La Petite Mort

About this board game

La Petite Mort is a game for 2–4 players with approximately 20 minutes of play time, in which aspiring Grim Reapers compete to earn their Reaping Diploma.

Each player manages characters in their own playing area. These characters are born, grow, age, develop personalities, and acquire skills throughout their lives. Their experiences bring both strengths and weaknesses, shaping how they can be reaped.

Your main goal is to be the first player to complete four objectives shown on your current Diploma. To pursue them, guide your characters toward their “natural death” on the Deathbed and claim the rewards associated with their final reaping. Carefully managing your characters’ lives can give you the best chance of fulfilling your Diploma’s requirements.

You can also target an opponent’s character with a Reap card. To succeed, every weakness symbol required by the card must be present on the targeted character’s cards. Opponent characters are often easier to reap, but the reward is reduced because the cards won must be shared with one or more opponents.

Your own characters are never safe from the other players. Cards showing strength symbols can protect them by cancelling matching weakness symbols, making those characters more difficult to reap. This creates a balance between developing characters for your objectives and protecting them from rival Little Deaths.

• Develop characters through birth, growth, aging, personalities, and skills.
• Fulfil four objectives to obtain your Reaping Diploma.
• Reap your own characters naturally or target opponents with Reap cards.
• Choose from Diplomas ranging from Easy to Expert for different levels of play.

With several Diploma levels included, La Petite Mort can accommodate casual players as well as more experienced groups while keeping every character’s journey toward the final reaping at the centre of the game.