Zona: Scavenger's Wish

Expansion for Zona: The Secret of Chernobyl

Zona: Scavenger's Wish Rulebook

Table of Contents

Components

Item cards:

7 green artifact cards
7 yellow artifact cards
Old Uniform junk item and Seeker's Coat equipment card

For each of the 2 characters:

character figure
character board
4 starting equipment cards

Other components:

3 lock tokens
6 threat tokens
12 green event cards
12 yellow event cards
20 In the Bunker event cards
27 story event cards
10 rarity cards
22 meeting on the trail cards
team variant: 4 team tokens
1 persistence die
16 Fortune cards
12 companion cards

New components have been marked with a new-component icon, so you can easily separate it from the base game.

Add the above elements to the base game. Shuffle the item cards into the corresponding decks. Mix the threat tokens with the corresponding tokens and place them in the token tray. Shuffle lock tokens with the other lock tokens. Add the set for each of the 2 new characters to the other characters from the base game.

New Card Symbols

Protection from any 1 damage dealt by an anomaly (shield with a lightning bolt).
Protection from any 1 damage dealt by a mutant (shield with a claw).
Additional plus result in any test performed during an encounter with an anomaly, or during a test with a lightning bolt at the difficulty level. The lightning bolt is the anomaly symbol.
Additional plus result in any test performed during an encounter with a mutant, or during a test with a claw at the difficulty level. The claw is the mutant symbol.
Infinity symbol (∞): the effect may be used any number of times during a round.

Setting Up the Scavenger's Wish Expansion

Prepare the game as described on p. 4 and 5 of the base game rulebook with the following changes.

When performing steps [2] and [3], before placing the green and yellow event cards, remove 12 random cards from each deck and return them back to the box – they won't be used in this game. Then, add the new event cards of the corresponding colors from the expansion to each of the decks.

Important! After removing and adding cards from the expansion, the amount of cards in the deck should be the same. Please also remember to add lock and threat tokens from this expansion before steps [9] and [13].

After performing all the steps from p. 4 and 5 from the base game rulebook, additionally do the following steps.

[A] Shuffle the In the Bunker event cards and place them next to the main board near the green event cards.

[B] Arrange the task cards in the numeric order (with card 1A on the top) and place them next to the main board near the green and yellow event cards. Place the cards so the side with numbers is face up.

Shuffle the Fortune card deck [C] and friendly and unfriendly Meeting on the Trail cards [D] as well as the rarity deck [E] and place them next to the main board.

Choosing and Preparation of Scavengers

After choosing and setting up your scavengers, players may draw up to 2 Fortune cards and place them face down in front of their backpack boards.

The setup example shows the following labels on the backpack board: "6th spot for items"; "items with the [icon] symbol"; "remaining items"; and "items with a gear symbol".

Take companions corresponding to the characters that were chosen for this game and put them back in the box – they won't be used in this game. Then take all the remaining companions and draw a number corresponding with the player count +1 (or 3 in a solo game). [F] Place all of the drawn companions with their inactive side up, on the location marked as Address. [G] Place all the remaining companions next to the main board, now known as the reserve.

Important! The above picture presents randomly chosen example companions drawn for this game.

Persistence Die

The Scavenger's Wish expansion introduces a new type of die – the green persistence die. The remaining yellow dice from the base game are called the standard dice.

When you use the persistence die you focus on the task. You put extra effort or resources in order not to make a mistake. You move slower and more carefully, you use more ammunition or find an unconventional solution. This eliminates the risk of small mistakes but may also influence your condition or radiate you. You have a greater chance for success but also a greater risk of increasing your fatigue or radiation.

Using the Persistence Die

You may use the persistence die in any test instead of 1 standard die. The persistence die has different results on its faces than a standard die. It also has no minus result, which might make passing a test easier. However, it also has a radiation result, a fatigue result, and a plus-and-fatigue result.

Symbol Explanation

Fatigue symbol (waveform in a box) – After resolving a test, your fatigue is increased by 1.
Plus-and-fatigue symbol (plus and waveform in a box) – This result should be treated as both a plus (+) and a fatigue increase (the red up-arrow waveform symbol).
Plus (+) and Δ (triangle) – Exactly as the results on the standard dice.
Radiation symbol (arrow-shaped face with a yellow radiation trefoil) – This result may not be rerolled! The scavenger receives 1 radiation damage after resolving the test. If the other two standard dice show 2 Δ results and the scavenger would get radiation damage, the two radiation damage should be treated as coming from one effect.

