There is no one thing that you need to do as a Storyteller to include new players and make sure that they have a good time (and come back for more!). Having said that, here are a bunch of tips and tricks that I’ve found to work especially well. 

Read out the rules explanation sheet

New players only need to know a few basic things to begin playing. The rules explanation sheet explains these things, and nothing more. I’ve gone into detail as to why this works in a previous post.

Repeat rule #1 – “You may say whatever you want at any time” – at least once during the first game. 

The thing that new players need most is to feel comfortable. They need this more than strategy advice and more than rules knowledge. If veteran players are telling new players what they should and shouldn’t say, then a new player might feel like it is better to stay silent. Or, if veteran players are policing or judging the speech of other veteran players while in earshot of a new player, the new player may get the impression that they best stay silent, at least until they become a veteran too. Reminding the group that each player may say “whatever they want at any time” smooths out this dynamic and encourages new players to speak up without fear.

The point where this is most needed is when a new player has been silent for most of the game and is then nominated. Often, they will be hesitant to speak, and a veteran player will advise them what to share or not share, depending on what character they are. While this may (or may not!) be good strategy, this creates a default of silence for a new player when instead we want them to have fun and engage. If this happens, I usually say to the new player “You may take player X’s advice and stay silent if you wish. However, player X may be evil and lying to you. It can be helpful to reveal what you know, but the choice is up to you. The number one rule of the game is that you may say whatever you want at any time.”

If a player is generally a quiet person, never force them to talk

Clocktower is a social game, and the good team relies on sharing information in order to win. The game also relies on people talking when and how they wish, and staying silent if they are unsure. Players that are shy or nervous will feel very uncomfortable if the players (or, heaven forbid, the storyteller) puts them in a position where they feel that they must speak. Players want to contribute, otherwise they wouldn’t be playing in the first place. But forcing certain players to speak when the whole group is looking at them can often be intimidating and uncomfortable. 

However, this courtesy doesn’t extend to preventing them from dying, or encouraging players not to kill them. Shy players don’t get special treatment when it comes to the vote. They still live or die based on the will of the group. 

If a player wants to talk (particularly if they have just been nominated) but is finding it difficult, ask them, “What do you wish to say?”

Some players are extremely sensitive to being interrupted. In a group of ten, fifteen, or more players, there is no shortage of players that want to speak while someone else is speaking. Most players, when nominated, will talk in their own defence, and continue to talk even if another player tries to interrupt. However, some players will stop talking at even the slightest comment and find that they cannot finish a sentence. 

If I ask a particularly silent player, “Do you wish to speak?” or “Do you have anything to say?” when they are nominated, the answer has been “no” almost 100% of the time. Either they feel like they are taking up the group’s time unnecessarily, or they don’t handle interruptions well, or something else. 

When I asked the question “Do you wish to speak?”, framing it as a closed, yes/no question, players found it easier to answer “no”. 

However, if I ask such a player an open ended question such as;

• “What do you wish to say?”
• “You have been nominated. What do you have to say for yourself?”
• “Player X has nominated you. What do you think about that?”

or otherwise prompt the new player to speak, they start speaking and usually have a lot to offer. This is often the first point in the game that the player really opens up and starts to have fun. Once they’ve done that once or twice, you won’t need to ask the question again.

 

If you have one or two new players in a group of veterans, offer to bring in the Angel

Most new players have two fears when joining Clocktower for the first time: fear of saying the wrong thing and fear of dying. The first is social fear. The second is a game-strategy fear. Both are connected to the fear of losing or letting their team down.

Sometimes new players don’t have any fear at all and just want to play the game for as long as possible, so they see an early death as a waste of their first game. 

To overcome these things, the Angel will keep a good player alive until you, the Storyteller decide that it’s time for that protection to end. The player doesn’t need to worry about the Demon killing them too early, doesn’t need to worry about not getting to use their ability, and doesn’t need to worry about ‘letting their team down’ by dying early. Veteran players and storytellers know that this last worry is unfounded because dying early is not a big deal, and sometimes even desirable, but new players may not know that yet. 

It’s important for the player to know that the Angel isn’t a handicap – it’s just part of the game! They are not imbalancing the game by accepting the Angel protection. Players are still free to execute them, and the Angel-protected players may still be good or evil. It mostly means that the Demon must turn their attention to different players at night, or pay the price. 

