The Exorcism at the House of Monkton Falls Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Object of the Game
• Component List
• Component Overview
• Game Setup
• Setup Diagram (For 2 Players)
• Important Terms
• Icon Overview
• Character Card
• Game Play
  • Reduce the Timer
  • Time Action
  • Haunt the House
  • Ghost Abilities
  • Perform Actions
    • Player Actions
  • Pass Your Turn
  • Plan Cards
• Turn Order (Reference Card)
• Winning a Game
  • To Exorcise the Ghosts
  • To Escape the Manor
• Losing a Game
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Game Variants
  • One vs All
  • Solo

Object of the Game

As paranormal investigators, you are attempting to exorcise the evil ghosts by collecting 30 Exorcism Points by completing tasks and exit the haunted manor through the foyer by dawn. (Errata: the printed text reads "30 Exorcism Token" in this sentence; the publisher's errata changes it to "Exorcism Points", as applied here.)

• Collect 30 Exorcism Points by completing Tasks.
• Exit the house using the Foyer Room Card.

If time runs out, you run out of Shrouded Room Tokens, run out of Darkness Tokens, or all your Lookout Characters are wounded, the Investigators lose and are trapped in the manor with the Wraith who haunts it forever!

Component List

• This Rulebook
• 30 Plan Cards
• 8 Shrouded Room Cards
• 16 Player Cards
  • Architect
  • Bodyguard
  • Detective
  • Doctor
  • Journalist
  • Medium
  • Photographer
  • Psychologist
• 16 Player Pawns
  • Architect
  • Bodyguard
  • Detective
  • Doctor
  • Journalist
  • Medium
  • Photographer
  • Psychologist
• 30 Task Cards
• 1 Clock Tile
• 30 Darkness Tokens
• 24 Exorcism Tokens
• 12 Room Cards
• 18 Locked Room Cards
• 75 Tool Cards
  • 15 Detection Tools
  • 15 Holy Relics

Component Overview

• Plan Cards: Unique one-time-use Actions which grant extra abilities or Tools.
• Shrouded Cards: Used to show rooms that have been hidden from you by the Wraith.
• Player Cards: Represents your Character and includes special rules and actions.
• Task Cards: Cards you gain to complete and earn Exorcism Tokens.
• Clock Tile: Tracks the progression of the Haunt and provides spaces for the Time Dice.
• Darkness Tokens: Placed on various Rooms in the house to show the concentration of the spreading Darkness.
• Exorcism Tokens: Tokens you earn to put towards exorcising the Wraith and winning a game.
• Room Cards: Placed on the table to show the spaces you can move to and the actions you can take.
• Locked Room Cards: These represent Rooms in the house that are blocked off and can be unlocked over the course of a game.
• Tool Cards: There are 5 different types of Tool Cards. These cards represent the various Tools you will need to complete Tasks.
• Time Dice: Time dice record the amount of time (turns) you have until dawn and the game ends with each die representing an hour of time.
• Haunt Cards: These cards show where the Ghosts move each turn and how the Darkness spreads.

Game Setup

Before beginning a game complete the following steps in order.

1. Setup the House: Separate the Room and Locked Room decks. Take the Attic Card from the box and remove the Foyer Room Card from the Room Deck. Then draw 5 cards at random from the Locked Room Deck and shuffle them into the Deck of Room Cards (place any remaining Locked Room Cards back into the box). One at a time draw cards from the combined deck, and place them face down on the table in the pattern shown in the Setup Diagram. Once all of the cards from your combined deck have been placed on the table, flip over all of the Room Cards (leaving Locked Rooms face down) so that the Room Action and Location Number is visible. Place the Attic and Foyer cards at the top and bottom of the constructed play area as shown.

   Room card key: 1. Room Name, 2. Room Action, 3. Location Number.

2. Prepare the Plan and Tool Decks: Separate the Tool Decks into 5 piles: Weapons, Holy Relics, Keys, Detection Tools, and Occult Items. Then take and shuffle the Plan Deck. Place these decks face down to the side of the play area in reach of all players.

3. Prepare the Task Deck: Shuffle the Task Deck and place it face down on the table above the play area as shown in the Setup Diagram. Draw the top three cards of the Task Deck and place them face up next to the Task Deck. These face up cards are the Available Tasks.

