Lobotomy 2: Manhunt Rulebook

Table of Contents

Game Components
Before you Play
Setting Up the Game
Setting Up The Hunt Track
The Character Area
Key Concepts
Reading The Cards
The Gameplay Round
Detailed Character Actions
Weapon and Ability Special Effects
Character Death
Special Effects and Keywords
Credits

Game Components

The Lobotomy 2: Manhunt Rulebook, that you are currently reading!
The Daily Nightmare Book, containing rules modifications for playing the Daily Nightmare (sandbox games), and all Nightmares.
9 Map Tiles which are used to form a modular Board specific to each scenario or one of several maps for playing the Daily Nightmare.
22 custom dice, made up of 8 Basic Attack Dice, 4 Strong Attack Dice, 6 Basic Defense Dice, and 4 Strong Defense Dice.
9 Character Cards each describing the Statistics, Attributes and Abilities of a playable Character.
7 Elite Monster Cards describing the stronger Monsters that you will commonly encounter, such as Orderlies and Cultists.
The Scenario Book, containing The Introductory Scenario and The Lobotomy 2: Manhunt Core Campaign.
2 Drawstring Bags to be used as the Meds Bag and the Junk Bag.
A standard six sided die (usually called a d6 or 1d6 in these rules).
2 Basic Monster Cards describing the most common (and weakest) Monsters that you will encounter, such as State Troopers and Hellhounds.
9 Boss Monster Cards each describing one of the most terrifying nightmares you'll have the misfortune to confront. Boss Monsters are usually not randomly spawned, but appear according to specific conditions for each Scenario.
9 Character Miniatures (also called Minis or Models).
24 Basic Monster Miniatures.
36 Elite Monster Miniatures.
9 Boss Monster Miniatures.
20 Disorder: Aggression Cards describing mainly offensive Abilities, designed to help you defeat Monsters.
20 Disorder: Schizophrenia Cards describing Abilities that seem magical or create big effects.
20 Disorder: OCD Cards describing Abilities mainly designed to help you move quickly, craft upgrades, and perform a range of dirty tricks!
20 Disorder: Anxiety Neurosis Cards describing mainly defensive Abilities, designed to help you survive being attacked by Monsters.
5 Basic Equipment Cards. The Straitjackets that you find yourself wearing at the start of each game. Luckily they provide some protection against your foes...
30 Equipment Cards describing a range of useful, and sometimes almost magical, objects that you may find to help you survive.
6 Basic Weapon Cards. At the start of each game, you will find yourself with one of these weapons. They may be basic but they're still very deadly.
33 Weapon Cards describing the weapons, both remarkable and mundane, that you may use to battle the forces of darkness.
30 Spawn Cards used to determine which Monsters appear during a game, exactly where they will appear, and when some Scenario-specific Events happen.
18 Hunt Track Event Cards used to track how much time is left during a game – and to provide various effects beneficial to the Monsters.
12 Daily Nightmare Cards used during The Daily Nightmare game mode.
61 Scenario Cards used during The Core Campaign to help track scenario progress.
6 Difficulty Cards used to either lower or increase the difficulty of the game.
12 Memory Cards used during The Daily Nightmare game mode, lost memories of our Characters.
10 Huntmaster Boss Cards present different actions that the Huntmaster might perform during his turn.
5 Wendigo Boss Cards present different attacks that the Wendigo may perform during his turn.
12 Wall/Breach Tokens. One side is the Breach Token (used to place a gap in an existing wall) and the other side shows a Wall Token (used to place a wall where a small gap or doorway would otherwise be).
36 Door Tokens. One side shows an Open Door and the other side shows a Closed Door.
20 Number Tokens. Labeled with a number on one side, and marked with a "?" on the reverse side. There are two copies of each number. Used in various ways, such as to mark a special enemy, or a possible object of interest.
40 Cooldown Tokens. These are placed on top of Abilities to indicate that they are in Cooldown after being used, and can't be used again until all Cooldown Tokens are removed.
63 Wound Tokens. Used to track the number of Wounds suffered by a Character or a Monster. When they have suffered as many Wounds as they have Health, they are defeated.
21 Condition Tokens. Used to mark when a Character or Monster is affected by various conditions, such as Stun, Fire, Frost etc.
1 Sentry Gun Token. Used with the Sentry Gun Equipment Card.
16 Attribute Increase/Decrease Tokens. One side shows an increase of +1 to the respective Attribute, whilst the other shows a decrease of -1.
27 Locker Tokens. These show the outside of a searchable locker (or filing cabinets, boxes etc) on one side, while the other shows the costs and availability of items that can be gained from the Locker. In play, the costs are face down so that the item availability is only found when the Locker is searched.
46 Miscellaneous Tokens. Various tokens used during Scenarios.
10 Letter Tokens. Labeled A to J on one side, and marked with a "?" on the reverse side. Used in various ways, such as to mark a special enemy, or a point of interest.
39 Insanity Tokens. Insanity Tokens are gained by Characters (usually from defeating Monsters) and can be spent to use the Character's special Innate Abilities.
36 Junk Tokens. Used to Upgrade Weapons and Equipment. There are 6 each showing glass and wood, rope, paper, pipe, and rock.
20 Meds Tokens. The medicines found around the asylum may be used to roll extra dice while playing. Each Meds Token can be spent at any time to add a dice of the matching color to a dice roll.
1 Land Mine Token.
13 Lobotomy Spike Tokens. Generic Tokens used in various ways during gameplay to help Players track progress.
34 Upgrade Tokens. Upgrade Tokens are used to mark completed Upgrades on your Weapons and Equipment cards.
1 First Character Token. Used to indicate and remind which Character takes his turn first this Round.
12 Memory Tokens. Used as Memory Shrines during The Daily Nightmare game mode.

Before you Play

There's a few things you need to decide on before you start playing.

Players and Characters

Lobotomy 2: Manhunt is a game for 1 to 5 Players, but it is designed around playing 3 to 5 Characters. So if you are playing with fewer than 3 Players, it's recommended that the Players control multiple Characters each. For example if there is a sole Player, then they should control at least 3 Characters, and a pair of Players should play 2 Characters each.

It is expected that, when playing multiple Characters, the order in which Characters take their turns is kept consistent with if they'd been controlled by separate Players. For example, if Player 1 is playing the Characters Alex then Bob, and Player 2 is playing Carol then Denise, then the first Round may go as follows: Alex > Bob > Carol > Denise

Then on the second Round when the First Character Token has passed from Alex to Bob, the order will be: Bob > Carol > Denise > Alex

And so on as the game progresses. For this reason, most rules will discuss things with regards to the Character and not the Player. For example, we use a First Character Token to keep track of which Character goes first each Round, and not a First Player Token as some other games have.

What Type of Game to Play?

Lobotomy 2: Manhunt takes some of the core ideas and inspiration behind the original Lobotomy and then shakes them up, trims them down, and improves them. The end result is a faster-playing, more streamlined game that isn't hard for new gamers to pick up, but keeps the parts of the first game that gave it such a unique survival horror feel.

Because a lot has changed and improved, veteran 'patients' are still advised to play The Introductory Scenario, not least because it's a fun story that leads into the campaign.

The Introductory Scenario

A special scenario that teaches you how to play Lobotomy 2: Manhunt and leads directly into The Core Campaign.

If this is your first time playing Lobotomy 2: Manhunt, it is advised that you now close this Rulebook and go straight to the Scenario Book. The Introductory Scenario should teach you how to play the game, starting simply and introducing more parts of the game in a structured way over a single game session. If you need any further details or explanation than is provided in The Introductory Scenario then you can refer back to this Rulebook.

The Core Campaign

A series of linked scenarios, each part of the ongoing story of how you managed to escape the hellish Mental Facility that you find yourself in… or die trying.

The Daily Nightmare

Daily Nightmare Games are a way to experience Lobotomy 2: Manhunt with a series of smaller scenarios designed to let the Players experience a more randomized, freeform battle against evil, without the strict format of a full campaign Scenario. They're a kind of sandbox game Players can easily adjust to their liking.

Several Daily Nightmare Scenarios (or Nightmares) may be in play at once, with new Nightmares starting as existing ones near completion.

For players used to playing the original Lobotomy, this is the nearest thing to it, but still maintaining elements of the narrative-rich scenarios, and the improved, streamlined play of Lobotomy 2: Manhunt.

The Introductory Scenario and all Campaign Scenarios can be found in the Scenario Book. Rule changes for The Daily Nightmare, and all Nightmares, can be found in the separate Daily Nightmare Book.

Modifying Game Difficulty

The Difficulty Modifier Cards may be used to create easier or harder games. If you wish to play a game with nonstandard difficulty, either easier or harder, randomly select one or more Difficulty Modifier Cards and use the appropriate modifiers they describe.

As the game is primarily balanced around 4 or 5 Characters, it is recommended that games with only 3 Characters use one Difficulty Modifier Card at Easiest Difficulty to help give them a sporting chance!

Each Difficulty Modifier Card shows a name and Modifications for each Difficulty Level, shown one above the other going from Easiest, to Easier, to Harder, to Hardest. Normal difficulty is not shown as that is playing all rules as shown in the rulebook, Scenario, and on Cards, without modifying them.

Setting Up the Game

Follow the steps listed below to setup your game.

Select the Scenario (or Sandbox Map) to play, and correctly arrange the required Map Tiles into the game Board.
Place Closed Door Tokens, Breach Tokens, and Wall Tokens as specified by the Scenario.
Place randomly selected Locker Tokens required by the Scenario, careful to avoid seeing the detailed contents and costs.
For each Monster used in the Scenario:
- Find all Miniatures of the Monster, and use them to form the Monster Pool near the Board.
- Find the matching Monster Card and place it face-up where all Players can read it.
- Place Miniatures of the Monster on the Board, taking them from the Monster Pool, as specified by the Scenario.
Place all Meds Tokens into a drawstring bag, and place this Meds Bag in easy reach.
Place all Junk Tokens into a drawstring bag, and place this Junk Bag in easy reach.
Shuffle the Weapon Cards to form the Weapon Deck, and the Equipment Cards to form the Equipment Deck, and set them all in easy reach of the Players.
Separately shuffle the Disorder Cards of each Disorder into their own decks and place them all within reach of the Players.
Prepare the Hunt Track, as determined by the Scenario. This is covered in more detail in Setting Up The Hunt Track, on the next few pages.
Place the Huntmaster Miniature just before the first Space of the Hunt Track.
Find the matching Character Card and Miniature of your chosen Characters. Place the Character Card in front of each Player with the blue side up (they're not totally INSANE!… yet), and place their Miniature on one of the starting locations shown in the Scenario.
Players take their Basic Equipment Card (a Straitjacket) and choose a Basic Weapon Card (hopefully one that uses a Key Attribute that their Characters are strong in). Place these two cards next to your Character Card.
Each Player draws a random Meds Token from the Meds Bag and places it next to their Character Card.
Each Player draws one Disorder Card from each Disorder Deck that affects their Character (as shown on their Character Card). Place these cards near your Character Card.
Place the dice near the Board.
Shuffle the Spawn Cards to make the Spawn Deck and place it near the Monster Pool.
If needed shuffle the Memory Cards to make a Memory Deck and place it near the Board.
Prepare either The Daily Nightmare Deck or Scenario Deck depending which game mode you are playing.
Finally, place various tokens used during the game all within reach of the Players.

The Players should choose which Character to give the First Character Token to.

Read the start of your chosen Scenario, following any special instructions and distributing any necessary handouts (such as Reference Cards - you can find them on the last pages of the Scenario Book and are allowed to copy them for your games).

The first Round of play now begins with the first Character Action Phase (a Maintenance Phase is not needed until the second Round begins).

Setting Up The Hunt Track

The Hunt Track is made up of 12 Spaces each with a Hunt Track Event Card upon it. Some Scenarios may specify a Hunt Track on the Board, but in most cases it is not on the physical Board.

In these cases, the Hunt Track is usually made of 12 facedown Hunt Track Cards laid out in two rows of 6. These represent the path the Huntmaster takes while pursuing the Characters. Green arrows show how the Huntmaster will move along the path.

Key points on the Hunt Track are:

The Huntmaster starts the game just before the Hunt Track, and they will move onto the 1st Space of the Hunt Track in the Hunt Phase at the start of the first Monster Phase.
The 6th Card on the Hunt Track is always the Aura of INSANITY! card.
When the Huntmaster has to move from the last Step then the game is usually over, or a Final Battle starts, depending on the Scenario.

To setup the Hunt Track like this, at the start of the game, perform the following steps:

Locate and set aside the Hunt Track Event Card entitled Aura of INSANITY!
Shuffle the rest of the Hunt Track Event Cards.
Deal 5 Cards face down in a row (the first 5 Steps), then place the set aside Aura of INSANITY! as the 6th Card.
Deal 6 more Cards facedown below the 6 already there, forming the bottom row.

When the Huntmaster moves along the Hunt Track, it is a good idea to turn over the Hunt Track Event Card but leave it in place, face up. This can be especially useful if the Huntmaster is instructed to move back along the Hunt Track. However, once a card has been turned face up and its effects applied, it is not re-applied if the Huntmaster moves to that Card again. Note that the Aura of INSANITY! effects, once revealed, last for the rest of the game.

If the Huntmaster moves forward due to a Character death or other effect, do not reveal the Hunt Track Event Card until the next Hunt Phase when multiple Cards will be revealed.

