Kingdom Death: Monster Rulebook

Table of Contents

Credits
Introduction and How to Play
First Story
Survival Guide
Survivors
Monsters
Resources
Terrain
Hunt Phase
Showdown Phase
Settlement Phase
Severe Injuries
- Head
- Arms
- Body
- Waist
- Legs
Brain Trauma
Hunt Events
- Hunt Event Table
Story Events
Finale
Game Variants
Glossary

Credits

Lead Design / Direction Adam Poots

Game Design Adam Poots, Anna Poots, Zach Moroni, Jacob Hochbaum

Art Zeen Chin, Danny Cruz, Melissa Curtin, Caitlin Hackett, Bagus Hutomo, Lokman Lam, Chris NG, Yasmine Putri, Lorinda Tomko

Graphic Design Adam Poots

Sculpture Thomas David, Stephanie Alison Everett, Forge Studios, Jonah Gilbert, Jacques-Alexandre Gillois, Jin, Hector Moran

Editing Margot Atwell, Giaco Furino, Megan Trank

Playtest Stanley Adecla, Zachary Barash, Austin Cantrell, Zac Clark, Scott Copeland, Rigel Cummins, Eric Finer, Josh Freydkis, Jacob Hochbaum, Ivo Ilic, Eric Lindenblad, Zach Moroni, Joe Poulos, Jason Roy, Anna Poots, and the many other players, strangers and friends, that came to die valiantly over the years.

Dedicated to Jeffrey Andrew Whitehead

Introduction and How to Play

Monster is a game about surviving in the darkness. You lose if your settlement's population reaches zero. You win when your settlement defeats the Watcher.

Monster is played by 1-4 players*. Together, players will hunt and fight monsters, using what they scavenge to grow a small settlement. Each player typically plays as one survivor and the players take turns controlling the monsters.

This game is cooperative. Players are encouraged to make long-term and split-second decisions as a group, pooling their efforts to protect their future.

Monster is designed to be played as a campaign. Groups of players will return to the same settlement, and even the same survivors, over the course of several play sessions. Simply pick up where you left off the last time you played. You can play with the same group of people each time or swap in new friends.

Monster is a miniatures hobby game. An important component of this game is assembling, customizing, and painting your miniatures.

To begin playing, you only need to assemble the four starting survivors and the first monster, a White Lion.

(Sidebar image: the four Starting Survivors miniatures and the White Lion miniature.)

* 5-6 player variant appears later in this book. We do not recommend starting there.

A game session is a complete cycle of 3 phases: Showdown, Hunt, and Settlement. We encourage taking hobby breaks with friends when you complete a game session.

This game includes more monsters and many options for customizing your survivors. You can build new versions of survivors to represent them as they obtain new gear or build entirely new survivors as some are lost and new ones start out on the hunt.

This game includes dice: 10-sided dice (known as d10s) and hit location dice (a 6-sided die representing parts of the body).

(Icon reference: d10 - 10 sided dice; Hit Location Dice.)

At its core, Monster is a game about the fragility of human life, the ferocity of the human spirit, and the wonder of exploration.

Your story will be shaped by the decisions you make, the strengths and weaknesses of your settlement, and the growth of your survivors. The game begins with a story that will introduce you to the basic concepts of the game.

Begin your campaign. Gather some friends. Turn the page, read the First Story, and start playing the prologue!

First Story

The First Story

The First Story is a prologue to Monster. It will teach you the fundamentals of the game. Always start the game with the First Story.

This story picks up after the awakening of the survivors. Before they can take stock of their surroundings, the survivors must fight for their lives against a vicious White Lion.

The game is designed around 4 survivors. To begin playing, if you have fewer than 4 players, some or all players should create more than one survivor so 4 survivors are represented.

You will need to assemble the 4 starting survivor miniatures and the White Lion miniature.

Although this is a prologue, Kingdom Death is a dangerous place. Even the starting survivors can perish before their story truly begins.

What is in the prologue? The First Story is designed to guide the 4 survivors through their first encounter with a monster. If they prevail, they will create a brand new settlement. Players are meant to play as they read and learn the game.

By the end of this prologue, you should understand the core rules of gameplay, complete your first showdown, create your settlement, and be ready for campaign play.

During the prologue, questions may arise that are not completely addressed in this section. The aim of the prologue is to get you playing, so feel free to make decisions and mistakes. Full game rules that follow the prologue address the deeper nuances of gameplay once you've got the hang of the basics.

Assemble Starting Miniatures

4 Starting Survivors White Lion

You can find detailed instructions online at: build.kingdomdeath.com

Create a Survivor

Gear Grid and Starting Gear Each player uses a gear grid to arrange the gear their survivor currently has. Starting survivors begin with 1 Cloth armor gear card and 1 Founding Stone weapon gear card. Place these two cards right-side up in any two boxes on your gear grid.

The left side of the gear grid has a reference area describing the survivors' turn, spending survival, and fighting bare-handed with Fist & Tooth.

(Reference card excerpt - Survivors' Turn: At the start of your act, gain +1 movement and +1 activation. During your act, you may do the following in any order: Spend movement to move one number of spaces up to your current movement attribute. Spend activation to attack, activate gear, or use special rules. At the end of your act, lose any unspent movement and activation.

Survival: You may spend survival to perform the following survival actions. Dodge: Avoid the damage from a hit, spend 1 survival and use it immediately. Dash: Gain +1 movement and use it immediately. Surge: Gain +1 activation and use it immediately. Encourage: Call out to a fellow survivor. They stand if they are knocked down.

Unarmed Combat: A survivor may always fight with their Fist & Tooth. The profile is below: Fist & Tooth - Speed 0, Accuracy 3, Strength 0, Luck +1. Deadly: +1 luck when you attack with this weapon.)

Survivor Record Sheets Use a survivor record sheet for each survivor. The record sheet maintains vital information about a survivor's life.

(The survivor record sheet includes fields for: Name; Hunt XP track; Survival box, with checkboxes for the Dodge, Encourage, Surge, and Dash survival actions; the attributes Movement, Speed, Accuracy, Strength, Evasion, Luck (starting values shown, movement 5, others 0); Brain (with an insanity box); the five hit locations Head, Arms, Body, Waist, and Legs, each with light and heavy injury boxes and a Knocked Down indicator; Weapon Proficiency track; Courage and Understanding tracks; Fighting Arts, Disorders, and Abilities & Impairments fields.)

Pencils and erasers are recommended for record sheets, as you will change them often. Fortune is fleeting, after all.

Only the survivor characteristics vital for a starting survivor's first showdown are discussed below. Complete rules can be found in the Survivors section of this rulebook.

Name Your Survivor Name your survivor in the space provided. Your survivor gains 1 survival for having a name. Add "1" to the record sheet in the box labeled Survival.

Learn about Survival Survival represents the desperate desire to cling to life. In the First Story, survival can only be spent to dodge.

As you play, you will gain up to three more life-saving survival actions: dash, encourage, and surge.

When survival is spent, decrease the number in the Survival box by 1. Survival does not automatically replenish and must be earned through gameplay.

Learn About Attributes Survivors' attributes describe their advantages or disadvantages. Except for movement, attributes start at zero. While most won't be used during the First Story, all attributes are listed below.

Movement (5): the number of spaces a survivor can move each turn. Speed (0): attack rate. Accuracy (0): attack precision. Strength (0): attack power. Evasion (0): the ability to avoid attacks. Luck (0): the likelihood of lucky attacks. Survival (1 for your name): self-preservation. Insanity (0): mental guard against terror. Courage (0): bravery. Understanding (0): wisdom. Hunt Experience (0): accrued experience. Weapon Proficiency (0): experience with a weapon.

(Attribute icon reference: +1 Movement, +1 Accuracy, +1 Strength, +1 Speed, +1 Evasion, +1 Luck. Survivors and monsters may gain permanent increases or decreases to their attributes. If a survivor's attributes are permanently affected, update the appropriate box on the survivor record sheet to reflect changes. All survivor attributes have a box with a space to pencil in the values of these attributes. If a survivor gains temporary modifiers to their attributes, place tokens on the record sheet instead of changing the sheet. Remove these tokens at the end of the showdown. If a monster's attributes change, place attribute modifier tokens on the monster control panel. Be sure to consider attribute changes when monsters and survivors attack.)

How Movement Works A starting survivor's movement is 5, meaning they may move up to 5 adjacent unoccupied spaces each turn, counted cardinally not diagonally.

Survivor Hit Locations Survivors have 5 hit locations vulnerable to damage and capable of wearing protective armor: Head, Arms, Body, Waist, and Legs. Hit locations have light and heavy injury levels (light and heavy-lined boxes).

Armor Points The Cloth starting gear card provides 1 armor point at the waist location (indicated by a 1 in the shield accompanied by the waist symbol at the top left of the card). Record "1" in the shield-shaped space next to Waist on your survivor record sheet to represent the armor points gained from the Cloth.

Brain and Insanity The Brain location is a survivor's mental fitness. The fragile Brain has only one injury level. Instead of armor, survivors use insanity to shield their brains. Only brain damage harms the Brain location. Actions that cause brain damage are clearly marked. When suffering brain damage, insanity protects the Brain the same way armor protects hit locations. Insanity keeps survivors steadfast in the face of a roaring, toothy maw that would bring a sane person to their knees. Insanity is persistent, and is gained and lost through gameplay.

Check Your Weapons A starting survivor has two available weapons - the Founding Stone and Fist & Tooth. The rules for the Founding Stone can be found on the Founding Stone gear card and the rules for Fist & Tooth can be found on the left side of the gear grid, along with useful reference information for survivors.

Each weapon has attack attributes that determine the outcome of a survivor's attack. Details about making attacks follow later in this section.

The survivors' Founding Stones have a special ability (on the bottom of the gear card). Instead of attacking the monster with the Founding Stone in hand, survivors may throw it at a monster from anywhere on the showdown board, causing an automatic critical wound. Afterwards, the Founding Stone is lost forever and archived (returned to the game box).

(Founding Stone gear card - weapon, melee, stone: "Spend an activation to sling the stone from anywhere on the board! Archive this card for 1 automatic hit that inflicts a critical wound. Archive: Return the card to the game box.")

First Story: White Lion

① Create the White Lion AI Deck The White Lion AI deck controls the monster's actions. The First Story White Lion has a predetermined deck. In future showdowns, you will use the expanded rules to randomize AI decks. AI cards have ranks, denoted by a symbol in the top right corner: Basic, Advanced, and Legendary. Additional types of cards will be used later.

Select the following from the White Lion AI cards:

Basic 1x Claw 1x Chomp 1x Size Up 1x Power Swat 1x Grasp

Advanced 1x Maul 1x Terrifying Roar 1x Enraged

Legendary none

Set Claw aside and shuffle the remaining cards. Place them in a stack face down on the monster control panel in the area for the AI deck. Place Claw face down on the top of the AI deck.

(Each type of monster card has a unique card back: AI - Artificial Intelligence; H - Hit Locations; R - White Lion Resources.)

② Set Up White Lion Hit Location Deck Hit location cards are used to track where the White Lion is hit when it is attacked. Take the White Lion's hit location cards and set aside Strange Hand. Shuffle all the remaining cards and place them in a stack face down on the monster control panel in the area for the Hit Location deck. Place Strange Hand face down on top of the Hit Location deck.

③ Set Up White Lion's Basic Action Place the double-sided Basic Action / Monster Reference card on the monster control panel. The First Story White Lion's attributes are listed on one side and its Basic Action on the other.

(White Lion (Level 1 - First Story Variant) Monster Attributes: Movement 6, Toughness 6, Speed -, Damage -.

Basic Action (if no other action is available) - Pick Target: closest survivor, in field of view; sniff. Move & Attack Target: Speed 2, Accuracy 2+, Damage 1.

Sniff: The White Lion uses its powerful nose to find its prey and ends its turn. Until the end of the next round, all survivors are now threats, even if they are knocked down or used an effect that says otherwise.)

④ Set Up the Showdown Table Place the showdown board in the play area. Arrange the survivors' record sheets and gear grids so they are accessible to the players.

⑤ Place the Miniatures on the Board Place the White Lion miniature at the center of the showdown board. Each player places their survivor miniature anywhere 6 spaces away from the White Lion miniature (counted cardinally, not diagonally). See blue squares in diagram above.

(Monster Controller reminder: If a player targets their own survivor, they gain +1 insanity. The monster controller tile imparts a bonus if the monster controller targets their own survivor.)

Showdown

The showdown proceeds in rounds. The White Lion takes its turn, then the survivors take a turn consisting of 1 act per survivor. This is considered one full round.

⑥ Select the Monster Controller Choose a player to take the monster controller tile. After every round, pass the monster controller tile clockwise to the next player. For that round, the monster controller will take the monster's turn, handle any reactions if the monster is attacked on the survivors' turn, as well as controlling their own survivor.

⑦ Draw the Claw Attack The White Lion attacks! The monster controller draws the top AI card of the AI deck and reads it.

(Claw - Basic. Pick Target: closest threat, facing, in range; closest threat, in field of view; no target: sniff. Move & Attack Target: Speed 2, Accuracy 2+, Damage 1.)

⑧ Determine Monster's Target Consult the Pick Target list on the AI card. This action tells the monster controller which survivor to target. Starting at the top, check each item to see if any survivors satisfy the target rule. STOP when the first target is found. If more than one survivor can be targeted, it's up to the monster controller to choose. Common target list terms include:

Closest threat: Closest standing survivor. A knocked down survivor is not a threat.

Facing: All spaces in front of the monster miniature.

In range: If the monster's movement can end adjacent to a survivor, they are in range (6 spaces in any direction for the White Lion).

In field of view: Not in the blind spot (above diagram).

In the case of Claw, the first item in the Pick Target list is closest threat, facing, in range. If the monster can move 6 or fewer spaces to reach a threat, in the direction the White Lion is facing, one of those survivors is the target (see above diagram). If not, check the next item: closest threat, in field of view. The monster controller should find any threat not in the White Lion's blind spot. Note, even if the closest survivor is out of the White Lion's movement, they still become the target.

If no other targeting directives can be met, the final item on the list is no target: sniff. The White Lion will fall back on an instinct behavior, sniff, if a target is not found. The rules for sniff are described above. If the White Lion sniffs, its turn will end.

Once a target is selected, move to the next section of the AI card.

Move & Attack The next action on the AI card is Move & Attack. Move the White Lion toward its target any number of spaces up to its current movement (6). Unless otherwise noted, a monster always turns to face its target. The White Lion should move by the most direct route possible, one adjacent (non-diagonal) space at a time. The White Lion must be adjacent to a survivor to attack. If the White Lion cannot reach its target, it will move the maximum available spaces towards the target, turn to face them, and end its turn. Moving the maximum number of spaces allowed by a movement attribute is known as a full move.

White Lion Attacks! Once the White Lion is adjacent, follow the attack profile on the AI card and make an attack based on the speed, accuracy, and damage listed there.

Speed determines the number of attack rolls. Claw's attack profile has 2 speed, so roll 2d10 to attack. Accuracy is the number an attack roll must meet or exceed to hit the target. Claw has 2 accuracy, so determine hits by checking how many roll results are 2 or over. If there are no hits, the monster misses, and it proceeds to the next action on the card. If there are none, the card is discarded.

Damage the Survivor If there are any hits in the attack, the target suffers damage equal to the damage listed on the attack profile. This damage injures survivors, reducing their armor, then causing injuries.

Roll the hit location dice once for every hit to determine what hit locations are damaged. All hit location dice must be rolled before continuing. The target chooses what order to apply damage to hit locations and if they will use survival to dodge a hit. Apply damage from all hits to complete the attack.

(Damage Survivor Steps, on HIT: 1. Reduce 1 armor point and expend the damage dealt by 1. Repeat until no armor points remain. If damage remains, continue. 2. Fill one injury level box and expend damage dealt by 1 (light, then heavy). Repeat until all injury levels are filled. If damage remains, continue. 3. If any damage remains, turn to the Severe Injury story event and roll once on the section for the hit location. This expends any remaining damage. When all damage dealt from a hit is reduced to zero, move on to the next hit and repeat this process. When no hits remain, the attack is complete.)

Knocked Down When the heavy injury level is filled, a survivor is knocked down and is no longer a threat. Lay the miniature on its side. If a survivor is knocked down while performing an attack, their remaining unresolved hits are canceled. Knocked down survivors cannot spend activation or movement, or be knocked down again. They can spend survival to dodge, but stay knocked down. Knocked down survivors get up at the end of the next monster turn.

The Claw attack profile has 1 damage. The damage dealt by each hit is 1 (other attacks may have more damage). Resolve this damage according to the Damage Survivor Steps described above. Resolve any hits from Claw now.

Reducing armor points at a location to 0 does not cause the armor to be discarded. However, armor points do not replenish during the showdown. Injury levels can only be filled in once, and cannot be used to reduce damage again once they are filled. When a heavy injury level with a bolded box is filled, the survivor is knocked down (see above).

End of Monster Turn Once Claw is completed, place it face up in the AI discard pile on the monster control panel. End the monster's turn. The next page contains information for controlling the monster in future rounds. To start the survivor turn, turn the page.

Severe Injuries & Death When a survivor's hit location has no remaining armor points and all injury levels are filled, they are in danger. Any further damage to this hit location will cause a severe injury (roll for that hit location on the Severe Injury story event table in this book). Remember, survivors may spend survival to dodge 1 hit in these dire circumstances.

Roll once on the table each time the hit location is damaged even if the amount of damage is over 1. Record effects of severe injuries in the Impairments section of the survivor record sheet.

Most often, survivors gain bleeding tokens when they suffer severe injuries. When a survivor has 5 bleeding tokens, they die. Survivors can also die from results on the Severe Injury table. When they die, remove the survivor's miniature from the board.

(Example attack profile with a trigger: Speed 1, Accuracy 2+, Damage 2, Trigger: After Damage - Knockback 6: The target is moved 6 spaces in a straight line directly away from the monster.)

Triggered Effects Some attack profiles have trigger sections that indicates when to apply additional attack effects listed below the attack profile.

Before Damage: Apply effects after determining the number of hits but before rolling hit location dice.

After Damage: Resolve damage from all hits in this attack then apply additional effects.

Triggered effects appear directly under the attack profile. In the above example, After Damage from the attack is applied, trigger knockback 6.

Intimidate Actions Rather than physically harming survivors, intimidate actions cripple the mind by causing brain damage (damage to the Brain location). Each AI card explains how to perform a specific intimidation. The White Lion does not need to be adjacent to its target to intimidate.

Brain Traumas Insanity is armor for your Brain. If the survivor's Brain has no remaining insanity and the Brain injury level is filled, further damage to the Brain causes a roll on the Brain Trauma table in this book. Like damage to other hit locations, rolling on the Brain Trauma table expends any remaining brain damage. Survivors may gain disorders as a result of brain trauma. These are found in the Disorder Deck. Draw one at random and apply the rules to the survivor.

Moods Moods are AI cards that remain in play after the monster turn ends instead of being discarded. They have rules that persistently modify the behavior of the White Lion once they come into play. When moods are discarded place them face up in the AI discard pile. Enraged gives the White Lion a +1 damage token, which increases all damage dealt from attack profiles by 1. This does not include brain damage.

(Enraged - Mood. When this comes into play, draw an AI card. While Enraged is in play, White Lion gains...)

Survivors' Turn!

Each turn, every survivor has an act. Each survivor takes their acts one at a time. There is no set order. Players should decide their order strategically. After all players' acts are finished, the round is over and it becomes the monster's turn again.

Survivor Act When a survivor takes their act, they gain 1 movement and 1 activation. These can be spent in any order and are not cumulative from act to act. Each movement and activation must be completed before another can begin. When a survivor finishes their act, they lose any unspent movement/activation before another survivor may begin their act.

Survivor Movement When a survivor spends their movement, they can move up to their movement attribute (5), one board-space at a time to any unoccupied, adjacent, non-diagonal space.

A survivor cannot divide their movement into multiple parts. They cannot move 2 spaces, spend an activation, then resume their movement and move another 3 spaces.

Move a survivor adjacent to the White Lion to attack.

Survivor Activation Survivors can spend their activation to attack with the Founding Stone or sling it by following the special rule at the bottom of the card. When an activation is required, it will be denoted by the activation icon.

Attack with the Founding Stone Starting survivors have two weapons: Founding Stone and Fist & Tooth. Each weapon has 3 attack attributes: speed, accuracy, and strength. Once adjacent to the monster, spend your activation to attack with the Founding Stone!

(Founding Stone card: Speed 2, Accuracy 7, Strength 1. Spend 1 activation to attack with this weapon (-1 activation shown on the miniature marker). Speed | Number of attack rolls in the attack. Accuracy | Attack roll result required to hit. Strength | Modifier added to wound roll.)

Make Attack Rolls Speed determines the number of attack rolls. This represents how quickly you strike. The Founding Stone's speed is 2. Roll 2d10 to attack.

Count the Number of Hits Accuracy is the number each attack roll must meet or exceed to hit. The Founding Stone's accuracy is 7. Every attack roll result of 7 or greater is a hit. If there were no hits, the attacker misses and their attack ends. Survivors attacking from a monster's blind spot are at an advantage, and gain +1 to the results of their attack rolls. In the blind spot, an attack roll of 6 with a Founding Stone becomes 7, making this result a hit.

Draw Hit Locations Draw 1 hit location card for each hit. Select what order to try to wound them in. Attempt to wound each hit location one at a time.

Attempt to Wound a Location Strength determines if a hit can penetrate the monster's toughness to wound it. Make a wound roll by rolling 1d10. Then add the strength of your weapon to the result. If this total is equal to or greater than the White Lion's toughness (6), the monster is wounded. The Founding Stone's strength is 1, a wound roll of 5 or greater will wound.

Wound the Monster When a hit location is wounded, remove the top card of the AI deck without looking at it. Place it in the wound stack space on the monster control panel. If the AI deck is empty but there are AI cards in the discard pile, shuffle the discard to create a fresh AI deck and remove the top card. Cards in the wound stack are not part of the AI deck, and represent the number of wounds the monster has suffered. When the monster is wounded and no AI cards can be moved to the wound stack, the monster is dead.

Resolve any reactions on the wounded hit location that apply (Wound, Reflex, or Failure). Check for critical wounds, then discard the hit location card face up in the hit location discard pile on the monster control panel.

Critical Wounds If a hit location has a critical wound effect and the attacker's wound roll result is a lantern 10 (the lantern face is showing), a critical wound occurs. Remove the top AI card from the AI deck and place it onto the wound stack as normal. Perform any critical wound effects and cancel any reactions listed on that hit location.

Some critical wound effects award survivors extra spoils. Resources gained during a showdown should be placed face up next to the gear grid of the survivor who earned them. If that survivor perishes, another survivor may take these resources. If all survivors perish, these resources are lost.

Example: If the survivor critically wounds the Strange Hand location, they may spend 1 survival (if they have any) to gain +1 permanent strength. Add "1" to the survivor record sheet in the space for the Strength attribute and add this strength attribute to future wound rolls along with weapon strength.

In addition, Strange Hand has a persistent injury, Lost Hand that affects some AI cards. When Strange Hand is critically wounded, the card stays in play on the showdown board. Some AI cards will have persistent injury actions also called Lost Hand, this persistent injury action replaces the attack on the AI card if the persistent injury occurred.

(Strange Hand hit location card - Failure: Instinctively striking back, the White Lion's oddly human hand darts forward. Perform Basic Action, target the attacker. Critical Wound: You hack off the monster's hand. Spend 1 survival to treasure this moment and gain +1 permanent strength. Persistent Injury - Lost Hand: Affects some AI cards. Persistent Injury | Keep in Play.)

Fighting with Fist & Tooth Survivors may use their Fist and Tooth to attack (this weapon's attributes are listed on the left side of the gear grid). Fist & Tooth has +1 Luck in addition to its attack attributes. This means Fist & Tooth wound roll results cause critical wounds on a 9 or lantern 10.

Monsters React to Attacks Some White Lion hit location cards have reactions to survivor attacks. Reactions occur after a wound attempt and any successful wounds are removed. Make sure to apply the reactions for each hit location as it is attacked.

Wound reactions are triggered after a successful wound attempt.

Failure reactions are triggered after a failed wound attempt.

Reflex reactions are always triggered after a wound attempt regardless of the outcome.

If a location suffers a critical wound, all reactions (Wound, Failure, and Reflex) on that location are canceled. A hit location is completed after rolling to wound and performing any monster reactions or critical injury effects. Discard the card in the Hit Location discard on the monster control panel.

Trap When its Trap is drawn, The White Lion lures the attacker and attacks instead. If any drawn hit location cards are Trap!, order them first. Cancel any subsequent hits, discard all hit locations drawn, and end your attack. The monster controller then performs the White Lion's Trap. Trap cards doom at least the attacker. A survivor who is doomed cannot spend survival until the card is completed. After a Trap is performed, reshuffle the monster's Hit Location deck.

(Clever Ploy hit location card - TRAP! Reshuffle Hit Location Deck. The attacker is caught in the White Lion's ruse and is savagely mauled. Attacker is doomed. Perform Basic Action, target the attacker. Doomed: You may not spend survival until this card is resolved. Trap Reminder Rules! A Trap cancels all the attacker's hits and ends their attack. When a Trap is drawn, a knocked down monster will stand. After a Trap is performed, reshuffle all hit location cards, including the Trap card. Resolve & Reshuffle hit location deck.)

Dodge - Survival Actions In the First Story, survival can be spent to perform a dodge action. The Survival Limit is 1, which is the maximum amount of survival a survivor may have at any time. Any additional survival gained beyond the Survival Limit is lost.

Dodge: Once per round, spend 1 survival to cancel a monster hit from an attack profile. After hit locations are rolled but before any severe injury rolls, the survivor can dodge a hit of their choice. The hit becomes a miss and does not cause damage. Brain damage, and damage outside of attack profiles (like Grab) cannot be dodged.

Knockback X When a survivor suffers knockback X, they are pushed X spaces in a straight line away from the monster. If the survivor passes over or ends up in a space with another survivor, they are both knocked down. Survivors may not share spaces, move the knocked back survivor to an adjacent free space. If the survivor encounters a board edge, stop and end knockback.

Movement Collision Survivors may not voluntarily pass through spaces occupied by monsters or other survivors. However, monsters may pass through survivor-occupied spaces. If they do, that survivor suffers collision and is knocked down. If a monster ends its movement in a survivor-occupied space, the survivor is knocked down and suffers knockback 5.

Finish the Showdown

It is time to finish the battle between the survivors and the White Lion.

Each round, continue to pass the monster controller tile to the next player, draw a fresh AI card, and see what happens.

If the White Lion has no AI cards in its deck, but there are cards in the discard pile, shuffle the discard to create a fresh AI deck.

If no AI cards remain in the AI deck or discard, the monster will desperately cling to life by performing its Basic Action (on the Basic Action / monster reference double-sided card) instead of drawing an AI card. The next wound it suffers will kill the monster.

How Do We Kill It? The White Lion is killed when it is wounded and there are no AI cards in the AI deck or discard pile to move to the wound stack. If a monster has no AI cards in its deck or discard pile, survivors must still inflict one more wound to kill the monster.

Survivors Perish If the survivors die, try again until you emerge victorious!

Survivors Prevail and Aftermath If the White Lion is killed, the remaining survivors are victorious. In the aftermath, players should fill the first unfilled box in the Hunt XP section of the survivor record sheet to reflect their first successful showdown.

Survivors Are Victorious!

Collect Your Rewards By scavenging the monster's corpse, the survivors earn resources. This is in addition to any resources earned from critical wounds during the showdown.

Take out the White Lion's resource cards. Shuffle them and draw 4.

Take out the Basic Resource cards. Shuffle them and draw 4.

Place all the resources face up on the table.

If players lost their survivor in the First Story, they can create new survivors in the settlement. The perished survivors' gear and resources are not lost, they are returned to the settlement with the remaining survivors.

Turn the page to create your settlement.

After they defeat the White Lion, the survivors wander the darkness, drawn to a soft glow blooming on the horizon.

In the First Story Settlement Phase, players create the settlement they will return to in every subsequent Settlement Phase.

The steps of the settlement phase are outlined on the settlement board as a useful reminder.

(Settlement Phase step icons: 1. Set up the Settlement; 2. Survivors' Return; 3. Gain Endeavors; 4. Draw Settlement Event; 5. Update Death Count; 6. Update Timeline; 7. Develop; 8. Prepare Departing Survivors; 9. Record & Archive Resources; 10. End Settlement Phase.)

1. Setup Place the settlement board in the play area, along with the gear grids and survivor record sheets of the survivors that persevered through the First Story. These are now the returning survivors.

Use a new double-sided settlement record sheet to record information about your settlement. Start by naming your settlement.

2. Survivors Return Notice, below the settlement name, that returning survivors gain +1 survival when the settlement is named. Award it to any returning survivors (survivors cannot have more survival than the Survival Limit on their settlement record sheet). Returning survivors heal any existing light and heavy injuries by erasing any filled boxes on their record sheets. Permanent injuries are not healed.

Add the names of the returning survivors to the population list on the settlement record sheet.

3. Gain Endeavors Endeavors are the creative energy accumulated from experience. Each returning survivor generates 1 endeavor. Endeavors are not recorded since any unspent endeavors are lost at the end of each settlement phase.

4. Settlement Event - The First Day Find The First Day settlement event card and place it on the settlement board in the current settlement event area. The First Day determines the population of your settlement, and is always played when a new settlement is created. Follow the rules and record the results on your settlement record sheet.

Each subsequent settlement phase, play a random Settlement Event card by drawing from the deck.

5. Update the Death Count If any survivors perished in the First Story, update the Death count on the settlement record sheet by filling one unfilled box for each lost survivor.

6. Update the Timeline The extinguishing of a single lantern in the lantern hoard happens regularly. This is how the survivors track time, and is called a lantern year. Update the lantern year on the settlement record sheet now by checking off the first lantern year on the timeline.

Trigger Story Events After the timeline is updated, trigger any story events listed for that year. In this case, Returning Survivors (the story-event icon means "trigger this story event now"). Returning Survivors gives the survivors the Language innovation, builds your settlement's Innovation Deck, and adds the Lantern Hoard settlement location. Turn to it and follow its rules, then return here to complete the settlement phase.

The first time the death count is updated on the settlement record sheet it triggers a Milestone Story Event, Principle: Death. The group will pick a principle and face the outcomes. Once you complete the story event get the corresponding principle card and place it on the settlement board.

7. Develop During this step, the survivors spend their endeavors wherever indicated to build, innovate, craft gear, and join activities.

When the settlement starts out, they can spend their endeavors at the Lantern Hoard to build new Settlement Locations. When an endeavor is spent, reduce the total number of endeavors by 1.

If you can, spend 3 endeavors to build the Bonesmith, Organ Grinder, and Skinnery settlement locations. If there were fewer than 3 endeavors to start, choose which locations to build. Get these large location cards from the box and place them below the settlement board where indicated.

If the settlement has a remaining endeavor, the players choose how to spend it. If they built an Organ Grinder, a survivor may participate in Augury by spending 1 endeavor and following the rules. If this causes a new birth, trigger the story event Principle: New Life.

They may also spend their remaining endeavor and 3 resources (1 each of bone, organ, and hide) to innovate at the Lantern Hoard. If they do, draw the top 2 cards of the innovation deck and choose 1 innovation to add to the settlement permanently.

Craft Gear New settlement locations allow survivors to spend their resources to craft gear. Gear is listed on each location, along with its cost. When resources are spent to craft gear, archive the resources cards (return them to the box) and get the gear you crafted from the box.

8. Prepare Departing Survivors If you plan to continue, choose a monster from the Quarry List on the settlement record sheet and decide which survivors will set off to hunt it. After the First Story, only the White Lion is available. More monsters will be added to the Quarry List through story events.

Any eligible returning survivors may become departing survivors, or players may pull a new survivor from the settlement's population. To do this, get a new survivor record sheet and create a survivor, adding their name to the settlement's population list.

Place any gear your settlement has acquired in departing survivors' gear grids and update each survivor's armor points at each location to reflect their gear. Award any bonuses from gear and innovations that affect departing survivors.

9. Record & Archive Resources Record any unspent resources and unworn gear in the settlement storage on the settlement record sheet, then archive those cards. These items may be retrieved from storage later.

10. The End of the Beginning Clean up the play area. If the play session is over, be sure to record the settlement's gear in the settlement storage before putting the game away.

The players have completed the First Story and are now ready to begin the campaign. Next, read about campaign play and core game concepts.

Survival Guide

Campaign-Based Game

Monster is played as a campaign, a continuous game that lasts over several play sessions. It starts with the First Story and ends with a final showdown against the Watcher. This is not meant to happen in one sitting. Each time you play, you will hunt monsters, gather resources, and develop your settlement while fending off new threats. A typical session includes one cycle of game phases: Hunt, Showdown, and Settlement. Survivors depart to hunt a quarry, battle their foe, and finally return to the settlement to use their spoils developing their civilization. The Survivors mark time in lantern years. You will track the passage of time along the timeline on the settlement record sheet. With each new lantern year, you will face new events and challenges on the timeline that will shape the future of your settlement.

Cooperation & Group Decisions

The survivors' world is punishing and the odds are stacked against them. The game will challenge the teamwork of every group of players. Monster is a fully cooperative game. The group plays against the game. Players control survivors individually and take turns controlling monsters. In each phase of the game, players will rely on each other to make critical decisions about everything from battle tactics to civilization expansion.

The game will prompt players to make decisions as monster controllers, event revealers, or resource spenders. Players can approach these decisions individually, as a group, or even elect leadership. Your settlement's resources are a crucial example of group decision-making. It is up the players to decide whether or not they pool their resources, spending them as a group or split them and spend them individually. There is no right way to make a group decision.

Miniature Generations

Over the course of your campaign, survivors will die, new ones will be born, and others will profoundly change over time. Survivors that endure multiple hunts will be rewarded with increases to their attributes, new abilities, and bonuses. Others will suffer attribute losses, permanent disfigurements, and crippling physical and mental afflictions. Players will take the roles of multiple survivors throughout the campaign. The survivors' settlement is the enduring element that must persevere. Players will create new survivors as old survivors perish. They may also create multiple living survivors to use depending on circumstances and the challenges presented to them. The same players need not control the same survivors between play sessions. The survivors in a settlement can be treated as a common pool that different groups of players can use. Just as survivors come and go, so can the players within the campaign.

Settlement Phase

Survivors establish their settlement at a strange source of light and safety. During the Settlement Phase, they will use their gathered resources to develop this small haven. Players must work together to ready their settlement for the final confrontation with the Watcher. As you fight new monsters and make new discoveries, you will build new settlement locations, craft gear, add innovations to your society, and determine its guiding principles. Players are encouraged to experiment, implement votes, assign roles, and find new ways to govern your settlement.

The Settlement Phase is a great place to start and end your game sessions. After survivors return from battle, players develop their settlement and spend resources before a new group sets off. Update the record of what you've earned so that you are ready to hunt when you return to the game.

Hunt Phase

During the Hunt Phase a group of survivors departs from the settlement to track their quarry through the bizarre landscapes of Monster. The price of their failure is grim: if the survivors perish or return empty-handed, the settlement will starve. Hunting takes place on the hunt board, which acts as a stage for the chaotic events that befall the survivors while in pursuit of a monster. Lethal risks and strange rewards await the survivors on the hunt. Even the journey to the battle can be potentially fatal.

When hunting the monster, players take turns guiding the group through each event. Use this as an opportunity to create suspense and surprise. Read hunt events scenarios aloud without revealing the possible outcomes. Decide how to approach each situation, then make any rolls and face any outcomes together.

Showdown Phase

Defeating monsters in the Showdown Phase is the primary way of gathering resources, evolving survivors, and passing lantern years. The Showdown Phase is the longest phase of the game, and requires the most in-depth cooperative strategy.

The showdown consists of a battle between the entire group of survivors against a single monstrous intelligence. Each showdown in Monster is unique. Players take turns controlling the monster using a pair of randomized decks that govern its behavior. Monsters are also tough. Your group will utilize all of its weapons, gear, innovations, and survivor characteristics to their full potential to defeat each new foe.

Persistent Innovation Deck

Innovations are social and technological discoveries that profoundly affect the future of your settlement. They can grant new combat abilities, access to new resources, settlement activities, and expand the possibilities of the settlement's future. Each new innovation is permanently added to the settlement. Settlement innovations are recorded on the settlement record sheet and stored apart from the innovation deck.

The innovation deck contains the settlement's potential. When survivors innovate, gaining cards from the deck to add to their settlement, the innovation deck grows. Innovations direct you to add new innovations to the innovation deck as they are discovered. As a result, the innovation deck is persistent, and grows uniquely based on your settlement's decisions. There is a special place in the box to store your settlement's unique innovation deck to keep track of it between game sessions.

Story Events

A story event is a moment in time shared by all the players. When a story event is triggered, everything that is currently happening in the game freezes. Pass the game book to a player, turn to the indicated story event, and read out loud what happens next. Share the full-page artwork with everyone. Once the story event is resolved, and all outcomes have been recorded, the game unfreezes and anything that was happening resumes. Story events arise as survivors confront important philosophical decisions, explore and gather resources during the hunt, discover new monsters, and gain new power. Each monster has a showdown story event that has all the information you will need to hunt and fight it.

When you see the story event icon, trigger the indicated story event right now! Story Events are listed on the settlement's timeline, on some monster cards, on innovations, and even on the survivor record sheet.

Milestones

Milestones, indicated by heavy-lined unfilled boxes on the survivor and settlement record sheets, have special rules that occur when they are filled in. Milestones can be reached by individual survivors and by the settlement.

As survivors gain hunt experience, they will reach milestones. These milestones trigger the Age story event, which will increase the survivor's power. Survivors also encounter milestones as they gain courage, understanding, and weapon proficiency.

The Settlement Milestone Story Event section on the settlement record sheet includes many milestones, like the settlement's first birth, its first death and a game over when the population reaches 0. When these milestones are reached, fill their box and immediately trigger their corresponding story events.

Dice & Tables

Throughout the game, you will roll dice to determine the outcomes of everything from attacks to choosing random players. When the game instructs you to roll d10s, it refers to the 10-sided dice included with the game. The values on the dice are 1 to 10 (the 10 face is represented by a lantern). The number of dice you need to roll is specified by the number before "d10", so 2d10 is 2 dice. If the game instructs you to roll a d5, roll a d10 and divide the result in half (rounded up). Rolling on tables is an important component of the game, introducing an element of chance to events. Many moments in the game are accompanied by a table, everything from determining the outcomes of severe injuries to the results of story events contains an element of chance. Some tables are even affected by existing innovations and principles the group has already chosen.

Lantern 10

Lantern 10 refers to a die roll result where the lantern face is showing. Natural 1 refers to a roll result where the number "1" face is showing.

During the showdown, it is possible to encounter situations where it is impossible to succeed or fail at hitting or wounding. In such cases, Lantern 10's always succeed and 1's always fail. This way, the possibility of success or failure exists, even in the most one-sided circumstances. For instance, players may find themselves facing monsters with toughness so high that the maximum die result (10) combined with their strength is not enough to penetrate the monster's toughness. In this case, when a lantern 10 is rolled, it will still wound (and cause critical wounds, if luck allows). Conversely, monsters may face situations where an attack roll will always hit. For example, attacking a survivor with negative evasion might mean it would hit on a 1 or higher. In these cases a natural 1 will still miss.

Conflicts and the Rule of Death

As in any game with many moving parts and rules, conflict may occasionally arise regarding rules interpretations, group decisions, or exceptions. First and foremost, this game is designed to provide time well spent with friends. Use this as the guiding principle for solving any problems that arise. In addition, here are some technical guidelines for resolving conflict. When conflict arises over contradictions in rules, apply specific rules found on cards (AI, gear etc) and story events, before any rules found in the rulebook core rules sections. If conflicts arise that slow or halt a play session completely, use the Rule of Death: always rule against the survivors. Kingdom Death is a dangerous place, and the survivors' future is bleak. Make sure that any ambiguities resolve against the survivors' favor. At its core, Monster is a cooperative experience. Be respectful of others as you navigate the game's decisions together.

(The remainder of this chunk's page range, PDF page 45, is a full-page illustration of the four starting survivors — a section-divider image leading into the Core Rules: Survivors section, which begins on the following page outside this chunk's range.)

Survivors

Life is grim.

Each survivor has a record sheet that keeps track of essential information players will need to hunt, fight, and interact with the settlement. Make sure to use a pencil.

Survivor Miniatures

Players use miniatures to represent their survivors on the hunt and showdown boards. Monster includes 4 starting survivor miniatures that represent the survivors in their most primitive state.

Survivors change as they progress over lantern years, gaining gear and losing limbs. Players are encouraged to build new miniatures of their survivors by combining pieces from different armor sets to create a miniature that represents their survivor's favorite gear and personal story.

Survivor miniatures don't need to accurately reflect the gear a player uses in the game. However, if your group decides to play this way, it is usually possible to do so. Survivor miniatures use 30 mm bases.

Survivor Basics

1 | Name

Naming your survivor gives them substance and a connection to the player.

2 | Survival

Survival is the desperate desire to cling to life. Survival are gained and lost throughout the campaign, and may be spent to perform extraordinary feats and change your fate. When you name your survivor, they gain +1 survival. For a brand-new survivor, add a "1" in the survival box when you name them.

As the amount of survival increases and decreases, update the survival box on your record sheet.

Survival Limit

Survival Limit is the maximum amount of survival any survivor may have. Survival Limit is recorded on the settlement record sheet and applies to all survivors. Innovations and events will raise the settlement's survival limit.

At the start of the campaign, the Survival Limit is 1. When the settlement innovates Language, the Survival Limit is increased by 1 to 2. Any additional survival gained over the Survival Limit is lost.

Survival

Survival may be spent to dash, dodge, encourage, and surge. In the First Story, starting survivors can only dodge.

Other survival actions are added as a result of adding innovations to the settlement. When the settlement innovates Language, Paint, and Inner Lantern, survivors gain the ability to encourage, dash, and surge, respectively. As these become available in your settlement, fill in the appropriate box on current and new survivor record sheets.

3 | Survivor Attributes

Survivor attributes are used in the course of fighting monsters. They include: movement, accuracy, strength, evasion, luck, and speed.

A survivor may gain permanent increases or decreases to their attributes. Update the values in the appropriate box on the record sheet to reflect these changes.

If a survivor gains temporary modifiers to their attributes, place tokens on the record sheet instead of changing the sheet. Remove these tokens at the end of the showdown.

Movement

A starting survivor's movement is 5. Movement is the maximum number of spaces a survivor can move in a single action. A survivor with less than 1 movement may still move 1 space every turn.

Accuracy

A starting survivor's accuracy is 0. Accuracy is added to a hit roll result to determine if it is successful. Accuracy can be a negative number, in which case it is subtracted from the roll result.

Strength

A starting survivor's strength is 0. Strength is added to the result of a wound roll to determine the force of the attack. Strength can be a negative number, in which case it is subtracted from the roll result.

Evasion

A starting survivor's evasion is 0. Evasion is added to a monster's attack profile accuracy to determine the difficulty of the attack. Evasion can be a negative number, in which case it is subtracted from the attack profile's accuracy.

Luck

Luck is a survivor's chance to cause a critical wound from a wound roll. A starting survivor's luck is 0, which means they only cause critical wounds on a result of 10 (lantern face on 1d10).

Luck increases the range of wound roll results considered critical. +1 luck causes a critical wound on an unmodified result of 9 or 10, +2 luck on 8, 9, or 10, and so on. A luck modifier can be a negative number, making it impossible to roll a critical wound.

Speed

A starting survivor's speed is 0. Speed is added to a survivor's weapon speed to determine the number of rolls to hit in an attack. Speed can be a negative number, in which case it is subtracted from the number of dice rolled for an attack.

