Rules -
1. GM DISCRETION -
The GMs reserves the right to adjudicate individual scenarios that arise during the course of the game at their discretion.
2. VOTING REQUIREMENT -
All players must vote at least once per game day. Players who do not adhere to this rule will be subbed out or modkilled without warning and will not be able to participate in the next mafia game.
3. ACTIVITY REQUIREMENT -
All players must post in a substantial manner at least five (5) times per game day. A post containing only a vote and no other substantive text does not count toward the daily minimum. There are no activity requirements during the night.
4. GM COMMUNICATIONS -
All players are forbidden from posting screenshots of their role PMs or revealing confidential details from their role PMs, including copying and pasting or paraphrasing a role PM. All confidential communications with a GM should be considered private unless a GM chooses to publicize them.
5. EXTERNAL INFLUENCES -
All players and spectators, including players who have been eliminated from the game, are forbidden from using non-sanctioned PMs to contact each other. All players and spectators, including players who have been eliminated from the game, are forbidden from commenting on or referring to the game in other non-related threads. This rule extends to any communications between players regarding the status or gameplay of players still involved in the game.
6. DEADPOSTING -
All spectators, including players who have been eliminated from the game, are forbidden from posting in the game thread. Deadposting may result in future suspension, at the discretion of future GMs.
7. CHEATING -
All players are forbidden from cheating and are required to play to their win condition, as outlined in their role PM. All players are required to play within the spirit of the game.
8. WEBDIPLOMACY RULES -
All players are subject to the regular webDiplomacy rules and guidelines for forum use, including the rules on no spamming, no public cheating accusations (this extends to mafia), answering all communication from the GM team. If you believe a player has broken site/game rules, contact the GMs, otherwise you will also be breaking site/game rules.
Further clarification to the rules are provided below, as follows:
1. Given a lack of omniscience, the GM cannot create a rule to resolve all possible scenarios preemptively. To compensate for this, the GM is permitted to resolve a given scenario however they see fit, within the remit of the rules listed above, in the interest of all participants. The GM will resolve all scenarios as closely as possible to the 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. Appeals of GM decisions can be sent directly to the GMs, but in most cases, a GM decision is final.
2. Voting is a basic requirement of play during the day phases of the game. To ensure that all players are meeting this basic requirement of gameplay, voting is prescribed within the rules. Players must have voted for another player in the game through the course of the day. Players can proceed to unvote if they wish. Players are permitted to end the day on an unvote or even an invalid vote, but they must cast a vote at some point during the day.
3. A minimum posting limit of five required substantial posts has been set to maintain gameplay. While inactivity (referred to as 'lurking') can be, on some level, an important part of the game of Mafia, players who continuously fail to interact with the game 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. This includes reading each and every post and understanding that it will take a significant commitment daily for a few weeks in order to adequately enjoy the game.
4. All role PMs have been posted in the setup information below, and all players (regardless of alignment) will receive the description of the vanilla town role within the complete text of their role PM. Likewise, all information that the GMs feel should be made public will be posted in the thread. Therefore, it is unnecessary and callous to screenshot or share one’s role PM or other communications with the GMs that will affect your or others’ ability to play the game fairly. The point of this rule is to forbid "gaming" GM communications to determine alignments; after all, the fun of this game is reading people, not outguessing the GM.
5. 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 game thread during Night phases. Communications outside of this thread or that QuickTopic thread must expressly go through the GMs. Likewise, players may not discuss or communicate their roles or any other game-related information by PM or in other threads. Players that know each other outside of the game should refrain from discussing the game while it is still in process other than through acceptable channels, such as the game thread and the appropriate QTs.
6. Spectators, including players who have been eliminated or removed from the game, are not playing the game and therefore should not be influencing the proceeding course of the game's development. As such, spectators are not allowed to post in the game thread, to avoid disturbing the progress of the game. Doing so may result in a suspension or greater punishment, at the discretion of the GMs and the council.
7a. Incidents of potential cheating will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Any player caught cheating as per the GMs’ collective judgment will be removed from the current game as a bare minimum. Future GMs or the council may choose to enact more penalties, including exclusion from future participation.
7b. Players should be able to adequately justify their actions under the GMs’ discretion according to their win condition. The GMs will exercise caution and restraint in observing this rule.
7c. Players are asked to play within the “spirit of the game” so that it is fun for the rest of the players. Behavior that violates the spirit of the game includes, but is not limited to: throwing against one’s faction, engaging in non-game related outbursts against another player or a GM, intentionally attempting to die, attempting to vote for or act against other players for reasons outside of the game, etc. This also means that if you need to leave the game for any reason, you should not simply drop out, but should message *both* of the GMs first so that they can determine the best course of action. It is assumed that players playing this game understand what the “spirit of the game” is and how to stay within its bounds. As such, the GMs will invoke this rule only if absolute necessary to maintain the sanctity of the game.