The Character Area

The Character Area is the area around a Character Card where all that Character's Cards and Tokens are placed. Feel free to find a setup that suits you, but one possible setup, shown mid-game, illustrates the different sections of the area:

The main Character Card. On or around it are placed any Tokens for Junk, Meds, Upgrades, Status Effects (such as Fire), Insanity, or Wounds.
The Loadout, being up to 1 piece of Armor and up to 2 Weapons.
All Items (Weapons and Equipment) that are not in the current Loadout.
All Disorder Cards that the Character currently has.
Usually a Character can have a maximum of 6 Insanity Tokens, 4 Disorder Cards and 6 Weapon and/or Equipment Cards at any one time. This is covered in more detail later in the rules.

Key Concepts

The following concepts are used in several areas of the game, and so are described here before the rest of the game components and mechanics.

Rules Precedence

Sometimes rules on a Card or for a specific Scenario will contradict the rules in this Rulebook. The usual order of rules precedence is:

Rules for a Scenario > Rules on Cards > Rules in this Rulebook

With rules at a certain level having precedence over any rules on lower levels. So Scenario-Specific Rules beat Rules on Cards, and both beat the Rules in this Rulebook.

Dice, Rolls and Tests

Lobotomy 2: Manhunt uses both a regular six-sided dice (called a d6) and 4 types of custom dice.

The regular dice is used to make both d6 rolls (to get a number from 1-6) and d3 rolls (to get a number from 1-3) by rolling d6 and halving the result (rounding up).

The four types of custom dice are used to resolve the outcome of things like attacking Monsters, defending against attacks, or performing Attribute-based tests and checks. These custom dice have symbols on their sides instead of the numbers or pips found on most dice (and the d6).

The 4 types are:

Green die - the basic Attack Dice
Red die - the stronger Attack Dice
Blue die - the basic Defense and Test Dice
Brown die - the stronger Defense and Test Dice

The basic dice (green and blue) both have one side that is blank. Every other side of the custom dice shows one or more symbols. The individual symbols on the custom dice are as follows:

Lobotomy Spike – a success on Attack Rolls.
Lightning Bolt – may trigger special effects.
Star – a success on Tests.
Insanity
Shield – success on Defense Rolls.
Shield with a star – success on both Defense Rolls and Tests.

When you roll dice, you only count symbols that apply to the type of roll being made (Attack, Defense or Test) ignoring any other symbols.

For example, if you are rolling Defense Dice and roll a Lobotomy Spike, then it is ignored (and treated like a blank result) as defending only uses Shield, Shield-with-a-star, and Insanity. The Star is used only in Test/Check Rolls, such as attempting to Search a Locker Token, when both Star and Shield-with-a-star count as successes.

The Lightning Bolt appears on all custom dice, but only normally has an effect when it is rolled as a result when rolling dice for your Character, and not when rolling for a Monster. The usual effect is that your Character gains 1 Insanity Token per Lightning Bolt shown on the dice rolled for your Character.

For example, if a Monster is attacking your Character, then you would roll Attack Dice for the Monster and Defense Dice for your Character. Only a Lightning Bolt on the Defense Dice would have an effect (gaining you 1 Insanity Token per Lightning Bolt shown). Any Lightning Bolt on the Attack Dice (rolled for the Monster) would be ignored – unless some Card or Scenario effect specifies otherwise!

The Insanity symbol appears on all custom dice and can trigger special effects for whoever is rolling the dice it appears on, so if a Monster is attacking your Character then any Insanity symbol on the Defense Dice trigger any special effects that your character has (on the Abilities, Weapons, and Equipment they use to defend). Any Insanity symbol on the Attack Dice trigger special effects that the Monster has (in the Attack section of their Monster Card).

Multiple Lightning Bolt or Insanity results (on separate dice) usually trigger separately, so rolling Insanity on 3 dice would get you 3 triggers, or rolling Lightning Bolt twice would trigger the effects twice.

Tests and Checks are the most common dice rolls outside of combat (which is covered in more detail in Attack Action, page 31, and Basic and Elite Monster Attack Phase, page 28). They are also used for Searching Lockers (page 33), and a range of Scenario-specific reasons.

When asked to perform a Test you will be told which Attribute to use, you may also be given a target value in brackets which you need to achieve or exceed in order to pass the Test. To perform the Test you roll a number of blue dice equal to your Character's score in that Attribute. After rolling, the Character can choose to use blue or brown Meds (see page 16) to add further dice of the matching color.

For example, a Character with a score of 4, when asked to Test (2), would roll 4 dice (due to their value in the Attribute) and would pass the Test if they roll 2 or more successes (Star and Shield-with-a-star).

If you are not given a target value (in brackets), you make the dice roll (then use Meds if you wish) and count how many successes you got. The scenario or card text will then instruct you what to do depending on how many successes you get.

For example, You try smashing the wall, Test.

If you got more than 5 successes, you break open the wall and find something: draw a Weapon Card.
If you got fewer than 2 successes, the wall holds but something heard you – spawn a Monster for each success short of 2 you rolled.

Map, Tiles, Board and Spaces

The Scenario you play will show the Map that is used. This is reflected in the Board on which play happens, and is made up of one or more separate Map Tiles. Each Map Tile is made up of several Spaces – distinct areas enclosed by a mixture of solid-black walls, white boundary lines, and doors.

A Space can be a corridor enclosed by solid corridor Walls and a Door at each end; or similar but with the bottom Wall having a gap in it completed with a white line; or a room enclosed by Walls on 3 sides, with the 4th side being made of a Wall with a Door in the middle; or a Space with Walls with Doors to the left and right, a Wall partially blocking the top edge (completed with a white line), and the bottom edge marked purely by a white boundary line with no wall at all.

If a white boundary line wasn't present between two adjoining areas, the two areas would form a single, large space instead of two distinct Spaces.

Line of Sight (LoS)

Unless stated otherwise, Attacks and other actions need Line of Sight (or LoS) – meaning that the Character or Monster performing the Attack or Action has got to be able to see the Target. LoS is most usually mentioned in relation to Attacks and Abilities that are ranged, indicated by the Range icon.

LoS is blocked by Walls (solid dark lines with bright outline on the Board) and Closed Doors. Anything anywhere on a Space has LoS to every part of another Space if you can draw an unblocked straight line between any parts of the two Spaces.

LoS goes through gaps in Walls, regardless of whether they are gaps drawn on the Tile, gaps created by an Open Door, or a Breach Token placed upon a previously solid Wall. When LoS extends through Open Doors or Breaches (whether created by Token or Tile art) it only extends to the first Space past the Door or Breach.

Note that some Tile art may seem to show a sort of double-width doorway, but a white boundary line above it makes it clear that it is not actually a Door, but just art. Also note that Door Tokens and Wall Tokens are considered to extend either side to meet the Wall, even if the gap shown in the Tile art is slightly bigger than the Token size.

It's important to remember that:

LoS extends a maximum of 1 Space past an Open Door or Breach in a Wall whether that Breach is caused by a Breach Token or an obvious Breach (including rubble or debris) shown in the Tile art.
If LoS exists between any part of 2 Spaces, then any item/mini on the first Space has unblocked LoS to any item/mini on the 2nd Space, even if their actual physical placements on the Board would appear to be out of sight of each other (e.g. around a corner).

Having LoS to any part of a Space means that you have LoS to the whole of a Space. Because of this, a Character or Monster in one Space can see any Miniature or Token anywhere else in a Space they have LoS to, regardless of exact physical placement (even if it looks like it should be out of sight around a corner).

Range

Many Weapons and Abilities, and even some rules regarding things like Monster Movement, can be used at a distance from a Target, denoted by the Range symbol and the applicable Range (given in number of Spaces).

Note that unless an effect specifies otherwise, LoS is always required. Even if a Space is at Range 1, if a Wall blocks LoS, a Monster there could not be attacked by any ranged Weapon (unless it states that LoS is not needed).

For example, the Basic Weapon 'Spell Scroll' has a Range of 0-2, meaning it can be used to Attack an enemy on the same Space (a Range of 0), or one that is 1 or 2 Spaces away.

When measuring Range, the distance is always measured by moving from Space to Space along shared edges, similar to how Movement works. So a Space that is diagonally adjacent is usually at a Range of 2. The Range to each Space from a Character can be counted this way from any starting Space.

Insanity

Every time a Player rolls dice for their Character, they gain 1 Insanity Token for every Insanity result they roll. This is only on rolls for their Character, such as their Attack rolls, their Defense roll against a Monster's Attack, or any non-combat rolls, such as Check rolls. Characters do not gain Insanity Tokens for Insanity results appearing on dice rolled to determine a Monster's Attack or Defense.

For example, if a Character is being attacked by a Hellhound, they will only get Insanity Tokens for any Insanity results on their Defense Dice, and not for any shown on the Hellhound's Attack Dice.

Characters also gain a single Insanity Token whenever they defeat one or more Monsters with an Attack or Ability.

Characters may only normally have a maximum of 6 Insanity Tokens at any time.

Junk

Junk represents the broken trash that you find around the hospital. It may seem useless by itself, but get enough of it and you can Upgrade many of your Weapons and Equipment.

All Junk is drawn at random from the Junk Bag. There is no limit to how much Junk a Character can have, and the most common ways to collect Junk are:

Perform a Loot Action (1 Space, Range 0) in your Action Phase to gain 1 Junk.
Perform a Search Action and find some Junk in the Locker.
Defeat an Elite Monster (e.g. an Orderly) or Boss Monster and gain 1 Junk if you dealt the final blow.
Get it from another Character in a Trade Action.
Some Innate Abilities and Disorder Cards provide alternate ways to earn Junk.

Junk comes in 6 different forms: Glass, Paper, Pipe, Rope, Stone, and Wood.

Sometimes you will need specific types of Junk to Upgrade Cards, or other times any Junk will do and the generic Junk symbol will be shown. For more information on Upgrading Cards please see page 34.

Meds

Meds represent the various pills, tablets, and other medicines, found around the 'hospital'. They are gained by randomly drawing a Meds Token from the Meds Bag, usually as the result of using a Search Action to find Meds in a Locker. Characters are also free to trade Meds during a Trade Action and there is no limit to how many Meds a Character may have.

They can be spent by Characters to increase their chances of success when Attacking, Defending, Searching Lockers or rolling the custom dice to perform a Test.

After making a roll, when they have seen the results, a Character can use a Meds Token, returning it to the Meds Bag in order to roll an additional dice of the same color as the Token. Because the different color dice have different symbols on them they are useful at different times.

When Attacking, use red Meds to add a red die, or green Meds to add a green die.
When Defending or performing a Test, use blue Meds to add a blue die, or brown Meds to add a brown die.

After rolling an additional dice gained by using Meds, there is nothing to stop a Character using more Meds if they have them.

Items, Abilities, Limits, and Loadout

Characters in Lobotomy 2 can gain a variety of Weapons and Equipment, collectively called Items, through Weapon Cards and Equipment Cards. Characters may normally have a maximum total of 6 Items at any one time. If they have 6 and gain another Item they need to discard until they are back down to 6.

Even though they may have 6 Items, they may only use a single Item of Armor at a time, and may only hold 2 Weapons at once. The Armor the Character is wearing, and the Weapons that they hold are known as the Character's Loadout. During combat, Characters only get advantages and abilities from Armor and Weapons in their current Loadout. They can, however, use any bonuses and abilities from non-Armor Equipment that they have.

A Character may change their Loadout once during their Turn, by using the Change Loadout Action described on page 33.

Each Character has some Innate Abilities on their Character Card and can gain additional Abilities from Disorder Cards. Each Character can usually have up to 4 Disorder Cards. If they have 4 and gain another they need to discard until they are back down to 4.

The Hunt Track and Monster Empowerment

During a game of Lobotomy 2, the Huntmaster walks along a set Hunt Track as defined by the Scenario, moving each Round at the start of the Monster Phase.

When the Huntmaster reaches the end of the Hunt Track the game is usually over immediately as the Characters lose (hunted down by the Huntmaster and put back to their isolation wards), or a Final Battle ensues, where death becomes permanent and the Characters have one last chance to beat the Huntmaster or be defeated and lose. Which outcome happens is determined by the Scenario (or Game Type if playing The Daily Nightmare).

Another feature of the Hunt Track is that each of the 12 Steps of the Hunt Track contains a Hunt Track Event Card which may Spawn more Monsters, boost Monsters statistics for a Round, or cause other effects. The most important of these is the Card Aura of INSANITY! which both Empowers all Monsters for the rest of the game, and also allows Characters to start using the Upgrade Character Action. The Aura of INSANITY! is present on the 6th Step of every Hunt Track other than in The Introductory Scenario.

To Empower Monsters, each Basic and Elite Monster Card (that has an Empowered side) is turned over from its initial side to the more-powerful Empowered side.

Campaigns, Scenarios, and Chapters

Scenarios in Lobotomy 2 are presented in a series of parts, the next part only being revealed when you've played out the part you're on. So you won't be able to just look at a Scenario and know what is going to happen halfway through or at the end. Instead there will be some mystery and surprises (at least the first time you play each Scenario) as new threats, new opportunities, and even new parts of the game Board, are revealed.

It may be helpful to think of these like horror fiction.

Scenarios are the books, novellas, and stories – each telling a complete tale of terror. Most Scenarios are presented in a series of Chapters, though like a paragraph-adventure book, the order in which you read Chapters will depend on the actions your Characters do.

A Campaign is a series of Scenarios – like a series of books following the journey of our Characters, a bit like Lord of The Rings with hallucinations, medication, and padded cells!

The shorter Nightmares, are the short stories, with Chapters more like pages, paragraphs or scenes, and a full Daily Nightmare game (of multiple Nightmare Scenarios) being the horror anthology.

