Game: Werewolf

Thread: Re: Why do werewolves kill first?

BigBur — 2008-09-04T22:23:11+00:00

loudonhead wrote:
I've never played the game. Hope to soon. But it seems like the game would be much better received if the villagers attempted to kill a werewolf first. If you play by the regular rules, one person gets eliminated from the game before they've done anything at all. If you allow the villagers to debate first, at least they all got to do that much.

Is there some reason why this wouldn't work as well?

There's no reason why this wouldn't work well... BUT, in order for the villagers to become aware of the werewolves' existence (role-playing wise), a villager must have gotten killed first to cause alarm.

I actually enjoy playing around with roles and not killing anyone the first night or day phase. Let the werewolves know who they are and get familiar, let some introductions occur during the day. It's pretty fun and cool to watch the dynamics.

Thread: Blank Cards for Lupus in Tabula

flipscot — 2008-09-02T22:59:36+00:00

I have seen people make character sheets for other games that can be printed out that look exactly like the design of the game (Last Night on Earth, Buffy, Arkham, etc.)

Is there any comparable art that can be printed on the blank cards for Lupus out there? I know daVinci games made ones for the Devil and some guy behind a desk. Just hoping there are others out there.

Thread: Re: Christian Werewolf

kieron — 2008-08-29T03:12:23+00:00

Mazock wrote:
Hi there,

I've been struggling with using Werewolf in a Christian setting. It's a great party game and works well to illustrate peer pressure and mob mentality. However, the theme is a little too violent for a youth group.

After browsing through the Werewolf forum, I think I found the post that has the solution (so much so, that I thought it deserved it's own thread)

kieron wrote:

I've played Werewolf with a christian theme (to make it more palatable for certain groups, there is no "killing" involved):

Wolves = Pharisees
Villagers = Christians
Seer = St. Paul

Scenario: A small christian group, shortly after the ascension of Christ, has been infiltrated by two Pharisees. The goal of the Christians it to i.d. and kick out the pharisees. At night the pharisees have a christian hauled off to jail by soldiers. St. Paul is the seer, since he used to be a pharisee and can use his old network to figure out if someone is a pharisee.

Wow... Excellent idea Kieron

Thanks, Brent! And I didn't even have to pay you for the plug. ;-)

re: the "being mean to other religious groups" or whatever...I was just trying to be biblically accurate.

Thread: Ultimate Werewolf: Ultimate Edition

toulouse — 2008-08-28T00:52:28+00:00

I've just announced a brand new edition of Ultimate Werewolf: Ultimate Edition, professionally designed and printed, which will be released around Essen. Here's the official blurb:

Your quiet little 16th century village has suddenly become infested with some very unfriendly werewolves...can you and the other villagers find them before they devour everyone?

Ultimate Werewolf is the ultimate party game for anywhere from 5 to 68 players of all ages. Each player has an agenda: as a villager, hunt down the werewolves; as a werewolf, convince the other villagers that you're innocent, while secretly dining on those same villagers each night. Dozens of special roles are available to help both the villagers and the werewolves achieve their goals while thwarting their opponents.

Contents: More than 40 unique roles, 18 different scenarios to allow groups of all sizes and experience levels to quickly get up and running, a set of 80 fully illustrated cards, a moderator scorepad to keep track of games, and a comprehensive game guide with dozens of pages full of insights, tips and strategies. This set has everything you need for the best Ultimate Werewolf experience possible, whether you’re playing with a small circle of friends at home, a huge gathering of gamers in Ohio or as an engaging team building exercise at the office.

If you're interested in pre-ordering, you can do so by visiting http://games.bezier.com/ultimatewerewolf.html

The Boardgamenews.com news item is at http://www.boardgamenews.com/index.php/boardgamenews/comment...

Thread: Re: (Help?) 2 Werewolf teams with 2 "biased" moderators?

macls29 — 2008-08-25T22:14:44+00:00

There are lots of Werewolf variants out there on the web. There is a group based out of a school (?Princeton.. not sure). There is a lot of info on Wikipedia. I've never seen this variant, but have heard of two groups (one group being "in jail" or something like that).

Good luck, and let us know what you find!

Regards,
Rob

Thread: (Help?) 2 Werewolf teams with 2 "biased" moderators?

shankfoo — 2008-08-25T19:14:41+00:00

I remember reading about a Werewolf variant for larger groups, where there were actually 2 Moderators who ran the game, and 2 teams of Werewolves, trying to kill off both the enemy werewolf faction and the villagers in order to win the game. I can't remember where I saw it though, does anyone know where the detailed rules for this variant were posted?

What I do remember is:

- Each moderator is associated with one of the two werewolf teams, and actually openly roots for that faction.
- When a werewolf team is awake, the 'enemy' Moderator has to sleep.
- Both moderators are awake when the villagers are using their nighttime powers.

You can immediately see that there are complications involved with vilager powers, so I'm desperate to look up how they were resolved in the article I read. It was most likey not posted here on the Geek...

Thread: Re: After eating birthday cake, we decided to eat some Villagers

bluebehir — 2008-08-25T11:39:20+00:00

Great play by Rachel, but great intuition from Bob.
I'm still not quite sold on the Cupid role yet though

Thread: After eating birthday cake, we decided to eat some Villagers

macls29 — 2008-08-19T18:29:40+00:00

We had 9 people for Werewolf (plus me to moderate).

