Investigate crimes to prove your (almost) innocence
Your squad embarked on a heroic quest to find Emperor Oshra`s lost crown, but the last night at the tavern didn`t go as planned - you and your squad sipped on spiced tea... and the next morning became prime suspects in a series of terrible crimes! Will you be able to find the real villains, prove your (almost) innocence and continue your heroic journey?
This is a cooperative deduction game: ask the right questions, take notes, use investigation tokens, and create combinations from puzzle cards in different scenarios to solve crimes and ultimately prove your innocence!
Equal difficulties
Almost Innocents has a total of three difficulty levels. Depending on the chosen difficulty level, you can discuss certain game nuances at the table:
- Easy level. You can tell other players which type of clues you have doubts about and which ones you have already solved.
- Normal level. You can only report whether you have completed solving your case (and are ready to end the game) or not.
- Expert level. You are not allowed to talk about your puzzle progress at all.
Characters
During the course of the campaign, players have characters with skills that provide additional strategic opportunities. Each player can choose any character, and therefore the corresponding skill that he will use in the game:
- Dean the Sage. Once per game, Dean can choose one player (including himself). This player takes 3 unused cards from the puzzle card piles in any combination. Then the player chooses 1 of the 3 puzzle cards and shows it to the other players.
- Thior the Experienced. Thior starts the game with 2 special investigation tokens. Once per game, Tior can choose any player to place one of these tokens on the field - in the middle of one of the 2x2 squares. A white token indicates that there is at least 1 clue in that square. A black token indicates that there are no hints in that square.
- Ed, the Explorer. Once per game, Ed can ask one of two alternate questions instead of a normal turn: "Is my villain an animal" or "Is my evidence a liquid?"
- Okra the Marksman. Once per game, Okra may instead of his turn ask any question about a row/column that has already been asked about. Okra uses its special investigation token instead of a normal investigation token.
- Valia, the Queen`s Challenger. Once per game, Valia can use her skill to move the queen token anywhere and ask a special question: "How many cues is the queen currently touching?"
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Game board
- Cooking. Receiving puzzle cards. At the beginning of the game, each player takes 1 card from each deck of puzzle cards. Together, these puzzle cards form a secret combination that solves the case for the player on the left.
- Player Turn. The active player asks 1 of 2 possible questions and places an investigation token next to the corresponding row or column: "How many clues in this row/column relate to my case?" or "Does this row/column contain my victim/villain/evidence/location/crime?". All players take turns answering the question posed by the active player.
- Taking notes. Throughout the investigation, each player makes marks in the table on their notepad. At the beginning of the game, the player marks the cells with clues for the player on the left with the letter "P" and shades the cells without clues. Next, each player during the game records the answers received from the player on the right. Players can take any additional notes and view on-screen help text to determine their clues.
- Case Solving. After the players have used all available investigation tokens in the scenario, each player must try to solve their case (a combination of clues). Players can guess their clues early, but they must all reveal them at the same time. After players try to guess their combinations, they take turns announcing their likely clues, type by type.
- Game over. If players get all the clues right, they win and can move on to the next scenario.
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