Mafia Stalker (Spirographed)
You are the
Mafia Stalker. Aside from having a profession that makes you look like a creepy individual, you have a talent for figuring out what peoples' jobs are given long enough exposure to their work. Every night phase, you can elect to stalk an invidual and figure out what exactly they're doing. It doesn't concern you who they're doing it to, that would take too long to figure out and distract you from your mission. No, you want to learn their job, to know if they're someone worth the bullet with their name on it now, or later.
Layman's terms: In the night phase, give me a name and I'll give you their role title.
As a member of the Mafia, you win when the Mafia have control of 50% of the population or more, since at that point the stalemate of power would make it impossible to successfully stop your team's efforts. You lose if all of your faction are killed.
[DM's Notes] Standard issue role-learning role. The act of stalking someone involves following them if they leave their own house, which can trigger the Trapper, Watcher, and Insomniac to see them.
After Game Notes: Funny that he was only able to learn Aragorn IX's role. I wasn't expecting so many successful roleblocks.
Ninja (Topsummoner)
You are the
Ninja. A master of stealth, subtlety, and subterfuge, you are well suited to assisting your diabolical cohorts with their schemes. If sent to perform the night kill, you have the benefit of being nigh impossible to trace. You yourself are impervious to being seen, heard, followed, or spied upon, and leave no trace of your movements under normal circumstances. However, your methods come at a price. The cleanest crime is the one no-one can identify, and murder is no exception. You aren't one to simply slit a throat and move on; you have been trained to insert a rather subtle but powerful toxin that lingers, weakens its victim, and waits almost a full day before triggering a system breakdown in the victim. It assures a little more time for the victim, but never fails at its job.
Layman's terms: You can be investigated, protected, killed, muted, and roleblocked, but you can not be watched, tracked, stalked, or otherwise spied upon. If you are responsible for the night kill, the victim will live until the end of the immediately following Day phase, and die of a heart attack. They will be made aware
privately of feeling weak upon joining the group in the day phase.
As a member of the Mafia, you win when the Mafia have control of 50% of the population or more, since at that point the stalemate of power would make it impossible to successfully stop your team's efforts. You lose if all of your faction are killed.
[DM's Notes] The wildcard of being noticed, the potential bane of the Mafia for the kill style. I look forward to Topsummoner's reaction to this one. The Ninja waits exclusively for the victim at their home.
After Game Notes: There seemed to be a misconception somewhere along the line that the Ninja is immune to nearly everything. Given the nature of Stalkers as investigators of roles, the Ninja was vulnerable to the Stalker's investigation, and the Trapper's / Insomniac's roleblocks and/or name reveals. This is the role that made me wish heavily for a ninth player.
Stalker (Frank 4.0.1)
You are the
Stalker. Aside from having a profession that makes you look like a sick individual, you have a talent for figuring out what peoples' jobs are given long enough exposure to their work. Every night phase, you can elect to stalk an invidual and figure out what exactly they're doing. It doesn't concern you who they're doing it to, that would take too long to figure out and distract you from your mission. No, you want to learn their job, to know if they're someone worth bringing the spotlight to.
Layman's terms: In the night phase, give me a name and I'll give you their role title.
As a member of the Village, you win when the Mafia are completely eliminated.
[DM's Notes] Standard issue role-learning role. Like the Mafia Stalker, this role follows its target to wherever they may visit, triggering the Trapper, Watcher, and Insomniac if they apply.
After Game Notes: The Stalker was supposed to be the first, strongest line of defense against the Ninja. I'm a bit sad that he got roleblocked as often as Spiro did; it's really funny in its own way that both Stalkers got jack diddly from their roles. Almost force-vanilla'd the game a bit.
Watcher (Sighence)
You are the
Watcher. With your trusty binoculars and well positioned blinds and curtains, you're pretty darn good at taking a look where you want to without drawing too much attention to yourself! You could pretty easily get a few glances around someone's home during the night if you wanted to, and try to watch and see if someone is entering or leaving the house.
Layman's terms: In the night phase, give me a name and I'll tell you who visits their house that night.
As a member of the Village, you win when the Mafia are completely eliminated.
[DM's Notes] As reliable as an Insane detective, but as powerful as a Detective. This one's up to dumb luck, but the odds of something happening are at least nice. The Watcher stays at home.
After Game Notes: Nothing about this role is truly new or imbalanced. It was meant to be the "I can confirm a villager's claim" or, if the Ninja died, the "I am suddenly the most likely source of a hammer against a direct Mafia kill". Someone has to die night one, though.
Tracker (Landerpurex)
You are the
Tracker. Your practice with following peoples' footsteps is second to none, and you can try to use it by following in someone's footsteps... literally. It may be a challenge to some, but to you, it's a way of life. Given the threat, it might come in handy to know who has gone where, when.
Layman's terms: In the night phase, give me a name and I'll tell you where they have visited on which night.
As a member of the Village, you win when the Mafia are completely eliminated.
[DM's Notes] Follows the newest tracks first. If the Tracker follows someone actively performing a night action, they notice them and follow them, though always too late to figure out what their role is. If they try to word it as "I pick a person to see who's visited them" instead of their role, insert snarky comment about the Tracker's own tracks being the most recent and following them back and forth endlessly. Because they visit potentially many houses, they can trigger the Trapper, Watcher, and Insomniac quite easily.
After Game Notes: I'm sad Lander didn't activate the snarky response bit I had thought up. I am also VERY sad, yet amused, that he had the gut feeling against Topsummoner night one. He picked the perfect person to track, but sadly couldn't track Top due to immunity. The fact that it still pegged Top as "You didn't go anywhere, and given the game, that's an oddity in itself" had me on the edge of my seat from that point on.
