History VideoGame / TownOfSalem

* FromNobodyToNightmare: The Coven Leader is a Witch armed with the {{Necronomicon}}. While the Witch was a nuisance in Classic matches, in Coven matches, the Coven Leader becomes outright lethal with the Necro -- and will own the Necronomicon if alive.

* {{Necromancer}}: An obvious trope for the respective role, the Necromancer revives and controls a dead player once. With the {{Necronomicon}}, they can also resurrect a generic ghoul.

* AnachronismStew: The game can't really decide whether it's set in the late seventeenth century (reflected in the costumes for the default avatars) or the modern day (reflected in, most noticeably, the SWAT outfit worn by the bodyguard).

** Mafia are red. Town is green. Coven is purple. Neutral is grey in random role selection. Past the basics, the neutral roles get more specific.[[note]]Amnesiac is teal, Arsonist is orange, Executioner is grey, Guardian Angel is white, Jester is pink, Juggernaut is maroon, Pestilence is black and green, Pirate is light orange, Plaguebearer is sea green, Serial Killer is midnight blue, Survivor is yellow, Vampire is tan, Werewolf is brown, and Witch is purple.[[/note]]

* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: Mafia are red. Town is green. Coven is purple. Neutral is grey in random role selection. Past the basics, the neutral roles get more specific.[[note]]Amnesiac is teal, Arsonist is orange, Executioner is grey, Guardian Angel is white, Jester is pink, Juggernaut is maroon, Pestilence is black and green, Pirate is light orange, Plaguebearer is sea green, Serial Killer is midnight blue, Survivor is yellow, Vampire is tan, Werewolf is brown, and Witch is purple.[[/note]]

In ''Town Of Salem 2'', the Medium, Transporter, and Vampire Hunter are removed and the following roles are added: Admirer, Coroner, Deputy, Monarch, Prosecutor, Seer, and Trickster. The Amnesiac from the first game is also reworked into a Town role. In addition, the Doctor was renamed to the Cleric and the Escort was renamed to the Tavern Keeper, although their mechanics remain the same.

* AcronymAndAbbreviationOverload: Fans have abbreviated many of the roles and terms down in order to cut typing time in the chat, so much so that chatspeak can look like a foreign language to people who have never played the game before:
** Roles
*** Invest = Investigator
*** BG = Bodyguard
*** Trans = Transporter
*** LO = Lookout
*** Ret = Retributionist
*** VH = Vampire Hunter
*** Vig or Vigi = Vigilante
*** Vet = Veteran
*** Doc = Doctor
*** Esc = Escort
*** Med = Medium
*** Maf = Mafia or Mafioso
*** GF = Godfather
*** BM or [=BMer=] = Blackmailer
*** Consig = Consigliere
*** Disg = Disguiser
*** Hypno = Hypnotist
*** SK = Serial Killer
*** WW = Werewolf
*** Exe = Executioner
*** Arso = Arsonist
*** Amne = Amnesiac
*** Surv = Survivor
*** PB = Plaguebearer
*** GA = Guardian Angel
*** Jest = Jester
*** Vamp = Vampire
*** CL = Coven Leader
*** Dusa = Medusa
*** HM = Hex Master
*** PM = Potion Master
*** Necro = Necromancer
** Terms
*** Sus = Suspicious
*** Inno = Innocent
*** NS = Non-suspicious, usually found in sheriff wills
*** RB or RB'ed = Getting roleblocked by an escort or consort
*** [=BMed=] or BM'd = Getting blackmailed
*** Witched = Being visited by a witch
*** Transed or Trans'd = Getting transported
*** Exe = When used in context for the Jailor, it's when a Jailor uses one of their executes
*** VFR = Voting for role, the process of voting people up one at a time to figure out roles
*** Vetbaiting = A veteran deliberately trying to make evil roles visit them by either saying insanely inflammatory/provocative statements in the chat or making themselves appear to be an important town role like Jailor, Vigilante, or Mayor
*** Jesterbaiting = A jester deliberately trying to get themselves hanged by acting suspicious
*** Medusabaiting = A medusa deliberately trying to get people to visit them
*** Surv Claim = Colloquial for claiming Survivor, a popular choice for a lot of evil roles
*** CC = counter-claim, used to indicate you claim the same role someone else did. If it's a unique role, or a game with a pre-defined list of roles, this means one of the claimers is lying about theirs. It also means "cross check", meaning to see if, say, that is a real Sheriff or an Executioner trying to get his target hanged.
*** Scumreading = lynching someone based off of their behavior rather than investigative results. The Jester relies on this.
*** Many roles also abbreviate their specific functions in their wills, like a Spy writing who they "B" and "[=MVs=]" (Bugs and Mafia visits), and a Lookout writing "VB" for "Visited By." This is helpful since wills and chats have character limits.
** Practically all the roles themselves are abbreviated as well, from Town Investigate (TI), Town Support (TS), Town Protective (TP), Town Killing (TK), Random Town (RT), Mafia (Maf), Neutral Benign (NB), Neutral Evil (NE), and Neutral Killing (NK).

