Forum Magic: The Gathering setup

[Fragos]

As you may already know, my next Mini-FM setup will be named "Humans vs Dragons" (because this year is Year of the Dragon). But even after that game ends, even more amazing setups and games will await players in nearby future! So, here is my first "future sight" - it is a setup themed around Magic: The Gathering! Right now I will present it to you as setup for Mini-FM, but if the shit becomes real, who knows? It can be fully developed Forum Mafia setup!


In this setup, there will 5 teams. Five! And each team will have 3 members. Plus there will be 5 neutral "citizens" which goal will be either to survive or support the team that they have decided to favor.

Each team will be based on corresponding Magic color: White, Blue, Black, Red, and Green. Each team will have 3 magi who can cast common, uncommon spells, and rare spells. With 5 teams, that make 15 players total, so the remaining 5 players will be neutral Students. Here is the full setup:


White Mage
White Mage
White Mage

Blue Mage
lue Mage
Blue Mage

Black Mage
Black Mage
Black Mage

Red Mage
Red Mage
Red Mage

Green Mage
Green Mage
Green Mage

Student
Student
Student
Student
Student

The primary goal of each team is to defeat their corresponding enemies and then at least one member of the team must survive until the game ends. Here is how it looks:

White Team must lynch or kill Black and Red Team
Blue Team must lynch or kill Red and Green Team
Black Team must lynch or kill Green and White Team
Red Team must lynch or kill White and Blue Team
Green Team must lynch or kill Blue and Black Team

It is possible to make alliances between some teams. No more than 2 teams can win the game (for example White & Blue, or Red & Green). Another example is, that if you are on Black Team, you can choose to ally with Red team or Blue team, but not both, since they are hostile to each other. Also, it is entirely possible for one single team to be the sole winner of the game. Winning for yourself is always better than sharing your victory with others. (and I will introduce soon a role whose presence can shatter alliances).

Due to the way the teams are set up, the voting system is changed. It now becomes a single majority. Whoever gets the most votes when day ends will be lynched.

Now that the team mechanic is explained, I will move out soon to spells and abilities that each team has.

[Fragos]

And so, here is the current list of abilities for each team. All spells can be cast by anyone in the team. Only one Rare spell can be cast per team in a single night. Each spell can be only cast once per night - players must decide the order of different spells that they are going to cast.

Note that the list of spells is not full yet: I'm showing you only the most notable spells. Common spells can be cast on every turn, Uncommon spells can be cast every second turn each, and rare spells can only be casted on every third turn each.

White Spells:

Circle of Protection (Common) – Target player receives protection from the color of your choice this night. Any spell of the chosen color that would target that player will be countered. Cannot target self.

Rule of Law (Common) – Target a player. If that player is Black or Red Mage, you will be notified.

Divine Retribution (Uncommon) – You can cast this spell only once for each dead White Mage in graveyard. Kills target player. User may leave a death note.

Prison Term (Uncommon) - Cast at the end of day. You will jail your target who will be unable to cast spells or use chats other than jail chat for the night. Your target will be also immune to death for this night. Imprisoned targets will not be affected by offensive or recruiting spells. This spell cannot be cast on Night 1.

Mentorship (Uncommon) - If your target is an unconverted Student, your identities will be revealed to each other. When you die, your Student will become a new White Mage (this will be revealed to town). Prevents any further conversions what would be done to your Student. If you accidentally target Red or Black Mage, he will know who are you. White Team can have only one active mentored Student at a time.

Celestial Purge (Rare) - Kills target player if he is black or red. User may leave a death note.

Decree of Justice (Rare) - You reveal yourself to everyone as White Mage and your vote counts for 3.


Blue Spells:

Counterspell (Common) – Counter any spell that would be casted by target player this night

Redirect (Uncommon) – Controls target player to target another player.

Aether Tradewinds (Uncommon) – Switches 2 target players. Cannot switch with self.

Visions (Common) – Allows you to see the exact alignment of your target.

