David
But you called me here...
- Joined
- Aug 6, 2010
If you are interested in moderating a game of mafia, it is highly recommended that you read though this guide.
I imagine that you have come to this thread because first, you're interested in moderating your very own game of Mafia. Well, I'm going to teach you how to be one, and how to be an effective one.
When preparing to moderate a game of mafia, please follow forum and section rules. Please consult the Mafia Queue to sign up, view the moderation rules, and other information.
I am writing this post in several sections. This is to help you understand how big a process moderating a game of Mafia can be and how you can do it.
Some external sites that you may wish to consult are Mafia Scum Wiki and a few others [which i will include later].
Step 1: The Set-up
There are several “tiers” of difficulty that a Mafia game can have. Generally on the forums we split them up into two categories: Beginner’s Games and Moderate to Advanced Games. These two distinctions generally refer to the involvement of different roles, powers, and rules that can occur in a game.
The Beginner's Game
The beginner’s game is generally aimed toward players that are beginning their Mafia career. However, this set-up can be very general and aimed to offer a fresh experience to other advanced players. Here at Zelda Dungeon, we tend to have a beginner’s game running for beginning players as often as we feel necessary. If you want create a more advanced game, you can skip this section.
A beginner’s game relies on how many players will be playing. Generally a beginner’s game will have no more than 15 people playing at once, as it creates enough discussion without being too large. However, there can be less than 10 if the moderator so wishes.
The most basic set-up for a beginner’s game is a single mafia with a few members, a possible (rarely included) third party, and a handful of power roles for the town. The most common power roles included in this set up are, a Town Cop, a Town Doctor, a Mafia Godfather, and a 3rd Party Serial Killer. A general rule for a ratio of Town to Anti-Town (including 3rd party) is often 1 Anti-Town to evert 4 or 5 Town, depending on if you use a third party.
For example, if we follow the ratio above, if you wanted to play a game with 12 people, the break down would be as follows: 8 Town, with one as a Cop, and another as a Doctor; 3 Mafia, with one acting as Godfather; and one Serial Killer.
This type of set-up is pretty ideal for beginner’s games, as it lets the beginners experience what to expect in more advanced games. However, some Moderators choose to include more “advanced” or flavorful roles to fit their theme. For Example, in my beginner's game, Link’s Awakening (a few years ago), I included a Dreaming God. The player died quickly, but it was still fun to have a special role like that in the game. If you are a Beginner’s Moderator (as most first timers will be), it would be a good idea to send your set-up to an experienced player that has moderated games in the past. Just be sure that they aren’t in your game when you ask them!
The Moderate to Advanced Game
Now, this category of mafia games is what true mafia really is. This category has almost unlimited possibilities of roles, game sizes, and themes that you can imagine. The main difference between these two types is that moderate games should be aimed toward a less experienced group of players.
Moderate games would be best suited for individuals that have only played a beginners game, or have played only a handful of games. This means that the roles should not be too complicated, and the game should probably be restricted to a single mafia with several members, a single town, with 1-3 third parties. Nothing like a cult, or a second Mafia. Even with these restrictions, moderate games can still be very fun and complicated.
Advanced games, as the name implies, are of the craziest and most complex Mafia set ups that you can find. These set-ups are for moderators that like to moderate a really complex game, just like to mess with the players’ heads, or perhaps like to combine the two ideas. These set-ups must be balanced. For instance, if the town is over powered (like 2 cops, 2 doctors, a vigilante, some one-shot abilities and a Dreaming God), then the mafia will most certainly lose and won't have fun. Remember, the overarching purpose of Mafia is for every player to have fun. Advanced games can contain any roles, any alignment, and any combination of roles and players out there.
If you’d like to set up an advanced game, there are plenty of roles that can be found on the Mafia Wiki and loads of examples of games all over the Internet. But, if you're doing a themed game and none of the roles match a character that you want to have a power role, you can always make up a role with abilities that you make up.
Also, just as a side note, there are different styles of Mafia out there, but I won’t go into depth of how they work here. You can look them up yourself!
Step 2 - The Gear and Final Set-up Tips
To be a good mod, you must keep a record of all night/day actions, all players and their roles, all role PMs, the current dead, the current alive, and anything else that your game requires. You can use text files, word files, spreadsheets, a notepad and paper, or any other means of record keeping.
Also, you must have a set of answers and consequences for any type of awkward match-ups or situations to your game so that you aren’t just throwing out random answers for anyone. Do your best to anticipate problems that may arise. This is crucial for more advanced set-ups.
