Maximum Apocalypse: Gothic Horrors

Maximum Apocalypse: Gothic Horrors Rulebook

Table of Contents

2 Character Cards
6 Standees
60 Survivor Cards
75 Monster Cards
6 Boss Cards
13 Mission Cards
14 Scavenge Cards
15 Insanity Cards
20 Day/Night Cards
8 Map Tiles
14 Card Dividers
1 Token Bag
30 Numbered Spawn Tokens: Simulate the dice rolls of the monster spawn action.
4 Ambush Tokens: When drawn by a player, that player immediately draws a monster card.
5 Safe Tokens: When drawn, no monster spawn occurs. Similar to a combined dice roll of 7.
3 Scavenge Blocks: Used to mark a tile when it can no longer be scavenged. Only 3 map tiles can ever be blocked at a given time. If you need to block a new tile, choose a tile to unblock.

KS Edition Adds: 30 Rapture Cards, 45 Stretch Goal Cards, 3 Objective Stars, 20 Bullet Tokens, 3 Standees.

Objective

Each mission provides a different scenario and objective for the Survivors. Most missions require you to complete the objective and return to the Van with an adequate amount of fuel to escape the area with your lives.

Game Setup

Pick Survivors. Each player selects a Survivor, putting that Survivor's character card, standee and deck into their play area. If you select the Veteran, be sure to grab the Dog card (see page 29). Shuffle the Survivor Deck.
Select Mission. Players may select the mission they would like to play or pick one randomly. Be sure to read the mission for additional setup instructions.
Build Monster Deck. Take the monster cards that relate to your apocalypse and shuffle them together to form the Monster deck.
Build Scavenge Decks. Build the three different Scavenge decks (Blue, Green, Red) based on the mission instructions. Shuffle these decks.
Customize Monster Spawn (optional). If you'd like to play with the monster spawn tokens, you take all of the numbered tokens and include the number of safe and ambush tokens that suit your desired difficulty level:
- Easy: 5 safe tokens, 0 ambush tokens
- Normal: 4 safe tokens, 1 ambush token
- Hard: 3 safe tokens, 2 ambush tokens
- Insane: 0 safe tokens, 3 ambush tokens
Build the Map. Set aside the starting map tile ("the Van") and make a deck of the map tiles included in the mission. Shuffle the tiles and then take turns around the table placing these tiles face down to create a grid that will represent the board. You can make a simple grid or build your own unique map. After the final map tile is placed, drive the "Van" tile to connect anywhere on the outer edges of the board. All players start at this location (unless otherwise specified in the mission).

To keep track of damage, ammo, etc., use the included tokens. Alternatively, you can use dice, pen and paper, or any other tracking method you might prefer.

Game Setup Diagram

A. Monster Discard
B. Monster Deck. Shuffle and place the monster deck within the reach of all players. If the monster deck is empty, reshuffle it.
C. Scavenge Decks. Shuffle and place the decks within the reach of all players. If the Scavenge decks are empty, do not reshuffle them.
D. Scavenge Discard Pile

Player Area:

E. Survivor Discard Pile
F. Survivor Deck. If this deck runs out, your Survivor is eliminated.
G. Character Card
H. Starting Monster. This monster is attached to the Fireman and will activate at the end the Fireman's turn.
I. Starting Location
J. Map. Place all players on the Van to start unless stated otherwise in the mission setup. When building the map, be sure that all tiles are reachable orthogonally.

Mission Cards

A. Title and Difficulty
B. If a mission has this fuel icon, you must collect the specified fuel to complete your objective. Unless otherwise specified, this symbol indicates that you must return to the Van with the specified fuel cards to win.
C. Mission Objective and additional setup instructions.
D. Boss Setup. Randomly select a boss from the Monster Set. Boss cards are treated like any other monster card but occasionally are kept out of the deck and triggered at certain moments in the mission as described here.
E. Intended Monster Set.
F. Map Tiles to include in this mission. Only the tile type is important. The monster spawn number does not matter.
G. Scavenge deck composition. Keep in mind that you can use any numbered food/ammo card.

Map Tiles

A. Scavenge Icon. This icon indicates which Scavenge decks (Red, Blue, Green) you can draw from when performing the scavenge action on this tile. You can only scavenge on a particular tile once per turn.

