MedjersoN_HP
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Guys, I have an idea.
Let's create a setting with, say, 20 roles: 12 town roles, 5 mafia roles, and 3 utility roles. But the game is played with, say, 11-12 players, and only 7 town roles, 3 mafia roles, and 1-2 utility roles are distributed. Players don't know which roles have been distributed and which haven't; they only know the distribution of players, but not the composition of the teams (the mafia, of course, knows their own, but doesn't know the town or the serial killer). Of course, through night actions and post-mortem analysis, you can guess who is in the game, but initially, it's completely unclear.
With this setup, you need to introduce several blockers, protectors, doctors, etc., into the setting from the start to reduce the likelihood of a situation where the town is left without proactive night actions and they just sit there doing nothing but investigations. The only thing is, I don't know which is more interesting: choosing one town blocker out of three available, or randomizing it, so that the game could have all three blockers or none at all. Of course, these won't be clones; roles of the same type will differ in abilities, passives, ultimates, descriptions in the newspaper, etc.
I think this is a very good idea.
Regarding balance, I've always thought that mafia on a forum with a ban on reveals and roles for each player is inherently fun but not balanced. Well, the GM roughly estimates something and that's it.
However, this is not necessarily a bad thing.
For example, there is a genre in board games called Eurogame. It always has some kind of mathematical model at its core, usually hidden behind something. The actions of the players are balanced within this model.
On the other hand, there is the genre "Ameritrash" (like Arkham Horror). When a lot depends on luck, both during the game and on successful or unsuccessful starting conditions. But there is always action.
Both genres have their place.
There was a "St. Petersburg/Penza" style of mafia where they maintained a pretty good balance.
And mafia on a forum is about fun. Your idea is definitely very interesting, which means it's suitable.
В тихой однообразной жизни всегда так бывает: каждый отдельный день бесконечно долог, но месяцы и годы мчатся с непостижимой быстротой.
I wanted to offer you some flowers, but a crown would suit a princess like you much better
Смысл жизни в том, что жизнь на тебе не заканчивается
