In relating the circumstances which have led to my confinement within this refuge for the demented, I am aware that my present position will create a natural doubt of the authenticity of my narrative.

– The Tomb, by H.P. Lovecraft

The early 20th century. New England, America. Lovecraft country.

Home to university libraries filled with worm-eaten tomes, legend-haunted towns populated with degenerate locals and their rustic superstitions, Cyclopean ruins from long-forgotten aeons, and the disquieting glimpses of things from beyond…

You are the unwilling guests of an antiquated sanatorium, perhaps the infamous Arkham Sanatorium or maybe the Danvers State Asylum.

Your only hope of escape is to convince the sanatorium authorities, and perhaps yourself, that you do not belong here. And so you begin to explain the sinister series of events that led to your unjust incarceration.

Unfortunately, your memories are populated by the stuff of nightmares…

How do you play CtHulHu tales?Each player is trying to persuade the sanatorium staff that they are sane and can be released. As well as giving a convincing account of their own story, players can improve their chances of being freed by casting doubt on the other players’ tales – making themselves seem sane by comparison. Each player takes a turn to tell their story using the cards as inspiration – while it’s their go, we call them the Narrator. Here’s how it works:

1. The Accusation: The player to the Narrator’s left plays cards to make an Accusation – the situation that caused the Narrator to be confined to the sanatorium.

2. The Story: The Narrator attempts to tell the real story that led to their sorry fate, playing Story cards and countering the Accusation made against them. They play one Story card at a time, using the picture or text on the card (along with a corresponding card from the Accusation) as inspiration for the tale they tell.

3. Interruptions: The other players can try to disrupt the Narrator’s story by playing Madness cards after the Narrator plays each Story card. By contradicting and confusing the Narrator, the players make themselves look like the sane ones, increasing their chances of getting out!

a game for 2 to 5 mistakenly detained patients by marCo maggi & franCesCo nepitello

a note on “madness”Cthulhu Tales deals in the madness described by H.P. Lovecraft in many of his stories. It is a fictional condition, an imagined state of derangement, where the walls of reality fall away and the frail human mind cannot contain the reality of the universe inhabited by the Great Old Ones. This is an entirely distinct condition to the tragedy and pain of real-world mental health issues, which sadly are statistically likely to touch all of our lives. We encourage players of Cthulhu Tales to wholly enjoy the fictional nature of the various maladies and madness described here, while remembering that in the real world mental health issues are no laughing matter.

4. The End: The turn ends when the Narrator reaches the end of their story, whether they successfully complete their tale or if the other players’ interruptions brought it to a premature end. The Narrator receives a number of Treatment tokens, representing the misguided therapies and medication administered to them by the terrifying medical staff, which are used to determine their score. The next player becomes the Narrator and plays through Steps 1-3.

5. The Reckoning: Once each player has had a turn as the Narrator, everyone compares their score to find out who has won their freedom!

Components• 1 board• 75 Story cards• 40 Madness cards• 40 Treatment tokens• 1 Twelve-sided die (a d12)

tHe boardPlayers place Story cards in the 5 card-sized boxes, starting from the left. The middle three boxes have icons to show that you play the cards forming the Accusation underneath them.

story CardsThe main tools that a Narrator uses to build a story.

(a) title(b) quote from a Lovecraft story(c) one or two Terror icons(d) Insanity icons (e) sinister illustration

madness CardsUnnatural events, horrible creatures and mental maladies.

(a) title (b) quote from a Lovecraft story(c) set of two Terror icons (d) Threat rating (e) macabre illustration

terror iCons

Each Story card has one or two Terror icons. As part of the game you’ll be trying to match these to the Terror icons on your Madness cards.

They have a colour, a shape and an eldritch symbol to make them easy to read even if you’re colour blind.

treatment tokensCardboard counters drawn by players from an opaque container.

Blue Glass Green Wood Red Paper

Purple Metal Yellow Rock

a

b

c

d

e

a

b

cd

e

There are five types of Treatment tokens, each one corresponding to a different antiquated therapy and associated to a numerical value. They are:

1. Pills (2)2. Injections (3)3. Straightjacket (4)4. Electroshock (5)5. Isolation (6)

Treatment tokens are drawn by players both during their turn as the Narrator, and at the conclusion of it. The tokens represent the severity of the ‘medical care’ they will be subjected to, and are used to determine their final scoring (generally, accumulating more tokens results in a worse score).

