Opening and Rules
Werewolf CCXXIII - The Court of the Winter King
The Setting: For millennia, magic ruled our world in secret. The Fae, a race of magical creatures, used this magic to manipulate the mortal world and to kidnap humans and take them back to their realm as slaves. These humans that were kidnapped were known as changelings and they were molded to their Fae master's will to fit whatever purpose the Fae wished. This would have continued for many more millennia, if not for the fact that the magic in the world was seeping away and dying and with it, the Fae were dying as well. As a changeling yourself, you usually wouldn't be bothered much by this. You harbored no love for your master and when they ran off and left you behind you were happy to be rid of them and finally free. However in their place came the Winter King, an enigmatic figure who was ushering in the death of magic, along with his court and his packs of hunters and unfortunately for you he has declared all changelings a product of magic and, therefore, a blight to be destroyed. Due to the magic of the Fae, you remember little of your life under them and you especially struggle to remember who was also a former slave of your master. Because of this, the Winter King's agents have easily infiltrated your little village of former slaves and you need to root them out before they finish destroying it from the inside. To make matters even worse, the death of magic means you don't have access to the scanning magic the Fae were so fond of and thus have to rely on your stealth and wits to find the King's agents.
The Rules:
(Stolen from tamius23 with modifications made over time by various GMs)
Werewolf For Newbies (by tamius):
You are either a "good" player or a "bad" player. Whichever you are, you are obliged to vote once per day, by posting in bold in the thread. eg. Vote Alxeu. You may Unvote and Vote someone else as many times as you want, and the player with the most votes at the end of the day is brutally killed by everyone, that is, "lynched". If you are a werewolf, you may send in a "hunt" order by Private Message to the GM. The GM runs the game.
All orders must be in before the deadline, or they are ignored. It is considered that everyone votes during the "day." and the wolves hunt during the "night." Normally most games begin with a "night deadline", a day in which the votes are ignored (known as "day zero sham voting") and only the orders, by the wolves and other roles which send orders, are considered.
There are a multitude of roles in the game of Werewolf, and they are listed below, with their effects. Some players may also have traits.
For the villagers and other "good" players to win, they must kill all the werewolves. Other, special "bad" players who are not wolves don't need to be killed, but their removal generally benefits the village. For the "bad" players to win, they must kill all members of opposing packs (generally there are two packs, occasionally three) and then reach the same numbers as the remaining "good" players. This is called parity, and when baddies of one pack are equal or greater in numbers than goodies, they win.
To sign up to a game of werewolf, post in this thread. A simple "In" will suffice, and you will be added to the player roster by the GM.
Each player must cast his vote (like so: Vote Alxeu and it can be changed like so: Unvote Alxeu, Vote ClaudeLC) before 20:00 GMT. Should a player miss a vote, he will be forgiven, but on his second or third non-vote, he will either be replaced with someone else or shot at the GM’s discretion.
Any votes cast with timestamp 20:00 (GMT) or thereafter but before the update goes up will be ignored, and will not count towards the day just finished or the day just starting.
Any vote which a player edits to a different vote will be dealt with harshly, especially at or near the deadline. You may edit for spelling, but it is preferred to make a new post - you can consider the rule against double-posting temporarily suspended in that situation.
For scan and hunt orders, if the timestamp is 20:00 (GMT), they will be ignored. For packs of multiple werewolves, the last order sent by any member of the pack is counted, and if on any day the orderer forgets to send an order, their action will not occur, regardless of backup orders for previous days. If the orderer asks the GM to scan a list of people over multiple days, eg. "if I forget to send an order on any day, scan/hunt X" he can do so.
A player may ask to be a substitute if someone has to drop out of the game for whatever reason, and the GM will replace them when it is needed. If a player has to drop out and no substitutes are available, the GM may autolynch them.
Spectators and ghosts ("dead" players) may haunt, taunt and flaunt. They may not reveal any secret/inside information nor may they do voting records except for the current day. Anyone caught doing it risks being banned from later Werewolf games. When making a ghost/spectator comment, please use a non-white color.
You may, as always, fake private messages to anyone. However, you may not post a screenshot of a private message, and if you do, the GM will strike with lightning more times you can count. You may post PMs from the GM, but he can refuse to confirm it, ignore it, or even deny it, if he wants to. You can analyze PM numbers to your hearts' content but don't expect it to get you anywhere.
