6 great hidden role games for horrible liars

[@SaitosaBard]

Ah, I thought 'horrible' liars as in 'not very good'. Oh well, recommendations are solid anyhow.

[@JamieDancer]

Me too

[@BattyButtercup]

ah! but you can abuse your very obvious lies across MULTIPLE GAMES so no one's ever sure if you're legitimately telling a lie incompetently or lying about lying in a deception-ception! (or use the games to practise getting better at lying/talking around the truth)

[@ChibiQilin]

I agree with some of the recommendations, but Ultimate Werewolf is just terrible when you can play regular werewolf for free without any cards needed. It's a lot more natural too... 36 roles makes the game convoluted as people have to learn their roles. The whole fun of werewolf in the first place is in the combination of a simple premise and complex players.

[@commandercaptain4664]

I'm a horrible liar (or am I???) and I still need a hidden role game that allows for my incompetent rubbishness (or is it????).

[@ancientswordrage]

I was waiting for the explanation why these didn't need you to be good at lying...

[@weronikamatczuk8642]

Alternate title: 6 games to really test your friendships

[@patunicorn4487]

You might wanna check out a card game named "Aye, dark overlord" where you play as a bunch of minions and one overlord. As you once again come back from a failed mission (because the heroes won once again), you have to explain to your grumpy overlord who's minions fault it is and who should be punished while you try to shift around the blame. When only one of the minions is left alive you win. I only know the game in german (ger. version "Ja Herr und Meister") but it is a ton of fun with a group of friends on travels!

[@gigaflynn_]

Hi guys, love the channel, great videos, many thanks. Small request, could you pop up a little text bar on the bottom of the screen with the name of the game when you introduce it? Similar to what Outside Xtra/Xbox do in their list videos, as it's much easier than trying to figure out the name and spelling from spoken words. Thanks :-D

[@973daydreamer]

My proudest Werewolf moment was when I was a minion (knows who the werewolves and other minions are, is trying to help werewolves win, werewolves don't know who minions are). I was the only minion and there was only one werewolf who IMMEDIATELY put there foot in it and everyone knew they were the werewolf. Until I started talking! I managed to lie so well that by the end of it not even the werewolf thought they were the werewolf. So proud 😂

[@Richard-zu3gz]

I used to be a part of Exeter Uni Hide & Seek and we would take mafia to another level with up to 20 villagers but we'd come up with some serious convoluted backstories. One time I went spelunking under my home with my neighbour and he got cursed by the ruins we found and turned into a squirrel. There was a villager who had only just arrived in town to meet his long lost sibling only to discover them dead the morning after. Sometimes there would be resurrections with them being effectively muted, but we never had a GM it'd always be a god of some kind. One time the dead were sent to hell (under the table) and they could return if they stole the livings soles (shoes), returning to the world of the living and regaining their position in the village. Cupid sometimes had love triangles and all sorts of shenanigans ensued. The key to living was a backstory as sometimes you'd live purely so you could continue the story the next day.

[@PrincessWhoosh]

A pretty simple more partyish one, but I quite enjoyed The Chameleon. Everyone has to do word association for a specific word on a card that everyone's clued in to, except the Chameleon, who has no idea what the given word is and has to sort of bluff it based on what everyone else says.

[@gingergamer3270]

Sounds a lot like "spy" I have played that and it is great fun

[@CyberianWaste]

So glad you mentioned Blood on the Clocktower, can't wait for the Kickstarter to be fulfilled.

[@ferdiashaw8404]

Lifeboat is a beautifully constructed game and my favourite so far! Thanks so much for including it!!

[@kateb4611]

I would love more themed recommendations lists. Like, best 2 player games, co-op games, small games to toss in your bag, long games to destroy an afternoon, surprisingly contentious games that just might destroy friendships, card games, word games, etc. sorry, once I start listing things, I just can't seem to stop...

[@scruffymatt42]

The Battlestar Galactica game is another great example of this type of game. It's incredibly fun sneakily sabotaging the ship's attempts to retain resources while accusing the person next to you of being the Cylon who's messing things up for everyone. :D

[@Antithet]

Battlestar Galactica is one of my favourite hidden role games but these ones seem a lot easier to get other people involved in.

[@MrCyn1c4l]

I love BSG, but good luck getting a copy at a reasonable price now that it's OOP!

[@CaitlinRC]

I'm always a sucker for Spyfall as a deceit game :D

[@animefanrk2k]

Shadows Over Camelot was a fun one. The first time I played, I was the traitor (and Lancelot, ironically enough) and I won by just generally helping my fellow friends until we got towards the end of the game in which they gave me power to do as I see fit on a turn, and I just didn't do it and I won.

[@fjomsepusen9809]

Scott Joplin is always fitting board game music

[@shawnheatherly]

Mafia de Cuba sounds amazing, and that Deception: Murder in Hong Kong sounds like a crazier version of Clue that I've wanted since I was a child.

