The North Atlantic Ocean, spring of 1717.

It’s a bit past the Golden Age of Piracy, when buccaneers ruled the seas and king’s ransoms of gold were looted and spent in a matter of weeks, but the window of opportunity for those who sail under no colors but their own is still open. The British are trying to slam that window shut by both ridding themselves of a menace and by breaking the morale of pirates everywhere.

At the start of the game, you will randomly be PM’d a role and its description. Once all roles are sent out, the game will begin. Pirate Ship Mafia will begin with a day phase, taking place immediately after the death of the original Captain as per the above story. Instead of voting to lynch someone on Day 1, the only decision made will be who will be the new Captain. Upon conclusion of that phase, the Captain will appoint his two Officers (see below) and Night 1 will begin. In every night phase, players will PM me their night orders which may vary. Starting Day 2, players will vote to lynch and, if applicable, commit mutiny. This night/day pattern will continue until the game concludes.

Night actions:
Players may do a variety of things at night, depending on their roles. There is always the option to rest up, but treasure is awarded for those who take a more active role at night. Many of the actions must be coordinated with other players in order to be successfully executed, similar to Capo.

For the standard able seaman of the Presence (this game’s version of the townie), the following actions may be performed at night:

Sleep (no treasure awarded)
Kill an individual (treasure awarded) – must form a group of at least 4 to kill any individual
Protect an individual (treasure awarded) – must form a group of at least 3 to protect any individual
Abandon ship - this is a new feature in the game which allows you to depart the Presence with all the treasure you have collected. Chances of success are not guaranteed, but if you do escape then you are assured of at least a minor victory. Note: this option not available to British agents.

Other roles may do more or complete the same tasks with less people. You may only perform ONE action per night, unless otherwise noted in your role PM.

When actively performing at night, in your orders PM you must send me the exact specifics: What you are doing, the name of every person who is doing it with you, and who you are doing it to. If there is miscommunication and the orders do not match up, they will not be executed. Not only will this deprive you of treasure, but it may also put you at risk of dying! Beware!

Example orders PM:

At the end of every night I will send feedback PMs detailing how successful you were at night. If the group failed, I will not reveal what exactly what went wrong. I will also let you know your current treasure count at the end of every night.

It is in your best interests to PM me every night with your orders. Active participation not only helps your team out, it also helps you individually. Not to mention the fact that it makes for a more exciting game! You will get two types of PMs from me: Role PM and feedback.

The Presence Able Seaman (townie) PM will be posted in the main thread shortly after the game begins, as will the skeleton feedback PM.

In addition, at any time, you may PM me with your Will. Wills, to be explained more later, dictate who some of your treasure goes to should you die.

Voting is your primary action in the day phases. Every day, aside from Day 1, you will be voting to lynch the person you think is guilty. Voting will be done in the usual style, like so:

Vote: GeneralHankerchief

Should you wish to change your vote, please do the following IN A NEW POST:

Unvote: GeneralHankerchief
Vote: TosaInu

You may also Vote: Abstain should you have no preference as to who is lynched. You may NOT vote “No Lynch”. All votes must be bolded and votes may not be edited. Should you edit your vote and not change it in a new post, you are faced with a loss of treasure and potentially, removal from play. The person with the most votes at the end of the day phase is lynched. Should there be a tie, the Captain and his two Officers will vote to determine who is lynched. Should there still be a tie (say, if there are three players with the most votes and each Officer votes somebody different), the Captain’s vote gets lynched.

There will be at least one occasion in which you will vote to elect a Captain. The format for choosing a Captain is as follows:

Elect: GeneralHankerchief

Unelect: GeneralHankerchief
Elect: TosaInu

In addition, at any point in the day phase you may vote to mutiny. You may do this by adding in a Vote: Mutiny in with your normal vote. If over 50% of alive players vote to mutiny, the Captain is lynched along with whoever has the most votes, and instead of proceeding to night, a new Captain selection process follows. If the vote is tied, the status quo remains.

Should you decide you don’t want to mutiny, you may simply write in Unvote: Mutiny at any time in the day phase. There are no official consequences for participating in a failed mutiny, but the Captain will almost surely remember those who were not loyal to him. A successful mutiny results in treasure gained for all those who voted for the mutiny.

Unlike in Capo, there is a set amount of factions: 3. However, it is possible to switch allegiances in the middle of the game. Pirate Ship Mafia is designed for 50 players and any starting numbers assume that amount.

