Welcome to RS Games Werewolf, an accessible, online, multiplayer version of the social game Werewolf. RS Games Werewolf utilizes the RS Games client, which allows players to play against each other from around the world, via the centralized RS Games server.
To get started, you will need the RS Games client installed. TO get the RS Games client if you don't have it already, go to http://www.rsgames.org. connecting and logging into the server are covered in the RS Games client documentation. Alternatively, you can use the web client, from which you can play by using your web browser. The web client can be found in the "Quick Links" section on the RS Games home page.
This document assumes you have read the RS Games client documentation first, for general concepts and instructions on using the client. If you have not read this document, please read it before continuing.
If you are using the web client, options referred to as keyboard commands in this document will appear as buttons on the web page.
Once you are connected, choose Werewolf from the list of games, and you will be presented with the main menu. From there, you can create a new game, join a game, or see a list of existing games. Choose an option using the up and down arrow keys and the enter key, or by clicking on the option if you are using the web client.
If you choose to create a new game, you will be asked if you want to make the game private. If you choose yes, you can set a password, and only those who know the password will be able to join. You'll also be asked if you want a protector, and if you want to reveal the roles of villagers when they die. After you have made your choices, you will be placed in your game. Here, players will be able to join your game.
Bots are computer players who will play against you if there are no other humans around to play with, or if you want to add more players to your game. If you are the creator of the game, you can press B to add a bot, or R to remove a bot. Note that Werewolf is much more fun if there are more bots than there are humans, and even more fun if all the players are humans.
Once you are ready to start the game, press the Enter key.
To join a game, choose the Join Game option from the main menu. You will be presented with a list of games that are open for players, along with the people playing in each game. Choose a game from the list, and press enter. If the game is private, you will then be asked to enter the password. Once you are in the game, you must wait for the game master to start the game.
Unlike most other games, the game master cannot kick idle players from a Werewolf game. This is because the kick feature might give away information about who's been idle for a long time. Since the important people in a game take action every night as detailed later in this document, a villager who has no special role could conceivably be idle for an extended period of time. Since the game master cannot kick idle players, please be sure you can stay in the game until the end before committing to join. Thank you.
Werewolf is a social game. The game takes place in a small village, and the players are the villagers. Unfortunately for this village, there are a few werewolves among the innocent townsfolk, and their goal is to wipe out as much of the village as they can without being discovered. One of the innocent villagers is a seer. This person has the second sight, and can detect the taint of lycanthropy. There may also be a protector (called a doctor, healer, baner, or wolfsbane carrier in some versions), an innocent villager who protects one person from werewolf attack each night.
The game has alternating night and day phases, starting with night. At night, the werewolves pick someone to tear limb from limb (all werewolves must agree on the same person), the seer picks someone to learn about, and the protector picks someone to protect from werewolf attack for that night. Once night is over, everyone wakes up, the werewolves' victim (if not protected) is found dead, and day begins.
Day is very simple. The village wants justice for last night's murder, and votes to lynch (eliminate) one of their own. Once a majority has voted for one person, he or she is dead and out of the game, and the remaining villagers find out if they lynched a werewolf or not.
The game then goes back to night. The werewolves or werewolf pick someone to kill, the seer (if still alive) learns about someone else, the protector (if still alive) protects someone, everyone wakes up, someone (if not protected) is found dead, and the village gets ready for another lynching. This continues until the game ends, which can happen in one of two ways.
The villagers win if they kill all the werewolves. The werewolves win if enough villagers have been killed (by werewolf actions and village lynches) that the numbers of villagers and werewolves are equal. At that point, the werewolves rise up and openly slaughter the remaining villagers. For scoreboard purposes, each player wins if his team (werewolves or villagers) wins, even if he's not alive at the end.
The proper strategy depends on each player's role in the game. The werewolves want to stay hidden but kill as many innocent villagers as they can. During the day, they will almost certainly use misdirection and barefaced lies to throw suspicion on other villagers.
The seer wants to stay alive as long as possible so he can learn as much as possible, but without revealing himself to be the seer because if he does, the werewolves will almost certainly try to kill him that night. At the same time, he wants to throw suspicion on any werewolves he discovers.
The seer, of course, can reveal himself to be the seer at any time, especially if he thinks he's about to be lynched, in order to share his knowledge. Of course a werewolf could also claim to be the seer and reveal anything he wants.
The protector, like the seer, wants to stay alive as long as possible without revealing himself to be the protector. If he's ever in a situation where he thinks he knows who the seer is, he will probably protect that person at night, which of course leaves the protector wide open to werewolf attack.
The protector should ideally never reveal himself to be the protector, except possibly in a last-ditch effort to avoid being lynched. If it comes to that, and he thinks he knows who the seer is, he should then alternate randomly between protecting himself and that person at night. Of course a werewolf could also claim to be the protector for similar reasons.
The other villagers are just trying to figure out who the werewolves are. The only information they have, however, is what others say and who dies.
