V Is For Variety

At a party tonight, I played "Do You Worship Cthulhu?", which is basically just a re-theme of the game Werewolf that you can play using cards from a standard deck.

For anyone unfamiliar with the game, in a nutshell, this is a party game for a large group. Players each draw a secret identity. They then close their eyes, and one or two people with a particular secret identity re-open their eyes to select one of the other players to "kill." Then ALL players re-open their eyes, learn which of the "villagers" has been killed, and then form a mob to kill the person they think is responsible. The process then repeats as players get "killed off." If the villagers successfully identify the culprits before the one or two bad guys have dwindled the villagers down to the same number, the villagers win. Otherwise, the evil-doers win.

I have encountered difficulties playing this game with cards drawn from a standard deck before, with players forgetting which card is supposed to stand for which identity. (There being one other special role inherent in the game.) So, the thinking would be that by buying the Cthulhu-themed cards, you'd have the roles printed right on them. Plus, some neat art to boot. Problem solved, right?

Not quite. On the plus side, the game's publishers realized they ought to add a little something more to a public domain game in order to get people to buy it, and invented two more "special roles" that players can have during the game.

Unfortunately, they named one of them "vigilante."

Which looks far too similar to "villager."

Which takes us right back to the original problem -- players sometimes confusing their identities. They couldn't have gone for "crusader" or "sentinel" or something else? Disappointing.

Regardless of the theme, though, I still like the game. For every once in a while, with a large group of players (ten or more), anyway.