The Cupid card is a kids' favorite, but disliked by the adults. This game changed the adults' opinions!

Roles:
2 Werewolves
1 Cupid
1 Seer
1 Hunter
4 Villagers

Rules: Roles not revealed upon death. The two lovers, as chosen by Cupid in the first night phase, are going for a "villager" team win if they are both villagers. They cannot vote to lynch one another, and if one dies the other dies. However, if one is a Wolf and one a Villager, they are going for a separate "lovers' team" win, regardless of their identity. Of course, if they both happen to be Wolves, they are going for a regular Wolf win, but at a serious disadvantage.

Bill (it was his birthday party) drew Cupid, and made a "lovers' team" of Rachel and Erin. Erin happened to be the Seer, Rachel a Wolf (along with Joey). Bob was the Hunter.

Young Billy was killed the first night. Disordered thinking and persecutory beliefs were even more rampant then usual, and after 30 minutes no one had been lynched. The disagreement centered around Billy's murder by the Wolves. Most of the survivors felt it had to be one of his siblings. However, Joey was acting very relaxed, Erin was calm but a bit distracted, and Kerry had made several observations that seemed to convince the angry mob of her innocence.

I think Erin's distraction came from finding out, the night before, that she'd been 'paired' with a Wolf. I think she was 'strategizing'.

After much deliberation, we went to the "surely it cannot be..." voting style. In the end, Kerry got voted off. Sadly, Kerry often gets the boot with these types of votes. I think it is her unconventional style of play, and heavy reliance on "picking up vibes" from the other players.

That night, the Wolves killed Bill (Cupid).

Accusations flew the next day. Rachel was an early target, so she made a gamble. Rachel had figured out that Erin was the Seer. Rachel declared as the Seer, but without any usuful information. Erin then came under suspicion. Erin declared that, in fact, she was the Seer and had asked about Rachel - discovering that she was a villager. She claimed to have communicated this across the room to Rachel, and Rachel had bluffed as the Seer to attract the attention of the Wolves that night. This was, at first, accepted as Gospel by all parties.

Bob hinted that he was the Hunter, and this diverted suspicion from him - well, except for Dot. She was convinced he was lying, even though no one else declared as Hunter. This had a strange domino effect. Howard then became quite suspicious of Dot. His aggression toward her caused others to become suspicious of him. But the Wolves both kept voting down, and a majority couldn't be reached.

Rachel took matters into her own hands. She declared she had a pretty good idea who one of the Wolves were, and indicated Joey. At this time, Rachel had a lot of "street cred" and Joey was too stunned to come up with a defense. He was unanimously lynched.

That night Rachel killed Bob. After the game, Rachel said "I was certain he would shoot Dot, since she'd been so aggressive toward him the previous round. The Lovers' Team would win without risking a vote!"

When day came, I informed Bob he'd been killed and that he could take a shot. He didn't hesitate - he swung the rifle and took out Erin!

The Lovers', in disbelief, collapsed together. The village won!

Bob said he had been put off by Rachel and Erin passing the role of Seer back and forth between them. He'd seen Dot's aggression for what it was (a bloodthirsty, paranoid delusion) and went with his gut. Bob wins MVP of that game!

Thread: Re: Christian Werewolf

sightreader — 2008-08-18T16:33:31+00:00

Pariah wrote:
Just because there is pretend death in the game doesn't make it unusable for children.
I agree, but I'm trying to solve the problem posed in the original post. HE felt Werewolves was too violent, so I was looking for a way to play it that doesn't contradict his moral objectives.

Pariah wrote:
I think by making the villains another religious order you are not going to get the mob mentality lesson across.
I feel that one of the hardest lessons for kids to learn is conflict resolution. A lot of people learn conflict resolution from the TV - kill bad guys. The problem is that most people assume anyone opposed to them must obviously be a "bad" guy and therefore deserves to die.

The notion that opposition might stem from an honest mistake or misunderstanding is a subtlety that is beyond the reach of most kids (and quite frankly a lot of adults). As a result, conflict resolution usually boils down to, "They don't like me, therefore they must be bad guys and need to be punished". Clearly, that little geeky kid who doesn't quite fit is in for a beating at recess.

This is why I have concerns about having kids play-acting a purge that's morally sanctioned by authority. I feel such an exercise might be a setback for conflict resolution skills: kids simply don't have the judgment needed to take such a lesson in responsibly, and we may find ourselves promoting bullying.

Pariah wrote:
I agree with the campers and pranksters idea if you are so opposed to violence, even if it is not acted out.
Cool... at least we have a some sort of solution. Actually, the more I think about it, the more I like the idea of trying this with adults. I think it would be hilarious, sorta a goofy version of Lunch Money.

Hee... I'm actually laughing in advance thinking of what my friends would do with an opportunity to imitate little kids!

Thread: Re: Christian Werewolf

Pariah — 2008-08-18T14:51:05+00:00

As a Christian I think the idea of making the villains of the game those with opposing religious beliefs (Pharisees or not)

Just because there is pretend death in the game doesn't make it unusable for children. I think by making the villains another religious order you are not going to get the mob mentality lesson across.

IMO if a child is old enough to play Werewolf they should be old enough to have read the Bible...a book with loads of killing in it. Remember David didn't just beat Goliath, he decapitated him!

