Cutthroat Caverns: Death Incarnate
Cutthroat Caverns: Death Incarnate Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Components
- 15 Encounter cards
- 30 Event cards
- 29 Relic cards
- 2 Quest cards
- 6 Allegiance cards
- 22 Fortune cards
- 1 Token Sheet
- Downloadable Adventure Modules, C1 & C2, featuring the contents of this set.
This is an Expansion Pack and not a complete game. You will need a copy of Cutthroat Caverns to play.
Cutthroat Caverns: Death Incarnate is the fifth expansion to our critically acclaimed game of kill stealing and cooperative-backstabbing. This set is dedicated to Incarnation-type Encounters, more than doubling their number in the game, and introduces new Events and Relics that play off of their essences and put their awesome power into your hands.
What's New
The Encounters
You will notice that the face of the Encounter cards has undergone a graphic update. They are fully compatible with earlier editions, and reflect some of the changes coming to future editions of the game. The new layout allows for the artwork to really shine and provides a more legible background for the special rules than before.
There is also a new bubble to the left of the Encounter name. Here you will find the expansion number the Encounter belongs to, as well as important keywords that may pertain to the Encounter, like Non-Combat, Boss or Finisher (see below).
This set ushers in the streamlining of game language and keywords, which you will see in all future sets and reprints. Here are the most notable:
Attack: Players make Attacks through the setting and playing of Attack cards.
Strike: Encounters strike players for damage and effects.
Wound: An Attack is said to Wound an Encounter when it both successfully hits and does damage to that Encounter. Therefore, when an Encounter is "wounded for the least damage" it is a successful Attack that does at least 5 LP damage.
Lose LP, Sacrifice LP: Game effects that cause players to 'Lose X LP' are not considered sources of damage that can be redirected to other players through cards like My Hero or Human Shield. Likewise, if a player chooses to 'Sacrifice X LP', they may not redirect that loss to other players.
Negative Effects: These are any undesirable effects (loss of LP, gain of minus Prestige, loss of Turn, etc). If a card allows a protection against 'negative effects' and is caused by a player, the effect MUST target a specific, single player. Getting the final blow before you do or actions that effect more than one player do not count.
Non-Combat: This is an Encounter card that does not have players combating creatures, but utilizes the game components in other unique thematic ways.
Boss: A Boss Encounter is designed to be a cinematic endgame battle, where the villain does something terrible and escapes, to be faced as the final Encounter in the game. If revealed before the final Encounter, perform the effect shown and then place the card on the bottom of the Encounter stack. If other Encounters are placed below it, it will trigger again, unless that Encounter is another Boss. In the event that two or more Boss Encounters are sent to the bottom of the stack, their Boss Effects will NOT trigger a second time.
Finisher: An Encounter exciting enough for an epic endgame. This is a keyword for a new optional rule (and will be retroactively applied to some of your favorite Encounters in future printings as well). Standard Cutthroat Caverns rules call for the Encounter stack to be drawn at random from your collection. But a random draw may mean your last Encounter is less than memorable. The optional Finisher rules ensure that every game ends with a big finish. Simply have each player look through the Encounters in your collection for their favorite, nasty creature (worthy options will henceforth be labeled Finishers) and place it in a face down stack. Shuffle them and draw one at random to be the last Encounter of the game. Then shuffle all your Encounters and draw the other eight Encounters for the game at random, per usual.
Negative Prestige: This set includes tokens for Negative Prestige. When a player gains a negative Prestige token, it is placed in their Prestige pile as any other Prestige token or cards would be, but counts against their Prestige total. A player may have less than zero Prestige as a result.
Bequeathed: Gaining a Relic that cannot be stolen by other players. Bequeathed Relics can still be destroyed, however.
The Event Deck
We recommend playing your first game or two without Events, so that you can experience the latest creature Encounters unmodified in any way. However, this deck of 30 Event Cards adds significant replay value and makes playing even the most familiar Encounters completely new again. They come in three types.
Event!: These change the game play conditions of the current Encounter by adding additional challenges to the creatures you face in battle, usually making it harder and more deadly.
Treasure!: These Event cards indicate that one or more Relics are available to claim in the course of the Encounter.
