I think it was a great blend of concept and getting the right players for the job.

I'd like to take credit for it, but all I did was count votes.

It's a completely different dynamic, and I agree the vanilla is what makes it work. Often time in our games scum stay quiet cause they don't have a fake claim or a good fake claim and they don't want to draw suspicion on themselves or get unnecessary pressure. That is completely eliminated in vanilla, where everyone has a de facto fake claim.

I don't feel stalling is a very fun tactic.

How many times have you waited for one more town vote that never came as the clock ticked down? How many times was it fun?

Now, if we want to keep day one as a fun little check in phase, just have some players vote no lynch at the start of the phase or make the "top candidate" thing take effect on day 2 or 3.

I wouldn't actually suggest changing our day 1s to look like vanilla game day 1s on mafia universe or mafia scum. That's all well and good but I don't consider that type of thing to be what our community wants as a whole for most game.

That said, I can see this causing shotgun role claims as we approach day's end and two or three players basically determine if you get to live or die in five minutes after you claim.

That doesn't sound fun, either.

Fair, although I also dislike that our D1s usually are essentially worthless, which basically means 1-2 people that signed up don't get to contribute to the game at all.

Another idea that's caught my fancy is the 'pre-check' that some vanilla games have - the cop gets a "this person is town" result before the game even opens. I think you could extend that in a few different ways, probably.

I agree it is not a fun tactic. But what I am saying is that I believe our culture has produced a chilling effect, among some players wherein they stall and stay quiet, not because they are shy or play bad, but because they don't want to get busted because they don't have a decent role they can claim. Games with vanilla townie roles and no themes eliminate that aspect of the game. Because it takes away from having to fabricate a fake claim and a believable role.

I am not saying that all our games need to be that way, but it would be cool to play 3-4 games like that in a row. For the record I have only ever played games here so I don't have much idea what it is like to play that way, compared to our style of play.

I agree, but it is a viable strategy for the mafia. And when you're in it, you use every tool at your disposal to get the win. This is the reason that I feel that both night and day phases should last the same amount of hours. This is also the reason that what usually ruins the chance for a Town win is lack of participation and active players.

Very true, I find myself stalling a lot even when I'm town just so that I can do the same thing when I'm mafia and don't have much of an out. Every game I play tends to lead to another game, so I always try to keep in mind, consistency of play. Vanilla would probably alleviate that to an extent.

I don't particularly like the need to have to come up with a fake claim.

Depends on the theme of the game. I do appreciate it when, as mafia, the mod provides scum with a fake claim or two. Sometimes it's fun to come up with a fake claim, though. Admittedly, I am not that great at fake claiming.

All I know is I'm gonna continue my crusade of useful day 1s here.

That doesn't mean day 1 lynches. It doesn't mean day one claims all the time. It means active and telling conversation that can later be used. I mean truthful scum reads and serious back and forth.

It depends heavily on the theme and the number of fakeclaims that are likely available as to whether a mod should provide them. Most of my games are so open-ended that providing fakeclaims feels unfair. A narrower comic or video game theme should have a provided claim or two.

I think we crossed the line from useful to painful recently.

I totally get where you're coming from, but I would be a hypocrite if I were to say that the Day 1 lynch in C-bob's game was completely useless.

All this talk has my scheming wheels turning. How about this - Day 1 Russian roulette? Players compete on Day 1 for a daykill. The daykill must be used by the end of the day phase or else the person who won it gets axed. Too brutal?

Agreed.

I'd go so far as to say that if its not a very open theme (X-Men, literary characters) that every scum player should have a fake claim. Everyone will have to claim eventually.

I've played in games where I got lynched because there was no room at all for fakeclaiming and that was not fun. I felt the theme defeated me, not the town. Janitors are great but they cannot be the only defense because if they are, an unlucky SKer hit will screw the mafia over.