Blood on the Clocktower

Blood on the Clocktower

A view of a Blood on the Clocktower grimoire showing the game state with players seated in a circle in the background.
Designers	Steven Medway
Directors	Evin Donohoe
Illustrators	Micaela Dawn Aidan Roberts John Van Fleet Grace Van Fleet
Publishers	The Pandemonium Institute
Publication	2022 (2022)
Genres	Social deduction game Party game
Players	5–20
Playing time	30–120 minutes
Age range	14+
Website	Official website

Blood on the Clocktower is a social deduction game created by Steven Medway and published by The Pandemonium Institute. The game was released in 2022 after a successful Kickstarter campaign.

The game shares core mechanics with Mafia, featuring a conflict between two teams of players: an evil team made up of a "demon" and supporting "minions", the informed minority, and a good team, the uninformed majority. A neutral gamemaster called the Storyteller runs the game.

Each player is randomly assigned a secret good or evil role with a unique ability, and must help their team achieve its win condition. The game is divided into days and nights. Each day, players can vote to remove one player (known as an "execution") and each night, the demon may choose to remove another player. For the good team to win, they must execute the demon. For the evil team, they must keep the demon alive until only two players remain.

Gameplay

Setup

Before the game begins, the Storyteller selects a script (or cast of characters), featuring 22-25 characters, and determines which character roles will be in play for the game. Good players can either be Townsfolk, players with abilities which benefit the good team, or Outsiders, players with abilities which hinder the good team. Evil players can either be Minions, support for the Demon with abilities which hinder the good team, or the Demon, who has the power to kill during the night, and who must be killed for the good team to win. The number of Minions and Outsiders depends on the number of players.

If a player is uncertain whether they can stay the entire game, or they enter late, they can play as Travellers with special abilities. All players know what character the Traveller is, but not if they are good or evil.

Game phases

The game has two alternating phases: a night phase, during which players close their eyes and are woken one at a time by the Storyteller to gather information or perform actions; and a day phase, in which players socialize openly or in private, eventually resulting in a player's execution if a majority agrees.

During the night phase, actions are performed secretly for characters that act at night. The Storyteller may give misinformation to players who are "drunk" or "poisoned". On the first night, Minions and the Demon learn who each other are if there are seven or more players.

During the day phase, players wake and can choose to either speak privately with each other or publicly in the "Town Square". Good players use social deduction and the group's collective information to deduce who the evil players are. Evil players can exchange information and bluffs, as well as spread misinformation among the good players. Dead players are not eliminated and can participate freely in discussions. After an amount of time decided by the Storyteller, all players meet in the Town Square and have the opportunity to nominate players for execution. Execution occurs on a majority vote. Dead players each have one vote they can use for the remainder of the game.

In most cases, the game ends when the demon is executed resulting in a good win, or there are only two living players remaining including the demon resulting in an evil win.

Scripts

There are currently three official scripts available from The Pandemonium Institute, which each come with their own roles and mechanics: "Trouble Brewing", "Sects & Violets", and "Bad Moon Rising". The three official scripts are bundled together when buying the game.

Three additional official scripts "Garden of Sin", "The Tomb" and "Midnight in the House of the Damned" are being developed.

The Pandemonium Institute provides a online tool that allows players to create custom scripts by combining characters from different editions together.

Reception

Funding for Blood on the Clocktower began in 2018 with a Kickstarter campaign that raised more than $570,000 on a $65,000 goal. The game had already been in playtesting for years. During its development, the game was exhibited at various conventions and expos, including PAX 2018 and UK Games Expo 2018, and funds were raised for various "Clocktower Conventions" after its release.

During the Kickstarter campaign, Shut Up & Sit Down released a video review in which Quintin Smith called it his "favorite game". A review for Wargamer described Blood on the Clocktower as the "all-round best social deduction game," stating that it "nails everything a great social deduction game needs, and it fixes many of the major problems the genre has." Vanessa McGinnis and Charlie Hall of Polygon listed it as one of "The best board games we played in 2023," with NPR McGinnis writing that "if the Storyteller plays their cards right, their players will be left with a new, exciting story to share each game. Those stories are what makes Clocktower so special". In a brief review for The Guardian, Alex Hern described Blood on the Clocktower as "the Ulysses of the board games world", concluding that "neither small nor cheap, it’s not an ideal introduction to board games, but it’s the one that will stick with you for the longest."

The game won "Best Party Game" in Tabletop Gaming's 2022 awards. Christopher Eggett, editor of Tabletop Gaming, praised it for its enjoyable gameplay and "longevity" due to the many roles and setups. The game was also runner up for "Best Party Game" in BoardGameGeek's 2022 Golden Geek Awards.

Stage show adaptation

Blood on the Clocktower was adapted into an unscripted comedy show Blood on the Clocktower: Live! which has performed at various locations including at the Old Red Lion Theatre in 2022, and at Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2024.

In a review of the show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2024, Ed Fortune of Starburst magazine noted the 'charming and mischievous presence' of storyteller and host Jon Gracey, as well as Gracey's skill at choosing comedians to play the game on stage.

Online play

In addition to in-person play, Blood on the Clocktower can also be played online. The game increased in popularity online during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic after the success of the game's Kickstarter. Multiple Discord communities dedicated to the game have been created to play the game online, with the largest being The Unofficial Blood on the Clocktower Discord server. The game has also gained popularity as live streamed game on Twitch.

In 2021, The Pandemonium Institute launched a Twitch channel showcasing online games with fans in the community.

In 2022, The Pandemonium Institute released an official web application designed to play the game online.

External links

• Blood on the Clocktower at BoardGameGeek
• Blood on the Clocktower app in early access
• Blood on the Clocktower Wiki