I'm all for new games (I've calmed down a bit since I got a chance to step away after 11 finished), but I think we need to stay simple, yet exciting. At least for a while. 11 was fairly newbie unfriendly, and we had a few newbies in there who might have gotten scared off because they were in over their heads (Hell, I feel like I was in over my head at times). And warnings when running games that are really assuming you have experience in this.
As far as deadlines...I'd like to push out the idea of flexable deadlines. This is a two-fold thing, it prevents the abuse of the deadline by town and mafia (Mafia knowing how long they have to hide, and town over analyzing everything), and it requires an active Mod who is following the game.
What do I mean? Well, Say, I start game 14, Day 1 passed (and I'm passing it because that's the biggest headache in my plan), no Mafia killed, 2 townies dead. There's 10 people left. When I start the day, I don't give a deadline. As the day goes on, I watch the activity. If it starts dropping...they get a week to finish things up. If they're obviously beating around the bush and trying to let things go on for as long as possible without going anywhere, boom, deadline.
The ultimate deadline doesn't appear unless the game is really moving. And yes, there is one. Maybe, 3 weeks for 10 people, I don't know, just throwing numbers out there. As the second week comes to an end, I announce the deadline.
I'm just tossing the idea out there, feel free to pick at it and maybe we can get something workable.