Necronomicon
Necronomicon Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Overview
In the game, the Necronomicon consists of 8 books of incantations. Each of these books consists of a number of cards (pages) that all share the same symbol. To complete a book you need a suit of 5 or more cards. To complete the Necronomicon you need to complete all 8 books in your Grimoire.
Components
102 Necronomicon Cards (96 Necronomicon Cards, 4 Cthulhu Cards, 2 Revelation Cards), 4 Grimoire Cards, 4 Sanity Cards, 32 Book Tokens, 4 Sanity Tokens (counters), this Rulebook.
Object of the Game
Complete all 8 books of the Necronomicon. The first player to complete their Grimoire, by placing all 8 book tokens on their Grimoire card, wins the game.
Setup
Each player takes 1 Grimoire card, 1 Sanity card and 1 Sanity counter. Place these cards face up in front of you and place the sanity counter on the "8".
Shuffle the Necronomicon cards. Deal 5 cards face down to each player. Place the remaining cards as the stock face down at the centre of the table. The cards you have been dealt are your hand. Draw 1 card from the stock and place it face up next to it. This is the discard pile.
[Setup diagram: Necronomicon cards (stock), Discard pile, Counter, Player cards, Grimoire, Sanity Card.]
The player who has most recently read something by H. P. Lovecraft goes first. Otherwise, the game's owner goes first.
Rounds
The game is played over a number of rounds. In each round you must complete a different objective:
- Round 1: complete 1 book.
- Round 2 and 3: complete 2 books.
- Round 4 and subsequent rounds: complete 3 books.
Several players may complete the round objective but only one player can win the round by being the first to discard all of their cards. The game ends once the first player has completed their Grimoire.
Notes: You may end a round by completing a book you have already completed in your Grimoire. All the rounds will start with 5 cards in your hand. If you run out of cards at any point during the game, take the topmost card off the discard pile to form a new discard pile and shuffle the remaining cards to form the new stock.
Phases of a Round
- Completing the round objective.
- Winning the round.
- Counting sanity points.
- Marking any books completed this round on your Grimoire.
Turn
Start your turn by drawing a card: you may either draw a card from the stock or you take the topmost card from the discard pile.*
You then play a card from your hand, putting it face up on the discard pile and completing the action as indicated on the card. You may either draw more cards (investigate/invoke), discard cards from your hand (sacrifice) or repeat your turn (repeat).
If you have completed the round objective, put your completed books face up on the table in front of you and try to discard the remaining cards from your hand. Play then passes to the player on your left.
*If you take the topmost card from the discard pile, you cannot play it immediately. Take it onto your hand and play another card from your hand instead.
[Action bar icons, as printed: Investigar (1/2/3), Invocar, Sacrificar, Repetir.]
Actions
Investigate (draw 1 card): draw 1 card from the stock.
Investigate (draw 2 cards): draw 2 cards from the stock.
Investigate (draw 3 cards): draw 3 cards from the stock.
Invoke: search the discard pile for a specific card and take it onto your hand (you may look through the discard pile before you invoke).
Sacrifice: discard as many cards of the same suit as you want, from your hand onto the discard pile in any order.
Repeat: replay your turn (if you do so, draw 1 card from the stock, then play a different card from your hand).
Note on the action bar: the printed action-bar labels read "Investigar (1/2/3)", "Invocar", "Sacrificar" and "Repetir" (Spanish). They are transcribed as printed in the source; the English action names above are the rulebook's own text.
Completing Books
Once you have completed all of the books required this round, place them face up on the table in front of you (each book consists of 5 or more cards of the same suit). Once you have placed your cards on the table, they do not count towards your hand anymore. So they cannot cause you to lose sanity points.
To win the round you must then discard all of the remaining cards from your hand.
Winning the Round
The round ends when a player has placed the required amount of completed books for this round face up in front of them, and has discarded all of their remaining cards from their hand.
This may happen at any time during their turn. Discarding cards from your hand:
- Place as many cards as possible in the completed books that are already on the table: either your own or those of other players. (Only cards of the same suit may be placed together.)
- Discard the last card from your hand face up onto the discard pile to end the round. (The last card does not need to be placed as part of a book.)
Example:
[Completed books placed on the table by the player (round 3, objective: 2 books). These books are checked off on the Grimoire with a book token at the end of the round.]
[5 or more cards of the same suit. / 5 or more cards of the same suit; in this example one of them is a wild card (Cthulhu).]
[Use the Sacrifice Action: You may discard these 2 cards of the same suit using the Sacrifice Action. Cards in your hand. Discard the last card to win the round.]
Once a player has won the round, all other players, in turn order, lose sanity points depending on the number of cards they have left on their hand (see Losing sanity). Then, you place book tokens on your grimoires for each book you have completed. If this is not the end of the game, pick up all of the cards from the table, shuffle them and start the next round. The player who won the last round deals the cards and becomes the starting player.
Sanity
Losing Sanity
Once a round is completed, all players who still have cards on their hands lose sanity points. The number of points is determined by the number of cards on your hand. To see how many sanity points you lose, discard cards from your hand as follows: lose 1 point for the 1st card you discard; lose another point for the next two cards; lose a third point for the next three cards; lose another point for the next 4 cards you discard... and so on, until you have discarded all of your cards. If you have less cards left on your hand than would be required to lose another point, you do not lose that point.
Example: If player 1 ends the round and player 2 still has 5 cards on their hand, they would lose 2 sanity points (1 point for the 1st card and another point for the next two cards. They would not lose any points for the remaining two cards.) Player 3 has 6 cards on their hand, losing them 3 sanity points; and player 4 has 11 cards on their hand, losing them 4 sanity points.
If a player loses all of their Sanity points they lose 1 of their completed books from their Grimoire. The player who won the round chooses which book is lost. If they want to, they may place it in front of them and count it as one of their books instead. The sanity counter of the player who lost the book is put back up to "8".
Recovering Sanity
The player who wins the round recovers 1 sanity point for each book they have completed this round.
Special Cards
Cthulhu
The Cthulhu card displaying the Necronomicon symbol is a wild card. It can be used to complete any book. You may use several Cthulhu cards to complete the same book. Once you have placed the card within a book it remains there until the end of the round.
Revelation
Whenever a player plays the Revelation Card (red circle, no symbol), all players, in turn order, may discard one or more cards of the same suit from their hand. Every player may choose a different suit to discard. The Revelation Card is considered spent and is removed from the game. The active player gains 1 extra turn.
Winning the Game
The first player to complete all 8 books of their Grimoire wins the game.
Quick Game
You can also play a quick game without the Grimoire and the sanity card. Here, the objective of the game is to complete 3 books in 1 single round, following the general rules of the game as described above.