Quickchange (Uncommon) - Target player's color becomes the color of your choice for this night (affects spells such as Rule of Law or Doom Blade). Students affected by Quickchange cannot be recruited by Green Team unless Quickchange's chosen color was Green; they also cannot turn insane unless Quickchange's chosen color was Red.

Twincast (Rare) - Choose a non-Blue player, then pick a target for your spell. You will cast the same spell as that player on your target. Some spells may fail; you will not know the type of the spell that you copied, but a player will be notified that someone tried to copy his spell.

Mind Control (Rare) - Converts target player to Blue team. Lasts until all 3 Blue Mages are dead.


Black Spells:

Doom Blade (Common): Kills target nonblack player. User may leave a death note.

Entomb (Uncommon): Prevents to be killed target player’s role from being revealed in graveyard.

Blackmail (Uncommon): Target player can only say “I am blackmailed” and vote.

Night Shroud (Common): Target player’s color becomes black for this night.

Dark Forgery (Uncommon): Rewrites your target's current last will with your "fake" last will.

Mind Rot (Rare): After night ends, target player chooses 1 spell. That player will be able to cast only that spell for the rest of the game.

Darkness (Rare): On the next day, the voting system is changed to "anonymous ballot".


Red Spells:

Thunder Charge (Common): Charges target player, or kills already charged player. When that player targets another player with Thunder Charge, both victims will die. User may leave a death note if he directly kills charged player.

Flame Oil (Common): Douses target player. Cannot be cast at the same turn as Ignition.

Ignition (Rare): Kills all players that are doused with Flame Oil. Cannot be cast at the same turn as Flame Oil. User may leave a death note.

Confusion (Uncommon): Confuses target player, making him to believe that he was the target of another non-Rare spell (of caster's choice).

Wild Evocation (Uncommon): Forces target player to cast a random different spell from his school.

Insanity (Uncommon): Target unconverted Student or Red Mage becomes Insane, with the goal of lynching himself. Insane Students cannot be converted by Green Team or mentored by White Team. Insane Red Mage retain his abilities and keeps his original goal as well. When Insane person becomes lynched, he will also kill in affect one of the non-Red guity voters at random. If you accidentally target White or Blue Mage with this spell, he will know your identity.

Confusion in the Ranks (Rare): Cast this spell at the start of night (by PMing the game host). The team night chats will be unavailible for duration of the night (including your own team chat). Jail chat is not affected.


Green Spells:

Commune with Nature (Common) Recruit target Student to your team. Recruited Green Students cannot cast spells. Students will return to normal once all Green Mages in your team are dead. If you accidentally visit Blue or Black Mage, he will know your identity.

Recollect (Uncommon) Allows you to see the true role of a player in a graveyard, his true last will, and all night visits that he made.

Tracker's Instinct (Common) Allows you to see who was visited by target player this night.

Cobra Trap (Uncommon) One of the players (other than you) that tries to visit target person this night will be killed, randomly chosen. User may leave a death note. Your target will be notified that Cobra Trap was planted near him this night.

Eyes of the Forest (Uncommon) Allows you to see who visited your target this night.

Nature's Tranquility (Rare): Enchants a player. If that player would be lynched, instead dispel Nature's Tranquility from that player and he stays in game.

Overrun (Rare) For each 2 members of your team, you can kill one player. The rest of your team cannot cast any other spells while you are casting Overrun. User may leave a death note.

[Fragos]

For now, I have writed enough. Feel free to gaze at another work of Creative Mastermind!

[kiranearitachi]

looks good cant wait to join

[Fragos]

You can't. Setup is still in progress, I just wanted to show it for observing.

The real game at Mini-FM will be Humans vs Dragons, which should start after Mini-FM V, unless admins somehow decide that this setup is better for hosting.

[kiranearitachi]

You can't. Setup is still in progress, I just wanted to show it for observing.

