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Storyteller cues
Other nightsThe Tinker might die. ◦
How to run it (Storyteller)
The Tinker's ability triggers at the Storyteller's discretion — you may kill them on any night, including the first, without any in-game mechanic prompting it. Use this sparingly and purposefully: an early Tinker death that mimics a Demon kill can protect a real Demon kill count, while a well-timed death can create chaos during a pivotal night. The key ruling edge is that 'might' means you are never obligated to kill the Tinker, so deliberately keeping them alive the entire game is valid. Watch for situations where the Tinker dying would disproportionately benefit evil — avoid killing them in ways that feel scripted to save the Demon.
How to play
- Reveal early if it helps town: your existence explains a sudden unexpected death that might otherwise be blamed on the Demon, giving your team accurate kill-count information.
- Timing your reveal: if you are alive deep into the game and no mysterious off-cycle death has happened, outing yourself reassures town that any death so far was genuinely Demon-caused and narrows the suspect pool.
- Treat every night as potentially your last — make your information and reads public before sleeping each night so your death never silences a key deduction.
- Do not assume you will die: the Storyteller may never use your ability, and playing passively 'because you might die anyway' wastes your seat at the table.
- The most common mistake is treating yourself as a throwaway vote or execution shield; your outsider status means town should want you alive, not sacrifice you — push back on attempts to execute you cheaply.
- If you die mid-game from no apparent source, confirm it publicly so town can distinguish your outsider death from a Demon kill and avoid miscounting evil's night actions.
How to bluff as the Tinker
- Claim Tinker when you need a low-information, low-commitment cover that still explains why you have survived multiple nights — 'I might die any time but haven't yet' is naturally unfalsifiable.
- Manufacture a near-miss narrative: tell the group the Storyteller clearly considered killing you on a specific night, making your continued survival feel luck-based rather than suspicious.
- Use the bluff to stay under the radar early game; unlike most outsiders you provide no positive information, so town has little mechanical reason to probe you hard — exploit that to observe and gather reads.
- The biggest tell for a fake Tinker is never dying when town expects outsider variance; if the game goes late and every death is clearly Demon-sourced, pressure mounts on you — have a pivot ready or push hard for others to be executed first.
- Pair the Tinker bluff with an aggressive good-player read-sharing persona: since the real Tinker should be vocal, mirroring that behavior makes your bluff harder to distinguish from genuine play.
Key interactions
Ravenkeeper
If the Ravenkeeper is killed on the same night the Storyteller chooses to kill the Tinker, the Ravenkeeper's ability still triggers and learns the Tinker's character — confirming the outsider's existence and potentially helping town reconstruct the night's events accurately.
Soldier
The Tinker's death is Storyteller-controlled and bypasses normal protection logic that applies to Demon attacks; however, if the script includes characters that prevent non-Demon deaths, clarify with your Storyteller whether their protection extends to outsider-mechanic deaths like the Tinker's.