Welcome to IAG plays Blood on the Clocktower!
Here are the [proper] rules! The game is designed to be played in a room all together, sat in a circle, so the rules have been modified to fit this format, it?s not perfect but it?s perfectly playable.
In theory this game doesn?t have to take up more than half an hour of your time per day, but it would help, during the nomination phases, if you?re able to check the voting thread regularly to avoid holding up the game.
I am your town Storyteller (or ST) and what I say goes, even if I make a mistake. I am your guide through the game, something like a DungeonMaster or Narrator. I?m neutral to which team wins but my task is to ensure everyone has fun and to make the game itself exciting. I?m here to help with anything and everything you?re not sure about. I can give general guidance on how each character can be played but there?s never a right or wrong answer to that in this game, so I won?t be too specific or give you an exact ?do this? or ?do that? unless the game rules require me to.
There are actually only 5 proper rules, everything else is governed by what I tell you and what?s on the character list. The 3 rules are:
1 - You may say whatever you want at any time. This is a talking game. You can talk publicly with the group or have private conversations (known as ?whispers?), it is up to you, even if you?re dead. There is a slight caveat to this ? don?t start talking about your role or information etc before the first day phase starts. Similarly, during any night phase, you can talk about the game but don?t talk about any activity going on during that night (for example don?t share new information, or tell people what to do based on any new information you might have, and don?t say things like ?the storyteller just whispered to me?). Any of those will be unfair to players who act earlier or later in the night order and don?t get information when they make their choices. Whispers are only allowed during the day phases, not at night.
2 - Ask me any questions you need to. If you get confused, or don?t understand how your character works, or don?t understand how the character that you are pretending to be works, or if something happens at night that you don?t understand, or you just need some strategy advice... whatever it is, please ask. I?m neutral, and my job is to help you understand the rules and have fun playing. Let me know when you have a question, and we can talk in private so that nobody knows what question you asked.
3 - Play nice. This is a game about deception and trickery, so please treat others with respect and consideration. Kill with grace and die with dignity. The game inevitably induces a certain amount of conflict but please remember it?s a game, don?t get personal, and always stay respectful.
4 ? No copyrighting! You may not duplicate in any form (copy-pasting, screenshots, linking to a message etc), any private information given to you by another player or storyteller in any private conversation. You may paraphrase this information in order to share it. You may reference/quote public information in the town square freely.
5 ? No editing or deleting. Deleting messages or otherwise editing them to change the initially typed meaning is forbidden. If you accidentally type "Bob is the demon" but meant to type "Bob isn't the demon", you should correct this with another message instead of replacing it. This ensures all players have fair access to all messages regardless of when they see them.
So, within the bounds of the rules, here?s the game structure & flow:
Setup Phase
The game starts with the setup phase, players are secretly, and randomly, assigned characters from the character list, the number of each character type (Townsfolk, Outsiders, and Minions) is dependent on the overall player count. The Character types and their starting counts are as follows:
Demons
Demons are the evil team boss and the lynchpin of the whole game. If the Demon dies then the Good team wins, if the Demon doesn?t die soon enough then the Evil team wins. The Demon chooses the kills (usually) and sometimes has other special abilities as well as killing. There is always 1 starting Demon, unless some other character ability changes that (very rare). With 7 or more players in the game, the Demon is told who their minions are (but not which characters) and are also give 3 character roles that are NOT in play (these are known as ?the bluffs?). The Demon can safely bluff as these roles knowing nobody else is actually those characters. They can share these bluffs with their minion(s) as well if they choose.
Minions
Minions are the Demon?s henchmen, they?re job is to protect the Demon, sacrifice themselves if necessary, and to generally sow chaos and misinformation throughout the game. Minion abilities will allow them to cause misinformation, protect the Demon or weaken the setup of the Good team. They will be told at the start who their Demon is, and who the other Minions are but not which specific characters they are.
For 5-9 players there is 1 minion, 10-12 players is 2 minions, 13-15 players is 3 minions.
Outsiders
Outsides are the character type that balances the game, they?re on the good team and win with the good team but their character abilities are somewhat detrimental to the good team. Often an Outsider will want to get killed by the Demon, wasting a Demon kill on killing a detrimental ability thereby protecting the more powerful ones. Sometimes Outsiders are heavily incentivised to lie either to trick the Demon or to prevent bad things happening.
With 7 players there are 0 outsiders, 8 players is 1 outsider, 9 players is 2, 10 players is 0, 11 players is 1, 12 players is 2, 13 players is 0? that pattern continues with higher numbers.
Townsfolk
Townsfolk make up the bulk of the Good team, they?re also the most powerful characters and are the ones that will, one way or another, learn information as the game goes on. They fall into different types, some get information at the start but not thereafter, some get information every night, and some get information when specific things happen, and some are protection type roles and can learn things from when players should die but don?t. That?ll make more sense when you read the character abilities on them.
