3-5

12+

60min
 During an expedition to Antarctica, scientists
- 1931 - have exposed the vestiges of an ancient city of gigantic
behind a chain of -to all appearances impa
-
proportions
ssable mountains.
You must work together and communicate well
to successfully scale this
mountain, find fascinating relics, then escape
from this accursed place.
Above all, be careful not to lose your hea
lth
or your sanity!

contents
1 Mountain board
5 double-sided Player Boards
1 Airplane 1 Sand Timer
MOVEMENT PHASE
Turn Overview
MOVEMENT PHASE
Ignore one player’s
Turn Overview
Turn Over
figurine (30 seconds)
The Leader moves the Airplane to an adjacent
ENCOUNTER PHASE
space.
The Leader moves Madness card.
the Airplane to an
MOVEMENT
The Leader
adjacent space.
PHASE
moves theIgnore one player’s
view
ENCOUNTER PHASE Add Airpla to
All players discuss and play cards.
All players discuss 30 seconds.
ENCOUNTER Madness ne card. an adjacent
space. Ignore one
and play cards. All players PHASE playe
RESOLUTION PHASE Add
discuss and Madness card. r’s
RESOLUTION PHASE Reroll the play cards.
30 seconds
Resolve Successes and Failures. RESOLUTI . Add
Resolve Successes Penalty Die. ON
DRAW PHASE and Failures. Resolve Succe PHA SE
Reroll the 30 seconds.
DRAW PHASE Increase hand sses and Failu
All players draw back up to hand size. DRAW PHA Penalty Die.
res.
All players draw backsize by 1. SE Reroll the
up to hand size. All players
REST PHASE (OPTIONAL) draw backIncrease hand Penalty Die.
REST PHASE (OPTIO upby
size to 1.
hand size.
Shuffle cards and get back Leadership tokens. NAL) REST PHA Increase hand
Shuffle cards and SE (OPTIONA
get back Leaders
hip tokens. Shuffle cards and get L) size by 1.
back Leade
Crates rship token
16-18 15 OR 17 Weapons Tools
Crates Books
s.
Weapons Crates

Turn Overview
Tools Weapons
DANFORTH PROFESSOR ATWOOD MARGARET DYER Books
Turn Overv Tools
MOVEMENT PHASE
The Leader moves the Airplane
MOVEMENT
PHASE
The Leader moves Ignore one player’s
iew Books

to an adjacent space. the Airplane

ENCOUNTER PHASE Madness card.to an adjacent Ignore one player
ENCO UNTER PHAS space.
All players discuss and play All players discus AddE Madness card. ’s
cards. s and play cards.
RESOLUTION PHASE 30 seconds. Add
RESOLUTION
14-16 16-18 14-16 16-18 Resolve Successes and Failures. Resolve Succes
PHASE the 30 seconds.
Reroll
ses and Failure
DRAW PHASE Penalty Die.
s. Reroll the
DRAW PHAS
All players draw back up E Penalty Die.
to hand size. All players draw Increase hand
backsize
upby
to 1.
hand size.
REST PHASE (OPTIONA REST PHASE Increase hand
L) (OPTIONAL) size by 1.
Shuffle cards and get back
Leadership tokens. Shuffle cards and get back
Leadership tokens
.
ACCIDENT CONFUSION Crates
Add 2 Injuries LOSS OF CONFIDENCE Weapons Crate
9 OR 11 10-12 to the discard pile.
Discard as many cards from the
Equipment deck as the difference
Discard 2 Leadership tokens. Tools s Weapons
Books
12-14 9-11 If there are not enough
8-10 7-9 between the total value of cards played
(of the required equipment type) and
d Leadership tokens,
return a Leadership token DOROTHY H. PABODIE PROFESSOR LAKE Tools
Books
the Challenge Value. If you don’t havee
to the box instead.
enough cards, return a Leadership
token to the box instead.

1 Sled board
10-12 14

6 Leadership tokens
11-13 10 OR 12 13 10-12 11 13 OR 15

1 Penalty die
7-9 8-10 7-8 8-10 8-10 8-10 8-10 7-9 7-8 7-9

8-10 7-9 7-9 8-10 7-9 8-10 7-8 8-10 9-11 7-9 7-9 8-9

36 Encounter tiles
66 Madness cards (including 6 blank ones)
11 Relic tokens

x4
x4
x8
Specimen
x12 x4 Ruin
x20
x20
x8 x4 x20 x3
Knowledge

48 Equipment cards
11 Relic cards
6 6 6 6 4 4 4 15 Injury cards
4 10 10 When you gain this card,
draw a Madness card. If you already When you gain this card,
When you gain this card,
draw a Madness card. If you already
have a Level 3 Madness, discard draw a Madness card. If you already
have a Level 3 Madness, discard
a Leadership token instead. have a Level 3 Madness, discard
a Leadership token instead.
a Leadership token instead.

GASOLINE TANKS BAROMETER

REVOLVER LABORATORY
SPECIMEN A RUIN 1
KNOWLEDGE
The disturbed debris formed an impression We were now, after a slow ascent,
we could not shake off, and the smell
of gasoline grew stronger.
at a height of twenty–three thousand The mangling action of the wind EQUIPMENT When I am the Leader, When I am the Leader during
five hundred seventy feet according had rendered all eleven bodies unsuitable He covered the dissected organism I cannot use Leadership the Resolution Phase,
to the aneroid. for transportation outside. with a tarpaulin, emerged from the
laboratory
tent, and studied the intact specimens ELDER SIGN tokens during
the Draw Phase.
I must discard the lowest
CRATES card
I can no longer take

6 with renewed interest.

