Secret Vampires
Vampires walk among your guests. Stake them before the whole party turns.
- Players
- 8 to 40+
- Length
- 2, 2.5, or 3 hours from the start. 3 is the party default.
- Features
- Bite cards, stakes, ghosts, altar rites, and the Graveyard.
The premise
Vampire Lords are hiding among your guests. Everyone else starts the night human. Nobody knows who the Lords are, except the Lords.
Cards move from hand to hand all night. Scan one and it's usually a power. Sometimes it's a bite, and you quietly become a vampire. You keep playing; you're just on the other side now.
When enough people accuse the same person, the priest stakes them, and the Graveyard, on every phone and on the TV if there is one, shows what they really were.
The sides
Humans
Everyone starts here. Humans win by staking all the Lords, or by staking more vampires than are still hiding, before the night ends.
Vampires
The Lords, and everyone they turn. They win if the humans run out of time. A wrong stake helps them: it costs the humans an accusation and a teammate.
That's all you need before the night. Each phone explains the rest to its owner, and only to its owner.
On their phones
Joining
A name and a costume, so people can find them.
Their home
Their quest, the accusations they have left, the Graveyard.
Who they are
Their side and their powers, on their phone and nobody else's.
The Graveyard
Every stake, as it happens.
How a night runs
Guests scan the flyer
The QR on the flyer at the door opens the game. Each guest types a name, then scans the practice card so they know how a card works.
The priest starts the game
The host is the priest. They pick the Lords in secret and press Start. From here every phone keeps its owner's secret.
Quests and cards
Phones send guests on quests: find a spot in the house, escort someone, carry a card. Finish one and the priest hands you a card. Cards get passed around; some of them bite.
Accusing opens
A sixth of the way in (half an hour on a 3-hour night), everyone gets 3 accusations. Enough accusers on one person and the priest stakes them. Staked guests are ghosts: still talking, still arguing, out of the game.
The altar
Three times in the night the altar opens. Guests who gather there piece together a word, and the spirits hint at how many vampires stand among them.
The reveal
When the time runs out, or the humans win early, the Graveyard shows the coven, everyone's role, the awards, and every accusation made all night.
What gets printed
Secret Vampires
Your party's name
- 1Scan the big code with your phone's camera.
- 2Type your name and join.
- 3When your phone asks, scan the practice card.
Practice card
Scan it when your phone asks. It's only practice: this is how every card and spot works.
Flyer
Tape it by the door. The big code joins your party; the small one is the practice card, so everyone learns how a scan works before it counts.
Practice card
Scan this
Scan this
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Scan this
Scan this
Scan this
Scan this
Scan this
Scan this
Scan this
Scan this
Scan this
Scan this
Scan this
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Scan this
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Scan this
Scan this
Cards
20 to a page, with cut lines. Print on card stock, or tape each one to the back of a playing card. A new party has 120 unless you pick another number, and you can print any range or add more.
The Shed
Word RAVEN
Scan this, or tell the priest the word.
Under the Stairs
Word VELVET
Scan this, or tell the priest the word.
The Garage
Word COFFIN
Scan this, or tell the priest the word.
The Fridge
Word CLARET
Scan this, or tell the priest the word.
The Couch
Word WIDOW
Scan this, or tell the priest the word.
Spot 6
Word LANTERN
Scan this, or tell the priest the word.
Spot 7
Word HOLLOW
Scan this, or tell the priest the word.
Spot 8
Word CANDLE
Scan this, or tell the priest the word.
Spot 9
Word THORN
Scan this, or tell the priest the word.
Spot 10
Word ASHES
Scan this, or tell the priest the word.
Spot 11
Word MARROW
Scan this, or tell the priest the word.
Spot 12
Word CHALICE
Scan this, or tell the priest the word.
Quest spots
12 to a sheet, with cut lines: one for each quest spot in your house. Name them after real places, give each a word, and tape them up where the hint says. A new party has 12.
The altar
When the altar opens, scan this for your letter.
Use Scan a card in the game. Code ALTAR
Altar sign
Tape it in the room you pick for the altar. While it's open, guests scan it for their letter.
Letter or A4. Print it all at once or one part at a time, or save it as a PDF for a print shop. These are the real pages with sample codes; your party's codes are made when you create it, and only you (or a co-host with the party's PIN) can print them.
How the host runs it
Make a party, pick Secret Vampires, and print the kit. Rename the quest spots after the real places in your house.
On the night you run the console from your phone. Pick the Lords, scan in their bite cards, choose the game length, and press Start.
During the game guests come to you: you hand out a card when someone finishes a quest, and you stake whoever the console says. A co-host can help from their own phone with the party's PIN.
The host doesn't play. You know who the Lords are; your job is the show.
What you need
Guests need only their phones. You need a phone to run the game from and a printer, or a print shop, for the kit. A TV or a laptop is optional, and either does the same job: a big shared screen for the Graveyard and the console. Nobody needs one; it just helps.
Fair warning
It's a game about accusing your friends to their faces. People will lie to you, convincingly, and you'll be wrong about someone you trust. Lying is allowed. Showing your screen isn't.
Ready to light the candles?
Every printable included.