Mafia

The Mafia have a very simple aim: kill all who would not submit -- the innocent members of the Town, all neutral killers and all Vampires. All Mafia members can talk to each other at night, and know each other's identities. Any Mafia member whose role isn't to kill someone will become a Mafioso when there are no Mafia Killing left.

Being the second largest faction in a typical game, having the shared knowledge of its member's identity, and a guaranteed Killer on the team; the Mafia have a unique advantage among all evil-doers in exploiting the lynching trials. By misguiding the townies to lynch their own during the day, performing active killings by night, and forming voting blocs with neutral evil/benign roles, the mafia could rapidly gain majority in the trials, at which point their victory is almost certain.

As of Version 1.3.0, at the start of the game, there will never be more than 5 Mafia (no matter which Game Mode). If there are more than 5 Mafia during the game (due to Amnesiacs), the Mafia window will only be able to display 6 of them.

As of the latest update (Version 1.5.1.3467), Mafia members will now be killed upon being visited by a Vampire. In the day, the cause of death will be displayed as, "He/She was bitten by a Vampire." This was likely added as a buff to Vampires, as Vampires were weak against Mafia before this update, due to the Mafia having Bite Immunity.

General strategy

 * Put your name and role in your will, along with other mafia roles with names of people who aren't mafia. If you die, the town might think you're throwing the game and lynch someone who's innocent, helping the mafia win.
 * It's recommended you only use this as a last resort. Rack up too many reports, and you likely need to change your strategy.
 * It is useful to talk a lot during the day, because usually mafia members are very quiet. If you talk frequently, you draw attention, and people who draw attention have 'nothing to hide'.
 * It is good to make up a role in advance in case you are asked or jailed:
 * Jailor: Try to be as convincing as possible: Depending on your performance, the Jailor might execute you on the spot. Also, some Jailors execute Neutral roles.
 * Investigator: The role you claim must match the investigation if the Investigator has already proven their role. So for example, as a Mafioso, pick Vigilante or Veteran. Veteran is better because if the Town members believe you are a Vigilante, they may ask you to shoot known mafia members (but beware! Veteran is a Unique Role, so if you claim it, you will be screwed if another Veteran dies or gets revealed). As a Consort, pick Escort. A Consigliere should pick Investigator, a Blackmailer should claim to be a Spy and a Janitor should pick Medium. Framers, Disguisers and Godfathers are less obvious cases. Since the Framer's ability is to make other people appear as Framers, you can claim anything. A Disguiser can claim Doctor but many jailors will execute the Doctor simply because they will highly suspect them of being a Serial Killer or a Disguiser. As a Godfather, you can claim either Bodyguard or (more frequently in Classic mode) Executioner to explain your night immunity in case you get attacked by a Vigilante.
 * Lookout: They will know you are able of visiting. In most cases, you can refer to the strategy for Investigators. As a Blackmailer or Framer, you should definitely claim a visiting role which is not noticeable (e.g. targets will know if they are roleblocked, but not if they were investigated).
 * Work to identify your allies.
 * Executioners want to lynch a town member, so it makes sense to support them; be careful about what you claim, however, since unlike them you usually have to maintain plausibility even after their target is lynched and revealed as Town. If you do claim an Investigative role to support them, sometimes claiming to be a second Executioner with the same target after your lies are revealed can be helpful. You can identify Executioners by looking for people who seem to focus on accusing one target, especially if they accuse a non-Mafia of being Mafia; however, be careful, since your night-immune rivals like the Serial Killer, Werewolf, and Arsonist sometimes pose as an Executioner to deflect attention.  It's a good idea to try and get them lynched after they've hung their "target", just in case.
 * Jesters want to be lynched, which wastes the town's time and (assuming nobody in the mafia votes for them) can kill a town member. You can identify Jesters by looking for people who make claims you know to be false, such as claiming they were attacked on a night you were RBed.
 * Witches win with you, but can be very dangerous if they're targeting blindly; making contact with them without alerting spies is very important. Witches often claim Survivor; other evil night immune roles often do as well, but either way it's a waste of time to attack them. You can also signal to witches that you're Mafia by not alerting the Town after you were witched, which (with a competent Witch) decreases the chance that they'll point people at you in the future. The other possible way is telling that the person being witched is mafia in the Godfather/Mafioso's death note. Additionally, since Witches win with all evil roles and need to last to the end, it can sometimes be worth just calling on Witches to identify themselves if doing so will result in you having a majority.

