Screw Mafia - Let's Play Monster Squad! You know, for Grown Ups!

Hey, so I've never done this before but it looked like fun. :D Roleplaying optional, but preferred.

Everyone needs a good rent controlled place to live in New York City, and you found The Enchanted Arms Apartments suited your needs. Sure, the building has a crotchety landlord and a cockroach problem, but it is better than the street right? At least that's what you thought until the strange and grisly murders began. What you didn't realize (or maybe you did) was that The Enchanted Arms is a hotbed for mystical creatures and people with magical affinities. A group of malevolent magic users and monsters have been trying to clear out the building for their own nefarious purposes. They need it empty in order to create a hell door to release the forces of evil on the modern world. You can't count on the cops; why would they believe you? It is up to you, the good citizens of The Enchanted Arms to root out the evil or die trying.

ROLES -

The Townies - Town wins when all The Monsters are dead. There are 10 town players.

Dark Acolyte - The Dark Acolyte knows who one random member of the Monster Squad is. The Dark Acolyte's role is to muck up the works for the Townie's investigation. If the Dark Acolyte is killed in a Monster Squad night kill then they actually become a member of the Monster Squad (but don't get any new powers) and no night kill occurs on that evening.

Vigilante - The first Night after townies die to lynches on consecutive days, The Vigilante may kill a player. A Vigilante kill appears the same as a regular Monster Squad night kill.

Watcher - The Watcher is an informative role that can target a character at night and learn who, if anybody, the player has targeted that same night with their ability, but not the action the player performed.

The Monster Hunter - The Monster Hunter has the ability to investigate other players in order to discern their alignment at Night. Players who are investigated are not told as much. The Monster Hunter can't discern the alignment of the Vampire.

Judge - At the end of day, if the Lynch vote is tied or no lynch, The Judge may pick a player to kill (note: this is NOT a lynch and does not count towards vigilante.)

Doctor - The Doctor is a role that targets a player at Night to protect that player from a single kill made during that Night. They are not told if their protection was successful.

Nurse - The Nurse is a backup Doctor. Once the Doctor has died, the Nurse will become an official Doctor.

Lucky Bastard - The Lucky Bastard gets saved from death once. Once a lucky bastard is lynched, is the target of a Monster Squad NK, or has had some other form of death thrust upon them once, they become a normal Townie.

Innocent Child - If the Innocent Child wants to they can at anytime ask the Mod to reveal that they are indeed a Townie.

Van Helsing - Van Helsing is a role that has the ability to investigate other players in order to find The Vampire. Players who are investigated are not told as much.


The Monster Squad - The Monster Squad wins when they outnumber the townies. The Monster Squad can freely communicate with each other and have a nightly kill. There are 3 Monsters. The Monster Squad will be able to choose the mode of death for their night kills.

The Witch - A Witch can use their magic to silence one player per day. The silenced player can commit a lynch vote by "raising their hand" but are other wise silent for the whole day. They cannot choose the same person two nights consecutively.

The Vampire - If the Vampire is investigated by The Monster Hunter they will be seen as a Townie using their Vampiric Illusions. Van Helsing is the only role that can detect a Vampire.

The Werewolf - A Werewolf chooses one Townie per night to block from performing his or her night action. They cannot choose the same person two nights consecutively.

Other Rules -

Only living players may post in the game thread.
You may not post in the game thread during the night phase.
You may not edit or delete posts in the game thread or in any convos you may be posting in.
Don't privately communicate with other players about this game.
This game will move somewhat quickly with the day phase taking place over 24 hours. I'll try to be timely with my updates, but it is the holiday season and things happen.
The night phase will end as soon as I get all the actions taken care of.
I will be announcing upon Lynching, NK, etc the role of a fallen player.
Everyone must communicate (unless you are silenced) in the thread at least once per "day".
Make Sure your "Lynch Vote" and "Unvote" are bolded please. "Deadline Vote" also applies.

Day Action Priority

• Start of day + Announcements
• Day ends
• Lynch if majority, allow judge to pick if no majority or no lynch (if alive)
• Vigilante informed if he can kill

Night Action Priority

• Werewolf ability block performed
• Doctor Protect
• Kills (Vigilante, Monster Squad Night Kill)
• Info Roles Resolve - Watcher, Monster Hunter, Van Helsing
• Witch uses their 'silencing' ability

Sign Up!
1. Anabanana
2. Ozzo
3. soundlyParanoid
4. Gryff
5. Jacquelle
6. maniskumquat
7. Matthew Schempp
8. AaronSofaer
9. Kat
10. jordantigers
11. KWhit
12. JohnStargazer
13. Tome-Chan

I stole these roles and rules from a bunch of different places and modified them for my own purposes.

SO FUCKING IN

I'd be interested in playing again, but since I played in the last game, I'll wait for the sign up to fill up before taking a spot.

The last game took a while to fill up so I doubt that will be an issue. :D

All in.

I'm in.

Going to look things over in a bit but be careful about open setups that are all roled and no anticlaim measures, particularly when flips are involved. They tend to be things that are solved with a day one mass claim and counterclaim lynching.

