Rule humanity as a family of vampires in co-op board game Masters of the Night

Get invited to join a very special family on the trip of an undead lifetime in the newly announced co-operative horror board game Masters of the Night.

Announced by Ares Games, publisher of strategy titles such as Age of Conan, and in partnership with Igrology, developer of Cult: Choose Your God Wisely, Masters of the Night revolves around the efforts of a vampiric family newly arrived in an unknown city and out for fresh blood.

A game for one to five players Masters of the Night has you assuming the role of a family member with the intent to sow discord amongst the public and eventually prepare for a very important ritual. Every family member must use their unique dark and blood abilities to feed on the local populace and, most importantly, mark each district with a dread sigil in order to trigger a Blood Moon ritual that will seal their dominance over the city.

Family members will be able to collect their own band of minions and loyal servants to help their cause, as well as protect them against the agents of the Inquisition, an organisation bent on the vampires’ complete and utter destruction. Inquisition agents will seek out the family’s various units and attempt to annihilate them forcing players to be careful when enacting their dark bidding throughout the city, particularly during the game’s daylight phase as this will leave vampires more vulnerable to agents' attacks.

Another factor that players will have to keep a close eye on is the Veil tracker which measures how aware citizens are of the vampires’ activities and locations. As the Inquisitions agents continue to hunt the vampires this tracker will slowly count-down to zero, with the final decrease causing the Veil that protects your family to be lifted and your sudden demise to be assured. Players must work to finish preparations and successfully initiate the Blood Moon ritual before they’re are discovered and eliminated.

Victory can be ensured if players can cooperate to lead agents away from crucial districts and maintain each other’s blood supply by hunting and sharing, alongside collecting the powerful relic cards hidden within the city’s Museum district. Each relic provides substantial advantages such as stat boosts and unique abilities, with the round’s current leading vampire deciding which family member receives what.

Masters of the Night is now live on Kickstarter until February 5th with a base copy costing you around £31. You can also have a browse of the game’s rules on Tabletopia right now.