Balloonist: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 09:08, 27 June 2025

Information

Type	Townsfolk
Artist	Anica Kelsen
Revealed	07/04/2020

"More heat! Higher! Higher! Più alto! Ahhh... it is so beautiful from up here, don't you agree? Can you see the children fishing by the river, under the willow? Can you see the glint of the sun on the circus tent-poles? What's this? An old man, alone, passed out in the vineyard? Less heat! Lower! Lower! Vai più in basso!"

Related Jinxes (Open)

Summary

"Each night, you learn a player of a different character type than last night. [+0 or +1 Outsider]"

The Balloonist learns players of different character types.

Each time the Balloonist learns a player, the player must have a different character type to the previously shown player.
The Balloonist does not learn the character type of the player they learn.
The shown player can be alive or dead.
The shown player can be good or evil.
If the Balloonist is drunk or poisoned, they may learn a character of the same type as the previously shown player. When the Balloonist becomes sober and healthy, they must learn a player of a different character type to the previously shown player.
During setup, the Storyteller may choose to add an Outsider due to the Balloonist’s ability.

How to Run

During setup, you may add an Outsider.

When preparing the first night, mark any player with the KNOW reminder. When preparing each night afterwards, mark a character of a different type than the current with the KNOW reminder.

Each night, wake the Balloonist. Point to the player marked KNOW. Put the Balloonist to sleep.

Examples

Abdallah is the Vizier, Lewis is the High Priestess, and Sarah is the Politician. On the first night, the Balloonist learns Abdallah. On the second night, the Balloonist learns Lewis. On the third night, the Balloonist learns Sarah.

Julian is the Nightwatchman, Alex is the Sailor, and Lachlan is the Puzzlemaster. On the first night, the Balloonist learns Julian. On the second night, the Poisoner chooses the Balloonist. Because the Balloonist is poisoned, the Storyteller chooses to show the Balloonist another Townsfolk, and the Balloonist learns Alex. On the third night, the Balloonist is sober and healthy, and learns Lachlan, who is a different character type to Alex.

Tips & Tricks

Pay attention to Outsider claims! You might have added an extra Outsider, so if you hear players claiming to be the Zealot, the Snitch, and the Moonchild, this can help you prove you are what you claim to be. Plus, knowing where the Outsiders are makes it easier to decipher your information.

Each day, talk to the player whose name you learned last night. Find out what character they’re claiming to be, so you can compare their claim to the previous player you learned and see if it makes sense!

Wait to talk to the players you’ve learned until later in the game, when good players are more likely to tell the truth about their characters, and evil players have already decided what they’re bluffing. If an evil player finds out early on that you saw them after a trusted Townsfolk, they may choose to bluff as an Outsider to obfuscate their true character and weaken your information.

Choose one player you trust, and share your information with them every day. This helps the good team trust that you haven’t lied or changed your information.

Lie about your role to stay alive as long as possible. Claim to be a Banshee or Farmer so the evil team is hesitant to kill you at night! The longer you live, the more powerful your information is.

After you’ve received several nights of information, decide which player you trust the most in your information, and check if the rest of your information makes sense compared to that player’s claim. If you learned the Dreamer on night 3, and you fully trust them, then you know the players you learned on night 2 and night 4 cannot be Townsfolk.

Look out for misregistration! The Spy and Recluse may show up as different character types. In fact, if your Storyteller is feeling exceptionally devious, they could show you the Recluse every single night (Storytellers, please don’t).

Look for other characters that detect character type, like the Librarian and the Town Crier. If you know someone is definitely an Outsider, or cannot be a Minion, this narrows down your information and makes you even more powerful.

Unless there are characters like the Drunk or the Cerenovus on the script, if you learn two players in a row who are both claiming Townsfolk, it’s extremely likely that one of them is evil. Treat this information just as you would a Seamstress who learned that two players are on opposite teams!

Pay attention to what’s on the script. A Damsel is very unlikely to tell you they are an Outsider while they’re alive, and the Mutant quite literally can’t! Just because you learned two players claiming to be Townsfolk in a row, that doesn’t mean one of them has to be evil. Uniquely, if the Demon is a Vortox, then every player you learn must be the same character type as the previous player.

