Unfathomable
Unfathomable Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
- Overview
- Using This Book
- Components
- First Game Setup
- Fundamental Concepts
- Playing the Game
- Travel Track
- Ritual Track
- Titles
- Resolving Skill Checks
- Activating Monsters
- Damage
- Defeated
- Risking Passengers
- Ending the Game
- Reference Sheets
- Time to Play!
- Traitors
- Turn Structure for Revealed Traitors
- Interacting with Traitors
- Secrecy
- Future Plays
- Clarifications
- Quick Reference
- Credits
Overview
Unfathomable is a game of hidden loyalties, intrigue, and paranoia for three to six players. Some players are humans who are fighting for the survival of the ship, its passengers, and its crew. But some players are traitors, sent aboard the SS Atlantica by the Deep Ones to ensure the ship never reaches port! Because player loyalties are hidden, determining who is friend and who is foe is critical to winning in Unfathomable.
During the game, the human players arm themselves with items, fight Deep Ones, rescue passengers, and make sure that the ship stays afloat. At the end of every human player's turn is a crisis that either poses a difficult decision for one player or challenges all players to work together to overcome the crisis. If the humans can work together successfully, the ship will eventually reach port, resulting in a win for the humans.
However, the traitors are hiding among the humans, secretly sabotaging the ship and doing all they can to ensure its doom. If the ship sinks before it can reach its final destination, the traitors win.
Using This Book
This Learn to Play is intended to teach Unfathomable to new players. Read this book in its entirety before playing. The accompanying Rules Reference contains more detailed rules and should be used as necessary to look up specific situations as they arise during play.
Dial Assembly
Before playing Unfathomable for the first time, attach the four resource dials to the board as shown in the rulebook diagrams.
Components
- 1 Game Board
- 4 Resource Dials with Plastic Connectors
- 1 Standard 8-sided Die
- 22 Monster Figures (1 Mother Hydra, 1 Father Dagon, 20 Deep Ones)
- 10 Character Standees
- 1 Travel Track Token
- 1 Ritual Track Token
- 10 Character Sheets
- 3 Traitor Reference Sheets
- 6 Player Reference Sheets
- 1 Captain Title Card
- 1 Keeper of the Tome Title Card
- 10 Feat Cards
- 20 Spell Cards
- 20 Waypoint Cards
- 20 Item Cards
- 9 Ship Damage Cards
- 126 Skill Cards (21 each of 6 types)
- 14 Loyalty Cards
- 70 Mythos Cards
- 9 Passenger Tokens
- 4 Traitor Rings
- 1 Current Player Token
First Game Setup
To set up your first game, perform these steps in clockwise order. The area of the board referred to by each step is indicated by a matching numeral on the board diagram. If this is not your first game, use the setup instructions in Appendix IV of the Rules Reference.
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Prepare Game Board: Place the game board in the center of the table.
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Set Tracks: Place the travel and ritual track tokens on the Start space of their respective tracks.
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Set Dials: Set each resource dial to its starting value of 8.
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Create Supply: Place the Deep One figures, passenger tokens, traitor rings, and eight-sided die next to the board. Flip all passenger tokens facedown and mix them thoroughly.
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Create Skill Decks: Separate the skill cards by type (influence, lore, observation, strength, will, and treachery), shuffle each type into its own deck, and place each deck facedown beside the game board next to the corresponding label.
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Create Damage and Mythos Decks: Shuffle the damage deck and place it beside the game board next to its label. Shuffle the mythos deck and place it near the board.
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Place Monsters and Passengers: Place Father Dagon and Mother Hydra in the Deep. Place six additional Deep Ones and two passenger tokens as shown.
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Create Chaos Deck: Take two cards from each skill deck (except treachery) and, without looking at them, shuffle them together to create the chaos deck. Place the deck in the chaos deck space on the board.
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Select Characters: Randomly select a player to be the current player and give them the current player token. Then, starting with the current player and proceeding clockwise, each player chooses one character to play and takes that character's sheet. The "Suggested Characters" sidebar has a list of recommended characters to use for your first game according to the number of players.
Return the remaining character sheets to the game box.
Suggested Characters (Learning Game):
- Three players: Jeanne Lafarge, Svetlana Gedroits, William Bowleg
- Four players: Arjun Singh, Jeanne Lafarge, Samira Dualeh, William Bowleg
- Five players: Arjun Singh, Jamie Snell, Samira Dualeh, Svetlana Gedroits, William Bowleg
- Six players: Arjun Singh, Jeanne Lafarge, Jamie Snell, Samira Dualeh, Svetlana Gedroits, William Bowleg
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Create Play Areas: Each player takes the feat card and standee that matches their chosen character as well as a double-sided player reference sheet and places them in their play area. Return the remaining feat cards and standees to the game box.
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Gather Items: Each player takes the starting item listed on the back of their character sheet from the item deck and places it faceup in their play area. Shuffle the remaining items to create the item deck and place it beside the game board next to its label.
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Place Characters: Each player places the standee for their chosen character in the starting space on the board listed on the back of their character sheet.
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Draw Skill Cards: Each player except the current player draws the five skill cards listed at the bottom of their chosen character's sheet. The current player does not start the game with any cards in hand.
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Create Waypoint Deck: Shuffle the waypoint cards and give the deck and the Captain title card to the player with the character who is highest on the Captain Line of Succession list (provided on the back of the Captain title card).
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Create Spell Deck: Shuffle the spell cards and give the deck and the Keeper of the Tome title card to the player with the character who is highest on the Keeper Line of Succession list (provided on the back of the Keeper of the Tome title card).
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Create Loyalty Deck: Create the loyalty deck by combining the loyalty cards listed below according to the number of players.
| Player Count | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hybrid Loyalty Cards | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Human Loyalty Cards | 5 | 7 | 8 | 10 |
Loyalty Cards (Learning Game)
During a standard game of Unfathomable, players are dealt a secret loyalty card to begin the game (see the Rules Reference for standard setup). For your first game, players start without any loyalty cards in order to familiarize everyone with the game rules in an atmosphere where players can feel free to ask questions. Loyalty cards will be dealt after each player has a chance to take a turn. Until players are dealt a loyalty card, they should assume (and play as though) they are loyal humans.
Fundamental Concepts
This section contains the fundamental concepts for Unfathomable that provide context for players who are about to learn how to play the game.
Loyalties
The concept of loyalty is central to Unfathomable, with players secretly desiring different outcomes. Some players will be loyal to the humans trying to reach dry land, and some will be loyal to the Deep Ones intent on sinking the ship.