I agree with the campers and pranksters idea if you are so opposed to violence, even if it is not acted out.

Thread: Re: Christian Werewolf

sightreader — 2008-08-17T19:24:55+00:00

kieron wrote:
Wolves = Pharisees
Villiagers = Christians
Seer = St. Paul

I think it's dangerous to put kids in a situation where they are validating persecution with self-righteousness. The situation translates all too easily into playground ruthlessness, where "cool" friends are the Christians and "dorks" are the Pharisees they're excluding.

Mazock wrote:
the theme is a little too violent for a youth group.
I agree. Might I suggest the following?

Villagers = Campers
Werewolves = Pranksters

Every night, the Pranksters play a mean joke that sends a kid running home crying. Every day, the Campers accuse someone who gets kicked out of camp.

Other roles are easily imported. The Seer, for instance, could be "Hannah Montana", who sneaks her Karaoke microphone into someone's bunk every night. Other ideas include "Bully", "Camp Director's Son", "Spoiled Brat", "First Crush", so on and so forth - just look at the expansion set and find an analogy.
Cruelty is inherent to the structure of Werewolf, so you don't want to be seen as using the Bible to justify paranoia. On a lighter note, I think kids will have a lot of fun pretending to run home crying!

Thread: Re: Christian Werewolf

Drew1365 — 2008-08-17T17:03:11+00:00

The game is so simple the theme could be almost anything.

I believe its original incarnation was called "Mafia" and I've heard of people playing it with a McCarthyist "Who are the commies?" theme. Heck, any sort of "Spy" theme will do. The theme is all in your head anyway (unless you play a published version). We always played it by just passing out standard cards to people, the "werewolf/mafia/commie" being the one who gets, say, an Ace or something.

(I have to say a blatant Christian-themed pharisees vs. believers version would be a bit unsettling. No sense promoting a "believers vs. non-believers" idea. I'd strongly suggest steering away from that just because it may have a carryover effect. Non-believers are not the enemy.

But other themes would likely work. Take a page from Shadows over Camelot and have everyone playing knights with some of them traitors and with a "Merlin" character as the seer.

Thread: Re: Christian Werewolf

MidKentGamerUK — 2008-08-17T16:34:30+00:00

You could call it 'WitchFinder' instead?
Or maybe 'Inquisition!'

Thread: Re: Christian Werewolf

BugLaden — 2008-08-17T16:01:19+00:00

You could also do it as a flock of sheep, with wolves in sheep's clothing inflitrating the herd. At night, simply vote which sheep to kick out of the herd.

The special roles could be kept the same.

Although the wolves would still have to vote to eat one of the sheep each night...

Thread: Re: Christian Werewolf

Sir Loin o Beef — 2008-08-17T14:20:00+00:00

I've heard Tom Vasel say that he played it with his school kids as two teachers infiltrating the student body.

Thread: Christian Werewolf

Mazock — 2008-08-17T14:13:00+00:00

Hi there,

I've been struggling with using Werewolf in a Christian setting. It's a great party game and works well to illustrate peer pressure and mob mentality. However, the theme is a little too violent for a youth group.

After browsing through the Werewolf forum, I think I found the post that has the solution (so much so, that I thought it deserved it's own thread)

kieron wrote:

I've played Werewolf with a christian theme (to make it more palatable for certain groups, there is no "killing" involved):

Wolves = Pharisees
Villiagers = Christians
Seer = St. Paul

Scenario: A small christian group, shortly after the ascention of Christ, has been infiltrated by two Pharisees. The goal of the christians it to i.d. and kick out the pharisees. At night the pharisees have a christian hauled off to jail by soldiers. St. Paul is the seer, since he used to be a pharisee and can use his old network to figure out if someone is a pharisee.

Wow... Excellent idea Kieron

Thread: Re: Wolves vs. Masons

Earl of Dukes — 2008-08-01T18:48:14+00:00

This game is definitely tipped towards the village. If you want to eliminate the seer, I would only play with 2 masons.

Thread: Re: Werewolf for Non-Gamers: using non-player roles

sightreader — 2008-07-24T05:38:39+00:00

MasterDinadan wrote:
Fantastic! And I loved the pictures :-)
Hee... thanks

Thread: Re: Werewolf for Non-Gamers: using non-player roles

MasterDinadan — 2008-07-23T20:01:57+00:00

Fantastic! And I loved the pictures :-)

Thread: Teaching Werewolf to Non-Gamers: non-player roles

sightreader — 2008-07-23T19:32:11+00:00

We have been successful in using non-playing roles to help some very different non-gamers became social gamers. This is a followup to the theories in this post:

http://boardgamegeek.com/article/2475057#2475057

I'll also be speaking in very general terms so it doesn't sound like I'm singling anyone out.
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The first case involves those who have trouble understanding the game for various reasons: age, inexperience, short attention span or language barriers. The second case involves those who are being dragged into a game party unwillingly and thus have an incentive to limit their engagement as a matter of pride.
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We were playing Diamant when they arrived. Since I didn't want to interrupt the game flow with another rules explanation, we had each person "team up" with existing players. How successful this strategy is depends largely on who they team up with: a good partner will - as much as possible - let the new player make as many of the decisions as possible (i.e. don't partner newbies up with control freaks who put winning above everything).
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I don't know how successful teaming up was for Diamant (I was busy ordering pizza), but for Pacific Typhoon and Loot it has been outstandingly successful, as it let people get to know each other better (social experience being the primary draw of these parties) and I've seen very reluctant and confused players become game winners on their next session.
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The highlight of the night, though, is always Werewolf. Due to the increased size of our groups, we stopped revealing identities on death to increase the variety of roles available.

