The Mafia Game [attn: all players]

[Sirayn]

By sunset all the streets are empty. Nobody has declared an official curfew, but the effect is the same, it’s too dangerous to be out at night. Anyone could be out there. Or anything. In this cancerous city only the lucky make it; so far that has not included you, which is why instead of hiding in your home as though four walls and some slates provide any defence, you’re sheltering in a subway station along with a dozen other outcasts. All you think about is how to survive the night.

 

At first you cannot sleep. Nobody knows what’s going on above your head. You don’t even know who’s around you; deserters and knifers, escapers from the madhouses cracked open like eggs, strung out on adrenalin and more toxic substances still. You may not live to see dawn. Or perhaps it will not be you who looks out from these eyes tomorrow, nobody knows, you don’t understand this any more than anyone else and the fear and uncertainty is crippling. The hours drag by like lead. In the end you close your eyes.

 

• interregnum

 

INFORMATION

The game is divided into day and night phases.

 

During the day phase all players may vote to 1. lynch another player or 2. go to night without a lynch. It takes a majority vote for either action to occur; otherwise night will be declared after 36 hours. A vote can be switched at any time until the majority is reached or night is declared. All votes must be bolded to count.

 

During the night phase all roled players may take a night action according to their abilities. See the roles section for specifics. Night ends when all night actions are received by the moderator; otherwise day will be declared after 12 hours. It is therefore recommended that roled players send in a provisional night action. If a night action is not sent in during the night phase the moderator will put your provisional night action into play.

 

All roles listed in the roles section are included. It will not be disclosed how many there are of each role. Nor will roles be revealed when a player dies. The good side wins when there are no evil players left; the evil side wins when they outnumber the good players.

 

ROLES

Innocent – You rely on your intelligence and intuition. You may not communicate outside the game.

Vigilante – You may choose one player per game to kill on behalf of the innocents. If you act to kill a player who is being healed by the healer, your kill is wasted and the player survives. You will turn up guilty if investigated. You may not communicate outside the game.

Healer – You may choose one player per night to heal. If anyone acts to kill this player, the kill is wasted and the player survives. You may not communicate outside the game.

Finder – You may choose one player per night to investigate. If this person is evil and/or a killer they will turn up guilty. If there is more than one you may communicate at all times outside the game.

Sympathiser – You side with the assassins. You may know their identity or they may know yours or neither. You will turn up guilty if investigated. If there is more than one you may communicate at all times outside the game.

Assassin – You can choose one player per night to kill. If you act to kill a player who is being healed by the healer, your kill is wasted and the player survives, though you may kill again the next night. If there is more than one you may communicate at all times outside the game.

If you do not receive word from me, consider yourself a roleless innocent.

 

• interregnum

 

A horrified scream rips you from sleep. You’re on your feet and backing off from the sound before you can even gather your wits. An old-style lantern illuminates a tiny circle in the midst of pressing blackness; beneath its light lies a bloody form, a dead boy, mangled beyond recognition. Because you’re a survivor at heart you find yourself calculating how many bullets went into that body, how many the killer has left … and as you glance beyond it, toward the shadowed doors, you make an even more petrifying realisation.

 

It’s been cold overnight. Snow has sifted down through gaps in the roof. It lies clear and undisturbed in a broad arc around you all; no footsteps mar its whiteness, nobody left the room. The killer is still here.

 

Some fool has already phoned out reporting the murder. It’s too late to intervene; you stand, shocked and horrified, as whatever remnants this city’s police can muster pile into the corridors. They hammer on doors you collectively locked and chained for your own defence for a while until they realise there’s no point. Why get good men killed when this worthless crew can sort each other out? “Okay, people,†your new enemies in the police growl. “You pick the guilty ones then. Send them out one by one and we’ll take care of them. And be quick about it, yes? It’s barely morning … but in the end night will fall.â€

 

Dimly reflected light tells you a pale sun is rising. It is day. Lynch at will.

 

12 players, 7 votes to lynch.

[Kati]

I cannot believe the police are making us investigate! That is their job!

[Nevare]

They're just scared. Like the rest of us. You can't blame the poor coppers. This whole thing gives me the willies. We just got'a do our duty as good citizens and figure out who the hecks been up to no good. Then we go home. We have to choose. Now.

