I


You’ve always been on the fringes of society, never quite respectable but not quite an outlaw.
Unable to settle for the life of a farmer you crave adventure. The magic in your blood urges you to
find others of your kind, to band together and combine your talents, to push back boundaries and
stand on the edge of the unknown.

The kingdoms of Enveron await, danger and excitement ever present. A new force is growing,
necromancy and other forbidden arts are threatening the peace, and you vow to meet it head on.
Fabulous artefacts and riches await you; you need only reach out and take it...
 The world is not as it was. The ancient magics stir within the earth, and their return heralds a
new age of opportunity for those bold enough to seize upon such glorious times.
Within the tombs and crypts of antiquity lie the makings of legends;
untold prosperity, unspeakable peril and the ever-present prospect of glory.
The tales of your adventures will echo through the ages, and should your band of reprobates
happen to save the world in the course of things, then all the better…

CREDITS
BATTLE SYSTEMS TEAM Colin Young, Stewart Gibbs, Wayne Abela, Simon Britton, Jon Cartwright
GAME DESIGN Stewart Gibbs, Colin Young
STORY Wayne Abela, Adam Smith
CHARACTER & SETTING DESIGN Colin Young, Wayne Abela
LAYOUT & GRAPHIC DESIGN Kev Brett, Jon Cartwright, David Lanza
COVER AND CHARACTER ART Nick Greenwood
SCULPTING Barruz Studio, Marcus Johnson
PAINTING Axia Painting Studio, Angel Giraldez
PLAYTESTING Ben Chapple, Gilberto Guillen, David Hebart-Coleman,
Stuart Humpheryes, Andy Jackson, Jason Jardine,
Joseph Marty, Keith McCoy, Rob Torrington, Kevin Yarroll
A special thank you goes out to everyone who crowdfunded
our project and made this game a possibility!
Maladum® and all associated characters, names, places
and things are ™ and © Battle Systems Ltd 2024
Version 1.00 Printed February 2024
Credits

1
 GAME OVERVIEW
When the Adventurers have taken their actions,
Game Overview

IMPORTANT! the game fights back! The Revenants in this starter

If this is your first adventure set are just one of many non-player characters
in the world of Maladum, we (NPCs for short) controlled by the game’s
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Malagaun 8 Lamento

Maladum experience.

Maladum is a fantasy miniatures board game set in

the kingdoms of Enveron, a prosperous continent
on a distant world in the far future. What was once
ancient technology has emerged from a long dark
age to permeate every part of society, and is now
known as Maladum, or simply magic…
While all of
The players will take control of small bands of this is going on, the
Adventurers seeking their fortune. This starter game’s Dread level will
set contains one party, for a single person playing be rising. As each peg
solo or up to four players playing cooperatively. is placed into the Dread Tracker, the Revenants
Additional Adventurers can be purchased become even more dangerous, as will the
separately to expand your party or assemble unpredictable events arising from the game’s event
additional parties for multiplayer games. deck each round.
Maladum is played in a series of narrative quests.
Your party will be presented with a set of objectives
and a map of the area, showing how to set out the S
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Adventurer take one action with the y
chosen Adventurer as the target.

area. The Adventurers’

abilities are tracked
using the game’s unique
Character Dashboards, The heart of Maladum is its characters. The
and the success campaign system will allow you to take your party
of their actions is through a series of games, getting to know them,
determined by rolling developing their skills, upgrading their equipment,
the various dice. making their camp and building their story.
Maladum: Dungeons of Enveron is compatible
with the wide range of other Maladum products
available. Although Dungeons of Enveron is a solo,
self-contained game, the rules are designed to
cover all options. You will therefore see references
throughout the book that explain how to play with
multiple players, or that refer to types of character
or token that are not found in this set.

2
 CONTENTS
Important Terms............................................ 4 Terrain.................................................................. 44
Adventurer Dashboards....................... 6 Other Rules........................................................ 49
Key Concepts...................................................... 8 Assembling Your Party...........................54
Setting Up............................................................ 18 Quests......................................................................56
Ending a quest.............................................. 20 Campaigns............................................................59
Order Of Play.................................................. 21 Reference – Spells...................................... 68
Adventurer Phase...................................... 22 Reference – Skills........................................74
Magic........................................................................34 Reference – Icons........................................83
NPC Activation...............................................38 Index........................................................................ 86
Adversary Phase.......................................... 40 QUICK REFERENCE........................................ 88
NPC Phase............................................................ 42

THE WORLD OF MALADUM

Little is known of the races that inhabited ancient Mesa, or what became of them. Long before
this age, civilizations of technological wonder called this world home, and from it, ventured into
the stars. They wielded technology and science beyond comprehension and shaped their reality
to their will, yet even they could not avoid great calamity. For only an event of apocalyptic
magnitude could have extinguished the once-great progenitors of Mesa.
Their end will perhaps forever remain a mystery, but it is their legacy that shapes the fate
of the world to this very day. Remnants of their technologies survive and permeate the
very earth, and it is through these unseen forces that the wondrous feats of Maladum
are possible.
Though we do not fully comprehend the nature of the ancient
progenitor’s technology, there are those who can commune with
it, and through this communion comes great power. Maladum,
as it has become known, is the act of connecting with
the infinitesimal malacytes that pervade every facet of
our world and commanding them to interact with the
environment as they see fit.
Those who have mastered this gift are known as
Maladaar, and though some are more naturally akin
to harnessing this power, anyone can learn the art
of Communion.
Contents

3
 IMPORTANT TERMS
PLAYER: The real-life person controlling one or PHASE: A specific part of a round where certain
Important Terms

more Adventurers. groups of characters will act and certain rules will
come into play. There are additional Phases used
CHARACTER: Any single miniature. between games during a Campaign (page 59).
PARTY: The group of characters controlled by TURN: The time in which an individual character is
a player. activated and takes their actions.
ADVENTURER: A character that is part of a ACTION: A self-contained ‘thing’ that a character
player’s party. does. The number of actions a character can take
NPC: A non-player character controlled by the game. each turn will be limited, unless the action is
marked as ‘free’.
ADVERSARY: A type of NPC that acts as the primary
antagonist of the campaign. Adversaries act in their FRIENDLY: A character from your own party or an
own phase of the game separate to other NPCs. NPC group that is not considered an enemy.

RANK: The power level of a character, used ENEMY: A character from an opposing party or
to determine many game effects. These levels group of NPCs. Characters will often be restricted
are fixed for NPCs, and shown on their board from taking certain actions while enemies are
with the icon on the left. Higher-ranked NPCs nearby. The rules for each NPC type detail who
tend to act before lower-ranked ones. classes them as an enemy. Adversaries consider
everyone else an enemy and vice versa!
Adventurers always start a campaign at rank 1,
but this will increase as they gain Experience (see Players may agree to treat each other’s parties as
page 62). friendly if they wish.

FIRST PLAYER: The first player will take actions SQUARE: Maladum is usually played on a gaming
and make certain decisions on behalf of everyone area with an overlaid grid of 25mm squares, used
playing, including but not limited to: to measure movement and other distances.

• Drawing and resolving Event Cards. ADJACENT: Squares next to each other without
• Taking the first action in each Adventurer Phase. intervening terrain are adjacent, including
• Choosing between valid actions for NPCs, such diagonally, so each square will have up to eight
as which enemy to attack if there are two adjacent squares. Squares either side of a wall
equidistant targets. are not adjacent unless there is a door or other
• If a card or rule allows multiple players to opening in between.
make an action, the first player goes first, CONTACT: Characters in orthogonally adjacent
proceeding clockwise. squares are in contact. This includes characters
The rules will define many situations where the either side of an open doorway. Characters either
first player can make a decision. In any situation side of a closed door or wall are not in contact.
where players cannot agree on how to resolve a Characters in diagonally adjacent squares are not
rule, the first player has final say. in contact. Enemies in contact are engaged.

The first player is determined at the ENGAGED: Enemy characters in contact are engaged.
start of the game, and they should take This means they are involved in combat with one
the First Player Marker. Control will pass another and will affect the actions they can take.
to the next player around the table at ATTACK: A dice roll made against a character to
the end of each round. inflict damage. Usually made via an Attack action, but
CAMPAIGN: A series of linked games of Maladum attacks can be generated from other sources as well.
with a continuous storyline. You will use the same TARGET: The focus of a particular attack or action.
party from start to finish, adjusting their statistics,
equipment and Skills after each quest. HIT: Potential damage represented by icons on
the combat dice. Hits can be affected by rules such
QUEST: A single game of Maladum. as armour and cover.
ROUND: A collection of phases that repeats CRITICAL HIT: A more powerful effect usually
throughout the game, allowing all characters to act. generated when you roll on the blue die.
Various rules will trigger following this result.
DAMAGE: Actual wounds sustained from hits after
other rules have been accounted for.

4
PRONE: A character that has fallen or been knocked SCATTER: Moving a character or item in a
off their feet. They are laid on their side but still random direction determined by the Magic Die
occupy their original square(s). (see page 9).
DEFEATED: A character who is out of the game, at GUILDER : The game’s currency, used for
least temporarily. Defeated Adventurers are left in hiring party members and trading equipment
play laid on their side as if prone, but marked with between games.
an Assistance counter. Defeated NPCs are removed
from play. MAY: Any rule that uses the word ‘may’ is
optional, and the player can choose not to use it if
D6: A standard six-sided die. If a rule refers to a D6, they wish. Otherwise, all rules must be applied in
it means to roll the white Magic Die and use the full if possible.
number rolled, ignoring any icons and arrows.
REMINDER COUNTER: Multi- MEASURED MOVEMENT
purpose counters used to mark
anything that you may need to These rules are written to use the gridded
remember during the game. For gaming mat included in the box. If you
example, there may be game effects prefer, you can ignore the grid on the gaming
that apply until the end of a round, or effects area and use a ruler or tape measure for
that only apply to marked characters. The movement instead.
counters should be placed next to the models or
on their character boards, and checked against Any reference to squares will instead refer to
the appropriate rules whenever a character is inches; for example, characters will Move up to
activated and in each Assessment Phase. There four inches instead of four squares.
are three different colours of Reminder Counters Characters and items are considered to be
in case multiple rules are in effect at once. adjacent or engaged only when in
RE-ROLL: Take a die that you have already rolled physical contact.
and roll it again. The original result no longer If you choose to play on an alternative terrain
applies for any reason, and the new result stands. set that doesn’t have a grid this will be the
Any die that has already been re-rolled cannot be default way of playing.
re-rolled again.

