#The RavenKeeper

[ravensvalley]

#Wolverine

So have you ever seen a Canadian Wolverine? Well me, it's only the second time that I have encountered one in 40 years of living in the forest. They have such a beautiful and thick fur that I can't help myself thinking of peting him. And have you noticed the size of his claws? They look similar to the one of a Grizzly, so cool.

And yes, I know, the chives have seen some better days but the 2 pots of red hot pepper are amazing and this summer season they will explode outside.

@BenAdrienProulx May 9, 2025.

[zecoritheweirdone]

congrats guys, you get two (2) whole pieces of art today! anyway, take this very rough comic of an sbk blood on the clocktower au me, aces, and someguy thought up like ages ago in the discord.

[boneless-mika]

This might be the worst beginner game of botc I’ve ever seen

[whiskeythefishski]

Made (my first ever!!) moodboards for my Smosh Death God AU!! Starring:

Spencer and Angela as two twins, trapped on opposite sides of The Veil Between Worlds

Ian as Pastor Hecox of the Church of the Ravenkeeper

Anthony as The Ravenkeeper, the God of Death

Damien as The Scythe, the Herald of Mechanical Death

Arasha as The Cypress, the Herald of Violent Death

Jackie as The Constellation, the Herald of Environmental Death

Tommy as The Will, the Herald of Natural Death

(More moodboards will probably be coming soon! They’re so freakin fun to make!!)

[perfectlovevn]

What would be the Milos’ (+any character u think would have a fun answer) favourite/most hated roles in Mafia (the group game) and how would they usually play?

I don't really know Mafia that well and the roles that I found were... kinda confusing, so I'm going to do a similar game called Blood in the Clocktower instead, specifically Trouble Brewing. My friend likes running that games, so I'm more familiar with it. Hope you don't mind.

PreMilo is definitely better at being a townsfolk with no real role. He would get really nervous playing the main imp role and would immediately be outed as suspicious unless someone was covering for him. I think for roles, he'd be either good as a one time informant like Chef or Washerwoman or even Saint, though if someone tries to contest him he may end up causing the good side to lose. He might also like the soldier role since he can never die from the imp.

Manipulation Milo hands down would be a great imp. He's really good at making other people believe in the lies and spreading rumors, also would be a good poisoner. Expect him to win a lot of games until the point where he constantly gets suspected at being the Imp even if he's not. He probably would find it boring playing on the good side and would purposefully mess with information just to keep it interesting. Even if it meant he got executed.

Violence Milo would be amazing at any of the more active roles like slayer, monk or soldier. I feel like when it comes to the game, he's always either right on the money for who the imp is or completely wrong and gets someone important killed. I don't think he'd be great at being the imp or a fortune teller because he'd probably end up outing himself and dying.

Eris of course is an amazing imp-probably even better than Manipulation Milo is. I think if they were the virgin they would always try to get a towns person executed, just for fun. I think that they would be the type to play to win, regardless of which side they are on though but they can use some pretty nasty tactics. It's very hard to tell if they're telling the truth or not.

Valli would probably be amazing as a fortune teller, empath or even undertaker because she loves collecting information. She's definitely the type that would only really do it to trade more information with others. She'd probably find playing someone like butler or soldier boring because she'd have to either follow someone's lead or not do anything. Probably could find out who the imp or any of the demons are pretty easily though.

Desmond is extremely straight laced so he'd be perfect on the good side. I think he's the type to take charge so if he had a role like empath, fortune teller or slayer, he'd do whatever it takes to help those on his side, and even if he didn't have an important role he'd still take charge. I think the best role he'd have is monk though. He would be pretty bad at being someone like a scarlet woman though because he'd probably end up outing his other demons. Could actually make an okay imp though.

Seph is generally pretty uninterested with this kind of stuff so if he does play he'd have to have a role that doesn't really make him active or is a one time thing like chef. I don't think he'd really care for something like empath but he might find ravenkeeper and undertaker fun. On the evil side he'd be good at poisoning people.

Ryan I feel like would be a terrible saint because everyone would want him dead and he'd just lose the game for everyone. Might be a good mayor or slayer though and on the evil side he would be good as a spy. I think as the imp he would be really annoying to debate with so people would just execute him because he's annoying.

[destinygoldenstar]

Betraying My Own Team To Win As Said Team

Oh legion…

Legion is far from my favorite demon type tbh. Mostly because I’m not good at the game with one demon as is. So when you throw this into the mix, you get everyone playing you.

First time I was in a legion game, I was one of the good players. When I picked up it was a legion game, I was FRUSTRATED. Because I was undertaker, and all my info would naturally be bs.

So don’t even get me started with vortox completely screwing me up.

We won, but it was NOT thanks to me. Not at all. I was the worst of the three of us. The other two are smart people.

The next legion game I was one of said legion. But I was one of the earlier killed legions. So there’s not much to say on my end. We lost anyway.

Yeah legions have a lot more disadvantages than you think.

