Vigilante Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
  • 1. Scenario
    • Scenarios
  • 2. Starting Events
  • 3. Villain Deck
  • 4. Hero Market
  • 5. City Deck & Agency Deck
  • 6. General Supply
  • 7. Take Player Pieces
  • 8. Identity Cards
  • 9. Allegiance Tokens
  • 10. Starter Heroes
  • 11. Starting City Cards
  • 12. First Player
• Identities
  • Your Allegiance
    • Allegiance Tokens
  • Your Mission
  • Table Talk
  • Good Identities
  • Evil Identities
  • Neutral Identities
  • Example: Brought to Justice
• Game Round
  • Choose New Event
  • Players Take Turns
    • Submitting an Event Die
  • City Cards
    • Attached Equipment
  • Agency Cards
  • Trigger Events
    • Event Types
  • Pass First Player
• Main Actions
  • Draw a Card
  • Recruit a Hero
  • Fight a Villain
    • Defeated Heroes
    • Jail
    • Villain Level
  • Heal a Hero
  • Inventory Equipment
  • Trade a Card
• Game End
  • Identity Clarifications
• Advanced Variant: Mercenaries
• Frequently Overlooked Rules

Components

• 1 Game Board
• 31 Event Tokens
• 1 Event Bag
• 5 Player Mats
• 5 Player Shields
• 1 First Player Marker
• 10 Event Dice
• 30 Allegiance Tokens
• 17 Identities
• 7 Scenarios
• 50 Damage Cubes
• 20 Action Tokens
• 12 Starter Heroes
• 41 Heroes
• 60 Villains (20 of each Level)
• 96 City Cards
• 60 Agency Cards

Setup

1. Scenario

First, choose a Scenario to play. Select a Scenario Card with the appropriate player count, and use the info on the card to follow the Game Setup steps. The Scenario Card shows: the scenario name, the player count, the Identity Cards used, the composition of the Villain Deck, the number of rounds, the number of starting City Cards each player draws, and the number of starting Events on the Event Track.

Scenarios

Brought to Justice: This is the primary game mode, and is recommended for your first game. A single Evil player is hidden among Good and Neutral players. The Good players must try to identify the Evil player and stop them from derailing their attempts to bring justice to the city.

Shifting Allegiances: A single Good Identity is mixed with a random selection of Good, Evil, and Neutral Identities. A much greater challenge for the forces of Good.

Showdown: An equal number of Good and Evil players compete to bring the most villains over to their side. No Neutral Identities are used.

2. Starting Events

Place all Event Tokens in the drawstring bag and give it a shake. Draw the number of starting Events indicated on the Scenario Card and place them on the Event Track, in order from lowest die number (at the top) to highest (at the bottom). If you have multiple Events with the same die number, place them in any order.

3. Villain Deck

Without looking at them, randomly deal out the number of Villains of each Level indicated on the Scenario Card. (For example, in the "Brought to Justice" Scenario, deal out 15 Level 1, 15 Level 2, and 15 Level 3 Villains.) Return all unselected Villains to the box.

Create the Villain Deck by layering the 3 stacks face-down with the Level 3 Villains on the bottom, Level 2 Villains in the middle, and Level 1 Villains on top.

4. Hero Market

Shuffle the Hero Deck. Reveal the top 3 Heroes and place them face-up in the Hero Market.

5. City Deck & Agency Deck

Shuffle the City Deck and Agency Deck and place them on the board.

6. General Supply

Place the Damage Cubes in a pile near the board.

7. Take Player Pieces

Each player chooses a color and takes the matching player mat, player shield, 2 Event dice, and 4 action tokens.

8. Identity Cards

Refer to the Scenario Card to determine the number of Good, Evil, and Neutral Identities you will use.

Separate the Identity Cards into stacks by Allegiance (Good, Neutral, and Evil).* Shuffle each stack and deal out the appropriate number of cards of each Allegiance, without looking at them.

Then shuffle all of the selected Identity Cards together and deal 1 to each player. Each player looks at their Identity and keeps it secret. Return all unused Identities to the box.

*For your first game, we recommend you remove the Investigator and Mastermind.

9. Allegiance Tokens

Each player receives 2 of each Allegiance token type (Good, Neutral, and Evil). Each player takes their tokens behind their shield, looks at them, and secretly returns 1 of each token that does not match their Identity.

