Posts from Mafia 104. Alrion Auto-translated

A few words from the game master

Players
After the "Libert Brothers' Colony" game was put on hold, I lost some of my enthusiasm for running Mafia games, so I didn't expect as many as seventeen people to sign up for this test game. This allowed me to choose and write the kind of plot I wanted. For that, I express my gratitude to everyone who participated in this game.

Masks
In my opinion, the presence of masks in Mafia is, with a few minor technical difficulties, a purely positive thing. As a game master and as a reader, I found it much more engaging to watch the game in this format.

The game itself
The first day was good, but from the second day onwards, I was a little disappointed with the game – there was essentially no day phase. The situation improved closer to the finale. I'd also like to note that it was very interesting to see what decisions the Mafia and the Serial Killer would make, as there was a very subtle dynamic between them.

The future of Mafia
I believe that we should move closer to a more psychological style of Mafia. In its current form, the newspapers are very sparse (vague descriptions were removed because many people didn't like them, and the number of displayed Non-Player Characters decreased over time because otherwise it was too easy to guess the roles), and there isn't much to discuss during the day phase.

I agree about the psychomafia aspect, and it will also require less game mechanics to be incorporated into the role-playing. Thanks for the game.

Forget the mafia, let’s go grind for experience instead.

I also agree with this statement.

The future of the Mafia
I believe we should move towards a more psychological approach to the Mafia. In its current state, the newspapers are very sparse (vague descriptions were removed because many people didn't like them, and the number of displayed non-player characters has decreased over time because otherwise the roles were too easy to read) and there's not much to discuss during the day.

I think we should move towards more diversity.
Create three sections: Classics, Experimentals, and Masks, and sort the games accordingly. Why limit ourselves to just one thing when we can try different things? First, what doesn't work one time might work later, and second, it gives game masters more freedom of expression.

Well, it’s clear that everyone can do it however they want. These are just my observations.

my personal observation: Psychomafia is not for hardcore Heroes of Might and Magic players.
Either make a different balance or... I don't know.
Personally, I can't play Heroes of Might and Magic using psychological tactics.

You can only play HeroesWorld while high.

When choosing targets, I had different motives. I wanted to eliminate the characters I disliked the most and those who were less useful/interesting for gaining experience, and sometimes those who were more dangerous to our future group. And, of course, I didn't forget about game balance.
First, I chose the Sorceress (it's obvious why, right?). I thought about taking her artifact for the King, and besides, no one would suspect that the King killed his guest. Although, because of her knowledge, I didn't really want to do it.
I certainly didn't want to execute Tyra; I thought she was an interesting character and might be useful in the future expedition. But I'm a maniac; I need to get rid of people by any means. I had to do it; life forced me.
I wanted to kill Aris throughout the game because I didn't like him, and I also suspected him for half the game; he had a motive.
I wanted to kill Ormhild after she attacked me and when I found out she was a Mafia member. I wanted to do it at night after the day Erseyd was executed because I was afraid she would come to investigate me (or on another day). In fact, I also didn't want to execute Erseyd; I believed him and almost certainly wouldn't have voted for his execution because the Mafia were dominating. When he was executed, I didn't risk killing Ormhild/anyone else. I just didn't know which side had the advantage and was partially afraid of the Mafia's defense. If I had taken the risk, the Mafia would have won even earlier.
I chose her sister because I suspected her of collusion, plus I didn't want to encounter such a character in the expedition.
Amael also seemed like a not-so-great character to encounter in the expedition; I started suspecting her on one of the first days but then wrote her off as a villager. In fact, Ment changed my initial opinion/perception of her with her gameplay.
I killed Hasumi because of the clues; she seemed too eager, plus she wasn't a very important character for the expedition.
I was considering killing Gora later because, as a character, he wasn't very good either. But in the middle, I started to think of him as a villager and removed him from the list even further; I miscalculated.
I didn't want to touch Navirius and Arsaid, but I would have done it if necessary.
I also didn't plan to touch Aravella, although at the beginning, she seemed suspicious to me, and I considered killing her.
I didn't pay attention to Ophelia (she could have been useful for choosing a religion in the expedition) until that night when she miraculously survived. I immediately thought that she was Mafia.
Selenid was just a suspicious character and didn't seem very important either. Something like Gora.
Richard was also a slippery type; I had suspicions, as in the case of Aravella, but I wasn't in a hurry to kill him. Someone would definitely have had that opportunity in the expedition.
I didn't really think about Tizetria, but I think I started to consider him as Mafia in the middle. As a character, he seemed neutral.

At some point, I wanted to make the King a cool NPC in the expedition, with a bunch of artifacts and other cool stuff.

It's clear why, right?

A vile hater of dark elves!

I added some notes about the balance, because it might have seemed like I wasn't thinking about the Mafia at all. I was hoping to end the game with one Mafia member and a couple of Townies, but the balance shifted too much in favor of the Mafia. It's a shame that things turned out the way they did with Erseid and Alex.

The future of the mafia
I believe we should move closer to a psychological mafia approach.

Sheriff, doctor, maniac, 3 mafia members, and a bunch of peaceful "meat"?

The set of roles doesn't matter and can be anything as long as balance is maintained.
There's no need to copy roles from random websites, after all.

This is what psychological tricks lead to in the context of this format...

Initially, I chose the Tribes of the East (it's obvious why, right?)

By the way, in the Might & Magic forums, I used this as an argument in favor of your obsession with that faction in the early days...