#botc

[riacte]

Okay, I will bite. What exactly is botc and how does one get into it?

Yipppee! Blood on the Clocktower is a social deduction game by the Pandemonium Institute (TPI) that's similar to Werewolf and Mafia (and I guess Among Us too). It operates on the basis of informed minority (evil team) vs uninformed majority (good team). The goal of evil is to kill + vote out most people on good and the goal of good is to vote out the leader of the evil team (the demon, the main baddie who kills people at night). Evil team know who each other are. Good team doesn't. This is simplified and general, there are many alternate win conditions because BOTC is a game that's ever growing in its complexity. New roles/characters are released periodically.

One huge draw of BOTC is that players can keep talking after death and they retain some agency (in the form of a single dead vote for the rest of the game). The second draw of BOTC is that everyone, good or evil, has a unique power, so you always have an incentive to play. Good and evil are both encouraged to lie for the benefit of their team. For some good characters, you have to lie or you lose. Another characteristic is that it's quite reliant on the storyteller (the host/moderator), sort of like a Dungeon Master. The storyteller's job is to balance the game so good and evil can have an exciting finale. Storyteller choices include coming up with fake information (to help evil) and deciding if someone should die (if the conditions are met). The finale is usually between 1 demon and 2 non-demon characters and the rest of the town has to decide who to kill.

I find BOTC to be inclusive because they have mechanics that allow people to join and leave mid-game and for people to be on the same team so they can share information (eg for a parent-child duo or people who don't like lying to each other).

Key terms: Townsfolk (good characters that help the good team, eg protective roles), Outsiders (good characters that hinder the good team, eg roles that cause extra deaths), Minions (evil characters that disrupt the good team, eg roles that poison information), Demons (evil characters that kill per night), Grimoire (game setup), Script (list of available characters for a game, not all of them are in the game so it gives you choices to lie and bluff)

Anyways BOTC is a large community (lots of online communities and real life meetups) and there are many, many roles to get used to. (See wiki.) People generally recommend playing/watching Trouble Brewing first, which is a "straightforward" and comparatively simple script. (As if any BOTC game can be simple lmao)

I think the easiest way to get into BOTC is to find a regular cast that you already know of / easy to get into. This is because you have to keep track of players AND their roles, and it's easier if you can already tell which player is which. For MCYT this probably means Hermitcraft or Yogs. There's also Good Time Society for Dropout fans.

However, I actually "got" into BOTC from No Rolls Barred, and it's pretty much because of the superb editing. I have the advantage of knowing the cast from HC, but I didn't know shit about the roles and couldn't keep track. NRB has a fantastic video style that shows the role of each player in public and private settings, so it's very easy to associate a player with their character. Online games have the advantage of showing us the grimoire (game setup), but NRB also edits the icons for in-person games. Even though I didn't know anyone from NRB, I found it easy to settle in. NRB cast is similar to HC cast because NRB is full of comedians/actors/theatre kids. Many of them have gimmicks they lean into so it's easy to distinguish them. (Eg. Ken is chaotic, Sully is the bumbling fool (think Ren), Laurie is always right but always loses)

NRB has a loooong public playlist that increases in complexity as the games continue, so you get to learn the game alongside the players. I also pay for NRB patreon for a new monthly BOTC and it's so good. NRB is very popular among the casual BOTC community (to the point some have called them overrated since NRB isn't the most technical channel) and they even partnered with TPI to facilitate the release of new characters.

After binging literally everything from NRB, I moved onto Noobs on the Gooftower run by Chris Grace (who was in some NRB). This felt like a natural progression since Noobs is similar to NRB's style but is more technical and they stream every week. (They're not noobs now after playing so much BOTC lmao).

The official TPI channel has some good cuts but I couldn't get into them as a beginner lol. TPI channel is the most technical/focused on gameplay mechanics out of those I mentioned here (there's more on the same level but I'm not that deep yet). TPI is for when you know many of the roles and want to see something chaotic and borderline game breaking that blows your mind. There are lots of insane plays from very smart players.

BOTC isn't for everyone and there's definitely a steep learning curve, but once you get used to it (and enjoy it), it's pretty much endless entertainment. There are tons of jargon and meta to dig into. The Hermitcraft ones confused me as a beginner so I think it's best to familiarise yourself with the game from a channel with good and clear editing (in this case I recommend NRB). I recommend watching online games in the beginner stage because the storytellers have the time to explain what they're doing and players have the opportunity to explain their plans. Good Time Society is also great for beginners but their editing is a bit confusing sometimes. Now I'm at the stage in which I recognise players but I don't know which channel they were "originally" from— it's just one big BOTC cinematic universe to me.

Also! BOTC is currently running its World Cup script tourney in which people come up with custom rules and people vote for the script they like more. It adds complexity on top of already complex mechanics but it's very fun for me.

Yayy okay this got long, I love rambling about BOTC. Sorry if it's a bit overwhelming but yeah hope this was useful!

[owlphaace]

Things you can do in Blood on the Clocktower but probably shouldn't number 61:

As the Devil's Advocate, protect the lleech

[strifesolution]

the storyteller’s favorite punching bag

(ft. @shepscapades’ ben design)

[purgeturbia]

me traveling in as the evil apprentice

[lilyfond]

hey! im a group for this game blood on the clocktower and we're having trouble having games because of a lack of people! we would love if other people joined, all you need to do to participate is be able to join a voice call, and either communicate via voice or text. we DO use a website, but if you cant use it, you can absolutely still participate .

heres the link if youre interested !

https://discord.gg/cv8M9xwB

[fumblemore]

[deondoneit]

Undertaker etho from my blood on the clock tower (trouble brewing) au

[al-hadikhia]

✨Blood On The Clocktower Affirmations✨

by u/welwoe on reddit!

[isuggestforcefem]

Girl [D]: Each night*, choose a player. That player becomes a Girl.

[boxesblr]

Mayor Vic Michaelis - Good Time Society plays Blood on the Clocktower

[phosphoresccent]

you ever draw something that will only make sense in 2 weeks for almost everyone else? - totally unrelated, have an Imp!Magistrex honestly concerning Xephos

[riacte]

my new botc blorbo is raj from noobs on the gooftower. love it when he gets completely read for filth and his evil plans unravel but he still does his best to confidently bullshit his way out of it

[arealflame]

maybe he should check the inn

[strifesolution]

minecraft blood sports, amiright? (this is now a yogscast blood on the clocktower propaganda account)

[purgeturbia]

me when i’m the cult leader and one of my neighbors is a minion