The Seals of Cthulhu Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Game Play Outline
• How To Play
• Bidding with the Influence Value of Cards
• Completed Artifact Abilities
• End Game and Scoring
• Tie Breaker
• Game Options
  • Elder God Cards
  • Character ID Cards

Components

Player Count: 2. Game Length: 20-30 min.

Itemized:

• 4 Investigator Influence Markers
• 4 Cultist Influence Markers
• 5 Investigator Artifact Cards
• 5 Cultist Artifact Cards
• 7 Investigator Elder God Cards
• 7 Cultist Elder God Cards
• 1 Active Player Marker
• Advanced Game: 4 Investigator ID Cards, 4 Cultist ID Cards

If a piece is missing, a war begins.

Setup

Give each player the matching Influence Markers and following cards from their faction, investigators or cultists:

• Gate
• Gate Closure
• Journal
• Necronomicon
• Potion
• Chosen Elder God †

†Shoggoth is recommended for a player's first game. See pg. 13 for Elder God descriptions.

Each player will take all 6 of their cards into their hand, and guard them cautiously.

The player who last encountered a nightmarish horror that left them gibbering and unable to form a thought will go first, or may be chosen randomly. That player will take the Active Player marker.

The game ends after each player has taken 5 turns.

Game Play Outline

Each card in a player's hand represents half of an artifact, or Elder God which they have the potential to control. Each half of the artifact has a given amount of influence and control value.

By bidding forces and artifacts to their opponent, players can gain control over cards to complete artifacts. Completed artifacts have special powers to be used by the player that controls them. The player at the end of the game with the most control points will control Arkham, either saving the world or ending it, and win the game!

The card diagram (Investigator Necronomicon and Cultist Necronomicon) is labelled: Control, Influence, and Combined Power.

How To Play

The player with the Active Player marker will choose a card from their hand and place it FACE-DOWN on the table between themselves and their opponent. The active player will then set a number of Influence markers next to the card. This is the active player's Influence bid to gain control over the FACE-DOWN card. Each marker represents 1 Influence.

Note: You may bid 0 (none), at the risk of letting your opponent control the bidding. This can be a viable strategy.

The opponent then decides on one of two options:

• Take the influence bid, give up the card. They take the active player's Influence bid and add them to their own Influence markers. The active player then takes the FACE-DOWN card and places it FACE-UP in front of themselves. The active player now has "control" over that card.
• Place their own influence bid. They must bid at least 1 more Influence than what the active player bid. The active player then decides to either take the entire Influence bid, and give up the FACE-DOWN card, or increase their Influence bid to be at least 1 more than what their opponent just bid. This continues back and forth until one player decides to take the Influence or they are unable to bid higher than the other player.

Bidding with the Influence Value of Cards

Once a player has control of a FACE-UP Artifact or Elder God card, they may choose to use its Influence Value to help win a bid. If so, the FACE-UP card could end up sacrificed, like the Influence Markers, for the sake of gaining control over the FACE-DOWN card in the centre of the play area.

Example:

Sean is the active player and has placed a card from his hand FACE-DOWN in the middle of the play area, and bids 2 Influence.

Based on cards played, Sarah thinks the FACE-DOWN card will complete an artifact.

Going all in, she bids all 4 of her Influence markers.

Sean bids his remaining 2 Influence markers, and pushes forward the FACE-UP Gate card for a total of 9 Influence.

Sarah has nothing left to bid, so she takes the bid including the Gate card, which is now in her control. Sean takes the FACE-DOWN Artifact card and places it FACE-UP in front of himself, as now it is under his control.

Completed Artifact Abilities

Each card's ability may ONLY be used if both of the following conditions are met:

1. You must control both halves of the card, FACE-UP in front of you. This completes the artifact and allows you to activate the ability.

   Note: An exception to this is the POTION, which does NOT need to be completed in order to be used. Once it is FACE-UP in front of you, then you may use its ability regardless of which faction the potion came from.

2. The abilities of completed artifacts may ONLY be used by the active player during their turn. Abilities may be used at the START of a turn, during the bidding process, or the END of a turn.

Once a card's ability has been used on a turn, it is "spent" and should be rotated 90 degrees to show that it is no longer accessible.

Typically, abilities may only be used once per turn. However, if the artifact is "broken" in some way (part turned FACE-DOWN, or placed back into a player's hand, etc,) and the artifact is re-assembled that turn, the ability may be used again! Very powerful combos can be created through using an artifact, breaking it, and reassembling it to re-use the ability. Gaining the other half of a card can give you a large advantage in the game!

