I'm surprised The Werewolves of Millers Hollow game hasn't been mentioned yet. It's the quintessential halloween game, and some of the most fun you can have. It's essentially a fleshed out Winking Murder game without the open ended play, and with everyone having set characters. It's incredibly cheap to buy (
US,
UK) giving everyone nice character cards and a rules booklet, but you can just write the characters on paper and play for free.
Basically everyone gathers in a circle. Every night one of the villagers is killed by the werewolves. They are then out of the game, and cannot participate in any discussion. During the day, the surviving villagers discuss who amongst themselves they believe might be werewolves. They decide on one person and kill them. Hopefully it's a werewolf, since the game is won by the villagers when all of the werewolves have been killed. Naturally the werewolves win when all other characters have been killed. Aside from villagers, who have no real power, there are special characters:
- Seer - Each night she can look at a card of a player of her choice to find out their real identity. She must help the villagers without being found out by the werewolves (since if they're suspicious that s/he is a seer, they will target her)
- Hunter - If The Hunter gets killed, either by the werewolves at night or by the villagers during the day, s/he has the power to retaliate by killing a player of his or her choice immediately.
- Cupid - On the first night Cupid picks 2 players who he denotes as lovers. Those 2 players will fall madly in love with each other. If one of the lovers dies, the other, out of sadness, dies immediately. A Werewolf and a villager can also be in love. If they both survive, they win the game. Cupid may select himself as one of the 2 lovers.
- The witch - She knows how to make up 2 extremely powerful potions: One healing potion, which can revive a player that has been killed by the werewolves. One poison potion which when used at night can kill a player. The witch must use each potion only once during the game. She can use her 2 potions on the same night if she wishes. In the morning following the use of her potions there could be 0, 1 or 2 dead. The witch may use her potion to her advantage and heal herself.
- The Thief - Out of the characters NOT in play, two must be put aside. During the first night the Thief can swap his card against one of the 2 cards (face down) that were left out of the game after all the cards have been dealt out. He will play with his new identity for the rest of the game. If both cards are werewolf cards the thief must pick one up.
- Little girl - During the night when the werewolves are selecting their victim, she is allowed to spy on them (by peeping). She must try not to get caught peeping by the werewolves as if they catch her they will undoubtedly kill her.
- Captain - This card is given to one of the players, in addition to his or her character card. The captain is elected after having the majority of votes from other players. One cannot refuse the honour to be captain. From this moment on, a vote from the captain counts as two votes. If this player is killed, in his last breathe he chooses his successor.
You can pick and mix the cards as you want, introducing more and more characters as your group becomes familiar with the game (though it is best not to overdo the power players). The minimum configuration is: 2 Werewolves, 1 Seer, 5 Simple Villagers.
How to play
Firstly you must choose a games master. This person will not play the game, but will carry the story forward and make sure that the rules are followed. He or she will dish out one character card to each player face down. Players look at who or what they are, and place their card back down.
It's night time, the game master asks all players to close their eyes; the village is asleep.
First round only (in this order)
- The game master calls on the Thief. The thief, if there is one, opens his or her eyes and wakes up. They take a look at the 2 cards put aside and switch characters if they want to before going back to sleep.
- The game master calls on Cupid. If he is in play, Cupid wakes up and points to the two lovers, one of whom may be himself. The game master taps their shoulder to let them know that they are one of cupids lovers. Cupid goes to sleep. The game master calls on the lovers. They open their eyes, recognise each other and go back to sleep.
Every round (in this order)
- The game master calls on the seer. S/he wakes up and selects a player s/he wants to know the identity of. The game master shows her the player’s card that she has selected. The Seer goes back to sleep.
- The game master calls on the werewolves. They (and only they) raise their heads, open their eyes, recognize each other and silently select a victim. They can individually decide not to open their eyes and not to select a victim to reduce the chance of being spied on. If no werewolves open their eyes, they die of hunger and the villagers win. If a werewolf is selected as a victim by the other werewolves, hard luck, he dies! During this round the little girl can spy on the werewolves (by peeping) if she wishes. If she gets caught, she will be killed immediately instead of the selected victim. The werewolves go back to sleep.
- The game master calls on the witch. The game master says: “The witch should wake up and I will show her the werewolves’ victim. Will she use her healing or poison potion?”. The game master shows the witch the werewolves’ victim. The witch doesn’t have to use her power in a specific round. If she uses a potion, she must show the game master her target with her thumb up for healing, or thumb down for poisoning. The game master will reveal to the village the effect of the witch the next morning.
It's daytime, the village wakes up. Everyone raises there heads and open their eyes. The game master shows all players which player was killed by the werewolves during the night. This player reveals his/her card, and is eliminated from the game. Whatever his/her character was, he will not be able to communicate with other players under any circumstances. If the player is the Hunter, he has the right to retaliate by killing another player of his choice instantly. If the player is one of the 2 lovers, the other lover commits suicide immediately.
The players, after much debating and arguing, must select one player that they want to eliminate when they vote. The villagers will attempt to find out the werewolves by voting for one of them to be eliminated. The werewolves must bluff and lie, to try to disguise their identity and appear as a villager. The seer and the little girl must help the villagers while being careful not to reveal their identity to the werewolves and risk being killed in the night. The lovers must protect one another. In the case of a draw, the captain’s vote selects the victim. Otherwise the players vote again (as well as the players that were voted for) to split the tie. The player selected by the majority of votes is eliminated. He reveals his or her character card and will not be able to communicate with other players under any circumstance.
It's night time, all living players go back to sleep. All eliminated player can look but must stay silent.
The round starts again from the "Every Round" list.
Victory Conditions
The Villagers win, as soon as the last werewolf is eliminated.
The werewolves win, as soon as the second last villager dies.
