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King

Each night, if the dead equal or outnumber the living, you learn 1 alive character. The Demon knows you are the King.

Betwixt the unknown strains of mortal strife / And morbid night, sweet with mystery and woe / Lies unfettered joys of fate’s long and colored life / Who’s garden blooms with each painted Face to Show.

Storyteller cues

First nightWake the Demon: Show the THIS PLAYER IS & King tokens, then point to the King.

Other nightsIf the dead equal or outnumber the living, show the character token of a living player.

Jinxes

Leviathan

If the Leviathan is in play, and at least 1 player is dead, the King learns an alive character each night.

Riot

If Riot is in play, and at least 1 player is dead, the King learns an alive character each night.

How to run it (Storyteller)

Wake the King on the first night so the Demon learns who they are — this happens unconditionally and is separate from the information trigger. From night two onward, check the living vs dead count before waking the King: if dead equal or outnumber living, wake them and show one alive character token of your choice (lean toward useful but not game-breaking information). The nastiest edge case is tracking the threshold precisely on nights when multiple deaths occur simultaneously — resolve the count after all deaths are settled before deciding whether King wakes. Watch for Recluse and Vortox distorting what the King receives or what you show them.

How to play

  • Reveal early and loudly: unlike most information roles, your value to evil is already locked in (the Demon knows you on night one), so hiding your identity gains you almost nothing — announcing yourself lets the town plan around your incoming information.
  • Threshold timing matters: your ability only fires when dead equal or outnumber living, so in a large game you may receive nothing for several nights — don't treat early silence as evidence you're poisoned or malfunctioning.
  • Use your information to cross-reference, not to accuse: the character you learn is confirmed alive, which narrows the pool of Demon candidates and validates or challenges other players' claims — treat it as a living confirmation tool, not a direct accusation engine.
  • Share your received characters publicly as soon as you get them, since your value to the good team is fully realized only when town can cross-reference your confirmations against existing claims.
  • The single most common mistake is waiting to see if more information arrives before speaking — because the Demon already knows who you are from night one, prolonging silence only helps evil stall without giving you any additional safety.

How to bluff as the King

  • Claim King only after a meaningful number of deaths have occurred, so your fake 'ability trigger' looks plausible — claiming it fires on night one before the threshold is reached immediately signals something is wrong.
  • Feed the town a real alive townsfolk as your 'learned character,' ideally someone who has already claimed a low-information role so your confirmation of them seems useful but costs evil nothing.
  • Coordinate with your Demon: since the real King reveals the Demon's identity to the Demon, a fake King gives the Demon cover to claim they knew who the King was 'from night one' — use this to build a false trust chain.
  • The biggest tell is claiming your ability fired on a night when dead did not yet equal or outnumber living — know the exact count and only announce a result on nights where the threshold was genuinely met.

Key interactions

Riot

When Riot is in play, the King's threshold condition is effectively bypassed — any single death activates the nightly ping, turning the King into a reliable nightly scanner rather than a late-game one. If you suspect Riot, treat every King claim that fires early as potentially legitimate rather than a bluff tell.

Leviathan

Like Riot, Leviathan causes the King to receive information every night once any player is dead, which dramatically accelerates how much the King learns — this makes protecting the King from execution even more critical, since evil knows who they are and now they produce information faster.

Recluse

The King may be shown the Recluse as a Minion or Demon type, making an otherwise trustworthy confirmation feel like an accusation — if your King ping points at a player who claims innocence, consider Recluse before pushing for an execution.

Vortox

Under Vortox, every information role's results are false, so the character the King learns is guaranteed to be wrong — a King who is confident in their information and receiving consistent results should factor Vortox into town's hypothesis, especially if executions based on King pings keep missing.