Bay 12 Games Forum

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  
Pages: 1 ... 87 88 [89] 90 91 ... 108

Author Topic: [DISCUSSION] Mafia Gametypes: Hash 'em out here!  (Read 144704 times)

dakarian

  • Bay Watcher
  • OMGITSACAT
    • View Profile
Re: [DISCUSSION] Mafia Gametypes: Hash 'em out here!
« Reply #1320 on: July 02, 2013, 03:28:58 am »

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:

Quote
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. 



Logged
Quote from: Dakarian
What was I doing with Mr.Person through most of Day 3, lovemaking!?
I KNEW IT!

Lenglon

  • Bay Watcher
  • Everyone cries, the question is what follows it.
    • View Profile
Re: [DISCUSSION] Mafia Gametypes: Hash 'em out here!
« Reply #1321 on: July 02, 2013, 05:01:09 am »

hmmm.

the gimmick i'm the most attached too is the immortal trying to identify their ally and kill everyone but that person, but you're right, there needs to be some way to distinguish his behavior from everyone else's. pup mentioned earlier that everyone would end up playing the same, and you seem to agree. I had thought that the people other than the ally would play in a manner more akin to town, but I guess i'm wrong on that. so... how to tell people apart...

looks like I'll need to add day actions, activated by keywords in people's posts, bolding/coloring unecessary... actually, for flavor, that would work better than what I had in mind...

yeah, remove all mafiakills, replace them with day-mafiakills. remove the night inspects of faction 3, make them day inspects. make faction 3's redirects able to be used once at night and once during the day. day actions are activated by hidden keywords, posting patterns, or other such actions. since actually using those requires sneaking them into conversation, people will need to establish conversation in the first place to slip them into. the invuln's ally will talk some as well, in an effort to blend in.

think that'll fix it?
Logged
((I don't think heating something that is right above us to a ridiculous degree is very smart. Worst case scenario we become +metal statues+. This is a finely crafted metal statue. It is encrusted with sharkmist and HMRC. On the item is an image of HMRC and Pancaek. Pancaek is laughing. The HMRC is melting. The artwork relates to the encasing of the HMRC in metal by Pancaek during the Mission of Many People.))

Mephansteras

  • Bay Watcher
  • Forger of Civilizations
    • View Profile
Re: [DISCUSSION] Mafia Gametypes: Hash 'em out here!
« Reply #1322 on: July 02, 2013, 11:36:39 am »

Biggest problem I see with this is that there really isn't a whole lot of incentive for the other factions to care who they kill. As long as it's someone who isn't them, it's a win. If each faction gets a kill, then the only reason to care who dies is to remove some other power role. Not really a huge deal, overall, since it's the kills you care about. I suppose killing off a faction is better than anything else, but still secondary to simply killing. The core of this issue is that basic mafia is an Informed Minority vs an Uniformed Majority. This game doesn't have that. Now, that's not a problem in and of itself (Look at Bastard Supernatural for an example), but it does make things trickier. Everyone knows who's on their team, and that takes most of the scum hunting out of the game. You can't look for classic scum-tells, since someone else being on a team doesn't tell you a whole lot.

You need something for people to be hunting for. A single survivor amongst a whole game of survivors isn't sufficient. The Invulnerable's Ally isn't going to be giving off a whole lot of tells, since he can't directly work with his ally.

Also, you have a lot of factions on that list. Realistically, you're only going to have 12, maybe 14 players. With six factions, plus the invulnerable player, that's maybe 6 players to pad out the factions that have more than 1 player. It's difficult to manage Small vs Large at that size.

Logged
Civilization Forge Mod v2.80: Adding in new races, equipment, animals, plants, metals, etc. Now with Alchemy and Libraries! Variety to spice up DF! (For DF 0.34.10)
Come play Mafia with us!
"Let us maintain our chill composure." - Toady One

Lenglon

  • Bay Watcher
  • Everyone cries, the question is what follows it.
    • View Profile
Re: [DISCUSSION] Mafia Gametypes: Hash 'em out here!
« Reply #1323 on: July 02, 2013, 12:24:09 pm »

the list size was purposely overlarge to allow for any number of players. I never expected to actually use all of them.

still, the informed minority vs unimformed majority thing...

maybe i'm going about this all wrong

how about boiling the game down to its core gimmick. invuln player controls the lynch, and needs to identify their ally and lynch everyone but that person. everyone else is totally powerless, and win as long as the invuln player's ally is lynched. no nightkills, daykills, or power roles other than the invuln player.

there is a shared chat for everyone other than the invuln and the invuln-ally.

think that would work?
Logged
((I don't think heating something that is right above us to a ridiculous degree is very smart. Worst case scenario we become +metal statues+. This is a finely crafted metal statue. It is encrusted with sharkmist and HMRC. On the item is an image of HMRC and Pancaek. Pancaek is laughing. The HMRC is melting. The artwork relates to the encasing of the HMRC in metal by Pancaek during the Mission of Many People.))

