Vega Van-Derveld
Apr 26th, 2006, 09:46:45 AM
(Credit goes to Ahnk, at TRF, for this idea.)
Who has heard of a game called Mafia? Wikipedia says that it is "a party game modelling a battle between an informed minority and an uninformed majority. Mafia is usually played in groups with at least five players. During a game, players are divided into two teams: 'Mafia members', who know each other; and 'honest people', who know only the number of Mafia amongst them. The goal of both teams is to eliminate each other."
The game is typically played in a real life setting, but I thought it would be fun if we could turn it into a one-off roleplay. Here is a break down of the rules:
Night
The Narrator (alternatively, God)—a person not playing, but moderating the game—tells everyone to close their eyes and lower their heads ("Go to sleep..."). The narrator tells the Mafia to open their eyes and silently select another player to kill; generally, the Mafia must all agree on someone to kill, and may signal to each other during the night, but in some versions, such as the original, the Mafia must decide independently and a person is only killed if they all agree, so in order to get someone killed they must somehow communicate during the day.
In some variants for a large number of players and a small number of Mafia, each Mafia member may individually get to kill a player. They then close their eyes before the Narrator tells everyone to wake up and announces the Mafia's victim. This player is dead and may no longer participate in the game in any way, although they are permitted to keep their eyes open at night. Other variant characters can have "business" during the night also.
Day
During the daytime phase, the players deliberate over which player they should execute. The Innocents want to execute a Mafia member but all players are allowed to vote. Generally, The Narrator will administer the election and a majority is required to kill players, although voting variants abound. The same rules apply to players who are executed as to players killed by the Mafia. In some variants, multiple players may be killed during the same day.
Depending on the variant, The Narrator may reveal the identity of dead players, dead players may reveal themselves by flipping their cards face up (most common version), or the identity of dead players may not be revealed. Typically, prematurely revealing one's identity by flipping one's card face up while still alive is considered suicide; in single-execution-per-day variants, this may count as the execution for that day.
Win condition
The game ends either when the last Mafia member is killed (Innocent victory) or the Mafia members gain a majority during the day (Mafia victory).
I thought our game could work like this...
Characters can interact freely, in roleplay, during the 'Day' times. Characters may, at this time, try to persuade one another who should be killed. All characters then publicly vote on who they would like to eliminate from the group.
During the 'Night' phase, the evil characters can PM me their votes for which player they would like to have killed. Evil characters cannot communicate with one another during this time and so, as stated up above in the rules, must use the 'Day' to establish with one another who they are going to vote to kill. Certain 'innocents' will have special abilities which they will be able to use at this time, also through PM.
I figured that we could stretch the Day phase over say... 3 to 5 days, to give people the time to interact with one another before they have to vote (or die). Obviously I would come up with a setting for this all to play out in, perhaps something themed like a horror movie!
Anyone interested? I figure at least 8 or more people would be needed to play. Feel free to ask any questions.
Who has heard of a game called Mafia? Wikipedia says that it is "a party game modelling a battle between an informed minority and an uninformed majority. Mafia is usually played in groups with at least five players. During a game, players are divided into two teams: 'Mafia members', who know each other; and 'honest people', who know only the number of Mafia amongst them. The goal of both teams is to eliminate each other."
The game is typically played in a real life setting, but I thought it would be fun if we could turn it into a one-off roleplay. Here is a break down of the rules:
Night
The Narrator (alternatively, God)—a person not playing, but moderating the game—tells everyone to close their eyes and lower their heads ("Go to sleep..."). The narrator tells the Mafia to open their eyes and silently select another player to kill; generally, the Mafia must all agree on someone to kill, and may signal to each other during the night, but in some versions, such as the original, the Mafia must decide independently and a person is only killed if they all agree, so in order to get someone killed they must somehow communicate during the day.
In some variants for a large number of players and a small number of Mafia, each Mafia member may individually get to kill a player. They then close their eyes before the Narrator tells everyone to wake up and announces the Mafia's victim. This player is dead and may no longer participate in the game in any way, although they are permitted to keep their eyes open at night. Other variant characters can have "business" during the night also.
Day
During the daytime phase, the players deliberate over which player they should execute. The Innocents want to execute a Mafia member but all players are allowed to vote. Generally, The Narrator will administer the election and a majority is required to kill players, although voting variants abound. The same rules apply to players who are executed as to players killed by the Mafia. In some variants, multiple players may be killed during the same day.
Depending on the variant, The Narrator may reveal the identity of dead players, dead players may reveal themselves by flipping their cards face up (most common version), or the identity of dead players may not be revealed. Typically, prematurely revealing one's identity by flipping one's card face up while still alive is considered suicide; in single-execution-per-day variants, this may count as the execution for that day.
Win condition
The game ends either when the last Mafia member is killed (Innocent victory) or the Mafia members gain a majority during the day (Mafia victory).
I thought our game could work like this...
Characters can interact freely, in roleplay, during the 'Day' times. Characters may, at this time, try to persuade one another who should be killed. All characters then publicly vote on who they would like to eliminate from the group.
During the 'Night' phase, the evil characters can PM me their votes for which player they would like to have killed. Evil characters cannot communicate with one another during this time and so, as stated up above in the rules, must use the 'Day' to establish with one another who they are going to vote to kill. Certain 'innocents' will have special abilities which they will be able to use at this time, also through PM.
I figured that we could stretch the Day phase over say... 3 to 5 days, to give people the time to interact with one another before they have to vote (or die). Obviously I would come up with a setting for this all to play out in, perhaps something themed like a horror movie!
Anyone interested? I figure at least 8 or more people would be needed to play. Feel free to ask any questions.