For those unfamiliar with the game of Mafia (known to some as "Werewolf"), here's a brief description:
Mafia is a game of intrigue, deduction, and deception. There are two basic teams: the "town" and the "mafia." The town is always the larger of the two groups (typically three times the size of the mafia). The town's objective is to root out the members of the mafia hidden amongst them, before the mafia destroy them and seize control of the town.
The game is divided into day and night phases. During the day, the town investigates amongst itself, and each town player can cast votes against the players who they believe are mafia members. Meanwhile, the mafia will also control their own votes, and will be trying to blend in and do their best to pretend to be participating in the hunt for the mafia. A majority vote results in that player being eliminated from the game, and their alignment as mafia or town revealed. Then, the game will proceed to the night phase. During the night phase, the mafia will secretly select a target of their own to kill, and players on both teams will use any other special abilities they possess. The game ends when either all of the mafia have been rooted out, or there are so few townies left alive that they can no longer achieve a majority vote to eliminate the mafia.
Any number of other abilities may also be used, though these are specific to each game. One of the more common roles with abilities include Cops, which can investigate the alignment of a player each night by sending that name to the mod. The mod will then respond to that player with a result of Innocent or Guilty – an indicator of whether or not a player is a member of the mafia. Another common role is the Doctor, who can send in the name of a player at night with the hope of defending them. If that player would have been killed that night, the Doctor's ability prevents the kill.
Many Mafia games have storyline and themes that make them very interesting to play in. Game mods often go to great lengths to make games saturated with flavor, which often bleeds into game mechanics. Thus, every game is different, and some of them are very complex. Strategies and counter-strategies have been developed for hundreds of situations, and yet, the thrill of uncertainty that made the original game so exciting to play is still present. Go sign up for a game, and see what the craze is all about!
For more information on how to play, see the MafiaScum wiki. A flash tutorial has also been made by one of the MafiaScum users.
Around 2 games of various types are run concurrently in the Mafia subforum. Whenever one game finishes, a new one will be posting signups within a few days, so check back often if you're waiting to get into a game. If you want to sign up for a new game, just wait until new signups are posted, then post there.
I want to play a game of Mafia! How do I sign up?
Game signups are often open. Just pop in to the most recent signup thread and type "/in". The game moderator will contact you when the game is ready to begin, and and answer any questions you may have. If there are no open sigups, you can indicate your preference in the contact list thread, and you will be PM'd when signsups for a game type you are interested in get posted. Smaller games with 12 players or less tend to be the best for new players to start with.
If you have any questions before signing up, you can also private message Azrael, Bur, Silvercrys3467 or shadowlancerx who help keep the forum running smoothly, and they would be happy to help you. They can also find you a player mentor to offer advice and assistance, and keep an eye open for games that are friendly to new players and let you know when those are open.
There are currently four types of games: Micro games, Mini games, Normal games and FTQ games. FTQ games can be more complicated, so if you're just starting out, you may not want to try them unless you're feeling spunky or adventurous.
The Mafia Subforum
This forum is for playing and discussing the game of Mafia. All of the MTGS Forum Rules apply here, though keep in mind the following notes:
In Mafia games, a short post that looks like spam may not necessarily be spam, depending on the relevancy to the game. Still, true spam will be infracted, and borderline spam may be warned.
Even though Mafia involves attacking other players, flaming is still not allowed. Please refrain from personal insults, especially personal insults coupled with profanity. Attacking another user's play (e.g. "That was an incredibly stupid vote") is acceptable.
Due to the nature of Mafia, double-posting is allowed *if* the second post contains actual content. Examples of double posts that are not discouraged include spam and correcting a minor typo that does not affect the essential meaning of your post. Posting more than 3 times consecutively as a player in a game may result in Moderator action; please be sensible and try to ensure that your posts, if spanning across multiple consecutive posts, do contain substantial content, short of correcting typos.
Mod text (bold + red) is permitted in the Mafia subforum only, for in-game purposes such as scum lists. Do not use bold red in your signature or any other areas of the site.
Common Game Rules
Each game will have its own set of rules, but almost all games will start with the following:
Follow MTGS rules (see above)
The spirit of the rules is as important as the letter: if you think you have found a mistake or loophole, talk to the mod about it before you post.
Do not edit or delete your posts
Do not post after you are dead
Do not post in the thread while the game is in Night
Do not directly quote or screenshot your role PM, or any other communication from the mod or from any other private communication. You may paraphrase this information. If you have the slightest doubt, check with the mod before posting.
As long as the game is ongoing, do not talk to anyone about the game outside of the game unless your role PM explicitly allows you to. That means anyone.
I'm new to the game. What should I do?
First thing, let us know in the contact list thread that you're new and that you'd like to play a game. You can also go to a sign-up thread and post "/in" to signal you want to join that game. When enough players sign up, the game will start and you will be notified by PM (so keep and eye out!).
When it comes to actually playing the game, there are many different styles. Some players focus on small details, such as other players' choice of words. Others try to put themselves in the other player's shoes, and think if their actions make more sense from town or mafia. Some try to see if a player's emotions and convictions appear to be sincere and genuine. Others look for players who seem to be hurting the town. Meanwhile, the mafia can either do their best to seem perfectly ordinary, and simulate how they would act if they were town - and/or they can manipulate the town into destroying themselves from within.
Copied below are a number of helpful articles which explore many of these ideas in greater depth.
Vanilla Townie: normal player without any special abilities, aside from the ability to vote. Every single basic (and most nonbasics) will have a least a few of these roles.
Town Doctor: a protective role that may be used once a night to protect someone from a killing action, such as a nightkill or vig' shot. In most variations, the doctor cannot protect himself (with very rare exceptions).
Town Cop: an investigative role that may be used once at night to determine if a player is mafia or town. Considered the strongest investigative role by most users. (occasionally unreliable, see Variation--Questionable Cops)
Town Vigilante: often referred to as a vig, the vigilante is a killing role that may be used at night to kill any target player. In basics, sometimes the Vigilante is given a limit of 1-2 shots, meaning they can only use the ability a limited number of times. Full vigs do not have a shot limit.
Town Tracker: an investigative role that can target a player at night and will be told by the mod that player targeted anyone else, but not know what they did. (Because the tracker has to specifically target the player doing something, this is considered one of the weaker investigative roles.)
Town Watcher: an investigative role that targets a player at night. The watcher will then be told by the mod if anyone else targets the player the watcher chooses, although will be unaware of what actions are attempted on the target. (The watcher is a good role for catching a scum on an obvious nightkill target.)
