桐花中路私立协济医院怪谈

As this is a commercial game, many Chinese reviews exist; you might want to check them out too.

Played at: MoonJ (but with no DM)
4 players (2 female, 2 male)

《桐花中路私立协济医院怪谈》is a fascinating case, on several levels.

First, it’s an interesting example of a 随书附带衍生微型剧本杀 — mini jubensha included as free extras to mystery novels. Its author is the pioneer of this form of jubensha; the main publisher seems to be 雁北堂, with many affordable book+jubensha sets on Taobao. The jubensha are spinoffs from the novels, but require no prior knowledge and contain no spoilers.

Of course, an interesting industry model doesn’t mean that the cases themselves are remarkable. If《桐花中路私立协济医院怪谈》was a typical play-at-home case, jubensha shops wouldn’t offer it, and it wouldn’t have attracted the attention of jubensha reviewers.

The second and more important thing about《桐花中路私立协济医院怪谈》is that it’s a compact four-player case with just two A5 pages to read for each character, and two sheets of shared clues — yet proves complex enough for three to four hours of playtime.

The case is substantial, rigorous, multi-layered — and far from beginner-friendly. You really have to read carefully, be sensitive to details, and think about narrative logic.

Perhaps my only complaint is that the characters are paper-thin — but that’s unsurprising, given the narrative brevity.

I’d recommend this for veteran players who are taking a break from six-hour games but still want a satisfying case-solving time, or players who want a taste of 硬核 cases but aren’t ready for long ones.

Try if you like: An incredibly friendly reading:solving ratio; a substantial case-solving experience in under four hours; close reading.

Not recommended for: An entire group of beginners (possible with a mix of veterans and beginners, if the beginners read closely/the veterans prompt them).