How many cards
A deck holds three cards more than there are players: everyone is dealt one, and three lie face down in the center. With the Alpha Wolf in the deck there is a fourth center card, so the deck holds four more. The host builds the deck in the lobby, and the picker says how many cards are still missing. It also keeps the rules that come with some cards: Masons in pairs, a Werewolf beside the Alpha Wolf, at most two Werewolves, two Aliens and three Villagers.
A deck for every table size
These decks use the base game, with two Daybreak roles at the largest tables. Each adds one idea to the one before, so a group can grow into them game by game.
| Players | Deck |
|---|---|
| 3 | 2 × Werewolf, Seer, Robber, Troublemaker, Villager The classic deck. Quick and brutal: three of the six cards lie in the center. |
| 4 | 2 × Werewolf, Seer, Robber, Troublemaker, Drunk, Insomniac The Drunk and the Insomniac join: one more card on the move, and one player who sees how the night ended. |
| 5 | 2 × Werewolf, Seer, Robber, Troublemaker, Drunk, Insomniac, Tanner Add the Tanner. From here on, the player who looks guilty may want to. |
| 6 | 2 × Werewolf, Minion, Seer, Robber, Troublemaker, Drunk, Insomniac, Tanner Add the Minion, who knows the wolves and will take the vote for them. |
| 7 | 2 × Werewolf, Minion, 2 × Mason, Seer, Robber, Troublemaker, Drunk, Insomniac The Masons replace the Tanner: two players who can vouch for each other steady a bigger table. |
| 8 | 2 × Werewolf, Minion, 2 × Mason, Seer, Robber, Troublemaker, Drunk, Insomniac, Hunter Add the Hunter, whose vote still counts after the table turns on him. |
| 9 | 2 × Werewolf, Minion, 2 × Mason, Seer, Robber, Troublemaker, Drunk, Insomniac, Hunter, Tanner The Tanner returns. Nine players can afford one who plays for himself. |
| 10 | 2 × Werewolf, Minion, 2 × Mason, Seer, Robber, Troublemaker, Drunk, Insomniac, Villager, Hunter, Tanner Every card of the base game but the Doppelgänger, with a single Villager. |
| 11 | 2 × Werewolf, Mystic Wolf, Minion, 2 × Mason, Seer, Apprentice Seer, Robber, Troublemaker, Drunk, Insomniac, Hunter, Tanner A third wolf, the Mystic Wolf, and the Apprentice Seer to balance him. |
| 12 | 2 × Werewolf, Mystic Wolf, Minion, 2 × Mason, Seer, Apprentice Seer, Robber, Witch, Troublemaker, Drunk, Insomniac, Hunter, Tanner A full table. The Witch adds one more card that changes hands. |
The ready-made decks
The role picker has a button for each of these. A preset fills the deck for the number of players it was made for; with more or fewer players, add or remove cards until the picker says the deck is ready.
| Deck | Players | Cards |
|---|---|---|
| Classic | 3 | 2 × Werewolf, Seer, Robber, Troublemaker, Villager The deck to learn with: two wolves, three roles that look or move, one plain Villager. |
| Daybreak | 4 | Werewolf, Alpha Wolf, Seer, Robber, Witch, Troublemaker, Insomniac, Revealer The Alpha Wolf adds a fourth center card and a wolf who does not know it; the Witch and the Revealer keep the village in the game. |
| Doppelgänger | 6 | Doppelgänger, Werewolf, Mystic Wolf, Minion, Seer, Robber, Troublemaker, Insomniac, Revealer The Doppelgänger among roles she plays at once, roles she joins, and roles she repeats after the original. |
| Marks | 6 | Diseased, Cupid, Instigator, Priest, Assassin, 2 × Werewolf, Marksman, Pickpocket Dusk before the night: five roles hand out marks, two more read them and steal them. |
| Vampires | 6 | Vampire, The Count, The Master, Renfield, Priest, Seer, Marksman, Robber, Villager The Vampires, the Count and the Master against a village with a Priest and a Marksman. |
| Aliens | 6 | Alien, Synthetic Alien, Groob, Zerb, Body Snatcher, Leader, Seer, Rascal, Empath The Aliens with Groob, Zerb, the Synthetic Alien and the Body Snatcher, and the app calling their actions. |
| Chaos | 7 | Copycat, Werewolf, Mystic Wolf, Minion, Seer, Apprentice Seer, Robber, Troublemaker, Drunk, Tanner Four roles that move or copy cards, a Tanner and a Minion. Nobody is sure of anything by morning. |
| Big table | 10 | Oracle, Copycat, 2 × Alien, Werewolf, Alpha Wolf, Mystic Wolf, Minion, Seer, Apprentice Seer, Robber, Witch, Troublemaker, Curator A ten-player table that wakes every kind of role: three wolves, two Aliens, an Oracle and a Curator. |
Building your own
- Two evil cards up to eight players, three from nine. Wolves that may both lie in the center are part of the game; a table where a third of the players are wolves is not much of one.
- Balance lookers and movers. The Seer, the Insomniac and the Revealer give the village facts. The Robber, the Troublemaker, the Witch and the Drunk take them away again. Too many lookers and the wolves have nowhere to hide; too many movers and nobody can reason at all.
- One Villager is plenty. A player with nothing to do at night should be rare. Past the first games, swap Villagers for roles.
- Add one new role at a time. Everyone has to know every card in the deck to reason about it. The roles page has them all, each with its own page.
- Keep the lone players for bigger tables. A Tanner at three players decides too many games; from five up he is the best card in the box.
- Mix the packs with care. With Werewolves and Vampires or Aliens among the players, the village has to hit every evil team in the same vote. That is hard, and best kept for groups who know all the roles.
More guides
The night order · Strategy for your first games · Marks and artifacts · Hosting a game night · How the bots play. Or see all the guides.