by jak111 on Mon Mar 17, 2014 11:24 pm
XD Depending on how you think of my games, (they are not always as balanced as I want because I experiment with this or that).
1.) Start off with making 3-4 town per mafia
(so a 8 player game roughly 6 town and 2 mafia).
This is assuming they are ALL VT and Nilla (mafia version of VT as in no role besides killing at night).
Now begin making power roles, about 1-2 town power roles per mafia power role.
So if you plan on 2 mafia power roles look forward to putting 2-4 town power roles (depending on how strong the roles themselves are, like cop I consider to be a SUPER efficient role in small games as they clear/find people, so if there were lets say 2 mafia power roles I'd only have 2-3 town power roles).
Once that is all said and done, 3rd party roles and handicaps to power roles sort of tip the balance.
3rd parties can also be a balance act, for instance, if the town have too many power roles you can have a 3rd party aimed more against them, however if they have too little but adding one more TOWN power role would make them too powerful you can make a more town aligned power role 3rd party.
Another thing about 3rd parties and handicaps, while they are fun do not get carried away, there should be a counter out there for almost everything.
If there's a 3rd party killer (and original mafia) there BETTER be a town doc to counter at least one of the kills. If there is trackers/watchers/etc there should be a 3rd party/mafia role blocker.
There must be ways to counter this or that if roles are just too powerful to go unhindered.
Though all this info is nice, most of it is useless. You want to try to balance something, sketch up some ideas and run scenarios through your head (or talk to someone about the setup).
I'm open for conversation on it in inbox if you need help. But you must come up with a rough draft of roles first.