Earlier in the year, my local gaming café began running Blood on the Clocktower sessions “after-hours” on a Saturday. A social deduction game, with more than a passing similarity to the party classic Werewolf, Blood on the Clocktower helps take this type of social deduction to new heights.
The Blood on the Clocktower sessions have proven a huge success with players and they generally sell out all 20 spaces made available for each game. Given the number of players involved, this explains why the games have to happen at a time the store is officially closed. You need a lot of room for all the players to spread about and hold private conversations.
What’s It All About?
At the start of a Blood on the Clocktower game, the players are assigned roles at random, each grants an in-game ability; the roles available have been curated by the storyteller to create a particular experience. These are then secretly revealed to the storyteller so that they can run the game. The storyteller then lets the demon team know who is on their side.
Like Werewolf, players “sleep” at night where the demon chooses a player to kill (and other roles may wake to use their abilities). There is also a daytime where discussions happen and villager team players try to figure out who the demon is whilst the evil team try to deceive their way to victory (killing enough of the villagers to gain a majority). Each day there is an opportunity to nominate a player for execution. Each nominated player is put to the vote and, if there is any that gain a majority in agreement the player with the highest count is executed and they become a ghost (more on that later).
My Experiences Playing
What I really enjoy about the game is the way players will share information but no one really knows anything thanks to the drunk and poisoned mechanics. The drunk thinks they have a role but are unknowingly gaining, and therefore sharing, false information. Similarly, a player can be “poisoned” by one of the evil roles. In this case the player loses their role until no longer poisoned. You will find players sharing information but always adding the caveat, I might be poisoned or drunk.
This means that Blood on the Clocktower players are reluctant to share powerful roles as they may become a target for the poisoner, rendering their role useless and a potential target for elimination.
Things that I have found are common features of Blood on the Clocktower games are a combination of confusion and consequential laughter. The atmosphere created is generally really enjoyable. Some roles are more involved than others, however, as the game progresses using a strong requirement for teamwork everyone remains involved.
A mechanic that sets Blood on the Clocktower apart from Werewolf, and is probably needed due to the length of game and number of players involved, is the “ghost vote”. After your character is eliminated you and your team lose access to your ability for the remainder of the game. You also have just one remaining “ghost vote” for the remaining execution votes. You are still able to participate in the game in every other way though so do not completely lose out of the play experience.
There is good longevity to the play experience in Blood on the Clocktower as well, since there is a wide variety of roles and scenarios available for the Storyteller to make use of.
Should I Play This?
I can totally appreciate that the idea of a game that involves massive discussion with large groups of people is intimidating. Despite enjoying each Blood on the Clocktower game I have played; this element does play on my mind when I know I’ll be heading to a session but I soon relax into the game. I would, therefore, recommend hesitant people to give it a go. The group of players participating at my local gaming café are quite consistent so have become familiar over time which really helps. The community is also unerringly friendly which is a massive aid in making me feel comfortable. In conclusion, Blood on the Clocktower is an experience that gamers should definitely aim to experience and, if you’re local store is not offering sessions, it might be something to chat to them about for the future.
