GAFia Season 5 is finally over!
While the mid-season games are currently going on, this thread is here so that we can discuss what happened during the main season games. What went right? What went wrong? Should YNNNY stop making Mafia games?
First thing's first, though.
A huge round of applause for our gamerunners this main season and mid-season. Moderating a game takes a significant amount of time (and berating from prior moderators), both before and during the actual game. And while no moderator is perfect, they take an extraordinary amount of effort to make sure that the games are as balanced as they can be so that you all can have fun!
So thanks to...
Burbeting - Love Boat Mafia
YesNOnoNOYes - Disney Princess Mafia
Sorian - Ace Attorney Mafia
nin1000 - WWE Mafia
roytheone - Batman Mafia
Royal_Flush - Of Gods and Men Mafia
Thanks, guys!
Next up, let's talk about the games.
Three games, all quite different, both in theme and setup. Love Boat introduced us to the pair mechanic, ostensibly turning a 30-player game into a 15-player game. Disney and AA stuck to more traditional Mafia mechanics, though some of the roles and the like may have deviated. I'll start you all off with some topics.
1. What did you all think of the pair mechanic?
2. We've had this discussion across a bunch of different chats/forums, but there was some concern over the Blackmailing mechanic and the 1-shot BP Ascetic Cop Serial Killer in AA. Is there a balance concern?
3. In general, how do you think the games were balanced? Town won all 2/3 games, and the lone neutral won AA, but was it a balance issue or a gameplay issue? Does scum need a buff in future games?
4. Metagaming. On one hand, it's unavoidable. If someone in a previous game is acting differently, it's possible that it means that something is up. However, there's a point where people are really, really reaching for things. I get that sometimes you don't have the concrete information you're looking for, but how far is too far?
5. Day 1. What does everyone think of shortening D1 by a bit? We're all floundering - maybe it's good to get that day out of the way a bit faster. However, I personally think D1 reads have merit, but I think shortening it a bit might be a good idea.
6. Activity levels. Disney Princess suffered from this. It's tough because real life does interfere from time to time, and the games do require a certain level of commitment. I'm not saying everyone needs to emulate Sorian
please don't
7. Love Boat's size was 30 players. Yeah, gameplay-wise, it was only 15 players, but you had to go through 30 players' worth of posts. Too big?
Next up, the results from last season's review thread.
Did these ideas work? Make things better or worse?
- combined dead thread is better
- game running needs A LOT of support
- gamerunners should be given space to end the day / start the day without rushing it
- silence are expected from both players and spectators once day phases are ended
- panel of overseers will determine which games are selected to run
- once the games are selected, players will get to nominate their prefereces
- main season will cover the spectrum of normal, middling and crazy games
- in-game behaviours should be treated as such. however, we do encourage for the aggressive playstyle to be toned little down, and for the delicate players to toughen up a notch.
- post restriction roles / style must be cleared by overseer before implemented
- win (and loss) condition must be made clear
- overseers will advise on what kind of fake claims must be provided
- scum team should be allowed to put in the commands for inactive scum
- IF rebooting, give the players a breathing room, and try to keep the player base the same
- Encrypting messages are forbidden
- scum should post at least once per night phase in the scum chat, just like how everyone is expected to post at least once during the day phase.
And lastly, the next season!
While we do have a lot of games on deck (or at least being reviewed), if you have an idea, feel free to post it here. I know myself and other prior mods have a ton of ideas to put forth, but we should give the new blood a chance to stress themselves out when their beautiful plan gets torn to shreds by the players.
If you have an idea, please use the handy-dandy format below and post it in this thread. Retro or someone else will set you up with a board on Outer GAFia so that you can post your ideas and get feedback from the moderators.
Number of player slots for the game:
People who have been told about, consulted, or hinted information about your set-up:
Theme:
Game Category: (click link for the scale)
Thanks again, everyone, and see you back here for Season 6!