| Rules and Game Explanation - Blood on the Clocktower Forum Version
The whole game will be played on this site, using the forum and private messages.
It's a social deduction game. If you've seen Traitors on TV or the games called Werewolf or Mafia then it's like all of those.
In short it's a game where you use logical deduction combined with reading people to work out what's true and what's a lie in order to either catch the evil team (if you're on the good team) or avoid being killed (if you're on the evil team).
The evil team typically knows who's on their team and who's not but the good team has no idea to start with. As the game progresses people learn information which helps figure stuff out. All players have an individual special ability that may gain them info, allow them to protect people, or maybe even be something that is problematic.
The game goes through a day/night cycle where during the day there is discussion, information sharing, lying, deceit, trapping and planning where everyone talks to try and figure out the truth. At the end of the day the group can nominate who they want to execute, give reasons, a defence is given and a vote is taken. Whomever ends up with the most votes gets executed and, usually, dies. In this game though they're not out of the game, dead players can keep talking and even still get 1 vote but their special ability usually stops working.
At night the information gathering roles get their information and the Demon (evil team leader) attempts to kill someone.
The game goes on until either there is no living Demon (good team wins), or there are only two living players, of which one is the Demon (evil team wins).
Rules & character list to follow... | |
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| 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. The storyteller will announce when a traveller joins the game and what their ability is, but not which team they're on. If they are evil then the traveller is told who the Demon is, but not the minions.
Travellers tend to have extremely effective abilities, but gain little information. They have maximum power, and minimum responsibility. They can also be poisoned, executed, killed and if they die they get 1 vote token the same as normal players.
Travellers do not count towards the player count in the game. This applies to both how many of each character type are in play, for how many players live for the Scarlet Woman, or whether the game has ended or not. i.e. if 3 players are left alive and 1 of them is a traveller then that counts as only 2 players alive and the game would end.
Travellers can die by execution or by Demon kill the same as any other player but they can also be removed from the game by being 'exiled'. This is a free vote done during a nomination. Anyone can vote whether dead or alive and the vote doesn't count as a dead player's one last vote. An exile also doesn't count as an execution so it doesn't end the day like an execution does. An exiling can happen and then an execution can still happen afterwards.
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. Executions always end the day phase no matter whether that execution was from a nomination vote, or triggered by a player ability (e.g. the virgin).
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:
We will have a separate thread for nominations & voting. No discussion should be held in that thread, posts should only be a nomination with a reason for nominating, a 'defence' posted by the person nominated, or a vote. Vote posts are allowed to contain other info specifically related to the vote being taken nothing else about the game or other players or information. For example you could post "I have information that this nominated player is good so I won't be voting" but don't post "I think we should make sure the Empath is protected by the Monk tonight".
To nominate a player you post in the nominations thread saying, in bold text, "I nominate [player name]"
Once a nomination is made you can raise your hand (i.e. vote) 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 or not there 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).
Remember, if you have limited availability you can vote on multiple nominations at the same time.
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.
Exiling Travellers
Travellers are designed to come and go from the game without breaking the game. Either when a traveller needs to leave, or if the other players think their influence is too great on the game or served their purpose then they can be removed from the game. This almost always happens before the end of the game as their abilities are too dangerous for player to leave them in the game on the last day.
Any player can call for a traveller to be exiled, even dead players, and an exile can be called for at any time in a day phase, you don't have to wait for nominations to be opened. Calls for exile don't count as nominations so you can call for an exile and make a nomination in the same day and a Butler can vote even if their master doesn't.
To exile a traveller the process is basically the same as for a nomination. The only differences are that exile votes don't use up dead players' one last vote so everyone can vote whether dead or alive, and to call for an exile instead of posting "I nominate [player name]" you will instead say "I call to exile the traveller [player name]"
Vote then proceeds the same way as a nomination and if half of ALL players (not just living players) vote then the exile occurs and the Traveller is removed.
Once exiled, Travellers' abilities cease to work, they are not able to vote or nominate, but they are allowed to keep talking if they wish.
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. | |
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| Character list will appear here in the next few days | |
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| Character list...
