Madness of the Masses

Madness of the Masses is a competitive strategy game for 2–4 players set in a crumbling empire on the brink of upheaval. The emperor is dead, and whispers of democracy ripple through the restless populace, threatening to shatter centuries of imperial order. As one of the emperor’s heirs, you must outmaneuver your rivals and seize control of the Four Pillars of Power — the Sanctum, the Iron Hand, the Royal Treasury, and the Vox — institutions that grant you the means to manipulate faith, military might, wealth, and public sentiment, bending the masses to your will as you fight for the throne. At its core, Madness of the Masses fuses deck-building and area control mechanics. Players begin with identical decks but their paths quickly diverge as new cards — tied to the Four Pillars of Power — are acquired from the market. These cards shape your strategy, giving you the tools to sway public opinion or dominate contested territories across the empire. Will you win the people’s Love by exposing your rivals’ Corruption cards, or earn their Fear by raising armies and asserting control over the empire’s most vital territories? With every round, the stakes rise higher as tension among the masses escalates, building toward a dramatic finish. If players fail to tame the masses in time, the people erupt in open rebellion, setting territories on the board ablaze. Players are forced to march their armies away from the flames and toward each other, engaging in a final battle as the revolution consumes the empire. In the end, only the last surviving heir may claim the throne. Yet, if none endure, the people rise victorious, and the empire’s centuries-old dynasty is swept away by the madness of the masses. —description from the publisher