Dawn of Madness Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Content Warning
• Game Overview
  • Objective
• Wanderer Stage and Finale Stage
  • Delving Deeper: Behind the Curtain
• Game Components
  • General Components
  • Wanderer-Specific Components
    • Emily Hawkins
• Setting Up the Wanderer Stage
  • 1. Prepare the Wanderers
  • 2. Prepare the Game Board
  • 3. Prepare the Encounter Cards and Coda Cards
  • 4. Prepare the Abomination
  • 5. Prepare Other Decks and Token Pools
• Winning and Failing the Wanderer Stage
  • Longer Game – Deeper Story
  • Shorter Game – Less Story
• Playing the Wanderer Stage
  • Event Phase
• Action Phase
  • Determine Turn Order
  • Wanderer Actions
  • Terror and Malformation Activation
  • Abomination Activation
• Refresh Phase
• Additional Rules
  • Health
  • Mental Capacity
  • Existence and Existence Cards
  • Sentience and Domains
  • Delving Deeper: Domain Meanings
  • Encounters
  • Void Tokens
  • The Forgotten Envelopes
  • Coda Cards
  • Domain Cards
  • Terrors
  • Delving Deeper: Domain Rifts and Monsters
  • Malformations
  • Abomination
  • Legacy
  • Resetting a Wanderer
  • Condition Cards
  • Support Cards
  • Spawning
  • Players Decide
  • The Meaning of "May"
  • Effects That Cannot Be Fully Resolved
  • Reduced Value
  • Devour Tokens and Cards (Optional)
• The End of the Wanderer Stage
  • Fail the Wanderer Stage
  • Win the Wanderer Stage
• Setting Up the Finale Stage
  • 1. Determine the Ending
  • 2. Organize the Components
  • 3. Prepare the Wanderers and Monsters
  • 4. Prepare Decks and Token Pools
  • 5. Apply the Ending's Special Setup
• Winning the Finale Stage
• Playing the Finale Stage
  • Event Phase
  • Action Phase
  • Refresh Phase
• The Finale Stage's End
• Credits

Content Warning

Dawn of Madness is a horror experience in a board game, and it is not intended for younger audiences or the faint-hearted. While it contains minimal foul language and little to no sexual content, it features many scenes of disturbing, bloody violence, dark, adult-oriented situations, and sustained, intense horror. In addition, it deals with many themes that people may find triggering or disturbing, including suicide, depression, cannibalism, mental illness, anxiety, and both physical and psychological trauma.

Dawn of Madness is meant to unsettle you. As such, if you have a phobia, it is likely represented in some way within this game. (In fact, perhaps the only thing you won't find is any sexual trauma, as mentioned previously.) Considering these factors, we recommend Dawn of Madness for ages 16+.

Game Overview

Dawn of Madness is a fully cooperative survival-horror game for 1-4 players. It is a story-driven experience that immerses you and your fellow players into the roles of wanderers: lost, broken souls trapped in the mysterious and malign Otherworld. During the game, you will work through one wanderer's story, reading through the matching storybook as you explore his or her shattered world. You will fight monstrous terrors (some of which seem unsettlingly familiar,) confront abominations that seek to corrupt and devour you, and encounter dark, malformed versions of your own soul. Along the way, you will gather points toward one of four endings. If you get into one, you will (likely) face a terrifying final boss and conclude your unfolding story – for good or ill.

Recover the past. Reforge reality. Rewrite the future. This is Dawn of Madness.

Objective

Forge a unique, frightening story through the game's encounters while fighting to defeat its imposing mini-boss: the abomination. If you succeed, you will proceed into one of your story's four endings to shape its conclusion.

Wanderer Stage and Finale Stage

Each game of Dawn of Madness consists of two stages: the wanderer stage and the finale stage. During the wanderer stage, the wanderers must work together to reconstruct the central wanderer's past, secrets, and nightmares, struggling against the Otherworld's malign forces as they fight to survive. As they explore the shattered shards of this world, they will strengthen their existence while also collecting points toward one of four potential endings. Finally, once they have met the winning conditions, they will delve into the finale with the most accumulated points.

In the finale stage, the simmering tensions come to a boil. Plot threads from the wanderer stage will weave together, discarding other potential forms of reality to forge a single, consuming threat. Sometimes this will be reflected in the wanderers facing a nightmarish final boss – and sometimes, the finale itself will wage war against the wanderers. But, regardless of the finale's outcome, a new reality will crystalize at its end that will affect the wanderers for many games to come.

These two stages form the unique sections of every game of Dawn of Madness. Will you survive to the next one?

Delving Deeper: Behind the Curtain

NOTE: This section offers a deeper look into this game's setting. It is not required for gameplay.

Humanity's future will be glorious, transcendent, and shaped by the Golden Dawn Church. For years, the Golden Dawn has conducted experiments into human consciousness, seeking to forge an age of enlightened, superhuman beings while ushering in humanity's next evolutionary stage. Along the way, they uncovered powerful relics. These remnants of beings long gone revealed another plane of existence: the Otherworld. When their initial forays into this realm gruesomely failed, the Golden Dawn began a long series of fusion trials, seeking to unite human minds with the forces in that other reality – and with each other. These experiments continued for years, decades, and then centuries, feeding uniquely attuned subjects into the Otherworld until someone finally came back.

You play as one of the unfortunate souls subjected to such an experiment. Exposed to the Otherworld's power, you have been ripped out of your own life and deposited into this living, seething, and hungry dimension. However, you're not alone: other test subjects have collided with you, your minds slowly fusing the longer you're near. Additionally, the shattered remnants of your memories, lives, and nightmares have become a part of the Otherworld itself. Some of your darkest terrors have even taken on living, breathing shape.

Now, you wander through the shards of your world and others, trying to piece yourself back together while fighting to survive this conscious, nightmarish realm. In so doing, you are not only rediscovering your past: you're reshaping it, forging it into something new with those who wander through the darkness alongside you. Will you be the one to return and usher in humanity's golden dawn? Or will you become something altogether different: Something simultaneously more and less than human? You'll have to play to find out.

Game Components

General Components

The following components will likely appear in most games and are not specific to any wanderer.

• This Rulebook
• 1 Game Board
• 10 Game Round Trackers
• 20 Ending Score Trackers (5 per ending)
• 120 Plastic Sentience Markers (24 per sentience color)
• 38 Otherworld Domain Cards
• 8 Abomination Cards, 8 Matching Standees, and 8 Matching Mental Capacity Trackers
• 80 Confrontation Cards (10 per abomination)
• 2 Family Lineage Cards (1 per abomination family) and 8 Lineage Tokens (1 per abomination)
• 1 Lineage Envelope
• 96 Abomination Legacy Cards (12 per abomination)
• 21 Terror Cards, 21 Matching Standees, and 21 Matching Mental Capacity Trackers
• 100 Domain Rift Tokens
• 121 Condition Cards: 6 Burdened Cards, 15 Disoriented Cards, 6 Enlightened Cards, 16 Envenomed Cards, 6 Fusion Cards, 15 Lightheaded Cards, 6 Overwrought Cards, 12 Slowed Cards, 15 Traumatized Cards, 12 Weakened Cards, and 12 Withered Cards
• 126 Devour Cards (12 per abomination and 30 Otherworld cards)
• 5 2-Wanderers Support Cards and 3 3-Wanderers Support Cards
• 40 Completed/Exhausted Tokens
• 24 Blue/Red Consequence Tokens
• 16 Void Tokens
• 4 Trapped Tokens
• 52 Wound Tokens (28 "1" wounds, 14 "5" wounds, and 10 "10" wounds)
• 40 Existence Tokens
• 48 Devour Tokens
• 20 Six-sided Sentience Dice (4 per sentience color)
• 1 Sixteen-sided Otherworld Die
• 1 Sentience Pad (100 pages)
• 54 Plastic Stands

Wanderer-Specific Components

The following components are wanderer-specific and will only be used when that wanderer is present in the game.