There are no restrictions on speech during the day. Any living player can say anything he wants—truth, misdirection, nonsense, or barefaced lie. Dead players, on the other hand, may not speak at all, not even to correct a matter of record. If someone is about to be lynched and wants to say something like revealing the seer's visions, they have to say it before the vote goes through. Likewise, as soon as someone is found murdered at daybreak, they are dead and out of the game, and may not speak. Also, nobody may talk at night.
Note that the standard chat command (F2) is not available at night or if you're dead. Private messages and voice chat, however, are completely unrestricted.
More information about this game can be found at the following website: http://www.eblong.com/zarf/werewolf.html
Note that Zarf's page assumes a face-to-face game, where the moderator is one of the players. In this version, the moderator functions are performed by the game itself. Since that page counts the moderator as a player, its suggestions about odd versus even numbers of players, when to add a third werewolf, etc. are off by one in relation to this version.
When a game is created, the game master decides if there will be a protector, and if the roles of dead villagers are revealed. If reveal is turned on, every time someone dies, their exact role (werewolf, seer, protector, villager) is revealed to the rest of the players. If not, only their status (werewolf or not a werewolf) is revealed. The werewolves, seer, and protector are all revealed at the end of the game.
Bots can participate in Werewolf, although the game is much more fun if most or all of the players are humans. Bots have a strategy to play the game, but they never say anything during the day, so they can't throw suspicion on others nor defend themselves if accused.
When the game begins, the number of werewolves is calculated based on the number of players. If there are fewer than six players, one werewolf is used. If between six and fifteen players, two werewolves, and if sixteen or more players, three werewolves. Once that is decided, each player is randomly assigned a role and told what it is, then the first night starts.
Once the game is underway, each role (werewolves, seer, protector) is prompted to open their eyes and pick someone to kill, identify, or protect. If you hold one of these special roles, when it's your turn, press Enter to open a menu from which you can choose a player. Enter is also used for voting during the day.
If villager roles are not being revealed when they die, the game will ask the seer and protector (if enabled) to open their eyes, pick someone, and close their eyes, even if these players are already dead. This is because in this situation, nobody knows these people are dead, so the game keeps up the pretense, delaying for a random amount of time in order to fake these roles.
Bots, if present, will use the following strategy in order to keep the game moving.
A bot werewolf, if he's the only werewolf, will choose someone at random to kill. If there are other werewolves but none have chosen yet, he will choose a random villager. Since the werewolves know who each other are, he will never pick another werewolf. If he's not the first to choose, he will choose a random player from those other werewolves have chosen that night. This insures that even if all the werewolves are bots, they will come to an agreement on a single player to kill.
A bot seer will choose someone he hasn't learned about yet. What he learns is stored so he can use that information during the day.
A bot protector will protect a random player.
During the day, a seer bot will always vote for a werewolf he's identified, and failing that, never vote for someone he knows to be innocent. All other bots will vote for a random person who has received at least one vote already, and if nobody has voted yet, they will vote for someone at random. This usually results in many bots ganging up on one or two players until a majority is reached, which is another reason it's better to have more humans than bots. Note that bots look at the status of the game and take action periodically, so even in a game with no living human players, if the first flood of daytime votes doesn't result in a majority, the bots will eventually reach an agreement.
Since an entire team rather than individual players wins, there are two sounds used to indicate the different victory conditions. If the villagers win, a cheering sound is used, and if the werewolves win, the sound of wolves howling is used. All players will hear the appropriate sound, even if they're not on the winning team.
The keyboard commands are very simple. Enter opens a menu where you can choose a player for the appropriate task given your role, or vote for someone during the day. T will tell you the current state of the game, which equates to whose turn it is. During the day, V will list players, who they've voted for, and how many votes they have. Players who haven't yet voted and have no votes aren't listed. R will tell you your role, in case you missed it when the game was starting.
There are several keyboard commands that can be used to get information about your current game. You can always press Ctrl+H to get a quick reminder of these keystrokes.
You can chat with other players at certain times during game play by pressing the F2 key, typing your message into the input box and pressing enter. Chat is disabled at night and for dead players. You can also chat at the main menu to other players who are not currently in a game, also by pressing F2.
To change the volume of the background music during the game, use F3 to lower the volume and F4 to raise the volume. Unlike other games, Werewolf uses two background music tracks during gameplay, one for night and one for day. The night and day tracks have independent volume adjustments, so adjusting one won't adjust the other.
You can also adjust the volume of the sound effects with F5 and F6 to lower or raise the volume, respectively.
You can opt to receive a transcript of your game, that is, an email containing the entire text of your game. When you leave a game, you will be asked if you would like to receive a transcript. If you would, choose Yes, and the transcript will be sent to the email address you used when creating your RS Games account. You can also press F11 during the game, rather than wait until you leave the game to decide.
Thanks to the following people for helping to create Werewolf:
If you have any problems using any of the games released by RS Games, or have a question, bug report, suggestion, feature request, or anything else, feel free to contact RS Games by sending an email to rsgames@gmail.com.