Dark Darker Darkest
Dark Darker Darkest
Dark Darker Darkest
Objective = Unlock the Lab to get the Cure & trigger the Final Showdown, then stay alive to defeat the Nemesis before Darkness Marker runs out. Win by killing Nemesis (reduce to
0 HP). Lose if EITHER Darkness Marker reaches last space OR Nemesis or Fire destroys all 3 Corner Tiles OR Survivor with is killed.
Setup
1. Build the House:
Take 20 Room Tiles from supply in mix below: Arrange facedown in a 5x4 grid ● Faceup all Tiles:
as follows, with all but Lab &
(for easier game, minimize Tiles with [see MOVE]) ● Orient all so windows face out / shadows point in.
Entrance randomly oriented:
● 1 LAB (faceup) & 1 Entrance Hall (faceup) ● For std diff, orient as needed to minimize “choke
points”.
● Separately shuffled facedown : ● If any blocked Doorways or “no northbound move
○ The 3 Corners paths”, must fix via orient or swap as needed.
○ Random 9 of 13 Outer
○ Random 6 of 19 Inner (for std diff, limit to 0-2 “enwalled”).
a. Take Cure Token and place on Lab tile over the icon.
b. For each Tile with , take a Camera Token & place on Tile, orienting for max # Room Tiles it can trace LOS thru (if tied directions, players choose).
2. Setup these supplies & draw piles:
a. Take Equipment Cards. Separate out 7 Starting (darker back, star on front, bagged with homemade Survivor Skill Reference cards). Shuffle rest facedown and
place nearby.
b. Pile nearby these Tokens ( Virus, Entrap, Fire, Burn) + the black & gray Cubes. <<todo:make Virus cards to better show loss of Inventory slot>>
c. Take 23 Spawn Tokens. Shuffle facedown & stack nearby (these are boxed not discarded, so yes you might run out)..
i. For std diff, only use tokens with 1-4. To increase diff, add tokens w/ 5-6 and/or replace some with 1 type of Special (Chunk, Disco Doll, Guts, Tuff Guy).
Only use 1 type of Special unless ok with “stacking” Specials’ abilities. See Expansion insert for how to use.
ii. Take homemade Zombie unit stats cards for Zombie types in play & place nearby.
d. Take Creature Boards+Minis (note Gorilla/Guard board errata fixes) & Nemesis Boards+Minis, separately shuffle facedown and stack nearby.
e. Place Dice nearby (6 red Creature, 1 black Terror d6, 1 black pips d6, 1 black d4; rest are Survivor d6, set of 4 for each of 6 Survivor colors wht/org/yel/grn/blu/purp).
3. Setup Locked Doors & Security Board (use 7-slot side for std diff, 8-slot side for hi-er diff).
a. Take all / & / Code Chips. Separately shuffle facedown the and . Randomly draw 1 &2 & faceup.
b. Take all Code Tokens. For each icon on the 3 Code Chips drawn, place corresponding colored Code Token in any empty slot on Security Board (for hi-er difficulty
on 7-slot board side, don’t try to match Code Chips / just draw 7 random Code Tokens).
c. Facedown the and Code Chips drawn. Count how many on Room Tiles & draw facedown that many less 3 additional Code Chips (e.g. if 9 total in
House, then you already have 3 so draw 6 more).
i. At least two other (so you have at least enough for the 3 Corner Tiles), otherwise Players choose # &# . If 3 Survivors, pick more than
; else if 4-5 Survivors, pick ~equal amounts. For hi-er diff, pick more and/or fewer colors (= same color >2 on Security Board).
d. Shuffle facedown all the drawn Code Chips. Place a facedown on each of the 3 Corner tile’s . Then place remaining on any other uncovered ’s
as you see fit.
a. Survivor Board (flipped to “4 AP” side if <4 Survivors, else to “3 AP” side; if Nina or Chuck, also take homemade board errata fixes).
b. House rule: homemade Survivor Skill Reference Card.
c. Mini w/ colored base & place on Entrance Hall tile (the #’s are for Spread Fire, not for Survivors).
d. Starting Equipment Card (per rulebook or homemade Survivor Skill Reference card; box leftover cards) and place to right of Survivor Board (taking black cubes if it
has Ammo, e.g. Gun or Chainsaw).
