Cthulhu Dice
Cthulhu Dice Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Setup and Turns
The sheet prints no heading above this text; the heading here is added for navigation.
Each player takes three Sanity tokens. Any extra tokens are set aside and not used. The owner of the game decides who is the first Caster. In a series of games, the winner of the last game goes first.
The Caster picks a Victim and tries to curse him by rolling the die. The results take place immediately:
- Yellow Sign – Your target (whoever you were rolling against) loses 1 Sanity to Cthulhu. Push one token to the middle of the table.
- Tentacle – The Caster takes 1 Sanity from the Victim, whether the Caster or the Victim rolls the Tentacle. If the Caster is mad when he attacks, he does not get to keep the stolen Sanity. It goes to Cthulhu.
- Elder Sign – You gain 1 Sanity from Cthulhu. If there are no Sanity tokens in the middle of the table, you get nothing.
- Cthulhu – Everyone loses 1 Sanity to Cthulhu.
- Eye – Choose any result above.
Then the Victim gets to respond. He rolls the die, with the Caster as his target. Again, the results take place immediately.
A roll, followed by the Victim's response, is one complete turn. Then the player to the Caster's left takes his turn.
You may not pass – you have to roll.
Cthulhu
Cthulhu is in the middle of the table (Aieee! Ia!). Any time a player loses Sanity to Cthulhu, it goes to the middle of the table. A player who rolls the Elder Sign gets one Sanity back from Cthulhu.
Madness
Once you lose all your Sanity, you've gone Mad. On your turn, you can still attack, but no one can attack you.
If you steal Sanity while you are Mad, you don't get to keep it . . . it goes to Cthulhu!
If you lose Sanity again after you go Mad, you have nothing to lose, so nothing happens.
The only way you can become sane again is to roll the Elder Sign and get Sanity back from Cthulhu.
Winning
You win if you are the only one with any Sanity left at the end of a turn.
If everyone is Mad at the end of a turn, the game is over and Cthulhu wins.
Rival Cults (Variant Rules for Two Players)
If you have only two players, each of you can play two, or even three, cultists. Players should still take alternate turns. The winner is the player with the last cultist still sane. There will be times when the best strategy will be to attack your own side!