Roles
 | King 主公 There is a king in each and every game. When the king dies the game ends. The king must stay alive and kill all other players that are not loyalists to win. |  | Spy 内奸 The spy is all on his own. The spy wants to kill all other players, and then kill the king. It must be brought down to the two of them for the spy to win. Players do not gain anything for killing the spy. |
 | Rebel 反贼 There are usually more rebels than any other type of role. Rebels must kill the king to win. When a rebel dies, the person that killed them draws three cards. |  | Overlord 霸王 The overlord is an unofficial addition to the set. To win, the overlord must kill all other players. This can be done in any order, but if he kills the king, all remaining players become a rebel and he becomes king. |
 | Loyalist 忠臣 The loyalist is on the same team as the king. To win, they must kill all players that are not a loyalist. A player gains nothing for killing a loyalist, but if the king kills a loyalist, the king loses all his cards. |  | Reckless Hero 草莽 The reckless hero is an unofficial addition and cannot win as he is now. The reckless hero must kill someone and then becomes a different role. Then by following that requirements of that role, the reckless hero can win. |
The number of each role card to mix in this manner depends on how many people are playing a particular game. Although you can use any combination you want, the makers of Sanguosha recommend using a particular set for each respective number of players. Use the table below for how many cards for each role should be placed face down for this part of the setup. Some numbers of players have two different options that can be used.
| Players | King | Rebels | Loyalists | Spies |
| 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 6 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| 7 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| 8 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | |
| 9 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 1 |
| 10 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 1 |
| 1 | 4 | 3 | 2 |