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The Slow Knife, a revenge conspiracy RPG

Created by Jack Harrison ~ Mousehole Press

Play the villains in a revenge drama and construct the conspiracy that will be their undoing. A card-based story game for 2-4 players.

Latest Updates from Our Project:

Portraits, Polygon, Actual Play
about 2 years ago – Sat, Mar 19, 2022 at 12:03:10 PM

Well, it's been a wild few days here at Mousehole HQ! 

  • On Tuesday I had a really good chat with Tasha Robinson from Polygon about the game, and she wrote the interview up in an article. We talked pretty in-depth about the ideas that influenced the game and the design challenges that this somewhat 'non traditional' RPG presented. I had a fun time, and wow it's pretty awesome to see my game on Polygon!
  • Also on Tuesday, I facilitated an actual play of the game for Plus One Exp. We played through setup and the first two acts, and I had an absolute blast! If you want to see how the game plays, I think it's a very good way to find out. If nothing else, you can have a skim through to see how the board swells and intertwines as our game goes on.
  • Also on Tuesday, we got the prestigious 'Project We Love' tag from Kickstarter. It's always nice to be recognised for doing something a little bit cool and weird :)
Project We Love — Kickstarter
  • Finally, last night we hit £20,000 on the project so the portrait cards are now unlocked. Every deck will come with these beauties, and I think they'll really elevate your board.

Next stretch goal: £26,000, original music

Yep, we're bringing Chris back to compose and record some original music for the game. We talked for quite a while about what the most natural place to include some music would be, and we decided on a set of pieces to play during the breaks you'll take in the game.

In all my testing I've found that The Slow Knife has fairly predictable pacing, with setup and each Act taking between 50-70 minutes. This means it's easy to remember to take breaks, as the conclusion of each Act provides a good stopping point. Like my solo games, I also find that sometimes having some time to think away from the game gives you some breathing room to develop ideas.

So, Chris is going to compose four 5-minute pieces to go between setup and each of the Acts. You can leave them playing while you take your break, and they'll conclude when it might be time to come back.

You can check out Chris's previous soundtracks for my games on his bandcamp page. They're all wonderful, but this piece off the new Bucket soundtrack has really stuck with me so I'd check it out if you want to get an idea of his vibe!


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Thanks again for all your support! If there's anything you'd like to know about the game, please ask in the comments—I love talking about it! 


Jack