Description

Monsters, Don’t Treat Them Gently! incorporates the Monsters and Protagonists from the short stories of the 19th century to early 20th century celebrated English ghost writer, M. R. James. The game is set in the fictional parish of Barchester and features 20 typical locations from James’ stories. The game is introduced by means of a mysterious letter which informs the reader that they must lead a team of courageous people to fight back against the malevolent forces that threaten to overtake Barchester. The game can be played with basic rules or with a host of tactical rules as player’s become used to the flow of the game. A player can play a solitaire game where they control the Protagonists with the aim of banishing the Monsters to claim victory (the Monster being played by A.I. mechanics in the game). Alternatively a 2 player game can be played where one side takes control of the Protagonists and the other side the Monsters. Both sides choose a starting team of 15 from their decks; each card has 4 attribute statistics. Each turn take place at a different location, which may allow counters to be played or benefits to accrue. The Protagonist cards can be equipped with Boon cards that can be found at the various locations. The turn has 4 phases: organise, initiate, engage and resolve. The Protagonist and Monster players take alternate turns to hold the location and decide the type of encounter, which is kept secret from their opponent. The responding player must try and guess what strategy is being used and play their hand accordingly. The controlling player can see the card images but not the statistics, so uses their knowledge to try and play the best cards to win the encounter. The cards are then revealed and the statistics compared. An encounter table is consulted to determine the outcomes. The Monster cards can also be played as a stand-alone trump-style game, “Monsters & Miscreants.”