RAFO Mafia Rules and Guides* - Edit 1
Before modification by Isaac at 20/07/2011 01:51:33 AM
FT, when you get moment can you flag this as an announcement, and everyone else, while I'd appreciate if you can review this material and the other material in here, please refrain from replying with any post (NB is fine) in this thread until this text disappears, I have a number of posts I need to add and some need to be done more or less on the spot, the asterisk at the end of the title will also disappear when its ready for commentary - Thanks
RAFO Mafia Rules v 4.0
Introduction
Although RAFO Mafia has developed a number of In-House Rules, these typically do not effect new players much, and so this Flash Introduction is the first place to begin. Additionally all standard roles and much other information can be found at Mafiascum Wiki. New players should go to that first link before proceeding, the second tends to serve as a regular reference, and initially you will want to consult it to see details on your own role, if you are assigned one. Be aware that any and all rules are subject to change by the Game Moderator. You can also go to Guidance for New Players for some basic tips and strategies. You will also want to look over our Glossary if you see any terms you don't recognize, the game has developed a lot lingo that get's used as shorthand.
Do’s and Do Not’s
Do…
Try to post on average once a day
Keep posts on the game, as opposed to tangents
Act in a courteous fashion to other players
Send a Note Board (NB) Message to the Moderator if you have any questions or confusion
Seek to win, your role message will specify your victory condition, which may differ from others.
Do Not…
Post your role message to the game board
Speak to other players via the NB about the game unless you have permission from the Mod
Edit any posts you make in the game thread
Post after you have died, nor during the Night Phase
Quote any message from the Moderator to yourself, paraphrase instead
Ask players how a role ability works, ask the moderator or check the mafiascum wiki
The Lynch
The core of the game, players seek to gather sufficient votes to Lynch a player each day. This is done by having a majority of votes for that player to be lynched. There are circumstances and abilities that can modify this, but the normal is that if Half Plus One players vote for another player, that person has been lynched, and is removed from play. So for 3 players, 2 votes are needed, for 4, 3 votes, for 5, 3 votes, for 6, 4 votes, for 7, 4 votes and so on. Be aware that a lynch takes place the moment the majority is reached, an Unvote – detailed below – after this time has no effect. Once a player has been lynched they are removed from the game
Voting, Actions, and Deadlines
Casting a Vote:The core concept of the game is voting for who to lynch each day, with the day typically ending in a lynch. To do this, the format is Vote: Name where the name of the player you wish to be lynched is listed. The text must be in bold to count if it is in the body of a message, if it appears in the title, it does not. To bold text, simply surround the words with < b>Text to be Bold</ b> removing the space from in front of the ‘b’, for more on formatting text, including italics, underlines,strikethrough, and color see Formatting Text on RAFO for more details.
Unvoting: If a player decides they do not wish to vote for someone any longer, or wish to change their vote, they must unvote them. The preferred format is Unvote: Name but Unvote is sufficient. As with voting, where format or spelling is not correct, clear intent may be sufficient, but is at the Mod's discretion.
It should be noted that many moderators, as well as players, utilize the board’s internal Search Function to expedite finding votes, as a keyword search for vote: will generally turn up all votes and unvotes in the specified timeframe, so it is a good idea to double-check that piece of text is correct when voting.
Challenging a Vote: In event that a vote is under question, bad formatting or unclear intent, any living player may challenge its validity. That vote is considered invalid until ruled on by the Mod or until it is otherwise rectified. So a player who cast an unclear or incorrectly formatted vote could recast it or retract it and clarify the issue, otherwise the Mod must rule. If the Mod consider the challenge (or for that matter the retraction) to be groundless the challenged vote is considered valid from the time it was originally cast, otherwise it’s valid from the time the Mod ruled. This prevents frivolous challenges being used overturn a lynch if the player’s realize they got an innocent guy, or alternatively an extra vote cast on the assumption the vote in question was bad causing an unintended lynch.
