I had a fun time playing this with 4 players (in under an hour!). I would recommend it to people comfortable with GM-less improvisation. The prompts in the book are helpful for sketching out a crime that Agatha Christie would have been proud of. My session report can be found here: https://diceystories.com/murder-in-the-countryside/
Nice! I got this as part of the recent Solo bundle...
Quick question: Is it a typo to have the five search decks face UP? I played (without a tower thanks to my cat!) and it took 5 turns to 'win.' I just waited until I had a better hand showing than the top 5 cards and knew I would win.
I'm also toying with a way to add a bit of tension without a tower: Have the player draw 2 from a search deck (face down). They keep one and one goes to the 'accused' hand- face down. A suspect is killed after 'X' number of cards or a search area is cleared. Just not sure which works better...
The defender/accused hand is built from their deck of cards- player has to build theirs first, then flip over the accused deck and make the best hand there.
Hi! Thanks so much – that certainly sounds a whole lot like a typo, because having the search decks face up is a terrible game mechanic! I'm very sorry, and thank you for pointing it out, I'll make sure to correct that.
I love your idea about an alternative mechanic to use instead of a tower – I'm really busy this week but I'll try to test that out as soon as I get the chance. I think it's a great idea to make the game more accessible to people who don't have a Jenga-game, or have a cat (!) or have trouble drawing from a tower for various reasons.
Oh no, are the search decks supposed to be face down? Well that explains why I won so quickly! In that case, I'll replay it with the search decks down before I leave my review! The community copy I downloaded a little over a week ago still has the "face up" typo, just a heads up. =)
I love investigation games, they are an important part of my role-playing DNA; but I love even more, as time goes on, those that twist the usual formula of the all-powerful GM knowing the ins and outs of a case and having to lead the players to the Truth. I've done mine, there's also Brindlewood Bay, and now this game. I like the way it intertwines the above-mentioned principles with the mechanics of The Wretched, thus drawing an investigation game where time is running out and where questioning the wrong suspects could well allow the real criminal to escape... Really a brilliant idea, which results in a nugget of a game!
I think this is something I was a little afraid of as well, that the player part becomes too passive in the end. I have been thinking a bit about how to make a mystery that would include more of a player strategy or participation – I had been thinking in terms of having the prompts being a bit more open, and having the player fleshing out some of the details. But your idea of choosing which avenue/suspect to pursue is interesting as well!
Thanks again, and sorry you didn’t have an optimal time. If you’d like, I’d be happy to offer you one of my other Wretched & Alone -games as a reimbursement of sorts. Both Unmoored and Wickies have far more player participation, and might be more fun. I’ll be happy to send you a download link.
Thanks for your kind reply! And I really am thankful for your comments. In the end, they do confirm what I was a bit afraid of regarding the play experience of this game. I might try to think about it a bit and see if I can come up with something that would force the player(s) to take a more active part, and update the game. And as I said, your idea of choosing to focus on a certain suspect is actually quite good, so I might just steal that. 😄
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I had a fun time playing this with 4 players (in under an hour!). I would recommend it to people comfortable with GM-less improvisation. The prompts in the book are helpful for sketching out a crime that Agatha Christie would have been proud of. My session report can be found here: https://diceystories.com/murder-in-the-countryside/
This is such a good little game. I especially like the method for solving the mystery that allows for multiple playthroughs
Nice! I got this as part of the recent Solo bundle...
Quick question: Is it a typo to have the five search decks face UP? I played (without a tower thanks to my cat!) and it took 5 turns to 'win.' I just waited until I had a better hand showing than the top 5 cards and knew I would win.
I'm also toying with a way to add a bit of tension without a tower: Have the player draw 2 from a search deck (face down). They keep one and one goes to the 'accused' hand- face down. A suspect is killed after 'X' number of cards or a search area is cleared. Just not sure which works better...
The defender/accused hand is built from their deck of cards- player has to build theirs first, then flip over the accused deck and make the best hand there.
Hi! Thanks so much – that certainly sounds a whole lot like a typo, because having the search decks face up is a terrible game mechanic! I'm very sorry, and thank you for pointing it out, I'll make sure to correct that.
I love your idea about an alternative mechanic to use instead of a tower – I'm really busy this week but I'll try to test that out as soon as I get the chance. I think it's a great idea to make the game more accessible to people who don't have a Jenga-game, or have a cat (!) or have trouble drawing from a tower for various reasons.
Many thanks!
Oh no, are the search decks supposed to be face down? Well that explains why I won so quickly! In that case, I'll replay it with the search decks down before I leave my review! The community copy I downloaded a little over a week ago still has the "face up" typo, just a heads up. =)
I love investigation games, they are an important part of my role-playing DNA; but I love even more, as time goes on, those that twist the usual formula of the all-powerful GM knowing the ins and outs of a case and having to lead the players to the Truth. I've done mine, there's also Brindlewood Bay, and now this game. I like the way it intertwines the above-mentioned principles with the mechanics of The Wretched, thus drawing an investigation game where time is running out and where questioning the wrong suspects could well allow the real criminal to escape... Really a brilliant idea, which results in a nugget of a game!
Thank you for the comment!
I think this is something I was a little afraid of as well, that the player part becomes too passive in the end. I have been thinking a bit about how to make a mystery that would include more of a player strategy or participation – I had been thinking in terms of having the prompts being a bit more open, and having the player fleshing out some of the details. But your idea of choosing which avenue/suspect to pursue is interesting as well!
Thanks again, and sorry you didn’t have an optimal time. If you’d like, I’d be happy to offer you one of my other Wretched & Alone -games as a reimbursement of sorts. Both Unmoored and Wickies have far more player participation, and might be more fun. I’ll be happy to send you a download link.
Best, Lari
Thanks for your kind reply! And I really am thankful for your comments. In the end, they do confirm what I was a bit afraid of regarding the play experience of this game. I might try to think about it a bit and see if I can come up with something that would force the player(s) to take a more active part, and update the game. And as I said, your idea of choosing to focus on a certain suspect is actually quite good, so I might just steal that. 😄
Thanks again, and happy new year!