Recently, there have been a number of custom scripts being created with the intent of running a game which lasts exactly one day, where you get only a single execution and if the demon lives they win. I have seen this be achieved in 3 ways – a normal script, the Doomsayer or the Fiddler fabled.
I. Hate. These. Scripts.
So many people seem to enjoy them, great! All power to you, I say, just… I will bow out from playing and leave you to it.
For me, what sets Blood on the Clocktower apart from other social deduction games is the puzzle. Gathering all the information, both mechanical and social. Working together as a team and building worlds that uses the trusted and discards the untrustworthy. Over a reasonable period of time, often 90 minutes, multiple in-game days to put everything together. Compressing this into a 20ish minute experience rob it of the pull that I have to play the game.
All the one day scripts I have seen lack that intense puzzle, the to-and-fro between players. There is no time to test theories, build a world, test it, then either succeed or discard it to try again.
Normal Script – When it’s just a normal script, it really needs delicate balancing, from both the script builder and Story Teller as janky interactions are highlighted much more when they don’t have days of play to figure out, while there are quite a few characters that just do not work. Every Each Night* role will never act. The Balloonist will only get a single name, etc.
Doomsayer – With a Doomsayer in play, this does balance things as more trust chains can be formed when people are aware of how and why they died. Which player called Doom to get them killed, they must be (Spy/Recluse of course the exception) of the same alignment. It will also bring the game to a final 3 or 4 most of the time, if the Story Teller is precise with their doom kills. This kind required even more balancing from the Story Teller because of who they choose to kill with each call of doom.
Fiddler – An unorthodox use of this Fabled as it is designed to be used when a game is at a stalemate or time has expired and an end to a game must be brought. Less reliance on Story Teller decisions due to the Demon picking which good player will join them.
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