KarlaKGB
meme dilettante
With a number of games by first-time hosts coming up, and a few games that didn't go quite so smoothly, I figured it would be useful to lay down a few guidelines to hosting Mafia games. This is not an exhaustive list, nor should it be stuck to rigidly as specific situations arise that require different approaches.
1. Game size
This is a relatively easy choice to make, and really is up to you. The smaller the player count, the faster the game will go. As a general rule of thumb, Mini Mafia games should not exceed 20 players. As for normal Mafia, there's no real upper limit. I've played in 100 player games before and they worked, but that's a LOT of work and generally unadvisable. 35 is the upper limit I'm personally comfortable with. Larger games will also let you have more roles (and more variety), but you also run the risk of having more inactives.
2. Rules and Themes
So theme, or style refers to both a cosmetic and rule deviations from the norm. For example, TBT Mafia IV: Red Revolution had a historic Russian Revolution theme, but the general gameplay and roles were standard. TBT Mini Cell Mafia on the other hand maintained standard role names, but followed a drastically different playstyle. Games like Fire Emblem Kingmaker and Animal Crossing Mafia had both cosmetic themes and gameplay changes. Themes to consider are things like multiple Mafia families, hidden role counts etc...the main thing to keep in mind is keeping the setup balanced, as often you can't use the same formula and concepts as you would for a standard game.
3. Role Counts
This is probably the most difficult part - attaining good balance, because nobody wants to play a game to realise a week later that there's no way they feasibly could have won. As a general rule of thumb, aim for a ratio of 1 Mafia per every 5 players, and roughly 1.25 blue roles per 5 players. I also rank the common blue roles as Vigilante > Doctor > Detective in terms of how many there are. I also think it's equally acceptable to have more Doctors than Vigilantes.
The standard Town roles are Vanilla Townie, Detective, Doctor and Vigilante. Standard Mafia roles are Goons and the Godfather. When you add new roles to the game, you have to consider how they will interact with other new roles, as well as the standard roles.
If you know there will be a veteran host who won't be playing in your game, you can PM them and ask them to look at your setup and give feedback.
4. The Opening Post
This is the face of your Mafia game, and is the information centre. A nice tidy layout is recommended that is divided into distinct sections: Introduction, Rules, Playerlist and Roles. There is a general OP template that is used by most hosts, which keeps things nice and consistent.
While most hosts have a beautiful looking OP when they first put their game up, they often neglect it and don't keep it updated. This is bad as it's much easier to check the status of a game when you have links to the relevant Day/Night posts, and you can see which roles have flipped. Links to player profiles are useful (I prefer to link to filters, which I believe are even more useful to players).
5. Your role as a host
As the host, your job is to answer player questions and keep the game moving along by making the relevant Day/Night posts. Oh and enforcing the rules. Other than that, you should have a minimal thread presence. Nor should you attempt to influence a game (eg. by choosing night actions for inactive players, helping Mafia pick targets).
Players will attempt to get information out of you. Avoid discussing the game with players (I am guilty of this myself as I spend a lot of time in IRC, with the other players). Do not give them any information. They will try all sort of tricks to tease information out of you. Also, do not volunteer information unless explicitly asked for. This is more applicable to crazier setups as you get more interactions between roles, but it's up to the players to ask the right questions, not for you to deliver the result they expect.
If you are asked a question in private, reply privately as well. The only exception is if you think the question is so critical to the way the game will play out, that in the interests of fairness you need to inform everyone. This is largely down to your judgement, but it's rare that a situation like this will come up.
6. Big Don'ts
NEVER hand out the role list. To anyone. Everything leaks. The risk is not worth it.
DON'T rush the Day/Night posts. Double, triple check everything. The votelists. The actions. Make sure you resolve them correctly. Nothing will mess a game up more than killing the wrong player. As there's never a solution to these that will satisfy both parties, you're better off just avoiding this situation.
DON'T change the rules halfway through a game. This includes how certain roles behave. It's really annoying to deal with as a player. Taking the time to make sure you have a balanced setup before the game starts is the best way to avoid having to make big changes.
7. Final words
Hosting is generally a thankless task. You get people badgering you to put posts up. You get people questioning why certain things didn't happen as they expected. And god forbid you screw up. You WILL screw up at some point, if you host enough games. When that happens, take a step back, freeze the game if you have to, and think about the best way to resolve it. Consult other veterans who are not part of the game. Most ****ups are salvageable, so just remain calm and work through it. Every game is a learning experience for everyone, host(s) included. Have fun
Typed in one go without any real checking. Feedback and other suggestions welcome.