Unlike games like Pacific Typhoon and Loot, it is not possible to team players up in Werewolf. Furthermore, the rules state that dead players are supposed to keep playing despite being eliminated. Forcing frustrated non-gamers to participate after they "lose" can result in mutiny, so I instead give players the option of either continuing to play or simply reveal their role and observe the rest of the game.
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Werewolf deals with many unknowns and and a lot of misinformation, adding up to enough chaos to cause newbies to give up and lose interest. They find they are completely unable to defend themselves against lynching accusations, and as a result die quick, confused deaths, feeling that they never had a fair chance at the game.

The other type are those who were forced into coming, and here opposition takes form even quicker. A quick glance at the demographic apparently confirmed their dreary perception, and you could almost see them roll their eyes and think, "This is so lame" before I even started explaining the rules. Once the game began, they had enough good grace to abide by the rules, but nevertheless made it a point to adopt subversive strategies (such as always voting to lynch themselves) in addition to defiantly miserable body language.
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When such non-gamers are the first to die, you can guess they eagerly jump at the chance to take a vow of silence and step out of the game (we provide pizza, which helps them stay in the party). Here, though, is where the game starts to work its magic, because - no matter how unengaging the game may have been - it is truly impossible to not be curious about who the werewolves really are, then to not be amused at how the wolves are lying their teeth off. With the bird's eye view, the light goes on, and they find themselves nodding in appreciation, thinking, "Ah, that was clever" or, "Ouch, that was vicious!". Finally, as they watch longer, they see others make poor decisions, and they can't resist thinking, "Geez, that was stupid - if I were him I would have done this". By the time they are thinking that way, they are completely hooked and are itching to get back into the game.
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This theory is born out by the drastic change in behavior by the 3rd game. Previously unwilling players became very engaged and passionate, espousing increasingly complex theories and scenarios. One good sign was that they happily distanced themselves from previous actions ("Wait a sec, didn't you say you ALWAYS vote to lynch yourself?"), but the strongest proof is in the fact that they consistently elected to keep playing after being eliminated!
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The previously lost players, on the other hand, became subtle and deadly quite suddenly after numerous games of blank stares. I don't know what happens - I guess something just clicks - but as the moderator I go from thinking, "Don't do that... that person is on your team!" to, "Ouch, that's cold". In particular, they won a very difficult victory with a Werewolf "Lover", where they tricked both villagers and wolves and wiped out the entire town!
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Thread: Re: Werewolves rule(s)set : hidden roles at all times?

sightreader — 2008-07-18T17:48:22+00:00

Aldie wrote:
IMO - I find the game completely random and boring without role reveal - but I may be in the minority.
Ok, we finally got to play without role reveal. Our group is about half gamers, half non-gamers. We played with 10-11 people.

I personally selected which roles we would use, then publically revealed which roles were in play (plus a few extra, just to sow some confusion). This provided a more than adequate basis for deduction based on how many deaths were occurring per night.

There was some confusion with what to do with dead people. The rules I had indicate that they keep sleeping and debating, but just cannot vote. Roles like the Cobbler require the dead player to lobby hard for their cause, but there are also ghosts with game-breaking information, such as the Prostitute, who dies when they sleep with a Werewolf. I'm still uncertain as to how to handle this problem.
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What I finally decided to do was give dead people the option of either staying in the game or stepping out and observing. The observation option was very helpful for those new to the game. By knowing who was what, they could correlate player behavior with their hidden goals and get a better idea of how to read the logic of what was going on.

Thread: Re: Hosting Werewolf - tips with pictures!

sightreader — 2008-07-12T06:52:57+00:00

sightreader wrote:
As a moderator, you have to be even more careful and even deceptive. Direct your voice the wrong way when talking to someone. Get used to using formal titles ("The Lovers will now... The Witch will now...") NEVER use the words like "him" or "her"!
Yes, I project my voice side to side (like a searchlight) when addressing individuals.

It's much harder to avoid using gender pronouns. Rather than trying to remember this, I instead learned to talk in a stylized manner where formal titles rather than pronouns sound more appropriate.

Thread: Re: Hosting Werewolf - tips with pictures!

ASLChampion — 2008-07-11T20:11:22+00:00

And Remember as Moderator...

When asking questions at night to the individuals (seer, witch, etc) PLEASE DON'T LOOK AT THEM THE ENTIRE TIME YOU ASK YOUR QUESTION. Players can discern which direction you are facing so keep rotating around while you speak and look for responses AFTER you are finished talking.

" Of course, I'm not a werewolf, HE'S THE WEREWOLF"

Thread: Hosting Werewolf - tips with pictures!

sightreader — 2008-07-11T19:18:32+00:00

This started as a reply, but I realized it needed to be its own thread. Even though my experience is with Werewolves of Miller's Hollow, these methods obviously apply to other versions of Werewolf.

