Castlevania: Nocturne of the Tabletop Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Quick Start Guide (Standard Mode)
• Setup - Standard Game Mode
• Movement
• Curse Clock
• Monsters
• Combat
• Events
• Map Deck
• Leveling Up
• Equipment
• Status Effects
• Bosses and Dracula Relics
• Boss Tiers
• Difficulty
• Death
• Dracula and Breaking the Curse
• Variants
  • Classic Mode
  • Lord of the Castle Mode
  • Dracula Powers
• Characters
• Glossary and Card Clarifications
• FAQ

Quick Start Guide (Standard Mode)

This guide is for experienced players who need a quick refresh on the gameplay. If you are new to the game or uncertain about anything, move on to the next section - Setup.

1. Select difficulty level, shuffle the corresponding number of curse cards into the encounter deck, place the 5 relics randomly face-down in each of the first 5 boss rooms. Place the boss deck(s) next to the board, and the Dracula deck near the end of the 6th stage. If you are using the optional Map Deck, draw one location card for each of the 6 stages and place them face-down nearby as well. (See: Map Deck, p.15 for more info)
2. Select a character, place your token outside of the castle. Take your character's skill deck and character sheet. All players start with 16 health, 0 xp, and 0 hearts.
3. Find your character's first (or only, for some characters) primary weapon, place it in front of you, along with one secondary ability, weapon, or special item. Some characters start with specific secondary abilities, refer to your character sheet.
4. First player takes the leader token, sets the curse clock to XII and the stage clock to 1 and reveals the first Location card, if applicable.
5. Roll movement dice, move the number of spaces rolled, take 1 heart for each heart face rolled, heal 1 HP for each HP face rolled, take an item card for each item face rolled. (The heart, HP and item faces are not carried by the PDF text layer; their order follows the movement die effects list below.) Then, as long as you are not already in combat from a previous turn, you will draw an encounter card on every turn.
6. Once each player has taken a turn, at the start of the leader's next turn, the stage clock advances by 1. Once it reaches 7, players have one more free round to finish the current stage. On each subsequent round until the stage is completed, the curse clock will then advance one hour every round (at the beginning of the starting player's turn) instead of the stage clock. (The clock works a little differently in Morning Sun difficulty, refer to the Morning Sun difficulty sheet for details)
7. When a player reaches the boss room of a stage, they may engage the boss immediately, or they can choose to wait one turn for the other players to catch up. On the next turn, they must begin battle, drawing a boss from the appropriate tier, according to the difficulty sheet.
8. When players level up, they can either unlock their next primary weapon in sequence, or unlock any secondary ability. You level up by reaching 6 XP, by defeating a boss, (everyone who is in the boss room when the boss dies gains a level) or from some events. Full levels gained from events or bosses do not reset any xp gained so far.

Setup - Standard Game Mode

1. Choose a difficulty level and place the difficulty reference sheet where it can be easily seen by all players. If you are using the Map deck, draw 6 of these cards as well, kept face-down for now. (See: Map Deck, p.15 for more info)
2. Place the appropriate number of curse cards (see right) for the selected difficulty in the encounter deck, then shuffle the encounter deck and item deck separately, and place them in reach of all players.
3. Randomly place the 5 Dracula Relic tokens face-down in the large boss room space at the end of stages 1-5. Shuffle and place the Dracula deck near the end of the 6th stage, and draw 5 Boss cards (refer to difficulty sheet, most difficulty levels use tiered boss decks) and either place one face-down near the end of each stage, or lay them out face-down clearly ordered from 1-5.
4. Each player chooses a vampire hunter to play as. Take your character's token, character sheet, and skill deck.
5. Separate the primary weapons from secondary abilities. Primary weapons will have a small icon in the lower right corner. A few characters only have one primary weapon, in which case, you can set that aside as your starting primary weapon. Most characters have an assortment of primary weapons, which are numbered and unlocked in order, for those characters, the "1" will be your starting primary weapon. Some characters have special starting equipment or conditions, which are indicated on the character sheets. If your character sheet does not indicate otherwise, then assume that in addition to your starting primary weapon, you may choose only one secondary ability to begin the game. This can be a subweapon, spell, or conditional ability such as a double jump or whip swing, whatever you feel will be most beneficial to help you survive the early game. It is a good idea to discuss your choices with the other players, and try to have an assortment of different abilities to complement each other. Place your starting equipment in front of you, or on the appropriate spaces of the optional character mats.
6. All hunters have a max health of 16, but different heart limits, as indicated on the character sheets. Everyone starts with full health, 0 experience, and 0 hearts. If using the character mats, take a marker for health, hearts, and experience. If you use the small character sheets, just use a small plastic clip to track health, and set aside piles of individual heart and experience tokens within reach of all players.
7. Give the Leader Token to the player who has most recently been bitten by a vampire bat, mosquito, or other blood-sucking creature. (Or agree on a slightly less stupid way of deciding the first player, your call.)

Movement

The game begins with the leader rolling the 2 movement dice and the bonus die. Before rolling for movement, at the start of each player's turn, as long as they are not still in combat from a previous turn, they have the option to change their equipment as needed, including swapping your primary weapon for another you have already unlocked, changing a piece of clothing/armor, changing to a different subweapon (Again, only if it has already been unlocked by leveling up), etc. There is no heart cost to change equipment at the start of a turn, unless you are already engaged with a monster from a previous turn. At the beginning of the game, you will not have much equipment to change, but you will start picking up items and unlocking new abilities as you go. As a result of the movement roll, the leader moves and/or potentially gains hearts, HP, or items. After moving, he/she will draw an encounter card. The encounter is resolved (See: Monsters, Combat, or Events, p.10-15) and the movement dice pass clockwise to the next player. Once each player has taken a turn, and it is the leader's turn again, the leader must advance the Stage Hand of the clock (inner circle) by 1, and then proceeds to take his/her next turn.

Movement die effects:

• Movement face: Move the appropriate number of spaces either forward or backward. Must move the full amount of the roll in either direction. You may only stop your movement short if you choose to stop on a space next to another player, or on a space with an event marker. (See: Events, p.14) You may just stop your movement next to an event or player without actually attempting the event or assisting the player if they are in battle, these are always optional actions.
• Heart face: Gain one heart, if not currently at your character's max.
• HP face: Gain 1 HP if not currently at max health.
• Item face: Gain 1 item card.
• Bonus face: Optional extra 3 movement.

Curse Clock

The two hands of the Curse Clock represent both the passage of time and the severity of Dracula's curse. The inner circle of numbers 1-7 (Stage Clock) indicate the current turn. This hand advances after each full round, once every player has taken a turn and the leader begins his/her next turn. Players have 7 full rounds to complete each stage without consequence.

Once the Stage Hand reaches 7, the players have one last round before the curse level begins to increase. At the start of the leader's 8th turn in a stage, the Stage Hand stays at 7, but instead, the Curse Hand advances by 1 hour after each full round until the current stage is completed.

When the boss of the current stage is defeated, the Curse Hand stays where it is, the Stage Hand returns to 1, and the Leader Token is passed to the next active player after the player who defeated the boss. Example: if the players are, in clockwise order, Simon, Shanoa, Alucard, and Maria, and Shanoa inflicts the finishing blow on the boss, then Alucard would take the next turn, so he would be the first to enter the next stage, and would become the leader for that stage. The Stage Hand of the clock then advances as before on each of Alucard's subsequent turns. Whether the players move into the next stage immediately or not, the clock continues to advance, time does not stop if you decide to linger in the previous stage for a few turns.

The Curse Hand of the clock begins at XII (noon). Players have 12 "hours" to complete the game. If at any point, the Curse Hand goes completely around the clock and comes back to XII (midnight). The players immediately lose the game. The Curse Hand can advance in the following ways:

• If the Stage Clock has expired before the boss of the current stage is defeated, the Curse Hand advances one hour on the leader's turn each round until the stage is completed.
• If a player is killed, the Curse Hand advances by one hour.
• If a Curse Card is drawn, the Curse Hand advances by one hour.
• Various other events can cause the Curse Hand to move either forward or backward.

Monsters

One of the two types of cards you will find in the encounter deck are Monster cards. When a player draws a monster card, they must immediately either fight or run from the monster. Here is a breakdown of the information on the monster card, and how it relates to combat.

1. Attributes: These are the monster's attributes, which represent how the monster attacks. In the case of Malachi, it is a flying monster which also attacks with darkness. You may have gear that protects you from attacks with certain attributes. If for example, a monster only attacks with fire, and you are wearing a Fire Mail, you do not take any damage in the battle, no matter how many times the monster hits you. However, if the monster has both Fire and Flying attributes, the ability to fly gives the creature a slight advantage. In such cases, when you can defend against one but not all attributes, you only take half of the total damage, rounded up to the nearest whole number. Example: A monster has an ATK of 3, with Ice, Poison, and Flying attributes. If you are wearing a Blue Cape (immune to Ice), and the combat roll results in the monster hitting you 3 times. Normally this would result in 9 damage to the player, but because of your Ice immunity, the damage is halved, and then rounded up to the nearest whole number. Therefore in this case, the player only takes 5 damage. Important Note: Remember to always cut the total damage in half after adding all of the hits in the roll together, not before. Otherwise, with an ATK value of 3, the hits would be 1.5 each, rounded to 2, and 3 hits would result in 6 damage. Instead, just add the 3 hits of 3 damage each first, and then divide the total of 9 in half to get 4.5, which rounds up to 5 damage.

2. HP, ATK, and RUN:

   • HP: Monster's base HP (This may vary depending on the difficulty level you are playing, and which stage you are currently in. Refer to the difficulty reference sheet to see if you need to add to this number.)
   • ATK: Monster's attack power. Indicates the base amount of damage done to the player's HP per hit. Like the monster's HP, this may be affected by the difficulty level and stage, refer to the difficulty reference sheet.
   • RUN: This indicates the minimum roll needed to run from this monster. If you do not want to risk fighting this monster, you may roll the movement dice to run. When running, candles count as 0s and do not produce hearts. If the Run value is 5+, then a roll of 5 or higher is needed in order to escape unharmed. If successful, discard the monster, and you have the option of drawing a second encounter card, but be careful, if you draw a second monster, you cannot run again this turn, so you either have to kill it, or at least fight it this turn and run away on your next turn. If the run roll fails (You roll 4 or less on a Run of 5+), you still escape the monster, but must take damage equal to the monster's ATK. Then discard the monster. On a failed run roll, you do not draw another encounter, but if you started your turn fighting that monster from a previous turn, you may still roll for movement.

Combat

When you draw a monster, unless you choose to run, you immediately begin fighting it. In most battles, you will roll the 5 combat dice (as mentioned previously, the 6th combat die is not used unless specifically indicated on a card). When rolling the combat dice, you are only attacking with your currently equipped primary weapon. The die results are as follows:

(If you are using your character's custom dice (From the "Morning Sun" expansion, these faces will be different, but are purely aesthetic, the effects are the same as the standard dice.)

• Sword face: Player hits the enemy once, for the damage value of his/her equipped primary weapon, plus any damage modifiers based on weaknesses (See: Monsters, p.10) or item bonuses. Reduce the enemy's HP accordingly (It is helpful for each player to have a calculator handy to track their own monsters' HP).
• Monster face: Enemy hits the player once, for its ATK value, again, adjust the total damage if you are wearing equipment to protect you, or if the enemy's ATK is altered due to difficulty level or event/stage conditions.
• Pot roast face: Heal 1 HP immediately. This also acts as a weak defense, as all pot roasts rolled are deducted from the total damage taken from enemy attacks. So if an enemy has an ATK of 3, and hits me once, and I also roll 2 pot roasts and 2 swords, I only take 1 damage instead of the normal 3, and also hit the enemy twice.

Except in some cases when a card allows you to reroll, you will almost always only roll the combat dice once per turn. This is where your secondary attacks come in. It is usually advisable to start the game with an attack spell or subweapon as opposed to some sort of passive ability, because you will want a secondary line of offense to help you get through the early stages, when you are still fairly weak. Each use of a secondary attack costs a certain number of hearts, as indicated on the card. You may use secondary attacks as many times as you like in a turn, as long as you have enough hearts to do so, and may use them before or after your combat roll. Meaning if you have enough hearts to kill a monster with only secondary attacks, you can end the battle without ever having to roll, and thus, not risk taking any damage, because the monster can only attack during the combat roll, and secondary attacks always hit automatically, you do not need to roll for them. Just spend the necessary hearts and calculate the damage, again making sure to factor in any item bonuses or weaknesses.

