Werewolf in English
From Werewolf
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[edit] The Story
It is 1642, and you are a member of a village in a remote area that is rarely visited by others. Nothing ever happens here, and everyone knows each other. Last night though, something awful happened to one of your fellow villagers: he got eaten by a werewolf! Clearly one or more of your fellow villagers is secretly leading a double life, living a humble villager's live during the day, while feasting upon other villagers during the night. You decide with your fellow villagers who is the most likely werewolf among you and lynch that person in the hope that all will be safe. The next night though, another villager dies. Is there more than one werewolf or did you just lynch an innocent villager? Who do you think is the werewolf? Who to lynch next?
[edit] Short Rules
Werewolf is played in a group of at least 7 people, the more the better. Normally this game is played sitting in a circle. Before the game, the moderator (a person that is not playing) hands everyone a card with their role in the game. Basically there are two roles: that of a villager, and that of a werewolf.
[edit] Night Time
When everyone knows their role the village goes to sleep, which means they close their eyes and tilt their head forward and often make sounds to signal a "scary night". When the village is asleep, the moderator will call the werewolves to wake up, after which the people that got the role of a werewolf will open their eyes and look at the moderator. The moderator will then ask the werewolves to select someone to "eat" by pointing at another player. All werewolves need to point at the same person before the moderator can accept their selection. Once the moderator has accepted the werewolves' selection, the werewolves will go back to sleep.
[edit] Day Time
Next, the moderator will awaken the village, announcing the daylight, and revealing who was eaten by the werewolves. The killed person will not reveal their role (villager or werewolf or one of the advanced roles that will be explained later) as the living can't talk to the dead. The deceased steps out of the circle and the rest of the village close the circle to fill up the gap left behind. The villagers are now left alone to decide who they would like to lynch as a revenge for the killing of their fellow villager. All villagers are allowed to talk to each other and use any arguments (except metadata, such as 'I heard So and So's clothes rustle during the night, I think he was pointing at people') to come to a conclusion. If someone thinks someone else is definitely a werewolf, he can nominate that person, simply by stating "I nomate Johnny". If this nomination gets a "second" (meaning someone else also nominates that same person), the discussion halts and the village enters a voting process.
In the voting process only 3 people get to talk. First off is the person that called the first nomination, then the person that called the second nomination. Finally the accused can state his defense. Nobody else is normally allowed to talk to each other during these phases, except the person whose turn it is to state his offense or defense. If all parties finished their talks, the moderator will ask all players to vote on lynching the accused. Normally this is done by all raising your hands if you are *for* lynching. For a successful lynching 50% or more of the villagers need to vote for a lynching. This 50% includes the vote of the accused person. If the person was not lynched, the discussion continues among all the villagers. If someone was lynched, that person steps out of the circle and also does *NOT* reveal their actual role in the game. After this the village goes directly to sleep, and the game enters night time again.
[edit] Winning Conditions
The villagers win when they lynch all the werewolves. The werewolves win when their numbers are bigger or equal to the number of villagers. If one team won, this is normally announced by the moderator during the next day.
[edit] Extensive Rules
[edit] Choosing a Moderator
The moderator should be an experienced player who knows the rules and the numerous exceptions. Any mistake by the moderator, like picking the wrong person to die in the morning, can be fatal for the game. Furthermore the moderator will need a relatively strong voice in order to be able to settle discussions and be audible during the night.
ALTERNATIVE: If there aren't that many players, and all are experienced, you can instead randomly distribute the cards, and then let the werewolves choose the moderator during the first night: The villager they kill becomes the moderator. For this to work, all players must be handed a bottle cap or some other light object which they throw at their victim to indicate their choice. Only one werewolf must toss the object, and someone must control the first night, by first calling upon the village to go to sleep, confirming all are asleep, closing his eyes as well, then announcing that the werewolves may now awaken and identify each other.
[edit] Cards
To define who is what character in the game, participants often use cards that can be handed out to specify the roles. The cheapest solution is to use a deck of cards and define one color to represent villagers and the other werewolves. An alternative is to create some Moo Mini Cards with custom werewolf designs. There are also some countries that sell specific Werewolf cards. These cards often come with very extensive and exotic rules which would have to be taken very lightly.
[edit] Number of Players to Play With?
There are several reasons to have an odd number of players (including the moderator): There will be an odd number of living players during each day, which prevents tie votes on lynchings; and the game will always end with a lynching. If there are an even number of players, you can get ties, and the game will end with a nighttime murder -- which is anticlimactic, because everyone knows when the sun goes down that the game will end at dawn. (Because the werewolves are certain to kill a human and win.) But more importantly, the humans' chances are significantly weaker when there are an even number of players (including the moderator.) (See statistics.) This is probably because an even game always ends with a nighttime murder, and an extra murder is always to the advantage of the wolves; whereas an extra daytime lynching could help either side.