Important Terms

5
 ADVENTURER DASHBOARDS
Each Adventurer’s abilities and statistics are tracked Magic ⑤ represents the character’s capacity
Adventurer Dashboards

throughout the game using a plastic dashboard. to manipulate the malacytes flowing through
and around their bodies to cast or resist spells (see
page 34).
Actions ⑥ shows how many actions (see page
22) the character can make each round.
Experience or XP ⑦ represents everything
the character has learned during their time in
the party and affects how many Skills they can
learn, as well as improving their other statistics
later in a campaign (see page 62).

Default vs. Potential

Each statistic is represented by a row of wax seals.
Some are pre-stamped (default) while others are left
blank (potential).
Default spaces represent the character’s
starting abilities.
Potential spaces represent the character’s ability
to improve during a campaign and should be filled
in with a dry-wipe pen as the character gains
Experience, increasing their statistics.

Example
• In our example, Syrio has a default Health
statistic of 4 but the potential to raise it to 6. It is
currently at 5.
• He has a default of 1 Skill peg and the potential
for 4, with 3 marked currently.
• He starts with a Magic statistic of 1, and is still
on 1 but with the potential for 4.
• He has 2 default actions and no further potential.
CHARACTER BOARD ① • He starts with 3 Experience, currently has 10,
This shows the and has a maximum of 16!
Adventurer’s statistics
and personal details. COST ⑧
The reverse of the
board shows the When hiring a character you must pay this cost in
Adventurer in their Guilders (see page 54).
Denizen guise (see
the NPC Phase on INNATE ABIL ITIES ⑨
page 42).
In addition to any Skills granted by their
Class, some characters also start with Skills
SPECIES ② or other abilities as standard. All icons such
The character’s species. Certain rules may refer as the one to the right are covered in more
to this. detail on page 83.

STATISTICS ARMOUR SLOTS ⑩

Health ③ represents the character’s The bottom right corner of the character board
toughness and stamina and shows how much may be punched out, leaving space for armour and
damage they can take before they are defeated. other wearable items. These items usually grant
additional protection to the character, and their
Skill ④ shows how many specialised Skills (see rules only apply when placed in these slots.
page 32) the character can use in a game.

6
Only one item with the ‘Armour’ type can be worn, The green pegs show the character’s Health. At
and the remaining space can be filled with cloaks, the start of each game pegs are added to match
jewellery and other items of your choice. the character’s Health statistic and these may
be removed or added during the game as the
Don’t discard the pieces that you have removed! character takes damage and heals. If there are no
Many characters have innate abilities in this area pegs remaining, the character is defeated.
which will be in effect whenever they are not
weighed down by armour. The purple pegs show the character’s Skill. Like
Health, this is set at the start of the game to match
CLASS ⑪ the Skill statistic. If no pegs remain the character
may no longer use Skills.
The Class board represents the character’s
profession and specialisation, and therefore The blue pegs shows the character’s magical
the Skills and Spells available to them. Like the affinity, set at the start of the game to match the
character board, Class boards have a cost to be Magic statistic. If no pegs remain, the character
paid when a character is hired. may no longer use or resist magical effects.

Each coloured icon ⑫ represents a Skill (see

page 32). The spaces under it can be marked
STATUS COU NTERS ⑯
to show the character’s proficiency with that Skill These three recesses hold counters to show that
from Level 1 to 3. When selecting a party (see the character is subject to various effects such as
page 54) the player will fill in a number of these being Wounded or Poisoned. These are covered in
spaces equal to the Adventurer’s Experience. As more detail on page 16.
the character advances, points can be allocated to
learn new Skills or upgrade existing ones.
Training in a certain Class will often give a character
an additional innate ability ⑬.
Finally, Maladaar Classes (those
with access to magic) will also
have an additional track to one
side of their Class board. These
spaces can be marked to allow
a character to learn a new spell
instead of a skill.

INVENTORY ⑭

Adventurer Dashboards
The items that a character starts with
or collects during a game are stored
here. There is an actual, physical
limit – the character cannot
carry more than the tray can
hold! Larger items take up more
space, so use this area wisely.

PEGS ⑮
The statistics on the character board are fixed
NPC DASHBOARDS
during play, and the in-game action instead takes While regular Adversaries make do with just a
place down here. The holes are filled with plastic character board, and have no statistics to track,
pegs to show the character’s fluctuating abilities. other NPCs such as Denizens and higher-ranking
Adversaries also have plastic dashboards.
Unless stated otherwise, a
character can never exceed These are smaller and only have space for the
their starting statistics. character board, inventory, Health and Magic
pegs and status counters, but these sections
work in just the same way.
NPCs will be covered in detail in the Statistics
section on page 13, the Adversary Phase on
page 40 and the NPC Phase on page 42.

7
 KEY CONCEPTS
DREAD
Key Concepts

The Dread Tracker is used to gauge the awareness

of enemies to your presence and their aggression
once they arrive! The tracker increases by one
each round, marked using the black pegs, and will
increase by a further peg following the first use of
magic by an Adventurer each round (if any), as the
Maladum energy is sensed by your foes.
There are six Dread levels:
• Disquiet
• Distress
• Dismay
• Desperation
• Disaster
• Doom
These levels determine the effect of Event Cards
each round (see page 21), as well as the
Adversary characters that arrive onto the gaming
area during the game.
The exact breakdown of these levels can be found
on the accompanying Dread board.
If the Dread level reaches Doom, flip the
associated Adversary board over – from now on
the Adversaries will have increased statistics.

THE DREAD BOARD

The board inserted into the Dread Tracker is unique
to the Adversary group being used. The board
included in this set is for the Revenants, and new
boards will be included in expansions.
Each level on the board includes a number of icons
indicating the character types that arrive in each
Adversary Phase (see page 40).

Side B
The Dread board is double sided, with each side
offering a different challenge. Side A will start
off slow but gradually increase the intensity as
the game goes on. Side B on the other hand
drops you right into the action from the start,
followed by a lull in the middle to catch your
breath before the Adversaries come back
for revenge!
Unless stated otherwise, the board should
be inserted with side A showing at the
start of each game.

8
COMBAT DICE RANDOM DIRECTIONS AND
There are two types of combat dice; blue and red.
SCATTER
These are mostly used for attacks (see page 24), The Magic Die can also be used to determine
but you may need to roll them for other reasons. random directions – the chosen direction will be
shown by the arrow on the die face.
Some rules will ask you to scatter an item or
character. To do so, simply roll the Magic Die, and
move the item or character in question a number
of squares from its current position using the
number and direction shown.
If this movement would cause it to hit a wall,
The blue die is always used as part of a roll. If only another model, or any other obstruction, it will
a single die is required, only the blue die is rolled. move as far as it can and stop.
If more than one die is required, all additional dice If the item or character is already in contact with
will be red. Red dice are not quite as powerful as an obstruction and is required to move towards it,
blue dice. move it directly away instead.
There are three different icons on the dice: If rolling to place an item or character onto the
gaming area rather than move it, ignore terrain.
• Each icon is a hit.
• The result counts as two hits, but is also In situations where you are required to move or
considered a critical hit. This will often have measure at an angle not in line with the squares,
additional effects depending on the weapon or follow the closest route possible in that chosen
ability used. Critical hit effects trigger even if no direction. If there are multiple equally valid routes,
damage was caused. the first player decides.
• Each icon is a blunder and will often have an
adverse effect.
Blanks are failures and have no effect.

CHANCE AND
RANDOMISATION
You will often be asked to choose a party, Adventurer
or item at random. This is done using the numbers on
the Magic Die to generate a result.
Ignore the icons and arrows on the
die for these rolls.
This is a simple way of deciding
random actions and keeps the
game moving fast. If you come up
against a situation not covered by
the rules, or something that you cannot decide on,
just roll the Magic Die to see what happens.
Key Concepts

Example
One random member of your party is affected
by an Event Card. There are three party
members in play. Roll the Magic Die. On a 1-2
it’s Syrio, 3-4 it’s Moranna and on a 5-6 it’s
Greet. If there were 4 Adventurers you could
roll 1 for Syrio, 2 for Moranna, 3 for Greet and This character is required to move in
4 for Callan, re-rolling the die on a 5 or 6. the direction shown on the die and will
therefore follow the path shown. As
the Adventurer cannot move through
terrain, it will move around the tomb.

9
 The entire area above a character’s square blocks
LINE OF SIGHT LoS, regardless of their pose. Characters block
There are various rules in Maladum that LoS to all other characters up to the same size
(see page 12). They do not block LoS to larger
Key Concepts

require miniatures to see each other, such as

firing a ranged weapon or casting a spell. characters but may provide cover.
This is called Line of Sight (or LoS for short). If you can only draw a line to part of the target, or
For a character to draw line of sight, you the line is obstructed by something shorter than
must be able to trace a straight line from the target (such as a chest or Small character),
the centre of their square to any part of check the cover rules on the next page to see if line
the target character’s square. You can use of sight can be drawn.
the range ruler to trace this line to ensure Characters may ignore pieces of terrain shorter
it is straight. than themselves if they are adjacent (so a model
If you cannot draw a line to any part of the next to a chest can fire over it without a cover
target without being completely obstructed penalty for example). They may also ignore friendly
by another character, wall, or a piece of characters of up to the same size in adjacent
terrain at least as big as the target, line of squares – it is assumed that they will get their
sight cannot be drawn. companions to duck!

Character A’s LoS to target B is only partially blocked as B can be seen past the desk.
– refer to the cover rules. LoS to target C is completely blocked by the wall. A’s LoS to D is clear.