The real game at Mini-FM will be Humans vs Dragons, which should start after Mini-FM V, unless admins somehow decide that this setup is better for hosting.

ill wait till setup is done is what im saying

[Deathfire123]

Im going to be completely honest and say this is way too complicated. It needs ti be a bit simpler if you want to host this as an M-FM

[Ubernox]

Yeah, some streamlining wouldn't hurt. It looks very promising, however, and I would probably join.

[Auckmid]

Looks great! However, most of the black spells are under powered, with the exception of doom blade, which is completely over powered. Make doom blade uncommon, and buff the other black spells.

[Fragos]

Doom Blade can be only cast by one Black Mage. All other mages in the same team must cast different spells. For example: Doom Blade, Entomb, Blackmail; or Mind Rot, Doom Blade, Night Shroud. Hence, they can kill only once in the game. They are balanced enough.

This setup makes Black Team Mafia-alike - and for the most of the game the day chat will be revolved around finding Black/Red Team.

White Team wants Black/Red Team dead - and they won't be afraid to reveal themselves if other teams can cooperate with then. After that, they only need to control the events of Blue-Green war.

Blue Team need to eliminate Red/Green Team. Dealing with Reds is not difficult, but for dealing with Greens they might need help of Black Team (willing or unwilling), so they will probably prevent White Team from finding out Blacks.

Black Team must kill White/Green Team. White is the primary threat, so they need to kill/silence/clean then. Once White Mages are dead, you can team up with Blues to finish Reds and Greens. Or you can team up with Reds to finish White Mages faster.

Red Team must kill White/Blue Team. It all depends on who they can team up with - Green has numbers and can help you against Blues, while teaming with Black Team allows to kill Whites easily. Don't allow Blue Team to find out your identity - otherwise you will be controlled by then to your demise.

Green Team must "overrun" Black/Blue Team. They need to keep recruiting Students to gain numerical advantage and take down Blacks as soon as possible to stop losing members to Doom Blade. Be aware that Blue team may prevent you from recruiting Students if they know who they are.

Later I will add two more spells for each team in the spell list. And tell you about "team-breaking" role.

[Fragos]

Added two new spells for each team! Hope all spells are finalized now!

Still, if you think that those spells needs to be corrected further, go ahead. More info will come soon!

[Fragos]

And here is the new and tricky role: Nicol Bolas!

Nicol Bolas is a special role that wants to see all other teams defeated and be the sole remaining mage in the game. To win, he must see that all other teams are dead. Furthermore, he is already disguised as a Mage of one of the five teams, which means that out of the 15 Mages in the game, one of then will be Nicol Bolas, randomly chosen. Nicol Bolas must ensure that only he or his team wins and no one else. Note that even winning with his team is partial victory: a full victory can be achieved if his teammates are dead as well.

Note that if Nicol Bolas dies, he loses, and the remaining team members, free of his influence, can forge alliances with friendly colored teams as usual; which means that he must hide his identity even from his own teammates. Nicol Bolas cannot be killed with spells; he must be lynched at day. White Mages will see him as "not suspicious" if he is member of Black or Red Team (unless Quickchanged on Black or Red), while Blue Mages will see him as member of his corresponding team color (or whatever his Quickchange shows). Green Mages can track him normally.

Nicol Boles is a master planeswalker: in addition to his team-aligned spells he can cast some of the spells from every other color. He can lie to his team that he is going to cast one spell, and then PM the game host to cast another spell instead. Here is the list of additional spells that he can cast:
Circle of Protection, Celestial Purge (white), Visions, Quickchange, Redirect (blue), Doom Blade, Blackmail (black), Thunder Charge, Insanity (red), Cobra Trap, Eyes of the Forest (green)

When Nicol Bolas dies, both his role and team alignment are revealed. Each other team must find and lynch Nicol Bolas in addition to their original win condition. (except for the team that is controlled by him).

[Nick]

Im going to be completely honest and say this is way too complicated. It needs ti be a bit simpler if you want to host this as an M-FM

Fragos can always filter out the inexperienced and the mentally challenged. Or his setup can be the first T-FM or whatever.

