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A Study in Emerald (Second Edition)

It is 1882 and the Old Ones are already here. They arrived seven hundred years ago and have been ruling the planet ever since. The majority of people just get on with their lives, accepting their monstrous rulers. However, there is a growing band of revolutionaries who wish to free mankind from slavery. These freedom fighters call themselves the Restorationists. A secret war has already broken out between the Restorationists and forces loyal to the Old Ones. The invention of dynamite has changed the balance of power and a lone assassin now has the capacity to destroy an Old One. In this shadow world of assassins, informers, police agents and anarchists nobody is quite sure who is who and which side they fight for.

The game ’A Study in Emerald’ draws its central plot from the award winning short story penned by Neil Gaiman, in which the worlds of Sherlock Holmes and H.P. Lovecraft are combined to telling effect. Additional details have been drawn from the history of the time. The nineteenth century was a time of unrest, with many colourful characters fighting both for and against the authorities. ‘A Study in Emerald’ is the outcome of the merging of these three worlds.

Each player will be assigned a secret identity, either Restorationist or Loyalist. Who you are determines what you will score points for in the game. Restorationists score points for assassinating the Old Ones (called Royalty in the game), while the Loyalists are aiming to identify and eliminate the Restorationists.

You will begin the game with your own deck of cards, from which you will draw a hand of five. These cards allow you to perform a range of actions, many of which are associated with the placing and removal of Influence cubes. Influence is the means by which you gain more cards from the board. Your cards cycle so you will get to use them repeatedly.

Your strategy will be shaped by the cards you gain. Some will give you additional agents, while others grant special powers. You need to be careful not to give your identity away too quickly, as this will allow your opponents to target you.

At the end of the game players reveal which side they are on. The player with the lowest number of victory points inflicts a penalty on all of the players on the same side. Thus you must make the effort to work out each player’s identity, otherwise you could lose the game through the incompetency of a fellow player.

‘A Study in Emerald’ is for two to five players and should take around sixty minutes to play.

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Rules:
https://www.treefroggames.com/wp-content/uploads/rules/asie-rules_2ed_eng.pdf

Scripting:
Game setup is scripted
Each city has an indicator showing who controls the city (has the most pieces) and whether they can perform assassinations or claim cards there.