Players keep their Treatment tokens hidden from the other players until the end of the game.

tHe CtHulHu tales dieThe twelve-sided die is used in combination with the playing of a Madness card, to determine if a played card has a Minor or a Major effect on the narration. The CTHULHU and LOvECRAfT icons trigger additional effects.

preparationsPlace the board in the middle of the playing area. Shuffle the two decks of cards (the Story deck and the Madness deck). Place all Treatment tokens inside an opaque container (a cup will do fine).

The most easily frightened player (or a willing volunteer) goes first as the Narrator; the other players act as Madness players for the turn.

When the current Narrator has finished telling their story, a new turn starts and the role of the players changes: the player to the left of the Narrator becomes the new Narrator, and the other players become the new Madness players.

start of a turn• At the start of a turn, the Narrator draws five

cards from the Story deck to form their hand of cards.

• Then, the Narrator draws another Story card and without looking at it places it face down as the Secret Ending of their tale below the last card box of the board.

• All the other players (the Madness players) draw a number of Madness cards based on the total number of Madness players:

1 Madness player = 6 Madness cards2 Madness players = 3 Madness cards3 Madness players = 2 Madness cards4 Madness players = 2 Madness cards, plus the Narrator draws an additional Story card

tHe aCCusationThen, the first Madness player to the left of the Narrator narrates the Accusation that starts the tale:

The first Madness player draws 2 Story cards and 1 Madness card, and inspects them. Then, they use the three cards to briefly narrate the circumstances that led to the reclusion of the Narrator in the sanitarium.

When the first Madness player has finished narrating the Accusation, they place the three cards below the board, beneath the three central boxes as shown in the image on page 11. The player may place the cards in any order desired, optionally reflecting the narration.

2

3

5 6

4

Pills Injections Straightjacket

Electroshock Isolation Token Back

How to narrate tHe aCCusationThe first Madness player narrates an Accusation by taking inspiration from the illustrations, titles or quotes on the cards, and combining them to form a coherent story. This means that the story of the Narrator will always start with its ending (as in the case of many of Lovecraft’s own stories). The Accusation should hint at mysteries unsolved, leaving questions open for the Narrator to answer, room for the claim of madness to be refuted and never drawing precise conclusions.

For example, Henry is the Narrator and Lavinia the first Madness player to his left. It falls to Lavinia to narrate the Accusation of Henry’s story. Lavinia draws three cards for the Accusation: Ancestral Diary and Expedition from the Story deck, and Burning and Dynamiting from the Madness deck. Lavinia then tells how Henry’s character was brought to the attention of the authorities by a close friend. It seems that his conduct started to appear suspicious after he returned from an expedition (the Expedition card), but bordered on the criminally insane when he broke into the local church, armed with dynamite (the Burning and Dynamiting card), claiming that the spectre of a nun interred inside the church was haunting his dreams. Henry’s character’s house was searched, and the ancient diary of the nun, a missionary exorcist, was found among his possessions (the Ancestral Diary card).

turn sequenCeEach turn proceeds as follows:

The Narrator begins their first turn by playing a Story card from their hand on the first box of the board, as the opening of the tale.

Then, if the chosen Story card shows 2 Terror icons, they draw 2 Treatment tokens and place them face down to the right of the board, in the Phobia pool. If the Story card shows 1 Terror icon no Treatment tokens are placed in the Phobia Pool.

playing tHe first story CardWhen the Narrator is ready, they start their tale, tying it to the Accusation they were presented with. At the same time it’s a good idea to reveal something about the identity of the Narrator, or to include philosophical musings and considerations, in the style of many of Lovecraft’s protagonists.

“It is true that I have sent six bullets through the head of my best friend, and yet I hope to show by this statement that I am not his murderer.”

– The Thing on the Doorstep

“The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents.”

– The Call of Cthulhu

“I have frequently wondered if the majority of mankind ever pause to reflect upon the occasionally titanic significance of dreams, and of the obscure world to which they belong.”

– Beyond the Wall of Sleep

Continuing tHe storyAs soon as the narration prompts the Narrator to do so, they play a second Story card from their hand, in the empty box next to their first card on the board. Now, the Madness players in clockwise order check to see if one of them can play a Madness card from their hand and intervene in the narration (see The Madness Players, overleaf ).

As soon as the effects of any Madness card have been resolved (or if no Madness cards were played) the Narrator resumes their storytelling, playing their next Story card.

