The Walking Dead: Something to Fear Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Game Setup
• Card Types
  • Character Cards
  • Encounter Cards
• Overview
  • Round Outline
  • Round Steps in Detail
    • 1. Select and Reveal Character Cards
    • 2. Encounters with the Enemy
    • 3. Remaining Enemies Escape to the Mob
    • 4. Cleanup
• Choosing an Encounter
  • Scoring Formats
• Game End and Scoring
  • Tied Scores
• Character Card Detail
• Encounter Card Detail
• Game Variants
  • Expert Survivor

Components

• 6 sets of nine Character cards
• 63 Encounter cards
• 1 Tie-breaker card
• 12-page rulebook

Game Setup

1. Give each player a set of nine Character cards, numbered 1 through 9. Each set has the same color and number of dots on the back.

2. To set up the Encounter deck for the number of players in your game, look on the back of the Encounter cards. The small numbers printed there show whether a card is used for a certain number of players or not. Go through the cards and select all that have your number of players marked on them. Don't look for any other numbers. You only need the cards matching your number of players.

   EXAMPLE: If you have 3 players in your game, choose all the Encounter cards marked on the back with a "3", and leave out all the cards that do not have a "3".

3. Shuffle the Encounter cards well and place them face-down in the center of the table to form the Encounter deck. Place all unused Encounter cards back in the box.

4. Reveal Encounter cards from the deck equal to the number of players plus 1 and place them face-up in a row to the right of the Encounter deck. These revealed cards form the Encounter row.

5. Leave space to the left of the Encounter deck for the Mob, which will begin to fill at the end of the first round.

6. Each player shuffles their Character cards and places them face-down to form their Character deck, then draws three cards to form their starting hand.

7. Give the Tie-breaker card to the player who most recently read a comic book.

(The rulebook shows an illustrated setup diagram for a 3-player game.)

Card Types

Character Cards

Each player gets an identical set of nine Character cards, numbered 1-9. You draw a hand of three cards at random, and choose one Character to play each round from your hand.

Each Character card has a special ability you can use to benefit yourself and the group during that round.

The Character number determines the order that ability is played, from highest to lowest.

You can normally play each Character only once.

Encounter Cards

Encounter cards represent enemies and situations that you must overcome each round to survive. Each type of Encounter card is included in the game multiple times. Your goal is to collect specific sets of these Encounters by securing them and placing them face-up in front of you to form your Stash, where they will score you points at game end.

Encounter cards that you do not secure become part of the Mob and can damage the group at game end.

Encounter card anatomy (as labelled in the rulebook):

1. Mob Damage to all players if this card is part of the Mob at game end.
2. Encounter type.
3. Personal Damage to the owner at game end (RED).
4. Victory Points for the owner at game end (GOLD).
5. Ability rule and information.

Overview

The game plays out over nine rounds. Choose one Character card each round to secure Encounter cards to your Stash, scoring points and reducing the damage of the Mob to keep it 20 or under so that you survive.

Round Outline

1. Select and reveal Character cards.
2. Encounters with the enemy.
3. Remaining enemies escape to the Mob.
4. Cleanup.

Round Steps in Detail

1. Select and Reveal Character Cards

At the beginning of each round, select one Character card from your hand and place it face-down in front of you. Once all players have selected their Character, everyone reveals their cards at the same time. Choose carefully — you cannot change your mind after the reveal!

The Character cards in your hand are placed to one side for the rest of the round.

2. Encounters with the Enemy

Player order. Character cards are played from highest (#9) to lowest (#1), unless a card ability says otherwise.

Some Character cards are marked with a lightning bolt symbol beside their number. This means they have an ability that happens immediately on reveal.

One notable example is Carl (#3) who changes the player order to be lowest (#1) to highest (#9) for that round.

Character abilities. After completing any "on reveal" abilities, you may use the special ability of your Character, taking your turn according to the player order. If you do not wish to use the special ability for some reason, you may secure one card from the Encounter row instead. All Characters have this basic ability, whether their special ability says "secure an Encounter card" or not.

IMPORTANT: All cards take precedence over the rulebook. If there is a conflict between the rulebook and a rule on a card, always use the card rule.

Secure an Encounter card. To secure a card, take it from the Encounter row (or from another player or the Mob, if your ability allows) and place it face-up in the space in front of you to form your Stash. Combine cards into sets to score points according to the scoring rules on the cards (see page 7 of the rulebook). Do not refill the Encounter row until Cleanup.

