Welcome to BOTF XXI: Unkindness, Murder and Storytelling
You are in Ravenswood Bluff in the 20th Century. Things have changed a lot since it’s founding in the 16th century. The people of Ravenswood Bluff have seemingly forgotten that this town was besieged by demons and their entourage of minions.
Yet, the clocktower suddenly begins ticking inexplicably out of seemingly nowhere. The old records inform the town that when the clocktower ticks out of nowhere, a demon has infiltrated the town of Ravenswood Bluff, and has minions to help them in their dark quest to bring down Ravenswood Bluff.
Who will survive or die in their attempt to rid the town of the Demon? Who will survive the latest bout of Unkindness, Murder and Storytelling?
Storytold by @CRichardFortressLies and @May
Credit goes to Mana as the author of this script.
Mechanics
Town Composition
This game is designed for between 5 and 15 non-Traveller players. All non-Traveller players are assigned one of the 4 character types, then an character from the possible characters for that type. Players that start as Townsfolk or Outsiders are on the Good team, while players that start as Minions or Demons are on the Evil team. Players cannot change alignments unless explicitly stated.
The number of characters of each type dealt out are as follows:
| Total Players | Townsfolk | Outsiders | Minions | Demons |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 7 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 8 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 9 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 10 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| 11 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 12 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| 13 | 9 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| 14 | 9 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| 15 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
No two players will have the same ability at the start of the game.
Starting Evils know each other’s identities and character types,
The abilities of certain characters modify the game setup, by adding or subtracting certain characters or character types. These are denoted in [square brackets], and only have an effect if the character is present at the beginning of the game. Unless otherwise stated, the amount of Townsfolk is modified so that the total number of characters given out matches the total player count. The Vizitor, if in setup, will convert a minion into either an Outsider or a Townsfolk
Characters
All players start with exactly one of the following abilities, depending on their character type. Townsfolk and Outsiders are good characters, while Minions and Demons are evil characters.
Night* (with an asterisk) in all contexts means “Night, except the first.”
**-Ability must be claimed to have an effect on the game state.
| Possible Townsfolk Characters | |
|---|---|
| Best Friend | You start knowing a player of the same type as you, if they die, learn a player that is not the same type as you. |
| Valley Girl | You start knowing 2 good roles, one in play and one out of play |
| Preppie | Each night*, pick a player (not yourself): they cannot die until dusk, but one of their townsfolk neighbors might be drunk until dusk. |
| Teacher’s Pet | Each night*, learn how many types of characters have nominated today. |
| Martyr | Each night*, learn if the demon has killed tonight. Once per game, redirect that demon kill to yourself. |
| Martial Artist | Each night, pick a player. That player is safe from all minion abilities until dusk tomorrow. If you pick a evil player, you are drunk until dusk tomorrow. |
| Goth Kid | Each night*, if someone was executed today, pick a player. You learn their character type |
| Thespian | Once per day, publicly choose a player (different to yesterday): If they die before tomorrow, learn a in-play character. **Players if they’re claiming/bluffing Thespian must ping the hosts for it to be valid. |
| County Sheriff | Once per game, at night, choose a player (not yourself). Learn how close they are from the next character type. |
| Undercover P.I | Each night*, learn a true statement about a player that was nominated today. |
| Girl Next Door | Good players nominated for execution today might be safe from the Demon tonight. |
| Final Girl | When just 4 or less players live, you can publicly declare yourself to be the Final Girl. If you do, Good wins. If the demon publicly guesses you (once) before nominations start, Evil wins. **Final Girl claim/guess must ping the hosts for them to be valid. |
| Punk | If your death was caused by an evil player, they are drunk until dusk tomorrow. |
| Possible Outsider Characters | |
|---|---|
