If you are unaware, we host a monthly game of Blood on the Clocktower at Prohibition Bar. We had a pretty neat game and I thought it would be fun to do a bit of a write up about it and what happened. By no means am I a great writer or anything though!
I have written this with the idea that people who play the game will be reading this, but if you are for some reason reading this and don't understand anything, Blood on the Clocktower has an excellent wiki you can use to look up anything. Anyway, on with the game!
Script - Sects and Violets
Date played - 5th April 2023
Player Count - 15
I was excited to once again be running my personal favourite of the base 3 scripts. There's something enjoyable about how well these scripts are made that makes returning to storytelling any of them a joy. Still, personally, for me, Sects and Violets is in a lot of ways peak Social Deduction chaos. Oh boy did this game show that!
So, all anyone needs to know about the players in the game, we had two players, sitting next to each other, both called Oliver. One of them was referred to as “Blue Oliver” and the other as “Red Oliver” based surprisingly on the colours of their respective jumpers.
Night 1 and Day 1
So, the game begins as a pretty standard affair. Evil team learns each other, The demon, the Fang Gu and 3 minions, all pretty experienced players in the group, a Cerenovus, a Pit Hag, and a Witch (the demon doesn't learn this, of course). The demon learns in the bluffs that a Town Crier, an Oracle and a Klutz are not in play. the Dreamer chose the Snake Charmer who was neighbouring them and learned they were either Snake Charmer/No Dashii. The rest of the night goes as should without anything too crazy, other than the Cerenovus made the Mutant mad they were a Savant… which is more funny than anything.
In the day the biggest thing that happened was that the real Savant learned that either: “The outsider count has been modified” or “The snake charmer has selected a minion” with the first statement being the true one, due to the Fang Gu. In nominations, the town executed the Clockmaker who had a sober and healthy 2.
Night 2 and Day 2
Unfortunately, I stopped noting everything down, so from this point onwards I'm going off the few notes I have and my memory of what happened…
In the night, the Fang Gu chose to kill the Mutant, causing the original Fang Gu to die, and the Mutant to become the Fang Gu. Now, usually, this is great for evil, but the rest of evil was unaware of this change, and the Cerenovus made the now Fang Gu that they were mad about being the Savant and the Witch cursed them as they'd nominated the day before.
Our Pit Hag minion changed the Dreamer into the Klutz. Now, I kind of regretted the decision to tell evil that there was a Klutz in the game… as this was powerful information to have for this exact reason, and my very good experienced evil players were fully trying to use this…
In the morning, the original demon and Cerenovus caught up to find out what had happened and upon realising what they had done, our Cerenovus went to speak to the Mad Fang Gu which went something like this:
Cerenovus: Okay so, I know you are now the demon because I'm the Cerenovus.
Mad Fang Gu: I don't know what you mean… I'm the Savant.
Cerenovus: Yes… but I know you are the demon now, and I know this because I'm your minion.
Mad Fan Gu: Nope, I'm the Savant.
Cerenovus: (turns to look at me) Oh god I've F**ked us…
The Savant came and got the news, “The clockmaker information was inaccurate” or “An evil player is currently under the effect of the Cerenovus.” As you can probably guess, the second statement was true…
Just before nominations, one of our players faked being a Juggler, and juggled the Cerenovus as 4 minions and one of the demons. I noted this as they were the only juggle, and I thought it would make for good use in Savant information.
A good player got executed, but I don't remember who, but for the overall tale here, it doesn't matter.
Night 3 and Day 3
Not much happens here worth mentioning…
The Philosopher at night decides to gain the powers of the Snake Charmer, causing the actual Snake Charmer to become drunk, and gives the Mathematician the only night that they got a 1. Every other night, they got a 0 as everyone was either sober and healthy, or the drunk characters didn't act.
I should mention at this point, that the Snake Charmer picks themselves every night right up till the end of the game.
The Fang Gu targeted the Sweetheart… Due to how much evil was running away with the game at this point, I felt it best to make the Klutz Sweetheart drunk so they don't have to worry about it. It also had the potential chance to confirm an evil player as good, which would be great for evil if that had happened.
During the day, the Sweetheart came out as drunk, meaning that the players were concerned about who was now getting false info.
The Savant learned “Pit Hag selected an in-play character last night.” or “Yesterday's Philiospher juggle would have got a 0” with the first statement being true, as the Pit Hag had tried to turn the Cerenovus into a Sage, who was unfortunately already in the game.
Unfortunately, our Savant player made a nomination, and then revealed themselves and their information, only to realise the nomination he made didn't make any sense and that they had messed up. The Savant was then put on the block. To save the Savant, town decided to execute the Barber, feeling a swap would be better than potentially losing the Savant. Town went back to sleep.
