General Rules for Mafia Games

[Hammered]

The host of the next game should start his sign ups shortly after the present game starts, so he/she can have enough players to be ready on time.
The next game should start about 24 hours after the last game has ended, provided there are at least 8 players signed up. If there are less than 8, the game may be delayed until 8 are found, but a special effort should be made to find the additional players quickly.
Mafia roles should be assigned to about 25% of the total number of players. The remainder should be townies. If the number of players is not divisible by 4, an extra mafia may be included, provided that there are at least 3 extra players and the extra mafia role is extraordinarily weak (weaker than a standard mafia) or the town has extra power players to balance.
All communication about the game should occur in the thread itself, not in a chat room and not in PMs. There are only 3 exceptions to this rule:
First, all players can communicate privately with the host.
Second, players designated as mafia may chat privately with other mafia, but not with any other players.
Third, players designated as masons may chat privately with other members of their mason group, but not with any other players.
If you are found to be chatting about the mafia game in the Hamumu chat room, you should not be surprised to find your chat contents posted in the mafia thread where it belongs, and you should be prepared to be kicked if a moderator notices.
Players may claim their roles if they like, but may not reveal other playes roles who they learn as a result of their own roles. It is OK to speculate on other player's roles or share what you may have deduced about them, as long as you make it clear that that is what you are doing.
If you are killed, you will probably be given an opportunity to give a last gasp. That will be your last post as a player in that game. You are not allowe to post again.
Although it is disappointing to be killed, remember that other players are still enjoying the game and it isn't fair for you to ruin it for them. If you are a mafia, don't use your last gasp to rat out your fellow mafia. Townies should feel free to post whatever they may have deduced that they think may be helpful to their fellow townies. Nobody, except the host, should ever post the host's messages about roles.
Non-players (and dead players) should not post any game related info in the thread. Let the people who are playing draw their own conclusions. The people who are in the game (mafia and townies) don't want to have to play against everyone on the forum. Stay out of it if you are not playing.
The host should set a reasonable time limit of not less than 24 hours for people who need to PM him at night to do so. Remember that some of our players are on different continents and widely divergent time zones, so saying things about whether PMs have been received can give people clues about where the PMing roles might live and therefore who they are. It is probably best to wait the entire 24 hours until the day starts, even if you get all the PMs back in 10 minutes.
The host might consider setting a reasonable time limit for people to vote, if it seems to be dragging on overly long. In no case should that deadline be less than 24 hours, because of the global nature of our player pool. If a majority of the players have voted to lynch a player, that player is lynched whether or not anyone changes their votes after the fact. Changing your vote after a lynch occurs is cheating, so don't do it. Once the lynch has taken place, the host should post the lynch of that player in a timely fashion and start the night.
There is a host signup sheet over on the Total Mayhem forum. You must have played in at least two games to host, but you can sign up even if you have never played, because the list is so long. If you have not played in the requisite number of games before your hosting turn comes up, you will be moved down on the list to a place where you would be able to complete the requirement. If this happens again, you will be dropped from the list.
There are a lot of Don'ts here, but they are intended to make the game better for everyone. There are some exceptions. If the host appears not to be around, you can post vote tallies, even if you are dead or not even in the game. You can also post questions to the host about things that seem to be vague or wrong. Other people are probably having the same questions.
Lately, we have had some unfortunate incidents of people coming into the chat room under other players' names, apparently in an effort to gain secret information about their roles. This has happened for three games in a row and it must stop. Not only is it no class to impersonate any other user for any reason, it is big-time cheating if you do it during a mafia game where you could get extra information to help your team.
Have fun!I am sure I missed something so feel free to PM me and I will add them here - let's keep this thread clean so people don't have to read a bunch of stuff to figure out how to play.

[blackmyth]

Just a suggestion, all masons/mafia should have a secret word assigned to them to prevent information gathering via impersonation.

[chaucer]

I wonder who the impersonater(s) is/are...

[Hammered]

I am adding one, but I can't edit, so I am redoing the whole list.

The host of the next game should start his sign ups shortly after the present game starts, so he/she can have enough players to be ready on time.
The next game should start about 24 hours after the last game has ended, provided there are at least 8 players signed up. If there are less than 8, the game may be delayed until 8 are found, but a special effort should be made to find the additional players quickly.
Mafia roles should be assigned to about 25% of the total number of players. The remainder should be townies. If the number of players is not divisible by 4, an extra mafia may be included, provided that there are at least 3 extra players and the extra mafia role is extraordinarily weak (weaker than a standard mafia) or the town has extra power players to balance.
All communication about the game should occur in the thread itself, not in a chat room and not in PMs. There are only 3 exceptions to this rule:
First, all players can communicate privately with the host.
Second, players designated as mafia may chat privately with other mafia, but not with any other players.
Third, players designated as masons may chat privately with other members of their mason group, but not with any other players.
If you are found to be chatting about the mafia game in the Hamumu chat room, you should not be surprised to find your chat contents posted in the mafia thread where it belongs, and you should be prepared to be kicked if a moderator notices.
Players may claim their roles if they like, but may not reveal other playes roles who they learn as a result of their own roles. It is OK to speculate on other player's roles or share what you may have deduced about them, as long as you make it clear that that is what you are doing.
If you are killed, you will probably be given an opportunity to give a last gasp. That will be your last post as a player in that game. You are not allowe to post again.
Although it is disappointing to be killed, remember that other players are still enjoying the game and it isn't fair for you to ruin it for them. If you are a mafia, don't use your last gasp to rat out your fellow mafia. Townies should feel free to post whatever they may have deduced that they think may be helpful to their fellow townies. Nobody, except the host, should ever post the host's messages about roles.
Non-players (and dead players) should not post any game related info in the thread. Let the people who are playing draw their own conclusions. The people who are in the game (mafia and townies) don't want to have to play against everyone on the forum. Stay out of it if you are not playing.
The host should set a reasonable time limit of not less than 24 hours for people who need to PM him at night to do so. Remember that some of our players are on different continents and widely divergent time zones, so saying things about whether PMs have been received can give people clues about where the PMing roles might live and therefore who they are. It is probably best to wait the entire 24 hours until the day starts, even if you get all the PMs back in 10 minutes.
The host might consider setting a reasonable time limit for people to vote, if it seems to be dragging on overly long. In no case should that deadline be less than 24 hours, because of the global nature of our player pool. If a majority of the players have voted to lynch a player, that player is lynched whether or not anyone changes their votes after the fact. Changing your vote after a lynch occurs is cheating, so don't do it. Once the lynch has taken place, the host should post the lynch of that player in a timely fashion and start the night.
Hosts need to be attentive to the games they are hosting. They have things they need to do on a regular basis and they can't do that if they are lurking. If you can't be attentive to your game, don't host one. People in a mafia game expect to die of lynches and hits, not boredom.
There is a host signup sheet over on the Total Mayhem forum. You must have played in at least two games to host, but you can sign up even if you have never played, because the list is so long. If you have not played in the requisite number of games before your hosting turn comes up, you will be moved down on the list to a place where you would be able to complete the requirement. If this happens again, you will be dropped from the list.
There are a lot of Don'ts here, but they are intended to make the game better for everyone. There are some exceptions. If the host appears not to be around, you can post vote tallies, even if you are dead or not even in the game. You can also post questions to the host about things that seem to be vague or wrong. Other people are probably having the same questions.
Lately, we have had some unfortunate incidents of people coming into the chat room under other players' names, apparently in an effort to gain secret information about their roles. This has happened for three games in a row and it must stop. Not only is it no class to impersonate any other user for any reason, it is big-time cheating if you do it during a mafia game where you could get extra information to help your team.
Have fun!

