387 replies to this topic

[Kaoz]

As you might recall, Tables wanted to write a guide to SFMafia some time ago. As that probably won't happen for a while, I figured we could attempt to make a guide as a community.

Basically, anybody can come in here and post any information they find useful, this can be general stuff or role/mechanic specific.

When this thread has served it's purpose, I (or anybody else who wants to) can make a guide with all the information gathered from here.

Discuss.

 

SFMafia Player Data


Guides

Try everything you can to prevent your own lynch by Raymond
Tables's Lessons 1: Lying as Town
Tables's Lessons 2: Making the most of your role
Life's Lessons 1&2: Anticipate what others will do & Winning means everything
On voting and claiming in NOC by Prims
Playing as Vanilla Townie by Kaoz
Paperblade's Guide to OC
Paperblade's Guide to OC 2: Talking in Private

Edited by Kaoz, 05 January 2013 - 04:31 AM.

[kirsche]

The number one rule to mafia: talk a lot.

Oh, and random lynching > no lynching as it gets the town more information, even if it's a mislynch.

[eclipse]

Cross-post, sorta modified.

---

1. THE GAME: Two sides: Mafia and Town. Mafia is a smaller group who knows who each other are; Town is a larger group that does not know who other townspeople are. Mafia kills town at night, in secret. Town (and mafia) lynches people in the day publicly, and kills mafia that way. Mafia wins if they can tie/outvote the town; town wins if they lynch all the mafia. Simple, right?

2. HOW YOU FIT IN: Every person gets a role PM. Role PMs will always detail what you are, and how you win. "What you are" is specific to each game. "How you win" should be self-explanatory. If you have questions regarding what you are or how you win, bug the person(s) running the game. That's what they're there for.

3. ROLES? WHAT? "Roles" determine what happens in a game. They affect how the game flows, and their impact ranges from minimal to vital. If you want more details about specific roles (especially the common ones), do let me know, and I can detail that in a later post. This post isn't meant as a full explanation; just a quick summary.

4. OKAY, SO (OC)? OC means outside contact, meaning that you can talk to others outside of the game thread, as long as you let the guys running the game know what you're talking about with the other person. In terms of the PM system on this board, it's as simple as starting a conversation between you, someone else, and the host(s), and speaking your mind. You may also use stuff like IRC to talk to other people, but make sure to copy the conversation into your role PM, so the hosts know what's going on.

4a. TALK TO OTHERS? You can discuss anything from random spam to "what are you gonna do tonight so I can help/backstab you?" Talking to others will give you a feel for what side they're on, and how they can help you win. Just because someone's mafia doesn't mean that they can't be talked into helping the town for a night, to "clear" themselves! How much info to give, how to use the info you have, and knowing when to trust/not trust someone is something that you'll have to learn from experience.

5. OKAY, SO (NOC)? NOC means no outside contact, meaning that all discussion about the game must be done in the game thread. Town has to coordinate things "out in the open", if you will, which means the mafia can take advantage of it. The mafia, in turn, can talk amongst themselves as if it were OC. It may not seen fair, but the mafia's typically outnumbered 2:1, so they kinda need it.

5a. THAT'S SCARY! Town cannot let the fear of "everything out in the open" stop them from taking risks and playing. It is past conversations and actions that help the town find mafia in NOC. Therefore, it is to your advantage to talk in NOC, even if it seems counterintuitive.

6. MISTAKES: You don't learn if you do everything right the first time. The only thing on the line is pride. In other words, don't be afraid to fail! Everyone started from somewhere! Go read some past mafias to see some of the more hilarious things that have happened.

7. ASK! Not sure about something in your role PM? Need a rules clarification? When in doubt, ask the hosts. I've run a couple games before, and I welcome questions!

8. MAFIA: Newbies - if you're in the mafia, make sure to talk with the more veteran members in the group. They are supposed to help you play better. Veterans - reach out to the new people. Make sure to talk to them and guide them well. If a mafia can't coordinate itself, it will fall.

9. I DON'T WANT TO DIE!! Town normally wins as long as they beat the mafia, and the mafia wins if they beat the town. Even if you die, you'll usually win with your side, so don't be afraid of dying. This doesn't mean that you should go get yourself killed on N1; it means that if you are killed/lynched, it's not the end of the world.

