Mafiascum.net

AutoDefenestrator MrRafexPL
fwogcarf YoloHammer
ofmercia
TistDaniel
ProgoWoshua
KittyTacky
NorwegianboyEE (SE)
StrangeMatter Dunnstral (SE)
Frogsterking (SE)

SE - indicates a Semi-Experienced player, a player who has played at least two games on MafiaScum.net

1. Obey all Site-wide Rules.
   
2. Communication outside the thread (if your role specifically allows it) is allowed until the game begins.
   
3. You may not quote private communication of any kind. This includes moderator-supplied information (either real or fabricated) of any kind. Paraphrasing (for role claims, etc.) is acceptable.
   
4. There is to be NO personal communication outside of the forum postings unless your role PM specifically allows it.

1. Prods of missing players will be issued after 36 hours of no activity.
   
2. A prodded player has 24 hours to respond to the prod, after which time a replacement search will begin. The prodded player may re-enter the game so long as no replacement has been found.
   
3. A player who has been prodded 3 times is subject to possible replacement without further notice.
   
4. If you anticipate being unavailable for more than 36 hours please PM me or post in the thread to declare V/LA.
   
5. I reserve the right to force replace players who need extensively long V/LA at my own discretion.

1. Deadlines for this game will be 10 days for Day 1 and 7 days for following Day Phases. Night Phases will last 48 hours.
   
2. Extensions are given only in extreme circumstances.
   
3. If you have a role with a Night action your choices are due to me by the posted deadline. If I do not receive your choice via PM by the posted deadline you will forfeit your actions.

1. A simple majority of all living players must agree on one person (via voting) for an Elimination to occur (simple majority = ½ # of living players +1, rounded down). If no one has a simple majority of votes at deadline a No Elimination will occur.
   
2. Votes must be bolded or use the [.vote] tags to be counted (e.g.
   Vote: Player
   or VOTE: Player).
   
3. Unvotes are not necessary before changing votes.
   
4. You may
   Vote: No Elimination
   - a simple majority of these vote types are required to send the game to Night phase without an Elimination.
   
5. Votes made using nicknames or abbreviations will be counted at my discretion. Fake vote gambits should be executed at your own peril. If I think its a vote, then its a vote.

1. I will use
   Bolded Dark Blue
   (#004080) for Mod posts. Don't impersonate me. No invisible/small/encrypted text is allowed.
   
2. Any situation not explicitly covered above is subject to my discretion and will be handled as I see fit on a case-by-case basis.

NewD3 (as designed by RadiantCowbells):

Each Newbie Game will be given a setup that incorporates one mafia role from the top of a column, and then two town roles from a row below the selected mafia role.
The remaining six roles will be filled in by and appropriately, to create a and setup.

All Newbie games use the Natural Action Resolution system for determining Night action effects. action takes precedence over a action should that apply.

Mafia are able to communicate in their Private Topic at all times.

-> Forum Rules and Guidelines
-> The Glossary
-> Commonly Used Abbreviations
-> The Newbie Guide
-> Articles on How to Play Well (be sure to check the dates these were written/updated, as good advice changes over time)






Besides the activity requirements listed in the moderator's original post, it's just necessary for a fun and healthy game that everyone . If you post very rarely, or only post a little bit at a time, you may get scumread for lurking. Even if you are not scumread for it, what's the fun in playing a game where multiple people are hardly participating?


Meta is the description of how people on Mafiascum like to play mafia. Things can be different on other online mafia sites, or if you play IRL, so it's good to know what's expected of you on this site. These aren't "rules", per se, but if you don't follow these guidelines it is likely things will go poorly for you on MS. Some examples are...


Games on MafiaScum almost always begin with what we call the Random Voting Stage (RVS). At this point in the game, we are in a low information game state (except the mafia, which know everyone’s alignment). As a way to provoke reaction, start a discussion, and try to determine alignment, people will usually vote for non-serious reasons. As the discussion progresses, we will eventually get the game moving and progress out of RVS.


E-x is a way to convey how far away a player is away from elimination. For example, you should always announce that you are putting someone at E-1 (1 vote away from an elimination) so that someone doesn’t come along and accidentally vote for that player's elimination. This also prevents Mafia-aligned players from coming along and placing the final vote to eliminate (“hammer”) and claiming ignorance about doing so. You may also see E-2 and E-3 (2 votes away from elimination and 3 votes away from elimination, respectively).

Before you hammer a player, state your intent to hammer (usually done in bold) and ask the player to claim their role. This is done to prevent power roles from being eliminated, and can sometimes get Mafia-aligned players to be caught (via counter claiming). It's best to then allow other players to react and discuss the claim before hammering.