So I go into my third legion game as one of the legions. We do ten player games usually, so there were seven of us.

I just don’t trust myself as a demon. As I said in the past I’m usually pretty bad at being evil. So I was kinda hoping the storyteller would just kill me early. So I was kinda quiet on the first day and letting my fellow legion decide what we were doing.

So I got together with two of them to discuss what our bluffs were. The thing about legion is you get no bluffs, you kinda just have to wing it and hope one of the good players isn’t actually that role. Because if that happens, then that’s bad luck, and you put the entire legion in trouble. Because usually, you don’t want the good players to pick up on it being a legion game.

USUALLY. Heh heh…

Knowing this and the legion game rules, I decided I would bluff Ravenkeeper. Because the other two were going to bluff a minion (Spy, to try and pry out the good players roles), and bluff fortune teller respectively.

My thought process behind choosing Ravenkeeper was that it was a role that wants to die at night. And since it’s a legion game and I’m a legion, I had firm reason to believe I would die at night. So when I did, I could lie and say I picked a good player and they’re an evil role. Thus we could get rid of that good player. AND since legions get killed in the night and not good players, then there’s absolutely no way in hell one of the good players was a Ravenkeeper.

And I was correct in that logic, none of them were Ravenkeeper.

So the first good player I talked to straight up asked me “What role are you?”

I said “I’m not telling you that! You could be evil! Are you kidding me?!”

Because you can’t just say you’re the Ravenkeeper, especially bluffing it, you have to actually sell the idea you’re playing as this role.

So I said “All I will say is I don’t want to die. My roles quite good, ya know? I want to get as much info as I can get…”

Something a Ravenkeeper would say to bait a demon kill.

I asked, “Can I swap with your role to get a target off me by any chance?”

They told me, “You really don’t want my role. You’ll get in serious trouble.”

Sounded like a virgin to me. I asked, “Why? Cause you’re so pure you’d kill someone?”

“Yeah…”

So they claimed Virgin.

Here’s the thing: I knew they were full of shit. I didn’t believe them at all.

Why would there be a legit virgin in a legion game? Most players here couldn’t even activate those powers. They were hiding what they actually were, because they were suspicious of what game it was.

But, you know, I played along because I wanted their trust, and pushing it further would make me seem suspicious.

My other legions were pushing the vortox narrative, so we executed the one bluffing Chef, who said there was a pair. But the narrative was that their info would be wrong.

So... basically: Vortox game, they're 'bluffing' Empath (1), Investigator (2) tells us there's a Poisoner in play, but there's not, the minion is actually a Spy (3). The Fortune Teller gets wrong info (4), the Ravenkeeper (Me) will get wrong info when they die, the Chef that we just executed has wrong info (6), and the outsider is a recluse (7).

THAT WAS THE PLAN.

I KNOW THAT'S CONFUSING. We have a Legion bluffing Vortox bluffing Empath for example. But look up how the game works.

Spoilers, this plan fell apart almost immediately.

So I was ready as ever to have the storyteller kill me!

...they didn't. They killed the 'fortune teller' legion.

I was a bit frustrated, because COME ON, I GAVE YOU THE PERFECT REASON TO PICK ME TO DIE!!

I swear the storyteller is never on my side.

And to make matters worse, ONE OF THE GOOD PLAYERS WAS AN ACTUAL FORTUNE TELLER. OUR LEGION TOLD TO THEIR FACE THEY WERE THEIR ROLE.

So... yeah, thanks dude, you just screwed over your legion team. XD

So we go in nominations and they say "Um, *name I'm not revealing for privacy* told me they were my role to my face. And now they are dead. I have firm reason to believe they were evil."

Before that, a good player (not the one I talked to on the first day) and the actual fortune teller they believed the 'fortune teller' legion was evil.

I asked, "Why do you think that? They're dead."

Turns out they're the Undertaker, and they dug up that they were a poisoner. (Legions register as Minions)

I outwardly said, "That makes no sense. Why would the demon kill their own minion?"

They suggested, "The investigator revealed there was a poisoner, I could've been poisoned last night, so I would get wrong info."

"Sure. Let's go with that."

I asked, "Can I swap with one of your roles? I'm the Ravenkeeper. I want to die at night."

Both said no. Especially not after the Double Claim going on.

I KNEW that the original plan was going to fail after that Double Claim revealed itself, and I knew they were getting suspicious.

One way or another, they WOULD figure out it was a Legion Game. And if I wasn't careful, they would figure out I was one of them.

So most of the nomination discussion was regarding the Fortune Teller double claim. The others were trying to suggest "Well Fortune Teller is Demon Bait" (we always say that cause it's true) "so it makes sense that they're dead if you both confessed to it. I think you're the one that's lying about your role."

But I DIDN'T join them. I just mumbled "Mmm.... I don't know about that... there are other possibilities..." And then I did not join the vote on them, even though there was a good player also voting.

