Rules and Noob Guide.

[Rodan]

I thought it was always seperate.

Me too. I never really got why.

[Gojoe]

Well, that is the noob guide. I do not see why the noobs will need to read this. I think if they are kept separate, only the advanced players need to read this.

[oneofthedragon]

Or no one. =p

[InstinctSage]

So we can discuss high level tactics like telling all the noobs they're playing vanilla mafia when really we're really playing poker?
Vote: Royal Flush

[Gojoe]

I am going to put in C9 and F11 soon. Maybe I will do it at work.

[Sungura]

I think this should be merged with the original "how to play" thread in the op. I was looking for the deathly rules and it took me a bit to realize this thread existed.

[Jar'O'Jam]

Or at least sticky'd at the top.

[Jesse]

You dare to question ME?!

[Sungura]

Who questioned you?

[Jesse]

You just did.

[Megatriorchis]

Can I question you?

[Sungura]

Should wikirole be added?

Also OOTD's spoilered list from start of surprise might not be a bad idea to put here in the op as well so we don't ever loose that.

[InstinctSage]

Mexican Standoff could be added as a game type:

Mexican Standoff:

Spoiler:

Similar to Light's Out, the town may kill multiple players during the day, which only ends when the majority of players vote for night. The twist is that instead of voting to lynch players as in lights out, each player is given a single daykill to use at their own discretion each day.

[Wildcard]

Hello, I'm completely new to (online) Mafia, although I've played in real life with friends a couple times. This rule guide is great, there are just some specific questions I have, that may vary by game anyways. Spoilered because the questions don't matter as much as the answers, which I'm hoping to get. Note: these aren't so much questions about the *rules* as questions about gameplay.

Spoiler:

What is the general or average length of a "night" or a "day"? I'm sure this varies, but is it generally about an actual day, or generally about a week per night and a week per day, or what?

How do you join a game? Maybe you don't want to post this so you can restrict the games to people who are quite determined and figure it out themselves, but it would be nice to know how.

How long was the longest game that's been played on here? How about the shortest game?

When all is said and done, it's revealed who *everyone* was and exactly which Mafia members did what, etc, right? Or serial killers, vigilantes, etc? Do we ever find out who did it and what role they were, if we're a townie who gets killed early on?

A general description of gameplay would be quite nice to have, and I think this is the thread for it. Gojoe, perhaps you could put that on here when you get a chance?
Or anyone else knowledgeable, if you feel so inclined, can put something up here.

Thanks!

[crucialityfactor]

Hello, I'm completely new to (online) Mafia, although I've played in real life with friends a couple times. This rule guide is great, there are just some specific questions I have, that may vary by game anyways. Spoilered because the questions don't matter as much as the answers, which I'm hoping to get. Note: these aren't so much questions about the *rules* as questions about gameplay.

Spoiler:

What is the general or average length of a "night" or a "day"? I'm sure this varies, but is it generally about an actual day, or generally about a week per night and a week per day, or what?

How do you join a game? Maybe you don't want to post this so you can restrict the games to people who are quite determined and figure it out themselves, but it would be nice to know how.

How long was the longest game that's been played on here? How about the shortest game?

When all is said and done, it's revealed who *everyone* was and exactly which Mafia members did what, etc, right? Or serial killers, vigilantes, etc? Do we ever find out who did it and what role they were, if we're a townie who gets killed early on?

A general description of gameplay would be quite nice to have, and I think this is the thread for it. Gojoe, perhaps you could put that on here when you get a chance?
Or anyone else knowledgeable, if you feel so inclined, can put something up here.

Thanks!

1) Lengths of days/night depend on how active the players are. It's usually at least 2-3 days for each, but could be as short as 12 hours. Could be as long as a week for a day at the extreme.

2) There's the Mafia Discussion thread where signups start, usually they are finalized in the game thread itself.

3) I guess a few months for longest? There are mini-games as well that are supposed to have 24 hour days and nights, those last about a week or two.

4) Usually the mod will post the role list in the thread at the end and people will discuss their roles.

I'll let Gojoe worry about the gameplay description. It might be best just to read through a few of the completed games. That's how I learned.

Hope that helped.

[Gojoe]

Sorry wild card, I did not get alerted when you posted. I will add a game play description at work today.

[InstinctSage]

The longest game is still being played, and you just inadvertently joined it.
Who knows when you will be killed?
DUN DUN DUNNNNNN

I'm in a strange mood today.

[Gojoe]

I have added a Q&A session with cf in the OP. I will make a "stereo typical game" up somehow.
I think I might make a new thread for that.

