Mafia is a social game based on a power struggle between an uninformed majority and an informed minority.
Usually the game is set in a town that discovers a mafia presence. The game takes place in two phases, a day phase and a night phase. During the day phase the town (an angry lynch mob) select one player to lynch. They are lynching other players trying to eliminate the mafia. During the night phase the mafia kill one player. They are killing other players trying to eliminate the town.
Unfortunately for the town, good individuals do not know the identity of each other; whereas the mafia know who each other are.
The mafia can plan and scheme in private or public communication, but the town may only use public communication to converse.
The rules vary from game to game. However, most moderators do adhere to these: General Rules:
1) DO NOT EDIT. Editing posts screws up the vote tallies. Action will be taken against people who edit posts, up to and including unfortunate accident. 2) Day and Night phases may or may not have time limits on them. This all depends on the type of game and who is moderating it. 3) Any person can claim to be any role if they wish. Lying about your role is certainly permitted. Keep in mind that you may run the risk of getting killed if you're a role that threatens the other team. 4) If you need to quit, let the moderator know A.S.A.P. We'll try to find someone to replace your role. Do not suicide in the thread, please.
Communication Rules:
1) If your role does not allow it, NO PRIVATE COMMUNICATION. If you are contacted privately by any person with information or analysis about the game, let me know and the player will suffer an unfortunate accident. 2) Do not thumb posts of other players at any time! Contact me if someone thumbs your post. Anyone found thumbing will suffer an unfortunate accident. 3) If you are dead, you are permitted to make (1) one farewell post. Your post cannot contain any information you've learned, nor any analysis of things that have taken place. Do not say anything like "Check out who I had been suspicious of" or anything similar. This farewell post should be more of a "Darn, Go Town/mafia"-type post. This is perhaps the most-violated rule. Violation of this rule may result in banning from future games, so please, keep the death posts light. This rule extends to mafia as well! Dead mafia cannot assist in any manner with analysis, decisions, or any other thing. No communication is permitted between dead mafia and living mafia, aside from the farewell post previously mentioned. 4) Living mafia members can communicate privately at any time, day or night, through private messages or the private forum which they will be given. 5) No posting in the thread by any person during the Night phase. Violators will suffer an unfortunate accident. Night phase begins when the moderator posts saying so (following a lynch).
Lynch Rules:
1) Each player may submit a lynch vote in the thread like this, in bold: Vote: playername. You can also unvote by: Unvote: playername. Bolding is done like this: [ b ] Vote: playername [ / b ] without the spaces inside the brackets. Please bold all votes. Only bolded votes will be counted. A simple majority will cause a lynch, and the player's role will be revealed by the moderator. 2) When a simple majority is reached, the lynch is locked in and we enter Twilight. Subsequent unvotes cannot reverse a lynch that reached majority, even if the moderator has not yet stated the death. 3) A majority choosing to Vote: No Lynch will end the day without a lynch and we will proceed to night.
In the event of a deadlocked vote (equal number of town and mafia), mafia wins. The same is true for the Serial Killer. If at any time two people are left and one is the Serial Killer, the Serial Killer wins. **Because each game has a different setup, the rules tend to change from game to game. Some moderators enforce the day phase time limit, while others do not. The moderator of a game should include any different rules if not the above rules. If you are confused about any rules for a particular game, please IM the moderator of that game. The Forum moderator will not have the answers.**
Depending on the number of players, games played on DSLr usually take 5-14 days. We set a slightly faster pace than other internet Mafia forums, but the game in real life can be played completely in an hour or so. You should have a few hours a day available to play, popping in and making a vote without reading and considering the thread is discouraged.
As the game progresses the day/night phases take less time (fewer people left alive means reaching a consensus is easier). Day 1 usually lasts 48-72 hours and subsequent days may take 24-48 hours, with the final day or two being over in just a few hours each.
Day Phase A Day Phase is the name that is given to the time frame in which a player can post in the game thread. During this time, a player can post anything within the rules of the game while also adhering to the rules of the site. The site rules can be found here . A Day Phase may or may not have a time limit. The moderator of the game will decide that.
Night Phase A Night Phase is the name given to the time in which the players are not allowed to post in the game thread. However, depending on what role you have, you may still be able to privately communicate. This time may or may not be limited. The moderator of the game will decide that.
Twilight Twilight is the name given to the time after the town has reached a majority. During this time, some moderators prefer that you do not post any strategy while others do not seem to mind. It is also the time between the Day Phase and the Night Phase. Shortly after twilight has been established, the moderator of the game will post a lynch scene or a no-lynch scene and then announce that "It is now Night".
FoS FoS is just an abbreviation for Finger of Suspicion. Some players will use this when trying to communicate to other players who they are suspicious of.
Lynch or Lose Lynch or Lose is when the town finds themselves having to lynch a mafia or lose the game. This usually happens when there are only 2 (or less) more townsfolk than members of the mafia. The situation in which a lynch or lose happens could vary depending on what roles are in play.
WIFOM This is an abbreviation for Wine In Front Of Me. Players will use this when trying to describe an argument similar to one seen in the movie The Princess Bride . The scene in the movie is also known as the "Battle of Wits" scene. This is the clip of the argument.
OMGUS "Oh, my god, you suck!" This is usually said before a retaliatory vote. An OMGUS vote is poor strategy as it does not use any logic or reasoning to determine the person being voted against is indeed mafia. Mafia members may use OMGUS votes to throw a random vote out without raising suspicion. Town players may use it in frustration, or in lieu of a random vote.
L-1, L-2, etc. The "L" in this term refers to lynch. The -1 or -2 denotes how many votes a person is away from being lynched. Therefore saying "Yock is L-1" means that Yock is one vote away from being lynched.
HWSIDI "He who smelt it dealt it." This is an acronym of the popular, although not entirely agreed upon, thought that the first person to mention a role is either that role or knows that it exists within the current game.
There are a couple of reasons, first and most importantly, the game makes use of private messaging, and you must have an account to receive a PM. Secondly, there is potential for abuse on an anonymous account (i.e. someone could come along and vote or unvote using the anonymous name you were using).
Anonymous users may participate in discussion, but to play the game you must be a registered member of DSLreports.com.
We encourage you to register as a premium member (costs $10) to support the site, but a free account is all that is necessary to play Mafia.
