Detectives Vs Criminals

In twentieth-century Europe, the most cunning criminals of all time have joined forces to steal extraordinary treasures, such as Napoleon’s Sword, the Gold Bars of the Orient Express, and Cleopatra’s Bracelet. Only the shrewdest detectives will have what it takes to stop them!

Choose your character: perhaps the mysterious magician Zoltan Kovacs, the fearless archaeologist Sofia Ioannidis, the seasoned former police commissioner Zac Clifford, or the sharp-witted zoologist Naira Nandez. Join the Detective Team to coordinate with Police Officers, uncover Clues, follow the trail of the Criminals, and attempt to arrest them. Or join the Criminal Team: move in the shadows, avoid detection, and race to the cities hiding the treasures, while your loyal Thugs cover your tracks. Will justice prevail, or will the greatest heist in history go down as an unsolved mystery? The chase is on and every move counts.

We’re always on the move—events, fairs, game nights in board game cafés—to meet you and let you try Detectives Vs Criminals!

It’s such a pleasure for us to see you play, argue over strategy, and laugh (or cry!) around the table.

Thanks for your enthusiasm, honest feedback, and all the love you’re showing to the project. 🙏💼🕵🏼‍♀️👮‍♂️

In this expansion, the classic showdown between Detectives and Criminals takes a dark turn: one player becomes Dracula, moving hidden across Europe, while the others take on the role of the Hunters, striving to stop him before Darkness engulfs the continent. Here are the main gameplay features.

Dracula never fights alone… he creates Servants at his command!

With this action, he can turn innocent victims into vampirized pawns that spread terror and slow down the Hunters.

•Dracula must be hidden in a City.

•He place a face-down DvC card corresponding to that City on the board.

•Next Round he places a Servant in that same City.

•The Servant can perform 2 Actions.

Servants can fight and above all use the Terrorize Action, which pushes Darkness closer to Dracula’s victory.

Dracula expands his power by creating Lairs. Each Lair he establishes gives him +1 Action per turn. The more Lairs, the deadlier his game becomes.

•Dracula discards a DvC card showing a City where a Brigand is present.

•He places a Lair token there.

The Hunters’ secret weapons against the Vampire are six sacred Relics: the Mirror, Garlic, Stake, Holy Water, Holy Cross, and the Blessed Host.

•A Hunter may put a Relic into play by discarding a DvC card showing a City.

•A Relic token is drawn randomly from a bag and placed in that City.

•If a Hunter reaches that City, they can perform the Find a Relic Action to claim it.

•The Relic is then placed in the Hunters’ “bag” on the board.

The more Relics the Hunters collect, the higher their chances of hitting Dracula using the special Hunters’ die in combat.

Dracula or his Servants may take a Fight Action if they are in the same City as a Hunter. The Vampire rolls his special die — and for the Hunters, the results are never good…

• Threaten → Dracula moves the Hunter to a connected City of his choice.

• Claw → the Hunter discards 2 cards from their hand. If they have no cards, Darkness advances 1 step for each card they should have discarded.

• Bite → the Hunter takes 1 Bite token (which prevents them from performing the Draw Cards Action).

When the Hunters confront Dracula or his Servants in the same City, a deadly Combat begins. It’s never a one-sided fight: the Hunters roll their special die, but the Vampire strikes back immediately!

• A Hunter in the same City as Dracula or a Servant may declare a Combat Action.

• Both sides roll their dice:

– The Hunters’ die shows one of the 6 Relics. If that Relic has already been collected, the attack succeeds:

▸ Against Servants → discard Servant and the matching Relic (Hunters can put in play later).

▸ Against Dracula → discard the Relic and place it on his image on the board. After 3 hits, the Hunters win.

The Vampire die strikes back with devastating effects:

– Threaten → Dracula moves the Hunter to a connected City.

– Claw → the Hunter discards 2 cards (or Darkness advances if they have none).

– Bite → the Hunter takes a Bite token, preventing them from drawing cards.

Collecting Relics is the only way to truly wound Dracula. The more Relics you have, the higher the chance of rolling the right symbol and defeating the Lord of Darkness once and for all.

Every battle is a gamble: the Hunters may strike Dracula, but they risk being scattered, weakened, or bitten.

A dangerous duel, where courage and Relics are their only hope.

One of the Vampire’s most terrifying weapons is the Bite.

When it happens, it marks a Hunter and makes their mission much harder.

•A Hunter receives a Bite token if Dracula or a Servant rolls Bite on the Vampire die during Combat.

•As long as a Hunter has a Bite token, they cannot perform the Draw Cards Action, limiting their options and weakening their hand.

•To heal a Bite, the Hunter must reach a City with a Hospital. There are five on the map: Madrid, Paris, Rome, Moscow, and Budapest.

Dracula wins if he manages to spread Darkness across Europe, forming a Blood Cross.

• At the start of each Dracula turn, the Darkness marker automatically advances by 1 position.

• Dracula’s Servants may use the Terrorize Action to push Darkness forward even faster.

• If Hunters are hit in Combat and cannot discard cards, Darkness advances.