10
COVER RANGE
Often terrain and walls will partially block line of Most weapons will also be limited by
sight, but enough of the target may be visible for a range – depending on the distance to
shot to be taken. In this case, the target is in cover. the target the weapon may be more or
The amount of cover may have an impact on the less powerful or be unable to hit at all.
attack or action being made as follows: Although you can count the squares
in a straight line, this can be harder
• If 25% of the target or less is obstructed, this is to do when shooting diagonally. The
insufficient cover. Line of sight can be drawn as plastic range rulers are provided for
normal and no further rules will apply. this purpose. Place the range ruler
• If between 25% and 90% of the target is touching the shooting character’s
obstructed (such as them hiding behind a crate square, and as long as it reaches any
or wall), this is partial cover. Line of sight can part of the target’s square the target
be drawn, but additional rules may apply (see is in range.
Ranged Attack on page 26 for example, where
partial cover will reduce hits by 1). • Short range is up to 5 squares –
• If 90% or more of a target is obstructed, they are the length of the shorter ruler.
in full cover – line of sight cannot be drawn at all. • Medium range is from 5-13
squares – the length of the
Insufficient Partial Full longer ruler.
Cover Cover Cover • Long range is 14 squares or more
– anywhere further than the
length of the longer ruler.
On page 15 you will see how
range is displayed on the
weapon tokens.
You’ll note that the range ruler
has markings along one side.
These are one square/inch apart
and will allow you to measure
vertical distances as well as
Note that prone characters will be affected by cover
horizontal ones when using the
based on their prone position, so a waist-high crate
rules for Climbing and Jumping
may provide full cover to a prone character.
on page 51.
If you cannot decide what type of cover a target
is in, roll the Magic Die – on a 1-3 it’s the larger
amount of cover, and on a 4-6 it’s the
smaller amount.

Key Concepts

11
Key Concepts

Most characters in Maladum are approximately the

CHARACTER SIZE size of an adult human. These characters are size 1 -
All characters, terrain pieces and other objects have they do not have their size specified on their boards
a size, most commonly used when a rule refers to and no additional rules apply. Some characters,
characters being smaller or larger than each other, however, will have a different size marked on their
such as when drawing LoS - see page 10. boards using the following icon:

SMALLER LARGER

12
NPC STATISTICS
NPCs statistics are simpler than those for
Adventurers. The following values can be seen
across all NPC boards, whether it’s the Revenants
or Denizens.

This is the number of actions that an

NPC can take each turn.
This is a character’s health – place this
many green pegs in their dashboard.
Characters without dashboards
may have a number of health
icons on their board that can be
punched out in the same way as
removing Health pegs.
Characters with no health showing
on their board will be defeated after
suffering any damage.
This represents a character’s magical
abilities and determines their starting
Magic pegs.
The number of dice that an NPC rolls
for a Melee Attack action if unarmed.
The number of dice that an NPC rolls for
a Ranged Attack action if unarmed, at
medium range unless stated otherwise.
The physical armour value of the NPC
which negates hits made against them.
This value is used when Adventurers
attempt to Persuade the NPC to do
something as detailed on page 29.
Characters with no Persuade statistic
cannot be Persuaded.
Note that many NPCs will have inventories. When
attacking, NPCs will always use the most powerful
statistic they have available, whether it’s their basic
statistic or a weapon they are carrying.
Also note that some NPCs have an Elite set of
statistics on the reverse side of their character
boards. These should be used when instructed by
Key Concepts

the rules, or when you want a challenge!

13
 EQUIPMENT EQUIPMENT RARITY
Equipment is one of the most important Some equipment is easier to come by
than others, denoted by the coloured
Key Concepts

features of Maladum, represented by the small

square and rectangular tokens in the game shape and cost information on the back
(shown below). Each of these is a weapon or of the tokens.
more specialised item that can be carried by
Common items are cheap and readily accessible,
Adventurers and other characters.
and include basic food items, loose ammunition,
These tokens are used to kit out your party at the and simple weaponry such as knives, clubs, and
start of their journey, can be found around the industrial tools. They have their costs in green
green.
gaming area during your adventures, and can be
All common items should be stored in the
bought and sold between games in a campaign.
token pouch.
EQUIPMENT TYPES Uncommon items are available to be purchased
but are seldom left lying around. These include
The colour of each token denotes how it is used in purpose-made weaponry and other adventuring
the game: supplies. They are marked in amber
amber.

Blue: Weapons – these will be held Uncommon items should be stored separately in
in your inventory and used to make one of the zip-lock bags provided, and they will be
Attack actions. added to the token pouch or placed around the
gaming area when required by a quest.
Yellow: Armour and wearable items Rare items include bespoke weaponry, enchanted
– can be held in the inventory, but items and ancient relics. These items are marked in
their rules will only apply when in the blue and are stored and used separately in the same
armour slot. way as Uncommon items.

Red: Gear – this covers any other Exclusive items represent quest objectives such
equipment used during the game, as valuable artefacts or documents, or items that
from food to ammunition. cannot be found or purchased in the normal ways.
These items are marked in white and should be
kept separately. They are only used when specified
Purple: Non-combat equipment such
by the rules.
as money or gems – these items are
not used during the game, but they Tokens discarded after use should be returned to
will be valuable when trading between the appropriate supply based on their rarity – the
quests so you’ll want to allow space for pouch for Common items and the separate bags
them in your inventory. for Uncommon, Rare or Exclusive items.

Grey: Traps – revealing one of these EQUIPMENT SIZE

tokens during a Search immediately
triggers the trap against the Equipment tokens come in various sizes:
Adventurer that found it! Traps drawn
outside of a Search action (e.g. when
drawing equipment for an NPC)
should be returned to the pouch with
no effect and a new token should be
drawn. Traps cannot be bought or sold.
The size of the token simply represents how much
space it takes up in your inventory. The different
sizes do not need to be stored separately to others
of their rarity.
The rules will specify when tokens of a certain
size are to be used. Otherwise, such as when
drawing a piece of equipment during a Search or
for an NPC, the size does not matter and should
be chosen at random.
Large items (landscape rectangles, larger than
15mm square) are never put into the token pouch
Token Pouch and are only used when specified.

14
EQUIPMENT COST Armour
On the back of each equipment token you will find A physical armour value will reduce the
the cost of that item. number of hits against the wearer by the
value shown. It will also limit their ability
to cast spells.
Some armour incorporates weaponry
and may have a melee statistic just like
a weapon.
These values are not important during the game
but are used between games in a campaign (see For more on armour, see page 25.
page 59). Items with a buy value of ‘-’ cannot be
bought – they can only be found during a quest. ICONS
BROKEN EQUIPMENT Many characters and items will have specialised
icons in addition to their statistics. These icons
Certain game effects will cause equipment to represent abilities that the character or item can
break. If this happens, flip the token face down. perform over and above the standard rules.
Broken items cannot be used and none of their
rules will be in effect while they are broken. They A full list of the game’s icons can be found on
must be repaired at the Artisan’s Guild (see page page 83.
65) after the game.

WEAPON STATISTICS
Like characters, weapons and armour
also have statistics, shown in the
following ways.

Melee Weapons
The number of combat
dice used by the weapon
in a Melee Attack
action (see page 26).

If the icon has a burst

around it as shown
here it can be used to
make a forceful hit.

Ranged Weapons
The number of combat dice
used by the weapon in a
Ranged Attack action (see page
26), at short, medium and long range
respectively.
Many weapons will only show one or two
Key Concepts

statistics and are therefore limited to short

and medium range respectively.
If the icon has a burst around it as
shown here, it has a blast effect.
Blast weapons affect not only the
target, but also anyone in the surrounding
squares. Even if they miss, they can still
cause damage! They are covered in detail
on page 27.

15
 STATUS EFFECTS Wounded: This character Moves 1
square fewer.
There are a number of weapons and effects in the
In addition, in each Assessment Phase,
Key Concepts

game that inflict long-term effects on their targets.

These are called status effects and are marked by roll the Magic Die. On a 1-3, the
placing counters on the character’s dashboard or character loses one Health. On a 4-6
next to their miniature. there is no effect.
Poisoned: In each Assessment Phase,
If a rule says that a character “is” or “becomes” roll the Magic Die. On a 1-2, the
followed by the name of a status, it means to gain character loses one Health. On a 3-4 the
one counter of that type. character loses one Skill peg (or Health
if no Skill pegs remain). On a 5, the
L IMITS character becomes Fatigued. On a 6 the
poison wears off – remove the counter.
Characters can have any number of Fatigued
counters and up to three Blessed counters. All other Burning: In each Assessment Phase, this
status types are limited to one counter at any time. character loses 1 Health. While burning,
the character is a source of fire for any
Characters with dashboards can have up to three rules that require it, and all their attacks
status counters in total, taking up the three slots. have the rule.
Any further status effects that would apply to the
character are ignored unless they can replace a This character cannot Rest.
Blessed counter. Note that Fatigued counters do
Two consecutive actions must be spent
not take up a slot or count towards the limit.
in the same round to remove a Burning
Characters without a dashboard have no limits counter. In addition to the Burning
to their status effects, although are unlikely to be character themselves, other friendly
affected by many before they are defeated anyway! characters in contact can contribute any
number of actions towards this total,
If a character has multiple counters, the owning suffering a Fatigued counter for each.
player can choose the order in which to apply or
remove their effects whenever applicable. Alternatively, the character may Interact
with a source of water to remove a
Status counters are only removed when a rule Burning counter.
permits it; for example the Rest action on page
30. Status counters remain on Adventurers when Terrified: When a Terrified character
they are defeated, but are not resolved again until takes their turn and has at least one
the character is revived. action remaining after removing any
Fatigued counters, they will flee. They
must spend all available actions that
EFFECTS round Moving as far away as possible
from enemies, provoking attacks of
Fatigued: This counter usually opportunity if engaged. They will not
represents a character taking actions engage enemies during this Move, but
outside their own turn. will run through other hazards such as
When this character’s turn begins, traps, sustaining the effects as normal.
unless they Rest (see page 30) If surrounded, the character may stand
they must spend actions to remove still or move just a short distance and do
these counters before doing anything nothing further. If there are no enemies
else, including removing other status in play, they will instead Move towards
counters. Being Fatigued prevents their Staging Point, or the nearest Entry
the character from making attacks of Point in the case of NPCs.
opportunity (page 23) but does not
impact other actions taken outside of a Once these actions have been
character’s turn, such as Reaction Skills. completed, remove the Terrified
If a character ever has more Fatigued counter and mark them as activated for
counters than they do Actions on the round.
their character board, remove all While Terrified, characters may not
Fatigued counters – the character is voluntarily do anything, exactly as if
Stunned instead. they were Stunned.
NOTE: Fatigued counters do not take up
slots on a character’s dashboard – place However, at any time, during their turn
them on the character board or next to or otherwise, Adventurers may spend a
the miniature instead. Skill peg to remove a Terrified counter.

