I usually think of this more as a video game board than for RPG but I've noticed a fair amount of people on this board discussing RPG, so I thought I'd drop a notice here for those who might be interested in joining us on the RPG board for Dresden Files-themed game of Mafiascum.

RAFO Mafia Game 23: The Dresden Files

To celebrate our completion of 13 games with 13,000 posts since coming to RAFO, and our game’s 3rd anniversary, we have decided to pick as our theme for Game 23 Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files. His brand new book, Ghost Story, the 13th in the series, hits the bookstores next week.

If you're not already familiar with the game, Mafiascum, or simply Mafia, is a murder mystery game played both online and at parties. The basic concept is for the good guys (most of the players) to find out who the mafia are and lynch them before they kill everyone else. The game revolves around trying to put together the clues and figure out who to lynch while the mafia tries to lie, trick, and murder off the other players to a backdrop of interrogations, maneuvering, mob rule, treachery, and even more murder.

Prior to transferring our banner to RAFO from the old site, games typically took place in the Wheel of Time setting. We’ve since branched out to other settings from Sci-fi themes to anime to comic books and most recently Greek mythology, and this time we’ll be in modern day Chicago, at McAnally’s Pub, designated neutral territory for wizards, faeries, vampires, and everything else unnatural with its 13 tables, 13 windows, and 13 wooden columns.

We’re always looking for new players, and if you'd like to join us just go to our Registration Page. You can also watch this handy Introductory Animation for the basic rules and ideas and check out our newly updated Rules Page for more details. Games usually last over a month broken into game Days and Nights, Days usually last a week or more, though for this game the maximum Day duration will be 13 days, before going into a 48-72 hour Night Phase conducted via Noteboard messages – when most of the murdering and spying take place – before starting the next Day in a new thread. Play continues until one faction eliminates everyone else, typically the good guys, the ‘Townies’ or the mafia, though other factions such as serial killers, arsonists, and homicidal cults are often in play as well. For this game each player will be randomly assigned one of approximately one-hundred characters taken from the books.

A knowledge of the Dresden Files is not necessary, though may help players, we pick our themes primarily to add flavor. However if you are a Dresden fan you won’t want to miss it, and if you’re interested in playing and want to get a quick introduction to the setting, you can view all the episodes of the short-lived TV series for free on Hulu. There are differences between the TV show and book series, we will be following the books, but for those new to the series the TV show will give a good introduction and a feel for the setting, though again you don’t need to know the series to play.

If you have any questions or are interested in playing, we’d love to hear from you, Registration will be open till Saturday, with the game to start within a day after it closes, we hope you’ll join us.

- Isaac, Game 23 Moderator