Mafia & Werewolf Role Dealer

about this tool

One phone, passed round the table

Set the number of players, adjust the mix if you want to, and deal. Each player taps their own seat number, reads their role, hides it, and hands the phone on. Between players there is nothing on screen that gives anything away.

The Mafia are told who the other Mafia are, because they need to know. Everyone else is told only their own role, which is all they are entitled to.

Nothing is stored, so a refresh loses the deal. That is the trade for a tool that keeps no record of your game anywhere.

Mafia or Werewolf, which is the same game

The two traditions differ only in vocabulary, so the page swaps the words rather than the rules. Mafia becomes Werewolf, the Detective becomes the Seer, the Doctor becomes the Healer, and a Villager stays a Villager. The night order and everything else is untouched.

The mix, and the one that cannot be played

The recommendation is about one enemy per four players. One in three makes the nights too short, one in six drags, and one in four is where most house rules land. The Detective appears at five players and the Doctor at seven, which is when there are enough villagers to be worth protecting.

Any mix can be typed in by hand, with one exception: if the enemies are half the room or more, the deal is refused. At that point they win the moment night ends, and a dealer that hands out such a game is wasting everyone's evening. The balance line above the button always says how the sides stand and roughly how many nights the town has if every vote goes wrong.

Names, if you want them

By default everybody is a number, which is all a dealer strictly needs. Tick use names instead of numbers and a box appears: one name per line, and the number of names becomes the number of players, so you are not typing the table size twice for it to disagree with itself.

From then on the names do the work. The card says the name as well as the seat. The Mafia are told who their partners are by name. Godless, the buttons are names, the Detective's answer is a name, and the morning says "Ada did not survive the night" rather than "Player 4 did not survive the night" — which, read out loud in a dark room, is the difference between a narrator and a railway announcement.

Two people called Sam is an ordinary table, so a name that appears twice carries its seat number: Sam 1 and Sam 6. The seat number stays on the moderator sheet either way, because the cards went out by number and that is what somebody is looking for when the table asks who four was.

Two ways to run it

The switch at the top decides who narrates.

With a god is the game as it has always been played: one person sits out, reads the script below, and answers the Detective with a nod. That person does not get a role, which at a table of five costs you a fifth of the room.

Godless hands the night to the phone, and everybody plays. Put it in the middle of the table face up and it runs the night on its own — it wakes each role in turn, speaks every line, and moves on when the line has had time to land. The only moments it waits are the ones where somebody has to choose, and those are exactly the moments when that person alone has their eyes open, so reaching for the screen gives nothing away. The Mafia tap who they are taking. The Doctor taps who they are saving. The Detective taps who they are checking and reads the answer on the screen, never out loud, because the rest of the table is sitting three feet away listening.

In the morning it says who did not survive, takes the vote, and calls the game when one side has it. Nobody has to keep track of anything.

The bit a machine has to get right

A narrator who skips the Detective's turn has just told the room the Detective is dead. So a role whose holder is gone is still called, still asked, and still waited for, for about as long as a real decision takes. With your eyes shut, a night where the Detective is dead sounds exactly like one where they are not.

Two things it cannot do for you: it cannot make people keep their eyes shut, and a phone lying face up on a table can be peeked at. That part is still on the room.

The narrator script

The script underneath lists the night in order, naming only the roles that are actually in this game, in the vocabulary you chose. Every role it wakes is told to close its eyes again before the next one opens, which is the part a first-time narrator forgets.

The moderator sheet

There is a list of who is what, kept shut behind a switch with a warning, for whoever is running the game. Open it only when nobody else can see the screen.

With a god, this is a dealer and not a referee: it does not track who is alive, count votes or decide when the game ends, because that is the narrator's job and it always was. Godless, it does all three, because there is nobody else to.

The sheet is hidden entirely in godless mode. A list of who is what is exactly what nobody at that table is allowed to see.

For dividing the same group into sides rather than handing out secret roles, use the team generator. For a party game of secret words instead of night-time roles, Undercover is played on one phone passed round too, each player picking a face-down card. And for clues rather than secrets, Mind Dial hides a target on a dial between two ends, such as Cold and Hot, for the table to find with one clue.

questions

How does dealing on one phone work?

Roles are shuffled and given a seat number each. Hand the phone round: each player taps their own number, reads their role, hides it, and passes it on. Nothing is on screen between players, and the moderator sheet stays shut until someone asks for it.

Can I use real names instead of player numbers?

Yes. Tick "use names instead of numbers" and type one name per line; the number of names becomes the number of players. The names then appear on the cards, on the buttons, in the allies list the Mafia are shown, and in everything the godless narrator says out loud. A name that appears twice carries its seat number so the two can be told apart.

Can we play without anyone moderating?

Yes. Switch the narrator to Godless and the phone runs the night itself: it wakes each role, speaks every line, takes the Mafia, Doctor and Detective choices by tap, reports the morning, takes the vote and calls the winner. Nobody sits out, so at a table of five you get five players instead of four.

How does the Detective get an answer with no moderator?

On screen, never out loud. The Detective taps who they are checking while everyone else has their eyes shut, and the answer appears in writing for a few seconds. Saying it would be pointless when the rest of the table is sitting there listening.

Does it give away who has died by skipping their turn?

No. A role whose holder is dead is still called, still asked and still waited for, for about as long as a real decision takes. With your eyes shut, a night where the Detective is dead sounds like one where they are not. A narrator who skips that turn has just told the room.

How many Mafia should there be?

About one in four players is the ratio most house rules settle on. One in three makes the nights too short and one in six drags. The recommended mix follows that, and adds the Detective at five players and the Doctor at seven.

Why will it not deal my mix?

Most likely the counts do not add up to the number of players, or the Mafia are half the room or more. At half, they win the moment night ends, so dealing it would waste the evening. The message says which it is.

What is the difference between Mafia and Werewolf?

The names. The same roles run both games, so the page swaps the vocabulary: Mafia becomes Werewolf, Detective becomes Seer, Doctor becomes Healer. The rules and the night order do not change.

Can I get the same deal back after a refresh?

No. Nothing is stored on your device, so a refresh loses the deal and you will have to deal again. Take a photo of the moderator sheet if you need it to survive.