If you are unable to defeat the monster in one turn, you remain engaged with it until your next turn when you will roll again and continue where you left off, meaning you will be unable to move, obtain hearts, or have another encounter on your next turn, you will just be locked in battle until either you or the monster dies, or you decide to run away. Remember, the clock is ticking, so if you encounter a powerful monster in an early level, and it will take you several turns to defeat it, sometimes it is best to just run away rather than waste time and fall behind the other players. Another player may decide to stop within two spaces of you and help out if you need it. If another player does stop to help you, your monster does not count as their encounter. They will help with your monster first, either just throwing a few secondary attacks at it, or rolling for combat, and whether they kill it or not, they still draw a separate encounter card after. Assuming the second player does not kill your monster, they are not locked into combat with it. Only the person who originally encountered the monster is required to either fight or run, anyone stopping to help out still has the option to just walk away on their next movement roll.

Important note: This is a co-op game. Stopping to assist in combat should always be a mutual agreement, if you are doing fine on time and think you can handle the monster easily on your next turn, say so, and tell the other players to move on ahead. If a player refuses and proceeds to kill-steal, they may choose to let you have the item drops, that is up to them, but the experience always goes to the person who inflicted the killing blow, it is not shared. If you find yourself playing with a person who would do something like this after you ask them not to, calmly explain to them how friendship and co-op games work, and then, as is custom, roll up your sleeves, grab them by the collar, lift...then escort them away from the table, through the foyer, and out of your house, exchanging annoyed looks and/or obscene gestures through the shrinking gap as the door swings shut. Did you lock it? Good, you never know with those kill-stealers...they're a shifty bunch.

When a monster's HP is reduced to 0, the monster dies, you gain experience, which may vary depending on the difficulty level, refer to the difficulty reference sheet. You level up once you have 6xp, (See: Leveling Up, p.16) if the monster drops hearts, take the # of hearts indicated in the "drop" box of the card, up to your heart max, if the "drop" box shows an item chest and a number, draw that number of item cards from the item deck, and as mentioned previously, if it drops a specific item, keep the monster card with your other items, treat it as a normal item card and discard when used. If you were fighting a monster from a previous turn, once you finish it off, you may then roll for movement, but do not draw another encounter, that monster counts as your encounter for every turn you continue to fight it.

Example: Here is an example of how combat will go. This is an idealized scenario where the character is equipped perfectly, which rarely happens, but for the sake of explanation, work with me, this game requires some suspension of disbelief.

Sonia's Vampire Killer has a base damage of 16. She is also wearing a Bandana, giving her +1 to whips, a Bloody Glove, which is +2 to whips, and Oxfords, which give a +1 for crushing damage, which her whip also does. So her total primary weapon damage is currently 20 per hit. This Spectral Sword is only weak to ice, so the whip doesn't give her any additional bonus there, but with the roll shown, she hits twice, doing 40 damage, leaving the Spectral Sword with only 5 HP.

With this roll, the Spectral Sword also hits her twice, for 2 damage per hit. However, she is wearing the Nun's Robes, which protect her from Dark attacks, so that alone would reduce the damage taken by half, down to 1 per hit...but her Bandana has another feature, it also protects from slashing damage, which means that both of this monster's attributes are useless against Sonia. She takes no damage while wearing these items, no matter how many times the Spectral Sword hits her. She also rolled a pot roast, meaning she can heal 1 HP.

Now, with the monster having 5 HP left, Sonia could wait until the next turn to finish it off, but rather than waste time, she has enough hearts to use her Ice Soul. She gets bonus damage with ice from her Blue Cape, and the Spectral Sword is weak to ice as well, which would double the damage, but that isn't important in this particular case, because even without weaknesses or item bonuses, the Ice Soul alone does 5 damage, which will finish off the Spectral Sword handily. Sonia gains 1XP, and draws an item card. Upon use, the Ice Soul also automatically restores 5 HP to Sonia and anyone within 2 spaces of her, thus ending her turn with full health.

Events

The blue-bordered cards in the encounter deck are Event cards. Some events happen automatically when drawn, in which case they are discarded once they are resolved. Others require a test of some sort. Sometimes you will need to roll to determine the outcome, and some events require a certain ability in order to pass successfully. If an event requires a test or ability, the player who initially draws the event card must attempt it. If this player is unsuccessful due to a failed roll, or not having the necessary skill yet, the card may remain available for other players to attempt if it has a potential desirable outcome (it is up to the players to decide if they want to keep it. If a card has only negative outcomes, or the potential positives are not worth the time or risk, they are never required to attempt it again, and may discard it after the initial attempt). If someone may want to attempt it again, place one of the green Event markers on the appropriate space on the board where the card was drawn, and place the matching marker (same letter) on the card, and set it beside the board for reference. Players may now choose to stop their movement on or within 2 spaces of the event marker, and may attempt it again if they wish. Once the best possible outcome is achieved, the card is discarded. If you do decide to stop and attempt an event that is already on the board, you still draw your own encounter as well. (If you are unsure about a particular event, look for it in the Glossary and Card Clarifications, starting on p.32)

Map Deck

The Map Deck is an optional game mechanic which introduces more chaos and provides unique conditions for each of the 6 stages in the game. If you use the Map Deck, you may either draw 6 of the normal location cards, or 5, and one starting location. Starting locations may only be used for the first stage on the board, and are meant to ease the players into the game, help with leveling up early, and if a player is using Soma, it will ensure Soma obtains at least one soul early in the game. The starting locations show the castle entrance in the lower right corner of the card back, see the image to the right.

Note: Some locations will not work in the alternate game modes. See "Variants, p.25" for more info. Also, if you are playing a solo game, most locations will work, but you will need to remove Catacombs, as it requires other players in order to function properly.

Starting Locations: All starting locations work the same way. See the example to the right. Each one guarantees you only fight one type of monster while you are in the first stage of the game. All of these are fairly weak monsters which drop hearts, and all have a soul for Soma. If you are using one of these locations, when you draw a monster, no matter what it is, refer to the location card, and use the stats, including drops, shown there instead of what is on the actual monster card. As soon as the boss of the first stage has been defeated, shuffle all discarded monsters (but not events) back into the encounter deck so that they can still be encountered later in their true forms. If you return to the first stage later on, you will still only fight the type of monster shown on the location, but do not reshuffle them again, this is only done the first time the stage is completed. Also, once the Stage 1 boss has been defeated, you no longer gain XP for any monsters in Stage 1, should you decide to return there later. (This only applies when using one of the starting location cards)

Leveling Up

Players receive XP each time they kill a monster. The amount of XP received depends on the monster's HP and the difficulty level you are playing. Refer to the difficulty reference sheet. Once you reach 6 XP, you level up and go back to 0 XP. You also level up by defeating bosses, or sometimes as a result of an event card. In these cases, you just instantly unlock a new weapon or ability, no XP is gained or lost. So if you have 5 of the 6 XP needed to level up, and then an event or boss battle causes you to level up, you still keep the 5 XP you had before, so only one more regular monster kill is needed to level again. When a boss is defeated, all players who are in the boss room when it was killed level up. The player who lands the killing blow also claims that stage's relic as a bonus.

Leveling up allows you to either select an additional secondary ability, or if your character has more than one primary weapon, as most do, you can unlock the next one in sequence, based on the numbered crest at the bottom right of the card. After leveling up, you still keep all previously unlocked weapons and abilities. They remain available to switch between, keep them separate from your equipped weapons so it is clear which ones are equipped. The optional character mats have specific spaces to indicate which abilities can be equipped simultaneously to make this process simpler.

Equipment

Along with single-use attacks and healing items, you will find pieces of equippable armor in the item deck, which comes in 6 types, as indicated by the icons in the upper right corner:

Headgear, Body Armor, Cape, Accessory, Footwear, Shield

Most characters can equip one of each type of armor at a time, unless a particular card changes that. The Garbo Hat, for example, allows you to equip 2 accessories at once. The character mats only have one space for accessories, so in this case, place the extra one off to the side. There is no limit to the number of items you can carry, but you only benefit from the ones you actually have equipped.

If you aren't using the character mats, be sure to position your cards in such a way that you and everyone else can easily tell which cards are equipped, and which are passive items you are carrying, either turn them sideways or face-down in a stack until you need to change. Non-equippable items, such as food, single-use attacks, etc. do not need to be equipped or otherwise prepared prior to use, they can be used directly from your stack of carried items.

The first 5 types of armor all have their own separate equipment slot, as seen on the character mats. Shields are slightly different. They are treated like any other equipment card, in that they have to be equipped in order to function, and you may only use one at a time, however, shields do not have a designated equipment slot. Instead, shields can be placed in any other equipment slot you wish. So if you find a shield, but don't currently have a cape that you care to use, the shield can fill your cape slot. (Shields are a new addition as of the "Morning Sun" expansion.)

There are 6 colors of defense dice, all with a different combination of faces. Shield-type items typically allow you to use a combination of 2 defense dice, as indicated by the colored shield icons on the card. Some other items and abilities also give you defense dice. You can use as many defense dice as you are able to equip in your item slots. Shields do not have a designated slot, but can be equipped in any other unused armor slot.

There is a difference between actual shields, and other defensive items. If you are wearing body armor or a helmet that gives you a defense die, it will only protect you. However, if you have a shield item equipped, it may be used to defend another player in combat within 2 spaces of you. A player in combat may defend him or herself with any defensive gear they have equipped, and if necessary, can be defended by only one other player with a shield. So when 4 players are all fighting a boss together, and you all have shields, decide which of you would be most helpful to the player you are trying to protect. When using a shield to protect another player, if the shield has a counterattack or Karma Coin effect, this effect applies to the player being defended. Examples:

• The player being defended, not the one holding the shield, would gain the 1 heart if a Karma Coin is rolled.
• This shield does still break and the player holding it must discard it, but the defended player would be the one to reroll the combat dice and take additional damage. Please don't try to defend your buddy with an Alucart Shield if you want to remain friends.

When rolling to defend yourself, you may only use 1 shield and 1 other defensive item at once. Any non-item abilities your character has can add extra dice on top of a shield and armor, but unless the card says otherwise, these extra dice are only for your own protection. So, shield + body armor, shield + helmet, etc. When defending another player within 2 spaces, you can only use your shield, or any abilities that specifically say they can target other players, your armor only protects you. Also, if you have an item or ability that allows you to reroll combat dice, such as the Eye relic, those rerolls must be done before you attempt to defend. Lastly, defense dice cannot be rolled to protect you from damage taken while running away from battle or damage from events.

The only characters who are an exception to the normal armor setup are Pumpkin and Trevor. Pumpkin cannot equip headgear, but has his own special set of costumes in his skill deck. These take the place of normal headgear for Pumpkin. Trevor comes along with Grant and Sypha, who each have their own separate spaces for their 5 pieces of armor. (See Trevor in the "Characters" section for more info.)

Armor and weaponry can be swapped in 2 ways. If you are not currently in battle, prior to rolling for movement, you may change as many weapons or pieces of armor as you wish at no cost. However, if you need to change equipment at any other time, such as during battle, or to handle an event card that was just drawn, you may do so at the cost of 2 hearts per card.

Sharing Items: On your turn, you may give (not receive) one item to another player within 2 spaces of you. On the other player's turn, they may pass an item to you as well if they are still within range.

Example: Alucard encounters an Arachne. He currently has his Morningstar equipped, which is a crushing weapon. Arachne is weak to slashing, so Alucard can spend 2 hearts to switch back to his Short Sword, which, while normally the Morningstar is the stronger weapon, the Arachne's weakness makes a sword a better choice for this battle. The Arachne also attacks with poison, and Alucard just happened to pick up an Immunity Ring several turns ago, but currently has a Ruby Ring equipped instead. If he wishes, he may spend another 2 hearts to switch to the Immunity Ring for this battle, since he isn't planning on using fire, the Ruby Ring won't help much at the moment, but the Immunity Ring will not only prevent him from being poisoned during battle, it will protect him from taking any damage at all against the Arachne, as she has no other attack attributes. Once the battle is over, Alucard is free to change his equipment back, without spending hearts.

