Thief in the Keep - Setup and How to Play video

Thief in the Keep - Sell Sheet

Thief in the Keep

(Check HERE to view the current rules document)

For the better part of a year now my wife Christy and I have been slowly working on a new hidden movement game we are calling Thief in the Keep. In Thief in the Keep, one player takes on the role of a thief who has been hired to steal artifacts from a wizard’s Keep while up to three other players play as the occupants of the Keep working together to catch the thief.

Early Concept of the Game Board

Our main inspiration for the game is the classic hidden movement title Letters From Whitechapel, where one player takes on the role of Jake the Ripper and up to five other players are police officers attempting to track Jack down and arrest him. We really enjoyed the deduction puzzle that the cat-and-mouse style gameplay created as-well-as the tension at the table and wanted to recreate that in our own game.

As the Thief, you are trying to not be seen while stealing ("collecting" in the rules document) three specific Artifacts randomly drawn at the beginning of the game. Moving behind furniture to hide, using smoke bombs if a line of sight is established, and even using the Artifacts you have stolen keep you out of arms reach of those hunting you allowing you to escape with your prizes.

Conversely, the three Hunters all have unique abilities that, when used in tandem, assist in closing a net around the Thief until one of them can tackle the Thief, denying them the win.

Three Examples of Artifact Cards

Early on the Thief player may feel out-numbered and underpowered; but, as the game progresses they have opportunities to collect more Artifacts (up to 5), each with a unique one-time use power. With the Hunters drawing ever closer, these Artifact powers allow the Thief to conjure new ways to confound their pursuers and make their escape.


If you are intrigued and would like to know more I encourage you to click the link at the top of this post and read through the current rules document. We currently have an in-house print-and-play ready that uses A3 (11"x17") paper for the game board and player screen, and A4 for the cards and thief movement tracker. If you are interested in playtesting please contact me with "Thief Playtesting" in the subject line. The current print-and-play only includes the cards, player screen, thief movement tracker sheets, and the game board. No components are included. If this is an issue, and you still would like to test Thief in the Keep, let me know and I will create paper cutouts that can be used.

Western Legends Variant

About two months ago I purchased a copy of Western Legends, a sandbox board game set in the American (Old) West that has players take on the roles of (in)famous persons from the time of cowboys, cattle drives, train robberies, and showdowns.  My partner and I enjoyed traversing the board seeking out a living and there is a lot of game in the base box but I did feel there was still some things lacking. So I decided to make a few rules variants, player tracks, and items for our copy. Feel free to make use of any images or rules variants mentioned here.

I feel it is important to note that I did not have either of the two small expansions, Fist Full of Extras and The Good, The Bad, and The Handsome, at the time that I created these variants.

RULE VARIANTS

During play we found ourselves wanting to do certain actions that didn't exist in the game or felt that slight adjustments to existing rules would enhance game play.

Duel

If you instigate a duel and lose, you lose 1 Legendary Point.

Fight

Winning a fight outside your turn earns you 1 Legendary Point.

Rail Station

New Action - Heist

Follow the same rules as a Bank Heist.

Win: gain 2 Wanted Points, $40, and 1 Cattle Token (from the Rail Station if you can, otherwise from the ranch of your choice).

Cattle Tokens

Cattle tokens are not returned to their respective ranches once wrangled or rustled. Instead, rustled cattle tokens stay at the Rail Station and wrangled cattle are discarded. If there are discarded cattle tokens matching the color of the ranch you are currently on, add one color matching cattle token back to that ranch.

Doctor's Office

Heal: Pay $10 per wound healed.

Mine

Place 12 gold nuggets on each mine. Once a mine is depleted no more gold can be mined from it.

PLAYER TRACK VARIANTS

Corrupt Justice

The "Corrupt Justice" track was inspired by the desire to create a more narrative character class within the game. The idea of a lawman who becomes jaded, turns to corruption, and eventually becomes a pariah because of it was very exciting and the basis for this track.

Adding the ability for Marshall players to rob other players without consequence (but without advancing on the track) needed to be balanced out with lowering the income from the standard Marshall track. Thusly, I removed income from spaces '4' and '7' (adding new abilities in those spaces instead) and lowering the income earned from spaces '5' and '8'.

Also, because the player may get arrested starting at space '7', the LP gained at the end of the game for being on the last tier and instead converted it to the Wanted track's LP at the end of your turn.


Gang Boss

The "Gang Boss" variant came about with the desire to do more with the bandits in the game (alternatively, I call this the "Bandit King" variant). Allowing players to move bandits around the board to create choke points or just put them out of reach from another (Marshall) player creates a more dynamic play space.
Wanted players usually see themselves reset on the track several times throughout the game (if you get arrested you lose all progress on the track and must start over) and can move up the track very quickly. Thusly, having only two spaces in which the Wanted player can move a bandit still created enough opportunities during the game to move a bandit 3 or 4 times.

Giving the track a narrative nod, on achieving level 7 on the track players become the "Gang Boss". This allows players to move through spaces with bandits in them but still be challenged for seniority in the player stops on the bandit's location. As such, if the player happens to lose the fight they lose their title of "Gang Boss" and are moved down the track.

ITEM CARDS

Spurs

The "Spurs" item card allows players to gain 1 additional space of movement per movement action at the cost of discarding a single card from their hand.

This extra movement allows players to keep other players that may rob or arrest them at a distance or catch up to players they may want to rob or arrest. This is balanced by the upfront costs of the card ($10 and taking up one of the few item slots a player has) and the use cost of discarding a card from their hand that could otherwise have been used for poker, combat, or the action listed on the card.


Lasso

The "Lasso" item card makes cattle wrangling/rustling in the game more desirable by creating player agency surrounding the cattle tokens by allowing players to have a choice in which cattle token out of those drawn they will take.

Goblinade Print and Play

I've put together a Print and Play of a game I co-designed a few years ago along with Evan Yovaisis and Gary Laib (both of whom also worked on the art and graphics). The PDF file contains 14 pages of high resolution and full-color cards and rulebook (on one page).

To read more about Goblinade click this LINK or go to the Games section.
Click HERE to be taken to the Print and Play PDF.

Blog Redesign

The redesign of this blog and website are underway. A new section for current projects has been added (see Projects tab) and old blog posts have been removed. As time permits, I will work on creating individual pages for each project and updating this blog with images and write-ups.