Definitions
● Adjacent will sometimes be orthog-only, other times orthog+diag (rule will specify). Rules will specify when Walls/Locked Doors block Adjacency.
● LOS = orthogonal only. Blocked by Walls, Locked Doors (w/ Code Chips), Destroyed Rooms (flipped to burnt; can see out of Destroyed Room)
● Locked Door = Code Chip on Doorway. Locked Room if all Doors are Locked Doors.
● Room = an area in the house that is bordered by Walls and/or Adjacent Tiles. Some Tiles are “enwalled” & have two Rooms (a hallway and a “room”); each is separately
searchable. Fire affects whole Tile though.
Cheatsheet Round & Turn Summary
I.-UPKEEP I.-ACTIONS
(follow numbered steps on Multitracker)
- +1 Event Marker, then Resolve Event (1 of 1. ↘ Survivor uber-Team performs up to 6AP of Actions
Spawn Zombies
2. → All cubes shift right 1 space. Recover cubes shifted out of rightmost.
Spread any active Fire
ESCAPE/RESCUE (1AP)
USE ITEM (FREE)
CREATURES & NEMESES ICON GUIDE ( on Creature Board = Fire-resistant)
Giant Snake (only if can pair Reinforcement w/ Undead Bird 1 Survivor in Bird’s Room (Players’ Helen Kronen Immune to Knockback. Inflict
Damage) 1 Survivor in Snake’s Room (Players’ choice) choice) is Entrapped until the Bird is dead. 2 Dmg to all adjacent Diagonals (LOS not required). Plus,
during Reaction after Movement, resolve Attack vs. each
takes 1 . Walls don’t block Snake’s movement. Survivor within LOS and Range 2.
Gorilla If Gorilla Adjacent to a Wall, inflicts 2 Zombie Dog Players pick 1 Survivor in Dog’s Lisa Mortimer Add a Burn Marker to each
Dmg. Room. They must discard 1 Equipment card if they have non-Destroyed Room Adjacent to Lisa’s Room.
any.
Security Guard Moves d4 Rooms. Immune Doc Mortimer Spawn a Horde in a Room Rachel Mortimer 1 Survivor in any
to Knockback. During Reaction, resolves an Attack vs. Adjacent to a Survivor (Player’s choice). ortho/diag adjacent (Players’ choice) is Entrapped (LOS not
EVERY Survivor in its LOS and 2-Room Range. required).
Automatic x2 hits. Dynamite or Grenade Discard & spend Shotgun Treat Aims as Hits instead of for Range.
● Reload with Magazine. 1 AP to discard & inflict indicated # Hits in ● Laser Sight grants +1 Range, and will allow using Aims for Range, if Equipped.
Adjacent Room w/in LOS. ● Reload with Shotgun Shells.
Baseball Bat
Flamethrower Only1 use! Place 4 Burn Shuriken Each one is an automatic Hit.
1 Knockback sides Zombie mini.
Markers, 1 in each non-Destroyed ortho Adj
2nd Knockback from any source in
same Turn kills Zombie. Else Room (LOS not required). Reload with
stand it up during Reaction. Gasflasks.
Antidote Discard to remove 2nd First Aid Kit Heal 2 Wounds. Map Discard to reroll the Terror die.
(recall 1st is permanent).
Armor Reroll 1 Defense roll. First Aid Spray Heal 1 Wound. Monkey Wrench Discard to swap a Revealed Code Chip in your Room
with any other that has same #icons. Reveal it.
Energy Drink Discard for +2 AP. Flare Gun Discard to reroll 1 or both Night Vision Discard to: when checking for Spawn Creature in Room
Spawn Zombies dice.
with Lurking , may reroll (once) as many dice desired.
Fire Alarm Discard to reroll Spread Fire Flashbang Discard to remove 1 Smoke Grenade Discard to prevent 1 check in your Room.
direction die. Entrapment from you or any Survivor in your
Room.
