I can’t believe that it has taken me this long to finally work this article for your enjoyment. While many of you may be aware of my opinions already, we have not yet documented them. We have reached a point now that instead of an opinion, we have a journey to discuss. First lets talk about what the game is. Blood on the Clocktower at the core is a social game where the majority fights the minority. The goal of the good team is to kill the demon, while the evil team works together to wipe out the town. You’ll quickly see similarities with Werewolf, Mafia, and other larger social games.

At the time of writing this, I have over 100 games under my belt. I have convinced Mystic Beast and Killer Wolf to play as well. I have a friend group that loves the game, even if I can’t be part of that group often. The game is run by a neutral moderator, and of course I found myself enjoying that role, however I also have played many games to ensure my interpretations of the mechanics make sense.

The Introduction

The exact timeline still eludes me, however I believe the first time I saw the game in action was during the Origins Game Fair convention, 2022, yes, that would be 4 years ago, I told you I took way to long write this. At the time there was only one circle in the social deception room. What I didn’t know at the time was how much of a following it picked up. I didn’t know about its KickStarter, I didn’t know anyone in the social deception room. I became fascinated by the concept, and even tried to look for tickets to join the game. While I couldn’t attend the game in 2022, I still enjoyed the Origins convention.

YouTube Videos

I let a couple months pass, before the curiosity took over. I began researching what that game was called, and when I finally found Blood on the Clocktower as the name, watched one video and knew exactly that was the game I witnessed at Origins. The binge of videos began and I watched No Rolls Barred and then migrated to the official Blood on the Clocktower channel. I watched both perspectives and eventually it was time for Origins Game Fair again, where I played my first game.

Playing the Game

The game hooked me just from watching videos, and here we are in 2023 where I finally got a chance to grab Clocktower tickets. This was my goal when registration opened up and I played it smart and started with Trouble Brewing. Everything I watched, everything I saw, I incorporated and had a great time. This was the turning point for me, I no longer was a spectator, I played a game, after Origins Game Fair I began researching online communities, as my friend group wasn’t large enough to play, and I knew there was a strong following. While attending Origins Game Fair, I found out that there was a whole dedicated convention to the game. Once I found out how close it was, I immediately marked my calendar and made it work.

The community I found online was Everyone Can Game, the culture driven by the community made me feel welcome. After a few short months the community I knew moved to Grim Scenarios, and I followed them. I got to know these people and I knew they are responsible for the culture that I appreciated. While I am not sure how many games I played before I started tracking them on ClockTracker, I quickly started storytelling, with my first game being in August 2023, and a second time in October 2023. ECG allowed me to learn Trouble Brewing and Bad Moon Rising reaffirming my storyteller track.

Storytelling

Continuing the timeline, we have not reached the stage of my Storytelling Journey. With my intro to storytelling being Late 2023, I was ready to take on Storytelling myself during Clocktower Con, which occurred April 2024. I created a couple of events, Trouble Brewing, and a couple of customs that incorporated base 3 characters. Having story-told at Clocktower Con, I felt comfortable Volunteering for Deceptively Social Gaming to help them run Clocktower and other social games at Origins. This continued my journey simply giving me more games under my belt in both 2025 and most recently 2026. The games that have been recorded on Clocktracker show over 60 games total in the past two years.

My excitement for the game continues to grow. This year, during Final Three Con 2026, I introduced Killerwolf into the storytelling aspect of the game. My mission was to have them storytell all three base scripts. While they did ultimately say storytelling wasn’t for them, they did have this to say.

“I like building the bag, crafting the world, and listening to the players follow the clues I gave”

While my mission was successful and we got through all base 3 scripts, KillerWolf highlighted some of the great parts of storytelling. The parts they mentioned are exactly what drew me to storytelling. What Killer left out include managing of the flow, answering mechanical questions, and knowing when the fun ends. I may have a good understanding of Killer’s views, but they don’t stop me from storytelling, and they have no issues helping me with the grim.

Game Setup

With my experience out of the way, lets actually delve into some specifics, and a few opinions along the way. Blood on the Clocktower isn’t just a game, as we know it, but an entire world. While the easiest comparison is Werewolf, I would also argue that its a Role-playing game, Dungeons and Dragons, Star Trek Adventures, these RPGs are all foundations, and worlds. Players in the game each get a character that has an ability, What characters go into a game though are determined by scripts. Unlike werewolf where there are characters with no ability, Each single person does something at some point in the game.

The initial box, known as the Grim, contain three scripts and the characters for those scripts. However you can purchase the carousel, which is a set of post-release characters. Similar to Dungeons and Dragons, you can create custom Scripts, using a mix of these characters forming a new game. While I have looked at creating my own custom scripts, I haven’t actually released or tested one. The creativity of the community is very strong and when I am in the mood for a custom, I generally can find a script that has the character interactions I am looking for already.

Once you have a script in mind, the storyteller creates a bag. This is how the storyteller begins forming a story, working on balance, and ensuring both teams have a solid chance. Many will focus on exact science, but I can tell you with 60 games, I have built bags multiple ways. Sometimes to focus on a specific interaction to see how the town deals with it, or sometimes to make games super quick (Po with little protection). A good storyteller will know the player group and will tailor the bag for the experience everyone wants. Finally the game starts when every player has received a token, looked at it, and then the story teller collects it again. The Grim holds all of the tokens and reminders to allow the storyteller to track the game.

Gameplay

The game operates in two phases, the Night Phase and the Day Phase, which is common in hidden role games. This is where Mafia, Werewolf, and Town of Salem see their aspects come in. During the Night most characters will use their ability, while others still need a trigger to occur. These actions range from selecting players to receiving information. During the Day, the town communicates, either publicly or privately. A difference from the other games allowing you to limit your information. At the end of the Day town can decide to execute someone. This is the only way to kill the demon, however, some characters want to be executed.

The Day phase is where the social aspect of the game really kicks off, and many can find the most enjoyment, as it allows you to talk to the players, inform them of your information, lie about who you are, and ultimately work with the town to kill someone other than yourself because if your the demon, you want to win, and if your not, well then killing the demon is still not you. As a storyteller, its important to listen to the town, including these private conversations, as these discussions will help you provide assistance to the evil team when they use their abilities. If someone is poisoned, you have the ability to lie to the player, but the lie you tell may not help the evil team if you were not aware of what they told someone.

The Conclusion

Alright so what does this mean for the game overall. Well for starters, I have been tracking the games I play and the games I storytell, and at the time of writing I have 117 games since 2023. This shows I have played 31 different scripts, and have well balanced win-rate of 51%. Please find me in the Deceptively Social Gaming Room at Origins, where I am storytelling, playing, or volunteering to share my passion.

I played Werewolf at Origins in 2022 and 2023, I moved to Clocktower because the characters do more. When drawing a character and it has an ability that isn’t plain villager. Ghosts can talk and still don’t know what’s going on. Blood on the Clocktower its a lot more interactive and as a result I will continue to praise the game. My work schedule has wreaked havoc on my playtime, but I go to two conventions a year. Origins and Final 3, and clocktower is the reason I keep going. I love storytelling, I love playing, and I love the community. There are many memorable games, and I hope that one day I can form a group of my own that allows me to stream it on my channel.