SK is in regardless, if you check the doc the only thing that can change are number of VTs and mafia.
On another note, I love third parties and think they make a really good addition to mafia games, SK included. As such, I'm going to address Mercy's concerns directly and then go on about my own personal view on the matter:
"If there is an SK in the game, Town has too little influence on which people die. In a day-nightcycle, only one in three deaths will be caused by Town voting, which I find too few."
I don't see why this is an issue, it isn't just a new role, it is a new faction. It is expected that the influence of the other two will go down as a result as the SK is opposed to both of them. Complaining about this is essentially complaining that changing a game from 2 player to 3 players is bad because it decreases the influence of the other two players.
" Moreover, I think that the SK has too much influence. If he never targets Mafia, it becomes almost impossible for Town to win, and if the kills Mafia, Town can win without them having actually correctly spotted Mafia. This takes away many of the fun strategic aspects of the game."
I think this is just false as you look at it as a binary, and that the SK is likely to go for one of the two options, yet this is clearly unlikely given that the SK wants to win themself. If they focus too much on avoiding and killing the village the mafia will take them out and if they hurt the mafia too much they will likely be found out by the village. The fact they have to balance the two makes me believe that not only does it not take away from the strategy, but adds to it. Not to mention this argument can be made if you swap out SK for Village or Mafia. As if any decides to just focus on one of the other factions without enough effort on the other, they likely lose.
"The best strategy for each individual player becomes to play in such a way to not get nighkilled, while this game should be about other things."
I don't see a warrant for why this is more true than a regular game. Townies still want to protect their PRs and as such would rather take the hit than them, and nothing changes for the mafia aside from now they can die at night too, enhancing their need to avoid detection. I am also unsure what these other things are, as survival has always been a major component of mafia and this also increases the likelihood of Night Kill analysis, which is an often underused and underrated aspect of the game given one of the biggest decisions is who the mafia decide to kill each night.
"Also, I din't think it is fun to hunt for the SK at all, or to play SK. Mafia can strategize with each other, the SK can't. Town can catch Mafia by discovering the way they work together, but the SK can't be caught in such a way."
This is precisely why I find those things more fun. When hunting for the mafia you are looking at the amalgamation of ideas and group interactions, with the SK you are looking for an individual and trying to figure out their motivations. You literally have to widen what you are looking for when trying to catch the SK, how is that not fun. As for playing as an SK, it should be great, after all, unlike mafia or village, you can not be saved by a really good palyer or dragged down by a really bad one in your faction. It is you vs everyone, every decision you make is critical, and most importantly, it is yours. You and you alone are responsible for how close you get to your win condition, not anyone else. It provides a way for the individual to triumph in a way that normal mafia doesn't.
"All in all, I think the addition of the SK makes for a dumber game."
I don't see how a role that requires you to prioritize more than one strategy, broaden your mind when it comes to hunting scum and encourages increased analysis of what happened each night makes the game dumber. Rather I think it encourages players to play smarter and be smarter. It may make the game more complicated but that's kind of the opposite of dumbing it down, no?
Overall, what I like about the SK is how adaptable it makes the players have to be SK included. Every decision becomes big, even down to whether or not to kill to fool the mafia or town, or figuring out who performed what kill. You also have to balance being good enough at scum hunting to triumph over the mafia without being so good that you get made, along with avoiding the town noticing something off about your game. It does what any good variation or idea does, it takes something that exists (like standard chess) and add a new element that causes people to rethink the game, change how they look at something and hopefully have fun along the way (like bughouse or 3 player chess).
)
I am still upset at the 1998 Academy Awards
)
)
)