Safe Claim

A safe claim is the name of a role that could reasonably be in the game, and which is given to non-town players are the start of the game for purposes of game balance.

For instance, a five player game of Lord of the Rings Mafia could be quite stupid if the four town players are Frodo, Samwise, Merry, Pippin versus Sauron. A mass name claim might immediately make it obviously who is town and who isn't, even if Sauron is smart enough to lie and say he is Gandalf or such. In this example perhaps Merry would be left out of the game, and Sauron would be told that Merry isn't in the game, to make it easier for him to lie if town decides to mass claim.