The Council (mafia + nomic) - thoughts?
-
-
lendunistus he/himGoonhe/him
- Goon
- Goon
- Posts: 889
- Joined: September 19, 2020
- Pronoun: he/him
The Council (mafia + nomic) - thoughts?
I floated the idea of running this here over a year ago, but it never went anywhere. thought I'd ask for people's opinions
https://kevan.org/games/thecouncil
basic premise: there's an informed minority and an uninformed majority, but one player is The Outsider whose identity is known to everyone and who is not part of the main mafia game. The Outsider wins with the informed minority. during the day, any player may put forward a proposal to change the game in some way (adding a new mechanic, eliminating someone, etc). if the proposal is approved by a majority of the living players, its effects are applied. however, The Outsider may veto any proposal (except "physical" proposals that change stuff that's already in the game, e.g elimination) with no explanation whatsoever, in which case that proposal immediately fails. each day has 12 in-game hours, which are spent by proposals. elimination proposals spend 6 hours, other physical proposals spend one hour and non-physical proposals spend any amount of hours that the outsider and the players can agree on. once all 12 hours have been spent, the night phase begins and scum may kill someone, after which a new day starts.
I like the concept and I've played a bit of it myself, but there's definitely a lot of things that just wouldn't work with MS's playerbase. here's some of my own miscellaneous thoughts:
- do we have a deadline or no? there's a lot of open-ended discussion here and the core of the game would definitely be compromised with the addition of a deadline, but at the same time, it'd prevent the game from stalling out (plus I don't even know if I could queue a game without a day deadline)
- what town-to-scum ratio would work here? the games I've played were 7v2 and 6v2, which anyone here would call scumsided
- there's definitely a concern that the fun would be drained out of this pretty quickly - after all, the safest strategy for The Outsider is to just veto everything. I think it depends on the players themselves and that it's a "run it and see" situation, but I'm still a bit worried
- should it be allowed to have multiple pending proposals simultaneously? if the answer is no, should there be some kind of queue or proposing order?
- the document mentions that nightkills are decided by The Outsider, but I think it'd be safe to let the scum decide as well
- if I were to run this, I'd probably just be a neutral moderator (handling proposal resolution and such) and The Outsider would be randomly picked from within the players
what do you think? I'd like to see the perspectives of the players as well, since I haven't really had the chance to discuss this with anyone who has experience with forum mafia
thanks for reading! (this thread might've been more fit for Open Setup Discussion but this is quite a drastic modification so I think MD is better)Last edited by lendunistus on Thu Dec 21, 2023 9:28 am, edited 2 times in total.-
-
Gammagooey Glad Hatter
- Glad Hatter
- Glad Hatter
- Posts: 7608
- Joined: October 24, 2009
Given the examples on the webpage you linked, it seems like the Outsider fits more as the Moderator of the game rather than another player in it, especially given that for it to function as it seems like it's intended the proposals should be more of a negotiation with the Outsider on the proposals relative fairness instead of a straight "veto if bad for mafia don't veto if good for mafia". If you want to run it with an Outsider-moderator, then you might want to include an idea of how much "power" is fair to hand out given the playercount - with something like 7vs2 at least, the first one-shot cop or a doctor type proposal would be fair game, while if you increased the playercount to fit a more typical "no power roles" playercount of 10vs2 or 11vs2 the Outsider would have much more reign to veto anything at all that could be harmful to mafia. Having a player as the Outsider rather than a moderator would make it tough to run it at lower playercounts where power roles are needed without explicitly limiting the veto for the Outsider, but adding veto limitations to an Outsider player risks the non-Rebel players trying to find the limit of the veto with nothing but varying powerful proposals and then trying to break the game that way. (Though also, given that elim proposals take 6 hours rather than the full day, 11vs2 might be a bit many players on the town side as well if town wants to only elim twice a day instead of making new rules)
I don't really see how the game would be compromised with a real-life deadline? You could make it a bit longer than a regular game here (2 1/2 or 3 weeks instead of 2 maybe), but also most people outside Mafiascum have much shorter deadlines than us and may be used to much faster paced games, so if you have 2+ people coming into the site just to try it then you may want to keep their expectations in mind as well.