Realm of the Incarnate: NEW! These two special Event cards transport players to the Realm of the Incarnate. If not already facing an Incarnation-type Encounter, you draw Encounters from outside the game until you reveal one and then replace the current Encounter with it. Each Incarnation has special rules found at the end of this section of the rules, entitled "Incarnation Realm Effects," which set up unique conditions for earning a Relic Incarnate imbued with that particular Incarnation's power. Gained in this way, the relic is "bequeathed" to the player and can never be stolen. If another player already possesses this Relic, it will be stripped from them and given to the player meeting the challenge on the Event card.
The printed challenge on the Realm of the Incarnate card reads: "If the current Encounter is not an Incarnation, draw Encounters from outside the game until you reveal an Incarnation and replace the current Encounter with it. Reference the Incarnation Realm Effects in the rule book for this Incarnation. Relics Incarnate earned in this way are considered 'bequeathed' and cannot be stolen."
Playing with the Event Deck
Shuffle the Event Cards thoroughly and place them face down near the Encounter Deck in the center of the table.
During the game, after revealing an Encounter Card and reading it aloud to the group as you normally would, draw an Event Card and place it face up next to the Encounter card. Do not draw Event cards for "Non-Combat" or "Boss" Encounters.
Next, note what number Encounter you face (as shown on the Monster Tracker) and see if that number appears on the Activation Track of the Event Card. If it does not, discard the Event without effect. If it does, read the Event aloud to all players and take a moment to understand the implications for the creature you face this Encounter.
Relic Cards
Relic cards confer powerful abilities to their owners, or Prestige and some grant both. Make no mistake, Relics are the very stuff of legend and will open up many new possibilities for players.
Unlike standard 'Items' in the Base Game, which are claimed at random from the Draw deck, Relic cards must be earned. Most often, this is through the Event deck, but certain Encounters can provide them as well.
Note: In game terms, 'Relics' are 'Items'. As such, they can be stolen by 'Stab & Grab' and otherwise be affected by cards that interact with Items. 'Items', though, may not necessarily be 'Relics'. The Items (green jeweled cards) from the Base Game, for example, are not Relics.
When a player comes into possession of a Relic, they place it face up next to their character card, as they would any Item. It may be used at anytime, given the limitations described on the Relic card. Many have continuous effects. There is no limit to the number of Items a player may have.
Nearly all the Relics in this expansion are Relics Incarnate. This identifies them as Relics that are imbued with the powers and abilities of the Incarnations. They are also the Relics that are bequeathed through the 'Realm of the Incarnate' Event card.
The Adventure Modules
Cutthroat Caverns Adventure Modules are 'choose your own path' style stories with unique adventure hooks that add new dimension to the game and the winning conditions. Basic game play does not change, but fun tricks, traps and a story are woven between the Encounters. The decisions the group makes in navigating the story can change the outcome. It makes for a very rich and rewarding play experience.
Two Adventure Modules, "At Death's Door" & "A War Incarnate," featuring the Encounters and Relics found in this box are available for purchase at DrivethruRPG.com in both PDF ($3) and printed book form ($10). Here's a teaser for what awaits:
At Death's Door:
"There is one constant in this world, eventually all things die. Even the gods have faced their own end from time to time. Most people ignore their own mortality, where others chase death, looking for an epic finish to make themselves immortalize themselves in legend. Finally, there are those who truly understand Death for what it is, and want to find a way to live forever..."
Players awaken to find themselves dead after being consumed in dragon's flame. Now in the immortal realm, you must seek out Death himself and kill him to earn your place among the living once more.
A War Incarnate:
"Someone always profits in War, even a conflict among the immortal, but who or what is to be gained is seldom clear and filled with duplicity and intrigue. Yet, in the end, we all choose a side, for honor, for gain, for justice, for power or for pure chaos. Is War inevitable? Or can power be balanced to avoid such bloodshed?"
Players are brought into pre-war intrigue to tip the scales of power, but how and why they will choose a side... but to what end?
Quest Cards
Even without a full adventure module, Quest cards can add or change the winning conditions of the standard game. This expansion features two such Quests.
FAQ / Cards Explained
With only so much room on the cards, these deserve a bit more explanation.
ANGUISH: Yes, when you discard an Attack card that allows you to remove up to two -1 Prestige tokens, those tokens can be from any source, not just those gained during this Encounter.
