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- Nov 3, 2013
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Minr Mafia Hosting Guide
Note: Please only post on this thread to ask questions or offer suggestions about hosting.
Intro
Hi! Marsta & I figured we’d write up a brief guide of things to consider when planning to host a round of Mafia here on Minr. We suspect this guide may be more useful for players completely new to hosting, but experienced hosts may also find utility.
Are You Ready to Host?
- Are you sure you will have sufficient time to host for the duration of your game (some can last several weeks)? If your time is limited, have you considered mitigations to make hosting easier (bot, co-host, pre-prepping)?
- Have you considered adding a co-host? Although it can be fun to run a game entirely on your own, having someone to help you can improve the round in a variety of ways. Co-hosts can give you feedback on game setup & balance, attend to player questions when you aren’t available, help with writing results and story, and more.
- Do you have at the least a rough idea for what you’d like to do with your round and how you’ll set up the physical aspect of the game (e.g. Discord server, forums)? It can be a good idea to look at how previous rounds’ hosts set up their games. Pre-planning before accepting a hosting call will ensure your game runs better. Because the hosting queue is so long, you probably want to ensure your round is as polished as possible before hosting!
- How do you intend to deal with player sign-ups if you have a large player pool? Will you add a player cap, a waitlist, or split the round into two separate games? How will you balance your game with a somewhat unknown number of sign-ups?
- Will you make any rule modifications or additions for your round?
- It can be a good idea to disclose to your players how much RNG may or may not be involved in your round. Unexpected RNG elements such as events or random chance roles can feel unfair and frustrating to some players, especially if it is not disclosed before the round begins.
- Will your game have a Day or Night start? Is a Day start necessary for your game? In many instances there is little for a Town to talk about the first Day.
- Will your Mafia faction have mob actions or individual actions for things like killing? If a member of their team goes inactive, will you allow their team to control their action (often a good idea)?
- How long will your Day & Night cycles be? Most games opt for 48 hour Days and 24 hour Nights, but other variations are possible. It is probably not a good idea to do under 24 hours for a cycle due to player timezone variations.
- Will your role list be open, closed, or somewhere inbetween (e.g. to what extent are you revealing the setup to your players)? If your role list is open, can it be broken by Town mass-claiming? If so, you may want to forbid a mass-claim or edit your setup.
- Which factions (if any) will you allow to speak during the Night? Can Mafia speak to each other during the Day?
- What sort of voting system will you use? How will players be nominated for vote-off? Will they have a chance to plead their case once nominated? How will you handle ties? Can players vote not to vote off anyone?
- How will you handle DMs? Will you restrict them completely, restrict them during a phase, limit players to a certain number of messages or DMs, or let players DM whoever they wish however much they wish? Will you require players to add you to their DMs (It can be a good idea to remind players to friend you if you do)?
- Consider how the game might be played by each role you create. Is it reasonable for them to win? If they are evil, do they have something they could reasonably fake as a claim?
- For examples of how to set up a Discord Server, you can see the below examples of two rounds we feel were hosted well in different styles (these were chosen for variety, there have been many good rounds worth looking through):
- How will you deal with players who may go inactive? How will you ensure the game remains balanced?
- Although it rarely happens, how will you deal with a player who breaks the rules?
- Will you lock threads or allow players to speak while resolving night actions & sending out results?
- How might you handle unforeseen personal issues or time constraints?
- If you are not co-hosting and know an experienced Mafia player who will not be participating in your round, it can be a good idea to run your ideas by them if they’re willing to provide constructive criticism.
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