Big Trouble in Little China: The Game Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Object of the Game
• Game Components
• Game Setup
  • Game Board Setup
  • Hero Board setup
  • Quest setup
  • Player Scaling
  • Companions
  • Enemy setup
  • Director's cut
• Hero Boards
  • Epic Slots VS Normal Slots
  • Special / Co-op Ability Card
• Dice
  • Using action dice
• Fate Track
  • Using fate dice
  • Fate Check
• Game Board
  • Big Trouble Track
  • Audacity Track
  • Zones and spaces
  • Shop Items
  • Crate Items
• Game Overview: How to play
• The Hero Phase
  • Take Actions
  • Movement action
  • Combat check action
  • Skill Check Action
  • Task Action
  • Rest action
  • Free Actions
• Enemy Phase
  • Enemies
  • Minion card
  • Boss board
• Upgrading your hero
  • Chi
  • Leveling up
  • Upgrade cards
  • Passive Ability Examples
• Quests
  • Main quests
  • Side quests
  • Quest events
• Damage, Dying, and the Chinese Hells
  • Taking damage and dying
  • Hell Card
• Act II: The Final Showdown
  • Lo Pan's Lair Setup
  • Setting up the Showdown Quests
  • How The Final Showdown Works
  • Entering the Central Arena
• Your final opponent — David Lo Pan
• Sample round
• Glossary
• Quick Reference
• Credits

Object of the Game

I'm not saying that I've been everywhere and I've done everything, but I do know this game and a man would have to be some kind of fool to not understand what you're trying to do – you've gotta free Miao Yin and stop Lo Pan. Of course, things are never as easy as they look and you'll find surprises around every corner.

How do you know you've won? Don't start the party until Lo Pan takes his final breath. Once he's dead, then you can celebrate. But Lo Pan has plans of his own and if he succeeds, then it's game over. Literally. Like my friend Wang would say - nothing or double. Suit up and try again.

Big Trouble in Little China: the Game is a sandbox storytelling game for 1 to 4 players, in which each player controls a Hero. These Heroes work cooperatively with each other against the obstacles in the game in order to accomplish a series of Quests. In Act I: The Quest for Little China, (played on the Chinatown side (1) of the main game board) you travel through the streets and locales of Little China to complete quests and level up your hero, leading to Act II. In Act II: The Final Showdown (played on the Lo Pan's Lair side (2) of the game board) you'll make your way through Lo Pan's Lair and engage in an epic fight to determine whether you or Lo Pan has won the game.

Players can choose the path their game takes, navigating through multiple quests over the course of two acts, and each time the game is played, it can have a different configuration of quests and story plot paths.

The Heroes will work together during the Hero Phase to complete quests and defeat minions and bosses which are controlled and moved by the game during the Enemy Phase. Both defeating minions and quests will gain Heroes Chi and Audacity helping them level up gaining new upgrades to use in the game and the final battle.

During a quest, players will encounter familiar and original parts of the story within the Big Trouble universe. While players do this, they'll be reading aloud to each other from the Quest Book, progressing the story and making important, meaningful choices which could impact the outcome of the plot.

Game Components

• 1 Double-Sided Game Board
• 18 Big Trouble Cards
• 16 Showdown Quest Cards
• 22 Side Quest Cards
• 20 Main Quest Cards
• 1 Fate Track
• 24 Upgrade Cards
• 15 Reward Cards
• 24 Hell Cards
• 6 Special / Co-op Ability Cards
• 5 Sewer Monster minis
• 5 Demon minis
• 30 Item Tokens (18 crates, 12 shop items)
• 1 Threat Token and 1 Audacity Token
• 1 Pork Chop Express Token
• 5 Rubble Special Effect Tokens
• 10 Lava Special Effect Tokens
• 12 Pegs (4 blue "Chi", 4 red "Health", 4 black "Boss Health")
• 1 Margo Overlay
• 6 Hero Boards
• 18 Level Up Tokens
• 10 Fail/Pass Tokens
• 2 Event Clips
• 4 Special Ability Tokens
• 20 Quest Tokens (12 hero, 3 boss, 5 side quest)
• 5 Boss Boards
• 12 Minion Cards (6 normal, 6 hard)
• 6 Companion Cards
• 4 Player Aid Cards
• 40 Minis (6 heroes, 5 bosses, 29 minions)
• 38 Dice (20 red action dice, 6 black fate dice, 6 white skill dice, 6 gold epic skill dice)
• 1 Quest Book

Game Setup

To beat Lo Pan, you've got to know who you are, right? I mean, I know everybody wants to be me, but there are other great characters to play like Wang Chi, Egg Shen, Eddie Lee, Gracie Law, or Margo Litzenberger. Plus you've got to get the game to the table, so take these steps one by one and you'll have the game set up and ready to play.

Game Board Setup

1. Unfold the game board and place it with the "Chinatown" side up in the center of the play area within reach of all players.
2. Place the Audacity Token on the space of the Audacity Track with the corresponding player count icon (see Player Scaling below).
3. Place the Threat Token on the "start" space of the Big Trouble Track.
4. Place the Fate Track board next to the game board. Roll the 6 black Fate Dice and place the results rolled near the Fate Track.
5. Shuffle the Big Trouble Cards and place them face down on the corresponding Big Trouble deck space on the game board.
6. Shuffle the Hell cards and place them face down on the corresponding Hell deck space on the game board.
7. Place all of the Shop Item Tokens onto their matching board spaces. There are two of each Shop Item, so they should be stacked on top of each other.
8. Create the Crate Token pool by shuffling the Crate tokens and placing them face down in a pile near the board.
9. Place the Main Quest, Side Quest, and Reward decks next to the board (see Quest setup below to learn how to create the quest decks). Showdown quests are set aside until Act II.
10. Place the Boss Boards near the game board (see Minion Card and Boss Board below for information on Boss Boards).
11. Create the minion deck according to the rules below (Enemy setup), and place it near the game board.
12. Place the Quest Book within reach for easy reference.

Hero Board setup

Each player selects a hero and takes the corresponding:

1. Hero Board.
2. Level Up tokens.
3. Hero Miniature - place the mini in Dragon of the Black Pool Restaurant, space number 1.
4. 3 red Action Dice.
5. 1 blue Chi peg (see Player Scaling below) and 1 red Health peg. Heroes start with 10 health.
6. 1 Special Ability Card and 1 Special Ability token.
7. Each Hero has 4 Upgrade cards (marked by matching color and Hero icon). Select one upgrade to start the game with. All Upgrade Cards start with the non-epic side face up.
8. 2 Quest Tokens related to that Hero.

If playing with less than 4 players set up Companion Cards (see Player Scaling below).

Quest setup

You will need to create a Main Quest deck and Side Quest decks for Act I. The Showdown Quest Cards should be put aside to be used in Act II.

Main Quests

There are two types of Main Quest Cards: Hero (2 per character in the game) and Boss. They can be easily identified by an image of a matching Hero or the Three storms on them. Each Main Quest Card also has a corresponding Showdown Card and Reward Card.

1. To create the Main Quest deck, randomly select 1 matching Hero Main Quest card for each of the Heroes in play. Then select one random Boss Main Quest Card. In a 4-player game, you should now have 4 Hero and 1 Boss Main Quest Cards in your deck. Return all unused Hero Quest cards back to the box. Note that some Quest cards have an alternate "B" version card that is used to replace the main card when instructed by the Quest Book. These are not used until needed.
2. Shuffle the deck and place it setup side up near to the game board.
3. Draw the top card of the Main Quest deck and place it setup side up next to the deck. The two visible Main Quests (the moved top card and the new top card of the deck) are the "Available" Main Quests.
4. For each Available Main Quest Card, place one Quest Token on the "starting location" listed on the setup side of the card. Make sure to use the tokens that match the hero or boss of the quest card being set up.
5. Place the Reward cards next to the Quest Cards.

Side Quests

1. Shuffle all Side Quest cards together to form the Side Quest deck.
2. Separate the deck into three approximately equal decks and place them near the board, setup side up.
3. Using the information on the back of the 3 visible Side Quest Cards, place Side Quest Tokens and randomly selected Crate Tokens from the crate token pool (face down) on the listed board locations from each card. Note the board location is written on the bottom of the card, with the actual space number listed next to image of token ("S" in front of a number indicates Streets).

Player Scaling

When you play with less than four players, perform the following in addition to normal setup rules: Place the Audacity Token on the Space listed in the table below. Start each hero at the Level and Chi listed. This may cause your hero to level up prior to game start (see Leveling Up below). In this case immediately take the level up rewards before playing. (Example: with two players, the heroes start the game at Level 2. In addition to starting with the one upgrade card reward for Level 1, they would also gain the reward of their choice for Level 2.) The number of Main Quests, Companions, and the Minion difficulty also varies with the number of players.

Number of Players	Starting Audacity Track	Hero Starting Level / Chi	Number of Main Quests	Companions*	Minions*
1	10	Level 2 / 5 Chi	1 Hero & 1 Boss	3	All normal
2	7	Level 2 / 0 Chi	2 Hero & 1 Boss	2 (1 per player)	2 Hard
3	4	Level 1 / 5 Chi	3 Hero & 1 Boss	1 (given to any one)	All normal
4	Start	Level 1 / 0 Chi	4 Hero & 1 Boss	0	2 Hard

*See Companions and Enemy setup below.

Companions

Companion cards allow a player to get some help from Heroes unused in the game, by gaining extra actions and a unique Special Ability from that hero. When playing a game with less than four players, remove the Companion cards for the heroes in play and shuffle the rest. From the remaining companion cards, players gain a number of cards corresponding to the scaling table above.

Companion Card:

1. Companion Name
2. Passive Effect - This bonus is granted to the player with the companion card for the entire game.
3. Special Ability - This special ability can be used by flipping the card. Once flipped, it is considered spent and may only be used again after the card is reactivated during the setup of Act II.

Enemy setup

The minions come in normal and hard versions. In a four player game, take the 6 normal Minion Cards then randomly select 2 of them to be replaced by their hard counterparts. This will be your minion deck for the game. When playing with less than four players, see the scaling table above.

Place the prepared Minion deck and all of the Boss Boards, along with their miniatures, near the game board.

