Pimp My Werewolf
March 19, 2011 5:55 PM   Subscribe

OK so I'm hosting a game of Werewolf (Mafia) for about 10 to 12 people next week. Any tips for a successful game? Also, give me your best spine-tingly mixtape suggestions for awesome werewolf ambience!

I'm particularly interested in what variations are good for this modest sized group. Last time we played (with an even smaller group) I think we went for one or two werewolves (the moderator decided how many they would throw in each round, to keep everyone guessing). Plus I think we had one seer (a role I felt was a little boring and pointless, to be honest).

Is that a good ratio for 10 people? What other roles work for this number of people? What other fun variations should we consider? I like the idea of including the "little girl" character who (I understand) is allowed to peep during the night phase but risks being killed if they're caught in the act.

For music, think the Lost Highway soundtrack, or Angelo Badalamenti's Nightmare on Elm St score.
posted by dontjumplarry to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (12 answers total) 8 users marked this as a favorite
 
Ask this at the Boardgamegeek page and you'll likely get more answers than you can deal with.

Here is a very recent thread with an almost identical question.
posted by meinvt at 6:09 PM on March 19, 2011


The seer role is boring and pointless if nobody understands what it's for. The true fun comes when the seer has figured out who the werewolf is, and tries to communicate that to the rest of the group. Then in later rounds the werewolves catch on and start pretend to be the seer and accuse other people. The people start suspecting the real seer of being a werewolf. Etc. I can't imagine playing werewolf without that character.
posted by one_bean at 6:28 PM on March 19, 2011


I don't know the game, but as for music I recommend Goblin's Suspiria soundtrack. Perfectly freaky and fun.
posted by Chichibio at 6:31 PM on March 19, 2011


See also, this MeFi post.

Make sure to name the villages in each round of play, painting the werewolf menace as a plague spreading at epidemic rates across the state/country... And then in round five or so, introduce the no-werewolf gimmick.
posted by kaibutsu at 6:39 PM on March 19, 2011


When I play werewolf, we don't really have a sound track. Between the nights and voting most people wander off in couples or groups to see or propagate lies in the case of the werewolf.
In my experience I think the narrator should use a timer bettween nights and voting as the game can continue for ages.

Makes me wanna play as its been a while.
posted by handbanana at 6:43 PM on March 19, 2011


If your players are interested, Werewolf basically plays itself. All you have to do is provide a venue for the wild accusations to start flying.
In that size group, two werewolves or three werewolves and a doctor (points somebody out during the night, and their survival is guaranteed) might work well.
In my experiences (usually with even smaller groups) detail always helps - give the history of the town, and the gruesome details of every death, make players pick jobs to roleplay (no effect on game mechanics, just to make accusations more interesting - "Bob's the butcher, he could dispose of the bodies" rather than "Bob looks shifty, and he was the werewolf in the last game"), do whatever you can to make players more interested in the game, and in turn, make the game more exciting.
posted by marakesh at 6:44 PM on March 19, 2011 [1 favorite]


I don't know if you're going to moderate, or if you're going to have that randomly assigned, but the moderator should both watch their pronouns, and make sure to speak to the center of the room, as those both can be huge clues to the villagers.
posted by Gilbert at 7:09 PM on March 19, 2011


My friends are big fans of Werewolf... and I've got something of a reputation as The Narrator. I tend to go for cheese in describing what happened during the night - "Everyone who's still alive take a step forward... not so fast, G----."

I roleplay as the Mayor of the godforsaken town all this is happening in - which gives me a "in character" way to nudge the debate of who to hang to a productive end. (Usually this means leering forward with the most serious SOMETHING MUST BE DONE ABOUT THESE DAMNABLE WEREWOLVES look I can manage.)

Mostly I let the townsfolk debate amongst themselves, doing my very best to keep a neutral expression so I don't give away what I know if a werewolf is going for a bluff or something.

Accusations in my group tend to go kind of randomly, though - folks in my games have been hung for the color of their shirt. It's kind of funny how quickly folks will split up along any kind of tribal lines they can ("The Couch People are all out to get us! Us Floor People have to stick together!")

In terms of mechanics, I run with two werewolves and a seer in a group of about 10-12. The seer almost always has a climactic moment of "If I'm dead next round, you'll KNOW I WAS RIGHT AAAAH" so I tend to like using a seer more than most folks. That's the only special I'll include, though, and I'll drop the role if it's an especially small group. About a dozen folks is ideal, in my opinion.
posted by The demon that lives in the air at 8:08 PM on March 19, 2011 [1 favorite]


I once played with a 'star-crossed lovers' twist, where two people are secretly in love, so much so that if one dies, the other instantly perishes of a broken heart. Also, if they survive to the end (and it's one werewolf and one villager), their love is stronger than the werewolf desires, and they live happily ever after.

It adds another twist of loyalty and complexity to the game, as each of the lovers tries to save each other, despite not knowing their partner's role. It's also fun to pick people who would definitely NOT be partners in real life.
posted by twirlypen at 10:36 PM on March 19, 2011


Play in the dark, with candles. Those who died will have to blow out their candle.
posted by pinksoftsoap at 10:57 PM on March 19, 2011


We play werewolves sometimes with our family, which means usually no more than 9 people. I'm not sure what the official rules state, but we decide beforehand which rule we use: either the werewolves wake up simultaneously during the night and kill someone, or the werewolves wake up one at a time, and only make a succesful kill if they mark the same person. This means they have to communicate during the day. We usually play with two werewolves and the little girl.
(I'm not sure this would work with more than two werewolves.)
posted by charles kaapjes at 2:30 AM on March 20, 2011


The time I played was with a decent group of people, around 10-12. We had 2-3 werewolves, depending on the group size, a seer, and a healer.

The moderator used a laser pointer at people's chests to verify kills, heals, and werewolf checks.

The mechanic of healer/seer can be incredibly fun. Essentially, the healer heals themselves at the beginning, because it makes no sense to heal anyone else, and you COULD heal a werewolf inadvertently. Once the seer is positively identified (which is tricky, as people lie), the healer should move to heal the seer, as the seer works through the village to determine the werewolf identity.

Either way, we had a fantastic time. At one point, I was werewolf with one other, who was lynched in the very first round. This was rough, as I had to deftly navigate my way through 10 other lynchings. I took it all the way to the very end, and convinced this girl next to me that I was NOT the werewolf, LOOK AT HIM DOESN'T HE LOOK LIKE A WEREWOLF TO YOU HOW COULD HE NOT BE? She lynched him. I killed her. It was rough.

The immediate next round, I was the seer. This was unfortunate, as I had just pissed off the entire room by betraying all of them on my werewolfy journey. So during the "nighttime falls" round, I kinda shouted out "listen, I'm the seer, so whoever is the healer, PLEASE heal me. Just trust me. I know I kinda screwed you all over last time, but I swear it's true."

And no one died. You see, the werewolves HAD picked me. But the healer had also elected to save me. For he was my werewolf buddy from the earlier round.

I never realized how manipulative I can actually be until I started playing werewolf. I haven't even played it again, but it was incredibly fun, and made me realize it's a good thing I don't use those powers for evil...
posted by disillusioned at 3:51 AM on March 20, 2011


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