A Touch of Evil: Dark Gothic Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Gameplay Overview
• Number of Players
• Game Contents
• Game Elements
  • Large Hero Cards
  • Large Villain Cards
  • The Omen Die
  • Game Cards
  • Remains in Play
• Game Set Up
• During Your Turn
  • Playing Cards
  • Resources
  • Acquiring Cards and Defeating Minions
  • Enemy 'Fight:' Effects
  • Mystery Effects
  • Villain Global Effects
  • Defeating a Villain
  • Destroyed Cards
  • Strike Effects
  • Block
  • Drawing Up
  • Shuffling Your Deck
• Ending the Game
  • End of Your Turn
  • The Shadows
  • Determining the Winner
• Optional Rules
  • Draw 2 Choose 1 for Heroes
  • Fully Cooperative Game
• FAQ
• Credits
  • Contact Info / Web Info

Gameplay Overview

Each Player has their own deck of cards that they draw from during the game. There is also a large Main Deck at the center of the table with a Center Line of 6 cards that all of the Players get to play off of. Players use cards from their own deck to defeat Minions and acquire Gear, Allies, Events, and Locations from the Center Line, adding any cards acquired to their own deck for later use. In this way, the Players build their personal deck throughout the game, guiding its contents by the cards they choose to acquire from the Center Line. Whenever a Player's deck runs out of cards, it is re-shuffled, adding all of the cards that the Player previously acquired back into their deck so that they may be drawn and used for their game effects.

There are also 3 Villains terrorizing the countryside and growing in power over the course of the game! These Villains have many ways to add cards to the Shadows stack, and if there are ever 10 cards in the Shadows, the Villains win the game and all of the Players lose! These Villains can be battled, but require far more resources to defeat than most cards found in the Center Line. If all 3 Villains are defeated, the Heroes have won the day and each Player adds up all of the Investigation (Victory Points) for every card in their deck. Whichever Player has the highest Investigation total is the winner, and crowned the top Monster-Hunter!

Number of Players

Dark Gothic is a game for 2-6 players and is a mix of cooperative and competitive play. The Heroes must work together to defeat all of the Villains before the countryside is laid to waste, but only one Hero can prevail when the victory points are totaled.

Game Contents

• 1 Full-Color Rulebook
• 1 Omen Die
• 90 Starting Cards
• 10 Honor Cards
• 60 Training Cards
• 15 Dark Secret Cards
• 1 Hungry Dead Minion Card
• 134 Card Main Deck
• 12 Card Shocking Discovery Deck
• 8 Large Hero Character Cards
• 9 Large Villain Cards

Game Elements

Large Hero Cards

Each Player takes on the role of one of these monster-hunting Heroes during the game. There are 8 Heroes to select from and each oversized Hero card shows the breakdown of cards that comprise the Player's starting deck as well as the Ability or Abilities unique to that Hero.

Large Villain Cards

The Villains are the larger, more deadly supernatural creatures that must be defeated to win the game. There are 9 different Villains included, and each game will use 3 of these Villains selected at random based on their danger rating (one each of danger level I, II, and III). Each of these oversized cards has the Villain's cost to defeat, special abilities, and any keywords where appropriate (such as Vampire, etc).

The Omen Die

A special die is included in the game called the Omen Die. It is marked with the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 and two Skull icons. Skull icons generally equal 0 if you are rolling for a number. This die is used during the game to add a random element of chance for certain card effects and abilities.

Game Cards

Most of the cards in Dark Gothic share the same card back as they could all potentially be added to a Player's personal deck throughout the game. All of the cards have a card type listed in large bold text that is color coded to help distinguish them as follows:

Start – These are the cards that make up a Player's initial deck at the start of the game. Generally these cards work well to get you started, but as they generate very few resources, it is best to try and replace them with better cards during the course of the game.

Training – These cards are better versions of the Starting cards and are always available for Players to acquire in addition to the cards found in the Center Line.

Honor – Honor is one of the most powerful cards and most Heroes start with a single Honor card in their deck. Honor cards cannot be purchased, they may only be acquired through special acts of valor during the game.

Gear – Gear are items and equipment that will help your Hero during the course of the game.

Ally – Allies are townsfolk that will help your Hero out during the course of the game. Some of the more powerful Allies (such as the Town Elders) also give your Hero a Dark Secret when acquired.

Location – These cards represent locations that your Hero visits and explores during the game. Many Locations are marked as Remains in Play so they stay out when played and continue to give you benefits.

