Dangerous Games: 'The Werewolves of Miller's Hollow'



The chair creaks as you settle onto it. The candlelight flickers. All around you the ravenous faces of your so-called friends twist in delight as you slowly open the box laid out on the table. Welcome to Dangerous Games! Each week, we'll feature a horror/thriller/monster tabletop game you should be playing. Don't be scared… roll the dice… what's the worst that could happen?
The Werewolves of Miller's Hollow

You are a resident of the small hamlet of Miller's Hollow. You live a simple, workaday life in the quaint country town. Everything is peaceful in your town, you have a role to play just like everyone else, and all is as it should be. Until the werewolves attack! That's the setting for this card-based party game from 2001. Published by Asmodee games, The Werewolves of Miller's Hollow is a bluffing and deduction game about surviving through the night in the world's most dangerous small town.

Game Mechanics
Werewolves of Miller's Hollow is a game for a lot of players. The box suggests that anywhere from eight to eighteen players should partake in this party game. Here's the basic run-down. Each player is given a secret identity card. Those cards range from "Ordinary Townsfolk" and "Werewolf" to "Village Elder" and "Village Idiot" among others. One player plays the role of narrator, outside of the game, who describes and adds flavor to the action as it happens.
WMH2The game is divided into two parts of a turn. There is a "Day" part and a "Night" part. The narrator explains what the town is like, sets up the problem of the werewolves attacking, and generally introduces the game to the players. Then the game begins.

The two players who are chosen as "Werewolves" silently convene with each other and decide which other player they kill during the night. In the morning that player (victim) is removed from the game and the other players vote on who they think the werewolves are. The suspected villager is able to make a case for himself, but when the vote is tallied if he's on the chopping block he's executed for his suspected crimes and removed from the game. The game continues on until either the werewolves have killed all the villagers or the villagers have removed the two werewolves.

Replay Value

WMH3When you're dealing with a  party game that can accommodate up to eighteen players there's bound to be a lot of replay value. The game also incorporates a fair element of change based on the alternative player cards. Apart from "Werewolf" and "Ordinary Townsfolk" there are options like "Cupid" who matches up two players as lovers and "Fortune Teller" who can learn one player's secret identity each night. These are just a few of the numerous roles players can take part in, and the expansion to the game offers these and even more secret identities!

This type of party game has been going around for years now. Sometimes it's simply explained as a bunch of rules called "Werewolf" - or maybe you've heard of a similar game called "Mafia." This is a classic party game and my friends and I pull it off the shelf over and over again.

Overall Impressions
This is a raucous game of blaming, bluffing, deception, and deliberation. It's meant to be played and played again. You never know who's trying to help you and who's out for blood. I can't tell you how many times I've been wrongfully accused of being a werewolf (and how many times I've looked my friends in the eyes and lied to them, saying "no, I'm not a werewolf, I swear!) You may begin to start hating and distrusting your friends… but hey, that's half the fun of it.