Una Notte da Lupi Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Goal of the Game
• Setup
• The Game
  • The Night
  • The Day
  • Lynching and End of the Game
  • Special Cases
• Tips and Notes
• The Characters
• Order of Play

Components

• 15 large character tiles:
  • 2 Werewolves
  • 1 Seer
  • 3 Peasants
  • 1 Swindler
  • 1 Troublemaker
  • 2 Masons
  • 1 Undead
  • 1 Mythomaniac
  • 1 Apprentice Sorcerer
  • 1 Werepenguin
  • 1 Werehamster
• 15 small character tokens
• 1 speaker tile
• These rules

Goal of the Game

The game has two factions: the Werewolves and the Humans. The goal of the Humans is to find the Werewolves. The goal of the Werewolves is to avoid being discovered.

Setup

(Before the first game, carefully remove the tiles from the punch-out frames.)

For the first game, we suggest playing with at most 5 players. Build a character set as follows:

Players	Werewolves	Peasants	Seer	Swindler	Troublemaker
3	2	1	1	1	1
4	2	2	1	1	1
5	2	3	1	1	1

(If you have more than 5 players, add characters so that there are three more characters than the number of players.)

Shuffle the characters, deal one face down to each player, and place two face down in the centre of the table. Discard the remaining characters into the box, without anyone seeing them. Take also the tokens that match the characters in the set and place them in the centre of the table (these tokens remind everyone which characters are in play). Return the other characters and the unused tokens to the box.

Each player secretly looks at their own character and keeps it face down in front of them, next to the two cards in the middle, so that the cards form a circle. Every player must be able to reach any character easily by stretching out a hand.

One of the players is named the "speaker": being the speaker gives no advantage. The speaker is nevertheless a player in every respect; their additional task is to call out the characters and the phases of the game.

The Game

The game is divided into two phases: the night and the day. At night the players keep their eyes closed: in turn, some characters open their eyes and carry out a special action. During the day they discuss and decide whom to lynch. After just one night and one day, the game ends!

The Night

The speaker announces the start of the night ("It is night, everyone close your eyes"). All players close their eyes (including the speaker).

The speaker, without opening their eyes, calls out loud, one by one, the characters that are present in the game. For each character, the speaker announces the start of the phase, counts 10 seconds to give them time to act, then announces the end of the phase and moves on to the next. The player who has the called character opens their eyes, carries out the special action (printed on the tile), then closes their eyes again. While the called character acts, the other players keep their eyes closed: they may not communicate with one another in any way.

(If one of the called characters belongs to the speaker, the speaker behaves normally, opening their eyes and doing what the character allows them to do.) For the order in which characters are called, see the last page (Order of Play). Once all the characters in play have been called, the night ends.

Example of a four-player game. The speaker announces the night: "It is night, everyone close your eyes." All players, including the speaker, close their eyes. The speaker calls the Werewolves' phase. "The Werewolves open their eyes and recognise each other." The players with a Werewolf open their eyes and recognise each other. The speaker then counts 10 seconds silently, and calls the end of the phase: "8... 9... 10... The Werewolves close their eyes." The Werewolves close their eyes and the game moves to the next character. "The Seer opens their eyes: look at one character of another player or the two tiles in the centre." The Seer does so. "The Seer closes their eyes. The Troublemaker opens their eyes: swap the characters to your right and left. The Troublemaker does so. The Troublemaker closes their eyes. Swindler, open your eyes: swap your character with another and then look at it." The Swindler does so. "Swindler, close your eyes." The speaker then announces: "It is day, everyone open your eyes!"

The Day

The speaker now declares the start of the day ("It is day, everyone open your eyes"). All players open their eyes.

The players must now choose someone to lynch; they may talk among themselves to identify who the Werewolves are through hypotheses, deductions and contradictions. The Werewolves, mixed in with the others, will tend to deflect suspicion onto the Humans. One may lie freely, but one may never show one's own character to the others!

During the day it is forbidden to look at your own character! Some actions allow characters in play to be swapped, so you might think you have one character while in reality you have another. Your role is always given by the character in front of you, which may differ from the one you had at the start of the game!

Lynching and End of the Game

After a maximum of five minutes of discussion, the players vote for whom to lynch. The speaker says "3... 2... 1... vote!" and all players vote at the same time. Every player (always including the speaker) indicates the player they want to lynch.

All characters are revealed. The player with the most votes is lynched:

• if the lynched player is a Werewolf, the Humans have won!
• if the lynched player is a Human, the Werewolves have won!

Special Cases

If several players tie for the most votes, they are all lynched: if at least one Werewolf is lynched, the Humans win; otherwise the Werewolves win.

If all players receive one vote each, nobody is lynched (for example, the players may agree that each votes for the player to their left): if all players are Humans, they win (the Werewolves might be the tiles in the centre); but if there is even one Werewolf, the Werewolves win.

Tips and Notes

The Humans must try to work out who the Werewolves are. The Werewolves have an interest in passing themselves off as Humans and in casting suspicion on the real Humans. Anyone who knows something may try to make what they discover known, but be careful: even a Werewolf may pass itself off as someone else!

During the night, we suggest tapping one hand near you to cover the noise, without getting in the way of others' movements, and using your other hand to act. If you are not acting, use that hand to cover your eyes, otherwise you might glimpse the shadows caused by others' movements. If you cannot cover the noise by tapping with your hands, we suggest adding background music.