During the day

 * If one of the Mafia is being hanged and you cannot prevent it, vote guilty to avoid suspicion of being Mafia. This will also allow you to point out anyone who abstained or voted innocent as possible Mafia.
 * If you recognize that an Executioner is trying to lynch someone, and the lynch vote comes, then vote innocent. This will make it seem more like you're a town. If the other killing roles, like Serial Killer, are dead, and the Town mob votes someone and you are sure they will vote guilty, then vote innocent as well (unless the Mafia vote would override guilty).
 * It is important to avoid lynching the Serial Killer too soon. He can help you double the deaths of town members, as well as double your chances of killing any dangerous town members. Try to find out who he is (by noting the people with night immunities) but do not reveal it too soon. Towards the end, if many mafia members are alive and you know who the Serial Killer is, you can lynch him. Otherwise, if you are confident you can win without him, write down in the death note that he is night immune and kill someone else. The death note will be visible to all the town and since both Town and Mafia want the Serial Killer dead, it is very likely that the town will vote him up.
 * Remember however to play along with the Town. Try to behave the same way most Town members do, so as not to stick out. If for example many town members are ignoring a will that says a specific other player is the serial killer, try not to draw too much attention while pointing them at that direction. This is especially true with your own death notes. If you use the death note to reveal sensitive information to the town, don't start shouting about it the next day in the chat. It will make the town members suspect you as the writer of that note.
 * Sometimes, enough Mafia members will stay alive that you have the majority, possibly including a Witch or other Neutral. If the Town has no Vigilante or Jailor left alive, you can easily reveal yourself during the day and lynch the remaining Town members one by one (without wasting time with Protectives or dangerous Supports).
 * One of you pretend to be the Sheriff. If someone is immune to your attack, then say that they are the Serial Killer. If they are, then you will receive trust from the town, and won't have to worry about getting lynched. Remember, however, that the Executioner, Werewolf, and Arsonist are also immune. If you think you've identified the Werewolf, you can accuse them after a full-moon night, but you have to use the right accusation or the Town may grow suspicious.  Another danger here is that whoever you attacked, they'll know they were hit by the Mafia, and will likely say so on the stand, which could get you hung the next night (or even immediately if the Town cares more about hanging the Mafia than an immune.)
 * Try to get the Jester lynched for an extra kill that night. Just make sure the other mafia don't vote guilty.
 * Sometimes, you'll find out that lynching your own teammate is the only way out. This happens when an Escort (or Jailor) keeps roleblocking the only Killing role that the Mafia has, but the votes are not enough to lynch him during the day. To avoid a draw, you might be forced to contribute to the voting and lynch him. For example: PlayerA, PlayerB, PlayerC and PlayerD are confirmed Mafia and the Escort has roleblocked PlayerA for two days and since then, there were no Mafia kills. Since nobody is getting lynched, and the Escort will keep roleblocking PlayerA since he's confirmed Mafia Killing, lynch him. This will make one of your teammates get the Mafia Killing role and the Escort will be not sure on who to roleblock anymore. This can only buy you some time, since the Escort could be lucky and roleblock again the new Mafia Killing, but sometimes it needs to be done to avoid a stalemate.
 * One risky strategy is to pretend to be an Executioner or Jester, and accuse a fellow Mafia member, but with some flaw in your accusation (for instance, claiming to be an Investigator and saying that they came up as Mafia, rather than listing Investigator results.) This can accomplish several valuable things; if the Town believes you're an Executioner, they may assume your target is Town, whereas if they believe you're a Jester, they may ignore you.  Even better, if your target later dies and is revealed as a Mafia, you can use your accusation to say that you're a "confirmed" investigative, which may get some town to listen to you despite your 'mistakes' earlier on.  This is risky, though, since you're calling attention to two Mafia members and could get shot by a Vigilante, executed by a Jailor, or hung by a Jester-unwary Town for making a bad accusation; alternatively, the Town might not notice the flaw in your accusation and hang the accused Mafia anyway.
 * If, during the day, you seem absolutely certain to be lynched, and the Jailor is still alive, consider claiming Jailor. This should only be done when you feel absolutely certain you'll be lynched otherwise, since it usually guarantees your execution by the real Jailor the next night; and you can often be caught out if people ask who you jailed.  But it has several advantages that can benefit the surviving Mafia:
 * Towns often reflexively vote innocent on Jailor claims, giving the real Jailor a chance to deal with them; because Jailor is unique and the real Jailor can execute fake claims in this manner, even transparently false Jailor claims can sometimes make the Town pause due to the sheer rarity of people claiming it falsely. And if the town does let the real Jailor handle it, this forces them to waste a night and an execution dealing with you, which could have otherwise been spent elsewhere.  If you have a Consort or Witch on your side, they can even make a guess at the real Jailor to save your life.
 * If you do survive to the night and get jailed, tell the Jailor that you are a Veteran trying to bait. Depending on the evidence against you, it may not be sufficient to save your life, but it's the most plausible explanation for why a Town member would falsely claim Jailor.
 * Sometimes, the real Jailor might reveal to counter-claim you, exposing them to the Mafia.
 * Since Jailor is such a powerful claim, you can sometimes push to successfully lynch your main accuser; this also tends to make it more likely that the real Jailor will speak out, exposing themselves.
 * Do not do this if you are the sole Mafia killing role, since it will leave the Mafia unable to kill that night; or if you're the last surviving Mafia overall, since there won't be anyone to benefit from your sacrifice.

