Secret Role Picker

What is Secret Role Picker?

Secret Role Picker is a simple service that aims to eliminate the following problem: assume you want to play a role playing deceit game with your friends, such as Werewolves, Maffia and Secret Hitler, in an online setting. Each player needs to have a role, but how to distribute these roles? One could everyone get random roles, but this could result in duplicate roles or incompatible role combinations. Another solution is to select a game master, that tells every player their role. This, however, means that the game master knows all roles and therefore cannot play. To solve this issue, I am working on Secret Role Picker.

Secret Role Picker works as follows: one person creates a set of roles by writing on digital cards. Each card has a role name and a role description, such as winning conditions or special abilities. Once all roles are specified, the person is presented with a game code. This game code is shared with every player, including the player that created the roles. When a player uses the game code, they are given one of the specified roles. All other players can no longer get that role. This makes sure that every player can enjoy their part of the game, without need to assign a game master.

Active project

While working on Secret Role Picker, I had to reshift my focus to my master's thesis. As a result, the project is not yet finished. However, I am planning to finish this project still, as I believe it can be a useful tool for many friend groups.