- - - Post Merge - - -
Ps. This could probably get merged into the General Mafia thread.
1. Game size
This is a relatively easy choice to make, and really is up to you. The smaller the player count, the faster the game will go. As a general rule of thumb, Mini Mafia games should not exceed 20 players. As for normal Mafia, there's no real upper limit. I've played in 100 player games before and they worked, but that's a LOT of work and generally unadvisable. 35 is the upper limit I'm personally comfortable with. Larger games will also let you have more roles (and more variety), but you also run the risk of having more inactives.
2. Rules and Themes
So theme, or style refers to both a cosmetic and rule deviations from the norm. For example, TBT Mafia IV: Red Revolution had a historic Russian Revolution theme, but the general gameplay and roles were standard. TBT Mini Cell Mafia on the other hand maintained standard role names, but followed a drastically different playstyle. Games like Fire Emblem Kingmaker and Animal Crossing Mafia had both cosmetic themes and gameplay changes. Themes to consider are things like multiple Mafia families, hidden role counts etc...the main thing to keep in mind is keeping the setup balanced, as often you can't use the same formula and concepts as you would for a standard game.
3. Role Counts
This is probably the most difficult part - attaining good balance, because nobody wants to play a game to realise a week later that there's no way they feasibly could have won. As a general rule of thumb, aim for a ratio of 1 Mafia per every 5 players, and roughly 1.25 blue roles per 5 players. I also rank the common blue roles as Vigilante > Doctor > Detective in terms of how many there are. I also think it's equally acceptable to have more Doctors than Vigilantes.
The standard Town roles are Vanilla Townie, Detective, Doctor and Vigilante. Standard Mafia roles are Goons and the Godfather. When you add new roles to the game, you have to consider how they will interact with other new roles, as well as the standard roles.
If you know there will be a veteran host who won't be playing in your game, you can PM them and ask them to look at your setup and give feedback.
4. The Opening Post
This is the face of your Mafia game, and is the information centre. A nice tidy layout is recommended that is divided into distinct sections: Introduction, Rules, Playerlist and Roles. There is a general OP template that is used by most hosts, which keeps things nice and consistent.
While most hosts have a beautiful looking OP when they first put their game up, they often neglect it and don't keep it updated. This is bad as it's much easier to check the status of a game when you have links to the relevant Day/Night posts, and you can see which roles have flipped. Links to player profiles are useful (I prefer to link to filters, which I believe are even more useful to players).
5. Your role as a host
As the host, your job is to answer player questions and keep the game moving along by making the relevant Day/Night posts. Oh and enforcing the rules. Other than that, you should have a minimal thread presence. Nor should you attempt to influence a game (eg. by choosing night actions for inactive players, helping Mafia pick targets).
Players will attempt to get information out of you. Avoid discussing the game with players (I am guilty of this myself as I spend a lot of time in IRC, with the other players). Do not give them any information. They will try all sort of tricks to tease information out of you. Also, do not volunteer information unless explicitly asked for. This is more applicable to crazier setups as you get more interactions between roles, but it's up to the players to ask the right questions, not for you to deliver the result they expect.
If you are asked a question in private, reply privately as well. The only exception is if you think the question is so critical to the way the game will play out, that in the interests of fairness you need to inform everyone. This is largely down to your judgement, but it's rare that a situation like this will come up.
6. Big Don'ts
NEVER hand out the role list. To anyone. Everything leaks. The risk is not worth it.
DON'T rush the Day/Night posts. Double, triple check everything. The votelists. The actions. Make sure you resolve them correctly. Nothing will mess a game up more than killing the wrong player. As there's never a solution to these that will satisfy both parties, you're better off just avoiding this situation.
DON'T change the rules halfway through a game. This includes how certain roles behave. It's really annoying to deal with as a player. Taking the time to make sure you have a balanced setup before the game starts is the best way to avoid having to make big changes.
7. Final words
Hosting is generally a thankless task. You get people badgering you to put posts up. You get people questioning why certain things didn't happen as they expected. And god forbid you screw up. You WILL screw up at some point, if you host enough games. When that happens, take a step back, freeze the game if you have to, and think about the best way to resolve it. Consult other veterans who are not part of the game. Most ****ups are salvageable, so just remain calm and work through it. Every game is a learning experience for everyone, host(s) included. Have fun
Typed in one go without any real checking. Feedback and other suggestions welcome.
- - - Post Merge - - -
Ps. This could probably get merged into the General Mafia thread.
