The Batman Who Laughs Rising Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Set Up
  • Solo Variant
• Game Play
  • Turn Order Overview Summary
  • Turn Order Details
    • 1. Place Team Deployment Token
    • 2. Roll and Resolve the Dark Knights and The Batman Who Laughs Dice
    • 3. Roll and Assign Hero Dice
    • 4. Resolve Hero Dice Roll and Assign Hero Dice
• End of the Game
• Additional Rules
  • Damage
  • Heroes
  • The Batman Who Laughs
  • Villains
  • Bonus Tokens
  • Dark Knights Track
• Legends and Game Play Variants
  • Batman Who Laughs Dice Facings
  • Dark Nights Dice Facings
  • Hero Dice Facings
  • Game Play Difficulty Variants

Components

• 1 Batman Who Laughs Figure
• 1 Deployment Zone Tile
• 4 Double Sided Dark Knights Track Tiles
• 1 Dark Knights Die
• 1 Batman Who Laughs Die
• 15 Hero Dice
• 32 Dark Knights Track Counters
• 60 Damage Counters
• 4 Team Deployment Tokens
• 30 Bonus Tokens
• 4 Team Ability Cards
• 38 Character (Hero and Villain) Cards
• 7 Dark Knights Cards including 1 Batman Who Laughs Card
• 1 Rulebook

Team Ability Cards: These cards indicate the starting dice pool, Team Leader (starting Hero) and ability for that team. There is a turn order reminder on the back!

Set Up

A. Lay out the Dark Knights Track. Shuffle the 6 Dark Knights cards and place one face down on each of the spaces on the track. Place The Batman Who Laughs card on the indicated track space. Place the Dark Knights Track counters nearby.

B. Place all the dice, the red Damage Counters and the Bonus Tokens (face down) within easy reach of all players. Note: Dice are shared amongst all players.

C. Place the Deployment Zone between the players with The Batman Who Laughs figure in the center of it facing a random location.

D. Each player chooses a team, collects a Team Ability Card (or assign at random) and its matching Team Deployment Token. The card indicates that player's starting dice pool as well as the starting Hero (team leader) for that player's team, which that player collects from the Hero deck.

E. Shuffle all of the other Character Cards (all remaining Heroes and the six basic Villains with matching card backs), into a deck and place it near the Deployment Zone.

• Deal out the top nine cards face up (three for each sector) and place them around the Deployment Zone.

Solo Variant

The Batman Who Laughs Rising can be played as a solo experience. In order to take on The Batman Who Laughs alone, start the game by selecting two starting teams as you would in a 2-player game. Alternate turns between the two teams, following the rules as normal.

Note: Use the purple side of the Dark Knights Track for 3-4 player game. For 1-2 player games, flip the tiles over and use the orange-brown side. Use the visual cues on the top corners of each tile to lay out the tiles in the correct order.

The Batman Who Laughs is placed in the center of the Deployment Zone (facing a random sector). The Batman Who Laughs and Dark Knights Dice are used to determine the actions of The Batman Who Laughs and the progress on the Dark Knights Track.

The Deployment Zone has three Hero/Villain Cards in each of the three location sectors.

Game Play

The player who most recently read a DC Comic goes first, and play proceeds clockwise.

Turn Order Overview Summary

This also appears on the back of each Team Ability Card as a reminder.

1. Place Team Deployment Token in Sector.
2. Roll and Resolve Dark Knights and The Batman Who Laughs Dice.
3. Roll and Assign Hero Dice.
4. Resolve Hero Dice and Conclude Turn.

The Team Ability Card's back carries a more detailed Turn Order reminder:

1. Place Team Deployment Token in a Deployment Zone.
2. Roll and Resolve the Batman Who Laughs Dice.
3. Roll, and Assign Hero Dice.
4. Resolve Hero Card Abilities when activated.
5. Recruit Heroes.
6. Assign Damage to Villains.
7. Draw Bonus Tokens.
8. Remove Defeated Villains and Heroes.
9. Move any Dark Knights to the top of the Deck.
10. Replace defeated Heroes and Villains.

Turn Order Details

1. Place Team Deployment Token

The active player chooses where to send their team for their mission by placing their Deployment Token in one of the three sectors. During their turn players can only interact with the three face up Character and/or Dark Knight Cards at this location and the Heroes on their team (who are also present in the chosen location), unless an ability says otherwise.

Example: The active player (Ben) has chosen the Determination Team with Batman as the starting Hero (team leader).

Ben decides to deploy his team to Gotham's Sector 3, placing his Deployment Token in that sector. The Batman Who Laughs is also currently in that location, as well as Plastic Man (Hero), Constantine (Hero), and Court of Owls (Villain).