I also finally added Vox's suggestion up there.
I am going to be active in the help topics for the rest of today. Tidying things up that I should of done ages. Let me know if anything needs to be twerked now.

Ok new thread up to help new people.

[b.i.o]

Add assassins (sins) as a game type? There are a couple of sins games going on now, and I was very confused when I first saw them.

[kellsbells]

Sins is already listed under "How To Play Mafia: A Noob's Guide" if I recall correctly. It's not so much advanced as just different.

[Wildcard]

Okay, thanks for the additional stuff, Gojoe!

Now, having worked my way through the entire XKCD invitational game history (the 18 page one) I have some notes that should go in somewhere.

I think there should be basically a lingo "glossary"--I'm putting in the definitions/acronyms I could figure out, plus a couple that I couldn't. I'm not sure if this should go in a separate thread, but I'll let a mod split it if so. (?)

Lingo for Mafia:

LAL*: Lurk And Lose, a reference to this strategy.
LYLO: LYnch or LOse. See below by Gojoe.
EBWOP: Edit By Way Of Post. See below by Gojoe.
OMGUS: Oh My Gawd yoU Suck. Sometimes given as a "reason" for voting to lynch someone who just voted to lynch you. (Hint: it's not a very good reason by itself....) Oh, and see below by Gojoe.
FoS: Finger of Suspicion. Not an official vote to lynch someone, but indicates suspicion (duh).
WIFOM: See Gojoe's writeup first for the derivation. This refers to the potentially endless circles of logic that begin as follows:

Hey, let's lynch Mr. X!

Um, Mr. X is a confirmed townie. You sound like Mafia now.

Oh, I didn't see that. But seriously, I wouldn't be so obvious about it if I were scum, would I?

Perhaps you're scum trying to convince me you're not scum by saying something so blatantly scummy that no one who is actually scum would be dumb enough to say it.

Wait, what?

WIFOM.
Vote: That Dude

Hammer*: This is the last person who votes for a lynch, who thereby reaches a majority. Or it can be an adjective describing that person or that vote. Also, the action of posting the hammer vote.
Cult*: This is (I think) a group of scum who can communicate by PMs (Private Messages, duh). (I'm fuzzy on the exact rules, I think they can communicate at any time, not just during the day or just during the night?) Insanely powerful against the townies.
Miller*: The opposite of a Godfather. A townie who, when investigated (by a sane investigation, of course) will show up as scum.
Masons: A townie-aligned group similar to the cult. Although according to Gojoe's definition, they can only PM each other during the night. (Does that mean cults can only PM each other by night? But I thought scum could do that anyways, as they decide who to kill...could someone clarify this?)
Nickrole*: Very very uncertain on this one, but I think it might mean to randomly lynch someone toward the end of a Mafia game, possibly due to a lack of any volume of data about anyone present. I'm not sure if that last clause is part of the definition. Actually I'm not sure of the definition at all, really, on this one.
Babam*: Near as I can tell, the worst mod who ever disgraced this board with his presence. (Or maybe he was only on IRC....)

*Disclaimer: definitions with asterisks (*) after them were determined by context, and may be incorrect.

the LINGO

LYLO = Lynch or lose. This means that unless the town lynch a mafia, they will lose during the night.
WIFOM = Wine in front of me. This is kinda like a bluff. This comes from the princess bride

But it's so simple. All I have to do is divine from what I know of you: are you the sort of man who would put the poison into his own goblet or his enemy's? Now, a clever man would put the poison into his own goblet, because he would know that only a great fool would reach for what he was given. I am not a great fool, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you. But you must have known I was not a great fool, you would have counted on it, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.

EBWOP = Edit by way of post. Because you can not edit posts, you can just type this and double post to clarify your previous post.
OMGUS = OH MY GOD YOU SUCK! This is usually said when the following happens. Person x votes for person y. Person Y then yells OMGUS and votes for person x.

Incidentally, for a noob's guide this thread certainly seems to have a lot of references to "inside knowledge", such as Babam.
(Edit: Actually, the first post is remarkably good about avoiding such terminology; it's only later posts. Apologies, Gojoe.)

This glossary clearly needs some cleaning up, but I think it's a good start. Incidentally, will I be allowed to edit this post for accuracy later, since it's not an actual Mafia *game*?

(Oh, and Merry Christmas!)

[Gojoe]

First off. Thanks for that post Wildcard. That was fucking awesome. And yes, feel free to edit posts that are not in a game. I will clean it up.

