How to be a Werewolf moderator: running the night, the day and the drama

What does a Werewolf moderator do?

The moderator (or narrator) is the one person who knows every card. They don't play. They deal, run the nights, announce deaths, keep the day moving and decide when the game is over. Because they count as an extra person, a game for eight players needs nine people around the table.

If you need the rules themselves first, read how to play Werewolf. The rest of this guide follows a game from setup to the final line.

Before the game: pick the roles and deal

Roughly one werewolf for every four or five players is a sensible start. For a first game, the 8-player setup is hard to get wrong. Other sizes are on the setups page.

• A role list that matches your player count (not counting yourself)
• One card per player, shuffled, plus a sheet only you can see
• House rules decided: role reveal on death, tie rule, whether the Doctor can repeat a save
• A timer for the day discussion
• A printed or open copy of the narrator script
• Low lights or quiet background sound to cover noise at night

1. 1

   Deal one card face down to each player.

2. 2

   Everyone looks privately, then puts the card face down in front of them.

3. 3

   Write the roles down in seat order. You'll check this sheet all game.

4. 4

   Explain any special roles in play, without saying who has them.

The first night

Stand in the middle, look at the floor and start the same way every game:

“Night falls on the village. Everyone… close your eyes.”

Cupid wakes first and only on this night. Then call the lovers so they see each other:

“Cupid, open your eyes. Choose two players to fall in love.”

“Cupid, gently tap your two lovers on the shoulder. Lovers, open your eyes and look at each other. You live… and die together.”

Then run the normal night order below. Write each choice on your sheet as it happens, not at dawn.

What order do roles wake up at night?

After Cupid on night one, the order is flexible with one fixed rule: the Witch comes after the werewolves, because she needs to know who they attacked. This order works well:

“Werewolves, open your eyes. Silently choose your victim.”

Each role gets a wake line, a moment to act, and a sleep line (“Seer, close your eyes.”). The Hunter doesn't wake; they act when they die. The Little Girl doesn't wake either, but may peek while the wolves are up, so give the wolves long enough that peeking is a real risk.

• Call every role every night, even dead ones. Skipping a role tells the table it's gone.
• Pause for the same length whether the player is alive or not. A count of five works.
• Use the same words, so nobody hears you hesitate.

Dawn: announcing deaths

Work out the result before anyone opens their eyes: wolf victim, minus any Doctor save or Witch heal, plus any Witch poison. Then:

“Everyone, open your eyes! The sun rises over the village…”

Name each death the same way, then reveal the card if your group plays with reveals:

“[Name] was found dead, torn apart by the werewolves!”

If the Witch poisoned someone, they were “found dead, poisoned in the night”. If a lover dies, their partner dies of a broken heart straight after. If the Hunter dies, stop and let them shoot before anything else.

Day: discussion and the vote

Give the village around five minutes, warn them near the end, then call the vote. Everyone points at once on a count of three, which stops late voters from following the crowd.

“Thirty seconds left!”

“Time is up! The village must now vote.”

Your job during the day is traffic control. If one player has held the floor for two minutes, ask someone quiet what they think. Dead players stay silent until the game ends. Remind them kindly, once.

“The village has spoken. [Name] is eliminated.”

How do you handle a tied vote or a mistake?

Use a rule you announced before the game. Players accept almost any ruling if it was decided in advance.

A long argument does more damage than the mistake. Make the call and get back to the game.

Calling the end of the game

Check for a win after every death, night or day. The village wins when the last wolf is gone. The wolves win when they equal or outnumber everyone else. If Cupid paired a wolf with a villager and only the two lovers are left, the lovers win.

“The last werewolf is gone! The village wins!”

“The werewolves outnumber the villagers… The werewolves win!”

Then go round and let everyone flip their card. That reveal, and the arguments it starts, is half the fun.

Common moderator mistakes

• Turning your head towards the wolves' seats when you wake them.
• Smiling when the wolves pick someone. Never react to what you see.
• Losing track of the lovers, or which potion the Witch has used.
• Inventing dawn stories that hint at the killers (“a tall figure was seen…”). Flavour should carry no information.
• Forgetting to check for a win after a Hunter shot or a heartbreak death.

When to use a Werewolf moderator app

An app makes sense when nobody wants to sit out, when you're teaching new players, or when the game keeps stalling on admin. Werewolf Narrator is free and runs in a phone browser. You pass one phone round to deal roles, then a recorded narrator runs each night, announces deaths, times the day and checks for a win. It handles 5 to 18 players with the Werewolf, Villager, Seer, Doctor, Witch, Hunter, Cupid and Little Girl roles, and spectator mode lets a non-player hold the phone.

A human still wins on improvised storytelling, house rules and extra roles. Plenty of groups use a person for big themed nights and the app for quick games.