# Welcome to Mafia [Beginners Guide]



## Vermin (Sep 17, 2013)

Welcome to the Quick Guide of Mafia! 
Written by a noob for noobs!
(this is a community project I appreciate feedback and input)​
Hello there, and welcome to the mafia section. I am not quite sure how you ended up in this thread.  Maybe you were bored and just clicked on the new post section? Maybe you saw a few games and thought they were fun but you didn?t know how to play? Regardless of the reason, this is basically a quick guide on the basics of mafia ? how to play, roles, terms, and many other things. Please note that I am just a simple human being and thus my opinions don?t really mean much when compared to the more experienced players. But hopefully since this will be written from a noob perspective, you may be able to relate to it and walk out of here a bit smarter!

It should be noted however, that mafia is a bit intense unlike most games. Mafia isn?t for everyone and not the average person can handle the extreme names and insults that may get thrown your way. (not to mention this game also requires a bit of intelligence). Mafia can get a bit competitive at times, but you should not take what people say to heart. Some players are just entirely different people when they are in the ?arena?.  For example, a great member of the mafia community and an awesome player in his own right said that I make everyone who is playing with me uncomfortable and not in a good way. But I am probably the most liked person in the community at the moment (who can hate dyken?) Still that?s not to say mafia can?t be fun, just that if you intend on being taken serious as a player, you should strive to get into the meta gamming spirit as well. 

_*I did take some information from the mafia wiki.
*Zyken claims no responsibility if you don?t improve your gaming skills after reading this article. It probably means you are a shit player._

Okay, first off what is Mafia (basic questions)

Mafia originated as a party game but is now playable with a bunch of strangers from all across the world thanks to the mysterious invention we all call the internet. Basically you have two teams (sometimes three if you count independent but for now we will just stick to the good ole vanilla format) the town and the mafia. It is towns job to eliminate the mafia members and the mafia to outnumber the town. 

The game is composed of a day phase and a night phase. In a day phase, you are allowed to post in the thread and talk with other players to decide on who to lynch. If a person receives enough votes, a lynch will happen once the day phase ends. The player who is lynched is removed from the game and their identity if revealed to everyone. 

In the night phase no talking is allowed. This basically serves as a break from the game so that the moderators do not get tired out from all the actions. Most actions in the night phase occur simultaneously. In the basic vanilla mafia game, the mafia make their faction kill and the cop will investigate in this phase. Sometimes a game cannot continue until everyone sends in their actions. 

This whole process repeats itself until town or mafia have completed their wincon.
From the identities that are revealed upon lynching and based upon what people say (and sometimes with the help of the power roles and role revealing) people in mafia try to outsmart each other and hopefully kill off all of the important roles.

You keep saying roles?

Duh ^ (use bro), roles are well what you are playing as when you sign up. A bulletproof townie, mafia goon, doctor are all roles. Here are roles played in a basic mafia game.

*Generic* ? Most common (and personally, my favorite) role. Have no abilities but their vote does count.

*Bulletproof* ? Is immune to kills.

*Vigilante* ? Works for town and can kill players.

*Doctor *? Can protect players.

*Cop *? Every night they can investigate a player and come back with information if they are town or mafia.

*Roleblocker* ? Can prevent players from using their abilities.

*Godfather* ? Controls the actions of the mafia faction and appears innocent to investigations. Oh, and they are bulletproof too.

*Janitor* ? When he is alive, the kills of the mafia faction are hidden. Meaning their identities are not revealed to players in the thread. 

*Jester* ? He wins the game if he gets himself lynched.

Of course, mafia is extremely flexible and obviously if you have played in a role madness game, you know that the only limits to the potential themes and abilities are the minds of the creators themselves. For example, lets take a look at some other popular roles.

*Nexus* - Majority of actions will be redirected to someone else at random

*Princess* - If killed a phase will be skipped.

*Busdriver* ? Can select two players. Any action that targets player a will hit player b instead and vice versa.

Mafia can also come in many themes. On the top of my head I have played a Naruto themed mafia, a Blue Exorcist mafia, Fairy Tail, One Piece, and hosted Bleach themed mafia. Original stories also make great games too.

That?s cool and all, but there are still some other words I don?t understand?

As In every community there will be slang. I don?t really have anything cleaver to say here, so here are some other common terms that you should be aware of.

*Vanilla *? Short for a mafia game that follows the most basic set up. An example of that would be Space?s Dr. Horrible.

*Role Madness* ? A mafia game in which EVERYONE has a role and they are not generic. Much more fun to play (in my opinion) but harder to balance and the quality play is often less then in vanilla games. Most mafia games that have themes of series follow this set up.