For example: If you are Evil, return 1 Good and 1 Neutral token, so that you have 1 Good, 1 Neutral, and 2 Evil tokens.

Shuffle your tokens and place them face-down at random on the 4 Allegiance locations on your player mat. (You should not know which of your own tokens are where!)

10. Starter Heroes

Shuffle the Starter Heroes and deal 2 to each player. Each player chooses 1 of the 2 they are dealt and places it face-up in the "1" slot on their player mat. Return all unused Starter Heroes to the box.

11. Starting City Cards

Each player draws the number of City Cards indicated on the Scenario Card.

12. First Player

The player who last read a superhero comic or watched a superhero movie takes the First Player Marker.

Identities

Your Identity Card tells you your Allegiance (which side you fight for) and your Mission (how you win the game).

Your Allegiance

Your Allegiance is which side you are on. Not all players with the same Allegiance have the same Mission, but achieving your Mission always depends on cooperating with players who share your Allegiance — or obstructing players with a different Allegiance!

Remember your Allegiance is a secret (at least at first), so you'll need to try and figure out who else is on your side.

Allegiance Tokens

You have 4 Allegiance tokens, 2 of which match the true Allegiance on your Identity Card. Once you've shuffled and placed your Allegiance tokens on your mat, you may not look at or change the position of your tokens.

During the course of the game, players may use abilities that let them investigate your Allegiance. When a player investigates you, they may choose any 1 of your Allegiance tokens to secretly look at, then return it face-down in the same position on your player mat.

Once a player has investigated you, it is up to them to remember which of your tokens they looked at — and the information it revealed!

If a player ever learns which 2 of your Allegiance tokens are the same, they have learned your true Allegiance!

Your Mission

Your Mission is the objective you need to achieve to win the game. At the end of the final round, all players reveal their Identity Cards, and any player that has achieved their Mission wins!

Missions are evaluated at the end of the game only. It does not matter if you achieve your Mission in an earlier round – you must maintain it until the end of the final round to win!

For Example: If your Mission requires you to have a certain number of Villains in your jail, you must first capture that many Villains, and then keep them from escaping until the end of the final round!

Table Talk

You may say anything you like concerning your Identity and other secret elements of the game. However, you may never show another player any of the following:

• Your Identity Card
• Your Allegiance tokens
• Other players' Allegiance tokens you have looked at (unless a text effect says to flip a token face-up)
• The Event die that you chose not to submit on your turn
• The Event token the First Player chose to return to the bag after choosing an Event

Good Identities

Players fighting for Good may either be Guardians or the Investigator.

• Guardian (4 copies): You win if the total number of Villains in all Good players' jails at the end of the game is at least 7 per Good player (e.g. 7 if there is 1 Good player, 14 if there are 2 Good players, etc). Villains jailed by Evil or Neutral players do not count toward this total.
• Investigator (1 copy): At the end of the game, after Identities are revealed, move any defeated Heroes belonging to Evil players to your jail. They count as Villains in your jail for all Missions. After you do this, you win if you have 8 or more Villains in your jail.

TIP: Usually, Good players need to work together to jail enough Villains to complete their Missions. This means they need to try and figure out who their allies are, and who is working against them.

Evil Identities

Players on the side of Evil may either be Assassins or the Mastermind.

• Assassin (4 copies): You win if every Good player loses.
• Mastermind (1 copy): If you have 10 or more Villains in your jail at the end of the game, you win, and all Good players lose.

TIP: Evil players want to prevent the Good players from jailing Villains. They can do this by hindering the Good players, or by jailing Villains themselves (since Villains jailed by Evil and Neutral players don't count towards completing the Good players' Missions).

Neutral Identities

Each Neutral player has a unique Mission that can be completed regardless of which other players win.

• Addict: Have 4 Level 2 or Level 3 Villains in your jail and 4 First Aid Kits or Med Pacs in your hand at the end of the game.
• Bounty Hunter: Have 4 Villains in your jail at the end of the game and ensure the Hero with the highest Influence value (other than your own) is defeated.
• Cultist: Have 4 Villains in your jail at the end of the game and ensure each other player has 1 defeated Hero.
• Profiteer: Have 4 Villains in your jail and have a team of Heroes that is worth more total Influence than every other player's team of Heroes at the end of the game.
• Time Traveler: Have at least 1 more Villain in your jail than at least 1 other player that wins.
• Worshipper of Life: Have 4 Villains in your jail and at least 3 undefeated Heroes with no damage on your team at the end of the game.

