Catacombs: Black Box
Catacombs: Black Box Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Introduction
The Black Box expansion requires Catacombs Third Edition. It provides alternate versions of most of the monster cards published so far, including from other expansions. If you don't own a given expansion, put aside the corresponding alternate monster cards.
To review, monsters are divided into seven families:
- Dungeon (Green)
- Infernal (Orange)
- Mythological (Blue)
- Undead (Grey)
- Vermin (Brown)
- Wraith Knight (Black)
- Zombie (Purple)
The manual prints the labels "Keystones & Keeps" and "Resurrection Pack 1" above the Wraith Knight and Zombie family icons respectively.
This section describes what rules are used from each expansion:
- Repeat Shot: Cavern of Soloth Manual (Page 4)
- Area of Effect Template Shots (Spread, Short, Ring, Long): Wyverns of Wylemuir (Pages 5-6)
- Ice Boulder Shot: Ice Box Manual (Page 4)
- Lightning Shot: Ice Box Manual (Page 4)
- Web Shot: Ice Box Manual (Page 5)
- Reckless Shot Modifier: Ice Box Manual (Page 7)
- Reactive Health: Ice Box Manual (Page 13)
- Anchor Attribute: Ice Box Manual (Page 8)
This section describes which monsters are used from each expansion:
- Cavern of Soloth Monsters: Swamp Orc, Lizard Man, Orc Wolf Rider, Rust Monster, Savage Centaur, Siren, Gargoyle, Manticore, Infernal Acolyte, Phoenix, Flame Salamander, Elder Vampire, Wight, Shade, Wyvern, Remorhaz, Venomous Spider, Dread Scorpion
- Ice Box Monsters: Drake, Reaper, Spectre, Ifrit
- Keystones & Keeps Monsters: Raider, Plunderer, Sheolith, Spartan, Shaman, Senior Occultist, Ravager
- Resurrection Pack 1 Monsters: Zombie Prisoner, Zombie Ratman, Tomb Zombie, Zombie Faerie, Claw Zombie, Zombie Knight, Zombie Necromancer
- Wyverns of Wylemuir Monsters: Goblin Fighter, Succubus, Ettin, Shambling Mound, Poisonwood Golem
- Black Box (New!): Flesh Golem, Gelatinous Slime, Cavern Wyrm, Insurgent, Lurker, Magma Titan, Quagmirage, Enchanter
Components
- Catacomb Lord Cards x6
- Alternate Monster Cards x68
- Monster Cards x8
- Transmogrified! Cards x2
- Room Cards x15
- Item Card x1
- Ranged Pieces x2
- Catacomb Lord Piece x1
- Mushroom Familiar Piece x1
- Frost Wyrm Piece x1
- Vermin Monster Family Pieces x17
- Nolothag Dungeon / Athenoch Mortuary Playmat x1
- Sticker Instructions
Sticker Application Chart
Large Pieces
- Despoiler / Basilisk: x1 piece
- Cavern Wyrm: x2 pieces
- Quagmirage / Enchanter: x1 piece
Small Pieces
- Flesh Forged Golem / Blue Flame Skull: x4 pieces
- Insurgent: x2 pieces
- Lurker: x2 pieces
- Magma Titan: x2 pieces
- Gelatinous Slime: x4 pieces
- Mushroom Familiar: x1 piece
- Snowball Shot: x1 piece
- Hook Shot: x1 piece
- Frost Wyrm: x1 piece
Playing with the Black Box Monster Cards
The new Set 2 (or "S2") monster cards included in the Black Box have a differently coloured front from the original "Set 1" grey monster cards, so they are easy to distinguish. For ease of setup, it is recommended to store the two sets of monster cards separately and to only play with one set at a time. The Set 2 monster cards use new features of the Catacombs 3E game system. For novice players, it is strongly recommended to play your first few games with the Set 1 monster cards while you learn how to play.
Random Monster Variant
At the start of the game, the Overseer determines whether to play with the Set 1 or Set 2 Monster cards. Separate the Monster cards into four decks according to their level. During the Setup Phase, when the Overseer is presented with a Monster Metre icon on a Battle Room card, a monster can be randomly selected. The Overseer draws the top monster card from the deck that matches the level of the Monster Metre icon. During the Resolution Phase, all Monster cards are shuffled back into their respective decks.
