Tips and Tricks

Claim a Role

Investigator Results
Vigilante, Veteran, Mafioso or Ambusher.
Medium, Janitor, Trapper or Retributionist.
Survivor, Vampire Hunter, Psychic or Amnesiac.
Spy, Blackmailer, Guardian Angel or Jailor.
Sheriff, Executioner, or Werewolf.
Framer, Vampire, or Jester.
Lookout, Forger, Psychologist or Witch.
Escort, Transporter, Consort or Hypnotist.
Doctor, Disguiser, or Serial Killer.
Investigator, Consigliere, Tracker or Mayor.
Bodyguard, Godfather, or Arsonist.

*NOTE - You can't escape an Investigators results. If you are non-town, look here for a fake role claim.

Investigator Results Exceptions

If the Disguiser is disguised then the Investigator Results for the Disguiser will be whichever role they are disguised as.
If the Framer uses their ability on a player and an Investigator checks said player, the player will appear as Framer/Vampire/Jester.
If a player is doused, the Investigator results will appear as Bodyguard/ Godfather/Arsonist

 

🖩 The Numbers

15 players to start a game. There are currently 40 Roles in total.

If Roles aren't unique, there can be multiple of the same role in non-classic Modes.

Unique Roles are roles that are limited to 1 player per game. There will never be two in one game; the Godfather and Mafioso can be inherited, but even for those, only one of each can be alive at once. Currently, there are 8 Unique Roles.

Jailor, Mayor, Retributionist, Veteran, Godfather, Mafioso, Ambusher, and Werewolf.

If there is a Vampire Hunter in the game, there is at least one Vampire. 

If there is a Vampire in the game, it doesn't necessarily mean there is a Vampire Hunter.

There will never be more than four Vampires. A Vampire will kill the Mafia, but will convert Townies to more Vampires unless they are four.

If there is Mafia in the game, there is at least one, which will be the Godfather. There will never be more than four Mafia. Outnumbered Mafia and Vampires should look to work with Witches if they find one. Witches win if they are alive with any evil Neutral role and Mafia.  

 

✍️ Writing a WILL

When you are dead, your role WILL be revealed and if you have a readable WILL, you can help your faction out so don't forget to update your WILL every night incase you die. Here is an example of a WILL format.

Hoodlum the Investigator

N1. (Night 1) Investigated elysium5 = Survivor, Vampire Hunter, Psychic or Amnesiac.

N2. I was roleblocked/ maybe Hypnotized

N3. Investigated 2ofclubs = Framer, Vampire, or Jester. Someone attacked me. I was saved!

N4. I was jailed

N5. Investigated Tennesseelogman = Framer, Vampire, or Jester. I was transported or hypnotized

etc. etc...

 

🤓 Outsmarting Roles

There are several different strategies that can be used to try and outsmart certain roles in HoodTown. Below are several strategies for outsmarting some roles:

Godfather
Sometimes, Godfathers will pretend to be successful or an unsuccessful Executioner in order to explain their Night Immunity. For this reason, it's important to kill anyone who seems like an Executioner. However, this is not very common, and it mostly depends on the situation. You should mostly just try to prove that Executioner wrong, before lynching them or their "target".

Amnesiac
If an Amnesiac is jailed and needs to claim a role, they will need to remember their role as a Town and will be forced to help the Townies. If they remember that they are a member of the Mafia (or any Neutral Killing), their identity would be revealed immediately and would likely be executed by the Jailor. However, remember that there can be more than one Amnesiac, so a different Amnesiac may have remembered that evil role.

Arsonist
Because an Arsonist can douse anyone without them knowing, they are able to lie and claim doused when an Investigator calls them out, but upon igniting, the Town will instantly know who the Arsonist is.

Executioner
Having them reveal their target is a profit since an Executioner's target is always a Townie unless they were converted to a Vampire. 

Jester
A Jester often gives false information to win the game, so do not trust what they say (for example: revealing they're a Jailor after all Town Killing roles were revealed).

Mayor
If Mayor reveals themselves, Bodyguards, Lookouts or the Jailor will try to protect them, so be careful. However, a revealed Mayor cannot be protected by a Doctor. Keep that in mind, and don't try to kill a Doctor when there is a revealed Mayor in-game. 

