Vast: The Mysterious Manor
Vast: The Mysterious Manor Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
- Golden Rules
- Glossary
- Components
- Setup
- How to Play
- The Map
- Attacking Enemies
- A Few More Concepts
- The Paladin
- The Skeletons
- The Spider
- The Manor
- The Warlock
- Example Round 2
- Difficulty Variants
- Player Counts and Role Mixes
- The Paladin's Journey (Solo)
- Traveling Between Vast Games
- Credits
- Key Action Reference
Golden Rules
This chapter will help you understand some foundational assumptions of this rulebook.
If this is your first time reading this rulebook, you don't need to read this section yet. If you're having trouble interpreting the rules, though, return here as you wish.
Public Information
All components are public information, except these:
- Cards in a player's hand, which are visible only to that player.
- Cards in decks or the Lit sides of Dark tiles.
Rules for Components
All components are limited by their included quantities. If you run out of any component during play, do not use proxy components.
Hand sizes are unlimited unless otherwise noted.
A dial or tracking cube (such as Health or Seals) cannot be moved outside its boundaries.
If you ever need to draw from an empty deck, shuffle its discard pile into a new deck and continue drawing. If its discard pile is empty, you cannot draw these cards.
Reading These Rules
Here are some principles for interpreting the rules.
Q1. I'd like to do something, and the relevant rules don't say that I can't do it. Can I do it? A1. Within the confines of those rules, yes!
Q2. Can another player not consent to a particular action? A2. Nothing in Vast requires consent. Just do the thing.
Q3. It seems like something should happen, but the rule doesn't tell me to do that thing. What do I do? A3. It doesn't happen. Follow the word of the rules, not your instinct.
Q4. A rule uses a specific term or action. Does this also include a closely related term or action? A4. Nope. Assume we mean only the stated term and not any related terms, no matter how closely related.
Q5. Why is some text italicized? A5. Italicized text is a reminder for another rule. It does not supersede the original, non-italicized rule.
Glossary
- Adjacent: Each space touching the edge of a given space. (Diagonal spaces are not adjacent.)
- Crypt: A square space on the map without a tile.
- Empty: Contains no pieces.
- Enemy: A piece that is not your own.
- Figure: A cardboard standee or plastic miniature.
- Gain: Increase the prompted dial or track, or place the prompted piece in the prompted box on your board.
- Grounds: A rectangular space around the outside of the map, bounded by hedges, adjacent to multiple crypts.
- Map: The shared board on which pieces are placed and move around.
- Marker: A cardboard piece that is not a figure, tile, or token.
- Lose: Decrease the prompted dial or track, or remove the prompted piece from the prompted box on your board.
- Open edge: A tile edge not showing a printed wall and not touching an adjacent tile edge showing a printed wall.
- Piece: Any game component.
- Place: Take the prompted piece from the owner's supply and add it to the prompted space.
- Remove: Return the prompted piece to the owner's supply.
- Return to the box: Eliminate the piece from play for the remainder of the game.
- Space: Any bounded shape on the map, whether or not it contains a tile.
- Spend: Decrease the prompted dial or track, or return the prompted piece to your supply.
- Surrounding: Each space touching the edge or corner of a given space. (Diagonal spaces are surrounding.)
- Tile: A square cardboard piece equal in size to a crypt.
- Token: A round cardboard piece.
- Wall: A tile edge showing a printed wall or touching an adjacent tile edge showing a printed wall.
Rules Disagreements
If a card contradicts any other rule, follow the card. If a variant contradicts a core rule, follow the variant. If a role contradicts a core rule, follow the role.
If a role does not contradict a core rule, and you can follow both the core rule and the role, you must follow both. If you cannot follow both, follow the role.
If you still have questions, check out our website for clarifications and errata: www.ledergames.com
Components
(Not shown to scale.) Every figure except the pillar of light and eggs includes both a standee and a miniature. You may play with either. Additional miniatures are included in the expansion, Vast: The Haunted Hallways.
Paladin
- Figures: Paladin, Pillar of Light
- Player Board and Grit Dial
- Cards: 7 Treasure, 9 Favor
- Tokens: 8 Light, 5 Fury
- Cubes and Other: 7 Hero, 1 Health
Skeletons
- Figures: 5 Skeletons
- Player Board and Stability Dial
- Cards: 5 Skeleton, 15 Gear
- Tokens: 2 Cackling Skulls
- Cubes and Other: 1 Spawn Die, 4 Pit Markers
Spider
- Figures: 5 Spiderlings, 1 Giant Spider, 1 Sorcerer, 3 Eggs
- 3 Player Boards and Terror Dial
- Cards: 12 Power
- Tokens: 15 Blood, 10 Web
Manor
- Figure: Wraith
- Player Board
- Cards: 13 Ritual
- Cubes and Other: 6 Portent, 3 Omen, 1 Seals
Warlock
- Figure: Warlock
- Player Board
- Cards: 10 Spell
- Cubes and Other: 20 Curse Markers, 5 Magic, 1 Spells
Each role also has a setup sheet.
Shared Components
- 9 Poltergeist Figures
- 8 Breach Markers
- 6 Force Wall Markers
- 10 Treasure Markers
Tiles
- Entrance (1)
- Starting Pit (1)
- Armory (4)
- Poltergeist (9)
- Treasure (6)
- Shrine (6)
- Blood (12)
- Pit (12)
Setup
1. Place Map and Starting Tiles
Place tiles on the map board as follows:
- Place the starting Pit tile (marked "S") face up on the center space.
- Place the 4 Armory tiles (crossed swords) facedown on the four matching spaces.
- Place the Entrance tile (marked "E") face up on the space above the staircase at the bottom, with the wall facing the center space.
- Collect the other 45 tiles, shuffle them facedown into a stack, and place six facedown as shown on the map diagram.
2. Collect Supplies
Collect supplies of poltergeist figures and treasure, breach, and force wall markers near the map.
3. Set Up the Player Roles
Each player chooses a role and follows the instructions described on its setup sheet. If you have fewer than 5 players, read the "Player Counts and Role Mixes" chapter for more instructions.
How to Play
Vast is an asymmetric game, so each role plays and wins in a very different way. We will describe these differences fully in each role's chapter later. For now, know this:
- The Paladin wants to kill the Spider.
- The Skeletons want to kill the Paladin.
- The Spider wants to gain 12 Terror and then escape the Manor.
- The Manor wants to complete 14 Seals.
- The Warlock wants to dominate 5 pieces.
The Paladin takes the first turn, then the Skeletons, then the Spider, then the Manor, and finally the Warlock. Play continues until a player wins.
The Map
The map of the manor is a grid of spaces called crypts, surrounded by the grounds separated by hedges.
Throughout the game, crypts will be filled with tiles. The grounds cannot hold tiles.
Moving Around the Map
Each role can move around the map in various ways.
Each time you move, pick up your figure and place it on an adjacent tile. (Diagonals are not adjacent.)
You cannot cross walls or enter crypts or the grounds.
- Tokens: Each time you enter a tile with any enemy tokens, remove one of each enemy token there.
Revealing the Map
At the start of the game, most tiles are on their Dark side.
Roles can reveal Dark tiles to flip them to their Lit side, as follows:
- Flip and orient the tile. You may rotate it as you choose, but at least 1 open edge (edge without a wall) must touch an open edge of an adjacent tile if possible.
- Fill crypts on open edges. Take Dark tiles from their stack and place 1 Dark tile in each crypt touching an open edge of the revealed tile.
