How to Play Middara: Unintentional Malum – Act 1

Game Objective

In Middara: Unintentional Malum Act 1, players control a group of Adventurers on a narrative mission filled with tactical combat and strategic decisions. The main objective varies depending on the chosen game mode:

• Adventure Mode: Progress through a story with multiple endings, completing Encounters and meeting specific victory conditions in each scenario.
• Crawl Mode: Focus on combat and loot collection, with victory achieved by completing all Encounters in the chosen scenario.

Consult the manual for details on the specific objectives of each mode.

Setup

1. Choose the Mode: Decide between Adventure Mode (narrative) or Crawl Mode (tactical combat).
2. Assemble the Adventurers: Each player selects an Adventurer (such as Nightingale or Rook) and receives their corresponding card, starting items, and Stamina Points (SP) tokens.
3. Prepare the Board: Use the Tiles and Terrain Tokens according to the Encounter diagram in the manual. Position the Combatants (enemies) and Objective or Loot tokens.
4. Initiative: Shuffle the Initiative Cards of the Adventurers and Combatants to form the Initiative Track.

Consult the manual for details on specific scenario setups.

Game Flow

The game is divided into Rounds, with each figure acting according to its position on the Initiative Track. An Adventurer's turn has 5 phases:

1. Start of Turn: Resolve abilities or effects that activate at the start of the turn.
2. Status Phase: Apply effects with the STATUS tag.
3. Recovery Phase: Recover SP and unexhaust cards.
4. Action Phase: Spend SP to perform actions such as Move, Attack, or use abilities.
5. End of Turn: Resolve effects that activate at the end of the turn.

Combatants act according to their own cards, following predefined behaviors.

Actions and How to Play

During the Action Phase, Adventurers can spend SP to:

• Move: Move up to your Movement value. Cost: 1 SP (+2 spaces per additional SP).
• Attack: Use the Combat Dice of the equipped weapon. Cost: 1 SP.
• Re-equip: Swap items or pick up items from adjacent allies. Cost: 1 SP.
• Dodge: During an enemy attack, roll the BLACK die to add +1 to Defense for each ☐ rolled.
• Counterattack: If an attack deals 0 damage, spend 1 SP to retaliate.

Discipline abilities (such as Animism) can be used if the Adventurer has learned them.

End of Game and Scoring

The game ends when an End Condition is met, such as:

• Victory: Fulfilling the objectives of the Encounter (e.g., defeating all enemies or reaching an exit token).
• Defeat: All Adventurers being Defeated or accumulating 4 Urgency tokens.

Rewards include XP, Gold, and items, as listed in the manual for each scenario.

Tips for Winning

• SP Management: Prioritize essential actions and use the Recovery Phase to replenish resources.
• Positioning: Take advantage of terrain and effects like Barrier to protect allies.
• Combat: Counterattacking after successful dodges reduces costs and maximizes damage.

Consult the manual for specific strategies for each Adventurer.