Serial Killer
The Serial Killer usually gives false information and false "confirmations". The usual claim for a Serial Killer is Doctor.
Serial Killers usually kill confirmed Townies, so confirming yourself out to the public when all the members of the Mafia and Serial Killers are alive is a bad idea. This is true mostly for roles that are needed, such as the Jailor, Investigator, Sheriff, Doctor, Bodyguard and more.
If someone comes up as Doctor, Disguiser, or Serial Killer, lynch them, they are probably a Serial Killer. And if they claim another role besides Doctor, lynch them. Of course, Doctor claims are suspicious anyway, especially if there is an active Serial Killer. However, if someone was jailed and the Jailor was not killed, they cannot be the Serial Killer.

Werewolf
Werewolves will often claim Executioner similarly to Godfather - except in the Werewolf's case, an Investigator cannot tell the difference. Sheriffs can only see the Werewolf on a full moon, and any Lookouts catching the Werewolf will be killed. However, if a Medium is in the game, then the dead Lookout can verify this.
As with Executioner, Sheriff is a common claim for Werewolves. Always treat Sheriff claims with suspicion in a Werewolf game.
Some Werewolves will claim Survivor to both explain their immunity and stay unnoticed. 

🎥Acting:
"Acting" as a certain player can have several advantages.

🤔Acting like a newbie:
This is a great strategy for survival, especially if you are a Townie. Act like a player who is new to the game. For even better results, act like a bad Jester or Executioner. 
If you are evil, and you seem new, it might help you if you try to mislynch a player or make a "mistake", using the fact that you're "obviously new". For example, seeming clueless at what's going on and ignoring all the important details that could be used against you and distracting the Town.

🫤Acting annoying:
Act very loud and annoying - but not too annoying, or someone will kill you at Night. The Mafia tends to target players who are smarter or players who have been going undercover, so if you do the opposite, you will hopefully be left alone. 

😴Acting AFK
Say early on that you are going to be busy for some reason, and then stay silent for the rest of the game. This works particularly well when you are an Arsonist, as you can douse and people will think it isn't you. This strategy fails, however, if there is a Lookout. Also, if you are jailed then you will certainly be executed for not claiming a role.
 

Town Roles Strategies

Escort
It can be beneficial to simply not role block as an Escort, because chances are high that you will be role blocking members of the Town. Only role blocking people who are highly suspicious is a good way to make sure you don't accidentally hinder members of the Town. However, some evil roles pose as an Escort and miss out on some nights roleblocking. It might be better as a real Escort to roleblock to confirm yourself, and to make sure your activity doesn't look suspicious.

Mayor
Revealing as Mayor is a risky move because it makes you unable to be healed by the Doctor and you can't be whispered to. A good strategy with Mayor is to pretend to be a regular Townie, usually, one that can provide no harm to the Mafia and killing roles, so they avoid you. Reveal only when you need to, and if you are forced to reveal by the Town, then make sure to maximize the time you have left before someone decides to kill you. If there is a known Bodyguard in game, it will most likely be safer for you to reveal. Some people choose to reveal Day one, just to confirm themselves earlier to lead the Town if they are confident in their capabilities.
You may pretend to be a Jester. The evil killing roles want to focus and eliminate the roles which are threats. If you are voted to go on trial, you may then reveal yourself as the Mayor. This strategy is risky though, as there is potential for a Vigilante or Jailor to execute you, which would damage the Town's chances of winning.

Vigilante
Scum Reading and the Numbers Game- Scum reading is very important when playing as the Vigilante, considering that you don't want to shoot a member of the Town and kill yourself. But at the same time, you don't want to be completely useless. It is often beneficial to shoot people not based off of any negative evidence, but because of scum reading and playing the Scum Reading and the Numbers Game.
You can safely shoot anyone who says 'lynch me' or anything similar. Townies would never do this unless they are throwing the game.

Mafia Roles: Strategies

Blackmailer
Most people when they have the role, Blackmailer, most of the time they blackmail a random person. When they do this they might accidentally blackmail a Witch and definitely reveal that there's a Blackmailer. If you want to claim Spy, do not blackmail someone unless you are sure that he or she is a treat to Mafia. Keep a Spy will and don't blackmail someone without a reason. 

Consigliere
If you investigate someone and they come up as an evil Neutral role, don't automatically claim they're evil. Instead, pretend to be an Investigator and post an accurate result of the player you investigated that the Investigator would have. Watch for Spies if you do not have a Disguiser however.