The Narrator will continue to play Story cards from their hand as their tale progresses. Every time that the Narrator plays a Story card on the board, the Madness

players can check their hand of Madness cards to see if they are allowed to play a card or not.

tHe seCret ending CardAs soon as the Narrator plays a Story card in the last box, the Story card placed below it is turned face up and the Secret Ending is finally revealed.

ending tHe storyThe Narrator keeps telling their story until there are no more empty boxes on the board, or the Narrator is left with no cards in their hand and then suffers a Major effect whilst improvising (see page 8).

tHe role of tHe narratorThe aim of the Narrator is to play Story cards on the board to create a tale, all the while accumulating as few Treatment tokens as possible in the process.

Story cards are played face up, one at a time, on the board, starting from the first empty box to the left of the board, creating a line. Normally, the Narrator needs to play 5 Story cards on the board to complete their tale.

The Narrator may play a Story card when their narration enables or prompts them to include one or more elements described on the card (illustration, title or quote) in their tale.

The Narrator is free to interpret the elements on each Story card in any way they see fit – but a certain level of narrative coherence should be maintained. The Narrator must advance the plot of their tale with each new card – they cannot reinvent it each time – but a certain level of ‘rewriting’ is true to the spirit of Lovecraft. This means that a Narrator can at times briefly recap the story to accommodate a new element. It is a good rule of thumb to consider that one element of a card should be central to the narration, and possibly constitute a single episode or scene by itself. Narrators cannot simply mention a feature of a card in order to play it.

storytelling struCture

The Narrator should always tell a story that is coherent with the Accusation. The Narrator must explain how events came about, in the process trying to convince everyone that they are sane, their actions rational.

When the Narrator plays a card in a box above an Accusation card they should draw a connection with that Accusation card in their tale; taking the opportunity to answer questions, refute allegations and explain mysteries posed by that Accusation card.

Generally, every Narrator faces one of two choices in their storytelling: either they try to explain everything that happened in a rational way, downplaying any supernatural element; OR, on the contrary, they may try to persuade their listeners that they have experienced something completely out of the ordinary, and that they are the living proof that there is some higher truth.

tHe madness playersThe aim of the Madness players is to hinder the Narrator as they attempt to tell a tale that proves they don’t belong in the asylum. They do so by playing Madness cards representing unutterable creatures and shocking dangers, questioning the Narrator’s sanity.

Every time that the Narrator plays a new Story card on the board (with the exception of the first card played), the first Madness player to their left is given the option to play one Madness card from their hand.

If the first Madness player cannot play a card, the chance to play it passes to the next player (and so on, proceeding in clockwise order). If all Madness players do not or cannot play a Madness card, the Narrator proceeds with their story.

no madness Cards in HandIf a Madness player is left without cards in their hand, when the Narrator plays a new Story card on the board the Madness player may draw one Madness card (this doesn’t apply if the newly placed Story card already provoked the drawing of Madness cards – see page 8).

wHen a madness Card Can be playedA Madness card is considered playable when both Terror icons featured on the Madness card appear among the Terror icons depicted on the last Story card played on the board and the card right below it.

For example, the last Story card played was Doorstep ( ) and the card below it is Unexplained Disappearance ( ).

To be playable, a Madness card would have to feature either and (Cultist or Witch Coven for example), or and (Nightmare Horde), or and (Thoughts of Suicide), or finally two icons (Azathoth, The Demon Sultan).

When a Madness player plays a Madness card, they should provide a brief introduction to suggest the unexpected turn of events (“It was then when you were Overtaken by those degenerates?”). Then, they proceed to roll the die to determine how the element described by the Madness card must be integrated into the storytelling (see Madness Roll below).

piping, or rapping tHe tableTo speed up play, when a Madness player cannot play a card, they may signal this by gently rapping the table, or by emitting a sinister piping sound. If all Madness players do so, the Narrator can resume their storytelling.

madness rollWhen a Madness card is played, a new story element is brought into play; the Narrator must integrate the Madness card into their storytelling, in either a Major or Minor way, based on the result of a Madness roll.

As soon as the elements described by a Madness card have been integrated in the tale, the Narrator is free to continue their story.

tHreat ratingAll Madness cards have a numerical value known as their Threat rating. for example, the Ritual Murders card has a Threat rating of 5+. When a player plays a Madness card, they proceed to roll the die:

• If the die roll matches or exceeds the Threat rating, or shows the CTHULHU icon, then the Madness card must be integrated in a Major way.