(before totaling them).
the REST Phase when
I am the Leader.
INJURY
6 6 They had all been in some terrible

x10
6 4
x10
4 kind of conflict, and were torn
4
x10
4 10 10 and mangled in fiendish and

x10
altogether inexplicable ways.

x8 x4 x4
Crates Tools x3
Weapons Books Arcane Specimen Ruin Knowledge
Equipment

2
 OVERVIEW AND GOAL OF TH
E GAME
T
he goal of your expedition is to recover the
relics hidden on to communicate with each other, as you head
the mountain. What you do not yet know towards
is that it also hides your inevitable demise…
terrible secrets that are better left untouch
ed.
As members of this strange expedition, you If, by chance, you manage to escape, you
will face challenges whose will need
horror you cannot fully comprehend. By usin to assess your team. At the end of the gam
g the equipment on your e,
cards, you must work together to overcom if you have more Relic cards (Specimen,
e these horrifying challenges. Ruin,
Do your best, since time matters! Each chal Knowledge) than Injuries, your expedit
lenge overcome makes ion was
the road to victory easier, but if—despite your a success and you win the game. If the
best efforts—you do not opposite
succeed, you will suffer injuries or even lose is true, the expedition turned out to be muc
your sanity. The closer h too
you get to the summit, the greater your mad costly for the few discoveries made and you
ness will become. And as lose
madness seizes each member of your team the game. But that is nothing compared
, it becomes that much harder to losing
all hope of surviving in this hostile terrain…

GAME ELEMENTS
MOUNTAIN BOARD
The game board represents the mountain City Edge of Equipment Deck
that
you are trying to scale, starting from the coas Tiles Madness tile
t and
ultimately escaping by airplane off the sum
mit.

Injury Deck

Arcane Equipment Deck Escape Tiles

Relic Deck
16-18 15 OR 17

Equipment discard
14-16 16-18 14-16 16-18

Leadership token
discard area ACCIDENT CONFUSION
Add 2 Injuries LOSS OF CONFIDENCE
Discard as many cards from the Discard 2 Leadership tokens.
to the discard pile. Equipment deck as the difference
9 OR 11 10-12 12-14 9-11 If there are not enough
8-10 7-9 between the total value of cards playedd Leadership tokens,
(of the required equipment type) and
return a Leadership token
the Challenge Value. If you don’t havee
to the box instead.
enough cards, return a Leadership
token to the box instead.

Sand timer space

Mountain Tiles 10-12 14 11-13 10 OR 12 13 10-12

Level 3 Madness deck

11 13 OR 15

7-9 8-10 7-8 8-10 8-10 8-10 8-10 7-9

Level 2 Madness deck

7-8 7-9

Coast Tiles
8-10 7-9 7-9 8-10 7-9 8-10 7-8 8-10 9-11 7-9 7-9 8-9

Level 1 Madness deck

Challenge Values

3
 PLAYER BOARD
The double-sided Player
RELIC TOKENS
Boards represent the These tokens remind you that the mountain
Turn Overview
is cruel, and reduce your
abilities as a Leader bit by bit when they cove
MOVEMENT PHAS

characters you can play

The Leader moves
E

r parts of your Player Board.

the Airplane to an Ignore one player
adjacent space. ’s
ENCOUNTER PHAS Madness card.
All players discus
E
s and play cards.

during your expedition on the

Add
RESOLUTION PHAS 30 seconds.
Resolve Successes E
and Failures. Reroll the

mountain. A player aid is also

DRAW PHASE Penalty Die.
All players draw back
up to hand size. Increase hand
REST PHASE (OPTI size by 1.
ONAL)
Shuffle cards and

on each Player Board.

get back Leadership
tokens.
Crates
Weapons
Tools
Books
PROFESSOR LAKE
Specimen token Knowledge token

SLED BOARD
The Sled Board goes in front of
Ruin token
the Leader for the current turn.
Two spaces are drawn on this
board: the round space is for ENCOUNTER TILES
the Leadership tokens available, The Encounter tiles show the places you can
and the rectangular space is for explore during the game.
There are 4 different regions of increasing
Equipment cards played during the Encounte hostility: Coast, Mountain, City,
r Phase. and Edge of Madness.

AIRPLANE FIGURINE
The Airplane indicates which part of the mou
ntain
you are exploring on the current turn. You Each tile shows the following information:
move it
from place to place, following the path you
wish to  ame of the tile
N
take on your expedition.
E xcerpt from the book that inspired this gam
e that relates to the tile
C hallenge Values you must overcome:
LEADERSHIP TOKENS - Type of equipment required
- Value of equipment required (exact or rang
These tokens represent the Leader’s ability e)
to
motivate the group. They can be used in diffe R eward if you succeed
rent
ways to facilitate your ascent. You may only
use them
when they are on the Sled Board. After you Name
use a token, place it in the NOTHING BUT THE WIND
STRANGE CHATTERING
Leadership token discard area. Sometimes Excerpt
you will need to return a
The wind made sounds
like an evil
musical piping over a wide It was, indeed, repeated,

Leadership token to the box, out of play.

range. times to come from more and seemed at
than one throat.

You should use these sparingly: If you have

to return the last token to the
box, the expedition loses all hope of surviving
in the hostile terrain and
you lose the game as Madness defeats you!
Arcane
8-10 7-9 Equipment Ruin 3
PENALTY DIE 13-15 13

The Penalty Die, as its name suggests, determin Equipment Symbols

es what Penalties you suffer Number or range required Reward
(4 different)
during the game. There are 3 faces: to overcome the Tools
challenge

There are also Escape tiles, which represent

Accident the last places you explore
Confusion Loss of Confidence while trying to escape from the Mountain
. These tiles have the same
Suffice it to say that rolling the die is neve elements as the other Encounter tiles, exce
r a good thing! pt they do not always have a
Reward if you succeed.

4
 EQUIPMENT CARDS
Equipment cards represent the various gear
RELIC CARDS
available to you while Relic cards are the reason for your expeditio
scaling the mountain: n: they can win you
the game. Relics come in three categories
Crates : Specimen, Ruin, and
Tools Knowledge. Every Relic card shows:
Weapons Books A n action you must take immediately whe
n you acquire the card
Each Equipment card has a value from 2 to A nd a constraint that will affect you for the
6. There are ten cards of each rest of the game.
type of Equipment (2 per value). They each When you gain a Relic card, leave it face up
also have a name and an in front of you.
excerpt from the book that inspired this gam It is not part of your hand.
e.

