How to play as....

[clementine]

I was wondering if people have hints and tips for playing as different roles on forum mafia. It seems like experienced players are instantly able to call each other out when they sense that another player "isn't playing the way they do when they are town". I have seen two different strategies so far, but I was wondering if people have other strategies to share:

1. Play every game as if you were a citizen. Play as if whatever night actions you have didn't happen. (note this information down somewhere and make role lists based on this info too) Play as if you had no night effects i.e. if you were doused, note it down but continue to play without being able to confirm or deny the presence of an arsonist. This strategy relies on taking two sets of notes: one set as a citizen presented only with basic info available to the town, and one set as whatever role you are. I think this strategy relies heavily on other town members speaking up about their night effects and would need some tweaking to be most effective. Basically this strategy is to just play as if nothing happened to you the whole game and you did nothing the whole game... At least until Day 3/4 or so when you can make a big reveal if you wish.

2. Play each game with a different style. Write down different play styles on slips of paper and put them into a hat and draw one out before each game so everything is randomized. Potential styles include: perpetual citizen (see #1), lurker (attempt to say as little as possible), troll (post something random every time you check the game thread), executioner (pick a random target you believe might be town and try your hardest to get them lynched regardless of your alignment), misleader (lie about as much stuff as you can - pretend you have experienced all the night effects or w/e), truthful (everything you say is the truth, even if it is a role claim b/c ppl may believe you are WIFOM'ing).

The way I would play using most of these seem to be kind of anti-town... Do you think it is good to play a confusing "normal" game to cover up for the games you roll scum? Do you think deception is good as long as you reveal by day 3/4?

[Guardian]

People seem to find me as scum in all my anon FM games and find me as town in all the non-anon games.
Guess why..

I think its because I think like a scum player no matter how I play (I.E, draw attention away from self etc...)

As Town: Don't get lynched
As Mafia: Don't get Lynched
As..... : Dont get lynched....

[Dust]

2. Play each game with a different style. Write down different play styles on slips of paper and put them into a hat and draw one out before each game so everything is randomized. Potential styles include: perpetual citizen (see #1), lurker (attempt to say as little as possible), troll (post something random every time you check the game thread), executioner (pick a random target you believe might be town and try your hardest to get them lynched regardless of your alignment), misleader (lie about as much stuff as you can - pretend you have experienced all the night effects or w/e), truthful (everything you say is the truth, even if it is a role claim b/c ppl may believe you are WIFOM'ing).

This is me in a nutshell in FMs

[Escaho]

Here's an alternate strategy that I generally use:

3) Play as if you are Town. Generally, regardless of role, I will always attempt to scum hunt as if I am Town. It doesn't matter if I am Town or not, I will put myself in a Town member's shoes and actively scum hunt, pointing out flaws in people's logic or purposely pointing out things that appear to be scummy (and letting others bandwagon on it). I've noticed that a lot of new mafia members tend to stay in the shadows, lurk, or contribute very little. The more you contribute, the less people look at you (you can easily be overlooked for someone who looks more scummy and deserves pressure voting). In addition, town power roles generally check either A: whoever is lurking/hiding or B: whoever is talking the most. Being in the middle generally means you are overlooked.

[Dust]

Here's an alternate strategy that I generally use:

3) Play as if you are Town. Generally, regardless of role, I will always attempt to scum hunt as if I am Town. It doesn't matter if I am Town or not, I will put myself in a Town member's shoes and actively scum hunt, pointing out flaws in people's logic or purposely pointing out things that appear to be scummy (and letting others bandwagon on it). I've noticed that a lot of new mafia members tend to stay in the shadows, lurk, or contribute very little. The more you contribute, the less people look at you (you can easily be overlooked for someone who looks more scummy and deserves pressure voting). In addition, town power roles generally check either A: whoever is lurking/hiding or B: whoever is talking the most. Being in the middle generally means you are overlooked.

That's good and all but I noticed this tendency and I've taken to checking the people in the middle when I'm an investigative role.

This thread will mess up the WIFOM of so many games...

[Escaho]

That's good and all but I noticed this tendency and I've taken to checking the people in the middle when I'm an investigative role.

This thread will mess up the WIFOM of so many games...

Yep.

I tried claiming every role in that last M-FM...didn't really work. I wasn't even sure of my role at the time when I first started trolling, all I knew was that I took over for DramaLlama. =p (And people thought I was town PR even then! I figured I'd just troll to see what came of it!)

[Duzero]

Trolling when there is nothing to discuss, serious when you got some facts to share.

[clementine]

Yep.

I tried claiming every role in that last M-FM...didn't really work. I wasn't even sure of my role at the time when I first started trolling, all I knew was that I took over for DramaLlama. =p (And people thought I was town PR even then! I figured I'd just troll to see what came of it!)

Hahahaha nice :P

If we were playing mafia in person it would be super easy to tell when I am scum. I always burst out laughing when I am mafia... Or have an incredibly hard time keeping a straight face... I'm lucky forum mafia is all text based so I can carefully craft responses. :P

Escaho, the problem with playing as if you are always town pr/cit (in my opinion) is that at some point if you are scum the facts will all point to you and if you play as if you are town then you will be forced to point that out... Or someone else will pick up on it and call you out and further call you out as scum... Is it acceptable to play hella scummy games as town so when you are scum you simply act "normal"? Do people think carefully about what meta game information they want to craft into their player identity to use meta game info to their advantage in forum mafia? i.e. metagame WIFOM and deception

[fm CmG]

The best strategy is, never talk about your strategy at all in any way, because people will use it against you see m - fm 7

[CmG]

The best strategy is, never talk about your strategy at all in any way, because people will use it against you see m - fm 7

wtf fuck off smurf!

[Blazer]

Strategy #1: Do whatever the hell you want and go with it.

[Goremancer]

The best strategy is, never talk about your strategy at all in any way, because people will use it against you see m - fm 7

What strategy?

[ajkei]

What strategy?

The one where you lurk all game or just post generally useless things devoid of information and then just hope you get lucky with night actions?
Remember that one?
:D
As for strategies, if you are scum, make sure you have a role claim prepared and act as if you are only that role - make your role that you will claim the role that defines your actions. Make sure you have all your fake night actions prepared BEFORE you are pressured, and remember to act as you would if you had actually taken those night actions. It doesn't really matter how good you are at looking like town. At some point, everyone is going to be made to role claim (unless they are killed before that happens). As long as you don't do anything ridiculously stupid, almost any gameplay style can be explained as town with a well prepared role claim.

[ajkei]

hmm... o.O
I just realized this thread is over 2 weeks old...

[Blazer]

hmm... o.O
I just realized this thread is over 2 weeks old...

+1