Trouble on the Tempus Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Welcome
• Playing the Game
• Game Components
• Setup
  • Difficulty Setting
• How to Play
  • How Do You Win?
  • How Do You Lose?
  • Time Travel
  • Paradoxes
• Round Structure
  • Choose the First Player
  • Action Phase
  • Consequences Phase
  • Disaster Phase
• Board Actions
  • Airlock Opening
  • Time Jump
• On Board Consequences/Disasters
  • Executing the Consequences Phase
• Tokens
  • Disaster Tokens
  • Other Tokens
• Cards
  • Disaster Cards
  • Adjacent / Connected To
  • Knocked Down
  • Paradox Cards
  • Item Cards
    • Exhausting Items
  • Character Sheets
• Quick Reference (back cover)

Welcome

Trouble on the Tempus is a cooperative game where players must work to fix the ship whilst utilising the ship's Time Drive to learn as much as they can about the future before travelling backwards in time to make sure they are prepared for all the disasters that are about to happen.

Playing the Game

The game is played over a series of rounds each consisting of an Action Phase wherein the players strategise, move their characters about the board, & perform the actions available to them in the hopes of winning the game. This is followed by a Consequences Phase where any unresolved disasters will cause further problems, & then a Disaster Phase where new disasters are added to the board.

Game Components

• 25 Damage tokens
• 25 Fire tokens
• 10 Electrical Fault tokens
• 23 Wound tokens
• 19 Locked Door tokens
• 9 Number tokens (1-9)
• 1 Shields token
• 2 Completion tokens
• 1 First Player token
• 23 Growing Disaster cards
• 10 Major Disaster cards
• 10 Paradox cards
• 1 Lost In The Void card
• 5 Hyperdrive cards
• 32 Item cards (4 of each + 4 additional Fire Extinguishers)
• 8 Character cards & standees

Setup

1. Place the board in the middle of the gaming space.

2. Seed the Item spaces on the board with Item cards as follows:

   • 1 Body Armour in the Security Room
   • 1 Space Suit in the Airlock
   • 1 Tool Kit in Engineering
   • 1 Exo-Skeleton in Maintenance
   • 1 Electro-Tool in the Shield Generator
   • 1 Med-Kit in Sick Bay
   • 2 Fire Extinguishers in the Central Corridor, one on each empty card space

   Place the leftover Item cards next to the board for later use.

3. Shuffle the number tokens (1-9) & deal one randomly onto each named location on the ship that has a spot for them attached to its name.

4. Place:

   • Shields token on the right most space of the Shields Track
   • A Locked Door over the exterior Airlock door
   • The Completion tokens in the available spaces near the front of the ship

5. Separate the Major Disaster cards from the Growing Disaster cards & shuffle both decks.

   • Quick reference: Growing Disaster cards can be easily identified by the "Disaster Detected" header & the content table indicating player count. Major Disaster cards have an exclamation header with a list of effects.

6. Create the Disaster Deck according to the difficulty setting (see below) & place it on the Disaster Deck space. Place the unused Disaster cards nearby in case they are needed later.

Difficulty Setting

Trainee (ideal for first game)

• Cards: 9 Growing, 3 Major.
• Set Up: Deal the Growing Disasters into 3 equal piles & shuffle 1 Major Disaster into each. Pile them up to create the Disaster Deck.
• During a Time Jump: All players retain Equipment & Wounds.
• Disaster Phase: No additional rules.

Recruit

• Cards: 8 Growing, 4 Major.
• Set Up: Deal the Growing Disasters into 4 equal piles & shuffle 1 Major Disaster into each. Pile them up to create the Disaster Deck.
• During a Time Jump: All players retain Equipment & Wounds.
• Disaster Phase: No additional rules.

Officer

• Cards: 8 Growing, 4 Major.
• Set Up: Divide the Growing Disasters into 2 equal piles & shuffle 2 Major Disasters into each before placing them one on top of the other on the Disaster Deck space.
• During a Time Jump: Only players at the Time Drive retain Equipment & Wounds.
• Disaster Phase: If there is no item or token for a Growing Disaster effect to interact with, lower the Shields by 1.

