Roles
Every role in the game
Eight roles, three of them mafia. Which ones appear depends on how many people are playing — a five-player game has no Detective, and only a twelve-player game has Dr. Lecter.
- mafia
Godfather
Holds the trigger, reads as innocent, and shrugs off the bullet.
- mafia
Mafia
The other killer at the table, and the Godfather's successor.
- mafia
Dr. Lecter
The mafia's own medic. Twelve-player games only.
- town
Doctor
The only reason anyone survives the night.
- town
Detective
One question a night, and a lie waiting in the answers.
- town
Sniper
A gun the town can point at its own foot.
- town
Die-hard
One extra life, spent on whatever comes first.
- town
Citizen
No power, no information, and the hardest job at the table.
Mayor, Psychiatrist, Negotiator are built and tested but are not dealt in public games yet. They are held back until the roles above have had enough play to be sure the balance is right. When they go in, they will get pages of their own here.
How the roles fit together
The mafia land exactly one kill each night, so the town's problem is never the number of enemies — it is the rate. That is why the distribution counts killers rather than bodies: the Godfather and the plain Mafia kill, while Dr. Lecter protects, which is why he only appears once the mafia can afford a fourth seat.
On the other side, the Doctor cancels kills, the Detective converts nights into information and the Sniper adds a second, riskier way to remove someone. The Die-hard is simply one extra town life. Read the exact composition at each size in setups by player count.