Because if they did figure out it was a Legion Game, they were gonna keep track of who was voting, and I would not appear on that list. It would make me seem good, because if I was a legion I would've joined in on trying to execute that good player.

We ended up not executing the Fortune Teller. We just ghost executed because we weren't sure.

Again, we do these games in our college dorms and common room, so at night we just go to our rooms. The walls block sound pretty well so long as you're not screaming. So I was in my room begging, "COME ON! KILL ME! I AM A RAVENKEEPER! I CAN HELP!"

They didn't. They killed the 'investigator' legion.

WHYYYYYYYYYY

I realized then I had to change the plan. Our original narrative was not going to work. We would get caught. They would figure out it was a Legion Game.

So... why not just accept getting caught?

That SOUNDS like you're admitting defeat saying it like that. BUT HEAR ME OUT.

And guess what? Next day, we did.

The 'Virgin' player came to me, the Undertaker, and the 'Recluse' legion, and outright said, "Here's my guess as to what is going on: I think this is a Legion Game. Everyone that is dead right now is a Legion."

The other two were iffy on that guess (a correct guess), the 'recluse' for obvious reasons. But I said, "Hang on, I think they might be onto something here."

"So I'm the Ravenkeeper. I wanted to get killed at night, but I'm still here. If it really was a vortox game, even if they did figure out my role, surely they would've killed me so I would get wrong info. And a Legion Game would make perfect sense as to why I'm not a target at all. I think you're right, it might be a Legion Game."

So... yeah. I, a legion, AGREED with the good player's suspicion that it is a Legion Game.

I WAS TURNING ON MY OWN TEAM.

It actually WORKED, as it gained me a lot of trust from that player. Because, of course, WHY WOULD A LEGION PUSH EXPOSURE TO THEIR OWN TEAM?

But I didn't really communicate this to my Legion Team that well to be fair. Two of them, one being the 'recluse', asked me "What the hell are you doing? Do you want to get caught?"

I said, "No, I want YOU to get caught. I'm a traitor. I ain't sticking with this dumbass cult!"

We proceeded to execute the 'Spy' Legion, who was bluffing Monk, poorly mind you they did not understand that role, and the 'Recluse' Legion died in the night.

So it was just two Legions left. Me and the one bluffing Vortox bluffing Empath.

And the other guy was DEFINATELY BUSTED.

Cause that 'Virgin' player? Yeah, they're actually an Empath. A DRUNK Empath, but still an Empath in their mind.

They got me and the Fortune Teller together and said, "This is 100% a Legion Game, and the three of us are the good players."

"*Other Legion Guy* told me they were my role. It's no coincidence anymore."

(I was, in my head, screaming in rage "OH MY GOD PEOPLE WHYYYY😠")

I asked, "They're saying Virgin?"

I was trying to act oblivious to the Legion's plan and go off of what this player told me.

They explained, "No. I lied cause I didn't originally trust you, Golden. I wanted to see what you would do if I told you I was the Virgin. I'm actually the Empath."

I said, "Ah, okay, that makes sense. Everyone that's dead right now is Legion. We're the innocents. I completely agree with this."

I completely agreed with their sentiment that it's a Legion Game. Because again, why would a legion do that?

They explained, "I didn't originally trust Golden, or anyone, so I went around saying I was the Virgin to get reactions and see what you would do. The fact that you didn't nominate me-"

"Because I'm Ravenkeeper. I wouldn't want to be executed."

"-Makes sense to me, and you didn't tattle on me either. Then I've been getting a zero for awhile on my Empath power, and last night I got a one between you and *undertaker*, but the fact that they’re still denying it’s legion, that's..."

So, basically, they trusted me completely because I was agreeing with their suspicions, and they got no ping on me. They thought the Undertaker was the other Legion. BECAUSE THEY'RE DRUNK.

"Unless this is a 200IQ play and one of you is Legion, I have firm belief the three of us are the innocents."

...thanks, I try. :)

We agreed the safer kill was the lying 'Empath', and made that our plan going into nominations.

I was the one that nominated them btw.

ALL my Legion friends were SO BAFFLED at me pushing to kill the only other Legion left over a good player.

Before we got there, my Legion partner pleaded, "I'm at a loss on what to do here. Help me out."

And I smirked and said, "No."😏

Bye bye dude.

And now I'm the only Legion left.

I was scared, I admit, going into the last night. Cause it was all up to me. If I screwed up, it was over. And ALL the blame would be on me, because I was taking a gamble on betraying my own team.

The storyteller killed the Fortune Teller. They kinda had no choice here cause I was the only Legion left.

The narrative plan was to push the Drunk Empath into believing the Undertaker was the final Legion.

And, as you can imagine, they were both fighting for this.

And I just kept up where my 'suspicion' was the whole time.

"If I was the Legion, why would I keep digging up these wrong roles?"

"Because Legions register as Minions. We ALL know this. Just because you're good, doesn't mean you don't know how this game works. So obviously, knowing that's the rule, you paint that narrative."

