Hotline Mafia | Mafia host test game

Mafia Host — Day 1

Day 1 has begun.

There are 6 players alive. The base elimination threshold is 4. Configured role modifiers may change vote power or an individual player's threshold.

Phase deadline: Wed, 05 Aug 2026 23:00:04 GMT.

here we go again

VTL: whiteflame

Test

Automated Vote Count

This system-generated vote count was posted on behalf of the main host.

whiteflame (1/4): awesome5000 (p#4)

Not Voting (5): whiteflame, Thoth, Hyper, Casey_Risk, Mag1cman

With 6 players alive, the base elimination threshold is 4. Configured role modifiers may change vote power or an individual player's threshold. Day phase ends in 2 days.

Checking in, busy at work right now. Probably won't be very active until tomorrow

Nice to meet you all. This is my first game in a few years, but I'm decently experienced. A few things to note about the setup:

1. Scum are heavily incentivized to quickhammer, since they can kill the scum player that made the hammer as well as the town player that wasn't voting for the elimination. As such, be cautious of putting someone at E - 1.
2. Assuming no bussing, every town player needs to agree on a scum suspect to secure an successful elimination.
3. Town's greatest problem during Day 1 is probably the time limit. Keeping #2 in mind, even a single town player hesitating for too long can be enough to sink an otherwise successful elimination. While activity is always important, the town-scum ratios here make it especially crucial.

I have a slight townlean on awesome5000; the introduction and vote aren't particularly alignment indicative by themselves, but keeping their vote on whiteflame afterwards reads like they lack scummy self-awareness. I'd expect a scum player to quickly unvote after making a vote they specifically call a "test".

Casey's entrance doesn't evoke any particular feelings in me; looking at their last game (Period Table of Elements Mafia), they made a similar post as town.

Why did no one ping me?

Honestly, forgot this was happening today and didn't get a ping, glad I suddenly remembered before I called it a night.

Small but interesting group in this one. Odd way to balance the game regardless of that first lynch. If scum get lynched first, we skip the NP, so... scum lose out on an NK? I don't get that, seems to just dig their hole deeper since there are no other night actions. The other caveat makes a little more sense at least, otherwise the game could just end NP1 with scum reaching parity on their first NK.

Originally Posted by Hyper on 8/3/2026 at 8:44 PM (post #7)

Nice to meet you all. This is my first game in a few years, but I'm decently experienced. A few things to note about the setup:

Scum are heavily incentivized to quickhammer, since they can kill the scum player that made the hammer as well as the town player that wasn't voting for the elimination. As such, be cautious of putting someone at E - 1.

Assuming no bussing, every town player needs to agree on a scum suspect to secure an successful elimination.

Town's greatest problem during Day 1 is probably the time limit. Keeping #2 in mind, even a single town player hesitating for too long can be enough to sink an otherwise successful elimination. While activity is always important, the town-scum ratios here make it especially crucial.

Great to have you along for the ride this game, Hyper! Hope you'll join us for more in the future.

I agree on all these points. There is likely to be a good deal of disagreement on appropriate targets this game, which is going to make agreeing on an elimination target difficult, but I do think there's more value in that than not. I've got thoughts on the first of these that I'll keep to myself, but I do agree the incentive is there.

Originally Posted by Thoth on 8/3/2026 at 10:03 PM (post #9)

Why did no one ping me?

No one pinged any of us, and I just got here.

Originally Posted by awesome5000 on 8/3/2026 at 7:31 PM (post #4)

VTL: whiteflame

Test

So what value is there in doing this and then leaving the vote up? I get that it doesn't put me all that close to a lynch, but if your goal was to test the system, you got your answer.

Originally Posted by Hyper on 8/3/2026 at 8:51 PM (post #8)

I have a slight townlean on awesome5000; the introduction and vote aren't particularly alignment indicative by themselves, but keeping their vote on whiteflame afterwards reads like they lack scummy self-awareness. I'd expect a scum player to quickly unvote after making a vote they specifically call a "test".

Can't say I read much into awesome's test vote, personally, though I can see where you're drawing that conclusion from.

Alright, I will try to be active tomorrow, just be aware I'll be traveling for a good portion of the day so my activity may be intermittent.