Consort
It can be beneficial to simply not claim Escort as Consort if you plan on role blocking confirmed members of the Town. Since an actual Escort would be role blocking people who are highly suspicious, role blocking Town members like a Jailor will raise suspicion against you if you claim Escort.
If you suspect the Mafia's next target is a Bodyguard or Doctor using their self protections, role blocking them will prevent them from using their self protections and ensure they die to Mafia.

Disguiser
There's a good way to confuse Town as a Disguiser. By disguising your fellow Mafia as a confirmed Town that is not Veteran every Night, Town might think they are just another Townie. If a Sheriff saw you as "suspicious", either because you didn't disguise yourself or you disguised as another role that shows up as "suspicious", you can claim that you were Framed by a Framer. If you are trying this strategy, try not to blow your cover.
Disguises will manipulate Investigator's results. If they have mistaken you or another Mafia member as a Townie, claim the Town role/tell the Mafia member in whispers to claim the Town role that's on their result and fool the rest of the Town to think that you are/another Mafia member is also a Townie.

Forger
It is sometimes recommended to not forge Night 1 to check for Spies who can discredit your forgeries. If you plan on forging Night 1, have a Disguiser disguise you or the killing Mafia to prevent a Spy from calling out your forgery.
A player who has left the game is a prime target for you, as you have more freedom in what role you can forge someone as (e.g Godfather, Executioner).

Godfather
A good strategy as the Godfather is to copy the Death Note of the Mafioso and vice versa. This way, if the Mafioso is role blocked or jailed, no one will know that the person role blocked or jailed is the Mafioso because the Death Note will still be the same.
Claiming to be an Executioner that has won the game and will side with the Town is an effective strategy, but most people will kill Executioners anyway. Be careful while doing this.

Janitor
If you are trying to claim Medium as Janitor (or any Evil role), every Night but Night 1, say "Hi dead" (or something similar), it might make your teammate confused, but it will lower your suspicious as Janitor after you clean someone, especially if you are jailed by the Jailor.

Mafioso
Remember to always select a target (preferably the Godfather's target if there's an active Janitor/Forger) to ensure the Mafia still kills someone if the Godfather is role blocked.

Neutral Roles: Strategies

Amnesiac
One of the best strategies with Amnesiac is to not remember a role until a faction appears to be clearly winning. This way you can be sure that you are making the right choice when you remember a role. However, if you can remember Survivor, do that and announce your role the next Day. It will highly decrease the chances of you being attacked.
Tell the Town and Jailor which role you will choose to prove yourself as an Amnesiac. However, this may get you killed by other killing roles.
Not remembering a role will NEVER win the game for you, so if you feel as if you are going to die the next Night or in the near future, it is a good idea to just remember a role to the faction you think will win. A small chance at victory is better than no chance at all. 

Survivor
Remember that you win with anyone, so if a Consigliere finds you, it is not necessarily a bad idea to help the Mafia find other evil players or even Town members.
Most people who are Survivor likes to claim on Day 1, but most of the time they get attacked at Night 1. If you want to save up your vests, the best way is to just stay quiet for the first two Days to avoid attention. If you're on trial, tell the town to let an Investigator investigate you to confirm that you are an Survivor.
When you side with any evil roles, you get lynched. If you want to reveal yourself to avoid any Werewolf, Arsonist, or any attack from other roles that your vest cannot protect, just don't vote. Whenever someone is on trial, say "I'm a Survivor, I am not going to vote" or something similar, people will know that you have not decided to side with anyone yet.
It's best to claim Guardian Angel Day 1. No one will be willing to kill you unless they are rude.

Jester
It is a good idea to tell people you're a Jester because they'll think you're a member of the Mafia or other evil roles trying to get away with telling them you're a Jester, but watch out for Vigilante who might shoot you.
Don't talk, it will raise your suspicion as Arsonist or any evil roles that are trying to stay hidden. Watch out for any killing role, they might attack you randomly or they think you are just an evil who's against them. When you're on trial, if you stay quiet for the entire time they might actually think you are A.F.K. When this happens, say something that almost all evils do when they went too quiet, "Oh sorry. I was A.F.K., what happened while I was gone?", "Why me?" or something similar because no one will come back at the right time when you are about to be lynched.
If you are able to survive until late game, do not claim unless you are on trial or someone asks you for a claim. Claim one of the suspicious roles such as Medium, there's a very low chance that the rest of the players that are alive will believe you to be a Medium.