*Cycle* ? A combination of both a day and a night phase. A new cycle starts every day phase. 

*Balancing* ? This refers to players making sure that not one faction is more powerful than the other.  Will get more into detail about this later.

*Meta *? Refers to a persons playstyle . For example, I post fluff when I am town that?s my ?townie meta?.

*Faction *? A group in a particular game. Town for example is considered a faction. Roles of the same factions have the same color. Blue is a popular color for town.

*Modkill *? Where you either inactifag or act so stupid a mod has to put a stop to you. Not a good way to die dude.

*Wincon* ? what you need to do to win the game. Every role has a wincon.

*Spite* ? When people do things against another player (voting for example or killing them) because of a vendetta. 

*Fluff *? Same as spam

Some other terms I have sections on them later on. If you are not familiar with a word, feel free to ask us and I will add it hTry not to get yourself accustomed to using meta because it will become easy for other players to know what role you are based on your habits.ere as soon as possible.


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## Vermin (Sep 17, 2013)

I am starting to understand. What are some of the basic tips?
(input from other players here would be really appreciated)

*Meta*

Try not to get yourself accustomed to using meta because it will become easy for other players to know what role you are based on your habits.​
*They see me trollin~*

While trolling in mafia can be quite fun, I wouldn?t suggest it unless you had a troll role (jester for example). Not only is excessive trolling annoying, but some players will spite you in future games.​
*Fluff*
Same as above. The first day phase or two is filled with fluff though.​
*Lying*

Just like in real life. If you are going to lie, (whether it be a fake roleclaim or whatever) make sure your lies are coherent. There is nothing more embarrassing then getting caught up in a terrible lie in mafia.​
*Read before you post.*
Make sure you read everything that has been posted in the thread before you start mindlessly posting. Refresh it if you need too. If you are posting a tldr it is important that you tell other players what point you have reached.​
*Think.*
Like I said earlier mafia requires intelligence. Don?t try some reckless strategy unless you absolutely know what you are doing. Some idiot fakeclaimed a votestacker and then a cop and the vig who didn?t believe his bs rightfully took him out. But guess what? He was the doctor! Yeah, don?t become like this guy.​
*Experience is the best teacher.*
Like everything else in life, if you want to become good at it you?ll have to practice. So play a few generic games and see what it?s like for yourself. You can read a million guides on how to become good at mafia, but you will never learn unless you gain that experience for yourself. I can rightfully say that mistakes I made in the past I don?t make anymore. And why is that? Because I made them and learned from them.​
*One Size does not fit all.*
There is not a single handily best playstyle, best role, or best anything really. With how diverse the games and  players are there are a million ?best? ways to play a single game.​
*Go the extra mile.*
When you play mafia, get ready to die. A lot. While surviving to endgame is awesome, you will still win with your team if they win. So help out as much as you can while you still have a vote and words to spare.​
*Never ever quit. Never ever never  never*
Whether you?re town, mafia, or even an indie, Mafia is still a game that relies on teamwork. If you have a lynch on you fight it as much as you can. If a cop investigated you deny that persons claim as much as you can. A team is only as strong as it?s weakest player. And well, if you decide that the world is going to end because you have three votes on you, that doesn?t say much about your ability and your teammates as well.​
*Don?t doubt yourself.*
That?s one of the worst things you can do. Mafia will try to play with your head and say that your information is wrong. And when you are scum, you want to look as confident as possible while also having a plan. People don?t believe you? You make them!  I would like to say that your gut is one of the strongest weapons you have. If you don?t know what else to trust, trust your gut. Its correct most of the time, I guarantee it.​
*Inactifagging.*
Suppose you have this homework assignment that needs to be done so you ask if a friend can help you with it. He seems enthusiastic and ready to go. But then later on he never shows up. That?s exactly what host feel like when people sign up but never post or use actions in their games. Don?t do it. If you need to be replaced please notify a mod. And when you sign up as a replacement, you are fully aware that you might be called in the middle of the game. You know what you have gotten yourself into. Don?t bitch about replacing someone in a game like favorites and be surprised that there are forty pages to read.​
*Cheating*
Cheating only cheats the fun, don?t do it. This will normally get you blacklisted from games (and possibly banned now that we have a section and this place is moderated more frequently)​


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## Vermin (Sep 17, 2013)

*[reserved for add on's later]*


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## Vermin (Sep 17, 2013)

Okay, but I want to make my own mafia Game now!

Playing and hosting are two separate qualities. Everybody can play mafia, but not everyone can host a well-balanced entertaining one.