16
 Stunned: This character cannot take
actions, use Skills, spend Magic pegs, or
voluntarily do anything, and will miss
their next turn.
When it is the character’s turn, instead
remove the Stunned counter and mark
them as activated for the round.
Stunned characters cannot
become Fatigued.
Warded: Warded characters are
protected by a forcefield created via
a spell or magical item. The Warded
counter will have a value giving the
character magical armour as detailed
on page 37, and must be maintained
in the Assessment Phase. Certain
effects may increase or decrease this
value – the counter should be swapped
out accordingly. If a character is not
Warded and is instructed to increase
their Warded value, give them the
appropriate counter.
Blessed: Blessed characters may remove
a Blessed counter to either:
• Re-roll a die of any type used for any
action or effect on behalf of that
character.
• Force a die to be re-rolled from
attacks or effects targeting them.
Only one counter may be expended per Moranna’s dashboard holds Blessed, Warded
roll/action/effect. (1) and Poisoned counters, and there is a
Fatigued counter next to her miniature. The
Unlike other statuses, Blessed counters Fatigued counter will be resolved at the start
can be replaced by other effects. If a of her turn and the Poisoned counter in each
Blessed character has all their Status slots Assessment Phase. The Warded counter gives
filled and suffers another Status effect, it Moranna magical armour to deflect attacks.
replaces one of their Blessed counters. The Blessed counter can be spent to re-roll
a die, or it will be automatically removed if
Moranna suffers another status effect.

NPCS AND STATUS EFFECTS

As NPCs are controlled by the game, they have less
freedom to deal with status effects.
• Fatigued NPCs will use their actions to remove
Key Concepts

the counters before doing anything else.

• Stunned, Wounded, Poisoned, Burning or
Terrified NPCs will suffer the effects as normal
without any attempt to remove the counters.
• Blessed NPCs will always remove Blessed
counters to re-roll results for their attacks
or force a re-roll of any attack die that causes
a hit against them (prioritising red dice) until
no counters remain. They will not re-roll any
other results.
• Warded NPCs will arrive with the relevant Warded
status already in place. It can be lost as normal.

17
 SETTING UP
Setting Up

Maladum is played
using a series of quests
–scenarios with pre-set
objectives. These can be
played as a continuous narrative
(see page 59), but most people
start out by playing one-off games.
Some quests may have additional rules,
but otherwise follow this process to set up a game:
1. Each player should assemble their party 5. Check the quest briefing to find out how many
(see page 54) or collect the components for uncommon and rare items are required, shown
the existing party they have been using in like this:
a campaign.
• Each player should choose up to four Set Aside: x2, x1
Adventurers from their party to take part in
the quest, placing their dashboards in front of : x6, x1
them and their Staging Area to one side.
• Each player should place pegs into their
dashboards. Unless specified otherwise in In this example, you must set aside two large
a campaign (playing a Rescue Mission or uncommon tokens and one large rare token.
following an unsuccessful Rest Phase for You must add six uncommon tokens and one
example) the number of pegs should be set to rare token to the token pouch.
match the characters’ statistics.
Take these tokens at random from their
2. Read through the accompanying campaign book, respective supplies. Put the large tokens to
or the quests that come with other Maladum one side and add all others (exact size does not
sets, and select the quest you want to play. For matter) to the token pouch.
your first game, we suggest you start with the
Dungeon Raid quest on page 4 of the Dungeons 6. The terrain pieces you set aside in step 3 are
of Enveron Campaign Book. now filled with equipment.
• Each type of terrain piece will have a diagram
3. Lay out the gaming mat(s) and terrain as under the map listing its contents, like this:
shown on the map. You can find the key in the
campaign book.
• Set aside any Chests, Crates, or other terrain
that contains equipment for now.
In this example, each tomb contains 1 large
4. If the quest specifies any ‘Key Items’, these should token and 3 tokens from the token pouch.
be taken from the supply and set aside. The quest
briefing will provide further information.

18
 • First, take the large tokens you set aside 8. Set the starting Dread as detailed in the quest
in step 5. Without looking, place the large briefing, and make any adjustments required
tokens inside the large terrain pieces, spread by special rules (e.g. Delays – see the Dungeons
as evenly as possible. of Enveron Campaign).
• Then, without looking, DISQUIET place a number of
tokensYourfrom thehastoken
presence soundedpouch
an alarm. into each
Increase 9. Around the edges of the gaming area you will
the Dread by 1.
terrain piece matching the number shown see Staging Point positions. Decide amongst
in its diagram. The tokens can be of any size. the players (if necessary) who will choose their
Aim for an even mix but you don’t need to Staging Point first. The chosen player can place
be too careful. DISTRESS-DISMAY their Staging Point in any of these positions.
• Place the
Place lids back
this card next onto the terrain
to the Dread Tracker andpieces, The other players then place their own Staging
and add
place three black pegs on top of it. Add one of
thesethem
pegs toto thethe gaming
Tracker area in the
in each Assessment
Points, proceeding clockwise around the table.
Phase. When all pegs have been used, discard
positions shown on the map.
this card. 10. Place the following components within easy
7. Under the quest map you will see a section titled reach of all players:
DESPERATION-DOOM • Adversary Miniatures and boards.
‘Event Cards’.
Increase the Dread by 1. Then roll the Magic Die
• The card types
for each are denoted
Adventurer. On a 1, thatby the icon in the
Adventurer • NPC Miniatures and boards matching the
becomes Terrified.
bottomThen
corner. card types being used.
discard this card and draw another.
• Key Items set aside in step 4
(if not already used).
• Token Pouch.
• Range Rulers.
• Dice.
• The number of cards specified for each type • Assorted Counters.
should be drawn randomly from those available.
• Set the difficulty of the game by selecting a All remaining miniatures, character boards,
number of Novice and/or Veteran cards as terrain and other components will not be
described on page 58. required for play and can be returned to the box.
• Shuffle the selected cards together and 11. Finally, it’s time to start the game. The player
place the deck face down at the side of the that deployed last will be the first player in the
gaming area. first round. Off you go!

Setting Up

19
 Staging Areas and Staging Points are linked at the
STAGING POINTS & start of each game by marking them with the same
STAGING AREAS colour/letter/party logo of your choice. It will often
be clearest to place the Staging Area next to its
Ending a quest

Staging Points represent your Staging Point, but depending on the map layout
party’s entrance. This is where there will not always be space to do this.
your Adventurers will move onto
the gaming area and is usually
their escape route when the
deed is done!
Adventurers can only come and go via their own
Staging Point unless a mission says otherwise or
another player gives permission.
The Staging Area is a sheltered location from which
your Adventurers will set out on their quest, such
as a cave entrance. This is where your Adventurers
are placed at the start of the game, and will
move between here and the gaming area via the
matching Staging Point.
On the back of the Staging Area you will find your
The Staging Area is not considered to be in play for Base Camp board where you can log your party’s
any purpose. If any rule needs to determine the progress. See page 55 for more details.
closest Adventurer before any have entered play,
instead determine the closest Staging Point.

ENDING A QUEST
Quests will list various objectives but these do not In a multiplayer game, if multiple players
necessarily have to be completed to end the game. completed the Primary Objective (or nobody did)
Sometimes it will be all you can do to escape with you may still want to determine an overall winner
your lives! – the player who won the most, or who lost least!
This player may gain benefits in the following game
Unless specified otherwise in the briefing, such as the first choice of deployment position.
a game will end immediately when all
Adventurers are either defeated or are safely Of course, in a campaign winning and losing is
back in their Staging Area. not quite so simple – you can lose a game but still
come out on top in the end if you play it right! The
When the game is over, resolve the After the Game campaigns section on page 59 will go into this in
section on page 57. more detail.

DON’T BE A HERO
You will quickly learn that Maladum is all about
survival. You can’t always charge in with your
weapons raised, or expect to pilfer every last item
on the gaming area. The game can, and will, turn
on you. One of the most important lessons to learn
is when to run away, to ensure you’ve still got a
party left to head off on the next quest. You’ve
been warned!

WINNING AND LOSING

If a party was entirely wiped out (all of their
Adventurers were defeated), that player
automatically loses.
Otherwise, if the Primary Objective of a quest is
completed, the player(s) that completed it have
won. If the Primary Objective was not completed,
all players have lost.

20
 ORDER OF PL AY
Each mission is played in a series of rounds Note the following:
during which all characters in the gaming area
will get to act. Each round is broken down into • If there is no target for a rule, the rule has no
the following phases: effect. If part of a card’s text can be resolved but
not all of it, resolve as much as possible.
1. Dread • If for any reason, no part of a card’s text can
2. Adventurer be resolved (for example a card that moves an
3. Adversary Adversary when there are none), ignore the
4. NPC text. If there is an icon at
5. Assessment the end of the paragraph,
it will be used to place
1. DREAD PHASE
DISQUIET
Choose the Adventurer with the fewest

a new character of that Health pegs. All enemies within medium

range and LoS not engaged with another
Adventurer take one action with the

rank instead, if possible.

chosen Adventurer as the target.

As the game goes on, your enemies will become DISTRESS-DISMAY

more aware of your presence. In this phase, start The character type placed Choose the Adventurer with the most
Magic pegs. All enemies within medium
range and LoS not engaged with another

by adding 1 black peg into the first empty space on must match the card type Adventurer take one action with the
chosen Adventurer as the target.

the Dread Tracker. (Revenant Adversary, DESPERATION-DOOM

Denizen, etc). The character

Choose the Adventurer with the most
Health pegs. All enemies within medium
range and LoS not engaged with another
Adventurer take one action with the

will arrive as detailed on

chosen Adventurer as the target.

page 40/42 as normal.

Whether a character is
placed or not, shuffle the unresolved card back
into the deck and draw another.