How many Townsfolk there are depends on who many there are of everything else, anyone who isn?t a Demon, minion or Outsider is a Townsfolk.
Travellers
There is one other special character type, designed for when players know they can?t stay to the end of a game, or who won?t be there from the start. Travellers are designed to come and go from a game at any time, so their abilities are quite different too. They can be on the Good team or the Evil team but should be Good roughly 75% of the time. Travellers? abilities are known to everyone, not secret, but the team alignment is not publicly known. They?re also not ?killed? in the same way as other players but more on that later.
The First Night [Starting Information]
Once everyone has their character / role then the Storyteller will send out any starting information that people should have. This includes telling the Demon who their Minions are, telling the Minion(s) who the Demon is, giving the Demon ?the bluffs?, and telling any other player with a ?you start knowing? ability whatever it is they?re supposed to know.
The 1st night ends, and the game begins
The Storyteller tells everyone to wake up from the first night, announces that they, the Storyteller, hangs on the hands of the old clocktower, dead to a Demon, and asks the Town to find the Demon and avenge the Storyteller?s death.
Day Phases
Each day the group can talk together publicly in the main game thread, or privately in ?whispers? (whispers are explained below). Halfway through the day (approximately) the Storyteller will open ?nominations? for the day. There will be a separate thread for nominations & voting. Once nominations are open for the day, then all whispers will automatically end and players should stop any private messaging.
Players choose to nominate other players to be executed and a vote ensues (See more info below on this). Each player can only be nominated once per day phase and each player can only nominate once per day phase so choose your nominations wisely. Dead players cannot nominate but can be nominated (sometimes there is good reason for this). Living players can vote on as many different nominations as they wish in any day phase, but once dead, players can only vote once for the whole remainder of the game.
If a player is nominated and gets enough votes (more on that later too) then they are put ?on the block?. This means that they are in line to be executed unless another nomination gets more votes. If another nomination gets more votes, then that nominee is put on the block instead. If multiple nominations get the same number of votes, then it?s a tie and nobody is on the block.
Once all nominations and votes are done, the day ends. Whomever is on the block is executed and, probably, dies (no information is revealed, simply that the player died, or didn?t die) and everyone goes to sleep for the next night phase.
Night Phases
During the night phases, any character that has an ability that acts at night is woken up privately by the Storyteller to make their choice and/or learn their information. There is a specific order these actions are done in ? I?ll include the night order in the character descriptions later. However, for a forum-based version I?ll collect everyone?s choices whenever you?re able to make them and then I?ll resolve all the outcomes at the end of the night using the appropriate sequence. If you die during the night phase, then you won?t get your information or action unless you act before the character that killed you or if your ability is triggered by your death. If you have died, or for some other reason your ability doesn?t function at all, then I?ll inform you that you didn?t wake up and your selection will be ignored.
Once all night actions have been resolved, the Storyteller will announce that the new day has started and will also announce who, if anyone, dies in the night. Their character and alignment will NOT be disclosed. These are only revealed at the end of the game.
Thusly the game continues until one of the win conditions is met and a team has won. If somehow something happens that makes the Good team and Evil team win at exactly the same time, then the Good team wins. i.e. the Good team wins ties, but ties are exceptionally rare since actions always happen in a particular sequence.
Noteworthy Game Mechanics
Whispers
Imagine yourself playing the game in real life. You?re sat in a room, in a circle. You can get up from your seat and go for a private whispered conversation with another player, perhaps in a quiet corner of the room but this would be visible to all players and so the same is true here. It makes no difference if you are on the Good team or the Evil team, the following applies to everyone. There is no separate Evil team discussion, it must be done via whispers.
Sometimes games are played with restrictions on the number of messages or words in whispers, I don?t propose to do that, but the idea is that in person you only get a few minutes for private conversations each day phase so there?s not much time for endless conversations. That?s not the same in a forum-based version so try to keep whisper conversations short or I?ll be forced to bring in a limitation. This not only helps people retain some sanity but is also important for maintaining game balance.
You must agree in the whisper request thread with the person you want to whisper with, both parties must post that they want to whisper or agree to whisper before ANY private message is sent. This takes the form of a post in the whisper request thread saying, ?/Whisper request [player name]? followed by a response of ?/Whisper accepted (or declined) [playername]
You can only be in one whisper conversation at a time so if you want to join a new one you must first post that your previous whisper has ended. To end a whisper post, ?/Whisper ended [player name]?
Once a whisper has been agreed, the players can send private messages using the IAG messaging system, please copy the Storyteller into all private messages.
If your character ability requires you to have a private discussion with the Storyteller, then you must also post in the whisper thread ?/Whisper Storyteller? and not be in any other active whisper. I We don?t have any abilities in the current list that require this, but other lists do have.
Whispers could be on any topic of conversation, from sharing information (e.g. what your role is, what information your ability gained you or even what information someone else has shared with you), to gossip about who might be good or bad, or planning how to use your abilities or even what lies to tell other people. Evil players could whisper to share what their abilities are, share the bluffs around and co-ordinate night attacks.