Town Roleblocker: This is a town disabler role. The target of this role will be unable to use any of their abilities the night targeted. In most cases, this will also stop the mafia night kill. A town role blocker is uncommon, but not heard of, as the role blocker in a game in typically a scum role blocker. (This is considered a weaker role, due to having the tracker weakness of having to target the correct player, as well as the ability to backfire by disabling another town player.)
Bulletproof Townie: This is a town passive role. This townie cannot be killed by abilities, although can still be lynched normally. (This is considered powerful, as without claiming, this role can usually soak up at least 1 mafia nightkill. In basics, this will usually take the place of a protective role.)
Town Jailer: a combination of disabler and protective. The target of the jailer will be protected (see Doc), but cannot use abilities either (see Roleblocker). Jailers can never target themselves as this creates a paradox. (Typically protects the doctor in a basic.)
[Town] Mason(s): a group of players with a separate chat that they can communicate with each other. The largest advantage of the masons are that they can confirm themselves as town, and coordinate behind the scenes. [This assumes "confirmed masons." In some variations in larger games, three (or more?) masons may have a scum mason in the group with the remaining players being uninformed of this fact; known as "unconfirmed masons."]
Town Hider: a protective role. At night, this player may hide themselves behind another player, and will only be killed if the player they are hiding behinds dies. Some variations will kill the hider if they hide behind a non-town player, while others have restrictions (e.g. you can only hide every other day).
Town Back-up Role: a role that activates on the death of another power role and takes their place. Until the original power dies, a back up is vanilla for all intents and purposes. Upon the death of the character, the back-up "activates" and is told by the mod what they are. Common back-ups include a cop (deputy), doctor (nurse), or vigilante (side kick?).
Town Jack of All Trades: a role with usually have 2-3 different examples of common abilities (such as doctor, cop, or vig), but will only have a shot or two of each. (How to make the most of those abilities is the key to using this role.)
Town Role Cop: an investigative role similar to the typical "alignment cop," the role cop will receive from the mod the ability(ies) of whoever is targeted at night, but not the alignment. (While useful for gathering information and clearing claims, this is weaker/less reliable than an actual cop.)
[INDENT]Variation--Day Abilities (Cop/vig)
Although rare, day cops or vigs are the same as their standard counterparts, but their abilities can be used during the day. In this situation, typically the choice to cop or vig will be announced publicly in bold, with some sort of mod confirmation.
MAFIA ROLES:
Mafia Goon: the equivalent of a Vanilla Townie, a Goon has no special powers other than the vote, the mafia night chat, and the fact that he knows who his teammates are.
Mafia Roleblocker: this is a disable ability that prevents the target from using their night action. Typically, you will receive flavor text from the moderator, even if you did not attempt an action or don’t have an ability, although it will not be confirmed you’re were roleblocked. (By far, the most common type of scum PR in a basic.)
Mafia Rolecop: similar to the town rolecop, this is a scum power used to help determine town roles. At night, that player is targeted and their role (in any) is revealed. This can help determine who to use the mafia’s night kill on.
Mafia Tracker: a weaker version of the rolecop, the scum tracker works as a town tracker does with the same purpose as the Scum Role Cop: To find town power roles.
Mafia Tough Guy: the mafia’s version of the vig. This role is considered powerful, because unlike a town vig, the scum tough guy knows who NOT to shoot.
Mafia Godfather: this is considered one of the stronger mafia roles. The Godfather’s most relevant power is that he/she will return a non-guilty verdict from a cop investigation. In some versions, the Godfather is also immune to night kill shots, and can also make the final decisions for the scum nightkill.
NEUTRAL ROLES:
Survivor: a role where the players goal is simply to survive to the end game. They don't care if Mafia or Town get lynched, just as long as they don't. They can either play as town and take the chance of getting nightkilled, or play scummy and take the chance of getting lynched.
Serial Killer: Independent player who has a nightkill ability and a goal to kill everyone else in the game. This player wins if they are the last player standing.
Some of these entries are internet or site specific acronyms, and not specific to the game. New people still sometimes need them explained. If you find this to be too much "dumbing down" feel free to say so, but also accept that this whole glossary may simply not be meant for you. Thanks!
Basic game: a game of the simplest level of design. Players should expect traditional mafia roles with very little embellishment. [Basic games are an excellent place to work on mastering behavioral analysis techniques. While new players are always welcome to join other game types, basic games provide a simple, uncomplicated introduction to the fundamentals of the Mafia game.]
Bastard Game: A setup in which the moderator inflicts confusing, difficult, suspicious-seeming, or misleading roles and mechanics on the players. Generally disapproved of, in favor of games that put a greater emphasis on analyzing behavior than role analysis.
Bastard Mod: A moderator who designs bastard games.
“barn” (/barn): to agree with it without contributing independent thought; short for barnacle, it is meant to be a metaphor for riding along with someone else’s opinion.
Burnout: a player ability that, when used, removes all other abilities the player has for the rest of the game.
Bus: an action word (often “bussing”) used to describe when a mafia member actively votes or participates in the lynching of one of their teammates in order to gain credibility in the eyes of the town. Sometimes even leads to full lynches of mafia by other mafia in order to win the overall game.
CC: Counter-Claim (See below)
Claim: giving out the information in your role PM in a post during a game. (This must be paraphrased and retyped because copying and pasting, or “quoting”, is against the spirit of uncertainty in the game.) This is called a claim because it cannot be called a certainty until the player is dead (or the game is over in some extreme cases) Types include:
[INDENT]False Claim: a claim where a player lies about his PM information because to tell the truth would cause some sort of game disadvantage. Mafia must typically false claim to keep from getting lynched, but sometimes Town false claim, too. This is generally to keep from exposing power roles.
Full Claim: the type of claim usually required when you are within a few votes of being lynched. Includes all pertinent information from your role PM.
Mass Claim: everyone playing gives their role PM in the game thread to put all the information out there and make it potentially harder for scum to hide.
Soft Claim: a claim where someone has given partial information as to their role PM, such as name, gender, etc.
[/INDENT]Confirmed: a word used to describe a player that has been proven or verified as a town member.
Counter-Claim: an action taken by a player who sees part of their own unique claim used as another player’s defense. Usually used to catch scum in lies. (As in many cases in this game, sometimes the reverse is true as well where a scum false counter-claims when a town player is forced to claim. See False Claim above.)
Crypto-Claim: Crypto-Claims/Acronym Claim - Crypto-claiming is a method of forcing players to put their role claims on record publicly in encrypted form, without revealing their content until a later time. The most common method of crypto-claiming is the acronym claim, in which players encrypt a message describing their role by posting the first letter of every word in the message, together with the number of words and the number of characters in the message. Later, the town can require each player to reveal the encoded message, and verify that the word and character limits match. Generally a banned game maneuver. Attributed to Azrael. Example: TYVM. 4 words, 16 letters. Decoded: Thank you very much.
