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Werewolves, if you're not aware, is a group game played with hidden roles. It's also best played with a fairly large group -- 10, 15 or more.

During various stages of the night, people need to do certain things. However, both noise and movement can give certain things away. (Reaching across a table, or walking across a room, to flip a card, etc.)

One solution we've come up with is to play very loud music during those times. This helps to mask a lot of the secret play.

Unless, however, you're in a very large space, too, you can often feel the person near you move regardless of how loud the music is.

So, does anyone have any good ideas to such issues with this game? I realize it's also up to the players to "play fair" -- otherwise there's no point. But you also don't want to be accidentally handed the answer.

Thanks!

Pat Ludwig
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lilbyrdie
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    Wait a minute? Do you allow players to stand up during the night phase? – Powertieke Oct 28 '10 at 06:52
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    @Powertieke With a large group it may be necessary for someone to move around in order to indicate to the moderator who they are choosing. – Todd Oct 28 '10 at 14:48

7 Answers7

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I played this recently and the group I played with had established the practice of having everyone repeatedly smack their hand on the table while heads are down during the night phase. The table smacking creates enough noise and vibration to mask movements. The only caveat is that people need to remember to keep smacking while they point with the other hand. :)

Todd
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Seat people far enough away so that they can't feel each other move. Either get people on the floor or in individual chairs. If you have kitchen chairs and enough space this can be done.

Another option is to have the judge walk around the room and point at people for the werewolves. Their werewolves can nod their heads on who they want their next victim to be. This way the judge is the only one doing the pointing movement. If you have everyone drumming their hands as Todd suggested, you should have a fairly easy way to have the werewolves secretly select victims without giving each other away.

ICodeForCoffee
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  • This is what I've seen - the judge/moderator walks around, making sure to do some business near everyone, and does all the necessary actions for the Werewolves during this time. – lilserf Oct 27 '10 at 18:11
  • This is a good suggestion for when there's enough space and no table. (Just getting seating positions for 15+ people is hard enough, much less chairs.) :) – lilbyrdie Oct 27 '10 at 19:51
  • I played it with a dozen people spread all over the room this way, some even standing... but yes, you need a certain amount of space for the moderator to walk around. – lilserf Oct 27 '10 at 20:48
  • A good moderator can get all the work done with almost no noise. Hand signals can work wonders. – Matthew Frederick Jan 12 '11 at 10:11
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The group I regularly play with has a tradition of softly stomping your feet with your heads down. Built into this is the opportunity for misdirection, which is all part of the game. For instance, stopping your stomping when the magician is called to wake up, when you are in fact a werewolf. I completely fell for it once. ONCE. :)

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You might want to consider that people "giving themselves away" is part of the game, and an important source of clues for others. Advanced players will even sometimes "wrongly" emit noises or make gestures to confuse others into thinking they are what they're not.

My policy is that players who draw unwanted attention to themselves, be it werewolves pointing to their next victim, or simply flipping their card for checking what they should have in memory, should suffer the consequences (if their opponents pay attention...). The game is fast enough that this will serve as a lesson for next round.

The only player that should care about not giving clues away is the Moderator. I try to take great care not to talk to people directly, sliding the head around all directions while speaking so that it's not easy to triangulate werewolves or the Seer, etc.

Manur
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    I love acting a bit Seer-y then smiling smugly during the werewolf part of the night phase. It's got me killed and protected the seer so many times :) – Mark Withers Nov 04 '10 at 16:40
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One way to exploit this, is that you can move on another turn (for example a wolf can move on the seers turn).

But there is a vital role for the game master. I have seen games ruined by adressing the witch as he while there was only male player alive. A good game master messes with several cards if a role has to be shown. Talks in a random direction (not to the player she talks to). And walks around the table touching several players (if they are seated close to eachother).

This is a fun part of the game. People give themself away by small hints. And you can take advantage of it. I was once (as a wolf) trusted by another player because I was sitting next to him.

Toon Krijthe
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  • Agreed about the small hints. It's not fun when it's an obvious hint, though. The psychological aspects are the best. :) – lilbyrdie Oct 27 '10 at 19:53
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We always sit in a circle (or circle-ish) so the moderator can stand in the middle and twirl to see everyones eyes. We have silent nights. Moderator asks werewolves to open their eyes and all agree on a kill by pointing to a single player. Misc noises can always be heard by people coughing or the dog making noise. You're never really sure if the noise is cause for alarm. Nobody ever gets out of their chair though during this time except for dead people, who can help add noises.

Hank Knah
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Use an ipad (Curse of Pandora).

lavonardo
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  • Interesting. I'll have to check that out. I don't think it would be quite the same game (fun cards and lack of electronics being a nice trait of Werewolves), but it might help. Thanks. :) – lilbyrdie Oct 27 '10 at 15:24