This week we played Blood on the Clocktower. This detailed role playing game involved deception, planning, and organization. Having never played this game before, I struggled to keep track of each possible role. Not all roles in the game were present in our round due to the number of players, but most roles had the potential to be present. I was selected to be the demon’s minion. I was a poisoner who once per night could interfere with another player’s ability. There were two teams in the game, the good and the evil. Of course, we did not know who was on each team. The goal is to discover each person’s role and for the good, find the demon and for the demon, kill the townsfolk. The game is divided into night and day. During the night action occurs from poisoning, murders, and divine intervention. During the day the town could interact, find information, and vote for someone to be executed. There were additional complexities such as the role of the drunk who would believe they were a townsfolk and claim such, but in reality were not. When the demon is killed, the minion assumes their role. This happened to me in our game. It may be obvious from my scattered explanation that the most difficult part of this game was keeping track of all the details and changing information.Despite mixing up details I managed to feign innocence for long enough to win the game.
An example of leadership I experienced personally was when I completely gave away my status as an evil character in the second round. Rather than expose my allegiances, a fellow player let the mistake slip because he had made similar errors when he first played this game. He could have won the game early but instead he chose to help me learn without embarrassment or judgement.
I believe this would be a fun game for parties, however it would be helpful if at least one person playing was able to help with the rules. Maybe it would be beneficial to play a practice round to ensure that everyone understands the many roles. I personally had trouble with this, but I imagine this would get easier the more you play the game. Overall, this was an enjoyable experience and I would love to play again.