Zombies from Whitechapel
I totally missed all the game nights in October last year due to just a little thing, the birth of my second little girl. And while I obviously was glad to make the sacrifice, I still missed what is usually one of my favorite times to play games all year long! There are so many horror/spooky/Halloweeny-themed games out there, and I can think of no better excuse to get them to the table than one of the most themey holidays of the year!
Letters from Whitechapel [BGG]
Our Game of the Month! for October is based on a very real monster from history, Jack the Ripper. Some have questioned whether it's really appropriate to theme games around such a real and clearly evil person. For the most part, I don't really have a problem with it. In Letters from Whitechapel particularly, the actual game play is very abstract; it's not at all graphic and never attempts to glorify or condone the actual murderous acts themselves. And while I certainly feel the tension of the chase itself, it's not like you come away from a session playing Jack feeling like you've actually been murdering prostitutes or anything.
But while I totally don't have a problem with playing the game, I have to admit that as I've been writing about it over the last month or two, there have been a few moments when I've been a little bit uncomfortable. In a report about something like Fury of Dracula, I tend to get into "character" in describing the events of what happened. But with Letters from Whitechapel, I definitely feel the urge to downplay the theme. So maybe there's more to the issues that people take with it than I originally thought.
In getting to my actual play of it this past week, however, I managed to get in two games as Jack throughout the evening. In the first, Chris and I found ourselves in a position to play it 2-player while most everyone else was tied up in the marathon game of Elder Sign that proved how ridiculous it is to play games like that with the maximum player count (8 in that case).
(If you're interested in following the paths I lay out in the reports below, check out the board at BGG)
Chris deliberates on a move after the "double event" of the 3rd night...
I had heard pretty good things about Letters from Whitechapel with 2, so I was certainly happy to get in a play with just Chris. I chose location 122 as my home, which is right in the center of the board and very connected to lots of other locations (13 of them, to be exact). For my first crime scene (note that I wanted to say "murder", but once again, felt a little uncomfortable with that), I chose #27, which is up on the northwest area of the map. I threw in a little misdirection in heading north first and then a little east, but then doubled back to the main road and got home in a sudden flurry of just a couple of steps. I don't remember exactly, but I don't think that Chris found many clues later on in my trail, so I felt pretty good.
On the second night, I started right in the center of the board at location 84. I then took a bit of a strange approach in my path, and basically just walked around the block, going to locatiopns 67, 53, 68, 86 and 100, then touching back on locations 84 (since we always return to the scene of the crime, you know), 100, and then home at 122. Chris caught on more in this chase, but still didn't have a great idea about where my home might be.
So for the 3rd night (the night of the "Double Event"), I took my longest trek, with my first murder being up north at #3, but then the second being way to the east at #21. I took sort of a circuitous route hugging the eastern edge of the board at spots 23 and 77, then headed into the maze of streets going to 90, 89, 106, and 131, then finally coming out on the "main" road at 145. Chris was closing in on me by then, so instead of heading straight home, I wound down south a little through 159, 157, and 156, hopped through an alley to 125, and then back home to 122. Chris was getting close, but thankfully, he believed that I was somewhere just east of my actual home.
On the last night, Chris tried to stake out where he though my home was, but I started at location 65 and had only 3 short moves (including an alley from 82 to 120) before I got home.
The investigators were close... but not close enough to stop me from getting home and winning.
Time: 51 minutes
Score: Norton (Jack) - Win, Chris (Investigators) - Lose
Ratings: Norton 9, Chris 8.5
On BGG, a lot of people seem to think that Letters from Whitechapel (and pretty much every hidden-movement game) is best with 2. It certainly continues to be exciting and tense, and if this game was typical, it's a lot shorter than with more players. I had a lot of fun, but I actually prefer it with more players. There was a little extra worry related to the fact that Chris obviously didn't have to discuss strategy out loud with himself, so I never knew exactly what he was planning. But with multiple investigators, part of my tension as Jack is hearing them talk about locations where I am and the path that I've actually taken (or was planning to take) and trying to keep a poker face.
One big complaint I've seen about LfW with more players is the downtime for Jack. But so far anyway, I've always been totally engaged and excited even when investigators take a long time planning their moves. In fact, I've even had to get up and walk around sometimes to break the tension (and to hide my reaction) from time to time.
So while I like the game with 2 and would definitely play it that way again given the opportunity, I prefer it with more players just for the extra energy and excitement that having more people involved seems to breed.
Letters from Whitechapel [BGG]
Speaking of playing Letters from Whitechapel with more people, right after the Elder Sign game finished up, we had 8 people interested in playing, so we split up into 2 games of 4 each. I played Jack once again, facing off against veteran investigators Josh and Keith, along a rookie to the mean streets of Whitechapel, Adam.
