Template:Story Blackmailer
Mechanics
- When a blackmailed target tries to speak, they will simply receive a message saying: "You are blackmailed." and no one will be able to see their original message or their attempt of speaking.
- If the blackmailed target is voted to go on trial during the defense phase, the blackmailed target's message will be changed to "I am blackmailed." They will then be unable to say that message again whilst still on trial.
- Your target is also unable to whisper, but they can still be whispered to.
- If you visit a Veteran on alert and you are killed, they will still be blackmailed the next day.
- A blackmailed Mayor can still reveal that day.
- You cannot blackmail a target that was jailed that night. You will be notified that your visit failed and the jailed person will know that someone tried to blackmail them.
- You can't affect your target's ability to write in their Last Will and Death Note.
- You can't affect your target's ability to vote and unvote someone.
- You are the only role in the game that can read whispers, even when you are dead.
Strategy
- As a Blackmailer, your role in the Mafia is to silence a confirmed Townie or a person who is accusing a member of the Mafia to make them stop accusing them.
- However, despite having the ability to blackmail, your alternative role is to also serve as a Spy claim, gaining the trust of the Town. This is because you have the same results when an Investigator checks you. (Note: As of version 2.0.0.6537, this strategy is less effective as you can no longer easily "confirm" yourself as a Spy since Spies can no longer read whispers).
- You may also play as a Spy entirely, passing on at day who gets killed, forged, framed, cleaned or investigated to gain the Town's trust. If you see someone get visited but not killed, use that against them by calling them out as immune and get them lynched to easily gain majority while still killing off the remaining Town or threatening Neutrals. Usually. when you use this strategy, you should not blackmail people. You will be immediately called out as suspicious if you blackmail anyone.
- You can also use this against other Spy claims. Blackmail someone and accuse any Spy claims of being the Blackmailer. Be careful with this strategy as it may get you immediately killed if town realizes you were lying.
- As the Spy can now bug people's houses and know what notifications their target had received, you can exploit your knowledge of what the other members of the Mafia are. Don't do this every day, but every once in a while, you can claim you bugged the house of someone who was blackmailed, attacked or roleblocked by the Consort. Often times, players will announce that they were transported, controlled, roleblocked, etc. You could claim you bugged them and claim you saw this happen. Have a look at the bugging messages and think of ways you could deceive the other players into thinking you're really the Spy, but don't overdo it. They could get on to you after a while. You could also ask for protection and distract the Lookout by watching you.
- Feel free to take the opportunity to give false information to the Town. You can be very manipulative with this role. This can confuse the Town, and even cause them to not suspect actual members of the Mafia. However, don't make it blatantly obvious that you are indeed giving false information. You will have to be careful when manipulating the Town in order not to get caught. Also, any other Spies in the game may call your out for lying about who the Mafia visited at night.
- If the Consigliere finds a Town Investigative or Town Support role, it can be useful to blackmail them rather than killing them instantly, as they can reveal crucial information in their Last Will. Spies should especially be blackmailed as soon as possible.
- This strategy can blackmail can backfire if the person you blackmail either dies to something like a Veteran or a Neutral Killing role or they are jailed and can speak the next day.
- Continue to blackmail the same person for a few nights, then casually ask why they have been so quiet, and it will put suspicion on them. This only works when the person hasn't been giving signals about being blackmailed; additionally, be warned that this will tend to call attention to you - if it later becomes clear they were blackmailed, smart players will immediately be suspicious of anyone who pointed out that they were silent. For this reason, it might be best to wait and hope that a Townie notices their silence on their own.
- Blackmailing the same person repeatedly has a few risks; if they're a Veteran, they'll easily kill you, while if they signal that they were blackmailed, a Lookout (or, worse, the Werewolf) may catch you blackmailing them the next night. On the other hand, like any member of the Mafia who visits the same person repeatedly, it has the advantage that you avoid revealing multiple people as non-Mafia to a Spy, although smart Spies will easily notice that the person has been role blocked or blackmailed for a few nights straight, therefore exposing a Blackmailer's existence.
- Blackmailing the Mayor or Town Investigative can be good at making them less effective. Be careful of blackmailing a revealed Mayor as there could be a Lookout watching him, and you will be called out by the Lookout due to the Mayor's signal of being blackmailed.
- Neutrals such as the Serial Killer, Werewolf and the Arsonist will have no defense if they are blackmailed, so if you want to get rid of them, blackmail them as soon as possible and accuse them.
- If you are role blocked or your target dies in the same night, you or another member of the Mafia may act as if they have been blackmailed (you may also simply choose not to blackmail anyone for a night). However, this carries the danger of a Spy calling you out, thus getting you lynched. Only use this if there is no Spy in game.
- Try to blackmail people who are accusing a member of the Mafia or are chatty. The Town may forget what they said and go on to other things if you blackmail them for a few nights or if they die.
