A Beginner’s Guide to Forum Mafia Games at NUF Introduction Greetings, dear friends and future victims. This tutorial was created in order to promote and enhance the experience of playing Forum Mafia at NUF for users who are new to the game. I have to confess that I’m probably not the most qualified to make this tutorial since I am also still in the process of learning (it’s a long process), but since no one else wanted to make this, I thought I might as well have a go. I hope that this tutorial will allow future users who are new to the game to have a smoother transition into the (somewhat crazy) world that is NUF FM. This tutorial can essentially be split into two parts based on how new you are to the game. The first part consists of basic information for complete beginners. A lot of the information here is based on pre-existing tutorials (cited below the text) and tweaked in a way I believe will make most sense for beginner players. There also exists a second part (which begins after the first part) that contains more in-depth suggestions you might want to think about once you’ve played a few rounds and feel more comfortable with the game. I will also link some tutorials in case you want to further improve your FM prowess. At any point of the tutorial, you may click on the "Back to TOC" button at the bottom right of each section (it has fire and a little chicken with a knife) to return to the Table of Contents. Please do NOT comment in this thread. If you have any questions/suggestions, please send a PM to @Lemonfairy (posting a post on my profile is cool too). also be aware that the intermediate section isn't finished yet
Table of Contents What is Mafia? How to Play Forum Mafia What Am I Supposed to Do? General Rules and Guidelines Forum Mafia at NUF (with Pictures) Tips and Suggestions (with Pictures) Helpful Advice for New Players Before You Play Terminology All About Bot Mafia (with Pictures)
What is Mafia? Mafia is a social deduction game, created by Dimitry Davidoff in 1986. The game models a conflict between two groups: an informed minority (Mafia), and an uninformed majority (Town). At the start of the game, each player is secretly assigned a role affiliated with one of these teams (Mafia or Town). The game has two alternating phases: first, a Day phase, in which surviving players debate the identities of players and vote to eliminate a suspect (someone who most believe is mafia), second, a Night phase, during which those with night killing powers (usually Mafia) may covertly kill other players (usually Town). The game continues until a faction (either Mafia or Town) achieves its win condition; for Town, this usually means eliminating the evil minority (Mafia), while for Mafia, this usually means reaching numerical parity with Town. (based on: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafia_(party_game)) Forum Mafia is basically Mafia that is played in a forum format. Forum Mafia games are slower paced than Face-to-Face Mafia games or Chat Mafia games and tend to take days or weeks instead of hours. Forum Mafia also allows for reading back through old comments by players. Because of this, Forum Mafia games can be much more complicated than Face-to-Face or Chat Mafia in both Roles and Game Mechanics. (based on: https://wiki.mafiascum.net/index.php?title=Forum_Mafia)
How to Play Forum Mafia In its simplest form, Mafia consists of two sides: the Mafia, and the Town. The Mafia's goal is to kill members of Town, while the Town's goal is to kill the members of Mafia. At the beginning of the game, the GM (game moderator) will secretly send everyone their role in a private message (PM). The Mafia will know each other, while the Town will only know their own role. The game has two phases, the first of which is the Day phase. During the Day phase, all players must collectively choose someone to Eliminate (mob kill) by vote. The Town try to remove the Mafia from the game this way during the Day phase, but the Mafia can lead them astray by trying to look like Town and casting suspicion elsewhere. Generally, players will vote for someone they think is Mafia (the Mafia will vote so that they seem to be doing this as well, and might even vote for each other to confuse the Town). When a player gets the majority of the votes at the end of Day, they are Eliminated from the game. Their role is revealed by the GM, and it becomes the Night phase. During the Night phase, no one can talk publicly in the game thread. The Mafia, however, can speak to each other privately (in a group PM) to plot, strategize, and decide who to murder (Night Kill) before the next Day phase begins. In this way, they can silence members of the Town who are threats to them. At the end of the Night phase, the murder (Night Kill) is carried out and another Day phase begins. In effect, the Town gets to kill someone during the Day, and then the Mafia gets to kill someone at Night. The game alternates between Day phase and Night phase until either all the Mafia are eliminated, or the Mafia have killed everyone else (or nothing can prevent the same). (based on: https://wiki.mafiascum.net/index.php?title=Frequently_Asked_Questions)
What Am I Supposed to Do? Forum Mafia is a game that is heavily reliant on analyzing posts so the first and foremost thing is to read, read, read! Besides that, the main idea is for Town to try solve for who the Mafia might be and for Mafia to try to blend in with Town. More detailed explanations specific to each alignment (depending on if you are Town or Mafia) can be found below. 