Value
6 6 6 6 4 4
When you gain this card,
draw a Madness card. If you already
have a Level 3 Madness, discard
When you gain this card,
draw a Madness card. If you already
have a Level 3 Madness, discard When you gain this card,

Type of
a Leadership token instead.
a Leadership token instead. draw a Madness card. If you already

Immediate
have a Level 3 Madness, discard

Equipment
a Leadership token instead.
SPECIMEN A 1
RUIN
Action
BAROMETER
4 4 LABORATORY
When I am the Leader,
I cannot use Leadership
tokens during
When I am the Leader during
the Resolution Phase,
I must discard the lowest

Name EQUIPMENT KNOWLEDGE Type of Relic

We were now, after a slow ascent, the Draw Phase. CRATES card
at a height of twenty–three thousand
five hundred seventy feet according
(before totaling them).
He covered the dissected organism

GASOLINE TANKS to the aneroid. with a tarpaulin, emerged from the

laboratory
tent, and studied the intact specimens
I can no longer take
Excerpt
with renewed interest.
The disturbed debris formed an impression
we could not shake off, and the smell
of gasoline grew stronger.
6 6
REVOLVER
4 4 the REST Phase when
I am the Leader. Constraint
The mangling action of the wind
had rendered all eleven bodies unsuitable

Tools
for transportation outside.

6 6 4 Books
4
Crates
Weapons

MADNESS CARDS
ARCANE EQUIPMENT CARDS These cards represent the degradation of
your Level 1
These cards are used just like Equipment card sanity, and describe more and more challengi
s. The only difference is ng
that they are of better quality, since they each madnesses that deteriorate your ability to
have a value of 10. At communicate. They each show:
the beginning of the game, they are stack
ed in their own deck. You
must discover them during the expedition
in order to add them to the A level, LURKING HORR
Equipment card deck. OR
A name,
Ther e may be some
the table. I thing under
need
before playing to check
any cards.

10 10 10 A description of the Madness. Level 2

10 10 10 10 10
Always leave your Madness card(s) face dow
n
near your Player Board. They are not part of
your
hand. Only you can know what they say. Do
not
show them to other players!
ELDER SIGN ALIEN DEVICE FUNGAL HONEY NECRONOMICON
10 TIMID
Madness cards affect your ability to commun
10 10 10 10 I only speak
by asking ques
tions.

icate
10 10 10
during the Encounter Phase (while the Sand
Level 3
Timer is running) by imposing certain restr
ictions
on you. You may never discuss your Madness
INJURY CARDS with the other players: When the Sand Time
r is
Injury cards represent your physical condition not running, you must act as though you do
. The not
further the Expedition progresses, the more recall acting strangely. Other players can only
Injury SELFLESS
Name
cards you will receive, and the more you will speculate about the Madness that controls
I use “he/she"

be you.
instead of “you
".

handicapped. Take care not to receive too Level

many INJURY
Injuries or the Mountain will get the bette
r of you!
They had all been in some terrible

Description of
kind of conflict, and were torn
and mangled in fiendish and
altogether inexplicable ways.

the Madness

5
 SETTING UP THE GAME
1 Place the MOUNTAIN BOARD in the midd
le of the table.

Choose a PLAYER BOARD and put it in front

We had planned to cove r a territory
as sprawling 21 with whatever side you wish up.
of you,
as the antarctic season would allo
w—or beyond
that if absolutely necessar y—worki
in the mountain chains and on the
ng essentially 31 Sort the ENCOUNTER TILES by type and place
on the matching spaces of the board, face
them randomly
plateau to down.
the south of the Ross Sea, regions
more or less
explored by Shackleton, Daviau Amu
ndsen,
Scott et Byrd.
x11 x3
x7 x3 x1
After
AfAfte setting
ter rset
sett up di
differen Return the unused tiles to the box witho
tining
g up diff renttt cam
ffeeren camps,
campps,s,secured ut revealing them.
by plane and cove ring distances cons
enough to present a geological inte rest
iderable 41 Make a face-up INJURY CARD deck.
,
R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn we were plan
to expose an amount of material with
ning 51 Make a face-up ARCANE EQUIPMENT CARD
deck.
out
precedent; particularly in the 61 Make a face-up RELIC CARD deck.
precamb rian strata whe re a field
crowded with specimens has just 71 Shuffle the EQUIPMENT CARDS and make
a face- down deck.
been uncovered.
81 Draw as many INJURY CARDS as there are
Put them face up in the Equipment disca
players.
rd.

91 Sort the MADNESS CARDS by level and shuffl

to make three face-down decks.
e each stack separately

10
1 Deal each player a number of EQUIPMENT
according to the number of players:
CARDS

3 players deal 5 cards each

4 players deal 4 cards each
5 players deal 3 cards each
Keep these cards in your hand. You can look
at them, but do not show them to other playe
rs.
11
1 Put the SAND TIMER on its space.

12
1 Put the PENALTY DIE and the RELIC TOKE
NS near the board.

The player who most recently reached the

13
1 summit of a mountain assumes the role
of Leader for the first turn. Put the AIRPLANE
and the SLED BOARD in front of them
and put 6 LEADERSHIP TOKENS on the corre
sponding space of the Sled Board.

14
1 The Leader deals Madness cards to playe
rs, according to the number of players:
3 players deal no Madness cards
4 players deal one Level 1 Madness card to each playe
r except the first Leader
5 players deal one Level 1 Madness card to each playe
r
6
 1
12
21
1 2 2 2 5 2 3 5 3

41
WINTER FURScloth PENCILSCANNED GOODS
made comical heap of BINOCULA
of furs and
tent in these hasty diagrams,
...even
It was composed camp,us and we did
think
not
The jarringly
that its subglacial levels openstill
priedmust
tin cans RS I studied them
in the most unlikely with
ways
taken from Lake’sthe bizarre forms into
a feature of peculiar importance. and took aërial a field–glass
and at the most unlikely places.
form photographs
pause to study had been slashed. whilst Danforth
which the fabrics drove.