[@brycejarrett9211]

Resistance and Donner Dinner Party are my favorite of this type.

[@bearhustler]

Never even heard of Donner Dinner Party but the title alone has sold it to me !

[@dalerobertson5841]

Haha I love their honesty about forgetting something at home!

[@piercefabruada3851]

Wow! Nice content! I also want to share this Lagim Card game that my family and I are enjoying. It's amazing that they actually came up with the idea of Philippine Folklore since it's kind of dying down a bit. It will surely educate future generations.

[@dalerobertson5841]

You guys have really helped me understand the wide world of board games which I've always want to be in

[@AlphaOrion98]

Resistance is one of my favorites

[@keegantrott1016]

I have a sneaking suspicion you haven't yet played "Secret Hitler". If you had, this likely would have been 7 games, not 6.

[@bearhustler]

I've played Secret Hitler and got to say I don't get the fuss, it's good but I've enjoyed most other hidden roles more

[@vallewabbel9690]

Truth spilled, secret Hitler is my favourite hidden role game. It's all off the fun out of werewolf minus the waiting.

[@DauntlessPanda1986]

Agreed. Mechanically it’s ever so slightly different to those on the list and thematically it’s dead on point. Avalon/the resistance are also good mentions

[@cujoenyo]

@@bearhustler agreed, secret hitler wasn't that fun. you vote on law then its reveal time. oh yay

[@jessejones4786]

I'm loving the channel guys! Your "let's play" playlist is just 2 of every lets play and a deleted video lmao other than that keep it up friends!

[@magicalfluffybunny]

We like playing Citadels. Everyone is a different role every turn, and you try to build a city. Very fun.

[@nicholasgame3525]

You guys are great, more discussion between you both about the games would be amazing

[@00blaat00]

I like Citadels! In Citadels, there's this phase where each player picks a role in secret, and that role grants special abilities during their main turn. Fun bit is where you as a player need to assess what other roles landed with other players so you can assassinate the bloke that's about to win the game. Fun times!

[@infernoblayze]

Ooh, I love a good hidden roles game, though I too thought this was a list for people bad at lying!. Also, I'm no expert but it feels like these vids could do with a bit more b-roll during the longer spoken sections? Just something to keep the eyes happy while you explain the game. The bits like Wheels turning over cards in Good Cop Bad Cop were great. Lifeboat has lovely art. I'll definitely be checking that out.

[@rpgenius3968]

These games are my absolute favorite type of games to play! Happy to be adding more to my collection

[@PupOrionSirius26]

Secret Hitter is a great bluffing game!

[@ulfhazelcreek8108]

Brilliant explanation of Lifeboat!

[@tobithehuman8168]

Probably not the right topic for the comments of THIS video, but... please do more Videos about PnP! Thanks to Johnnys campaign I bought the DnD-Books (PHB, MM, GMG) and been fiddeling through them for like a week. I almost finished the first book and will be polishing my notes the next few days before diving into the GMG. I am having a absolute blast so far! With the books and with your channel that is. ;) I will be working on my own campaign in the future and would LOVE to get some tipps and tricks from my favourite GM about how to get started, avoiding beginner mistakes, etc.. :) Keep up the great work, guys!

[@lowlowcheeses]

What about coup?

[@AmertumeB]

Secret Hitler and/or The Resistance are top games and should have been on that list!

[@caelanwinans3738]

I've only ever played secret Hitler with other history majors

[@MarSara1]

Saboteur is a great game for deception and messing people over

[@alwaysp3ng848]

We always love a game if Sheriff of Nottingham to really test friendships and honesty

[@InfelixSoror]

Hilariously, I only realised that there was an actual, physical *game* of werewolf when I saw it on sale, almost a decade after I started playing it. At uni, the GM assigned roles one by one during the first night phase, which allowed a cunning GM to really lean into any existing paranoia and create some truly hilarious combinations of werewolves and villagers, as lingering suspicions and accusations spilt over from round to round. Desperately trying to figure out if the GM would really make Tom a werewolf *again* or if he's suddenly become the doctor or the seer instead added another level to the entire snafu.

[@RMJAV]

I really enjoy this channel. I wanna play werewolf now! Thanks Johnny :D

[@awmperry]

Of this style, Secret Hitler is my favourite. It’s great fun. As for Werewolf, a friend of mine has been known to run Werewolf with over 200 villagers...

[@saxonjedi5878]

Wow

[@awmperry]

She split it up into about a dozen villages, with assistant GMs running each of them. As villages ran out of people, survivors would move to other villages.

[@blondgalahad]

a better game for large groups is two rooms and a boom.