Ratios
In Werewolves of Miller's Hollow you need about 3 villagers for every Werewolf - there's probably fewer wolves in other versions. The Seer is generally recommended as well, and that's probably complicated enough to get started. Have more roles rehearsed and ready for the next game because most people hate being stuck as a simple villager.
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Jumping right in
I teach non-gamers who are generally restless, so I explain the general cycle of "sleep-bite-wake-lynch" then jump right in. You can explain individual roles as you call up these people to do their tasks. This quick start approach can help with unruly crowds of folks who want to talk about everything but the game. All that really matters is that players can identify what their roles are before the game starts - I provide a playing aid of some sort so people don't have to reveal that they have a weird role just to get you to identify it.
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Frequent breaks
The critical thing to remember is that it is positively painful for players to keep eyes closed for prolonged periods of time. You really can't appreciate this until you've played - within minutes, your entire group can end up with a bleary eyed headache. Explain what you're going to do with eyes open, close eyes, do it quickly, then let eyes open up again while you fumble around or explain what's going to happen next.

Secrecy
All the things you have to do sound easy until you realize that it all has to be done with attentive ears listening for everything! Before starting the first night, remember to warn people (especially the chatty ones) that players are listening for movements, sounds or changes in speech that might give something away. Here's some classic examples:

1. You: "Werewolf, choose a victim" - Werewolf: "Ummmm..." - Villagers: all turn in surprise, then bust out laughing
2. Werewolves: goofing and fidgeting - You: "Werewolves, open your eyes" - Werewolves: abruptly quiet

As a moderator, you have to be even more careful and even deceptive. Direct your voice the wrong way when talking to someone. Get used to using formal titles ("The Lovers will now... The Witch will now...") NEVER use the words like "him" or "her"!

Communicating Selected Roles
There are times when people have to choose roles (Bodyguard: "I choose to protect the Witch"). Have a numbered board ready so these selections can be made secretly with one hand (so the player can use their other hand to make it sound like they're not paying attention): You: "Which of these 4 groups is that role in? OK, is it the first, second or third role there?"

Communicating Selected People
For roles like The Lovers, people have to know they were chosen. However, in big tables and crammed rooms, it can be awkward and time consuming for you to tour the room tapping people on the shoulder.
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To reduce movement, have everyone hold out their hands to you (eyes closed). Make sure you pretend to reach and touch everyone, but just grasp the hands of those chosen.

Verifying Identities
After Werewolf kills and Seer choices, you have to make sure that no one special was picked. I suggest having people hold their cards up with eyes closed.
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Voting
To reduce pointless arguing, limit discussion to questions from whose who are actually undecided. When everyone's mind is made up, have everyone point, figure out who the top vote getters are, then get a count.
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A Cheat Sheet
It's hard to remember all the things you have to do as a moderator, and everyone's waiting for you with eyes closed. I write a cheat sheet to help remind myself what comes next. Most night things you do can be clumped into these phases:

- Setup stuff (first night only - example: Lovers)
- Pre wolf bite phase (ex: Bodyguard)
- Wolf bite phase (ex: Little Girl)
- Bite check phase (consequences of biting special people ex: Village Elder)
- Post bite phase (ex: Witch)
- Daytime reminders (what to monitor during lynching ex: Hypnotist)

Now all you do is make sure everything in one phase is done before proceeding to the next.

I hope you guys have as much fun watching werewolves gobble up villagers as we do!

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Thread: Re: Request for tips/role suggestions for 10-12 newbies

sightreader — 2008-07-10T23:31:42+00:00

tigerAspect wrote:
I need some ideas for more alt-good roles.I suggest playing a basic game and watching the dynamics. If you have a strong idea of what you want to add, go for it, otherwise, you can suggest several to the group and see what they would like to try.

Of course, there are versions where you keep the roles added a mystery.

Thread: Re: Request for tips/role suggestions for 10-12 newbies

tigerAspect — 2008-07-10T22:39:50+00:00

Thank for the tips guys!
I'll introduce it with the werewolf/villager/seer "set", but i want tomake sure i have some interesting roles to introduce later on to keep it from getting too stale if I need to.

Possibilities:
Masons (knows identity of other masons)
Brutal Wolf (kills player when lynched)
Tough Wolf (Does not die first time lynched)
Sorcerer (views for seer)

I need some ideas for more alt-good roles.

Thread: Re: Request for tips/role suggestions for 10-12 newbies

sightreader — 2008-07-10T17:05:10+00:00

davidme wrote:
Isn't the main difference in WOMH that you don't show roles upon death?
I think so, but I'm not sure. I haven't tried other variants yet, so I figured it was safer just to put in a disclaimer.

davidme wrote:
That can be a clue: "That role is not in THAT direction, because he always directs his voice the WRONG way."
I wanted to describe the purpose of the tip without cluttering the narrative with special cases that have trivial solutions.

sightreader wrote:
Why not just have the two Lovers wake up at start of game?
In WOMH, the Cupid secretly chooses the lovers, then the moderator has to walk around and tap shoulders so they can identify each other. The Lovers, of course, are just one example of secret selection - others include the Pied Piper. I would expect that most readers can extend these tips to similar situations without further guidance.

Thread: Re: Request for tips/role suggestions for 10-12 newbies

davidme — 2008-07-10T16:38:22+00:00

sightreader wrote:
Ratios
I don't know about other variants, but for Werewolves of Miller's Hollow you need about 3 villagers for every Werewolf.