Step 3 - Getting the Game Ready To Go
Once you have your set-up complete and your turn to moderate a game is up, you may post your sign-up thread in the Mafia section of the forums (where we are now). As you wait for the sign-ups to fill, you should get the Role PMs written and ready to insert player names when ready. A role PM should contain the information within this following example:
What each part means:
[1]: Their Name: You might as well say their name so that you know who your sending it to, and so that they know it was meant for them.
[2]: The Character: If you are playing a themed game, it is best to give them a character, as this allows for fun name claims and other types of things that can happen in the game.
[3]: The Role: Give them the name of their role.
[4]: The Role Explanation: It is a good idea to explain what their role does, as they may not know what they can and cannot do just by the name of the role. Moderators can also give a little twist to each role, so you'll want to tell them about it, unless they shouldn't know.
[5]: The Win Condition (wincon): This is VITAL. Players need to know how they win. Win conditions could change depending on the game's mechanics, so its best to just clarify how they win.
[6]: Where to go for information: tell them how they can find out more about their character or role. Quite often, PMs are to give them the run down, and then they need to research everything else they need to know.
[7]: The Confirmation: Tell them to confirm in the Sign-up thread so that they don't forget. Its important to do that.
[8]: Closing: It is just courteous to close the PM with a good luck statement and your name.
You, as a moderator, can choose to include more or less information based on how your have set up your game. If you’ve chosen a theme for the game, you might want to use a different way of writing role PMs to match said theme. However, all Role PMs should all have the same basic structure.
When your game is full, start assigning roles to the players.
The most common way of assigning roles is using a Random Number Generator. The most popular one is located at http://www.Random.org . Assign each member a number, and then go through the list of roles/characters and use the random numbers to assign the rules. You could either use a Random selection, or use what we call "God Modding," which is assigning the roles by hand. This should be avoided, as favoritism might make it easier for one side to win. Remember, we want the games to be fun. So Randomizing the roles is the best way to do this. No one will know if you God Modded, but it will be on you!
When the roles are ready to go, edit the PMs accordingly (or write them if you didn’t follow my advice and write them sooner) and then send them out to each player (make sure it is the right player).
Step 4 - The Game Thread
When all players have confirmed in the sign up thread, you are ready to begin the game.
The first post always begins with a story of how the players got where they are, introducing the narrator (often the Game Moderator himself, or another character that can be used as if he were the Game Moderator). For examples on how this is done, refer to any of the old games that can be found in the Mafia section. The rest of the first post gives a list of all players (in a random order) that are playing the game. It also contains a posting requirement (if you choose to include one), the number living, the number required for a lynch, and the date and time the deadline occurs. You must also post your game rules in this same post, and try to be specific as to not need to edit or clarify later.
During the day, the Game Moderator must make tally posts at least once per page (unless the game thread suddenly gets active, then as often as possible). The Tally often looks like this:
Obviously, you can do it however you want, but this is a basic and functional template that you can use. Just remind them of how many are alive, the deadline, and how many votes are needed for a lynch.
At the end of the day, when either a majority is reached, or when the deadline occurs, the game moderator makes a post with the final tally and tells them that it is twilight. Twilight is the period of the game when all votes are final, but the players can continue the discussion. It is often during this time the game moderator is writing up the lynch scene. Twilight should last no more than 24 hours.
The lynch scene is fairly easy to write. Just give a quick recap on what the day was kinda like from the eyes of the moderator’s/narrator’s character. Then, tell the town how the target was lynched, what their role was (if you choose to reveal that information), and who their character was (unless a game mechanic keeps you from doing so). Give a little statement afterword on when you need power role PMs by, and any other remarks. Typically, a 2 day night phase is sufficient. If you are strict about no night posting, you can ask a moderator to lock a thread. Typically, though most people are honest and will not post during the night.
When the night is over, have a moderator unlock the thread (if you had them lock it). Then, you can write the Night/Morning scene. There are several different ways to do this. You can either tell if from the perspective of the Mod's character, a player's view as the action happened, or any other perspective as the theme allows. Just be sure to say who they were, how they died (generally a short clue to who it was, but do not state which party killed them!), and any other information about them. After the scene, post the living list, the dead list, the number living, the new lynch requirement, and the new deadline.
Remember, that when you Moderate a game, it is your job to remember the rules, set your rules, and enforce your rules. If a player breaks a rule or requirement, a modkill is necessary, unless you feel that it is not required. A warning system could be used in your game, much like it is on the forums. Moderating your game is mostly up to you. If there is a serious problem, come to a moderator, and they will help you sort out the problem and keep the game from being ruined.
Conclusion
That's pretty much all there is to know about moderating a Mafia game. If you have any questions, feel free to contact anybody that has moderated a past game, as we have the experience to help you out. Remember, if you need help with a role set up, contact one of us experienced members, and we'll help you out. Don’t forget to place your game and name in the queue!