2 5 32 52 2 3

51 71
61
81
5 2 5 2 2
6 2
6
RIFLESRA
They had all been DIO COMP
kind of conflict, in some Our
and
terrible
radio comp ASSPE
mangled in fiendish were torn and
throu
and altogethe
inexplicable ways.
asses helpe
rgh the one us
...even
d us
in thes
NCILS
we encou opaq thin
ue fog
k that e hasty
ntereform
d. a its diag
feature subglacial rams, mad DYN
of pec leve
uliar impAls goo
musd–s
e AMIT
5 2 orta
the
t still
nce
ized
. terblast had
sub E
rene laid

2 25 secret open
…

2 6
5 2 4 5 3 4 3 6
2

Having
endure
DOGS
with dogs
When
trouble specimenthroug
the new pieces if
tear it
to
probablyit at a distance
from
DRILLINGLABOR
APPARATU
. The
shortly
would
t
y can’afterw
ATORY
SEQUIPMENT PAPER
h the’tstratum
, and
we didnnew and
a wholly
into

. spread among the

thement
excitem
4 35 42 5
head droppe
covered
ard the drillHe vacancy,
with
appar ent
a tarpaulin,
e wave
tent, and
keep doubly intens
excava
studied
tors.
with
Other things were equally perplexing…
d dissected
the
emergedpieces
organism
the spatter–fringed ink blots on certain
from the laboratory
of paper,
of the intact specimens and the evidences of curious
alien fumbling and experimentation.
renewed interest.

3
1
11
2

31
91

1
14

1
13
6 6 4 6 4 4 4
6

GASO LINE
turbed
deb ris
TAWeN
BA
an imp
formed at athe
KSRO
were
heig
sm
five hundred
off, and
The dis ld not shake w stronger.
we cou gasoline gre
of
now,
ressio
METEasce
seven ty
to the aner
a slow
n after ree The

oid.
RREVOLVERLABORATORY
nt,
mangling action of the wind
thousand all eleven bodies
ty–thhad rendered
htellof twen feet
for
g
accordintransporta withoutside.
tion
EQUIPMENT
Heunsuitable
covered the dissected organism
a tarpaulin, emerged from the laboratory
tent, and studied the intact specimens
with renewed interest.
1
13
4 46 46 6 4

1
10
6

7
 GAMEPLAY
The game plays over several consecutive
turns. during this Phase. If you moved the plane
Each turn has 5 phases: to a space that didn’t have
a tile (because you were there earlier in the
game), you will face the
Challenges on the space instead. Most of
MOVEMENT the time you will be facing the
Challenges on the tile. These Challenges will
be a surprise when the tile
TURN ENCOUNTER is turned face up. You can decide to continue
the ascent, to descend, or
to stay on the same level, but you cannot
OVERVIEW RESOLUTION Proceed to the ENCOUNTER PHASE.
stay on the same space.
DRAW
REST (OPTIONAL) EXAMPLE
As the Leader, you can move the Plane onto
any adjacent space,
whether it is empty or has a tile.
MOVEMENT PHASE
During the MOVEMENT PHASE, the Lead
er decides which direction to
move the expedition. Over the course of the
game, you start from the
Coast, scale the Mountain, enter the City, and
reach the Edge of Madness
before making your escape across the sky.
NOTE: On the 1st turn, you must start on
any one of the Coast tiles at
the bottom of the board (see below). The Lead
er puts the chosen tile
in front of them and puts the Airplane on
the now-empty space before
proceeding to the ENCOUNTER PHASE.

EXAMPLE
You are the first Leader. You decide to begi
n the expedition by
placing the Airplane on this tile.
The “EDGE OF MADNESS” Tile
Once the expedition has reached the Edge
of Madness tile,
you can no longer descend. You must now
escape by moving
onto the next Escape tile for each of the next
3 turns. At the end of the
turn where you moved onto the 3rd Escap
e tile, the expedition escapes
from the mountain (see “The End of the Gam
e” p.15)!

DISCARDING A LEADERSHIP TOKEN

= Tiles accessible on the 1st turn During the Movement Phase, the Leader
can
decide to discard one or more Leadership
tokens. Every token
discarded allows one player, chosen by the
DISCUSSION Leader, to ignore
their Madness card(s) for the rest of the turn
You can make this decision collectively. Take . Move any
the time discarded Leadership tokens from
to reflect on the best direction to take. But,
16-18 15 OR 17

even if the Sled Board to the Leadership

everyone else disagrees, the Leader has the token discard area on the board.
final say
since they are the one who moves the Airpl
ane. 14-16 16-18 14-16 16-18

DECISION
Once the decision is made, the Leader choo
ses a space adjacent to the ACCIDEN

one the Airplane is on. If the space where

Add 2 Injurie
to the discard p
9 OR 11 10-12

the airplane moved had a

12-14 9-11 8-10 7-9

tile (now in front of the leader), you will face

the Challenges on the tile
8 10-12 14 11-13 10 OR 12 13 10-12 11 13 OR 15
 You only have the time allotted by the Sand
EMPTY TILE SPACE Equipment. Use this time to discuss which
Timer to gather the necessary
If you move onto a space without a tile, Equipment you have in hand
and are able to spend to overcome the Chal
there is no reward to gain but you still lenges. Your team is united, so
you can share all of the information present
have two challenges to overcome. You on your cards without actually
showing anyone else your cards.
therefore still risk suffering Failures.
There are two rules you must follow
no matter what:
1 The text on your Madness card(s) overrules
all other rules.
ENCOUNTER PHASE
The ENCOUNTER PHASE begins as soon 21 Most of the time, Equipment cards in your
hand must remain a
as the Leader turns over the secret.
Encounter tile in front of them and ends as
soon as the Sand Timer runs out.
DISCUSSION 31 The only time you are able to communicate
anything about
First, turn over the Sand Timer, and, if nece them is during the ENCOUNTER PHASE
ssary, turn over the Encounter while the Sand Timer
tile in front of the Leader. From this moment is running, before any cards have been play
on, all players with a ed. Any discussion
Madness card must apply its effect and play relating to cards in your hand during any
accordingly! other time is strictly
forbidden.
The current Encounter tile or space occupied
by the Airplane shows two
or three Challenges, represented by these
symbols: , , ,
and .