Director's cut

If players wish to increase the challenge of the game they can replace more normal Minions with their hard version. They may also choose to set the Boss health to Director's Cut value, and spawn the Director's Cut tier of the minion spawn on the Big Trouble Cards (see Take Actions below for instructions on Spawning). For an even harder challenge remove the Special / Co-op Ability Cards from the game.

Hero Boards

They say a man must know thyself, so look down and check out your Hero Sheet. Take it from me, this sheet'll make it easier than falling off a log to keep track of your Health, Chi, and dice actions. Heck, if I had a Hero Sheet, I could've beaten Lo Pan by myself AND with one arm tied behind my back.

The Hero Board is where you track your hero's essential information, including the following:

1. Hero Name
2. Body, Mind, and Spirit Action Dice slots (Normal and Epic spaces, see below)
3. Defense: Shows what dice the hero rolls for defense.
4. Health Track: Starts at 10 and tracks the hero's Health by means of a red peg.
5. Chi Track: Set the track to the number specified in Player Scaling above by means of a blue peg.
6. Hero Level: Starts at level one, giving the hero one Upgrade Card to begin the game.

Some Action Dice slots on your Hero Board are highlighted, or "Epic," meaning you get a powered-up version of a normal die action (Normal and Epic resolutions of actions are summarized in a table on the Take Actions section below).

Epic Slots VS Normal Slots

Wanna go big time? Well, then you need to be Epic. I might be Epic all the time, but you're going to have to be smart about when you need a boost. Used at the right time, an Epic Space can save your skin.

Each Hero has unique Epic spaces making their strengths varied from other heroes.

Special / Co-op Ability Card

Each Hero starts the game with a unique ability card with a Special Ability on one side and a Co-op Ability on the other. During setup each player decides which side they would like to use for the rest of the game. The Special ability is used by flipping the Special Ability Token to its spent side and can't be used again until the token flips back at the start of Act II.

The Co-op ability is active when your hero is near another hero such as: within line of sight, in same space, or in the same zone (see Co-op Abilities in the Glossary).

Dice

Action Dice – Each Hero starts the game with 3 Action Dice which can be spent to take actions. Die faces: Body, Mind, Spirit.

Skill Dice – These dice are used to resolve Skill Checks, Combat Checks, and Defense Checks. Die faces: 1 Success, 2 Success, Demon (miss).

Epic Skill Dice – These dice are a stronger version of the Skill Dice and have a better chance of success. Die faces: 1 Success, 2 Success, 3 Success, Demon (miss).

Bad luck – If a roll involving skill dice ever resolves with 3 or more demons, the active Hero immediately loses 3 Health.

Fate Dice – These dice may be used by players to give them a powerful edge by giving them extra actions or automatic successes, but they also come with a chance of misfortune. Players may only use ONE DIE PER TURN to get one of the following effects: double body, double mind, double spirit, 1 automatic success, 2 automatic success, dragon spell (wild).

Using action dice

At the beginning of your turn, roll all your Action Dice. To take an action, simply declare which action you would like to take and place 1 or more available Action Dice into the leftmost empty slot(s) of the matching attribute track on your Hero Board. These tracks each correspond to their matching symbol on your action dice, either Body, Mind, or Spirit. You can only place a die into a track matching the rolled symbol (i.e. you cannot place a Spirit result on the Body track).

Important: The symbols on your Action Dice do not represent what type of actions they can be used for. The symbols represent which attribute track the dice go in to on your hero board, to take actions. Each of your Action Dice represents a potential action or part of a larger action.

Any action can be taken by spending any type of Action Die. For example, you can take a Movement action by spending either one (or more) of Body, Mind, or Spirit action dice, as long as you have free slots to host the spent dice on your board. Action Dice stay slotted until your next turn.

You can take as many separate actions as you have dice, or you can combine multiple dice into a more powerful version of the action.

Fate Track

Using fate dice

The 6 Fate Dice are rolled at the beginning of the game and are placed next to the fate track as a communal pool that can be used by players on their turn.

Double Mind / Body / Spirit - If you choose to use a double attribute dice it must be taken BEFORE taking an action. A Fate Die with a double Body, Mind, or Spirit is spent like an Action Die by slotting it into your Hero Board. Because it's a double, it doubles the result of the chosen action. If used in an epic slot, it doubles the result of the epic version of that action. For example, using a double Body Fate Die to take a Movement action will allow you to move 2 spaces, twice. Or using it for a Combat Check will give you two skill dice instead of one to use in your Combat Roll (see Combat Check Action below).

You may use these Fate Dice on Upgrade Cards and Zone Actions, but they are NOT triggered twice.

Dragon Spell (Wild) - The Dragon Spell Fate Die can be used as a wild Action Die in any attribute track, but does not trigger the action twice like the double attribute Fate Dice. When this die is placed on an Epic slot, Epic is resolved as per normal rules.

Automatic Success - The automatic success fate dice may be taken AFTER a Skill/Combat/Defense Check roll to add to the total successes. This is very useful if your roll came up short.

Fate Check

Rolling Fate Check - If a player chooses to use a Fate Die, they must roll that Fate Die at the end of their turn and place it into the leftmost open slot on the Fate Track. If a Mind, Body, or Spirit symbol is rolled, then the Fates are appeased and no bad effects occur. But if the die shows a 1 Success, 2 Success, or the Wild symbol, then the Fates require a price to be paid. Immediately resolve the Effect corresponding to the slot where the Fate Die was placed.

Once all 6 Fate Track slots are full, the Fate Dice are removed, re-rolled, and immediately available for use by the players.

Fate Track Effects (from left to right, slot 1-6)

• -3 Health to all other heroes
• -5 Chi to current hero
• -5 Health to current hero
• -3 Chi to all other heroes
• Spawn 1 Spirit Path Warrior on your space
• Death (your hero dies immediately. Follow the normal death rules, see Damage, Dying, and the Chinese Hells below)

Game Board

Big Trouble Track

The Big Trouble Track on both sides of the game board shows Lo Pan's progress. When it reaches the final space on the "Chinatown" side, the game immediately shifts to Act II (see Act II: The Final Showdown below). When it reaches the final space on the "Lo Pan's Lair" side, the game ends. The Big Trouble Track progresses one space each time a hero dies. During Act I, the track also progresses at the beginning of each round: when players resolves the new Big Trouble card (see The Hero Phase below), the Threat Token advances on the track by the amount indicated on the card being resolved. During Act II, at the end of each round, the track progresses one space towards "game over."

End of Act I: If anything causes the threat token to move into the last space of the Big Trouble Track (image of Lo Pan), the round ends immediately and Act II is set up (see Act II: The Final Showdown below). The 10 Chi reward is not earned.

Audacity Track

If the Big Trouble Track represents Lo Pan's progress, then the Audacity Track is the exact opposite - a gauge for the progress of the heroes. Completing Quests and other actions can make the Audacity Track advance. The Audacity Token progresses one space on the Audacity Track for each Audacity point earned. Like the Big Trouble Track, when the Audacity Track reaches the final space, the game immediately shifts to Act II.

Chi Bonus Thresholds: There are spaces on the Audacity Track marked with Chi bonuses. When the Audacity Token enters those spaces, each hero immediately receives that Chi bonus.

Zones and spaces

The game board is divided into zones and spaces. Each zone has a name on the board and double white lines around its perimeter. All of the street spaces between the zones on the Chinatown side of the board are considered their own Zone (the Streets). On the Lo Pan's Lair side of the board each of the three levels is considered its own zone.

Spaces are separated with white and red lines and are all uniquely numbered. Each Zone has its own numbered spaces. Whenever a space is referenced in the game, it is listed with the NAME of the zone followed by the NUMBER of the space (example: Gracie's Pad (1)).

Red lines on the board are typically found at entrances to zones. They indicate a break in the line of sight and stop minions from crossing.

Several Zones on the game board allow the heroes to use Action Dice to trigger a Zone Action (see Activating a Zone Action in the Task Action section below). They are marked with a Zone Action Box depicting the requirement for activating that Zone's effect.

Available Zone actions:

The Underground: If you're anywhere in the Underground Sewers, you may "fast travel" as a Free Action to any surface-level Underground entrance (for moving in and out of the underground see Special movement in the Movement action section below), at the risk of losing some health. This is done by rolling a Skill Die and then applying the resulting outcome to the current Hero's health: Bad Luck, -5 Health; 1 Success, -3 Health; 2 Successes, -0 Health. Note that if you don't want to resolve a fast travel action, you can still move underground as per rules of normal movement.

Buddha Shrine: Spend any 1 Action Die to remove 1 Hell card from your hero or spend 2 Action Dice to remove a Hell card from another hero located anywhere on the board.

The Dragon of the Black Pool Restaurant, Egg Foo Young Tours, and The Black Market: Spend 1 Action Die to gain any one of the available Shop item(s) currently present at this shop.

Gracie's Pad: Spend 1 Action Die to regain full Health.

Shop Items

There are three Zones Actions (Black Market, Egg Foo Young Tours, Dragon of the Black Pool Restaurant), and several quest rewards that give you Shop Items. These Shop Items may be traded as a free action between heroes sharing the same space. The Shop Items are limited in the game and once used are discarded from the game (returned to the box), so use them wisely.

• Egg's Remedy - Discard at any time to regain full Health.
• Fortune Cookie - Discard during your turn to be able to use two Fate Dice instead of one this turn. At the end of your turn you must perform a Fate Check for each Fate Die used.
• Huge Buzz - Discard on your turn to instantly move to any Street space on the Chinatown side of the board, or to any space on your current level on the Lo Pan's Lair side of the board. Do not take evasion damage if leaving a space with enemies.
• Dragon Spell - Use during your turn as a wild Action Die. Allocate the Dragon Spell token to an attribute slot as you would with an Action Die. Being wild means it may be used in any of the three attribute tracks. Discard at the end of your turn.
• Chinese Fireworks - Discard this token on your turn to do a special ranged attack. Target a space within line of sight, roll 5 Skill Dice, and count the successes. Score a hit on all enemies with a defense equal to or less than the number of successes rolled. Do not gain Chi for hits caused this way. No re-rolls.
• Casting Bones - Discard this token at any time to look at the next Big Trouble card. You may move that card to the bottom of the deck, or return it to the top.

