Game modes

There are many different game modes in lykos. They each have different rolesets and some have a few alternate settings also. Some are picked randomly during play (the "main rotation"), and the rest can only be picked by a majority vote. Some game modes are designated as special modes; these cannot be directly voted and appear either as variants of other modes or can only be set via !fgame.

If nobody uses !game or !vote to vote for a game mode, a random one will be picked with the frequencies listed below. If players do use !game or !vote, then it will make that game mode more likely to appear (increasing the frequency by 15). If at least half (&ge; 50%) of the players vote for a specific game mode, it will be guaranteed to appear as long as there are enough players. Votes for game modes which there are not enough or too many players for will be ignored.

Default
Players: 4–24

Frequency:

The default game mode. This mode has cultist appear at 7p only, and the neutral crazed shaman at 9. Also watch out for lovers at 11p and monster which can steal wins at 16p. This mode is also the most likely to appear out of any game mode.

Foolish
Players: 8–24

Frequency:

Be careful with your lynches because the fool is always there, trying to steal the win. Hunter appears at 9p to make it easier for the village to eliminate wolves and fools. Seer is also downgraded to an oracle in this game mode, and clone appears at 11p.

Mad
Players: 7–22

Frequency:

The mad scientist appears in this game mode, which is a village safe that is seen wolf, and if killed will also kill the players that joined directly before and after them (if they are still alive). Drunk doesn't appear until 10p and harlot at 15p, so mad scientist might sometimes have to claim. Also, cultist appears at 12p and vengeful ghost at 14p. Gunner isn't totally safe in this mode because they can only ever have one bullet.

Lycan
Players: 7–21

Frequency:

This game mode is centered around lycans, which, when targeted by wolves during the night, become wolves themselves. There aren't many wolves to start (2 at 10p and traitor at 8p) but there are a lot of lycans to make up for that. Players must quickly use the detective and the hunter(s) to hunt down all the wolves before enough lycans turn. This game mode also has a clone at 9p and a second clone at 17p.

Aleatoire
Players: 8–24

Frequency:

This game mode was created by Metacity and balanced / added by woffle. It focuses on disguised roles or roles that are unsafe to kill, featuring two cursed villagers at 8p, a vengeful ghost at 10p, an amnesiac and hag at 12p, and a time lord at 21p. It features modified shaman totem chances; they can now get death (20%), protection (40%), silence (10%), desperation (5%), pestilence (5%), or retribution (20%). At 10p there is always a regular gunner, never a sharpshooter. Also watch out for assassins at 10p and 12p who can accidentally kill important safes.

Alpha
Players: 10–24

Frequency:

This game mode has the new roles alpha wolf and doctor. Be careful who you trust, because the alpha wolf may bite one of the safes and turn them into a wolf! At 10p, there is an alpha wolf, doctor, and 2 lycans (3 at 16p, 4 at 20p). At 11p, there is a guardian angel (2 at 24p), and at 20p, there is a clone. There is also an oracle instead of the seer, and an augur at 17p.

Noreveal
Players: 4–21

Frequency:

In this game mode, roles are not revealed when players die. You have to really think about who you trust, since any safe claims may be fake with no way for you to know. The mystic and wolf mystic are given some info on how many people on the opposing team are still alive, to help inform decisions. Clone also appears at 15p.

Evilvillage
Players: 6–18

Frequency:

The majority of the people in this mode are followers of an evil cult and are trying to take over the village in collaboration with the wolf (2 wolves at 15p). A few stalwart villagers are all that stands in their way, namely a hunter at 6p, joined by a seer at 8p, and further bolstered by a guardian angel at 10p. At 8p, a cursed villager is added to make life more difficult for the seer and hunter. At 10p, the wolf gains a minion to assist him with his dirty deeds but a fool also tagged along and is trying to put a wrench in the cult's plot. At 12p, the village gains a shaman, and at 15p they gain another hunter, but unfortunately let a second wolf into the village.