Fire Axe If Equipped, spend 1 AP to remove 1 Flashlight Reveal a Code Chip w/in Wirecutter Discard to box 1 in your Room.
Burn Marker from your Room. Range 2.
Fire Extinguisher Spend 1 AP to Gas Mask When using, ignore Damage from Burning or Destroyed Rooms.
remove 1 Burn Marker.
Fire Helmet When used w/ Fire Landmine Discard to place a black cube your Room w/o Foes. If Foes enter, discard cube and allocate 3 Damage first to
Extinguisher, remove 2 Burn Markers instead of 1. foes as you wish, and then to Survivors.
Round & Turn Sequence Detail
a. Goto Multitracker’s Event Cycle. Move Event Marker down +1 & resolve (1 of Spawn Zombies, Spread any active Fire Grow Darkness (if start on
, goes back to ).
b. ↔ Re-team Survivors. Each group of Survivors in same Room forms a Team for rest of this Round (even if later separated).
i. Survivors recover their action cubes … on Survivor Boards, slide cubes back to leftmost Action Box. Don’t forget Entrapped impact!
ii. On Multi-tracker place Survivor cubes of same Team in same Team Space.
iii. Player’s choose order of Teams and order of Survivors within a Team (on a per AP basis). During Action Phase, Teams will activate left to right.
c. Check Cameras: each Tile that contains Survivors AND is in LOS of Camera Token(s) must check for EACH Camera with LOS:
i. That Tile rolls #(Survivors-in-Tile) Survivor Dice and the Terror Die. If any , must Resolve Terror Die result.
ii. If multiple Tiles, players choose resolution order, but must fully resolve one Tile (including Terror Die result) before checking the next Tile.
ii. Entrapped Survivors can’t leave their Room & only get 1 AP that must be used for Escape/Rescue. If all players Entrapped, game over ! Become
un-Entrapped if Escape/Rescue succeeds or foes gone (all Dead / Knockbacked).
b. Reactions from Zombies & Creatures to the Target Survivors = the “Triggering Team” that just took Actions.
i. Any Zombie Hordes & Creature (in that order) already in a Tile+Room with ANY Survivors resolve a Foe Attack. If multi Tiles w/ fights, players choose
resolution order), but all Zombies resolve before the Creature.
ii. Spawn Tokens & Zombie Hordes in “Triggering Zone” attempt a Foe Move-and-Foe Attack.
1. “Triggering Zone” = Tile of each Survivor in Triggering Team + ortho/diag Adj tiles (regardless of Walls/Locked Doors)!
iii. Any Creature in a Tile w/o Survivors attempts a Foe Move-and-Foe Attack.
1. At end of move, resolve a Foe Attack if possible (any Zombies already there participate even if attacked before!)
● First Survivor to enter the Lab takes Cure Token (doesn’t require Item Slot). Must stay w/ this Survivor; if they are killed, endgame/lose.
● Discard all remaining Camera Tokens & Code Chips (no more Camera Checks, no more UNLOCK Actions as all Doors now Unlocked).
● Convert any outstanding Spawn Tokens into Hordes, per Spawn Zombies.
● Start Fire if one isn’t in House yet.
● Setup Nemesis.
○ Draw random Nemesis Board & place its mini in the Lab.
○ Take #gray cubes = #Survivors + Total Survivor AP. Distribute as evenly as possible among Nemesis Board’s crosshair areas. <<why diff from Creatures?>>
● Update Multitracker: flip to red side and…
○ Box Survivor colored cubes used in the Team Spaces. Survivors keep their Action cubes, but will will “play” them to Multiracker instead of to their Action Boxes.
○ Relocate Event Marker gray cube to bottom icon of new Event Track.
○ Relocate Darkness Marker gray cube to leftmost spot of new Darkness Track
1. No Re-Teaming. Survivors now form a single big uber-Team and perform Actions in any order and even interleaved.
a. When a Survivor resolves an Action,
2. can’t be discarded via any means (Actions, Corner Room Sprinkler, Fire Axe, etc.)
ii. Place action cube for spent AP on Multi-tracker leftmost action track space (Survivor Board Action Boxes no longer used).
iii. When 6 cubes in leftmost space (or sooner if players choose), immediately shift the action track.