Hero

• Cards: 8 Growing, 4 Major.
• Set Up: Shuffle the Growing & Major Disasters together to form one deck & place it onto the Disaster Deck space.
• During a Time Jump: Only the player who activates the Time Drive retains their Equipment & Wounds.
• Disaster Phase: If there is no item or token for a Growing Disaster effect to interact with, lower the Shields by 1.

How to Play

How Do You Win?

There is only one way to win:

While all players are alive:

• Fix the Hyperdrive

  then

• Reinforce the Shields & Send a Distress Call

  then

• Fly the ship safely home

Fix the Hyperdrive. During Setup, you placed a Hyperdrive Card that determined exactly how the Hyperdrive is broken (& determined other ongoing effects). You Fix the Hyperdrive by removing all tokens from the Hyperdrive space, which flips the Hyperdrive Card to the Fixed side. Whilst the Fixed side is visible you may take the actions listed upon it. For reference these are included below in more detail.

Reinforce the Shields and Send a Distress Call. In either order:

• Reinforce the Shields; any player at the Shield Control spends an Action to place a Completion token there (cannot be done remotely)
• Send a Distress Call; any player at the Security Controls spends an Action to place a Completion token there (cannot be done remotely)

Fly the Ship Safely Home. Having completed all the above steps, any player at Flight Controls may spend an action to Fly the ship safely home, & everyone wins the game!

Game Winning Actions. Similarly to board actions, these actions cannot be taken if there is an Electrical Fault in the space (see page 11 for full details of Disaster effects), but once they are taken they cannot be undone unless a game effect specifically says so.

In Case of Death. Remember, all players must be alive to win the game otherwise it will break the space time continuum. If a player dies you will, ultimately, have to perform a Time Jump. This will take you back to the beginning of the game when everyone was still alive. Time Jumps will be explained in full later (page 8).

How Do You Lose?

This is a much bigger answer. What you're about to read will make more sense as you absorb the rules but here's a handy list of things that end the game immediately:

1. If you ever have to place a Disaster Token (Fire, Electrical Fault, or Damage) & are unable to because the supply has run out the ship explodes.
2. If the Fuel Cells have 3 or more Damage on them at the start of the Consequences Phase the ship explodes.
3. If the Shields ever hit the leftmost spot (red) of the Shields Track the ship explodes.
4. If it becomes impossible for the players to get back to the bridge you cannot win & must accept defeat.
5. If the Disaster Deck is empty when you need to draw a card the ship explodes.
6. If you turn over the "Lost In The Void" Paradox card you blink out of existence.
7. If all player characters are dead ... well ... you're dead.

So yeah, a few options for failure, no need to panic.

Time Travel

The one super power you have over the disasters threatening you is your ability to time travel away from them, potentially taking equipment & knowledge you have acquired back with you, as well as bringing dead players back to life. During a Time Jump the board resets to how it was at the start of the game, so any progress the players have made will be undone, but they can then restart with the added knowledge of what will go wrong, where & when.

Using the Time Drive to time travel back to the beginning of the game will be key to your success. The specifics of how to do a Time Jump is explained on page 8.

Paradoxes

Paradox cards are added to the top of the Disaster Deck during a Time Jump & are drawn when they show up during a later time loop. As standard the Paradox Deck is made of 3 cards with the "Lost in the Void" card at the bottom. This means that the third time you time travel you know that the Paradox it causes will result in you losing the game.

Paradox cards are always discarded to the Paradox Discard Pile not the Disaster Discard Pile, they will only occur once, they do not repeat on future loops.

Round Structure

Choose the First Player

Players may choose who goes first each round & turn order proceeds clockwise. They may change the first player every round or keep it the same, the choice each round is not affected or determined by the previous round in any way.

Action Phase

In turn order, players may perform up to 2 movements & 1 action, either in the order of move-move-action or action-move-move, but they may not move-action-move unless told otherwise.

Movement must obey a few rules:

• It costs 1 movement to cross a dotted line or go through an open doorway.
• It costs 1 additional movement to enter a space that contains any amount of Damage.
• It costs 1 movement to stand from being knocked down.
• You cannot move through Locked Doors.