Crate Items

You will come across crates as you explore Chinatown. Crates can be opened as a Free Action (see Free Actions below), are usually filled with goodies, such as free versions of Egg's Remedy, Huge Buzz, and Chinese Fireworks (same as above), as well as other unique items such as:

• Lucky Coin - Discard at any time during your turn to re-roll any number of dice, including unspent Fate Dice, and your unspent Action and Skill Dice.
• Get Out of Hell Free - Discard at any time to prevent your hero from gaining a new Hell Card or to clear your hero's current Hell Card.

But be careful because some crates also hide traps:

• Lord of Death Spawn - TRAP - Immediately spawn a Lord of Death in your current space.
• Lo Pan's Curse - TRAP - Your Hero immediately loses 4 health.
• Hell Portal - TRAP - Your hero gains a new Hell card without dying or advancing the Threat Token on the Big Trouble Track.

Game Overview: How to play

If you're anything like me, then you're probably looking at a damn fine board game on your table - lots of stuff to do and no time to lose. But before you jump in too deep and get your ass handed to you by some of Lo Pan's minions, let me explain a few things you're gonna need to understand.

A game round is played in two phases: the Hero Phase and the Enemy Phase.

The Hero Phase

1a. In Act I: Flip and follow the instructions on the top Big Trouble card.

for your first round – On the first round, the Big Trouble Track does not advance and the card's Effect doesn't apply. Only the spawn instructions are followed. The card is then placed at the bottom of the deck.

1b. In Act II: Check Showdown Effects on active Showdown cards.

2. Players collectively decide who will be the first player this round.

3. Heroes take their turns clockwise, starting with the first player, until each has resolved their turn.

Once all heroes have completed their turn, play moves to the Enemy Phase.

The Enemy Phase

1. Enemies move and attack if able. 2a. In Act I: The round ends. 2b. In Act II: The Threat Token advances one space closer to the game over space on the Big Trouble Track. Check active Showdown cards for upkeep. Then the round ends.

Once the round is over, a new round begins with a new Hero Phase.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. I know it looks simple, but there's a lot going on here, both for your side and Lo Pan's. Let's break it down and figure out the who's, what's, when's, and where's.

The Hero Phase

Ok, you've got the plate, fork, and knife of this thing – let's get to the meat. On every turn, your hero's gotta do something. I mean, if you're just sitting there like a fool, it's only a matter of time before Lo Pan takes Miao Yin as his bride. It's gonna take crackerjack timing, but I'm sure you can do it.

ACT I (see Act II: The Final Showdown below for ACT II instructions)

During the Hero Phase, you will find out what's going on in Chinatown this round by resolving a Big Trouble Card, then you'll move around the board, fight enemies, and attempt to complete Quests. The hard work will pay off when you gain Audacity points, level up, and upgrade your heroes. You might also get unique quest rewards to help you during the The Final Showdown against Lo Pan.

Initiate the Hero Phase by drawing the top Big Trouble card from the Big Trouble deck, and following the instructions on the front of the card.

Big Trouble Card

Draw a card from the Big Trouble deck, flip it and read it aloud.

• Advance the Threat Token on the Big Trouble Track by the amount indicated in the top left corner of the card.
• Resolve the effect on the card.
• Spawn the minions listed at the bottom of the card in the designated Streets space. With 1-2 players, only spawn the minions listed on the first line. With 3-4 players, you ALSO spawn the minions listed on the second line. Only add the spawn from the "Director's Cut" line if you wish to make the game harder (see Director's cut above).

Note: Only follow the spawn portion of the card on the first round.

Special spawn instructions

If there are no more available minis of the listed minion, spawn the next available minion in its place as listed below:

If no Lord of Death, spawn Wing Kong Hatchet Man. If no Wing Kong Hatchet Man, spawn Guardian. If no Guardian, spawn Security Guard. If no Security Guard, spawn Wing Kong Six Shooter. If no Wing Kong Six Shooter spawn Spirit Path Warrior. If no Spirit Path Warrior, spawn Wildman.

• If the Wildman is already on the board, disregard any additional Wildman spawns.

Take Actions

There are two types of actions in the game: Dice actions and Free actions.

Dice actions are Movement, Combat Check, Skill Check, Task, and Rest. Heroes may take as many Dice Actions as they have Action Dice, and they can take them in any order. Some Upgrade Cards and Zone Effects are activated with a Task Action, and list the Action Dice requirement to trigger.

Free Actions are Trigger a Quest Token, Open a Crate, Use an Item, and Trade. The Underground Zone Effect "Fast Travel" is also a Free Action. These actions are taken without spending an Action Die, and can be taken multiple times. Free actions CANNOT be taken if the Hero has already spent all of their Action Dice.

Here's a breakdown of the available Normal actions and their Epic counterparts.

Action	Normal	Epic
Movement	Move up to 2 spaces.	Move up to 3 spaces.
Combat Check	Gain 1 Skill Die for Combat rolls.	Gain 1 Epic Skill Die for Combat rolls.
Skill Check	Gain 1 Skill Die for Skill Check rolls.	Gain 1 Epic Skill Die for Skill Check rolls.
Tasks	Fulfill 1 task requirement of a matching attribute.	Fulfill any 1 task requirement without it having to match the attribute.
Rest	Gain 2 Health per die spent. If you're at full health, gain 1 Chi per die instead.	Gain 3 Health per die spent. If you're at full health, gain 1 Chi per die instead (Chi gain is not increased by the Epic slot).

Movement action

Move to a New Space - When resolving a normal Movement action, a hero may move up to 2 spaces for each Action Die spent. Heroes may not move through walls which are indicated by double white lines. Red lines indicate entryways and are treated like white lines by heroes, but cannot be crossed by minions.

Special movement - To move in to and out of the Underground and between levels in Lo Pan's Lair heroes must travel by moving through colored gateways. All gateways have colored outlines and a matching counterpart on the board. Gateway types include manholes, doorways, and elevators. To use a gateway, a hero must be on the same space as the gateway and spend one movement point to reach its matching color counterpart on the board.

Example: Gracie (orange arrows) wants to fight the Lord of Death (yellow outline), so she places a Spirit Action Die into the first Spirit slot on her Hero Board. It's a normal slot, so she gains 2 movement points. She moves two spaces from the streets into the Back Alleys where the Hatchet Man is located.

Jack (red arrows) would like to help Gracie fight, but he wants to pick up the crate first. He has two Body Action Dice to use. He places the first one into an Epic Body slot to get 3 movement. He moves 3 spaces and uses a free action to pick up the crate. He then places the second Body die into the next Body slot, which also happens to be Epic, giving Jack another 3 movement. Jack moves 2 spaces into Gracie's space and stops, losing the third movement.

Interrupting movement - When a hero stops moving to take any other action (Dice Action or Free Action), all remaining movement points are lost.

Evasion damage - If a hero moves out of a space with 1 or more enemies, they must take 1 damage for each enemy in the space they are leaving. If that damage would cause the Hero to die, the Hero needs to resolve death effects before continuing the movement.

Combat check action

Before taking a Combat Check Action, the player must first indicate which enemy they would like to attack. They then build a combat dice pool by first spending at least 1 Action Die. A hero gains 1 Skill Die for each Action Die allocated to the Hero Board, as well as any additional Skill Dice granted by their Upgrade and Companion cards, to form their combat dice pool. This dice pool is then rolled and the number of successes are added up. If the successes are equal to or greater than the enemy's Defense number, a Hit is scored. If it's lower, then the attack fails and the enemy's Strikeback is triggered (see Minion Card and Boss Board below for more on Defense number and Strikeback).

Combat Dice Pool

• For each Action Die placed in a normal slot, add 1 Skill Die to your combat dice pool.
• For each Action Die placed in an Epic slot, add 1 Epic Skill Die to your combat dice pool.
• Some Upgrade Cards and Companions provide a bonus for combat by giving your hero additional Skill Dice to add to the dice pool.

Some Upgrade Cards provide a bonus for combat by giving your hero extra Skill Dice, re-rolls, or automatic successes for Combat Checks.

Melee VS Ranged - Melee combat refers to targets that are located in the same space as your Hero, while Ranged combat is for any targets that are within Line of Sight (see below).

Upgrades that grant Ranged Combat ability and enemies with ranged attacks have the bullet icon.

The Ranged Combat ability is a passive ability that is always on as long as the hero has an upgrade with that icon visible.

In order to perform a Ranged Combat Check Action the target enemy has to be within Line of Sight. With Ranged Combat, Strikeback is not triggered, unless the enemy is in your space or possesses a ranged attack as well.

Line of sight example: Green = In line of sight, Red = Not in line of sight.

Line of Sight - As long as there are no walls or red lines in the direct path between your hero and the space your target is in, you have line of sight.

Minion Combat - When doing combat against minions you will need to land a single successful Hit to kill the target. Once defeated, the minion is removed from the board and the attacking hero gains the reward listed in the Reward area of that minion's card.

Boss Combat - When doing combat with a boss, you will use their Boss Board to reference their Defense number and special abilities, as well as to keep track of their Health. If you meet or exceed their defense number with your Combat Roll, your hero scores a Hit, moving the boss's Health peg down by one. Bosses take multiple hits to kill and have special abilities that trigger under specific conditions.

Skill Check Action

When attempting to complete quests (Main Quests, Side Quests, or Showdown Quests), you will come across thematic challenges that might require you to pass a Skill Check in order to progress. Skill Checks are accompanied by a number that designates the difficulty of the check.

When a Skill Check is triggered, the current Hero builds his dice pool and resolves a skill check roll to attempt to pass the Skill Check.

Build the Skill Dice Pool - Just like in a Combat Check, you first need to build your skill dice pool.

• For each Action Die placed in a normal slot, add 1 Skill Die to your Skill Dice Pool.
• For each Action Die placed in an Epic slot, add 1 Epic Skill Die to your Skill Dice Pool.
• Some Hero Upgrade and Companion cards provide a bonus for skill checks by giving your hero additional Skill Dice to add to the dice pool (see Passive Ability Examples below).

