Friendship is Dragons
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Page 904 - Mafia, Part 3
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Honestly, this is downright METHODICAL compared to the standard of evidence on the first day when I play.
Hmm, seems like we can work this into a topic.
Experiences from the First Day!
For me, while I've never played Mafia, I have played Resistance, which is a similar one. For those that don't know, you have two teams: the Resistance, who are essentially the civilians and thus only know their own role for certain, and the Spies, the game's Mafia equivalent. Since the game has a set number of spies according to the number of players, there's always two spies at a minimum (Smallest workable group is five people, with a 5 player game being 2 spies and 3 resistance), the Spies get to see who the other spies are. That's all you get for roles.
The game itself is broken up into five missions, with one person nominating a team to take on that current mission. If the group OKs the team (Majority Vote with no draws if there's an even number of players) then that team has to vote on whether or not the mission is a success. Unlike the team selection where it's a majority vote, all team members have to vote for the mission to succeed for the Resistance to get the point. If the team selection vote is struck down, then the next person in the group selects a new team. If the team is vetoed five times in a row, or if even one team member decides to fail the mission, then the mission fails, giving the point to the Spies. First team to get three points wins.
Now onto the topic.
With my old gaming society, there were two things that tended to happen.
1) Person A is a spy (constant bad luck during one get together put him as a spy close to 10 games straight).
2) The first mission always goes to the Resistance since the Spies are trying to establish trust with the group.
One time though, a newer player decided to fail the first mission. Cue the entire group losing their minds, not because they were ticked off, but because it almost never happened and thus, the group had no idea how to handle it. It put the Resistance into a panic for the entire game, made even more difficult, because as it turned out, the spies had successfully landed the suspicion on the Resistance Member that had been on that mission.
Experiences from the First Day!
For me, while I've never played Mafia, I have played Resistance, which is a similar one. For those that don't know, you have two teams: the Resistance, who are essentially the civilians and thus only know their own role for certain, and the Spies, the game's Mafia equivalent. Since the game has a set number of spies according to the number of players, there's always two spies at a minimum (Smallest workable group is five people, with a 5 player game being 2 spies and 3 resistance), the Spies get to see who the other spies are. That's all you get for roles.
The game itself is broken up into five missions, with one person nominating a team to take on that current mission. If the group OKs the team (Majority Vote with no draws if there's an even number of players) then that team has to vote on whether or not the mission is a success. Unlike the team selection where it's a majority vote, all team members have to vote for the mission to succeed for the Resistance to get the point. If the team selection vote is struck down, then the next person in the group selects a new team. If the team is vetoed five times in a row, or if even one team member decides to fail the mission, then the mission fails, giving the point to the Spies. First team to get three points wins.
Now onto the topic.
With my old gaming society, there were two things that tended to happen.
1) Person A is a spy (constant bad luck during one get together put him as a spy close to 10 games straight).
2) The first mission always goes to the Resistance since the Spies are trying to establish trust with the group.
One time though, a newer player decided to fail the first mission. Cue the entire group losing their minds, not because they were ticked off, but because it almost never happened and thus, the group had no idea how to handle it. It put the Resistance into a panic for the entire game, made even more difficult, because as it turned out, the spies had successfully landed the suspicion on the Resistance Member that had been on that mission.
The Resistance is very different from Mafia, though, despite their superficial similarities.
Games like The Resistance, Secret Hitler, etc. are all about deduction. Every action can be traced back to some subset of the players. Some of the information you get will be misleading, of course, but you still get a great deal of information and can apply it if you're suitably attentive and clever.
Mafia, in contrast, is fundamentally a game of random guessing. The mafia have no reason not to be random about who they kill, unless the detective is foolish enough to reveal themself, the detective spends most of the game not finding mafia members, and nobody else knows anything about anything so the townspeople just lynch at random.
Games like The Resistance, Secret Hitler, etc. are all about deduction. Every action can be traced back to some subset of the players. Some of the information you get will be misleading, of course, but you still get a great deal of information and can apply it if you're suitably attentive and clever.
Mafia, in contrast, is fundamentally a game of random guessing. The mafia have no reason not to be random about who they kill, unless the detective is foolish enough to reveal themself, the detective spends most of the game not finding mafia members, and nobody else knows anything about anything so the townspeople just lynch at random.
Yeah, that's mostly it. Same with Werewolves. Lots of random, especially during the first turns (there's a bit more deduction during late game).
