Glossary

There are a handful of terms used by this group that may confuse new players when they crop up.

[edit] Terms

Bastard: Mafia game that violates, in one or more ways, the typical understood paradigms Mafia is supposed to operate within. Sometimes the bastardity arises in a game that is unbalanced, sometimes it arises in the mod lying to you, sometimes it arises in the way the roles interplay with each other, etc. However, one thing about bastard games is that the gimmicks are still consistent. It's not carte blanche for the mod to do whatever he wants. There is a framework the mod adheres to, and the bastard setup should be explainable and discoverable. Otherwise, the mod's just being an asshole. That being said, part of the game in bastard mafia is figuring out what makes it bastard.

Closed Setup: When nothing about the game other than color is revealed to the players prior to the game start.

EBWOP: "Edited By Way of Posting", used to preface an edit of a previous statement. See also NETA.

Forbidden Thread: A forbidden thread is a thread "outside" of the game threads in which spectators and dead players can talk about what is going on in the game. The name comes from the fact that it is forbidden for living players to view the thread, as it may contain spoilers. Usually, a game will have two forbidden threads: one that does not contain spoilers that is visible to everyone, and one that contains spoilers that is hidden unless you are given the password by the game's moderator. Suburban Plankton coined this phrase during the pre-game chatter for M2.

FOS: "Finger of Suspicion", used when a player wants to state their feelings about a player without dropping a vote. As Storyteller once put it "Imagine [a player] pointing at you, while thunder claps in the background."

Gastard: In a previous game (Arkham Asylum), Drain Bead, a Do-Gooder (that game's version of scum), had a cover role with a post restriction so that she had to replace every "b" with a "g". I'm sure you can figure out the rest.

JSP: The abbreviation for JSexton Points. Sometimes in role design roles will be talked about in terms of JSP.

Magic Bag: Claiming that one has information that could be relevant to the game, but cannot / will not reveal it until aa later time or a certain usually unspecified event has occurred. Examples are statements such as, "I have information that will be relevant after the next Lynch..." Usually seen as anti-town.

Meta-Gaming: Talk that has to do with the set up or other aspects of the game rather than what happens in game itself.

NETA: "Not Edited to Add", used to preface an edit of a previous statement. See also EBWOP.

OMGUS: Literally stands for "Oh My God You SUCK" and generally refers to a player placing a vote simply because they have received a vote from another player. OMGUS votes are typically frowned upon as being generally unhelpful to the town.

Open Setup: When the number and types of each role in the game is announced in advance.

PIS: Perfect Information Syndrome. When someone appears to know something that isn't public knowledge, or appears certain of something they shouldn't be.

Post Restriction: A player with a post restriction must fulfill certain requirements when posting to the message board. The post restriction may be a word included with each post, or a player may only post votes, or whatever the moderator determines to be fun. These are usually not inhibitory to playing the game, but may be noticeable to the other players. Post restrictions may be positive (special powers are granted when the player keeps to the PR) or negative (consequences if the player fails to follow the PR).

Semi-Open Setup: Some parts of the setup are announced in advance while other parts of the setup are hidden. Typically the role descriptions are publicly available, but the distribution of the roles is not or the roles have hidden powers.

Soft claim: Making a statement that the player has "a Power Role", without actually saying what that role is. Generally seen as either anti-town or useless, as anyone can claim to have a Power Role without fear of being contradicted.

Smudge: 1) Making a mild or vague accusatory statement about a specific player but not using that statement in a case that results in a vote for that player.; 2) Making a mild or vague accusatory statement about a general class of players (low-post count, players who let a cycle end without putting down a vote).

Swing: 1)When used in talk of game design, it means an unstable game element that could potentially drastically change the balance of the game as a whole depending on several random factors.; 2) When used in talk of voting, it means a change in a vote or votes that results in one person dropping out of the lead and another person taking over that place. It can refer to one vote (i.e., the vote that caused the lynch to swing from Player X to Player Y) or to a series of votes. (i.e., maybe people unvoting and/or voting a specific person causing the lynch leader to change.)

WIFOM: Wine in Front of Me: When one plays a guessing game with info they don't know about that could go either way. Example: "Scum could have killed this player off because of this reason. Or they could have killed them off for that reason. Or maybe they did it to make us think it was this reason but it was really that reason." Comes from the The Princess Bride movie scene where Vizzini is trying to figure out what cup Westley put the poison in.

WoW: Wall of Words: When a player posts an in-depth look at another player's (or even their own) posts along with quotes, summaries, and analysis as necessary.