During the game, each player receives one or more loyalty cards, which remain secret. These cards determine who is on which side.
The three types of loyalty cards:
- You Are a Human: You feel like you are a human, but you can never know for sure... If you have only Human loyalty cards, you win the game if the human objective is met.
- You Are a Hybrid: You begin to notice changes in your appearance and feel an inexplicable compulsion to help the creatures attacking the ship. If the game ends before the human objective is met, you win the game (even if you have 1 or more Human loyalty cards).
- You Are a Cultist: You have pledged your life to advancing the aims of the Deep Ones...but you still cannot breathe under water. If the ship has traveled 12 or more distance and the game ends before the human objective is met, you win the game (even if you have 1 or more Human loyalty cards).
With secret loyalties, players do not know if they are able to trust each other because their goals and motivations are hidden. Determining who can be trusted and who cannot allows players to better coordinate their efforts and thus improve their chances of victory.
For your first game, you will only use Human and Hybrid loyalty cards. You will not use the Cultist loyalty card.
Monsters and Monarchs
There are three types of monsters in the game: Father Dagon, Mother Hydra, and Deep Ones. Father Dagon and Mother Hydra are collectively referred to as monarchs.
Object of the Game
For players who are loyal humans, the object of the game is to usher the SS Atlantica to safety at its destination port of Boston. How this is accomplished is described later.
For traitor players, who are loyal to the Deep Ones, the object of the game is to prevent the SS Atlantica from completing its voyage. This occurs if the ship is destroyed, overrun by Deep Ones, or depleted of any of its critical resources, all of which are described later.
Resources
The Atlantica has limited supplies. There are four resources critical for the ship's survival, which are tracked by the four resource dials on the board. During the game, loyal humans must ration and preserve these resources while traitors strive to deplete them.
The four resources are:
- Fuel: This dial represents the Atlantica's fuel reserves.
- Food: This dial represents the food and water required to keep the people aboard the ship alive.
- Sanity: This dial represents the sanity and morale of the crew and passengers. Operating the ship becomes impossible if those aboard lose their grip on reality.
- Souls: This dial represents the people aboard the Atlantica, both passengers and crew. Operating the ship becomes impossible if there are too few people.
When a resource is gained or lost, its dial is adjusted to reflect its current total. Typically, fuel is lost when the ship travels, food and sanity are lost when resolving crises, and souls are lost when passengers are defeated, all of which are described later.
Skills
Skills represent common abilities shared by the characters in the game. Players use their skills to defend or sabotage the ship and to bring about resolutions to the crises that affect all players.
There are six skills in the game: influence, lore, observation, strength, will, and treachery. Each skill has its own deck of skill cards, but all skill cards share a common card back. A card's skill type is presented by the skill icon and colored border on its face.
Each character has their own skill set that is presented on their character sheet and determines which skills the character has access to during the game.
Skill Checks
Skill checks represent situations in which players work together as a group to resolve crisis situations. Because the loyalties and goals of each player are unknown, it is never completely clear who is working to help overcome the crisis, and who is working to make it worse.
During a skill check, players can secretly add cards from their hand to the check in an effort to cause the check to pass or fail. Players cannot be certain who tried to help overcome the crisis and who tried to sabotage that effort because players add their cards in secret, along with random cards from a chaos deck.
The Deep
The Deep is a portion of the board that represents the depths of the ocean where the monsters muster and regroup. Monsters that are in the Deep cannot be affected by player abilities.
Spaces
The portion of the board that depicts the SS Atlantica and the surrounding waters is divided into spaces. There are two types of spaces: water spaces and ship spaces.
Water spaces are the outermost spaces on the board. Two of these spaces are numbered "1–4" and "5–8." These two spaces make up the front of the ship. The water spaces at the opposite end of the board are the back of the ship. Only monsters can move to water spaces. Characters cannot move to water spaces.
Ship spaces consist of two subtypes: deck spaces and interior spaces. Characters and Deep Ones can move to ship spaces. Monarchs (Father Dagon and Mother Hydra) cannot move to ship spaces.
Deck spaces form a ring around the interior spaces and are numbered from 1 to 8.
Interior spaces each have a name and a brief description of their game function. The complete text for these game effects is on the player reference sheets. Most interior spaces have one or more numbers from 1 to 8. The two interior spaces without numbers, the Brig and Sick Bay, have unique rules that are described later.
Playing the Game
Unfathomable is played in a series of player turns. Starting with the first player and proceeding clockwise, players continue to take turns until the game ends. The player who is taking their turn and has the current player token is the current player.
A player's turn comprises the following steps, which are performed in order:
- Receive Skills
- Action
- Mythos
- Discard
Each step is described in more detail below.
Step One: Receive Skills
During this step, the current player draws the type and number of skill cards that are presented on their character sheet and adds them to their hand of skill cards. The type and number of skill cards is the character's skill set.
Example: William Bowleg draws three lore and two will cards during each of his turns.
Sick Bay
Players who are in the sick bay are recovering from injuries and therefore do not receive their full skill set of cards during their turn.
If a player is in the Sick Bay space of the board during their Receive Skills step, they draw only one card of their choice from their skill set.
Playing Skill Cards
Each skill card has an ability on it. To use that ability, a player can play that card from their hand during any player's turn. After a skill card's ability has resolved, that card is placed into the discard pile for skill cards of that card's type.
Step Two: Action
During a player's action step, that player performs two actions of their choice, one at a time. The player can perform the same action twice. The actions a player can perform on their turn are: move, attack, rescue a passenger, use an action ability, trade, or reveal as a traitor.
Move
The player can spend one action to move their character to any ship space on the board other than Sick Bay and the Brig. Multiple characters can occupy the same space.
Move Example: Jeanne Lafarge escapes from a Deep One on the ship's deck by moving to the Captain's Cabin in the interior of the ship.
Attack
The player can spend one action to perform an attack against a Deep One in the same space as the player. To perform an attack, the player rolls the die. If the result is a 4 or higher, the Deep One is defeated and removed from the board. Otherwise, the attack misses and the Deep One remains where it is.
Attack Example: Jeanne Lafarge attacks a Deep One in her space. She rolls a 4 on the attack, which is high enough to defeat the Deep One. The Deep One is returned to the supply.
Rescue a Passenger
Passengers, which are represented by passenger tokens, may be in danger while on the ship's deck. If a passenger is defeated, it can cause the ship to lose souls and sanity. A player can rescue a passenger to move them to safety.
