The Blackmailer, pure evil...

Personally I hate this role the most, but only when I'm targetted by him. He is ridiculously strong when used right and yet is often forgotten or not even considered. Here's some tips and tricks for, as well as against, the Blackmailer.

This role has the unique ability to silence anyone he visits at night for the entire following day. No role is immune to him (Veterans on alert will kill the Blackmailer but still be silenced). 

The only thing blackmailed people can say is "I am blackmailed." And they can only do so when they are on trial. That is in most cases way too late... So I'll start by giving some Blackmailer-Counter strategies.

If you're in a game where there are Blackmailers, you may want to tell people during voting to vote for you and cancel to prove they are blackmailed. Encourage this to make sure the mafia doesnt have their way! People who stick up for others are often rewarded with trust.

In my most recent game, I was part of the mafia, and our Blackmailer was acting way too obvious. He silenced someone in the first night and then proceeded to interrogate him during the day. Asking him for his role and commenting that he wasnt replying. He then voted for the target and all the other mafias did too, except for me. 

Long story short, it wasnt enough to lynch him. The target turned out to be an Investigator and he wrote the names of the mafia who voted for him in his will when the Serial Killer got him the next round. The other mafias were vigilanteed, jailored and lynched and I was left alone to clean up their mess. (If you care about what happened after: I managed to get to the last round by doing nothing, luring everyone into the thought that the mafia was all dead, then the jailor made me help lynch the Serial Killer... and then I too got jailored. I got way further than I should have either way...)

Back to the Blackmailer. You should obviously look out for people accusing others of being silent. If such a thing happens and then a sudden mass of votes flush in, you're most likely looking at an obvious mafia strike, or at very gullible town members...

Keep an eye on the chat. Remember who the talkative ones are. If one of them is suddenly accused of being quiet, then stand up for him!

If you yourself are the Blackmailer, then that strategy is obviously the way to go, yes. But dont rush it! Visit your target at least twice before accusing them of being too quiet. But dont actually vote for them yourself. I wouldnt recommend that. Because when it turns out that the target is innocent, you'll be the first to blame. 

When your repeated target hasnt even randomly voted for anyone, you should yourself point out he may be blackmailed and hope that the others doubt it. You, the Blackmailer, should pretend to be standing up against Blackmailers. It's the ultimate plot twist that nobody expects!

Should you get accused at some point, the only role you can claim for yourself is Spy. Since you're part of the mafia anyways, it should be no problem to list all the people who were/werent visited by mafia. Just pray that nobody tries a whisper-test. In fact, hope that your fellow mafiosi do one to help you out! That's brilliant!

He's probably my favourite and least favourite evil role at the same time! So simple at first and yet so evil...

The Jailor and his very slippery soap

This guy is a mix of the Escort, the Vigilante and a Consigliere. He's usually the nicest person in the game and he normally doesnt talk much during the day. He's also one of the highest priority targets for all evil roles. Here's my take on the Jailor.

As the Jailor you have the ability to take someone into prison every night. To do so you must use your ability button (the one that looks like a Sun up next to your Will) at day time. Always remember to do that as soon as someone is suspicious because it is very easy to forget!

When you have someone in jail, you two can talk. Your prisoner will not know who you are. And if you choose to do that, you have the ability to execute your target too. 

Some things to remember:

- You cannot execute in the first night.

- If you execute an innocent, you loose all your remaining executions.

- You only have three executions.

- You can be blocked from executing your target by roleblockers.

- There is only one Jailor per game.

- If you jail a Serial Killer and dont execute him, he will kill you.

- Your prisoner is safe from harm but is also roleblocked.

Onto the playstyle. Since you cannot execute anyone in the first night, it's entirely up to you if you want to jail anyone. The only advantage is that you'd get a start on people's possible roles and may be able to make an ally. The disadvantages are that you might roleblock an investigative role. You might get killed by the Serial Killer. People may not even talk to you because you cant kill them on the first night anyways. Choose yourself if you want to jail someone in the first night.

Make sure you leave everything you know in your will. If you happen to get an investigator in there then make sure to add his info to yours too! 

You should also consider using a password, or if you want to prepare for people stealing it, use several passwords. One per night. The password is for you to say when you're getting lynched, so your prisoners can vouch for your innocence. Obviously if you only use one password, one of your evil prisoners might use that to save themselves, so you might want to point out that you had one password per night.

In any case, once it's daytime again, you will want to watch your former prisoners closely. If they claim a different role than they did in jail, jail them again and execute. 