4. Set the Clock: Place the Clock Tile face up in the play area as shown. Take the Darkness Tracker and place it on the clock so that it is sitting on the first space marked "1" in the top right corner. Remove the 8 Time Dice from the box and place each in one of the square spaces in the center of the clock. Turn each die so that the side with 6 pips is visible on top.

5. Assign Characters: Take all the Character Cards and shuffle them into a face-down pile. Then randomly deal 1 Character Card to each player. Give a Turn Card to each player to set next to their Character Card on the table. Once everyone has received a Character and Turn Card randomly select and place three Character Cards on the table below the Foyer. These Character Cards are your Lookout Characters.

Setup Diagram (For 2 Players)

The Setup Diagram is numbered as follows:

1. Player Card
2. Clock
3. Task Deck
4. Available Tasks
5. Attic Card
6. Exorcism Tokens
7. Darkness Tokens
8. Haunt Deck
9. Room Cards
10. Foyer Card
11. Lookout Characters
12. Shrouded Room Cards
13. Plan Deck
14. Weapon Deck
15. Key Deck
16. Occult Item Deck
17. Detection Tool Deck
18. Holy Relic Deck

Important Terms

• Pawn: A physical representation of a Character/Ghost in the house. For you, this is a stickered plastic stand. For the Ghosts, pawns are colored wooden cylinders which match their card's color.
• House/Manor: These terms are used interchangeably when talking about the area of connected Room Cards on the table.
• Pip: Each single white dot on the face of a die.
• Table: The Table is the entire area of play including all of The Exorcism at the House of Monkton Falls' components.
• Ghost: Used when talking about any pawn in the house that is controlled by the Haunt Cards and can Wound players.
• Gain: A Term used to describe when a you would either take a card to place in front of you or take a token to place on the Attic Card.
• Discard: To remove a card or token from the table by placing it back in the box or in a discard pile next to its deck. Discarded cards may never reenter play by any means.
• Round: Each time the Turn Marker makes a full rotation around the table.
• Character: Your representation on the table.

Icon Overview

• Detection Tool
• Occult Item
• Exorcism Token
• Key
• Weapon
• Darkness Token
• Holy Relic
• Action Icon

Character Card

Each Character Card shows:

1. Character Name
2. Starting Location: During setup place your Character Pawn on the Room listed as their Starting Location.
3. Special Ability: The special Action or extra rule available to this Character.
4. Specialization: Each time a Character completes a Task with the same subtype as their Specialization they gain an extra number of Exorcism Tokens as shown here.

Game Play

Each game of The Exorcism at the House of Monkton Falls is broken down into a series of Turns. During each of your Turns follow the below steps in order:

1. Reduce the Timer: Starting with the Time Die in the top left corner of the track, reduce the Time Dice by 1 pip. If you cannot reduce the current die by 1 pip it is discarded instead.
2. Haunt the House: Starting on your 2nd Turn reveal the top card of the Haunt Deck. Move any Ghost Standees in the manor as shown on the Haunt Card. Then place 1 Darkness Token in each Room whose Location Number/Die matches the Location Number/Die on the Haunt Card.
3. Perform Actions: Perform up to 3 Actions.
4. The Turn Passes: End your Turn and pass the Turn Marker to the next player moving clockwise.

Reduce the Timer

The 8 Time Dice on the clock records how much time your party has left before dawn and the game is lost. Each die represents an hour and each pip equals 10 minutes.

To keep track, reduce the Time Dice by 10 minutes (or 1 pip) at the start each Turn. Start with the top leftmost die, and move through the track left to right top to bottom. Discarding any die that you cannot reduce.

For example: Phil starts his turn with 4 hours and 10 minutes left on the timer (4 whole dice and 1 die with 1 pip). At the start of his turn, he would reduce the timer by 1 pip. Since a 6 sided die does not have a face with 0 pips, he discards the die and continues his turn.

Time Action

On the time track there is an Action Icon on the 1st, 4th, and 7th hour spaces. These Action Icons trigger a special action that adds Exorcism Tokens to Locked Rooms in the manor. Each time one of these icons is revealed on the Time Track (when the die covering that space is discarded), add 1 Exorcism Token to all face-down Locked Room Cards. Whenever a Locked Room with Exorcism Tokens is unlocked, you gain those Exorcism Tokens in addition to the normal effects of unlocking the room.

