In Werewolf (better known as Mafia), a small village learns that werewolves live in their midst posing as their fellow villagers. Not knowing who can be trusted, the people decide to use a democratic vote to kill off one of their number each evening. During the night, however, the werewolves strike and claim another life. The Master of Ceremonies (MC) oversees the process until either the werewolves are executed by the daily lynchings or they outnumber the villagers, at which point they overpower and eliminate the remaining townspeople.

Players assume the roles of the villagers and werewolves, receiving role PMs from the MC (also known as the host) as to their identity. During each Day phase (usually matching a real-life day of 24 hours), everyone will vote for one of their number to be killed. The dead villager?s identity, human or werewolf, is then revealed. The Night phase follows, during which the werewolves kill off an innocent villager. This continues until all the werewolves are voted off (resulting in an ?innocent? villagers win) or until the werewolves match or exceed the number of villagers and kill them off through sheer force (resulting in a "baddie" werewolf win).

Many other roles exist as well. A Mystic might dream about villagers each Night to learn if they are human or werewolf, a Vigilante might take the law into his own hands and kill someone in the hopes of ridding the town of a werewolf, or Mafia members may exist as a second baddie team. Necromancers study the dark arts in order to resurrect the dead, and Serial Killers stalk the night as one-man teams.

In the world of Werewolf, you must kill or be killed. Good luck - you're going to need it.