Golden Sky Stories

Originally released in Japan as Yuuyake Koyake, Golden Sky Stories is a heartwarming, non-violent role-playing game that’s great fun for all ages. It takes place in a small town in rural Japan, and players take on the role of henge (pronounced hen-gay, like a chicken that’s happy), animals with just a little magical power, including the ability to temporarily take human form. They do not fight great battles or unearth valuable treasures though; Golden Sky Stories adventures are all about helping others and becoming friends.

# of Players: 3 – 5

Playing Time: 1-2 Hours

Difficulty to learn: Easy to moderate depending on experience

Library Catalog Record: (Forthcoming)

Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game: starter set

The best way to start playing the 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons(R) Fantasy Roleplaying Game – in the classic D&D Red Box. Designed for 1-5 players, this boxed game contains everything needed to start playing the Dungeons & Dragons Fantasy Roleplaying Game, including rules for creating heroes, advice for playing the Dungeon Master, a solo play adventure, and group-play adventure content. Learning the game has never been so easy! Several different character races (dwarf, elf, halfling, and human) and classes (cleric, fighter, rogue, and wizard) are presented, along with powers for each race and class. As the players’ heroes advance in level, they acquire new abilities, and the adventures become more challenging.

# of Players: 1 – 5

Playing Time: 45 minutes

Difficulty to learn: Moderate to Hard

Library Catalog Record: http://library.lib.asu.edu/record=b6284400~S2

Mansions of Madness

Horrific monsters and spectral presences lurk in manors, crypts, schools, monasteries, and derelict buildings near Arkham, Massachusetts. Some spin dark conspiracies while others wait for hapless victims to devour or drive insane. It’s up to a handful of brave investigators to explore these cursed places and uncover the truth about the living nightmares within.

Mansions of Madness is a macabre game of horror, insanity, and mystery for two to five players. Each game takes place within a pre-designed story that provides players with a unique map and several combinations of plot threads. These threads affect the monsters that investigators may encounter, the clues they need to find, and which climactic story ending they will ultimately experience. One player takes on the role of the keeper, controlling the monsters and other malicious powers within the story. The other players take on the roles of investigators, searching for answers while struggling to survive with their minds intact.

Do you dare enter the Mansions of Madness?

# of Players: 2 – 5

Playing Time: 120 minutes

Difficulty to learn: Moderate

Library Catalog Record: http://library.lib.asu.edu/record=b6350006~S2

Gloom

The world of Gloom is a sad and benighted place. The sky is gray, the tea is cold, and a new tragedy lies around every corner. Debt, disease, heartache, and packs of rabid flesh-eating mice—just when it seems like things can’t get any worse, they do. But some say that one’s reward in the afterlife is based on the misery endured in life. If so, there may yet be hope—if not in this world, then in the peace that lies beyond.

In the Gloom card game, you assume control of the fate of an eccentric family of misfits and misanthropes. The goal of the game is sad, but simple: you want your characters to suffer the greatest tragedies possible before passing on to the well-deserved respite of death. You’ll play horrible mishaps like Pursued by Poodles or Mocked by Midgets on your own characters to lower their Self-Worth scores, while trying to cheer your opponents’ characters with marriages and other happy occasions that pile on positive points. The player with the lowest total Family Value wins.

# of Players: 2 – 4

Playing Time: 60 minutes

Difficulty to learn: Easy

Library Catalog Record: http://library.lib.asu.edu/record=b6284416~S2