For some reason I clicked on this thread even though I really don't have the time to be forum gaming. Anyway, the rules description prompted me to reply as, especially if you want the game's role-playing to really take off, it needs more story content! Perhaps you are planning that for later but in case you aren't, read on!

Theme light rules descriptions are OK if you want to encourage the sort of game that will necessarily have a very mechanical and probably meta game thread with people posting about whether other people are logged in or not as evidence of them being a witch. Personally I don't find that as much fun as the type of game where players invest in their role and character at least a bit.

How can the GM encourage this? Well for a start you control the setting - from this rules description the game seems to be taking place in some non-descript 19th century town which is a bit humdrum for this sort of game but we could at least work with it a bit. What's the name of the town? What is it famous for? What's the weather like on this most auspicious week? Something like this:


The first body was discovered three nights ago in the butchers, appropriately. With his throat torn out, his blood drained and the signs of some old religion carved into his forehead this case was clearly above the paygrade of Constable Hemstone. Unfortunately, for him the body in question was that of his superior, the old fool had finally poked his nose into something that poked back and paid the price. The small hilltop town of Upper Kingsworth had never seen it's like before, and with the passes down to the lowlands snowed off for the winter, the tragedy couldn't have come at worse time. The murderers were trapped up here with him as surely as he was trapped with them, a macabre situation mirrored by the dark clouds that persistently lingered over the town.

The departed Inspector Wycliffe's notes revealed that he had first discovered evidence of a cabal of villains meeting in secret two months ago, but only recently came to suspect that their goals, and natures, went beyond a gathering of thieves plotting more petty larceny. He hadn't confided his fears to anyone else as far as Hemstone could ascertain, probably fearing ridicule without more proof. Well proof he had obtained in the most gruesome way possible. Perhaps he had uncovered one of the monsters identities last night and foolishly confronted them? Whatever the nature of his fate the notes were clear; witchcraft, lycanthropy and the dreaded vampyre, perhaps the last of their kinds, had formed some kind of grim allegiance and brought it here to Upper Kingsworth. At this very moment they are here hiding amongst the few townsfolk that didn't go down into the warm safety of the valleys for the winter.

Previously only famous for it's Kingsworth Goat's Cheese, the constable feared that the town wouldn't have the stomach for his medieval proposal. So far however, his investigations had brought them nowhere and, with a new corpse appearing every morning since the inspector, he was running out of townsfolk to save. One thing he knew for sure, he wouldn't let them take his town without a fight.



That sort of thing anyway can go a long way toward promoting a game that reads more like a dramatic story than a meta and mechanics heavy forum chat. I also recommend making use of copious evocative pictures and potentially considering the lengths to which the stated rules of the game could be bent in the services of the rule of fun (while still taking care to maintain fairness and balance) as it's very easy to go wrong on that last part in either direction.

I would like to join.

The downside of a heavily RP'd scenerio is that is allows a lot of room for the bad guys to hide by claiming mistakes or mispeaks where either RPing or misunderstanding someones elses RP. Ultimately I can go either way, but it is much easier to use my amazing social and psychology skills on people not acting a part :)

Well I would hope that a properly accomplished villain would not need to resort to such humdrum tactical meta-plays when the rich variety of the rhetorical arts are available to him. Remember that the proper goal of a despicable character in one of these games is not to win at absolutely *any* cost, but to win in a way that makes the other players have to admit that they were outclassed by a bounder of such outstanding magnitude that they are forced to bow down before his diabolical brilliance. If you base your victory on dropping out of character to fool someone then your banner of glory will forever bear that stain and your triumphant goblet of champagne will turn to naught but ashes in your mouth.

See, my amazing social and psychology skills would totally have said you were the Vampire with that!

Ah an astute observation worthy Gryff! Incorrect of course, but even if I were wouldn't you prefer to watch my movements for a little while longer just to see if you can use your suspicions to out my comrades? If you can't root us all out the the dance must continue and how does the aphorism go? Keep your friends close but your enemies closer still! Yes, there is little need for such haste with a sharp mind like yours on the case, and besides it seems foolish to squander such an advantage after you've been so clever as to pick me out from among these... shall we say lesser intellects?

I see you and I as two like minded souls in this quiet little backwater, men born before our time, perhaps you'd care to come to my modest little chateau this evening for a chat, perhaps a drop of claret?

Sounds lovely, I can even bring a nice Chateaubriand or similar for the Barbeque. :)

Alright, I'll consider all this and revise my opening post after I get out of class (my last class for the quarter, Yay!)

Dan Lawrence - I was planning to open the game with a roleplay, with setting etc, but thanks for the advice. I'll just throw the opening into the main post as to alleviate any confusion.

