Don't Mess with Cthulhu Deluxe
Don't Mess with Cthulhu Deluxe Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
- 1 Active Player marker
- 9 Character tokens
- 6 x Investigator
- 3 x Cultist
- 40 Investigation cards
- 31 Futile Investigation
- 1 Cthulhu
- 8 Elder Sign
- 28 Insanity tokens
- 3 Necronomicon cards (Necronomicon module)
- 6 Object of Power cards (Objects of Power module)
Set Up
Use the chart below to determine the number of Investigator and Cultist tokens to use in this game.
| Players | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Investigators | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| Cultists | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
Shuffle the appropriate number of Character tokens, dealing one to each player face down. Each player secretly looks at the role assigned to them on the Character token. Place any unused Character tokens out of play without revealing them.
Randomly select a starting Active player, and give the Active Player marker to that player. (When playing with eight players, you may elect to have the Active player rotate in seating order to ensure that everyone gets to take an action each round.)
Use the chart below to determine the number of Futile Investigation, Elder Sign and Cthulhu cards to use as the Investigation deck in this game. Place unused cards out of play.
| Players | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Futile Investigation | 15 | 19 | 23 | 27 | 31 |
| Elder Sign | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| Cthulhu | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Shuffle the appropriate number of Investigation cards, dealing five to each player face down. Beginning with the starting player, each player secretly looks at their Investigation cards and declares (truthfully or not) the number of Elder Sign and Cthulhu cards they were dealt. Everyone shuffles their Investigation cards and places them in front of themselves.
NOTE: At the end of Set Up, each player will have five Investigation cards. They will know the number of Futile Investigation, Elder Sign and Cthulhu cards in front of them, but will not know which card is which. As other players may have lied in their declaration, each player will only truly know what is in front of themselves.
Optional Rules for Three Players
To play with three players, all the rules are the same, except in Set Up there are 3 Investigators and 2 Cultist tokens used and the Investigation deck is made of 11 Futile Investigation, 3 Elder Sign and 1 Cthulhu cards.
NOTE: It is entirely possible that all the players will be Investigators, in which case everyone loses if the Cultist win conditions are met.
STRATEGY TIP: Remember there is no need to tell the truth in this game, lying is allowed and encouraged. This is true for both the Investigators and Cultists – neither side should be entirely truthful.
There are many reasons why you will want to be careful about the information that you reveal or even lie so your identity is hidden. Cultists will want to know where the Cthulhu is hidden as they can win by revealing a single card, so Investigators should be careful about revealing when they have Cthulhu. Likewise, Cultists should be cautious about revealing too much information about where the Elder Signs lie.
As you play the game more, you'll discover a number of other reasons why telling the truth is not always advantageous to your team. But, of course, sometimes being honest is the best strategy – knowing when to lie and when to be truthful is the key to successful investigation.
Game Play
The game consists of four rounds. Each round has a number of actions equal to the number of players in the game. For example, a game with five players would have five actions per round.
Action
The Active player (the player with the Active Player marker) selects any Investigation card of any player other than themselves, and places the Active Player marker on that card. Everyone can, and should, provide their input, insight and devious deceptions to guide the decisions of the Active player, but in the end it is the Active player's decision.
The chosen card is revealed and placed in the center of the play area so that everyone can see. Check to see if the game ends (see below), then play proceeds with the player whose card was just revealed being given the Active Player marker and taking the next action.
NOTE: Once a card is revealed, it remains revealed and out of play for the remainder of the game.
STRATEGY TIP: Not every player will get to take an action each round, nor should you want everyone to have an equal number of actions. Investigators should be wary of letting Cultists take actions lest they reveal Cthulhu and end the game immediately.
Round End
The round ends after the number of actions taken in that round is equal to the number of players in the game.
NOTE: The number of revealed Investigation cards at the end of each round should be equal to the number of players multiplied by the round number. For example, the second round of a five-player game is over when 10 Investigation cards have been revealed.
After completing the final action of each round, the remaining Investigation cards are shuffled together and dealt evenly between the players. The players secretly look at their Investigation cards, shuffle their cards and place them in front of themselves.
Players may declare (truthfully or not) what cards they have each round.
NOTE: At the beginning of each round, each player will have an equal number of Investigation cards – one less than they had the previous round. They will know the number of Futile Investigation, Success and Fail cards in front of them, but will not know which card is which.
Play resumes in the next round with the Active player taking the first action. Rounds repeat until the game ends or four rounds have been completed.
Game End
The game ends immediately if the Cthulhu card is revealed, all Elder Sign cards are revealed or four rounds have been completed.
The Investigators win if all Elder Sign cards are revealed.
NOTE: The number of Elder Sign cards in play is always equal to the number of players.
The Cultists win if Cthulhu is revealed. The Cultists also win if the Investigators are unable to find all the Elder Signs in time (after four rounds).
NOTE: The game always ends before all the Investigation cards are revealed.
Optional Rules for Insanity Tokens
Don't Mess with Cthulhu is best played multiple times in a single sitting. After each game, give an Insanity token to all players on the losing team. When any player has accumulated three Insanity tokens, the session is over and the player(s) with the lowest number of Insanity tokens wins.
Example Round
The third round in a four-player game. Each player has three cards in front of themselves. The players have already revealed eight cards (3 Elder Signs, and 5 Futile Investigations). Mary (Cultist) is the Active player and has the Cthulhu and two Futile Investigation cards face down in front of her (and doesn't know which card is which). She says "I have the Elder Sign." Peyton (Investigator) actually has the Elder Sign and says, "Mary, you are clearly a Cultist as I really have the Elder Sign." Thomas (Investigator) seems to have been convinced that Mary is telling the truth.
Action 1 – Mary investigates one of Thomas' cards – flipping over a Futile Investigation. Thomas is now the Active player and will take the next action.
Action 2 – Thomas, convinced by Mary's claim to have the Elder Sign, chooses to investigate one of Mary's cards – flipping over a Futile Investigation (luckily for him and unluckily for her as she would have won if he had flipped over the Cthulhu card). Mary is now the Active player.
Action 3 – Mary wants Thomas to be the next to act, so she once again investigates him – flipping over another Futile Investigation. Thomas is now the Active player.
Action 4 – Thomas becomes suspicious of Mary's claims and decides to investigate Peyton – flipping over another Futile Investigation (which is unlucky for both Peyton and Thomas, if the fourth Elder Sign was flipped they would have won the game). Peyton is now the Active player.
Four actions have been completed (equal to the number of players), so the round is over. In total twelve cards have been revealed. Peyton takes the remaining face-down cards from each player, shuffles them and gives two cards to each player. The players look at what cards they received, making any declarations that they want before shuffling their cards and placing them face-down in front of themselves so that they don't know which card is which. The fourth and final round begins with Peyton taking the first action.
Necronomicon
This expansion contains a second object that Investigators must discover: the Necronomicon. But Necronomicon are dangerous to the uninitiated and cannot be revealed until at least one Elder Sign has been discovered.
Contents
- 3 Investigation cards
- 3 x Necronomicon
Set Up
The combined number of Elder Sign and Necronomicon cards in the Investigation deck remains equal to the number of players, but the ratio is different for each game. Do this by first adding 2 Elder Sign cards and 1 Necronomicon card to the Investigation deck. Then shuffle the remaining Elder Sign and Necronomicon cards together, without revealing the added cards, and add to the Investigation deck so that the total number of Elder Sign & Necronomicon cards is equal to the number of players. Discard the remaining cards out of play without revealing them and shuffle the Investigation deck before starting.
For example, in a six-player game the starting Investigation deck would consist of between two and five Elder Sign cards and between one and three Necronomicon cards – the total number of Elder Sign and Necronomicon cards in play would be six.
Game End
The game ends immediately, and the Cultists win, if a Necronomicon is revealed before discovering an Elder Sign. The game ends immediately, and the Investigators win, if all of the Elder Sign and Necronomicon cards in play are revealed.
Objects of Power
Contents
- 6 Special Investigation cards
- 1 x Prescient Vision – "Reveal a card, flip it back over."
- 1 x Evil Presence – "Return all your unrevealed cards to the reshuffle pile."
- 1 x Insanity's Grasp – "If this card is unrevealed in front of you, you cannot communicate."
- 1 x Private Eye – "Secretly reveal your role to the Investigator."
- 1 x Paranoia – "Control the flashlight for the rest of this round."
- 1 x Mirage – "Return a previously discovered elder sign to the reshuffle pile."
Set Up
Randomly select five of the six Special Investigation cards and place the remaining card out of play without revealing it. Special Investigation cards replace Futile Investigation cards in the Investigation deck. The total of Special Investigation and Futile Investigation cards should equal the number of Futile Investigation cards specified in the table for that player count.
For example, in a four-player game there would be 5 Special Investigation, 10 Futile Investigation, 4 Elder Signs and 1 Cthulhu card in the Investigation deck.
Game play
Special Investigation cards have actions that trigger when they are revealed during an Investigation. In all cases, the action on the card is targeted at the player who had the card in front of themselves. Complete the action on the card and then resume play as normal.
FAQs
Q: What is the "reshuffle pile"?
A: Any card that is placed in the Reshuffle Pile is temporarily out of play. These cards should be face down, and do not count towards the round or game end conditions. In the case of Mirage, the current round will have an additional action so that the total number of revealed cards at the end of the round remains equal to the number of players multiplied by the round number. In the very unlikely event that the Active player cannot take an action before the round ends, the Cultists will win the game immediately. At the end of the round, all the cards in the Reshuffle Pile are shuffled with players' unrevealed cards and dealt evenly to players before the next round begins.
Q: What types of communication are prevented by Insanity's Grasp?
A: Insanity's Grasp is different from other Objects of Power in that its effects are in play when the card is unrevealed in front of a player; once revealed the effects go away. All forms of verbal, non-verbal, written and any other form of communication are prevented by Insanity. However, the player under the effects of Insanity's Grasp may still complete and be the target of Investigations.
Q: What happens as a result of Paranoia?
A: The player that had Paranoia in front of themselves when it was revealed will complete all the remaining Investigation actions for that round. The player that they Investigate for the final action of the round will be the Active player at the start of the next round.
Q: Who views the role tokens when Private Eye is revealed?
A: The Player that initiated the Investigation action will look at the Character token of the player that had the Private Eye card in front of themselves when it was revealed. The Character token cannot be shown to any other player, but discussion of what was seen is allowed.
Credits
Game Design: Yusuke Sato.
Expansion Development: Pete Vasiliauskas, Travis Worthington.
Illustrator: Brandt Peters.
Graphic Design: Luis Francisco, Stephanie Gustafsson.
Testing: Asozandaihunka, KUA, Yoshimine, Ayano (Asobi.dept), Katsuya Kitano, Yusuke Ota, Kensuke Ota, Ami201, Takupaipai, Shimpei Sako, Tama Kingmaker, Yusuke Sato.