“Village Idiot, wake up. You may move everyone’s card but your own to the left or to the right.”

From Daybreak, on Team Village

It will usually be clear to all players from the sound of cards being moved during the Village Idiot’s night phase if they acted or not. The most pressing question upon waking will be which way did the Village Idiot rotate the cards. Players will be reluctant to reveal any information about themselves until the Village Idiot has provided this information since no move has more impact on the game than the Village Idiot’s rotation. I like to state the correct direction two thirds of the time.

Generally, including the Village Idiot won’t make for a very good game because he either creates too much chaos or incentivizes people to reveal too much too quickly once the rotation direction has been revealed. It’s good to include The Village Idiot every now and then but rarely for more than two games in a row and never in sessions with more than five players because the chaos becomes unmanageable.

What do you think? Leave your thoughts in the comments section.

“Aura Seer, wake up. Everyone, if you have viewed or moved any card, stick out your thumb.”

From Bonus Pack 1, on Team Village

The Aura Seer is one of the most powerful cards in the game, so much so that her inclusion can quickly unbalance the game. She is in a position to contradict anyone who says they did or didn’t look at or touch any card inconsistent with what their role was. Furthermore, the mere presence of the Aura Seer in the game severely restricts the ability of others to lie, which significantly helps Team Village. If someone is going to lie they need to choose another role consistent with whether they themselves did or did not stick up their thumb during the Aura Seer’s night phase.

The following roles will stick up their thumb:

• Doppleganger
• Lone Werewolf
• Alpha Wolf
• Mystic Wolf
• Seer
• Apprentice Seer
• Paranormal Investigator
• Robber
• Witch
• Troublemaker
• Village Idiot

The following roles will not stick up their thumb:

• Sentinel
• Werewolf (Only if not a lone wolf, Alpha or Mystic Wolf)
• Minion
• Mason
• Drunk
• Insomniac
• Revealer
• Curator
• Dream Wolf
• Bodyguard
• Prince
• Cursed
• Hunter
• Tanner
• Villager

Anyone claiming to be a role other than what they were needs to pick one that is consistent with whether they stuck up their thumb or not during the Aura Seer’s night turn, assuming the Aura Seer card did not start in the center. Anyone falsely claiming to be a Drunk, Insomniac or Revealer during the day phase may not realize the importance of wake order in maintaining their lie. Although each of these characters look at or move a card the genuine Drunk, Insomniac or Revealer do not stick up their thumb during the Aura Seer’s night phase because they perform their action after the Aura Seer. As the Aura Seer yourself, watch in particular for someone who stuck up their thumb and then tries to be clever by claiming one of these roles. They will likely have forgotten the critical wake order and be easy to catch in a lie. Try not to reveal that this was the way you know they are lying, since revealing the importance of wake order will ensure they, or others, don’t make the same mistake next time.

Yet a further complication is that of those roles who do stick up their thumb, only the Alpha Wolf’s and Doppelganger’s action is compulsory. Any of the other roles may voluntarily forgo their night action and therefore not stick up their thumb. However, in practice this is very unlikely to occur as foregoing their action would disadvantage that player far more than it would disrupt the Aura Seer. However, a Tanner could claim to be a Robber or Paranormal Investigator that chose not to act at night so as not to risk becoming a Werewolf. This straddles that line between plausibility and suspicion that the Tanner needs.

What do you think? Leave your thoughts in the comments section.

“Gremlin, wake up. You may switch marks or cards between any two players.”

From ONUV, on Team Village

Generally the Gremlin’s strategy should follow that of the Troublemaker, with a couple of exceptions.

It is usually more advantageous to switch cards rather than marks. Most likely there will be one Vampire mark (or none if it subsequently got switched out by a later mark), but there will be two vampire cards and potentially a Renfield, so switching cards will be much more disruptive and hence normally reveal more information. The Gremlin doesn’t necessarily have to switch cards instead of marks, since just saying that he did will achieve the desired effect.

Unlike the Troublemaker, the Gremlin can switch their own cards or marks. Generally this is only worthwhile if the Gremlin has a mark where giving it to a Vampire, would be advantageous to Team Village, such as the Mark of the Assassin, Mark of the Traitor or Mark of Love. Successfully giving one of these to a Vampire increases the chance of Team Village winning. However, it is better not to reveal this until the Gremlin knows what team the recipient is on, since giving one of these three marks to a player on Team Village and then announcing it will work against Team Village by either increasing the chance of that player being killed or flipping that player’s allegiance against team village. Since the Gremlin acts after each player has viewed their marks, the only way such a player would that they received such a mark is the Gremlin revealing it verbally.

