I’m Jonathan Leistiko, the designer of Doctor Necreaux. I like the way you present the game, and agree with a lot of your points. I’d write the rules differently if I had them to write again, and it’s true that some of the Character cards are better than others (Would you believe me if I said that was a design decision? Yeah, I didn’t think you would…).

However, I’d advise you to think twice about being annoyed by the Sliding Wall trap. I’ve had long chock-full-’o-spoilers discussions with the Necreaux players over on BGG. Trust me when I say that the Sliding Wall is probably the most important card for player victory in the game. If you don’t understand why, you can check out http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/435595/ – That’s a post that directly spoils what the Sliding Wall is all about.

@Patrick R.: Castle Panic’s designer – Justin DeWitt – and I are both Austin, TX residents. There’s a small, but dedicated community of board game designers here in Austin, TX, and I’m proud to count them as peers. I expect you’re going to see even more stuff coming from Austinites in the relatively near future.

Thanks again for the review!