Ghost Stories
Asmodee Editions LLC
SRP: $49.99
Components: Rules booklet, dice, pawns, cards, 9 village tiles, four player boards, tokens
ISBN: None
UPC: 5-425016-920336
# of Players: 1 - 4 players
Age rating: 12 and up
Playing Time: about 60 minutes
ICv2 Stars: 2.5 out of 5

Ghost Stories is about a group of Taoist priests co-operatively defending their village against an incursion of supernatural creatures.  The creatures are an advance force paving the way for Wu-Feng, the Lord of the Nine Hells who intends to reclaim his remains from their hiding place, destroying the village in the process.

Each player takes on the role of one priest; each of the four have special powers that will help them combat the supernatural evil attacking the village.  Likewise, each of the nine tiles making up the village displays a villager who has a special ability that can be used to aid the priests.  On each player’s turn they draw a monster card, placing it on the player board of the matching color.  If that player’s board has no open spots, the player loses one Chi on their turn from the terrible psychic damage the creatures do to his village.  If a player’s character runs out of Chi, that character dies, though it can be resurrected by the other players.

This is an intriguing game; I fell in love with the components and the premise immediately, but found the game play itself lacking considerably.  In the rule book, the designer, Antoine Bauza, suggests that this is a tough game to win; he’s correct.  Had Ghost Stories been a bit better balanced, I could easily see this warning being unnecessary.  Instead, the players are too reliably overrun by monsters.  In four games using the easiest variant, our experienced group did not win once, nor did we, despite adjustments to our strategy, come close to the bottom of the draw deck, where Wu-Feng is lurking.  Ghost Stories is a disappointment, though determined players can likely tweak the game with house rules to make for a more enjoyable experience.  Asmodee Editions has a great lineup and a strong history of quality games, but Ghost Stories is not likely to become one of its big hits.

- Bill Bodden