And so you know, because we all knew it was a Legion Game, we demanded that Legions were not allowed to speak through this entire thing. "SHUT UP EVIL PLAYERS! YOU DON'T GET OPINIONS! THIS IS BETWEEN US!!"

And, it was NOT entirely between them. They DID suggest I could be the Legion too. The Undertaker suggested this.

"Golden could be playing us very hard right now."

"I've been Ravenkeeper the whole game."

"Then why do you not have info?"

"Because I have to DIE to get it! That's how my role works!"

"It's a good Legion bluff."

"EVERYTHING is a bluff if you're a Legion! Don't discriminate my ravens!"

"You just need them on their side cause otherwise the vote won't go through."

"Exactly. You need them to vote to get rid of one of us, so you, the Legion, win."

I also pointed out, "I actually said it was possibly a Legion Game quite early, along with these other two guys. *Drunk Empath* told both of us at the same time 'Is this a Legion Game?' Whereas I agreed with them and humored it because I am, as you imagine, a good player, YOU on the other hand, dismissed the idea along with *Recluse*. Because OF COURSE you wouldn't want us to know it's a Legion Game."

And... it worked. The other two players agreed with me and that logic.

Then the suspicion on me dropped because it was the Empath that first initiated the Legion Game idea aloud, not me.

We got to successfully execute the Undertaker.

They were PISSED, and screaming, "THEY PLAYED YOU! THEY PLAYED YOU!! THIS IS BULLSHIT!!!"

And, you can imagine the others faces, when the Storyteller announced Evil Won, and the Final Legion was ME.

😮

"So let me get this straight, you BETRAYED our own Legion, to help the Legion win?"

"Yep. That was pretty much the strat."

This is now officially the second time I have won as a Demon. If this counts, anyway.

Who said Legions were one big hivemind? Get creative with it.

My Mind Belongs To My Ravens :)

[imsomadds]

god blood on the clocktower is so fucking fun. as the narrator, i made a drunk librarian think that either the empath or the ravenkeeper was the drunk

[ravensvalley]

#JackRabbit

It is said that Jackrabbits can run up to 45 mph (72km/h), just fast enought to avoid coyotes, wildcats and other predators; and that's amazing. So long life to our morning runner friend of the Mountainous Parts of the Northern Hemisphere.

Oh, and seasonnal colors almost acquired btw.

@BenAdriernProulx April 22, 2025.

[deondoneit]

Changing Jimmy from the Virgin to the Ravenkeepeer because how did I not think about that before, except instead of ravens, it's canaries.

[bonelessenthusiast]

“the ravenkeeper is kinda a silly role” 😭😭😭😭

[schnauzerclub]

Schnauzer's Ojo Manifesto

Inspired by axolator's absolutely fab post on the Ojo. Here's the link!

The Ojo is a weird Demon, because going by its ability text and icon, you'd think it was a deadly sniper, but playing as one can feel exactly the opposite, like you're stumbling around in the dark and never sure if you're even killing the characters you target.

So - when I run the Ojo, I am trying to keep two things in mind:

There are two types of Demon: "One kill per night, plus a little bonus" and "One kill per night, plus something fantastic, plus something awful." This is Steven Medway's stated design goal for Demons.

Being the Ojo and trying to guess a good player's character can absolutely suck.

The Ojo's "something awful" is that it can really struggle to kill trusted players. Like, really struggle. If town is committed to their role swap, the Ojo might not even know if it missed or no. You chose the Monk, and Marie died... maybe Marie is the Monk! But she's claiming to be the Fortune Teller, and Donnie is claiming to be the Monk. Are they in a role swap? What's going on? How the fuck do I kill Donnie?! This is not a puzzle the Ojo has the tools to solve, and its ability should still be useful in games in which they dont. For that reason, and to keep the Ojo's power level consistent with other Demons, their ability to choose characters should be made fantastic.

So, here are some ways I like to try and make the Ojo feel fun for the player who draws it.

1. While storytelling: Ojos never "miss"

Here's my view: if an Ojo is routinely punished for choosing an out-of-play character, you have given them a second "something awful" and they'd be better off being any other Demon on the script. The spirit of the Ojo's ability is that they should remove abilities, not players, from the game - so if the Ojo picks a character that's not in play, the Storyteller should choose to kill something just as good!

It can be literally impossible to work out if the lying Outsider is a Plague Doctor or a Hatter, so if the Ojo wants to use its really powerful ability to kill a non-existent Hatter, you should probably kill the Plague Doctor, not the Ravenkeeper. If the Ojo has chosen a Fortune Teller that isn't in this game, they are telling you that they want to remove ongoing information from the game: the best thing you can do is kill the Dreamer instead! This is letting the Ojo do the powerful thing it's supposed to do, and letting it gain mechanical upside from its ability.

