A Beginner's Guide to Mafia by: Pangaea So, you're hanging out in Tohjo Falls, battling, chatting, or teambuilding, when suddenly you see a bot message stating that someone has started a Mafia theme. You think to yourself, "What's mafia?" and decide to join the channel to see what this is all about. The second you join, you are flooded with so many terms, like "buss" and "rand" and "Twilight Sparkle" and you're thinking, "What is going on?!" You're so confused that you leave the craziness of the channel, never to return again. You wanted to learn how to play, but /help was just too complicated for you that you just didn't get it. Well, fear no more! This is a simple and easy guide to teach you all about mafia, and what it's about. You will learn all about different terms used in mafia, how the channel works, and learn everything you need to know about Mafia! (I will be using the Default theme as a reference, as it's the simplest and easiest theme to learn, in my opinion.) Goal of Mafia: To eliminate everyone who isn't on your team. Roles A "role" is the part you play in a mafia theme. Every role is important. There are many different roles, and they all serve a purpose for there teams. Here is a list of the most common roles found in mafia: (names in green are sided with the village (good guys), while names in red are sided with the mafia (the bad guys.) Spoiler Villager: A villager is the most basic and common role in almost any mafia theme. In the Default theme, they make up most of the village. They do not have any special powers during the night. They can only vote off players during the day. Inspector: The inspector is a very important role in a mafia theme. During the night, they can find out somebody's role. They use this to try to find the bad guys. Bodyguard: The bodyguard is also a very important role in a mafia theme. It is their job to protect someone during the night, preventing them from being killed. They usually protect important roles, such as the inspector. Pretty Lady: The Pretty Lady uses their infatuating looks to distract someone during the night. Distracting someone means that they are unable to do anything during the night. Spy: The spy does not have a command he uses during the night, however he can sometimes find out who is going to be killed during the night, and by whom. This only happens sometimes, though. Samurai: The Samurai is one of the few roles that can do something during the day. He can kill someone during the day, hoping he hits a bad guy. When he kills, everybody will know who he is. Mafia: A mafia is the most basic and common bad guy found in almost every mafia theme. A mafia is able to kill somebody during the night. Sometimes, there is more than one mafia in the game. They are on one team, and all mafias know each other from the start of the game. The goal for the mafia is to eliminate the village. Phases A mafia game is divided into phases. Phases is a period of time that lasts an amount of time (it depends on the theme.) There are three phases: The night phase: when roles with a night phase power use their action. For example, the Inspector inspects people during the night phase. The day phase: when roles with a day phase power use their action. For example, he samurai kills somebody during the day phase. The voting phase: when the villagers use their vote power during the voting phase. The voting phase is for voting off someone. When someone is voted off, they are removed from the game. The order of the phases: A game starts first with the night phase, then the day phase is next, and then the voting phase. After that, the cycle repeats. Sometimes, the night phase or day phase will last longer than the other. It depends on the theme. In Default, the night phase lasts 40 seconds, the day phase lasts 30 seconds, and the voting phase lasts thirty seconds. Common Mafia Terms There are many terms used in mafia, normally for communicating. Here are the most common terms used when playing a mafia theme: Spoiler Power Role: A power role is a person on the village team who has a special command that they can use. Examples are the inspector, pretty lady, bodyguard, and the samurai. Rand: A rand takes place during the voting phase. It is when players randomly vote someone off without any evidence or logic. This usually happens when the village has no way of receiving information. Scum: A scum is another word for mafia, or someone who is on the bad guys team. Meatshield: A meatshield is when someone claims an important role so that the mafia kills them instead of the actual role. An example is when a village claims to be the inspector, this is so the mafia kills the villager instead of the actual inspector. Normally, only villagers meat shield. Bussing: Bussing is when a mafia votes of their teammate during the voting phase. This is commonly confused with teamvoting. Bussing is for blending in with the village so you don't look bad. BG: BG is just a shorter way of saying bodyguard. It is used for typing quicker. PL: PL is just a shorter way of saying