Deadly Premonition: The Board Game Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Contents
• Glossary
• Summary
• Set-Up
• Turn Sequence
• Evidence
• Actions
• Evidence Battles
• Weather Events
• Accusations
• Card List
  • Weather Cards
  • Action Cards

Game Contents

4 Line-Up Boards 24 Suspect Cards 4 Alignment Cards 1 Die 5 Agent Bio Cards 60 Profiling Cards 10 Weather Cards 4 Guide Cards Token Sheet

Additional items depending on your edition of the board game. Check back of box for the full contents.

Glossary

State: Whether the suspect is incriminated or presumed innocent.

Attribute: The icon from within a category.

Category: The gender, available weapon and location of a suspect.

Incrimination: To move a suspect into the Leading Suspects Row.

Presume Innocent: To move a suspect into the Presumed Innocent Row.

Accusation: Accuse an incriminated suspect as the accomplice to the killer.

Death: A suspect who has been removed from the game and placed face down.

Mark/Death Mark: Signified by the dice being placed upon a suspect; the mark determines the next victim of the killer. When another death mark comes into play, the previous one is removed.

Murder Die: A die thrown to determine whether a suspect is killed (see pg 8).

Move: Playing an evidence or regular action card. Limited to 2 per turn.

Free Action: Special action type that doesn't consume a move.

Evidence Battle: The back and forth between 2 agents where they battle over the state of a suspect (see pg 6).

Summary

PLAYERS: 2-4

PLAY TIME: 30-45 minutes

GETTING STARTED: The overall aim is to move all your suspects to the upper row of your board named Presumed Innocent by using evidence and action cards while, competing with other players. From this position you are able to attempt to remove other players.

WIN CONDITION: There are two Alignment types in Deadly Premonition: The Board Game consisting of one hidden Killer and three Agents. That alignment determines your personal win condition:

• The Killer wins if a certain number of suspects are killed over the course of the game (see table below), or by being the only player left.

  • 2 PLAYERS: N/A*
  • 3 PLAYERS: 7 Suspect deaths
  • 4 PLAYERS: 8 Suspect deaths

• An Agent wins by identifying the killer before the other agents (see Accusations, pg 7).

(Note: in a two player game, there are no hidden roles and you win removing the other player from the game, see Accusations pg 7.)

Set-Up

Shuffle the Suspect Cards and deal 6 suspects to each player. Place your suspects face-up on your board in the lower row named Leading Suspects Row. Shuffle the Alignment Cards and deal 1 to each player face down. Privately check your assigned Alignment and keep somewhere safe. Shuffle the Profiling Deck and deal 5 cards facedown to each player. This is the player's starting hand.

Place the remaining Profiling Deck in the center of the table. Shuffle and place the Weather Deck in the center of the table also. Discarded cards will be placed faceup in piles adjacent to their respective decks. If at any point in the game either deck is depleted, instantly shuffle discarded cards to reform the deck.

Optional: For extra fun deal an Agent Bio Card to each player and roleplay as them for the entire game!

The last player to make coffee goes first. Play continues clockwise.

Turn Sequence

1. Draw from the Profiling Deck until you have 5 cards. If you already have 5 or more in your hand, do not draw new cards at this stage.

2. Make up to 2 moves. These consist of playing either evidence or action cards. Additionally, a move can be consumed to discard a card from your hand if desired.

3. When the above phase is over, discard any cards exceeding the hand-size limit of 7.

4. End your turn.

Evidence

Playing an evidence card consumes one move.

An evidence card will be red, green or both and contain 1 or 2 attribute icons. The color of the card determines how they can be used:

• Green Evidence allows you to move one correlating suspect up from the Leading Suspects Row to the Presumed Innocent Row on your own board. This move is called "prove innocent".

• Red Evidence allows you to move one correlating suspect down from the Presumed Innocent Row to the Leading Suspects Row on another player's board. This move is called "incriminate".

• Evidence cards with both colors will allow you to choose between proving innocent or incriminating one correlating suspect.

Actions

Action cards have unique powers that can be used in many ways. All action cards in the game present a choice to the player including different variants of the action, unleashing powerful weather effects, or creative combinations with other cards. Always be perceptive to other players' choices when considering what alignment they may secretly be.

There are several rules to keep in mind regarding action cards:

• Action cards will usually have 2 options. As you play the card choose 1 option and announce your choice.