The crew of the Presence: The main faction of Pirate Ship Mafia. Having just engineered a wildly successful raid on Charleston, they are heading home to Nassau and just trying to get back alive. They have two enemies on their ship: The British agents, determined to destroy them in the name of the Crown, and the saboteurs from the rival pirate ship Maven, determined to take the treasure for themselves. Of course, if all trust is lost and vigilante justice becomes common, they themselves could be their greatest enemy.
Primary goal: Elimination of all starting British Agents and Maven saboteurs.
Secondary goal (individual): obtain the most treasure. Assuming a Presence victory, the player with the most gold will be considered the true winner of Pirate Ship Mafia and get an awesome write-up at the end of the game. The more treasure you accumulate, the better off your write-up will be.

British agents (starts with 3 players): One of the two villains in the tale. Operating with only three agents , the odds would appear stacked against them. However, the British agents can work to determine which members of the crew are susceptible to their influence, and eventually, offer them a Letter of Marque. Letters of Marque allow Presence crewmen to switch over and let the British numbers grow. Agents can, of course, kill as well.
Primary goal: Elimination of every non-British affiliated person on board, survival of at least one original agent.
Secondary goal: N/A (treasure not a motivational factor).

Saboteurs from the Maven (starts with 3 players): Jealous pirates that have always rivaled the Presence. The Powers That Be on the Maven have decided that the haul from Charleston was just too much to let go without making a try at it. They too have sent three agents on board the ship who can work and try to get some Presence crewmen to defect to their side. However, they, unlike the British, cannot offer Letters of Marque, and thus must tempt their targets with gold. The Maven saboteurs may, at any time, unanimously vote to leave the ship with the current gold, but they must be careful to get enough – otherwise their captain will be mad and his anger will be reflected in the final write-up. Saboteurs may kill at night as well.
Primary goal: Accumulation of the most treasure possible/survival of at least one original saboteur.
Secondary goal: Elimination of every non-Maven affiliated person on board.

I am going to quote from Seamus Fermanagh’s rules from Capo II on this one, with a few edits:

Once again stolen from Seamus - along with half of this game's rules.

Crew of the Presence:

Able Seaman
The standard Townie of Pirate Ship Mafia. Able Seamen have no special powers but may form groups of 4 and 3 to kill or protect a target, respectively. Their goals are to rid of the Presence of its many threats and get enough treasure to have a rousing good time back on land. Some Able Seamen may be susceptible to offers of Letters of Marque or promises of even greater treasure from the Maven. Players will not know how susceptible they are to either.

Steward
A position of moderate power on the ship, in this game the Steward is responsible for the crew’s well-being. A Steward acts as your standard Doctor, being able to protect people on certain nights. They will be able to thwart normal villain two-person kill teams and town four-person teams, but should either group attack with more than the minimum amount of people required, the Steward’s chance of success diminishes and may even die in a protection attempt. The exact percentages will be given out in the role PM.

Watchstander
As evidenced by the title, the Watchstander’s job is to stand watch every night. The Watchstander may investigate two persons every night and get a general idea of their activity at night. A second investigation will reveal susceptibility to treasure and/or Letters of Marque, and a third will reveal the person’s true affiliation and a list of all of their activities up to that point.

Elected/Appointed Roles:

Neither the Captain nor his Officers can switch sides for as long as they hold their offices.

Captain
The Captain is elected by the crew on Day 1 and will remain Captain unless he is removed by a mutiny. This is a position of extreme power in that the Captain gets a set salary of treasure every turn he is Captain without having to actively do anything. Most importantly, the Captain gets to appoint his two Officers, the First Mate and Quartermaster, who, if loyal, can represent the greatest threat to the enemies of the Presence. The Captain cannot be killed at night but may take part in nighttime activities. The Captain has no vote unless there is a tie (see above), however, activity treasure is still given to him for posting in the day phase.

First Mate
The Captain names his First Mate to me privately before the Day 1 voting phase is over when it appears that he has a legitimate chance of becoming Captain. The First Mate can be replaced at will at anytime either by PM (preferred) or posting in the thread. Changes in officer position will take effect at the end of the phase, day or night. The First Mate is the Captain’s right-hand man on the ship and may individually kill one person or investigate two persons per night. Attempts on his life at night have a 50% chance of failure, regardless of numbers used against him. The First Mate also collects a salary for his efforts.

Quartermaster
The Captain names his Quartermaster to me privately before the Day 1 voting phase is over when it appears that he has a legitimate chance of becoming Captain. The Quartermaster can be replaced at will at anytime either by PM (preferred) or posting in the thread. Changes in officer position will take effect at the end of the phase, day or night. The Quartermaster is in charge of discipline on the ship and may individually protect or block one person from committing an action per night. Attempts on his life at night have a 50% chance of failure, regardless of numbers used against him. The Quartermaster also collects a salary for his efforts.