At various points in each Scenario you will do something (or have something done to you!) that moves the overall story on. At these points you will be directed to read a new Chapter of the Scenario, which you will find in the Scenario Book with the Chapter Identification Code (or CID) given. You should read the indicated Chapter to all Players (unless instructed otherwise) and follow any instructions given to you. This is how new parts of the Map, new threats, and new opportunities to escape all reveal themselves to you.

Reading the Chapter Identification (CID)

As there are many Scenarios in Lobotomy 2, both in this core box and in expansions, Chapters are not just numbered, but are given unique identification codes such as S1-RC-13, S2-A or DN5-A.

The code before the dash indicates what sort of Scenario the Chapter or Card relates to, as shown below:

S – A numbered normal Scenario (such as from the campaign) e.g. S3 is Scenario number 3.
DN – A numbered Daily Nightmare Scenario (aka Nightmares) e.g. DN5 is Nightmare number 5.

After the dash, the Chapter (usually a letter) is shown, unless it starts with EC (meaning a Scenario Event Card) or RC (A Reference Card, usually just used in The Introductory Scenario).

A CID of S3-B is Chapter B of Scenario 3, which will be found in the Scenario Book.
S1-EC3 is Event Card 3 of Scenario 1, found in the Scenario Event Cards.
DN1-A is Chapter A of Nightmare number 1, which can be found in the Daily Nightmare book.

Insanity Tokens can be spent to use most of the Innate Abilities on your Character Card, though there are also Passive Abilities and Active Abilities that cost 0 Insanity. Any Innate Ability that states it is an Action also costs 1 Insanity, and Abilities with the once-per-Turn symbol can only be performed once per Turn.

Insanity can also be used to Upgrade your Character in various ways, as described in the Detailed Character Actions section of the rules.

Immunity

Some powerful Monsters (and occasionally Equipment Cards, such as Rusty Chainmail) have Immunity to certain effects. These effects are shown on their Monster Card, after the Immunity symbol, and may look like the following (taken from the Animated Doll Monster Card): Immunity to Frost, Stun, and Pierce.

If the Monster is affected by an Attack or Ability that usually has any effects that it is immune to, then those effects are ignored. Ignoring some (or all) special effects of an Attack or Ability does not cancel any other effects or damage.

In the above example, the Animated Doll is immune to Frost, Stun, and Pierce. Suppose that it is attacked using the Fatality Ability (from the Aggression Disorder) and the Revolver Weapon. Fatality grants a Weapon Attack both Critical Strike and Pierce, and the Revolver is already a ranged 1-2 weapon with Fire as a special effect.

This means that an attack using these 2 Cards would usually have the total of Critical Strike, Pierce and Fire, at Range 1-2.

However, if this is used to attack the Animated Doll, then it is treated as only having Critical Strike and Fire at Range 1-2, because the Animated Doll is immune to Piercing (as it has Immunity: Pierce).

Note that the attack still takes place, and still applies the other effects (Critical Strike and Fire) as the Animated Doll has no immunity to those effects.

Winning, Or Losing, The Game

The specific criteria for winning or losing a game of Lobotomy 2: Manhunt are given in the specifics of the Scenario or game type, in the case of Daily Nightmare games.

Despite being Scenario-specific, it is fair to say that usually being defeated by Monsters will mean that the Characters lose, whilst exploring, succeeding at Tests, and defeating Monsters, will usually result in victory. Just be careful to keep an eye on the Huntmaster's progress on the Hunt Track, or risk running out of time!

Reading The Cards

The following pages describe how to read the various types of Cards used in Lobotomy 2: Manhunt.

Character Cards

Each Character Card is double-sided with a blue side showing the starting Character and a red side showing the more powerful INSANE! Character.

Health – The number of Wounds it takes to kill the Character. To track this, as the Character is wounded, Wound Tokens are placed on the Character Card.
Name.
The starting Character (blue) side shows the Character's Quest. This is a personal goal that the Character must achieve before they can upgrade to the enhanced INSANE! (red) side of the Character. The INSANE! Side has no further Quest, only the word INSANE!
Disorders are the Character's mental conditions that decide which Disorder Decks the character uses to gain skills and abilities.
Attributes represent how good the Character is at various things, the higher the score the more skilled the Character is at feats of Strength, Dexterity, Imagination, and Wisdom.

Strength, Dexterity, and Wisdom, are typically used for combat, and Imagination is most commonly used for Searching Lockers. There may be other uses for these Attributes, often specific to part of a Scenario, but these are the most common uses.

Innate Abilities are skills and effects that the Character always has, though some may have a cost to use (shown in the black circles). All costs are paid for in Insanity Tokens which are gained through play (most notably defeating enemies).

The Insanity Token cost for most Innate Abilities will usually be a number from 0 to 6, but may also be X indicating that a Character may spend as many Insanity Tokens as they wish, with more tokens leading to a more powerful effect.

Unless the Ability has the once per Turn symbol or states otherwise in the text, these Abilities may be repeated as long as the Character can pay the costs (in Insanity Tokens and occasionally Action Points).

Flavor Text (usually a quote or background fact) does not affect gameplay.

Monster Cards

Lobotomy 2: Manhunt has 3 classes of Monsters: Basic Monsters, Elite Monsters and Boss Monsters.

Basic and Elite Monsters

Basic and Elite Monsters are very similar and make up most of the enemies your Characters will encounter. They represent the everyday people and animals that would usually be found around any high security mental facility, but in hideous forms whether caused by some evil or just warped by your delusions…

All Basic (and some Elite) Monster Cards are double-sided: The normal side is the most common form of the Monster, but the reverse shows the stronger Empowered side that may appear in harder situations and Scenarios.

A Basic or Elite Monster Card shows:

Name.
Monster Type – Basic Monster or Elite Monster.
Statistics, showing:
- Health – how many Wounds it takes to defeat the Monster.
- Movement – how many Spaces the Monster can move each turn.
Monster's Attack – Shows the number and type of dice used by the Monster when it Attacks. Any modifiers, such as automatic successes, and the special effects of rolling Insanity, are also shown here.
Monster's Defense – Shows the number and type of dice used by the Monster to Defend against any Attacks. The Monster may also get automatic successes or have special effects if they roll Insanity.
Image – The Monster's Image used here also appears on any Spawn Cards that spawn new Monsters of this type.
Special Effects – This text will describe any Flee conditions and any special effects or additional rules applying to this Monster.

Basic Monsters and Elite Monsters are both mechanically similar, usually being spawned by Spawn Cards or Scenario Setup, and moving and attacking in similar ways. The main difference is the reward for defeating them.

Defeating a Basic Monster earns the Character an Insanity Token (up to the Character's limit, usually 6).

Defeating an Elite Monster earns the Character an Insanity Token (as for Basic Monsters) but also earns the Character a piece of Junk drawn randomly from the Junk Token Bag.

Boss Monsters

Boss Monsters are a different case to the Basic and Elite Monsters. They are the true stuff of nightmares and numerous works of horror fiction… They may just be delusions, but surely even your mind cannot be that broken… Either way, it's wise to treat Boss Monsters with the respect, caution, and loathing, that they deserve.

A Boss Monster Card shows:

Name.
Monster Type – Boss Monster.
Statistics, showing:
- Health – how many Wounds it takes to defeat the Monster. For Boss Monsters it is common for the Health to depend on the number of Characters playing. For example, if the Health is shown as a value ×10, the Boss Monster would have 30 Health if 3 Characters are playing, 40 Health for 4 Characters, etc.
- Movement – how many Spaces the Monster can move each turn.
Monster's Attack – Boss Monsters will often select from multiple attacks to use in the Monster Attack Phase. The method of selecting which attack to use can vary from Boss to Boss, but will be clearly described. One common method selects an attack at random by rolling a d6 and looking up the result from the two available types of attack. Each potential attack is described showing the number and type of dice used by the Boss Monster, as well as any modifiers, such as automatic successes and the special effects of rolling Insanity.
Monster's Defense – the number and type of dice used by the Monster to defend against any attacks. The Monster may also get automatic successes or have special effects when they roll Insanity.
Image – A portrait of the Monster… Only look if you are willing to risk madness and sleepless nights!
Special Effects – Boss Monsters are usually spawned by Scenario-specific events, and may have additional rules unique to them.

If a Character defeats a Boss Monster, in addition to any rewards or effects specified by the Scenario, they also receive an Insanity Token (up to the Character's limit, usually 6) and a piece of Junk from the Junk Bag.

Unlike Basic and Elite Monsters, each Turn Boss Monsters get their own Phase in which they move and attack the Characters.

Basic Equipment and Weapon Cards

At the start of each game, every Character receives one piece of Basic Equipment and one Basic Weapon. These Basic Items (and the first additional Weapon that each Character gains) automatically form part of the Character's Loadout.

Equipment and Weapons (whether Basic or not) are collectively called Items. Characters may only ever carry a maximum of 6 Items, and need to immediately discard one if they gain more.

The Basic Equipment in the core game of Lobotomy 2: Manhunt will always be the Straitjacket. Future expansions may provide other items of Basic Equipment to choose between.

A Basic Equipment Card shows the Name of the Equipment, the Effects given by the Equipment, and Equipment Upgrades shown on separate rows, each row showing both the Junk required and the effect of upgrading.

For example, the Straitjacket is Armor and provides a blue Defense die. This can be upgraded twice, using any type of Junk, each upgrade providing an additional Defense die.

Players have a choice of Basic Weapon for their Characters, such as Broken Glass, Sling, or Spell Scroll, but each uses a different Key Attribute to decide how strong any attack with it is. It is usually worth selecting the one with the same Key Attribute as the Character's highest value Attribute.

A Basic Weapon Card shows the Name of the Weapon, the Key Attribute of the Weapon (indicating which Character Attribute is used to attack using the Weapon), Basic Attack Effects (any additional effects used by the attack, in addition to the attack dice rolled for proficiency in the Key Attribute), and the Weapon Upgrade (showing the Junk required and effect of upgrading the Weapon).

Characters will roll one green die for each point they have in the Key Attribute. The Key Attribute of Basic Weapons is always one of the following: Strength, Dexterity, or Wisdom.

Note that Basic Weapons can be Upgraded by anybody holding the Weapon, regardless of their skill in the Key Attribute.

For example, a Character with 4 in the Key Attribute would attack by rolling 4 green dice, and counting any Lightning Bolt rolled as additional successes. If the Character has already spent 2 Junk (of any type) to Upgrade the Weapon they will roll an additional die (for a total of 5 dice).

Equipment Cards

Characters are only allowed to use a single card that has the Armor keyword. If they collect a second Armor Equipment Card then they must decide which one to use when Defending by including the desired Armor Card in their current Loadout.

For example, the Leather Jacket is Armor providing a blue die and a brown die of Defense, with each Lightning Bolt giving an additional success. The Leather Jacket can be upgraded twice:

Once using one Paper Junk and one Wood Junk, to give one automatic success.
Once using any three Junk, regardless of type, to give an additional Defense die.

Characters may only carry a maximum of 6 Items (Weapon Cards and Equipment Cards, not including the Basic Equipment and Basic Weapon). If they pick up an Equipment Card when they already have 6 Items, they must immediately discard one of their Items. The discarded Card can be any Item, even the one just received. Any Tokens on the discarded Card (e.g. Junk used to Upgrade it) is removed and returned to the relevant Token Pool or Bag.

The most common ways for a Character to gain an Equipment Card is by Searching a Locker, or by Trading with another Character.

Some pieces of Equipment provide Passive Abilities or Abilities with their own cost to use, which will be described on the Equipment Card. These Abilities do not cost any Action Points unless stated otherwise on the card.

For example, the Dog Grapple stops Hellhounds on the Character's Space from attacking without needing any active actions or costs to be paid. The Halo does not require any Action Points, but does cost 2 Insanity Tokens to activate for the Turn.

An Equipment Card shows the Name of the Equipment, the Effects given by the Equipment, and Equipment Upgrades shown on separate rows, each row showing both the Junk required and the effect of upgrading. Note that not every piece of Equipment can be upgraded, but where there are multiple possible Upgrades they can be done in any order as long as the required Junk is used. Characters do not need to meet specific Attribute requirements in order to Upgrade Equipment.

Some Equipment Cards may require that the card is Tapped to use it. They are called REUSABLE Cards. To Tap a Card, turn it 90 degrees so that it is sideways on the table. A Card can only be Tapped if it is currently Untapped. Cards that require Tapping usually state how to Untap it (returning it to the usual, upright orientation on the table) in preparation for using it again.

Tapped Cards may only be Untapped once per Character Turn, but may then be traded to other Characters to Untap and use in their Turn.

For example, the Land Mine Equipment Card must be Tapped to place a Land Mine Token in the Character's Space. If the Character wants to re-place the Land Mine, they must first discard 2 Junk (of any type) to Untap the Card. Note that, in this example, neither placing the Land Mine nor Untapping the card use any Action Points.

Weapon Cards

The most common ways for a Character to gain a Weapon Card is by Searching a Locker, or from another Character during a Trade Action.

Characters may only carry a maximum of 6 Items (Weapon Cards and Equipment Cards, not including the Basic Equipment and Basic Weapon). If they pick up a Weapon Card when they already have 6 Items, they must immediately discard one of their Items. The discarded Card can be any Item, even the one just received. Any Tokens on the discarded Card (e.g. Junk used to Upgrade it) is removed and returned to the relevant Token Pool or Bag.

A Weapon Card shows the Name of the Weapon, the Key Attribute of the Weapon (this indicates which Character Attribute is used to attack using the Weapon; Characters will roll one green die for each point they have in the Key Attribute). The Key Attribute is always one of the following: Strength, Dexterity, Wisdom, or Any (Player's choice).

If the Key Attribute is the wildcard "Any" then the Player may choose to use any of their Character's Attributes, except Imagination (which doesn't appear as a Key Attribute on any Weapon Card).

