TBT Mafia General Thread 4.0
Welcome to The Cellar! Here TBT members come together to play a nerve-wracking game of TBT Mafia! Say goodbye to your sleep, social life, and sanity as you become embroiled in a case so tough it would make Phoenix Wright crack.
This thread serves as the central hub for TBT Mafia-related discussion.
Contents:
What is TBT Mafia?
Mafia is a game where members are divided into two factions: the uninformed majority (aka. town) versus the informed minority (aka. mafia). The town and mafia players have opposing win conditions. The town are tasked with eliminating all mafia-aligned players from the game. The mafia need to avoid elimination while whittling down town's numbers until they equal or outnumber the surviving town players.
The game follows an alternating day-night cycle. Often day will run for 48hrs and night for 24hrs. During the daytime, all players come together in the main game thread to discuss who should be eliminated and then place their vote in the designated voting thread. During the nighttime, mafia discuss amongst themselves who they wish to kill and how to use any abilities they may have.
| Town |
|---|
| ■ Win Condition: To eliminate all mafia-aligned players from the game. ■ Knowledge: Know only their own role. Do not know the alignment of any other player in the game. ■ Role in Game: To contribute their thoughts to the game thread, vote for a player to be eliminated each day phase, and to use any abilities they may have during night phases. |
| Mafia |
|---|
| ■ Win Condition: To kill off other players until the mafia equal or outnumber the surviving town players. ■ Knowledge: Knows the other members of the mafia team and each of their roles. ■ Role in Game: To contribute their thoughts to the game thread, vote for a player to be eliminated each day phase, to coordinate with their team during the night phase to plan who to kill and how to use abilities. |
While this is the standard formula not every game will follow it to a T. Some games may have roles that allow one player to confirm another player's alignment from Day 1 or they might have an action that can be used during the day. It is also common for hosts to introduce a third party faction (cultists, lovers, serial killers, etc) with unique win conditions as well. Hosts may be as creative as they wish when planning their games, so keep an open mind and expect the unexpected!
Participating in a TBT Mafia Game
So, you have read the above and you are interested in playing a mafia game. Great! The first thing you need to do is find a game thread with open sign-ups. Game hosts will typically make it clear when they are recruiting players:
To join a game all you need to do is post in the sign-up thread stating that you wish to play. Congratulations, you've signed up to your very first TBT Mafia game! Now what?
Your first port of call should be the Guidelines for TBT Mafia thread. This thread outlines how TBT Mafia works in tandem with the TBT Rules and Guidelines.
When the game begins, the host will send you a private message containing your alignment and role information. If you are part of the mafia they will also inform you of their approved method for communication with your teammates. It is important that you do not tell anyone the contents of your role PM - not even your friends who are not playing in the game. People tend to get over-excited when they play or follow a mafia game and are prone to accidentally leaking information. Many mafia games have been ruined due to deceased or non-players not being discreet or subtle enough with their secret intel, so please keep this information to yourself until after the game ends.
As a player you are expected to be actively engaging with the game thread, voting each day phase, and using any actions you may have at night. If you are mafia-aligned you are also expected to maintain communication with your teammates. Due to the intensity and time-sensitive nature of mafia it is expected for players to aim to dedicate at least half an hour (30 minutes) to the game each day. If you don't think you can dedicate enough time to the game then it is better to not sign-up.
Honestly, no! The best way to learn how to play the game is to simply dive in and play it. It looks much more complicated and scary from an outsider's perspective.
Hosting a TBT Mafia Game
Before hosting a game, please read over the Role of Game Hosts section in our Guidelines for TBT Mafia thread to understand the rules and responsibilities of being a mafia host on TBT. These may differ from hosting rules in other communities, so please be sure to read them carefully. If you have any questions concerning your role as a game host please feel free to make a thread in Contact the Staff.
It is advised that a person should have experience playing TBT Mafia before they try to design and host their own game. Even if you have experience with mafia games elsewhere you might find that our community has different preferences or utilises role terminology in a different manner from what you are used to. It is good to get a feel for how our community handles before hosting a game yourself.
A good rule of thumb when designing a mafia game is that you should have 1 mafia player and 1.25 power roles for every 5 players. For example, in a 20 player game you might have: 4 mafia players, 5 power roles, and 11 vanilla townies. This is not a hard rule by any means, however keep in mind that the more power roles you add to the game the more likely it is to become unbalanced. Complex power roles can also skew a game. In your first game it is advised to stick to simple power roles such as Roleblocker, Framer, Veteran, Doctor, Detective and Vigilante. A good way to get to grips with game balancing is by participating in other peoples' games and then afterward sitting down and analysing the outcome and the roles. Was it a tight game or did one side have a landslide victory? Did the winning faction make smart decisions or were they over-powered? Conversely, was the losing faction under-powered or was it a case of bad decision making? Use your own observations to deduce how to best balance a game. If you require an extra set of eyes to look over your game set-up you are welcome to post in this thread and ask if someone is willing to give you feedback.
You should aim to be consistent and impartial as you carry out the required tasks to keep the game running smoothly. Those tasks are to keep the opening post updated, post the day/night posts on schedule, send out any necessary private messages, and report any posts that violate the rules. Beyond essential posts your presence in the thread should be minimal. Avoid discussing the game with other people and keep a tight lip on the role list. People will over-analyse everything you say and will often interpret a non-answer to mean something rather than nothing. Hosting is a big responsibility, so you may also wish to bring on a co-host to divide the responsibility and discuss how best to respond to any questions that you are asked.
Before you go...
It is important to remember that at the end of the day mafia is just a game. There are real people with genuine feelings on the receiving end of your messages, so even if you are leading an elimination against someone please take the time to make sure you are phrasing your posts respectfully. Rude behaviour is not considered a valid tactic in TBT Mafia. This means that there is no excuse for excessive cursing, name-calling, insulting someone's intelligence or personality traits, excessive aggression, and other disrespectful comments. If you encounter anyone behaving this way in TBT Mafia please report their posts rather than replying to them yourself.
Good luck and have fun!