If the player is in the same space as a passenger token, they can spend one action to rescue that passenger. When a passenger is rescued, its token is removed from the board and returned to the supply of passenger tokens. If there is more than one passenger token in the space, the player can choose one of those passengers to rescue for each action spent.
Rescue Example: William Bowleg rescues a passenger in his space, returning the token to the supply.
Use an Action Ability
An action ability is preceded by the word "Action:" and can appear on character sheets and many types of cards, such as skill cards and item cards. The player can spend one action to use one of these action abilities. That ability must be on a card in the player's play area or on a skill card in the player's hand. To use an action ability on a skill card, the player must reveal the card to everyone, resolve the card by following its instructions, and then discard the card. When a player resolves the action ability on a card in their play area, they do not discard that card.
Example: "Deck Chief — Action: Move to any deck space. Then perform 1 action. Limit once per turn." This ability grants the player an additional action.
Additional Actions
Some action abilities have the phrase "Then perform 1 action." Such abilities allow the player to immediately perform another action. This can allow a player to perform more than two actions during their turn.
Use a Space's Action Ability
If the player is in an interior space, that player can spend one action to use the action ability for that space, which is listed on the player reference sheets. The action for each interior space may only be used once per turn. A player cannot use the action for their space if there is at least one Deep One in that space.
Trade
Each player begins the game with the item card specified on their character's sheet. Items provide players with additional abilities that they can use. Players can gain more items from the Cargo Hold.
The player can spend one action to allow any number of players to trade items. Any number of items can be traded, and trades do not require the current player to be involved, but all players involved in a trade must be in the current player's space.
Reveal as a Traitor
This action option is described later.
Tracking Actions
You can use the current player token to track how many actions you have left in your turn.
To do so, when you receive the token, align it so that the arrow in the center points away from you. This positions the two white marks at the top of the wheel, indicating that you have two actions remaining.
As you use your actions or gain additional actions, rotate the wheel so that the number of marks at the top of the wheel equals the number of actions you have remaining.
Step Three: Mythos
During this step, the current player draws and resolves the top card of the mythos deck. Mythos cards represent a variety of events that threaten both the ship and everyone aboard. Mythos cards are composed of three main parts, which are resolved in the following order:
- The Crisis: This provides the players with a problem that must be solved.
- Monster Activation Icon: This causes one or more monsters to activate.
- Track Icon: This causes one of the tracks on the game board to advance.
Anatomy of a Mythos Card: Crisis, Monster Activation Icon, and Track Icon (e.g. "Hull Leak" — Pass: No effect. Fail: Damage the ship.)
The Crisis
Every mythos card presents the players with a crisis that must be resolved. To resolve the crisis, the current player reads the story text aloud. Then, the players resolve the crisis according to its type. There are three types of crises: choices, skill checks, and combinations of the previous two.
Choices
Choices present a player with a choice of two outcomes. Often the choice is made by the current player, but many choices are made by the player who has either the Captain title or the Keeper of the Tome title. The crisis specifies which player chooses. The effects of each option are read aloud before the choice is made.
Example ("Food Rationing"): Captain Chooses: Implement Rationing: Lose 1 food. Then roll a die. If the result is 6 or less, lose 1 sanity. OR Keep the Galley Open: Lose 2 food.
Skill Checks
Skill checks present the players as a group with a challenge that, if overcome, prevents the ship from suffering a negative effect. These challenges are presented as skill checks. (The resolution of skill checks is described later.) The mythos card details the effects of passing or failing the skill check.
Example ("Flooding Compartment"): A passenger compartment is filling with water. You must act quickly to evacuate its occupants. Pass: No effect. Fail: Lose 1 soul.
Combinations
Some crises contain a combination of a choice and a skill check. For these cards, the indicated player decides to either perform a skill check or resolve a negative effect. If they choose to resolve the negative effect, the skill check is not performed. Both options are read aloud before the player makes their choice.
Example ("Bucket Brigade"): The ship has taken on water due to damage and storms, which is slowing the ship's progress. Bailing out some of that water would allow the ship to reach greater speeds. Captain Chooses: Pass: Risk 2 passengers to advance the travel track 1 space. Fail: Lose 1 fuel. Risk 2 passengers. OR Leave the Water: Roll a die. If the result is 6 or less, lose 1 fuel.
Character-Specific Mythos Cards
Green mythos cards have a crisis that is specific to a certain character (e.g. "Keilani Tatupu Chooses"). If such a mythos card is drawn for a character who is not in the game, who is currently in the Brig space, or who has revealed themself as a traitor (described later), discard that mythos card and draw a new one.
Example ("Do No Harm"): Ship security rushes an injured man into Svetlana's sick bay. They believe this man planted an explosive somewhere on the ship and they can get the location out of him...if he survives his injuries. However, he refuses to be treated. Svetlana Gedroits Chooses: Pass: Lose 1 sanity. Move to Sick Bay. Fail: Lose 1 sanity. Damage the ship. Move to Sick Bay. OR Refuse to Participate: Move to the Brig. Damage the ship.
Monster Activation Icons
The Atlantica is under assault by a number of Deep One monsters, led by the gigantic Mother Hydra and Father Dagon. When monsters activate, they can move, damage the ship, defeat passengers, or add more monsters to the board.
Each mythos card has an icon that indicates which monster activates in the lower right corner. These icons represent Mother Hydra, Father Dagon, and Deep Ones. The rules for activating each of these monster types are described later.
Track Icons
Each mythos card has an icon in the lower right corner that matches either the travel track, the ritual track, or both. These tracks are described later. When resolving this icon, the current player advances the token on the indicated track one space. The choice of tracks icon allows the current player to choose which of the tracks to advance.
After the track icon on the mythos card is resolved, that card is completed and is placed in the mythos discard pile.
Step Four: Discard
After the current player resolves the mythos card, each player counts the number of skill cards in their hand. Each player that has more than 10 cards in hand chooses and discards cards from their hand until they have only 10 cards in hand.
Then, the current player token is passed to the player to the left, who begins their turn.
Travel Track
The travel track indicates the SS Atlantica's progress toward its next waypoint on its journey. Each time the travel track advances, primarily due to track icons on mythos cards, it moves the loyal human players closer to victory.
As the ship steams ahead, the monsters attacking it from the water fall behind. Each time the token on the travel track advances, all monsters in water spaces are moved one water space toward the back of the ship (the water spaces opposite the numbered water spaces). Any monsters that were already in the water spaces behind the ship are moved to the Deep.
When the token on the travel track reaches the Arrive space on the track, the ship has reached its next waypoint in its journey. When a waypoint is reached, the player with the Captain title draws the top two cards of the waypoint deck, chooses one to resolve and places the other on the bottom of the waypoint deck.
