Werewolf

Learn how to play

The Game

WEREWOLF is a bluffing and deduction game for 8 or more players in which an informed minority, the Werewolves, are pitted against an uninformed majority, the Village.

A deck of DRAGON FRIENDS WEREWOLF CARDS contain everything you need to play the game other than six friends and a space. You don’t even need the cards if you’re broke – normal playing cards work just as well, but, uhh, please buy our stuff.

The parlour game Werewolf was originally created by Dimitry Davidoff in 1986 as “Mafia”, then adapted into “Werewolf” by Andrew Plotkin. Plotkin asks that people using his rulesets acknowledge his contributions, and we do! You can find out more about the history of the game here.

Setup

Each player secretly receives an Identity Card giving their role, alignment and any special win condition at the start of the game. You can tell your alignment by your identity card’s background.

• BLUE: Village. Win by identifying and eliminating all werewolf-aligned players.
• RED: Werewolf. Win by eliminating enough Villagers to make it impossible for them to eliminate all remaining Werewolves.

One player doesn’t receive a card and is the Moderator. Their job is to make sure that the game’s day and night phases occur correctly and to narrate the story of the village.

Gameplay

The game is made up of multiple rounds, each including one NIGHT PHASE and one DAY PHASE.

During the NIGHT all players go to sleep by closing their eyes and putting their heads down. Various players are awoken in turn by the Moderator to perform their special abilities. Werewolves identify each other and choose one player to kill in the night. Other special roles may have their own unique abilities to perform. Once all night abilities have been activated by the Moderator, the night phase ends.

During the DAY all players wake up and discover which players, if any, have been killed in the night, who reveals their card. Once eliminated player cannot talk but can observe the day and night phases freely.

The surviving players then discuss and ultimately vote on one player to eliminate. Players can nominate any other player for elimination and second any nomination. Once two or more players have been nominated the moderator can begin the day’s vote.

During the vote the moderator asks each player to publicly vote for one of the nominated players, or abstain. The player with the most votes is eliminated, their card is revealed and the next round begins immediately. In the case of a tie a second round of voting for the two frontrunners can be taken. If this is also a tie, no elimination occurs and the next round begins immediately.

It’s important that no conversation occurs between the elimination and the night phase!

The game continues until all the werewolves have been eliminated, or the Werewolves have an effective voting majority, making victory for the Village impossible.

Identity Card Deck Setup

The amount and composition of cards in your identity deck depends on how many people are playing. For a good starting game, add 1 werewolf for every 4 players, rounding up. You can substitute villager cards for the Detective or Doctor to strengthen the Village, but all players should be aware of the composition of the deck before the game begins.

Roles