Blood on the Clocktower: Trouble Brewing Character List
Townsfolk
Washerwoman - You start knowing that 1 of 2 players is a particular good character. During the 1st night, the storyteller gives you 2 player names and one good character role, one of those players is that character.
Librarian - You start knowing that 1 of 2 players is a particular Outsider (or that none are in play). During the 1st night, if there are any outsiders in play, the storyteller gives you 2 player names and one outsider character; one of those players is that character. If there are no outsiders [because the player count & Baron dictates how many there are] then you are instead told that there are no outsiders.
Investigator - You start knowing that 1 of 2 players is a particular Minion (or that none are in play). During the 1st night, the storyteller will give you 2 player names and one minion character; one of those players is that role.
Chef - You start knowing how many pairs of evil players are seated next to each other. Remember here that you're sitting in a circle, 2 evil players sitting next to each other is a pair. During the 1st night, the storyteller will tell you how many such pairs there are. For example, if there are 3 evil players in a row that makes 2 different pairs so the chef would learn the number 2.
Empath - Each night, you learn how many of your 2 alive neighbours are evil. Every night the storyteller will send you a number (0, 1, or 2) which tells you how many of your living neighbours (i.e. the nearest alive players on each side of you in the circle) are evil. As your neighbours die you get information on different players.
Fortune Teller - Each night, you choose 2 players: you learn if either is the Demon. There is a good player (a "red herring" ) who registers as a Demon to you. You send the Storyteller 2 player names each night and you get a yes or no in response telling you if either of them is the either Demon or your red herring.
Undertaker - Each night*, you learn which character died by execution today. Each night the storyteller will send you the character of the player that was executed in the preceding day. If nobody was executed then the Undertaker doesn't get sent anything. Gives great confirmation of good player's roles but is also a target to be killed or poisoned. Common strategy is for the Undertaker to private chat with the executed player and tell them what role they saw, the executed player can confirm that was correct, thus creating trust between the two players. however, this can also be faked by the Spy who has seen what character every player is.
Monk - Each night*, you choose a player (not yourself): they are safe from the Demon tonight. Protective role where each night you send a message to the storyteller the name of the player you want to protect. If you are not droisoned and the Demon tries to kill them they won't die. If nobody dies at night it means either the Monk protected the person attacked by the Demon, or the Demon chose to re-kill an already dead player.
Ravenkeeper - If you die at night, choose a player and you learn their character. If you are killed at night the storyteller will message you and ask you to choose a player, once you choose, the storyteller will tell you which character that player is.
Virgin - The first time you are nominated, if the nominator is a Townsfolk, the nominator is executed immediately. This applies to the first time you are nominated in the whole game, not each day. If the first nominator is an outsider or an evil player then your ability doesn't trigger and it is lost for the whole game. Common strategy is to try and track down one of the 'top 4' roles and ask them to nominate you early in the game.
Slayer - Once per game, during the day, you may publicly choose a player to slay: if they are the Demon, they die. To trigger your ability you need to post in the main game discussion thread saying something like "I'm the slayer and I choose to slayer shoot [player name]". The Storyteller will announce the result of this in the thread - if the target is the Demon and the slayer is not droisoned then the Demon will die which could be an instant win for the good team, otherwise the storyteller will just announce that the target didn't die. If someone pretends to be the slayer the storyteller will also announce the result that the target didn't die.
Soldier - You are safe from the Demon. This simply means you can't be killed by the Demon with their night kill. You can be executed in the daytime executions (even if it's the demon that nominates or votes on you)
Mayor - If only 3 players live & no execution occurs, your team might win. If you die at night, another player might die instead. This role has a huge incentive to stay alive to the very end of the game, when only 3 players are left alive it is almost always the last day of the game. If the Mayor can convince the town to choose not to nominate anyone then the Good team will win. This extra way to win is especially useful if the players are unsure who the Demon is and could thus lose the game by executing the wrong player. Added bonus to this role is that if the Demon tries to kill the Mayor then the storyteller might choose to kill someone else instead. This helps the mayor to stay alive to the end and often the change of victim will hurt the good team less than killing the Mayor would.
