Werewolf Game 4 - Conscription

[UPDATE: The game has officially started here]. This thread will be used for discussion about the rules.

After our last game concluded, there seems to be significant interest in yet another round of “Werewolves”. I have foolishly volunteered to be the Game Master (GM), so I suppose it is upon me to organise this quaternary edition.

Because we have had several problems in the last round with understanding the rules, participation and personal messaging, I will make the conscription a bit of an obstacle course this time. The first test is reading this message completely. That includes the rules of the game below.

The story and the setting of the game will be a surprise for when it starts.

Rules of the Game

See Here

  • I want to join the game (and I understand the rules)
  • I do not want to join the game

0 voters

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If we can find enough players by then, I suggest we start at 2020-06-08T16:00:00Z.

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What is the key difference between test 1 and 2? 1 is to read and 2 is to read and understand. Couldn’t you just take out test 1?

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I didn’t want to take the risk that somebody would start the game without understanding it, so putting two tests both involving reading the rules seems reasonable.

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I thought that was the point of test 3, the quiz.

Also actual question, do the enemies get to talk to each other during the day phase?

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Exactly. I think you’ve understood the point of my tests, then. :slight_smile:

No, they don’t. I will clarify this in the rules.

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I have added a small “fix” to the witch character, that the bewitched player may also not claim to be the witch (otherwise claiming to be the witch would be the same as stating you’re bewitched)

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How exactly does the witch work?

If an innocent is bewitched, do they basically have to pretend to be the detective or the bodyguard? Could they pretend to be evil? I guess that would be lying, but it would allow the player to essentially imply that they were bewitched, since it would be otherwise illogical to claim to be evil.

The rules do not seem to forbid a player from revealing that they were bewitched. Is that the intended design?

I was just about to ask about claiming to be the witch, but I see that you changed the rules.

It seems like it is difficult to forbid someone from revealing information or to force them to lie. What if they drop hints? How would violating such a rule be enforced?

What if a bewitched person first claim to be one false role, and then claim to be a different false role? What if they claim in sequence to be every role that they are not?

Given the use of gendered pronouns, will the witch necessarily be a female and the bodyguard a male?

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This sounds super hard to enforce. Such as would we all need to claim genders or something? There are many names that I really could see being used for either gender.

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That last part about pronouns was just me being pedantic. I’m guessing that the pronoun use was just an unintentional bias that was not meant to imply anything about the game or assignment of roles.

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The don’t have to claim anything if they are not asked anything.

That is the intention of the witch role, to create an extra layer of uncertainty about the roles the players have (since in the previous round, this uncertainty was barely present).

The way I see it, the bewitched player is convinced that they are a different role, thus they are supposed to lie consistently. I shall clarify this in the rules.

This could be seen as a roundabout way of claiming to be bewitched.

Interesting question… How about breaking the spell results in instantaneous death of the bewitched player? That should prevent violation, right?

Of course not. I wish English didn’t have gendered (pro)nouns, that would have made a lot of things easier. I didn’t even know until just now that a witch can be male.

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This is going to sound like a stupid question, but do the evil people know who each other are?

My thoughts are that if they didn’t know, they could pm people, but if they guessed wrongly, they would die. So they are almost separate from their own team

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Sorry @Vsotvep for coming up with questions after I said I understood.

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It may strategically discourage some cases, but it could also be used as a mechanic and possibly in a strategically sound manner, if the game was in a state where revealing roles was potentially beneficial, or immediately confirming and killing an innocent before the vote could help.

Would it be a violation for the witch to say “If I were the witch, I would have bewitched X”?

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I understand the rules. @Vsotvep

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Yes, they do. I’ve added it to the rules.


The rules may not be broken to gain a strategic advantage. Let’s say that breaking the rules results in losing the game.

It’s a party game, not a logic puzzle. It has to be played assuming a certain amount of good faith from its players. A witch giving away everything by talking in hypotheticals is not in good faith, in my opinion. I can set in stone exactly what a witch or bewitched player can and cannot say, but that will not make this game easier to play, easier to understand or more fun.


I have partially included the witch to level the playing field a bit, and give a little more room to speculation than to logical deduction.

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Let’s describe the witch role as follows:

  • The witch has as primary goal not to be discovered. As secondary goal they want to defeat the evil players.
  • The bewitched player is completely convinced they have a role different than their actual role. During the round that they are bewitched, they have as primary goal to appear as their convinced role. As secondary goal they want to kill the evil players.
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On the next day, can the bewitched player reveal that they had been bewitched?

When a bewitched player is asked about their role, forced to lie means forced to give a clear answer, right? They cannot refuse or say that they think roles should be kept secret for strategic reasons, right?

Do they have to be directly asked? What if someone says generally to the crowd “Please everyone reveal your roles right now”? Does the bewitched player have to answer?

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Yes.

They may refuse to answer or lie about their role. They may only not tell the truth.

The bewitched person acts as if they are convinced they are another role. If I’m detective, and I’m bewitched, I’ll play that round as if I was innocent. When people call for the detective to reveal information, I keep silent. When people know from previous rounds that I am detective, and ask me to reveal information, I will reply that I’m not the detective and that I’m innocent. When people ask me what my role is, I say “I would rather not disclose, but I’m not evil” or “I’m just innocent, nothing special” or something.

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Yay game four has started sign ups

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