CAREFUL! This Mountain is not

normal.
The higher you climb, the more
you will feel
the altitude and the lack of oxy
gen. Or is it
your mind that’s playing tricks
on you?
Whatever the case, these visual
hallucinations
seem way too real to be ignored
...

These symbols are always accompanied by

a number or range of
numbers, called the “Challenge Value”. This
indicates the total quantity of
equipment required to overcome the Chal
lenge.

EXAMPLE
This tile shows
two Challenges to HUNGRY WIND
Even the faint howling
overcome. To succeed, of the unfelt wind in the and piping
passes behind us took ongreat mountain
you will need a total a wild
of purposeful malignity. er note
of between
10 and 12
and an exact total
of 14 .

Heal
10-12 14
9
 ENCOUNTER PHASE (cont.)
ACTION
At any time during this Phase, any play
er may play Equipment
DISCARDING A LEADERSHIP TOKEN
and/or Injury cards (see Playing an Injury
Card) from their hand face When the Sand Time runs out, the Leader
has several
down on the Sled Board. All players mus seconds to decide whether they will disca
t immediately cease all rd a Leadership token.
communication. If they decide to discard one, they take a
Leadership token from
All players can continue to play cards from the Sled Board and place it in the Leadersh
their hand face down on the ip token discard.
Sled Board, without communicating in any
way with the other players, A token discarded in this way allows you
to restart the
until the Sand Timer runs out completely.
You can play cards in the order ENCOUNTER PHASE. Flip over the sand
timer and start the
of your choice, even playing multiple card
s or adding cards after others Phase over. This means players can talk agai
n up to the point
have played. when one player plays a card. The Leader
can use multiple
IMPORTANT: If a player speaks while comm tokens to restart this Phase multiple time
unication is forbidden, you must s, each time making
immediately roll the Penalty Die and apply the decision when the timer has run out.
its effects (see Penalty Die p. 13).
The effects of Leadership tokens discarded
in this turn’s
EXAMPLE MOVEMENT PHASE remain active duri
ng the entire
ENCOUNTER PHASE hase, even if you
In an expedition with three players, you feel prolong it by
that discussions discarding Leadership tokens.
must end before it’s too late to act, playing
2 cards face down
on the Sled. Everyone stops talking. Danf
orth adds 2 cards,
while Dyer adds no cards. Before the Sand
Timer ends, Danforth Playing an Injury Card
decides to add 1 last card.
Injury cards are parasitic cards: Their only
purpose
is to inefficiently fill your hand. You can, how
ever,
play them during the ENCOUNTER PHA
SE just
INJURY like Equipment cards to get them out of your
hand. However, they might return to a play
They had all been in some terrible

er’s
kind of conflict, and were torn
and mangled in fiendish and

hand if they are not healed before the RES

altogether inexplicable ways.

T
PHASE.

+
endous devastation.
It’s a fact that the wind caused horr
without the othe r
Would they all have survived it, even
t it.
mglw’nafh “thing”? I seriously doub

bardment of ice
You Danforth Dyer
The tempest, with its incessant bom
ing our expedition
particles, must have overtaken everyth
e hangar was just
Once the Sand Timer runs out, stay silent
for a couple seconds to give uncovered up until this point. A plan
was abandoned in
the Leader time to decide if they will disca
rd a Leadership token or not. about pulverised—it seems everything
The Leader must make this decision alone. d on a site far from
a precarious state—and the rig, foun
to shre
ripped to ds.
the drilling, was entirely ripped shreds

The metallic parts of the planes

on the ground and the material
from the
rig were crushed and stripped.
Two of the little tents were
knocked over despite their
10 i -li
TTeekkTeTeleleikkeellii-li
embankments of snow.
 RESOLUTION PHASE
The Resolution Phase begins as soon as the
Sand Timer runs out.
During this Phase, you will determine if you There are different types of Rewards
successfully overcame offered on Encounter tiles:
Relic, Search, Arcane Equipment, Heal, Prais
the challenges you faced in the previous Phas e.
e, then gain any earned
Reward, and finally suffering any potential
Failures. Relic (Specimen/Ruin/Knowledge)
OVERCOMING A CHALLENGE
The Leader takes the card listed from the deck
The Leader reveals all of the cards played of Relic cards, and
on the Sled Board and chooses one player (including themselves)
When
draw a Mad you gain this card
nes ,

compares them to the Challenge Values of who takes the Relic

have a Lev s card. If you
el alre
a Leader 3 Madness, disc ady

each Challenge:
ship toke ard

card and places it face up in front of them

n instead
.

. This card is not part of SPECIM

If the total value of the cards matching the
EN A
required Equipment type the player’s hand, but has a direct impact When I

on this player when

am the
I cannot Lea
use Lea der,

equals (or falls within the range of) the requ

dershi

they are the Leader.

tokens
during Whp
the Dra en
draw a Mad you gain this card

ired Challenge Value, the

w Phase
. ness ,
card. If you
have a Lev
el alre
a Leader 3 Madness, disc ady

challenge was a SUCCESS.

ship toke ard
n instead
.

If you receive a Relic card, you must immedia RUIN 1

If the total value of the cards matching the tely draw a When I

Madness card (see “Draw a Madness Card

am the
Leader

required Equipment type

the Res during
I must disolution Phase,

” on p.12). Also, take

card
CRATES the lowest

is above or below the required Challenge

When you card

the Relic token that matches the card you

draw a Ma gai (before
dness cardn this card,totaling the

Value, the challenge was a

have a Lev . If you m).

received and place it

el 3 Madne already
a Leader
ship tok ss, discard
en instea

FAILURE.
d.

on your Player Board, covering the space indic

ated by the card. KNOWL
EDGE
You cannot use a Leadership Token during
this Phase for the
I can no
the RE longer take
ST Ph

rest of the game.

