Blood on the Clocktower — How to Play

Blood on the Clocktower is a social deduction game for 5–15 players seated in a circle. One person acts as the Storyteller and runs the game; everyone else plays a townsperson with a secret character.

• The good team does not know who is who. They pool conversation and ability information to find and execute the Demon.
• The evil team starts knowing each other. They win through lies and nightly kills.
• The Storyteller is on neither team. They enforce the rules, adjudicate edge cases, and keep the game interesting.
• Dying does not remove you from the game. Dead players keep talking and still have one vote left for the rest of the game.

• Dead players win with their team. Being dead is never a reason to give up.
• Alignment is independent of character. An ability can change your alignment while your character stays the same.

1. Seat everyone in a circle. The Storyteller stands outside the circle holding the Grimoire.
2. Choose one script (edition). For a first game, Trouble Brewing is recommended.
3. Look up how many Townsfolk, Outsiders, Minions and Demons your player count needs in the table below.
4. The Storyteller secretly picks characters to match those numbers, choosing abilities that interact well.
5. If a chosen character has a setup instruction (the Baron, the Drunk, and so on), adjust the line-up as its text says.
6. Put the character tokens in a bag and pass it round. Each player secretly draws one, looks at it, and puts it back.
7. The Storyteller arranges the tokens in seating order inside the Grimoire, then begins the first night.

The game starts with the first night. From there, these four phases repeat until the game ends.

1. Night — everyone closes their eyes. The Storyteller wakes players in night order and resolves abilities.
2. Dawn — the end of the night. Abilities that act at dawn resolve after almost everything else.
3. Day — eyes open, deaths are announced. Discussion, private chats, nominations and votes all happen now.
4. Dusk — the execution resolves and the night begins. Effects that last “until dusk” end here.

The First Night

• On most scripts the Demon does not kill on the first night.
• With 7 or more players, the Minions learn each other and the Demon, and the Demon learns its Minions plus three good characters not in play (its bluffs).
• With 6 or fewer players, that information step is skipped.
• Most information Townsfolk receive their information on the first night.

Every Other Night

• The night order is different. Storytellers use a separate “first night” and “other nights” sheet.
• The Demon points at a player to kill them — though protection abilities may keep that player alive.
• Choosing an already-dead player does nothing.

Night Signals

• A tap on the shoulder means open your eyes; a second tap means close them again.
• Fingers convey numbers; a nod or a shake conveys yes or no.
• Players choose targets by pointing, never by speaking.

• The Storyteller announces who died in the night. Neither the cause nor the character is revealed.
• Players move freely between open discussion and private conversations.
• You may say anything — claim your real character, or claim someone else’s.
• Some abilities are used by publicly announcing them during the day.
• The day ends once an execution is locked in or nominations dry up. Pacing is the Storyteller’s call.

1. Nominate — a living player nominates a living player for execution. Nominating yourself is allowed.
2. Once each — each player may nominate once per day and may be nominated once per day.
3. Speeches — the nominator explains, then the nominee responds. The Storyteller controls the timing.
4. Vote — the Storyteller counts clockwise, starting from the player to the nominee’s left. A hand must be clearly raised to count.
5. Threshold — you need votes equal to at least half the living players, rounded up.
6. Most votes — a nominee must beat the day’s previous highest tally outright. On a tie, nobody is on the block.
7. Resolve — whoever is on the block at the end of the day is executed.

The Dead Vote

• Dead players cannot nominate and cannot be nominated.
• A dead player has exactly one vote left for the whole game. Once spent, it is gone.
• Living players may vote as often as they like, on as many nominations as they like.

• There is at most one execution per day.
• Being executed is not the same as dying. Some characters survive their own execution.
• If nobody is on the block, the day ends with no execution.
• Once the execution resolves, the day ends and dusk begins.