Haunt the House

Despite what many locals think the old manor is haunted. The ancient Spirit and Monsters that haunt the house move about each night warding off would be trespassers. The Haunt Deck is used to show how the Monsters/Spirit are moving around the house and causing havoc. There are 4 different kinds of cards in the Haunt Deck.

Starting on the 2nd round of play, draw the top card of the Haunt Deck. (Note: the step summary in Game Play says "Starting on your 2nd Turn"; both wordings are as printed.)

The Haunt Deck contains 4 kinds of cards:

• Haunt Card: The standard Haunt Card shows where the Ghosts move and what rooms receive Darkness Tokens. Each Haunt Card has three movement arrows (black for the Wraith, red for the Bull, white for the Devourer), a Location Die in the center, and a Die Value.
• Darkness Card: Each time one of these cards is drawn the Darkness Track is increased by 1. Increase the Darkness Track by 1 and Discard this card.
• Bull Card: Adds the red Bull Monster Pawn to the house starting in the Attic. Place the red Monster Pawn on the Attic and discard this card.
• Devourer Card: Adds the white Devourer Monster Pawn to the house starting in the Attic. Place the white Monster Pawn on the Attic and discard this card.

Darkness Track: If a Darkness Card is drawn, advance the Darkness Track 1 space moving around the clock clockwise. As the Haunt Marker moves around the clock, the Wraith's power over the manor increases. Each space on the track contains a number. The number on each space represents the Wraith's power and the number of Haunt Cards that are drawn each turn.

When drawing cards from the Haunt Deck, draw a number of cards equal to the Darkness Marker's space on the track, resolving each card drawn one at a time.

If a Monster Card is drawn place the cut out stand for that Monster Card on the Attic.

If the Bull and/or Devourer pawn are not in the manor when a Haunt Card is drawn ignore any arrows that show how they would move.

If a Haunt Card is drawn do the following actions in order:

1. Move Ghost Pawns: There are 3 arrows on each Haunt Card. Each arrow is a different color which is related to a specific Ghost. The Wraith's movement is shown by the black arrow, the Bull's movement is shown by the red arrow, and the Devourer's movement is shown by the white arrow. When a Haunt Card is drawn, each Ghost that has a Pawn in the house moves one space in that direction. If a Ghost ever ends its movement on a Room containing a Character Pawn, that Character is Wounded.

   Wounding Characters: Remove a Wounded Character's Pawn from the manor and place its Character Card sideways below the Foyer. A Wounded Character drops all of the Tools they were carrying by placing their Tool Cards in a face-up pile on the Room they were Wounded in. If you are in a Room with Tools that were dropped by a Wounded Character you may spend an Action to pickup some or all of the Tool Cards. Note: These Tool cannot be picked up if the Room is Shrouded.

   Rescuing Characters: You are not eliminated from the game when your Character is Wounded. Instead your Character is Rescued by 1 of the Lookout Characters standing outside of the manor. After removing your Character from the manor, select one of the Lookout Characters to Rescue you. Place this Character's Pawn in the Foyer and gain their Character Card. At the beginning of your next Turn, you will resume play as this new Character. Note: If a Ghost Pawn is stopping you from placing new Character in the Foyer, you may instead place them on any Room Card at the edges of the House.

   If there are no Lookout Characters available to Rescue you when your Character is Wounded, you immediately lose the game.

   Healing Characters: Characters that have become Wounded can be healed so that they can rejoin your party by using the Bathroom's Action. When the Bathroom Action is used, rotate the Healed Character's Card below the Foyer so that is facing upright. That Character is now healed and becomes a Lookout Character.

2. Haunt the Rooms: In the center of each Haunt Card is a single white die called a Location Icon. After moving all Ghost Pawns, place a single Darkness Token on each Room in the manor whose Location Icon matches the Icon on the Haunt Card. If you ever need to place a Darkness Token and there are none left to place, you .