[regeneratorizer]

I have an idea for a rule: In my other game, one of the mafia pretended to rat out his fellow 'Mafia' while the mafia were actually townies. Everybody put pressure on me to end the game because it was 'broken' because they 'knew all the mafia'. I couldnt end the game, because it wasnt broken. But I couldnt say that it wasnt broken, because that would prove the people he said were townies innocent, making it unfair for the mafia. If there is any way to stop this from happening again....

[Hammered]

I am adding one, but I can't edit, so I am redoing the whole list.

The host of the next game should start his sign ups shortly after the present game starts, so he/she can have enough players to be ready on time.
The next game should start about 24 hours after the last game has ended, provided there are at least 8 players signed up. If there are less than 8, the game may be delayed until 8 are found, but a special effort should be made to find the additional players quickly.
Mafia roles should be assigned to about 25% of the total number of players. The remainder should be townies. If the number of players is not divisible by 4, an extra mafia may be included, provided that there are at least 3 extra players and the extra mafia role is extraordinarily weak (weaker than a standard mafia) or the town has extra power players to balance.
All communication about the game should occur in the thread itself, not in a chat room and not in PMs. There are only 3 exceptions to this rule:
First, all players can communicate privately with the host.
Second, players designated as mafia may chat privately with other mafia, but not with any other players.
Third, players designated as masons may chat privately with other members of their mason group, but not with any other players.
If you are found to be chatting about the mafia game in the Hamumu chat room, you should not be surprised to find your chat contents posted in the mafia thread where it belongs, and you should be prepared to be kicked if a moderator notices.
Players may claim their roles if they like, but may not reveal other playes roles who they learn as a result of their own roles. It is OK to speculate on other player's roles or share what you may have deduced about them, as long as you make it clear that that is what you are doing.
If you are killed, you will probably be given an opportunity to give a last gasp. That will be your last post as a player in that game. You are not allowed to post again after that.
Although it is disappointing to be killed, remember that other players are still enjoying the game and it isn't fair for you to ruin it for them. If you are a mafia, don't use your last gasp to rat out your fellow mafia. Townies should feel free to post whatever they may have deduced that they think may be helpful to their fellow townies. Nobody, except the host, should ever post the host's messages about roles.
Non-players (and dead players) should not post any game related info in the thread. Let the people who are playing draw their own conclusions. The people who are in the game (mafia and townies) don't want to have to play against everyone on the forum. Stay out of it if you are not playing.
The host should set a reasonable time limit of not less than 24 hours for people who need to PM him at night to do so. Remember that some of our players are on different continents and widely divergent time zones, so saying things about whether PMs have been received can give people clues about where the PMing roles might live and therefore who they are. It is probably best to wait the entire 24 hours until the day starts, even if you get all the PMs back in 10 minutes.
The host might consider setting a reasonable time limit for people to vote, if it seems to be dragging on overly long. In no case should that deadline be less than 24 hours, because of the global nature of our player pool. If a majority of the players have voted to lynch a player, that player is lynched whether or not anyone changes their votes after the fact. Changing your vote after a lynch occurs is cheating, so don't do it. Once the lynch has taken place, the host should post the lynch of that player in a timely fashion and start the night.
Hosts need to be attentive to the games they are hosting. They have things they need to do on a regular basis and they can't do that if they are lurking. If you can't be attentive to your game, don't host one. People in a mafia game expect to die of lynches and hits, not boredom.
There is a host signup sheet over on the Total Mayhem forum. You must have played in at least three games to sign up.
There are a lot of Don'ts here, but they are intended to make the game better for everyone. There are some exceptions. If the host appears not to be around, you can post vote tallies, even if you are dead or not even in the game. You can also post questions to the host about things that seem to be vague or wrong. Other people are probably having the same questions.
Lately, we have had some unfortunate incidents of people coming into the chat room under other players' names, apparently in an effort to gain secret information about their roles. This has happened for three games in a row and it must stop. Not only is it no class to impersonate any other user for any reason, it is big-time cheating if you do it during a mafia game where you could get extra information to help your team.
If you are hosting, you have to PM everyone. No PMing the mafia and power roles and then telling everyone who didn't get a PM that they are a townie. This will be considered flawed hosting. It has caused problems in every single game where it has been tried. You can use the BCC feature to tell 5 people at a time that they are plain townies, so it isn't too much work. Just do it.
Have fun!

[Roland]

It'd kinda help to show which one was the new one, so we don't have to wade through all that text to find out which one's the new one. Well organized though, Hammered! :)

[Hammered]

New rules are added at the end of the list.

[Dave Hettel]

I'd like to suggest another rule, actually. Already in my game I've noticed active citizens of Wannahockaloogie are spying on the who's online list to see who's PMing, and I'd like to see to it that this doesn't continue in later games, as I believe it is almost cheating.

[Coolguy]

I'd like to suggest another rule, actually. Already in my game I've noticed active citizens of Wannahockaloogie are spying on the who's online list to see who's PMing, and I'd like to see to it that this doesn't continue in later games, as I believe it is almost cheating.

People should turn on Invisible Mode, then, to hide. :p

[Jamul]

The information is right there. I think it makes much more sense to let people know and tell them they can use invisible mode than to trust that people won't exploit it.

[regeneratorizer]

In my next mafia game, I plan to modkill all who post ''HEY! I SAW SO-AND-SO PMING!''.

[Coolguy]

I'm just going to PM everybody who didn't turn on invisible mode to turn it on, or they'll get found out. :p

[CheeseLord]

There's no way to stop people from reading it, so I guess the only thing to do is tell people to turn on invisible mode.

[regeneratorizer]

There's no way to stop people from reading it

Or is there?!?!?

[31337]

Invisible Mode? I must learn the secrets of invisibility!

[Coolguy]

Go to User CP, then Options, then check the Use Invisible Mode box.

[31337]

What does it do?

[Coolguy]

You don't appear in Currently Active Users, which shows what everybody's currently doing. People can see you PMing in there if you're not invisible, so that's why almost all Mafia players have turned invisible mode on.

[Roland]

Do I? I didn't recieve a PM from you, though that was probably the biggest liarty lie that ever lied on this liable planet.

EDIT: Done. Wait-Now I have a red glow instead of a non-glowing or a green-glowing one. And it says when you hover over it with the mouse, "Roland is invisible". Does this only apply to me? Because otherwise it wouldn't be very invisible. :p

[Mr.Onion]

Do I? I didn't recieve a PM from you, though that was probably the biggest liarty lie that ever lied on this liable planet.
Who was that responding too?

