"Blood on the Clocktower is a game of murder and mystery, lies and logic, deduction and deception for five-to-twenty courageous players and one devious storyteller.
A social game played in person, seated in a circle, each player receives either a ‘good’ or ‘evil’ token with their unique character on it. Good players share information to solve the mystery whilst evil players lie about who they are and what they know. The good team wins if they can piece together their knowledge, trust each other, and execute the demon. The evil team wins if the demon can sow distrust, evade detection, and wipe out the village."
If you're at an in-person event, the referee for the game is called the "Storyteller" and they will be prepared to explain the rules and bring you into the game. Ask them anything you'd like to know before or during the game.
The entry-level script for Blood on the Clocktower beginners is called "Trouble Brewing." If you are totally new to the game, strongly consider multiple games of "Trouble Brewing" to learn the game's fundamentals before trying out intermediate and advanced scripts.
Just tell me what I need to know with a 1-page game rules explanation
Show me the player handout ("script") for Trouble Brewing
Give me a narrative explanation of how to play Blood on the Clocktower (2022.05.13, 9 minutes)
Give me a simple slide deck explanation (2021.05.30, 2.5 minutes)
Listen to this excerpt from Reality Escape Pod w/ Guest Steven Medway (2025.05.21, summed up in about 4 minutes, excerpt starts at 00:06:42)
Here are multiple in-person games facilitated by the creators of the game:
TPI & Friends play Trouble Brewing (2019.04, 45 minutes)
TPI & Friends play Trouble Brewing (2019.10 game 1, 35 minutes)
TPI & Friends play Trouble Brewing (2019.10 game 2, 42 minutes)
TPI & Friends play Trouble Brewing (2023.07.26, 40 minutes)
Other content creator games sponsored by TPI...
Dicebreaker plays Trouble Brewing (2019.11.02, 55 minutes)
No Roles Barred plays Trouble Brewing (2022.05.14, 2 hours)
Smoosh plays Trouble Brewing (2024.05.24, 50 minutes)
Good Time Society plays Trouble Brewing (2025.03.11, 90 minutes)
Smoosh plays Trouble Brewing (2025.05.30, 60 minutes)
I enjoy reading rules, show me the complete rulebook
Send me headfirst down the rabbit hole, show me Trouble Brewing on the BotC Wiki
Give me the creator's perspective, take me to the behind the curtain blog
Give me an in-depth profile of each character in the game via Spotify | Cult of the Clocktower Podcast
There are 2 intermediate level "scripts" called "Bad Moon Rising" and "Sects & Violets."
These are included in the box with the retail version of the game.
Once you understand the basic mechanics of the game from "Trouble Brewing," you'll be ready to have even more fun with intermediate scripts. Conventional wisdom is that new players players should play at least 3 to 10 games of "Trouble Brewing" before trying their hand at the intermediate scripts, but you can jump in earlier if you're brave.
Let me see the player handout ("script") for Bad Moon Rising
Show me Bad Moon Rising on the BotC Wiki
Complete game videos of Bad Moon Rising:
TPI & Friends play Bad Moon Rising (2019.04, 38 minutes)
No Roles Barred plays Bad Moon Rising (2022.11.19, 90 minutes)
Let me see the player handout ("script") for Sects & Violets
Show me Sects & Violets on the BotC Wiki
Complete game videos of Sects & Violets:
TPI & Friends play Sects & Violets (2019.04, 27 minutes)
No Roles Barred plays Sects & Violets (2022.12.17, 90 minutes)
Mt. Unpleasant plays Sects & Violets | Episode 1 (2025.07.03, 90 minutes)
Mt. Unpleasant plays Sects & Violets | Episode 2 (2025.07.04, 2 hours)
Mt. Unpleasant plays Sects & Violets | Episode 3 (2025.07.18, 2 hours)
New characters for the game continue to be introduced by the creators of the game on a regular basis.
The Pandemonium Institute released The Carousel expansion in July 2025 that includes multiple new character tokens.
See The Carousel Almanac for more information.
All characters can be mixed and matched to create Custom Scripts with the Script Tool
I want to learn about Experimental Characters
I want to see a few Custom Scripts
I want to see more Custom Scripts endorsed by the game publisher
(There are more links to a curated lists of scripts on this website under the "SCRIPTS" tab.)
Wonderful! I've put together a list of helpful resources for you across this website to help you become a great Storyteller:
Blood on the Clocktower is distributed to local game stores across the county.
Check with your Friendly Local Game Store that stocks hobby games.
Alternatively, you could buy the game directly from The Pandemonium Institute.
Find a local group or start your own circle.
Check out the official Blood on the Clocktower app
Find a Discord server of players who play online on the Blood on the Clocktower Subreddit