My setup (4 team balanced game, no lame roles)

[sheershot]

Thought I'd share this setup I made that has gotten positive feedback. Mainly made it because I got sick of the same old *3 random maf + sk + doc/invest/sheriff* setups.

-Random town
-Mayor
-Amnesiac
-Random Neutral
-Godfather
- Basic Mafia
- Jailor
- Advanced Any
- Investigator
- Basic any
- Random town
- Cultist
- Mason leader
- Advanced mafia (I usually change this between disguiser or consort, weakens mafia a tad making it exact)

Town: Mayor, Jailor, Invest, 3x random town (I exclude citizen), Mason Leader (Citizen is turned off so he can't convert, however he is there to balance the cult from raping the town or making it easy for mafia. Also no one likes playing as citizen)
Cult: starts with 1 (random roles cant start as cult, all other options also on)
Mafia: 1 GF, 1 strong role, 1 weak role since there is an amnesiac in the game as well as cult.
Any: Can't be cult like I said, also can't be mafia. (4 mafia would fuck the town too much.)

I like using mostly less used roles, and I find that this is surprisingly balanced. Cult can convert the mayor and he keeps his 3 votes, so that is something for the mason leader to watch for. Cult doesn't win very often in this setup compared to others, though, where they are usually OP.

One thing I have tried is making the random neutral roles unable to be killing roles. Especially if the basic any is there and you started w/ max people.

last, it is easy to start with one less person by just removing the basic any.

[suicidaln00b]

im guessing doctor was too lame to put in your setup

megacult recruit orgy

and then mafia wins 80% of the time

also

I like using mostly less used roles

(I exclude citizen)

ohoh
huuhhuuh
hooojoohoul

[Lazers]

woulehoool

[sheershot]

im guessing doctor was too lame to put in your setup

megacult recruit orgy

and then mafia wins 80% of the time

Doctor isn't a fun role to most people, especially when everyone floods their setups with them, sorry :P Also, doctors instead of investigative roles doesn't really help the town with so many factions, because you are trading information roles for longer games which just tends to help the cult more.

And no, the cult doesn't go crazy, in fact they tend to be the least likely to win. Keep in mind night one that first cult player is dodging a mafia kill, a possible disguiser kill, mason leader's search, investigative roles, and also the night one jail.

The mafia do not win 80% of the time either. You are overestimating their strength because you are used to serial killers also killing every night - in this game there is not one. Also, the basic mafia is usually just a regular mafioso. A consort/mafioso/GF team is not as powerful as the consig/consig/GF teams you often see randomed. The reason this setup works is because every group has lost power equally and that power vacuum was filled with the cult.



Is this the part where I type random shit? WOOODEHOOOOJ

[Sookie]

Doctor isn't a fun role to most people, especially when everyone floods their setups with them, sorry :P Also, doctors instead of investigative roles doesn't really help the town with so many factions, because you are trading information roles for longer games which just tends to help the cult more.

And no, the cult doesn't go crazy, in fact they tend to be the least likely to win. Keep in mind night one that first cult player is dodging a mafia kill, a possible disguiser kill, mason leader's search, investigative roles, and also the night one jail.

The mafia do not win 80% of the time either. You are overestimating their strength because you are used to serial killers also killing every night - in this game there is not one. Also, the basic mafia is usually just a regular mafioso. A consort/mafioso/GF team is not as powerful as the consig/consig/GF teams you often see randomed. The reason this setup works is because every group has lost power equally and that power vacuum was filled with the cult.



Is this the part where I type random shit? WOOODEHOOOOJ

but your wrong about the doctor. just the doctor being there plays a very important role for the town. in your setup lets say if an investigator or a sheriff from the randoms find a mafia, cultist ect. day one or 2, if they come forward there's nothing to stop the cult from converting or mafia from just killing him. just by having a doctor in instills doubt. if he can prevent conversions from the target it makes the mafia and cult reluctant to attack or convert him if hes revealed because the doctor might be protecting him. town not having a defined doctor or sheriff is at a bit of a disadvantage, especially with cult in the game. just because the doctor is boring to some people doesn't make it "lame." its a very important role.

also i play my setup without a SK, i put in an arsonist instead because i like the longer games. this is balanced out by having the cult wait to convert every other night, otherwise the cult goes on a rampage imo.

[Saneshelf]

Cit Count: 0

Yep, that's a bad sign.

[sheershot]

@Sookie You have a point. Perhaps changing a random town to defined doctor is a good idea.

@Saneshelf Still don't understand people complaining about this. In a pub game you are taking a 50/50 shot at that person simply suiciding. And in a game with this few slots and so many teams, I just don't see the value in weakening town further. Citizens work better in long term games or games with more slots, or less factions.

[Saneshelf]

Then how about putting PUB in the title so that distinction can be made?

[sheershot]

Just because I led one of my points with "in a pub game" doesn't mean I believe my setup is ONLY for pub games.

Feel free to make a case for why there should be citizens like Sookie did for doctors, otherwise there really isn't anything else for me to say about that.

[Ash]

Just because I led one of my points with "in a pub game" doesn't mean I believe my setup is ONLY for pub games.

Feel free to make a case for why there should be citizens like Sookie did for doctors, otherwise there really isn't anything else for me to say about that.

This has been said 10000000000000000000000000000000000000 times. and here it comes again.
CITIZEN can BALANCE the setups!! citizen is an important role, he gets a vest, he is a meatshield, and his vote counts for one when he votes to lynch!! How Overpowered is the citizen!!! he can also be converted to mason or win ties against mafia, even more OP!

[Lysergic]

Let me explain why you need Doctors.

Mafia: 1 kill per night.

Rand Neutral: Can be Serial Killer or Arsonist - another kill per night / kill per 2 nights.

Advanced Any: Can be Arsonist. Yet another kill per 2 nights.

Basic Any: Can be SK. Yet ANOTHER kill per night.

Cult: -1 town per night.

Your setup has 5 town. It has 3 mafia, 1 Cultist, 1 neutral, and 2 potential neutrals. Already, town is outnumbered ON DAY 1. With a possible 3.5 (because of Arsonist) kills per night, and -1 town per night because of Cultist, it will take roughly 2 nights for town to lose (there is a very high chance that they will tie in votes with mafia after a single night - in other words, losing on the first night).

Basically, the ONLY way town can win is if the Any randoms roll town, the jailor jails and kills correctly on the first night, and the Mayor leads a lynch of a Mafia member correctly on the second day.

Otherwise, town loses in your setup.

EDIT:
Even if you exclude killing roles from the Rand. Neutral AND the random Anys, you still have the scum outnumbering the town after 1 night. In other words, town cannot win in this setup unless they play perfectly every time, whereas the scum can fuck up as much as they like and still probably win.