Blood on the Clock Tower story teller tips

When selecting your characters/bluffs to put into the game, try to think of which characters complement each other. Examples: A Spy can easily bluff as an Undertaker, if there is no Drunk in the game then maybe add a Poisoner to cause misinformation, having both a Monk and a Soldier in the game may be quite hard for the Evil team to win against, the Fortune Teller’s Red Herring is often planted on roles that would not want to be executed like the Ravenkeeper or Saint etc.

At the beginning of the game, announce to all players on how you would run the Spy and if they will be allowed to take a photo of the Grim on their phone, even if the character is not in play. This gives all players a chance to check their camera settings on their phones (sound and flash!) before the token bag is passed around.

At the beginning of the game, clearly state your expectations of how nominations will be run, to avoid players talking over each other and any confusion. For example, if Adam nominates Elaine, then Adam will first give their accusation against Elaine. Elaine then gives their defence and only then may other players request to add pertinent information for either side before the vote is run.

At the end of each night and day phase, take a minute to look at your grim and make sure all relevant reminders have placed correctly to ensure a smooth game. For example, a poisoned player should have the ‘Poisoned’ reminder token on them, so you know to give false info/their ability does not work. Or a recently executed player should have the ‘Died Today’ reminder, so you know who to show to the Undertaker etc.

When you first start Storytelling, I would recommend ending each night phase by asking players to raise their hands if they think they should have been woken up but haven’t. This gives you a chance to check if you have forgotten anything before players open their eyes and begin the day phase.

Always try to talk in hypothetical terms/worlds when discussing mechanics and character information, in order not to hard confirm other player’s roles. For example, Adam the Librarian has seen either Danielle or Lewis as possibly being the Saint, but suspects Danielle is actually the Spy. Adam publicly outs their role to town and asks the Storyteller if Danielle could be the Spy misregistering as an Outsider. The Storyteller should respond saying that ‘Yes – a Spy could register as an Outsider to a Librarian, if either are in play’ without specifying that Adam is the Librarian, or that Danielle is the Spy, or that either role is in play.

For the first few days of the game, clearly remind dead players that they only have one vote for the rest of the game, before running a vote so they do not accidentally use it without meaning to.

Before each vote is run, always announce how many votes are required to put the nominee on the block. If a player is already on the block, always announce how many votes are needed to tie and how many are needed to lift the execution onto the current nominee instead.

When running a vote, it can be hard to keep of track any Ghost Votes used. After the votes have been tallied, ask any players who used their Ghost Vote to raise their hand and then remove the applicable tokens from the town square board. Alternatively, you may want to have a co-Storyteller who help keep track of this for you.

Give your players a clear time frame for how long they have for private chats each day so they can try and speak to everyone they want to. I would also recommend giving a ‘warning’ when they only have 1 minute of time remaining.

Try to have a copy of the Night Order available for players to read at any time, either printed on the back of the script or as a communal sheet to share/view during the day phase.

Never confirm a player’s information to other players. For example, if a Chef reveals to town that they got a ‘1, but you told them ‘2, do not correct them publicly. Instead, find an opportunity to speak with them privately the next night/day and ensure they have correct info – there is a good chance they are giving out false information to town as part of a strategy they have devised on their own.

If you have a Virgin in play, try to memorize who around the circle can not proc the Virgin’s ability (Outsiders, Minions, the Demon). This can be tricky (especially in larger games), so I would suggest you look at your grim before every nomination, both to check if the ability would be activated and to ‘mask’ the real Virgin.

Similarly, if you have a Slayer in play and multiple people are claiming to be the Slayer, check your grim after each ‘shot’ is taken, both to check if the ability would be activated and to ‘mask’ the real Slayer.

When deciding whether to show a Droisoned player correct or incorrect info, first think of how it may affect the Evil team. For example, David the Empath is sat between the Mark the Baron and Jo the Saint and was shown a ‘1’ on the first night. Mark is executed during the day and David’s neighbours are now Jo the Saint and Andy the Imp. David is then poisoned on Night 2 and could be shown an incorrect ‘0’ to hide the Imp or you could show a correct ‘1’ again to help the Evil team frame the Saint as an Evil player to execute the next day.

Remember that you can bounce Mayor kills into both alive and dead players and Evil players – think carefully about balancing the game so that both the Good team and Evil have a fair chance of winning. For example, early in the game you could bounce the death into a first night role that would no longer get information or into a Baron that has no effect on the game after set-up.

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