The Devil's Dilemma

Notes

This script generally strives to promote player agency, allowing for several interesting conundrums with high-stakes trade-offs. In particular, all four possible Demons are centered around their own fundamental dilemmas: No Dashii: How to best gaslight others & push poisoned narratives? Imp: When to give up control, if ever? Kazali: What Minions to choose, and who could better play them? Vigormortis: How much voting and nominating power to sacrifice, if any? All these Demons have their own unique advantages, but they all depend on difficult choices that can have profound consequences on the game. Importantly, the Demon must strategize to minimize their opportunity cost when making a decision, which is far from trivial. Killing nobody, killing a Minion, or even killing oneself means one more good player will remain alive (sometimes with a powerful ability), and choosing a certain combination of Minions to be in play means no one will be able to wield the abilities left behind, no matter how much the evil team may need them later in the game. There are no wrong answers, but there are definitely winners and losers, so pure skill is of the utmost importance to both sides. All players MUST be aware of this, if applicable. "If a Kazali is in play, a Kazali must remain in play." This means that if the Demon in play is a Kazali, the player choosing a Demon character if/when the Hatter ability triggers must select the Kazali, with any other Demon choice being rejected by the Storyteller, as otherwise the game would be too unbalanced. This script is designed with the following interactions in mind: Hatter is run with its optional rule (Chaos Hatter), which means that the Demon may become a Minion and a Minion may become the Demon, as long as the distribution is kept the same. The Demon and their Minions wake together and may briefly communicate silently, but ultimately choices are made individually in an arbitrary order as decided by the Storyteller. Hatter is not run according to the night order: the Demon and their Minions are prompted to choose new characters immediately after the Hatter died (if at night) or otherwise immediately after dusk (if the Hatter died during the day). The Hatter's stated position in the night order is irrelevant and just a reminder. If the Boffin gives the Demon the Village Idiot ability when there is already exactly one Village Idiot in play, either the Townsfolk's or the Demon's Village Idiot abilities may be drunk, or neither, but not both. However, if exactly two Village Idiots are in play, one of them must be drunk and the Demon's Village Idiot ability must be sober. If the Demon chooses the Goon with a good character's ability given to them by the Boffin, only the Demon's good character's ability is made drunk and the Goon still becomes evil (because the Demon is evil). The Preacher's disabling of a dead Minion's ability has precedence over the Vigormortis's power to have them retain their ability, for as long as the Preacher is alive, sober, and healthy. This is regardless of whether the Preacher chose the Minion before or after they had been killed by the Vigormortis. If the Cerenovus makes the Mutant "mad" that they are an Outsider, there is no automatic madness break, and the Mutant will likely not be executed as long as they never claim to be actively "mad" and always act in a manner consistent with the Outsider that the Cerenovus has selected, ideally without making explicit claims about their role even if pressured. Following that, when the Mutant is no longer being made "mad" by the Cerenovus, they must do their best to convince Town that they are not actually an Outsider, including if necessary proposing worlds that justify their prior actions. If the Cerenovus makes someone who is not the Mutant "mad" that they are the Mutant, they should (in principle) actively claim or heavily imply that role as normal, acting the part of a Mutant who has decided that they would rather be executed than continue to mislead Town (both with made-up information from the Townsfolk they are bluffing and, if applicable, with not contesting other players being assumed as the Mutant). They should dare the Storyteller to execute them, look expectantly at them, and (if prompted) reject any theory that they have been targeted by the Cerenovus. This ruling reflects the community consensus on this matter and is a balanced way of dealing with the issue, as it does not significantly help evil (Cerenovus madness is expected to be suspected) but also spreads misinformation and casts suspicion on a Mutant claim that is never executed. The Wraith is run without its optional rule (i.e., only the ability stated in its ability text, without being able to cause