Each waypoint card has a distance value at the top of the card. The higher the distance value, the more fuel the waypoint requires. The players must travel to waypoints with a combined distance of 12 or more and then reach the Arrive space once more to win the game.
When resolving a waypoint card, the player with the Captain title places it in a row next to the board, beside any other waypoint cards that were previously resolved. Then, the player resolves the text of that waypoint card. After the card is resolved, the token on the travel track is reset by being placed on the Start space of that track.
If a game effect instructs a player to "retreat the travel track," they move the token on that track the indicated number of spaces back toward the Start space. If the token reaches the Start space before it has moved the indicated number of spaces, the remaining spaces are ignored. Do not move monsters in water spaces when retreating the travel track.
Waypoints
Each waypoint card has a distance value of 2, 3, or 4. After resolving four waypoints that add up to the target distance of 12, the game will end in a human victory if the token on the travel track reaches the Arrive space one more time.
Example waypoints: Smooth Sailing (distance 3) — Lose 1 fuel and 1 food. Hurricane (distance 2) — Either lose 1 fuel or damage the ship twice. Stormy Seas (distance 4) — Lose 2 fuel. Damage the ship. Rainstorm (distance 3) — Lose 1 fuel. You may risk a passenger to roll a die. If the result is 5 or more, gain 1 food.
Advancing the Travel Track
When the travel track advances, each monster in a water space moves one space toward the back of the ship. Monsters in the rear water spaces move to the Deep. Monsters in ship spaces are on board the ship and are unaffected.
Ritual Track
Before her murder, the original keeper of the tome had begun a ritual in the ship's chapel to cast a greater banishment spell to protect the ship from the approaching monsters. In the wake of her death, some of the ship's passengers have taken up the ritual in an attempt to protect the ship. The ritual track represents these passengers' progress toward casting the greater banishment spell and moves primarily by track icons on mythos cards.
When the token on the ritual track reaches the Cast space, the ritual has reached a crescendo and all monsters, characters, and passengers above deck and in the water surrounding the ship are struck by the greater banishment spell.
The greater banishment spell has the following effects:
- All Deep Ones in deck or water spaces are defeated and removed from the board. Deep Ones in interior spaces are unaffected.
- Father Dagon and Mother Hydra are moved to the Deep.
- All passenger tokens in deck spaces are defeated. Flip each of these tokens faceup and reduce each resource dial by one for each icon matching that dial on those tokens. Then, remove those tokens from the game.
- All characters in deck spaces are defeated; move each character standee in a deck space to Sick Bay.
After resolving the effects of the greater banishment spell, the token on the ritual track is reset by being placed on the Start space of that track.
If a game effect instructs a player to "retreat the ritual track," they move the token on that track the indicated number of spaces back toward the Start space. If the token reaches the Start space before it has moved the indicated number of spaces, the remaining spaces are ignored.
Advancing the Ritual Track
- The marker on the ritual track reaches the Cast space.
- All Deep Ones in water and deck spaces are defeated and removed from the board.
- Mother Hydra and Father Dagon move to the Deep.
- All passengers in deck spaces are defeated. This passenger's defeat results in the loss of one soul.
- All characters in deck spaces are defeated and move to Sick Bay.
- The marker on the ritual track resets to the Start space.
Titles
There are two titles in the game, the Captain and the Keeper of the Tome, represented by title cards. Each title confers its own powers and responsibilities upon the player who holds the title.
Players can lose their titles, such as when they move to the Brig. When a player loses a title, it is given to the player who is highest in the line of succession for that title (shown on the back of the title card). Revealed traitors and players in the Brig cannot gain titles.
Captain
The Captain is the player in charge of determining the ship's course. When the token on the travel track reaches the Arrive space, the Captain draws two waypoint cards and chooses one of them to resolve. Then, the Captain places the other card on the bottom of the waypoint deck.
The Captain is also given a choice to make on numerous crises.
The Captain title card reminds players of these rules: "You are the person in charge of the ship and its operations. When the travel track advances to the Arrive space, look at the top 2 cards of the waypoint deck, place 1 on the bottom of the deck, and then resolve the other. When a human player in the Brig draws a crisis card with the choice-of-tracks icon, you choose which track to advance."
Keeper of the Tome
The Keeper of the Tome is responsible for carrying and utilizing an ancient tome of magical spells. The Keeper of the Tome title card provides the player holding the title with a unique action ability that allows them to draw and resolve spell cards: "You are tasked with keeping the ancient tome of spells found with the murdered passenger in the chapel. Reading from the book allows you to cast spells, but the results can be unpredictable. Action: Look at the top 2 cards of the spell deck. Place 1 on the bottom of the spell deck. Then resolve the other. Limit once per turn."
Spell cards have powerful abilities, ranging from defeating Deep Ones to recovering resources. However, these spells always come with a price, most often the potential to lose sanity.
The Keeper of the Tome also makes a choice on some crises.
Resolving Skill Checks
A skill check is presented as a target number and two or three skill icons. Each skill icon indicates that skill cards of that type contribute positively to the skill check. These are supporting skills. Each skill type that is not shown in the skill list contributes negatively to the skill check. These are opposing skills.
To resolve a skill check, players follow these steps, which are performed in order:
- Announce Criteria: Announce the target number and the supporting skills.
- Add Chaos Cards: Take the top two cards from the chaos deck and place them facedown within reach of all players, creating a skill check pile. As soon as the chaos deck is emptied, take two cards from each skill deck — except for treachery — and shuffle them together to form a new chaos deck.
- Add Skill Cards: Starting with the player to the left of the current player and ending with the current player, each player in clockwise order has one opportunity to contribute cards to the skill check. A player can contribute one or more cards by taking those cards from their hand and placing them facedown on the skill check pile. A player is not required to contribute any skill cards to the check.
- Shuffle Cards: The current player shuffles the skill check pile to ensure no one knows which cards each player contributed to the skill check. Keeping players' contributions secret is important when traitors are introduced into the game.
- Sort Cards: The current player flips each card in the skill check pile faceup one at a time, placing it in one of two piles: one for supporting skills and one for opposing skills.
- Calculate Total: Add the value of all supporting skill cards and subtract from it the total value of all opposing skill cards. If the total is greater than or equal to the target number, the skill check passes. Otherwise, the skill check fails.
- Discard Cards: All of the skill cards added to the skill check are discarded to the appropriate skill card discard piles (each of which is placed next to its corresponding deck).
