Tag: Cooperative

Cooperative games are games in which all players work towards the completion of a shared objective.

Dead of Winter

| T3d-1978
Dead of Winter

Dead of Winter

“Crossroads” is a game series from Plaid Hat Games that tests a group of survivors’ ability to work together and stay alive while facing crises and challenges from both outside and inside. Dead of Winter: A Crossroads Game, the first title in this series, puts 2-5 players in a small, weakened colony of survivors in a world in which most of humanity is either dead or diseased, flesh-craving monsters. Each player leads a faction of survivors, with dozens of different characters in the game.

Dead of Winter is a meta-cooperative psychological survival game. This means players are working together toward one common victory condition, but for each individual player to achieve victory, they must also complete their personal secret objective, which could relate to a psychological tick that’s fairly harmless to most others in the colony, a dangerous obsession that could put the main objective at risk, a desire for sabotage of the main mission, or (worst of all) vengeance against the colony! Games could end with all players winning, some winning and some losing, or all players losing. Work toward the group’s goal, but don’t get walked all over by a loudmouth who’s looking out only for their own interests!

Dead of Winter is an experience that can be accomplished only through the medium of tabletop games, a story-centric game about surviving through a harsh winter in an apocalyptic world. The survivors are all dealing with their own psychological imperatives, but must still find a way to work together to fight off outside threats, resolve crises, find food and supplies, and keep the colony’s morale up.

Dead of Winter has players making frequent, difficult, heavily-thematic, wildly-varying decisions that often have them deciding between what’s best for the colony and what’s best for themselves. The rulebook also includes a fully co-operative variant in which all players work toward the group objective with no personal goals.

Game Mechanics:

  • Action Points
  • Area Movement
  • Bluffing
  • Cooperative
  • Deduction
  • Dice Rolling
  • Hand Management
  • Narrative Choice
  • Push Your Luck
  • Storytelling
  • Trading

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 5 Players
  • ~45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 3.01

Code 3

| T3d-1978

Code 3 is a cooperative, story-driven, 80s-themed crime fighting game. Can you save your city from badly-named mob bosses, fear-inducing serial killers, a rising crime rate, and a police Chief that isn’t always your friend? These officers may have 99 problems, but crime ain’t one.

Code 3’s cooperative scenarios challenge players to complete goals and make choices before revealing the next part of a branching story arc. Of course, mob bosses aren’t the only thing hindering our officers, as 911 calls spread like wildfire about your city. If too many 911 calls go unanswered… the game is lost.

Customize your crime fighting duo by selecting two officers (out of hundreds of officer combinations), each with their own unique deck, which are then shuffled together to create your “Beat Partners” deck.

You can tailor your Beat Partners deck to answer 911 calls quickly, to investigate for witnesses and evidence, to complete scenario objectives, or even move your beat cops into position to help your allies. There are hundreds of character combinations that you can experiment with, and finding the best two cops (or canines!) is key to your team’s victory! Choices are everywhere!

Most importantly, Code 3 gives players the opportunity to handle things by the book… or play just outside the rules. However, if players choose to step outside the Police Department’s Code of Conduct then the Internal Affairs Division starts investigating them. Players then shuffle “IA Heat” cards into their deck, and if two are ever drawn on the same turn, those players must immediately proceed to a contentious “Internal Affairs Interview.” Unfortunately, this prevents players from hitting the street and handling those 911 calls. Your teammates can help you during the IA Interview by vouching for you… but at what cost? Are they willing to put their reputation on the line for you? Are they willing to risk their own IA Interview?

Code-3 is a sand box of 80’s cop action. Do you love rolling dice? Do you love pushing your luck? Do you love unraveling the story? The meta-game? Helping the team? Being in charge? And… do you do it by the book? Find out now!

Game Mechanics:

  • Cooperative
  • Dice Rolling
  • Storytelling
  • Team Based

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 45 – 120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 3.00

The Big Book of Madness

| T3d-1978
The Big Book of Madness

The Big Book of Madness

So far your first year at the Elementary College has been slightly disappointing. They taught you to light a flickering flame at the tip of your finger, but other than that you’ve spent much more time reading books than learning powerful spells as future great wizards like you should.

So when you heard about the Big Book of Madness hidden in the great school library, you couldn’t help but to sneak in and peek in this intriguing tome in spite of your professors’ warnings. When you slowly lift the cover of the terrible book, dozens of dreadful creatures rush out, threatening to destroy the world itself! This was your mistake, and only you can fix it now! Learn from the library to fight back against the monsters, and try not to sink into insanity…

The Big Book of Madness is a challenging co-operative game in which the players are magic students who must act as a team to turn all the pages of the book, then shut it by defeating the terrible monsters they’ve just freed.

Each player has their own element deck that they build during the game and use for several purposes, such as learning or casting a spell, adding a new element to their deck, destroy or healing a curse. Spells allow you to support your playmates, improve your deck, draw cards, etc. — but the monsters from the book fight back. Each comes with terrible curses that are triggered every turn unless you dispel them in time. They will make you discard elements, add madness cards to your deck, or lose spells…

If you manage to turn six pages and defeat all of the monsters, you win the game!