Characters who touch the tiles may, if they wish, move other tiles slightly (without looking at them!) to hide what they are doing. Similarly, the speaker, keeping their eyes closed, may move all the tiles in play slightly just before announcing the day, so that nobody can say their tile was examined because it appears moved.

If you are the speaker and do not remember the phases by heart, you can read them on the dedicated speaker tile. Keep it very close to you, lift the lower edge of the hand with which you cover your eyes slightly, and keep your gaze low. In this way you can read the summary without seeing what the others are doing. If it is your turn to act, do so with the hand with which you cover your eyes, and continue tapping with the other. To make acting at night easier, you may also count aloud only the first and last seconds. For example: aloud "The Seer opens their eyes. 1... 2..." — then silently 3... 4... 5... 6... 7... — and again aloud: "8... 9... 10. The Seer closes their eyes."

Voting variant: instead of voting by pointing a finger, you may use the back of a token (each player takes one from the centre), secretly pointing the pitchfork symbol on it toward the player you want to lynch, and covering the token with your hand. When everyone is ready, the tokens are revealed and the votes are counted.

The Characters

You may freely introduce one or more of the following characters, also drawing them at random. Always remember to take the two Werewolves, three more characters than the number of players, and to use the matching tokens. You can "adjust" the difficulty of the game by remembering that the Masons help the village, while the Mythomaniac and the Apprentice Sorcerer do not, and that the Werepenguin and the Werehamster are an excellent addition with 7 or more players.

Werewolves (Lupi Mannari): when the speaker calls the Werewolves' phase, both open their eyes and recognise each other. (If a Werewolf does not see another Werewolf, it means that the other is one of the centre tiles or was discarded at the start.)

Seer (Veggente): a Human who, when the speaker calls their phase, may look at the character of another player, or the two tiles in the centre, and then put them back as they were.

Peasants (Contadini): Humans who have no special ability. Therefore, they never open their eyes at night.

Troublemaker (Guastafeste): a Human who, when the speaker calls their phase, must swap the character of the player to their left with that of the player to their right, without looking at them.

Swindler (Truffatore): a Human who, when the speaker calls their phase, must swap their own character with that of another player. The Swindler then looks at their new character. The player who receives the Swindler does not look, and does not know about the swap. Whoever receives the Swindler sides with the Humans, while the "old" Swindler sides with the faction of the new character it takes.

Mythomaniac (Mitomane): dreams of being one of the Werewolves, so they know who the Werewolves are and win with them. When the speaker calls the Mythomaniac's phase, the Mythomaniac opens their eyes; at the same time the Werewolves raise a hand to identify themselves, but they keep their eyes closed! In this way the Mythomaniac knows who the Werewolves are, but not vice versa. If the Mythomaniac is lynched but no Werewolf is lynched, the Werewolves and the Mythomaniac win. If there is no Werewolf at all, the Mythomaniac wins even if at least one Human player is lynched.

Translator's note: the printed sentence on the Mythomaniac repeats "is lynched" ("if the Mythomaniac is lynched but no Werewolf is lynched"); it is rendered here in its evident sense.

Masons (Massoni): two Humans who know each other's role. When the speaker calls the Masons' phase, both open their eyes and recognise each other. (If a Mason does not see the other Mason, it means that the other is one of the centre tiles or was discarded at the start.) The Masons must always be added to the game in pairs, never singly.

Undead (Mortovivo): a Human who, after the vote, if it received at least 2 votes, passes all the votes it received to the player who voted. Naturally, its own vote is also added to the votes it passes. If it received only one vote or none, it does not pass any votes. The Undead never opens its eyes at night.

Translator's note: the printed wording ("to the player who voted") does not name the recipient more precisely; it is rendered literally.

Apprentice Sorcerer (Apprendista Stregone): a Human who casts a spell that accidentally harms the village. When the speaker calls the Apprentice Sorcerer's phase, it opens their eyes and turns face down one of the Human-faction character tokens in the centre of the table, transforming it into a Werewolf. The player who, at the end of the game, has the turned character is considered in every respect a Werewolf, and wins with them. The Apprentice Sorcerer cannot choose either itself or the Swindler. If the Apprentice Sorcerer chooses a Mason or a Peasant, both Masons or, respectively, all the Peasants in play are transformed into Werewolves.

Werehamster (Criceto Mannaro): does not belong to any faction and plays only for itself. The Werehamster is the sole winner if it has no votes when the game ends in a victory for the Humans. In that case the Humans do not win, and only the Werehamster wins. If the Werehamster has more votes than anyone else but the Werewolves win, it does not win. The Werehamster cannot be included together with the Werepenguin. The Werehamster never opens its eyes at night.

Werepenguin (Pinguino Mannaro): does not belong to any faction and plays only for itself. The Werepenguin is the sole winner if it is lynched with more votes than anyone else (in other words, if it is the only character lynched: if it ties with other characters, it does not win). The Werepenguin cannot be included together with the Werehamster. The Werepenguin never opens its eyes at night.

Order of Play

The combinations of characters are many, and the order in which they act is important. Here is the order in which the characters are called at night (always call only the characters in play!). The order is also printed on the speaker tile.

1. Werewolves
2. Seer
3. Masons
4. Mythomaniac
5. Troublemaker
6. Apprentice Sorcerer
7. Swindler