Elder Sign: Gates of Arkham Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Using This Expansion
• Streets of Arkham Game Mode
• Streets of Arkham Setup
• Streets of Arkham Rules
  • Streets of Arkham Entrance Card
  • Arkham Adventures
  • The Gates
    • Opening Gates
    • Closing Gates
    • Events
• Memberships
  • Membership Benefits
    • Example of Resolving an Adventure with a Membership
• Skills
• Entry Effects
• Split Rewards and Penalties
• Midnight Falls
• New Doom Icon
• New Task Symbols
• New Rewards & Penalties
• New Ancient Ones
  • Yibb-Tstll
  • Ghatanothoa
  • Atlach-Nacha
  • Yog-Sothoth

Components

• 78 Arkham Adventure Cards
• 8 Other World Cards
• 4 Ancient One Cards
• 8 Investigator Cards
• 8 Investigator Markers
• 8 Membership Cards (double-sided)
• 30 Mythos Cards
• 5 Common Item Cards
• 5 Unique Item Cards
• 5 Ally Cards
• 5 Spell Cards
• 12 Skill Cards
• 25 Event Cards
• 1 "Streets of Arkham" Entrance Card
• 6 Gate Markers with plastic stands
• 2 Doom Tokens
• 3 Sanity Tokens
• 3 Stamina Tokens
• 9 Monster Markers
• 6 Seal Markers

Using This Expansion

This section describes how to incorporate the Gates of Arkham components into the Elder Sign base game.

Prior to playing your first game, combine the following new Gates of Arkham components with their respective components found in the base game:

• Ancient One cards
• Investigator cards
• Other World cards
• Common Item, Unique Item, Spell, and Ally cards
• Monster tokens

Each component in this expansion is marked with the Gates of Arkham expansion icon to distinguish these components from the base game components.

Some cards and tokens from this expansion are only used when playing the Streets of Arkham game mode. These are marked with the restriction icon (a black exclamation mark in a yellow circle) and should be removed from play if you are not playing this game mode.

Streets of Arkham Game Mode

Gates of Arkham also provides an entirely new setting in which to enjoy Elder Sign: the Streets of Arkham game mode. The Streets of Arkham game mode takes the investigators out of the museum and into Arkham proper. It uses the new Arkham Adventure cards and a new Mythos deck, as well as several new mechanics exclusive to adventures in the many locales of Arkham.

Streets of Arkham Setup

When playing the Streets of Arkham game mode, perform the setup for a normal game modified in the following ways:

1. New Adventure Cards: Replace the Adventure deck with a new deck made up of only the new Arkham Adventure cards provided in this expansion.
2. New Mythos Cards: Replace the Mythos deck with the new Mythos deck, made up of only the Mythos cards provided in this expansion.
3. Event Cards: Shuffle the Event cards and place the Event deck near the Mythos deck.
4. Skill Cards: Shuffle the Skill cards and place the Skill deck near the Item and Ally decks.
5. Membership Cards: Place the Membership cards near the Item, Ally, and Skill decks.
6. Gate Markers: Attach each gate marker to a plastic stand and set them next to the Clock.
7. Entrance Sheet: Replace the entrance sheet with the Streets of Arkham card.
8. Modify Setup: Replace Step 4 of the core game setup with the following:

4. Prepare Adventures: Shuffle the Arkham Adventure deck under the table and deal three cards faceup below the entrance sheet in a single row. Then deal three cards facedown below the faceup cards so that you have two rows of three cards. If an Arkham Adventure card shows a locked die icon, place the appropriate die on that card. Finally, shuffle the Other World deck. Place both decks facedown near the rows of Arkham Adventures.

Streets of Arkham Rules

This section describes new rules for playing the Streets of Arkham game mode in detail.

Streets of Arkham Entrance Card

The Streets of Arkham entrance card replaces the entrance card from the base game. Investigators start the game on the Streets of Arkham card.

During an investigator's Movement phase, he may remain on his current card, move to any other Arkham Adventure or Other World card in the play area, or move to the Streets of Arkham card. When an Adventure or Other World card is successfully resolved, or otherwise discarded, all investigators on that card return to the Streets of Arkham card.

If an investigator is on the Streets of Arkham card at the end of his Movement phase, he may resolve the card's ability.

If a game effect refers to "the entrance," it refers to the Streets of Arkham card instead. For example, if an investigator must move to "the entrance," he moves to the Streets of Arkham.