- Resolve the tile. Each tile does something different, as listed below.
Sometimes, new open edges are created when a tile is moved or rotated, or when a wall is breached. In these cases, fill the crypts touching those open edges with Dark tiles as if you had revealed the tile.
Tile resolution effects:
- Blood: Place a blood token here.
- Treasure: Place a treasure marker here.
- Poltergeist: Place a poltergeist figure here.
- Pit: No immediate effect. Later, Skeletons can move here easily.
- Armory: No immediate effect. Later, Skeletons can collect gear cards here.
- Shrine: No immediate effect. Later, the Paladin can gain Fury, Light, and favor cards here.
Attacking Enemies
You can attack enemy figures.
When you enter a tile with an enemy figure, you must attack it. (You have to fight your way in!)
When you attack, check whether your Strength is greater than the enemy's Defense.
- If it is, you hit. Remove the enemy figure from the map. (Sometimes, a hit causes more effects.)
- If it is not, you miss. Do not remove the enemy figure. If you were forced to attack by moving into the tile, you must retreat—take your figure and place it in the tile it came from.
Each role lists its own Strength and Defense. Poltergeists have no Strength and 1 Defense.
When can I...? You may have noticed that we highlighted move, attack, and reveal. These are key actions that each role takes in different ways. You'll find an exhaustive reference of these key actions at the back of this rulebook. You don't need to read it now.
A Few More Concepts
Distances
Always count distances between spaces across edges, not diagonally.
Visibility
Sometimes, you need to see something in order to affect it. In other words, it needs to be visible.
A piece is visible to you if you can trace a straight line (not diagonal) from your figure to the target piece.
You cannot trace this line through a wall, a crypt, or a Dark tile, but you can trace out of a Dark tile holding your figure, and you can trace into a Dark tile holding the target piece.
Breaches and Force Walls
Throughout play, various roles can place breach and force wall markers.
- A breach over a wall acts as an open edge.
- A force wall over an open edge acts as a wall.
The outer wall touching the grounds cannot be breached.
If an edge has both a force wall and breach, remove both. If an open edge has a breach, or an edge with a wall has a force wall, remove the marker.
Whenever a tile is rotated, moved, or flipped to its Dark side, remove all breaches and force walls on that tile.
The Paladin
You win if you kill the Spider, by returning her 5 Spiderlings to the box.
Traits
Formidable: Your figure is not removed when hit. Each time you are hit by a Skeleton, you lose 1 Health.
Strength and Defense
You start with 0 Strength and Defense. (You can increase them by taking the prepare action and by spending Fury.)
1) Collect Hero Cubes
Take all the hero cubes off your board and place them on the Unassigned Hero Cubes box on your board.
2) Take Actions
You can take the following actions in any order and number. To take an action, place a hero cube in its box. (Your player board holds a maximum of 4 hero cubes.)
- Prepare: Gain 1 Strength and 1 Defense. You can take this action at any time, even during a crusade or sprint.
- Sprint: Move up to 2 spaces. You can only enter Lit tiles with no figures that force attacks.
- Crusade: Resolve as described below.
You may end this phase after completing any action.
Crusade
Move 0 or 1 spaces, then do this:
-
Reveal Dark Tile. If you are on a Dark tile, reveal it. You gain 2 Grit. An open edge of the revealed tile must touch the tile from which you moved.
-
Attack Figures. You can attack figures on your tile. You must attack figures that force attacks before ones that do not.
- Skeleton: (Its Undead trait triggers.)
- Spider: (Her Shapeshifter trait triggers.)
- Egg: Remove all blood tokens from its tile. Gain 5 Grit.
- Poltergeist: Gain 3 Grit.
You gain 1 Light each time you hit an enemy figure.
-
Use Shrine. While on a Shrine, you may gain 1 Fury or 1 Light, or you may discard a favor card to draw 3 favor cards, keep 1, and discard 2. You cannot discard Vigor or Illuminate. (You can use a Shrine multiple times in a game.)
-
Collect Treasures. Remove all treasure markers on your tile, one at a time. For each, the Manor draws 2 treasure cards, gives you one, and discards the other. If there is no Manor player, draw a treasure card.
You may keep the treasure card in your hand, or you may return it to the box to gain 5 Grit.
Likewise, if the Manor cannot give you a card because the treasure deck is empty, you gain 5 Grit.
3) Gain Fury
You gain 1 Fury if you did not hit the Spider during this turn.
Other Rules
Grit: Grit is the experience the Paladin gains as he explores the Manor. As you gain and lose Grit, track it on your Grit dial.
If your Grit reaches 7, 18, 32, or 41, immediately take a hero cube from your supply and place it in your Unassigned Hero Cubes box. (You can place this cube during the same turn.)
If your Grit reaches 13 or 25, immediately draw 3 favor cards, pick one to keep in your hand, and discard the other two.
If your Grit falls below 7, 18, 32, or 41, immediately remove a hero cube from your board and return it to your supply.
If your Grit falls below 13 or 25, immediately discard a favor card, but not Vigor or Illuminate.
Fury and Light: Your fury and light tokens represent your devotion to your god. Track your Fury and Light by placing fury and light tokens on their matching spaces. You can have up to 5 Fury and 8 Light at a time.
Favor and Treasure: At any time during your Take Actions phase, you can play a treasure or favor card from your hand. Played treasure and favor cards give you persistent effects, and you can spend Fury and Light to use the effects of your favor cards at any time (even during an action) during your Take Actions phase.
Lamps: Your Illuminate favor card lets you spend Light to place lamp tokens (the back side of light tokens). When a Skeleton enters a tile with a lamp, the Skeleton stops moving.
Example Turn 1 (Paladin)
Most of the examples in this rulebook are organized into two example rounds, which can be found throughout. You might find it helpful to set up the game and follow along with the turn examples as you read the rules.
The Paladin starts with 3 hero cubes in his Unassigned Hero Cubes box. He can use these cubes to take actions, and he has 3 actions he can take: prepare, sprint, and crusade.
First, he decides to crusade. He places a hero cube on its box and crusades into the Dark tile to his left, moving his figure in.
Crusade prompts him to reveal the tile, so he flips it over to its Lit side. (Key Concept: You can rotate a tile once you flip it to its Lit side, but Lit tiles must always connect to at least one other Lit tile edge without a wall.)
As the Paladin, he must connect an edge without a wall to the tile he came from, so that leaves only one open edge to the left. He fills that open edge with a tile, Dark side up, from the stack. (Key Concept: Open edges of Lit tiles must be filled with Dark tiles at all times.)
The Paladin gains 2 Grit each time he reveals a tile, so he increases his Grit dial to 2!
This tile is a poltergeist tile (rug), so the Manor places a poltergeist on it. Now the crusade prompts the Paladin to attack the poltergeist! (Key Concept: You can attack enemy figures to remove them from the map, and you must attack a figure if you enter its tile. To hit, your Strength must be greater than the defender's Defense.)
The poltergeist has 1 Defense, so he needs 2 Strength. To get this, he places 2 hero cubes on prepare. (You can use prepare at any time on your turn to gain Strength.)
The hit removes the poltergeist, which returns to the Manor's supply. The Paladin gains 3 Grit for this! He gains 1 Light each time he hits a figure, so he takes a light token and places it in his Light box.
He's got no more hero cubes, so there's not much left he can do. He ends his turn, and he gains 1 Fury because he didn't attack the Spider this turn.
The Skeletons
You win if you kill the Paladin, by reducing his Health to 0.
