Van Helsing Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Characters
• Goals of the Players
• Important Notes
• Setup
• Turn Order
• Turn Actions
• Movement
  • Map Legend
  • Special Features of Vampire Movement
• Search
• Using Items
• Attack
  • Hunter
  • Vampire
• Combat
  • Attack with Claws (for a Vampire) or a Weapon (for a Hunter)
  • Vampire Bite
• Count's Brides
• Health Points
  • Vampire
  • Hunter
• Turning into a Vampire
• End of the Game
• Tips for Beginners
• Description of Useful Items

Components

• 1 Game Board
• 34 "Useful Items" tokens
• 7 "Hero Items" tokens (with purple background)
• 7 "Lock" tokens
• 5 "Health" tokens
• 5 Hero cards
• 13 hero miniatures: 4 vampire hunters, Count Dracula and 8 of his brides
• 1 die
• 1 notepad for recording hidden movement
• Pencils (not included; needed for recording movement)

Characters

In the game there are 5 heroes: Count Dracula and four vampire hunters – Dr. Van Helsing, Jonathan Harker, Lord Godalming and Mina Murray.

• With 2 players, one player controls Dracula and the other controls all four hunters.
• With 3 players, one player controls Dracula, and each of the other two players controls 2 hunters.
• With 4 players, one player controls Dracula, and the remaining players divide the hunters among themselves by agreement; one of them will receive 2 heroes.
• With 5 players, each player may choose which hero they will play.

Goals of the Players

• The hunters must destroy Count Dracula or 5 of his brides.
• Count Dracula must turn all the hunters into vampires, or bring 4 of his brides to his coffin (room No. 34).

Important Notes

At the start of the game the hunters are much weaker than Count Dracula. To have a chance of winning, they must find as many different useful items as possible that are hidden in the castle, which are useful for fighting vampires. The hunters must act very quickly, because the Count will always be somewhere nearby, choosing a suitable moment to attack and trying to turn them into vampires. But Count Dracula will sometimes have to pull away from the hunt, because his brides also need attention. As soon as the Count manages to bring 4 of them to his coffin, he wins the battle and the game.

Important! In the game, besides Dracula himself, there are 2 other types of vampires: the Count's brides, whom the hunters must also track down, and the servants, which are hunters who have been turned into vampires. When the rules speak of vampires, they mean Dracula, his brides and his servants alike!

For the players' convenience, all rooms and areas in the castle, as well as the places where heroes may be found outside it, are numbered. This helps to orient yourself better and move faster through the maze of corridors of the gloomy castle and its courtyard.

Setup

• The player who will play Count Dracula takes one notepad for recording a hero's movements. It is necessary to have several pencils at hand in advance, because there may be situations where several sheets must be filled in at once.
• Dracula's miniature is placed on his coffin (room No. 34), and all the hunters' miniatures are placed before the castle gates (the place marked No. 0). Each player takes the hero card of their hero and places it in front of themselves.
• The hunters decide among themselves how to distribute the 6 "Hero Items" tokens (with purple background). Count Dracula must not know which item goes to which hero; the "Hero Items" tokens are placed face down on the hero cards. (Because there are 4 heroes and 6 items left after the coachman's hasty departure, the participants receive different numbers of items at the start of the game.)
• The remaining 34 "Useful Items" tokens are thoroughly shuffled and placed face down on the spaces provided for them on the game board, marked with small dotted squares. The tokens must be placed so that they do not cover the room number in the castle or the place outside.
• The 7 "Lock" tokens are placed on the game board as shown in the illustration: 3 on the first floor of the castle, 3 on the second floor and 1 on the third.
• Each player places a "Health" token on their hero card so that it points to the largest number of health points the hero can have: 5 points for Count Dracula and 4 points for each hunter.
• Count Dracula takes 1 "Bat" token (with purple background) and places it on his hero card.