4 | Survivor Locations

Hit Locations

Head — Heavy Injury: Knocked Down
Arms — Heavy Injury: Knocked Down
Body — Heavy Injury: Knocked Down
Waist — Heavy Injury: Knocked Down
Legs — Heavy Injury: Knocked Down

Hit locations are areas of the survivor's body that can wear armor and suffer damage. The hit locations are: head, arms, body, waist, and legs.

Hit locations have a space for armor points (indicated by a shield icon). Without armor, hit locations have 0 armor points.

Hit locations have a light injury level (indicated by an light-lined unfilled box) and a heavy injury level (indicated by a heavier-lined unfilled box).

The head is an exception. Since the head is more fragile and can withstand less injury, it only has a heavy injury level.

Whenever players fill heavy injury levels on the survivor record sheet, their survivor is knocked down, as noted below each hit location name.

Brain / Insanity box: "If your insanity is 3+, you are insane."

(Sidebar diagram: an illustration of an injured, insane-looking survivor lying on the ground amid a pattern of cracked earth and circling skulls/birds, with an "INJURY" label pointing to a highlighted heavy-injury box on the record sheet, illustrating what it looks like when a hit location's heavy injury box is filled in.)

(The record sheet diagram on the facing page shows a numbered survivor record sheet with callouts: 1 Name; 2 Survival (with Dodge/Encourage/Surge/Dash boxes); 3 Attributes (Movement, Strength, Evasion, Luck, Speed); 4 Hit Locations (Head, Arms, Body, Waist, Legs, each with armor and injury boxes); 5 Hunt XP track; 6 Weapon Proficiency Type track; 7 Courage and Understanding tracks; 8 Fighting Arts (maximum 3) and Disorders (maximum 3); 9 Abilities & Impairments; 10 blank notes lines.)

Brain

The Brain is a survivor location different from hit locations, and represents a survivor's mental fitness. The Brain can only be damaged by brain damage.

Since the human mind is fragile, there is only one injury level for the Brain (indicated by the light-lined unfilled box).

Insanity

Insanity protects the Brain location the same way that armor protects hit locations. The more insane a survivor is, the less likely they are to be shaken by the horrors that befall them.

Insanity points are gained and lost throughout the campaign. Having 3+ insanity makes a survivor insane, which can stand in the way of making rational decisions during some events.

As the amount of insanity increases and decreases, update the insanity box on your record sheet.

5 | Hunt Experience (Hunt XP)

(Hunt XP track: a row of boxes labeled Hunt XP, with milestone groupings marked Age (1 box), Age (2 boxes), Age (3 boxes), Age (4 boxes), and a final Retired box.)

Survivors gain Hunt Experience during the aftermath of a victorious showdown.

When a survivor gains Hunt XP, update their record sheet by filling in the next unfilled Hunt XP box.

Some hunt experience levels have milestones (indicated by a heavy-lined box) that trigger the Age story event. The number of milestones filled indicates which Age rules to apply.

When the final hunt experience box is filled, the survivor is too old to hunt, and must retire.

6 | Weapon Proficiency

(Weapon Proficiency box: a track of boxes labeled Type (blank line to fill in), with Specialist and Master milestones marked, and a note "Select Before Hunt.")

When a survivor reaches the first Hunt XP milestone, the Age Story event grants them weapon proficiency. They may select a weapon type and start gaining weapon proficiency levels with this weapon.

A weapon's type is a keyword on the gear card below the name. The following weapons may be selected as a weapon proficiency: axe, bow, club, dagger, fist & tooth, grand weapon, katar, shield, spear, sword, and whip.

Earning Weapon Proficiency Levels

During a showdown, a survivor must wound a monster at least once with their chosen weapon type to become eligible to gain 1 level of weapon proficiency.

During the Aftermath, if they are victorious, eligible survivors gain 1 weapon proficiency level. Fill in the next unfilled box on the survivors record sheet to indicate this.

A survivor cannot gain weapon proficiency if they do not have a weapon type selected (unless stated otherwise). They have not yet dedicated themselves to training and thus, cannot learn.

Changing your Weapon Type

A survivor may change their selected weapon type when they depart for a hunt. If they do, lose all accrued levels of weapon proficiency, including weapon specializations. Erase any filled boxes and start over with the new weapon type.

Weapon Specialist / Mastery

When a survivor reaches the specialization milestone, they gain the benefits of the specialization card for their selected weapon type. Specializations are advanced abilities that can be used with that weapon. They keep these benefits while their milestone remains filled.

When a survivor reaches a weapon mastery, it is permanently added to your settlement as an innovation. The survivor's command of the weapon is so extensive that all current and future survivors of that settlement gain that weapon's specialization ability in addition to their own weapon proficiencies. The master will keep the full benefits of the mastery, so long as the innovation remains in the settlement.

If a new survivor wants to gain the benefits of a mastery that is already an innovation in the settlement, they must gain all 8 weapon proficiency levels.

7 | Courage and Understanding

(Courage and Understanding box: two parallel tracks of boxes. Courage track includes milestones for Bold and See the Truth, with options: Stalwart (can't be knocked down by brain trauma or intimidate); Prepared (add Hunt XP to your investigate roll when determining a straggler); Matchmaker (spend 1 endeavor to trigger Intimacy story event). Understanding track includes milestones for Insight and White Secret, with options: Analyze (look at top AI card and return it to the top of the deck); Explore (add +2 to your investigate roll); Tinker (+1 endeavor when a returning survivor...).)

Courage and understanding will aid survivors throughout the hunt and showdown. Some events require levels of courage or understanding to participate in them.

Courage is a survivor's potentially ill-advised bravery, and understanding is a survivor's insight. Courage and understanding have milestones (indicated by heavy-lined boxes on the record sheet) that trigger story events the first time a survivor reaches that milestone. They can only be triggered once in a lifetime for each survivor.

8 | Fighting Arts

(Fighting Arts box: "Fighting Arts Maximum 3." with a checkbox for "Cannot use Fighting Arts" and blank lines to record fighting arts.)

Fighting arts can be learned from innovations and events. Some fighting arts are maneuvers that can be activated in place of weapon gear to make attacks. Fighting arts can have additional costs or prerequisites to use, but usually have exciting effects.

Each fighting art has a corresponding card in the Fighting Art deck that describes the rules for using it. When a survivor gains a fighting art, record it on the survivor record sheet.

Survivors can have up to 3 fighting arts. Any further fighting arts gained must replace an existing fighting art of your choice. If a survivor would gain a fighting art they already have, nothing happens.

Secret fighting arts are unique maneuvers that cannot be gained randomly. Each secret fighting art has a corresponding card in the Secret Fighting Art deck that describes the rules for using it. These count toward your fighting art maximum of 3.

9 | Disorders

(Disorders box: "Disorders Maximum 3." with blank lines to record disorders.)

The horrors of their existence can cause survivors to develop mental disorders. Survivors can gain a specific or random disorders.

Disorder cards describe the effects of each disorder. If a survivor gains a random disorder, shuffle all disorder cards and draw one. When a survivor gains a particular disorder, draw the corresponding disorder card.

When a survivor gains a disorder, record its rules on the survivor record sheet.

Survivors can have up to 3 disorders. Any further disorders gained must replace an existing disorder of your choice. If a survivor would gain a disorder they already have, nothing happens.

Disorders can be cured on their own, at upgraded settlement locations, as a result of some innovations, and even during some events.

10 | Abilities and Impairments

(Abilities & Impairments box: with a checkbox for "Skip Next Hunt" and blank lines to record abilities and impairments.)

In their lifetime, survivors may gain abilities, severe injuries, ailments and other painful reminders of their journey. Record these in the Abilities & Impairments section of the survivor record sheet. A survivor may have any number of abilities and impairments.

Abilities are unique rules acquired by survivors that can aid them during the hunt and showdown.

Severe Injuries

When survivors' armor and injury levels are exhausted, they accumulate severe injuries from the severe injury table. Severe injuries can be temporary or permanent.

When you suffer permanent injuries, note the name and rules on your record sheet and adjust the survivor's attributes as necessary. If a permanent injury is healed, erase it from your record sheet.

Some injuries require you to skip hunts (fill the Skip Next Hunt box on the survivor record sheet).

Otherwise, severe injuries last until the end of the showdown. Use attribute tokens to mark such injuries.

Bleeding Tokens

Bleeding tokens can be gained from most severe injuries, as well as some events and monster attacks. If a survivor has 5 or more bleeding tokens, they are dead. All tokens are removed at the end of each showdown.

Attribute Modifier Tokens

Attribute modifier tokens are used to indicate temporary changes to attributes. Attribute modifier tokens are double-sided to represent gains and losses for that attribute.

(Example: two token faces are shown, "+1 Strength" and "-1 Strength," illustrating the double-sided design.)

As survivors gain or suffer non-permanent changes to their attributes, place the appropriate token on their record sheet to mark these changes. All tokens are removed at the end of each showdown.

Retirement

In rare instances, survivors retire, rather than perish. When the last Hunt XP box is filled, the survivor retires. A survivor may also be forced into early retirement by some severe injuries.

Retired survivors cannot hunt or participate in showdowns.

When a survivor retires, they still contribute to the total population of the settlement, and may participate in settlement events and endeavors.

Gear Grid

The gear currently in a survivor's gear grid is what the survivor is wearing and carrying.

(Diagram: a 3x3 gear grid, illustrating an example survivor's turn reference card alongside gear cards including a Fist & Tooth card in the bottom-left slot.)

The gear grid has space for 9 gear cards, which can be arranged in any configuration as long as they are faced right-side up. They cannot be rotated.

Gear in gear grids can only be rearranged during the settlement phase.

Fist & Tooth

Fist & Tooth describes a survivor fighting with their bare hands, and is a weapon available to all survivors. Rules for Fist & Tooth are listed on the side of the survivor gear grid and also below.

(Fist & Tooth weapon card: weapon, melee, fist & tooth; speed 2, accuracy 8, strength 0. Special rule — Deadly: +1 luck when you attack with this weapon.)

Duplicate Gear

Except for weapons, a survivor may not have multiple copies of the same gear in their gear grid. A survivor gains the benefits of a weapon's special rules only once, no matter how many copies they have. Additional copies of weapons still contribute affinities.

Gear Keywords

Keywords are used to describe gear's important features. Gear keywords may be referenced by events, monster cards, or other rules.

For example, the Bone Earrings item requires survivors to only have bone gear in their gear grid to gain its bonus. This refers to gear with the bone keyword.

Gear Special Rules

Special rules are listed at the bottom of some gear cards. These rules include special abilities and limitations (e.g., weapons can be Savage or Frail).

The rules of lower-level gear are explained on their cards. However, rules on some higher-level gear are referred to by name only. Full explanations of all gear special rules can be found in the Glossary.

Armor Sets

A completed armor set will bestow the survivor with a bonus listed on an armor set card. Usually, armor that is part of a set all have names that begin with the same word(s).

(Three example armor set cards are shown: Rawhide Armor — "Add [shield icon] to all hit locations."; White Lion Armor — "Add [shield icon] to all hit locations. Your weapons are your claws! Gain +1 speed and +2 strength when attacking with daggers or katars."; Leather Armor — "Add [shield icon] to all hit locations. You know teeth.")

While a survivor is wearing all armor from a single settlement location with the set keyword, they have completed the set and gain the benefits on the corresponding armor set card.

A survivor wearing the White Lion Helm, White Lion Gauntlets, White Lion Coat, White Lion Skirt, and White Lion Boots has completed the White Lion armor set and gains the completed set bonus listed on the White Lion armor set card.

Activation Costs

Some gear require an additional cost from the survivor in order to use them. The most common cost associated with using a gear is spending an activation, but other costs — such as spending survival, or suffering damage — also appear on gear cards.

The Cat Gut Bow is Cumbersome, which requires survivors to spend their movement action in addition to an activation in order to be fired.

Some gear functions differently if survivors are insane, have a certain amount of survival, or meet attribute requirements. These will be noted in the rules descriptions or explained in the Glossary.

Armor Gear, Weapon Gear, and Item Gear

Armor Gear

Armor protects survivors by increasing armor points at hit locations. Armor is worn by placing it in a survivor's gear grid. Only one piece of armor may be worn on each hit location.

The name of the gear.
The gear's keywords. (The armor keyword indicates that this gear is armor.)
Number of armor points gained when worn.
Hit location icon indicates the hit location that gains the armor points.
Special rules for this armor. This includes extra abilities, affinity bonuses and restrictions from wearing the armor.

(Example: Rawhide Boots — armor, rawhide; hit location: legs; armor points 1; special rule: "When you depart, gain +1 survival.")

When you depart, update your current armor points from armor in your gear grid. If armor gear is lost during the hunt or showdown, update your armor points to reflect this loss immediately.

Weapon Gear

Weapons are primarily used to attack monsters.

The name of the gear.
The gear's keywords. (The weapon keyword indicates that this gear is a weapon.)
Indicates spending 1 activation is required to attack with this weapon.
The weapon's speed attribute.
The weapon's accuracy attribute.
The weapon's strength attribute.
The weapon's affinity.
Special rules and abilities of this weapon. Unless otherwise noted, these rules only apply when that weapon is activated.

(Example: King Spear — weapon, melee, spear, heavy, two-handed; activation required; speed 2, accuracy 6+, strength 3; special rule — Reach 2: May attack from 2 squares away.)

Item Gear

Items have effects that can aid survivors in the hunt and showdown. Each has unique rules described in detail on the gear card.

The name of the gear.
The gear's keywords. (The item keyword indicates that this gear is an item.)
The item's affinity.
Special rules for the item. Unless otherwise noted, item rules are always in effect (their benefits are gained just by having the item in the gear grid).
Some item special rules require the survivor to spend activation to trigger special rules (indicated by an activation symbol beside the rule).

(Example: Fecal Salve — item, balm, stinky; special rules: "When you depart, gain +1 survival." and "[activation icon]: Remove priority target token. You are not a threat until you attack.")

Affinities

Some gear cards have red, blue, or green half-squares on the card edge. If a half-square is adjacent to another half-square of the same color, the complete square they form is 1 affinity.

(Example: Lucky Charm — item, jewelry — and Fecal Salve — item, balm, stinky — placed adjacently on the gear grid, their half-squares forming one complete blue affinity square.)

Some gear cards have affinity bonuses that impart special effects on the survivor if the affinity requirements are met.

Affinity requirements are indicated by a number of small colored squares in the gear's special rules. Each colored square represents one affinity that must be in a survivor's gear grid. You must have the affinities the rule specifies to gain the bonus of the gear.

(Example: Lucky Charm's special rule shows two blue squares next to "+1 luck.")

For instance, the +1 luck bonus on the Lucky Charm gear card has a requirement of 2 blue affinities.

(Example gear grid: Screaming Skirt, Hunter Whip, Fecal Salve, and Lucky Charm arranged so that two complete blue affinity squares are formed on the grid.)

The Survivor gains the +1 luck affinity bonus from their Lucky Charm when they have two or more complete blue squares anywhere on their gear grid.

Puzzle Affinities

(Example: Hunter Whip — melee weapon, whip, leather; speed 3, accuracy 6+, strength 3; special rule — "On a Perfect hit, discard 1 mood in play," with a puzzle-piece affinity requirement rather than square affinity boxes.)

In addition, some affinity bonuses can only be gained if the affinities are completed on that specific card (indicated by puzzle pieces instead of boxes). Instead of completing affinities anywhere on the grid, they must complete the specific affinities attached to the edges of that gear card.

Affinity Bonus Limit

An affinity bonus from a piece of gear is only gained once. A survivor with a total of 5 blue affinities will only gain +1 luck from Lucky Charm.

(Example gear grid: Rawhide Headband, Hunter Whip, Cat Eye Circlet, Hunter Whip, Lucky Charm, and Fecal Salve arranged together, illustrating multiple affinity squares on a full grid.)

In addition, you cannot gain a second affinity bonus from a second identical gear.

Lost Gear and Affinity Bonus

If gear forming part of an affinity is lost during the hunt or showdown and no longer completes affinities in a survivor's gear grid, any affinity bonuses relying on these affinities are also lost.

(Full-page illustration: a womb-like, blood-red interior view — three survivors huddled inside a fleshy, cavernous chamber, one raising a lit lantern overhead, facing a glowing red iris-like portal or eye at the chamber's center. This full-bleed illustration serves as a section-divider image, likely opening the Monsters chapter.)

Monsters

Monsters have unique anatomies and behaviors. The bizarre, inscrutable intelligence of monsters is represented in the game by these unique components:

Miniatures that physically represent the monster.
Story events that define a monster's attributes.
Unique AI decks that control the monster's actions.
Hit location decks that describe the parts of monsters that survivors can attack.
Monster resources gained from defeating monsters.
Hunt events that occur while hunting the monster.

Monster Miniatures

Miniatures are included to represent all 7 monsters that players will face. Some monsters have many parts and can be very large (like the Phoenix).

Only the White Lion miniature is needed to begin the game. Players don't need to assemble a monster's miniature until they are ready to fight it.

As you progress through the campaign, take the time to build new monsters as a part of the hobby aspect of Monster.

Monster miniatures are attached to 50 mm bases (White Lion, Screaming Antelope, Butcher, King's Man, The Hand, Watcher) or 100 mm bases (Phoenix).

Showdown Story Events

Monster showdown story events describe essential information about encounters with a monster.

1 | Monster Name

(Example sidebar: "Showdown: White Lion — Quarry." Flavor text: "There once was a beast that wanted to feel how soft its fur was. Since it could not reach its own back, it killed many other creatures and spent time rubbing its paws over them. They say that when the monster finally killed a human, it fell in love with their soft hair and its paws grew into a pair of fine human hands.")

2 | Instinct

Instincts describe what a monster does if it cannot find a target to attack. Each monster has a different instinct. A Screaming Antelope will graze around the board, but a White Lion will sniff to track its prey relentlessly.

(Example: "Instinct: Sniff — The White Lion sniffs the air and ends its turn, until the end of the next round, all survivors are now threats, even if they are knocked down or used an effect that says otherwise. When a level 3+ White Lion performs Sniff, it gains 1 accuracy token.")

This is a diagram of what spaces on the showdown board are the monster's blind spot.

4 | Monster Characteristics & Attributes

Monster's characteristics and attributes are organized by level. Monster attributes include movement, toughness, speed, and damage. Monster characteristics include level, AI deck, special AI cards, and bonus tokens.

Higher-level monsters are more difficult foes. They have more AI and Special AI cards, as well as higher toughness, movement, and speed than lower-level monsters.

(Example White Lion level table: Level 1 — Basic 7, Advanced 3, Legendary –; Mov 6, Tgh 8, Spd –, Dmg – Level 2 — Basic 10, Advanced 5, Legendary –; Mov 7, Tgh 10, Spd +1, Dmg +1; Special AI: Cunning Level 3 — Basic 10, Advanced 9, Legendary 2; Mov 8, Tgh 14, Spd +2, Dmg +2; Special AI: Cunning, Merciless; Tokens: +2 accuracy, +1 luck.)

(Sidebar continues with numbered callouts 5, 6, and 7:)

5 | Terrain & Deployment — 1 Tall Grass Terrain Card (2 Tall Grass Tiles); 2 random terrain cards, set up normally; place the White Lion in the center of the board; place survivors in the blue zone.

6 | Showdown Setup — a legend distinguishing survivors and the monster on the showdown board diagram, with the monster (M) placed centrally and survivors placed in the marked zone.

7 | Aftermath

Victory: +1 Hunt XP; +1 Weapon Proficiency (if eligible); + Rewards.

Defeat: The White Lion greedily consumes the bodies and takes a small shiny prize. Roll 1d10. On a 6+, archive a jewelry gear of your choice. If the survivors don't have any jewelry, nothing happens.

Rewards: The first time the White Lion is defeated, add Catarium to the settlement locations. The group gains the following rewards:

Level	Reward
1	4 basic, 4 white lion resources.
2	4 basic, 6 white lion resources.
3	4 basic, 8 white lion resources, 1 Elder Cat Teeth strange resource.

(Side note: "If the settlement has Saga when they defeat a level 3+ White Lion, roll 1d10. On a result of 4+, they create a tale of the exploits! The survivor that dealt the killing blow may select either permanently +1 accuracy or +1 strength. They may gain this benefit once a lifetime.")

Monster (S) Cards and Attributes

(Detailed callout diagram of a monster level/attribute table, using the White Lion levels 1–3 example above, with lettered callouts A through H:)

A | Monster Level

Monster level determines the difficulty of the encounter and the monster's placement on the hunt board. Higher-level monsters have longer hunts.

B | AI Deck

This lists the number of basic, advanced, and legendary AI cards that comprise a monster's AI deck. Details on building an AI deck are contained in the Showdown Phase section of this book.

C | Movement

Movement is the number of spaces a monster can move.

D | Toughness

Toughness is the monster's resilience. Toughness is the number a wound roll result must meet or exceed to wound a monster.

E | Speed

Speed is added to the speed listed on an attack profile to calculate the total speed of a monster's attack.

If a monster has no speed listed in this section, nothing is added to the speed of its attack profiles.

F | Damage

The monster's damage attribute is only added to the damage listed on an attack profile to calculate the total damage caused by a monster's attack.

Monster damage does not affect damage listed outside of attack profiles (e.g., damage from Grab or brain damage).

G / S | AI Cards and Additional Rules

This section describes any S (special) AI cards that start in play at the beginning of the showdown.

S AI cards can change the monster's behavior, attributes, or setup rules.

Any other modifications specific to a monster's level (such as extra attribute tokens or AI cards) are also included in this section. The showdown begins with these additions in play.

H | Monster Tokens

Monsters have two unique attributes tokens (toughness, damage) corresponding to these unique monster attributes. Negative attribute tokens cannot reduce a monster's damage, toughness, movement, or speed attributes below 1.

(Example tokens shown: "+1 Damage" and "+1 Toughness.")

During the showdown, use attribute tokens to indicate positive or negative changes to a monster's movement, toughness, speed, damage, accuracy, evasion, and luck. Attribute modifier tokens are double-sided to show gains and losses for that attribute.

As the monster gains or suffers changes to its attributes, place the appropriate token on the monster control panel to mark these changes.

Monsters and survivors share the following attributes and tokens: movement, speed, accuracy, evasion, and luck. With the exception of luck, they affect monsters in the same way as survivors.

Luck Tokens

Every positive monster luck token reduces the range of wound roll results considered critical. Normally, the range of critical wounds is only lantern 10s. Unless the attackers have positive luck modifiers to counteract it, a critical wound against a monster with 1 or more luck tokens is impossible. Every negative monster luck token increases the attackers' critical wound range by 1.

The rule of lantern 10 always applies. Even if a monster's high luck makes critically wounding impossible, a wound roll of a lantern 10 will still cause a wound.

5 | Hunt Board Diagram

(Diagram: a hunt board strip of spaces marked E (Event), with monster position markers 1, 2, and 3 along the strip.)

Some monsters, like the White Lion, Screaming Antelope, and Phoenix, can be hunted.

These monster's story events have hunt board diagrams that illustrate how to set up a hunt for that monster. Hunting a monster is fully-detailed in the Hunt Phase section.

6 | Showdown Setup

(Diagram: a showdown board grid with a legend distinguishing Survivors (blue squares) and Monster (red square), showing the White Lion (M) placed centrally and survivors arranged around it in a diamond-shaped zone.)

Terrain & Deployment

1 Tall Grass Terrain Card (2 Tall Grass Tiles).
2 random terrain cards, set up normally.
Place the White Lion in the center of the board.
Place survivors in the blue zone.

This section describes what terrain to set up on the showdown board, and where to place the survivors and monster. Terrain and setting up the showdown board are fully-detailed in the Showdown Phase and Terrain sections, respectively.

7 | Aftermath

The Aftermath section of a showdown event describes what follows the end of the showdown, including victory and defeat rules.

Victory Rules

Victory rules describe what happens when the survivors kill a monster, including what resources and bonuses are gained if the survivors prevail. These rules are broken down for each level of a monster.

Defeat rules

Defeat rules describe what happens when the survivors are defeated by the monster. Follow these rules if all survivors are killed in the showdown or run away.

Rewards

This section describes any specific rewards gained from defeating the monster for each monster level.

Basic Action / Reference Cards

Double-sided Basic Action / Reference cards are included in the game as a small, portable overview of monster characteristics that are fully described on the monster's showdown story event. They serve as a compact reminder of frequently-used monster information to be used for each showdown.

A Monster's basic action is detailed on its Basic Action card. A basic action consists of a target action and an attack action with an attack profile.

Monsters will perform a basic action on some AI cards, in some reactions, or if there are no AI cards left to be drawn from the AI deck. Performing a basic action does not count as an AI card being drawn.

A monster may perform its basic action with a specific target listed. For example, the White Lion's Trap! hit location card directs the monster to perform a basic action targeting the attacker. In this case, instead of choosing a target, target the attacker and use the attack profile on the basic action to attack.

(Example Basic Action / Reference card, Side A, "Basic Action": Pick Target — closest survivor, in field of view; no target: sniff. Move & Attack Target — Speed 2, Accuracy 2+, Damage 1.

Side B, "White Lion": First Story Lvl. 1; Custom Deck List; Mov 6, Tgh 6, Spd –, Dmg –. Level 1 — Basic 7, Advanced 3, Legendary –; Mov 6, Tgh 8, Spd –, Dmg –. Level 2 — Basic 10, Advanced 5, Legendary –; Mov 7, Tgh 10, Spd +1, Dmg +1; Special AI: Cunning. Level 3 — Basic 10, Advanced 9, Legendary 2; Mov 8, Tgh 14, Spd +2, Dmg +2; Special AI: Cunning, Merciless. Tokens: +2 accuracy, +1 luck. Instinct: Sniff — The White Lion sniffs and ends its turn. Until the end of the next round, all survivors are now threats, despite any effects that say otherwise. When a Level 3+ White Lion performs Sniff, it gains +1 accuracy token.)

Monster AI

While a monster's showdown story event describes common traits of a monster, the AI system is used to create unique monster encounters.

The recipes for AI decks for each monster level are listed on the monster's story event and make every showdown different from the last.

Most AI cards are unique, and describe a myriad of strange and terrifying behaviors. However, every AI card has some, if not all, of the following characteristics:

AI Anatomy

AI cards are made up of actions, flows, and alerts. Some cards have persistent injuries and definitions.

1 | Crest

The icon-sized version of a monster's crest designates which AI deck the card belongs to.

2 | Name

The name of the AI card.

3 | Card Level

The most common card levels are Basic, Advanced, Legendary, and Special (marked on the top right of the card as B, A, L, S).

4 | AI Type

(Example cards shown: Vanish — Duration; Ground Fighting — Mood; Cunning — Trait.)

There are 4 types of AI cards: Moods, Traits, Durations, and Normal. A card is Normal unless another type is listed. Chomp is a Normal AI card. AI card types are described in the Showdown Phase section.

5 | Pick Target

An action that determines a monster's target. Some Pick Target lists are followed or replaced by diagrams that specify a zone of the board to check within for targets.

(Example, on the "Chomp" AI card: Pick Target — closest threat, facing, in range; closest threat, in field of view; no target: sniff.)

No Target

A no target list item indicates what action to perform if no target is found. This is most often a monster's instinct action. When a monster cannot find a target, subsequent actions on the card are not performed.

6 | Flows

A flow is represented by a bar with an arrow. An action following a flow is performed after the action above it.

Flows represent a subtle hesitation or opening in combat that survivors may take advantage of by spending survival.

Alerts

(Diagram: a bar with an alert symbol.)

Alerts are represented by a bar with an alert symbol. Actions following an alert contain important conditional information that must be considered to determine if the action is performed. Continue to perform any further actions on the AI card unless stated otherwise. Survival may not be spent during an alert.

7 | Move & Attack Target Action

A Move & Attack Target attack action includes any monster movement followed by an attack profile. This most often directly follows a flow after a Pick Target action, granting a survivor a chance to act before it is performed.

(Example, on the "Chomp" AI card: Move & Attack Target — Speed 1, Accuracy 2+, Damage 1, Trigger: After Hit.)

8 (Attack profile values: Speed, Accuracy, Damage, Trigger columns on the Move & Attack Target action.)

9 (Example alert: "Head Hunter: Always hits the target's head location.")

10 (Example persistent injury text on the Chomp card: "No Jaw: The White Lion vomits blood all over itself. Any adjacent survivors gain +1 insanity.")

6 | Attack Profile

The attack profile is the part of an attack action that lists the speed, accuracy, and damage of an attack, as well a Trigger.

A Trigger describes when to apply any additional effects listed after the attack profile. Attack effects change how damage is applied, or add follow-up consequences to a successful attack.

9 | Attack Effects

Rules for attack effects are contained in a box below the attack profile, and applied when the trigger occurs.

10 | Persistent Injury Actions

Persistent injuries are conditional actions that replace the normal rules of an AI card. Persistent injury actions on AI cards are only performed when the monster is suffering from its corresponding persistent injury. When a persistent injury action is performed, any other actions on the card are ignored.

Intimidate Actions

Intimidate actions hurt a survivor's mental well-being. Intimidate actions most often cause brain damage but can have further detrimental effects.

Definitions

(Example definition box: "Grab: Place target knocked down in front of the monster. Target suffers 1 damage per monster level.")

Definitions are included on AI cards in gray corners, they explain terms in bold referenced elsewhere on the AI card. Definitions are not actions and are not performed.

Hit Locations

Combat is chaos. Flailing, thrashing blows rain down from both sides. A monster's complex anatomy, its reactions to being attacked, and the unpredictable nature of battle are represented by the hit location deck.

Each monster has a unique hit location deck composed of hit location cards. Hit location cards share the following characteristics:

(Example hit location card: "Giant Tongue" — art of the Screaming Antelope; -2 toughness to wound this location; Wound: "Blood and spittle erupt from the Screaming Antelope's wounded under-maw. If the wound roll result is even, suffer 1 brain damage. If the would roll result is odd, gain 1 insanity."; Critical Wound: "Gain 1 Screaming Antelope resource.")

1 | Name

The name of the hit location on the monster.

2 | Card Art

The card art designates which hit location deck the card belongs to.

3 | Hit Location Types

(Example hit location type cards: Clever Ploy — Trap! "Reshuffle Hit Location Deck"; Glorious Mane — Impervious; Eye — First Strike ("When you order hit locations, this hit location must be first."); Giant Tongue — Super-Dense ("If the attacker hits this location with a frail weapon, it is damaged. Archive the weapon at the end of this attack."); flavor text: "The Screaming Antelope's massive eyes...")

Hit location cards can be: First Strike, Impervious, Super-Dense, Trap, and Normal cards. A card is Normal unless another type is listed. Giant Tongue is a normal hit location card. Hit location type effects are detailed in the Showdown Phase section.

4 | Hit Location Special Rules

Some hit locations have special rules. For example, the Screaming Antelope's Giant Tongue is easier to wound because it has -2 toughness.

5 | Wound (reactions and critical wound rules; see card example above)

6 | Reactions

Sometimes monsters react to being hit. Reactions on hit location cards are represented by a black diamond with an R. A reaction occurs after rolling to wound the hit location it is found on. The three types of reactions are wound, failure, and reflex.

Critical Wounds

Critical wounds are represented by a black diamond with a lantern symbol, followed by rules that specify what happens when a monster is critically wounded at that location. A hit location can only be critically wounded if it has this symbol. Critical wounds are not reactions. When a critical wound occurs, all reactions on that hit location card are canceled.

Persistent Injuries

(Example persistent injury card: "Beast's Maw" — Failure: "The monster roars triumphantly. Roll 1d10. On a 4+, attacker suffers 1 brain damage per monster level and is knocked down." Critical Wound: "The blow destroys the White Lion's jaw." Persistent Injury - No Jaw: "Affects some AI cards. Roll 1d10. On a result of 5+ the White Lion's jaw flies off its face! The attacker gains +1 courage and +1 survival." Footer: "Persistent Injury | Keep in Play.")

When a monster suffers a critical wound on a hit location with a persistent injury, the hit location card is put in play instead of being discarded. Some persistent injuries modify a monster's overall behavior, while others only affect specific AI cards.

For example, if the monster has the No Jaw persistent injury when it draws Chomp, it performs the No Jaw persistent injury action instead of any other actions on the card.

Monster Hunt Events

(Example hunt event card: "Aromatic Breeze" — white lion hunt event — "The hungry lion sniffs the survivors' musk on the wind. Move the White Lion 1 space toward the survivors on the hunt board. If it moves into the survivors' space, the White Lion ambushes the survivors. If the White Lion ambushes survivors, they skip their first turn." Footer: "Roll random hunt event.")

Monster hunt event cards are events that are only encountered when hunting a particular type of monster. They describe specific pitfalls and wonders that occur while tracking this monster.

Each hunt-able monster has their own set of hunt event cards. They are used with the hunt board to hunt a quarry.

Monster Resources

(Example monster resource cards: White Fur — hide; Lion Claw — bone, "A razor-sharp, retractable claw."; Eye of Cat — organ, consumable, "...ectly preserved eye.")

Monster resource cards are resources that are only gained from fighting that type of monster. There are separate decks of monster resource cards for all hunt-able monsters (White Lion, Screaming Antelope, Phoenix).

Each monster resource has a resource type. For instance, Lion Claw is a bone type resource.

Monster resources can be used and spent as their resource type or as their specific resource name. Some monster resources will have additional rules on the bottom of their cards.

Life Trait

(Example trait card: "Life" — S, Trait. Art of a heart-shaped ornament. Footer note: "Use d10's to indicate the monster's current life.")

The Life card is a unique trait card that is used for encounters with some monsters and gameplay variants. It represents a monster's life in place of its AI deck. A pair of d10's should be placed in the marked spaces using the dice faces to represent a numerical value.

Monsters with Life

When a monster has the S Life listed in its monster characteristics it will be followed by a number. This is the number of wounds the Life trait starts with. Instead of removing wounds by removing AI cards to the wound stack, wound the monster by reducing the number on the Life trait. When the number on Life is reduced to 0 the monster is dead. One consequence of Life is that a monster does not lose AI cards and is always fighting with its full deck!

Rules that trigger "when the monster is wounded" still function normally. For instance, if the Hand had the Life trait, wounding the monster would still add tokens to Impossible Eyes.

When a monster with Life heals, if the monster's Life number is less than its starting life, increase the number on Life for each wound healed by 1.

If any rules would give the monster the Life trait multiple times, combine the listed amounts to find the Life trait's starting number.

The Great Golden Cat from the Legendary Monsters Story Event, has S Life 15 listed under its Characteristics. This means the monster starts with 15 wounds. Place 1d10 on Life with the 1 face showing to represent the 10's place and 1d10 with the 5 face showing to represent the ones place. The resulting number showing should be 15.

The Great Golden Cat has 6 AI cards and it will not lose any of them when its wounded. Instead, reduce the number showing on Life by 1 each time the Great Golden Cat is wounded.

Gameplay Variants

In this rulebook, the 5-6 Player variant uses the Life trait.

In order to balance the encounter with additional survivors, monsters will gain the Life trait in addition to normal wounds tracked by their AI decks. To begin moving AI cards to the wound stack, the survivors must first reduce a monster's Life trait to 0.

Proxy Cards

(Illustration: four proxy cards numbered 1 through 4, each depicting a stylized figure.)

There are 8 proxy cards included with the game, two of each number. These cards can be used to replace cards you've lost or when a gaming group decides to customize their experience.

For some ideas on customizing your game experience refer to the Gameplay Variants section.

Resources

Survivors collect resources to develop their settlements and craft gear. There are 4 kinds of resources: Basic, Monster, Strange, and Vermin.

All resources have shared types. Resource types include: bone, hide, organ, scrap, herb, vermin, and consumable. Some costs are listed by type (e.g., 3 bone and 2 organ) and any resource of that type may be spent. For instance, a Lion Claw resource may be spent as bone.

However, some costs list specific resources by name. No substitutions may occur in these cases.

If a recipe has "resource" listed as a cost, then any resource card can be used.

When a resource is spent, archive the corresponding card or remove its entry from the settlement's storage.

(Example basic resource cards: Monster Hide — hide, "The hide..."; Monster Bone — bone, "A bone suitable for crafting.")

Basic Resources

There are 21 basic resources. Survivors earn them from events and defeating monsters.

Monster Resources

(Example: Lion Claw — bone; Eye of Cat — organ, consumable, "A razor sharp..."/"A perfectly preserved eye.")

Monster resource cards are only gained from fighting that type of monster. There are separate decks for all huntable monsters (White Lion, Screaming Antelope, and Phoenix).

Strange Resources

(Example: Legendary Horns — horn; Fresh Acanthus — herb, "Archive this to fully heal 1 hit location, including it's light and heavy injuries.")

Strange resource cards are resources that are only gained in specific circumstances. These are unique and difficult to come by.

Strange resources can be extremely rare monster parts, refined metals, and useful herbs. Gain strange resources as directed by events in the game.

Strange monster resources are not considered part of a monster's pool of resource cards.

Vermin Resources

(Example: Hissing Cockroach — vermin, consumable; Cyclops Fly — vermin, consumable.)

The fauna of Kingdom Death has a variety of small, bizarre species. These are represented by vermin resource cards.

They can be found in Bug Patches during showdowns and sometimes found as a result of events.

Vermin cards have rules that describe how each vermin can be used. Vermin can also be cooked using the Cooking Innovation to produce excellent results!

Survivors Gaining Resources

When a survivor gains a resource, draw a card from the appropriate resource deck and place it next to their gear grid in their play area. The survivor is now carrying this resource. This has no effect on the survivor's ability to fight or hunt.

Any resources a survivor gains during the hunt and showdown are placed beside the survivor's gear grid. Survivors may spend these resources or activate a resource's rules at any time during the hunt.

If resources are gained during the Settlement Phase, place them in the play area.

Groups Gaining Resources

When a monster is defeated, the players collect the rewards listed on that monster's story event. All living survivors need to decide how to divide them.

Sharing and spending resources will greatly affect the outcomes of your campaign. Some groups may divide resources fairly, then trade them. Others may pool resources together and spend them as a group.

Resource Limit

When you are directed to gain a resource and that specific card is not currently in the resource deck, you do not gain it, nor do you add it to the settlement storage. You gain nothing.

This situation can occur when an event or effect of a card lists a specifc resource to gain, and that resource is currently being carried by a survivor.

Resources and Death

When a survivor dies or is lost during the hunt phase, another survivor simply takes the resources they were carrying.

When a survivor dies during the showdown, any resources they were carrying are regained by the group at the end of the showdown if the survivors are victorious.

When all the survivors die, all of the resources they were carrying are lost.

Resources with Special Rules

Some resources have special rules. They can be performed at any time and during any phase by the survivor holding the resource. Some resources have rules that are triggered when they are gained and should be performed then.

A resource must be removed from settlement storage to use its special rules. A survivor may only do this during the Develop step of the settlement phase.

Trading Resources

Sometimes a survivor will gain a resource with special rules that may greatly benefit another survivor.

During the Hunt Phase, survivors may give each other resources at the start of any hunt turn before an event is revealed.

During the Showdown Phase, survivors may give each other resources anytime during their act if they are adjacent. A survivor can pass a resource as they are moving by without ending their movement.

Survivors may freely trade resources during the Settlement Phase.

When a survivor receives a resource from another survivor, it is not considered gained.

Resources Stay in the Settlement

Once resources are brought to the settlement, they may not be taken on future hunts and showdowns. Any resources taken from the settlement's storage must be returned during the Record & Archive Resources step of the Settlement Phase.

(Illustration: a somber grayscale scene of survivors at a settlement, one figure tending a glowing hearth fire beneath a great blackened, leafless tree hung with remains, while another sits nearby amid skulls and refuse.)

(Full-page illustration: a weathered, carved stone face with closed eyes, overgrown with stylized acanthus vines, flanked by fragments of ornamented columns — a section-divider image preceding the Terrain section.)

Terrain

The landscape of Kingdom Death is strewn with odd features and relics that may prove advantageous to survivors fighting for their lives.

Terrain Tiles

Terrain tiles are placed on spaces on the showdown board before the battle begins. Unless otherwise stated, survivors may move through spaces with terrain tiles on them as if they were unoccupied spaces. Terrain tiles may not be placed on top of one another. Ignore any rules or effects that instruct you to place more terrain tiles than are available in the core game.

The Terrain & Deployment section of each monster's showdown story event specifies what terrain to use for that showdown. The Showdown Phase section details showdown terrain setup.

Terrain Cards

Terrain cards correspond with their matching tiles, and contain rules for placing and interacting with them. They are placed on the side of the showdown board so they can be easily referenced.

(Example terrain card: "2 Acanthus Plants" — an image of the terrain tile; special rules: "[activation icon]: Roll 1d10 if carrying a sickle, instead roll 2d10 and add the results. 1-7: Something bites your buttocks! 1 arm damage. Archive this terrain. 8-14: Find nothing. Archive this terrain. 15-17: Find something tasty and consume it. If you do, gain 1 survival. Archive this terrain. 18+: Gain 1 Fresh Acanthus strange resource. Archive this terrain." Terrain setup rule: "Set up at least 3 spaces away from any other destructible terrain.")

An image of the terrain tile.
Terrain Name and the number of tiles the card generates for setup. If no number is indicated, then only 1 tile should be set up.
Special Rules
Terrain setup rules are used if there are no specific setup rules listed in the Terrain & Deployment section of the monster's showdown story event.

Survivors and Terrain

Terrain cards with an activation icon indicate the corresponding terrain can be activated. Survivors adjacent to or on spaces occupied by this kind of terrain may spend activation to use the rules listed on the terrain card.

(Example, Tall Grass terrain card: "[activation icon]: If you are standing on a space occupied by Tall Grass, you disappear into it. If you have the priority target token, remove it. You are not a threat until you attack or move out of a space occupied by Tall Grass.")

Terrain cards can have persistent rules that affect survivors during the showdown. Including:

Obstacle: This blocks survivor and monster field of view. It interrupts ranged weapon attacks and monster targeting.

To check if the field of view is blocked, draw an imaginary line from the center of the miniature's base to the center of the intended target's base. If the line comes in contact with a space occupied by an obstacle, then the field of view is blocked, and the target is not in the field of view.

(Diagram: a showdown board section showing a survivor's field of view blocked by a Toppled Pillar terrain tile; caption: "The survivor's field of view is blocked by the Toppled Pillar. They cannot attack with ranged weapons.")

(Diagram: a showdown board section showing lines of sight from a monster (Z marker) blocked by a Toppled Pillar, with red lines indicating blocked spaces and a blind spot; caption: "The monster's field of view is blocked by the Toppled Pillar. The red spaces and the blind spot are not in field of view.")

Impassable: Impassable terrain occupies all spaces that it covers. Survivors cannot move through spaces occupied by impassable terrain. If a survivor would move (voluntarily or involuntarily) into a space occupied by impassable terrain, they instead collide with the terrain and end their movement.

If a monster rule (like Grab) would place a survivor onto impassable terrain, they instead collide with the terrain and are moved to the nearest free space adjacent to the terrain. A complete explanation of collision is found in the Showdown Section.

Destructible: When a survivor collides with destructible terrain, archive the terrain tile. The survivor suffers 1 damage to a random hit location as a result of collision.

Monsters and Terrain

Unless stated otherwise on the terrain card, monsters ignore terrain tiles on the showdown board. For example, terrain with the Obstacle rule block a monster's line of sight, and when a monster passes over Destructible terrain, it is archived.

(Full-page illustration, rendered in gold and violet tones: a hooded, scythe-bearing figure crouches over a bandaged, wounded survivor lying on the ground, both carrying lit lanterns, amid a churning, cloud-like landscape — a section-divider image preceding the Hunt Phase.)

Hunt Phase

The Hunt Phase

During the Hunt Phase, players will:

Choose a quarry
Set up the hunt board
Hunt the quarry along the hunt board until a showdown begins or the hunt fails.

Table Setup

Place the hunt board (the opposite side of the settlement board) on the table. Place the gear grids, and record sheets of the survivors that compose the hunt team on the table.

Choose Your Quarry

Before departing on a hunt, choose a quarry from the list of available monsters on the Quarry List of your settlement record sheet.

Some monsters cannot be hunted, and only appear as a result of story events or nemesis encounters on the timeline (i.e., the Butcher, King's Man, or The Hand).

