Theme Test Market

[Mokina]

Dæmon Mafia

For Greeks and Romans, dæmons ("replete with knowledge", "divine power", "fate" or "god") were not necessarily evil. Socrates claimed to have a daimonion, a small daemon, that warned him against mistakes but never told him what to do or coerced him into following it. He claimed that his daemon exhibited greater accuracy than any of the forms of divination practised at the time. The Hellenistic Greeks divided daemons into good and evil categories: Eudaemons (also called Kalodaemons) and Kakodaemons, respectively. Eudaemons resembled the Abrahamic idea of the guardian angel; they watched over mortals to help keep them out of trouble. (Thus eudaemonia, originally the state of having a eudaemon, came to mean "well-being" or "happiness".) A comparable Roman genius accompanied a person or protected and haunted a place (genius loci).

24 players
12 are ICs
12 are raw newbies (less than 200 posts)

Only newbies can vote.
Each IC is a dæmon secretly tied to a specific newbie
If a newbie dies his dæmon dies as well
newbies have roles, dæmons do not
each newbie/dæmon pair is able to PM at night
each dæmon receives a copy of his newbie's role PM at the beginning of the game
dæmons have a post restriction so that they can only post in

italics

dæmons cannot be targeted by any role, lynched, or NK'd

all players know which dæmon is tied to which newbie

In terms of all other mechanics this will be a typical mafia game.

This idea sounds really, really good as a mentoring tool for new players. The mod could even lower that number to 7 daemons and 7 newbies and run it like the games in the Newbie forum (4-possibility basic setup, etc).

The only flaw I see is finding enough ICs willing to participate.

[Mokina]

^
If enough ICs could be found... well, this sounds good. But if we had that many ICs, why not just have 4-3 Newbie games? It is a very interesting idea, at the least!

The issue with normal newbie games (from a newbie's perspective) is that we have no reason to trust day advice from ICs. They've got roles, just like anyone else.

Under this system, the only goal of an IC is to not die (which is directly linked to the success of his/her protege). While this does place a bit of a burden on experienced players, it's perfect for teaching new players to make smart decisions... there's no ulterior motive involved.

[Mokina]

Daemon mafia could be an awesome game (a bit more complex than my puppet idea) for learning, but it could be an awesomely tricky game if you give the Daemons ulterior motives. Daemons would either win with the mafia or with the town, but it isn't always the same as their partner, and their partner doesn't know which one they are. I'm just afraid it might mess with the poor newbs a bit too much.

For the sake of clarity:

Puppet Mafia

12 players, all newbie
12 experienced "puppetmasters"

Newbies are put into a standard 12 player mini, but each is tied to one of the puppetmasters (or "mentors" if you want to be sappy). The pairs are encouraged to talk via PM or AIM during Day, Night, whatever. The newbies can post all they want, puppetmasters can read, but not post. Puppetmasters win/die with their newbies. Puppetmasters can be public or secret. You could even set up a sister thread for them to trash talk each other in.

That makes a lot more sense... especially with public puppetmasters.

[Mokina]

You might as well call this version "daemon mafia". The game mechanics are the same whether the IC is a mentor or a dictator. You'd just have to make sure the game was presented as a learning experience rather than a puppet show.

[Mokina]

Lots of suggestions! How about this...

Mentors/Apprentices Mafia

12 Newbie Players

12 Inexperience-Challenged Players

IC Players play in one game, while newbies play in another. Lynches aren't synchronized and the two games are mostly independent.
Roles are linked... that is, a "mentor" and an "apprentice" have the same role and can PM at any time, even if one has died.
The other players will not know which mentor was tied to which newbie until both games have ended.

A more experienced player might point out an interesting situation in his/her own game, but ultimately the ICs don't have any direct effect over the results of the newbie game (and vice-versa). Other than that, the two games are standard 12-player with basic roles.

Any thoughts?

[Mokina]

I've been dreaming of a large theme based on the Diablo game series since I joined the site, but it seems that very few would be interested. I've recently been receiving inspiration for a Monty Python based large theme game and was wondering if that would get a much greater response.

"Now go away or I shall taunt yeh a second time!"