Turn Order

• Count Dracula always takes the first turn. Then the hunters take turns in order, starting with the player sitting to the left of the Count, and continuing clockwise. This turn order stays the same until the end of the game.
• Important! The sequence in which the hero cards lie on the table effectively indicates the turn order. This is especially important when one player performs actions for several heroes.
• The Count's brides that have not yet met him, and therefore move independently of him, always act immediately after Dracula. Their actions are carried out by the player who controls the Count.
• A hero's health points determine how many action points the hero has during that turn (health points = action points). At the start of the game Count Dracula has 5 action points, and each hunter has only 4.

Turn Actions

During its turn a hero may perform the following actions:

• Movement
• Search
• Use an item
• Attack

Each action costs 1 action point. During its turn a player may use fewer action points than the hero has, but unused action points are not kept for the next turn. A player may perform the same action several times in one turn (for example, attack an enemy twice) if there are enough action points for it.

Movement

• To move a hero into an adjacent room or area of the castle costs 1 action point; after that the hero's miniature is moved to the chosen place. The boundaries between adjacent rooms and areas are marked by walls or dotted lines. In addition, all rooms and areas, as well as the places around the castle where heroes may be found, are numbered.
• Heroes cannot enter rooms through walls or windows.
• At the start of the game most of the doors in the castle are open. Only vampires (Count Dracula, his brides and hunters who have been turned into vampires) may pass through locked doors, marked with "Lock" tokens; the "Lock" tokens remain on the game board. When the hunters find the "Key Ring" token, they can open these doors too.
• The castle has 3 floors. Heroes may move between floors by the staircases located in the small round towers.
• The castle has a secret passage from the Count's coffin (room No. 34) to his tomb (area No. 5). When a hero is able to use this passage, it simply spends 1 action point and moves from room No. 34 to area No. 5, or vice versa. At the start of the game only vampires know about this passage, and they may use it in both directions. The second way to reach Count Dracula's refuge (room No. 33) is the staircase in the small tower (area No. 35). However, its door is locked with a "Lock" token at the start of the game.
• When a hero meets an enemy in a room (the Count's brides are also enemies of the hunters), it cannot go any farther. The hero must either stop, or retreat into the room it came from, spending 1 more action point for this. Retreating in any other direction is not allowed.
• A hero may leave a room where an enemy is present only after carrying out at least 1 attack, or at the start of its next turn.

Map Legend

• Door
• Wall
• Windows

Special Features of Vampire Movement

• Count Dracula and the hunters who have become vampires have one special feature: they can turn into mist. This allows them to pass into the locked rooms of the castle and very often to remain unnoticed by the hunters.
• However, at the start of each of its turns a vampire must show everyone where it is hiding in the castle. The player must place the vampire's miniature in the room where it is at that moment.
• Then, when the player decides to move the hero, they remove the vampire's miniature from the game board and write down, so that no one can see, the number of the room where the hero will end its movement in the movement notepad. So that the other players cannot guess from the direction of the player's gaze where the hero will finish its move, the player may cover their eyes with a hand.
• Inside the castle, vampires become visible when hunters are in the same room as them. Doors between rooms always hinder the hunters: a hunter cannot look through a door into the next room to see whether a vampire is there.
• Outside the castle (including the inner courtyard) it is easier for the hunters: a hunter can see a vampire not only where the hunter itself is, but also nearby (that is, in the neighbouring area). A hunter inside the castle can always see a vampire in the courtyard through a window, but cannot look through a window into the castle. Any doors prevent the hunters from seeing vampires, regardless of whether the hunter is inside the castle or outside it.
• As soon as a vampire comes into a hunter's field of view, it must stop and meet the enemy; its miniature is placed on the game board. A vampire also reveals itself immediately if, during a hunter's turn, that hunter ends up in a position where it can see its enemy.
• When a vampire leaves the room or area in which it had to become visible, it must name the exit it used, thereby indicating the direction of its movement. After this it becomes invisible again.
• In addition, all hunters immediately learn where a vampire is when it searches a room for useful items (the player uses the "Search" action).

