Crossroads is a game series from Plaid Hat Games that tests a group of survivors' ability to work together and stay alive while facing crises and challenges from both outside and inside. Dead of Winter: A Crossroads Game; the first title in this series; puts 2-5 players in a small; weakened colony of survivors in a world in which most of humanity is either dead or diseased; flesh-craving monsters. Each player leads a faction of survivors; with dozens of different characters in the game.
Dead of Winter is a meta-cooperative psychological survival game. This means players are working together toward one common victory condition; but for each individual player to achieve victory; they must also complete their personal secret objective; which could relate to a psychological tick that's fairly harmless to most others in the colony; a dangerous obsession that could put the main objective at risk; a desire for sabotage of the main mission; or (worst of all) vengeance against the colony! Games could end with all players winning; some winning and some losing; or all players losing. Work toward the group's goal; but don't get walked all over by a loudmouth who's looking out only for their own interests!
Dead of Winter is an experience that can be accomplished only through the medium of tabletop games; a story-centric game about surviving through a harsh winter in an apocalyptic world. The survivors are all dealing with their own psychological imperatives; but must still find a way to work together to fight off outside threats; resolve crises; find food and supplies; and keep the colony's morale up.
Dead of Winter has players making frequent; difficult; heavily-thematic; wildly-varying decisions that often have them deciding between what's best for the colony and what's best for themselves. The rulebook also includes a fully co-operative variant in which all players work toward the group objective with no personal goals.
- Descriptions from Publisher
AGES 13+
2-5 PLAYERS
PLAYTIMES 60-120 minutes