See "Identity Clarifications" under Game End for additional clarifications.

Example: Brought to Justice

Unknown to the players, the following Identities are randomly included at the start of a 4-player game: 1 Guardian, 1 Assassin, the Investigator, and the Profiteer. Each player secretly looks at the Identity Card they are dealt:

• The Guardian wants the Good side (themself and the Investigator) to jail 14 Villains total.
• The Investigator wants to discover who the Assassin is and do what they can to see the Assassin's Heroes defeated. The Investigator wants a total of 8 Villains in their own jail, counting the Assassin's defeated Heroes.
• The Assassin wants to make sure the Good side jails fewer than 14 Villains, and that the Investigator jails fewer than 8 Villains.
• The Profiteer wants to jail 4 Villains and have a team of Heroes with greater total Influence cost than every other player. They don't care how many Villains the Good players jail.

Game Round

The Scenario Card indicates the number of rounds in the game. Each round, 1 new Event token is added to the Event Track. This is used to track the number of rounds that have been played.

Each round is resolved in the following order:

1. Choose New Event: The First Player adds an Event to the Event Track.
2. Players Take Turns: Players take turns taking 1 action each, until every player has used 4 actions. On each player's last turn, they submit an Event die.
3. Trigger Events: Resolve all Events that were triggered by the Event dice players submitted.
4. Pass First Player: Pass the First Player marker counter-clockwise.

Choose New Event

The First Player draws 2 Event tokens from the bag and secretly looks at them. They choose 1 Event to place on the Event Track, then return the other to the bag.

Events on the Event Track are always ordered from lowest die number (at the top) to highest die number (at the bottom). If a new Event has the same number as an existing Event, place it below the existing Event.

Note: Events do not trigger until later in the round.

Players Take Turns

Players take turns in clockwise order, starting with the player who has the First Player marker.

On your turn, do the following (in order):

1. Free Actions: Take any number of free actions, in any order:
   • Play One-Time-Use cards in your hand
   • Attach Equipment cards in your hand to your Heroes
   • Use text effects on your Heroes and their attached Equipment cards
2. Main Action: Take 1 main action (see Main Actions) and remove 1 action token from the action meter on your player mat.
3. Submit an Event Die: If you have no action tokens left, roll both your Event Dice behind your shield, then choose one die to place on the Event track.

Submitting an Event Die

After you finish taking your 4th action, roll both of your Event Dice secretly behind your shield. Then choose 1 of your dice results and submit it to the Event Track (the other stays hidden).

The die you submit will trigger all Events with the matching die number at the end of the round.

Tip: If you are an Evil or Neutral player, you may want to trigger detrimental Events that will help you achieve your goal. Remember, you can say whatever you want about the Event dice behind your shield!

BREAKING POINT: If you have 3 or more Heroes in your "Defeated Heroes" pile, you no longer submit an Event die.

City Cards

City Cards provide you with useful supplies and abilities. Each card in your hand can either be played for its text effect, or discarded for its Influence value during a Recruit action (see Recruit a Hero).

One-Time-Use: Play at the start of your turn, then discard.

Ambush: Play whenever this card's condition is satisfied (even on another player's turn), then discard.

Equipment: Attach this card to a Hero at the start of your turn by placing it behind the Hero on your player mat. Once attached, the Hero adds this card's Attack and Health bonuses, and may use its text effect. (A Equipment card shows stat bonuses, category icon(s) and a text effect.)

Attached Equipment

• Each Hero can have only 1 Equipment attached (unless a text effect says otherwise).
• You may only remove attached Equipment, or move it to another Hero, by using an Inventory action (see Inventory Equipment).
• If a Hero is defeated, all of their attached Equipment is discarded.
• Equipment may have 1 or more category icons. Some text effects refer to Equipment that has a specific category icon.
• If Equipment has an Event effect (indicated by a numbered die face), it activates like an Event during the "Trigger Events" step, if a matching Event Die has been submitted.

Agency Cards

Only Heroes who have proven themselves may gain enhanced supplies from the Agency. If you have at least 3 Villains in your jail, then whenever you would draw City Cards, you may choose to instead draw more powerful Agency Cards. (If Villains escape from your jail and you no longer have at least 3, you may no longer draw Agency Cards.)

