The First Waypost

Welcome traveler! Welcome to the First Waypost. Follow the cobblestone-paved road down to the valley, and you’ll find the small picturesque town of Ravenswood Bluff. This unique town full of whimsical characters sets the stage for a grand story. A story that will unfold over the next several days and nights, mind you. A story about a terrifying Demon, who kills by night and takes on human form by day. A story about the ultimate betrayal by one of your peers. Use this checkpoint to stock up on supplies, and prepare yourself to be part of an adventure full of deduction, scheming, investigation, and trickery!

Like many social deduction games like Werewolf or Mafia, our game is a clash of good and evil. At the start of the game, you will receive either a blue or red character sheet from the character list. This will be your secret identity for the duration of the game. A blue character sheet indicates you belong to the good team. Your objective is to piece together which player among you is secretly the Demon, who is tearing the town apart player by player. A red character sheet means that you belong to the evil team. This means you are either one of the Demon’s Minions, spreading misinformation and confusion everywhere, or you are the Demon yourself. The evil team’s objective is to destroy the town while preventing the Demon from getting executed.

Basic outline

The game is split up in two phases: the night phase (from 21:00 to 09:00) and the day phase (from 09:00 to 21:00). During the night, a number of characters can use their abilities to gather information or use their special power. This includes the Demon! The Demon amongst you chooses one (or sometimes more!) player(s) to kill that night. During the day, you reconvene with the town. You learn who died in the night, and you can start piecing together information to work out who the Demon is. If you want to have a player executed, nominate them for execution during the day. Together with the rest of the town, vote among the nominees for who should be killed! Read more about the day- and night phases, as well as the voting system here!

Objective of the game

When you’re on the good team, the goal of the game is simple. Figure out which player among you is the Demon, and kill them. However, this task is trickier than it may seem. First of all, you don’t even know what kind of Demon you’re dealing with! Are you fighting against a Pukka, meaning that your information might send you in the wrong direction? Or maybe a Shabaloth is rampaging through the town, killing people left and right. Maybe a peaceful night feels more like impending doom if you’re fighting a Po. Or maybe even, the Demon is the seemingly dead Zombuul, hiding amongst the town’s corpses. Don’t even start about the powers of the cunning Minions, who are assisting the Demon in its tracks. Figuring out which characters you’re fighting is half the work. But you better work fast, as the town’s graveyard is filling up fast…

When you’re on the evil team, the goal of the game is also simple. Destroy the town while keeping the Demon alive. Once the town consists of only two alive players, one of which is the Demon, victory is yours. Yet again, this is not as easy as it may seem. These Townsfolk have nifty abilities, allowing them to gather information on the evil team and enabling them to escape death from time to time. If you sit back and relax, sooner or later they will put the pieces of the puzzle together and figure it out. It is probably best to pick a good character from the list and pretend to be that character, spreading false information and confusion wherever you can. Your team starts by knowing three good characters on the character list that are not in play to kickstart your scheming. Be strategic, know when to throw your Minions under the bus to save the Demon, and lead people astray!

Death is not the end

When you die within the game, it does not mean you are no longer playing. Often, the opposite is true! You still win or lose together with your team, so don’t lose hope! When you die, you lose your character’s ability, you lose the ability to nominate players for execution, and you can only vote on someone else’s nomination one more time within the course of the game. Your role doesn’t get revealed to the public, and you’re still allowed to discuss and scheme with players as you see fit. Dead people are often trusted more since it is likely the Demon killed them, becoming the center of trustworthiness. It is often dead players’ votes that ultimately decide the game. Read more about death here!

Information can be wrong

There will be a lot of information going around during the course of the game. Information is crucial to eventually working out the Demon’s identity. However, some information can be wrong. If by some means you get drunk or poisoned, your ability ceases to function properly. Being drunk or poisoned means that you (often temporarily) have no ability without your knowledge. During this time, the storyteller will pretend that your ability functions as normal. If you have an ability that protects people, you no longer protect them. If you have an ability that gathers information, the storyteller will give you purposely confusing information. So, which information can, and cannot be trusted? Try to figure out which in-play characters can cause drunkenness or poisoning, and work it out from there. Read more about drunkenness and poisoning here!

Now what?

Sooner or later, you will receive your character and the game will start. Before that happens, feel free to mingle with the other players within the Town Square. Making a short introduction video or message is highly encouraged! Also, it might be wise to wander around the town for a bit and visit the different stations. It is certainly not required to read up on everything this town has to offer. The stations around town provide useful information regarding specific game mechanics, but you can also get familiar with them just by playing the game. It is recommended to at least visit the Library and the Courthouse. Reading up on the different characters around the town, as well as the voting system can give you a significant advantage. If you ever find yourself lost, make your way back here and choose a different direction to go in. Good luck on your travels! And may fate be with you…

If you wish to learn more about the different characters, visit the Library.
If you wish to learn more about nominating and executing people, visit the Courthouse.
If you wish to learn more about what it means to be dead, and see an overview of which players are still alive, visit the Graveyard.
If you wish to learn more about drunkenness and poisoning, visit the Plague Doctor.
If you wish to learn more about the win conditions for each team and read overall strategy tips, visit the Fight Arena.
If you wish to learn more about the day and night phase and about the order in which characters ‘wake up’, visit the Nightguard.
If you wish to learn more about bluffing in this game, visit the Gambling House!