1. What to do if you’re Town The win condition of Town is to lynch (eliminate by votes during Day phases) all members of Mafia. When Mafia is played online in a forum format, even people who would be poor liars in face-to-face interactions can blend in with the other players. As a result, finding scum (Mafia) becomes more difficult. Since Mafia can lie to deceive members of Town, identifying Mafia tends to involve finding ‘tells’ related to what people do, rather than what they say. These ‘tells’ would include things like avoiding mentions of certain players (who turn out to be their scumpartners) or jumping on vote bandwagons for reasons that thinly conceal how much they just want to see someone other than them kicked out. Some other examples of behavior to watch for are the following: "Lurking", or posting much less than usual so as to avoid notice (please remember that not being very active in itself might not necessarily mean the player in question is Mafia - time-zones and real-life events sometimes might be an obstacle to being active) "Tunneling", or concentrating excessively on a single player out of proportion to what would be necessary "Active Lurking", or continually making placeholder or unenlightening posts Town players can and sometimes will do some of these things, but players who are Mafia have more motivation to do them - tunneling on a player excuses them from looking at other potential candidates for lynching and may allow them to distance themselves from their Mafia teammates, lurking and active lurking keep them from being noticed by the other players while the Town turns on itself, and so forth. Obviously if you draw Town, you want to be careful that you don't do these things or people may turn on YOU. The important thing to remember is that Mafia is a game of finding Mafia, not punishing what's considered bad play. In other words, the person who commits the most scumtells (the person that acts most like Mafia) is not necessarily going to be Mafia, and in fact may have been pushed by the real Mafia members as a justified wagon (lynch candidate). But perhaps the scummiest player IS Mafia. You just have to use your own judgment to decide what you believe and where you cast your vote. (based on: https://wiki.mafiascum.net/index.php?title=Quick_Guide_to_Mafia) 2. What to do if you’re Mafia The win condition of Mafia is to eliminate all members of Town or enough of them to ensure the same outcome. The Mafia's greatest strength and weakness is that they already know who the other members of Mafia are. The Mafia know who they have to get rid of to win, unlike Town who has the additional task of finding the scum on top of lynching them. Mafia also have little reason to take scumhunting seriously, since they already know who the scum are. However, NOT participating actively (or at least not appearing to) will become noticeable pretty quickly, so Mafia will have to "fake it until they make it". How you interact with your scumpartners is up to you or your team strategy. Working together, the team can use their collective voting power to sway public opinion in their favor. Alternatively, they can selectively turn on each other so they don't look like they're all connected. In most cases it's best to keep as many of your teammates alive, so don't actually go all the way and throw your scumpartners under the bus (i.e., lynch your Mafia teammates) unless you're sure it's worth it. At Night, when deciding who to kill, you should look out for power roles. Being caught by a power role like a Cop can ruin your whole game unless you kill them before they investigate you. (based on: https://wiki.mafiascum.net/index.php?title=Quick_Guide_to_Mafia) 3. What to do if you’re a Power Role There are a number of Power Roles (or PRs) that frequently appear in Mafia games. If you do happen to rand a PR, you should use your power, but use it wisely. If you’re a town PR, you’re likely to be a high priority night kill (NK) for the mafia. One note about being a town PR in an open set-up game (a game where all the roles are known) is that if you are about to get mis-lynched (voted out as a town), you should claim your PR role. This doesn't mean that you should claim as soon as one or two people vote on you; you should only claim when it looks like you are imminently in danger of getting lynched and all your attempts at convincing town otherwise has failed. Most games have roles other than just Mafia and Town. These roles have additional abilities (which are usually used during the Night, though there are some Day abilities as well). Some more common roles are listed in the spoiler below: Spoiler: Some PR Roles Cop - Each Night, the Cop can investigate one player (by sending their name to the GM), and the GM will tell them whether that player is Mafia or not. Doctor - Each Night, the Doctor can choose one player to protect (by sending their name to the GM). If the Mafia (or anyone else) tries to kill that player, that kill will be prevented. Vigilante - Each Night, the Vigilante may kill another player (by sending their name to the GM). Mason - The Masons are a group of players who are confirmed to each other as Town and can talk to each other at Night. All of the above roles are generally Town-aligned. Serial Killer - The Serial Killer (often abbreviated as SK), like the Vigilante, may kill another player each Night (by sending their name to the GM). However, the Serial Killer is not on the Town's side or the Mafia's side. The Serial Killer wins when everyone else is dead. Multiple Families - On occasion, in larger games there may be more than one group of Mafia. These act independently of one another, and must kill the other group as well as the Town in order to win. Roleblocker - Each Night, the Roleblocker can choose a player. That player will be prevented from using their Night choice, if they have one. Roleblocker has been known to be a Town role as well as a Mafia role. There are many variations on the above roles that will often appear in more complicated games; for more information, visit the Roles page. (based on: https://wiki.mafiascum.net/index.php?title=Quick_Guide_to_Mafia)