Day (as opposed to day): game phase where players post in the thread, attempt to make cases, and vote for lynches. When lower-case, indicates “in real life” time.
Deadline: a set time where the remaining players must reach a consensus vote as to who will be lynched or the Mod will be forced to move the game into the next (usually Night) Phase.
Distancing: a scum tactic where two scum argue or post against each other, either by fighting over a third party or about their own loyalties. This makes it harder to tell who the scum are if one player of the pair is lynched. Sometimes results in a Bus (See Above).
EBWODP: Edit By Way Of Double Post. Since editing posts is illegal in this game and sometimes corrections need to be made, by starting a second post with this acronym you may fix errors that make the content of the original post confusing.
EWP: Edit While Previewing(?). Before posting and when previewing a post about to be sent, this is an edit that occurs because someone else has posted since the player performing the edit started their composition.
False Claim: see Claim.
Fearmongering: a baseless argument where a player declares simply that something bad will happen if they are lynched.
Fishing: mafia technique of using statements to elicit information from someone(s) in the game that they would normally keep to themselves. Typically used to determine town power roles.
Flavor: the fictional design elements added to a game of Mafia that give it style and uniqueness. Frequently loosely based off of popular cultural fictional properties, this gives the players something to discuss and characters to portray i.e. roles.
Flavor Gaming: attempting to use the implementation of flavor in the game as a means to deduce facts about the game and thereby change the game state.
[This strategy falls under heavy criticism as it is unreliable since there is no way to know if the Moderator or Setup Creator threw twists into the game that are counter-intuitive to the original flavor (e.g. in a game with historical figures, Benedict Arnold could just as easily be a Neutral character as a Mafia character; in a ret-con of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, perhaps Shredder and Krang are fighting against each other and the turtles are mind controlled on one side of the game creating all sorts of counter intuitive alliances. See Basic #37: Super Sentai Mafia Force, Go! for a perfect example of this.)]
Flip: when a player dies in the game, a short term to indicate the result that is revealed, i.e. to “When you flip scum…” or, “When I flip town…”.
Flooding: also known as post-flooding, can infrequently be a scum play but is more frequently an overly enthusiastic new player’s misunderstanding of how to maintain a healthy game where everyone can keep up, even if they don’t follow the game every day. Akin to spam in any forum thread on the internet.
FoS: Finger of Suspicion. Weaker than a vote, stronger than simply speaking about concerns that a player’s posts have created, FoS is meant as an attention grabber for the town to notice and also an in-game attack on the player indicated. (Also sometimes HoS, Hand of Suspicion and PoS, Pinkie of Suspicion. These last two are degrees of emphasis for FoS that have been used in Mafia elsewhere.)
FTQ or Fast-Track-Queue game: a process where a game is selected by an experienced commitee of players to skip the usual wait time for start-up. Games vary in their complexity.
Gambit: an active line of play, frequently involving deception, where a player takes a specific series of actions to illicit change in the game to benefit their team. Examples include a false counter claim, bussing, false claiming an investigative role and a known result, Daykill attempts to illicit responses, etc.
Gimmick: An account where an experienced player may disguise who they are to play the game without months or years of previous experience in the thread for others to read up on. Etiquette dictates that the other player in a game with a Gimmick trust the Moderators of not only the game but also the sub-forum that a Gimmick is a player participating within the rules, and that efforts to determine their identity are against the spirit of the game no matter how frustrating this is to the non-gimmick player.
Goon: a basic mafia role without any special powers in the game. This character is more expendable to the mafia than a power role.
Hammer: to cast the last vote that lynches a player. (Has a sort of “Hot Potato” feel to it, meaning the last player to vote on a lynch is left with the hammer the next day, meaning they will be usually the first suspect. Frequently seen as a scum tell when actually is a null tell. The motivation behind the last vote must be determined to be certain if the hammering player is town or not.)
Hydra: a form of gimmick account where two or more players are playing as one. This is sometimes used as a method of mentoring, other times it actually is a game element, and occasional other times it can be used by a pair of experienced players as a shared account to help free them from meta expectations.
IGMEOY: I’ve Got My Eye On You. Another weaker variation of FoS generally regarded as more warning than accusation.
IIRC: If I Recall Correctly.
IMO: In My Opinion. Also IMHO, with H standing for Honest/Humble.
“in” (/in): used in sign up threads to indicate interest in joining the game
ITT: In This Thread, also sometimes I Think That...
Kingmaker: rarely used variant game structure where instead of a majority vote leading to a lynch, during Night one player is made "king" and holds the power of the Day's lynch decision.
L-1: Lynch minus one, meaning one vote away from a the number of votes required to lynch a player. Any other L-# you see indicates (the number required to lynch) - (the number voting lynch on the higest voted player now) = #
LAL: Lynch All Liars. A philosophical viewpoint that basically states, “If you lie, we will lynch you,” based on the idea that town players shouldn’t lie.
Lurking: the practice of posting at a minimum so as to contribute sparingly and thereby raise little confirmable suspicion. Sometimes a tactic used to execute scum strategies and get to more powerful night actions, but then again sometimes used by town power roles to avoid mislynches. ("Lurking in plain sight" would be posting nothing that changes the game state, while appearing to keep a reasonable post count.)
(My)LyLo: (Mis)Lynch or Lose. Late game state where town players must come together and vote correctly or they will be at even numbers with the scum and thereby lose the game. "Mislynch or lose" is a variant where the town can safely no-lynch, but can't mislynch or they will lose.
Lynch: the point in a game when the votes on a single player equal a majority of the players left alive and that player is killed. Types include:
[INDENT]Safe Lynch: A safe lynch is a term coined for lynching either a claimed nuetral role, or a claimed town who has added none or negatively effected the town through WIFOM, distraction, ect. It is called a safe lynch because a lynch on this person will not harm the town, regardless of alignment.
Policy Lynch: Like a safe lynch, a policy lynch does not typically care if the target is scum or not, but to lynch a distraction, or a player who commits a pretty clear cut scum tell. The most common example of policy lynch is the Lynch all Liars clause. However, typically distraction players may also be considered for a policy lynch, however, not everyone agrees policy lynches are best for a game.
[/INDENT]Mass Claim: see Claim.