Ghost Abilities

• Wraith: If a Haunt Card would force the Wraith to move off the board, it instead passes through the wall and appears on the opposite side of the board.
• Bull: Each time a Haunt Card moves the Bull, it moves a number of spaces equal to the Die Value on the card in the indicated direction.
• Devourer: When a Character is Wounded by the Devourer they are removed from the game. The player still receives a new Character as normal but the Wounded Character cannot be healed by the Bathroom Card or returned to play by any means.

Perform Actions

Perform up to 3 Actions from the Actions listed on your Turn Card.

Player Actions

On your Turn you may perform up to 3 Actions. Many Actions are universal meaning anyone at the table can perform them on their Turn. The other actions available to you depend on what cards you have gained, what Room you're in, and your Character's Special Ability. Overall, there are 5 different Actions.

1. Move: As an Action, you may move your Player Pawn up to 2 spaces into any room. You may only move up and down or left and right. Pawns may never move diagonally or into/through a Room containing a Ghost Pawn. Note: Even though you cannot use Locked Rooms, they can be landed on and moved through as normal.
2. Purify a Room: As an Action, you may remove a single Darkness Token from the Room you Character Pawn is in. Place these removed Tokens back into their pile on the table.
3. Trade: Give to or Take from a player any number of Tool Cards you or they have gained. You may only Trade with a player whose Character Pawn is adjacent to or in the same Room as you.
4. Use your Room's Action: Perform the Action listed on the Room Card your Character Pawn is in.
5. Complete a Task Card: As an Action, you may spend any number of Tool Cards you have gained to complete a Task Card. You may only complete Tasks Cards you have gained, and must spend the Tool Cards listed under the "To Complete" section of the Card. To complete a Task you gained:
   • Check the Task: The Task's "To Complete" requirement is the list of Tools your Character needs to spend in order to complete the Task.
   • Return Used Tools: Return all of the Tool Cards you spent to complete the Task.
   • Gain your Rewards: Gain any cards or Tools listed under the "Rewards" section of the Card. Then move the Exorcism Point Tacker Token a number of points equal to the points listed on the Task Card plus any additional points if your Characters Specialization matches the Task's Subtype.
   • Discard the Task: Once the Task is completed and you received you reward, discard the card. Note that some Task Cards have an Ongoing Ability as part of their reward. Cards with an Ongoing ability are not discarded and instead leave them in your play area. The Ongoing ability is a new Action/Rule that you character gains for the remainder of the game.

Pass Your Turn

End your turn. Then play begins again with the next player moving clockwise.

Plan Cards

Playing a Plan Card that you have Gained over the course of a game is a special type of Action called a Free Action. A Free Action does not count as one of the three Actions you can perform during your Turn. And can be played at any time. Even during another player's Turn.

Plan Card key (printed on the example card "Pawn the Loot"): 1. Plan Name, 2. Plan Action. The Plan Action reads "Gain one of the following:" followed by a choice of Tool icons shown on the card.

Turn Order (Reference Card)

As printed on the Turn Reference Card:

1. Reduce the Time Dice by 1 pip.
2. Draw and resolve the top card(s) of the Haunt Deck.
3. Perform up to 3 Actions in any order. (You may perform a single Action multiple times)
   • a. Move up to 2 spaces.
   • b. Use your current Room's Action.
   • c. Give/Take any number of Tool cards from another player adjacent to or in the same Room as you.
   • d. Complete a Task Card in your Hand.
   • e. Purify a Room and remove a Darkness Token from the Room you're in.
4. Pass your Turn to the next Player.

Winning a Game

To win a game of The Exorcism at the House of Monkton Falls, you must exorcise the Wraith haunting the house and escape with your life.

To Exorcise the Ghosts

You and your party must gain a total of 30 Exorcism Tokens recorded on the Attic Card. Once the 30th Exorcism Toke is placed on the Attic, remove all Ghost Tokens from the manor. The Ghosts have been exorcised and can no longer move or Wound you.

To Escape the Manor

Now that you have exorcised the Ghosts you just need to escape the manor before time runs out. But beware! Although the Ghosts have been removed from the house, you still draw Haunt Cards at the start of each Turn! With it's dying breath the Spirit has cursed you and your friends and it is dragging the house with it to the spirit realm!