Exile — Travellers Only

• Travellers leave the game by exile, not execution.
• There may be any number of exiles per day, including none.
• Dead players may vote on exiles without spending their dead vote.
• No ability can affect an exile. An exiled Traveller simply leaves.

• A dead player receives a shroud and stays in their seat.
• Neither character nor alignment is revealed. Who they were remains a puzzle.
• They lose their ability, unless it explicitly works while dead. Ongoing effects end immediately.
• They keep talking. A dead player’s testimony is one of good’s most reliable resources.
• They cannot nominate, and they have one vote for the rest of the game.
• At night they still close their eyes like everyone else.
• They win or lose with their team.

Drunkenness and poisoning work identically. Only the cause differs; the effect is the same — you have no ability.

• You are not told. The Storyteller keeps acting as if your ability works.
• Information abilities may receive false information — or, at the Storyteller’s choice, correct information.
• Action abilities simply do nothing. A once-per-game ability used while impaired is wasted for good.
• Once you are sober and healthy again, your ability works normally.
• They do not cancel out. Being both still just means having no ability.
• The state belongs to the player, not the character. Changing character does not clear it.
• Other players’ abilities used on a drunk or poisoned player still work as normal.
• Being told your alignment or character changed is never affected by drunkenness or poisoning — it is always immediate, secret and accurate. Only characters designed to be misinformed, like the Drunk, are exceptions.

Madness means genuinely trying to convince the group that something is true. Saying it once is not enough.

• You must hold the claim under questioning, and be seen to be trying.
• If the Storyteller judges you were not really trying, there is a penalty — usually death.
• Convincing people of something you are told not to be mad about carries the same penalty.
• Once you are no longer mad, you may freely discuss that you were.

• Character text beats general rules. When they conflict, the printed ability wins.
• An ability only works while you are alive, sober and healthy — unless it explicitly triggers when you die.
• “Might” and “may” mean the Storyteller chooses. They are not guarantees.
• Some characters register falsely — a good character can read as evil, and vice versa.
• An extra rule that applies only when two specific characters are both in play is a jinx. Check your script.
• Night abilities resolve in a fixed night order, which differs between the first night and later nights.
• Abilities work immediately. A protection therefore only prevents deaths that resolve after it.
• If the text does not say “choose”, the Storyteller picks the target. If it does, the player picks.
• You are only told what your own ability says you learn. Not whether it failed, who protected you, or why someone died.
• Gaining a new character grants its ability at once and ends the old one — including resetting once-per-game uses.
• Abilities that trigger on death are still lost if you are drunk or poisoned.
• Text in [square brackets] applies at setup only — not when you become that character mid-game.
• The night sheet is a reminder; where timing differs, the character text governs.

• The Storyteller is not competing. Their goal is a tense, enjoyable game — not a win.
• When a situation needs adjudication, the Storyteller decides.
• They make many choices — what false information to give, which bluffs the Demon receives — and use them to balance the game.
• They give results, never reasons. Working out why is the players’ job.
• The Grimoire is never shown — mind your angles, lighting and reflections.
• Answer questions any time, but do it quietly so the answer is not itself information.

Travellers

• For players joining late or leaving early. They can enter or exit at any point.
• The player picks the character; the Storyteller picks the alignment. The player is told their alignment.
• Their abilities are strong, but the group can exile them at any time.
• They are not part of the setup table. Adding Travellers does not change the other counts.
• Travellers get a Traveller sheet listing how many Townsfolk, Outsiders and Minions are in play.

Fabled

• Neutral Storyteller characters. No player plays them.
• They are placed publicly — everyone knows which Fabled are in use.
• They modify the rules of the game to keep unusual situations fair or smooth.

Loric

• Like Fabled, a neutral Storyteller character placed publicly — everyone knows which Loric is in use.
• Where Fabled make a game fairer, Loric add a twist to make a familiar script feel new.
• They cannot be killed, drunk or poisoned. Their ability works for the whole game.
• Like Travellers and Fabled, they do not count toward the “only two players alive” win condition.