[Fragos]

Can you decipher what T-FM means? Team Forum Mafia?

Also, instead of filtering out inexperienced players, I can simply reduce the number of spells per team and remove Nicol Bolas as role. That should make setup more simple, right?

[Fragos]

After looking at the setup again, I have came to the conclusion that this setup is indeed designed for professional Forum Mafia players. New players should play this on their own risk - due to the fact that they can expose themselves more easily and they are less skilled in WIFOM than FM veterans.

On the contrary, the "Electro Maniac vs Arsonist" and "Humans vs Dragons" are more newbie friendly. So my next Mini-FM setup will be "Humans vs Dragons" anyway. Even with each role given a Special Ability, those abilities are easy to explain and use.

[Fragos]

Although this setup is designed for 20 players, I also keep in mind that number of participants might increase. In this case I'll show you how this setup would look with larger number of players:

For game with 25 players there will be 5 Mage teams with 3 players each, 9 Students and one neutral Nicol Bolas.
For game with 30 players there will be 5 Mage teams with 4 players each, 9 Students and one neutral Nicol Bolas.
Also, one of the Students might be an Insane Student.

[DramaLlama]

so wait.

Nicolas is now a netrual aligned with no team?
25 people: 3 per team = 15 + 9 students = 24 + nicolas?

also this looks very interesting and would love to participate as it breaks away from the traditional mafia style

[McJesus]

Too complicated and not mafia like, I'll pass

[Fragos]

This is a team game, where your teamwork will be hardly and throughly tested. Imagine yourself being in one of the 5 teams. You have 2 enemy teams that you must defeat, and two other teams which can help you in your victory. But your potential allies don't like each other, so in the end you can choose to win with only one of the two friend-colored teams. In this game, either one or two teams wins, or Nicol Bolas wins.

Students's initial goal is to survive; but this objective can change if other teams can influence then. Green Team can convert then to their side, Blue Team might do the same with Mind Control on accident. Red Team can turn Students Insane, effectively reversing their original goal. Black Mage can sacrifice himself to pass his powers to one of the Students. Finally, White Team can also mentor one Student, giving him a chance to become a fully fledged White Mage. So this game is not only about elimination; it is also about Student control.

Here is the priority of actions that would be done to Students:

1. Black Mage possesion
2. Insanity caused by Red Mage
3. Mentorship from White Mage
4. Blue Mage's Mind Control
5. Green Mage's Commune with Nature

Any action made of the top of this list negates all other actions below that would be done to Student.

[Nick]

I don't mind trying this out. Though I would like to say that your setup is not complete. Student victory condition? Balance after addition of Nicol Bolas to one of the teams? What if you make him a neutral, goal is to kill off 4 or all 5 teams?

[Fragos]

A neutral Nicol Bolas must see all other 5 teams eliminated. A Nicol Bolas who has infiltrated one of the 5 teams must simply make sure that only his team wins, without any alliances. His former teammates can still win with another team, but only after he is dead.

For Students things will be more simple.

On the first night, the Student will pick his "favorite" color. Then, he must either survive until the end of the game or help team of his chosen color to win (e.g. if he dies and picked Red as his favorite, then he wins if Red team wins). Although this is initial win condition for every Student, it can change, as other teams will try to control and manipulate then. A normal Student should stick to survival until converted; a Student that turned Insane must do the opposite - lynch himself in order to win. Furthermore, one Insane Student might be already inserted in the game with large number of Students (7 or more).

[Fragos]

Removed the Planeswalker role due to the fact that dead Planeswalkers would make a good disadvantage for remaining team members. All Mages in the teams are now equal and can cast Rare spells as well. Note that only one Rare spell can be cast at a time per team; the two-day cooldown still applies on Rare spells, and one-day cooldown also applies to uncommon spells. Nicol Bolas can be any of the 15 Mages in 20-player setup, and can appear as neutral killer in setups with 23 or more people.