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Madman Strategy — Claim Timing and Hiding

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The Madman's rules (divines 'Not', reads 'Not' to the Medium, doesn't know the wolves) are collected in the role dictionary: Madman. This column is about when to fake a claim, and when to stay down.

The Madman's weapon is the white lie

The Madman has no ability. What you have is a body that reads 'Not' to every check.

  • Divined? 'Not'. Fake a Seer claim and stand as the counterclaim — the real Seer can never turn you 'Werewolf'.
  • Executed? The Medium sees 'Not'. The village misreads it as "we voted wrong", wastes one of the village's executions (Executions left) — and starts doubting the Medium's results on top of it.

The Madman is the role whose work continues after death. Getting voted out is not a defeat.

Fake a claim, or stay hidden

The axis: how much can this table verify its claimants?

  • No Medium in the deck (the 7P Fox Room, say) — a fake Seer lives long. High value in claiming.
  • Medium present — an executed fake reads 'Not' next morning, and the village even reads "so that was the Madman". Still: standing as a Counterclaim (CC) forces the village's judgment, and if they roll through the claimants one by one, that's two executions you made them spend. Going out expecting to die is not a loss either.

When to claim

The basic shape is claiming Seer on day one. If you go, go early — the later the claim, the harder "why only now?" hits, and a Counter-CO draws suspicion by its timing alone.

⚠️ One MAFIA-specific trap: the real Seer holds one automatic first-night 'Not'. If you fake, decide in advance whom your result clears. A careless fake result that collides with the real one's is an instant Slip.

What a hidden Madman does

If you don't claim, your job is muddying the village's reads while passing as one of them.

  • In the grey-vote debate, nudge the pile toward whoever smells like a power role
  • In the endgame, when the anti-village numbers pull level, your one vote is the game (Parity / voting power)

🔴 The one thing never to do: over-protecting. The Madman does not know who the wolves are. "Covering for the suspicious one" is pure village-service when that player turns out to be village — and you've marked yourself "Madman-ish" and moved up the execution queue for nothing.

Know your losing lines

The Madman's fate rides with the wolves: when the last wolf falls, you lose — alive or not.

∴ Your own survival has no value in itself. In doubt, ask: can I trade my life for a wolf's? Taking an execution onto yourself to burn one of the village's ropes is work only the Madman can afford.

Common mistakes

  • Faking a claim without a supply of results — a Seer claim needs a fresh result every morning. A fake with no day-two result collapses in silence.
  • Trying to "find" the wolves and coordinate — the design says you don't know each other. Overt teamwork gestures only show the village where the wolves are.
  • Doing nothing until the endgame — hiding is not inaction. A hidden Madman who moves no votes is one extra villager in the count.

A scene

A 9P Medium Room. You (Madman) claimed Seer on day one and threw a 'Not' at one grey player. Standing beside the real one as a counterclaim, the village held judgment and voted from grey.

Day two: your fake 'Not' happened to land on the same player as the real one's — "cleared by both claimants either way", and the village shelved it. Day three: the 'Werewolf' you forced out in a hurry collided with the real Seer's 'Not' — a Slip.

You were voted out. Next morning the Medium read: 'Not'. The village wobbled for half a day — "then was yesterday's 'Werewolf' call a lie too…?" — and in that gap the wolves pulled the numbers level. Parity. Broken and dead, the white body was still working.

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