Predators and Prey

Predators and Prey (or P&P) is a group game of accusation and intrigue played on Vulpine Hollow, based off of the popular game called "Mafia. In this game, two factions, predators and prey, each attempt to devour the other faction. The faction left standing at the end wins.

Basic Rules

Each player in a Predators and Prey game either play the role of a hungry predator or an innocent (and generally delicious) prey. Predators have the knowledge of who other predators are; prey do not know who is predator and who is prey. A Game Moderator (GM) oversees the game and provides setting, assigns roles, and makes announcements.

P&P is generally played in two phases:

• During the Day Phase, players may freely chat with each other in public. Each player can cast their vote to 'lynch', or devour, another player. If one player gets a majority vote among all currently surviving players, the player is 'lynched' and removed from the game, generally by being devoured by the last person to cast a vote against them. During this phase, preys should attempt to determine who the predators are, and vote to lynch them. Predators should try to pretend that they are one of the preys, and generally try to misdirect the preys into lynching one of their own members. The Day Phase is typically between 10-20 minutes.

• During the Night Phase, all public talk ceases and there is silence in the room. During this phase, predators may confer freely among private messages; at this time, they may choose a prey that they wish to "Nightkill", or secretly devour at night. After they have chosen, they will inform the GM of their choice and, once the GM confirms it, one of the predators will privately devour the chosen prey. Once the night phase ends, the GM will announce who was devoured during the night and a new day phase will begin. Play continues until all predators have been lynched or all prey have been lynched/nightkilled. The Night Phase is typically 10 minutes long. Unless their role explicitly permits night conversation, no other player may speak privately to any other player at night.

• There are often 'sub-phases' added onto the Day and Night phase. In the most typical current configuration, there is an additional 'Reaction Phase' added onto the Day Phase that is between 3-5 minutes long, after someone has been lynched, to give time for reactions and interactions. During this time, Predators may begin privately collaborating, and deciding who they will nightkill. The Reaction sub-phase only begins after the GM calls for Reactions, prior to this, private predator inter-discussion is still forbidden during the Day.

Etiquette

As you play, please bear in mind that the objective of the game is to lynch others. Although we understand that tempers can run high and stress can abound, the game is all about removing players from it until the Prey are all gone or the Predators are dispatched. If someone accuses you of something in the context of the game, relax! Play it cool! It's all part of how the game is played - the best way to defeat suspicion is to positively contribute to the deliberations and the discussion that goes on in each round. Even then, one way or another, one person a day has got to go. Please remember that - through all varying levels of skill and ability - everyone is playing to have fun, and all vendettas are left at the door. Nobody has it out for anyone else - whatever happens, the most important thing is to enjoy yourself!

Factions

In Predators & Prey, there are two 'standard' factions, the eponymous Predators, and Prey. "Prey" is the default role for all players, and the default faction, as well - the overwhelming number of players in a given game will be Prey of some stripe or sort. Rarely, there will be "sub-factions" within one faction or the other, demarcated by certain special roles, and, also rarely, there may be "third-party" factions or characters in play, with their own unique victory conditions. All of these are detailed under specific roles, and within the Role PM any such player would receive at the beginning of the game.

Faction Roles

"Faction" roles are the standard, default role you possess simply by belonging to a faction. A 'Prey' role is, again, not an assigned role - if you are not told you are a predator, and are not given any other special role, you are assumed to be a Vanilla Prey. A 'Pred' role is assigned by the GM, sometimes with special roles on top of it, at the start of the game. The number of Preds in the game will differ depending on the number of players, but will not be announced before the game.

Prey:

• A Prey is a standard prey player without any special abilities.
• During Day phases, a vanilla prey can talk freely and cast a vote on who they wish to lynch.
• During Night phases, prey are not allowed to speak.
• At no time is a vanilla prey allowed to privately collaborate with any other player.

Predator:

• A Predator is a standard predator player.
• During Day phases, predators can talk freely and cast a vote on who they wish to lynch. However, they cannot privately collaborate during the day, except during a Reaction sub-phase.
• During Night phases, all predators can talk freely with each other in private messages and can collaboratively decide to Nightkill any prey player. Once they make a decision, they inform the GM of the target and who will be devouring them - once the GM confirms their decision, the chosen predator privately devours the chosen target.

Roles

Certain players (either predators or preys) may be randomly and secretly assigned a special role before the game begins by the GM. These roles grant the player special abilities which may assist their faction. Some of the most popular roles are explained below. Please note that this list is NOT comprehensive by any means, it is merely a guideline of some of the most commonly-used roles for beginners. Other roles can and will be used or introduced into P&P games with no prior warning to the players.

