Harlot

Information

Type	Traveller
Artist	Caitlin Murphy

"Enchanté, Sailor. You look like you need someone to really listen to your troubles. I'm a good listener. Very, very good."

Appears in

Cult of the Clocktower Episode by Andrew Nathenson

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Summary

"Each night*, choose a living player: if they agree, you learn their character, but you both might die."

The Harlot learns the character of whoever agrees to reveal it, but at great risk for them both.

Each night, the Harlot chooses a player. That player has a decision to make: do they reveal their character to the Harlot? If they do, the Storyteller may decide that both this player and the Harlot die tonight.
The Harlot only learns the character of the chosen player, not that player’s alignment.
The Harlot may discuss during the day which character they would like to pick at night, and other players may offer to be picked, but they may go back on their word and choose differently when night comes.

How to Run

Each night, wake the Harlot. The Harlot points at any player. Put the Harlot to sleep. Wake the chosen player, show them the THIS CHARACTER SELECTED YOU' info token, then the Harlot token. That player either nods their head yes or shakes their head no. Put that player to sleep.

If they shook their head no, then nothing happens. Continue with the night phase.

If they nodded their head yes, wake the Harlot and show them the chosen player’s character token. Put the Harlot to sleep. You may decide that both players die—mark them with DEAD reminders.

When choosing whether to kill players, do what you feel is the most interesting and balanced. If the Demon reveals to the Harlot, you should not end the game by killing them.

Examples

The good Harlot wakes and chooses the Philosopher, who chooses to reveal. The next night, the Harlot chooses the No Dashii, who chooses not to reveal. The next night, the Harlot chooses the Mutant, who chooses to reveal. The Storyteller decides that the Harlot and Mutant die tonight.

The evil Harlot chooses the Sage, who reveals. The next day, the Harlot says the Sage is actually the Witch.

Tips & Tricks (if you are good)

Early in the game, learn as many players' characters as possible. If you can learn a player's character each night for 2 or 3 nights, this information might be enough for the good team to win the game. Even if you and another player die in the process, you can still talk, and your information is just as valid and helpful. Early in the game, an extra good player dying is hardly much of a sacrifice for the incredible knowledge you gain.

Late in the game, if you are still alive, be much more frugal and cautious with who you choose to encounter each night. At this stage, a good player dying may end the game, or put the good team in a very precarious position. Listen to the players talk, and decide which characters are expendable, and which players are not.

In Blood On The Clocktower, information trumps death. The Harlot is no exception. The information that you gain is well worth dying for, and well worth another player dying for, too. Communicate this fact to the group on day 1. Communicate this fact to the group on day 2. Communicate this fact every day until players agree to meet you at night time. The best case scenario is that you learn their character, and you both live - which is fantastic. The worst case scenario is that you learn their character, and you both die - which is still pretty good.

Choose players unexpectedly of a night time. Don't tell them beforehand that you plan to choose them. Evil players will usually say "no" immediately, whilst good players are more likely to hesitate longer, since they have a more difficult decision to make. If the Storyteller wakes you after a longer than normal time, you may have found a good player. This dynamic may not be true for your group. Use your best judgement.

Talk to players during the day to arrange a tryst, so that they are not surprised by you selecting them come dusk. Talk to as many players as possible each day, and find the ones who are keen to meet you tonight. This way, you can be sure to use your ability as much as possible, and learn as much information as possible. There is no point wasting your ability on people who refuse to let you learn their character.

Be suspicious of people who refuse to meet you at night. They may be a good character that want to stay alive as long as possible, such as a Flowergirl or a Savant, they might be evil, or they might be lying to you for other reasons.

Be prepared for evil players to reveal their character to you, even if they know that you are good. It is rare, but it does happen. Some evil players that you choose at night will reveal that they are evil because they are afraid that you will think that they are evil anyway if they don't. They may think that they have a much better chance convincing the group that they are good, but you are evil, once you tell the group what you learnt. Be prepared to go one-on-one with such a player - either they will get executed, you will get exiled or more likely both.

Tell the truth about good players you learn. This builds trust with them, and increases the likelihood that other good players will agree to meet you at night so they can reveal their character to you too.