[Roland]

Cool-diddly-guy! Sorry, should have mentioned that!

[Mr.Onion]

It says Roland is off-line for me.

[Coolguy]

I was saying that I was going to PM everybody who wasn't invisible to turn on invisible mode in MY game, not right now. :p

As for Regen's modkilling plan, that doesn't stop Mafia members spying on the Currently Active Users page to find power roles.

[Hammered]

Well, I'm not going to add the rule to not look, because there's no way to enforce it. I have instead added a rule that players should protect themselves if they wish to play in this sort of game, which makes a lot more sense. :mrgreen:

The host of the next game should start his sign ups shortly after the present game starts, so he/she can have enough players to be ready on time.
The next game should start about 24 hours after the last game has ended, provided there are at least 8 players signed up. If there are less than 8, the game may be delayed until 8 are found, but a special effort should be made to find the additional players quickly.
Mafia roles should be assigned to about 25% of the total number of players. The remainder should be townies. If the number of players is not divisible by 4, an extra mafia may be included, provided that there are at least 3 extra players and the extra mafia role is extraordinarily weak (weaker than a standard mafia) or the town has extra power players to balance.
All communication about the game should occur in the thread itself, not in a chat room and not in PMs. There are only 3 exceptions to this rule:
First, all players can communicate privately with the host.
Second, players designated as mafia may chat privately with other mafia, but not with any other players.
Third, players designated as masons may chat privately with other members of their mason group, but not with any other players.
If you are found to be chatting about the mafia game in the Hamumu chat room, you should not be surprised to find your chat contents posted in the mafia thread where it belongs, and you should be prepared to be kicked if a moderator notices.
Players may claim their roles if they like, but may not reveal other playes roles who they learn as a result of their own roles. It is OK to speculate on other player's roles or share what you may have deduced about them, as long as you make it clear that that is what you are doing.
If you are killed, you will probably be given an opportunity to give a last gasp. That will be your last post as a player in that game. You are not allowed to post again after that.
Although it is disappointing to be killed, remember that other players are still enjoying the game and it isn't fair for you to ruin it for them. If you are a mafia, don't use your last gasp to rat out your fellow mafia. Townies should feel free to post whatever they may have deduced that they think may be helpful to their fellow townies. Nobody, except the host, should ever post the host's messages about roles.
Non-players (and dead players) should not post any game related info in the thread. Let the people who are playing draw their own conclusions. The people who are in the game (mafia and townies) don't want to have to play against everyone on the forum. Stay out of it if you are not playing.
The host should set a reasonable time limit of not less than 24 hours for people who need to PM him at night to do so. Remember that some of our players are on different continents and widely divergent time zones, so saying things about whether PMs have been received can give people clues about where the PMing roles might live and therefore who they are. It is probably best to wait the entire 24 hours until the day starts, even if you get all the PMs back in 10 minutes.
The host might consider setting a reasonable time limit for people to vote, if it seems to be dragging on overly long. In no case should that deadline be less than 24 hours, because of the global nature of our player pool. If a majority of the players have voted to lynch a player, that player is lynched whether or not anyone changes their votes after the fact. Changing your vote after a lynch occurs is cheating, so don't do it. Once the lynch has taken place, the host should post the lynch of that player in a timely fashion and start the night.
Hosts need to be attentive to the games they are hosting. They have things they need to do on a regular basis and they can't do that if they are lurking. If you can't be attentive to your game, don't host one. People in a mafia game expect to die of lynches and hits, not boredom.
There is a host signup sheet over on the Total Mayhem forum. You must have played in at least three games to sign up.
There are a lot of Don'ts here, but they are intended to make the game better for everyone. There are some exceptions. If the host appears not to be around, you can post vote tallies, even if you are dead or not even in the game. You can also post questions to the host about things that seem to be vague or wrong. Other people are probably having the same questions.
Lately, we have had some unfortunate incidents of people coming into the chat room under other players' names, apparently in an effort to gain secret information about their roles. This has happened for three games in a row and it must stop. Not only is it no class to impersonate any other user for any reason, it is big-time cheating if you do it during a mafia game where you could get extra information to help your team.
If you are hosting, you have to PM everyone. No PMing the mafia and power roles and then telling everyone who didn't get a PM that they are a townie. This will be considered flawed hosting. It has caused problems in every single game where it has been tried. You can use the BCC feature to tell 5 people at a time that they are plain townies, so it isn't too much work. Just do it.
Be advised that people can use the Currently Active User List to see that you are PMing, so if you are a player with a PMing role, you'd better have Invisible Mode on. (It's in User CP, if you haven't already found that.) Hosts are withing their rights to modkill players who haven't done this and thus virtually give their role away.
Have fun!

[Coolguy]

Could there be a new rule against hiding? Hiding is just as bad as lurking, except it's done on purpose and the person isn't likely to be replaced like real lurkers because they still send their PMs on time. It just slows down the game and fills up player slots that could be better used on people who actually participate. :p

[regeneratorizer]

Not sure about that one - Hiding is a mafia strategy.

[Roland]

But it sure is annoying. It's really hard to tell someone's alliance if they've just been lurking.

[drgamer]

It's a strategy... to get you voted out :p

[Roland]

But for people who always lurk, regardless of alliance (not going to name names), it's really hard. Though if somebody usually says a lot when they're town, and they start lurking, they're probably mafia.

[chaucer]

I agree with coolguy, it'd be nice to have a no-hiding rule.

[AtkinsSJ]

Hey, I know! How about a no-lying rule! That'd stop the mafia making stuff up, which is really annoying!
*Whistle*

[regeneratorizer]

My point exactly! Hiding, just like lying, is a mafia strategy! You cant take that away from them, or you will cripple them!

[drgamer]

Since when is making yourself suspicious a good mafia strategy?
Lying =/= hiding
Lying is part of the game (You can't go out and say 'I'm the mafia')
Hiding delays the game. Example:
10 players, with say... 3 mafia
Person A has 2 votes on them
Person B also has 2 votes on them
Person C also has 2 votes on them
Person D has one vote on them
And the three mafia are hiding
(of course this is exaggerated, but you should get my point)

[AtkinsSJ]

DrG, you completely failed to get my point. I know a no-lying rule is ridiculous. That's why I said it.
I think if we add any more 'you must do this' or 'you must not do this' rules, there's not going to be any game left. I understand that hiding is annoying, but being annoying is well within the allowed limits of the game.

[drgamer]

I was more or less talking about the form of hiding that delays a game, such as 7 RL days of not posting results in that timeframe only taking 1 mafia game day.

I don't really consider logging in, reading the topic, and not posting that particular time to be 'hiding'

I suppose we could just call the game delaying kind 'Running Away' XD

[Coolguy]

The problem is that when normal lurkers do it, they don't get lynched, but they don't get replaced either. It means that in a game with limited slots, some people who'd actually participate can't get into the game.