Skilled Threshold is the minimum value that a Character must have in the Key Attribute in order to be Skilled with that weapon. A Character needs to be Skilled with a specific Weapon in order to use its Skilled Upgrades.

If a Character who is Skilled with a Weapon Upgrades it but then loses Attribute points to fall below the Skilled Threshold (or Trades the Weapon to a Character who is below the Skilled Threshold) then the Weapon keeps the Upgrades, but the Character can only use the Basic Attack and any Basic Upgrades until they gain Attribute points to become Skilled again.

Whether or not a Character is Skilled, they still attack using a number of green dice equal to their Key Attribute value – only the Upgrade effects change.

Basic Attack Bonuses show any additional effects (in addition to the Attack Dice rolled for their skill level in the Key Attribute) that apply to any Attack with this Weapon.

Basic Weapon Upgrades show Upgrades that, once 'bought', apply to Attacks using this Weapon regardless of whether or not the Character using the Weapon is Skilled with it.

Skilled Weapon Upgrades show Upgrades that, once 'bought', only apply to Attacks using this Weapon by Characters Skilled with the Weapon.

Upgrades are shown on separate rows, with each row showing both the Junk required and the effect of upgrading. Note that not every Weapon can be upgraded, but where there are multiple possible Upgrades they can be done in any order as long as the required Junk is used. A Character does not need to be Skilled with a Weapon to buy its Skilled Weapon Upgrade, although they cannot personally use any bought Skilled Weapon Upgrades (only Basic ones) until they meet the Skilled Threshold in the Weapon's Key Attribute.

For example, the Splashing Paddle is used by a Character whose highest Attribute is only 3. The Splashing Paddle's Key Attribute is wild (so Player's Choice) but it has a Skilled Threshold of 4, so the Character is not Skilled and will attack using 3 green dice in an AoE Attack. If the Basic Weapon Upgrade has been completed, then they will also get its effects (turning Lightning Bolt into Lobotomy Spike, and allowing the Character to Move 1 Space with Stealth, immediately after attacking).

If another Character uses the Splashing Paddle, but has an Attribute at 4, then they will be Skilled and will attack with 4 green dice in an AoE Attack, and adding the effects of any and all upgrades (both Basic and Skilled).

The Splashing Paddle can be Upgraded three times, in any order, by any Character whether or not they are Skilled with the Weapon. There is one Basic Weapon Upgrade (which can be used by any Character) and two Skilled Weapon Upgrades (which can only be used by Characters who are Skilled with it):

A Basic Weapon Upgrade requiring one Wood Junk and one Paper Junk, to turn any Lightning Bolt rolled into successes, and allow the Character to Move 1 Space (with Stealth) immediately after attacking.
One Skilled Weapon Upgrade requiring one Glass Junk and one Wood Junk, to add one green die to Skilled Attacks.
One Skilled Weapon Upgrade requiring one Stone Junk, one Wood Junk and one Junk of any type, to add one red die to Skilled Attacks.

Disorder Cards

Every Character begins play with a Disorder Card for each Disorder that affects them. They may gain additional Disorder Cards (to a limit of 4 Cards) by performing the Gain Disorder Card Action.

Disorder Cards describe a wide range of effects that may be used at different times. Some Disorder Cards feature multiple Abilities with each Ability separated from the others by horizontal lines.

A Disorder Card shows:

Name of the Disorder Card.
Cooldown Cost for each non-Passive Ability. The hourglass accompanied by a number shows that when that specific Ability is used, the Player must place the corresponding number of Cooldown Tokens on the Card.
Ability Detail for each ability shows the type, effect and any additional costs. The possible types are:
- Passive. Applies when specified, assuming the Card is not in Cooldown.
- Active. Can only be used during the Character's Action Phase, often has a cost to pay.
- Defense. May only be used when the Character is being Attacked.
- Attack. Can only be used during the Character's Action Phase.
- Weapon Attack. Can only be used while making an Attack with a Weapon Card.

All types except Passive usually have a Cooldown to apply upon using the Ability.

For example, if a Character uses the Active Ability of Withdrawal, spending 1 Insanity Token in the process, they then need to put 4 Cooldown Tokens on the card. The Ability is now on Cooldown.

No ability on Withdrawal can be used until all Cooldown Tokens have been removed.

Some Abilities state that the Character may spend resources (such as Insanity or Junk) to further modify a die roll. If a Character chooses to do this, then they must do it before the roll is made unless the Ability explicitly states otherwise.

For example, Adrenal Gland Tumor lets the Character spend a single Insanity Token to add one die. This must be done before the Attack Dice are rolled.

Please note that this applies to all Abilities, even Innate Abilities shown on the Character Card.

The Gameplay Round

Sequence of Play

The game takes place in a series of Rounds, with the Characters taking their Turns first, and then the Monsters performing their Movement and Actions.

The sequence of play of each Round is as follows:

Round

Player Phase
- Maintenance Phase (Skipped on the very first Round)
  - Pass the First Character Token clockwise (to the left).
  - Remove 1 Cooldown Token from each Card in Cooldown.
- Character Actions Phase
  - Starting with the Character with the First Character Token, and going clockwise, each Character gets 3 Action Points that they may spend to perform their Actions.
Monster Phase
- The Hunt Phase
  - Move the Huntmaster one step along the Hunt Track.
- Boss Monsters Phase
  - Any Boss Monsters in play perform their Move and then Attack.
- Basic and Elite Monsters Movement Phase
  - All other Monsters perform their Move.
- Spawn Monsters Phase
  - New Monsters appear!
- Basic and Elite Monsters Attack Phase
  - All Basic and Elite Monsters Attack players on their Space or in Range of their Attack.

Player Phase

Every Round starts with the Player Phase, which usually consists of the Maintenance Phase and the Character Actions Phase.

Maintenance Phase

Each game Round after the first, starts off with the Maintenance Phase.

The First Character Token is passed clockwise to the next Character.

A single Cooldown Token is removed from every Disorder Card with Cooldown Tokens on it. The card is only ready to be used again when all Cooldown Tokens have been removed from it.

Character Actions Phase

Starting with the First Character (as indicated by the First Character Token) each Character in order, going clockwise around the table, gets 3 Action Points and performs their Actions for their Turn.

On their Turn, each Character can use them to perform the following Actions:

Move Action
Attack Action
Ability Action
Change Loadout Action
Search Action
Loot Action
Trade Action
Gain Disorder Card Action
Upgrade Card Action
Upgrade Attribute Action
Upgrade Character Action

These actions are described in detail in the Detailed Character Actions section of the rulebook (see pages 29-35).

Once a Character has performed all the Actions that they wish to (or can) perform, any unused are lost, and play passes to the next Character (going clockwise). Once all Characters have performed their Actions the Character Action Phase ends.

Monster Phase

When the Characters have finished performing Actions, the Monsters get their chance to hunt them down.

The Hunt Phase

The Monster Phase starts with the Huntmaster moving on their Hunt Track.

For some games or Scenarios, such as when playing a Daily Nightmare game or the Introductory Scenario, this means moving them one card along the Hunt Track. In other scenarios it may mean moving along a set path on the game Board. Either way, it is usually bad news for the Players when they reach the end of the Hunt Track as that means the Players have run out of time and lose the game, or that the Huntmaster has forced the Characters into a final confrontation, which will be very hard for the players to win!

Boss Monster Phase

During the Boss Monster Phase, any Boss Monsters perform their Move and then Attack (if possible). Unless the Boss Monster has any special or Scenario-specific rules (as many do), they will move in the same way as Basic Monsters and Elite Monsters, moving towards the closest Character with Players deciding the result of any ties.

If there is more than one Boss Monster in play, the Players decide the order they act in.

Basic and Elite Monster Movement Phase

During this Phase, every Basic and Elite Monster on the Board moves towards the nearest Character, measured by the shortest path they can move along. This means that they cannot plot a path that takes them through Walls or other impassable obstructions that may appear in some Scenarios, but they can travel through Doors (both open and closed). A Monster passing through a Closed Door does not flip the Token to an Open Door.

Each Basic and Elite Monster will travel up to as many Spaces as the Movement Value shown on their Monster Card, stopping only when they are on the same Space as one or more Characters. This means that a Monster that starts the Movement Phase on the same Space as a Character will not usually move at all.

If ever there is a choice of two or more Characters that are an equal distance from a Monster, or there are multiple routes of the shortest distance leading to the nearest Character, then the Players decide which one the Monster chooses.

Spawn Monsters Phase

Starting with the Character with the First Character Token, one by one, each Character draws a card from the Spawn Card Deck and (if possible) spawns the appropriate Monster.

Most Spawn Cards will feature a picture of the Monster to be spawned and a colored shape indicating which Spawn Points are to be used. For example, a Spawn Card might show a Hellhound to be spawned at an appropriate green Spawn Point.

Some Spawn Cards show an Event (numbered 1 to 5). When used as normal in the Spawn Monsters Phase, these indicate a special Event as described in the current Scenario. If no corresponding Event is described in the current Scenario, nothing happens and the Characters got a lucky break! However if the card is drawn for any other reason, such as respawning a defeated Character, the card acts as a wildcard, allowing the Player to decide which color Spawn Point to use.

Whenever the Reshuffle card is drawn, the Spawn Deck (and any discarded Spawn Cards) must be shuffled together. If this happens during the normal Spawn Monsters Phase, then no fresh Spawn Card is drawn – you caught a lucky break and no new Monster appears. If this is drawn at any other time, such as a Scenario Event spawning new Monsters, then a fresh Spawn Card is drawn after the deck has been reshuffled.

Whenever a Monster is spawned, it is spawned (i.e. a new Monster is placed on the board) at the nearest matching Spawn Point to the Character drawing the Spawn Card. Note that LoS is not required for this. For example, if a green Hellhound card is drawn, then the Character must spawn a new Hellhound at the nearest green Spawn Point without regard to LoS. If all Monsters of the specified type (shown on the Spawn Card) are already on the Board, then no new Monster is spawned.

If there are two or more Spawn Points (of the matching color) equally near to the Character then the Player decides which one is used to spawn the new Monster.

Basic and Elite Monster Attack Phase

Every Basic and Elite Monster that is on the same Space as a Character, or that has a Character within its Attack Range and LoS, now performs an Attack. The Players get to decide the order in which multiple Monsters attack.

If there are multiple Characters that the Monster could Attack, they will always choose the Character with the least amount of Health remaining (with Players choosing in the event of a tie).

Sometimes a particular Monster has no Characters that it can attack at the start of this Phase, but some effect during the Basic and Elite Monster Attack Phase changes this, placing a Character on its Space or within its Attack Range. When this happens the Monster will attack the Character, just as it would have if they had been able to from the start of this Phase.

For example, if Ian McFellow is attacked and rolls Insanity in Defense, then he may use his Eagle Form Innate Ability to Blink 1 Space. If this brings him into range of a Monster who has not yet attacked this turn, then that Monster can attack Ian McFellow.

To perform the Attack:

Get the number and type of green and red Attack Dice shown on the Monster's Monster Card.
The Character may use an Armor Equipment Card in their current Loadout to Defend against the Attack, and takes the matching type and number of blue and brown Defense Dice. They may also gain additional dice or Defensive bonuses from skills, effects, and other (non-Armor) cards.
All dice are rolled at once.
The Character gains 1 Insanity Token (up to their usual limit) for each Insanity rolled on their Defense Dice.
Count the successful hits on the Attack Dice, and subtract the number of hits avoided (Shield or Shield-with-a-star). This may be modified, or special effects applied, if the Attack Dice showed any Insanity and there is a corresponding effect shown on the Monster Card.
The Monster also adds +1 hit for each Monster that has already attacked the same Character in this Phase.
Remember that you may want to use Meds to add blue or brown dice.
The number of successful hits that were not avoided are applied as Wounds to the Character. Take the matching number of Wound Tokens and place them on the Character Card. The Character dies if ever the number of Wounds on their Character Card equals or exceeds their Health Statistic. See page 37 for more details.

A guide to the various symbols that provide special effects to an Attack can be found at the end of this rulebook, on the Player Aid, and on the handout for The Introductory Scenario.

Detailed Character Actions

On their turn, each Character gets 3 Action Points on their turn. Characters can use Action Points to perform the following actions.

Move Action Cost: 1 Action Point. Use restrictions: Repeatable. Receive and use 2 Movement Points to move the Character and/or open Doors.

Attack Action Cost: 1 Action Point. Use restrictions: Repeatable. Use a Weapon Card, or a Basic Attack, to attack a Monster.

Ability Action Cost: variable. Use restrictions: depends on the Ability. Use an Ability described on one of your cards (Character Card, Equipment Card, Weapon Card, Disorder Card, or even a scenario-specific effect). The card will specify the cost of the action and whether using it is restricted to once per Turn.

Change Loadout Action Cost: 0 (free). Use restrictions: Once per Turn. Change the Items in the Character's Loadout.

Search Action Cost: 1 Action Point. Use restrictions: Repeatable. Reveal and search a Locker Token on the Character's Space.

Loot Action Cost: 1 Action Point. Use restrictions: Once per Turn. Draw a random Junk from the Junk Bag.

Trade Action Cost: 0 (free). Use restrictions: Once per Turn. Exchange any number of Items, Junk, and Meds with another single Character on your Space.

Gain Disorder Card Action Cost: 0 (free). Use restrictions: Once per Turn. Spend 6 Insanity Tokens to draw an additional Disorder Card for one of the Disorders available to them. This can still be done even if the Character already has the maximum number of Disorder Cards (usually 4), but they will then have to discard back down to their maximum.