Important: If there is no symbol in the upper left, you cannot scavenge on the tile.
B. Monster Spawn. When this number is rolled, monsters appear on this tile (see turn sequence for more information).
C. Trigger. This is the condition which triggers the tile effect. In this example, you would trigger the event every time that you enter this tile.
D. Tile Effect. Nearly every location has some kind of effect. Some effects trigger when the tile is revealed, others are triggered when a player lands on the tile.

Example tile: CITY STREET. ENTER: Draw a monster.

Scavenge FAQ

Can you scavenge a tile if you have a monster attached to you or a monster is on that tile? Yes, monsters don't prevent you from doing an action, including scavenging.

If any of the Scavenge decks run out do you reshuffle the discard pile and make a new deck? No.

Can you scavenge a tile more than once? Yes, a tile can be scavenged multiple times, but can only be scavenged once per turn.

Monster Cards

A. Monster Name
B. Starting Health
C. Attack Damage
D. Range of Effect. Damages all players in range unless something else is specified as the effect, i.e. the Zombie Horde deals damage to all players in short range.
E. Effect
F. Monster Set (A: Alien)

Understanding how a monster's effect works with the designated range is important so let's look at a few examples. Let's start with the Alien Invader on the left. If this monster activated at the end of my turn, he would deal 3 damage to me and any other players who were located orthogonally adjacent to me. In addition to suffering 3 damage, the Invader forces me to burn a card from the top of my Survivor deck. This "Attack" effect would apply to any other players damaged by its attack.

The Phalanx Robot reduces damage to all robots in midrange by 1. This effect stacks but does not apply to all robots in play; only those within range.

The Alien Scientist is especially rough. When a player draws it, they must immediately destroy an equipped gear or take 6 damage. The Scientist's passive effect is that all alien damage is increased by 1. This stacks and is rangeless so every Scientist compounds the overall alien threat until the Alien Scientist is killed.

Character Cards

A. Character Name
B. Starting Health
C. Stealth Stat
D. Name of Action: Range
E. Innate Action or Ability

Example: The example character card (Fireman) shows the action "PUNCH: SHORT RANGE. Action: Deal 2 damage to a target."

The Gunslinger's innate ability lets him start with the Colt Pistol card equipped with 4 bullets (uses) on it.

Starvation

When your hunger level reaches 6, you start suffering hunger damage. Flip over your character card and place the die at the top of the hunger track and suffer 2 damage. Every turn that you would increase your hunger, instead progress it down this hunger track and suffer the corresponding damage. As soon as you eat something or reduce your hunger level below 6, flip your character card back over. If you starve again, flip your card and place the die at the top of the tracker again.

A. Stealth Stat. This stat often gets worse when starving.
B. Hunger Track. Note that if you reach the skull, you starve to death no matter your remaining health.
C. Lose Innate Ability.

Turn Sequence

1. Spawn Monsters. Roll the two main dice. Place a Monster token on any face up map tile where the Monster Spawn number matches the combined roll. The maximum is 3 Monster tokens per tile; do not place any new tokens on tiles that already have 3 tokens. If a player is currently occupying a tile, that player must draw a monster card and attach it to their Survivor instead of placing a Monster token. All players occupying a tile whose Monster Spawn matches the roll must draw a monster.

If you're playing with the spawn tokens, randomly draw a token from the pool instead of rolling the dice. If no monster spawn occurs, do not return the token to the pool. If the drawn token causes a monster spawn, return all of the drawn tokens set aside from previous rounds to the pool.

2. Draw a Card from your Survivor Deck. If your deck is empty and you cannot draw a card, you are eliminated.

3. Take Actions. Take 4 actions listed below, in any combination. You may take the same action more than once, but can only scavenge on a specific tile once per turn.

You must take 4 actions:

Move 1 tile orthogonally.
Draw a card from your Survivor deck.
Play a card from your hand.
Perform an action from a card in play.
Scavenge: Draw a Scavenge card based on your current tile (if able). You can only scavenge a specific tile once per turn.