Status Effects

There are 3 attributes which, when a monster hits you with them, inflict a lasting status effect. All status effects begin on the turn after the current battle ends.

• Curse (This is not related to the curse clock): Take 3 curse status markers. On your next 3 turns, you may only use your primary weapon. All secondary abilities, meaning anything that is not a primary weapon, even non-combat abilities or passive abilities such as Nathan's DSS cards, are locked until this status wears off. Discard one curse marker at the end of your next 3 turns.
• Stone: Take 1 stone status marker, you are petrified on your next turn, you may not move or take any action.
• Poison: Take 3 poison status markers, and at the beginning of each of your next 3 turns, remove one poison marker and lose 3 HP, but you cannot be directly killed by poison. It will take you no lower than 1 HP.

Bosses and Dracula Relics

(Relics are not used in Classic Mode)

You will face 5 bosses on your way to Dracula. These are selected at random at the start of the game. Each boss is kept face down until at least one player enters the room and decides to begin the battle. Depending on your difficulty level and current stage, you may draw from 3 different tiers of bosses, refer to the difficulty sheet, and the tiered boss list below. When a player enters the boss room, they have the option of starting the boss battle immediately, or waiting only one turn in order for others to catch up and enter the room (If the player rolled an encounter as they entered the boss room, whether they choose to engage the boss or not, the encounter is ignored.) Once entering the boss room, you cannot leave, and cannot wait more than one turn before beginning the battle, even if you are alone. Bosses typically have much higher HP and higher ATK than normal monsters, and some even have special conditions for defeating them. You will all have to work together to survive. Try to keep every player alive if possible, because when the boss is killed, only the players in the room level up. If you inflicted a great deal of damage to the boss, if you are killed and sent back to the start of the stage, and the boss dies before you make it back into the room, you will not level up. However, whether you are in the room or not, all players are returned to full health immediately after the boss's death, (any status effects inflicted by the boss take effect after the battle is over, on your first turn going into the next stage) and any players still earlier in the level may (but aren't required to) warp immediately to the boss room to join the rest of the group. Unlike normal monsters, if a roll would result in the death of both the attacking player and the boss, the player survives, as his/her health is instantly restored to full when the boss dies.

After defeating each boss, draw item cards equal to the number of players, lay them out for everyone to see, and decide who will take which card. Everyone must take one of these cards, one player cannot take more than one, and all players receive this boss treasure, even if they were not in the boss room when the battle ended.

In addition to gaining a level, the player who landed the killing blow takes that boss's relic. The relics are the 5 parts of Dracula's body needed to break the curse. Once receiving a relic, it is bound to the recipient, and cannot be given to another player. When you reach the final room of Stage 6 to confront Dracula, the curse cannot be broken until all players carrying a relic have reached the final room.

(Relics continued on next page)

Each of the 5 relics also grants the owner a special ability, as follows:

• Eye: If you would be killed by a combat roll, you may reroll once to attempt to survive. Only applies to deaths during combat, not as a result of events.
• Rib: You may reroll one scythe per battle.
• Heart: Immune to both status effects and damage from Poison, Stone, and Curse.
• Nail: +3 to primary attack damage.
• Ring: Gain 1 heart at the start of each turn. If your character already automatically gains hearts each turn, the effects stack, gain 2 hearts per turn.

When you are ready to move on after a boss fight, return the Stage Clock to 1, pass the Leader Token to the player to the left of the one who killed the boss, and proceed into the next stage. Remember to check the difficulty reference sheet for any new rules for this stage, and turn over the next Map card, if applicable.

Boss Tiers

Tier 1 Bosses	Tier 2 Bosses	Tier 3 Bosses
Adramalech	Abaddon	Death (OoE) 400/5
Angel Mummy	Aguni	Forgotten One
Behemoth	Arthroverta	Frankenstein (HC)
Bone Golem	Astarte	Galamoth
Brachyura	Balore	Goliath
Carmilla	Beelzebub	Graham Jones
Cerberus	Blackmore	Keremet
Creaking Skull	Brauner	Koranot

Difficulty

There are 5 difficulty levels for the standard game. As you are setting up a new game, decide which difficulty level you want to play, and lay the appropriate reference sheet out for everyone to see. Difficulty levels dictate the number of Curse Cards that are shuffled into the encounter deck, as well as any changes to enemy HP or ATK as you progress to each new stage on the board, how much XP is received for monster kills, and the difficulty of the bosses for each stage. Morning Sun is the Beginner mode, and has a slight change to how the Curse Clock functions, and a few of the more complex or especially cruel (see also: unfair) events are removed from the encounter deck for your first game.

Difficulty levels are not used in Classic Mode. A difficulty level is selected for Lord of the Castle Mode, but no curse cards are added to the deck, it only affects enemy HP/ATK, XP, and Boss selection, and keep in mind, the higher difficulty level for the hunters, the easier it is for the Dracula player.

Death

When your health is reduced to 0, you are killed. However, the only time death is permanent is when you are killed by Dracula himself. If you are killed at any other point in the game, you do get to return to the game immediately, but a few horrible, horrible things happen first...

1. The Curse Clock advances by one hour.
2. You lose a level. You can choose to give up any one secondary ability, or your highest-numbered primary weapon. (You never lose your starting weapons, so if you are killed near the beginning of the game before you have leveled up, you still keep whatever you started the game with)
3. You must discard all unequipped items. Any gear currently equipped may be kept, and you also keep your current supply of hearts.
4. Place your character token back at the start of the current stage, (either in the previous boss room, or back outside the castle entrance if in the first stage). If there is a save room somewhere in the current stage, you may revive there instead if you like. Play proceeds to the next player, and you may begin moving through the stage again on your next turn.
5. If you are killed by a monster, and you are the only one fighting it, the monster is discarded, it does not stay in place for other players to attack later. However, if another player has already stopped to help, and either player is killed, the monster does remain for the other to continue fighting on their next turn. In this case, regardless of which player remains, their next turn is spent fighting the monster, they do not draw a separate encounter.

(There are different rules for death if you are playing in Classic Mode. Refer to "Variants" for details.)

Dracula and Breaking the Curse

The Curse Clock remains in effect until Dracula's Curse has been broken. Once the 5th boss has been defeated, the 5 relics will usually be divided between a few players. A relic cannot be transferred, it is bound to the character who defeated the boss guarding it. In order to break the curse, any player carrying at least one relic must reach the Castle Keep (the final room of the 6th stage.) Once you reach the Keep, you no longer take turns, and will pass each turn until the remaining relic-bearing characters arrive. You are free to continue passing until every player arrives, but if you are running the risk of the clock striking midnight before the last player arrives, as long as all of the relic-bearers are present, you may proceed while the rest of the party catches up. Once all relics are inside the Keep, they must be destroyed with fire. This can be done with any sort of fire-based attack or item, so be sure you are prepared for this in advance. If the only option is a fire spell or subweapon, you must spend the hearts necessary to use this ability. If a fire item is used, it is discarded, and if a primary weapon with a fire element is used, it must be equipped, but you do not need to roll for success. At this point, the curse is broken and the curse clock is removed from the game. So even if other players are still making their way through the final stage, and a curse card is drawn, or they are killed by a monster or event, the advancing of the curse is no longer a concern. Any perks the players have gained from the now-destroyed relics they were carrying are also lost once Dracula is summoned.

In the process of destroying the relics, while successfully breaking the curse, Dracula is resurrected, and immediately engages the character who ignited the relics. This character draws a random card from the Dracula deck and begins the battle. Each Dracula form is unique, they will each have different HP and ATK values, attack attributes, and some even have different weaknesses, although Holy weapons are almost always a safe bet. Play proceeds similar to a normal boss fight from that point, each character in the room will have an opportunity to roll the combat dice and spend hearts to use secondary attacks, while any player not yet in the room continues rolling for movement and resolving their encounters. Sometimes these stragglers can be helpful, doing their best to build up hearts or collect healing items for the group before heading in to join the battle with Dracula. As with any boss room though, once you enter, there is no going back.

Unlike the rest of the game, if you are killed by Dracula, you are permanently dead, and out of the game. Any items you were carrying are lost, and cannot be taken by the remaining players as they continue the battle. So if it looks like you're going to die, you may want to pass a helpful item to someone else before you make that last attack roll.

Once Dracula's HP has been reduced to 0, unless you are very lucky, the game is not necessarily over yet. Dracula has a chance to resurrect in a different form every time he is defeated. This can sometimes happen several times in a single game, keep that in mind and try not to use up all of your hearts and consumable items when fighting the first form unless it is absolutely crucial in order to survive. It is very likely that he will return at least once. In a typical game, players will have to fight Dracula an average of 3 times. To determine if Dracula will return, roll the 5 combat dice. If you have only defeated one Dracula form so far, then on the first resurrection roll, even one (symbol not in text layer) in this roll will cause Dracula to resurrect. If this happens, draw another Dracula card and continue the battle from there. After 2 forms have been defeated, the second resurrection roll requires 2 (icon not in text layer) for Dracula to resurrect. Then 3 the following time, then 4, then 5, and can continue indefinitely if 5 (icon not in text layer) are rolled every time after that, but that is extremely unlikely, and even less likely that you will survive that long.

Transcriber note: the resurrection-roll symbol is a combat die face that the PDF text layer does not carry; the printed rule is kept as printed and the face is left unnamed here.

When any Dracula form has been defeated and Dracula is unable to resurrect...Congratulations! The players (even the dead ones) have won the game!

Variants

There are two alternate game modes, which will be explained in this section. The text for each is color-coded, as you will find exceptions and slight rule variations throughout the manual for each of these modes. Once you understand the basics of the modes, you can skim the other sections of the manual for the corresponding colors to find additional info about Classic Mode and Lord of the Castle Mode.

Classic Mode

Classic Mode is a challenging, stripped-down mode that is meant to closer resemble the classic linear action-platformer games in the series, as opposed to Simon's Quest and the later, more rpg-inspired 'Metroidvanias' that inspired the standard mode. I recommend playing this after you are already familiar with the standard game.

Note: This mode works best without the Map Deck, but you may include it if you like. Just be sure to first remove the following locations: Abandoned Mine, Alchemy Laboratory, Colosseum, Crystal Cavern, Garden of Madness, Long Library, Marble Gallery, Necromancy Laboratory, Reverse Clock Tower, Sandy Grave, Somnus Reef, Treasury, Tower of Dolls and Mirrors, Town of Veros.

The following items can be left in the box, they are not needed for this mode:

• Item Deck

• Curse Clock

• Dracula Relics

• Third movement die (bonus die)

• Any special equipment in a character's skill deck. These are treated as normal clothing/armor items and cannot be equipped in Classic Mode. (Alucard Mail, Pumpkin's costumes, Leon's accessories, anything with an orange equipment type icon in the upper right corner of the card.)

• Curse Cards, Save Room Cards.

• Difficulty sheets. Classic Mode has its own scaling difficulty.

• Experience markers

• Event Markers

• Lay out the 5 life tokens, crystal side-up. These represent the players' shared pool of 5 extra lives. This is explained further down. Also place the Classic Mode reference sheet near the board for the players to see.

• Set aside 3 Save Room markers at the beginning of the game. These can be placed anywhere in the castle, at any time, but a save point is only activated once at least one player reaches it. Once placed, they cannot be moved. Simply passing the save room restores health to full and allows you to revive there if you are killed later in the stage, there is no need to stop on the save point as you pass, but you have the option of doing so for a turn if you wish. Warp rooms are still kept in the encounter deck, but all save room cards should be removed from the deck beforehand, or simply discarded when drawn. (If Save Room cards were not removed from the deck, and one is drawn, draw a new encounter card in place of it)

• All players choose a character and start with only their first primary weapon, no secondary abilities are chosen at the start of the game. (There are a few exceptions to this, refer to the Characters section to see if your character starts with any special equipment in Classic mode) Roll only the two movement dice for movement. You will have an encounter on every turn if not already engaged with an enemy from a previous turn. Unlike the standard mode, you may not move backward, but you can still stop short of your roll next to another player, or in a save room. Event cards may still force you to move backward, but you may not purposely move backward.