pretty lady. It is used for typing quicker. Insp: Insp is just a shorter way of saying inspector. It is used for typing quicker. MA: An MA is a Mafia Admin, or someone who moderates over the mafia channel and enforces the rules. Command: A command is the word you type to use your action. Most commands begin with a "/". For example, in order for the mafia to kill, they must type /kill [player name] in order for this person to die. Priority: Priority is the order in which commands go first. This is not based off whether you can type your command quicker or not.The higher the number, the faster they move. nv@#: A common term used during the voting phase. NV means " no vote," telling everyone not to vote during the voting phase. @ means "at", referring to #. # means number. So, nv@4 would stand for "don't vote at when four players are left." Slay: If you suddenly have to leave in the middle of a game because of something happening in real life, you ask for a slay. A mafia admin will take you out of the game. They will ask you for a reason and tell you not to join the next game. Asking for a slay on the first day or night will result in a 4 hour ban. VillageCantLoseRoles: The VillageCantLoseRoles is a list of some village roles. If these roles are on the list, it means that the village can't lose as long as these roles are alive. Crossfire/Xfire: When a mafia player kills another mafia player. Bad Terms Used in Mafia These bad terms are used for pointing out when somebody has broken the rules. Here are some examples of terms that are used when someone has broken the rules: Spoiler Teamvoting: Teamvoting is when you intentionally vote for one of your team members. For example, if a villager votes for the revealed samurai, this is considered a teamvote. This is because the villager and samurai are on the same team. You should never vote for your revealed teammates, unless it is a buss (bussing is only for mafia, though.) Deadtalking: Deadtalking is when you relay information to people after you have died. For example, let's say your inspector. You died during the night, but you found a mafia by inspecting. You are not allowed to tell anyone who the mafia is after you died. Teamkilling: Teamkilling is when you kill one of your revealed teammates. It's the same thing as teamvoting, except there is no bussing for teamkilling. AFK: AFK stands for "away from keyboard." This term is used when someone is joined in the game, yet they leave and don't come back. This is against the rules as it can ruin some games. Botquoting: Botquoting is when you copy and paste one of the bots messages for everyone to see. For example, if you're inspector and you found a mafia, you copy and paste the message saying who the mafia. This is against the rules and should never be done. Targeting: Targeting is when you target the same person over and over again. Trying to kill someone you don't like over and over again is against the rules. Mafia Rules The mafia channel, like most channels, has its own set of rules that must be followed. Failure to do so could result in a warning, and then a ban. Ban times increase the more you are banned. Type /mafiarules in the mafia channel to view these rules. Spoiler Rule 1- All server rules apply in this channel. Type /rules to view them: Ignorance of the rules does not justify breaking them. Someone else breaking a rule does not justify you breaking the same rule. If you choose to play on Android, you are not able to use it to justify rule breaking. Rule 2- Mafia Admins, or MAs are here for the benefit of the channel. You can use /mas to get a listing of them: If you are told something by an MA, it is advised you listen. PM an MA to report an instance of rulebreaking. Shouting out "BAN" and "teamvote!" and such in the chat is pointless and disrupts the game. If any MA is breaking a rule, contact a Mafia Super Admin or any Server Auth immediately. Rule 3- Be respectful to your fellow players: Do not insult players if they make a mistake. Helping them to learn the game instead of insulting them will make the game a lot more enjoyable for all. Do not flash multiple people needlessly, including trying to get them to play. Do not insult themes. If you have a legitimate complaint about a certain theme, post it in that theme's forum thread. Rule 4- Make sure you can stay active for the entire game if you join, otherwise, /unjoin before the game starts: If you must leave, you can ask a Mafia Admin in the chat for a "slay" in order to be removed from the game. A valid reason must be supplied with your request. Not liking any part of the game or participating in other channels are not valid reasons. Asking for a slay within the first few phases of the game, or leaving without asking for a slay, will result in punishment. Rule 5- Do not attempt to ruin the game in any way, shape, or form: Do not intentionally reveal, vote, or kill your teammates without their consent. Do not quote any of the game bots, including in private messages. Do not target a certain user or group of users repeatedly. If