Alliances between players which aren't based on your roles in the game are frowned upon. These alliances which continue from one game to another undermine the whole idea of the game.
The Roles
Goodies
Changeling (Villager): One who was affected by the powers of the Fae, but has gained no special abilities from them. Votes each day to decide who to lynch.
Healer (Doctor): You are an herbalist skilled in saving the lives of your fellow changelings. Sends in a protection order once per night. Should the selected person be attacked by Werewolves, the GM will roll a dice, and the selected person has a fifty percent chance of surviving the attack, and a fifty percent chance of death. Should they survive, they will not be allowed to post, vote or talk about the game in any medium with the players (much as if they were not playing/dead) during the day after the hunt. If the Doctor is attacked whilst a patient is recovering, they will both be killed. The patient, upon waking up after a day without posting, will remember the name of one of the werewolves that attacked them. However, he will not learn the name of his protector.
The Doctor may not protect themselves, nor protect someone they protected the previous night.
Gravewalker (Padre): When magic was still strong you used to be able to touch the souls of the dead and speak with them for a time. You were capable of solving murders that happened years ago and setting past wrongs right. You were an invaluable resource to the Fae as you kept the spirit world in check. With magic fading away however, you are only able to make contact with recently dead souls and they can only speak a word or two to you before they fade back away. Every night may stay with another player and administer unto them their last rites. If the player the Padre stays with is hunted and killed, the Padre receives the name of one of the werewolves who killed him.
The Padre may not stay with someone twice in two nights, as with the Doctor, and for obvious reasons cannot administer last rites to themselves.
Captain of the Guard (Security Chief): You used to lead your master's guards in defense of his hold. You still have access to the key to the cells and can use it to lock someone up each night to either keep them out of trouble or to keep them from causing it. Every night, the Security Chief targets one player to take into custody. Any player in custody can not have nightly actions used on them, however, this comes at the cost of being unable to perform any nightly actions of their own. The Security Chief is not allowed to intern themselves, as they know themselves to be completely clear of any wrong-doing.
Any abilities that the arrested attempted to use that night will be treated as being invalid, and therefore unused. The sole exceptions to this is if the final wolf in a pack hunts the Security Chief, or if a hunter attempts to shoot the Security Chief the night the Security Chief arrests them.
The Security Chief cannot arrest the same player two nights in a row.
Baddies
The Hounds of Winter (Werewolf): The fiercely loyal servants of the Winter King. They are his twisted version of changelings. They have been promised their own personal fiefdoms by the Winter King if they are the ones to destroy the changelings. Organized into packs, each night the pack hunting that night (the information on which pack hunts when is told to the wolves, but is a secret) chooses a victim and attempts to eat them. The packs have names and colors, but these have no bearing on them.
Courtier of the Winter King (Cultist): A member of the Winter King's court, sent to root out the last vestiges of magic. They were once changelings like the villagers, but they have submitted to the Winter King's power and have been "cleansed" by him. An evil player, who works with the Werewolves. Some cultists will start as part of a pack, but can never switch to another pack, unless all the wolves in that pack are dead. Some will start unattached, and may join a pack by sending a private message to the GM, as long as a wolf confirms this. They cannot subsequently switch packs, unless all the pack's wolves are dead. They can only win if they are attached to a pack and that pack is victorious. They will not count for parity if unattached.
The Traits
Hidden Blade (Brutal): Armed with a weapon that you can carry around during the day, hidden from sight. It's ready to use if you are in danger. Upon being lynched, may kill one person in addition to themselves.
Blessed: If the blessed person is hunted by werewolves during the night, they will lose their trait, but survive. The update will say that no kill occurred during the night. Holders of this trait will not be aware of it at game start.
Cursed: Upon being hunted by werewolves, they will become a werewolf of the pack that hunted them, and lose their previous role. They will survive. The wolves will be informed of the cursed player when they are hunted. The Seer, Priest, Padre, and Security Chief will not be cursed. The update will say no kill occurred during the night. Cursed players will not be aware they are cursed at game start.
Marksman (Hunter): You were part of your master's hunting party and you have one cold iron arrow, able to cut through magic and flesh alike and strike true. May shoot a player once. If he does so, that player will be killed and his name will be revealed in the nightly update.
One-Eye-Open: A former guard for your Fae master. You have runes etched in you to alert you to danger and amplify your strength in life or death situations. While the death of magic has weakened your runes, they still give you a chance to take down an attacker if you can get to your weapon. If a player with One-Eye-Open is hunted, he has a 50% chance to kill one of his attackers. He will die regardless. Players with OEO will not be told that they are OEO.
Spy: You served as a spy for your master. Officially your master passed you off as a diplomat or an actor, as the Fae were so fond of theater. But in reality your job was to infiltrate the holds of other Fae and report back what you saw, you still retain those skills after your freedom. Each night, the spy may chose a location on the map (The map and more info on spying will be added to the end of this rules post at a later date), including the houses of other players or the various locations on it, or a particular player to follow. The spy will receive a report containing information they collected over the night that will point to the identities, roles, and traits of the other players they see or interact with. Some of this information may be useless or even intentionally misleading depending on how well the spy did on their roll and most information will point to multiple roles or traits. The spy has no restrictions on where they can go and can visit a place several times to get a clearer picture, although that may draw the attention of other spies in the area. Note that choosing to spy on a player's house means you will attempt to break into while they are out and gain information about their role and traits, while spying on a player will have you follow them and try to see what they did during the night.
Vivid Dreams (Witness): You have a set of herbs that allows you to have extremely vivid and prophetic dreams. Used correctly, they could allow you to view the death of another. By asking by PM, the witness may see the nightly hunt and record the name of one of the werewolf attackers. The chance of the witness recording the name of one of the wolves starts at 10% and increases each day (Night 0- 10%, Night 1- 20%, Night 2- 30%, etc.). The witness can use their powers as many times as they want but each time it is used it resets to 10% (e.g. witnessing N4 gives the witness a 50% chance to see a wolf, however regardless of result they would only have a 10% chance to see a wolf on N5).
Plotter: The Fae knew that words had power and you were one of their master calligraphers. You still have a bottle of their changing ink, and use it whenever you write down a name for the lynch. With a simple thought, you can change the name you wrote down to anyone one you want and it will only be noticed when the final votes are read. May use PM to the GM for voting in which case the plotter's vote will not be revealed until the final vote count.
Leader: You were a foreman, the head of the house, the master of the hunt, or you held some other suitably important position under the Fae. Due to this, the others have become conditioned to following your commands and may reflexively listen to you before they realize otherwise. May set orders to choose one player who was not lynched, and have them lynched in place of one player who was going to be. The leader can only redirect the lynch to someone with at least 50% of the original lynch target's votes. A leader may not save themselves. If the player lynched by the Leader is not a baddie (Werewolf or Cultist) the Leader ability is used up. A Leader's identity is revealed in the update if they successfully lynch someone of any role.
Fae-Touched (Seerish powers): Someone who still holds a portion of the fae's magic in them, they have a preternatural sense of when the King's hounds are out and about. Once per game, may scan a player. He will be told if they are a werewolf, and if they are neither he will be told they are simply a villager. After the trait is used, it is lost.
Winter-Scarred (Sorcerous powers): One who has felt the touch of the Winter King's corruption, they are now able to see his minions more clearly than others might. Once per game, may scan a player. He will be told if they are a cultist, and if they are not he will be told they are simply a villager. After the trait is used, it is lost. Note: In this game sorcerous powers and priestly powers would do the exact same thing. I chose sorcerous powers for RP reasons.
Padreous powers: Once per game, may attempt to reach out to a recently dead soul like the gravewalker (padre). After the use of the trait, it is lost. Should multiple players use this trait on one night, only one will occur, but those whose do not succeed will not lose the trait. Padreous is a made-up word.
Dreamweaver (Distiller): This player is able to trap someone in a constant nightmare for one night. That player is blocked from performing any night actions. One use actions are treated as if they weren't used. The distiller cannot block someone twice in a row.
