Advice for Mafia Mods

At 3/16/2012 10:11:55 AM, nonentity wrote:
Can I be added to the list?

Whoops, wrong thread :)

At 3/16/2012 9:18:38 AM, drafterman wrote:

At 11/20/2011 4:41:29 PM, tvellalott wrote:

3) Don't get involved unless you need to: For god sake, don't help the mafia or the town if you think one team is winning to easily. Don't tweak roles after the fact because the cop was night killed NP1. Thems the breaks. If mafia get lucky, don't then boost town to compensate (or vice versa). That's not fair, is it? A way to combat this is to work out worst case scenarios for both teams; work out the quickest possible win for both teams. It will help you balance and prevent mod interference being necessary.

I've been thinking about this particular point, in light of my Batman game and some other games I've been involved in.

It's a valid point, but it raises the question of why it happens. In my experience, it happens as a result of being emotionally invested in the success of a role. When you design a role, you often do it with a specific intention. The problem is, players may A) not realize the intended use of the role, B) may find a different intended use for it, or C) be a victim of mere bad luck.

On the one hand, this can be paradoxical. For example, in my Batman game, I wanted all the roles to win, which obviously can't happen. I know in Logic's Death in Mystere game, he wanted his Inquisitor role to succeed (Logic did not commit mod interference, I'm merely referencing this as an example of how mods can get invested in the success of a role).

So, when things happen such that the game doesn't go according to plan or expectation; or your pet-role isn't succeeding, we are tempted to intervene which can result in violation of this rule.

As mods we need to be detached and adopt the mantra: "Que sera, sera." It's hard, admittedly, but the players will be more thankful for that in the long run. The game is theirs to win or lose, after all.

This can be true not just for roles but for game mechanics as well. In my HP game for instance, I didn't have any specific roles that I wanted to see succeed but I wanted the game to end quicker. With the overeager vig getting killed NP1 and the dayvig getting killed NP2, it slowed to pace of the game to 1/3 of the pace I intended it to go. I didn't want it to run for 9 day phases and I seriously considered adding in a serial killer midgame like TV did to start killing people and moving the game along quicker. I am glad I didn't though as it allowed town and mafia to battle it out without mod interference and the end result was better than if I had put in a serial killer and the game ended in 6-7 day phases instead of 9.

Determining how many votes it takes to lynch:

It takes a majority of all alive players to lynch someone. If there are an even number of alive players, a majority would be half the total # of alive players PLUS ONE. If there are an odd number of alive players, a majority is half the total # of alive players, rounded up to a whole number.

Examples:
8 alive players => takes 8/2 + 1 to lynch, which is 5
9 alive players => takes 9/2 = 4.5 rounded up to 5 to lynch

Sidenote: mafia automatically wins when it is 4 mafia against 4 town not because they have enough votes to mislynch a townie (they don't, it takes 5) but because they have enough votes to refuse to lynch a mafioso (town only has 4 votes, whereas it takes 5 to lynch a mafioso). If you made them play it out, they would refuse to lynch a mafioso and get another kill in the NP once the DP ends in a no lynch.

Role question:

If a player is bulletproof, are they protected from day vig kills as well as night vig kills, or would it just be night vig kills?

At 3/27/2012 2:29:09 AM, Zaradi wrote:
Role question:

If a player is bulletproof, are they protected from day vig kills as well as night vig kills, or would it just be night vig kills?

Both.

I would recommend that Mods make it more balanced. When I was Mod, I made 1 person Mafia and he wasn't overpowered like the Juggernaut but he wasn't underpowered. The game went down to luck and chance but he made it extremely interesting. Also make sure to look at the night actions correctly and make the NP long.

My advice on balancing and story:

When in doubt, lowball. What I'm saying here is that make BOTH sides of mafia UNDERPOWERED. Don't give either mafia or town too much power, because they can really run on autopilot. All they have to do is process their information and spit it back out in the means that they have. Kinda a boring game, and it does not actually test the players involved much.

In addition, as DeNinja has said earlier, the game is your marble. I'm going to skew this a little and say that the game that you are creating is a work of art. Use it to innovate in mafia. If you think that you are going to make the game go out of control with your idea, then consult with another person or go with a innovative story. Don't just do a *insert thing you like* theme; do something that is more than the intro to DP4 than "character died int the night. " If I dare say it, make the OPs enjoyable and informative. Just don't do the ordinary.

We (the DDO mafia elite) are in the process of rewriting and combining this thread and the "TV's Mafia Guide" thread into one better formatted thread, so if you have anything to add please do so swiftly.

Necrophilia always finds a way.

I have a question, is there a possiblity for there to be more then 1 of the same role in a game. Like 2 vanillias.

At 4/18/2013 7:48:29 AM, lannan13 wrote:
I have a question, is there a possiblity for there to be more then 1 of the same role in a game. Like 2 vanillias.

Yes. Happens all the time mate.