O.o
Dakarian is a reworking of the name Ian Dakar, which is the name of a magician and member of the Martyr's Blade, a group who had dedicated themselves to preserving their world from an ancient threat yet failed to do so in the final hour. He survived the encounter and lived the rest of his days redeeming himself by rescuing another land, far from his own, from multiple threats outside and within.
He also served as my first proper step into the land of MUDs and, thus, gaming in general.
I would say he is far from a legend and is very much fathomable.
I also find the term odd considering we still have a number of people here who have been among these forums long before I knew what a 'bay12' was.
As far as my status.. for now, I'm here. Among the games, not so much due to not being able to answer the question "How long will I be able to stay." but for now I can lend what 2 cents I can offer.
MEANWHILE:
generally in a vanilla setup everybody claims the same role (vanilla townie) as well, so the invuln player would mostly need to be very good at normal scumhunting tactics. this is a mafia game after all. also, keep in mind that the invuln player has control of the only (excluding changeling) cross-faction chat.
Faction 0: (allied to invuln) 1 player, 1-shot bulletproof, or possibly a 1-shot auto-redirect to a random target. if game is large gets an ally with a 1-shot protect or 1-shot-auto-bodyguard (if the person you're protecting gets NKd, you die instead) (ally's wincon is that you survive, not that they do themselves, if they're last one standing everybody loses.)
Faction 1: (weak faction) lots of players, no individual power roles, 1 mafiakill (named different but effect is the same)
Faction 2: (strong faction) 1 changeling, can either NK or replace someone each night. can end up with access to many faction chats if chooses targets well.
Faction 3: (moderate- faction) small party, 1 mafiakill, every member has an inspect, every member gets a 1-shot redirect.
Faction 4: (strong faction) 1 doomspeaker.
Faction 5: (moderate+ faction) small party, every member a JOAT, 1 mafiakill.
Faction 6: (weak faction) same as faction 1
and so on, the exact number of factions and what they can do will vary, but there will always be at least 3 factions, plus Faction 0 (the actual invuln player's ally). nobody will get any kind of day action. roleclaims to form alliances between factions are possible but suicidal because you will be daykilled by the invuln player pretty much instantly.
it's pretty much intended for a closed setup. not knowing exactly what roles are in the game matters.
There's two major aspects of the game here: the Invuln+survivor ally and the Faction wars. I can speak more about the second because I've run games like that.
In truth, there's one major issue that comes up in such games: Survival is the #1 goal.
To explain: In a standard mafia game, you have two sides: town and mafia..of course. The goal of the mafia is, in truth, to live. Yes, we always say "to kill the town" but, honestly, that will always happen. 1-2 people will always die each day. In the end, the mafia's true desire is to simply let that sequence run through and stay alive long enough to win.
The town's goal is vitally different: To kill. Time is against them. As such, they want one thing: to kill the mafia. Since the town has more people, seeing a few die isn't a big deal, even if it's yourself. If you can die in order to kill a mafia, you do it no matter what. Surviving to the end is useless anyway, since failing to kill the mafia means you lose.
Everything you have heard regarding Tells, 'acting town', and how to play comes from these two separate goals: One side is willing to Kill to Live, the other side is willing to Die to Kill. Most good games will have this dynamic in some form. Even if it's not a 'town/scum' relationship, there's some element of Different and Opposing objectives.
Thus we get to the issue of mass factions: Everyone has the same goal: Survive. They want themselves and their allies to survive, at all costs. As such, when they get into the day phase, everyone has the same motivation. Yes, they are rivals, but their tone, their mentality, their 'soul' is "Survive until the others die." Even the immortal has an ally that they wish to keep alive.
So what happens? Everyone will play like a Mafia: reject the day game as much as allowed, and rely on the Night. The Mafia cannot truly hunt, not even against opposing factions. They can't hunt like a town. They don't like the day. Thus the day game devolves into silence until the Night comes.
Now is this a bad thing? Maybe, maybe not. However, you must then look at the game in that aspect. What SHOULD be happening during the day game? Should there be a day game at all? Given that you've given the immortal power over the day game, the answer seems to be Yes. Given that, you now have another issue: what is the point of said day game for each player?
There's a few ways to tackle this matter. I can propose one, but it's not the best one. It's just One Idea.
Reverse the Immortal's role. One player is a Survivor and the Target of the Immortal. The Immortal's goal is to Kill that Survivor. If they do, the Immortal wins and the Survivor loses.
Thathelps the immortal issue.. there's still the issue with the factions. I'll need some time to think of that one.
Author
Topic: [DISCUSSION] Mafia Gametypes: Hash 'em out here! (Read 144191 times)