I like the way you think. :)

Having scampered a bit through this thread and read some of the championship stuff (ohhh my goddddd...) I heartily agree.

I, too, am terrible at this game... But strangely intrigued by it.

Please do come back. I understand the frustration, but as noted, friends do get frustrated with each other sometimes.

I think what I've observed over the past two years is that the issue isn't that we sometimes disagree, we just have a hard time sometimes coming back to the table and apologizing when we bleep up. And certainly, we've had some folks in the past just unwilling to acknowledge mistakes or seek reconciliation.

But I do think that at least everyone who did play this game had their heart in the right place, even if I also understand how they came to be at odds.

Even having gotten pretty frustrated myself, I don't perceive any animus amongst the folks still standing.


As a side note, trying to address part of what Poppy is speaking to, I suggested way back (ironically it was Drealmer's first game) that one way to address onboarding new players is to bend the rules against talking outside of game and give them a neutral buddy outside the game that can help translate basic game concepts and strategies, and helping them filter through pages of personal noise, while also potentially moving some of that noise outside the game thread.

I realize a) that might be hard to balance where that line is of giving feedback without directly guiding, and b) that requires finding even more people willing to participate in the game in some fashion.

But actually, I think it could be done without too much demand since we tend to only have 1-2 newbies per game, and it might actually be preferable if that person hasn't been following the game closely and instead is only answering specific questions as asked.

Fair enough. Personally I did wonder when did HSL change his title because I thought it might relate to him making an excuse for not voting D1.
Yes. That's my style too. We don't need VAR because this is not the world cup but a game where bunch of kids kick a tin can (which gets more competitive than a world cup game).
But as bler said it depends with what people want/expect.

Bookwyrm and adalia had a Quicktopic thread to share their thoughts since they were hotseating. Whilst I wouldn't allow the switch-in-and out that Bookwyrm and adalia had again since it messed up reads too much, I actually don't have any objections to giving two people a shared observation thread. If you pair a newbie with an observer in such a thread, you might be able to get what you're going for that way. I'm generally agnostic to how many people can be included in a single slot (likely due to frequently having two people share a spot in board games), but in Mafia I think it's important that there only be one voice regardless of how many people contribute to it.

Oh, that's a good improvement. Having it in a QT vs private PM makes it visible to the mod and thus presumably can step in if it starts going out of bounds.

Though certainly one more thing for a mod to have to monitor.

While I agree that the temp substitution didn't really work I do think that a hydra style game of some kind would be fun where each slot is played by multiple players in some fashion. Or a coaching situation for newer players in need of assistance.

Obviously the issue is getting enough people to make that viable. Though I'd be much more inclined to play in an advisory role where I didn't need to participate or follow the thread quite so vigorously as I don't have the time any more to play properly.

Yay! We found a host! I'm in!

I'd be happy to advise on setup in advance. adalia would probably have more presence as an actual assistant mod, though.
Heh, for irony / double-meaning you could use this as your theme: https://www.jellybelly.com/beanboozled-challenge

Can't get the link to open in EU. If anyone is interested, this is what it is:

https://web.archive.org/web/20180117135203/https://www.jellybelly.com/beanboozled-challenge

That's actually not a bad idea. I seem to recall seeing one site or another where that was basically what they did for newbies; there would be a newbie game, and each newbie would have something of an advisor figure.

We have enough people around that kind of follow the game, but don't have to time to actually play, that acquiring these background mentors might not be an issue. Set up a QT for each pair, mentor can't comment in the game thread, and see how that works out.

Most mods ask for a co-mod to help keep an eye on things. I'd be happy to serve this role for you.

Thanks, though if you have the time to play, I'd rather have you as a player. Ditto for anyone considering to be a co-mod: only consider the position if you don't have time/willingness to be a player.

I'd be willing to host again, but it probably wouldn't be a traditional Mafia game and instead some variant that I'm already familiar with (Resistance, Secret Hitler, One Night, etc.) due to the fact I know zip about balancing normal games.

Can I be added to the host list too? I would specifically like to run this Open setup I found on the MafiaScum wiki that looks hilarious, for 12 players.

I won't have time for this until September though.

Edit: GoGfather needs to make a queue..! Joe also claimed a mod spot on the last page.

Edit edit: this game will also have compulsive lynching (i.e. plurality vote at deadline as well as majority) 'cos I want to see how that works with the D1 culture on GoG. >:)