Tyrian_Spellstealer
First Post
Having recently played many hours of the party game 'mafia' at college in between lunch breaks, I had a quick question in regards to it possibly being played on the site. For those who don't know what mafia is (other variations of the game are called werewolf), I'll give a brief rundown:
Its a party game usually with a fair amount of people (between 6 and 14 I find makes a smooth game); in which there is a narrator who assigns roles to the players. These roles can (in the most basic version of the game) be either mafia, or townsfolk. At 'night' (when the players go to sleep by shutting their eyes) the mafia awaken and point to a person they wish to 'kill' (its a party game though, they don't really kill them). The townsfolk then wake up and that person is now 'dead', and excluded from the game. Everybody then gets the chance to 'lynch' the mafia, but as no one knows who the mafia is (besides the mafia themselves), it ends up being quite an interesting game of betrayal, suspicion and deceit. After the townsfolk have lynched someone (who is subsequently killed and excluded from the game), everyone goes to sleep again and the mafia (if they're still alive) get to kill again. The townsfolk win if they manage to guess who the mafia is and lynch them before the mafia kill the rest of the townsfolk. The mafia win if they kill all the townsfolk (there are always starting the game a lot less mafia then townsfolk, usually 1 mafia for every 4 players in the game).
Other variations on the game exist which introduce detectives, doctors, serial killers, and a whole bunch of other stuff, but that is not what my question is about.
This game of mafia is often played on message boards (usually by using emails or PMs for when the mafia want to kill someone, and for assigning roles, while a thread is used to throw around accusations). As enworld doesn't have a PM system on their message boards, the chat software actually offers everything needed to play the game (given enough people and interest).
Given that this is actually a 'game' played by people (and people don't actually pretend to be mafia or townsfolk or create new 'mafia' characters or descriptions, they're just themselves playing a quick party game), would it be alright to start up a game of mafia inside, say, the tavern, if there were enough people willing to play, of course. Or would it have to be taken to the carpe DM?
Given that anyone walking into the tavern can be asked to sit around a table and play, as the narrator (whoever it is) passes around cards to represent roles, people can still play their characters and respond and accuse as their characters would (I get an image of Tyrian screaming his innocents and how utterly stupid everyone is for suspecting him as mafia, coming to mind), I don't see why it can't be run in the tavern, as their is no real 'Game Master'. There is someone controlling the game, but its not an adventure style, its a strategy party game, in which the characters themselves don't actually leave their seats (which usually only lasts 15 minutes in real life, and would probably result in several games being played over the course of a couple of hours).
So, my question is would it be allowed in the tavern (or one of the other rooms.)
The game itself could run relatively smoothly on the chat site as well, given that the narrator can assign roles using the PM system and ask who the mafia are trying to 'kill' during the night via PM as well (it also allows the mafia to privately decide who they want to kill before making a decision.)
My next question is, is there any interest for a game like this on the actual chat site? I see it not as something to be organised, but rather just a whim idea for when theres a room full of people not doing much. Of course a major problem with it is that the concept of a 'mafia' wasn't really around in those days, but the theme can be changed easily (like werewolf, where the werewolves are the mafia, the hunter is the detective, the healer is the doctor, and the peasants are the townsfolk).
So, thoughts? Ideas? Just trying to suggest a couple of things to liven up the mood.
Its a party game usually with a fair amount of people (between 6 and 14 I find makes a smooth game); in which there is a narrator who assigns roles to the players. These roles can (in the most basic version of the game) be either mafia, or townsfolk. At 'night' (when the players go to sleep by shutting their eyes) the mafia awaken and point to a person they wish to 'kill' (its a party game though, they don't really kill them). The townsfolk then wake up and that person is now 'dead', and excluded from the game. Everybody then gets the chance to 'lynch' the mafia, but as no one knows who the mafia is (besides the mafia themselves), it ends up being quite an interesting game of betrayal, suspicion and deceit. After the townsfolk have lynched someone (who is subsequently killed and excluded from the game), everyone goes to sleep again and the mafia (if they're still alive) get to kill again. The townsfolk win if they manage to guess who the mafia is and lynch them before the mafia kill the rest of the townsfolk. The mafia win if they kill all the townsfolk (there are always starting the game a lot less mafia then townsfolk, usually 1 mafia for every 4 players in the game).
Other variations on the game exist which introduce detectives, doctors, serial killers, and a whole bunch of other stuff, but that is not what my question is about.
This game of mafia is often played on message boards (usually by using emails or PMs for when the mafia want to kill someone, and for assigning roles, while a thread is used to throw around accusations). As enworld doesn't have a PM system on their message boards, the chat software actually offers everything needed to play the game (given enough people and interest).
Given that this is actually a 'game' played by people (and people don't actually pretend to be mafia or townsfolk or create new 'mafia' characters or descriptions, they're just themselves playing a quick party game), would it be alright to start up a game of mafia inside, say, the tavern, if there were enough people willing to play, of course. Or would it have to be taken to the carpe DM?
Given that anyone walking into the tavern can be asked to sit around a table and play, as the narrator (whoever it is) passes around cards to represent roles, people can still play their characters and respond and accuse as their characters would (I get an image of Tyrian screaming his innocents and how utterly stupid everyone is for suspecting him as mafia, coming to mind), I don't see why it can't be run in the tavern, as their is no real 'Game Master'. There is someone controlling the game, but its not an adventure style, its a strategy party game, in which the characters themselves don't actually leave their seats (which usually only lasts 15 minutes in real life, and would probably result in several games being played over the course of a couple of hours).
So, my question is would it be allowed in the tavern (or one of the other rooms.)
The game itself could run relatively smoothly on the chat site as well, given that the narrator can assign roles using the PM system and ask who the mafia are trying to 'kill' during the night via PM as well (it also allows the mafia to privately decide who they want to kill before making a decision.)
My next question is, is there any interest for a game like this on the actual chat site? I see it not as something to be organised, but rather just a whim idea for when theres a room full of people not doing much. Of course a major problem with it is that the concept of a 'mafia' wasn't really around in those days, but the theme can be changed easily (like werewolf, where the werewolves are the mafia, the hunter is the detective, the healer is the doctor, and the peasants are the townsfolk).
So, thoughts? Ideas? Just trying to suggest a couple of things to liven up the mood.
Last edited:
That said, I'm all for that Ty!
