on storytelling blood on the clocktower
APR 21, 2026
inkhaven
I Storytold my first couple of Blood on the Clocktower games recently. It's easy in some ways, hard in others, but overall fun! Highly recommend.
making up information is not as hard as it seems
There are lots of things in Blood on the Clock Tower that are up to the Storyteller's discretion. It's up to the Storyteller to decide what information certain roles get (e.g. the Washerwoman), what information poisoned/drunk players receive, whether the Recluse registers as Good or Evil, and so on. As a player, I was always impressed at the decisions Storytellers had to make to run a game at all.
It turns out that this part is actually not that hard, for a couple of reasons.
First and foremost, the Storyteller doesn't carry the game in their head. They carry it on the Grimoire (or the Pocket Grimoire). This makes a far bigger than Player Me thought. My theory is this: when you are a player, you spend a lot of brainpower managing possible universes and being stressed, so it's hard to imagine being able to fabricate information on top of that. But as the Storyteller, you know exactly what universe you're in, and you have no stake in the game. That gives you enough bandwidth to make reasonable decisions.
Second, the Storyteller still has to follow the rules. Yes, you have to decide what pings the Washerwoman gets, but you know one of them has to be a Townsfolk. If the Empath is poisoned, you only have to decide between giving a ping of 0, 1, or 2; you don't have to decide what those pings could mean. This limits the scope of the information you have to make up, which makes the mental load more manageable.
Of course, you need game knowledge to be an effective Storyteller.1 The responsibilities of the Storyteller would be overwhelming if you were trying to learn the rules at the same time. But if you've played enough to get an understanding of how games tend to flow, it's not too hard to understand how certain pieces of information will affect the game. You just rely on that instinct and it all tends to work out.
getting people to listen is pretty hard
The hard part is getting people to listen to you. Now, one would think that this would be the easy part, seeing as the Storyteller is literally in charge of the game.
But no.
People get into this game. Very much into this game. Voices will be raised, and if you are on the quiet side like me, people often forget to listen to you.
I find it especially difficult to keep people on track when it comes to nominations. Nominations tend devolve into General Public Discourse that has nothing to do with the current accusation, which stalls the game and makes rounds take forever. I'm not sure that there's a solution to this except Being More Authoritative.
keeping time is also pretty hard
Most of the time, I am trying to get people to listen in order to keep time, which is also difficult to manage.
I haven't figured out a good balance on round time. Giving people too much time to talk tends to favor Town, which is something I've noticed as both a player and a Storyteller. This is especially true in the final three — if Town is given infinite time to think with no pressure, it's almost impossible for Evil to keep up with their bluffs. But making rounds too short makes the game no fun, and people don't like being cut off.
I'm working on it. I'm sure this will make more sense with practice.
storytelling is so much fun
To be honest, I like Storytelling better than I like playing. Playing is fun, of course — that's how I got into the game in the first place — but it can be stressful and somewhat overwhelming. I much prefer being the arbiter, pulling strings and exerting influence from the outside.2
But my favorite part of Storytelling is providing people with a good time. It makes me feel all fuzzy inside! I highly recommend you try it someday.
Brought to you by your beloved Storyteller, Kaylee.