Traits
Distracting: Each time a Skeleton attacks, it gains 1 Strength per space with a Skeleton or cackling skulls token adjacent to the defender for that attack.
Groundskeepers: Skeletons can enter the grounds (rectangular spaces around the map edge) and crypts (square spaces without tiles).
Undead: Each time a Skeleton is removed, immediately roll the spawn die and place that Skeleton on the matching Spawn (numbered grounds). Move its card to the 1st space of the March Order, and push cards right to fill the gap.
Weak Bones: Each time a Skeleton attacks, remove it after attacking (whether it hits or misses).
Strength and Defense
Each Skeleton has 1 Strength. (Remember your Distracting trait.)
Each Skeleton has 1 Defense plus 1 Defense per other Skeleton on its tile.
1) Lose Stability
Lose 1 Stability per Skeleton on a Lit tile that is not a Pit.
2) Activate Skeletons
Activate each Skeleton on the map, one at a time, from left to right in the March Order.
When you activate a Skeleton, it can move up to 5 spaces, then it can take one action.
If a Skeleton enters a tile with a lamp or web, the Skeleton ends its movement. (Remember to remove one of each enemy token in the space.)
Actions
- STRIKE!! Spend 1 Stability to attack an enemy figure on your tile. (Remember your Distracting and Weak Bones traits.) If you cannot spend Stability, you do not attack and you return to your origin space.
- Paladin: (His Formidable trait triggers.)
- Spider: (Her Shapeshifter trait triggers.)
- LOOT!! Once per turn, remove a treasure marker from your tile to gain 2 Stability.
- BREACH!! Spend 1 Stability to place a breach marker on a wall on your tile (including a wall printed on an adjacent tile touching your tile).
- TUNNEL!! While on a Pit, place the Skeleton on any Pit with no enemy figures.
- ARM!! While on an Armory tile (Lit or Dark), draw a gear card.
3) Summon Skeleton
Once per turn, you may spend 3 Stability to flip up the leftmost facedown skeleton card in the March Order, roll the spawn die, and place the matching Skeleton on the matching Spawn.
4) Gain Stability
Gain 2 Stability.
Other Rules
Abilities: Each Skeleton has a unique ability, which it can use during its activation each turn (even between spaces of movement).
Casty: You may spend 1 Stability to place a cackling skulls token on an adjacent space. Cackling skulls distract enemy figures in adjacent tiles. If both cackling skulls are placed, Casty cannot use this ability.
Screamy: Once per turn, you may spend 1 Stability to target a Skeleton within 2 spaces of Screamy and move it up to 5 spaces. You cannot move this Skeleton into a tile with an enemy figure that forces attacks.
Shooty: When she takes the Strike action, you may spend 1 Stability to have her attack target a visible figure exactly 2 spaces away (instead of on her tile). This attack does not remove Shooty.
Slashy: You may spend 1 Stability to increase Slashy's Strength to two for this turn (her Defense remains 1).
Stabby: When Stabby hits the Paladin, you may spend 1 Stability to make the Paladin lose 3 Grit.
Gear: At any time during your turn, you can play gear cards from your hand in front of their listed Skeleton. Played gear cards give the listed Skeleton another ability (which can be used during the same turn). Stability costs on gear add to the Stability costs of any associated actions.
Pit Markers: Some Skeletons can place pit markers. A tile with a pit marker on it is considered a Pit tile, even while the tile is Dark. Pit markers cannot be removed.
Example Turn 1 (Skeletons)
Both Skeletons are pretty far from the Paladin, and the Paladin is buffed up to 2 Defense this turn from his prepare action, so the Skeletons decide not to attack him this turn.
Each Skeleton has 5 spaces of movement. Just like the Paladin, they can't move through walls, but they have the Groundskeepers trait, so they can enter the grounds (spaces around the border of the map) and crypts (spaces on the central grid without tiles)! (Key Concept: Each role in Vast has their own traits, which break some of the core rules of the game. These are listed on your player aid.)
Shooty is first in the March Order, so she moves around the grounds to get to the Armory close to the #6 Spawn, and then uses ARM!! to draw a gear card, the Great Axe.
Slashy is second in March Order, so she activates first. She moves to the nearby Armory and uses ARM!! to draw another gear card, Bomb Bag. (Key Concept: Cards in players' hands remain secret until they are played. Right now, the only public cards are the Paladin's Illuminate and Vigor favor cards.)
The Skeletons have finished activating, so they move on to the next phase. At this point, they can summon a new Skeleton. However, this costs 3 Stability and they only have 2 Stability, so they can't summon a new friend!
Their turn comes to a close, and they gain 2 Stability, bringing it up to 4.
The Spider
You win if you gain 12 Terror, then move through the Manor's entrance (open edge by the stairs).
Traits
Agile: You always hit on attacks and cannot be forced to attack.
Crawly: Your Giant Spider can cross 1 wall per turn, and your Spiderlings can cross any number of walls.
Shapeshifter: When a Spiderling is hit, return it to the box. When the Sorcerer or Giant Spider is hit, return a Spiderling to the box, place a Spiderling on a tile adjacent to your old figure, then place each remaining one on a tile adjacent to the previous Spiderling placed.
Tiny: Your Spiderlings and Eggs do not force attacks. (Your Giant Spider and Sorcerer still do.)
Strength and Defense
All your forms have no Strength and 2 Defense. (Your Defense increases as your Terror increases.)
An Egg has no Strength and 1 Defense plus 1 Defense per blood token on its tile.
1) Choose Form
Ignore this step on the first turn. Choose the Giant Spider, Sorcerer, or Spiderlings board to flip face-up, and flip the other two facedown. Place your new figure on the tile with your old figure, then remove your old figure.
For Spiderling form, place all of the Spiderling figures in the same tile as the old figure, or place the new figure in any tile with a Spiderling.
2) Gain Terror
You may take the feed and scare actions each once per turn.
- Feed: Spend 3 Blood to gain 1 Terror.
- Scare: If the map has at least 6 webs, discard 1 power card to gain 1 Terror.
3) Move and Cast Spells
You may move and cast spells in any order. Each form moves and casts differently:
- Sorcerer or Giant Spider: You may cast spells at any time in this phase.
- Spiderlings: You must finish moving one Spiderling before moving another, and you can only cast spells before and after moving a given Spiderling.
Moving:
- Sorcerer: Move up to 2 spaces. (You cannot cross walls.)
- Giant Spider: Move up to 3 spaces. (You may cross 1 wall per turn.)
- Spiderlings: Move each up to 4 spaces. (You may cross walls.)
Casting Power Cards: You can play a power card from your hand to use its effect, then discard it:
- Eyes: Reveal a tile. If you reveal a Blood tile, gain 1 Blood.
- Fangs: Attack to gain 1 Blood.
- Webs: Place a web token on a tile. A tile can hold up to 3 webs.
Your form changes which tiles each of your played power cards affects:
- Sorcerer: One visible tile.
- Giant Spider: Any adjacent tiles, twice in total.
- Spiderlings: Each tile with any Spiderlings in any order.
Your form also lets you play power cards as a different card:
- Sorcerer: Any cards as eyes.
- Giant Spider: Any cards as fangs.
- Spiderlings: Any cards as webs.
Other Spells:
- Veil (Sorcerer): Discard 1 power card to flip an empty visible Lit tile to its Dark side. (The center of the target tile must be visible.)
- Tend (Sorcerer): Spend 1 Blood to place 1 blood token on each tile with an Egg.
