Greetings! Thank you for signing up to my Monty Python game.
The game is a contest between the good guys, typically referred to as "Town" and the bad guys, typically referred to as "Mafia" or "werewolves".
The "mafia" are in the minority and usually know one another (they are told they are partners working together). Their task is to blend in with the other players and pretend they are townspeople. They want to destroy all the townspeople.
The "town" are usually in the majority but they usually do not know if another player is a townie or a mafia. As such, they are playing rather blindly. It is their hope that their greater numbers will allow them to prevail against the mafia.
The tool the townies use against the mafia is the "lynch". During the day phase, everyone (town and mafia) votes to lynch a player. The town hopes to lynch a mafia, the mafia hopes to trick the townies into lynching one of their own. Whoever has the most votes gets lynched.
Then it is night phase, and the mafia uses their ability, "murder" against one of the townies. This helps reduce their numbers.
The town wins when all the mafia are destroyed.
The mafia wins when they outnumber the town, and thus can outvote the townies and force them to die. So it is automatic game over for the town when they match the mafia's numbers.
Some townies may be given special abilities, like "investigation". At night, a townie with investigation power "investigates" a fellow player to see if they can determine if that player is town, or mafia. They usually want to keep it secret that they are the detective, because the mafia will really want to kill that townie right away.
Some townies might be able to "block" another player at night. Hopefully this stops a murder, but it could accidentally block an investigator from doing their job.
Some townies might be able to "defend" another player from a murder. However, this does not mean that the defender is invulnerable...
Sometimes the mafia are given additional abilities as well, but rarely does this happen.
Some games have multiple competing "mafia" families who want to destroy each other as well as the town.
Some games have serial killers... lone "mafia" who want to destroy EVERYONE else. Sometimes these players are immune to investigation to assist them in surviving.
Rules: Be sure to read them, they are posted at the beginning of the game. If you break a rule, but you inform the game host (me) that a rule has been broken, the result could simply be a friendly warning not to do it again. A very serious rule break would be outright cheating, such as breaking the rules that are highlighted in red, and this usually results in the player being removed.
Tied votes during the day phase have different results depending on the game host. Some hosts "double lynch" both players, some hosts have a "runoff" vote just between the top 2 candidates, some hosts lynch neither one, or flip a coin. Me personally? I like to force the tied candidates to battle each other to the death... two players enter, one player leaves... and the battle is usually determined by rock, paper, scissors.
This game will not be simply town versus mafia, and there will be special roles. It could get confusing, so feel free to ask me a question in private. I may not be able to answer, however, if it gives away too much of the game.
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Some things in life are bad, they can really make you mad. Other things just make you swear and curse. When chewing on life's gristle, don't grumble, give a whistle, and this'll help things turn out for the best. And always look on the bright side of life...