Upgrade Card Action Cost: 0 (free). Use restrictions: Repeatable. Use Junk to permanently Upgrade an Equipment or Weapon Card.

Upgrade Attribute Action Cost: 0 (free). Use restrictions: Once per Turn. Spend 6 Insanity Tokens to permanently increase an Attribute by +1. Attributes may not usually be increased to be more than 3 with this Action.

Upgrade Character Action Cost: 0 (free). Use restrictions: Once per Turn. Spend 6 Insanity Tokens to flip your Character Card to the INSANE! side. This Action is only possible once your personal Quest is completed.

Move Action – Movement, Doors and Fleeing

A Closed Door Token blocks the Movement and LoS of Characters. Monsters can move through Closed Doors without penalty (after all they may really be the asylum staff) but cannot see through Closed Doors (LoS is blocked).

When a Character uses a Move Action, they get 2 Movement Points. Each Movement Point may be spent to either:

Open a Door located on the boundary edge of the Space they are on (flipping the Door Token from the Closed side to the Open side);
Move to an adjacent Space which shares at least some boundary edge with the Space they are on.

Note that while Monsters can stop Characters from moving from their Space, they do not stop the same Character spending Movement Points to open Doors, or perform other effects that require Movement Points to be spent.

Characters cannot usually move:

to diagonally adjacent Spaces (as they only share a corner, not an edge).
to a Space blocked by Walls or a Closed Door (Breached Walls and Open Doors are okay).
From a Space that contains two or more Monsters.
From a Space that contains a single Monster that doesn't have a Flee condition (see below).

If there is just one Monster on the same space as the character, then check the Monster Card to see if it has the Flee symbol:

If there is no Flee symbol, then you cannot leave the Space while the Monster is still there.
If there is a Flee symbol, then usually there will be a condition for qualifying Characters to leave the Space normally, without penalty, but Characters who don't meet the condition may still leave but at a price or other effect.

For example, the State Trooper's Monster Card shows a Flee condition that means Characters with a Strength score of 3 or more (whether naturally that high, or high because some effect has raised their score) may leave the Space as if the State Trooper wasn't there. Characters with less than 3 Strength may still leave the Space, but in doing so the State Trooper will inflict 1 point of damage to them.

Note that Characters can use Stealth to ignore Monsters while moving, or use Teleport to teleport, ignoring all normal movement restrictions, whether caused by terrain (Doors, Walls, etc) or Monsters.

Please note that if a Character uses another Action, even a Free Action, then the Movement Action ends and any unused Movement Points are lost.

Attack Action (including Basic Attack)

An Attack Action lets a Character attack a Monster that is on the same Space, or that is within their Attack Range and LoS (unless explicitly stated that LoS does not apply).

To perform the Attack:

Select the Monster to Attack.
Select which Weapon to use (from the current Loadout) and see what Key Attribute it uses (shown in the top right corner of the Weapon Card) and take a number of green dice equal to your Character's current value in the Key Attribute.
Add additional dice and effects as shown on the Weapon Card. All weapon effects are cumulative, and you automatically receive bonuses and effects from the Attack Bonuses and any completed Basic Upgrades. You also get the bonuses from any completed Skilled Upgrades that you've completed, if you equal or exceed the threshold value in the Key Attribute.
If the Character does not have any Weapons, or if they choose not to use them, then they may perform a Basic Attack, attacking the Monster with their bare fists! If the Character chooses to do this, then they perform a normal Attack using a number of green dice equal to their Strength Attribute, with no bonuses or additional effects that a Weapon might give them. This Basic Attack counts as a Weapon Attack for all game purposes, so Cards and Abilities which affect Weapon Attacks may be used to modify the Attack.
Get the number and type of blue and brown Defense Dice shown on the Monster's Monster Card.
All dice are rolled at once.
Remember that you can use Meds to add green or red dice.
The Character gains 1 Insanity Token (up to their usual limit) for each Insanity rolled on their Attack Dice.
Count the successful hits on the Attack Dice, and subtract the number of hits avoided (Shield or Shield-with-a-star) shown on the Defense Dice. This may be modified, or special effects applied, if the Attack Dice showed any Insanity and there is a corresponding effect shown on your Weapon Card, or the Defense Dice showed Insanity and a matching effect is given on the Monster Card.
The number of successful hits that were not avoided are applied as Wounds to the Monster. Often a successful attack will defeat a Monster in one go, but if it doesn't, take the matching number of Wound Tokens and place them on (or next to) the Monster's Mini. The Monster is defeated once the number of Wounds suffered equals or exceeds their Health.

If your Character defeats one or more Monsters, remove the Monster Minis from the Board and return them (and any tokens that were on them) to the relevant Pools. You then gain 1 Insanity Token (up to the usual limit). You also gain one random piece of Junk for each Elite or Boss Monster defeated, from the Junk Bag.

Note that even if Characters defeat multiple Monsters (with an AoE Attack, for example) they may only gain 1 Insanity Token (but multiple Junk) from a single Attack or Ability Use.

A guide to the various symbols that provide special effects to an Attack can be found at the end of this rulebook, on the Player Aid, and on the handout for The Introductory Scenario.

Ability Action

Each Character has a set of Innate Abilities described on their Character Card, but they can also pick up additional Abilities on Disorder Cards (for Disorders listed on their Character Card).

Very occasionally an Ability may be described on an Equipment Card, Weapon Card, or Scenario-specific Card (or other text). In these cases, the Card (or text) will state any restrictions, costs, or Cooldown, and should be similar enough to the format of Disorder Cards or Innate Abilities to understand on an individual basis.

Disorder Card Abilities

There are several types of Abilities, and individual Disorder Cards may describe multiple Abilities of different types. The type of Ability decides when it can be used and what costs it incurs.

The possible types are:

Passive: Applies when specified, assuming the Card is not in Cooldown.
Active: Can only be used during the Character's Action Phase, often has an Insanity cost to pay.
Defense: May only be used when the Character is being Attacked.
Attack: Can only be used during the Character's Action Phase, often has an Insanity cost.
Weapon Attack: Can only be used while making an Attack with a Weapon Card. An Attack may only be affected by one Weapon Attack Ability at any one time.

All types of Ability except Innate Abilities and Passive Abilities usually have a Cooldown to apply upon using the Ability, meaning a matching number of Cooldown Tokens are placed on the Card when the Ability is used. Abilities, even Passive ones, can only be used if there are no Cooldown Tokens on the Card.

The Cooldown Cost (or Restriction) for each non-Passive Ability is shown next to the Ability description. An hourglass accompanied by a number shows that when that specific Ability is used, the Player must place the corresponding number of Cooldown Tokens on the Card.

For example, if a Character uses the Active Ability of Withdrawal, costing 1 Insanity Token, they then need to put 4 Cooldown Tokens on the card.

No Ability on Withdrawal can now be used until all Cooldown Tokens have been removed (usually by removing 1 during each Maintenance Phase).

Innate Abilities

The Innate Abilities on Character Cards work slightly differently to those on Disorder Cards.

Innate Abilities do not have Cooldowns and only cost 1 Insanity Token if they state that they are an 'Action:', such as Brainstorm. Otherwise they do not cost Insanity.

The number shown in the black circle is the Insanity Token cost to use the Ability.

You'll notice that the Insanity cost can be a number (even 0), 'P', or 'X'. 'P' is used for Passive Innate Abilities which can always be used, since they have no Cooldown. 'X' means that the Character can choose how much Insanity to spend, from 1 to all the Insanity Tokens they have, with the Ability getting more powerful the more Insanity is spent on it.

When an Ability is marked with the once-per-Turn symbol it can only be used once per Turn, such as the 0 cost Mind Over Matter Ability.

Change Loadout Action

This is a free Action (costing no Action Points) that may only be performed once in each Character's Action Phase, and lets the Character change which of their Weapon Cards and Armor (a type of Equipment Card) they have in their current Loadout.

A Character may have one Armor Card and up to 2 Weapon Cards in their Loadout at any one time, these are deemed equipped and ready to use. The other non-Loadout Armor and Weapons are effectively stashed, and not easily to hand.

When attacking a Monster, a Character can use only one of the Weapons in their Loadout, but still gains any passive bonuses from the other Weapon. For example, the Spiked Gloves Weapon provides a bonus to defense, but only grants this when part of the Character's current Loadout.

Search Action

When a Character is on the same Space as a Locker Token, they may search it with the Search Action for 1 Action Point.

To perform the Search:

Turn the Locker Token over to reveal the cost of any Weapons, Equipment and Meds, and the amount of Junk that the Locker contains.
Roll a number of blue dice equal to the Character's Imagination Attribute and count the number of Successes. Meds and some Abilities may be used to add dice to this roll, or to re-roll some of the dice.
- Star or Shield-with-a-star = Success
- Lightning Bolt = Gain 1 Insanity Token for each Lightning Bolt (up to the Character's limit, usually 6)
Use the Successes rolled to buy Weapons (drawn from the Weapon Deck), Equipment (drawn from the Equipment Deck) and Meds (drawn from the Meds Bag). You may only buy a maximum of one of each type, but you also automatically gain the number of Junk Tokens shown, even if you can't afford to buy anything else.

For example, if a Character with Imagination of 4 searches a Locker and turns the Locker Token to reveal potential content costs of: Weapons cost 2 successes, Equipment costs 3, and Meds costs 2.

As the Character's Imagination is 4, they roll 4 blue dice and get 6 Successes, deciding to spend them to gain a Weapon and a piece of Equipment for a total cost of 5. They get the Weapon and Equipment by drawing the top Card from each of the Weapon Deck and Equipment Deck.

Despite having 6 Successes, the Character couldn't choose to get 2 Weapons and a Med, or 3 Weapons as they both break the limit of only being able to buy one of each type of thing in the Locker. There is no requirement for the Character to spend as many Successes as possible, so in our example they could have chosen to get a Weapon and Meds for a total of 4 Successes, and let 2 Successes go to waste.

Regardless of what the Character chooses to get, or even if they can't afford to get anything, this Locker automatically gives them +1 Junk Token drawn from the Junk Bag.

Please note that Characters may only carry a maximum of 6 Items (Weapon Cards and Equipment Cards, not including the Basic Equipment and Basic Weapon). If they pick up an Equipment Card or Weapon Card when they already have 6 Items, they must immediately discard one of their Items. The discarded Card can be any Item, even the one just received. Any Tokens on the discarded Card (e.g. Junk used to Upgrade it) is removed and returned to the relevant Token Pool or Bag.

Loot Action

Each Character may decide, once per Turn, to loot their surroundings, searching them for useful Junk for 1 Action Point.

This allows the Character to gain 1 random Junk Token from the Junk Bag. This Junk may be used to Upgrade the Character's Weapon and Equipment Cards (see Upgrade Card Action below).

Trade Action

This is a free Action (costing no Action Points) that may only be performed once in each Character's Action Phase, and lets the Character give and receive any number of Weapon Cards, Equipment Cards, Meds, Junk and certain scenario-specific items to or from another single Character on the same Space.

The Players controlling both Characters involved in a Trade Action must agree to the specific trade, so it can't be used to forcibly grab Cards or resources from another Character if its controlling Player is unwilling.

The Characters involved in a Trade Action cannot exchange Wounds, Insanity Tokens, Condition Tokens or Disorder Cards. Defeated Characters waiting to re-spawn cannot be involved in a Trade Action.

Please remember that Characters may only carry a maximum of 6 Items (Weapon Cards and Equipment Cards, not including the Basic Equipment and Basic Weapon). If either Character has more than 6 Items at the end of the Trade Action, they must immediately discard Items until they are within the limit. The discarded Cards can be any Item, even ones just received in the Trade. Any Tokens on discarded Cards (e.g. Junk used to Upgrade it) are removed and returned to the relevant Token Pool or Bag.

Gain Disorder Card Action

This is a free Action (costing no Action Points) that costs 6 Insanity Tokens and each Character may perform once per Turn.

Once the Insanity cost has been paid, the Character gains the top card from any one (Player-selected) Disorder Deck for a Disorder listed on their Character Card. The Disorder Card is placed with the Character's other Disorder Cards near their Character Card.

Characters are only usually allowed up to 4 Disorder Cards each, if a 5th is gained then the Character must discard one.

Any of the Character's Disorder Cards can be discarded, including the one just received. Cooldown Tokens on a Disorder Card don't prevent it from being discarded, with affected Cooldown Tokens being removed and returned to the Token Pool.

Upgrade Card Action

The Upgrade Card Action lets the Character spend appropriate Junk to Upgrade a Weapon or Equipment Card that they own. This is a free Action (costing no Action Points) that may be repeated multiple times in a single Character's Action Phase as long as the Character has the necessary Junk.

Characters do not need to be Skilled with a Weapon (equalling or exceeding the Skilled Threshold in the Key Attribute) in order to Upgrade it.

When a Character 'buys' an Upgrade, the required Junk Tokens are returned to the Junk Bag, and an Upgrade Token is placed on the appropriate Upgrade row on the Card.

For example, if a Character has any 3 pieces of Junk then they may Upgrade their Straitjacket, if the Upgrade they chose requires any 3 pieces of Junk.

Of course, in this example the Character could actually have used any 2 items of Junk to do the top Upgrade for an equal benefit to Defense.

Upgrade Attribute Action

The Upgrade Attribute Action increases the current value, and permanently increases the maximum value, and current value, of an Attribute by 1. This costs no Action Points but does cost 6 Insanity Tokens and may be done once during the Character's Action Phase.

It cannot be used to increase an Attribute to a value higher than 3.

Once the cost has been paid, take the relevant Attribute Upgrade Token and place it on your Character Card. Any Attribute Upgrade Tokens remain on a Character Card even if they are defeated or if the Attribute value is reduced by Infection.

