It's the year 1849, in the small town of Jefferson Village, Nebraska. Many a settler with a thirst for adventure's rolled through these parts. Y'see, younguns, Jefferson Village is a vital pit-stop on the Oregon Trail, and travel west, toward the promise of a new life of abundance in the rugged forests and wealthy gold mines in the Pacific Northwest, has reached its peak. Jefferson Village is a thriving hub of trade and activity on an otherwise isolated and lonely trail through the Wild West.

Not all is as it seems. Some wealthy proprietors are lookin' to lay down railroad tracks straight through the middle of town, and they don't care much for the "backwoods hillbillies on the Trail." They've hired some professional guns to stir up chaos in ole Jefferson Village; they figure if they can run enough people off, they can buy up the land for cheap, lay down the rails and get rich off of rail traffic going west.

You've still got time to save ole Jefferson Village, pardner. Do ya have what it takes to root out the Rough Riders and save the town?

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INTRODUCTION

Mafia is an educated guessing game of epic proportions. The objective of the game is to kill all mafia members before they outnumber the rest of the town. It's much like a game of poker because mafia members are also part of the town during the day and may manipulate the vote to their liking.

The game is typically very active, so the thread will get big quickly. However, it is essential to read the thread to play the game.

RULES

0. The GM reserves the right to adjudicate individual scenarios that arise during the course of the game at his discretion.
1. All players must vote at least once per game day.
2. All players are forbidden from posting screenshots of their role PMs.
3. All players are forbidden from using encryption.
4. All players are forbidden from using non-sanctioned PMing.
5. All players are forbidden from deleting previous posts of theirs.
6. All spectators and players who have been eliminated are forbidden from posting on all comment threads related to the game notes.
7. All players are forbidden from cheating.
8. All players are required to play to win.

ELABORATION

0. Given my lack of omniscience, I cannot create a rule to resolve all possible scenarios pre-emptively. In order to compensate for my inability to do so, I am permitted to resolve a given scenario however I please. I will resolve all scenarios as closely as possible to the written intention of the rules, and will present an explanation regarding the adjudication to the greatest possible detail (which does not compromise anything in-game) and as closely in accordance with the written rules as possible.

1. A minimum posting limit of one required post (with a vote included) has been set to reduce lurking. While inactivity is, on some level, an important part of the game of Mafia, players who provide nothing but a warm body serve only to reduce the degree of enjoyment and increase the degree of frustration of the other players in the game. Signing up for this game is an expression of commitment to taking it seriously – do not sign up if you believe you will not be able to spend any time on it.

2. This is more a formality than anything: all role PMs have been posted in the setup information later in this post, and all players (regardless of alignment) will receive identical copies of the vanilla town role PM. The point of this rule is to forbid "gaming" the role PMs to determine alignments; this is a game of reading people, not outguessing the GM.

3. Encryption is defined as posting an encoded message on public channels which an average person would require outside tools to decode. It is perfectly acceptable to leave "hidden messages" in your posts (for example, spelling out "I AM THE COP" with the first letters of every sentence), but as a rule of thumb, if you don't think the average webDip user could decode it without a decryption service, don't post it.

4. All in-game communications should be kept within the thread. The mafia will receive a QuickTopic thread for communicating with one another outside of the thread; aside from this, there should be no other forms of private messaging.

5. I don't think this will actually be an issue on webDiplomacy, since users aren't able to edit or delete their own posts anyway; but, if you in fact possess some means of deleting or editing your posts after you've submitted them, do not use it.

6. Players who have been removed from the game are no longer playing the game, and will not be permitted to comment on it in private messages or comment threads. A special chat room will be opened for individuals who wish to spectate on the game, or players who have been eliminated. Use these channels to discuss the game while it is still ongoing.

7. This is a catch-all rule intended to preserve the spirit of the game. If you’re considering saying or doing something that may be against the spirit of the game, PM me about it before saying/doing it and I’ll let you know whether it’s allowed or not.

8. This rule simply means that your actions should in some conceivable way advance your win condition as stated in your role PM. This rule is somewhat subjective, because the difference between a mistake and sabotage is sometimes hard to determine; I will err away from assuming malevolence where reasonably possible. This also means that if you need to leave the game for any reason, you should not simply drop out, but should message me first so I can determine the best course of action.

PENALTIES

The penalty for breaking one of the above rules is decided at the GM’s discretion, up to and including immediate removal from the game and/or sanctions from future games. Removal and/or sanction are instruments of last resort and will be used only if absolutely necessary. A player removed from the game may or may not have their role revealed on removal, depending on the circumstances surrounding their removal.


MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

SPAM
Spamming (defined as excessive content-free posting; or, excessive posting regarding subjects irrelevant to the game) is not banned by rule in this game. A mechanic exists to curb any advantage that spamming as a tactic may confer; please reference the “VOTING” section below for more information. Suffice to say that spamming isn’t worth anyone’s time in this setup, and it is frowned upon, so while you may not be *banned* from doing it, you still shouldn't do it.

VOTING
There are two levels of voting in this game. The first level of voting is for whom you intend to ban. Notate this vote with a pair of octothorpes before your intended vote target. (EX: ##VOTE Eden) You do not need to spell out your intended target's username fully; as long as I can understand who you're referencing you're good. If you don't use double octothorpes then I won't see it when I ctrl+f through the thread and your vote may not be counted.

The second level of voting is whether or not to employ the hammer mechanic. By default, days are set to 48 hours long, and nights to 24 hours long; however, players may instead elect to end the day as soon as a majority is reached (called a “quick hammer” or simply “hammer”). Notate this vote with a pair of octothorpes before the word end. (EX: ##END) The game will switch to the hammer mechanic for the duration of that day once a majority of players choose to do so.

If you are not able to vote before the hammer is dropped, you will not be penalized for failing to vote during that day.

This game will use the MODIFIED PLURALITY TIEBREAKER. Under modified plurality tiebreaker rules, should two players be tied in the lynch vote, the tie will be broken toward the incumbent candidate. For example, suppose Eden and krellin are up for lynch, and Eden has 3 votes to krellin's 2 votes. If a third player (who isn't voting for Eden) votes for krellin, then the two will be tied 3-3, and Eden will be lynched, as he was the candidate for lynch before the tie. Suppose that a fourth player votes for krellin, and then a fourth votes for Eden; now krellin is the incumbent (as prior to the last vote, the count was 4-3 krellin), and krellin would be lynched. In short, ties go to the incumbent.

REPLACEMENTS
A player wishing to drop out may be replaced at the GM's discretion. Individuals wishing to serve as replacements must NOT join the out-of-game God QT. (Being in the Obs QT is acceptable.) Replacement is not guaranteed.

TURN DURATION
This game’s days will last 48 hours and nights will last 24 hours, unless cut short by in-game mechanics (e.g. hammer). Extensions may be granted at a moderator’s discretion, but don’t count on it.

MODERATOR TEAM
The moderator for this game is Eden. PM me with any concerns (yes this is allowed you jokers) and I'll get back to you asap.

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Format TBD, depends on how many signups we get. Signups will run through Monday, June 9th, the format will be announced on the morning (CST) of Tuesday, June 10th, and the game will start sometime on June 10th.

If you've already signed up, your name should be in the list below. Post in this thread to CONFIRM you are playing (or opt OUT accordingly), with your preferred time for phase processing. If you haven't signed up yet, post in the thread to opt IN along with your preferred time. I will pick a time that is optimal based on your collective preferences.