Homebrew BotC: In the Night Garden

A custom homebrew script themed around In the Night Garden.

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Written by Josh Humphriss

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Posted: 10 Jan 2025

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Modified: 15 Oct 2025

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20 min read

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1376 views

Blood on the Clocktower

Blood on the Clocktower is a social deduction game. If you don't know what it is:

  1. Read my review.
  2. Conclude that the game is worth buying.
  3. Buy the game.
  4. Obtain some friends to play with.
  5. Play the game.
  6. Return to this article to find out about my script.

Alternatively, either:

Overview

Most scripts have a particular theme. For example, Trouble Brewing is designed to be simple. Bad Moon Rising focuses on death & chaos. Sects & Violets is a complex puzzle. My script wasn't designed with any particular goal from the beginning, however it has developed into something that takes the complexity from Sects & Violets and combines it with the chaos of Bad Moon Rising. It's a very complex script, and focuses more on making everyone as confused as possible over being perfectly balanced.

A few observations:

The Script

The script is available as a PDF download here. The first two pages should be printed double-sided and handed to players. You should have a copy of the next two pages and another one or two for your players - this contains the night order and any additional details about characters that people might need to know.

The rest of this article will give more details about each character, including how they work and the development process.

Quickly jump to:

Fabled

Fabled characters are storyteller abilities that are always in play. They effectively act as game modifiers.

Spirit of Ivory

There can't be more than 1 evil player.
Affected Characters: Ninky Nonk, Upsy Daisy's Bed

The Spirit of Ivory ensures that evil do not obtain a majority. Further discussion can be found with the Ninky Nonk. Be careful when adding the Ninky Nonk with an evil Upsy Daisy's Bed as it may be too powerful having a Ninky Nonk without the drawback of potentially turning evil.

Extra Abilities

Tombliboos

Characters: Unn, Ooo, Eee
Ability belonging to each Tombliboo: Other Tombliboos are safe from the Demon.
General ability: Tombliboos do not count towards the evil win condition.

Tombliboos protect each other from the Demon (but not themselves). This is affected by droisoning, so be careful! As a drawback, the Demon can ignore the Tombliboos for their win condition.

Examples:

Townsfolk

Unn (Tombliboo)

Minions know you are in play. If you successfully complete the Tombliboo song on your first day & the Minions don’t guess you, learn some true statements, but if they guess who you are, at least one is false. Other players who do any of these actions may die tonight.

Doing the Tombliboo song consists of three parts:

The storyteller doesn’t need to see these, but please let them know (truthfully) if you did it or not. Visit the storyteller in private on day 2 to learn the statements (unless they were written down in the night).

Unn is busy playing their own game trying to discreetly do various actions without the minion(s) noticing. If they can pull it off, they'll receive some powerful information chosen by the Storyteller. Like the puzzlemaster, if they fail then at least one of the statements will be false.

I love characters that have a game-inside-a-game. A bit like the Damsel and Huntsman, Unn and the Minions are playing their own game in the first day while the rest of the town are completely unaware. Pulling off something like this is also really fun - it sounds difficult, but when everyone is distracted by the rest of the game, it becomes easier than you might think. The reward for this got changed a few times, from learning who the Demon is to learning it's 1 of 2 players, before it was eventually left vague so that the Storyteller can have the most control in balancing it.

The wording for this character has gone from being very long to manageable with a reluctant change to move some of the important wording onto the sheet with the Jinx's. This makes the script much easier to follow, but does go against the design philosophy of the game.

The Tombliboo song was ideal for this, giving 3 actions

How to run:

Examples:

Ooo (Tombliboo)

You start knowing Oliver’s character. If Oliver is evil, learn a good character (Oliver learns which). If you are Oliver, choose a player: learn their character.

If Oliver is not playing, or if there are multiple Olivers, a player will be decided to be Oliver for this game.

This was very much made for our group in particular. It's designed so that Oliver has an advantage!

How to run:

Examples:

Makka Pakka & Co.

Makka Pakka: Each night, choose a player: you learn their alignment. If you publicly clean a rock or make a funny noise, you lose your ability.

Makka Pakka's Rock: You think you’re Makka Pakka. If you publicly clean a rock, all players learn which team the Storyteller thinks is winning. If you make a funny noise, you lose your ability.

Makka Pakka's Rock: You think you’re Makka Pakka. If you publicly make a funny noise, Upsy Daisy is drunk for 2 days (inflating skirt is optional). If you clean a rock, lose this ability. [+ Upsy Daisy].

I made this before the Village Idiot! I promise...

Following a similar premise to the Village Idiot, if you receive the "Makka Pakka" token, you may be one of three characters and it's your job to figure out which one. If you're the real Makka Pakka, you get incredibly powerful information about player alignments. If you're the rock, you can get yourself hard-confirmed along with some General information thrown in. If you're the trumpet, you know the Demon type and can drunk them for 2 days, buying the good team some more time! But there's a tradeoff - once you have a guess at who you are, you stop receiving the alignment information, which could potentially be very powerful.

