The short version
Invite three to seven people. Charge one phone. Print the program and a few table tents, or don't. The game carries the night either way. Your job is to pour the drinks, say the script below once, and then get out of the way.
Play in one room on one phone passed hand to hand, or on separate phones with a five-letter room code. One room and one phone is the classic first night.
The night program
The Gathering
Drinks in hands. Seats in a circle. Every phone but one goes face down in the middle. That pile is the ante.
The Teaching
Do not explain the rules. Play one Party scene with the host going first, and let the table learn by reading you. The script below does the rest.
The Rising
Party mode, full speed. Let the die pick the worlds. By the third scene somebody will be standing on a chair. This is normal.
The Table Talk
Refill. Argue about the reads. Somebody retells the best moment even though everyone was there. Let them.
The Story
Switch to Story mode and take one tale together, start to ending. One hero takes point each beat while the table reads them true. The ending you earn is the ending you keep.
The Crowning
Open the tally. Crown whoever took the most Glory. The winner picks the world you will start in next time, and now there is a next time.
The host's script
Teaching kills party games. So don't teach. When everyone is seated, say this, word for word if you like, and then start.
Say:
"One die decides everything tonight. On your turn you call your shot out loud. Then you roll where nobody can see, and you act out how it went without ever saying the number. Our job is to read your face and guess how you really did. Whoever reads you truest wins the point. That's the whole game. I'll go first so you can all watch me give myself away."
Then:
Take the first turn yourself and overact. Whether you play it big or play it cold, the table learns the same lesson: the number is a secret and your face is the game. By your second sentence they will be leaning in. By your roll they will be shouting numbers. Hand the phone left and never explain another rule unless someone asks.
Table tents
A folded card with a world's crest on both sides, standing in the middle of the table. It marks the night's territory the way a good menu marks a restaurant. Pick the worlds you want and print. Two tents per sheet, fold along the dashed line.
Provisions
Food that survives one hand: nothing that needs a fork. Drinks with lids off. Light the room warm and low, since faces are the game and shadows help the liars. If the group is new to each other, seat the two loudest people apart. They are your engines. Spread them out.
Solo and Local play work with no signal at all, so a cabin, a basement, or a backyard past the wifi is no obstacle.