* IFightForTheStrongestSide: The Survivor attitude. Late in the game, they will often announce they're the Survivor and side with whoever happens to be in the majority, regardless of affliliation. [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder This is one of the reasons they'll be murdered at the drop of a hat, lynched, executed by the Jailor, or shot by a Vigilante.]]
* KarmaHoudini: The Executioner, once their Town target is killed. They win, and death won't keep them from victory, meaning they become a WildCard and can vote however they like.

* MiscarriageOfJustice: The Executioner's goal is to get a specific person lynched. In the first game, their target is always a Town member, and never Jailor or Mayor, since those roles are unique and absurdly easy to confirm.
* MisereGame: Each player in the game has a goal depending on their role, but none of them can achieve that goal if they get killed before that. The Jester role is the only exception to this in that their goal ''is'' to get killed in one specific way: getting voted off and lynched by the other players. If they achieve this, they get to kill one more player by haunting them to suicide with NoSavingThrow. A goal so utterly contrary to everyone else tends to make the Jester a game-derailing WildCard, as they try to play everyone else — good ''and'' evil — into killing them without giving themselves away.

* SerialKiller: ''[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Very obvious.]]'' The only roles they can't kill are the ones with Basic Defense like they do, but they can be killed by a Veteran if they visit while on alert, or if they [[MuggingTheMonster visit a Werewolf on a full moon]]. (They also got a buff in the second game where they can deliver a Powerful Attack after getting three kills in a row.)

In ''Town Of Salem 2'', the Medium, Transporter and Vampire Hunter are removed and instead add the following roles : Admirer, Coroner, Deputy, Monarch, Prosecutor, Seer, and Trickster. The Amnesiac from the first game is also reworked into a Town role. In addition, the Doctor was renamed to the Cleric and the Escort was renamed to the Tavern Keeper, although their mechanics remain the same.

* BackFromTheDead: The Retributionist can temporarily revive each dead town member once and use their abilities. They typically tend to revive a town protective role to use on themselves. Initially they could fully resurrect a dead town member, but ultimately it was considered too powerful and unfair, especially in extremely competitive Ranked matches, so the role was [[{{Nerf}} Nerfed]].

** It is not uncommon, if there is a Vigilante and a Witch, for the Vigilante to ask to be lynched so the Witch can't control them. An important part of playing Town is realizing that dead town members still win if town wins, and knowing when to sacrifice yourself.

* VigilanteMan: The [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Vigilante]] role, obviously. They're sided with the Townies and can target one player each night and kill them, hoping that they've [[VigilanteExecution hit Mafia]]. Of course, there's no guarantee that they won't [[NiceJobBreakingItHero shoot a Townie]]. If they do, they commits suicide out of guilt the following night, leaving the Townies with two fewer allies. In a game with a Witch, Vigilantes become extremely dangerous to the Townies, because the Witch can bring the death count up to three by controlling the Vigilante into two Townies before leaving them to die from guilt. Worse, the Witch can force the Vigilante to shoot someone ''the first night'', which they normally cannot do.

In ''Town Of Salem 2'', the Mafia faction is completely removed with most of the roles being reworked for the Coven alignment. .

In ''Town Of Salem 2'', the Guardian Angel, Juggernaut, Survivor are completely removed. The Vampire role is also partially removed, being exiled into his own game mode, Dracula Palace. The Amnesiac is reworked into a Town role and the Witch has her own faction she can win/lose with and is no considered Neutral.

The sequel instead adds the following roles : Doomsayer, Shroud, and a new alignment of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse, which include the Plaguebearer/Pestilence and the Juggernaut from the first game,, the latter reworked into Berserker/War, and the introduction of the Baker/Famine and the Soul Collector/Death roles. A special role, the Cursed Soul is also introduced, but restricted in its own game mode.

* AccidentalTruth: One of the worst things a Jester may do is accuse someone of being evil — and it turns out they ''were'' evil. Not only does this make Town players ''less'' likely to hang him, but Evil characters will assume he's Town and kill him at night.

* DeathSeeker: ZigZagged. The Jester wins if they get lynched, and therefore should do stuff that will actively get them lynched. However, they still lose if he's killed during the night.

* [[HoistByHisOwnPetard HoistByTheirOwnPetard]]: An Arsonist can set fire to ''themselves'' if they are doused. (They have to spend a turn cleaning to prevent it.) The Arsonist may do it deliberately if they think there's another Arsonist in the game — or if they just want the Achievement.

** The modus operandi of the Apocalypse roles. The Berserker has to wait until Night 2 before he can start doing anything, and the other Acolytes can't do anything impactful to the rest of the town at all before their transformations. However, when the chat box alerts the town to the arrival of a Horseman, lots of bodies are about to hit the floor very quickly.

* MisereGame: Each player in the game has a goal depending on their role, but none of them can achieve that goal if they get killed before that. The Jester role is the only exception to this in that their goal ''is'' to get killed in one specific way: getting voted off and lynched by the other players. If they achieve this, they get to kill one more player by haunting them to suicide with NoSavingThrow. A goal so utterly contrary to everyone else tends to make the Jester a game-derailing WildCard, as they try to play everyone else good ''and'' evil into killing them without giving themselves away.

* SerialKiller: ''[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Very obvious.]]'' The only roles they can't kill are the ones with Basic Defense like they do, but they can be killed by a Veteran if they visit while on alert, or if they [[MuggingTheMonster visit a Werewolf on a full moon]].

* ViolationOfCommonSense: Where everybody else's role is to evade suspicion so as to avoid getting lynched, the Jester has to act suspiciously in order for it to happen, as getting lynched ''is'' their victory condition. Unfortunately, acting suspiciously usually outs the Jester as a Jester, since no other role is consciously doing so. Then they'll be easy prey that night for the Vigilante, Jailor or an evil killer, since they're of no use to anyone, and no one wants to be revenged on.

In ''Town Of Salem 2'', the Witch is also a member of the Coven along with the new roles : Conjurer, Dreamweaver, Enchanter, Illusionist, Jinx, Ritualist, Voodoo Master and Wildling.

* FromNobodyToNightmare: The Coven Leader is a Witch armed with the {{Necronomicon}}. While the Witch was a nuisance in Classic matches, in Coven matches the Coven Leader becomes outright lethal with the Necro — and will own the Necronomicon if alive.

* MasterPoisoner: Obviously, the Poisoner is this… of course, they only use the [[UniversalPoison same]] 24 hour poison over and over.

*** GA Guardian Angel

* TheBadGuyWins: Happens if the Mafia, Coven or a Neutral Killer role gets the victory over the Townies.