Free Actions:

Once per turn as a free action, you may discard two of your Survivor cards from your hand to draw a new card from your Survivor deck.
Once per turn as a free action, you can give/take/trade Scavenge cards with another player as long as you are on the same tile.
You may play cards on an objective as a free action. Example: If you are on the Van tile, you may fuel up the Van and store any fuel you are carrying. You can use the fuel tokens to mark the number of fuel delivered but remove the cards from the game.

4. Trigger any End Effects. For example, if you're sitting on an Open Field tile, you would draw a monster and then it would activate and deal damage to you in step 6 below.

5. Increase your Hunger. Increase your hunger by 1 by rotating your hunger die to the appropriate side. If you're already starving, increase your hunger damage level.

If your hunger level reaches 6, flip your character card over and take hunger damage. Hunger damage is irreducible and unavoidable. On subsequent turns, you will take more and more damage if you don't eat.

6. Activate Monsters. At the end of your turn, all of the monsters attached to you (that are not stunned) activate and deal damage to you and any other players in range of their attacks.

7. Check for Win. Check the mission win condition. If you meet all the requirements, the game is over and you have won. Otherwise, this marks the end of your turn and play proceeds clockwise.

Movement

Players can move to any adjacent map tile but cannot move diagonally. Attempting to move onto a tile costs 1 action. When you try to move onto a tile, reveal it and follow the text, if applicable.

For example, you reveal and enter a Bandit Camp tile, triggering its effect. You must decide whether to take damage or discard an equipped gear card.

If you enter a tile with Monster tokens and already have a monster attached to you, immediately draw a monster card for each token and remove the tokens from the tile. If you enter a tile with Monster tokens and do not have any monsters attached to you, you must pass a stealth test to sneak by them. If you want to purposely draw monsters to your character, you can skip this test and remove the token(s) and draw a monster card for each token on the tile.

Stealth Test

Roll the two main dice. If your combined roll is less than or equal to your Survivor's stealth stat, then you are successful. Each Monster token on the tile reduces your Stealth by 1. If your roll is higher than your stealth, remove all the Monster tokens on the tile and draw a monster card for each token removed.

If the monster deck ever runs out, reshuffle the discard pile and form a new deck.

Playing Cards

There are two types of cards that you can play on your turn: Instant Actions and Gear. Both Scavenge cards and Survivor cards fall into either of these categories. Playing a card from your hand costs an action. Instant cards are played as an action; follow the card text and discard it.

Reloading weapons, eating food and healing players all cost an action. After playing a Scavenge card, place it in the Scavenge discard pile NOT your personal discard pile.

Instant Actions

A. Instant symbol and Card Name
B. Range (if applicable)
C. Card Effect

Remember: As a free action, you can give/take/trade Scavenge cards with other players as long as you are on the same tile. You cannot trade your Survivor cards.

Scavenge Cards

A. Card Type and Card Title. Every Scavenge card falls into the instant category except for Fuel which is equipped immediately as a free action or lost.
B. Quick Reference. Scavenge cards are color coded and sometimes display numbers here as a quick reference point for sorting and setup.
C. Card Effect. All Scavenge cards only affect the player who plays the card, i.e. you can't feed someone else but you can give a player a food card as a free action.

Gear Cards

A. Gear symbol and Storage Cost
B. Card Name
C. Starting Ammo for card (if applicable). The red fuel icon indicates that a card can only be reloaded by discarding a fuel card currently equipped and removing it from the game. Reloading this way fully reloads the card.
D. Range of Action
E. Card Action or Effect

Gear cards are placed in front of your character and stay in play until they are destroyed. Gear typically gives a player access to a new action or passive ability. You can only have one copy of a Gear card equipped at a time (i.e. you can't wear two Ranger Hats); carrying fuel is the exception. If the Gear has starting ammo, place that many ammo tokens on the card when it is equipped. Each time you use that card's action, remove an ammo. If you run out of tokens, the action on the card is no longer available to you. Each piece of Gear has a storage cost and each character starts with a storage limit of 4. You cannot have Gear cards equipped that have a combined storage cost greater than your available limit. If your total Gear exceeds your storage limit, you must discard Gear cards of your choice until you are no longer exceeding your storage limit.