[Hammered]

The host of the next game should start his sign ups shortly after the present game starts, so he/she can have enough players to be ready on time.
The next game should start about 24 hours after the last game has ended, provided there are at least 8 players signed up. If there are less than 8, the game may be delayed until 8 are found, but a special effort should be made to find the additional players quickly.
Mafia roles should be assigned to about 25% of the total number of players. The remainder should be townies. If the number of players is not divisible by 4, an extra mafia may be included, provided that there are at least 3 extra players and the extra mafia role is extraordinarily weak (weaker than a standard mafia) or the town has extra power players to balance.
All communication about the game should occur in the thread itself, not in a chat room and not in PMs. There are only 3 exceptions to this rule:
First, all players can communicate privately with the host.
Second, players designated as mafia may chat privately with other mafia, but not with any other players.
Third, players designated as masons may chat privately with other members of their mason group, but not with any other players.
If you are found to be chatting about the mafia game in the Hamumu chat room, you should not be surprised to find your chat contents posted in the mafia thread where it belongs, and you should be prepared to be kicked if a moderator notices.
Players may claim their roles if they like, but may not reveal other playes roles who they learn as a result of their own roles. It is OK to speculate on other player's roles or share what you may have deduced about them, as long as you make it clear that that is what you are doing.
If you are killed, you will probably be given an opportunity to give a last gasp. That will be your last post as a player in that game. You are not allowed to post again after that.
Although it is disappointing to be killed, remember that other players are still enjoying the game and it isn't fair for you to ruin it for them. If you are a mafia, don't use your last gasp to rat out your fellow mafia. Townies should feel free to post whatever they may have deduced that they think may be helpful to their fellow townies. Nobody, except the host, should ever post the host's messages about roles.
Non-players (and dead players) should not post any game related info in the thread. Let the people who are playing draw their own conclusions. The people who are in the game (mafia and townies) don't want to have to play against everyone on the forum. Stay out of it if you are not playing.
The host should set a reasonable time limit of not less than 24 hours for people who need to PM him at night to do so. Remember that some of our players are on different continents and widely divergent time zones, so saying things about whether PMs have been received can give people clues about where the PMing roles might live and therefore who they are. It is probably best to wait the entire 24 hours until the day starts, even if you get all the PMs back in 10 minutes.
The host might consider setting a reasonable time limit for people to vote, if it seems to be dragging on overly long. In no case should that deadline be less than 24 hours, because of the global nature of our player pool. If a majority of the players have voted to lynch a player, that player is lynched whether or not anyone changes their votes after the fact. Changing your vote after a lynch occurs is cheating, so don't do it. Once the lynch has taken place, the host should post the lynch of that player in a timely fashion and start the night.
Hosts need to be attentive to the games they are hosting. They have things they need to do on a regular basis and they can't do that if they are lurking. If you can't be attentive to your game, don't host one. People in a mafia game expect to die of lynches and hits, not boredom.
There is a host signup sheet over on the Total Mayhem forum. You must have played in at least three games to sign up.
There are a lot of Don'ts here, but they are intended to make the game better for everyone. There are some exceptions. If the host appears not to be around, you can post vote tallies, even if you are dead or not even in the game. You can also post questions to the host about things that seem to be vague or wrong. Other people are probably having the same questions.
Lately, we have had some unfortunate incidents of people coming into the chat room under other players' names, apparently in an effort to gain secret information about their roles. This has happened for three games in a row and it must stop. Not only is it no class to impersonate any other user for any reason, it is big-time cheating if you do it during a mafia game where you could get extra information to help your team.
If you are hosting, you have to PM everyone. No PMing the mafia and power roles and then telling everyone who didn't get a PM that they are a townie. This will be considered flawed hosting. It has caused problems in every single game where it has been tried. You can use the BCC feature to tell 5 people at a time that they are plain townies, so it isn't too much work. Just do it.
Be advised that people can use the Currently Active User List to see that you are PMing, so if you are a player with a PMing role, you'd better have Invisible Mode on. (It's in User CP, if you haven't already found that.) Hosts are withing their rights to modkill players who haven't done this and thus virtually give their role away.
There is a big difference between a role claim and posting your role. Many times people will have the same role, so actually quoting your role has the force of the host behind it. For that reason it is illegal to post any portion of your actual role PM, without explicit permission of the host. People who do this should be modkilled, for the integrity of the game.
Have fun!

[Mossysox]

Just to be clear about Rule 17: does this mean, in effect, that in games where plain townies have a more characterful name than Plain Townie, nobody should role-claim as a townie (beyond saying 'I'm a townie') until the host has posted the role PM of a dead fellow citizen? I mean, nobody should say (for instance) 'I'm an Unpleasant Peasant' if that's what it says on their role PM until everybody has had the chance to learn in the game, from a deceased Peasant's role PM, that that is what Townies are called?

I'm asking because people do this all the time, and I think clarification would be helpful (for me, if nobody else).

[Hammered]

It is always legal to claim a role type: townie, cop, doctor, whatever, unless the host explicitly says otherwise.

A host with special role names will probably not want you to post them before they are revealed, so it's probably best to ask in that circumstance. Again, it goes to force of the host's word, as opposed to the player's. Once a special role name unique to the individual game, like Unpleasant Peasant in your example, has been released into the general game, everyone has seen it, and it no longer holds the force of the host's words, since everyone has access to those words. On the other hand, if your role just says you are a townie or a doctor, it's no big deal to role claim as that, since it is the generic name, it holds no special warranty of the host's word.




This might be a good place to discuss something that happened during witchcraft mafia, since it specifically related to this rule. First, for background purposes, I should point out that I added this rule as the result of that game. Prior to that, it was an unwritten rule that "everyone" knew. Unfortunately, what tends to happen with rules like that is that new people join and nobody tells them about the unwritten rule. Game play goes on as normal including the new people, and then, one day, perhaps even several games down the line, one of the new people does the unthinkable and breaks the rule that "everybody" knows.

In witchcraft mafia, CatWoman claimed to have broken this rule by quoting the role of the Angry Citizen (plain townie), although she did not even have that role herself, but, as a cult leader, she did have access to the role in question, through the cult members that she had recruited. In order for the quote to occur, the holder of the role would have had to have given access to her role PM to CatWoman and CatWoman would subsequently have to quote it. That would be two violations, but the team involved only had four players, so it would have been a huge handicap to remove both players from the game. Worse still, it was the unwritten rule that was broken, which meant that there was no intentional wrong doing on the part of either player. Still, violating the rule could seriously break the game and it was necessary to clarify that breaking the rule was a serious violation of protocol. A compromise was reached that involved only one player being modkilled, instead of the two, so that the witch team would not be severely handicapped. Furthermore, the 17th rule was added to the list to prevent people from accidentally violating it in the future. It is unfortunate that the rule was not there to begin with, as the entire situation could have been prevented had it been, but there was nothing to do at the time, but deal with it as it occurred.

[Mossysox]

Then I am extremely glad to have asked, because I had no idea until now that passing on a role PM to a cult leader was any kind of violation of the rules.

[Hammered]

It is entirely legal to discuss your role in great detail with your fellows, and, of course, unless someone says something that indicates exact role passing has occurred, there would be no way to enforce this, but if you think about it, it does have a logical basis.