Passing or Failing
The effects of passing or failing the skill check are indicated on the mythos card that initiated the skill check. Some crises also allow for a partial success. Such cards have a section between the pass and fail sections that starts with a number, such as "8+". This indicates that if the skill check total was not high enough to reach the target number but was equal to or greater than this number (8 in this example), then this section is resolved instead of the fail section.
Some ship spaces also cause skill checks to occur. These spaces describe what happens if the skill check passes. If any of these skill checks fail, there is no effect.
Skill Check Example
The current player draws the Food Stores Raid mythos card, which initiates a skill check.
- The Food Stores Raid crisis has a target number of 11 and the supporting skills are influence and strength. All other skills are opposing skills.
- Two cards from the chaos deck are added to the skill check.
- The player to the current player's left chooses to add one skill card from their hand to the skill check.
- The next player in clockwise order chooses to pass and does not add any cards to the skill check.
- The current player is last to add cards to the check and chooses to add three cards. All cards added to the skill check are then shuffled together.
- The shuffled skill cards are revealed and separated into piles for supporting skills and opposing skills.
- The total of all supporting skills is 14. After the total of the opposing skills (4) is subtracted, the final total is 10. This is less than the target number of 11, but exceeds the partial success number of "8+," so the players resolve the middle outcome of the crisis and "lose 1 food" by reducing the food dial by one.
(Food Stores Raid — Target 11; Supporting: influence, strength. Pass: No effect. 8+: Lose 1 food. Fail: Lose 2 food.)
Activating Monsters
Monsters activate when resolving a mythos card, which can cause them to move and attack or can cause new monsters to be placed on the board. If the players must place Deep One figures on the board and there are not enough figures in the supply to do so, the game ends. Ending the game is described later.
The icon presented on the mythos card determines which monsters activate, but the location of these monsters also determines how the activation is resolved.
Mother Hydra
When Mother Hydra activates, she attacks and damages the ship. Mother Hydra damages the interior space of the ship that is closest to the water space where she is located. (Damaging spaces is described below.) Then, Mother Hydra moves one water space toward the front of the ship (the numbered water spaces).
If Mother Hydra is in the Deep, instead of activating her, the current player adds two Deep Ones to the Deep. Then, if there are four or more Deep Ones in the Deep, the current player rolls a die and moves Mother Hydra and all Deep Ones in the Deep to the water space in front of the ship that matches the result on the die.
Example: Mother Hydra damages the Chapel and then moves one water space toward the front of the ship.
Father Dagon
When Father Dagon activates, two Deep Ones from the supply are placed in the deck space adjacent to Father Dagon's space. Then, Father Dagon moves one water space toward the front of the ship (the numbered water spaces).
If Father Dagon is in the Deep, instead of activating him, the current player adds two Deep Ones to the Deep. Then, if there are four or more Deep Ones in the Deep, the current player rolls a die and moves Father Dagon and all Deep Ones in the Deep to the water space in front of the ship that matches the result on the die.
Example: Father Dagon places two Deep Ones from the supply on the adjacent deck space and then moves one water space toward the front of the ship.
Deep Ones
When the Deep Ones activate, all Deep Ones on the board — except those in the Deep — activate. Each Deep One activates independently of each other Deep One. If there are multiple Deep Ones on the board, the current player chooses the order in which they activate.
When a Deep One activates, it attempts to defeat a character or passenger, damage a space, or reposition itself. It resolves one of those effects, prioritizing them as follows:
- Attack a character in its space. If there are multiple characters in the space, the current player chooses one to be attacked. Deep Ones will not attack a revealed traitor. Revealed traitors are described later. The current player rolls a die. If the result is 6 or higher, the attacked character is defeated and moved to Sick Bay.
- Defeat a passenger token in the Deep One's space. If there are multiple passenger tokens in the space, the current player chooses one. When a passenger is defeated, its token is flipped faceup. For each icon presented on the passenger token, one resource of the matching type is lost. Then remove that passenger token from the game.
- Damage the Deep One's space. The Deep One can only damage its space if that space is an interior space and is not already damaged. Damage is described below.
- Move to an adjacent space. Where a Deep One moves depends on the type of space it currently occupies:
- If the Deep One is in a water space, it moves to the adjacent deck space.
- If the Deep One is in a deck space, it moves to the adjacent interior space.
- If the Deep One is in an interior space, it moves one space toward the closest undamaged interior space. If there are multiple valid spaces for it to move toward, it moves toward the space with the higher number printed on it.
If there are no Deep Ones on the board (except for in the Deep), the current player adds two Deep Ones to the Deep. Then, if there are four or more Deep Ones in the Deep, the current player rolls a die and moves all monsters — including Mother Hydra and Father Dagon — in the Deep to the water space in front of the ship that matches the result on the die.
Deep One Activation Examples
Example 1: Four Deep Ones activate.
- One Deep One attacks the character in its space. A player rolls a die and the result is a 4, which does not defeat the character.
- A second Deep One attacks and its roll is a 7, which is enough to defeat the character. There are no characters left in the space for the remaining Deep Ones to attack.
- The third Deep One defeats the passenger in its space. The passenger's defeat results in a loss of one soul and one sanity.
- The final Deep One moves following the arrow to the Chapel.
Example 2: Two Deep Ones activate.
- The Deep Ones are in an interior space and there are no characters to attack, so one of them damages the space. A damage card is drawn and placed in the space. The space is now damaged, so the second Deep One cannot damage it again.
- The second Deep One moves toward the closest undamaged interior space. The Boiler Room is already damaged (has a damage card in its space) and Deep Ones can never move to the Brig, so it does not move to either of those spaces. Both the Galley and the Chapel (not pictured) are undamaged. The Galley has the higher number printed in it, so the Deep One moves there.
Damage
Monsters and crises can cause damage to the Atlantica. Monsters damage specific spaces, but crises may instruct a player to damage the ship instead. To apply damage for either situation, draw the top card of the damage deck and resolve its effect.
Most damage cards are placed in the space that is being damaged, but some may be removed from the game after their effect is resolved.
Example: The Structural Damage card is placed in a damaged space ("Place this card in the space being damaged. Defeat each human in that space. Action: Discard influence cards from your hand that have a total value of 3 or more to repair this space. (Shuffle this card into the damage deck.)") while the Fuel Leak damage card is removed from the game after resolving ("Lose 1 fuel. Then remove this card from the game.").
While a space has a damage card in it, that space is considered damaged and players cannot use the action ability for that space.
