Blood on the Clocktower rules refresher

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You are either on the good team, hunting for the single Demon hidden among you, or on the evil team, protecting that Demon until the town is nearly empty. Good wins when the Demon dies. Evil wins when only two players are left alive. Everyone has a secret character with a special ability. The good team pieces together clues from those abilities and votes to execute suspects by day, while the Demon kills at night and the evil Minions spread lies and confusion.

For setup, the Storyteller picks one edition. Trouble Brewing is the beginner one and needs at least five players; the other editions want seven or more. Chairs go in a circle with a gap so the Storyteller can walk in and out. The Town Square board sits in the middle, with one life token for each player placed to match where they sit and a pile of vote tokens in the center. The Traveller sheet is tucked partly underneath, showing how many of each character type are in play. There is one Demon at every player count. There is one Minion up to nine players, two from ten to twelve players, and three from thirteen up. Outsiders cycle through zero, one, and two as the player count climbs, and Townsfolk fill the rest. The Storyteller secretly chooses that many characters. Any token with an orange flower changes the setup. For example, the Baron adds two Outsiders in place of two Townsfolk, but the total always equals the number of players. The tokens go in the bag and each player draws one and looks at it in secret. The Storyteller collects them face down and lays them out in the Grimoire in seating order. With more than fifteen players, the extra players volunteer as Travellers.

The game begins with a night, then alternates day and night until one team wins. At night everyone closes their eyes, and the Storyteller wakes characters one at a time in the order on the night sheet so they can act or receive information. On the first night, with seven or more players, the Minions wake to see each other and learn who the Demon is. Then the Demon wakes to see its Minions and is shown three good characters that are not in play, to use as bluffs. At dawn everyone opens their eyes, and the Storyteller announces who died, but never how. The day is open discussion, followed by nominations and voting. There is at most one execution, and then night falls again.

At night, the Storyteller wakes you with two taps on the shoulder or knee and puts you back to sleep by covering their own eyes. A nod means yes and a shake means no. A thumbs up means good and a thumbs down means evil. Numbers are shown on fingers, with zero shown as a closed circle of fingertips. A point indicates a player, and holding up a token indicates a character. Some characters act only on the first night, some every night, and some every night except the first. If you die before your turn to wake, you do not wake. Everyone stays quiet at night.

Abilities take effect immediately. If the ability says choose, the player picks; otherwise the Storyteller decides. Unless the ability says otherwise, you may choose yourself or a dead player. You are told only what your own ability says you learn. A drunk or poisoned player has no ability but does not know it. They still wake and act as normal, but their choices do nothing, and any information they get may be false. A once per game ability used while drunk or poisoned is still spent. Some characters register as a different character or alignment to other abilities without actually being it. If your character or alignment changes, the Storyteller tells you in secret. The Storyteller always tells the truth about the rules.

During the day, say anything you like to anyone, publicly or in whispers. Anyone may lie, including good players. After some discussion, the Storyteller calls for nominations. Only living players may nominate. Each player may nominate once per day and be nominated once per day, and only one nomination is open at a time. The nominee gets a moment to defend themselves. Then the Storyteller points at them and sweeps clockwise around the circle, counting raised hands, with the nominee's own vote counted last. Living players may vote on as many nominations as they like. A nomination succeeds if its votes equal at least half the number of living players and are more than any other nominee has received that day. That player is now about to die, unless a later nominee gets even more votes. A tie with the current leader means neither is executed, and a later nominee must beat that tied number. After a last call for nominations, the player who is about to die is executed. Executions are not required.

Execution and death are separate. An executed player can sometimes survive, and a dead player can be executed again, which still uses up the day's one execution. When you die, flip your life token and take a vote token. You lose your ability right away, you can no longer nominate, and you get just one more vote for the rest of the game, spent by removing that token. You can still talk freely, and you still win or lose with your team. Your character is never revealed on death.

Travellers are exiled rather than executed. Any player, alive or dead, may call for an exile at any time during the day. It succeeds if at least half of all players, not just the living, raise a hand in support. Dead players who support an exile keep their vote token. Any number of exiles can happen in a day, and they do not count as the execution.

Good wins the moment the Demon dies, though some characters, such as the Scarlet Woman, can keep the game going without the town knowing. In editions with more than one Demon, every Demon must die. Evil wins when just two living players remain, not counting Travellers. If all the remaining living players are evil, the Storyteller can declare evil the winner right away. If both teams would win at the same moment, good wins. The whole winning team wins together, alive or dead, and there are no neutral players.

A turn, played out

It is the third day. 9 players started, and 6 are still alive, so any nomination needs at least 3 votes. The player to your left died last night. Their life token is flipped and they hold a vote token, but the dead cannot nominate, so they whisper to you instead: the player opposite you claimed something that does not add up. When the Storyteller calls for nominations, you nominate that player, and they get a moment to defend themselves. The Storyteller points at them and sweeps clockwise. You raise your hand, 2 other living players raise theirs, and the player to your left raises a hand and removes their vote token, spending their only remaining vote for the rest of the game. The nominee's own hand, counted last, stays down. That is 4 votes, at least half of 6, so the player opposite is now about to die. Then the player to your right nominates you. You have used your own nomination today, but nobody has nominated you yet, so it stands. The sweep also reaches 4. That ties the leader, so neither of you will be executed, and any later nominee would need 5. Nobody answers the last call. There is no execution today. Night falls, and you close your eyes while the Demon picks a victim.