additional deaths). These rulings, or a variation of them as decided by the Storyteller, should be explained to all players before the start of the game. Chef - Kazali: Players (including the Demon) might try to meta who could be chosen to yield a certain number High Priestess - Wraith: High Priestess can be sent to a good player who noticed a Wraith with their eyes open during the night, lending credibility Preacher - Organ Grinder: Choosing to be drunk can simulate a Preacher success Preacher - Vigormortis: Safety net to disable Minion abilities that would otherwise remain in play until the end of the game, such as a Vigormortis-killed Organ Grinder Village Idiot - Wraith: If the Wraith is publicly outed evil, they could be used as a sobriety test for Village Idiots (also giving an incentive for the Wraith to not reveal themselves too much) Village Idiot - Kazali: Allows Storyteller to add several Village Idiots to the bag so more Townsfolk roles are free to be used as bluffs later, if needed for certain player counts Oracle - Imp: Detect starpasses Oracle - Vigormortis: Detect when Minions are killed in order to keep their ability Innkeeper/Monk - Goon: Plausible alternative explanation for no deaths when the Demon chooses the Goon Monk - No Dashii: Temporarily make a Townsfolk healthy Monk - Imp: Stop a starpass Monk - Vigormortis: Stop a Minion from being killed to retain their ability, or temporarily stop a Townsfolk from being poisoned by a neighboring Minion previously killed by the Vigormortis Fisherman - Wraith: Advice can indicate that a Wraith is in play, as a nudge that Town should start being more transparent as the evil team already has much information and can cooperate more easily Ravenkeeper - Banshee: Having two "Demon banes" plays well into the theme ("Devil's Dilemma"), since the Demon will probably have to eventually kill one of them Ravenkeeper - Imp/Vigormortis: Great bluff since it provides a good reason for a good player to lie, especially for those who can die during the night (Imp via starpass and any Minion via Vigormortis) and need a powerful "on death" bluff plausibly not revealed until then Virgin - Drunk: Plausible alternative explanation for when an evil player or a quiet Outsider does not cause the Virgin to process Virgin - Cerenovus: Casts at least some doubt on the nominator when the Virgin processes (could have intentionally broken madness) Virgin - Boffin: Casts at least some doubt on a processed "Virgin" (could actually be the Demon), and forces Town to decide whether to execute the "Virgin" or not (probably a confirmed good player, but maybe the Demon) Goon - [Most Others]: Many Townsfolk (Preacher, Village Idiot, Fortune Teller, Innkeeper, Monk, Ravenkeeper) and some Minions (Cerenovus, possibly Boffin), in addition to all Demons, all pick players at different points in the night, heavily increasing the probability that the Goon will change alignments and/or cause misinformation Drunk - Kazali: Storyteller has a last-minute tool to balance the game after Kazali picks Minions (since when deciding bag makeup one cannot predict who will be chosen, so it is useful to add/remove the Drunk at will later) (Chaos) Hatter - Kazali/No Dashii: Escape route allowing the Demon to easily be moved (Chaos) Hatter - No Dashii: Very powerful tool to spread misinformation around Town, since it allows changing who is poisoned mid-game Mutant - Cerenovus: Alternative explanation for why someone might be loudly executed Wraith - Imp: A previously outed Wraith no longer opening their eyes can be a sign to good players that the Imp has starpassed to them (and can be faked by the evil team to waste Town's time) Wraith - Vigormortis: Allows the Demon to decide whether Evil should receive maximum information (a Vigormortis-killed Wraith can just keep their eyes open for the rest of the game and monitor all of Town's nighttime activities) in exchange for confirmation that a Vigormortis is in play and probably extensive scrutinity of who the outed Minion talks to during the day Organ Grinder - Imp: Can choose to be drunk to simulate a starpass Boffin - Vigormortis: Demon can choose to keep their good ability until the end of the game, possibly giving them credibility Thief - Banshee: A Banshee chosen by the Thief has a unique power to heavily influence nominations to fail, thereby essentially allowing the confirmed-good Banshee to exercise discretion on who they wish to keep alive Innkeeper/Monk - No Dashii: If protection obviously fails (i.e., the protected player dies), there is a high chance that the protector is sitting next to the Demon, if they are not drunk Hatter - Kazali: Potentially too powerful for Kazali to benefit from their setup abilities and then become another