I will use a mafia team as an example, since they occur in most games, as opposed to a cult, which is rarely seen:

If everyone were to just pass on their role PMs, as opposed to simply describing their abilities to one another, how would a usurper be able to hide his actual purpose? He couldn't pass on his role PM, so the godfather would know he had a secret to protect. Trust goes out the window and the usurper's role is impossible.

[Sillyman]

Uh... What happens if someone accidentally breaks a rule due to not noticing a special PM? Is it normally punished with a modkill, or is a lesser punishment appropriate, like a speech impediment?

[Coolguy]

(Nevermind, delete this)

[Hammered]

It depends on the nature of the PM - violating mind-control is definitely mod-killable though.

[PlasmaCannonsRule]

I have some questions about the league split;

1. What is the process for promoting B League players to A League players?

2. There should be a system that allows people to unite the A and B Leagues if the game requires a large amount of players (such as Mossysox's Crumbly Castle Mafia, or my Political Mafia)

3. If enough mafia players join, can a C League be added for absolute ameteurs? Because some B League players are not lurkers, not terrible players, and not people who play just to host, but people who play the game decently and for fun, but aren't quite good enough to make it to A League. That way, people like myself don't have to play with people who are not very good players (no offense to anyone, it's just that posts like "im not a mafia plz don't lynch me!", "so_and_so is suspicious so Vote: so_and_so", "Start this game faster, I wanna host!", etc. annoy me a bit.)

[Roland]

As for 3, that's a bad idea. Then the C league and B league wouldn't have enough people.

[PlasmaCannonsRule]

As for 3, that's a bad idea. Then the C league and B league wouldn't have enough people.

3. If enough mafia players join, can a C League be added for absolute ameteurs?

*legnthens*

[Roland]

Okay, another thing: A C league is just offensive. :p

Also, I hope there won't be that many people joining (and I doubt there will)!

[Coolguy]

I have some questions about the league split;

1. What is the process for promoting B League players to A League players?

If it seems somebody is good enough to be promoted into A League, we vote on it.

2. There should be a system that allows people to unite the A and B Leagues if the game requires a large amount of players (such as Mossysox's Crumbly Castle Mafia, or my Political Mafia)

This has been considered, though we haven't heard the outcome of it. The trouble is that just every single host will insist on having united-league games.

3. If enough mafia players join, can a C League be added for absolute ameteurs? Because some B League players are not lurkers, not terrible players, and not people who play just to host, but people who play the game decently and for fun, but aren't quite good enough to make it to A League. That way, people like myself don't have to play with people who are not very good players (no offense to anyone, it's just that posts like "im not a mafia plz don't lynch me!", "so_and_so is suspicious so Vote: so_and_so", "Start this game faster, I wanna host!", etc. annoy me a bit.)

The 2 leagues are already small enough- They don't need to be shrunken so much that the forum games are identical to the chat games. :p I don't think we'll get enough people for a 3rd league.

EDIT: Oh, yeah, and about the signature, PCR, thanks! :D

[Sillyman]

There should definitely be a capability of recombining the leagues. As it is, the whole league thing seems like a bad idea... many games just aren't possible anymore, and it isn't as fun. Leagues could have been better if they were split, well, not by skill.

[AtkinsSJ]

We haven't had enough games to really see yet, but I really like the split so far. Games are fun again. At least, it is here in A-league. Maybe not in B, I don't know. I suppose maybe a lot of B players are unsure of what to do without the A players.

[blackmyth]

*Suddenly reminded of Simpsons episode.*

Anyway, I think that using people from the other league should be doable, if the host has a specific game, that requires a certain amount of people, and not enough people sign up. How those other people are chosen, I don't know. Maybe the host can hand-pick them.

[Mossysox]

There should be a system that allows people to unite the A and B Leagues if the game requires a large amount of players (such as Mossysox's Crumbly Castle Mafia, or my Political Mafia)
I think Coolguy's right about this: the danger would be that most hosts would ask to run a united game, which would undermine the whole point of the League system. It might be possible to get around that by requiring prospective hosts of large games to ask to be allowed to sign up to host for both Leagues at the same time (since that's what they would effectively be doing), with the League they don't belong to being asked to vote on whether or not they wanted that to happen. (You would, after all, effectively be pushing yourself forwards as a host for the other League, and since that normally only happens at their invitation, it seems only right that they should have some say in the matter.) But that could end up making a lot of work for Hammered, which may well not be fair.

I think that using people from the other league should be doable, if the host has a specific game, that requires a certain amount of people, and not enough people sign up. How those other people are chosen, I don't know. Maybe the host can hand-pick them.

The trouble with this suggestion is that it wouldn't be at all fair to the host of the game in the other League that would be running at the same time. Neither League is so large that it can afford to lose half a dozen players or so to the other League's game.


Personally, I think the League system is working very well as far as the A League players are concerned: we have people playing again who haven't played for a while, and everybody seems to be enjoying themselves again. But I can't help but notice that the people who aren't happy with the system are in the B League.
So here's my suggestion:- how would it be if, every second or third game, two players from each League could swap places for one game? Everybody in the A League would need to be willing to take their turn at this, and there should probably be a turn system for the B League players as well - whether they're hoping to be promoted out of the B League or not.

[blackmyth]

I forgot that there's always two games running at the same time. :p

[ElMikkino]

B-land is doing fine now.

[Connor S.]

Yah, I dont see why everyones reliant on the A players, as far as I can tell, we're doing fine. not nearly as experienced of course, but because no one is, it balances out.

[Justin]

I don't believe that rule number five should exist, for example if you are a role cop; the role you receive of a player could create a scumtell depending on the role and therefore you should be allowed to claim it. If required, I'll go into a more lengthy example.

[Sillyman]

I agree. Rule 5 should be changed so that cops and such can say roles that they learn from inspections. I think the point of that rule was to prevent mafia from spoiling the game by revealing their partners.

[Hammered]

Rule 5 is perfectly valid. Justin and Sillyman are mistaken. Cops can reveal alignments only; they aren't supposed to reveal roles.

[Justin]

But, there are roles that reveal roles of a player not alignment, or a host may wish for such a role in their game.

[Sillyman]

Hmm... perhaps the best solution may be to allow hosts to disregard rule 5 on a case-by-case basis?

[Coolguy]

The trouble comes from masons and mafia revealing each other without their consent. I think a better way to state the rule would be an ''Unless clearly stated otherwise...'' at the beginning, so the role-finding cops other role-knowing players can still reveal their info as long as they have the host's consent in their role PM.

[Sillyman]

Exactly. That's what I meant. But then, wouldn't the host not punishing somebody mean that there is a rolecop in the game? Meh. Of course, we could work around even that by saying "Players may claim their roles if they like, but may not reveal other playes roles who they learn as a result of their own roles unless clearly stated otherwise by the host. It is OK to speculate on other player's roles or share what you may have deduced about them, as long as you make it clear that that is what you are doing. It is also fine to lie about being a rolecop or other role that the host allows to reveal this information, so long as you make it clear that that is why you are saying this, and your information is false to the best of your knowledge." Sound good, Hammered?

