(or here’s a list of what launched yesterday that might deserve a closer look)

Project: Murder by Magic; Murderopolis; Murder, Mayhem & Lollipops

Designer: Joshua Mason (Outfoxed!)

Artist: Joshua Mason (Outfoxed!)

Publisher: Quirky Co. (Outfoxed!)

Genre/Mechanisms: card game, fighting, hand management, take that (Murder by Magic); card game, events, hidden victory points, push your luck (Murder, Mayhem & Lollipops); card game, hand management, horror, mature adult, murder / mystery, set collection (Murderopolis);

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “Ready to save the world? Of course you are. You’re a wizard, after all. With a good heart. A hero, some would say. Alas, there are bad wizards, too. Dark wizards. Wizards with ideas as to how society should function that are different than your own. The kind you’ll need to Murder by Magic, in order to do all that saving of the world you fancy so proudly. However, they’re trying to murder you, as well. Because, although you think they’re the bad guys, they think you’re the bad guy. Only one of you is right.

Murder, Mayhem & Lollipops is a darkly comedic competitive card game in which players collect weapons that they will later use to assassinate targets. The player with the highest total value in assassinated targets and unused weapons and other items wins the game. On a turn, a player must perform 3 actions. This could either be revealing a target, killing a target by spending weapon(s), aqcuire items through flipping a card over or taking them from a deck or another player, or discarding candy to get more actions.

In Murderopolis, for each turn, players draw 1 card and try to match 4 cards: Suspect, Weapon, and Evidence cards featured on any Location card. Witness cards are wild and may be used in place of any Weapon or Evidence card. When a player has all 4 cards to make a match, he or she is to set it down on the playing surface, and announce a murder case has been solved. An opponent may inspect the cards to verify the match. If a player is unable to solve a case, and has more than 8 cards, he or she must discard 1 card into an open field of cards. Another player may take any discard, rather than drawing from the deck. A turn ends when a player solves a case, discards, or can do neither. When the Death card is drawn, the player dies and is to add all cards held to the discard field.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $30, any one game

All-In (w/shipping): $86, all three games

Campaign Ends: 11/15

Game Ships: Nov. 2022

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 533% with 29 days to go.

Project: Nanga Parbat: Missions Pack

Designer: Steve Finn (Biblios, Floriferous, Herbaceous)

Artist: Ossi Hiekkala (Eclipse, Flamme Rouge, Honshū, Nations, Nations: The Dice Game)

Publisher: Dr. Finn’s Games (Biblios, Herbaceous, Sunset Over Water)

Genre/Mechanisms: 2 player only games, abstract strategy, area movement, expansion, exploration, set collection, variable set-up

Player Count: 2

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: medium-low

Summary: “In this two-player game, players take turns placing hikers on the mountain where they can capture animals and build base camps. Five times during the game, a player may either trade in their animals or build a base camp for victory points. On a turn, a player must place their hiker in the region containing the guide, who then moves based on the placement of the hiker, thereby forcing the opponent to place their hiker in a new region. However, players may spend their captured animals to perform special actions. After 15 turns for each player, the game ends and the player with the most points wins.

The Nanga Parbat: Missions Pack includes a total of 14 cards: 11 game cards (5 mission cards + 6 reward cards) and 3 rules cards. At the start of the game, the 5 mission cards are laid out in a row, showing the different missions for the game. Paired with each mission is a reward card. The first player to accomplish a mission earns the reward card. Since the mission cards are double-sided, there is a wide variety of mission combinations. Plus, with 6 different rewards and only 5 used per game, the reward combinations also differ from game to game. More specifically, each mission shows 3 hikers in a particular pattern in a region. To accomplish the mission, a player must have their own hikers in the exact combination shown in one of the six regions. The reward cards include an immediate point reward and/or a special power. The front side of the cards show the rewards using icons, while the backside describe the rewards in text.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $6

All-In (w/shipping): $28

Campaign Ends: 10/28

Game Ships: Dec. 2022

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 120% with 11 days to go.