10. While I won't speak for anyone else here, if you guys want some random tips on how to play once the game kicks off, feel free to talk if it's OC. I may not reveal my role, but I can help you with things like how to start a conversation.

[Sho.M.the.Fallen]

Once a new game starts, let go off everything but your Role PM, the rules and your common sense. It has happened before is not be all end all argument.

Just because every game has had a town Cop does not mean this game has and the town leader should not expect town having inspection other than watcher for no apparent reason
- Ivalice mafia

Yes I totally took the first sentence of that from clipsey, sue me

Edited by Sho.M.The.Panty, 08 October 2011 - 07:37 AM.

[SlayerX]

Always be truthful as a townie. Even if all the evidence seems to be against you.

[Sho.M.the.Fallen]

Always be truthful as a townie. Even if all the evidence seems to be against you.

not telling EVERYTHING =/= Lieing

[SlayerX]

not telling EVERYTHING =/= Lieing

When did i say tell everything?

[eclipse]

Hmmm. . .I think my list needs to be two parts - the initial summary and another list with a few more in-depth details like this:

HISTORY - OC history is within whatever conversations you had. NOC history is the thread itself. Rereading past conversations is always helpful, because as people's roles are revealed, it gives you clues as to why they were acting the way they were. You can use these clues to figure out what's going on. Here's a rather stupid example involving me and a certain someone else on these forums.

The game

Me: Nyarlathotep - redirects action and sends messages to the same player that appear to be from the host
Snike: Thor - causes his target to target themselves with their action, cannot be redirected

Snike told me that he'd be doing his faction kill. I had been itching to give him a funny post restriction for most of the game, and this looked like a good opportunity to do so. Snike sent in his kill order, and I attempted to redirect the kill and give him the post restriction. In the end, his kill was NOT redirected, but I got to troll him with my post restriction.

Under most circumstances, telling an opposing faction who's doing the killing makes no sense. Once I saw the second part of Snike's role, I understood why he told me that.

If I had a more relevant example, I'd show that. . .but I can't think of anything ATM.

[Sho.M.the.Fallen]

When did i say tell everything?

You didn't. I just though it would be important to point this out and it kinda belongs together with the info you gave.

[Haze]

Always be truthful as a townie. Even if all the evidence seems to be against you.

Not always true, especially in NOC, where lying to the town also means lying to the mafia. If you feel you can get away with a few fibs that will mess with the mafia more than the town, do it.

[Paperblade]

PAPERBLADE'S RULES FOR METAGAMING

1. If Proto is being illogical and irrational, he's probably scum
2. If Life is saying weird things, he's probably scum (OBVIOUS SCUMTELL: "Do you want to win?")
3. Anouleth is never scum, you can trust him but he may be third party
4. Paperblade is always scum except when he isn't, don't trust him
5. If there is recruitment, assume good players/town leaders have been recruited.

ALSO, SPECIAL BONUS CONTENT

PAPERBLADE'S GUIDE TO OC

Be talkative. If you get on IRC you can talk to a lot of people, and with wonders like Skype/MSN/AIM/the SF PM system you can get a hold of basically everyone.

Oct. 23, 2012 Update: Nearly every regular player comes on IRC nowadays and there's usually at least a dozen people, so it's quick and convenient.

If you're town, talking to people has the following advantages:

People who know things about you that you didn't tell them have some explaining to do. Either you have a leak or they have some sort of information role. This is very useful for scumhunting.
Talking to people about other people lets you find contradictions in what other people said. If they told the left hand one thing and the right hand the other, something fishy is going on.
It gives you alibis and evidence in the form of logs. Thus, if a night result appears that contradicts that previous information, you can try to figure out what's up.
It lets you form circles of trust.

If you're mafia, talking to people has the following advantages:

You can establish an alibi early in the game. This is especially useful if your role can pass for town (such as a mafia tracker or inspect) because you will have results to back it up.
You can manipulate people. People will be more likely to trust you if you're friendly and willing to share information with them.
It helps you to find other anti-town people, such as a second mafia or third parties such as wolves, who tend to make good allies, at least temporarily. After that, they make good bargaining chips ("Don't lynch me, X is mafia").
It gives you logs with people that you can twist to look scummy, especially if they're lying to you for whatever reason.

