Cthulhu's Vault Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Setup
• Playing the Game
  • Mystery Stage
  • Power Guide Card
  • Player Turn – Step by Step
  • Story Card Anatomy
  • Ending the Mystery Stage
• The Epic Battle Stage
  • Epic Battle Setup
  • Investigator Card Anatomy
  • Epic Battle Turn
  • Battle Cards
    • Ancient One Battle Cards
    • Investigator Battle Cards
• Ending the Game
• The Ancient Ones
• How to Tell a Really Good Story

Game Setup

The following steps are followed to set up a game of Cthulhu's Vault.

Step 1 – Ancient One: Shuffle the Ancient One cards and deal 1 card facedown to each player.

Step 2 – Story Cards: Shuffle the Story cards and deal 7 cards face down to each player. These 7 cards make up the player's hand. After the Story cards have been dealt to each player, 1 story card is placed face up in the center of the table. This card will become the story's prologue used by the First Player. After the cards have been dealt, the remaining Story cards are returned to the box.

Design Note: The randomness of the story cards dealt will ensure that each game will create a very different story for the players, leading to high replayability.

Step 3 – Starting Player Power: Each player is given one Value 1 Investigator Power Token and one Value 1 Cultist Power Token. After each player has obtained their Power tokens they turn them face down. As the game progresses, the composition of the Power tokens they possess is kept secret from the other players.

Step 4 – Known Power Pools: Create an active pool of 8 face-up Value 1 Cultist tokens and an active pool of 8 face-up Value 1 Investigator tokens. These represent the known Power Pools.

Step 5 – Mystery Power Pool: Take the remaining tokens for both Investigator and Cultist and turn them face down, mixing them together to create a pool of Value 1 and Value 2 tokens in this pool, to create the Mystery Power Pool.

Step 6 – Power Guide Card: Take the Power Guide card that matches the number of players and place it in the playing area. This guide will identify the amount of Cultist Power that will be required for a player to awaken their Ancient One and how many Life Points the Ancient Ones gains for the final Epic Battle.

Step 7 – Epic Battle Materials: Take the Ancient One and Investigator Battle Decks and place them to the side. They will be used later in the Epic Battle. Place the dice near the Battle Decks. Place the Investigator Character cards and Battle Order cards near the Battle Decks.

Step 8 – First Player: The oldest player will be named the first player.

You are now ready to play the game.

Playing the Game

There are two distinct Stages in playing a game of Cthulhu's Vault: 1) The Mystery Stage and 2) The Epic Battle Stage. The players will fully complete the Mystery Stage prior to starting the Epic Battle Stage of the game.

Mystery Stage

The Mystery Stage represents the story build up to the awakening of the Ancient One and the epic battle that will ensue. During this stage of the game players will be using their Story cards to craft a cooperative tale and to collect Power Tokens. When one of the players starts their turn with the number of Cultist Power Tokens required to summon the Ancient One (as identified on the Power Guide card) the Mystery Stage will come to an end and the Epic Battle Stage will begin.

The following phases are performed by each player, starting with the First Player and going clockwise around the table, on their turn during the Mystery Stage of the game.

Story Card Play and Tale Overview: The active player plays one of their Story cards from their hand and tells a brief tale as they place it on the table next to the card previously played. The cards in the middle of the table represent the story line of the Mystery. Each card added the Story Line grants the players 2 Power tokens just for playing the card. While any card can be played to the Story Line, the last card in the Story Line identifies a single Bonus icon that would best further the story. If the card played matches this Bonus icon on the previous card, the player will also gain the Bonus that appears on the card they played.

Prologue: The First Player on their first turn of the game will open the story with a brief introduction using the prologue card placed at the center of the playing area during set-up. Using the prologue card the First Player initiates the tale, identifying the circumstances that brings the investigators into the story.

Prologue Example: The card in play is the Item card Book. The first player shows the card to all the players and starts the tale, "The book arrived in the post, sent from a lawyer fulfilling the final wishes of a friend you had not seen in years. The text was written in a language you could not identify, much less read, but the hand scribbled notes on the sides of the pages were clear; a great horror was awakening, one so great that it lead to the demise of our old friend." Next the First Player plays a card and continues the tale.