Personal Damage. If you secure a card that has a Personal Damage value, be warned, you will personally take that much damage if the card is still in your Stash at game end. The Personal Damage value is only active when the card is in your Stash, not in the Mob.

Tie-breaker. If more than one player reveals the same Character card, the tie is always broken by their distance from the player currently holding the Tie-breaker card, in clockwise order.

EXAMPLE: Diego, Nia, and Seiji each play their Michonne card (#6) at the same time. Because Diego has the Tie-breaker card, he is naturally closest to the Tie-breaker, so he uses his ability first. Nia is next in clockwise order from the Tie-breaker, and then it is Seiji's turn.

Moving the Tie-breaker card may affect the way that later ties are resolved during the rest of the round.

Gaining the Tie-breaker. When a player secures The Governor, they can immediately take the Tie-breaker card. If more than one player tries to secure The Governor in the same round, the Tie-breaker is given to the player who secured The Governor first.

3. Remaining Enemies Escape to the Mob

Once all Character abilities are completed, any remaining cards left in the Encounter row escape to the Mob. Move them to the area reserved for the Mob beside the Encounter deck.

Mob Damage. Mob Damage is shown with its own symbol and value. Any cards in the Mob will jointly attack your group at game end, and each player takes that much damage. The Mob Damage value is only active when the card is in the Mob, not in your Stash.

Ensure that the damage values of all enemies are easily visible to all players when placing them in the Mob. The order of cards in the Mob is not important, so they can be picked up to read them and then replaced however you wish.

4. Cleanup

Discard active Character cards. At the end of the round, discard the Character card you revealed into your own discard pile, putting them face-up beside your Character deck. Discard piles are open information, and you are encouraged to check what cards your opponents have already used. Keep your Character cards separate from other players' cards.

Draw a Character card. Refill your hand to three cards, unless your deck is empty.

Refill the Encounter row. Reveal Encounter cards from the deck equal to the number of players plus 1, to make a new Encounter row. This is not needed on the last round.

Choosing an Encounter

You score by collecting and making sets of Encounter cards, according to the points shown in the gold areas on the cards. Some Encounter cards also have Mob Damage, Personal Damage, and special abilities.

When choosing an Encounter card, you must decide between adding it to your Stash for points (and possible Personal Damage) or letting it escape to the Mob, where it may do Mob Damage to the group.

You can also use abilities to steal a card from another player, or force a card on them — business as usual in the zombie apocalypse.

Scoring Formats

Saviors, Negan, The Governor. Cards with a series of values show the points you score for a set of one, two, or three cards.

EXAMPLE: Saviors are marked with scores: 8 / 16 / 32. If you collect one Savior, the card scores 8 points. If you collect two Saviors, together they score 16 points, and if you collect three, the set scores 32 points. If you have more than three cards, you start a new set. Four Saviors scores 40 points: 32 points for the full set of three cards, and 8 points for one card in a new set of three.

Supplies, Weapon. Cards with a single value score that many points for each card, for as many as you have.

Walker Horde, Wounds. Cards without a gold area score no points directly. They may deal Personal Damage to whoever has them in their Stash at game end.

A Walker Horde can help you win the points for Most Walkers, at the cost of some Personal Damage.

Wound. When you secure this card, give it to another player instead.

Game End and Scoring

The game ends after the ninth round is completed, then players assess their damage.

1. The Mob attacks. Add up all the Mob Damage values on Encounter cards in the Mob. Each player takes that amount of damage. Ignore the Personal Damage values.
2. Calculate your individual damage by adding up the Personal Damage values of cards in your Stash. Add that amount to the Mob damage. Ignore any Mob Damage values on cards in your Stash.
3. If your total damage is over 20, you did not survive! The zombie apocalypse claims another victim.
4. If you survived, calculate your score from the sets of cards in your Stash, according to the Victory Point scoring rules of each set. The player with the most points wins!

Tied Scores

If there is a tie, the tied player who holds the Tie-breaker card wins. If no tied player has the Tie-breaker, the player with the most Walkers wins. If still a tie, victory is shared.

Character Card Detail

1: Eugene. On reveal: You may shuffle your discard pile and reveal one card. Take your turn in normal player order according to the number of the new card. Both cards are discarded at the end of the round.

2: Jesus. Secure a card. You may choose another player, steal a card from their Stash and add it to your Stash.