You and your party must use the Escape the House Action on the Foyer Card to remove your Character Pawns from the house. When your Pawn is removed from the Manor, you are out of the game. If you are out of the game, you no longer take Turns or get the Turn Marker passed to you.

Once the Exorcism Track reaches 30 tokens and all Character Pawns have been removed from the house, you immediately win the game.

Foyer Card (printed): "Escape the House or switch your Character with a Lookout Character."

Losing a Game

In The Exorcism at the House of Monkton Falls there are many ways to lose. After all, having a bunch of self-proclaimed Paranormal Investigators go after a real "live" evil Wraith is a pretty tough thing to do. The odds are stacked against you.

If any of the following conditions are met, you immediately lose the game.

1. At the start of your Turn there are no Time Dice left on the Clock.
2. You draw a Haunt Card and there are no Darkness Tokens left to place in the house.
3. Your Character is Wounded and there are no Lookout Characters to Rescue them.
4. A Room receives its 4th Darkness Token and there are no Shrouded Room Tokens left to place on top of it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How many Tool Cards can I have in my hand? A. There is no hand limit for the amount of Tool Cards you can hold. We imagine that each player came to the manor prepared with a giant backpack to carry everything they need.

Q: What happens if we run out of cards in the Haunt Deck? A. In the unlikely event that you run our of Cards in the Haunt Deck, shuffle all of the Haunt Cards, minus the Darkness and Ghost Cards you discarded, and restart the deck.

Q: Can you ever get rid of a Ghost once it appears in the Manor? A. Once a Ghost has entered the manor the only way to get rid of it is to complete the Exorcism and win the game.

Q: What happens if the Darkness Track goes past the final "3"? A. There are only enough Darkness Cards in the Haunt Deck to make one full rotation around the Track. So the final "3" space is as far as the track can go.

Q: Does my Character Pawn stay in the Room with a Ghost if a player uses the Triage Plan Card to stop me from being Wounded? A. No. Anytime an Ability or card stops a player from being Wounded, their Character Pawn is returned to the Foyer. If they cannot be returned to the Foyer, they are moved to any Room along the edges of the Manor.

Q: Can players trade Task of Plan Cards? A. No. Unlike Tool Cards Tasks and Plans are unique to the player that gained them. You can only use the Trade Actions to Trade Tool Cards.

Q: If a Haunt Card shows a Location Number/Location Die for a Room that is Shrouded do we still add a Darkness Token to it? A. No. The Room has already been completely taken over by the Wraith so it can not Haunt the Room any further.

Q: What happens if I use an Action to Gain a Tool Card and there are no more cards for that kind of Tool? A. If you run out of cards for a specific Tool, you can no longer gain that Tool as there are no more left to find in the house.

Q: What happens if I use the Leave the House Action on the Foyer Card before we have collected 30 Exorcism Tokens? A. Your Character Pawn would be removed from the house. You would then be able to place it or a Lookout Character Pawn back on the Foyer as if you used the "Change your Character with a Lookout Character" Foyer Action.

Q: Can I use the Architect's Character Ability to move the location of the Foyer and Attic? A. No. Although the manor's rooms are ever changing due to the Wraith's influence, the Attic (where it lives) and the Foyer (the only source of light) are fixed points.

Game Variants

In addition to the main way to play The Exorcism at the House of Monkton Falls, we have created certain variants of the game. We created these variants to allow players with larger (or smaller) playgroups the ability to play, and create new ways to change our original system that have still been tested and vetted to give a quality experience.

One vs All

In the One vs All variant play mode, you and your friends will now be battling against Ghosts controlled by another player! That's right. In this play mode one of your friends will take control of the three Ghosts haunting the manor and gain access to a whole slew of abilities to make the game even more interesting.

The following are all of the changes the One vs All play mode makes to the core game:

Player Count: Unlike the core game, the One vs All mode can be played with a group of 3-5 players.

Setup: Add the following two steps to the setup order when playing a One vs All game:

9. Manipulate the Manor: Once all of the tokens have been in the house, the player controlling the Ghosts may manipulate the Rooms in the house. You may change the location of up to 4 Rooms, but may not change the layout of the House as shown on page 4. You may move any Room in the house with the exception of the Attic and Foyer.
10. Ghost Draws its Hand: The player controlling the Ghosts then draws their hand of Haunt Cards, Draw the top 3 cards of the Haunt Deck and keep them hidden from all other players.

