Cthulhu: Death May Die – Season 4 Expansion Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Episodes
• Unseen Rules
• Additional Concepts
  • Unseen Mythos Cards
  • Unseen Board
  • Unseen Monsters
  • Unseen Relics
• Additional Setup
• Adjusting Difficulty
  • Splitting the Unseen rules
  • Elder One appearing in random locations
  • Single Unseen monster
• Insanity Card Clarifications
  • Split Personality
  • Hyperactivity
  • Uncontrollable Fear
  • Collective Psychosis
  • Investigator Tokens
• Quick Reference
  • Turn Order
  • Dice and Checks
  • Sanity
  • Battle with the Elder One
  • End of Game

Components

Season 4 contains the following components, as listed in the Russian rules:

Nyarlathotep Elder One set

• 1 two-sided Unseen Board
• 4 insanity cards
• 4 Elder One Stage cards
• 8 Mythos cards
• 8 Fire tokens
• 1 Nyarlathotep figure in true form (Nyarlathotep in True Form)
• 3 Moon Beast figures
• 1 Nyarlathotep figure in human form
• 1 minion card
• 6 Unseen Relic cards
• 6 investigator figures (John, Rosario, Anika, Bruno, Sylvia, Gary)
• 7 Unseen Monster cards
• 4 Unseen Mythos cards
• 17 two-sided map sections
• 17 monster figures (Leng Dweller ×5, Sand Dweller ×5, Albino Penguin ×2, Leng Spider ×2, Monstrous Frog ×1, White Polyp ×1, Ancient Creature ×1)
• 6 investigator boards
• 6 episode sets (the contents of each set are listed on the back of its box)

Component names above are translated from the Russian print, and counts are as printed. The text of the individual Unseen Monster, Unseen Relic and Unseen Mythos cards is printed on those cards and is not reproduced in this rulebook.

Episodes

Episode titles as printed in the Russian rules. The flavour descriptions of each episode are omitted.

• Episode 1 — Terror in the Skies
• Episode 2 — Ghost Garden
• Episode 3 — Fields of Hell
• Episode 4 — Death on the Nile
• Episode 5 — Pyramid of Horror
• Episode 6 — Window into Infinity

Unseen Rules

To make games harder, you can add the Unseen rules to any game of Cthulhu: Death May Die. The Unseen rules let players bring various monsters into any episode and/or add unique relics that investigators can obtain. These rules increase the difficulty of the game as a whole and are not recommended for inexperienced players. When you first use the Unseen rules, we recommend adding only one Unseen monster instead of two (see "Adjusting Difficulty" below).

Unseen monsters count as ordinary monsters during the game. Any effect that acts on monsters also acts on them.

When the Elder One advances along the Summoning track, first apply the effects of the Elder One and of the episode. Then apply the effects of the Unseen monsters in order: first the effect of the first Unseen monster symbol (the ring-in-disc symbol), then the effect of the second (the diamond-in-circle symbol).

Additional Concepts

Unseen Mythos Cards

When using the Unseen rules, shuffle 4 Unseen Mythos cards into the Mythos deck. These cards move Unseen monsters, after which the players must draw one more Mythos card.

After resolving a card with the Unseen Mythos symbol, put it in the discard pile. Then draw and resolve another Mythos card. Keep drawing and resolving cards until you resolve a card without this symbol.

Note: if any game effect forces players to play a card with the Unseen Mythos symbol without drawing it from the deck (for example, the insanity card "Post-Traumatic Syndrome" from the base game box), players apply its effect but do not draw and play another card.

Unseen Board

When using the Unseen rules, place the Unseen Board next to the game board. The Unseen Board has a short summary of the End of Turn phase, including the additional steps added by the Unseen rules. It also has 2 spaces for Unseen monster cards, each marked with a different symbol. These symbols are needed to tell one monster apart from another.

Unseen Monsters

Unseen monster cards, like other enemy cards, show each monster's health, the dice it uses when attacking, its special abilities and the number of figures in the set. They also give information about where the monster is placed during setup (see "Additional Setup" on page 4 of the Russian rules) and a special effect that applies when the Elder One advances along the Summoning track.

Unseen Relics

In addition to monsters, Unseen relics are added to the game. Each investigator starts the game with 1 relic, which has a unique ability. Relics are placed face up on their normal (white) side. As soon as an investigator reaches their 3rd Insanity Threshold, the relic is transformed: it is turned over to its transformed (black) side, revealing an improved effect. This represents the loss of sanity that makes the investigator believe the relic is something more than a simple find.

Important note: relics are not considered items or Discovery cards. They cannot be discarded and cannot be traded.

