The Doom That Came to Atlantic City Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Components
• Object of the Game
• Setting Up
• Playing the Game
• Phase One: Movement
• Phase Two: Combat
• Phase Three: Destruction
• Rolling Doubles
• Ending the Game
• Elements of the Game
  • Mythos Roles
  • Cultists and Homes
  • Providence Cards
  • Chants Cards
  • Events
  • Doom Cards
  • Gates
  • Gate Cards
  • Gate Marker
  • Gate Movement
  • Tome Cards
• Additional Rules
  • Banishment
  • Special Spaces
  • Playing With Two Players
  • Variations
  • Clarifications
• Quick Play Guide
  • Sequence of Play

Game Components

• 1 Gameboard
• 2 Dice
• 8 Tentacles
• 50 Cultists
• 60 Homes
• 8 Resorts
• 8 Great Old One Playing Pieces
• 24 Gate Cards
• 40 Gate Markers
• 45 Chants Cards
• 45 Providence Cards
• 4 Reference Cards
• 16 Tome Cards
• 8 Mythos Role Cards
• 16 Doom Cards

Object of the Game

You and your fellow players are Great Old Ones competing to be the first to destroy the world.

There are two ways to achieve this:

• Any Great Old One can win by obtaining six Gates, at which point the game instantly ends. You only have five Gate markers, because if you open a sixth Gate, you win!
• At the start of the game, each Great Old One receives a Doom card providing a shortcut to victory. If you land on one of your Gates and meet the preconditions, you may attempt the action listed on your Doom card. If you are successful, you win the game!

Setting Up

1. Place the board on the center of the table. Place 2 Homes on every colored space (excluding Gates, corner squares, and special spaces).
2. Randomly determine who will go first.
3. The last player selects his Mythos Role, determining which Great Old One he will play. Selection continues counter-clockwise around the table, ending with the player who will go first.
4. Each player begins with 6 Cultists and a reference card.
5. Each player receives the Providence card shown on their Mythos Role and a random Chants card. Remaining Chants and Providence cards are shuffled and set on the board; a single card from each deck is flipped over to create a discard pile. Any event cards drawn or revealed at this time are replaced with new cards and shuffled back into the deck.
6. Each player receives a Doom card; these are turned face up so all players can see them.
7. The first player rolls for movement and the game begins. Play proceeds clockwise.

Tomes and Resorts option described on page 16.

Playing the Game

Play proceeds clockwise around the table. When it's your turn, go through the following three phases:

1. Movement: Roll 2 dice and move that many spaces. Then resolve any effects of special spaces (such as passing the Mi-Go or losing one Cultist to the Asylum).
2. Combat: If combat occurs, the attacker and defender roll 2 dice; ties go to the attacker. If the attacker loses, his turn ends. If he wins, he takes a Cultist from the defender and draws a Chants card.
3. Destruction: If there's a Home on the space, roll 2 dice; on a 7 or higher remove one Home. When you remove the last Home on a space, place a Gate Marker and take a Gate card. If you land on your own Gate and meet the preconditions, you may perform a Doom action in this phase.

Play continues until someone opens a sixth Gate or successfully completes a Doom action.

Each phase is described in more detail in the following sections.

Phase One: Movement

Go through the following steps:

• Roll 2 dice. If you are on a Gate, you may shift your piece to any matching Gate.
• Move your piece the number of spaces equal to your roll. Unless a Chants or Providence card forces you to do otherwise, you always move clockwise.
• You may discard Chants or Providence cards from your hand to increase your movement. Each card you discard lets you move one additional space. Chants cards, Providence traits, or Gate powers that affect movement should be used at this time.
• If you pass the Mi-Go as part of your move, resolve its effects.
• If you land on a Special Space, resolve its effects - such as drawing a card on Chants or losing a Cultist at the Asylum.

Phase Two: Combat

If you land on a space occupied by an opponent, you must fight. If you land on a space occupied by two or more opponents, you must fight one of them but you decide which one.

If you do not land on an opponent, you may choose to attack another player whose piece is the same region as you; a region is a group of five spaces that starts at a neutral gate and continues to the next corner square. So if you land on Dewy Place, you may attack an opponent located on Beach Avenue, The Temple, Euclid Avenue, or the neutral Gate. This is optional, and you may instead move on to the Destruction Phase without making an attack.

Neutral Gates are borders between regions. From a neutral gate, you may attack or be attacked by Great Old ones in either adjacent region.

