"Fixing" Random Roles?

[soundman]

So I got to thinking about this after my first modded mafia game. I bring this up because in my first modded game one of the new players got a power role and ended up making a noob mistake that cost the town another power role. This inexperience obviously can make for an unbalanced/not fun game. So my question is, does anyone make sure noob players do not get certain roles when they're given out? Why/why not?

I'm of the mind that everyone deserves the chance to have any of the roles and that even noob players can do well with important roles. Just wanted to know what others thought.

[MoB Deadly]

Random is Random, I don't think any mafia game should be centralized to one/two power roles where a noob can misplay it. Either way, you have to account for that role being killed on N1 or claiming D1 by random selection anyway, so its important that the faction can still win if it gets killed early.

[safariguy5]

Random is Random, I don't think any mafia game should be centralized to one/two power roles where a noob can misplay it. Either way, you have to account for that role being killed on N1 or claiming D1 by random selection anyway, so its important that the faction can still win if it gets killed early.

Yeah, power roles only help town, but it's still should be possible for town to win if they lose power roles. Otherwise, mafia is either too strong or town was too passive or didn't pick up on scumtells enough.

[zimmah]

just make your game idiotproof, don't make your whole game depend on 1 or 2 players.

[soundman]

just make your game idiotproof, don't make your whole game depend on 1 or 2 players.

I don't. All my games will always be (and have been) 100% random. Balanced so the lose of a few power roles won't screw the town (or mafia). I just wanted to know others thoughts of noobs getting powerful power roles.

[shieldgenerator7]

When I first started out, I wasn't aware we had to randomize roles. I just went down the list assigning roles. Silly me. I know better than that now tho.

[everywhere116]

You don't want people metaing who they think the moderator gave roles to. Having everything random is best. At the same time, you don't want the game to depend on a few powerful roles where it is likely to be a hit-or-miss situation. In the boardgames I design I call this a "coin-flip" mechanic, which is a mechanic that still leaves the game balanced (meaning still a 50-50 split with regards to which side wins) but is pretty much random and almost determines the game by itself.

[edocsil]

Docs, Serial Killers (not cops, cops are fairly easy to play) and other particularly unique roles I try to avoid giving to rookies. That being said, for the past 6 months or so I have been running the Golden Pantheon and there are no real gross rookies and all the roles are non vanilla so they are pretty much random. Random.org is good for 90% of the time, but if things are really badly stacked I'll play with the balance a bit.

[strike wolf]

Rookies don't get good roles...I imagine the number of veterans killed night 1 would start to increase even more than it is now.

[chapcrap]

No, you have to give everyone equal opportunity to get every role. If you don't, the balance of the game shifts and veterans stop playing because they get NK'ed before the game gets going.

[strike wolf]

No, you have to give everyone equal opportunity to get every role. If you don't, the balance of the game shifts and veterans stop playing because they get NK'ed before the game gets going.

The counter-strategy then becomes. protective roles target veterans night 1.

THe counter-counter-strategy is that mafia starts targeting newer users first because they know the veterans will be protected.

In the long run it becomes lose-lose for the mafia as strategies develop.

This is a simplification of course but it fits well enough.

[edocsil]

No, you have to give everyone equal opportunity to get every role. If you don't, the balance of the game shifts and veterans stop playing because they get NK'ed before the game gets going.

There is a reason I no longer play Risk here. Random sucks and will blow the balance way worse then Meta. It's like playing a doubles game with a ? and having them deadbeat right off the bat. There is a reason there are regulations about rookies joining advanced risk games here, and it should be no different in here.

Also, Docs should always Prot the good players N1, as the good guys are already a target from the mafia. They are the largest threat, the rookies can be herded more easily.