• Actions typically consume one move except specific options marked Free Action.

• You can play as many Free Actions per turn as you wish. They must be played before your last move.

• Certain action cards allow the option to "check the weather". (See Weather event, pg 6.)

• Action cards can only be used on your turn with the exception of "FK In The Coffee" and "Objection!" which are playable during evidence battles.

Evidence Battles

Evidence cards (and the action card "FK In The Coffee") can be used to initiate evidence battles with other players to undo their progress. This can only be done during your turn. To begin an evidence battle choose a suspect on an opposing player's board and place your incriminating evidence card with a correlating attribute on the table. The defending player can now refute this incrimination by playing counter evidence that correlates with the same suspect (but not necessarily the same attribute that the attacker used). The attacking player can then answer. This back and forth continues until one player cannot or chooses not to respond, losing the evidence battle.

• If the attacker wins, the suspect is successfully incriminated and moves from the Presumed Innocent Row to the Leading Suspects Row.

• If the defender wins, the suspect remains in the Presumed Innocent Row.

The winner also draws 2 cards.

Only the initiation of the evidence battle consumes a move. Subsequent cards played in that exchange are considered free.

Example:

1. P1 initiates with evidence of a firearm, targeted at P2's suspect with the firearm attribute.
2. P2 defends with a green attribute.
3. P1 counters with evidence of a location.
4. P2 has no further evidence to defend with.
5. P2's suspect moves down. P1 draws 2 cards.

Weather Events

Weather Cards have some of the most powerful effects in the game including global debuffs and the murder of suspects. The Weather Deck is called upon by the action "Check the weather".

Once activated, draw a card from the top of the Weather Deck and place face up upon the table. The effect is triggered immediately.

Accusations

An accusation is an attempt to remove another player by incriminating one of their leading suspects as an accomplice. Successfully accusing an accomplice belonging to the hidden killer will secure you the win. The killer is also encouraged to make fake accusations to deceive other players and make suspects vulnerable to death by removing agents.

Illustration: the attacker's board, and the defender's board with the target of the accusation in the Leading Suspects Row.

This can only be performed from a position of having all your remaining suspects in the Presumed Innocent Row. Place your correlating incriminating evidence on the table and name the suspect you are accusing from the opposing player's Leading Suspects Row. Play continues as an evidence battle between the attacker and the defender being able to counter each other's evidence and actions. The player who cannot or chooses not to respond, loses the battle.

If the defender wins, they draw 2 cards and play resumes.

If the attacker wins, the suspect has been successfully identified as an accomplice to the killer! The defendant's alignment is now revealed determining what happens next:

The defendant is the Killer. The attacking player who initiated the accusation wins the game for correctly apprehending an accomplice and extracting information about the true killer! Congratulations - great job!

The defendant is an Agent. An incriminated accomplice has been identified under an agent's jurisdiction. The defending agent is removed from play and must discard their hand. Without the protection of the agent, the remaining suspects are now vulnerable to the killer. The removed player's turn from now on consists of rolling the die once per turn. The corresponding suspect on their board is killed. If the suspect is already dead, the murder is negated and the remaining suspects are safe until the next turn.

Card List

Weather Cards

RAINCOAT KILLER (3): Roll the die. The correlating suspect from your board is placed face down to show they have been murdered. If an already deceased suspect is rolled, the murder is negated. If a suspect is marked by the "Witness Protection" card elsewhere indicated by the die placed upon them, they are the target of the murder instead of the die being rolled. Remove the die and place the marked suspect face down. This consumes the effect of the Raincoat Killer.

SLAUGHTER (1): Roll the die twice. The correlating suspects from your board are placed face down to show they have been murdered. If an already deceased suspect is rolled, the murder is negated. If a suspect is marked by the "Witness Protection" card elsewhere indicated by the die placed upon them, they are the target of the murder instead of the die being rolled. Remove the die and place the marked suspect face down. This consumes the effect of the first murder. Roll the die to determine the second murder as usual.

THICK FOG (1): Other players can make only 1 move on their turn instead of 2. Free actions are still allowed. The effect of this card remains until the beginning of your next turn.

SHADOW ATTACK (1): Other players cannot draw from the Profiling Deck at the start of their turn. Affected players can still draw cards as a result of an evidence battle, an "Objection!" card or a "Star Detective" card. The effect of this card remains until the beginning of your next turn.

CRISP SPRING MORNING (2): This card has no effect.

SNOWSTORM (1): Other players must incriminate one of their suspects from the Presumed Innocent Row. If a player has no suspects in the Presumed Innocent Row, they ignore this effect. Counters are not allowed against the Snowstorm.

BAD HANDLING (1): Every player must simultaneously steal 1 random card from the player to their left. If the player to your left has no cards, you take nothing, but the player to your right will still steal from you.

Action Cards

YOUR EYES ONLY (2): This card has 2 possible effects:

• Privately observe another player's hand. This is a free action.
• Privately observe the top 3 cards of the Weather Deck. Then return the cards to the top of the deck in any order.

WITNESS PROTECTION (2): This card has 2 possible effects:

• Protect up to 3 suspects from incrimination, accusation and death until the beginning of your next turn by placing the Witness Protection Tokens on them. If a protected suspect is marked is targeted by the Raincoat Killer, the murder is negated altogether but the mark remains. Suspects can still be swapped if another player uses the action card "I Don't Like That Person" in which case the suspect remains protected as normal.
• You can mark a suspect to be the next victim of the killer. Place the die on the marked suspect who can be either on your board or on another player's board. Once the "Raincoat Killer" or the "Slaughter" card is played from the Weather Deck, the marked suspect is placed face down. This consumes one murder die. There can be only 1 suspect marked in the game at any time, so if another mark is played, move it to the new suspect.

WEATHER DOLL (2): When you play this card, lay it on the table beside your board. While it is in play, you can choose to reroll a murder die during any player's turn. The card remains until used. The death of a marked target cannot be influenced by the "Weather Doll". It is permitted for 2 weather dolls to be in play at the same time. This is a free action.

TOILET BREAK (2): This card has 2 possible effects:

• Choose 1 player and prevent them from playing evidence cards on their next turn. The player can still use evidence cards to counter an attack in evidence battles or accusations.
• Choose 1 player and prevent them from playing action cards on their next turn. The player can still use action cards to counter an attack in evidence battles or accusations.

STAR DETECTIVE (2): This card has 2 possible effects:

• Draw a card from the Weather Deck and use it immediately.
• Draw 2 cards from the Profiling Deck. This is a free action.

PERSPECTIVE CHANGE (2): This card has 2 possible effects:

• Discard your hand and draw an equal number of cards from the Profiling Deck, including Perspective Change as a discarded card.
• Exchange your entire hand with another player. If you don't have any cards, you simply take the other player's cards.

OBJECTION! (2): This card has 2 possible effects:

• Draw a card from the Weather Deck and use it immediately.
• Counter any evidence or action during an evidence battle or an accusation. After using it you draw a card immediately.

LOCKDOWN (2): Choose an attribute from any category on any player's board - lock all suspects on that board with the attribute in position by placing the paperclip "Lockdown" tokens on them. Locked suspects cannot be incriminated, presumed innocent or swapped, but can still be killed. This effect lasts until the start of your next turn.

I DON'T LIKE THAT PERSON (2): This card has 2 possible effects:

• Draw a card from the Weather Deck and use it immediately.
• Swap a suspect from your board with another player's suspect of your choice. Suspects retain their current incriminated or presumed innocent state. If the suspect is marked, the mark remains with that suspect. Locked suspects (see Lockdown action) cannot be swapped.

HEAVY CIGARETTES (2): This card has 2 possible effects:

• Draw a card from the Weather Deck and use it immediately.
• Gain an extra move this turn. This is a free action.

FK IN THE COFFEE (2): This card has 2 possible effects:

• Draw a card from the Weather Deck and use it immediately.
• Incriminate or presume innocent any suspect. This card can also be used as a counter in evidence battles, but cannot be played to initiate accusations.

BORROWING WITHOUT PERMISSION (2): This card has two possible effects:

• Steal 1 random card from another player's hand. This is a free action.
• Take 2 random cards from another player's hand and discard them.

AMPLIFY (2): The next evidence card you play after Amplify may be applied to 2 suspects. This card can be used to incriminate or prove innocent on any board, but cannot be used to initiate an accusation or to counter in an evidence battle. When used to incriminate 2 suspects, resolve the 2 evidence battles in order, but the winners of the exchanges only draw 1 card per successful evidence battle instead of 2. This is a free action.

Illustration: an Amplify card played with an evidence card, shown as "2x" applied to two suspects on the board.