General Rules and Guidelines Listed below are some of the common rules and guidelines most FM games will have. Sometimes these rules are taken for granted by more experienced players and not explicitly made clear. Most of these are hard rules (meaning you should try your best to remember them and not break them) but some rules hosts (GM) might be more lax on their enforcement. Ultimately, it depends on the the host and the rules set out for each individual game but it is good gamesmanship to try and avoid breaking these rules. Rules: Read the rules. The rules of the specific game you signed up for can be found in the game thread's OP (first post by the host in the game thread). Since each game may differ slightly depending on the host so make sure you read them every time. Don’t post a screenshot of your role from your role PM and/or copy and paste your role directly from your role PM. Don’t talk about details of the game outside of the game. Don’t talk to other people in the game about the game in private PMs not supervised/permitted by the GM/host. Don’t delete or edit your posts. Don’t talk in the game thread during night phase. Don’t throw the game. Do not go against your win-condition - this includes telling people you're Mafia if you are Mafia. (Telling people you're Town if you are Town is not game-throwing because everyone is trying to make others believe they are Town - Mafia even lie about it so it is considered part of the game). Conceding as Mafia near the game's end because it looks like you will not win is also considered game-throwing. Don't angleshoot. This is when you use outside information not pertinent to the game itself, such as online status or activity outside of the game, to try and determine whether someone is Town or Mafia within the game. Do not discuss external circumstances leading to player substitutions and/or factors leading to disciplinary modkills. Modkills are when the GM/host has to remove a player from a game. Disciplinary modkills refer to modkills which are not part of the game's mechanics (how the game is supposed to be) but because a player is suspected of or has found to have compromised the integrity of the game and/or has created a toxic environment for other players. Guidelines: Don't be a troll. Don't unnecessarily make too many posts not relevant to the game (this is called fluff). Take the game seriously - play with the intention to win, even if you're not confident that you will win. Don't give up even when it looks like your chances of winning are slim. Even when it looks like you're probably going to lose, try to play to your best ability until the very end. Try not to unnecessarily antagonize other players (keep things civil). Treat the game as its own separate space; nothing within it should be taken outside (including grudges - save that for another game), and nothing outside should be taken into the game (see rule on angleshooting)
Forum Mafia at NUF (with GIFs)Note: When viewing the GIFs, please follow the lemon to find the cursor. Forum Mafia games at NUF can be either Manual Games or Bot Games. Manual Games are hosted by a fellow Nuffian, while Bot Games are hosted by @justabot. There is a whole section dedicated to Bot Games later in the tutorial so this section will focus on Manual Games only. How to Sign Up Spoiler: Manual Game Sign Up How to Vote Spoiler: Standard Vote Spoiler: List Vote How to Use Powers Spoiler: Submit Night Action How to Find the Game Thread Spoiler: Game Thread How to Find Your Role/Alignment Spoiler: Role PM How to Find When Day Phase Ends If you're totally new to the forum, I suggest taking a quick read of NUF's guide, which contains helpful information on some of the forum's functions.
Helpful Functions for Mafia (with GIFs) Note: When viewing the GIFs, please follow the lemon to find the cursor. Watching a thread Spoiler: Watch Thread To watch a thread, select the thread you want to watch, then click the "Watch Thread" link at the top right corner of the thread (above the first post). Privacy settings Spoiler: Privacy Settings To change your privacy settings, hover over the drop-down next to your username, then select "Privacy". De-select "Show your current activity" and "Show your online status" and make sure you the "Start conversations with you" is checked and set to "Members Only". Don't forget to click the "Save Changes" button at the end! ISOing posts Spoiler: ISO Function To ISO (ISO stands for isolate) a player's posts for analysis, go to the top right search bar in the thread you want to ISO their posts for. Type and select the username of the player you want to ISO in the "Posted by Member" box. Select "Search this thread only", and hit the "Search" button. Please be aware that NUF's ISO function can only show the 200 most recent posts by a user. Using quote bank Spoiler: Multi-Quote Function Click on the "+Quote" at the bottom right corner of the the posts you want to quote. Scroll to the bottom and click the "Insert Quotes" button, then select "Quote these messages". Quoting from ISOs Spoiler: Quoting from ISO ISO like normal, then click on the title link of the post you want to quote, wait for the page to jump to that post, then select "+Quote" at the bottom right corner of the post you want. Click back to return to the ISO and click on the next post you want to quote. Keep adding posts from the ISO like this, then insert the quotes from the quote bank like usual. Simple Voting Spoiler: Simple Bolded Vote Type "/vote" and then the username of the player you want to vote. Bold this by highlighting and then clicking on the "B" button at the top left corner of the message editor. Tag the GM/host of the game with a "@" so they don't miss your vote. List Voting Spoiler: Self-Service Voting NUF has a strange self-serve list voting system that some hosts use. To vote using this system, quote the latest vote list, remove the "QUOTE" formatting, then type the username of the play you want to vote next to your name on the list. Finally, add your new vote to the tally count at the bottom and post. Quoting someone Spoiler: Quote a Post To quote someone, click on "Reply" at the bottom right corner of the post you want to quote. Posting a link Spoiler: Post a Link To get the link of a post, click on the #[Number] at the bottom right of the post you want to link, select the text that pops up, and copy it. To post a link, select the hyperlink button (the 7th button from the left) and paste the link you want to post in the pop-up box, then hit post reply. Dumping posts in PM Spoiler: Post Dump in PM To dump posts in your role PM (to keep track of posts you think are important), select "+Quote" at the bottom right corners of the posts you want to use and then scroll to the bottom and click the "Insert Quotes" button, then select "Quote these messages". Copy all the quotes and paste them into your role PM.
