find out if the lynchee does not die [moderator will state if lynchee hasn't died], or if the Lawyer chooses to tell the town.

Independent (x1)

Robber (x1) The Robber can choose to swap roles with another player each night. The role swap happens at the end of the night phase and becomes effective at the start of the new day. The robber CANNOT win the game - whomever is the robber when the game ends, loses. [NB I will use the Robber role to handle any inactive players]

I have a question about the Boxer's ability. If he visits either the Lawyer or the Robber at night, given the fact that their action takes place the next day, are they stopped by the Boxer's night visit from doing that?

Yes, the boxer prevents the selections being made (or in practical terms, prevents them from being recorded).

Can the Mafia Lawyer protect himself from being lynched? Presumably he can as it doesn't say 'not themselves' like it does in the Town Doctor role.

And must he select a player each night or can he choose not to?

Yes, he can choose himself.

I'll say he doesn't have to if he doesn't want to. (originally I was just thinking it didn't matter because he could choose a dead player if he wanted to which achieves the same thing)

Follow up then -

If, say he chhoses the Godfather on Night 1, then chooses not to protect anyone on Night 2, can he then protect the Godfather again on Night 3?

He can indeed. The 'previous night' in the role means the night before this one, as opposed to the last time he chose.

Good questions, PS.

I've got one about the Robber. In assuming his new role, if this is a Mafia member with access to the Mafia forum, does the Robber take on the role fully and gain access to the Mafia forum himself?

In the 'in-person' version of the game they would find out who the mafia are and would be able to have discussions with them, however, giving them access to the forum would open up all previous conversations and would give them access ongoing, even if they were then robbed from subsequently. So to make it work in this format I would tell them who the mafia teammates are (subject to the rules of the Mob Wife), but not give them access to the mafia forum.

I would also advise the other mafia teammates of the change where appropriate. E.g. if the robber stole the Lawyer's role then the new Lawyer (ex-robber) would be told who the godfather is but not who the mob Wife is, and the Godfather would be told who the new Lawyer is.

In your lawyer example, the old lawyer would now be the robber, who if not killed by the mafia could rob a townie then expose the GF.

This sounds fun

How could the new lawyer not be allowed on the new mafia forum, would he not replace the old lawyer who would be removed?

Let me see if I understand this correctly:

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Mafia:
- Godfather knows who both Lawyer and Wife are
- Wife cannot communicate with either Godfather or Lawyer
- Mafia lobby has two mafia members, Godfather and Lawyer
- Lawyer does not know who Wife is.
- Wife knows who Godfather is.
- Lawyer picks a defendant in the dark. Meaning, the night before, prior to voting for a lynching.

Questions:
- Does Wife know who the Lawyer is? (not sure it matters but it might)
- Or... as per the last point above, can the Lawyer defend someone whose head is on the chopping block, after voting is complete?
- Is it fair to say, in this particular game, that only the Godfather can kill? Lawyer's role does not mention killing, neither does Wife.

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Town:
- Cop will only get two Mafia results, if investigated -- Wife and Lawyer, all others, including Robber and Godfather will accuse Town.
- Boxer takes precedent over all except Mafia Kill. Meaning, it can block Mafia Lawyer, Town Doctor, Town Medium or Town Cop.
- Looks Medium is self-explanatory, if he survives long enough, can essentially discover a mafia if applied right and not disturbed by the Robber

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Independent / Robber:
It clearly indicates that the role swap happens at the end of each night (after other night actions have taken place) - so... for reporting purposes, really.

.... Bit more confusing but here we go, if the Robber is:


- Doctor --- then he protects the desired target I suppose (?) but it's fairly irrelevant if that's the case.
- Cop --- then he just get the results of the investigation that the real Cop chose to investigate? In which case, the Cop's report comes back as "Sorry you were robbed" - ?
- Medium --- robber gets the medium's report instead, rendering the Medium into a Vanilla role.
- Boxer (?) --- I suspect it's irrelevant, since the Boxer's action just gets carried out by Robber now?

- Godfather --- does the Godfather's kill get carried out? I suppose so.
- Mob Wife --- irrelevant, unless she can carry out kills.
- Lawyer --- irrelevant, given the timeline I suspect

When the robber take the other roles, can the robber instead to make the decisions? Who to investigate, who to kill, who to protect, who to defend (as lawyer)? I assume answer is no, making the role simpler.

If the robber normally shows up as Town, being Independent, if swapping roles with a Mafia (Mob Wife or Lawyer) then Robber will show up on Cop's report as Mafia (?).


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Let me know if I mostly got it or if I am totally out to lunch

Not sure how many of these points are actually questions vs general musings, I'll answer the ones I think are actual questions...



Wife doesn't know any of the Mafia, she's not told any of the mobsters for her own protection.

Lawyer chooses their protection during the night phase, can't change their mind during the day.

No. The Mafia kill is a team ability, not part of an individual role, any mafia member can submit or perform the night kill. As per the rules post, the Mafia can choose who they attack, and which of them does the attacking, if there are any disputes, the Godfather's preference persists.

Robber's role swap only takes effect at the start of the new day so all night action results are already resolved and delivered before the swap happens. Might have been funny if it was different with them getting results without knowing who was picked but that's a bit too harsh on someone who might only have their role for one day.

Not sure what you're suggesting here but once the robber's new role has activated it is simply their role and works for them the same as it would have if it was their original role, they choose the target and get the result, until such time as they are dead, robbed or the game has ended.

Cop results will follow the rules as written, i.e. results will be Mafia or Not Mafia dependent on the player's alignment at the time of the investigation (remembering Robber swap happens at the start of the new day). The Robber swap is a full swap, they take the whole identity of their victim, i.e. their role and alignment.