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[Okami No Rei]

Beginner's Mafia XLII
Aquifer Cats

Success!  Your goblin raiding party, cleverly disguised as dwarves, infiltrated the unsuspecting fortress under cover of midnight and made its way to the central stockpile.  You nabbed a whole bin full of ≡CAVE SPIDER SILK SOCKS≡.

However, disaster struck as you attempted to make good your escape.  Somehow, the Overseer discovered the theft, and closed the primary drawbridge.  Thus far, no one has spotted you, and you've holed up in an abandoned room on the upper levels.  Now you must wait for the bridge to re-open.  In the meantime, somebody must have alerted the Overseer.  There are moles in your midst...


Player List [7/7]:
TheWetSheep GUNINANRUNIN TheWetSheep SailFlame webadict - Killed Night Two - Goblin Thief (Vanilla Town)
griffinpup - Killed Night Three - Goblin Thief (Vanilla Town)
Griffionday Squill - Lynched Day Three - Goblin Thief (Vanilla Town)
Powder Miner Rolepgeek - Lynched Day Four - Goblin Thief (Vanilla Town)
Imperial Guardsman - Lynched Day Two - Dwarven Manager (Mafia Rolecop) - Winner!
DaveTheGrave - Lynched Day One - Goblin Thief (Vanilla Town)
Boy Chink birdy51 - Undercover Dwarf (Vanilla Mafioso) - Winner!

ICs [2/2]:
Nerjin - Goblin Thief (Vanilla Town)
notquitethere - Killed Night One - Goblin Sergeant (Cop)

Scum IC:
Deathsword

Replacement List:
No one around...


Spoilspec:
Tiruin
Dariush

Introduction

Welcome to Beginner's Mafia XLII. As the title suggests, this game is for beginners. If you have no idea how to play or you have some experience but you're still not quite sure what to do, then this is the right place for you. If you sign up, you have one goal: Learn how to play the game of mafia. Since this is not an easy thing to do on your own and we wouldn't dream of forcing you to do it, you will be assisted by two 'inexperience challenged' players, or ICs. The ICs are experienced players on the board who have signed up to help you learn. You can always trust that the advice they give is genuine, however, you cannot always trust the IC, as they are players in the game and have the same likelihood of being scum as every other single player.

If this is your first time playing, keep in mind that games of forum mafia take several weeks, and can sometimes run longer than a month, and that you are expected to be able to play continuously through that time. If you can't anticipate being able to play for that long for whatever reason, then maybe the game of mafia isn't for you. But if it is, then welcome to the mafia subforum, and I hope you have a great time playing.


Gameplay and Concept

The game of mafia has a simple concept. A large group of players known as the town plays against a smaller group of players known as the mafia. In this setup, there are nine players, with seven town and two mafia.

Before the game begins, each players is given a role and an alignment by the moderator. There are two alignments in this setup: Town and Mafia. The town outnumber the mafia, but each individual member of the town does not know the alignment of any of the other members. The mafia know the alignment of everyone on their team and they can discuss the game privately in a special mafia chat. The mafia has access to a nightkill that they may use in the Night phase, while the town occasionally has roles with abilities that are used during the night.

Once everyone has a role, the game begins in the Day phase. During the Day phase, players may discuss the game and each player has a vote that they cast publicly to lynch a player. At the end of the day after some predetermined amount of time, the player with the most votes is lynched. Lynching does two things: it reveals a player's role and alignment, and it removes a player from the game. Once lynched, a player is no longer allowed to post in the thread.

Once the day ends, the game proceeds to Night. During the Night, discussion is prohibited. The mafia team picks a target to nightkill. If available, any town power roles use their actions as well. At the end of the night, the target the mafia chose to nightkill has their role and alignment revealed, and that player is removed from the game in a similar way to being lynched. Once the night ends, the game proceeds to another Day.

Both teams win by eliminating the other. However, due to the nature of the teams, they win very differently. The town win by finding and lynching the mafia, while the mafia win by avoiding being lynched and nightkilling.