Mentor: an experienced player that offers some of their time to help a new player by being a “behind the scenes” source to answer questions about the game. Questions can range from vocabulary, to previous examples of when game results occurred, to general strategy advice. Mentors are advised to not give play-by-play instructions or make decisions for the new player, but to tell them (usually between phases) what they have done right and wrong already. Suggestions of what to do next are not allowed, and specific examples about other players in the game at hand are not allowed. (Communications with a Mentor are usually handled in a QT monitored by the Mod.)
Meta: short for metagaming, and used to describe understanding a player’s behavior based on the readable pattern of actions a player uses when they are either town or scum based on the observations of other players. Through research of previous games, can frequently be used on experienced players as a map to their intentions in a current game. (Also can mean having an understanding of the player in question from outside the game, and thereby gaining insight into their playstyle.)
Mini game: a game with 12 or less players that varies in complexity, but usually more complicated than a Basic.
Mislynch: a lynch where the dead player is revealed to be town aligned.
Mod: short for Moderator. The forum member that runs the game and regulates actions taken by the players for fairness with impartiality.
Modkill: a punishment handed out when a player breaks certain hard-and-fast rules in the game, such as quoting role PM material word-for-word or discussing an ongoing game outside of the game itself. Also sometimes a consequence of inactivity.
Neutral: a role or roles that are in the game that are neither town aligned nor mafia aligned. They have an independent agenda and win condition. (Not found in Basic games.)
Night (as opposed to night): phase of the game where players do not post in the main game thread and any actions/powers are relayed to the mod to set up the next day. (Picture this as the stereotypical murder-mystery movie scene where the lights go out, someone screams, and the lights come back on to reveal someone dead in the middle of the room.) When lower-case, indicates “in real life” time.
Nightkill: the mafia’s action, taken during the night phase of the game, of sending the Mod a name of a town player they wish to be dead. Usually sent by one mafia player to the mod, indicating they will be the actually “nightkiller” or assassin. This term is usually meant to define one specific, mafia-sponsored and controlled kill that happens during the night phase, i.e. “the nightkill” as opposed to other deaths that occur during night such as a “vig-shot” (See Vig) or SK kill (See SK).
Normal game: a game expected to have a higher complexity than a Basic, but a lower complexity than a Specialty. Usually contains a high player count as well.
No Lynch: a voting choice outside of the normal decision to name a player for lynching. If majority agrees to the No Lynch option, the game will proceed to the next phase (Night) without a player dying by lynch.
OOC: Out Of Character, meant to delineate a player-to-player statement or detail relayed in-game but not pertaining to the game at hand. Sometimes IC, or In Character, is used to return to the action of the game. Also sometimes /aside is used, or a spoiler, etc. [Etiquette dictates these statements (and all other statements about real life) are to be taken at face value and are not to be questioned in terms of game tells. Etiquette also dictates these be kept to a minimum and all players be truthful when using them.]
Outed: describes a power role or other in-game advantage that was secret information and has been revealed in the game posts, i.e. "I outted myself as the Cop because..."
PBPA: Post By Post Analysis. This occurs when Player 1 quotes or links to all relevant previous substantive posts made by Player 2, and then breaks down why Player 2 is scum according to Player 1’s concerns and observations.
PCQ or Player’s-Choice-Queue game: similar to the FTQ in that it skips the usual wait time for hosting, this is a community based process that results in a game setup being chosen by popular vote.
Phase: indicates a portion of the game such as Day or Night, or Twilight.
PoE: Process of Elimination.
Policy Lynch: see Lynch.
Post Restriction: additional requirement sent in a PM where a players posts must conform to some preset quirk, such as only posting at some preset frequency, misspelling words, making flavor references, speaking as their character, rhyming, or not posting at all.
Power Role: any role in the game that has some sort of ability to affect the game beyond casting a vote (e.g. Doctor, Cop, Godfather, Vigilante, etc.). See the Roles section for more information and examples.
Prod: a PM sent to an inactive player in an attempt to see if they are interested in continuing to play in the game, and to tell them that they are lagging behind.
QT: QuickTopic, indicating a thread on an independent site for the side communications of a game. Everything from scum night chat, to player diaries, to spectator content and mentor threads are handles in the form of a QT.
RVS: Random Vote Section. The very beginning of the game where people make votes and jokes to start discussion since they have nothing much else to go on. In games with experienced players this sometimes simply doesn’t happen. When it ends is arbitrary.
“Replace” (/replace): Used in sign-up threads to indicate an interest in taking over the role of a player that either drops out of the game deliberately or abandons the game for reasons unknown.
Reviewer: an experienced Mafia player whose job it is to read through other people’s setups and make sure they are balanced before play proceeds.
Role: a player’s character and win conditions in the game, supplied by the Moderator before the game begins. Examples include:
[INDENT]Bob (Vanilla Town), You win when all mafia are dead.
Darth Vader, Sith Lord (Mafia Roleblocker), With the power of the Force (strengthened by the Dark Side) at your command, you wield the ability to once per night disable the actions of any player in the game. You win when the forces of the Empire are equal in number to the forces of the Rebellion, as they will be powerless against you and they might of the Death Star you command. [with Emperor Palpatine (Mafia Godfather) in the same game, of course :D]
[/INDENT]Safe Lynch: see Lynch.
Scum: Mafia and other non-town. Basically any player that doesn’t have town interests at heart. Neutrals with independent win conditions such as Serial Killers and Cultist are also scum.
Scum Slip: something said by a player that indicates they are scum by giving away conclusive information. Can be anything from a wording in a post that changes, to a behavioral tell, to a bald-faced lie.
Scummy: having or pertaining to scum, not to be confused with “annoying” or “spammy.”
Setup: the individual game written out as a whole, including Role PM’s and any extra structure. This is submitted to a Reviewer who then checks the game for balance to make it as equally winnable for both teams as possible aka balanced. The Setup Creator is the author of the game and usually the Moderator of the game as well.
Shadow: A system where an experienced player enters a game and has a less experienced player follow along. This is similar to the Mentor system, except instead of the less experienced player being the one in the game, they will be "Shadow"ing the more experienced player and asking them questions about their play and other such things.
Sheeping: voting the same way as another player without contributing an argument to back up your choice. Sometimes a scum tell, sometimes a lazy town tell usually depending on whose vote is being sheeped.
SK: Serial Killer, a Neutral Role. See Role Section for more information.
Soft Claim: see Claim.
Specialty game: the most complex games run on the site, these games are usually designed to push the boundries of what the game is experimentaly. Innovation and and experience are required for a player to run one of these games, and experience is suggested before joining one as well.
“spectate” (/spectate): Used in sign-up threads to indicate an interest in being allowed to read the thread while being supplied all the setup information, similar to “playing along at home” in TV game shows that list the answer on the screen for you, or poker on TV.