Win conditions are modified. For wolves and cultists to win, they must kill every village-side person (including the regular villager at 15p). The villagers can win either by killing all of the wolves, killing all of the cultists, or equaling/outnumbering the wolves and cultists. The fool wins as per normal by being lynched.

Charming
Players: 6–24

Frequency:

This game mode features the piper, who uses a magical flute to charm all the other players. If night ends with all players charmed, piper will steal the win. Charmed players should claim to narrow down the piper before they can snatch the win away. This mode also features a greatly altered roleset, with werekitten appearing at 10p instead of a wolf cub, and warlock at 12p instead of a werecrow. Shaman also doesn't appear until 10p, but a second shaman also appears at 22p! There is also a vengeful ghost at 11p and a mayor at 14p.

Sleepy
Players: 8–24

Frequency:

This game mode has many modified roles and other events, for a spooky experience. The main role is priest at 10p, which is always guaranteed to also have the blessed villager and prophet templates. This means they can't be easily killed without the cooperation of the wolves and dullahan, and they are very powerful. Dullahan always appears in this mode, with the special condition that one of their targets is always priest. Vigilante also appears at 12p, meaning multiple players will often die every night.

Each night, there is a 20% chance that one player will have a nightmare. At midnight, they will be messaged about being chased through the woods by a demonic horse. Before day breaks, they need to successfully navigate to the bridge over the river by using the directional commands,  ,  , and   or their abbreviations. A wrong choice causes them to start over, whereas correct choices change the scenery. If they successfully navigate out, nothing happens. Should they fail to escape before day breaks, however, they will die. This death bypasses all forms of protection, such as guardian angel or blessed villager. The correct path is only three choices long, and there are two "fake" paths which are also three choices long but lead to a dead end. Watch for the changing scenery and the message which tells you when you have been reset back to the beginning of the nightmare.

The priest is a key target for both the wolves and dullahan in this mode, and should they die, bad things happen to the village. A number of people get possessed by demonic spirits and change their roles; but only certain roles are able to change. Seer changes to doomsayer, cultist to demoniac, and harlot to succubus. For each player that is one of these roles, there is a 25% chance that they will not swap roles, so the role changes are not guaranteed.

Mudkip
Players: 4–15

Frequency:

The mudkip game mode adds a new role at every player count, and offers numerous opportunities for wolves to confuse and mislead the otherwise powerful village long enough for them to snatch a win.

This mode features a few changes from default and other modes, the most notable of which is a modification on how lynching works. Normally, you must have a majority vote in order to successfully lynch someone, and should day time out with a tie, nobody gets voted. In mudkip, day ends immediately once everyone votes (whether or not there is a tie). The person with the plurality of votes is lynched, and should there be a tie, all tied players are lynched simultaneously.

Classic
Players: 4–21

Frequency: 0

The classic ##werewolf game mode from before all the new modes. It looks exactly the same as it used to, with the old GA role renamed to bodyguard but still working the same. You also cannot !abstain in this game mode.

Rapidfire
Players: 6–24

Frequency: 0

In this game mode, players will rapidly die in chains with almost no way to prevent it, due to the large number of killing roles. There are assassins, hunters, mad scientists, vengeful ghosts, and gunners to all cause chaos. Also, time lord appears at 10p to make it even more chaotic for safes to attempt to lead in this mode. Default day time is shortened in this mode.

Drunkfire
Players: 8–17

Frequency: 0

Named after drunk gunners, this mode features many gunners (virtually all the non-wolves) and drunks. There are up to 5 drunks and 9 gunners at 16p. Gun chances for non-drunks have been modified so that most are headshots and wolves only either headshot or miss. Hag appears at 12p to hex possible gunners. Default day and night time is shortened in this mode.

