How do I begin a mafia game?

[Samadhi]

You need to do two things:
1. Post a signup thread
2. Get people to signup

Number one is given. As long as you're not a spammer or a troll, you can post what you want when you want on the Grey Labyrinth.

It's number 2 that's the toughie. How do you get people to sign up for your game? Make a better game? Make a better post? Bark at the moon? Whatever works, it's all up to you.

[Courk]

It'd be hard to get people to sign up for a game if people don't know who you are. Become familiar. Play in other games, maybe even hang out in some of the other forums.

[TopHat]

[Samadhi]

Good advice Courk. And playing games helps you design better games.

Some more advice:

Start small. And I do mean small. 10 people or less. These are fun and quick, but deceptively difficult to balance. It's good practice and you're more likely to find any number of people who'll sign up for a 3-4 week game than you will for a 3-4 month game. Plus, as I said it's difficult to balance. This will give you invaluable experience in design, and indispensable experience in moderating a game.
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And he lived happily ever after. Except for the dieing at the end and the heartbreak in between.

[Amb]

It is a general rule that no-one will sign up to a newbie that they don't know. Even if that newbie is an expert from another website. I took the risk and signed up for a newbie game who designed a very unbalanced game. (It was lynch scum or lose the whole way through, including when it started on day)

Your best bet as a new mod, is to ask for a recognised co-mod to back you up.

Also, don't be offended if your game doesnt get sign ups. Grey Labyrinth has peaks and troughs. There are times when a lot of big games go at once, and times when 'twelvers' struggle to get their allotted numbers. I have not managed to predict when these will occur.

[TopHat]

Okay then, could an experienced mod volunteer to review my setup and give it some kind of stamp of approval!?

[Samadhi]

PM it to me, I'll check it out.
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And he lived happily ever after. Except for the dieing at the end and the heartbreak in between.

[Courk]

I think another valid point about getting sign ups is that some members come and go. If a newbie signs up for a game, and the sign ups take a while, that newbie can be gone from the site, leaving you to find a replacement for a game that just barely got filled. Not all newbies do this, obviously, but it's just something to keep in mind as a possibility so that the frustration sin't sprung upon you.

Also, this is a valid point for creating games with a bit of flexibility. So let's say you have a 20 player game. Do you *need* 20 players? What if you get 16 sign-ups, can you tweak it a bit and run with that? Sometimes it may be better to go with a slightly smaller game that begins a reasonable amount of time after sign ups open than it is to wait excessively for a game to fill up. Obviously there's a limit to how small a game can become. I wouldn't recommend a 10 player game doing too much whittling since games that size are so hard to balance.

[Neo]

I don't know if times have changed, it's been a long time since I've been a mafia player or modder.

But this is what I remember. Townies are fun too! Some of us like(d) being a townie! There's much less pressure, more focus on the thread, etc.

That said, some mods, like DP, were (are? does DP still mod?) absolutely GODLIKE in their ability to give even townies some sort of ability or trait, without ruining the role. Look at some of those old games and role descriptions first, if you don't feel the need to have "pure" townies.

I don't know who's willing to help out much these days, but I'm always willing to look over role descriptions at the least. If you're really desperate for balancing help, I can help with that too, but my version of balancing was a lot less technical than others, so perhaps I shouldn't be your first choice. Especially since (aside from amb) I don't think anybody remembers any of the games I ran as particularly noteworthy.
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_{Ad Astra}

[Courk]

Are you kidding? Who can forget GL Mafia? Evil mod.

[Neo]

You mean, the game mechanic that would never be repeated?
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_{Ad Astra}

[Courk]

I just thought of something else: Your first modding experience may not be as ideal as you would wish. Many of the old-timers here started playing in the "simple" days where there were only basic roles and no themes. They got that down pat then started expanding. As a newbie, you won't have that same luxury. Games you play in will likely be themed and you'll likely feel like you need to run a themed game as well. By all means, go with whatever idea you like, but keep in mind that the more you add to your game, the more complex it can become. It's hard to work out all of the details of a game and close all of the loop holes when you've never modded. Heck, it's hard when you are experienced. So, should something happen in your game that you wish hadn't, learn from that experience. After the game, ask for feedback. How do the players think you handled a situation? Were they frustrated by your solution, or did they think you did the best you could?

Ideally any solutions will not alter the roles players have received. Believe me, it's frustrating as a player to come up with a strategy that is then made invalid by an addition to your role. However, there are rare instances when changing a role could be the best solution. Don't go changing a role just because you thought it'd be used one way but the player is exploiting a loophole to get a smidge more benefit out of it -- just learn from that. If, however, the game will lose all sense of fun for all involved due to one role, that should probably be changed.

[MatthewV]

[Samadhi]

In soviet russia, mafia signs you up!
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And he lived happily ever after. Except for the dieing at the end and the heartbreak in between.

[djyoda07]

hi i have played a really good mafia game where everybody gets a role even if its bad such as for a normal villiger if they get targeted they get a scapegoat and someone els at random takes the hit
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I choose you pikachu!!

[MNOWAX]

we're trying t o combat that by having shorter games while a big game is going on.it was getting to a point that we would have less than 10 people playing mafia, and it wouldn't warrant another game running.
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MNOWAX