Goal of the Game

In Cthulhu: Dark Providence, 1 to 5 players take on secret roles of Investigators, Cultists, or Dissidents in a battle for the fate of a country during the Great Depression. The objective is to compete for control of Cities, claim Asset Cards, and win Mythos Cards to accumulate Victory Points (VP).

Each player's Loyalty determines how they score points. Investigators seek to avoid ruin by closing Portals and advancing on the Investigation Track. Cultists seek darkness by opening Portals and advancing on the Ritual Track. Dissidents act against both sides but must keep their identity secret to avoid penalties.

Setup

Follow the steps below to set up the game:

1. Place the Game Board and the Track Board on the table.
2. Place the Ritual and Investigation markers in their starting spaces on their respective tracks.
3. Place the Sanity and Insanity tokens in the Sanity Test Bag.
4. Prepare the City Asset Cards deck (face up to the right of the track board).
5. Shuffle the Primary Asset Cards. Place cards face down in the 12 Cities (3 cards per city for 2-3 players; 4 cards for 4-5 players). Reveal the top card of each city; if it is an Agent, place the corresponding token on it.
6. Place the remaining Primary Asset Cards in the Supply.
7. Shuffle the Mythos Cards and create the Mythos Row (3 cards for 2-3 players; 4 cards for 4-5 players).
8. Each Player: Chooses a color and takes the Player Board, Control Tokens, Frames, and 7 Influence Cubes. Chooses a Main Agent, takes their Starting Asset Cards, shuffles them, and draws 5 cards. Places the Main Agent in the Frame (normal side up). Places 1 Influence Cube on the 0 space of the VP Track.
9. Distribute the Loyalty Cards face down. Each player looks at their card without revealing it.
10. Place each player's Main Agent in a City Space of their choice (that does not have another agent).

Gameplay Flow

The game proceeds in turns, clockwise. During a player's turn, the structure is as follows:

1. Actions: The player performs 2 Actions and any number of Free Actions they possess.
2. Discard: After resolving an action, used cards go to the Discard Pile on the player's board.
3. Draw: The player draws cards from their deck until they have 5 cards in hand. If the deck runs out, shuffle the discard pile to create a new deck.

Actions and How to Play

Actions may require the use of Asset card resources. A card can be used for a single type of resource, for an Action effect, or for a Free Action effect.

Main Actions

• Add Influence: Play 1 or more Asset cards with the Influence symbol to add cubes to the personal supply for a Primary Asset Card, City Space, or Mythos Card.
• Claim (only on the 1st Action): The player uses their first action to claim a Primary Asset Card, Mythos Card, or City in which they have the most Influence. If there is a Lock, claiming is impossible.
• Recover Influence: Play cards with the wealth symbol to recover Influence Cubes located in City Spaces, Mythos Cards, Primary Asset Cards, or in the Limbo.
• Buy Influence: Play cards with the wealth symbol to gain Influence Cubes from the general supply to your personal supply (ratio of 1 cube for every 2 played).
• Travel: Play cards with the movement symbol to move Agents or Abyssals through connected routes, paying the route's Influence cost.
• Manipulate Ritual/Investigation: Play cards to increase or decrease the Ritual Track or the Investigation Track.
• Card Action: Playing an Asset card or Mythos Card to perform its Action effect.
• Assassinate: If you have an Agent in the same city as an opponent's Agent, you may attempt to assassinate them by matching or exceeding the City Control Value.
• Open or Close a Portal: Use an Agent to open or close a Portal, matching the Portal Value with Influence. Requires a Sanity Test.
• Place or Remove Lock: Use a card with the Lock symbol to block or unlock a card or city.
• Discard Cards: Discard any number of cards from your hand to the Discard Pile.
• Reveal Loyalty: If Loyalty has not yet been revealed and the player has enough VP for the end of the game, they may reveal it to gain immediate points.
• Pass Turn: End the turn without performing actions.

Sanity Test

Whenever claiming a card with the Sanity Test icon or opening/closing a Portal, the player must:

1. Draw 1 Sanity Test Token from the bag.
2. Place the token in the Sanity area of their board.
3. If you draw an Insanity Token and accumulate 3, the player is Driven to Insanity.

End of Game and Scoring

The game ends when one of the End of Game Conditions occurs:

• A player reaches the required VP (33 for 2 players; 30 for 3; 26 for 4; 22 for 5).
• A player gains their 3rd Recruited Agent and reveals their Loyalty as an Investigator or Dissident.
• A player's Main Agent is assassinated.
• The Ritual or Investigation marker reaches the last space.
• The Primary Asset card action of the Abyssals is played and all 8 Abyssals are in play.

Scoring

General Scoring: All players gain 3 VP if their Loyalty was not revealed during the game. Then, everyone reveals their Loyalties.

Investigators: Score VP based on the progress on the Investigation Track, the value of the Portal they closed, and for each Recruited Agent claimed with Investigator VP.

Cultists: Score VP based on the progress on the Ritual Track, for each Agent assassinated in their Crypt, the value of the Portal they opened, for each Mythos Card claimed, and the number of Wraith Agents they control.

Dissidents: Score VP based on the progress on their old loyalty track, the value of the Portal they control, and for each Agent assassinated. They suffer -3 VP if their Loyalty was revealed before the end.

Determining the Winner

Eliminate all players of the same Loyalty as the player with the lowest amount of VP. Among the remaining, the player with the highest score wins. In case of a tie for the highest score, the player with the most Mythos Cards wins.

Tips for Winning

Consult the manual for details on this section.