How to Play Elder Sign: Omens of the Deep

Game Objective

In Elder Sign: Omens of the Deep, investigators are challenged to unravel the secrets of a mysterious amulet and seal the eldritch threat lurking in the corpse-city of R'lyeh. The R'lyeh Rising game mode takes investigators into the depths of the Pacific Ocean, where they must use new Adventure cards and a Staged Mythos deck, in addition to new mechanics unique to the open ocean. The ultimate goal is to seal the Ancient One that calls them to R'lyeh.

Setup

When playing the R'lyeh Rising game mode, follow the setup for a normal game, modified as follows:

1. Entrance Card: Replace the entrance card with the "The Ultima Thule" entrance card. Place it with the "The Ultima Thule" side face up.
2. Scenario Card: Place the omen token on the starting space of the Dark Waters track.
3. Choose Ancient One: Choose an Ancient One to challenge.
4. New Common Components: Combine the new Investigator, Common Item, Unique Item, Spell, and Ally cards from Omens of the Deep with their respective components from Elder Sign and any other expansions in play. Shuffle the Skill cards (including those from other expansions) and place them near the other cards. Add the mission tokens to the monster cup.
5. Deep One Legion: Separate the 15 Deep One Legion monster tokens to create the Deep One Legion supply. Keep them separate from the monster cup.
6. New Adventure Cards: Replace the Adventure deck with a new deck composed only of the new Pacific Adventure cards provided in this expansion. Separate the four Special Adventure cards. Then, separate the Pacific Adventure cards by stage and shuffle both stages separately to form a Stage I deck and a Stage II deck.
7. Modify Setup: Replace Step 4 of the base game setup with the following:
   1. Prepare Adventures: Separate the Stage II deck and shuffle the Stage I deck under the table. Then, deal three cards face up below the entrance card in a single row and three cards face down below the face-up cards, so that you have two rows of three cards. Place the "Calling" Special Adventure card face up below the bottom row of face-down cards.
   2. Finally, shuffle the Other World deck and place it and the Stage I deck near the two rows of adventures. If an Adventure card shows a locked die icon, place the appropriate die on that card.
8. Broken Amulet Tokens: Place the broken amulet tokens randomly in a face-down pile, then the investigators, as a group, gain 1 broken amulet token.
9. New Mythos Cards: Separate the Mythos cards by stage and shuffle both stages separately to form a Stage I deck and a Stage II deck. Replace the Mythos deck with the new Stage I Ocean Mythos deck. Separate the Stage II R'lyeh Mythos deck.

Game Flow

The R'lyeh Rising game mode introduces new rules for game flow:

• The "The Ultima Thule" Entrance Card: This card replaces all other entrance cards. An investigator who begins their Clock phase on the "The Ultima Thule" entrance card may spend trophies for various effects.
• Movement: During an investigator's Movement phase, they may remain on their current card, move to another Pacific Adventure or Other World card in the play area, or move to the "The Ultima Thule" entrance card. When an Adventure or Other World card is successfully resolved or discarded, all investigators on that card return to the "The Ultima Thule" entrance card.
• Skip Resolution Phase: If an investigator is on the "The Ultima Thule" entrance card at the end of their Movement phase, they skip their Resolution phase and proceed directly to their Clock phase.
• Reference to "Entrance": If a game effect refers to the "entrance," it refers to the "The Ultima Thule" entrance card.
• Ship Sinking: During the game, if there are four or more Deep One Legion monsters in play, the Deep One Legion sinks the ship. Immediately, flip the "The Ultima Thule" entrance card to reveal "Wreckage of the Ultima Thule." For the remainder of the game, "Wreckage of the Ultima Thule" replaces the "The Ultima Thule" entrance card. Any game effects that refer to the "entrance" now refer to "Wreckage of the Ultima Thule."
• Midnight Effects: When resolving multiple effects that occur at midnight, use the following order:
  1. Resolve all "At Midnight" effects on cards currently in play, in the following order:
     1. "At Midnight" effects on the Ancient One.
     2. "At Midnight" effects on monsters, in the order of investigators' choice.
     3. "At Midnight" effects on Adventure and Other World cards, in the order of investigators' choice.
     4. "At Midnight" effects on other cards, in the order of investigators' choice.
  2. Draw and resolve a new Mythos card.
  3. Refresh any "Once per day" abilities.

Actions and How to Play

Refer to the manual for details on this section.

End of Game and Scoring

Refer to the manual for details on this section.

Tips for Winning

• Omen Token Management: Stage I of the Pacific Adventures allows investigators to advance the omen token to avoid the Deep Ones. However, lingering too long in Stage I can be dangerous, as it gives the Deep Ones time to build a force large enough to attack your ship.
• Progression to Stage II: Stage II is more treacherous but contains the Elder Sign and Other World rewards needed to seal the Ancient Evil that calls them to R'lyeh. Investigators can progress to Stage II by successfully completing the "Echoes of the Dream" Special Adventure.
• Missions: Missions are a new type of monster token that represent investigators attempting a dangerous quest. They behave identically to monsters in how they appear and are completed, with one exception: missions are not affected by items or spells that defeat or discard monsters. To complete a mission, spend the required trophy value and return the mission token to the box to gain the mission's reward.