Originally Posted by whiteflame on 8/3/2026 at 8:07 PM (post #10)

Honestly, forgot this was happening today and didn't get a ping, glad I suddenly remembered before I called it a night.

Small but interesting group in this one. Odd way to balance the game regardless of that first lynch. If scum get lynched first, we skip the NP, so... scum lose out on an NK? I don't get that, seems to just dig their hole deeper since there are no other night actions. The other caveat makes a little more sense at least, otherwise the game could just end NP1 with scum reaching parity on their first NK.

Since a scum player is dying either way during the first day-night cycle (whether by elimination or friendly fire), scum are more incentivized to bus than normal. Losing the nightkill is presumably a way to balance that out.

Originally Posted by whiteflame on 8/3/2026 at 8:11 PM (post #11)

Originally Posted by Hyper on 8/3/2026 at 8:44 PM (post #7)

Nice to meet you all. This is my first game in a few years, but I'm decently experienced. A few things to note about the setup:

Scum are heavily incentivized to quickhammer, since they can kill the scum player that made the hammer as well as the town player that wasn't voting for the elimination. As such, be cautious of putting someone at E - 1.

Assuming no bussing, every town player needs to agree on a scum suspect to secure an successful elimination.

Town's greatest problem during Day 1 is probably the time limit. Keeping #2 in mind, even a single town player hesitating for too long can be enough to sink an otherwise successful elimination. While activity is always important, the town-scum ratios here make it especially crucial.

Great to have you along for the ride this game, Hyper! Hope you'll join us for more in the future.

I agree on all these points. There is likely to be a good deal of disagreement on appropriate targets this game, which is going to make agreeing on an elimination target difficult, but I do think there's more value in that than not. I've got thoughts on the first of these that I'll keep to myself, but I do agree the incentive is there.

I hope so as well, thanks. I'm curious, is there any reason to hold your thoughts about the first point? Since quickhammering is a strategy that only scum can do (and thus, town should be prepared for), then it doesn't seem like there'd be much harm in discussing mechanics in that regard.

I'm somewhat inclined to just take #13 and #14 as towny at face value; the transition from a direct question to Awesome5000, to an "agree-to-disagree" type post to me, is indicative of already having some level of internalized reads. There is the alternative explanation that Awesome5000/whiteflame are soft distancing as S/S, but that feels less likely off whiteflame's lack of attempt to push me on my townread on the former.

VTL: Mag1cman

Thoth's entrance was okay, I suppose.

Automated Vote Count

This system-generated vote count was posted on behalf of the main host.

Mag1cman (1/4): Hyper (p#19)

whiteflame (1/4): awesome5000 (p#4)

Not Voting (4): whiteflame, Thoth, Casey_Risk, Mag1cman

With 6 players alive, the base elimination threshold is 4. Configured role modifiers may change vote power or an individual player's threshold. Day phase ends in 1 day, 19 hours.

Originally Posted by Hyper on 8/3/2026 at 11:33 PM (post #16)

Originally Posted by whiteflame on 8/3/2026 at 8:07 PM (post #10)

Honestly, forgot this was happening today and didn't get a ping, glad I suddenly remembered before I called it a night.

Small but interesting group in this one. Odd way to balance the game regardless of that first lynch. If scum get lynched first, we skip the NP, so... scum lose out on an NK? I don't get that, seems to just dig their hole deeper since there are no other night actions. The other caveat makes a little more sense at least, otherwise the game could just end NP1 with scum reaching parity on their first NK.

Since a scum player is dying either way during the first day-night cycle (whether by elimination or friendly fire), scum are more incentivized to bus than normal. Losing the nightkill is presumably a way to balance that out.

Maybe so, though I think placing scum at a 1-4 deficit seems a little much. I get that 1-3 is MYLO, but since a mislynch effectively places us at automatic LYLO, that just seems to make things a lot harder for scum than I'd think is reasonable.

I hope so as well, thanks. I'm curious, is there any reason to hold your thoughts about the first point? Since quickhammering is a strategy that only scum can do (and thus, town should be prepared for), then it doesn't seem like there'd be much harm in discussing mechanics in that regard.

In the event of a quickhammer, I've got some thoughts on how I would direct my focus. Revealing that thought process would give scum more insight than I'd prefer to provide at this juncture.