If this is a nemesis encounter, skip the hunt phase and move directly to the showdown.

Choose the Monster Level

Decide the level of the monster (usually 1, 2, or 3). The higher the level, the more difficult the monster will be to hunt and defeat.

Set Up the Hunt

The hunt is the survivors' journey to find their quarry. Survivors travel along the hunt board, facing perils along the way.

(Diagram: a fully laid-out hunt board example, with gear grids and record sheets of two departing survivors placed at either end, and the hunt board itself showing 13 spaces including event card placeholders and the monster's miniature.)

Hunt Board

The hunt board has 13 spaces, including a Start space, an Overwhelming Darkness space, and a Starvation space.

Hunt Event Cards

(Example hunt event card backs shown: a basic hunt event card marked "H," and a monster hunt event card bearing the White Lion crest.)

There are two types of hunt event cards, basic hunt event cards and monster hunt event cards.

Basic hunt event cards describe events survivors may encounter out in the darkness.

Monster hunt event cards describe events that occur while tracking a specific monster.

Hunt Board Setup

Each monster's story event has a diagram of the hunt board showing where to place monster hunt events and the monster miniature.

Shuffle the monster's hunt event cards. Place one monster hunt event card from the deck facedown on all the spaces indicated with an "E" on the hunt board diagram.
Place one basic hunt event card in every open space on the hunt board except those occupied by a monster hunt event card, the Start space, Overwhelming Darkness, and Starvation.
Place any hunt event cards triggered by gear in your gear grid (i.e., sickles and pickaxes).
Place the monster's miniature on the hunt board, according to its level, in the space indicated on the hunt board diagram.
Place the departing survivor miniatures on the Start space of the hunt board.

Mineral Gathering and Herb Gathering

Mineral Gathering and Herb Gathering are story events that may be triggered during the hunt by adding their unique hunt event cards to the hunt board.

(Example cards: Herb Gathering — special hunt event — "The survivors consume herbs and berries. All survivors gain +1 survival." Special rule box: "Herb Gathering." Mineral Gathering — special hunt event — art of a figure with a pickaxe. Special rule box: "Mineral Gathering.")

If survivors have the appropriate tools in their gear grid, they can add the Mineral Gathering and/or Herb Gathering hunt event cards to any space (except Start, Overwhelming Darkness, and Starvation) on the hunt board before traversing it.

Each event may only be added to the hunt board once per hunt phase, on top of any existing event cards.

Hunt Your Quarry

Survivors take turns as the event revealer. The event revealer draws the top event card in the survivors' current space, reads it aloud to the other players, and follows the rules on the card.

When an event is complete, the card is archived and the next survivor becomes the event revealer.

If no cards remain in the survivors' space, the survivors move one space toward the monster and the event revealer draws the top event card in the new space and follows the rules on the card.

Hunt event cards are resolved one at a time, from top to bottom. Unless compelled to move by an event, the survivors must resolve all hunt events in their currently-occupied space before moving.

The monster does not move unless an event specifies otherwise.

If there are no hunt event cards on a hunt board space when the survivors move into the space, the event revealer makes 1 roll on the hunt event table before the survivors can move to the next hunt board space unless specifically directed to skip spaces.

During each hunt, the first time the survivors land on the Overwhelming Darkness space, trigger the Overwhelming Darkness story event instead of rolling on the hunt event table.

Find the Quarry

If the survivors move into the same space as the monster on their hunt turn, the hunt phase is over, and the showdown phase begins immediately. Do not resolve any hunt events on the hunt board space occupied by the monster.

Hunt Event Cards

Basic hunt event cards are identical and direct the event revealer to roll on the hunt event table to determine what happens next.

The hunt event table lists 100 possible events the survivors may encounter. The event revealer rolls "1d100" to randomly determine the event.

To roll 1d100, take 2d10 and nominate one die to be tens and one to be ones. Roll them together for a result between 1 and 100.

(Example card, "Random Event" — basic hunt event — illustration of two dice being rolled from a hand, labeled "tens" and "ones.")

For example, if the tens die result is "3" and the ones die result is "5," the event number is "35." Turn to hunt event 35 in the hunt event table, read it aloud, and resolve it.

Hunt Events

Often, hunt events will require players to roll on a table to determine the outcome of an event. Each event will specify who should roll (event revealer, random survivor, or survivors meeting a certain criteria). If no survivor is specified, the event revealer rolls.

The event revealer is also responsible for making any randomized choices (picking random survivors, gear, etc). The event revealer can use dice, names in a hat, or whatever they prefer.

Some events will have requirements for survivors to participate. For instance, some events require survivors to have high levels of courage or understanding to participate in the event.

Reaching Overwhelming Darkness

(Example card: "Overwhelming Darkness" — dark, ominous face illustration.)

The first time in a hunt the survivors move into the Overwhelming Darkness space, they trigger the Overwhelming Darkness story event.

The survivors cannot skip Overwhelming Darkness. If they move through the space for any reason, instead, stop hunt board movement and resolve Overwhelming Darkness (before any other events or effects on this space). Resolve any other events on this space then continue to the next space on the hunt board.

If for some reason, the survivors move into or through Overwhelming Darkness more than once in a single hunt phase, treat it as a blank space.

Gaining Gear on the Hunt

If a survivor gains gear during the hunt phase, they may add it to their grid immediately. If their gear grid is full, they must either archive the acquired gear (unless it is cursed) or another piece of gear from the gear grid to make room for the new gear. A gear grid may not be rearranged when this occurs, and the item cannot be added to another survivor's gear grid.

Event Damage

Survivors may suffer damage during the hunt. This is event damage and is non-lethal. Event damage will still reduce armor points and insanity, cause light and heavy injuries, but will not cause severe injuries or brain trauma. Any damage accrued on the hunt persists into the showdown phase.

Any tokens gained on the hunt remain through the aftermath of the following showdown or the beginning of the next settlement phase, whichever comes first.

Severe Injuries and Brain Trauma

In special cases, survivors may suffer severe injuries or brain traumas during the hunt. These cases will be clearly indicated on an event.

Apply any attribute modifiers, impairments, and restrictions from injuries and brain traumas suffered on the hunt to the showdown that follows it (including bleeding tokens). If you must skip the next hunt as a result of an injury, this refers to the next hunt, not the remainder of the current one.

Retire on the Hunt

If a survivor retires during the hunt, they participate in the coming showdown and return to the settlement with any victorious survivors. When they return, they retire, never to hunt again.

Death on the Hunt

If survivors perish during the hunt phase, all of their gear (except any gear with the irreplaceable rule) returns to the settlement storage unless the event states otherwise. It may not be used by the remaining survivors on the hunt.

Ambush

If the monster moves into the survivors' hunt board space, the survivors are ambushed. End any current hunt events and start the showdown immediately,

If the survivors are ambushed by the monster, they must skip their first turn. In most cases, this means that the monster will take two turns.

Some hunt events allow the survivors to ambush the monster. When the monster is ambushed, survivors may choose to go first in the showdown. Do not follow the setup rules for terrain on the monster's story event. Instead, place the listed showdown terrain, the monster, and survivors on the showdown board as the players decide (setup rules on terrain cards must still be followed).

Compulsory Movement

Some hunt events or effects may move the survivors. When this happens, move the group the indicated number spaces forwards or backwards. The survivors cannot move past the Start or Starvation spaces.

The Hunt Fails

If the survivors perish on the hunt, reach the end of the hunt board without a showdown, or the monster moves off of the hunt board, the Hunt Phase ends and the quarry is lost.

Apply the rules on the Starvation space of the hunt board. The lantern year is over, and a new settlement phase begins.

Run Away

If the survivors' settlement has innovated Pictographs, they may trigger the Run Away story event at any time during the hunt. Running frantically for home rarely has good outcomes, but may be an improvement on looming death.

In this case, each escaping survivor must trigger the story event individually. Turn to the Run Away story event and follow the rules for attempting escape.

(Full-page illustration: survivors kneel and stand amid billowing red terrain and a field of pale, snout-like stones, flanked by towering totem-like pillars carved with faces and a horned, fur-cloaked figure wielding a great blade; a translucent, ghostly lion-like monster looms overhead in the misty background — a section-divider image preceding the Showdown Phase.)

Showdown Phase

The showdown is the battle between a monster and the survivors. The showdown ends only when the monster or the survivors are defeated.

During the showdown phase, you will:

Create a monster
Set up the showdown board
Place terrain, monster, and survivors
Battle the monster
Confront the aftermath of the battle, collecting your rewards or facing your destruction.

Keep the monster showdown story event page open on the table for reference during the showdown. This page contains information about:

Monster attributes
Showdown board terrain setup
Setting up monster and survivor miniatures
Monster instinct rules

Table Setup

Place the showdown board, monster control panel, and the gear grids and record sheets of the survivors participating in the showdown on the table.

(Illustration: an example table setup with the showdown board, gear grids, and record sheets arranged, and a monster control panel showing a dimly lit board.)

Create a Monster

To create a monster, you will need:

Monster AI deck
Monster (S) cards and any attributes tokens
Monster hit location deck
Basic resource deck
Monster resource deck
Double-sided Basic Action / Reference Card

Creating the AI Deck

A monster's AI deck is assembled from its pool of unique AI cards. AI deck construction is different for each monster and also varies by the monster level.

Consult the monster attribute section on the monster's showdown story event in the row corresponding to the monster's level. This will indicate the number of basic (B), advanced (A), and legendary (L) cards to include.

To build the deck, set aside the monster's (S) AI cards. Separate the monster's Basic, Advanced, and Legendary AI cards into stacks and shuffle each stack.

Draw the indicated number of each card type from each stack without looking at them.

Combine the resulting cards and shuffle them to create the AI deck. Place the AI deck face down on the monster control panel.

To build a Level 3 Screaming Antelope, shuffle its Basic, Advanced, and Legendary AI cards into three separate stacks. Draw 13 Basic, 7 Advanced, and 2 Legendary cards. Combine them and shuffle to create the AI deck.

Monster (S) Cards and Attributes

Each monster showdown story event lists any (S) cards and further modifiers that start in play. These are not added to the AI deck. Place these face up on the monster control panel and apply their rules for the duration of the showdown.

Basic Action / Reference Card

Place the double-sided Basic Action / Reference card on the monster control panel.

Creating the Hit Location Deck

Take all hit location cards for the monster. Shuffle the cards to form the monster hit location deck and place them face down on the monster control panel.

Resource Decks

Take the basic resource deck and shuffle it. Place it face down next to the monster control panel.

If the monster has its own monster resource cards, shuffle those and place them face down next to the monster control panel.

Showdown Board Setup

This section details the rules for placing terrain, monster miniatures, and survivor miniatures on the showdown board.

Terrain

Terrain changes the makeup of the showdown board. Survivors and monsters can interact with terrain tiles, and use them to avoid harm. The complete rules for interacting with terrain are found in the Terrain Section.

Terrain & Deployment

Each monster's showdown story event has a Terrain and Deployment section. It lists specific and random terrain to place on the showdown board.

Note the quantity of terrain tiles each terrain card instructs you to place, as many terrain cards add more than one terrain tile to the showdown board.

First, use any specifically-listed terrain cards to set up their corresponding terrain tiles according to the Showdown Setup diagram found on the story event. If the terrain tiles are not on the diagram, follow the setup rules on the bottom of each card. Set aside these terrain cards.

Next, add random terrain by shuffling the terrain deck and drawing the number of cards specified by the story event. Set up their corresponding terrain tiles, one card at a time, according to the rules on the bottom of each card.

Place the monster and survivors on the showdown board according to the Showdown Setup diagram. Once the terrain, the monster, and the survivors are on the showdown board, the showdown begins.

Additional Terrain

Some effects add extra terrain to the showdown board. Unless directed otherwise, always follow the setup rules on the bottom of the card.

The Showdown Round

The showdown proceeds in rounds, consisting of the monster turn followed by the survivors' turn. Rounds will continue until the monster is dead or all the survivors are dead.

Unless otherwise stated, monsters always go first.

Each round, a new player takes the monster controller tile and is responsible for controlling the monster that turn. The monster controller tile moves clockwise at the start of every round.

Monster Controller Bonus

When a monster controller's survivor is selected as the monster's target, this foolhardy action earns that player's survivor +1 insanity.

(Sidebar icon and note: If you control more than one survivor, make sure to nominate a different survivor each time you take the monster controller tile, cycling through all possible survivors.)

Monster Turn

A monster's turn proceeds in the following order:

Start Turn
Draw AI
End Turn

Start Turn

Some AI cards and persistent injuries have rules that are performed at the start of the monster's turn. Make sure to perform them before drawing an AI card. If there are multiple instances, the Monster Controller decides the order to perform them.

Draw AI

The Monster Controller draws the top AI card on the monster's AI deck and plays it. If there are no cards in the AI deck, shuffle the discard pile, create a new AI deck, and draw the top card.

If the monster does not have any cards in its AI deck or its AI discard pile, it will perform its Basic Action (listed on the monster's Basic Action / Reference Card) instead of drawing AI cards until it is defeated.

End Turn

Some AI cards and persistent injuries have rules that are performed at the end of the monster's turn. If there are multiple instances, the Monster Controller decides the order to perform them. Once these are resolved, the monster's turn comes to an end and the round continues.

Playing AI Cards

After drawing an AI card, the monster controller should read the card in its entirety, then perform all the actions on the card. AI cards consist of actions that are divided by flows and alerts.

(Example AI card, "Combo Claw" — B — Pick Target: closest threat, facing, in range; closest threat, in field of view; no target: sniff. Move & Attack Target — Speed 2, Accuracy 4+, Damage 1. Attack effect: "If this attack deals damage more than once, draw [AI card icon]." Persistent injury note: "Lost Hand: The White Lion stares sadly at its bloody stump. Any adjacent survivors gain +1 understanding.")

Perform each action before moving to the next. Some cards may only have 1 action.

Some AI actions are conditional. If the conditions are met, perform the action, otherwise continue to the next action.

If there are no further actions on a card, the card is resolved. Discard the AI card by placing it face up on the monster control panel in the discard pile. Then, continue the round.

The White Lion's Combo Claw has 3 actions and 1 Persistent Injury (Lost Hand).

After drawing Combo Claw, the monster controller performs the first action on the card, Pick Target. The monster controller picks a target according to the target list. Whenever a flow is reached on an AI card, survivors have a window of time where they may spend survival and perform survival actions (dash, encourage, surge) before advancing to the next monster action.

Complete any survival actions before moving to the next monster action.

Move & Attack Target

The monster controller moves the monster towards the target and makes its attack. After the attack is resolved, advance to the next action on Combo Claw. After a second flow, perform the next action.

(Attack effect box: "If this attack deals damage more than once, draw [AI card icon].")

This is a conditional action. If the target suffered damage more than once, the condition of the action is met. Since there are no actions left on the card, Combo Claw is resolved. The monster controller discards Combo Claw, then draws and plays a new AI card.

If the monster's attack missed, or the target avoided being hit more than once, the condition is not met and the monster controller does not draw another AI card. Since there are no further actions on Combo Claw, the card is resolved. Discard Combo Claw and continue the round.

Persistent Injuries (Showdown Phase)

Persistent injuries are conditional actions that replace the normal rules of an AI card. If a persistent injury action is performed, ignore any other actions on the card.

(Example: "Lost Hand: The White Lion stares sadly at its bloody stump. Any adjacent survivors gain +1 understanding.")

Persistent injury actions are only performed when the monster draws an AI card with a persistent injury action that matches a persistent injury on a hit location in play.

When the White Lion draws Combo Claw, the monster controller checks the monster control panel for hit locations currently in play as a result of critical wounds suffered earlier in the showdown.

If the Strange Hand hit location is in play with the Lost Hand Persistent Injury, the White Lion ignores all other actions on Combo Claw and performs Lost Hand. The monster controller awards all adjacent survivors +1 understanding, then discards Combo Claw card and continues the round.

Playing Moods & Traits

Moods & Traits have persistent effects over multiple rounds. These cards may change a monster's behavior and/or actions as play continues.

(Example AI card, "Ground Fighting" — A — Mood — "The monster flops onto its side, waiting for attackers to draw near. While Ground Fighting is in play, do not draw [AI card icon]. When a survivor spends activation in the Zone of Death, before resolving the action, the monster performs a Basic Action with +2 speed and +1 damage, targeting the survivor." Zone of Death diagram. Footer: "When the White Lion is wounded, discard Ground Fighting.")

Apply any persistent rules as long as the card remains in play (any time after it is drawn and before it is discarded). Perform any conditional actions as their conditions are met.

If an AI card contains an action to "draw [AI card icon]", complete any applicable actions on the current AI card before drawing and playing a new AI card.

The White Lion's Ground Fighting mood states that the monster does not draw AI cards while this card is in play.

Instead, each round the monster controller will monitor the Zone of Death specified on the card and perform a Basic Action targeting any survivor that spends activation in the specified spaces.

When the monster is wounded, discard Ground Fighting. When the card is discarded, the White Lion's behavior returns to normal.

Pick Target

Monsters choose their target based on a Pick Target list or diagram at the top of each AI card.

(Example: Pick Target — closest threat, facing, in range; closest threat, in field of view; no target: sniff.)

A pick target list is made of a series of conditions. Each may include several terms that create a single condition. Start with the first condition. The monster controller should check if the conditions for targeting can be met. If not, move to the next condition and so on. Stop when a target condition is met.

In some cases, the target is determined by an area or zone, such as adjacent survivors or all survivors in a zone described by a diagram. These AI cards will illustrate or clearly state the area of the board that determines the target. The dark gray box represents the monster and its current facing.

(Diagram: "Zone of Death" — a grid showing a diamond-shaped blue zone of highlighted spaces surrounding the monster's position.)

In some cases, more than one target may be picked. Each AI card will specify if multiple survivors can be targeted by that AI card.

The last condition on the targeting list is no target. When this is reached, instead of performing any other action on the card, discard it and perform the indicated no target action or rule. This is most often the monster's instinct.

The target may not be changed once the target is chosen (including effects of gear like Fecal Salve).

Often, multiple survivors will satisfy a targeting rule. For instance, multiple survivors might be considered closest. In these cases, the monster controller decides which survivor becomes the target.

Monster controllers can use their decisions to give the advantage to the monster or to the group, or approach each decision randomly.

Some attacks have collateral damage that effect survivors in a zone. In these cases, these survivors are not targets unless stated otherwise.

Common Targeting Terms

Facing: A monster is facing all spaces on the board that are in front of the miniature.

In field of view: A survivor is always in a monster's field of view, unless they are in the monster's blind spot or the monster's line of sight is blocked. Only terrain with the Obstacle rule blocks field of view. These rules are described in the Terrain section.

In range: A survivor is in range of a monster if the number of spaces between them is less than or equal to its current movement (including modifiers).

If in range is followed by a number, such as range (8), that number replaces the monster's movement when calculating to see if a survivor is in range.

(Diagram: a showdown board strip numbered 1 through 6 with a monster marker (Z) at one end and an event marker (E) at the other; caption: "Zachary is in range. Erza is out of range.")

Random survivor: The monster controller should randomly pick a survivor. Use dice, names in a hat, or any other preferred method.

Threat: A threat is any survivor that is not knocked down or using special gear/terrain to prevent being considered a threat.

Closest survivor/threat: The survivor/threat fewest spaces from the monster.

Last to wound: The last survivor to wound the monster.

Non-deaf survivors: Survivors not suffering from the deaf severe head injury.

Most / Least: Zero can count as most or least unless otherwise stated.

When the monster controller draws and plays Vicious Claw, the first action on the card is Pick Target. Starting at the top, check each item on the Pick Target list to see if any survivors satisfy the target rule. Stop when the first target is found. If more than one survivor satisfies a target rule, the monster controller chooses one.

Priority Target Token

If a survivor gains the priority target token, that survivor captures the monster's attention. Only one survivor may have the priority target token at a time. A survivor keeps the priority target token until another survivor gains it or the end of the next monster turn unless it is removed by a card or effect.

When a monster performs a Pick Target action on an AI or S card, ignore all other targeting conditions and target the survivor with the priority target token.

The priority target token does not affect AI cards that pick multiple targets or all survivors, nor any targeting on monster AI cards outside of a Pick Target action (e.g. the White Lion's Cunning S card).

The priority target token does not affect targeting in a monster's hit location deck. If a monster's reaction on a hit location card targets the attacker, the priority target token has no effect.

Move & Attack Target Actions

Move & Attack Target actions are the most common way a monster will attack survivors. Move & Attack Target, unless specifically stated otherwise, is an instruction to move the monster towards its target up to its current movement or until adjacent, turn to face them, and attack using the action's attack profile. If a monster is already adjacent to its target, it will turn to face its target and attack without moving.

Variants of Move & Attack Target

Other actions, such as Materialize & Attack Target, or Move & Intimidate Target, are performed similarly to Move & Attack Target, but with the rules of another behavior substituting for a portion of the action.

The Materialize & Attack Target action on the Phoenix's Wing Punch AI is performed the same way as a Move & Attack Target action, but the Phoenix materializes facing and adjacent to the target instead of moving. Likewise, the Move & Intimidate Target action on Butcher's Gaze of Truth AI card full moves the Butcher the same way as a Move & Attack Target action, but intimidates the survivor instead of attacking.

Some attack profiles will only be preceded by an instruction to attack target. On these profiles, the monster does not move before attacking.

Some actions will simply state to full move towards target, then attack target. This is effectively the same as a Move & Attack Target action.

Monster Movement

Actions will dictate when to move the monster. Most commonly, this will be in the form of a Move & Attack Target action after a monster has picked a target.

When an action instructs a monster to move toward a target, the monster controller must identify the shortest path between the monster and the target, then move the monster miniature along that path until it is adjacent to the target or has no movement remaining. If there are multiple paths tied for the shortest, the monster controller chooses one.

Regardless of their size, monsters move 1 space at a time in cardinal directions (not diagonal).

After the White Lion plays Vicious Claw and picks a target, it will proceed to the next action on the card, Move & Attack Target.

(Diagram: a showdown board path traced from the monster's position (Z) through numbered spaces 1–6 with directional arrows, leading adjacent to the target survivor.)

To move towards the target, the monster controller first chooses the shortest path between the monster and the survivor, then moves 1 cardinal space at a time along that path. Since the White Lion's movement is 6 and the survivor is 7 spaces away, the monster controller is able to move the monster to a space adjacent to the target.

(Diagram: a showdown board with the monster (Z) shown turning to face a survivor, with directional arrows indicating all spaces now in its facing; caption: "The monster has turned to face Zachary. It is now facing all of the indicated spaces.")

After moving the monster, turn to face the survivor, resolve any instances of collision, then attack the target using the card's attack profile.

Some attacks have reach (the long halberd of the King's Man) or range. In these cases, move the monster the minimum number of spaces it must move to attack its target.

Full Move

Full move is a term that describes a monster or survivor's maximum available movement, taking into account any positive or negative movement modifier tokens.

For example, a Level 1 White Lion (movement 6) with a -1 movement token would have a full move of 5.

Forward, Back, Away, and Toward

Some actions and rules will specify a direction for the monster to move.

Forward: This is the direction the monster is currently facing.

Back: This is the opposite direction the monster is currently facing.

Away: This is usually in conjunction with something on the board (e.g., all survivors, the attacker, a board edge, a terrain tile). The monster controller should move as directly as possible, in any direction that puts the most spaces between the monster and the specified location.

Toward: This is usually in conjunction with something on the board (all survivors, the attacker, a board edge, or a terrain tile). The monster controller should move as directly as possible, in the direction that moves the monster closest to the specified location.

Place the Monster

Although they usually change a monster's location on the showdown board, rules specifying to place a monster are not considered movement.

How Monsters Attack

Attack actions direct a monster to attack. The second portion of a Move & Attack Target action tells a monster to attack its target. Attack actions are followed by attack profiles. Attack profiles on AI cards list the 3 basic components of an attack: speed (how many dice in an attack), accuracy (the likelihood of hitting), and damage (how much damage a hit causes).

The monster controller makes attack rolls equal to the monsters speed, determines a hit location for each successful hit and deals damage.

(Example attack profile: Speed 2, Accuracy 2+, Damage 1, Trigger: After Damage.)

Speed: The number of attack rolls. Speed is determined by the speed listed on the attack profile and modified by the monster's speed (listed on the monster's story event) and any speed modifier tokens. The monster controller rolls a number of d10s equal to the speed of an attack.

When the level 1 White Lion attacks Zachary with Vicious Claw, the attack speed is listed as 2. The level 1 White Lion has no additional speed, so the monster controller rolls 2d10.

Accuracy: The number to meet or exceed on an attack roll result for an attack to hit the target. Accuracy is determined by the accuracy listed on the attack profile, any accuracy modifier tokens the monster has, and the evasion of the target.

Attack Roll Result + Monster Accuracy Modifier must meet or exceed Attack Profile's Accuracy + Survivor's Evasion Modifier

The monster controller rolls 2d10 to attack Zachary with Vicious Claw. If the roll results are 1 and 4, one attack roll hits (4) and one misses (1).

Damage: An attack's target suffers the amount of damage listed on an attack profile, modified by the monster's damage attribute and any damage tokens. Damage from a single hit is applied to a single hit location.

The Level 1 White Lion's Vicious Claw hit Zachary once. Since the damage listed on the Attack Profile is 1 and the Level 1 White Lion has no additional damage modifiers, the damage dealt from this hit is 1.

Determine Hit Locations

After the number of hits in an attack have been determined, the monster controller rolls the hit location die once for every hit. Once all the rolls are made, resolve damage from each hit one at a time in the order the target chooses.

If there is more than one hit, it is possible that the location dice will roll the same location more than once. Each hit to this location is resolved separately.

The monster controller rolls the hit location die to determine where the Vicious Claw attack lands. The result is waist. Zachary, like all starting survivors, has a Cloth gear card that gives his waist 1 armor point. 1 damage to this location reduces the armor by 1 to 0.

Deal Damage to Hit Locations

After the monster controller rolls the hit location die for each hit, damage is dealt to each hit location one at a time in the order of the target's choosing.

(Diagram: Damage → Armor → Light & Heavy Injuries → Severe Injuries — showing the order in which a point of damage is spent.)

Damage from a hit is spent 1 point at a time at a location to reduce armor points, cause injuries (light, then heavy), and cause severe injuries. A hit is resolved when all damage from it has been expended.

All damage is spent in the following order:

Armor: Spend 1 damage to reduce the armor points at a location by 1 until either no damage remains or the armor at that location is reduced to 0. If damage remains at a hit location with 0 armor points, continue to light and heavy injuries.
Light and Heavy Injuries: Spend 1 damage to fill in 1 injury box (first light, then heavy). When the heavy injury box is filled, the survivor is knocked down. If damage remains at a hit location with 0 armor points and both injury boxes are filled, continue to severe injuries.
Severe Injuries: All remaining damage from a hit is expended by rolling once on the severe injury table for that hit location and suffering its effects.

If a location is hit multiple times in a single attack, each hit is considered separately. This means that it is possible to suffer multiple severe injuries to one hit location within a single attack.

Trigger & Attack Effects

Some attack profiles cause additional effects. These are listed directly under the attack profile.

(Example: "Bleed 1: Target gains 1 bleeding token.")

The Trigger section of the attack profile indicates when to resolve these effects. Attack effects are triggered once per attack.

After Hit: if there are any successful hits in the attack, before rolling hit location dice, apply this trigger's attack effects. (Do not apply if there are no hits.)

Before Damage: apply this trigger's attack effect after hits and hit location dice are rolled, but before damage is dealt to hit locations.

After Damage: if there are any successful hits in the attack, resolve all damage from all hits in this attack (roll hit location dice, apply damage to hit location), then apply this trigger's attack effects. If there is no damage dealt from the attack, do not apply this effect.

The Level 1 White Lion's Vicious Claw attacks Zachary. He is hit twice in the waist location. Since he suffered damage from this attack, the After Damage trigger applies once for this attack. Zachary gains 1 bleeding token.

Common Triggered Rules

Knockback X: The target of knockback is pushed X number of spaces. Move the miniature the number of spaces indicated by knockback, in a straight line, directly away from the source of the knockback.

Bash: The survivor is knocked down.

Bleed X: The survivor gains X bleeding tokens. If no number is specified, gain 1 bleeding token.

Intimidate

Intimidate actions are not attacks, and survivors cannot spend survival to dodge Intimidate actions.

Intimidate actions cause brain damage instead of damage to physical hit locations.

Monsters don't need to be adjacent to their targets to intimidate. Follow the specific rules on the AI card to perform each unique Intimidate action.

Brain Damage

Brain damage affects the brain location. Treat insanity as armor points for the brain location and assign damage as listed above. Reduce insanity the way you would armor, then fill the 1 brain injury box, and finally make rolls on the Brain Trauma table.

Playing Duration AI Cards

In order to be resolved and discarded, duration cards must be drawn twice.

The first time a duration card is drawn, perform any "when drawn face down" actions. Then, instead of discarding it, place the duration card in play face up on top of the AI deck.

The next time a monster would draw an AI card, it will draw the duration card for a second time. Perform any "when drawn face up" actions. Then, discard the card.

Some duration cards will have effects that are persistent while they are face up on top of the AI deck, waiting to be drawn again.

Any effects that manipulate the AI deck besides wounding (rawhide headband, whistling mace) are ignored while a duration is face up.

(Diagram, banner "DURATION": three stages — Draw; Place Face Up On Deck; Draw Again.)

If a monster is wounded while a duration AI is face up, the duration is moved into the wound stack.

Survivor Status AI Cards

(Example status card: "Gobbled Up" — S — "Survivor Status" — "When you gain this, remove your survivor from the board and place them on this card. Then, [icon] Crush & Devour." "At the start of your act, [icon] Crush & Devour." Flavor text: "When the monster suffers 2 wounds in a single round, trigger Regurgitate on the Crush & Devour story event.")

When a survivor gains a survivor status card, place it in a convenient location next to their gear grid. The effects on the card apply only to them.

Some status cards will have conditions that will need to be monitored and tracked. Others grant survivors actions that are unique to a showdown.

If a monster's story event has a Survivor Status card in its setup, all survivors gain the card at the start of the showdown.

Damage Outside of Attack Actions

Some AI cards cause damage without choosing a target or without explicitly attacking.

For instance, resolving damage from the White Lion's Grasp triggers grab. Grab deals 1 additional damage per monster level to the attacked survivor.

Damage dealt outside of an attack profile is resolved normally, but is not modified by the monster's attributes or tokens. If no hit location is specified, roll the hit location die.

Damage dealt outside of an attack profile cannot be dodged, since it does not result from a hit.

Healing

When a monster performs heal X, they return X wounds from the Wound Stack to the AI deck. Without looking at them, take the number of wounds healed from the top of the Wound Stack and place them on the bottom of the AI deck.

Collision

(Illustration: the White Lion mid-lunge, striking a survivor with a raking claw attack.)

Survivors, monsters, and impassable terrain tiles may collide with each other. This causes survivors to suffer collision. When a survivor suffers collision, they are knocked down.

Colliding occurs when:

A monster moves through or ends its movement on a space occupied by a survivor.
A survivor moves through or ends their movement on a space occupied by a survivor (due to knockback).
A survivor is knocked back into an impassable terrain tile.

Monsters Colliding with Survivors

Monsters may move through spaces occupied by survivors. When they do, they collide. At the end of the monster's movement, the survivor suffers collision.

(Diagram: the monster (Z) facing away from a survivor location marked L; caption: "Lucy is the closest threat, in field of view. The Monster picks her as its target.")

When a monster ends their movement on a space currently occupied by a survivor, they collide. The survivor suffers collision and knockback 5 directly away from the monster.

(Diagram: the monster (Z) moving directly along a row of numbered spaces 1–6 toward its target "L"; caption: "The monster moves directly towards its target, Lucy. Zachary suffers collision.")

Survivors Colliding with Survivors

Survivors may not normally move into spaces occupied by other survivors. However, they may collide due to knockback. When this happens, complete the knockback movement normally. At the end of the knockback movement, both survivors suffer collision.

When a survivor's knockback movement ends on a space occupied by another survivor, they collide. Place the knocked back survivor in the closest unoccupied space. Both survivors suffer collision.

Survivors Colliding with Impassable Terrain

Monsters move through impassable terrain unimpeded.

Impassable terrain interrupts all survivor movement (including knockback). If knockback would cause a survivor to move into an impassable terrain tile, instead they collide with it. The survivor suffers collision and stops its movement in the last space before the terrain tile.

Survivors may not be placed on impassable terrain. For example, if the White Lion's Grab would place a survivor on an impassable terrain tile, instead they collide with it. The survivor suffers collision and is placed in an unoccupied space adjacent to the terrain tile and as close to the monster as possible.

Showdown Board Edges

Survivors and monsters cannot move off the showdown board or be knocked off the board.

(Diagram: a survivor (triangle marker) receiving knockback 5, moving 5 spaces up a column of numbered spaces labeled 1–5 then continuing past X4 and X5 markers at the board edge; caption: "Zachary has suffered knockback 5. Zachary moves 3 spaces to the board edge and stops.")

If movement or knockback would cause a survivor or monster to move off the showdown board, instead, stop the movement at the board edge.

If knockback or monster movement starts at a showdown board edge and would go off of it, instead move along the board edge.

(Diagram: a survivor at the board edge receiving knockback 5, moving 5 spaces sideways along the edge through numbered spaces 1–5; caption: "Zachary has suffered knockback 5. Zachary moves 5 spaces along the board edge.")

Knocked Down & Standing

Monsters and survivors are standing unless they are knocked down. While a survivor or monster is knocked down, they cannot be knocked down again.

Knocked Down Survivors

A knocked down survivor must spend time standing back up. Knocked down survivors stand at the end of the next monster turn or another survivor may spend survival to encourage a knocked down survivor.

A knocked down survivor is not a threat.
If a survivor is knocked down in the middle of their attack, their unresolved hits are canceled.
Knocked down survivors may only spend survival to dodge (remaining knocked down), and cannot spend activation or movement.

(Photo: a survivor miniature tipped on its side on the showdown board; caption: "Tip the survivor miniature on its side to indicate that it is knocked down.")

Knocked Down Monsters

A knocked down monster stands up at the start of the next turn (monster or survivors').

While a monster is knocked down, attack rolls hit on 3+ in place of normal accuracy.
While a monster is knocked down, all reactions are canceled. This includes reactions that might be beneficial to survivors. (This does not cancel critical wounds, since they are not reactions.)
A knocked down monster stands when a monster controller draws an AI card and then plays that card as normal.
A knocked down monster stands when a trap is played and plays out its rules.
If the monster is knocked down during a flow, cancel any remaining actions on the card.
Unless otherwise stated on the AI card, any moods or traits currently in play will affect survivors even if the monster is knocked down.

Survivors' Turn

The second part of a round is the Survivors' turn. During the survivors' turn, survivors act one at a time, completing their entire act before another survivor may act.

Survivors may act in any order, taking advantage of different gear, abilities, and fighting arts to make the most of their collective turn.

Act Overview

At the start of their act, a survivor gains +1 movement and +1 activation. During their act they may perform the following actions in any order. Each action must be completed before another can begin.

Spend movement (move)
Spend activation (activation)

At the end of their act, a survivor loses unspent movement and activation.

Movement

Survivors can spend movement to move. Survivors move one space at a time, to any adjacent unoccupied space, moving only in cardinal directions (not diagonal).

Survivors cannot move through spaces occupied by monsters or other survivors (even if they are knocked down). Survivors may move before or after spending activation.

Activation

Survivors can spend activation to activate gear, interact with terrain, or activate other special rules (e.g., fighting arts, abilities). These special rules will clearly state what happens when activation is spent.

How Survivors Attack

Survivors attack by spending activation to activate a weapon, using its attack attributes to make an attack. Survivors must be in range to attack.

Melee Weapons

To attack with a melee weapon, a survivor must be in a space adjacent to the monster unless that weapon has reach.

Reach Weapons

A reach 2 weapon is a long melee weapon that allows a survivor to attack from 2 spaces away.

Ranged Weapons

A ranged weapon, like a bow or dart, allows the survivor to attack from a distance. A survivor can attack with a ranged weapon from a number of spaces away, less than or equal to the weapon's range.

A survivor using a ranged weapon cannot attack a monster when their field of view is blocked. Only terrain with the Obstacle rule blocks field of view. These rules are described in the Terrain section.

A Survivor's Attack

Follow the steps below to perform an attack.

1. Make Attack Rolls

Attack rolls represent how quickly you strike. Roll a number of d10s equal to the attack speed.

Attack Speed = Weapon Speed + Survivor Speed Modifier

2. Determine Hits

For each attack roll result add any survivor accuracy modifier. A hit occurs if this total meets or exceeds the weapon's accuracy, taking into account any monster evasion. Any attack roll that does not hit is a miss.

Attack Roll Result + Survivor Accuracy Modifier must meet or exceed Weapon's Accuracy + Monster Evasion

3. Draw Hit Location Cards

The monster controller draws 1 monster Hit Location card for each hit and places them face up in front of the attacking player.

4. Read Hit Location Cards

Read all of the drawn hit locations cards. If a Trap was drawn, end the attack(s) and resolve it now.

5. Resolve Drawn Hit Locations

Follow the wound steps for all the hit locations drawn by this attack. Once all hit locations are resolved, the attack ends.

6. End the Attack

Stop applying any effects that last until the end of this attack. The attack is now resolved.

The Wound Steps

1. Select a Hit Location to resolve

Select a face up hit location card to resolve. First Strike hit locations must be selected before any other hit locations.

2. Perform Special Rules

Perform any special rules on the hit location card.

3. Wound Attempt

Attempt to wound the selected hit location by making a wound roll (roll 1d10) and adding the attacking weapon's strength and any survivor strength modifiers to the result. If this wound attempt total meets or exceeds the monster's toughness (including any toughness tokens), it succeeds and the hit location is wounded.

If the total is less than the monster's toughness, the wound attempt fails.

Wound Roll Result (1d10) + Weapon Strength + Survivor Strength Modifier must meet or exceed Monster's Toughness + Monster Toughness Modifiers

4. Check for Critical Wounds

If a hit location has a critical wound listed, there is a chance to inflict a critical wound. A critical wound has effects that occur in addition to wounding the monster.

5. Wound the Monster

When you wound a hit location, remove the top card of the AI deck without looking at it. If the AI deck is empty, shuffle the discard to create a fresh deck. Place the removed card in the wound stack on the monster control panel. Cards in the wound stack are no longer part of the AI deck, and are the number of wounds the monster has suffered.

6. Fellow Survivors React

Survivors that are not the attacker may have an opportunity to perform survival actions.

7. Perform Reactions

Hit location cards may have reactions. The three types of reactions are Wound, Failure, and Reflex.

Wound: Perform if wound attempt succeeds.
Failure: Perform if the wound attempt fails.
Reflex: Always perform (unless critical wound).

8. Resolve the Hit Location

Discard the hit location card face up on the monster control panel. If unresolved hit locations remain in this attack, select the next hit location to resolve. Return to step 1 and resolve this location.

If all hit locations are resolved, end the attack.

Survivor Attribute Modifier

Calculate the survivor attribute modifier by adding the survivor's respective attribute, positive or negative tokens, modifiers from gear special rules, fightings arts, abilities, impairments, disorders, permanent injuries, and anything else that modifies that attribute.

Perfect Hits

An attack roll that is a lantern 10 is a Perfect Hit. When there are multiple Perfect Hits in a single attack, each triggers its own rules separately.

For example, if Allister attacks with a Scrap Dagger and rolls two perfect hits, his strength is increased by +4 for the rest of the attack.

Monster Evasion

Evasion makes a monster more difficult to hit. For every +1 evasion token the monster has, the accuracy required for an attack roll to hit increases by 1.

Conversely, for every -1 evasion token the accuracy required for an attack roll to hit decreases by 1.

Monster Toughness

Every toughness token a monster has increases the monster's toughness by 1.

Conversely, every -1 toughness token a monster has decreases its toughness by 1.

Traps

When a Trap is drawn from a hit, resolve it immediately. If a monster is knocked down when a Trap is drawn, it will stand and resolve the Trap.

To resolve a Trap, end all survivors' attacks and discard all unresolved hit locations, then perform the actions on the Trap card. This does not end the survivor's act, just the current attack(s).

Once a Trap is resolved, discard it and shuffle all hit location cards in the deck and discard pile.

First Strike

First Strike hit locations must be selected and resolved first. If multiple First Strike hit locations are drawn, the attacker chooses the order in which they are resolved.

Impervious

Impervious hit locations are impossible to wound, even with a lantern 10. However, a survivor must still attempt to wound this location. If an impervious hit location is critically wounded, perform any listed effects, but do not wound the monster.

Super-Dense

Super-Dense hit locations can destroy the weapon that struck them. If a survivor attacking with a frail weapon attempts to wound a super-dense hit location, archive the weapon at the end of the attack.

Critical Wounds

A critical wound occurs when a wound roll result is a lantern 10 on a hit location with a critical wound effect.

Critical wounds are lucky blows that always wound a monster, even if the hit strength does not exceed the monster's toughness.

Luck increases the range of wound roll results considered critical wounds. +1 luck causes a critical wound on an unmodified wound roll result of 9 or 10, +2 luck: 8, 9, or 10, and so on.

A hit location without a critical wound listed cannot be critically wounded.

Critical Wound Effects

Critically wounding a monster has two important effects:

All reactions (R) on the critically wounded hit location are canceled. This includes wound, failure, and reflex, including reactions that might be beneficial to survivors.
Perform the rules listed in the critical wound section of the hit location card. If a monster gains attribute modifier tokens, place them on the monster control panel. If there is a persistent injury listed on the hit location, do not discard the hit location at the end of the attack. Instead, place the card in play on the monster control panel.

Persistent Injuries (Hit Locations)

When a hit location with a persistent injury is on the monster control panel, it is no longer part of the monster hit location deck. Do not shuffle it back in.

Persistent Injuries can have conditional rules that effect various parts of the showdown. It is important to reference them often and ensure that these rules are not missed.

For example, Allister has critically wounded the White Lion's Beast's Heel hit location. According to the rules on the card, the White Lion is knocked down. After any attacks are resolved, instead of discarding Beast's Heel, the monster controller places it on the monster control panel since the persistent injury, Ruptured Tendon is marked as "Keep in Play." From now on, whenever the White Lion starts movement, the monster controller must roll 1d10. If the result is 1, the monster is knocked down instead of moving.

Movement During an Attack

Monsters may move during the Survivors' turn, often as a result of reactions to an attack. When a monster moves during an attack, all unresolved hits from the attacking survivors that are now out of range are canceled.

Place the Survivor

Although they usually change a survivor's location on the showdown board, rules specifying to place a survivor are not considered movement.

Survivor Healing

When survivors heal, they restore previously-filled injury levels and lost armor points. Do this by erasing filled injury level boxes or restoring armor as described by the specific heal rule.

Survival

(Illustration: an anatomical heart, wrapped in chains, with two outstretched winged arms/hands emerging from it, bells and small ornaments attached to the chains.)

Survival is a survivor's desperate desire to cling to life. During the showdown, many conditions will arise where survival can be gained, lost, or spent.

Although survival can be spent at any time, the powerful, life-saving survival actions can only be performed at certain times during the showdown.

Survival Actions

Survival actions cannot be performed until all current survival actions are resolved. If a survivor's surge causes a disastrous reaction from a monster, survivors cannot dash out of its way.

The four survival actions are:

Dodge Encourage Dash Surge

The campaign begins with the survivors knowing how to dodge. The other three survival actions are learned from innovations.

Dodge: When a survivor is hit, they may spend 1 survival to dodge, canceling a monster hit. After hit locations are rolled, but before any severe injury rolls, the survivor can dodge a hit of their choice. The dodged hit becomes a failed attack roll and does not cause damage. Any additional un-dodged hits will resolve normally. Dodge is the only survival action that can be performed by knocked down survivors.