Actions include:

• Picking up an Item card from your space & place it on your character sheet.
• Using an item you are carrying or wearing for an Action listed on the card.
• Trade any number of Item cards between yourself & the other players in your space.
• Place or remove 1 Locked Door at a door connected to your space.
• Take an Action available in your current space (see Board Actions).
• Take an Action available on your character card.

As a free action you may drop an item you're carrying at any time during your turn placing the item card on the board in the space you dropped it.

There are three caveats to taking actions:

• No actions may be taken in a space that has any amount of Fire unless it removes the Fire.
• Board Actions cannot be taken if there are any Electrical Faults in the space they are in.
• Being "knocked down" does not prevent you from taking an action.

Once all players have performed their movement & action you must move on to the Consequences Phase, though you may take your time to discuss your plans for the next turn.

Turn example: Player 1 starts their turn in the Central Corridor space outside the Bridge. They use their 2 movement to go into the Long Corridor and then into the Security Room. They then use their action to pick up the Body Armour.

Quick reference: Spaces on the board with a marker (e.g. "Refresh any number of exhausted items you have.") have an action you can use. Each box briefly explains the action, but there are further details in Board Actions.

Consequences Phase

In this order, perform these steps:

1. If the Fuel Cells has 3 or more Damage on it the ship explodes, the game is over.
2. If the Life Support has 3 or more Damage on it every player takes a wound.
3. If the Airlock has 3 or more Damage on it remove the exterior door.
4. If the exterior Airlock Door is removed enact an Airlock Opening (see Airlock Opening).
5. If the Shield Generator has 3 or more Damage on it lower the Shields by 1.
6. If there are 3 or more tokens in the Hyperdrive & the card is Fixed flip it to Broken.
7. Place 1 Damage in every space with any amount of Fire.
8. If there are more than 3 Electrical Faults on the board lower the Shields by 1.

If the game is still not over then congratulations! Now you get to go to the Disaster Phase.

Quick reference: As a quick & easy prompt, there are markers on the board in various locations (red, e.g. "3 Damage - You lose"). At the beginning of the Consequences Phase check every red marker like this to see if any outcome is triggered.

Disaster Phase

In order, do the following:

1. If there is a Paradox card on top of the Disaster Deck, draw it & enact its effect in full before discarding it to the Paradox Discard Pile (NOT the Disaster Discard Pile).

2. Once any Paradox cards have been dealt with, or if there was no Paradox at all, draw the top card of the Disaster Deck & enact its effects.

3. If you have drawn a Growing Disaster you should start at the top most disaster effect & enact each effect on the card one at a time up to & including the effect next to the current player count.

   For more details on the placement of Disaster Tokens including how many tokens each space can hold, how placement affects player characters, and how Fires Spread see Tokens.

4. If you have drawn a Major Disaster you must enact all effects on the card in full as instructed.

5. Unless instructed otherwise by the card, discard the Disaster card drawn face up to the Disaster Discard Pile.

Please note: If you ever place a Fire, Electrical Fault, or Damage token in a space where a player's character is, that player's character must take 1 wound for every token placed.

Board Actions

There are some actions available to the players on the board, actions they may take in certain places, either on the bridge or in certain numbered locations. However, these actions are not available if the space has any number of Electrical Faults on it, not to mention that players are not allowed to take actions when they are in a space that has any number of Fire tokens.

Quick reference: As a quick & easy prompt, there are markers on the board in every location that has an activated ability. Each marker has a brief explanation of the action.

Please note: If a space has an Electrical Fault token on it, all of its activated abilities cannot be used. This includes game end activations. Place the Electrical Fault in the reference box to indicate that it's broken.

Sick Bay: 1 Action to remove all Wounds from your character sheet or the character sheet of another player in Sick Bay.

Maintenance: 1 Action to refresh any number of exhausted items you are carrying or wearing.

Airlock: 1 Action to open or close the exterior Airlock door & enact an Airlock Opening immediately. This can only be done from the Airlock & cannot be remotely opened using the Security Controls or Security Room. If the exterior Airlock door is open an Airlock Opening will also trigger during the Consequences Phase.

Security Room: 1 Action to place and/or remove up to 3 Locked Doors on any interior doors anywhere on the board (the exterior Airlock door cannot be opened or closed this way).

