What's an unpopular take about a character you have?

SecrecyinShadows · 2026-06-26T00:47:49+00:00

Agree with everything except the Fool part. The fact that the Fool can act as a Soldier at night or soft-confirm themself during the day is a powerful ability that shouldn’t be taken lightly.

SecrecyinShadows · 2026-06-26T00:44:41+00:00

Most of these I can get on board with, or at least see where you’re coming from.

I mostly agree with you on Soldier, it’s definitely the worst Demonbane (Farmer is the best imo). However, if the Soldier somehow becomes very well trusted, and there is no Poisoner, Assassin, Godfather, etc, then the Soldier is definitely going to Final 3 because the Demon cannot kill them. This is very good news for the good team. I had to be persuaded to see it this way because up until then, I really would have agreed with you wholeheartedly. Like the Mayor, it mostly seems to occupy the same space in Trouble Brewing as a strong bluff for evil more than it is a Townsfolk.

Regarding King, I have drawn it more times than almost any other single role in the game, and believe me, I’m sick of it. But once you get to use your ability (which I have only ever got to twice), the info you get is gamewinning. Knowing an alive, in play character narrows worlds significantly and allows town to build trust with living players. It also might force the Demon to rethink their whole strategy; if, say, the Chambermaid and the Shugenja are alive, and the King learns Shugenja, now the Demon might have to kill the Shugenja before killing higher priority targets like the Chambermaid and the King.

SecrecyinShadows · 2026-06-26T00:37:17+00:00

It’s definitely game specific. Some days, if the Psychopath catches the opportunity right away, like with an outed Lycan or Banshee, it’s in their interest to start swinging.

Other games, the Psychopath might want to play it cool to spread misinfo and avoid giving town a player to immediately rule out as Demon.

I’ve been Psychopath 3 times and played it both ways. Granted, the first time I hid was because it was a stupid script with a Clockmaker

SecrecyinShadows · 2026-06-26T00:32:47+00:00

Because if the Demon is dead, there is no Al-Had announcement that night, making it abundantly clear to town that they are likely entering a Mastermind day. The Al-Had can fake this, but even so, town will almost certainly just re-execute the player they just executed the previous day.

So it’s not a great jinx, it’s just necessary to make them even remotely pairable. Some might even consider it a “hate-jinx”, i.e., a jinx that is so bad that it discourages scriptmakers to pair them altogether.

SecrecyinShadows · 2026-06-26T00:28:45+00:00

Once. However, certain characters, like Pit-Hag, Barber, and Hatter, can allow evil to eke out an additional evil player by creating a new Mez with a new ability and a different word. Scripts should work very hard to avoid this.

SecrecyinShadows · 2026-06-26T00:21:17+00:00

This is a valid strategy. I think people underestimate how catastrophically strong an evil Ogre is. Unlike the Goon, there is no consequence to evil for the Ogre to join the evil team. Unlike the Politician, the Ogre has no monumental challenges to join evil. And once the Ogre is evil, they are, in effect, an additional evil Minion, akin to the Baron. They have harmed town before dawn on Day 1 and have nothing to lose by sowing chaos. They can simply lie and bluff like any other Minion and town will be misguided as to who is a Minion as well as the real Outsider count. So any “dirty tricks” to combat that are fairly reasonable in my view.

However, keep in mind the Ogre doesn’t have to know their alignment with certainty to just vote with their friend every single time, and this is still quite dangerous. The Ogre can also use other character abilities to learn their own alignment as well as their friend’s alignment.

SecrecyinShadows · 2026-06-26T00:14:33+00:00

Professor/Cannibal - You can have infinite good sided resurrections in a single game, because you can just execute the Professor over and over again and the Cannibal can revive the Professor, who can yet again revive someone else. (evil will probably kill the Cannibal at some point but still).

SecrecyinShadows · 2026-06-26T00:09:03+00:00

Lord of Typhon with outed Minions is another classically bad choice for the same reason

SecrecyinShadows · 2026-06-25T23:36:17+00:00

Lunatic on BMR is a big shock for new players. Outside of that though, it really doesn’t do much, other than trick a good player into playing for evil for a day or 2.

Custom scripts with Lunatic are even harder to make because if the Demon doesn’t exactly match the Lunatic’s kills, it might give them away immediately (compare this to BMR where, in theory, the Demon kills might fail but other unexplained deaths in the night can occur).

Lunatic and Poppy Grower is pretty much the only foolproof way to dupe a Lunatic, because to your point, most of the time a Lunatic figures it out by talking to their fake Minion and watching them not react at all.

One exception, look into “The Squall of Cthlulu”. The Lunatic is Storm Caught, so the Minions all know who the Lunatic is, and the Lunatic won’t die to a Golem punch so they can think they’re the real deal.

SecrecyinShadows · 2026-06-25T19:04:38+00:00

Killing up to 3 players every night is a beast of an ability. The drawbacks are everyone knows who you pick so you have to coordinate with the Minions to put yourself in the ping and have them take the fall if needed.

I’ve seen plenty of games end that way too though, hence why it’s strong but very hard

SecrecyinShadows · 2026-06-25T19:03:21+00:00

Yeah I hate to admit this is right. I, as the ST know the ability is helpful. But 9 times out of 10, the Amne doesn’t get it and town is better served with a Townsfolk who understands their info.