What do you think? Leave your thoughts in the comments section.

“Drunk, wake up and exchange your card with a card from the center.”

From ONUW, on Team Village

The Drunk can be one of the least fun cards to play. The Drunk often has no information to use and no idea what team he is actually on. The best he can hope for is that the Seer, Apprentice Seer or Witch can reveal what the center card was that he took.

But the Alpha Wolf interacts in an interesting way with the Drunk. If the Alpha Wolf is in the game then the Drunk should take the middle Werewolf card every time. This affords the Drunk a good chance of finding out what team he is on. If a Seer or Apprentice Seer determines that the Alpha Wolf is in the center, then the Drunk knows with high probability that he became a Wolf. On the other hand, if someone is the Alpha Wolf OR if a Witch switched the spare Werewolf card with someone else, then the middle Werewolf card the Drunk took was actually whatever the player originally was that got switched out for the middle Werewolf card. Either way, this information should soon emerge and the Drunk can determine what team he is now on.

What do you think? Leave your thoughts in the comments section.

“Insomniac, wake up and look at your card.”

From ONUW, on Team Village

If you wake up and are still the Insomniac then say so since you are in a unique position of being absolutely certain of still being on Team Village. Unfortunately it also means you will probably sit out the rest of the conversation since you have no further information to contribute.

On the other hand, if you wake up and see that you are now a Wolf then you got switched, so quickly say you were originally a Werewolf or a Minion or a Paranormal Investigator or a Cursed, so that when the switching eventually emerges the person you got switched with gets lynched instead. The Paranormal Investigator is the best one to claim to be since claiming to originally be a Minion or Werewolf will sound like a lie. If you claim to be a Werewolf or a Minion you can throw suspicion off by saying you heard your card being switched during the night so you’re comfortable admitting you were originally on Team Wolf.

What do you think? Leave your thoughts in the comments section.

“Beholder, wake up. Seer (and Apprentice Seer), stick out your thumb. Beholder, you may view the Seer’s card.”

From Bonus Pack 2, on Team Village

Normally, the Beholder and the Seer are on the same team and, like the Masons, can afford to have one party lie knowing other will be there to back them up. But this dynamic turns on its head if the Beholder sees that the Seer has been turned into a Werewolf.

If you, as the Beholder, see that the Seer was turned into a Werewolf/Vampire, the first thing to do is determine if the Seer herself knows she is now on Team Wolf or not.

If the Alpha Wolf is in play, and you see that the (former) Seer now has a Werewolf card, then she most likely received it from the Alpha Wolf. The Seer will most likely already know this too. The Seer, being able to look at two cards in the center, would have looked at the spare Werewolf card plus another center card, and seen that the center Werewolf card was now her own Seer card. The Seer not only now knows that she was turned into a Werewolf but also knows that the Beholder knows she was turned into a Werewolf. The Seer therefore will be on the defensive and will be looking to discredit the Beholder as soon as she can determine who the Beholder is.

If the Alpha Wolf is not in play, and the (former) Seer has a Werewolf card, then most likely the Witch, Troublemaker or Gremlin gave the Seer the Werewolf card. In this case, the Seer does not know they became a Werewolf. Without a knowledgeable and defensive (former) Seer, it becomes easier to out her as a newly turned Werewolf.

Even if the Alpha Wolf is in play, the Seer might not know she received the Werewolf card. The Gremlin, Troublemaker or Witch may have given the Seer the Wolf card, or the Alpha Wolf may have given the Werewolf card to the Robber, who in turn swapped it with the Seer, or the Seer may not have looked at the center Werewolf card after all.

If the Seer is still on Team Village, the Beholder should still be wary of stating who the Seer is. If the Seer implicates the Beholder in becoming a Werewolf, such as when the Seer sees the Beholder card in the center Werewolf card spot (indicating the Beholder was turned by the Alpha Wolf) then the Beholder will have sealed her own doom by lending credibility to the Seer’s observation.

What do you think? Leave your thoughts in the comments section.

“Revealer, wake up. you may flip over any other player’s card. If it is a Werewolf or a Tanner, flip it over face down.”

