Mafia Interview: Axis m'Troutilas

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Author: Calen Velervron, August 2017


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As a new reporter for the Tar Valon Times I feel like I should talk about my favorite part of the site right now. If anyone has been through the mafia boards, you'll see I have played in every game available for a while now. One of my favorite players and most interesting adversaries and/or allies has always been Axis m'Troutilas. I have asked him to sit down for a few questions about the mafia game here on the site and some pointers and encouragement for new players. Enjoy!

How many games of mafia have you played in and have you ever played in games other than on TarValon.Net?
I have only played at here, I’m a relatively new player compared to some of the old hats. My first game was a Star Wars game back in Jan 2015. I think it’s up to around 15ish games now, something in that ballpark now anyway.

What is your usual strategy and gameplay and how does that change based on if you are mafia or town?
I try to keep my strategy the same when I’m mafia or town, and it works for the most part. Most players find me extremely hard to read and find me equally suspicious whether I’m mafia or town. It’s a fairly aggressive style of play, aggressively chasing kills. I try to keep acting “pro-town” as I call it, offering constructive game comments, and actively supporting the town’s efforts. Works great as players just can’t work out whether I’m legit or misdirecting them. Axis is always suspicious, is basically the default for TarValon.Net mafia.

What is your favorite role to play?
It’s unusual, but I really like playing vanilla innocent. You can ignore the responsibility of having to protect your role and just really go nuts. I think the games I’ve had the most success in have been as vanilla innocent as without a role you can just let yourself off the leash and run riot.

What game version or theme was the most fun to play in?
Probably a toss up between The Princess Bride, Firefly, and Star Trek DS9. They were games which had a lot of activity, bunch of crazy rules, and people had a lot of fun with them.

What piece of advice would you give someone new to the game?
Any game which is super active is super fun to play. So be as active as you can, you will enjoy it more. The more you engage with the game, the more you get out of it.

Don’t take suspicion personally; if someone isn’t finding you suspicious, then you’re not playing properly. Someone thinking you are suspicious is par for the course, often it’s even a deliberate set up by the mafia so don’t be surprised when people think you’re lying.

In fact, don’t take anything personally; it can take developing a thick skin to play mafia. It’s worth doing as it’s a super fun game, but yeah you need to be able to let things roll off your back a bit.

Do you prefer mafia or town?
Town, for the most part, I get killed a lot and often early. Which can be a bit of a bummer when on the mafia.

Fill in the blanks:

The person I find most hard to play against is _______
Arie…… I just find myself trusting her and she’s pulled the wool over my eyes multiple times

The person who I catch myself laughing about the most is _______
Aulrick, he’s a fun player, I really wished he played more. Marrow and Mychael generally tickle my amusement bone too

The most logical player you have played with (someone that when they explained something, it was solid and the argument flattened someone else) _______
Eluial, she’s the bomb when it comes to mafia. I’d love to see her joining in games again.

The most illogical player you have played with _______
Not going to name names, but you do occasionally have a face palm moment at people. Although actually, I have a knee-jerk reaction to lynching illogical players, when someone’s argument feels illogical; it’s usually because they are pulling it out of the air as they are mafia and don’t have a real argument.

Can you give us your best mafia memory?
Hands down a WoT themed game a few years back, ended up in a total clean sweep by the mafia with zero deaths. Including myself (as mafia) roleclaiming to be the cop, drawing out the real cop, and then convincing the town to lynch the real cop. It was a beautiful game. Although if the town had been more active, we probably wouldn’t have been able to rule the game so much.

Any other comments or words for people interested in what mafia is all about?
It’s a tricky puzzle to dig into, just when you think you're onto a winner, you get the rug pulled out from you. It takes a thick skin to get used to the concept of it, but if you stick with it, it’s a whole lot of fun. One of the best games I've ever played, and every game is different. Drop by, maybe dip your toes into a short-mini game and see if it piques your interest. I'll make sure to say hi.