Misfit Mafia Werewolf Game

How to host a Mafia/Werewolf game

Tips and guidelines

by Dave McAwesome

Hosting a game of Mafia or Werewolf or whatever other version either on Misfitopia or your living room is (surprisingly) more fun that you'd think. You get to cringe privately when you see the town lynch the wrong person. You get to see all the 'what if' possibilities while the mafia strategize. You get to write the colorful summaries for each day about who got killed and whether the previous day's lynching was a mistake or not. Before hosting a game you should first play several times (hopefully getting a chance as a mobster too). I'll detail guidelines for hosting a forum game below. Another article will discuss hosting live games.

Once you're ready to host, start a sign-up thread. After a couple of days, set a deadline for any remaining people to join.

Consult the following chart to determine the number of mafia in the game:

Once you have figured out how many mobsters there are, decide on how many other special roles there will be. You have a cop. Will there be a doctor? A godfather? A vigilante? A pair of Illuminati? Determine who gets what role by random chance. Put all the players' names on a piece of paper. Pick them out of a hat for each role. Now you have to PM all the game players. You will have to compose a PM for each different role. An example of a PM to a player who is a normal Townsperson might be:

*You are a Townsperson.
Every game day, you will vote to lynch another player. You are attempting to lynch all the mobsters. You may post in the Mafia game thread, but PMs or emails or any discussion outside the forum would be considered cheating. (This is a social game, hence the thread. The original game was designed to be played around a dinner table. Open discussion is a big part of the game.) Have fun and go get those dirty bad guys.

It's important to remind players (especially newer ones) that emailing or PMing or making any communication outside of the game thread is prohibited (mafia and special roles excepted as per the rules).

Beginnings

Start a game thread. In a forum, the games are usually numbered sequentially so just check the last game and add one. First, compose a little ditty about the backstory of Day 1. I like to start out with:

There is trouble in Misfitopia Village. The Mafia is muscling in. Will the townspeople save their village by lynching the suspected parties? Or will the Mafia knock them off one by one.

The game host is always the first victim. Write up something about how your body was found, blah blah blah. The mafia/werewolves (or whoever your bad guys are) did it. Now list the possible roles. How many townspeople are there? How many mafia are there? How many doctors? You can choose to say, for example, that there is definitely 1 cop, or you can leave it open by saying there is 0-1 cop, which means there might be a cop and there might not. Now list the players involved in alphabetical order. Here is an example of how to list the roles:

This tells the players that there are three mafia (one of whom is the godfather), one cop, either zero or one doctors and either zero or one vigilantes.

You should always, always, always notify the town if the Traitor role is in effect. You don't, however, have to notify the Townspeople which alternate traitor rules (if any) are in effect. It wouldn't be wrong if you did. Just giving you the option here.

Game Day 1

Once you post the opening bit, Day 1 has begun. Players post about who they want to lynch. There are two ways to handle when the day ends. First, as soon as a simple majority of players votes to lynch one victim, the day automatically ends. For instance, if there are 13 players, then as soon as any player accumulates 7 votes, the day ends. This doesn't always happen. Votes may be spread out between multiple players. In this case, set a deadline in the thread. It might be 24 hours. Remind players such as the cop, mafia, doctor and any other role with special instructions to PM their choices to you pronto. Stick to your deadline. If they don't PM you in time, it's their tough luck.

After the lynching and killings are sorted, it's time to write up a little summary to begin the next game day. In my opinion, funny and lighthearted stories are best. If you want to be all dark and serious, that's cool. If you want to be spartan about it, e.g. "Player X got lynched and is a Townie. Player Y got killed. Start Day 3," well, that's okay, I guess, but a short descriptive sentence or two does wonders to improve the enjoyment of the game. After your recap, list all the players again. After each of the dead ones, add a note that they are in fact dead. I prefer the following format: Name, method of death (lynched or killed in specific manner, i.e. mob kills with guns, vigilante kills with guns, serial killer kills with a knife, werewolves eat), day of death (day 1, day 2, etc.), epitaph (if a player doesn't offer one, I make one up). There is a protocol about revealing the roles of the players in the daily recap (who got lynched, who got killed, etc.) Lynchings: mention whether the person was townsperson or mafia but never their specific role (godfather, cop, illuminati, etc.). Killings: whether conducted by mob or vigilante, never reveal anything about the person killed (not even townie/mob).

Always remember to keep the game fun. If problems arise, be consistent in your rulings. If you screw up, admit it. See the FAQ for more tips.

Q: Cool. Where do I play?
A: We run games on Misfitopia. Newcomers are always welcome.

Back to the Misfit Mafia/Werewolf Game Guide.
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