Murder of Crows is a somewhat cooperative, somewhat competitive murder mystery card game combined with tag.
At the start of a round, players gather in a circle and draw one card each, assigning them a role for the round. The player who draws the Crow card has to "kill" the other players.
Each player separates from the other players and goes into hiding, somewhat like hide and seek. However, some players will reveal themselves at times. For example, a character with the Shield needs to pass it on, and so, they will search for others to pass it to. The Hunter wants to be able to observe others in order to find out who potentially could be the Crow. The Crow needs to hunt (seek) the others. Typically the Seer and the Villagers try to hide but also be receptive to finding the Shield. And so, each turn is an interplay between hiding, finding out more information, and finding ways to end the round in their favor.
The Crow "kills" another player by simply whispering into their ear / near them, "You're dead." Alternatively, they can say, "You're dead; you're my Zombie" to the one chosen Zombie character per round. The Hunter "kills" another player by loudly saying, "Bam! You're dead!" then revealing that they are the Hunter. No other player has the capacity to kill, aside from if someone reveals to the the Crow when they are tagged "dead" that they have the Shield.
The other players have to identify the Crow and defend themselves with a "Shield." Some of the other players also have special abilities to partner with other players, defend themselves, or kill other players as well. The Shield must be passed from player to player every minute and is only way other players can protect themselves from being murdered.
Rounds can last from roughly 3 - 20 minutes. When a round is over, the cards are reshuffled, the Shield is reset, and a new round begins with the dealing of the cards. Participants can play as many rounds as they wish. No formal score keeping is necessary. The game is adaptable and comes with extra cards for the option of building out custom rules.
Card Game, Horror · Acting, Action / Event, Deduction, Player Elimination, Role Playing, Semi-Cooperative Game
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