Cthulhu: Death May Die
Cthulhu: Death May Die Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Overview and Goal
Each game combines an episode (its own Episode card, Mythos cards, Discovery cards, and map) with an Elder One (its figure, Stage cards, Mythos cards, minions, and monsters). Investigators must complete the episode's tasks to disrupt the ritual (making the Elder One vulnerable to attack), then kill the Elder One by defeating its Final Stage. If an investigator dies or goes mad before the Elder One is summoned, or the Elder One reaches ultimate power, the investigators lose.
Setup (Summary)
Set out the Story Board, tokens, and dice. Choose an Elder One (place its figure on the start of the Summoning track, set out its 8 Mythos cards and Stage cards in order faceup). Choose an episode (its 8 Mythos cards, 15 Discovery cards, Episode card, tokens; shuffle all 16 Mythos cards together facedown). Take the enemy figures shown on the reference cards, set up the map per the Episode card, and place the episode Discovery deck facedown. Each player takes an investigator board and figure, placing 6 markers (3 on the first level of each skill, 3 on the leftmost space of the wound/stress/sanity tracks). Deal each player 1 insanity card faceup. Randomly choose a starting player (single-player: control 2 investigators, alternating turns).
The Investigator
Each investigator board has a wound track, a stress track, a sanity track, and 3 skills (the top is a unique signature skill; the other two come from a common pool). Skills start at level 1 and improve when you level up.
- Stress: increase your stress to reroll dice or to claim certain Discovery cards. At maximum stress you simply cannot take more (though some effects deal wounds instead).
- Wounds: if the marker reaches the skull at the end of your wound track, you are dead.
- Sanity: whenever you lose sanity, the marker advances right. If it reaches the skull at the end, you are consumed by madness and eliminated.
Sanity and Insanity Thresholds: the sanity track has Insanity Threshold spaces. When you would lose more sanity than needed to reach the next threshold, the marker stops there and excess loss is ignored. Reaching a threshold: activates your insanity (perform your insanity card's symptoms — the first time and each time you reach one), levels up a skill (move one skill marker one space right), and, on the four thresholds showing a green die, permanently adds +1 bonus die to all your rolls for the rest of the game.
Dice and Checks
When investigators "make a roll," always roll 3 standard black dice (plus any bonus green dice). Each die shows one of four results:
- Success: a hit (attacking or being attacked deals 1 wound); some effects require a target number of successes.
- Elder Sign: no effect unless a skill or card uses it.
- Tentacle: lose 1 sanity — on every roll, whether attacking, defending, or just making a roll. Bonus green dice have no tentacle.
- Blank: usually no effect.
Rerolls: after rolling, take 1 stress to reroll 1 die (ignoring its original result), as often as you like until stress is maxed. You may reroll enemy dice too. Apply results in order: 1) use successes (as wounds or to meet a target), 2) resolve tied effects, 3) apply tentacles (lose sanity, stopping at thresholds).
The Map
Move only through passages that have connecting arrows on both spaces; matching staircase/tunnel tokens link spaces as adjacent. A space is Safe when it contains no enemies. There is no limit to figures per space. Each map has 3 Gates (Red, Yellow, Blue) where enemies are summoned.
Turn Sequence
On your turn: 1) Take 3 Actions → 2) Draw a Mythos Card → 3) Investigate or Fight → 4) Resolve End of Turn.
1. Take 3 Actions
Take 3 actions (repeats allowed). Four standard actions plus 2 episode-specific ones:
- Run: move up to 3 spaces. When you leave a space with enemies, all enemies there follow you. When you leave a space with Fire tokens, take 1 Fire token onto your board per token there.
- Attack: target a single enemy in your space and make a roll; each success is 1 wound to the target (killing it if wounds reach its health). The Elder One can only be attacked once the ritual is disrupted.
- Rest (Safe space only): heal your stress and/or health up to 3 spaces total (in any combination). Sanity cannot be healed by resting.
- Trade: you and investigators in your space may trade Items or Companions (not Conditions).
2. Draw a Mythos Card
Draw and resolve the top Mythos card's steps top-to-bottom, then discard it faceup. Effects usually affect only the active player unless stated. Steps include an Elder One Summoning symbol (no immediate effect, but checked at end of turn — keep it visible when discarded), special effects (moving enemies by shortest path toward a target), and Summon Enemies (place the indicated enemy at the indicated Gate color if a figure is available).
3. Investigate or Fight
- Safe space → Investigate: draw the top Discovery card and read its central text; it may make you take stress, offer choices, or let you claim a Companion, Item, or Condition (slid under your board). Companions can absorb wounds (discarded when their wounds reach their number) and may grant a skill level.
- Not Safe → Fight: do not draw a Discovery card; instead each enemy in your space attacks you (in the order you choose). Roll the enemy's dice: each success is 1 wound to you, each tentacle costs you 1 sanity. You may spend stress to reroll and use skills to defend.
4. Resolve End of Turn
- End of Turn Effects (non-Elder-One), in any order you choose.
- Fire! roll 1 standard die per Fire token on your board; take 1 wound per success and lose 1 sanity per tentacle, then discard all your Fire tokens.
- Check the Mythos Discard Pile: if it contains 3 Elder One Summoning symbols, the Elder One advances along the Summoning track (or the Progression token advances if it's already on the board); resolve the Elder One Stage and Episode advance effects. Then shuffle the discard pile back into the Mythos deck.
- Check the Elder One Summoning: the Elder One is summoned if it entered the first red space, or the ritual was disrupted this turn. When summoned, reveal the next Stage card and resolve its reveal effects; place the Progression token to track further progress.
- Elder One End of Turn Effects: resolve visible Stage-card end-of-turn effects in Stage order.
Then the player to the left takes their turn.
Disrupting the Ritual and Fighting the Elder One
Each episode describes the tasks to disrupt the ritual, making the Elder One mortal (even briefly). Until then, the Elder One cannot be attacked or damaged (though it can attack you if on the board). Disrupting the ritual causes the Elder One to be summoned at end of turn.
Once summoned, the Elder One attacks investigators who end their turn in its space, rolling the total dice of all its revealed Stage cards. After the ritual is disrupted, it can be attacked. The Elder One has multiple Stages, each with its own health, one-time reveal effect, ongoing effect, and added attack dice. When a Stage's wounds reach its health it is defeated (excess wounds do not carry over); reveal the next Stage. All previous Stages' effects and dice remain in play.
Death of an Investigator
When an investigator is killed or consumed by madness: if the Elder One is still on the Summoning track, the game is immediately lost. If the Elder One has already been summoned to the board, the others continue (discard the dead investigator's cards and tokens). If they died during their turn, skip the rest of their turn except the Check the Mythos Discard Pile phase.
Ending the Game
Investigators win when they kill the Elder One by defeating its Final Stage (winning conditions take precedence over simultaneous triggers). Investigators lose if: an investigator dies or goes mad before the Elder One is summoned; all investigators die or go mad after it is summoned; or the Progression token reaches the last (8th) space of the Summoning track.