Eye of the Illuminati

Mafia variant

by Dave McAwesome

This is a variant on the standard Mafia/Werewolf game.

There is an equal number of Illuminati players as there are Mafiosos. Both the Illuminati and Mafia are attempting to take over the town. One of the Illuminati may be a Mafia Illuminati. The goal of the Illuminati is to rid the town of mobsters AND townspeople.

Once per game, the Illuminati may lock ONE player in their dungeon. If that person does not have the Skeleton Key (see Conspiracy Theorist), he starves to death. The doctor does not protect a player against dungeon imprisonment. The imprisonment may ONLY be performed after the first full day, i.e. at least one lynching and one attempted mob hit must occur first.

In most games, the game leader does not mention a dead player's role after a lynching other than 'Townsperson' or 'Mafia.' Because of the Illuminati's more sinister role in this variant, the game leader DOES reveal their role if they are hanged. As usual, the game leader does not reveal the role of anyone who is killed during the night (by the mob, vigilante, serial killer, etc.). The game leader also does not reveal the role of a person who is imprisoned.

The order of the night actions (doctor protection, killings, imprisonment) is as follows: Illuminati imprisonment takes place first. Killings occur next (simultaneously). If the doctor is alive and his protected target has been hit, he may operate and save him.

The Survivalist. If the Surivalist is targeted for imprisonment by the Illuminati then he will--if he still has a bullet--kills the illuminati who posted the imprisonment order in the Illuminati forum.

This is a cool variant for small games that may not be big enough to have two mafia families. The reason is that it gives the Illuminati a little power without completely unbalancing the game away from the Town. Let's say, however, that you have a few more players and want to run an alternate version where the Illuminati act as if they were a separate mafia family. No problem. Read on, interweb traveler.

Eye of the Illuminati, Mk II

In the Mark II version, the Illuminati may imprison one other player each day, similar in the way Mafia make kills. The goal is the same. Wipe out the Mafia and Townspeople. The major change in this version, other than the multiple imprisonments is the effectiveness of the Skeleton Key. If a player with the Key is imprisoned, not only does he escape but so does the person who was tossed into the dungeon the night before. Previous players imprisoned have died in the dank cell. Most significantly, the person with the Key may choose whether or not he wishes to allow his fellow inmate to escape. The game leader must make the results of this decision public during his recap the following morning.

Alternate way to resolve conflicts? Don't like that Illuminati imprisonments occur prior to killings? If you wish, treat it as a simultaneous action. What if the lone Illuminati imprisons the Vigilante the same night the Vigilante targets the lone Illuminati? In a fierce struggle, the Illuminati throws the Vigilante down in the dungeon just as his gun goes off and kills the Illuminati. The reason I gave imprisonment priority over killings is to balance out the fact that imprisonments in Mark II can be reversed with greater effect via the Skeleton Key.