Shots
Move To Rune: When this icon appears in a shot sequence, it indicates that a player can pick-up and place their character piece directly on top of any unoccupied rune icon (one that is completely uncovered by any other pieces). When all rune icons are already occupied, a player may perform a rush shot in an attempt to displace a character from a rune. If they are successful, then the character moves to the now vacant rune icon. Please note: if the character is already on top of a rune icon, then the move to rune icon has no effect.
Snowball Shot: The snowball shot is a ranged shot with the stun modifier that inflicts 1 point of damage.
Hook Shot: After flicking the piece for the hook shot, the player performing the shot may choose to move their character's piece anywhere within 2.5cm (1") of the hook piece. Regardless of whether the player chooses to move their character piece, the hook piece is removed from the game board or playmat. The hook shot is for moving characters only and does not inflict any damage. If the hook piece leaves the playmat / game board, simply place it back at the edge where it departed.
Summon Antient Shot: The player performing the summon antient shot decides which unused Antient to summon into play. See page 29 of the Catacombs Reference Manual for more about summon shots in general and page 33 for more information about Antients.
Group Rush Shot: The group rush shot enables the active character plus three different characters on the same side to each perform a Rush shot. If there are less than three different characters, any extra rush shots are forfeited. The active character performs their rush shot first with the three additional characters each performing their rush shots immediately afterwards in any order. The active character then continues performing any remaining shots in their original shot sequence. For the heroic forces, eligible characters would include heroes, allies, familiars, and mounts. For the Overseer, monsters and Catacomb Lords are eligible. Characters temporarily under a team's control such as wyverns and antients are also eligible.
Shot Modifiers
Transmogrify Shot Modifier: When a shot with the transmogrify modifier hits a hero, they are transmogrified into another form. This shot modifier only affects heroes and only one hero can be transmogrified into a specific form at a time. In the case of this expansion, this is the Frost Wyrm. Place the Frost Wyrm's portrait and rules cards on top of those of the affected hero. If the hero was affected by the stun modifier, the Stunned! card is removed first. Replace the hero's character piece on the playmat or game board with the Frost Wyrm's piece. The hero keeps all of their coins, items, spells, mounts and any Poisoned! cards, though while playing as the Frost Wyrm specifically, the player cannot use any weapons or spells they may still have. Their hero's current health remains unchanged as does their starting health. Any allies, familiars, and mounts in play remain under the hero's control. The hero cannot ride mounts or wyverns while transmogrified.
The manual shows an example Transmogrified! card: the hero Xoric the Barbarian, transmogrified into the Frost Wyrm, with the Berserker Battle Axe x2 and the special rule "As an ally, Xoric starts with 6 health points." (The card art is not reproduced in text.)
When a hero returns to their original form, immediately remove the Transmogrified! cards from their player board and if the Frost Wyrm piece is on the playmat or game board, replace it with that of the hero's. A hero can choose to return to their original form by any of the following:
- By being teleported (replacing the Frost Wyrm piece with that of the hero's when placed on the Teleported! Card).
- By surviving the Battle Phase: the affected hero may revert back to their original form during the Resolution Phase.
- By having another hero cast the Cure Poison spell on them.
- By being resurrected (during the Battle Phase by the Phoenix Feather item, for example).
- By visiting any Special Room card.
Conditional Shot Operators
Conditional Shot Icons appear beside a shot icon to indicate that this shot must succeed before the next shot in the sequence may be attempted. One conditional icon means that the shot must inflict damage to one or more targets. The other conditional icon means that the shot must simply hit one or more characters from the opposing forces.
Example from the manual: if the character deals damage with the melee shot, they may continue the shot sequence by performing the rush shot. If they do not deal damage, they cannot perform the rush shot.
New Monster Rules
Flesh Golem Monster Rules
The Overseer may choose to use the Flesh Golem's transform shot modifier to change from its original form to its Flame Skull form. Each of its two forms has a different shot sequence.
