-- First note that this is personal opinion. It may come across as such, but I'm not attacking any of the game creators during this. Things come up, life happens, trial and error situations, etc. Everyone that has done one of these games has already done more than I have done, as I have never run a mafia game.
Tool Time Presents: The WC Mafia Game As far as I can tell, this is the first Mafia game every done on these boards. So it is to be expected that there were going to be kinks that needed to be worked out. Kudos to taylorandborland(user deleted) for bringing the idea to the boards.
Note: I did not play in this game, these observations were done by re-reading the thread.Pro: -First of its kind. Origin of WC/FAN mafia games
con: -Started on a night phase, means one person got killed before they had any shot of influencing the game.
-Too many mafia members for the size of the game. Plus with the night phase first, the ratio became 9 to 5 right off the bat.
Mafia - The Great Hobo WarJust the 2nd of these games, and many key improvements have already been made.
Note: I did not play in this game, these observations were done by re-reading the thread.Pro: -Love that the kills were listed out with each post count, kept everyone aware of what is going on with at a glance.
-Love that the roles were listed out post game so that everyone knows what abilities were in play(tho would have been nice if who got what role was listed with it for convienence).
-Also love that he
listed exactly what everyone did with their roles post-game.con: -Started on a night phase, and this time with a serial killer that means two people got killed before they had any chance of influncing the game.
Generic Old West Mafia Note: I did not play in this game, these observations were done by re-reading the thread.Pro: -Participation way up from the last two games of equal size.
-First game that didn't start with a night phase and their subsiquent kill(s)... allowing everyone at least a little participation before the first kill.
-Love that the kills were listed out with each post count, kept everyone aware of what is going on with at a glance, tho got a little jumbled at the end.
-Was the first game that got most of the critical "game mechanics" worked out. Prompted the next game to be larger.
con: - No official 'final act'. Just sorta ended.
Wrestlecrap Mafia Pro: -First expanded game.
-First to institute a "must lynch" policy - (more on this at the bottom) - Note that every lynch after the first one was enemy to the Town
-Was the first to start linking phase writeups(First post of second thread), made referencing those phases easy.
-In depth writeups
-Love that the roles were listed out post game so that everyone knows what abilities were in play(tho would have been nice if who got what role was listed with it for convienence)
con: -Lyncher (more on this at the bottom)
-Only posted full list of deaths and those remaining at the end/beginning of phases. Made figuring out who was left very difficult, espectially early on with as many people as we had.
Hunger Games MafiaPro: -Must Lynch policy (more on this at bottom)
-Emersive writeups
-
Full and formated list of rules/instructions. -Starting on the 2nd thread, we had
links to all the phases up to day 4. Those are very nice for quick reference.
-Listed all players still remaining with the vote counts
-Closest game to date... could have gone either way if not for the...
con:-..if not for the roleclaims towards the end of the game. This really is not any fault of SRVS(unless a 'don't claim or you will be mod-killed' policy is used)
-Roles not listed post game(she even said she was going to!)
Wrestlecrap Mafia 2Pro:-Must Lynch policy (more on this at bottom)
-Same rules list as from Hunger Games Mafia
con:-Only posted full list of deaths and those remaining at the end/beginning of phases. Made figuring out who was left very difficult, espectially early on with as many people as we had.
-Game was abandoned after day 4.
World Cup Mafia:Pro:-Must Lynch policy (more on this at bottom)
-Smaller game after a run of large games, helped to mix things up and keep things fresh.
con:-Too many mafia for game size
-No final writeup
-Lack of participation(I think people got burnt out)
WWE Superstar Mafia Game:Pro: -Love that the kills were listed out
-Closest game ever by leaving 1 mafia and 1 town member
-Love that who was left in the game was posted with each official vote count
con: Lyncher (more below)
-No 'must lynch policy'(more below) - out of 21 kills, only 3 were by lynch
-Roles were posted in the fallout thread, but not the abilities.
-Late game modkills really feels like they changed the outcome of the game. Not really the fault of SRVS, as they were explicit rule violations, but kinda let the air out at the end of an otherwise excellent game.
TV Mafia Pro: -Introduction of a true third party group.
