Role Creation Guide

When designing a role, always define two things first:

  1. Action → What the role does each day/night.

  2. Impact → How that action changes the flow of the game.

Then check for balance (does it fit without overpowering?) and theme (does the ability reflect lore and region?).

    • Action: Eliminate players (core night elimination). Some variants twist how/when this kill happens.

    • Impact:

      • Establish the central threat.

      • Drive the Citizens’ primary win condition: banish the Ravager.

    • Design Notes: All Ravager variants must tie back to core function: eliminate + survive.

  • Action:

    • Manipulate, deceive, or disrupt to protect the Ravager. They typically never perform the kill.

    Impact:

    • Shield the Ravager’s identity.

    • Waste Citizen resources/votes.

    • Sow mistrust, create false leads, bend rules even after banishment or elimination.

    Design Notes:

    • The Shadow Council Member’s purpose is obfuscation and misdirection.

  • Action:

    • Gather pieces of hidden information (e.g., alignment, targeting, or behavioral clues) to help piece together the truth.

    Impact:

    • Provide clues that Citizens can assemble over time.

    • Narrow suspicion without guaranteeing certainty.

    • Anchor group discussion in evidence instead of pure accusation.

    Design Notes:

    • Information should come in fragments (partial, delayed, or interpretable).

    • Influence grows with time, making them prime Ravager targets.

    • Serve as the compass of the Citizen team—they steer, but don’t solve everything.

  • Action:

    • Preserve life by shielding others, intercepting kills, or absorbing damage.

    Impact:

    • Extend the survival of other players, giving Citizens more time to act.

    • May unintentionally protect Ravagers or Chaotic Influencers since they cannot confirm alignment.

    Design Notes:

    • Their value is in buying time for deduction and strategy.

    • Protection is always a gamble, creating tactical dilemmas.

  • Action:

    • Influence the state of the game with unique, non-defensive effects.

    • Examples: altering votes, granting temporary powers, applying status effects, creating conditions that tilt outcomes.

    Impact:

    • Shape strategy by altering how players interact, vote, or act.

    • Complicate Ravager plans indirectly, without guaranteeing benefit to Citizens.

    Design Notes:

    • Specialists do not extend survival (that’s Protectors’ role).

    • They are about tactical interference and creative shifts, not certainty or safety.

  • Action:

    • Force unpredictable or risky conditions that always carry potential harm to Citizens.

    Impact:

    • Provide balance to the game by preventing Citizens from becoming too efficient or certain.

    • Complicate Citizen teamwork.

    • Indirectly aid Ravagers by spreading chaos.

    Design Notes:

    • Must never give Citizens a direct advantage.

    • Add tension and uncertainty without outright deciding the game.

  • Action:

    • Publicly known roles with hidden Architect-assigned alignment. Often for players who enter late, need to leave early, or exist for a limited time in the game.

    • Typically introduced in larger games (15+ players).

    Impact:

    • Provide flexibility by allowing players to join late or leave early while still meaningfully participating.

    • Help balance larger games, where additional influence is needed to maintain tension.

    • Introduce high-impact moments that can quickly shift the direction of the game.

    • Add unpredictability since their alignment is not known to other players.

    Design Notes:

    • Wanderers are designed for larger player counts and should not be standard in smaller games.

    • Their abilities should be powerful and noticeable, capable of influencing the game in a short time.

    • They are typically not perpetual—their presence is temporary by design.

    • Even though they their role and abilities are public, they should still create strategic tension and ripple effects.

  • Action:

    • Begin neutral; alignment determined by choices, chance, or conditions.

    Impact:

    • Add a layer of complexity to the game by introducing a third faction dynamic.

    • Force players to account for multiple win conditions and shifting priorities.

    • Can influence the outcome by siding with a faction or pursuing their own victory.

    Design Notes:

    • Must have clear, well-defined conditions for alignment shifts or victory.

    • Their presence should create strategic tension, not confusion.

    • Even if the role is layered, the rules and timing of abilities must be easy to understand and execute.