Note: at the time this preview rulebook was released, only the Emily Hawkins wanderer's component list had been finalized; the component pages for the game's other wanderers were marked "Coming Soon."

Emily Hawkins

• 1 Storybook – Bonds of Twins
• 1 Storage Box
• 1 Forgotten Envelope
• 1 Wanderer Dashboard, 1 Matching Standee, and 1 Mental Capacity Tracker
• 3 Malformation Cards, 3 Matching Standees, and 3 Mental Capacity Trackers
• 2 Final Boss Cards, 2 Matching Standees, and 2 Mental Capacity Trackers
• 16 World Shard Cards
• 7 Basic Existence Cards
• 8 Locked Existence Cards (in the Forgotten Envelope)
• 6 Locked Domain Cards (in the Forgotten Envelope)
• 8 Finale Legacy Cards (in the Forgotten Envelope)
• 66 Encounter Cards
• 61 Coda Cards
• 12 Finale Encounter Cards
• 8 Physical Treatment Cards and 8 Psychiatric Treatment Cards
• 12 Pill Tokens

Setting Up the Wanderer Stage

As mentioned previously, each game of Dawn of Madness consists of a wanderer stage and a finale stage. (See Page 5 for more details.) To set up the wanderer stage of the game, follow these steps in order:

1. Prepare the Wanderers

1. Choose Wanderers

Each player chooses one or more wanderers based on the number of players:

• 1 Player: The player chooses 2 wanderers.
• 2-4 Players: Each player chooses 1 wanderer.

Players then take the chosen wanderers' dashboards, matching standees (inserted into plastic stands,) and mental capacity trackers.

If any wanderers have abomination legacy cards or finale legacy cards from previous games, place them beside the dashboard. (Ignore this step if this is your first game.)

IMPORTANT: Take out the five "2-wanderers" support cards for games with only two wanderers. Take out the three "3-wanderers" support cards for games with three wanderers. Then, place them where all players can easily access them. See Page 27 for more details about support cards.

2. Prepare the Existence Decks and Starting Existence Cards

Take the chosen wanderers' available existence cards and place them in face-up decks beside each wanderer's dashboard. (Leave any existence cards that are still locked in their respective forgotten envelopes. They will only be unlocked and become available when instructed. See Page 24 for more details about the forgotten envelopes.) This deck is called the wanderer's existence deck. The order of this deck's cards is unimportant.

Wanderers may acquire their own existence cards during the game, but the only one that is currently usable is the starting existence card shown on the back of each wanderer's dashboard. Take these starting cards now and place them near their applicable wanderer's dashboard. See Page 21 for more details on existence cards.

3. Prepare the Starting Domain Cards and Domain Deck

Take out all the available domain cards, leaving any that are still locked in their respective forgotten envelopes. (They will only be unlocked and become available when instructed.) Next, take the starting domain card(s) shown on the back of your dashboard(s).

Shuffle the remaining domain cards to form a face-down domain deck and place it where all players can easily access it.

4. Record Starting Sentience Values and Prepare Starting Domains

Take 1 sheet from the sentience pad for each wanderer and write down your starting sentience values printed on your dashboard(s) (and any modifications from other components, such as legacy cards.)

IMPORTANT: Whenever a component modifies a wanderer's sentience values during the game (usually from coda cards,) the wanderer should record the new values on this sheet for easy reference.

Roll a number of 6-sided sentience dice equal to your recorded sentience values, placing sentience markers in the dashboard domain areas matching the die-roll results.

5. Choose the Central Wanderer

Decide which wanderer is this game's "central wanderer." The current game's story will revolve around this wanderer. Next, take out the central wanderer's storybook.

6. Storybook-Specific Setup

Read the introduction in the storybook, then check for any special setup instructions.

2. Prepare the Game Board

1. Unfold the game board. Take out the central wanderer's 16 world shard cards (also called world shards). Shuffle and randomly place them on each of the board's spaces with the wanderer stage side facing up.

   (Each world shard card shows: sentience icons, the world shard title, the world shard's number, the wanderer's name, the encounter's title, the encounter's entry, and the encounter's description — this is the wanderer stage side.)

2. Place the 10 game round trackers face-up on the round track in order.

3. Place an ending score tracker on each finale's "0" space along the ending score track.

4. Roll the 16-sided otherworld die and place your figure on the matching world shard. If there is already a wanderer there, reroll the die.

5. Place your mental capacity tracker on the mental capacity track (along the game board's left-hand side) according to your dashboard's maximum (or max) mental capacity value (after accounting for any component modifications.)

3. Prepare the Encounter Cards and Coda Cards

Take out the central wanderer's encounter cards and separate them into two face-up decks beside the game board: one with spawning conditions on their backs and one without them. (During each game round's refresh phase, players must check if an encounter card's spawning condition has been met.)

Take out all the central wanderer's coda cards. Place them into a face-up deck beside the game board.

Game effects will direct the wanderers to find specific cards during the game. As such, arranging the cards alphabetically by their titles is recommended, making them easier to find.

4. Prepare the Abomination

1. Each game features one abomination. The players choose which one to use in the game, placing its card beside the game board.

2. Roll the otherworld die and place the chosen abomination's figure on the matching world shard. If that world shard already contains a wanderer, reroll the die.

3. Place the abomination's mental capacity tracker on the mental capacity track according to its maximum mental capacity value.

4. Take out the chosen abomination's 10 confrontation cards. Shuffle them to form a face-down confrontation deck and place it beside the abomination card. Then, reveal the deck's top card and place it beside the deck. This card shows the abomination's next special action and the confrontation test the wanderers may initiate against it.

5. If the chosen abomination's family lineage card has at least one activated section, place that card beside the game board with the corresponding lineage token(s) on it. (Ignore this step if this is your first game.)

   Every abomination belongs to a family with four distinct abominations (e.g., the Rage family.) Each family shares a lineage card listing the punishments that will afflict the wanderers if they fail to kill a family member in a previous game.

6. (Only when using the devour optional rule in this game.) Take out the chosen abomination's 12 specific devour cards and shuffle them with 12 (out of the 30 total) common Otherworld devour cards to form a face-down devour deck. Then, place it beside the abomination card.

5. Prepare Other Decks and Token Pools

1. Prepare the Terror Deck

Take out the central wanderer's 3 specific terror cards and place them beside the game board. These terrors will spawn when the game instructs.

Shuffle the remaining terror cards to form a face-down terror deck and place it beside the game board.

2. Prepare the Malformations

Take the 3 cards, standees, and mental capacity trackers for each wanderer's malformations, placing them beside their matching wanderer's dashboard. A wanderer's malformations will spawn on the game board via specific game effects (usually when wanderers die.)

3. Prepare the Condition Cards

Place the condition cards into respective face-down decks and place them beside the game board. Next, shuffle the Disoriented, Lightheaded, and Traumatized decks before placing them on the table. (Disregard the Traumatized cards' different backs.)

4. Prepare the Token Pools

Place the sentience, wound, existence, domain rift, consequence, completed/exhausted, trapped, void, and ending score tokens into respective pools.

(Only when using the devour optional rule in this game.) Place the devour tokens beside the game board.

The wanderer stage of the game is now ready to begin, starting with the first game round's event phase.