- Lay Egg (Giant Spider): Discard 2 power cards to place an Egg on your tile or an adjacent visible tile. If you already placed an Egg in this turn, discard 1 card instead. You cannot place 3 Eggs in the same turn.
- Legs (All): Discard 1 power card to move your figure 1 space. If you are in Spiderlings form, move each Spiderling 1 space instead.
- Loot (Spiderlings): Discard 1 power card to remove all treasure markers from all tiles with any Spiderlings. Gain 1 Terror if you removed 2. Gain 2 Terror if you removed 3 or 4. Gain 3 Terror if you removed 5 or more.
4) Redraw Hand
Discard all power cards left in your hand, and then draw power cards equal in number to your Spirit. (Your Spirit increases with your Terror.)
Other Rules
Webs: Each time an enemy figure enters a tile with any webs, it ends its move.
Eggs: When a tile with an Egg has any combination of 6 web and blood tokens, gain 2 Terror and remove the Egg and all the blood tokens on its tile. (Do not remove webs.) Eggs cannot move.
Blood: Whenever your Sorcerer, Giant Spider, or Spiderling figure is on a tile with a blood token and no Egg, you may remove it to gain 1 Blood.
Example Turn 1 (Spider)
Her starting hand is 1 Webs card, 1 Eyes card, and 1 Fangs card.
It's her first turn, so she must stay in Giant Spider form.
The Spider has three forms: the Giant Spider, the Sorcerer, and the Spiderlings. These forms allow her to cast different spells, change how she moves, and affects where and how she can play cards.
Because she's in Giant Spider form, she can play any of her Webs and Eyes cards as if they were Fangs cards, which let her attack figures to gain Blood. However, there aren't many figures around her to attack, so she decides to reveal the tiles around her first.
She plays an Eyes card. As the Giant Spider, she can use this card's effect twice in total on any adjacent tiles.
First, she reveals the tile above her—it's a blood tile! A blood token is placed on it. Also, because she revealed a Blood tile with Eyes, she gets 1 Blood immediately!
Second, she reveals the tile to her right. It's a Treasure tile, so a treasure marker is placed on it.
Flipping up a blood tile was lucky, so she decides to take advantage of it. She discards her other two cards to use her Lay Egg spell on the Blood tile, placing the Egg with the blood there. This blood boosts the Egg's Defense from 1 to 2! Then she moves to the Egg.
She's got no cards left in her hand at the end of her turn, so no discarding is needed! Her Spirit is 3, so she draws her hand up to 3 power cards.
The Manor
You win if you complete 14 Seals, by playing ritual cards.
Traits
Ethereal: The avatar of the Mansion on the physical plane is the Wraith. Your Wraith can cross walls, cannot attack or be attacked, ignores the effects of enemy tokens, and does not remove enemy tokens when entering their space.
Spooky: Each time you reveal a Poltergeist tile, you may place the poltergeist on any empty Lit tile.
Strength and Defense
Your Wraith has no Strength or Defense.
1) Assign Omens
Take any number of cubes from the Unassigned Omens box on your board, and place them on empty spaces of the tracks on your board.
Fill a given track from left to right.
2) Use Powers
You may use each of your powers from top to bottom, as follows. To use a power, its track must have at least 1 cube.
- Reveal Tiles: Reveal any Dark tile on the map. The number of Dark tiles you can reveal is shown by the combined filled spaces of the Reveal Tiles track.
- Shift 1 Tile: Choose any tile and either shift it or rotate it. (Remove any breaches or force walls on the shifted tile, and fill any new open edges.) If you shift it, you must place it on a crypt touching at least one other tile. Any pieces on the shifted tile move with it. Orient the shifted tile as if you were revealing it. The maximum distance you can shift the tile is shown by the combined filled spaces of the Shift 1 Tile track. If the map has no crypts, you can use shift as if it were swap.
- Swap 2 Tiles: Choose 2 tiles and either swap them or rotate each. (Remove any breaches or force walls on the swapped tiles, and fill any open edges.) Any pieces on the swapped tiles move with the tile. Orient the swapped tiles as if you were revealing them. The maximum distance between the swapped tiles is shown by the combined filled spaces of the Swap 2 Tiles track.
- Place Walls: Place a force wall marker on the shared edge of any two adjacent tiles (Lit, Dark, or both) without a wall. The maximum number of force walls you can place is shown by the combined filled spaces of the Place Walls track.
- Move Wraith: Move the Wraith. The maximum number of spaces you can move it is shown by the combined filled spaces of the Move Wraith track.
Track values (spaces filled → effect):
| Power | 1st cube | 2nd cube | 3rd cube |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reveal Tiles | 1 | +1 | +1 |
| Shift 1 Tile | 0–2 Distance | +2 | +1 |
| Swap 2 Tiles | 0–1 Distance | +1 | +1 |
| Place Walls | 1 | +1 | +1 |
| Move Wraith | 0–3 Distance | +3 | +3 |
3) Perform a Ritual
You can play 1 ritual card from your hand.
To play one, you must trace a path from the tile of your Wraith to the end tile shown on the card.
You can only trace from, through, and into Lit tiles with no figures, and you cannot cross walls.
If you trace the complete path, you complete the ritual! Gain Seals as listed on the card, pick up the Wraith, and place it on the end tile shown on the card. Then, place a poltergeist on the tile shown on the card.
Portents: Ritual cards with 1 Seal show icons representing portents. When you complete a ritual with a portent, place a portent cube in the leftmost box of the matching track. A portent cube placed on a track is treated as a placed omen cube that is never removed. (A portent cube placed on the Draw Card track shifts its cubes right and will take effect during the same turn.)
4) Place Treasure, then Draw Rituals
Place treasure markers on empty Dark tiles, and then draw ritual cards.
If you have more than 5 ritual cards after drawing, discard ritual cards of your choice until you have 5 cards.
The numbers of ritual cards drawn and tokens placed are shown by the combined filled spaces of the Place Treasures, then Draw Rituals track, as follows:
| Omens filled | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Treasures | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Cards | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
5) Return Omens
Return all omen cubes on your board to your Unassigned Omens box.
Example Turn 1 (Manor)
Though the Manor is a genderless and perhaps eldritch spirit, we describe it using a singular "they," since presumably an actual person is playing it!
At the start of their first turn, the Manor must place their Wraith figure on any tile without figures, so the Wraith starts on the Entrance tile. (Usually you will want to start in a Lit tile, but you don't have to!)
The Manor has six powers on their board: reveal, shift, swap, place walls, move wraith, and draw cards. To use a power, they must assign at least 1 omen cube to its track.
The Manor will use their powers to rearrange the map and move their Wraith so they can be in the right position to complete a ritual later in the turn.
They choose to assign 3 cubes to the Reveal Tiles track and reveal the tile to their right and then the two above it (four-way Shrine, pentagram Poltergeist, four-way Blood). Lots of room here! Each tile has 4 open edges, so their facing doesn't matter.
First is a Shrine, which doesn't do anything right now, but the Paladin can use it later.
Second is a Poltergeist tile. Because the Manor is Spooky, they can place the poltergeist anywhere they want. They don't want the poltergeist blocking their ritual later, so they place it in the central Pit.
Third is a Blood tile, so a blood token is placed on it.
The Manor is done with their powers, so they move on to performing rituals.