Helpful Advice for New Players Read, read, read! Forum Mafia is heavily dependent upon reading and analyzing other players’ posts. Not only that, you should also carefully read over the rules of each game, as they might differ slightly each time depending on the game and the host. Engage with other players in the game thread. Don’t just post the bare minimum and then leave - actively try to get into the game (investment is what makes the game more fun!) This game is not for the faint of heart. If you’re a peace-loving unicorn that just wants to spread love and happiness to the world, this is not the game for you. NUF is quite notorious for the amount of fluff-posting that occurs in its FM games, and while some friendly banter is nice, too much detracts from the essence of the game, which is solving (or deceiving if you’re Mafia). Don’t take things personally. This is a game where people virtually kill each other, not where people sit down to converse peacefully over a cup of tea. Don’t get too worked up if people question you, your reasoning, or both. Instead, you should expect it - welcome it, even. Don’t be afraid to question others and their reasoning. If you find someone suspicious, point them out - with reasons, of course. We’re not here for a tea party (enjoying some tea while you do so is fine though). Make sure to explain yourself and how came around to your reads. Don’t just say “I think so-and-so is town/mafia” and then just stop; you need to explain why you think they are that. Even better if you can pull up specific quotes to back up your reasons. Don’t vote for yourself; it’s dumb, just don’t do it. It never really accomplishes anything. If you’re not sure who to vote, go back and re-read or choose someone to ISO, don’t just follow someone else’s ideas (that’s called “sheeping”). You should think for yourself as much as possible. Don't expect others to go easy on you just because you're an inexperienced player. Usually, other players are happy to help you during the game if you're feeling lost and confused but you have to make the effort yourself to at least read the opening post of the game (the one where the rules are) and try your best to play the game seriously. People will accommodate you only so much if it's obvious you're not even trying. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. If you’re playing with those with more experience, it’s OK to ask for a little guidance and most players will be happy to explain something you don’t understand. If you’re a Mafia, your teammates can also help you in the Mafia chat. Make sure you’re asking in the thread/Mafia chat and not in private PMs though - that would be breaking the rules. If you don’t have meta knowledge (knowledge about how someone plays) on someone (you probably don’t if you’re a new player), you can just mostly ignore it. If other people raise points about meta, you can take it into consideration but don't blindly trust the other person’s meta knowledge. RVS (Random Voting Stage) is normal at the start of day 1. Many new players get flustered when someone pops a random vote on them at the start of the game with little to no reason, but know that usually these votes are unsubstantiated and not serious. The best course of action here is to stay calm and engaged within the thread. Be aware that the whole point of the game is for the uniformed players (Town) to probe and analyze the informed players (Mafia) and lynch them, while the informed players (Mafia) try to deceive and manipulate the uniformed players (Town) and kill them off. There will be deceit, there may be betrayals, and sometimes people will get things wrong. Even if things get heated, know that at the end of the day, this is just a game.
Before You Play Although not mandatory, here are some things I suggest you do before you jump into your first Forum Mafia game: Read this tutorial (highly recommended). Make sure you have enough free time to be active in the game (a standard 15-player game can last over a week). Read the game thread's OP (opening post) - that usually has rules/expectations for that particular game you will be playing. Change your privacy settings so that others will not be able to see when you are online and your current activity. Read your role PM (private message) carefully and ask any questions you may have about the game or your role to the GM (game moderator/host) in your role PM. Be prepared to do a lot of reading and analysis. Be mentally prepared to be questioned, suspected, etc. Spectate an ongoing game or read through a past game (you can ask a regular Mafia player what game would be good to read so you don't waste your time).
Terminology Spoiler: By most common Town/Villager/Villa - Town alignment; the “good” guys. Town members only know that they themselves are Town and know nothing of other people’s alignment (they don’t know if other people are Town or Mafia). Mafia/Scum/Wolf - Mafia alignment; the “bad” guys (NB: in some games, Wolf/Werewolf is another alignment separate from Mafia). Mafia members know who other Mafia members are (their teammates) and by deduction, they know who Town members are (everyone else). Lynch/Elim - Mob kill; all players vote for a person to be “killed” in the game at the end of the day phase. (Please note, the word “lynch” has now been mostly been replaced by more neutral alternatives like “eliminate” due to the word’s distressing historical connotations.) Town tries to get members of the Mafia eliminated, while Mafia try to avoid getting eliminated. Mis-Lynch/Mis-Elim - When a member of Town is eliminated. NK - Night Kill; Mafia faction kill of a Town member during Night phase. NKA - Night Kill Analysis; analysis of who was night killed by Mafia to try and determine who might be a Mafia member. VC - Vote Count; a visual representation of whom each player has voted. VCA - Vote Count Analysis; analysing shifts in voting and the composition of players in the Vote Count prior to a lynch (usually occurs after the player to be eliminated has died and their alignment had been revealed). Alignment/Faction - Which side (Town or Mafia) a player