TL Mafia XXVIII - Page 8

I am glad to see that today has been a lot more reasonable than the previous two days. I believe that the whole topic of myself/tricode will continue to be discussed, but I am glad at the logical conclusions thus far. However, the town also has to discuss places to begin for lynch targets. As a player who has been in a lot of mafia games, and well didn’t think I would have to outline something like this, I shall.

To begin with (ignore the fact its day 3 for the moment). Hosts will RNG roles and typically tweak the player list slightly. (making sure a group of first time players isn’t red vs a group of experienced players for instance). Some hosts will openly admit to doing this, some hosts will deny it. The truth of the matter is, every host does it. Be it by RNGing a role again, to physically swapping someones roles. (chuiu is exempt from this generalization as I know he didn’t).

Now, everyone would tweak things the same way, but I will do a briefly outline of how I would do it if I were a host.

Well known experienced players. (see names like ver, qatol, ace, caller, L, bloodyc0bbler, incognito, flamewheel, foolishness, etc…)

Basically players who have a lot of experience.

Not as well known experienced players (see names such as infundibulum, amber[light], opz, bumatlarge, chaoser, tree.hugger, d3, zeks)

Rising stars (see names such as youngminii, DTA, Korynee, etc..)

Completely new players (everyone else)

Now, at this point, in the case of very few well known experienced players, they typically will be given town roles (note, usually townie, or non major blue) as they can help create order, and teach new players, or help guide the flow of things. In the case of many, usually a small group is placed in red as to compete against those who are town.

In the case of a small group however, the mafia breakup is that of usually rising stars, or people who are experienced but can easily defend themselves in a pinch but rarely recognized to the general public. New players will be split among both groups as they need experience in every role still.

Now, as a player, as well as a host, part of my playing style always includes looking at how someone may have balanced the game. note everyone does it differently so the way I would do things is not the same as any other host .
It does however give me a starting ground on how to start scum hunting.

In a game of this format, and even more specifically this game. I see of well known names most people would recognize as Myself, Citizen, and foolishness. We have all played in a fair amount of games and most new players at this point will most likely hear of our names quickly, read it in the thread, etc…
We will usually be instantly distrustful of each other and be a balancing issue if we are town/red as we at our core will take longer to trust someone who is forced into a form of spotlight regardless of wanting to be there.
Note: Pyrr isn’t included in this list as he may not be as well known after a large large break from mafia.

We then have a large group of experienced players who aren’t as well known, but have played in many many games. They make up the core of the players this game.

We have a few rising stars, and a smaller group of new players.


To begin with scum hunting I would look at the list of the big 3 and realize that either 1 or none of us are red. The possibility of there being one however is what keeps us wary of eachother all game.

Of the rising stars, I would say most likely with such a low count of them this game, also 1. As they would be expected to compete for top spot this game.

Of the newer players, most likely 1-2. As their role doesn’t matter as much as they have to learn from square one regardless.

Rest of the roles would be made up of people from the experienced group. Now, from there you have a general idea of lists breakups.

List of 3 (or 4 if you count pyrr) names where 0-1 is red
Foolishness, bloodyc0bbler, citizen (pyrr)

A list of 2 where most likely 0-1 is red. Where 1 is more likely.
DTA, Youngminii

A list of 6 where 1-2 will most likely be red
Siniquity, Southrawrea, Pandain, subversion, misder, protactinium

T[hen everyone else to make up the last 2-4 red.

From this you have a generalized standpoint of where to start looking. And with those lists in mind you look at posting histories, styles, voting patterns and the like to best narrow down the red on that respective list. Once a # of reds has been found off a list of grouped players, you can generally ignore it briefly. (note some hosts may not do it as I have laid out, but this is merely a starting format to work from).

People will make slipups, imply or reveal they are working with so and so and one flips red then the other does, etc…
It however gives everyone a generalized place to start and begin to try and narrow reds down as it puts the chances of nailing one earlier on higher than others.


With all this in mind, I will be going back over the thread and analyzing people. Expect another large post in the next few hours.