Do mafia members need an obvious link?

[Stewie]

What I mean is, in a potential set-up where there are no clear "bad guy" roles, would it be utterly unfair to the town to give the mafia roles no clear link to each other?

Hope that makes sense.

I think that the evil roles, as well as the town roles, have to make no sense whatsoever. If they have a link, or an obvious reason to be evil, it would be too powerful to the town. I usually try to do things in a way the town would not expect... and often fail. My best role, I think, was in my first game modding, where the "Stewie" role was a vigilante (people would normally assume it would be a Serial Killer). It makes little sense. All you have to do is create a stupid reason why the player has the role it has. For example, there's a simpsons mini which has flanders as scum. I can't recall the reasons, but it was obviously a good choice. On the other hand, Mr. Burns was scum too, and I found that too predictable. Also, the links within the scum groups where strong. I like the reasons why a role is scum and the connections between scum roles to be weak, or completly fabricated by the mod, to stop town from second guessing you instead of just playing the game.