is on. AI - Alignment Indicative; if something is AI, it can be used to determine the alignment of someone (can be used to tell if the person is Town or Mafia). NAI - Not Alignment Indicative; if something is NAI, it cannot be used to determine the alignment of someone. Vanilla - Anyone who does not have a power role, can be either Town or Mafia. VT - Vanilla Town; a Town-aligned role with no powers. PR - Power Role; can be Town or Mafia (depends on the game set-up) but is generally used to refer to Town Power Roles. Read - What alignment you see someone as (e.g., “I read Lemonfairy as Town”, “I have a town read on Lemonfairy). Lean - Basically the same as Read but you’re less sure of their alignment (e.g., “I have a scum lean on Lemonfairy”). Lock - Used when you are 100% sure of a player’s alignment and will generally not be changing your Read of them (e.g., “Lemonfairy is lock town”). Towny/Villagery - Something that makes a player look like a member of Town. Scummy/Wolfy - Something that makes a player look like a member of Mafia. Null - Neither towny nor scummy. TR - Town Read TL - Town Lean SL - Scum Lean SR - Scum Read Neutral - Usually refers to another faction that is neither Town nor Mafia in some games. SOD - Start of Day; start of the Day phase. EOD - End of Day; end of the Day phase. Wagon/Bandwagon - A number of people voting to eliminate someone, usually named after the person getting voted on (e.g., “You were on the Lemonfairy wagon”). CW - Counter Wagon; the alternate wagon from the largest wagon (the largest wagon being the one with the most votes); the second largest wagon. CFD - Chinese Fire Drill; when a lot of people shift votes in a coordinated manner, usually near the end of Day phase. Sus - Suspicious (of being a member of Mafia). Pure - (Of a post or a series of posts) lacking nefarious (Mafia) agenda. Sheep - A player that mindlessly follows the majority and does not have their own reads or opinions. LHF - Low Hanging Fruit; a player that is easy to eliminate. ISO - Isolate; reading a single player’s posts in isolation in order to determine their alignment (e.g., I'm going to ISO Lemonfairy before deciding if I should vote her). POE - Process of Elimination; a solving strategy that involves looking for Town and then placing the rest in the POE as the most likely to be Mafia. ATE - Appeal to Emotion; using emotional appeals, flailing, pleading, etc., to try and avoid getting voted/suspected of being Mafia. Meta - How a player usually plays as a Town or Mafia; often used by players with experience with each other to gauge the other’s alignment. Claiming - When someone announces in the thread that they are a particular role (usually a Power Role). Note that claims can be faked by either alignment but fake claims are usually done by Mafia. CC - Counterclaim; someone announcing that they are the role that someone else had previously claimed. A claim is usually accepted as true if no one counterclaims the same role in an open set-up game (game where all the role are known). Bussing - When a Mafia member says they are suspicious of their teammate (another Mafia member), votes them, and ends up killing their teammate. Distancing - When a Mafia member says they suspect their teammate (another Mafia member) or doesn't interact with their teammate. Pocketing - When a Mafia acts friendly to a Town to try to get the Town to develop good feelings towards them and be reluctant to vote or suspect the Mafia player. Tunnel - When a player is hyper-focused on a target and can’t see anything else (can be done by either Mafia or Town to Mafia or Town) Spew - When a member of Mafia unintentionally reveals who is or isn’t on their team before dying. Anti-Spew - When a member of Mafia is about to be eliminated and intentionally lets out fake “spew” that is meant to mislead Town after they die. Flip - When a player dies in the game and their role and alignment (whether they were Mafia or Town) is revealed in the thread. Slot - The role and/or alignment the player has within the game. Towncred - Town Credit/Town Credibility; an unquantifiable entity given to a player that reflects how towny they have been. Tinfoil - A conspiracy theory-esque speculation; focusing on what is possible, rather than what is probable. Thunderdome/TD - When two players are dead-set on having either one or the other eliminated in that phase. Wagonomics - VCA (Vote Count Analysis). Win-Con - Win Condition; usually, town’s win-con is to eliminate all mafia members and mafia’s win-con is to eliminate enough town members that there is no other possible outcome besides all town members being eliminated (usually this is when the number of mafia or non-town = the number of town). WKing - White-Knighing; when a player aggressively defends another player (can be an indication of Mafia defending a teammate but not always). Buddying - When one player acts friendly to another to try to get the other player to develop good feelings towards them and be reluctant to vote or suspect the first player; similar to Pocketing but can be done by Town. L-1 - Lynch minus one; this either refers to the second-to-last vote before a lynch is obtained, or a state where a player only needs one more vote to be lynched L-# - Lynch minus a number; the number indicates how many votes a player needs to be lynched. e.g., in a 9-player game, a player with 3 votes on them is at L-2 (5-3) LyLo/ELo - Lynch or Lose/Eliminate or Lose (Please note, the word “lynch” has now been mostly been replaced by more neutral alternatives like “eliminate” due to the word’s distressing historical connotations.); when the game is at the point where Town has to correctly eliminate a Mafia member or Town will lose the game. MyLo/MeLo - Mislynch and Lose/Mis-eliminate and Lose (Please note, the word “lynch” has now been mostly been replaced by more neutral alternatives like “eliminate” due to the word’s distressing historical connotations.); when the game is at the point where Town will lose the game if they mis-eliminate a Town member. F-3 - Final 3, when the game is at a 3-player ELo, where there are two Towns