• If the die result is less than the Threat rating, or shows the LOvECRAfT icon, then the consequences of the Madness card are less serious: the card can be integrated in a Minor way.

major effeCtWhen a Madness roll produces a Major effect, the last Story card and the played Madness card are set aside (the box it occupied is left empty).

The occurrence must be described as a true madness-inducing episode; the Narrator cannot deny that something out of the ordinary happened.

If the roll produced a CTHULHU icon, the Narrator additionally draws 1 Treatment token, and adds it to their reserve.

For example, Lavinia is a Madness player and plays the Spectral Apparition card. She introduces the card, asking Henry, the Narrator: “But what can you tell us about that entry in your diary where you describe the arrival of the ghost ship and its accursed crew?”. Lavinia rolls the die and succeeds – a Major effect!

Henry cannot avoid fully integrating the new story element, and so proceeds: “How I hoped you wouldn’t remind me of that night! I relived that moment time and time again, and I doubt I will ever forget their ghastly faces…”

minor effeCtIf the die result is less then the Threat rating, then only the played Madness card is set aside (the last Story card is not affected).

The Narrator is free to describe the event suggested by the card with a clear and lucid mind, and to potentially downplay the supernatural aspects of the card.

If the roll was a LOvECRAfT icon, the Narrator additionally draws 1 Treatment token, and places it face down to the right of the board, in the Phobia pool.

For example, if Lavinia had instead failed her roll in the example above – producing only a Minor effect – Henry could have continued his story differently. “You cannot imagine the stress I was being subjected to at that time! Spectres, ghouls, demons; they all seemed to appear in front of my eyes, the product of my hallucinating imagination…”

deity Cardsfive Madness cards are Deity cards. These cards can be played as normal Madness cards, or they can be discarded to re-roll the die for a Madness roll:

• Any Madness player may discard a Deity card to re-roll the die in a Madness roll that resulted in a Minor effect. (the result of the first roll is ignored). The player who played the Deity card repeats the Madness roll against the same Threat rating as the first roll.

For example, Lavinia played the Cultists card but failed the roll – only a Minor effect. Wilbur discards Nyarlathotep, a Deity card. Wilbur is entitled to re-roll the die. Maybe the cultists were worshipping the Crawling Chaos… ?

insanity iConsA number of Story cards feature one of two Insanity icons: HAZARD or PHOBIA.

When a Story card featuring an Insanity icon is played on the table, apply the following additional effects:

• HAZARD: All Madness players draw a card from the Madness deck and add it to their hand (the Madness player draws two cards in a 2-player game).

• PHOBIA: One Treatment token is drawn and added to the Phobia pool.

For example, during a 3-player game, Henry played Infamous Ancestor on the board, a Story card featuring a HAZARD icon. All the other Madness players immediately draw a Madness card.

improvisationA Narrator may find themselves without cards in their hand before they have played 5 Story cards on the board.

When this happens, the Narrator must continue their narration by drawing one card from the Story deck and applying the following:

• The Story card drawn is played directly on the next empty box of the track. The Narrator immediately includes the card in their narrative. following the normal rules, the other players may now see if they can play Madness cards.

A Narrator can keep improvising (and drawing Story cards) until one of the two following things happen:

Hazard Icon Phobia Icon

• The Narrator plays a card in the last box on the board, and the Madness players fail to inflict a Major effect. In this case the Narrator completes their story.

OR• A Madness roll results in a Major effect.

In this case, the story is over and must be concluded with a premature ending (see End of a Story, below).

end of a storyA story reaches its conclusion as the Narrator fills all the boxes on the board with Story cards, or if they are left with no cards in their hand and suffer a Major effect whilst improvising.

a full ending is reaCHedIf the Narrator successfully completes their story (see above) they narrate the conclusion of the tale, tying the played card to the Secret Ending card below it. Then the Narrator’s turn is over. They now proceed to calculate their score by applying the following:

• The Narrator draws a number of Treatment tokens equal to 12 minus the number of Terror icons on the four cards placed below the board (the three cards comprising the Accusation and the Secret Ending card). The Narrator then adds them to those already in their possession.

