When I started playing (on the Mayflower) this was the standard. It was hard since you might sign up and be killed before Day One. The game thread was open before Night Zero so there could be some lighthearted discussion. No RVS or anything else serious. However there were times when an arrogant scum might make a slip-up. Day/Night phase was shorter. There were also no flips given on Night Kill, only upon lynch.

The conversation was subject to greater scrutiny as well as any lurkers. The rest you know.

Yo! You wouldn't want to join the latest game? Why don't you be like Vitek? He came back and is already joining his second game in a row.

What is there to flip anyway? Everyone is the same and if someone dies they were obviously Town.

Again, I'm not saying that it can't work like this. Just that it's likely going to be less enjoyable and harder to go through it in comparison. It's like I've been using HDDs for the better part of my life as that was the standard back then. But then people came up with SSDs. Even those continued to evolve and improve in various ways. Technically I can still go back to the old ways using an HDD on my computer and it will work but why would I when I know the alternative is that much better?

At least that's my personal opinion on the matter. If others feel they would like such type of game for whatever reason - to each their own.

I did that thing where you ping one person and quote another. I thought the ping was the important bit, but apparently not.
For Ctrl+F purposes or whatever I will quote in future.

gogfather brings
the best of treats.
my only wish,
to sit and eats.
pls scratch my ear,
i will not glare.
no, not there
or there or there

Exactly three belly rubs. Then I'll bite!!

I skimmed a bunch so perhaps someone already said this, but I recall Krypsyn advocating for an all-Vanilla game back when.

To dedo's question, what you judge people on in that sort of game is their votes and their reads - not necessarily whether they're right or wrong, but whether they follow - in much the same way as you flagged Vitek in this last game.

And the problem with making decisions based on roles is we have so many mods (myself included) wanting to try out crazy role permutations that suddenly Town Arsonist is just crazy enough to be plausible.

What's a Vitek??

One of these.

Bler! You're about ready to play mafia again right?

Considering how Trent is creating a role-madness game with a new, never-before-imagined, mind-blowing, world-redefining supercop role that he's worried none of us who have signed up already will be able TO HANDLE??

(he's not said so explicitly, but it's pretty clear from the subtext that this is what's going on...)

What are you talking about? The TOWN ARSONIST is 100% legit and anyone who says otherwise can GTFO!!

Should we try to recruit some newbies again by making a thread without 'Mafia' in the title? Something like: "Wanna be a Toon?" redirecting interested people here?

Go for it.

Dedoporno showed a little interest in my avatar pictures so I spent the last two hours going over old games, enjoying/cringing at some old memories and compiling a list of all the avatars I've made for games so far.

Here I present them, for those who are interested, and ESPECIALLY for those who aren't.

Pre-post edit - So I got carried away and did commentaries for each one. Sorry!
I've enjoyed this brief journey through GoG mafia's history. I hope you enjoy something of it too!


Game #7 - new players mafia - I didn't have a game-specific avatar for this game, but and [url=https://www.gog.com/upload/avatars/2011/08/7ddcd6e76911bfcbad2aae9d05c330318a32bc70.jpg]this were the avatars I used, and I include them here for a feeling of completeness, and also because I like the Twinrova face one, I think I hand drew it in biro...

Game #8 - In a land far, far away... first game I moderated.
Game #9 - Doom of Idyllia I didn't actually use it until I'd died in the game as it was a picture of my game character - the hearts represent his lover role.
Game #10 - Hotel Hell Again I didn't actually use it until the game was over, as it was a picture of my game character; a room service waiter, with the Tracker power.
Game #11 I didn't play in, but this was my avatar from that time. It doesn't seem to relate to the flavour of any game (#11 was a heavy-metal festival) it's just an observer. I probably just wanted to draw a dragon.
Game #12 - Taumarumarutanga o Tāwhiritike I subbed in late, and I think this was hastily done. It doesn't look like a partiularly New Zealandy/Polynesian volcano, if I was to criticise.
Game #13 - GoG Mafia 13th Anniversary Celebratory Retreat in Sunny Sicily The second game I moderated. I'm really proud of the flavour for this one (and a little guilty - Telika said it was a bit disorienting for a new player) - The setting was the gog mafia regulars meeting up in Sicily, but some other gog forum regulars who didn't play mafia were murdering them. lol
Game #14 - The Curse of the Seth Beast All ancient egyptians went around wearing Tutankhamun's death mask, right?
Game #15 - Hot Jive at Frankie's Bookstore The third game I moderated. I seem to be conflating the first 5 decades of the 1900s into one?
Game #16 - Extraterrestials Mafia, also had an extra avatar depicting my game character. I was Alien, but I was given Alf as a safe false claim.
Game #17 - Asylum Mafia I was modkilled for double posting. Oh the shame!
Game #18 - Asylum Mafia One of my favourite avatars - it's nice and bold, and has a good atmosphere. I came out nice on the boards, but you needed to see the full size to see the blood in the water. 5 stars!
Game #19 - A slalom Mafia The 4th game I moderated. Great title, but a very ugly picture. So unpleasant that I left the forum for 5 years to avoid looking at it...

