Wanted to get some Opinions on my next game.
It's going to be a Bang! style game rather than a Mafia game, although the two are related game types.
In Bang! you have a Sheriff who is known to everyone. Roughly half the remaining players want him alive and the other half want him dead.
The tricky part is that no one knows anyone else's alignment.
Rather than lynches, each player has a certain amount of hit points. Players Attack and Defend one another, trying to eliminate the competition while not hitting their own people.
Since Attacking the Sheriff is a way to mark yourself as obviously against him (And thus an obvious target for everyone to shoot), people tend to wait until they think they have an upper hand before targeting him.
The actual game of Bang! is done with a deck of cards and has lots of randomness and special abilities. I'll try to keep that flavor a bit while making it doable for a forum game.
So, on to my variant:
The Battle of Iron Hill
The Players are the Prince and his Bodyguards in the middle of a gigantic battle. A heavy fog has obscured the area and turned everything into chaos.
With no one able to see what's going on with the Prince, some of his Bodyguard have turned against him. They are secretly Traitors working for another Kingdom and are under orders to slay the Prince for a very hefty sum of money!
Much of the Bodyguard is still Loyal, of course, and fight to protect him. But they have no way of knowing which of the others accepted this foul bargain and which rejected it.
There may also be an opportunistic Blood Relative of the Prince there who sees his death as a chance to move up in the order of succession. But he'll have to be the last one standing in order to reap the rewards, as the Traitors will kill him if the Prince falls and the Loyal Guards will kill him if he Turns on the Prince. And if the Prince lives with him appearing loyal, well, he's still lost since he's no better off.
Mechanics:
Each player gets Two Actions each turn: An Attack and a Defend. Once all players have used all of their actions or Passed, a new Turn starts.
Attacks attempt to deal 1 point of Damage to another player
Defends prevent 1 point of Damage to any player (Including the Player using the Defend)
This basic combat mechanic should make it so that the Traitors need to kill off a few of the Loyal Guards before they can actually target the Prince himself, since otherwise they'll all just block those shots.
Since we deal with different time zones, actions are going to be resolved on an order basis of the Player's actions, rather than time. So if you have not used either of your actions and want to block a shot that someone declared, you have to declare your block before you declare your attack.
Obviously, if someone else has blocked that attack before you post yours it's not necessary.
This is to prevent everyone from declaring their attacks and then deciding on blocks after the fact.
Possible special Roles/Sub Roles
Swordsman - May Attack Twice instead of Defending
Shieldman - May Defend Twice instead of Attacking
Crossbowman - May make an Unbockable Attack, but may not Defend that Turn
Stalwart - Has an Additional Hit Point
Blademaster - May make Two Attacks, Two Defends, or One of Each. Has -1 Hit Points
These are just my rough thoughts on the game. I'm still working on the math and simulated games, so there is lots of room for stuff to change. But I *think* this layout is workable.
Thoughts?