The rules state that if a good win is impossible, for example the only players left alive are evil, then the ST can declare an evil win. I think that's fair.

However, my players seem to have a problem with that rule. The other day I collected the tokens and looked at my grim. That's when I noticed that the only two smart players in my group were evil, and the rest of them (who are pretty dumb and don't know how to play the game effectively) got good roles.

Thus, I declared that it's impossible for the good team to win at this point and the game ends with an evil victory.

Is this not allowed? Why would I waste my time watching the dumb players lose?

How to balance the killing roles (gossip, gambler, GM), protection roles (innkeeper, sailor, minstrel), information gathering roles (chambermaid, grandmother, exorcist)?

I want the game to not end too quickly (so I won't do Shabaloth, assassin, GF, gossip, GM), but also not take too long. I also want the game to be somewhat solvable.

How to balance that? Could any experienced storytellers give me some advice for balanced setups?

I'm a balance freak. I love the balance and identity of TB, but I dislike the butler.

I know it's often suggested to replace butler with:

• lunatic
• zealot
• ogre
• sweetheart

However, of those only zealot seems to be a balanced replacement that preserves the identity of TB as a script.

In TB, it's important that 3 of the 4 outsiders really have no reason to stay hidden, at least not for the whole game.

I have checked the 24 available outsiders (22, disconting the butler and the qutler). None of them seems to fit in TB except for the zealot.

Has anyone found success with such replacement? Or maybe you have some homebrew rules for the butler? Alternatively, maybe one of you can convince me to like this role?

The politician (and the Heretic, to some extent) ruin the fun for me.

BOTC to me is a team game where two teams are trying to do their best to have a good time and win.

Politician goes against that concept, in that they specifically want to sink the ship and make their team lose. It's just not fun for me if the politician is on the script.

Outsiders are an interesting concept - they're good, but have detrimental abilities. Their job is to minimise the downside they bring to their team. Politician (and the Heretic) do the opposite - they maximize the downside, usually.

Am I alone on that?

What I'm talking about is: have you ever let the Pithag create a new demon without killing the original one, thus having two alive demons?

Or have you seen it happen? Why? Was it a good idea?

I wanted to share this because I want to know if I'm alone on that.

Basically, I don't trust custom scripts. It's hard for me to believe that someone on the internet can come up with an experience that's anywhere near the balance and elegance of the base three.

Base three scripts have been created with solid, core themes in mind, and the roles custom-built to fulfill these themes. They've been tested many times by the TPI. For me, it's a seal of quality, a guarantee of a good experience.

Now, taking these roles out of their context, mixing it up and trying to create new script CAN work. But it would be insanely hard, and would require a lot of testing. BOTC is a beautiful, complex web of interactions.

There are exceptions - for example, Teensyville Frankenstein's Mayor is a neat, flavorful script where every role feels important and balanced.

Am I alone on this? Am I insane?

I have seen an advice that if the players are too stressed out about having no bluffs and not knowing eachother, toymaker can be introduced.

Now, I know Fabled aren't really supposed to be "balanced", but the one night without killing rule really doesn't do much.

1. Most of the Teensyville scripts have about 6 townsfolk. That means that after seeing the bluffs, the demon basically knows which 2 or 3 townsfolks are out od the game, thus learning which 3 or 4 could be in the game. This is massive.

2. In one of the more popular Teensyville scripts - Lasseiz un Faire - there aren't even any deaths at night, so the supposed downside doesn't exist.

How bad of an idea is it to use toymaker? Is there maybe another way to balance? Maybe give only 2 bluffs?

EDIT: thank you to everyone who responded. I will not be using the toymaker in LuF. I also don't know why I'm getting downvoted for just asking a question in a subreddit about the game.

In a ideal world, should the ST strive to make the game possible to solve by a group of perfect logicians who make optimal plays?

BOTC is a social deduction game, but unlike other games in this genre, it really puts the emphasis on deduction.

I assume most of you are familiar with the weekly puzzles series on this sub. All of these puzzles have solution. Should a real game of BOTC be similar in that regard? What do you think

EDIT: people are downvoting like I'm saying the game should be solvable to be fun. I'm just asking, because I want to learn! Calm down

We all know not everything is fair game as a ST. Registering an executed Recluse as an imp, this turning SW into a second demon, is an example of thing you could technically do, but shouldn't.

What are some other things like that? Should you register spy as a spy to the investigator? Or an undertaker? Are there characters that you shouldn't turn into the drunk?

I'm curious to listen to your opinions.

So many people post homebrew scripts here, I feel like sometimes it's ignored just how important the bag building is! You could play a hundred different setups of Trouble Brewing and each time find something new and interesting.

So what are your favorite, interesting bag setups for TB?

My setup: do you trust the ravens?

Core roles: imp, drunk, librarian, undertaker, scarlet woman Don't put in: spy, ravenkeeper You can add: chef, monk, fortune teller, recluse

The idea is that you do a drunk ravenkeeper. This is usually seen as a bad idea for STs, but I balanced it by giving the Librarian a drunk, the second option being one of the minions. Evil can try to use it to their advantage and convinve the town that the RK is in fact not drunk. Undertaker is a tool to potentially prove this theory wrong. If you want to further help the evil team, you can give RK as a bluff.