RU L E B O O K
Welcome to Arkham! The year is 1926, and it is the height of the Roaring Twenties. Flappers dance till dawn in smoke-filled speakeasies drinking alcohol supplied by rum runners and the mob. It’s a celebration to end all celebrations in the aftermath of the War to end all Wars. Yet a dark shadow grows in the city of Arkham. Alien entities known as Ancient Ones lurk in the emptiness beyond space and time, writhing at the gates between worlds.
I NVESTIGATOR S HEETS AND M ARKERS Each player receives one investigator sheet that describes the abilities, skills, and starting equipment of the investigator he controls. Each player also receives one investigator marker used to indicate his investigator’s current position on the board. See “Investigator Sheet Breakdown” on page 21 for a full description of investigator sheets.
M ONSTER M ARKERS G ATE M ARKERS T ERROR M ARKER This marker is placed on the terror track to indicate the mental state and morale of the townsfolk of Arkham. As the terror level increases, stores close and people leave town, eventually allowing the monsters to overrun the town completely! Movement Side Combat Side Monster markers represent the monsters roaming the streets of Arkham. Each monster has two sides: a movement side and a combat side.
Game Setup Follow the steps below to prepare for a game of Arkham Horror. 1 . P REPARE P LAYING A REA Unfold the board and place it in the center of the playing area. Make sure there is ample space around the edges of the board to place the investigator sheets and card decks. Place the various tokens and the dice near the board, as shown in the setup diagram on page 4. Make sure to place the terror track marker on the “0” space on the terror track. 2.
turning it face down. During the Upkeep Phase, Richard turns the Wither spell face up once more. The spell is now ready for him to cast again. Phase I: Upkeep During the Upkeep Phase, each player takes the following actions, in order. 1. Refresh Exhausted Cards Some cards exhaust themselves when used, which means that they are turned face down for the remainder of the turn. At the start of the Upkeep Phase, each player refreshes those cards by turning them face up.
ARKHAM MOVEMENT OTHER WORLD MOVEMENT Example: Amanda Sharpe is in the first area of The Dreamlands. During her movement, she moves to the second area of The Dreamlands. During her movement next turn, she returns to Arkham, moving to any location with an open gate to The Dreamlands and placing an explored marker underneath her investigator marker. Amanda Sharpe starts her turn in the Graveyard, in Rivertown. Her Speed is currently 4, which gives her 4 movement points for the turn.
movement in a location or street area occupied by one or more monsters, he must fight or evade each such monster. left and right of this line are the two areas of the Other World. If the investigator fails to evade a monster, the monster immediately deals its combat damage to him (see “Combat” on page 14) and he immediately enters combat with it. If an investigator is in an Other World at the beginning of the Movement Phase, he receives no movement points.
Monsters that appear as the result of a location or gate encounter never remain on the board after the encounter is resolved. If an investigator evades such a monster, return it to the monster cup (see “Monsters in Encounters,” page 22). 2. Gate If the location has a gate, the investigator is drawn through the gate. He moves to the first area (the left area) of the Other World indicated on the gate marker.
player places the monster in the Outskirts instead (see “Monster Limits and the Outskirts,” page 18). Exception: If there are five or more investigators playing, then draw and place two monsters instead of one. Important: Unlike investigators, monsters are never drawn through gates. Example: Wade is the first player and draws the mythos card shown in an earlier example. The lower-left corner of the card shows Black Cave, which has neither an open gate nor an elder sign marker.
Monsters currently on the board whose dimension symbols are listed in either movement box on the mythos card move to a connected location or street area, as follows: • If the monster is listed in the white movement box, it follows the white arrow leading out of its current area. FLYING MONSTERS • If the monster is listed in the black movement box, it follows the black arrow leading out of its current area. Important: The arrows leading out of some locations are black on one side and white on the other.
4. Activate Mythos Ability Finally, the first player looks at the special text on the mythos card, examining the trait listed at the top of the card. The various traits indicate different types of mythos cards, and they are resolved in different ways as described below. Headline: The first player immediately resolves the special text of a Headline mythos card. He then discards the mythos card face down to the bottom of the mythos deck.
Speed: Used for tests of quickness and agility. Also used to determine an investigator’s movement. Will: Used to test an investigator’s force of personality and willpower. Also used for Horror checks at the start of combat. Example 1: Michael McGlen rolls two dice for the Sneak check described above. He gets a 2 and a 5. The 5 is a success, giving him a total of one success. Since the Sneak check had no listed difficulty, it is assumed to be 1. Michael has enough successes to pass the check.
