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Perhaps you have read the setting that Imaris posted here. It's a mafia game about werewolves, and I want to describe some of the roles – the ones we managed to try out.
1) Scavenger. The description states that this character's job is so harsh that he wants to die. The win conditions are accordingly.
Reality: The scavenger gives himself away by trying to get killed. We wonder if he's really a scavenger or just a Mafia pretending to be one. We conclude that it's the former. At the end of the game, we have this situation: Ples is a town member, the scavenger is a town member, and there's a Mafia member. What do you think happens? That's right, Ples is executed, and the scavenger and the Mafia win. Both of them.
Conclusion: The role worked well during daytime discussions; it complicates the analysis. The downside is that the win conditions are initially flawed and create many paradoxes. This role doesn't feel like a town member at all; the execution of Ples, a co-leader, for the sake of victory is a clear indicator. Mafia? Well, in some cases, the Mafia might tolerate such a self-sacrificing role to get it eliminated during the day, for example. But overall, it's highly situational. Serial killer? I'd say it would be a strange serial killer. This role is more of a hindrance than a help, although it depends on the GM's goals.
2) Cub. This is our Imaris (he really was a Cub once). It's a Mafia role, and an interesting one. If the Cub is killed, the Mafia gets a double kill the following night. Furthermore, the Mafia can eat their own cub; in that case, they get two more kills that same night.
Reality: This role was used in several games and was always an asset for the Mafia. Sometimes it was eliminated during the day instead of another Mafia member, and sometimes it was killed at night to eliminate more important town members...
Conclusion: A definite plus.
3) Witch. A Mafia member who searches for a role check at night. Essentially, it's a Mafia role check, but with its own specific features.
Reality: In one of the games, I was the Witch. And Amchik was the role checker. Who was revealed on the very first day, yes... And the game starts with a daytime phase, yes... So, at night, I played it cool, pointed to Amchik. "Him?" An affirmative nod. Well, yes, who would doubt it?
Conclusion: A situational role, strongly tied to another specific role. Furthermore, its effectiveness decreases proportionally to the number of town players, which isn't great. At least it can kill like a regular Mafia member... In general, if we recall another example from the current Mafia game with a self-sacrificing serial killer (the Master), I would advise GMs not to get carried away with roles that are strongly tied to other specific roles.
4) Psychic Investigator (don't laugh. I'm serious, don't laugh! Okay, fine, I'll allow it...) This character doesn't check the status of a specific player; instead, they check for negative status on the player and both of their neighbors.
Reality: The same game. I and Ples were Mafia, and Amchik was the role checker. At night, we kill Amchik, and the Psychic Investigator points to Ples, who is sitting right in the middle between us. As a result, the Psychic Investigator says during the day that we and Ples are Mafia (although, strictly speaking, one of us is, well, I don't know, what the Psychic Investigator was thinking). How they eliminated the Psychic Investigator during the day is a separate question; I don't know what they were smoking, it was the town players. But then it was quite amusing how I eliminated my co-leader, Ples, to clear my name. In general, it was quite successful.
Conclusion: A very interesting role. However, in the realities of HW-Mafia, where statuses are usually more or less equal (there are no clearly negative or clearly positive statuses), we need to think more about the implementation. On the other hand, nothing prevents us from introducing specifically negative and positive statuses if the check will only be of that type.
5) I don't remember the name of the role. The essence is that it allows for another vote to be held on the same day.
Reality: The person didn't use the role very skillfully, was revealed, and immediately used the ability. As a result, the town couldn't succeed: they executed a town member and then a Mafia member. Yes, this was exactly what I was talking about in the previous point.
Conclusion: An interesting role, it should be very strong towards the end of the game when it's possible to execute two Mafia members at once. Although, for HW-Mafia, it needs to be slightly modified. We can't afford two days of 24 hours each, but we could make it so that people vote against two candidates at once... Why not? In my opinion, this option is more interesting than with the abilities of various mayors and governors, who supposedly eliminate whoever they want.
6) Plague Carrier. In principle, we had similar roles, but weaker. If the Mafia eats the Plague Carrier, they are inactive the following night.
Reality: A strong role, it has interfered with the Mafia several times.
Conclusion: A plus. Although... Perhaps it's too overpowered for HW-Mafia. But if it's weakened or has a counter, it will be fine.
7) Martyr. It's simple here; this role can sacrifice itself during the day to save someone who is about to be executed.
Reality: It really does save various role checkers effectively. Although, once, the martyr sacrificed herself, but the protector couldn't save the role that was being targeted; she was still killed at night. The protector had already protected her the previous night.
Conclusion: A good role. If we're adapting it for HW, we just need to strengthen it a little, for example, by pairing it with a strong town role. Or maybe we don't need to strengthen it; we need to see.
8) Cultist. A typical serial killer/recruiter, but... well, he can't do anything. He recruits and that's it; he can't do anything else, neither manage the recruited, nor redirect, nor anything.
Reality: We didn't even notice his presence. At some point, he just died, and that was it. He plays like a town member, and at night, he doesn't seem to do anything...
Conclusion: An example of how not to create serial killers. Instead of a serial killer, we got a simply weakened town member with unrealistic win conditions and a typical town behavior pattern.
9) Ghost. Attention to everyone who discussed various necromancers here! This is a town role. Its essence is that the person who receives it immediately dies: becomes a ghost. He reveals all roles, knows exactly what happens at night, but doesn't play during the day. The only thing he can do is, at the beginning of the day, he names a single letter. Just a letter, from the Cyrillic alphabet, no numbers. This is the end of his participation in the game (if we don't count the fact that in IRL Mafia, he actively walks around the table and points at everyone's role cards, sadly sighing and shaking his head).
Reality: No one understood what the ghost wanted to tell us.
Conclusion: It's unlikely that this role would be useful in HW-Mafia; it's boring and can only be revealed in IRL Mafia games. But the idea itself can be used. For example, the ghost status can be given as a bonus, say, to the town member who is killed first.
Sesame
Arandor