Isn't the main difference in WOMH that you don't show roles upon death? If so, that doesn't seem to be enough to warrant so few villagers per wolf. 5/1 is better.

sightreader wrote:
Direct your voice the wrong way when talking to someone.

That can be a clue: "That role is not in THAT direction, because he always directs his voice the WRONG way." I just pick a direction and keep it directed that way the entire game.

sightreader wrote:
Communicating Selected People
For roles like The Lovers, people have to know they were chosen. However, in big tables and crammed rooms, it can be awkward and time consuming for you to tour the room tapping people on the shoulder.

To reduce movement, have everyone hold out their hands to you (eyes closed). Make sure you pretend to reach and touch everyone, but just grasp the hands of those chosen.

Why not just have the two Lovers wake up at start of game?

Thread: Re: Request for tips/role suggestions for 10-12 newbies

sightreader — 2008-07-10T05:33:34+00:00

Here's the tips I've been gathering:

http://boardgamegeek.com/article/2465884

Thread: Re: Request for tips/role suggestions for 10-12 newbies

macls29 — 2008-07-10T02:59:30+00:00

1. Stick with a seer, villagers, and 2 or 3 werewolves, depending on the number of players and the success of the wolves. Next time you get together, introduce the hunter and/or witch.

2. If they like theme, ham it up! If not, the intro can be relatively brief (there are two team, two different phases of the game that repeat, I will instruct everyone, etc.).

3. Vote majority rules, by simulaneous thumbs up or thumbs down.

My $0.02

Have fun!!!

Thread: Re: Request for tips/role suggestions for 10-12 newbies

davidme — 2008-07-10T02:23:23+00:00

If you want balance, the roles depend on the number of players. For 10 or 11 players, 2 wolves and no seer is fine. If you add a seer, maybe add a Possessed on the wolf team (wins with wolves, loses if they die, doesn't know them, they don't know him).

For 12 players with a Seer, add a Cursed (same except at start, Cursed raises head at night and the wolves raise their HANDS. He knows them, they don't know him.)

"Absolutely no clues except behaviour" is nearly impossible. You might say "no nighttime communication", but accidental nighttime clues is usually fair game in groups I play with. I tend not to MENTION night clues, but I don't make it a rule for others to follow, and silently using those types of clues in deciding a vote is fair game.

Thread: Re: Request for tips/role suggestions for 10-12 newbies

Beyak — 2008-07-09T23:16:27+00:00

TheCollector wrote:
Make sure there is no (easy) way to tell who is "waking up" at any given moment. That's a game-killer.

"Seer open your eyes"
right next to me, the wolf

Next round, NOM NOM NOM.

Also, and I don't know the best way to do this, make sure everyone knows that you will be lynching people based on absolutely no clues eccept how they are acting.

Good advise. I have played this game where during the night phase all the players rhythmically tap the table with one hand while their eyes are closed. This usually is enough to mask any unusual sounds from a wakening werewolf or seer.

Which brings me to the OPs first question. Only use werewolves, seer, and villagers. The addition of the seer add just enough drama and aids the villagers slightly.

Thread: Re: Request for tips/role suggestions for 10-12 newbies

TheCollector — 2008-07-09T20:53:30+00:00

Make sure there is no (easy) way to tell who is "waking up" at any given moment. That's a game-killer.

"Seer open your eyes"
right next to me, the wolf

Next round, NOM NOM NOM.

Also, and I don't know the best way to do this, make sure everyone knows that you will be lynching people based on absolutely no clues eccept how they are acting.

Thread: Re: Request for tips/role suggestions for 10-12 newbies

indiexxx — 2008-07-09T20:32:58+00:00

I would just start with werewolves and villagers and no special roles.

How it's been done in games I've played...

For voting to happen, someone will nominate someone and someone else will second the nomination. If that doesn't happen then the vote doesn't happen. Then have everybody hold out their arm out and simultaneously vote arm up to kill or arm down to save.

The first night the moderator will say "werewolves wake up" and will make eye contact with each werewolf to see who they are then will say "werewolves go to sleep". Then repeat that for other roles if there are any.

When you add special roles later, just don't add the little girl.

Thread: Request for tips/role suggestions for 10-12 newbies

tigerAspect — 2008-07-09T20:16:25+00:00

So I'm planinng on introducing Werewolf at a party this weekend, and I'd really appreciate suggestions on roles, and any tips you have for first timers, like voting methods, night methods...
We'll be a group of 10-12 (maybe a few more), all new to werewolf, but all gamers (Mtg player too, so we can handle complex interactions).
What roles should I use? What should I introduce the game with? What should I add in later games?
What voting system should we use?
How does the moderator keep track of who has what role? Do they have everyone hold up their card during the first night and write down who's who or what?

Thanks!

Thread: Re: A boring, pointless game with 8 players?

Rainbow Snake — 2008-07-04T05:47:16+00:00

Mateui wrote:

It's so much more fun to see the remaining villagers be picked off one by one slowly but surely. Eventually they see that their fate has been sealed - but it's too late. As a moderator I love seeing that look on their face, and the werewolf players certainly enjoy playing on.

This seems like a good idea.
It sounds like you don't play "reveal role on death" ? Otherwise I'd presume players would know when it's pointless to continue.

