WitchHunt is a social deduction game.
Social deduction games involve a group of players with a number of enemies hiding among them.
The "town" must figure out who the enemies are before it's too late.
It's all about figuring out which of your friends are lying.
Just like Mafia or Werewolf, WitchHunt alternates between "day" and "night" phases.
Every day the town has a discussion and may vote to hang a target they think is a Witch. (The vote must be a majority, and of course the Witches hiding among them are voting too!)
Every night, players "sleep" as the Witches secretly wake up and agree on a player to kill.
In some social deduction games, players are gradually killed and eliminated from the game.
This produces a dramatic experience, at the cost of eliminating players from the game.
Other games avoid this, compromising some aspect of the game.
(Such as player-capacity or the rising tension that comes with a shrinking town)
Players are still killed off one-by-one as both teams race to eliminate each other, and every round grows more intense.
However, dead Villagers become Angels and continue to influence the game by protecting those still alive.
Meanwhile, dead Witches become Demons with a few tricks of their own...
Dead players are no afterthought; they wield massive influence and can be as much of a factor in winning the game for their team as the living!
(However, because the Angels and Demons act as groups, it's also okay for some to leave.)
In some social deduction games, certain players get special roles or abilities.
These can make the game more interesting, but they are often complicated.
It can also leave the majority of players (who don't get anything) feeling left out.
In WitchHunt, every player has a unique character with a simple special ability.
This works because every player gets two random cards: One for their team, and one for their character.
This also means someone like the Survivalist (who has an extra life) could be either a Villager or a Witch.
Because every character is balanced and useful for both teams, every possible combination makes for a unique game.
WitchHunt features 12 core characters, though it can scale down to as few as 7 players.
There are also a few bonus characters, that can be swapped in or added to support more players.
(While not more complicated than the core characters, these are better suited for groups that have played at least once.)
Angels and Demons get to see everything and make a simple but pivotal choice each night.
First, the Demons may pick two targets to haunt. If the Priest checks either haunted target that night, he will receive the result for the other target instead!
Second, the Angels may vote as a group to protect any player from a kill that night. If the Witches try to kill that target, they will fail.
Angels can protect any player as many times as they want.
The only restriction is, if they protect one of the two players haunted by the Demons, they can never protect that target again.
In other words, the Angels can stand in the Witches' way, but the Demons can stand in the Angels' way; all in layers of dares and bluffs!
These are a handful of advanced rules that can be used to keep the game balanced for the Witch team even with experienced players.
These open up new paths of deception for the Witches, and ensure consistently non-degenerate endgames.
This client-side program runs the entire base set game automatically.
It doesn't replace the social responsibilities of the moderator, but it keeps track of everything to make his or her job way easier.
It's perfect for tablets or phones, and has several helpful features, like a built in timer, and auto-saving.
This program is in development, and subject to change at any time.
The moderator app does this for you, taking care of everything.
Don't have access to it? Don't worry, dealing is fast and easy.
Each player should be dealt a pair of cards: a team card and a character card. Players can look at their cards immediately, but it is critical that they keep them secret!
Not sure how many players you will have? It's easier to remove cards than to add. Guess high, and take out the extra characters.
(If this would result in a wrong number of Witches, just swap a random team type card character appropriately.)
| Players | Suggested Characters | Players | Witches | Village Clergy | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All games | Priest | 7-8 | 2 | Priest | |
| All games | Judge | 9-13 | 3 | Priest | |
| All games | Gravedigger | 14-16 | 4 | Priest | |
| All games | Apprentice | 17+ | 5 | Priest + Acolyte | |
| All games | Survivalist | ||||
| All games | D.O.B. | ||||
| 7 | Gambler | ||||
| 8 | Fanatic | ||||
| 9 | Oracle | ||||
| 10 | Watchman | ||||
| 11 | Hunter | ||||
| 12 | Emissary | ||||
| 13+ | Bonus Characters |
