Theme Test Market

[Mute]

I've an idea, but it's sheer thought at this point. It'd be a mini theme game, where the mafia wouldn't initially know their teammates, but throughout the game would be given hints as to who their partners in crime are. Also, within that same game, two other things: 1) there would be X+y number of roles to X players, and each player would select from one of those roles (i.e. player 1 picks #a, and players 2 and 3 pick #b (player 2 would get role b, player 3 gets notified of their choice being taken and of the role numbers currently available); but not until every role is selected by the players they would not be aware of their role/alignment until every role is chosen and role PM's are sent), and 2) before the game proper begins, each player pairs up neighbor-style with a player of their choice.

Too farfetched/flawed?

[Mute]

@Mute: 1) Scum not knowing their allies would make it likely that they'd either scumhunt them and possibly get them lynched, or get too scared to scumhunt, in case that happens, and be obvscum. 2) If roles are chosen that way, player 3 will know that role #b is in the setup and also possibly that either 1 or 2 have it, giving him information that others don't have, going in. Also, would you restrict this in two lists? One role list for town and one for mafia? Otherwise, how would it work?

EDIT: Also, for the neighbouring thing, if everyone neighbours someone, that's potentially n neighbourhoods, of 2 players each. And what if 5 people pick the same neighbour? He'd have to keep track of 5 different QTs, 6 if he's also scum.

with the role selection thing:
That isn't actually the case. Say out of, iuno, 12 people, there would be 15 possible roles to pick from. Of those 12, two pick the same number, and three pick the same number for another number. Of the groups, whomever picks their number first, that is whomever's PM I receive first, gets that role. In either scenario, they would only be aware that their choice was all ready taken, and the list of numbers left open. They would not be told whom requested the role before them, nor what the role actually is; only I would. No one would know their roles until everyone has chosen one, and once they actually receive their role PM's.
Then, as for the diversity between mafia roles and town roles, this is where the X+y total of roles for X players comes into play. At a minimum, there would need to be 2-5, or 2-6 mafia roles to choose from, with the hopes that at least 2-4 are taken by the players. If the situation where the players that pick the mafia roles number too low, then a VT role could be changed to a goon role for the sake of balance, before the player is given the role proper.

For the mafia not knowing who their teammates are:
They wouldn't within their role PM's know who their teammates are, but would get a secondary or passive ability to look for their teammates that wouldn't affect their identities being revealed to everyone else. One idea that comes to mind is the mafia members all being given a segment to a phrase, and when combined, formed a code word, where the object is to get them to form the phrase, in effect finding their partners on their own.
I admit it's broken and in all likelihood wouldn't work, but trying to toy with the notion that the mafia does not immediately know who their scummates are but instead having to work to find them, appeals to me.

For the neighboring thing:
Still working that out. The initial ideas was that, say two mafia member neighbor each other. They'd no longer need to track down one (or more) of their teammates during the game, and would be notified that they neighbored with a scummate. As far as too many neighbors? The request to neighbor would be sent from Player A to Player B through me, and Player A would have the choice to decline the neighboring if they want, or to accept it. All of this, as well as everything else posted thus far within these two posts, would take place all before the game even starts, so during N0 phase of the game.

[Mute]

Well, the role thing plays into the flavor, in that the players are entered into a sort of social experiment unaware of their roles in the experiment.
But I do thank you for your input. Definitely will help.

[Mute]

So, I have several ideas i'm bouncing around in my head, but I don't know which one would be more enjoyable to run.
One I'm leaning towards would fall under "role madness," in that (almost) every role would have an ability, and the roles would interplay with one another.
thinking of calling it "Senses Fail," or something less cheesy. .-.