If a damaged space would be damaged again, the closest undamaged interior space is damaged instead. If there are multiple undamaged spaces that are equally close, the space with the higher number printed on it is damaged instead.
While resolving an effect that damages the ship, if a Structural Damage card is drawn, roll a die and place the card in the interior space with the printed number that matches the result on the die.
Repair
Damaged spaces remain damaged until they are repaired. If there are ever six damaged spaces at the same time, the game ends. Ending the game is described below.
To repair a damaged space, a player can perform the action ability on a damage card in their space. When a space is repaired, the damage card in that space is shuffled back into the damage deck. A space with a Deep One in it cannot be repaired.
Example of Damaging the Ship
The current player must "damage the ship." They draw the top card of the damage deck, which is a Structural Damage card.
To determine which space is damaged, the current player rolls a die and gets a result of 6, which is the Galley. Because the Galley is already damaged, the current player must instead damage the closest undamaged space.
The Brig cannot be damaged, so it is not eligible. The Captain's Cabin (not pictured), Cargo Hold, and Boiler Room are all undamaged and adjacent to the Galley.
Of the eligible spaces, the Boiler Room has the highest number, so the current player places the damage card in that space.
Defeated
Throughout the game, characters, passengers, and Deep Ones can be defeated in various ways. The rules for defeating the various types of people and monsters are as follows:
- When a character is defeated, they are placed in Sick Bay.
- When a Deep One is defeated, it is returned to the supply.
- When a passenger is defeated, its token is flipped faceup. For each icon presented on the passenger token, one resource of the matching type is lost. When a resource is lost, that resource's dial is adjusted to show the new total. Then the passenger token is removed from the game.
- When a revealed traitor is defeated, they are placed in the Brig. Revealed traitors are described later.
Risking Passengers
Passengers are sometimes put at risk of Deep One attacks. When a game effect instructs a player to "risk a passenger," that player rolls a die and places a passenger token from the supply in the deck space that matches the die result. When instructed to risk multiple passengers, roll a die for each passenger risked and place the passenger in the deck space that matches the die result.
Ending the Game
The game ends immediately when any of the following conditions are met:
- There are waypoint cards in play with a total distance of 12 or more when the token on the travel track advances to the Arrive space.
- At least one resource dial reaches 0.
- There are six damage cards on the ship at the same time.
- Players must place Deep Ones on the board, but there are not enough Deep One figures in the supply to do so.
When one of these conditions is met, all players reveal all of their loyalty cards. If the first condition above was met, all players who have only Human loyalty cards win the game. Otherwise, all players with at least one Hybrid loyalty card win the game.
Reference Sheets
Unfathomable comes with two types of double-sided reference sheets that contain useful information for players.
- The player's reference sheet contains the action abilities for each of the ship's interior spaces on one side and contains rules that are relevant to human players' turns on the other.
- The traitor reference sheet contains rules for activating monsters on one side and rules for revealed traitors and resolving track movement on the other.
Time to Play!
Now you know enough about the game to start playing. Begin playing the game, and if you encounter a rule that you do not know yet, consult the Rules Reference or simply ignore the rule for the time being.
Continue taking turns until each player has had one turn. Then, it is time to introduce traitors into the game! Read the "Dealing Loyalty Card" sidebar below and the rest of this Learn to Play book to learn about traitors.
Dealing Loyalty Cards (Learning Game)
During each player's first turn, all players were working toward the survival of the humans. However, some players' true loyalties lie with the Deep Ones. Who those players are is determined by their loyalty cards.
During a standard game of Unfathomable, players know their loyalties from the start. Now that you have some experience with the game, it is time to discover your true loyalties by dealing out loyalty cards.
Upon receiving a loyalty card, some players might find their loyalties have changed and will now be working to sabotage the ship. People you previously knew you could trust may now be seeking your destruction. Or perhaps it is you who will hear the monarchs' call and must obey.
At the start of this game, you created a loyalty deck of Human and Hybrid loyalty cards. Deal each player one card from the loyalty deck now. Each player should look at their loyalty card for 30 seconds. It is important that everyone keep their eyes on their own cards, so that no information can be gleaned about other players' loyalties based on their reaction to their loyalty cards.
After 30 seconds, everyone places their loyalty cards facedown in their play area. Players should avoid looking at their loyalty cards during the game because that can be a giveaway for a player's loyalty.
Players can now continue the game following all the normal rules.
Traitors
Traitors typically take the form of Deep One and human hybrids. These hybrids look (mostly) human, but have Deep One genes, which can become expressed later in life. Hybrids have an instinctive loyalty to their underwater brethren and want to see the Atlantica sunk. Any player who has at least one Hybrid loyalty card is a traitor.
During the game, traitors have the opportunity to reveal themselves to be a traitor, as described in "Playing as a Traitor" below. However, until a traitor reveals themself, they are treated as a human for the purposes of all game effects — just like all players who have only Human loyalty cards.
As guidance for the potential traitors, "Playing as a Hidden Traitor" below gives some tips about how to covertly pursue a Deep One victory as a hidden traitor. "To Reveal or Not to Reveal" compares the advantages and disadvantages of revealing yourself as a traitor.
Dealing Loyalty Cards (Standard Game)
During a standard game of Unfathomable, each player is dealt a loyalty card during setup. Later each player is dealt an additional loyalty card during the awakening phase, which is described below.
When players are dealt a loyalty card, all players should look at their card for 30 seconds — players can set a timer or simply count to 30 out loud. During that 30 seconds, each player should look at that card the entire time. It is important for players to avoid looking elsewhere so they do not accidentally reveal their loyalty through facial expressions or body language.
After 30 seconds has passed, each player places their loyalty card facedown. Players should avoid looking at their loyalty card again during the game as doing so could give away their loyalty to the other players.
Playing as a Traitor
A player who has a Hybrid loyalty card is loyal to the Deep Ones. Their objective is to prevent the Atlantica from reaching its final destination. When a player receives a Hybrid loyalty card, they keep that card secret so that their loyalty is unknown to the other players. A player can play much or even all of the game with their loyalty hidden and work to sabotage the ship in secret.
If a traitor finds the other players are suspicious of them, or if the traitor prefers a more confrontational approach, that player can choose to reveal themself as a traitor. Doing so makes the player a revealed traitor and allows the player to overtly sabotage the ship. Once a player has revealed as a traitor, they cannot go back to being a hidden traitor.
Whether or not a traitor has revealed themselves during the game does not impact their eligibility to win the game. Having a Hybrid loyalty card means that the player must prevent the human players from achieving their objective in order to win the game, even if they never reveal as a traitor.