2. ADVENTURER PHASE
In the Adventurer Phase, players will take it in
turns to activate their Adventurers. The Adventurer
If it’s the first round of the game, this phase is Phase is explored in more detail on page 22.
now over. Otherwise, from round two onwards,
the first player then draws an Event Card. 3. ADVERSARY PHASE
Random events may help or impede the players’ In the Adversary Phase, more enemies enter play
progress. Some are merely a nuisance, but and attack. For full details on the Adversary Phase,
others can be deadly and you will need to be see page 40.
ready for them.
Depending on the current Dread level, the card 4. NPC PHASE
may have different effects. Resolve all the effects
In the NPC Phase, all other NPCs controlled by the
detailed for the current Dread level. Once the card
game, such as Wandering Beasts, will act. See page
is resolved, place it in a discard pile to the side of
42 for how this works.
the gaming area, face up. If you draw the last card
in the deck, immediately shuffle the discard pile to
make a new deck. 5. ASSESSMENT PHASE
Most cards are resolved immediately, but some will In the Assessment Phase the gaming area is tidied
have lasting effects. These will be marked with a up ready for the following round.
dark box around the text, and are usually placed at
Order Of Play

the side of the gaming area where all players can • All Activation counters are removed.
see them. • All status counters are checked and resolved
if applicable.
• Any other effects that state they happen ‘at the
end of the round’ will happen now. Resolve any
Your DIS
Reminder Counters in play, if applicable.
the D presenc
read e
by 1. has sou
QUI
ET • The next player clockwise around the table
nded
an a
larm
. Inc
becomes the first player – they will be in control
rease
for the following round.
DIS
Plac T RES
plac e this ca S-D
thesee three b rd next ISM
Phas pegs t ck peg to the
la AY
this c e. When o the Tr s on to Dread T
ard. all p acker p of it racker
egs h in . a
ave each AAdd one nd
been s o
usedsessmen f
DES , dis
card
t
Incre PER
for e ase the A TIO
beco ach AdvDread by N-D
mes OO
Then Terrifienturer. 1. Then M
disca ed. On a roll t
rd th 1, th he Ma
is car
d and
draw
a t Ad gic Die
vent
urer 21
anot
her.
 ADVENTURER PHASE
In the Adventurer Phase, players take it in turns to
ACTIONS
Adventurer Phase

activate their Adventurers. The first player starts

and play continues clockwise around the table, An Adventurer’s Action statistic (see page 6)
each player activating one character at a time until shows how many actions they can take in a turn.
all Adventurers have taken their turns. Most characters have two, but some have more.
You can choose to use all, some, or none of them
ACTIVATION during your character’s turn.
When it is a player’s turn to activate an Adventurer, The most common actions that can be taken are
they do the following: as follows:
1. Choose one of their Adventurers to take its turn. • Move
This cannot be a character that has been marked • Melee Attack
with an Activation Counter. • Ranged Attack
2. Check any status counters they have that may • Search
affect their turn. Fatigued, Stunned and Terrified • Knock Back
counters in particular must all be resolved • Persuade
before taking actions.
Each of these is detailed on the following pages,
3. Take actions with the Adventurer, allowing them
along with a few other less common actions.
to move, shoot, interact with the terrain, and
Unless specified otherwise, there is no restriction
more. The following pages list the available
to the number of times that a particular action can
actions in detail.
be taken, or the order they can be taken in.
4. When you are finished, place an Activation
Counter on the Adventurer’s dashboard to In addition, a character can take effortless actions
remind you that they cannot act again this round. – these do not count towards your action limit, but
5. Play passes to the next player clockwise you can usually only take one of them per turn –
around the table. When all see page 31.
Adventurers in the gaming area have
been activated, move on to the PRONE CHARACTERS
Adversary Phase.
Prone characters cannot take any actions other
than to Rest or Stand Up (see page 30).

DEFEATED CHARACTERS
Defeated characters cannot take any actions at all
until they have been revived by another character.
For more on defeated characters, see page 33.

22
 If an attack of opportunity (AoO) results in the
MOVE defending character becoming Fatigued or Stunned,
When a character takes a Move action they can their movement ends before they leave contact.
move up to 4 squares. Characters can Move
into adjacent squares in any direction. Diagonal ENTERING AND L EAVING
movement is allowed as long as both of the squares THE GAMING AREA
to either side (that the character would have to
move through if moving orthogonally) are empty. Adventurers start the game out of play in their
Staging Area (see page 20). To enter the gaming
Important: If your character is Wounded, area, their first action of the game must be a
don’t forget that their Move distance is Move, Dash, or any other action or Skill that allows
reduced by one square. movement, with their first square of movement
placing them on the gaming area in contact with
Characters cannot end their movement in a square their Staging Point.
containing another character. They can Move
through other friendly characters but may not Adventurers that wish to escape can do so by
Move through enemies. Adventurers from other Moving into contact with the Staging Point with at
parties can be Moved through if the owning player least one square of movement remaining, at which
gives permission. point their miniature is removed from play. Once a
character has left the gaming area they are out of
Prone characters can be moved through without the game and cannot return.
penalty as long as they are no larger than the
moving character. Characters cannot leave the gaming area
involuntarily (by being Knocked Back for example)
Characters cannot Move through or over terrain unless the controlling player gives permission, or a
unless specified otherwise (e.g. with the Scramble quest rule requires otherwise (such as rescuing or
rule on page 51). Characters may only enter a capturing a Denizen).
square that is completely empty - squares partially
filled by terrain at floor level are impassable.
Note that decorative terrain elements such as the
corners of tombs do not block movement.
Characters on larger bases such as a Rot Troll take
up multiple squares and follow the additional rules
on page 49.
Important: No character may take more than
three Move actions during their turn, whether
the actions are taken as normal or granted by
Skills or other abilities. Movement via any other
means (such as a Dash - see page 31) or Move
actions made outside of a character’s turn (such as
Reaction Skills) may still be made as normal.

Adventurer Phase

ATTACKS OF OPPORTU NITY

If a character leaves contact with one or more
enemies at any point during their Move, all
standing, engaged, un-Fatigued enemies may make
a free Melee Attack action (see page 26) against
the moving character, regardless of whether they
have already activated this turn. This action is
resolved immediately and does not use any of their
actions for the turn.

23
 Note that certain rules or cards will also call for
ATTACK ACTIONS attacks to be made against a target. These are
An Attack action allows one character to attempt carried out in the same way, but will specify the
number of dice to roll rather than referring
Adventurer Phase

to damage another. There are two types of

Attack action – a Melee Attack action made with to a character or weapon. Unless stated
a character’s fists or a hand-to-hand combat otherwise, such attacks do not have an
weapon, or a Ranged Attack action made with a origin and therefore cover modifiers do
ballistic or thrown weapon. not apply.

MAKING AN ATTACK BL U NDERS

To attempt an attack action, the character must The icon on the dice signifies a blunder
have a weapon or innate ability of the appropriate or weapon malfunction and will often
type – see the following pages for detail. If a have consequences! These vary for each
character has no such weapon or value shown for a type of attack as explained over the
certain attack type, they cannot attack in that way. following pages.

Both types are similar in execution, except for the If you are fighting unarmed, results have
positioning of the attacker and their target. no effect.

Melee attacks (page 26) are made against other

characters in reach of one of your melee weapons.
This usually means characters in contact, but some
weapons can attack enemies further away.
Ranged attacks (page 26) are made at a distance,
against targets within LoS and range of one of your
character’s ranged weapons. They cannot be made
against targets in contact with your character.
Otherwise, both types of attack are made in the
same way:
• Choose a target for the attack.
• Roll combat dice for the weapon as shown on
its token (or on your character board if fighting
unarmed). The number of icons rolled are
your hits.
• Apply any applicable modifiers to the roll such
as cover (page 11) or armour (page 25),
altering the number of hits scored. Some special
rules and Skills may apply further modifiers
or effects, especially critical hits caused when
rolling the icon.
• Any remaining hits cause damage.
o If targeting a character with a Dashboard,
remove one Health peg for each point of
damage. If their Health reaches zero the
character is defeated (see page 33).
o If targeting an NPC with removable Health
counters on their board, remove a counter for
each point of damage. If the last counter is
removed they are defeated.
o If targeting an NPC with no stated Health, any
damage will cause them to be defeated and
removed from play.
When a character is defeated, any items they were
carrying are left on the ground where they fell.

24
 Magical armour must be activated
ARMOUR by the user, giving the character the
Hits sustained in an attack can be reduced by Warded status. The value on the counter
armour. There are two types of armour, physical determines the number of hits that the armour will
and magical. These are shown as follows: deflect. Once active, magical armour will deflect
hits in the same way as physical armour, but it is
not permanent! It can be boosted or overloaded if
exceeded – for full details see page 37. Adventurer Phase
Armour values do not stack. If a character has both
physical and magical armour, they may choose
Physical armour has a permanent effect while it which to use. NPCs will always use the highest
is worn, reducing the number of hits scored in an value available, taking into account their ability
attack against the wearer by the physical armour to boost magical armour with Magic pegs, if any.
value on the counter. For example, if a character NPCs will always boost their armour if they have
with Studded Leather Armour (physical armour Magic pegs remaining.
value of 1) suffers 2 hits, the armour will deflect/
absorb 1 of those hits, but the other will get Some physical armour values are
through and cause damage. This will happen each preceded with a +. These values
time the character is attacked. are applied in addition to other
armour of that type, such as a
Physical armour will also hinder the wearer when Large Shield being used in addition
casting spells – see page 36. to a character’s Chainmail Shirt.
Some armour includes a value, allowing the
character to attack even when unarmed.

25
 MEL EE ATTACK RANGED ATTACK
To attempt a Melee Attack the target character To attempt a Ranged Attack the target must be
must be in range of at least one of your melee within range and LoS and cannot be engaged with
Adventurer Phase

weapons. Usually this means they will be in an your character. If you are engaged with one or
orthogonally (not diagonally) adjacent square. more other enemies while making a Ranged Attack,
they may make an attack of opportunity against
If your character has an unarmed your character after your shot is resolved.
combat icon on their board or in their
armour slot you may use that, rolling You must choose one of your character’s ranged
dice equal to the number inside. weapons to attack with and roll a number of dice
based on the range between the shooter and
Alternatively you may choose one of your the target.
character’s melee weapons to attack with, using Short Medium Long
the number of dice shown.