ALSO, SOMETHING TO NOTE IF YOU ARE GOING TO TALK TO PEOPLE PRIMARILY THROUGH THE PM SYSTEM

The PM system has the option to edit PMs. However, unlike on the forums, there is no notice at the bottom of a post saying that a PM was edited. This can be relevant.

Edited by Paperblade, 23 October 2012 - 02:11 AM.

[Lævateinn]

About the editing PMs, this is the ONLY reason why I keep email notifications for PMs on. Because the email will be sent with the original unedited PM, even if you never read the PM yourself. This allows me to catch people that edit their PMs, thinking that the recipient won't notice as long as it's at "Not read yet". Slayer probably remembers how I caught him editing his PMs in FE8 Mafia.

[Leder]

"Lynch all liars," etc

I might make an NOC guide I guess but I'll do that after I sleep

[Tables]

Always be truthful as a townie. Even if all the evidence seems to be against you.

"Lynch all liars," etc

Tables lesson 1: Lying as town

Many people believe that town should always tell the truth, or otherwise not tell anything. While this is often a good rule of thumb, there are certainly occasions one might want to lie even as town. Here's a few examples:

1) To hide their real role. This could be very valuable, for example, to hide the fact you're the doctor or cop, two of the most powerful roles
2) To try and extract information from scum. What better way to catch mafia in a multifaction game then pretending to be scum yourself? Of course, care should be taken when attempting this, to ensure you can prove you're town if the other person sells you out.
3) To misdirect scum. If someone is talking to you and you suspect they're scum, giving them false information could lead to them playing poorly if they believe it.

Of course, care should be taken with this. If you're caught in the lie, you could end up being lynched based on it, or waste precious discussion time as you try and defend yourself. So you should always think carefully about if it's worthwhile. Consider the likelihood you're caught lying and the potential losses to the town if you are. Also think about if you can discuss with someone your intentions, as they might just be able to defend you if you're accused of lying.

What NOT to do is to lie because you can. ALWAYS consider if the rewards of not being truthful outweigh the costs. Lying should be a tool for town to use when necessary, not a first course of action.

[SlayerX]

About the editing PMs, this is the ONLY reason why I keep email notifications for PMs on. Because the email will be sent with the original unedited PM, even if you never read the PM yourself. This allows me to catch people that edit their PMs, thinking that the recipient won't notice as long as it's at "Not read yet". Slayer probably remembers how I caught him editing his PMs in FE8 Mafia.

?

I usually just edit grammar errors :/

Ah nevermind, it was our pokemon battle or something... you saw my previous words and stuff.

Edited by SlayerX, 10 October 2011 - 08:27 AM.

[Lævateinn]

?

I usually just edit grammar errors :/

I can't believe I am wasting my time doing this

Spoiler - Quotes

Deleting your double posts, eh?

I admire your skill.

What skill?

The fact that you saw my double post...

And that you added an awesome face when it wasn't there before?

I was lightning quick. You are a worthy opponent.

Not quick enough to escape the eyes of the God Mod.

Oh really... <img src='http://serenesforest...IR#>/tongue.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':P' />

"Let's see" what?

What am I supposed to be seeing here?

Dang it... You cheater.

Lightning stabs*

The rest was some annoying Pokemon battle that pissed Joshaymin off a whole lot.

[SlayerX]

Hahaha... I thought you just saw the PM a second before i erased it.... But then i realized it was your emails...

[Leder]

Tables lesson 1: Lying as town

Many people believe that town should always tell the truth, or otherwise not tell anything. While this is often a good rule of thumb, there are certainly occasions one might want to lie even as town. Here's a few examples:

1) To hide their real role. This could be very valuable, for example, to hide the fact you're the doctor or cop, two of the most powerful roles

Bluffing is a legit tactic
What I'm referring to is when someone is obviously lying out of their ass and there are too many inconsistencies with the stories they're trying to tell etc.

[Sho.M.the.Fallen]

Hahaha... I thought you just saw the PM a second before i erased it.... But then i realized it was your emails...

That reminds me I most likely still have the original form of PM paperblade edited 6 fucking times in Ivalice

Edited by Sho.M.The.Panty, 10 October 2011 - 10:08 AM.

[Paperblade]

I blame the hosts and Proto.

And Life.
And Anouleth.