In social deduction games, one name reigns supreme: Werewolf/Mafia. The OG, the classic, the one all others are compared against. With good reason. It set the framework – Informed Minority vs Uninformed Majority.
Many games have progressed this formula. Werewolf included. Adding in a few roles with special powers. Missions to go on. Extra ways to get information, not just social reads. There was so much innovation in the space. Longer games. Shorter games. Miniatures!
My first true love in the realm of social deduction was Avalon. Quick enough to play in a lunch break, around a table, while eating. Various roles to add in to spice things up, help balance a team that lost in the groups meta, until it swung back the other way. Voting. Voting was information. Was power.
Then along comes Blood on the Clocktower. Fixed everything that I thought was wrong with other games in this genre. It fixed generic/vanilla villagers (Vanillagers), people with no information just going of sus vibes. People being out of the game. Either by being known as evil so socially excluded, or by being dead and mechanically out. No longer able to take part. How did Clocktower fix this?
Everyone has a role. Good or bad, they have something. A piece of the puzzle. There are ‘good’ and there are ‘bad’ roles – everyone has an opinion. But any role is better than no role. And death. It is not the end. Death is information, some roles rely on it. And once dead, you can still participate. Talk. Form Theories. Vote, one final time, to potentially sway the balance in your teams favour.
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