Event – Events represent battle tactics and things that happen during your adventures.

Minion – Minions are lesser enemies that are found in the Center Line and are defeated by paying their card cost. Defeated Minions ARE acquired to your discard pile, just like any other card from the Center Line.

Common Minion – There is one Common Minion that is always available to Fight, in addition to any cards in the Center Line. This Common Minion is called the Hungry Dead and can be used to feed cards to during the game (destroying unwanted cards from your hand or the Center Line).

Secret – Secrets are bad cards that can be added to your deck against your will and are worth negative Investigation if they are still in your deck at the end of the game. When a Dark Secret card is in your hand during your turn, it must be played before any other cards, exploding like a time bomb! This destroys itself and forces you to draw a Shocking Discovery!

Shocking Discovery – The results of a Dark Secret card being played, Shocking Discoveries are mostly bad things that happen to the Player that drew it, or to all of the Heroes in general. Some Shocking Discoveries remain in play on the current Villain until it is defeated.

Remains in Play

Some cards are marked as Remains in Play at the bottom of the card's text box. When played from a Player's hand, these cards stay out in front of that player and continue to give them a bonus each turn. It is important to note that these cards are still initially placed in the Player's discard pile when first acquired, and only begin to Remain in Play once they have been drawn into hand and played during the Player's turn.

Game Set Up

1. Take all of the Gear, Ally, Event, Location, and Minion cards (not including the Common Minion Hungry Dead card) and shuffle them all together thoroughly. Place this deck of cards at the center of the table. This forms the Main Deck.

2. Each player now randomly draws one of the large Hero character cards to play as. This Hero card lists the breakdown of your starting deck. Take the number listed for each of the Start cards (Strength of Combat, Strength of Cunning, Strength of Spirit) as well as any Honor that you start with (usually one Honor card). These cards are shuffled together thoroughly to create your Personal Deck. All of the unused Start cards should then be returned to the box (they will not likely be used during the game). Also, return all unused large Hero cards to the box.

3. Take all of the large Villain cards marked with the Danger Rating III (in the upper right corner of the card) and shuffle them together. Pull one of these cards randomly and set it face down on the table without looking. Now do the same for the Danger Rating II Villains, setting it face down on top of the Danger III Villain in a stack. Finally, randomly draw a Danger Rating I Villain and place it face up on the stack of Villains, so that all of the players can see it. This is the starting Villain. Return all unused Villain cards to the box (without looking at them).

4. Shuffle the Shocking Discovery cards and set them off to the side, face down, where everyone can reach them.

5. Set the remaining card stacks on one side of the play area so that all players can reach them. These card stacks should include each of the Training cards (Tactical Strike, Brilliant Deduction, Intuitive Hunch), the remaining Honor cards, the Dark Secrets, and the Common Enemy Hungry Dead.

6. Flip over the top 6 cards of the Main Deck, one at a time, and place them in a row at the center of the table, next to the Main Deck. This row of 6 cards is called the Center Line. (It is important to note that effects that are triggered when a card enters the Center Line, such as Mystery effects, are NOT triggered by the initial 6 cards played to fill in the Center Line).

7. Every Player draws a hand of 6 cards from the top of their personal deck. This is your starting hand.

8. Now every Player rolls the Omen Die. Whichever Player rolls the highest (roll off if tied) gets the first turn, then play proceeds clockwise around the table. Remember that on the Omen Die, a Skull counts as 0.

You are now ready to begin the game!

During Your Turn

Playing Cards

During your turn, you will play cards from your hand to gain resources, and then spend those resources to acquire new cards into your personal deck, thus making your deck stronger and tailored to your own play style. To play a card from your hand, simply lay it face up on the table and gain the bonus listed in the card's game text area. Cards that are played during your turn stay out on the table until the end of your turn and are then moved to the discard pile of your personal deck. It is important to note that the cards you play are not placed in the discard pile until your turn is fully over.

Resources

There are three resources in the game – Combat, Cunning, and Spirit. These resources are represented by colored orbs with an icon for the resource type and a quantity of that resource. Combat is Red with a pistol icon, Cunning is Green with a magnifying glass icon, and Spirit is Blue with a book icon.

• Combat
• Cunning
• Spirit

There is also a fourth type of resource orb that is Silver with no icon.

Silver is a wild card, so anytime you see a Silver resource, you can choose what color you want it to represent.

It is important to note that anytime you see a Silver orb, you can choose the one (and only one) color you want it to represent, and it will be the quantity listed in the Silver orb of that single chosen color.

