If you haven't noticed, a new craze has taken the
by storm: The game of
Mafia.
Mafia is a
role-playing game. As with a lot of games, playing is fundamentally simple but the strategy can be complex. If you're new to role-playing games, think of it like a theatrical play. The Game Master (GM) is like the producer/director. He creates the set and setting, randomly assigns roles to the actors, then directs the action.
A game from start to finish might look like this:
1. People sign up to play
2. Someone volunteers to be the Game Master (
GM)
3. The
GM determines the which roles the game will have
4. The
GM randomly assigns the roles to players
5. The
GM posts an opening scene
6. The
townies vote to lynch a
mafia suspect
7. When a majority of townies (50% +1) have voted for a particular player, "Nightfall" is declared and gameplay stops
8. The
GM writes a lynching scene starring the town's chosen victim
9. The people with
special roles submit their
night actions to the
GM
10. The
GM process the
night actions
11. The
GM writes a scene that incorporates the
night actions
12. Gameplay resumes
13. Repeat steps 6-12 until the
mafia or
townies are eradicated
14. Game over!
If you want to get a feel for how it works we've already played three full games here that you can read through. They are
here,
here and
here. I'd also encourage you to browse through the
MafiaScum wiki and
forum for more documentation and discussions about/examples of gameplay (respectively). You might also want to look through the 5 or 6 games they've played in the
IIDB games subforum (registration required).
There are typically three threads associated with a
Mafia game. The
sign-up thread (where people announce their desire to play), the
Game Thread (the official thread - for players only), and the
Peanut Gallery thread (for any
members to comment on the ongoing game).
So the next time you see a mafia sign-up thread, give it a shot!
Alternatively, if you have no interest in playing or watching people play
Mafia you can always select
Thread Tools -> Ignore this thread from the top of any
Mafia related thread, and it will disappear. If you decide you want to view it later, you can always restore it from your user options.
Current tally
Mafia
3 : Town
1