This Game Is Killer: Frozen Horror Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Contents
• Setup
• Station Cards
• Playing the Game
• Action Effects
• Reveal Identity Cards / The Horror's Attack
• Clean Up
• Important Notes
• Station Card Reference
• Credits

Overview

This Game Is KILLER: Frozen Horror is a hilariously deadly party game about being hunted by a shape-shifting alien Horror on an isolated arctic station.

The object is simple: try to survive at any cost, and kill the Horror before it kills you all. Each round you will play two cards: an Action you carry out, and a colored Access Key for the door you pass through. But each round, one player is not who they claim to be… they are the Horror (while their true self is elsewhere). When a player is the Horror, they will try to end the round in the same room as other players and kill one or more of them. As a Human, you will try to stay away from others, or find a way to kill whoever you believe might be the Horror. It often happens that a Last Surviving Player is left in the game, so eliminating your own teammates isn't such a bad idea if you manage to survive. Death comes quickly in this game. And ten minutes later, you're back in for another round.

Contents

• 1 Station Map
• 21 Station cards
• 4 Destroyed Room cards
• 10 Identity cards (1 Horror, 9 Human)
• 10 Lockdown tokens
• 1 Fire token
• 10 Badges
• 10 Crew Member tokens (their colors match the Badges)
• 1 First Player token

Setup

• Place the Station Map in the center of the table, and place the Destroyed Room cards, Lockdown tokens, and the Fire token beside it. (If playing with four players, you start with one room already destroyed — the Cafeteria.)
• Give each player a Badge, colored side up. This shows that they are still alive, and sets their color. Also give them the matching Crew Member token.
• Shuffle the Station cards and place them face down beside the map. This is the Station deck.
• Take the HORROR Identity card and add HUMAN Identity cards to it so there is one card per player. Shuffle them and place them face down beside the Station deck.
• The player who most recently watched a horror movie becomes the First Player. Give them the First Player token.
• The First Player places their Crew Member token in the Garage on the map. Then, in turn, every player places their Crew Member token in the next room clockwise (Radio Room, Laboratory, and so on). Once every room has a token, keep adding tokens to rooms until all tokens have been placed. It's fine if some rooms end up with more tokens than others.

A setup diagram for 8 players is shown in the manual, labeling: the Lockdown and Fire tokens, the Station deck, the Destroyed Room cards, the Station Map, a Badge, and an Identity card next to 2 Station cards — illustrating where each component sits around the table.

Station Cards

Each Station card can be oriented in one of two ways: as an Access Key or as an Action.

Access Key: Each card shows 2 to 4 squares of different colors. If a card is played in this orientation, you move your Crew Member token from your current room through a Passage of any color shown on the card. This move is mandatory if a move is possible. The card also shows your Priority number (1 or 2). A higher number means you are more exposed, and more likely to become the Horror's target.

Example: with this card, a player in the Cafeteria must pass through a Blue or Green Passage, if possible.

Action: If a card is played so you can read the text, it describes an Action you carry out this round. Resolve it immediately, unless the card says to do so at the end of the round. Each Action is unique. Some Actions may bend the general rules.

Since only two cards are played per turn, one will always be your Action, and the other will move you through a colored Passage. You may play them in either order. But you must play one card of each type.

Playing the Game

1. Identity: Deal each player one Identity card. Players may look at their card to learn whether they are a Human or the Horror, but may not reveal this information, and must keep their Identity card hidden.

2. Station Cards: Deal 2 Station cards face down to each Crew Member (player). Crew Members may not show their cards to other Crew Members.

3. Play your first card: Play begins with the First Player and proceeds clockwise. Each player plays one of their Station cards, reading it aloud and placing it face up on the table. They may play it as a move through a colored Passage, or as an Action.

4. Play your second card: Once all players have played their first card, the turn order reverses. So the last Crew Member immediately plays their second card, and play resumes counter-clockwise back around the table, with each Crew Member playing their final card.

   Remember, when you play your second card, you must orient it opposite to your first card. You cannot take two Actions, and you cannot play two Passage moves.

Action Effects

• LOCKDOWN tokens: When instructed to place a Lockdown token, take one from the supply and place it on the specified colored Passage. Since Blue and Gold each have two Passages, you only need to block one of them. Until the end of the round, players cannot pass through that Passage using an Access Key. All Lockdown tokens are removed at the end of the round, as are most Action cards with this effect.

• FIRE token: When instructed to place a Fire token, take a token from the supply and place it in the room of your choice. At the end of the round, the player in that room dies. Remove the Fire token at the end of the round. The room is NOT destroyed.

• Player Death: If a player is killed by any card effect, they are eliminated from the game (don't worry, the game moves very fast). Eliminated players flip their Badge to its gray, bloodied "killed" side. Dead players reveal their Identity cards.

  If the HORROR was killed, the game is over, and all surviving Crew Members WIN.