This works the same whether you are choosing what color to make a Silver 'wild card' orb for gaining that resource from a card you have played, or for a card's cost if you need to spend that resource.

Resources gained for playing cards remain available to spend until the end of your turn (so you could just lay down your entire hand and then choose how you want to spend the resources gained for all of those cards). It is also important to note that you do NOT need to choose what color to make a Silver orb until you actually spend the resource to acquire or defeat a card. For instance, the card Honor gives you 1 Silver and lets you draw a card. You may draw the extra card and play other cards even before deciding what color to make the Silver.

Acquiring Cards and Defeating Minions

During your turn, you may defeat or acquire any number of cards from the Center Line as well as any of the Training cards from their stacks. You may also defeat the Common Enemy Hungry Dead or even try and defeat the current, face-up Villain! To defeat a Minion or Acquire a card, you must be able to spend resources equal to or more than that card's cost, listed along the upper left side of the card.

When a card is defeated or acquired by paying its listed cost, it is immediately placed into your discard pile.

Anytime a card is Acquired or Defeated from the Center Line (or removed in any way), it is immediately replaced by flipping over the top card of the Main Deck. In this way, there should always be 6 cards in the Center Line available to choose from.

Enemy 'Fight:' Effects

Most Minions and Villains have a special Red Text Box with the word 'Fight:' in it. When that enemy is defeated, by paying its cost, the 'Fight:' game text is automatically triggered and the Player that defeated it must resolve the text immediately. Note that 'Fight:' game text generally only ever happens once, when the enemy is defeated. Once a card with the 'Fight:' Red Text Box is in your deck and you draw it into hand, it has no effect on playing that card, you simply gain the other game text bonus that is not in the Red Text Box.

Mystery Effects

Some cards have a special Grey Text Box with the word 'Mystery:' in it. When one of these cards enters the Center Line, its 'Mystery:' game text is automatically triggered. Just like 'Fight:' text in the Red Box, 'Mystery:' text in the Grey Box has no game effect when the card is drawn into hand and played later in the game, only when the card initially enters the Center Line.

Villain Global Effects

Some Villains also have a Green Text Box with the word 'Global:' in it. This game text is considered to always be in effect until that Villain is defeated.

Defeating a Villain

The current, face-up Villain is always available to defeat, if you can pay its cost. Like Minions, most Villains have a Red Text Box 'Fight:' effect that must be triggered when you defeat him. Unlike Minions however, Villains are large cards that are not placed in your discard pile. They are instead tucked under your Hero character card and only count for their Investigation value (Victory Points) at the end of the game.

When a Villain is defeated, the next Villain is not revealed until the end of your turn. In this way, it is not possible for a player to defeat two Villains in the same turn.

Destroyed Cards

Whenever a card is Destroyed, it is placed in the Crypt (the discard pile for the Main Deck). Cards that are just discarded are placed in your personal deck discard pile, to be shuffled back into your deck later.

Strike Effects

Some cards (usually Minions) have the word 'Strike:' as part of their game text. These are attacks made against all of the other players when the card is played. The 'Strike:' effect does not target the Player that actually played the card. Note that some cards have a 'Strike:' effect as part of their Mystery: Special Grey Text Box. When this is the case, the Strike actually targets ALL players.

Block

Some cards have the word Block in bold letters as part of their game text. This is an ability that allows the Player to ignore the effects of a 'Strike:' or 'Fight:' effect.

Drawing Up

The last thing you do at the end of your turn is to draw new cards. Draw 6 new cards to refill your hand. Note that any cards not played during your turn are discarded before you draw up (you do not get to keep un-played cards from one turn to the next).

Shuffling Your Deck

Anytime you need to draw a card but have no cards left in your deck, you must immediately shuffle your discard pile to reform your deck. This is the main way that you get cards previously acquired back into your deck so that you can draw and play them for their cool card effects.

Ending the Game

End of Your Turn

Once your turn is complete, if the current Villain was defeated, flip over the next Villain and play passes to the next player to your left. If there are no more Villains to flip, the game is over and the Heroes are victorious!

The Shadows

It is possible for the Villains to overrun the countryside with evil and plunge the land into darkness! This growing menace is kept track of by a stack of cards called The Shadows. The Shadows is a face down stack of cards that forms near the Villains and measures how close the Villains are to winning!

If there are ever 10 cards in The Shadows, the Villains automatically win, and all of the Heroes lose the game.

Cards that are in the Shadows are kept face down so that you do not know what has been consumed by the darkness.

