Murder of Crows
Murder of Crows Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Objective
Reveal a complete murder story by playing all the letters in the word "M-U-R-D-E-R."
To Start
- Remove the reference cards.
- Shuffle the deck.
- The most suspicious-looking player goes first in the initial game, while in later games the player to the left of the last winner goes first.
- Deal (face down) four cards to the first player and five cards to all other players.
- Set the remaining cards face down to form the draw pile.
- Everyone can now look at their cards.
- Play proceeds clockwise.
Contents
61 total cards:
- 48 regular cards
- 7 wild crow cards
- 5 regular reference cards
- 1 reference card for The Murdered Third (optional two-player variant)
Of the 48 regular cards:
- 19 have 1 crow
- 16 have 2 crows
- 13 have 3 crows
- 8 each of "M," "U," "D," and "E"
- 16 "R"s
Building a Murder
You'll play cards to your Murder, an area on the table in front of you. It has six stacks, one for each letter, in order. A stack can have more than one copy of its letter, as backup in case you have to discard.
On Your Turn
Draw one card, then play one card.
Draw from the deck, then play from your hand, face-up to any of your stacks (you do not have to play the letters in order). As soon as you play a card, its effect happens, unless someone blocks it.
See Card Effects and Preventing Effects.
Or, skip your turn to draw twice. You can draw two cards if you give up the chance to play. Then, play passes.
The player to your left goes next.
If the deck runs out, reshuffle the discards.
Card Effects
MISPLACE
Take any one card of your choice from another player's Murder and put it in your hand.
UNCOVER
Everyone else reveals their hands to all players; you choose one card from any other player's hand and put it in your hand.
REAP
You draw one additional card from the draw pile. All "R" cards are interchangeable and can be used in either "R" slot to spell "Murder."
DRAIN
Choose any letter; everyone else must discard one of that card from their Murder if they have it.
EXPEL
Everyone else discards their entire hand and draws three new cards from the draw pile.
The Wild Crow Card
On your turn, you can play a Wild Crow card to your Murder in any letter slot. You can do this only if there are no other Wild Crows showing in your Murder (that is, at the top of a stack), but you can play a Wild Crow on top of an existing Wild Crow if you wish. It's affected by other card effects as per the letter slot it occupies. It then has either of two effects, your choice:
- Wild card: The immediate effect of the letter slot it is being played to occurs.
OR
- Remove a stack: You may select a stack in someone's Murder and discard all its cards.
Off-turn, the Wild Crow card can be discarded from your hand to prevent any card from affecting you. See Off Turn - Preventing Effects.
Wild Crow card effects can only be prevented by another Wild Crow card.
Off Turn - Preventing Effects
As a card is played by another player, you may prevent its effect from affecting you alone by discarding a card from your hand. The discarded card must have the same number of Crows as the card played (one, two or three crows). Or, discard a Wild Crow to prevent any effect on you.
The card whose effect was prevented still goes into its player's Murder.
Winning the Game
When you complete the word "MURDER" in front of you, read aloud the text across your top cards to reveal the murder story. You win!
If you have a Wild Crow in your Murder, just select any card on the table with the letter it represents to fill in the blank, or make something up!
The Murdered Third
An optional two-player variant.
A reference card is included in the game that is used only for this variant.
After both living players take their turns normally, flip a card and follow the special actions for the Murdered Third. This effect cannot be blocked.
Do this every round, when a third player's turn would be.
Quick Start
- Deal face down four cards to the first player and five cards to all other players.
- The most suspicious-looking player goes first in the initial game, while in later games the player to the left of the last winner goes first.