Outsiders
Butler - Each night, choose a player (not yourself): tomorrow, you may only vote if they are voting too. Each night you send a message to the storyteller indicating which player you would like to be your master. For the next day, you can only vote on a nomination if you genuinely believe your master intends to vote on that nomination (you don't have to vote when your master votes but you can't vote if they don't). This role removes much of your choice on whether to vote and can be painful to the good team, especially if an evil player has been chosen. If your master votes before you in the voting order then your vote will only count if they voted. If you vote before them in the order then you must either have a private message from them saying they intend to vote on the nominee, or they must have already posted their voted in advance of your turn. You should do your best to keep your vote updated to reflect your master's choice so the town understands the actual vote count. Butler can often create trust with the person they choose since you are essentially giving them control of your vote.
Drunk - You do not know you are the Drunk. You think you are a Townsfolk but you are not. When characters are assigned, you will be given a Townsfolk role but that role will malfunction. The storyteller will continually pretend your Townsfolk role is accurate, they will ask you for choices and give you information in accordance with the role you were given but the choices will have no effect on the game and information will often (but not always) be incorrect.
Recluse - You might register as evil and as a Minion or Demon, even if dead but you are actually good. Whenever another role interacts with you, the storyteller might react as though you are evil and may pretend that you are the Demon or that you are a Minion. This storyteller choice is made separately for every interaction. For example, if you're sitting next to an Empath, their information might account for you being evil, or if a slayer tries to slayer shoot you then the storyteller might treat you as a Demon and allow the slater shot to kill you. Inevitably this ability will result in players being suspicious that you are evil and will likely want that problem to be dealt with before the last day of the game.
Saint - If you are executed, your team loses. Simple role this but but quite problematic. Is someone claiming to be Saint because they are the saint and don't want you to execute them and lost, or are they claiming it because they're actually the Demon and it's a great way to stop the good team executing them? Whenever the Saint is executed it's a big gamble for the good team, Saints therefore often stay alive until the very end of the game. Common strategy as the Saint is to pretend to be a powerful role to trick the Demon into killing them. This gets rid of the risk of executing them and also wastes a Demon kill, thereby protecting a better good role that might otherwise have been killed.
Minions
Poisoner - Each night, choose a player: they are poisoned tonight and tomorrow. Each night, the storyteller send a player choice to the storyteller, that player will be poisoned until the poisoner dies or the next night's choice is made. A poisoned player will have their ability malfunction. They may get false information or their night action won't happen etc. For example, if you can poison a Ravenkeeper on the same night the Demon kills them, then they'll get fake info, or if an Empath is poisoned then they will likely get a fake number implicating good players as evil or making evil players look good.
Spy - Each night, you see the Grimoire (the storyteller's game record) . You register as good and as a townsfolk or outsider, even when dead. The main part of this role is that each night the storyteller will share most of the details of the game. In a face to face game this would mean the storyteller shows the spy the special book that the storyteller tracks the game in but in this format of the game I'll take a photo of it and load it to my dropbox for the Spy to see. The spy may not send the dropbox link to anyone else but they are allowed to have a whisper with someone and share the details of what they saw. I'll delete the picture once the spy has had chance to look at it. The spy should also not take a screengrab or copy of the picture, this role is meant to be a test of memory. Please respect this rule even though there's no way I can check whether you have. You get to see an updated picture every night anyway so there's really no need to copy it.
Thus the spy will know which character every player is, they'll know what the Demon bluffs are right from the start without needing to talk to the Demon, they'll know which players the librarian, investigator and washerwoman saw and they'll even know who the Drunk is, if there is one. This allows them to bluff as the undertaker very convincingly but also to guide the Demon on who to kill. However, if the Demon kills seem too well targeted that can easily give away the existence of a spy.
The spy can also misregister to other player abilities. For example, they can appear good to an Empath, and they function as a Townsfolk if they nominate the virgin.