Search

• All heroes may try to find useful items, marked by the corresponding tokens in the rooms of the castle. After searching a room, the player turns over the "Useful Items" token that was lying in that place and shows it to all players. After this the player may decide whether to take the item or leave the token face up in the room.
• Important! To take the found item in the same turn, the player does not have to spend any additional action points.
• A hunter may carry as many items as it currently has health points.
• Example: if a hunter has 4 health points this turn, it can carry no more than 4 items.
• If a player decides to take the found item with them, they place its token face down on their hero card, in a free space. Hunters cannot take the "Stairs Down", "Bride", "Bat" or "Pool of Blood" tokens with them; these tokens remain face up on the game board where they were found.
• Count Dracula and his vampire servants may take with them only the "Bat" and "Bride" tokens (the "Pool of Blood" token may not be carried away from the room where it was found at all). The "Bat" or "Bride" tokens are placed on the hero card, meaning these creatures follow their master. A vampire's retinue is not limited: players may take any number of "Bat" or "Bride" tokens. Companions of Dracula or of a former hunter who became a vampire move together with them without spending action points; they are invisible on the game board in the same way as their masters, and they can pass through locked doors.

Using Items

• Items whose tokens have a number in the corner may be used during the turn by spending 1 action point.
• To use an item whose token lies on the hero's card, the player must roll the die. The hero has succeeded in using the item if the value rolled is equal to or less than the number shown on the token.
• Example: a hunter urgently needs an antidote. The player rolls the die; the hero will restore 2 health points if the die shows "3" or less.
• Some items, whose tokens are marked with an asterisk ("*"), can be used only once. After use the item token is removed from the game, even if the die roll failed and the item did not help the hero (see "Description of Useful Items").
• Example: after use (whether or not the hero's health improved), the "Antidote" token is removed from the game.
• Items whose tokens have no numbers do not require any action points to use — these items always help the hero.
• Example: a hero has no action points at all, but the "Cross" token can still be useful to it when attacking a vampire.
• If a player decides to pick up an item or pass it to another player, they must spend 1 action point. The exception is when the player decides to take the item immediately upon finding it, that is, while using the "Search" action.
• To give an item to another player, both heroes must be in the same room or area. The player receiving the item may give one of their own items back in exchange, without spending action points.
• To pick up an item, the hero must be in the room or area where the open token lies. Vampires do not spend action points if they want to enlarge their retinue by taking "Bat" or "Bride" tokens.
• Players may refuse items they do not need. To leave an unneeded item, the player does not have to spend action points. The token of such an item is placed face up in the room or area where the item was left. Now any other player may take it.

Attack

Hunters and vampires attack in different ways. If a hero meets several enemies at the same time, the player decides for themselves which of them the hero will attack this turn.

• Important! Hunters may attack the Count's brides who accompany him.

Hunter

To attack a vampire, a hunter must have at least some weapon. Before the attack, the player shows the weapon with which they will fight by turning over its token on the hero card. A hunter has 2 ways to attack a vampire:

• At close range, if the hunter and the vampire are in the same room or area.
• From a distance, if the hunter and the vampire are in neighbouring places. At least one of them must be outside the castle, and the hunter must have a weapon for ranged combat (a rifle, a pistol or a crossbow – see "Description of Useful Items").

Vampire

A vampire may attack only if it is in the same room as the hunter and next to it. A vampire either wounds the hunter with its claws or bites it, since it cannot pick up and use a weapon. Before the attack, the player must declare how the vampire is going to attack the hunter.

Combat

Attack with Claws (for a Vampire) or a Weapon (for a Hunter)

The player who decides to attack an opponent rolls the die. For the hero's attack to succeed, the value rolled must be equal to or less than the hero's strength.

