And Then Monsters

You and your crew are on a mission manning an experimental ship to prove that alternate realities exist. The ship malfunctions and crashes on an unknown planet in an unknown galaxy in an unknown reality full of ferocious monsters. Each player takes control of a hero trying to defend against an endless swarm of monsters, all while repairing the downed ship. Players each roll 5 dice at the start of every round that can be spent to perform actions such as moving, searching, gaining XP, and attacking. They also have a unique starting ability that changes gameplay for that player from the very beginning.

The face of a die only affects searching and attacking, though there are many ways to manipulate the dice keeping randomness at a minimum. There are also several free actions that do not require spending dice, giving players a large variety of choice and wildly-varying turns.

Along with the 6 unique heroes to choose from, each hero also has their own 6-card deck of Level Up cards. Only 3 of these cards are used each game, providing a unique experience even when playing as the same hero multiple times.

Monsters spawn onto the board and are trying to get to the ship to destroy it once and for all. Monsters are on cards which have die faces on them acting as their HP. To attack these creatures, players spend the matching dice to damage or defeat the monster. At the beginning of the game, the monsters only have 2 HP. However, as the game progresses the monsters get increasingly difficult with more HP for each beast. Players may want to gain XP and level up their heroes to combat these stronger baddies.

The monsters are attracted to the smell of leaking oil coming from the ship. To prevent more monsters from spawning, players will want to contribute scrap metal to the middle of the board each round to plug the leak. Although, while searching for more metal, heroes may uncover a boss monster who is the fiercest of them all.

The ship has 4 damaged rooms that must be repaired. Players will find ship parts for each room by searching different locations. Once a ship part is brought back to the ship, players choose what section of the matching room they wish to repair, providing a one-time ability and giving more freedom of choice. Each room also an alternative side of one-time abilities which can be chosen or selected at random during setup, offering more replayability.

Once the heroes have repaired the ship, cleared the area of monsters, and everyone is on board, they can take-off and return home. Dice manipulation, as well as most actions not requiring specific dice, leaves players with the difficult decision of whether to attack, search, repair, gain XP, etc. rather than focusing on getting the best roll. The many different strategies to victory, along with the unique heroes and setup, provides a one-of-a-kind experience with each play.

It was all going so well… and then monsters showed up.

-description from designer