Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees is a unique Graphic Novel written and illustrated by Patrick Hovarth, following Samantha Strong, a murderous bear living in the cosy town of Woodbury. This “Dexter meets Arthur” published by IDW Comics is the basis for a storytelling game of animals, murder, and dark secrets that just launched on Kickstarter.
The kickstarter features all kinds of beautiful artwork, as you’d expect from a children’s book, with all of the off-putting and sick detail of murder and dismemberment.
Each of the players in this 1-6 player game take on the role of different citizens in the town of Woodbury. You might be Cybil Montgomery the Parakeet Palm Reader, or Tommy Turnbuckle the turtle postman. The one thing that all of the characters will have in common, is that they’re all keeping a dark secret from the other residents.
Each character comes with four main stats; Wits, Brawn, Charm, and Luck. A relationship with the victim, an abilitiy tied to their role in the town, and a choice to start with different items that give you even more roleplaying ability.
The game is described as having “the structure of a board game, but the play loop of a story game like Icarus, Alice is Missing, or A Quiet Year.” With a recent murder in town suspiscion is in the air and everyone is getting investigated, this means there’s a ticking clock until the characters… other activities will start to come to light.
The dark secrets that players have might be that they’re a pyromaniac whose been setting fires in secret, or that you’ve been selling drugs on the side. You’ll spend your time travelling between the different key locations of Woodbury working towards your secret objectives while trying to stay out of the limelight.
Each time you start the game you’ll have a chance to randomly select again the different roles you’ll play in town, the dark secret that you’re trying to hide, and items you choose. Past that you’ll also have a variety of events that will take place over the game as the killer gets closed in on.
If you’re interested in learning more about the game and potentially backing in then you can check out the Kickstarter page here.
Kickstarter Pledge Levels
If you’re interested in picking up the game you can purchase it at three different tiers.
- Standard ($40) – This gets you an early bird edition of the game and an art print
- Deluxe ($85) – This gets you the game and an art print, as well as character tikens and money in a box that looks like a classic children’s tale
- Special “Teddy Bear” Edition ($500) – This Deluxe Edition of the game comes packed INSIDE a large stuffed teddy bear. True to the source material… the only way to get the game out is to dismember the bear.
While the Kickstarter will be funded at $25,000 there are a number of stretch goals including additional characters, item cards, Dark Secrets, an acrylic standee and even the first issue of the graphic novel.