Scarlet Woman - If there are 5 or more players alive and the Demon dies, you become the Demon. This is a get out of jail free card for the evil team. If the Demon is executed with at least 5 still alive (including the Demon immediately before they die) then the Scarlet Woman immediately becomes a new Demon and gains the demon's ability to kill at night. If this happens the storyteller would inform the Scarlet Woman during the next night phase that they are now the Demon (although they should already have worked it out if the Demon was executed!). Prior to becoming the demon, if it happens, the Scarlet Woman has no other special powers.
Baron - There are extra Outsiders in play [+2 outsiders]. This basically changes the setup of the game by adding 2 extra outsiders in place of Townsfolk. For example, an 8 player game would ordinarily have 1 outsider, 5 townsfolk, 1 minion and 1 demon, but if the minion was a Baron then instead the game would have 3 outsiders, 3 townsfolk, 1 minion (the Baron) and 1 demon. This helps the evil team by weakening the good team rather than by giving the evil team any extra abilities. The existence of a baron in the game can be detected by having more people claiming outsider characters than there otherwise should be. Of course, evil players could pretend to be outsiders to make people think there's a baron when there isn't.
Demon
Imp - Each night*, choose a player: they die. If you kill yourself this way, a Minion becomes the Imp. Head honcho, if he dies without passing the ability to a scarlet woman (either because there isn't one in play or because there were less than 5 alive players when it happened) then the game ends and the evil team loses. Each night the Demon messages with storyteller with the name of the player they want to kill. Assuming nothing else prevents it (such as a monk or Soldier) then that player will die.
The Imp can target a dead player to kill if they choose which will result in the storyteller announcing that nobody died in the night and will look like a Soldier or monk protected player were attacked. Can be used to help support a fake role claim of monk or soldier but at the cost of not killing anyone that night.
The Imp can also choose to target themselves with their night kill. The Imp's special ability means that if he dies this way then one of the minions becomes a new Imp (they don't have to be the scarlet woman for this, any minion works). This gives the demon an escape route if they think the good team are suspicious of them. If there are multiple alive minions then the storyteller will choose which one becomes the new Imp.
*except night 1 | |
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| I'll probably add some more notes on each role, how it works and perhaps even some play tips but in the meantime, feel free to ask me any questions you have either by private message, or in the sign up thread. | |
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| I've added some extra bits and pieces into the character list to explain the abilities a bit more and below are some additional hints and tips:
Make sure you understand all the roles, not just yours. It's really important to understand how your role might interact with others as well as understanding which roles might have good reason to lie or mislead and how other roles might result in weird things happening.
Each character can only be in the game once but since there are always more characters than players, some roles won't be used. The Demon will get told 3 of these that they can then safely pretend to be. The Spy can also see which characters are or aren't being used so they can also safely bluff any character not being used. If two people are claiming to be the same role then at least one of them is lying, but remember there might be good reasons for that.
Take note of the drunk / poisoned possibility. Any piece of information you learn, or someone else learns, has the potential to be affected by being drunk or poisoned. Very little is ever certain in this game. If you can identify whether there's a drunk and who it is then it'll help you to know what information is more reliable.
You know from the start of the game how many outsider characters there should be [it's explained in the first post in this thread] so if you have less people claiming outsider roles than you should have then maybe there's a drunk who doesn't know they're an outsider and similarly if you have too many people claiming outsider then either one of them is lying, or there's a Baron in play that adds 2 extra outsiders. Solve that conundrum and you'll be a step closer to finding both the drunk and an evil team member.
'Top 4 roles' - the top 4 characters in the list ONLY get information on the first night. This makes their deaths less of a loss to the good team because they already have their information. This makes them perfect candidates to nominate the virgin, if there is one, because, assuming no droisoning, it will categorically prove that the virgin is actually the virgin and the nominator is a Townsfolk role (i.e. not evil and not drunk). It also gives some incentive for the top 4 roles to bluff as high powered roles to make the Demon waste their kill one a role which gets no further information.
Good players dying can often be useful to the good team, depending on how it happens. Whether it's to prove something like in the virgin example above, or because a Ravenkeeper has been killed at night which triggers their powerful role, or a saint dying at night meaning the town is no longer at risk of losing by executing a saint.