Thinking that I would be a little sneaky and place my home in a more confusing maze of streets, I chose 104 (in the eastern/middle part of the map) as my home this time. My first kill was at 21, and then I moved quickly west to 20 and 18, but made a little loop hitting 19 and back to 20. From there, I jumped to 56 through an alley and headed down the main street to 86 and 100, trying to throw them off and make them think I was way on the western part of the board. From there, I made the really long connection to 155 down south, took another alley across to 156, and headed east. The rest of my moves were 157, 159, 129 and then home to 104. But the game really turned at this point because just before I got home, the investigators found a freaking clue at 157, and in correctly deciphering my route, they then knew that it was eactly 3 moves from my home. I would have loved to throw them off a little more, but they were closing in on more clues, and I only had 2 moves remaining for the night, so I had to go home and hope to throw them off later.
Adam, Keith, and Josh get intense about finding me!
On the second night, I did pretty well in laying down some misdirection and getting home quick, but then the game really took a turn for the worse during the 3rd night. I started my movement from location 65 and headed first east to 51 and 52, then up north a little to 33. I then doubled abck to 54 and 68, taking the main road to 56. I was only 2 moves from home at that point, planning to alley my way down to 71 and then walk home to 104. Josh, however, was right beside 71 and even checked it that turn, but they really didn't seem to be thinking I was in that area, so I figured he'd move on. But when I proceeded with my plan and went to 71, he moved only one spot over and rechecked it, discovering exactly where I was!
I guess I should have moved around some after that, but I was out of special moves and afraid that they would converge on me and
block me out. So I went ahead and walked home on the next move, showing them that I was exactly one move away from 71. But here were 5 or so possible spots, so I thought I'd be safe for the very short run I had planned for my last night. However, what I didn't remember was that they had nailed 157 as being 3 spots from my home. And in triangulating 157 to 71, they correctly identified that my home was at 104!I had a little hope to still outrun then on night 4, but good investigator placement made sure that they could arrest the only spots I could carriage to, so I basically just moved around to test their commitment to surrounding 104, and then let them arrest me to accept my first loss ever in Letters from Whitechapel.
Time: 132 minutes
Score: Adam*, Josh & Keith (Investigators) - Win; Norton (Jack) - Lose (on 4th night)
Ratings: Adam 9, Josh 8.5, Keith 9, Norton 9
Let me start by saying that, regardless of which side of the board I'm on, Letters from Whitechapel continues to deliver a fantastic experience (for me at least) every time it hits the table. But the first thing I want to mention here is the issue of balance. On BGG, you'll find people who vehemently believe that the game is drastically tilted either in favor of Jack or for the Investigators. In my experience so far, though, I definitely believe that Jack is at a slight disadvantage. In our games so far, I'm the only person to win as Jack, and most of my success was because it was the first time or two everyone else had played. And going back to my discussion above, part of the advantage is because you have 2-5 people working together to figure out and remember and deduce what Jack is up to. It's significant enough that this week we actually talked about maybe including some of the variants (letters/false clues) to see if it evens things out a little for the Jack player.
And in the vein of helping Jack out, I thought I might explore some of the tactics that seems to work pretty well in my still relatively limited experience playing him:
- Pick a home location that is well-connected - It may be tempting to choose an obscure spot tucked away in a corner somewhere, but it's always good to have both lots of points to approach and to give the investigators lots of choices that they have to check out. I've already got a spot picked out for the next time I play Jack, in fact.
- Use your special moves early! - You want distance from the crime scene in most instances, so don't be afraid to use the Carriages early on. It's nice to have them later when you need to blow past the investigators, but it's even nicer to be a spot or two from your home when they're just discovering their first clue or two.
- Double back! - It's okay to move over the same spot more than once, and you don't have to tell them how many times you visited a site if they find a clue there. I need to try it out more, but it may even be a cool misleading play to move over your home during your path and then double back to it.
- Listen to the Investigators! - We were just talking recently about how we wished we were as smart as the Jack that the Investigators were apparently chasing, because they were afraid we were doing all sorts of messed-up crap that we hadn't ever thought of. So don't be afraid to take a hint or two from their discussion and try it out.
I'm still feeling my way around the game, though, so don't take any of these suggestions as gospel or anything. And I'd certainly welcome any tips or discussion from other experienced Jacks out there about how they win games.
Zombie Dice [BGG]
We rolled dice, made zombie sounds, and went "Ka-bloom!" a lot. It was reasonably fun.
Time: 14 minutes
Score: Keith 13, Adam 5, Alton 3, Norton 3, Josh 2
Ratings: Keith 7, Adam 6, Alton 6, Norton 6, Josh 8
Other Games Played
Ascension
Time: 73 minutes
Score: Rory* 86, Alton 85, Chris 84, Stacy 81, Shawn 76, Sean 75
Ratings: All 10's
Dixit Odyssey
Time: 15 minutes
Score: Stacy* 14, Ken* 11, Rory* 10, Chris* 9, Keith* 8, Shawn* 6
Ratings: Stacy 7, Ken 7, Rory ?, Chris 8, Keith 7, Shawn 8
Elder Sign
Time: 135 minutes
Score: Investigators (Ken, Keith, Josh*, Chip*, Shan, Rory*, Stacy* & Adam) - Win; Elder Sign - Lose
Ratings: It's a good game, but don't play with freaking 8 people!