For example, Demi Hawkins has 6 Insanity Tokens and so decides to Upgrade their Strength. This raises her Strength to 2 and her maximum Strength to 2.

If she now gets an Infection that reduces her Strength, it does not remove the Strength Increase Token but introduces a Strength Decrease Token next to the existing Increase Token.

If Demi now dies in any way that allows her to respawn, the decrease due to the Infection would be removed but she would keep the Attribute Increase Token to restart with a current and maximum Strength of 2. Demi's current Strength is now 1, but her maximum Strength is still 2.

Upgrade Character Action

Characters may use this Action once per game. They may only do it after the 'Aura of INSANITY!' Hunt Track Card has been revealed (usually around the end of the sixth Round) and they have completed their personal Quest (shown on the blue starting side of their Character Card). This costs no Action Points but does cost 6 Insanity Tokens and must be done during the Character's Action Phase.

Once the cost has been paid, flip the Character Card over to the more powerful, red INSANE! side, keeping any tokens upon it.

Weapon and Ability Special Effects

Many Weapons, Equipment and Abilities have special effects that modify an Attack, Defense, or other aspect of play for the Characters (or Monsters) affected. These may apply automatically or may be dependent upon rolling an Insanity result on the custom dice.

Special Effects that are not just additional successes can only be applied once per roll, no matter how many Items or Abilities grant the effect, or how many Insanity results are rolled. Effects that are just additional successes count as many times as the Insanity result appears.

For example, if an attack has "Insanity = Lobotomy Spike" then rolling 3 Insanity results adds 3 Lobotomy Spikes.

Whereas another attack with "Insanity = Lifesteal" can only ever add the Lifesteal effect once, no matter how many Insanity results are rolled.

The effects (and their keywords or symbols) are shown in a table on page 38, and most are explained plainly enough there, but a handful are slightly more complicated and so are further described below.

Area of Effect (AoE)

Area of Effect attacks ignore Dodge and affect every Enemy on the same Space as the Target. Character Attacks with AoE also affect every Character on the affected Space, except for the Character performing the Attack.

Usually when an AoE Attack is performed, only one Attack Roll is made, but each affected Character or type of Monster makes a separate Defense Roll. For example, if attacking a Space containing 2 State Troopers and a Hellhound, the Hellhound would make a Defense Roll using its Defense values, and the State Troopers would make a single Defense Roll, using their Defense values and applying the results to both State Troopers.

The rare exception to this rule of only 1 Attack Roll per Attack is if any of the Minis to be affected have abilities or effects that alter the Attack Roll made against them. In that case, make one Attack Roll for each group of Minis that share the same Attack Roll modifiers.

For example, if a Character uses a previously placed Landmine to perform an AoE Attack on a Space containing 2 State Troopers, a Hellhound, a fellow Character, and a Daddy's Boy then the following would happen. The Landmine has a usual Attack using 3 dice, so a single roll of 3 is made for the Hellhound, State Troopers, and the Character (assuming that the Character can't affect Attack Rolls made against them).

Daddy's Boys have an automatic effect that all Insanity results rolled against them are downgraded to blank results, so as this affects the Attack Roll made using the Landmine. Because of this, a separate Attack Roll of 3 dice is made for the Daddy's Boy.

Pops, a Boss Monster, also has the same effect of Insanity used against them being changed to a blank result, so a single Attack Roll of 3 dice would be applied against Pops and any number of Daddy's Boys if they were all on the affected Space.

If multiple Attack Rolls do result from a single AoE Attack, then each Insanity used to alter the Attack Roll alters each Attack Roll. In the above example, if an Insanity was used to add a Lobotomy Spike then the first Attack Roll becomes 3 dice and a Lobotomy Spike, and the second roll (against the Daddy's Boy) becomes 4 dice.

Counterattack

When a Character or Monster is attacked and they have the chance to perform a Counterattack, all other effects of the initial Attack are resolved in full before the Counterattack occurs. In this way, a defender with a Counterattack that has Lifesteal (that could remove their Wounds) may be defeated before actually performing the Counterattack.

Lifesteal

When an attack with Lifesteal does any Damage, an equivalent number of Wound Tokens may be removed from the Attacker. This does not increase Health if there are no Wounds to heal.

Character Death

Sometimes a Character will die or be defeated, but luckily, the game isn't usually over just because your Character died.

This can change though, as the final part of a Scenario will often state that DEATH IS FINAL, and that dead Characters no longer get the chance to respawn. In this case, in addition to any other lose conditions, the game is usually lost if all Characters then die.

When Does A Character Die?

A Character dies when one of the following has happened:

they have received Wounds equal to (or greater than) their Health;
One of their Attributes has been reduced to zero (such as by Infection or some other effect);
Some other (possibly Scenario-specific) effect specifies that the Character dies, is defeated, or is killed.

What Happens When A Character Dies?

When a Character dies, all the following happen:

their Miniature is placed on its side in the Space where the Character died. While they are lying down like this, other Characters and Monsters completely ignore the Character for all purposes – they cannot be targeted, attacked, healed, moved, traded with, etc and they do not draw a Spawn Card during the Spawn Monsters Phase.
The Huntmaster is moved one additional step along their Hunt Track. Please note that this can instantly end the game or cause scenario-specific effects (just as if the Huntmaster had moved as normal).
If the Character died during their Action Phase, they lose any unused Action Points and Movement Points.
While dead, Cooldown Tokens on the Character's abilities are removed as usual during the Maintenance Phase.

When it would usually be the Character's turn to perform their Action Phase, unless DEATH IS FINAL, the character will be respawned!

Respawning A Character

When a Character is respawned, they re-enter the game fully healed and ready to rejoin the fight. Usually respawning causes no real downside and may be beneficial.

When a Character respawns:

Draw a Spawn Card for the dead Character. The Character respawns on the indicated color of Spawn Point which is nearest to where the Character died. If there are multiple Spawn Points of the indicated color at equal distance, then the Player may choose which one to respawn at. If the Spawn Card shows an Event or Reshuffle, then the Player may choose which color Spawn Point to use. Once the Spawn Point has been selected, stand up the Character Miniature in that Space.
The Character removes all Wounds, Condition Tokens (e.g. Fire or Frost) and Attribute Decrease Tokens (e.g. Strength Decrease or Dexterity Decrease) from their Character Card.
The Character keeps all Weapons, Equipment, Disorder Cards, Insanity Tokens, Meds and any upgrades they've earned (whether to Attributes, Equipment, Weapons, or the Character Card upgrade to INSANE!).
The Character then continues their Action Phase as usual, with 3 Action Points to use.

While dead, Cooldown Tokens on the Character's abilities may be removed as usual during the Maintenance Phase, but when the Character respawns any remaining Cooldown Tokens stay in place.

It can be seen that the Character re-enters battle in a better state than when they died. Perhaps the biggest penalty for a Character death is the loss of time caused by the Huntmaster moving along their Hunt Track…

Special Effects and Keywords

Fire. Place a Fire Token on the target (if it doesn't already have one) before the attack. Every attack against a target that is on fire has +1 Success. Players may discard the Fire Token instead of healing 1 Wound. Any effect that heals a Monster also removes any Fire Token that may be on it.
Frost. Place a Frost Token on the target (if it doesn't already have one) before the attack. Monsters affected by Frost do not restrict Characters' movement, and suffer a -1 Movement penalty in the next Monster Phase, then discard the token. Affected Characters lose 1 Movement Point from each Move Action they perform in their next Turn. They discard the token at the end of their Turn.
Area of Effect (or AoE) attacks ignore Dodge and affect every Enemy on the same Space as the Target. When a Character Attack has AoE, it also affects every other Character on the same Space as the Target (only the Character performing the Attack is unaffected). AoE is explained in more detail on page 36.
Pierce. Target discards the Defense Dice with the highest number of Shields (Shield or Shield-with-a-star).
Stealth. Characters with Stealth can ignore any movement restrictions from Monsters.
Lifesteal. Damage dealt while attacking heals the attacker 1:1.
Dodge. Ignores all effects of an Attack.
Ethereal. When defending against an Ethereal attack, target loses all Shields and does not perform a Defense Roll. Ethereal Movement allows both Characters and Monsters to pass through physical barriers (walls, rock barriers, etc) as though they are not there (similar to Blinking).
Flee. Used to show the possibility (and costs) for fleeing a Monster.
Infection. Always affects a given Attribute (though sometimes it may be the Player's choice) with a -1 penalty. Place an Attribute Decrease Token on the Character Card. If this reduces the affected Attribute to zero the Character dies. Players may discard an Attribute Decrease Token instead of healing 1 Wound.
Stun. Place a Stun Token on the target (if it doesn't already have one) after the attack. Any number of dice may be rerolled in attacks against Stunned Monsters. Stunned Monsters do not restrict Characters' movement, and do not activate during the next Monster Phase. They discard the token at the end of the next Monster Phase. Affected Characters lose 1 Action Point for the next Action Phase and then discard the token.
Deflect. If a Defender has Deflect, Attackers gain 1 Wound after an attack (whether the attack wounded the target or not).
Critical Strike. The number of Wounds received by the Target is doubled.
Counterattack. After being attacked, perform an attack against the attacker.
Move X. Allows movement up to X Spaces, following normal movement rules and restrictions.
Blink X. Allows instantaneous movement to a Space in range X. Ignores normal movement restrictions and does not need LoS.
Holy. Target loses all Shields printed on its card. The Target may still gain Shields resulting from Lightning Bolt effects.
Range. Shows how far away a Target of an Attack or Ability may be. It is explained in more detail on page 15.
Immunity. Used by some powerful Monsters. It shows which effects do not affect them and should be ignored.

Dice (Icons)

d6 – A normal 6-sided die.
d3 – A 6-sided die with the result halved (round up).
Green Dice – the basic Attack Dice.
Red Dice – the stronger Attack Dice.
Blue Dice – the basic Defense/Test Dice.
Brown Dice – the stronger Defense/Test Dice.
Lobotomy Spike – a success on Attack Rolls.
Lightning Bolt – may trigger special effects.
Star – a success on Tests.
Insanity.
Shield – success on Defense Rolls.
Shield with a star – success on both Defense Rolls and Tests.

General (Icons and Tokens)

Health Value.
Wound (or Wound Token).
Movement Value (for Monsters).
Movement Point (for Characters' Move Actions).
Number of Characters, or Character.
Action Point.
Insanity.
Insanity Token.
Cooldown.
Cooldown Token.

Items and Meds (Icons)

Weapon, or Weapon Card.
Equipment, or Equipment Card.
Item (Weapon or Equipment), or Item Card.
Meds.

Attribute And Statistic Modifiers (Tokens)

Strength Increase/Upgrade Token.
Strength Decrease/Infected Token.
Dexterity Increase/Upgrade Token.
Dexterity Decrease/Infected Token.
Wisdom Increase/Upgrade Token.
Wisdom Decrease/Infected Token.
Imagination Increase Token.
Imagination Decrease/Infected Token.

Junk and Item Upgrade (Icons And Tokens)

Junk (any type) / Item Upgrade Token.
Junk Glass / Junk Glass Token.
Junk Paper / Junk Paper Token.
Junk Pipe / Junk Pipe Token.
Junk Rope / Junk Rope Token.
Junk Stone / Junk Stone Token.
Junk Wood / Junk Wood Token.

Character Attributes

Strength Attribute.
Dexterity Attribute.
Wisdom Attribute.
Imagination Attribute.
Any Attribute (Player's Choice).

Credits

Lobotomy 2: Manhunt was crowdfunded on Gamefound. A sincere THANK YOU to all our backers who helped bring this project to life!

Thank you to all Lobotomy fans who encouraged us to create the second installment of the greatest horror asylum crawler board game. We heard you and we hope you will love this game as much as the previous one.

Special thanks to Judgement Dave for his dedication to overseeing the works on this Rulebook, the Scenario Book, the Daily Nightmare and all the contributions to Lobotomy's lore and gameplay.

Created by Titan-Forge Games.

Game Designer: Sebastian Kozak
Project Director: Roman Łakomiak
Art Director: Sławomir Kościukiewicz
Writer & Designer: Judgement Dave
Graphic Artists: Jędrzej Wiliński, Kinga Brotoń, Adam Lepieszkiewicz, Michał Domański, Vinh Trần, Taty Ribeiro
3D Sculptors: Sławomir Kościukiewicz, Pablo Navarro Benitez
Project Managers: Radosław Dmochowski, Kuba Sawka, Michał Kozak
Game Testers: Marcin Zdębski, Grzegorz Bogacki, Marcin Kaim, Kamil Klebieko
Video & 3D Renders: Michał Marciniak, Adam Ulman

Game Production: Eastar Game Manufacturing.

