A wonderfully illustrated, fast paced game.  Players try to come up with a story, any story, no matter how fictional, to avoid the wrath of the Dark Overlord. As a light party game, this is a great addition to a Fantasy Flight Games' Silver Line series of games. 

The Dark Overlord, Rigor Mortis just had his minions returned from their latest failed mission. Perhaps they failed to get the Cloak of the Overlord that Rigor Mortis was going to use as a part of his plan. Perhaps they failed to return with the Scepter of Goodness from the Realm of Benalia to Rigor Mortis to destroy. One way or another, they are all on the hot seat, and the one who can't make excuses shifting blame to another person is going to find themselve drug away to a dubious fate by Rigor Mortis.

One player takes on the role of Rigor Mortis, the displeased overlord who has the job of being cruel, capricious, and mean. He dishes out Withering Looks when his goblin lackeys displease him or fail to pass the buck along to some one else.

Everyone else plays the simpering goblin lackeys who want nothing more than to avoid the impending wrath of Rigor Mortis in any way possible. They will make excuses, bend the truth, or even tell out right lies, all to have the pleasure of serving Rigor Mortis for another day. Apparently, there aren't many job opportunities for goblins.

Mechanics 

The game has a "Hot potato" type mechanic. There are two types of cards: Hints and Actions. Players start the game with hint cards and three action cards.

Hint Cards are used to tell the story of what happened and make excuses for the failure to complete the mission. Each hint card has three parts: a title (The Sea), an illustration (a goblin on a raft with an octopus behind it), and some text (The Northern Great and Furious Ocean). When making your excuses, you can use any part of the hint card. 

There are two types of Action Cards, Pass the Buck and Freezes. You play a hint card with either type of Action card.

When you play a Pass the Buck card, you can shift the blame to another player, leaving them to carry on the excuses for why they failed. A common example of this is: "And then we ended up in the Devil's Pass, but Adam should tell you more about that." When you pass the buck, you draw back up to three hint cards, but you don't draw any new action cards. You only draw new action cards when you get a Withering Look, or when someone passes the buck to you. But rest assured, eventually you are going to get to get caught without any way to pass the buck, and you're going to be that much closer to a terrible fate

Freeze Cards are played when someone else is making their excuses for why things went wrong. This gives the player a chance to introduce something new to the story, such as: "Why don't you tell them to the Dark Manor, with the Vampires you led us to." This attempts to get the target player flustered, so that they end up getting a Withering Look from the Dark Overlord. This is definitely a game that requires some quick thinking.

The Dark Overlord gets Withering Look cards. When you get a third Withering Look, then you have lost and are going to be drug away to a terrible fate. The Dark Overlord can give Withering Look cards for most any reason he wants, he is the Evil Genius and Lord of the Lost Lands after all. The main reason that he gives withering looks is if a player doesn't have a way to Pass the buck when someone else passes the buck to them. They have been caught with the hot potato and are one step closer to a terrible fate. A person can also earn a Withering Look if they take too long to try to explain why they aren't at fault. It's even worse to take a long time and not be entertaining.

When a player gets a Withering Look,  you discard your hand and draw three new hints and three new actions. This helps to prevent a player from suffering a "death spiral", where they are helpless to defend themselves. 

The Good

If you enjoyed Once Upon a Time, then you should have alot of fun with this game. You don't have to really keep track of the entire history of excuses, as only the last couple of hints played are relevent. The story's going to change a lot and story cohesion is not a requirement. While there are alot of different Hint Cards (121 of them), having three parts of each hint card keeps the variety of excuses flowing. This game will spawn some new inside jokes in your gaming group. "It was SPAWING SEASON!!!". With a creative group, you can play this game several times in a night, and at repeated game nights. 

The Bad

It advertises as a party game, and it is. But it can't accomodate a large number of players such as other notable party games such as Apples to Apples. So if your group is looking for something light to do with more than 7 people (six goblins and an overlord), then you are going to need to find another game. 

Price: $24.99 

Made By: Fantasy Flight Games - Product Page