Encourage: A standing survivor may spend 1 survival to encourage, calling out to another survivor and allowing them to stand if they are knocked down. A survivor may encourage at any time. Deaf survivors may not be encouraged.

Dash: When opportunity permits, a survivor may spend 1 survival to dash. A survivor who dashes gains +1 movement, which must be spent immediately. This allows them to move up to their available movement.

Surge: When opportunity permits, a survivor may spend 1 survival to surge. A survivor who surges gains +1 activation, which must be spent immediately. This allows them to attack by activating a weapon, interact with terrain, use gear, and anything else spending an activation would allow them to do.

Resolve the results of the surge (including monster reactions or outcomes) before resuming the turn.

Survival Opportunities

There are moments during the frantic chaos of combat that survivors may exploit to their advantage. These moments are survival opportunities, and are the only times that survivors may dash or surge.

Survival opportunities exist at the following times:

Between actions on the survivors' turn
During flows on monster AI cards
At specific points during survivor attacks
When a monster is knocked down

Survival Action Limitations

Despite the power, there are limits.

A survivor may perform each survival action once per round.
Attacking survivors cannot perform survival actions.

During the Survivors' Turn

During the survivors' turn, there is an opportunity for survival actions before or after any completed survivor movement or activation.

During the survivors' turn, Erza spends 1 movement to move adjacent to the monster. Zachary, who is nearby in some Tall Grass, surges and spends the activation to hide. Erza resumes her act and spends activation to activate a weapon to attack. After her attack, she dashes into position beside the hidden Zachary hoping to bait the monster over on its turn.

During Monster Flows

Every flow on monster AI cards (including a monster's basic action) is a survival opportunity. During flows on either the monster or survivors' turn, non-attacking survivors may perform survival actions. The only time a survival action may be performed on the monster turn is during a flow unless the monster is knocked down.

The monster controller draws Claw and picks Alister as the target. Allister is 4 spaces away from the monster and decides to make use of the opportunity from the flow, before the White Lion moves and attacks. Allister dashes, moving 5 spaces backwards and putting a total of 9 spaces between himself and the White Lion. Now that the survival action is complete, the opportunity remains open for more survival actions. None of the other survivors want to perform survival actions, so the opportunity closes. The monster resumes its action, and it finally moves and attacks. The monster moves 6 spaces and falls short of Allister. It cannot attack him and its turn ends.

During Survivor Attacks

An attacking survivor cannot perform survival actions (including dodge). However, during a fellow survivor's attack, there are two specific opportunities for other survivors to interrupt and perform survival actions:

After the attacker rolls to wound, but before a monster resolves its reaction. If a hit location does not have a reaction, there is no opportunity for survivors to act.
When the attacker causes a critical wound, after any critical wound effects are applied, but before the card is discarded.

Once the survival action is fully resolved (including monster reactions, effects, and or movement), the interrupted attack resumes.

For example, Lucy has attacked the White Lion from its blind spot. She rolls to wound the Beast's Chest hit location and fails. The White Lion will perform its Failure reaction and charge forward. Both Zachary and Allister are in its path. Allister uses the opportunity to dash safely away. Zachary's survival is 0 and the monster snatches him up.

When a Monster is Knocked Down

The only time survival actions may be performed on the monster turn outside of a flow is when the monster is knocked down. When a monster is knocked down on its turn, there is an opportunity for all survivors to perform survival actions.

End of the Round

The round ends when the survivors' turn is complete. Stop any effects or rules that persist until the end of the round.

Survivor Death

A survivor can die during the showdown in a variety of ways. Regardless of how they met their end, remove their miniature from the showdown board when a survivor dies. They can no longer participate in the fight.

When a survivor dies, their gear is returned to the settlement storage (except any gear with the irreplaceable rule). If all the survivors die during the showdown, all of their gear is returned to the settlement.

Monster Death

A monster is defeated when it is wounded and there are no AI cards in the AI deck or AI discard pile to move to the wound stack.

If a wound leaves a monster without any cards in its AI deck or its AI discard pile, it will perform its Basic Action instead of drawing AI cards until it is defeated by being wounded one more time.

Gaining Gear During the Showdown

If a survivor gains gear during the showdown phase, they may add it to their grid immediately. If their grid is full, they must either archive the new gear (unless it is cursed) or a piece of gear they are currently carrying to make room. Their grid may not be rearranged and the item cannot be added to another survivor's gear grid.

Aftermath

When the survivors have defeated the monster or all of them have died, the showdown is over and the Aftermath occurs.

Remove all tokens from all survivors. Keep any permanent injuries. If the survivor must skip the next hunt to recover from their injuries, check the corresponding box on the survivor record sheet.

Consult the monster's story event to determine what happens next. If the survivors perished, follow the rules for Defeat. If they prevailed, consult the Victory rules.

Defeat

When the survivors are defeated by a monster, the Aftermath of the showdown is completed by following the outcome listed on that monster's story event.

Victory

When the survivors are victorious against a monster, add that monster to the Defeated Monsters section of the settlement record sheet. If a Nemesis monster was defeated, update the Nemesis monster section of the settlement record sheet.

Each survivor gains and records all the benefits listed in the Victory section of the Aftermath in that monster's story event, including Hunt XP and any earned Weapon Proficiency.

Victorious survivors also gain bonuses from Rewards section.

Rewards

Follow the rules for the Rewards section for the defeated monster. Rewards are gained once per victorious showdown, and are shared by the entire group (unless stated otherwise).

End of the Showdown

Once the Aftermath is complete, the showdown comes to an end. The campaign continues to the settlement phase even if the survivors do not return home.

(Full-page illustration, rendered in grayscale: a nighttime settlement scene at the base of a great glowing, spire-like white lantern structure, with survivors carrying a slain quarry on a pole between them, others tending fires and lantern-lit shelters built from bone and hide amid a cluster of huts and totems — a section-divider image preceding the Settlement Phase.)

Settlement Phase

The Settlement

During the settlement phase, you will welcome back any returning survivors, advance your society, and prepare for upcoming challenges.

All campaigns begin with the First Story. If this is your first settlement phase, refer to the Prologue for setting up your starting settlement.

The Settlement Phase

Every Settlement Phase follows these steps:

Set up the Settlement
Survivors Return
Gain Endeavors
Draw a Settlement Event Card
Update Death Count
Update Timeline
Develop
Prepare Departing Survivors
Record & Archive Resources
End Settlement Phase

1 | Set Up the Settlement

Place the settlement board on the table. Place the gear grids and record sheets of any survivors returning from the showdown on the table. Place the settlement record sheet on the table.

A | Settlement Board

The Settlement Board is located on the reverse side of the Hunt Board. The spaces on the board correspond to steps in the Settlement Phase to guide you along.

B | Returning Survivors

The survivors returning to the settlement.

C | Settlement Record Sheet

Each settlement has a doubled-sided Settlement Record Sheet that contains all information about a settlement. It will be referred to and updated multiple times each Settlement Phase, so make sure to use a pencil.

D | Settlement Event Deck

Shuffle all Settlement Event cards and place them face down in the play area.

E | Settlement Locations

Place any Settlement Locations the settlement has built in the play area below the settlement board.

F | Settlement Innovations

Place any innovations the settlement has innovated in the play area above the settlement board.

G | Principles

Place any principles the settlement has chosen on the settlement board.

H | Innovation Deck

Shuffle your settlement's unique innovation deck and place it face down in its space on the settlement board. It should contain all innovations that are consequences of existing innovations in your settlement.

Details on building and expanding your innovation deck are found later in this section.

2 | Survivors' Return

All survivors that endured the previous showdown are returning survivors.

When these survivors return to the settlement, their injuries are healed. Erase any filled light or heavy injury levels. Remove all tokens from all survivors.

Survival and insanity do not automatically replenish. Their values persist until they are changed by gameplay.

Permanent injuries do not heal on their own, but some later innovations and events will enable you to heal them.

Apply any effects for the returning survivors from principles, settlement events, and innovations. This may include bonuses and penalties.

It is possible to have no returning survivors if all survivors perished during the hunt or showdown.

3 | Gain Endeavors

Endeavors are the generative energy returning survivors accumulate from their experiences. The settlement gains 1 endeavor for each returning survivor.

4 | Draw a Settlement Event

Draw the top card of the settlement event deck and perform its rules. Place the card on the settlement board to remind players of any persistent effects it may have for the settlement phase.

Settlement events may have new ways to spend endeavors, unique opportunities to craft and impart lasting restrictions or bonuses.

(Example settlement event card: "Acid Storm" — settlement event — "The air tastes sour and burns the survivors cracked lips. The sky cracks in great flashes, revealing spiraling black clouds. Finally it opens, dousing everything in acid rain. Roll 1d10. 1: Each returning survivor must archive a gear card of their choice. 7-9: The survivor with the highest insanity (randomize in case of ties) runs into the storm bellowing wildly. They must skip the next hunt. 6+: Some of the debris around the settlement becomes useful due to the strange effects of the storm. Add 1 scrap to the settlement's storage."

Lingering Effects: "The storm prevents Music Endeavor." and "The storm inspires +2 to the result of all Art Endeavors."

Crafting Recipes: "Acid Storm Blade" — requires Nightmare Training — [icon] 1-5: The survivor is burned to death. 6-7: You are injured and must skip the next hunt. 8+: You gain the following ability: Add Pattern. Add +3d10 strength to wound attempts when attacking with Fist & Tooth. — cost: 1 x resources. "Acid Storm Distillation" — requires Cooking — [icon] 1-4: Nothing happens. 5+: Gain a Founding Stone starting gear. — cost: 1 x resources.")

A | Lingering Effects

Lingering Effects last throughout the Settlement Phase and can have positive or negative effects on the survivors.

B | Endeavors

A survivor may spend an endeavor and any additional resources to participate in any activities listed. Many of these will require the settlement to have a specific innovation before it can be used.

(Example crafting recipe: "Strange Brew" — 6 x resources.)

Crafting Recipes

When crafting on a settlement event, nominate a survivor to spend the listed resources and gain its effects.

5 | Update Death Count

If any survivors perished during the previous hunt or showdown, update the death count on the settlement record sheet. If a survivor dies during the Settlement Phase, update the death count immediately.

The first time the Death Count is updated, make sure to update the Milestone Story Event list and trigger Principle: Death. (See below.)

6 | Update Timeline

Fill the next unfilled lantern year on the timeline to advance the current lantern year.

Trigger any story events listed for the current lantern year on the timeline. If there are multiple story events for that lantern year, resolve them one at a time in the order they are listed.

If the current lantern year has a Nemesis Encounter Story Event on the timeline, follow the rules in the Nemesis Monster section of this chapter.

Settlement Events on the Timeline

During the campaign, specific settlement events might get added to your timeline. When the timeline is updated, resolve these by drawing them from the settlement event deck and playing them. (In addition to your yearly settlement event.) The same settlement event card cannot be played more than once per Settlement Phase.

Milestone Story Events

Milestone story events are conditional events that appear next to the timeline. When these are met, fill in the milestone box and trigger the corresponding story event immediately.

7 | Develop

During this step players will decide, as a group, how to spend the settlement's resources, Players can:

Craft Gear
Endeavor
Innovate
Build

Craft Gear

(Example gear card: "Round Leather Shield" — cost: 1 x leather, 1 x bone, 1 x hide.)

Players may spend resources to craft weapons, armor, and items at locations their settlement has built. Each settlement location lists the resource cost for each gear that can be built at that location.

When you spend resources to craft gear, archive the resources (return the cards to the box), and get the gear card you crafted from the box.

It is up to the players to decide whether or not they pool their resources and craft gear as a group or split their resources and craft gear as individuals.

Endeavor

(Example innovation endeavor: "Leather-Making" — Requires Ammonia — "Spend any number of hide to add an equal number of leather strange resources to the settlement's storage.")

Survivors can spend endeavors to innovate, build new settlement locations, or perform unique endeavors in the settlement.

Whenever a rule on an Innovation, Settlement Location, or Settlement Event is preceded by an activation icon, it indicates that any listed rules or effects cost an endeavor to use them.

To spend an endeavor, select a survivor to perform the endeavor, reduce the settlement's total endeavors by 1, and follow the rules for the action the endeavor was spent on. Unless stated otherwise, any of the rule's effects apply only to the selected survivor.

Innovate

To innovate, select a survivor to spend an endeavor and the required resources at the Lantern Hoard. Follow the rules for innovating on the Lantern Hoard.

Detailed information about innovating is available later in this section.

Build

(Example settlement location build card: "Leather Worker" — Settlement Location — cost: 3 x hide, 1 x organ.)

When a new location is built, place that settlement location in the play area and add the new location to your settlement record sheet. This is a permanent addition to your settlement.

8 | Choose Departing Survivors

At this point, players should decide if they plan to press on to the next hunt or end their play session. If they decide to stop, skip this step and choose departing survivors next play session.

If they decide to continue, players must choose 4 departing survivors. If the population is less than 4, choose as many as possible. If there are fewer than 4 players, players must control multiple survivors.

Remove the returning survivors' gear and add gear to the departing survivors' gear grids. Record armor points and attribute modifiers imparted from gear.

Be sure to apply any bonuses from innovations, endeavors, or events that effect departing survivors.

9 | Record & Archive Resources

Record unspent resources in the settlement storage, and archive the corresponding cards. This is an important step to ensure that the full range of possible resources is available in each deck, ready to be drawn again.

Settlement Storage

Resources in storage can be spent at anytime during the settlement phase. When a resource is spent, erase its entry from the storage list.

10 | End Settlement Phase

Lose unspent endeavors
Store settlement innovations
Store unused gear
Clean up

Any unspent endeavors are lost, they do not carry over to the next settlement phase.

Store your settlement's innovation deck in the allotted space in the game box. Store your settlement's current innovations, principles, and masteries together, in the space provided.

Place any unused gear in the allotted space in the game box. Retrieve these cards in future settlement phases. (Players can keep a written gear list.)

Finishing cleaning the play area by returning the settlement's locations, event cards, and unused survivor record sheets to the game box.

Innovations

(Example innovation card: "Drums" — music, language consequence. "Bone Beats" — roll 1d10: 1-4 Lone drummer. Gain +1 insanity. 5-9 Rhythmic trance. Gain +1 survival. 10+ Cure one disorder from any survivor. Departing survivors gain +1 survival. Footer: "Add drums consequences to the innovation deck.")

Name: The name of the Innovation.

Keywords: Innovations have a type (Paint's type is art) and an origin (Paint is a language consequence).

Rules: Some innovations, like Language, have persistent benefits. Others will allow you to endeavor at these innovations for potential gain.

If an endeavor cost is listed, one or more players may nominate a survivor, spend their endeavors at this innovation, and apply any resulting rules.

Consequences: Some innovations direct you to add further innovations to the innovation deck.

The Innovation Deck

A settlement's innovation deck is a persistent deck that grows during the campaign. It represents the potential cultural and technological growth of your settlement, and will grow as a consequence of gained innovation cards.

Whenever your settlement gains a new innovation, search the innovation cards for any innovations that are a consequence of the new innovation. Shuffle them into the innovation deck.

The innovation deck is persistent. Make sure to preserve the unique combination of cards in your deck between play sessions.

The starting innovation deck of a new settlement arises from the first innovation, Language which is gained from the First Day settlement event. It consists of the 6 innovations marked language consequence: Paint, Inner Lantern, Drums, Ammonia, Symposium, and Hovel.

Adding Innovations

When a new innovation is added to your settlement, place it in the play area with all other innovations and update your settlement record sheet Innovation list.

Survival Limit

Some innovations change your settlement's Survival Limit. When these are innovated, increase the Survival Limit on the settlement record sheet. If these innovations are lost, decrease the Survival Limit.

Weapon Masteries

Weapon masteries are innovations, they are permanently added to the list of settlement innovations.

When any survivor attains a weapon mastery with a weapon type, that mastery imparts benefits to everyone in the settlement. All other survivors automatically gain the Specialist bonus for that weapon type and may use this in addition to whatever weapon proficiencies they have earned.

Principles

Principles are the guiding philosophies of your settlement. They have two components, a story event and a principle card.

When a principle's story event is triggered, it will prompt your settlement to make a choice. Follow the rules on each story event. Record the chosen principle on the settlement record sheet and add that principle's card to the settlement play area.

Principle cards describes persistent effects of your chosen principles. Apply any benefits of your principle as survivors are born, when they die, and at any other appropriate time.

Settlement Locations

The majority of a settlement's resources are spent at settlement locations. At the start of the campaign, survivors have one settlement location—the Lantern Hoard. Additional locations are added to the settlement from existing settlement locations and from story events.

(Example settlement location card: "Organ Grinder" — illustration of a survivor kneeling before a shrouded figure holding a glowing lantern. Craftable gear: Fecal Salve — 1 x organ; Monster Grease — 1 x organ; Dried Acanthus — 1 x fresh acanthus; Lucky Charm — 1 x organ; Monster Tooth Necklace — Requires Heat — 1 x scrap, 1 x bone. Endeavor: "Augury - roll 1d10" — "The survivor endeavors to glean the meaning of existence. Roll on the table. Add +1 to your roll result if your understanding is 3 or higher." 1-3: Lose 1 resource from the settlement. If you do, gain +1 understanding. 4-7: Gain +1 Survival. 8+: Intimacy. Build: Stone Circle — Settlement Location — 3 x organ, 1 x hide.)

Settlement locations have the following components:

Name: The name of the settlement location.

Gear: Any gear listed on a settlement location card is available to be crafted there.

Activities: Some settlement locations have unique activities that can only be found at that location. Most activities at settlement locations require an endeavor to be spent as a part of the cost of performing them.

Build: Some settlement locations allow survivors to build additional settlement locations by spending a combination of resources and endeavors.

Special Innovate: Some settlement locations allow survivors to gain specific innovations by spending a combination of resources and endeavors. The cost of these innovations is listed on the bottom of the settlement location card that it is innovated from.

These innovations can be gained even if they are not in your settlement's innovation deck.

Remember to add any innovations that are consequences of this innovation to your settlement's innovation deck.

Prerequisites: Some gear and endeavors have a prerequisite symbol. These gear or activities are not available to survivors until they have fulfilled the prerequisite requirement listed next to the symbol.

Nemesis Monsters

If the current lantern year has a Nemesis Encounter on the timeline, departing survivors will face-off with a nemesis monster waiting for them at the outskirts of the settlement.

Complete the settlement phase normally. Departing survivors skip the hunt phase and consult the story event for the nemesis monster to setup the showdown phase.

Nemesis encounters are listed a few different ways on the timeline:

Nemesis Encounter: Select a nemesis monster of your choice from the Nemesis Monster list on the settlement record sheet. This is the monster you will be fighting. You must select a monster level you have not previously faced.

Nemesis Encounter - Lvl X: Select a nemesis monster of your choice from the Nemesis Monster list on the settlement record sheet. You must fight the specific monster level listed, even if you have previously faced it.

Nemesis Encounter - Monster Name: You must fight this specific monster. You must select a monster level you have not previously faced.

Nemesis Encounter - Monster Name Lvl X: You must fight this named monster of the specific monster level listed, even if you have previously faced it.

Special Showdown

Story Events and innovations may have Special Showdowns with a monster. Special Showdowns interrupt the Settlement Phase. After they conclude (regardless of victory or defeat) the Settlement Phase continues where it left off without generating new endeavors or triggering a new settlement event. Details for each Special Showdown are listed on the story event or innovation that triggered it.

Update the Nemesis Monster List

After a nemesis monster and level is chosen by players (or selected by an event), fill in the corresponding box on the settlement record sheet Nemesis Monster list if it is currently unfilled.

Severe Injuries

When a survivor suffers a severe injury at a hit location, determine the outcome by rolling 1d10 on the corresponding table.

A survivor with 5 bleeding tokens is dead.

Some permanent injuries have limits to how many times they can be recorded. If a survivor suffers a severe injury that they have already recorded the maximum number of times, they instead gain 1 bleeding token.

Head

1-2 Head explosion! Your head erupts in a shower of gore, killing you instantly. All other survivors are so disturbed that they lose 1 survival.

3-4 Decapitation. You are dead.

5 Intracranial hemorrhage. You can no longer use or gain any survival. This injury is permanent, and can be recorded once. Gain 1 bleeding token.

6 Deaf. You won't hear it coming. Suffer -1 permanent evasion. This injury is permanent, and can be recorded once. Gain 1 bleeding token.

7 Blind. Lose an eye. Suffer -1 permanent accuracy. This injury is permanent, and can be recorded twice. A survivor with two blind severe injuries suffers -4 permanent accuracy and retires at the end of the next showdown or settlement phase, having lost all sight. Gain 1 bleeding token.

8 Concussion. Your brain is scrambled like an egg. Gain a random disorder. Gain 1 bleeding token.

9 Shattered jaw. You drink your meat through a straw. You can no longer consume or be affected by events requiring you to consume. You can no longer encourage. This injury is permanent, and can be recorded once. Gain 1 bleeding token.

10+ Destroyed tooth. If you have 3+ courage, you boldly spit the tooth out and gain +2 insanity! Otherwise, the blow sends you sprawling and you are knocked down.

Arms

1-2 Die of shock. Your vision fades, along with the sight of your mangled, armless torso.

3 Bleeding. Gain 2 bleeding tokens.

4 Dismembered Arm. Lose an arm. You can no longer activate two-handed weapons. This injury is permanent, and can be recorded twice. A survivor with two dismembered arm severe injuries cannot activate any weapons. Gain 1 bleeding token.

5 Ruptured muscle. A painful rip. The arm hangs limp. You can no longer activate fighting arts. This injury is permanent, and can be recorded once. Gain 1 bleeding token.

6 Contracture. The arm will never be the same. Suffer -1 permanent accuracy. This injury is permanent, and can be recorded multiple times. Gain 1 bleeding token.

7 Broken arm. An ear-shattering crunch. Suffer -1 permanent accuracy and -1 permanent strength. This injury is permanent, and can be recorded twice. Gain 1 bleeding token.

8 Spiral fracture. Your arm twists unnaturally. Gain -2 strength tokens. Skip the next hunt. Gain 1 bleeding token.

9 Dislocated shoulder. Pop! You cannot activate two-handed or paired weapons or use block until showdown ends. Gain 1 bleeding token.

10+ Hit the dirt. The blow sends you sprawling and you are knocked down.

Body

1-2 Instant death. The blow sends a bone fragment directly into your heart, killing you instantly.

3 Bleeding. Gain 2 bleeding tokens.

4 Gaping chest wound. Suffer -1 permanent strength. This injury is permanent, and can be recorded multiple times. Gain 1 bleeding token.

5 Destroyed back. A sharp cracking noise. Suffer -2 permanent movement. You can no longer activate any gear that has 2+ strength. This injury is permanent, and can be recorded once. Gain 1 bleeding token.

6 Disemboweled. Your movement is reduced to 1 until the showdown ends. Gain 1 bleeding token. Skip the next hunt. If you suffer disemboweled during a showdown, at least one other survivor must live to the end of that showdown to carry you back to the settlement. Otherwise, at the end of the showdown, you are lost. Dead.

7 Ruptured spleen. A vicious body blow. Skip the next hunt. Gain 2 bleeding tokens.

8 Broken rib. It even hurts to breathe. Suffer -1 permanent speed. This injury is permanent, and can be recorded multiple times. Gain 1 bleeding token.

9 Collapsed lung. You can't catch a breath. Gain -1 movement token. Gain 1 bleeding token.

10+ Bowled over. The blow sends you sprawling and you are knocked down.

Waist

1-2 Final breath. With your last gasp, you utter final words of bravery. Adjacent survivors gain +1 survival. You are dead.

3 Bleeding kidneys. Gain 2 bleeding tokens.

4 Intestinal prolapse. Your gut is gravely injured. You can no longer equip any gear on your waist, as it is too painful to wear. This injury is permanent, and can be recorded once. Gain 1 bleeding token.

5 Warped pelvis. Your pelvis is disfigured. Suffer -1 permanent luck. This injury is permanent, and can be recorded multiple times. Gain 1 bleeding token.

6 Destroyed genitals. You cannot be nominated for the Intimacy story event. This injury is permanent, and can be recorded once. Gain a random disorder. You are knocked down. Gazing upwards, you wonder at the futility of your struggle. Gain +3 insanity. Gain 1 bleeding token.

7 Broken hip. Your hip is dislocated. You can no longer dodge. Suffer -1 permanent movement. This injury is permanent, and can be recorded once. Gain 1 bleeding token.

8 Slashed Back. Making sudden movement is excruciatingly painful. You cannot surge until showdown ends. Gain 1 bleeding token.

9 Bruised Tail-bone. The base of your spine is in agony. You cannot dash until showdown ends. You are knocked down. Gain 1 bleeding token.

10+ Belly-up. The blow sends you sprawling and you are knocked down.

Legs

1 Blood Geyser. Blood shoots from your femoral artery at an alarming rate, killing you in seconds.

2-3 Bleeding. Gain 2 bleeding tokens.

4 Dismembered Leg. Lose a leg. You suffer -2 permanent movement, and can no longer dash. This injury is permanent, and can be recorded twice. A survivor with two dismembered leg severe injuries has lost both of their legs and must retire at the end of the next showdown or settlement phase. Gain 1 bleeding token.

5 Hamstrung. A painful rip. The leg is unusable. You can no longer use any fighting arts or abilities. This injury is permanent, and can be recorded once. Gain 1 bleeding token.

6 Torn Achilles Tendon. Your leg cannot bear your weight. Until the end of the showdown, whenever you suffer light, heavy, or severe injury, you are also knocked down. Skip the next hunt. Gain 1 bleeding token.

7 Torn muscle. Your quadriceps is ripped to shreds. You cannot dash until the showdown ends. Skip the next hunt. Gain 1 bleeding token.

8 Broken Leg. An ear-shattering crunch! Adjacent survivors suffer 1 brain damage. Suffer -1 permanent movement. This injury is permanent, and can be recorded twice. Gain 1 bleeding token.

9 Bloody Thighs. Gain 2 bleeding tokens.

10+ Lost balance. The blow sends you sprawling and you are knocked down.

(Full-page illustration: a graphic, blood-soaked horror scene — a screaming, kneeling nude survivor surrounded by dismembered limbs and a severed head floating in a pool of blood, before a row of towering carved stone faces with gaping mouths; two lit lanterns rest in the gore nearby. This intense illustration serves as a section-divider image preceding the Brain Trauma section.)

Brain Trauma

(This section's background continues the illustration from the preceding divider page — carved stone faces looming over a pool of blood and remains.)

1-2 Mortal Terror. No ifs, ands, or buts, the survivor is dead.

3 Memory loss. Lose 2 levels of weapon proficiency.

4 Flee. You are knocked down and suffer knockback equal to your movement towards the closest board edge. Gain 1d5 insanity.

5-6 Danger seizure. You thrash about wildly, dealing 1 damage to yourself and every adjacent survivor. Gain a random disorder and 1d5 insanity.

7-8 Lunacy. Gain a random disorder and 1d5 insanity.

9 New perspective. You are knocked down and gain 1d10 insanity.

10 Frenzy. Gain 1d5 insanity, +1 speed token and +1 strength token. Ignore slow on melee weapons. You may not spend survival. You may not use fighting arts. You may not use weapon specialization or weapon mastery. Can be gained multiple times. Lasts until end of showdown.

11 Maniacal laughter. You are knocked down. Gain -1 speed token, the priority target token, and 1d5 insanity.

12 Clarity. You are knocked down. Add your current survival to insanity and reduce your survival to 0. Gain a random disorder. If you already have 3 disorders, you die.

13 Impossible! How could this happen! Gain +1d10 survival, +1d10 insanity and +2 luck tokens!

Hunt Events

Hunt Event Table

1 | Broken Lanterns

The survivors hear the crunching of glass beneath their feet. The event revealer may choose to investigate or continue their journey.

If they choose to investigate, the event revealer rolls on the table. Otherwise roll again on the hunt event table before moving on the hunt event board.

1d10	Event revealer
1-3	The event revealer fumbles and cuts their foot on a jagged shard, taking 1 event damage to their legs.
4-8	The event revealer finds a broken lantern basic resource.
9+	The survivors uncover a long-abandoned lantern hoard. The forlorn sight fills them with dread and each survivor suffers 1 brain event damage. After composing themselves, each survivor scavenges 1 broken lantern basic resource from the remains.

2 | Corpse

The survivors are overcome by a sudden chill, their breath seizing in their lungs. The survivors freeze, each losing 1 survival. At the center of the sudden frost is a perfectly preserved corpse.

If your settlement chose the Cannibalize death principle, the event revealer gains 1 random basic resource.

If you chose the Graves death principle, the event revealer gains +1 courage and +1 understanding.

Roll 1d10, on a 6+ the event revealer suffers 1 brain event damage.

3 | Cancer Pigeons

The survivors are surrounded by an echoing coo of infant babble. Strange baby-faced birds circle overhead. Gripped with instinctual horror, the survivors break into a run!

Every survivor must roll 1d10. The lowest scoring survivor (or survivors, in case of ties) becomes a straggler. If any survivor has noisy gear, -2 to the roll result. Each straggler rolls on the table.

1d10	Straggler
1-3	Running and flailing wildly, you suddenly find yourself panicked and alone. The waiting cancer pigeons descend and mercilessly peck your back, their happy cooing filling your head with horror. Your body is stricken with cancerous illness. You cannot gain survival. Record this impairment. The other survivors find you balled up and weeping on the ground.
4-6	A cancer pigeon latches onto your back! Shake it free by spending 1 survival. Otherwise, your body is stricken with cancerous illness. You cannot gain survival. Record this impairment.
7-8	You escape the terrible creatures.
9+	You manage to strike one of the foul creatures down. Gain 1 random basic resource.

4 | Famine

The journey stretches dizzyingly before the survivors. Stomachs grumbling in the dark, the hunt begins to take its toll. The survivors grow weak and anemic. All survivors gain -1 speed token.

5 | Flesh Fields

Ahead, the stone faces on the ground give way to a field of man-sized fleshy boils sprouting thick black hair. The fleshy fields radiate moist heat. As they travel, every survivor suffers heat exhaustion, losing 1 survival.

The event revealer rolls on the table.

1d10	Event revealer
1	The event revealer contracts a flesh-eating disease brushing past the giant boils! A random limb is affected and must be amputated immediately! Roll 1d10, 1-5: arms. 6-10: legs. Suffer the dismembered severe injury at this location.
2-3	If any survivor is insane (3+ insanity), they imagine the flesh fields are attacking! They become hysterical, flailing and tangling themselves in the thick hair. Each insane survivor suffers 1 event damage to a random location.
4-7	It's hot and gross, but the survivors pass through the flesh fields with no complications.
8-9	The event revealer makes the best of a bad situation and cuts a portion of the flesh free. Gain 1 hide basic resource.
10+	Each survivor harvests 1 hide basic resource from the flesh fields.

6 | Faceless Statue

The survivors come upon a faceless statue holding a shining lantern in hand. Basking in the warm light, the survivors are renewed. Each survivor gains 1 survival.

If the survivors wish, they may rest here longer. If they do, the survivors can heal 1 injury level on 1 hit location. If they choose to rest, move the quarry 1 space away from the survivors on the hunt board as they lose track of it.

If all survivors are insane, they cannot rest. Move to the next hunt board space immediately.

7 | Hungry Ground

The ground suddenly splits and a gaping stone mouth attempts to devour the event revealer whole! The event revealer rolls on the table.

1d10	Event revealer
1	With a muffled scream, the survivor disappears into the ground. Bones crunch between stone teeth. The event revealer is devoured whole. The event revealer is dead.
2-5	The event revealer scrambles but their leg is caught in the terrible maw. Suffer 2 event damage to the legs.
6-9	The survivor manages to leap away in time!
10+	Burp! Gurgle! The floor vomits a shiny piece of scrap. The event revealer gains 1 broken lantern basic resource.

8 | Wailing Smoke

A constant moan follows the survivors. Eventually, they enter an area shrouded in thick fog and the wailing reaches a fevered pitch.

Every survivor must roll 1d10. The lowest scoring survivor (or survivors, in case of ties) becomes a straggler. Each straggler rolls on the table. If any survivor has noisy gear, the straggler adds +2 to their roll.

1d10	Straggler
1-3	The fog around the straggler turns black and fills with shapes of tormented faces. The straggler is driven to madness and gains a random disorder. Ignore this if the survivor is deaf.
4-6	The fog grows soupy and begins to wail. The straggler plugs their ears with their fingers, but it's hopeless. Suffer 1 brain event damage. Ignore this if the survivor is deaf.
7-9	The straggler sticks their thumbs into their ears and breaks into a run, leaving the wailing smoke.
10+	Mimicking the disturbing smoke, the straggler starts to wail and gains +1 insanity.

(Illustration: a monstrous, worm-like creature erupting from a barren field, its writhing tendrils covered in a mosaic of small screaming faces, silhouetted against a hazy horizon.)

9 | Golden Light

A golden light blinds the survivors, stopping them in their tracks. The light shines from a single source. The event revealer may investigate or wait for the light to fade.

If they wait, roll again on the hunt event table before moving ahead on the hunt board.

If the event revealer decides to investigate, they gain +1 courage then roll on the table.

1d10	Event revealer
1-3	The light is overpowering. The fragile mind cannot understand what it is saying. Gain 1 random disorder.
4-8	You wander through the light, bathed in a warm, awful feeling. You don't find anything, but suffer 1 brain event damage from exposure.
9+	Something about the light stirs you, and your resolve intensifies. Gain +1 survival.

10 | Harvester

This event cannot be rerolled or avoided in any way.

The ground quakes violently as a colossal worm bursts from the ground beneath the survivors, its skin a mosaic of screaming faces. The mere sight of it is maddening, and all survivors suffer 1 brain event damage. If any survivor has any noisy gear, the Harvester is drawn to the sound and they are instantly devoured whole. All other survivors must spend 1 survival or be devoured. Devoured survivors are dead, gone forever with no hope of recovery.

11 | Monster Droppings

The survivors find some monster droppings. They might be from the beast you are hunting. The event revealer must choose to either investigate or consume the droppings (choose only one).

If the event revealer investigates, roll on the table and gain +1 understanding.

1d10	Event revealer - Investigate
1-3	You have no idea what feces this is, but it's sickening. Suffer -1 survival and roll again on the hunt event table before moving on the hunt board.
4-6	The droppings tell a story. The survivors are on the right track. Continue on the hunt board normally.
7+	You know these droppings well. You may skip the next hunt space.

If the event revealer consumes, roll on the table and gain +1 courage.

1d10	Event revealer - consume
1-3	Bad idea. Gain -1 evasion token.
4-6	It's repulsive. Replace your name with "Scat Man." Everyone in the settlement calls you by that name from now on.
7+	There was something quite special about these feces. Gain +1 speed and +1 strength token until the end of the showdown.

12 | Destiny-Bound

The survivors collectively feel a heightened level of anticipation. Their goal is close at hand. The event revealer gains +1 courage! The survivors may skip the next hunt space. If this move starts the showdown, the survivors ambush the monster.

13 | Overload

The event revealer falls to their knees sobbing uncontrollably. They've simply had too much. Scrambling to understand, the survivor must select to despair or never give up. Announce the choice out loud and roll 1d10.

Consult the result below:

Even result + despair = Gain 1 survival Odd result + despair = Suffer -1 survival Even result + never give up = Gain +1 accuracy token Odd result + never give up = Gain -1 accuracy token

14 | Chance Encounter

The survivors encounter a bewitching, barefoot waif. If all survivors are insane, she turns her back and disappears into the darkness. Roll again on the hunt event table before moving on the hunt board.

Otherwise, exclaiming wildly at the survivors, the Savior's presence fills everyone with the alien feeling of hope. All survivors gain +1 courage and +1 understanding. All injury levels are fully healed. In addition, if the survivors have innovated Symposium, she insists that she will accompany them on their hunt. A random survivor starts the next showdown with a +1 accuracy token.

If this result is rolled again on this hunt, re-roll it.

15 | Man-trap

The event revealer has sprung a terrible trap! Roll on the table.

1d10	Event revealer
1-2	With a terrible crash, the steel jaws of the man-trap cleanly sever your foot. Suffer the dismembered leg severe injury.
3-6	Mangled leg. Reduce armor points at the legs location to 0 and suffer 1 event damage to the legs.
7-9	The trap is quite old and weak, suffer 1 event damage to the legs.
10+	The event revealer's foot knocks into the trap, giving everyone a scare! The trap was already sprung, leaving an unfortunate prize in its jaws. Gain 1 random basic resource.

16 | Night Terrors

Your miserable sleep is plagued with mind-bending nightmares. All survivors must roll 1d10. If their result is equal to or less than that survivor's current insanity, they gain a random disorder. If the result is greater than their insanity, they gain +1 understanding.

17 | Face-to-Face

One stone face in the sea of many catches the event revealer's eye. The event revealer may investigate. Gain +1 courage and roll on the table. Otherwise, roll again on the hunt event table before moving on the hunt board.

1d10	Event revealer
1	The face is identical to your own. Spend 1 survival or reduce your understanding to 0.
2-7	The face reminds you of someone dear, your heart aches with loneliness. If your survival is higher than your insanity, suffer 1 brain event damage.
8+	The face is your own, but older and wiser. Gain 1 survival and 1 understanding.

18 | Dead Weed

You find a strange plant growing from the eyes of a stone face. The survivors try to harvest it by rolling on the table below. If any survivor has the Bone Sickle, add +2 to the result.

1d10	Event revealer
1-7	Try as you might, you cannot pull out the deeply-rooted weed.
8+	You pull the weed free! It has strange regenerative power and may be used to cure all instances of 1 severe injury, even dismembered limbs. It must be used immediately, otherwise it crumples into dust in your hands when you move on. Each survivor may use the curative power once, curing one severe injury.

19 | Exhalation of Darkness

The survivors are enveloped in a steamy darkness that dims their lantern lights. While stumbling in the muggy dark, each survivor suffers from heat exhaustion, losing 1 survival. If any survivor has 0 survival they suffer 1 event damage to a random location.

Every survivor must roll 1d10. The lowest scoring survivor (or survivors, in case of ties) becomes a straggler. Each straggler rolls on the table below.

1d10	Straggler
1-2	A piece of armor is destroyed by the corrosive heat. Archive a gear card of your choice.
3-5	Something unseen attacks you, suffer 1 brain event damage and 1 event damage to a random location.
6-8	You're struck from behind by a flailing survivor, suffer 1 event damage to the head.
9+	You're not sure how, but you leave the darkness with your hands full, gain 1 random basic resource.

20 | Dry Lands

As the survivors press forward, the air turns dry and the ground cracks. Each survivor will suffer from heat exhaustion and lose 1 survival unless they have a piece of gear or resource that is consumable to refresh themselves. Do not archive the item.

21 | Drawings

Cowering in a cave, the survivors find strange drawings decorating the walls. They appear to carry a message. Any survivor with 3+ understanding may try to decipher the drawings by rolling on the table. If your settlement has innovated Pictographs, add +2 to the result.

1d10	Any survivor with 3+ understanding
1-3	Your nose begins to bleed. Suffer 1 brain event damage.
4-7	The true meaning escapes you. Gain +1 insanity.
8+	The drawings teach you a secret way to fight monsters! Gain 2 survival.

22 | Acid Rain

The darkness above is suddenly alight with a storm of acid rain. It smells terrible, burns flesh, and begins to form hissing pools in the upturned mouths of the stone faces. All survivors suffer 1 event damage to every hit location as they scramble to find shelter.

23 | Clean Water

The survivors pass a forlorn fountain in the shape of a lion face. A stream of crystal clear water flows from its mouth. Each survivor consumes the water. Gain 1 courage and 1 survival. In addition, each survivor may douse their head in the water and roll on the table.

1d10	Any survivor
1-2	Your hair turns white the instant it is wet. Gain 1 random disorder.
3-5	Your head is wet. Nothing else happens.
6-8	The water is bracing. Gain +1 understanding or remove a disorder.
9+	The water is shockingly cold - it rushes over you like a tidal wave and leaves you awestruck. Set your insanity to 0 and remove all disorders.

24 | Food from the Mouths of Others

The survivors pass a stone face that appears to be holding something in its mouth. The event revealer investigates. Gain 1 courage and roll on the table.

1d10	Event revealer
1-2	You yell out in pain and pull your hand back, revealing a bloody gash. Did the stone face just bite? Suffer 1 brain event damage and 1 event arm damage.
3-5	Just a trick of the lantern light.
6-8	More rocks, what did you expect? Gain a Founding Stone card.
9+	You pull out a masticated mass. Gain 1 random basic resource and 2 insanity.

25 | Titans in the Dark

(Illustration: a close-up, shadowy view of a colossal, shaggy monster's face in the darkness, illuminated by a faint glow.)

An ear-shattering bellow marks the passing of a truly titanic beast. All survivors suffer 1 brain event damage. The survivors cower on the ground, lying as flat as possible and hoping they are simply too small to be worth eating.

1d10	Straggler
1	You're plucked from the ground and eaten whole. Dead.
2-4	Something snatches you in its great maw and chews you for 1 event damage to 1d5 random hit locations.
5-6	The clamping jaws barely nip you! Suffer 1 event damage to a random hit location.
7-9	You make yourself extra flat against the ground and avoid anything terrible.
10+	You never stop running from what you saw. Gain +1 permanent movement.

26 | Pit

The ground beneath the event revealer's feet gives way, and they plummet into a pit below. The event revealer rolls on the table.

1d10	Event revealer
1	The fall mangles your legs. Suffer the broken leg severe injury twice.
2-3	Your leg breaks your fall. Suffer the broken leg severe injury once.
4-6	You land at the bottom with a loud thud. Suffer 2 event damage to a random hit location and archive any fragile gear in your gear grid.
7-9	You land at the bottom with a soft thud. Suffer 1 event damage to a random hit location.
10+	You manage to grab the edge of the pit and escape unharmed.

27 | Man-Stealers

Exhausted, the survivors rest. During their fitful sleep, a small insect creature approaches undetected. Choose 1 random male survivor and roll on the table. If there are no male survivors, nothing happens.

1d10	Random male survivor
1-5	When you awake, your genitals have been stolen. In their place is nothing but smooth skin. Suffer the destroyed genitals severe injury.
6+	You awake with a start, terrified to find menacing pincers approaching. Your defenses are quick. Without thinking, you wallop the insect crawling on your pants, suffering 1 event damage to the waist.

28 | Trollbird

A rumpled, unsightly bird stands in the survivors' path. Its beady, wet eyes blink expectantly and it calls out with an eerie human chuckle. The survivors may archive 1 consumable item or gear, offering it to the trollbird. If any survivor is insane, they must feed the Trollbird if they have anything consumable. If they feed the Trollbird, it hops off with a terrible cackle.

If they don't feed the Trollbird, it follows the survivors on their hunt, constantly mocking them with its chuckle. Roll 1d10. Apply the results when the showdown begins.

1d10	Event revealer
1-5	The Trollbird makes a terrible racket, alerting the monster. The monster ambushes the survivors. All survivors gain +1 understanding.
6+	The Trollbird mocks and distracts the monster as the survivors sneak up. The survivors ambush the monster. All survivors gain +1 insanity.

(Illustration: a scrawny, ungainly bird with wild plumage taunting two survivors on a barren plain.)

29 | Dark Blacksmith

The survivors cross paths with a tall, unnaturally thin man in a hooded robe. Where his feet strike the ground, sparks illuminate his path.

Each survivor with 3+ courage may give him one piece of gear and roll on the table.

1d10	Any survivor with 3+ courage
1-2	The creature raises the object to its mouth and eats it. It's gone. Archive the gear card.
3-6	The creature places the gear into the darkness of its robe then returns it, hissing angrily. Suffer 1 brain event damage.
7-8	The creature unhinges its jaw and eats the piece of gear. In return, it hands you a shining shield. Gain the Steel Shield rare gear.
9+	The creature unhinges its jaw and eats the piece of gear. In return, it hands you a shining sword. Gain the Steel Sword rare gear.

30 | Rotten Faces

The stone faces start to give under the survivors' feet. The faces are bloated and smell terrible. Each survivor must roll on the table.

1d10	Each survivor
1-2	Your foot gets stuck and you quickly begin to sink into the ground. After a struggle you manage to break free. If your survivor had leg armor, it is lost in the muck. Archive the gear.
3-5	Mired, you struggle to break free! Roll again on this table or spend 1 survival to escape.
6-9	You escape without incident.
10+	You find something gross drudging through the rot! Gain 1 random basic resource.

31 | Strange Path

The survivors stop at the head of a path. Small lanterns twinkle, marking its edges.

The event revealer decides if the survivors follow the path. If the event revealer is insane (3+ insanity), they must follow the path. If the survivors follow the path, roll on the table below, adding the event revealer's understanding to the result.

Otherwise roll again on the hunt event table before moving on the hunt board.

1d10	Event revealer
1	A colossal finger descends from above, crushing a random survivor. They suffer 2 event damage to every hit location.
2-4	A random survivor tears off hysterically along a branch in the path. When this event ends, they rejoin the other survivors, ghostly pale and with no recollection of what happened. Reduce their survival to 0.
5-7	The path twists and turns dizzyingly into the dark. All survivors suffer 1 brain event damage, then roll again, adding +2 to the result.
8-9	The path leads the survivors to a large stone face with lanterns for eyes. Inside its open mouth is a bounty. Each survivor gains 1 random basic resource.
10+	The path leads to the beast you are hunting! The survivors ambush the monster—start the showdown immediately.

32 | Sudden Madness

The event revealer is devastated by a piercing cacophony in their head. Roll 1d10. If the result is equal to or less than the revealer's current insanity they go mad, lashing out at the other survivors!

All other survivors suffer 1 event damage to a random hit location. After the damage is dealt, the event revealer regains control and everyone warily moves on.

33 | It Whispers Your Name

The event revealer trips over a protruding nose in the ground. The lips of a stone face begin to move!

If the survivor has no name, the lips stop moving and nothing else happens. Otherwise, the lips seductively whisper the survivor's name.

If that survivor is insane they are drawn in, savagely kissing the face. Repulsed and outraged, the other survivors suffer 1 brain event damage before pulling the crazed survivor from the ground and moving on. If the survivor is not insane, they gain +1 understanding.

34 | Crippling Misery

Every survivor must roll 1d10. The lowest-scoring survivor (or survivors, in case of ties) becomes a straggler.

Any straggler is overcome with a crippling misery and loneliness, suffering 2 brain event damage.

35 | Broken Lantern Oven

The survivors come across the shattered ruins of a small settlement. Scattered corpses dot the ruins, disintegrating at the merest touch. An extinguished lantern oven stands intact at the center of the settlement.

If any survivor has 3+ understanding, the survivors' settlement gains the Lantern Oven innovation. If they already have this innovation, the event revealer harvests a broken lantern basic resource from the remains.

If no survivor has 3+ understanding, the sight throws the survivors into a fit of rage, and they smash the lantern oven. All survivors gain +1 insanity.

36 | On the Trail

The survivors rush forward, feeling their quarry close at hand. Skip the next hunt space. If this move begins the showdown, the survivors ambush their quarry. If any survivor has noisy gear, the survivors do not ambush. Start the showdown normally.

37 | Lost

The survivors are hopelessly lost in the unbroken darkness. Move the survivors 2 spaces away from their quarry.

(Illustration: two survivor figures, ghostly and translucent, wandering in confusion against a blank white void.)

38 | Gregalope

A massive Antelope stands astride the horizon, its ancient body bloated with tumors and scar tissue. Its milky eyes catch sight of the survivors and it bounds away. Driven by a sudden desire, the survivors give chase. The event revealer rolls 1d10 and adds any base speed attribute to the result.

1d10	Event revealer
1	The survivors quickly fall behind the majestic beast. Move 1 space away from the quarry on the hunt board.
2-9	The Gregalope is far too fast. It is gone before you know it.
10-11	The survivors lose sight of the Gregalope but discover a hidden path. You may re-roll the next result on the hunt event table.
12+	Just before it leaps out of view, the Gregalope bows its mighty antlers. The event revealer gains +1 permanent movement.

39 | Heavy Mist

A heavy mist envelops the survivors, obscuring their lantern light. Roll 1d10. If the result is even, the survivors stumble in the right direction. Next hunt turn, move normally on the hunt board. If the result is odd, the survivors are turned around. Roll again on the hunt event table before moving on the hunt board.

If the showdown begins in the hunt board space following Heavy Mist, the monster ambushes the survivors.

40 | Dream

The event revealer has a dream of the upcoming hunt. They stand before the great beast, weapon ready, but it strikes them down.

If the event revealer has 3+ courage, emboldened by the dream, the event revealer gains +1 evasion token. Otherwise, the dream is merely rattling, suffer 1 brain event damage.

41 | Nightmare

The event revealer has a dream of the upcoming hunt. They stand before the great beast, weapon ready, but it strikes them down.

If the event revealer has 3+ courage, the dream is merely rattling. Suffer 1 brain event damage. Otherwise, crippled with anxiety, the event revealer gains -1 evasion token.

42 | Surgeon

A creaky carriage approaches the survivors. Richly appointed in red and gold, the carriage is carved on every side with lurid faces. A massive eye adorns the front, while the door of the carriage is a waiting open mouth.

Out of a small window, a gnarled hand beckons. A survivor with 3+ courage may choose to enter the wagon. They may immediately remove one impairment or severe injury (even if it is permanent) and gain one random disorder.

43 | Fresh Kill

Circling carrion birds point the survivors to a freshly-killed monster. The local scavengers try to defend their dinner, but the survivors can fight them off to claim their prize.

Each survivor rolls 2d10 and adds their hunt experience to the result. The highest-scoring survivor slays the most scavengers and claims the putrid prize for themselves. Gain 1 random basic resource.

44 | Opportunists

While investigating their quarry's tracks, the survivors realize they are hunting not one but two monsters. The two sets of tracks soon separate, leaving the event revealer to pick which tracks to follow.

If they follow the larger tracks, continue hunting as normal. If they follow the smaller tracks, start the showdown immediately. At the start of the showdown the monster suffers 5 wounds. If the survivors are victorious, they gain half the basic resources and half the monster resources (rounded up) from rewards in the aftermath.

45 | Jagged Valley

A valley of sharp white stones opens before the survivors like a toothy maw. As the survivors push and climb through the jagged spires, they find even the shallowest cuts bleed without stopping. Each survivor takes 1 event damage to their body. In addition, if they aren't carrying a bandage item, they suffer blood loss, gaining 2 bleeding tokens.

Each survivor may spend 1 survival to avoid getting cut.

46 | River

The survivors come to the edge of a river. They must fan out to pick up the trail again. Each survivor may consume from the river and roll on the table below. Roll once more on the hunt event table before moving on the hunt board as you try to find your quarry.

1d10	Any survivor
1-2	The water is filled with all manner of vile things. Your body is ravaged by parasites. From now on, when you consume, receive no benefits and suffer no penalties. Record this impairment.
3-5	Your prey has defecated in the water. Suffer 1 event damage to a random hit location as you lay retching on the riverbank.
6-9	The water is almost clean. Heal 1 injury level from any hit location.
10+	The river is filled with the bloated corpses of unrecognizable monsters. Fishing in the muck, you contract dysentery. Gain 1 random basic resource and reduce your survival to 1.

47 | Banquet Trees

A small copse of trees rises over an otherwise lifeless plain. Enticing red fruit hangs from the branches. Each survivor must spend 1 survival to resist temptation. Insane survivors may not spend survival to resist. Otherwise, roll 1d10, resisting on a result of 7+.

If they fail, survivors eat from the banquet trees and become addicted to the fruit, refusing to leave. Suffer -1 survival, then roll again to resist. If a survivor with 0 survival fails to resist, they suffer 2 event damage to a random location and roll again to resist.

The survivors move on when no more survivors are eating the fruit.

48 | Death Wager

The survivors are awoken by a traveler hidden in a deep cloak. The traveler removes his hood to reveal a face whose jaw has been split in two. Two chins curve away from each other, each with its own mouth.

In a dreamlike state, the survivors all understand this entity is known as The Gambler and if they speak they will die. Until this event is completed, only the event revealer can speak. If any other player speaks, their survivor turns cold and is dead.

The survivors must play The Gambler's game or be trapped with him forever. Each player must roll on the table.

1d10	All survivors
1	The Gambler reaches out his hand and scoops up your dice. As it vanishes within a fold of his cloak, you feel all traces of air leave your lungs and are unable to draw another breath. Dead.
2-9	You do not lose, nor do you win. Play again if you wish. If you do, roll again on the table.
10+	You win. Gain +1 permanent luck.

49 | Oil Fields

The landscape is dotted with large red mounds oozing oil. The smallest spark threatens to ignite the foul-smelling mounds. Roll 1d10. On a result of 1 or 2, the fields ignite and all survivors take 1 event damage to a random hit location.

50 | Gibbet

A crude iron cage swings from the branches of a massive tree. As the survivors approach, a man calls out to them from the cage, pleading to be freed. The survivors may pass him by and suffer 1 brain event damage as the prisoner weeps and pleads. If the survivors choose to free him, the event revealer rolls on the table.

1d10	Event revealer
1	The survivors open the cage but all they find inside is a skeleton. All survivors suffer 2 brain event damage.
2-7	The prisoner is thankful and follows the survivors until they rest. When they wake, each survivor loses 1 random resource (if they had any).
8+	The prisoner is grateful and follows the survivors home after the showdown. The settlement gains +1 population.

51 | Refugees

The survivors encounter a group of fleeing settlers. If the survivors have innovated Symposium, they may offer the refugees a piece of gear or a resource. If they do, archive the offering.

If the survivors gave the refugees an offering, they will stop to tell their mournful tale about the monster that besieged them. Now prepared for what lies ahead, at the start of the showdown, reveal the first 5 AI cards from the quarry's AI deck and put them back in any order.

52 | Madflies

Tiny, persistent insects swarm the survivors, flying into their ears and nostrils. The bugs buzz maddeningly in their heads, growing louder as they near their quarry.

At the start of the showdown, the madflies reach a frenzied peak as the survivors prepare for battle. For the first 3 rounds of the showdown, the survivors gain +2 strength tokens and suffer 1 brain damage at the beginning of each round.

On the fourth round, the gestating eggs hatch, exploding from the survivors' mouths in a cloud of buzzing chaos, knocking them down. Remove the strength tokens.

53 | Mask Salesman

The survivors meet a traveling Mask Salesman on the road. He insists that he has special wares to offer.

Take one copy of each mask from the Mask Maker gear and shuffle them, drawing one at random. This is the mask the salesman is offering.

The event revealer rolls 1d10 to determine the price on the table and gains the mask.

1d10	Event revealer
1-3	The salesman silently points at you. Instinctively, you hand him his asking price in exchange for the mask. Archive 1 gear from your gear grid and reduce your survival to 0.
4-7	The salesman silently points at you. Instinctively, you hand him his asking price in exchange for the mask. Archive 1 gear from your gear grid.
8+	As he imparts the mask to you, the salesman's lips form the sounds of the survivor's name. It is gone. In exchange for the mask, give your survivor a new name (must be different) and +1 survival for naming your survivor.

54 | Bone Storm

Mighty windstorms often blow across the open plains. Occasionally they grow so strong that they collect chips of stones and skeletal remains in their shearing depths. The survivors may brave the storm. If they do, each survivor suffers 1 event damage to 3 random hit locations, gains +1 courage, and archives all fragile gear.

Otherwise, the survivors take shelter from the biting winds. You must roll twice on the hunt event table before moving on the hunt board.

55 | Mudslide

A flash mudslide sweeps the survivors away. Each survivor must roll on the table.

1d10	Each survivor
1-2	You're swept along, drowning in mud. Suffer 2 event damage to a random hit location and archive all fragile gear in your gear grid. Roll again on the table.
3-7	You manager to scramble free, but not before taking a serious beating. Suffer 2 event damage to your body and archive all fragile gear in your gear grid.
8-9	You reach higher ground. You're caked in mud, but otherwise unscathed.
10+	You remember being pulled under, the sensation of mud forcing itself down your throat, then nothing else. After the mudslide passes, the other survivors find you unharmed. Gain 1 insanity.

56 | Dead Monster

The survivors find a rotting monster corpse of the same kind they are hunting. While the corpse is too rotten to be of any use, if any survivor has 3+ understanding, the survivors can cover themselves in the dead monster's spilled blood. The stench will help the survivors sneak up on their quarry. If the survivors move into their quarry's hunt board space, they ambush.

If no survivors have 3+ understanding, the starving survivors feast on the rotting corpse. All survivors lose control of their twisting guts. Each survivor gains -1 strength token and no one can consume any items during the next showdown.

57 | Gorm's Laughter

The rhythmic wail of a Gorm's laughter reaches the survivors, filling them with fear. The Gorm's laughter will follow the survivors, tormenting them until they reach their quarry. Place 1 token on every remaining hunt board space. When survivors move into a space with a token, remove the token and all survivors suffer 1 brain event damage.

58 | Scent on the Wind

A strong wind blows, bringing with it the scents of distant places and things. The event revealer rolls on the table.

1d10	Event revealer
1-5	The monster catches your scent. It moves one space closer. If this movement starts the showdown, the monster ambushes the survivors.
6+	The survivors smell their quarry's foul odor and surge forward. The survivors may skip the next hunt space. If this movement starts the showdown, the survivors ambush the monster. If any survivor has noisy gear, the survivors do not ambush. Start the showdown normally.

59 | Signs of Battle

The survivors come upon the remains of a terrible battle between their quarry and some unknown foe. The event revealer may choose to investigate. If they do, gain +1 courage and roll on the table. Otherwise, roll again on the hunt event table before moving on the hunt board.

1d10	Event revealer
1-2	The monster springs out of the dark, taking advantage of the distracted survivors. The showdown begins immediately and the monster ambushes the survivors. In addition, during showdown setup, place the event revealer directly in front of the monster.
3-7	The remains are human. Filled with sadness and anger, each survivor suffers 1 brain event damage. If the survivors chose Graves as their death principle they bury the dead, and each survivor gains +1 survival. If they chose Cannibalize as their death principle, gain 1 random basic resource.
8+	The remains of the tremendous beast prove useful. The event revealer gains 1 random basic resource.

60 | Wildfire

A massive wall of flame confronts the survivors. Beyond it, a path of destruction. Archive any hunt event cards in the next 2 hunt spaces. The fire has destroyed whatever awaited the survivors.

The next 2 hunt spaces will be especially chaotic. Roll twice on the hunt event table before moving through each hunt board space, resolving each event one at a time.

61 | Frozen Lightning

A storm sweeps over the survivors. Deep purple lightning flashes overhead. The bolts freeze in mid-strike and rain down on the survivors as jagged, glowing spikes.

Every survivor must roll 1d10. The lowest scoring survivor (or survivors, in case of ties) becomes a straggler.

The straggler is caught in an explosion of razor sharp crystals as a bolt crashes beside them. Suffer 1 event damage to 2 random hit locations, and archive all fragile gear in the survivor's gear grid.

62 | Space Between the Rocks

The survivors find themselves distracted by a dark crack in the stone face floor. Every survivor must roll 1d10. The lowest scoring survivor (or survivors, in case of ties) becomes a straggler. Unable to tear themselves away, the straggler stoops to gaze into the depths until the other survivors drag them away. Whatever the straggler glimpsed changes them forever. Gain a random disorder. If all the survivors end up as stragglers, the entire party is lost. Dead.

(Illustration: a low, dome-shaped stone mound ringed with sinewy, root-like tendrils, sitting on a barren plain.)

63 | Feet

The stone faces ahead are replaced by an expanse of stone feet sprouting from the ground. The survivors walk sole-to-sole with the feet.

If any survivor is insane they are convinced they have reached the underside of the world. Terrified of falling off, they grab hold of the ground for dear life, slowing the party and attracting unwanted attention. Roll once on the hunt event table for each insane survivor before moving on the hunt board. If any of these rolls result in Feet again, ignore and re-roll.

If all survivors are insane, they fall off the underside of the world. Dead.

64 | Stone Fountain

A pair of cupped stone hands rise out of the ground. The hands hold clear, cold water that trickles through the stone fingers in a seemingly endless supply. Any survivor may choose to consume from the fountain. Gain +1 courage and roll on the table. Any survivor with binge eating disorder must consume.

If no one consumes, roll again on the hunt event table before moving on the hunt board.

1d10	Any survivor
1-4	The water is clear until it passes the survivor's lips, where it turns to blood. You spit out the foul liquid and suffer 1 brain event damage. Survivors with hemophobia disorder suffer 1 event damage to their body as they vomit violently in disgust.
5-8	It's water. Refreshing.
9+	The water is clean and pure, like none the survivor has ever tasted. Gain +1 survival.

65 | Statue

Cresting a hill, the survivors find a statue of a man sitting on a throne. If any survivor has 9+ understanding, the survivors walk past without incident. Otherwise, every survivor must roll 1d10. The lowest scoring survivor (roll-off in case of ties) becomes a straggler.

The straggler is drawn to the statue, touching it gently. In an instant, the straggler is gone and replaced by the man from the throne, who is now flesh and blood. The straggler sits in his place on the throne, stone mouth open in a silent yell.

The man offers his thanks and joins the hunting party without explanation. The straggler is dead, replaced by a new survivor with the straggler's gear, a random weapon specialization, 2 random disorders, and 2 Hunt XP.

66 | Forbidden Word

There is a great rush of air followed by a booming voice. A word is spoken in an unknown language by an inhuman voice. Just for an instant, the survivors understand.

All non-deaf survivors gain +1 understanding and suffer 1 brain event damage. Insane non-deaf survivors also gain 1 random disorder.

67 | Saliva Pools

The ground ahead is pockmarked with pools filled with a gooey liquid. The pools bubble merrily and stink of digesting meat. As the survivors move between the pools, they are overcome by waves of nausea.

Each survivor rolls 1d10. If the result is less than their current survival, they continue on.

If the result is greater than their survival, they vomit into a nearby pool suffering 1 event damage to the body and gain +1 understanding. They witness the pool greedily dissolve their vomit.

If any survivor has 3+ understanding, they devise a way to use the pools. Each survivor may place one gear in a pool. Archive the item, it is lost. The survivor gains the resources used to craft that gear.

(Illustration: a hooded, robed figure crouched on the ground, examining or reaching toward something near their feet, with scattered birds nearby.)

68 | Familiar Faces

If the settlement has not lost any survivors yet, ignore this event and roll again on the hunt event table.

Otherwise, every survivor must roll 1d10. The lowest scoring survivor (or survivors, in case of ties) become a straggler.

While examining the stone faces underfoot, the straggler recognizes the face of a fallen friend. Bittersweet memories bring the straggler to tears. Reduce insanity to 0 and gain +1 understanding.

69 | Time Lapse

The survivors experience a blinding pressure in their skulls. Roll on the table.

1d10	Event revealer
1-2	All survivors suffer 1 brain event damage.
3-9	The survivors are dragged into the past. Move 1 space back on the hunt board and roll hunt table events for the next space as normal. If this is the first hunt event space, nothing happens.
10+	The survivors are flung into their future. Move two spaces ahead on the hunt board, skipping any events in those spaces. If they reach or pass over their quarry, start the showdown immediately and the astonished survivors ambush the monster.

70 | Tomb of Excellence

The survivors find a serene, luxurious tomb, immaculate in its construction and condition. Elegant murals decorate the walls, depicting glorious victories over the very monster the survivors are hunting. The survivors are baffled by its presence. Roll on the table.

1d10	Event revealer
1	The survivors experience a false sense of confidence in their hunt and lose 1 survival each.
2-6	It's nice to see something pretty for once, huh? Nothing happens.
7-9	The survivors can't remember the last time they felt this cheerful and inspired. Each survivor gains +1 courage.
10+	The sight is invigorating. Gain +1 courage. At the start of the showdown, the monster suffers 1 wound.

71 | Found Relic

Amidst the endless stone faces, the event revealer notices an unusual object on the ground. Roll on the table.

1d10	Event revealer
1-2	You find a weathered purple stone with a swirling texture. It is shockingly heavy. Mesmerized by the stone, you hide it from the other survivors. Gain -1 movement token as you lug the stone around.
3-7	You find a stone heart that pulses with warmth as you hold it in your hands. Gain +1 insanity.
8-9	Useless junk litters the ground.
10+	You find a glittering relic of forgotten knowledge. If you return to the settlement, the relic's secrets are revealed. At the start of the next Settlement phase, draw 3 innovations from the innovation deck and add one to your settlement at no cost. Return the other innovations to the deck and shuffle.

72 | Something to Pass the Time

If the survivors have not innovated Symposium, ignore this event and roll again on the hunt event table.

If the survivors have innovated Symposium, the event revealer suggests a word game to lighten the mood as the survivors trudge forward. Roll on the table.

1d10	Event revealer
1-2	The survivors' boisterous voices attract their quarry and the monster ambushes them.
3-7	No one else is in the mood for game. The event revealer loses 1 courage.
8-9	The survivors play the simple but entertaining game, gaining 1 courage each.
10+	The game is astonishingly fun, and the survivors' spirits soar with laughter. Roll 1d10 for each survivor. If the result is 6+, that survivor can cure 1 disorder or gain 1 survival.

73 | Wailing Fire

The survivors hear a terrible shrieking in the distance. The event revealer may investigate. If they do, all survivors gain +1 courage. They come upon a towering pyre burning intensely. The wail from the fire rattles their skulls. All survivors suffer 1 brain event damage.

If they do not investigate, roll again on the hunt event table before moving on the hunt board.

74 | Antler-Gouged

A great battle of dominance between two enormous antelope has left the stone-faced ground gouged with criss-crossing scars. Each survivor must roll on the table below.

1d10	Each survivor
1-2	The survivor trips over the jagged ground, hurting their leg. Gain the torn muscle severe leg injury.
3-8	The survivor treads carefully over the destroyed faces.
9+	The survivor finds a loosened stone. Gain a Founding Stone gear.

75 | Oops!

Stumbling through the darkness, the event revealer's lantern swings wildly, bumping against their body. The living light inside the lantern becomes agitated by the survivor's clumsiness, burning 1 piece of gear. The event revealer must archive 1 gear card of their choice.

76 | Dream the Way

The survivors dream vivid fevered visions of the hunt ahead. All at once, they awake with a start and frantically compare the horrors they foresaw.

Each survivor rolls 1d10. If any result is the same, those survivors discover they had the very same dream. Each gain +1 insanity.

If the duplicate results are also 10, once during this hunt phase the survivors may re-roll a roll result.

77 | Sinkhole

A gaping sinkhole suddenly opens under the survivors, revealing a swirling black pool of ichor below.

Each survivor must roll 1d10. The lowest scoring survivor (or survivors, in case of ties) become a straggler. Each straggler rolls on the table below.

If any survivor has a whip weapon, it can be used to aid the straggler. Add +2 to the result of this roll.

1d10	Straggler
1	You are swallowed by the sinkhole. You are pulled to the surface moments later, but completely naked, your gear hopelessly lost in the miasma. Archive all gear in your gear grid.
2-4	The other survivors haul you up, but not before 1 piece of gear is sucked below the surface. Archive 1 gear of your choice from the gear grid.
5-9	You are dragged to safety, terrified but unharmed.
10+	After a monumental effort, the other survivors pull you free and find someone else clinging tightly to your feet (+1 population). Each survivor suffers 1 brain event damage.

78 | Dead Great Game Hunter

The survivors find a corpse dressed in brightly-colored clothing, clutching something to its chest. The event revealer may choose to investigate. If they do, they gain +1 courage and roll on the table.

Otherwise, roll again on the hunt event table before moving on the hunt board.

1d10	Event revealer
1	He was holding an explosive. Moving it causes it to detonate. It blows off the event revealer's hand. Gain the dismembered arm severe injury.
2-4	He was holding an explosive. It explodes but the event revealer pulls away before disaster strikes. Gain -1 accuracy token.
5-9	His hands are empty. If your settlement chose Cannibalize as their death principle, gain 1 random basic resource. If your settlement chose Graves as their death principle, the event revealer gains +1 understanding.
10+	His hands contain a jeweled bottle filled with a chartreuse liquid. The event revealer gains 1 Frenzy Drink gear.

79 | Dying Small Prospector

Slumped against a large stone face, the survivors find a small, dying prospector riddled with arrows. As they approach, he growls a warning, threatening them with a huge stone shard. When he sees that they are not evil monsters, he calms down and gives them a key. With his dying breath he says:

This is the key to the portcullis. Without it, you will never get through.

Record the Portcullis Key in the settlement record sheet notes.

80 | Lovelorn Rock

The survivors pass a ring of stones with an unassuming boulder at the center. Every survivor must roll 1d10. The lowest scoring survivor (randomize in case of ties) becomes a straggler.

The straggler is smitten with the rock. They heft the boulder (it's heavy!) and carry it everywhere. Forever in love, the straggler loses one gear slot permanently to the rock. This survivor must always leave one gear space empty to hold their rock. The rock can be lost like normal gear. Record this on your survivor sheet.

(Illustration: two hunched, burdened figures trudging forward under heavy loads, one appearing to strain against ropes or restraints.)

81 | Scattered Lanterns

Four lanterns lay discarded in the survivors' path. Each survivor may spend 1 survival to gain +1 understanding.

If any survivor has 3+ understanding, they suffer 1 brain event damage as they ponder who left the lanterns and why.

82 | Consuming Grass

Vibrant green grass grows in patches ahead of the survivors. Closer inspection of the delicate leaves reveals them to be as sharp as any fine blade. Carefully picking their way past the verdant hazards, a random survivor stumbles and becomes the straggler. Roll on the table.

1d10	Straggler
1	The survivor lands in the grass patch. Quickly climbing to their feet, they realize it's too late. The parts of their body that touched the ground are sprouted with sharp grass blades. Any attempt to remove the grass spreads it further over the survivor's body. The monster treats the afflicted survivor as if they are already dead. The monster cannot target the survivor or trigger any reactions when the survivor attacks. At the end of the showdown, this survivor dies.
2-9	The survivor falls, but dexterously manages to avoid touching the grass with bare skin. One gear item does fall in. Archive 1 gear of your choice or keep it and treat this result as if you rolled a 1 on this table.
10+	The survivor stops their fall before it's too late.

83 | Flesh Monolith

The survivors approach a 5-sided monolith made of flesh that stretches into the darkness overhead. Limbs and faces of humans and creatures alike protrude from all sides. Roll on the table.

1d10	Event revealer
1	The limbs of the monolith spring to life, grabbing you and tearing you limb from limb, joining the parts of your body to the monolith with maddening efficiency as you are ripped apart in a shower of gore. Dead. All other survivors' courage is reduced to 0 and they suffer 3 brain event damage.
2-4	Hands and tentacles grasp at you. Spend 1 survival or treat this result as if you rolled a 1 on this table.
5-9	All survivors are driven back with horror, suffering 1 brain event damage.
10+	A dead survivor is reborn. The monolith rushes into the ground, leaving a previously fallen survivor in its place. Take a record sheet of a dead survivor and resurrect them with only a Founding Stone and Cloth gear. The reborn survivor may accompany the survivors on the hunt or return to the settlement (+1 population). When they die, they rot away into mush and form a new Flesh Monolith, leaving no corpse behind. If the survivors have never lost anyone, nothing happens.

84 | Scribe's Book

A huge, ornately-bound book lays open before the survivors. If the survivors' settlement has innovated Pictographs, any survivor with 3+ courage may write their name in the book. If any survivor has 3+ courage and is insane, they must write.

Roll on the table below, adding your understanding to the result. If no one writes in the book, roll again on the hunt event table before moving on the hunt board.

1d10	Any survivor
1-4	As you finish writing your survivor's name you know that you did something terribly wrong. Your survivor vanishes from history. They are dead. Archive their gear.
5-8	Nothing happens.
9-10	As you write your name, you feel restored. Heal all injury levels and lost armor points. Gain +2 survival.
11-14	You feel assured that as long as your name is in the book nothing bad can happen to you. Choose to gain two of the following: +2 courage, +2 understanding, or +2 survival.
15+	You leave an undeniable mark on the world. You feel more substantial. Gain +1 understanding, +1 courage, +1 survival, +1 permanent speed, and +1 permanent strength.

85 | Test of Courage

Lava flows from the eyes of a huge, grimacing stone face. Its gritted teeth appear to hold a worn sword.

If there are any survivors with 6+ courage, choose one to brave the lava and gain the Adventure Sword gear. Each settlement may only possess one Adventure Sword.

If no survivor gains the sword, roll again on the hunt event table before moving on the hunt board.

(Illustration: a great sword embedded upright in a curled, fur-covered mound, with decorative swirling ornaments at its base.)

86 | Quarantine Camp

The survivors smell the camp long before they see it. A squalid collection of tents and dirt hovels, the camp is all that remains of families exiled from their village when they contracted a strange disease.

Each survivor rolls 1d10. On a result of 1 or 2, they catch the foul rotting disease of the exiles and gain the leprosy impairment. From now on, reduce all damage suffered by 1 to a minimum of 1. When rolling on the severe injury table, -2 to any result. Record this impairment.

87 | Weeping Faces

Water flows from the eyes of the surrounding stone faces, gathering in a small pool. Any survivor may choose to consume from the pool and roll on the table below. Add +2 to the result if the survivor has 3+ understanding.

Insane survivors begin to weep uncontrollably. If any survivor is insane, roll again on the hunt event table before moving on the hunt board.

1d10	Any survivor
1-3	The water is salty and sour. You can't help thinking about what you might be drinking. Suffer 1 brain event damage.
4-6	Refreshing. Nothing happens.
7-8	The water is cleaner than most. You may heal up to 2 injury levels on any one hit location.
9+	The water is invigorating. Gain +1 speed token.

88 | The Sword and the Statue

A statue twice as tall as any man sits before a great anvil with a hammer in each of its six hands. Transfixed, the survivors watch the statue beat a red-hot sword that lies across the anvil.

Each survivor, starting with the event revealer and moving clockwise, may attempt once to grab the sword from the anvil. If a survivor makes an attempt, they gain +1 courage and roll on the table, adding their hunt experience to the result. End the event if a survivor successfully takes the sword.

1d10	Any survivor
1-2	As you get close to the anvil, the statue grabs hold of the sword and plunges it into your body. There is a sharp hiss as the hot metal cools in your blood. You are dead.
3-8	You make a quick grab for the sword, but not quick enough. Gain the dismembered severe arm injury.
9-13	You may not be quick enough to grab the sword, but at least you're not foolish enough to lose your hand trying.
14+	Your speed is legendary. Gain the Muramasa gear.

89 | Cleaner Birds

Tiny ragged birds with needle-thin beaks fly overhead.

Every survivor must roll 1d10. The lowest-scoring survivor (roll off in case of ties) becomes a straggler.

The birds swarm the straggler. One bird forces its way into the straggler's mouth and down their throat. The straggler vomits up the well-fed bird, their insides scrambled and scarred. Suffer -1 permanent speed and +1 permanent luck.

90 | Light on the Horizon

The survivors hear a screeching howl, followed by a crash, and finally an explosion of multicolored light on the horizon. The unnatural light illuminates the survivors' way. The survivors may re-roll the next result on the hunt event table.

If all survivors are insane, they turn away from the light, walking into the darkness. Move the survivors 2 spaces away from their quarry on the hunt board.

(Illustration: two clasped hands, rendered in warm reddish tones, painted in a folk-art style against a swirling background.)

91 | The Beginning

The survivors stumble upon the scene of their settlement's first hunt. Whether they've seen it themselves or heard of it through stories, they immediately recognize it. Seeing the spot of their settlement's first triumph is electrifying. Each survivor gains +1 survival. If the settlement has innovated Saga, each survivor gains +1 courage. If the settlement has innovated Storytelling, each survivor gains +1 understanding.

92 | Failed Start

The survivors find the tattered remains of four humans. Clad in loincloths and clutching stone shards, they bear the distinct marks of White Lion claws.

Each survivor suffers 1 brain event damage and gains 1 Founding Stone gear. If any survivor has 3+ understanding, they gain +1d10 insanity.

93 | Lost Survivor

(Illustration: portrait of a young man with sharp features and slicked hair, wearing a small ear ornament.)

In a hollow between two identical rocks, you find a corpse with fabulous hair, clutching a book to its chest. If the settlement innovated Pictographs, the event revealer may read from the book. The book tells the tragic tale of two survivors, whom found a love they could never have.

1d10	Each survivor
1-3	Page 3 - Dual Nature. The lovers' settlement is destroyed, and they are stolen away. The event revealer feels conflicted, after the showdown, they leave the settlement forever in search of something.
4-6	Page 6 - The man spent years undergoing countless tortures for the sake of his beloved. Each torment only served to strengthen the man's resolve. If you have 3+ understanding, Gain +1 permanent speed, the Anxiety and Traumatized disorders.
7+	Page 9 - The man escaped, yet never returned. He knew that if he did, it would mean the death of his beloved. He decided it was best for him to fade into memory to protect the few smiles his existence had inspired. If you have 3+ understanding, gain +1 courage, Tough and Last Man Standing fighting arts.

Thank you Johnson 'JT' Thurston for being an awesome backer!

94 | Sickening Mess

The survivors come upon a patch of badly-damaged ground. The stone faces are cracked and debris is strewn everywhere. Piles of toxic-smelling dung and half-digested viscera litter the area.

The survivors pause to investigate the mess. Each survivor gains +1 courage and rolls on the table. Add each survivor's understanding to their result.

If any survivor is insane, they may not investigate. Instead, they consume what they find and make themselves sick. Gain -1 strength token.

1d10	Each survivor
1-2	You become lightheaded sifting through the piles of dung; uncontrollable gagging ensues. Gain -1 strength token.
3-8	Heaving, eyes filling with tears, your sickening hunt pays off. Gain 1 random basic resource and suffer 1 event damage to a random hit location.
9+	Your intuition pays off! Gain 1 random basic resource.

95 | Grim and Frostbitten

There is a dead stillness in the air. The atmosphere becomes thick with worry and the survivors carry on nervously. Soon, a bitter, evil cold sets in and there is no shelter.

Huddling together for warmth, the survivors suffer 3 event damage to any unarmored hit location (armor that has no remaining armor points is still considered armored for this event).

96 | Cauldron

The smell of cooking meat draws the survivors to a gigantic black cauldron. The pot is filled with a thick dark stew. Any survivor may choose to consume the stew and roll on the table. Insane survivors (3+ insanity) and survivors with binge eating disorder must consume.

If a survivor has 3+ understanding they may put a consumable gear or resource into the pot to gain +2 to the roll result.

1d10	Any survivor
1-2	You try to eat, but the cauldron is empty. It calls out to be filled. You slice deep into your own flesh to nourish the cauldron with blood. Gain a random non-lethal severe injury to your arms.
3-4	No matter how much you eat you're still hungry. Gain the Binge Eating disorder. If you already have this, suffer -1 survival instead.
5-8	The stew tastes like warm blood. Gain +1 survival and +1 insanity.
9+	The dreams of the poor creature that last fed the cauldron fill your mind. Choose to gain one: +3 weapon proficiency levels (if you don't have a weapon type selected, select 1 now) and 1 random disorder, +1 permanent strength, or cure 1 severe permanent injury.

97 | Living Stone

The ground suddenly shifts and rises sharply into the air. The survivors find themselves clutching the back of a giant creature that lay sleeping beneath their feet. Every survivor rolls 1d10. On a result of 6+, they hold on. All other survivors plummet to the ground below and archive all fragile gear in their gear grids.

Survivors who fall take 1 event damage to a random hit location and continue to hunt as normal.

If some survivors hold on, they are absent from the rest of the hunt phase and rejoin the group when the showdown starts. Elect one of these survivors to roll on the table.

1d10	Elected survivor
1	You plummet into the darkness. All survivors who held on are dead.
2-4	Fall off. Survivors who held on rejoin the other survivors on the ground and take 1 event damage to each hit location.
5-8	Circle back. Survivors who held on each gain 1 Founding Stone gear and join the showdown in the second round.
9+	Heroes arrive first. Survivors who held on rejoin at the beginning of the showdown phase and ambush the monster.

98 | Glowing Blood

The survivors find a trail of their quarry's blood, evidence of some horrific battle. The event revealer may taste the monster's blood. The blood brings a vision of the upcoming battle. The event revealer places a token on any space on the hunt board. If the survivors start the showdown on this space, they ambush the monster.

Roll again on the hunt event board before moving on the hunt board.

99 | Portcullis

The survivors approach a massive portcullis standing in the darkness. It is not attached to anything and does not bar their way.

They may choose to walk around it. If they do, roll again on the hunt event table before moving to the next hunt space on the hunt board.

If the survivors' settlement has the Portcullis Key, they may use it. Each survivor gains +1 courage. The portcullis creaks open, and the survivors step through.

1d10	Event revealer
1	Inside, a dank gloom awaits the survivors. The portcullis suddenly slams shut behind them and the lights of their lanterns begin to dim. The last thing the survivors see is the grimace of fear on each other's faces as the dark closes in. The survivors are dead.
2+	Inside, a dank gloom awaits the survivors. At their feet lies an ornate crucible with a void in the shape of a mighty weapon. The survivors gain the Perfect Crucible strange resource. If they have a Blacksmith in their settlement, they may now craft a Perfect Slayer.

100 | The Finale

A terrific thunder crashes in the distance. An electrifying dread washes over the survivors. All survivors suffer 2 brain event damage.

The survivors may choose to investigate. Otherwise they panic and retreat in the opposite direction. Move back 2 hunt spaces on the hunt board and continue hunting as normal.

If the survivors investigate, all survivors gain +1 courage and gingerly approach the origin of the sound. As they travel, they pass the shattered corpses of strange beasts.

If any survivor has 3+ understanding, they follow the trail of corpses. Otherwise, draw 3 basic resources harvested from the corpses and end the event.

If the survivors arrive this far, they see a massive knight, his armor reflecting a worn gold in their lantern light. Caked in blood, the knight leans against the side of a titanic winged creature. The event revealer must roll on the table.

1d10	Event revealer
1	The knight locks eyes with the survivors. If any survivor has less than 3 courage, they are struck dead. All other survivors flee in horror.
2-8	The knight speaks, its thunderous voice quakes the ground. Any survivors with less than 3 understanding suffers the deaf severe head injury. The knight extends his arms, offering them his gear. The survivor with the highest courage (roll off in case of ties) gains the Steel Sword and Steel Shield gear.
9+	The knight's chest heaves. He exhales a plume of dense, black smoke that covers the survivors. When it clears, the knight is gone and in his place is a massive lion-faced hammer. The survivor with the highest courage (roll off in case of ties) gains the Thunder Maul gear. When the survivor takes it in hand, a current of electricity runs through their body. The weapon and the survivor are joined forever.

(Full-page illustration: a chained, bloodied, white-haired figure stands within a ring of lanterns linked by chains, arms wrapped and bound, surrounded by an ominous cloud of enormous cracked stone faces with teal-glowing eyes looming behind. This closes out the Hunt Events section.)

Story Events

Age

Your time in the darkness changes you.

Gain the benefits for the Hunt XP milestone you have reached. A survivor may only gain each milestone benefit once a lifetime.

1 | Weapon Proficiency

You may now select a weapon type for weapon proficiency. (If you wound a monster with the selected weapon type, you are now eligible to gain a proficieny level during the aftermath). Roll on the table below.

Available Weapon Types: axe, bow, club, dagger, fist & tooth, grand weapon, katar, shield, spear, sword, and whip.

2d10	Result
2	Gain +1 permanent evasion.
3-6	Gain +1 permanent strength.
7-15	Gain 1 random fighting art.
16-19	Gain +1 permanent accuracy.
20	Gain +1 permanent luck.

2 | Improved Reflexes

The years sharpen your reflexes. Roll on the table below.

2d10	Result
2	Gain +1 permanent movement.
3-6	Gain 1 random fighting art.
7-15	Gain +1 permanent strength.
16-19	Gain 1 random fighting art.
20	Gain +1 permanent speed.

3 | Enhanced Senses

Experience sharpens your instincts. Roll on the table below.

2d10	Result
2	Gain +1 permanent speed.
3-6	Gain +1 permanent movement.
7-15	Gain 1 random fighting art.
16-19	Draw 2 random fighting arts and gain 1.
20	Gain +3 permanent strength.

4 | Lucky Elder

Age is the rarest resource of all. Roll on the table below.

2d10	Result
2	Draw 5 random fighting arts and gain 1.
3-6	Gain +1 permanent evasion.
7-15	Gain +1 permanent luck.
16-19	Gain +1 permanent speed.
20	Gain +1 permanent attribute of your choice.

Armored Strangers

You are visited by enigmatic figures, fully-enclosed in armor. They march silently through the settlement. The only noise is a metallic clang, as they pause before each survivor and tap their lantern halberds against the ground. The survivors have no choice but to helplessly await their mute deliberations.

Add King's Man to the nemesis encounter list. The Strangers Count People and take action based on the population total.

Resist: You rise up! Stop the settlement phase and prepare to depart for a special showdown with a King's Man. After the showdown, resume the settlement phase. Do not gain 🔘, draw a settlement event card, or advance a lantern year.

Count People — 7 or less (Supportive Action)

Finally, one of them drives a lantern halberd into the ground. They leave without a word. Add the Guidepost innovation to the settlement.

The strangers plan to return. Add 🗓 Armored Strangers to the timeline 4 years from the current year. Roll on the table below.

1d10	Result
1-3	A survivor's ears fill with a painful static! A random returning survivor gains a random disorder.
4-7	The armored strangers dump a mangled, unidentifiable corpse on the ground. Gain 3 random basic resources.
8+	The armored strangers haul in a massive, bountiful beast corpse. The survivors wonder at this boon. Gain 6 random basic resources. Departing survivors gain +1 survival.

Count People — 8 or more (Destructive Action)

The strangers finish their count and draw their blades. Roll on the table below.

1d10	Result
1-4	The armored strangers wantonly execute survivors. Suffer -5 population. You may resist to avoid this loss.
5-7	The bravest survivors are rounded up. Select the survivor with the highest courage (in case of a tie, select all) and execute them. You may resist to avoid this loss.
8-9	The strangers destroy a random innovation. Return the lost innovation card to the settlement's innovation deck. The survivors may choose to resist to avoid this loss.
10+	A halberd is left in the settlement with a survivor impaled on it as a reminder. Suffer -1 population. Add the Guidepost innovation to the settlement.

Birth of a Savior

The newborn vanishes from the loving arms of the settlement for a fraction of a second. In that second, it spends a lifetime in the domain of the Ethereal Dreamer and returns with a dream. Choose one:

Dream of the Beast

The newborn gains 1 permanent red affinity and the following abilities:

Caratosis: For each red affinity you have, 1 of your attack rolls hits automatically each attack.

Red Life Exchange: In the Aftermath, gain 3 additional Hunt XP. You may not place other gear in your grid. Gain +1 permanent strength with each Age milestone. When you retire, you cease to exist.

Dream of the Crown

The newborn gains 1 permanent green affinity and the following abilities:

Dormenatus: When you depart, gain 1 armor to every hit location for each green affinity you have.

Green Life Exchange: In the Aftermath, gain 3 additional Hunt XP. You may not place other gear in your grid. Gain +1 permanent evasion with each Age milestone. When you retire, you cease to exist.

Dream of the Lantern

The newborn gains 1 permanent blue affinity and the following abilities:

Lucernae: For every blue affinity you have, your ranged weapons gain this amount of range and your melee weapons gain this amount of reach.

Blue Life Exchange: In the Aftermath, gain 3 additional Hunt XP. You may not place other gear in your grid. Gain +1 permanent luck with each Age milestone. When you retire, you cease to exist.

Bold

In a single moment, your perspective changes profoundly.

Select the triumph corresponding to the current game phase. A survivor may only gain these benefits once a lifetime.

Showdown Phase Triumph

The essential difference between man and monster is a gap no human can overcome. You accept this and tap into a deep well of deranged fortitude. Gain the following ability and roll on the table below.

