Are You the Traitor? A werewolf fan's view by Lou Mad
"I'm a big fan of werewolf, and so many posts in this forum are about wondering how this game compares [...] I'm also a person who has a few problems getting werewolf games because of the number of people involved, and also that when I do find myself with ten or so people willing to play, they are rarely gamers themselves, so I have to teach and then lead most games I get to play. I personally was attracted to Traitor mainly for these reasons.The strength of the game is that many rounds are played, and as it's a quick game maybe also several games, so the later rounds become increasingly serious and competitive as you're able to put your learning about the other players into practice. In my experience this game has had much more of an 'icebreaker' quality than werewolf, as the round structure encourages people to warm up and get talking and giggling.
A game of Traitor feels less epic than a game of werewolf, and takes another step away from a real roleplaying game (actually there isn't even the chance for a bit of ham roleplaying, as your identity is secret unless you're the wizard). No one gets killed and has to sit around for the rest of the evening, factions can't develop round the room, and you don't get the benefit of a good leader describing the scene. It's answer to this is a much quicker and tighter game, which is considerably easier to bring to the table. To my mind it scratches a lot of the itches for a game based on discussion and argument, knowledge of your friends, and shouted accusations, but it's different enough that it doesn't replace werewolf and doesn't need to. "