If the icon has a burst around it like These statistics, seen on ranged weapons, are the
this, it can be used to make a number of dice rolled at short, medium and long
forceful hit. The attack will roll one range respectively. Some weapons may not have all
extra die, but there is a chance that three statistics, and will be limited to medium (two
the weapon will break – see below. values) or short range (one value). Innate ranged
abilities, found on NPC character boards rather
Cover does not apply to Melee Attacks, but armour than tokens, are at medium range.
will apply as normal.
The most common modifier applied to ranged
Blunders attacks is cover (see page 11). Partial cover will
reduce the number of hits on a target by 1. This is
Standard hits ignore results. However, if two or always resolved before any other modifiers such
more icons are rolled during a forceful Melee as armour.
Attack, the weapon has broken. The current attack
will be resolved as normal, but then flip the token
face down in your inventory as detailed on
page 15.

Attacks Of Opportunity
(AoO)
Don’t forget that if a character is engaged with an
enemy and moves away, the enemy can make a free
Melee Attack against it as detailed on page 23. Ammunition
Some ranged weapons require ammunition to fire
and will be marked with one of the following icons:

Arrows Shot
To fire a weapon with one of these icons the
character must also have a matching ammunition
(Gear or Armour) token in their inventory. If a
character has multiple different ammunition tokens
available, they must declare which they are using
before resolving the attack.
Some ammunition such as Fire Arrows
comes with its own abilities. Any icons on
the ammunition used will apply as if they
were on the weapon.

26
Blunders Shooting At Engaged
Ammunition can run out!
Characters
Characters engaged with each other will be
If a icon is rolled on the blue
constantly moving, raining down blows or
die during a Ranged Attack, the
dodging aside, and they make for difficult targets
character has run out of ammunition
when shooting.
for that weapon. Return the ammunition token
used for that attack to the supply. The effects of If you want to shoot at an enemy engaged with
the current attack will still apply, but the weapon another character, check the following:
cannot be used again until you find more ammo.
• At short range you can freely pick your target –
you are close enough to pick your moment and
aim straight.
• At medium or long range, after rolling to hit
you must roll the Magic Die to determine which
of the combatants you have hit (even if one of
them is your own character!). Modifiers such as
cover and armour are worked out based on the
actual target hit.

Blast Attacks Continue to resolve the attack against characters

in subsequent squares, reducing the hits by one
Blast attacks affect not only the target, but also for each square of distance until no hits remain.
anyone in the surrounding squares, allowing a Additional effects from critical hits or other rules
blast to hit characters that would otherwise be apply to all characters suffering at least two hits.
out of sight! Characters on large bases only suffer the first
Blast attacks are aimed at a target square and attack that reaches them– there is no effect for the
resolved like a ranged attack as above. blast radius extending to the other squares covered
by their base.
However, if two or more results are rolled, the
Blast effects cannot pass through walls, but they
target point of the blast is moved one square in
will pass through windows and across other short
a direction of the target player’s choice (or in a
terrain pieces. Characters on the other side of
random direction if the target was an NPC).
terrain hit by a blast will benefit from a cover
The attack roll is resolved against any characters in modifier as usual.
the final target square. NOTE: If measuring using inches, reduce the
Then, the same attack roll is resolved against each attack by one hit for each inch away from the
character in the eight squares adjacent to the original target, rather than each surrounding set of
target point, but with one fewer hit. squares. Resolve the effects based on the closest
point of each character’s base.

Adventurer Phase

Beren’s Fireball targets this Hellfont and rolls 3 hits. Characters in the surrounding squares will suffer 2 hits,
and characters in the next row of squares (including Syrio!) will suffer 1 hit.

27
 SEARCH GENERAL SEARCH
Search actions allow a character to look around Characters may also make a general Search of
the room they are in, as long as there are no
Adventurer Phase

and find new items and will often be the key to

victory in a quest. Characters may only Search enemies in the room. A room is defined as an area
when unengaged. There are three ways to Search: completely surrounded by either walls or the edges
of the gaming area (ignoring doors and windows).
SEARCH TERRAIN Each room can only be searched once per quest –
add a Search Counter to the room to remind you
Any terrain piece that has been loaded with that it cannot be Searched again.
equipment before the game can be Searched,
including chests and crates. Characters may Search When you make a general Search, reach inside
any eligible terrain piece they are in contact with. the token pouch, without looking, and take a
random item. You may add this to your character’s
inventory. If you don’t want the item, or you want
to swap it with an item you already hold, place the
discarded item on the floor in a square adjacent to
your character.
NOTE: Most of the time the separation of ‘rooms’
in the gaming area is obvious, but players may
agree to separate very large rooms or long
corridors into multiple areas that can each be
Open the terrain piece and remove the contents,
Searched separately.
keeping the tokens hidden from other players.
You may add any or all of the contents to your
character’s inventory. Any remaining items, and TRAPS
any of the character’s own items that you no Some tokens found during your Searches are Traps,
longer want or have room for, are placed back denoted by their grey colour. Their effect, usually
into the terrain. Any items too large to fit into the an attack, must be triggered immediately against
terrain piece are placed on the ground adjacent the Searching character, and then the Trap token is
to the terrain piece and the Searching character. discarded back to the pouch.
Terrain pieces can be Searched any number of Only one trap will be triggered per Search action. If
times in a game. multiple traps are drawn, resolve the one with the
largest token. If tied, the first player chooses. All
others are discarded to the pouch without effect.

LOOSE EQUIPMENT
Sometimes equipment tokens will be left discarded
on the floor, usually dropped by a defeated
character. An Adventurer may pick up, drop or
swap a single item in the same or an adjacent
square as an Effortless action (see page 31).
Alternatively, they may use a Search action to pick
up, drop or swap multiple items from their square
or one adjacent square at once.

28
 To do this you must be within short range and
KNOCK BACK LoS of the NPC and neither character may be
A Knock Back action allows you to shove or misdirect engaged with any other enemy. Hostile NPCs must
an adjacent character, pushing them away. be Persuaded to call a truce before they can be
Persuaded to do anything else.
To Knock Back another character, roll one die, plus
dice equal to your character’s unarmed combat Persuade actions made against a target not in
value if they have one. contact cause Noise – increase Dread by 1.

For each hit scored, the defending character is This icon represents how difficult an NPC is
pushed 1 square directly away from the attacker. to Persuade, and can be found on their
Armour has no effect. The attacker can follow up to Character board. Characters without this
remain adjacent to the defender if they wish. None icon cannot be Persuaded.
of these moves attract attacks of opportunity. You must decide what you are Persuading a
If you score 3 or more hits, the defending character character to do before rolling. Persuading a
is then knocked prone. character works similarly to an attack. The number
of combat dice rolled is equal to your character’s
If the square directly behind the defender is blocked Skill statistic (the value on their character board,
by other characters or terrain, they are pushed in not the remaining number of pegs). The Persuade
the closest possible direction instead. If there is no value of the NPC works like armour, modifying your
space to push an opponent back, they do not move. roll. Your roll must have enough unblocked hits to
be successful.
Characters may be persuaded to:
• Trade an item – requires 1 unblocked hit and
requires target to be in contact. If they are carrying
an item you may swap it for one of your own of up
to the same size and rarity (see page 14).
• Take actions – requires 1 unblocked hit per
action taken, up to their maximum. You may
take any action(s) with the NPC that they would
normally be able to take. They cannot take any
action that would harm themselves or a friendly
character. They then suffer one Fatigued counter
per action taken.
• Call a truce – requires 2 unblocked hits. An NPC
hostile to your party will no longer consider your
Adventurers enemies for the rest of the game,
BL U NDERS unless you attack them.
If you roll more than hits, you have misjudged • Join your party – requires 3 unblocked hits. If
the attack and stumble. The action is not resolved, successful, the NPC will assist your party by
and the opposing model may immediately make a acting as an Adventurer for the remainder of
free Knock Back action against you instead. If they the mission. See Joining Parties on page 42
also roll more than hits, there is no effect. for full details. They may be activated in the
current round.
• Make a mission or character-specific action.
Adventurer Phase
CHARACTER SIZE Some missions will list extra things that you can
When Knocking Back a character smaller than persuade an NPC to do and how difficult they
yourself, add one hit to your roll for each size are to achieve. For example, you may need to
bigger that your character is (rounding up). persuade a Denizen to provide vital information.
When Knocking Back a character larger than PERSUADING ADVENTURERS
yourself, one hit from your roll is ignored for each
size bigger that the other character is (rounding up). Normally only NPCs can be Persuaded, but with
certain Skills or in certain quests you may be able
to Persuade Adventurers from another party too!
PERSUADE
Adventurers don’t have Persuade values, so if a rule
There are many times in the game where you will allows you to do this the Adventurer’s own Skill
have to interact with NPCs, whether it’s to ask for statistic is used in place of their Persuade value.
directions, trade items, or even convince them to
join your party!

29
 INTERACT REST
Various terrain pieces, items, and quest objectives Characters can rest to recover their energy and
Adventurer Phase

can be Interacted with to cause an effect. These patch themselves up. A character can only Rest
effects will be listed under the quest being played when there are no enemies in the same room or
or terrain being used - e.g. pull a lever, take an within short range and LoS, and the character is
objective token, etc. not Burning. Characters may Rest even when they
start a turn prone and/or Fatigued.
Unless stated otherwise, to Interact with an
object an Adventurer must be in contact with it Resting requires two consecutive actions in the
and unengaged. same round. When a character rests, they may:
• Remove all Fatigued counters.
DON/REMOVE ARMOUR • Restore up to two Magic pegs.
Armour cannot be put straight into your • Restore up to one Health peg or one Skill peg.
character’s armour slot – it takes time to put • Remove one Wounded or Poisoned counter.
on. When picked up it should be placed in • Stand Up, if prone.
the inventory. This action is used to move or All applicable effects will apply. If you Rest while
swap any number of armour tokens from the in contact with a defeated character, you may
inventory to the armour slot or vice versa. This apply any of the effects above (or the effects of
can only be done when not engaged. any items used while resting) to the defeated
For smaller items the player may choose which character instead of yourself. The defeated
side of the armour slot to swap out, retaining character is then marked as activated for this
access to any Skills or abilities in the other side. round if they were not already.

