MAFIA XI: A Whisper In My Ghost

By the middle of the 21st century, technological advances rapidly stack upon each other, and as innovation and computing power exponentially improve off themselves, the world quickly becomes connected, and the line between biology and machine blurs. Cyberbrains become the norm; encased in protective shells, these augmented human brains utilize nanotechnology, micromachines, and various artificial implants to allow connection with the greater networks of the world.

Cyberization of both humans and society doesn’t come without risk however. Everything and anything being connected allows for highly skilled hackers to wreak havoc, with the most skilled and nefarious of them being able to “ghosthack”, replacing memories, altering experiences, or controlling the body of other humans. Some want a new body. Some want vengeance. Some want revolution.

You are a member of Public Security Section 9. A small group of highly skilled experts in fields spanning assassination, reconnaissance, intelligence, counter-intelligence, hacking, counter-terrorism, and cyber warfare. It is your job to reconcile the harsh and aggressive tactics required of counter-cyber-terrorism with the supposedly defensive Self Defense Force constitution article as you ensure the results of your counter-terrorism assignments. Failure is not an option.

Section 9 is under more pressure than ever. Even with 10 members strong, cyber hacker terrorists The Puppet Master, The Laughing Man, and The Individual Eleven run rampant, and must be stopped at any cost; they aren’t above working together to weaken a mutual thorn in their plans either.

Are you a badass counter-terrorism special agent who can detect scum and put them away for good?

Are you a badass cyber hacker terrorist who can outsmart Section 9 and their intelligence reports?

Mafia XI: A Whisper In My Ghost has begun

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INTRODUCTION

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

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

RULES

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

ELABORATION

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

PENALTIES

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

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

You must have *BOTH* the ## and VOTE. “##Eden” or “VOTE Eden” will not be accepted.

In the event of a tie during a lynch vote, no one shall be lynched.



MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

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

PLAYER SILENCES:
Players that have other participants on their mute list are asked to remove them for the duration of this game. Disputes stemming from outside of this game should not carry over into the gameplay. If they do, the GM reserves the right to address these issues and potentially remove or sanction players if it becomes a disruption.

FORUM SILENCES:
If a player is silenced on the forum by the moderator team, an alternate will take their place for the duration of their silence. The silenced player will then have the option to take their position back over or leave it in the hands of the alternate. So long as the silence does not stem from actions in the mafia thread, there will be no sanctions.

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

TURN DURATION
This game’s days will last 48 hours and nights will last 24 hours. Extensions may be granted at a moderator’s discretion, but don’t count on it.

MODERATOR/GM TEAM
The moderator/GM for this game is Valis2501 (userID=63487) and ghug (userID=37168). PM us with any concerns (yes this is allowed you jokers) and I'll get back to you ASAP.




MINIMUM POSTING RULE (ALL CAPS TO DRAW ATTENTION)
ALL PLAYERS MUST POST A MINIMUM OF 5 TIMES OVER THE COURSE OF EACH 48 HOUR GAME DAY. FAILURE TO DO SO MAY RESULT IN A MODKILL AT THE GM'S DISCRETION. OVER THE SECOND 24 HOURS OF EACH DAY, I WILL REGULARLY POST UPDATES ON ANYONE WHO STANDS TO BE MODKILLED IF THEY DON'T PARTICIPATE MORE.




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FORMAT INFORMATION

13 players:

10 Townies:
9 regular members of Section 9 (Vanilla Townsfolk)
1 Major Kusanagi (Cop with a pre-game randomized view on a vanilla townie)

3 Mafia:
3 cyber-hacker-terrorists (Mafia Goon)

This is regarded as a very balanced setup that mainly lets the result depend on the pure mafia skills of the players; Are you a skilled liar or good at detecting lies? The setup has been run approximately 200 times on the twoplustwo forums and town wins 52 % of the time.

NOTE: No proper names, except for the cop, are given out to VT or Mafia until their death credit sequence. It will not make sense, and should not be done, to ask *which* VT or Mafia someone is.

Role PM’s:

TOWN:

Vanilla:
You are a member of Section 9, the Mobile Armored Riot Police, a squad of elite soldiers devoted to combating terrorism! During the day you may make a hacking accusation against someone; the candidate which reaches a plurality will be arrested at the end of the day. You have no night actions. You win once all mafia/cyber hacker terrorists have been eliminated.

Cop:
You are the super badass hacker philosopher cop Major Kusanagi! During the day you may make a hacking accusation against someone; the candidate which reaches a plurality will be arrested at the end of the day. During the night you may select one player to investigate; at the end of the night you will be told whether that player is Innocent or Guilty. You win once all mafia/cyber hacker terrorists have been eliminated. Additionally, you will receive a copy of the Vanilla Town role PM.

Due to a whisper in your ghost, you have discovered that <Random Vanilla Townie> is an innocent member of Section 9.

MAFIA:

Mafia Goon:
You are a badass cyber terrorist hacker! During the day you may make a hacking accusation against someone; the candidate which reaches a plurality will be arrested at the end of the day. During the night, you may talk to your mafia partners, and vote on whose cyberbrain to fry. Your mafia partners are <Mafia Partner A>, and <Mafia Partner B>. Additionally, you will receive a copy of the Vanilla Town role PM. You may use, and must submit night actions to, this QuickTopic thread: <QuickTopic thread link>. You win once either all of the town players are dead, or nothing can stop you from eliminating all of the town players.