Game Mechanics:

  • Cooperative
  • Deck Building
  • Hand Managment
  • Player Elimination

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 5 Players
  • 60 – 90 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.68

Aftermath 🟡

| T3d-1978

Aftermath is an Adventure Book Game in which players take on the role of small critters struggling to survive and thrive in a big, dangerous world. Humans have mysteriously vanished, and the remnants of civilization are quickly being reclaimed by nature and the animals who still remain.

In the game, you play as a misfit band of critters known by their colony as “providers”. There’s the guinea pig with anger issues, a hamster that talks fast and drives faster, a small mouse with keen eyes and a lot to prove, and a mysterious vole who’s borderline feral. These characters each have their own personalities, play-styles, and personal goals.

You’ll leave the safety of your colony and venture out into the abandoned world on one of 20+ story-driven missions and side missions. Scavenge the ruins of mankind in search of food and supplies for your colony, but beware — the world is filled with bandits and predators, and you must fight or flee to stay alive.

Return to your colony with resources and information that will help your friends and family survive. Grow your colony and keep it safe by building structures and improvements with the spoils of your adventures, but plan accordingly, for the colony will face hardship each time you leave it…

Game Mechanics:

  • Area Movement
  • Contracts
  • Cooperative
  • Dice Rolling
  • Hand Management
  • Narrative Choice
  • Pick-Up and Deliver
  • Player Elimination
  • Role Playing
  • Storytelling

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 60 – 120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.88

Aeon’s End 🟡

| T3d-1978

The survivors of a long-ago invasion have taken refuge in the forgotten underground city of Gravehold. There, the desperate remnants of society have learned that the energy of the very breaches the beings use to attack them can be repurposed through various gems, transforming the malign energies within into beneficial spells and weapons to aid their last line of defense: the breach mages.

Aeon’s End is a cooperative game that explores the deckbuilding genre with a number of innovative mechanisms, including a variable turn order system that simulates the chaos of an attack, and deck management rules that require careful planning with every discarded card. Players will struggle to defend Gravehold from The Nameless and their hordes using unique abilities, powerful spells, and, most importantly of all, their collective wits.

Game Mechanics:

  • Chit-Pull System
  • Cooperative
  • Deck Building
  • Hand Management
  • Open Drafting

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • ~60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.79

Zombie 15′

| T3d-1978
Zombie 15′

Zombie 15′

In an apocalyptic world in which everyone over the age of 18 has turned into a bloodthirsty, flesh-hungry zombie and most youngsters have been served as meat to quell their elders’ appetite, a small team of kids and teenagers tries to survive on their own. As part of that small group of survivors, you must unite to escape the relentless horde of undead. Run across town to find shelter or food, hold a strategic position, meet with new survivors, and discover the truth about this terrible and mysterious disease!

Zombie 15′ is a frantic, scenario-based survival game in which time is scarce and cooperation is key. The game features easy rules but real choices to be made as quickly as possible if you don’t want to get overwhelmed by zombies!

Zombie 15′ features a team of 15-year-old teenagers; a 15-minute soundtrack to give each game its tempo; a 15-scenario, progressive campaign; and much more than just 15 zombies…

Game Mechanics:

  • Action Points
  • Cooperative
  • Grid Movement

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • ~15 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.22

Zombicide: Night of the Living Dead

| T3d-1978
Zombicide: Night of the Living Dead

Zombicide: Night of the Living Dead

Night of the Living Dead: A Zombicide Game is a standalone game in the Zombicide franchise based on the George A. Romero movie of the same name.

In Night of the Living Dead: A Zombicide Game, players take on the role of the movie’s main characters, holed up in an isolated house while the dead come to life all around them. The original movie sees the few survivors hunkering for safety in the house as the ghouls (as they’re called in the film) pose a continuous threat from outside. It’s a tense psychological thriller full of gritty moods and dark themes, but the game lets the survivors take the fight to the hordes of the undead. The game uses standard Zombicide mechanics.

There are two variants included in the game: Romero – where the characters have the attributes from the original movie and Zombicide: where the movie characters have had their attributes amped up to meet the Zombicide world – but always have the chance of regressing to their original Romero character.

Game Mechanics:

  • Action Points
  • Campaign
  • Cooperative
  • Dice Rolling

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 6 Players
  • ~60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.43

Zombicide: Green Horde

| T3d-1978
Zombicide: Green Horde

Zombicide: Green Horde

This sequel to the Zombicide: Black Plague will bring players back into a world of deadly medieval fantasy, this time filled with infected orcs and goblins who will put survivors to the ultimate test. This green menace is not only stronger than their human counterparts, but they also tend to gather into massive hordes that ambush the survivors when they least expect it.

Set in the same medieval era as Black Plague, players will take on the role of Survivors looking to defeat the shuffling, undead menace by any means possible.

In Green Horde, up to six players can join the battle for survival. They’ll combine forces and work cooperatively to accomplish their goals, and against all odds, stay alive. Fans of the Zombicide series have become familiar with the Walkers, Runners, Fatties, and Abominations that shuffle around, looking for victims. But the creatures they will face are not just zombie humans, they’re zombie orcs! The Survivors will have to gear up with a wide variety of medieval equipment if they hope to outlast these fearsome foes. Zombie Orcs are stronger than the classic zombie and represent a stiffer challenge to even seasoned undead-hunting veterans.