2. Roll and Resolve the Dark Knights and The Batman Who Laughs Dice

The Dark Knights Die represents the Villains' progress towards bringing all of the Dark Knights into the prime universe. This is indicated by adding a number of counters to the Dark Knights Track matching the value of the die roll.

If a section of the Dark Knights Track is filled, continue placing counters into the next section of the track. If a section remains filled at the end of the turn, the Dark Knight Card on that space will be placed on top of the Character Card draw pile (see Dark Knights Track).

Next roll The Batman Who Laughs Die, which represents his actions and movement between locations. The die faces indicate if The Batman Who Laughs rotates one Sector Counterclockwise (L), one Sector Clockwise (R), or remains in his current location (Ha/Ha, Ha, Ha). If the die face also includes the red ring, which represents The Batman Who Laughs crown, the most recently revealed action on the Dark Knights Track is activated. If none of the Dark Knights Cards have been removed from the track and added to the deck, skip this step.

The Batman Who Laughs will then attack the Heroes in his current location, adding a Damage Counter to them (see Damage). This includes Heroes on the active player's team if their team (as indicated by their Deployment Token) is where The Batman Who Laughs is present.

Villains in The Batman Who Laugh's location will then have their abilities activated (see Villains). This usually results in more Damage being applied to Heroes, Villains being healed or other restrictions that will help advance the Dark Knights' goals.

See the Legends page for a complete legend of all die faces and their results.

Resolving the Dark Knights Dice — Example: After deploying, Ben rolls the two black dice, rolling the 1 Dark Knights Track counter symbol on the Dark Knights die and the "R" (clockwise Right rotation) on The Batman Who Laughs die.

• A. One counter is added to the Dark Knights Track.
• B. The Batman Who Laughs is moved to face the adjacent (R for right) clockwise location Sector.
• C. The Batman Who Laughs now attacks all Heroes present in that location, adding one Damage Counter to each.
• D. The Batman Who Laughs triggers the ability of the Villain in his current location, The Drowned, which adds one Damage to all of the Heroes on Ben's team.

3. Roll and Assign Hero Dice

After resolving the Dark Nights and The Batman Who Laughs Dice, the active player then collects and rolls their Hero Dice pool (the four dice indicated on their Team Ability Card, plus any extra dice from Hero abilities and/or Bonus Tokens).

The Hero dice have different combinations of symbols representing Power, Justice, Determination, and Purpose. Each die is stronger in one of the symbols, including a double symbol (2) which counts as 2 of that icon. (See the Legends page for a legend of Hero dice face combinations.)

The active player reviews their opening Hero dice roll, and chooses to assign at least one die (but may assign more) to match:

• The symbols of characters in their location to either recruit a Hero or attack a Villain
• A character ability for a Hero already on their team
• The ability on their team card

If a player cannot or does not want to assign any dice for a roll, they must select and forfeit one die from their dice pool (for the turn).

The player then rolls the remaining dice in their pool, attempting to match more symbols. Usually, they will want it to be the same card(s) they assigned dice to for their first roll, but they can choose another in their Sector.

When dice have been assigned to match all symbols for a character, that character is either successfully recruited (in the case of Heroes) or damaged (in the case of Villains) at the end of the turn.

Dice assigned to characters on a player's team may be used to activate these abilities immediately! For example, if a player assigns a die to use a Hero ability on their team that allows them to remove a damage counter from a Hero, they may do so immediately.

Roll and Assign Hero Dice — Example: After resolving the Dark Knights and Batman Who Laughs Dice, Ben gets to act, attempting to recruit one of the Heroes in his location (Plastic Man or Constantine) and/or damage a Villain (Court of Owls). He rolls his Hero dice pool of three Red dice and one Purple die as indicated by his Team Ability Card.

• A. His first roll is POWER, POWER, PURPOSE, and JUSTICE. He now assigns one or more dice to cards in his sector, and decides to assign the two POWER dice results to Plastic Man, hoping to roll one more POWER symbol to successfully recruit him.
• B. After assigning the two dice, he re-rolls the remaining two, getting a JUSTICE and a PURPOSE. He didn't get the last POWER needed, so he assigns the PURPOSE to the Court of Owls, instead of just forfeiting a die.
• C. He then re-rolls the last unassigned die and gets a 2 DETERMINATION result. He assigns it to the Court of Owls to attack it, adding 1 Damage counter and gaining 1 Bonus token.

4. Resolve Hero Dice Roll and Assign Hero Dice

A player's turn ends when they have used or forfeit all of their dice (or it becomes impossible to successfully assign dice to at least one available card).

Any Heroes successfully recruited this turn (dice assigned to match ALL their symbols) are added to that player's team with all Damage Counters on them removed. Any Villains successfully attacked (assigned dice to match all their symbols) have a Damage Counter added to them, AND the active player gains a Bonus Token for each Damage Counter added (see Villains and Damage). All dice are then returned to the pool.