Traditional: a game with simpler and expected game mechanics within its named structure, i.e. Normal, Basic, etc. The opposite would be a game with unusual mechanics, such as Burnout or Kingmaker.
Tunneling: hunting only one player as scum while paying no attention to any other player’s mafia behaviors in the thread. Usually caused by being so sure that another player is scum that you (mis)interpret every post they make as scummy, only seeing scum motivations (search the 'net for confirmation bias).
tl;dr: Too Long; Didn’t Read. Used to indicate a post or several posts in an argument were not worth the time to attempt to understand based on some reason, usually a lack of real life time, or something else more pressing on the mind of the player in-game.
Twilight: the phase of the game between when a player has reached the number of votes to indicate they are lynched and when the Moderator posts the scene that takes the game into the night phase.
Vanilla: A basic town role without any special powers in the game. Never to be confused with weakness, powerlessness in Mafia gives a player the opportunity to play with less risk to the town if they are lynched. Also vanilla votes are frequently necessary to lynch mafia.
V/LA: Vacation/Limited Access, used when post frequency will become erratic because of plans outside the game.
Vig: short for Vigilante. A town role with a killing power. See the Roles section for more information.
Wagon: short for bandwagon, is used to indicate the list of votes that accumulate after a player’s name as they are voted closer and closer to a lynch.
WIFOM: “Wine In Front Of Me” from the famous scene in the film The Princess Bride. Used to indicate circular logic applied to an “either/or” statement where no actual concrete conclusion may be reached because both possibilities are equally valid if different motivations and/or facts are taken into account or presumed to be true.
Win-mongering: a term meant to describe when a player states that if another player is lynched, the town wins the game. (Coined by smoke_Killah in Basic #39)
For those unfamiliar with the game of Mafia (known to some as "Werewolf"), here's a brief description:
For more information on how to play, see the MafiaScum wiki. A flash tutorial has also been made by one of the MafiaScum users.
Around 2 games of various types are run concurrently in the Mafia subforum. Whenever one game finishes, a new one will be posting signups within a few days, so check back often if you're waiting to get into a game. If you want to sign up for a new game, just wait until new signups are posted, then post there.
I want to play a game of Mafia! How do I sign up?
Game signups are often open. Just pop in to the most recent signup thread and type "/in". The game moderator will contact you when the game is ready to begin, and and answer any questions you may have. If there are no open sigups, you can indicate your preference in the contact list thread, and you will be PM'd when signsups for a game type you are interested in get posted. Smaller games with 12 players or less tend to be the best for new players to start with.
If you have any questions before signing up, you can also private message Azrael, Bur, Silvercrys3467 or shadowlancerx who help keep the forum running smoothly, and they would be happy to help you. They can also find you a player mentor to offer advice and assistance, and keep an eye open for games that are friendly to new players and let you know when those are open.
There are currently four types of games: Micro games, Mini games, Normal games and FTQ games. FTQ games can be more complicated, so if you're just starting out, you may not want to try them unless you're feeling spunky or adventurous.
The Mafia Subforum
This forum is for playing and discussing the game of Mafia. All of the MTGS Forum Rules apply here, though keep in mind the following notes:
Common Game Rules
Each game will have its own set of rules, but almost all games will start with the following:
I'm new to the game. What should I do?
First thing, let us know in the contact list thread that you're new and that you'd like to play a game. You can also go to a sign-up thread and post "/in" to signal you want to join that game. When enough players sign up, the game will start and you will be notified by PM (so keep and eye out!).
When it comes to actually playing the game, there are many different styles. Some players focus on small details, such as other players' choice of words. Others try to put themselves in the other player's shoes, and think if their actions make more sense from town or mafia. Some try to see if a player's emotions and convictions appear to be sincere and genuine. Others look for players who seem to be hurting the town. Meanwhile, the mafia can either do their best to seem perfectly ordinary, and simulate how they would act if they were town - and/or they can manipulate the town into destroying themselves from within.
Copied below are a number of helpful articles which explore many of these ideas in greater depth.
MafiaScum's guide on "How to be a Good Townie".
Article Index:
Strategy:
Behavioral Analysis, Chapter 1 – Causal Analysis
Behavioral Analysis, Chapter 2 – Evaluating the Strength of Evidence
In Defense of Pace
The Pinocchio Problem: When Should a Townie Lie?
Three Games Within the Game
Setup design:
Mafia Pointing Theory
Balancing a Mafia Setup
Meta-Meta
Devilry on Stage: MTGS (Specialty) Game Design
Advanced Setup Design
Reviewing Mafia Games
---
Vanilla Townie: normal player without any special abilities, aside from the ability to vote. Every single basic (and most nonbasics) will have a least a few of these roles.
Town Doctor: a protective role that may be used once a night to protect someone from a killing action, such as a nightkill or vig' shot. In most variations, the doctor cannot protect himself (with very rare exceptions).
Town Cop: an investigative role that may be used once at night to determine if a player is mafia or town. Considered the strongest investigative role by most users. (occasionally unreliable, see Variation--Questionable Cops)
Town Vigilante: often referred to as a vig, the vigilante is a killing role that may be used at night to kill any target player. In basics, sometimes the Vigilante is given a limit of 1-2 shots, meaning they can only use the ability a limited number of times. Full vigs do not have a shot limit.
Town Tracker: an investigative role that can target a player at night and will be told by the mod that player targeted anyone else, but not know what they did. (Because the tracker has to specifically target the player doing something, this is considered one of the weaker investigative roles.)
Town Watcher: an investigative role that targets a player at night. The watcher will then be told by the mod if anyone else targets the player the watcher chooses, although will be unaware of what actions are attempted on the target. (The watcher is a good role for catching a scum on an obvious nightkill target.)
Town Roleblocker: This is a town disabler role. The target of this role will be unable to use any of their abilities the night targeted. In most cases, this will also stop the mafia night kill. A town role blocker is uncommon, but not heard of, as the role blocker in a game in typically a scum role blocker. (This is considered a weaker role, due to having the tracker weakness of having to target the correct player, as well as the ability to backfire by disabling another town player.)
Bulletproof Townie: This is a town passive role. This townie cannot be killed by abilities, although can still be lynched normally. (This is considered powerful, as without claiming, this role can usually soak up at least 1 mafia nightkill. In basics, this will usually take the place of a protective role.)
Town Jailer: a combination of disabler and protective. The target of the jailer will be protected (see Doc), but cannot use abilities either (see Roleblocker). Jailers can never target themselves as this creates a paradox. (Typically protects the doctor in a basic.)