Bluffing as the Balloonist

Since the Balloonist might add an Outsider, have a Minion bluff as an Outsider, so it looks like you added an extra Outsider into the game. Talk to good players and figure out what character type they’re claiming to be, so you can claim to have more realistic information.

Keep an eye out for good players who have information that paints other players as evil. If the Investigator saw the Monk as a Poisoner candidate, say you saw the Monk and the Investigator on back-to-back nights. Not only does this make it look like the Monk is an evil Poisoner, but now you’ve also gained the Investigator’s social trust!

Only tell a few good players what you’re claiming, so it’s not suspicious when you’re alive later in the game. The Balloonist gets more powerful with every night of information, so the evil team would want a real Balloonist dead well before the final day.

Claim that you learned your Minions one after the other! This can make it look like one Minion is good (particularly useful if that Minion is bluffing information that backs you up, like a Washerwoman or a Steward). Alternatively, use this to frame one of your Minions as the Demon! If you learned two evil players in a row, they shouldn’t both be Minions… right?

Pay close attention to chains of social trust between good players. If you say you learned two good Townsfolk back-to-back, and those two players trust each other socially, they’re going to be suspicious of you. Look for good players who don’t trust each other, and lean into that - if the Undertaker is convinced that the Mayor is evil, say you learned the Undertaker and then the Mayor the next night, and sit back and watch the chaos unfold.

Wait a few days to share your “information” with good players. Balloonist is one of the most difficult characters to bluff, because you don’t know which good players are Townsfolk and which are Outsiders right away. By waiting to share your information, you’ll have a few days to try and figure out who is who! The information you bluff doesn’t have to be perfect, but it does need to sound correct to the good team.

If one of your Minions is a Widow or a Spy, talk to them as early as possible to get the grimoire. Bluffing true Balloonist information is a great way to prove to the town that you’re definitely just the Spy at worst and totally not the Demon!