Winning and Failing the Wanderer Stage

During a game round's refresh phase, if wanderers meet both conditions listed below, the wanderers win the wanderer stage and gain access to the finale stage:

• The four endings' cumulative score equals or exceeds 40.
• The abomination is killed.

Longer Game – Deeper Story

If you want to experience a deeper story during a single game, you can increase the ending score requirement to 50. Please note that this will make the game run longer.

Shorter Game – Less Story

For a quicker game of Dawn of Madness, you can reduce the ending score requirement to 30. Please note that this will decrease your immersion level and understanding of the story.

At any time, if the wanderers meet any of the conditions below, they fail the wanderer stage and lose the game:

• The 10th game round ends.
• Every wanderer is currently dead.
• A wanderer must receive a fourth Withered card (having died four times.)

IMPORTANT: When the wanderer stage ends, the wanderers must resolve the game effects listed in "The End of the Wanderer Stage" section on Page 28, whether they win or fail.

Playing the Wanderer Stage

The wanderer stage is played over 10 game rounds. Each round consists of three phases in order:

1. Event Phase: During the event phase, the wanderers will read the entry shown on the current game round's tracker and resolve every game effect in that entry.
2. Action Phase: During the action phase, characters (wanderers and monsters) take turns performing actions according to their current positions on the mental capacity track.
3. Refresh Phase: During the refresh phase, the wanderer stage's winning conditions are checked, any dead wanderers are respawned, all characters restore their mental capacity, and the devour cards are resolved (optional.)

Event Phase

During the event phase, the wanderers must find the entry shown on the current game round's tracker in the central wanderer's storybook. Read the description and resolve every game effect listed in that entry.

Example: Entry 10 (Event) — Spawn the terror Patient Aftershock and 2 random terrors from the terror deck on different world shards. The wanderer Emily immediately turns to entry 59.

Often, new encounters will spawn based on the wanderers' choices, successes, and failures earlier in the game. Fresh terrors will also spawn.

Action Phase

During the action phase, each character (wanderer or monster) on the game board takes turns performing actions until every character's mental capacity reaches zero.

Determine Turn Order

The character whose tracker is highest on the mental capacity track is the active character. The active character must perform an action, if able. If the active character cannot perform an action (for example, a monster's remaining mental capacity is too low for any of its available actions) or doesn't want to perform an action (for example, a wanderer decides not to take any of the currently available actions,) the active character's mental capacity will be reduced directly to zero. (When determining turns, ignore characters whose mental capacity trackers are in the zero area.)

After the active character's action fully resolves, recheck the mental capacity track to determine whose turn is next, repeating until all characters reach zero.

If two or more characters' trackers are on the same space of the mental capacity track, follow these rules to determine the active character:

• Wanderers always activate last.
• For characters other than wanderers, the wanderers determine which one should activate next.
• If two or more wanderers' trackers occupy the same space on the track, the wanderers may decide who should activate next.

NOTE: Before every character's tracker is in the zero mental capacity space, a character's tracker could potentially move out of the zero mental capacity space by restoring mental capacity via a game effect.

The action phase ends as soon as every character's mental capacity tracker is in the zero mental capacity space and the last action fully resolves.

Wanderer Actions

When it is a wanderer's turn to activate, the wanderer may perform one of the following actions:

Move Action

Spend X mental capacity to move X spaces along the game board's paths. (X is no more than 3.)

Attack Action

Spend 2+X mental capacity to attack a terror or malformation within X spaces. (X is no more than 3. When the targeted monster is in the same space, X is 0.)

To attack a terror or malformation, you must choose one of the domain rifts placed on its card and initiate an attack test matching the chosen domain rift's color. To perform this test, roll as many dice of that color as your current sentience value for it. (For example, if your current red sentience value is 2, roll 2 red dice.) For each die-roll result that matches the chosen domain rift, you deal 1 damage of that sentience to the targeted monster. You may also spend matching domains stored on your dashboard to deal additional damage during this process. (NOTE: You may spend domains to deal damage even if none of your die-roll results match the chosen domain rift.)

After the attack test, if the monster loses health because of your attack, discard the chosen domain rift. Otherwise, that domain rift remains. If the last domain rift on the monster's card is discarded, immediately refresh all three domain rift slots. (See Page 25 for more details about domain rifts and more information on refreshing them.)

If your attack action kills the monster, take the existence reward listed on its card. After that, remove the targeted monster's figure and mental capacity tracker from the game board. If the monster is a terror, place its card on the bottom of the terror deck (excluding the central wanderer's three specific terrors, which should remain beside the game board.) If the monster is a malformation, place its card back beside its linked wanderer's dashboard.

IMPORTANT: You cannot directly attack the abomination. You may only harm the abomination via confrontation actions or other special game effects.

Encounter Action

Spend 2 mental capacity to resolve the encounter listed on the world shard you currently occupy (called a world shard encounter) or an encounter card placed on it.

To resolve this encounter, find the entry listed on the world shard or encounter card in the central wanderer's storybook. Then, read the entry's story and resolve its game effects.

NOTE: If a world shard has a completed token on it, then the world shard encounter has already been completed and cannot be resolved again.

Domain Action

Spend 1 mental capacity to roll 3 dice matching the sentience colors printed on your currently occupied world shard. Then gain 1 copy of each domain you rolled, storing them on your dashboard.

IMPORTANT: Each wanderer may only perform this action once per round unless otherwise stated.

Search Action

Spend 1 mental capacity to gain a domain card from the top of the domain deck.

IMPORTANT: Each wanderer may only perform this action once per round unless otherwise stated. You may only have a maximum of 4 domain cards in your possession by default. This rule is called the domain card limit. If the number of domain cards in your possession exceeds your domain card limit, you must discard cards until the number of domain cards equals your domain card limit.

Trade Action

Choose another wanderer in your space and trade any number of domain cards between yourselves. NOTE: This action doesn't cost any mental capacity.

IMPORTANT: Each wanderer may only perform this action once per round.

Existence Action

Choose a card from your own existence deck. Then, spend the number of existence tokens equal to the chosen card's cost to acquire it.

NOTE: This action doesn't cost any mental capacity.

Confrontation Action

Spend 2+X mental capacity to wound the abomination within X spaces. (X is no more than 3. When the abomination is in the same space, X is 0.)

To resolve the confrontation action, initiate a confrontation test. Roll dice equal to each of your current sentience values, trying to match all the domains listed on the current confrontation card's top section. If you successfully roll a matching set of results, deal damage to the abomination equal to the amount shown in the confrontation card's lower-right corner. (NOTE: You may only wound the abomination once during a confrontation action, even if you roll multiple sets of matching results in the test.)

IMPORTANT: In addition to using domains from your dashboard to help you pass a confrontation test, you may also use one and only one of your coda cards. (You may do this after rolling dice.) To do this, choose one of your non-exhausted coda cards (no exhausted token placed on that card) and flip it over. (You may look at a coda card's back anytime.) Next, roll additional sentience dice matching this card's sentience colors to improve your chance of passing the confrontation test. After that, flip the chosen coda card back around and place an exhausted token on it, exhausting it, whether you passed the test or not. NOTE: Coda cards can only be used in this way during confrontation tests. You will still use a coda card's front side normally when it has been exhausted. See Page 24 for more information on Coda cards.

After successfully wounding the abomination, take the existence reward listed on the confrontation card's top section. Then, reveal a new card from the confrontation deck and place it atop the previous card. If the deck is empty, shuffle the cards to form a new confrontation deck and then reveal the top card.

If you kill the abomination, remove its figure and mental capacity tracker from the game board. The abomination won't return during this game.