you are not currently alive in the game, do not discuss the game with anyone still playing. Do not copy other peoples' names or make your name similar to someone else's. Do not disable private messages (PMs) or ignore other players as Mafia is a game of heavy communication. Do not stall the game for any reason. Do not attempt to fake "Team Talk" or "Dead Chat". FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) Here are some questions that many people ask, along with the answers. If you have a question, please read this here and see if your answer answered here. If it isn't, ask away. Spoiler How do I join a mafia game? Type /join in the chat to join a game. You can only do this during the joining phase. Make sure you don't have a "clantag" in your name. (ex. [Clantag]Name) How come when I was killed, my kill didn't go through? Sometimes, your kill may not work because the person you tried to kill was protected by a bodyguard, or they evaded your kill. Or maybe you just couldn't kill. Useful Mafia Commands: Here is a list of some useful commands that can help you out while you play mafia. Some of these can only be used during a specific time. All of these commands can be found by typing /commands mafia in the mafia channel. Spoiler /mafiaadmins: To get a list of current Mafia Admins. /start: Starts a game of Mafia with the specified theme. You can also use /starttheme. /vote: Start voting for a new game theme or vote! /unjoin: Unjoin a mafia game during signups. /join: Join a mafia game during signups. /help: For info on how to win during a game. /roles: For info of all the roles in a game. /themes: To view installed themes. /details: To view info about a specific theme. /priority: To view the priority list of a theme. /playedgames: To view recently played games. Hands-On Now that you've learned the basic to mafia, here is a little hands-on game. It goes through a game and teaches you how the game works. My comments will be bolded. Spoiler (18:05:42) *************************************************************************************** (18:05:42) ±Game: Herr started a game with theme Default! (This begins the signups phase. to join, you type /join.) Spoiler (18:05:42) ±Game: Type /Join to enter the game! (18:05:42) *************************************************************************************** (18:05:42) ±Game: The classic Mafia theme for all people! Now with teamTalk! (/tt for mafia) (18:05:42) ±Game: Herr joined the game! (18:05:45) ±Game: Scatterbrain joined the game! (18:05:47) Herr: ^^ (18:05:49) ±Game: Tony Rodriguez joined the game! (18:05:49) ±Game: smile_dog joined the game! (18:05:52) ±Game: Pangaea joined the game! (18:06:08) smile_dog: #norm_maf (18:06:12) ±Game: Hurry up, you only have 30 seconds more to join! (18:06:34) smile_dog: #hashtag (18:06:39) smile_dog: lolol (18:06:42) *************************************************************************************** (18:06:42) Times Up! : (18:06:42) The Roles have been Decided! : (18:06:42) ±Game: You are a Mafia! (My goal is to be the last one standing by killing someone during the night!) (18:06:42) ±Game: Type /Kill [name] to kill someone! You share this action with your team. (18:06:42) ±Game: Your team is Pangaea. (I am the only person on my team, so I'm alone.) (18:06:42) ±Current Roles: Bodyguard, Inspector, Mafia, Pretty Lady, WereWolf. (This is the roles list, it shows what roles are in the game.) (18:06:42) ±Current Players: Herr, Pangaea, Scatterbrain, Tony Rodriguez, smile_dog. (This is a list of the people who are currently playing.) (18:06:42) ±Current Team: Mafia (18:06:42) ±Time: Night 1 (This indicates whether it is day or night, and which number it is.) (18:06:42) Make your moves, you only have 40 seconds! : (This shows how much time the phase will last.) (18:06:42) *************************************************************************************** (18:06:56) ±Game: You have chosen to kill Tony Rodriguez! (by typing /kill Tony Rodriguez, I have chosen to kill him.) (18:07:15) smile_dog: insp pm (18:07:22) *************************************************************************************** (18:07:22) Times Up! : (18:07:22) ±Kill: Tony Rodriguez (Inspector) died! (This is the end of the first night phase, and it shows what happened during the night, like who was killed and such.) (18:07:22) *************************************************************************************** (18:07:22) ±Current Roles: Bodyguard, Mafia, Pretty Lady, WereWolf. (18:07:22) ±Current Players: Herr, Pangaea, Scatterbrain, smile_dog. (18:07:22) ±Current Team: Mafia (18:07:22) ±Time: Day 1 (18:07:22) You have 30 seconds to debate who are the bad guys! : (This is the beginning of day one. During this phase, people can discuss the information the received during the night, and try to discuss who they think the bad guys are.) (18:07:22) *************************************************************************************** (18:07:26) Herr: lol (18:07:29) Pangaea: ok (18:07:29) Scatterbrain: *clap clap