Actions:
Often referred to as ‘Night Actions’, players often have available to them abilities they can use, typically only at night but some day abilities exist. These are typically broken up into Passive and Active Night Actions. Passive Abilities essentially work all the time, Active Actions require the player to send in that action, what and who, to the Moderator. Once an action is sent in, it may not be changed, barring special circumstances. You will typically not find out the results of your actions until Dawn, and often not at all if you died that night. It is often the case that those in the Scum Faction will discuss their actions amongst themselves in messages the Mod is privy to, so formally sending in an action to the Mod may appear redundant but should still be done anyway unless the Mod has said otherwise. Beyond that the Mod may not be reading those inter-faction messages very thoroughly a given player in that faction might have motive to say one thing to their allies and do another thing entirely.
Deadlines:
Typically every Night has a deadline by which time players must have sent in any Night Action or it will be assumed not to have been used, the deadline is typically 48 hours, players planning not to use an ability should still NB the moderator to let them know they aren’t using it, as the moderator will otherwise have to wait, especially later in the game, night actions tend to get sent in fairly quickly and Night need not last the full 48 hours. There are also Day Deadlines. Typically a Day is expected to last one to two weeks, many moderators avoid setting deadlines or extend them if posting is high in frequency, alternatively many will often impose a deadline if posting slumps, the default is 96 hours if a moderator feels such a slump has occurred, and a moderator may extend that if posting picks back up. Should no one have received sufficient votes to be lynched by a deadline, the day ends in a No Lynch.
No Lynch: In addition to deadlines, a day may end without a lynch if players vote not to lynch someone, by casting Vote: No Lynch, this requires the same number of votes as a normal lynch would.
Posting
Frequency: Players are expected to average at least one post a day, obviously few players post every single day but you are definitely posting too little if you are not getting in at least 5 messages a week. Posts with little or no content are also frowned on and not really viewed as applying to that minimum.
Editing: The Rule of Thumb is that players do not edit any messages, if you make a mistake, reply to your own message with “EBWOP” – Edit by way of Post - in the title. However, there are some exceptions. First, we tend to follow a ‘3 strikes’ rule. Second, you may edit Tables, these posts typically contain compilations of information in response to questions a player has asked of others, thus is edited as information comes in, you must put (Table) in the title of the post and it is customary to make it a new thread inside the Game Thread or otherwise prominent. Third, should you find you have accidentally edited a message, you may edit it again to include (Edit) in the title, alerting players the content has changed. While the first edit counts against your 3 strikes, the edit to include (Edit) in the title will not.
Posthumous Posting: As mentioned above, you may not post after you die, while cheerleading comments containing no game information are usually permitted, doing this much is frowned on.
Quoting: You may never quote the moderator, referred to as ModQuoting, for this reason it is also discouraged and often banned to forge a ModQuote, even though you may lie through your teeth about anything else, or paraphrase the mod as you please, truthfully or not, this ban is in place both on the game board and in NB’s between players. Bans on quoting NB’s from other players, or NB’s from a moderator prior to the game, vary from Mod to Mod, but even if allowed it is usually frowned on.
Note Board Messages: If you are allowed to NB other players, and this is typically only specified people at night time, it has become rather customary to include the moderator in these NB’s. Whether or not it is required varies from Mod to Mod.
Code Phrases: If you are allowed to NB other players, you may seek to set up code phrases that can be innocuously used to send messages, however, you may only use correspondence legally transmitted in the current game for this. You could not, for instance, use codes from previous games where you could speak to a player to send them messages in the current game, nor otherwise non-public correspondence, like telling them to 'Investigate the player whose first name starts with the same letter as the first word in our NB on date X'. You could however tell someone during your legal night phase NBs 'If I title a message What should we do next? vote for the first player I name in that message.' This rule prevents players who have extensive prior contact with many players from gaining an unfair advantage, a player for instance who has moderated a previous game will have exchanged private NBs with most players.
Litmus Testing: Certain tactics, such as having every player clearly state their alignment each day so a Lie Detector role can check them, are considered both cumbersome on gameplay and to represent an unbalancing effect on the game and that role should it be in play. For this reason such tactics are frowned on and may be banned depending on the Mod. Should a player come up with a similar tactic during game play, it may be allowed for that game without setting a precedent for future games as coming up with new tactics is strongly encouraged but on post-game review it may be decided that the strategy is too unbalancing to be permitted.