Demon, hence the recommended house rule that a Kazali in play must remain in play Hatter - Vigormortis: Not very useful for mobility since any Minions already killed lose their ability, but can still be helpful at the beginning of the game Organ Grinder: If not drunk Day 1, it becomes immediately and undeniably obvious to everyone which Minion is in play, which might be incredibly impactful especially for games with only one Minion (since another Minion ability can never enter play) -- however, most players usually choose to be drunk at the beginning of the game in any case Thief - Organ Grinder: It can become virtually impossible to confirm the Thief's alignment if the Organ Grinder is in play, which makes it a prime target for early exile WARNING: This script has not yet been sufficiently playtested to conclusively determine how balanced it plays or whether further adjustments are still necessary. Play at your own risk, and have fun! Po removed in favor of No Dashii. Besides the great synergy with Barber/Hatter, and ruling out edge-case scenarios where the Po could end the game extremely fast when compounding with e.g. Godfather, this adds a desperately needed new source of misinformation: before, if one could rule out being the Drunk (through one of several possible ways), and one is not sitting next to anyone killed at night that could be suspected to be a Vigormortis-killed Minion, one could almost mechanically trust one's information, forcing Evil to virtually always have to bluff Innkeeper with strategic picks just to cast doubt on someone specific's information. With No Dashii, it becomes almost impossible to assume one's information is not and has never been poisoned. In particular, it gives much less credibility to the Artist/Fisherman's information, which is arguably one of the most powerful in the game. Exorcist removed in favor of Banshee. Exorcist was probably one too many of three protection roles (with Monk and Innkeeper), but sometimes a very powerful Townsfolk that can hold up the end of the game indefinitely - Monk is better because it protects from all Demon effects (including poisoning), and Innkeeper has a trade-off mechanic built-in. Banshee is very confirmable if it triggers, but gives an additional reason for players to lie and is helpful as a bluff. Artist removed in favor of Fisherman. An experienced (or well-led) Artist can gain gamebreaking information about the Demon, while a Fisherman is by design easier to balance and proportionate to how long they have survived, even if it can be harder to run for a new Storyteller. This is especially important given that some players might be very confirmed (e.g., via Virgin), or given that the Bone Collector can have players regain their ability. Gambler removed in favor of Shugenja. While largely unrelated, they both provide very concrete information that can become the cornerstone of Town's narratives, but the Shugenja's is more abstract (though still very actionable) while the Gambler's is hyper-specific. In many cases, Gambler was a very strong Townsfolk since extra deaths could not easily be explained except through a very well-timed Godfather kill, making it very hard for Evil to defend against. On the other hand, if no kill happened, this would make it very likely that one of the Gambler's neighbors is the No Dashii - also very strong information. The Shugenja is easy to bluff, sows misinformation if taken up by an Outsider, and still gives Town a very clear sense of (literal) direction. Barber removed in favor of (Chaos) Hatter, with optional recommended house rule to soften interaction with Kazali. Though Barber and Hatter are very similar Outsiders, this change makes their purpose much more clear as (primarily) a means for Demon mobility, with some (very relevant) added bonuses. In exchange, it no longer becomes possible for the Demon to effectively "disable" important Townsfolk by swapping their character with a less powerful dead player, but this rarely happened in practice anyway. Godfather removed in favor of Wraith. The former was the only way to achieve extra deaths at night (with the Gambler having been removed from the script), making it somewhat of an awkward fit, and Wraith is more balanced in the sense that they can choose how loud or quiet they wish to be throughout the game. Getting an insight into Town's night activities and being able to (briefly) secretly communicate in silence can be extremely useful to the evil team. This also means that Outsider count is now fully dependent on the Demon character, which makes the game more solvable (but still difficult given all Outsiders are quiet, especially the Drunk). Added recommended Travelers (Thief, Bone Collector, Judge, Deviant, Gnome). Brand new script!