Now, have fun, and keep Mafia-ing!
I imagine that you have come to this thread because first, you're interested in moderating your very own game of Mafia. Well, I'm going to teach you how to be one, and how to be an effective one.
When preparing to moderate a game of mafia, please follow forum and section rules. Please consult the Mafia Queue to sign up, view the moderation rules, and other information.
I am writing this post in several sections. This is to help you understand how big a process moderating a game of Mafia can be and how you can do it.
Some external sites that you may wish to consult are Mafia Scum Wiki and a few others [which i will include later].
Step 1: The Set-up
There are several “tiers” of difficulty that a Mafia game can have. Generally on the forums we split them up into two categories: Beginner’s Games and Moderate to Advanced Games. These two distinctions generally refer to the involvement of different roles, powers, and rules that can occur in a game.
The Beginner's Game
The beginner’s game is generally aimed toward players that are beginning their Mafia career. However, this set-up can be very general and aimed to offer a fresh experience to other advanced players. Here at Zelda Dungeon, we tend to have a beginner’s game running for beginning players as often as we feel necessary. If you want create a more advanced game, you can skip this section.
A beginner’s game relies on how many players will be playing. Generally a beginner’s game will have no more than 15 people playing at once, as it creates enough discussion without being too large. However, there can be less than 10 if the moderator so wishes.
The most basic set-up for a beginner’s game is a single mafia with a few members, a possible (rarely included) third party, and a handful of power roles for the town. The most common power roles included in this set up are, a Town Cop, a Town Doctor, a Mafia Godfather, and a 3rd Party Serial Killer. A general rule for a ratio of Town to Anti-Town (including 3rd party) is often 1 Anti-Town to evert 4 or 5 Town, depending on if you use a third party.
For example, if we follow the ratio above, if you wanted to play a game with 12 people, the break down would be as follows: 8 Town, with one as a Cop, and another as a Doctor; 3 Mafia, with one acting as Godfather; and one Serial Killer.
This type of set-up is pretty ideal for beginner’s games, as it lets the beginners experience what to expect in more advanced games. However, some Moderators choose to include more “advanced” or flavorful roles to fit their theme. For Example, in my beginner's game, Link’s Awakening (a few years ago), I included a Dreaming God. The player died quickly, but it was still fun to have a special role like that in the game. If you are a Beginner’s Moderator (as most first timers will be), it would be a good idea to send your set-up to an experienced player that has moderated games in the past. Just be sure that they aren’t in your game when you ask them!
The Moderate to Advanced Game
Now, this category of mafia games is what true mafia really is. This category has almost unlimited possibilities of roles, game sizes, and themes that you can imagine. The main difference between these two types is that moderate games should be aimed toward a less experienced group of players.
Moderate games would be best suited for individuals that have only played a beginners game, or have played only a handful of games. This means that the roles should not be too complicated, and the game should probably be restricted to a single mafia with several members, a single town, with 1-3 third parties. Nothing like a cult, or a second Mafia. Even with these restrictions, moderate games can still be very fun and complicated.
Advanced games, as the name implies, are of the craziest and most complex Mafia set ups that you can find. These set-ups are for moderators that like to moderate a really complex game, just like to mess with the players’ heads, or perhaps like to combine the two ideas. These set-ups must be balanced. For instance, if the town is over powered (like 2 cops, 2 doctors, a vigilante, some one-shot abilities and a Dreaming God), then the mafia will most certainly lose and won't have fun. Remember, the overarching purpose of Mafia is for every player to have fun. Advanced games can contain any roles, any alignment, and any combination of roles and players out there.
If you’d like to set up an advanced game, there are plenty of roles that can be found on the Mafia Wiki and loads of examples of games all over the Internet. But, if you're doing a themed game and none of the roles match a character that you want to have a power role, you can always make up a role with abilities that you make up.
Also, just as a side note, there are different styles of Mafia out there, but I won’t go into depth of how they work here. You can look them up yourself!
Step 2 - The Gear and Final Set-up Tips
To be a good mod, you must keep a record of all night/day actions, all players and their roles, all role PMs, the current dead, the current alive, and anything else that your game requires. You can use text files, word files, spreadsheets, a notepad and paper, or any other means of record keeping.
Also, you must have a set of answers and consequences for any type of awkward match-ups or situations to your game so that you aren’t just throwing out random answers for anyone. Do your best to anticipate problems that may arise. This is crucial for more advanced set-ups.
Step 3 - Getting the Game Ready To Go
Once you have your set-up complete and your turn to moderate a game is up, you may post your sign-up thread in the Mafia section of the forums (where we are now). As you wait for the sign-ups to fill, you should get the Role PMs written and ready to insert player names when ready. A role PM should contain the information within this following example:
What each part means:
[1]: Their Name: You might as well say their name so that you know who your sending it to, and so that they know it was meant for them.