Placing the Lodge Location card to the Story chain, the First Player continues the tale, "Although disturbed by the notes in the book, and revolted by the grotesque drawings on some of the pages, my curiosity got the best of me and I decided to travel to the rustic lodge in the Miskatonic Valley. It was the last know place that my dear departed friend made notes about in the book."

After playing the card and telling the story, the First Player collects the tokens earned through card play:

• Collects 1 Cultist Power Token and 1 Mystery Power Token.
• Activates Card Bonus since the Bonus icon was Location on the Prologue card and the Lodge was a Location card. The bonus in this example enables the player to either take 1 Cultist Power Token or steal 1 Mystery (face-down) Power token from any player.

Detailed Phases of the Mystery Stage: Each player will follow these simple phases during their turn in the Mystery Stage of the game. When they complete these phases the next player to their left will start their turn performing the stages and so on until the Epic Battle Stage is triggered.

Phase 1 – Awaken Ancient One: If the player has the Cultist Value required to awaken their Ancient One, they reveal their tokens and announce their Ancient One has awakened. If that occurs, the Mystery Stage ends and the Epic Battle Stage begins. The Power Guide card identifies the number of Cultist Power required to awaken any Ancient One in the game you are playing.

Awaken Ancient One Example: It is the start of Mary's turn in a 5 player game. Over the course of the last few rounds Mary has obtained 15 Mystery tokens. Her 15 Mystery tokens are comprised of 7 Investigator and 8 Cultist tokens. Therefore, since the 5 players Power Guide card identifies 8 as being the number of Cultists required to summon the Ancient One, Mary announces that Yig (her Ancient One) has awakened, flipping her Ancient One card face up. Play will now advance to the Epic Battle Stage of the game.

Phase 2 – Play a Story Card: The active player chooses one of their story cards and tells a brief story as they add it to the Story Chain. There are no requirements related to playing the story card, but the player may gain bonuses.

Anatomy of a Story Card: The story cards represent different aspects of the tale. The five types of story cards are: People, Places, Items, Cults / Cult Activities, and Events / Mood.

Story Icons:

• People: These cards identify the various types of people that would appear in a mythos horror tale.
• Place: These cards identify the various places the story unfolds. Remember, the town of Arkham is always a good setting.
• Items: These cards identify the various items their investigators might find or use.
• Cult / Cult Activities: These cards identify the various types of cult related people, monsters, and actions.
• Event / Mood: These cards represent story, mood and activity.

Design Note: Even though there are no rewards related to storytelling, much of the fun in the game comes from entertaining the other players with your card play and tale. Players should use their imagination when playing a card to tell a story.

Power Guide Card

The Power Guide card lists three player-count settings. Each row shows the Cultist Power needed to summon the Ancient One (printed beside the Summon Ancient One line with a life icon) and the total number of Ancient One Tokens (printed beside a skull icon) the Ancient One player holds at the start of the Epic Battle. The rulebook's examples (8 Cultist for 5 players, 20 total tokens for 5 players) match this reading.

Players	Summon Ancient One	Ancient One Tokens
3 or 4 Players	10	18
5 Players	8	20
6 Players	7	22

Card-value note: the card prints the Summon Ancient One figure next to a "life" icon and the Ancient One Tokens figure next to a skull icon. The values are transcribed as printed; the table above is a reading of the card image.

Player Turn – Step by Step

Step 1 – Play a Card: You can place any Story card onto the Story Chain.

Step 2 – Tell a Story: With each card played the player tells a brief story. The player can tell as detailed, or as light, of a story as they wish. Their goal of telling the story is to progress the tale and entertain the players. They should keep the story in the mythos horror the game intends, and provide continuity from the previously told story segments by the other players. There is no judging or rewards related to the ability of the storyteller. (See the Art of Storytelling section for tips on storytelling.)

Step 3 – Collect Card Power Tokens: Collect the 2 Power tokens the card played awards.

Step 4 – Perform Bonus Action: If the card played matches the Bonus Icon on the previous card in the Story Chain, the player may perform the Bonus Action on the card played. Afterward the play advances to the next player clockwise.

