Et in Arcadia ego
Due to popular demand (two requests), we are taking a look at the 1-6 player cooperative adventure game Arcadia Tenebra which is currently struggling to fund on Kickstarter. The campaign will run for another 17 days, and you can pledge for a copy of the game, or also have an NPC created in your likeness, or even enjoy a 3-day trip with the designers, provided you cover your own travel costs to Croatia.
The game is set in the fictional province of Arcadia Tenebra, part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the 19th century. You are an investigator trying to stop a serial killer before the Blood Moon rises. At the start of the game, you will place your character at the centre of the map, in the city, and read the flavour text and instructions given to you by the chief of police. He asks you to uncover clues from three different places in the region, so you must travel there and bring back what you find. You also start equipped with one Lucky card (a useful item).
On each turn, you can move your hero on any square on the map, as long as there is a connecting road. When you decide to explore a location, you will check the symbols shown on the square and choose the type of skill test you wish to pass (e.g. power or intelligence or charisma). If you choose to pass an intelligence or charisma test, you will draw a card from the equivalent deck and do a skill check by rolling a die twice. If you fail the test, you draw an Unlucky card and suffer a penalty. If you are successful, you are rewarded with a Lucky card or a clue.
If you choose to pass a power test, you roll the die to see if you have to fight one or two creatures (odd result is one, even is two creatures), and then draw a card from the creatures deck. You set the creature(s) on the enemy board and mark their stats, and then roll the die. To defeat the creature, you have to roll equal or higher than its 'hardness' value. Items you carry may be used to boost your attacks.
At the end of each round, the Blood Moon is waxing. You continue in this manner, going around the map and having encounters, possibly also meeting Nikola Tesla, until you either find the killer or the Blood Moon becomes full and you lose.
:D
I should tell my son. He's IN Croatia right now. :)