SHAWNA BROWN
Those with the gift of understanding the natural world are few, and villages count themselves lucky if they have access to a witch/shaman/magical healer of any type in their area. There is high demand for potions, enchanted items, and spells to help ease the lives of hardworking peasants. You have set up shop in the ideal location: a bustling village right outside of a forest, from which you can sense strong natural power.
But there is a problem. Other healers have been crowding into the region and the village has decreed that only one of you may stay. You have just over a fortnight to prove your worth. It all comes down to how much influence you can garner amongst the villagers via your magical remedies, effective cures, and of course, monetary success.
Each day at dawn you go foraging in the forest to find certain willow twigs, clovers, bones, lightning bugs, and feathers - anything that radiates with a natural force of magic. You collect these raw sources of magic and bring them back to your apothecary where you use your skill to brew them into potions or refine them into crystals of pure magic, which you can imbue into everyday items or weave into spells. As soon as you open for the day, your clients come to purchase these wares in your shop, or to get an appointment at your magical practice for advice and treatment for their more serious ailments.
The more you sell and the more patients you treat increases your influence and your chance for the right to provide your magical services in this village. Choose how you will use your resources, money and equipment to make sure you win your place!
Cures & Curiosities is a board game played over a pre-determined number of rounds, or "days". Each day has a Dawn Preparations phase, where players forage to find sources of the 5 different natural magics: moon, luck, life, earth and spirit. These are taken back to the players' workshop to be brewed into potions, woven into spells or enchanted into everyday objects. Players can also schedule patient appointments and order new inventory from the market.
Then follows the Workday phase. The scheduled patients come in to be treated and clients come to peruse the items and remedies for sale.Finally, during the After Hours phase, players reset and refresh for the next day.
Cures & Curiosities is a strategy and resource management game for 2 - 5 players which will appeal to hobby gamers who enjoy Flamecraft, Quacks of Quedlingburg and euro games with indirect player interaction, such as Wyrmspan. This is a strategy game that is not complex, yet is immersive, rich in theme, and perfect for game night.
You get to choose your focus: maybe you want to mostly sell your items to customers based on the day's demand, or perhaps you're more interested in using your items to treat the patients you book for appointments in your clinic. Or, you can of course choose to balance both, switching as the situaton calls for it.
But you're not the only healer trying to gain influence amongst the villagers. You must also decide if you want to use all your resources to craft your stock of items, offering as many products as you can to keep the village healthy, or, whether you use some of your limited supplies on yourself to gain buffs, in the hopes of getting an advantae over your rival apothecarists!