"Can you spare a moment to hear about our lord and savior Mithras?"
— The Cult Leader
Throne of Lies is an online Social Deduction Game for up for 16 players, inspired by medieval politics. It was developed by Imperium 42, and was released on PC through Steam on September 29th, 2017.
Similar to games such as Mafia or Werewolf (1997), players must discover and team up with their allies, while exposing and destroying their enemies. The good faction of the Blue Dragons squares off against the evil Unseen criminals or Cult of Mithras fanatics to restore peace to the Kingdom.
This game provides examples of:
- Acquitted Too Late: A very common outcome of executions.
- Aristocrats Are Evil: The Aristocrat class is specifically an evil version of the Noble.
- Big Bad:
- The Mastermind, for the Unseen. Until he's dead, the Unseen can replenish their numbers via conversion.
- The Cult Leader is supposed to be this for the Cult. However, since if the Cult Leader dies another is instantly promoted, in practice he's just as expendable as any other cultist.
- In theory, the King is this, when he's one of the evil roles. In practice, the fact that he has to pretend to be good combined with the fact that his own evil allies won't know that he's on their side means he rarely takes a leadership role and mostly has to try and subtly throw a wrench into the Blue Dragons' plans without them catching on.
- Big Fun: The Drunk, a brother of the prince who gets wasted at taverns every day and night; he makes up for this by being a master at redirection and saving lives by making evil players target worse targets, or even themselves.
- Big Good: The King, when he's actually good. And sometimes when he's neutral. He's expected to lead the court and usually gathers the most information.
- The Butler Did It: If a King is poisoned, there's a good chance that their own Butler did it. The Butler's portrait even shows a hidden vial of poison. Notably, this is meant to be a heroic act — the Butler will face no consequences if a King of any other faction dies, even a Neutral King, but will take their own life if it was a Good King. Neither of the Butler's evil counterparts have a poisoning ability... making it a strategy to demand that the Butler poisons the King to prove that they are indeed still a Butler. (Obviously, there should still be a healer in play so that the King survives.)
- The Caligula: Reapers, Possessors, and Sorcerors who manage to become a King become a unique King variant that cannot be generated at the start of the game. Their goal remains the same as it was before they became King: Kill everyone that does not need to survive as an objective. Their Guards ability changes as well, so that instead of protecting the target, the guards will kill them.
- Conveniently Interrupted Document: Since most results of night activities aren't shown until the end of the night, the same moment any kills are processed, it's possible to see a log that reveals who they visited on their final night alive, but not what the results were.
- Conviction by Contradiction: A frequent reason for someone to be accused of treason and executed, since Blue Dragons have little reason to lie about their role. This can still backfire if an evil player or a third party is manipulating the court and falsifying evidence, or if the Blue Dragon had a strong role that they were reluctant to publicly reveal.
- Court Mage: The Court Wizard is the obvious example, but the Mystic and the Chronomancer are also a magical asset to the Blue Dragons; their evil counterparts retain some magical capabilities and may even keep pretending to be their original role.note
- Detect Evil: Paladins can sense if someone is a member of the Cult. Unfortunately, this doesn't let them locate the Possessor, Reaper, or Sorceror, as those roles are technically neutral. The Marshall's detection ability is effectively this as well, but for the Unseen.
- Diabolical Mastermind: The Mastermind, naturally. He can convert Blue Dragons to his team, and is immune to all sorts of attacks and negative abilities.
- The Dragon: The Assassin always spawns alongside the Mastermind and works as the main killing force of the Unseen. If the Assassin dies, any non-Mastermind Unseen will automatically be promoted to their place. And if the Mastermind somehow dies at night or is lynched, the original Assassin (if they're still alive) will automatically become a replacement Mastermind.
- Driven to Suicide: Butlers who poison a good King are this, as are Knights who attempt to Cold Steel an ally.
- Elective Monarchy: If the King dies and multiple people make a claim to the throne, a vote is held. Heirs of royal blood get double the amount of votes to their name, but it's still possible for anyone to become king.
