Game Moderator Guide

[Barmacral]

So you want to moderate a game on the Organized Games board do you? Here’s my advice before you do that. (Please note, most of this advice is geared towards more complicated games like Mafia or Diplomacy, but quite a bit of it can be used for the simple games, like Pictophone… all mods should read this, not just the mafia mods)

 

First, have your game planned out down to the last detail. There’s nothing worse than starting your game and realizing that you don’t know some critical aspect of your game.

 

Expect to make mistakes, everyone does. I assigned all my roles, to discover that one player had a role which I’d taken out of the game… so I had to go fix that… I killed a player who couldn’t die (not that way at least) so I had to fix that… etc… but don’t make too many mistakes, you’ll just start frustrating your players, and they’ll stop enjoying the game.

 

Take notes on everything. If you are doing pictophone, save all the quotes and pictures, if mafia, all the night actions / votes / lynches / day actions / meeting win conditions / etc…

Same goes with all the other games you may chose to mod.

 

Don’t reveal anything to your players. Hints and clues can be figured out giving them knowledge you may not want them to have.

 

Refer to your notes before doing anything. Don’t just rely on your memory, it’s the main reason for mistakes made by any mod.

 

Double check. Just did a vote count? Great, go back and do it again, make sure its right. Double checking isn’t perfect, but it’s a lot better than just going for it.

 

Don’t be afraid to go out on a limb, but make sure the game is fair, sure, having a player who is practically a god amongst men in your game is cool, but who do you think is going to win? Make sure that the other players have a fair chance of winning too.

 

Lead the game how you chose, its your game, you can do what you want. You basically have godmode over your players, as you can mess with them how you chose. Don’t abuse this power though, you want to keep the players happy. Also don’t forget to listen to your players. If you find that they are unhappy with how things are turning out, don’t hesitate to see why, and if you want to, adapt the game to make it more fun.

 

That’s all for now, if you have any advice, feel free to add it, and I’ll post it up here.

 

Barmacral

 

[Alys Kinch]

errr, good advice barm.

[Toy and Minion]

Yep.  You should have had this up before I started my game.  It actually would have helped quite a lot.  :)

[Kivam]

One more note - think long and hard about the ramifications of the details you give to characters and reveal to finders.  Names are a nice touch, but if you reveal names to the actual finder then you are essentially guaranteeing that a false finder claim is doomed to fail.  That's fine, if that's the result you're going for; my point is to think through the natural consequences of your decisions and determine if you like them

[Alys Kinch]

consider that it could also be a tool for misinformation as well. that's always fun.

[Barmacral]

Bump for the Luvitt.

[Blig Blog]

Does that mean that anyone can start a game at any time?

 

What if i wanted to start a game sometime in the future. How would i go about doing that?

[loki redfern]

there is a thread at the top of this board called 'game moderator signups list' or some such. you have to have played a certain number of games and have moded a newbie one (ie with basic roles ect) if its mafia , if its a non mafia game post in that thread anyway to say your doing it and stuff

[Barmacral]

A quick bump for anyone who might like to read this.

[Daetirion]

And one addition 'cause i somehow missed this last year...

 

Vote Counts. Do NOT rely on players who have done vote counts. Do the hard graft yourself, 'cause there are liable to be mistakes (either intentional or nonintentional).