Welcome! The Storyteller is an important part of each game. Not just a moderator, but a weaver of knowledge, surprise, and good times. Each game, the goal of the Storyteller is to create a fun, inclusive, suspenseful event. Choosing truth or misinformation to drunk, poisoned, or registering as characters; guiding players to a nail-biting conclusion will have them talking about games long after they are finished.
Mistakes will happen. Even experienced Storytellers make them on occasion. It’s absolutely okay, and in most cases the game can keep running, with a brief acknowledgment a mistake was made, and players will still enjoy the experience.
The first step in a Storyteller’s journey is to read the Rulebook and Trouble Brewing Almanac. After these, The Pandemonium Institute has beginner Storytelling videos to help visually learn.
Part 1: Setup
Part 2: The Night
Part 3: The Day
If you think you’re ready to storytell, test your skills with The Pandemonium Institute’s Storyteller Quizzes. They help to learn rare cases and common circumstances that may occur in the games you storytell.
We highly recommend Baron’s Storyteller Roundtable. This guide was written between 2018 and 2022, and has several wonderful suggestions and tips to manage players, communities and create wonderful games.
Once a Storyteller and players are reasonably comfortable with games of Trouble Brewing, moving onto intermediate scripts included in the game is the next step. Bad Moon Rising and Sects & Violets each introduce additional play styles, and in the case of Sects & Violets, new mechanics to explore with. Whichever you choose to play next, the Almanac for each should be read. Taking the appropriate Storyteller Quizzes is also highly recommended.