Day actions are as follows:
1. GM autolynch of absent player
2. Votes
3. Plotter
4. Leader
5. Lynch
6. Brutal
Night actions are as follows:
1. Security Chief Arrest
2. Distiller (Note: for all intents and purposes, the distiller and the security chief act simultaneously. If there would be a conflict, say the distiller is trying to block the security chief who is trying to arrest the distiller, a coin will be flipped to determine who acts first)
3. Hunter hunt
4. Spy
5. Seerish powers
6. Sorcerous powers
7. Werewolf hunt
8. Doctor protection
9. Padre, including single-use
10. Witness
If multiple of the same role/trait scan at the same time and they conflict, the GM will flip a coin or roll an imaginary dice to determine which goes first.
This order does not mean that powers later in the list can set conditional orders based on things earlier eg. "if the werewolves hunt xxx, use witness power" but serves as a way of resolving technicalities for the GM. Most games players should not need to care about this.
Layers of Protection
If a hunt targets players with multiple layers of protection the protections are activated in this order:
1) Protection before the hunt (Security chief)
2) Protection during the hunt (Blessed/Cursed)
3) Protection after the hunt (Doctor)
Simple explanation is the security chief prevents the hunt from taking place (the target is unreachable), blessed or cursed protects during the hunt (either keeping the wolves at bay or turning the victim into a wolf), and the doctor can only save someone if they are actually left dying from the hunt (the hunt needs to have actually succeeded and the victim needs to be dying for a doctor to actually be able to save their life). For balance reasons, a layer of protection can only be activated once each night (i.e. if a victim who was arrested was somehow targeted by two hunts that night, the first hunt would be stopped and the second one would go through). Once a layer of protection is activated the others are preserved unless for some reason the victim is hunted twice (e.g. if a victim is blessed and arrested by the security chief, the security chief prevents the hunt and they retain the blessed. If a second hunt were to happen that same night that targeted them, say from a pathological liar, the security chief wouldn't activate as it already activated once and it would hit the blessed and they'd lose the blessed and survive. If a third hunt targeted them that same night, they'd die). If for some reason a player is both blessed and cursed, a coin flip will determine which one is activated.
Notes on Spying
Spying is a way of gaining information that is only usable by spies. Each night a spy may choose to track a player, investigate a player's home, or spy on a number of locations in the town. The spy will then receive a report at the end of the night detailing what they saw. The explanations are as follows:
Tracking a player- You will attempt to follow a player. The report will typically contain the player's movements through the town, places they visited, and any other players they might visit. This is a good way to see what another player is doing, particularly if you know they have a nightly power.
Investigating a player's house- You will attempt to break into a player's house and gain information on who they are. These reports will typically contain information that might help you identify the player's role. For example, finding a weapon in a player's house would hit that they were likely brutal, a marksman, a captain of the guard, a wolf, or a number of other roles or traits that would likely have a weapon. Common items will be listed at the end of the rules. Reports might also contain information about other players who came to visit the house while you were trying to break in.
Spying on a location- You go to a location in town and watch for who passes by. Each location caters to a specific set of clientele with a few exceptions. Reports typically contain information that would point you to the identity of player's you saw. This is a good way to learn about potential candidates for a specific mark. Looking for the doctor? Go to where the doctor would frequent, see who you meet, then investigate some homes to narrow down your list. A list of locations and common clientele will be at the end of the rules.
Sending an order would work like so:
Track Happycats would be if you wanted to track me and see where I go
Investigate Happycats's house would be if you wanted to break into my house and get info on me
Spy on the tavern would be visiting the tavern
Common items and the roles associated with them:
Weapons- Brutal, marksman, captain of the guard, hound, and spy
Herbs and medicine- doctor, dreamweaver, winter-scarred, vivid dreamer
Magical paraphernalia- fae-touched, gravewalker, padreous powers, plotter
Parchment and ink- plotter, leader, courtier, vivid dreamer, spy
Books- healer, courtier, fae-touched, gravewalker, padreous powers
Got a report and you're not sure what an item means? Read the text of roles carefully.
Locations and the people who frequent them-
The tavern and marketplace- dreamweaver, courtier, spy, plotter, healer
The Fae holds- captain of the guard, fae touched, courtier, leader, vivid dreamer
Forest and the graveyard- gravewalker, padreous powers, marksman, hound, winter-scarred, fae touched
Please note that these are general ideas and tendencies. Players may move to locations outside of their role and trait but by and large, these are who you'll see at each location.
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