Range:

Short Range: These cards can target and affect the tile that your character currently occupies.
Midrange: These cards can target and affect the tile that you occupy and adjacent orthogonal tiles.
Long Range: Target 1-2 adjacent orthogonal tiles away from you but CANNOT target the tile that you currently occupy.

End of Game

If a Survivor runs out of health or runs out of cards from their Survivor deck, they die. All monsters attached to that character are discarded and replaced with Monster tokens. Any Scavenge cards that character may have been carrying are considered at the location that they died (you can place these cards on the tile to be picked up by other players as a free action).

If all players die or if you go to place a Monster token and have run out of tokens, your team loses.

To make the game more difficult you can also play that when any player is eliminated, the game is over. The game was balanced with this rule in mind.

Once you have completed your mission and collected the necessary fuel (as a team), and all players have returned to the Van, your game is over and you win!

Remember: The win condition is triggered at the end of the final player's turn (they still suffer damage as the final phase of their turn).

Difficulty Customization

If you're finding Maximum Apocalypse to lack challenge after a few plays and have played the harder monster sets, there are several things you can do to make the game more difficult:

Switch to Spawn Tokens over dice
Add more ambush or empty handed cards to the Scavenge decks
Remove the 3 Monster token cap on map tiles
Have players roll to set their starting hunger level
Add more tiles to the map

Solitaire / Multi-Class Variant

If you're playing the game solo, we suggest that you select two different characters to play. Shuffle these two decks together and then draw 8 cards to start. Your max hand size is 20. You can play any card from your hand on either character. Otherwise, you continue to play the game normally switching between each character's turn and actions. This is a much easier and faster way to play as multiple characters.

Solo Mode: Allies Expansion

To set up, pick your main character and remove any Ally cards that match your character class. Randomly select 3-6 Allies to add to the monster deck (the more Allies that you include, the easier the scenario becomes). Shuffle these Allies into the monster deck and set up and play the scenario as normal.

Throughout the course of your adventure, you will encounter these Allies instead of monsters. When you encounter an Ally, place it in front of your character and attach it to you like you would a monster card. You can spend an action to recruit an Ally to your party by paying their Resource Cost (A). These costs represent the number of Scavenge cards that you must discard to persuade the Ally to join you (i.e. a 2 in a green circle indicates that you need to discard 2 total food cards, not a food card that reduces hunger by 2). After the Ally has been recruited, place them next to your character card. Recruited Allies increase your storage slots and give you access to new actions. They also act as a way to continue your game if your main character dies.

If your main character ever dies, you can continue the adventure by switching to a recruited Ally. Remove your fallen character and their deck from the game and replace it with the corresponding Ally's Survivor deck and character card. Draw 4 cards from your new deck. Please note that Ally characters start with less health (B) and are susceptible to damage while they are in play from monsters that deal damage to all players in range. If an Ally card ever reaches zero health, remove it from the game.

A. Resource Cost. Discard the number of Scavenge cards that match the color and number shown here. Gray means that you can discard ANY color Scavenge card. For this example, you could discard any 3 Scavenge cards to recruit the Hunter.
B. Ally Health
C. Storage Increase
D. Ally Action or Effect

Pandemic Variant

You can play that whenever you roll a tile with 3 Monster tokens already on the tile, that instead you place a Monster token on all adjacent tiles.

Maximum Variant

If you're up to the challenge, feel free to combine and mash-up monster decks and/or include extra tiles in your games. It makes things less predictable and more difficult. Can you survive the zombie apocalypse after a Nuke went off and aliens invaded? Check out our mashup missions!

Veteran and Dog Notes

When playing as the Veteran and the Dog, you can select which enemy is attacking which character but must evenly distribute enemies between the characters. For example, if you have two enemies attached to you - one will damage the veteran and the other the dog, but you can choose which one. If an enemy hits all players in range, it hits both the Veteran and the Dog. Similarly, if you end your turn on the hospital, you can restore 2 health to both characters.

The Veteran and Dog share a hunger die. Whenever the Vet eats anything, he gives a bite to his good ole dog so you don't need to worry about managing two hunger levels.

The Veteran has a storage limit of 4, and the dog has a limit of 0 (because dogs don't have hands). If both characters are alive, use the lower stealth statistic. If one character dies, you can continue playing until the other character is eliminated.