Important! If any game effect commands you to "roll the dice" – use the standard dice. Using the persistence die is only allowed during ability tests, unless a card states otherwise.

Meeting on the Trail

Meetings on the trail constitute a separate set of rules that the players may introduce into the game or not depending on their preferences. It introduces different ways of interaction between scavengers.

Once per round, as a free action, you may declare a meeting on the trail with another scavenger in the same or adjacent outdoor location. You may also choose a scavenger in a secret location or Sarcophagus, as long as you are there as well. You may not choose a scavenger in a bunker.

Scavengers taking part in the meeting on the trail draw 2 white and 2 black cards each. Then each of them chooses one of the cards in secret. When both players are ready, they reveal their cards simultaneously. First you resolve the attitude effect, then the main effect of the card (if it doesn't get discarded as a result of the first effect).

The example cards are labeled as follows: card type (black or white); name of the card; attitude effect; main effect; influence of bad reputation on the main effect (black cards); and additional benefit (white cards).

White cards allow scavengers to regain lost strength or gain small items. However, their effect gets resolved only if the other side also wants to cooperate and chooses a white card. For white cards, there is also an additional benefit that both partners may use.

Black cards hit into the opponent or make the game harder for them. They are stronger if the scavenger has ★. If both white and black cards are played during a meeting on the trail, the player who played the black card receives a deterioration of reputation (↓).

If you run out of meeting on the trail cards, shuffle all discarded cards and create new respective decks.

Each scavenger may perform one meeting on the trail in a round. If a scavenger took part in a meeting on the trail with a scavenger, they may not take part in another meeting this round.

Important! The ability of the Loner character allows them to avoid a meeting on the trail.

Fortune Cards

The scavengers used to say that the mercy of Zona's favors are uncertain. Guns can get jammed at the worst possible moment or you might shoot your last bullet and hit the target straight in the middle even with unfavorable winds. The truth is that Zona influences the probabilities of encounters in very subtle and incomprehensible ways. After years spent in Zona, the scavengers learned to sense those probability currents and turn them to their favor.

At the start of the game, each scavenger receives 2 Fortune cards, which they then place face down in front of their backpack boards.

The example card shows the roll bonus, the name of the card, and the effect of the card.

Using Fortune Cards

A revealed Fortune card may be used in one of two ways.

Roll bonus. When performing any test, you may discard a Fortune card to use its roll bonus.

Reroll icon (circular arrow) – The bonus allows you to reroll 1 die once during a test (even a die that has already been rerolled).
Cancel icon – The bonus allows you to cancel 1 rolled minus (−).
Red icon with a yellow radiation symbol – The bonus allows you to ignore 1 radiation damage (received as a result of a rolled Δ).
Plus (+) and Δ – The bonus allows you to add + and Δ to the test result.

Card effect. The description on the card describes the moment when you may discard the card to resolve its effect.

Important! Regardless how you used the card, right after using it, you should draw a new Fortune card and place it face down in front of your backpack board.

Revealing Fortune Cards

You may reveal a Fortune card when:

Any of your tests ends in a failure (before resolving the failure effect).
The card you're currently resolving tells you to do so.

You cannot have more than 2 Fortune cards at a time. If an effect would allow you to reveal a Fortune card, but both of your Fortune cards are already revealed, you may discard one of your cards, draw a new one, and immediately reveal it.

Reputation increase: If you have good reputation and your reputation would go ↑ (improvement of reputation), instead of lowering your fatigue, you may reveal 1 Fortune card.

Companions

Wandering Zona alone has its benefits, but a trusted travel companion is priceless. After the destabilization of the Source, Zona became even more dangerous. The scavengers became more eager to work in groups. However, it's not that easy to convince someone valuable to trust you.

You may perform a new action on your turn – recruitment. To do so, you must share a location with a companion card and you must fulfill all the recruitment conditions.