[@awmperry]

It was less about finding the optimal game for the crowd and more about seeing just how far Werewolf could be pushed. ;)

[@brentage5000]

Not only was Ultimate Werewolf Live hilarious and the video that convinced me to subscribe to you maniacs, it's so bloody (wink) hilarious that I can't stop watching it over and over.

[@silver_tonguesplitch9207]

This game is an amazing social experiment, second only to getting drunk and telling someone what you really think of them, I love this game!

[@HermansMummy]

Really like the channel, gave me a lot of great ideas for game night. I was wondering though if it would be possible to put a list of the games you talk about in the description or at a certain point in the video ? I often find myself going back to the video because I forgot the name of a game I was interested in.

[@TheGoblinZero]

I would like to add Sheriff of Nottingham as well

[@bearhustler]

MAFIA DE CUBA ! It's brilliant. Love the idea of Blood on the Clocktower (it almost crosses the line in LRP) but too expensive for me.

[@brentage5000]

12:41 when Wheels said "the game will start to add in different elements", my mind heard "add indifferent elements" and I thought "it adds elements that don't matter to the outcome? Intriguing...oh, wait, that's not what he said, is it?"

[@wayner396]

Two Rooms and a Boom, Coup, Masquerade, Avalon, and the Resistance are also fun hidden role games. I enjoy Lifeboat though I will say it has one of the worst written instructions I've seen. Highly recommend it's 3 expansion packs as well.

[@TheLeannansidhe]

ah Bang. Awesome game. Hilarious to watch my normally very nice mother completely destroy everyone and pretty much always manage to be on the winning team lol.

[@kingpin3000]

Blood on the Clocktower is definitely worth playing. Find the uk page on Facebook and see if they will will run a game with you.

[@theMarksmanofGC]

I’ve had some fun with Bang! but I’ve also had literally my worst game of any board game ever. Once some friends got together and I died on literally my first turn before being able to do anything due to the dynamite. The game then proceeded to go on for about 2 hours.

[@theMarksmanofGC]

Granted, this wasn’t the dice game

[@Kit-and-Stoma-Bob]

How is The Resistance not in this list!! Also for a fun variation on Werewolf, check out Growl!

[@sharrafitzgerald1906]

I want to see a Let's Play of Deception Murder in Hong Kong. Would be fabulous with the OxVenturers. :D

[@dizzyizzylizzie]

I'm surprised Secret Hitler didn't make it on this list

[@OnlyLiarGameFan]

The game architect informed me of this game genre.

[@nightcatarts]

Thanks, I'd never even heard of Lifeboat. Seems like an itneresting one that's a bit shy of the pack when it comes to this genre.

[@ferdiashaw8404]

It is my favourite social deception game so far! It never gets mentioned in any of these top tens so I’m always so excited when it gets mentioned! I know you wrote this 3 years ago but if you haven’t managed to get it yet do!

[@nightcatarts]

@@ferdiashaw8404 I don't get to play really any tabletop stuff myself, but I'm always on the lookout for games that my sister can play with her kids.

[@DauntlessPanda1986]

With your love of Werewolf you should check out Growl. It kickstarted and is essentially werewolf with no moderator and uses a deck of cards to play

[@thiswillbeyourend]

A deception game that I always advocate is Burke’s Gambit

[@aulim]

This is great. Will definitely be ordering few of these to try 👌

[@Sky-hearts-it]

Would you consider doing a list of the spookiest games to play for Halloween?

[@TheDarkthunder1000]

Could you guys please make an indepth video of blades in the dark? Im really interested on it ever since you guys made your tabletop game list that arent d&d

[@dicebreaker]

We've got one in the pipeline!

[@Mr_TheHan]

19:06 Did someone say Andy Farrant?

[@nickdejager8873]

I was expecting to see Coup on the list, especially the Reformation expansion.

[@blondgalahad]

these are all very similar games all in all. I'm surprised you didn't put it some of the other ones like Spyfall (with the knowledge being reversed the traitor not having any and the citizens having more) or that is a merge of genres like Battlestar Galactica with the Cylons working agains the co-op gameplay but not wanting to get found out and imprisoned.

[@FabienMariauxdeSerres]

No mention of Coup?

[@M3lw4r3]

I just found out good cop bad cop and leaders of euphoria are almost literally the same game

[@kcollier710]

Paranoid games for a paranoid age- good times :)

[@jimmyc3030]

You Should try the One Night Ultimate Werewolf game. Quite fast paced and verrrry fun!

[@shadowedpokefan331]

I played one night ultimate werewolf and bang and love them both

[@mrmagpiepromotions]

Nice shirt Johnny.

[@cameronwatson5549]

Wasn’t Bang published before Good Cop Bad Cop?

[@CatsMeow_]

I always forget that Bang! is a hidden role game.