Also if nobody died, then also get the same prisoner again. And if nobody dies in two consecutive nights where you had the same prisoner, it's more or less safe to execute him.

If there are jesters or executioners proven in the town, then dont hesitate to execute them too. They arent innocent so they wont remove your remaining executions. They might also get in the way of votings later in the game.

Remember that there is always that chance you'll imprison the Serial Killer. Keep your will updated so if you do die, the other townies will know who your last prisoner was.

A good way to put pressure on your prisoner is to hit the execute button right off the bat. They will see that you're about to kill them and panic. You can always stop the execution by hitting the button again. But doing this will definitely filter out some inexperienced evil roles.

If you do die to the Serial Killer you imprisoned, the game will tell you that it was your prisoner. There wil be a message saying "You were killed by the Serial Killer you jailed." If that message doesnt show up and you were still killed by the Serial Killer, then your prisoner wasnt it! Be sure to tell the medium at night!

If someone is proven innocent by others or by people's wills, then it may be a good idea to jail them. Doing so will protect them. You can also feel free to tell them who you are, so they can vouch for you. 

Dont feel bad if someone talks trash to you when you decide to execute them. Your executions are up to you and usually they should be for pretty solid evidence. If your prisoner still turns out to be innocent, it's entirely their fault for either lying or misleading people, or the evil roles liek the Framer were exceptionally cunning. If you're a good Jailor doing his job the way he's supposed to, a dead innocent town member should never be your own fault!

The Jester; Why even..?

The Jester is such a tricky role (pun intended). And everybody seems to have their own strategy, but before I go into ones I would recommend, I'm going to start by mentioning the two idiotic playstyles that arent even worth calling "a strategy".

The Spammer: Self-explanatory. These Jesters seem to think that if they spam the chat with irrelevant nonsense, they'll get lynched. Newsflash: They dont. Rarely it just gets you muted, but because most players dont know about the /mute command, in most of the cases being a spammer just gets you killed at night.

The waste of life: These jesters are surprisingly common. For no reason or justification they simply annoy and insult everyone, interruptng people and spamming rude obnoxious junk in the chat. This guy also believes that his behaviour will get him lynched. Again, it doesnt. The highlight of one match was such a jester being killed by a Vigilante, the Mafia and the Serial Killer at the same time. I emplore everyone in a round with such a waste of life to report them, and if they are a killing role, to gang up and murder him at night. Thank you.

If you cant wait till night time, the mute command is /mute name

For example: /mute jesterguy

Now onto the more social and recommendable strategies. Remember, your target is to get lynched. If you die at night, then you loose. And when you do manage to get lynched you win the round regardless of which other faction prevails in the end. You also have the one-time ability to kill one of your guilty-voters the night after you've been hung.

The problem is that asking nicely wont get you lynched. Teaming with a side in the end isnt going to get you lynched either because neither side wants to waste their time with lynching you and nobody wants to risk dying after you've had your way.

The most reliable way to get lynched for me is to not want it. When people start voting for you then keep arguing with points why you're not guilty. That there's no proof. Refuse to give out your role. That normally does the trick once the votes start rolling.

You should at all costs avoid making yourself a high-priority night time target. Dont claim to be an investigative role directly, but pretend to be one by accusing someone who is hopefully innocent. Doing so will make the mafia realise that you're not a threat to them. it should hopefully keep you alive. If you get jailed, claim to be a Lookout, Sheriff or Investigator. Or if you're feeling confident, you can be honest and say you'll help take down the mafia if you're lynched. That worked for me once...

Anyways, my usual tactic is to accuse someone innocent, and then get lynched after said person dies. People usually go for the person that accused someone innocent after an unsuccessful lynch.

You could also try the classic whisper-fail. Fail at whispering to someone on purpose so everybody sees it. Dont make it super obvious. Say something like "I was roleblocked" or "Were you roleblocked?" when nobody died to mafia. Obviously aim the whisper at someone who hasnt yet been confirmed as innocent., or it will backfire.

Once you do get lynched, it's entirely up to you who you want to kill. If someone helped me get lynched, I never go for that person. Usually I aim for someone who was rude to me with their silly "10/10 defence" comments or for someone in hopes to end the game quickly. But remember, if the game ends in a draw, you will loose even if you got lynched! So if you have a chance to prevent a tie by killing the other neutral role who isnt helping with either side's votes, then I'd go for that.

"Playing the Jester card" is also a worthy attempt to not get lynched. if you're a mafia member or even a townie you could try to look like a jester to get yourself out of a noose. In most cases that wont work tho.