Modkills, Substitution, and Inactivity
Modkills: These come in two types, Inactivity Modkills and Rule Violation Modkills. Rule Violation Modkills instantly end the day, as a lynch would, to prevent a townie who is likely to be lynched from breaking the rules to get modkilled and prevent their allies from ‘wasting a lynch’. Inactivity modkills, on the other hand, end the day only at Moderator Discretion, typically two in one day ends the day.
Inactivity: In the absence of a RBIRL – Real Busy in Real Life – warning of impending inactivity, a player will be considered inactive if they haven’t posted in the last 72 hours. Each Mod deals with this as they deem appropriate but the normal is a warning of inactivity via NB followed by a modkill, some Mods may remove a player from the count needed to lynch and allow a longer period of inactivity.
Substitution: As players who are modkilled for inactivity or who are RBIRL for very long times (more than a week) would represent an imbalance in the game, moderators can, if they choose to, use dead players or people previously not in the game to replace a player rather than modkilling that character. The qualification to sub is little to no useful knowledge from a prior role, substitution may or may not be in play in a game. Substitution is generally best avoided outside of the early rounds of the game.
Problem Resolution
By and large virtually all questions and problems should be handled through the mod, but for cases where the mod is not available the primary author of the rules or any other senior player, living or dead, can be contacted to ask for informal advice. In event the Mod should disappear or need to resign and can not appoint a replacement mod, players – living and dead – should ask a senior player to coordinate a vote, public or secret, on what to do next. Lacking a Mod, players may choose to vote to end the game as a stalemate or to appoint a new Mod to attempt to finish the game. Players may not vote to decide who wins a game, though a faction might choose to concede, however they may elect a player – living or dead – to make a determination on the matter, presumably someone with prior moderating experience, as to which faction is most likely to win or if that can not be reasonably determined they can declare a stalemate. Such decisions should not however be taken unless the Mod has been unexpectedly absent for several days or otherwise made it clear they could not complete the game.
Finally, where any ruling by the Mod of a game conflicts, or appears to conflict, with the rules above, this is grounds for a player to inquire for an explanation from the Mod. However, these are the game series rules and the Mod of the current game has sole authority. Those rulings do not apply beyond that game, though the custom for rulings on new problems has been for the Mod of the game the issue arose on to set the precedents. Mod’s are not perfect but are generally in a better position to make an informed and fair ruling.
Introduction
Although RAFO Mafia has developed a number of In-House Rules, these typically do not effect new players much, and so this Flash Introduction is the first place to begin. Additionally all standard roles and much other information can be found at Mafiascum Wiki. New players should go to that first link before proceeding, the second tends to serve as a regular reference, and initially you will want to consult it to see details on your own role, if you are assigned one. Be aware that any and all rules are subject to change by the Game Moderator. You can also go to Guidance for New Players for some basic tips and strategies. You will also want to look over our Glossary if you see any terms you don't recognize, the game has developed a lot lingo that get's used as shorthand.
Do’s and Do Not’s
Do…
Do Not…
The Lynch
The core of the game, players seek to gather sufficient votes to Lynch a player each day. This is done by having a majority of votes for that player to be lynched. There are circumstances and abilities that can modify this, but the normal is that if Half Plus One players vote for another player, that person has been lynched, and is removed from play. So for 3 players, 2 votes are needed, for 4, 3 votes, for 5, 3 votes, for 6, 4 votes, for 7, 4 votes and so on. Be aware that a lynch takes place the moment the majority is reached, an Unvote – detailed below – after this time has no effect. Once a player has been lynched they are removed from the game
Voting, Actions, and Deadlines
Casting a Vote:The core concept of the game is voting for who to lynch each day, with the day typically ending in a lynch. To do this, the format is Vote: Name where the name of the player you wish to be lynched is listed. The text must be in bold to count if it is in the body of a message, if it appears in the title, it does not. To bold text, simply surround the words with < b>Text to be Bold</ b> removing the space from in front of the ‘b’, for more on formatting text, including italics, underlines,
Unvoting: If a player decides they do not wish to vote for someone any longer, or wish to change their vote, they must unvote them. The preferred format is Unvote: Name but Unvote is sufficient. As with voting, where format or spelling is not correct, clear intent may be sufficient, but is at the Mod's discretion.
