Hi all,

I have just posted a document to the files section on BGG containing a number of variants that are designed to address the disparity between theme and gameplay in Android. These include rules to:

* Turn the murder into a true deductive experience (with a "real" murderer).
* Eliminate the unthematic 5-in-a-row scoring on the conspiracy puzzle.
* Allow each investigator to experience their game "day" concurrently rather than consecutively (and reduce downtime).
* Adjust how dark cards are drawn and played to be more in theme with what is happening on the board.
* Give NPCs more involvement in the unfolding story and allow some characters to "crossover" into another detective's story.
* Plus many more...

These variants have been tested and work well, though may obviously be subject to further tweaks after subsequent plays.  You can find the link to the file here:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/file/info/38890

Obviously if you have no problem with the melding of theme and gameplay in this game then these rules are not for you. But hopefully someone will find these ideas of some use to them.

Happy gaming!

I like this game a lot as it is. The only thing I don't like is the "take this" action when playing dark cards on someone to light-shift myself.
Could you explain that original rule you mention in your rules that the playtesters didn't like.

Can it be used without altering anything else?

It would be nice to have a minor compensation for getting a dark card played on you.
So you don't feel as big a grudge against the player who hit you for the  third time in a row.

Also, since I'm the owner of the game, people tend to chose my dark cards more often as they see me as the better player and bigger threat.