To complete the 1 Seal ritual, they must trace a path from their Wraith to the final tile shown on the card, and they can't trace through walls or tiles with figures. The path is clear, so they move their Wraith to the final space on the card, and gain 1 Seal, moving their seals cube up their Seals track once. Finally, they place a poltergeist in the tile shown on the card: the Shrine, and then discard their ritual card.
This ritual shows a shift portent, so the Manor takes a portent cube and chooses to place it on the Shift 1 Tile track.
At the end of the turn, the Manor must place a treasure marker on an empty Dark tile, so they choose the Armory tile near the #4 and #5 Spawns. Finally, they return all of their omen cubes to their Unassigned Omens box.
The Warlock
You win if you fill your Dominated Pieces track with any combination of 5 poltergeists and treasures.
Traits
Crypt Walker: You can enter crypts (square spaces without tiles).
Ethereal: You can cross walls, cannot attack or be attacked, ignore the effects of enemy tokens, and do not remove enemy tokens when entering their space.
Hexomancer: Each time a piece with any curse markers is removed, advance your Spells track once.
Skittish: Each time an enemy figure enters your space, immediately move to the nearest Dark tile, crypt, or Pit tile at least 2 spaces away and remove half of your Curses (round down), and advance your Spells track once.
Strength and Defense
The Warlock has no Strength or Defense.
1) Curse and Dominate
Take curse markers from your Curses, and place them under any poltergeists and treasures in your network, spreading them as evenly as possible. Then, check for domination.
Domination: If a piece in your network has curse markers under it equal or greater to the value of an empty space of your Dominated Pieces track, you may remove that piece and its curse markers, and place that piece on any empty space of the track with a value equal to or less than the number of curse markers that were under the piece.
When you place the dominated piece on the track, you immediately gain the effect listed on its space. If you gain a magic cube, place it in your Unassigned Magic Cubes box. (You can place this cube during the same turn.)
Dominated Pieces track effects (by curse value needed to reach that space):
| Curses needed | 3+ | 4+ | 4+ | 5+ | 6+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Effect | Sneak now moves up to 3 spaces. | May discard 1 played Spell to draw 3 Spells. | Gain a magic cube. | Gain a magic cube. | Remove only 1 Curse when a figure enters your space. |
2) Gain Spells
For every 3 spells in your hand, play one and discard two.
Played spell cards give you persistent effects and new actions that you can take.
3) Collect Magic Cubes
Collect all the magic cubes from your board and place them on the Unassigned Magic Cubes box on your board.
4) Take Actions
You can take the following actions in any order and number. To take an action, place a magic cube in its box.
- Sneak: Move up to 2 spaces. You must end your move on a Dark tile, Pit tile, or crypt.
- Summon Poltergeist: Place a poltergeist on a surrounding Lit tile with no figures.
- Conjure Treasure: Place a treasure on a surrounding Dark tile with no figures. Then take curse markers from your supply equal to the number of poltergeists in your network, and place those curse markers under the treasure.
- Syphon: Gain 1 Curse per figure, except poltergeists, surrounding you.
Other Rules
The Spells Track: Each time the Spells track advances to a space with the spell symbol, draw 3 spell cards. Your Spells track advances as described by your Hexomancer and Skittish traits.
The Warlock's Network: A treasure or poltergeist is in your network if you can trace a path to it through any number of poltergeists or treasures surrounding you or surrounding other poltergeists or treasures in your network.
Example Turn (Warlock)
For simplicity, the Warlock turn here does not follow the example turns of the other roles. Instead, here are some examples of how his actions work over a hypothetical turn, starting with his action phase.
First, the Warlock takes the sneak action. The Warlock is one of the most mobile roles in all of Vast. He can cross walls, can't be attacked, and ignores tokens. He can even walk in the crypts! However, he must end each sneak in a Dark tile, Pit tile, or crypt. He chooses to move to the top-right Dark tile.
For his second action, the Warlock decides to syphon. There are 3 figures in surrounding spaces, but syphon ignores poltergeists. So he takes 2 Curses, one for the Skeleton and one for the Paladin.
For his last action, he chooses to summon a treasure. He can only summon the treasure in the empty Dark tile to his upper-left. His network contains 2 poltergeists, so 2 curse markers from his supply are placed under this treasure.
His turn is now over.
Before the Warlock's next turn, the Paladin decides to backtrack and destroy the cursed poltergeist in the tile below the Warlock. The Warlock then advances his Spells track once and draws 3 spell cards.
It is now the Warlock's next turn. First, he must spread his 2 Curses as evenly as possible through any poltergeists or treasures in his network. Currently he is only connected to one treasure, so he puts both his curse markers under it. Now, he may dominate any cursed piece with enough curses. He chooses to dominate his cursed treasure and place it on the middle space of his Dominated Pieces track. This unlocks his fourth magic cube and increases his Spells track again, letting him draw 3 more spell cards.
Finally, because he has spell cards in his hand (thanks to the Paladin smashing the poltergeist beneath him after his previous turn), the Warlock picks 2 spell cards from his hand and discards the other four. Like favors, spells provide persistent powers that the Warlock can use for the rest of the game.
Example Round 2
Paladin Turn 2
To start, the Paladin crusades into the tile to the left. He flips up a Treasure tile (bed with three walls). Lucky! He's now up to 7 Grit, so he takes a hero cube and adds it to his Unassigned Hero Cubes box. Bonus action every turn!
The Treasure tile gets a treasure marker, which the Paladin collects. The Manor draws 2 treasure cards, chooses one to give to the Paladin, and discards the other. (The Manor chooses!) The Paladin can keep this treasure card or return it to the box to gain 5 Grit. This time he refuses the treasure, bringing him up to 12 Grit.
Puzzle: He wants to go toward the adjacent Armory, but there's a wall blocking him! Can you figure out how to get to the adjacent Armory?
To break through the wall, he spends 1 Fury to place a breach marker. He then crusades in and flips over the Armory (three-sided). He faces the wall toward the #1 Spawn to help block future Skeleton spawns. Revealing this tile gets him to 14 Grit. Because he has surpassed 13 Grit, he draws 3 favor cards, chooses one, and discards the other two. (You choose!)
He fills up the open edges. Finally, he continues to crusade up into the next tile. It's a Pit (three walls)! Uh-oh. Nothing happens, but the Skeletons could pop up here later. At least the walls will protect him now, he hopes. He goes to 16 Grit.
He wants some more insurance against Slashy coming in from the right, so he spends 1 Light to use Illuminate, placing a lamp on the Armory. (He could have instead placed it on the Dark tile above him to interfere with Shooty.) Lamps stop Skeleton movement in their tracks.
He decides to buff up a little, placing a hero cube on prepare to increase his Strength and Defense both to 1. Then he finishes and gains 1 Fury for not hitting the Spider. The Skeletons go next.
Manor Turn 2
Because the Shift track has a portent cube, the Manor will be able to shift tiles 2 spaces away this turn, regardless of where they assign omen cubes to this turn.
Puzzle: You can complete the ritual with 2 seals in your hand. Can you figure out how?
To do this, the Manor must place all 3 omen cubes on Swap 2 Tiles.
When resolving their actions, first the Manor shifts the Shrine with the poltergeist two spaces to the right. A Dark tile is placed to fill the hole. Then, using its powered-up swap, the Manor swaps the empty Treasure tile above the Wraith with the newly placed Dark tile.
They complete this ritual, and then continue their turn.
Skeletons Turn 2
Not one Skellie is on a Lit tile, so they don't lose any Stability. Great, now's the time to play some gear! They equip the Bomb Bag on Shooty and the Great Axe on Slashy.