Additional Setup

After completing the normal game setup, perform the following additional steps:

1. Place the Unseen Board to the right of the game board.
2. Choose at random 2 Unseen monsters that differ from those already taking part in the episode. Place these cards in random order on the Unseen Board and take out all the corresponding figures from the box.
3. Place 1 figure of each Unseen monster in an area with different gates. Take 4 random location tokens and remove the one that shows the starting area, leaving only 3 gate-symbol tokens. Choose 1 of these tokens at random and place 1 figure of the first monster in the area with the matching gate. Discard this token and choose 1 of the 2 remaining tokens at random. Place 1 figure of the second monster in the area with the matching gate.

Note: some Unseen monsters have additional information about placement during setup. Be sure to follow it.

4. Shuffle the 4 Unseen Mythos cards into the Mythos deck.
5. Choose at random a number of Unseen relics equal to the number of investigators. Starting with the first player and continuing clockwise, each player chooses 1 relic and places it next to their investigator board, on its normal (white) side up.

Adjusting Difficulty

If you want to adjust the difficulty of the game, you can apply the following changes.

Splitting the Unseen rules

Although Unseen relics and Unseen monsters are designed to be used together, you can use them independently of each other to make the game easier or harder.

• Unseen relics: easier game. To make the game easier, you can add Unseen relics without adding Unseen monsters. In this case only the relics are added to the game (step 5 of the additional setup), and the other Unseen components are ignored.
• Unseen monsters: harder game. To make the game harder, you can add Unseen monsters without adding Unseen relics. In this case ignore the relics and skip step 5 of the additional setup.

Elder One appearing in random locations

After several games against the same Elder One, its behaviour becomes predictable. To increase the difficulty, you can use the random location tokens to decide randomly where the Elder One appears when its last two Stage cards are opened.

• When the Elder One Stage III card is opened, instead of moving the Elder One to a set location, choose 1 of the 4 random location tokens at random and move the Elder One to the matching location. Set this token aside.
• When the final Elder One Stage card is opened, instead of moving the Elder One to a set location, choose 1 of the 3 random location tokens at random and move the Elder One to the matching location.

Single Unseen monster

To make the game easier, you can add only 1 Unseen monster instead of two. Changes to the additional setup:

1. Use the side of the Unseen Board that has a space for only 1 Unseen monster.
2. Choose 1 Unseen monster to add to the game.
3. Choose only 1 random location token to place 1 monster figure.
4. Only 2 Unseen Mythos cards are shuffled into the Mythos deck: those marked with the symbol shown at this step of the Russian print. (The symbol is an icon that did not survive text extraction; check it against the printed card symbols.)

Insanity Card Clarifications

Split Personality

When an investigator plays the insanity card "Split Personality," the symptoms of the latent insanity do not apply, but it remains in play, and all passive effects continue to work while it stays latent. Here is the list of passive effects of different insanity cards:

• Post-Traumatic Syndrome: you continue to keep next to this card the last Mythos card you played that is without the Unseen Mythos symbol.
• Masochism: you continue to place wound tokens on this card when you receive wounds.
• Pathological Hoarding: you continue to place wound tokens on this card when you reach an Insanity Threshold.
• Bloodlust: you continue to place wound tokens on this card when you kill an enemy.
• Uncontrollable Fear: you still cannot perform the run action while there is a fear token on your investigator board, and you discard it when you perform the rest action or draw a Mythos card on your turn.
• Hyperactivity: you still can perform 1 additional action of any kind and cannot perform the rest action while there is a hyperactivity token on your investigator board, and you discard that token when you draw a Mythos card on your turn.
• R'lyehian Seizures (R'lyehian Seizures Promo): you can still communicate only through gestures and gibberish while there is a wound token on this card, and if you break this rule, discard that token and take 2 wounds.
• Fear of the Dark (from the Iron Maiden set): you can still look at one of the darkness cards during the rest action.

Hyperactivity

If an investigator suffers from this insanity, they keep 1 hyperactivity token next to their investigator board. The second hyperactivity token is used only if the game has an investigator with the "Collective Psychosis" insanity. An investigator cannot have more than 1 hyperactivity token. Therefore, if you need to play an insanity card and the investigator board already has a hyperactivity token, they do not receive a second one. If an investigator received a hyperactivity token after playing a Mythos card in the current turn, they keep it until their next turn.

Uncontrollable Fear

If an investigator suffers from this insanity, they keep 1 fear token next to their investigator board. The second fear token is used only if the game has an investigator with the "Collective Psychosis" insanity. An investigator cannot have more than 1 fear token. Therefore, if you need to play an insanity card and the investigator board already has a fear token, they do not receive a second one. If an investigator received a fear token after playing a Mythos card in the current turn, they keep it until their next turn.