Day/Night Cycle

If you want to add difficulty to your game, you can add the day/night cycle. Shuffle this deck, but make sure that all of the cards are oriented the same way. Place the cards near the map. The orientation of this deck to the map is very important and should not be changed after the game begins.

The game starts during the day. At the end of every round (after every player has had a turn), you will interact with this deck. When the day side is showing, flip the top card of the deck to the night side and resolve any effects (B). Be sure to keep it on top of the deck covering up the next day card. When the night side is showing on top of the deck, place the top card into a discard pile to reveal the day card underneath. All Monster tokens move according to the red arrow shown on the card's back (A). If a Monster token is moved into a tile with a player, remove the token and draw a monster. Monster tokens do not move off of the map, so if they cannot make a valid move, leave them alone.

Example day card (ICY CHILL): As a group, discard a blanket or fuel or each player suffers 2 damage.

Insanity Deck

Many of the creatures in the Cthulhu deck will tell you to draw an insanity card. Insanity cards stay in play face-up and have a storage cost but are not considered Gear cards and cannot be freely discarded. They are considered status effects so antidotes and other cards that remove or make you immune to status effects will cure you of insanities. If you ever have surpassed your storage limit with insanity cards (i.e. you have no gear left to discard to get back under the limit) then you have gone insane and are eliminated from the game.

A. Storage Cost
B. Phobia Effect. Each type of insanity hinders your character in some way. You must abide by these phobias while the card remains in play.

Example Turns

Mechanic Example Turn

I am playing as the Mechanic and have an Oni attached to me and AutoTurret equipped with 4 ammo. My hunger is currently at 5 but I am at full health. My character is on a Gas Station (5) with the Fireman on an adjacent Forest tile (F: Fireman's Location; M: Mechanic's Location). I roll the dice to spawn monsters and roll a 6. I place a Monster token on the revealed Police Station (6) and another token on the Van. I draw a card and then proceed to take my 4 actions:

1st Action: I play "Upgrade" on my AutoTurret to increase its damage to 5.
2nd Action: I scavenge at the Gas Station and draw a card from the red deck; it is a fuel. I have to immediately equip the fuel as a free action or discard it based on the card's text. I decide to equip it and have only 1 storage slot remaining.
3rd Action: I play "Read the Manual" on the Fireman allowing me to equip a proximity mine in front of him. I draw another card.
4th Action: I equip "Welding Helmet" to reduce damage by 1. My inventory is now full.

I increase my hunger to 6, flip over my Survivor card and take 2 hunger damage. The Oni attacks me for 4 damage, but my helmet reduces this to 3 damage. My AutoTurret uses an ammo to deal 5 damage to the Oni (4 damage plus 1 from "Upgrade"). The Oni has been attacked from short range so he counters and attacks me again for 3 damage. This sets off my turret again. The Oni counterattacks again for 3 damage and my turret deals another 5 damage to the Oni killing it and placing it in the monster discard pile. My turn ends. I have taken a total of 11 damage and my AutoTurret has 1 shot left.

Ronin Example Turn

Ronin card: CHANGE STANCE. Action: Flip the stance card. Offensive stance: access the Offense text and abilities of your cards.
Bushido: Access both the Offensive and Defensive abilities of your equipment until the start of your next turn.
Kabuto: Offense Passive: Reduce damage by 3. Defense Passive: Increase all damage done and dealt to Ronin by 2.
Katana (short range): Offense Action: Deal 3 damage to up to 2 targets. Defense Passive: Every time you are dealt short range damage, deal that target 6 damage.
Wakizashi (short range): Offense Action: Deal 1 damage to all targets in range. Defense Passive: Reduce damage dealt to Ronin from short range attacks by 3.

I play "Bushido" to unlock all my abilities as my 1st action. My 2nd action is to equip "Katana". My 3rd action is to use Katana to deal the Vampire and Ghoul 5 damage each (3 damage + 2 damage from Kabuto). The Ghoul is killed. My 4th action is to equip "Wakisashi".

