Undead (board game)

Last updated

Undead is a board game published by Steve Jackson Games in 1981.

Contents

Gameplay

Undead is a board game for 2–3 players [1] in which one player takes the role of the moderator, one is Dracula, and the other players takes the roles of Professor van Helsing and other vampire hunters. [2]

The hunters must prevent Dracula from spawning more vampires by tracking the movement of coffins at night and investigating them by day. [1]

Reception

In the November 1981 edition of The Space Gamer (Issue 45), David Dyche commented that "All in all, this game is an excellent value." [2]

In the December 1981–January 1982 edition of White Dwarf (Issue 28), Bob McWilliams gave it an above-average overall rating of 8 out of 10, saying, "On the whole this is quite an enjoyable game, probably best played with a number of people and also quite good value for its money." [3]

In the January 1990 edition of Games International (Issue 12), Kevin Jacklin concluded that "The atmosphere is good, and the play reasonably paced and exciting." [1]

A retrospective review in the December 2005 edition of Adventurer (Issue 5) recalled the game as "quite absorbing and habit-forming. A tactical skilful game, I would recommend it as a worthwhile game." [4]

Related Research Articles

<i>RuneQuest</i> Fantasy tabletop role-playing game

RuneQuest is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game originally designed by Steve Perrin, Ray Turney, Steve Henderson, and Warren James, and set in Greg Stafford's mythical world of Glorantha. It was first published in 1978 by The Chaosium. Beginning in 1984, publication passed between a number of companies, including Avalon Hill, Mongoose Publishing, and The Design Mechanism, before finally returning to Chaosium in 2016. RuneQuest is notable for its system, designed around percentile dice and an early implementation of skill rules, which became the basis for numerous other games. There have been several editions of the game.

Chill (role-playing game)

Chill is an investigative and modern horror role-playing game originally published by Pacesetter Ltd in 1984 that captures the feel of 20th-century horror films.

<i>Illuminati</i> (game) Card game

Illuminati is a card game made by Steve Jackson Games (SJG), inspired by the 1975 book, The Illuminatus! Trilogy, by Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea. The game has ominous secret societies competing with each other to control the world through various means, including legal, illegal, and even mystical. It was designed as a "tongue-in-cheek rather than serious" take on conspiracy theories. It contains groups named similarly to real world organizations, such as the Society for Creative Anachronism and the Symbionese Liberation Army. It can be played by two to eight players. Depending on the number of players, a game can take between one and six hours.

<i>Cosmic Encounter</i> Science fiction board game

Cosmic Encounter is a science fiction–themed strategy board game designed by "Future Pastimes" and originally published by Eon Games in 1977. In it, each player takes the role of a particular alien species, each with a unique power to bend or break one of the rules of the game, trying to establish control over the universe. The game was inducted into the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design Adventure Gaming Hall of Fame in 1997.

The cleric is one of the standard playable character class in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. Clerics are versatile figures, both capable in combat and skilled in the use of divine magic (thaumaturgy). Clerics are powerful healers due to the large number of healing and curative magics available to them. With divinely-granted abilities over life or death, they are also able to repel or control undead creatures. Clerics also have specific 'domains' which usually align with the character's alignment and the god that cleric serves. Whether the cleric repels or controls undead is dependent on the cleric's alignment. It is the only class to be included in every version of Dungeons & Dragons without a name change.

Vampire (<i>Dungeons & Dragons</i>) Fictional monster from Dungeons & Dragons

In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, a vampire is an undead creature. A humanoid or monstrous humanoid creature can become a vampire, and looks as it did in life, with pale skin, haunting red eyes, and a feral cast to its features. A new vampire is created when another vampire drains the life out of a living creature. Its depiction is related to those in the 1930s and 1940s Hollywood Dracula and monster movies. In writing vampires into the game, as with other creatures arising in folklore, the authors had to consider what elements arising in more recent popular culture should be incorporated into their description and characteristics.

<i>The Fury of Dracula</i>

The Fury of Dracula is a board game for 2-4 players designed by Stephen Hand and published by Games Workshop in 1987. Fantasy Flight Games released an updated version in 2006 as Fury of Dracula, and a third edition in 2015 by the same name. WizKids Games released a fourth edition in 2019.

Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective is a game originally published by Sleuth Publications in 1981. Multiple expansions and reprints of the game have since been released.

<i>The Count</i> (video game) 1979 video game

The Count is a text adventure written by Scott Adams and published by Adventure International in 1979. The player character has been sent to defeat the vampire Count Dracula by the local Transylvanian villagers, and must obtain and use items from around the vampire's castle in order to defeat him.

<i>GURPS Blood Types</i>

GURPS Blood Types (ISBN 1-55634-113-X) is a 128-page soft-bound book compiled by Lane Grate and published in 1995 by Steve Jackson Games as a supplement for the third edition GURPS role-playing game system. It contains biographies and gaming statistics for 23 vampiress, vampire-like beings, and guidelines on creating more for various campaign settings.

<i>Elric: Battle at the End of Time</i> Fantasy tabletop wargame

Elric: Battle at the End of Time is a board wargame published by Chaosium in 1982, an update of the 1977 game simply titled Elric. It is based on the Elric of Melniboné books by Michael Moorcock. There have been three english language editions, Elric (1977), Elric: Battle at the End of Time (1982), and Elric (1984), published by Avalon Hill.

<i>Traveller Book 5: High Guard</i> Science-fiction role-playing game supplement

Traveller Book 5: High Guard is a 1980 role-playing game supplement for Traveller published by Game Designers' Workshop.

<i>Asteroid</i> (board game) Science fiction board game

Asteroid is a 1980 Science fiction board game published by Game Designers' Workshop (GDW) as one of their 120 series. Players must destroy a mad scientist's computer-controlled asteroid before it crashes into Earth.

Quirks is a 1980 board game published by Eon Products.

<i>Action Aboard: Adventures on the King Richard</i> Science-fiction role-playing game supplement

Action Aboard: Adventures on the King Richard is a 1981 role-playing game adventure for Classic Traveller, written by Bill Paley, with a cover by William H. Keith, and published by FASA.

<i>Griffin Mountain</i> Tabletop fantasy role-playing game supplement

Griffin Mountain is a tabletop role-playing game supplement for RuneQuest, written by Rudy Kraft, Jennell Jaquays, and Greg Stafford, and published by Chaosium in 1981. Griffin Mountain is a wilderness campaign setting for the RuneQuest system, focussed on the land of Balazar and the Elder Wilds. It contains role-playing material to help gamemasters design adventures in the setting. It received positive reviews in game periodicals including Ares, White Dwarf, The Space Gamer, and Dragon.

<i>The Legend of the Sky Raiders</i> Science-fiction role-playing game supplement

The Legend of the Sky Raiders is a 1981 role-playing game adventure for Traveller published by FASA.

<i>Traveller Supplement 8: Library Data</i> (A-M) Science-fiction role-playing game supplement

Traveller Supplement 8: Library Data (A-M) is a 1981 tabletop role-playing game supplement written by Frank Chadwick, John Harshman, Marc W. Miller, and Loren K. Wiseman for Traveller published by Game Designers' Workshop. Library Data (A-M) covers most of the important library entries from the published Traveller adventures. Thirteen Traveller supplements were published. A single collected volume was published by Far Future Enterprises in 2000.

<i>Traveller Double Adventure 4: Marooned/Marooned Alone</i> Science-fiction role-playing game supplement

Traveller Double Adventure 4: Marooned/Marooned Alone is two tabletop role-playing game adventures, written by Loren K. Wiseman for Traveller, and published in tête-bêche format by Game Designers' Workshop in 1981. Marooned/Marooned Alone is an adventure in which the adventurers attempt to travel by foot across the wilds of the planet Pagliacci in the Solomani Rim, facing the dangers of harsh weather, dangerous country, and relentless pursuit.

As a well-known and iconic creature type, vampires are central to a variety of games, including board games, role-playing games, and video games.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Jacklin, Kevin W. (January 1990). "The Game's Afoot!". Games International . No. 12. p. 9.
  2. 1 2 Dyche, David (November 1981). "Capsule Reviews". The Space Gamer . Steve Jackson Games (45): 29.
  3. McWilliams, Bob (December 1981 – January 1982). "Open Box". White Dwarf . No. 28. Games Workshop. p. 15.
  4. Dillon, S (December 2005). "Shop Window". Adventurer . No. 5. p. 13.