| Conspiracist | Each Night, you might be mad about a statement. If you are not, it may become true. If you are mad about being the Conspiracist, It will become true. |
| Wannabe | You start “mad” about being a role. if not, you die at night. If that role was a in-play Townsfolk, they become Drunk until dusk tomorrow. |
| Groundskeeper | You might register as any character type. If you register as any in play character type, a player of that type might be drunk until dusk. |
| Sacrifice | When you die, something bad happens to one of your townsfolk neighbors. A good player learns a hint about what it is. |
| Possible Minion Characters | |
|---|---|
| Dealer | Each night*, choose a player that has nominated today to be poisoned until dusk tomorrow. [-1,+0, or +1 Outsider] |
| Vengeful Spirit | Each night*, choose a player: they learn you chose them. Once you die, chosen players might die at any time. |
| Rumor Maker | Each night*, choose a player and a statement. They are “mad” that it is true tomorrow, or might be executed. |
| Suit | Each night, choose a player (different from last night): they might register as a character of the opposite alignment. |
| Possible Demon Characters | |
|---|---|
| Slasher | Each night*, choose a player: They die. The 1st time you’d kill the Final Girl, you don’t. If a good player wasn’t executed today, learn a in-play character. One player misregisters as Final Girl [+Final Girl]. |
| Dream Eater | Each night*, choose 2 players: the 1st dies & the 2nd is “mad” they know who the Demon is tomorrow, or they might be executed. |
| Vizitor | Each night*, choose a player, they die. Once per game, at night, before final 5, pick a player. They do not die, but will become the evil demon when you die. [-1 Minion] |
| Fanatic | Each night* pick a player, they die. Good players that nominate you are poisoned until dawn. If a minion dies, choose 2 players, they are poisoned until dawn. |
Phase Lengths
Each day phase will last for 48 hours.
| Discussion | 12h | Players may talk. |
| Nomination and Voting | 36h | Players who wish to nominate may do so at this time, and votes may begun to be cast during this time as well. |
Each night phase will last for 24 hours. The game begins on a night phase.
Night actions are locked 2 hours before the start of each day.
Night Action Resolution
All actions are processed in a specific order each night. Natural Action Resolution does not apply. Dead players have no abilities (unless stated otherwise), and if a player is dead during their turn in action resolution, they do not act (unless stated otherwise).
| First Night | Other Nights |
|---|---|
| Minion info | Preppie |
| Demon info and bluffs | Martial Artist |
| Martial Artist | Dealer |
| Suit | Vengeful Spirit |
| Wannabe | Rumor Maker |
| Valley Girl | Suit |
| Best Friend | Slasher |
| County Sheriff | Dream Eater |
| Vizitor | |
| Fanatic | |
| Conspiracist | |
| Wannabe | |
| Martyr | |
| Undercover P.I | |
| Teacher’s Pet | |
| Goth Kid | |
| Thespian | |
| Best Friend | |
| County Sheriff | |
| Sacrifice |
Storyteller
The Storyteller is the key moderator for the game; All ability uses at night must be sent to the Storyteller via private message, and Storyteller will have the final say on any open-ended ability behaviors. The Storyteller’s goal is to keep the game both fun and balanced, and they’ll often be trying to make it last as long as possible; however, the Storyteller may not alter any existing rules to accomplish this.
The Fabled
The Fabled are special modifiers that the Storyteller can put in play to tweak the game. Fabled will always be announced when they are in play, along with their effect upon the gamestate. The most likely fabled to be included are the Hell’s Librarian to prevent night talking, the Fiddler on the off-chance the game gets deadlocked and the Djinn to indicate there are characters jinxed with each other.
| Fiddler | Once per game, at night, the Demon secretly chooses a player of an opposing alignment; All players then vote which of these two wins the game. |
| Hell’s Librarian | Something bad might happen to whomever speaks when the Storyteller calls for silence. |
Malfunctions
Malfunctioning is the primary source of interference with abilities. A malfunctioning character is not told that they are malfunctioning and cannot affect the gamestate in any way using their ability. If a malfunctioning character would receive information, then the information they receive is arbitrary (open-ended, Storyteller may resolve at their discretion). The malfunctioning status lasts indefinitely unless stated otherwise.
Nominations and Voting
Once the discussion phase has ended, the Storyteller will formally announce the opening of the nomination phase. Players must be nominated before they may be voted on that day. Each player may only be nominated once per day, and each player may only nominate once per day.