Monster HP does not scale up in this mode, but all monster and boss ATK is predetermined by stage, as follows:

• Stage 1: Monsters ATK 1, Boss ATK 2

• Stage 2: Monsters ATK 2, Boss ATK 3

• Stage 3: Monsters ATK 3, Boss ATK 3

• Stage 4: Monsters ATK 3, Boss ATK 4

• Stage 5: Monsters ATK 4, Boss ATK 4

• Stage 6: Monsters ATK 4, Dracula (Follow ATK on card)

• Recommended events to ignore in this mode: Aeon the Village Chef, Broken Armor, Castle Map, Ferryman, George the Minstrel, Graveyard (If only 1-2 players), Hammer, Headhunter, Laura the Jeweler, Lisa, Locked Door, Locked Door 2, Lord of the Castle, Loretta Lecarde, What a Horrible Place to Take a Nap, Pachinko, Saint Germain, Stella Lecarde, Treasury, Zead, Zombies, Save Rooms.

Lord of the Castle Mode

Lord of the Castle Mode is an asymmetrical variant, where one player will take on the role of a reincarnation of Dracula, who is in control of everything the hunters encounter as they fight through the castle toward him. This is an expanded version of the infamous "Lord of the Castle" event card which has been present in the game from the start.

Note: If you have extraordinarily bad luck, this mode can be randomly initiated in the middle of a standard game by drawing the "Lord of the Castle" card and failing a die roll. In this case, if a player does randomly become Dracula, they exchange their character's cards for the Dracula Powers deck, and place their character's token in the Castle Keep (at the end of stage 6). From that point on, follow the rest of the rules shown here. You do not need to go through the encounter deck and remove all curse cards, if Dracula draws a curse card, just discard it face-up and redraw.

The relics of the true Dracula are still placed throughout the castle, they provide the same bonuses and must be used in the same way as the standard mode at the end of the game. No curse cards should be placed in the encounter deck for this mode, and the Lord of the Castle card should also be removed from the encounter deck, or simply discarded if drawn.

The players should all agree on a difficulty level for this mode, keeping 2 things in mind:

• Do not add any curse cards to the encounter deck, regardless of difficulty level.
• As difficulty is increased for the hunters, the game is made easier for Dracula.

The Dracula player shuffles all decks except for the item deck and keeps them nearby. Dracula draws 3 cards from the encounter deck at the start of the game. This is Dracula's starting hand, and is kept hidden from all other players. Dracula's starting hand limit is 3, and increases by 1 for every hour that passes on the Curse Clock. Ex. if the curse is at 5, Dracula's hand limit will be 8. If for any reason the curse is reduced, Dracula must immediately discard down to the current level.

Depending on what is in Dracula's hand, or if he is trying to save a particular monster or event for a certain character who may be vulnerable to it, Dracula may be forced to occasionally play events that are helpful to a hunter. There is usually little benefit for Dracula to play these events, but it can be a strategic move at times.

Some events, such as the "Castle Map" event, instruct players to draw from the encounter deck until they have 5 events to place throughout the castle. Should Dracula choose to play the Castle Map event, this is handled as in a normal game, Dracula does not control where these extra events are placed. The same applies for "Horde of Monsters", the hunters will draw the monsters at random from the encounter deck, shuffling any event cards back in once they find 5 monster cards, they cannot come from Dracula's hand.

Dracula also has a deck of special powers that can each be used only once per stage. If any power is not used in a particular stage, it cannot be saved and used in a later stage. The powers are either used before the stage is complete, or forfeited. Dracula will select 2 of these powers at the start of the game, which are kept face-down along with his encounter hand, he may use these anywhere in the first stage. He may select a number of new powers at the beginning of each stage going forward, depending on the position of the Curse Hand on the clock when the stage begins. Once a power is used in a stage, do not discard it with the encounter cards, just lay it out face-up in the Dracula play area so it can be seen. With the exception of Trance, all powers must be used before a player rolls or takes any action.

• Curse XII-II: Select 2 powers
• III-V: Select 3 powers
• VI-VII: Select 4 powers
• VIII-IX: Select 5 powers
• X-XI: All powers available

Dracula Powers

• Bleed: Remove all hearts from one hunter
• Malediction: Give one monster or boss +3 ATK for one full round
• Nightmare: Return one event from the discard pile to your hand
• Raise: Return one monster from the discard pile to your hand
• Regenerate: Restore HP to one monster or boss (roll # dice)
• Trance: Force a hunter to reroll once during combat
• Vanish: Discard hand and redraw

Before the hunters enter each of the first 5 stages, Dracula draws 3 boss cards and selects which one the players will fight at the end of the current stage, and discards the other two, face-up, so the hunters can see which bosses were not selected. Discarded bosses are out of the game and cannot be used again later. Once selected, the boss of the stage cannot be changed unless Dracula draws and decides to play an event that will do so. If you are using the optional Map Deck, Dracula selects the locations in the same way before the players enter each stage, but only draws 2 locations, chooses one, and discards the other face-up. It should be agreed upon beforehand by all players if the special Stage 1 locations will be used in this mode or not. If not, Dracula may remove the Stage 1 cards from the location deck before shuffling and drawing, also be sure to remove the Reverse Clock Tower location from the Map Deck, as no curse cards are used in this mode. (I recommend not using the Stage 1 locations in this mode, as it will leave Dracula with very limited options in the first stage, and potentially give the hunters an unfair advantage for the remainder of the game.) If someone is playing Soma, in this mode only, he may begin the game with any one of the following souls: Fleaman, Zombie, Skeleton, Medusa Head, Warg, Ghost, or Merman.

When hunters receive items, they draw one more item card than is needed, and choose one to discard face-up before secretly taking the other(s). For example, if there are 3 hunters in the game, and a boss is defeated, they draw 4 item cards, choose one to discard, and then decide who takes the other 3 (as with the standard mode, each player must take only one). If a monster drops 2 items, 3 are drawn, the hunter discards one and keeps the other 2, etc. In the rare case that any of the decks are depleted, shuffle and reuse the discard piles.

All of the hunter players' unequipped cards should be kept face-down. They may be shown to other hunters secretly, but never to Dracula. When an item or weapon is equipped, it is placed openly face-up, in view of Dracula.

As soon as each boss is defeated, Dracula must show his remaining hand to the hunters, who may choose up to 3 encounter cards (Not powers) to force Dracula to discard. Of these 3, 2 will go to the discard pile, and the hunters choose one to remove from the game completely, so that Dracula cannot retrieve it from the discard pile later. Dracula keeps the remaining cards in his hand, and redraws up to his current limit before beginning the next stage.

Dracula can win one of two ways: If the Curse Clock strikes midnight, or if the hunters make it to the battle with Dracula and are all killed. As with the standard game, the hunters can only win if they can make it through the castle before the clock runs out, and then defeat Dracula. Dracula forms are selected by drawing 2, selecting 1 and discarding the other. If all forms run out, reshuffle the discards.

Characters

As of this release, the game contains 21 playable characters, 22 including Dracula (Lord of the Castle mode only). Here is a brief summary of the play styles and unique benefits of each of the 21 hunter characters.

Albus

• Appearances: Order of Ecclesia, Early 1800s
• Primary: Agartha
• Secondary: Glyph Magic
• Special: Dominus, Agartha powers up with each Dominus glyph unlocked
• Starting: Agartha, one secondary

Alucard Fahrenheit Tepes

• Appearances: Dracula's Curse, 1476; Symphony of the Night, 1797; Aria of Sorrow, 2035; Dawn of Sorrow, 2036; Judgment; Harmony of Despair
• Primary: Swords
• Secondary: Subweapons, Dark Magic, Shapeshifting
• Special: Gains 1 heart for every (symbol not in text layer) rolled in combat.
• Starting: Short Sword, one secondary

Charlotte Aulin

• Appearances: Portrait of Ruin, 1944; Harmony of Despair
• Primary: Magic Tomes
• Secondary: Magic Spells
• Special: Heart Regeneration (Gain 1 heart at the start of every turn)
• Starting: Encyclopedia, one accessory, one spell
• Classic Starting: Encyclopedia, one spell

Cornell

• Appearances: Legacy of Darkness, 1844; Judgment
• Primary: Claws, Energy Scythes
• Secondary: Werewolf Form, Subweapons
• Special: Rampage Mode: Cornell takes no damage and maintains werewolf form for an entire battle. Sun and Moon Cards: Allow Cornell to turn the clock back an hour at the cost of 15 hearts, or turn the clock forward an hour to gain 15 hearts.
• Starting: Claws, Werewolf Transformation, one secondary
• Classic Starting: Claws, Werewolf Transformation

Eric Lecarde

• Appearances: Bloodlines, 1917; Portrait of Ruin, 1944; Judgment
• Primary: Alucard Spear
• Secondary: Subweapons, Spear Abilities
• Special: Mirror of Truth (Inflict 100 HP Damage on all currently engaged enemies in the entire stage)
• Starting: Alucard Spear, one secondary

Hector

• Appearances: Curse of Darkness, 1479
• Primary: Swords, Axes, Spears
• Secondary: Devil Forgery
• Special: Summons Innocent Devils to assist in battle. Once summoned, the Devil stays with Hector until the current battle has ended. Hector will make a separate combat roll on behalf of the summoned Devil, counting only the hits. Innocent Devils do not heal or take damage.
• Starting: Short Sword, one Innocent Devil

Henry Oldrey

• Appearances: Legacy of Darkness, 1844
• Primary: Flintlock Revolver
• Secondary: Subweapons, Gun Abilities
• Special: Save children for various bonuses. If all are saved, first form of Dracula has 1/2 HP.
• Starting: Flintlock Revolver, one secondary

Jonathan Morris

• Appearances: Portrait of Ruin, 1944; Harmony of Despair
• Primary: Assortment of whips
• Secondary: Subweapons, Martial Arts
• Special: Dual Crush. Jonathan can spend additional hearts when using a secondary attack in order to combine it with another player's secondary attack. The damage and attributes of both of these attacks are combined. The second player has the option to contribute 2 hearts to the attack as well, which will double the damage. (Triple if the monster is weak to the attack.) Dual Crush may only be used once per battle.
• Starting: Leather Whip, one secondary

Julius Belmont

• Appearances: Aria of Sorrow, 2035; Dawn of Sorrow, 2036; Harmony of Despair
• Primary: Vampire Killer
• Secondary: Subweapons, Martial Arts, Whip Abilities
• Special: Julius' Vampire Killer gains power with each subweapon he unlocks. Also, only he and Simon have the Whip Swing ability, which allows them to easily bypass certain traps.
• Starting: Vampire Killer, one secondary

Juste Belmont

• Appearances: Harmony of Dissonance, 1748
• Primary: Vampire Killer
• Secondary: Subweapons
• Special: Can augment the Vampire Killer with special tips to add damage and special attributes to primary attacks. Magic Books serve the same purpose for Juste's subweapons. Juste also possesses the Fairy Journal, which gives him some control over the monsters he encounters. In Lord of the Castle mode, the original monster is returned to Dracula's hand, and Dracula must choose another monster from his hand to replace it. If Dracula only has one monster in his hand at the time, Juste draws from the encounter deck as normal, keeping the first monster and shuffling any events back in.
• Starting: Vampire Killer, one secondary

Leon Belmont

• Appearances: Lament of Innocence, 1094
• Primary: Whips
• Secondary: Subweapons, Magic Orbs
• Special: Magic Orbs add damage and special attributes to subweapons. Leon also has a few special accessories that grant him unique bonuses.
• Starting: Whip of Alchemy, one secondary

Maria Renard

• Appearances: Rondo of Blood, 1792; Symphony of the Night, 1797; Judgment; Harmony of Despair
• Primary: Doves, Owls
• Secondary: Summoning
• Special: Heart Regeneration (Gain 1 heart at the start of every turn)
• Starting: Doves, one secondary

Nathan Graves

• Appearances: Circle of the Moon, 1830
• Primary: Hunter Whip
• Secondary: Subweapons, Magic Cards
• Special: Can combine the Mercury, Neptune, and Pluto cards with any of the elemental DSS cards for various effects.
• Starting: Hunter Whip, Mercury, Neptune, one secondary (Can be either a subweapon or any DSS card)
• Classic Starting: Hunter Whip, Mercury and Neptune

Pumpkin

• Appearances: Lament of Innocence, 1094; Curse of Darkness, 1479
• Primary: Vampire Killer
• Secondary: Pumpkin Subweapons
• Special: Unable to equip any type of normal headgear due to his massive pumpkin head, but instead has his own unique set of costumes, each with its own special ability.
• Starting: Vampire Killer, base Pumpkin Subweapon

