Novel-Based

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Mystery at Hogwarts Game

This Clue-style game comes with a game board, Fluffy Folder (for holding the solution), 2 special dice, 6 wizard hat pawns, 1 ghost pawn, 10 Hogwarts event cards, 6 Character cards, 6 Magic cards, 9 Room cards, 2 Summary cards, and a Check List Pad.
The object of the game is to deduce which student cast which forbidden spell in which room in Hogwart's School. Once a player thinks he/she knows the solution they must travel to the difficult to reach third floor where Fluffy guards the answer.
While most of the mechanics of play will be familiar to any player of the classic Clue, a few new elements in the game may require a slightly different approach to play.

Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game

In The Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game, players work together to solve cases from the bestselling Dresden Files novels in the ultimate what-if scenario: What if Harry was on the scene with allies who weren't there in the original story? Play Harry, Murphy, Susan, Michael, and the Alphas in the first five novels, or take on "Side Jobs" in a random scenario generator based on the short story collection of the same name.

Play your hand, clear the board, and beat the odds in the final showdown at the end of the book. Use teamwork, strategy, and a wee bit of luck to win the day.

The game has plenty of in-jokes and references for Dresden fans (like the unreliable range of the Blue Beetle), but it’s accessible to people who haven’t read the books.

This is a tightly tuned, strategic, cooperative game that feels intense, vital, and a little bit risky (thanks to dice and other factors) throughout play. At 30 minutes per session, gameplay is fast-paced and down to the wire. In this game, players take on the role of Harry Dresden and his allies, investigating cases and taking on foes from the books. To accomplish this, you'll share a common pool of action points (called Fate points), and each player must choose between taking an action or generating Fate points each turn. Solve more cases than there are foes left standing to win!

In short, each player plays a character from the novels (one of them is always Harry), taking on a shuffled scenario deck based on one of the books in the series. Using a combination of cards, dice, and teamwork, players attack foes, investigate cases, take advantages, and overcome obstacles to make sure they have the best possible odds for a win in the final showdown at the end of the book! Like any good cooperative game, it's hard to win (no fun if there's no challenge!), but always rewarding to play, and scales smoothly from one to five players.

Watson & Holmes

Watson & Holmes is a game of deduction set within the magnificent works of Arthur Conan Doyle. Two to seven aspiring detectives step into the shoes of Doctor Watson, working alongside the detective Sherlock Holmes to try to solve a series of so far unpublished cases directly extracted from Doctor John H. Watson's diaries. Those who accept the challenge relive the adventures of the crime-solving duo, visiting each of the locations where the inquiries were made. Following the trail, each clue brings players closer to solving the case.

The objective of the game is to immerse yourself in the Victorian world depicted in each story. Visit the right places, decipher the clues, and above all find the path that leads you to solve the mystery before anybody else. Victory goes to the player who accurately uses the deductive reasoning so famously and ingeniously implemented by the hero of 221B Baker Street.

The game consists of a series of separate cases, each of which raises a number of questions that each player tries to solve before anyone else. To do this, once the case and the questions have been read aloud, players proceed to visit the locations where the clues are located. Each location cannot be accessed by more than one player at any one time, so if two or more players want to go to the same place, the player who travels there the fastest (i.e., he who uses the largest number of Carriage Tokens) gets the clue, forcing the others to go to a different location. Once every player has a destination, they proceed to read in secret the clue that was discovered at that location. They can discreetly take any notes they deem appropriate. Once this is done, the cards are returned to their place so that others can read them in later turns.

This procedure is repeated during each turn until one player believes he has found the solutions to the case; at that time, he must go to 221B Baker Street to check if his answers are correct. If all the answers are correct, the player wins; if they are wrong, he will have lost and retires from the game, and the game continues.

Each detective will also have the invaluable assistance of a number of Sherlock Holmes' allies, above all, the good Dr Watson and of course of the detective himself.

•••

Watson & Holmes es un juego de deducción basado en la admirable obra de Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Cada uno de los dos a siete jugadores adoptará el papel del Dr. John Watson y acompañará a Sherlock Holmes en la investigación de una serie de casos inéditos hasta ahora, intentando resolver cada uno de ellos antes de que el gran detective le brinde la solución correcta. Para ello, cada jugador deberá sumergirse en la Inglaterra victoriana e ir recopilando, en distintas localizaciones, las pistas extraídas de los diarios del propio Dr. Watson, con el fin de encajarlas correctamente por medio de la lógica deductiva.

