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Artist

Once per game, during the day, privately ask the Storyteller any yes/no question.

Mon Dieu! C'est lumineux! My work, she is... how you say... Magnifique! Dieu est révélé! Oui.

How to run it (Storyteller)

When an Artist privately asks their question, pull them aside during the day and answer truthfully yes, no, or 'I don't know' — use 'I don't know' only when the answer genuinely cannot be determined (e.g., a question about future events or something outside the game state), and offer a rephrasing prompt if the question is ambiguous or compound. The nastiest edge case is an overly broad question like 'Is anyone lying to me?' which is unanswerable; redirect them to a specific, answerable formulation before committing to a response. Watch for the Artist burning their ability on a question you can definitively answer versus one that forces an 'I don't know,' and ensure the Drunk or Poisoned Artist is told a potentially false answer — mark this clearly on your sheet so you remember to lie.

How to play

  • Question design is everything: the value of the ability lives entirely in what you ask, so spend most of the game composing the single most information-dense yes/no question you can — something that confirms or eliminates an entire theory rather than a minor detail.
  • Ask late, not early: the longer you wait, the more data you have to construct a precise question; asking on day one wastes the ability on a hypothesis you could narrow down socially for free.
  • Target the demon directly when you can: a question like 'Is [specific player] the Imp?' is maximally decisive if you have a credible suspect, and a yes collapses the game immediately.
  • Confirm your own information first: if you have received a claim from another player that would change your strategy if false, use the ability to validate it — catching a single lying townsfolk or Minion claim is often more valuable than a direct demon hunt.
  • Never publicly reveal your question or answer immediately: your knowledge of the confirmed fact is a private asymmetric edge; announce it only when it will clinch an execution or protect an innocent, not to look credible.
  • Most common mistake: asking a question whose answer you could deduce through normal deduction or by simply asking the player directly, leaving you with a burned ability and no new information.

How to bluff as the Artist

  • Claim Artist but delay revealing any 'answer' for as long as possible — the ability is once per game and naturally slow, so stonewalling fits the role perfectly without raising suspicion.
  • Manufacture a false confirmation: tell the town your question was something like 'Is there a Minion in seats 1-5?' and claim the answer was no, strategically protecting evil players or misdirecting the demon hunt away from your team.
  • Target a trusted good player with your fake confirmation: saying 'I asked if [confirmed-good player] was evil and got yes' poisons trust without requiring corroboration, since the Storyteller's private answer is unverifiable.
  • The main tell is being pushed to reveal your exact question: genuine Artists often remember precisely what they asked and why; a bluffing evil player who gives a vague or shifting question description looks off, so lock in a specific, plausible question beforehand.
  • If you are an Imp or Minion who has already absorbed real information, use that to make your fake Artist answer sound unnervingly accurate — claiming you confirmed something that happens to be true launders your actual knowledge as an ability result.

Key interactions

Poisoner

If the Artist is poisoned when they ask their question, the Storyteller may answer falsely, and the Artist has no way to know they received misinformation — a poisoned answer can corrupt the Artist's entire strategic model, so consider whether unusual quietness from a Poisoner might indicate they timed their poison around your question.

Drunk

A Drunk Artist believes they have a reliable once-per-game oracle but receives a potentially false answer every time; since the ability fires only once, there is no second attempt to cross-check, making the Drunk Artist one of the most completely neutered townsfolk in the game.