[Town] Mason(s): a group of players with a separate chat that they can communicate with each other. The largest advantage of the masons are that they can confirm themselves as town, and coordinate behind the scenes. [This assumes "confirmed masons." In some variations in larger games, three (or more?) masons may have a scum mason in the group with the remaining players being uninformed of this fact; known as "unconfirmed masons."]
Town Hider: a protective role. At night, this player may hide themselves behind another player, and will only be killed if the player they are hiding behinds dies. Some variations will kill the hider if they hide behind a non-town player, while others have restrictions (e.g. you can only hide every other day).
Town Back-up Role: a role that activates on the death of another power role and takes their place. Until the original power dies, a back up is vanilla for all intents and purposes. Upon the death of the character, the back-up "activates" and is told by the mod what they are. Common back-ups include a cop (deputy), doctor (nurse), or vigilante (side kick?).
Town Jack of All Trades: a role with usually have 2-3 different examples of common abilities (such as doctor, cop, or vig), but will only have a shot or two of each. (How to make the most of those abilities is the key to using this role.)
Town Role Cop: an investigative role similar to the typical "alignment cop," the role cop will receive from the mod the ability(ies) of whoever is targeted at night, but not the alignment. (While useful for gathering information and clearing claims, this is weaker/less reliable than an actual cop.)
[INDENT]Variation--Day Abilities (Cop/vig)
Although rare, day cops or vigs are the same as their standard counterparts, but their abilities can be used during the day. In this situation, typically the choice to cop or vig will be announced publicly in bold, with some sort of mod confirmation.
MAFIA ROLES:
Mafia Goon: the equivalent of a Vanilla Townie, a Goon has no special powers other than the vote, the mafia night chat, and the fact that he knows who his teammates are.
Mafia Roleblocker: this is a disable ability that prevents the target from using their night action. Typically, you will receive flavor text from the moderator, even if you did not attempt an action or don’t have an ability, although it will not be confirmed you’re were roleblocked. (By far, the most common type of scum PR in a basic.)
Mafia Rolecop: similar to the town rolecop, this is a scum power used to help determine town roles. At night, that player is targeted and their role (in any) is revealed. This can help determine who to use the mafia’s night kill on.
Mafia Tracker: a weaker version of the rolecop, the scum tracker works as a town tracker does with the same purpose as the Scum Role Cop: To find town power roles.
Mafia Tough Guy: the mafia’s version of the vig. This role is considered powerful, because unlike a town vig, the scum tough guy knows who NOT to shoot.
Mafia Godfather: this is considered one of the stronger mafia roles. The Godfather’s most relevant power is that he/she will return a non-guilty verdict from a cop investigation. In some versions, the Godfather is also immune to night kill shots, and can also make the final decisions for the scum nightkill.
NEUTRAL ROLES:
Survivor: a role where the players goal is simply to survive to the end game. They don't care if Mafia or Town get lynched, just as long as they don't. They can either play as town and take the chance of getting nightkilled, or play scummy and take the chance of getting lynched.
Serial Killer: Independent player who has a nightkill ability and a goal to kill everyone else in the game. This player wins if they are the last player standing.
Basic game: a game of the simplest level of design. Players should expect traditional mafia roles with very little embellishment. [Basic games are an excellent place to work on mastering behavioral analysis techniques. While new players are always welcome to join other game types, basic games provide a simple, uncomplicated introduction to the fundamentals of the Mafia game.]
Bastard Game: A setup in which the moderator inflicts confusing, difficult, suspicious-seeming, or misleading roles and mechanics on the players. Generally disapproved of, in favor of games that put a greater emphasis on analyzing behavior than role analysis.
Bastard Mod: A moderator who designs bastard games.
“barn” (/barn): to agree with it without contributing independent thought; short for barnacle, it is meant to be a metaphor for riding along with someone else’s opinion.
Burnout: a player ability that, when used, removes all other abilities the player has for the rest of the game.
Bus: an action word (often “bussing”) used to describe when a mafia member actively votes or participates in the lynching of one of their teammates in order to gain credibility in the eyes of the town. Sometimes even leads to full lynches of mafia by other mafia in order to win the overall game.
CC: Counter-Claim (See below)
Claim: giving out the information in your role PM in a post during a game. (This must be paraphrased and retyped because copying and pasting, or “quoting”, is against the spirit of uncertainty in the game.) This is called a claim because it cannot be called a certainty until the player is dead (or the game is over in some extreme cases) Types include:
[INDENT]False Claim: a claim where a player lies about his PM information because to tell the truth would cause some sort of game disadvantage. Mafia must typically false claim to keep from getting lynched, but sometimes Town false claim, too. This is generally to keep from exposing power roles.
Full Claim: the type of claim usually required when you are within a few votes of being lynched. Includes all pertinent information from your role PM.
Mass Claim: everyone playing gives their role PM in the game thread to put all the information out there and make it potentially harder for scum to hide.
Soft Claim: a claim where someone has given partial information as to their role PM, such as name, gender, etc.
[/INDENT]Confirmed: a word used to describe a player that has been proven or verified as a town member.
Counter-Claim: an action taken by a player who sees part of their own unique claim used as another player’s defense. Usually used to catch scum in lies. (As in many cases in this game, sometimes the reverse is true as well where a scum false counter-claims when a town player is forced to claim. See False Claim above.)
Crypto-Claim: Crypto-Claims/Acronym Claim - Crypto-claiming is a method of forcing players to put their role claims on record publicly in encrypted form, without revealing their content until a later time. The most common method of crypto-claiming is the acronym claim, in which players encrypt a message describing their role by posting the first letter of every word in the message, together with the number of words and the number of characters in the message. Later, the town can require each player to reveal the encoded message, and verify that the word and character limits match. Generally a banned game maneuver. Attributed to Azrael. Example: TYVM. 4 words, 16 letters. Decoded: Thank you very much.
Day (as opposed to day): game phase where players post in the thread, attempt to make cases, and vote for lynches. When lower-case, indicates “in real life” time.
Deadline: a set time where the remaining players must reach a consensus vote as to who will be lynched or the Mod will be forced to move the game into the next (usually Night) Phase.
Distancing: a scum tactic where two scum argue or post against each other, either by fighting over a third party or about their own loyalties. This makes it harder to tell who the scum are if one player of the pair is lynched. Sometimes results in a Bus (See Above).
EBWODP: Edit By Way Of Double Post. Since editing posts is illegal in this game and sometimes corrections need to be made, by starting a second post with this acronym you may fix errors that make the content of the original post confusing.
EWP: Edit While Previewing(?). Before posting and when previewing a post about to be sent, this is an edit that occurs because someone else has posted since the player performing the edit started their composition.