Stalwart: Ignore being knocked down by brain trauma and intimidation actions.

1d10	Result
1-3	Gain +1 strength token.
4-7	Gain +3 survival and +3 insanity.
8-9	Gain +1 permanent strength.
10+	Gain +1 permanent speed.

Hunt Phase Triumph

Expect the unexpected. You are prepared to face any mind-bending trials at a moment's notice. Where others may falter, you forge ahead, meeting the journey head on. Gain the following ability and roll on the table below.

Prepared: When rolling to determine a straggler, add your hunt experience to your roll result.

1d10	Result
1-3	Gain +1 speed token for next showdown.
4-7	Gain +1 understanding.
8-9	Gain +1 permanent strength.
10+	Gain +1 permanent movement.

Settlement Phase Triumph

In this fleeting existence, every moment shared creates meaning. The bonds forged between survivors give you hope. Gain the following ability and roll on the table below.

Matchmaker: When you are a returning survivor, once per year you may spend 🔘 to 🗓 Intimacy.

1d10	Result
1-3	May reroll 1 🔘 result this settlement phase.
4-7	Gain +1 🔘 this settlement phase.
8-9	Gain +1 permanent strength.
10+	Gain +1 permanent accuracy.

Bone Witch

One day, the exile emerged from the darkness. The settlement worried at the sound of her wailing chants. Everyone feared what mystery kept her alive in the darkness all these years. Some could not resist asking.

All non-deaf returning survivors gain 3 insanity. Insane returning survivors are inexorably drawn to the Bone Witch and must endeavor at the Witch Camp. Otherwise, during this settlement phase, any survivor may endeavor at the Witch Camp if they choose.

Witch Camp — roll 1d10

1: The Bone Witch never forgave her exile. Her burning hatred lit the dark brighter than any lantern. With jagged teeth and gnarled claws, she attacks! You manage to escape, but the wounds she inflicted continue to burn. Suffer -1 permanent strength, -1 permanent accuracy and skip the next hunt.

Add "🗓 Bone Witch" to the timeline 3 years from the current lantern year.

2-4: The secrets of the dark should not be seen. The last thing you see are the witch's outreached claws reaching for your eyes. Your eyes are scarred. Suffer -4 permanent accuracy and gain +4 permanent strength. If, for some reason, you gain this result twice, you die.

Add "🗓 Bone Witch" to the timeline 3 years from the current lantern year.

5-7: The Bone Witch mutters of the alluring embrace of the awaiting darkness. Her stories stir strange yearnings in your bones. For being a patient listener, she offers to teach you something for the cost of 1d5 bone resources.

If you spend the resources, gain the Extra Sense fighting art and +3 survival.

8-10: The Bone Witch spends whispers of the horrors and wonders she has seen, arming you with valuable wisdom. Gain +2 insanity, +1 understanding, and the following ability.

Homing Instinct: Add +5 to your rolls on the Run Away story event.

If the settlement has the Guidepost innovation, the Bone Witch wanders over to it. The settlement is transfixed by a sense of danger. Effortlessly, the Witch plucks the weapon from the ground. Archive the Guidepost innovation.

As a consolation, she offers to teach the settlement something in exchange for 1 bone.

If you spend 1 bone, nominate 4 survivors. They gain the Monster Claw Style fighting art.

Cooking

The survivors experiment with scraps of foodstuffs. The savory discovery is palatable.

Select 1 cooking recipe and archive the listed resources to create a dish. This settlement phase, any survivor may consume the resulting dish and gain the benefit. Any uneaten dishes are lost.

Venison Oso Buco — cooking recipe

Requires: 1 Nightmare Tick, 1 Shank Bone, 1 Beast Steak, 1 Fresh Acanthus

Feed the tick a beast steak. When the nightmare tick is full, simmer it in the bone marrow of the shank bone over medium lantern heat. Season with fresh acanthus. Yum!

Benefit: +1 permanent evasion, +10 survival

3 Eye Stew — cooking recipe

Requires: 1 Cyclops Fly, 1 Eye of Cat, 1 Phoenix Eye, 1 Fresh Acanthus

Saute the monster eyes until soft and releasing moisture. Add the cyclops fly and fresh acanthus. Cook at a bare simmer until cyclops fly is tender. Serve warm.

Benefit: +1 permanent accuracy, +10 survival

Sword Beetle Skewer — cooking recipe

Requires: 1 Sword Beetle, 1 Bladder, 1 Lion Testes, 1 Fresh Acanthus

Cube sword beetle, antelope bladder, and lion testes into bite-size pieces. Season cubes with fresh acanthus. Thread the cubes onto straightened scrap pieces. Roast over lantern heat.

Benefit: +1 permanent strength, +10 survival

Stuffed Cockroach — cooking recipe

Requires: 1 Hissing Cockroach, 1 Beast Steak, 1 Pustules, 1 Fresh Acanthus

Grind beast steak. Combine with fresh acanthus and phoenix pustules. Hollow the hissing cockroach carcass and stuff with mixture. Bake in lantern oven. Delicious!

Benefit: Remove all disorders, +10 survival

Crush & Devour

The survivor disappears, shrieking, into the Screaming Antelope's giant under-maw.

You are Masticated.

Masticated — roll 1d10

[Note: the roll-value pip icons for the first two results are printed in the same stylized decorative numeral font seen elsewhere in this chapter; read via icon count and elimination against the two unambiguous bands below (5-6 and 7-10) rather than a fully certain glyph read.]

1d10	Result
1-2	Swallowed whole. You are dead. The monster happily digests you, heals 1 wound, and gains +1 speed token.
3-4	You struggle frantically, stuck in a thick and sticky mucus. Your leg slips between the monster's teeth. Suffer the dismembered severe leg injury. The monster heals 1 wound.
5-6	The monster's mouth hangs slack, and fresh air brushes your face. You try to wriggle free, your arm reaching recklessly past the teeth. Suffer the dismembered severe arm injury. The monster heals 1 wound.
7-10	With a burst of ferocity, you fight back. Roll 1d10 on the table below.

Fight Back — roll 1d10

1d10	Result
1-3	Your efforts are useless, suffer 1 brain damage per monster level.
4-7	You fight, but are chewed helplessly. Suffer 1 damage to every hit location.
8+	You are suddenly bitten by a pulsing organ. You tear it free! The monster suffers 1 wound. Gain the Second Heart strange resource and Regurgitate. Suffer 1 damage to the arms location.

Regurgitate

Place Gobbled Up survivors in a free space adjacent to the monster. Archive Gobbled Up and roll on the table below for each survivor.

1d10	Result
1-3	You wonder if you are dead. You are knocked down and suffer 1 brain damage.
4-7	Covered in vomit, but alive. You are knocked down and gain +1 insanity.
8-9	The experience gives you a new perspective. Gain +1 understanding.
10+	You vindictively attack on your way out. Gain the Flat Tooth Screaming Antelope resource. The Screaming Antelope suffers 1 wound.

Endless Screams

A scream pierces the silence around the settlement. As the noise fades, a chorus of horror rises up in answer.

The settlement erupts into chaos trying to comprehend the source of the terrible wail.

You may now hunt the Screaming Antelope. Add it to the quarry list on the settlement record sheet. Nominate a single survivor to stand amidst the madness. They gain +1 courage and become the Voice of Reason.

Voice of Reason — roll 1d10

[Note: the roll-value pip icons on this table are printed in a decorative, non-standard numeral font. The first and third bands read unambiguously; the middle band's individual digits are stylized and hard to read with full pixel-level confidence, but the icon count (4 icons) and elimination against the other two bands (which together account for values 1-2 and 7-10) fixes it as 3-6.]

1d10	Result
1-2	The survivor's face turns pale and the courage drains from their eyes. Without hesitation, the survivor turns on their heels and dashes for the darkness. Sadly, their foot catches a stone face and they fall face-first into the floor. The survivor loses 1 courage and suffers the broken jaw severe head injury.
3-6	The survivor realizes the noise is most likely from another strange creature that lives out in the darkness. After some effort, they manage to calm the settlement. The survivor gains +1 understanding. Returning survivors gain +1 insanity.
7-10	The survivor stands firm in the face of the screaming unknown. Slow and strong words change the settlement's fear into tingling excitement. After all, the endless screams might be an opportunity to gain knowledge and harness the darkness. The survivor gains the Orator of Death fighting art. Returning survivors gain +2 insanity.

Hands of Heat

The mystery of the lantern's glow.

If the settlement already innovated Lantern Oven, skip this event and roll on the Lantern Branding table. Otherwise, proceed with Hands of Heat, below:

One lucky day, a clumsy accident knocks a lantern free from the towering Lantern Hoard. A sudden flash of heat bathes the survivors as the lantern crashes to the ground. Now shattered, the lantern light dies, but the seed of an idea begins to grow.

Nominate a survivor. They gain +1 courage and Experiment with Lanterns.

Experiment with Lanterns — roll 1d10

1d10	Result
1-3	An agitated lantern shatters in the survivor's face. Badly burned and disfigured, the survivor is exiled from the settlement as an inhuman monster. However, the other survivors learn something from this tragedy. Your settlement gains the Lantern Oven innovation. -1 population. Add "🗓 Bone Witch" to the timeline 3 lantern years from now.
4-6	The survivor vigorously shakes a lantern and holds it watchfully. It bursts into blue light with a distinct hissing sound. The lantern grows hot in the survivor's clenched hands, burning their flesh. They bellow in primal triumph. Gain +1 permanent strength and the Red Fist secret fighting art. Your settlement gains the Lantern Oven innovation.
7+	The survivor discovers heat and the settlement celebrates! Your settlement gains the Lantern Oven innovation. The survivor gains the Red Fist secret fighting art, and rolls on the Lantern Branding table on this page!

Lantern Branding

A feast, culminating in the ritual branding of the settlement's finest warriors by the heat of an agitated lantern.

Discard half the settlement's total resources (including storage), rounded down. Nominate a survivor and roll on the table below.

1d10	Result
1-3	Tradition. All departing survivors gain +10 survival. Add "🗓 Hands of Heat" to the timeline 1d10 years from now.
4-7	Branded feet. Gain +1 permanent speed.
8-9	Branded hand. Gain +1 permanent strength.
10+	Accident! Suffer the blinded severe head injury and gain +1 permanent luck.

Herb Gathering

Each survivor must make a special gathering roll.

To make gathering roll, a survivor nominates any number of d10's and then rolls them. If two or more die results are the same, your score is 0. Otherwise, add all your die results to determine your gathering score.

Add all the survivors' gathering scores to make a single final score and consult the Herb Exploration table.

Add +10 to the final score if the survivors have passed the Overwhelming Darkness space on the hunt board.

Herb Exploration

Score	Result
0-11	The survivors don't find anything. Roll on the random hunt event table.
12-44	Gain a Fresh Acanthus strange resource. All survivors gain +1 survival.
45-74	Gain a Fresh Acanthus strange resource. All survivors gain +1 survival. In addition, if you innovated Cooking, gain 1 random vermin resource.
75+	The survivors find a path through the weeds. Any survivor with a sickle may Explore the Swamp.

Explore the Swamp — roll 1d10

1d10	Result
1	A huge, waterlogged plant creature bursts from the depths and devours you whole. You are dead.
2-3	Suddenly, the water around you bubbles furiously. Spend 1 survival to dive to safety or perish. If you have 3+ courage, you may roll again.
4-5	You find a captivating clearing. Roll on this table again and add +1 to that result. Any survivors that have not explored, may now also roll on this table.
6-7	A ghostly flower blooms, uncovering a face inside. It tells you that you are a peaceful, careless flower. Remove any disorders and gain Apathetic disorder.
8	You observe a small insect pollinating a flower. Gain +1 understanding and a Fresh Acanthus strange resource.
9	You find a round, hairy fruit and consume it. If you are insane, you imagine the fruit bestows swiftness. Gain +1 permanent speed. Otherwise, gain +1 survival.
10	Deep in the swamp, you find a twisting vine in the shape of a withered hand holding a fruit. Seductive and repulsive, the shining fruit is a sight to behold. You must Eat the Fruit. If you cannot consume, then nothing happens.

Eat the Fruit

If a survivor consumes a second shining fruit, they die instantly. Otherwise, roll on the table.

1d10	Result
1	Razor maggots explode from the survivor, killing them instantly.
2-4	An explosion of tiny, red seeds bursts in your mouth. You stagger, blinded by the overwhelming sensation. You are forever changed. Gain 1 permanent red affinity.
5-7	Tart, sticky, green seeds scorch your sinuses before settling into a deliciously refreshing feeling. You are forever changed. Gain 1 permanent green affinity.
8+	Bitter, blue seeds stain your mouth with thick black juice. Their powerful flavor awakens you. You are forever changed. Gain 1 permanent blue affinity.

Hooded Knight

A stranger emerges from the darkness.

If any survivor has the Twilight Sword, they Duel the knight. Otherwise, his motives are inscrutable. Roll below on Mysterious Agenda.

Duel — roll 1d10

The hooded knight confronts the bearer of the Twilight Sword, they roll on the table. Add +1 to the result for each Twilight Sword weapon proficiency level.

1d10	Result
1-3	The survivor perishes quickly. Disappointed, the knight leaves, never to return.
4-7	The survivor is badly wounded. Suffer the gaping chest wound severe chest injury. The knight has Unfinished Business.
8-9	Gain 1 level of weapon proficiency. Lose all survival. You cannot gain survival this settlement phase. The knight has Unfinished Business.
10	Gain 1 level of weapon proficiency. The knight has Unfinished Business.
11+	Gain 2 levels of weapon proficiency, +1 insanity, +1 survival. The knight has Unfinished Business.

Mysterious Agenda — roll 1d10

1d10	Result
1-2	As quickly as he arrived, the hooded knight vanishes in a flash of steel and blood. Suffer -2 population. The hooded knight leaves with Unfinished Business and will return later.
3-6	The hooded knight insists on training the uncouth survivors in martial combat. Up to 2 survivors may spend 3 resources each to learn the Mighty Strike fighting art. The hooded knight leaves with Unfinished Business and will return later.
7-10	The hooded knight forces a tattered parcel into the hands of the returning survivor with the most Hunt XP (if tied, randomize). The hooded knight leaves with Unfinished Business. If there are no returning survivors, then Unfinished Business.

Unfinished Business

Add "🗓 Hooded Knight" to the timeline 4 years from now.

Tattered Parcel

The survivor gains the Twilight Sword rare gear, place it in their grid now. The survivor may select Twilight Sword as a weapon proficiency type. This weapon is cursed.

Cursed: This may not be removed from your gear grid for any reason. When you die, archive this card.

The Hooded Knight seems disturbed. If settlement has Records, roll 1d10.

1d10	Result
1-3	Destroy Records, return it to the innovation deck.
4+	If you haven't triggered ✕ Nemesis Encounter - Watcher, move it back 5 years on the timeline.

Insight

In a single moment, the curtain of the world pulls back.

Select the epiphany corresponding to the current game phase. A survivor may only gain these benefits once a lifetime.

Showdown Phase Epiphany

Watching the chaotic movements of monsters, you perceive a pattern. Perhaps its motives are not so different from your own. You can imagine yourself in the monster's place. Gain the following ability and roll on the table below.

Analyze: At the start of the Survivors' turn, if you are adjacent to the monster, reveal the top AI card, then place it back on top of the deck.

1d10	Result
1-3	Ignore the next severe injury this showdown.
4-7	Gain +3 survival and +3 insanity.
8-9	Gain +1 permanent accuracy.
10+	Gain +1 permanent movement.

Hunt Phase Epiphany

You dream. Before you, toiling silently, a strange creature with the imprint of a human face sculpts stone faces into the ground. You meet its concave gaze and wake. Gain the following ability and roll on the table below.

Explore: When you roll on an investigate table, add +2 to your roll result.

1d10	Result
1-3	Reroll one hunt event result this hunt phase.
4-7	Gain +3 survival and +3 insanity.
8-9	Gain +1 permanent accuracy.
10+	Gain +1 permanent evasion.

Settlement Phase Epiphany

The hunt, which once filled you with inexorable dread, takes on a new dimension. Your expeditions outside the settlement inspire you with curiosity and wonder. Gain the following ability and roll on the table below.

Tinker: When you are a returning survivor, gain +1 🔘 to use this settlement phase.

1d10	Result
1-3	If you innovate this phase, draw +1 card.
4-7	Gain +1 🔘 this settlement phase.
8-9	Gain +1 permanent accuracy.
10+	Gain +1 permanent strength.

Intimacy

Nominate one consenting male and one consenting female survivor and roll on the Intimacy table below.

The first time your settlement gives birth to a new survivor (gains +1 population from intimacy), the survivors ponder existence. 🗓 Principle: New Life.

As your settlement grows in size, don't forget to apply your chosen New Life Principle. It will greatly affect the outcome of your campaign.

If the settlement innovated Bed, the new survivor gains +1 permanent strength.

Intimacy — roll 1d10

1d10	Result
1	The couple cannot bear the weight of the world. They clasp hands and march into the deep and endless darkness. The nominated survivors are dead.
2-3	The female survivor perishes with her child during birth. The settlement is cast in gloom. The male survivor mourns gaining a random disorder and +3 insanity.
4-6	A new survivor is brought kicking and screaming into the world. The child's eyes are free of the ink that stained the founders' faces. The settlement gains +1 population.
7-8	The settlement gains +1 population. The male & female survivors share a deep bond and gain +10 survival each.
9+	The settlement celebrates a twice-fortunate event. A pair of healthy newborn survivors enters the world. The settlement gains +2 population.

Special Child

On this day, everyone remembers the birth of a very special child. Where she steps, hope flourishes. 🗓 Birth of a Savior.

If the settlement innovated Hovel, a special child is born instead.

King's Curse

The survivor that dealt the killing blow feels their heart sink.

Tragedy befalls the survivor that kills the King's Man. Their body starts to sweat profusely and their flesh bubbles with extreme heat. The survivor must roll a hit location dice on the King's Curse table. A survivor cannot gain more than one piece of regal gear per lantern year.

Every piece of the Regal Armor set is cursed.

Cursed: This may not be removed from your gear grid for any reason. When you die, archive this card.

When a survivor completes the Regal Armor set (has all 5 pieces), they lose their humanity and become a King's Man. Filled with a sense of urgent purpose, the survivor marches off into the darkness.

The survivor can no longer be controlled by a player. Discard their record sheet. They are dead.

King's Curse — roll hit location die

Re-roll until you roll a location that is not wearing regal armor.

Hit Location	Result
Head	Your skull erupts from inside your head, bone twisting and hardening into a plated exoskeleton. Gain a random disorder and the Regal Helm rare gear and place it in your gear grid now.
Waist	Your thigh bones expand and hollow, while the flesh from your legs packs itself inside the bone. The pain is exquisite. Suffer the destroyed genitals severe waist injury. Gain the Regal Faulds rare gear and place it in your gear grid now.
Legs	Searing pain shoots up your legs from your burning feet. Your leg bones shatter and reform in the shape of plated armor. Gain the Regal Boots rare gear and place it in your gear grid now.
Arms	Your fingernails rapidly grow out, encasing your arm in a cocoon of bone. Your liquefied heated flesh leaks from the joints of the hollow armor that replaces your arms. Gain the Regal Gauntlets rare gear and place it in your gear grid now. If the settlement innovated Nightmare Training, your new arms prove useful. Gain +1 permanent strength.
Chest	With a horrific crunch, your ribcage bursts from your chest and warps drastically, puncturing your internal organs. Your open stomach pours acid over your exposed innards. You double over, vomiting foamy chunks everywhere. Finally, you stand, drawing no breath but somehow alive. Gain the Regal Plackart rare gear and place it in your gear grid now. The other returning survivors suffer 3 brain event damage. Your body seems to move on its own. Gain the King's Step secret fighting art.

King's Step

Resist the unspoken pressure of the monster's onslaught.

Your body trembles and your mind wavers. You struggle just to stay standing against the pressure projected by the monster.

Discard all unresolved hit locations, end your attack, and attempt to Overcome!

If the settlement innovated Forbidden Dance, you start to sense the tempo of the monster's movements. Gain 2 tempo tokens and suffer knockback 3.

Overcome — roll 1d10

Add +1 to the result for each tempo token you have.

1d10	Result
1	You are paralyzed with dread. Suffer brain damage equal to the monster's level.
2-3	The monster swiftly finds an opening in your poor footwork and mercilessly slams your shin. Suffer a random severe leg injury. Gain 1 tempo token.
4-5	The monster easily predicts your motion and skewers you with your own momentum. Spend 1 survival or suffer a random severe body injury. Gain 1 tempo token.
6-7	Just as you start to follow the monster's subtle movements, the tip of the King's Man's foot hooks your ankle. You are knocked down. Gain 1 tempo token.
8-9	You sense a pattern and foresee the monster's attempt to trip you. At the last moment, you shift your balance. Suffer 1 damage to the legs. Gain 1 tempo token.
10+	You grasp the pattern behind the monster's fine movements, a rhythm that lets you control the pace of the fight. You have overcome the Battle Pressure and learned something valuable. Gain the King's Step secret fighting art.

Legendary Lungs

The sensation of the Butcher's attack is similar to drowning. Desperately, you gasp for air, only to be met with a mouthful of steel.

The monster's attacks rain down on you, each blow faster than the last. Despite the attack lasting only a moment, things seem to slow down. Your feel numb and isolated, as if trapped in an endless body of water. There is no hope of escape, just the pressure from above on your gasping lungs.

As the pounding in your chest intensifies, you recall the even rhythm of the monster's heaving chest. There is a chance you will Learn something.

Learn — roll 1d10

1d10	Result
1-2	Sadly, your mind is simply adrift. Lost somewhere between the physical pain and the fear of further punishment, you learn nothing from the experience.
3-7	You feel as if on the cusp of realizing something big. It teases your mind before vanishing. Gain +3 survival.
8-10	It seems crazy, but it makes perfect sense to you — the secret to the monster's attack is its amazing control over its breathing! Despite its anger, the rise and fall of its chest keeps a constant, steady rhythm, even at the height of its brutal fury. Gain the Legendary Lungs secret fighting art and +3 survival.

If the settlement innovated Drums, the rhythmic pounding in your chest gives you insight. Proceed to the 8, 9, 10 result (Deep Breath)!

Legendary Monsters

The Legendary monsters are the survivors' ultimate quarry. Make sure to read and follow each monster's setup instructions carefully. They are set up like their counterparts at level 3 and under, with a few exceptions:

Life Trait: Legendary monsters use the Life Trait. Full rules for Life are found in the Monster Section.

Archived Hit Locations: Use the hit location deck associated with each legendary monster's Monster Type, but archive all hit locations listed in the special instructions before the showdown begins.

Trait Cards: Legendary Monsters combine Trait cards from multiple AI Decks. Always remember to resolve any rules conflicts that arise with the Rule of Death.

Beast of Sorrow

Level	B	A	L	Mov	Tgh	Spd	Dmg
4	10	5	1	7	13	+1	+1

[Note: "B/A/L" is printed as three circular badges rather than the "Life (XX)" badge used by the other legendary monsters here — likely Basic/Advanced/Legendary AI trait-deck card counts, matching this chapter's "Legendary Monsters combine Trait cards from multiple AI Decks" rule, but this reading is not fully certain.]

Traits: Cunning, Weak Spot, Trample

TYPE: White Lion.

HUNT: Use level 3 White Lion setup.

TERRAIN & DEPLOYMENT: Use White Lion setup.

VICTORY: Use Level 3 White Lion Victory, +1 Iron strange resource. Nominate the survivor that dealt the killing blow. That survivor gains a fighting art of their choice.

DEFEAT: The settlement is paralyzed by grief. No 🔘 may be spent the next settlement phase.

Great Golden Cat

Level	Custom Deck List	Mov	Tgh	Spd	Dmg
4	(see below)	9	17	+2	+5

Traits: Life (15), Cunning, Merciless, Trample, Golden Eyes (Legendary). Tokens: +1 Accuracy, +1 Luck.

They say that some thunderstorms on the horizon are actually the Great Golden Cat playing with a meal before devouring it.

CUSTOM DECK LIST: 1x Combo Claw, 1x Vicious Claw, 1x Terrifying Roar, 1x Power Swat, 1x Vanish, 1x Bloody Claw

TYPE: White Lion.

HUNT: Use level 3 White Lion setup.

TERRAIN & DEPLOYMENT: Use White Lion setup +2 additional random terrain cards.

VICTORY: Use Level 3 White Lion Victory, +1 White Lion resource of your choice. Nominate the survivor that dealt the killing blow. That survivor gains +2 permanent strength and the Timeless Eye and Combo Master fighting arts.

DEFEAT: Use White Lion defeat.

Mad Steed

Level	Custom Deck List	Mov	Tgh	Spd	Dmg
4	(see below)	9	18	+2	+5

Traits: Life (20), Diabolical, Berserker, Hypermetabolism, Trample, King's Aura, Legendary Horns (Legendary). Tokens: +1 Accuracy, +1 Luck.

They say that The Hand once trained a great, horned beast to be ridden by him alone. As the beast carried The Hand from one terrible task to the next, its appetite grew, and its horns took on twisted shapes.

CUSTOM DECK LIST: 1x Crush & Devour, 1x Stomp & Snort, 1x Ravenous, 2x Bite, 1x Great Kick

TYPE: Screaming Antelope

HUNT: Use level 3 Screaming Antelope setup.

TERRAIN & DEPLOYMENT: Use Screaming Antelope setup +2 random terrain cards.

SPECIAL: Archive Furry Throat from the Hit Location deck.

VICTORY: Use Level 3 Screaming Antelope Victory, +1 Screaming Antelope resource of your choice. Nominate the survivor that dealt the killing blow. As your weapon strikes down the steed, it emits a gurgling roar from its under-maw, and bursts into an explosion of flames. Inside the inferno's swirling vortex, you feel only calm. A hooded figure stands before you, and points at your arm. With a blinding flash and a spray of molten flesh, it explodes, causing you to scream and black out. When you wake, you peel the remaining charred flesh off of what used to be your arm, revealing a beautiful sword underneath. The nominated survivor suffers the dismembered arm severe injury, and gains the Red Fist secret fighting art, +9 courage, and the Adventure Sword rare gear.

DEFEAT: The Mad Steed rampages through the settlement, leaving immeasurable destruction in its wake. -3 population.

Golden Eyed King of 1000 Years

Level	Custom Deck List	Mov	Tgh	Spd	Dmg
4	(see below)	10	25	+3	+6

Traits: Life (25), Materialize, Spiral Age, Dreaded Decade, Berserker, Top of the Food Chain (Legendary), Weak Spot, Cunning, Golden Eyes (Legendary). Tokens: +1 Evasion, +1000 Luck.

They say that at the summit of the tallest tree, there is a glimmer of golden light. Those who have stared into it for too long are marked by their white hair, and claim to know how they will die.

CUSTOM DECK LIST: 1x Bored, 1x Wing Punch, 1x Difference Between Us, 1x Pustule Cannons, 1x Gouge & Feast, 1x Ripple, 1x Instant Wing Strike, 2x Peck

TYPE: Phoenix.

HUNT: Use level 3 Phoenix setup.

TERRAIN & DEPLOYMENT: Use Phoenix setup +1 Ore Vein terrain card and +1 Bug Patch terrain card.

SPECIAL: Archive Glorious Arm Pit and Soft Lower Gut from the Hit Location deck.

VICTORY: +1 Hunt XP, +1 weapon proficiency (if eligible). Level 3 Phoenix Rewards. Nominate the survivor that dealt the killing blow. At that moment, time splits and you experience a thousand lifetimes and a thousand deaths simultaneously. Your veins feel as if they will burn themselves free from your skin, and you cling desperately to a single heart beat, as you find yourself within the cyclone of existence that howls without end. The experience ends as abruptly as it started. All of what happened or what will happen is gone, forgotten, and you find yourself on your knees vomiting a thick creamy foam. The nominated survivor gains +1,000 insanity and the King of a Thousand Battles secret fighting art.

DEFEAT: Use Phoenix defeat. You may not Run Away from this encounter.

Mineral Gathering

Every survivor with a Pickaxe rolls on the Mineral Gathering table.

Mineral Gathering

1-3	4-5	6-7	8+
A newly-opened crack releases a toxic cloud. You flee, leaving your tools behind. Archive any tool gear in your gear grid.	Gain 1 Broken Lantern basic resource. A sudden rock slide catches everyone off-guard. All survivors take 2 event damage to a random hit location.	You find 1 Iron strange resource among the unyielding stone faces. As you free it, you hear a snap. If your Pickaxe is frail, archive it.	Gain 1 Scrap basic resource. If this event occurs after Overwhelming Darkness, you find a cave. Once per Mineral Gathering, all survivors must descend to the Worm Tunnels.

Worm Tunnels — roll 1d10

Add +1 to the result if you have a Pickaxe.

1d10	Result
1-3	You spend too much time lost in the tunnels. Move your quarry 1 space toward the survivors on the hunt board. If the monster enters the survivors' space it ambushes them.
4-7	You blunder in the darkness, lost and separated from the other survivors. A voice whispers to you, leading you back. Lose 2 survival and gain +2 insanity. If you are deaf, you do not heed the voice, and disappear into the dark. You are dead.
8+	You find 1 Iron strange resource next to a passageway that leads deeper into the cave. Choose to either gain the Iron or spend 2 survival and descend to the Crystal Lake.

Crystal Lake — roll 1d10

1d10	Result
1-2	Drifting, phosphorescent spores infect your pores. Record all armor gear in your gear grid in the settlement storage and archive it. Gain +2 armor to all hit locations and the following ability: Crystal Skin: You cannot place armor in your gear grid. When you depart, gain +2 armor to all hit locations. Suffer -1 to the result of all severe injury rolls.
3-4	A reflection speaks to you. Lose 3 survival and gain +3 insanity.
5-6	Caked in slime and weird crystals, you find 1 Iron strange resource.
7+	Choose to either gain 2 Iron strange resources or gain +3 insanity and spend 4 survival to descend to the Lantern City.

Lantern City — roll 1d10

1d10	Result
1-4	A single light shines from a window in the otherwise darkened city. A pleasing aroma beckons you into a lit house. Inside, a welcoming family invites you to join them for a meal. If you are insane, you gratefully accept their invitation to stay. Forever. Your survivor perishes. Otherwise, your memory grows hazy after this point. Lose all your survival, gain +6 insanity and 1 random disorder.
5-9	A yawning forge stands cold in the center of the city. Dismantling it, you gain 4 Iron strange resources and 3 Scrap basic resources.
10+	You meet a dark stranger. It hisses, and your mind washes over in white noise. You awake with 1 piece of armor gear of your choice from the Blacksmith settlement location.

Overwhelming Darkness

[Note: this event falls within the assigned page range immediately after Mineral Gathering but is not in the chapter list supplied for this chunk — included here for completeness since it is fully present on PDF page 142.]

All survivors must determine Path and walk them simultaneously.

Insane survivors walk the Path of the Insane.
If no other path applies, walk the Path of the Doomed.
Sane survivors with 3+ courage walk the Path of the Brave.

Path of the Insane — roll 1d10

1d10	Result
1-3	You envision a strange fruit that pulses with your heartbeat. You smash it. Spend all your survival (at least 1) or die.
4	You shriek into the darkness, dealing 1 brain event damage to all non-deaf survivors.
5-6	You lash out at the unseen. All other survivors suffer 1 event damage to a random hit location.
7	Startling visions. Gain a random disorder.
8-9	You find a strange peace. Lose all insanity.
10+	Hysterical. Suffer the Frenzy brain trauma.

Path of the Doomed — roll 1d10

1d10	Result
1	Your lantern light fades into the darkness. Spend all your survival (at least 1) or die.
2-3	A pall of doom falls over you. Gain -3 luck tokens for the duration of the showdown.
4-6	An unseen monster attacks. Suffer event damage equal to the quarry's level to 3 random hit locations.
7	Disoriented. Gain -1 evasion token.
8+	Hope. Gain +1 insanity and +1 courage.

Path of the Brave — roll 1d10

1d10	Result
1	You boldly walk into a monster's maw and are consumed whole. Spend all your survival (at least 1) or die.
2-3	You emerge from the darkness crippled with doubt. Gain -1 speed token.
4-7	The darkness drowns out your lantern light. Gain -1 accuracy token.
8-9	Foolish bravery. Gain +1 strength token and -1 evasion token.
10+	You will survive, no matter what it takes. Gain +1 survival and +1 evasion token.

Phoenix Feather

A fallen feather fills the settlement with dread.

The skies bubble and murmur as a dark presence tears through the atmosphere like a negative lighting bolt, sucking the air and energy from all who gaze upon it.

A light rain begins. The survivors turn their eyes up to see a huge, iridescent feather slowly floating toward the ground. Their lantern lights reflect strange rainbows off the twisting feather. A primal fear takes root in the settlement.

You may now hunt the Phoenix. Add it to the quarry list on the settlement record sheet.

Nominate a single survivor to speak. They gain +1 courage and Break the Silence.

Break the Silence — roll 1d10

1–3: The survivor attempts to speak, but before the words can leave their lips, they fall over dead from fright. The settlement panics and decides to banish the fallen feather into the darkness.
4–5: The survivor shoos everyone away from the feather. Alone in the rain, they examine it. The nominated survivor gains +1 understanding and the Tail Feather Phoenix resource.
- If the settlement chose Survival of the Fittest Birth Principle, the survivor raves to no one in particular about an oncoming trial, bursting into laughter and tearing the feather apart! The survivor gains +1 permanent evasion and the Honorable disorder.
6–10: The survivor exclaims that the fallen feather is the most beautiful and dangerous thing they have ever laid eyes on. Each color runs perfectly into another, and gazing upon it imparts a strange sense of longing. They are convinced that there has never been something so perfect in this world.

The survivor greedily hides the feather from the others. They gain the Crazed fighting art, the Hoarder disorder, and +1 courage (from stashing the feather)!

Returning survivors gain +2 insanity.

Principle: Conviction

The survivors must find a reason to be. Treasure the darkness in all its mystery, or seek to master it and grow strong.

The group must choose one.

Master the Darkness

Life is finding the perfect death. The lantern is power. By its light, all will be led to their final glorious moment. Add "Hands of Heat" to next year on the timeline.

The settlement gains the Conviction Principle: Barbaric. Find and place the card on the settlement board and note it on the settlement record sheet. After adding the card to the settlement, roll 1d10.

1–5: The settlement celebrates with a destructive feast. Lose all resources (including the storage). If 10 or more resources were lost this way, departing survivors gain +1 permanent speed and the Honorable disorder.
6–10: Nominate a survivor. They gain +4 courage and the following ability: Thundercaller: Once a lifetime, on a hunt board space after Overwhelming Darkness, in place of rolling a random hunt event, use "100" as your result.

Treasure the Mystery

Life is like a quickly fading lantern. Every precious moment must be lived to its absolute fullest! Add "Bone Witch" to next year on the timeline.

The settlement gains the Conviction Principle: Romantic. Find and place the card on the settlement board and note it on the settlement record sheet. After adding the card to the settlement, roll 1d10.

1–5: The settlement celebrates with an excessive feast. Lose all resources (including the storage). If 10 or more resources were lost this way, departing survivors gain +1 permanent luck and the Prey disorder.
6–10: Nominate a survivor. They gain +4 understanding and the following ability: Legendcaller: Once a lifetime, on a hunt board space after Overwhelming Darkness, in place of rolling a random hunt event, use "53" as your result.

Principle: Death

The group must decide what to do with their first survivor corpse. Choose one.

The First Harvest

The settlement decides to harvest the body for resources.

The settlement gains the Death Principle: Cannibalize. Find and place the card on the settlement board and note it on the settlement record sheet.

After adding the card to the settlement, Roll 1d10.

1–5: The settlement ritualistically divides the corpse with a sharp stone and grimly consumes the dead flesh. Gain a Founding Stone starting gear. All departing survivors gain +3 insanity.
6–10: Nominate a survivor. The survivor fanatically tears the corpse open and deeply drinks its blood. They decide that for every new creature they eat, they will become stronger. The survivor gains +1 permanent speed.

The First Grave

The settlement decides to build a small monument to mark their loss.

The settlement gains the Death Principle: Graves. Find and place the card on the settlement board and note it on the settlement record sheet.

After adding the card to the settlement, Roll 1d10.

1–5: The settlement gathers around the grave, each taking a moment to reflect the loss and their place in the darkness. All departing survivors gain +1 survival and +1 understanding.
6–10: Nominate a survivor. With tears in their eyes, the survivor takes a shard of rock from the grave and marks themselves with it. They cherish this mark forever. The survivor gains +1 permanent luck.

If you are currently working your way through the First Story, return to the settlement section and proceed to the develop step.

Principle: New Life

The group must decide how to raise their young. Choose one.

Without Mercy

The toys are taken from the child and replaced with a cold, stone face shard. Training begins immediately.

The settlement gains the New Life Principle: Survival of the Fittest. Find and place the card on the settlement board and note it on the settlement record sheet. After adding the card to the settlement, Roll 1d10.

1–5: The settlement celebrates with a rowdy party, filled with tests of strength and triumphant roaring. The parents each gain +1 permanent strength and +2 insanity. They must skip the next hunt to recover.
6–10: The child is raised as a pure warrior, leaving compassion and fear behind. The newborn survivor gains +2 courage, the Tough fighting art and one random disorder.

With Affection

The settlement embraces the child with warm arms. Nurturing new life is their highest calling.

The settlement gains the New Life Principle: Protect the Young. Find and place the card on the settlement board and note it on the settlement record sheet. After adding the card to the settlement, Roll 1d10.

1–5: The settlement gathers around the newborn in awe. Never have they seen something so precious and meaningful. The parents each gain +2 survival and +1 permanent evasion.
6–10: The child is raised by the entire settlement and endowed with the hopes and wisdom of all. The newborn survivor gains +2 understanding and the Strategist fighting art.

If you are currently working your way through the First Story, return to the settlement section and continue the develop step.

Principle: Society

There was once a mad woman who spent her days talking to the darkness. One day, it spoke back.

The group must choose one.

Collective Toil

Tainted by darkness, a survivor nearly brought ruin to the settlement. On the day of her exile, the people decided that all must spend equal time hunting and working to avoid future disasters. -1 population. Add "Bone Witch" to the timeline 3 years from now.

The settlement gains the Society Principle: Collective Toil. Find and place the card on the settlement board and note it on the settlement record sheet. After adding the card to the settlement, roll 1d10.

1–5: Nominate up to 4 survivors. Each gain +5 survival.
6–10: Nominate a survivor. You have a secret. You will always know in your heart that the exile was banished for merely repeating what you taught her. Gain the Secretive disorder. It cannot be removed for any reason. In addition, gain the Timeless Eye fighting art.

Accept Darkness

The darkness spoke startling truths. It told the people they were monsters just like the ones they hunted. The people accepted their monstrosity and their place stalking in the darkness.

The settlement gains the Society Principle: Accept Darkness. Find and place the card on the settlement board and note it on the settlement record sheet. After adding the card to the settlement, roll 1d10.

1–5: Nominate up to 4 survivors. Each gains +10 insanity.
6–10: Nominate a female survivor (if you can't, nominate a male instead). The survivor is heralded as the settlement's leader! Gain the Quixotic disorder. It cannot be removed for any reason. In addition, gain the Leader and Orator of Death fighting arts.

Regal Visit

The Hand strides into the settlement. The survivors' thoughts vanish as they fall to their knees, struck dumb by its glorious, incomprehensible presence.

Add The Hand to the nemesis encounter list. Add Nemesis Encounter - The Hand to the timeline 2 years from now. The Hand begins the Inspection.

Challenge

The Hand accepts your challenge! Stop the settlement phase and depart for a special showdown with The Hand. After the showdown, resume the settlement phase. Do not gain endeavors, draw a settlement event card, or advance a lantern year.

Inspection — roll 1d10

1–3: In one swift motion The Hand draws its sword, cleaving the Lantern Oven and 4 survivors asunder. Suffer -4 population. Return the Lantern Oven to the innovation deck. Challenge The Hand to avoid this loss.
- If the settlement has the Accept the Darkness Society Principle, The Hand presents 2 infants to the kneeling survivors. Gain +2 population.
4–7: The Hand rampages through the settlement. Lose any resources in settlement storage and suffer -1 population. Challenge The Hand to avoid this loss.
- If the settlement has the Guidepost innovation, The Hand demonstrates sophisticated fighting arts. Gain 1 weapon mastery of your choice and add it to your settlement.
8–10: The Hand points at the survivor (survivors in case of a tie) with the most hunt experience. A warble trapped in their throat as their chest bursts open expelling their organs (killing them). Challenge The Hand to avoid this loss.
- If the settlement has Survival of the Fittest New Life Principle, The Hand's voice sounds in all of the survivors' heads. None can recall what happened, but each feels profoundly changed. No endeavors may be spent this settlement phase. All living survivors gain +1 permanent strength.

Returning Survivors

Nominate a survivor to utter the First Words.

First Words

The nominated survivor steps forward and gains +1 courage. They lead the other survivors to learn to speak to one another! They discuss their situation, realizing they must hunt to live. Add the White Lion to the Quarry list on the settlement record sheet.

Your settlement gains the Language innovation. Search the Innovation cards for Language and place it face up in your play area and record it on your settlement sheet.

Language is your first innovation, and it will spark the creation of the innovation deck.

Build the Innovation deck now.

Build the Innovation Deck

The innovation deck represents the potential cultural and technological growth of your settlement. It will grow throughout the campaign as you gain new innovation cards.

Find the 6 innovation cards with language consequence listed under their title:

Ammonia, Drums, Hovel, Inner Lantern, Paint, and Symposium.

Shuffle these 6 cards together to form your settlement's innovation deck. Place it face down in the designated space on the settlement board.

The innovation deck is persistent. Make sure to preserve the unique combination of cards in your deck between play sessions.

Finished with their work, the settlement gathers around its Glowing Center.

Glowing Center

Armed with language, the nominated survivor aptly names the glowing center of their home The Lantern Hoard. The settlement gains the Lantern Hoard Settlement Location.

Search the large Settlement Location cards for the Lantern Hoard and place it face up in your play area. The Lantern Hoard is the source of all innovations and further locations the settlement will develop.

The nominated survivor sits in front of the Lantern Hoard in awe and gains +1 understanding. They must skip the next hunt phase as they ponder the meaning of existence.

Check off the skip hunt box on the survivor's record sheet. They cannot be selected as a departing survivor this phase.

Return to the First Story to complete the Settlement Phase.

Run Away

Remove your survivor from the board. Roll 1d10 on the table that corresponds to the current game phase.

Hunt Phase — roll 1d10

1: Something pulls you into the darkness. You are dead.
2–3: You stumble, battered and tossed by the unseen in the darkness. Spend 1 survival or die. If you survive, roll again on this table, adding +1 to the result.
4–5: You are lost. If any survivors reach the showdown, you find yourself among them. Otherwise, you are dead.
6–7: In your mad dash, you injure your leg. Suffer the broken leg severe injury. Roll again on this table, adding +1 to the result.
8–9: The sight of the settlement on the horizon leaves you gasping with relief. Set your insanity to 0 and return to the settlement safely.
10: You return to the settlement safely.

Showdown Phase — roll 1d10

1: Something pulls you into the darkness. You are dead.
2–3: Your desperation to escape causes you to stumble over your own feet. At the start of the next monster turn, place yourself in a space adjacent to the monster. You are knocked down.
4–5: Turned around. At the start of the next monster turn, place your survivor adjacent to any board edge.
6–7: Something in the dark attacks. Gain 2 bleeding tokens. Roll on this table again, adding +1 to the result.
8–9: You wearily drag yourself to the settlement, battered but alive. You cannot imagine revisiting the horrors you witnessed. You return to the settlement safely. Skip the next hunt to recover.
10: You return to the settlement safely.

See the Truth

The greatest courage is achieved when the past and future are abandoned. The void that remains is a dark, endless well of strength. Fear and pain are your nourishment, and you will feast.