STAND UP OTHER ACTIONS

This action allows a prone character to return to This list is not exhaustive – there
their feet, standing the character upright. They act may be other actions that are
normally from then on. used in specific quests, or only
when a character has a particular
CAST SPEL L Skill. They will be detailed in the
appropriate place.
Spells take a varying amount of effort to cast
depending on their power. While some magical
effects are applied passively, effortlessly or as
part of other actions, most require an action
themselves to cast. These are marked with the
action icon in their rules. See page 34 for full
details of how magic works.

30
EFFORTL ESS ACTIONS THROWING ITEMS
Effortless actions are small things that a character Thrown items do not have to target a character –
may do while on the run or in the heat of combat, they can be aimed at an empty square if you wish.
such as ducking into cover or swiping an item from
Throwing an item requires LoS to the target square,
the floor as they run past.
and the target must be in short range.
A single effortless action can be made for free
in addition to your regular actions each round. Throwing Weapons
Effortless actions may also be taken any time you
All melee weapons that are not Cumbersome can
could take a standard action.
be thrown to make an attack.
You may also spend a Skill peg to use an additional
The number of dice shown on the item are rolled
effortless action in a turn, but this will count as
like a ranged attack against any character in the
your Skill use for that round (see page 32).
target square. Weapon abilities such as Sharp
Unless stated otherwise, effortless actions can will apply as normal unless they are specific to
only be made before or after other actions – they melee attacks.
cannot be made mid-action.
The thrown weapon is removed from the
Effortless actions include: character’s dashboard and placed on the floor in
the target square (under a character’s base if the
• Dashing. square is occupied). It will remain in position to
• Laying prone. be retrieved.
• Using an item marked .
• Casting a spell marked . Note that thrown weapons can break just like any
• Opening or closing a door. others following two results.
• Throwing an item.
• Picking up, dropping or swapping a single item Throwing Other Items
in the same or an adjacent square (multiple All equipment tokens can be thrown without
items can be picked up, dropped or swapped as resolving an attack, such as when you want to pass
a Search action). an item to a fellow Adventurer.
• Giving, taking or swapping an item with an
adjacent character from your party (or another A target square in range and LoS must be chosen
party if the owning player allows it). Multiple just like a thrown weapon.
items may be exchanged with a full action.
Once you have determined your target square, roll
Just like regular actions, there may be further the blue combat die as follows:
effortless actions available in certain missions or
with certain Skills. Some Skills even make regular • Two hits: A character in the target square
actions effortless! (if any) catches the item – place it in
their inventory.
• One hit: Place the item in the target square. A
DASHING character in the square may pick it up in their
A Dash is a special type of Move action that turn as normal.
represents a character ducking into cover, • No hits: You have missed – the token lands in an
sidestepping an attack, leaning around a corner to
shoot, or making an extra effort to charge
adjacent square of your choice.
• : You have seriously missed – scatter the item
Adventurer Phase
into combat. from the target square.
It allows a character to move up to one square, If there is intervening terrain between the
following all the regular movement rules. thrower and the target, reduce the number of hits
rolled by 1.
EFFORTL ESS ITEMS
Certain items will have the icon allowing them
to be used effortlessly. The token will state the
effect that applies; for example:

An Arcanum Kouse that restores 2 Magic pegs

A Sanguine Stone that can be
channelled to add a Health peg

31
 SKIL LS PASSIVE SKIL LS
Skills allow characters to spend Skill pegs to do Some Skills are marked as passive. Once a character
has the relevant level of that Skill or above, this rule
Adventurer Phase

things above and beyond the standard rules.

is always in effect, and does not require any Skill
Each character has their own skill pegs to use. Passive Skills can still be used even if a
set comprising the Skills on their character has no Skill pegs remaining.
Class board and often one or two
on their Adventurer board. Each REACTIONS
Skill is represented by a coloured
icon – a full list can be found on Some Skills are marked as reactions. These will
page 74. As the character gains usually be used outside of your character’s turn,
Experience the spaces around the icon will be reacting to an event or attack made by another
marked to show the character’s proficiency with character. The trigger condition for each Skill’s
that Skill, from 1 to 3. This value may be referred to use will be detailed in its description. This trigger
in some Skills as ‘X’. condition, or any action currently being taken (for
example an opponent making an attack) must be
Adventurers may only spend Skill pegs once per fully resolved before your Skill is used. The Skill
round, regardless of purpose. Reaction Skills do is then used immediately, before regular play
not count towards this limit. Unless otherwise resumes where it left off.
noted in the Skill’s description, Skills must be used
during a character’s turn. One reaction Skill can be used per round, even
if your character has already been activated this
Some Skills grant actions themselves. These are round, and even if you have already used a Skill.
used before or after regular actions, not during,
and do not count towards your actions for the BETWEEN GAMES
turn. Some Skills are used during other actions.
Some Skills are used between games. Doing so will
To use a Skill, you must: require an Adventurer to use Skill pegs as usual.
1. Select which Skill you want to use and at which The phase they can be used in is marked in bold.
level, up to the level available on their board. Adventurers that took part in the most recent
Some Skills may have multiple options at the mission will need to have pegs spare for these
same level. skills; Adventurers that did not take part will have
2. Unless stated otherwise, remove a number of access to their full amount. If not used between
Skill pegs from the Adventurer’s dashboard games excess Skill points are wasted.
equal to the Skill’s level. For example, using a
level 2 Skill removes 2 pegs. There is no limit on the number of Skills that can
3. Carry out the action listed in the Skill section for be used between games, but each Adventurer may
that Skill. use up to a number of pegs equal to their rank.
If a Skill contradicts anything in the core rules, the
Skill’s description takes precedence. DUPL ICATE SKIL LS
Skill pegs may also be spent for other reasons, such Some characters may have a Skill on their
as to gain additional effortless actions. Using Skill character board and have the same Skill type on
pegs in this way still counts towards the once per their Class board or an item. When determining
round limit. the level of that Skill that can be used, these
values are added together, even if the total is
higher than the character’s rank.
All Skills have a maximum level of 3.
Note that sometimes these Skills might be in
the character’s armour slot. Therefore, putting
armour on may reduce the level of a certain Skill
available to a character, even if they also had it on
their Class board.

32
 A revived Adventurer restores the specified
DEFEATED CHARACTERS amount of Health and removes the Assistance
A defeated Adventurer is not necessarily Counter. They are left prone, but can take their
dead – they may be unconscious or just too turn as normal in the current round if they
injured to move. Whatever the reason, they haven’t already.
are incapacitated and cannot participate in the
quest. A defeated Adventurer miniature should GRAB A L EG
be laid on its side, and an Assistance Counter (on
If the party can’t heal their comrades, defeated
the back of their
characters can also be carried or dragged off
Activation Counter)
the gaming area using the rules for moving
placed next to them
objects on page 50.
to remind you that
they are not just
prone. Any status ROB THEM BL IND
counters on the More ruthless players may
Adventurer remain opt to ‘rescue’ the defeated
in place, but will not character’s equipment
be resolved while rather than the character
they are defeated. themselves. Other
Hope is not lost however. The other Adventurers Adventurers in contact
(from any party) in play may attempt to help. with the defeated
Adventurer can make a Search action as if the
Important: Unless stated otherwise, defeated Adventurer were a Searchable terrain piece –
Adventurers can never be targeted by an enemy or taking any items they want from the character’s
effect or selected when a rule calls for a random inventory. Any discarded items are left next to the
Adventurer. Until they have been revived by defeated Adventurer.
restoring Health as detailed below, any rule that
would affect them is ignored. END OF A QUEST
REVIVING CHARACTERS In a campaign, characters left defeated at the end
of a quest must escape or be rescued – see page
Rest actions (page 30), Items, Skills or Spells that 60. If any of their equipment was stolen during
restore Health can be used to revive a defeated the game, they will not get it back.
Adventurer. However, they must be used by
another Adventurer – the defeated Adventurer
cannot use items themselves. The
Adventurer using the item can take it from
their own supplies, or from the defeated
Adventurer’s inventory or armour slot.

Adventurer Phase

33
 MAGIC
Whenever an Adventurer (not an NPC) would
Magic

THE MAGIC OF MALADUM spend Magic pegs, whether casting a spell, using a
magical item, or anything else, the Magic Die must
When a Maladaar connects with the unseen be rolled. The results are as follows:
world machines of Mesa and bids them to do
its will, it is known as the Communion, and Mental Overload: Any pegs used at this
in this Communion, truly incredible feats are time are discarded with no effect. The
possible. It is not uncommon to see a Maladaar character becomes Fatigued.
heal mortal wounds, leap across chasms, assail
their enemies with the primal forces and even If this roll was due to a spell cast via an
defy the laws of nature entirely. Though vastly item, instead of Fatiguing the character
ranging in potency and skill, these acts have the item is broken and cannot be used
collectively become known as spells. again this game.
There are limits to what the Communion Mental Stability: There is no
can achieve. A Maladaar cannot create from further effect.
nothingness, only manipulate that which
already exists. Fire cannot be sprung from
the void, yet torchlight may be plucked from Mental Recovery: After any current
its brazier and possessed by a Maladaar as effects are resolved, the character
skillfully as one would wield a blade or bow. restores one Magic peg.
Withering Blast: After any current
All Magic is resolved using a character’s Magic effects are resolved, all other
Pegs, used for casting and resisting spells as well as characters (friend or foe) within two
using magical items and armour. squares and LoS of this character
are moved one square directly away
Important: The first time an Adventurer uses (if possible, and with no attacks of
Magic pegs in each round, add one blue peg to the opportunity) and are laid prone.
Dread Tracker after resolving the effects. NPCs do Affected characters may spend a Skill
not add pegs to the tracker. peg to keep their footing and ignore
this effect.
THE MAGIC DIE Radiating Aura: After any current
Manipulating the malacytes in your effects are resolved, this character and
blood requires a huge amount of all characters within two squares gain
willpower and focus, and in the one Magic peg (this may exceed their
heat of battle those can be hard to starting value).
come by! The Magic Die is used to Unstoppable!: Resolve the current
represent how attuned a character is effects as if one additional peg had
to their powers. been spent, even beyond any stated
maximum for the character, effect or
spell. If this result was rolled when
casting a spell against an enemy, it
cannot be resisted.
NOTES
• The Magic Die is only rolled once per action/
effect. If a rule would cause you to spend further
Magic pegs while still resolving the initial action
(e.g. using a Channelled item while casting a
spell), do not roll again.
• If a rule instructs you to discard a Magic peg
rather than spending it, the Magic Die is not
rolled and no pegs are added to the tracker.

