Game Objective

In Eldritch Horror: Masks of Nyarlathotep, investigators face the challenges imposed by Nyarlathotep. The primary goal is to defeat the Ancient One by facing stories divided into chapters represented by Adventure cards. To win, investigators must complete the stages of these stories, dealing with occult organizations such as the Brotherhood of the Dark Pharaoh, the Cult of the Bloody Tongue, the Order of the Bloated Woman, and the Cult of the Sand Bat.

Setup

Game setup follows these main steps:

• Prelude Cards: Before setting up the adventure, draw a random Prelude card. The effect must be resolved immediately unless the card indicates "after setup."
• Personal Stories (Optional): If the group decides to use them, each player receives the Personal Quest card corresponding to their investigator (identified by the character sheet art) during the step of receiving starting assets, health, and sanity.
• Mystic Ruins Encounters: If the Ancient One is Antediluvian or if the The Stars Align Prelude card is drawn, shuffle all Mystic Ruins Encounter cards and have another participant cut the deck. Place the Mystic Ruins marker on the space corresponding to the first card of the deck.
• Campaign Mode (Special Rules): In a six-game campaign:
  • The first Ancient One is selected randomly, and a second Ancient One is determined for the following game.
  • Two Preludes are used: one from the current Ancient One and one from the Ancient One of the next game.
  • Defeated or devoured investigators are permanently eliminated.
  • Devastated cities remain devastated for the next game.

Game Flow

Consult the manual for details on the complete turn structure and phases. The context provides the following information regarding progression:

• Encounter Phase: During this phase, if an investigator is in a space with the Mystic Ruins marker, they may draw and resolve the first card from the Mystic Ruins Encounter deck. In Combat Encounters, it is mandatory to face all non-Epic Monsters in the space before facing Epic Monsters.
• Myth Phase: After revealing a Myth card, certain effects (such as Jacqueline Fine's reward) may be activated before resolving the card's text.
• Adventure Progression: When an Adventure is drawn, the active investigator places it face-up and resolves the "When this card enters play" effect. Upon completing the Adventure, resolve the "when this Adventure is completed" effect, which usually involves drawing the next Adventure in the story (divided into stages I, II, and III) and discarding the previous one.

Actions and How to Play

In addition to basic actions, this expansion introduces new possibilities:

New Actions

• Focus: Performed in any space. The investigator receives a Focus token (limit of two). You may spend this token to reroll a die in a test, with no limit on tokens spent per test.
• Gather Supplies: Performed in any space. The investigator receives a Supply token (limit of two).
  • Use during Rest: Spend Supplies to recover 1 extra Health and 1 extra Sanity for each token spent.
  • Use during Acquire Resources: Spend Supplies to add 1 success to the test result for each token spent.

Specific Mechanics

• Advance the Active Mystery: When instructed to do so, the active investigator resolves the applicable effect:
  • Place markers (Clues, Portals, or Monsters) taken from their respective banks/repositories.
  • If it requires the defeat of an Epic Monster, place two Health tokens on the card; the monster's Resistance is reduced by 1 for each Health token present.
  • If it requires spending Clues, place a Clue from the bank on the active Mystery; any investigator may spend it to resolve the effect.
• Unique Resources: These are double-sided cards (such as Spells and Conditions). They are considered assets and can be exchanged via the Exchange Action. There is no quantity limit.
• Grisly Markers: These represent the level of corruption (common in Corruption Conditions). They stay on the investigator's sheet and are only removed if an effect allows them to be spent or discarded.

End Game and Scoring

Consult the manual for details on scoring, exact victory and defeat conditions.

In Campaign Mode, the goal is to win all six games. If the investigators lose a single game, the world ends and the campaign is lost.

Tips for Winning

• Supply Management: Use the Gather Supplies Action to ensure Health and Sanity recovery during the Rest Action or to ensure critical successes in Acquire Resources tests.
• Use of Focus: Use the Focus Action to mitigate dice luck, spending tokens to reroll bad results in important tests.
• Attention to Physical Resistance: When facing monsters with the Physical Resistance ability, remember that common bonuses do not work; only Magical assets or Spells can add bonuses to your dice pool.