[goldeneys]

*yawns*

 

I barely slept last night, only got to sleep near the end of the night, now this...lets make it quick.

[Nevare]

Didn't sleep much? *gets "thoughtful" look* Why exactly didn't you sleep much? Notice anything perhaps in your night time wakefulness? Know anything about this bussiness?

[Kati]

Lets not fight amongst ourselves. We need to work together to find these cruel and vicious killers.

[Zylazlo-]

I agree people lets just calm down and think logically about it all, not to mention maybe some of the more quiet among us should speak up

[Nevare]

Fine. But we really need to get down to bussiness. If we don't figure out who's behind all this they could strike again. Wouldn't that be dandy killed while we wiled away the time bickering.

[Kadere]

Well i guess the most obvious thing to do would be for everyone to turn out their pockets to see who has a gun.... but the killers proabably already gotten rid of his.

 

Poor Jimmy, he always had a smile on his face.

[Kati]

^ Spoken like a true Mafia man!

 

I'm wearing a dress I dont have pockets!

[Quibby]

Jimmy?! That kid didn't do nobody any harm! And now the cops want us to do their job? I'm with him; the longer we talk, the more likely it is one of us is next.

[Nevare]

Yes . . . well all I have is a hankerchief, an um penwiper, my battered copy of the Bible, a spoon, and a hairbrush. Oh yes and limited edition signed copy of Star Wars: A New Hope. Nothing dangerous, not even something to defend myself with. I doubt any of us has anymore. This killer isn't stupid. Who's to even say it's just one person?

[Winter Mist]

There's lots of things we don't know, but if the cops want us to do something, we'd better get on with it. Otherwise, we're just risking lives unnecessarily.

 

I remember Jimmy. He was a good kid... *trails off mournfully*

[Raena]

Aww, poor Jimmy. Let's do something about this, unless we all want to end up like him.

[Sirayn]

Out of the blue you realise that something odd is going on. Earlier you took a head count of all people present, innocents and killers alike, but now you count more people. You shake your head. Clearly you can't count.

 

An extra player has been added. 12 players, 7 votes to lynch.

[Vanion]

*stretches his shoulder out, the cold having got into it, making it stiff*

 

Well people... We have a tough choice to make here... Someone's life is hanging in the balance, and soon that person WILL be hanging. So lets get this right. We dont want any more innocent people to die here.

 

*Looks down at Jimmy's corpse and shudders*

He was just a kid... He didnt deserve this. Lets do right by him and find the killer.

[Angyl]

*mourns Jimmy*

 

Any leads yet? Who could possibly murder such a good kid so heartlessly?

[Vanion]

Im going to say it was... goldeneys!!

 

He said he didnt get to sleep until close to the end of the night. If he isnt the killer, then he should have seen something, since he was up all night. If he isnt the killer, than he is in league with the killer!

[the dude]

let's all keep in mind that we don't have to do what the cops say. they're out there, and they're all too yellow to come in. they can't make us do anything.

 

i know, i know, we've got a killer amongst us. we've got to settle this. but let's not let john q. law(less) push us into something rash. we lost one innocent already; i don't wanna see another one go out like that.

 

*starts snooping for clues*

[Zylazlo-]

Yes, indeed, even though I think the killer was pretty sly, so lets hear some alibis people!

[Kadere]

Hey Vanion, you're pretty quick to start pointing the finger! You got something to hide?

[the dude]

alibis are easy to come by. hell, i could tell you that it couldn't be me cuz i was with 3 call girls last night; that don't make it true. still, we're stuck in here, might as well get to know each other.

 

name's dude. *holds out hand*

[Kadere]

*shakes dude's hand*

 

Hi, I'm Kadere.

[the dude]

*shakes hand* glad to meetcha.

 

who all else do we got 'round here?

[Angyl]

*Shakes Dude's hand*

 

Angyl, and no, the name isn't a hint, I've always had it.

 

Indeed you're right, since the cops won't come in, they can't tell us what to do, but I for one, would like to uncover the mystery of this awful murder, anyway.

 

*looks around fearfully*