I am th ase when
e Lead
er.

EXAMPLE
You can have several Relic cards in front of
you. If you receive a
SEALS The Airplane is on the space Knowledge card when you already have at
least one in front of you, do
not take another Knowledge token.
Many fat seals were visib
swimming or sprawling le on the water,
across large cakes that had the Seals tile, which
of slowly drifting ice.
requires 7 to 9 and 7 to
9 . EXAMPLE
You reveal the 5 cards played ICY CAPE
on the Sled: There is a All traces of such things
wholly obscured by the were now
deep layer
You succeeded against at least one of
and snow at this point. of ice
Barometer 6 , the two Challenges on the Icy Cape tile,
Scale s 3 , Labo ratory which rewarded your expedition with
7-9 7-9 Specimen D Equipment 4 , the Specimen B card.
Pencils 2 , and an Injury. The Leader takes the card from the Relic
You succeed in the Tools Challenge
, but you failed the card
Specimen Bdeck and chooses to give it to you.
Books Challenge. . 7-8 8-10
You place it in front of you, then you
6 6 put your Level 1 Madness card back in the
4 4 box and draw a card
3 3 from the Level 2 Madness deck which you
2 2 place face down in
front of you. Finally, you take a Specimen
token, which you place
BAROMETER LABORATORY on your Player Board covering the “RESOLU
We were now, after a slow ascent,
EQUIPMENT TION PHASE” in the
INJURY
Leadership Token column. See next page
at a height of twenty–three thousand
five hundred seventy feet according
BINOCULARS He covered the dissected organism

for the Madness cards.

to the aneroid.
I studied them with
a field–glass
and took aërial photogr
aphs
whilst Danforth drove.
6 6
with a tarpaulin, emerged from the laboratory They had all been
in some terrible
tent, and studied the intact specimens PENCILS kind of conflict, and
were
and mangled in fiendish torn
with renewed interest. ...even in these hasty diagrams, made altogeth and
er inexplicable ways.
us think that its subglacial levels must still
4 4 form a feature of peculiar importance.

3 3 2 2 SEAL
S Turn Ove
rview
Many fat sea MOVEME
swimming or ls were visible on the NT PH
The Leader ASE
sprawling water, moves the
of slowly dri across large cakes ENCOUNTE
Airplane to
an adjacent
fting ice. R PHASE space. Ignore one
All players pla
discuss and Madness car yer’s
d.

S UCCESS
play cards.
RESOLUTIO Add
Resolve Suc N PHASE 30 seconds.
cesses and
Failures.

If you successfully overcome at least one

DRAW PHASE Reroll the
All players Penalty Die
draw back .
up to hand
size.

of the Challenges on the Encounter tile,

REST PHAS Increase han
E (OPTIONA
Shuffle car
ds and get L) size by 1. d
back Leader
ship tokens

you gain the reward shown on the bottom-

.
Crates
Weapons
FRANK H. PABODIE
right corner of the tile.
Tools
7-9 7-9 Specimen
D Books

11
 RESOLUTION PHASE (cont.)
Search If you must suffer multiple Failures, choose
the consequence for the first
The Search ability lets you scope out a secti Failure and apply it. Then choose the cons
on of the mountain before equence for the second Failure
traveling there. The Leader chooses a face dow and apply it. Continue in this way until you
n Encounter tile. This tile have suffered the required
does not have to be adjacent to the one the number of Failures. You can choose the orde
Airplane is on. Turn over this r of the Challenges for which
tile at the same time as the Sand Timer. You you must suffer a consequence.
now have 30 seconds to
memorize the information on the tile (with
out moving the Airplane). Once Unlike Rewards, which you can only earn
the Sand Timer runs out, turn the tile back a single time per Encounter
face down. You cannot discard tile, you must suffer a Failure each time you
Leadership tokens to turn over the Sand time fail a Challenge.
r and look at the tile again.

Arcane Equipment 10 10 10
10 10 DRAWING A MADNESS CARD
The Leader chooses an Arcane Equipment 10
card of The Mountain is making you
his choice from the deck of Arcane Equipme more and more mad, endlessly
nt cards
and adds it to the Equipment card discard
ELDER SIGN

pile.
ALIEN DEVI
FUNGA
CE penetrating your spirit and
L HON
1010 EY
degrading your sanity. Madness
10
10 10
Heal 10 cards affect your ability to communicate
during the ENCOUNTER PHASE (while
Look in the Equipment card discard pile for the
an Injury card. If there is at Sand Timer is running) by imposing certa
least one, put it back in the Injury card deck in
. You can heal an Injury card restrictions on you. It is very likely that one
played during this turn. of you will have
to draw a Madness card during a turn (whe
ther by failing a
Challenge or by gaining a Relic card).
Praise
If you must draw a Madness card and you
Take up to two Leadership tokens from the don’t have any,
discard area and put them draw a Level 1 Madness.
back on the Sled Board.
If you must draw a Madness card and you
already have a
F AILURES Level 1 or 2 Madness, put your card back
in the box and
After potentially gaining your reward, you draw a card from the next level up.
must suffer any Failures you
got this turn. If you already have a Level 3 Madness, the
Leader cannot
For each Challenge you failed to overcom choose you to draw a new Madness card
e, the Leader chooses one .
of these consequences: If all players already have a Level 3 Madness
card when one
must be drawn, discard a Leadership toke
n from the Sled
1 One player chosen by the Leader draw
s a Madness card Board instead. If there are no more Lead
ership tokens on the
(see DRAWING A MADNESS CARD ). sled, put a Leadership token from the disca
rd back in the box
NOTE: If all players already have a Level 3 instead. If you must put your last Leadersh
Madness card, you ip token back in the
cannot choose this consequence. You mus box, the expedition is lost (see “The End
t therefore choose 21 of the Game” p. 15)!
the Leader rolls the Penalty die.
You can never talk about your Madness
with the other
21 The Leader rolls the Penalty die. players. When the Sand Timer is not runn
ing, you must act
(see ROLLING THE PENALTY DIE p. 13). as though you do not recall acting stran
gely. Other players
can only speculate about the Madness
that controls you.