1. Any cubes in rightmost space return to players.
2. Any cubes in left/middle shift right 1 space. If any cubes enter middle space, triggers below.
a. Move Event Marker down +1 & resolve Event (will be either none or ).
b. Spread any active Fire .
iii. Thru-out activation, if starts / enters / ends in Room with Survivor(s), pause, resolve 1 Foe Attack as in , then if not in a , resume move if possible.
Survivor Move: Can NOT exit tile if Foes present (must instead get from someone’s ATTACK); BLOCKED by Walls & Locked Doors.
1. Move mini to either a “sub-Room” on enwalled Tile, or to orthogonally adjacent Tile (may move 2sp if During Final Showdown).
2. Note & trigger any special FX of destination Tile / Room:
Lab tile: entering (after unlocked via CORNER ROOM FUNCTION) Secure/Guard icon: Survivor(s) Camera token (covering tile icon ) … these are
immediately interrupts Turn & triggers Setup of Final Showdown. here get buffed Defense vs. Foe Attacks. only resolved during Upkeep->Check Cameras phase.
Lurking Creature icon: on each entry: if no Active Creature roll Optimum Range icon: Survivor(s) Code Chip tokens (Doors): entering Tile/Room
here get buffed Range to their Attacks. = faceup for free (see UNLOCK for what to do next).
(#Surv-on-Tile) Surv Dice & if any , resolve Spawn Creature from
Resolve Terror Die.
Gas Leak icon: if Fire token enters, buffs Spread Fire. Storage icon: Survivor(s) here get Burn token (Tile is Burning) or Tile on side
buffed Search. (Tile is Destroyed), take Fire Dmg.
Foe Move:
1. Move a # of adjacent Tiles = Move stat on Creature Board or homemade Zombie unit card . E.g. d4 Security Guard, 3 Disco Doll, 2 regular Zombies.
2. Path = towards closest reachable Target Survivors (players tiebreak if multi equal paths).
a. BLOCKED by Walls, dead ends, Locked Doors and (unless Creature Board has Fire-Resistant) Burning/Destroyed Rooms.
b. Try other Survivors for reachability, but do NOT move or STOP move if en route next step won’t take Foe closer (i.e. next Reaction will take more move points to
reach) or would take Zombies outside the Triggering Zone.
c. If en route enter a Tile with ANY other Survivor(s), they will re-target to those Survivor(s).
SEARCH (1 AP): Only if Room has no gray cube for “already searched” AND not Destroyed AND not Final Showdown.
CAN be done in Room with foes. Roll #Survivor dice = #Survivors-in-Room (max 4) + Terror Die. Enwalled tiles can be Searched twice.
1. For each Success ( = + if tile has , then also ), draw 1 Equipment Card.
2. If can draw #cards > #Survivors, optional to draw the “extras”. Players choose card allocation, max 1 / Survivor, discarding leftovers. See INVENTORY for other rules.
3. If roll multiple of any icons that are not Success, must Resolve Terror Die.
4. If Success, place grey cube on room to mark “already SUCCESSFULLY searched” (if tile is enwalled, only place on the area/portion Searched).
BUY SKILL (0 AP): MUST do this if you have 10 XP. Pick a Skill Slot on Survivor Board, pay the XP cost, take the Skill Token. You now have that “power”.
USE ITEM (0 AP unless card says otherwise): At any time during your Actions. Resolve FX then discard. Consumable cards w/ grant black ammo cubes (to max of 8).
EXTINGUISH FIRE (2AP): Only if NOT Final Showdown. Discard 1 Burn Token from your Tile. If no left in the House, for free discard Fire Token.
ATTACK (1AP)
Survivor Attack vs. Zombies or Creature within Weapon Range , in same Room or within LOS.
1. Roll Weapon’s # of Survivor Dice + any Skills, to max of 4. If no Weapon, 1 die. Only attack with 1 Weapon. Resolve FX:
Each Failure must be used to cancel another die (even another ). Attacker decides.
