Dupery WikiIndependent case library

Field guide

Dupery beginner guide: work a case without guessing

The short answer

Read the case rules, investigate for usable statements, and look for a clue that separates your remaining possibilities. Keep the speaker’s identity and reliability open until the evidence supports them; arrest from the combined case, not from one confident-looking card.

Detailed role examples use the Demo v0.8.2 text. Check the role and quirk descriptions in your installed build if they differ.

Give each investigation a job

Before choosing a resident, read the case’s quirks and the possible role descriptions. A timed ability, a disguise or a rule that changes alignment can explain a pattern that otherwise looks impossible. Then take your first available information and ask what it can eliminate.

  1. Read the precise question. An address, a distance, a category and an alignment are different answers.
  2. Keep the announcement. Note its address, wording and the time or state when it was obtained.
  3. Draw the alternatives. Keep an explanation that fits the clue separate from a proven identity.
  4. Pick the separator. Investigate where a new answer would distinguish the alternatives.
Read rulesand role triggersInvestigatefor a specific questionCompare possibilitieswith another clueChoose the next clueor a supported arrest
A suggested reasoning loop. The game does not require this exact order.

A contradiction gives you a question

Imagine one statement describes address 5 as good and another describes it as evil. This is an illustrative conflict, not a fixed Dupery tutorial case. Your first conclusion is that the two statements cannot both describe the same unchanged state in the same way. It is not yet that either speaker must be an evil role.

Compare the question each statement asked. Was one checking the Innocent category rather than good alignment? Was a speaker tainted or disguised as another role? Did the target’s alignment change between the two announcements? Check the relevant rule before turning this into an accusation.

Two statementsdisagree about #5Differentquestions?Category?Same test?Check timeand truth
First compare the questions, then the state of the source and target. A contradiction narrows the investigation; it does not identify the culprit by itself.

Use the address on the card

A resident’s address is the numeric label used by address-based clues. Do not substitute the order in which you investigated people. If a clue refers to address 4, find the card labeled 4 even if it was your first investigation.

Earlier Dupery board with numbered character cards, statements, a suspect list and colored strings connecting pins
An earlier build, BETA v0.5.13, shows addresses, statements and connected notes together. Open the full-size image to inspect the layout; current controls and values may differ.

The board places several kinds of information close together. Keep the displayed role separate from the statement underneath it and from your own annotations. A pin you placed means what your note legend says; it is not a new game fact.

Before you spend reputation

A good-aligned arrest can cost reputation. Prefer one more useful investigation when the current evidence still supports incompatible explanations. “This role could be evil” is weaker than “the surviving explanations all put this address in the relevant evil set.” Even that set needs the correct role rules: a Fall Guy can be treated as evil by another role without being a normal evil arrest target.

For a numeric announcement, use the address calculator to compare possible sets. If the difficulty is the source rather than the arithmetic, read truth, lies and taint first. The useful next move is the one that resolves the uncertainty you actually have.

Further reading

Next moves

Keep working the case