If you can pitch the Angel not as a necessity and not as a handicap but as a cool opportunity that makes the game a little more interesting for everyone, and always allow the new player to choose not to have the Angel, you’re doing great.

https://wiki.bloodontheclocktower.com/Angel

If you have one or two veterans in a group of new players, offer to bring in the Buddhist 

Often, enthusiastic veterans want to tell new players how to play. They share too many rules, too many pieces of strategy advice, and generally make logical leaps much faster than new players. 

New players will often feel like the veterans are telling them what they should do. Even if veteran players just tell them what they “can” do, it often feels like being told what they “should” do. This can be a domineering thing, or it can be the nicest thing in the world. It is usually the latter. Most times I give the Buddhist to a veteran, that veteran is one of my favourite players. It’s just the case that, most of the time, new players have more fun when they figure things out for themselves. It prevents overwhelm and just feels more rewarding. 

Similarly, veteran players are usually the first players to speak each day. They have their plans and ideas already, formed during the night, and leap into action as soon as the day begins. Even the most polite and considerate veterans tend to take the lead early each day - because that is a winning strategy! However, this creates a habit in new players of becoming followers, and waiting to see what the veteran players say each day before speaking themselves. The Buddhist breaks this habit before it begins. With the Buddhist in play, I’ve seen totally new players take the lead and start conversations each day, forming good habits of leadership and teamwork early.

It is best to bring in the Buddhist at the beginning of the game, not during the game. If the Buddhist comes in midway through the game it can feel like a punishment for the veteran player, which it is not. Also, a mid-game Buddhist is usually coming in because the new players have not formed the habit of talking early each day, so the habit of silence and waiting for others to take the lead is already half-formed. 

When the Buddhist is in play from the very beginning, new players are practically playing with all new players from the very first day, and will be happily chatting away with each other by day three or four, and working as a team. Most Buddhist games I run, I put the Buddhist in day one, and I remove it by day three, at which point, the new players and the veteran players are all chatting at about the same amount, and I never need it again. 

While being a Buddhist is always a choice for a veteran, I present it as less of a choice than the Angel. For the Angel, I ask a new player, “The Angel is here to help you have a good time for your first game. I think it’s really cool, but it’s up to you. Do you want it or not?” For the Buddhist, I ask a veteran, “I’d really like to bring in the Buddhist for this game, so that the new players can find their feet by themselves. Is that ok?” If a player really doesn’t want the Buddhist, that’s okay. But I ask them for the good of the game and hope that they will be cool with it. After a day or two I’ll even reduce the Buddhist time to just the one minute, as long as the new players are engaged. 

https://wiki.bloodontheclocktower.com/Buddhist

 

Think skill level before edition

New players are at their best, have the most fun, and learn quickest when they are in games with other new players. They figure out the rules when they need the rules, and they figure out the strategies by testing them out together. 

The choice of edition isn’t as important as you might think. I’ve had almost completely new players play and love Bad Moon Rising, Sects & Violets, The Tomb (Called The Seventh Day at the time) and even Garden Of Sin. The Grimoire setup shouldn’t be mean if using these editions, but it is ok to run these editions if your players are newish and keen for a challenge. The important thing is that they experience them (or their similar custom scripts) in an environment where most other players are the same skill level, because they learn the edition together. 

Conversely, I’ve seen new players really flounder when playing Trouble Brewing with veterans. Even the most intelligent new players are unfamiliar with the characters and interactions when compared to the veterans, so they are often playing the game of ‘catchup’ or the game of ‘help me understand’ instead of the ‘let’s figure this out together’ game. It mostly comes down to speed of understanding, not depth. The new players just can’t keep up with Trouble Brewing veterans, who no longer need the character sheet. 

If you have a new player in your group, you don’t have to play Trouble Brewing just to cater to them. Given the large player size and need for social spaces, almost all Clocktower events have at least one new player. If you always play Trouble Brewing if it is a new player’s first day, then you’ll never play anything else. It’s not exactly easier for a new player to join in an intermediate or custom script for their first game either. But the social environment is more important than the edition.

If your group is large enough, running a Trouble Brewing game for beginners (and only the beginners), while the veterans play the more advanced editions is ideal. At pub events we often do this, and some players will swap from one group to the other as the night progresses. This works well but has the downside that you need at least 16 people to pull it off – 7 players and 1 Storyteller per game, with 2 games running at once.

