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Mafia: The Expansion Set of Characters


History of Mafia


The first thing you must know is that Hitler was not Mafioso, and he did not invent the game of Mafia (although he was apparently a Lady Killer).

Russian University Professor, Dimitry Davidoff invented Mafia, as we know it, in 1986. Davidoff had a web page upon which he described the origin of the game. Unfortunately, his site is no longer available. [Crowd moans.] However, I found a mirror of his original site on archive.org. [Crowd cheers.] Davidoff believes this game to have originated in England in the 1970's. It quite probably goes back much further, though. Davidoff also recalls a Russian game called Ubiitca, which he translates as "Muderer." In Ubiitca, there is not night, and the lone murderer kills by "winking" at his victim during the day. The victim, seeing the wink, must say "ouch" and die. The game is constantly evolving. Since its modern re-conception in 1986, Davidoff's rules have been greatly "improved upon". In the original game play, players could lynch any number of people during the day, and lynched players did not reveal their identities. The villagers only found out if they'd won by ending the day and seeing if there are any killers left. There was no communicating at night and there was no detective, nor angel. (I sort of preferred some of those original rules.)

Origin of the Game (in the Words of its Creator)


"My students become the first players. then of course student parties in my dormitory - biggest one in Moscow - housing thousands of students from different departments. it quickly spread to other departments and dormitories - likely over next summer, through student summer camps. i [have] tried to keep a track of mafia since then - treating it as a natural experiment of a meme spreading. i guess due to its nature (no real prerequisites to the game besides being a human - that was the idea of course), the game was spreading pretty fast in russia. in all possible discourses, from bandits and prisons (i have a firsthand accounts) to government meetings. and students of course were providing the main drive. i went to a few meetings with students in the us (MIT media lab was one of the venues, btw) - and its the same pattern everywhere.

anyway, few things extra from the top of my head:

1. the whole approach (there are few other games i've created at that time) is grown out of lev vygotskiy (founder of the soviet psychological school in '20s) and alan turing's test.

2. the 'moral' aspect of the game is/was important too - errors of first and second type are unintuitive concept in psychology. to force players in accepting errors was one of my primary concerns. there were some psychological disputes on that topic, i was trying to solve.

3. in '89-'90 i was teaching psychology 101 for international students (mostly from socialist countries then), some of them probably become first seeds in spreading mafia outside russia.

4. i am still finding new things about mafia all the time, it is surprisingly euristic."

-- Dimitry Davidoff (from email, September 2005)

More (Optional) Mafia Characters:


*Godfather - Mafia

The Godfather leads the Mafia family. Makes the official decision (based on recommendations from Mobsters) on whom to kill. The Godfather is immune from the Cop's investigation and always appears innocent.

*Cop - Villager

Each day, the Cop identifies to the game leader [Moderator] whom they wish to investigate. The result will either be innocent or guilty. Exception: the Godfather is always innocent. The cop can choose to make his discovery public in order to sway the lynch vote, or may keep it secret until he/she has more information. Naturally, once the cop reveals himself, he will be a target for the Mafia. Perhaps the Doctor [Angel] can protect him. But what if a Mobster is pretending to be the cop? Then if the Doctor protects him, he is protecting the wrong person. The Cop may also choose to be more sly about revealing his information by coyly laying out hints when he argues about whom the Town should lynch.

In some games, the game leader chooses to reveal the name of one of the mobsters to the cop before the first lynch vote.

*Doctor[Angel] - Villager

Each day, the Doctor indicates to the Moderator whom they wish to protect. That person cannot be killed by the Mafia. A Doctor may NEVER protect himself.

*Vigilante - Villager

The vigilante is armed and takes the law into his own hands. He's got one gun and one bullet. Once per game, he can target one person whom he wishes to kill. Lynchings go first, so if he or his target is lynched, his action is moot. If the Doctor has protected his target, the target is safe.

Game leaders may vary the number of bullets the vigilante holds, but I recommend discretion.

*Crooked Executioner - Mafia

Functions as a normal Doctor except he is aligned with the Mafia. This role is best saved for LARGE games with multiple Mafia families. When a Mafia member is hung by the Citizens, if the executioner previously chose to protect that member the previous night, the Mafia member slips through the virtual ropes.

*Town Mayor - Villager

Once per game, the Town Mayor may grant a pardon to a lynch victim. He may not grant himself a pardon.

*Survivalist - Villager

The Survivalist is armed and has an itchy trigger finger. He's got one gun and one bullet. The Survivalist will shoot the first person who targets him, whether mobster, cop, doctor, whoever. If the Doctor has protected his victim, the victim is rescued as normal.

*Traitor - Mafia/Villager?

The Traitor knows the identity of the mobsters. He tries to lynch Villagers. At the end of any day, the mafia may recruit the Traitor. At that time, he becomes a Mobster. As a Traitor, he is found innocent by the Cop. As a Mobster, he is found guilty. He may NOT communicate with the Mafia while he is still a Traitor.