You suddenly recall meeting a strange masked man, who, for a moment, opened your second eyelids. What you saw filled your mouth with the taste of your own death. Suffer the blinded severe head injury and Taste Death. If you are already blinded at least once, do not suffer it again.

Taste Death — roll 1d10

1–2 (Sweet): When your second eyelids opened, the veil of darkness was lifted. You recall looking to the sky and viewing a horizon of titanic faces. Each face is different and peers at a different part of your body. Death was upon you, and a strangely sweet flavor swirled around in your mouth. Gain the Weak Spot disorder and the following ability:

Sweet Battle: You may surge without spending survival. If you do, the endeavor gained must be used to activate a weapon.

If the settlement has the Graves Death Principle, the survivor's death tastes Sweet instead.
3–8 (Bitter): When your second eyelids opened, everything looked the same. There was no wonder and no mystery. Death was simply everywhere. A bitter flavor filled your mouth as you accepted your harsh reality. Gain the Berserker fighting art and the following ability:

Bitter Frenzy: You may spend survival and use fighting arts, weapon specialization, and weapon mastery while Frenzied.
9–10 (Sour): When your second eyelids opened, you saw thousands of small lifeforms swimming through the air. They crawled over you, stealing tastes of your sweat and blood. Death was near — you wondered how your fear tastes. A puckering, sour flavor filled your mouth and you decided that you must never die. Gain the following ability:

Sour Death: When you are knocked down, you may encourage yourself. If you do, gain +1 strength token.

If the settlement has the Cannibalize Death Principle, your death tastes Sour instead.

Showdown: Butcher

Nemesis

There once was a man who could not hide his fear. He wore a mask that transformed his cowardice to rage. In turn, the man transformed into a monster. All that remained was a devouring fury that stalked the night, collecting the fearful faces of others.

Nemesis Encounter

Departing survivors do not have a Hunt Phase. Instead, select the Butcher's monster level (it should be 1 greater than the last Butcher encounter) and set up the showdown accordingly.

Instinct: Menace — Turn the Butcher to face the closest survivor. This survivor suffers 1 brain damage per monster level.

Showdown Setup

Legend: Survivors (blue), Nemesis (red), Stone Column (green)

Terrain & Deployment

1 Stone Column terrain card, (3 columns) place in the green spaces.
1 random terrain card, set up normally.
Place the nemesis in the center of the board.
Place survivors in the blue zone.

The survivors are defending their home. They go first.

Aftermath

Update the settlement record sheet to indicate the monster level of this encounter.

Victory

+1 Hunt XP
+1 Weapon Proficiency (if eligible)
- Rewards

Defeat

The Butcher rampages through the settlement! Everyone escapes into the darkness until it leaves, but all resources in the settlement's storage are lost repairing the destruction.

Level stat blocks (B / A / L = Basic / Advanced / Legendary AI cards)

Level	B	A	L	Mov	Tgh	Spd	Dmg	Traits
1	7	5	-	5	9	-	-	Berserker, Fast Target, Infectious Lunacy, Dreaded Trophies
2	10	5	-	5	12	+1	+1	Frenzied Berserker, Fast Target, Infectious Lunacy, Dreaded Trophies
3	11	10	-	8	15	+2	+2	Frenzied Berserker, Fast Target, Infectious Lunacy, Invincible, Dreaded Trophies, +2 Accuracy tokens

Rewards

Roll 1d10 and add the Butcher's level to the result. The group gains any listed resources or gear. Add them to the settlement's storage.

1–3: The Butcher vanishes in a flash of blinding light.
4–6: The Butcher lets loose a final roar. Its body explodes, scattering 1d5 Broken Lantern resources.
7–9: Butcher's Cleaver rare gear and 1 Broken Lantern resource.
10–12: Butcher's Cleaver rare gear and 1d5 Broken Lantern resources, and Hunk of Living Flesh (use to regrow 1 dismembered limb right now only).
13+: The Forsaker Mask rare gear falls to the ground.

If the settlement has Memento Mori when they defeat a level 3+ Butcher, roll 1d10. On a result of 2+, nominate a survivor. The survivor cuts off their own face and fashions it into a mask. Gain the Forsaker Mask rare gear. You may gain this benefit once per campaign.

Showdown: The Hand

Nemesis

There was once an entity that knew everything, but never spoke. For every secret that escaped, it became weaker and its enemies stronger.

Nemesis Encounter

Departing survivors do not have a Hunt Phase. Instead, select The Hand's monster level (it should be 1 greater than the last The Hand encounter) and set up the showdown accordingly.

Special Rules

If an AI or Hit Location card has a red, blue, or green lens symbol, only apply those effects, special rules, or change to the card type, if the monster has gained the respective symbol. Otherwise, ignore those rules.

Instinct: The Penalty — The Hand points at a random survivor. They must roll on the table below.

1: Your skull crushes your brain. You die.
2+: Your ribs suddenly twist inward to puncture your heart. If you have no survival, you die. Otherwise, lose all survival and suffer the Broken Ribs severe body injury.

Showdown Setup

Legend: Survivors (blue), Nemesis (red), Giant Stone Face (green)

Terrain & Deployment

1 Giant Stone Face terrain card, place in the green spaces.
1 Stone Column terrain card (3 columns) and 1 random terrain card, set up normally.
Place the nemesis in the center of the board, on top of the Giant Stone Face.
Place survivors in the blue zone.

The survivors are defending their home. They go first.

Aftermath

Update the settlement record sheet to indicate the monster level of this encounter.

Victory

+1 Hunt XP
+1 Weapon Proficiency (if eligible)
- Rewards

Defeat

If the settlement has the Guidepost innovation, The Hand leaves in peace. Otherwise, he slaughters all retired survivors in the settlement.

Level stat blocks (B / A / L = Basic / Advanced / Legendary AI cards)

Level	B	A	L	Mov	Tgh	Spd	Dmg	Traits
1	10	-	-	5	14	-	-	Red Lens - Closed, Blue Lens - Closed, Green Lens - Closed, Ghost Step, Applause, Impossible Eyes, Polarized Aura
2	10	1	-	6	15	+1	+1	Red Lens - Closed, Blue Lens - Closed, Green Lens - Closed, Ghost Step, Applause, Impossible Eyes, Polarized Aura
3	10	2	-	6	30	+3	+6	Red Lens - Closed, Blue Lens - Closed, Green Lens - Closed, Ghost Step, Applause, Impossible Eyes, Polarized Aura

Rewards

The Hand hesitates before leaving. Roll 1d10 and consult the table below. The group gains any listed resources or gear.

1–4: The Hand vanishes. The group finds 1 broken lantern basic resource and 1 skull basic resource. Suffer -1 population.
5–8: The Hand is a sore loser, and punts a Broken Lantern. One random survivor suffers a severe head injury. Add 1 scrap to the settlement storage.
9+: The Hand bows graciously and vanishes. Leaving a package carefully wrapped in 1 leather strange resource. Inside, is 1 skull and 5 random basic resources. -1 population.

If the settlement has the Sword Mastery innovation when they defeat a level 3+ Hand, The Hand takes a moment to share some fighting techniques. Roll 1d10 for each survivor. On a result of 6+, the survivor gains the Swordsman's Promise secret fighting art.

Showdown: King's Man

Nemesis

There was once a monster that was to lead its master's regal procession. First the monster came as a herald, then its hungry masters. So fierce were the monster's masters that it never thought to protect it's own back, knowing what horrors lay behind it.

Nemesis Encounter

Departing survivors do not have a Hunt Phase. Instead, select the King's Man monster level (it should be 1 greater than the last King's Man encounter) and set up the showdown accordingly.

Instinct: Guard — The King's Man ends its turn and gains +5 toughness until the start of the next monster turn.

Showdown Setup

Legend: Survivors (blue), Nemesis (red), Stone Column (green)

Terrain & Deployment

1 Stone Column terrain card, (3 columns) place in the green spaces.
2 random terrain cards, set up normally.
Place the nemesis in the center of the board.
Place survivors in the blue zone.

The survivors are defending their home. They go first.

Aftermath

Update the settlement record sheet to indicate the monster level of this encounter.

Victory

+1 Hunt XP
+1 Weapon Proficiency (if eligible)
- Rewards

Defeat

The King's Man rudely breaks something as it leaves the settlement. If the settlement innovated Pottery, return it to the innovation deck.

Level stat blocks (B / A / L = Basic / Advanced / Legendary AI cards)

Level	B	A	L	Mov	Tgh	Spd	Dmg	Traits
1	10	2	-	5	12	-	-	Weak Spot, King's Combat, King's Aura, Out-Fighting, Battle Tempo
2	11	4	1	6	15	+1	+1	Weak Spot, King's Combat, King's Aura, Out-Fighting, Silent Hymn, Battle Tempo
3	12	6	1	6	18	+2	+2	Weak Spot, King's Combat, King's Aura, Out-Fighting, Battle Tempo, Silent Hymn, +2 Accuracy tokens

Rewards

The air grows still and a palpable feeling of dread comes over the survivor that dealt the final wound to the King's Man. King's Curse.

Roll 1d10 + defeated monster's level on the table below. The group gains the following rewards:

1–4: Nothing.
5–8: Each survivor gains 1 random fighting art.
9+: 1 Steel Sword rare gear, 1 basic resource.

If the settlement innovated Nightmare Training when they defeat a level 3+ King's Man, the survivors are inspired by the battle. Each remaining survivor rolls 1d10. On a result of 8+, the survivor gains King's Step secret fighting art.

Showdown: Phoenix

Quarry

Select an encounter level and set up the hunt board.

The Phoenix fills the horizon of your mind. Complex and disturbing, your very essence seems to flicker like a dying lantern. A perfect mixture of excitement and dread shakes up your insides. Before you realize it, you find yourself stepping forward to battle.

Instinct: Disdain — Place the Phoenix at the center of the Nightmare Tree. It emits a hissing moan. All non-deaf survivors suffer brain damage equal to the monster's level. Perform Spiral Age. End the Phoenix's turn.

Showdown Setup

Legend: Survivors (blue), Monster (red), Nightmare Tree (green)

Terrain & Deployment

1 Nightmare Tree terrain card, set up in the center of the board.
2 random terrain cards, set up normally.
Place the monster in the center of the board.
Place survivors 6 spaces away from the monster.

Aftermath

Victory

+1 Hunt XP
+1 Weapon Proficiency (if eligible)
- Rewards

Defeat

Roll 1d10. On a result of 6+, a random survivor that died during the showdown finds themselves back at the settlement! They lose all their courage and understanding and must select a new name.

Level stat blocks (B / A / L = Basic / Advanced / Legendary AI cards)

Level	B	A	L	Mov	Tgh	Spd	Dmg	Traits
1	8	3	1	8	10	-	-	Materialize, Spiral Age, Zeal, Dreaded Decade
2	10	6	1	8	12	+1	+1	Materialize, Spiral Age, Zeal, Top of the Food Chain, Dreaded Decade
3	13	7	2	8	16	+2	+3	Materialize, Spiral Age, Zeal, Top of the Food Chain, Dreaded Decade, Tokens: +1 evasion, +1 luck

Rewards

The first time the Phoenix is defeated, gain the Plummery settlement location.

Survivors with age tokens gain +1 understanding.

The group gains the following rewards:

Level	Reward
1	4 basic, 4 Phoenix resources.
2	4 basic, 6 Phoenix resources.
3	4 basic, 8 Phoenix resources, 1 Phoenix Crest strange resource.

If the settlement innovated Face Painting when they defeat a level 3+ Phoenix, the survivors paint their faces with Phoenix blood. Roll 1d10. On a result of 6+, the survivor that dealt the killing blow howls in pain. The Phoenix blood burns and colors their iris yellow. They gain permanent +1 speed and -1 accuracy.

Showdown: Screaming Antelope

Quarry

Select an encounter level and set up the hunt board.

There was once a fearsome monster that was trained by the Hand to be a steed for the Goblin. However, upon smelling its new master, the monster's mind shattered and it ran into the unknown, foaming at the mouth and biting the noses off the stone faced floor.

Instinct: Graze — The monster full moves to the closest Acanthus Plant and ends its turn. If the monster is on or adjacent to an Acanthus Plant, archive the terrain and heal 1 wound.

If there are no Acanthus Plants on the showdown board, instead full move forward in a straight line.

Heal 1: Move the top 1 card from the wound stack to the bottom of the AI deck without looking at it.

Showdown Setup

Legend: Survivors (blue), Monster (red), Acanthus Plants (green)

Terrain & Deployment

3 Acanthus Plant terrain cards (6 plants total), set up in the green area.
2 random terrain cards, set up normally.
Place the monster in the center of the board.
Place the survivors along either short board edge.

Aftermath

Victory

+1 Hunt XP
+1 Weapon Proficiency (if eligible)
- Rewards

Defeat

When the hunters fail to return, nominate a non-deaf survivor in the settlement. They rabidly beat their head in grief, suffering the deaf severe head injury.

Level stat blocks (B / A / L = Basic / Advanced / Legendary AI cards)

Level	B	A	L	Mov	Tgh	Spd	Dmg	Traits
1	7	3	-	6	8	-	-	Trample
2	10	5	-	8	10	+1	+1	Trample, Diabolical
3	12	8	2	8	12	+2	+2	Trample, Diabolical, Hypermetabolism, +1 Evasion token

Rewards

When the monster is defeated, any survivors with 20+ insanity are driven mad by the monster's death wail. They vanish, screaming into the darkness, never to be seen again.

The group gains the following rewards:

Level	Reward
1	4 basic, 4 Screaming Antelope resources.
2	4 basic, 6 Screaming Antelope resources.
3	4 basic, 8 Screaming Antelope resources, 1 Broken Lantern basic resource.

If the settlement has Heart Flute when they defeat a level 3+ Screaming Antelope, roll 1d10. On a result of 4+, they create a stirring melody! Nominate a survivor at the settlement that has never been on a hunt. They gain +2 permanent strength! This bonus may only be gained once a lifetime.

Showdown: White Lion

Quarry

Select an encounter level and set up the hunt board.

There once was a beast that wanted to feel how soft its fur was. Since it could not reach its own back, it killed many other creatures and spent time rubbing its paws over them. They say that when the monster finally killed a human, it fell in love with their soft hair and its paws grew into a pair of fine human hands.

Instinct: Sniff — The White Lion sniffs the air and ends its turn. Until the end of the next round, all survivors are now threats, even if they are knocked down or used an effect that says otherwise.

When a level 3+ White Lion performs Sniff, it gains +1 accuracy token.

Showdown Setup

Legend: Survivors (blue), Monster (red)

Terrain & Deployment

1 Tall Grass Terrain Card (2 Tall Grass Tiles).
2 random terrain cards, set up normally.
Place the White Lion in the center of the board.
Place survivors in the blue zone.

Aftermath

Victory

+1 Hunt XP
+1 Weapon Proficiency (if eligible)
- Rewards

Defeat

The White Lion greedily consumes the bodies and takes a small shiny prize. Roll 1d10. On a 6+, archive a jewelry gear of your choice. If the survivors don't have any jewelry, nothing happens.

Level stat blocks (B / A / L = Basic / Advanced / Legendary AI cards)

Level	B	A	L	Mov	Tgh	Spd	Dmg	Traits
1	7	3	-	6	8	-	-	—
2	10	5	-	7	10	+1	+1	Cunning
3	10	9	2	8	14	+2	+2	Cunning, Merciless, Tokens: +2 accuracy, +1 luck

Rewards

The first time the White Lion is defeated, add Catarium to the settlement locations. The group gains the following rewards:

Level	Reward
1	4 basic, 4 white lion resources.
2	4 basic, 6 white lion resources.
3	4 basic, 8 white lion resources, 1 Elder Cat Teeth strange resource.

If the settlement has Saga when they defeat a level 3+ White Lion, roll 1d10. On a result of 4+, they create a tale of the exploits! The survivor that dealt the killing blow may select either permanent +1 accuracy or +1 strength. They may gain this benefit once a lifetime.

White Secret

A dream, buried deep in memory, suddenly surfaces. You feel her hot breath bathing your ear, hissing whispers. She had come to you bearing the secrets of the world and you had merely forgotten, until now.

Your brain swells and you scream out in pain. Suffer the Lunacy brain trauma and Remember the Story.

Remember the Story — roll 1d10

1–2 (Story of the Ageless Man): You remember the story of a young man in his prime. The man was so grateful for his body's ability to protect his loved ones. He decided to honor it by punching the dark sky above 1 million times. As long as he never finished his vow, he never aged a single day again.

Your body transforms to its physical peak. Permanently gain +1 accuracy and +1 strength. Gain the following ability:

Ageless: You may hunt if you are retired. When you gain Hunt XP, you may decide not to gain it.

If the settlement has the Romantic Conviction Principle, the survivor remembers the Story of the Ageless Man.
3–8 (Story of the Survivor): You remember the story of a smart young girl that, despite all odds, constantly outwitted the superior beings she encountered. You also recall that her own vanity lead to her death. Gain the Quixotic disorder and the following ability:

Peerless: When you gain insanity, you may gain an equal amount of survival.
9–10 (Story of the Invisible Hair): You remember the story of a woman with long hair so fine it couldn't even be seen. She claimed she could feel anything her hair touched. On her deathbed, she cut it all off and gifted a single strand to any who visited her. What was left over was scattered, and hangs floating in the wind, waiting to be grasp by those who learn this story. Gain the following ability:

Leyline Walker: While there is no armor or accessory gear in your gear grid, gain +3 evasion.

If the settlement has the Barbaric Conviction Principle, the survivor remembers the Story of the Invisible Hair.

White Speaker

A large and bizarrely dressed woman offers to share a story. The group must select a story they would like to hear. A survivor may be nominated for this story event only once per lifetime.

Story of the Goblin

The White Speaker instructs the survivors to lower her veil and hold her limbs tightly. The group must nominate a non-deaf survivor. A survivor with max understanding cannot be nominated, as the potential of their mind has been reached.

Tension fills the air and the survivors are filled with a mysterious sinking feeling. She begins the story. Roll 1d10.

1–3: The White Speaker flies into a violent seizure. A wild toenail catches the eye of the nominated survivor, and they suffer the blinded severe injury. The White Speaker explodes, showering everyone in blood. The experience is surreal. Lose all endeavors.
4–6: The survivors' brains swell and they howl in pain. Nominate 3 more survivors. All the nominated survivors gain +5 insanity.
7–9: The nominated survivor's ears ring with the timing of the White Speaker's words. They gain the Story of the Goblin ability, but sadly, their hearing is lost forever. They suffer the deaf severe injury.
10+: The words of the White Speaker and even the involuntary spasms of her body all make perfect sense. The survivor gains the Story of the Goblin ability.

Story of the Goblin: You know the first sentence of the story. Once per showdown you may speak it out loud and roll 1d10. On a 3+, gain the priority target token and the monster gains +1 damage token.

Story of the Forsaker

The White Speaker instructs the survivors to bind their hands together and dip their knuckles in blood. If the settlement has the Forsaker Mask strange gear, this story cannot be selected. The group must nominate a non-deaf survivor. A survivor with max courage cannot be nominated, as the potential of their spirit has been reached. The White Speaker lowers her veil and begins the story. Roll 1d10.

1–5: The White Speaker growls, her graceful movement suddenly awkward and her heels catching on the stone faces on the ground. With a roar, she decks the nominated survivor in the face! They suffer the broken jaw severe injury.
6–8: The nominated survivor silently implodes with rage. The other bound survivors inch away from the waves of passive aggressive energy. The survivor gains +2 permanent strength and breaks free, suffering the broken arm severe injury twice.
9: The nominated survivor is gone (consider them dead). In their place is a strange mask. Gain the Forsaker Mask rare gear.
10+: The words of the White Speaker, and even the involuntary spasms of her body all make perfect sense. The survivor gains the Story of the Forsaker ability.

Story of the Forsaker: You cannot be knocked down during a showdown with a nemesis monster.

Story of the Young Hero

This story cannot be selected before the 13th lantern year. The White Speaker instructs the survivors to bring her a young warrior that has never left the settlement light.

Nominate a survivor that has never been on a hunt. If no one meets her instruction, she selects someone at random. The White Speaker places her veil over the survivor's eyes. Roll 1d10.

1–3: The White Speaker draws a rusty, blood-encrusted blade and grabs the nominated survivor by the back of the head. Expertly, she inserts the blade deep into the survivor's mouth. Then, she stutters and flies into a wild seizure, accidentally murdering the survivor and breaking one of her heels. She meekly leaves in silence, carrying her shoes.
4–5: As she speaks, the White Speaker carefully examines the teeth of the nominated survivor. She flicks her wrist, and the survivor suffers the broken jaw severe injury.
6–9: The survivor steals a quick taste of the blood-encrusted blade the White Speaker is waving in their blinded face while telling her story. The survivor gains the Story of the Young Hero ability.
10+: The survivor gains +1 permanent accuracy, strength, evasion, speed, luck, and the Story of the Young Hero ability.

Story of the Young Hero: At the start your act, you may recall the heroic sacrifice from the story and bite your wrist. Gain 2 bleeding tokens and +1 survival.

Zero Presence

"Which is more terrifying," you ponder, "the monster or the sudden absence of it?"

As the monster vanishes before your eyes, you can't help but wonder how anyone has survived up until this point. Is it possible that the monster tricked you? Or has some sort of special organ that allowed it to hide itself beyond the lantern light? You tremble with dread.

You watch the monster's soundless movements, and internalize how it slips outside the lantern light. There is a chance you might Learn something.

Learn — roll 1d10

1–2: You are confused, and mistakenly believe that the White Lion has found a way to create darkness by eating light. Gain the Fear of the Dark disorder and +3 insanity.
3–7: Your mind leaps from one idea to another. If you have 3+ understanding, gain the Rhythm Chaser fighting art.

If the settlement has Forbidden Dance, an idea seems to flow through you. Proceed to the 8, 9, 10 result!
8–10 (Lack of Presence): A moment of clarity. If you focus on your movement, the shifting of your garments, and the impact of your footsteps, you can minimize your presence until it is barely perceptible. When you drown your own lantern light, you become invisible until you attack.

Gain the Zero Presence secret fighting art and +3 insanity.

Finale

Watched

Dark spots spread across the lantern hoard. A nervous hush falls over the settlement. Slowly, the most daring survivors peer past the darkened lanterns, venturing beneath them into a vast chamber, unknown and undreamed of. Slumbering in the center of the chamber, the survivors can feel a presence of immense danger. Their ultimate predator would soon wake, extinguishing the lantern light that holds the endless darkness at bay.

Starting with this settlement phase, the survivors may awaken and face the sleeping menace. You may move Nemesis Encounter - Watcher to the current lantern year.

The settlements have a different response to the discovery based on their Conviction.

Barbaric Response: The survivors decide they must craft the perfect weapon to prepare themselves. Gain the Ultimate Weapon Innovation. This does not count towards your settlement's innovation total. Nominate a survivor and roll 1d10.

1-5: The survivor begins to make preparations. Add Hands of Heat to the timeline 4 years from now.
6-10: The survivor silently decides they are the true hero. They gain +10 insanity, +1 permanent strength, and the Quixotic disorder.

Romantic Response: The survivors decide they must learn the perfect fighting art to prepare themselves. Gain the Final Fighting Art Innovation. This does not count towards your settlement's innovation total. Nominate a survivor and roll 1d10.

1-5: Without saying a word, the survivor runs into the darkness, never to be seen again. Add Bone Witch to the timeline 4 years from now.
6-10: The survivor bursts into an unhealthy laughter. They gain +10 insanity, +1 permanent strength, and the Immortal disorder.

Showdown: Watcher

Nemesis - Final Boss

Long ago, ravenous beasts searched the darkness, using their keen senses to find their prey. In the distance, they saw a blooming pillar of light surrounded by tasty morsels bustling in their tiny industry.

Licking their chops, they approached. But the beasts halted mid-step. The wind carried a foul, menacing presence. Surely the busy creatures were harmless. Yet, the menacing warning persisted, felt in their very bones. Instinctively, the beasts turned away, seeking their meals elsewhere.

Instinct: Absorb (Blind Spot) — Move the Watcher directly to the center of the showdown board. All survivors gain -1 strength token. Watcher heals 1d5 wounds.

Level 1 stats: Toughness (B) 12, Accuracy (A) —, Luck (L) —, Movement ∞, Speed *, Damage —.

Life: The Watcher begins with Life Points equal to the current lantern year minus 10.
Toughness: The Watcher's toughness is equal to the current lantern year on the settlement record sheet.

Story events: Audience, Retinue, Lantern Vortex, Vapor of Nothingness.

Retinue Rules

A retinue represents the settlement uniting to fight together. Each retinue occupies 9 spaces and is made up of 9 unused survivor miniatures (a 100mm base can also be used to represent a retinue). A retinue cannot attack monsters directly, and instead lends its strength to other survivors.

A retinue is treated as a single large survivor, and moves as a cohesive unit on the showdown board, maintaining its configuration. Retinues have the following rules:

Targeting and Effects: A retinue does not count as a threat, and cannot directly be picked or selected as a target. Only monster collision and actions that apply to all survivors can affect a retinue.

A retinue has no attributes, and cannot be knocked down, suffer knockback, or gain status cards. For the purpose of survivor collision, treat retinues as impassable terrain.

Killing a Retinue: When a retinue suffers damage (including brain damage) or collision with a monster, roll 1d10. On a result of 4+, the retinue is destroyed.

A retinue also is destroyed when a monster ends its movement on a space it occupies, or when the survivor controlling the retinue dies.

When a retinue is destroyed, remove it from the showdown board. The settlement suffers -4 population. This loss cannot kill the other survivors currently in the showdown.

Using a Retinue: A survivor with the Retinue survivor status card can perform the following actions:

Summon Retinue: Once per Act, a survivor without a retinue may place a Retinue in an unoccupied space along any board edge and move it up to 5 spaces.
March: At the start of their Act, a survivor with a retinue gains an additional activation that may only be spent to move their retinue up to 5 spaces.
Double March: Once per round, anytime a survivor can dash, they may spend 1 survival to dash their retinue up to 5 spaces (in addition to their own dash survival action).
Coordinated Attack: When a survivor attacks, add +6 strength to the wound attempt total for each retinue adjacent to them.

Showdown Setup

Terrain & Deployment:

Place the Watcher in the center of the board.
Place the survivors in the blue spaces.
Survivors go first.

Aftermath

Victory: With a terrific hiss, the Watcher deflates onto the floor. A moment passes, no longer than the single beat of a heart, before lanterns all over the chamber explode in a dazzling array of colors. An intense, luminescent goo washes over the survivors, and they feel triumph. All living survivors gain +1 permanent strength. Then, Blackout.

Defeat: With a great inhalation, the Watcher greedily consumes everyone and everything before traveling for an eon, ultimately seeking a new place to hibernate. The time of the settlement has come to an end. Its people and history are forever lost. Game Over.

Game Over

Your campaign has ended in death and magnificent hopelessness. The settlement is lost.

Lost Settlements

Start a new campaign by taking a settlement record sheet and filling in a box under the lost settlement section. Apply all milestone bonuses earned to your new campaign and begin the First Story.

For every successive settlement you have lost, you may fill in a box and continue to earn new milestone bonuses for your future campaigns.

1. Left Overs: At the start of the showdown with the First Story White Lion, set up 1 Survivor Corpse terrain card.
2. Those before us.: When the survivors reach the settlement, they find small traces of human life before them. Gain 1 skull basic resource and increase the survival limit by 1.
3. Ocular Parasites: This new generation of survivors' eyes have better adapted to the darkness. All survivors gain +1 permanent accuracy. However, the First Story White Lion has grown fat from all the survivors it's eaten. At the start of the showdown, it gains +1 damage token and -1 movement token.
4. Rainy Season: The weather is extremely temperamental. Add the Acid Storm settlement event to the timeline years 3, 7, 13, 19.

Skipping the First Story Showdown

If you are starting a new campaign, you may optionally skip the First Story showdown and jump straight to settlement phase setup (pg. 34). If you do, roll 1d10 on the table below to quickly determine your starting resources and gear.

1d10	Result
1-3	Set your population to 6. The group gains 4 basic resources and 4 White Lion resources. Archive 2 founding stones.
4-7	Set your population to 8. The group gains 4 basic resources and 4 White Lion resources. Archive 1 founding stone.
8+	Set your population to 10. The group gains 4 basic resources and 4 White Lion resources.

Game Modes

In the Game Variant section, at the back of this book is a list of game modes that can alter the difficulty of the campaign. Before starting a new campaign you may discuss with your group what additional rules, if any, you would like to apply.

Blackout

All at once and without warning, the collected sum of the settlement's lanterns go black. The settlement is plunged into darkness.

Congratulations & Thanks for Playing!

You have completed the Kingdom Death: Monster core campaign. Without the lantern light and the Watcher's powerful presence, monsters descend without end to devour the settlement.

There is no hope for the survivors. However, if you like, you can continue to the bitter end and die magnificent deaths. The settlement gains the Exhausted Lantern Hoard location. It has the rules for continuing the campaign until its ultimate demise. Good luck!

Game Variants

If you've completed the Monster campaign, here are some new ways to play the game. Change the rules of the game to create a new experience or set alternative campaign objectives to create new challenges.

Rules Variants

Kingdom Death: Monster offers a different experience each time you play it. Rules variants can further alter the game for experienced players. A group may decide to use any, all, or none of these rules for their campaign.

5-6 Players

When you depart, you may take 5 or 6 survivors instead of the normal 4. Use the following rules when you do.

Monsters gain +2 damage and +1 speed tokens at the start of the showdown.
Monsters have the Life trait: place 2+ the monster's level wounds on it. Once this card is archived, you can wound the monster normally. If a monster already has this trait, add 2+ monster level wounds to it. Full rules for Life are in the Monster section.
Gain no additional rewards from defeating monsters.

Quick Mode

If your gaming group is constantly short on time, you can use Quick Mode game rules to speed things up.

Every survivor gains permanent +1 strength.
Monsters gain +1 damage tokens at the start of the showdown.
Whenever survivors wound the monster, the monster suffers an additional wound.
Survivors die when they have 3 bleeding tokens instead of 5.

Hero Mode

The survivors are legendary, immortal heroes.

If the survivors die, they are merely knocked unconscious and check their Skip Next Hunt box on the survivor record sheet. Unconscious survivors return to the settlement at the end of the showdown, even if the whole group is rendered unconscious.
When you name a survivor, in addition to +1 survival, players choose to gain +1 permanent accuracy, evasion, strength, luck, or speed.

Death Mode

Death mode is meant for the purists — experienced players that want the full Kingdom Death: Monster challenge.

All gear is irreplaceable. If a survivor dies, all of their gear is archived.
Survivors die when they have 3 bleeding tokens instead of 5.
Monsters gain +1 damage token at the start of the showdown.

Storyteller Mode

One player acts as the storyteller.

The storyteller never controls a survivor and always acts as the Monster controller. They may freely reorder the monster AI deck during the showdown.
The storyteller picks which settlement event is triggered in the Settlement Phase.

Solo Play

For the most part, playing Monster as a solo campaign will proceed as it does for a group of players. There is one outright change in rules, and several suggestions that are strongly advised.

Modifications to Rules: During the Showdown Phase, do not use the monster controller tile. No survivors will gain insanity due to monster targeting.

Organization is the key to getting through a solo campaign without losing track of all the possibilities. From beginning to end, your ability to manage the resources of the settlement allows great latitude in choices and planning. Instead of competing with other players for cool gear, you can be more strategic, thinking of survivors as resources in your individual campaign.

When it comes to individual survivors, be consistent. For each survivor, you'll need a character record sheet, gear grid, and miniature, meaning you'll have to manage 4 sets of each. Make sure you have a way to know which sheets, grids, and miniatures belong to which survivor.

One good way of keeping survivors organized is to decide on a naming convention ahead of time. Naming the settlement in honor to your favorite book, TV series, or movie will make it easy to come up with new names as needed, and may help you keep track of aspects like family relations or weapon proficiencies.

Make a plan for tactics, but try not to get overwhelmed by the possibilities. With only one player, you'll need to start thinking of showdown tactics while picking which survivors will depart for the Hunt Phase and what gear they'll bring. Once lantern years pass and the number of options grow, it will be easy to be overwhelmed, but if you keep in mind what's worked for you in the past, it'll go more smoothly.

Focus on advancing the Settlement, not the Survivors. At the end of the day, as a solo player, your greatest concern is with developing your community to improve your survivors, not developing the best collection of four survivors that you can.

As the settlement progresses, you'll be able to slowly build up a stable of useful survivors for the later parts of the campaign.

Custom Campaigns

If you're itching for more after completing the main Kingdom Death: Monster campaign, the game is easily customizable for a group that is familiar with the rules.

One simple way to customize your campaign is creating a custom timeline. Switch nemesis encounters, add new story event triggers, etc.

Creating your own campaign is exciting and daunting. We suggest using the story events already provided in the main campaign and changing a few things. There are no set rules for crafting a unique campaign for your gaming group, but here are some examples of custom campaigns the Kingdom Death team enjoyed.

Seven Swordsmen

Start a campaign with a population of 7. Each survivor starts with the Ageless ability from the White Secret story event and has sword weapon mastery. The Seven Swordsmen will never be bothered with people outside their settlement, thus the settlement can never gain population. The swordsmen never roll on the Intimacy table as there is no love in their hearts.

People of the Skull

The People of the Skull worship skulls above all else. Survivors can only place weapons and armor with the bone keyword in their gear grid. The People of the Skull ignore the Frail rule.

When you name a survivor, if they have the word bone or skull in their name, in addition to +1 survival, players choose to gain +1 permanent accuracy, evasion, strength, luck, or speed.
During the Develop step of the settlement phase, survivors can use the Skull Ritual special endeavor.

Skull Ritual

The settlement performs an exotic, violent dance with plenty of chanting.

Cost: 1 skull resource, 1 endeavor

Nominate up to 4 survivors to consume the skull. They gain a permanent +1 to all their attributes.

Black Skull

If a weapon or armor is made with the Black Skull resource, a survivor may place it into their gear grid despite being iron.

Twilight Knight in Training

When you start the campaign, nominate one survivor to be the Twilight Knight. The Twilight Knight starts with the Twilight Sword gear in their gear grid and 3 weapon proficiency ranks in Twilight Sword.

The Twilight Knight cannot gain Age tokens, can still hunt when retired, never checks their Skip Next Hunt box, and must always depart. The Twilight Knight does not leave the settlement when they reach max weapon proficiency with the twilight sword. If the Twilight Knight dies, the players lose.

Glossary

The rulebook glossary uses a set of icons throughout as shorthand: Activation, Endeavor, Movement, AI card, Persistent Injury, Trigger story event, Head/Body/Arms/Waist/Legs survivor hit locations, Armor (number values represent armor points), Trigger, Alert, Critical Wound, and Reaction. Where these icons appear inline in a definition below, they are spelled out (e.g. "+1 movement", "trigger the story event").

Abilities: Skills and techniques learned by survivors, usually through story events, and recorded on the Survivor Record Sheet.

Absorb: The Watcher's instinct. Described on the Watcher's showdown story event.

Accessory: A gear special rule. Accessory gear may be worn in addition to armor on a hit location. Each accessory specifies the hit location it covers.

Accuracy (Attribute): Represents permanent changes to attack rolls. Positive attribute adds to the dice roll, while negative attribute subtracts from the dice roll.

Accuracy (Weapon/Attack Profile): The number that each attack roll result must meet or exceed in order to be considered a hit. Listed on monster attack profiles and weapon gear.

Acid Palms: An ability. Add 1d10 strength to wound attempts when attacking with Fist & Tooth.

Act: The part of the survivors' turn in which an individual survivor gains movement and activation. Each survivor must complete their act before another may start theirs, and all unused movement and activations are lost when a survivor ends their act.

Action: Most things a survivor or monster can do during the Showdown Phase, like moving and attacking, are actions.

Activation: Activation can be spent to attack, activate some gear, and interact with terrain. Survivors gain one activation during that survivor's act.

Adjacent (Miniature): A miniature is adjacent to another when it occupies a space one space in a cardinal (non-diagonal) direction from a square occupied by the other miniature.

Affinity (Completed): Some gear cards have red, blue, or green half-squares on the card edge. If a half-square is adjacent to a half-square of the same color on another gear card, the complete square they form is one affinity.

Affinity Bonus: A type of gear special rule. Having the indicated number of colored affinities will trigger the effect. Each affinity bonus only applies once, regardless of how many extra affinities a survivor has.

After Damage: An attack trigger found on some monster AI attack profiles. If there are any successful hits in the attack, resolve all damage from all hits in this attack (roll hit location dice, apply damage to hit location), then apply this trigger's attack effects. If there is no damage dealt from the attack, do not apply this effect.

After Hit: An attack trigger found on some monster AI attack profiles. If there are any successful hits in the attack, before rolling hit location dice, apply this trigger's attack effects.

Aftermath: The end of a Showdown Phase. Contains different outcomes based on the survivors' success or failure.

Ageless: An ability. You may hunt if you are retired. When you gain Hunt XP, you may decide not to gain it.

AI Card: AI cards are made up of actions, flows and alerts, some cards also have persistent injury and/or definition boxes. There are four kinds of AI cards - Basic, Advanced, Legendary, and Special.

AI Deck: Made up of AI cards used for a specific showdown. See the monster's story event for details of its AI deck. The AI Deck is reduced as the monster is wounded.

Alerts: Actions following an alert contain important conditional information that must be considered to determine if the action is performed. Continue to perform any further actions on the AI card unless stated otherwise. Survival may not be spent during an alert.

All Survivors: An effect during the showdown that refers to all survivors applies to all survivors currently on the showdown board.

Ambush (Monster): If the monster moves into the survivors' hunt board space, it ambushes the survivors. End any current hunt events and start the showdown immediately. Survivors skip their first turn. In most cases, this means that the monster will take two turns in a row.

Ambush (Survivors): Some hunt events allow the survivors to ambush the monster. If they do, survivors may go first in the showdown. Do not follow the setup rules on the monster's story event. Instead, place the listed showdown terrain, the monster, and survivors on the showdown board as the players decide (setup rules on terrain cards must still be followed).

Ammo - Bow: A gear special rule. You must have a bow in your gear grid to activate this card. Ammo has the range of a bow in your gear grid.

Ammunition: A gear keyword. This gear is ammunition for another weapon gear.

Analyze: An ability. At the start of the survivors' turn, if you are adjacent to the monster, reveal the top AI card, then place it back on top of the deck.

Archive: Remove this card from play and return it to the game box. Unless it is recorded into settlement storage or the survivor's record sheet, any archived card is permanently lost.

Armor: Gear with this keyword is armor. Protects the survivor from injury. Each piece of armor will have the hit location symbol for the hit location it can be worn on. Each hit location may only wear one piece of armor.

Armor Points: Recorded on the survivor record sheet. Determined by armor gear in the survivor's gear grid, as well as other effects and events. Each point negates one point of damage to the hit location. Armor points decrease by 1 for each damage they negate.

Armor Set: Each armor set is comprised of all armor from a single settlement location with the keyword "set". For example, while a survivor is wearing the White Lion Helm, White Lion Gauntlets, White Lion Coat, White Lion Skirt, and White Lion Boots, they have completed the White Lion armor set.

Armor Set Bonus: A survivor wearing a completed armor set gains the benefits of the armor set bonus listed on its corresponding armor set card.

Arms: A survivor hit location. Damage to the arms beyond the heavy injury level results in a roll on the Arms section of the Severe Injury table.

Arrow: A gear keyword. This gear card is an arrow.

Attack: The process of making an attack roll and resolving damage, wounds or other effects.

Attack Effects: Attack effects are rules contained in a box below the attack profile on some AI cards, and applied when the trigger occurs. These effects are applied only once, even if the target is hit or damaged multiple times by this attack.

Attack Profile: Part of monster AI cards and basic actions. Lists the speed, accuracy, damage, and any triggers for a monster attack.

Attack Roll: The dice roll that represents an attempt to hit a target. A Lantern 10 will always result in a hit.

Attribute: An aspect of a survivor or monster described by a numerical value.

Attribute Modifier Token: Attribute modifier tokens are used to indicate temporary changes to attributes. Attribute modifier tokens are double-sided to represent gains and losses for that attribute, and are combined with permanent attribute totals to determine the current level of each attribute. All tokens are removed at the end of each showdown.

Away (Movement): A movement that puts the most possible spaces between two points on the showdown board, such as a monster, survivor, terrain, or board edge.

Axe: Gear with this keyword is an axe weapon. Survivors may gain levels of axe weapon proficiency with this weapon.

Back: The direction opposite of the monster's facing.

Balm: A gear keyword. Balm items work by rubbing them on a survivor's skin.

Bash: Causes survivors to be knocked down.

Basic Action: A Monster's basic action is detailed on its Basic Action card. A basic action consists of a target action and an attack action with an attack profile. Monsters will perform a basic action on some AI cards, in some reactions, or if the AI deck and discard are both empty. Performing a basic action does not count as an AI card being drawn.

Basic Action / Reference Card: Double-sided Basic Action/Reference cards contain a monster's basic action on one side and an overview of the monster's characteristics on the other side.

Basic Hunt Event: 100 events survivors may encounter out in the darkness. Found in the Basic Hunt Event section of the rulebook.

Basic Resources: Generic resources that can be gained from most huntable monsters and many events.

Before Damage: A trigger found on some monster attack profiles. Apply this trigger's attack effect after hits and hit location dice are rolled, but before damage is dealt to hit locations.

Bitter Frenzy: An ability. You may spend survival and use fighting arts, weapon specialization, and weapon mastery while Frenzied.

Bleed X: The target gains X bleeding tokens.

Bleeding Token: Survivors can gain bleeding tokens from severe injuries, monster attacks, and some events. If a survivor has 5 or more bleeding tokens, they are dead. All tokens are removed at the end of each showdown.

Blind Spot: Usually the spaces directly behind the monster. Survivors attacking from the blind spot gain +1 accuracy.

Block X: A gear special rule. Spend activation to ignore X hits the next time you are attacked. Lasts until your next act. A survivor may not use block more than once per attack.

Blue Life Exchange: An ability. In the Aftermath, gain 3 additional Hunt XP. You may not place gear with the "other" keyword in your grid. Gain +1 permanent luck with each Age milestone. When you retire, you cease to exist.

Body: A survivor hit location. Damage to the body beyond the heavy injury level results in a roll on the Body section of the Severe Injury table. This is the only hit location that appears twice on the hit location dice.

Body Blow: An attack that always hits a survivor's body location. Do not roll hit location dice for this attack.

Bone (Gear): A gear keyword. Bone is one of the primary materials used to craft this gear.

Bone (Resource): A common resource keyword.

Bow: Gear with this keyword is a bow weapon. Survivors may gain levels of bow weapon proficiency with this weapon.

Brain: The Brain is a survivor location different from hit locations, and represents a survivor's mental fitness. Since the human mind is fragile, there is only one injury level for the Brain (indicated by the light-lined unfilled box). Any damage beyond the light injury level results in a roll on the Brain Trauma table. The Brain is only damaged by brain damage.

Brain Damage: Brain damage only affects the Brain location.

Brain Trauma Table: Contains possible outcomes of excess damage to the Brain location.

Build [Location]: When a new location is built, place that settlement location in the play area and add the new location to your settlement record sheet. This is a permanent addition to your settlement.

Burnt Nerves: An ability. You are immune to bash.

Canceled Attack: A canceled attack immediately ends. Discard all unresolved hit locations. Do not perform any actions, special rules, critical effects, or reactions on these cards.

Caratosis: An ability. For each red affinity you have, 1 of your attack rolls hits automatically each attack.

Charge: A gear special rule. Survivors spend movement and activation to move the maximum available spaces in a straight line in one direction. At the end of movement, if in range, perform an attack using a melee weapon, adding the number of spaces moved in this way to your strength for the attack. Charge does not impact any further attacks this turn.

Closest Survivor: The survivor the least number of cardinal spaces away from the monster.

Closest Threat: The threat the least number of cardinal spaces away from the monster.

Club: Gear with this keyword is a club weapon. Survivors may gain levels of club weapon proficiency with this weapon.