Richter Belmont

• Appearances: Rondo of Blood / Dracula X / Vampire's Kiss, 1792; Symphony of the Night, 1797; Harmony of Despair
• Primary: Vampire Killer
• Secondary: Subweapons, Martial Arts
• Special: Subweapon Crashes - Much more powerful versions of each subweapon. Any bonuses for subweapons also apply to crashes, such as the Brilliant Mail, which grants +1 damage for all subweapons. Richter also has the highest starting primary attack of all characters, making him very powerful in the early game, however, his primary weapon cannot be upgraded later.
• Starting: Vampire Killer, one secondary

Shanoa

• Appearances: Order of Ecclesia, Early 1800s; Judgment; Harmony of Despair
• Primary: Weapon Glyphs
• Secondary: Glyph Magic
• Special: Shanoa can equip any 3 glyphs at once, as long as at least one is a primary weapon, meaning that she is the only character in the game who has the ability to equip more than one primary weapon. If 2 or more primary weapons are equipped, you must choose which you are attacking with for each combat roll, and use 6 combat dice. The only time Shanoa can equip 3 secondary glyphs is when she intends to use Dominus. To use Dominus, she must equip Dominus Anger, Dominus Agony, and Dominus Hatred together. With all 3 of these glyphs equipped in combat, rather than making a combat roll, she can instantly kill any monster or boss in the game, even Dracula, but Shanoa will also be killed in the process, with a few changes from normal death. An hour does not pass on the Curse Clock. She still loses a level and all unequipped items, but also, all pieces of Dominus are lost back to her upgrade deck and must be unlocked again if you wish to use Dominus again later, so this should only be used when there is no other hope. If Dominus is used against Dracula, as with any other death during the Dracula battle, death is permanent.
• Starting: Confodere, one other glyph

Simon Belmont

• Appearances: Castlevania / Super Castlevania IV, Castlevania Chronicles, 1691; Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, 1698; Judgment; Harmony of Despair
• Primary: Vampire Killer
• Secondary: Subweapons, Whip Abilities
• Special: With a combination of brute strength and holy weapons, Simon has the potential to be the strongest character in the game, but his arsenal is not quite as versatile as most others. Also, only he and Julius have the Whip Swing ability, which allows them to easily bypass certain traps.
• Starting: Leather Whip, one secondary

Soma Cruz

• Appearances: Aria of Sorrow, 2035; Dawn of Sorrow, 2036; Harmony of Despair
• Primary: Handguns, Swords, Axes, Spears, and let's not forget Terror Bear!
• Secondary: Dominance
• Special: Soma starts with only a primary weapon. All of his secondary attacks come from his ability to absorb souls from enemies. When any monster or boss with the soul icon (symbol not in text layer) is killed, Soma immediately unlocks that ability, and can equip up to two souls simultaneously. Soma does not have to be the one who killed the monster, or even be nearby. When Soma levels up, he only upgrades his primary weapon, souls have to come directly from monsters. Likewise, when Soma is killed, only his primary weapon is downgraded, souls are never sacrificed. Keep in mind that Soma is the reincarnation of Dracula, and though it is very unlikely, there is a chance that during the final battle, Soma could be possessed by Dracula again and turn on the rest of the hunters. If this happens, Soma will have to sit this battle out, however, if the rest of the team is able to defeat evil Soma, and Dracula then resurrects in another form, an all-powerful version of Soma will emerge and rejoin the hunters to finish the fight.
• Starting: Handgun
• Classic Starting: Handgun, one of the following souls (only if not using starting locations): Fleaman, Zombie, Skeleton, Medusa Head, Warg, Ghost, or Merman.
• Lord of the Castle Starting: Handgun, one of the following souls (only if not using starting locations): Fleaman, Zombie, Skeleton, Medusa Head, Warg, Ghost, or Merman.

Sonia Belmont

• Appearances: Castlevania Legends, 1450
• Primary: Vampire Killer
• Secondary: Soul Weapons
• Special: Burning Mode: Sonia takes no damage for one entire battle, similar to Cornell's Rampage Mode.
• Starting: Leather Whip, one secondary

Trevor Belmont / Grant Danasty / Sypha Belnades

• Appearances: Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, 1476; Curse of Darkness, 1479; Judgment
• Note: Trevor is one of the more complicated hunters to play, there are special rules for him, and he requires essentially managing equipment on 3 separate characters simultaneously. I recommend waiting to use him until you have played a few games and are familiar with the gameplay.
• Primary: Vampire Killer / Short Dagger / Warakiya Staff
• Secondary: Subweapons, Spells
• Special: Trevor is accompanied by Grant and Sypha, who can each equip their own 5 pieces of armor. The skill deck for the trio has the same card back, but at the lower left corner of each, the card shows which character(s) use that ability. A few of the subweapons are shared between the 3 characters, but only one may equip them at a time. Example: The axe subweapon may be used by both Trevor and Grant. If Grant has the axe equipped, Trevor cannot use it unless you actually transfer it to him, which follows the same rules as normal equipment changes. However, all 3 characters are considered to be active together, so you may switch between them at any time at no cost. You may even do so during battle, so you can roll to use Trevor's Vampire Killer as your primary attack, and then switch to Sypha to throw a few spells before your turn ends. Each character has shared HP and hearts, if one of them dies, they all die. Upon death, you only need to sacrifice one ability or upgrade, not one for each character, and the curse clock still only advances by 1 hour. If you are using the character mats, the HP, hearts, and XP indicators are only on the Trevor mat, but keep the Sypha and Grant mats in front of you as well to manage their separate equipment. Each character also has a different combat bonus: Trevor may reroll a single die during combat against a monster who is weak to his primary attack, Grant gains 1 heart per hit, Sypha gains 1 HP per hit. You are still limited to one combat roll per turn, but may use secondary attacks from any of the 3 at once.
• Starting: Leather Whip (Trevor), Warakiya Staff (Sypha), Short Dagger (Grant), and one secondary ability.

Yoko Belnades

• Appearances: Aria of Sorrow, 2035; Dawn of Sorrow, 2036; Harmony of Despair
• Primary: Belnades Staff
• Secondary: Magic, Healing
• Special: Primary attack gains power for every new spell unlocked. Heart Regeneration (Gain 1 heart at the start of each turn)
• Starting: Belnades Staff, one secondary

Glossary and Card Clarifications

"Aeon, the Village Chef" Event: Place this card to the side of the board when drawn. Players may at any time place 3 food items on this card, all players may contribute, and it does not need to be on their turn. When Aeon receives 3 food items, discard those 3 item cards and heal every player for the combined value of the foods used. Aeon remains on the side of the board and is always available, players do not need to go back to the space where he was encountered. Ignore and redraw in Classic Mode.

ATK: Amount of damage the monster does to the player for each scythe rolled in combat.

Attribute: "Attribute" refers to the qualities of every attack in the game, both for monster and hunter attacks. Some possible attributes are Fire, Ice, Holy, Slashing, Flying, Poison, etc. These are important because they factor into enemy weaknesses, and can also correspond with certain items to give attack bonuses or immunities to attributes.

Battle: Refers to one full battle with one enemy, regardless of the number of turns it takes to defeat the enemy. In the case of a boss, if you are killed and then re-engage the boss again later, it is considered a new battle. For Dracula, each Dracula form is considered an individual battle. This is especially important in the case of Sonia's Burning Mode or Cornell's Rampage Mode. These characters can be invincible for the entirety of a boss battle, or a battle with one Dracula form, but if Dracula resurrects in a new form, these abilities end, and the character is once again able to take damage. The same applies to Hector's Innocent Devils, which, once summoned, remain in play for the remainder of only the current battle.

"Behemoth" Event: Player takes 2 damage every turn in which they move 3 spaces or less. This is not limited to movement rolls, it also applies if a player is locked in battle for a turn, held in place by another event, or decides to stop their movement short of 3 spaces for any reason. Once you reach the boss room, you are safe from the Behemoth, but the Behemoth remains active until the boss is defeated, in the event that a player is killed and has to start the stage over, they will continue to be chased by the Behemoth. If this event happens to come up in the stage where the Entrance to Demon Castle location was drawn, both effects are happening simultaneously, as if the players are being chased by 2 Behemoths, one which always attacks the player at the back of the line at the end of every round, and the other attacks anyone who moves 3 spaces or less on a turn. Can also occur simultaneously with the Garden Maze location.

"Black Ink" Item: This item is only seen as a drop from a specific monster. It has no use on its own, but you may encounter a certain character at some point in the game who is looking for it. (See also: Eagle Feather, Horse Hair)

"Blood Cloak" Item: Receive 1 heart each time you take damage. Meaning in combat, even if you are hit several times, the entire roll that causes damage to you lets you take 1 heart. Same for damage from events or any other cause, if you need to reduce your health, whether it is by 1 or by 15, you receive 1 heart.

Boss: The final enemy of each of the first 5 stages in the game. Upon defeating a boss, the person who inflicted the killing blow receives the Dracula relic that boss was guarding, everyone currently inside the boss room gains one level immediately, any earned XP is kept. All players, whether in the room or not, regain all health and if they wish, may move directly to the boss room before beginning the next stage. Also, item cards equal to the number of players are drawn and laid out for everyone to see, and decide who will take which item. Each player must take one of these cards. Bosses are divided into 3 tiers of difficulty, refer to the difficulty sheets for when to use each tier. Once a boss is defeated, its boss room is treated as a warp room.

"Broken Armor" Event: If you are not currently wearing a piece of armor matching the 3 types shown on the card, this card has no effect. You may not pay hearts to remove a piece of armor after drawing this card, but if you are wearing more than one of the types shown, you may choose which to discard. Ignore and redraw in Classic Mode.

"Castle Map" Event: The 5 events drawn, even if they would typically happen immediately, can be avoided by placing them behind you, possibly in a previous stage, so they are out of the way. These events, unlike normal event markers, are automatically encountered if your movement ends on the space where the marker is placed, but you may also stop short to attempt the event if you wish. Ignore and redraw in Classic Mode. In Lord of the Castle Mode, if Dracula plays this event, the hunters draw from the encounter deck and place the 5 events as in standard mode, shuffling monsters back in. The events may not come from Dracula's hand.

"Catacombs" Location: In this stage, when a player runs from a monster, it moves onto the next player (by turn order, not board position). This may lead to a pileup of monsters all attacking one player, in which case they must either attack each individual monster on their turn, or run away. Once the player decides to attack one monster, they may no longer run away on this turn, they must attack each other monster as well. On the next turn, they may then run away rather than continuing to attack. Regardless of the number of monsters, only one run roll is made, and based on the result, the player may take damage from some monsters, and not from others. Even if damage was done to one or more of the monsters prior to running, all monsters are restored to full health when they approach the next player. If a player is killed by the monsters, they automatically move to the next player as if the previous player ran from them.

"Chaotic Realm" Location: In this stage, (symbols not in text layer) are reversed. Keep in mind (symbol not in text layer) are more common, so you are more likely to take damage in this stage. No change to (symbol not in text layer).

Combat Dice: 5 dice used when fighting enemies. Sword = Player hits the enemy with his/her primary weapon. Scythe = Enemy hits the player for its ATK value. Pot Roast = Player heals 1 HP or cancels out 1 HP of damage done by the enemy on this roll. A 6th combat die is included with the game, but is only used under special circumstances.

Curse Card: When you see any reference to "curse cards", this is referring to the cards showing an image of the curse clock and the words "Another hour has passed. Advance the curse counter." When one of these cards is drawn from the encounter deck, you must automatically advance the large hand (outer ring) of the curse clock by one hour. The number of curse cards in the encounter deck varies depending on the game mode and difficulty level selected. Curse cards, and Curse Clock, are not used in Classic Mode. Curse Cards are not used in Lord of the Castle Mode.

D6: Some cards will instruct you to roll a D6, other cards refer to the movement dice, or # dice. These are all the same thing, it just means to roll the 2 matching movement dice with #s 1-5 and a candle. Candles typically count as a zero when rolling to resolve an event. There are a few exceptions when candles count as 6, but these will always be specifically stated on the card. Unless the card says otherwise, always assume candle = 0.