Note: You will note that no cards are redrawn for storytelling. The players will only use the cards dealt to them in game setup to tell the story.

Story Card Anatomy

1. Card Icon: Identifies the type of story card. See Story Icons. This example shows a Person icon.
2. Title: The title word can be used in the sharing of the story.
3. Picture: The picture depicting the card can be used as advanced storytelling. Players are encouraged to use creativity in their stories and using the picture rather than the title in your tale.
4. Bonus Indicator: This icon identifies the desired next card to be added to the story. If the next card matches this icon, the player also gains the bonus on their card.
5. Card Power: All cards reward the player of the card with Power tokens identified on this section of the card. These tokens will be drawn from the pool the icon matches.
   • Investigator Pool (magnifying glass icon)
   • Cultist Pool (skull icon)
   • Mystery Pool (spiral icon)
6. Bonus Action: The Bonus action the player gains if the card played matches the Bonus Indicator of the previous card in the story chain. In some cases the player will have a choice between two actions.

Ending the Mystery Stage

Most of the time the Mystery Stage of the game will be triggered by a player gaining enough Cultist Power tokens to awaken their Ancient One, but there are a few other events that would trigger the end of the Mystery Stage as noted below:

• A Player runs out of Story Cards: In the rare event that a player starts their turn and holds no story cards in their hand, the Mystery Stage immediately ends.
• A Power Pool Empties: If any of the Power Token Pools becomes completely depleted, the Mystery Stage immediately ends.

If either of the events above cause the Mystery Stage to end, the players all reveal their Power tokens, counting their Cultist Power Value. The player with highest Cultist Power Value awakens their Ancient One. If there is a tie, the tied player with the most total Power Value (Cultist and Investigator) awakens their Ancient One. If still a tie, the Oldest player awakens their Ancient One.

The Epic Battle Stage

When the Epic Battle Stage is triggered, the game play will cease until the Epic Battle set up is complete, after which the Epic Battle Steps will be followed until the player with the awakened Ancient One or the Investigator players win the game.

Epic Battle Setup

Prior to starting the Epic Battle Stage, the players must transition from the Mystery Stage by performing the setup steps below:

1. Discard Story Cards: All Players discard any remaining story cards. They are no longer used.

2. Investigator Players: Follow these steps to complete their set up for the final battle.

   • The 5 Investigator Character cards are displayed on the table.
   • All the players that failed to awaken their Ancient one now reveal their Power Tokens.
   • The player with the most total Investigator Power Value chooses the Investigator they wish to be in the Final Battle. When taking their Investigator, they discard Power Tokens into the Mystery Pool down to the Health Number on the Investigator Card (ignore Power Value, just number of Tokens equal to the health number are kept) they choose. The type of tokens (Investigator or Cultist) they choose to keep are up to them. Each Token can provide different abilities in the Epic Battle as well as count as Health Points.
   • After the player with the most Investigator Power has chosen their Investigator Character card, the next highest total chooses and so forth until each non-Ancient One player has an Investigator Character to play. In case of a tie, the player with the most total Power (Cultist and Investigator) goes first.
   • After Investigator Selection is complete discard any remaining Investigator Character cards from play.
   • Cultist Power tokens can be used to power spells if the Investigator has the ability.
   • Investigator Power tokens can be used to increase some physical attacks. All investigator characters can perform these actions.

3. Health Tokens: The players use their Power Tokens as Health tokens. With the exception of the Ancient One player, each player is limited to the tokens they gained in the Mystery Segment. In most cases they will have enough tokens to match the Health of their Investigator, but if not they will start the battle with less Health tokens. Players can choose which type of tokens they want to keep and discard all the others. During the Epic Battle as they play Battle cards and use abilities they may be required to reveal one or more of their Health tokens by flipping them face up. Revealed tokens are still considered Health Tokens.

Investigator Card Anatomy

1. Total Health: The player will hold this number of Power tokens. In this example, 6 tokens that may be Cultist or Investigator. If all 6 tokens are lost, the Investigator is slain and eliminated from play.
2. Title: The title of the Investigator card identifies the descriptive profession or background of the character.
3. Hand Size: The player will hold this number of Investigator Battle cards. In this example the player holds 4 Battle cards.
4. Illustration: Each card depicts a picture of the character.
5. Special Ability: This section identifies any special ability the character brings to the final battle.

