Letters from Whitechapel: Stop! Ripper time!
You stalk a serial killer around Whitechapel, creepy…
Get ready to enter the poor and dreary Whitechapel district in London 1888 – the scene of the mysterious Jack the Ripper murders – with its crowded and smelly alleys, hawkers, shouting merchants, dirty children covered in rags who run through the crowd and beg for money, and prostitutes – called “the wretched” – on every street corner.
Jack the Ripper
So one of you is Jack the Ripper who will secretly choose one of the pre-determined spaces to kill a Prostitute.
Jack writes his location behind a screen, one of 199 numbered squares and each turn moves one space. He can also use a limited number of carriages to move 2 spaces or an alleyway to cross a section of town.
Jack’s goal is to get back to his hideout after killing one of the Prostitutes. His hideout is one of the white numbers decided before the game starts.
Letters from Whitechapel is played over 4 rounds, with Jack needing to kill 2 Prostitutes in round 3.
If Jack isn’t caught after 4 rounds, he wins.
Coppers
The rest of you (Up to 5) play London’s finest, tracking down the killer.
Not preventing murder, just following clues. 🙂
So the Police move 2 black squares per turn and can look for clues on any adjacent white number. So you would ask Jack if he’s been there at some point or not. Eventually, you’ll get some clues and start to plot his trajectory from the murder to his home.
The other thing you can do is make an arrest. If you think you know where Jack is RIGHT NOW you can name the number and attempt an arrest. If he isn’t there, the game continues. But if he is, the Police win.
The game depends on the following players not being in the game…
- Rule Benders – Jack HAS to be honest and the Police players can’t try and trick Jack into giving away info.
- Alpha Gamers – As with any co-op element in a game, the Police need to cooperate, not follow a single lead for the game to be fun for everyone.
- Impatient Players – If Jack accidentally gives away information the game loses a lot so he has to be patient and make sure he says the right thing at all times.
Letters from Whitechapel is not a bad game, not thrilling or anything just, OK…
BTW, I was the arresting officer 😀
Letters from Whitechapel Update 22/05/2018
This is pretty decent as far as hidden role games go. Fury of Dracula has too much going on for me, Escape from the Aliens in Outer Space is good but requires a lot of accuracy from the players.
Specter Ops has a good balance between fun gameplay and complexity, it sits just right for me.
Jesta ThaRogue