New FM Player's Guide

New FM Player's Guide

This guide will attempt to cover everything a new FM player needs to know when they get into a game. Note that, as a new player, you do not have to read it fully in order to understand the game; it is meant to help and guide players who have questions about the game, but is in no way mandatory.


Contents

What is Forum Mafia (FM), and how does it work?
Differences with the StarCraft II Arcade map -Mafia-
List of FM terms
How to get yourself started in a game


What is Forum Mafia (FM), and how does it work?


FM is a game where an uninformed majority (the Town) wants to get rid of an informed minority (typically, the Mafia), and vice versa. Roles are distributed to each player before the game starts. These roles usually have two parts : the alignment, and the specifics/abilities.
Your alignment determines your win condition. For example, a typical Town win condition is "Eliminate the Mafia, and have at least one member alive." The goal of the game is to fulfill your alignment's win condition.
Your role specifics/abilities are modifiers. The standard vanilla town role, usually called Citizen, can only vote during day for the lynch, has no immunities or abilities. However, some roles have night abilities, such as the Doctor, who may protect someone from kills at night in addition to their ability to vote during day.

The game has a Host, the person who posts signups for the game. The Host is the person that creates game thread(s), who manages night chats, night actions, day/night phases, etc. They are the person you must message privately (PM) in order to have your night actions registered, if you have any. The Host will also answer your questions about the setup when he can. Hosts are not part of the game; they are game masters. They may not give any opinion about what is happening in-game.

The game also has a Setup (See this page for information about setup-making). The Setup determines which roles are present in the game, and what are their attributes, alignments, win conditions, etc. It also determines the rules to follow in-game; general rules are here. If you have any questions about the setup, you may ask the host privately or by mentioning (@ the host's username) them, and putting your question in green (lime).

There are two phases : the day phase and the night phase. The day phase usually lasts 48 hours; the night, 24. During the night, players sumbit their night actions by PMing the Host. They may also participate in their night chat if they have one. The night is notably the time when Mafia chooses who they want to kill.
During the day, everyone posts in the game thread, created by the game's Host. Usually, every day has a Lynch possiblity. Depending on the lynch system, requirements to lynch (kill) a player change. However, there are two lynch systems that are commonly used : majority and plurality.

Majority lynch is a lynch system that requires [51% of living players] votes to lynch a player, while Plurality lynch happens at End of Day; the person with the most votes gets lynched.
The two systems can be combined in plurality + majority, which results in plurality lynch rules with the addition of Majority lynch possiblity during the day.
In order to vote against a player, use the [vote]The player's name[/vote] format. The vote system of the forum will automatically take your vote into account. Once the lynch requirement is met, the Host will close the thread and show the player's flip (their role and alignment, usually). If lynch is attained through Majority, @The Godfather , our lynch bot, will post a final vote count and close the thread.
Lynching a player kills them, effectively removing them from the game. They cannot post, vote, or use any actions, unless the Setup specifies otherwise.
In order to see where votes are placed, click the "Vote Count" button at top left of the page.


Differences with the StarCraft II Arcade map -Mafia-


For those who come from that map on SC2 (we call it "the mod" here, usually), FM can feel strange at first glance. One of the main differences with the mod is the nearly constant presence of Citizens, and a lesser amount of power roles. However, it does not mean that the Town is less powerful than on the mod; the Town simply proceeds differently to win.

On the mod, most of the informations gathered come from "leads" given by night actions. In FM, they almost always come from day chat. The reason is simple : having 48 hours per day phase to debate, asking for explainations and being able to efficiently pressure people for them, and looking at the thread (which is like looking at the chat log on the mod) are all efficient ways to scum hunt.
Behavioral scum hunting becomes the main point of the game for the Town. Therefore, in order to keep games balanced, power roles are less needed; in fact, in most setups, having everyone as a power role (like in the mod) would make the game extremely biased towards a Town victory.

As stated previously, phases are much longer than in the mod. The gameplay is different, because you can play for a long time on a small post that awakes suspicion, and still have time to discuss other things, making FM a much deeper experience than the mod.

In the standard lynch systems (Majority, Plurality, and both of them together), there is no trial. In the case of a system that includes majority, a player who needs only a few votes to get lynched (for example, 2 votes, or 3 if a lot of players are alive) is considered to be "on trial", even though there is no defense phase or voting phase. Unlike in the mod, turbolynches are very rare, and people are nearly always listened to before getting lynched; players consider the suspect's defense logically before deciding to lynch them, usually.

The amount of completely different setup possibilities is huge, given that the only limitations are your mind, fun, and balance. FM games sometimes use very wild setups with possibilities most arcade players wouldn't even consider.


List of FM terms


FM has specific terms new players might not know about. This list might not be exhaustive, but it will at least cover most questions about the terminology. For a very detailed list that however may be outdated and not adapted to the site's current meta, see this page (link).


!town / !scum / !neutral : Used to describe a specific scenario in which X player is !"alignment". For example, "if PlayerA!scum, then PlayerB!town" means that if player A is scum, then player B is necessarily town.

Agenda : Used to describe the secret plan of a player who seems to have hidden, often anti-town, deeds. Usually has a scummy connotation.

Alignment : Team of a player, usually represented with a common color and a common win condition.

AtE : Appeal to Emotion. Applies to all strategies or posts that try to use other players' emotions in order to manipulate them into doing (or not doing) something, such as voting someone, believing one is innocent, etc. Abusing it is usually considered as dirty play, and using it intentionally can be seen as a scumtell.