DECEIT: This Encounter allows you to bluff any Attack card, at a risk. Set Attacks as normal, but when it comes to your Turn in Initiative order, do not reveal your card. Instead, announce the card by name and Attack Value. You may also announce the card as a Protected Attack (ie has your character portrait on the bottom of the card). If no one challenges you, the card is treated as the card you named, whether it is that card or not. In this Encounter, do not build a damage stack, but move the Encounter's damage bead for each attack. If a player is challenged, however, the card is revealed immediately. If the player was deceitful and lied about any aspect of the card, the Attack is discarded without effect. That player is given a -1 Prestige token and the challenger gains a +1 Prestige token. If the player was telling the truth, the Attack continues and the challenger is given a -1 Prestige token. At the end of the Round, all Attack cards are revealed to see who lied and who told the truth. All players who told the truth, whether they were challenged or not, are struck for 10 LP damage.
DEATH: Remember, a player who has lost all cards in their hand still draws one at the beginning of the next Round. If it is not an Attack card, it must still be set, per the core rules of the game.
ENVY: Stealing an Item or Relic is easily enough understood. Reputation cards were introduced in Fresh Meat, expansion 4, as a means of customizing your character. Stealing a Reputation card does NOT force the stealing player to lose life equal to the amount required to acquire the card at the beginning of the game (but healing is limited to your new max LP). Ignore if you are not playing with Reputations. Prestige from a kill: means any single kill, be that an Encounter card or a token creature (tokens are counted as individual kills). It includes any bonus Prestige tied directly to the kill claimed (Bonus Round or other). And if not obvious, the player whose kill is stolen loses that Prestige.
FORTUNE: This Encounter starts as a NON-COMBAT Encounter, but may end up being a Combat Encounter at the end of the game. When FORTUNE is revealed from the Encounter deck, find the 22 Fortune cards that came with this expansion. From those cards, place aside the card named, "The World." Draw 12 cards at random from the remainder of the Fortune cards and shuffle them together with "The World" to form FORTUNE'S DECK. This deck is placed to one side of the table, available to all players for the rest of the game or until the deck runs out. Advance the Encounter Number bead on the tracker and continue to the next Encounter card. For the rest of the game, when a player reveals a set Attack card that would do damage, that player may draw any card at random from Fortune's Deck. Flip the card face up on the table, in a vertical orientation, and immediately apply its effect. NOTE that there are two possible effects on each card, one good and the other bad. The effect that activates is the one you can read right side up, as opposed to upside down. The FORTUNE Encounter card gains a +1 Prestige token for each card drawn. Should a player draw "The World" card, they get all the Prestige tokens FORTUNE has gained. This ends the Encounter with FORTUNE and any remaining cards in the Fortune deck are placed back in the box. However, should "The World" not be drawn before the end of the game, FORTUNE becomes a combat Encounter after all other Encounters have been defeated. FORTUNE will have 50 LP and will strike for 5 LP, for each undrawn Fortune card in the Fortune Deck.
The Relic, "Fortune's Deck," can be used concurrently with the unused portion of the Fortune cards. The owning player may draw a card from both decks on any given Attack card resolving them as best they can, in the order drawn.
HOPE & DESPAIR: Give each player a double-sided Allegiance Voting card. One side shows Hope, the other Despair. In this Encounter, your Attack card values do not represent damage, but allegiance to one side or the other, in a race to accumulate enough points for either Hope or Despair to win over the other. The total points needed to win are listed on the bottom of the Encounter card. When you set your Attack card each Round, you secretly place underneath it your Voting card, with the side you are giving your allegiance to (and Attack Value points) face up. When you reveal your Attack card, leave the Voting card where it is, with your Vote facing up. If you make a mistake, it cannot be changed after the reveal – so make sure it is correct.
PESTILENCE: As a reminder, when a player's damage is reduced by half, it means rotating the Attack card to the next lowest value.
Incarnation Realm Effects
The printed heading reads "Incarnattion Realm Effects"; it is set here with the standard spelling.
ANGUISH: The player who loses the most LP in this Encounter is bequeathed the Relic, Anguish's Relent. If there is a tie, no one gets the Relic.
ARROGANCE: Encounter Arrogance as though it was at least the 7th Encounter faced, regardless of the actual number. Increase its LP by 100 and double the damage it does. The player who defeats Arrogance is bequeathed the Relic, Helm of Arrogance.
BETRAYAL: The player who finishes this Encounter with the lowest LP is bequeathed the Relic, Blade of Betrayal. If there is a tie, no one gets the Relic.
CHAOS: At the end of the Encounter, draw Initiative. The player who draws Initiative #3 is bequeathed the Relic, Chaos Orb. Plan B can be used to alter the outcome.
DEATH: If a player lands the killing blow and has no cards in their hand, they are bequeathed the Relic, Finger of Death.