Potential Roles

Vanilla Townie - A member of the town with no special abilities.
Mafioso - A member of the mafia with no special abilities.
Cop (Town) - A cop may choose to inspect a single player during the night and learn that player's alignment.
Doctor (Town) - A doctor may choose a single player to protect during the night, preventing that player from being nightkilled.
*Jailkeeper (Town) - A combination of a Roleblocker and a Doctor, a Jailkeeper both protects and blocks the target from acting during the night.
Roleblocker (Mafia) - A roleblocker may choose a single player to block, preventing that player from performing his action.
Godfather (Mafia) - A godfather appears town to Cop inspections.
*Role Cop (Mafia) - Much like the Town Cop counterpart, the Role Cop investigates a single other during the night to learn their role, instead of their alignment.

* Experimental Roles

The only role that receives the success of their results in this setup is the Cop and Rolecop. All other roles are not informed if they were successful or not.

One of the following setups is used:
1. 1 Mafioso, 1 Mafia Role Cop, 5 Vanilla Townies, Sane Cop, Jailkeeper.
2. 1 Mafioso, 1 Mafia Role Cop, 6 Vanilla Townies, Sane Cop.
3. 1 Mafioso, 1 Mafia Role Cop, 6 Vanilla Townies, Jailkeeper.

Spoiler: Role PMs (click to show/hide)

Here is the list of potential role PMs. This is to discourage flavor claiming from confirming role.

You are an undercover dwarf.  You and your partner have spent months infiltrating the Goblin cartel, and with the evidence you've gathered, you're finally ready to alert the Overseer of your findings.  First, however, you need to survive.

At night you and your team may choose to kill a single target.

You are in the SCUM team. You win when the TOWN team has as many or less players than the scum team. You may talk to your ally and the scum IC in the scum chat.

You are an undercover dwarf.  You and your partner have spent months infiltrating the Goblin cartel, and with the evidence you've gathered, you're finally ready to alert the Overseer of your findings.  First, however, you need to survive.

Your time in office has taught you a thing or two about keeping renegade goblins in line.

You may choose one target at night to roleblock, preventing them from taking any action.
Additionally, at night you and your team may choose to kill a single target.

You are in the SCUM team. You win when the TOWN team has as many or less players than the scum team. You may talk to your ally and the scum IC in the scum chat.

You are an undercover dwarf.  You and your partner have spent months infiltrating the Goblin cartel, and with the evidence you've gathered, you're finally ready to alert the Overseer of your findings.  First, however, you need to survive.

You are a dwarf, disguised as a goblin, disguised as another dwarf.  However, ☼POINTED EARS☼, a trophy carved from the head of your first goblin kill, which you then personally tanned and crafted into a macabre headpiece, do wonders for your disguise.

If the cop inspects you, their result will be Town.
At night you and your team may choose to kill a single target.

You are in the SCUM team. You win when the TOWN team has as many or less players than the scum team. You may talk to your ally and the scum IC in the scum chat.

You are an undercover dwarf.  You and your partner have spent months infiltrating the Goblin cartel, and with the evidence you've gathered, you're finally ready to alert the Overseer of your findings.  First, however, you need to survive.

Jobs, jobs, jobs.  What you don't know about jobs could be counted by a novice Bookkeeper.  After ten years as the fortress manager, you can tell a dwarf's job just by looking at him.  Goblins are more challenging, but it's nothing your keen intellect can't overcome.

At night, you may target one player to reveal their role (if any).
At night you and your team may choose to kill a single target.

You are in the SCUM team. You win when the TOWN team has as many or less players than the scum team. You may talk to your ally and the scum IC in the scum chat.

You are a goblin, cunningly disguised as a dwarf.  You're not entirely sure why, but the results speak for themselves.  You and your crew made off with a whole bin full of ≡CAVE SPIDER SILK SOCK≡.  However, you're not out of the fortress yet, and it seems that two of your fellow goblin raiders, well, aren't.

You are in the TOWN team. You win when the SCUM Team is eliminated.

You are a goblin, cunningly disguised as a dwarf.  You're not entirely sure why, but the results speak for themselves.  You and your crew made off with a whole bin full of ≡CAVE SPIDER SILK SOCK≡.  However, you're not out of the fortress yet, and it seems that two of your fellow goblin raiders, well, aren't.

Years of systematically cutting creatures apart with the sharpest blade you can get your hands on has left you with a passing knowledge of anatomy.  While you vastly prefer to kill, you can, in a pinch, prolong the suffering extend the life of your victims patients.