and one Mafia remaining. OMGUS - Oh My God, You Suck; when a player suspects another player because the other player suspected the first player. TWTBAW - Too Wolfy To Be A Wolf; when someone acts so obviously scummy (like a Mafia) that you think they cannot be Mafia. LAMIST - Look At Me, I’m So Town; when someone makes an obvious attempt at looking like they are Town. WIFOM/Wine - Wine In Front Of Me; something done to make other people second-guess the motives behind that action. IIoA - Information Instead of Analysis; when someone regurgitates information without analyzing it, typically used by Mafia members to appear to be solving when they are not. TMI - Too Much Information; when Mafia lets slip something only Mafia would know. GTH - Gun To Head; the read you would make of a player if you were figuratively threatened at gunpoint. NAGL - Not A Good Look; looks scummy (like a mafia). WiM - Wants it More; has the motivation to play the game and put a lot of effort into the game to win; usually used to refer to players who try really hard to find Mafia. FoS - Finger of Suspicion; used to indicate that you are suspicious of someone but are not going to vote them (because you are voting someone you find more suspicious or for other reasons). RVS - Random Voting Stage; period of the game when votes are largely random and unsubstantiated. Open-Wolf - When a player acts scummy (like Mafia) on purpose. Obv-Town - When a player acts obviously towny (like Town). VI - Village Idiot; someone who says or does things that are generally considered bad, typically because they are inexperienced and/or do not understand the consequences of what they are saying/doing; can be Town or Mafia but is generally passed off as inexperienced Town. EBWOP - Edit By Way Of (Double) Post; when a typo or other minor error is fixed through quoting the original post (this is used because it is against the rule to edit posts in a Forum Mafia game). SBPC - Sort By Post Count; suggestion that whether someone is Town or Mafia can be determined by the number of posts they make. PBPA - Post By Post Analysis; a detailed analysis of posts (usually from one player). Conf-bias - confirmation bias Lolcatting - When outed Mafia do not want to leave behind spew so they start posting cat meme in the thread instead. ITT - In The Thread. ITG - In The Game. Spoiler: Alphabetical AI - Alignment Indicative; if something is AI, it can be used to determine the alignment of someone (can be used to tell if the person is Town or Mafia). Alignment/Faction - Which side (Town or Mafia) a player is on. Anti-Spew - When a member of Mafia is about to be eliminated and intentionally lets out fake “spew” that is meant to mislead Town after they die. ATE - Appeal to Emotion; using emotional appeals, flailing, pleading, etc., to try and avoid getting voted/suspected of being Mafia. Buddying - When one player acts friendly to another to try to get the other player to develop good feelings towards them and be reluctant to vote or suspect the first player; similar to Pocketing but can be done by Town. Bussing - When a Mafia member says they are suspicious of their teammate (another Mafia member), votes them, and ends up killing their teammate. CC - Counterclaim; someone announcing that they are the role that someone else had previously claimed. A claim is usually accepted as true if no one counterclaims the same role in an open set-up game (game where all the role are known). CFD - Chinese Fire Drill; when a lot of people shift votes in a coordinated manner, usually near the end of Day phase. Claiming - When someone announces in the thread that they are a particular role (usually a Power Role). Note that claims can be faked by either alignment but fake claims are usually done by Mafia. Conf-bias - Confirmation Bias CW - Counter Wagon; the alternate wagon from the largest wagon (the largest wagon being the one with the most votes); the second largest wagon. Distancing - When a Mafia member says they suspect their teammate (another Mafia member) or doesn't interact with their teammate. EBWOP - Edit By Way Of (Double) Post; when a typo or other minor error is fixed through quoting the original post (this is used because it is against the rule to edit posts in a Forum Mafia game). EOD - End of Day; end of the Day phase. F-3 - Final 3, when the game is at a 3-player ELo, where there are two Towns and one Mafia remaining. Flip - When a player dies in the game and their role and alignment (whether they were Mafia or Town) is revealed in the thread. FoS - Finger of Suspicion; used to indicate that you are suspicious of someone but are not going to vote them (because you are voting someone you find more suspicious or for other reasons). GTH - Gun To Head; the read you would make of a player if you were figuratively threatened at gunpoint. IIoA - Information Instead of Analysis; when someone regurgitates information without analyzing it, typically used by Mafia members to appear to be solving when they are not. ISO - Isolate; reading a single player’s posts in isolation in order to determine their alignment (e.g., I'm going to ISO Lemonfairy before deciding if I should vote her). ITG - In The Game. ITT - In The Thread. L-# - Lynch minus a number; the number indicates how many votes a player needs to be lynched. e.g., in a 9-player game, a player with 3 votes on them is at L-2 (5-3) L-1 - Lynch minus one; this either refers to the second-to-last vote before a lynch is obtained, or a state where a player only needs one more vote to be lynched LAMIST - Look At Me, I’m So Town; when someone makes an obvious attempt at looking like they are Town. Lean - Basically the same as Read but you’re less sure of their alignment (e.g., “I have a scum lean on Lemonfairy”). LHF - Low Hanging Fruit; a player that is easy to eliminate. Lock - Used when you are 100% sure of a player’s alignment and will generally not be changing your Read of them (e.g., “Lemonfairy is lock town”). Lolcatting - When outed Mafia do not want to leave behind spew so they start posting cat meme in the thread instead. LyLo/ELo - Lynch or Lose/Eliminate or