- Empty Shell: When someone has their soul reaped, they're treated as a dead player, but their body keeps silently moving around as if alive until finally dropping dead a day later. Living players might not even notice it unless they're already looking for evidence of a Reaper. It's entirely possible to waste a kill or an execution on someone who's already dead.
- Enemy Mine: It's not unusual for two out of three of the Blue Dragons, Neutral Killer, or Unseen/Cult to vote to execute someone. Neutrals might also be in this position if one group is gunning for them. This usually happens with Alchemists allying with the Unseen or Cult due to the Blue Dragons trying to execute them.
- Evil Counterpart: Aside from the Mastermind and the Assassin, all Unseen roles are a direct counterpart to their original classes, right down to appearance.
- Evil Sorcerer: While technically a Neutral class, the Sorcerer's objective is to see the deaths of all all of the Blue Dragon and Cult/Unseen. They can achieve this goal by placing magical invisible bombs on players during the day, and blowing them up at night.
- Evil vs. Evil: Unseen/Cult have to eliminate all Neutrals that are a threat to them, and all of the neutral killers have to kill off anyone who don't need to survive to win, which would include Unseen/Cult.
- Face–Heel Turn: Any Blue Dragon class except for the King and the Prince is prone to being converted over to the evil faction. There is no choice for the player to refuse: If they were left unprotected and the Mastermind or Cult Leader makes a successful visit, they will be converted to their side.
- Fallen Hero: Some classes give off this vibe when converted, either because of the imagery of their new portraits or because their lore emphasizes their past heroics.
- Good Shepherd: Formerly the Priest. She was always on the Blue Dragons' side, could not be converted, and was one of the strongest Blue Dragon classes. Eventually removed from the game for being too powerful.
- The Grim Reaper: The Reaper class is depicted as such in their character portrait, complete with scythe and robes.
- The Hero: The Prince is the strongest member of the Blue Dragons, immune to many negative effects, and his execution beats all types of protection. As a result, he's the biggest asset to the Blue Dragons, even more so than the King, who may not even be good.
- Heroic Neutral: Alchemists can heal players if they are attacked at night. And the Mercenary can prevent a player's death from anything using their one-use shield.
- Heroic Sacrifice: The Knight will give his own life to protect someone if they are attacked. Also counts for investigative roles that out themselves in order to expose enemies.
- I Am the Noun: The Drunk's ability to avoid getting his night occupied by drunkenness (or other distractions) is called I am the Liquor.
- Kangaroo Court: What happens once Blue Dragons loses the voting majority. Once the Cult or Unseen has the voting power, they can execute them all one by one. In even worse cases, it's possible for the Neutral Killer to gain a voting majority, such as the Reaper making the court unable to vote for them if there's less than 6 people left alive by reaping one and Chilling another.
- Kill and Replace: The Possessor can do this twice per game. Very handy for when the suspicion begins to pile up.
- Mêlée à Trois: In a game with a full roster, the core conflict is Blue Dragon vs. Unseen/Cult vs. Neutral Killers; none of these sides can win if the other two are still alive. Can get even more convoluted with the influence of other Neutral roles such as the Inquisitor or Sellsword.
- My God, What Have I Done?:
- One of the Fool's passive abilities states that if they're executed, everyone else feels so guilty that they won't accuse another person of treason for the next day or two. (Actual player reactions can vary, especially if they benefit from skipping a day of execution.)
- If a Knight kills an ally using their ability Cold Steel or a Butler kills a Good King, they will take their own lives afterwards.
- If the Prince executes a fellow member of the Blue Dragon, or the Hunter kills a Blue Dragon with Hunter's Mark, they lose all charges of their abilities for the rest of the game.
- Omnicidal Neutral:
- The Possessor, Sorcerer, and Reaper are neutrals, but rather than being able to win with either side, have to wipe out both sides.