Damage: The base amount of damage an attack will do to an enemy. For primary weapons, the damage value counts for the number of swords rolled in combat. For secondary attacks, the damage counts for each individual use of that attack. Damage may be altered by weaknesses or immunities to certain types of attacks. (See: Attributes)

"Death Carriage" Event: The player who draws this event moves back to the start of the current stage, and then immediately moves 5 spaces, and rolls a single combat die. Each of that player's subsequent turns in this stage will be the same, automatically move 5 spaces, roll one combat die. If the player rolls a (symbol not in text layer) 3 times before reaching the end of the stage, they succeed. If they reach the end of the stage before 3 (symbol not in text layer) are rolled, they fail. As soon as the third is rolled, the event ends, and the player may begin rolling for movement again on their next turn. If the rest of the players decide to engage, and defeat the stage's boss while one player is still riding the carriage, they have the option to abandon the Death Carriage event if they desire, or they may continue it if it looks like they may succeed as the remaining players move into the next stage. In the event that the rest of the players engage the boss, which happens to be Death, in the same stage where Death Carriage is taking place, if the event succeeds or fails before the boss battle ends, the effects of the event are applied immediately, which means if the Death Carriage player succeeds, and the other players have already done more damage than the amount of HP Death now has, he is instantly killed. This is the only case when someone outside of the boss room would gain 2 levels, as this player technically killed Death remotely. Any damage already done by Death to the players fighting him remains, but any damage that occurs after the success of Death Carriage is calculated with an ATK of 3. The 200HP and 3 ATK is before any modifiers based on difficulty level, be sure to add these. While a player is riding the Death Carriage, if they happen to land close enough to another player in combat, they may still use secondary attacks to help out as they go by, but cannot make a primary attack roll.

"Death Doll" Item: Death Doll will protect you from dying one time no matter the cause. Destroyed (removed from game) after one use. Does not need to be equipped, only carried.

"Death's Robe" Item: Death's Robe will protect you from dying one time no matter the cause. Destroyed (removed from game) after one use. Unlike Death Doll, this item has to be equipped in order to work.

"Devil Ring" Item: Increases your primary weapon damage based on your current HP as it stands before you roll for combat. So for example, if your base primary weapon damage is 10, and you currently have 12 HP, then because you have lost 4 of your 16 total HP, add 4 to your weapon. You now do 14 damage per hit, until you either heal or lose a little more HP.

Dominus: Dominus is a special ability only available to Shanoa and Albus. It is comprised of 3 separate glyphs, which must all be equipped together in order to cast Dominus. No hearts or die rolls are necessary, the Shanoa/Albus player simply declares they are using Dominus. This instantly kills any enemy, even Dracula, but the player is killed along with the enemy. Shanoa or Albus must die in order for Dominus to work, so items like the Death Doll or Death's Robe cannot be used to save them in the process. Death due to Dominus is a little different from a normal death. First, the clock does not advance. Second, you must forfeit all 4 Dominus cards back to your deck. They can be recovered later as you continue to level up. Aside from that, the player also loses one other level in addition to the Dominus glyphs, as with a normal death, and all unequipped items are discarded as well. As with any death against Dracula, if Dominus is used against Dracula, death is permanent.

Doubles: In Classic Mode, doubles of any number allow you to either level up, or take any combination of HP or hearts in the amount of one die. Example: If you roll double 4s, you may level up, or you may take 4 HP, 4 hearts, 1 HP and 3 hearts, etc. If double candles are rolled in Classic Mode, you level up, and gain exactly 2 hearts and 2 HP, these cannot be split differently.

Dracula: Dracula is the final boss of the game. Once the 5 relics are collected, they must all be brought to the Castle Keep (the final space on the board) and burned to break the curse, and in turn, summon Dracula, who immediately begins battle with the player who summoned him. Each time Dracula is defeated, he has an opportunity to resurrect. (See the Dracula section for details)

Drop: What you receive for killing this monster. Some will drop a number of hearts, some will show a numbered chest icon, indicating to take that number of cards from the item deck. If a monster drops a specific item, keep the monster card along with your other items until it is used, and then discard to the encounter discard pile.

Dual Crush: Special ability for Jonathan, which allows him to spend extra hearts in order to combine one of his secondary attacks with that of another player, combining both the damage and all attributes of both attacks. The other player has the option of contributing 2 hearts as well in order to double the damage of the combined attack. If the enemy is weak against any of the attributes from either attack, damage is instead tripled. In the event that one of the abilities used in a Dual Crush requires a roll to determine damage, as with subweapons like Wrecking Ball, Agunea, Ricochet Rock, etc. do so prior to adding up the total of the combined damage. If both attacks require a roll to determine damage, roll both separately, then add the results together.

"Eagle Feather" Item: This item is only seen as a drop from a specific monster. It has no use on its own, but you may encounter a certain character at some point in the game who is looking for it. (See also: Horse Hair, Black Ink)

Encounter: On your turn, after your movement, you draw a card from the encounter deck, which will be either a monster or an event. The only exceptions to this is either if your movement will land you in the boss room, in which case you encounter the boss instead of drawing a card, or when you start your turn in combat from a previous turn. In this case, you finish the fight, then you may roll for movement, but do not draw an additional encounter.

"Entrance to Demon Castle" Location: If 2 or more players are on the same space, and there is no one else behind them, they all take the 4 damage. If all players are inside the boss room together, they are safe, unless one of them is killed and has to move through the stage again, in which case it will continue taking damage each round. If the Behemoth event happens to come up in the Entrance to Demon Castle location, both effects are happening simultaneously, as if the players are being chased by 2 Behemoths, one which always attacks the player at the back of the line at the end of every round, and the other attacks anyone who moves 3 spaces or less on a turn.

Equipped: Cards must be positioned in such a way that it is obvious which cards are currently "equipped" and which are simply being carried. A player may equip one of each of the 5 types of armor at a time, in addition to their own special equipment, for which each character has different rules. See the character sheets or "Characters" section of the manual for more detail.

Event: Events are the blue-bordered cards in the encounter deck.

"Ferryman" Event: Discard one item card in order to move anywhere within the current stage. Player who draws this event initially may choose not to use it, in which case it remains available. Once used, discard. Ignore and redraw in Classic Mode.

"Floating Garden" Location: Any monster with the (symbol not in text layer) attribute takes 1 additional damage per hit in this stage, meaning per (symbol not in text layer) rolled. In addition, all players are now (symbol not in text layer), and also take 1 additional damage per (symbol not in text layer). Only applies to combat rolls, do not take additional damage as a result of events, poison, etc.

"Forest Graveyard" Location: As soon as the boss of this stage is defeated, shuffle all monsters (only monsters, not events) from the discard pile back into the encounter deck. If for any reason you re-enter the stage later, even if you do not fight any new monsters while you are there, upon exiting the stage again, all monsters must again be shuffled back in.

Gaps: If an ability allows you to "cross gaps", this refers to event cards requiring you to jump over a pit of spikes or something similar. Sometimes you have the option to roll to succeed for these events, but a special gap-crossing ability grants instant success.

"George, the Minstrel" Event: Place this card to the side of the board when drawn. George is looking for a few rare items, which you will not find in the item deck. They are only available as drops from specific monsters, and have no other use. George remains on the side of the board and is always available, players do not need to go back to the space where he was encountered. If at any point in the game, all 3 rare items have been given to George, this card may be discarded. Ignore and redraw in Classic Mode.

"Graveyard" Event: When another player stops within 2 spaces of the target player being held by this event, the target player is immediately released, the event is discarded, and play continues. Otherwise, when the stage is completed, the player is released and may warp to the boss room or continue moving through the stage normally if they wish. If you draw this event in a solo game, discard and draw a new encounter card. In Classic Mode, players are unable to move in reverse to help the trapped player, and must continue through the level without him/her. If the stage is completed, the player is released, or if another player is killed and starts the stage over, they may help on the way back through. If playing Classic Mode with only 2 players, ignore this card and redraw.

"Guardian Armor" Event: Roll the 5 combat dice 5 times, keeping track of how many (symbol not in text layer) are rolled. If at least 15 are rolled over the 5 rolls, you succeed. Search the item deck from the top to find one of each type of armor indicated on this card. Shuffle all other item cards back into the deck. The 3 items received may be kept by the player who completed the event, or shared with other players who could benefit from them. For Classic Mode, if you succeed, in place of items, choose 3 players to level up. One player may level up more than once, all 3 can even be used by one player if you prefer.

"Hammer" Event: You must first decide on an item to give up, and shuffle it back into the item deck, then draw 5 new item cards. One must be kept, the rest are discarded. If you do not have any items, or do not wish to give one up, the event remains on the board, and is discarded once used. Ignore and redraw in Classic Mode.

"Headhunter" Event: If you do not have headgear equipped when this card is drawn, there is no effect, discard the event. You may not pay hearts to remove headgear after the event is drawn, the item is discarded immediately. Ignore and redraw in Classic Mode.

"Healing Mail" Item: Heal 1 HP when you move 6 or more spaces in one turn, not a cumulative count of spaces moved.

Hearts: Each character has a different heart limit shown on the character cards. This has no relation to the character's life. As in the early Castlevania games, hearts are treated as mana, or ability points. You will spend hearts for each use of a subweapon, spell, or most other secondary abilities. Hearts are mostly gained by rolling candles during movement, or from monster drops.

High Places: Similar to crossing gaps, some abilities allow you to "reach high places". If you see an event requiring you to jump onto a high ledge to retrieve an item or upgrade, usually you will need to have one of these abilities unlocked in order to succeed.

"Horde of Monsters" Event: Each player who is behind the player who drew this card may not move beyond the space where the card was drawn until 5 random monsters drawn from the encounter deck are defeated. Any player on or 1-2 spaces behind the "Horde" space may continue rolling for movement, but may not move beyond the Horde space. These players will also continue drawing their own encounter cards when applicable, but must also roll to attack at least one of the 5 Horde monsters on each turn. Players ahead of the "Horde" space may move back to help, but are not required to do so. If some players are able to move ahead and defeat the boss while others are still dealing with the Horde, the Horde event and all associated monsters may be discarded. If a player is killed by any of these monsters, the monster is not discarded, it continues to block that space until it is killed. Otherwise, normal rules for monsters still apply, even if you draw the Dodo Bird, or Chronomage, these monsters will still run away if you fail to kill them in one roll. In Classic Mode, as you are unable to move backward, any players ahead of the Horde space have no choice but to continue ahead without their companions, until the Horde is dealt with. If played in Lord of the Castle mode, the hunter players draw the monsters from the encounter deck, shuffling events back in, the monsters may not come from Dracula's hand.

"Horse Hair" Item: This item is only seen as a drop from a specific monster. It has no use on its own, but you may encounter a certain character at some point in the game who is looking for it. (See also: Eagle Feather, Black Ink)

HP: Hit Points. This represents a character or enemy's total health. All hunter characters have 16 HP, while monsters, bosses, and Dracula can span anywhere from 1 to several hundred HP.

Immune: The opposite of a weakness, some enemies can be immune to certain attributes. If you attack only with the attribute it is immune to, you will be unable to do any damage at all, regardless of how many times you hit it, whereas if the enemy is only immune to one of several attributes you attack with, you still do half damage (for odd numbers, divide in half, then round up to the nearest whole number) Example: You are fighting an enemy that is immune to fire, and you are attacking with a fire sword with a base damage of 13. Because the sword has two attributes, fire and slashing, you can still cut the enemy even if it doesn't burn. You hit it once for half damage. 13 / 2 = 6.5, rounded up to 7. You do 7 damage. The same rule applies if your character is wearing a piece of armor making him or her immune to a particular attribute.

Item: Item cards consist of single-use items such as food, potions, or disposable attack items, and also different types of armor. Items are not used in Classic Mode.

"It's Me, Pumpkin!" Event: When drawn, place to the side of the board, can be called upon when needed. One use only, discard the current boss and draw a new one at random. This event still functions the same way if there is a player currently playing as Pumpkin. If this event is used in Lord of the Castle mode, the replacement boss is still chosen at random from the deck, Dracula has no choice in the matter in this case.

"Konami Man!" Event: No, seriously, the points have absolutely no value. Don't email me and ask about this. They do literally nothing. There are no points in this game. It's a joke. Everyone does get an item though...so you've got that going for you, which is nice. In Classic Mode, everyone levels up instead of getting an item. The 5000 points, however, still do nothing. In fact, here's what you do: take out a piece of paper, and a pencil, or pen. Write down each player's name, and underneath it, write, in nice big, bubbly lettering - "5000 points!!!". Then...take that piece of paper, fold it in half, fold it in half again, and then set it on fire. Then take your next turn.

