Town Roles

[Frank]

The Roles

The following are the 19 pilgrims making the journey to Canterbury. Note that all 19 of these roles will be randomized, assigned, and sent. The PMs will read exactly as shown (except for any hidden elements that may or may not be present). Four of these roles will eventually become Scum, losing their powers as described in the “Rules” section.

1. Welcome the game; you are The Friar

You are a man of God in name only, part of a religious order that makes its way by begging, grift, and outright thievery. Still, the tattered robes of your order lend you an air of respectability that your own glib and friendly nature enhance; others find, to their detriment, that their tongues and wallets seem looser in your presence.

Once per game, you may target a player of your choice at Night and determine whether that player is part of the Brotherhood (ie, Scum). This ability can be blocked, but will produce false results only if your target is influenced by the Coat of Lies (see Scum Tools for details).

2. Welcome to the game; you are The Man of Law

You are a righteous man and noble, a seeker of truth in word and deed, and a real hit at parties. You care nothing for the goal of this pilgrimage; the laws of man’s religions mean nothing to you. Your only real aim is to ensure that those who would circumvent the laws of man are properly punished.

Once per game, you may target a player of your choice at Night and determine whether that player is part of the Brotherhood (ie, Scum). This ability can be blocked, but will produce false results only if your target is influenced by the Coat of Lies (see Scum Tools for details).

3. Welcome to the game; you are The Reeve

A more accurate description of your role in society would be “Sherriff;” regrettably, your cousin down in Nottingham has pretty much spoiled that title for everyone for a few generations. So you’ll make do with “Reeve.” An elected official and a politician by nature, you enjoy the trust and respect of your fellow pilgrims, which should help you ferret out the truth about at least one of them… provided you live long enough.

Once per game, you may target a player of your choice at Night and determine whether that player is part of the Brotherhood (ie, Scum). This ability can be blocked, but will produce false results only if your target is influenced by the Coat of Lies (see Scum Tools for details).

4. Welcome to the game; you are The Shipman

You are the captain of a ship, and if your fellow travelers knew your name they would fear you; the boat on which you sail flies black far more often than any other color, and there is no jail cell in her holds. You mean no harm to the people who travel with you to Canterbury, but there’s a sword at your side and eventually, it’s bound to find its own way into trouble if you don’t bring it there yourself.

Once per game, you may target a player of your choice at Night and stab them with your sword, with fairly predictable results. If your attack is blocked, you will not lose your chance to act; if your target is successfully protected, you will.

5. Welcome to the game; you are The Squire

You are young, brave, strong, and clever, equally gifted at horsemanship, jousting, sketching, drawing, singing, and poetry; given that you are only twenty years old and most men in your town have wooden teeth and body lice, you sleep at night about as often as a nightingale. Your adaptability should help keep you alive through this journey, at least until you die of syphilis at twenty-two.

Once per game, you may target any dead Town player at Night. If your target has already used his/her power, you will learn what (s)he did and what the results were. If your target has not already used his/her power, you may adopt it as your own and use it as if you had their role.

6. Welcome to the game; you are The Pardoner

You present yourself as a public servant; for a small fee, you offer salvation for those who have sinned but know not where to find absolution. In actual reality, you have about as much ability to forgive sins as a particularly well-educated frog, but it’s amazing what people will believe if you wave a few hand-crafted “relics” in their faces.

Once per game, you may target a player of your choice during the Day. You may do this at any time prior to the end of the Day in question. If this player has the plurality of votes, (s)he will not be lynched, but his/her alignment will be revealed publicly.

7. Welcome to the game; you are The Merchant

You are a very wealthy man. You speak slowly and carefully, share nothing of your business, and are scrupulously honest in your dealings with everyone. Why you travel to Canterbury, in such very questionable company, is a matter known to you and you alone.

Once per game, you may target a player of your choice at Night. You will ensure that nothing happens to this player via generous and skillful application of financial inducement. Only poison (see Scum Tools) can circumvent this protection, though you yourself can always be blocked.

8. Welcome to the game; you are The Monk

For a man dedicated to austerity in all things, you sure can talk. You pride yourself on telling stories – particularly tales of happy, prosperous people who fall and die in misery and devastation. You don’t get invited to dinner a lot. Your actual dedication to religion comes a distant second to your dedication to lecturing the unworthy – and you find a lot of unworthy – but physically speaking you are well trained and would make a fine bodyguard for anyone hard of hearing enough to deal with you.