There are exceptions to this guideline that I'll get to later, but as a general rule, treating the Storyteller kills as a little gift rather than a little punishment is the number one thing you can do to offset the fact that the Ojo is far more vulnerable to town's shenanigans than other Demons. If the good team feel like the Ojo is slightly psychic, that's good Ojoing.

2. While writing scripts: Feed the Ojo

If there are four Demons on the script, there is a tacit implication that they should all have a roughly similar power level. That means the script writer has hopefully given the Ojo some cool things to do that other Demons can't, and the Storyteller should try and showcase those interactions too.

In particular, there are certain characters the Ojo's ability uniquely equips it to counter. These are, in my opinion, the best characters to put in an Ojo game, because they will make your Ojo glad they have the Ojo token.

Poppy Grower & Magician

The Poppy Grower is one of the most powerful Townsfolk in the game, and the Ojo counters it in two different ways.

The first way is the most obvious: on night 2, it can choose the Poppy Grower, and learn its Minions. I've heard it argued that this is really boring and feels bad for the Poppy Grower, but I don't think that's remotely true. First off: a Townsfolk with the ability "Evil players don't learn each other until night 2" would still be one of the most powerful Townsfolk in the game. The Poppy Grower has already helped town massively by handicapping the evil team on day one, and the night the Ojo targets the Poppy Grower is a night that every single ongoing information character survives to learn more info. Town also learns there's probably an Ojo in play! That's three really useful things town has got out of the Poppy Grower ability, please enjoy.

The other, more fun, way the Ojo counters the Poppy Grower - by simply ignoring it! If I'm the Ojo in a Poppy Grower game, sure, I can kill the Poppy Grower night 2 and learn my evil team... or I can let the Minions do Minion things, maybe they have bluffs or maybe they don't, and just keep killing good characters without worrying about friendly fire. If I wait until night 3 or 4 to kill the Poppy Grower, I've whittled down the good team while obfuscating the Demon type. That's terrific! Maybe when I miss, the Storyteller kills the Poppy Grower instead: that's also really good, because it sends me a signal that that character isn't in the game and I can use it as a fourth bluff.

The Poppy Grower and Magician can both have a really elaborate dance with the Ojo. These Townsfolk still benefit the good team with their abilities, but they give the Ojo some cool choices to make and fun things to do that an Imp or a Po cannot. Put them together! They are great.

Preacher

A more subtle version of the same interaction, the Ojo can dispatch the Preacher as soon as it becomes a problem to the evil team. This is more fun for the good team and the evil team, because the Preacher now gets a weird sort of feedback on its choices. If I'm the Preacher who dies on night 2, and there's an Ojo on the script... ooh, did I get lucky and hit a Minion on night 1?

Drunk

If town suspect that the Ojo is in-play, killing the Drunk is a superb way of making their information look true. In an Ojo game, I recommend giving the Drunk false information early doors if possible, so that there's no risk of them killing it before it's useful.

Ravenkeeper, Soldier, Sage, Farmer & Banshee

These are fantastic to have on script because they are characters that the other three Demons have to worry about and the Ojo doesn't. This also means that they're great additions to an Ojo game - you can put them in the bag with the express purpose of not killing them!

If the Ojo chooses a trap character, that's absolutely fine, and there are valid reasons they might... but the Ojo should feel slightly psychic, and if the Banshee falls into a perfect bluff but still never dies, that's something only the Ojo can do, and it will make the player who drew it feel good about drawing their token, as opposed to wishing they were a Vigormortis.

Less fun than they sound: Monk, Innkeeper & Lycanthrope

I don't think these characters are so fun with the Ojo. You just point at them until they are gone, and you're more-or-less obliged to aim for them early doors. The Lycanthrope, especially, just feels terrible - the Ojo already has no idea if they're killing the players they intend to, the Lycanthrope adds an extra layer of confusion and just sucks. Monk and Innkeeper might be good on the same script - the Ojo will occasionally pick a character they didn't know was already dead, so having them around is handy. But the Ojo will probably choose them quite early if they might be in-play, and it might get them off to a rocky start.

3. At any time: Context is important

None of what I've written is meant to be a strict rule - I am a very vibey Storyteller! The over-arching principle is that the Ojo's ability should mostly help evil, even when it misses, but that can mean so many different things depending on the game state, and if an Ojo has already got substantial upside from their ability you can afford to reward a co-ordinated town with the odd backfire. In a Magician + Poppy Grower + Preacher game, maybe the Banshee should die when the Ojo randomly points at YSK characters.

If the Ojo ability has already benefited the evil team on balance - they've killed the Poppy Grower and three info roles - maybe it's fine to give town a little bonus the third time they choose something that's not in-play. If the Farmer has got everyone believing they're the Shugenja and the Ojo wants to kill the Shugenja... get the "Shugenja!" But only if it won't bury the evil team. It's fine for a Storyteller-chosen kill to occasionally be bad, but when it is I feel like it should be, at worst, mildly irritating.