Choosing a target to kill

 * If someone is being accused of being Mafia and they are not, not killing them will waste the Town's time investigating them at night or questioning them during the day. On the other hand, killing them may redirect suspicion to the accuser. Even better, killing their accuser may increase suspicion on them; however, it risks wasting one of your kills hitting an Executioner or Jester.
 * If you have someone trying to lynch you, don't kill them too soon. It would be too obvious. However, if you wait too long, then you might get lynched because you let that person convince the town to kill you. Additionally, if they're a genuine Investigator or Sheriff, it might be better for you to simply bite the bullet and kill them as soon as possible even if it gets one of you hung rather than leaving them alive to potentially discover the rest of the Mafia.
 * If there is a Jailor, you can sometimes choose not to kill anyone: it will seem like the jailed person is the Godfather or Mafioso.
 * Try killing the guy who is least expected to be killed. If a guy says "I'm Investigator/Sheriff/Doctor or just any role in fact" Don't kill them. The Lookout might catch you doing it; the Doctor might save them; they may be a Veteran trying to lure you in, and so on.
 * The Mafia benefits by having a complacent or distracted town. Therefore, you should generally avoid killing people who obviously seem to be wasting the Town's time with false accusations, off-topic arguments and so on. Often, they'll turn out to be Jesters or Executioners anyway. Conversely, it's often a good idea to kill people who seem too competent or directed.
 * If you get accused and people vote for you, but they don't manage to get you up to the stand, it can be dangerous to kill your accuser; but people are less likely to notice if you kill the voters.

Using the chat

 * In case there is a Spy, say things that don't add up. Or, pretend to roleplay as a different player at night. If another Mafia member is doing this, play along. Just don't screw it up. Don't reveal who you are or any clue about you or the Spy can lynch you out the next day. Everything must stay secret.
 * Sometimes you can even cooperate with the Spy. If you found out that a certain player is immune or the Consigliere found a role who both the Town and the Mafia want dead (such as Arsonist or Werewolf), talk about it in the chat so the Spy can hear. During the day, if you try to get that player lynched, the Spy may contribute to the voting. Same thing applies if you found a confirmed Survivor and both Town and Mafia want him to survive.
 * If you need to refer to members of the Mafia, but want to avoid giving them away to spies, talk about them using the their position in the Mafia window, such as "Mafia #2, do this."

What to do while in Jail if you are the only Mafia Killing role:
 * The Mafia's greatest strength is knowing their allies and being able to talk to them privately at night. If someone in the Mafia is being accused of being Mafia, you can team up with the other Mafia to invent "proof" that they are innocent; e.g. claiming that you roleblocked your Godfather or Mafioso, have been healed by a Mafia member, having transported them etc. This will cause the remaining town to be unsure who is lying, giving you time (or possibly lynching a Town member) until the town does not have the numbers to lynch you anymore. However, this must be done with care, since if your story falls apart, you might all get revealed. If you don't feel you can defend a fellow mafia member successfully, lynch them anyways so you don't seem suspicious to the rest of the Town.
 * If you die and the Medium is still alive, then tell him names of people who are Mafia (but really aren't). Since you can still see the Mafia log when you're dead, check first to see who the Mafia are going to kill, and call other people as Mafia. But advanced and experienced players are harder to trick as they don't trust the Mafia. If you name someone as Mafia but then they die, and it's revealed they are town, then the Medium will likely not believe you if you give out false information again.
 * If the Jailor jails you, and you are the only killing role in your team (Mafioso or Godfather) then you are in trouble. When the next day the Jailor will see that the Mafia hasn't killed, they will jail you again and again, and even execute you if they have the power to do so. If the Jailor is confirmed (because they were resurrected for example) this is even worse, as they will call you out the folllowing day. When jailed, do your usual role claim, and then, at the very beginning of the day, say that: "you were in jail and someone tried to attack you". This might only buy you an extra day (since the Jailor will jail you again just to double check) but you might make the Town think you are not the Mafia Killing role. Another Mafia member can also cover for you (by saying 'Thanks, doc', by claiming to be a survivor who blocked an attack with their vest, and so on), which may be more likely to be believed; but this is dangerous, since you're exposing another Mafia member to suspicion, and if there's clearly only one doctor when you claim to have been healed, then they'll know you're lying.