Ghost Stories: Black Secret

Designer: Antoine Bauza

Artist: Pierô

Year Published:  2011

Number of Players: 2 - 5 players

Playing Time:  90 minutes

Recommended Ages: 12+

Categories: Thematic, Strategy, Expansion for Base-game, Fantasy, Fighting, Horror, Mythology

Mechanics: Area Movement, Dice Rolling, Modular Board, Partnerships, Variable Player Powers

The cooperative game Ghost Stories often has players on the edge of their seats with uncertainty over whether their monks will be able to protect a village against the many aspects of Wu-Feng that threaten it. With Ghost Stories: Black Secret, the players will face an even more powerful dilemma: Wu-Feng himself.

Yes, the player count for Black Secret is 2-5 (instead of 1-4) as one player will take on the role of Wu-Feng and harass the monks in a more direct manner than they've experienced previously. Wu-Feng now chooses where the incoming ghosts will be placed on the individual monk boards. Instead of placing the ghost on the board, Wu-Feng can use that ghost to power colored spells matching the color of the ghost (while casting the spells bring Wu-Feng access to stronger spells) or to bring new demon miniatures in play that scour the catacombs underneath the village; these figures are searching for the remains of Wu-Feng by digging in the dirt located there, and should they find the three icons required, the shadow of Wu-Feng descends on the village to fight directly with the monks.

To aid the monks in their fight against this more devious incarnation of Wu-Feng, they have access to blood mantras, special abilities that come in different levels to adjust for the difficulty of play. When a monk loses a life, the Qi token is placed on the mantra. When two tokens are on one of the level-2-mantras, one monk of the players' choice gains a Qi. When 4 Qi are collected on one of the level-4-mantras, all village tiles are dehaunted.

More information: here