Fear the HereWolf
Killing your friends and family has never been so much fun!
HereWolf is a modern twist on a classic party game that is known by many different names (Werewolf, Assassin, Mafia and Witch Hunt to name just a few). It is a game of monsters, murder and mayhem wherein players seek to kill their opponents before they are killed themselves. The HereWolves, a murderous minority, collectively agree to kill one citizen each night. Each day, the terrified citizens then try to figure out who among them is a Herewolf and eliminate the suspected threat through assassination - sometimes they are right and they successfully take out one of the frightening beasts; other times an innocent victim falls prey to the angry mob. HereWolf allows you to create and moderate games without the need for an actual deck of cards. Players join a game using an on-screen clawing action on their own device (smartphone or tablet) and have their randomly determined in-game role assigned once the game starts. The game moderator can eliminate Herewolf victims and suspected citizens using the Leader card. Players receive visible and audible feedback on their own device when they are killed.
Fans of Werewolf, (aka Mafia, Witch Hunt, Assassin, Crime Syndicate, Detective, etc.), have probably all found themselves in a situation that was ripe for an epic gaming session, only to discover they didn’t have their deck of cards, this very thing lead the creators of HereWolf to create something so they always have a deck handy. Everyone nowadays is likely to have a smartphone, so virtual cards were the obvious solution.
For those not familiar with Werewolf, the goal of the game depends on the role you are secretly assigned; villagers are trying to identify and kill the werewolves, and the werewolves are snacking away on the villagers, one by one each night. Villagers make more or less un-educated guesses about who the werewolves are among them, while a single player assigned to be the seer is able to make one guess each night (round) and have their guess secretly confirmed or denied by the game moderator. In each round, the werewolves kill one villager in the night, and during the day one player is chosen by a vote of survivors and killed as a suspected werewolf (guilty or not). Game play progresses until the villagers kill all the werewolves, or the werewolves equal the remaining villagers and overrun them.
HereWolf was designed to take the basic gameplay experience and make it digital. However, unlike other digitized versions of popular card or board games, HereWolf still requires players to be in the same physical space—after all, live social interaction is one of the key game-play mechanics in a game like this. Someone organizes a game and other players are able to claw their way in (literally clawing the screen of their iPhone, iPod, or iPad to join), instantly and easily, everyone who claws in at that time/from that location is able to play a game of HereWolf.
HereWolf needs a minimum of seven co-located players and a one moderator to play a game. This requirement makes HereWolf stand out among other mobile apps, but fans of Werewolf and other similar games would be the first to tell you that more players can make for a much more fun game-play session. With that in mind, there is no limit on the number of players who can join a game using the HereWolf app, but the sweet spot is 12-18 players.
While there are no physical cards necessary to play HereWolf, the interface for the app harkens back to the game’s card-based roots and includes original artwork for each of the digital cards. The app also features control functions for the moderators to kill off the victims and immersive sound effects to create ambience.
There are, of course, plans to develop an Android version ASAP and to create supplemental decks to expand game-play options as well as different flavors (Mafia et. al.). The designers of HereWolf have built in the additional functionality to keep track of game-play statistics to know when, where, how and with whom you played. It will allow players to network with one another after the games are completed. People who play games of this nature at conventions or other types of social gatherings will love it. Tracking stats and connections will be available in the next version, hopefully with an Android release.
So what are you waiting for? Round up a group of your iPhone owning friends, download the FREE app and start up a game of HereWolf!
WHY ARE YOU HERE?
Multiple people have been found ripped apart by the evil known as the HereWolf. The problem you face is that some in your group are actually HereWolves. Your task is to decide who are not what they seem to be, before they slaughter everyone in sight. If you are a HereWolf, on the other hand, it’s pretty obvious what you need to do … KILL THEM!
FIRST THINGS FIRST:
Rally 7-20 Citizens to take action to eliminate the beasts. The Citizens joining in to help will have various roles and motives. Most are regular Citizens just trying to survive through the night; some have special abilities, like the Mystic who can determine who has murderous tendencies or the Leader who moderates events throughout this ordeal. There are also HereWolves who slaughter Citizens nightly. It is in their nature to do so, but evil nonetheless.
GET THINGS STARTED:
One Citizen agrees to be the Leader and moderates the events. The Leader chooses LEAD on the ANGRY MOB card. All other Citizens choose ENLIST on the ANGRY MOB card. Citizens and the Leader must claw their cards in unison. This adds Citizens to the roll for the Leader to confirm. Once Citizens are confirmed they can help add others by repeating the clawing behavior.
NEXT STEPS:
The Leader STARTS the process and everyone is given their secret identity. Now the Citizens know their motives and their potential fate.During the night the HereWolves attack and kill one of the Citizens. After the HereWolves attack, the Mystic tries to divine who is a HereWolf. During the day, surviving Citizens try to discover through discussion who among them is a HereWolf and vote to execute the suspected Citizen.
HOW TO WIN:
Victory will come to the Citizens if they can execute all of the HereWolves. The HereWolves will win if they can kill enough of the Citizens so that the numbers are equal on both sides, then they can overrun the rest.