Puzzle: Slashy can hit the Paladin this turn if Shooty uses the Bomb Bag. Can you figure out how?
First, Shooty moves across the map to the Armory. The lamp stops her movement, but it doesn't matter because that's as far as she wants to go this turn. The lamp is then removed. Then, using her bomb bag, she breaches the top wall in the Paladin's tile.
Now, Slashy moves into the Paladin's tile. She spends 1 Stability to use her innate ability, boosting to 2 Strength so she can hit the Paladin. Normally she would have to pay an extra Stability to attack, but the Great Axe allows her to ignore this cost. The Paladin's Health decreases to 6. Because the Skeletons have Weak Bones, Slashy gets removed from the map. However, the Skeletons are also Undead, so Slashy immediately comes back to (un)life! The Skeletons roll the spawn die and place Slashy on the rolled Spawn.
This also shifts the Skeletons' March Order—the Slashy card moves to the 1st space, and Shooty moves to the 2nd space.
The Great Axe means that Slashy can STRIKE!! without spending Stability, so the Skellies' Stability is still at 3. They spend 3 Stability to summon a new Skeleton. They flip the 3rd card face up, roll the spawn die, and place the matching Skeleton on the rolled Spawn! Their turn comes to an end, so they gain 2 Stability.
The Spider goes next.
Spider Turn 2
The Spider has a hand of 1 Fangs and 2 Webs cards. Now that it's her second turn, she can pick any of her forms.
Puzzle: You can gain 6 Blood this turn. Can you figure out how?
The Spider adopts a risky strategy, deciding to engage the Paladin head-on. She will likely expose herself to a hit this turn, but will be in an excellent position during the following turn.
She decides to remain as the Giant Spider, which means she can use all of her cards as Fangs cards. She moves to the tile above the Paladin and spends all three cards as Fangs. She is Agile, so her attacks always hit. And because the Giant Spider uses the effect of each power card twice, this is six attacks! The Paladin is Formidable, so he isn't removed, but the Spider gains 6 Blood, ending the turn with a total of 7 Blood.
The Manor goes next.
Difficulty Variants
You can adjust the players' roles to account for differences in age, experience, and skill.
These adjustments assume a game with 4 or 5 players. Some difficulty variants may not be suitable for some games with low player counts.
Paladin
- Squire (very easy): The Spider gives you 2 Spiderlings at the start of the game.
- Protector (easy): The Spider gives you 1 Spiderling at the start of the game.
- Justicar (hard): You cannot use Shrines.
- Lord (very hard): You begin the game with only 2 hero cubes. Return 1 hero cube to the box.
Skeletons
- Miscreant (very easy): The Paladin starts at 5 Health.
- Boss (easy): The Paladin starts at 6 Health.
- Master (hard): The Paladin starts with the Armor treasure.
- Warlord (very hard): The Paladin starts with the Armor and the Halo treasures.
Spider
- Hatchling (very easy): You need 8 Terror to escape.
- Consumer (easy): You need 10 Terror to escape.
- Matriarch (hard): You cannot use the Legs spell.
- Demon Queen (very hard): You must play the entire game as the Giant Spider.
Manor
- Shack (Very Easy): You need 11 Seals to win.
- Villa (easy): You need 13 Seals to win.
- Keep (hard): Return all rituals worth 3 Seals to the box.
- Castle (very hard): Return all rituals worth 1 Seal to the box.
Warlock
- Charlatan (very easy): You must only dominate 4 pieces to win.
- Controller (easy): Before your first turn, draw 3 spells.
- Beguiler (hard): Before your first turn, advance your Spells track twice, but do not draw cards for this.
- Mind Bender (very hard): You begin the game with only 2 magic cubes. Return 1 magic cube to the box.
Player Counts and Role Mixes
In addition to the full five-player game, Vast: The Mysterious Manor can be played with the role mixes listed here. Mixes not listed on this page cannot be played.
Some of these require slight changes to the rules or game setup, as listed in the role mix.
Mixes with an asterisk (*) are suggested for new players.
Four Players
No Warlock* No changes to the rules.
No Manor* The Warlock begins with the Expand spell.
Three Players
Paladin/Skeletons/Spider* The Spider begins with the Warlock's Expand spell.
Paladin/Spider/Manor* Return the following Paladin cards to the box: Armor (treasure), Disdain (favor), and Radiant Lamps (favor).
The Spider begins with 2 Terror (but still starts with 3 cards).
The Manor begins with 3 Seals.
Paladin/Spider/Warlock* Return the following Paladin cards to the box: Armor (treasure), Disdain (favor), and Radiant Lamps (favor).
The Spider begins with 2 Terror (but will still start with 3 cards).
The Warlock begins with the Syphon Specialize spell and the Expand spell.
Skeletons/Spider/Manor The Skeletons now win if they kill the Spider.
The Spider begins with 2 Terror (but still starts with 3 cards).
The Manor begins with 3 Seals.
Spiderlings now force the Skeletons to attack.
Return the following Skeleton gear cards to the box: Shield (Slashy), Kukri (Stabby), Pauldrons (Screamy), Poison (Stabby), and Iron Spike (Smashy). (Smashy is an expansion Skeleton.)
Skeletons/Spider/Warlock The Skeletons now win if they kill the Spider.
The Spider begins with 2 Terror (but will still start with 3 cards).
Spiderlings now force the Skeletons to attack.
The Warlock begins with the Expand and Enclose spells.
Return the following Skeleton gear cards to the box: Shield (Slashy), Kukri (Stabby), Pauldrons (Screamy), Poison (Stabby), and Iron Spike (Smashy). (Smashy is an expansion Skeleton.)
Two Players
Paladin/Spider* Return the following Paladin cards to the box: Armor (treasure) and Radiant Lamps (favor).
The Spider begins with 2 Terror and the Warlock's Expand spell.
Skeletons/Spider* The Skeletons now win if they kill the Spider.
The Spider begins with 2 Terror and the Warlock's Expand spell.
Spiderlings now force the Skeletons to attack.
The Paladin's Journey (Solo)
The Paladin's Journey is a solo game mode where the Paladin enters the Manor to destroy the spirits lurking within.
Setup
Set up the map and the Paladin as normal. Then:
- Shuffle 5 Skeleton cards and place them face up in a line nearby as their March Order.
- Roll the spawn die to spawn each Skeleton. (All five begin in play.)
- Place the Stability and Terror dials nearby, and set them both to 0.
- Place a blood token on the central Pit tile.
- Start the game with the Disdain favor card (as well as Vigor and Illuminate).
Goal
You win by hitting 6 poltergeists.
You lose if you reach 0 Health or 12 Terror.
The Paladin
Take your turn as normal, with the following changes.
Revealing Tiles: In this mode, some tiles have extra effects when revealed:
- Armory: Lose 1 Stability.
- Blood: Gain 1 Terror.
- Pit: Gain 1 Stability.
Removing Blood: When you remove a blood token by entering a tile, lose 1 Terror.
Hitting Enemies: When you hit a Skeleton, do not trigger its Undead trait. Instead, just remove it and place it on its side above its card.
When you hit a poltergeist, keep it. (This tracks how close you are to winning.)
The Gain Fury Phase
Replace the text for your Gain Fury phase with the following:
"You gain 1 Fury if you did not hit a poltergeist during this turn. Also, gain 1 Terror."
The Skeletons
The Skeletons activate from left to right. After each Skeleton on the map has activated, go to the Spawn phase (described later). They do not use abilities or gear.