@@ Line 25: / Line 25: @@
 			<p class='flavour'>"More heat! Higher! Higher! Più alto! Ahhh... it is so beautiful from up here, don't you agree? Can you see the children fishing by the river, under the willow? Can you see the  glint of the sun on the circus tent-poles? What's this? An old man, alone, passed out in the vineyard? Less heat! Lower! Lower! Vai più in basso!"</p>
+		</div>
+		<div id='jinxes'>
+			<span style="display: block; color: black; font-size: 18px; text-align: center; margin-top: 10px; text-transform: uppercase; font-family: Dumbledor;">
+				Related Jinxes <span style="cursor: pointer; color: #5C1F22;" id="jinx-toggle">(Open)</span>
+			</span>
+			<table style="width: 90%; margin: 0 auto;">
+{{Jinx|Marionette|marionette|Evil|If the Marionette thinks that they are the Balloonist, +1 Outsider might have been added.}}
+			</table>
 		</div>
@@ Line 34: / Line 45: @@
 	<div class="row">
-		<div class="small-12 large-12 columns">
+		<div class="small-12 large-6 columns">
 == Summary ==
 "Each night, you learn a player of a different character type than last night. [+0 or +1 Outsider]"
-The Balloonist knows players that are different character types.
+The Balloonist learns players of different character types.
+* Each time the Balloonist learns a player, the player must have a different character type to the previously shown player.
+* The Balloonist does not learn the character type of the player they learn.
+* The shown player can be alive or dead.
+* The shown player can be good or evil.
+* If the Balloonist is drunk or poisoned, they may learn a character of the same type as the previously shown player. When the Balloonist becomes sober and healthy, they must learn a player of a different character type to the previously shown player.
+* During setup, the Storyteller may choose to add an Outsider due to the Balloonist’s ability.
+		</div>
+		<div class="small-12 large-6 columns" style="padding-right: 0;">
+== How to Run ==
+During setup, you may add an Outsider.
+When preparing the first night, mark any player with the '''KNOW''' reminder. When preparing each night afterwards, mark a character of a different type than the current with the '''KNOW''' reminder.
+Each night, wake the Balloonist. Point to the player marked '''KNOW'''. Put the Balloonist to sleep.
 		</div>
@@ Line 50: / Line 79: @@
 			<div class='example'>
-				On the first night, the Balloonist learns Lewis (i.e. the Storyteller points to Lewis). On the second night, the Balloonist learns Doug. On the third night, the Balloonist learns Lachlan. On the fourth night, the Balloonist learns Marianna.
+				Abdallah is the {{Evil|Vizier}}, Lewis is the {{Good|High Priestess}}, and Sarah is the {{Good|Politician}}. On the first night, the Balloonist learns Abdallah. On the second night, the Balloonist learns Lewis. On the third night, the Balloonist learns Sarah.
 			</div>
 			<div class='example'>
-				Ben is the Balloonist. On the first night, Ben learns Sarah. On the second night, Ben learns Abdallah. On the third night, Ben dies, so does not learn any more players. Sarah is claiming to be the {{Good|Monk}} and Abdallah is claiming to be the {{Evil|Goblin}}. Ben assumes that he has learnt one Townsfolk player and one Minion player, but he is incorrect - Sarah is the {{Good|Lunatic}} and Abdallah is the {{Evil|Leviathan}}. Ben has actually learnt an Outsider player and a Demon player.
+				Julian is the {{Good|Nightwatchman}}, Alex is the {{Good|Sailor}}, and Lachlan is the {{Good|Puzzlemaster}}. On the first night, the Balloonist learns Julian. On the second night, the {{Evil|Poisoner}} chooses the Balloonist. Because the Balloonist is poisoned, the Storyteller chooses to show the Balloonist another Townsfolk, and the Balloonist learns Alex. On the third night, the Balloonist is sober and healthy, and learns Lachlan, who is a different character type to Alex.
 			</div>
@@ Line 64: / Line 93: @@
 		<div class="small-12 large-12 columns" style="padding-right: 0;">
 == Tips & Tricks ==
-* Keep your identity a secret for as long as possible. If the Balloonist can survive for four nights, including the first, they learn 4 people, 1 of which is the Demon. Even in a 7-player game that cuts out half of the options. In a 15-player game, that narrows the window down to less than a third of the game.
+* Pay attention to Outsider claims! You might have added an extra Outsider, so if you hear players claiming to be the {{Good|Zealot}}, the {{Good|Snitch}}, and the {{Good|Moonchild}}, this can help you prove you are what you claim to be. Plus, knowing where the Outsiders are makes it easier to decipher your information.
-* Come out early if you don’t think you’ll survive the whole game. You added an Outsider to the game, but that isn’t wholly a bad thing. Being able to trust the extra Outsider claim once you find them is very valuable for your team's deductions. You can probably help confirm the increased Outsider count, and this means there is now a small cluster of probably trusted good players. In an 8-player game, there should only be 1 Outsider, but 2 players come out as Outsiders. You can then come out as the Balloonist, and your claim now seems credible, and well as making the Outsiders seem credible. That’s three players who are likely to be good.
+* Each day, talk to the player whose name you learned last night. Find out what character they’re claiming to be, so you can compare their claim to the previous player you learned and see if it makes sense!
-* In a small game, it’s highly likely that there won’t even be 4 nights. In this case, your info probably won’t help you learn who the Demon is, but it will likely help you determine maybe two players who are different character types. You learn 2 different players before dying, but you learn that one of them is the {{Good|Golem}} therefore, the other one has to be not an Outsider, and 2 out of 3 of those options are evil.