For maximum fun, you should get a rock from outside at the beginning of the game. Funny noises can be anything, but they should be funny. However, the only thing that actually matters for gameplay is that the Storyteller notices and announces this to the group - it is mechanically equivalent to standing up and saying "I think that I'm Makka Pakka's Trumpet".

Making a funny noise and Upsy Daisy inflating her skirt is a reference to Series 1 episode 5: "Makka Pakka's Trumpet Makes a Funny Noise".

Examples:

Ninky Nonk

Each night*, you may choose a player: swap characters with them. If they are evil, you become evil too. Haahoos might register as good & as a Townsfolk or Outsider to you.

I've put this character in the bag twice, and both times I've been terrified of what it'll do. Both times it got swapped out by the Pinky Ponk early on and I was very relieved. This means I haven't fully tested the character but it's possibly the most exciting character I've made that can certainly spice up any game. It's probably a terrible idea, but it's certainly not boring...

The Ninky Nonk swaps characters amongst the good team every single night. Whatttt??? If it's not immediately apparent how strong this is - this essentially confirms two players to each other every night. They can keep the chain going forever, unless killed by the Demon. But this does have a significant drawback in that the first time an evil player is chosen, another player will turn evil too! The Ninky Nonk power will now be contained within the evil team, maybe to be used but maybe not. This is similar to how the Bounty Hunter has a very strong ability with a significant drawback.

The Haahoos (legion) would provide a boring interaction with this character, so this was changed to make the Haahoos blend in by registering as good! This was written into the ability rather than left as a jinx as it is a core rule in the character and not just fixing an interaction.

It's really important that this character is run with the Spirit of Ivory fabled. You don't want to create too many extra evils!

Examples:

Pontipines

You start knowing a Pontipine. The demon knows how many Pontipines are in play & if they guess who you all are at night (once), you all die. You have the Amnesiac’s ability. If you choose a Tombliboo, you are drunk from now on (you are stuck in their trousers).

Amnesiac's Ability: "You do not know what your ability is. Each day, privately guess what it is: you learn how accurate you are."

The Pontipines combine the Grandmother and Amnesiac with a twist. They build up trust amongst themselves but if they give this away, the Demon can easily get rid of them! In addition, they have a wacky, usually not super helpful, ability to give a bit of extra entertainment.

This character has changed a lot throughout development. It started with the Pontipines all knowing each other, but this didn't interact well with drunkeness. If you only know one Pontipine, then a drunk Pontipine could learn an evil player, meaning they can't quite trust each other! Also, it was important that evil Pontipines didn't learn all the Pontpines on the good team as well, as they could just tell this to their Demon. At one point, the Pontipines weren't allowed to ask a question about their ability, but this felt boring and made the abilities useless, so this was re-added.

The interaction with the Tombliboos is just for fun, and a reference to Series 1 Episode 21: "Pontipine Children in the Tombliboos Trousers"

Examples:

Daddy Wottinger

Once per game, at night*, choose a player: if they are on the opposite team, they die. If they are the Demon, they do not die and you learn this.

Daddy Wottinger's inspiration from the Slayer is obvious - a Slayer that acts at night. In return for having to wait for night time, it's buffed slightly - killing minions as well as demons. This is very powerful but can only be used once, giving the classic dilemma of "how long do I wait".

The last section of the ability was only added recently after what should've been a triumphant ending for the good team felt mostly disappointing. It's simply more fun for the game to end during the day, so this gives Daddy Wottinger one day to try and convince the good team to execute who they know is the Demon! It also makes it more bluffable, and means a drunk player can be told that they hit the demon, which sounds fun...

Teletubbies

Once per game, at night, choose a Townsfolk from a base script: gain their ability.

A base script means Trouble Brewing, Bad Moon Rising or Sects & Violets.

Jinx: The Philosopher may choose any Townsfolk on a base script, but may not choose a character from this script.

Why are the Teletubbies on this script? Exactly! They're on the wrong script. Choose a character on the wrong script to become. This works like the Philosopher, but a bit more interesting as it opens up the game to way more abilities that I certainly haven't considered when balancing the script! The script naturally invites players to try and break the game, something which I think is very fun.

The Jinx was added as the Philosopher allows a player to turn into Makka Pakka, which is overpowered. It's also not the intention behind this character, the intention is to get an ability from a different script, not from this script.

Iggle Piggle

Once per game, you may visit the Storyteller in private to ask a silly yes/no question. Once per game, at night, choose a player: if you choose Iggle Piggle’s Blanket, they become a Savant. [+ Iggle Piggle’s Blanket].

A silly question is one of the following: "Would I find [player]'s character attractive?", "Would I enjoy being stuck in the Ninky Nonk with [player]?", "Would I win a fight against [player]?". Answers must be yes/no.

The Huntsman, but with a little extra thing because I think that the Huntsman is too weak generally. What this extra thing is has changed significantly - many ideas were iterated on involving staying awake, because Iggle Piggle is always the last person to go to sleep in the episodes. However, all ideas of having eyes open in the night did not work. The final idea is fun and gives some light information while not being that useful. The game is often the most fun when people ask silly questions, so this is a character that forces you to do that. Also, the arguments following the Grim Reveal as the Storyteller has to defend their choices will be funny.