• The strength with which a hero attacks with a weapon is shown on the weapon's token.
• The strength of a vampire's attack is always equal to its health points for this turn (the Count's brides always attack with strength "1").
• Example: Van Helsing meets Count Dracula and decides to attack him with a pistol, whose attack strength is "2". For the Count to be wounded, the die must show "1" or "2". Any other value means the hunter rushed and missed. Count Dracula has not been wounded before this battle, so he has 5 health points and therefore attacks with strength "5". His attack on the hunter succeeds if the die shows any value from "1" to "5".
• If a hunter attacks a vampire from a distance, the strength of its weapon is reduced by "1".
• Example: Van Helsing shoots through a window at a vampire with a pistol (attack strength "2"). For the enemy to be wounded, the die must show "1"; any other value (from "2" to "6") means the hunter missed.
• If the attack succeeds, the enemy is wounded and loses 1 health point (the exception is a vampire attacked with an aspen stake, see "Description of Useful Items"). The "Health" token on the hero's card moves 1 space to the left.
• Example: Van Helsing has been wounded for the second time, so his "Health" token moves from space "3" to space "2".
• If after being wounded a hunter has more items than health points, it must give up something. The item token the hunter is forced to leave is placed face up in the room or area where the fight took place.

Vampire Bite

When a vampire bites its victim, the victim's ability to resist matters much more than the strength of the vampire itself, and that ability depends on the victim's health points.

• That is why, in such an attack on a hunter, the die may "shoot" through a window but not through a door. (Translator's note: this sentence is transcribed as printed; the Russian text is ambiguous about how it applies.)
• That is why the die must be rolled by the hunter (not by the vampire) to determine whether the hunter has avoided the bite.
• For the hunter to avoid the vampire's bite, the die must show a value equal to or less than the hunter's health points for this turn. If the hunter is lucky and the vampire's attack fails, the vampire immediately loses 1 health point. If the value rolled is greater than the hunter's health points, the vampire has bitten the hunter and the wound is serious: the hunter immediately loses 2 health points.
• The weaker the hunter (the fewer its health points), the easier it is for the vampire to bite it, and the more effective this way of attacking is. Moreover, a badly wounded and exhausted hunter may be turned into a vampire (see "Turning into a Vampire").
• Example: Van Helsing has only 2 health points left. For him to avoid the vampire's bite, the die must show "1" or "2". With any other value, he loses 2 health points.

Count's Brides

• As soon as one of the players, after searching a room (using the "Search" action), reveals a "Bride of the Count" token, another hero appears on the game board: the token is immediately replaced by the Count's bride miniature. Count Dracula will control her actions. Each bride has 1 action point.
• If the Count's bride is in the same room as Count Dracula or one of his vampire servants, she may become their companion. In that case her token is placed on the hero card of the corresponding hero, and her miniature is removed from the game board. This action requires no action points. Companions move together with Count Dracula or his vampire servant (they are equally invisible during movement), and their actions are completely determined by the player who controls the vampire.
• Important! Only as a companion of a vampire can a bride enter a room where the Holy Relics are located, because for movement she does not have to spend action points. In all other cases this room is unavailable to her (see "Description of Useful Items").
• The Count's brides may attack an enemy once per turn, since they have only 1 health point. Their attack is successful only if the die shows "1" (they have 1 health point, so their strength is "1"). The Count's brides attack hunters exactly as the other vampires do.
• Important! If a Count's bride tries to bite a hunter and her attack fails, she dies, because she must lose her only health point. If the Count's brides attack hunters while being companions of a vampire, they do so during that vampire's turn, in the order determined by the player who controls that vampire.
• A vampire may expel a bride from its retinue, removing her from its companions. In this case the bride's miniature is placed in the room where the vampire left her, and her token is removed from the hero card. The bride then acts as an independent hero, subject to the player who controls Count Dracula, and moves after him.

Health Points

Vampire

A vampire may restore lost health points by being next to Count Dracula's coffin (room No. 34). Each turn that a vampire spends near the coffin without taking any other action gives it 1 health point. A vampire cannot have more health points than it had at the start of the game (hunters that have been turned into vampires have a maximum of 3 health points).

When a vampire loses its last health point, it is considered destroyed and its miniature is removed from the game board.

Hunter

Each hunter cannot have more than 4 health points.

If a hunter receives mortal wounds after a vampire has struck it with its claws, the hunter dies and its miniature is removed from the game board. If the hunter dies from a vampire's bite, it becomes a servant of Count Dracula itself.

Turning into a Vampire

A hunter who receives mortal wounds from a vampire's bite becomes a vampire and a servant of Count Dracula. From then on it plays on the side of the vampires against its former friends.

• The new servant of the Count immediately receives 2 health points. All items the hunter had are left by the new vampire in the place where its death occurred: their tokens are placed face up, and now the other hunters may take them.
• If there are only 2 players in the game, the new vampire servant is controlled by Count Dracula.
• If there are 3 or 4 players, Count Dracula controls the new vampire servant, and the player who has lost their hero takes some other hero, provided that until then someone was playing two hunters. If the player cannot take another hunter, they continue to control their hero but must help Count Dracula.
• If there are 5 players, the player who has lost their hunter must switch to the side of Count Dracula and control the vampire servant.
• In any case the hero cards do not change their position on the table, and the turn order remains the same. The player who controls the new vampire servant takes a notepad for recording movements and records the moves of its hero in the same way Count Dracula does.
• At the end of its next turn, the new vampire servant gains 1 more health point; thus a vampire who was a hunter before its transformation may have a maximum of 3 health points.

End of the Game

The game ends if:

• The hunters have killed Count Dracula;
• The hunters have killed 5 of the Count's brides;
• Count Dracula has turned all the hunters into vampires (or killed them);
• Count Dracula and 4 of his brides have gathered together around the coffin (room No. 34).

Important! The hunters may try to set an ambush for Count Dracula in the corridors leading to the room with the coffin, but waiting for the Count inside that room itself makes no sense, because the game ends as soon as Count Dracula is together with the brides around the coffin, regardless of whether there are hunters in the room or not. In the first two cases the hunters win; in the last two, Count Dracula and his servants win.

Tips for Beginners

• In the first games we advise you to study the game board carefully, to learn about all the possible corridors and dead ends in the castle and around it.
• At the start of the game Count Dracula significantly outmatches the hunters in strength and should try to attack them as much as possible before the hunters find weapons and various useful items to fight the vampires. On the other hand, the hunters can defend themselves quite successfully if they do not move too far away from each other, since the Count does not want to lose even 1 health point, because this greatly limits his speed of movement and strength of attack.
• If Count Dracula has been wounded, the hunters may persistently pursue him so as not to give him a chance to reach the coffin or the pool of blood and restore his lost health points.

Recommended reading: "Dracula", Bram Stoker, 1897.

Description of Useful Items

Each item is listed with its count in brackets. The list is headed "Chance of use"; the chance-of-use values are shown graphically on the tokens and are not reproduced in the text.

• Holy Water (1x): Removed from the game immediately after use.
• Crossbow (2x) (1 shot per turn): "-1" when attacking from a distance.
• Aspen Stake (1x): On a successful attack, removes 2 health points from the vampire.
• Rifle (1x): "-1" when attacking from a distance.
• Pistol (2x): "-1" when attacking from a distance.
• Dagger (2x).
• Pool of Blood (3x): The vampire gains 1 health point at the end of its turn. Removed from the game immediately after use.
• Bat (3x): The vampire may roll the die a second time itself, or force a hunter who attacks it or its companions to repeat its roll. Removed from the game immediately after use.
• Bride (8x): Has 1 health point and may become a companion of the Count or of a vampire servant. As soon as the token is revealed, it is replaced by the bride's miniature on the game board.
• Cross (1x): The vampire spends 2 action points to attack a hunter who has a cross. The Count's brides may not attack this hunter.
• First Aid Kit (5x): The hunter gains 1 health point at the end of its turn. Removed from the game immediately after use.
• Antidote (3x): The hunter gains 2 health points at the end of its turn. Removed from the game immediately after use.