Sects & Violets (April 2019) | Blood on the Clocktower 

I got it to years later, reading a random yt comment :D

Ah brilliant, thanks so much Manus. :)

Thanks Bio! This is Evin here (Storyteller from the video.) We definitely plan to do more. It was so much fun to play these games and the response has been so good, and they're just really enjoyable to watch. Future videos may not be as high quality as these ones in terms of production values (we really went all out on these for the Kickstarter), but our aim is for them to be just as clear, watchable, and enjoyable. Besides, I feel like I at least owe it to these players to hand the Storyteller reigns over to someone else and jump into the mix myself for a bit. You're getting an incredibly small sample size, which means some of the best Clocktower players out there are experiencing some pretty crushing losses on camera for the world to see. For example, in Michael's first ever game, he was the Imp and there was clear evidence pointing at him on the final day, but he deftly, calmly, and effectively talked his way out of it and got the Saint executed instead. His M.O. is usually to claim a bunch of roles, even, as we've seen, multiple at the same time, and it's happened more than once that he's revealed himself as the Slayer quite late in the game and killed the demon. And both Doug and Claire, who didn't get a win in these three videos, have both owned me and many others super hard on multiple occasions. So, yeah, there'll definitely be more. :)

Ah thanks! This is Evin here on the RU-vid account right now. I loved doing the asides because it's like what we get to do as Storytellers when we get live spectators watching a game - you stand back from the Grimoire with them, show them the choices you've made and why, talk about the key relationships forming in the game, and engage in some fun guesswork about what's going to happen. Unfortunately there aren't any asides in the SV video - we were pretty pressed for time by the time we got to filming this one (you'll hear a few references to the time of night in the video) so we skipped the asides and I did a bit of extra talking at the end to give some context. Rest assured that the Storyteller-asides will be back in future videos.

@@BloodontheClocktower Thank you so much! So with that, are you confirming future playthroughs ;)

Oh definitely! It may not be for a little while and the production values may be a little lower (but we'll still prioritise clarity and watchability), but we definitely plan to do more.

@@BloodontheClocktower Yay! Hopefully I can do some of my own some time as well, and perhaps even it becomes a thing RU-vid!

I'm very glad to hear that, because these are very helpful and entertaining.@@BloodontheClocktower

Can confirm: Playing in person is absolutely tops. Because group discussions are easier to conduct in person, the game won't default to private conversations nearly so often as it does in an online game. This means that it's actually quite a risk sometimes for Evil players to reach out to each other and have private chats, and even when they do they can still be observed doing so, even if they can't be heard. Early in a game, many demons will try to communicate bluffs to their minions by getting eye contact and subtly gesturing to a role on their character sheet, but then experienced players are on the lookout for this behaviour too and it becomes this fantastic kind of Spy game. Playing online, a Spy is usually free to info-dump the whole Grimoire to their demon, whereas playing live you might get an opportunity for only a couple of words - like the first one or two people they should kill and then nothing after that. It's thrilling and exciting. - Evin

Thanks arkla! That is absolutely the plan. :)

@@BloodontheClocktower Awesome!

Thanks Sam! It may not be for a while yet, but there will definitely be more.

This is an interesting bit of analysis. Steven, the designer of BOTC, has a blog post that'll go up soon of his analysis of this game based on watching it (and not talking to the players before he wrote it). It goes into a lot of this kind of analysis and will be a good companion to this video. - Evin

We got you! We're taking late pledges for a limited time: app.crowdox.com/projects/pandemoniuminstitute/blood-on-the-clocktower

The rule only says a player for a reason. If the witch wishes to curse itself then they can in order to gain favor with the townsfolk. If they wanted to change the wording it could be "Curse a Player" instead of "choose a player", that could be a better way of writing the rule on the character sheet; but the "a" is important so as to not eliminate self from the choice.

Hi Manus, this is Evin here. Thanks for the suggestion. 'Curse' would definitely be a cooler and vibier word choice than 'choose', but the issue with 'curse' on the character sheet is that it would not be immediately clear from 'curse' what a player has to do. 'Choose' is a clear verb and is consistent with the language used across other roles. When 'choose' is there, it's clear to everyone that the Storyteller will wake you and you'll choose a player.

For sure, if it works and it looks good then we'll bring it back. - Evin

@@BloodontheClocktower thanks. It was easier that way at first. Now that our group has played a handful of times, we are starting to remember what all the roles do. Every person that has played has loved the game. We even played with some first time gamers that picked up on everything really fast and said they love it.

Ah that's fantastic to hear! Awesome. :)

Thanks! And yep, usually best to start with a few games of Trouble Brewing before building up to Sects & Violets. The scheduled delivery date is for January 2020.

@@BloodontheClocktower ahahahah yup yup I'm a backer, I was just talking about the longer-than-anyone-would-like wait that stands between me and your creation! :)

I think it's because Michael had muddied the waters enough with the conflicting information between his supposed Town Crier information and Lewis' Oracle information, making Filip not sure about either one of them.

