The following is a list of terms commonly used in Mafia. It was originally compiled by
@PMJ, and has been copied here to the Mafia Master Document thread for easy access. This list is not all-inclusive; if you have a term that you feel should be added, post it in this thread.
Active Lurking - Verb. Posting makes you seem town, as you look as though you are contributing. However, if your posts contain little relevance to the game, it is called
active lurking and is seen as a scumtell.
Alignment - See
Faction.
Appeal to Emotion - When one player tries to influence another player's decision-making with their own emotions, i.e. "If you eliminate me, it will be a huge loss to the town" or "Go ahead and eliminate me and see what happens
"
AtE - See
Appeal to Emotion.
Backpedaling - Verb. When a player goes back on something said previously; also refers to when a player suddenly stops scumhunting.
Bandwagon - Verb. What happens when one player posts an elimination vote and the town follows suit, with no one else posting any supporting evidence.
Blitz - Noun. A rapid vote, usually a hammer, typically employed by scum in MELO or ELO situations to quickly eliminate someone if a townie has a bad vote already placed. A blitz can be done in ELO with 1 wrong town vote, and at MELO with 2 wrong town votes.
Bulletproof - Adjective. Describes any player who is immune to being killed at night. Refers to a bulletproof vest, as in standard mafia flavor, the player chosen to die is shot with a gun.
Bus - Verb. Taken from the phrase, thrown under the bus, this is when any scum team member tries to gain the trust of the town by stabbing his teammate in the back. Usually they will support their scumpartner's elimination, but it isn't unheard of for one scum to lead the elimination against another. This is why you cannot assume someone who leads the elimination against someone who flips scum is town.
CC - See
Counterclaim.
Claim - Verb. To publicly assume a given role as your own. Lying about your claim is known as a
fakeclaim. The word is also used as a noun to refer to whatever role you claimed.
Clear - Adjective. Refers to any player who is proven, through logical deduction, to be town. Typically, if you claim a role and are not counterclaimed, you are seen as clear, although clearing players via this method is not foolproof.
Cop - A player who can investigate another player's alignment.
Counterclaim - Verb. The act of claiming a role someone has already claimed.
Day - Noun. The game state in which the game thread is open for discussion and players vote for a player to be eliminated. Each Day ends at a specific date and time which is determined by the game host.
Day is also used as an adjective to describe any role which can be used during the Day (as opposed to Night, which is when most roles take effect).
Death Scene - Noun. A post made by the game host describing the way in which a player died.
Deathproof - Adjective. Describes any player who, for whatever reason, cannot be eliminated nor die at night. If a player is only immune to eliminations, they are
limproof. If they can be eliminated but cannot die at night, they are
bulletproof.
E-X - Short for Elimination minus X, where X is the number of votes a given player needs to be eliminated, i.e. if you saw "
Machamp The Champion is at E-2" it would mean that Machamp The Champion is 2 votes away from being eliminated.
Eliminate All Liars - The belief that anyone caught in a lie should be eliminated since anyone aligned with the town has no reason to lie about their role.
Eliminate or Lose - A game state in which the town must elminate scum in order to avoid losing.
ELO - See
Eliminate or Lose.
Endgame - Verb. Used to describe the literal end of the game when the town loses. Because the scum control the elimination when they comprise half the remaining players, they are guaranteed to eliminate the town and so the game ends. A townie who is alive at this time is said to have been
endgamed by the scum.
Faction - Noun. Refers to the team you are playing on; usually town, scum, or yourself.
Fakeclaim - Verb. Knowingly claiming a role that isn't your own.
Finger of Suspicion - Noun. Used when one villager notices suspicious behavior coming from another. The acronym FoS is sometimes used as a verb.
Flavor - Noun. Refers to any theme or enhancement of anything in the game. This can be as simple as giving each character a name and short backstory, or go as far as being integral to the game's overall plot. Flavor is most commonly used during death scenes to give players clues as to the way someone died.
Flip - Noun. When a player is eliminated, their role card is revealed to the town. This is called a
flip, referring to real-life mafia games which are played with actual role cards that are flipped over when the eliminated player dies. The word is also used as a verb to refer to the act of having one's alignment revealed, i.e.
When Machamp The Champion was eliminated, everyone thought he was scum, but he flipped town.
Follow the Cop - A style of play that relies on a cop's (seer's) ability to find scum through night actions, while the town autopilots during the day, following the cop's orders. If you are designing a game, it's a good idea to make sure this strategy is hindered or, better yet, not possible.
FoS - See
Finger of Suspicion.
FtC - See
Follow the Cop.
Guilty - Adjective. Refers to any report that would indicate the chosen player is scum.
Hammer - Verb. Taken from the phrase hammering the nail in the coffin, this refers to the act of placing the last vote needed in order to eliminate a given player. It is also used as an adjective to describe the aforementioned vote.
Innocent - Adjective. Refers to any report that would indicate the chosen player is not scum.
Joint Win - To win alongside another faction.
L-X - Outdated, originally Lynch minus X. See
E-X.
Limproof - Describes any player who cannot die via being eliminated. Don't give this modifier to scum unless you know what you're doing.
Lurk - Verb. To actively view the thread, but rarely post.
LYLO - Outdated, originally referring to Lynch or Lose. See
Eliminate or Lose.
