Marks and artifacts

The tokens beside the cards: what each mark and artifact does, who hands them out, and how they change the vote.

Cards are not the only things on the table. Three kinds of token lie beside them: the marks of the Vampire pack, the artifacts of the Curator and the shield of the Sentinel. A card says what you are; a token can change that, or change what your death means.

Marks

Marks are in play when the deck holds any of these roles: Vampire, The Count, The Master, Renfield, Diseased, Cupid, Instigator, Priest, Assassin, Apprentice Assassin, Marksman, Pickpocket. Every player then starts with a face-down Mark of Clarity beside their card, and never has more than one mark: a new one replaces the old.

Mark of ClarityEveryone starts with one, and the Priest hands them out. It does nothing: the card alone decides role and team.
Mark of the VampireThe Vampires give it. The player who has it is a Vampire, and wins with the Vampires.
Mark of FearThe Count gives it. The player who has it does nothing at night (a dusk action still happens).
Mark of the BatRenfield's mark. It does nothing.
Mark of LoveIf one of the players with a Mark of Love dies, the other dies too, even if protected. A lone Mark of Love does nothing.
Mark of DiseaseWhoever votes for the player with this mark cannot win, even if their team wins. The player with it can still win, and can still die.
Mark of the TraitorThe player with this mark wins only if someone else on their team dies. Alone on their team, it does nothing.
Mark of the AssassinThe Assassin wins if the player with this mark dies.

How marks are handed out

Marks are given at dusk, before the night. The dusk roles act in wake order: the Vampires, the Count, Renfield, the Diseased, Cupid, the Instigator, the Priest, the Assassin and the Apprentice Assassin. When two of them mark the same player, the later mark stays. That is the Priest’s whole job: his Mark of Clarity wipes whatever the Vampires, the Count, Cupid or the Instigator put there, and only the Assassins mark after him.

When dusk ends, everyone looks at their own mark, and the players with a Mark of Love wake and see each other. From then on a mark can still change hands without its player knowing: the Pickpocket trades his mark for another player’s, and the Gremlin may swap two players’ marks. The Marksman may look at one. What counts in the vote is the mark in front of you when the night ends.

Rulings

  • Mark of the Vampire. Its player is a Vampire: they win with the Vampires, and the village may win by killing them. It wins over the Cursed’s change, and loses to an artifact that changes the player’s role.
  • Mark of Fear. A player who sees it on their own mark takes no night action. Dusk actions have already happened and stand. The night still pauses for the feared role, so nobody can tell.
  • Mark of Love. When one lover dies, so does the other, even a Prince or a player the Bodyguard protects, and it chains with the Hunter’s shot. Love links deaths, not teams. A single Mark of Love does nothing.
  • Mark of Disease. Everyone who voted for its player loses, whatever their team did. The player with the mark can still die and can still win.
  • Mark of the Traitor. Its player wins only if someone else on their own team dies. A player alone on their team is not affected: the only Werewolf at the table, the Blob, the Mortician, an Assassin.
  • Mark of the Assassin. The Assassin wins if its player dies; the Apprentice Assassin wins if the Assassin dies, or without one, if the marked player does. With no such mark in play, both are plain villagers.
  • A shield does not cover a mark. A shielded player can still be marked, have their mark stolen, or have it looked at.

Artifacts

The Curator may put one artifact, drawn at random, in front of any player who has none, himself included. It lies face down, and its player alone looks at it when the night ends. Six of the nine change what that player is for the vote, whatever card they hold.

Claw of the WerewolfTurns the player who has it into a Werewolf.
Brand of the VillagerTurns the player who has it into a Villager.
Cudgel of the TannerTurns the player who has it into a Tanner.
Bow of the HunterTurns the player who has it into a Hunter.
Sword of the BodyguardTurns the player who has it into a Bodyguard.
Cloak of the PrinceTurns the player who has it into a Prince.
Void of NothingnessDoes nothing.
Mask of MutingThe player who has it may not speak for the rest of the game.
Shroud of ShameThe player who has it must turn away from the other players for the rest of the game.
  • An artifact stays with the player, not with the card: it is placed near the end of the night, after the cards have moved.
  • The Curator does not see what he gave. Only the player with the artifact knows.
  • The Mask of Muting and the Shroud of Shame are rules for the people at the table: the app does not silence anyone, so the player keeps to them.
  • A shielded player can still be given an artifact.

The shield

The Sentinel may put the shield on another player’s card early in the night. For the rest of the night nobody may look at that card or move it: the Robber cannot take it, the Troublemaker cannot swap it, the Village Idiot’s shift goes around it, and a shielded Insomniac cannot even look at her own card.

Player numbers

With any of these roles in the deck (Oracle, Alien, Synthetic Alien, Groob, Zerb, Body Snatcher, Psychic, Rascal), every player gets a number in seat order. The app’s instructions use it: "view any even player", "swap with a player with a higher number". The Oracle may be asked whether hers is odd or even, with the whole table listening.

More guides

The night order · Strategy for your first games · Decks for every table · Hosting a game night · How the bots play. Or see all the guides.