First-come first-served on proposals makes sense to me, you could do it another way but I would try to avoid much complexity in the proposal system itself given that adding new rules mid-game will add plenty of complexity and challenge to moderating it on its own.-
-
lendunistus he/himGoonhe/him
- Goon
- Goon
- Posts: 889
- Joined: September 19, 2020
- Pronoun: he/him
thanks for the suggestions!
my idea was to take, say, 14 signups, pick an Outsider from there and then put the rest in an 11v2 (with numbers substituted as necessary, of course)In post 1, Gammagooey wrote: Given the examples on the webpage you linked, it seems like the Outsider fits more as the Moderator of the game rather than another player in it
proposing power roles wouldn't work since the Outsider's goal is to make the mafia win. putting power roles in the starting ruleset is an option, but that just feels kind of... wrong? probably just me thoughIn post 1, Gammagooey wrote: with something like 7vs2 at least, the first one-shot cop or a doctor type proposal would be fair game
one of my thoughts actually was to either cap eliminations at one per day or make them end the day immediately, would probably make sense to do so if we're playing with a more mafia-oriented crowdIn post 1, Gammagooey wrote: Though also, given that elim proposals take 6 hours rather than the full day, 11vs2 might be a bit many players on the town side as well if town wants to only elim twice a day instead of making new rules
my main concern would be people not being able to get their proposals voted on or there just not being enough time to discuss/vote. two and a half weeks might be enough time to alleviate that, but I'm still unsure on thatIn post 1, Gammagooey wrote: I don't really see how the game would be compromised with a real-life deadline?-
-
Gammagooey Glad Hatter
- Glad Hatter
- Glad Hatter
- Posts: 7608
- Joined: October 24, 2009
I see where you're coming from - the main issue imo is that as you said, the Outsider has no incentive to approve any proposals without some benefit to the mafia or some kind of potential Monkey-paw effect for the town. For the Outsider as a strictly mafia-aligned player to work, I think their veto needslendunistus wrote:
proposing power roles wouldn't work since the Outsider's goal is to make the mafia win. putting power roles in the starting ruleset is an option, but that just feels kind of... wrong? probably just me thoughIn post 1, Gammagooey wrote: with something like 7vs2 at least, the first one-shot cop or a doctor type proposal would be fair gamesomelimitations in order to make the proposals & game part of it fun, but adding strict or public limitations leads to potential game-breaking (or at least game-breaking attempts that might make the game less fun).
I'd maybe consider starting with a particular setting or theme, and use that to put in a few hidden restrictions for the Outsider's veto. I'll PM you a quick idea for a possible restriction, but the exact details are obv completely up to you!-
-
lendunistus he/himGoonhe/him
- Goon
- Goon
- Posts: 889
- Joined: September 19, 2020
- Pronoun: he/him
veto restrictions really aren't a good idea in my opinion, giving town freebies just isn't how I think encouraging proposal gameplay should go
see here for the games the origin community has played, you can still pull off a fair bit even if the outsider is technically incentivised to veto everything-
-
Gammagooey Glad Hatter
- Glad Hatter
- Glad Hatter
- Posts: 7608
- Joined: October 24, 2009
You could try without any veto restrictions, but I think you would be solely relying on the Outsider prioritizing making the game fun & interesting rather than strictly playing to their win condition imo. I saw that both of these passed as the first proposal in a game, and I think many players on this site would avoid giving any sort of investigation resultseveras the Outsider, as doing so would make it less likely for their team to win.
Eliminate Cuddlebeam. The Outsider shall then unambiguously post to the gamestate channel the name of a non-Spy Courtier for the purposes of this Proposal, themed as the death letter with the result of Cuddlebeam’s investigations into the royal family.A physical object denoted as "Crystal Ball" starts it's gamestate as being on the ground. When the status of the Crystal Ball is in gamestate of a Village Folk's, that player may use the object. If the object used, they are told the names of 3 other Village Folk. The names of the Village Folk will consist of 2 Good Townsfolk and 1 Evil Henchman, however, the possessor is not told which of those Village Folk resides of either alignment.(In other word: If Alice is told the names of Bob, Carl and Daphne, then Alice know 2 of trio is good and 1 is bad. However, Alice is unaware of which of the trio is good and which is evil). Once Crystal Ball is used, it remains unable from that point onward.-
-
lendunistus he/himGoonhe/him
- Goon
- Goon
- Posts: 889
- Joined: September 19, 2020
- Pronoun: he/him
fair enough, I'll consider it, even if I still disagree for now
some other things:
- maybe we can have a sort of 48-72hr "day 0" where The Outsider has been determined, but nobody has gotten their alignment yet? it'd allow for people to make starting proposals without having to be concerned about alignment (see The Heist game on the page I linked for an example)
- how would dead players be handled? since a rule allowing for interaction with dead players could be passed at any time, should a dead PT be a thing? or should the players decide that? if we want to allow spectators inside the dead PT, do we just have to straight out ban all interaction with dead players?
- do we reveal alignments upon death? I assume the answer here would be an obvious yes, but doesn't hurt to ask-
-
Isis she/her, not theyBest in Classshe/her, not they
- Best in Class
- Best in Class
- Posts: 11221
- Joined: April 6, 2020
- Pronoun: she/her, not they
- Location: Seattle
What if you did like
Once 1 maf 1 town is dead the dead players submit proposals secretly.