Check the Dark Knights Track. Remove the Dark Knights Card from any completed section and place it on top of the Character deck. If The Batman Who Laughs track space is full, turn his card face up, and place it below the track. Treat this card as if it is in the same location as The Batman Who Laughs figure.

Any Heroes and Villains with full damage are then placed in a discard area (see damage for more details).

All recruited and defeated characters are replaced with the top card(s) from the Character deck. Then it is the next player's turn, proceeding clockwise.

Play continues in this manner with the active player assigning their Deployment Token, rolling and resolving the Dark Knights and The Batman Who Laughs dice and then their team's dice pool, as they attempt to recruit Heroes and damage Villains. As players add Heroes to their team, they will also add abilities to their arsenal, including rolling additional dice for their dice pool, manipulating and re-rolling dice, and removing Damage Counters.

See Additional Rules below for more details on Heroes, Damage, Villains, Bonus Tokens, and the Dark Knights Track.

End of the Game

If the players can defeat The Batman Who Laughs before the Dark Knight's complete their plans they will win! Difficulty can be adjusted by removing minor Villain Cards from the deck, or adjusting the Damage Counters required to defeat The Batman Who Laughs. For an expert game try including all Villain Cards and using The Batman Who Laughs full damage meter!

Players can lose the game in a few different ways, as follows:

• If the entire Dark Knights Track is filled with Counters the Dark Knights have completed their goal to bring destruction to the Prime Universe and the players lose.
• If collectively ten (or more) Heroes are defeated, all players lose, as they have taken too many losses to successfully mount a coordinated attack on The Batman Who Laughs.
• If any one player has all the Heroes on their team defeated, all players lose.

Note: If players were to both win and lose the game at the same time (for example: the Dark Knights Track is filled AND The Batman Who Laughs is defeated) the players win!

Additional Rules

Damage

Each Hero and Villain has an amount of Damage Counters they can have before being defeated, as indicated on the right side of their card.

When adding damage to characters, place Damage Counters on empty damage indicator spaces on the character. Villains are damaged by players assigning dice to match their symbols (see Villains below). Note: Damage cannot be added in excess of a character's damage capacity. If a Hero's damage capacity is full it may not take additional damage from attacks in order to activate abilities that require taking damage.

At the end of each turn, if Damage Counters on a character are equal to its damage capacity, that character is defeated and placed in the discard pile. Remember, if too many Heroes are defeated, players will lose the game.

Some abilities allow players to 'heal' Heroes by removing Damage Counters. This may require assigning a die to activate the ability.

Card note — Robin: If Robin is on your Team, you would have the opportunity to activate the ability and assign 1 DETERMINATION symbol from your dice roll and collect 1 Bonus Token. (Ability text: "+1 Bonus token")

Heroes

All Heroes have a special ability listed on their card. Some add additional dice to a player's dice pool. Others allow a player to change the value of a die or re-roll dice before assigning dice. Additionally, some Heroes may be able to draw Bonus Tokens, or remove Damage or Dark Knight Counters. Note that some character abilities require a player to assign a specific symbol from their dice pool to use the ability. These are resolved immediately when the matching dice are assigned. Remember, dice can only be assigned to use these abilities once on a player's turn.

Hero abilities that allow a player to change a certain symbol to a different die face may be used to change both the single and double version of that symbol to any other die face available on that die.

• A. Hero type — this icon indicates the Hero's affiliation — and is important to note for resolving some Hero abilities and Villain attacks.
• B. Damage capacity — this indicates how many Damage Counters a Hero can have before being defeated (see Damage above).
• C. Recruit symbols — this is the required combination of symbols that have to be rolled and assigned to the card to recruit the Hero and add it to a player's team.
• D. Hero Ability

Card note — Superman: Superman can take four Damage. If all four spaces have counters at END OF TURN, he is defeated. Recruit symbols: Match these symbols and quantities to recruit Heroes. Hero abilities: Once on your Team, you may use this ability on your turns. (Superman's printed ability: "Roll an extra Power or Purpose die each turn.")

The Batman Who Laughs

In order to win the game the players must defeat The Batman Who Laughs. Players cannot fight The Batman Who Laughs until his card is revealed in the Dark Knights Track. In order to fight The Batman Who Laughs a player's team must be in his location, as indicated by The Batman Who Laughs figure. During their turn, a player may discard any unused die from their dice pool to move to The Batman Who Laugh's location. To damage him, players must roll either 3 PURPOSE, 3 DETERMINATION or 3 JUSTICE Symbols.

Villains

The Character Card deck includes minor Villains like Evil Robins and Court of Owls. During the game, Dark Knights and The Batman Who Laughs will also be added to the deck. After resolving the Dark Knights and The Batman Who Laughs dice, the Villains' abilities will be triggered if The Batman Who Laughs is present in (facing) their sector.

