Neighbor variation

From Werewolf

Some people think the Neighbor variation makes the game of Werewolf much more interesting.

In the Neighbor variation, there are no special roles (no seer, no healer, etc.) -- there are only villagers and werewolves (plus the moderator, of course). Each night, the werewolves kill someone, as usual, but the first person to the right of the killed person becomes the neighbor for that night. After the werewolves kill someone and then close their eyes, but before everyone wakes up, the moderator announces who died, and who is the neighbor. The neighbor acts like a seer for that night. The neighbor opens their eyes, and points at one person. The moderator indicates whether that person is a werewolf or not. After that, the moderator wakes up the village.

The "story line" to go with this is that the commotion from the werewolves killing someone wakes up the next door neighbor, who can see/hear something. The moderator says (while everyone has their eyes closed) "The werewolves have killed _______ and the noise has woken up _______. Who do you see?" The moderator then does a thumbs up or down, and then day breaks.

• Everyone knows who the neighbor is, so the neighbor will usually (but is not required to) announce who they check, and the result.
• Since the werewolves pick who dies in the night, they are also picking who is the neighbor for that night.
• The neighbor can be a werewolf.
• The neighbor can lie.
• Unlike with seer, there is no incentive for the werewolves to kill the neighbor, since they have no special powers after that one night.
• Chains of trust develop (if person A is not a werewolf, then person B is also not a werewolf, etc.).

The reason this variation is so interesting is that it encourages long-term strategies, both for the villagers and the werewolves. Note that the werewolves must agree to a strategy without speaking. In can be a winning strategy for the werewolves to kill one of their own, in order to create or sustain a false chain of trust.