I've done some research into the previous game, like any good friendless loser with a lot of time on his hands. I analyzed the Trapped in Taormina game and spent time studying the story and who the eventual baddies were. This game will be undoubtedly different, but like any good sequel, bears familiar elements from the first. Here's my pre-game analysis.
Bernard, Juliette's brother from previous mafia.
He was sort of a serial killer, the scourge of Taormina. He was all about protecting Juliette and now she's dead. He was played by Mithrandir last time. He's bent on revenge, dressed in black, grins a lot, and wants Manfredo dead. He's willing to kill all of us to make that happen. His niece Isabelle seems to have a similar role as Bernard did from the previous game, she's obsessed with her own family member and is in love with him. She's probably just as dangerous, and if the pattern holds, even more so. It seems doubtful that if the wacko Bernard manages to kill Manfredo, he will stop killing townies and join us. I am almost totally convinced that Bernard is our main enemy, and that Isabelle may be even more terrifyingly dangerous.
Isabelle is perhaps dressed as a common female tourist, and as such may be detectable in the writeups as a female. However, it's also possible that investigations of her will fail. She will be obsessively protective of her uncle, and may try to kill anyone who votes for the player who has the Bernard role. She MAY NOT be able to kill people who have not yet voted for Bernard, as that was the handicap in the previous game.
Andres seems to leave small clues in his writeups, like a man who always grins or a person who smokes and wears a fedora. Also it seems as though wounds from other kills are mentioned when the killer strikes again, and so on.
Manfredo retired, but was then hired by the Carelli crime family and thus should not be trusted completely. He was played by PrivateerKev last time. He's a dangerous assassin and his allegiance may be anti-town, but also may simply want to survive as his winning condition. Therefore, for the moment, his goals and town's goals may be compatible. We could possibly work together to eliminate Bernard and Isabelle. Manfredo may have been the bad guy in the previous game, but Bernard is his enemy and he is definitely NOT our friend. We have a common foe, and I have a feeling Manfredo is not the main enemy of this game, so to make the sequel not a carbon copy of the first.
Gunner and Fehrad seem to be part of a mafia crime family, transporting drugs or weapons or some other hidden item. They will be interested in staying alive, and possibly eliminating their rivals and the town. They may want to hire Manfredo, and they may also try to control Bernard in order to gain some kind of advantage. However, because these are new characters who may be mafia, I doubt that their goals and ours are compatible. I believe there will be several different mafia/serial-killer/anti-town families, and Gunner and Fehrad make up the basic starting bloc of one of those families.
Secret roles: If its anything like the previous game, there could be Yakuza, so watch out. Gunner and Fehrad do not sound like they are Yakuza, and so any Yakuza may be their enemies. Since Gunner and Fehrad do not seem to have compatible goals with town, we may find an unlikely temporary ally with the Yakuza, if there are any. Of course, someone may claim to be Yakuza when there really is no such organization in this game, so I would be highly suspect of anyone claiming to be Yakuza. There will probably also be unaffiliated mafia wannabes who will not be aware that they CAN be recruited by a mafia family in their writeups, like the last game. Investigations may reveal who these people are, and to be safe, we may want to lynch them too, to be sure they never make good on their murderous fantasies.
I am certain there is an
investigator in this game, but it's
not one of the main characters. I have no idea who that person is, and I'd rather not know. My townie groups have been infiltrated before, so taking
Seireikhaan's advice I'm giving that a rest for now. I strongly suggest the investigator not reveal to anyone, not even people they investigated unless their investigation is 100% effective in all cases, as in the previous game a townie group's private messages got two town power roles murdered.
In the initial writeups,
Manfredo looked at the people around him and sighed. I would suggest he needs our help. Perhaps Andres was not directly implying this, but from a writer's standpoint, we are supposed to be sympathetic towards Manfredo's plight and it does not appear as though his goal is to murder everyone. He's old, he's got his oodles of money and pretty half-naked women, and he's finally able to enjoy the remainder of his life and retire. Manfredo is our unlikely "hero" perhaps. He could have powers and abilities which may be helpful incidentally to town, were we to join together.
I also leave open the possibility that Manfredo may have incompatible goals and may need to die, and also that Andres may make him more anti-town just to vex me for attempting to be a smarty pants, but I also tend to doubt he'd alter the game solely because I hit close to home. For now, I consider Manfredo a potential ally, or at worst neutral to us. Further clues may reverse that analysis.
This game is likely to start with a night phase, unfortunately, if it's like the last one. So, tootles to the unlucky who never get to vote. If I am one of them, I have only this to say: If you destroy me I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.
Breaking the rules in this game will probably result in being WOG'ed, so
don't mess with them. I will
any townies after the game that get themselves WOG'ed, suicide, or otherwise commit the crime of being a "bad townie". The rules are there for a reason, to keep the gameplay fair to all parties, and some players will have secret information that will unbalance and ruin the game if pms get quoted anywhere but in public. For that reason, plus the fact that its in the rules, I won't bother asking for a mass reveal at any point. The PMs will be forged anyway, so it should be enough just to know what people's claimed role is, if and when we decide to make them all public.
I intend to stand back from my usual supertownie role, in part because the mafia tend to use my arguments as an effective cover and distraction for the first several rounds. Also, I grow weary of trying to shoulder everything, and if and when we lose, I'd like it to not be because of my bungling alone for a change. I also won't be calling for everyone to give me their information, as private reveals aren't allowed, and if I had a good role like that, being dead won't help me. So I am generally abandoning my strategy (for this game) that I had during the Family Guy mafia and the Lunar Whale mafia. However, I will be engaging people if I can, because as you may remember I am pretty good at rooting out the mafia, even in the games I lost I nailed every single one of them by good reasoning and high suspicion and simply failed to follow through because some people are good at manipulating me. I don't intend to monopolize discussion in this game, to give others a chance to step up to the plate. Many of you have far more actual gameplay experience than me anyway, especially you old timer veterans. I'm learning, though.
I have not received my role PM yet (as I gather none of you have either) and I have no idea what my alignment will be. I'm aware I'll probably be murdered or lynched in relatively short order, but I will pledge to contribute post-mortem as much as the rules allow. And I swear to you, if I am murdered quickly I will be merciless and relentless in harassing my potential attacker until he is brought to justice. I can be very dedicated if I need to be... almost stalkerish.
I just recently tasted a humiliating defeat, so I have a chip on my shoulder, as you may have gathered from this pre-game analysis. Nevermind wasting the first round, I don't intend to waste the pre-game period. The only thing that will satisfy my bloodlust is a pile of dead mafia. Every living townie is another potential turn that we have between us and failure. Take your role seriously, even if you have no role. Unless of course you're anti-town, in which case, go and choke on the barrel of a gun while you gently squeeze the trigger.
I also am developing a secret weapon for use in mafia games which should make me a far more dangerous opponent as either a townie or a mafia. It's not even close to finished yet, and I frankly do not want to reveal all my secrets. Hopefully it should be finished by the time this game is over, and if I can talk after I am dead, I will give my educated guess as to who the mafia is.
Yak yak yak, right? Well once the game starts I will not be monopolizing the discussion as I have been. Mafia do use that to hide. So I'm blending in from now on, no matter who's team I am on, understood?
That's all for now. This game looks like it will be really good, because the previous one was amazingly awesome. I have great respect for one...
Sasaki Kojiro. Not to mention a virginal
PrivateerKev winning a major mafia game on his first try.
Re: The Scourge of Ephesus (SIGN UPS)
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Originally Posted by Askthepizzaguy
Runs off to re-read the game rules
ruthlessly 
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