clap* (18:07:31) smile_dog: lol (18:07:39) Scatterbrain: i am bodyguard (18:07:43) Pangaea: Pl here (I am pretending to be the Pretty Lady so I am not voted off and so I don't lose. This is a common form of strategy.) (18:07:47) smile_dog: im p l (18:07:52) *************************************************************************************** (18:07:52) ±Current Roles: Bodyguard, Mafia, Pretty Lady, WereWolf. (18:07:52) ±Current Players: Herr, Pangaea, Scatterbrain, smile_dog. (18:07:52) ±Current Team: Mafia (18:07:52) ±Time: Day 1 (18:07:52) It's time to vote someone off, type /Vote [name], you only have 30 seconds! : (This is the voting phase! It lasts for thirty seconds. It is so people can vote off people. When someone is voted off, they are removed from the game!) (18:07:52) *************************************************************************************** (18:07:55) ±Game: Scatterbrain voted for Herr! (18:07:58) Herr: D: (18:07:58) ±Game: Pangaea voted for Herr! (By typing /vote Herr, my vote is inputted.) (18:07:59) Scatterbrain: he's scum since no claim (18:08:05) ±Game: smile_dog voted for Herr! (18:08:08) ±Game: Herr voted for Herr! (18:08:09) *************************************************************************************** (18:08:09) Times Up! : (18:08:09) ±Game: Herr (WereWolf) was removed from the game! (Since the majority of people voted for Herr, he was removed from the game.) (18:08:09) *************************************************************************************** (18:08:09) ±Current Roles: Bodyguard, Mafia, Pretty Lady. (18:08:09) ±Current Players: Pangaea, Scatterbrain, smile_dog. (18:08:09) ±Current Team: Mafia (18:08:09) ±Time: Night 2 (This is the second night. The cycle repeats.) (18:08:09) Make your moves, you only have 30 seconds! : (18:08:09) *************************************************************************************** (18:08:14) ±Game: You have chosen to kill smile_dog! (Again, by typing /kill smile_dog, I am choosing to kill this person.) (18:08:16) Scatterbrain: gg pangaea or smile_dog (18:08:17) Pangaea: on smile_dog (I am pretending to distract smile_dog so Scatterbrain doesn't think I am the bad guy.) (18:08:18) smile_dog: yay lol (18:08:24) smile_dog: im pl (18:08:29) Pangaea: no you aren't (18:08:39) *************************************************************************************** (18:08:39) Times Up! : (18:08:39) ±Game: Your target (smile_dog) was protected! (My kill didn't work, because the bodyguard protected smile_dog.) (18:08:39) No one died! : (18:08:39) *************************************************************************************** (18:08:39) ±Current Roles: Bodyguard, Mafia, Pretty Lady. (18:08:39) ±Current Players: Pangaea, Scatterbrain, smile_dog. (18:08:39) ±Current Team: Mafia (18:08:39) ±Time: Day 2 (18:08:39) You have 30 seconds to debate who are the bad guys! : (18:08:39) *************************************************************************************** (18:08:41) Pangaea: ok I was on smile_dog (By saying "I was on," I am saying that I distracted smile_dog, but I am just pretending.) (18:08:48) smile_dog: i sware (18:09:01) smile_dog: im pl or it told me so (18:09:03) Pangaea: I was on you (18:09:09) *************************************************************************************** (18:09:09) ±Current Roles: Bodyguard, Mafia, Pretty Lady. (18:09:09) ±Current Players: Pangaea, Scatterbrain, smile_dog. (18:09:09) ±Current Team: Mafia (18:09:09) ±Time: Day 2 (18:09:09) It's time to vote someone off, type /Vote [name], you only have 30 seconds! : (18:09:09) *************************************************************************************** (18:09:10) Pangaea: and no death (18:09:17) ±Game: Scatterbrain voted for smile_dog! (18:09:19) Scatterbrain: ah well (18:09:19) smile_dog: the game said i was pl (18:09:20) ±Game: Pangaea voted for smile_dog! (18:09:22) Pangaea: :] gg (18:09:25) smile_dog: fine (18:09:39) *************************************************************************************** (18:09:39) Times Up! : (18:09:39) ±Game: smile_dog (Pretty Lady) was removed from the game! (Because the majority voted for him, he was removed from the game.) (18:09:39) ±Game: The Mafia (Pangaea) wins! (Because I can just kill Scatterbrain the next night, I automatically win because he cannot protect himself.) (18:09:39) ±Game: The Village (Scatterbrain) lose! (The good guys lose!) (18:09:39) *************************************************************************************** So, that about wraps up my "A Beginner's Guide to Mafia." Remember to follow the rules, play fairly, be kind to others, and most importantly, have fun! We hope to see more beginners in the mafia channel. Some themes I would recommend for beginners are Default, Oracle, Zelda, and maybe even FF. This themes are all fun and easy to learn, and fairly popular. Good luck and have fun! If you have a question, feel free to ask any of the MAs or any other experienced players. (so, I decided I would just make one big guide for beginners. having too many different guides made by so many different people is confusing for new players. feel free to add anything and let me know if I missed anything, and give your opinion on this. if I could simplify or go more into detail in a specific area, let me know! I'm happy to take all suggestions (: )~Pangaea