That's why I prefer One Night Ultimate Werewolf. Since baddies don't know if they're still baddies, there's a lot more thinking and bluffing involved.
Plus, no elimination. (I have no idea why people nearly always kill me on the first day... I'm not THAT suspicious!)
That's why I prefer One Night Ultimate Werewolf. Since baddies don't know if they're still baddies, there's a lot more thinking and bluffing involved.
Plus, no elimination. (I have no idea why people nearly always kill me on the first day... I'm not THAT suspicious!)
My first night of Werewolf, I was Cupid and I chose myself and someone else as insurance in case someone got me on the chopping block. Neither I nor my counterpart died, but I was immediately put up on the chopping block vs someone who I found afterward WAS a werewolf. I ended up having my final defense be "I'm cupid and if I die I'm taking You (points to my partner) with me!"
They executed me anyway because they thought I was bluffing. My pick died with me. Werewolves ended up winning that game, no one listened to reason.
They executed me anyway because they thought I was bluffing. My pick died with me. Werewolves ended up winning that game, no one listened to reason.
I play a lot of Mafia online, where there are usually more than two maf and WAY more power roles than plain blacks and blues (because you don't have any body language to go on). I would say roughly 70% of the games lynch nobody on day 1 (a common rule option). The other 30% were mostly "lynch the person with the MLP avatar." :D
Rarity is suspicious here. Also, being saved doesn't mean you're not Mafia...
In this case it does because she was going to be killed and was saved. The odds of the Mafia choosing to kill one their own with the hope that the nurse would simultaneously save them is basically 0.
I love how Luke/Dr. Whooves is just sitting back sipping his drink through a curly straw while all this is playing out around him.
Unclear as yet, but I think there's only one execution.
...Is 80% intended to be an actual probability, or just a random number? Or is it for 1 kill, 1 lynch per round with 5 members, no nurse or detective, and 2 mafia? Because then the strategy (assuming it is strictly followed the entire time and not deviated from regardless of circumstances) only succeeds when neither of the two mafia is in one of the last 2 slots, so of the 5C2 mafia arrangements (=10), we have 7 where that is the case, and thus it actually fails 70% of the time.
Of course I could be completely misunderstanding what you're trying to say. I'm also uncertain what happens in a 5 player game if you're down to 1 mafia and 1 civilian on the day round.
...Is 80% intended to be an actual probability, or just a random number? Or is it for 1 kill, 1 lynch per round with 5 members, no nurse or detective, and 2 mafia? Because then the strategy (assuming it is strictly followed the entire time and not deviated from regardless of circumstances) only succeeds when neither of the two mafia is in one of the last 2 slots, so of the 5C2 mafia arrangements (=10), we have 7 where that is the case, and thus it actually fails 70% of the time.
Of course I could be completely misunderstanding what you're trying to say. I'm also uncertain what happens in a 5 player game if you're down to 1 mafia and 1 civilian on the day round.
Wait! You can lynch two people? I thought the police players already picked someone. That person doesn't automatically get dropped from the game?
For the number of players they're playing, the Mafia can KO two people. The Citizens can only lynch one person, but there is a vote between all possible nominees to decide whom is lynched. And no, the Cops don't drop anyone from the game. They just learn whether their target is or isn't Mafia. They're investigators, not murderers.
And finally subscribed to your Patreon. :)
That "eyes dilated" thing HAS to be a reference to the episode of Tabletop where they played Resistance.
The person who noticed was right, too.
The person who noticed was right, too.
I used the same argument, phrased a bit differently, in a Mafia game too - a mafia game with no special roles, and therefore no significant information, so eye-dilation was about the only thing we COULD go off of.
Ashley Clements lol. Also that's a great argument to use to trick the other players when you're the spy or mafia.
Weddings, huh?
Is the color scheme to be Rarity, Big Mac, or Twilight?
Is the color scheme to be Rarity, Big Mac, or Twilight?
Imma just going to say that I did NOT skip the night phase strip.
And this one is all the more hilarious for it.
And this one is all the more hilarious for it.
Is a vote of 'no lynch?' allowed at all? Although it usually ends badly, sometimes, not lynching can help. Although in games online I've GM'd, it always lead to mass chain killing. I certainly have a few stories to share once we get to the end, as they might be considered spoilery, or possibly happen.
Wait, I tought you could only send one player to the block each turn,
Newbiespud's Note: It's actually super handy that there's gonna be a significant guest arc for a while... because I was just reminded I've got a wedding to attend at the end of this month! Gonna be the brother of the bride!