[Nogrod]

I have played it. It is indeed quite popular game here in Finland at different youth camps or when enough people are around, as just a fun game to play with friends.

Here it's called "the Mafia" or "the Mafioso".

I'm not sure if I get the rules 100% right as it has been something like two years I've played it the last time, but someone more knowledgeable might correct me.

First of all: no cards or any other commercial things needed. It can be played just by people.

It requires some 15-20 players (as we have seen here in the BD too). A dim lighting or evening outside is preferable.

With that crowd there will be three mafiosos (werewolves), one doctor (ranger) and one police (something like a seer / hunter combination - a bit different from both).

So people set themselves to the floor / ground in a random and un-ordered constellation, near enough of others but leaving some space between them. They bow down (sitting) and close their eyes. The moderator walks around the space, making sure to pass all the players at least twice (not to be too easy to other players to guess who had been touched) and passing by makes marks on some peoples backs or shoulders to inform them of their roles. F.ex. a pat on the shoulder means you are a mafioso (a wolf), a pat on the head means you are the police, a sweep on the back means you're the doctor or whatever.

Then the Mod announces that the mafiosos will wake up - the others will have to stay bowed down and their eyes shut. The mafiosos (the wolves) rise their heads (still sitting of course) and see each other. With facial expressions and pointing fingers they must silently "negotiate" the one to be killed and then all of them to point to the same person to show the mod their kill. Then the mod announces that the mafiosos go to sleep. It's time for the doctor (ranger) to wake up (others will stay down). S/he will rise up her/ his head and point to someone s/he would like to take care of (and if that one is the just decided mafioso-kill, then no kill takes place - kill = the person must leave the game floor). Then the doctor goes to sleep too. Lastly it's time for the police to wake up (all the others are still down and eyes closed) and to point for a suspect. If the police gets it right, the pointed mafioso is taken out of the game, if he's mistaken, he will know that person to be innocent. Of course when one sort of gifted is up, the others are down, eyes closed, so the gifteds don't know each other or the wolves and vice versa.

At last the villagers wake up - meaning that all the players rise their heads and may discuss with each other. Normally there is no time limit to lynching someone. People talk and when they have a majority to lynch someone the lynching takes place. They may put up preliminary votes or anything, so here we find the "real retractables" as there might be six to ten votings takin place on the same Day - it's only when majority is reached that the lynching takes place. The Mod will have to take care of these.

So then the villagers lynch someone and they instantly hear how they fared, and the lynched has to step out from the floor / ground. Night then falls again, meaning that they will have to bow down again and the round starts a new. And so on...

The real difference between BD werewolfing and the live game is the body-language part. Mostly in RL games people with pokerfaces and charisma do well. Surely good arguments and the timing of them are valid stuff in the RL games too, but the other factors are strongly there too.

If you happen to have enough friends around, try it! It's fun! A bit different from BD WW, but enjoyable in other ways...

And surely, it's face to face - and therefore so much fun - although not so complicated and sophisticated as the best WW-games here can be.

Edit: Just wanted to add one thing. One major difference surely is, that playing live and playing it well requires a good memory! There is no written record of anything...