It should be noted that many moderators, as well as players, utilize the board’s internal Search Function to expedite finding votes, as a keyword search for vote: will generally turn up all votes and unvotes in the specified timeframe, so it is a good idea to double-check that piece of text is correct when voting.
Challenging a Vote: In event that a vote is under question, bad formatting or unclear intent, any living player may challenge its validity. That vote is considered invalid until ruled on by the Mod or until it is otherwise rectified. So a player who cast an unclear or incorrectly formatted vote could recast it or retract it and clarify the issue, otherwise the Mod must rule. If the Mod consider the challenge (or for that matter the retraction) to be groundless the challenged vote is considered valid from the time it was originally cast, otherwise it’s valid from the time the Mod ruled. This prevents frivolous challenges being used overturn a lynch if the player’s realize they got an innocent guy, or alternatively an extra vote cast on the assumption the vote in question was bad causing an unintended lynch.
Actions:
Often referred to as ‘Night Actions’, players often have available to them abilities they can use, typically only at night but some day abilities exist. These are typically broken up into Passive and Active Night Actions. Passive Abilities essentially work all the time, Active Actions require the player to send in that action, what and who, to the Moderator. Once an action is sent in, it may not be changed, barring special circumstances. You will typically not find out the results of your actions until Dawn, and often not at all if you died that night. It is often the case that those in the Scum Faction will discuss their actions amongst themselves in messages the Mod is privy to, so formally sending in an action to the Mod may appear redundant but should still be done anyway unless the Mod has said otherwise. Beyond that the Mod may not be reading those inter-faction messages very thoroughly a given player in that faction might have motive to say one thing to their allies and do another thing entirely.
Deadlines:
Typically every Night has a deadline by which time players must have sent in any Night Action or it will be assumed not to have been used, the deadline is typically 48 hours, players planning not to use an ability should still NB the moderator to let them know they aren’t using it, as the moderator will otherwise have to wait, especially later in the game, night actions tend to get sent in fairly quickly and Night need not last the full 48 hours. There are also Day Deadlines. Typically a Day is expected to last one to two weeks, many moderators avoid setting deadlines or extend them if posting is high in frequency, alternatively many will often impose a deadline if posting slumps, the default is 96 hours if a moderator feels such a slump has occurred, and a moderator may extend that if posting picks back up. Should no one have received sufficient votes to be lynched by a deadline, the day ends in a No Lynch.
No Lynch: In addition to deadlines, a day may end without a lynch if players vote not to lynch someone, by casting Vote: No Lynch, this requires the same number of votes as a normal lynch would.
Posting
Frequency: Players are expected to average at least one post a day, obviously few players post every single day but you are definitely posting too little if you are not getting in at least 5 messages a week. Posts with little or no content are also frowned on and not really viewed as applying to that minimum.
Editing: The Rule of Thumb is that players do not edit any messages, if you make a mistake, reply to your own message with “EBWOP” – Edit by way of Post - in the title. However, there are some exceptions. First, we tend to follow a ‘3 strikes’ rule. Second, you may edit Tables, these posts typically contain compilations of information in response to questions a player has asked of others, thus is edited as information comes in, you must put (Table) in the title of the post and it is customary to make it a new thread inside the Game Thread or otherwise prominent. Third, should you find you have accidentally edited a message, you may edit it again to include (Edit) in the title, alerting players the content has changed. While the first edit counts against your 3 strikes, the edit to include (Edit) in the title will not.
Posthumous Posting: As mentioned above, you may not post after you die, while cheerleading comments containing no game information are usually permitted, doing this much is frowned on.