Okami No Rei

  • Bay Watcher
  • It is by will alone that I set my mind in motion.
    • View Profile
Re: [DISCUSSION] Mafia Gametypes: Hash 'em out here!
« Reply #1324 on: July 02, 2013, 12:31:17 pm »

Like I said over in Witches Coven, I'd be interested in short, high-intensity, low player-count, power-role light games like Vengeful Mafia.  Enforced niceness would be amusing.

Has anyone ever tried three-player (2VT, 1VM) instant LYLO games (with hammers, of course)?  You could run several in series, all in the same thread, similar to Leafsnail's Trust Mafia.
Logged
It is by the spice caffeine that thoughts acquire speed.
...start thinking that everything somebody does is scummy or that everything is part of some scummy plan to be incredibly devious and mislead the town...

Mephansteras

  • Bay Watcher
  • Forger of Civilizations
    • View Profile
Re: [DISCUSSION] Mafia Gametypes: Hash 'em out here!
« Reply #1325 on: July 02, 2013, 12:36:24 pm »

Hmm...probably not, although I think you're getting closer. The problem with that scenario is...what is everyone else doing? They can't lynch anyone, they don't have any powers to use, and they have little incentive to say anything since it'll just make them a more likely target for the lynch. I think you'd end up with a very quiet game, since it's not like anyone other than the invulnerable player has any incentive to actually play.

The main issue is the core gimmick. That player is the focus of the game. You've given them almost all of the power, and everyone else's win condition is really based on that player not screwing them over.

I'd probably make it two games in one. The Invulnerable player trying to achieve their goal while everyone else tries to achieve some other goal. Give them something to do other than simply try to steer the god player away from themselves. This does two things. First, it make it a game for everyone else and less of an exercise in standing around hoping you don't get shot. Second, it could give the god player a time limit. They have to figure out who's NOT on another team. Maybe instead of making it so that the Ally wins if he's not lynched, make it so that the god player has to 'elevate' the ally. If that's a Night Action, and it goes after all the other night actions, the Ally can't just out themselves.

Yes..that could work. The god player has a one-time use power to Elevate another player. If they elevate their ally, they win. Otherwise, they lose.

Still need the rest of the details for the game (how everyone else wins and loses), but that gives a structure that makes it a bit more interesting.
Logged
Civilization Forge Mod v2.80: Adding in new races, equipment, animals, plants, metals, etc. Now with Alchemy and Libraries! Variety to spice up DF! (For DF 0.34.10)
Come play Mafia with us!
"Let us maintain our chill composure." - Toady One

griffinpup

  • Bay Watcher
    • View Profile
Re: [DISCUSSION] Mafia Gametypes: Hash 'em out here!
« Reply #1326 on: July 02, 2013, 12:41:40 pm »

Like I said over in Witches Coven, I'd be interested in short, high-intensity, low player-count, power-role light games like Vengeful Mafia.  Enforced niceness would be amusing.

Has anyone ever tried three-player (2VT, 1VM) instant LYLO games (with hammers, of course)?  You could run several in series, all in the same thread, similar to Leafsnail's Trust Mafia.
How could you tell apart the mafia from the other two players in this situation?
Logged

Dariush

  • Bay Watcher
  • I don't think I !!am!!, therefore I !!am!! not
    • View Profile
Re: [DISCUSSION] Mafia Gametypes: Hash 'em out here!
« Reply #1327 on: July 02, 2013, 12:43:24 pm »

Has anyone ever tried three-player (2VT, 1VM) instant LYLO games (with hammers, of course)?  You could run several in series, all in the same thread, similar to Leafsnail's Trust Mafia.
I think that's too many people. Let's just have a single person who can be either a townie or an amnesiac jester and must either no-lynch or lynch himself, respectively, to win.

More seriously, if there's absolutely no difference between the two teams beyond a word in their PMs, then there's no game.

