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Harpy

Each night, choose 2 players: tomorrow, the 1st player is mad that the 2nd is evil, or one or both might die.

So fair a day I never did see, nor so fowl a presence hanging over me.

Storyteller cues

First nightThe Harpy chooses 2 players. ◦ ◦ Put the Harpy to sleep. Wake the 1st target. Show the THIS CHARACTER SELECTED YOU token, the Harpy token, then point to the 2nd target.

Other nightsThe Harpy chooses 2 players. ◦ ◦ Put the Harpy to sleep. Wake the 1st target. Show the THIS CHARACTER SELECTED YOU token, the Harpy token, then point to the 2nd target.

How to run it (Storyteller)

Each night, Harpy privately selects two players and you note the pairing; the next day, player 1 must act mad that player 2 is evil, or you may kill one or both of them at any point that day or the following night. Track madness pairings carefully because a Harpy that dies, is exiled, or becomes drunk/poisoned mid-day silently ends any active madness obligation — the affected player does not learn this, so do not inform them. The nastiest edge case: a player can die in the night phase for breaking yesterday's Harpy madness before the Harpy even acts again in the current night, so adjudicate kill order precisely. Watch for players who are genuinely trying to satisfy madness versus those who forgot or are bluffing compliance.

How to play

  • Prioritise targeting the Investigator, Empath, or any confirmed information role as player 1, forcing them to publicly vouch for a known evil teammate or face death — this corrupts their credibility with the good team regardless of which way it goes.
  • Use player 2 selectively: naming a Minion already suspected by the town as player 2 costs you little, but naming your Demon as player 2 on a player the good team trusts forces that trusted player to either endorse your Demon or die, actively shielding your most important asset.
  • Coordinate with your Demon so they know who is under madness obligation and can adjust their kill target — if player 1 is visibly trying to comply but the good team is laughing it off, let them live and maintain pressure; if player 1 is loudly refusing, killing them confirms the threat is real and disciplines future targets.
  • Claim a social role with no night information, such as Pacifist, Seamstress, or Juggler, to explain why you are awake at night without raising suspicion; avoid claiming roles with verifiable day-phase outputs that require you to fabricate consistent information.
  • The most common mistake is targeting the same player repeatedly or making your madness demands too obvious in tone — vary your targets and let deaths appear coincidental so the town debates Demon kills rather than deducing a Harpy is forcing compliance.

How to fight the Harpy

  • A Harpy's presence is signalled by players dying on days when no obvious Demon kill logic exists, especially after a player loudly contradicted someone's claimed alignment — catalogue suspicious deaths against recent public statements to triangulate who the Harpy might be targeting.
  • When you suspect you are under madness obligation, immediately tell the group privately before performing any public act, because if you act mad and the Harpy is already dead or poisoned, you are handing free misdirection to evil for no reason.
  • Bait the Harpy by having a trusted good player loudly refuse any madness claim in advance — if that player then dies overnight, it narrows the evil team's composition and confirms Harpy is in play, giving you actionable execution targets.
  • Recognise that satisfying madness still damages the good team socially; compliance is not automatically safe, so weigh whether dying is more useful than endorsing an evil player who will then be protected by your credibility.
  • Once Harpy is confirmed, nominating and executing the Harpy itself is the cleanest neutralisation — unlike many Minions, removing the Harpy stops all active madness obligations silently mid-day, so track whether previously obligated players suddenly change their tune as a secondary confirmation.

Key interactions

Poisoner

If the Poisoner poisons the Harpy, any active madness obligation silently lapses — the obligated player does not know they are free, so they may continue performing madness unnecessarily or be punished by a confused Storyteller if the Harpy regains sobriety. As Harpy, avoid nights where you suspect your own team's Poisoner might accidentally drip onto you; as good, a Poisoner-in-play rumour is not a reliable reason to call the Harpy's bluff.

Drunk

A Harpy who is actually the Drunk believes they are choosing targets and creating madness obligations, but no obligation is generated and no death threat exists — this can make the Drunk appear innocent since they never seem to cause harm, and the good team should weight the absence of Harpy-linked deaths as evidence against a Harpy nomination rather than for one.