Security Controls: 1 Action to place or remove Locked Doors on all interior ship doors attached to 1 space anywhere on the board (the exterior Airlock door cannot be opened or closed this way).

Time Drive: 1 Action to perform a Time Jump immediately.

Damage Report: 1 Action to look through the Disaster Discard Pile, being sure to return it before the end of the Action Phase in the same order it was when you picked it up.

Shield Controls: 1 Action to lower the Shields by 1 to remove 1 Electrical Fault from any space on the board, OR 1 Action to increase the Shields by 1 by placing 1 Electrical Fault in any space on the board.

Airlock Opening

The Airlock is considered open if there is no Locked Door token on the exterior door of the Airlock space. This may be as a result of too much damage in the space or deliberate action taken by the players.

When enacting an Airlock Opening do the following:

• Remove all Fires on the board that can trace a direct route to the Airlock across dotted lines & open doorways, so not blocked by walls & Locked Doors.
• All players not wearing a Space Suit who have a direct path to the Airlock not blocked by Locked Doors are moved 5 spaces closer to the Airlock on the shortest path. Any player who would move beyond the Airlock is immediately killed.
• All players are "knocked down".

The Airlock will remain open, enacting its effect every Consequences Phase, until a player takes an action to close the exterior door, placing a Locked Door back on it.

Time Jump

When a player at the Time Drive takes an action to enact a Time Jump do the following:

1. Place all player standees at the Time Drive standing up (including dead player characters, who come back to life). Characters retain items & wounds according to the difficulty setting selected during set up. All dead players lose all items & wounds they had on their character sheet.
2. Remove all Fire, Electrical Fault, Damage, & Locked Door tokens on the board.
3. Increase the Shields back to their start position & place a Locked Door over the exterior Airlock door.
4. Remove all Item cards not in their starting positions from the board.
5. Refill all Item slots on the board with the items listed in game set up.
6. Place the top Paradox card from the Paradox Deck on top of the Disaster Deck.
7. Pick up the Disaster Discard Pile & without looking at or rearranging it place it face down on top of the Disaster Deck (on top of the Paradox card you just placed there).
8. Flip the Hyperdrive card to Broken if it is Fixed.
9. Re-enact the Hyperdrive card in full.
10. Begin a new round immediately, any players who did not take their turn the round in which the Time Jump was enacted do not get that turn but players may now take a full round of actions as if the game had just started.

On Board Consequences/Disasters

Shield Generator: If during the Consequences Phase there are 3 or more Damage tokens on this space, reduce the Shields Track by 1.

Fuel Cells: If during the Consequences Phase there are 3 or more Damage tokens on this space, the ship explodes & the game is over.

Life Support: If during the Consequences Phase there are 3 or more Damage tokens on this space, all players not wearing a Space Suit take 1 Wound.

Airlock: If during the Consequences Phase there are 3 or more Damage tokens on this space, remove the external Airlock Door.

Hyperdrive: If during the Consequences Phase the Hyperdrive card is flipped to the fixed side but there are 3 or more of any combination of Disaster tokens (Fire, Electrical Fault, or Damage), flip the Hyperdrive card back over. Do not re-enact the scenario or undo any of the game winning actions that have been taken. The Hyperdrive card can be flipped back to fixed once all tokens are removed from this space allowing the players to take the actions listed on the fixed side of the card to win the game that they have not yet managed to do. These game winning actions can only be taken when the Hyperdrive card's fixed side is visible.

Quick reference: markers on the board in various locations (red, e.g. "3 Damage - You lose"). At the beginning of the Consequences Phase check every red marker like this to see if any outcome is triggered.

Don't forget: If there are more than 3 Electrical Fault tokens on the board, you must lower the Shields by 1 during the Consequences Phase.

