Classic social deduction games like Werewolf/Mafia have one key issue that keeps everyone from playing– lack of information. Many modern social deduction games have introduced systems and mechanics that allow hints of who might be on who’s side through loyalty testing. Every time I start playtesting Swords at Dusk, I've gotten used to the first round where everyone opens their eyes and everyone has no idea what to do.

In order to avoid that awkward first round early on, I decided to have a “Seer” role to try and give the game some form of information; it like the obvious fix. However, giving perfect information to one person and hoping that information gets disseminated throughout the rest of the group is kind of a trap– not everyone is a good seer. I would venture to say that most of us suck at being Seer, and let’s be real, if there’s only one “Bad” guy in the group, what does the seer do with their power after they find the killer? 

At some point, I decided that this was not a bad thing, because as soon as the wounds start stacking up, everyone starts talking, so I decided to embrace the awkward silence as a part of the genre, and at the end of the day, nobody remembers the first round of Mafia, they remember the twists and turns that come after hurting a few people.

But I do wonder, when faced with an awkward first round of any social deduction game, what's your first move? I'd love to hear from you in the comments.