Trapper (SparkyAMS)
You are the
Trapper. Typically a hunter set on finding wildlife to turn into a good meal, you get the feeling your talents could be just a little more useful with this current issue. You COULD always set some lethal ones, but it would probably be for the best if you didn't draw such attention to yourself. Simply snagging a ne'er-do-well cad on the prowl and hanging them upside down by the ankle for the night sounds like a good way to go. And if they're not sneaky enough, you could always find out just who it is when you come back and let them out!
Layman's terms: In the night phase, give me the name of a player whose house you'd like to set up traps around. A trapped player is considered roleblocked for the night, and has a 50% chance to escape your trap. If they fail, you learn the name of the roleblocked player. This effect stacks for any number of roles visiting a single trapped house.
As a member of the Village, you win when the Mafia are completely eliminated.
[DM's Notes] Paging doctor roleblocker? This is probably the only Doctor-style role in the game that can indefinitely protect themselves in the night and catch a Mafia responsible. Naturally, don't tell them that. If the target tries to enter or flee the Insomniac's home before the Trapper elects to trap their house, think of it as talking through a window for the duration of the night. The results of the roleblock will never change regardless of conversation happening or the player fleeing the house. A trapped player will be roleblocked from leaving their own house.
After Game Notes: There was a misconception from Sparky about the success rate of his role. It's divided into two halves, however. Anyone who touches one of his traps around a person's house (whether an outsider arriving or its inhabitant leaving), they're roleblocked, period. The 50% chance lies in if they escape and save their identity, or hang around for Sparky to learn their name. I was torn on if I should have forbid the option to self-protect, but the logistics of trapping one's own house are far different than treating one's own wounds, after all. I'm happy with the judgement to make sure Sparky simply didn't know of the option, leaving it to the lack of a rule and lack of direction to pick his own targets. His was supposed to be the role that prolonged the game the furthest due to the likelihood of people visiting a constantly changing, trapped house. I'm satisfied with the result.
Insomniac (Jackstick)
You are the
Insomniac. It's not that you can't sleep, you're just an incredibly light sleeper who may as well just stay up all night and clean your house or something. There are too many shifting lights and loud sounds going on for you to really rest. This has come in handy for better and worse before. Your attention to what goes on in the night has been the alarm that scared a robber and the friendly sound for a friend in need in the night. Given the circumstances, it's safe to say you'll be treating anyone who comes to your doorstep as an enemy, but anyone who really wants to break in will find a way... You'll just have the chance to have a word with them, if you can help it.
Layman's terms: In the night phase, if anyone tries to visit your house, I'll send them a PM that you're aware of their presence, with the option to turn away or press forward. If they turn away, they lose their night action. If they press forward, you will be notified who it is, and for that night phase alone, you will be allowed to converse privately with them. Their action will resolve as normal regardless of conversation.
As a member of the Village, you win when the Mafia are completely eliminated.
[DM's Notes] Arguably the biggest wrench in the gears for the Mafia, and the biggest boon for the Village. The roleblock effect does not exclude investigation style roles from seeing where a player has gone. It only causes their action to end at the exact point that they choose to flee, if they do. So a Stalker following someone to Jackstick's house, or a Tracker noticing someone's most recent tracks are to Jackstick's house, still will yield the information that he was visited. Fleeing from there will simply stop the role from resolving.
After Game Notes: Seeing so many people pile up on his house Night One was hilarious. It's also one of the few things about the game I'm still in the dark about.
There's one thing to clarify here about the conversations that may have taken place. I asked Jackstick to please keep the chats themselves separate. Six of eight of the players here talk together on Discord. However, Lander and Aragorn have not migrated into it. What should have for all intents and purposes been "Jack, Sparky, and Frank all hang out and talk together at Jack's house tonight" wouldn't be possible if, say, it were Jack, Lander, and Frank. No reliable group chat method. For the sake of keeping it fair for everyone, I had to nix a full-on group conversation.
With that in mind, whatever Jack may have talked about Night One with Frank or Sparky is beyond me. It was a pseudo-Mason style situation where it was very possible for three of six villagers to band together and really work together against the Mafia. I'd be delighted to hear from the three involved with its one use on what exactly was talked about. The role itself I am absolutely in love with as a whole, too.
Villager (Aragorn IX)
You are the
Villager. A good guy with good intentions who happens to be caught in a tragedy, it's up to you to use your admittedly admirable powers of deduction, logic, and social skills to piece together a rather complex puzzle of whom deserves life or death, to be decided on by your fellow men. You have a chance in the day to convince others that a certain neck belongs in the noose, and can only cross your fingers that you are not taken by surprise in the night.
Layman's terms: Vote on a majority lynch in the day, pray for your life in the night.
As a member of the Village, you win when the Mafia are completely eliminated.
[DM's Notes]: Aragorn is "the" Villager. Ever so subtle hint that he is the one and only.
After Game Notes: I had two more Villagers roles and one more Mafia role to add into this game if it came to twelve or more players, but it never came to it. Still, Aragorn's placement as the one single vanilla player was unfortunately forcibly added to be exploited exactly as it was. The idea of a "vanilla" player in a game like this is supposed to be questionable. Since I like Village wins, I'm a bit dismayed that this logic was turned on Aragorn well before it was turned on Top.
Despite the flawless victory for the Mafia, I am very happy with how the balance of the variant came to pass. The Mafia were always in trouble after Day One, and the mix of needing to rely on roles vs. being able to work through it via logic seemed pretty sound. I just really, really, really wish there was a ninth player. One more day to talk, one more role to contend with... The timing was absolutely perfect for the final showdown of who is what and on which side.
Loved hosting and watching this game.
is up with this variant" explanation soon.
