After everyone has finished signing up and the positions have been filled, the Moderator of the game (the person who runs the opening post for the game) will send out a private message to everyone who signed up, describing their Role and which faction they belong to, Town or Mafia. After opening your Role PM, you must post in the topic confirming that you have received it.

The game of Mafia has two phases, Day and Night. The "Day Phase" comes first in most Mafia games. During the "Day Phase" everyone, including the Mafia, is allowed to post their introduction and say hello. The main goal of the Day Phase is fairly straightforward. The town members all cooperate with each other to try and figure out who among them belongs to the Mafia faction, and choose someone to Lynch, or kill, at the end of the day through a vote. They are trying to eliminate the Mafia, but the Mafia players can confuse them by playing like a Town member, to cast the spotlight off of them. Mafia will vote so they seem to be doing what is best for the Town as well, so you will have to take precaution. When a player gets the majority of votes, they are Lynched. After that player is lynched, they may not post under any circumstances. Their role is revealed by the Moderator, and we enter "Night Phase".

During Night, everyone is forbidden from speaking in the topic. The Mafia can speak to each other through private means to decide who to kill under the blanket of night. This way, they are able to silence Town members who they feel could pose a threat to them. At the end of the Night Phase, the murder is carried out and we enter "Day Phase" once more, where it is publicly announced by the Moderator who has been Lynched during the night.

This process is continued until either the Town have rid the game of all Mafia members, or the Mafia has killed all of the Town members. Afterward, the Moderator then gives out awards for whatever they see fit, and announces who will be hosting the next game. Then it starts all over with new people, a new theme, and a new moderator.

Sane Cop: Every night (unless otherwise stated), the Cop is allowed to investigate one player by sending their name to a moderator via a private message, where the moderator will tell them the alignment of the individual. Variations include: Insane Cop, Paranoid Cop and Naive Cop.

Doctor: Every night you may choose one person to protect from being lynched during the "Night Phase" by sending their name to a moderator.

Vigilante: Every night you may kill another player of your own free will by sending their name to a moderator. You usually have a limited number of shots, so it is best to use the ability wisely. Variations include: Day Vigilante.

All of these roles are generally Town-aligned, though that doesn't mean they couldn't be assigned to a Mafia player. There are roles specific to Mafia however. We'll cover a few of those below.


Serial Killer - The Serial Killer (often abbreviated as SK), like the Vigilante, may kill another player each Night (by sending their name to the Moderator). However, the Serial Killer is not on the Town's side or the Mafia's side. The Serial Killer wins when everyone else is dead.

Multiple Families - On occasion, in larger games there may be more than one group of Mafia. These act independently of one another, and must kill the other group as well as the Town in order to win.

Roleblocker - Each Night, the Roleblocker can choose a player. That player will be prevented from using their Night choice, if they have one. Roleblocker has been known to be a Town role as well as a scum role.

There are many variations on the above roles, and again just because they are more likely to be Mafia roles, most of them could be given to a Town member. It all depends on the Moderator.

Flavor: Flavor is the "decoration" or theme that goes on a role or game in Mafia. Sometimes it is as simple as giving each role a character name that makes them seem to come from the city where the game is set; other times it can involve using modified role names from a particular source, such as a movie or book.

WIFOM: WIFOM is the circular reasoning that results from trying to determine the choices of an opponent who acted with full knowledge that their behavior would be subject to scrutiny. Basically, your train of thought when attempting to think 3 steps ahead of your opponents.

LyLo: Lynch-or-Lose, or LyLo, is a game state wherein the Town must lynch scum during the present Day phase or they will lose the game (often by being endgamed by scum).

Scum: Scum is a catch-all term for any member of an informed minority, such as Serial Killers and Mafia goons. During a day phase, everybody is seemingly trying to locate and eliminate these roles.

Scumtell: A scumtell, strictly speaking, is an action that reveals a player to be scum.

Towntell: A Towntell is the opposite of a scumtell - it is an action that reveals that a given player is Town.

Bandwagon: A Bandwagon is a large group of votes on a player. Depending on context, it usually implies that the players on the wagon are doing so without substantial or independent reasoning.

Role Claim: A roleclaim (or just "claim") is a statement of what your role is.

Safe Claim: A safeclaim is a role name provided by the moderator at the beginning of the game that is guaranteed to be safe to claim; that is, it will not be counterclaimed by a Town role. These are usually only seen in themed games, and usually do not extend to telling the player what role abilities to claim. This role is typically given to Mafia factions.

Counterclaim: A counterclaim is, simply, a claim in response to another claim. More specifically, it is usually a situation where two or more players claim the same role, or if one player claims that another's claimed action is impossible.

Ninja'ed: To be ninja'ed is to have someone else post while you are writing yours, thus triggering the forum's automatic warning.

Deadline: A Deadline is a time limit imposed by the moderator for the current phase.

Closed Setup: A Closed Setup is one where the roles are not known to the players beforehand. This is the most common type of game.

Open Setup: An Open Setup is one wherein the exact role distribution in the game is known.

Hammer: A hammer is a vote on someone which results in the majority needed to lynch them.

Quickhammer: The action of hammering the last vote onto someone without discussing with the rest of the players. This usually is heavily frowned upon.

1.) All votes MUST be bolded. If your vote isn't bolded, it doesn't count.

2.) Absolutely NO EDITING YOUR POST after it's been posted!

3.) Unless your role specifically states that you may do so, there is no outside communication about this game allowed.

4.) No quoting PM's from the Moderator.

5.) The moderator reserves the right to place deadlines on anything.

6.) Respect the mod of the game. If you have a problem with the moderator or how the game was set up, send the mod a PM with your concerns.

7.) You are allowed to vote for a no lynch (unless otherwise stated by the mod).

8.) If you are dead, you are dead. No posting until the end of the game.

9.) No revealing roles to other players outside of the game. If you see someone PMing you his role in someway, or even talking to you when he shouldn't, tell the moderator in a PM for everyone's sake.

10.) Do not change your username mid game! Your name is how people refer to you, so naturally changing it could confuse players.

11.) Only one MAJOR (numbered) Mafia game may be run at a time. Smaller Mafia games are fine.