Victory condition:

• Each time the Darkness marker completes a full round on its track, Dracula places 1 Blood Cross token.

• Once all three Blood Cross tokens are placed, Dracula wins the game.

In this expansion, one player takes on the role of Moriarty, determined to plant bombs in strategic locations—railway bridges, commercial docks, power plants—to raise the Tension across European countries, crash the value of key company stocks… and buy them back for a bargain. Will Sherlock Holmes and his ally stop him before the tension spirals out of control?

Moriarty places explosive devices that threaten entire Areas.

•Moriarty must be hidden in a city belonging to the Area shown on a randomly drawn Area card.

•He places a covered DvC card corresponding to that city on the board, with a bomb token on top.

•The following Round, the bomb explodes in the indicated city.

Each time a bomb explodes, that Area is considered in High Tension, and Moriarty draws another random Area card—his next target.

Moriarty wins if he manages to put 5 Areas into High Tension.

Sherlock Holmes wins if he manages to arrest him (as in the Core Game).

In Sherlock Holmes – High Tension, Special Action Cards—both for Detectives and Criminals—are no longer one-shot effects. Instead, they become powerful permanent Actions earned by the teams during the game. Many of them are directly tied to the mechanics of Areas and bombs.

How was Detectives vs Criminals created? In this section, we take you behind the scenes of the project.

Who’s behind the creation of Detectives Vs Criminals?

In this exclusive interview, Luca Maragno — game designer and founder of Dam Things — takes you behind the scenes of the creative process: from the original idea of an innovative hidden movement board game, to the challenges faced and overcome, all the way to how the gameplay evolved over years of development.

More than 30 minutes of insights showing how the game — and its expansions — came to life.

(The interview is in Italian, but you can select the translated subtitles).

🎨 Meet Luca Naldini, illustrator and CEO of Paveway Studios — the team that brought characters, maps, and every detail of the game to life!

How do you bring Sherlock Holmes, Moriarty, and 19th-century Europe to life in a board game?

In this behind-the-scenes video, illustrator Luca Naldini (CEO of Paveway Studios) returns to reveal the artistic journey behind Sherlock Holmes – High Tension, the thrilling expansion for Detectives Vs Criminals.

Go behind the scenes of Darkness of Dracula, the brand new expansion for Detectives vs Criminals!

In this interview, illustrator Luca Naldini (CEO of Paveway Studios) reveals how he brought Count Dracula and the Hunters to life through his unique artistic vision.

Discover the creative process, inspirations, and challenges behind the dark and atmospheric artwork of the expansion.

Detectives Vs Criminals core game and expansions are available in English and in Italian, but they are nearly language independent!

At the moment we can’t offer additional languages (even though many of you asked in the comments) — but remember that Detectives Vs Criminals is nearly language independent! With enough backers, we hope to develop language kits in the future.

Gamefound is a crowdfunding platform dedicated to board games, similar to Kickstarter or Indiegogo. It allows creators like us to share our projects with potential backers and gather the support needed to bring them to life.

As a backer, you’ll be able to choose from different Rewards, and add optional Add-ons if you like. Each Reward comes with an estimated delivery date, so you’ll know when to expect your items.

Once the campaign ends, a Pledge Manager will open right here on Gamefound. You’ll receive an invitation to finalize your pledge, confirm your shipping details, and pay for shipping costs and applicable VAT.

Need help getting started? You’ll find guides and resources on how to use Gamefound here.

DAM Things is a board game development team born from the belief that the sector will be increasingly central to the world of entertainment. The founders are communications professionals and passionate gamers. DAM Things aims to develop innovative board games for all types of audiences, with great attention to aesthetics.

DAM Things developed Ride, Diabolik - Heists and Investigations, Diabolik Stories, Miasma Chronicles and Viking Route and curated the graphic design of several successful titles.

I'm a nerd who worked as a journalist for several years, writing about cinema, video games and technology. I've been inventing board games since elementary school and I've been working on them professionally for a while now. I'm an excellent detective and I give criminals no respite. Especially Mathias.

I'm a designer who works not only in the world of board games, but also for cinema, creating posters and home video editions for collectors. I love board games, I started building them when I was a child and I've never stopped! I like to create well-hidden robberies in the shadows, even the best detectives like Luca have trouble following my traces.

Yes, another Luca. Italian parents were probably in lack of creativity back in the 80s. Serial traveller, movie enthusiast, I play always the outsider role, that one saying the wrong thing in the wrong moment. My cent in the boardgaming business? Getting it right! But, in the best possible quality, and knocking at your door way before you can expect.

Paveway Design Studio is a dedicated concept art house driven by a team of passionate artists with extensive experience in the concept design industry. Our mission is to deliver exceptional design solutions that elevate your entertainment products to their full creative potential.

👥 The more we are, the more treasures we will steal... or the more criminals we will arrest!

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For questions about Detectives vs Criminals, please visit our FAQ section, where you’ll find answers to the most common topics about the game and the campaign.

Still stuck? Feel free to reach out directly at info@damthings.it — we’ll be happy to help.