• Any Treatment tokens in the Phobia pool are not considered (they are put back in the container).

premature endingIf the Narrator cannot fill all the boxes on the board (they improvised but suffered a Major effect from a Madness card), they must end their narration reflecting a state of madness or mental malady.

• The Narrator proceeds to draw a number of Treatment tokens as in the case of a full ending, but including the Terror icons on the Secret Ending only if it was revealed. Then, the Narrator adds all of the Treatment tokens in the Phobia pool (if any).

HousekeepingAll players now discard all the cards used during the turn, along with those still in their hands.

Play resumes with the role of the Narrator passing to the player to the left, until every player has told one story.

end of tHe gameWhen all players have told one story as Narrators, the game ends.

All players reveal their Treatment tokens and separate them in sets by type. Then, each player keeps the set containing the highest number of tokens (in the case of a tie, consider the set composing of tokens with the highest numerical value). The selected set represents the ‘medical care’ that the player’s character will be subjected to.

To find the winner, all players add up the values of the tokens in their selected sets and compare the totals: the player with the lowest total is the winner. They leave the asylum and return to their everyday life, hoping to forget the whole sorry experience.

In the case of a tie, the tying players add up the numerical values of all the tokens in their possession: the winner is the player with the lowest total.

For example, Wilbur, Lavinia and Henry reveal their accumulated Treatment tokens. Wilbur has 6 tokens (2 Pills, 1 Injections, 3 Electroshock); Lavinia has 5 (2 Injections, 2 Straightjacket, 1 Electroshock); Henry has 7 (2 Pills, 2 Straightjacket, 1 Injections, 1 Electroshock, 1 Isolation). Wilbur must consider his set of 3 Electroshock, for a total of 15. Lavinia has two tied sets (Injections and Straightjacket) and must consider the higher-valued one, Straightjacket, for a total of 8. Henry must consider his set of Straightjacket, for a total of 8 again. Henry and Lavinia are tied for the lowest score: they add up the values of all the tokens in their possession: Lavinia has the lowest total (19 vs. 26) and wins the game!

awarding tHe better storyOptional Rule: In games with more than two players, or when playing in the presence of an audience, it can be fun to give a reward to the player who is considered to have told the most entertaining story.

When scores are calculated, the two players with the best scores compete for the title of winner.

The remaining players and any bystanders now confer and decide who in their opinion was the better

Narrator. Their judgement is based on whatever principle they decide to apply, be it personal taste, fun, adherence to canon, originality or any other appropriate criteria.

When they have made up their mind they choose one of the competing players: the chosen player randomly discards two of their Treatment tokens.

Now the player with the lowest total is declared the winner using the normal scoring rules.

CtHulHu tales extended example of play

Henry, Lavinia and Wilbur are playing a game. After a brief discussion, the players decide that Henry is the most easily frightened player – he will go first as the Narrator. Lavinia and Wilbur will be the Madness players for the round.

Lavinia sits to the left of Henry, and Wilbur to the right. The board is placed in the middle of the table. The two decks of cards are shuffled separately, and all Treatment tokens are placed in a mug.

Henry draws five cards from the deck of Story cards. The cards drawn are: Flight, Legend-haunted Town, Old Book Seller, Carven Idol and Arcane Language.

Then, without looking at it, Henry then draws an additional card and plays it face down below the last card box of the board. This will be the story’s Secret Ending.

Lavinia and Wilbur each draw three cards from the Madness deck.

Lavinia draws: Nightmare Horde, Unutterable Hideousness and Damnable Forms.

Wilbur draws: Hybrid Winged Things, Dog-like Things and Shub-niggurath, the Goat with a Thousand Young.

As Lavinia is sitting to Henry’s left, she takes on the role of first Madness player and gets to narrate the Accusation of the tale. She draws two cards from the Story deck and one card from the Madness deck. She draws: Black Pit, Stairs into Darkness and Cyclopean Terror.

Lavinia then takes inspiration from these cards to begin the tale:

“Henry, it is already known to us that for months on end you dreamt of an ineffably black pit opening right under your own house. What happened? Did you discover a flight of stairs leading to it? Did you dare to investigate the underground? The doctors say that in your sleep you mumble about catching sight of some monstrous, colossal thing, waiting at the bottom of those stairs – something that caught sight of you.”

Here Lavinia has worked elements of Stairs into Darkness, Black Pit and Cyclopean Terror into the Accusation, placing each card in turn beneath the second, third and fourth card boxes on the board (marked with an icon).