I'm somewhat inclined to just take #13 and #14 as towny at face value; the transition from a direct question to Awesome5000, to an "agree-to-disagree" type post to me, is indicative of already having some level of internalized reads. There is the alternative explanation that Awesome5000/whiteflame are soft distancing as S/S, but that feels less likely off whiteflame's lack of attempt to push me on my townread on the former.

Mostly has to do with my admittedly limited experience with awesome in previous games. Not terribly unusual for him to vanish at weird points for long stretches of time, particularly after casting a vote. This one just seems particularly throw-away.

Alright, now I'm really going to bed.

Maybe so, though I think placing scum at a 1-4 deficit seems a little much. I get that 1-3 is MYLO, but since a mislynch effectively places us at automatic LYLO, that just seems to make things a lot harder for scum than I'd think is reasonable.

It effectively gives town an extra miselimination to work with, which is nice (since in most games town only gets a fixed number of miseliminations). If it wasn't for that, then scum would pretty much always bus on Day 1 to reach the same final-three situation with a better position.

In the event of a quickhammer, I've got some thoughts on how I would direct my focus. Revealing that thought process would give scum more insight than I'd prefer to provide at this juncture.

That's a fair explanation.

Mostly has to do with my admittedly limited experience with awesome in previous games. Not terribly unusual for him to vanish at weird points for long stretches of time, particularly after casting a vote. This one just seems particularly throw-away.

What was his alignment in those games?

I don't see the point of skipping night 1 if a Mafioso is lynched today. Seems to me like that would make the game too swingy, and that, if anything, night 1 should be skipped if a townie is lynched.

I feel a deep, instinctive, visceral revulsion towards games that are not full of power roles, but it's probably for the best that I play some because I think reading behavior is both the most important aspect of Mafia and the one I am worst at.

This setup still seems to me like the winner is determined purely by RNG, but I suppose that intricate game design is none too important for a test of the host dashboard.

Nice to meet you. My Blood on the Clocktower game could use another player.

Posted by Hyper on 8/3/2026 at 7:44 PM (post #7)

As such, be cautious of putting someone at E - 1.

I take it they don't say lynch wherever you came from.

Lest you remain unpinged

Someone needs to explain to me how and why this setup behooves any strategy other than rolling the dice and praying to RNGesus.

Automated Vote Count

This system-generated vote count was posted on behalf of the main host.

Mag1cman (1/4): Hyper (p#19)

whiteflame (1/4): awesome5000 (p#4)

Not Voting (4): whiteflame, Thoth, Casey_Risk, Mag1cman

With 6 players alive, the base elimination threshold is 4. Configured role modifiers may change vote power or an individual player's threshold. Day phase ends in 1 day, 13 hours.

Originally Posted by Hyper on 8/4/2026 at 12:37 AM (post #22)

Maybe so, though I think placing scum at a 1-4 deficit seems a little much. I get that 1-3 is MYLO, but since a mislynch effectively places us at automatic LYLO, that just seems to make things a lot harder for scum than I'd think is reasonable.

It effectively gives town an extra miselimination to work with, which is nice (since in most games town only gets a fixed number of miseliminations). If it wasn't for that, then scum would pretty much always bus on Day 1 to reach the same final-three situation with a better position.

Fair point. It does at least change the dynamics of the game. I don't want to harp on this too much because it's a game mechanic that is in place regardless of how we think it balances. Still, I appreciate the insight.

In the event of a quickhammer, I've got some thoughts on how I would direct my focus. Revealing that thought process would give scum more insight than I'd prefer to provide at this juncture.

That's a fair explanation.

I'll come back to this next DP, assuming I'm still alive to talk about it.

Mostly has to do with my admittedly limited experience with awesome in previous games. Not terribly unusual for him to vanish at weird points for long stretches of time, particularly after casting a vote. This one just seems particularly throw-away.

What was his alignment in those games?

So the most recent one I can bring up is the Solo Leveling game, in which he was town. He has generally made a habit of providing at least a little reasoning in previous games for his votes, like in the 1990s-2000s Nostalgia game, but Awesome also just hasn't been in a lot of games, and I don't believe he's ever been scum. I just don't have a good frame of reference for his scum play. Posting a test vote does little to inform if he's off his usual playstyle, especially since the voting system for mafia has changed in his absence and he's kicking the tires a bit.