Lobotomy 2: Manhunt Rulebook

Table of Contents

Game Components
Before you Play
Setting Up the Game
Setting Up The Hunt Track
The Character Area
Key Concepts
Reading The Cards
The Gameplay Round
Detailed Character Actions
Weapon and Ability Special Effects
Character Death
Special Effects and Keywords
Credits

Game Components

The Lobotomy 2: Manhunt Rulebook, that you are currently reading!
The Daily Nightmare Book, containing rules modifications for playing the Daily Nightmare (sandbox games), and all Nightmares.
9 Map Tiles which are used to form a modular Board specific to each scenario or one of several maps for playing the Daily Nightmare.
22 custom dice, made up of 8 Basic Attack Dice, 4 Strong Attack Dice, 6 Basic Defense Dice, and 4 Strong Defense Dice.
9 Character Cards each describing the Statistics, Attributes and Abilities of a playable Character.
7 Elite Monster Cards describing the stronger Monsters that you will commonly encounter, such as Orderlies and Cultists.
The Scenario Book, containing The Introductory Scenario and The Lobotomy 2: Manhunt Core Campaign.
2 Drawstring Bags to be used as the Meds Bag and the Junk Bag.
A standard six sided die (usually called a d6 or 1d6 in these rules).
2 Basic Monster Cards describing the most common (and weakest) Monsters that you will encounter, such as State Troopers and Hellhounds.
9 Boss Monster Cards each describing one of the most terrifying nightmares you'll have the misfortune to confront. Boss Monsters are usually not randomly spawned, but appear according to specific conditions for each Scenario.
9 Character Miniatures (also called Minis or Models).
24 Basic Monster Miniatures.
36 Elite Monster Miniatures.
9 Boss Monster Miniatures.
20 Disorder: Aggression Cards describing mainly offensive Abilities, designed to help you defeat Monsters.
20 Disorder: Schizophrenia Cards describing Abilities that seem magical or create big effects.
20 Disorder: OCD Cards describing Abilities mainly designed to help you move quickly, craft upgrades, and perform a range of dirty tricks!
20 Disorder: Anxiety Neurosis Cards describing mainly defensive Abilities, designed to help you survive being attacked by Monsters.
5 Basic Equipment Cards. The Straitjackets that you find yourself wearing at the start of each game. Luckily they provide some protection against your foes...
30 Equipment Cards describing a range of useful, and sometimes almost magical, objects that you may find to help you survive.
6 Basic Weapon Cards. At the start of each game, you will find yourself with one of these weapons. They may be basic but they're still very deadly.
33 Weapon Cards describing the weapons, both remarkable and mundane, that you may use to battle the forces of darkness.
30 Spawn Cards used to determine which Monsters appear during a game, exactly where they will appear, and when some Scenario-specific Events happen.
18 Hunt Track Event Cards used to track how much time is left during a game – and to provide various effects beneficial to the Monsters.
12 Daily Nightmare Cards used during The Daily Nightmare game mode.
61 Scenario Cards used during The Core Campaign to help track scenario progress.
6 Difficulty Cards used to either lower or increase the difficulty of the game.
12 Memory Cards used during The Daily Nightmare game mode, lost memories of our Characters.
10 Huntmaster Boss Cards present different actions that the Huntmaster might perform during his turn.
5 Wendigo Boss Cards present different attacks that the Wendigo may perform during his turn.
12 Wall/Breach Tokens. One side is the Breach Token (used to place a gap in an existing wall) and the other side shows a Wall Token (used to place a wall where a small gap or doorway would otherwise be).
36 Door Tokens. One side shows an Open Door and the other side shows a Closed Door.
20 Number Tokens. Labeled with a number on one side, and marked with a "?" on the reverse side. There are two copies of each number. Used in various ways, such as to mark a special enemy, or a possible object of interest.
40 Cooldown Tokens. These are placed on top of Abilities to indicate that they are in Cooldown after being used, and can't be used again until all Cooldown Tokens are removed.
63 Wound Tokens. Used to track the number of Wounds suffered by a Character or a Monster. When they have suffered as many Wounds as they have Health, they are defeated.
21 Condition Tokens. Used to mark when a Character or Monster is affected by various conditions, such as Stun, Fire, Frost etc.
1 Sentry Gun Token. Used with the Sentry Gun Equipment Card.
16 Attribute Increase/Decrease Tokens. One side shows an increase of +1 to the respective Attribute, whilst the other shows a decrease of -1.
27 Locker Tokens. These show the outside of a searchable locker (or filing cabinets, boxes etc) on one side, while the other shows the costs and availability of items that can be gained from the Locker. In play, the costs are face down so that the item availability is only found when the Locker is searched.
46 Miscellaneous Tokens. Various tokens used during Scenarios.
10 Letter Tokens. Labeled A to J on one side, and marked with a "?" on the reverse side. Used in various ways, such as to mark a special enemy, or a point of interest.
39 Insanity Tokens. Insanity Tokens are gained by Characters (usually from defeating Monsters) and can be spent to use the Character's special Innate Abilities.
36 Junk Tokens. Used to Upgrade Weapons and Equipment. There are 6 each showing glass and wood, rope, paper, pipe, and rock.
20 Meds Tokens. The medicines found around the asylum may be used to roll extra dice while playing. Each Meds Token can be spent at any time to add a dice of the matching color to a dice roll.
1 Land Mine Token.
13 Lobotomy Spike Tokens. Generic Tokens used in various ways during gameplay to help Players track progress.
34 Upgrade Tokens. Upgrade Tokens are used to mark completed Upgrades on your Weapons and Equipment cards.
1 First Character Token. Used to indicate and remind which Character takes his turn first this Round.
12 Memory Tokens. Used as Memory Shrines during The Daily Nightmare game mode.

Before you Play

There's a few things you need to decide on before you start playing.

Players and Characters

Then on the second Round when the First Character Token has passed from Alex to Bob, the order will be: Bob > Carol > Denise > Alex

What Type of Game to Play?

Because a lot has changed and improved, veteran 'patients' are still advised to play The Introductory Scenario, not least because it's a fun story that leads into the campaign.

The Introductory Scenario

A special scenario that teaches you how to play Lobotomy 2: Manhunt and leads directly into The Core Campaign.

The Core Campaign

A series of linked scenarios, each part of the ongoing story of how you managed to escape the hellish Mental Facility that you find yourself in… or die trying.

The Daily Nightmare

Several Daily Nightmare Scenarios (or Nightmares) may be in play at once, with new Nightmares starting as existing ones near completion.

The Introductory Scenario and all Campaign Scenarios can be found in the Scenario Book. Rule changes for The Daily Nightmare, and all Nightmares, can be found in the separate Daily Nightmare Book.

Modifying Game Difficulty

Setting Up the Game

Follow the steps listed below to setup your game.

Select the Scenario (or Sandbox Map) to play, and correctly arrange the required Map Tiles into the game Board.
Place Closed Door Tokens, Breach Tokens, and Wall Tokens as specified by the Scenario.
Place randomly selected Locker Tokens required by the Scenario, careful to avoid seeing the detailed contents and costs.
For each Monster used in the Scenario:
- Find all Miniatures of the Monster, and use them to form the Monster Pool near the Board.
- Find the matching Monster Card and place it face-up where all Players can read it.
- Place Miniatures of the Monster on the Board, taking them from the Monster Pool, as specified by the Scenario.
Place all Meds Tokens into a drawstring bag, and place this Meds Bag in easy reach.
Place all Junk Tokens into a drawstring bag, and place this Junk Bag in easy reach.
Shuffle the Weapon Cards to form the Weapon Deck, and the Equipment Cards to form the Equipment Deck, and set them all in easy reach of the Players.
Separately shuffle the Disorder Cards of each Disorder into their own decks and place them all within reach of the Players.
Prepare the Hunt Track, as determined by the Scenario. This is covered in more detail in Setting Up The Hunt Track, on the next few pages.
Place the Huntmaster Miniature just before the first Space of the Hunt Track.
Find the matching Character Card and Miniature of your chosen Characters. Place the Character Card in front of each Player with the blue side up (they're not totally INSANE!… yet), and place their Miniature on one of the starting locations shown in the Scenario.
Players take their Basic Equipment Card (a Straitjacket) and choose a Basic Weapon Card (hopefully one that uses a Key Attribute that their Characters are strong in). Place these two cards next to your Character Card.
Each Player draws a random Meds Token from the Meds Bag and places it next to their Character Card.
Each Player draws one Disorder Card from each Disorder Deck that affects their Character (as shown on their Character Card). Place these cards near your Character Card.
Place the dice near the Board.
Shuffle the Spawn Cards to make the Spawn Deck and place it near the Monster Pool.
If needed shuffle the Memory Cards to make a Memory Deck and place it near the Board.
Prepare either The Daily Nightmare Deck or Scenario Deck depending which game mode you are playing.
Finally, place various tokens used during the game all within reach of the Players.

The Players should choose which Character to give the First Character Token to.

The first Round of play now begins with the first Character Action Phase (a Maintenance Phase is not needed until the second Round begins).

Setting Up The Hunt Track

The Hunt Track is made up of 12 Spaces each with a Hunt Track Event Card upon it. Some Scenarios may specify a Hunt Track on the Board, but in most cases it is not on the physical Board.

Key points on the Hunt Track are:

The Huntmaster starts the game just before the Hunt Track, and they will move onto the 1st Space of the Hunt Track in the Hunt Phase at the start of the first Monster Phase.
The 6th Card on the Hunt Track is always the Aura of INSANITY! card.
When the Huntmaster has to move from the last Step then the game is usually over, or a Final Battle starts, depending on the Scenario.

To setup the Hunt Track like this, at the start of the game, perform the following steps:

Locate and set aside the Hunt Track Event Card entitled Aura of INSANITY!
Shuffle the rest of the Hunt Track Event Cards.
Deal 5 Cards face down in a row (the first 5 Steps), then place the set aside Aura of INSANITY! as the 6th Card.
Deal 6 more Cards facedown below the 6 already there, forming the bottom row.

If the Huntmaster moves forward due to a Character death or other effect, do not reveal the Hunt Track Event Card until the next Hunt Phase when multiple Cards will be revealed.

The Character Area

The main Character Card. On or around it are placed any Tokens for Junk, Meds, Upgrades, Status Effects (such as Fire), Insanity, or Wounds.
The Loadout, being up to 1 piece of Armor and up to 2 Weapons.
All Items (Weapons and Equipment) that are not in the current Loadout.
All Disorder Cards that the Character currently has.
Usually a Character can have a maximum of 6 Insanity Tokens, 4 Disorder Cards and 6 Weapon and/or Equipment Cards at any one time. This is covered in more detail later in the rules.

Key Concepts

The following concepts are used in several areas of the game, and so are described here before the rest of the game components and mechanics.

Rules Precedence

Sometimes rules on a Card or for a specific Scenario will contradict the rules in this Rulebook. The usual order of rules precedence is:

Rules for a Scenario > Rules on Cards > Rules in this Rulebook

With rules at a certain level having precedence over any rules on lower levels. So Scenario-Specific Rules beat Rules on Cards, and both beat the Rules in this Rulebook.

Dice, Rolls and Tests

Lobotomy 2: Manhunt uses both a regular six-sided dice (called a d6) and 4 types of custom dice.

The regular dice is used to make both d6 rolls (to get a number from 1-6) and d3 rolls (to get a number from 1-3) by rolling d6 and halving the result (rounding up).

The 4 types are:

Green die - the basic Attack Dice
Red die - the stronger Attack Dice
Blue die - the basic Defense and Test Dice
Brown die - the stronger Defense and Test Dice

The basic dice (green and blue) both have one side that is blank. Every other side of the custom dice shows one or more symbols. The individual symbols on the custom dice are as follows:

Lobotomy Spike – a success on Attack Rolls.
Lightning Bolt – may trigger special effects.
Star – a success on Tests.
Insanity
Shield – success on Defense Rolls.
Shield with a star – success on both Defense Rolls and Tests.

When you roll dice, you only count symbols that apply to the type of roll being made (Attack, Defense or Test) ignoring any other symbols.

For example, You try smashing the wall, Test.

If you got more than 5 successes, you break open the wall and find something: draw a Weapon Card.
If you got fewer than 2 successes, the wall holds but something heard you – spawn a Monster for each success short of 2 you rolled.

Map, Tiles, Board and Spaces

If a white boundary line wasn't present between two adjoining areas, the two areas would form a single, large space instead of two distinct Spaces.

Line of Sight (LoS)

It's important to remember that:

LoS extends a maximum of 1 Space past an Open Door or Breach in a Wall whether that Breach is caused by a Breach Token or an obvious Breach (including rubble or debris) shown in the Tile art.
If LoS exists between any part of 2 Spaces, then any item/mini on the first Space has unblocked LoS to any item/mini on the 2nd Space, even if their actual physical placements on the Board would appear to be out of sight of each other (e.g. around a corner).

Range

For example, the Basic Weapon 'Spell Scroll' has a Range of 0-2, meaning it can be used to Attack an enemy on the same Space (a Range of 0), or one that is 1 or 2 Spaces away.

Insanity

For example, if a Character is being attacked by a Hellhound, they will only get Insanity Tokens for any Insanity results on their Defense Dice, and not for any shown on the Hellhound's Attack Dice.

Characters also gain a single Insanity Token whenever they defeat one or more Monsters with an Attack or Ability.

Characters may only normally have a maximum of 6 Insanity Tokens at any time.

Junk

Junk represents the broken trash that you find around the hospital. It may seem useless by itself, but get enough of it and you can Upgrade many of your Weapons and Equipment.

All Junk is drawn at random from the Junk Bag. There is no limit to how much Junk a Character can have, and the most common ways to collect Junk are:

Perform a Loot Action (1 Space, Range 0) in your Action Phase to gain 1 Junk.
Perform a Search Action and find some Junk in the Locker.
Defeat an Elite Monster (e.g. an Orderly) or Boss Monster and gain 1 Junk if you dealt the final blow.
Get it from another Character in a Trade Action.
Some Innate Abilities and Disorder Cards provide alternate ways to earn Junk.

Junk comes in 6 different forms: Glass, Paper, Pipe, Rope, Stone, and Wood.

Sometimes you will need specific types of Junk to Upgrade Cards, or other times any Junk will do and the generic Junk symbol will be shown. For more information on Upgrading Cards please see page 34.

Meds

They can be spent by Characters to increase their chances of success when Attacking, Defending, Searching Lockers or rolling the custom dice to perform a Test.