Night 4 and Day 4
So… this is when the game went from relatively standard game to utter chaos…
To begin the night, our Philosopher Snake Charmer correctly guessed our demon and became the Fang Gu. The Fang Gu was then told they were the Philosopher. The Snake Charmer picked themselves. The Cerenovus made themselves mad as the Artist. The Pit Hag then chose to make the now Philospher/Ex Demon into the Mutant. Yep, his original role.
Then, the Ex Philospher/Fang Gu killed the Savant (sadly, because the Savant Info would have been insane if he lived) and then Barber swapped the Pit Hag with the Sweetheart, creating a good dead Pit Hag and alive evil Sweetheart.
I've never had to use the “you are” token so much in a game of Blood on the Clocktower than in this game, let alone in just one night.
Now… Two things happened this day, the Cerenovus tried to break madness by claiming Mutant. I didn't go for this immediately as it was too big a play for evil to do it at that moment and at least wanted the good team a chance to talk. The day, unfortunately, was short, as the Mutant went and spoke to the Ex Pit Hag Evil Sweetheart to ask if they had swapped them, to which they denied it. The Mutant then said something to the effect of “I was the Fang Gu, but then became the Philosopher, but now I'm the Mutant.” Oh no, the day immediately ended with the execution of the Mutant for breaking madness. Mostly I needed to do this so that they could be confirmed on the story they had to tell the village…
Night 5 and Day 5
Now, I cannot remember anything of importance from that night and again, I hadn't made notes. The demon killed the Cerenovus who had attempted to make themselves mad again.
But during the day, our “Ex Mutant/Fang Gu/Philospher back to Mutant spent some time in the day explaining the events that had taken place leading to his execution. The Good Cerenovus and Evil Sweetheart came out about the change. The Evil Sweetheart was able to take full advantage of being outed evil, by seeding chaos in the town. When it was pointed out that they needed to be hunting Philiospher claims, the Sweetheart claimed the Sage player had at least bluffed Savant, to which they agreed but that they hadn't used it. The Sage was executed and the town was congratulated with a good night's sleep.
Night 6 and Day 6
This is the night and day I have the least memory of unfortunately… except that the current Fang Gu killed the Evil Sweetheart as they had requested the day before.
During the day, the village remained mostly confused about what had happened.
One of the events of the day, was when I got to listen in on the Ex Philosopher Fang Gu trying to convince the Good Pit Hag that they were just the Snake Charmer who hadn't jumped and hadn't admitted to this earlier in case they were successful in jumping. Then, on the other side of the room was a conference of minions trying to figure out who their demon now was…
With 5 players left alive, the village decided to execute the outed Witch.
Night 7
The Fang Gu kills the Mathematician. The Snake Charmer chooses the Klutz, as the only pick they made that wasn't themselves.
Day 7
Now, for anyone reading this who might remember the title of this game and is wondering why I mentioned 2 Olivers all the way back at the start of this write-up, well, this is the best time to explain why.
Red Oliver started the game as the Philosopher. Blue Oliver started the game as the Snake Charmer. Both sat next to each other and both claimed they were the Snake Charmer who hadn't selected a demon.
At nominations, Blue Oliver was quick to nominate Red Oliver and made a good case for his execution, including that the Ex Dreamer Klutz has dreamed Blue Oliver as a Snake Charmer/No Dashii. It was backed up when the Good Pit Hag told the villagers that Red Oliver had claimed Philospher but backed out of it. Our Mutant also reminded the village that they had to get the votes on whoever they believed the demon was, and so, Red Oliver was executed. Good wins.
Post-Game ST Musings
Man! What a game!
It was a very confusing game due to everything that happened. The only thing I sort of wish I'd done with hindsight is to show the Dreamer Fang Gu instead of No Dashii. I don't think it really would have changed the result of the game, but it would have maybe given the village pause for thought at the end of the game.
I'd have also had not had two Oliver's sat next to each other.
Evil played a blinder of a game and honestly was shocked that Good managed to turn it at the end the way they did. It's my favourite kind of ending though when I'm doing the grim reveal and players aren't too sure who won until I tell them.
Included below are my game notes in case anyone is interested in seeing them. I also include a picture of the final grim.
Game Notes
D1 Savant Info
The outsider count has been modified
The snake charmer has selected a minion.
N1 Notes
Philo didn't act
Snake charmer chose self
Witch cursed savant
Cerenovus made Mutant mad they are Savant
Dreamer saw SC, learned SC or No Dashi
Clockmaker 2
Mathematician 0
D2 Savant Info
The clockmaker information was inaccurate
An evil player is currently under the affect of the cerenovus.
D3 Savant Info
Pit Hag selected an in play character last night.
Yesterday's Philio juggle would have got a 0
N4 notes
Philo snake charmer becomes the Fang gu
Pit hag changes the now philo into the mutant
The now demon swaps the Pit Hag and the Sweetheart creating a good dead pithag and an evil sweetheart