Guardian
Players: 8–16

Frequency: 0

This game mode is special, in that it has alternate win conditions. They wolves must kill all of the guardians in order to win, just having a majority will not automatically end the game (even if it does mean they control the votes). The villagers still have to lynch all the wolves to win, while also making sure their guardians don't die. The "guardians" are the bodyguards and the guardian angels. The first GA is at 8p, the second at 12p, and the bodyguard appears at 15p. Also featured is werekitten, shaman at 10p, and jester at 13p. Totem chances are slightly modified to include only death, protection, silence, luck, misdirection, and retribution totems.

Win conditions are modified. For village to win, they must kill every wolf while having at least one guardian alive. For wolves to win, they must kill every guardian as well as hold the majority. Jester wins as normal. If all guardians and all wolves die, nobody wins (except possibly jester). Similarly, if the wolves kill all non-guardian villagers, leaving only wolves and guardians alive, nobody wins (except possibly jester).

Valentines
Players: 8–24

Frequency: 0

In this game mode, the default role is matchmaker, and there are only two wolves (more added at 13p, 17p, 21p, and 24p). Usually almost every player is involved in a long chain of lovers. Win conditions are changed; if all remaining players are in a single "cluster" of lovers, they all win. Monster and mad scientist also join in at 12p and 18p respectively.

Random
Players: 8–24

Frequency: 0

True to its name, Random generates a random roleset and provides everyone with a role. There are no normal villagers or cultists, although vengeful ghosts and time lords will still be told they are a villager. The wolf team will always have at least one member who is able to kill, although that might not be a normal wolf.

Other random setting changes include: The mad scientist getting a new target when one target dies (skipping the dead player), every role including wolves having the possibility of becoming a gunner or assassin, lovers winning with fool lovers, and a randomized selection between role reveal, team reveal, and no reveal (even chance equaling 1/3).

Maelstrom
Players: 8–24

Frequency: 0

Similar to the random game mode, this mode generates a random roleset and provides everyone with a role. However, roles are also reassigned every night, meaning you will swap teams often. Every role except for amnesiac, clone, monster, demoniac, succubus and dullahan can appear, although matchmaker is only given out during the first night. Every template has a chance of appearing as well, and are assigned during the first night. Unlike normal roles, templates persist throughout the game. Up to 2–4 of every template can appear, besides blessed villager which only appears with exceedingly rare frequency. Roles are assigned so that there is always at least one wolf who is able to kill and that the game doesn't immediately end, but besides that there are no balance guarantees.

Some other settings are also changed, the mad scientist always gets a new target when one target dies (skipping the dead player), and lovers can win when the fool is lynched.

Roles
The roles game mode allows an admin to define custom roles via !fgame. For example,. The part after the = sign can contain role names and the associated number of them, or the special keys "default" to specify a default role (villager or cultist only), "role reveal" to specify if roles are revealed (on, off, or team), and "stats" to specify how !stats reports data (default, accurate, team, or disabled).

Villagergame
Players: 4–9

Villagergame is a mode where there are no wolves and the bot kills someone at random every night (with a slightly higher chance of hitting special roles such as the seer and shaman). It randomly replaces a 4–9 player default game, and cannot happen at other player sizes or with other game modes. To win a villagergame, the village must realize what is going on and unanimously !vote the bot's nick (e.g. ). If they do this, they all win. Should they fail to do this, everyone will lose once the player count drops to 2 for 4–7 player games or 4 for 8–9 player games. Be careful, though, because the village can also vote for the bot's nick in 4–9 player default, and should a wolf actually exist, the game will immediately end with a wolf win!

There is an an average of 5 seconds (up to around 12 seconds – a Gaussian distribution is used with a standard deviation of 1.5 seconds) of delay at night after all safes have acted. (See also: User:Fwilson/Villagergame_delay_probabilities)

Note: Villagergame is disabled by default, and can be enabled by specifying  in botconfig.py. This is currently enabled with a 15% chance on freenode's ##werewolf.