If you allow me to be harshly sincere, there's too much wrong with this guide. Not in terms of "wrong information", but wrong way to relay them. For example, you write a guide for people who don't know how the game works, yet the very last thing you mention is the players' goal. This should be the very first thing to be explained, as it helps players understand everything that it's mentioned later and why those things exist. You condense all information about the phases in a single paragraph and then floods the reader with information. In the end, you didn't even explain what the votes are for! You should explain each phase in a different paragraph, and then actually explain the differences between each one, like how night and day actions have different execution timing. On your FAQ section, you should remove the "how to become MA" and "how to make themes" questions. They are not relevant to people who want to learn how to play, and if the theme is for beginners, it's not a good idea to put those questions there as they are better served for people who have some experience in the game. This centered text formatting is also a pain to read. This kind of formatting works better for when you have a few lines that require special attention, for large chunks of text it's just annoying.
Thanks for your suggestions Rice. So I spaced out all of my text, cut off some of the fat from some of them so there isn't so much information, and I made it easier to read. I moved the goal of mafia to the top so its the first thing they see before they start reading the roles and such. I explained more about voting, what it is, the night phases and how they differentiate just like how you suggested. I removed those two FAQ questions from there. I also made sure not to center all of my text so I aligned it to the left.
This should be in the thread I made, http://pokemon-online.eu/threads/project-mafia-boost-beginner-mafia-guides.27392/, where in the First Post, I say the thread is for the review of Beginner Guides of Mafia where it was finally said that only one Beginner Guide would be chose, and that is current IceKirby's Guide. Anyways, the fact that you used "I am pretending to be the Pretty Lady so I am not voted off and so I don't lose." as advice for a beginner is confusing. You could have also won if you had not claimed Pretty Lady. This is a bad strategy because the PL can easily PL you, and then you will have a night without kills. The village can also, vote out the person who they believe is the PL and then further lynch the fakeclaimer. Even though this strategy worked in this game, this is not a valid or good strategy to teach beginners.
As I said in the beginning of the thread, it is confusing for beginners to read so many different guides at once, it's just better to make one big one for them. Actually, I wouldn't have won, since the PL had already claimed after me and therefore I would've been voted off (notice how they voted off the WW for not claiming.) Also, I'm showing beginners how to use strategy and why to use it.
And as Fiery Espeon explained, the other thread is there to choose the one guide that will be used. Posting a different thread doesn't mean your guide is the definitive one. BTW, this should be merged with the other thread. Ideally, on a beginner's guide you should only give the most basic strategy tips. Your game example is overcomplicating lots of stuff, and to boot it you even got a example where you are Mafia but has no teammates, which makes it harder to understand that Mafia is a game of Uninformed Majority vs Informed Minority.
Actually, the thread is not used for Beginners. IceKirby's guide, http://icekirby.github.io/PO-stuff/beginner/, is both in #Mafia Social and #Mafia Tutoring. I use the guide itself, and so does Roild, instead of the thread because we knew that it's one of the best ones in the thread.
If that guide is not for beginners, why is it in the thread for Beginner Guides? It's a very nice guide, I checked it out but it definitely is more fit for advanced players and sniffing out mafia members in a few ways. Too many guides for one topic is too confusing, I decided I would just make a separate thread with a separate guide so it wouldn't be lost in the other thread.
He meant "the other thread is not where the beginners will be sent to". They send new players directly to the guide without passing through the thread. And how is that guide for advanced players? A guide for advanced players would focus on strategies, counters and stuff like that. Most of the other guides I've seen posted around (including yours) doesn't even explain the basic structure of the game, they just go "Role X can do Y" without even explaining what Y does or why that is relevant.