Skill Check Roll - You'll need to roll all the Skill Dice in your Skill Dice pool and add up the successes. Compare the results to the Skill Check difficulty number.

If you meet or exceed this number, then you've passed the Skill Check. Otherwise, you have failed. Proceed to read the Pass/Fail text in the Quest Book or on the Side Quest card that initiated the Skill Check to learn the outcome of your skill check.

Remember that automatic success Fate Dice can be used after a Combat Check, Skill Check, or Defense Roll to add its value to the roll total. This can make the difference between success and failure.

Example of a skill check: Egg is attempting to pass a skill check with a difficulty of 4. He has rolled Body, Mind and Spirit on his Action Dice. It's a pretty difficult skill check so he decides to use all three of his available Action Dice to attempt the Skill Check. By placing the dice into the proper attribute slots on his Hero Board, Egg creates a Skill Dice Pool of 2 normal Skill Dice and one Epic Skill Die. He then rolls the dice pool but only gets 2 successes. This is not enough to pass the Skill Check, which requires 4 or better to pass. Normally he would progress to the Fail portion of the quest, but Egg decides to take a chance and uses one of the available Fate Dice that has a 2 Automatic Success result, bringing his total up to 4. The Skill Check is now passed. The quest proceeds to resolving the Pass effect and not having any more Action Dice to spend, Egg does a Fate Check to end his turn.

Skill check reminder: When encountering a Skill Check in the game, the player who triggered it must use at least one Action Die to immediately attempt it.

Task Action

A Task Action represents a hero attempting to accomplish a goal or overcome an obstacle using Mind, Body, or Spirit. Task Actions require the allocation of Action Dice matching exactly the attribute requirements of the Task (depicted with attribute icons). Tasks can appear on Quest events, Upgrade Cards, or Zone Effects.

To complete a Task: You must be in the same space as the Task, which is indicated by either a Quest Marker token or on the board location. To meet the Task's requirement(s), you must use Action Dice that match the attributes of the Task. Some Tasks will have multiple requirements and will require multiple Action Dice to be completed.

When a player places 1 Action Die of a matching attribute on his Hero Board (Body for Body, Mind for Mind, or Spirit for Spirit), they also place 1 "pass" marker on that requirement on the Quest card. Once all the requirements on the task have been covered by "pass" markers, that Task Action is complete. A Task requirement may be contributed to over several turns and by multiple players. If the task requirements have "ANY" listed instead of a specific attribute, then you may use any die to fulfill that requirement.

• Task actions that have separated boxes can be completed one attribute at a time over multiple turns, and all players are allowed to contribute to the task until it is complete.
• Task actions with merged boxes must be completed by the active player on one turn.

note: Task Actions cannot be failed - only left incomplete if the Big Trouble Track fills.

Example of a Task Action: Wang is attempting to complete a Task Action that requires 2 Mind attributes and 1 Spirit attribute. Wang had rolled Body, Body, Spirit, but only has the Spirit die remaining. He places his Spirit die into the first open slot on his Spirit track which allows him to fulfill that part of the task requirement. He places one Pass Token on the Quest card to indicate that the Spirit part of the Task Action is complete. That's all he can do this turn, so he uses his other two Body dice to perform a different action.

Egg's turn is next. He rolls his Action Dice and gets Mind, Mind, Spirit. He would like to help Wang complete the Task Action, but the task requires two more Mind attributes to complete and Egg only rolled one Mind Action Die. Fortunately, he also has a Spirit Action Die that he can place into the Epic slot on his Spirit attribute track. The Epic Task Action allows him to use the Spirit Die as a Mind, thus contributing 2 Mind to the Task Action, completing it.

Activate a Zone Action - Zone Actions are a type of Task Action and require one or more Action Dice to be allocated to your Hero Board while in the Zone with the Zone Action Box. The Task requirement is listed in the box.

note: The Underground Zone Action is not like the other Zone actions. It's a Free Action, and follows the rules of Free Actions (see below).

The Zone Action is not restricted to the space with the Zone Action Box. It can be taken by any hero in that Zone, as long as there aren't any enemies in their space.

note: You may NOT attempt a Skill Check or a Task Action if there are enemies located in the same space as your hero.

Rest action

On your turn you may play any Action Dice to your Hero Board to rest. Resting refills your Health by 2 when using a normal slot and by 3 when using an epic slot. If your Health is full, you gain 1 Chi instead for each Action Die used.

Free Actions

Initiating any of the Free Actions below does not require the use of Action Dice. They may be taken more than once during your turn as long as there are no enemies in the Active Hero's space and you have at least one Action Die remaining. Taking a double attribute or a wild Fate Die counts as having an Action Die to allow you to take a Free Action.

Trigger a Quest Token - When you're in the same space as a Main or Side Quest Token, you may trigger it as a free action by flipping over the token (see Quests and Quest Events below).

Open a Crate - If there is a Crate token in the same space as your hero, you may flip it over to find out what's inside, such as special items or traps. Any item not used immediately is saved near your Hero Board for later use (see Crate Items above).

Use an item - A Shop item or a Crate token that is not immediately resolved may be used any time during a player's turn as long as they have available Action Dice.

Example: A Lucky Coin found in a Crate can be saved and used on a later turn to re-roll any number of dice during a Skill or Combat Check.

Trade - Give or take an item from another hero who is in the same space with you.

reminder: Once you have no Action Dice remaining, you may no longer take Free Actions.

Enemy Phase

You got all that? Thought so, good. You ready to find out what Lo Pan can do? Good, thought so.

After all Heroes have all taken their turn, it is now time for Lo Pan to advance his plan and get closer to marrying Miao Yin. During this phase of the round, enemies will move and attack to stop your progress.

At the start of the Enemy Phase, all minions move and then attack if able. Then, all bosses move and then attack if able.

Enemies

An "enemy" is either a minion (like a Lords of Death or a Wing Kong Six Shooter) or a boss (like Lightning or Lo Pan). Anywhere you see the word enemy or enemies, it refers to both minions and bosses together. Each minion has their own Minion Card, that lists that minion's stats. And each boss has a Boss Board with their stats (see Minion card and Boss board below).

There is no restriction to the number of minions or heroes that can occupy a space.

Minion Movement - All minions are moved up to as many spaces as listed on their card in the direction of the nearest hero in their zone. If equidistant, enemies move towards the player with the highest Chi. If the Chi of the heroes are also equal, then players may choose which hero is the target. If there are no heroes in their zone, the minions move towards the closest hero NOT in their zone, but stop at the zone entrance (red line). Minions can't cross red lines or walls (white outline).

Example: Lord of Death (yellow) moves towards Jack (red) instead of Gracie (orange), who is closer, because Jack is in the same zone as the Lord of Death (Streets).

Minion Attack - Any minion that is in the same space as a hero (or in line of sight of a Hero, if that minion has a ranged attack) attacks that hero. If two or more heroes are equidistant from the attacking minion, the hero with the highest Chi is the target of the attack, and if Chi is equal it's player choice.

Each minion has an attack value listed on their Minion card. This value represents the maximum amount of damage a hero can take during the attack of a minion. When minions attack they automatically deal damage, but the hero may block some or all of it by rolling defense. The hero must first create a defense dice pool by taking Skill Dice as shown on the Hero Board under "Defense" and adding any additional Skill Dice from Upgrade and Companion Cards. The dice pool is then rolled and the successes are counted. For each success, 1 damage from the attack value of the enemy is prevented. The hero then takes all damage that was not prevented by their defense roll.

Boss Movement - In the same manner as minions, bosses are moved as many spaces as listed on their card in the direction of the nearest hero. If equidistant, enemies move towards the player with the highest Chi. If the Chi of the heroes are equal, then players may choose which hero is the target. Some bosses do not have a movement stat. These bosses do not move.

During Act II - The Final Showdown, bosses are not able to use elevators.

Bosses Attack - As with minions, any boss that shares the same space of a hero, (or is in line of sight of a hero when using a ranged attack) after moving performs an attack. The boss's attack and the hero's defense are resolved the same as it would be done for a minion attack. Bosses also have Special Abilities that are listed on their Boss Boards. Be sure to read each boss's Special Ability when they are introduced into the game.

Minion card

A Minion card represents one of Lo Pan's underlings. These minions are your most common enemies during the game. Only a single hit is needed to defeat minions and each victory over a minion is rewarded with Chi.

1. Minion Name
2. Movement - Maximum number of spaces a minion moves during its activation.
3. Attack - Value and type of attack the minion performs. Some minions have ranged attacks, indicated by the bullet icon and some have a melee attacks indicated by a fist.
4. Defense - A minion's defense number is the value that heroes roll their combat checks against. To hit the minion, the combat roll result must be equal to or higher than that minion's defense number.
5. Strikeback - Activated by a hero's failed Combat Check, Strikeback is a special ability or amount of damage inflicted by the minion on the hero. A hero cannot defend a Strikeback.
6. Reward Field - The reward a hero receives for scoring a Hit on the enemy.

Boss board

A Boss Board represents the bosses in the game, including Lo Pan. Unlike combat against minions, bosses require more than one Hit to be defeated. Each successful Hit by a hero reduces the boss's Health by 1, and rewards the hero with the Chi listed in the Reward field for successfully hitting the boss.

7. Special Ability - Each boss has a unique ability that should be checked when attacking, defending, or at the end of the Enemy Phase.
8. Health - When a boss is placed on the game board, he starts with the Boss Health peg in the hole corresponding to the number of players. The health peg will move down one space for each Hit scored. In a 1-2 players game The Wildman has 2 hit points so, after getting hit twice, he is defeated.
9. Reward - Each successful hit on a boss lowers the boss's Health by one. When attacking a boss, combat rolls that have an equal or higher number of successes than the boss's defense number score one Hit, and the extra successes do not carry over. A combat roll with 8 successes still only scores one Hit on a boss with a defense of 4.

Upgrading your hero

You could say I was born ready, but the real truth is that I've had some crazy experiences that helped me later in life, like learning how to throw (and catch) knives. If you want to survive Lo Pan and his henchmen, you're gonna need some experience of your own. With every bad guy you take down, you'll get better at not dying, which is really the whole name of the game, right?