So there you have it. If you cant get help from either side then just start accusing the wrong people and see where that gets you. Remember that you're neutral, so you dont have to listen to anybody. Happy Hanging!

The Sheriff, where's my gun?!

I just had one of the more memorable round of Town of Salem in a while. I helped catch most of the evildoers and started that before the roles were even assigned! I'll start with that and then go more into the role of Sheriff in general further down.

I was having a tough day in the game. The two rounds before that one I was killed first and the townies lost in the end too. So during name selection, I pleaded to the goodness of the others and asked for a heal, jail or a protect in the first night. Doing that is a good idea in any case. No matter what role you get, there's benefits to it. 

Most of the times I've done that, I was attacked by trolls in the first night anyways. And every time, the lookout was watching me too. Sometimes even the doc or a bodyguard obliged and we managed to both prove my innocence and lynch the evildoers. Sometimes when you're not an investigative role, making yourself a target to help the others is a great way to help the townies win.

Anyways, back to my recent game. I pleaded to the goodness of the others and sure enough, I was protected by the bodyguard in the first night and the Serial Killer bit the dust.

At the same time, as sheriff, I investigated someone and found out he was part of the mafia (or framed)

Because the Bodyguard had written in his Will that he protected me, that proved my innocence to the others. Likewise, someone was proven Veteran in the same day, so I whispered to him about my lead on the mafia. I also revealed that lead to everyone but said I would double check.

To my surprise, someone defended the person, saying they were in a call together and both innocent. I took note of that. At that point, the framer was obviously going to go for the same person again, if I said I would double check. Any good framer would do so. So I instead checked out the guy who defended my first suspect, who also turned out to be mafia. The game ended quickly.

Anyways, the Sheriff. This guy is apparantly the local law enforcement. No wait, just the law. He has no weapon to enforce anything. Once a night you can find out if someone is Mafia, Serial Killer or not suspicious.

Some things to remember: 

- If your target was framed, it will appear as if he is mafia.

- The Godfather and the Arsonist will appear to be not suspicious.

- If there is a Transporter in the round, you might need to double check because he might switch your targets without you knowing it.

- If there is a Witch controlling you, she too will switch your target to someone else without you knowing who.

As the Sheriff you're always off double-checking someone if you find someone who is mafia. Afterall you've got the above points to remember. Mainly the Framer. You're safer if you dont say anything about your target until you've checked twice. But you could try setting a little honey trap like mine if you want to, although I'd recommend only to do that if you've been proven innocent already...

If the game has reached the point where only a Godfather or Arsonist is left, your ability is useless. You'll want to remind the other roles, such as the Doctor or Bodyguard, so they dont let someone who is still important die and protect you, who cannot help anymore.

Should you however be in a game with new-ish players who may not know they are undetectable, you could try trapping them and having the Lookout watch you, or the Bodyguard protect you...

So that's the Sheriff. There really isnt much to him. Remember to always double-check possible mafia and more than anything, use logic and try to outwit your opposition.

The Executioner, a key player!

So I had a very fun round yesterday. I was part of the Mafia and despite our framer leaving before the round even started, we managed to pull out a win because we managed to identify and ally with the Executioner towards the end.

One particular player was not pleased at all with this evil alliance and proceeded to report us for "not playing the game the way it's meant to be played" before we lynched him. I was later told that the dead chat then gave him a royal scalding and he quit.

Despite that particular player's obvious ignorance and probable mental age of six and a half, I feel I should address the neutral roles in general in this post about the Executioner. So let's go!

The Executioner is yet another role that is really strong and yet still unpopular. Barely anyone would want to be the Executioner, but during the round it's important to find him quickly.

Your one and only condition to win the game is to lynch a randomly-assigned town member. Once that townie is dead, you win, regardless of the round's outcome and of your own survival. Should your target get killed at night, you will become a jester. You will not become a jester when your target is lynched, in that case you will remain an executioner for the remainder of the round.

(I should probably mention this too: If the round ends in a draw, you will loose even if your target is lynched. But you can disregard that as draw's are extremely rare).

As this guy, you are a neutral role. You can choose to side with any faction you want. Whichever one seems the most likely to help you achieve your goal. And yes, in rare cases the townies will help you too. Very rare cases. But before I get into alliances, I'll list a few tips for the Executioner on his own.