Evading Monsters EVADING MONSTERS When an investigator attempts to move out of an area containing a monster, or ends his movement in such an area, he must either fight the monster or evade it. An investigator may attempt to evade a monster by making an Evade check. An Evade check is a skill check using the investigator’s Sneak value. The check is modified by the monster’s Awareness value, which is printed in the upper-right corner of the monster marker’s movement side.
2. Fight or Flee Next, the investigator must choose: He may either attempt to flee or fight the monster. A. Flee The investigator tries to evade the monster, using an Evade check just as described under “Evading Monsters” earlier in these rules. If he passes the check, he eludes the monster and the battle immediately ends. If he fails the check, the monster deals its combat damage to the investigator and the battle continues (see “Monster Damage,” below). B.
U SING W EAPONS AND S PELLS C OMBAT IN Investigators can gain a valuable edge in combat by using weapons and spells. The biggest advantage of weapons is that they automatically grant bonuses on Combat checks⎯no additional skill checks are required to use them. However, most weapons grant Physical Combat bonuses, which have no effect at all against many mythos monsters. Spells, on the other hand, grant Magical Combat bonuses. These are effective against almost every monster in Arkham Horror.
Closing and Sealing Gates SEALING GATES As dimensional gates open in locations all over Arkham, the investigators must work to close or seal them. A: U SING CLUE TOKENS To seal a gate using Clue tokens, a player must: 1. Succeed at his roll to close the gate. 2. Spend 5 Clue tokens. 3. Claim the gate marker as a gate trophy. 4. Take 1 elder sign token from the pile of unused tokens and place it on the location where the gate was sealed.
S EALING G ATES If an investigator successfully closes a gate, he may immediately spend five Clue tokens to permanently seal it. The player takes a doom token from the pile of unused doom tokens, turns it over to its elder sign side, and places the token on the gate location. The player still claims the gate marker as a trophy. The gate is now sealed: No further gates can open and no monsters can appear at the location of the sealed gate for the remainder of the game.
ANCIENT ONE SHEET BREAKDOWN BATTLING ANCIENT ONES At the start of the battle, be sure that the Ancient One’s doom track is completely filled with doom tokens. Immediately activate any Start of Battle abilities the Ancient One may have. After each player has made an attack, the Ancient One attacks. Often, the players will need to make skill checks or suffer some misfortune, as described on the Ancient One sheet. 1: Name: The Ancient One’s name.
The Terror Track The terror track shows the current terror level in Arkham – the current mental state of the city’s inhabitants. Various things can raise the terror level, such as too many monsters entering the Outskirts or the effects of some mythos cards. The terror level can never go down, so players should be very cautious about allowing it to increase. When the terror level rises, move the terror track marker up the terror track as indicated.
GAME BOARD BREAKDOWN INVESTIGATOR SHEET BREAKDOWN MONSTER MARKER BREAKDOWN MOV EM EN T SI DE 1: Name: The monster’s name. 2: Awareness: This is the modifier used to Evade this monster. 3: Movement Border: The color of the border indicates the monster’s movement type (Black – normal, Red – fast, Yellow – stationary, Blue – flying, Green – special). 4: Home Dimension: This is the monster’s home dimension.
T HE F INAL B ATTLE When the Ancient One awakens, any investigators that are lost in time and space are immediately devoured and eliminated from the game. The surviving investigators must face the Ancient One in the final battle! Before the final battle begins, discard any active Environment or Rumor cards. Additionally, once the final battle begins, investigators should no longer collect money or roll for Retainers or Bank Loans. Combat with the Ancient One is divided into rounds.
S PECIAL C ARD L IMITATIONS In most cases, a player may never have more than one copy of each special card at the same time. This rule applies to Retainers, Bank Loans, Silver Twilight Memberships, and Bless/Curse cards. S PENDING M ONEY Often, investigators will be told that they can purchase items “for list price” or “for $1 over list price.” An item’s list price is always found in the card’s lower-right corner. Items are purchased by simply discarding money tokens equal to the price listed.
LOCATION ICONS Above each location on the game board is either a green or red diamond. This diamond indicates the relative danger of the location. Locations with green diamonds are stable. Monsters and gates will never appear in these locations, although it is possible for monsters to move to them in certain circumstances. Locations with red diamonds are unstable. Monsters and gates can appear in these locations, sometimes even as a result of encounters. These locations should be approached with caution.