If at least 1 proposal passes mafia gets a small bonus. If the townie's proposal is passed, town gets a small bonus
Thats the best way I could think of to try to get some stuff passes"Let us say that you are right and there are two worlds. How much, then, is this 'other world' worth to you? What do you have there that you do not have here? Money? Power? Something worth causing the prince so much pain for?'"
"Well, I..."
"What? Nothing? You would make the prince suffer over... nothing?"-
-
lendunistus he/himGoonhe/him
- Goon
- Goon
- Posts: 889
- Joined: September 19, 2020
- Pronoun: he/him
eh, I don't think that works. it'd limit the amount of proposals being passed quite significantly (unless you're saying it should be an addition to the regular proposal gameplay).
I honestly can't think of any real solutions to the proposal problem except for relying on player goodwill (which, yes, is quite far from ideal). the best way I've seen the game being described is "a nomic with a Mafia superstructure". thinking about it, maybe running this on a mafia site isn't the best idea, but I'd still like to try-
-
Jingle For Whom the Bell Trolls
- For Whom the Bell Trolls
- For Whom the Bell Trolls
- Posts: 15159
- Joined: July 17, 2013
- Location: Texas
I think the best way to make this runnable is to remove the factional slant of the Observer entirely. It's entirely alright to have the goal of that particular role be to make the game as interesting as possible, which will then lead to them veto-ing things that aren't fun instead of things that benefit town.
I'd also let mafia privately submit proposals.This is a Parachute.-
-
DragonEater70 He/HimJack of All TradesHe/Him
- Jack of All Trades
- Jack of All Trades
- Posts: 7839
- Joined: February 4, 2023
- Pronoun: He/Him
- Location: UTC+2
What Jingle said works
Also, we could just tell players to use common sense and not veto everything?-
-
lendunistus he/himGoonhe/him
- Goon
- Goon
- Posts: 889
- Joined: September 19, 2020
- Pronoun: he/him
I feel like that would just remove half of what makes the game interesting, since the negotiation and such would be dumbed down quite a bit if The Outsider has no stake in the proceedings. at that point, why even have an Outsider if the neutral mod could technically just do everythingIn post 9, Jingle wrote: I think the best way to make this runnable is to remove the factional slant of the Observer entirely. It's entirely alright to have the goal of that particular role be to make the game as interesting as possible, which will then lead to them veto-ing things that aren't fun instead of things that benefit town.
(also, you'd be relying on another player to make "fair" decisions, which would result in quite a few complaints, I imagine)-
-
lendunistus he/himGoonhe/him
- Goon
- Goon
- Posts: 889
- Joined: September 19, 2020
- Pronoun: he/him
like I said in the OP, I believe it's just a "run it and see" situation-
-
Jingle For Whom the Bell Trolls
- For Whom the Bell Trolls
- For Whom the Bell Trolls
- Posts: 15159
- Joined: July 17, 2013
- Location: Texas
I mean… that’s kind of my point. The mechanic just doesn’t really work with an outsider who wants to win. Either they don’t play to win con or they don’t allow anything that benefits town, which is just a really boring game.In post 11, lendunistus wrote: I feel like that would just remove half of what makes the game interesting, since the negotiation and such would be dumbed down quite a bit if The Outsider has no stake in the proceedings. at that point, why even have an Outsider if the neutral mod could technically just do everythingThis is a Parachute.-
-
Jingle For Whom the Bell Trolls
- For Whom the Bell Trolls
- For Whom the Bell Trolls
- Posts: 15159
- Joined: July 17, 2013
- Location: Texas
FWIW, I would never play this if I didn’t know for sure who the outsider was before signing up, and as described the outsider has perfect setup knowledge so there’s no reason for them to not also be the moderator.This is a Parachute.-
-
lendunistus he/himGoonhe/him
- Goon
- Goon
- Posts: 889
- Joined: September 19, 2020
- Pronoun: he/him
so the only way to make this playable for an audience who "plays to win" is to either:
1. handicap The Outsider (which I can't think of any good way of doing)
2. remove The Outsider's factional slant (which would result in a game that's, frankly, in my opinion, both too much work for the moderator and just plain not fun)
would be nice to hear other ideas about what can be done, I suppose. I'll think about it myself-
-
Jingle For Whom the Bell Trolls
- For Whom the Bell Trolls
- For Whom the Bell Trolls
- Posts: 15159
- Joined: July 17, 2013
- Location: Texas
viewtopic.php?t=73390&hilit=“Mod+is+mafia”
Might want to look at this for a similar if different game.This is a Parachute.-
-
imaginality he/theyRestricted Towniehe/they
- Restricted Townie
- Restricted Townie
- Posts: 3377
- Joined: May 29, 2008