Hi Patrick, this is Evin here. The choice for Filip pretty much came down to Lewis or Reggie. As Dylan points out, Lewis was providing information but it was conflicting with Michael's information. Fil didn't want to pick Michael, but that doesn't mean he's going to 100% believe he's Evil, and on the off chance that his Town Crier information was good *and* Marianna was really the Sweetheart, then that means Lewis is lying or poisoned. Basically, the information that Lewis and Michael were giving was in conflict with each other, so I think that Fil eventually decided that one or the other of them was Evil and so it was best to avoid them both entirely. Which brings us to Reggie - she wasn't offering anything directly to the team, but she was acting exactly like someone playing as the Sage would. She was quiet, cagey, vaguely hinting that she may have had some kind of information in a ruse to try to get the demon to attack them, and she shared her "role" with Fil secretly, which is what the real Sage would do too. In Clocktower, it's common enough for players to gather information each night without saying what their role is so as to avoid the attention of the demon, and then share all their information when they die or late in the game when you're down to the last few players. Sarah, bluffing as the Sage, was implying that she was maybe one of these other info-gathering roles, so that her Sage bluff sounds more plausible when she finally reveals that. As for Lewis, I believe he made a tactical decision not to campaign too hard as it may have had the effect of making him look Evil (which is kind of what happened to Michael - he campaigned so hard to be picked that Fil was discouraged from doing so).

Oi

@@Sparkplugcrazytalk lol

Hey Banana God, this is Evin here. When a player dies to a Witch’s curse that death isn’t from execution, so the day continues. Each day only ends after the nominations/execution phase is complete (which may or may not end in an execution). There are other roles that can lead to a playing being instantly executed, not just instantly killed (such as the Virgin, Mutant, and Cerenovus). If these abilities trigger then the day does end immediately and it goes into the night phase. (There’s an example of this with the Virgin’s ability in the Trouble Brewing play-through.)

@@BloodontheClocktower ah ok, thanks

That's right - when the Snake Charmer finds the demon, each role (both the Snake Charmer and the demon) is woken separately and informed that they are now a new role and the opposite alignment.

That's about right. Of the base three sets, Sects & Violets is the most challenging for the Storyteller to run. It has more alignment-change than Bad Moon Rising, and is the only script in the base game to include any 'madness' roles. - Evin

I think it's better with 7-12. 5-6 can be good to learn the game (especially for the storyteller) assuming you plan to play with a larger group later, but if you'll always be playing with 5-6 then it's not that great IMO.

At the time, this was an older version of the Philosopher that *became* a different role, rather than just gaining another role's ability. If we were playing this game now, then yeah - the Philosopher would gain the ability and not actually become the Snake Charmer. - Evin

Thanks for the feedback, McFly. That's something we'll consider looking at in the future. - Evin

Hi there! Madness is a concept in BOTC which means that you must convince the group of a certain idea. So for example, if you are “mad” that you are A, you must give a decent attempt at convincing the group that you are A and not B, or they should be reasonably convinced. In the case of the mutant, if you are “mad” (stating that or insinuating that) you are an outsider, you might be executed. To avoid execution and the end of a day, it’s in the good team’s best interest to not know who the mutant is, or that they’re an outsider at all. In games with experienced players, the storyteller should be within their right to execute a mutant even if their omission means that people are convinced that they are the mutant. Hope this makes sense

@@cloyphishs1049 ok so mad as in passionate, not angry. and the mutant's ability says: if your mad/outspoken about being an outsider you might die. so they "cant" say who they are. (I mean - obviously they can. you know what i mean)

Yup. But I’d say madness extends past passionate. You may have someone who is unwilling to share their info in a Sects and Violets game and is adamant that they cannot come out as who they are and continuously refuse to. Players will begin to assume they’re the mutant, and if they are, I as the storyteller would not hesitate to execute them, and in an experienced player’s game, if it’s the final day, I would definitely execute them for an evil win. The concept of madness is so interesting and original that it forces you to think outside the box and come up with reasonable explanations for why you are what you say you are. It’s not about dying per se, in this game the difference between executions and deaths is that: death = dying (no longer able to use your agility and have one more vote); Execution = end of day (as there’s one allocated execution for the day). Execution usually means death but not always. Execution marks the end of the day, meaning the good team has lost one day where they have the chance to execute the demon. This is why breaking madness can be potentially so dangerous.

Hi Zuk, this is Evin here. Cloyphish is correct in his description of madness - when you are 'mad' about something, it means that you are making a reasonable effort to convince the group that a particular thing is true. So, if a player is 'mad' that they themselves are the Sage, for example, it doesn't necessarily mean they act like the Sage (who would typically not say they are the Sage), it means that they must make a decent attempt at convincing the group they are the Sage. For example, you might say "Look, I'm the Sage, and I'm coming out with that information now because I don't trust anyone else and I want to be alive on the final day to nominate, and telling the group this increases my chances of this happening," or something like that. This means that if the Mutant at any point makes a reasonable effort to convince anyone they're an Outsider then the Storyteller can execute them. It's totally up to the Storyteller's judgement, but it's usually pretty clear. As for the word 'mad' itself, it's a synonym for 'insane', which is the meaning we're going for in this context: www.dictionary.com/browse/mad