vanderzant
Smash Journeyman
Hello and welcome to your first game of mafia. Mafia can be a lot of fun, and Newbie games are a great place to start. I'll start by saying that all posts I make in italics will be my IC (Inexperienced Challenged) voice. As an IC, is is my duty to set a good example on how to play, as well as to teach you about mafia theory and concepts.
Straight up, I will say that I wrote this post before the game began, and thus it is not in any way shape or form indicative of my alignment or win condition I am playing to. However, upon receiving my role pm, I may have chosen to omit certain parts, or add extra things if I am mafia. Despite this, everything I italicise will generally be my thoughts on mafia terms and mechanics. Stuff that's general knowledge, not my thoughts on the current game and its players.
Most of these mafia concepts remain the same from game to game. So my alignment should not show through my italicised posts. Be wary of this.
Mafia is a game of subtleties and motives. No one is going to tell you they are mafia. However, people will choose certain actions and say certain things because they are town or because they are scum (note: the terms 'scum' and 'mafia' are generally interchangeable for all purposes in this game). It is town's job to find these motives and scum's job to appear to have the motivation of a townie.
Fundamentally, good scum play is inseparable from good town play. Think about this and what it means for your faction.
Newbie games are generally fairly simple in terms of flavour (the themes in the game, i.e. Mario) and mechanics (how things such as the lynch and night roles operate, usually explained in the rules) and they generally run open set ups (meaning we know what roles are in the game, as well as how many mafia vs town).
However, simple games reinforce the fundamentals that make mafia such a fun game, making for some of the best clashes of wits; there are few unknowns other than a players alignment. No where for town or scum to hide. A true test of mafia skill :D.
Mafia games usually begin with the RVS (random vote stage) where players vote other players with the purpose of building discussion, from which we can begin to scum hunt (the process of finding mafia). During RVS, it is standard practice to also ask "random" questions which serve the same purpose as votes: to generate meaningful discussion.
The name RVS is actually lie, because people do not do things randomly (by the definition of the word). They will almost always have a reason for what they do (even if it's as simple as 'I felt like it'). A more apt name would be the 'Joke Vote Stage.' But if you want to be technical, the JVS could be considered a substage of RVS
tl;dr: RVS is a loosely defined term for the beginning of a mafia game, where there is no real or productive discussion related to scum hunting.
My biggest quarrel in mafia (and one of the most flawed mindsets I see in mafia games) is that RVS serves no purpose other than to 'start' the game. People underestimate RVS severely imo. It is such a good way to get a feel or vibe for other players alignments. I know personally that if I am absent from RVS, I struggle to play well regardless of alignment.
But remember, it's important sometimes to take things said in RVS with a grain of salt. The key to a successful start is player involvement.
Town's job during RVS is to promote discussion, in an attempt to:
1. learn other players alignments, and
2. demonstrate that they are both town and useful to town's cause.
There is no correct way to play as scum, and thus Mafia's job (especially) during RVS is to
1. appear to be town and
2. (more generally) manipulate lynches so that mafia win.
That is all for now! If you are already dreading future walls of text, then mafia may not be your cup of tea. I will answer any questions you may have about the game, and we shall learn as we go along :D.
![Terywj [태리]](/data/avatars/l/71/71007.jpg?1555906021){kind=avatar}