As an example, it?s common, early in the game, to be quite cagey about information and/or your role, especially if sharing it will make you a target for the Demon to kill. You never know if you can trust the person you?re talking to so often people will start by sharing, say, 3 roles from the list and say they?re 1 of them, without specifying which. This allows some conversation and information sharing without making you a particular target and therefore allows you to stay alive to gather more info.
Whatever it is you whisper about, it could be the truth, lies or a mixture of both, it?s entirely up to you!
Nominations
Nominations are the way to propose that a player should be executed. There can be multiple nominations each day and the voting should happen for each one in sequence. As soon as the first nomination is posted, players can start voting on it. Once that nomination is completed, players can vote on the next nomination in the list.
Voting / Putting players ?On the Block?
Firstly, and this is crucial, it?s really important to execute people, for multiple reasons. Firstly, if you choose not to execute players then the Demon is the only player choosing kills and that can?t end well for the Good team. You can?t kill the Demon or minions if you don?t execute anyone and the longer they?re left alive the more trouble they can cause. Secondly, some character abilities depend on executions happening for them to get information (for example see the Undertaker or Empath character descriptions). Thirdly, some roles, especially some outsider roles might find it helpful to be executed to save the team from possible negative effects of them being alive.
Someone can only be executed if they receive a vote total of half, or more, (rounded up when necessary) of the number of living players. So, if there are 7 players alive then half of that is 3.5, rounds up to 4, so 4 votes are needed to for nominees to be put on the block. If less votes are gained, then the nomination fails, and nobody goes on the block.
Once one player is on the block, Subsequent nominations in that day phase need to gain more votes than the player on the block got. So, if 4 votes put the first nominee on the block then the second nominee needs to get 5 or more votes to go on the block. If the second nominee also gets 4 votes, then it?s a tie and neither player is on the block.
So how does voting actually happen? Well, again, imagine you?re sat in a room, in a circle. The storyteller would swing their arm around the circle like a hand on a clock and as their hand passes you, if your hand is raised then your vote is counted, if your hand is not raised then you haven?t. Obviously, you can raise or lower your hand however much you like during it but what matters is whether it?s up when it?s your turn to vote. Votes start with the player to the left (clockwise) of the nominee and go in a clockwise direction, so the nominee themselves is the last player to vote.
In our forum game we?ll do this as follows:
Once a nomination is made you can raise your hand by posting in the Nominations/voting thread. You simply post ?My hand is up for the nomination on [player name]? to raise your hand and ?My hand is down for the nomination of [player name]? to lower your hand. As soon as the player to the left of the nominee has announced their hand as up or down, I?ll take the current status of the next voter (or if they haven?t posted a status then I?ll wait for them to do so), then the next and the next and so on.
You can therefore change your vote multiple times before it becomes your turn, and I?ll take it as whatever you?ve voted at the point it becomes your turn. You are, of course, allowed to keep talking in the main thread and post your intention to vote if you wish but only what?s in the voting thread matters.
Nomination votes will each last 24 hours maximum after the nomination is made or the previous vote ended (whichever is the later). Any players that haven?t voted in that time will be assumed to be a ?no? vote (i.e. hand is down).
I?ll announce the official vote count as soon as I can after the last person in the circle has voted but you do not need to wait for this to start the vote on the next nomination (otherwise it?ll slow the whole game down). If there are multiple nominations made you can post your vote in some or all of them whilst the earlier ones are being voted, hence the need to specify which nomination you?re voting for. If it?s not clear which then I?ll assume it?s for the current active vote unless your turn has passed on that vote, in which case I?ll count it for the next vote.
I?ll do my best to make it clear who?s on the block at ay time and who we?re witing on to vote next but please use the player list I?ll post below to figure it out for yourselves.
Once all nominations are done, I?ll bring an end to the day and announce who is executed and confirm that they are now dead.
Being Drunk or Poisoned
Player can, at times or permanently, become ?drunk? or ?poisoned?. What this means is that your character ability might malfunction in some way. If you?re a protective role, the person protected might still die, if you get information then it might be untrue. You won?t be told this happened and the Storyteller will act as though your ability is working, even if it isn?t. Whether it does or doesn?t work when drunk or poisoned (aka ?droisoned?) is entirely at the Storyteller?s discretion and will be determined based on what makes the game fun. Mostly, it will reflect what is most harmful to the team being affected by the droisoning. For example, Storytellers will use fake information to help support the Evil team?s lies or to create confusion and viable alternative game solutions.
Lying/Fabricating
Lying is a core part of the game, whether it?s the Demon claiming to be good, a minion giving out fake information or, in many cases, a good player lying because they are trying to protect their real role so they can keep getting more info or to trick the Demon into killing them. There is also potential for incorrect information (see the Drunk / Poisoned section below) so just because someone is caught in a lie or with wrong information, doesn?t necessarily mean they are on the Evil team. |
