Blood on the Clocktower
Introduction
Blood on the Clocktower is a social deduction game of demon-hunting and dastardly backstabbing. Players randomly draw tokens to determine their team alignment: either Good or Evil. If you are Good, your goal is to find and execute the Demon during the day phase. Good wins if the Demon dies. If you are Evil (either the Demon or one of their Minions), your goal is to destroy the town, picking off players during the night phase. Evil wins if just two players are left alive, with one of them being the Demon. Everyone will have a character ability based on the token they draw at the start of the game. Good abilities generally provide the Good team with information, protection from death, or introduce alternate win conditions. There may be one or two Outsiders on the Good team whose abilities hinder the town. Evil abilities interfere with the Good team’s abilities or help get the Demon out of tricky situations.
Death is not the end in Blood on the Clocktower. Players killed by the Demon or executed by the town do not have their roles publicly revealed until the very end of the game, so they may still participate in group discussions. In addition, they are still allowed one more vote for a single execution for the rest of the game. Oftentimes, games are decided based on these ghost votes of dead players. Plus, Blood on the Clocktower is a team game; if you are Good, you win along with the Good team, regardless of whether you survive to the end.
The Storyteller is the player running the game. They know everyone’s roles, tell the players when to wake up or go to sleep, give information to players based on their abilities, tally votes for executions, and answer questions about rules. They are an impartial referee of the game; as long as the other players are having a fun and exciting game, the Storyteller wins.
Game Session Set Up
Game session sign-ups will be available throughout FanimeCon weekend. Drop-in players can join a game session on a first-come, first-served basis, in the event that a registered player does not show up for their game session within 5 minutes of the start time. Players are expected to stay for the entire length of the game (up to 2 hours). Leaving early can ruin the game for everyone, especially if you happen to be the Demon player. Non-players are allowed to spectate as long as they agree not to share any game-related information with the players.
Each day, there will be at least one session of the introductory edition of Blood on the Clocktower: Trouble Brewing. Reference sheets will be provided during gameplay. You can see all characters in this edition at https://wiki.bloodontheclocktower.com/Trouble_Brewing. There will also be games of the intermediate editions, Sects and Violets and Bad Moon Rising. It is recommended that players have at least some familiarity with Trouble Brewing before playing the intermediate scripts.
The full rules of Blood on the Clocktower will be introduced at the game session before and during play. Most rules revolve around interactions between character abilities. If you are interested in diving deep into the mechanics beforehand, you can read more at https://wiki.bloodontheclocktower.com/. There are only four rules that you need to know before playing.
Rules
- You may say whatever you want at any time.
This is a talking game. You can talk publicly with the group or have private, whispered conversations; it is up to you. Lying is fine; Good players may have strategic reasons to lie just the same as Evil players. The only exception regarding speaking is during nominations for execution in the day phase. The Storyteller will give the floor to the accusing player first, then the nominated player, and then allow others to add pertinent information, before running the vote. Avoid interrupting the two players during their accusation and defense. The FanimeCon Code of Conduct applies as usual in regards to hate speech or harassment.
- No peeking.
Please keep your character token a secret, and never look into the Storyteller’s grimoire, as it contains all the game characters. If you see something you shouldn’t, it will spoil the fun. Please consult with the Storyteller if you accidentally catch a glimpse of another person’s token. If it’s early in the game, the Storyteller may decide to reshuffle tokens.
- Ask the Storyteller any questions you need to.
If you get confused, don’t understand how your character works, if something happens at night that you don’t understand, or you just need some strategy advice…whatever it is, please ask. The Storyteller is neutral, and their job is to help you understand the rules and have fun playing. You may pull the Storyteller aside to talk in private so that nobody knows what question you asked.
- Play nice.
This is a game about deception and trickery, but please treat others with respect and consideration. Kill with grace and die with dignity.