The team that plays together stays together. ClichĂ©’d but true, as cliches often are 🙂
Our weekly rehearsal exercises keep us communicating, improvising and enjoying being part of an open, creative and positive ensemble. Our favourite exercise at present is Werewolf, ideal for 10-20 people, and it’s a game of bluff and bluster, second-guessings, accusations and murder!
Werewolf is an intriguing game where you work from instinct, your powers of observation and team collaboration – and you can find out a lot more about your colleagues… There are two teams, the Werewolves (2 players) and Citizens (everyone else) and the object of the game is for the Citizens to identify the Werewolves before they’re killed. A Moderator controls the game.
SETTING UP – The group makes a circle and the Moderator (M) counts the group, takes a pack of playing cards, and removes the following as Role Cards: 2 x Jokers representing 2 Werewolves, 1 x Ace representing The Seer, and numbered cards for the Citizens (the remainder of the group). M hands a card to each player in the circle who look at their card/ role privately. During the game, the Werewolves will try and murder Citizens and the Citizens will try to accuse and lynch the Werewolves. The Seer Citizen knows the role of one player (as revealed by M to them privately) and it is up to them to  use, protect, guard or savour this knowledge during heated discussions.  During the game, murdered players must bow out of the game and remain silent – not giving the game away.
THE NIGHT – the game starts with M announcing the night script aloud:
It is Night! The moon is full. Everyone go to sleep. – each player closes their eyes.
Werewolves, wake up! Werewolves, roam the village and choose a victim. – the werewolves open their eyes and silently agree on a victim (using non verbal communication) and ensures M knows which person they’ve chosen.
Werewolves, go to sleep. – the werewolves close their eyes.
Seer, wake up! Seer, choose your vision. – the Seer opens their eyes and silently indicates one person. M shows thumbs up (if a werewolf) or thumbs down (if a citizen) and then says Seer, go to sleep. – so the seer closes their eyes again.
NB. It’s imperative that all of this is done in silence (apart from M speaking). The team can snore or rustle as if asleep to create some white noise to help the silent maneouvering. After the Night, M then announces ‘The Day’ –
THE DAY – M then announces the day script:
– It is Day and the Sun is up! Everyone open your eyes – the Werewolves have killed during the night! Â M then points to the victim, who hands M their card, then falls to the ground gurgling and dying. M shows the circle their card and the victim is out of the game, and stays silent.
THE RECKONINGÂ – this is the heart of the game:
All players (apart from the victim) will try to guess who killed the citizen and recruit support on who they want to lynch (the Werewolves will try to hide their role). They’ll accuse and cheat, deny and divert, they’ll talk out loud to each other to gather sufficient support for a particular lynch victim, try to convince others to agree with them and plead and cajole. The Werewolves will bluff, the Seer will know the role of one person and once once the majority of the circle agrees on a victim, they will point at that player, who will pass their card to M and fall to the ground gurgling and dying. M will reveal the card to the circle and the will continue with another Night / Day / Reckoning cycle. With each lynching, the circle will diminish until a) both the werewolves are dead or b) the number of werewolves and citizens are equal, in which case the werewolves will overpower the citizens, killing them openly.
All Players alive at the end of the game are the winners!*
THE DEBRIEF – the team analysis:
After the game, we talk about what happened. Here are some debrief questions you can use – what was the game about, what was it like to play, were there any insights about individuals or yourselves or others, how do the various roles influence behaviours, what did the game dynamics say about our team? We often find that our team reflects on the assumptions we’ve made regarding people’s expressions and their body language; how we operate in a group and how we can be swayed by opinion; how well we listen and how the status of players can influence their persuasive powers, and a lot more. It’s an intriguing, and revealing, exercise – try it out for yourselves at your next gathering!
*N.B. During The Reckoning, the Moderator remains neutral and doesn’t enter discussions, however, if asked directly, must truthfully answer questions about the number and roles of players remaining in the game e.g. if someone asks, they should answer whether both wolves are still alive or if one has been killed or if the Seer has been killed. It is perfectly legal for everyone else to say whatever they like to stay alive, for a wolf to claim to be the Seer, or for a player to intentionally misstate earlier events, to lie and bluff, accuse and cajole.