Part One: Gambits
What is a gambit? Mafia Scum defines a gambit as "Any action made to further a player's agenda" but I think a better definition is simply "A high risk high reward move involving a lie or mistruth designed to generate a certain outcome."
For example, see Cabd's Hider Claim in Gym Werewolf XVII C (
http://pokegym.net/forums/showpost.php?p=2340998&postcount=1175). Cabd was, in fact, the alpha werewolf. However, his false claim of a Hider role allowed him to lead the wolf team to a win.
This kind of example can be found with nearly any wolf that's about to go down.
Let's break down a few classic variants of Gambits, and explain each. Risk is 1-100 with 100 being mostly likely failing, 1 being nearly assured to succeed. Reward is 1-100 with 100 being a huge payoff and 1 being little to no payoff. Some of these names come from Mafia Scum's wiki, others are named by me.
The Jester Gambit
Jester is a role not seen much on pokegym, but it wins by being lynched, and not night killed. Upon winning it is removed from the game. Town does not like to give a jester its win, instead preferring to kill scum. Therefore, a scum player can act so scummy and flat out say he is scum, in an attempt to appear like the jester. While it is a hilarious gambit, I highly doubt it would ever work on the pokegym, so I doubt we'll ever see it.
Risk: 90
Reward: 80
The Fairy Godfather Gambit
Let's say a seer reveals his results, is night killed, and therefore confirmed. He has cleared four townies going into day five. All four townies are still alive. The mafia, in a bad scenario, is now in danger from those four confirmed townies... unless they can lynch one of them. But how does one get the town to lynch a confirmed-by-seer townsperson?
Enter the gambit. This gambit involves convincing players that there is some sort of a role out there that can interfere with night results. For example, the mafia players in the above scenario can claim that their target is the godfather, which reads as town to a seer. Or, they can claim mafia has a framer/cleaner. (A role that can make people read their opposite alignment)
Either way, the point of this gambit is to make people doubt the confirmed truth.
Risk: 60
Reward: 70
Suicidal Gambit
This gambit is rarely seen but can definitely be used. A townie will vote for themselves, and then quickly unvote when the wolves pile on. This is most effective late game when there are only a few non-wolf votes needed to lynch. Any player using this gambit must be online and refreshing the page often to prevent a Mafia Quickhammer. Of note, in LYLO, this can be used on ANY other player, not just yourself.
Risk: 20
Reward: 90
The Insane Gambit
In games with multiple night information roles, one or more roles can be modified to be Insane, meaning the results they get are either "all wolf" "all townie" or "opposite the true read" This gambit involves a wolf claiming seer to get a townie lynched, and then claiming insanity the next game day.
This gambit is best pulled off as early as possible if done.
Risk: 70
Reward: 90
The Bad Townie Gambit
This gambit is best pulled off by a Vanilla Townie. In the first day of the game, act scummy in an intentional act to draw a small wagon. Without a doubt you'll have one or two over-eager wolves hop on your wagon near the middle. Naturally, it is best you reveal your ploy soon after, lest you actually get lynched.
Risk: 50
Reward: 50
The Bus Steamroller Gambit
You're one of two remaining wolves and your scum partner is going down HARD. Everyone knows that a wolf will bus the partner at this point, so anyone bothering to bus at this point is just an idiot townie. So you bus like crazy. Putting your partner at L-1 is suicide for a wolf, so town will rationalize that you're likely just VT. When your partner flips, people won't mentally link you with that player.
Risk: 60
Reward: 70
Thrown Towel Gambit
If you are the second-to last remaining mafia and the town does not know the number of wolves, this gambit applies. Let's say there's an Indie Serial Killer and two wolves remaining in a sea of Vanilla Townies. The seer outed you as mafia before getting night killed the prior night.
You KNOW you're going to go down, so what do you do? You offer the town something they want. You claim to be willing to Night-Kill the Serial Killer as you know who it is, but are unwilling to claim who it is for self-survival.
This gambit very rarely pays off, but if it allows you and your scum partner to survive it can win you the game. In addition, if the serial killer remains alive overnight, your scum partner will likely fly very far under the radar and be able to hang on for a win.
Risk: 90
Reward: 50
The Tracker's Gambit
You're a seer, but you're unsure if the guilty read you got on a player was because of your sanity, or because they are scum. SO here's that you do. Publically claim Tracker with a result of the targeted played having targeted the kill from last night. If your target claims vig or any other non-doctor role, you're most likely sane, and you can reveal that's you're really the seer. This gambit is so effective and low-risk it should be done any time you believe a game has sanity.
Risk: 10
Reward: 100