In a two-player game, or if you have The Windwalker Providence trait, your attack range extends to include each region adjacent to the one you are in; if you land on a corner space, your reach extends to either side. However, you cannot attack a Great Old One located on a corner space unless you land on them directly. If you land on a neutral gate, you may still only attack Great Old Ones in the adjacent regions.

When you make an attack, go through the following steps:

• You roll 2 dice and add any bonuses or penalties to Attack due to your active Providence traits.
• Your opponent rolls 2 dice and adds any bonuses or penalties to Defense from active Providence traits.
• Any player may use Chants cards or other special abilities that allow them to modify an Attack or Defense roll. This continues until no one has any more effects they wish to play.
• If your total is equal to or greater than that of your target, you take one of his Cultists and add it to your own supply; draw one Chants card; and continue to the Destruction Phase.
• If your total is lower than that of your target, your turn immediately ends. There is no other negative consequence to you, and no other benefit for the defender.

Example: Cthulhu attacks Tsathoggua. Cthulhu rolls a 6, and Tsathoggua rolls a 7. However, Cthulhu has a +3 Attack bonus from his Flabby Claws, giving him a total of 9. Tsathoggua has a +2 Defense bonus from his Formless Spawn, making his total a 9. But ties go to the attacker, so Cthulhu is still winning. Desperate to survive, Tsathoggua uses a Chants card - Puny Human Shield - which adds +2 to his Defense. With an 11 defense, Tsathoggua is now winning. But Cthulhu has the trait Really Deep Ones, and he uses it to sacrifice a Cultist and add 2 to his attack roll. It's another tie, and Cthulhu is winning again. Tsathoggua has no more cards to play. Other players could use Chants cards of their own to modify Cthulhu or Tsathoggua's rolls, but none do. The victorious Cthulhu takes a Cultist from Tsathoggua and draws a Chants card.

Phase Three: Destruction

When you land on a space with Homes, you must try to destroy one.

• Roll 2 dice and add any bonuses to Destruction.
• Any player may use Chants cards or other special abilities that allow them to modify a Destruction roll. This continues until no one has any more effects they wish to play.
• If your final result is 7 or higher, remove one Home from the space and place it on your Mythos role. You may later use these Homes to pay for Chants cards or Gate effects.
• If you remove the last Home from a space, place one of your Gate markers on that space and take a Gate card matching the color/region of the space (i.e. if you open a Gate on Madison Avenue, take a Leng card.)

If you land on one of your own Gates and meet the preconditions of your Doom, you may attempt the Doom action. You can only attempt a Doom action if you have a Gate on the space when you land there. You cannot use a Gate that you've just opened.

Rolling Doubles

When you roll doubles on your turn, there is a special benefit based on which phase of the turn you are in.

If you are in the Movement Phase, continue through your turn, resolving Combat and Destruction normally. Once this is complete, take an additional turn, going through all three phases again.

If you are in the Combat Phase, you must fight an additional round of combat with the same opponent as soon as the current battle is resolved. The outcome of the first round of combat determines whether or not you can continue to the Destruction Phase. Losing a second round won't end your turn, as long as you won the first round.

If you are in the Destruction Phase, you must make an additional Destruction attempt as soon as your current action is resolved (unless there are no Homes left to destroy).

Every time you roll doubles, advance your doubles counter by one. This track is located at the upper left of your Mythos Role. If you roll doubles three times before this resets, you are banished! (go to page 14 for more on Banishment) Your doubles counter resets as soon as the next player starts his turn.

Ending the Game

The game ends as soon as someone successfully completes a Doom action or opens a sixth gate.

Elements of the Game

Mythos Roles

At the start of the game, each player selects a Mythos Role. This sheet provides a space for storing Cultists and Homes, and for tracking doubles rolled and the number of Gates you possess (use extra Homes to track Gates and doubles). It has three spaces along the bottom for your Providence Traits. The center space shows the silhouette of a specific Providence card: at the start of the game, this card should be removed from the deck and put into play on your character. While you begin with this trait, over the course of the game it can be stolen, replaced, or discarded like any other trait.

Cultists and Homes

Cultists and Homes are the currencies of the game.

Cultists are the anchor that keep you tied to the world. Many Chants cards, Dooms, and Gate powers require you to sacrifice Cultists; Cultists can also be taken from you by force. If you lose your last Cultist, you are banished. You cannot voluntarily sacrifice or trade away your last Cultist! You can gain Cultists by passing the Mi-Go, fighting other Old Ones, or landing on Syzygy.

