SetupAs mentioned above, this will be a tweaked re-run of my Deep Space Nine mafia game with an open rather than closed setup. I only ran the original game as closed out of an abundance of caution.
The inspiration for this game was that I was trying to think of a way to have heavily-flavored games without having flavor connected in any way to alignment (although there are ultimately some exceptions).
It might turn out to be a hard sell to get 18 people to sign up for multiball. If that's the case, I might rejigger the setup to be played with fewer folks.
You're on Deep Space Nine, just before the start of the Dominion War. At a busy port on the wild frontier of space, it's hard to keep track of all the comings and goings. Despite Odo's best efforts, a string of sabotages on the station have made it clear that someone on board is not what they seem to be.
It's possible that some crewmembers have secretly defected and joined the Maquis, a terrorist group within the Federation. It's also possible that a few crewmembers have been replaced by their mirror universe duplicates - you'd never know the difference if they shaved their goatee. And of course, there's the constant threat of changeling infiltration, though they wouldn't bother with a team. No if there's a changeling aboard he's a solitary serial killer.
Well, this won't do at all. Captain Sisko will take some crewmembers and trusted civilians off their regular duties and assign them to investigate for the various threats.Non-flavored information:- The setup will either have two scum teams (Mirror Universe and Maquis) or one scum team and one serial killer (Changeling Infiltrator). You won't know which. Scum teams will consist of three players.
- Either way, there will be three alignment cops: a Maquis cop, a Mirror Universe cop, and a changeling cop. These three will be guaranteed NOT the alignment they investigate for - but not guaranteed town.
- Everyone else will have a small role - generally either an X-shot version of a power role or a role of marginal or even negative utility.
- These roles, and characters, will be assigned 100 percent independent of alignment, with the exception of the cops, who cannot be the alignment they investigate. Knowing someone's role or character will not tell you if they're scum.
- There will be only one version of each character in game. So if there's a Mirror Universe Bashir, there won't also be a Changeling Bashir or a Bashir Prime.
- The game is designed to be reasonably balanced in most configuration. But some possible rolls of the dice (e.g. all 3 Ferengi on one scum team) might need to be redone
Quick primer on Deep Space Nine:It's the third Star Trek series, and the only one to be set on a space station rather than a ship. As such, it has a much richer tapestry of ongoing plotlines than other Star Treks, starting with the discovery of the galaxy's first stable wormhole (which is also home to non-linear time aliens who some characters worship as Gods) to a full on war with aliens from the other side of the wormhole that lasts the last 3 seasons of the show.
The Maquis are dissatisfied members of the Federation (the intergalactic alliance Earth is part of in the 24th century). When Starfleet officers defect to the Maquis on the show, they tend to do it secretly at first, using their rank and position to steal something to help the resistance. So a nice mafia flavor hook.
The Mirror Universe is a ridiculous Star Trek concept - an alternate reality where good people are evil and evil people are good. It started out in the original series, but DS9 did about one mirror universe episode per season.
Changelings are the big bosses of the Dominion, the bad guys in the war. Odo, the station's security chief, is a changeling, but he was raised in the alpha quadrant and he's loyal to the good guys. They can shape shift into animals, other people, inanimate objects, you name it. In the show, the Dominion replaces people with changeling operatives in order to destabilize the alpha quadrant and get them to weaken each other before launching an all out attack.
Knowing more about the show than that will help you make guesses about people's roles if you know their character. But even all that is more than you need to know for a mafia game.The roles:The IC (trigger variety):
Jake Sisko
The Cops:
Odo -- flavor/role cop, investigates to Bashir as Changeling even if not SK
Dr. Julian Bashir -- even night changeling cop and 1-shot doctor
Chief Miles O'Brien -- mirror universe cop
Lt. Cmdr. Worf -- maquis cop
The Ferengi:
(Ferengi are a neighborhood. They will be mod-confirmed to
not include a specific
NON-TOWNalignment. That
can be the alignment that isn't in the game.)
Quark
Rom
Nog
Captain Benjamin Sisko -- roleblocker
Major Kira Nerys -- 1-shot vigilante (if town)/1-shot bulletproof (if scum)
Lt. Jadzia Dax / Lt. Ezri Dax -- 1-shot deathproof
Elim Garak, a simple tailor -- 1-shot bus driver OR 1-shot lightning rod (his choice)
Vedek Antos Bariel -- Universal Backup
Captain Kasidy Yates -- 1-shot commuter
General Martok - bomb
Gul Dukat - hated (stops working when it would take 1 or less vote to lynch) godfather
Morn - loved (stops working when he can’t be lynched without self-voting)
Kai Winn - 1-shot double voter (can't be concealed)
In addition to these roles, the SK will gain the bulletproof and strongman modifiersTown is known as
Station-aligned in this game. The town win condition is as follows:
You win when all threats to the Station have been eliminated, and there is at least one Station-aligned player left alive, or nothing can stop this from happening.
Setup clarifications:Jake Sisko, the IC, is the only character whose alignment is not independent of his role. He is always town. His IC trigger ability can be triggered any time, night or day, and cannot be blocked.
The Ferengi are informed of an alignment that no one in their neighborhood has and that the UB doesn't have, so that if the UB becomes a Ferengi their information is still good.
The Changeling's bulletproof protects against all nightkills, including Martok's bomb. The Changeling's strongman gets through Bashir's doctor shot and scum!Kira's bulletproof. Kasidy can still survive by commuting and Garak can still redirect the shot with either of his abilities.
If Martok is doctored, all (non-bulletproof) players who targeted him with a nightkill still die. It's the act of targeting him, not the act of killing him, that triggers his ability.
Bariel, the UB, triggers when the first other player dies, unless that player is Dax or Jake, in which case it triggers on the second player dying (even if that player is Dax again). If two players die at once when Bariel would be triggered, he acquires one of their roles at random. Which one will not be publicly announced. Bariel's alignment does not change when he inherits a role. If he inherits the changeling role, he inherits only their base role, not their bulletproof or strongman modifiers. He does not inherit a scum player's nightkill. He does not inherit Odo's Miller ability.
Bariel can inherit a cop ability for his own faction. While the original cops are guaranteed to not be the alignment they investigate, this does not hold for the UB.
Bariel does get a new shot of a 1-shot power that has already been used.
If Bariel inherits Kira's power, he will get the version that's already in the game, regardless of his alignment.
Neither the Ferengi nor the scum teams have daychat.
Bashir may not doctor and cop on the same night. When Bashir uses his doctor ability, it will prevent one nightkill. If two or more nightkills are directed at the target, they will still die.
Kai Winn can use her double vote one day per game and must use it publicly by typing "doublevote: Name". Once she does, she can use the commands "undoublevote" and "doublevote: different name" to move it around. It persists for the rest of the game day, but expires after that, whether or not she ended the day with it on a player.