Dont jump the gun and accuse someone on day two. People will always have the possibility of Executioner in mind when they see random accusations. If you're feeling ballsy however, you can say that you have a lead that you'll be followin up the next night. Sometimes people ask to reveal said lead anyways and sometimes that even gets your target lynched immediately, since the evil roles never miss out on an opportunity to make townies look bad..

At night time, for a change you dont need to worry about being killed. The Executioner has immunity and doesnt risk being shot by the Veteren either, because he doesnt even visit people. There is a chance that you'll get attacked though. In that case the mafia will easily believe you're the Serial Killer. And he will easily make the assumption that you're the godfather. And if you're playing in a round with arsonists, you'll be mistaken for one of those too. Not good.

That little honey trap i mentioned above, the simple mentioning of a lead you'll follow up, is a great start to the game in any case. If you do use that line, you will be mistaken for an investigator and likely be targetted in the night. The next day, when the evil roles failed to kill you, and assuming they're somewhat open-minded, they should come to the realisation that you're the Executioner when you reveal your made-up confirmed lead on your target and help you vote him onto the gallows.

And should that plan fail because your target was killed at night, simply accuse some random person and if he dies, you'll be the next to lynch. But you'll get your fair share of jester tips when i make the post about him.

Sometimes to get your evil allies, my little honey trap will work as follows: Day Two, you say you have a possible lead. Day Three you reveal your target is an evil role. If the lynch isnt successful, there's the mafia mentality of "If i attack the guy accusing someone, then that second someone will be suspected and lynched". The mafia will target you and find out you're immune. Again, assuming the mafia are somewhat open-minded, they'll realise you're the executioner and try to get your target lynched with you.

When the executioner really comes into his element is when there's an equal amount of townies and evil roles left. When you are the deciding vote in overpowering a side. Before you do this next thing, make sure the jailor is dead. He is the destroyer of your world because he is the only one that can kill you whenever he sees fit.

As soon as the game reaches the point of equal sides, the executioner can reveal who his target is. Promise the mafia to help them end the game quicker if they spare your target at night. If they refuse and kill your target anyways, they're just being dicks.

But normally this will work and the game should end within the next two days and you'll win alongside them.

So to summarise, just like most neutral roles, you side with who you see fit to best help you get what you want. When the game reaches the point of equal sides, you can afford to openly assure your allies who you are in chat because there's nothing the townies can do to outvote you anymore anyways. 

Yes, that will seem unfair to the remaining townies, but that's not your problem. The game is over, all that remains is to kill them to end it. The evil alliance wins. That is "the way the game is meant to be played"!

The Medium, why so disappointed?

Well the medium is an unpopular role. You can talk to the dead, or to the living once when you're dead. Big Whoop, right? But think of it this way: 

- You're one of the few roles that can make allies somewhat reliably. 

- You're one of the few roles that can prove your role, to some extent. 

- You can also help convey what the dead didnt manage to! 

- Should you die, you can gather information from the dead and deliver it to the living later in the game. 

The medium is versatile! Let me talk you through those things...

Making allies: Lets assume that the game started horribly. Sheriff and Investigator got murdered and the Doctor was shot by a Veteran he visited. That is an awful start to any game.

At this point I'd start writing my will.Write down the dead roles with space for what they said next to them. And at night, question the dead. What did the Sheriff and Investigator find out? Maybe they found a person who is 100% innocent. Like the Doctor. He should know who the Veteran is that he visited..

Either way, you should have a few names from them. Hopefully some innocent people's names. The next day you should immediately whisper to those and say that you know they're innocent and that you'll stand up for them. Tell them you're a medium, there's nothing wrong with doing that in whispering. When you've made allies, tell them who is guilty, if you know any. That's how to make allies as the medium. You may not reliably be able to get people's attention as a medium, but the people you ally with can try to gather actual evidence to do that for you...

Should you get lynched dont insist on shouting out your role. Medium is probably the most used lie there is because you can just claim anything without people being able to check the validity of it. Instead try to name the other innocents or what the dead told you. With some luck, assuming the leftover survivors are somewhat smart, you should get spared. 

People who stand up for others are more than likely to be innocent as well. Afterall the mafia already have each-other as allies, Only very rarely do they bother allying with innocents as well... 

And if you do get killed, you left your will with all the info, right?

When you're dead early on, dont leave. When other people die, they can tell you who is reliable and you can contact that person later in the game with information they need to win!

But dont worry. for whatever reason the medium isnt considered a high priority target by the evil roles. If you do have to give out your role, you're mostly not targeted the night after. You can also somewhat rely on people taking care of, or watching you if you did have to give your role out. So concentrate your effort on getting as much info as possible from the dead into your will.