Artifact	Ability
Gate	If you control both halves FACE-UP, you may flip 1 half FACE-DOWN. If you do, flip any other FACE-DOWN card FACE-UP.
Necronomicon	If you control both halves FACE-UP, you may swap 1 FACE-DOWN card you control with 1 from your hand.
Potion	You may flip this card FACE-DOWN to flip another FACE-DOWN card you control FACE-UP.
Journal	If you control both halves FACE-UP, you may swap 1 FACE-UP card you control with 1 from your hand.
Gate Closure	If you control both halves FACE-UP, you may flip 1 FACE-DOWN. If you do, flip any other FACE-UP card FACE-DOWN.

End Game and Scoring

Each player takes 5 total turns. That means there will be 1 card left in each player's hand that is unplayed, and thus will not be scored unless otherwise stated by a card effect.

Note: Some Elder God powers and player powers can change how cards are scored or when control values are tallied.

At the end of the 5th round, each player adds up the Control Value (the Roman numeral at the top of each card) of all their FACE-UP cards. The player with the highest Control Value is the winner!

The printed example shows two sets of cards: one player's five cards total XV (15) and is marked "Winner"; the other player's five cards total XI (11).

Tie Breaker

If both players have an equal total Control Value, the winner is declared by:

1. The player with the most Influence Markers; if still tied then...
2. The player with the most FACE-UP cards; if still tied then...
3. The player with the most FACE-UP cards of their faction (Cultist or Investigator);

If a tie still exists, BOTH players lose! The cultist is devoured as punishment for their inability to secure the city. The investigator is fired, mocked for their inability to put away the cultists. They are left to fade away, penniless, into obscurity and shame.

Game Options

Elder God Cards

There are 7 Elder Gods in the game. After you have learned the basics of game play, we encourage you to try them out. See the following chart for a list of their powers:

Elder God	Power
Shoggoth (Recommended First Play)	If you control both halves FACE-UP, you may flip one half FACE-DOWN. Then flip one FACE-UP card an opponent controls FACE-DOWN.
Cthulhu	If you control both halves FACE-UP, flip all your non-Cthulhu cards FACE-DOWN.
Nyarlathotep	If you control both halves FACE-UP, flip both halves FACE-DOWN. You only score FACE-DOWN cards at the end of the game.
Yog-Sothoth	If you control both halves FACE-UP, flip one half FACE-DOWN. You and your opponent must exchange one card of opponent's choice from your hands.
Shub-Niggurath	If you control both halves FACE-UP, your opponent may look at your hand & chooses the card you will place for bid. If they do, flip one half FACE-DOWN.
Azathoth	If you control both halves FACE-UP, you may flip them both FACE-DOWN. Score their control values as positive if you have both FACE-DOWN.
Hastur	If you control both halves FACE-UP, destroy one other FACE-UP non-Hastur card you control at the end of your turn by placing it back in the box.

Character ID Cards

To add variety to play, players may choose one of the ID cards associated with their faction. These allow players the opportunity to play as different characters with unique character abilities.

During setup, players secretly choose one ID card from their faction, cultist or investigator. These are chosen AFTER an Elder God is chosen.

The abilities on the ID cards give each player a new way to approach the game, new things to do on their turns, and new threats to pose to their opponents. The timing on using these abilities is very important for success.

Abilities are only usable once per game. When an ability is used, the ID card is flipped FACE-DOWN to show that it is no longer accessible. The ID card abilities are as listed below.

Character	Ability
Investigators
Abie Jones	Once per game, you may force your opponent to turn their bid card FACE-UP.
Gabriel Moretti	Once per game, you may banish a FACE-DOWN card and remove it from the game.
Alex Smyth	If your FACE-UP cards equal exactly 13 CONTROL POINTS, at the end of your turn, you immediately win.
Sohn Kang	At the end of the game, arrest any cultist influencers you control. Gain 2 CONTROL POINTS for 2 influencers & 5 CONTROL POINTS for 4 influencers.
Cultists
Herald of Arrival	Once per game, you may replace a FACE-DOWN card you control with 1 from outside the game. Place this new card FACE-DOWN.
The Golden Dawn	Once per game, you may force an opponent to turn their bid FACE-UP, during the bidding.
Enforcer of Truth	At the end of your turn, you may swap your hand with your opponent. Your opponent always plays first.