To defeat Villains, assign Hero dice to match the symbols shown on the Villain Card adding one Damage Counter for a set of matching Hero dice symbols.

Note: Only one Damage Counter may be added to each Villain per turn by assigning dice (unless a player has a special Hero ability that allows otherwise).

For each Damage Counter added to a Villain, the active player draws a Bonus Token as a reward. When Damage Counters are added to a Villain to fill its capacity, it is defeated and discarded at the end of turn.

Card note — Strigydae: "If The Batman Who Laughs is at this Location, add a Damage counter to all Power and Determination Heroes at this Location." This is an example of a Villain ability activated when The Batman Who Laughs is in their location sector.

Bonus Tokens

For each Damage Counter a player adds to a Villain, they draw a Bonus Token. Bonus Tokens have a variety of effects, and may be used on ANY player's turn except for the turn on which they are drawn. Players can assist one another in their efforts by sharing tokens!

Bonus Tokens may let a player roll an extra Hero die, remove damage or Dark Knights Counters, or represent a Hero dice symbols, (which can be assigned to a card, for recruiting Heroes or attacking Villains (in addition to assigning dice).

A player can wait until after rolling and assigning Hero dice before deciding if and how to use Bonus Tokens. Once used, Bonus Tokens are discarded. If the supply is depleted, turn all discarded Bonus Tokens face down and shuffle them to create a new draw pile.

Example Bonus Tokens include: "-1 [Damage] from 2 Heroes", a die-face icon representing a Purple Hero die result, and a Power symbol.

Dark Knights Track

The Batman Who Laughs is trying to bring all of the Dark Knights into the Prime Universe. Each time the Dark Knights die is rolled, add the indicated number of counters to the track. At the end of each turn, move the Dark Knight Card for any completed section of the track to the top of the draw pile. In addition to moving a Dark Knight closer to coming into play, this now reveals a new Dark Knight's Track ability, which will activate each time the crown symbol is rolled on The Batman Who Laughs die. Only the most recently revealed ability will trigger, not all revealed abilities!

Dark Knight abilities DO NOT trigger on the turn they are completed!

Legends and Game Play Variants

Batman Who Laughs Dice Facings

• L, R, Ha/Ha/Ha (red text, no ring): Moves The Batman Who Laughs in the indicated direction.
• L, R, Ha (red text, with ring/crown symbol): Moves The Batman Who Laughs to the indicated location and activates the most recently revealed ability on the Dark Knights Track.

Dark Nights Dice Facings

• 0, 1, 1, 2 (yellow cube icons): Adds the indicated number of Dark Knights Counters to the Dark Knights Track.

Hero Dice Facings

Each Hero die (Red, Yellow/Orange, Green, Purple) shows six faces combining the four symbols — Power (Wonder Woman), Justice (Green Lantern), Determination (Bat), and Purpose (Hawk) — with one face on each die showing a double (2) version of that die's dominant symbol:

• Red die: Power, Power, Power (2), Purpose, Justice, Determination
• Yellow/Orange die: Purpose, Purpose, Purpose (2), Justice, Power, Determination
• Green die: Justice, Justice, Justice (2), Power, Purpose, Determination
• Purple die: Determination, Determination, Determination (2), Purpose, Justice, Power

Game Play Difficulty Variants

As described in the End of the Game section there are three ways that players lose the game: (A) the Dark Knights Track is completely filled with Counters at the end of any player's turn, (B) ten or more Heroes are defeated, or (C) any one player has all the Heroes on their team defeated.

To adjust the difficulty of the game players may elect to add additional spaces to the end of the Dark Knights Track, or may reduce the amount of damage required to defeat The Batman Who Laughs. Additionally, removing some of the basic villains from the starting deck will also decrease the difficulty of the game.

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Based on the Rising game mechanic previously created by USAopoly, Inc.

Special Thanks To: Patrick Marino (Content Enhancement), Pam Weirich and Arlo Hitzemann (Graphic Design), Tina Sandusky (Brand Management), Darren Donahue (3D Design), and play testers: Nick Leslie, Keil Brendel, Nick Rehagen, O'Neil Mabile, Adam Sblendorio, Mark Soraci, Peter Duran, Jamie Scharbarth, Lauren Hatcher, Juan Romero, Wes Ferrer, and Brian Greenwald.

The OP logo and USAOPOLY are trademarks of USAopoly, Inc. © 2020 USAopoly, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Designed and manufactured by USAopoly, Inc., 5999 Avenida Encinas, Ste. 150, Carlsbad, CA 92008. BATMAN and all related characters and elements © & ™ DC 2020. WB SHIELD: © & ™ WBEI. (s20)