Once per game, you may target a player of your choice at Night (or target yourself). If this player is attacked by a member of the Brotherhood wielding one of the sacrificial knives (see Scum Tools), the attack will be foiled and the knife itself wasted. If your target is attacked in any other way, your protection will be useless and lost.

9. Welcome to the game; you are The Prioress

You are the head of an extremely fashionable convent, insofar as a convent can be called fashionable. You are beautiful, charming, and you speak French. And you’ve taken a vow of chastity, so that’s a lot of fun. In your presence, even the most violent of interlopers feels a sense of inner peace.

Once per game, you may target a player of your choice at Night (or target yourself). If this player is attacked, the attack will fail. Only poison (see Scum Tools) can circumvent this protection, though you yourself can always be blocked.

10. Welcome the game; you are The Knight

Of all of the men and women on this journey, you are the one of highest social standing – but few would know this from your manner of dress or your bearing. You are humble, gentle, and wise. You make this pilgrimage to protect those with whom you share the journey - be they great or small, good or corrupted - and you are willing to die to do it.

Once per game, you may target a player of your choice at Night and stand guard over them at Night. From that point forward, the first Night action to target your target - be it investigation, kill attempt, or other - will affect you instead. This ability lasts until triggered (or until you die). Unfortunately, while you are standing guard, your target will find him or herself unable to act. Note that the Lucky Penny can penetrate your guard in either direction.

11. Welcome the game; you are The Summoner

Your official job as part of the church is administrative - you call people to assist in service, and serve as a sort of usher. It's a noble and valuable job, but there is nothing at all noble about you. You are a gossip, an eavesdropper, a skulker, and a petty thief. You also smell funny.

Once per game, you may target a player of your choice at Night, and watch them. You will learn whether they go out at Night (ie, whether they perform an action), but NOT what action they perform. You will also see anyone who targets your target, AND learn what they do.

12. Welcome the game; you are The Cook

You're not exactly the most august member of this company, and they don't usually even notice that you're here... but they most certainly would notice if you were gone. You're the cook, and you have the considerable girth to prove it. You keep under the radar, but as the keeper of the rations, you can exercise a bit of authority if it seems appropriate.

Once per game, you may target a player of your choice at Night, and adulterate their dinner just enough to keep them unpleasantly and digestively busy for the entire Night. Thus your target will be unable to perform any action at all, unless boosted by the Lucky Penny (see Scum Tools).

13. Welcome the game; you are The Clerk

You are a clerk of Oxford, clever, cynical, orderly, and sheltered. Your fellow travelers would view you as hopelessly naïve, and your abilities as entirely unsuited to the dire situation in which you now find yourselves. But however useful a sword may be in combat, in actual war information is the most effective tool of all, and you have spent your life finding, managing, and manipulating information; the Brotherhood will underestimate you at its own peril.

Once per game, you may inquire about the status of any one of the Scum Tools available to the Brotherhood. You will be told whether or not that Tool is in play. In addition, if the tool about which you ask is taken out of play (or brought into play following the death of the Seraph [see the relevant portion of the rules] subsequent to your asking, you will be notified.

14. Welcome the game; you are The Carpenter

You are a simple craftsman, but an ingenious one with a talent for creating unusual devices. In addition to your skill with a hammer and nail, you have modest talent at the forge and some basic, self-taught engineering ability. During Night Zero, you will choose to create one of the following useful devices, to be deployed at your discretion.

(1) The Deathtrap: Deploy this on a player of your choice at Night and if that player is killed, his/her killer will die as well. The trap requires maintenance, and so will persist until your target is killed or until you are.

(2) The Sturdy Armor: Gift this to a player of your choice by Day and (s)he will be able to survive an attack by the Bloody Spear (see Scum Tools). The armor is subtle, and it will not be apparent that it has been placed until activated by an attack. The armor will remain in place until either its wearer is killed, the Bloody Spear is used, or you are killed.

15. Welcome the game; you are The Miller

You are a tradesman, simple, straightforward, practical, and well-liked. You have a particular fondness for drink, and all that follows after, and this is your main strength and your main weakness. While you have no experience in combat, you are physically imposing and your personality is quite forceful; you are able to exert a considerable amount of influence on those around you, even those who would otherwise be your social superiors.