Alternate rule 1: The Traitor does not know who the Mafia are.
Alternate rule 2: The Mafia does not know who the Traitor is.
(I recommend using one or both of the alternate rules.)



Expansion Characters (for REALLY BIG Games Only)

*Super Commandant - Villager
The "Super Commandant" in games featuring it, has the standard power of a "Detective", while also protecting the investigated from night-time attack.

*El Diablo - Mafia
Mafia's Counterpart to the Detective, with the night-time ability to identify empowered Innocents.

*Tracker - Villager
Shown who the Detective just found out about. (or sees what someone else's night actions were.)

*Psychic - Villager
Like a Detective but can learn a roles (i.e. Vigilanti) instead of an alignment (Mafia).

*Doctor - Villager
Can chose one person to protect each night after the wolves go to sleep.

*Nurse - Villager
Can fill the role of the Doctor if he dies.

*Guardian Angel - Villager
Has the power to protect peopled during the night, like the Doctor, but they do not have the option to save themselves.

*Serial Killer - 3rd Party
He chooses his MO; either Werewolves or Innocents. He can only win if he's the only one left. If he strays from his MO by killing someone of a different alignment he dies. He does not have to kill every night, but it would behoove him to try.

*Crazy Veteran - Villager
He's wired with explosives, if he is targeted for any reason in the night, his bomb blows him up. (Option: Along with his neighbor/s.)

*The Human Torch - Villager
When he dies, he take the two on either side of him with him.

*Rambo - Villager
If he is the only one left alive with however many Mafia/Werewolves at the end of the game, the Villagers will still win.

*Miller - Villager
This unfortunate recluse is identified as a Mafia member if questioned by the Detective (False Positive).

*Godfather - Mafioso and/or 3rd Party
Like the Miller, the Godfather/Alpha Wolf is immune to alignment-detection. This is in an alternative to the definition of the "Godfather" role mentioned above; This "Godfather" behaves as a standard Mafioso, but wakes again (after the Mafia sleep) for an extra kill. This Godfather-role wins only if he survives.

* . . .So SLEEPY . . .*
There are 100 more roles I found on Wikipedia under Mafia. They are all well-organized, but their descriptions run together and are a little unclear.


Other Variations on the Game

Eye of the Illuminati
Count Dracula/Infected
Texas Justice

Useful Links

-The Online Mafia Interactive-Widget.
-PDF printable rulebook for WEREWOLF!
-Detailed webpage dedicated to Mafia.
-After originating in Russia, Princeton pickup up this quickly and used it as a psychology experiment in mass hysteria. They have been playing for 20 years now and have developed quite the website.
-Detailed example of what Narrators should say at night, plus some strategy and statistics. (Bruno Wolff's site)
-Play Werewolf via email through this server.
-The Grey Labyrinth, online Mafia forum-based games.
-News article in China reports a game with 6000 members! (Original Chinese Article)


Online Play

Although Mafia is usually played face to face, online play can also be very fun. Though these games last longer, and allow player's votes and words to be reviewed more easily (plus, NO OUT OF CONTROL BICKERING). There are many forms of online play: the film Cry Wolf was promoted through a wolves vs sheep variant, played over AOL Instant Messenger. Online play typically means Internet forum-play, with early games including those in the forum of the mathematical puzzle site, Grey Labyrinth in 2000. The standard human-moderated games require one or two moderators: a sign up thread is created announcing the game, and once the game has sufficient players, play can begin. It usually starts in the night phase with mafiosi communicating via email before submitting their kill (to the Moderator). The Moderator then writes the appropriate death scene for those that were eliminated, and posts a dawn scene. Software can automate the Moderator function, but this is rarer. All players can now discuss (in the forum) who they should execute, followed by an execution vote. Innocents are usually forbidden in-game communication outside of the public forum.

Mafia is also played on IRC (Internet Relay Chat) using private messages to send votes and channel modes to allow private communication during the night. The first IRC mafia channel was #mafia on irc.dynasty.net.

An email version was invented by a group of programmers and players on Richard's PBEMserver, and the end result was written down as a ruleset. Most of the times the Werewolf variant is played, but it has the same rules as Mafia and in some cases both Mafia and Werewolf groups are trying to kill the village. The games take mostly one week and every month three games are started and finished.

Versions of Mafia have also been created on BYOND and Facebook.

Fictional reality themes are common in online play, which will work with any group of well known characters. The Simpsons, Heroes, The Lord of the Rings, and Lost have been used, for example, because of their extensive character sets. Players are assigned characters from the theme, with matching roles. Generic themes are also popular - such as the Werewolf-theme. (Wikipedia)

Join or Make Your Own Game

How to host your own game.


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