Breadcrumbing : Leaving "breadcrumbs", clues about your role that are undetectable without being pointed out by yourself, early on in your posts to indicate that you are a specific role (usually a TPR). These can be fake or real, but are often considered as a strong clue if they are clear and well-made.

Buddying : Acting friendly, taking the same stances another player is taking in order to have them townread you, or to have them look like your scummate (scum teammate) if you die. Has a scummy connotation.

Bussing : In Forum Mafia, refers to a strategy consisting of getting a scummate lynched as scum, in order to gain towncred. Being swapped by a Bus Driver/swapping as one will usually be referred to as "swapping/swapped". Note that bussing is a correct (and often necessary) strategy, and is not gamethrowing or griefing as long as it is done with the intent to win the game.
- Hard bussing : Sometimes used to describe a very bold act of bussing, where the busser will start the push on the scummate and fully hold it until the lynch goes through.

Day : Phase during which alive players can post in the main thread, and vote to lynch a player.
- D# : Day #
- EoD# : End of Day # phase.
- SoD# (rarely used) : Start of Day # phase.

FM : Forum Mafia.
- S-FM : Simple Forum Mafia, 13 players game or less.
- M-FM : Outdated Sc2Mafia terminology, it meant "Mini Forum Mafia, 14-20 players game" back when it was used.
- FM (also known as Full FM) : Forum Mafia (game), back when M-FM existed, 20 players or more; current use : 14 players or more.

Gambit : A risky play that often involves lying to achieve a specific goal, usually a pro-town one. For example, claiming to be cop with a scum check on a player when it's false in order to create strong reactions is a typical gambit.

Hammering : Placing your vote on a player at L-1, causing them to be lynched.

Hedging : The action of giving a player a very unstable read, with the intent of either townreading or scumreading him later, depending on circumstances. Has a very scummy connotation.

ISO : Isolation; reading only one player's posts over the thread to analyze them. Multiquote can be used to help.

L-# : Lynch minus #; used to state the remaining number of votes to lynch a specific player via majority lynch (see What is Forum Mafia, and how does it work? section for details on lynch modes).

Lynch : Way to kill a player via votes during day. Is usually possible on every Day phase.

LyLo : Lynch or Lose; a situation in which the Town must lynch correctly during the ongoing day to stop the scum from gain vote majority.

Meta : The game habits unique to a specific player.
- Site meta : The general habits of players and hosts on a specific Mafia site.

MyLo : Mislynch and Lose; a situation in which the Town must not mislynch (lynch a townie). If they do, scums gain vote majority.

Night : Phase during which night actions are sent to the Host and happen.
- N# : Night #

OoO : Order of Operations. It is the order in which night actions happen. For example, if the OoO says a roleblocker goes after a night killer, then the roleblocker's effect will not happen in time for the kill to be stopped, should they attempt to stop it.

PoV : Point of View.

RVS : Random Voting Stage. Used to describe the first pages of the game, during which players usually vote others with jokes and troll reasons to see other players' reactions.
- Doing RVS : Taking part in the random voting process.

Scumtell : A "tell", a clue based on someone's behavior, that indicates one is likely to be scum.

Solving/Solviness/Solvy : Solving is the attempt to "solve" the game from a Town point of view. This includes : Scum hunting, setup hunting in the case of a hidden setup, town hunting (also called towncoreing), and sometimes planning night actions in the case of a mass claim scenario.

TMI : Too Much Information; in FM, refers to the fact that Mafia members have additional information compared to townies, because they know who they are, which can lead to a lack of genuine scum hunting, a lack of doubt (too much certainity in their posts), strange and easily given townreads, etc.

TPR : Town Power Role; a Town-aligned role that is not a Citizen, that has a special power.

TvT, TvS and SvS : Town vs Town, Town vs Scum and Scum vs Scum. Applies to interactions between two players.

Tunneling : Having "tunnel vision" on a player, under the belief that they are scum, and pushing their lynch while ignoring other possiblities, mainly the possibility that they may be town.

TWTBAW : Too wolfy to be a wolf; also known as:
- Too scummy to be scum. Used to describe a person who acts scummy to the point it is unbelieveable that they are scum. Is a debatable theory.

Vote : Democratic way to lynch a player.

WIFOM : Wine In Front Of Me; based on this scene (link); usually used to describe a situation in which a player or a group of players anticipates another player or group of player's actions, and also anticipates the anticipation of that other player or group, as outlined in the video.

Wincon : Win condition; conditions specific to a role or an alignment that must be fulfilled in order to win.


How to get yourself started in a game


- Taking part in RVS is very useful. It allows to gauge people's reactions and general personality usually quite fast, while also allowing the game to start.

- Once that's done, remember to be active. If a player is not active, other players will consider them as a lurker and will not trust them, causing every post of the inactive player to be much less convincing than the active and trusted players' posts.

- Don't be afraid to vote. If you suspect someone, especially early on, place a vote on them and see how they react.

- Do not openly hunt for TPRs, as any alignment, unless the setup demands it, which is rare. As Town, you would be doing the scum's work to choose their nightkill targets. As scum, you would be putting a target on your back and probably be called out by townies.

- As town, you want to find scum, which means you should be actively trying to solve the game by looking at people's behavior. Is someone posting a lot without taking clear stances? Is someone acting strangely towards someone else? This kind of questions is what you should ask yourself, and more importantly, it is what you should insist on in the thread. Doing so will result in you being townier and will help you avoid getting lynched. It will also obviously help you to find the bad guys.

- As scum, you want to look like town, which means you should try to replicate the town behavior described above at least to some extent. The amount of scummy, anti-town play you should deploy depends on both the circumstances and your general strategy, but it should never be too obvious, at least not in standard play.