This blog post is also mostly written assuming the Ojo is one of four Demons on the script. If the Ojo is the only Demon on the script, and the script also has a Farmer and a Banshee, there is a strong implication that these characters are fair game when the Ojo chooses a character that's not in play!

[keystone8379]

What I've learned from storytelling Blood On The Clocktower

BOTC is a social deduction game similar to werewolf or mafia except everyone has powers, players can break into private conversations, and there's a TON of information, but good players might get wrong info. It's very cool and has QUICKLY become of my favourite games ever since I saw RTGame's video on it. I've ST'd this game a few times now and I'd like to share a few stories from it.

Here's the first game I ran. I had a fully random bag and token layout and you may be able to see why that didn't really work. The Washerwoman, was the red herring who saw the Chef with a 1 and the Ravenkeeper, which doesn't really make for an interesting game for them. I didn't do a good job of explaining the Chef either so even though they got a poisoned 1, they said there were no pairs of evils. Oh well. Because of the relatively low amount of info, the game kinda slowed down until Savi, the Imp, decided to kill Fyik, the Ravenkeeper, who correctly saw Savi as the Imp. The following night, Savi sunk a kill, allowing Diego to bluff Soldier. Something interesting you'll notice is that a lot of new players tend to not give their minions the bluffs, but this still has led to close games. I think my personal highlight was Neppix scanning Diego and Fyik on the final day when the pressure was on Savi, allowing her to catch a possible starpass from Savi to Deigo. Also Savi fucked up his Empath bluff but what can you do. I made sure to make it clear that I was always available for questions in every other game I ran.

Also, Savi is holding the Kirby Dream Display today! There's going to be a ton of fan projects shown off! If you're following me for Kirby stuff you should totally check it out! Anyways, here's the next full game I was able to get together.

At this point, I was still kinda against putting a Washerwoman and Chef in the bag. I've grown to appreciate them much more, but there's still one TB role that I'd like to not run if I can. We'll get to that later. For this game though, I wasn't afraid of making a bag that was strong and it made for a really fun game for both sides. Evil started knowing everything and I used the spy's ability to register as good at almost every opportunity I had EXCEPT for BlooBird's Investigator ping. There were tons of really smart plays this game, a personal highlight would be JC deducing that the outsider was the Drunk and it was between him and Sonico. Another play I really like was min opting for an offensive starpass. A lot of players believed that she was good, so by all accounts, it makes sense for her to be targeted by the demon. The only thing is that she was claiming Mayor and I would have bounced the kill if she was actually the Mayor. Somehow Roni ended up as Undertaker again and got killed super early again. While this game was mostly good, after the starpass, it kinda petered out as Fyik tried to kill the monk protected virgin a few nights in a row. What I SHOULD have done is threaten to bring out the Fiddler if the game was going to stall out. I wasn't too familiar with the Fabled though so it didn't happen. Other than that, it was a great time for the players.

Oh, btw, @min-is-mini made these really cute drawings for her notes, and also did that for some of the teensys she's played in.

Here's the next game. After only 2 games of Trouble Brewing, I thought it'd be time to break out a "slightly" more complex script, taking a script from the Yogscast videos and tinkering with it a little bit. You can probably guess what I learned from this game.

Dont.

This is the worst non-teensy game I've run. For starters, this script has 3 demons on it, the Imp, the Vigormortis, and the Fang Gu, SIGNIFICANTLY increasing the complexity. I had someone join last minute, so I completely reworked the bag and drew roles randomly. As you can see, the game wasn't nearly as balanced as a TB game because good had almost no info. I didn't expect Jammy to go down so early, so was in a position where the Vigor kill HAD to poison the used up Noble because if I didn't, good would just have no info for the rest of the game. In theory, evil had a slam dunk here, but the demon was a new player who I didn't do a great job of walking them through the game, so they ended up sinking a lot of kills into the Soldier until good eventually deduced that Lily had to be the demon. Complete mess of a game.

As a little aside, if you want transitional scripts to make the jump from TB to BMR and S&V smoother, Everyone Can Play and Uncertain Death are tried and tested and I'm very excited to run them eventually. Let's keep going to my next full size game, this was my first in-person game and also the biggest game I had run.

Also, I discovered Pocket Grimoire. Pretty cool, right? We also had a late joiner, so this was the first time I ran a traveller. This was also the first time I put a Butler in the bag. I do not like running travellers or the Butler. As funny as it was to find out that someone's vote was flipped by the Thief, the rule changes around exile and player counts make an already complex game really hard for new players to keep track of. As for the Butler, Ally died on night 2 so it wasn't the worst thing in the world, but she also picked a Master that I couldn't see at the same time I was looking at her vote, which I didn't even think about beforehand. Maybe I'll give them another chance in an online game, or if I have a co-ST, but yeah, not a Butler fan. My big mistake this game would be giving Evil pretty boring bluffs. They had Soldier, Recluse, and Mayor this game, essentially forcing them into a passive game. Also, the Red Herring was SUPPOSED to be on Damian, but I accidentally gave 2 pings on Hamza so token integrity be damned! One of the craziest moments from this game is when the Ravenkeeper correctly saw the Imp, and ALL the ghosts voted on their execution. If it wasn't for there being a Scarlet Woman, that would have been an explosive way to end the game. However, on the actual final day, good didn't have enough votes to execute the SW, and the Poisoner had been claiming Mayor, leading to an evil win. That was a fun Grim reveal.