12
 ROLLING THE PENALTY DIE EXAMPLE
When the Leader chooses to roll the Pena
lty die, you only
get one roll. You must then apply the effec BLEAK COAST
t indicated by the
symbol on the die: The frozen sea was now giving place
to a frowning and mountainous coastline. 6 5 36 25
3
ACCIDENT 2
Draw 2 Injury cards from the Injury card deck
and
add them to the Equipment card discard
pile. If DYNAMITREIFCLE
OISL
you must draw an Injury and the Injury card They had all
A good–sized blast laid bee
hadcon n in some terr OFWIRNOPE
TER F
deck
kind of open
the subterrene flict,W
secret…
e had a
and
ible
wer ropeItwi
mangled in fienwi sh to boe torn w
and th co
as usm
URS
is empty, the expedition succumbs to the
dish and thetawi , bu
potsedid
inexplicabledropaltorgeth kenth
erfrthi
oms tw d ofnot
ke ty–foofurs an
harsh
ways.unles Laen
Arcane pasus
which stud
toed to…’s camtp, an d tent clot
obelig
y
the fa the bizarre d we did no
h
terrain (see “The End of the Game” p. 15)! Equipment
brics
had be forms into t

8-10 8-10 6 3 5 6 en slas

hed.

3 5 2
CONFUSION You seriously lack coordination. On the Blea
2
Draw a number of cards from the Equipme k
nt deck Coast, you supplied 11 and 5 . Both Challenges
equal to the difference between the total ended in failure.
value of
cards played with the required Equipment
type Every player already has a Level 3 Madness
and the Challenge Value number or range.
If . The only possible
consequence then is to roll the die for thes
the total is less than the range, refer to the
lower e two Challenges. The
number. If the total is more than the rang Leader decides to roll the die for the Challenge first.
e, refer to
the higher number. Discard all of the card He rolls . He decides to discard the last Leadership
s drawn. token to
reroll the die. Unfortunately, the die show
s the same result! You
LOSS OF CONFIDENCE must now suffer Confusion, and discard the
first 3 cards from the
Discard 2 Leadership tokens from the Sled Equipment deck (8-5=3).
Board. If there are less than 2 Leadership Now he rolls the die for the other failed Chal
tokens lenge. He rolls .
on the sled before the Loss of Confidenc You draw 2 Injuries from the Injury deck and
e, put them in the
return 1 token to the box instead. If you Equipment card discard.
must
return your last Leadership token to the
box,
the expedition collapses to infighting and
strife
(see “The End of the Game” p. 15)! END OF THE RESOLUTION PHASE
 iscard all cards played
D
during the ENCOUNTER PHASE.
DISCARDING A LEADERSHIP TOKEN S et aside the Encounter tile:
It is no longer in play.
During the Resolution Phase, the Leader
can decide to
discard one or more Leadership tokens from
the Sled Board
and place them in the Leadership token
discard.
Each token discarded in this way lets the
Leader ignore the
result of the Penalty Die and reroll it. He
then applies this
new result or discards another Leadership
token. The Leader
can discard a token then wait to see the new
result of the die
before discarding another token.

13
 DRAW PHASE
The Leader deals Equipment cards to every
REST PHASE (optional)
player (including themselves) This is the only moment when you can brea
from the Equipment deck until all players th a little in this hostile
reach the hand size limit or the terrain… As the Leader, you can decide to
deck is empty. have the expedition take
advantage of a moment’s rest.
3 players each player can have up to 5 cards in hand
. If you decide to do so, follow these three step
s in order:
4 players each player can have up to 4 cards in hand
. 1 Take 1 Leadership token (either from the disca
rd area or from the
5 players each player can have up to 3 cards in hand Sled Board).
.
If there are not enough cards in the deck for 21 Move any remaining Leadership tokens in
everyone to reach the hand the discard pile to the
size limit, the Leader chooses who receives Sled Board.
cards.
31 Shuffle the Equipment card discard pile with
the rest of the
Equipment card deck and make a new Equi
DISCARDING A LEADERSHIP TOKEN pment deck that you
put back on the board, face down.
During the Draw Phase, the Leader can deci IMPORTANT: If you only have one Leadersh
de to ip token remaining (either
discard one or more Leadership tokens from
the Sled Board in the discard pile or on the Sled Board) you
and place them in the Leadership token cannot take a Rest Phase,
discard. since doing so would require you to put your
last Leadership token in the
Each token discarded in this way increases box and therefore lose the game.
the hand size limit for
all players by 1 card until the next Draw Phas
e. They then deal an
extra card to everyone to reach this new limit
. END OF PHASE
If there are not enough cards in the deck If the Airplane is now on the third Escape
for everyone to reach tile, the expedition escapes the
the new hand size limit, the Leader choo Mountain (see “The End of the Game” p.
ses who receives cards. 15)! Otherwise, whether you
rested or not, the Leader passes the Sled Boar
It is possible (and allowed) for you to exce
ed the hand size limit d to the player on their left,
if you do not play Equipment cards the turn who will be the Leader for the next turn.
after a Leadership
token was discarded in this way. However
, you do not draw or
receive new Equipment cards as long as you
remain above the
permitted limit. It didn’t seem
necessary to
embankment protect the pl
of snow ane with an
favorable abs fo r such a short
ence of st
strroong time, in the
,ääII
stayed awake ng wi
wiinn
ndds at this

,,ääII ,
until the la ti me; we simpl
and the vita nding gears y
l parts of th were well-cove
e machine pr re d
from the co
hC
uhhluluuhnhhgltuatC
otected
ld . tC
FoFor
r r ou
Fo r pedestrian
excursion, w
u t
ngahth
ff
furs and took e removed ou
with us som r heavy flyin
a pocket com e sm all equipmen g
pass, camera t, such as
larg
la rgee book
oks of , light provisio
of not
oteess and p ns ,
hammer and paa p
peerr,, geol
olooggiisst
scissors, spec
P h’nglai rope imen bags,
coil for the h
and powerfu ike,
l electric lam
Cthulhu na ps
flfhlagn wit
spare batterie h
s.