Homes represent the power you build up through acts of destruction. Many Chants cards, Dooms, and Gate powers require you to sacrifice Homes. There are no negative consequences to having no Homes, and if you are ever forced to pay a cost in Homes when you don't have any, you may ignore it. Generally, the only way to gain Homes is through acts of destruction.

Providence Cards

When the game begins, your Great Old One is newly awoken and relatively weak. As the game unfolds, you will reclaim your ancient powers... as represented by Providence cards.

You have space on your Mythos Role sheet for three Providence cards. When you place a Providence card on your Role sheet, it becomes an active Providence Trait and you gain all the benefits or penalties of the card.

You cannot voluntarily remove or trade a Providence Trait once it is in play. When you place a new trait, if there is an empty space on your role sheet you must fill that space with the new card. However, if all three trait slots are filled, you may replace an existing trait with a new one. The previous trait is discarded.

Normally, you can only play Providence cards on your own Great Old One. However, there are a number of Providence cards which state that they can be played on any Great Old One. If you play one of these cards on an opponent, you must fill an empty trait space if one is available. If all three trait spaces are filled, you may choose which trait to replace and discard; this is the greatest power of these cards.

You can only play Providence cards on your turn. You may play them at any time on your turn, but a new Providence trait won't change a die roll that has already been made - so you can't change your traits after a bad roll to change the outcome.

Each Mythos Role is associated with a particular Providence card. These eight Providence cards have black bars across the top of the card and are colored to match the Great Old One's Mythos Role. Aside from appearance, there is no difference between these and any other Providence trait.

While a Providence card is held in your hand, it has no effect; you may discard it to add 1 to your movement roll.

Chants Cards

Chants cards are feats of eldritch power that can be used for many purposes. Chants cards have an immediate effect and are discarded as soon as that effect is resolved. Most Chants cards have a cost in Cultists, Homes, or both. You must pay this cost to use the card, and you cannot sacrifice your last Cultist to pay for a Chants card. You may always discard a Chants card from your hand to add one to your Movement roll. This costs nothing.

Many Chants cards have multiple effects. For example, Puny Human Shield offers a choice of a +2 Defense modifier or -2 Destruction modifier. You choose which of these effects occurs when you play the card.

Chants cards that modify a die roll are played after the roll is made. You don't have to use a Defense modifier until you see if the attack is successful. You may play modifiers on other players' rolls. The -2 Destruction modifier from Puny Human Shield is an effect you would use to interfere with another player's Destruction roll. The effect of the modifier only lasts for a single roll. If the target has doubles, the benefit doesn't apply to any subsequent rolls.

Events

Events can be found in both the Chants and Providence decks. Any time you draw an Event, you must immediately reveal it to the other players and resolve its effect. Once the effect has been resolved, the Event is set aside for the rest of the game; do not place it on the discard pile. Most events instruct you to draw a replacement card after the effects of the event have been resolved.

If you draw or reveal an Event during game set up, shuffle it back into the deck and draw again.

Doom Cards

Dooms provide each Great Old One with a unique way to win the game. Dooms have two elements. The Preconditions must be met before you can complete the Doom. Once you meet the Preconditions, you can attempt the Action any time you land on one of your own Gates. Some Doom actions simply involve paying a cost. Others require a die roll. For example, Necropoly requires the character to make a Destruction check. Such checks are made by rolling 2 dice; Chants cards, Providence traits, and Gate powers affect these rolls normally.

Some Dooms - Fright Club, Sudden Death, and Cosmic Wipeout - require you to engage in combat with other players. This is resolved just like normal combat, but without any of the usual consequences. A successful attacker doesn't get to draw a Chants card or take a Cultist from the defender.

There is no penalty for attempting a Doom action and failing, but you lose any Homes, Cultists, or cards you used as part of the action.

Doom cards are kept face up, and other players can always look at your Doom card. You can get a new Doom card by landing on the Dark Omens space, by using the power of the Carcosa Gate, or by using certain Chants cards.

Gates

Gates have two components: the Gate Marker and the Gate card. When you destroy the last Home on a space, you place one of your Gate Markers on the space and take the appropriate Gate card.

Gate Cards

Gate cards are tied to specific regions. If you open a Gate on Euclid Avenue, take a Yuggoth Gate card; if you open one on Caspian Avenue, take a Celaeno Gate card. Region is indicated on the board by color and by the region name just above the movement spaces.