Playing as a Hidden Traitor
There are many ways a hidden traitor can sabotage the humans, such as:
- Sabotage Skill Checks: Players are not required to add supporting skill cards during skill checks. They can add opposing cards instead to reduce the group total for that skill check. Because cards are added to a skill check secretly along with two random cards from the chaos deck, it is possible for a traitor to sabotage a skill check without being caught. If more than two opposing skill cards are flipped faceup, a traitor must have played at least some of those cards.
- Play Inefficiently: There are many ways in which a hidden traitor can play inefficiently, thus reducing the humans' chance of survival. For example, players can lie about what skill cards they have or if given the opportunity to arrange cards in a deck, they can do so in a way that favors the traitors.
- Abuse the Power of a Title: A hidden traitor who has the Captain or Keeper of the Tome title can significantly disrupt the humans' strategy. For example, the Captain can ensure that the ship travels slowly by choosing waypoint cards with low distance values, and the Keeper can play spell cards from the spell deck that do more harm than good to the humans.
To Reveal or Not to Reveal
The decision about whether (and when) to reveal as a traitor is an important one for traitors. A traitor can reveal at any point during the game — if they can take an action at that point — but after they are revealed, there is no going back. Here are some reasons why a player may want to reveal and some reasons why they may want to remain hidden.
Revealing as a traitor confers a few benefits on the player:
- The traitor can attack human players directly.
- The traitor can draw and use treachery cards, which have negative effects for the humans.
- The traitor can block humans from using the action ability in the space where the traitor's standee is located.
- The traitor can more easily escape the Brig.
- If the traitor was dealt more than one Hybrid loyalty card, revealing as a traitor allows the traitor to choose another player to become their ally by passing their extra loyalty cards to that player.
Revealed traitors, however, have some limitations that they do not have as an unrevealed traitor:
- The traitor does not draw a mythos card during their turn.
- The traitor can only add one skill card to each skill check.
- The traitor can no longer use abilities on their character sheet or in their space.
- The traitor can be directly attacked by human players.
Traitors should consider these factors when deciding whether and when to reveal as a traitor.
Awakening Phase
When the Atlantica has reached the halfway point in its journey, a number of people aboard the ship feel something they never knew was there awakening inside them...
When the waypoint cards in play have a total distance of six or more, the Atlantica is halfway to its destination. Immediately after resolving the waypoint card that brings that total to six or more, each player is dealt one loyalty card from the loyalty deck. A player who has both a Hybrid and Human loyalty card is loyal to the Deep Ones. Because there are no cards remaining in the loyalty deck, at least one player is now a traitor loyal to the Deep Ones.
Example: After resolving the effects of the Stormy Seas waypoint card (distance 4, "Lose 2 fuel. Damage the ship."), the distance traveled is six or more, so the players immediately resolve the awakening phase.
Revealed Traitors
To reveal as a traitor, a player with a Hybrid loyalty card performs the "reveal as a traitor" action by following these steps:
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The player reveals one (and only one) of their Hybrid loyalty cards.
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The player resolves the "when you reveal as a traitor" ability on their character sheet.
Example (Arjun Singh's reveal ability, "Direct Off Course"): "When you reveal as a traitor, if you are not in the Brig, reset the travel track."
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If the ship has traveled less than 12 distance, the player gives each of their unrevealed loyalty cards to one other player of their choice. If one of those cards is a Hybrid loyalty card, this allows the player to choose another player to become their ally in sinking the ship.
If any loyalty cards are given away, all players should take 30 seconds to review their loyalty cards so that the player receiving the cards can look at them without being watched.
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If the player has one or more titles, that player loses each of their titles.
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The player removes their feat card from the game (if they still have it). If they have any mythos cards in their play area, they discard them. Then, they take a traitor reference sheet.
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If the player is not in the Brig, they may discard any number of skill cards from their hand to draw an equal number of cards from the treachery skill deck.
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The player adds a traitor ring to their standee.
After these steps are completed, the current turn resumes. If the player has any actions remaining in their turn, they can perform those remaining actions using the action options for revealed traitors described below.
Traitor Rings
Traitor rings are used to indicate which characters are revealed traitors. When a player reveals as a traitor, add a traitor ring to that player's standee.
Turn Structure for Revealed Traitors
After a player reveals themself to be a traitor, their turn functions differently than when they were loyal humans. A traitor's turn comprises the following steps, which are performed in order:
- Receive Skills
- Action
- Discard
Each step is described in more detail below.
Step One: Receive Skills
Just like a human, a revealed traitor draws the number and type of skill cards shown in their skill set. However, they can choose not to draw any number of those cards. Then, for each card they did not draw, they may draw a card from the treachery deck instead.
Treachery cards have abilities that only revealed traitors can use and always count against skill checks.
Step Two: Action
The player performs two actions of their choice one at a time. A player may perform the same action twice. The actions a player can perform on their turn are: move, attack a human, defeat a passenger, or use an action ability.
Move
The player can spend one action to move to any space on the ship except the Brig or Sick Bay. They cannot move to a water space or the Deep.
If a player is in the Brig, they cannot move out of that space unless they discard skill cards from their hand that have a total value of 12 or more. The player must discard all the skill cards at the same time immediately before moving out of the Brig.
Players cannot use the ability in a named space if a revealed traitor is in that space.
Attack a Human
The player can spend one action to attack a human in their space. To attack a human, the player rolls the die and if the result is 6 or higher, the human player is defeated.
Defeat a Passenger
The player can spend one action to defeat a passenger token in their space. They can only perform this action if there is not a human in their space. If there are multiple passengers in the player's space, they choose which passenger to defeat.
Use an Action Ability
The player can spend one action to use an action ability on a card in their hand or their play area, but they cannot use action abilities on their character sheet or in their space.
Example ("Ransack," Treachery): "Play at the start of your Action step; If you are in the Chapel, lose 1 sanity. If you are in the Galley, lose 1 food. If you are in the Boiler Room, lose 1 fuel. Then end your Action step." When a revealed traitor plays the Ransack treachery card, they do not get to perform actions on their turn.
Some treachery cards are played at the start of a revealed traitor's Action step, like the one shown above. After resolving one of these cards, the player's action step ends, meaning the player can neither perform their two actions nor play other treachery cards during their Action step.
Step Three: Discard
Each player — whether they are human or traitor — that has more than 10 cards in hand must choose and discard cards until they have 10.
Interacting with Traitors
With traitors wreaking havoc around the ship, the humans need some ways to handle them.