Thread: Re: A boring, pointless game with 8 players?

Mateui — 2008-07-04T05:32:38+00:00

I'm of the opinion that a game shouldn't end when there are equal werewolves and villagers - but rather to let the game draw to the conclusion. Yes, this situation means that the werewolves will most likely win (barring a "lynch a fellow werewolf to get villagers to not suspect me" type tactic), but I find simply ending the game with the moderator pointing out this fact to be unfun and anticlimatic.

It's so much more fun to see the remaining villagers be picked off one by one slowly but surely. Eventually they see that their fate has been sealed - but it's too late. As a moderator I love seeing that look on their face, and the werewolf players certainly enjoy playing on.

Yeah, if you're squeezed for time and need to get as much hardcore werewolf playing in then by all means end the game as soon as one outcome is inevitable, but if not then let the game end naturally. It's just so are much better overall experience.

Thread: Re: Ultimate Werewolf vs. Werewolves of Miller's Hollow

FireFog — 2008-06-28T12:01:49+00:00

I would advise WoMH too, which I consider to be the most "universal" version : easily identifiable cards (illustrations), no language dependance and the best role combination.

Thread: Re: Suggestions for using the Mega-Set?

sightreader — 2008-06-25T03:56:44+00:00

The Warp wrote:
Don't underestimate people's ability to pick these things up.
This has been critical subject to me for a long time. From my experience, I'd say about two-thirds of those non-gamer Joes out there are absolutely starving for intellectual challenge, but this multimedia society just doesn't provide it. The majority of non-gamers I've encountered have been ecstactic about the unique challenge and social opportunity games offer.
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What seems to keep games from meeting their intellectual needs is the perceived social gap between gamers and everyone else. We discuss it in the following thread:

http://boardgamegeek.com/article/2397444#2397444

Thread: Re: Suggestions for using the Mega-Set?

The Warp — 2008-06-25T00:11:00+00:00

The first time I used this set was with a group of people that only had 2 regular "gamers" in it, and about a dozen people that haven't played much more than Trivial Pursuit. We used a large variety of roles, which they loved playing with. Don't underestimate people's ability to pick these things up.

That said, we did start relatively simple... Two werewolves, a Seer, and the Masons in the first game. By the third game, we had a Guardian, Milk Maid, Gypsy, Wolf Man, Matchmaker, and a few others.

The Mega Set has several roles that have no abilities (though they can act as triggers for other roles- which you need not include if you don't want).

Thread: Re: Suggestions for using the Mega-Set?

sightreader — 2008-06-19T11:54:21+00:00

Hector Vortac wrote:
As sightreader said what is important is the right ratio of villagers to werewolves. It sounds like he's downloading his deck, so there won't be any indication of correct ratio.

Thread: Re: Suggestions for using the Mega-Set?

Hector Vortac — 2008-06-19T11:09:28+00:00

I agree that no matter how many people you have your first games should have only werewolves, villagers and a seer. I introduced the game to my improv group by keeping it simple to start. We had 11-15 people - my favorite range for werewolf.

It was successful as we wound up playing 6 times. Only before the 6th game did I ask if they would like to try another character (they tried the witch).

As sightreader said what is important is the right ratio of villagers to werewolves. I just assumed every deck came with a recommended distribution. If your deck does not, as mentioned above check some of the files you can find here on BGG.

Thread: Re: Suggestions for using the Mega-Set?

sightreader — 2008-06-19T09:41:26+00:00

ced1106 wrote:
I assume we'll have more than one game, so I'm looking for suggestions how to introduce it.
I only have experience in moderating Werewolves of Miller's Hollow. This differs critically in that roles are revealed when players die, but hopefully my information may still be useful to you.

To find the right number of wolves, figure out what the approximate ratio is rather than constantly consulting or memorizing a chart. Thus, you can quickly start a game given a random number of people.

During the nights, it is absolutely essential that moderators understand that keeping eyes closed is very uncomfortable! Do not allow eyes to remain closed for several minutes - let people open them periodically and get people to move around (we have "dance breaks") while you explain special rules or figure out stuff.

There are some basic efficiency tricks. Instead of stumbling about to select people, have everyone hold out their hands and just touch the hands selected. To verify identities (needed for the Seer, or to make sure the guy just killed doesn't create some nasty side effect), have everyone hold their cards up with eyes closed.
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There are also tricks to protect secrecy. Tell people in advance that others will be listening for anything that might give them away (i.e. they're yabbering constantly, but suddenly shut up when you call for Werewolves). Also, never direct your voice at who you're talking to, so people can't tell what general area people are in.

For non-gamers, don't lecture! Find a way to get into the game as soon as possible and explain rules as you go. I let everyone open their eyes while I explain each role as we come to it rather than trying to describe everything beforehand. Non-gamers don't strategize so much, so they're more worried about starting quick than being ambushed by what they don't know.

Thread: Re: Suggestions for using the Mega-Set?

reapersaurus — 2008-06-19T07:40:29+00:00

Keep it Simple.

Werewolves and seer are all that's required. That, and juggling the amounts for the target audience and number of players.

Don't fiddle around with things until you've moderated many games AND your group is bored of the standard game.