ALTERNATIVE: If there are an even number of players, do not start with a night; start with a day. From a story perspective this doesn't make much sense (why do the villagers start lynching if nothing happend?) but, if needed, spin a yarn about some mad mage having cursed the village before keeling over in the morning, in the middle of the village square. Then you'll have the same advantages as starting with an odd number of players.
[edit] Number of Werewolves to Play With?
Opinions differ on the amount of werewolves to play with, but in general playing with 2 werewolves is enough. In some cases like with 9 players or less, playing with 1 werewolf might make the game more accessible for novice players and give the villagers a fair advantage. One does lose the interaction between werewolves in this kind of game. With about 13 players or more one might start to think about adding a third werewolf. Adding more than 3 werewolves is rarely necessary.
In order to decide the ideal number of werewolves, you should consider how many day-night cycles it would take for the werewolves to win, assuming that they survive the lynching (considering that two people die each time, one murdered and one lynched). If it only takes one round for the werewolves to win, then there are too many werewolves and not enough chance for the villagers to work things out. If it takes more than four rounds for the werewolves to survive through in order to win, then there are not enough of them and they will hardly ever win.
[edit] During the night
During the night all villagers close their eyes, bend their heads forward and pretend to sleep as the Moderator takes control of the game, calling all specific roles into action. To mask any accidental noises made by werewolves or other special characters, the villagers are often encouraged to make specific noises to scare of the werewolves. Famous choices are cow noises ("moo, moo"), zombie noises ("Brains, brains") or classical opera. There are variations where the moderator decides every night what (extra) noise can be made, just to keep the villagers entertained during the sometimes lengthy night.
When the villagers are asleep the moderator calls the werewolves and any other roles with a night function into action. Often no specific order is required unless the rules specify otherwise. The moderator though has to make sure that even if a special character died before, or the werewolves are down to only one, they should not give any information away. This means that any dead special character needs to be called, and the werewolves (even when left to one) should always be called the werewolves, not the werewolf.
After all tasks during the night have been handled, and all characters are asleep, the moderator calls the village to awaken and announces the night's events, such as who was eaten by the werewolves.
[edit] The Midnight Werewolf Murder
When the moderator calls the werewolves to wake up they open their eyes and look up. Nobody else opens their eyes at this moment, as this could ruin the game! In the first round they make sure to look at the moderator and identify to him/her that they are the werewolves. After they woke up, the moderator will ask them to select a victim by pointing at a villager. When the werewolves are not unanimous, even after a longer period, a few strategies can be taken to decide. The first idea is to assign a ranking system among werewolves, where certain werewolves have precedence. A more common idea is to just let the moderator pick based on majority vote.
When the werewolves selected a victim, the moderator points at that person to confirm the selection. If the werewolves agree, they give the moderator their thumbs up and go back to sleep. In the morning, the moderator announces who was murdered during the night and that person silently leaves the village.
[edit] Dead Players
It is really important that dead players not speak, and the moderator not speak outside his official capacity -- even to correct a blatant misstatement about a matter of record. Werewolves might lie to villagers about what happened before and at no moment should a dead player (or the moderator) be correcting that player.
[edit] Moderator Script
Here is a little script for the night that the moderator can use as a guide to understand his task.
Night falls, the full moon rises.
Villagers, go to sleep.
Werewolves, wake up and pick a victim.
Werewolves, go to sleep.
(handle extra characters if needed)
The sun rises.
As the village wakes up you you see that person X has been torn apart by werewolves.
Now decide who has to pay for this cruel deed.
[edit] Variations
Although the basic game involves villagers and werewolves, every crowd/city/country has their own little variations. Some of these are described below. Often it does not matter in what order these characters are called during the night (unless described otherwise), nor it does not matter if they are called before or after the werewolves.
[edit] With Additional Characters
Although not necessary, the game can be played with extra characters who have their own special abilities. Although it is interesting how it gives more people a special role with powers, the reasons and advantages of playing with these characters are debatable. Keep in mind that these characters often change the balance between villagers and werewolves and therefore the number of werewolves in the game often have to be adjusted accordingly.
[edit] Seer
The Seer is a villager that is called during the night and is allowed to investigate one other player. After pointing at a other player, the moderator will let them know (with signs, like miming being asleep to signal 'not a werewolf', or miming having fangs or claws to signal 'werewolf'). The Seer is allowed to tell the village that he is the Seer and what his findings were, but this will often lead to an immediate death during the next night. The village may also simply not believe you.The Seer therefore has to choose their moment right to announce their findings. Often a Seer is forced into revealing himself when selected for lynching during the day.
A different strategy for the Seer, though tricky to perform, is to check the people next to them first and whisper these people during the day that they are the Seer. Then instead of having to reveal themselves they can get one of the others to do this for them. These people will then definitely be killed during the next night but they have served in the survival of the Seer. Beware that a werewolf could also use this strategy to pretend to be a Seer!