Skeleton Movement: Each Skeleton can move up to 3 spaces (not 5 spaces). A Skeleton moves following this priority order:
- Priority #1: Attack! If the Paladin is within movement range and the Skeleton has sufficient Strength to hit him, move the Skeleton to him and hit him. After hitting the Paladin, shift that Skeleton's card to the front of the March Order, then remove the Skeleton and place it on its side above its card.
- Priority #2: Distract! If the Paladin is not within movement range, or if the Skeleton does not have sufficient Strength to hit him, and if a space adjacent to the Paladin is within movement range, move the Skeleton to a space adjacent to him. If there are multiple options, choose the space that would lead to the most Skeletons distracting the Paladin this turn.
- Priority #3: Creep! Move as close as possible to Paladin.
Move along the shortest path toward the Paladin. The Skeleton moves to increase its distance from the Paladin only in these cases:
- If it is blocked by the Paladin's pillar of light and there are no other paths toward the Paladin.
- If there are any lamps on the shortest path, and moving around them would bring the Skeleton closer to the Paladin than if it entered (and stopped on) a tile with a lamp.
If multiple destination spaces are equally far from the Paladin, you choose the destination space.
Their movement rules are different in the following ways:
- Skeletons do not lose Stability for starting on a Lit tile.
- Each Skeleton can cross one wall per turn.
- Skeletons cannot enter the grounds.
- When a Skeleton enters a tile with a blood token, do not remove it.
- A Skeleton cannot end its movement on a space with another Skeleton. (But it may enter such spaces.)
- Skeletons ignore poltergeists and move as if they were not present.
Spawn Phase: After all Skeletons on the map have activated, spawn Skeletons as follows.
First, stand up Skeletons on their side equal in number to their Rush value from left to right (as described in Stability below).
Then, spawn removed Skeletons that are not on their side. Roll the spawn die once per removed Skeleton and place it on the matching Spawn. Reroll if its adjacent space in the Manor is blocked by a pillar of light.
Finally, stand up any Skeletons that are on their side. (These Skeletons will spawn next turn.)
Enemy Dials
In the solo game, the Paladin tracks Stability and Terror. As Stability and Terror increase, the game becomes more difficult, as shown by the chart below.
| Stability/Terror | Movement | Rush | S. Strength | Terror | P. Strength | Discard |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | |
| 3 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | |
| 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | Treasure |
| 5 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 2 | |
| 6 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 2 | Favor |
| 7 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 2 | |
| 8 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 3 | Treasure |
| 9 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 3 | |
| 10+ | 6 | 3 | 3 | 10+ | 3 | Favor |
Stability: Stability shows the Skeletons' preparedness for battle. In solo mode, Stability only changes when Armory and Pit tiles are revealed.
As their Stability increases, the Skeletons gain the following effects:
- Movement: Each Skeleton can move this many spaces per activation.
- Rush: Stand up this many Skeletons before spawning during the Spawn phase.
- S. Strength: Each Skeleton has this much Strength.
Terror: Terror shows how close the Paladin is to succumbing to fright. Terror increases each turn and whenever the Paladin reveals a blood tile. It decreases whenever the Paladin removes a blood token.
As Terror increases, the following effects occur:
- P. Strength: Each poltergeist has this much Strength.
- Discard: Whenever Terror increases to this value, the Paladin must discard one card of the listed type, if able. (Vigor and Illuminate cannot be discarded.)
Difficulty
If you wish to adjust the difficulty of this solo mode, you can make the following changes:
- Easy: Use 4 Skeletons, lose at 12 Terror, win at 5 poltergeists.
- Normal: Use 5 Skeletons, lose at 12 Terror, win at 6 poltergeists.
- Hard: Use 6 Skeletons, lose at 10 Terror, win at 7 poltergeists. (Requires the Haunted Hallways expansion.)
Campaign Play
If you wish to play the solo mode as a campaign, use the following rules.
To begin, write down "Fury & Light," "Stability," and "Terror" on a piece of paper, and mark each as rank 0.
The rank determines the starting value of the Paladin's Fury and Light, Stability, or Terror, as described on the chart below.
Each time you win a game, choose one category and increase it by one rank, up to a maximum of rank 3. You cannot increase a category's rank if it is higher than the rank of any other category.
When you have completed the game with all three categories at rank 3, you can tell the world you are a Vast Master.
| Rank | Fury & Light | Stability | Terror |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 3 each | 0 | 0 |
| 1 | 2 each | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | 1 each | 2 | 2 |
| 3 | 0 each | 3 | 3 |
Traveling Between Vast Games
These rules allow you to use roles from Vast: The Mysterious Manor and Vast: The Crystal Caverns together in either game.
We recommend you only migrate one role at a time. A migrated role replaces the role of the same color. Example: The Paladin replaces the Knight, or vice versa.
These rules assume you are using the recommended player mixes for each game with at least the core roles (Paladin/Skeletons/Spider or Knight/Goblins/Dragon).
If playing without a role, use the variant rules from the role's original game. Example: If the Skeletons visit the Cave with the Knight and the Dragon, the Dragon would take the Past Plunder variant card.
Other mixes are possible but will likely require you to make some rulings on interactions during play.
General Rules
Find and Replace: Replace any references to the original role with references to the migrated role. Example: If you play The Mysterious Manor with the Dragon, references to "Spider" on the Paladin's cards are replaced with references to "Dragon."
Dead Cards and Abilities: Read card text literally, except when meeting the Find and Replace rule. (This may mean certain cards no longer have an effect.)
Do not convert game terms unless explicitly stated. Example: The Goblins do not have Stability, so they ignore any effects that relate to Stability.
Attacking by Movement: Broadly, attacking follows the rules of the defender's original game. This rule does not apply to the text of cards and special abilities. Example: If a Skeleton is hit, it is removed. If a Goblin is hit, it scatters.
Roles from Vast: The Crystal Caverns are only forced to attack by moving into a space with an enemy figure if that color of role would be forced to attack in Vast: The Mysterious Manor. Example: The Thief can enter tiles with enemy figures such as the Warlock. The Knight, however, is forced to attack a Skeleton if she enters its tile.
Forced Move: Whenever a role from Vast: The Mysterious Manor is forced to move by a role from Vast: The Crystal Caverns, they can be moved onto any legal tile. The Warlock may be forced to enter crypts, and the Skeletons may be forced to enter crypts and grounds.
Visiting the Cave
General: The Entrance and Crystal tiles cannot be flipped to their Dark side.
Paladin in the Cave: The Paladin can attack the underground Dragon by spending 1 Fury.
The Paladin cannot sprint into a tile with an event token.
Events are resolved as written.
A Goblin Tribe counts as a single figure for the purpose of the Paladin gaining Light from a hit.
Example: The Dragon's Wrath ability collapses tiles. If he is in the Manor, tiles cannot be collapsed, so ignore this part of the ability.
Spider in the Cave: Goblins ignore webs in Lit tiles, but a Tribe must stop moving when it enters a Dark tile with any webs.
The Knight must spend 2 Movement to enter a tile with any webs. After she enters a tile with any webs, remove 1 web there.
When an Event tile is revealed, place a blood token on it. When the Spider reveals an Event tile, she also gains 1 Blood.
The Spider may play a Fangs card to smash a crystal.
The Knight can roll the Dragon die against the Spider if she has Strength equal to the Spider's Defense.
Warlock in the Cave: The Warlock uses the poltergeist figures and force wall markers (which he can still bring into play with Enclose).