Shakerag

  • Bay Watcher
  • Just here for the schadenfreude.
    • View Profile
Re: [DISCUSSION] Mafia Gametypes: Hash 'em out here!
« Reply #1328 on: July 02, 2013, 02:22:05 pm »

You could always run an open setup game, like the new BM format, but as a non-BM.  Or one of the ones on mafiascum.

C9++

JK9++

TheWetSheep

  • Bay Watcher
  • water covering (entire sheep)
    • View Profile
Re: [DISCUSSION] Mafia Gametypes: Hash 'em out here!
« Reply #1329 on: July 02, 2013, 06:08:47 pm »

Has anyone ever tried three-player (2VT, 1VM) instant LYLO games (with hammers, of course)?  You could run several in series, all in the same thread, similar to Leafsnail's Trust Mafia.
I think that's too many people. Let's just have a single person who can be either a townie or an amnesiac jester and must either no-lynch or lynch himself, respectively, to win.

More seriously, if there's absolutely no difference between the two teams beyond a word in their PMs, then there's no game.
You could do 3-player Trust Mafia. 2 VT's, one voteless Mafia. One vote to hammer.

Leafsnail

  • Bay Watcher
  • A single snail can make a world go extinct.
    • View Profile
Re: [DISCUSSION] Mafia Gametypes: Hash 'em out here!
« Reply #1330 on: July 02, 2013, 06:48:30 pm »

2VT, 1VM suffers from being imbalanced, particularly with hammers.  However, I think that SS3 (1 townie, 1 super-saint, 1 mafia) is a playable setup with hammers.  It also helps to clear Dariush's objection, since the mafia member can be identified by the fact that he's pissing his pants at the possibility of hammering the super-saint.

Trust Mafia was an interesting experiment, but webadict was able to expose the flaw.  Due to the mafia's inability to shoot, a townie can issue an ultimatum to the other player whereby they force them to decide whether to shoot or not right now, and if they don't they can deduce that they are a mafia member.  This makes the game very hard to win for a mafia member (they need to jump in and offer the ultimatum first, and then not get called on their bluff).  If anyone has any ideas for how to fix Trust Mafia I'd be interested, but for now I've given up on making a 2 player mafia game that isn't actually just Conspiracy.
Logged

Leafsnail

  • Bay Watcher
  • A single snail can make a world go extinct.
    • View Profile
Re: [DISCUSSION] Mafia Gametypes: Hash 'em out here!
« Reply #1331 on: July 02, 2013, 08:23:47 pm »

Concept: Everybody has the same role, and the same win condition.  The goal is to kill another player and get away with it.  If you do this successfully, you win and every other player loses (there is no way for more than one player to win).  The game is balanced through the magical power of CAPITALISM.

Spoiler: Mechanics (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Errata (click to show/hide)
Logged

Toaster

  • Bay Watcher
  • Appliance
    • View Profile
Re: [DISCUSSION] Mafia Gametypes: Hash 'em out here!
« Reply #1332 on: July 02, 2013, 08:29:28 pm »

Is there a difference between blocking one person and blocking everyone else?  Ditto with track.  Say I do a 50 point block on two people- is that actually two people are blocked 50 points or two for 25?  Or two for 50, but that cost me all my points?
Logged
HMR stands for Hazardous Materials Requisition, not Horrible Massive Ruination, though I can understand how one could get confused.
God help us if we have to agree on pizza toppings at some point. There will be no survivors.

Leafsnail

  • Bay Watcher
  • A single snail can make a world go extinct.
    • View Profile
Re: [DISCUSSION] Mafia Gametypes: Hash 'em out here!
« Reply #1333 on: July 02, 2013, 08:32:02 pm »

Two for 50, but it cost you all your points.

e: For the sake of argument, even a kill with negative priority can go through if it's the highest priority kill.
Logged

Toaster

  • Bay Watcher
  • Appliance
    • View Profile
Re: [DISCUSSION] Mafia Gametypes: Hash 'em out here!
« Reply #1334 on: July 02, 2013, 08:41:19 pm »

In other words, always send in a kill order even if it is 0 priority.
Logged
HMR stands for Hazardous Materials Requisition, not Horrible Massive Ruination, though I can understand how one could get confused.
God help us if we have to agree on pizza toppings at some point. There will be no survivors.
Pages: 1 ... 87 88 [89] 90 91 ... 108