Component Actions

Some components (such as existence cards, domain cards, and the storybook) allow you to perform other unique actions. These component actions are preceded by the word "Action." To complete one of these actions, follow the component's directions.

Terror and Malformation Activation

When it is a terror or malformation's turn to activate, always keep in mind the entire action sequence on its card. The sequence's top actions have the highest priority. If a higher action's condition is met and the monster has enough mental capacity, that action will be triggered, ignoring the lower ones this activation (unless otherwise stated.)

Terrors and malformations also have secondary abilities called domain rift abilities. These are activated if one or more of their current domain rifts matches the ability's symbol(s). If the required domain rifts are present, these abilities will activate along with the rest of the action. If not, ignore the lower section. See Page 25 for more details about domain rifts.

If the terror or malformation cannot perform any of its available actions (likely because its mental capacity is too low or no action's conditions can be met,) reduce its mental capacity directly to zero.

Abomination Activation

When it is the abomination's turn to activate, always keep in mind the entire action sequence on its card. The sequence's top actions have the highest priority. If a higher action's condition is met and the abomination has enough mental capacity, that action will be triggered, ignoring those below it for this activation (unless otherwise stated.)

If the action sequence instructs you to resolve the active confrontation card, follow the game effect on the current confrontation card's bottom section. Once the confrontation card's effect is resolved, reveal a new card from the top of the deck and place it atop the previous card. If the deck is empty, shuffle the cards to form a new confrontation deck and then reveal the top one. If the abomination cannot resolve the game effect on the active confrontation card for whatever reason, move to its sequence's following action (if available.) Do not reveal a new card.

If the abomination cannot perform any action in its action sequence, reduce its mental capacity directly to zero.

Refresh Phase

During the refresh phase, resolve the following steps in order:

1. Check the Wanderer Stage's Winning Conditions.

Check if all four endings' cumulative score has reached 40 points and the abomination has been killed. If both conditions are met, the wanderers win the wanderer stage. When this happens, the wanderer stage ends immediately, and the wanderers resolve the game effects listed in "The End of the Wanderer Stage" section on Page 28.

If the wanderers haven't won the wanderer stage and the 10th game round is about to conclude, the wanderers fail the wanderer stage. Immediately resolve the game effects listed in "The End of the Wanderer Stage" section on Page 28.

2. Respawn Dead Wanderers.

If your wanderer died, roll dice of every color equaling your current sentience values, restoring 3+X health. (X equals the total number of skull results.) Then, roll the otherworld die and place your figure on the matching world shard. (If you have a trapped token, respawn on your current world shard instead.)

IMPORTANT: This is NOT a test, and sphere results don't count toward the total number of skull rolled. However, other wanderers may still spend skull domains to help you roll additional sentience dice. See Page 22 for more on domain abilities.

If more than one dead wanderer must respawn, players decide their order.

3. Restore Mental Capacity.

Each character restores its mental capacity to its max value.

4. Refresh Support Cards.

Flip every used support card back to its front side. (For games with 2-3 wanderers only.)

5. Resolve Devour Cards. (Only when using the devour optional rule in this game.)

Resolve a devour card if there is a devour token in your space. (Only resolve one devour card, regardless of the number of devour tokens in your space.) NOTE: Wanderers must resolve this game effect even after killing the abomination. See Page 28 for more on devour effects.

6. Spawn Devour Tokens. (Only when using the devour optional rule in this game.)

Resolve this step only when the abomination is still in the game. The active confrontation card's lower-left corner shows how many devour tokens to spawn this round. Roll the Otherworld die to determine where each one will spawn.

7. Flip the Game Round Tracker.

Flip over the current game round tracker to indicate the round's end.

After the refresh phase ends, a new game round begins with its event phase.

Additional Rules

This section describes every additional rule necessary to play the game.

Health

A character's health is its conscious lifeforce in the Otherworld.

Losing and Restoring Health

When a character loses health from damage or a game effect that simply instructs it to lose health, it receives wound tokens. When a game effect instructs a character to restore health, it discards the number of wounds the effect designates.

Death

When the number of wounds a character has taken equals or exceeds its max health value, it dies. When this happens, apply the following game effects according to the character's type:

Wanderer

1. Tip over your wanderer's figure to indicate his/her death.
2. Receive a Withered condition card, which reduces your maximum health value by 1. Then, remove excess wound tokens from your dashboard, leaving enough to equal the wanderer's new max health. (NOTE: If a wanderer ever receives a fourth Withered card, the wanderers immediately fail the wanderer stage.)
3. Next, spawn the linked malformation that matches your current number of Withered cards in your wanderer's space. (For example, spawn the first malformation if your wanderer has 1 Withered card, the second one with 2 Withered cards, and the third with 3.)
4. Lastly, place the newly spawned malformation's mental capacity tracker in the same space on the track as its linked wanderer's tracker (rather than in the space matching its maximum mental capacity.) Then, reduce the wanderer's mental capacity directly to zero. If the wanderer's current level exceeds the malformation's max mental capacity, place the malformation's tracker in the space matching its maximum value as usual. (NOTE: This adjustment only happens when the malformation is spawned due to the wanderer's death.)

IMPORTANT: When a wanderer dies, he/she is treated as being temporarily out of the game. None of his/her components take effect during this period (unless specifically stated.) When a game effect mentions "wanderers," no dead wanderers are included. See Page 23 for more on what happens when a wanderer dies in encounters.

Malformation

The wanderer who kills this malformation receives the existence reward listed on the malformation's card. Then, remove the malformation's figure and mental capacity tracker from the game board, placing its card back beside its linked wanderer's dashboard.

Terror

The wanderer who kills this terror takes the existence reward listed on the terror's card. Then, remove the terror's figure and mental capacity tracker from the game board, placing its card on the bottom of the terror deck (excluding the central wanderer's three specific terrors, which remain beside the game board.)

Abomination

Remove the abomination's figure and mental capacity tracker from the game board. The abomination will not return during this game session. Ignore the effects on its abomination and confrontation cards for the rest of the game.

IMPORTANT: There will likely be special rules regarding characters' deaths in the finale stage. Should that be the case, the special rules override those in this rulebook.

Mental Capacity

A character's mental capacity is its resource to perform actions and its initiative when determining who will perform the next action.

Spending and Losing Mental Capacity

When a character spends or loses mental capacity, move its mental capacity tracker down the track the designated number of spaces. Its initiative will also lower as a result.

As a wanderer, you spend mental capacity to perform actions and resolve other game effects that cost mental capacity. Monsters also spend mental capacity to perform actions on their cards.

IMPORTANT: When a character's mental capacity reaches zero, it has no more to spend for that round. Therefore, if a game effect instructs the character to lose additional mental capacity, it must lose an equivalent amount of health instead.

Restoring Mental Capacity

Some game effects may let a character restore mental capacity. When that happens, move the character's mental capacity tracker upward an equivalent number of spaces along the track. Consequently, its initiative will also increase.

IMPORTANT: A character's current mental capacity cannot exceed its maximum value (unless specifically stated.) Furthermore, a character's maximum mental capacity value can never exceed 10.

Existence and Existence Cards

Existence is a precious resource for wanderers. Wanderers gain existence through completing encounters and killing monsters in the form of existence tokens.

Extra Health

Existence can be used as extra health. When losing health, you may instead spend existence tokens to avoid receiving wound tokens. (1 existence nullifies 1 wound.)

IMPORTANT: If a game effect instructs your wanderer to lose existence, but you don't have any, you must lose an equal amount of health instead.