I did participate in game #20 in a small way, but I asked for a replacement in my first post and didn't draw an avatar for it - my mind was obviously elsewhere.

Five Years Later...

Game #53 - Battlestar Goglactica Awakened from my slumber I drew a gorgeous action-packed space battle which Vitek immediately ridiculed.
Game #54 Prologue To build excitement for game #54 I hosted a Russian Roulette in the same setting, which hinted at the theme for the game to come. This avatar was also a hint - who could it be? And what is the theme we should be getting so excited about?
Game #54 - Pokemon Death Tournament The 5th game I moderated. To everybody's dismay the theme was pokemon. I'm pretty great at drawing pokemon though so the avatar came out good. The fella in the middle is Giovannim head of team rocket.
Game #55 - Trouble at Arstotzkan Boot Camp. I had an image in mind for this one and I was pleased with how it came out - it looks better shrunk down.
Game #56 - Witches of Salem This one came out beautiful. I had in mind the description to the third act of Arthur Miller's The Crucible - where he describes the sunlight coming through a wide window. I drew the window and fragments of sunlight against a gloomladen sky. It looked really good in small.
Secret Hitler #2 Everyone's favourite recurring GoG Mafia character, Captain Sapphire! What the heck's going on with his pants? :|
Game #57 - Captain Sapphire THE MOVIE The 6th game I moderated. The aim was to create a titlecard for a children's action film from perhaps early 90s. Whatever it's still a cool image I think.
Game #58 - Disney to the Rescue Trentonlf introduced the setting with a gritty, Wild West narrative, it was pretty cool and I was inspired to draw this lonely, atmospheric image. Then the game started and we were all crazy disney characters. Doho! you got me again Trent!
Game #59 - Previously on Mafia... I got the impression before the game began that this would be about ZFR getting killed and I made this picture based on his classic avatar. I think the game wasn't actually anything to with that but ah well.
Game #60 - HMSS Spectator I didn't actually play this game. I drew an avatar for it, but had to be replaced before the game began. I couldn't find any quotes with this avatar in, there might be none. But I found the image, please see attached.
Game #61 - Pacifists at the NRA I didn't play this one either, but I turned up in time for the end of it, and I was clearly in a artistic mood. Someone says the NRA, this is the image that comes to my mind.
Game #62 - The Pwen The 7th game I moderated. It's supposed to be firelight glinting off the edges of carnival masks in dark woods. I'm not sure it quite came across but it's alright.
Game #63 - Supernatural I didn't know anything about the show, but I guessed that somebody getting frightened by sudden mirror writing in a scuzzy public toilets might be the sort of thing that happens in it?
Secret Hitler #3 I drew this and thought - it would work if I'm on the fascist team too, as long as I'm hitler - captain sapphire might be puzzling over who his fascist allies are. Turns out I was hitler! Guys it was obvious from the beginning I drew you a picture!
Game #64 - Harry Potter and GoG Mafia I went for the gradiated sky thing again, which tends to come out nice looking. The image of the teen wizard getting shot at by gangsters pleases me greatly.
Game #65 - Return to the Stanley Hotel If I'd have known Lift was gonna do a Shining game I'd have avoided mirror writing in the supernatural picture. ah well.
Court of the Sultan (AKA the black weasel) so I drew a black weasel. The background came out cool lookin.
Game #66 - Lunch at Gog's Restaurant A setting inspired by the works of Damon Runyon. The aesthetic for this picture came from a theatre show I saw of some of his stories - instead of backdrops simple black and white sketches of the setting were projected onto a screen. It seemed appropriate.
Game #67 - Mamlakat Al Shams First attempt. Pooka explained where it was wrong and how it should look if it were accurate, so
I tried again. This time the moderator was appeased.
Game #68 As-Of-Yet-Unnamed Looney Tunes Game. Trent asked us to pick characters, and I love Road Runner. I enjoyed trying to recreate the Looney Tunes look from memory - I had to look up a picture of Road Runner though because I couldn't get the face right. It got confused with Woody Woodpecker in my mind. The game #58 lead up is still in my mind though, and I'm half expecting Trent to open the game with something completely different...