IIä,
ä,
Iä,Iä,
tC
CCth hulh
hutlhuul u
14 fhtagn
fhtagn hu
 THE END OF THE GAME
The expedition to the Mountains of Madness
can end in several ways: To measure the success of your expedition,
refer to the table below:
If you must return your last Leadership toke
n to the box, you
immediately lose the game. NUMBER OF RELIC CARDS
“You lost all hope of survival, MINUS
NUMBER OF INJURY CARDS RESULT
lost in this cruel vastness.”

3
If you must draw an Injury card and the Injur

3
y deck is empty, you Embarrassed by the failure of
immediately lose the game. Less than 0 the
expedition, you are forced to resi
gn
“Weakened and overwhelmed with your post at the University.
injuries,
the group struggles to advance.
In the end, this
inhospitable Mountain will get 0 Protected by tenure,
the better of you.” you keep your post... barely.
If you are on the third Escape tile at the end
of a turn, you managed
to escape the Mountain. Between 1 and 3 Your discoveries appear in seve
ral
journals, but have little impact.
• If the expedition gathered fewer Relic card
s than there are Injury
cards in the Equipment deck, Equipment
discard, and all players’
hands combined, you lose the game. Between 4 and 7 Suddenly famous, you are the toas
t
of academia thanks to your find
s.
“You returned alive, certainly.
But at what cost?
The few scientific discoveries are You tour the world giving
not worth the Between 8 and 10
heavy losses you suffered.” presentations of your
remarkable finds.
• If the expedition gathered as many or more
Relic cards than there 11
Your irrefutable proof of pre-
are Injury cards in the Equipment deck, Equi human civilizations has overturn
pment discard, and all ed
players’ hands combined, you won the gam centuries of historical thought
e! !

“You returned alive. Maybe you

be the same, after seeing such
But the discoveries you uncove
’ll never
horrors.
red have
EXPERT VARIANT
an immeasurable scientific val
ue.
The whole world is talking abo
ut you.” After several successful expeditions, if ente
ring the Mountains of
Madness doesn’t present the same challenge
as it used to for you, you
can add this rule which will make your expe
ditions much more daring:
When you must draw a Madness card of the
next level, do not discard
the card you already have. During the Enco
unter Phase, you must apply
the effects of all the Madness cards you have
.
If any Madness cards contradict each othe
r, refer to the higher level card.

15
 It’s naturally impossible for me to repo
rt the steps according to which we
recorded what we know of this m onstro
mon stroususchapter of prehuman life in thei
exact orde r. monsmontrous
strous r

Afte r the first shock of the ind

indispu tablee reve
isputabl revelati on we needed to take a
lation,
break, time to recover, and at least thre
e hours passed before we undertook our
true methodical research.

Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh

wgah’nagl fhtagn Ph’nglui mglw’naf
Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn Ph’ h
nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh
wgah’nagl fhtagn Ph’nglui mglw’naf
h Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn

In the building we ente red, the sc ulpt

scul ptur
ureses were relatively
recent -- maybe two million years old
-- as geological, biological, and
astronomical features would prove; they
displayed an art that we would hav
described as decadent in compari e
son to the examples discovered in the
even olde r structures once crossed by
brid
,äI
gess und
bridge under
er a laye
layerr of ice.
ice

TTeke
ekelli ,äI
iT
Tekeli
-lieke
li -lTTekel
iekeTliTieke-klelielii-li uhlunhgattCh
f

CREDITS PLAYTESTERS
Alex Majlaton Daniel Newman Karla Andrich Paul Charchian
Designer: Rob Daviau Ali Duck Daniel Stafford Kate VanDoren Phil Florian
Illustrator: Miguel Coimbra Anastasia Barton Danielle Cantarella Katie Lewis Rebecca Way
Andrew Mitchell Darren Nakamura
Project Manager: Ludovic Papaïs Keith Pishnery Rob Borges
Andrew Scott Dave Marden
French Editor: Xavier Taverne Ken Marden Rob Starobin
Ann Boger David Nolin
Graphic Designer: Frédéric Derlon Kit Yona Robert Helms
Anna Decker Edgar Cheung
English editor: William Niebling Landon Gray Roxie Kraai
Ariel Jaffee Eric Edens Loet Ryan Egan
Translator: Danni Loe-Sterphone Brendan Hurst Eric Klug Mara Reiswitz Scott Belchak
Brendan Hurst Glenn Flaherty Mark Slattery Shaun Shaffer
ADDITIONAL DESIGNERS Brian Slattery Hugo Villalobos Matthew McCalla
The IronWall Interns 2015 (Misha Favorv, Bryan Drake Shawn Andrich
Wynn Chenn, Vanessa Ian Fay Max Morawski
Briceño, Geoff Suthers, Elyse Lemoine) and Caroline Pierce Tim Kutschera
2016 (Rohan Y Flinn, Ian Zang Maxx King
Alain C Farra, Jennifer H Allaway, Jonathan Catherine Rossbach Tim Pskowski
D Ahern). Iram Khan Mike Beers
Celeste Young & TJ Jackson
James Horner Mike Bretzlaff
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE “MADNESS” The Young Expedition Jason Duck
Tom Jankowski
Cody Lewis, Doug Levandowski. Mike Bubb Tony Reiswitz
Christian Barrett Jennifer Egan Mike Konald Zach Dyer
Christian Petersen Jennifer Skahen
Follow us on Christopher Barton
Monica Cody Zain Horner
Joseph Owens Nathan Lewis
Christopher McKeon Joseph Owens
J.R. Honeycutt Nick Beers
Court Dimon Jenni Owens
Julian Murdoch Nick Schultz
Daniel King Chase Lingelbach
JV Kocian Patrick Mines Harry Readinger

16