Collides: If a monster moves through a space occupied by a survivor, they collide and the survivor suffers collision. If a monster ends its movement on a survivor, they collide, the survivor suffers collision and knockback 5. If a survivor is knocked back into impassable terrain, they collide with it and the survivor suffers collision. If a survivor suffers knockback into another survivor, complete the knockback movement normally. Both survivors suffer collision at the end of knockback. If the survivors would occupy the same space, instead place the knocked back survivor in the closest unoccupied space.

Collision: When a survivor suffers collision, they are knocked down.

Consumable: A keyword. This may be consumed by survivors.

Consume: A special rule. This consumable gear or resources may be ingested by survivors for a listed result. Some are archived after use.

Courage: A survivor attribute listed on the survivor record sheet. Courage is a survivor's potentially ill-advised bravery. Reaching a courage level of 3 will trigger the Bold Story Event, while reaching a level of 9 will trigger the See the Truth Story Event.

Critical Wound: Critical wounds are lucky blows that always wound a monster, even if the wound attempt does not exceed the monster's toughness. A critical wound occurs when a wound roll result is a Lantern 10 on a hit location with a critical wound effect. The luck attribute modifies the roll needed for a critical wound.

Critical Wound Effect: Critical wound effects on monster AI cards are represented by the critical wound symbol, followed by rules that specify what happens when a monster is critically wounded at that location. Critical wound effects are not reactions. On a critical wound, cancel all reactions on that hit location card.

Crystal Skin: An ability. You cannot place armor in your gear grid. When you depart, gain 2 armor points to all hit locations. Suffer -1 to the result of all severe injury rolls.

Cumbersome: A gear special rule. Survivors must spend both movement and activation to activate Cumbersome gear.

Cursed: A gear special rule. This gear cannot be removed from the gear grid for any reason. If the survivor dies, archive this gear.

(X)d10: A number (X) of ten-sided dice. The included dice feature a Lantern on the "10" face.

1d5: Roll 1d10, divide the result by two and round up to the nearest whole number.

d100: A hundred-sided die. This is accomplished by using 2d10, with one die nominated to represent the "tens" digit and the other to represent the "ones" digit. Note that a roll showing 2 lanterns (result of 10 on each) indicates a result of 100.

Dagger: Gear with this keyword is a dagger weapon. Survivors may gain levels of dagger weapon proficiency with this weapon.

Damage (Attack Profile): The amount of damage dealt for each hit in a monster's attack. Roll separate hit locations for each hit.

Damage (Attribute): Damage is added to the damage listed on an attack profile to calculate the total damage of an attack.

Damage (Condition): A hit damages a survivor if it removes armor points or causes an injury. Hits which are dodged, blocked, or ignored do not cause damage.

Dash: A survival action. When opportunity permits, a survivor may spend 1 survival to dash. They gain +1 movement which must be spent immediately. Each survivor may only Dash once per round, and only after the settlement has innovated the Paint innovation.

Deadly: A gear special rule. Gain +1 luck while attacking with this weapon. This increases the odds of inflicting critical wounds.

Deaf: The survivor cannot hear, or be impacted by encourage and other audible effects.

Death (Monster): A monster is defeated when it is wounded and there are no AI cards in the AI deck or AI discard pile to move to the wound stack.

Death (Survivor): A survivor can die in a variety of ways. Remove their miniature from the board. They can no longer participate in the hunt or showdown. Return their gear to the settlement storage and move their resources to another survivor. If all the survivors die during the showdown, all of their gear returns to the settlement and all resources not in the settlement storage are lost.

Death Count: Part of the settlement record sheet. During the Settlement Phase, if any survivors perished during the previous Hunt or Showdown Phase, update the death count. If survivors perish during the Settlement Phase, update the death count immediately. The first time a settlement's death count is updated, trigger the Principle: Death story event.

Defeat: When the survivors are defeated by a monster, follow the defeat rules in the Aftermath section of the monster's story event.

Depart (As in, "When you depart"): These rules apply to departing survivors at the end of the Settlement Phase.

Departing Survivors: The survivors nominated to take part in the next hunt and showdown.

Destroy Armor: An attack effect that reduces armor points of a survivor hit location to 0 before applying damage.

Destructible: A terrain special rule. When a survivor collides with destructible terrain, stop their movement and archive the terrain. The survivor suffers 1 damage to a random hit location. When a monster collides with destructible terrain, archive the terrain.

Devastating X: A gear special rule. When a devastating weapon wounds a monster, it will inflict X additional wounds.

Discard: Put the card into the appropriate discard pile. It is no longer in play.

Disdain: The Phoenix's instinct. Described on the Showdown: Phoenix story event.

Disorder: A mental impairment. Disorders are found on disorder cards. When a disorder is gained, record its rules on the survivor record sheet and return the card to the box. Survivors can have up to 3 disorders. Additional disorders gained must replace a disorder of your choice. If a survivor would gain a disorder they already have, nothing happens.

Dodge: A survival action. When a survivor is hit, after rolling hit location dice but before damage, they may spend 1 survival to dodge, canceling one hit. The dodged hit becomes a failed attack roll and does not cause damage. Any additional un-dodged hits resolve normally. Dodge is the only survival action that knocked down survivors can perform. Each survivor may only Dodge once per round.

Doomed: The indicated survivor(s) may not spend survival until this card is resolved.

Dormenatus: An ability. When you depart, gain 1 armor point to every hit location for each green affinity you have.

Draw AI: The monster controller draws the top AI card of the monster's AI deck and plays it. If the AI deck is empty, shuffle the discard pile into it and draw the top card. If the AI deck and discard pile are empty, the monster performs its Basic Action.

Duration: Duration cards are drawn twice. The first time a duration card is drawn, perform any "when drawn face down" actions. Then, instead of discarding it, place the duration card face up on top of the AI deck. The next time a monster draws an AI card, it draws the duration card for a second time. Perform any "when drawn face up" actions, then discard the card after resolving. Some duration cards have persistent effects while they are face up on top of the AI deck.

Early Iron: A gear special rule. When any of your attack roll results are a 1, cancel your attack.

Encourage: A survival action. A standing survivor may spend 1 survival at any time to encourage a knocked down survivor, letting them stand. Deaf survivors may not be encouraged. Each survivor may only Encourage once per round, and only if the settlement has the Language innovation.

Endeavors: Each returning survivor contributes +1 endeavor to the settlement. Survivors can spend endeavors to innovate, build new settlement locations, or perform unique actions. To spend an endeavor, nominate a survivor, reduce the settlement's total endeavors by 1, and follow the rules for the action the endeavor was spent on. Unless stated otherwise, the action's effects apply only to the nominated survivor.

Evasion (Attribute): When a monster or survivor with evasion is the target of an attack, increase the accuracy on the attack profile by the amount of evasion the target possesses. Evasion can be a negative number, in which case it is subtracted from the attack profile's accuracy. Regardless of evasion, a Lantern 10 on the attack roll is always a Perfect Hit, and an attack roll result of 1 will always be unsuccessful.

Event Damage: Some damage is incurred from events. Typically, this damage cannot be dodged or blocked. Event damage is non-lethal, and will reduce armor points and cause light and heavy injuries, but will not cause severe injuries or brain trauma.

Event Revealer: The event revealer reveals a hunt event, reads it aloud, and follows the rules on the card, making all decisions along for that hunt event.

Explore: An ability. When you roll on an investigate table, add +2 to your roll result.

Facing: A monster is facing all spaces on the board that are in front of the miniature.

Failure (Reaction): A monster reaction. Performed in response to unsuccessful wound attempts at certain monster hit locations.

Fated Battle: An ability. At the start of a showdown with the picked monster, gain +1 speed token.

Feather (Gear): A gear keyword. This gear is substantively crafted of feathers.

Field of View: A survivor is in a monster's field of view unless they are in the monster's blind spot or the monster's line of sight is blocked by terrain with the Obstacle rule.

Fighting Arts: Powerful battle techniques found on fighting art cards. When a fighting art is gained, record its rules on the survivor record sheet and return the card to the box. Survivors can have up to 3 fighting arts. Additional fighting arts gained replace a fighting art of your choice. If a survivor would gain a fighting art they already have, nothing happens.

Finesse: A gear keyword. This gear requires finesse to use. This keyword does not interact with the core game in any way and is one of those annoying keywords for expansions.

First Strike: A type of monster hit location. This hit location must be resolved before any others, except Traps. If multiple First Strike locations are drawn, the player decides the order in which to resolve them. Traps still precede and cancel all other hits.

Fist & Tooth: Fist & Tooth is a weapon always available to a survivor. The attack attributes for Fist & Tooth are listed on the gear grid. Survivors may gain levels of Fist & Tooth weapon proficiency with this weapon.

Flammable: A gear keyword. Fire can destroy this gear.

Flow: Flows are hesitations between monster actions. They give the survivors an opportunity to use survival actions. They are represented by a bar with an arrow.

Forward: The direction the miniature is facing.

Fragile: A gear keyword. This gear is easily broken.

Frail: A gear special rule. Frail weapons are destroyed if a survivor attempts to wound a Super-dense location with them. Archive the weapon at the end of the attack.

Frenzy: A brain trauma result. A survivor who suffers this is Frenzied until the end of the Showdown Phase. Gain +1 strength token, +1 speed token, and 1d5 insanity. Ignore the "slow" special rule on melee weapons. A frenzied survivor may not spend survival or use fighting arts, weapon specialization, or weapon mastery. A survivor may be Frenzied multiple times.

Full Move: A game term that describes a monster's or survivor's maximum available movement, taking into account all movement modifier tokens.

Fur (Gear): A gear keyword. This gear is substantively crafted of thick fur.

Gear: Objects that survivors may carry and wear, represented by gear cards. Survivors may only use the gear in their individual gear grids. Except for gear with the weapon keyword, no survivor may have more than one copy of a gear card in their grid.

Gear Grid: A mat with space for 9 gear cards. Gear cards can be arranged in any configuration, but must remain right-side up. They cannot be rotated. Gear in gear grids can only be rearranged during the Settlement Phase.

Gear Keyword: Located directly under the name of a gear card. They describe information about gear, such as weapon type, materials, use, or limiting factors. Keywords are referenced by other cards and events.

Gear Special Rule: Located on the bottom portion of a gear card. These list gear abilities, bonuses and requirements.

Grand: Gear with this keyword is a grand weapon. Survivors may gain levels of grand weapon proficiency with this weapon.

Graze: The Screaming Antelope's instinct. Described on the Screaming Antelope's showdown story event.

Green Life Exchange: An ability. In the Aftermath, gain 3 additional Hunt XP. You may not place gear with the "other" keyword in your grid. Gain +1 permanent evasion with each Age milestone. When you retire, you cease to exist.

Guard: The King's Man's instinct. Described on the King's Man's showdown story event.

Head: A survivor hit location. Damage to the head beyond the heavy injury box will prompt a roll on the Head section of the Severe Injury table.

Head Hunter: An attack that always hits a survivor's head hit location. Do not roll hit location dice for this attack.

Heal X: When a monster performs heal X, return X AI cards from the Wound Stack to the bottom of the AI deck without looking at them.

Healing (Survivor): When survivors heal, erase all filled injury levels and restore all lost armor points.

Heavy (Gear): A gear keyword. This gear has substantial weight.

Heavy Injury Level: A heavy lined injury level box. When a survivor's heavy injury level is filled, they are knocked down. Once it is filled, this injury level cannot be suffered again this showdown unless it is healed.

Herb: A gear keyword. An item primarily made of herbs.

Hide (Resource): A common resource keyword.

Hit (Monster): A hit is the result of an attack roll that meets or exceeds the accuracy for an attack using an attack profile. Hits which are dodged, blocked, or ignored are misses. Damage outside of an attack profile is not considered to be from a hit.

Hit (Survivors): A hit is the result of an attack roll that meets or exceeds the accuracy for an attack using a weapon.

Hit Location (Monster): Each monster has a unique hit location deck composed of hit location cards. There are 5 types of hit location card: First Strike, Impervious, Super-dense, Trap, and Normal. Any hit location that has no listed type is Normal.

Hit Location (Survivors): Hit locations are areas of the survivors' body that can wear armor and suffer damage. The hit locations are: Head, Arms, Body, Waist, and Legs. Hit locations may gain armor points from armor. Without armor, hit locations have 0 armor points.

Hit Location Dice: Used to determine the survivor hit location hit by an attack.

Homing Instinct: An ability. Add +5 to your rolls on the Run Away story event.

Hunt Board: The Hunt Board is used during the Hunt Phase to track a quarry monster.

Hunt Board Diagram: Part of a monster's showdown story event. It indicates how to set up the hunt board for that monster.

Hunt Event: A hunt event describes an encounter the survivors face on their journey. They can be disastrous, bizarre, or even beneficial. These appear on basic hunt event cards and monster hunt event cards.

Hunt Event Cards (Basic): All basic hunt event cards are identical. They direct the event revealer to roll on the hunt event table.

Hunt Event Cards (Monster): Monster hunt event cards are only encountered when hunting a particular monster. They describe pitfalls and wonders specific to this monster. Each huntable monster has a unique set of hunt event cards.

Hunt Experience (XP): Survivors gain Hunt Experience during the Aftermath of a victorious showdown. When a survivor gains Hunt XP, fill in the next unfilled Hunt XP box on their survivor record sheet. Some hunt experience levels are milestones (indicated by a heavy-lined box) that trigger the Age story event. The number of milestones filled indicates which Age rules apply. When the final hunt experience box is filled, the survivor is too old to hunt, and must retire.

Hunt Phase: The part of each session spent locating a quarry monster. When survivors determine what type and level of monster to hunt.

Ignore a Hit: Reduce the number of hits by 1. This happens before hit locations are determined.

Impairments: Permanent changes or injuries suffered by a survivor and recorded on the survivor record sheet. These often result from the severe injury table.

Impassable: A terrain special rule. A survivor cannot voluntarily move into or through any spaces this terrain occupies. Impassable terrain stops all movement, including knockback. If a survivor is knocked back into a space occupied by impassable terrain, they collide with the terrain and their movement ends just before the terrain.

Impervious: A type of monster hit location. Impervious hit locations cannot be wounded, even with a Lantern 10 wound roll. Wound attempts will never remove AI cards. However, critical effects may still occur.

In Play: All cards are considered in play after they have been drawn and until they resolve. Most cards are discarded after resolving. Others, such as Moods, remain in play indefinitely or until a condition is satisfied.

In Range (Monster): A survivor is in a monster's range if the number of spaces between them is less than or equal to its current movement (including modifiers). If "in range" is followed by a number, such as range (8), that number replaces the monster's movement when calculating to see if a survivor is in range.

Injury Level: Indicates damage to a hit location. Recorded on the survivor record sheet. Most hit locations feature two levels, light and heavy, except for the Head (which only has a heavy injury level).

Innovation: A type of advancement for a settlement, gained at the Lantern Hoard. Innovations alter the settlement and the survivors' capabilities. Record new innovations on your settlement record sheet.

Innovation Deck: A settlement's innovation deck is a persistent deck that grows as the settlement innovates.

Insane: A survivor with 3+ insanity.

Insanity: Protects a survivor from brain damage.

Instinct: The action the monster undertakes if it cannot find a target to attack. Each monster has a unique instinct described on its showdown story event.

Instrument: A gear keyword. This gear can be used to play music.

Intimidate Actions: Intimidate actions cause brain damage. Intimidate actions are not attacks or hits (survivors cannot spend survival to dodge Intimidate actions). Monsters don't need to be adjacent to their targets to intimidate.

Iron Will: An ability. You cannot be knocked down. Reduce all knockback you suffer to knockback 1.

Irreplaceable: A gear special rule. If a survivor dies, archive all irreplaceable gear in their gear grids.

Item: A gear keyword. Gear that is neither a weapon nor armor.

Jewelry: A gear keyword. Decorative and functional!

Katana: Gear with this keyword is a katana weapon. Survivors may not gain levels of katana weapon proficiency.

Katar: Gear with this keyword is a katar weapon. Survivors may gain levels of katar weapon proficiency with this weapon.

Knockback X: Move the target of knockback X spaces directly away from the cause of this effect.

Knocked Down (Monster): While a monster is knocked down, attack rolls hit on 3+ (in place of normal accuracy). Cancel all reactions, including reactions that might be beneficial to survivors. This does not cancel critical wound effects (since they are not reactions). If the monster is knocked down during a flow, cancel any remaining actions on its card. A knocked down monster stands when: it draws an AI card, a trap is played, or at the start of the next turn (monster or survivors').

Knocked Down (Survivor): When a survivor is knocked down, turn the miniature on its side. Knocked down survivors always stand at the end of the next monster turn. If a survivor is knocked down in the middle of their attack, the remainder of that attack is canceled. Knocked down survivors may only spend survival to dodge (remaining knocked down), and cannot spend activation or movement.

Lantern 10: A die roll result with the lantern face up. Equivalent to a 10 for other 10-sided dice.

Lantern Year: Survivors' basic unit of time. The settlement typically advances by one lantern year as part of each Settlement Phase.

Last to Wound: The survivor who last wounded the monster.

Leather: A gear keyword. Cured hides are a crucial component of this gear.

Legendcaller: An ability. Once a lifetime, on a hunt board space after Overwhelming Darkness, in place of rolling a random hunt event, use "53" as your result.

Legs: A survivor hit location. Damage to the legs beyond the heavy injury box will prompt a roll on the Legs section of the Severe Injury table.

Leyline Walker: An ability. While there is no armor or accessory gear in your gear grid, gain +3 evasion.

Life Trait: A core game variant. Instead of wounding by removing AI cards to the wound stack, wound the monster by reducing the number on its Life trait. When the number is reduced to 0, the monster is dead.

Lucernae: An ability. For every blue affinity you have, your ranged weapons gain this amount of range and your melee weapons gain this amount of reach.

Luck (Player Attribute): Luck modifies a survivor's chance to cause a critical wound from a wound roll. +1 luck causes a critical wound on a wound roll result of 9 or 10. +2 luck on 8, 9, or 10, and so on. A luck modifier can be negative, making it impossible to critically wound.

Luck (Monster Attribute): Every positive monster luck token reduces the range of wound roll results considered critical. Normally, critical wounds occur only on Lantern tens. Unless survivors have positive luck modifiers, a critical wound against a monster with 1 or more luck tokens is impossible. Each negative monster luck token increases the attackers' critical wound range by 1. The rule of Lantern 10 always applies, so even if a monster's luck makes critically wounding impossible, a wound roll of a Lantern 10 will still cause a normal wound.

Mad Oracle: An ability. Once per showdown, as a monster draws an AI, name a card. If the AI card drawn is the named card, gain +1 evasion token.

Marrow Hunger: An impairment. If the Murder or Skull Eater settlement events are drawn, nominate this survivor.

Matchmaker: An ability. When you are a returning survivor, once per lantern year, you may spend 1 endeavor to trigger the Intimacy story event.

Materialize: Remove the monster from the showdown board and place it adjacent to the target. It must be placed so its base covers as many other survivors as possible, colliding with the survivors.

Melee: A weapon gear keyword. To attack with a melee weapon, survivors must be in a space adjacent to the monster. Melee weapons with Reach can attack from further away.

Menace: The Butcher's instinct. Described on the Butcher's showdown story event.

Metal: A gear keyword. This gear is substantively crafted of metal.

Metal Maw: An ability. Your Fist & Tooth attacks gain Sharp (add 1d10 strength to each wound attempt).

Miniature: The physical representation of a monster or survivor, used in the Hunt and Showdown phases.

Monster AI Deck: Each monster has a unique AI deck. Its showdown story event describes how to construct a Monster AI Deck at the appropriate level.

Monster Controller: The player who draws the monster's AI card. They make any decisions and rolls to resolve a monster's actions for that round. Designated by the Monster Controller tile. Monster controller changes at the start of each round.

Monster Controller Bonus: When a monster controller's survivor is the target of an attack, this foolhardy action earns that player's survivor +1 insanity.

Monster Controller Tile: Designates the monster controller. Moves clockwise to the next player or survivor at the start of each round.

Monster Hit Location Card: Represents a location on the monster's body. These are hit by a survivor's successful attack roll. Many hit location cards feature special effects or actions.

Monster Hit Location Deck: The cards that collectively make up the locations a survivor may hit a given monster. Unique to each monster.

Monster Level: Monster level determines the difficulty of the showdown and the monster's placement on the hunt board. Higher-level monsters have longer hunts and more difficult showdowns.

Monster Reference Card / Basic Action: Contains a small overview of each monster's characteristics. They serve as a compact reminder of frequently-used monster information.

Monster Resources: Monster resource cards are gained only from fighting that monster. Each huntable monster has a unique deck. Monster resources can be used and spent as their resource type or as their specific resource name. Some monster resources have additional rules.

Monster Showdown Story Event: Contains relevant information for a particular monster's showdown and hunt, including instructions on constructing a monster AI deck, hunt and showdown board setup, the monster's instinct and basic attack, and information on the aftermath of the showdown.

Most/Least X: The survivor with the most/least of the listed condition. Zero can count as most or least unless otherwise stated.

Move and Attack Target Action: A component of most AI cards. A Move and Attack Target Action follows a Pick Target Action. Full move the monster towards the target and perform the following attack profile.

Movement (Attribute): The maximum amount of spaces a monster or survivor may move within a single move action. A monster or survivor with less than 1 movement may still move 1 space each move action.

Mood: A type of monster AI card. Once mood cards are drawn, leave them in the play area instead of discarding them at the end of the monster turn. Moods can be removed by some items or through conditions listed on the card. If a monster suffers a wound when it has an empty AI deck and discard pile but one or more active moods, it is defeated.

Nemesis Monster: Nemesis monsters show up at the outskirts of the settlement. They cannot be hunted, and will arrive during story events.

Next Monster Turn: Some effects persist until the next monster turn. If it is the survivors' turn, the effect will end on the monster turn immediately following this turn. If it is the monster's turn when this effect begins, it will end on the following monster turn.

Next Round: Some effects persist until the end of the next complete round. These effects will end after the monster, then the survivors, take another turn.

No Target: The last option on a monster's Pick Target list. It indicates what to do if no target is found. This is most often a monster's Instinct action. When a monster cannot find a target, subsequent actions on the card are not performed.

Noisy: A gear keyword. This gear is hard to keep quiet.

Non-deaf Survivor: Survivors not suffering from the deaf severe head injury.

Obstacle: A terrain rule. This terrain blocks survivor and monster field of view, interrupting ranged weapon attacks and monster targeting. To check if field of view is blocked, draw an imaginary line from the center of the miniature's base to the center of the intended target's base. If the line comes in contact with a space occupied by an obstacle, the field of view is blocked and the target is not in field of view.

Organ (Resource): A common resource keyword.

Other: A gear keyword. The effects of this gear are otherworldly.

Overwhelming Darkness: A space on the Hunt Board. The first time each hunt the survivors move into the Overwhelming Darkness space, they trigger the Overwhelming Darkness story event. The survivors cannot skip Overwhelming Darkness. If they move through the space, instead stop all movement and resolve Overwhelming Darkness before any other events or effects. Then, resolve other events or effects on this space. If, for some reason, the survivors move into or through Overwhelming Darkness more than once in a single Hunt Phase, treat it as a blank space. If the monster is on the Overwhelming Darkness Space when the survivors move into it, skip its event and start the showdown immediately.

Paired: A gear special rule. Paired weapons are two identical weapons that can be used as one. Add the speed of the second weapon when attacking with the first. These weapons must have the same name, and both must be in your gear grid.

Peerless: An ability. When you gain insanity, you may gain an equal amount of survival.

Perfect Hit: An attack dice roll result of a Lantern 10. This always results in a hit. When there are multiple Perfect Hits in a single attack, trigger any rules applying to Perfect Hits that many times.

Permanent Injury: An injury to a survivor that does not heal with time. Its effects always apply to that survivor unless canceled by another effect.

Persistent Injury: A special injury found on some hit location cards. When a monster suffers a critical wound on a hit location with a persistent injury, leave the card in play instead of discarding it. Some persistent injuries modify a monster's behavior, while others affect specific AI cards.

Persistent Injury Actions: Found on some AI cards. Persistent injury actions are conditional actions that replace the normal rules of an AI card. They are only performed when the monster draws an AI card with a persistent injury action that matches a persistent injury in play. If a persistent injury action is performed, ignore other actions on the card.

Pick Target: A component of most AI cards. A Pick Target list has a series of conditions. The monster controller checks to see if each targeting condition is met, starting from the first and stopping when one is met. Sometimes targets are determined by an area or zone (such as adjacent survivors or all survivors in a zone). Some AI cards pick more than one target.

Place: Change the location of a miniature from one space on the showdown board to another. This does not count as movement.

Possessed: An ability. The survivor cannot use weapon specialization, weapon mastery, or fighting arts.

Pounce: A gear special rule. Spend 1 movement and 1 activation to move 3 spaces forward in a straight line and activate a melee weapon. This attack gains +1 strength.

Prepared: An ability. When rolling to determine a straggler, add your hunt experience to your roll result.

Principle: Principles are your settlement's guiding philosophies. When a principle's story event triggers, your settlement must make a choice. Record the chosen principle on the settlement record sheet and add that principle's card to the settlement play area.

Priority Target: When a survivor gains the priority target token, it signifies that the survivor has captured the monster's attention. Only 1 survivor may have the priority target token at a time. Whenever a monster picks a target, the survivor with the priority target token will always be the target of an AI card. The priority target token is removed only when: another survivor gains the priority target token, an effect causes the priority target token to be removed, or at the end of the next monster turn.

Provoke: A gear special rule. When you wound with this weapon, gain the priority target token.

Proxy Cards: There are 8 proxy cards. These can be used to replace lost cards or create game variants.

Puzzle Affinity: A gear special rule. Puzzle affinity bonuses can only be gained if the affinities are completed using the affinities on that specific card (indicated by puzzle pieces instead of boxes).

Quarry: The monster that the survivors have elected to hunt.

Random Hit Location (Survivor): Determine using the included hit location dice.

Random Hunt Event: Roll d100 and apply the hunt event corresponding to this number on the Hunt Event table.

Random Survivor: The monster controller or event revealer typically determines a survivor by chance, using an equal probability of all possible outcomes.

Range (Gear): A gear special rule. Survivors this many or fewer spaces away from a monster may attack with this weapon. Ranged weapons cannot be used if field of view to the monster is blocked (by terrain with the Obstacle rule).

Ranged: A gear keyword. A ranged weapon, like a bow or dart, allows survivors to attack from a distance.

Rawhide: A gear keyword. This gear is crafted of uncured hides.

Reach: A gear special rule. Reach weapons are long enough to attack monsters when the survivor is not adjacent. Reach specifies the maximum number of spaces away that a survivor can attack with this weapon.

Reaction: A hit location rule. The 3 types of reactions are Wound, Failure, and Reflex; each specifies the conditions for a reaction to occur. Reactions occur after rolling to wound the hit location they are found on and before resolving the next hit location.

Record and Archive: An instruction on certain cards, such as disorders and fighting arts. Make a note of the listed effects and return the card to the game box.

Red Life Exchange: An ability. In the Aftermath, gain 3 additional Hunt XP. You may not place gear with the "other" keyword in your grid. Gain +1 permanent strength with each Age milestone. When you retire, you cease to exist.

Reflex (Reaction): A type of monster reaction. This reaction occurs regardless of whether a wound attempt succeeds or fails.

Remove from the Showdown Board (Survivor): Remove the survivor miniature from the showdown board. Place it on its survivor status card, if it has one. A survivor removed from the showdown board has an Act, but may not spend movement, activation or perform survival actions. Unless stated otherwise, they do not affect and are not affected by anything on the showdown board. When the showdown ends, any survivors who are removed from the board (but not dead) continue to the Aftermath as normal.

Resolved: A card is resolved when there are no more instructions to follow on it. This may be due to performing every indicated action, or as a result of specific instructions on the card.

Resources: Resources cards are gained from defeating monsters and events. They are spent to develop the settlement and craft gear. There are 4 kinds: Basic, Monster, Strange, and Vermin.

Resource Types: In addition to the specific name listed, all resource cards have one or more types that the card may be used as. Common examples include Bone, Hide, Organ, and Scrap.

Reveal: Turn a card face up and examine it. (Do not play it.)

Retired: When the final Hunt XP box is filled, the survivor retires. Some disorders and severe injuries also force retirement. Retired survivors cannot depart, but still contribute to the total population of the settlement, and may participate in settlement events and endeavors.

Returning Survivors: All survivors that endured the previous showdown are returning survivors.

Rewards: Rewards are gained by defeating monsters. They are listed on the monster's showdown story event. Gain rewards as a group, once per victorious showdown (unless stated otherwise).

Round (Showdown): The showdown proceeds in rounds, consisting of the monster's turn followed by the survivors' turn. Rounds will continue until the monster is dead or all the survivors are dead.

Run Away: Once a settlement has innovated Pictographs, survivors may abandon a Hunt or Showdown Phase at any time. Follow the instructions on the Run Away story event.

Savage: A gear special rule. After the first critical wound in an attack, savage weapons cause 1 additional wound. This rule does not trigger on Impervious hit locations.

Secret Fighting Arts: Secret fighting arts are fighting arts that cannot be gained normally. Each secret fighting art has a corresponding card that describes the rules for using it. These count toward your fighting art maximum of 3.

Selfish: A gear special rule. A gear with this rule may not be in a same gear grid with any gear with the "other" keyword.

Sentient: A gear special rule. A survivor must be insane to activate this gear.

Session: A typical session is comprised of three phases: Hunt Phase, Showdown Phase, and Settlement Phase. Some events may make survivors skip one or more of these phases. For example, Nemesis Encounters have no Hunt Phase.

Set: A gear keyword listed on some armor cards. This means this armor is part of an armor set.

Settlement: The unique collection of locations, innovations, principles, gear, resources and survivors that represent the survivors' home. Survivors are at the settlement during the Settlement Phase.

Settlement Board: The settlement board is located on the reverse side of the Hunt Board. The spaces on the board correspond to steps in the Settlement Phase to guide players along.

Settlement Event: An event occurring during the Settlement Phase.

Settlement Phase: During the Settlement Phase, survivors experience settlement and story events, spend endeavors, craft gear, and determine which survivors depart on the next hunt. This is the only phase where survivors may change or rearrange their gear grids.

Settlement Record Sheet: Helps the players keep track of the development of their settlement.

Severe [Location] Injury: When survivors' armor points and injury levels are exhausted, they may accumulate temporary or permanent severe injuries from the severe injury table. When a survivor suffers permanent injuries, note the name and rules on your record sheet and adjust their attributes as necessary. Some injuries fill the Skip Next Hunt box on the survivor record sheet. Otherwise, severe injuries last until the end of the showdown and are marked by attribute tokens.

Severe Injury Tables: Contains sections of possible severe injuries to hit locations. Each hit that causes a severe injury prompts a roll on that location's severe injury table.

Sharp: A gear special rule. Add 1d10 strength to each wound attempt using this gear. This d10 is not a wound roll, and cannot cause critical wounds.

Shield: Gear with this keyword is a shield weapon. Survivors may gain levels of shield weapon proficiency with this weapon.

Showdown Board: Used to represent the area where the survivors face the monster in battle. Specific rules for setting up the showdown board are found on each monster's showdown story event.

Showdown Board Edge: Generally, monsters or survivors cannot move off the edge of the showdown board. Any knockback or full move effects that would bring a miniature past a board edge stops at the edge instead.

Showdown Phase: The part of a session where survivors face off against a monster. See individual monster showdown pages for instructions on how to start and end the Showdown Phase.

Showdown Setup: A component of each monster's showdown story event. Contains instructions for setting up terrain tiles and monster and survivor miniatures on the showdown board before a battle.

Skip Next Hunt: Fill in the Skip Next Hunt box on the survivor's record sheet. The survivor may not be selected as a departing survivor. After departing survivors are chosen, erase all filled Skip Next Hunt boxes on all survivor record sheets.

Slam: A gear special rule. Spend 1 movement and full move forward in a straight line. If you move 4+ spaces and stop adjacent to a monster, it suffers knockback 1 and -1 toughness until the end of the round.

Slow: A gear special rule. Slow weapons always have an attack speed of 1. Do not add speed modifiers.

Sniff: The White Lion's instinct. Described on the White Lion's showdown story event.

Soluble: A gear keyword. Able to be dissolved in liquid.

Sour Death: An ability. When you are knocked down, you may encourage yourself. If you do, gain +1 strength token.

Spear: Gear with this keyword is a spear weapon. Survivors may gain levels of spear weapon proficiency with this weapon.

Special Showdown: Special Showdowns interrupt the Settlement Phase. After they conclude (regardless of victory or defeat) the Settlement Phase continues where it left off. Do not generate endeavors or trigger new story events. Each Special Showdown's details are listed on the story event or innovation that triggered it.

Speed (Attack Profile/Weapon): The number of attack rolls (number of dice rolled). Usually determined by a monster AI card's attack profile or speed on a survivor's weapon.

Speed (Attribute/Modifier/Bonus): Speed is added to a survivor's weapon speed or a monster's attack profile speed to determine the number of attack rolls. If speed is negative, subtract it from the number of dice rolled for an attack. A monster or survivor attack with less than one speed still has one attack roll. Weapons with the Slow keyword cannot benefit from positive speed bonuses.

Stalwart: An ability. Ignore knocked down effects of brain trauma, disorders, and intimidation actions.

Starvation Space: The last space of the hunt board. If the survivors perish on the hunt, reach the end of the hunt board without a showdown, or the monster moves off of the hunt board, the Hunt Phase ends and the quarry is lost. Apply the rules on the Starvation space. The lantern year is over, and a new Settlement Phase begins.

Stinky: A gear keyword. This item has a strong odor.

Story of the Forsaker: An ability. You cannot be knocked down during a showdown with a nemesis monster.

Story of the Goblin: An ability. Once per showdown, you may roll 1d10. On a 3+, gain the priority target token and the monster gains +1 damage token.

Story of the Young Hero: An ability. At the start of each of your acts, you may choose to gain 1 survival and 2 bleeding tokens.

Story Event: An event which impacts the settlement/survivors. Common triggers include: the settlement timeline; survivor milestones in Hunt XP/courage/understanding; monster cards; settlement events. When the trigger story event icon appears, trigger the story event by turning to the appropriate page in the rulebook and following its instructions.

Strange Resources: Resource cards only gained in specific circumstances. Strange monster resources are not shuffled into monster resource decks.

Strength (Attribute/Modifier/Bonus): Strength is added to the result of a wound attempt. If strength is a negative number, subtract it from the wound attempt result.

Strength (Weapon): The number a weapon adds to wound attempt.

Super-dense: A type of hit location. This hit location is unusually hard. If a survivor attempts to wound one of these locations with a frail weapon, it is destroyed and archived at the end of the attack.

Surge: A type of survival action. When opportunity permits, a survivor may spend 1 survival to surge. Gain +1 activation which must be spent immediately. This allows them to activate a weapon, interact with terrain, use gear, and anything else spending an activation allows them to do. Resolve the results of the surge (including any monster reactions) before resuming the turn. Each survivor may only surge once per round, and only if the settlement has the Inner Lantern innovation.

Survival: Survival is the desperate desire to cling to life. Survival points are gained and lost throughout the campaign. They are spent to perform extraordinary feats and change your fate. Update the survival box on your character record sheet as it is gained and lost.

Survival Action: Survival actions are the most common uses for survival points. There are 4: dodge, encourage, dash, and surge.

Survival Limit: Survival limit is the maximum amount of survival a survivor may have. Survival limit is recorded on the settlement record sheet. Innovations and events raise the settlement's survival limit. At the start of the campaign, the survival limit is 1. Survival gained over the survival limit is lost.

Survival Opportunity: The only times that survivors may dash or surge. Survival opportunities exist at the following times: during flows on monster AI cards; between actions on the survivors' turn; before performing reactions; after critical wound effects; or when a monster is knocked down.

Survivor Record Sheet: Represents the permanent status of a survivor. Some sections include: attributes, Hunt XP, Weapon Proficiency, and permanent changes.

Survivor Status Card: Special (S) AI cards that track conditions for an individual survivor rather than the monster. When a survivor gains a survivor status card, place it next to their gear grid. The card's effects apply only to them. Some status cards change and need to be tracked. Some grant survivors unique actions. If a monster's story event has a Survivor Status card in its setup, all survivors gain the card at the start of the showdown.

Sweet Battle: An ability. You may surge without spending survival. If you do, the activation must be used to activate a weapon.

Sword: Gear with this keyword is a sword weapon. Survivors may gain levels of sword weapon proficiency with this weapon.

Target: The recipient of an attack or effect. Some attacks or effects may impact survivors other than the target.

Terrain Cards: Represent terrain that can be encountered during the Showdown Phase and contain rules for how monsters and survivor interact with them. Terrain cards place one or more terrain tiles on the showdown board.

Terrain Tile: Terrain tiles are placed on the Showdown Board to represent physical features. The type and amount of terrain added to the Showdown Board is determined by the terrain cards specified in the setup section of each monster's showdown story event.

Threat: A threat is any survivor that is not knocked down or using special gear, terrain, or abilities to prevent being considered a threat.

Thrown: Gear with this keyword is a thrown weapon. Survivors may not gain levels of thrown weapon proficiency.

Thundercaller: An ability. Once a lifetime, on a hunt board space after Overwhelming Darkness, in place of rolling a random hunt event, use "100" as your result.

Timeline: Tracks the number of lantern years since the establishment of your settlement on the Settlement Record Sheet. Trigger story and settlement events as the timeline advances.

Tinker: An ability. When you are a returning survivor, gain +1 endeavor.

Tool: A gear keyword. Some tools trigger story events or grant bonuses.

Toughness: Toughness is the number a wound attempt total must meet or exceed to successfully wound a monster.

Toward (Movement): A direction used in reference to another point on the showdown board, such as a monster, survivor, terrain tile, or board edge.

Trait: A type of monster AI card. Describes permanent changes to the characteristics or behaviors of the monster. Trait cards are not discarded at the end of the monster turn.

Trap: A type of monster hit location. A trap cancels all the attacker's hits, ends their attack, and causes the monster to stand, in addition to the actions listed on the card. After the Trap's actions are resolved, shuffle the entire hit location deck.

Trigger: Part of a monster's attack profile. Indicates that an Attack Effect is part of this attack.

Turn (Monster): The first part of a round, when the monster acts. The monster controller should apply any "at start of turn" effects, draw and play AI cards, then apply any "at end of turn" effects.

Turn (Survivors'): The second part of a round is the survivors' turn. During the survivors' turn, survivors act one at a time, each completing their entire act before another survivor may take their act. Survivors may choose to act in any order.

Two-handed: A gear keyword. This weapon requires two hands to use. Some gear and rules do not work with two-handed weapons.

Undeathable: A gear special rule. If the survivor dies, roll 1d10. On a result of 6+, the survivor lives. If this roll occurs from the survivor having a lethal amount of bleeding tokens, the survivor will not die until they gain another bleeding token.

Understanding: A survivor attribute listed on the survivor record sheet. Represents a survivor's insight about the world. Reaching an understanding level of 3 will trigger the Insight Story Event, while reaching a level of 9 will trigger the White Secret Story Event.

Unique: A gear special rule. A settlement may only have one copy of this gear card at a time.

Unshakable: A gear special rule. When this survivor draws a trap card, roll 1d10. On a result of 6+, ignore the trap. Discard it and shuffle the hit location deck.

Unstoppable: A gear special rule. Replace all wound rolls with a 1d10 roll. On 1-5, fail to wound, on 6+ wound. You cannot cause a critical wound while using this rule.

Unwieldy: A gear special rule. If any attack dice roll results are 1, the weapon causes 1 random damage to the survivor for each 1 rolled. Continue the attack as normal.

Vermin Resources: Vermin resources can be found in Bug Patches during showdowns or as a result of events. Vermin cards describe how each vermin can be used. Vermin can also be used in the Cooking Story Event.

Victory: Part of a monster's Aftermath. Use this result if the monster is defeated. Add that monster to the Defeated Monsters section of the settlement record sheet. If a Nemesis monster was defeated, update the Nemesis monster section as well.

Waist: A survivor hit location. Damage to the waist beyond the heavy injury level results in a roll on the Waist section of the Severe Injury table.

Weapon: A type of gear card. Weapon types in the core game include axe, bow, club, dagger, fist & tooth, grand, katar, shield, spear, sword, and whip.

Weapon Mastery: Achieved when a survivor has eight or more levels of weapon proficiency. When any survivor attains a weapon mastery, add that mastery to the settlement as an innovation. All survivors automatically gain the Specialist bonus for that weapon type in addition to any weapon proficiencies they already have.

Weapon Proficiency: A survivor attribute listed on the survivor record sheet. Weapon proficiency represents a survivor's skill with a weapon type. May be earned for the following weapon types: axe, bow, club, dagger, fist & tooth, grand, katar, shield, spear, sword, twilight sword and whip. After reaching the first Hunt XP milestone, survivors can declare a weapon type to gain weapon proficiency in. A survivor must first declare a weapon type before departing on a hunt (write it in the space on the record sheet) and then wound a monster at least once during a showdown with that weapon type in order to gain levels of weapon proficiency.

Weapon Specialization: Achieved when a survivor has three or more levels of weapon proficiency. Survivors develop new skills which often empower that weapon.

Whip: Gear with this keyword is a whip weapon. Survivors may gain levels of whip weapon proficiency with this weapon.

Wound: When a survivor successfully wounds a monster, remove the top card from its AI Deck and place it in the Wound Stack. If the AI deck is empty, shuffle the AI discard to create a new deck first.

Wound (Reaction): Listed on some monster hit location cards. An action that a monster performs in response to a successful wound attempt at certain hit locations.

Wound Attempt: The total power of a survivor's hit. Add the wound roll result (1d10) to the attacking weapon's strength, along with any other strength modifiers. If a wound attempt total meets or exceeds the monster's toughness, then the hit location is wounded.

Wound Roll: Represents the variable ferocity of a survivor's hit. Roll 1d10 and add the result to the wound attempt. The result of this d10 (adding luck modifiers) determines whether or not a critical wound is caused on locations with critical wound effects.

Zone: The indicated area for actions and reactions on some monster AI and hit location cards.

Kingdom Death: Monster

Kingdom Death: Monster Rulebook

Table of Contents

Credits

Introduction and How to Play

First Story

The First Story

Assemble Starting Miniatures

Create a Survivor

First Story: White Lion

Showdown

Survivors' Turn!

Finish the Showdown

Survivors Are Victorious!

Survival Guide

Campaign-Based Game

Cooperation & Group Decisions

Miniature Generations

Settlement Phase

Hunt Phase

Showdown Phase

Persistent Innovation Deck

Story Events

Milestones

Dice & Tables

Lantern 10

Conflicts and the Rule of Death

Survivors

Survivor Miniatures

Survivor Basics

1 | Name

2 | Survival

3 | Survivor Attributes

4 | Survivor Locations

5 | Hunt Experience (Hunt XP)

6 | Weapon Proficiency

7 | Courage and Understanding

8 | Fighting Arts

9 | Disorders

10 | Abilities and Impairments

Severe Injuries

Bleeding Tokens

Attribute Modifier Tokens

Retirement

Gear Grid

Armor Gear, Weapon Gear, and Item Gear

Affinities

Monsters

Monster Miniatures

Showdown Story Events

1 | Monster Name

2 | Instinct

3 | Blind Spot

4 | Monster Characteristics & Attributes

Monster (S) Cards and Attributes

Luck Tokens

5 | Hunt Board Diagram

6 | Showdown Setup

7 | Aftermath

Basic Action / Reference Cards

Monster AI

Hit Locations

Persistent Injuries

Monster Hunt Events

Monster Resources

Life Trait

Proxy Cards

Resources

Survivors Gaining Resources

Groups Gaining Resources

Resource Limit

Resources and Death

Resources with Special Rules

Trading Resources

Resources Stay in the Settlement

Terrain

Terrain Tiles

Terrain Cards

Survivors and Terrain

Monsters and Terrain