Everyone needs a good rent controlled place to live in New York City, and you found The Enchanted Arms Apartments suited your needs. Sure, the building has a crotchety landlord and a cockroach problem, but it is better than the street right? At least that's what you thought until the strange and grisly murders began. What you didn't realize (or maybe you did) was that The Enchanted Arms is a hotbed for magical creatures and people with magical affinities. A group of malevolent magic users and monsters have been trying to clear out the building for their own nefarious purposes. They need it empty in order to create a hell door to release the forces of evil on the modern world. You can't count on the cops; why would they believe you? It is up to you, the good citizens of The Enchanted Arms to root out the evil or die trying.

I added the story in the first post.

Also Dan Lawrence - I missed if you wanted to join or not. :D

I've never played one of these forum mafia/werewolf type games before, but this one seems interesting so I'd like to sign up.

Yay! I'm flattered.

Everyone must communicate (unless you are silenced) in the thread at least once per "day".
^^ I added this rule so you guys know.

maniskumquat - I put you on the list because it isn't filling up very quickly.

Okie dokes! I'm up for it :D

Fine, I can lose again.

I totally want in.

Neato - Only a few spots left. Hopefully we can get started tomorrow. :D

In, going to have less exams and shizzle this time around :3

Not sure I have time for this, even though I really want to play. I'll go think about it.

join us :D

I used to do a few Mafia-esque events at another forum. It was always really ridiculous. One time everyone was cast as Pokemon and there were two seperate Mafia groups in addition to the townies. Another was when everyone was Touhou characters and the conclusion was the the majority of Townies were lynched by themselves XD

Ramblings aside. I want in, if that's okay.

In. Definitely in.

Fantastic! Welcome to the game guys. Two more spots to go.

I thought of one more rule:

Make Sure your "Lynch Vote" and "Unvote" are bolded please.

I added it to the rules in the first post.

Not being allowed to fix grammar/spelling errors is going to bug the hell out of me if I make a mistake. Oh well! I'll just have to be perfect. :D

It really messed me up in the last game. I just thought it was a common rule for Mafia games, if it isn't I can adjust it.

Well, in the forum that I mentioned, the "No editing messages" rule was always in place. Bunch of typos here and there though.

Cool. If anyone needs to fix anything they can double post.

As soon as we have the list filled up, I will mail out roles, start a monster squad convo and put up the the intro post. Please make sure to know your role before posting in the convo OR the thread after the intro post. :D

Blugh, I have a bunch of role playing stuff prepared. I'm excited for this to get going. :D

Yes, it should definitely be a rule, IMO.

It's always nice to see someone screw up and post something that totally outs their role. We don't want people to be able to edit that.

Well, after waffling on whether or not to join for the better part of the day, sign me up.

Although given my track record for mafia games on this site, I expect to be killed first turn solely on principle.

I've never played something like this before, but I'm in if you still need someone :)

Awesome! That fills up the list. I'll be sending roles and posting the intro shortly.

Harry Boggs, the landlord at the Enchanted Arms Hotel, was well -- hairy. He had a five o'clock shadow that could never be dealt with by shaving, arm hair that could be likened to a pelt, and enough hair poked up his shirt to tell you his back was never cold either. Harry was kind of gross and definitely rude, but he usually kept up on the maintenance orders from tenants. When he was walking up and down the halls to these jobs you could always hear his distinct walk. Harry had heavy (and likely hairy) legs that didn't lift much when he walked and always landed with a loud thud. Wherever Harry walked the dust loosened on the ceiling below his feet.

Earlier today when Harry was fixing a sink in an empty apartment, a dull knock on the door filled the room. With a grunt he raised himself out from under the sink. As he walked over to the door, Harry wiped his hands with a dirty towel.

"Whaddaya want?" Harry spoke gruffly as he opened the door. His eyes widened at the sight on the other side, his usually beet red face losing all color. Harry immediately fell back onto the carpet, dropping his rag. He used his feet to propel him backward, away from the entrance.

"You? I think I recognize - but no, you're, you're…" Harry sputtered as he desperately tried to get away.

A large claw raised, the neon lighting of the dingy apartment making each sharp tool glisten. It fell toward Harry's throat, killing him in one fell swoop. The claw, followed by a matching hand continued to tear at Harry's body, ripping out guts and sinew. The room was covered in Harry's gore by the time the claws stopped.

Another set of foot steps entered the now crimson studio apartment. They raised a hand, one without claws, toward the deceased landlord. A single finger sprung forward, willing Harry's corpse up the wall. The hand opened up palm toward the body, pinning him to the surface. The finger came out again, this time in a 'come hither motion'. What was left of Harry's blood began exiting his body, flowing in the air toward the finger.

A third figure entered the room. Their presence was the weakest… and strongest of the three. The airborne blood floated toward a wine glass this figure had brought with them. After their glass was full, they gulped it down in the most monstrously refined way one could drink blood from a wine glass.

---

You hear multiple, blood curdling screams! It brings you to the grisly scene where Harry is still gutted, drained and pinned to the wall with a mystical energy. What the hell? Who DID this? Time to get started figuring it out, before you're next.

You notice one clue, what IS that white paper hanging from Harry's bloody pocket?

You have until 6:00pm Pacific on Dec 14th to put in your lynch / no lynch vote.

Also, what will you guys do with that paper?