Lynch All Liars - Outdated, see
Eliminate All Liars.
Lynch or Lose - Outdated, see
Eliminate or Lose.
Lynchproof - Adjective. Outdated, see
Limproof.
MILO - Mistakenly eliminate and lose. See
Mislim and Lose.
Massclaim - Noun. When all living players make a claim. These claims do not have to be legitimate.
Metagaming - Determining how a player might act in a game based on that player's performances in previous games: "Usually when PMJ is scum he is a lot more vocal, so he is probably town."
Mislim - Mistakenly eliminate, what happens when town eliminates someone aligned with the town.
Mislim and Lose - A game state in which if the town mislims, they will most likely lose. Commonly abbreviated as MILO.
Mislynch - Noun. Outdated, see
Mislim.
MILO - See
Mislim and Lose.
Mislynch and Lose -Outdated, see
Mislim and Lose.
Modkill - Verb. When a player is forcibly killed (removed from the game) by the moderator (game host) as opposed to by a player in the game. This can occur due to a player's inactivity or a breaking of the rules. This word is also used as a noun to refer to the penalty of being modkilled, i.e.
"Machamp The Champion edited three posts and deleted five others; pretty sure that's a modkill."
MYLO - Outdated, originally referring to Mislynch and Lose. See
Mislim and Lose.
NL - Outdated, originally referring to No Lynch. See
No Elimination.
Night - Noun. The game state in which no one is allowed to post in the game thread and the power roles and scum privately submit their actions to the game host. Each Night ends at a specific date and time which is determined by the game host.
Night 0 - Noun. The Night before Day 1. Games that start at Night will start at Night 0. It is used to give a little information to the town since games that start with Day 1 are typically seen as witch hunts. To balance this, killing roles are usually not allowed to be used during Night 0.
No Elimination - A term used to describe when players actively choose not to eliminate anyone on a given day, usually day one.
NOC - No Outside Communication. Adjective. Describes a game where all information is posted in the game thread, and there is no talking about the game whatsoever between live players anywhere else.
OC - Outside Communication. Adjective. Describes a game where players are allowed to communicate with each other outside of the game thread, and with any number of the living players.
OMGUS - Adjective. Short for oh my god, you suck. Describes a vote that has been cast by Player B for Player A only because Player A first voted for Player B.
Policy Elimination - Noun. Refers to an elimination done on a player not necessarily because they are believed to be scum, but because if left alive, they will hurt the town later with their bad play. Typically, if a player is found to have done something stupid, a policy elimination may be requested on that player.
Policy Lynch - Noun. Outdated, see
Policy Elimination.
Postgame - Noun. A post made at the end of the game by the host, providing the players with all the game’s hidden information (including everyone’s role), and sometimes a review of how well each player played.
Power Role - Noun. Any role which can affect the gameplay is a power role. Typically, any role that is not vanilla is, by definition, a power role. On PokéBeach, almost all roles are power roles.
Role Madness - Adjective. Describes any game in which most, if not all, of the roles are power roles. Most main games on PokéBeach are role madness games.
RVS - Random Voting Stage. Noun. This usually occurs at the beginning of the game when the players have a limited amount of information available to them, and as such base their elimination votes off of reactions to pressure etc.. This can carry on into Day 2, but usually enough information is provided from an elimination that it is not necessary.
Scum - Noun. A word used to collectively refer to the mafia faction in any given game, or more generally speaking, any role that is not aligned with the town.
Scumhunt[ing] - Verb. The act of analyzing the behavior of other players in order to weed out the scum. Scum can do this, too, so be careful.
Soft Claim - To imply you are a certain role without saying it outright.
Sheep - Verb/Noun. The act of blindly following along with other players without adding much, or any, input of your own. While sheep is general used as a verb, someone who sheeps can also be called a sheep. Baaaaaa.
Tell - Noun. An action that is perceived to be either town motivated (towntell) or scum motivated (scumtell).
Town - Noun. A word used to collectively refer to the town faction in any given game. It may also refer to the entire village in general, i.e. "
Town needs to stop being dumb and think before they eliminate."
Tunnel - Verb. The act of focusing all of your attention on one player while ignoring the rest, even if logic dictates others would be worth your time.
Vanilla - Adjective. Describes a player who no longer has night actions and/or can no longer influence the game's outcome aside from his or her vote. In some circles this term is used exclusively to describe scum who fit this description, but around here it is used with players of any alignment.
V/LA - Short for Vacation/Limited Access. A term not too commonly used on PokéBeach.
Wagon - Noun. A term referring to the collection of elimination votes on a given player, i.e.
"There are currently four players on Machamp The Champion's wagon."
Werewolf - Another term for the Mafia game. Prior to June 21st, 2016, Mafia was commonly referred to as Werewolf here on PokéBeach, but a decision was made to formally switch to the more commonly-used term Mafia.
WIFOM - Short for
wine in front of me, this phrase refers to an infinite reverse psychology loop in which it is impossible to determine the best outcome in a given situation due to the fact that the scum, knowing the best outcome, can knowingly act against it, thus changing the best outcome. The loop occurs when one realizes that one can act according to this new best outcome but the scum, knowing that this is the best outcome if they choose to act against the original best outcome, can act in favor of the original best outcome.