Creature Att Results are -1 (orange bite icon just means it CAN bite). Creature is -1 . Creature is -1 . Creature Att Results are -1 (white zap icon
just means has Power Attack).
Each optionally Knockbacks 1 foe in your Room into orthogonally Adjacent accessible Room.
● Can allocate multi to same foe if LOS from you maintained.
● If pushed into/thru Burning/Destroyed Room, assign Fire Dmg. If foe(s) killed, gain XP like with .
Each Retreat optionally allows 1 un-Entrapped Survivor in your Room to move to orthog Adj accessible Room even through Foes. Can assign multi to same Survivor.
Foe Attack vs. Survivor during Reaction or certain Terror Die results.
1. Foe attacks with # Creature Dice = {either #Zombies in Horde (max 6) or Creature Board’s stat }.
2. Survivors defend with # Surv Dice = (#un-Entrapped Survivors in Tile/Room) or (4 if Room has Secure/Guard). Each cancels 1 Creature die (ignore other icons).
3. Players choose how to allocate remaining dice to Survivors. Must allocate as many dice as possible. Must resolve last & before .
one Survivor must lose 1 or 2 Health if HTH attacker, a Survivor has an Entrap
If Zombie: activate any one Spawn Token placed under their mini (max 1 token). Forfeit any
(if hits , resolve Survivor Death). Token or Horde that is exactly 2 Rooms unspent AP.
away. Move to Tile following normal
if HTH attacker, a Survivor takes 1 , Move rules. Will enter but not Attack.
which loses any 1 Inventory slot (discard Items <<add to homemade Zombie unit card?>> an un-Feared, un-Entrapped Survivor must move to
if needed to free up a slot). Max 2 . any unblocked Adjacent Room (which does NOT trigger
If Creature: resolve white Power Attack Reaction). Ignore if Entrapped.
on their Board.
UNLOCK DOOR (1AP/contributing Survivor): Only if NOT Final Showdown.
● Check security code icons of Equipment Cards of all Survivors in your Room and in your Team.
● If match a revealed Code Chip in your Room, the Survivor(s) contributing Code Chips(s) must each spend 1AP.
○ If missing code(s), may Force the Lock … for each missing color, resolve Grow Darkness.
● If successfully Unlocked, you take Code Chip and everyone earns 1XP. Take this to Corner Room’s .
ESCAPE/RESCUE (1AP): Roll # of Survivor Dice = sum of from participating Active un-Entrapped Survivors spending 1AP to help.Each = free 1 Survivor (remove
Entrapped token). Regain AP less 1. If fail, can spend AP again to retry.
INVENTORY: 0 AP to rearrange your Equipment cards between Carried/Wielded, and can be done at any time. 1AP to give/take Equip card or Code Chip with any other Survivor in
same Room regardlesss of Team (or 2AP to “trade”, give 1 & take another).
● Unlimited Code Chips
● Max 5 Inventory Slots for Equipment cards (2 “Wield” + 3 “Carry”), less 1 per (it occupies the slot).
○ Max 2 Wield (right of board). Max 2 Hands, Gear card will specify #hands required (not to be confused with #AP icon on other Gear cards).
○ Max 3 (2 if 5 Survivor) Carry (left of board unless house rule right of board but sided).
○ May drop Cards, but they are discarded. Gear can be Carried or Wielded. Consumables may only be Carried.
○ Found Wpns come with #rounds (black cubes), can reload up to max 8 rounds via other game FX.
Take 4 black Ammo cubes for any 1 Wpn (max/weapon = 8). Only if NOT Final Showdown. Pick a single non-Destroyed Room. Remove all Burn/Fire Tokens, if any.
Creature either Spawn (if none) or Heal (if one already in House).
● Spawn = draw a random Creature Board (note Gorilla & Security Guard board errata fixes), take its mini & randomly place (like Spawn Zombies, but re-roll if 6 or Locked
Room). Unlike Zombie Spawn tokens, if Creature Spawns into Burning/Destroyed Room and lacks Fire-resistant, immediately take Fire Dmg per Spread Fire .
● Heal = players choose 3 gray cubes to remove from Creature’s Board.