Arkham Adventures

The Adventure cards provided in this expansion are referred to as Arkham Adventure cards. Game effects that refer to "Adventure cards" can affect Arkham Adventures, but game effects which refer to "Arkham Adventures" only affect Arkham Adventure cards. When a player is instructed to place an Arkham Adventure card during the game, he places it facedown. Note: The back side of the top card of the Arkham Adventure deck is always open information.

At the top of each Arkham Adventure card back is a colored field with a skull and crossbones. The color denotes the card's estimated difficulty: green for an easy adventure, yellow for a normal adventure, and red for a hard adventure. The color of each card back's frame has no affect on gameplay, but simply helps players identify and distinguish similar looking locations at a quick glance.

When an investigator moves to a facedown Arkham Adventure card, he immediately resolves the effect printed on the back of the card. Then he flips the card faceup and ends his Movement phase. "At Midnight" effects on the back of Arkham Adventures are not triggered at this time, and are instead triggered if facedown when Midnight strikes.

When a monster appears, it may be placed at any faceup or facedown Adventure card, following normal rules. When a facedown Adventure card with a monster is flipped faceup, that monster is placed on any monster task at that adventure. If that adventure has no monster tasks or there are more monsters than monster tasks available, the monsters that cannot be placed in a monster task are placed below the card's bottom task as normal.

The Gates

During the game, certain game effects, such as penalties, doom icons, or Mythos cards, open gates at Arkham adventures. Gates tokens connect the Arkham Adventure cards they are on to Other World cards with the matching tokens. An investigator cannot move to an Arkham Adventure card that contains a gate until the corresponding Other World adventure is resolved. This section further describes the rules governing gates.

Opening Gates

When an effect opens a gate or places an Other World card, take the top card of the Other World deck and place it facedown below the six Arkham Adventure cards. Then take two gate markers of matching color, place one gate marker on the Other World card, and place the other on an Arkham adventure that does not contain another gate or a seal marker. Any investigators at that Arkham adventure are moved to the Streets of Arkham.

Investigators cannot move to Arkham Adventure cards with a gate marker on them, but they may still move to Other World cards with a gate marker. When an investigator moves to a facedown Other World card with a gate marker, he flips the card faceup and ends his Movement phase.

If players are instructed to open a gate, but no gate markers are available, a monster appears instead. If an effect would open a gate and there are unused gate markers, but all Arkham adventures have either a gate or seal marker on them, then remove all seal markers from Arkham Adventure cards, add 1 doom token to the doom track, and place the gate using the normal rules for opening a gate.

Closing Gates

When an investigator successfully resolves an Other World card with a gate marker, he closes that gate. When a gate is closed, place one seal marker on the Arkham adventure with the matching gate marker. Seal markers prevent additional gates from opening at that Adventure. Then return both of the matching gate markers to the supply.

Sometimes other effects will close a gate without resolving the Other World card the gate is on. In these cases, the Other World card is also discarded without effect and a seal marker is placed on the corresponding Arkham Adventure card.

Events

At the start of an investigator's Resolution phase, if he is at an Adventure or Other World card with an event icon, he must draw one Event card and resolve it before resolving his Adventure card.

Memberships

There are many organizations in Arkham that can assist the investigators in their battle against the Ancient Ones. Two of these organizations are the Order of the Silver Twilight and the Sheldon Gang. By becoming a member of one of the groups, an investigator gains access to assistance and resources, but may also be exposed to certain dangers because of his affiliation. When an investigator gains a membership, primarily by visiting either the Hibb's Roadhouse or Silver Twilight Lodge locations, he takes a Membership card and places it in his play area with the correct organization faceup. While he has the Membership card, he counts as a member of that organization. Investigators can have only one Membership card at a time. If an investigator gains a second membership, he must choose one membership to keep.

Membership Benefits

If an investigator is a member of an organization that matches a membership task on an Adventure he is attempting, he counts that task as completed without having to assign any dice to that task or complete any of its requirements. If an Adventure is successfully resolved and a membership task included a monster token, the player ignores the monster and returns it to the monster cup.

If an investigator successfully completes an adventure with a Membership reward and is a member of that organization, he receives that reward in addition to the other rewards shown.

Example of Resolving an Adventure with a Membership

Trish Scarborough is a member of the Sheldon Gang, and she is attempting the Arkham Adventure "Bank Robbery." Trish ignores the top task because it is a Sheldon Gang membership task, so now she only needs to complete the bottom task.

