Mansions of Madness: Second Edition
Mansions of Madness: Second Edition Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
The App and Golden Rules
The app plays the role of the Keeper, a hidden antagonist that leads investigators through each scenario, generating the map, mythos events, and monster activations, and determining victory or defeat. Before each game, ensure the products you own are enabled in the app's collection manager.
Golden rules: this reference is the definitive source of rules; a component's or the app's effect takes precedence over it; an effect using "cannot" is absolute; players control investigators. "Can" grants an option during play; "may" allows an optional immediate effect. Conflicts and simultaneous effects are resolved by the investigators as a group (or, if they cannot agree, by a randomly chosen investigator).
The Investigator
Each investigator has a card listing health, sanity, and six skills — Strength, Agility, Observation, Lore, Influence, and Will (each valued 2–5) — plus a unique ability. Possessions collected during a scenario are stored in the app's inventory.
Round Structure
A game is played over a series of rounds, each with two phases: the Investigator Phase and the Mythos Phase. Rounds continue until the investigators win or lose.
Investigator Phase
Investigators take turns in the order of their choice. On your turn you perform up to two actions. After all investigators have taken a turn, one presses the end-phase button to proceed to the Mythos Phase.
Commonly used actions:
- Move: move up to two spaces (one space at a time to an adjacent space; not through walls or impassable borders). You may interrupt a move to perform another action, then finish moving. Leaving a monster's space triggers an evade check.
- Search: investigate a Search token in your space via the app (typically resolving a test to gain possessions or Clues).
- Explore: investigate an Explore token in your space via the app (typically revealing an adjacent room).
- Interact: interact with a Person or Interact token in your space via the app (typically a test, gaining possessions or Clues).
- Attack: attack a monster in your space with a melee weapon, or a monster within range with a ranged weapon. Select an Item/Spell (or attack unarmed), select the monster, then confirm via the action-icon button. Resolving an attack typically involves a test and dealing damage; a monster reduced to 0 health is discarded.
- Trade: give, pick up, and drop possessions among investigators in your space (any number, any order).
Rarely used actions: Push (push a monster or investigator to an adjacent space), Set Fire, and Steal (an opposed test to take possessions from another investigator).
Component actions (preceded by "Action" in bold on a card, or offered by tokens/possessions with an action icon) also require spending an action.
Mythos Phase
The app generates instructions across three steps:
- Event Step: resolve one or more mythos events (typically a test, then suffering Damage or Horror).
- Monster Step: the app activates each monster, causing it to move and/or attack. Monster movement terminology: Toward (each space reduces the distance to a destination), Away From (increases distance), Nearest (fewest spaces), Farthest (greatest).
- Horror Step: each investigator resolves a horror check against the monster within range with the highest horror rating (no check if no monster is in range).
After the Mythos Phase, a new round begins.
Tests, Dice, and Skills
A test declaration shows a skill icon (optionally with a +/– modifier and a ; difficulty). To resolve a test: build your dice pool (the skill's value ± modifiers), roll that many of the eight-sided dice (three faces show a success, two show an investigation result, three are blank), optionally reroll/convert dice (spending Clues to turn investigation results into successes), and count your successes as the test result. If a difficulty is given, you fail if your result is lower.
Clues: discard any number to convert an equal number of investigation results to successes during a test, or to perform additional puzzle steps. Puzzles (code, lock, slide) let an investigator perform puzzle steps equal to the indicated skill's value (plus extra per Clue spent).
Monsters
A monster is its token, figure, ID token, and app representation. Monsters activate during the Monster Step, moving toward and attacking investigators. Key monster values: horror rating (blue, front bottom-right — used in the Horror Step), awareness (green, front top-right — used for evade), brawn (red, back bottom-right), and health (in the monster menu). A monster suffering damage equal to its health is defeated and discarded.
Evade check: if you are in a monster's space and voluntarily move out or perform any action other than attack or move, you must resolve an evade check against the monster in your space with the highest awareness (an evade check may cause you to forfeit your action). Moving out involuntarily does not require an evade check.
Damage, Horror, and Madness
Many effects cause you to suffer Damage or Horror — claim the top card of the respective deck (faceup unless specified). Cards are either Resolve Immediately (resolve then flip facedown) or Keep Faceup (a constant effect).
- Wounded: if your total Damage (faceup + facedown) equals or exceeds your health, you become Wounded (gain the Wounded Condition and discard all facedown Damage). A Wounded investigator who then suffers Damage equal to or exceeding health is eliminated.
- Insane: if your total Horror equals or exceeds your sanity, you become Insane (gain an Insane Condition and discard facedown Horror). An Insane Condition may alter how you win or lose the game. An Insane investigator suffering further Horror equal to or exceeding sanity is eliminated.
Eliminated: drop all possessions, remove your figure, and take no further turns. When an investigator is eliminated, the remaining investigators lose the game at the end of the next Investigator Phase; if all are eliminated, the game ends immediately in defeat.
Features and Terms
- Range: "within range" is up to three spaces away (not counted through walls, doors, or Secret Passages; can be counted through impassable borders).
- Darkness: prevents spending Clues to convert dice or take extra puzzle steps; ignored in/adjacent to a space with a Light Source or Fire.
- Fire: harmful to investigators and monsters that enter it.
- Barricade: blocks a door or Secret Passage; an investigator or monster must test/roll to move a blocked one.
- Secret Passage: connects spaces as adjacent (range cannot be counted through it).
- Doors, borders, walls, rooms, spaces, indoor/outdoor: define adjacency and movement on the modular map of tiles.
Winning and Losing
The objective (viewable in the app's in-game menu) tells investigators what they must accomplish. The app determines when the investigators collectively win or lose the scenario. Investigators lose if all are eliminated, or (after one is eliminated) at the end of the next Investigator Phase.