Epic Battle Turn

After the Epic Battle Setup is complete the real action begins. The following steps are performed each turn of the Epic Battle. It should be noted that player turns are randomized in the Epic Battle rather than moving clockwise as in the Mystery Segment. The following steps are performed each turn.

1. Reveal Battle Order Card: The Ancient One Player reveals the top card of the Battle Order deck. The character on the card is activated – they make their attack:
   • Play Battle Card: The player that is identified on the Battle Order card now plays one of their Battle cards. Most cards have 2 options. The player chooses which option they are using on the card played, however they cannot choose an option that requires revealing tokens if they do not have the unrevealed tokens required. If the attacker is the Ancient One, that player chooses who the target of their attack will be prior to playing a Battle card.
     • Storytelling: Players are encouraged to continue to tell the story as they play their Battle cards.
   • Inflict Damage: After playing a card, the damage inflicted on the target is resolved by the target player discarding Health tokens equal to the damage. If an Investigator loses all their Health tokens, the player is eliminated from the game, but still wins if the remaining Investigator players manage to defeat the Ancient One. If the Ancient loses all their Health, the game ends with the Investigators winning.
2. Repeat Step 1: Repeat the steps above until the Battle Order Deck becomes depleted or one side of is defeated.
   • Depleted Battle Order Deck: When the Battle Order deck is depleted play is paused for it to be reset. To do so take the Battle Order cards and remove any Investigators that have been slain. Then add back into the deck Ancient One cards equal to the current number of Investigators included as noted on these cards. This process is repeated until one side wins the Epic Battle and the game ends.

Battle Cards

Ancient One Battle Cards

The Ancient One Battle cards usually offer 2 types of attack. Usually the Bottom Attack is specific to an Ancient One and can only be played if the player is playing the Ancient One listed.

1. Base Attack: All Ancient Ones can use the base attack.
2. Special Attack: Often this attack requires that the Ancient One being used to match this card. Additionally, this attack usually requires Cultist Tokens to be revealed.
3. Token Cost: The number of Cultist tokens that must be revealed to use this section of the card.

Investigator Battle Cards

The Investigator Battle cards usually offer 2 types of attack; a basic attack and a special attack.

1. Basic Attack: The basic attack is usually a minor attack that does not require power tokens to play.
2. Special Attack: The special attack will usually require investigation or cultist power tokens to play.
3. Token Cost: The number of Cultist tokens that must be revealed to use this section of the card.

Incantations: Investigators may not use Incantations unless their character card identifies that they can, and they reveal the cultist icons required.

Ending the Game

The game end when one of the following occurs:

• All Investigators are Eliminated in Battle: If all the Investigators are eliminated by losing all their health tokens or being devoured, the game ends and the Ancient One player wins.
• The Ancient One is Slain: If the Ancient One loses all their health tokens, the Investigators win the game.

Epilogue: Regardless of which side wins, the winning side wraps up the story with a brief epilogue. If the winning side is the Investigators, they choose amongst themselves who will do the epilogue.

Design Note: The Epilogue is for thematic fun only, but every great tale deserves an ending.

The Ancient Ones

Cthulhu: The greatest of Old Ones, he is usually described as part-octopus, part-man. Often it is mentioned he has wings, as well as glowing eyes. Its first appearance was in the story 'Call of Cthulhu.'

Cthuga: Created by August Derleth, Cthuga is known as 'The Burning One,' used often in Derleth's stories. Considered an elemental, Cthuga is said to have spawned the Fire Vampires.

Hastur: Hastur was created by Ambrose Bierce in 1893 and has been used in many ways. Benevolent for some authors, pure evil to others. Terry Pratchett considers Hastur a fallen angel and prince of Hell.

Nyogtha: Created in 1937 by Henry Kuttner. He is associated with the Mid-East and has a dislike for religious symbols (crosses), often in combination with reciting mystical book passages.

Yig: Created by Zealia Bishop, Yig was remade by H.P. Lovecraft. He is considered the Father of Serpents and is clearly an American deity, feared by Indian tribes across North and South America.