8. Under no circumstances are any webDiplomacy forum and site rules, both written and understood, to be broken during mafia games. Any player breaking forum or site rules of any kind will be promptly removed to the game and may be subject to other penalties at the discretion of the council and the moderators. Typically, moderator actions taken in-game will be overseen by a neutral member of the moderator team; ergo, neither a GM nor a player, alive or dead, will involve themselves in site moderation regarding this game unless absolutely necessary.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Miscellaneous Information -
Penalties
The penalty for breaking one of the above rules is decided at the GMs’ discretion, up to and including immediate removal from the game and/or sanctions from future games. The council may also elect to penalize a player after the game is finished. Removal from the game or other sanctions are a 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, and may either be modkilled or substituted at the GMs’ discretion.
Voting
There are three levels of voting within the game: collective voting to lynch players in Day phases, collective voting to end a Day or Night phase, and Mafia voting to kill town members in Night phases.
The first level of voting is for whom you intend to lynch. Notate this vote with a pair of octothorps before your intended vote target (e.g., ##VOTE HR or ##VOTE Hellenic Riot). You do not need to spell out your intended target's username fully, but you do need to make your vote very clear as the GMs may elect to track votes based on third party software that cannot pick up misspelled names or unusually abbreviated names. In the event of a tie during a lynch vote, no one shall be lynched.
PLEASE NOTE: If you do not use double octothorps, your vote will not be counted as they are invalid votes. However, they *do* count as a vote toward the daily voting requirement.
The second level of voting is whether or not to employ the hammer mechanic. By default, days are set to 48 hours long, and nights to 24 hours long; however, players may instead elect to end the day as soon as a majority is reached (called a “quick hammer” or simply “hammer”). Notate this vote with a pair of octothorps before the word “end” (e.g.: ##END). The game will switch to the hammer mechanic for the duration of that day once a majority of players choose to do so. If you are not able to vote before the hammer is dropped, you will not be penalized for failing to vote during that day.
The third level of voting refers to Mafia members choosing their nightkill targets during Night phases. The mafia members will use their separate QuickTopic thread to discuss this. Please make your votes in bold, like so: <b>kill ghug</b>. Votes that are not bolded will not be counted. The Mafia nightkill will be decided by majority vote. In the event of a tied nightkill vote, the Lawyer’s vote will break the tie, as he is the leader of the Mafia faction. If the Lawyer is killed or does not vote, the tie will be broken by the first relevant vote.
The final level of voting refers to Town members with extra responsibilities. This does not pertain to all Town members. These Town members must PM *both* GMs with their desired action or it may not be processed.
Spam
Spamming (defined as excessive content-free posting; or, excessive posting regarding subjects irrelevant to the game - “stupid pointless annoying messages”) is not allowed. The GMs will warn a player prior to taking further action but will also not hesitate to take action if deemed necessary. The in-game voting mechanic exists to curb any advantage that spamming as a tactic may confer; please reference the “VOTING” section above for more information. Suffice to say that spamming is not worth anyone’s time in this setup, and will be frowned upon, so while you may not necessarily be lynched or mod-killed for spamming, please refrain from doing so.
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. Players refusing to follow this rule will be removed. No players will be removed by request of another player (or players) without justification at the GMs’ discretion.
Forum Silences
If a player is silenced on the forum by the moderator/admin 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. If no alternate is available, the player will be modkilled. As long as the silence does not stem from actions involving the mafia thread, there will be no in-game sanctions for a forum silence.
Replacements
A player wishing to drop out may be replaced at the GM's discretion. Individuals wishing to serve as potential replacements must NOT join the God QT and should contact both GMs. Replacement is guaranteed only with the consent of an alternate. Eliminated players may not become replacements. Drop-outs may remove themselves from the game at the risk of further suspension by contacting both GMs and requesting replacement, with concession made in the case of emergencies.
Turn Duration
This game’s Day phases will last 48 hours and Night phases will last 24 hours, unless cut short by in-game mechanics (e.g., hammer). Extensions may be granted at a GM’s discretion, but don’t count on it. Phase shifts will be 6 pm EST.
Moderator/GM Team
The moderator/GM team for this game is dargorygel (
userID=49352) and bo_sox48 (
userID=38739). PM both of us with any questions or concerns and we'll get back to you as soon as possible.