DECEIT: The player who gained the most +1 tokens from this Encounter is bequeathed the Relic, True Strike. If there is a tie, no one gets the Relic.
ENVY: When a player refuses to take damage and gives a Relic, Item, Reputation or Prestige away, give that player a generic token. The player with the most tokens earned this way is bequeathed the Relic, Blade of Envy. If there is a tie for the most, no one gets the Relic.
GLUTTONY: If you finish this Encounter with seven or more Attack cards in your hand, you are bequeathed the Relic, The Feast. If there is more than one player with seven or more Attack cards, the person with the most Attack cards gets the Relic. If there is a tie, no one gets the Relic.
GREED: The first player to play an Attack card as if it were a Critical Miss card is given a generic token. The next time someone plays an Attack card in the same fashion, they take control of the token. The player in control of the token at the end of the Encounter is bequeathed the Relic, Mask of Avarice.
FAMINE: If a player lands the killing blow and has at least 1 card in their hand, they are bequeathed the Relic, Flail of Consumption.
FEAR: Before the Encounter begins, each player may place facedown a number of cards they commit to discarding from their hand. Reveal simultaneously. The player who discarded the highest total Attack value worth of cards is bequeathed the Relic, Draught of Fear. If there is a tie, no one gets the Relic.
FORTUNE: If a player draws "The World" card with 6 or more Fortune cards remaining, that player is bequeathed the Relic, Fortune's Deck.
HATE: At the beginning of the Encounter, if a player discards an Attack card with a value of 50 or higher, they are bequeathed the Relic, Hateful Eye. If more than one player does this, the player who discarded the highest Attack card gets the Relic. If there is a tie, no one gets the Relic.
HUMILITY & SHAME: Whoever loses the most Prestige from Shame is bequeathed the Relic, Clasp of the Shepherd. If there is a tie, no one gets the Relic.
HOPE & DESPAIR: The player who gained the most -1 Prestige tokens from Despair during the Encounter is bequeathed the Relic, Hope's Charm.
LUST: Whenever you gain LP by defending Lust, gain a generic token. At the end of the Encounter, if you have 3 or more tokens, you are bequeathed the Relic, Drops of Desire. If more than one player has done this, the player who has the most tokens gets the Relic. If there is a tie, no one gets the Relic.
MISCHIEF: Give a generic token to the player or players who played the most cards from their hand this Round. At end of the Encounter, the player with the most token gained this way is bequeathed the Relic, Fixed Dice. If there is a tie, no one gets the Relic.
ORDER: If you successfully play an Attack 5 card, keep the card to one side of your Character card. At the end of the Encounter, the player who successfully played the most Attack 5 cards is bequeathed the Relic, Staff of Order.
PESTILENCE: If a player ends the Encounter with 3 or more Pestilence tokens, they are bequeathed the Relic, Wand of Purity. If there is more than one player with 3 or more Pestilence tokens, the player with the most tokens gets the Relic. If there is a tie, no one gets the Relic. PRIDE: After Pride is defeated, whoever has the highest Prestige is bequeathed the Relic, Helm of Pride. If there is a tie, no one gets the Relic.
SLOTH: The player who ends the Encounter with the most cards in their hand is bequeathed the Relic, Essence of Sleep. If there is a tie, no one gets the Relic.
SPITE: During this Encounter, if you play an Action card, place it beside your Character card. When Spite is defeated, the player who played at least 3 Action cards during this Encounter, is bequeathed the Shank of Spite. If there is more than one qualifying player, the person who played the most Action cards get the Relic. If there is a tie, no one gets the Relic.
TEMPTATION: If a player has an option to take a Relic from Temptation but chooses not to, that player is given a generic token. The Player with the most tokens earned this way is bequeathed the Relic, Talisman of Temptation. If there is a tie for most tokens no one gets the Relic.
TIME: The player who was last in Initiative order during the Round in which Time was defeated (whether they had a Turn or not), may take any Item or Relic that has been discarded from use or through an effect this game. This Item is considered bequeathed and cannot be stolen.
WAR: The player who kills War is bequeathed the Relic, Gauntlet of War, so long as they have earned at least 2 Prestige tokens from War.
WRATH: When you take damage from Wrath, you can choose to take 5 more damage. If you do, gain a generic token. The player who has the most of these tokens at the end of the Encounter is bequeathed the Relic, Fist of Wrath. If there is a tie, whoever has the least amount of LP gets the Relic. If there is still a tie, no one gets the Relic.