With the Accusation thus set, Henry begins his tale by playing a Story card on the first space of the board.

“Nietsche said, in so many words, that when you gaze into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you. I think most interpret this as a metaphor, but my experiences would suggest that there may be something rather more literal in this also. As you probably know, before my incarceration I was something of a student of folklore, and it was this that brought me to legend-haunted Kingsmarsh.”

In his introduction, Henry has made a philosophical reference to Lavinia’s Accusation, as well as referencing the Legend-haunted Town card he has played as his first card.

Henry then draws one Treatment token – as the Story card has an Insanity icon (PHOBIA) on it – and places it face down to the right of the board, in the Phobia pool.

Since no one is allowed to play Madness cards on the first Story card played, Henry continues with his story.

“Anyone who has visited Kingsmarsh will know that as well as its local legends, it is also famous for its magnificent selection of antiques dealers and antiquarian booksellers, and it was whilst happily lost amidst the dusty old shelves of one such shop that my story truly begins.”

Henry plays the Old Bookseller card on the next empty box. Since the opening is over, Henry continues to flesh out the narration, drawing a connection to the first card of the Accusation, placed below the current Story card:

“When the bleary-eyed book seller learnt of my address in Kingsmarsh he gave me a strange look of relief, as if he had long waited for that moment to arrive. He opened an old book of architectural drawings and showed me the schemes of a house, my own house. Below it, the schemes showed the presence of a long, winding stair…”

Lavinia and Wilbur are now allowed to play Madness cards (as Henry has played his second Story card) so they look at what they have in their hand. Lavinia is given the opportunity to play a Madness card first, as she sits to the left of the Narrator.

The last Story card played (Old Bookseller) and the card below it (Stair into Darkness) feature one icon, one icon and one icon. Lavinia cannot play her Unutterable Hideousness card, as it requires a and a icon to play, nor her Damnable Forms, requiring and , but she can play her Nightmare Horde card, as it requires a and a icon, and both are present on the board.

So, Lavinia lays the Nightmare Horde card in front of her, asking:

“It was that experience in the bookshop and those drawings that was to be your undoing, was it not Henry? The one that unleashed a horde of nightmares upon you?”

Lavinia rolls the die – the Nightmare Horde card has a Threat rating of 7. The roll is a 5, which means that the Madness card only has a Minor effect (Wilbur might play his Shub-Niggurath card to re-roll the Madness die, but prefers to keep it for the moment).

The Nightmare Horde card is set aside and Henry integrates this new story element into his tale – but is free to downplay it.

“I fear you are being a touch melodramatic there, Lavinia, but I will concede that it was probably that disconcerting encounter, followed by the revelation that I could not locate those damnable stairs under my house that triggered those recurrent dreams in the first place…”

Henry now continues with his narration, moving on from the episode created by the playing of the previous Story card, to push the tale onwards.

“In the following weeks I started to comb every bookshop and library in town, from the expensive antique collectors to the dusty shelves of forgotten public libraries. I knew I had struck gold when I stumbled upon a manuscript history of Kingsmarsh , written in the most degenerated form of English I have ever encountered.”

Henry plays Arcane Language on the board and proceeds to draw a connection to the second card of the Accusation, Black Pit.

“This book did not trouble itself with the colonial-era town, but described a far older settlement that was here long before. There is now no trace of this settlement as it disappeared into a cataclysm, leaving only a deep chasm in its place.”

Then, Lavinia and Wilbur look at their Madness cards to see if they can play something, but to no avail: the cards in their possession show combinations of Terror icons that are not available right now. Henry is free to continue his story.

“Curious – and not a little sceptical – to discover an entire epoch of history about which I had never heard tell before, I set out at once to find some physical evidence to support its claims. It was this foolhardy quest that led me to be scrabbling about in the attic of an abandoned house late one night, and where I found the graven idol whose visage taunts me still.”

Henry now plays the Carven Idol card, and ties it to the Cyclopean Terror card below it.

“It was just a statue, grossly misshapen. But something in its proportions was eerily frightening, as it suggested a thing of colossal size.”

Carven Idol features an Insanity icon – a PHOBIA icon. Henry draws a Treatment token and adds it face-down to the other one already in the Phobia pool.

Once he has done so, Henry looks to Lavinia and Wilbur to see if they can play any Madness cards. The available icons are one , one icon and one icon – those on the last Story card and the one directly below it.

