Hello~
So as everyone knows, we're all old in Circus now and we like to sit around on our rocking chairs reliving mafia games long gone. Hell, I'm pretty sure all of us are holding onto some grudge or another from a game that was played out in years past. I thought it would be fun to have a thread where people posted their favourite games from the past (not necessarily mafia) and why, their memories, etc.
I'll start off, I always love these.
Big Mafia
Small Mafia
To be honest, I don't normally enjoy small mafia that much, so this list is gonna be full of games I won...
So as everyone knows, we're all old in Circus now and we like to sit around on our rocking chairs reliving mafia games long gone. Hell, I'm pretty sure all of us are holding onto some grudge or another from a game that was played out in years past. I thought it would be fun to have a thread where people posted their favourite games from the past (not necessarily mafia) and why, their memories, etc.
I'll start off, I always love these.
Big Mafia
- Pokémon Mafia 1 (won) -- I spent most of this game stressed, complaining, or arguing with Raikage (the host), but I think this was one of the best big mafias we've had and I really liked my team. It's definitely one of the most memorable ones for me, and I was only stressed because I was so emotionally invested. This game is also one of the highlights of my mafia career play-wise, even though I got myself killed. I think the role concepts were really great, especially on the Devious, even though we misused them trying to get others godkilled, to Raikage's chagrin. The game culminated in an intense night where the remaining Devious tried to decide whether they should yolo and kill Gambler, who had been inspected as an NPC but was secretly the Strongs' disguised killer. That cycle was really bad for my heart, haha.
- Viva la Mafia (left fashionably early) -- This game was one of the most innovative we've ever had; the flavour was amazing (along with dude, dak's other big mafia), and the new recruit-based playstyle made it really thrilling. Multifaction back then was really promising and fresh and had interesting power dynamics, before we played it all out, made it too complicated, and broke it. This game never got boring because up until lategame almost anyone could win and the tables were constantly being turned with surprise actions. The format was unfortunately imperfect and suffered badly from kingmakers (resulting in the faction least deserving, although... I think it was Jedil was certainly the most tenacious, winning the game) and the problem where the faction that played the best and won early would and did get ganged up on by the other factions and punished for playing their hand, which promoted negative gameplay.
- Absolution Mafia (won) -- Okay, to be honest, this game was as OP as DBZ and Dota 2, and my mafia faction was stacked with nearly all the well-known players and my friends. And it was also pretty lucky, I think. Which is why I had so much fucking fun, lol. While a lot of people complained about this game afterwards, there sure was a lot of interesting stuff going on. Outlaw had a lot of really big ideas for cool power roles, even if it wasn't fully balanced.
Small Mafia
To be honest, I don't normally enjoy small mafia that much, so this list is gonna be full of games I won...
- This Is How We Mafia (won) -- This was a very minimalist and well-balanced expert mafia, at a time when minimalist traditional mafia was needed for a game of (as much as mafia can be) skill. Had a great team again. This was the first game I got to collaborate with Crux in order to bring down the village. I remember being frustrated by the unfathomable play of the other mafia, but I don't think the game was derailed by lucker dogs or anything and it came right down to the wire and playing the cycles out right.
- TCG Mafia (won) -- This game was the precursor to Fire Emblem Mafia 2, which I had to sub out of due to being hospitalised for the duration. Really interesting new format, I'm not even being biased when I say Mekkah has consistently put out the best and most interesting concepts for new games. I tend to shy away from diplomatic play in normal mafia, but as a 1v1 mafia, this game was one where I would have to play very diplomatically in order to get information and tactical power, which made it a fun experience for me.
- Red Panda Mafia (won) -- Yeti put me with Mekkah. Anyway, I thought this game had a fantastic concept, and it was also really cute. Can't blame the host for giving you shit roles if you have to pick them yourself equal with everyone! Unfortunately susceptible to multifaction kryptonite, i.e. factions allying up with each other (despite anti-allying mechanisms being put in our win conditions) and pooling their resources to outnumber the other factions and win. Forming an alliance was an enjoyable experience as well. I'd like to see another Build Your Own mafia in the future, although preferably not thousands of clones as the format could get boring very fast (this format doesn't allow for very unique, powerful roles, etc.). Kidnappers are broken.
- No-Playerlist Mafia (???) -- to be honest, I got tired of this game very quickly for reasons and iirc I died quite early. What really made this game memorable for me was Bass's side event (the Liar Game-esque minigames). They were very strategically enjoyable. Also I got to be irl Nao Kanzaki. The quiz (although I was too lazy to watch the anime episode, I have trouble watching 3min videos let alone, say, 23) and Trou du Cul scavenger hunt were very suited to my natural talents (looking shit up and solving riddles). I formed an alliance with billymills, whose strategic ability compensated for my inferior ones, and brought in shade and Midou to add manpower (they were pretty helpful too, and in the end Midou let me win the final task, which was stalemated between billy and me and a bit of an unfortunate ending but thanks a lot, Midou!), and even though Bass put a game in that was meant to test our alliance we were able to use our alliance as an asset in this and help each other win. Really neat puzzles. The ethos of this game was 'courage', so I tried to play as courageously as possible as I believed I would be indirectly rewarded for it (e.g. sending in my scavenger hunt answers in recklessly instead of waiting for shade to get him to check his results first), and it paid off.
- Philosopher's Stone War II (3rd) -- I really urge anyone who is into tactical pvp play and has imagination to try this out. This was my first encounter with tabletop gaming and it was pretty exciting and fun. I always enjoy games when I'm in alliances, heh. Making my characters was an intensive but creatively engaging process and, while learning everything was a bit overwhelming, it was paid off in the suspense-filled entertainment that ensued.
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