How to play

The essentials of playing

You play in person, with a Narrator who knows the secrets and guides the game using the app. Everyone else receives a secret role with a unique ability and a team. Good wins when no Entity remains alive; evil wins if an Entity is alive and two or fewer players remain alive. Some abilities can change these victory conditions.

Two teams, four role types

Key points of the game

Your role and the script

Each role has an ability that explains what you can do and when. The script lists all possible roles, not which ones were dealt: use it to understand clues and other players’ stories. Seats in the app must match the real table because some abilities depend on neighbours.

Day and night

At night, everyone closes their eyes. The Narrator wakes those who need to act and tells them what to do. The first night usually provides clues; the Entity usually starts killing on the second night. At dawn, deaths are announced without revealing roles. Discussion then begins.

Contamination: your ability can fail

If you are contaminated, your ability has no effect. The Narrator may ask you to act without telling you. For example, if you choose to protect another player while contaminated, your ability does not give them that protection. Any information you receive may be true or false. Contamination does not change your role or team.

Talking, keeping clues back and lying

During the day, you can talk together or step aside in groups. Sharing clues helps good find the Entity, but revealing your role may also make you its target: you never know whether the person listening is the Entity. You can hold back information or pretend to have another role, even if you are good. Evil tries to tell credible stories to protect the Entity. In usual games with seven or more players, evil learns who their teammates are and the Entity receives three out-of-play good roles to use as bluffs. Ask the Narrator privately if you have questions about your ability.

Nominate, vote and execute

The Narrator gathers everyone. Each living player may nominate once per day, and each person, alive or dead, may be nominated once that day. The nominator explains why; the nominee may respond. Vote by raised hands before the next nomination. Living players may vote in every one. When nominations close, a single leader is executed if they reach at least half of those who count as alive, rounded up: with 9 alive, the threshold is 5 votes. A tie for the lead or nobody reaching the threshold means no execution by voting. Some abilities can prevent death.

You still play after you die

Death does not reveal your role to others. You can talk and win with your team even after you die. You usually lose your ability and cannot nominate. Under the base rule, you keep one vote for the rest of the game: choose when to spend it. The once-per-day variant is explained in Questions and exceptions and must be agreed before play begins.

Your part as the Narrator

Explain the basics, protect secrets and follow each turn’s instructions. The app orders the night, offers legal choices and resolves mandatory consequences. You deliver information and manage the pace at the table. Choose true or false information only when the ability allows it; do not confirm or deny players’ stories.

Examples and strategies

For example: Gossip

Each night, Gossip learns how many of their two nearest living neighbours count as evil (0, 1 or 2). With no contamination or other abilities altering the information, “1” means one of them is evil, but does not tell you which.

For example: Misled

Misled believes they are a Harborfolk role, but does not have its ability. If they are shown the Gossip role, the Narrator simulates their turns and may give them true or false information. A mistaken clue can send the whole team down the wrong path.

For example: The Maw

From the second night onwards, The Maw chooses a player to die, if its ability works and no protection prevents the death. If it chooses itself and dies, a living Acolyte becomes the new Entity. Killing it may not be enough if a successor takes over.

For example: Salt Harvester

Each night, Salt Harvester chooses a player to contaminate until the next dusk. While the contamination is active, that player’s ability has no effect; if they receive information, the Narrator may give them something true or false. The affected player may not know it.

Roles that change how you play

Revealing your role is not always helpful. Depending on your role, you may want to attract the Entity, stay unnoticed or pretend to have another ability. Here are a few examples; always check your role description.

• 

  Augur

  If the Entity kills Augur at night and their ability works, the Narrator points to two players: one of them is the Entity. Death by execution does not trigger this clue.

  How to play it: You want the Entity to choose you as its victim. You can pretend to have a powerful ability that keeps giving you clues each night. If you attract its attack, your death may give good the information it needs to find the Entity.

• 

  Coroner

  On the night after someone dies by execution, Coroner learns which role they had. This clue helps check who was telling the truth, though contamination or other abilities can alter it.

  How to play it: You want to survive so you can keep checking executions. If the Entity learns who you are, it may try to kill you to cut off that information. You can share clues privately with someone you trust and keep your role hidden from the rest of the table.