Each night you may target one player.  That player will not die if targeted with the mafia nightkill (unless you're roleblocked).

You are in the TOWN team. You win when the SCUM Team is eliminated.

You are a goblin, cunningly disguised as a dwarf.  You're not entirely sure why, but the results speak for themselves.  You and your crew made off with a whole bin full of ≡CAVE SPIDER SILK SOCK≡.  However, you're not out of the fortress yet, and it seems that two of your fellow goblin raiders, well, aren't.

You've killed many dwarves throughout your military career, and your experiences have taught you the subtle differences between your own race and theirs.  You're certain you can tell a dwarf just by looking at one.

Each night you may target one player for inspection and learn their alignment.

You are in the TOWN team. You win when the SCUM Team is eliminated.

You are a goblin, cunningly disguised as a dwarf.  You're not entirely sure why, but the results speak for themselves.  You and your crew made off with a whole bin full of ≡CAVE SPIDER SILK SOCK≡.  However, you're not out of the fortress yet, and it seems that two of your fellow goblin raiders, well, aren't.

It amuses you to practice your archery skills on lesser goblins,  so you made a habit of pulling one aside at night for target practice.  Your squad leader is fine with this, since you haven't killed any goblins in the past month week, and it does keep your skills sharp.  Besides, it's not your fault if they can't hold still.

Each night you may target one player, simultaneously roleblocking and protecting them from the nightkill.

You are in the TOWN team. You win when the SCUM Team is eliminated.

Notes about the ICs

The ICs are here solely to teach new players how to play, but remember, they are also players in the game. This means they have the same chance to be scum as any other player and it is entirely possible for one IC or even both ICs to be scum. Regardless of their alignment, they are obligated to provide you with genuine advice, so that even if you don't trust the IC, you can trust the advice they give. Some ICs will use a special 'IC voice' to alert players that they are delivering honest, unfiltered advice, while some don't.

The ICs have the special privilege of being able to talk while dead. This is so that they can continue to give advice even if they are killed during the course of the game.


Rules

• Voting - Votes are cast in red and should include the name of the targeted player. Other colors may be ignored.
  • Okami No Rei
  • Vote Okami No Rei
  • Okami No Rei is lying scum!
  • Vote Okami
  • Vote ONR
  Are all acceptable ways to cast a vote if the target is clear enough.
  
  • If you want to remove your vote, you may put unvote in red text. You must explicitly state this.  It is possible to put the name of the player you were voting afterwards, but it is not recommended as it can lead to confusion.
• Death - When you are dead, you are prohibited from posting in the thread. You may make a single 'bah' post after you die, however, it must not contain any game-related information.
• PMs - PMs between players are prohibited. You may freely PM the moderator to ask game-related questions, however, what the moderator may reveal is limited.
  
  • Do not quote any direct correspondence with the moderator, including role PMs and rule-related queries.
• Edits - Editing posts is prohibited. Do not edit your post for any reason, even if your post comes out as a train-wreck of formatting, spelling, punctuation, and/or grammar. The preview button exists; use it.
• Replacements/Activity - If you find yourself unable to play, you may, and should, request a replacement. We may try to talk you out of it if it's for any other reason besides you not having enough time to play.
  