Limited Shots (1x Per Room)
When "1x Per Room" appears next to a shot, it is a limited shot. Limited shots can only be performed once per room per character piece. To help track this, the Overseer may place one or two coins on the card, beside the limited shot. When that shot is performed, the coin can be removed from the card and returned to the Treasury.
Monster Rewards
Most monsters provide the hero that destroys them with a reward in the form of coins, as described on page 9 of the Catacombs Reference Manual. In the Black Box expansion, monsters provide additional types of rewards. Some of these are gained immediately when the monster is destroyed.
- Random item: shuffle the Item card deck and draw one card. The hero must be able to use the item as per the usage restrictions described on page 24 of the Catacombs Reference Manual. If they cannot, repeat this process until the hero finds an item they can use.
- Random weapon: shuffle the Item card deck and draw cards until a weapon is revealed. This weapon may be assigned to any living hero in the party. They must be able to wield weapons.
- Healing salve: the hero takes a Healing Salve item from the Item card deck (if one is available).
- Random spell: shuffle the unused Spell card deck and draw one card. The spell may be assigned to any living Spell Caster in the party.
- Cure Poison: the hero who destroyed the monster may immediately cure poison as described on page 31 of the Catacombs Reference Manual.
- Heal: the hero who destroyed the monster may immediately gain health as described on page 14 of the Catacombs Reference Manual.
- Refresh Ability or Item: the hero who destroyed the monster may immediately refresh one of their ability or item cards as described on page 15 of the Catacombs Reference Manual.
- Rescue: the hero who destroyed the monster immediately frees all heroes on the Devoured! card. The freed heroes are returned to the Hero Start Zone.
Character Attributes
Anchor Attribute: When the icon for the Anchor attribute appears on a character's card, this indicates that during another player's turn, any other player controlling a character (one with the Anchor icon) may use a finger to hold that character in the same location, which opens up new strategic possibilities.
When the anchor attribute appears on a shadow monster's card, it changes how it behaves. When the anchor attribute is engaged by the Overseer, shadow monsters are considered to have materialised and can be damaged in the normal way. If a shadow monster's card has a Nullifies or Reflects box, these are only active when the anchor attribute is in effect.
Flying Attribute: Monsters with the icon for the Flying attribute may perform Move to Rune (see page 4) at the end of their shot sequence.
Special Rooms
Burial Chamber Special Room Card
The heroes find themselves in an ancient burial chamber.
The artifacts found inside confer a bonus for each of the four hero types:
- Cleric (no weapons, no magic): health track returned to their starting level or take a Healing Salve item from the item deck (if one is available).
- Fighter (weapons, no magic): takes one weapon item card of their choice.
- Spell Caster (no weapons, magic): takes two spell cards of their choice.
- Monarch (weapons, magic): takes the Mushroom familiar (if it is available), otherwise they take a familiar of their choice. If they already have a familiar, it is returned to the Item card deck.
Note: When playing a Battle Room card that has a playmat in the background, use that playmat when setting up the room.
Campaigns
Choose a campaign, and configure the room cards as shown below. If you do not have a particular monster, substitute that monster for another random monster of the same level. The heroes choose which path they wish to take.
The campaign diagrams on page 8 show the order and branching of the rooms with arrows. Only the rooms in each campaign are listed here; for the path between them, see the printed diagram.
Athenoch Mortuary Campaign
Use the Despoiler for the Athenoch Mortuary Campaign.
Rooms:
- Steep Passageway (level 1)
- Twilight Chamber (level 1)
- Abandoned Tomb (level 2)
- Shurhot's Tomb (level 2)
- Kramaotha's Tomb (level 2)
- Izchak the Merchant
- Amaranth Inn
- Catacomb Lord's Lair
- Althea the Healer
- Secret Tunnel (level 1)
- Burial Chamber
- Minoll's Tomb (level 2)
Nolothag Dungeon Campaign
Use the Basilisk for the Nolothag Dungeon Campaign.
Rooms:
- Lava Hollow (level 1)
- Glowing Tunnel (level 1)
- Achorr Lake (level 1)
- Catacomb Lord's Lair
- Althea the Healer
- Burial Chamber
- Natau's Tomb (level 2)
- Monster Pit (level 2)