I don't have an image from the next 2 games I ran, but I didn't have enough time for one of them, and the other one, honestly went pretty smoothly. I gave the Washerwoman the Undertaker and one evil, so they had to be a little more careful with their information. This was another game where I forgot to tell the demon that the minion didn't get bluffs, so the Poisoner just ended up not claiming a role. Oops. If the Poisoner was alive on the final day though, they COULD have hit the Mayor and saved the game for evil. Either way, this was not a very experimental game, but it was very solid. Finally, we have my most recent game.

This was another bunch of new players, and a lot of people were very open with their info. The Fortune Teller hit both the demon AND the minion on night 1, which was funny as hell. I did the clever Washerwoman thing again, but honestly, this was a cracked town with a sober Empath, Fortune Teller, Undertaker, and Slayer. Town was able to execute the demon on day 2, partially due to the SW pushing for the execution. The bluffs were Recluse, Ravenkeeper, and Investigator, and once again the demon didn't tell the minion the bluffs, but this is more because there were very few private convos. The SW was able to hit Virgin, which led to some very funny conversations about the powers of the Virgin. Something else that was interesting that happened was that I gave Bella a way to realize that she was drunk IF she protected the person that died that night, which she did. Renee was not only the drunk protected Empath, but was also Nem's Red Herring. The possibility of Bella being a Poisoner or poisoned was thrown around a lot, but the world where she was drunk was only considered once by town. Another thing was that everyone was really open with their information, basically everyone except the Scarlet Woman publicly hard claimed a role on the first day. Somehow, the outed Fortune Teller wasn't killed and evil was on the back-foot for most of the game. Ella and Lily arrived late, meaning they joined as travellers. I made Ella an evil scapegoat so that I could basically ensure the game went to the final day (which worked out, Dayala was voted out on day 3 and Ella was executed), and I made Lily the Thief because it'd be funny. I think I could have done a better job explaining the game and keeping nominations on track and making sure days didn't run too long, and so on, and so forth. I had only JUST discovered the rules sheet earlier, but the group still wanted me to 'raw-dog' the explanation. It went well enough. I'll be using the rules sheet next time though. One kinda mistake I made was that when the Scapegoat was executed, I didn't wake Alice to tell her that Ella was, in fact, the Scapegoat. Technically it's a mistake but it makes no difference for travellers. On the final night, Dayala opted to kill Bella, the drunk monk. I thought for sure she'd be the frame, but this kill threw off a lot of town's possible worlds of Dayala Imp Bella Poisoner. Another fun thing was Shannon, the actual Imp, taking Alice aside to make her look suspicious, and ultimately evil was able to make a world where Shannon was the Imp and Alice was the SW. Good DID have the demon on the block the previous day, but the scapegoat fell on the blade for the Imp. Overall, it was a super close game that evil was able to pull back at the last second with an unorthodox play.

So that's been my experience as an ST for this game. I'm still very much a beginner, but I've been having a blast running this game (and playing it, when I get the chance). I don't really have a closing remark for this. Watch Kirby Dream Display today!

[whiskeythefishski]

3 more moodboards for my Smosh death gods au!! Shayne as the town doctor, Amanda as Dolores Paradise, Messenger to the Beyond, and Chanse as the deacon of the Church of the Ravenkeeper!

[adak56]

#ravenkeeper

[axolator]

Script-A-"Day" #43: Chasing Rabbits by Noor and Luxray

Is the Pixie chasing an illusion? Is their duplicate in hiding?

Featured characters: Pixie, Xaan, Goblin

Fabled characters: Spirit of Ivory

This is for the case where the Mezepheles turns a player evil, then another player gets Barber-swapped into the Mezepheles (creating a new instance of the Mez ability that could theoretically turn another player evil).

Jinxes:

Cannibal / Juggler: If the Juggler guesses on their first day and dies by execution, tonight the living Cannibal learns how many guesses the Juggler got correct.

Spy / Magician: When the Spy sees the Grimoire, the Demon and Magician's character tokens are removed.

You should also remove the No Dashii's "Poisoned" reminder tokens from the Grimoire, so it's not immediately obvious who the Demon is.

Cerenovus / Goblin: The Cerenovus may choose to make a player mad that they are the Goblin.

Complexity: Intermediate-Advanced. Recommended for players looking for an introduction to the world beyond the base 3: those who can handle a bit more madness, a bit more misinformation, and a lot more squabbling about different evil teams and worlds.

