I did the same thing that asim had. I had read through post-games, full game threads, etc. The only thing is that reading big mafia threads tends not to help very much in understanding big mafia. Besides that, reading up on different small mafia games, seeing what people did right and wrong, getting an idea of what people false-claim, how to lead a village, etc. It's possible to at the very least begin to understand how these mechanics work, even as an inexperienced player. I actually managed to "lead" the village in my very first small mafia game. Yes, I had no idea what to do or who to trust, but it helped for me to learn what leaders do and all that jazz. It helped me to learn from much better and much more experienced players than myself. So yeah...