Special roles are just that - special and distinguished in some way. If you are not assigned one of these roles, you do not have it - although you may, for purposes of strategy, deflecting blame, or confusing prey (if you are a predator) or drawing attention from preds (if you are prey) claim any of them at any time. Whether or not it is wise to do so is left to your discretion. The presence or absence of these roles in any game is not announced by the GM in advance, except in open setups.

Common Roles

Common or "standard" roles are the "default" roles that will most often populate games. They are generally made with direct inspiration from roles present in Mafia/Werewolf or other related games, and are in fact often direct analogues of such roles. Most "open" setups will primarily revolve around "common" roles - these are the roles that you should almost always expect to see some of, in a given game. Pay attention to how they fit together, how they might counter, or be countered by, one another and other roles - this "interconnectedness" of roles and how they act on one another is called role balance, and is how many players figure out the mix of roles present in a game as it goes on.

Most common roles are either information or action roles - they tell you something about another player, or allow you to do something to or for them.

Investigator:

• An Investigator (or Cop) is a prey-aligned player.
• During Night phases, Investigators can perform an investigation on a chosen player privately by informing the GM that they wish to do so, via PM. The GM will then reveal to the Investigator if the chosen player is a predator or a prey.
  • Detective (or Backup Cop) is a prey aligned role; if the Investigator is eaten, the Detective becomes active with the Investigator's abilities. Until this happens, they are considered a vanilla Prey and will read as such if investigated.

Private Eye

• A Private Eye (or Role Cop) can be a prey-aligned role. Private Eyes can investigate other players like the normal Investigator, but instead of learning which team they belong to, they instead learn the person's Role (e.g. 'Investigator', 'Bodyguard', 'Ninja', etc). They do NOT learn if the chosen player is pred or prey. In the case of a role that has different names depending on whether a Pred or Prey holds it (for instance, Spy vs. Private Eye) the vanilla version of their Role (Private Eye or Role Cop) will be returned.
  • Gumshoe (or Backup Role Cop) is a prey-aligned role; if the Private Eye is eaten, the Gumshoe becomes active with the Private Eye's abilities. Until this happens, they are considered a vanilla Prey and will read as such if investigated.
  • Spy is a pred-aligned variant of the Private Eye. It functions otherwise the same, save for the fact that in a single night, a Spy can both perform the factional nightkill on one player (with the collaboration of any other active preds) and choose to investigate an entirely different player.

Guardian:

• A Guardian (or Doctor) is a prey-aligned player.
• During Night phases, a Guardian can choose to protect a chosen player privately by informing the GM that they wish to do so, via PM. If the chosen player is the target of a nightkill, the protection from the Guardian will prevent them from being devoured. The Guardian, unlike the Bodyguard, does not die from successfully protecting another player.
• Guardians cannot protect themselves.
  • Savior (or Backup Doctor) is a prey-aligned role: if the Guardian is eaten, the Savior becomes active with the Guardian's abilities. Until this happens, they are considered a vanilla Prey and will read as such if investigated.

Bodyguard:

• A Bodyguard is a prey-aligned player.
• During Night phases, a Bodyguard can choose to protect a chosen player privately by informing the GM that they wish to do so, via PM. If the chosen player is the target of a nightkill, the bodyguard will be devoured instead.
• Bodyguards (obviously) cannot protect themselves.

Vigilante:

• A Vigilante is a prey-aligned player.
• During Night phases, a Vigilante can choose to assassinate a chosen player privately by informing the GM that they wish to do so, via PM. Once the GM confirms the assassination's success, the vigilante can devour said chosen player privately. The GM will announce the chosen player's alignment at the beginning of the Day phase.
• Vigilantes are regularly given only a limited number of uses for their nightkill, as opposed to Predators, who may use it every single night.

Ranger:

• A Ranger (or Tracker) is a prey-aligned player.
• During Night phases, a Tracker can choose to follow a chosen player privately by informing the GM they wish to do so. The Tracker will then be able to see if the chosen player visits any other player's room during the night; they will NOT see what action is performed by that player.
  • Scout is a pred-aligned variant of the Ranger. It functions otherwise the same, save for the fact that in a single night, a Scout can both perform the factional nightkill on one player (with the collaboration of any other active preds) and choose to track an entirely different player.

Observer:

• An Observer (or Watcher) is usually a prey-aligned player, but may be pred-aligned.
• During Night phases, a Watcher can choose to watch a chosen player privately by informing the GM they wish to do so. The Watcher will then be able to see if the chosen player is visited by any other player during the night; they will NOT see what action is performed by that player.