"Laura, the Jeweler" Event: Place this card to the side of the board when drawn. Players may give any unwanted accessories to Laura, and when she has 3, the traded items are discarded, and all players draw a new item from the deck, even if all players did not supply an item for crafting. Laura remains on the side of the board and is always available, players do not need to go back to the space where she was encountered. Ignore and redraw in Classic Mode.

"Let's Live Here Together" Event: You must stay on your current space on your next turn. You still roll the movement dice, because you can still get hearts, healing, and items, and you also still draw your encounter card, you just can't move, unless your encounter happens to be an event that forces you to move.

Level Up: When you level up, you can unlock either your next primary weapon, or any of your secondary abilities. You level up once you get 6 XP from killing monsters, by defeating or being in the room when a boss is defeated, or as a result of an event. Levels gained as a result of events or boss battles do not reset your XP, you just unlock a new ability and keep all XP you have gained from normal monster kills so far.

"Librarian" Event: This card allows you to either trade item cards, or sacrifice abilities you have unlocked in exchange for a random upgrade. If you do not wish to barter with the Librarian, the event remains on the board, and is discarded once used. (See also: Random Upgrade) Can be used in Classic Mode, but as there are no items, the card is optional, but you would have to give up two other unlocked weapons/abilities in exchange for one new weapon/ability drawn at random from your skill deck, if you decide to take a chance on it.

"Lisa" Event: Ignore and redraw in Classic Mode.

"Locked Door" Event: These doors are unlocked by keys found in the Item Deck. There are 2 keys in the deck, either key works for any normal locked door (not blue doors), and may be used again if another locked door is found later, but the player at the door must have the key in their possession. Ignore and redraw in Classic Mode.

"Lord of the Castle" Event: Each player only rolls once for this event. Once all players have rolled, if no one has rolled 5 (symbol not in text layer), the event is discarded and the game continues as normal. If a player rolls 5 (symbol not in text layer), the game transforms to Lord of the Castle Mode. Refer to "Lord of the Castle" in the Variants section for details. Ignore and redraw in Classic Mode.

"Loretta Lecarde" Event: Keep this card off to the side of the board. If both Loretta and Stella are found, follow the instructions on the Stella card. Ignore and redraw in Classic Mode.

"Madness" Event: If you fail this roll, once you change your character, start on the same space of the board, with the same amount of HP you had before, and the same number of hearts. If your previous character had more hearts than your new character allows, just take the max for your new character. You also unlock the same number of abilities/weapon upgrades you already had with your original character, keep all XP and items, you should not actually lose any progress as a result of this event, it is only meant to cause chaos and confusion, not directly hinder the player's effectiveness.

Magic: Magic attacks function similarly to subweapons, but can usually be equipped simultaneously with other abilities. Magic attack cards are labeled as such in the lower left corner.

"Magical Ticket" Item: Cannot be used if you are being held in place by an event, the event prevents all movement, and overrides the ticket.

Map Deck: An optional deck of "location" cards. One is drawn for each of the 6 stages in the game, and provides special conditions for its corresponding stage.

"Marble Gallery" Location: The effects of this location happen regardless of the reason the clock is advancing, whether it is a curse card, a player death, an expired stage clock, or some other event, roll for the location effect. If for any reason several hours are about to pass at once, and a 0-2 is rolled, do not double the passage of time, instead, add 1 hour. For example, if as a result of an event, 3 players are killed at once, roll for this location, if the roll is 0-2, 4 hours pass. If 3-5 is rolled, no time passes.

Martial Arts: Martial arts attacks are like magic attacks, in that several can be equipped simultaneously, they do not need to be swapped out like subweapons. Martial arts attack cards are labeled in the lower left corner.

"Martyr" Event: There are two Martyr events in the encounter deck, which are slightly different. The first allows a player to sacrifice a level in order to let everyone else level up. The other gives a player the option to kill themselves in order to restore all players to full health and retreat the Curse Clock by 2 hours. If you choose to do so, follow the normal rules for death, but do not advance the Curse Clock by an hour this time, just move it back 2 hours. Martyr cards are optional, but may only be used by the person who draws them, they do not stay available for another player to use if the first passes. Items like the Death Doll and Death's Robe cannot save you from dying if you choose to take advantage of the second Martyr card, you are required to die for this to work. If the second Martyr card is drawn in Classic Mode, you may still sacrifice yourself to restore all other players' health, but ignore the Curse Clock effect.

"Maybe if you Stand Completely Still" Event: If you do not move on your next turn, you gain an item. You may still roll the movement dice to attempt to gain hearts, HP and additional items, and you still draw your next encounter, you just ignore movement for that turn only.

"Merchant" Event: Spend 5 hearts to draw one item from the item deck. If the player who initially draws the event does not wish to use it, it remains on the board. Discard after someone uses it. In Classic Mode, you may spend 5 hearts to level up, but as with any event in Classic Mode, only the player who draws it gets a chance to use it, otherwise it is discarded.

Mist: If you see an event that refers to mist, such as passing through a grate or dodging falling spikes, only a few characters have an ability to turn to mist or pass through solid objects. These are Alucard-Form of Mist, Shanoa-Paries, Cornell-Teleport, and Julius-Omnia Vanitas.

Monster: The standard enemies (red-bordered cards) in the encounter deck you will fight throughout each stage.

Movement Dice: 3 dice which determine movement and actions. The roman numerals I-V on the main two movement dice show the number of spaces moved. Candles give you a heart. The third die is a bonus die that can give you a heart, 1 HP, 1 item, or an optional +3 movement. In Classic Mode, only the 2 # dice are used, as you will automatically have an encounter every turn.

"Munitions Factory" Location: Receive 1 heart for every 2 spaces moved in this stage. This is not a cumulative effect, only add up the spaces moved in one turn. If 5 spaces are moved, take 2 hearts, the extra space is not added to a future roll.

"Nest of Evil" Location: Miniboss is selected from the same boss tier as the current stage.

"Nightmare" Location: Every encounter card drawn while in this stage is taken from the bottom of the encounter deck. Once the card is resolved, it is placed back on top of the deck, meaning you will encounter these events/monsters again after exiting the stage. This applies to all events, even curse cards. If you re-enter the stage again later, any encounters drawn while you are there must be handled the same way.

"Pachinko" Event: Remains on the space where it was initially drawn. Can be attempted an unlimited number of times on that space, but requires the player to gamble one item for every attempt. Ignore and redraw in Classic Mode.

"Possession" Event: The player closest to the possessed player takes 1 damage every time the possessed player does damage to an enemy. This means a full combat turn, not each individual die result or use of a secondary attack. So if the possessed player rolls 3 hits, and also uses a subweapon twice, the closest player to them still only takes 1 damage for all of that. If 2 or more players are an equal distance from the possessed player, all of them take 1 damage. Players may not attack each other to attempt to lower the possessed player's health and free them, but you may find some items to help serve that purpose.

Primary Weapon: Your character's main attack. It is used by rolling the combat dice. Multiply the damage value of the weapon by the number of swords rolled to calculate the damage done to the enemy, remembering to factor in bonus damage from items, events, or the monster's weaknesses.

Primary weapons can be differentiated from the rest of your skill deck by looking for the primary weapon icon in the lower right corner. Most characters have multiple primary weapons, in which case, the icon will be numbered, with the "1" being your starting weapon, and unlocking them in ascending order.

Random Upgrade: If a card tells you to select a random upgrade, shuffle all of the skill cards that you have not yet unlocked, this includes both primary and secondary abilities, and draw one at random. Sometimes you will get lucky and unlock one of your strongest primary weapons early, but if you level up your primary weapon again later, you may only unlock the lowest-numbered primary weapon you have yet to obtain. For Soma, only draw from his primary deck, souls cannot be unlocked in this way.

"Resurrection" Event: "Most Powerful" is determined by highest HP. If tied, highest ATK. If still tied, highest RUN. If there is a tie with all 3 stats, just pick one.

Relic: The 5 parts of Dracula needed to break the curse. The relics are randomly placed face-down in the 5 boss rooms at the start of the game. The player who inflicts the final blow on a boss takes the relic that boss was guarding. Relics are bound to the recipient, and can never be transferred to another player. All 5 relics must be present in the Castle Keep at the end of the game in order to successfully break the curse before time runs out. Each relic also provides a bonus to the character carrying it, as follows:

• Eye: If you would be killed by a combat roll, you may reroll once to attempt to survive. Only applies to deaths during combat, not as a result of events.
• Rib: You may reroll one scythe per battle.
• Heart: Immune to both status effects and damage from Poison, Stone, and Curse-based attacks.
• Nail: +3 to primary attack damage.
• Ring: Gain 1 heart at the start of each turn. If your character already automatically gains hearts each turn, the effects stack, gain 2 hearts per turn.

Relics are not used in Classic Mode.

"Rest Here for a While" Event: This event simply restores your health to full, you are not actually required to wait there. If you do not want or need to restore your health, you may leave this event on the board for another player to take advantage of on a later turn.

"Rinaldo": Rinaldo will allow you to look at 5 item cards from the item deck, choose one to keep, and discard the rest. To do so, you must sacrifice all of the hearts you currently have. You must have at least 1 heart to trade. If you have no hearts, or choose not to barter with Rinaldo, he remains on the board for another player to encounter, but discard after one use. In Classic Mode, you may sacrifice all hearts to Rinaldo in order to level up once.

"Room of Illusion" Location: All of the enemy's weaknesses become their attack attributes, and vice versa. This is also the only location card that requires you to draw an additional location to add to this effect. If the second location drawn is related to enemy attributes or weaknesses, such as the Anti-Chapel, Sky Walkway, Floating Garden, Lost Village or Burning Town, the Room of Illusion's effect is always applied first. So for example, if the Room of Illusion and Sky Walkway are drawn together, then you encounter a monster which normally has Flying and Fire attributes, and Ice is its weakness. Room of Illusion causes Flying and Fire to become the monster's weaknesses, and Ice is now its only attack attribute. Therefore, because it no longer has the Flying attribute, the Sky Walkway effect does not apply to it. Or in the case of the Anti-Chapel, if a monster, let's say Erinys for example, normally attacks with Holy, it is swapped with its weaknesses (Dark and Poison), so the monster is now weak to Holy, and attacks with Dark and Poison. However, because of the Anti-Chapel, it still attacks with Dark and Poison, but is now once again weak to Dark. If Town of Veros is drawn with the Room of Illusion, the ATK attribute (Dark) and weakness (Fire) are swapped, but a Holy attack is still required in order to cure the villager, this is not a weakness, it is unaffected by the Room of Illusion.

Round: A round is a full rotation around the table. A new round begins once every player has taken a turn and play comes back around to the starting player. The Stage Clock (or Curse Clock once the Stage Clock has expired) advances at the start of each new round.

"Saint Germain" Event: Must be attempted immediately when drawn. Can either help or hurt the players. Roll the 5 combat dice. For each (symbol not in text layer), the Curse Clock moves back an hour, for each (symbol not in text layer), the Curse Clock moves forward an hour, and (symbol not in text layer) have no effect. You may reroll any number of dice only once, and then apply the results to the clock. Discard after use, cannot be attempted again. The positive and negative effects are added together, meaning if your result is to move the clock forward 3 spaces and back 2, then you would just move the clock forward 1 space. Ignore and redraw in Classic Mode.

"Sandy Grave" Location: Only secondary abilities may be used to attack the boss from outside of the boss room. Primary weapons can only be used inside the room.

Save Room: Health is fully restored upon drawing the event. Place a save room marker on your current space. Any player may stop on this space to restore health, and when a player is killed, they have the option to revive at any save room on the board rather than starting at the beginning of the stage. In Classic Mode, ignore Save Room event cards, and redraw. In this mode, players are given 3 save tokens at the beginning of the game, which they may place anywhere on the board at any time, but once placed, they cannot be moved. These save rooms are not active until at least one player reaches them, and health is restored simply by passing the save room, there is no need to stop, but you may do so if you wish.

