Unboxing Thursdays: Atiwa & Cult of the Deep

Unboxing Thursdays we open, learn, and play games as we add them to our library.

This Thursday we are playing and learning Atiwa & Cult of the Deep.

Atiwa: 7.6

The Atiwa Range is a region of southeastern Ghana in Africa consisting of steep-sided hills with rather flat summits. A large portion of the range comprises an evergreen forest reserve, which is home to many endangered species. However, logging and hunting for bushmeat, as well as mining for gold and bauxite, are putting the reserve under a lot of pressure.

Meanwhile, in the nearby town of Kibi, the mayor is causing a stir by giving shelter to a large number of fruit bats in his own garden. This man has recognized the great value the animals have in deforested regions of our planet: Fruit bats sleep during the day and take off at sunset in search of food, looking for suitable fruit trees up to sixty miles away. They excrete the seeds of the consumed fruit, disseminating them across large areas as they fly home. A single colony of 150,000 fruit bats can reforest an area of up to two thousand acres a year.

Just like that mayor, in Atiwa, you know that fruit bats — once scorned and hunted as mere fruit thieves — are in fact incredibly useful animals, spreading seeds over large areas of the country. By doing so, they help to reforest fallow land and, in the medium term, improve harvests. This realization has led to a symbiotic co-operation between fruit bats and fruit farmers. The animals are kept as "pets" to increase the size of fruit farms more quickly. Tall trees are left as roosts, providing shelter for them rather than hunting them for their scant meat. However, if you have a lot of fruit bats, you need a lot of space...

In the game, you will develop a small community near the Atiwa Range, creating housing for new families and sharing your newly gained knowledge on the negative effects of mining and the importance that the fruit bats have for the environment. You must acquire new land, manage your animals and resources, and make your community prosper. The player who best balances the needs of their community and the environment wins.

Cult of the Deep: 7.2

You are a cultist, trying to establish your faction's rise to power. Fight over rituals and mythical monsters as you seek victory and control of the cult.

Roles- Each player is given a role that will remain hidden throughout the game, except the High Priest. This role will determine your win condition: High Priest - Root out corruption in the cult. Kill all Cabalists, the Heretic, and survive.

Cabalists - Seek to take control of the cult. Kill the High Priest.

Faithful - Protect the High Priest from threats to their power. Kill all Cabalists, the Heretic, and the High Priest must survive.

Heretic - Burn the whole cult to the ground. Kill the entire cult, yourself included if necessary.

Extra abilities- Each player will also be given a: Character card that determines their starting health, special ability, and a power symbol that provides an additional way to gain life from the dice.

A secret sigil card, which gives each cultist a once-per-game power, will also be given to each player.

Mechanics - A player will take a turn by first rolling their dice up to 3 times. They then decide where to commit their dice: to rituals to gain altar effects to temporarily empower themselves, finish a ritual in order to gain its powerful effects permanently, stab other cultists, gain life, or give life to other cultists.

If a player is killed, they are not eliminated. Instead, they become a wraith. They will roll dice on their turn still, just less. They cannot commit dice like normal but instead haunt the dice of enemies and allies by giving, replacing, or discarding dice.

Join us Thursday, March 2nd at 6:00 pm for our Unboxing Thursday Event. See ya soon!

*This event requires a 1 - Day Membership, credit will be applied back for qualifying purchases. Current Members are always free for this event.*