False Claim: see Claim.
Fearmongering: a baseless argument where a player declares simply that something bad will happen if they are lynched.
Fishing: mafia technique of using statements to elicit information from someone(s) in the game that they would normally keep to themselves. Typically used to determine town power roles.
Flavor: the fictional design elements added to a game of Mafia that give it style and uniqueness. Frequently loosely based off of popular cultural fictional properties, this gives the players something to discuss and characters to portray i.e. roles.
Flavor Gaming: attempting to use the implementation of flavor in the game as a means to deduce facts about the game and thereby change the game state.
Flooding: also known as post-flooding, can infrequently be a scum play but is more frequently an overly enthusiastic new player’s misunderstanding of how to maintain a healthy game where everyone can keep up, even if they don’t follow the game every day. Akin to spam in any forum thread on the internet.
FoS: Finger of Suspicion. Weaker than a vote, stronger than simply speaking about concerns that a player’s posts have created, FoS is meant as an attention grabber for the town to notice and also an in-game attack on the player indicated. (Also sometimes HoS, Hand of Suspicion and PoS, Pinkie of Suspicion. These last two are degrees of emphasis for FoS that have been used in Mafia elsewhere.)
FTQ or Fast-Track-Queue game: a process where a game is selected by an experienced commitee of players to skip the usual wait time for start-up. Games vary in their complexity.
Gambit: an active line of play, frequently involving deception, where a player takes a specific series of actions to illicit change in the game to benefit their team. Examples include a false counter claim, bussing, false claiming an investigative role and a known result, Daykill attempts to illicit responses, etc.
Gimmick: An account where an experienced player may disguise who they are to play the game without months or years of previous experience in the thread for others to read up on. Etiquette dictates that the other player in a game with a Gimmick trust the Moderators of not only the game but also the sub-forum that a Gimmick is a player participating within the rules, and that efforts to determine their identity are against the spirit of the game no matter how frustrating this is to the non-gimmick player.
Goon: a basic mafia role without any special powers in the game. This character is more expendable to the mafia than a power role.
Hammer: to cast the last vote that lynches a player. (Has a sort of “Hot Potato” feel to it, meaning the last player to vote on a lynch is left with the hammer the next day, meaning they will be usually the first suspect. Frequently seen as a scum tell when actually is a null tell. The motivation behind the last vote must be determined to be certain if the hammering player is town or not.)
Hydra: a form of gimmick account where two or more players are playing as one. This is sometimes used as a method of mentoring, other times it actually is a game element, and occasional other times it can be used by a pair of experienced players as a shared account to help free them from meta expectations.
IGMEOY: I’ve Got My Eye On You. Another weaker variation of FoS generally regarded as more warning than accusation.
IIRC: If I Recall Correctly.
IMO: In My Opinion. Also IMHO, with H standing for Honest/Humble.
“in” (/in): used in sign up threads to indicate interest in joining the game
ITT: In This Thread, also sometimes I Think That...
Kingmaker: rarely used variant game structure where instead of a majority vote leading to a lynch, during Night one player is made "king" and holds the power of the Day's lynch decision.
L-1: Lynch minus one, meaning one vote away from a the number of votes required to lynch a player. Any other L-# you see indicates (the number required to lynch) - (the number voting lynch on the higest voted player now) = #
LAL: Lynch All Liars. A philosophical viewpoint that basically states, “If you lie, we will lynch you,” based on the idea that town players shouldn’t lie.
Lurking: the practice of posting at a minimum so as to contribute sparingly and thereby raise little confirmable suspicion. Sometimes a tactic used to execute scum strategies and get to more powerful night actions, but then again sometimes used by town power roles to avoid mislynches. ("Lurking in plain sight" would be posting nothing that changes the game state, while appearing to keep a reasonable post count.)
(My)LyLo: (Mis)Lynch or Lose. Late game state where town players must come together and vote correctly or they will be at even numbers with the scum and thereby lose the game. "Mislynch or lose" is a variant where the town can safely no-lynch, but can't mislynch or they will lose.
Lynch: the point in a game when the votes on a single player equal a majority of the players left alive and that player is killed. Types include:
[INDENT]Safe Lynch: A safe lynch is a term coined for lynching either a claimed nuetral role, or a claimed town who has added none or negatively effected the town through WIFOM, distraction, ect. It is called a safe lynch because a lynch on this person will not harm the town, regardless of alignment.
Policy Lynch: Like a safe lynch, a policy lynch does not typically care if the target is scum or not, but to lynch a distraction, or a player who commits a pretty clear cut scum tell. The most common example of policy lynch is the Lynch all Liars clause. However, typically distraction players may also be considered for a policy lynch, however, not everyone agrees policy lynches are best for a game.
[/INDENT]Mass Claim: see Claim.
Mentor: an experienced player that offers some of their time to help a new player by being a “behind the scenes” source to answer questions about the game. Questions can range from vocabulary, to previous examples of when game results occurred, to general strategy advice. Mentors are advised to not give play-by-play instructions or make decisions for the new player, but to tell them (usually between phases) what they have done right and wrong already. Suggestions of what to do next are not allowed, and specific examples about other players in the game at hand are not allowed. (Communications with a Mentor are usually handled in a QT monitored by the Mod.)
Meta: short for metagaming, and used to describe understanding a player’s behavior based on the readable pattern of actions a player uses when they are either town or scum based on the observations of other players. Through research of previous games, can frequently be used on experienced players as a map to their intentions in a current game. (Also can mean having an understanding of the player in question from outside the game, and thereby gaining insight into their playstyle.)
Mini game: a game with 12 or less players that varies in complexity, but usually more complicated than a Basic.
Mislynch: a lynch where the dead player is revealed to be town aligned.
Mod: short for Moderator. The forum member that runs the game and regulates actions taken by the players for fairness with impartiality.
Modkill: a punishment handed out when a player breaks certain hard-and-fast rules in the game, such as quoting role PM material word-for-word or discussing an ongoing game outside of the game itself. Also sometimes a consequence of inactivity.
Neutral: a role or roles that are in the game that are neither town aligned nor mafia aligned. They have an independent agenda and win condition. (Not found in Basic games.)
Night (as opposed to night): phase of the game where players do not post in the main game thread and any actions/powers are relayed to the mod to set up the next day. (Picture this as the stereotypical murder-mystery movie scene where the lights go out, someone screams, and the lights come back on to reveal someone dead in the middle of the room.) When lower-case, indicates “in real life” time.