  If the HORROR was not killed…

Reveal Identity Cards / The Horror's Attack

After all players have played their Station cards, they reveal their Identity cards, and the HORROR's location is discovered. Look at which room that player's token is in — and, importantly, which Crew Members are with them in that room.

The HORROR kills ALL Crew Members with the highest Priority in that room (2 is higher than 1; the Horror's own Priority does not count). Killed players flip their Badges to the gray, bloodied side and are eliminated. Crew Members with a lower Priority in the room survive.

If this results in all HUMAN players being killed, the player playing the HORROR WINS.

If any HUMANS remain alive…

Clean Up

• Return to the box all Station cards that say "Remove this card from the game."
• Gather the remaining played Station cards and place them in a discard pile. Note: if the Station deck runs out, shuffle the discard pile to form a new Station deck.
• Remove all Lockdown and Fire tokens from the map and return them to the supply.
• Gather all Identity cards. Remove one HUMAN card for each eliminated player. Make sure the HORROR card and the number of HUMAN cards match the number of players still alive going into the next round (Horror + Humans = number of living players).
• If the number of living players drops to 4, destroy one room. Shuffle the Destroyed Room cards and draw one. Place this card over the matching room on the Station Map. This room can no longer be entered for the rest of the game. Players in that room must immediately move to another connected room. Repeat this process when the number of players drops to 3, even if it happens in the same round. During a game, you will never destroy more than two rooms.
• The First Player token passes clockwise to the next living player.
• Begin a new round and continue until the HORROR is killed and all surviving Crew Members WIN, or until the HORROR kills all Crew Members and the HORROR WINS.

Important Notes

Killing Crew Members seems counterintuitive. There are two good strategic reasons to kill other players. 1. Risking it and killing one or more players is often the only way to kill the HORROR, and the opportunities to do so are very limited. If you manage it, all surviving players WIN. But even if you kill HUMANS, it's not so bad, because… 2. Most often the "last survivor" wins the game. You want that to be you, and now you have fewer competitors. This is a paranoia-filled game about ultimately saving yourself.

The rules say I must play an Access Key as one of my two cards and pass through the matching colored Passage IF POSSIBLE. What does this mean, and how can I use it to my advantage? One end-game strategy uses this rule to NOT move. According to the rule, you must play one of your cards as an Access Key, and moving through one of the indicated Passages is mandatory. BUT, as Passages get blocked and/or rooms get destroyed, not every color will allow movement. You may play any card as your Access Key, and you may choose one that currently does not allow movement, even if your other card would.

Station Card Reference

The Station deck's 21 cards each carry an Access Key face (colored squares, described above) and an Action face. The Action face text of every card is reproduced below, in the order the source scan presents them.

• Trust No One — Gather all Identity cards, shuffle them, and deal them back out face down.
• Cards on the Table — Choose another player. You both reveal your Identity cards.
• Detained! — Choose another player in your room. They cannot move this round.
• DNA Scanner — Choose a room. All players in that room must reveal their Identity cards.
• Don't Run Toward the Armed Man — At the end of the round, shoot and kill a player in your room. Then, before Identity cards are revealed, move through an open passage into the room with the most players, if possible.
• Evacuation — Choose a room. All other players in that room must leave through any open passage, if possible.
• Help! HELP! — Forcibly move up to two players from other rooms into your room, if possible. Your Priority this round is "0".
• Quick Move — Choose an Access Key color and pass through an open passage of that color from your room, if possible.
• LOCK THE ROOM! — Block any room by placing Lockdown tokens on all passages leading to it. No one may enter or leave until the end of the round. Remove this card from the game.
• No… It's You Who's Locked In Here With Me! — At the end of the round, before revealing Identity cards, swap your Identity card with another player in your room.
• Safe Retreat — At the end of the round, if the Horror ended up in your room, you may leave the room through any open passage, if possible. Has no effect if you are the Horror.
• Alarm: Green — Place a Lockdown token on the GREEN passage. Until the end of the round, movement through this passage is forbidden. Remove this card from the game.
• Alarm: Access Denied — Place a Lockdown token on ANY passage. Until the end of the round, movement through this passage is forbidden.
• Alarm: Blue — Place a Lockdown token on the BLUE passage. Until the end of the round, movement through this passage is forbidden. Remove this card from the game.
• Alarm: Orange — Place a Lockdown token on the ORANGE passage. Until the end of the round, movement through this passage is forbidden. Remove this card from the game.
• Analysis Results — Choose another player and look at their Identity card. If played as your 1st card, you may reveal their Identity. If you do, you cannot play a 2nd card. Your Priority is 1.
• Stay Back! — Until the end of the round, any player who enters your room will be shot and killed. Does not affect players already in your room.

Credits

Game Designed by: Ivan Turner and Gaeton Dragone

Development: Curt Covert

Illustration: Grafit Studio

Publisher: Smirk & Dagger Games