New Game Round-up: Prevent Psychic Espionage, Collect Curios, and Sketch Weirdos

New Game Round-up: Prevent Psychic Espionage, Collect Curios, and Sketch Weirdos
Board Game Publisher: Off the Page Games
Off the Page Games is a new game publisher founded by designer Jay Cormier that's "dedicated to making games based off of creator-owned comic books". Interesting guideline!

For its first release, which will be Kickstarted in March 2020, Off the Page Games will release Mind MGMT: The Psychic Espionage "Game.", a one vs. all game co-designed by Cormier and frequent design partner Sen-Foong Lim. Here's an overview of this 2-5 player game:
Quote:
Working from the shadows, Mind MGMT once used its psychically-powered agents to put a stop to global crises. However, absolute power corrupts absolutely, and Mind MGMT is now rotting from the inside. To tighten its iron grip on the world stage, Mind MGMT deploys covert operatives around the world to recruit other psychically-attuned individuals to their side. How can this enigmatic organization, hell bent on global domination, be defeated?

Thankfully, a few renegade agents have figured out that Mind MGMT has been compromised and have defected, turning their backs on the syndicate. They now use their own psychic abilities to prevent Mind MGMT from achieving its nefarious goals.

In Mind MGMT: The Psychic Espionage "Game.", one player controls Mind MGMT and must scour the city for new recruits. They move around on a secret board, trying to visit locations that match one of their three randomly drawn recruitment cards. They can also use their four Immortals to protect locations from being exposed.

Board Game: Mind MGMT: The Psychic Espionage “Game.”

All other players control the rogue agents who must try to stop Mind MGMT before it's too late! When they move onto a block, they can ask the Mind MGMT player whether they have ever been on a block that contains one of the features shown on the block where the rogue agent is currently located. If the Mind MGMT player has been on one, they place a step token on that block on the board. If a rogue agent lands on a block with a step token, they can use their action to reveal it, and the Mind MGMT player then indicates during which of their turns they were on that block. Rogue agents can use "mental notes" to track all the information they're given. Even when Mind MGMT answers no to a question, that means that they've never been on a block with that feature (and there are always five blocks with each feature).

Mind MGMT wins by either collecting thirteen recruits or surviving fifteen turns. The rogue agents can win only be capturing Mind MGMT, which they do when they believe they're on the same block as Mind MGMT.
The game features something the designers call the "SHIFT System", described by Lim as follows: "At the end of each game, whichever side loses, they get to open a package which will give them more components, cards, and rules to give them a better chance the next time they play." Each SHIFT System package includes a mini-comic story by Matt Kindt, writer and artist of the MIND MGMT comic series from Dark Horse Comics.

Board Game Publisher: Bread and Circuses
MonsDRAWsity is a design for 3-8 players coming from Eric Slauson and co-publishers Bread & Circuses and Deep Water Games. Here's a short overview that is still pretty much a complete overview:
Quote:
Imagine seeing a real alien stomping through your backyard. Now imagine describing what it looked like to a police sketch artist. That is exactly what you are expected to do while playing the frantic drawing party game MonsDRAWsity.

One player, known as "the Witness", has twenty seconds to examine a picture of a bizarre-looking creature, then they must describe it to the rest of the players, known as "Sketch Artists". At the end of the round, the witness awards points to the artist who was able to most closely match the monster seen by the witness!
From gallery of W Eric Martin
Pic from Deep Water Games' Nolan Nasser

Board Game: In the Hall of the Mountain King
Board Game: Lift Off! Get me off this Planet!
Burnt Island Games has signed a licensing deal with IELLO and Gen-X Games to release In the Hall of the Mountain King in, respectively, French- and Spanish-language editions in 2020. These editions will include both the Cursed Mountain and Champions mini-expansions.

Eduardo Baraf at Pencil First Games is Kickstarting a new deluxe edition of his first release — Lift Off! Get me off this Planet! — with this edition including a new solo variant, components for up to six players, and other upgrades (KS link), but aside from that what I really want to highlight from Pencil First is The Whatnot Cabinet, a co-design by Baraf, Steve Finn, and Keith Matejka, with art by Kim Robinson and Beth Sobel. Here's a summary of this 1-4 player game:
Quote:
Everyone enjoys discovering small, precious objects along beaches, trails, and the wilderness, but a special few have a knack for assembling those found objects into a curio collection. Leave your house, uncover intriguing objects, assemble them in your whatnot cabinet, and create a wonderful collection of curiosities.
Charming!

From gallery of ebaraf

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