British agents:

British Special Officer (1)
The Godfather of sorts for the British agents. The British Special Officer is the only one out of the three starting agents that can determine susceptibility to Letters of Marque among the crew of the Presence. He may investigate two persons per night to find out how susceptible they are in addition to sharing the same powers as the British Lieutenants, described below. The British Special Officer is extremely important to the British cause, as without him, the British agents take a huge risk whenever they offer Letters of Marque to uninvestigated targets.

British Lieutenant (2)
The British Lieutenant, working in pairs, may kill any one target at night. In addition, a Lieutenant acting alone may offer a Letter of Marque to any one target at night. Should that person be susceptible to Letters of Marque, he immediately joins the crew as a British Convert (below). Should he not be susceptible, the British agent who offered the Letter of Marque has a chance of being discovered (percentages vary from player to player, power roles have a better chance of discovering who offered Letters of Marque to them). If only one British Lieutenant remains and there are no British Converts, the British Lieutenant may kill on his own. Treasure is not a motivational factor to any of the British.

British Convert
Individuals who have accepted offers of Letters of Marque become British Converts, who immediately obtain the same powers as British Lieutenants. However, at least one original British Lieutenant or the British Special Officer is required to survive the game – should all three original agents be killed, all British Converts will immediately commit suicide out of shame for abandoning their original comrades.

Maven saboteurs:

All Maven saboteurs, whether original or converted, may at any time privately vote to leave the ship with the treasure they have collected and, essentially, end the game for all involved. However, they must leave with a sufficient amount of treasure or otherwise they will be punished by their Captain in the final writeup. Further mechanics of this will be discussed upon request from Maven saboteurs.

Maven Crewman (3)
Unlike the British, the Maven crewmen have no distinction between each other and all three original crewmen share the same powers. Every night, one of the three (and only one, though this may alternate) may investigate one individual to find out how susceptible to treasure. The other two may team up and kill one person per night. The Maven crewmen cannot begin converting people over to their side until one of them is the active leader in treasure accumulated (will be made clear in a PM).

If one of them is the active leader in treasure accumulated, at night, any amount of members of the team may go around at night offering Presence sailors the opportunity to switch. If the sailor is question is susceptible to treasure, he will immediately switch and become a Maven Convert (below). Should he not be susceptible, the crewman who offered the opportunity to switch has a chance of being discovered (percentages vary from player to player, power roles have a better chance of discovering who offered the opportunity to switch to them). If only one original Maven crewman remains and there are no Maven Converts, the Maven Crewman may kill on his own.

No treasure will be subtracted from the Maven’s stash upon successful conversion – it is the promise of further treasure that lures the Presence’s crewman in.

Maven Convert
Individuals who have accepted offers to switch crews become Maven Converts, who immediately obtain the same powers as Maven Crewmen. However, at least one original Maven Crewman is required to survive the game – should all three original saboteurs be killed, all Maven Converts will immediately commit suicide out of shame for abandoning their original comrades.

Secret role(s):

Naturally, any and all details about secret role(s) will remain secret. I will say that there will be at least one.

Treasure
The primary standout feature of Pirate Ship Mafia, the pursuit of treasure will significantly motivate you and guide your actions. Everyone starts out with 100 treasure and can accumulate more through various means. Unless you’re a British agent, the more treasure you have at the end of the game, the better off you’ll be. Treasure is disclosed privately to each individual at the beginning of every day phase.

The list of actions you can take and the amount of treasure accumulated for each is below:

Wills
Players may privately message me at any time, saying, in the event of their death, who their treasure goes to. Players may not donate more than 50 of their treasure total – the remainder stays to their name. Players may divide up their 50 to multiple persons if they wish or choose not to have a Will at all. A Will may be changed at any time and must be sent to me (or updated) at least 3 hours prior to the individual’s death to be considered valid.

Legalese regarding wills:
A player is considered “dead” at the exact minute I first post his death in a public thread, either the main game thread or the game’s story/reference thread.

For example, let’s say Player X’s original will was as follows:

...but then at 13:00 he changed it to:

Let’s say that I first posted Player X’s death at 15:59 that day. If this was the case, GeneralHankerchief would get the 50 treasure. If I waited one minute later and posted the death at 16:00, 3 hours would have passed and TosaInu would have gotten the treasure.