Existence Cards

Wanderers may purchase their own existence cards to gain new, unique abilities and restore lost aspects of themselves. (NOTE: Wanderers can only use and acquire their own existence cards.) To obtain these cards, spend your existence tokens using an existence action. (See Page 24 for more details on locked existence cards in the "Forgotten Envelopes" section.)

Sentience and Domains

A domain is a specified area of activity, knowledge, ability, or power, and it is also the primary resource you will use to resolve game effects in Dawn of Madness. Wanderers will use domains to complete tests, perform abilities, and deal damage to monsters. A domain consists of two elements: a sentience (color) and a type (symbol).

Each wanderer has five sentience attributes represented by different colors. The sentience values on their dashboards (along with any modifications from other components) indicate how many sentience dice of a specific color the wanderer can roll when resolving various tests.

IMPORTANT: Whenever other components (usually coda cards) modify your wanderer's sentience values, record the new values on your sentience sheet for easy reference.

In addition to the sentience colors, there are also five domain types in the game, expressed by these symbols: hand, eye, brain, skull, and sphere.

Sentience Tests

Dawn of Madness features various tests, such as encounter, attack, defense, and confrontation tests. These are all forms of sentience tests. Usually, a sentience test looks like this: "test (a sentience color) for (a domain type)." For example: "test green for hand" or "test red for 2 skull."

To resolve a test, roll as many of its required sentience dice color(s) as your current sentience value(s) for those colors. (Reminder: Various game effects can modify these values, such as those on coda cards. The starting values are printed on your dashboard.) If you roll all the required domain results, you pass the test. If any required domain is not rolled, you fail the test.

IMPORTANT: In addition to rolling sentience dice, you can spend domains stored on your dashboard to pass any in-game tests.

IMPORTANT: The sphere die-roll result is wild. You may treat it as a sphere or any other die-roll result of the same color. In addition, you may spend a sphere domain from your dashboard as a sphere or any other type of domain of the same color.

NOTE: Unlike a domain action, you won't gain any of the domains rolled during a test. They all disappear after the test is resolved.

After passing or failing a test, you will resolve the game effect that matches your result. Should a matching effect be absent, then that outcome has no further impact (unless otherwise mentioned in a special rule, such as in some finales.)

Example: Try to evade your father. Test green for eye and red for sphere. If you succeed, go to entry 243. Should you fail, proceed to entry 224.

Gaining Domains

You may gain and store domains on your dashboard by taking a domain action (see Page 17 for more on domain actions) or through a game effect that instructs you to gain a specific domain.

To gain a domain, take a matching sentience marker from the common pool and place it in the designated domain circle on your dashboard.

Spending Domains

You may spend the domains stored on your dashboard to trigger various game effects. To spend a domain, move an appropriately colored sentience marker out of the required domain's circle and return it to the common pool.

IMPORTANT: Wanderers cannot voluntarily discard their domains without reason.

Domains' Special Effects

Besides spending domains for sentience die-roll result substitutes and as help for passing tests, you may also spend each domain type to trigger the following special effects:

Hand

You may spend a hand domain of a specific sentience color to reroll any number of identically colored dice you just rolled during a test.

Eye

When receiving damage of a particular sentience color, you may first perform a defense test with that color to prevent damage before losing health. Every eye domain rolled in this test will prevent 1 damage. You may also spend identically colored eye domains on your dashboard to prevent damage. (NOTE: This cannot be used when a game effect directly instructs you to lose health. A defense test applies to the total damage received, not per point of damage received.)

Brain

When you must spend mental capacity to perform an action, you may instead spend brain domains of a specific sentience color (1 brain domain for 1 mental capacity, and you may combine them) based on the action's type as follows:

• Move action: green
• Attack or confrontation action: red
• Search or domain action: blue
• Encounter or component action: yellow
• Any type of action: purple

Skull

You may spend a skull domain of a specific sentience color to have another wanderer roll 1 additional die of the matching color during any test, no matter where that wanderer is. You may spend skull domains after the other wanderer rolls dice. Additionally, you may spend multiple skull domains during a single test.

Sphere

You may spend sphere domains either as sphere domains or as any other domain type of the same sentience color. Sphere domains are treated as wilds whether they are spent to pass tests, trigger a different domain's special effects, or trigger other game effects.

Delving Deeper: Domain Meanings

NOTE: This section offers a deeper look into the various domains' meanings. It is not required for gameplay.

Each domain type and sentience color have specific meanings associated with them, and thus particular situations in which you will test them. Below you will find descriptions for each domain type and sentience.

Sentience

• Red reflects action, violence, and anger. However, it also means passion, love, courage, and strength. Red favors the hand domain.
• Blue reflects intellect, coolness under pressure, strategy, and logic. It is largely emotionless and unfeeling, focusing on cerebral pursuits. Blue favors the brain domain.
• Green reflects awareness, defense, reaction, and agility. It can be high-strung and envious while also standing for nature, new life, and growing things. Green favors the eye domain.
• Yellow reflects empathy, joy, caring, and connection. It can also mean fear, cowardice, and the fusion of two minds (or bodies) into one. Yellow favors the skull domain.
• Purple reflects the strange, the bizarre, and the other. It is a channel of the Otherworld's energies, for good or bad. It is dream, nightmare, and consciousness. Purple favors the sphere domain.

Domains

• The hand stands for action, attack, manipulation, and activity. That is why it can manipulate dice. It appears twice on red sentience dice.
• The brain stands for thought, inspiration, problem-solving, and logic. That is why it can be used in place of mental capacity. It appears twice on blue sentience dice.
• The eye stands for evasion, awareness, observation, and comprehension. That is why it's used to evade attacks and escape damage. It appears twice on green sentience dice.
• The skull stands for connection, fusion, empathy, and assistance. (It reflects two beings fusing into one.) That's why it can be used to assist other wanderers. It appears twice on the yellow sentience dice.
• The sphere stands for the Otherworld, the unknown, and the inhuman. Its inconstant, unformed nature is why it can be used as any other domain. It appears twice on the purple sentience dice.

Encounters

During the game, you will explore this dangerous, conscious world and unveil the wanderers' stories by entering encounters both on world shards and encounter cards. The wanderers have access to the world shard encounters from the beginning of the game. The encounter cards, however, are spawned during the game as the wanderers dig deeper into the stories.

Thematically, there are two different types of encounters: explorations and reality shards. When resolving an exploration encounter, you see the world through your own eyes. When completing a reality shard, however, it's as if you've entered the central wanderer's mind and now experience the world from his/her perspective.

Another type of encounter, called a finale encounter, only appears in the game's finale stage.

Encounter Test

Tests within encounters are called encounter tests. Encounter tests will vary wildly one from another but will also have clear instructions to follow. NOTE: When wanderers receive damage during encounters, they will resolve defense tests rather than encounter tests.

Encounter Cards

Some encounter cards have spawning conditions listed on their back sides. Check these cards during the event phase to see if and when they should spawn.

Other encounter cards feature entrance conditions on their front sides, replacing the flavor text. Check if the conditions have been met before entering such an encounter via an encounter action.

Ending Scores

Most encounters' outcomes will lead to certain endings gaining or losing points. When this happens, move the corresponding ending's score tracker the designated number of spaces along that ending's track. When you have accumulated 10 points toward an ending, move the current tracker into the center of that ending's track, then take out a second tracker token and place it on the next applicable number. (I.e., 0 if there were no further points to account for, 1, 2, or 3 if multiple points were remaining.)

Death in Encounters

You may die inside of an encounter due to adverse game effects. When this happens, the current encounter action ends, and you exit the encounter as soon as you resolve the current block of effect text. Any of the encounter's game effects that took place before (or immediately following) your death remain valid, but no subsequent effects will resolve at this point. Usually, you or another wanderer may enter an encounter you died in later on to try again. See Page 20 for more on what happens when a wanderer dies.

