If the village never lynches, the game is closed on werewolf victory.
Sure. I expect it's a solid strategy for the villagers to lynch if there's any evidence to single someone out, and possibly even in the absence of such evidence (I can't model tells and suspicion well enough to do the relevant math). But that needs to be grounded in "we're better off lynching than not," not "we have to do something!" There are probably scenarios where inactivity is a better option.
There are probably scenarios where inactivity is a better option.
If the wolf or wolves can form a nucleus for that something and there are no other credible options, inactivity is better. The wolves also vote as a secret bloc - if they're good, they can determine the outcome of a "do something" vote (although if they're not as good as the village, this reveals them pretty severely).
(This is my experience with the game, not a worked solution or anything.)
There is already a post related to this meetup but it concerns a discussion which took place after I had left so I will write about the games of Werewolf. Please post your thoughts too and correct any inaccuracies.
Thoughts:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Games:
1 GM: {Douglas}, Villagers: {Ramana, Jon, Jonathan, Alexey, Ai}, Werewolf: {Thomas}
Jon mauled. No-one lynched. Jonathan mauled. Thomas lynched. Villagers win.
2 (Seer added) GM: {Douglas}, Villagers: {James, Jonathan, Alexey}, Werewolves: {Thomas, Ai}, Seer {Ramana}
Ramana mauled. Jonathan made Sheriff. No-one lynched. Alexey mauled. Ai lynched. Jonathan mauled. James lynched. Werewolves win.
3 (Sheriff's deputy and wills added) GM: {Douglas}, Villagers: {James, Jonathan, Ai}, Werewolves: {Ramana, Alexey}, Seer: {Thomas}
Jonathan mauled. James made Sheriff. Ramana lynched. Thomas mauled. Alexey lynched. Villagers win.
4 GM: {Thomas}, Villagers: {Douglas, Jonathan, Alexey}, Werewolves {James, Ai}; Seer {Ramana}.
Ramana mauled. Alexey made Sheriff. Douglas lynched. Alexey mauled. Sheriff passed to Ai. Jonathan lynched. Werewolves win.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This post was partly motivated by this comment in the google group: