Here are the answers to questions which were not answered to keep the game running. If you have an unanswered question in this game, you can link me that post here.
I'm here!
But can't one have multiple roles? Like, can't the doctor be the assassin in secret? Or the couple mentioned in the beginning can be the cartel?
This is the first time i am playing this game so I might be totally wrong here.
Yes, a role can have multiple abilities. In this game the serial killer had two abilities, one was the serial kill ability and the second was the one-shot bulletproof ability.
Mafia Doctors do exist to protect their team members from stray kills.
Serial Doctors are pointless because if the Serial is protecting other players, he is delaying the achievement of his own win condition.
OK everyone, thanks for the clarification.
So, that pretty much means we have to analyze others' posts.
And I will have to insist on trying to figure out what Shanks & Rohan were thinking when assigning the roles. But that's just how i think and i might be totally wrong.
Roles are always randomised. Sometimes exceptions are made with newbies but these are very rare. I wouldn't recommend using it as a basis to figure out who the wolves are.
Are we expected to check if other players are reading the thread or if they have gone inactive?
If a player is not posting in the game thread then that player is either inactive or lurking.
Looking at player's profiles to see if they are active and then accusing them of lurking is, in my opinion, cheap play as in this case, information from outside the game thread is been used to call out players as Anti-Town. In a mafia game, the only valid source of information is the game thread, abilities and mechanics. Any information obtained beyond that is either seen as cheap play or rule breaking (The only exception to this is games which allow "Outside means of communication", but these games are rare). This is why it is recommended that players use invisible mode when playing the game. In forums where mafia gets running well the "Users viewing this thread" feature is removed from the mafia section to prevent such plays.
Even hosts don't need to check player profiles to see if they are online or not. If they are not playing the game, they should be replaced, as simple as that.