Y'golonac: A modern creation, Y'golonac first appeared in the Mythos in 1969. He is the god of depravity and is different than any of Lovecraft's creations in that Y'golonac understands humans and is capable of interacting with them on a 'normal' basis, presuming the individuals can associate with infinite corruption/cruelty/depravity.

Nyarlathotep: This is the God of a Thousand Forms, popularized through the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game. He usually appears in the guise of a pharaoh. Some alien species (such as the Mi-Go) worship him.

Ithaqua: Also known as Wendigo, this is another god associated with America, primarily the Arctic and sub-Arctic. Tribes leave regular sacrifices of live creatures to appease Ithaqua. Some say that he is also the Great Yeti and is also able to be found in the Himalayas.

Tsathoggua: Created by Clark Smith for his own stories, Tsathoggua first appeared in Lovecraft's own 'The Whisperer in the Darkness' in 1931. Tsathoggua is named in a majority of ancient texts, puzzling scholars, and is usually encountered in warm climes as he has lived within the Earth since the first ice age more than 100,000 years ago.

Shudde M'ell: Brian Lumley originated Shudde M'ell in 1974. It lives within the Earth as a wormlike creature, capable of melting anything from rock to enchanted metals. Shudde M'ell is a personal favorite of Richard Launius.

Keltwald Spirit: First appeared in 'The Last Post' by Vault co-creator Jim Dietz, the Spirit is a god of the Celts, capable of appearing in multiple forms, but always human. The Spirit prefers to work through nightmares and possession rather than taking a corporeal form.

How to Tell a Really Good Story

The key to having a good storytelling turn in the game is to effectively use the 3 Cs: Continuity, Creativity, and Concision.

Continuity: The story the player is telling should blend with the story chain already established. That does not mean that the player cannot make a major change to the story, but if they do they should segue into that change.

As an example: Dr. Nathaniel Eldridge is the main character of this story and the last card in the Story Chain is MANSION. The story told on this card goes as follows, "Eldridge regretted now having entered the old mansion, abandoned for so long and in a run-down part of town that he had had no way to contact friends or even police when he entered the building. To survive, he'd barricaded himself in the dank cellar, away from the glowing shadows, but now, at last, he detected the first rays of DAWN from the dirt-covered window and could finally make sense of his surroundings."

The player plays his DAWN card, takes tokens or applies results as needed and it is the next player's turn. Dawn provided continuity from the previously played card, even though it may have meant eight or nine hours passed. Thus, the next card should play off of it now being dawn. Perhaps the light revealed an Elder Sign on the door, thus explaining why he was safe or maybe the light reflects on a knife, giving Dr. Eldridge a means of fighting his way out of the cellar.

Either of those (Knife or Elder Sign) gives continuity, but they take the story in drastically different directions. Good stories are made better if players work together to keep continuity flowing in a logical fashion.

Creativity: This is critical. It's good to know Lovecraft, but that isn't necessary at all! The ability to set a tone of horror and dread is what is important; interjecting something new is always entertaining and memorable for all players, so try not to say the same thing each time you have a turn. You can add drama in one play, leave a 'cliffhanger' at the end of your turn for the next player to resolve, or you can even add humor into the story--the suspense of thinking the villain is in your house and finding out it isn't the villain, it was Aunt Maude and the smell wasn't a sacrifice, it was her tuna casserole. The one catch is: do not lose track of the type of story being told - the overall mood of the story should be maintained. And if you don't get it just perfect the first time, it's ok. You tell better stories with practice, right?? Of course!

Concise: One of the problems new players often struggle with is staying concise. Rather than continuing the story, some players begin by rephrasing the last couple of player's tale before adding to it. This adds length to the game, but doesn't move the story along, and some of the fun of Cthulhu's Vault is keeping a good pace between players. As a rule of thumb, players should try to do their part with 2 to 8 sentences per card. This allows enough freedom to be creative and set the mood, but prevents rambling OR one player chewing up the scenery!

In the end, if everyone had fun--it was a good story. Know your group and what you like and Cthulhu's Vault will open a experience other games can not achieve.

And that's the biggest piece of advice we can offer--do whatever it takes to have fun and enjoy yourself!