* BluffTheImpostor: Players will Whisper to a revealed Mayor. If they successfully are able to whisper to them, the jig is up: the Mayor had been turned into a Vampire.[[note]]Whispering to a revealed Mayor normally returns a message telling the player they're not allowed to.[[/note]]

** Voting people to get them to claim a role (As a member of the town). It makes Ranked games much, much simpler.
** Simply claiming your role in Ranked (Again, assuming you are a town member)

* CassandraTruth: Very commonplace, regardless of whether it's invoked or not. More than one townie has gotten lynched over not being able to prove their claimed role, and a hostile role can sometimes slip through by just saying so, and avoiding being lynched for fear of Jesters.
* CessationOfExistence: Anyone who commits suicide by leaving the game ceases to exist, and cannot communicate with the Medium. Their corpses, however, are fair game for Retributionists, Necromancers and Amnesiacs.

** A few roles are to confound town investigative players. Framers, Hex Masters and Arsonists will all make those they've visited read as evil to the Sheriff, and the Investigator will read doused players as Arsonists. The Disguiser will foil the Lookout by making a mafia member appear as a different player.

* DeathSeeker: The Jester's main goal is to die. However, they have to die through lynching, any other method will result in you losing.

* EnemyMine: The Town, Mafia and the numerous Neutral roles all have their own win conditions. Sometimes two factions may strike brief alliances near the end of the game to eliminate their mutual enemy.

** Executioner isn't side with Mafia, but since they both want to vote out townies, the Mafia can easily play along with the executioner since they aren't punished for doing so. The Executioner may in turn repay the favor by covering for mafia or voting with them.

** In ''2'', this will often occur if an Apocalypse role transforms into a horseman, due to how devastating they can be if left alive. This is especially true if one of them transforms into Death, because if it survives the day it transforms, everyone that isn't an Apocalypse dies. Thus, all non-Apocalypse players will put their conflicts on hold for the day to find Death.

** If there's a Blackmailer, this is usually averted since they can just silence someone indefinitely, but if Alice discovers that Bob is a Mafia member and is desperately trying to persuade the Townies that it really is him, it's not uncommon for the Mafia to arrange Alice's death to keep her silent. However, this usually arouses even more suspicion on the part of the Townies toward Bob, and then it becomes a mind game of "Did the mafia kill her because she knew too much, or did the Mafia kill her to make us think she knew too much?" Indeed, it's almost a better strategy to leave Alice alive if she's unproven, as her credibility will decrease every night she isn't killed, and [[CassandraTruth the Townies will be less inclined to believe she is telling the truth]], and possibly even lynch her for her constant "unproven" accusations.

** This occurs when the Mafia and the Town are deadlocked into a stalemate, and the person who can break the tie has already lost (or, in the case of an Executioner, already won). Survivors win with ''any'' faction, which is why they're often executed by Town -- they have ChronicBackstabbingDisorder and will just pick whoever is in the lead, including Plaguebearers, Serial Killers and Arsonists.

* LighterAndSofter: The original login screen featured a surprisingly lifelike illustration of a crowd of pilgrims burning a shreiking witch alive. This was later changed to a shot of a dark street at night featuring a cartoon shadow hanging from a noose.

* RightForTheWrongReason: As a SocialDeductionGame, many a "scum" has been found out not by players being able to catch them in a lie, [[ConvictionByContradiction using their chat logs against them]], [[INeverSaidItWasPoison watching them slip up and reveal information they shouldn't know]], but for a ''completely'' different reason.

** Instances Of PokemonSpeak show up rather often, from people using actual Franchise/{{Pokemon}} character names, to people who can only say their name like "Hodor." This will usually get you lynched or executed by the Jailor, since repeating only one word means you aren't roleclaiming or sharing useful information.