- Similarly, if the game goes so far awry that a neutral killing role becomes the king, they turn into a "Psycho King", who, while technically neutral, needs to exterminate all of the game's other factions in order to win.
- Plague Doctor: The Physician and the Herbalist are depicted as one in their icons.
- Politically-Active Princess: The Princess is an Investigative role that flirts with other players to learn details about their class, which can be used to prove or disprove a claim.
- Punch-Clock Hero/Punch-Clock Villain: The Mercenary only needs to gain 6 brilders in order to win the game; this means they will do whatever it takes to get those brilders, even if it means making sure people die, or saving their life.
- Purely Aesthetic Gender: Avatar appearance and name have no influence on what class you're assigned, and in turn the class's apparent gender doesn't affect what roles they can convert into. This can result in, for example, a She Is the King scenario where a Princess or Maid inherits the crown and gains the old King's title and portrait.
- Religion of Evil: The Cult worships Mithras the Blood God and has connections to Corax the God of Darkness.
- Required Secondary Powers: The Physician and Alchemist is immune to bleeding and poison, because they know how to heal themselves from it. This prevents needing a second Physician or Alchemist while still not letting the Physician target themselves for balance reasons.
- Royal Blood: The Prince, the Princess, the Noble, the Drunk, and any of their Unseen/Cult counterparts.
- Royally Screwed Up: A game can go this way if several people with royal blood end up converted by an evil faction. Especially if the starting King is also evil or if one of their converted relatives inherits the crown.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: All of them, really, but the King and Prince are the best examples, as both are very powerful classes expected to carry the load.
- Social Deduction Game: It mixes the social deduction game with medieval politics. There are three factions; the 'good' one is the Blue Dragons, who aim to keep the peace in the kingdom and must root out the Unseen criminals and the Cult of Mithras. There are various roles, and the 'sniff out the traitors' aspect is complicated with how the roles' allegiances can change at any time.
- Succession Crisis: Can result from the death of the King. If multiple heirs step up at once, they have to plead their case as the others cast their votes. There's no guarantee that the new King isn't actually plotting against your faction, not even if they're royalty by blood — and God help you if you allow a Neutral Killer to take the throne. Finally, it's possible to end up with no King at all if the game goes two days without a successful vote or if there are too few players alive.
- Taking You with Me: If the Hunter is about to be executed, they'll shoot and kill the first person that accused them of treason. The Knight and the Enforcer can also protect someone by killing any attackers, at the expense of their own lives.
- Troll: The Scorned and the Fool. Their goals require them to trick the Blue Dragons into either executing 2 people the Scorned has marked, or getting executed themselves. They even have the ability to fake someone else sending a message, and this ability is aptly named the "Troll Box."
- The Sellword also has similar goals to the Scorned and Fool, since their goal is for the Blue Dragons to lose, it does not matter if they live or die, as long as the Blue Dragons lose. Because of this, they can do things that would be suicidal for an Unseen, Cult, or Neutral Killer to do, such as getting the Hunter executed and taking his retribution.
- Wild Card: All of the non-killer neutrals, but especially the Scorned, Fool, Inquisitor, and Sellsword. But even the Mercenary and Alchemist can both hinder and help a faction, so it is important to find a way to deal with them as any faction.
- The Wise Prince: The Prince always spawns in a game, can never be converted into an evil class, and has the authority to imprison, interrogate, and even execute people; players usually consider the Prince to be one of the most important Blue Dragon roles, to the point where becoming the King is almost always a downgrade in power. All this can be subverted in an actual game, though, especially if a Prince executes someone who was innocent.
- Wizard Classic: The Court Wizard. Good guy? Check. Long white beard? Check. Wooden staff? Check. Pointy blue hat? Check. The Sage also counts in every aspect except alignment.
- The Wrongful Heir to the Throne: Royalty has priority in the succession, even if they have been secretly converted to one of the evil factions. Expect the other players to scrutinize all heirs closely.