Whilst every character role has a special ability, some are more powerful than others because of the info they get. Typically anyone getting information every night, and the Ravenkeeper, are the most powerful roles.
As a result of the above to points, there are many reasons for people to lie about their role. They could claim a weaker role than they really have so they don't get killed by the Demon, or they might claim a more powerful role to encourage the Demon to kill them. This is why catching someone in a lie, or having multiple people claiming the same character doesn't necessarily mean they're evil. People may start the game claiming one thing, then revert to claiming their actual role later on, you'll need to decide whether that was a sensible move, or whether it was actually an evil player trying to get themselves out of trouble.
Keeping track of private conversations might be useful. The Demon gets given 3 roles they can safely claim to be, they can share these with their minions but they'll need to have a private chat to do so. The longer they leave it to have a chat, the harder it will be for Minions to claim a role which might get them in trouble. Similarly, certain characters have incentives to talk to certain other people, for example, the undertaker can talk to the last executed player and confirm what role they saw, the empath may want to talk to their neighbours and the fortune teller may want to talk to the people they chose etc. [This is why private chats must be agreed in public]
Vague claims. As mentioned before there are lots of reasons to be cautious telling people what character you are. The more people know, the more likely it is that the evil team know. One strategy to handle this is known as a '3 for 3'. This is where two players in a private chat will say 3 roles, 1 of which is the role they actually are and the other 2 are fakes. That gives some legitimacy to claims later in the game without giving the evil team too much info to choose kills & poisoning with.
May or Might - several of the character role descriptions use the words 'may' or 'might' this means that the storyteller will decide whether the relevant thing happens or not. This choice is made to make the game more fun and will likely be done to reflect whether it's a good ability triggering which should mean something positive for the good team or an outsider or evil character triggering which should be negative for the good team. Depending on the context of the character role, 'may' could also mean that you can choose whether to use the ability or not. It should be obvious from the text which case it is. | |
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| Last bit of information you need before we are in a position to start is the order each ability triggers each night (if a character is dead or isn't in play then their spot in the list is skipped over):
First Night:
1. Minions - get their starting info [who the demon is]
2. Demon - gets their starting info [who the minions are, 3 not in play roles]
3. Poisoner - chooses their target, who is then immediately poisoned
4. Spy - sees the Grimoire (includes indicators for the 'first night' information roles and who the poisoner has poisoned)
5. Washerwoman - gets sent a townsfolk character and 2 player names
6. Librarian - gets sent an outsider character and 2 player names
7. Investigator - gets sent a minion character and 2 player names
8. Chef - gets sent the number of pairs
9. Empath - gets sent the number of evil alive neighbours
10. Fortune Teller - chooses 2 players and is sent a yes if either of them is the Demon or their good fake trigger (aka red herring), or a no if neither of them are.
11. Butler - chooses their master for the next day
All Other Nights
1. Poisoner - chooses their target, who is then immediately poisoned
2. Monk - chooses a player who is then immediately protected from the Demon for the night
3. Spy - sees the the Grimoire (includes indicator for who the Butler picked previously, who the Monk has protected, who the poisoner has poisoned, as well as for the 'first night' information roles)
4. Scarlet Woman - gets told they became the Demon [if that happened]
5. Imp - attempts to kill a player
6. Ravenkeeper - if they died tonight, is asked to choose a player and learns their character
7. Undertaker - learns the character of the player executed in the previous day
8. Empath - gets sent the number of evil alive neighbours
9. Fortune Teller - chooses 2 players and is sent a yes if either of them is the Demon or their good fake trigger (aka red herring), or a no if neither of them are.
10. Butler - chooses their master for the next day | |
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| In case anyone's interested in what the Grimoire looks like (it's what the spy sees) I've put an example on dropbox which you can see with the link in my manager profile.
You can see the circle of characters in play, this will match up to the circle of players I'll show when the game starts.
Then you see the Monk has a black shroud indicating they are dead. They also have a small circular token which indicates they still have their 1 dead vote available to use.
You can see the Butler selected the bottom left player (happens to be the washerwoman) as their master.