+* Wait to talk to the players you’ve learned until later in the game, when good players are more likely to tell the truth about their characters, and evil players have already decided what they’re bluffing. If an evil player finds out early on that you saw them after a trusted Townsfolk, they may choose to bluff as an Outsider to obfuscate their true character and weaken your information.
-* Half the players you get shown are good, and half are evil. Even if you cannot figure out who the Demon is, your information tells you that two of these players know they’re on the same team and two players don’t know they are. You learn 4 players, and you've been observing 2 of them colluding since the beginning of the game, while 2 of them haven't been interacting at all. It is very likely that you've managed to discover the Demon one of its Minions working together.
+* Choose one player you trust, and share your information with them every day. This helps the good team trust that you haven’t lied or changed your information.
-* In larger games, your information is extremely powerful, and it gets more powerful the more you get. However, even an incomplete set still has value. For example, if you know that three players are different character types, you know that at least one of them is evil, and at least one of them is good. Therefore, you can deduce that any theories that have your whole set as on your team are suspect, because there has to be a Minion or Demon in there somewhere.
+* Lie about your role to stay alive as long as possible. Claim to be a {{Good|Banshee}} or {{Good|Farmer}} so the evil team is hesitant to kill you at night! The longer you live, the more powerful your information is.
-* If you’re ever poisoned on any of those four nights, it undermines the whole 4 nights of information. Remember this as you are a high priority target for being poisoned. If there is a {{Evil|Widow}} or a {{Evil|Poisoner}} in play, they’re likely to want to poison you. You get good information on 3 different nights, but on the night you would have learned who the Demon is, you get poisoned, and learn a second Townsfolk instead.
+* After you’ve received several nights of information, decide which player you trust the most in your information, and check if the rest of your information makes sense compared to that player’s claim. If you learned the {{Good|Dreamer}} on night 3, and you fully trust them, then you know the players you learned on night 2 and night 4 cannot be Townsfolk.
-* If you can confirm the role of one of the players you are shown, you’ll learn that all other players seen cannot be that role. If one of the players you see can be proven to be a Townsfolk because of the {{Good|Virgin}}, you know all other players you see are not Townsfolk.
+* Look out for misregistration! The {{Evil|Spy}} and {{Good|Recluse}} may show up as different character types. In fact, if your Storyteller is feeling exceptionally devious, they could show you the Recluse every single night (Storytellers, please don’t).
-* If you are in a game that should have no Outsiders by default, try to find an Outsider as this will give you credibility. More importantly, since they will have to be the Outsider you get shown, you will know that all other targets you are shown cannot be Outsiders.
+* Look for other characters that detect character type, like the {{Good|Librarian}} and the {{Good|Town Crier}}. If you know someone is definitely an Outsider, or cannot be a Minion, this narrows down your information and makes you even more powerful.
-* Be careful of characters with abilities that register as something else. A {{Good|Recluse}} might falsely register as the Minion to you, and the {{Good|Spy}} might falsely register as the Outsider to you.
+* Unless there are characters like the {{Good|Drunk}} or the {{Evil|Cerenovus}} on the script, if you learn two players in a row who are both claiming Townsfolk, it’s extremely likely that one of them is evil. Treat this information just as you would a {{Good|Seamstress}} who learned that two players are on opposite teams!
-* If you ever learn yourself from the storyteller, that is fantastic information. It means the rest of your set aren’t Townsfolk, and so if any of them do claim to be Townsfolk, you have good reason to be suspicious. Additionally, most of the remaining players you will learn will be evil, one being the Minion and the other the demon, leaving only the Outsider as on your team. Learning yourself as the Townsfolk is very rare though, and the Storyteller will only do it in a Teensyville game, or when the good team has very little other information, or both.
+* Pay attention to what’s on the script. A {{Good|Damsel}} is very unlikely to tell you they are an Outsider while they’re alive, and the {{Good|Mutant}} quite literally can’t! Just because you learned two players claiming to be Townsfolk in a row, that doesn’t mean one of them has to be evil. Uniquely, if the Demon is a {{Evil|Vortox}}, then every player you learn must be the same character type as the previous player.
-* If the town has no idea who to execute, but still wants someone to die, someone that you have learnt isn’t the worst option - even if you think that they are good. You have a 25% chance of getting the Demon randomly. Those odds of instant victory aren’t anything to sneeze at.
 		</div>
@@ Line 94: / Line 123: @@
 		<div class="small-12 large-12 columns" style="padding-right: 0;">
 == Bluffing as the Balloonist ==
-When bluffing as the Balloonist, there are a few things you should keep in mind:
+Since the Balloonist might add an Outsider, have a Minion bluff as an Outsider, so it looks like you added an extra Outsider into the game.