The example companion card is labeled as follows: inactive side; personal information; address location; recruitment conditions; active side; first effect; second effect; toughness track.

The recruitment conditions may include fulfilling certain conditions, incurring costs or performing commands (e.g. resolving an encounter). After fulfilling all the conditions, you take the companion and place them active side up next to you. From now on you may use this card.

Using Companions

Companions have one or two effects on their active side. When deciding to use a companion, choose which effect you want to use. Place a damage token on the toughness track of the companion (similar to item durability, the damage token is also discarded from the companion card at the end of the rumor phase, in the refresh step). You may not use the companion again as long as the damage token is on their card.

Some of the companions have an infinity (∞) symbol in the corner of their card. You may use that companion multiple times in a round and you do not place a damage token on their card after using their ability.

You may have up to 2 companions. If you would gain another companion, you must discard one of the companions back to the reserve (it can be the companion you just gained). The companions are not a part of your equipment, they do not take spots in your backpack, and they do not get damaged. You may only lose a companion as a result of events or actions done by you. This makes the companions very valuable.

Events in the Bunkers

Scavenger's Wish introduces a new event deck to the game – In the Bunkers. They work like green and yellow events. If you are in any of the bunkers in the event phase, draw and resolve a grey In the Bunker event. After drawing the card, resolve the effect of the correct part of the card – resolve only the one which title corresponds to the location you are in or the current situation (e.g. Emission Level 0-2).

Tasks

Some of the events in Scavenger's Wish may begin a task. If you read "You have a new task", you keep the event card after resolving it. The bottom of the card tells you where the task can be fulfilled and which number it has assigned.

If you are in the target location of your task in the event phase, instead of drawing an event card, you may take a task card with the corresponding number. There are a few task cards for each number – you randomly draw one of them. Each card contains paragraphs for different tasks. You only resolve the section that corresponds to the task you are working on.

Example: You got a new task: MISTY HILL: GET BACK THE SECRET DOCUMENTS. In the next event phase, you are in the Misty Hill location, which corresponds to the task. Instead of drawing an event card for this location, you decide to fulfill the task, so you take the task card with the assigned number (5). You draw one of the number 5 cards from all of the ones available in the deck. You draw the 5B card. Then you flip it and resolve the section corresponding to the task.

The tasks will, very often, allow you to gain rare items or discover any secret.

Rare items are special items that may only be gained by fulfilling tasks. Some of them can be treated as having discovered a secret. When the rare item effect states: "treat this as a discovered secret", you may treat this item as any 1 discovered secret, as long as it fulfills the condition mentioned on the card.

If the card tells you to discover any secret, you draw an event card from any secret location and keep it as a secret (without resolving its effect).

New Rules

Escape to a Secret Location

The following rule expands on the rules of resolving emission.

You may raise your fatigue by 1 (red up-arrow waveform symbol) and suffer 1 mental damage (blue swirl symbol) in order to relocate to an adjacent open secret location during an emission in order to avoid receiving damage from an emission card. This rule does not include the Sarcophagus location.

Icon note: in this rule the cost icons are rendered from the printed symbols; the red up-arrow waveform is read as a fatigue increase and the blue swirl as mental damage, matching the base game's damage and fatigue symbols.

You may escape the emission to a secret location only if there is enough empty spots in the location. If there are not enough empty spots for all the players that want to relocate there, resolve based on player order.

Team Play Variant

The team play variant may only be played if all 4 players take part in the game.

Setup

Follow the standard game setup rules until the step for choosing and preparing the scavengers. After that, the players divide into 2 teams – sitting in order A-B-A-B (the opposing team players sit next to each other). Place the 4 double-sided team tokens close to the board. Then continue the setup as normal.

Rule Changes

Players from the same team share the discovered secrets and victory.
When a scavenger opens a secret location, it is open only for their team. The player that opened the location doesn't flip the lock token to the other side. Instead, they place the team token next to the lock token with their color visible. The team token next to the lock token means that the secret location is open for this specific team.
If both teams open the same secret location, discard the team tokens and flip the lock token. If any effect orders you to close a location, discard the team token or flip the lock token again if both teams opened the location.
There may only be 1 scavenger from each team in a secret location, the limit does not involve the Sarcophagus.