Once per game, you may choose one player as your target on a particular Night. During that Night, you will use your ability to entertain and amuse - not to mention your quietly hidden stores of wine and mead - to distract everyone in the game except for your chosen target, effectively role blocking every player in the game except for him or her. Unfortunately, such a wild party does not come without cost; once you choose to engage in debauchery of this kind, you will no longer be welcome on the pilgrimage to Canterbury and will have to turn back (in game terms, though not in color terms because where's the fun in that, you will die).

16. Welcome to the game; you are The Canon

As your now-outdated title suggests, you were once a man of faith. The Catholic Church, however, is now but a distant memory, and your pursuits are a good deal shadier. You are an alchemist, and you peddle concoctions of dubious efficacy and certain illegality to those desperate or foolish enough to patronize the likes of you. But you are no base con-man; you are a genuine true believer, and better at your new trade than most. The trip to Canterbury is long, and you haven’t brought materials sufficient to prepare your usual assortment of draughts, elixirs, and poisons (for unwanted animal pests only, of course). But you did have time to bring materials sufficient to prepare one potion. On Night Zero, you will choose which of the following potions to prepare for the trip; once prepared, you may use the potion at your discretion.

(1) The Elixir of True Sight: Dose a player with this concoction and any investigation of this player will invariably return true results, even if that investigation would otherwise be confounded by the Cloak of Lies (see Scum tools). The effects of the Elixir last for three Nights, including the Night on which it is administered (so, if you administer it Night One, investigations of the targeted player are guaranteed to be accurate for Night One, Two, or Three).

(2) The Restorative: Dose a player who has already used his or her power and (s)he will be given one additional use of it. Fair warning: if you dose a Scum player, (s)he will gain access to his/her original power.

17. Welcome to the game; you are the Nun’s Priest

You are the sort of person who is forgotten before you’ve even introduced yourself. Even Chaucer could barely be bothered to describe you, so we’re certainly not going to do it here. Your very unremarkable nature, though, is your greatest weapon. During Night Zero, you may choose one of the following two powers, to be used on any Night of the game at your discretion.

(1) Watch: Target a player and you will be able to determine the identity of anyone who also targets your target. You will NOT learn what was done.

(2) Take Confession: Target a player and you will be able to determine whether your target acted during the previous Night, and who was targeted. You will NOT learn what was done.

18. Welcome to the game, you are The Physician

In all the world, there is no doctor of medicine more skilled and accomplished than you. Unfortunately, this still means a lot of leeches and astrology – the country where penicillin will be invented hasn’t even been invented yet - but when one has the plague one takes what one can get. Unfortunately, your current journey is a pilgrimage, not a business trip; you’ve left the majority of your tools at home. You have room enough in your pack for exactly one item to carry with you on the trip to Canterbury; during Night Zero, you will choose which of the following two to bring along. Thereafter, you may use the item at your discretion.

(1) Emergency Kit: If you choose to bring along this item, once per game you will have the option to provide medical attention to any TWO players of your choice, protecting them from harm. Only poison (see Scum Tools) can circumvent this protection, though you yourself can always be blocked.

(2) Antivenom: If you administer this serum to any player, (s)he will be immune to death by poison (see Scum Tools). You may dose a player with this even after (s)he has already been poisoned, and if you do, the poison will not harm him or her.

NOTE: Whether you choose to bring along the antivenom or not, as long as you are alive you will see the signs at Dawn if any player is poisoned in the Night.

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19. Welcome to the game, you are The Parson

Of all the putatively religious folks making this journey to Canterbury, you are surely the most genunely devout. You have dedicated your life to bringing comfort to and setting an example for others, and your inherent decency is obvious to all. What you are doing traveling with such questionable riff raff is open to discussion, to be sure, but while you are here you have much to offer for as long as you are let to live.

You are a bulwark against early losses. Whatever the power of the very first player to die might be, you will adopt it as your own (unless it's you, of course. In that case, sucks to be you). If the first player to die happens to be Scum, you will adopt what that player's power would have been had they been Town. In cases where the first player to die had a choice of a tool or power, you will get to choose for yourself and not be limited to the choice of the dead player.