*Balancing Games*

In terms of balancing the ratio is one mafia for every five townies. Typical generic games consist of 15 town 4 mafia and 1 indie.

*having a Plan*

*Timezones are a mafia games biggest weakness*

*Co-Mods*

_will be filled on as time goes on...
_


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## Blur (Sep 17, 2013)

Awesome.


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## Shin - Zangetsu (Sep 17, 2013)

That's actually quite a fantastic list of references for a newcomer.


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## Vermin (Sep 17, 2013)

i don't mean to sound like a brat but i was looking for more feedback


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## Laix (Sep 17, 2013)

brilliant dyken. would rep but im 24'd. requesting sticky.


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## Atlantic Storm (Sep 17, 2013)

Making this a sticky.


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## aiyanah (Sep 17, 2013)

would rep but dyken hasn't given me porn in months


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## SinRaven (Sep 17, 2013)

This is awesome, Zoro, really awesome.

If you need any help, I can provide you with it. You might want to include some links, like the one to that Flash Guide, or the Mafia Wiki page with roles.


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## Immortal (Sep 17, 2013)

Dyken, later on lets make this a Workshop.


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## Luftwaffles (Sep 17, 2013)

Should've been posted the day I joined 
Good sticky.



> *Never ever quit. Never ever never never*
> 
> Whether you’re town, mafia, or even an indie, Mafia is still a game that relies on teamwork. If you have a lynch on you fight it as much as you can. If a cop investigated you deny that persons claim as much as you can. A team is only as strong as it’s weakest player. And well, if you decide that the world is going to end because you have three votes on you, that doesn’t say much about your ability and your teammates as well.


 crap.


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## Araragi (Sep 17, 2013)

I didn't know half the stuff up there. 
Thanks dyken


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## FLORIDA MAN (Sep 17, 2013)

Great and informative thread, a well-deserved rep for you.
Even somewhat experienced players can learn a thing or two.

Reactions: Creative 1


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## Bioness (Sep 18, 2013)

Hey did you want to include the flash help guides?

I was able to find the reuploaded version of them (as the role one was broken)

Rules: 
Roles:


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## aiyanah (Sep 18, 2013)

bio is a star :33


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## aiyanah (Sep 18, 2013)

for some reason, each time i see bio's sig i have to stop and stare


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## Dei (Sep 18, 2013)

Very nice job zyken + reps.


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## Vermin (Sep 18, 2013)

thank you for the reviews guys 


Immortal said:


> Dyken, later on lets make this a Workshop.


sure, like i said this guide is still a work in progress itself

hit me up when you're ready


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## Thomas Edison (Sep 28, 2013)

Suggesting adding the description of "generic" games for completeness. What you call generic, I am used to being called vanilla, so it confused me for a second.

Here's a good tutorial for someone who has never played a mafia game:  [Although the link seems to be down atm]


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## Tiger (Sep 28, 2013)

Thomas Edison said:


> Suggesting adding the description of "generic" games for completeness. What you call generic, I am used to being called vanilla, so it confused me for a second.
> 
> Here's a good tutorial for someone who has never played a mafia game:  [Although the link seems to be down atm]



Most of us include that link in every big game that's hosted.

I think this thread is better served for more specific inquiries and situations.


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## Thomas Edison (Sep 28, 2013)

Law said:


> Most of us include that link in every big game that's hosted.
> 
> I think this thread is better served for more specific inquiries and situations.



A "beginners guide" isn't a good place for definitions and tutorials?


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## Tiger (Sep 28, 2013)

I think it should all be included in one post, and then the thread be used for more specific questions and situations after that.


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## Vermin (Sep 28, 2013)

i was going to turn this into a workshop along with immortal where this thread would be a range of guides instead of just one for beginners (since most regulars here already know it)

but fuck...laziness just overwhelms my personality


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## Tiger (Sep 28, 2013)

zyken said:


> i was going to turn this into a workshop along with immortal where this thread would be a range of guides instead of just one for beginners (since most regulars here already know it)
> 
> but fuck...laziness just overwhelms my personality



Belph and I were talking about doing something similar, except doing more of a Q&A presentation/seminar style.


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## Thomas Edison (Sep 28, 2013)

Law said:


> I think it should all be included in one post, and then the thread be used for more specific questions and situations after that.



But Law-kun, that was my intent... offering suggestions for the OP.


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## familyparka (Dec 19, 2013)

Making sure this thread continues in the first page.


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## Gibbs (Aug 10, 2014)

Would rep, but I never received any rep from Zyken.


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