Roleblocker:

• A Roleblocker can be either prey or predator-aligned.
• During Night phases, a Roleblocker can choose to block a chosen player privately by informing the GM they wish to do so. A roleblocked target cannot use any of their special abilities during the Night phase (Nightkills, investigations, protections, etc).

Strongjaw:

• A Strongjaw (or Strongarm) is a predator-aligned player. It is very rarely given to Vigilantes or Serial Killers, as well.
• If a Strongjaw performs the nightkill for the predators, and informs the GM that they wish to use their Strongjaw power, the nightkill will go through regardless of anything that would normally prevent them from doing so, i.e. a Guardian's protection or a Captor's jailing.
• The only role which can circumvent being targeted when Strongjaw is invoked is the Commuter, commuting away.
• The Strongjaw role is generally limited to how many times it may be used in a game.

Ninja:

• A Ninja character is usually a predator-aligned player, but may also be a prey-aligned on uncommon occasions. It will always be paired with a secondary role if it is a prey-aligned role. There are two variants.
• The standard variant is Tracker-proof, but not Watcher-proof. If a Tracker targets a Ninja during the night, the Tracker will not see that the Ninja has targeted anyone for any actions whatsoever. If a Watcher targets the Ninja's target, however, they will still see that the Ninja targeted them.
  • Shinobi is the more powerful variant, and is Watcher-and-Tracker-proof. Watchers and Trackers cannot see any actions that a Shinobi performs during the Night phase.
• Please note that a Watcher who watches a Shinobi WILL see any actions performed against the Shinobi, but will not see any actions the Shinobi performs on any other watched targets.
• Shinobi (and sometimes Ninja) are often given only a limited number of uses of their special ability to hide from detection. If the Shinobi does not specify to the GM that they are making use of their class ability, it is presumed that they are performing an action normally (without hiding from detection.)

Arch-Pred:

• An Arch-Pred (or Godfather) is a predator-aligned player.
• If an Investigator attempts to investigate an Arch-Pred, their investigation will come up false and identify the Arch-Pred as a prey, instead.
• The only way to conclusively identify an Arch-Pred with special abilities is to Watch or Track them, and so games that include an Arch-Pred will almost always include at least one Watcher or Tracker, if not both, or backups for one or the other. Arch-Pred is considered a common role - that means that it will not be announced by the GM that there is an Arch-Pred in the game.

Uncommon Roles

Uncommon roles are more specialized variants of the "standard" roles, or entirely unique roles whose functions do not have standard, accepted analogues in Mafia/Werewolf. Uncommon roles will rarely appear in "open" setups, and will generally be seen less commonly than standard roles. They are presented and provided for the sake of variety, new strategies, and creating interesting situations with game or player-balance. This category also includes all 'third-party' roles.

Almost all uncommon roles have some connection to a more powerful or less-specialized "standard" role. They may be information roles, action roles, or anything else. They are not announced by the GM as being in the game at the start.

Visitor:

• A Visitor can be prey-aligned or predator-aligned.
• During Night phases, a Visitor may choose to visit any other player in the game. However, unless the Visitor has a role modifier of some sort, this will not actually have any effect - the Visitor does not learn anything from it, and they may be seen doing so by any Rangers or Observers (Trackers or Watchers) that are active.
• The purpose of the Visitor is to either obfuscate a player's secondary role, or may be to function with a hidden modifier that makes them slightly more useful than they would otherwise be.

CSI:

• A CSI (or Voyeur) is a prey-aligned player, but can be pred-aligned in special circumstances.
• During Night phases, a CSI can choose to investigate any other player, privately, by informing the GM they wish to do so. The CSI will then be able to see what actions, if any, were performed on that player, that night - but they will not see who performed the action(s).

Stalker:

• A Stalker (or Follower) can be either prey or pred-aligned.
• During Night phases, a Stalker may choose to stalk any other player, privately, by informing the GM they wish to do so. The Stalker will then be able to see what actions, if any, that player performed - but they will not see who the player targeted with these actions.

Innocent:

• An Innocent is always a prey-aligned player.
• The Innocent has one special ability, and one alone: At any time, they may reveal their role as an Innocent, at which point they become Lynchproof.
• The revelation must come before the deciding vote to Lynch is cast, and can be as simple as saying "I'm an Innocent" if you're in a rush.
• The GM will confirm the player's Innocence if it is valid.

