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A Study in Emerald (Second Edition)
Year
2015
Players
25
Play time
60min
Min age
13+
Weight
2.94
BGG rating
6.86
BGG rank
#2095
Best with
4, 5

Local copies

Rating: 7.0

MeepleMates notes for A Study in Emerald (Second Edition)

Public snippets combine board game metadata with MeepleMates play history so visitors can evaluate the game for real group play and game night planning.

  • A Study in Emerald (Second Edition) is available as a public board game page on MeepleMates for group planning and collection tracking.
  • Best with 4, 5 players according to player poll data.
  • BoardGameGeek average rating 6.86 and BGG rank #2095.
  • Groups use this page to connect Horror, Novel-based, Murder / Mystery metadata with real play history, ratings and game night notes.
  • Recommended player counts include 3.
It is 1882, and the Old Ones are already here. They arrived seven hundred years ago and have been ruling the planet ever since. The majority of people just get on with their lives, accepting their monstrous rulers. However, a growing band of revolutionaries wish to free mankind from their slavery. These freedom fighters call themselves the Restorationists. A secret war has already broken out between the Restorationists and the forces loyal to the Old Ones. The invention of dynamite has changed the balance of power, and a lone assassin now has the capacity to destroy an Old One. In this shadow world of assassins, informers, police agents and anarchists, nobody is quite sure who is who and which side they fight for. The game A Study in Emerald draws its central plot from the award-winning short story penned by Neil Gaiman, in which the worlds of Sherlock Holmes and H.P. Lovecraft are combined to telling effect. However, to create a world detailed enough for players, much has been added from real history. The nineteenth century was a time of unrest, with many colorful characters fighting both for and against the authorities. A Study in Emerald is the outcome of the merging of these three worlds. This second edition of A Study in Emerald sports new artwork by Ian O'Toole and Tatiana Kuzilova along with a streamlined set of rules that will hopefully help those folks who found the first version a tad complicated. Inconsistencies have been removed and the number of available actions has been reduced to the minimum, whilst still retaining the mood of paranoia from the first edition.

Categories

HorrorNovel-basedMurder / MysterySpies / Secret AgentsZombiesPolitical

Mechanics

Hand ManagementOpen DraftingArea Majority / InfluenceTeam-Based GameDeck, Bag, and Pool BuildingPoint to Point MovementHidden RolesAuction / Bidding

Best with how many players

1
Not rec.
2
Not rec.
3
Recommended
4
Best
5
Best
5+
Not rec.

Community votes from BoardGameGeek

Language dependence

Moderate in-game text(13 of 15 votes)

Sub-rankings

  • Strategy Game Rank#1101
  • Thematic Rank#441

Videos

External data

Wikidata enrichment: 1 links · 0 facts · latest game data 07/26/2026.

Latest Wikidata run: ok · 08/08/2026.

Links