Gate cards have a number of elements:

• When you land on a Gate, you have to pay the Gate Toll to its owner. You don't have to pay when you land on your own Gate. If the toll involves Homes and you can't afford to pay, there's no consequence. If a toll takes your last Cultist, you are banished.
• A Gate provides you with some form of power - typically an optional effect you can use by sacrificing Cultists or Homes. Possessing more Gates to the same region increases this power. For example, if you have a Gate to Carcosa, you may sacrifice (2 Cultists) or (2 Homes) to draw a Doom card. If you have two Gates to Carcosa, you only have to sacrifice (1 Cultist) or (1 Home) to use this power.
• If you control three Gates to a single region, you gain an additional benefit, described at the bottom of the card.

Every Tome counts as a Gate to a specific region solely for the purpose of calculating the previous two benefits.

Gate Marker

A Gate marker is tied to a particular player. When you land on an opponent's Gate Marker, you have to pay the Gate Toll for the region the Gate Marker is located in - so a Gate Marker on Arctic Avenue uses the toll for Celaeno (one Home). If you land on your own Gate Marker and meet the preconditions, you may attempt your Doom action.

There are four neutral Gates on the board. There is no toll for landing on one of these Gates, but they can be used for Gate movement as described below.

Gate Movement

If you start your turn on a Gate, you may choose to step through that Gate to come out another. After you roll for movement, but before you actually move, you may shift the location of your Great Old One to any matching Gate Marker. So if you start on a neutral Gate, you can shift to any other neutral Gate; if you start on one of Hastur's Gates, you can shift to another one of Hastur's Gates. If the Gate Marker you're on is the only one of its kind on the board - because the Great Old One who owns it has only opened one Gate so far - you cannot use this option.

You do not receive any benefit for passing the Mi-Go by shifting from one Gate to another.

You may only shift between Gates at the start of your turn; you can't step through a Gate halfway through your movement.

Tome Cards

Tome cards are only used when you are using the Shadow Over Boardwalk variation described on page 17. When a player successfully destroys a hotel, he draws a Tome. This Tome is immediately revealed to other players; if the player already has a Tome, he must choose one of them to discard.

Tomes provide two benefits:

• Every Tome provides a bonus or special ability. For example, if you have a copy of The Necronomicon, the Gate Tolls of all Gates you control are doubled.
• Each Tome is tied to a specific realm. If you control a Gate to that realm, the Tome counts as an additional Gate for the purpose of enhancing the powers associated with the Gate. So, if you have the Necronomicon and two Gates to R'lyeh, you are considered to have a total of three Gates to R'lyeh. This does not count towards the number of Gates you need for victory or the prerequisites of Doom cards. If you don't own a Gate to the realm associated with your Tome, it doesn't help you; it can only enhance the Gates you possess.

Additional Rules

Banishment

As a Great Old One, you cannot be permanently destroyed. Eventually, your cult will call you back from defeat. However, depending on the strength of your cult, that may take a few turns!

When you are banished, remove your Great Old One from the board and place it on your Mythos Role sheet.

If you were banished because you lost your last Cultist, take one Cultist from the box.

At the start of your turn, take one Cultist from the box. Then roll 1 die. If you roll equal to, or less than, the number of Cultists that you currently possess, you return to the board on the Mi-Go. This doesn't count as landing on or passing the Mi-Go, and if there is another Great Old One on the Mi-Go, you don't engage in combat. If your roll is greater than the number of Cultists you possess, you remain banished and your turn ends.

Special Spaces

There are a number of spaces on the board that have special effects. These effects are resolved during the Movement Phase, before Combat or Destruction. The effects of the spaces are:

Banished By the Elder Sign! You are immediately banished. Remove your piece from the board.

Chants: Draw 1 Chants card.

Dark Omens: Draw 1 Doom card. You may replace your current Doom card or discard the newly drawn one instead.

Gates: Pay the Gate Toll to the owner of the Gate (if any). On your next turn, you may shift to any matching Gate after rolling for movement.

Mi-Go: When you land on or pass the Mi-Go, you receive a Cultist from the box and may draw either 1 Chants or 1 Providence card (your choice). In addition, if you land directly on the Mi-Go you may propose a trade with one other player. Trades may include any combination of Cultists, Homes, Gates, Tomes, or cards from your hand. You may not trade away Providence traits, Dooms, or your last Cultist.

Providence: Draw 1 Providence card.

Syzygy: You may draw 1 Chants card or 1 Providence card or take 1 Cultist from the box.

The Lighthouse & The Tomb: Sacrifice 1 Home.

The Asylum & The Temple: Sacrifice 1 Cultist.

Playing With Two Players

When playing with two players, either remove Ithaqua's Mythos Role or allow him to take the starting trait of a different Great Old One. All Great Old Ones have the extended Attack Range normally granted by The Windwalker trait, as described on page 8.