- If you think you may be put on trial the next day, a good strategy is to not blackmail anyone that night and instead pretend you are blackmailed yourself. Again, this carries a risk of a Spy calling you out. However, if you have a Consort on your side, getting your Consort to role block the Spy (providing you know who the Spy is) to prevent the Spy from checking whether you were actually visited by the Mafia. Be careful with this strategy as it can make you look very suspicious.
- If you have a Consort, try targeting the same target as them. It is usually effective and can create a mislynch against someone (e.g a Retributionist that is role blocked cannot do their night action and if they are blackmailed, they cannot state that they were role blocked).
- If anyone attempts to collect roles via whispers, you can tell this to the Mafia so they can plan their operations more accurately now that the roles of the Townies have been revealed. You can also harvest info from whispers by Town Investigative roles, the Jailor or Mediums and use them to your advantage.
- Blackmailing people every night isn't necessarily a good plan; when the Town realizes that people are being blackmailed, it becomes much harder for you to claim Spy, and they're likely to be more cautious with whispers.
- Another possible strategy, especially with four members of the Mafia in a Ranked or Ranked Practice game, is to simply not blackmail at all. Considering the Blackmailer's ability is not as useful as that of other Mafia members early game, this is not just a viable strategy but a powerful one. The reason being that if you're called up to the stand, this makes a Spy claim much more plausible. If it becomes clear there is an active Blackmailer, many Townies will lynch Spy claims right on the spot. This requires the cooperation of the other members of the Mafia, especially in Ranked Practice, by not having them reveal the existence of a Blackmailer to a real Spy.
- A strategy is to pretend to be blackmailed yourself. If the Mafia is struggling mid-game, provided that there is no Spy, you can remain completely silent and signal to other players that you are 'blackmailed' by voting and canceling two times. This will mess up their suspicions, but be careful not to overdo it. Discuss with the Mafia to let different members act blackmailed on different days. Do be warned that if a faking Mafia member is lynched or killed it will immediately draw suspicion on the others. This strategy works better if you haven't blackmailed the previous night. This strategy is not as effective as it once was, since most players in Ranked Practice and Ranked are used to immediately suspecting anyone that claims to be blackmailed, as it is a popular defense for Blackmailers on trial. Also, if you attempt to use the strategy with fellow Mafia members, then a Spy could figure you out and communicate to the Town to not trust claims of blackmail.
- Be careful when blackmailing people over and over again in the Town of Salem - The Coven (DLC) as a Crusader can protect your target and can kill you.
- You continue to hear whispers after death. While this is rarely useful, it can be used to out mutual enemies to the Medium or to trick them by lying about a whisper's content.
- At times, a Jailor will whisper a Town Protective claim to protect them. They will often put in their will afterward that if they die, to kill the Town Protective claim for lying. If you have a Consort, you can stop the Town Protective from doing their job and also getting a lynch off, saying that they didn't protect the Jailor. This can be done with many important Town roles other than the Jailor as well.
Dealing with Blackmailers
- If you are a Townie and suspect someone of being blackmailed, use this simple test to determine whether or not the target was blackmailed: ask the suspected person to vote and cancel the vote of someone twice if they are blackmailed. Most people will appreciate you for checking.
- Even if nobody asks you and you are blackmailed, voting and un-voting the same person anyway will get the attention of the Town and they will know that there is a Blackmailer in game. The earlier the Town knows about the Blackmailer's presence, the earlier they can stop whispering important information.
- If it's proven that someone was blackmailed, ask the Jailor to jail them. The Jailor will collect information from this person and will prevent the Blackmailer doing their work. It may even save the game since Blackmailers usually blackmail people with important things to say.
- If it turns out that someone was blackmailed, be suspicious of anyone who accused them or who pointed out how silent they were; inexperienced Blackmailers will often accuse the person they blackmailed. In particular, if someone claims to be blackmailed on the stand, anyone who tries to dispute that or suggests that they are faking should be seen as extremely suspicious; it is extraordinarily rare for evil roles to fake being blackmailed (due to the high risk of being outed by a Spy). You should almost always vote innocent on people who say they were blackmailed on the stand, and investigate, role block, or even vote up the person who accused them to demand their role.
- Blackmailers will often invent new "rules" about how blackmailing and the blackmailed message works to try and cast suspicion on the person they've been blackmailing (for instance, complaining that they said they were blackmailed too many or too few times, or too quickly/too slow). Turn it around and look at it from the other direction; falsely claiming to be blackmailed is an extremely rare and risky strategy, one that has few benefits and which can be easily discounted by a Spy, while Blackmailers trying to get their targets lynched is extremely common. Therefore, any claim that someone who is acting blackmailed is "faking it" should be seen as extremely suspicious, especially if it comes from their main accuser.
Trivia
- Prior to Version 1.5.0.3431, Blackmailers could not hear private messages.
- Since the release of Version 2.0.0.0.6537, it's more difficult for Blackmailers to claim to be a Spy, as Spies can't hear whispers anymore.
- As of Version 2.5.1, people who are blackmailed can only say "I am blackmailed." once while on trial.
- If someone was blackmailed the day the game ends, they will no longer be blackmailed.