Determining the Winner

When all three Villains have been defeated, the game ends and the Players each add up all of the Investigation values for every card in their deck (including their hand and discard pile). They also add any Investigation for Villains that they defeated. Whichever Player has the highest Investigation total is hailed as the top monster hunter in the land and wins the glory for themselves!

Optional Rules

Draw 2 Choose 1 for Heroes

When Players draw their Hero character, each Player may draw two Hero Cards and choose which to play as. Return the unused Hero to the stack.

Fully Cooperative Game

Dark Gothic can be played fully cooperatively by having the Hero Players all work together. There are a few minor tweaks you may want to use when playing this way.

• Strike Effects on Minion cards now effect all Players, even the one that played it. Also, Minion cards in your hand must be played during your turn.
• The Player that goes first at the start of the game is now called the First Player. At the start of each of the First Player's turns, they must roll the Omen Die for every Minion card in the Center Line. On a Skull, that card is added to the Shadows (this roll may not be Re-rolled by Katarina).

FAQ

Q- Are Training cards, Honor, and Dark Secrets limited to the number of cards available? A- Yes. Once these stacks run out, they are gone for the game.

Q- Can Harlow Morgan use his ability to discard a Dark Secret from hand before playing it? A- No. The Secret must be played.

Q- If I play two copies of Timber Wolves, do they get the bonus for each other? A- No. The first Timber Wolves gets the bonus for itself and the second gets the bonus for both.

Q- For the Vampire of Black Bay's Fight: effect, do all of the Silver need to be the same color? A- No. His ability requires an extra 1 Silver for every two cards in the Shadows. These are individual Silver, and so may be different colors. This is similar for the Tools of Science and Runic Amulet Gear cards in that each instance generates a new Silver resource.

Q- Does the Creeping Terror's Global Ability count for the initial 6 cards in the Center Line? A- No.

Credits

Game Design - Jason C. Hill Graphic Design and Layout - Jack Scott Hill Villain Illustrations - Brian Snoddy Photography - Jack Scott Hill Rules - Jason C. Hill

Playtesters - Mary Beth Magallanes, Joel Flamme, Jeremy Hill, Chris Kemnow, Amy Stone, Brendan Stone, Kirk Tarrach, Christopher Paul, Matt Auen, Ari D. Howard, Christopher Galvanin, Sharon Adler, J.C. Connors, and many others.

Cast:

• Isabella Von Took – Kelli Zmiarovich
• Heinrich Cartwright – Matthew Morgaine
• Karl Harrison – Patrick Meehan
• Katarina Clark – Josie Nutter
• Adrianna of Zartha – April Quedado
• Brother Marcus – Cullen Faugno
• Charlotte Dubois/Matriarch of Silence – Amy Stone
• Harlow Morgan – Joel Flamme
• Anne Marie, The School Teacher – Anne Marie Henderson
• Victor Danforth – Christopher W. Shull
• Inspector Cooke – Drew Cady
• Eliza, Witch Hunter – Liz Spain
• Doctor Edwards – Jeremy Hill
• Maria De La Rosa – Hannah M. Hsu Larson
• Frederic Leon – Steve Vallee
• Liliana, Lost Soul – Bree Baggett
• Argot Blackwell – Brian Snoddy
• Lucy Hanbrook – Amanda Kom
• Selena/Succubus – Heidi Costello
• Lord Hanbrook – Frank Peterson
• Lady Hanbrook – Nancy E. Frye
• Doctor Manning – David A. Nolin
• Sophie, The Midwife – Bailey Fischer
• Reverend Harding – Aaron Sutherland
• Magistrate Kroft – Josh Lytle
• Widow Jessica – Kathleen A. Magner
• Harbormaster – Gordon Ludlow
• Militia/Ghost Soldier – Tom Coonradt
• Militia – Chris Kemnow
• Highwayman – Mark Brown
• Spectral Horseman – Lora Nelson
• Scarecrow/Werewolf/Hungry Dead – Jason C. Hill
• Harpy – Tiegan Walker

Special Thanks - Jack and Rosa Hill, Baxter, Gael Goumon, A Masquerade Costumes, BoardGameGeek.com, TheZombieGame.com, and all of the fans who have helped support Flying Frog over the years.

Contact Info / Web Info

www.flyingfrog.net

A Touch of Evil®: Dark Gothic™ is Trademark and Copyright ©2014 Flying Frog Productions, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Manufactured in China. The Lost Colony is not forgotten!