Executing the Consequences Phase

During the Consequences Phase check everything in the following order:

1. Check if the Fuel Cells has 3 or more Damage tokens in it. If it does the game immediately ends and all players lose.
2. Check if the Life Support has 3 or more Damage tokens in it. If it does all player characters receive 1 wound.
3. Check if the Airlock has 3 or more Damage tokens in it. If it does remove the external Airlock Locked Door.
4. If the external Airlock door has been removed then enact an "Airlock Opening", as outlined above.
5. Check if the Shield Generator has 3 or more Damage tokens in it. If it does lower the Shields Track by 1.
6. If there are 3 or more Disaster tokens in the Hyperdrive space and the Hyperdrive card is flipped to the fixed side, flip it back to the broken side. See more about Disaster tokens below.
7. Place 1 Damage token in every space that contains a Fire token.
8. If there are more than 3 Electrical Faults on the board, lower the Shields Track by 1.

Tokens

Disaster Tokens

Damage. Placed on the board during the Disaster Phase or by Fires during the Consequences Phase, this represents the ship collapsing & has the following effects:

• A space can contain any amount of Damage, there is no limit.
• Any time Damage is placed in a space all player characters in the space take 1 Wound.
• It costs 1 additional movement to enter a space that contains any amount of Damage.
• 3 Damage in a space can cause knock on effects during the Consequences Phase as it will cause parts of the ship to shut down.
• If you ever have to place Damage & you have run out of tokens the ship explodes & you lose the game.
• Damage can be removed by the Tool Kit or Exo-Skeleton Item cards.

Fire. Placed during the Disaster Phase as dictated by the Disaster card or when a 2nd Electrical Fault is placed in a space & has the following effects:

• A space can contain a maximum of 2 Fires, if instructed to place Fire in a space that has 2 Fires there is no effect.
• Any time Fire is placed in a space all player characters in the space take 1 Wound.
• Players cannot take actions in spaces that contain Fire unless the action taken removes the Fire.
• If you ever place a 2nd Fire into a space it spreads immediately (see below).
• Fires place Damage during the Consequences Phase.
• If you ever have to place Fire & you have run out of tokens the ship explodes & you lose the game.
• Fire can be removed by the Fire Extinguisher Item card or when the Airlock opens.

Fire Spreading. If a Disaster card displays the Fire Spreading symbol, or refers to "Fires spread", or a 2nd Fire is placed into a space, you must spread the Fire it is referring to, placing new Fires on the board. When you spread a Fire place 1 Fire in all adjacent spaces (adjacency is blocked by walls & Locked Doors) that do not already have 2 Fire in them. If as a result of doing this you place a 2nd Fire into one of those spaces that space will also spread, though you should finish the first spread before enacting further ones. This can cascade for as long as necessary & can indeed set the entire ship on fire in the worst case scenario.

Fire Spreading example: A Disaster card causes a Fire token to be placed in Location 4. This is the second Fire token so that causes it to spread to every adjacent space; the Fuel Cells, Maintenance, and a space in the Long Corridor. However, this places a second Fire token in Fuel Cells, which means this fire will also spread. That fire spreads to the Shield Generator and space in the Long Corridor. It can't spread into the Hyperdrive as that space already contains 2 Fire tokens.

Electrical Fault. Placed during the Disaster Phase as dictated by the Disaster card or when players take action at the Shield Controls & has the following effects:

• A space can contain any number of Electrical Faults, there is no limit.
• Any time an Electrical Fault is placed in a space all player characters in the space take 1 Wound.
• If you ever place a 2nd Electrical Fault in a space you must place a Fire as well. 3rd, 4th, & further Electrical Faults do not enact this effect.
• Spaces with Electrical Faults cannot be used for their board actions.
• If there are more than 3 Electrical Faults on the board during the Consequences Phase lower the Shields by 1.
• If you ever have to place an Electrical Fault & find you have run out of tokens the ships computers fry & you lose the game.
• Electrical Faults are removed by the Electro-Tool Item card or by players taking action at the Shield Controls.

Always remember: Whenever a Disaster token is placed in a space where a player's character is, that player must take 1 wound. If you ever have to place a Disaster token & you have run out of that kind of token, you immediately lose the game.