[drgamer]

Well, we need a new rule keeper...

I suppose I could do it, if no one else wants to.

And an addition to the rules, which wasn't exactly put on, but more assumed. A game just suddenly halting...

[Roland]

Well, this is kind of an easy thing to run. Unless somebody asks, or if a problem arises, this thread doesn't need to be changed.

[Hammered]

The host of the next game should start his sign ups shortly after the present game starts, so he/she can have enough players to be ready on time.
The next game should start about 24 hours after the last game has ended, provided there are at least 8 players signed up. If there are less than 8, the game may be delayed until 8 are found, but a special effort should be made to find the additional players quickly.
Mafia roles should be assigned to about 25% of the total number of players. The remainder should be townies. If the number of players is not divisible by 4, an extra mafia may be included, provided that there are at least 3 extra players and the extra mafia role is extraordinarily weak (weaker than a standard mafia) or the town has extra power players to balance.
All communication about the game should occur in the thread itself, not in a chat room and not in PMs. There are only 3 exceptions to this rule:
First, all players can communicate privately with the host.
Second, players designated as mafia may chat privately with other mafia, but not with any other players.
Third, players designated as masons may chat privately with other members of their mason group, but not with any other players.
If you are found to be chatting about the mafia game in the Hamumu chat room, you should not be surprised to find your chat contents posted in the mafia thread where it belongs, and you should be prepared to be kicked if a moderator notices.
Players may claim their roles if they like, but may not reveal other playes roles who they learn as a result of their own roles. It is OK to speculate on other player's roles or share what you may have deduced about them, as long as you make it clear that that is what you are doing.
If you are killed, you will probably be given an opportunity to give a last gasp. That will be your last post as a player in that game. You are not allowed to post again after that.
Although it is disappointing to be killed, remember that other players are still enjoying the game and it isn't fair for you to ruin it for them. If you are a mafia, don't use your last gasp to rat out your fellow mafia. Townies should feel free to post whatever they may have deduced that they think may be helpful to their fellow townies. Nobody, except the host, should ever post the host's messages about roles.
Non-players (and dead players) should not post any game related info in the thread. Let the people who are playing draw their own conclusions. The people who are in the game (mafia and townies) don't want to have to play against everyone on the forum. Stay out of it if you are not playing.
The host should set a reasonable time limit of not less than 24 hours for people who need to PM him at night to do so. Remember that some of our players are on different continents and widely divergent time zones, so saying things about whether PMs have been received can give people clues about where the PMing roles might live and therefore who they are. It is probably best to wait the entire 24 hours until the day starts, even if you get all the PMs back in 10 minutes.
The host might consider setting a reasonable time limit for people to vote, if it seems to be dragging on overly long. In no case should that deadline be less than 24 hours, because of the global nature of our player pool. If a majority of the players have voted to lynch a player, that player is lynched whether or not anyone changes their votes after the fact. Changing your vote after a lynch occurs is cheating, so don't do it. Once the lynch has taken place, the host should post the lynch of that player in a timely fashion and start the night.
Hosts need to be attentive to the games they are hosting. They have things they need to do on a regular basis and they can't do that if they are lurking. If you can't be attentive to your game, don't host one. People in a mafia game expect to die of lynches and hits, not boredom.
There is a host signup sheet over on the Total Mayhem forum. You must have played in at least three games to sign up.
There are a lot of Don'ts here, but they are intended to make the game better for everyone. There are some exceptions. If the host appears not to be around, you can post vote tallies, even if you are dead or not even in the game. You can also post questions to the host about things that seem to be vague or wrong. Other people are probably having the same questions.
Lately, we have had some unfortunate incidents of people coming into the chat room under other players' names, apparently in an effort to gain secret information about their roles. This has happened for three games in a row and it must stop. Not only is it no class to impersonate any other user for any reason, it is big-time cheating if you do it during a mafia game where you could get extra information to help your team.
If you are hosting, you have to PM everyone. No PMing the mafia and power roles and then telling everyone who didn't get a PM that they are a townie. This will be considered flawed hosting. It has caused problems in every single game where it has been tried. You can use the BCC feature to tell 5 people at a time that they are plain townies, so it isn't too much work. Just do it.
Be advised that people can use the Currently Active User List to see that you are PMing, so if you are a player with a PMing role, you'd better have Invisible Mode on. (It's in User CP, if you haven't already found that.) Hosts are withing their rights to modkill players who haven't done this and thus virtually give their role away.
There is a big difference between a role claim and posting your role. Many times people will have the same role, so actually quoting your role has the force of the host behind it. For that reason it is illegal to post any portion of your actual role PM, without explicit permission of the host. People who do this should be modkilled, for the integrity of the game.
Have fun!

I have noticed an unfortunate tendancy of people posting in games in which they are playing, so I thought I would take this opportunity to remind people of the rules.

There are no exceptions to rule #8. Please do not meddle in a game if you are not in it, no matter what your reason is, even if you see someone made what you think is a mistake. There are good reasons for all of the rules, but especially this rule.


If you see a mafia member accidentally revealing himself and the town hasn't noticed it themselves, they really don't deserve to win, so you shouldn't point it out for them.
If you see a townie making a mistake and point it out, you could be making them look guilty when the other players may not have noticed, thus giving the mafia an advantage.
If you see a host post what you think is an invalid count, it might be a typo or there may be a valid reason like a double-voter or a non-voter that you don't know anything about. The host may be trying to give the players a hint without just coming out and saying it, but if the players don't notice and comment about it themselves, that's their own hard luck, it's not up to you to point it out to them. If you must say something, feel free to PM the host to point out the discrepancy on the chance that it is a typo.
If you think night, or day, or whatever is taking too long, poke the host with a PM. There is no reason to post a lot of extraneous stuff in the topic. Leave it clean so that people that are playing can just read through stuff that is relevant to the game.

It can be exciting to watch the games and we appreciate your interest, but if you want to be involved in a game, sign up for one in your league and you will be free to post all you want (unless, of course, you become a casualty).

[cyberclone42]

This was mainly directed at me, I think. I posted a few times in Macbeth mafia.

[Julian]

This was mainly directed at me, I think. I posted a few times in Macbeth mafia.
And me.... (1 still equals 2 though! :P)

[Sillyman]

If the B-League votes to have you host and at some point in the future they decide they still need more hosts and would like you in particular to host again, they are free to nominate you again. It's entirely up to them to take the initiative. You may not even ask them to nominate you for another slot. This is the same situation that exists for all of the A-League hosts that are currently signed up to host in B-League or are under consideration by B-League, all of whom (except you) have previously been voted in to host for them.

Next time could you PM this kind of question instead of junking up the hosting thread?

No, I'd quite rather post it publicly and have a public response, though perhaps this thread is a better place for it.

About the question... I found that a bit odd considering I always thought the reason for invitation was not a lack of hosts but rather a desire to see interesting games you saw the other league play while still having an overall shorter host list. If that is truly the case then let it be so... though there appears to be a snippiness to your tone unwarranted by my question. Ah well.

