[ansible]

Ok, so I've been pretty absent the past few games, for which I offer a thousand apologies, O patient ones... But on the upside, I have a small church group that meets at my place on Wednesday's and somehow one night we got onto the topic of just playing some games and I had suggested Mafia previously. To my ultimate surprise, everyone was on board and we played two simple M&P games right off the cuff (I modded, obviously...). We had about 12-15 people and we did the old school method of passing around cards to identify you as town or scum and then everyone closes their eyes at night and I call for night actions in order; people look up and point, I give non-verbal signals, etc. We were short on time so I gave them 7 minute days and instant night resolution. We may have learned more about each other by playing Mafia than by discussing spiritual matters...
So, in our second game, a girl was the killer and instead of pairing her I gave her a symp, which ended up being her fiancee (they won in the end, incredibly). She loved the game and her birthday's coming up and she wants to play some MAFIAAAAAA. So I am toying with the idea of prepping some material beforehand; at least some notecards with roles and rules, not sure whether I should add a story element or not yet, maybe something really basic so people can work from a story backdrop when interacting. But it's pretty cool to see everything play out in real time without being able to go back over what someone said in detail and make cases. One dude got pretty fired up and made a solid case on a "low poster" who hadn't said much; they lynched him for knowing too much (he was absolutely right) and lost to scum (this was the first game).

So anyway, does anyone have any experience doing this? I'm looking for thoughts, suggestions, ideas, you name it. I want to make it fun and easy for people to play but also not intimidating. I'll be running the games (I just whipped out a notebook and started tracking things last time) but I was wondering if anyone else has done this before. I'm reminded of a short story by Jonathan Lethem where the main guy gets roped into a high-stakes Mafia game and pairs up with the girl next to him, who ends up betraying him. Ah, the beauty of Mafia.

[Stalker]

Well this summer, I was doing some archaeological fieldwork and helping to teach a group of students. With nothing else to do (no internet, tv) I got some 16 player mafia games going. It was a lot of fun, but I disliked the whole "I heard player x move during the night- he must be scum, lynch him." Though after several games a week, it started to get away from that. I, being, the experience high-threat player got the first lynch almost every game after the game when I counter-revealed finder and tricked the town into losing. Still fun times and I got a lot of modding experience too.


The point being that my group always had more fun when it was an actual type of story, just like my favorite games on the forum (ie. LotR, Warhammer 40k, Mistborn, Rome, etc). So maybe some kind of birthday theme to tie into it being her birthday. Also my MP games involved just a finder, healer, scum, and symp so adding extra roles always gives the game a nice twist. I'd suggest adding a vigilante, it's fun and the resulting speculation is funny to watch.


Well, sign me up for the next forum mafia game haha, all this talk makes me want to play again.

[JLV]

Next game is going to be a twofer, the older players in one game and the newer players in the other. You are very welcome to play, Stalker!

This sounds awesome, Ansible, rep for you!

[Path-Shaper]

re: listening to sounds at night - on the role cards tell them they look up when you call number X, so rather than someone hearing a rustle from the person next to him when you say "scum look up" they hear it when you say "number 2s look up" and won't know if the person they heard is scum or a town role.

-D'rek

[Mentalist]

There is a French version of the game called "loup-garou" (werewolf), that includes a whole lot of special roles, and some rules. I know the cards and rules are available somewhere on the net (though not sure if in English, but there google translate).

if you want a bit of a different game, you can look that up. I've played it a few times on separate occasions when I did immersion in Quebec, it's always been tons of fun.

[Gust Hubb]

 Mentalist, on 25 February 2012 - 02:50 AM, said:

There is a French version of the game called "loup-garou" (werewolf), that includes a whole lot of special roles, and some rules. I know the cards and rules are available somewhere on the net (though not sure if in English, but there google translate).

if you want a bit of a different game, you can look that up. I've played it a few times on separate occasions when I did immersion in Quebec, it's always been tons of fun.

That's the one I started on.

[Jump Around]

Real-life mafia is awesome. I didn't have the chance to play too often, but when I did I really had a ball.

[Tattersail_]

 Stalker, on 22 February 2012 - 11:00 PM, said:

Well this summer, I was doing some archaeological fieldwork and helping to teach a group of students. With nothing else to do (no internet, tv) I got some 16 player mafia games going. It was a lot of fun, but I disliked the whole "I heard player x move during the night- he must be scum, lynch him." Though after several games a week, it started to get away from that. I, being, the experience high-threat player got the first lynch almost every game after the game when I counter-revealed finder and tricked the town into losing. Still fun times and I got a lot of modding experience too.


The point being that my group always had more fun when it was an actual type of story, just like my favorite games on the forum (ie. LotR, Warhammer 40k, Mistborn, Rome, etc). So maybe some kind of birthday theme to tie into it being her birthday. Also my MP games involved just a finder, healer, scum, and symp so adding extra roles always gives the game a nice twist. I'd suggest adding a vigilante, it's fun and the resulting speculation is funny to watch.


Well, sign me up for the next forum mafia game haha, all this talk makes me want to play again.

The sign up is there you can find it here:

http://forum.malazan...opic=23454&st=0

[Tattersail_]

I want to but I don't think I could get the boys away from playing poker and I'm in an area were the ideal nightlife is to go out and get absolutely drunk. Not something i'm up to.

If you could give some hints and tips i'll be up for hosting one of these parties after I get married!!

[HiddenOne]

 Tattersail, on 25 February 2012 - 01:26 PM, said:

I want to but I don't think I could get the boys away from playing poker and I'm in an area were the ideal nightlife is to go out and get absolutely drunk. Not something i'm up to.

If you could give some hints and tips i'll be up for hosting one of these parties after I get married!!

Ha ha ha, the illusions of the not-yet-married

[Tattersail_]

 HiddenOne, on 25 February 2012 - 02:52 PM, said:

 Tattersail, on 25 February 2012 - 01:26 PM, said:

I want to but I don't think I could get the boys away from playing poker and I'm in an area were the ideal nightlife is to go out and get absolutely drunk. Not something i'm up to.

If you could give some hints and tips i'll be up for hosting one of these parties after I get married!!

Ha ha ha, the illusions of the not-yet-married

do tell

[HiddenOne]

 Tattersail, on 25 February 2012 - 03:25 PM, said:

 HiddenOne, on 25 February 2012 - 02:52 PM, said:

 Tattersail, on 25 February 2012 - 01:26 PM, said:

I want to but I don't think I could get the boys away from playing poker and I'm in an area were the ideal nightlife is to go out and get absolutely drunk. Not something i'm up to.

If you could give some hints and tips i'll be up for hosting one of these parties after I get married!!

Ha ha ha, the illusions of the not-yet-married

do tell

that would be cheating