Unsettled: Kaelyfos Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Quick Setup
• Planet Primer
  • Meat Terrors
  • Bloodsuckers
    • Spawn
    • Move
    • Attack
  • Waking Nightmares
  • Bloodsucker Dormancy
  • Traps
  • Interior vs Exterior
• Reference & FAQ

Quick Setup

1. Shuffle and stack the waking nightmare and bloodsucker behavior cards face-down in the area designated for planet-specific cards, separated by type. Set aside secret cards A & B until referenced.
2. Place the bloodsucker and doppelganger trap tokens "build" side-up in the area designated for planet-specific tokens.
3. Place the red-triangle trigger tokens on the 3rd and 6th spaces of the timeline.
4. Perform the following steps to construct the environment:
   • Place the Scarab, glowing fold, exterior orifice, interior orifice, bony protrusion, and vesicle cluster face-up as shown.
   • Note the separation between the two groupings of nodes.
   • Randomly place a nest token on the vesicle cluster, bony protrusion, and glowing fold.
   • Separate the remaining environment cards by "exterior" and "interior" (see card backs), and place them face-down as shown.
   • Place the crew on the Scarab.

Planet Primer

Meat Terrors

On Kaélyfos, you are being hunted; monstrous parasitic beasts—quickly dubbed "bloodsuckers"—pursue you at every turn. You'll have to balance avoiding the monsters, luring them into traps, and finding what you need to survive; which may sometimes mean traveling into the horrific depths of the head.

Bloodsuckers

When the time marker reaches a bloodsucker (triangle) trigger token: reveal and resolve a bloodsucker behavior card.

Each bloodsucker behavior card will cause the monsters to act. Bloodsuckers will spawn on nests, move toward explorers, and then attack any explorers on their node. In that order.

Example bloodsucker behavior card, as shown on the planet primer page:

• BLOODSUCKERS SPAWN: C, B, A
• BLOODSUCKERS MOVE: 1 Node
• BLOODSUCKERS ATTACK: Each bloodsucker gives a distress to an explorer on their node and is then removed from play. If there are multiple explorers on a node, the crew decides who each bloodsucker attacks.

Note: the example card's ATTACK text says the bloodsucker "is then removed from play", while the Attack step below says it "is returned to the supply". Both are transcribed as printed.

Spawn

• Place a bloodsucker (black marker) on the nests indicated, in the order shown.
• If a bloodsucker would spawn and there are no black markers available, it doesn't spawn.

Move

• Each bloodsucker moves the amount indicated, toward the nearest explorer.
• If multiple explorers are equally close—or if 2 directions take the bloodsucker equally close to the nearest explorer—look at the dots on the bloodsucker's node; these represent pheromone levels present in the environment. The bloodsucker will move toward the tied option that takes them over the most pheromone dots on their current node.
• If a trap is nearer than any explorer, bloodsuckers will move toward the trap.

Example: These 2 explorers are equal distance from the bloodsuckers, so the bloodsuckers prioritize the most pheromone-y option. (Note that the pheromone dots on the destination node are irrelevant.)

Attack

• Each bloodsucker gives a distress to an explorer on their node and is returned to the supply. If there are multiple explorers, the explorers choose who takes the distress.

Waking Nightmares

Distress from bloodsucker attacks causes you to experience terrifying visions. When you gain distress, it will instruct you to draw a waking nightmare card. Roll a discovery die, and resolve the corresponding nightmare. Then return the nightmare card to the bottom of the deck.

Bloodsucker Dormancy

It's key to note that bloodsuckers act in quick bursts and then go dormant for a time. While it's unnerving, you may enter and move through a node with bloodsuckers on it without suffering an attack. They only attack when an effect says so.

Traps

You're not without defenses.

• If you are on a node with an empty build site, you may build a trap as a free action by spending 1 material and placing an available trap token onto that build site.
• If a bloodsucker moves onto a node with a trap, it is instantly trapped (even if explorers are also present); place it on the trap token.
• If a trap has caught 2 bloodsuckers it is destroyed. Return it and the bloodsuckers to the supply.

Interior vs Exterior

Kaélyfos is divided into two halves: exterior and interior (see: quick setup). The only way to move between the two is by moving from one "orifice" node to the other. All other nodes across the separation from each other are not considered adjacent.

Example of interior vs exterior: the arrows between the exterior orifice and the interior orifice are labelled adjacent. The arrows between the other exterior and interior nodes shown are labelled not adjacent.

Reference & FAQ

• You can only experience 1 waking nightmare per turn, even if attacked multiple times.
• Bloodsuckers completely ignore the Scarab and any explorers on it. If all explorers are on the Scarab and no traps are built, the bloodsucks will not move.
• Ignore the doppelganger traps until they are referenced.
• You may destroy a trap on your node (and any bloodsuckers on it) as a free action.
• Bloodsuckers caught in traps count as "bloodsuckers" where effects are concerned. E.g., "for each bloodsucker on your node," would count a bloodsucker in a trap.

Note: the second FAQ entry is printed as "the bloodsucks will not move"; read as "bloodsuckers" and transcribed otherwise as printed.