Werewolf is a game in the tradition of "Wink Murder" or "Murder in the
Dark", but with a slightly more paranoid and vindictive atmosphere. It's
a game of accusations, murder, bluffing, second-guessing, assassination,
and rabid mob hysteria. Players try to escape the noose by blaming their
neighbors.
setting up
Each player will
be given a card. Two players will receive Werewolf cards, one will
receive a Seer card, and the rest will be Villagers. Look at your card,
but do not show it to anyone else - you must keep it a secret.
Two players are
secret werewolves. They are trying to slaughter everyone else, the
innocent villagers. But one of the villagers, the Seer, has mysterious
psychic powers and can detect the taint of lycanthropy.
the game: night and
day
The game proceeds
in alternating night and day turns, starting with the night.
Each Night, all
of the players will be instructed to close their eyes and go to
sleep. All the players must close their eyes, and feign sleep, and must
make loud noises, humming, fake snoring, etc, so that they will not hear
what is going on. It is very important that everyone keeps their eyes
closed until they are told to open them. Anyone caught opening their
eyes before they are told to will be thrown out of the game.
The two
Werewolves will be instructed to open their eyes. The two werewolves
should do so, and look around to recognize each other.
The Werewolves
will be instructed to pick someone to kill. The werewolves
silently agree on which villager it will be. It is important they remain
silent. The other players are sitting there with their eyes closed, and
the werewolves don't want to give themselves away. Sign language is
appropriate, or just pointing, nodding, raising eyebrows, and so on.
When the
werewolves have silently agreed on a victim, and the moderator of the
game understands who that is, they will be told to close their eyes.
Everyone else must still keep their eyes closed until they are
instructed otherwise.
Next, the Seer
will be commanded to open her eyes. The seer looks around and silently
points at another player. It is important to do this without drawing
attention, the Seer doesn't want to be identified by the werewolves!
The moderator
silently signs thumbs-up if the seer pointed at a werewolf, and
thumbs-down if the seer pointed at an innocent villager. The moderator
then tells the Seer to close her eyes.
The moderator
then tells all of the players to open their eyes, and indicates which
person has been killed. That person is immediately dead and out of the
game. They hand their card to the moderator, face down, without
revealing what it was.
Each Day,
all the living players must choose to lynch one of the other players
they suspect to be a Werewolf. The Werewolves are pretending to be
innocent villagers, and the Seer does not reveal her identity either,
since if the Werewolves find out who she is, they will choose her to
kill next, to protect their secret. The Werewolves will conspire
to cast guilt on innocent villagers and away from themselves. There are
no restrictions on speech. Any living player can say anything he wants -
truth, misdirection, nonsense, or barefaced lie.
Dead players
should not speak at all. As soon as the sun comes up and the moderator
indicates that someone is dead, he may not speak for the rest of the
game. Similarly, as soon as a player has been lynched, she is dead. If
she wants to protest her innocence or reveal some information (like the
Seer's visions), she has to do it before the lynching is declared. No
player may reveal their card, to anyone, except after being lynched.
As soon as the
village agrees on a particular player to die, the moderator declares him
dead, and that player then reveals his card, and the rest of the players
find out whether they've lynched an innocent villager, a Werewolf, or
(uh-oh!) the Seer.
Once a player is
lynched, night falls immediately and the cycle repeats. Everyone closes
their eyes, the werewolves (or werewolf, if one of them has been
lynched) secretly select someone to kill, the seer (if alive) secretly
learns another player's status; then the sun rises, one player is found
dead, and the remaining players begin to discuss another lynching.
Repeat until one side wins.
winning
The humans win
if they kill both werewolves.
The werewolves
win if they kill all but one villager. At that point they can rise
up and slaughter the villager openly and the game is over.
to clarify...
The villagers are
trying to figure out who's a werewolf; the werewolves are pretending to
be villagers, and trying to throw suspicion on real villagers.
The seer is
trying to throw suspicion on any werewolves discovered, but subtly
(because the werewolves will almost certainly eat the seer if they find
out who it is, as the greatest threat to werewolf national security). Of
course the seer can reveal himself at any time, if he thinks it's
worthwhile to tell the other players what he's learned. Also of course,
a werewolf can claim to be the seer and "reveal" anything he wants.
Living players cannot show their cards, after all.
The only
information the villagers have is what other players say - and who dies.
Accusing someone of being a werewolf is suspicious. Not accusing anyone
is also suspicious. Agreeing with another player a lot is suspect, and
therefore so is pretending not to agree with another player. Never
voting to kill a particular player is very dodgy for both of them -
unless it's the seer who knows that player is innocent.
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