• Polish publisher Kuźnia Gier has dropped info on two titles that it expects to release at Spiel 2013 in October, the first title being Top-A-Top Kids, a kid-friendly version of Agnieszka Migdalska's quick reaction party game Top-A-Top.
The second title is Veto: The Boardgame from the design team of Krzysztof Schechtel, Michał Stachyra and Maciej Zasowski. This game, which is set in the 17th century, is based on the second edition of the Veto CCG from the same publisher, and through a combination of politics, voting and resource management, players are trying to place their candidate on the Polish throne.
• Italian publisher Stratelibri has updated its website, and among other info on the site the publisher now lists the following release dates for upcoming titles: Dungeon Venture (April 30, 2013), Letters from Whitechapel (May 15, 2013), The Mystery of the Templars (May 30, 2013), Kragmortha (July 1, 2013) and Blue Max (Q3 2013).
• Ted Alspach of Bézier Games is handing over the Ultimate Werewolf reins to another designer – at least for one game. Ultimate Werewolf: Inquisition is a standalone game from Legend Dan Hoffman – yes, that's how he's credited – that places players in familiar settings, but one step removed from what you're used to. Here's a game summary:
You no sooner get started on this project when you discover that there's a problem – Werewolves have also infiltrated your team of inquisitors! Now you're in a serious pickle: You need to save the village while thwarting the werewolves whom are working alongside you...
Ultimate Werewolf: Inquisition is a standalone game of deduction, secrets and betrayal with no elimination. Part of the fun is figuring out who the werewolves are on your team, but even then, you've still got to outsmart them!
More specifically, the humans need to rid the town of werewolves in order to win, while the werewolf players need to eliminate human villagers so that the werewolves can overrun the town. To do this, each round players either use the power of a villager's hut or take two votes from the supply. Each player then places one vote on a resident, and the resident with the most votes against him is lynched, with him and his hut being taken out of play. The werewolf players then secretly choose to kill a resident – but only one of those chosen by the Grand Inquisitor, a role that passes hands each round. Who will live? Who will die? It's in your hands...
What's different in Ultimate Werewolf: Inquisition is that having your werewolf nature revealed during gameplay doesn't entail immediate death in the next lynching as the players are focusing their actions on the village residents and not at one another. Sure, you'll probably find yourself being ostracized by everyone (including your fellow werewolves) while taking actions and voting, but them's the breaks.
The special powers of the village huts allow players to, among other things, peek at residents, protect them from lynching, add additional votes, learn the identity of other players, and move the Grand Inquisitor token. The rules include a suggestion for which residents/huts to use in initial games. Says Alspach, "It's been in development for the past two years to get the balance just right with a large variance of players, from three to twelve. If you love Werewolf, but have a smaller group, this is definitely worth checking out."
Ultimate Werewolf: Inquisition will debut at the 2013 Origins Game Fair on June 12.