The King is getting old and needs to name a successor to the throne.  He’s narrowed his choice down to five candidates, five leading figures in the Kingdom.

You’re not one of them.

As one of the lesser figures in the royal court, your goal is to become the power behind the throne.  You’ll engage in palace intrigues, taking credit for things you didn’t do and avoiding blame for things you probably did do, manipulating the opinions of your betters.  Your ultimate goal: ensure that whoever the King finally selects as his successor likes you better than any of the other players.

What you Get

• Main game board
• Five Player boards
• Deck of 55 cards
• Two boards of 122 punch-out chips
• Five Pencils
• Pad of paper
• Rulebook

Basics of Play

Succession is all about standing – as in prestige,
not getting up from your
chair. The standing of the candidates with the King determines who he chooses
as his heir. Your standing with that candidate determines whether you win the game.  Along the way, your standing with each candidate matters because the more they like you the more money they will give you each turn.

Standings change mainly due to intrigue cards.  Intrigues represent rumors, good or bad reports and anything else that might change the King’s opinion about one or more candidates.  Players will use intrigue cards to help the candidates that like them and hurt the ones that don’t, but just as important is taking credit for things you may not have done and avoiding blame for things you probably did.

If an intrigue would help a candidate, that candidate is grateful.  If an intrigue would hurt a candidate, he or she will be angry.  The catch is that the candidates know that one of the players is behind the intrigue but they don’t know which one.  The player who invests the most political capital and bribes (represented by influence cards and gold) in the intrigue controls the “spin” and gets to assign credit and blame from the candidates.  You can take the credit for yourself (gaining standing with those candidates) and put theblame on another player…and of course you can take bribes and make deals.

 “I’d hate to see Arianna think that you were the one who hurt her chances to be Queen.  Give me a couple of gold pieces and she’ll think it was the Squire.”  -Taxman

Who would enjoy Succession?

Succession is a highly-interactive game of negotiation, strategy and resource management.  It’s perfect for groups that like open-ended deal making and a blend of strategy with a light-hearted theme.  Succession holds up well as a serious strategy game but is a great beer-and-pretzels game, too.

Dr. Matt Carlson, aka GamerDad, put it perfectly:

Not a game for kids whose feelings are easily hurt, but fun for any gathering that likes a little smack talk and good-natured give and take.