Normal Game

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Introduction

This page describes what is considered to be "Normal" on mafiascum.net. These guidelines are intended to enforce common expectations of games, such that all games called "Normal" are reasonably balanced and not deviant from what one would reasonably expect in a standard game of Mafia.

If you are moderating on mafiascum.net in the Open or Normal queues, your game must follow the appropriate guidelines below.

If you are not moderating on mafiascum.net, you are not bound by this page. You may, however, still find the setup rules helpful when trying to design basic Mafia games.

Flavor

• In Open, Mini Normal, and Large Normal games, flavor is allowed provided these rules are followed:
  • All flavor should be public; flavor is not allowed in Role PMs. Role names should be standard, or non-flavored if original.
  • Flavor should have no bearing on the game - it should be possible for a player to read only the role reveals posted with the death scene and gain all information needed to play. This information should be formatted to stand out from the flavor.
  • Flavor not based on Mafia must be entirely original. Games based on books, movies, video games, sports, real people, or any other source material are classified as Theme Games.

Setup

Games run in the Normal Queue as a Normal, must satisfy the following rules:

• All games must be reviewed for balance by the Normal Review Group (aka the NRG).
• The game should have at least one Mafia or Werewolf group (of at least two members). In mini games (at most 13 players), there must be exactly one such group, with no third parties. In large games (at least 14 players), a second anti-town group can be given a separate Mafia family name, or can be a Werewolf group, and there should be no more than two mafia/werewolf factions, and no more than one Serial Killer.
• The game must contain at least one Vanilla Townie (allowed names include: Townie, Vanilla Townie, Townsperson, Citizen). A sample Role PM for the Vanilla Townie must be included in the rules post.
• Mechanics which are explicitly Non-Normal include:

• Those affecting a role's alignment (no Cults)
• Anything which significantly affects the core mechanic of majority/plurality eliminations (no Kingmaker, for example)
• Anything resolving with a random element
• Post Restrictions (other than those included in the ruleset, such as "No quoting your Role PM").
• Lying to the players, including False Role Reveals and "Scum Masons"
• Night action redirection (no Bus Driver, Lightning Rod, Nexus, or Redirector)
• Returning "No Result" to Trackers who do not see their target go anywhere (in favor of "Your target did not visit anyone")
• Alignments other than Mafia/Werewolf, Pro-Town, and Serial Killer (no Survivor, Condemner, or Jester).
• Hydra accounts
• Differing kill flavor for different factions - everyone that dies at night should flip in the same way (e.g., "died during the night" or "was found dead")
• Roles being allowed to self-target

• Mechanical changes which must be announced beforehand include:
  • Open or Semi-Open setups
  • Day phase deadlines shorter than 1 week or longer than 3 weeks
• Mafia may have daytalk without an Encryptor as long as it is announced in the game's rules beforehand.
• Unless stated otherwise in their rules, games should use Natural Action Resolution.
• Games must have a continous day/night cycle (e.g., no Nightless or Double Day)
• Mafia must specify which member is performing the factional kill each night. A mafia member may not both kill and use a power role in the same night by default.
• All moderator messages that are sent to players must explicitly specify where they come from. If a player is not sure why they were sent a message, they have a right to ask the mod, and the mod must tell them.
  • For example, a mailman's message should include something at the top that says, e.g., "The following message is being sent to you by a mailman:"
• Moderators may declare a complexity rating of either Simple or Complex for their Normal Game when the game goes into signups.
  • Complexity is defined by the following collection of characteristics. The more of them that a game has, the more likely it should be labeled complex rather than simple. The reverse is true as well: the fewer of these are applicable, the more likely the setup ought to be labeled as simple rather than complex.
    • Having several roles with modifiers, especially modifiers that affect targeting (e.g. simple, loyal) or fundamentally affect the way one would play the role (e.g. announcing, weak)
    • Having some roles with several modifiers
    • Having a large proportion of non-vanilla roles in general
    • Having anything that could be construed as a red herring (e.g., two of the same town role, a backup or enabler without a main role, a neighborhood with only mafia, a miller without a cop, etc.)
    • Having complicated interactions between roles (e.g. multiple blocking roles that may affect each other, generally anything that might make a reviewer need to think twice about how it would work)
    • Having many roles that aren't seen as frequently in normal games
    • Anything else that would potentially defy the expectations of a player who's played normal games before
  • Reviewers may choose to suggest or request a complexity rating, but complexity ratings are never mandatory.
  • If a moderator wants to use a complexity label, a reviewer needs to approve it.

Roles

• Roles which are explicitly Normal for any alignment include:
  Alien, Ascetic, Babysitter, Bodyguard, Bulletproof, Checker, Commuter, Cop, Detective, Doctor, Enabler, Encryptor, Finder, Follower, Fruit Vendor, Gunsmith, Hider, Informed, Inspector, Jack-of-all-trades, Jailkeeper, Macho, Mailman (may be named "Messenger"), Motion Detector, Neapolitan, Neighbor, Neighborizer, Observer, Psychologist, PT Cop, Reporter, Roleblocker, Role Cop, Rolestopper, Role Watcher, Security Guard, Shield, Tracker, Traffic Analyst, Universal Backup, Vanilla Cop, Visionary, Visitor, Watcher
• Roles which are explicitly Normal for Town only include:
  Vanilla Townie, Friendly Neighbor, Innocent Child, Mason, Miller, Vengeful, Vigilante, any roles listed as "for any alignment"
• Roles which are explicitly Normal for Mafia only include:
  Mafia Goon, Strongman (may be named "Unstoppable"), Traitor, any roles listed as "for any alignment"
• Roles which are explicitly Normal for Serial Killer only include:
  Serial Killer, Strongman (may be named "Unstoppable"), any roles listed as "for any alignment"
• Modifiers which are explicitly Normal for any alignment include:
  Activated, Announcing, Backup (with or without primary role present), Combined, Complex, Compulsive, Disloyal, Indecisive, Lazy, Loud, Loyal, Multitasking, Ninja, Non-Consecutive Night, Personal, Roaming, Simple, Weak, X-Shot, any modifier restricting to a specific set of nights (e.g. Even/Odd Night, Night Specific, Novice)
• Roles which are explicitly Non-Normal include:
  Non-Reliable Cop, Blank Vig, Non-Reliable or Quack Doctor, Janitor, Survivor, Condemner, Cultist, Jester, Mafia Mason, Bus Driver, Lightning Rod, Nexus, Redirector, Framer, Vanillaiser, Beloved Princess, Arsonist, Governor, Godfather
• Modifiers which are explicitly Non-Normal include:
  Delayed, Percentage
• Normal Games must use only approved roles, and can use any combination (so long as there is at least one Vanilla Townie) in conjunction with approved modifiers.
  • Roles may be hybrid roles, consisting of multiple roles, for instance, a Vigilante Cop. Such a role with multiple active abilities can use any one of its roles each night, and may have modifiers that apply to just one of its roles or to the entire hybrid role.
  • Any roles with private information (mafia roles, informed roles, etc) should flip without that private information. A Rolecop investigation of the same role should be similar, without alignment and without private information.
• Games which are otherwise Normal may still be more suited to a different Queue. For example, a game with a large number of Doctors may be better run as an Open Game (after review in the Open Discussion Thread) or as a "Hospital" Themed Game.

Prior to running, all Normal Games are subject to a mandatory review by the Normal Review Group. To learn more about this process, visit this page.