Letters from Whitechapel
Time: 95 minutes
Score: Chip, Rory* & Stacy* (Investigators) - Win; Ken (Jack) - Lose on night 1
Ratings: Chip 8, Rory ?, Stacy 8, Ken 8
Stone Age
Time: 100 minutes
Score: Sean* 72, Melissa* 69, Alton 65, Bill* 37
Ratings: Sean 7, Melissa 8, Alton 10, Bill 8
(Game ended early)
Time: 46 minutes
Score: Alton 4, Bill* 1, Melissa* 1, Sean* 1, Chris 0
Ratings: Alton 9, Bill 8, Melissa 8, Sean 7, Chris 8.5
* First play for that Person
Posted by Chris Norwood at 10/13/2011 12:18 PM 
Categories: Game of the month, Gaming Weblog, Hypermind BoardGamers
Tags: Letters from Whitechapel Fillers
Categories: Game of the month, Gaming Weblog, Hypermind BoardGamers
Tags: Letters from Whitechapel Fillers
Another piece of advice for Jack, especially when it's your first time playing him: don't gild the lily. I lost on night one because instead of going home when I had the chance, I tried a bit of false-trail-leaving, which meant that while the investigators didn't quite know where my hideout was, they were all standing inbetween me and it! I would have been better off letting them have a bit of an idea where I was - especially as I've seen how easy it is to get the investigators doubting themselves on night two by doing a 'far-off' kill and then making it home quickly via carriages and careful route selection.
Still a great game, and I want another chance to play Jack.
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Well, since I won't be there next week, you've got to take up the banner and make sure at least one game gets played! I don't want LfW GotM!-fading like so many others have recently.
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I don't think that's gonna be an issue. I'd be more than happy to Jack up this week, even if it's one-on-one again.
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I believe that Jack is at a slight disadvantage too. A bad night for Jack in the first three nights reduces his chances a lot more than a bad night for the investigators does. For example our game last week where the investigators only got one clue on the first night then on the second night picked up a clue that could be proven to be at most three spaces away from Jack's home. It is easier in a subsequent night for investigators to tighten the search space signifcantly than it is for Jack to successfully work his way through a narrowed search area.
Also more players gain experience each game as investigators than as Jack.
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I really hope that I get play Letters from Whitechapel soon.
Im recovering from a persistent flu bug and the next two weeks are slammed unfortunately.
(Any chance that someone will take pity upon me and play this in November when I have time to visit???)
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Thanks for the comment regarding theme and Letters from Whitechapel. My latest blog entry is on themes and appropriateness for kids. I see your point regarding Letters. While I don't see it turning my kids into seriel killers, still it is because of Jack the Ripper that I decided to put Fury of Dracula on my wishlist, instead, for me and my kids. And even at that, it will probably wait a couple years, but I would eventually like one game like these in the deduction genre.
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I love Fury as well, but the big advantage of Letters from Whitechapel is that it takes 1/3 to 1/2 as long! I haven't really thought much about what an "appropriate" audience for the game is, but my gut instinct is that it should probably be for teenagers and older (which is in line with the 13+ age recommendation on the box).
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Out of curiosity, are Jack's murders mentioned during the game? If so, how does it play into game mechanics and the goals of the game?
If not, is concern over Letters simply due to prior knowledge of the topic rather than what is communicated in game?
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Jack gets to kill one (or in one case two) of the "wretched" (read: prostitutes) each night. The game doesn't go into more depth than that, IIRC.
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Every night, a number of "wretched" (what they called the prostitutes in Whitechapel at that time) pawns are placed on the board, and the chase begins when Jack decided which one he wants to kill. So the fact that he's committing murders and leaves a crime scene is pretty clearly defined in the theme, even though the actual chase mechanics could be tied to anything. The goal of the game for Jack is to commit 5 murders over 4 nights and get back home without being caught, so again, the thematic goal is tied closely to the criminal acts.
And if anything is unnecessarily over-the-top for the theme, it's the almost ridiculous titles given to the abusive number of over-detailed phases for each night:
First Part: HELL
1. Preparing the Scene
2. The Targets are Identified
3. The Victims are Chosen
4. Blood on the Streets
5. Suspense Grows
6. Ready to Kill
7. A Corpse on the Sidewalk
8. Alarm Whistles
Second Part: HUNTING
1. Escape in the Night
2. Hunting the Monster
3. Clues and Suspicion
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Letters sounds awesome....creepy...but awesome!
I hope that I can play it soon.
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