  • Prods may be requested for a player. If they have not posted in the thread within 24 hours, excluding weekends, they will be prodded.
  • If you stop playing altogether without notifying me, you will receive a warning after 48 hours, and a forced replace after 72 hours.
  • Please be active. The greatest killer of beginner games is poor activity.
• Day/Night Length - Days will last 72 hours, excluding weekends. Nights will last 24 hours, or until all night actions are received. Neither of these include weekends.
• MODIFIED RULE - Extensions/Shortens - A player may vote for an extension to increase the length of the day. It requires >33% of the current number of players to request an extension for an extension to be granted. A player may also vote for a shorten. It requires >50% of the current number of players for a shorten to be granted. Extensions increase day length by 48 hours, while shortens will immediately end the day as soon as possible. There is no limit to the number of extensions that may be granted with one exception. If an extension goes through and players do not make use of it there will be no more extensions on that day. If you request an extension USE IT!
  • Votes for extension/shorten are done in boldface. Extend, Extension, Extend it up yo, Shorten it out y'all are acceptable ways to vote for an extension/shorten
  • Extensions/shortens can be opposed by declaring opposition (Oppose Shorten/Extend, I oppose this notion!, My Oppose goes to this), and they count against the total number of votes for an extension/shorten. Extensions count as opposition to shortens and vice versa.
  • NEW RULE - If the game is in a LYLO or MYLO situation, there will be no formal deadline.  >50% Players must vote to end the day, or votes must not change for 24-hours.  Votes to end the day may, at the voter's option, be contingent on the lynching of the player being voted on, and will be considered null should a different player gain the majority vote.
• External Participation - While the game is ongoing, if you are not a player, an IC, or a mod, refrain from posting in the thread.
  • Play to win! There is no hopeless situation, so don't ever give up. And remember, be bold! You learn nothing and you gain nothing by holding back.
• Miscellaneous -  Use of cryptographic hashing is not permitted.  If you want to have hidden/obfuscated messages in your posts for later use, come up with them using your own wetware.

Resources and Guides

Our own Bay12 Mafia tutorial
The Mafiascum wiki. Lots of theory, terminology, and game analysis.
An Interactive Flash tutorial by one of the Mafiascum.net people. Helpful visualization!
The Notable Games archive. Read a famous game from start to finish! Learn some Mafia history.

Spoiler: On D1 No-lynches (click to show/hide)

I'm not an IC, but I once wrote a rant about nolynches on Day One that I think would be beneficial for this audience, so I quote it below. In brief, you can (i.e., it's a valid vote, and if it has majority no lynch will happen) but you shouldn't unless you have a very very good reason. Actual ICs will, of course, chime in with their own thoughts, and there are different considerations to be had in subsequent days; the below applies only for D1.

Even in a game like this, or a role-heavy game like a BYOR, paranormal, or bastard, without a D1 lynch people will lack context for the conversation during the day, which is the very point of the day game. The information lost is not just the flip of a person, but who voted them, with what arguments, and forms the very foundation of how the town power roles will choose their night actions. Information is key, and timely information moreso. People flipping at the start of D2 is not nearly as useful, and a nolynch will result in people using their powers on whoever they were voting (if block/investigate) or a crapshoot for protections and the like, due to lack of context and closure.

A D1 no-lynch pretty much wastes all of D1 content, and gives scum a chance to NK/convert/whatever while town has to shoot in the dark. The amount of information lost is not small, but most importantly, you lose the opportunity to use it. N1 will never come again. Even if you learn the information later, you'll never get that night back, which scum got for free. Not good for town at all.

Also considering the fact that the D1 lynchee is almost always town (when was the last time anyone saw a scum hang D1?),

Not that rare. The very last game I played (Cybrid Mafia 3) we lynched scum D1. A couple games before that (Politibastard) as well, though that was a... different sort of game. I'm sure there are several others.

So sure, it doesn't happen that often, but it certainly does happen. Plus the possibility of a mislynch is built into the balance of the game. If there is going to be one, it's best for town that it happens sooner rather than later, so maximum information is provided early. It's never good, but a D1 no-lynch is worse.

Please disabuse yourself of the notion that a D1 no-lynch is good for town ever. Except in very narrow types of games where constant (not just D1) no-lynch can be used to break the setup (which is not the case here), whenever you think a D1 no-lynch is good because it's cautious, it's misapplied caution, and will hurt town much more than a possible mislynch would.

Spoiler: Dakarian's Scumhunting Bible, reposted here for your convenience (click to show/hide)

A VERY rough sketch of how a scumhunt is done (to help those who aren't sure now).
Step 1: When you have no suspicions on anyone, pick someone at random (I MEAN random.. some use Random.org for this!), take a glance as their past posts, and talk to them, usually with a vote.  The goal is not to kill but to learn more about them.  The vote is a "Pressure Vote", simply used to make sure they don't ignore you.

Step 2: When someone feels 'off' to you: perhaps you disliked their answer, or maybe they scare you, or confuse you with their text.  Perhaps they look fine but your feelings or your gut says something is wrong. Perhaps you see them do one scumtell.  Don't ignore it: make them your target.  Attack them.  Tell them what bothers you about them.  Push them, harass them.  Tell them how scummy they are.  Ask them every question in the book.. and I mean EVERYTHING:

Litia: "You bother me.  Vote Dakarian!"

