The Werewolves of Millers Hollow

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Nine cards. Seven secrets.

The Werewolves of Miller’s Hollow is a reimagining of Mafia, a parlor game of Russian origin. While it plays with cards, the real fun comes from the debates as the players try to spot the traitors among themselves.

During the first turn, each player receives a single card from the GM and must keep it a secret from the other players. This is followed by a vote among the players to choose a captain, whose function is represented by a second (non-hidden) card. The game then alternates between “night” turns and “day” turns. During the night, all players with a “villager” card must keep their eyes shut and remain silent, as if they were asleep, while all players with a “werewolf” card must use visual gestures to communicate with each other and choose a victim among the villagers. During the day, all players must pretend to be villagers and condemn somebody among themselves, with the captain’s vote counting twice. Every time a player is devoured during the night or executed during the day, his card is revealed to the other players and he must remain inactive for the rest of the game. If the captain is devoured or executed, he chooses his successor. The villagers win when all the werewolves have been executed. The werewolves win when all the villagers have been devoured or executed (the GM generally ends the game once the wolves have enough votes to block any attempt to execute them).

More roles can be introduced. Some of those, like the Fortune Teller, use special abilities to help the villagers against the werewolves. Others, like the Cupid, are here to create additional conspiracies alongside or within the initial conspiracy. There are two expansion packs, New Moon and The Village, adding new roles and game mechanics.

Tropes used in The Werewolves of Millers Hollow include:

• Disaster Dominoes: If an unlucky chain of events occurs, the villagers can wipe out the majority (or, depending on the number of players left, all) of themselves in one night without exposing a single werewolf.
• Double Reverse Quadruple Agent: Some combinations of roles can lead to this.
• Flock of Wolves: Inverted in the "black death" scenario. There are no werewolves.
• Fur Against Fang: Whenever the fans imagine new roles, vampires aren’t far away.
• I Know You Know I Know
• Our Werewolves Are Different: They transform every night but are not The Virus.
• Ten Little Murder Victims: It seems that Miller's Hollow is a very isolated community.