The Warlock treats the outside edge of the map as if composed of crypts.
When the Warlock uses Expand, play the top tile from the stack.
The Knight gains 2 Grit each time she removes a poltergeist.
The Goblins can only trigger the Warlock's Skittish trait once per turn.
In games without the Cave, the Warlock starts with the Past Plunder variant card.
Visiting the Manor
Knight in the Manor: The Knight can use the Bow on a Skeleton to remove it.
She does not use bomb tokens. Instead, her Bomb equipment places a breach marker on a wall of her tile.
She cannot use her Ancient Map to enter a crypt.
She gains 2 Grit each time she removes a poltergeist.
She must spend an extra Movement to enter a tile with any webs.
Goblins in the Manor: During setup, roll for each Tribe and place it on the matching Spawn.
Tribes are never hidden. If a Tribe ever scatters or uses the Hide action, roll the spawn die and place the Tribe on the matching Spawn.
Goblins are lurking while on a crypt. A Tribe forfeits its action if it moves from a crypt or Spawn to a tile.
Tribes at 0 Population cannot enter a tile.
Tribes cannot enter the grounds.
Goblins ignore webs in Lit tiles, but a Tribe stops moving when it enters a Dark tile with any webs.
Goblins can spend their action to spawn, even while on the map. If they are on a Spawn and roll the number of that Spawn, they reroll.
Goblins treat Pit tiles as Dark and can use them to trigger Ambushes.
A Tribe on a Spawn may attack because of an Ambush.
A Tribe counts as a single figure for the purpose of the Paladin gaining Light from a hit.
Overpopulation must affect a Tribe on a tile, if possible.
Dragon in the Manor: When at 11 Wakefulness, the Dragon may surface at any Pit tile.
The Paladin can attack the underground Dragon by spending 1 Fury.
Any Dragon power that scatters a Tribe or makes it hide instead removes Skeletons and poltergeists. Each figure removed in this way advances his Eaten Goblins track once.
Other players treat Dragon Gems as enemy tokens (so one is removed when another role enters its tile).
Thief in the Manor: The Thief can stash treasures while on the Entrance tile or central Pit tile.
The Thief ignores all enemy tokens.
When a Shrine is revealed, also place a vault token on it. Treat vault tokens as markers (so they are not removed when their tile is entered). They can be removed by the Thief's Pick Lock action.
When the Paladin attacks the Thief, he determines whether he hits by counting the number of hero cubes placed on crusade in place of Perception. If he misses, he does not retreat back to his origin tile.
Climb: Crossing a wall only costs 1 cube (not 2).
Pickpocket: As in Vast: The Crystal Caverns, you cannot Pickpocket if the target does not have the relevant item.
- Skeleton: Choose a face-up gear card and place it on the bottom of their gear deck.
- Spider: Lose 1 Terror.
Backstab:
- Skeleton — Light: Skeleton removed.
- Skeleton — Moderate: Skeleton removed and lose 1 Stability.
- Skeleton — Heavy: Skeleton removed and lose 2 Stability.
Loot Drop Results:
Paladin
- Level 3: +3 Grit
- Level 2: +1 Grit
- Level 1: +1 Grit
- Level 0: No bonus
Skeletons
- Level 3: +3 Stability
- Level 2: +2 Stability
- Level 1: +1 Stability
- Level 0: No bonus
Credits
Game Design by Patrick Leder. Patrick dedicates this game to Brandi and Alice.
Illustrations by Kyle Ferrin. Kyle dedicates this game to Meredith and her infinite patience.
Editing by Joshua Yearsley.
Based on a concept by David Somerville.
Development by Leder Games' Saint Paul staff—Patrick Leder, Cole Wehrle, Nick Brachmann, Jake Tonding, Clayton Capra, and Marshall Britt—with additional development by Joshua Yearsley and Kyle Woelfel.
Graphic Design by Nick Brachmann.
Rulebook Layout by Cole Wehrle.
Proofreading by Kate Unrau.
Playtesting by Ryan Schneider, Michael Peterson, Aaron Williams, Steven Wyman, Sara LaiWah James, Aaron Greatorex, Nic Delcambra, Nicholas Leeman, Thyme Ludwig, Andy Aug, Zachariah McCallister, Jacob H. Thull, and Chris Vader.
This project was funded on Kickstarter in June 2018. The Kickstarter page was designed by Leder Games with help from Caryl Tan (header video) and Edward Linder (rules video).
Key Action Reference
Move
Pick up your figure and place it on an adjacent space. You cannot enter crypts or cross walls. If you enter a tile with enemy tokens, remove one of each enemy token there.
- Crawly (Spider): Her Giant Spider (once per turn) and Spiderlings can cross walls.
- Crypt Walker (Warlock): He can enter crypts.
- Ethereal (Manor, Warlock): They can cross walls and do not remove enemy tokens when entering their space.
- Groundskeepers (Skeletons): They can enter the grounds and crypts.
- Skittish (Warlock): If an enemy figure enters his space, he immediately moves to the nearest Dark tile, Pit, or crypt, removes half of his Curses (round down), and advances his Spells track once.
- Lamps: When a Skeleton enters a tile with a lamp, it stops moving.
- Webs: When the Paladin or a Skeleton enters a tile with a web, he or it stops moving.
Attack
You can attack enemy figures on your space. When you enter a space with an enemy figure, you must attack it.
- Agile (Spider): She cannot be forced to attack.
- Ethereal (Manor, Warlock): They cannot attack or be attacked.
- Tiny (Spider): Her Spiderlings and Eggs do not force attacks.
Check whether your Strength is greater than the enemy's Defense.
- Distracting (Skeletons): An attacking Skeleton gains 1 Strength per space with a Skeleton or cackling skulls token adjacent to the defender for that attack.
If Strength is greater, you hit. Remove the defending figure from the map.
If not, you miss. If you were forced to attack, pick up your figure and place it on its origin tile.
- Agile (Spider): She always hits on attacks.
- Formidable (Paladin): When hit, he is not removed. When hit by a Skeleton, he loses 1 Health.
- Weak Bones (Skeletons): A Skeleton is removed after it attacks.
- Undead (Skeletons): If a Skeleton is removed, immediately roll the spawn die and place that Skeleton on the matching Spawn. Move its card to the 1st March Order space, and push cards right to fill the gap.
- Hexomancer (Warlock): Advance his Spells track once if a piece with any curse markers is removed.
Easy-to-Forget Defense Values:
- Poltergeist: 1
- Egg: 1 + blood tokens on tile
- Skeleton: # Skeletons on tile
Reveal
- Flip and orient the tile. You may rotate it as you choose, but at least 1 open edge must touch an open edge of an adjacent tile if possible.
- Fill crypts on open edges. Take Dark tiles from their stack and place 1 Dark tile in each crypt touching an open edge of the revealed tile.
- Resolve the tile. As listed below.
- Spooky (Manor): When it reveals a Poltergeist tile, it may place the poltergeist on any empty Lit tile.
Revealed Tiles:
- Blood: Place a blood token here.
- Treasure: Place a treasure marker here.
- Poltergeist: Place a poltergeist figure here.
- Pit: No immediate effect. Later, Skeletons can use TUNNEL!! to move here.
- Armory: No immediate effect. Later, Skeletons can use ARM!! to draw a gear card here.
- Shrine: No immediate effect. Later, the Paladin can crusade here to gain 1 Fury, 1 Light, or a new favor card here.