Blood on the Clocktower in Dublin: how to join a game

Blood on the Clocktower in Dublin happens at tables like ours, run by a storyteller, with a crowd that is half regulars and half people who heard about it from a friend and turned up. We run it every Monday in Dún Laoghaire. If you have been curious and put off by the size of the game, this is what it is, what a first night looks like, and how to get a seat.

What the game is

Blood on the Clocktower is a social deduction game for a big table, anywhere from six people to twenty. A demon is hiding in a town. Most of the table are good, trying to work out who it is and execute them before it is too late. A few are evil, lying to stop that happening.

Two things set it apart from Werewolf and the games it grew out of. First, a Storyteller runs it. They are not playing to win, they are running the night, waking people up in the dark to use their abilities, handing out information, and quietly keeping the game balanced. Second, nobody is ever out. If your character dies, you keep talking, keep lying, and keep one vote for the rest of the game. A dead player who has worked out the demon is still a problem for the demon.

Everyone has a character with an ability. The Washerwoman learns a little on the first night, the Empath knows how many of her neighbours are evil, the Imp is the demon and picks who dies. Some of what you are told is true. Some of it is not, because you are drunk, or poisoned, or the person telling you is evil. Working out which is the game.

A game runs an hour to two hours, with days of open talk and nominations, and nights where everyone closes their eyes and the Storyteller does the rounds.

Mondays here

Every Monday from 6.30pm to 10pm we run Blood on the Clocktower at 75 York Road. It is €5, you walk in, and all are welcome. A storyteller runs the game, and no experience is needed, which is true in a way it is not for most games: the Storyteller explains the script before the first night, and your character's ability is on a card in front of you.

Games run one after another through the evening, so if you arrive after one has started, say so at the counter, get a coffee, and you are in the next.

It is listed with the rest of the week on the events page. You do not need to book.

What a first night is like

You arrive a bit before 6.30, pay at the counter, and sit at the big table. The Storyteller hands out characters face down, runs through the script, and tells you what your character does. If you are new, say so. The Storyteller usually gives new players a straightforward character, and the people either side of you will tell you what to say when it is your turn to talk.

Then the first night. Eyes closed, the Storyteller taps shoulders and whispers, and you learn something. Then the first day, and everyone starts talking at once. By the second day you have a theory. By the third it is wrong. Somewhere around the fourth, the good players put it together, or the evil players have talked them out of it, and the game ends with either the demon on the block or the town in ruins.

It takes one game to get it. The second game is where you start lying properly.

Buying your own copy

If your group wants to run it at home, we sell Blood on the Clocktower in the shop at €150. It is a big box, the grimoire the Storyteller uses, the tokens, and the three scripts, and it is enough for a table of twenty. Stock comes and goes, and the page shows what we have. The thing to know before you buy is that one person in your group has to want to be the Storyteller, and that is a different kind of fun from playing. Come on a Monday first and watch ours.

Other ways to play in Dublin

Clocktower games pop up on Meetup and Eventbrite around the city, and there are online tools for playing over video. Those come and go. A weekly table that has been running at the same time in the same room is the thing that is hard to find, so if you are south of the city, Monday in Dún Laoghaire is the one to put in your calendar.

We are at 75 York Road, a few minutes from the DART. Monday, 6.30pm, €5. If you want a night that is not the pub and not sitting in, our post on late-night cafés in Dublin has the rest of the week.