A new challenge for the Survivors is the Horde. It represents a growing group of Orc zombies that are ready to enter the board in an unexpected location and ambush the Survivors. As zombie cards with the Horde symbol are drawn, one extra zombie miniature of the same type is set aside, collectively forming the Horde. They will be locked into place until an “Enter the Horde!” card is drawn, spawning the Horde on the board. Any Survivor caught on their own near this roving menace would best beat a hasty retreat.

With such menacing new foes, the Survivors are going to have their hands full dealing with the Green Horde. Luckily, they’ll have some new weapons and spells on their side to help combat the rotting masses. Things like the Lava Burst, the Norse Sword, and the Bone Kukri will all be helpful when hacking through a pack of the undead. Oh, and if they should gather together too tightly, the Survivors can always hit them with the catapult…(did we not mention the catapult?).

Zombicide: Green Horde includes ten new challenging quests, featuring some of the toughest scenarios a Survivor has ever had to face. With new terrain, like ledges and water holes, and the ever-present threat of the Green Horde making an appearance, the team will have to plan their routes carefully. Sometimes avoiding trouble is better than facing it head on! Zombicide: Green Horde is the next chapter in the ever-evolving world of Zombicide. There’s no rest for the Survivors if they hope to battle their way to a new hope and a new beginning.

Game Mechanics:

  • Campaign
  • Cooperative
  • Dice Rolling

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 6 Players
  • ~60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.49

Zombicide: Gear Up

| T3d-1978
Zombicide: Gear Up

Zombicide: Gear Up

Zombicide: Gear Up is a co-operative flip-and-write game set in the world of Zombicide.

To set up, each player takes a survivor card, which shows four weapons, along with damage, armor, and ammo tracks. Determine the level of play (easy to nightmare), then give each player the appropriate number of random regular and special zombie cards to place next to the “third street level” of their card. Shuffle the ten turn cards, then lay out nine in a row, placing seven spawn cards by the last seven of these cards.

On a turn, reveal the next turn card, which shows which color weapon each player activates. Each weapon has a “hit shape” (typically a polyomino), and you must fit the hit shape into the outline of a zombie to use it, with no overlaps to any damage you’ve dealt previously. Some zombies might then advance toward players, moving from their third street to their second one. If a zombie is on your “first street” and would advance, you take damage equal to the unmarked red stars on that card. If you mark off ammo or armor on a zombie, you circle those symbols on your survivor card; you can spend one ammo to mark off a single zombie space, and you can spend armor instead of taking damage.

After the third turn, you reveal the first spawn card, which will put more zombies in play, with players collectively deciding how to add those cards to their third streets. Whenever you mark off the final space on a zombie card, remove it from play, then upgrade one of your weapons, perhaps gaining the ability to use it multiple times or gain armor when you cover red stars. After nine turns, reshuffle the ten turn cards, then lay out nine of them, along with the level 1 and 2 boss cards under the final seven turn cards. Place the boss in front of one player. During a turn, if the boss is in front of you or if you have an activated long-range weapon, you can attack the boss instead of zombies close to you. If you defeat the boss before the ninth turn ends in the second round, you win; if not — or if any player is killed by damage — then you lose the game.

For the solitaire mode of Zombicide: Gear Up, take companion cards for three survivors not in play and place them next to your survivor card. When a turn card has a smiley face on it, you can activate the power of one of your companions, in addition to your own weapon. Each companion can be used only once in a round.

Game Mechanics:

  • Cooperative
  • Paper and Pencil

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 6 Players
  • ~30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.00

Zombicide: Black Plague

| T3d-1978
Zombicide: Black Plague

Zombicide: Black Plague

Zombicide: Black Plague takes the zombie apocalypse into a fantastical medieval setting! The arcane powers of the Necromancers have unleashed a zombie invasion in the age of swords and sorcery, and it’s up to your group of straggling survivors to not only stay alive during these dark times, but to take back the realm and punish those responsible for the apocalypse!

Zombicide: Black Plague allows you take control of paladins, dwarves, knights, and magicians, wielding powerful swords, crossbows, and even magic spells to defeat the zombie hordes and its Necromancer overlords. The classic Zombicide rules have been revamped for this new incarnation of the game, while still retaining the nonstop action, tense atmosphere and easy-to-learn rules that made Zombicide a classic. Equip your survivor with equipment like chainmail armor or shields to defend against the undead, pick up spell books to perform fantastic enchantments, or light up a pool of dragon bile to create an all-consuming inferno of dragon fire!

Take on the zombie invasion from the medieval streets to secret vaults that create quick passages through the citadel (and often hold special artifacts). Chase down the elusive Necromancers to keep them from multiplying the zombie masses. And tackle a whole new set of missions through which your group of survivors will become the heroes of the land (or the last victims of the zombie massacre).

Game Mechanics:

  • Campaign
  • Cooperative
  • Dice Rolling

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 6 Players
  • 60 – 180 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.50