[Hammered]

It definitely doesn't go here, since this topic has nothing to do with the host list at all. Hopefully Jamul will move your question and this response as well as the inappropriately located posts on this subject in the general hosting list to the guest host invitation topic, since the discussion is of guest hosting or even to a new thread.

As for your question, the general reason is that the other league would like you to host, but when the wait is already long in their league, there seems to be an understandable reluctance on the part of those who enjoy hosting to add to their own wait times in that circumstance and they have a tendency to vote against having anyone at all guest host. If the invitation was a permanent one, their list to host would have the potential to be overly long forever, and it would undoubtedly reflect even more on their willingness to ever invite anyone to guest host.

I have no idea why you would think the tone is snippy. It simply summarizes the events to date. PurpleKoopa, Coolguy, and I have already been voted in to host a game for the B-League and are currently on the host list or are under consideration for hosting for an additional time. Jamul has also been voted in twice, but in no case has anyone ever thought that the invitation was permanent.

[Sillyman]

It definitely doesn't go here, since this topic has nothing to do with the host list at all.

I have no idea why you would think the tone is snippy. It simply summarizes the events to date.

Hmm... Guess I don't pay enough attention to the unwritten rules... I much prefer bureaucracy to rules that never get defined. My reasoning for it going here was that it was a discussion about the rules. This is the thread about the rules. As for the tone... I'm not the best judge, but I probably got the impression from that last sentence. And perhaps my own disappointment, since I had a plan. A plan that was based largely on the relative sizes of the two host lists, and the fact it looked like the B list would rotate twice before the A list rotated once. A plan that involved making the Mafia of Haruhi Suzumiya a B game and the A game and second B game a combined game, since they seemed to want animes in their mafias. Meh.

Edit: Wait... three guest host polls. Three game gap. I am an idiot. Nevermind.

Edit edit: Okay, off by one since Hammered is already listed. Nevertheless...

Edit edit edit: Not off by one. I'm 5th, not 6th. I'm beginning to think I must be going blind.

[Hammered]

The host of the next game should start his sign ups shortly after the present game starts, so he/she can have enough players to be ready on time. Be sure to include the word signups in your post so people can tell it from your game when it starts.
The next game should start about 24 hours after the last game has ended, provided there are at least 8 players signed up. If there are less than 8, the game may be delayed until 8 are found, but a special effort should be made to find the additional players quickly.
Mafia roles should be assigned to about 25% of the total number of players. The remainder should be townies. If the number of players is not divisible by 4, an extra mafia may be included, provided that there are at least 3 extra players and the extra mafia role is extraordinarily weak (weaker than a standard mafia) or the town has extra power players to balance.
All communication about the game should occur in the thread itself, not in a chat room and not in PMs. There are only 3 exceptions to this rule:
First, all players can communicate privately with the host.
Second, players designated as mafia may chat privately with other mafia, but not with any other players.
Third, players designated as masons may chat privately with other members of their mason group, but not with any other players.
If you are found to be chatting about the mafia game in the Hamumu chat room, you should not be surprised to find your chat contents posted in the mafia thread where it belongs, and you should be prepared to be kicked if a moderator notices.
Players may claim their roles if they like, but may not reveal other players' roles which they may learn as a result of their own roles. It is OK to speculate on other player's roles or share what you may have deduced about them, as long as you make it clear that that is what you are doing.
If you are killed, you will probably be given an opportunity to give a last gasp. That will be your last post as a player in that game. You are not allowed to post again after that.
Although it is disappointing to be killed, remember that other players are still enjoying the game and it isn't fair for you to ruin it for them. If you are a mafia, don't use your last gasp to rat out your fellow mafia. Townies should feel free to post whatever they may have deduced that they think may be helpful to their fellow townies. Nobody, except the host, should ever post the host's messages about roles.
Non-players (and dead players) should not post any game related info in the thread. Let the people who are playing draw their own conclusions. The people who are in the game (mafia and townies) don't want to have to play against everyone on the forum. Stay out of it if you are not playing.
The host should set a reasonable time limit of not less than 24 hours for people who need to PM him at night to do so. Remember that some of our players are on different continents and widely divergent time zones, so saying things about whether PMs have been received can give people clues about where the PMing roles might live and therefore who they are. It is probably best to wait the entire 24 hours until the day starts, even if you get all the PMs back in 10 minutes.
The host might consider setting a reasonable time limit for people to vote, if it seems to be dragging on overly long. In no case should that deadline be less than 24 hours, because of the global nature of our player pool. If a majority of the players have voted to lynch a player, that player is lynched whether or not anyone changes their votes after the fact. Changing your vote after a lynch occurs is cheating, so don't do it. Once the lynch has taken place, the host should post the lynch of that player in a timely fashion and start the night.
Hosts need to be attentive to the games they are hosting. They have things they need to do on a regular basis and they can't do that if they are lurking. If you can't be attentive to your game, don't host one. People in a mafia game expect to die of lynches and hits, not boredom.
There is a host signup sheet. You must have played effectively in at least three games to sign up.
There are a lot of Don'ts here, but they are intended to make the game better for everyone. There are some exceptions. If the host appears not to be around, you can post vote tallies, even if you are dead or not even in the game. You can also post questions to the host about things that seem to be vague or wrong. Other people are probably having the same questions.
Lately, we have had some unfortunate incidents of people coming into the chat room under other players' names, apparently in an effort to gain secret information about their roles. This has happened for three games in a row and it must stop. Not only is it no class to impersonate any other user for any reason, it is big-time cheating if you do it during a mafia game where you could get extra information to help your team.
If you are hosting, you have to PM everyone. No PMing the mafia and power roles and then telling everyone who didn't get a PM that they are a townie. This will be considered flawed hosting. It has caused problems in every single game where it has been tried. You can use the BCC feature to tell 5 people at a time that they are plain townies, so it isn't too much work. Just do it.
Be advised that people can use the Currently Active User List to see that you are PMing, so if you are a player with a PMing role, you'd better have Invisible Mode on. (It's in User CP, if you haven't already found that.) Hosts are within their rights to modkill players who haven't done this and thus virtually give their role away.
There is a big difference between a role claim and posting your role. Many times people will have the same role, so actually quoting your role has the force of the host behind it. For that reason it is illegal to post any portion of your actual role PM, without explicit permission of the host. People who do this should be modkilled, for the integrity of the game.
Have fun!

No real changes here - I just expanded on #1 a bit.