My opinions for all the answers, as of writing this article, can be found here [todo]. However, do not use this in your games. The spirit of the character is to give vague information, not to precisely narrow things down.

A Wottinger

Each night, the 1st player to choose you with their ability is drunk until dusk & you learn their character.

Jinx with Script Writer: The Script Writer does not trigger A Wottinger's ability.

Clearly inspired by the Goon, this character is a powerful townsfolk. There's a few different strategies for this character, and it's a fun one to play often with lots to do, despite being a passive role.

The key for this character is to figure out who you trust early on and be very careful about what you tell to who - you may be able to establish trust with some players while also baiting evil players!

The Gazebo

Your team can't lose. If the Demon kills a player (not yourself), another player might die instead. If this happens, you learn who the Demon chose.

If any win conditions triggered while you were alive, they trigger immediately when you die in the order that they happened.

This is basically a combination of the Monk and the Mayor - you don't stop any kills like the Monk does, but you passively redirect them to make them a bit worse. To give this character something to do, it gets told who the demon originally picked.

This character is generally as powerful as the Storyteller makes it, and it's a difficult balancing act like the Pacifist. Generally, this ability should act 2 or 3 times throughout the game (if they remain alive), and meaningfully redirect kills to make them worse. Sometimes, just doing this once per game will be powerful enough. Consider carefully whether to do this in final 3 (i.e. probably don't), as it will reveal the demon's identity to this character (as the demon wouldn't have picked themselves - you should definitely let them die if so!).

Teenager

The Storyteller may break the game’s rules & if executed, good wins (even if dead). [No evil characters].

This is an exact copy of the Athiest character, which you can read more about on the wiki.

The Athiest was an obvious choice for a complex wacky script that you bring out once in a while. The naming is because teenagers generally no longer believe in the events of in the night garden!

Outsiders

Upsy Daisy's Bed

You think you are good. If Upsy Daisy is the Demon, you are evil, even if dead. Once per game, at night, you may make an evil face: if you are evil, the Demon learns who you are, but if you are good, the Storyteller gains a not-in-play Minion ability.

The core idea is that this character does not know their own alignment. Like the Ogre, it's a puzzle to figure out what their alignment is. This character is linked to the demon type, and finds out if the demon is Upsy Daisy.

Early iterations of this character did not have the final sentence. This didn't feel very fun, as even if you managed to figure out whether you are good or evil (already quite difficult), you had no way of discovering who the evil team are. This extra condition was added to make it a bit more fun and grant this opportunity, but at a heavy price if you're wrong. The Storyteller should punish the good team severely with their newly gained ability (of their choice)! It also becomes a bit of a game of chicken if the player thinks they might be evil, and how desperate they are to know this early on (it's safer to do later as the storyteller doesn't have as much time to use the ability against them). Regardless of the player's alignment, this ability always benefits the evil team, hence the outsider classification.

This also raises an interesting dynamic where the good team are incentivised to lie to this player to convince them that the demon isn't Upsy Daisy, even if it's most likely, to try and persuade this player to play for their team. However, most players playing this character will not reveal their role due to risk of being evil.

The evil face should be anything very obviously not a normal expression. The player is woken up and should either shake their head or make a funny face, which will be interpreted as being evil regardles of what face it is.

Iggle Piggle's Blanket

Minions know you are in play. If a Minion publicly guesses you (once), your team loses.

This is an exact copy of the Damsel character.

I love a game-within-a-game, so the Damsel was a brilliant fit.

Tittifers

On your first day & once only 5 players live, publicly choose three alive players (including yourself). Chosen players must correctly do the Tittifer head movements (accompanied) with everyone’s eyes closed. If any of you fail, you die tonight.

The Tittifers chooses some players to do a fairly simple task in secret. If any of them do it wrong, they die. This happens twice (every day was far too much...)

The Tittifers can easily confirm themselves if somebody messes it up (it's not a may die), but this does come at a heavy price. It can also be used to try and sus out players that are potentially evil by agreeing to do it correctly and seeing if anyone decides to sabotage it.

The Tittifers must choose 3 players in order, one of which has to be themselves. This is the video to do it to.

Eee (Tombliboo)

If you use the letter ā€˜e’, you might die tonight.

The third and final Tombliboo has a very unique ability that is very player dependent. I would highly advise only running this character if you know your group well - some people genuinely love playing this character, whereas other people will simply hate it. Be conscious that some people find this very challenging and may not want to think about their speech so carefully for 2 hours.

Please note that this is a might. I tend to always give one 'extra life', but beyond that it should often lead to their death. Some players may want it to trigger, in which case you are allowed to ignore it. This also helps to conceal when players who are bluffing this character mess up.

This character is also insanely bluffable - surely they can't be evil if they're putting in this much effort!

Drugged

You think you are a not-in-play Townsfolk character, but you are not.

This is an exact copy of the Drunk character from Trouble Brewing (with slight rephrasing).

Minions

TODO

Demons

TODO

Article Incomplete!

This article is still being written! I've still got to write up the rest of the characters, and add in some better images.