- Pronoun: he/they
- Location: Christchurch, NZ
Would a possibly viable option for handicapping the Outsider be:
- if mafia have a majority, town win if the following conditions are both true:
- the Outsider has not allowed at least N approved proposals from town players to pass, where N is the number of living mafia players
- at least 2xN proposals have been approved
The first condition means the Outsider has a reason to approve some proposals and also, the fewer they approve the more info they give away (as the players making those proposals are more lilely to be town). The second proposal prevents town just voting down all the proposals to make the Outsider fail the first condition"holy shit this entire time i thought imaginalitys profile was a purple seahorse" - camelCasedSnivy-
-
Jingle For Whom the Bell Trolls
- For Whom the Bell Trolls
- For Whom the Bell Trolls
- Posts: 15159
- Joined: July 17, 2013
- Location: Texas
Not really. Town can then just approve a bunch of proposals that would destroy the game. (I propose all scum players get immediately modkilled.) which the outsider then has to veto and then speed lik anyone who makes a reasonable proposal. It’s a guaranteed town victory.This is a Parachute.-
-
DragonEater70 He/HimJack of All TradesHe/Him
- Jack of All Trades
- Jack of All Trades
- Posts: 7839
- Joined: February 4, 2023
- Pronoun: He/Him
- Location: UTC+2
I think the solution is to just tell people to play for fun and NOT to try and break the game for either alignment-
-
usesPython They/ThemMafia ScumThey/Them
- Mafia Scum
- Mafia Scum
- Posts: 4590
- Joined: January 28, 2023
- Pronoun: They/Them
Make observer a 3p who wins if a majority of scum and majority of town players agree they made the game funPlural | Nameless (They/He) and Alice (She/Her) and C (They/Them) and more-
-
Jingle For Whom the Bell Trolls
- For Whom the Bell Trolls
- For Whom the Bell Trolls
- Posts: 15159
- Joined: July 17, 2013
- Location: Texas
The problem there is that there will always be players who disagree with you on what makes the game fun. Some people will want to break the game, because they derive their pleasure from winning. If your solution to a game being unbalanced is “Well just trust the players to have fun anyway” that’s not good game design. It’s hoping to have a group of players who mesh well together. It’s the equivalent of solving FTC by mod killing cop claims.In post 19, DragonEater70 wrote: I think the solution is to just tell people to play for fun and NOT to try and break the game for either alignment
I really do think the solution here is to have the moderator and the observer be the same person, because primarily the moderator is there to make the game fun. If you think that there’s too much work for one person to moderate that, you could 100% have a mod team or comod situation.
Also, look at it this way: a game where I’m an observer is going to be a fundamentally different game from one that dragon is an observer is going to be a fundamentally different game from one where isis is an observer is going to be a fundamentally different game from one where FL is an observer.
We publicize who reviewed/designed setups so that people can join setups they think they’ll enjoy. If I joined a setup and then a week later you told me notmafia was the observer when he wasn’t even in the plist when I signed up I’d be pissed, despite the fact that I’d probably have signed up for a game where notmafia was the observer.This is a Parachute.-
-
DragonEater70 He/HimJack of All TradesHe/Him
- Jack of All Trades
- Jack of All Trades
- Posts: 7839
- Joined: February 4, 2023
- Pronoun: He/Him
- Location: UTC+2
Okay good point
I like both your idea and Python's (which is virtually the same idea).-
-
Gamma Emerald AnySurvivorAny
- Survivor
- Survivor
- Posts: 69108
- Joined: August 9, 2016
- Pronoun: Any
- Location: Hell on Earth (aka Texas)
this looks neat, the limited number of hours reminds me of the flow of the ToS live game, where you technically have 3 chance to deliberate on a player's guilt or innocence but from what I've seen you'll only ever see 2 of those trials maximum happening a day. I also like the idea of the scum-aligned publicly known player, reminds me of the Guilty Child Treestump used in some games, but the influence it's allowed here feels like Pine's role in Alisae vs. Pine.<Embrace The Void>
“A flipped coin doesn't always land heads or tails. Sometimes it may never land at all...”-
-
Gamma Emerald AnySurvivorAny
- Survivor
- Survivor
- Posts: 69108
- Joined: August 9, 2016
- Pronoun: Any
- Location: Hell on Earth (aka Texas)
maybe a way to balance the veto power would be to actually make the outsiders work like the outside players in Radio Buzz where there's an assortment of objectives.<Embrace The Void>
“A flipped coin doesn't always land heads or tails. Sometimes it may never land at all...”
Copyright © MafiaScum. All rights reserved.