Introduction and mechanics.First of all, welcome to NFM. Some of you have already played before, while others are brand new, so I'll try to keep this simple.
Forum Mafia, or FM in short, is a game about deception between the two main factions: The uninformed majority (town) and the informed minority (mafia), with, most of the time, a third-party (neutrals) trying to fulfill their own goals along the way. Logic, mind games, etc. are all part and usual of mafia.
Town and Mafia both have pretty straight-foward win conditions: eliminate the opposite team, and all neutrals with a night killing ability (Neutral Killings). While the mafia has the opportunity to kill periodically, the town cannot rely on their own killing roles to win the game - for that, they must vote to kill a player by "lynch".
The game is divided in two phases: the Day, and the Night.
- The former is when the players post on the game thread, discussing about what happened during the night, other players and who should be voted for the lynch. The days last 120 hours (5 real-life days) and lynches are allowed, these which will occur after the majority has been reached. To vote, just post "/vote PlayerNameExample". When a player reaches majority, they are automatically lynched, there is no trial phase. When a player is lynched, they are immediately removed from the game, with their role and last will (if they have one) being shown to public.
- The latter is a 48-hour period where any player who has a night action may use it (unless jailed). **During this phase the Mafia privately talks on their mafia chat. After the 48 hours are over, all actions are carried out, and the personal results of this phase shall be privately messaged (PM'd) to each player.
**There are no whispers present in this game.
**There are no last wills or death notes in this game.
**Jailor may not role in this set-upThe game will only end once one of the major factions (or a NK) fulfills their condition.
PM ProtocolsWhen sending me the information below, make sure one of the following is in the subject line:
"NFM Night Action" for Night Actions.
Mafia Killing Revamp is in play: Meaning - Any member of the Mafia may sacrifice their night action to make the factional kill at night.
------
Terminology.General terms:
Role Card: The PM which contains the player's role, alignment and abilities.
Game Throwing: Playing against your win condition with the intent of making your own faction lose.
Hard Claim: Directly stating one's own role on the game thread.
Soft Claim: Hinting one's role without explicity stating it.
Counter Claim (CC): Making a claim which directly contradicts someone else's. E.g Player A hardclaims Citizen, but Player B is a Lookout who saw them visiting, so they hardclaim and bring up their evidence.
Fake Claim: Claiming a role which is not their own's. E.g When a mafia member is demanded to hardclaim, they almost always fakeclaim instead.
Scum/Scummy: Scum is the name given to any role which doesn't win with town, and needs to be eliminated for town's win condition. Being scummy means adopting a behaviour which doesn't line up with the behaviour expected from a town member.
Confirmed: Being 100% confirmed as a certain [role]/[alignment].
No Lynch: Instead of voting for a player, you may also "
/vote No Lynch". If majority reaches on a No Lynch, no player is killed. A No Lynch will also occur when the amount of time for the Day phase is over and majority hasn't been reached. No Lynching is, the majority of the time, benefitial to scum, so aiming towards it is generally scummy.
Reads/Reading: The read you have on a player is the conclusion about their alignment and/or role through their posts or other factors.
WIFOM: WIFOM is the circular reasoning that results from trying to determine the choices of an opponent who acted with full knowledge that their behavior would be subject to scrutiny.
Mislynch: An incorrect lynch on a town member.
Tunneling: Solely focusing on a player and their posts, ignoring others. Often considered scummy.
Slightly more uncommon terms:
FoS - Finger of Suspicion. Putting the Finger of Suspicion onto a player means that one is calling that player scummy and saying that other players should keep an eye on that player. [Alt. Hand of Suspicion (HoS)]
LyLo - Lynch or Lose. A stage in the game where town must lynch scum or they lose. See also: MyLo.
MyLo - Mislynch and Lose. A stage in the game where if town mislynches (lynches town) and the Mafia make a kill town loses.
PoE - Process of Elimination.
OMGUS - "oh my god you suck". An acronym used to describe retaliatory actions such as votes. Ex: voting a player because they voted you citing the reason "because they are stupid".
PbPA - Post by Post Analysis. Analyzing a player's posts in succession, typically associated with ISO.
ISO - Isolation. Looking at a player's total posts in a game, in succession.
For a more complete list, feel free to look here.------
Playing as TownWhile Mafia can talk strategy during the night, the town needs to use the day phase to discuss and figure out who is and isn't town as well. What can you do, then?
Try to progress discussion in a fashion which will be benefitial to the town, try to look for posts that feel scummy, ask and answer questions other players have made, try to see which intentions a player has behind their posts, be active and post reads regularly.
Avoid plays which could benefit scum instead (e.g Hardclaiming for no reason, fakeclaiming), and try your best to think for yourself - it's a common mistake to follow blindly whatever other players have to say.
And be sure to read ObiWan's guide about playing as Citizen.Playing as MafiaAs scum, you should play exactly like you would as town - be active, post reads, try to look productive, etc. The difference here are your goals: Hiding information, misleading the town and stalling out long enough until they no longer outnumber you. This means appearing as scum-hunting, but in actuality pushing for a mislynch by questioning, false reading and trying to depict a player as scum. However, keep in mind that if a teammate is acting undeniably scummy and their lynch looks like the right call, try not to oppose it too obviously - or it could be tracked back to you.
And remember: you are a team, and thus communication is essential. Try to talk over every situation so you can plan in advance.
Playing as NeutralArsonist is the only neutral available to roll. Their goal and play style is a mix between that of the Town and Mafia. They want to be actively hunting scum and lynching them, as they need to remove all Mafia in order to win, but they also need to figure out who is town so that they can be doused. You need to remove all Mafia, and cut down the Town until there is only a few players left. Be careful to not get lynched yourself, as you only win if you are still alive.
Golden Rules:Don't claim Neutral.
Don't be inactive.
Remember what your goals are at all times.
Don't panic if you commit a mistake, but try to work your way around it.
Have fun. It's a game, after all.
------
For anything else, feel free to ask me in a PM, or in the thread, or take a look at the
FM Main Hub.
Note: Thank you to ObiWan for this guide.
![[Forum Mafia XIX] Winner](./images/ranks/flair-fm19.png "[Forum Mafia XIX] Winner")