Game Play: The player controlling the Ghost can perform a number of Actions equal to the current number on the Darkness Track during each other player's Turn. Like the Ghosts controlled by the game you will perform your Actions during the Haunt the House phase of each player's Turn. However, unlike the core game you have the following Actions you can take.

1. Move the Ghosts: As an Action you may move all of the Ghosts in the House by playing a Haunt Card from your hand. The Ghosts in the house all move according to the card you play.
2. Add Darkness Tokens: You may play a Haunt Card and add a Darkness Token to each Room whose Location Die Value matches the played card.
3. Increase the Haunt Level: As an Action you can add 2 Darkness Tokens to the Haunt Level. To do this take 2 Darkness Tokens from the pile and place them in front of you. Increasing the Haunt Level allows you to use Terror Abilities as described below.
4. Cause Terror: Causing Terror allows you to use unique abilities to instill fear in the investigators. The Terror Abilities available to you changes depending on how many Darkness Tokens you have gained by Increasing the Haunt.

As an Action you may use one of the following Terror Abilities. Note that you may only use one Terror Ability per player Turn and the Haunt Level must be equal to or greater than the requirement of the Ability to be used. (Printed typos "he Haunt Level" and "used.." are corrected to "the Haunt Level" and "used." here.)

• A Cold Spot: When creating a Cold Spot choose a Room Card. For the Remainder of the Turn moving into or out of that Room counts as moving 2 spaces. Haunt Level: 6
• Haunting Sounds: Choose a Player. That player can only Trade with other players that are in the same Room as them. Note that if this targets the Detective, he may only Trade with players in the same Room or a Room 1 space away. Haunt Level: 10
• Moving Objects: Select a Player to randomly give you a Tool Card from their hand. Then place that Tool Card on any Room without a Shrouded Card. That Tool may be picked up the same way as Tools dropped by Wounded Characters. Haunt Level: 13
• The Walls Bleed: Players may not end their Move in a Room with 3 Darkness Tokens. Haunt Level: 14
• Amnesia: Choose a Player to lose one Action on their next Turn. Then Choose another player. That player gains 1 Action on their next Turn. Haunt Level: 18
• Temporary Possession: Select a player. You may immediately perform one Action as if you were playing that Character. Haunt Level: 20

5. End the Haunt Phase: At the end of each Haunt Phase draw back up to you maximum hand size of 3 cards and move to the next Phase.

Winning as the Ghosts: Similar to the core game, the Ghost player wins by thwarting the investigators attempts to perform the exorcism. The game immediately ends with the Ghost player winning if one of the following conditions are met.

1. At the start of a player's Turn there are no Time Dice left on the Clock.
2. A player's Character is Wounded and there are no Lookout Characters to Rescue them.
3. The Haunt Level reaches 30 or more.

While there are now some changes to the investigators loss conditions/the Ghost player's win conditions. The investigator players keep their normal win condition of gaining 30 Exorcism Tokens.

Solo

In the Solo play variant you will be taking on the role of multiple investigators in an attempt to exorcise the evil Ghosts on your own. While this variant plays much like the core game, certain rules are modified as described below.

Setup: Change step 5 of setup to the following.

5. Assign Characters: In solo play you must select a Primary and Secondary Investigator. First choose your primary investigator from the deck of Characters Cards. Then take the remaining Character Cards and shuffle them into a face-down pile. Randomly elect 1 of these Character Cards to e your secondary investigator. Once you have both Character Cards randomly select and place three Character Cards on the table below the Foyer. These Character Cards are your Lookout Characters.

Game Play: In the Solo play variant you take on the role of two different Characters. A Primary and Secondary Investigator. The Primary Investigator represents you on the tabletop, while the Secondary Investigator is your helper. To represent this some changes were made to the game play as detailed below.

In the Solo Variant you may perform up to 5 Actions during your Turn. These Actions are divided between you Primary and Secondary Investigators. You can perform the Actions in any order using either of your Characters. Task and Plan cards gained by your Characters are shared, but can only be used by the Primary Investigator.