User Manual

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 dis-
cards the mythos card face down to the bottom of the
mythos deck.
Environment: The special text of an Environment
mythos card remains in play for several turns, possibly
even until the end of the game. The first player places
the card face up next to the game board, discarding any
previous Environment mythos card face down to the
bottom of the mythos deck. This means that only one
Environment mythos card can be in play at a time.
Rumor: The special text of a Rumor mythos card
remains in effect until either the Pass or Fail condition
on the card is met, at which point the card is resolved
and is discarded face down to the bottom of the mythos
deck.
Only one Rumor can be in play at once. If there is
already a Rumor mythos card in play, ignore the special
text of the newly drawn Rumor and discard it face down
to the bottom of the mythos deck after resolving its
other effects for the turn (such as gate opening and mon-
ster movement).
Other Effects: Additionally, the mythos card may call
for one or more “activity” or “closed” markers to be
placed on specific locations. Simply place the respective
markers on the locations indicated by the card. If the
card leaves play, remove the markers from the locations
as well.
Once the first player has resolved all steps of the
Mythos Phase, the first player marker is passed to the
left. The turn is now over and a new one begins with the
Upkeep Phase. Play continues in this way until the end
of the game.
The game ends in one of two ways: The investigators
either overcome the mythos threat, or they are defeated
by it.
VICTORY
The investigators win the game in any of the following
three ways:
A. Close the Gates
To satisfy this victory condition, the players must
accomplish two objectives:
• An investigator must close the last gate on the board,
such that there are currently no open gates.
• When the last gate is closed, the players must have a
number of gate trophies equal to or greater than the
number of players. These gate trophies do include the
one just awarded for closing the last gate, but do not
include any trophies the players have spent.
If these two conditions are met, the players immediately
win. Stability is restored to Arkham as the Ancient One
slips back into a deep slumber for a few more millennia.
B. Seal the Gates
If, at any time, there are six or more elder sign tokens on
the board, the players immediately win. The Ancient
One is driven away and peace returns to Arkham.
C. Banish the Ancient One
If the Ancient One awakens (see page 20) but the investi-
gators manage to defeat it, the players immediately win.
The Ancient One is banished beyond time and space.
SCORING VICTORIES
If the players achieve one of the preceding victory con-
ditions, the investigators have defeated the mythos threat
and saved Arkham. The player with the most gate tro-
phies is awarded the honorary title of First Citizen of
Arkham. In the case of a tie, the title goes to the player
with the most monster trophies.
You can rate your victory by using the following scoring
system. Start with the highest printed number on the
doom track of the Ancient One. Subtract the terror level
at the end of the game from this number. Now apply the
following modifiers:
–1 per unpaid/defaulted Bank Loan
–1 per elder sign played during the game
+1 per unspent gate trophy at the end of the game
+1 for every three unspent monster trophies held at the
end of the game.
+1 per sane, surviving investigator at the end of the
game
Example: The courageous investigators close the final
gate, returning Azathoth to his fitful slumber just as the
terror level climbs to 6. Subtracting the terror level (6)
from the highest printed number on Azathoth’s doom
track (14) gives a base score of 8. The group had two
defaulted Bank Loans (–2), played three elder signs dur-
ing the game (–3), had eight unspent gate trophies (+8),
had 17 unspent monster trophies (+5), and had 5 sane,
surviving investigators at the end of the game (+5) for a
total of 21 points.
DEFEAT
If the Ancient One awakens and defeats all of the inves-
tigators in battle, the space-time continuum ruptures, the
Ancient One is unleashed, and all of mankind suffers for
the investigators’ failure. In this unfortunate event, all
players lose the game.
After reading the rules up to this point, you should be
familiar with the overall flow of the game, including
what you must accomplish to win. The remaining sec-
tions of this rulebook offer everything you’ll need to
know to meet those objectives: how to make skill checks
for your investigator, how to evade and fight monsters,
how to cast spells, how to close or seal gates, and more.
These are the basic abilities investigators use to accom-
plish things in the game. Every investigator has six
skills, listed below. Investigators also have a value for
each of these skills, depending on how they have posi-
tioned their skill sliders (see page 6). A skill value rep-
resents the number of dice the investigator rolls for a
check based on that skill.
Fight: Used for physical feats of strength and
endurance. Also used in combat.
Lore: Used for tests of mystic knowledge and ability.
Also used in casting spells.
Luck: Used to determine the whims of chance. It is the
most common skill used in encounters.
Sneak: Used for feats of stealth and thievery. Also used
when evading monsters.
Skills
Other Rules
Ending the Game
Turn End
12