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Vortox

Each night*, choose a player: they die. Townsfolk abilities yield false info. Each day, if no-one is executed, evil wins.

Black is White. Right is Wrong. Left is Right. Up is Long. Down is Sight. Short is Blind. Follow me. Answers find.

Storyteller cues

Other nightsThe Vortox chooses a player. ◦

Jinxes

Banshee

If the Vortox kills the Banshee, all players learn that the Banshee has died.

How to run it (Storyteller)

Every Townsfolk ability that yields information must produce false information while the Vortox is alive — this is a hard rule with no storyteller discretion, so plan night-order information before the game begins. The nastiest edge case is the Monk: a Monk-protected Townsfolk receives true information, which is a visible tell for good players and must be remembered when constructing info. Watch for the Savant specifically — both pieces of information that player receives must be false, which can be harder to engineer than it sounds when combined with other in-play abilities.

How to play

  • Claim a Townsfolk that generates information — Empath, Investigator, or Librarian — because your false-info aura will make your own claimed reads seem plausible chaos rather than deliberate lies.
  • Coordinate with your Minions to ensure at least one execution happens every day; your loss condition (no execution) is equally as threatening as your night kills, so keep evil players ready to self-nominate or push a nomination if good fails to act.
  • Kill high-credibility Townsfolk early — players whose true info would expose the false-info pattern fastest (e.g., Empath with a clean read, Clockmaker) are the ones good will anchor on, so remove them before the town can triangulate.
  • Use the false-info environment offensively: loudly 'confirm' another evil player's false info as matching your own claimed ability, manufacturing a fake information cluster that diverts execution pressure toward innocents.
  • The most common mistake is letting a day pass without an execution — never assume good players will nominate on their own; actively stoke fear and push votes if the day is running dry.

How to fight the Vortox

  • The single strongest Vortox tell is universal information inconsistency: if every Townsfolk's information looks wrong simultaneously rather than one or two players looking poisoned, suspect Vortox rather than a Poisoner or Spy.
  • Monk protection is a diagnostic tool — if the Monk protects a Townsfolk and that player's information suddenly becomes believable or fits reality, it is strong evidence the Vortox is in play and the Monk is functioning.
  • Never skip an execution — even nominating and executing a likely-good player is better than handing evil a free win, so always have a nomination target ready before nominations close.
  • Work backwards from what false information implies: if an Empath claims 0 evil neighbors, assume the true count may be 1 or 2 and use that to triangulate demon and minion positions rather than trusting the number directly.
  • The Drunk is a hidden asset against the Vortox — a Drunk thinking they are a Townsfolk may actually receive true information, so treat Drunk-registered players' claims with more weight than usual if a Vortox is suspected.

Key interactions

Savant

Both pieces of information the Savant receives must be false while Vortox lives, which is a strict mechanical constraint — if a Savant can demonstrate that at least one of their statements is clearly true, the Vortox is almost certainly dead or not in play.

Monk

A Monk-protected Townsfolk escapes the false-info aura entirely and receives true information, making the Monk a powerful diagnostic and a high-priority Vortox kill target once identified.

Cannibal

Even if the Cannibal has eaten a non-Townsfolk ability, the Vortox still forces the Cannibal's information to be false — the usual Cannibal safe-harbour of eating an Outsider or Minion ability does not bypass this.

Drunk

Because the Drunk is mechanically an Outsider rather than a Townsfolk, they are not subject to the false-info aura and may receive true information — good players should recognise this and give unusual credibility to information from a player suspected to be the Drunk.

Fisherman

The storyteller must give the Fisherman advice that fails to help good win, so any advice received while a Vortox is in play should be treated as actively misleading — players should reason about what the advice implies is false rather than acting on it.