In some rare cases, game effects could instruct a specific wanderer (usually the central wanderer) to directly enter an encounter while that wanderer is dead. Should this happen, the dead wanderer should enter the encounter as usual, being treated as a living wanderer until the end of the encounter. NOTE: The summoned wanderer's health and mental capacity cannot change for any reason during this period.

Trapped

Some encounters' game effects will tell you that you are trapped in your current world shard, forcing you to resolve your current encounter in future turns. When this happens, take a trapped token. You cannot discard the token or perform any actions other than those the game effect instructs you to perform (usually entering a specific encounter) until the trapped state is released.

IMPORTANT: When you must resolve an encounter test to release your trapped state by yourself, you may spend 1 mental capacity to roll 1 extra die of any sentience. (You may apply this effect multiple times during a test.)

IMPORTANT: If you die while trapped, keep your trapped token. You are still trapped, even after respawning. When your dead trapped wanderer respawns on the game board, you must respawn on your current world shard (instead of a random one.)

Void Tokens

Some game effects may instruct you to place a void token on a world shard, indicating that the world shard has become an empty, desolate void to wanderers. Wanderers cannot perform encounter, domain, or search actions on a world shard with a void token unless otherwise stated.

NOTE: Monsters are not affected by void tokens.

The Forgotten Envelopes

Every wanderer has locked existence and domain cards that may only be unlocked after digging deep into that wanderer's story. These cards are sealed in the wanderers' forgotten envelopes. You may only take them out when the game instructs you to do so (usually during encounters.)

Once a locked existence or domain card is unlocked, it will remain unlocked for all subsequent games unless players decide to reset its wanderer. (See Page 27 for more details about resetting a wanderer.) Specifically, in future games, any wanderers' unlocked existence cards will always be in their own existence decks, while any unlocked domain cards will always be in the domain deck.

The wanderers' finale legacy cards are also sealed in their own forgotten envelopes.

Coda Cards

During the wanderer stage, wanderers will take part in numerous encounters. You will obtain coda cards at the ends of many encounters, which usually alter the wanderers' sentience values. Codas represent the story outcome's impact on you – for good or bad. When a wanderer's sentience values change, don't forget to record the new values on the sentience sheet.

Wanderers may also use a non-exhausted coda card's back to help pass a confrontation test and harm the abomination. After that, the coda card becomes exhausted. (NOTE: A coda card's front side still takes effect after it's exhausted.) In this way, the story's fragments aid the wanderers in their fight against the all-consuming abomination. (See Page 17 for more on confrontations.)

IMPORTANT: Wanderers cannot voluntarily discard or trade coda cards unless a specific game effect instructs them to do so.

Sentience Sheet

When a wanderer's sentience values change (usually by gaining new coda cards or other components,) remember to record the new values on the wanderer's sentience sheet. Sometimes, sentience values may be reduced to a negative number. While this sentience value is treated as zero, still record the negative values on the sentience sheet to make calculating the correct value easier in the future.

Domain Cards

Domain cards represent strange, often unsettling items that contain elements of the Otherworld's conscious power. They provide particularly useful, frequently unique benefits. You may gain domain cards via search actions or in some encounters. When acquiring a domain card, draw from the top of the domain deck. Should the deck empty, shuffle the discard pile to form a new deck. (See Page 17 for more on search actions.)

IMPORTANT: Each wanderer has a default domain card limit of 4. Various game effects can modify this limit.

You may use a domain card in two ways:

Use as an Item

To use a domain card as an item, follow the effect text listed on the card.

There are several item types. The type itself is only used as a reference by other game effects.

Some domain cards have charges which are displayed as "X Charges." When you acquire a card with charges, place as many existence tokens on the card as there are charges listed. When spending a charge, discard an existence token from the card. When no existence tokens remain on a domain card with charges, discard the card to the domain discard pile.

IMPORTANT: Any domain cards in your possession take effect simultaneously. For example, if you have more than one weapon in your possession, each one's special effects apply during your attack action, allowing you to benefit from all of them at once.

Use as Domains During Tests

Each domain card's bottom section shows 3 or more domains. When resolving a test, you may discard domain cards to use their domains and meet the test's requirements. There is no limit to the number of domain cards you may discard during a test. However, you can only discard domain cards to help pass your own tests. You won't gain the domains shown on a domain card by discarding it. They are only used to help you pass your current test. After fully resolving the test, the domains gained from the discarded domain card(s) disappear.

Terrors

Terrors are common monsters the wanderers will face in the game. Some terrors come from a specific wanderer's conscious world. (These are distinguishable by the wanderer icons printed on the cards' title sections.) However, these terrors may appear in any game, with or without their specific wanderers. (See Page 18 for more on how terrors activate.)

Domain Rifts

After a terror spawns on the game board, roll 3 dice matching the sentience icons on the world shard where it spawned. Then, take 3 domain rift tokens that match those die-roll results and place them onto the terror card's three slots. These are called the monster's domain rifts.

A terror gains the domain rift abilities listed below the actions on its action sequence if a matching domain rift or combination of domain rifts is placed on its card. When the domain rifts can no longer meet a domain rift ability's requirement (for example, when a wanderer's attack breaks a domain rift), the terror loses that ability – at least temporarily. (See Page 16 for more on attacking a terror's domain rifts.)

Delving Deeper: Domain Rifts and Monsters

NOTE: This section offers a deeper look into the meaning behind domain rifts. It is not required for gameplay.

A monster in Dawn of Madness is not a strictly physical or singular being, but rather an apparition that is usually a unique conglomeration of fears, fragmented consciousnesses, memories, emotions, pain, trauma, and the Otherworld's own essence. As such, when it manifests into the world, it draws some of the Otherworld's being into itself to stabilize its form, leeching its substance from the world shard it enters. Likewise, it must absorb more from the locations around it to maintain its corporeal state when wounded. In some instances, the essence the nightmare draws into itself enhances and supercharges it, making it even more powerful and brutal than it was before.

These then are the Otherworld's denizens: Refracted reflections of the nightmare plane's own maliciousness, darkness, and hunger, given flesh and sent to feed.

Refreshing Domain Rifts

After the last domain rift on a terror card is discarded, players must immediately refresh all three of the terror's domain rifts. The refreshing process is identical to when the terror is spawned (as described above,) except that you would roll dice according to its current world shard's sentience colors rather than its spawning location.

Action Sequence

Each terror has its own action sequence listed on its card that it will follow when it should perform an action. NOTE: If two or more wanderers fulfill a terror's action's requirement, the terror will choose the nearest wanderer. If the wanderers are at an equal distance, the players choose who should be the action's target. See Page 18 for more details on terror and malformation activations.

Passive Ability

Each terror has its own passive ability printed in the green box on the bottom of its card. This ability will take effect for as long as the terror is on the game board.

Malformations

Each wanderer has 3 different linked malformations, which will appear on the game board either after his/her death or from encounters during the wanderer stage. (They also may manifest in the finale stage if the wanderer is the central wanderer.)

The malformations are distorted, monstrous alternate forms of yourself. Made from the darkest fragments of your consciousness by the ethereal Otherworld, they are your deepest sins and blackest cesspools made flesh: The parts of yourself you always pretended didn't exist made undeniably real. They pose an immense danger to the wanderers, corrupting their strengths while perverting their intentions and hopes.