Chi

As you progress through the game, your hero will gain experience in the form of Chi from a wide range of activities, such as completing quests, defeating enemies, and moving forward on the Audacity Track. Your Chi level is tracked at the bottom of your Hero Board.

Some game events will cause a hero to lose Chi. If the amount of Chi remaining is less than what is required to be lost, the Chi blue peg is moved to zero, and the remaining points lost are taken from the hero's Health.

note: Chi gained from the Audacity Track is gained by all players. All other Chi gains are limited to the individual hero performing the action.

Level up reward types:

• Gain 1 extra Action Die for the rest of the game.
• Gain a new Upgrade Card.
• Flip gained Upgrade Card to its epic side.

note: Chi dropping to 0 DOES NOT cause the hero to lose a level.

Leveling up

All players start at Level 1, which comes with a choice of one Upgrade card (in a 1 or 2 player game you start with enough Chi to gain an additional level at the start of the game). Once you've reached 10 on the Chi Track, your hero immediately levels up. Reset the Chi Track to 0 (If a hero gains more Chi than needed to level up, the surplus Chi carries over towards the next level) and add the new Level Token to your Hero Board.

This token will indicate the type of rewards available at that level. You may only choose one of the available rewards to improve your hero. You take the chosen reward right away and it's usable on that turn.

Heroes can't level up past level 6, but they can continue to trigger the level 6 rewards each time they would level up in the future. (Gain a new Upgrade Card or flip a gained Upgrade Card to its Epic side.)

Upgrade cards

All heroes have a set of unique Upgrade cards that give them an edge during Combat, Skill Checks, Task Actions, and other game situations. Each player chooses one Upgrade Card during the setup of the game. Additional Upgrades are earned as rewards for leveling up, and unique Reward Upgrades are earned by completing Quests.

When an Upgrade card is gained, it is gained with its normal side face up. As a level up reward, you may choose to flip a card to its Epic side for a powered-up version of that upgrade ability. The Epic side has a gold band with "EPIC" written on it.

Some Upgrades require the use of Action Dice to be activated (indicated by an icon showing which attribute activates it, or the word "ANY").

Passive Ability Examples

Some Hero Upgrades are passive. Passive Hero Upgrades are always active and do not need to be activated to be used.

Gain Skill Dice: For Combat, Defense, and Skill Checks - When you see a skill die icon on one of your Upgrade cards, this means you gain Skill Dice equal to the amount and type shown on the card each time you build a dice pool of the specified type.

Example: Eddie is going into combat so he begins to create his Combat Dice Pool. He first spends Action Dice to generate Skill Dice. He then adds the Skill Dice listed on his Hero Upgrade cards to that pool as shown.

Gain Ranged Combat Ability - If at least one of your Upgrade Cards has this icon, then your character has unlocked the ability to do Ranged Combat. This applies to any combat you choose to do in the future, regardless of what other Upgrade cards you have.

Gain Re-roll - When you see this icon on one of your Upgrade Cards, you may re-roll 1 die after rolling the noted dice pool (combat in this example). This ability can only be used once per turn.

Gain Automatic Successes - When this icon is present on one of your Upgrade Cards, you gain an automatic success for the specified action (combat checks, defense, etc.) Treat these icons as if you rolled the success on the actual Skill Dice. However, this success can only be used by adding it to the rolled skill dice and does not count on its own.

The example images referenced above are just some of the passive abilities in the game.

Quests

There's gonna be twists and turns, just like in life. Best to accept it, never drive faster than you can see, and enjoy the ride!

There are three types of quests to be completed: Main Quests and Side Quests in Act I, and Showdown Quests in Act II. By activating and completing quests in Act I, you'll be able to gain Audacity, Chi and other rewards. Main Quests have multiple events and often take multiple game rounds to complete for big rewards. Before playing the game read the Quest Book Instructions on page 2 of the Quest Book. Side Quests are quick and only have one event, with modest rewards. Showdown Quests reward Heroes with elevator keys (see Act II: The Final Showdown below).

At the beginning of the game, you'll have 2 Available Main Quests and 3 Available Side Quests, represented by corresponding Quest Marker tokens on the board.

Main quests

Main Quests are of two types: Hero and Boss. Hero Quests must be activated by the actual hero pictured in the Quest. I.E. Jack is the only hero who can activate a "Jack" Quest. Boss Quests can be activated by anyone.

To activate their Hero Quest, that hero needs to be located on the same space on the board as the corresponding Quest Token and there must be no enemies on that space. Triggering a Quest Token is a free action, meaning no dice are used, as long as the hero still has unused Action Dice available this turn.

When you activate a Main Quest, complete the following:

• The player activating the Quest should flip the Main Quest Token and Card to their active sides. Then place an Event Clip over the topmost event number to track quest progress.
• The player to their right should find the event number listed on the top left of the card in the Quest Book and read aloud the story associated with the Quest (in a single player game the player reads his own quest text). Follow any related instructions that you come across in the Quest Book.

Once the Quest has been activated, then any hero in the game can take part in any other part of the Quest, including completion of the Quest. Even though the pictured hero may not be physically at the location of a part of their Quest line, it is still told through their perspective in the story. The Quests are told like a story, and who better to tell it than the individual whom the story is about.

Main quest card

Setup Side

1. Quest name.
2. Start location - Indicates where the matching Hero Main Quest Token should be placed on the game board.
3. Hero image - Shows which Hero the Quest belongs to.
4. Rewards - Indicate the Reward card and the minimum to maximum amount of Audacity that can be gained by completing the Quest.

Active Side

5. Event number - Tracks which Quest path the heroes have taken, and directs players to the proper section in the Quest Book.
6. Event requirement - Shows the requirement for passing the events in the Quest.
7. Rewards - Indicates the Rewards card gained by completing the Quest.

Side quests

A Side Quest is a singular task that you may come across while exploring Chinatown. They may reward players with Item Tokens, Chi, Health, and Audacity.

During game setup three Side Quest decks are created and placed near the game board. The top card of each deck represents the currently Available Side Quests.

Any player may activate a Side Quest by going to the space with that Quest's Token and activating it as a free action. The active player would then flip the Side Quest card that corresponds to that Quest Token to its active side.

Side Quests do not have events narrated in the Quest Book. Instead, all of their story is written on the Side Quest card. The player activating that quest should read it aloud to the other players before attempting to complete the event listed on the card. If the event is not resolved when side quest is activated, the card is left on the Side Quest deck until it is completed by any Hero.

Once a Side Quest is completed, the active hero receives the reward listed on the card, and the card is set aside, revealing the next available Side Quest Card. Then the active player places the Crate and Quest Token as listed on the setup side of the card.

Side quest card

Setup Side

1. Location Name - Where the side quest takes place.
2. Quest Token Location - Indicates where to place the Quest Token on the board, when the Side Quest card is drawn.
3. Crate Token Location - Indicates where to place the crate token on the board, when the side quest card is drawn.

Active Side

4. Title - The title of the Side Quest.
5. Story Text - Quest description and flavor text to be read out loud.
6. Event Requirement - Shows the event type and requirement for completion.
7. Resolution Text - The description and flavor text to be read once side quest is complete.
8. Reward - The reward received by the hero who completes the side quest.

Quest events

Each Quest is comprised of individual events. Side Quests only have one event and Main Quests have multiple events that need to be completed in order to progress through the story and finish the Quest. To gain the Quest's reward, it must be finished before Act I ends. All Main Quests that have not been completed by the time Act I ends are considered incomplete.

Events may include any combination of the following: Combat Checks, Skill Checks, Tasks, and Moving to a specific location. In many cases, the players are presented with a choice as part of an event. Depending on the choices they make, the Quest can unfold in different ways and most choices will offer different rewards.

To perform a Quest event on your turn, your hero must be in the specific location designated by the current and active Quest Token, and perform the Trigger a Quest Token Free Action. The requirement for each event will be shown on the Quest card as well as in the Quest Book for the Main Quests. Once the requirement has been met, the Quest Book will provide instructions on what to do next.

Quest Event Types:

Skill Checks – A Quest Event structured as a Skill Check requires the active hero to roll Skill Dice in an attempt to pass it. The Skill Check event has a number listed, indicating the minimum number of successes required to pass that Skill Check. After rolling the dice in your dice pool, check to see if you passed or failed the Skill Check and read the corresponding text from the Quest Book or Side Quest card (see more on Skill Checks in the Skill Check Action section above).

Combat – In a combat event, the heroes need to defeat minions, as specified by the Quest event to progress. If the Quest requires spawning a minion that is not available, you must spawn a minion of a higher level in its place (see Special Spawn instructions in The Hero Phase section above). Track the progress of a combat action by placing a "pass" token on the Quest card for each defeated enemy.

Task Actions – Tasks require a specific Action Die prerequisite to be completed. In order to complete a Task you must spend Action Dice of the listed type (Mind, Body, Spirit, or Any) on your hero sheet. You keep track of completed requirements by placing Pass Tokens on the Quest Card. The Task Action does not need to be completed on the same turn, or by the same Hero. After all requirements have been covered with "pass" markers, the Task is completed (see Task Action above).

Completing a Quest

When all events in a Quest have been completed and all requirements fulfilled, the Active Quest is completed and the hero receives rewards, such as Chi points, advancing the Audacity Track, and unique Reward Upgrade Cards. Then, the completed Quest card is placed aside near the board to keep track of which Quests were completed and which Quests are not yet complete. Draw another Quest card from the deck and set it up as described on the setup side of the card.

Remember: Only 2 Main Quests and 3 Side Quests can ever be active at any given time.

Quest Rewards: Although heroes are not required to complete any quests, completing them is the main way to gain Audacity and Chi. These are used to upgrade your hero and earn powerful, unique upgrades that can give them a special edge against Lo Pan and his minions in the Final Showdown. Moreover, each hero earns their own unique Reward Upgrade Card from their Hero Main Quests. Boss Main Quests Reward Cards are given to any Hero, according to player choice.

Damage, Dying, and the Chinese Hells

Hang around in Chinatown and it won't be long before you learn the Chinese got a lot of hells - not to mention the fact that you might get to experience one of those hells up close and personal.