• 

  Frog Princess

  Frog Princess is a Wayfarer. The Acolytes know she is in play, but not who has the role. If one publicly identifies her while she is alive and her ability works, the evil team wins. They share one attempt for the whole game; a dead Acolyte can make it too.

  How to play it: You want the Acolytes to stay unaware of who you are. You can pretend to be another role and avoid clues that would give you away. Staying unnoticed protects your whole team from that special victory.

How to keep a bluff believable

A bluff does not give you the ability

If you choose to pretend to have a good role, you can invent the clues or actions you would describe as that role. This story does not change your role or give you its ability: you still use your real ability when it is your turn. This differs from an ability asking you to act as another role; in that case, its description explains what you must try to do and the possible consequences.

Coordinate your stories

You can first listen to what others say, share a supposed clue early or hold it back for later. In private conversations with teammates, you can share bluffs and coordinate your stories and abilities. You do not need to lie about everything: telling the truth can also earn trust or support a mistaken suspicion.

Choose a story you can keep up

Consider why the group might want to keep you alive. If you say you have a role that has already received its only clue, players may suggest executing you because they expect to lose no future information. If you say you receive clues every night, they may want to keep you alive, but you will need to keep explaining what you learn. Neither option is always better: it depends on the suspicions and the story you can sustain.

Acolytes and Entities face different risks

As an Acolyte, you can sometimes help by drawing suspicion or an execution towards yourself and away from the Entity; at other times, staying alive to keep using your ability is more useful. As the Entity, risking execution is usually much more dangerous for your team. Before using a power, consider how it can help your teammates and what the group might discover from its effects.

A believable story can still be false

If you play on the good team, knowing these possibilities helps you ask questions, not identify a lie with certainty. Someone may tell the truth while hiding their role, or lie while sharing a correct clue. Compare what they say with other clues and with what happens in the game.

How a player browses the roles

This example opens the possible roles in a script and a fictional nine-player table; it does not reveal who has each role. Browse the roles, open the table view, mark deaths and add your own notes. These marks are saved only on your phone. The Narrator can share a real game’s link before the gathering so everyone can read the guide and get to know the possible roles and the table.

The game cycle

1. 1

   The script and its roles

   Each player receives a secret role with an ability and a team. Harborfolk and Wayfarers are good; Acolytes and Entities are evil. The script lists possible roles, not those dealt. Read your role description and ask the Narrator questions privately.

2. 2

   Night

   Close your eyes. The Narrator will wake you when it is your turn; follow their instructions, then go back to sleep. The first night usually provides clues; the Entity usually starts killing on the second night.

   Contamination

   If you are contaminated, your ability has no effect, though the Narrator may still ask you to act without telling you. The information you receive may be true or false.

3. 3

   Dawn and discussion

   The Narrator announces deaths without revealing roles. You can talk together or in groups, share clues, hold them back or lie, even if you are good. Revealing your role may help you find allies, but can also attract the Entity. Some abilities are used by day.

   You still play after you die

   You can still talk and win with your team. You usually lose your ability and can no longer nominate.

4. 4

   Nominations

   Each living player may nominate once per day; each person, alive or dead, may be nominated once that day. The nominator explains why and the nominee may respond. Vote before accepting another nomination. You can end the day without nominating anyone.

5. 5

   Vote and resolve

   Vote by raised hands after each nomination. Living players may vote in every one; under the base rule, each dead player keeps one vote for the rest of the game. The Narrator counts hands.

   Who is executed?

   Execution is decided when nominations close. One player must lead alone with at least half of those who count as alive, rounded up. With 10 alive, the threshold is 5 votes: between Anna with 5 and Bruno with 6, Bruno is executed. A tie for the lead or nobody reaching the threshold means no execution by voting. Some abilities can prevent death.

6. 6

   The end, or another night

   Under the base rules, good wins when no Entity remains alive. Evil wins if an Entity is alive and two or fewer players remain alive. You win with your team even if you died. Some abilities change the ending; the Narrator announces it.

If nobody wins, a new night begins and the cycle repeats.