Nightkill: the mafia’s action, taken during the night phase of the game, of sending the Mod a name of a town player they wish to be dead. Usually sent by one mafia player to the mod, indicating they will be the actually “nightkiller” or assassin. This term is usually meant to define one specific, mafia-sponsored and controlled kill that happens during the night phase, i.e. “the nightkill” as opposed to other deaths that occur during night such as a “vig-shot” (See Vig) or SK kill (See SK).
Normal game: a game expected to have a higher complexity than a Basic, but a lower complexity than a Specialty. Usually contains a high player count as well.
No Lynch: a voting choice outside of the normal decision to name a player for lynching. If majority agrees to the No Lynch option, the game will proceed to the next phase (Night) without a player dying by lynch.
OOC: Out Of Character, meant to delineate a player-to-player statement or detail relayed in-game but not pertaining to the game at hand. Sometimes IC, or In Character, is used to return to the action of the game. Also sometimes /aside is used, or a spoiler, etc. [Etiquette dictates these statements (and all other statements about real life) are to be taken at face value and are not to be questioned in terms of game tells. Etiquette also dictates these be kept to a minimum and all players be truthful when using them.]
Outed: describes a power role or other in-game advantage that was secret information and has been revealed in the game posts, i.e. "I outted myself as the Cop because..."
PBPA: Post By Post Analysis. This occurs when Player 1 quotes or links to all relevant previous substantive posts made by Player 2, and then breaks down why Player 2 is scum according to Player 1’s concerns and observations.
PCQ or Player’s-Choice-Queue game: similar to the FTQ in that it skips the usual wait time for hosting, this is a community based process that results in a game setup being chosen by popular vote.
Phase: indicates a portion of the game such as Day or Night, or Twilight.
PoE: Process of Elimination.
Policy Lynch: see Lynch.
Post Restriction: additional requirement sent in a PM where a players posts must conform to some preset quirk, such as only posting at some preset frequency, misspelling words, making flavor references, speaking as their character, rhyming, or not posting at all.
Power Role: any role in the game that has some sort of ability to affect the game beyond casting a vote (e.g. Doctor, Cop, Godfather, Vigilante, etc.). See the Roles section for more information and examples.
Prod: a PM sent to an inactive player in an attempt to see if they are interested in continuing to play in the game, and to tell them that they are lagging behind.
QT: QuickTopic, indicating a thread on an independent site for the side communications of a game. Everything from scum night chat, to player diaries, to spectator content and mentor threads are handles in the form of a QT.
RVS: Random Vote Section. The very beginning of the game where people make votes and jokes to start discussion since they have nothing much else to go on. In games with experienced players this sometimes simply doesn’t happen. When it ends is arbitrary.
“Replace” (/replace): Used in sign-up threads to indicate an interest in taking over the role of a player that either drops out of the game deliberately or abandons the game for reasons unknown.
Reviewer: an experienced Mafia player whose job it is to read through other people’s setups and make sure they are balanced before play proceeds.
Role: a player’s character and win conditions in the game, supplied by the Moderator before the game begins. Examples include:
[INDENT]Bob (Vanilla Town), You win when all mafia are dead.
Darth Vader, Sith Lord (Mafia Roleblocker), With the power of the Force (strengthened by the Dark Side) at your command, you wield the ability to once per night disable the actions of any player in the game. You win when the forces of the Empire are equal in number to the forces of the Rebellion, as they will be powerless against you and they might of the Death Star you command. [with Emperor Palpatine (Mafia Godfather) in the same game, of course :D]
[/INDENT]Safe Lynch: see Lynch.
Scum: Mafia and other non-town. Basically any player that doesn’t have town interests at heart. Neutrals with independent win conditions such as Serial Killers and Cultist are also scum.
Scum Slip: something said by a player that indicates they are scum by giving away conclusive information. Can be anything from a wording in a post that changes, to a behavioral tell, to a bald-faced lie.
Scummy: having or pertaining to scum, not to be confused with “annoying” or “spammy.”
Setup: the individual game written out as a whole, including Role PM’s and any extra structure. This is submitted to a Reviewer who then checks the game for balance to make it as equally winnable for both teams as possible aka balanced. The Setup Creator is the author of the game and usually the Moderator of the game as well.
Shadow: A system where an experienced player enters a game and has a less experienced player follow along. This is similar to the Mentor system, except instead of the less experienced player being the one in the game, they will be "Shadow"ing the more experienced player and asking them questions about their play and other such things.
Sheeping: voting the same way as another player without contributing an argument to back up your choice. Sometimes a scum tell, sometimes a lazy town tell usually depending on whose vote is being sheeped.
SK: Serial Killer, a Neutral Role. See Role Section for more information.
Soft Claim: see Claim.
Specialty game: the most complex games run on the site, these games are usually designed to push the boundries of what the game is experimentaly. Innovation and and experience are required for a player to run one of these games, and experience is suggested before joining one as well.
“spectate” (/spectate): Used in sign-up threads to indicate an interest in being allowed to read the thread while being supplied all the setup information, similar to “playing along at home” in TV game shows that list the answer on the screen for you, or poker on TV.
Traditional: a game with simpler and expected game mechanics within its named structure, i.e. Normal, Basic, etc. The opposite would be a game with unusual mechanics, such as Burnout or Kingmaker.
Tunneling: hunting only one player as scum while paying no attention to any other player’s mafia behaviors in the thread. Usually caused by being so sure that another player is scum that you (mis)interpret every post they make as scummy, only seeing scum motivations (search the 'net for confirmation bias).
tl;dr: Too Long; Didn’t Read. Used to indicate a post or several posts in an argument were not worth the time to attempt to understand based on some reason, usually a lack of real life time, or something else more pressing on the mind of the player in-game.
Twilight: the phase of the game between when a player has reached the number of votes to indicate they are lynched and when the Moderator posts the scene that takes the game into the night phase.
Vanilla: A basic town role without any special powers in the game. Never to be confused with weakness, powerlessness in Mafia gives a player the opportunity to play with less risk to the town if they are lynched. Also vanilla votes are frequently necessary to lynch mafia.
V/LA: Vacation/Limited Access, used when post frequency will become erratic because of plans outside the game.
Vig: short for Vigilante. A town role with a killing power. See the Roles section for more information.
Wagon: short for bandwagon, is used to indicate the list of votes that accumulate after a player’s name as they are voted closer and closer to a lynch.
WIFOM: “Wine In Front Of Me” from the famous scene in the film The Princess Bride. Used to indicate circular logic applied to an “either/or” statement where no actual concrete conclusion may be reached because both possibilities are equally valid if different motivations and/or facts are taken into account or presumed to be true.
Win-mongering: a term meant to describe when a player states that if another player is lynched, the town wins the game. (Coined by smoke_Killah in Basic #39)