Lavinia emits a sinister piping sound, signalling that she cannot play a Madness card. Wilbur, however, can play his Hybrid Winged Things card as it requires a and a icon.

Wilbur plays the Hybrid Winged Things card, asking:

“Was it this idol that attracted those bat-like creatures I have heard you ranting about in your sleep?”

Wilbur then rolls the die – the Hybrid Winged Things has a Threat rating of 6. The roll is a 7! A Major effect. Henry can ignore the madness no longer.

“Yes! Yes I am afraid to say it was the idol that drew those… those things to me. How I wish I had never laid eyes upon it! As I gazed upon the leering idol ’s face I heard what I first perceived to be crows landing upon the attic roof. But suddenly, forcing their way through windows and loose slates, these horrible creatures appeared. I thought my end was at hand…”

Henry must then set aside both the Hybrid Winged Things card, and the Carven Idol card too. He will have to play the last Story card in his hand in the box of the board that the discarded Story card occupied.

“…but somehow I regained my senses in time and, thrusting the idol at them, I turned and fled! Running blindly downstairs it seemed as if the steps would never end, bringing me further and further into the recesses of the old house.”

Henry plays his last card, Flight! Unfortunately, it shows a HAZARD icon, letting both Lavinia and Wilbur draw a new Madness card. Luckily for Henry no cards in their hands match the , and icons available, and the story continues.

Henry has no cards left in his hand, and is thus forced to improvise: he draws the first card from the Story deck (Non-Euclidean Geometry) and puts it on the board. Since the only box left empty is the last one on the board, the Story card played below it as the Secret Ending of the tale is now revealed: it is the Passage card, very appropriate to the current state of the narration.

Non-Euclidean Geometry features a PHOBIA icon, so Henry draws a Treatment token and adds it to the Phobia pool. He then briefly ponders, then proceeds to try to bring his tale to a proper conclusion:

“Down and down I fled, further than I had climbed, certainly, and it was only when I thought I had ran far enough from those winged things did I stop and take stock of my surroundings. The stairs down which I had come and the passage in which I now stood were not the way I had entered the house. Indeed they did not seem to have been from the house at all… Perhaps it was a trick of the light or the product of so much adrenaline in my blood, but the angles did not seem right.”

Lavinia and Wilbur check to see if they can play any Madness cards before the story is over. The available icons are now one , one and one icon. Lavinia checks her hand and sees she can play her Horror from the Shadows card, as it needs a and icon.

Lavinia lays Horror from the Shadows, asking:

“It was not just the angles that did not seem right, was it Henry? The shadows, they were wrong weren’t they? Come now, tell us what you saw. You are amongst friends here.”

Lavinia rolls the die – an 8! Since the Horror from the Shadows has a Threat rating of 7, the Madness card has a Major effect! The Non-euclidean Geometry card played by Henry is set aside and will not count for his scoring.

Henry must bring his story to a close with a premature ending.

“It is as you said Lavinia, the shadows too were unnerving, unnatural. It was as if the corridor itself were… organic, the part of a gigantic buried body. More steps descended before me, beckoning to me further into the darkness. What more could I do but flee further into that black pit? And it was there that it was waiting for me, that colossal thing, as it had been all along. It waits there still, watching me from its dark tomb.”

Henry’s turn as the Narrator is over. He hasn’t brought the tale to a complete ending, but he was able to reveal his Secret Ending card.

As a consequence, Henry’s scoring is calculated as follows: he draws a number of Treatment tokens equal to 12 minus the number of Terror icons on the cards beneath the board, including the Secret Ending card – in this case, there are 8 icons, so he gets to draw 4 Treatment tokens. Because of the premature ending, he must also add all three of the Treatment tokens placed in the Phobia pool.

CreditsDesign and Development: Marco Maggi & francesco NepitelloAdditional Contribution: Stuart BoonCubicle 7 Development Team: Paul Bourne, Jon Hodgson, Andrew Kenrick, Dominic McDowallLogistics: TS Luikart, Nick Robinson

Cover: Jon HodgsonCard Art: Scott Purdy, Sam Manley, and Jon HodgsonGraphic Design: Paul Bourne and Jon HodgsonPublisher: Dominic McDowallSpecial thanks: Stuart Boon, for being a scholar and a gentleman, and to Robert Hyde, for being a gentleman and a friend.Cthulhu Tales Playtesters: tbc