Dak: Meh.  Why?

Litia: "Because you bother me.  Why are you pushing me off as if it doesn't matter?"

Dak: "What? No, you just have nothing on me."

Litia: "You're voting for Vector.  why?"

Dak: "He looked scummy.."

Litia: "Vagueness is a scumtell!  "Scummy.. how is he scummy!"

Dak: "He just is.. you don't have a reason to go after me either."

Litia: "OMGUSing now Mr.Scum?  Being defensive?  You also didn't answer my question!"

Note, this is Step 2: Litia doesn't feel like she knows Dakarian is scum.. just had a 'feeling'.  She has no hard evidence, nothing real.  The questions are to add pressure.. make Dakarian crack and panic.  If you did it right, they WILL town or scum.  WHEN they do, you will be able to see more of their true self.  From there, decide if you can find them as scum for truth.  If you don't: pull out and go to your next suspect: if no one else is there, go back to Step 1.

If you do believe they are scum after that, Step 3:

Step 3: When you believe someone is scum, gather evidence.  Find every scum tell, every sign of their true [/list]

[Okami No Rei]

Game will start after completion of BMXLI.

[Dariush]

Uh, so which setup are you using? The standard one (cop/doctor/godfather/roleblocker) or the experimental one (cop/jailer/rolecop)?

[Okami No Rei]

I'm planning on doing the experimental one, but I'm holding off on the final decision until Tir's game is over.  I'd like to see some feedback on it before I commit to it, but I see no reason why we shouldn't have multiple samples for the experiment.

[Leafsnail]

I'd suggest not using the old one because we know that a) it's a lot more mafia sided than a bunch of setups that were abandoned due to being mafia sided and b) it's been shown historically to be mafia sided, with a roughly 85% mafia win rate.  We can try making up a new setup or modifying the old one, but I really don't think the old one is fit for purpose at all.

e: or just steal mafiascum's new setup, that seems pretty balanced

[Dariush]

Oh, and by the way, please do something with eleventh hour votejumps like GD did in XLI. I'll go into detail once Tiruin unlocks the thread, but this problem seriously must be solved somehow (my proposal - extend the day by (12-hours_remaining_before_day_end) hours if a vote switch that happened less then 12 hours before the day end causes the voting majority to change).

[Leafsnail]

He would've won under a hammers ruleset anyway.  That said, it's silly because it depends on who lives in what timezone - we should switch to hammers for lylo at least, so that there's a slight chance that town might have enough time to hit scum at lylo.

e: To be honest the way you have to keep asking for extensions on a ridiculously short deadline is pretty silly in the first place.

[nightcrafter27]

Posting to watch. I'd love to get in on this one, but an upcoming camping trip does not allow it.

[Dariush]

Hammers at LYLO is an atrociously terrible idea. Did at least one townie vote another townie? Cue scum coordinating in the scumchat and hammering him. Sorry town, but your win is in another game.

[Leafsnail]

And that's exactly what happened last game.  Only at least with hammers it's clear that you do not vote at lylo unless you are sure the person you're voting is scum.

[Dariush]

Nope, this way town at least had plenty of time to think on their cases. With hammers, literally a single misvote, however temporary, by a single townie, is enough to cost the game. This is not a solution, this is an anti-solution.

[Leafsnail]

Yes Dariush that is what lylo is meant to be.  You have as much time as you like but you have to make the right decision.

[Lenglon]

so rather than a (totally unnecessary) 11th hour votejump winning us the game, Nightcrafter's vote on sheep near the start of the day (before you even posted) should have won us the game? I agree with Dariush, hammers isn't a solution.

[TheWetSheep]

Uh, yeah, I think having one misvote being an instant loss is pretty unbalanced too. In, anyway.

[Leafsnail]

That's the case in basically every place that plays mafia that isn't Bay 12, but ok (the idea is, once again, to not vote at lylo unless you are sure).  I think we need to sort out our deadline rules in some way though because it's silly having to ask for extensions again and again and again in order to have any chance of finding scum.