150 themed death cards, featuring: 25 Space; 25 Noir; 25 Pirate; 25 Adventure, and 50 Pestilence & Plague. This contains all three themed decks that were previously only available separately.
Machine of Death: The Game of Creative Assassination is a storytelling game set in a world in which a machine can predict how a person will die with 100% accuracy with only a small blood sample. However, the machine delights in being vague and twisted. A card reading "Old Age" could mean you die in your sleep at age 120, or it could mean you're run over tomorrow by an elderly driver who forgot to take his pills today. Players of the game take the role of assassins, who must use the various tools at their disposal -- from storytelling to a slew of items available from specialty Black Market shops -- to create a situation in which a target is killed in a way in line with their Death Prediction. The Machine of Death Game uses this basic idea, of assassins working in a world were cause of death is known to create various game modes.
The General Gameplay of most modes works like this:
A target is assigned, and given certain details (including Death Prediction, and possibly extra details like a favourite food or crippling phobia).
Players – assassins – are given Black Market Gift Cards. This is their inventory, what they have to use in order to accomplish their goal: killing the target.
Players use the Gift Cards to devise a plan.
The plan is greenlit, either by a Chief player, or via consensus, depending on game mode.
The timer starts and the plan is put into action. This is represented by dice rolling to beat a "difficulty score." An unlikely plan hinging on a single item may need to roll a 6 for that item, but a rock-solid intricate plan may need to only roll a 2 for all Black Market Gift Cards used.
The plan is revised, in case of failure of one or more dice rolls. The details of this portion vary greatly from mode to mode, but involve either replacing Black Market Items, creating a new viable plan with the existing items, or calling in "Specialists"
The target is either killed or escapes. Again, depending on mode, this is either the end of the round or the game.
Game Modes:
Head-to-Head Mode that's very similar to Cards Against Humanity or Apples to Apples. There's a judge ("the Chief"), who decides whose assassination plan is the best, and gives them a chance to try it out. Designed for 4+ playes.
Co-op Mode, where you players are a team of assassins, and have to come up with a plan together to kill targets that the group comes up with.
Co-op can be diced further: you can play individual rounds, or Mission Mode, where targets are predetermined and have different levels of difficulty. There's also the more strategic Chief Mode, where there's no timer, but the Chief can rate your plan's likelihood of success and let you take risks on whether it'll work or not.
Cutthroat Mode, where players can actually assassinate each other (should you want a more competitive version)
The Day Off Mode, which isn't about murder at all but rather draws upon your bevy of assassin skills to accomplish tasks like "opening a stuck jam jar" and "transplanting a tulip bulb."
Card Game, Humor · Dice Rolling, Storytelling
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