Mafia/Assassin Roleplay Idea

[TeDungeonMaster]

So, I got this idea when playing the card game Assassin with some friends and family, and started thinking about how it might actually work as a roleplay....potentially. I just copied and pasted the general rules of the game from Wikipedia, which seems to have most of them right plus some interesting variations...

Rules

One person is the game's Narrator - who moderates the game, rather than participating. Everyone else is dealt a card that gives them their secret role as a player.

Basic roles
Two or more Mafia (who win by killing off or outnumbering civilians)
One Detective (a Civilian who can inspect players in the night as to whether or not they are mafia)
One Doctor (a Civilian who can elect someone to save in the night)
A number of Civilians

Andrew Plotkin recommends exactly two Mafia players,[4] while the original Davidoff ruleset suggests having a third of the players (rounding to the nearest whole number) being Mafia. Davidoff's original game does not include a "Doctor" or "Detective" role.[1]

In his rules for "Werewolf", Andrew Plotkin recommends an odd total number of players, to prevent ties during lynch votes, and to ensure that the game ends dramatically on a lynching, rather than with an anticlimactic murder. An even number of players would also weaken the civilian team, who will always suffer one extra murder.[4]

Night

The Narrator tells everyone to close their eyes ("It is now nighttime and everyone in the city is asleep..."). The Narrator then asks the mafia players to open their eyes and acknowledge their fellow members. They agree to kill off one of the other players by silently gesturing to indicate their target and to show unanimity. Then the Narrator instructs the mafia members to "sleep", by closing their eyes again.

Next, the Detective is asked to open his or her eyes and point at a suspect; if that player is mafia-sided, the narrator nods. Then the Narrator instructs the Detective to sleep and the Doctor to open his or her eyes; he or she points at someone to save, then goes back to sleep.

The night phase can optionally be accompanied by players tapping gently to mask any small, giveaway sounds made by the Mafia players gesturing.[17]

Day

The Narrator tells everyone to wake up. Unless the doctor and the Mafia selected the same target a murder is announced, sometimes with a little narrative detail. (For example, "David was shot seven times, stabbed three times, and drowned in the river.") This player is "dead" and may no longer participate in the game in any way.

During the daytime phase, the players deliberate over which suspected Mafia member they wish to nominate for lynching. Once nominations are made, the narrator administers an election between the nominees, in which all players vote - whoever receives the most votes is lynched; they are dead, and may no longer participate in the game in any way. The role of the lynched player, whether mafia or citizen, is not revealed unless it were to result in ending the game.

Because players have less information and more freedom to deliberate during the day, the day phase tends to be longer than the night phase. The day phase either has a set time limit, or continues until a lynching has been performed.

Win condition

If all Mafia members are killed, then the Townspeople win the game. If the villagers are outnumbered by the Mafia during the day, then the Mafia win.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafia_(party_game)



So, things seem to fit well. The moderator would be an easy transition. Depending on the number of people who join, players would be PMed their roles, then roles like the assassins/mafia members would PM their targets during the night cycle, along with the detective and the doctor. I would think that the detective and doctor roles would probably be revealed, but it would be more of a chance kill, like 30% or something, or the assassin and detective could have a write off or something and the moderator determines what is better. Not sure about that, tell me what you guys think. Other than that, it is essentially the same game, plus a load more exposition, and the fact that the roleplayers will care about their characters seeing as how they can quite easily die. I feel bad for the guy who dies on night one. Anyway, day cycle seems pretty much the same, everyone posts about waking up and hearing about the murder which is posted as like a town crier or something (moderator), then the moderator just give nudges to direct the story. What I like about it is that the roleplayers themselves can kinda decide how to make the story.

Anyway, tell me what you guys think about it.

[BurgundyCove]

I'm interested.

So how will the murder be played out?
Will someone just announce their death and quit posting?

Seems very thrilling.

[TeDungeonMaster]

I was thinking that the moderator would make a post about the murder from the assassin's perspective. Or the assassin could make a post, send it to the moderator, and then the moderator could post that. But yeah, the player would probably just stop posting after their "death", but would be encouraged to keep up with the story, if only to figure out who killed them.

[BurgundyCove]

That sounds wonderful.
I love a good mystery.

[TeDungeonMaster]

Alright, well, I have decided to go ahead and start work on this roleplay, writing up the main thread fairly soon. I guess this is a good time to ask for any suggestions. Also, anybody who posts here and wants to roleplay in this is guaranteed a spot, so feel free to go ahead and do so!

[Red Monk]

you can play mafia online.
For short games you can play on Epicmafia
For long, involved games you can play on Mafiascum

[TeDungeonMaster]

Thanks for the input Red Monk, yes I know. What I am aiming for is not just the game of mafia though, but more of a story driven game with elements of mafia involved. Sure, the gameplay is fun, but what I really am aiming for is more of the story appeal to the game. Not just, mafia or citizens win, but the story that each side creates in getting there, as well as the...interesting...psychological developments in that process.

So yeah, you can play the game online, but so what? You can play games like a Star Wars game or Pokémon or something outside of a roleplay as well, and yet these types of things get involved in roleplays as well. Why? Because of the story. That's what matters to people here, creating our own story. I f we just wanted the gameplay aspect, a lot of people who do video game based roleplays probably would not be here.

[Asune]

http://cataldo.freeshell.org/mafia/mafiascum04.swf

Btw players usually do a mafia based on some element of the popular culture. Creating new roles, and working more into narration, that makes the game more dinamic.

For example having roles like

Cannot be targeted... Means that the character cannot be pointed by others to kill or roleblock, and can only be killed via lynching.

Or even more crazy roles

Has a 50% chance of killing whoever targets him.
Can reset the previous night phase
Can add one more vote to the next lynching
etc.

It dependes of imagination.

[TeDungeonMaster]

I do agree with your points about varying the game. The rules are merely a guideline for actual play, and something like crazy percentages would definitely be something interesting to implement. However something like that may be difficult to keep up while at the same time maintaining the story aspect of the game. Well, still have to work out the particulars, but you do bring up a good point with that.

However, I have no clue what you were trying to do with the link. It is completely broken for me. Or maybe Windows 8 just hates me again. One of the two.

[Asune]

Windows 8 despite you.

To keep variability one could for example do an Star Wars Mafia... keeping the idea of the Mafia with Rebels and Imperials instead of townies and mafia... and the roles could be based on charateristics of the characters.
For example.
Princess Leia: Can roleblock one character in the day phase. Can roleblock one character in the night phase.

And then the next one a Marvel based Mafia

Hulk: Won't be killed via target killing, at least is done two times. Can target and kill one character on the night phase with a 25% of probability

And then other, and other and other

It gets awesome with time.
Still one must be imaginative with roles.