Y, todo esto, sin demorarse por el camino, pues solo aquél que resuelva el misterio antes que sus contrincantes se ganará la confianza del genio de Baker Street.

El juego se compone de una serie de casos independientes, cada uno de los cuáles plantea una serie de interrogantes que cada jugador tratará de resolver antes que los demás.
Para ello, una vez se lean el caso y las preguntas en voz alta, los jugadores procederán a visitar las localizaciones donde las pistas se encuentran. Cada localización no puede ser visitada por más de un jugador, de manera que, en caso de que dos o más quieran dirigirse a la misma, el jugador que más corra (utilizando un mayor número de fichas de Carruaje) obtendrá la pista correspondiente, debiendo los demás dirigirse a otras localizaciones.
Una vez cada jugador obtenga un destino, todos procederán a leer en secreto la pista aparejada a la localización correspondiente, pudiendo tomar discretamente las anotaciones que estimen pertinentes. Hecho esto, se devolverán las cartas de pista a su lugar para que los demás puedan leerla en rondas posteriores.
Este procedimiento se repetirá cada ronda, hasta que un jugador crea haber hallado la solución al caso: en ese momento, habrá de dirigirse al 221B para comprobar si sus respuestas son acertadas.
En caso de ser todas correctas, habrá ganado. En caso de error, habrá perdido y se retirará de la partida.
Cada detective contará, además, con la inestimable ayuda de una serie de aliados de Sherlock Holmes, así como con la del propio detective y, sobre todo, la del buen Dr. Watson.

Arkham Horror: The Card Game

Description from the publisher:

Something evil stirs in Arkham, and only you can stop it. Blurring the traditional lines between roleplaying and card game experiences, Arkham Horror: The Card Game is a Living Card Game of Lovecraftian mystery, monsters, and madness!

In the game, you and your friend (or up to three friends with two Core Sets) become characters within the quiet New England town of Arkham. You have your talents, sure, but you also have your flaws. Perhaps you've dabbled a little too much in the writings of the Necronomicon, and its words continue to haunt you. Perhaps you feel compelled to cover up any signs of otherworldly evils, hampering your own investigations in order to protect the quiet confidence of the greater population. Perhaps you'll be scarred by your encounters with a ghoulish cult.

No matter what compels you, no matter what haunts you, you'll find both your strengths and weaknesses reflected in your custom deck of cards, and these cards will be your resources as you work with your friends to unravel the world's most terrifying mysteries.

Each of your adventures in Arkham Horror LCG carries you deeper into mystery. You'll find cultists and foul rituals. You'll find haunted houses and strange creatures. And you may find signs of the Ancient Ones straining against the barriers to our world...

The basic mode of play in Arkham LCG is not the adventure, but the campaign. You might be scarred by your adventures, your sanity may be strained, and you may alter Arkham's landscape, burning buildings to the ground. All your choices and actions have consequences that reach far beyond the immediate resolution of the scenario at hand — and your actions may earn you valuable experience with which you can better prepare yourself for the adventures that still lie before you.

Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island

Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island is a game created by Ignacy Trzewiczek, the author of Stronghold. This time Trzewiczek takes the players to a deserted island, where they'll play the parts of shipwreck survivors confronted by an extraordinary adventure. They'll be faced with the challenges of building a shelter, finding food, fighting wild beasts, and protecting themselves from weather changes. Building walls around their homes, animal domestication, constructing weapons and tools from what they find and much more awaits them on the island. The players decide in which direction the game will unfold and – after several in-game weeks of hard work – how their settlement will look. Will they manage to discover the secret of the island in the meantime? Will they find a pirate treasure, or an abandoned village? Will they discover an underground city or a cursed temple at the bottom of a volcano? Answers to these questions lie in hundreds of event cards and hundreds of object and structure cards that can be used during the game...

Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island is an epic game from Portal. You will build a shelter, palisade, weapons, you will create tools like axes, knives, sacks, you will do everything you can to… to survive. You will have to find food, fight wild beasts, protect yourself from weather changes…

Take the role of one of four characters from the ship crew (cook, carpenter, explorer or soldier) and face the adventure. Use your determination skills to help your team mates, discuss with them your plan and put it into practice. Debate, discuss, and work on the best plan you all can make.

Search for treasures. Discover mysteries. Follow goals of six different, engaging scenarios. Start by building a big pile of wood and setting it on fire to call for help, and then start new adventures. Become an exorcist on cursed Island. Become a treasure hunter on Volcano Island. Become a rescue team for a young lady who’s stuck on rock island…

Let the adventure live!