An instant community in a box! How could I say no?

Blood on the Clocktower is a social deducation game best played in the shaded section of a comfy bar that runs board game nights. I was already suffering from the heat of the upstairs section and the timing was impeccable.

We had a party of 18, which seemed unmanageable but for the excellent gamemaster who somehow kept on top of every piece of intrigue, truth, lie, and shittalk that was happening. 14 townsfolk, 4 outsiders. I chose outsider due to its handy ability of not tying the player to the game for its entire duration - very handy for someone who likes to step out dramatically and without warning.

Dennis talked me into playing the Gunslinger. A chaotic role that allowed me to rooty tooty point and shooty one person per night, as long as they voted to execute another player. My strategy for this role revolved around a few core thoughts:

  • I had no idea how the intricacies of the game would function
  • Chaos is funny when done right
  • I could sit back and observe other players, rather than jump straight into accusations that I didn't fully understand
  • "???"
  • I was sitting at the corner of the circle and can't comprehend shit in large spaces
Day 1, and another player zooms up to me as soon as the day phase began. He begged me to shoot him, claiming to be the Angel that absolutely should not be executed on pain of instant team failure. My mind may have been elsewhere during this very interesting conundrum.

I shot him in the face on Night 1 or 2, can't remember which. Either way, he wasn't playing me, and I wouldn't have known otherwise if he was. Good start.

Days 2 and 3 are where my masterplan come to fruition. At this point I have little clue what the fuck is going on, Matteo is devising a prosecution statement as long as the entire script of Fate/Stay Night, and there's growing confusion as to who has what roles. Unveiling my grand strategy of Shut The Fuck Up, I refuse to shoot anyone for two nights in a row. This has several key benefits:
  • Opting not to shoot someone suspected of being Good, AND someone suspected of being Evil, casts me out of this argument by confusing everyone involved
  • Enhances my pretty and mysterious demeanour sitting in the corner teeheeheeing because I have no poker face
  • Less is more (a good life strategy in general)
Day 4 proceeds, and the gamemaster nudges us along to speed things up. It's been about 90 minutes, and half the townsfolk are still alive. The discussion that night was lively, plenty of votes put forward on all sides, and there was a growing likelihood that our numbers will be thinned significantly by the next morning.

Naturally, I take out my gun for the first time in over an hour, and shoot the demon in the face on first attempt. Ending the game in the silliest possible way, and a first according to the gamemaster in his 2-3 years of running it.

This wouldn't be half as funny except for the fact that, out of the three players I was suspecting, I was wrong about all but one of them. And I picked my target randomly.

Don't tell the other players though. I'm sure they won't find out.

9/10 great game ye should try it