Database link (find the PDF and JSON for running it there!)

Writeup under the cut!

Chasing Rabbits is a script by both Noor and Luxray featuring a little bit of everything and themed around the potential for a No Dashii-poisoned Pixie. There are plenty of reasons for doubleclaims within the Outsiders, evil players, and even some of the Townsfolk, whether by choice (as the Ravenkeeper, Mayor, or Magician might) or if they're compelled to via Cerenovus. The good team has quite a bit of information, but without coordinating, they might quickly find themselves on the back foot against the powerful evil team comprised of characters like the Mezepheles, Cerenovus, and Goblin. The Spy and Xaan provide mechanical misinformation among their other effects, and the Demons round out the evil suite with three different ways of warping town's information: is it poisoned, outdated, or being manipulated by Minions from beyond the grave?

When bagbuilding Chasing Rabbits, be mindful of how much the good team can trust their information. Social reads can only help so much when the evil team has a No Dashii, Mezepheles turning the Fortune Teller, Spy, and Puzzlemaster drunking a key Townsfolk, so don't load up too heavily on the misinfo. Xaan especially can be particularly oppressive: denying an entire night of misinformation can be brutal as is, but when paired with a Demon like the No Dashii, a Xaan can be too devastating, especially in smaller games.

On the other side of the coin, make sure evil can deal with the good team's information: an Empath, Balloonist, and Fortune Teller all working together can be near-unstoppable if evil doesn't have counterplay to fight those abilities (whether that's in the form of droison, madness, or being able to hide behind a Goblin claim).

On the more granular side of the bagbuild, keep the synergy between Demons and Minions in mind. The Vigor would rather have a Cerenovus to kill than a Goblin, but an Imp might feel unable to starpass if its only option is a Cerenovus over a quieter Minion.

Some notes:

As a refresher: The Pixie gains their ability if they were mad about being the Townsfolk they saw when the player their "Mad" token is on dies. So, if a Pixie is Xaan-poisoned on Night 1, their reminder token can be anywhere & they learned an arbitrary Townsfolk: when the player their token is on dies, if they were mad as the Townsfolk character they saw, they gain the ability they saw.

High Priestess! It feels like I talk about this character every week... look, go read my other writeups at this point. In sum:

The operative word in the High Priestess's ability text is "talk", so they should be having conversations that wouldn't happen without their info.

A High Priestess should expect to be shown players who benefit from being talked to, like a Ravenkeeper who needs someone to roleswap with, a Spy pushing a world the High Priestess knows is incorrect, or a checked-out Mayor who might need help getting social trust to go for a win.

Who is most important to talk to is somewhat subjective and might change depending on which player pulls the HP token: keep your group in mind, and do what's fun.

Quick interaction note: A Dashii-poisoned (or puzzledrunk) Magician is poisoned at setup, so can't mess with evil info. A Xaan-poisoned Magician only starts getting poisoned at the Xaan's spot in the night order, so messes with Minion/Demon info before getting poisoned. Effectively, the Magician is immune to Xaan 1.

I actually think that's about it for me today. This script is pretty on-rails, and the hardest part of STing it is building a good bag. If you can do that, you can have a fun game with a really unique and fun flavor! Definitely try this script out — I'll see you next time.

[skamortuus]

That's so fair! I also think Minion is my favourite but unfortunately all of my Minion games have gone. Badly*. Spy (when it works, it's probably one of the more stressful Minions), Psychopath, Fearmonger, Cerenovus, and Boomdandy are very fun.

I do love the Lunatic in concept, the description of that one is what got me down this rabbit hole in the first place. Minstrel, Philosopher, and Bounty Hunter are all very cool to pull, and fair, stealthy demons are great for machinations (though the timing you need as Pukka gives me sweats).

*(Summoner in a 1 Minion game where I picked the puzzledrunk, Witch Hunt where a mistake on Day 1 caused us to throw and we both made a Damsel guess despite not being told there was a Damsel in play, Spy wherein the Demon intentionally killed the Ravenkeeper who checked him forgetting I told him that she was sat next to the Slayer, etc.)

Do you have any favourite Clocktower characters?

Ooh thanks for the question! That's something I have to think about, but that means I've got more Clocktower on my mind so happy days ::)

I'd say of the 4 categories, Minion is usually my favourite for how you can both go unnoticed and steal town's attention as needs be. In particular I've had some very fun games with Spy, Psychopath, Fearmonger, Boomdandy and (probably my favourite character concept overall) Cerenovus.

As for the other types: I quite rarely pull Outsider tokens so idk particularly about playing them, but Damsel appeals to me for its 'hot potato'-ness I guess. Also Lunatic for those moments of sudden realisation. Dreamer is one of the more fun Townsfolk for me, and so are some of the more boat-rocking things like Minstrel, Philosopher and Bounty Hunter. And in terms of Demons I enjoy things with a bit of extra stealth like Fang Gu, Pukka and Lil Monsta.