A homebrew Demon and a script to foster an atmosphere of paranoia, accusation and not knowing who to trust.
I’ve been looking into witches recently (for reasons which will hopefully become clear in the coming months), including speaking to the charming Dr Tabitha Stanmore (see what I did there).
Her research into 17th-century witch trials brings to the fore a pervasive climate of anxiety in which people’s fear of the Devil (alongside a healthy pinch of intra-community tension) led to them behaving pretty hellishly towards each other.
People held sincere beliefs in the power of witchcraft, and in the ability of Satan to infiltrate their community, to the extent that some even claimed to have entered into demonic pacts themselves. In an attempt to bring this atmosphere to you, I turn to Blood on the Clocktower - already a surefire generator of mutual mistrust - and see if I can make it worse.
Witch Am I?
Witch is already a BotC character, so to avoid confusion we’ll be using the name Coven. I had a number of elements and feelings that I wanted to try to capture:
Everyone believes the Coven have power, and they might
Anyone could be(come) a member of the Coven, even you
The Coven are not necessarily (all) evil
To those ends, at the start of the game, the Coven believe themselves to be ordinary good characters. The presence of a Coven in town needs verifying by good and evil players alike. Once this has been established, players must quickly determine whether or not they themselves could be members of the Coven, find out who the other members are, and finally decide whether to risk a public accusation.
Here’s how it works.
The Coven
Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you.
Summary
“You think you are a good character and you have their ability. If a player publicly guesses all living Coven correctly their team wins. If they guess incorrectly or no guesses are made that day, something bad might happen. [Minions are Coven]”
Coven is many Demons. The Coven must subtly discover each other and then reveal themselves. Good players must identify the Coven and reveal them, or execute them one by one.
All the Evil players are Coven and Demons (none inherently register as Minions).
The Evil players believe that they are not-in-play Good characters (townsfolk and/or oursiders in any combination), and have their abilities.
The Coven have no inherent ability to kill (though they may gain this through their Good character powers).
Evil wins if an Evil player publicly names all living Coven. Good wins if a Good player publicly names all living Coven.
Each time the Coven is named incorrectly, something bad might happen.
The Evil team still wins if only two living players remain in the game and a Demon is one of them. The Good team still wins if there are no Demons alive.
How to Run
If the Demon is Coven, all Minions are instead also Coven. All Coven register as Evil and Demons.
Add only Good characters to the bag, ensuring there are at least the correct number of Townsfolk for your player count. Add additional Good Townsfolk or Outsiders in any combination for each evil player in the game.
After characters have been selected, choose players to mark as Coven and Evil - one for each Evil player there should be in the game. Coven players still have the powers of their Good character, and the information they receive is true unless they are otherwise drunk or poisoned, just as though they really were that character.
The consequences of Something Bad happening should get worse during the game. If the players do not suspect a Coven by mid-game, you may wish to make Bad Things flavourful instead or as well as mechanical: “The Farmer’s cows give sour milk”; “A grave is desecrated” (the Undertaker’s powers do not work tonight); A player is Mad they are the Witch; Somebody dies.
You may wish to use Something Bad to lead players into believing a different Demon or Minion is in play.
Notes
Characters like Undertaker and Ravenkeeper will see the Coven character when checking that player.
If an ability that specifically affects Demons would privately and absolutely confirm to a Coven that they are a Demon, it probably won't work.
Abilities that protect players from the Demon might stop Coven’s character abilities working as expected.
Examples
The Lycanthrope is Coven. They choose the Librarian, who has been protected by the Monk. The Librarian doesn’t die.
The Slayer is Coven. They choose themselves and die.
The Ravenkeeper is killed by the Lycanthrope. They choose the Seamstress and learn they are actually Coven.
The Gambler chooses the Goon. The Goon is Coven. The Goon becomes Good, but remains Coven. The Gambler guesses Mayor, but is drunk so doesn’t die.
Tips and Tricks
With Coven in play, you need to work out your own alignment, not just the alignment of other players.
If you suspect you are Coven, try to confirm the identities of your co-conspirators before revealing yourself to them.
Watch out for non-Coven evil-aligned players. Naming them as Coven might result in Bad Things.
If you are not Coven and you suspect a player is evil, you may wish to claim Coven to them in the hopes of tempting them into an incorrect guess.
A Script
Coven plays weirdly with a lot of characters, so needs a careful script building around it. You want to ensure that players have opportunities to establish alignments, without making the Coven immediately obvious. It’s also not a very deadly Demon, so other characters who can cause deaths (or explain why people might not be dying) and characters who incentivise executions are needed to keep urgency in the game.
Here’s one we think might work:
The Playtesting’s the Thing
The next step is playtesting. I’m more than certain that there will be bugs in the wording, weird and unforeseen interactions and balancing to be dealt with. If you get a chance to run it, let us know! Leave us a comment below or join the conversation on our Discord.
Happy hunting!