When a nomination is opened, the storyteller begins to track votes for that nomination. The players may precast votes, but the votes will lock in a clockhand format. Starting with the player below the nominee on the list, and working downwards, the votes will be locked if they are cast. As an example, take the following five players;
Alex
Brianna
Cameron
Derek
Ellen
Brianna is nominated. Cameron’s vote will be locked as soon as he places it, because he is the first person below Brianna on the list. Derek may cast his vote before Cameron, and may alter his vote if Cameron has not yet voted, but once Cameron has voted and had his vote locked, Derek’s vote will be the next to lock, and if it is placed when Cameron’s vote locks, then Derek’s vote will lock as the vote cast by Derek at that time.
Any votes that are not cast by EoD will be considered votes to pardon. If the count of votes to execute is more than half of the number of living players (not half+1, that’s an important distinction), and is the highest count of votes against any player that day, the accused will be considered “about to die”. At the end of the day or when all votes on all nominations have been cast, the player who is “about to die” will be executed. If there is a tie between two or more players for the highest count of votes, the day will end with no execution. The Storyteller may only declare an early end to voting if it is no longer possible to tie or exceed the highest nomination.
Whispers
Players may whisper each other in-game through private messages (including both this account and the hosts @CRichardFortressLies and @May y). Whispers must be publicly announced, by requesting permission to whisper using a format such as /whisper [Player]. Once a whisper has been declared and accepted, the two players may whisper via private message until one of them speaks publicly in the game chat, at which point the whisper is considered broken and the players must declare whispers again if they wish to whisper.
Whispers are allowed until the voting phase begins, and are unlimited for each player.
In addition, a player may make 1 whisper per day to each neighbour of up to 10 words without announcing this in thread.
Some abilities require you to speak privately to the Storyteller during the day. If you wish to do this, you must declare so publicly using a format such as /whisper [Storyteller]. You may choose to declare this even if you do not have one of these abilities.
Death
When a player dies, nothing is revealed about their character and they are allowed to stay in the game and speak. They may not nominate and they will have only one vote token (this will allow them to cast a vote to execute) for the entire game. Evil players who die may thus continue to help their allies by keeping up their claim and spreading misinformation, and good players may similarly help their allies by retaining relevant info that others may have forgotten in the heat of the game. Once a player dies, their ability stops working, which means that a player killed before they would perform their ability will not perform their ability, and any ability with a persistent effect will end upon the player’s death.
Victory
Good wins if all Demons are dead.
Evil wins if only 2 players (not counting Travellers) live.
In the event of a tie, the good team win.
Alternate routes to victory or defeat may exist as detailed by characters’ abilities. The list of all possible characters is above.
Travellers
A Traveller is a player character that can enter or exit a game at any point. Their identity and ability are known to all players, but their alignment may be either good or evil (which is decided by the Storyteller upon their entry to the game).
Unlike standard players, Travellers exist under some special circumstances.
- They may be exiled by majority vote at any time, instead of executed. This vote is independent of the nomination/execution system.
- They do not count as players for any rules, win conditions, or abilities.
- If they are evil, they learn who the Demon is.
| Possible Traveller Characters | |
|---|---|
| Deviant | If you were funny today, you cannot be exiled. |
| Apprentice | On your 1st night, you gain a Townsfolk ability (if good) or a Minion ability (if evil). |
| Bureaucrat | Each night, choose a player (not yourself): their vote counts as 3 votes tomorrow. |
| Thief | Each night, choose a player (not yourself): their vote counts negatively tomorrow. |
| Butcher | Each day, after the 1st execution, you may nominate again. |
Jinxes
Apprentice and Best Friend: If the Apprentice has the Best Friend ability, the Apprentice learns a player as their Townsfolk on Night One.
Changelog
- Formalised Storyteller consults.
- Whisper Private Messages must include both @CRichardFortressLies, @May and host account.
- All Thespian claims should ping either myself, May or this host account to make it easier for it to be counted.
- I will not be accepting Final Girl guesses made by peer pressure.
- Added a Jinx with Apprentice and Best Friend.
- Baker Thief
- Litten
- Silviu
- Atlas
- Kiiiruma
- Luka
- Jarek
- Magnus
- Hazardwaste
- Leafia