[2]: The Character: If you are playing a themed game, it is best to give them a character, as this allows for fun name claims and other types of things that can happen in the game.
[3]: The Role: Give them the name of their role.
[4]: The Role Explanation: It is a good idea to explain what their role does, as they may not know what they can and cannot do just by the name of the role. Moderators can also give a little twist to each role, so you'll want to tell them about it, unless they shouldn't know.
[5]: The Win Condition (wincon): This is VITAL. Players need to know how they win. Win conditions could change depending on the game's mechanics, so its best to just clarify how they win.
[6]: Where to go for information: tell them how they can find out more about their character or role. Quite often, PMs are to give them the run down, and then they need to research everything else they need to know.
[7]: The Confirmation: Tell them to confirm in the Sign-up thread so that they don't forget. Its important to do that.
[8]: Closing: It is just courteous to close the PM with a good luck statement and your name.
You, as a moderator, can choose to include more or less information based on how your have set up your game. If you’ve chosen a theme for the game, you might want to use a different way of writing role PMs to match said theme. However, all Role PMs should all have the same basic structure.
When your game is full, start assigning roles to the players.
The most common way of assigning roles is using a Random Number Generator. The most popular one is located at http://www.Random.org . Assign each member a number, and then go through the list of roles/characters and use the random numbers to assign the rules. You could either use a Random selection, or use what we call "God Modding," which is assigning the roles by hand. This should be avoided, as favoritism might make it easier for one side to win. Remember, we want the games to be fun. So Randomizing the roles is the best way to do this. No one will know if you God Modded, but it will be on you!
When the roles are ready to go, edit the PMs accordingly (or write them if you didn’t follow my advice and write them sooner) and then send them out to each player (make sure it is the right player).
Step 4 - The Game Thread
When all players have confirmed in the sign up thread, you are ready to begin the game.
The first post always begins with a story of how the players got where they are, introducing the narrator (often the Game Moderator himself, or another character that can be used as if he were the Game Moderator). For examples on how this is done, refer to any of the old games that can be found in the Mafia section. The rest of the first post gives a list of all players (in a random order) that are playing the game. It also contains a posting requirement (if you choose to include one), the number living, the number required for a lynch, and the date and time the deadline occurs. You must also post your game rules in this same post, and try to be specific as to not need to edit or clarify later.
During the day, the Game Moderator must make tally posts at least once per page (unless the game thread suddenly gets active, then as often as possible). The Tally often looks like this:
Obviously, you can do it however you want, but this is a basic and functional template that you can use. Just remind them of how many are alive, the deadline, and how many votes are needed for a lynch.
At the end of the day, when either a majority is reached, or when the deadline occurs, the game moderator makes a post with the final tally and tells them that it is twilight. Twilight is the period of the game when all votes are final, but the players can continue the discussion. It is often during this time the game moderator is writing up the lynch scene. Twilight should last no more than 24 hours.
The lynch scene is fairly easy to write. Just give a quick recap on what the day was kinda like from the eyes of the moderator’s/narrator’s character. Then, tell the town how the target was lynched, what their role was (if you choose to reveal that information), and who their character was (unless a game mechanic keeps you from doing so). Give a little statement afterword on when you need power role PMs by, and any other remarks. Typically, a 2 day night phase is sufficient. If you are strict about no night posting, you can ask a moderator to lock a thread. Typically, though most people are honest and will not post during the night.
When the night is over, have a moderator unlock the thread (if you had them lock it). Then, you can write the Night/Morning scene. There are several different ways to do this. You can either tell if from the perspective of the Mod's character, a player's view as the action happened, or any other perspective as the theme allows. Just be sure to say who they were, how they died (generally a short clue to who it was, but do not state which party killed them!), and any other information about them. After the scene, post the living list, the dead list, the number living, the new lynch requirement, and the new deadline.
Remember, that when you Moderate a game, it is your job to remember the rules, set your rules, and enforce your rules. If a player breaks a rule or requirement, a modkill is necessary, unless you feel that it is not required. A warning system could be used in your game, much like it is on the forums. Moderating your game is mostly up to you. If there is a serious problem, come to a moderator, and they will help you sort out the problem and keep the game from being ruined.
Conclusion
That's pretty much all there is to know about moderating a Mafia game. If you have any questions, feel free to contact anybody that has moderated a past game, as we have the experience to help you out. Remember, if you need help with a role set up, contact one of us experienced members, and we'll help you out. Don’t forget to place your game and name in the queue!
Now, have fun, and keep Mafia-ing!
Last edited:
