Hello. This is a collection of my personal opinions (that part should probably be emphasized) about how to design Mafia games. This guide was written assuming you are creating an alternate game and not a basic one.

We’ll begin by starting over the most simple concepts to going over more advanced things.

What about "themes?"

First of all, you’re going to need to decide on a theme. The theme will greatly help contribute into whether people will want to play in your game or not. When presented with a choice, do you play in “Warcraft Mafia” or “Stamp Collecting Mafia?”

And of course, your theme should actually be large enough to support the Mafia you game you want. If it’s impossible for scum players to make successful roleclaims, your game is going to end quickly on a Day One mass claim.

I recommend a theme that will appeal to many people and will be interesting to most.

What about "size?"

Next, you need to decide how many people you’re going to want in your game. Remember your audience. On a small site, you may only want to use 12 or so players. If you have a larger audience, pick a reasonable number based on the scale. A good number is usually 20 players, even though I personally usually end up using numbers like 28 or 29 desiring more freedom with design space. I don’t recommend going beyond that (usually) unless you know what you’re doing and you know you’ll be able to get everyone you need.

What about "rules?"

Well, next you need to figure out what your rules are going to be. Obviously, some things you’re going to want to tailor to your own desires, but the link below takes you to my own personal rule set if you'd like to use it. Make sure to make the proper adjustments for your game if you do decide to use it:

PK's Personal Rule Set

What about the "story?"

You’re going to have to come up with a reason these people are killing each other. Pretty much, the story is up to you. Try to make it entertaining. Obviously, you’re going to probably want to include a few characters from your game in it, but don’t go too far while doing this and basically reveal to the players who all the players are.

How do I determine who gets in?

Currently, there’s two popular ways to decide who gets in mafia games: The MiDra System and The Standard System. The MiDra System is where sign ups are opened for a period of time and players are selected randomly from the list to play. The Standard System is where it operates under first to sign in, first to get in rules.

It’s up to you to pick how you want to run your game but I personally prefer a little tweaking of The MiDra System called The Enchanced MiDra System (or occasionally "The PK System") where the first couple of players are automatically in, and then after that you randomly select them.

What about "replacements?"

Again, personal preference. Usually, replacements work in a first come, first serve basis. I however, am contemplating randomly selecting replacements for the list. In long games with plenty of interest, I require players to actually read the thread before replacing in. Again, all up to you.

So, when do we start?

Games usually start during Night, simply so there’s something to discuss when the game starts and the players do not wander around aimlessly. You could start on day, if you wanted to, but I don’t really recommend it. It's usually only done to let all the players play.

How do effects "Stack?"

I usually use a system where I don’t send out role results until night ends, and all effects go off at the same time. Prevents some logical confusion with roleblockers. Imagine the following scenario:

Cop makes an investigation.GO sends cop result.Roleblocker blocks cop.

Doesn't exactly work out well.

How do I handle lurking?

I usually personally send out mod prods for inactive players, and give them 48 hours to reply, and post in the thread. If they don’t reply, they get replaced. Simple enough.

What if I can’t find a replacement?

In dire situations, where you just cannot find a replacement, you may need to actually mod-kill them so the game can continue. I’m not a fan of the method, but it occasionally just has to be done. Some people allow dead players with no information to come back as replacements, but I personally highly advise against that considering confusion issues and the new emergence of more revival roles in the Paranoia Paradise landscape.

Editor's note: Revival roles are not as common any more. In fact, they are very rare nowadays.

How lenient should I be with breaking rules?

I don’t usually mod-kill people lightly. Editing, posting in white text, all the little infractions just usually get warnings, and I can’t remember actually mod-killing someone for it. Stuff like talking with others you shouldn’t be talking to outside the thread, posting your PMs is the kind of things I tend to mod-kill for. Again, personal mod preference.

How should I set up deadline/tied lynches?

There’s a couple of ways you can do it. For deadline lynches, you can either require them to have half the majority to lynch the leader, use a system where the number to lynch drops each hour, or simply whenever the time runs out, the one with the most votes dies. I personally prefer the one where the number to lynch drops each hour.

As for tied lynches, there’s two main processes of thoughts on this. Either have a run off of 24 hours or so on it, or unvote the most recent vote until someone gets sole majority of all votes. I, personally, prefer the latter, but you can use whatever makes you happy.

Are we actually going to talk about game design or not?

Haha, you’re an impatient one.

In any case, yes, here we are. Now we’ll discuss actual, real role design.

What’s the ratio of town to scum?

While depending on set up, it usually ends up being something like 25% scum, 75% town. Of course, it can easily vary depending how you balanced the game.

What can help inspire me in role design?

Try looking at roles from older games. Or even reading older games themselves. Think of common everyday things and jobs and how they would translate to Mafia. Innovate or inverse the existing, or break new ground. Take things from your real life and port it into mafia. (For example, the mayor race in MPFG II was inspired by an actual race for mayor in my home town.)

Can we go over some roles?

I didn’t go over everything and I plan to add to this section, but here’s some information about the more common questions players ask me.

    * Cops: We all should know what cops do. Target a player at night, see their alignment. Some people ask what they should give their cops back, and I usually tell them some kind of generic description like “PariahKing is good” or “PariahKing is evil.” Use cops sparingly, it’s a powerful role for the town.
    * Cops With Sanity Issues: Sometimes a mod is a “Bastard/Evil Mod” and will use a cop which gets faulty results. A naïve cop is one who gets only innocent, a paranoid cop only gets scum results, a random cop gets random results, and an insane cop gets wrong results.
    * Other Investigative Roles: You may want to use weaker investigative roles in addition to your normal cop for balancing. Examples of some would be roles like tracker and gunsmith. Remember, too many investigative roles may cause your game to be unbalanced, so be careful.
    * Doctor: Doctors, like cops, should be used sparingly. In Paranoia Paradise, the word doctor and bodyguard are usually interchangeable. Doctors should not be allowed to protect themselves, and it should only stop one hit against the person. If two people try to kill the player with doctor protection, they die anyway.
    * Clumsy Doctor: Basically, a doctor with a chance to kill the person he protects instead of saving them via malpractice. Usually a really evil role, as the clumsy doctor will be trying to protect to most useful of the town, so it should be used sparingly.
    * Roleblockers: I personally find roleblockers actually pretty irritating and tend to avoid them, although sometimes I do use them. I don’t endorse them, but you can use them if you want. My personal interpretation of how mafia hits and roleblocking works is that the don picks a person to kill, and sends a member of the mafia to do it. If the roleblocker blocks this person (not the don), the hit is stopped.
    * Serial Killers: Usually, in a twenty player game, you’ll see about one SK. When you get to higher numbers, like say 28, you might end up with 2. The role serial killer is really a mixed bag. Some players enjoy doing it, but it is very hard to win as one. I recommend powering up your serial killer slightly so they actually have a chance of winning. For example, a Serial Killer who survived their first hit instead of dying would be an improvement.
    * Vigilante: Now, I don’t know where this started, but in Paranoia Paradise there seems to be some train of thought that there cannot possibly be more than one vig in a game. Now, while you may be risking a lot of night kills, it is not totally impossible to have two vigs in a game. It can be balanced, it just has to be done well. Remember, in the hands of a new player, they may blow your game to pieces and kill everyone in site, so be careful. I usually recommend one, although, again, you don’t have to use only one.
    * Regretful Player: AKA, the “Dies When So Many FoSes Happens, Or Something Happens When So And So Many FoSes Occurs.” The novelty has worn off here, and if you do decide to make a role based on FoS triggers, you probably want to do something different than them dying. Also, try to avoid making very broken roles with this. I tend to find it's very easy.
    * Mason: Masons are players who are town aligned who know each other. The size of the mason group you use can vary depending on the size of the game, but in general, I would say a three man mason group is generally good. Going beyond that you risk unbalancing things in the favor of the town.
    * Mason Traitor: Mason Traitors usually should have some kind of hint, obvious or subtle, that one may exist. The role is very powerful for the scum, and you should make sure you have some balancing factors if you use it, like making the mason group larger, or hinting toward it.
    * Silent Player: Reminds me of the cult, and the FoS player. It was funny once. It gets old really quick not to be able to post. Don’t use this role.
    * Cult As An Alignment: In my personal opinion, cults have gotten really, really old in Paranoia Paradise. They’re not that interesting. The first time was done by me just for novelty. Now, they just add an unnecessary addition to the game. You can use them, but I personally give them a thumbs down. Now, if you are going to use a cult, do not use the old 50% chance of recruiting where you can take a mafiate. Here is the new template: The Cult: Starts off with one player. That player is the leader. They must convene with each other (they may talk at night, and only nighjt), and send one member to recruit a player. The leader has a final say in this. The member who goes risks death, because if they target a non-town aligned player, or a PO/BG, the recruiting fails and the member dies. If the cult leader would die, the cult does not disband, but a new leader is chosen and the cult skips their next recruiting to elect a new leader. Still has some bugs in it, but far less insanely broken.
    * A town aligned cult works kind of like a mason group that expands. There may or may not be a leader, and the death of that leader if he exists may or may not cause the cult to disband. Town aligned cults can usually talk only during the night. As for how town aligned cults work...A member of the cult is sent out to attempt to recruit a player. Usually, town aligned cults cannot recruit any players who are not town aligned and certain types of townies. (For example, no investigative roles or doctors.) If recruiting is successful, that player is added to the cult and becomes aware of the other players. If recruiting fails, usually the player sent to recruit dies. There are many variations of cults beyond this, but these are some of the more common or accepted ones.
    * Untargetable, Unlynchable, Unnightkillable: All of these should be used very, very sparingly. (Especially if put on a mafiate!) One at most is a general good role of thumb. (If at all.) You may want to include a drawback, or only one shot protection. The latter two could seriously unbalance things in the town or mafia's favor.

If I still need help, who can I go to?

You can ask anyone you want for help, but I will always be available to help you with your set up design if you'd like. Other posters who have volunteered to help with set up design are Mistform Dragon, Kalei