[edit] Healer
The Healer is a villager that is called during the night and is allowed to heal one person. If that person is then targeted by the werewolves during the same night, this person did not die. The action is performed by pointing at an any person at the moderator's request after which the moderator will confirm the selection and send the Healer back to sleep.
If someone was successfully healed, nobody died during the night, and the game goes on. At no time is announced who was targeted and healed by the moderator, this can only be done by the Healer.
In the beginning there is no reason for the Healer to suspect who is a fellow villager, so the best plan is to heal yourself, which is legal. Once the Healer has an idea of who else is a villager (e.g. information gathered by a Seer) the Healer can decide to heal someone else.
if in the last day only one werewolf and the healer have made it to the end, the werewolves will still win. This is a great example of why it is always better to play with an odd number of players.
[edit] Cursed Villager
The Cursed Villager is used in conjunction with the Seer and is there to balance out the game slightly in favor of the werewolves. When the Cursed Villager is selected by the Seer during the knight, the moderator will identify that person as a werewolf, instead of a villager. Yet another alternative is the cursed person. The moderator will use a set of dice or another method to randomly pick a player. This player is cursed and will be misidentified by the seer; if this is a werewolf, he'll read as a villager, and vice versa.
Keep in mind that in no case does the cursed villager or person know that they are cursed!
[edit] The Hunter
The Hunter is a normal villager with only one special rule: If the hunter dies, either during the night or during the day, the hunter may optionally take any other player with him to the grave. This does mean that lynching the hunter gives away the role of the lynched player, whereas normally you don't know if you lynched a werewolf or a villager.
[edit] The Mayor
The Mayor is special role that is assigned later; at the beginning of the game there is no mayor. On a certain day (usually, the second day), any villager may announce his intent to run for mayor. Another player needs to support the mayor. If this happens, the moderator will ask the potential mayor and his supporter to explain why. Then, the issue will be put to vote. If 50% or more of the villagers vote for the mayor, the mayor card is given to the new mayor.
The mayor gets 2 votes during lynching voting rounds.
When the mayor dies, either during the night (by werewolves) or during the day (by getting lynched), the mayor must silently hand his mayor card to any other player. This new player is now the mayor. Therefore, after the village votes a mayor into office, they won't vote for a mayor again - from then on the mayor role is always decided by the previous mayor.
[edit] Double Lives (Low Amount of Players)
The game can be quite boring if you don't have enough players to play with. Games that last only one or two rounds are not the most entertaining. One variation is to play with double lives. With double lives, each villager has 2 lives, except for one. Players only die if they lose all their lives.
The end game in double live werewolf can be a bit odd. Basically the villagers still need to kill all the werewolves and the werewolves win if they equal the number (in players, NOT lives) of players. This variation is very effective and can bring the game back to life when playing with numbers from 5 to 8.
[edit] Tactics
The villagers are trying to figure out who's a werewolf, while the werewolves are pretending to be villagers and try to throw suspicion on actual villagers. 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 suspicious, and therefore so is pretending not to agree with another player. To sum things up: anything can be suspicious.
[edit] Metadata
The concept of Metadata is all information you shouldn't know but know, you will have to keep to yourself. A good example is feeling your neighbor lift up their arm during the night to point at someone during the werewolf phase. You could deduct that therefore that person is a werewolf, but in reality you were supposed to be asleep and not able to hear this.
This rule is mainly put into place to prevent special characters and werewolves from being discovered by accident due to movements or noises. Things that are allowed are talking about people's roles in previous games and anything that happened during the days of this game.
[edit] Silent types
New players are often rather silent. Being too vocal usually gets you lynched, but being too silent also tends to get you lynched. The reason is that people who haven't said much are really hard to figure out; are they a werewolf, or a villager? They haven't said a word all game, so there's no way to know. This is why more seasoned players, if they don't have any suspicions, tend to nominate and lynch silent players. End games where everyone is very vocal is also a lot more fun, another good reason for silent players to get voted off.
[edit] Newbie mistakes
- When you are a werewolf, try and behave the same as your previous game(s). It's very easy for other players to realize something's different in your behaviour.
- Usually werewolf games start with an introduction where everyone states they are not a werewolf. Don't get 'cute' - the first day, no one has any idea, and even the stupidest reason is more than enough to get lynched. Trying to inject some humour into the introduction round almost always gets you lynched. Werewolf is a fun game, the humour just starts right after that intro round.
- If you are a werewolf, do not look at the player that got killed. If you don't know what to do with your eyes, look at the moderator. Similarly, look at other players carefully right when everyone wakes up. Anyone looking at the deceased is very suspicious.
- Don't take the first 2 days too seriously; no one knows and yet someone has to be lynched. Get it over with, don't take half an hour just for the first day. Having said that, don't be too eager during the first day - often seasoned players will just randomly nominate someone almost immediately during the first day, just to see who is too eager.