Taking damage and dying

When your hero takes damage, reduce their Health by 1 for each point of damage taken. If their Health ever reaches 0, then your hero dies and goes to one of the Chinese Hells. Immediately draw a Hell card, read it aloud, and apply all effects. Then advance the Threat token one space on the Big Trouble Track. Lastly, set your Health to 10, and continue your turn.

note: When you die and go to hell, you do not end your turn or lose any of your available actions. Continue your turn as normal after gaining the Hell card and advancing the Threat Token on the Big Trouble Track.

Hell Card

There are two types of Hell cards - Discard and Keep. "Discard" have an immediate effect and are then discarded. "Keep" stay with your hero until cleared, or until you get a new Hell card. You may only have one Hell card at a time.

In Act I, players can always clear their own Hell card or another player's by visiting the Buddha Shrine location and performing the corresponding Zone Action.

In Act II, Hell Cards can only be cleared with some Upgrade Card abilities, and the Get Out of Hell Free Crate Item.

Hell Card layout:

1. Name
2. Flavor text
3. Effect
4. Keep or Discard

Act II: The Final Showdown

You know Lo Pan, right? I might have mentioned him once or twice. Tall guy, weird clothes. First you see him, then you don't. Comes out of thin air in the middle of a goddamn alley while his buddies are flying around on wires cutting everybody to shreds, and he just stands there waiting for me to drive my truck straight through him with light coming out of his mouth! Yeah, that's who I'm talking about.

Well, now's your chance to teach him a thing or two. Or get destroyed. It's not gonna be easy, but I've got faith in you. You take care of business and I'll sit tight, hold the fort and keep the home fires burning. And if you're not back by dawn… I'll call the president.

In The Final Showdown, you and your team of heroes will reach Lo Pan's Lair and battle it out to determine whether Miao Yin is rescued or all is lost.

When the Big Trouble Track or the Audacity Track has filled then Act I immediately ends and Act II: The Final Showdown begins. If this occurs in the middle of a round, all remaining Hero actions are lost and the round immediately ends.

Lo Pan's Lair Setup

1. Remove all components from the board and flip the board to the other side.
2. Return the Big Trouble Cards, Main Quest Cards, Side Quest Cards, Quest Book, and unclaimed Shop items back to the box. They aren't used in Act II.
3. Remove any slotted Fate Dice from the Fate Track and re-roll all Fate Dice. Then place them next to the Fate Track.
4. Place the remaining Hell cards onto the Hell space on the board.
5. Set up the Showdown Quests (see instructions below).
6. Follow the Act II Showdown Setup Card for placing Lo Pan and his minions.
7. Set Lo Pan's Health equal to the number of players + 3.
8. Place the Threat token on the Big Trouble Track space matching the number of heroes in the game.
9. If in play, flip back your spent Special Ability Token.

Setting up the Showdown Quests

1. Retrieve the double-sided Showdown Quest Cards matching all Main Quests from Act I (both completed and uncompleted), the 3 Boss Showdown cards (Rain, Thunder, Lighting), and the Act II Showdown Setup Card.
2. Arrange these Showdown Quest Cards near the board on either the "Complete" or "Incomplete" side depending upon the result of the Quests from Act I. You should now have a Showdown card for each Hero Main Quest in play in Act I (flipped to the side matching that Quest's completion status), 3 Boss Showdown cards, and the Act II Showdown Setup Card (set to the side that corresponds to what triggered Act II: Big Trouble Track or Audacity Track).
3. Then resolve the following, according to what is listed on the Showdown Quest cards:
   • Place each hero miniature in their respective starting places.
   • Spawn all minions and bosses.
   • Place any necessary Showdown Effect Tokens (crates, monsters, rubble, etc.).
   • Read aloud any Showdown Quest Card effects and resolve them if necessary.

It's recommended that each player sets up their Hero's Showdown card to speed up setup.

How The Final Showdown Works

At the start of the Showdown, access to the Central Arena (Level 2) is blocked by a protection spell cast by Lo Pan. You'll need to navigate through Lo Pan's Lair and complete Showdown objectives to collect keys before being able to unlock the Central Arena. Once unlocked, you can enter the Central Arena and confront Lo Pan directly. The longer you take to complete these Showdown card objectives, the closer Lo Pan gets to victory.

The Threat Token moves one space closer to "game over" on the Big Trouble Track at the end of each round and with each hero's death. If it ever reaches the end of the track in Act II, PLAYERS LOSE THE GAME.

Entering the Central Arena

The number of keys needed to access the Central Arena (Level 2) is one less than the number of players. Thus, in a four-player game 3 keys would be needed, and in a one-player game no keys would be needed to enter the arena.

Completing a Showdown objective is just like completing a Side Quest in Act I. Heroes must complete the Showdown objectives listed on the Showdown Quest cards in order to collect the keys needed to unlock the Central Arena. Additionally, completing Showdown Quests may stop additional enemy spawns or stop an ongoing negative effects triggered by one of these Showdown Quest cards.

Each level of Lo Pan's Lair has two Lair Elevator entrances, marked with colored outlines, that can be used to travel between levels.

Using Lair Elevators costs one movement point, and it is done the same way as using gateways to access the Underground on the Chinatown side of the board.

All elevator movement is restricted to up and down on the respective side of the board being accessed, meaning you cannot use the left Lair Elevator to access a right Lair Elevator exit point.

Showdown Card

1. Main Quest Name - Each Main Quest has a corresponding Showdown card.
2. Quest Outcome - Each Showdown card has a "Complete" and an "Incomplete" side to match the corresponding Main Quests status at the end of Act I.
3. Hero Start Location - The space that the quest's matching hero starts on in Act II.
4. Quest Effect - Describes the effect this showdown card has while active. This should be read aloud for all players to hear.
5. Showdown objective - Shows the requirement for completing the Showdown card and receiving the key.

Your final opponent — David Lo Pan

Sensational. You've made it to fight Lo Pan. Which Lo Pan? Little ol' basket case on wheels, or the ten-foot-tall roadblock?

Doesn't really matter. As my pal Egg would say, Lo Pan's like a six-demon bag - "full of wind, fire, all that kind of thing." What you need to know is that he isn't the type to go quietly into that good night. He's gonna put up a fight, and it's gonna take everything you got to defeat that immortal freak.

Hope you're geared up well and your mind and spirit are as one. If not, you might learn pretty quickly just how Lo Pan rules Chinatown with an iron fist.

Movement

During The Final Showdown, Lo Pan starts on space L2-10 and stays there until his Health has been reduced to 3. When this happens, Lo Pan instantly retreats to Level 3. Roll an Epic Skill Die and place Lo Pan on the Level 3 space with the matching die face icon. He will remain on level 3 until defeated.

Attacks

Lo Pan has two attack modes: Ghost and Made Flesh.

While in Ghost Form, his attack is variable and a die must be rolled during his activation to determine which attack he performs. All of his attack types are listed on his Boss Board.

When Lo Pan's Health has been reduced to 3, he flips to his Made Flesh side, he loses his variable attack and is only able to do damage with his attack value in the same manner as all other enemies.

WHEN LO PAN (MADE FLESH) IS DEFEATED, PLAYERS IMMEDIATELY WIN THE GAME!

That wasn't so bad, was it? Maybe you got a little black blood of the Earth on your jeans, but what the hell? It'll come out in the wash. No, seriously, congratulations! You did a hell of a job, kid. Maybe not quite as good as me, but respectable just the same.

You've been through the worst, so now when you've got your back against the wall, just remember what old Jack Burton does when the earth quakes, the poison arrows fall from the sky, and the pillars of Heaven shake.

Yeah, Jack Burton just looks that big old storm right in the eye and says "Give me your best shot, pal. I can take it."

Sample round

Hero phase

player 1 Turn: At the start of the round, Chris begins the Hero Phase by flipping a Big Trouble card. He first advances the Big Trouble Track according to the 1 at the top left of the card. Next, he resolves the special effect. Since it's a four-player game, he spawns all of the minions listed up to the 3-4 players level in the spawn area of the card. He places their minis on the designated Streets space.

After all the minions have been spawned, Chris discusses with the other players and they all decide together that Chris should start this round.

Chris then rolls his Action Dice, getting a Body, Mind, and Spirit. He's playing as Jack and had selected the Jack's Knife Upgrade Card to start the game with. He wants to try to thin out the minions on the Streets to ease up the ways of movement, but he doesn't currently have the Ranged Combat ability, so he must move into the same space as a minion to do combat. He decides to move towards the nearest Wing Kong Hatchet Man. The Hatchet Man is only 3 spaces away and between him and the Hatchet Man is an item crate which he'd like to also get on the way. He spends 1 Action Die (Spirit) to move 1 space into the space with the Crate token. He uses a Free Action to flip the token. It's a Lucky Coin. He takes it and places the token near his Hero Board.

Then he spends his next Action Die (Mind) to move an additional 2 spaces to get into the same space as the Wing Kong Hatchet Man. He has one Action Die left, enough to begin Combat. He spends his last Action Die (body), which generates an Epic Skill Die for his Combat Dice Pool. He needs to get 3 successes to defeat the Hatchet Man. He rolls the Epic Skill Die and gets a 2 - not enough to defeat the Hatchet Man. However, he decides to use 1 Fate Die, a "1 Automatic Success Fate Die," and adds it to his roll total to pass the Combat Check and defeats the Hatchet Man, gaining 3 Chi and removing it from the board. He has no more Action Dice, so he must end his turn. Before he passes his turn, he must do a Fate Check. He rolls the Fate Die that he used and gets a "Dragon Spell" icon. He places the die on the Fate Track in its 1st slot. The Dragon Spell triggers the "Pay the Price" effect for the 1st slot [All other Heroes lose 3 health]. He applies the effect and then play passes to Kim, the next player in clockwise order.

player 2 Turn: Kim begins her turn by rolling her 3 Action Dice and getting a Mind, Mind, Body. She is playing as Eddie and is on his Quest, getting ready to activate the matching Quest Token. She has started her turn in the same space as the Quest Token, and she triggers it as a free action. The player to her right, Chris, picks up the Quest Book and finds the right location in the Quest Book by looking at the event number on the top left of the Quest Card. Chris reads aloud the story coming up to a choice and a path in the plot. She's asked to either do choice A or choice B. She chooses to do choice A, and she's then tasked with a Skill Check of 4, which she must immediately attempt.