From Daybreak, on Team Village

The Revealer has no hidden information since the turned card is evident to all as soon as the day phase starts. Like the Curator and Sentinel, they are essentially a Villager with a small amount of agency during the night phase. The only exception is if the Revealer saw a Werewolf or a Tanner. Once you can confirm you are still on Team Village you can reveal who was the Werewolf you saw and the rest will unravel if they were switched. If you suspect you somehow switched teams, you want to frame a Villager as a Werewolf instead. Choose one that no one else is corroborating and say that as the Revealer you saw they were a Werewolf.

If a card is face up when everyone wakes, the Revealer is a good card for a Werewolf to claim to be since it’s clear there is in fact a Revealer in the game and the true Revealer has no direct method (such as secret knowledge) of gaining credibility over the Werewolf.

What do you think? Leave your thoughts in the comments section.

“Curator, wake up. You may place an Artifact token face down on any player’s card.”

From Daybreak, on Team Village

The Curator has no hidden information since the location of the artifact token is evident to all as soon as the day phase starts. Like the Sentinel and Revealer, they are essentially a Villager with a small amount of agency during the night phase. Recall, however, that the Curator can give the artifact to himself.

If you receive a token from the Curator during the night phase (particularly the Claw of Werewolf or the Cudgell of the Tanner) you can pretend it’s an entirely different token to deflect suspicion. Pretending you got the Mask of Muting or Shroud of Shame works well since it requires an elaborate act. If you got an innocent token (such as the Brand of the Villager or Sword of the Bodyguard) then you can help corroborate this by reading out the whole name of the token (ie the “Brand of the Villager” rather than just “Villager”) so it sounds more legitimate. Similarly if you think someone is lying about their token and you are experienced enough to know all the tokens in detail while the other player is not, then ask them to look at the token carefully and confirm the exact wording on the token or to describe the exact picture and color. If they fail or refuse then they probably don’t have the token they claimed to have.

What do you think? Leave your thoughts in the comments section.

When everyone votes, the player that the Bodyguard points to cannot be killed.

From Daybreak, on Team Village

If you can, don’t reveal you are the Bodyguard. Lie unless doing so would get you lynched. If you are the Bodyguard or suspect you are the Bodyguard you obviously need to vote for someone that you know is a Villager. If you can, lie enough to entrap someone else with the hope that this will bring the Werewolves out of hiding. For example, frame an innocent and then see who agrees with you. The opportunity to jump on the bandwagon and lynch an innocent will be irresistible to true Werewolves. If you are too successful in your lie and the innocent is going to be lynched then, as the Bodyguard, simply vote for them to protect them. The risk is that you yourself appear too suspicious and get lynched. Remember the Bodyguard cannot protect himself. If this looks likely then it might be best to come clean with your plan as the Bodyguard and hope you haven’t damaged your credibility too badly.

What do you think? Leave your thoughts in the comments section.

From Bonus Pack 1, on the Team Village, unless at least one Werewolf votes for him, and then he becomes a Werewolf and joins Team Werewolf.

The Cursed is a great card to include in games where there is a possibility of a Team Wolf majority emerging. A Team Wolf majority becomes more likely when there is some combination of an  Alpha Wolf, Paranormal Investigator, Doppleganger and/or Curator. Each of these cards can potentially convert to the wolf team or convert someone else unwillingly. When a Team Wolf majority, or close to a majority, arises and they can identify who the Cursed is, their best strategy is to tell the Cursed that one of the Wolves is going to vote for them, thus turning them into a Wolf, so the Cursed has little choice but to vote against the member of Team Village that Team Wolf has selected for lynching. Of course one Werewolf will spend their vote voting for the Cursed to bring them to their side but at least this prevents the Cursed voting against the Wolves, which they would otherwise do. If the wolf is really sneaky they can make this threat against the Cursed and then not vote for the Cursed after all, thus gaining the Cursed’s vote without sacrificing their own vote.

If you are the Cursed you are “damned if you do and damned if you don’t”, hence the name “Cursed”. Until the final vote is complete you can’t be sure which team you will be on and therefore which way you yourself should vote. If there is a chance of a Team Wolf majority you should not reveal you are the Cursed, lest a Wolf hold you to ransom to ensure you vote for Team Wolf. Even if Team Wolf does threaten to make you a Wolf you can’t be sure they use up one of their own votes to follow through on it. If you fall for the threat and the Wolf doesn’t vote for you then you will be voting against a member of Team Village despite you yourself being on that team.