And remember that there is nothing wrong with telling the dead who you are. There's nothing they can do with that info that'd get you into trouble and it'll help them better judge who is and who isnt evil.

Failing everything, if you're dead and the game looks to be over, you can use your ability for a little fun. Why not contact the Serial Killer at night and joke around with him? He might give up his evil ways for you if you ask nicely... 

People do enjoy some company at night if they've been alone all game...

The Transporter, smells of gas, eh?

This role is quite powerful late-game and usually quite annoying earlier in the round. Here's my take on the Transporter.

The Transporter has the ability to switch two people's places, thus swapping all their incoming targets too. You can choose yourself to be one of those too. The people who are switched will know they've been transported.

Although this role doesnt sound very impressive, the possibilities are vast. The first thought that comes to mind is to protect yourself by switching with anyone random. Of course this works.

However I would suggest not to use your ability too early in the game. The first few nights you should really only use your ability if you really have to. Remember that you're swapping around the targets of investigators too. If a Sheriff targets you, and you accidentally switch with a mafioso, you'll be suspected as a mafioso!

That goes for anyone else too. The transporter can be a real pain for the townie investigators! So really try to keep the use of your ability to a mimimum. Use it to protect the mayor, or when the evil people start being identified.

Once the town starts figuring out who is evil, the transporter can start having fun. Switch the evil people with high priority targets to hopefully get them killed by friendly fire. Or switch the targets with night-immune people to protect them instead.

People who have left the game are good for the transporter. If you want to just survive the night, you might want to consider swapping places with a quitter, since they are the least likely to be targetted.

To the sheriff, you'll be reported as innocent. However the transporter may get into a little trouble with the investigators because he smells like gas. Much like the Arsonist. You might need to prove your role by swapping your accuser with yourself or someone at night.

Because the transporter is such a problem with the investigators, if you do use your ability, make sure to keep a record of it. You and others will need to be able to figure out who was really targetted.

So in short: Dont overuse your ability too early and when you do, keep a record of it; Enjoy transporting!

On a side note: If you're playing as an Arsonist, a good defence is claiming to be a transporter. If people say that nobody was transported all game, simply say that you didnt want to confuse the investigators and that your ability is best late-game. That trick has gotten me out of quite a few close calls.

Pointers and Help

Here's some things you might want to know. They might be obvious to some, but some of these are quite unknown and might help improve your playstyle.

- You can whisper to people with the command /w name or with their number in the round with /w number. Use it to get allies if you find out someone is innocent.

- If someone is being a very bad jester, simply spamming chat with obnoxious messages, try muting him with /mute number. So far this only works if you're alive.. I'm afraid the dead people will just have to bear it. You might want to report the person too, to prevent him from continuing his bad-kiddie playstyle...

- You can look back at the entire happening of the round by clicking on the speech bubble up next to your Will. Dont worry if you missed something, just scroll up and double check. Maybe dont do it at day time though, you'll miss other things.

- As the Jailor, you may want to give every prisoner a pasword. When you're about to be lynched, say it and they should vote you innocent. Such a minor detail could save your life...

- People who leave the game at day time have their name in brackets like so [Lucy]. If you're a transporter, you can still put them to good use. Try switching people with them, as the quitters are more than likely not going to get targetted...

- Watch out for traps. If people reveal an investigative role, they are likely using themselves as bait for the Lookout, or they are in fact a veteran that will shoot anyone who visits them.

- Try to understand who you're playing with. People have a unique way of writing. Maybe there was a Smiley in the DeathNote that someone used in the pre-game lobby or during the round? Little things like that can make a difference.

Likewise, if somebody silent suddenly becomes a talker, it may be an Executioner who turned into a Jester or even a Mafia Disguiser!

- Never give out your role unless it is absolutely necessary! Jail is an exception, but during the day you can often just point out that the person accusing you could be an Executioner, and you don't want to reveal your role to not become a target.

- Revealed Mayors cannot be healed by doctors. Many people dont know this. And as the Mayor is such an obvious target, it may be worth attacking him anyways since the town may think an attack would be too obvious!

- The neutral roles are not evil! Jesters and Executioners don't have to be killed to win the game. But they might try to side with the mafia if they promise to help them get their goal.

- When you are on trial, don't be rude. Try explaining with logic or reasoning why you're "innocent". Point out for example that you havent found anyone evil yet, but you know that A and B are innocent. The evil roles very rarely stand up for others and doing so might just save you from being lynched.