Knowing it's a challenging check, she decides to spend all three of her Action Dice on this check to generate her Skill Dice pool. This generates 1 Epic and 2 Normal Skill Dice. She also gets a bonus Skill Die from his Upgrade Card "Man Around Town." She rolls the 4 dice and gets 5 successes, enough to pass the check. Chris reads the Pass effect in the Quest Book. She gets a reward of Chi and Audacity is added to the Audacity Track. The Quest Book then tells the players to move the Quest Token to a new space. Chris then moves the Event Clip down on the Main Quest Card to the next event, as instructed by the Quest Book.

That location is nearby for Eddie so even though she's out of actions, she wants to get there this turn, so she decides to use a Dragon Spell to get an extra action, to use for movement. This gives her 2 movement so she can move all the way to the desired space and be there for the next round when she can begin that part of the Quest. However, there's minions in the Streets on her way and if she tries to go around, she won't make it. So she decides to move through the space with the minions and take evasion damage. She takes 2 damage, 1 for each minion in that space. She ends her turn in the space with the Quest Marker token and passes the turn to the next player in clockwise order, Boris.

player 3 Turn: Boris begins his turn by rolling his 3 Action Dice. He gets a Body, Body, Mind and is playing as Egg Shen. Boris is at low Health (2) and wants to heal. He has started his turn in Gracie's Pad in order to heal up. He has spends 1 Action Die (Body) to activate the Zone Action and heals to full. He also wants to make sure he can stay alive longer, so he uses a Double Spirit Fate Die to get two epic movements (6 total movement point) to move into Egg Foo Young Tours.

Once he arrives, he spends his 2nd Action Die (Body) to gain Egg's Remedy, so he can use it to heal up later when needed. He spends his last Action Die (Mind) to move down into the Underground through the purple gateway in Egg Foo Young Tours.

Boris moves his miniature to the matching manhole space in the Underground that is colored the same as above. He would like to use the "Fast Travel" Zone Action, but has no more Action Dice remaining. Chris reminds him that he has a "Fortune Cookie" item which would allow him to take a second Fate Die this turn. Boris uses the item to take a Double Mind Fate Die. He now is able to use the Free Zone Action, and he rolls a skill die to see if he takes damage as a result. He gets a Demon and takes 5 damage. After taking the damage he moves his miniature to the Blue Underground gateway entrance to complete the "Fast Travel."

He then spends the Double Mind Fate Die to move an additional 5 spaces to the back of the Wing Kong Trading Co., where he can trigger his a Side Quest Token on his next round. He then ends his turn. Before passing to the next player clockwise, he must make a Fate Check. He rolls both of the used Fate Dice getting a Body on the first one and locking into the next space on the Fate Track with no effect. And then he gets a Mind on the second die, locking into the 3rd slot, also without triggering the bad effect. His turn is now over and play passes to Keith.

player 4 Turn: Keith begins his turn with 4 Action Dice. He rolls them getting Body, Body, Mind, Mind. He's playing as Wang and is near the boss Lightning on the board. He has the Wang's Jian Upgrade, flipped to its Epic side, so he has the Ranged Combat ability, and an additional Epic Die to use in combat. He decides to attack Lightning and is within Line of Sight. He knows he's hard to hit so he decides to spend his entire dice pool on the attack. Spending all 4 Action Dice to create his Combat Dice Pool, he generates 2 Epic Skill Dice and 2 normal Skill Dice. He also gets 1 Epic Die from the "Wang's Jian" Upgrade Card. He rolls the Skill Dice and gets 3 successes (1 on a Skill Die and 2 on an Epic Skill die) and also rolls 3 Demon Heads on the other 3 dice, which is Bad Luck. He immediately takes 3 damage for rolling Bad Luck. And since there are no automatic successes available in the Fate Dice Pool, he has no choice but to fail this combat check. He triggers Lightning's Strikeback for missing the attack which brings him to 0 Health, killing Wang. Keith immediately takes a Hell Card - the Hell of Boiling Oil, which has the effect of making Wang lose 1 health at the start of every round. Keith also then advances the Big Trouble Track by +1 due to the death of his hero, and ends his turn. Since he's the last player to go, this ends the Hero Phase.

Enemy phase

The Enemy Phase begins immediately. First, the minions activate. There is one Wing Kong Six Shooter in the Streets, and he is closest to Egg, but since Egg is inside a different Zone, the Six Shooter moves towards Jack, who is also in the Streets. At the end of his movement he has line of sight to Jack, and is able to attack because he has a ranged attack type. His attack value is 5. Jack must roll his Defense. He gets 1 Skill Die and 1 Epic Skill Die from his Defense stat on his Hero Board. He rolls 3 successes. He blocks 3 damage but still takes 2 damage. That's the end of the minion combat. Next is boss activation. Lightning moves toward Wang, and ends his move within Line of Sight to Wang, so he attacks. His Attack value is 7. Wang gets 2 Skill Dice for his defense from his Hero Board and an additional Skill Die from his "Dragon of the Black Pool Travel Jacket" Upgrade Card. He rolls the three dice and gets 2 successes. He blocks 2 damage and takes 5. Since there are no enemies left to activate the Enemy Phase is over.

The next round begins immediately by drawing a new Big Trouble card. Since the Big Trouble Track and the Audacity Track are not yet filled, the game continues.

Glossary

Act I: The Quest for Little China - At the beginning of the game, players start on the Chinatown side of the game board. They take on Quests, and fight Enemies, attempting to gain as much Audacity and Level Ups as they can before Act II is triggered.

Act II: The Final Showdown - When either the Audacity Track or the Big Trouble Track is filled during Act I, play moves from Act I to Act II and play moves to the back of the game board, where heroes must enter Lo Pan's Lair and confront him to determine whether the players have won or lost.

Action Dice - These red dice represent the player's available actions in a given turn. Each die can be placed into a slot on the Hero Board to perform an action. Multiple Action Dice can be used on a single action to make it a better action. Each turn, a player will roll their Action Dice and place them according to their attribute (Body, Mind, or Spirit) on their Hero Board to take Movement, Combat, and Quest event actions.

Active - A quest is considered Active once the Activate Quest action has been performed in the space with that quest's starting Quest Token. Both the token and the quest card are then flipped over to their active sides.

Audacity - When succeeding at tough Quest Events, and when completing Quests, players are awarded Audacity points, which advance the token on the Audacity Track. Some spaces on the Audacity Track award Chi to each Hero. Once the Audacity Token has reached the final space, the game moves to Act II: The Final Showdown.

Available - Visible Main and Side Quests cards are considered available. They should have corresponding Quest Tokens on the board locations where they begin. They remain available until they are activated, at which point they flip from their setup side, to their Active side.

Bad Luck - If any roll involving Skill Dice ever resolves with 3 or more demons, it is considered bad luck, and the active hero must take 3 damage.

Bosses - More powerful than minions, bosses have both increased Health and superior power. Bosses require multiple hits to defeat. Each Hit scored against a boss will reduce their Health by 1 and will trigger the reward listed on that Boss Board for the active hero. Bosses also have special abilities that trigger under specific conditions.

Central Arena - The Central Arena is the second level of Lo Pan's Lair, and it's the level the Heroes need to gain access to confront Lo Pan. Depending on the number of players you will need a number of keys to unlock the arena.

Chi - Chi is the term given to the experience earned by each hero over the course of the game through Combat and Quest event completion. 1 Chi may also be gained by performing the rest action when your hero has full Health. Once a hero reaches 10 on the Chi track, they level up and gain important Upgrades.

Combat Check - The term Combat Check is used when a hero attacks an enemy during the hero phase of the round. A Combat Check action is comprised of declaring your target (making sure the enemy is in Line of Sight, if using a ranged attack), building a combat dice pool by placing Action Dice on your Hero Board and using any relevant upgrades, and then rolling the pool to see if you scored enough successes to match or exceed the enemies Defense.

• Melee Combat - Whenever heroes and enemies are located in the same space, they will use Melee Combat to accomplish combat actions.
• Ranged Combat - Noted by a bullet icon, both heroes and enemies may have the Ranged Combat ability. If this power is present, a target may be attacked without the need to be physically located in the same space. To use Ranged Combat, the target must be within Line of Sight.

Companions - When playing with less than 4 players companions are used to give the players some extra action dice and abilities to balance the game.

Co-op Abilities - The Co-op ability may be chosen at setup instead of the Special Ability and may not be changed after chosen. The special ability token is not used for the Co-op ability. Instead, the Co-op ability is more of a passive ability that is activated by player character heroes being within specific close proximity.

The co-op side of the card will either specify that you must be in the same space, in Line of Sight, or in the same Zone as another Hero. If the condition is met, then the Co-op ability becomes active and the hero whose ability card it is gains that bonus. Refer to the card for details.

Crate Items - During the course of the game, heroes will come across crates. These crates can contain valuable items or dangerous traps. Opening a crate is a Free Action.

Damage - Heroes can take damage from a variety of causes in the game. It is illustrated with a blood drop containing the amount of damage that is taken.

Defense - Enemies have an automatic defense value listed in the center of their minion card or boss board. To score a hit on an enemy, the hero needs to have as many, or more successes in their combat roll than the enemies defense number.

Heroes check their defense every time they are attacked by an enemy by rolling the dice listed on their hero board under "defense." The number of successes rolled is subtracted from the enemies attack number and any remainder is damage done to the hero.

Dice Pools - Players use Action Dice, Upgrade Cards, Companions and Special Abilities to gain Skill dice to form Dice Pools. These Dice pools are then rolled for Combat Checks, Skill Checks, or Defense.

Enemies - A player's opponents in the game come in the form of minions and bosses. Collectively, they are known as enemies and any reference to enemies encompasses both types. Each enemy type has a corresponding figure.

Evasion Damage - When a hero leaves a space occupied by one or more enemies, they take 1 damage for each enemy in that space.

Exhausted - A game effect might require the player to exhaust an Upgrade Card. The exhausted Upgrade Card is turned sideways and all of its effects are nullified, including passive abilities such as Ranged.