My turn ends and Vampire attacks me. Kabuto reduces net damage by 1. My Wakisashi reduces short range damage by another 3 for a total reduction of 4. The Vampire deals me no damage which means that my Katana's defensive passive counterattack does not trigger this time. The better 4th action would have been to use Katana again. This would take the Vampire down to 3 health, he would bite for 2 and restore 2 health, but then my Katana counterattack would deal him 8 damage killing him.

Priest Example Turn

Priest card: DETERMINATION (passive: restore 1 health when you draw a card from your deck). ROSARY (midrange action: move up to 2 monster tokens to an adjacent space). INCENSE BURNER (short range action: deal 3 damage to all monsters attached to you). COLLAR (passive: you are immune to hunger damage and status effects).

At the start of my turn, I roll my tile number and draw a monster. It's a Dark Young which requires me to draw an insanity card. It's Monophobia. I am 3 tiles away from another player but my turn has already begun. I am adjacent to the Van which has 3 Monster tokens on it.

1st Action: I use "Rosary" to move 2 Monster tokens off of the Van tile to an adjacent unrevealed tile.
2nd Action: I equip "Collar" which makes me immune to all status effects. This cures me of any current status effects by discarding "Monophobia".
3rd and 4th Action: I use "Incense Burner" to deal the Cultist and Dark Young 6 damage each. The Cultist is killed and discarded.

My turn ends and the Dark Young attacks and deals me 4 damage.

FAQ

REMEMBER: 1. Check the Glossary. 2. Don't infer rules that are not written. 3. Follow the card text as written.

Can you attack / damage Monster tokens? No, you can only attack monsters that have been revealed (monster card). Think of Monster tokens as a threat level. You can hear that there's something moving but you don't know what it is and can't see it.

What happens if I draw another gear card that I already have equipped? Is it discarded? No, it just stays in your hand as a backup.

When you have a monster card attached to you and you move, does the monster ALWAYS move with you? Yes, no matter how you move the monster(s) will always move with you.

Do I reveal all tiles I move through when using Fireman's Stamina/Horse/Motorcycle or just the one I end my move on? Yes, you reveal all the tiles; the exception to this rule is Ranger's "Hoof it" which specifically says on the card not to reveal or trigger tiles.

Can you stack the same type of gear? No, you cannot equip multiple copies of the same gear.

Does health restoration only increase for myself or every other player as well when Scrubs/Scalpel is equipped? Does the effect stack? When the Surgeon heals anyone, Health Restoration increases (i.e. if the Surgeon has the Scrubs and Scalpel equipped, instead of healing for 1 they would heal for 3).

Where do I place the Monster token after using Camouflage? If it's placed on my tile, must I pass a stealth test when leaving the tile or if I scavenge on the tile? You place it on your tile. As stated by the rules, you only attempt a stealth test when entering a tile with a token, not if you're on a tile with a token.

May I draw a gear out of any discard pile with the card Resourceful or the Mechanic's Repair ability? Yes.

Am I allowed to equip gear of other players this way by picking out of their discard pile and putting it into my play area? Yes.

When using Quick Thinking, Cover of Night, Fetch, etc., do I choose the pile to draw a Scavenge card from or must it match the tile I'm on? When you play a card that lets you draw Scavenge piles, you can pick from any pile.

Glossary

Action: Take an action to trigger the text on this card.
Attached: If a monster is attached to you, it is currently in your play area in front of your Survivor.
Attack: Trigger this effect every time a monster's attack damages a player.
Burn: Discard the top card of your deck.
Counter: Range: If the monster is attacked from the designated range and not killed, it immediately retaliates and deals its damage back to the attacking player. If an attack deals damage and stuns, the counter happens before it is stunned. If a monster is already stunned when attacked, it cannot counter.
Destroy: Trigger this effect when the monster is killed. This effect only damages the player that the monster is attached to. When destroy is referring to gear, it is telling you to discard an equipped gear.
Discard: Discard this gear card to trigger the game text on this card. The gear must be equipped before you can use this action. Discarding does not count as an action.
Docile: Monsters with this trait do not activate at the end of a turn unless they were damaged this round.
Drain Life: Causes damage dealt by a monster to also restore that much health to that monster.
Draw: Draw effects happen as soon as a monster is drawn (even if it's during setup) and apply to the player that drew the card.
End: Trigger this effect when you are finished taking your 4 actions this turn.