[Gojoe]

Ok, I have updated the OP. Added a bit. Somethings were already there. like masons. I have to update WIFOM. I used your definitions because I am lazy, and you wrote them well. (I edited it a bit first).

WIFOM will be edited in the next hour if nothing comes up at work.

[Gojoe]

Ok I pretty much stole your quote. But I give you credit. Wildcard made the WIFOM quote.

[Gojoe]

That is correct, sins, or assassins is in the noob guide.

[b.i.o]

Oh, I must have missed that.

[Babam]

Man, me thinks I need to get better at mafia, again.
BRB IRC.

[Gojoe]

OK, i added the rule in sins about no false killing. VERY IMPORTANT!

[crucialityfactor]

Hey guys...how DO I play mafia?

[Bulvox]

I accidentally a whole mafia game. Is this a bad thing?

[Gojoe]

Hey guys...how DO I play mafia?

Step one, rent out the Godfather trilogy...

[MasterOfAll]

Step one, rent out the Godfather trilogy...

Step two, watch 1st and 2nd movies.
Step three, discard 3rd movie.

[Sungura]

The godfather???

*scratches head*

*goes back to her corner*

[Not A Raptor]

Lingo is missing IGMEOY, or whatever that one is.

[frogman]

What is that one, anyway?

[ameretrifle]

"I've Got My Eye On You", unless I am greatly mistaken.

[Wildcard]

EBWOP:

All right, time to see if I can spiffen this up a bit.

IGMEOY: I Got My Eye On You. Indicates a lesser degree of suspicion than an FOS. Unlike votes, unvotes and (by convention) FOS's, IGMEOY doesn't need to be bolded.
OMGYS: Oh My God You Suck. Written by persnickety grammarians such as yours truly who avoid odd abbreviations such as Oh My God yoU Suck (OMGUS).
LAL: Lynch All Lurkers, a very effective tactic for discouraging lurking and encouraging active participation in the game.
Lurker: Someone who is in the game but doesn't contribute. Note that this is best reserved for someone who posts frequently or periodically, but whose posts are of little value to the game, rather than someone who simply is not posting at all (a fault more likely ascribed to downed internet connection or the like).
Throw someone under the bus: The action of a scum or independent (i.e., cult) voting for one of their own team, usually but not always as a hammer or jumping on a bandwagon, in order to allay any suspicion regarding their own activities. This can also take the risky form of a scum being the initial accuser and lynch mob leader to lynch another scum, which is risky but can be done well and thus throw off any suspicion.
Bandwagon: A situation wherein many people have votes on one person, often when there is no great argument against that person and the voters are just "following the crowd". Also can be used as a verb to mean "jumping on the bandwagon and voting for someone, contributing to his lynching." Empirically, there is a tendency, when someone has many votes on him, for others to just vote for that person without thinking about it too much. This is called bandwagoning.
Vote: Means you're voting to LYNCH someone. That is, *unlike* in an election, receiving a vote is NOT a good thing. (Unless you're a jester.)
Nickrole: "Nick" is short for "nickname". Nickrole is a game of Mafia wherein the roles are made up and given out based on the player's username and/or avatar.
PYP: Short for Pick Your Poison. A mafia game wherein the players send in their roletitles and the mod makes up abilities accordingly and sends them out.
Mini: A small game of Mafia, generally with a *maximum* of 10 people, made either to try out a new idea for a game design or to introduce newbies.
Vanilla: Normal, plain, bland, without fancy things added. A "vanilla role" would be one of the basic roles (cop, townie, scum, doctor). (Jester might be included by some.) A vanilla game would be one with only vanilla roles.
Roleclaim: To state (truly or falsely) what your role is (either role name or function). Also, the claim so made. Also, the action of roleclaiming.
Counterclaim: To refute another's roleclaim and claim that your role is the one that they claimed.
Metagaming: Taking data or experience from previous games with current players or mods and applying this experience in the analysis of the current game. E.g., "John is usually talkative when he's townie and he's been quiet for most of the game, so I Vote: John."
Invitational: A game that you will only play if you currently don't need to read this list.
Wildcard: One of the greatest Mafia players who ever graced this forum. Sadly, he is now retired and is rarely seen, only blessing us with his presence on rare occasions. Candlestick! :P

I hope that assists some aspiring newbies!

[frogman]

COME BACK AND PLAY WITH US WILDCARD!

[Gojoe]

Good way to learn is to go on IRC

[crucialityfactor]

Ho-how do you practice exactly?