Lie about good players you learn. The good player will think that you are evil, but there is a chance that evil players will think that you are evil too. Some games have been won by a crafty good Traveller who looks as evil as sin and starts a private conversation with a suspected evil player by saying "The Demon wants you to exile me", or "I'm going to choose a Minion tonight, and make them look good", and then judging the reactions of the Minion or Demon player. This strategy is risky, as you'll probably never be able to convince the good team that you are actually good unless evil takes the bait and takes you into their fold.

Lie about the characters of the good players you learn to the group, but plot in secret with the players whose characters you know. For example, if you learn that a certain player is the Sweetheart, you can tell them privately that you know who they are (they will believe you if they have not told anyone else they were the Sweetheart), but you both tell the group that they are the Clockmaker. The Demon will not want to kill the Clockmaker but will want to kill the Sweetheart, and you've just saved their life.

Tell the truth about evil players you learn. You know they are evil. Get them executed. If you learn that a player is a particular Demon, that is huge information for the group to use. If you learn that a particular Minion is in play, this can forewarn the group that a Pit-Hag, Witch or Cerenovus is working behind the scenes, and that the good team should be aware of it.

Lie about evil players you learn. This builds trust with both the evil team and the good team. The evil team may think that you are evil... and reveal information that they shouldn't. The good team will probably think that you are good... and keep you alive. After you've learnt another player or two's character, you can reveal that the first player you learn was actually evil.

Tips & Tricks (if you are evil)

Early in the game, choose the Demon, so that you can convince them you are their alignment. You can let them know that you are both on the same side without needing to have private conversations. You learn their character when they reveal it to you. They learn your alignment when you reveal that they are good the following day. A wink, or a surreptitious look before the night phase begins, can help the Demon player know that you know who they are, and that you want them to reveal to you. The Storyteller will not kill the Demon player due to the Harlot ability - you are both safe.

In the later game, act like you really don't want players to meet you at night. That's what a good Harlot would do. But if you can actually cause a death at night on the final night or two of the game, the evil team could be going into the final day with decent voting power. Even if you kill a Minion late in the game, it is worth it. Killing a Minion or two to make the final day approach faster means that there are fewer days available for the good team to execute the Demon.

Information trumps death. Communicate this, just as if you were a good player. The more information the good team has, the more likely they can execute the Demon, even if there are fewer players alive. Do whatever you can, day after day, to convince players to gain information by meeting you... by convincing them that the information gained is worth it. That would actually be the truth... if you were good. Of course, the good team will only be getting the information that you choose to give them, but they don't know that.

Talk to players during the day to arrange a tryst. Each night, only select those players that actually want to reveal their character to you. This way, you learn as many characters as possible, and information is power.

Talk to players during the day under the guise of finding willing players to select at night, but select those players that you think will not reveal their character to you. You can tell the group that they said they would reveal their character to you, but didn't. This makes them look very suspicious.

Tell the truth about good players who share their character with you. This builds trust, and keeps you alive, but at the price that the group now believes that they are good too.

Lie about good players who reveal to you. Say that they are a particular Minion - as long as you can be sure which Minion(s) are in play. You don't want to tell the group that you just found the Cerenovus in a 1 Minion game, and then have a player die by Witch curse. If you are feeling extra bold, tell the group that you just found the Demon. It will be your word against theirs, and you'll need a good argument as to why you think the Demon revealed to you, but the odds are good that you'll get that player killed as well as yourself - and that usually counts as worthwhile. Additionally, you may want to tell the group the real Demon type, or a fake Demon type to lead them astray.

Tell the truth about evil players you learn. If you do this, you'll want to look as evil as possible yourself, so that the good team thinks that you are an evil Harlot that is trying to make good players look evil.

Lie about evil players you learn. This is the standard procedure. Make evil players look good. Make good players look evil. Protect your friends and be vicious with your enemies.

Form pacts with players that you learn. If you learn a particularly valuable good player's character, such as the Savant or the Sage, you can talk privately with them, let them know you know who they are, and agree to tell the group that they are a different character completely. Of course, you can also have private words with the Demon afterwards, and let them know who to kill or not to kill, respectively.

Say that players revealed to you when they didn't. Choose a good player that you think you can out-argue. Choose them at night. If they do reveal to you, do whatever you want with that information. But if they don't reveal to you, tell the group that they did, and that they are an evil character.