-Love that the kills were listed out
con: -Mafia/Third party probably should have been 3/3 instead of 4/4. Felt like the town really was at the disadvantage in this one. Chawking it up to trial and error. Breaking new ground here, so some kinks are to be expected.
-No 'must lynch policy'(see below)
-No post game role assignment posting.(might be in a fallout thread)
Summary:Over the course of the 7 games (actually 9 with current ones in play), I have found alot of things I have liked and disliked. Obviously, I don't expect every Mafia game to be exactly the way I want it, cause if every one of them were the same, it would get pretty boring. But if I were to only play one game a year, I would think I would like the majority of the below to be in affect.
No Lyncher or Joker.These are roles with one purpose... to lynch a specific person(lyncher) or to intentially get lynched(joker). If you succeed in the task you win the game. But when I take an overall game perspective of these roles, they have two effects
1) these players care nothing for the actual main game itself, just their purpose
2) they can they win the entire game with a single action.
3) if they do succeed and win... the game can continue for "2nd place", but doing so takes some of the wind out the game, and the actions of these roles don't play much into the larger game at play, other than to muck things up til that point.
Just not a fan of these 'one task and you win' roles.
Apply a must lynch policy. In a game of say 23 that has 5 mafia members, you have to get 12 votes to get a lynch(more than half), but when you know the 5 mafia members aren't going to vote against their own, that means you have to convince 12 of the 18 other members(66.7%) to vote with you. Mafia can just sit back and watch and throw their 5 votes if someone targets someone wrong, or do nothing and let a no lynch happen. By using a "must lynch policy", everyone has to be proactive. You have to vote or you could be subject to the decisions of the few.
With votes comes more analysis, and with more analysis, comes more activity.
Note, that the ability to NO LYNCH was available on day one, but no other day thereafter.
Also note - The only time Town has won has been when this policy is in effect. But the next item could be more influential in that.
Mafia to town ratio should be ~3.0 (fyi - ratio means number of town members per mafia member)
Here's a quick breakdown of town to mafia ratios and who won.
2.0 - Mafia wins in a sweep
2.25 - Mafia wins with more than half remaining
2.33 - Town wins with 2 remaining (was a single mafia vote away from a mafia sweep)
2.5 - Mafia wins with half remaining
2.75 - Mafia wins with more than half remaining
3.4 - Mafia wins with one member remaining
3.75 - Town wins with 4 remaining
3.75 - Town wins with 9 remaining
So anything 2.75 and below has mafia winning every time. Where 3.75 the town won both times, with several members still remaining. So I believe the sweet spot is going to be somewhere between 2.75 and 3.75. 3.4 ran real close... but had some late mod kills that could have affected it.
And single member third/fourth parties have be used in these, they tip the scale slightly, but not gamechanging.
Multi member Third party stats:
{Spoiler}Town/Mafia/multi member third party Not enough data to really tell yet what to do in these type games
0.667 Town to non-town (8/6/5/1) - Mafia wins with more than half remaining
1.875 Town to non-town (15/4/4) - Third Party wins in sweep
Would like to see:Quick links to phases for easy access - Sometimes its nice to go back and see how people voted, but it is a pain to click through the thread looking for certain items. Linking them like Sawyer did in Hunger games helps that process. Also nice for when people go back to read thru the games at a later date(found that out today).
Complete list of who is left in the game, and who is dead and when they died at periodid intervals. Helps keep the game moving and the people in the game 'in the know' of facts that could affect decision making.
Complete rundown of everyone's characters and the abilities they have.
Complete list of what people did with their night actions (see end of hobo war)
Limited post restrictions. Having clever post restrictions can be fun, but if the writeups are going to out people for being a certain role due in part to the post restrictions placed on them, it makes it too easy to tell who is who. Almost as bad as a mass role claim in terms of fairness.
Prompt, good writeups. Notice prompt comes first. Too many times have games lost momentum due to the time between the last player action and the writeup. If you don't have enough time to write something in depth, put something small up. But it is definately a bonus when we get the extensive writeups.
Obviously, it would take a great deal of extra time and effort, and I don't expect every game mod to do all these every time they do a game. But definately a list of stuff I love to see when they are done.