Fate Check - A Fate Check is performed at the end of any turn in which a Fate Die has been used. The used Fate Die is rolled and if the result shows 1 Success, 2 Success, or the Wild symbol, then the Fates must be appeased by paying the price listed on the Fate Track. Body, Mind or Spirit results do not trigger the Fate effect.

Fate Dice - You can use a Fate Die showing an attribute to build a larger Skill Dice pool BEFORE you roll, or a Fate Die showing an automatic success to add to your total AFTER you roll.

Free Actions - In addition to Dice Actions, players may also take any number of Free Actions on their turn. Free Actions can be used to Activate a Zone Action, Trigger a Quest, Open a Crate, Use an Item, or Trade with another hero located in the same space. It is important to remember that Free Actions cannot be used when either an enemy is located in the same space or the player no longer has any Action Dice, or Fate Dice to place on their turn.

Hero Board - A player's Hero Board is where the player will initiate Dice Actions and is also where vital statistics such as Health, Chi, and current level are tracked.

Hit - A successful Combat Check Action against an enemy. Minions are defeated with a single hit, while Bosses require multiple hits to defeat.

Leveling Up - Every time a hero reaches 10 on the Chi Track, that hero has Leveled Up. Leveling Up comes with rewards that give additional Action Dice, unlock Upgrades, or switch an already-unlocked Upgrade to its Epic side.

Line of Sight - If a hero or an enemy has Ranged Combat as an ability, then they are able to attack without being in the same space as their target. However, the attacker must have clear Line of Sight to their target, which means that there must be no walls between the attacker and target and none of the connected spaces are separated by a red line.

Lo Pan's Lair - All action during Act II of the game takes place in Lo Pan's Lair (found on the reverse side of the game board).

Main Quests - One of the primary objectives of players will be to complete Main Quests in Act I. Each Main Quest is divided into events, some of which may take several rounds to finish. There are two types of Main Quests (Hero and Boss) and both give Chi, Audacity, and other Rewards Upgrade Cards upon completion.

Minions - These underlings of Lo Pan's are found throughout Chinatown and may be Lords of Death, Wing Kong Hatchet Men, or other villains. A single Hit will defeat minions in combat and award specific rewards.

Movement - Both heroes and most enemies are able to move to different spaces on the game board. Enemies move automatically each turn while heroes must spend Action Dice to take movement actions. The enemy movement is listed in the upper left of their minion card or boss board.

Heroes move 2 spaces when placing Action Dice in Normal slots and 3 spaces when placing Action Dice into Epic slots.

Passive Abilities - Some hero Upgrades are in the form of Passive Abilities. This means that the special ability is always active and no actions need to be taken to use the ability. Examples of Passive Abilities are gaining Skill Dice for Combat Checks, Ranged Combat, Re-roll ability, and automatic successes.

Quests - The storied narrative of Big Trouble in Little China comes from the activation of and participation in Quests. There are two types of Quests (Main Quests and Side Quests), both of which give players specific challenges to complete in exchange for valuable rewards.

Re-roll - Some items or upgrade cards will allow you to re-roll dice for a more favorable outcome. Unless stated otherwise a re-roll icon only applies to only one die.

Rewards - When you score a Hit on an enemy, or complete a Quest Event, your hero will receive Chi or other rewards as listed. Quest Event rewards are listed in the Quest Book, or on the Side Quest cards, and enemy rewards are listed on the minion cards, or boss boards.

Shop Items - By traveling to the Black Market, Egg Foo Young Tours, or the Dragon of the Black Pool Restaurant and performing the Zone Action, or by completing Quests, heroes can acquire powerful, single-use Shop Items. Shop items may be kept until needed, and may be traded with other heroes in the same space as a Free Action.

Side Quests - Like a single event on a Main Quest, Side Quests have a specific objective that needs to be completed to earn the Side Quest's reward. When activated the side quest card is flipped on top of its deck, and removed once complete. The card immediately underneath is the next available side quest and the crate and side quest marker tokens should be placed based on the location listed on that card.

Skill Check - Some Quest Events are in the form of an immediate change that the hero must attempt to pass. These Skill Checks have a number value that the Active Hero attempts to match or surpass by building and rolling a Skill Check dice pool.

Skill Dice - The skill dice are used to determine the number of successes achieved in combat or a skill check. There are two types of skill dice: Normal and Epic. The epic skill dice have better outcomes than the normal. All skill dice have demon faces, and if 3 or more demons are ever rolled Bad Luck occurs.

Spaces - Spaces are locations on the game board that are separated with single white or red lines. Players will place hero and enemy miniatures inside these spaces. Minions are not able to move across spaces with a red line between them, such as building entrances, but heroes and bosses are.

Special Abilities - At the start of the game each Hero can choose to play the game with either a limited use Special Ability or a passive Co-op Ability that triggers when in proximity to another Hero.

The Special Ability is triggered by flipping the Special Ability Token to its "spent" side. Once used the ability is no longer available until the Special Ability Token is flipped back to its available side during Act II setup.

Strikeback - When you try to attack and fail (your Combat Check is less than the target's Defense number), then the enemy counterattacks with its Strikeback effect.

Stunned - An enemy that has been stunned is placed on its side and will not activate during the enemy phase. A stunned enemy will still trigger Strikeback if unsuccessfully attacked. At the end of the enemy phase all stunned enemies are returned to standing position and are no longer considered stunned.

Tasks/Task Actions - During a Main Quest, players may face a number of challenges before the Quest can be marked as complete. Tasks are one form of these challenges and require a player to place specific-attribute Action Dice on their Hero Board to complete the listed requirement. Not all Task Actions need to be completed on a single turn and multiple heroes can contribute to the completion of the Task.

Upgrade Cards - Each hero has a unique set of Upgrades that offer special abilities and powers. A single Upgrade is selected at the start of the game and others are earned after Leveling Up. Upgrades have a Normal and an Epic side, and always start on the normal side when first acquired. They may be flipped to the Epic side by using the Flip Upgrade Level Up reward. There are also extra powerful Reward Upgrades that are received when Main Quests are completed.

Zone - Zones are locations comprised of a group of spaces. Each zone is identified by the zone name, such as "Gracie's Pad" or "Egg Foo Young Tours." All zones are surrounded by double white lines. In Act II, each level of Lo Pan's Lair is considered a separate zone.

When a location is specified in the quest book or on a Big Trouble card it will state the name of the zone and the number of the space in that zone. Streets are considered their own zone and have an "S" before the space number to indicate that it's a street space.

Quick Reference

Dice / faces

• Action Die: Body, Mind, Spirit
• Fate Die: Demon (miss), Dragon Spell (wild action), Success Value (1, 2, or 3)
• Skill Die: Double Body, Double Mind, Double Spirit
• Epic Skill Die

See more on Dice in the Dice section above.

Level up rewards

• Gain a new Upgrade Card
• Flip Upgrade Card to Epic side
• Gain additional Action Die

Players start the game at Level 1, and with one Upgrade Card (on its normal side). Level 6 Rewards can be triggered on consecutive level ups.

Game round

Hero Phase

• During Act I: Flip and follow the instructions on the top Big Trouble card. During Act II: Check Showdown Effects on active Showdown cards.
• Pick first player for this round.
• Heroes take their turns clockwise until each has resolved their turn.
  • If you used a Fate Die on your turn (limited to one), roll Fate Check before ending your turn.

Enemy Phase

• Enemies move and attack if able.
• During Act I: The round ends. During Act II: Threat token moves one space closer to the game over space on the Big Trouble Track.
• Check active Showdown cards for upkeep. Then round ends.

Card icons

• Number of players
• Movement Value
• Re-Roll one die
• Melee Attack Value (Enemies)
• Task requirement (Body, Mind, Spirit, or Any)
• Ranged Ability (Heroes) / Ranged Attack Value (Enemies)
• Damage dealt to Hero

Shop / Crate items

• Gain full health
• Can be used as a wild Action Die
• Re-roll any number of dice in one roll
• Spawn Lord of Death in your space
• Use 2 Fate Dice on your turn
• A 5 Skill Dice ranged attack, that can spill damage to more than one enemy
• Remove existing or prevent gaining a new Hell Card
• Take 4 damage
• Move to any Street space, or any space on your level in Act II
• Look at the next Big Trouble Card, and move to bottom if you choose
• Gain a new Hell Card

Visit BigTroubleGame.com for the most up to date FAQ, and check out the How To Play videos for an easy and quick way to learn to play the game.

Credits

Game Designers: Chris Batarlis, Boris Polonsky

Figure Sculpting: Boris Polonsky

Writing: Chris Batarlis, Boris Polonsky, Eli Lester, Jim Samartino

Art Direction: Boris Polonsky

Game Board Art: Henning Ludvigsen

Character and Card Illustrations: Ilya Golitsyn, David Benzal, Joseph Noel, Amir Zand, Boris Polonsky

Layout: Boris Polonsky, Megan Donovan, Sara Stryjewski

Editing: Eli Lester

Technical editing: Andrea Dell'Agnese & Julia Faeta

Proofing: Tommy Wright Jr.

Playtesters: Sen-Foong Lim, Daryl Andrews, Scott Gary Veenvliet, Jessey Wright, Elijah Lim, Jay Brennan, Sandeep Vuppala, Kate Cornetto, Brian Cornetto, Kimberly Batarlis, Jennifer Samuels, Lyn Hymphreys, Ryan Humphreys, Dave Nacin, Evan Michaels, Jim Samartino, Adrienne Ezell, Pablo Garcia, Nick Thorne, Brady Sadler, Keith Reilly, Greg McDermott, Raphael McGregor, Anna McGregor, Stewart McGowen, Melissa Veenvliet, Eli Gingerich, Charles Warman, Greg Parkinson, Nick Walker, Erica Boyouris, Rod Currie, Brian Malott

Special Thanks: Filip Sablik, Mel Caylo, Alex Galer and the great team at BOOM! Studios. And an additional thanks to the one and only Master of Horror, John Carpenter!

Most of all thank you for playing our game. And remember "it's all in the reflexes."

Big Trouble in Little China TM & © 2017 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation.