Mafiascum.net

Since I began modding games, I have always used the same ruleset, which was absolutely (and shamelessly) stolen from DP.

I will go through these rules one by one, as I feel they're a good rule set.

THE RULES:

[01] Have fun and don't be a jerk. Please have consideration for the other players and the mod, and actually PLAY the game by posting and voting.

(I like this one, simple but necessary to say)

[02] No communication outside the thread unless your role allows you to do so and then only in the game's nights.

(Again, stated correctly and clearly)

[03] Get your choices in before the deadlines. If not, a random choice will be made for the first night, and no choice for subsequent nights.

(This one is up for debate)

[04] No quoting my or others PM's. No paraphrasing of winning conditions either.

(correct)

[05] If you're dead YOU'RE DEAD. No more posting relevant information after that.

(I'm a fan of the "no bah post)

[06] Lynching will be carried out once a regular majority is reached - and cannot be undone by unvoting. If I impose a day deadline, lynching will require at least half of the regular majority. In case of a tie, first come first served. In the endgame (6 or less) only a real majority will result in a lynch.

(I like this rule)

[07] Only votes in BOLD will be counted. Please clearly unvote if you want to change your vote, although I will still count your vote if you don't.

(Up for discussion. I wouldn't be against making people unvote)

[08] Do NOT edit or delete your posts! If you made a coding error, just post again.

(obvious)

[09] Do NOT post in invisible text.

(More of a problem on the GL)

[10] If you know you will not be checking the thread for a period of 72 hours or more, it would be nice if you would post that beforehand.

(Right)

[11] If you're out of the game, you may come back as substitute - only if you do not talk to other players about the game after your death of course.

(I like that, as well, this may need to be edited about power roles not being able to replace)

[12] The mod is always right. Accept the decisions, and if you want to discuss them, take it to email, or do so after the game has finished

(Yeah...)

Standard rules, but it encompasses all the main points.

Any additions / changes / deletes?

Well, I like the bah! Post, but whatever.

Also, if they don't send in a choice, don't give them one. Whether its Night 1 or not.

I like a "bah" post

I also think that the rules should explicitly allow twilight posting, for reasons given

here

.

Iammars wrote:Also, if they don't send in a choice, don't give them one. Whether its Night 1 or not.

I chose my rule because you sometimes have the problem that a player does not show up at all. Rather than holding the whole game up whilst lokking for a substitute, you can assign a random choice.

I think #3 is customizable depending on game balance/structure; ditto the replacement rule (#11).

#5 - I like a bah post, but serious penalties for revealing game-based information (cop reveals innocent after death, innocent dies to a falling piano that night, etc)

#6 - I've started using Polotet/DS' plurality voting rule, which requires a certain minimum number of votes for deadline lynch, AND that that total be at least 50% of the total cast votes. This is different from the "more than 50%" rule for regular lynches. I like something explicit about not using deadline lynches at endgame, but that may reveal too much about the setup. Perhaps the mod should have this as an internal rule?

Mr Stoofer wrote:I also think that the rules should explicitly allow twilight posting, for reasons given

here

.

And apparently we need an explicit definition of when "night" begins, as some scum seem to think it starts with the lynching vote, not the death scene/locking of thread.

I dont really understand the necessity of the unvote thing. Why is it necessary?

Unvoting, like bolding votes, is simply to make life easier for the mod (and the other players).

How the game goes *should* be determined solely by the intent of the player; if I mean to be voting for someone, it shouldn't matter whether I bold it, unvote, or put it in red surrounded by smilies, so long as it's clear that I'm voting. It's better to have a clear rule in place though rather than trying to figure out player intent. At least until automatic vote counts.

(Can you tell what I've been thinking about lately?)

The thing is, whatever rules are listed, should be the rules enforced by the mod, with no exceptions. If the rules say "All votes must be bold, or they don't count" and someone says

Hear hear, Yosarian!

I don't even use a standard set of rules accross all of my games. It seems to me that one of the benefits of taking turns modding is that we don't need a standard set of rules, as everyone gets a chance to run things their way.

11 wouldn't work too well because there is the assumption of non power role if the character comes in. This happened in a newbie in, as My Stoofer and Halfpint may remember. Stoofer's re-introduction into the game all but sentanced myself and my mafia partner to death. With 1 more assumed innocent townie because he came in pretty much took out the scape goat I was going to use that day. In essence I don't think people should ever be able to come back in unless they were replaced before a role came in. (pre-game)

I happen to really like my Newbie opening post setup (of course I would, wouldn't I?), if anybody wants to template that for their Newbie games. 138 and 154 are games I ran/am running.

It seems to me that one of the benefits of taking turns modding is that we don't need a standard set of rules, as everyone gets a chance to run things their way.

Having a standard (or standards) wouldn't prevent some games from being run differently. Some theme games would *require* additional rules; I am never going to insist that ever mod use the same rules, because it discourages innovation. That said, it seems to me (and this is entirely unresearched, so it may be completely wrong) that most mods want to use essentially the same rules anyway. Lots of mods copy DP's rules pretty much directly. The problem is that when they do change things up, the players don't tend to read the rules anyway, and just assume that it's run a certain way. Now, granted, that's more the player's fault than the mod's. A lot of players are extremely lazy.

Still, it has always been my view that the mod is not there to determine the outcome of the game, only to enforce rules that are already in place. (As I mentioned above, actual voting is intended to be entirely up to the players; we commonly have bolding and unvoting rules listed to make things easier on the mod, not for any real gameplay reason. The mod is just there as an impartial third-party, necessary because of the secrecy factor; someone needs to tell the players what happened.) Having slightly different ways of doing things is fine and natural; the problem comes when mods decide that since it's *their* game, they can do whatever they like and you end up with completely arbitrary rules.

Anyway, I think a standard set would solve two problems: 1. For newer mods that haven't thought things through all the way, it would provide them with rules that cover everything. 2. For lazy players, most games would have the same rules, and games that didn't could have a "non-standard" label which would hopefully prod them into reading the rules for that game.

mith wrote:2. For lazy players, most games would have the same rules, and games that didn't could have a "non-standard" label which would hopefully prod them into reading the rules for that game.

yay stuff for lazy players.

Oh, by the way, these are not fully MY rules. In addition to my own thoughts, I also copied/pasted what I saw and liked from others. I'm pretty sure rule [1] actually came from MeMe for instance.

Yeah. I try to write my rules with funny stuff in it to encourage players to read the rules.
But most of mine are copied from Blackberry.

I think I based the set I use most often from Werebear... except for Newbie Games, which I rewrote almost entirely to be clearer for new players. But I also frequently change up the rules, and will even ask players to confirm in their confirmation PM that they've read and understood the changes.