Other Tokens

Wounds. Every player character can take a number of wounds as dictated by their character card & obey the following rules:

• Any time a Damage, Fire, or Electrical Fault is placed into the same space as a player character all player characters in that space take 1 Wound. If multiple tokens are placed at the same time or by the same effect players take 1 Wound per token placed.
• As soon as a player character fills their final wound space they are killed. Lay their standee down, their body may be looted for the Item cards they are carrying, but when a Time Jump is performed to bring them back they will lose all of their Item cards.
• Dead player characters come back to life during a Time Jump, & as all player characters must be alive to win the game players have no choice but to Time Jump when a player character dies.
• Wounds can be removed by a Med Kit or by using the board action in Sick Bay.

Locked Doors. Every door on the board can have a Locked Door placed over it under the following rules:

• As an Action players can place a Locked Door over any door connected to their current space.
• Actions at the Security Controls & Security Room can place Locked Doors on the board.
• Locked Doors block adjacency for all game purposes but do not block "connected to" effects (see adjacency rules below).
• Cards may tell players to place or remove Locked Doors.
• Cards may tell players to "switch doors", meaning to remove any Locked Doors already on the board & place Locked Doors over the doors that did not already have them.

Number Tokens. You will have noticed during set up that every named location outside of the bridge was given a number. These numbers are referenced by the Disaster Deck for when new disasters appear on the board & allow for an extra layer of unpredictability. A location on the board is always both its name & number for game purposes, & any effects that refer to the highest or lowest number are referring to the highest or lowest number relevant to the circumstances listed.

Cards

Disaster Cards

The Disaster cards are split into Growing & Major Disasters, they share a back design but are distinctive as Growing Disasters all have the same layout whilst Major Disasters have a unique effect, usually a single effect with far reaching consequences. Basically anything that doesn't match the Growing Disaster layout is a Major Disaster.

A Growing Disaster has multiple effects on it to represent the player count. When enacted you start at the first effect (the 2 player effect) & enact every effect on the card going down until you reach the effect listed next to your player count, regardless of whether everyone's characters are alive or not.

A lot of Growing Disasters will tell players to place disaster tokens (Fires, Electrical Faults, & Damage) in the locations on the board according to their number, for example "Fire: In 1 & 8" means place 1 Fire on the board in the locations numbered 1 & 8.

Major Disasters tend to have one single effect on them but that effect will likely have multiple levels & be far reaching. When a Major Disaster is drawn every part of the card must be enacted in the order listed on the card, it is one single effect with many parts to it.

Disaster Card Key

• Fire symbol: Place 1 Fire token in the specified locations
• Electrical Fault symbol: Place 1 Electrical Fault token in the specified location
• Knocked-down symbol: Knock down each player, unless a special ability or Item prevents this.
• Discard symbol: 1 player must discard an Equipment item to the remaining supply, if possible.
• Door symbol: Close every open door & open every closed door connected to the mentioned space.
• Fire Spreading symbol: Place 1 Fire token in every adjacent space to the specified location
• Damage symbol: Place 1 Damage token in the specified locations

Adjacent / Connected To

All spaces next to each other through a dotted line or doorway are considered "connected to" each other, however, Locked Doors block adjacency for all game purposes. When a game effect uses the word "adjacent" it refers to spaces that are connected in the above way as long as there is nothing in the doorway (such as a Locked Door) or blocking the dotted line.

When something uses the term "connected to" it ignores this prerequisite. Connected to spaces are still only connected via a dotted line or doorways but the effect is not blocked by Locked Doors or other effects / tokens on the board.

Knocked Down

Disaster cards & some other effects will refer to players being "knocked down". When a player character is "knocked down" you should lie their standee on its side to indicate the effect. Whilst "knocked down" player characters cannot move & must spend 1 movement on their turn to stand back up. Being "knocked down" does not hinder their ability to take actions. If you are "knocked down" whilst you are already "knocked down" there is no additional effect.

Paradox Cards

At the start of the game you will have created a Paradox deck consisting of the "Lost In The Void" card with two random Paradox cards on top. These are added to the Disaster Deck during a Time Jump, so that after that deck is reset the players will encounter a Paradox when they reach the point in the game that they time travelled.

Paradoxes are above all else random. They may change your understanding of the game or even add a new rule. They may end up being inconsequential or even helpful, but they will be unpredictable, & they happen in addition to a Disaster card in the round they are to be drawn.