Collective Psychosis

Consider the following interactions between Collective Psychosis and other insanities:

• Codependency: your codependent is the same investigator who was chosen at the start of the game. This can be you yourself, in which case nothing happens.
• Overprotection: your ward is the same investigator who was chosen at the start of the game. This can be you yourself, in which case you heal all wounds and all stress.
• Masochism: if there are tokens on this card, you discard them and heal stress, as if this were your insanity card.
• Bloodlust: if there are 2 or more tokens on this card, you discard them and heal stress, as if this were your insanity card.
• Pathological Hoarding: you do not place wound tokens on this card, but to determine the effect, look at the number of tokens on it.
• Uncontrollable Fear: at the start of the game, place 1 fear token next to your investigator board. When Collective Psychosis is played, you place this token on your investigator board if the conditions printed on the "Uncontrollable Fear" card are met. Your token has exactly the same effect: you cannot perform the run action while you have this token, and you discard it when you perform the rest action or draw a Mythos card on your turn.
• Hyperactivity: at the start of the game, place 1 hyperactivity token next to your investigator board. When the "Collective Psychosis" insanity takes effect, you place this token on your investigator board. Your token has exactly the same effect: you can perform 1 additional action of any kind and cannot perform the rest action while you have this token, and you discard it when you draw a Mythos card on your turn.
• Split Personality: you play the symptom of the active insanity card and swap the active and latent cards, as if they were yours.
• if there are no tokens on the "R'lyehian Seizures" card, place 1 token on it, activating its passive effect. Only the owner of the "R'lyehian Seizures" insanity card may communicate through gestures and gibberish. If there is a token on the card, discard it, heal all your stress, and the other investigator can communicate as usual.

Investigator Tokens

Anika and Gary, two investigators from this expansion, have special tokens. Their use is described in the corresponding unique skills of these investigators. Each of them is limited to the number of tokens they have.

When an investigator dies, remove their tokens from the board. After this, that investigator's skill has no effect.

Quick Reference

This sheet restates the base game rules in summary form, together with the Season 4 additions. Where it differs from the base game, follow the printed text of this rulebook.

Turn Order

1. The investigator performs 3 actions.

• Run: move your investigator figure up to 3 areas. Enemies pursue them. When you leave an area with Fire tokens, place 1 Fire token on your investigator board for each Fire token in that area.
• Attack: roll the dice, choosing 1 enemy in the same area as your investigator as the target.
• Rest: heal a total of 3 stress and/or wounds (safe area only).
• Exchange: with any investigators in your area.
• Special actions: described on the Episode card.

2. Draw a Mythos card.

• The Elder One Summoning symbols must remain visible.
• Apply the special effects of the card.
• In an area with a Gate, enemies appear (if possible).

3. Investigate or fight!

• If you are in a safe area, draw a Discovery card.
• If there are enemies in one area with you, each of them attacks you (roll the dice shown on each enemy's reference card).

4. End of turn.

1. End-of-turn effects.
2. Fire: roll 1 die for each Fire token on your investigator board, then discard those Fire tokens.
3. Mythos discard check: if the Mythos discard pile contains 3 cards with the Elder One Summoning symbol, the Elder One (or the Progression token) advances along the Summoning track. Apply the effects of the Elder One Stage cards and the episode card. When using Unseen monsters, resolve behaviour symbols A and B (the ring-in-disc symbol and the diamond-in-circle symbol). After this, shuffle the Mythos cards back into the deck.
4. Elder One appearance check: if the Elder One's figure has reached the red space on the Summoning track, or you have interrupted the ritual, set aside the Stage I card and apply the effects of the Stage II card printed under "When this card is revealed."
5. Elder One effects applied at the end of the turn: apply all effects printed in the "End of each turn" box on all revealed Elder One cards, in ascending order of level.

Dice and Checks

"Roll the dice": roll 3 black dice + any available green dice.

• Success (!): deals a wound when attacking.
• Elder Gods symbol: used only with the help of certain abilities.
• Tentacle: lose 1 sanity.

When making any dice roll, the active player may increase their investigator's stress level by 1 to reroll 1 die (any number of times, as long as they want and are able to).

Sanity

When the tentacle marker reaches an Insanity Threshold:

• do not move the tentacle marker past this threshold;
• play your investigator's insanity card;
• raise the level of one of your investigator's skills by 1;
• if a green die symbol is printed under the threshold, gain +1 green die on all your rolls until the end of the game.

Battle with the Elder One

• After the Elder One appears on the board, it rolls all the dice shown on all its revealed Stage cards when attacking.
• The Elder One can be attacked only after the ritual has been interrupted.
• As soon as the number of wounds on the current Elder One Stage card is equal to or greater than its health, set that card aside and apply the effect of the next Stage card printed under "When this card is revealed."

End of Game

All investigators win if they destroy the Elder One's final Stage.

All investigators lose if:

• one of the investigators dies or goes insane before the Elder One appears on the board;
• all investigators die or go insane;
• the Progression token reaches the last space of the Summoning track.