Commuter:

• A Commuter is usually a prey-aligned player.
• During Night phases, a Commuter can choose to 'commute' away for that Night phase. When a commuted player is away, they cannot be targeted by any actions during the night, including nightkills. They also cannot use any other night skills.
• Commuters commute first, meaning any role meant to stop a player from performing their night action will fail.
• Commuters generally have a limited number of times they can commute.

Trickster:

• A Trickster (or Action Switcher) can be either prey or predator-aligned.
• During Night phases, a Trickster can choose any one player to do one of two actions to, by informing the GM they wish to do so. Although they will not know what action a target is taking in either case, they may choose to either redirect whatever action their target performs to any player of the Trickster's choice, or delay that action by one night-phase. Delayed actions resolve at the beginning of the next Night phase, Redirected actions resolve that night.

Ward:

• A Ward (or Protector) can be either prey or predator-aligned.
• During Night phases, a Ward may choose to ward any one player, by informing the GM they wish to do so. Any actions that night which would aim at that player, not performed by the player themselves, will be redirected onto another player the Ward decides on when they make their action.

Captor:

• A Captor can be either prey or predator-aligned.
• During Night phases, a Captor can choose to jail a chosen player privately by informing the GM they wish to do so. A jailed target cannot use any of their special abilities during the Night phase (Nightkills, investigations, protections, etc). A jailed character also cannot be targeted by any night actions at all.

Mason:

• A Mason is a prey-aligned player (but has a pred-aligned variant.)
• During Night phases, a Mason can communicate privately with any other Mason currently active in the game - until one of them dies. They are told who other Masons are at the beginning of the game, and are free to collaborate, plan strategy, and attempt to swing votes, as well as share suspicions and (if they have any additional roles besides Mason) share evidence of investigations or protection.
• Masons may not speak to one another at any other time.
• Masons have an unlimited use of this ability during the Night phase, however.
  • Wire is the more powerful, predatorial variant, and is always predator-aligned. Wires may speak to any other Wired Preds at any time. This includes any time during the Day Phase, as well as the usual Pred ability to collaborate at night.

Vengeful:

• A Vengeful character is usually a prey-aligned player, but may also be a predator-aligned on uncommon occasions.
• If a Vengeful character is lynched at any time, they may choose to devour any player they wish before they are devoured themselves.

Serial Devourer:

• The Serial Devourer is a special alignment - they are neither pred nor prey, but are allied only to themselves. If investigated, however, they return as 'prey' unless there are no predators left in the game.
• The Serial Devourer can perform a nightkill just like the mafia.
• The Serial Devourer wins when they and only one other person remains. It does not matter if the person remaining is predator or prey; if it is a predator, the Serial Devourer wins, not the predator.
• The Serial Devourer often has only a limited number of uses of their special nightkill, however; if all predators are removed from the game, the Devourer's nightkill becomes infinite-use until they win or are lynched.

Announced Roles

Announced Roles are roles whose presence the GM will announce before the game begins - you will not know who possesses the role, but you will be aware that it is in the game. This is generally restricted to roles whose presence can have such an unbalancing effect if players are not aware they should be watching for them, as to tip the balance of the game one way or another, or roles whose victory conditions seriously impact the prospects of either side. If you don't hear it announced that one of these roles is active in the game, it won't be, barring special circumstances the GM will also announce beforehand (Role Madness, Bastard GM, etc.)

Glutton:

• The Glutton (or Miller) is a special alignment - they are prey, but when Investigated by a Cop-type role, they read as being Pred instead. They have no other special abilities - and still win when they prey do, if they last that long.
• The Glutton is sometimes picked by the GM, and not told to the person possessing it. This means you may be aware that a Glutton is active in the game, but unaware if you, yourself, are one or not. This is to add insecurity so that even in a game with a Glutton, a Pred cannot just instantly dispel evidence against them by claiming they are one.
• The GM will usually say whether or not the Glutton will know who they are. However, the Glutton can - even when known to themselves - claim to be one at any time, just like any other player and role.

Traitor:

• The Traitor is a special alignment with several variants - they are pred-aligned, but when Investigated by a Cop-type role, they read as being Prey instead. They generally are informed who the Preds are, but may not participate in the factional Nightkill. This also means that they may not communicate with any other Preds during Reaction or Night phases. They win when the Preds win.
• The Traitor is generally known to the Predators, and is immune to the Predator's factional nightkill (even if they wanted to use it on them, for some reason.) Other times, the Traitor may be unknown to the Predators, but if picked with the factional nightkill, is 'drawn back into the fold' - and becomes a full-fledged Predator instead of a Traitor.
• There are other variants of the Traitor that may make an appearance - the GM will generally specify the finicky parts of the role when it is announced it will be involved.