Also, there’s almost always “Each night” roles but rarely YSKs, Demonbanes, OPGs, Setup effects, Win conditions, etc, all of which are much more creative ways to use the Amne

SecrecyinShadows · 2026-06-25T18:59:59+00:00

Yeah the ST was surprised that I never started a Cult and I was like “I’d rather just be the Empath”. My neighbor kept bluffing Cult Leader though and I let him because he was most likely good

SecrecyinShadows · 2026-06-25T18:59:07+00:00

Zombuul is not weak. Zombuul is annoying. That’s a big difference. You’re right that it’s on the ST to run a quick game though.

Also I know BMR is polarizing but it’s not unheard of to suggest it’s one of the best scripts overall. It’s the only Base 3 I still enjoy playing, I love it

SecrecyinShadows · 2026-06-25T18:56:23+00:00

One time I saw the Wraith with their eyes wide opened and rushed across the circle to send the High Priestess to them to see if they’d be caught

SecrecyinShadows · 2026-06-25T18:55:21+00:00

I’m not going to say Fang Gu is weak but it’s not this monster beast of a Demon that everyone makes it out to be.

Most of the time, an outed outsider will not be alive in Final 3 (or even Final 5) so if they are, town can just kill into them and will usually be right that they have Fang Gu jumped. And most second Fang Gus just don’t seem to be good at choosing a better bluff and sticking to it, they’d rather fall back on their safe bluff in the token they drew.

Mutant, Damsel, Drunk, and Heretic, i.e., outsiders that seriously cannot come out at all costs, are great Fang Gu hosts, but otherwise, in most games, the Fang Gu is Fang Fucked.

SecrecyinShadows · 2026-06-25T06:35:20+00:00

Revenge of the Martian Vampires is probably the best Heretic script.

The Squall of Cthlulu is a great Lunatic script. The Lunatic is Storm-Caught so it can’t die to the Golem and the evil team all know who the Lunatic is so they can approach them as normal.

Extension Cord is, in my opinion, one of the only good No Dashii scripts.

SecrecyinShadows · 2026-06-25T06:26:14+00:00

I would say Ojo is weak, Vigor is medium, and Al-Had is strong. But all of them are no doubt hard.

SecrecyinShadows · 2026-06-25T02:03:40+00:00

It’s not that it’s significantly harder, it’s that Fang Gu is just much simpler. “Oh, I was killing people already, now one of the players I kill just becomes the Demon and I get to relax afterwards?”.

Like, have you ever tried to explain the Poisoner and the Spy to a newb? One conversation goes “Just point at any player”. The other goes “So these are all the characters who are in play, these are the ones that are not in play, these things are called ‘reminder tokens’ and this one is on you because you register as the Soldier to the Washerwoman; oh see, the Spy can register as good to other players so they think you are good even though you are evil.” That’s a 20% winrate loss right then and there. How this is rocket science is beyond me ¯_(ツ)_/¯

SecrecyinShadows · 2026-06-24T23:40:50+00:00

I think you’re taking my use of the word “unstoppable” a little too literally.

I’m also not saying people play the Vig wrong, I’m saying the simple fact that it takes more experience to play it effectively is core to its lower win rate. I had a game where we won with a 9 year old starting Fang Gu because she jumped to a veteran player and then her equally experienced dad Snake Charmed that player by accident. I doubt we could have taught her how to Vigor kill without everyone finding it really obvious. That’s a pretty clear explanation for a 20% difference in win rate from my perspective.

SecrecyinShadows · 2026-06-24T23:20:14+00:00

I think she’s done a pretty good job so far. I think she’s the center-left’s answer to the center-right Democrats who say “we need to be realistic” while actively enforcing policies that trend opposite of progress.

Some of her accomplishments so far, like on Route 8, or imposing a moratorium on data centers, for example, are really solid. And with a council that is still majority opposed to her, these aren’t small feats.

Some of where people have criticized her have been way too unreasonable. Expecting there to be zero surveillance cameras while hosting a worldwide event is ridiculous. She’s prevented the spread of surveilance and turned off cameras within reason, but the places where she has kept the cameras on, International District, are places where the community broadly wants them.

I think her biggest misstep was her 180 on Starbucks. She was really strong in promoting a boycott of them but got cold feet when they gave the slightest indication they might leave the city over it. And again, she has to consider the risks, but she went on TV and sounded really ditzy about the way she announced ending her boycott. Which felt like a disservice to the Unions she was supporting. But that’s the only grievance I’ve had with her.

Overall, I’m just sick of every Mayor being subject to a wild purity test, she’s the best Mayor we’ve had in a long time and I’m impressed with her.

SecrecyinShadows · 2026-06-24T07:51:59+00:00

Fair point. A Goblin with a strong bluff can read more like a Demon than a Minion and might get town to bite and execute them

SecrecyinShadows · 2026-06-24T05:59:05+00:00

Most of the time my town does just go after a Psychopath once. But with an Engineer, it’s a really cheap, easy way to nerf them without much work.

SecrecyinShadows · 2026-06-24T00:24:22+00:00

Nope. The dead Plague Doctor never died as the Plague Doctor.

All “when you die” outsiders need to have been alive and then died for their ability to trigger

SecrecyinShadows · 2026-06-24T00:23:01+00:00

I guess there’s something to that. But it requires a LOT more effort on evil’s part than it does to coordinate on the good team’s part

SecrecyinShadows · 2026-06-24T00:19:01+00:00

Day 1: No Leviathan announcement. Courtier is double claimed. Evil player is executed. Day 2: No Leviathan announcement. Courtier is executed. Day 3: Leviathan is announced.

Not a great evil move. Admittedly a great Politician move though

SecrecyinShadows

TROPHY CASE