It is almost always best to not claim your role unless you are at E-1 and have been asked to claim as part of an “intent to hammer.” This is because, as a town power role (“PR”), if you out prematurely, you are likely to be night-killed (“NK’d”). As a Vanilla Townie (“VT”), claiming early helps the mafia team narrow down the setup and possible PR candidates. An exception to this would be if a mafia player claimed your role, claiming early to counter the false claim (“CC”) would out the mafia player, and would be a benefit to the town.

While it may help you avoid getting eliminated, you might cause a real PR to out themselves by counterclaiming - then the mafia will know who the PR is, and you will probably get eliminated for lying to town. Feel free to fake a claim as scum, though, if you think it would help.


ELo is the shortened representation of “Eliminate or Lose.” ELo in the Newbie Queue is when there are 3 remaining players, 2 of which are town and 1 is mafia; or when there are 5 remaining players, 3 of which are town and 2 are mafia. It is important in these situations that the town aligned players do not carelessly vote like is done during RVS or early days, as the mafia player(s) can organize and instantly provide the necessary votes to eliminate (“quickhammer”) and win the game.


As town, it can be hard to figure things out, and stressful when people think you're scum. Just share your thoughts on who you think is scum as they come to you, and don't be afraid to change your mind. As scum, it can be hard to lie convincingly, and stressful when people think you're scum. Don't let that scare you! Try to think of what you would post if you were town, and don't be afraid to "change your mind".

This is a game.

Votecount 1.00

Not Voting (9) -

MrRafexPL, YoloHammer, ofmercia TistDaniel, ProgoWoshua, KittyTacky, NorwegianboyEE, Dunnstral, Frogsterking

With 9 players alive it takes 5 votes to eliminate.

The deadline for Day 1 is paused at 10 days until all players have confirmed.

My first first post!

Hello everyone. I now realize I should have inned as a SE because I have a few games under my belt already...

In post 6, KittyTacky wrote:My first first post!

Hello everyone. I now realize I should have inned as a SE because I have a few games under my belt already...

Cool we have an armada of SEs this game.

VOTE: yolohammer doesnt sound like a newbie name.

I have a supplemental D1 start method called the SSS (standard survey start). I think it might be better after the RVS is over rather than right at the start of the game. I'll probably post it around 10-12 pages in.

10-12 pages of RVS. Ouch. I vote you start it page 2.

Why not post it now?

In post 6, KittyTacky wrote:My first first post!

Hello everyone. I now realize I should have inned as a SE because I have a few games under my belt already...

Booo, i signed up to toy with newbies. Not to speak to SE’s.

Yeah RVS usually doesn't last that long.

VOTE: MrRafexPL for being first in the votecount.

VOTE: KittyTacky
For voting based on where someone is on the vote count.

Hi everyone! I'm new here, but I've done some of the recommended reading, as well as a bunch of the pages on the wiki, some forum posts about strategy, and a few previous newbie games. I started reading Progo's previous game, because I wanted to get to know some of the people I'd be playing with, but this game started before I got to the first elimination, so I don't even know what role he had. I don't know anything about the rest of you.

Since this is a newbie game, there's a good chance that a new player has gotten a power role they've never had before, and don't know how to play. It benefits town if all town players know how to play their roles. So could the more experienced players talk for a bit about how the power roles should be played, strategy for using the powers, when it's appropriate to claim, etc?

One thing I would like clarification about in particular: one of Micc's posts says "Do not fake claim a power role as town!" I totally get that I can win even if I'm dead, and if I'm vanilla, me fake-claiming has the potential to screw up town in a big way. But what if I'm not vanilla?

So imagine I'm the cop, and I'm one vote from being eliminated. Cop is a very powerful role. This may be just me being new, but it seems to me that cop is *the* most powerful role in NewD3. If cop survives Day 1, they have a 28.5% chance of identifying scum during the night. So if I'm cop, and I'm one vote from being eliminated, I need to claim so that town doesn't kill me. But if I claim cop, there's a 50% chance there's no doctor to protect me, and scum will kill me during the night.

It seems to me that in this situation, I should claim Mason. Mason doesn't have a power that helps them to identify scum, or to prevent the night kill, so scum have much less incentive to kill me. Also, scum don't know until a power role dies that a game has a cop instead of a mason: it's a plausible lie.

In this situation, there is a town player who is absolutely sure that I'm lying, and if they say so, we both get killed and lose two power roles. That's obviously really bad. But if they can keep their mouth shut for just one night, I can get one scan off and potentially tell everyone tomorrow who one of the scum is--or at least confirm someone to be town.