However, somewhere in the Paradox Deck there will be the Lost in the Void card, a card which when drawn will end the game immediately with the players blinking out of existence due to their messing with the time space continuum. There is no harm in adding the Lost in the Void card to the Disaster Deck, but once it is in there the players must win the game before it is drawn.

Item Cards

Item cards have a few important details: indication of whether they go in the "Equipment" or "Wearing" spot on their character sheet, any actions or free actions they afford the player carrying them, any ongoing abilities they grant the character using them, & where they go on the board during setup. It's important to familiarise yourself with the items before starting the game as they are all unique.

When picking up an item players must place it on their character sheet in one of their "Equipment" or "Wearing" slots. Players cannot have more items than they have space on their character sheet to hold, usually two "Equipment" & one "Wearing", & they cannot carry extra items. Item cards with the Equipment symbol cannot be put in the Wearing slot & Item cards with the Wearing symbol cannot be put in an Equipment slot. All items on a player's character sheet are considered to be equipped & grant the player all the abilities & actions listed on the card at all times as long as they are not exhausted.

The important thing about Item cards is that players get to keep the items they have on their character sheet during a Time Jump (with some caveats depending on the difficulty setting). Figuring out what items you need & properly distributing them between the players after a Time Jump will be key to success.

Players may drop items for free at any point during their turn, placing the card in the space they dropped it.

Item card anatomy: Item Symbol (Equipment or Wearing), Action, Free Action, Starting Location.

Exhausting Items

Some items have an ability that requires them to be exhausted. To use these abilities players must flip the card to indicate it can no longer be used for any purposes. Item cards can be refreshed & turned back around to indicate they can be used again, by taking an action in Maintenance.

If not instructed to exhaust or discard an Item card by the card itself or another game effect, you may use an item an unlimited number of times.

Character Sheets

Your character sheet contains several pieces of information including how many wounds you can take, how many items you can carry & wear, & any unique abilities your character has. You can carry 1 Item in each of your "Equipment" spots & 1 wearable Item in your "Wearing" spot.

• Equipment spaces where you store 1 Equipment Item in each spot.
• Wound spaces that will fill as players receive wounds. Once all slots are filled the character will die.
• A unique ability only available to their character.
• One Wearing space where players may have a maximum of 1 Wearing Item.

Quick Reference (back cover)

Round Structure

Start of round: Choose a starting player & continue from them in a clockwise order.

Action Phase: Each player performs up to 2 movement & 1 action in either order (movement then action or action then movement). You can move to a space connected by an open door or dotted line. It costs 1 additional movement to move into a space with any amount of Damage in it. If you are "knocked down" it costs 1 movement to stand. Possible actions include:

• Activating an ability of the space you're currently in, provided there are no Fires in that space.
• Picking up an Item in your space.
• Using the action of an Item you're currently carrying.
• Placing or removing a Locked Door token connected to your space.
• Trade items between players in your space.
• Take a special action available on your character sheet.
• As a free action you may drop an Item you're carrying at any time during your turn.

Consequences Phase: After the Action Phase, enact the Consequences Phase. Check the following in order:

1. If the Fuel Cells has 3+ Damage the ship explodes & you lose.
2. If the Life Support has 3+ Damage every player takes 1 Wound.
3. If the Airlock has 3+ Damage remove the exterior Locked Door to show the Airlock is open.
4. If the exterior Airlock Door is removed enact an Airlock Opening.
5. If the Shield Generator has 3+ Damage on it lower the Shields by 1.
6. If there are 3 tokens in the Hyperdrive & the Hyperdrive card is fixed side up, flip it back to the broken side.
7. Place 1 Damage in every space with any Fire.
8. If there are more than 3 Electrical Faults on the board lower the Shields by 1.

Disaster Phase: After the Consequences Phase, enact the Disaster Phase. If there is a Paradox card on top of the Disaster Deck draw it & enact its effect. Then draw a Disaster card & enact its effect/s starting at the top & continue up to & including the effect next to the player character count (alive or dead).

Please note: if you ever place a token in a space where a player character is, that player character must take a Wound.

Please note: you cannot take actions in spaces with Fire, unless that action removes the Fire.

Big Effects: Time Jumping and Airlock Opens are summarised on the back cover with the same steps as given above.