Rise of Moloch is CMON’s next game in the World of SMOG

Zombicide publisher Cool Mini or Not has taken to Kickstarter to crowdfund the second entry set in the World of SMOG universe, Rise of Moloch.

The World of SMOG was created by Christophe Madura and Guillaume Noblet as a 19th-century steampunk setting, and has since been expanded in the book Master Fox, graphic novel The Man Who Knew Too Much and CMON’s debut game in the world, On Her Majesty’s Service, for which it raised $100,000 on Kickstarter in late 2014.

Rise of Moloch is a standalone title rather than an expansion to On Her Majesty’s Service and features asymmetrical co-op play for up to five players.

One player acts as the nemesis, controlling a secret society known only as The Cult as they attempt to install an undead government in the wake of the discovery of the ability to reanimate corpses. The other participants are the Gentlemen of the Unicorn Club, trying to thwart the nemesis’ plans.

Rise of Moloch features a narrative campaign with six chapters, each with unique goals and objectives for both sides of the battle. The players take on the role of different characters, such as the mekamancer, bouncer and samaritan, and use gadgets and abilities to battle baddies as they move around each map board, constructed from modular tiles. Between each chapter are intermissions, which present decisions to the players that have an impact on future chapters.

The villains differ with each faction from the circus-themed Grotesque Company Circus to agents of The Cult and the titular Moloch himself.

Rise of Moloch comes with more than 60 miniatures in the box, plus a whole bunch of cards, tokens and boards. The core box is $100 (£81) (postage not included, as is standard) with a release planned for next January.

CMON has already raised more close to half a million dollars on its initial $70,000 (£56,700) target, with just under two weeks left to run on the relatively short campaign before it closes on February 3rd.