Keep the games small

New players have a lot to think about, all at once:

• What the game rules are.
• What each character ability does.
• What possible characters could be in play.
• What their strategy should be.
• Whether their questions to the group are being answered truthfully or not.
• If player X is telling the truth, and player Y is lying, what does that say about player Z?

The easiest way to make it easy on your new players is to keep the games small, so that they only need to focus on a few people and a few characters at once. This makes the logic of the game significantly less complicated. More characters make things exponentially more complicated. With fewer characters in play, new players can focus on fewer character interactions, and don’t have to worry about understanding everything all at once.

You don’t need to go all the way to Teensyville. Just keeping the game to 7, 8, or 9 players is great. This should give a tight enough focus for a new player to really get to grips with what is happening, and what each player’s claims mean in context. Also, with 7, 8, or 9 players there is only one Minion, which helps provide clarity as to what isn’t in the game. 

In smaller games, new players are talking to the same players over and over again and building up a picture of the whole game. This isn’t possible for a new player in a 20-player game, because there is too much to comprehend at once. 

Keep the games short

A new player needs to be able to make mistakes that don’t have a lasting impact on their fun. When the games are short, even the most egregious errors can quickly be washed away. Did your first timer just claim to be the Demon, under pressure, and then get executed? No problem, in a short game. If they did it in a 17-player game with a Scarlet Woman and a Zombuul, they will be sitting there for a long time with nothing to do, feeling foolish.

The length of your days should be tailored to the player count, but also to new players and their need to experiment, make mistakes, and make risky plays. New players also may want to stay silent until the final day or the right moment, and it is helpful if you can speed up your days so that this moment comes more quickly. 

Some players like long, serious games, but these players also usually like a more thoughtful, planned, strategy. New players are figuring things out as they go. Have you ever played a 6-hour Eurogame and at the 2-hour mark realised that you made a mistake on your first turn? And now you have to sit there for four hours, knowing that you’ve already lost, and are just going through the motions to be polite? That’s no fun at all, and I want to avoid a similar experience for new players at all costs. I’ve seen more than one video, review, or piece of feedback that said “BOTC sucks. I died on the first day, and had to sit there for nearly 3 hours doing nothing because I couldn’t leave.” 7 or 8-player games can be run in 45 minutes, and a 9 or 10-player game can be run in one hour. Games should only go for more than an hour and a half if all players want it to, and it is difficult to tell if new players want it to.

Shorter games also mean more games, and new players get to try out more ideas and more characters. Having many quick games also creates a more frivolous and playful mood. That mood is much more conducive to fun, learning, risk-taking, and experimenting with just-learned rules knowledge than a 2-hour epic game is.

Use humour, be approachable

A new player may not know anybody in the group. They may not even know you, initially. But you are the centre point for attention, and the only person who is guaranteed to be interacting with them in some way in every game. 

You are also the only person that a new player can trust. Other players may be lying to them, but the Storyteller’s role is to be a trusted helper to new players. Rule #3 – “Ask me any questions you need to” – is there to remind new players that you are there to help! When I read the rules, I emphasise that no question is a silly question, and that it does not make you evil to ask me a question.

The more you use humour, positivity, liveliness, understanding, and playfulness in your approach to storytelling, the more that new players will feel comfortable to speak, listen, and think naturally. If they are having a good time due to your vibe, they will learn faster and integrate into the group quicker. And if they don’t integrate, that’s okay too, as long as they are having fun.

New players are more important than veterans

New players need your help more than veteran players do. They need to learn the rules. They need to know the basics of basic strategy. They need to know what the tone and feel of the game is, because that implies a certain etiquette. They need to know what the character sheet means, or what night signals mean. They may need to know which players are the friendliest, or where the bathroom is.

Veteran players don’t need as much help. Apart from the occasional weird rules question, they can take care of themselves. 

Let them play

It is easy to unintentionally be overbearing with new players. Fight the urge to tell them what to do, or to help too much, because doing so can easily feel smothering to them.

Let new players make mistakes. Let them be silent if they want. Let them learn at their own pace. Let them poison the Saint twice in a row, or kill a dead player. Let them not know about that wacky character’s special ability, until they ask. 

Find the balance between helping and watching. Being too involved can be irritating. Being just the right amount of involved can be wonderful.

- Steven