Now obviously I'm new here, and if you all tell me that I'm wrong about this, I'll accept that. But it seems to me that our policy on town fake claims should be this:

1. If you're vanilla town, *never* claim a role you don't have.

2. If you have a power role, don't claim a power role unless you're one vote away from being eliminated, or you've used your power to obtain information town needs to know.

3. If someone claims a role you know they don't actually have, don't counterclaim until late the following day. This gives them time to use their power and confess their lie on their own without you having to out yourself. But as we get close to elimination the day after they fake claimed, you should then claim, because they're probably scum. Worst case scenario, you die before you get a chance to counterclaim, but your death reveals your role, and once town knows your role, they know the claim was fake.

I personally don't see anything wrong with this strategy, but once again, I'm new here, and I'm willing to accept if more experienced players tell me that it's bad. So please let me know what you think. And please also give an overview on how to play power roles for newer players who may have power roles for the first time in this game.

In post 13, TistDaniel wrote:One thing I would like clarification about in particular: one of Micc's posts says "Do not fake claim a power role as town!" I totally get that I can win even if I'm dead, and if I'm vanilla, me fake-claiming has the potential to screw up town in a big way. But what if I'm not vanilla?

Looking at the setup, I don't see where fakeclaiming would help the town. Mafia can narrow it down to 3 possible pr distributions based on their own pr (or lack thereof), so claiming outside of that group of 3 means mafia know you are lying. Fake claiming typically gets another power role to counter claim based off of a mismatch of info. Even if that doesn't happen, the way vt players react can reveal that they are not prs (and remember that mafia has more info about the setup and so can spot this kind of thing easier)

I'm not saying never fake claim as town ever, but in this setup which is open and we can see the roles, I'm struggling to come up with a reason to fake claim. The last newbie game I played in had someone fake claim as mason, and the players reactions revealed who the real cop was, and they died night 1.

In post 13, TistDaniel wrote:Since this is a newbie game, there's a good chance that a new player has gotten a power role they've never had before, and don't know how to play. It benefits town if all town players know how to play their roles. So could the more experienced players talk for a bit about how the power roles should be played, strategy for using the powers, when it's appropriate to claim, etc?

Cop: either check people who you suspect or who are middling in your reads/hard to sort, or who have low content
Tracker: same but your action isn't 100% clearing and it's more of a toss-up
Doctor: protect players who seem likely to die by play or by claiming a role
Jailkeeper: you can do the same as with Doctor, or you can try to roleblock the kill. Keep in mind that this role roleblocks town prs if used to protect
Friendly Neighbor: Try to target someone you think is town and who isn't likely to die
Mason: avoid looking suspicious since you have extra knowledge so you don't have to claim early

Dunnstral, I know mafia can narrow it down to three possible setups. If we have a cop, we're either in A1 or C1. Mafia knows only whether we're in A or C. Both A and C can be masons, which is why I suggested that the cop fake claim as mason. From Mafia's perspective, that is a plausible claim. From the doctor's perspective, it is not, but mafia have no reason not to believe it. And if the doctor knows not to counterclaim until late the following day (or there is no doctor), town power roles are safe, and the cop gets a scan they otherwise wouldn't have gotten.

Thank you for your advice for power roles. Follow up questions:

Should cop claim the instant they detect scum, or should they try to find the second scum role?

Should doctor/jailkeeper claim if they believe they've prevented a night kill?

In post 14, Dunnstral wrote:

In post 13, TistDaniel wrote: Cop: either check people who you suspect or who are middling in your reads/hard to sort, or who have low content
Tracker: same but your action isn't 100% clearing and it's more of a toss-up
Doctor: protect players who seem likely to die by play or by claiming a role
Jailkeeper: you can do the same as with Doctor, or you can try to roleblock the kill. Keep in mind that this role roleblocks town prs if used to protect
Friendly Neighbor: Try to target someone you think is town and who isn't likely to die
Mason: avoid looking suspicious since you have extra knowledge so you don't have to claim early

Cop: I sort of agree, but i think that unless you think it will be impossible to eliminate an player you suspect without an guilty, basically you need to consider if you can eliminate this player with the help of other town players or not, if you can then it's an waste of an investigation as it will (fhopefully) flip scum and you can focus on checking a player that's in the "middle" so to say. Basically it is more important for the cop to check players that are likely to be an distraction/mislim if they aren't scum. So town can get a better view of the gamestate. Checking low content slots is an meh cop check imo. But if they do absolutely nothing and will likely keep being alive and that way, it could be an good check so they can be crossed off the checklist.
Tracker: Not exactly the same, you should be aware that if scum has 2 players alive then they can alternate which player does what. If one player doesn't perform an action then tracker might fake "clear" a scum slot. So think deeply about who you are targeting.
Doctor: Yep.
Jailkeeper: Yup.
FN: It doesn't really matter if you target scum, they have to confirm your role. (Although keep in mind jailkeeper could block your shot)
Mason: Don't be obvious, mafia can find out you and your partner easily and nightkill you both on following nights. Examples of tells mafia will use:
- You both townread each other for no good reason. Or act very in sync.
- You go too hard at distancing from each other and it looks obvious from that aspect.
Basically, just be natural in game thread. But feel free to discuss with your partner as much as you want and formulate some strategies if you got any good plans.