Lose (Please note, the word “lynch” has now been mostly been replaced by more neutral alternatives like “eliminate” due to the word’s distressing historical connotations.); when the game is at the point where Town has to correctly eliminate a Mafia member or Town will lose the game. Lynch/Elim - Mob kill; all players vote for a person to be “killed” in the game at the end of the day phase. (Please note, the word “lynch” has now been mostly been replaced by more neutral alternatives like “eliminate” due to the word’s distressing historical connotations.) Town tries to get members of the Mafia eliminated, while Mafia try to avoid getting eliminated. Mafia/Scum/Wolf - Mafia alignment; the “bad” guys (NB: in some games, Wolf/Werewolf is another alignment separate from Mafia). Mafia members know who other Mafia members are (their teammates) and by deduction, they know who Town members are (everyone else). Meta - How a player usually plays as a Town or Mafia; often used by players with experience with each other to gauge the other’s alignment. Mis-Lynch/Mis-Elim - When a member of Town is eliminated. MyLo/MeLo - Mislynch and Lose/Mis-eliminate and Lose (Please note, the word “lynch” has now been mostly been replaced by more neutral alternatives like “eliminate” due to the word’s distressing historical connotations.); when the game is at the point where Town will lose the game if they mis-eliminate a Town member. NAGL - Not A Good Look; looks scummy (like a mafia). NAI - Not Alignment Indicative; if something is NAI, it cannot be used to determine the alignment of someone. Neutral - Usually refers to another faction that is neither Town nor Mafia in some games. NK - Night Kill; Mafia faction kill of a Town member during Night phase. NKA - Night Kill Analysis; analysis of who was night killed by Mafia to try and determine who might be a Mafia member. Null - Neither towny nor scummy. Obv-Town - When a player acts obviously towny (like Town). OMGUS - Oh My God, You Suck; when a player suspects another player because the other player suspected the first player. Open-Wolf - When a player acts scummy (like Mafia) on purpose. PBPA - Post By Post Analysis; a detailed analysis of posts (usually from one player). Pocketing - When a Mafia acts friendly to a Town to try to get the Town to develop good feelings towards them and be reluctant to vote or suspect the Mafia player. POE - Process of Elimination; a solving strategy that involves looking for Town and then placing the rest in the POE as the most likely to be Mafia. PR - Power Role; can be Town or Mafia (depends on the game set-up) but is generally used to refer to Town Power Roles. Pure - (Of a post or a series of posts) lacking nefarious (Mafia) agenda. Read - What alignment you see someone as (e.g., “I read Lemonfairy as Town”, “I have a town read on Lemonfairy). RVS - Random Voting Stage; period of the game when votes are largely random and unsubstantiated. SBPC - Sort By Post Count; suggestion that whether someone is Town or Mafia can be determined by the number of posts they make. Scummy/Wolfy - Something that makes a player look like a member of Mafia. Sheep - A player that mindlessly follows the majority and does not have their own reads or opinions. SL - Scum Lean Slot - The role and/or alignment the player has within the game. SOD - Start of Day; start of the Day phase. Spew - When a member of Mafia unintentionally reveals who is or isn’t on their team before dying. SR - Scum Read Sus - Suspicious (of being a member of Mafia). Thunderdome/TD - When two players are dead-set on having either one or the other eliminated in that phase. Tinfoil - A conspiracy theory-esque speculation; focusing on what is possible, rather than what is probable. TL - Town Lean TMI - Too Much Information; when Mafia lets slip something only Mafia would know. Town/Villager/Villa - Town alignment; the “good” guys. Town members only know that they themselves are Town and know nothing of other people’s alignment (they don’t know if other people are Town or Mafia). Towncred - Town Credit/Town Credibility; an unquantifiable entity given to a player that reflects how towny they have been. Towny/Villagery - Something that makes a player look like a member of Town. TR - Town Read Tunnel - When a player is hyper-focused on a target and can’t see anything else (can be done by either Mafia or Town to Mafia or Town) TWTBAW - Too Wolfy To Be A Wolf; when someone acts so obviously scummy (like a Mafia) that you think they cannot be Mafia. Vanilla - Anyone who does not have a power role, can be either Town or Mafia. VC - Vote Count; a visual representation of whom each player has voted. VCA - Vote Count Analysis; analysing shifts in voting and the composition of players in the Vote Count prior to a lynch (usually occurs after the player to be eliminated has died and their alignment had been revealed). VI - Village Idiot; someone who says or does things that are generally considered bad, typically because they are inexperienced and/or do not understand the consequences of what they are saying/doing; can be Town or Mafia but is generally passed off as inexperienced Town. VT - Vanilla Town; a Town-aligned role with no powers. Wagon/Bandwagon - A number of people voting to eliminate someone, usually named after the person getting voted on (e.g., “You were on the Lemonfairy wagon”). Wagonomics - VCA (Vote Count Analysis). WIFOM/Wine - Wine In Front Of Me; something done to make other people second-guess the motives behind that action. WiM - Wants it More; has the motivation to play the game and put a lot of effort into the game to win; usually used to refer to players who try really hard to find Mafia. Win-Con - Win Condition; usually, town’s win-con is to eliminate all mafia members and mafia’s win-con is to eliminate enough town members that there is no other possible outcome besides all town members being eliminated (usually this is when the number of mafia or non-town = the number of town). WKing - White-Knighing; when a player aggressively defends another player (can be an indication of Mafia defending a teammate but not always).