[@procrastinatingperfectioni278]

If there is eyes being shut or people being eliminated by luck is involved then it is a bad game

[@bjrn9019]

johnny highkey looks like Drakos

[@jonathonfreeman9233]

I actually like the BANG card game better than the dice, but all good recommendations

[@heisedren7811]

I know this is completely irrelevant, but I love the Manchester Orchestra shirt!

[@ManusNoble1988]

Resistance / Avalon!

[@carolinelabbott2451]

Cheaters Monopoly is one me and my family enjoy a lot. I once cheated so much one time that now I am always accused so I don't cheat now just so that I can still win against them. The one game I can enjoy being devious in.

[@toddkauk6099]

My #1 choice is Cockroach Poker, then MammuZ, and The Chameleon.

[@salacious8crumb]

Battlestar Galactica is the greatest hidden role game.

[@Nosferatu755]

Not related to the topic, but you guys should really try out/review Escape the Dark Castle. It's really good

[@Elfnoble]

WB Sheriff of Nothingham?

[@saulziranda348]

can you guys upload a gameplay video of lifeboat please??

[@dubbingsync]

I actually didn’t realise how early I was to this one... nice video.

[@lauramarschmallow2922]

On good ol' german Klassenfahrt back in 8th grade we played "werewolf" with over 30 people. And I got murdered in the first or second Night. Oh golly...

[@CyberianWaste]

Check out Blood on the Clocktower when it comes out. Dead players still have some involvement as ghosts, and there are even ways to bring in players late to the party

[@Oximb]

Thats the problem with Werewolf but there is a shorter version called One Night where nobody dies because the game is only one.

[@nathanmckeehan8190]

Ultimate Werewolf is awesome!

[@rowanhawklan9707]

I see your going for 95%!

[@JamieDancer]

I used to play mafia all the time at camp as a kid. But these days, actually at least since 2008, kids at the same camp play a very PC version where people fall asleep instead of dying. This is a camp in the American South.

[@JamieDancer]

I think they call it "fireflies" now.

[@carolinelabbott2451]

My daughter plays a mafia/warewolf like game at a church club, and they definitely get murdered. I think it plays like thus. One is the doctor, one is the cop, one is the mafia hitman, and the rest are the villagers. Each night someone gets killed. Each night the doctor chooses to heal themself or a villager. Morning arrives and there is either a murdered victim or not as the doctor saved them. The person whom the cop at night accused is arrested and are out of the game. The game ends when the mafia hit man is arrested or the last free or living villager is arrested or murdered. A weird game but they enjoy it.

[@Mobius08]

So, when are you playing these with Oxbox/Xtra/Eurogamer?

[@sheldon8589]

No Shadow Hunters?

[@mikedidvlogs8665]

The only hidden role worth rooting out is that of a heretic, this is your ninth request to play Dark Heresy First Edition

[@axeldornelles5292]

I can't believe you forgot Secret Hitler, though.

[@fullhalfadder]

Oh yeah, I LOVE that I can't hear a word of this. Sound editing is perfection.

[@jimbob7463]

Secret hitler is best hidden role game don’t @ me

[@derekhunter5040]

@

[@PatrickLongblkwhtrbbt]

This was Luke's doing wasn't it

[@pariahscion3740]

I like Succession... It's really about screwing your friends over... Political type dealings and whatnot. Super fun.

[@DenisRyan]

Hit play, see Deception, press Like. See Lifeboat, press Like again. Realize I've made a terrible mistake and calmly press Like one final time while whistling innocently. I'm not the traitor...

[@dubbingsync]

*squints suspiciously* hmmm?

[@NisansaDdS]

What about "Secret Hitler "? :-D

[@StarkMaximum]

Oh. I thought this was going to be a list of hidden role games for terrible liars; as in, people who are bad at lying (so maybe it would be hidden role games that reward other skills). Only upon watching it and noticing they said nothing of the sort do I realize that the title is a silly pejorative; as in, hidden role games for liars who are terrible because they like to lie. That's a shame. I was hoping for the former because I hate lying, I'm terrible at lying, and as a result I really just don't enjoy any hidden role or social deception games, and I was thinking maybe this list had some offers for me. But I guess lying is an essential part of a hidden role/deduction game, so it would be silly for me to think that. But I did hope! Ah well, there's plenty of other board game genres for me to enjoy, I can live with just full passing on every hidden role/social deduction game.

[@abi_rose]

Ooh I’ve only ever played One Night Ultimate Werewolf, not the original. I like it because you only have one round, so it’s less pressure for bad liars as you only have to lie for a max of ten minutes. It also allows you to tell really outlandish lies and gambits, because you don’t have to keep up lies round after round.

[@johanneskrenner8908]

Werewolf is a blast - but ONLY if you put a "Onenight" before the title. Also: you might want to try »Junta - las cartas« (junta the card game)

[@DillioGherkin]

It would have been funny to have the first game not be werewolf since this video was about lying.

[@sjappiyah4071]

Basically, every Youth groups favourite games lool.