* Expy: The Mafia was removed as a faction in ''2'', but several of their roles were transformed into functionally similar or identical roles for the Coven:

* DevelopersForesight: There are in fact Consigilere results for Mafia, including the Consigliere himself — under the circumstance that the Witch or Transporter swaps them around, or the Necromancer uses a dead Consigliere to investigate. There's even an achievement for investigating your Godfather.

* SpiritualSuccessor: The Mafia was removed as a faction in ''2'', but several of their roles were transformed into functionally similar or identical roles for the Coven:
** The Ambusher's ability to stalk a house and attack a random visitor, at the cost of all other visitors knowing its role, was transplanted onto the Jinx.
** The Framer's ability to make Townies look evil, as well as the Forger's ability to mess with Last Wills, was taken by the Enchanter.
** The Disguiser's ability to make evil roles look innocent went to the Illusionist.
** The Blackmailer's ability to silence players during the day was given to the Voodoo Master.
** The Poisoner gained the Consort's ability to roleblock players.

** Vigilantes who shoot a town member commit suicide the next day.
** Jesters who get lynched can kill a live player who voted them guilty. That player will "Die of Guilt over lynching the jester".
** The player disconnects or leaves.

* EnemyMine: Town, Mafia and the numerous numerous Neutral roles all have their own win conditions. Sometimes two factions may strike brief alliances near the end of the game to eliminate their mutual enemy.

* EvilVersusEvil: Mafia vs. Serial Killers vs. Arsonists vs. Werewolves, with Witches having the ability to choose a side. It's not uncommon for games to come down to just those evil roles, especially since the Godfather and Serial Killer are immune to all but the Jailer and lynching.

* NoSell: Pestilence, having [[PurposefullyOverpowered the highest defense tier]], cannot be killed or prevented from attacking at night. They can't be shot by a Vigilante, can't be executed by the Jailor (The Jailor dies if they try to do this), can't be distracted by an Escort or Consigliere, can't be killed by the Juggernaut... the list goes on. The only way to eliminate Pestilence is through lynching during the day.

* UnstoppableForceMeetsImmovableObject: The Achievement for Pestilence being attacked by a fully evolved Juggernaut. (The Object wins.)

* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: A revealed Mayor can lynch anyone in a one-on-one situation, including Juggernauts, Werewolves and ''Pestilence itself''.

The sequel instead adds the following roles : Doomsayer, Shroud, and a new alignment of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse, which include the Plaguebearer/Pestilence from the first game, the Juggernaut, which was reworked into Berserker/War, and the introduction of the Baker/Famine and the Soul Collector/Death roles. A special role, the Cursed Soul is also introduced, but restricted in its own game mode.

* MiscarriageOfJustice: The Executioner's goal is to get a specific person lynched. Their target is always a Town member, and never Jailor or Mayor, since those roles are unique and absurdly easy to confirm.

* NoSavingThrow:

** All of the aforementioned deaths can be prevented if you're the Pestilence, which has Invincible defense.

The sequel instead adds the following roles : Doomsayer, Shroud, and a new alignment of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse, which include the Plaguebearer/Pestilence role from the first game, as well as the Baker/Famine, the Soul Collector/Death and the Berseker/War. A special role, the Cursed Soul is also introduced, but restricted in its own game mode.

In ''Town Of Salem 2'', the Medium, Transporter and Vampire Hunter are removed and instead add the following roles : Admirer, Cleric, Coroner, Deputy, Monarch, Prosecutor, Seer, Tavern Keeper, Trickster. The Amnesiac from the first game is also reworked into a Town role. In addition, the Doctor was renamed to the Cleric and the Escort was renamed to the Tavern Keeper, although their mechanics mostly remain the same.

In ''Town Of Salem 2'', the Doctor, Escort, Medium, Transporter and Vampire Hunter are removed and instead add the following roles : Admirer, Cleric, Coroner, Deputy, Monarch, Prosecutor, Seer, Tavern Keeper, Trickster. The Amnesiac from the first game is also reworked into a Town role.