Executioner
It might always be a good idea to claim Sheriff on Day 2 and out your target. If you are going to claim Sheriff, wait until a few Days later, and state your target shows up suspicious while you have a fake will with a handful of confirmed Town roles in the early nights (before the Day the Town claim was confirmed).
It will also be helpful to claim Sheriff if there's a Sheriff claiming someone shows up suspicious, frame the same target as them. However, this plan will backfire if the other Sheriff claim is another Executioner or a Jester framing someone.
If you are attacked, it's likely that you will be suspected as a Neutral Killing. A skilled player wouldn't lynch a Neutral Killing early in the game since Neutral Killing also kill Town roles to lower the number of players, Vampires will be different since they want to convert Townies, but they don't have Death Note to tell Town you are immune to basic attack. If Mafia or Serial Killer didn't write a Death Note about you being immune, it might be a better idea to wait for you to become a Jester after your target dies and hope you will be lynched.
If you are attacked on Night 1, do not claim Sheriff to try to lynch your target on Day 2, Town will most likely to suspect you as an Executioner.
If a Witch or Consigliere found you, work with them to lynch your target, Mafia always need extra votes to gain majority. 

Witch
It is possible to abuse a Vigilante by making them shoot a Townie that has revealed themselves; this would help the Witch taking a step forward in winning.
If you know an Investigator, control them to keep your identity safe.
If you know a Godfather, make them kill other players of your choice. Of course, don't make them kill randomly, because your Mafioso teammate could run into the Veteran or Town Protectives. Even worse, the Godfather or Mafioso could kill their own members! However, if you know the Mafioso, they will still attack the Godfather's target, if there is one.
If you find a Doctor or Bodyguard make them protect you or another ally who is not Night immune like the Mafioso or Vampire.
If you want to claim a good role, never claim Lookout, claiming Lookout can raise your suspicion as Witch and you cannot predict who else visited your target's target. A good role to claim is Investigator, by claiming Investigator you will able to know your target's role, but do not write which Night you visited them, mix up your data with the nights to avoid anyone to think that you are a Witch. Another role to claim is Sheriff, by claiming Sheriff, you know who's suspicious and who isn't, mix up your data with nights too to avoid possible lynches. If an Investigator finds you, you can claim you were transported that Night, if a Sheriff finds you, you can claim that you might have been Framed by a Framer (since Witches appear as innocent), but if a Lookout finds you were controlling someone, there is no way you can avoid this.

Arsonist
Not dousing the first Night as an Arsonist is generally a bad idea; it generally wastes time. However, it is also possible to lay low and ignite at the end of the game, which can catch players off guard.
With the Arsonist, try to douse as many people as you possibly can before igniting. If a major role reveals, then don't douse them if there is still the possibility of a Lookout who might realize you're the Arsonist.

Serial Killer
With Serial Killer, you generally want to kill 1 person each Night. Not killing on any particular Night is basically just wasting a Night and this significantly lowers your chance of winning. There are exceptions to this, however.
If you are jailed by a Jailor, give a credible claim. If you decide to kill the Jailor who has jailed you, there is a significant risk that you'll be called out as the Serial Killer by anyone who visited you on the Night you were jailed, or by any Mediums. Since Spies cannot determine if you visited someone, you can claim to be attacked in jail.
A very risky strategy for Serial Killer is this: claim to be a Doctor, act like a regular townie, try to be as helpful as possible, do not kill anyone at all until there is 2 or 3 people left, and proceed to win the game. If you do decide to use this strategy, make sure that you tell everyone something like "since there are no Werewolf or Serial Killer kills, there must be an Arsonist in the game" to make sure that the suspicion that a Serial Killer might be in the game never occurs. In the late game, always pressure people into voting a random scapegoat with "we need to find the Arsonist, he might have us all doused already!" This strategy also depends on luck, as if you are investigated by a Sheriff, it's game over.

Guardian Angel
If your target dies early and you didn't protect them at all, it may be a good idea to wait until the late game to mention that you've turned into a Survivor. If you claim that you've turned into a Survivor too early, people may become suspicious of you.
On the other hand, if there is an investigative role, players will realize you are telling the truth.