For the proper proportions of wolves/villagers, consult the couple files on here about it.
I think this one's the closest (just treat special humans as villagers to begin with):

#Players Wolves Storyteller/Psychic Humans SpecialHumans
6 1 2 2 1
7 1 2 2 1
8 2 2 2 2
9 2 2 3 2
10 2 2 3 3
11 2 2 4 3
12 2 2 4 4
13 3 2 4 4
14 3 2 5 4
15 3 2 5 5
16 3 2 6 5
17 3 2 6 6
18 3 2 7 6
19 4 2 7 6
20 4 2 7 7
21 4 2 8 7
22 4 2 8 8
23 4 2 9 8
24 4 2 9 9

Thread: Suggestions for using the Mega-Set?

ced1106 — 2008-06-19T06:39:18+00:00

Jack's Mega-Set looks both professional and imaginative. I'll have a group in a few weeks play it, but their level of gaming is Apples to Apples, and this will be my first attempt at moderating the game.

I assume we'll have more than one game, so I'm looking for suggestions how to introduce it. For example, mebbe have the first game have only the Seer as a special power. Unfortunately, I don't know how many players will be in each round.

Thanks!

aka. Washu! ^O^

Thread: Re: Werewolf on Russell Brand Radio (BBC2)

Garzini — 2008-06-14T19:04:22+00:00

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio2/brand/brand_20080...

Thread: Re: Werewolf on Russell Brand Radio (BBC2)

fractaloon — 2008-06-14T15:03:31+00:00

For the lazy (me), do you have a link to the page?

Thread: Werewolf on Russell Brand Radio (BBC2)

Garzini — 2008-06-14T12:00:33+00:00

Quickly get the BBC radio2 podcast for russell brand where he describes playing Werewolf with Ashton Kutcher! it'll be gone tommorrow....

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The Warp — 2008-06-12T03:34:23+00:00

LOST-themed Werewolf cards

Thread: Ultimate Werewolf vs. Werewolves of Miller's Hollow

macls29 — 2008-06-10T03:02:02+00:00

I was recently asked to compare these versions by someone looking to purchase a copy of Werewolf. These were my thoughts. I wanted to post to see if anyone had some addition ideas.

Both games use (almost) the same basic rules set. Any rules tweeking could be done by the moderator regardless of which version of the game is being played.

UW has a few bells and whistles - card sleeves and shields, a small "Amulet of Protection" that can be surreptitiously included in one of the sleeves, etc. Because of the sleeves, I'd say this one is more open to homemade expansion (in other words, you could write or print your own cards an no one could tell the difference because of the shields). Another advantage is that the role is written on the card itself, and the game comes with player aids.

WoMH is more compact - being a box with only the rules and the cards. The cards have more iconic art, and I feel add to the flavor of the game. I've played with 7 year olds, and they have no problem remembering what pictures represent the different roles. I'd say if your travelling to a party and would like to bring Werewolf along, this is the version to get. Also nice is that there is already an expansion out for this, and I like it quite a bit.

If I could only have one version? I'd take WoMH - I'm quite fond of the roles that come in this set, and the artwork helps set a bit of mood.

Thread: Re: BGG.con 5-Player, no-Mod, a Win for the ...

SybotCB — 2008-05-23T14:44:54+00:00

SybotCB wrote:
bluebehir wrote:
I am curious how the sorcerer and seer both knew when to view another's cards, without giving away their identity.

Well Bluebehir, we also had to have fake cards. So what we'd do is set up a seer phase, where everyone would put out there fake villager card, except the wolf. Who put out his wolf card. We'd close our eyes and give the seer like 10 seconds to look at a card.

Then we'd set up for the sorceror phase, where everyone except the seer would put out their fake villager card. Close our eyes for 10 seconds.

We'd repeat with sorc and seer if you went to a day 2. But then there was an added phase of everyone putting out their villager card, so the wolf could turn over the card of the person that was night killed. (Since the reveal was wolf/non-wolf rather than full reveal.)

I guess I should update this. Since this thread was just recently re-pointed out to me. But if you do have to do a Day 2 in a five player game. The person that was lynched on D1 can actually handle it (i.e. become a temporary mod, calling out the seer, sorcerer, and wolf phases*). So you can just ignore the cards you have after the first day.

* and make sure that he calls them all, because there are no reveals, even if they are dead, you need to call them.

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oRMaN — 2008-05-07T08:21:56+00:00

My Own "Lupus In Tabula" - Paper, pencils & Photoshop (Spanish)

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sightreader — 2008-04-24T18:51:46+00:00

The Village succumbs to the icy grip of suspicion...

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sightreader — 2008-04-24T17:52:10+00:00

The last Villager is thrown to the Wolves

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Martin Ralya — 2008-02-24T08:59:38+00:00

The end of an eight-player game -- no, the Seer wasn't lying

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Martin Ralya — 2008-02-24T08:58:51+00:00

The gang starting up an eight-player game (just going into the first night)

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jsper — 2008-02-14T17:11:17+00:00

Back of the box (DaVinci Games edition)

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jsper — 2008-02-14T17:10:07+00:00

Side of the box (DaVinci Games edition)

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fenolin — 2008-01-19T17:17:22+00:00

Muestra de caja para Werewolf en español. Ver la seccion de ficheros.

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fenolin — 2008-01-19T17:16:35+00:00

Muestra de Werewolf en español. Reglas en la propia carta. Ver la seccion de ficheros.