The sheriff in round zero: how to survive the night

The leader of the reds card solemnly takes first place in the ranking of the most disliked roles. The reason is the complexity of the role itself and its tasks. For a civilian the minimum is to work out the game, for the mafia it is enough to play the balance and buy one vote, while the sheriff has to buy all the votes of all the civilians. Hence the difficulty: in this role you must spend far more energy, and the effort by no means always pays off.

The overall picture: the sheriff and the false sheriff

Initially, because of uncertainty, the mafia has far better chances of winning, because the reds can vote against each other in different variations. The sheriff's minimum task is to reduce the mafia's chances of victory to 50 percent. Put simply: survive and find all the blacks so that the known reds choose between the found teams. Or, if killed, find at least two blacks and leave the reds an additional right to make a mistake.

Three main tasks of the sheriff, from which the whole strategy is built:

Survive.
Find all the blacks.
Persuade all the reds in the critical round.

That is, rally the team around yourself and outplay the false sheriff. What could be simpler.

The false sheriff is a black player who calls himself the leader of the reds and proves that his checks are true and his opponent is mafia. Usually the don takes this role, because only he has additional information from the night checks. But the author separates the don's role from the false sheriff's: the strategy of a fixed false sheriff is not the most profitable, and the goals are more flexible:

Not to be voted out, or to save your black from removal in one of the votes (an optional condition, but it is a sin not to use it: a black check on a red saves your mafioso, a red check on a black works the same way).
After one red is removed, to buy the hand of any of the civilians.

The black sheriff has more advantages, but they are cancelled out by nerves over the mafia card, lack of experience and logical mistakes. At weak tables the false sheriff can afford to buy the vote of the single weak player and hand out civilians as black checks and his own as red right and left. With experienced players everything is different: the false sheriff's role becomes fully equivalent to the leader of the reds' role in its goals and tasks in speeches, behaviour and checks.

The main task in round zero

To survive the coming night, which is not easy online. Speech and actions must minimise the signs by which the blacks recognise the leader. At the same time you must keep the possibility of declaring yourself the sheriff in the critical round.

Measure is needed here. It is forbidden to give speeches that testify you are not the sheriff. If you gave a non-role-card speech, you signed your own sentence in the fight against a strong mafia: the false sheriff will give you as a black check with the words "in round zero he said ..., he cannot be the sheriff". Besides, it will be much harder for you to buy all six civilian votes, you will have to justify your actions, and that is weak play. Your task by the critical round is to create the image that you are more of a sheriff than your opponent, and in most games this means simply not doing actions typical of the mafia or a non-role card. Having the ability to be the sheriff means preparing the reveal.

In a frame: it suits the mafia for you to give a non-sheriff or black speech. A bad leader of the reds is far easier to outplay than to shoot.

The opposite extreme: the sheriff shouts to the whole town that he is a role card. He hangs a target on himself: "here I am, shoot".

The sheriff's undesirable behaviour in round zero

"I want two lines of play." A very common phrase. The author's opinion: it is more interesting to play without checks, working things out yourself. With two roles in a non-critical round two or more colours are known plus your own. It benefits a civilian for the sheriff to be alone and live longest. How does the slot know about the appearance of two lines? That often indicates that the speaker is the sheriff who wants a fight.
A non-verbal refusal or objection to your being checked tonight. If the don notices, you are finished. Any player may want your check; what matters is why he wants it and what colours it will give. If this player cares about your colour, check him yourself: a red check will be able to "cover" you comfortably, fitting into the story of the game and calling you a checked civilian. And if you find a mafia, wonderful.
Any hint at a role card. "Whom to check? Show me for a check", "I will be useful to you", "I drew the sheriff", "You know, sometimes you just want to guess and the card does not come", "There, I knew I would draw the disliked card, I am a civilian". Such players are shot faster than the host can say "thank you, mafia". The reason is impatience, posturing or fear that with a late reveal they will not be believed (an illusory fear). If your game has half-hints, use them in every game in any role or give them up: as an ordinary civilian, be prepared for the real sheriff to call you black, understanding that you are preparing a reveal. Act carefully: this is an example of balancing a role and non-role card.
Composure and hyper-responsibility. They must not be there. The responsibility on the sheriff really is higher, but if all participants are relaxed, joke and chat actively while one player looks over the table shrewdly, listens to every speech, is serious and shows by his whole look that the mafia will have a bad time, he will be a spectator after the very first night. If at your tables sheriffs die at a higher rate, now you know why (the chapter can be read from the mafia's side too). With an offline agreement you can play the sheriff more freely.

The level of aggression

The sheriff's only serious vulnerability can be found through the "level of aggression". The leader of the reds has it lowered: in the first rounds he does not give clear black colours with a call to remove a player, he lacks absolutism. A civilian often shouts "he is definitely black!", while the sheriff, wise from experience, insures himself against a mistake with soft wording: "of the players at the moment I consider ... blacker", "it seems to me ... is black", "I need no. 5 for a check because he is most likely black, since ...".

The essence of the concept: many players react in a template-negative way. Call a weakly playing civilian black and he will consider you mafia until the end of the game: how could you be wrong about him, the great one. To insure against defeat because of such recreational players, sheriffs play softer in round zero. (More in the third-level lesson "The level of aggression".)

Whom to check: the rules of the first night

Hiding the role is already good but not enough: you need a good check that gives the town a lot of information. Three rules:

The most terrible check is to find a black who will be revealed by the don. That is a check "into milk": by the mafia's plan he will declare himself, and the colour will show by itself. So you need the skill of finding the sheriff, even if you are the sheriff: your opponent is also preparing a reveal and portraying your role. With this skill you can find the mafia by speech at once, and with a check you know two mafia out of three in the morning.
Avoid checking a dead player. You go on a visit and in the morning he dies. A player with a high probability of death usually has these signs: few or no non-verbal interactions with him (the mafia does not spend effort on someone who will die at night: why persuade a corpse); nobody plays hard against him, or he is even called red for no reason. Watch the difference between confrontation (gathering hands and further play against each other) and suspicions (just voicing an opinion). Against the victim of round zero the blacks do not gather hands.
Reveal to nobody in round zero, do not pass and do not cut your speech too early. In everything else the sheriff does not differ from an ordinary civilian.

(The check is covered in detail in the next lesson.)

Self-check questions

How does the false sheriff's speech differ from the sheriff's in round zero?
A player nobody suspected of being either the sheriff or black revealed himself. Does it matter that he renounced being the sheriff in round zero?
To whom should you reveal with a black check?
When should you reveal with a check?
As a black, how do you provoke the sheriff into making himself known in round zero?

Practice

Record your minute in round zero twice: as a civilian and as the sheriff. Compare: are there gestures, phrases or pauses that differ?

Typical mistakes

Saying "I am definitely not the sheriff".
Shouting about the role from the first seconds.
Portraying hyper-responsibility.
Checking a player who will be removed anyway.

Source of the idea. The chapters "The sheriff and the false sheriff. General information" and "The sheriff in round zero" from Dmitry Novik's book "Mafia in the Style of Zen" (2020).