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Knaves

There are 2 Storytellers: one lies & one tells the truth. Once per game, at dusk, they might switch.

Every wall is a door. Every meal is a feast.

How to run it (Storyteller)

Add Knaves when you want to introduce a persistent information asymmetry at the Storyteller level itself, forcing players to distrust official rulings and clarifications rather than just each other. Designate yourself clearly as one of the two Storytellers before the game, and decide privately which one lies and which tells the truth. The optional once-per-game switch at dusk should be used when the game needs a shake-up — typically when good has built too much certainty from consistent Storyteller behavior, or when evil is struggling to exploit the confusion.

Playing with the Knaves — as good

  • Treat every Storyteller answer as potentially false; cross-reference all official information against in-game claims from your fellow players to triangulate which Storyteller is lying.
  • Track patterns across multiple nights and days — a Storyteller who has been consistent is more likely the truth-teller, but remember the switch can happen once, so recalibrate if answers suddenly change character.
  • Use roles that generate hard mechanical outcomes (deaths, nominations, abilities that resolve publicly) as anchors, since those are harder to lie about than flavor or judgment calls.
  • If both Storytellers give the same answer to the same question, lean toward trusting that answer — coordinated lying on identical questions is harder to pull off cleanly.
  • Prioritize asking yes/no questions where the lie is starkly falsifiable rather than open questions where a misleading truth is possible.

Playing with the Knaves — as evil

  • Exploit the doubt: any time a Storyteller confirms a good player's claim, remind the town that confirmation means nothing since one Storyteller lies, seeding distrust without needing a bluff.
  • Pay close attention to which Storyteller interactions have been consistent — if you can identify the truth-teller, you can lean into contradicting only the liar's rulings to seem credible.
  • If you know the switch has not happened yet, push good players to over-rely on the truth-teller's pattern early, then encourage noise around the switch moment to maximize confusion.
  • Use the Knaves environment to launder bad logic — claims that would normally be verifiable against Storyteller responses become genuinely ambiguous, giving you cover for weak bluffs.
  • Avoid over-explaining mechanical rulings yourself; let the Knaves confusion do the work, and redirect the town toward arguing about which Storyteller to trust rather than focusing on player-level deception.