+Talk to good players and figure out what character type they’re claiming to be, so you can claim to have more realistic information.
-* Remember that the Balloonist player isn't shown an an alignment, character, or character type, and doesn't know in what order the players are being shown. The Balloonist player is woken each night, the Storyteller points to a player, then the Balloonist goes back to sleep.
+Keep an eye out for good players who have information that paints other players as evil. If the {{Good|Investigator}} saw the {{Good|Monk}} as a {{Evil|Poisoner}} candidate, say you saw the {{Good|Monk}} and the {{Good|Investigator}} on back-to-back nights. Not only does this make it look like the {{Good|Monk}} is an evil {{Evil|Poisoner}}, but now you’ve also gained the {{Good|Investigator}}’s social trust!
-* Remember that if you're bluffing as the Balloonist, there should be an additional Outsider in play. You should have a chat with another evil player who comes out as an Outsider to help bolster your claim. You claim you’re the Balloonist, and another player says they’re the {{Good|Butler}} and the group waits for another Outsider claim. The Demon, wanting to play into your bluff, comes out as the {{Good|Sweetheart}} and pretends to gets angry at you for forcing their hand and revealing themselves.
+Only tell a few good players what you’re claiming, so it’s not suspicious when you’re alive later in the game. The Balloonist gets more powerful with every night of information, so the evil team would want a real Balloonist dead well before the final day.
-* The Balloonist’s information is about trying to point out that two or more players cannot be the same type. You can pretend to use this information to make good players seem evil. Two players come out as Townsfolk, but then you reveal that you are the Balloonist, meaning that if you were telling the truth, one of those Townsfolk claims is false (of course, you’re lying, but they don’t know that yet). One player claims to be the {{Good|Mayor}} and another player claims to be a {{Good|Bounty Hunter}}, you can suggest that one of them is lying about their character type by suggesting that your information includes both of them.
-* Be very careful in what players you choose. Clumsily claiming players as part of your set can accidentally implicate yourself and/or your demon, leaving you in a real pickle if you need to change your story.
+Claim that you learned your Minions one after the other! This can make it look like one Minion is good (particularly useful if that Minion is bluffing information that backs you up, like a {{Good|Washerwoman}} or a {{Good|Steward}}). Alternatively, use this to frame one of your Minions as the Demon! If you learned two evil players in a row, they shouldn’t both be Minions… right?
-* The Balloonist is a really good claim to fall back on if you don’t have a claim straight away. The Balloonist has good reason to try and hide even right up till the final night. They are trying to fly under the radar for a total of four nights.
+Pay close attention to chains of social trust between good players. If you say you learned two good Townsfolk back-to-back, and those two players trust each other socially, they’re going to be suspicious of you. Look for good players who don’t trust each other, and lean into that - if the {{Good|Undertaker}} is convinced that the {{Good|Mayor}} is evil, say you learned the {{Good|Undertaker}} and then the {{Good|Mayor}} the next night, and sit back and watch the chaos unfold.
-* Because the Balloonist eventually learns who the Demon is, if you’re able to survive four nights, you can reveal four players, none of which are the Demon. However, when you do this, you’re about to indirectly accuse two players of being evil. If there is another Minion in play, maybe throw them under the bus to make your information seem more credible, because it doesn’t matter as long as you mislead the group on who the Demon is.
+Wait a few days to share your “information” with good players. Balloonist is one of the most difficult characters to bluff, because you don’t know which good players are
+Townsfolk and which are Outsiders right away. By waiting to share your information, you’ll have a few days to try and figure out who is who! The information you bluff doesn’t have to be perfect, but it does need to sound correct to the good team.
-* When pointing the finger at four players, make sure that you are pointing at an Outsider in that group. If you forget to do so, you might be left contradicting yourself, saying you added an Outsider but not having a set that excludes an/the Outsider claim.
+If one of your Minions is a {{Evil|Widow}} or a {{Evil|Spy}}, talk to them as early as possible to get the grimoire. Bluffing true Balloonist information is a great way to prove to the town that you’re definitely just the {{Evil|Spy}} at worst and totally not the Demon!
-* When pointing the finger at four players, make sure that at least one of them stays alive, if you want to stay alive too. After all four players die, the good team will know that you are lying, because the Demon was supposed to be one of those four dead players.
-* If people believe that you are the Balloonist, you can get eight good players killed - a character that you implicate each day, and the character that the Demon kills at night. This is basically a sure victory for the evil team. Getting eight good players a one-way ticket to dead-town is incredibly helpful, and this is much more devastating than other characters can do. The real Balloonist can get 4 players executed, 2 of which you really do want executed. But a fake Balloonist gets 4 players that you really do want executed.
 		</div>