Here are some more notes that I have blantently stole from someone else using my old friends Mr.Copy and Mr.Paste.___________________
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Author - Snap
So, Roleclaiming. What is it, why is it done and when should you do it?Well, I'm going to try to take you through these questions, and give you some insight on the way.
The most basic type of roleclaiming, in a generic game, is simply that: "I'm a cop," "I'm a vigilante," "I'm a regular townie." Note that this doesn't necessarily mean the person isn't lying. For instance, a mafia goon's not going to tell you that, and it's very easy for someone like a serial killer to claim to be a vigilante, so always be careful. If you can find a way to test someone's claim, even better. Some games have a Role Cop, a powerful cop variant that can find out exactly what someone's role is, rather than just their innocence, but you may be able to find other ways. So always take claims with a pinch of salt.
The second type of roleclaiming only appears in themed games, and is actually role name claiming. Now, while there's a lot less given away from a character's name, a clever person can often still deduce things from it. In my Lord of the Rings game, for instance, once it was known that Frodo and Samwise Gangee were members of a Mafia, it's a fairly good bet that Merry and Pippin will be in there too.
Once you know that Gimli is a mason, it's easy to figure out what powers Aragorn and Legolas have. In my Marvel game, a claim of Beast might give the Mafia a pretty big hint that you're a Doctor. These examples show that it's often a good idea to keep your role name a secret as well, especially if you have a power role or if you're in the Mafia. In a lot of games, the Mafia will stick out like a sore thumb.
For example, given the list: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Joker, Martian Manhunter, Robin, Supergirl, it's fairly easy to spot which one might be Mafia. For this reason, non-town roles will often be given one or more "safe claims" by the game moderator in their role PM. This is simply a list of role names that fit with the theme of the game, that no player has. This will allow them to appear innocent and, unless the game contains a role name cop, there's really no way of finding out.
So, with all these reasons against it, why should you ever roleclaim. Well, the reason is quite simple: saving your life. Very often in a Mafia game, someone will latch on to something they think is suspicious and start a voting bandwagon. This is fine, and is actually a good tactic as long as the bandwagon doesn't roll to completion without giving the prospective lyncheea chance to defend themselves (if it does, remember who cast the lynching vote, as there's a good chance they're Mafia).
It can take a lot of discipline, but try to let the bandwagon stop a couple of votes short of lynching, and give the player a chance to claim. Continue to argue your case against them, but remember that what you've picked up on as scummy may be a genuine error on their part, and you could be about to lynch your only doctor. Let them claim, then try to pick holes in their claim. Wait for a counterclaim. In a small game, it's unlikely that there'll be more than one Cop, or more than one Roleblocker, so see if someone else comes forward as one. If they do, it's likely (not guarenteed, but likely) that one of them is lying. You'll be on to a good bet lynching either one of them, and if the one you lynch is innocent, you've got a ready made target for the next day. If their claim is easily verifiable allow them to do so. If they're claiming cop, for instance, as for some results. If they're claiming roleblocker, think about giving them a night to block someone, or find out if they've blocked anyone already. If they have, and that person can verify they've been blocked, then they're probably innocent. There's many more tricks that I'm sure you'll work out. The most important things is that if you're looking for a full roleclaim, don't just accept a name-claim. "I'm Superman" tells you next to nothing. "I'm Superman, and my x-ray vision means I can watch someone at night and see who they target" is actually worthwhile. As I've said earlier, Mafia are often given safe roleclaims, so if all someone will tell you is their role-name and nothing more, you should be suspicious.
So when should roleclaiming be done. Some people advocate name-claiming from the beginning in a theme age. Personally, I'm not one of them. As I've said above, sometimes a lot of information can be gained from knowing someone's name, and the earlier you give this away, the more time you give your enemies to use it against you. My reccomendation would be to save your name claim until a bandwagon is beginning on you and claiming your name will help stop it. Never give away more information than you have to, so if claiming just your name will stop the bandwagon, then do it. Save claiming your role for much later, more like one or two votes away from being lynched. At any point before that there's a reasonable chance that someone else will slip up and a new bandwagon will begin on them, so claiming early means you've given away too much. Save it until the last minute, and get the most out of your secrecy.
Hope this is helpful in some way.
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This is more from a different Author though..Snap's covered a lot about why and how to roleclaim in the above post, but after reading a lot of posts on the game threads I think it's worth posting the other side.
Why should you be careful about roleclaiming?
An important thing to consider is who the Mafia wants dead. Obviously they want to get rid of the cops who can track them down, but their targets of choice, at least at first, are doctors. The doctors can protect the cops meaning that the Mafia can't eliminate them. The Mafia need everyone but themselves dead to win, and by stopping kills at night, doctors slow them down. Therefore, a very good early target for them is the doctor.
Roleclaiming means that everyone, both town and Mafia alike knows what you can do. While it may prevent you getting lynched by the town, it also means that the Mafia know how much of a threat you are to them and can decide how soon they need to kill you. This isn't necessarily too much of a problem if you're an important role that a doctor can protect, but if you're the doctor, the doctor roleclaims, or the doctor gets killed randomly, then you're in trouble. Roleclaiming as something that will hurt the Mafia effectively paints a big target on you and unless you're lucky enough to be protected.
On the other hand, roleclaiming as something that's going to be very bad for the Mafia can be a useful tool for the Mafia. The town wants their cops alive as they're important in finding the Mafia, so this could be a way to avoid being lynched. You also know who's in your Mafia so can pretend to have investigated people and inform the town who's innocent and who isn't. Be careful though. Smaller games are likely to only have one cop and if you claim to be the cop when you aren't, the real one is likely to be suspicious. Larger games may have multiple cops so you're less likely to be discovered, but if there's more than one Mafia, you're likely to make yourself a target for them.
What about role name claiming?
While this is irrelevent in some games, in theme games you're often given a character name. I've noticed that the first thing a lot of people seem to do is post their character name and insist that everyone else should too. This can be a bad idea. It's likely in a theme game that your role is linked to your character. For example in a Simpsons themed game it's pretty obvious that Chief Wiggum is a cop and Dr Hibbert is a doctor. While claiming as a character name doesn't tell people what your role is, it can often give them enough information to work it out especially if they're familiar with the theme.
People often forget that Mafia was originally a psychology experiment and not a roleplaying game. Remember that you don't need to roleplay as your character or indeed even give away who your character is, and it's often safer not to. You don't want to give important information to the scum by carelessly telling everyone who you are unless your characters role could be anything.
Another important thing to think about on the subject of roleclaiming in theme games is the fact that Mafia are generally given safe claims. These are given for a good reason as the Mafia will often be interconnected and the obvious characters for the job. For examaple, again in a Simpsons game, Fat Tony is almost certainly going to be the Godfather
, or in a WWE game, if Bubba-Ray Dudley turns out to be scum then the rest of the Dudley Boys are probably going to be too. These safe roles are given so the Mafia can join in with the name claiming safely without duplicating someone or it being obvious who they are. This means that you often can't go on names to work out who's guilty and who's innocent so there's not a lot of point in everyone posting their name unless either the Mafia slip up and don't use their safe claim or change their claim, or you're Mafia and want people to give away their roles so you know who the cops and doctors are.
To summarise:
Roleclaiming too early often paints a big target on you
Your character name is a big clue to what you can do
Doctors should think very very carefully about giving away who they are
Just because someone says that they're a particular character or role doesn't mean they are