All About Bot Mafia Bot Mafia Games are hosted by @justabot and use flavor from Defense of the Ancients (DotA). During bot mafia, roles/alignments might be referred to with flavor names, rather than mechanical names. Listed below are some common ones: Alignments: Radiant/Rad = Town - There will be 10 players belonging to the "Town" alignment. They will not know each other, and will be trying to identify who the "Mafia" are. Dire = Mafia - There will be 4 players belonging to the "Mafia" alignment. They will know who each other are, and they will be trying to blend in with the "Town" alignment. Power Roles: Leoric (Alignment: Dire/Mafia) - Leoric has the power to target another player each night and kill them. This is in addition to the factional kill (Night Kill) that Mafia has. This role with a Mafia alignment is generally not seen outside of NUF bot games as it is considered unbalanced. The "Serial Kill" (SK) is the closest role but the SK is typically neutral-aligned. Chen (Alignment: Radiant/Town) - Chen is able to target another player each night and see what alignment that player is (if they are Town or Mafia). This role is the equivalent to a "Cop" in regular games. Omni (Alignment: Radiant/Town) - Omni is able to target another player each night and protect them against Leoric's kill power. However, Omni will not be able to protect a player against the Mafia factional kill. This role is a weaker version of a "Doctor" role in regular games. Silencer (Alignment: Radiant/Town) - Silencer is able to prevent all Mafia power roles from using their powers for one night (namely, Leoric). This role is like a one-shot, global version of a "Roleblocker" role in regular games. Other Roles: Creep = Vanilla - A Creep (commonly referred to as "Vanilla") is just someone without a power role. Creeps can be either alignment (Dire or Radiant). How to Sign Up Type "!join" in a game thread to sign up. To leave the game (before it begins), type "!remove" in the thread. How to Vote Type "!vote player" in the game thread to vote someone. Type "!vote [nolynch] to vote for skipping the elimination and going straight to Night phase. PR Commands Based on your role, players can type the following commands in their role PMs during the Night phase to select their night action. The Mafia Night Kill will be voted for in the Mafia group PM. Mafia Faction Night Kill: !justabot-mafia vote player Leoric Night Action: !justabot-mafia MortalStrike player Holy Knight/Chen Night Action: !justabot-mafia TestofFaith player Silencer Night Action: !justabot-mafia GlobalSilence Omniknight Night Action: !justabot-mafia GuardianAngel player Other Commands (PRs not in use) Assassin PR: !justabot-mafia CoupdeGrace player Here is a quote of @justabot's Bot Mafia OP: Spoiler: Bot FM OP DotA Mafia Game #00 All credits for this game goes to @A5G_Reaper. This game is based on the mafia game that A5G_Reaper has been running. I've also took a lot of the rules and gameplay from A5G_Reaper's thread. Commands !join - Joins the game. !remove - Removes yourself from the game. Can only be used before the game starts. !status - Display current game status. !vote player - Replace 'player' with the player's username. During the day phase, you will be able to vote for players. DO NOT INCLUDE '@' in the username. !vote [nolynch] - Registers your vote as 'No Lynch'. Other commands are listed in your conversation once the game starts. Please check your conversation for more information. Gameplay The game has one day and one night cycle, lasting for 24 hours each. The game will start in 'Day Phase'. During this phase, you are allow to vote to lynch someone at the end of the day. A tie in votes during the day phase will result in a random lynch. Dire players will get their own PM right after the game starts where they can discuss their strategies. This means all dires will know who other dires are at the start of the game. Once the 'Day Phase' ends, the game will enter the 'Night Phase'. During the night phase, dires will vote who to lynch at the end of this phase. A tie in votes during the night phase will result in a random dire getting lynched. Roles are announced upon death. The game will automatically start once the player count hits 13. The game is over when a faction has no more threats. The object of this game is to kill off the other faction. Basic guide for mafia games All power roles implemented Warning Points You will get warned by the bot if you don't post at least 5 times per day phase or don't vote. Voting for 'No Lynch' is a valid vote and you will not get warned for that. Get 3 or more warnings points and you will auto lynched. Disqualifications Get two or more warnings and you will get auto lynched. Metagaming is not allowed. Do not discuss this game outside of your designated thread or PM. Editing a post will result in a warning. Editing a post a second time will DQ you from the game. Do not join the game with more than one account. Anyone caught trying to cheat the game by having more than one account will get banned from future games. Do not post any screenshots or direct quotes of PMs sent by the bot. That will result in an automatic DQ. Prizes The winning members will receive 1000 nuffies each after the game ends. Important There's a bot that checks when the day/night phase ends every 30 minutes so it won't end right when the timer hits zero. For example, if the bot says the day/night phase will end at 1:05am, it'll actually end at 1:30am. Roles 7 radiant creeps, 3 radiant power, 3 dire creeps and 1 dire power. Spoiler: Radiant Spoiler: Dire