Original Roles Unique to MAFIA
Most of what a werewolf game feels like is decided by the lineup. Same players, same player count — add one new role and the debate and the night game both become a different game.
MAFIA currently ships 18 roles. The classics are all here — the Werewolf, the Seer, the Knight, the Medium, the Madman, the Fox — and on top of them, MAFIA keeps adding roles you won't often see anywhere else.
The classics alone make a game. But they're not the end
A first table can start small with only the classics: the Seer who checks one player each night, the Knight who guards one player from the attack, the Medium who learns the truth about the executed. That core loop has been polished by years of play and holds up on its own. Every implemented role's rules are in the Roles dictionary.
On top of it, MAFIA has roles that change the shape of the debate itself.
The Delegator — a new game of entrusting your vote
The Delegator can hand their vote to another player. "Who do I vote for" gains a second question — "who do I trust with it" — so the way trust flows becomes visible on the board. Reading the votes gets one layer deeper; it's a very MAFIA role.
The Twins — a partner you can trust completely
The Twins start knowing who the other twin is, and share a private night chat (the werewolf side has its own night chat too). But when one twin falls to an execution or an attack, the other follows. The safety of one certain ally and the terror of being targeted as a pair come as a set.
The Trapper — set pieces on the night board
The Trapper picks one player each night and sets a trap. If the werewolves attack that player, the trap protects the target and takes the attacker down with them. Defense and counterattack in one role.
And more
Beyond these: the Thief who quietly swaps roles with someone on the first night, the Princess and the Creeper whose abilities fire on death, the Necromancer who calls up the dead for a night conversation. The dictionary keeps growing.
A third winner breaks the two-sided debate
More roles also means more factions. Mix a role that wins outside both camps — the Fox, for example — into the village-versus-werewolf axis, and the debate stops being "innocent or guilty" and gains a third thing to look for. Even a single divination result reads one level more complex. The more seasoned your table, the more this complexity pays off.
What "a wider game" actually means
The value of more roles isn't a longer menu. It's that the same player count plays completely differently depending on the lineup. A table where the debate orbits the Seer claims, a table where the Trapper makes the wolves bite carefully, a table the Delegator's vote decides — all "werewolf", all different games.
In MAFIA you can pick a preset for 6 to 13 players or compose the combination yourselves. How to change the lineup is covered in Make Your Own Rules and Play Your Way.
For a first table there's also The 7-Player Beginner Deck — Roles and Rules, built around the Twins and the Delegator. Start small, add one role at a time as the group gets comfortable — there are enough roles here for every step of that road.