Secondary Ability: This refers to anything in your character's skill deck that is not a primary weapon. Some characters have subweapons, some have spells, passive abilities, or even pieces of armor unique to that character. Secondary attacks almost always require the use of hearts, and unless the card has special instructions, the attacks will automatically hit without needing to roll, and can be used as many times in a turn as your heart supply will allow, unless the card specifically states that it can only be used once per turn or per battle. If a character starts with a "secondary ability", unless the character sheet says otherwise, you may select any non-primary weapon card. For example, though it is not technically an ability, Alucard has the option of selecting the Alucard Mail as his starting "secondary ability", but in most cases, it is recommended to begin the game with an attack of some sort as your secondary.

Soul: Monsters or bosses showing the soul icon (symbol not in text layer) release a soul when they are killed. This only matters if a player is using Soma in your game, otherwise you can disregard this icon. When a monster releases a soul, Soma immediately unlocks that monster's soul from his soul deck, whether he was the one to kill the monster or not. Soma can equip up to 2 souls simultaneously.

Spikes: Some items protect you from "spikes". You will only encounter spikes in event cards. For example, if you are attempting to cross a gap, without a special ability to do so automatically, you would have to roll. If the roll fails, normally you would fall into the spikes and take damage, but if you are wearing the Spike Breaker Armor, while you still fail the event, and do not gain the rewards from it, you would not have to take the normal spike damage shown on the event card.

Stage Clock: The small hand (inner ring) of the clock, tracking time through each stage. Players have 7 full rounds to complete a stage, then, starting with round 8, the Curse Clock (outer ring) begins to go up one hour per round instead. Stage Clock/Curse Clock are not used in Classic Mode.

Status Effects: The 3 status effects are poison, curse, and stone. (See: Status Effects, p.19)

"Stella Lecarde" Event: Keep this card off to the side of the board. If both Loretta and Stella are found, follow the instructions on the Stella card. Ignore and redraw in Classic Mode.

Subweapon: A secondary weapon used by some characters, including most of the Belmonts. Any secondary attack which is a physical weapon of some sort, rather than a magic spell or martial arts maneuver, is considered a subweapon. For reference, here is a complete list of all of the subweapons in the game:

• Alucard: Agunea, Holy Book, Holy Water
• Cornell: Axe, Cross, Dagger, Holy Water
• Eric: Axe, Boomerang, Holy Water, Mirror of Truth, Spear Head
• Henry: Axe, Cross, Dagger, Holy Water
• Jonathan: Axe, Bwaka Knife, Grenade, Paper Airplane, Shuriken, Wrecking Ball
• Julius: Axe, Boomerang, Dagger, Grand Cross, Holy Water, Holy Book, Javelin, Ricochet Rock
• Juste: Axe, Dagger, Holy Water
• Leon: Axe, Cross, Crystal, Dagger, Holy Water
• Nathan: Axe, Boomerang, Dagger, Holy Water, Stopwatch
• Pumpkin: Grand Pumpkin, Large Pumpkin, Pumpkin, Pumpkin Missile, Rampage Pumpkin, Shock Pumpkin
• Richter: Axe, Cross, Dagger, Holy Water, Holy Book
• Simon: Axe, Cross, Dagger, Garlic, Holy Water, Stopwatch
• Trevor: Axe, Cross, Dagger, Holy Water, Stopwatch

"Take a Rest" Event: This is optional, discuss it with the other players, and if you are not ready to fight the boss yet, you may discard the event. If you all decide you are ready, the player who drew this card is able to stay on his/her current space and either wait through their turns without taking any action, or may remain stationary but continue rolling for hearts/hp/items, and continue drawing encounters while they wait. Once all other players arrive within 2 spaces of the player who drew the event, you may all move directly to the boss room and engage immediately. If this card is drawn in Classic Mode by the player who is furthest ahead in the stage, it may be used as normal, but if anyone else draws it, discard and redraw, as it would require reverse movement, which is not possible in this mode.

"The Morning Sun Has Vanquished the Horrible Night" Event: The effects of this card also apply to bosses, but only if the player who drew the event card is the first to engage with the boss. The same applies to the "What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse" card. If the same player who drew Morning Sun also draws Horrible Night before Morning Sun wears off, or vice versa, the cards cancel each other out. Discard both immediately.

"Tornado" Event: If you do not move on your next turn, you may begin your following turn anywhere on the entire board, but remember, it is a one-way trip. Don't go too far from your companions, or somewhere you won't be able to escape. You may still roll the movement dice on the turn after drawing this card to attempt to gain hearts, HP, or another encounter. If you are locked in battle with a monster when the turn ends, the monster is swept along in the tornado with you.

"Town of Veros" Location: (See: Villager)

"Treasure Hat" Item: Only applies to item cards drawn directly from the item deck, not items given to you by other players, or a specific item dropped by a monster. You must decide immediately after the item is drawn if you want to use the Treasure Hat, you cannot keep an item until your next turn and then decide to exchange it.

"Treasury" Event: You may recover any one item from the discard pile. If there are not currently any items in the discard pile, this card has no effect, discard. Ignore and redraw in Classic Mode.

Turn Clock: (See: Stage Clock)

"Unholy Fortification" Event: If 3 (symbol not in text layer) are rolled for this event, for the remainder of the game, ignore holy weaknesses of any monster or boss, including Dracula.

Villager: If another card, such as the Town of Veros location, refers to a "villager", this means any event card featuring a friendly NPC, including neutral NPCs such as Zead or Saint Germain, who can sometimes be helpful to the players. In most cases, the NPC's name will be in the title of the card, with a few exceptions, like the second Librarian card, titled "What can I do for you?". Also applies to non-specific titles such as Librarian or Merchant. Does not apply to events featuring a purely evil character, such as Succubus or Headhunter. Optionally, the game now includes new versions of these cards with a villager icon for easy reference.

Here is a list of the events considered Villagers:

• George, the Minstrel
• Lisa
• Laura, the Jeweler
• Zead
• Merchant
• Hammer
• Wind
• Rinaldo
• Aeon, the Village Chef
• Saint Germain
• Loretta Lecarde
• Stella Lecarde
• Librarian
• "It's me, Pumpkin!"
• "What can I do for you?"
• Malus

Warp Room: If you draw a Warp Room card, place a Warp Room marker on your current space. If there is only one Warp Room on the board, it has no effect, but once at least one other Warp Room is found, you may move between them freely. Once a stage is completed, that stage's boss room is used as a warp room. Warping from one room to another does not count as a movement space, nor does it end your movement, you may stop at the Warp Room if you wish, or continue moving after warping until you have used up your movement roll. Warp Rooms are available in Classic Mode, but keep in mind you are not able to move backward, and events also do not remain on the board, so it may be a one-way trip, be sure you have a way back to your friends, and only warp if there is a very good reason to do so.

Water Magician: (symbols not in text layer) are counted cumulatively, and any type of ice attack will slow the water's rise by 1, but this effect does not stack if an ice spell is cast several times. All players in the entire stage are killed if the water reaches the top, not just the ones fighting the boss. Water Magician does not actually attack, so shields and other defensive items are useless.

Weakness: Some enemies will be weak to a particular attribute. For example, an Ice Demon would be weak to Fire, and naturally Dracula is almost always weak to Holy attacks. When you attack a monster with any attack containing its weakness, the Damage value of that attack is doubled. Even if the monster is immune to another attribute of your attack, if it is weak to any of the attributes, it cancels out the immunity and damage is still doubled.

"What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse" Event: The effects of this card also apply to bosses, but only if the player who drew the event card is the first to engage with the boss. The same applies to the "The Morning Sun has Vanquished the Horrible Night" card. If the same player who drew Horrible Night also draws Morning Sun before Horrible Night wears off, or vice versa, the cards cancel each other out. Discard both immediately.

"What a Horrible Place to Take a Nap" Event: Can be used in Classic Mode, but if 0-4 is rolled, just draw a new encounter card, ignore the Curse Clock effect.

"What Can I Do For You?" Event: This event may be re-attempted until the Jewel of Open is acquired. As soon as a player successfully rolls a 4 or 5, place this card to the side of the board to indicate that the party has the Jewel of Open and it is available to use at any time. At this point, this event cannot be attempted again to continue shaking free items out of the poor librarian. Carry on.

"Wrecking Ball" Event: Roll one movement die 3 times, adding the results of each roll together. If you have a total of 12 or more, you succeed, and level up.

XP: Experience points. You gain 1-3 XP for every normal monster you kill, the amount varies depending on the difficulty level you are playing, and the monster's HP. Once you reach 6, your character levels up and your xp resets to 0.

"You Don't Belong in This World" Event: Players may remove any one boss (Not Dracula) from the game entirely, if they choose to do so. They are still required to progress through that stage as normal even if the boss has been removed. The first player to reach the boss room takes the relic, at which point all players' health is fully restored and they may warp to join the leading player in the boss room. As the boss was not actually fought, no items are received at the completion of this stage, and no one levels up.

"You Feel Like You Are Being Watched" Event: If the boss attacks mid-stage as a result of this card, the player who was ambushed must immediately begin battle. All other players may engage if they are within 2 spaces. Normal boss rules apply for this battle, players level up and restore health to full afterward, and may (optionally) move directly to the boss room after the battle ends, either to collect the relic and begin the next stage, or to immediately begin the confrontation with Dracula if in Stage 6. The boss is still guarding the relic, so another player cannot move ahead to the boss room to collect it while the rest are fighting the boss. If all players currently fighting the boss are killed, place an event marker on the space where this card was drawn, it still remains in the same position until the players make it back to continue the battle. If this card is drawn by a player who is backtracking in a previous stage, and it results in the boss attacking, even though the boss of the stage they are in has been defeated already, they are instead attacked by another random boss from the Boss deck. If they are killed, they may revive in a later level and avoid having to continue fighting this boss alone, it is not necessary to defeat it in this situation, but the player has no way to run from a boss battle, so the only escape is to kill or be killed. If the event occurs in Stage 6, because Dracula has not been resurrected yet, another random boss is drawn and treated as a mid-stage boss. The curse cannot be broken, and Dracula cannot be resurrected until this boss is defeated. If playing in Classic Mode, or otherwise prevented from moving in reverse, all players throughout the stage are considered in-range, and must all immediately engage with the boss. The only exception being if they are already in battle, in which case, once they defeat or run from their current monster, they attack the boss on their next turn.

"Zead" Event: Any number of players may willingly reduce their HP to 1 in order to turn the Curse Clock back 1 hour for each. Once this is done, roll both movement dice, and if you do not roll a number equal to at least the number of players who reduced their HP to 1, then all of those players immediately die, the Curse Clock moves back to where it was, and the affected players must lose a level, all unequipped items, and go back to the start of the stage. Ignore and redraw in Classic Mode.

"Zombies!!!" Event: Simplified, this event just requires you to roll all 5 combat dice twice. For each (symbol not in text layer), gain 1 XP, for each (symbol not in text layer), lose 1 HP, and ignore all others. Can only be attempted once, discard after use. Ignore and redraw in Classic Mode.

FAQ

• Q: Do I still gain a level/relic if I manage to kill the boss with a ranged attack from outside the boss room?
  • A: Yes, but only if you are the one to inflict the killing blow.
• Q: Can items be freely shared between players?
  • A: No, on your turn, you may give only one item to another player who is within 2 spaces of you.
• Q: If I am playing Leon, or another player with special armor or items in their skill deck, can these items be traded to other players?
  • A: No, these characters' special items are equipped along with your other items, but are treated just like the rest of your character's weapons, spells, etc. They cannot be traded to other players, however, you can use them to barter with certain merchants, in which case, just return the items to your skill deck, don't discard them to the item deck. Just remember, items with a green border are only for your character.
• Q: If I am fighting a monster who is weak to several attributes, and I attack with a weapon that includes more than one of the monster's weaknesses, do the weaknesses stack?
  • A: No, an enemy is either weak to your attack or it is not. Whether you attack using one of its weaknesses, or all of them, the damage only doubles, it does not multiply further.
• Q: The Iron Golem shows a question mark as its weakness. What does this mean?
  • A: The Iron Golem has no weakness. In the original version of the game I used a '?' to indicate this, which wasn't as clear as I thought it would be. In the latest update, I've changed it to simply "N/A".

Item	Dropped by
Pentagram	Diplocephalus
Shuriken	Flying Zombie, Jack O' Bones
Javelin	Scarecrow
Magic Missile	Skeleton Gunman (Magic attribute)