What Makes a Good Third Party?

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Something_Smart
Something_Smart
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Somewhat_Balanced
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Something_Smart
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Somewhat_Balanced
Somewhat_Balanced
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Joined: November 17, 2015
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Location: Upstate New York

Post Post #18 (isolation #0) » Tue Jan 04, 2022 6:44 am

Post by Something_Smart »

In post 0, MegAzumarill wrote:1. Is the role make someone change their playstyle from a vanilla townie?
2. Is the role interesting/fair to play against? This includes its ability to decide the game in a kingmaker vote.
3. If the third party were to claim that said third party, would town be able to let it win for no cost? (Assuming Town is able)
4. Is it enjoyable to play?
These are pretty good criteria. #2 is far and away the most important, and nearly every common third party role fails it pretty hard. Including SK-- they don't often end up directly kingmaking but every time the SK makes a kill they are swinging the game toward one side or the other.

My opinion is that if you want your 3p to be fun to play against, you should reduce the chance of kingmaking as much as possible, to zero if you can. Adding a secondary wincon if the game reaches lylo is a good way to do this; my favorite 3p role that I've ever designed is the Dreamer: you win if you die at night, or if you and a town-aligned player are the last two players alive. There's no kingmaking here; they have to keep the game going as long as possible, and then if it does come down to F3 they basically convert to being town.
It's always the same. When you fire that first shot, no matter how right you feel, you have no idea who's going to die. You don't know whose children are going to scream and burn. How many hearts will be broken. How many lives shattered. How much blood will spill, until everybody does what they're always going to have to do from the very beginning... SIT DOWN AND TALK!

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