In post 15, TistDaniel wrote:Dunnstral, I know mafia can narrow it down to three possible setups. If we have a cop, we're either in A1 or C1. Mafia knows only whether we're in A or C. Both A and C can be masons, which is why I suggested that the cop fake claim as mason. From Mafia's perspective, that is a plausible claim. From the doctor's perspective, it is not, but mafia have no reason not to believe it. And if the doctor knows not to counterclaim until late the following day (or there is no doctor), town power roles are safe, and the cop gets a scan they otherwise wouldn't have gotten.

Thank you for your advice for power roles. Follow up questions:

Should cop claim the instant they detect scum, or should they try to find the second scum role?

Should doctor/jailkeeper claim if they believe they've prevented a night kill?

The most straightforward approach to cop is to "soft" claim your info if it is an innocent so that people can look back at your posts and find your result, and to hard claim when you find mafia

Doctor should not claim when they've prevented a kill, jailkeeper should only claim if they believe they've roleblocked the kill. Unless either person is close to being eliminated

Newbieread: TistDaniel prob town because i don't expect newbie rolling mafia to ask for optimal town and PR play first thing in the game.

Looking at tracker, they only coincide with doctor, jailkeeper, and town friendly neighbor. If they track someone who visits someone who dies, it's possible but unlikely that scum and neighbor targeted the same person at the same time. It's far less likely that doctor or jailkeeper would visit someone the night they died. It seems to me that tracker can almost be sure they've tracked scum if the target dies. So they should follow the same strategy as cop in this circumstance?

Is there ever a point where a cop should claim if they haven't detected scum? Actually no, that's obvious. If they've identified all innocents still alive, they should obviously claim, because the only players they haven't scanned will be scum. But what if they've identified all innocents left alive, minus one? Is that a good time to claim? It would confirm most of the remaining town players, which would be very advantageous to town, right?

What if you're the doctor, the cop/tracker got killed, and you blocked a nightkill? I think in that circumstance, you should claim. As I see it, the doctor's main function is to protect cop/tracker if they claim, and once they're dead, you're unlikely to block the nightkill ever again, so if you've blocked it once, that's probably the most valuable information you'll ever be able to give town. Am I right on this?

In post 18, NorwegianboyEE wrote:Newbieread: TistDaniel prob town because i don't expect newbie rolling mafia to ask for optimal town and PR play first thing in the game.

In post 19, TistDaniel wrote:What if you're the doctor, the cop/tracker got killed, and you blocked a nightkill? I think in that circumstance, you should claim. As I see it, the doctor's main function is to protect cop/tracker if they claim, and once they're dead, you're unlikely to block the nightkill ever again, so if you've blocked it once, that's probably the most valuable information you'll ever be able to give town. Am I right on this?

You could claim, but the absolute best play is to crumb that you know the player you protected is town. That way you can both hopefully make it clear to the town that you did protect them but also hopefully not too obviously so that mafia figures it out and kills you. The best is to subtly hint it, and if you die the following night then town will hopefully either have understood it, or get's it once you have flipped doctor/jailkeeper.

In post 19, TistDaniel wrote:Is there ever a point where a cop should claim if they haven't detected scum? Actually no, that's obvious. If they've identified all innocents still alive, they should obviously claim, because the only players they haven't scanned will be scum. But what if they've identified all innocents left alive, minus one? Is that a good time to claim? It would confirm most of the remaining town players, which would be very advantageous to town, right?

I don't think this is a very normal circumstance where you have cleared everyone except one player. But yes you should obviously claim in this instance.

Almost every circumstance it is better to crumb than overtly claim, unless you're at a risk of being eliminated without openly claiming.

This is open setup thinking though. In a closed setup it might be better to claim at some points or have a mass claim and analyze if any claims don't make sense and seem like an likely mafia fake claim.
But that's advanced stuff.

Optimally you wouldn't even need to claim cop with a guilty on a player if you have one, just explain why they are scum and see if you can make it happen without the need to out you are a cop or tracker at all.