[Hammered]

The host of the next game should start his sign ups shortly after the present game starts, so he/she can have enough players to be ready on time. Be sure to include the word signups in your post so people can tell it from your game when it starts.
The next game should start about 24 hours after the last game has ended, provided there are at least 8 players signed up. If there are less than 8, the game may be delayed until 8 are found, but a special effort should be made to find the additional players quickly.
Mafia roles should be assigned to about 25% of the total number of players. The remainder should be townies. If the number of players is not divisible by 4, an extra mafia may be included, provided that there are at least 3 extra players and the extra mafia role is extraordinarily weak (weaker than a standard mafia) or the town has extra power players to balance.
All communication about the game should occur in the thread itself, not in a chat room and not in PMs. There are only 3 exceptions to this rule:
First, all players can communicate privately with the host.
Second, players designated as mafia may chat privately with other mafia, but not with any other players.
Third, players designated as masons may chat privately with other members of their mason group, but not with any other players.
If you are found to be chatting about the mafia game in the Hamumu chat room, you should not be surprised to find your chat contents posted in the mafia thread where it belongs, and you should be prepared to be kicked if a moderator notices.
Players may claim their roles if they like, but may not reveal other players' roles which they may learn as a result of their own roles. It is OK to speculate on other player's roles or share what you may have deduced about them, as long as you make it clear that that is what you are doing.
If you are killed, you will probably be given an opportunity to give a last gasp. That will be your last post as a player in that game. You are not allowed to post again after that.
Although it is disappointing to be killed, remember that other players are still enjoying the game and it isn't fair for you to ruin it for them. If you are a mafia, don't use your last gasp to rat out your fellow mafia. Townies should feel free to post whatever they may have deduced that they think may be helpful to their fellow townies. Mafia members are also prohibited from saying that anyone else is their fellow mafia member during the game, since, if they are telling the truth, they are violating rule 5 and rule 7, and if they are lying, the host wouldn't have any reason to modkill them without this rule, thus confirming the townie status of the person so named. Nobody, except the host, should ever post the host's messages about roles.
Non-players (and dead players) should not post any game related info in the thread. Let the people who are playing draw their own conclusions. The people who are in the game (mafia and townies) don't want to have to play against everyone on the forum. Stay out of it if you are not playing.
The host should set a reasonable time limit of not less than 24 hours for people who need to PM him at night to do so. Remember that some of our players are on different continents and widely divergent time zones, so saying things about whether PMs have been received can give people clues about where the PMing roles might live and therefore who they are. It is probably best to wait the entire 24 hours until the day starts, even if you get all the PMs back in 10 minutes.
The host might consider setting a reasonable time limit for people to vote, if it seems to be dragging on overly long. In no case should that deadline be less than 24 hours, because of the global nature of our player pool. If a majority of the players have voted to lynch a player, that player is lynched whether or not anyone changes their votes after the fact. Changing your vote after a lynch occurs is cheating, so don't do it. Once the lynch has taken place, the host should post the lynch of that player in a timely fashion and start the night.
Hosts need to be attentive to the games they are hosting. They have things they need to do on a regular basis and they can't do that if they are lurking. If you can't be attentive to your game, don't host one. People in a mafia game expect to die of lynches and hits, not boredom.
Hosts should be very careful not to say anything that would tend to confirm people's identities. For example, "Good job, cop!" proves that the person is actually a cop, as opposed to a mafia lying about being a cop. Giving away this sort of information changes the balance of the game. Even revealing the actual time of a PM can give the players outside of the game information that could be helpful. Watch what you are posting.
There is a host signup sheet. You must have played effectively in at least three games to sign up.
There are a lot of Don'ts here, but they are intended to make the game better for everyone. There are some exceptions. If the host appears not to be around, you can post vote tallies, even if you are dead or not even in the game. You can also post questions to the host about things that seem to be vague or wrong. Other people are probably having the same questions.
If you are hosting, you have to PM everyone. No PMing the mafia and power roles and then telling everyone who didn't get a PM that they are a townie. This will be considered flawed hosting. It has caused problems in every single game where it has been tried. You can use the BCC feature to tell 5 people at a time that they are plain townies, so it isn't too much work. Just do it.
Be advised that people can use the Currently Active User List to see that you are PMing, so if you are a player with a PMing role, you'd better have Invisible Mode on. (It's in User CP, if you haven't already found that.) Hosts are within their rights to modkill players who haven't done this and thus virtually give their role away.
There is a big difference between a role claim and posting your role. Many times people will have the same role, so actually quoting your role has the force of the host behind it. For that reason it is illegal to post any portion of your actual role PM, without explicit permission of the host. People who do this should be modkilled, for the integrity of the game.
Have fun!

I just expanded on #7 a bit, added #12, and deleted the old rule #14, since it is no longer possible to do that.

[Julian]

OK!
Official Mafia Rules

These rules may be changed by the host, as long as the general idea of them is followed.


Day and night limits have to be set. This means setting a time limit (72 hours for day, 48 for night for example) and sticking to it as well as you can. These time limits may not be less than 24 hours, and at least 24 hours must pass before Night ends.
Two games should go on at once. Anybody can sign up for these, provided they only play in one at a time. You may be a replacement for the other game if you so choose, but to replace you need to be dead in the game you signed up for.
Game sizes should be no higher than 20 players, 16 as a preferable max. If you need to go over you can, as long as it doesn't take away significantly from the other game.
The next games should be started at roughly the same time as each other, and approximately 24 hours after the previous set of games ended. If one game is not close to finishing and the other is finished, then the person with the next A Game may start theirs.
At the same time signups for the next game(s) should be posted. Signups must have the word 'Signups' in their title to distinguish them from the actual game.
Approximately 25% of the players in any game should be Mafia. If there are three extra players, you may include one extra mafia as long as the mafia is weakened or the town has extra power roles.
Other than communication i) between a player and the host ii) between players assigned a Mafia role and iii) between players assigned a Mason type role, all communication should occur in the thread. Any conversation any other way may result in modkilling, or if it's in the Hamchat, it should be posted in the thread by somebody reading it and the host may decide if the player is modkilled.
Players may claim their role if they want, but they may not i) Quote their role PM or ii) Give away the role of somebody else they learned as a direct result of their role(i.e. Mafia cannot give away Mafia, Masons cannot give away Masons, but cops can give guilty or innocent or other roles may give what they learn by using their ability)
Players will probably be allowed to have a "Last Gasp" when they die. This is one final post, after which you may not post again. You may not break any rules in this gasp (i.e. giving away who the members of the Mafia are).
Dead players or people who are not in the game should not post any game related ideas. If you've been killed you can't give your opinion, or if you decided not to play the game you can't try to play.
Hosts need to be around for their game. It is recommended that you find a co-host for your game in case you suddenly leave without being able to find one after the game has started.
Hosts must not give any game information away other than what is required by people's roles. You may not congratulate the cop, but you may tell the cop that the person they're inspecting is good or evil.
Hosts need to be approved to host a game. This is done by posting three examples of good gameplay in the Official Host Signup Thread (http://hamumu.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11511) and having an experienced host approve you. We may appoint certain people to do this at some point.
Anybody may post vote tallies if the host is not around, or ask the host questions about tallies or other information that has been posted that may not be correct.
Hosts must send a PM to everybody playing the game. It helps to solve confusion about roles or inclusion in the game. You can use the BCC feature to send the exact same message to up to 5 people.
Most importantly, Have Fun! Mafia is a game to be enjoyed by everybody playing, if you have any problems with the game talk to the host about it and it can be fixed.

[Julian]

So, what I did is expand my rules to include Hammered's latest set of rules. I removed old rule #16 because you can't do that anymore and merged some rules with others.

[Mr.Onion]

...Can't do what? The BCC feature is still there.

EDIT: Ignore me, I was looking at the wrong list.