On August 23 2014 21:10 husniack wrote:
I've scoured google for the rules, and haven't seen it addressed anywhere.
1. Are players allowed to have side conversations / whisperings / eye-contacts or do all communications need to be transparent to the group?
2. Are players allowed to say anything they want?
It seems very hard for the Mafia to win if #2 is true. The Sheriff on a successful guess, can just say, I'm the Sheriff, X is Mafia, Doctor/Angel, please protect me during the night."
If anyone tries to oppose this statement, like Y says, "No, I'm actually the Sheriff," it would be pretty clear if the real sheriff dies that Y is Mafia.
1) Players are allowed to have side conversations. In video mafia this is essentially impossible to do. In forum mafia the equivalent would be games that allow PMs (private messages). In a real life game it would be really hard to control it so that all communication is transparent to the group.
Side conversations are a very important aspect in real life mafia. If you're mafia it allows you a more personal interaction for getting people on your side (convincing them you're town, pushing an agenda, etc.). If you're town it allows you to interrogate someone about their alignment in a different way (e.g. there's a big difference in asking "are you mafia?" when everyone is quiet and listening to you and when it's just the two of you).
2) Yes, players can say anything they want. The only restriction might be for behavioral related issues (e.g. for most mafia games personal attacks, excessive swearing, etc. are not allowed).
As an example, there was a game once where I was vanilla town and won the game for the town by fake claiming mafia (I'm not going to reveal how I did this because I want to use it again someday). I've always believed that mafia is a game where the only limitation is your own imagination. It might seem really unbelievable that I was able to do that (everyone in the game was an experienced mafia player I assure you) but with proper planning and some outside-the-box thinking you can make anything work.
As for your example, maybe you think it's difficult to counter claim at first (and it is for everyone), but with enough practice it's certainly possible. It's not that uncommon for a mafia to fake claim a role and for a majority of players to believe him.
EPT