Any player who is not revealed as a traitor can spend one action to attack a revealed traitor. To do so, the attacking player must be in the same space as the revealed traitor. Then, the attacking player rolls a die. If the result is 6 or greater, the revealed traitor is defeated and sent to the Brig.
The Brig
Hidden traitors are more difficult for other players to manage because their loyalty is a secret. A player can attempt to imprison a player they suspect of being a traitor in the Brig by using the ability of the Captain's Cabin.
Action for the Captain's Cabin: "Action: Choose a character and resolve this skill check. If the check passes, move the chosen character to the Brig." (Target 8; Supporting: influence, observation.)
When a player is moved to the Brig, they lose any titles they have.
The following rules apply to players while they are in the Brig (these rules are summarized on the player reference sheet):
- The player cannot leave the Brig normally.
- A human must use the Brig's action ability and pass a skill check to leave.
- A revealed traitor must discard cards to leave.
- The player cannot add more than one card into each skill check.
- The player cannot use abilities on item cards in their play area.
- Many player abilities have the requirement "if you are not in the Brig." These abilities cannot be used while in the Brig. This includes all negative effects of traitor reveal actions. (Traitors can still reveal while in the Brig but cannot resolve the negative effects of their reveal ability when they do so.)
- During the player's mythos step (if they are human), they do not resolve the crisis on the mythos card they draw and only resolve the activation and track icons on that card. If there is a choice of tracks icon, the player with the Captain title chooses which track to advance instead of the current player.
Being in the Brig can effectively neutralize a hidden traitor's ability to sabotage the ship. However, if you send an innocent person there, the game can become more difficult for the humans.
Secrecy
A key element of Unfathomable is the uncertainty, intrigue and paranoia surrounding the identity of the traitors. To facilitate these feelings, guidelines about how players can communicate are needed to allow hidden traitors the opportunity to maintain their cover while trying to sabotage the ship.
The general guidelines for player communication are as follows:
- Players are not required to tell the truth at any time, unless providing open information. For example, a player must reply truthfully when asked how many cards they have in hand.
- When a player has an opportunity to look at cards in a deck, they do so in secret and cannot show or read those cards to the other players.
- Players should speak in generalities about any hidden information they may be privy to so that those who are telling the truth are indistinguishable from those who are lying.
- When players ask each other about hidden information, they can only ask questions that can be answered with a "yes" or a "no." The player being asked does not have to reply truthfully or even at all.
- Players cannot ask another player directly about that player's loyalty. However, players may imply, insinuate, or outright accuse their fellow players of being traitors.
- During skill checks, players cannot say what types and values of cards they are adding to the skill check. They may give general information, such as "I am helping a little" or "I am helping a lot." When all of the cards in a skill check are revealed, players may not say which of those cards they added to the check.
These are not intended as strict rules. Rather, they are guidelines provided to function as a starting point from which your group can decide upon the rules that work best for you. Follow these guidelines for your first game and then adjust them as you see fit. For more detailed guidelines to follow regarding communication, see Appendix III of the Rules Reference.
Future Plays
You now know the basics of playing Unfathomable. If you have questions during play, consult the glossary in the Rules Reference.
For the first teaching game, a handful of rules were changed or omitted to make the game easier to learn. For future plays, introduce the following rules for the complete experience:
- Each player is dealt one loyalty card during setup, instead of at the end of the first round. This means that there can be one or more traitors in the game from the start. Players are still dealt a second loyalty card during the awakening phase.
- When drawing starting hands during setup, each player except for the first player draws any three cards of their choice from their skill set, instead of drawing their full skill set.
- In four- and six-player games, a special loyalty card, the Cultist loyalty card, is added to the loyalty deck. See Object of the Game in the Rules Reference for details on this loyalty card.
Clarifications
Terms to Know
The following terms may come up on components during your first game:
- Adjacent: Two spaces are adjacent if they share a common border. Spaces that share only a corner are not adjacent. A component is adjacent to the same spaces and components as the space it occupies. Components in adjacent spaces are adjacent to each other.
- Enemy: For a human, an enemy is either a Deep One or a revealed traitor. For a revealed traitor, an enemy is a human.
Improvement Items
Some items have the Improvement keyword. These items have a skill shown at the bottom. While that item is active, the skill shown on it is added to the player's skill set.
Each player can only have one active Improvement item at a time. An Improvement item is active if it is faceup in the player's play area. If it is facedown, it is inactive.
At the start of a player's turn and any time a player gains an Improvement item, they choose any one of their Improvement items to turn faceup and turn all of their other Improvement items facedown.
Quick Reference
Loyalty Card Distributions (Standard Game)
| Player Count | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hybrid Loyalty Cards | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Cultist Loyalty Cards | 0 | 1* | 0 | 1* |
| Human Loyalty Cards | 5 | 6 | 8 | 9 |
*For your first game, replace the Cultist loyalty card with an additional Human loyalty card.
Activating Monsters Summary
Deep Ones: The current player activates each Deep One in each space. Each Deep One resolves one effect, prioritized as follows:
- Attack a human in the Deep One's space.
- Defeat a passenger in the Deep One's space.
- Damage the Deep One's space (if space is interior).
- Move to an adjacent space based on the Deep One's current location:
- If in a water or deck space, follow the movement arrow.
- If in an interior space, move toward the closest undamaged interior space with the highest number.
If there are no Deep Ones on the board (except for in the Deep), add two Deep Ones to the Deep. Then, if there are four or more Deep Ones in the Deep, roll a die and move all monsters — including Mother Hydra and Father Dagon — from the Deep to the water space in front of the ship that matches the result.
Father Dagon: Spawn two Deep Ones in the deck space adjacent to Father Dagon. Then move Father Dagon one space toward the front of the ship.
If Father Dagon is in the Deep, spawn two Deep Ones in the Deep. Then, if there are four or more Deep Ones in the Deep, roll a die and move Father Dagon and all Deep Ones from the Deep to the water space in front of the ship that matches the result.
Mother Hydra: Damage the interior space closest to Mother Hydra. (If already damaged, damage the closest undamaged interior space with the highest number.) Then move Mother Hydra one space toward the front of the ship.
If Mother Hydra is in the Deep, spawn two Deep Ones in the Deep. Then, if there are four or more Deep Ones in the Deep, roll a die and move Mother Hydra and all Deep Ones from the Deep to the water space in front of the ship that matches the result.
Credits
Game Design: Tony Fanchi Based on Game Design by: Corey Konieczka Executive Game Designer: Nate French Head of Studio: Chris Gerber
TM/® & © 2021 Fantasy Flight Games.