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Vampires vs. Werewolves

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Sun, 04/21/2013 - 18:22
questccg
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Hi all,

I just recently learned about "Mafia" and "Werewolves" Party games... Never played either but I have watched some videos from YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=fvwp&v=d8jN-O415TI) and other BGDF members like http://www.bgdf.com/node/8201.

Anyhow I was wondering... Because of the games being somewhat conducive for parties, I was wondering if we could "create" a *Vampires vs. Werewolves* game.

There would be 3 sides:
-The citizens of the village (+special characters)
-The vampires which are trying to take over
-The werewolves which are trying to kill everyone

So the rules would be that both the villagers and the werewolves want to kill the *Vampires*. Each night, the Vampires awaken and *bite* another member of the group, who then becomes a Vampire. At the beginning of the game there is only ONE *Vampire*. As the number of werewolves dwindle, the odds become higher that a vampire MAY die (50/50 if only one werewolf left).

The werewolves are brutes and only enjoy killing. Each night, they awaken and their goal is to kill one member of the group. All they know is that a member of the group dies: Vampire or Villager.

The villagers need to have plenty of roles to make this game interesting:
-The doctor
-The detective
-The vampire hunter
-The mystic
-The priest
-MORE...

For example: when the werewolves HUNT a Vampire, the players all (Werewolves and 1 Vampire) place their *Role card* into a bag and then the Vampire picks ONE card. If it is the Vampire, the Vampire DIES. If it is a Werewolf, the werewolf was killed on that night.

OBVIOUSLY the Vampires are more powerful than the Werewolves... And they are the ones who will MOST likely win the game. That is why it is called *Vampires vs. Werewolves*.

Another example: is once the villagers HANG a Vampire, that player cannot partake in the *day* activities... For all the others, he/she is dead. BUT that player can partake in the vampires part of the turn...

Anyhow this is just *an idea* as to how to *revive* the game... with 3 parties instead of just 2.

Anybody have other ideas or want to input/add to this???

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Wed, 04/24/2013 - 08:59
#1
JackBurton
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I like very much Lupus in

I like very much Lupus in Tabula (Werevolves) because it can involve a very large number of people and because of its very simple rules. It could be great if played without a narrator and/or with a goal for killed players (it's quite annoying watching without having the possibility of doing anything).

Said this, I think that the idea of having 3 parties instead of 2 is interesting: if you read Lupus in Tabula rules you'll find some characters that are "outsiders" and win under particular circumstances (e.g. were-hamster, hope the translated name is the same for the international versions).

Consider that characters are hidden and known only by the master (narrator), so you cannot take actions where a player should check/show it's role card with others.

I'm wondering if the vampire growth is too much to balance first kills: if you start with one vampire only, it's probable that the first 2/3 kills (in a party of 10, for example) are not vampire and you'll have a situation with 7 players 4 of which are vampires...
It's better to implement a different growth rate than to create special villains cards, I think...
Probably I'd start with 2 vampires who cannot kill a werewolf for the first turn, for example.

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Thu, 05/16/2013 - 19:03
#2
RGaffney
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Looking at the game, I'd say

Looking at the game, I'd say it's key weakness is the dead players. so after 20 minutes only 10 of the 20 people we started playing with are still alive. That's a great place to insert vampires or zombies.

What if unbeknownst to the villiagers, they all carried some vampire blood, and upon death, they rise, only at night, to take their revenge, those that were killed by Lycans against the Lycans, and those that were lynched by villiagers against the villiagers.

Could be fun also, to not explain this mechanic at the start of the game, but meerly have the GM hand a card to the dead person explaining it. so that in the morning when they say "Well, 4 people died" there is a sense of "Whuuuuut?" instead of "Oh obviously the vampires are now active"

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Fri, 05/17/2013 - 23:04
#3
questccg
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I agree...

The problem with the party game IS the *dead players*. I agree with you that this would be a great place to introduce Vampires AND Zombies.

Instead of carrying *vampire blood*, I would stick to the Vampires BITE one person each night. They can still partake in the game - but now have switched sides... Vampires can be killed by the *Vampire Hunter*. This could be a ROLE instead of a character. This way if one Vampire Hunter dies, another can take his place... Werewolves can HUNT down a Vampire to try to kill him (also). When a Vampire is killed by the Vampire Hunter or by a Werewolves Hunt, he/she is out of the game for good.

Not certain HOW or WHAT the Zombies would do... But I would say it could be at DUSK, the Zombies come alive.

Your ideas on what to do with Zombies are welcome.

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Fri, 05/17/2013 - 23:18
#4
RGaffney
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I like the side switching

I like the side switching mechanic, but I don't like the out-of-the-game-for-good if it can be avoided.

It's the classic European vs American split. Americans always want to work process of elimination, and it simply is not ideal.

Zombies work for dead werewolves and villagers.

What if instead of a vampire hunter it was a vampire "cleanser" that would revert vamps back to humans, who proceed to RP apologizing profusely.

Then the question becomes what to do with zombies. Maybe killing is okay. Especially considering zombies have already lost the game once, so being out of the game at this point would be well deserved. But I still feel like there must be better options.

Trapping zombies? then they have to break out?

Also, could there be a pacifistic way to "defeat" werewolves without turning them into zombies? I'm just spit-balling here, but maybe some sort of werewolf "evangelism" that would turn the werewolf into a disciplined vampire hunter instead of a wild killing machine. This would be something you would revert to as villagers only after you realized killing them was only making the problem worse.

Then a team wins. Humans, Zombies, Vampires, or Werewolves, rather than an individual earning a Pyrrhic victory by surviving or everybody losing.

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Tue, 05/21/2013 - 19:14
#5
kpres
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Already been done.

Someone has already had this idea, 27 years ago. I've seen more recent copies of this game. My friends keep trying to get me to play. I have had a lot of fun playing mafia. Roles are assigned with a deck of cards. It's great.

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/925/werewolf

However! Just because it's aready been done doesn't mean that you can't do it better! That's how money is made in this industry. Take a game that's already successful and put a spin on it. When Dominion came out, it revolutionized the industry for a bit. All of a sudden, deck-building games became fun and interesting.

If you think you can make a more interesting game than werewolf, then play it a bunch of times and figure out what's fun and not fun about it, and then capitalize on it.

Something that made Mafia really fun for me was having one person be the story-teller. Like the dungeon master in D&D, that player's role is to narrate what happens.

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