EFFECT CONFLICTS: If multiple players have text effects that trigger at the same time, they are resolved in turn order.

Trigger Events

After every player has used all 4 actions on their action meter, resolve each Event that matches 1 or more Event dice players submitted.

Starting from the top of the Event Track (i.e. the lowest die number), go through each Event and check if it matches any Event die that was submitted. If an Event matches a submitted die, all players must resolve its effect.

For Example: If a triggered Event says "Discard a card," every player must discard a card from their hand.

Players who have attached Equipment with a die roll icon also check if this icon matches any submitted Event die. If it does, the effect activates.

After checking each Event, each player takes back their Event dice.

If multiple dice are submitted that match an Event token, that token still only triggers once. That means any number that another player has already submitted is "safe" for you to submit!

Event Types

• Jailbreak: Each player returns a Villain from their jail to the bottom of the deck.
• Firefight: Each player places 1 damage cube on 1 of their Heroes of their choice.
• Hacking: Each player discards a City or Agency Card of their choice from their hand.
• Loot Crate: Each player draws 1 card from the City Deck (or the Agency Deck if they have 3 or more Villains in their jail).
• Paramedic: Each player removes 1 damage from 1 of their Heroes of their choice.

Pass First Player

Pass the First Player Marker counter-clockwise (in the opposite direction of turn order). Then begin the next round.

Note: Passing counter-clockwise is to ensure that the previous First Player doesn't have to wait almost two full rounds before they get to take their next turn.

Main Actions

On your turn, after resolving any free actions, choose 1 action from the following list:

• Draw a Card
• Recruit a Hero
• Fight a Villain
• Heal a Hero
• Inventory Equipment
• Trade a Card

Draw a Card

Draw the top card from the City Deck and add it to your hand. There is no limit to the number of cards you may have in your hand.

If you have at least 3 Villains in your jail when you use a Draw action, you may take the top card of the Agency Deck instead of the City Deck.

Recruit a Hero

To recruit a Hero from the Hero Market, discard cards from your hand with a total Influence value equal to or greater than the Influence cost of the Hero you want to recruit.

Place the recruited Hero in an open slot on your player mat. You must always fill the lowest numbered slot on your mat first.

Once you've recruited a Hero, you may never move them to a different slot. If all 4 of your slots are occupied, you may not recruit a new Hero.

You may recruit only 1 Hero per action. Excess Influence cannot be carried over to another action.

For example: If you have a Hero in slot 1, the next Hero you recruit must go in slot 2. If your Hero in slot 1 is defeated, then you must recruit a new Hero in slot 1 before you can fill slot 2.

Fight a Villain

If you have at least one Hero on your player mat, you can use a Fight action to attempt to defeat a Villain. Follow these steps in order:

1. Reveal Villain: Flip the top card of the Villain Deck.
2. Villain Effect: Read the Villain's text effect and resolve it immediately (unless it says "To Jail").
3. Villain Attacks: The Villain's attack chart shows which of your Heroes are attacked. Each Hero on your team takes damage corresponding to their numbered slot on the attack chart. Mark damage on your Heroes by placing damage cubes on them. (For example, a "2" in the top left means your Hero in slot 1 takes 2 damage.)
4. Heroes Attack: Add together the Attack of all Heroes on your team. Compare this to the Villain's Health.

WIN — If your total Attack is equal to or greater than the Villain's Health: The Villain is jailed! Place the Villain face-down in your "Jailed Villains" area. If the Villain has a "To Jail" effect, resolve it now.

LOSE — If your total Attack is less than the Villain's Health: The Villain escapes! Place the Villain on the bottom of the Villain Deck.

Defeated Heroes

If any of your Heroes ever has damage cubes equal to or exceeding their Health, they are immediately defeated! Place them in your "Defeated Heroes" area.

If a Hero is defeated by a Villain's attack, the Hero's Attack value does not count when your team attacks.

Remember: If you have 3 or more defeated Heroes, you no longer submit an Event die on your turn.

You may only use the Fight action to attack Villains, never to attack other players' Heroes. If you need to defeat Heroes to complete your Mission, then you'll have to use subterfuge — for example, triggering Events that cause damage to Heroes.

Jail

Each player has their own jail to the right of their player mat, where they send the Villains that they have defeated. The number of Villains in your jail is public information.

If a Villain is freed from your jail, place them on the bottom of the Villain Deck. If a Villain is moved to another player's jail, that player takes the card and places it face-down in their jail. Text effects that prevent Villains from being freed do not prevent them from being moved.

