Slow day 1

[VisMaior]

I want to invent some roles and/or game mechanics that motivate players to begin day1 faster. Any ideas?

[SinisterOverlord]

Unusual post restrictions.

A role with some triggerable power usable only during day, but the effectiveness decreases the more posts have been made that day.

A paranoid cop - or better, a paranoid 'reporter' (Like a cop, but investigation results are in the day opening post.

A day-vig who must vig (and the vig is announced clearly in the thread) on the first page or die.

Depends how evil you want to get

[VisMaior]

Unusual post restrictions.

Like?

A role with some triggerable power usable only during day, but the effectiveness decreases the more posts have been made that day.

Would that not incite to lurk?

A paranoid cop - or better, a paranoid 'reporter' (Like a cop, but investigation results are in the day opening post.

That will make a quick day 1, (see Nativity mafia). but I dont want a quick day 1, I want a fast paced day 1.

A day-vig who must vig (and the vig is announced clearly in the thread) on the first page or die.

Hah, that is evil

Depends how evil you want to get

As evil as it needs to be.

[halo freak]

A day-vig who must vig (and the vig is announced clearly in the thread) on the first page or die.

That is just anti-town and doesn't achive anything, i don't think it would do much for the speed of the day either.

[Mr. Flay]

I think Day Ones will always be relatively slow, because both sides have the least information at that point. Anything that speeds up the game on D1 needs to take into account the effect of multiple mafias, investigators, vigilantes, etc on Days Four and Five...

[inHimshallibe]

A shotclock works well. If nothing is done by such-and-such time, or not enough votes cast, people posting by this mark, yada yada yada, then someone gets randomly killed.

[VisMaior]

Yea, but that could throw off a balanced setup.

[Yosarian2]

More activity in the thread day one...hmm..

Well, one way to do it is to have roles that have some power triggered by things said in the thread. Could be somthing simple, like "You can't be nightkilled on odd nights if you say "Wondertwin powers activate!" at least once during the day" to more complicated things like "If someone agrees to be your friend during the day, then X happens" or "You have to get 3 other people to say "Candyman!" during the course of a day in order to use your night power". This works best in games with a lot of flavor, encourages posting, and also the wierd looking behavior will give the town something to talk about. (Also note that "powers activated in thread" don't have to be pro-town powers; although scum powers activated that way are harder to balance, the possibility of them encourages rampant paranoia, which is always a good thing. )

[rajrhcpfreak]

^^

[Tamuz]

Insert a BabyJ role that, on the first day only, counts as half the votes to a lynch on that person. Run 'em up and ship 'em out ASAP D1!

[PolarBoy]

You could always pad the setup based on the shot clock approach. It seems like it could be a workable scenario. Maybe you could create a "time bomb" role. A player who will die if the something doesn't happen within so much time after the day starts. Not necessarily a lynch. Maybe just a bandwagon up to 2 less than a lynch. Or maybe someone else is a member of the bomb squad and has to make contact with the time bomb to defuse him. Actually, this si not entirely unlike the Eh, Steve! and Talkin' Wheelchair roles from Homestar Runner mafia (Mini 68), although their relationship was more adversarial.

I hadn't really thought of the roles as a way to jumpstart day one, and since one of them didn't really participate in the game, it's hard to say if they could've done that.

[inHimshallibe]

Make something happen with the beginning of each new page. It'll keep the ADD in all of us satisfied.

Q: How many kids with ADD does it take to change a light bulb?
...
...
...
A: Wanna go ride bikes?

[VisMaior]

Thats brilliant

[mith]

Yea, but that could throw off a balanced setup.

Balanced in the sense of each side has a fair chance to win at the start, yes, but IMO a good setup should not be drastically affected by one death.

[TBuG]

Do something kind of like Game Show Mafia, where something special happened to people with a certain post number.

[Yosarian2]

I'm not sure if that actually sped up day 1 in that game, though...that was one of the longest day 1's I ever saw.

[VisMaior]

Clarification: its not length that I dont want, long day1 is ok. Its speed that I want. Like, motivation for players to not just lurk.

[Yosarian2]

Another possibility is to have a large game that dosn't have any "pure" cops, but instead has a lot of players who have some minor information role that got some little scrap of information night one, many of them misleading. It's harder to balance, but it can lead to some interesting day 1 discussions.

[Karo]

What about a very early and strict deadline?

I just read Talitha's pencil-case Mafia
viewtopic.php?t=791&start=0&showall=1

Here a deadline's been given 5 days in advance. Not a bad idea I'd say.

How about giving deadlines even at the beginning of the day? I know the risks involved, but it speeds things up without a doubt.

[VisMaior]

That just makes sure that the day1 lynch is a speedlynch. Not exactly what I had in mind.

[PolarBoy]

So make it clear that you'll postpone the deadline if there's solid discussion going on.

[Seol]

I've tried imposing an pre-announced three-week deadline to each day (i.e. after two weeks, then an irrevocable one-week deadline is imposed) in Mini 249. I'd be tempted to drop it to two weeks, but I didn't know how it would pan out (it might be far too restrictive) as I'm effectively trialling the system. Three weeks should

definitely

be long enough, I'm not sure if two weeks is.

After all, in real life, days have a fixed length. Why not in Mafia?

[rajrhcpfreak]

ive been thinking either 1 week or 2 weeks for my games.

proly will go with 2 weeks. its enough of time for everyone to get thier say in. it also give the strategy of scum to try to "filibuster the day" and force a quick lynch at the end.

if civil war can do it in a week, then 2 weeks should be enough for my people.

[Seol]

ive been thinking either 1 week or 2 weeks for my games.

proly will go with 2 weeks. its enough of time for everyone to get thier say in. it also give the strategy of scum to try to "filibuster the day" and force a quick lynch at the end.

if civil war can do it in a week, then 2 weeks should be enough for my people.

Highlighting it in advance also makes lurking all the more unforgivable as town.