Deep Madness: Endless Nightmares

Deep Madness: Endless Nightmares Rulebook

Table of Contents

Expansion Overview

There is more to the story. There are other investigators descending to the depths. There are new monsters being birthed from the sphere's roiling horrors. New chapters are creeping out of the darkness, and endless fresh nightmares are crouching in wait just out of sight.

Endless Nightmares adds a whole new level to your Deep Madness experience. With three new standalone scenarios, six new investigators, nine new types of monsters, three new epic monsters and much more, Endless Nightmares will keep you submerged in Kadath's depths for countless hours to come. Journey once more below the ocean's surface. Step again into the uncharted night. They're ready for you. And they're so very hungry.

Components

15 Monster Cards (9 normal, 3 epic, and 3 scenario-specific)
6 Investigator Cards
42 Spawn Cards
6 Activation Cards
6 Despair Markers
6 Husk Standees
6 Scenario Cards
18 Search Cards
23 Madness Cards
12 Unbound Markers
6 Obscure Markers
6 Nest Markers
1 Sonar Decoy Marker
12 Infested Tokens
12 Health +1 Tokens
12 Parasite Tokens
12 Grudge Tokens
12 Purge Tokens
9 Immortal Markers
1 ADS Marker
1 Heavy Miner Figure
3 Trap Mine Markers
6 3D Hatches
6 Investigator Figures: Franklyn Christie, Sophie Brigman, Christopher Dalton, Isaiah Wiesenthal, Emma Kruger, Lisbeth Gibson
65 Monster Figures: Unbound, Obscure, Nest, 3 Immortal, 3 Wrecked, 5 Purge, 5 Despair, 5 Hallucination, 3 Drifters, 8 Grudge, 12 Parasites, 12 Bloated, 6 Mind Eaters

Using This Expansion

The scenario-specific monster cards, nest markers, and Husk standees are only used when playing the scenarios included in this expansion.

The following expansion components can be used in any chapter of Deep Madness (unless otherwise stated) and may be added to the base game if desired: the investigator and activation cards, the monster and spawn cards, and the search and madness cards.

The 3D hatches should be treated just like the locked hatch standees from the Deep Madness base game.

Additional Rules

The Endless Nightmares expansion introduces new experiences to the world of Deep Madness. This section describes the additional rules necessary to play with this expansion.

The New Investigators

Lisbeth Gibson

An example of the first ability on Lisbeth Gibson's investigator card is as follows:

When Lisbeth attacks with the "Grappler" weapon card, she rolls three dice and gets [2], [4], and [5]. She chooses to store the die with the [5] result, so the remaining results become [2], [4], and [0]. Later in the game, she rolls two dice for her resistance and gets [1] and [3]. She replaces the [1] with the [5] she stored, so the results become [5] and [3].

Note: Once used, Lisbeth cannot store the die with the [5] result again, nor can she store the die with the [1] result that she previously replaced. She can, however, choose to store the die with the [3] result. If so, the results become [5] and [0].

Franklyn Christie and Sophie Brigman

The second ability on Franklyn Christie's investigator card and the first ability on Sophie Brigman's investigator card are the equivalent of weapon cards. The special effects associated with these abilities can only be used when they use them to attack. If they use other weapon cards to attack, the effects cannot be used or triggered.

Important Concepts

Gaining 1 Health

When a figure gains 1 health, it heals 1 wound if it has already taken wounds. However, if it does not have any wounds, it will still gain +1 health, even if that entails that its current health exceeds its maximum health. When this happens, it takes a health +1 token.

When a figure that has a health +1 token(s) takes wounds, it discards the health +1 token(s) first.

Actions Outside of Activation

Sometimes, an investigator may perform actions outside of his/her normal activation. When this happens, the effects and abilities that are usually available during his/her activation cannot be triggered or used. Furthermore, because these standalone actions are not considered a part of the investigator's activation, any effects that take place at the beginning or end of his/her activation will not be triggered either (e.g., devoured effects, checking drowning condition, etc.)

Spawn

If an effect instructs you to spawn a monster, an investigator, a marker, etc. but doesn't specify a spawning location, place the item or creature in the spawn space of the room corresponding to the top card in the devoured deck. Once finished, move the referenced card to the bottom of the devoured deck.

Winning the Game

When playing the scenarios in this expansion, players are on the same side and win or lose the game together. Investigators win the game if the winning conditions of the chosen scenario are met.

The game is lost if any of the following occur:

A losing condition of the chosen scenario is met.
An investigator is killed.
The devour marker reaches the last space of the devouring track.
There is no monster left in the reserve (excluding any horror "0" monsters) when a monster needs to be spawned.

Storybook: Fathoms Dark

The pervasive darkness permeates the walls and coils around your legs. You feel despair, malice, and fear pressing in around you like a lead coat. It would be so easy to give in to the darkness. Will you succumb? Will you become Unbound? It aches for you to join it.

Unbound is a conglomeration of lost souls and, as such, it has multiple lives. However, Unbound also likes to give itself away: Each game round it will randomly choose an investigator to infect with one of its remaining lives. Then, at the end of each round, every infected investigator will be overcome by Unbound's dark compulsion and will attack other investigators, acting momentarily like an additional monster. To stop their friends from succumbing to Unbound's vile will, the investigators must attack each infected investigator's corresponding objective marker to cleanse it and its investigator of Unbound's tainted life force. Will you be able to kill Unbound once and for all before every investigator is overcome by its tainted pull?

Game Board

Set up the game board as shown below.

(The board diagram is not reproduced here. Its rooms are 17, 24, 23, 29, 19, 27, 26, 25, 12, 13, 5 and 9, with the Unbound space in room 5.)

Shuffle all the devoured effect markers. Randomly reveal and place a devoured effect marker in each space of the devoured rooms with the exception of spaces that already contain spawn markers.

Room Deck and Devoured Deck

Room deck: 9, 12, 13, 17, 19, 23, 24, 25, 29.

Devoured deck: 5, 26, 27.

Special Setup

After choosing investigators during Step 2 of the setup, shuffle the six "Fathoms Dark" scenario cards together. Each investigator randomly draws one of these cards and then acquires an objective marker with the symbol that matches the one printed on the card. Every investigator then places his/her figure in the space that contains the identical Objective Point as their marker and card. This Objective Point is now linked to this investigator.

Shuffle all the drawn scenario cards together to form a face-down deck.

Return the remaining cards to the game box (if there are any). They will not be used in the game. Epic monsters cannot be used when choosing monsters during Step 3 of the setup. After choosing monsters, place the scenario-specific Unbound monster card at the end of the activation track, and place twelve unbound markers on it. Place the Unbound monster figure in the "Unbound" space. Do not shuffle the Unbound spawn cards into the spawn deck.

Devouring Track

Assemble the devouring track as shown below.

(The track diagram is not reproduced here. Its numbered values from left to right are 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3.)

Special Rules

At the beginning of each game round, reveal the top card of the scenario card deck. The investigator who holds the objective marker that matches the revealed card acquires this card. At the end of the activation phase of this round (not at this moment), the investigator must place an unbound marker on top of his/her Objective Point.

At the end of each game round, every investigator with an unbound marker placed on his/her Objective Point must take an unbound activation. The order of these unbound activations is determined by each infected investigator's position in the activation track.

Note: An unbound activation is not a normal investigator activation. The effects and abilities that are usually available during an investigator's activation cannot be triggered or used. And the effects that take place at the beginning or end of an investigator's activation will not be triggered either.

During an unbound activation, the investigator resolves the following steps:

Discards cards from the search deck until a weapon card is discarded.
Performs three actions. When performing an action, he/she must Attack another investigator with the discarded weapon if possible. If more than one investigator can be attacked, he/she must attack the nearest one. If there is a tie, the attacking investigator decides which investigator to attack. When attacking, the investigator ignores his/her Weakened token, treats the target investigator as a monster, and distributes all the damage and wounds to the target investigator (if the weapon card states otherwise, ignore the effect on the weapon card).
If the investigator cannot attack any other investigator with this discarded weapon, he/she must Move toward the nearest space from which he/she can attack another investigator. When moving, the investigator ignores the monsters' trap and his/her Slow token.
If the investigator is Paralyzed at the beginning of his/her unbound activation, he/she ignores the Paralyzed status. After the unbound activation, he/she remains Paralyzed.

If an investigator's Objective Point is covered by an unbound marker, the investigator cannot attack Unbound. The unbound marker placed on an investigator's Objective Point is treated as a monster (maximum health 4) by other investigators. An investigator cannot attack the unbound marker placed on his/her own Objective Point. An unbound marker cannot move for any reason.

After an unbound marker on an investigator's Objective Point is killed, remove it from the game. This investigator then shuffles his/her scenario card back to the face-down scenario card deck.

Unbound is activated after the last monster in the activation track.

Winning and Losing

Losing: Every investigator's Objective Point on the board is covered by an unbound marker.

Winning: All the unbound markers (on the board and on the Unbound monster card) have been removed from the game.

Storybook: Fevered Dreams

You find yourself trapped. This place is so isolated; so claustrophobic. The walls are crowding in around you while a thick, viscous mist crawls over your skin, drapes across your eyes, and slithers down your throat. You're not sure how you got here. You're not sure how to get out. But, what's worse, there's something lingering at the edges of your vision, cloaked by shadows and fog. You can't quite make it out, but you know it's there. And you know it's hungry.

Dimensional portals are littered throughout this area of Kadath, and lurking behind these portals is the horror Obscure. Obscure will never set foot outside these rifts, and there's no way to know which one it will appear at.

What's worse, the mist it is creating is hindering your line of sight and causing you to lose your bearings. The longer you are in the mist, the harder it is for you to know where you are, or even if you still exist at all. To reflect this, your drowning dial for this scenario will serve as your existence level rather than your oxygen. If it runs out, you will literally cease to exist, devoured by the mist. You need to close these dimensional portals by finding the arcane knowledge needed to seal them (represented by obscure markers.) Whenever you have three of these markers, proceed to the portal where Obscure is currently lurking, and spend them to seal the portal. If you can seal all the portals, you win the game. But can you do that before Obscure obliterates your very existence?

Game Board

Set up the game board as shown below.

(The board diagram is not reproduced here. Its rooms are 2 (Start), 3, 4, 17, 18, 19, 20, 24, 25 and 27.)

Shuffle all the devoured effect markers. Randomly reveal and place a devoured effect marker in each space of the devoured rooms with the exception of spaces that already contain spawn markers.

Devoured Deck

Devoured deck: 2, 3, 4, 17, 18, 19, 20, 24, 25, 27.

Special Setup

Epic monsters cannot be used when choosing monsters during Step 3 of the setup. After choosing monsters, place the scenario-specific Obscure monster card at the end of the activation track. Do not shuffle the Obscure spawn cards into the spawn deck.

Shuffle six different colored objective markers together and place them face down beside the Obscure monster card. Then, randomly reveal one of them and place the Obscure monster figure on the corresponding Dimensional Portal.

Devouring Track

Assemble the devouring track as shown below.

(The track diagram is not reproduced here. Its numbered values from left to right are 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3. Under each numbered space is a hazard icon: a blue icon means "No effect" and a purple icon is the effect below. From left to right the icons are blue, blue, purple, blue, blue, purple, blue, blue, purple.)

Hazard Effects:

Blue icon: No effect.
Purple icon: Resolve the following effect for each Dimensional Portal on the board: Place a flooded marker in the nearest space that doesn't contain a flooded marker.

Special Rules

Investigate Actions

Investigators in the same space with Obscure gain: "Investigate: Discard three obscure markers from the Obscure monster card to remove the Dimensional Portal in your space from the game. Then randomly reveal one of the face-down objective markers beside the Obscure monster card and place the Obscure monster figure on the corresponding Dimensional Portal."

In this scenario, ignore every rule and effect regarding flooded space and oxygen. Unlike other scenarios, a space can contain more than one flooded marker. A space that contains one or more flooded marker(s) is a mist space. An investigator's line of sight cannot get into, through, or out of a mist space. The drowning dial is known as the existence dial in this scenario. If an investigator is in a mist space at the end of his/her activation, he/she must reduce his/her existence level by spinning the dial X spaces counter-clockwise (X is equal to the number of flooded markers in his/her space.) If the dial reaches "0", the investigator is devoured by the mist and is killed instantly. An investigator's existence level cannot be recovered for any reason.

At the beginning of each spawn phase and before resolving any spawn cards, spawn three obscure markers in three different rooms. An obscure marker is treated as a monster (maximum health 4) by the investigators and cannot move for any reason. After an obscure marker is killed, discard it from the board and place it on the Obscure monster card. Note: There can be no more than three obscure markers on the Obscure monster card at a time. At the end of the round, every obscure marker on the board will be replaced by a flooded marker.

Obscure is activated after the last monster in the activation track. It cannot take wounds or be killed.

Winning

Every Dimensional Portal has been removed from the board.

Storybook: Expectant Terror

You thought you knew what to expect from the horrors of Kadath. You thought you understood how this worked. But there's something wrong with the floor under your feet and the walls of this room. They're covered in a substance that is swelling, bulging, then receding and caving in. This is much more than just the normal horrors of a room devoured by Kadath's evil; it's almost as if the material is alive. Or, perhaps it would be more appropriate to say there is something (or several things) alive underneath it.

You have entered the Nest. Unlike the other horrors you have faced, the Nest is not one isolated monster; it's the entire game board. Manifesting before you as a skittering, undulating avatar, the Nest has numerous lives and an unquenchable urge to multiply. Each game round, several nest markers will randomly appear in the section the Nest avatar is currently inhabiting, and each of these markers will begin spawning Husks at an alarming rate. What's worse, if an investigator wanders too close to the Nest avatar, it will stab him with its long proboscis and inject him with a nightmare concoction of infection and eggs. If this happens, the investigator will begin spawning Mind Eaters like a Husk and will take wounds from the beasts bursting out of him. The Nest has several lives, and investigators must risk infection to whittle away at them. You must also actively attack the nest markers, or face being overrun by Husks and Mind Eaters. If an investigator is uninfected, she can destroy the nest marker without any repercussions. However, if she is infected, the nest marker's destruction will be accompanied by the arrival of more Husks – and also a cleansing of the infection plaguing her body. You must eliminate all of the Nest's lives and destroy the Nest to win the game. But will you be able to do that before you are overwhelmed by the swarm?

Game Board

Set up the game board as shown below.

(The board diagram is not reproduced here. Its rooms are 1 (Start), 2 (Nest), 17, 19, 20, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 and 29.)

Shuffle all the devoured effect markers. Randomly reveal and place a devoured effect marker in each space of the devoured rooms with the exception of spaces that already contain spawn markers.

Devoured Deck

Devoured deck: 1, 2, 17, 19, 20, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29.

Special Setup

Before choosing monsters during Step 3 of the setup, place the Husk monster card in the first space of the monster activation track. Then, fill the remaining spaces of the monster activation track with random monster cards as usual. Epic monsters cannot be used in this scenario. After choosing monsters, place the scenario-specific Nest monster card at the end of the activation track. Do not shuffle the Nest spawn cards into the spawn deck. Don't forget to place the Mind Eater card on the far-left side of the activation track.

Place the Nest monster figure in the "Nest" space. Place the six Husk standees in the monster reserve. They are treated as Husk monster figures in this scenario.

Devouring Track

Assemble the devouring track as shown below.

(The track diagram is not reproduced here. Its numbered values are 2 in every space. Under the spaces, from left to right, the hazard icons are blue, blue, teal, blue, blue, teal, blue, blue.)

Hazard Effects:

Teal icon: Before resolving any spawn cards during the spawn phase of this round, spawn two nest markers in different rooms. If the room corresponding to the top card in the devoured deck already contains a nest marker, place that card at the bottom of the deck and spawn the nest marker in the room corresponding to the next card instead. Note: Each room can only contain one nest marker.
Blue icon: Before resolving any spawn cards during the spawn phase of this round, spawn three nest markers in different rooms. If the room corresponding to the top card in the devoured deck already contains a nest marker, place that card at the bottom of the deck and spawn the nest marker in the room corresponding to the next card instead. Note: Each room can only contain one nest marker.

Special Rules

Nest is activated after the last monster in the activation track. It can take no more than 1 wound per game round for any reason. Additionally, after Nest takes 1 wound, immediately activate it once. After this additional activation is completed, temporarily remove its figure from the board. At the beginning of the next game round, place its figure in the spawn space of the room corresponding to the top card of the devoured deck and then place the referenced card under the bottom of the deck.

At the beginning of an investigator's activation, deal X damage to the investigator and spawn X Mind Eaters in his/her space. X is equal to the number of infested tokens he/she has. When an investigator has four infested tokens, he/she is killed instantly.

During an investigator's activation, if he/she is in the same space with a nest marker, he/she may discard all his/her infested tokens and discard the nest marker from the board. Then he/she must spawn X Husks in his/her space. X is equal to the number of infested tokens discarded by the investigator. This does not cost an action.

Losing and Winning

Losing: All six nest markers are on the board.

Winning: Nest has been killed.