Quoting: You may never quote the moderator, referred to as ModQuoting, for this reason it is also discouraged and often banned to forge a ModQuote, even though you may lie through your teeth about anything else, or paraphrase the mod as you please, truthfully or not, this ban is in place both on the game board and in NB’s between players. Bans on quoting NB’s from other players, or NB’s from a moderator prior to the game, vary from Mod to Mod, but even if allowed it is usually frowned on.
Note Board Messages: If you are allowed to NB other players, and this is typically only specified people at night time, it has become rather customary to include the moderator in these NB’s. Whether or not it is required varies from Mod to Mod.
Code Phrases: If you are allowed to NB other players, you may seek to set up code phrases that can be innocuously used to send messages, however, you may only use correspondence legally transmitted in the current game for this. You could not, for instance, use codes from previous games where you could speak to a player to send them messages in the current game, nor otherwise non-public correspondence, like telling them to 'Investigate the player whose first name starts with the same letter as the first word in our NB on date X'. You could however tell someone during your legal night phase NBs 'If I title a message What should we do next? vote for the first player I name in that message.' This rule prevents players who have extensive prior contact with many players from gaining an unfair advantage, a player for instance who has moderated a previous game will have exchanged private NBs with most players.
Litmus Testing: Certain tactics, such as having every player clearly state their alignment each day so a Lie Detector role can check them, are considered both cumbersome on gameplay and to represent an unbalancing effect on the game and that role should it be in play. For this reason such tactics are frowned on and may be banned depending on the Mod. Should a player come up with a similar tactic during game play, it may be allowed for that game without setting a precedent for future games as coming up with new tactics is strongly encouraged but on post-game review it may be decided that the strategy is too unbalancing to be permitted.
Modkills, Substitution, and Inactivity
Modkills: These come in two types, Inactivity Modkills and Rule Violation Modkills. Rule Violation Modkills instantly end the day, as a lynch would, to prevent a townie who is likely to be lynched from breaking the rules to get modkilled and prevent their allies from ‘wasting a lynch’. Inactivity modkills, on the other hand, end the day only at Moderator Discretion, typically two in one day ends the day.
Inactivity: In the absence of a RBIRL – Real Busy in Real Life – warning of impending inactivity, a player will be considered inactive if they haven’t posted in the last 72 hours. Each Mod deals with this as they deem appropriate but the normal is a warning of inactivity via NB followed by a modkill, some Mods may remove a player from the count needed to lynch and allow a longer period of inactivity.
Substitution: As players who are modkilled for inactivity or who are RBIRL for very long times (more than a week) would represent an imbalance in the game, moderators can, if they choose to, use dead players or people previously not in the game to replace a player rather than modkilling that character. The qualification to sub is little to no useful knowledge from a prior role, substitution may or may not be in play in a game. Substitution is generally best avoided outside of the early rounds of the game.
Problem Resolution
By and large virtually all questions and problems should be handled through the mod, but for cases where the mod is not available the primary author of the rules or any other senior player, living or dead, can be contacted to ask for informal advice. In event the Mod should disappear or need to resign and can not appoint a replacement mod, players – living and dead – should ask a senior player to coordinate a vote, public or secret, on what to do next. Lacking a Mod, players may choose to vote to end the game as a stalemate or to appoint a new Mod to attempt to finish the game. Players may not vote to decide who wins a game, though a faction might choose to concede, however they may elect a player – living or dead – to make a determination on the matter, presumably someone with prior moderating experience, as to which faction is most likely to win or if that can not be reasonably determined they can declare a stalemate. Such decisions should not however be taken unless the Mod has been unexpectedly absent for several days or otherwise made it clear they could not complete the game.
Finally, where any ruling by the Mod of a game conflicts, or appears to conflict, with the rules above, this is grounds for a player to inquire for an explanation from the Mod. However, these are the game series rules and the Mod of the current game has sole authority. Those rulings do not apply beyond that game, though the custom for rulings on new problems has been for the Mod of the game the issue arose on to set the precedents. Mod’s are not perfect but are generally in a better position to make an informed and fair ruling.