The virgin has a 'no ability' token which means they've been nominated once already so their ability has been consumed. [as it happens it was the Monk the nominated the virgin and that's why the Monk is dead]. The virgin also has a 'red herring' token which indicates they are the good player that registers as the demon to the Fortune Teller.
The Undertaker has the poisoned token so their information will be tainted this night, the would normally learn 'Monk' because the Monk was executed but I could choose to lie and say that was the Drunk instead [thereby making the town think the Drunk is dead when it's not]. The undertaker has a 'Safe' token as well meaning they were previously picked by the Monk to be protected but since the Monk is dead, this protection won't work now.
The Monk has a 'died today' token which reminds me that they're the person the undertaker should learn about and also a 'Townsfolk' washerwoman token which indicates they were the townsfolk that the washerwoman saw. The Poisoner has the 'wrong' washerwoman token which indicates that the player that is the poisoner is the 2nd player that the washerwoman saw.
The Ravenkeeper has the 'dead' token which indicates they are being killed by the demon this night. Ordinarily that would mean I wake up the Ravenkeeper to make their choice but they also have the 'is the drunk' token which indicates they aren't really the Ravenkeeper, they just think they are. They're actually the Drunk so what I'll do is send them a message asking them to choose someone, let's say they choose the player that is actually the imp, then I'll message them back saying that player is the Saint instead of telling them they're the Imp.
Lastly, in the bottom left, you see the 3 characters that the Demon knows are not in play, the Slayer, the Saint, and the Empath. As it happens the Demon has chosen to pretend to be the saint so my lie to the drunk Ravenkeeper supported the Demon's bluff. | |
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| Ok then, we're preparing to begin, please take your seats in the circle....
.........................................10. Euro..............1. HanSo7o
.............................9. fedyshen ................................2. JustSuper
.................8. Firesilver ....................................................3. BerryStraw
.......................7. pleasantsurprise ............................4. chyperhondriac [will join the game later]
..........................................6. AndyP ............5. Blueboar
[Seat numbers were allocated 'randomly' by ChatGPT]
Roles will be sent out later today and I'll also be taking first night choices. Once that's done I'll open up the two main game threads and the game will begin. | |
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| Announcement: Chyperhondriac has joined the game as a traveller.
You are all made aware that their character is: Gunslinger
You don't know which team they are on.
The Gunslinger ability reads: Each day, after the 1st vote has been tallied, you may choose a player that voted yes (hand up): they die.
That's a death, not an execution so doesn't end the day like an execution does, doesn't trigger the Saint and doesn't gain info for an undertaker. Chyper will action this, if he chooses to, by posting in the nominations thread "I use my power to shoot [playername]". For forum playability, I'm also allowing him to message me that in advance and I'll post it in the thread when the vote count is complete.
How Travellers Work:
Typically Travellers have all of the power and none of the responsibility!
Travellers can be killed by the Demon, or exiled from the town and can be made Poisoned (theoretically they could be made Drunk as well but there's no way for that to happen after the start in this character list). Travellers can't be executed though, any 'nomination' on them is for Exile not execution. For Travellers, dying is the same as everyone else, their ability stops, they can't nominate and they get one last vote. Exiling basically just means they die (but in the real world could leave completely if they choose to).
Travellers don't count towards the win conditions under any circumstances (e.g. 2 players alive + a traveller, just means 2 players alive and Evil would win).
Travellers can be extremely dangerous if left alive to the end of the game. A traveller alive on the final day of the game could decide it in their teams favour on their own. For example, an evil Gunslinger alive with 3 other players could kill one of them making it 2 alive for an instant Evil win, even if the Demon is on the block. A Good gunslinger however could win the game with a single kill on the Demon. That's not to say you should definitely exile Travellers before the end but if not, make sure you trust them and are sure they're on your team! | |
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| Announcement: Additional Rule
To ensure voting is not manipulated or unduly delayed, if you are online and interacting with the Clocktower game/threads when it is your turn to vote on a live nomination then I expect you to vote at that time. If you choose not to then I'll take that as a choice not to vote (i.e. hand down). | |
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| I'll leave this threads stickied in case we use it again sometime | |
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