Where possible, don’t reveal you are the Cursed. You just want to fly under the radar. If there is a Team Village majority pretend to be a Team Village role. If there is a Team Wolf majority pretend to be a Team Wolf role (Paranormal Investigator or Minion are good ones to claim since then Werewolves are less likely to have direct knowledge that contradicts you).

If you lie like this and get caught out and it looks like you will be lynched, stick with the lie until the clock has almost run out. With 20 seconds left on the clock, suddenly announce you are actually the Cursed. Wolves will no longer want to vote for you since turning you into a Wolf just before being lynched would lose them the game too. Similarly, Team Village will realize that Team Wolf will no longer vote for you and they will be lynching one of their own, therefore they should look for the next most suspicious candidate to lynch instead.

Last minute reveals can backfire if they freeze others into inaction. In this case, quickly prod players with the required course of action rather than relying on them to figure it out.

Pretending to be the Cursed when you are not can useful if you are on Team Village in order to waste one Werewolf’s vote. A single Werewolf may promise to vote for you in order to bring you over to Team Werewolf and gain your vote against Team Village. If you are not a Cursed, this single vote will have no effect on you but the wasted vote by Team Wolf might be enough to swing the outcome to Team Village.

What do you think? Leave your thoughts in the comments section.

If the Hunter dies, the player he is pointing at dies as well.

From ONUW, on Team Village

Along with Villagers, the Hunter is one of the least popular characters to use in the game because they perform no action at night. Most beginners receiving the Hunter role will simply admit they are the Hunter and then silently wait out the day phase as the game unfolds around them.

On the contrary, in the hands of an experienced player, the Hunter is the best character in the game since you have carte blanche to lie with impunity. As the Hunter you have an effective veto on the final lynching, but your veto is only triggered if you yourself get lynched. With a casual indifference to his own death, the Hunter is the Team Village equivalent of the Minion.

Come out swinging with a bold lie that brings as many Werewolves out of the shadows as possible. Say you’re the Seer and you saw another player was the Troublemaker. Or say you’re the Paranormal Investigator and you saw two players were the Apprentice Seer and the Hunter. Each person you speak for will be forced to either agree with you or contradict you. Werewolves caught up in this net will think you are the Minion providing them an alibi and may readily agree with you.

Sure, your bold lie will eventually unravel as a legitimately innocent person contradicts you but by then hopefully the Werewolves will have dug their hole. If you arouse so much suspicion that you yourself get lynched then you just won the game for Team Village as you exercise your veto and kill a Werewolf.

Like the Tanner, it works best if you can prevent other players from knowing you are the Hunter, since Werewolves will be less likely to vote for you. If you get caught out in a lie then rather the confessing to being the Hunter, change it to something else equally bold. The Hunter’s only real weakness is being found out as the Hunter since your wild claims won’t have the desired effect of bringing out the Werewolves and Team Village probably won’t vote for you since they will likely want to vote for a Werewolf directly rather than handing you the veto. Don’t do yourself a disservice by outing yourself as the Hunter.

Similarly, if you are on Team Village and through your role as the Paranormal Investigator or Seer, you discover who the Hunter is, then don’t immediately out that person. Let the Hunter take advantage of their card to bring victory to Team Village.

What do you think? Leave your thoughts in the comments section.

Votes for the Prince do not count.

From Bonus Pack 1, on Team Village

The Prince is like a weak Hunter. Most of the comments for the Hunter apply equally to the Prince. However, the key difference is that if the Hunter is lynched he gets to decide who else dies while if the Prince is lynched he needs to make do with the player with the second most number of votes also being lynched. This can backfire terribly if no other player gets at least two votes, resulting in an automatic Werewolf win.

As the Prince you get one vote, so if you’ve generated so much suspicion that you are looking at a unanimous lynching you need to ensure at least one other member of Team Village hedges the team;s interests by voting for the same Werewolf player you do. If a unanimous lynching looks likely, in the last few seconds before the timer winds down out yourself as the Prince to a fellow villager and explain why the two of you need to vote for the most likely Werewolf. If they agree, and the Werewolves don’t have enough time to co-ordinate a response, then the Werewolf will die from those two votes. Werewolves won’t be able to coordinate a response to this without outing themselves.

What do you think? Leave your thoughts in the comments section.