Villain Level

Villains increase in difficulty over the course of the game. Higher level Villains have greater Attack and Health values, as well as nastier effects.

The back of the Villain Card on top of the Villain Deck indicates when Villains of the next level are about to emerge.

Heal a Hero

Choose 1 damaged Hero on your team and remove 1 damage cube from them.

Inventory Equipment

Remove any number of attached Equipment Cards from 1 or more Heroes on your team and return them to your hand.

Once Equipment is back in your hand, you may attach it to a new Hero (at the start of your next turn).

Trade a Card

Give 1 card of your choice from your hand to another player and receive 1 card of their choice in exchange.

You must make a 1-for-1 trade, and the other player must agree to it. If you make an offer and the other player refuses, you do not use up an action.

You may trade any card in your hand (including Agency Cards). You may not trade your Heroes or Equipment that is attached to your Heroes (unless you take an Inventory action to remove it).

Game End

At the end of the final round (as indicated by the Event Track), all players reveal their Identity Cards and evaluate whether they have completed their Mission. If you have achieved your Mission, you win!

It is possible to have only one winner, or for multiple players to win together. Winners do not all have to have the same Allegiance!

Identity Clarifications

Guardian

• You count Villains in all Good players' jails, including those with different Missions than you (i.e. the Investigator).

Investigator

• Defeated Heroes that you move to your jail at the end of the game count towards the total number of Villains in Good players' jails.
• You may win even if the Guardians on your team lose.

Assassin

• If either the Guardians or the Investigator win, you lose.

Mastermind

• If you complete your Mission, the Good players lose regardless of whether they completed their own Missions.
• Since all Good players lose when you win, Assassins on your team also win when you do.

Bounty Hunter

• Pay careful attention to which Hero has the highest Influence value, as this could change throughout the game!
• In some cases, you may want to recruit high-Influence Heroes to prevent other players from getting them.

Time Traveler

• The other player can be Good, Evil, or Neutral. If another Neutral wins and you have more Villains jailed than they do, you also win.

Advanced Variant: Mercenaries

Mercenaries are indifferent to the fight between Good and Evil, and will serve whoever can offer them the best reward. They provide powerful one-time use abilities that can be purchased with Influence.

• Setup: Shuffle the Mercenary Cards into the Hero Deck during setup. Deal 4 face-up cards in the Hero Market instead of 3.
• Recruiting Mercenaries: Mercenaries can be recruited from the Hero Market as if they were Heroes, spending Influence equal to their Influence Cost. When you recruit a Mercenary, instead of adding them to your team, use their one-time ability and discard them.
• Hero Market: If Mercenaries are in the game, the Hero Market always has 4 face-up Heroes available. If there are ever 3 or more Mercenaries in the Hero Market, the player to the left of the current player must immediately choose 1 of the available Mercenaries, activate it, and discard it (without paying Influence). If there are still 3 or more Mercenaries when the Market is refilled, the same player repeats this (until there are fewer than 3 Mercenaries in the Market).

Frequently Overlooked Rules

• Allegiance Tokens: You may never look at or change the position of your own Allegiance tokens.
• Investigating: When you investigate a player, you may look at 1 of their Allegiance tokens, then return it. You may not ask to see it again later if you forget what it is (unless you perform another investigation).
• Submitting Event Dice: If you have 3 or more Heroes in your "Defeated Heroes" area, you do not submit an Event die on your turn.
• First Player Marker: The First Player marker always passes counter-clockwise at the end of the round.
• Hand Limit: There is no hand limit for City and Agency Cards.
• Hero Limit: If all 4 of your Hero slots are filled, you may not recruit any new Heroes.
• Recruit Action: You may only recruit 1 Hero per action. Any excess Influence spent is lost.
• Trade Action: When you trade cards, you may not give a card without receiving one in return. The other player may refuse to trade.
• Hero Placement: Newly recruited Heroes are always placed in the lowest-numbered open slot. A Hero cannot be moved once placed.
• Defeated Heroes: If a Hero is defeated by a Villain's attack, do not count that Hero's Attack value when your team attacks.
• Jailed Villains: The number of Villains in your jail is always public. When a Villain is freed or moved from your jail, they no longer count towards your Mission. Text effects that prevent Villains from being freed do not prevent them from being moved.