3: Carl. On reveal: You may reverse the turn order to play from lowest to highest this round.

On your turn: Secure a card. You may destroy a card in your Stash (remove it from the game and return it to the box).

4: Maggie. On reveal: If Maggie is the lowest card played, you may immediately cancel an opponent's card. Choose an Encounter card for that player to secure. That player chooses a card for you to secure.

5: Ezekiel. Secure a card. You may choose a card in your Stash and a card in another player's Stash then swap those cards.

6: Michonne. Look at the top 3 cards of the Encounter deck. You may replace one card from the Encounter row with one of the drawn cards. Return the other cards to the top of the deck. Secure a card.

7: Abraham. Secure a card. If you secured a Walker or Walker Horde, you may discard a Character card in your hand to return another Character from your discard pile to your hand, allowing you to re-use a Character.

8: Andrea. You may secure a card from the Mob, or from the Encounter row.

9: Rick. You may swap any card in the Encounter row with any card in the Mob. Secure a card.

Encounter Card Detail

Saviors. Collected in sets of three. Saviors score points according to how many you have at game end: 8 points for one, 16 points for two, or 32 points for three. If Saviors escape to the Mob, the card deals 3 Mob Damage to the group at game end.

EXAMPLE: Nia owns four Saviors. She scores 40 points total; 32 points from a full set of three, and 8 points from one card in a new set of three.

Negan. Collected in sets of three. Players score either negative or positive points for the number of cards collected: 10 points for one Negan, -20 points for two, or 40 points for three. If Negan escapes to the Mob, the card deals 4 Mob Damage to the group at game end.

EXAMPLE: Diego owns three Negan cards for 40 points. Seiji owns two Negans for -20 points, and Nia owns one Negan for 10 points.

The Governor. Collected in sets of three. The Governor allows you to take control of the Tie-breaker card immediately, but the more you use him, the less he scores: 20 points for one Governor, 10 points for two, and 5 points for three. If the Governor escapes to the Mob, the card deals 3 Mob Damage to the group at game end.

When you secure The Governor, take the Tie-breaker card.

EXAMPLE: Diego owns three Governors and scores 5 points. Seiji owns only one and scores 20 points.

Walker. The player who collects the most Walkers scores 25 points at game end. The second-most is awarded 10 points. In the case of a tie for first, all tied players score 25 points and there is no second place. In the case of a tie for second, all tied players score 10 points.

If a Walker escapes to the Mob, the card deals 2 Mob Damage to the group at game end.

Note: In a 2-player game, there is no score for second-most Walkers.

Walker Horde. Each Walker Horde counts as three Walkers toward your Walker total. Place them with your single Walkers. At game end, a player with a Walker Horde suffers 2 Personal Damage. In the Mob, it deals 5 Mob Damage to the group at game end.

EXAMPLE: Nia collected 2 Walker Hordes. Mob damage to the group is 15, plus 2 Personal Damage each for the Walker Hordes, making Nia's total damage 19. Nia has survived!

Supplies. Each Supplies card a player owns scores 10 points at game end. If a Supplies card is present in the Mob at game end, it deals 2 Mob Damage to the group.

EXAMPLE: Seiji owns five Supplies and scores 50 points.

Weapon. Each Weapon a player owns scores 5 points at game end. If a Weapon card is present in the Mob at game end, it deals 0 Mob Damage to the group.

When a player secures a Weapon, they may choose to activate the card's ability immediately or save it to use during their turn in a later round.

On your turn: You may destroy this card to secure a card from the Mob.

If a Weapon is used to secure a card from the Mob, the Weapon is destroyed (removed from the game and returned to the box).

Wound. A Wound deals Personal Damage to the player who has it at game end. If a Wound card is present in the Mob at game end, it deals 0 Mob Damage to the group. There are up to 6 Wound cards, ranging between 2 and 4 damage.

When you secure this card, give it to another player instead.

EXAMPLE: Seiji has 2 Wounds, each dealing 2 Personal Damage. With 17 Mob damage plus 4 damage from Wounds, Seiji's total damage is 21. Seiji has died.

Game Variants

Expert Survivor

This variant is for experienced gamers who want more control over their cards.

Instead of creating a deck of Character cards to draw from, take all nine cards into your hand at the start of the game.

The game plays the same, with players simultaneously revealing one card every round, but players can choose from their full set of cards instead of a smaller hand of three.

This ensures you can play each Character at the perfect time for your strategy.