The malformations' rules for spawning, domain rifts, and abilities are identical to terrors, except for how it spawns when a wanderer dies. When a malformation spawns due to its linked wanderer's death, place its figure in the dead wanderer's space. Then, place its mental capacity tracker on the wanderer's space along the mental capacity track (unless the dead wanderer's current mental capacity exceeds the malformation's maximum mental capacity. Then place its tracker as usual.) See Page 20 for more on malformations spawning due to a wanderer's death.

Abomination

Every game's wanderer stage features an abomination, which serves as the wanderers' primary adversary in the early and mid-game. They are the chaotic forces invading the central wanderer's world, hindering the wanderers from establishing a stable conscious realm.

Each abomination belongs to a family of four monsters (for instance, the Rage family.) Family members all share a common theme and some mechanisms, but each also has its own unique abilities to hinder the wanderers' survival. Abominations of the same family share the same lineage card, which will punish the wanderers in future games if they fail. Wanderers will also be rewarded for defeating the abomination with legacy cards. See the "Legacy" section below for more details on lineage and legacy cards and Page 18 for more on the abomination's activation.

Abomination Card

Unlike terrors and malformations, abominations do not have domain rifts. Wanderers cannot attack the abomination directly. They can only harm the abomination via confrontation actions or special game effects. However, like terrors, abominations have a passive ability at their cards' bottom that is always in effect. Additionally, the effects along their cards' left-hand side detail their specific devour token spawning rules (top) and the punishment they enact when a wanderer dies (lower.) (See Page 27 for more on devour tokens and cards.) Lastly, on the back of their cards is information instructing players what to do if the abomination is defeated – or not.

Confrontation Cards

In addition to their set action sequence, abominations perform various special actions by resolving their own confrontation cards. Wanderers may also harm the abomination using these same confrontation cards using confrontation actions. See Page 18 for more on the abominations' activations and confrontation cards and Page 17 for more on confrontation actions.

Legacy

Some game effects will follow wanderers from one game session to another, besides any existence cards and domain cards unlocked from the forgotten envelopes. There are two types of these legacy effects: the abomination legacy and the finale legacy.

Abomination Legacy Cards

At the end of the wanderer stage, wanderers will receive either a reward or a punishment based on if they killed the abomination or not. If the wanderers killed the abomination, they would receive the abomination's legacy cards as rewards whether they successfully entered the finale stage or not. (Specific steps for this process are listed on each abomination card's back side.) These abomination legacy cards will follow the wanderers in every subsequent game unless they are taken back, replaced, or reset.

A wanderer may only have one legacy card from a specific abomination. When you would receive a second card from the same abomination, you may choose to replace the previous card with the new one or return it and instead receive 3 existence tokens as a reward.

There is no limit to a wanderer's number of abomination legacy cards. The more abominations you have eliminated, the more legacy cards you will possess.

There are two types of legacy cards: passive ones and consumables. A passive card is always in effect and usually increases your max health or sentience values.

A consumable card can be spent to gain specific resources such as existence tokens, domains, domain cards, etc. However, they won't leave a wanderer's possession after being used. They won't be available for the rest of the current game, but they will be available again in subsequent games.

IMPORTANT: A wanderer may only use one consumable legacy card per game round.

IMPORTANT: If the wanderers fail to kill the abomination during the wanderer stage, every wanderer who received a legacy card from this specific abomination in a previous game must return it as a punishment.

Family Lineage Cards

If the wanderers fail to kill the abomination, the abomination's unique punishment will activate by placing its lineage token on its family's lineage card. This punishment will then activate in every subsequent game's wanderer stage featuring an abomination from the same family until wanderers can deactivate it.

IMPORTANT: Only the current abomination's family lineage card will be used in the game. Other families' lineage cards won't be used.

When putting away components after the game, place the lineage cards and any active lineage tokens into the lineage envelope to record any activated abomination family members.

Finale Legacy Cards

After the wanderers complete a finale stage, the central wanderer will usually gain a finale legacy card at its conclusion. If the central wanderer has a different finale legacy card from a previous game, that card will be replaced by the new one. Only the central wanderer will receive a finale legacy card at the end of the game.

Resetting a Wanderer

If you want to reset a wanderer to his/her original state and start over, return his/her locked existence cards, domain cards, and finale legacy card to his/her forgotten envelope. Then, return his/her abomination legacy cards to their respective decks.

Condition Cards

There are 11 types of condition cards in the game, most of which are negative effects. To resolve a condition card's effect, follow its effect text.

Some condition cards have a method to get rid of them. For most condition cards, place the card back atop its deck when discarding it. However, if the condition card is a Disoriented, Lightheaded, or Traumatized card, put it on the bottom of its deck instead.

IMPORTANT: A wanderer may simultaneously have multiple condition cards of the same type.

Traumatized Cards

Traumatized cards are unique among condition cards. They have 5 different types, each with a different card back. During the game setup, they are shuffled together to form a single face-down deck. Wanderers will always know what Traumatized card type will be drawn next.

Support Cards

For games with only two wanderers, the player(s) need to add the 2-wanderers support cards into the game. For games with three wanderers, the players need to add the 3-wanderers support cards into the game.

Whenever it is a wanderer's turn to perform an action, the wanderer may choose and use one and only one available (face-up) support card to perform an action listed on it without spending mental capacity. (In other words, you cannot use multiple support cards successively. You must perform at least one other action in-between.) After that, flip the used card over.

IMPORTANT: The domain and search actions listed on support cards do not count toward the once-per-wanderer-per-round limit. Wanderers may perform the move actions on support cards to move up to 3 spaces, the attack action to attack a terror or malformation within 3 spaces, and the confrontation action to damage the abomination within 3 spaces.

Used support cards will be flipped back to their front sides during each game round's refresh phase.

Spawning

If a game effect instructs you to spawn a component on the game board (for example, a character or a token) and doesn't mention a specific world shard space, you must roll the Otherworld die to determine the world shard where it will spawn.

When a game effect instructs you to spawn a random terror, reveal the top card from the terror deck, place it face-up beside the game board, and then spawn its figure on the game board. Next, place its mental capacity tracker on the track based on its max mental capacity value, then roll 3 dice according to its current world shard's sentience icons to determine its domain rifts. See Page 25 for specific steps regarding spawning terrors and malformations.

IMPORTANT: When a malformation spawns due to its linked wanderer's death, place its figure in the same spot as the dead wanderer. Then, put its mental capacity tracker on the same space as the wanderer's tracker on the mental capacity track (instead of based on its maximum mental capacity value.) However, if the dead wanderer's current mental capacity is greater than the malformation's maximum mental capacity value, place its tracker based on its maximum value as usual. See Page 20 for additional information on spawning a malformation when a wanderer dies.

IMPORTANT: If you need to spawn a terror or malformation that is already on the game board, immediately activate it once without spending its mental capacity instead (unless otherwise stated.)

Players Decide

When a game effect can be resolved in multiple ways, and there is no specific rule regarding it, the players decide how to resolve it. For example, when a monster could equally move toward several different wanderers, the players can decide what path the monster takes.

When several game effects would resolve simultaneously, and no specific rule governs their order, the players decide which effects resolve first.

The Meaning of "May"

If the word "may" appears in an effect, wanderers can choose whether or not to resolve the effect. Otherwise, the effect must be resolved if possible.

Effects That Cannot Be Fully Resolved

If an effect cannot be fully resolved, resolve as much of it as possible and ignore the rest unless a special rule or the effect states otherwise.

Reduced Value

Values cannot drop below zero. If a value should be reduced below zero, it is treated as zero.

However, when a wanderer's sentience value is reduced to a negative number, you should still record the negative number on the sentience sheet to correctly calculate value changes in the future.

