deduction

Tragedy Looper is a scenario-based deduction game for four players: one scriptwriter and three detectives. The game consists of four location boards and a number of character cards. Each scenario features a number of characters, hidden roles for these characters (serial killer, misinformant, murderer), and some pre-set tragedies (murder, suicide).

Each "day" (turn), players and the scriptwriter play three face-down cards onto the characters, then reveal them to move the characters around or affect their paranoia or good will stats. At the end of each day (turn), if the scenario has a tragedy set for that day, it happens if the conditions are met, i.e., certain characters have certain stats or are in a certain location together (or not together) with others. As tragedies happen, players loop back in time, restarting the scenario from the beginning and trying to deduce who the culprit was and why along with all of the other hidden rules for the scenario.

The players win if they manage to maintain status quo — that is, if no tragedies occur to the key individuals — for a set number of days, within a set number of loops. If not, the scriptwriter wins.

From the rules: "For decades, reporters from around the world have been on the hunt for the Loch Ness monster. But lately reports of sightings of Nessie have been increasing.

"Such reports naturally have drawn such reporters as the attractive Belinda Viewing from New York, the half-Belgian Claude McMirror, the clever Filosa Sharp, as well as her Londoner competitor Jack Nesstee, and even Nils the Blitzen from Denmark to the Loch. Equipped with the most modern equipment and techniques, these daring reporters have traveled to Scotland, in order to capture the elusive Nessie on film for their newspapers.

"But the 5 will experience some surprises . . ."

In Loch Ness, players compete to get pictures of Nessie. In turn order, players place or move their photographers on the board as they try to anticipate the movement of the Loch Ness monster. The movement of the monster is determined randomly by drawing move cards from the first three players, each card having a number from 1 to 5. The cards are not revealed until after the photographers have been placed. When they are revealed, the monster moves the total number of spaces and players score points based on the value of their photographers placed in the area where Nessie emerged. In addition, the players whose photographers were directly in front of Nessie select photo cards that will award points at the end of the game, especially if sets are created.

Beginning in the second round, players will select an action space each round that gives them a unique power to use for for the round. Placement also gets more challenging from the second round onward as a player is required to move a photographer, perhaps opening up spots for opponents. Each round, some of the players do have a limited knowledge of how Nessie will move each round. When a player draws a movement card before positioning his photographers, he is allowed to look at it, giving him one-third of the movement for that round. However, movement varies tremendously and only three players draw movement cards each round.

The game ends after the round in which a mini Nessie figure reaches space 65 on the score track. This figure moves the same number of spaces as the main Nessie figure in the game board each round. The player with the most points, scored during the game and from the photo cards at the end, wins the game. The rules include two optional variants that can be added individually or together with the base game.

Not to be confused with the 2010 Walter Obert game with the same theme, Loch Ness.

German Stategy meets American Fantasy!

Hunting Party has simple, yet elegant, mechanics that come together to create deep, interactive gameplay. In Hunting Party, players race to kill the Dark Agents and solve the prophecy by building the destined party from 36 unique Hunters. Players will hire hunters by bidding with shares of the King's Bounty. These hunters will give players the skills they need to hunt, and the abilities to make a difference. With your share of the bounty, you can buy items that will increase your party's skills, abilities, or even level up your hunters into champions.

Hunting Party is psychologically intense in the bidding of hunters, misleading of the prophecy, and in making deals of both cooperation and aggression. Players must balance the utilization of their shares and gold while planning carefully how they will use their hunters' abilities and their items to create opportunities and combos. However, the main challenge of Hunting Party is the use of Multiple Build Paths. Players are repeatedly asked,

How do you want to play?

Do you want to build a large party, a cheap party, a party of champions, a diversified party, or a specific one?

Do you want to focus on ability combinations, killing Dark Agents, or attacking other players?

Do you want to hoard gold, hoard items, or solve the Prophecy?

It's all in how you want to play!

Each game, you'll start off with a different Hero, a variable game board, and a different prophecy to solve, ensuring that you'll never play the same game twice.

Online Play

VASSAL (real-time or PBEM)

Horror in a Small Town. An enchanted camera has drawn you into an ever-shifting nightmare. Your only hope of escape is to maneuver the other players to their deaths before they do the same to you!

HeroCard Nightmare is a surreal psychological thriller in which the last surviving dreamer wins. Nightmare blends deductive, clue-like gameplay with fast-paced HeroCard dueling, and sets them inside a modular, ever-changing landscape of gothic horror.

Nightmare is a HeroCard game, and comes complete with four HeroDecks. Nightmare does not have any expansion decks, as all four characters come complete within the Nightmare box.

Nightmare is compatible with all the other HeroCard games.

"This is my balance sheet. It tells me what kind of art I like."
Glenn Willibin, sole proprietor, Glenn’s Gallery

It’s not easy working for Glenn Willibin, the most notorious art dealer in town. Sure, his gallery is the most respected and diverse, and you and his staff are competing to become [as we are still learning!!!] the most knowledgeable about the trends and traps of the risky world of art speculation. Still, Glenn’s all about one thing: his bottom line. Fail, and you find yourself stripped of your responsibilities. Succeed, and-well, you still have a job in the morning. That’s just the way Glenn is...

You are all employees of Glenn’s Gallery, a prestigious art gallery where you are learning the ins and outs of the business of selling fine art. Your job is to look at trends in the art world, and recommend to Glenn the types of art that are going to attract the most customers. Customers are represented by cards, and at the beginning of each turn, you have a certain amount of information about the customers that will show up this month. However, you also have to watch out for art students, who drive away paying customers! At the end of each month, Glenn looks at the number of customers that have expressed interest in each type of art and rewards (or penalizes) each player based on their choices.

[From Publisher]

Reimplementation of Members Only.