After fulfilling all the requirements of the remaining task, Trish successfully resolves the adventure, gaining two common items as a reward. Because Trish is a member of the Sheldon Gang, she also gains one ally as an additional membership reward.

Skills

Skill cards represent knowledge and experience that the investigators gain along the way. When a player draws a Skill card, he immediately places it faceup in his play area. Skills remain in play until their effects expire, as indicated by the text on the individual cards. Only the player who has the Skill card can use its ability.

Entry Effects

Some Arkham Adventure and Other World cards feature Entry effects. Immediately after an investigator moves to a card with an entry effect, he must resolve the entry effect. In addition, if an investigator flips over an Arkham Adventure or Other World card while at that adventure, he immediately resolve its entry effect.

If an investigator fails an adventure with an entry effect and stays there on his next turn, he does not resolve the entry effect again. However, if a different investigator moves to the adventure, resolve the entry effect again for that investigator.

Split Rewards and Penalties

Some rewards and penalties are divided into two groups by a diagonal line. When receiving rewards or suffering penalties that are split, an investigator must choose which group of rewards or penalties to receive or suffer.

An investigator cannot choose to suffer a penalty that he cannot fulfill. For example, an investigator cannot choose a penalty that causes him to lose a common item if he has zero common items.

Some split rewards and penalties include a blessing or a curse, which were introduced in the Unseen Forces expansion. If not playing with the Unseen Forces expansion, players must choose the reward or penalty which does not include a blessing or curse.

Midnight Falls

When playing the Streets of Arkham game mode, it is possible for the clock to advance past Midnight multiple times in one turn. Each time the clock strikes Midnight beyond the first time in the same turn, add one doom token to the doom track. Do not draw an additional Mythos card and do not resolve "At Midnight" effects again.

New Doom Icon

There is a single new doom icon that appears on the doom track of Ancient Ones in this expansion (the gate icon). Each time a doom token is placed on a space with a gate icon, the effect is as follows, depending on whether or not you are playing the new Streets of Arkham game mode:

• Streets of Arkham game mode: A gate opens.
• Any other game mode: Each investigator loses 1 sanity.

New Task Symbols

There are two new task symbols that can appear on Adventure cards, Other World cards, and monster markers. These symbols have the following effects:

• Gate: After all die result requirements for this task have been met, a gate opens, following the normal rules for opening gates.
• Doom: After all die result requirements for this task have been met, the player adds one doom token to the doom track.

New Rewards & Penalties

There are 13 new icons that appear on Adventure and Other World cards. When receiving rewards or suffering penalties, the current player resolves the following effects (if able) for each icon that appears on the card:

• Skill: Draw 1 card from the Skill deck.
• Healing: Any one investigator regains 1 stamina.
• Respite: Any one investigator regains 1 sanity.
• Expeditious: Do not advance the Clock during the Clock phase this turn.
• Reprieve: Remove 1 doom token from the Ancient One's doom track.
• Clock: Advance the clock once.
• Gate: Open a gate (instead of adding an Other World card).
• Remove Monster: Return 1 monster on an Adventure to the monster cup.
• Lost Common Item: Discard 1 Common item.
• Lost Unique Item: Discard 1 Unique item.
• Lost Spell: Discard 1 Spell.
• Lost Ally: Discard 1 Ally.
• Lost Elder Sign: Remove 1 Elder Sign from the Ancient One card. If there are no Elder Signs on the Ancient One card, add 1 doom token to the doom track instead.

New Ancient Ones

This expansion adds four Ancient Ones. Each one's difficulty is printed on its card.

Yibb-Tstll

Difficulty: Easy

Yibb-Tstll sits at the center of time, watching all things as the universe revolves. Nightgaunts swarm around her, worshiping as they feast on her black milk.

Ghatanothoa

Difficulty: Average

He is the first born of Cthulhu, with an appearance so hideous that anyone who looks upon him is transformed into a living, petrified mummy, thinking and aware, but never again able to move or feel.

Atlach-Nacha

Difficulty: Hard

Called the deity of all spiders, Atlach-Nacha endlessly weaves a web between the Dreamlands and the waking world. Should she ever complete her task, monsters would pour freely into the world, signaling its end.

Yog-Sothoth

Difficulty: Insane

Through its avatar, the Lurker at the Threshold, Yog-Sothoth opens the way between worlds and waits to devour the unwary who dare to enter.