Devour Tokens and Cards (Optional)

Players can decide if they want to add the devour optional rule into the game. We recommend implementing it after successfully completing a game to get the complete game experience.

Using devour tokens and cards will increase the game's difficulty level. See Page 14 for more information on setting up devour tokens and cards, and Page 19 for spawning devour tokens and resolving devour cards during the refresh phase.

There are two types of devour cards: Otherworld devour cards and abomination-specific devour cards. These two types of cards will shuffle together to form a face-down deck during the game setup. The Otherworld devour cards focus on general game effects, while the abomination-specific devour cards concentrate on the abomination's special abilities and effects.

IMPORTANT: Even if the abomination has been killed, the devour tokens on the game board will remain, and the devour rule will still take effect. However, it is unlikely that more devour tokens will spawn after its death.

The devour tokens and cards may hinder the wanderers in two ways:

• Each time you resolve any kind of sentience test, you must reveal one devour card for each devour token in your space. Every devour card has one or more sentience icons on it, and each icon represents a sentience for which you must roll 1 less die during this test. The more devour tokens in your space, the greater the chance you will roll fewer dice every test. After the test, discard the revealed devour cards, ignoring their effect texts.
• Some game effects (particularly during the refresh phase) will force you to resolve a devour card if at least one devour token appears in your space. Every devour card has a negative effect on it. When resolving one, follow the effect text on the card, ignoring the sentience icons.

The End of the Wanderer Stage

Fail the Wanderer Stage

Flip over the abomination card. If the wanderers killed the abomination, resolve the top section's effects. Otherwise, resolve the bottom section's effects. Then, the game ends.

Win the Wanderer Stage

Flip over the abomination card and resolve the top section's effects. Then, the wanderers enter the game's finale stage, immediately resolving the "Setting up the Finale Stage" steps listed below.

Setting Up the Finale Stage

To set up the finale stage of the game, follow these steps in order:

1. Determine the Ending

The wanderers should enter the ending with the highest score. If there is a tie, follow this priority order: Ending A, then Ending B, then Ending C, then Ending D.

After determining the ending, find its section in the central wanderer's storybook.

2. Organize the Components

1. Remove the abomination's card, figure, mental capacity tracker, and confrontation cards from the game. Put away the family lineage card and any activated lineage tokens in the lineage envelope.

   IMPORTANT: Leave the devour cards and devour tokens where they were. The devour rule still takes effect in the finale stage. (Only when the devour optional rule is used in the game.)

2. Remove the encounter cards and unobtained coda cards from the game.

3. Remove the completed tokens and consequence tokens from the world shards.

   NOTE: Leave the game round trackers and ending score trackers as they were. They might be used in the finale stage in some specific endings.

4. Flip over each world shard card, revealing its finale stage side. If any components are there, return them to the world shard afterward.

3. Prepare the Wanderers and Monsters

1. Respawn any dead wanderers.
2. If any wanderers were trapped, they discard their trapped tokens now.
3. Each character restores its mental capacity to its max value.
4. Refresh the used support cards.
5. Wanderers and monsters leave their other components as they were in the wanderer stage unless otherwise stated.

4. Prepare Decks and Token Pools

1. The Terror Deck – Leave the terror cards and terror deck as they were.
2. The Domain Deck – Leave the domain deck and discard pile as they were.
3. The Condition Cards – Leave the condition card decks as they were.
4. Token Pools – Return any unused tokens to their respective token pools.

5. Apply the Ending's Special Setup

Follow the selected ending section's special setup instructions in the central wanderer's storybook.

The finale stage of the game is now ready to begin, starting with the event phase of the first game round.

Winning the Finale Stage

There isn't exactly a typical concept of winning or losing once the wanderers enter the finale: there is only "better" or "worse." No matter how everything unfolds, the story will conclude (for good or bad), and (usually) each possible ending will result in a different finale legacy card. This card will alter the central wanderer's starting sentience values (sometimes significantly) and provide one or more special game effects. This reward reflects the wanderer's changes and growth (or lack thereof) throughout the game, for better or worse.

Death in the Finale Stage

Usually, if your wanderer dies in the finale stage, you will remain dead until the finale's end since wanderers don't normally respawn during the finale stage's refresh phase. However, the dead wanderer's corresponding malformation will still spawn on the game board as usual.

If the central wanderer dies in the finale stage, you will be directed to a story conclusion, and the finale will end.

Playing the Finale Stage

Before playing the finale stage, read the selected ending section's special rules in the central wanderer's storybook. Each ending's finale has its own goals to achieve.

The finale stage is played over a series of game rounds. Each round consists of three phases similar to those in the wanderer stage.

Event Phase

During the event phase, the wanderers read the selected ending section's event phase rules in the central wanderer's storybook and resolve any game effects described there.

Action Phase

During the action phase, the characters take turns performing actions according to their current mental capacity, just like in the wanderer stage – unless the finale has special rules regarding this.

Wanderer Actions

The wanderers' actions remain the same as in the wanderer stage. The only exceptions are there are no confrontation actions, and the encounter cards are now finale encounter cards (if there are any.)

IMPORTANT: Usually, a world shard contains two finale encounters from two different endings. When entering a finale encounter printed on a world shard, the wanderers may only enter the one matching the current ending.

The finale may introduce additional special actions the wanderers can perform in the special rules section.

Terror and Malformation Activation

Terrors and malformations act (and activate) just like during the wanderer stage unless the finale has special rules for them.

Final Boss Activation

Most finales will have one or more final boss(es). To activate the final boss, follow the special rules in the storybook and on its final boss card.

Refresh Phase

During the refresh phase, resolve the following game effects in order:

1. Restore Mental Capacity. Each character restores its mental capacity to its max value.
2. Refresh Support Cards. Flip every used support card back to its front side. (For games with 2-3 wanderers only.)
3. Resolve Devour Cards. (Only when using the devour optional rule in this game.) Each wanderer still needs to resolve devour cards, just like in the wanderer stage.

IMPORTANT: Dead wanderers will not respawn during the refresh phase in the finale stage. Unless otherwise stated, they will remain dead until the end of the finale.

After the refresh phase, the finale continues into a new game round, starting with the event phase.

The Finale Stage's End

Resolve any game effects according to the finale's ending.

The wanderers keep their legacy cards for future games, discarding all other components in their possession, unless otherwise stated.

Credits

Dawn of Madness Is a True Horror Experience in the Deep Madness Universe by Roger Ho, Cherry Li, Chauncey, and Byron Leavitt.

Game Design: Roger Ho and Chauncey Additional Development: Cherry Li and Byron Leavitt Dawn of Madness Story Team: Roger Ho, Cherry Li, Byron Leavitt, and Chauncey Writing: Byron Leavitt and Cristiano Sensi Figueiredo Editing: Byron Leavitt and Roger Ho Graphic Design: Weifeng, Li Shuo, and Wang Jie Art Director: Cherry Li Cover Art: Christopher Shy Interior and Component Art: Christopher Shy, Pedro Sena, David Romero, Creation Studio, and Jiuyuan Studio (Lu Jiucheng, Huang Qingyong, Jin He, Luo Ming, Sun Chao, Wang Yuhui, and Liu Zhengyang) Sculpting: Keos Masons, Rudolf Béres, and Francesco Orrù Production Manager: Cherry Li

© 2022 Diemension Games, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this product may be reproduced without specific permission. Dawn of Madness, Deep Madness, and Diemension Games are trademarks of Diemension Games, Inc. Diemension Games is located at 701 S Barnett Street, Anaheim, CA 92805, USA.

You may contact us at [email protected] and find us online at https://diemensiongames.com.