When Attacking, use red Meds to add a red die, or green Meds to add a green die.
When Defending or performing a Test, use blue Meds to add a blue die, or brown Meds to add a brown die.

After rolling an additional dice gained by using Meds, there is nothing to stop a Character using more Meds if they have them.

Items, Abilities, Limits, and Loadout

A Character may change their Loadout once during their Turn, by using the Change Loadout Action described on page 33.

The Hunt Track and Monster Empowerment

During a game of Lobotomy 2, the Huntmaster walks along a set Hunt Track as defined by the Scenario, moving each Round at the start of the Monster Phase.

To Empower Monsters, each Basic and Elite Monster Card (that has an Empowered side) is turned over from its initial side to the more-powerful Empowered side.

Campaigns, Scenarios, and Chapters

It may be helpful to think of these like horror fiction.

A Campaign is a series of Scenarios – like a series of books following the journey of our Characters, a bit like Lord of The Rings with hallucinations, medication, and padded cells!

The shorter Nightmares, are the short stories, with Chapters more like pages, paragraphs or scenes, and a full Daily Nightmare game (of multiple Nightmare Scenarios) being the horror anthology.

Reading the Chapter Identification (CID)

As there are many Scenarios in Lobotomy 2, both in this core box and in expansions, Chapters are not just numbered, but are given unique identification codes such as S1-RC-13, S2-A or DN5-A.

The code before the dash indicates what sort of Scenario the Chapter or Card relates to, as shown below:

S – A numbered normal Scenario (such as from the campaign) e.g. S3 is Scenario number 3.
DN – A numbered Daily Nightmare Scenario (aka Nightmares) e.g. DN5 is Nightmare number 5.

After the dash, the Chapter (usually a letter) is shown, unless it starts with EC (meaning a Scenario Event Card) or RC (A Reference Card, usually just used in The Introductory Scenario).

A CID of S3-B is Chapter B of Scenario 3, which will be found in the Scenario Book.
S1-EC3 is Event Card 3 of Scenario 1, found in the Scenario Event Cards.
DN1-A is Chapter A of Nightmare number 1, which can be found in the Daily Nightmare book.

Insanity can also be used to Upgrade your Character in various ways, as described in the Detailed Character Actions section of the rules.

Immunity

This means that an attack using these 2 Cards would usually have the total of Critical Strike, Pierce and Fire, at Range 1-2.

Note that the attack still takes place, and still applies the other effects (Critical Strike and Fire) as the Animated Doll has no immunity to those effects.

Winning, Or Losing, The Game

The specific criteria for winning or losing a game of Lobotomy 2: Manhunt are given in the specifics of the Scenario or game type, in the case of Daily Nightmare games.

Reading The Cards

The following pages describe how to read the various types of Cards used in Lobotomy 2: Manhunt.

Character Cards

Each Character Card is double-sided with a blue side showing the starting Character and a red side showing the more powerful INSANE! Character.

Health – The number of Wounds it takes to kill the Character. To track this, as the Character is wounded, Wound Tokens are placed on the Character Card.
Name.
The starting Character (blue) side shows the Character's Quest. This is a personal goal that the Character must achieve before they can upgrade to the enhanced INSANE! (red) side of the Character. The INSANE! Side has no further Quest, only the word INSANE!
Disorders are the Character's mental conditions that decide which Disorder Decks the character uses to gain skills and abilities.
Attributes represent how good the Character is at various things, the higher the score the more skilled the Character is at feats of Strength, Dexterity, Imagination, and Wisdom.

Flavor Text (usually a quote or background fact) does not affect gameplay.

Monster Cards

Lobotomy 2: Manhunt has 3 classes of Monsters: Basic Monsters, Elite Monsters and Boss Monsters.

Basic and Elite Monsters

A Basic or Elite Monster Card shows:

Name.
Monster Type – Basic Monster or Elite Monster.
Statistics, showing:
- Health – how many Wounds it takes to defeat the Monster.
- Movement – how many Spaces the Monster can move each turn.
Monster's Attack – Shows the number and type of dice used by the Monster when it Attacks. Any modifiers, such as automatic successes, and the special effects of rolling Insanity, are also shown here.
Monster's Defense – Shows the number and type of dice used by the Monster to Defend against any Attacks. The Monster may also get automatic successes or have special effects if they roll Insanity.
Image – The Monster's Image used here also appears on any Spawn Cards that spawn new Monsters of this type.
Special Effects – This text will describe any Flee conditions and any special effects or additional rules applying to this Monster.

Defeating a Basic Monster earns the Character an Insanity Token (up to the Character's limit, usually 6).

Defeating an Elite Monster earns the Character an Insanity Token (as for Basic Monsters) but also earns the Character a piece of Junk drawn randomly from the Junk Token Bag.

Boss Monsters

A Boss Monster Card shows:

Name.
Monster Type – Boss Monster.
Statistics, showing:
- Health – how many Wounds it takes to defeat the Monster. For Boss Monsters it is common for the Health to depend on the number of Characters playing. For example, if the Health is shown as a value ×10, the Boss Monster would have 30 Health if 3 Characters are playing, 40 Health for 4 Characters, etc.
- Movement – how many Spaces the Monster can move each turn.
Monster's Attack – Boss Monsters will often select from multiple attacks to use in the Monster Attack Phase. The method of selecting which attack to use can vary from Boss to Boss, but will be clearly described. One common method selects an attack at random by rolling a d6 and looking up the result from the two available types of attack. Each potential attack is described showing the number and type of dice used by the Boss Monster, as well as any modifiers, such as automatic successes and the special effects of rolling Insanity.
Monster's Defense – the number and type of dice used by the Monster to defend against any attacks. The Monster may also get automatic successes or have special effects when they roll Insanity.
Image – A portrait of the Monster… Only look if you are willing to risk madness and sleepless nights!
Special Effects – Boss Monsters are usually spawned by Scenario-specific events, and may have additional rules unique to them.

Unlike Basic and Elite Monsters, each Turn Boss Monsters get their own Phase in which they move and attack the Characters.

Basic Equipment and Weapon Cards

Equipment and Weapons (whether Basic or not) are collectively called Items. Characters may only ever carry a maximum of 6 Items, and need to immediately discard one if they gain more.

The Basic Equipment in the core game of Lobotomy 2: Manhunt will always be the Straitjacket. Future expansions may provide other items of Basic Equipment to choose between.

For example, the Straitjacket is Armor and provides a blue Defense die. This can be upgraded twice, using any type of Junk, each upgrade providing an additional Defense die.

Characters will roll one green die for each point they have in the Key Attribute. The Key Attribute of Basic Weapons is always one of the following: Strength, Dexterity, or Wisdom.

Note that Basic Weapons can be Upgraded by anybody holding the Weapon, regardless of their skill in the Key Attribute.

Equipment Cards

For example, the Leather Jacket is Armor providing a blue die and a brown die of Defense, with each Lightning Bolt giving an additional success. The Leather Jacket can be upgraded twice:

Once using one Paper Junk and one Wood Junk, to give one automatic success.
Once using any three Junk, regardless of type, to give an additional Defense die.

The most common ways for a Character to gain an Equipment Card is by Searching a Locker, or by Trading with another Character.

Tapped Cards may only be Untapped once per Character Turn, but may then be traded to other Characters to Untap and use in their Turn.

Weapon Cards

The most common ways for a Character to gain a Weapon Card is by Searching a Locker, or from another Character during a Trade Action.

If the Key Attribute is the wildcard "Any" then the Player may choose to use any of their Character's Attributes, except Imagination (which doesn't appear as a Key Attribute on any Weapon Card).

Whether or not a Character is Skilled, they still attack using a number of green dice equal to their Key Attribute value – only the Upgrade effects change.

Basic Attack Bonuses show any additional effects (in addition to the Attack Dice rolled for their skill level in the Key Attribute) that apply to any Attack with this Weapon.

Basic Weapon Upgrades show Upgrades that, once 'bought', apply to Attacks using this Weapon regardless of whether or not the Character using the Weapon is Skilled with it.

Skilled Weapon Upgrades show Upgrades that, once 'bought', only apply to Attacks using this Weapon by Characters Skilled with the Weapon.

A Basic Weapon Upgrade requiring one Wood Junk and one Paper Junk, to turn any Lightning Bolt rolled into successes, and allow the Character to Move 1 Space (with Stealth) immediately after attacking.
One Skilled Weapon Upgrade requiring one Glass Junk and one Wood Junk, to add one green die to Skilled Attacks.
One Skilled Weapon Upgrade requiring one Stone Junk, one Wood Junk and one Junk of any type, to add one red die to Skilled Attacks.

Disorder Cards

Every Character begins play with a Disorder Card for each Disorder that affects them. They may gain additional Disorder Cards (to a limit of 4 Cards) by performing the Gain Disorder Card Action.

Disorder Cards describe a wide range of effects that may be used at different times. Some Disorder Cards feature multiple Abilities with each Ability separated from the others by horizontal lines.

A Disorder Card shows:

Name of the Disorder Card.
Cooldown Cost for each non-Passive Ability. The hourglass accompanied by a number shows that when that specific Ability is used, the Player must place the corresponding number of Cooldown Tokens on the Card.
Ability Detail for each ability shows the type, effect and any additional costs. The possible types are:
- Passive. Applies when specified, assuming the Card is not in Cooldown.
- Active. Can only be used during the Character's Action Phase, often has a cost to pay.
- Defense. May only be used when the Character is being Attacked.
- Attack. Can only be used during the Character's Action Phase.
- Weapon Attack. Can only be used while making an Attack with a Weapon Card.

All types except Passive usually have a Cooldown to apply upon using the Ability.

For example, if a Character uses the Active Ability of Withdrawal, spending 1 Insanity Token in the process, they then need to put 4 Cooldown Tokens on the card. The Ability is now on Cooldown.

No ability on Withdrawal can be used until all Cooldown Tokens have been removed.

For example, Adrenal Gland Tumor lets the Character spend a single Insanity Token to add one die. This must be done before the Attack Dice are rolled.

Please note that this applies to all Abilities, even Innate Abilities shown on the Character Card.

The Gameplay Round

Sequence of Play

The game takes place in a series of Rounds, with the Characters taking their Turns first, and then the Monsters performing their Movement and Actions.

The sequence of play of each Round is as follows:

Round

Player Phase
- Maintenance Phase (Skipped on the very first Round)
  - Pass the First Character Token clockwise (to the left).
  - Remove 1 Cooldown Token from each Card in Cooldown.
- Character Actions Phase
  - Starting with the Character with the First Character Token, and going clockwise, each Character gets 3 Action Points that they may spend to perform their Actions.
Monster Phase
- The Hunt Phase
  - Move the Huntmaster one step along the Hunt Track.
- Boss Monsters Phase
  - Any Boss Monsters in play perform their Move and then Attack.
- Basic and Elite Monsters Movement Phase
  - All other Monsters perform their Move.
- Spawn Monsters Phase
  - New Monsters appear!
- Basic and Elite Monsters Attack Phase
  - All Basic and Elite Monsters Attack players on their Space or in Range of their Attack.

Player Phase

Every Round starts with the Player Phase, which usually consists of the Maintenance Phase and the Character Actions Phase.

Maintenance Phase

Each game Round after the first, starts off with the Maintenance Phase.

The First Character Token is passed clockwise to the next Character.

A single Cooldown Token is removed from every Disorder Card with Cooldown Tokens on it. The card is only ready to be used again when all Cooldown Tokens have been removed from it.

Character Actions Phase

On their Turn, each Character can use them to perform the following Actions:

Move Action
Attack Action
Ability Action
Change Loadout Action
Search Action
Loot Action
Trade Action
Gain Disorder Card Action
Upgrade Card Action
Upgrade Attribute Action
Upgrade Character Action

These actions are described in detail in the Detailed Character Actions section of the rulebook (see pages 29-35).

Monster Phase

When the Characters have finished performing Actions, the Monsters get their chance to hunt them down.

The Hunt Phase

The Monster Phase starts with the Huntmaster moving on their Hunt Track.

Boss Monster Phase

If there is more than one Boss Monster in play, the Players decide the order they act in.

Basic and Elite Monster Movement Phase

Spawn Monsters Phase

Starting with the Character with the First Character Token, one by one, each Character draws a card from the Spawn Card Deck and (if possible) spawns the appropriate Monster.

If there are two or more Spawn Points (of the matching color) equally near to the Character then the Player decides which one is used to spawn the new Monster.

Basic and Elite Monster Attack Phase

If there are multiple Characters that the Monster could Attack, they will always choose the Character with the least amount of Health remaining (with Players choosing in the event of a tie).

To perform the Attack:

Get the number and type of green and red Attack Dice shown on the Monster's Monster Card.
The Character may use an Armor Equipment Card in their current Loadout to Defend against the Attack, and takes the matching type and number of blue and brown Defense Dice. They may also gain additional dice or Defensive bonuses from skills, effects, and other (non-Armor) cards.
All dice are rolled at once.
The Character gains 1 Insanity Token (up to their usual limit) for each Insanity rolled on their Defense Dice.
Count the successful hits on the Attack Dice, and subtract the number of hits avoided (Shield or Shield-with-a-star). This may be modified, or special effects applied, if the Attack Dice showed any Insanity and there is a corresponding effect shown on the Monster Card.
The Monster also adds +1 hit for each Monster that has already attacked the same Character in this Phase.
Remember that you may want to use Meds to add blue or brown dice.
The number of successful hits that were not avoided are applied as Wounds to the Character. Take the matching number of Wound Tokens and place them on the Character Card. The Character dies if ever the number of Wounds on their Character Card equals or exceeds their Health Statistic. See page 37 for more details.