Variations

Looking for a change? Consider the following options.

Hidden Dooms Normally Dooms are kept face up, allowing players to make decisions based on an opponent's goals. If someone is trying to perform the Ultimate Sacrifice, it's good to keep attacking him to get rid of his Cultists. In this variation, you keep your Doom face down until you attempt to perform your Doom action.

Home Base Each Great Old One matches the color of one of the regions on the board. Cthulhu is tied to R'lyeh, while Azathoth is linked to Shaggai. At the start of the game, give each Great Old One a Gate card for the appropriate region, and place their Gate Marker in the center space of that region: so Ithaqua gets a Gate on Houston Avenue and Hastur has one on Canal Avenue. In addition, each Great Old One receives a random Providence card and two Homes from the box. This makes players more powerful, and speeds the game.

Housing Shift Changing the number of Homes affects the length of the game. If you start with a single Home per space, you'll have a quick and chaotic game - one that likely favors characters with traits or powers that enhance movement. For a longer game, place three Homes on as many spaces as possible.

The Shadow Over Boardwalk Curious about those Resorts? This is where they come into play. During set-up, place Homes on two of the three colored spaces in each section, and place a Resort on the third colored space. Shuffle the Tomes and set the Tome Deck on the table. Don't give Tomes to players at this point. The only way to get a Tome is by destroying a Resort.

During the Destruction Phase, a player who lands on a Resort makes two Destruction rolls.

If the player fails either roll, the Resort remains intact and the player's turn ends.

If the player rolls doubles during this phase, he makes an additional Destruction roll. This continues until the player makes two successful Destruction rolls, is banished, or stops rolling doubles. A Resort counts as a single building for purposes of paying Chants costs or any other effect that normally uses Homes.

If the player succeeds on both rolls (rolling 7 or higher), he takes the Resort and a Tome. If he already has a Tome, he must keep one and discard the other. If the Resort was the only building on the space - which is usually the case - the player should place a Gate Marker there.

Clarifications

Counter-Clockwise Movement There are a few Providence and Chants cards that allow you or force you to move counter-clockwise. You gain the same benefits from passing the Mi-Go whether you move clockwise or counter-clockwise.

Hastur Hastur does not get the benefit of The King In Yellow during initial game set-up.

Modifying Movement You can discard cards from your hand to increase your movement, but you cannot reduce it in this way. If a card specifies that it adds or subtracts from movement, you cannot use it to do the reverse. If the card simply modifies movement - such as Sly Moonbeasts, which says "Move a player up to 3 spaces" - you may move them clockwise or counter-clockwise.

The Daemon Sultan You may use this ability up to four times per turn. Thus, if you use it three times during the Combat Phase, you can only use it once during the Destruction Phase. You can also only use it four times total when resolving a Doom action. The same principle applies to traits like Really Deep Ones or Dagon's Demolition Squad. If you take multiple turns due to rolling doubles for movement, the power resets.

The Masks of Nyarlathotep Should Nyarlathotep lose the Masks trait, he may reclaim it at the start of his turn before rolling for movement. If another player has the Masks as an active trait, Nyarlathotep may swap it with one of his own current Providence traits. If the Masks are in the discard pile, Nyarlathotep may discard one of his current traits (which is placed on the top of the discard pile), retrieve the Masks, and put it into play immediately. If another player has the Masks card in his hand, Nyarlathotep cannot retrieve it.

The Sisterhood of the Ya-Ya-Yellow Sign Unlike most traits that involve sacrifice of Cultists, the Sisterhood can be used to modify any player's Defense rolls - not just your own.

Quick Play Guide

Sequence of Play

Play proceeds clockwise around the table. When it's your turn, go through the following three phases:

1. Movement: Roll 2 dice and move that many spaces. Then resolve any effects of special spaces (such as passing the Mi-Go or losing one Cultist to The Asylum).
2. Combat: If combat occurs, the attacker and defender roll 2 dice; ties go to the attacker. If the attacker loses, his turn ends. If he wins, he takes a Cultist from the defender and draws a Chants card.
3. Destruction: If there's a Home on the space, roll 2 dice; if you roll a 7 or higher remove one Home. When you remove the last Home on a property space, place a Gate Marker and take a Gate card. If you land on your own Gate and meet the preconditions, you may perform a Doom action in this phase.

Play continues until someone opens a sixth Gate or successfully completes a Doom action. Each phase is described in more detail inside this rulebook.