34
 Other characters will have access to individual
SPEL LS spells indicated by icons in a similar way to Skills.
Maladaar Classes come These individual spells may be on their character
with a reference card board, class board, or items they carry.
Level 1
Healing : Restore X Health (max 3).

: Gain X Blessed counters.

detailing all the spells that
character can learn. Each
Focus

strengtH : Gain +X until end of round.

spell is colour coded to

speed Use during Move for additional X+1 squares.

recover : Remove Fatigued counter.

: Remove Poisoned counter.
match its type – Proximate,
Vicarious and Elemental, as
calm : Target removes a Terrified counter.

malacyte sHield
Level 2
: Increase Warded value by X (max 1).
detailed on page 68.
Hyper awareness : Take Reminder counter and become
Blessed. At any time, discard to take an action. Remove
counter in Assessment Phase.

Jump : Move X+1 squares away, counting each square

Characters learn spells

horizontally and vertically.

strengtHen : Target removes X Fatigued counters.

in the same way as

Magic

Healing Hands : Target restores X Health (max 3).

gaining Skills, by spending

Experience on them as
detailed on pages 54 and
62. When a character learns a spell its space on
the reference card will be marked, and the character
may then use that spell in games.

35
 CASTING SPEL LS Physical Armour
Spells may be cast in a variety of ways. Some are Armour can restrict the natural flow of energy. A
passive, meaning that their effects are always character wearing physical armour while casting
Magic

available for use, whereas others will be marked a spell must discard additional Magic pegs equal
with or icons to show that they require an to the highest value in their armour slot. These
action or an effortless action to cast. pegs do not count towards X or any other limits or
requirements relating to the spell.
Proximate spells (page 68) affect the caster
themselves. All other spells require a target within Other uses of Magic pegs such as Channelled items
medium range and LoS unless stated otherwise. are unaffected by physical armour.
Unless stated otherwise, spells that require RESISTING MAGIC
an action cannot be cast when engaged – the
proximity of your enemies is too distracting. Many spells can cause harm or ill effects to other
Passive and effortless spells can be cast as usual. characters. However, those characters may draw
on their own malacytes to resist these effects.
There is no limit on the number of spells that can
be cast per round. A character directly targeted by a spell may
spend a number of their own Magic pegs (up to
Many spells will have a casting value (denoted a maximum of the defending character’s rank) to
as “X”) in their description – this is the power of reduce its power. This is decided after the Magic
the spell and relates to the number of Magic pegs Die has been rolled for the spell, but before its
spent to cast it. If a spell does not have a value, effects are applied. Reduce the casting value of the
only one peg must be spent, although you may spell by the number of pegs spent before applying
choose to use more to prevent the spell being its effects. If the casting value is reduced to zero,
resisted (see below). the spell has no effect.
A character may use any number of pegs up to If a spell targets multiple characters, each
their current rank (see page 62) each time they resists it individually, and only reduces its effect
cast a spell. against themselves.
To cast a spell, you must: Don’t forget that as they are spending pegs, an
1. Select the spell you want to cast. Adventurer resisting a spell will also roll the Magic
2. Decide how much power you want to use for Die themselves.
the spell and spend X Magic pegs from your
dashboard, returning them to the supply. If your
character has physical armour you will need
to discard additional pegs – see below.
3. Roll the Magic Die.
4. Carry out the action listed on the reference
card with X equal to the number of pegs spent,
applying any Mental Overload or Unstoppable!
results as applicable.
5. Resolve any other effects of the Magic Die
roll. If this is the first time in the round that an
Adventurer has used magic, add one peg to the
Dread Tracker.

36
RESTORING MAGIC MAGICAL ARMOUR
PEGS Some spells and items create a magical forcefield
around a character, protecting them from harm.
A character’s Magic pegs will fluctuate throughout This icon allows a character to activate
the game. Unless stated otherwise, they can never their armour.
exceed their starting value.
The character must spend an action and
The Rest action allows a character to restore up to the number of Magic pegs shown
Magic pegs, but they can also be restored to become Warded, taking a counter
by various skills and items marked with the showing the number of pegs spent. The
Regeneration icon. token must be rotated 180° to mark it as
active - it cannot be used in this position.
MAGICAL ITEMS The character now has a magical armour value
equal to this number. Multiple items and effects
Weapons and equipment can be imbued with may be used to increase this value.
malacytes that can be harnessed by a skilled
Adventurer. While active, the character will deflect incoming
hits up to this value in the same way as physical
Some items grant a character armour. However:
magical armour or a magic-related
ability or Skill, such as Lothor’s • The user can boost its strength. If they take
Destiny. This will be shown with more hits than the armour’s value they may
the relevant icons on the token. spend any number of Magic pegs to block
additional hits – one hit blocked per peg spent.
Others such as the Enchanted The user will then become Fatigued.
Blade require the user to channel • Magical armour with a value higher than 1 must
their own malacytes into the item be maintained by the user. In the Assessment
to unlock its powers. These are Phase, the user must either discard a Magic
marked with the Channel icon. peg or become Fatigued for each point on their
At least one Magic peg must be spent when the Warded counter after the first. If they do not,
item is used to activate the associated abilities. their Warded value must be reduced accordingly.
Some of the most powerful equipment has the • If the user takes damage or becomes Stunned
full force of a spell trapped inside, ready to be their Warded counter is removed and all
released. These items will be marked with a tokens with the Magical Armour icon are
spell that can be used as if the character knew rotated upright.
it themselves. In this case, the Mental Overload
result on the Magic Die applies to the item, not NPCS AND MAGIC
the user – instead of Fatiguing the user the item
will be broken. NPCs do not add Magic pegs to the Dread Tracker
or roll the Magic Die when they spend Magic pegs.
Full details of all the icons in the game can be
found on page 83. NPCs with magical armour will arrive with the
relevant Warded status in place. NPCs do not need
to maintain their armour regardless of its value.
They will always boost their armour while they
have pegs remaining.
When resisting spells, NPCs will always spend as
many pegs as are required to cancel/reduce its
effects while they have pegs remaining, up to
their rank as normal. If they do not have enough
pegs to reduce or cancel a spell’s effects, they will
not resist.
Magic

37
 NPC ACTIVATION
When the rules call for an NPC type to activate, Once a target has been chosen, it remains locked
NPC Activation

whether Adversary or otherwise, the same process for the rest of that character’s turn. This applies
is followed. even if a closer target came into view part-way
through a move. The target is only reassessed
ACTIONS & TARGETS mid-turn if the original target is defeated or
the character engages another target en-route.
In the Adventurer Phase, you were able to decide Otherwise, it will be reassessed in the character’s
which actions your party would take. However, next turn.
NPCs are not under your control and will instead
take their actions based on their AI.
For some NPC types this is fixed and will be
determined in their individual rules or on the Event
Card that caused them to arrive.
Others, including most Adversaries, will simply
attack, but before resolving their actions each NPC
character must choose a target!
• By default the target will be the closest enemy
character within LoS and not in cover.
• If all visible characters are in cover, the target
will be the closest.
• If there are no visible characters, their
target will instead be the closest
enemy character. Work this out by
measuring the shortest possible
distance between the activating
character and the potential targets,
moving around terrain and
through doors as necessary.
• Defeated Adventurers are
never targeted.
• In all cases, the target must
be a character that the NPC
is physically able to attack,
i.e. there is an empty space
that will allow the NPC
to engage the target or
a clear LoS for a ranged
attack. If the closest
target is surrounded,
the NPC will target the
next nearest enemy with
space around it instead,
unless no alternative
targets are in play.

38
Based on the chosen target, the NPC will take • When attacking, NPCs will always use the most
actions following the chart below, with the powerful statistic they have available, whether
following exceptions: it’s their basic statistic or a weapon they are
carrying. If a weapon is capable of making a
• NPCs placed off the gaming area will use their forceful hit, the NPC will always do so whenever
first action to Move onto it in the same way the target has an armour value.
as Adventurers. • NPCs do not make effortless actions. Any time
• NPCs that have been knocked prone must use that the rules would require them to, such as
their first action to Stand Up, before taking any opening a door or picking up an item, they
further actions as normal. spend a full action.
• NPCs that take a Move action always move as far
as possible (i.e. the full 4 squares) unless they Once you’ve played a couple of times these actions
move into contact with their target or another will become second nature.
enemy, at which point they will stop.
• If an NPC is unable to Move due to lower- This covers all the most common rules but is not
ranking friendly NPCs blocking their path, the exhaustive. With such an open system, other
lower-ranking characters will be pushed aside to interactions may come up in your games. If it’s
make space. not obvious, choose the action that is most
• If the shortest route to their target is via a closed in character for the NPC in question, and if in
door, NPCs will Move as far as the door and doubt, do whatever causes the most harm to
stop, and spend their next action opening the your Adventurers!
door. Unless stated otherwise, Adversaries may For example, you may have an NPC that fires a
open doors even if locked (see page 44). Non- Crossbow with the Preparation rule, requiring
Adversary NPCs will not open or trace a route the user to spend an action readying the weapon.
through locked doors. This action is not in the AI rules, but it makes sense
• If the shortest route to their target is blocked by that the NPC would do it if they were in a position
a Barricade (see page 46), the NPC will target to fire again.
the Barricade first. Once it is destroyed they will
continue to their target as normal. If using multi-level terrain there may also be
• NPCs will not enter an area that would cause opportunities for NPCs to Climb and Jump to reach
them harm (walking through a trap for example) their targets, so the players should agree amongst
unless there is no other route to their target. themselves if an NPC would do this or not.

NPC AI ACTION CHART

START HERE
Can the NPC reach
NO the target with one YES
of its melee attacks,
without moving? TAKE ACTION
NO Is the target in YES The NPC will make a
the NPC’s LoS? Melee Attack action
against the target.
Does the NPC have
NO a ranged weapon or YES
ability that can reach
NPC Activation
TAKE ACTION
the target?
The NPC will Move
towards the target
via the shortest
route. NO Can the NPC reach and YES
attack the target in melee Will the NPC’s ranged
this turn? attack roll more dice than
NO their best melee attack? YES

TAKE ACTION
NO Has the NPC already YES The NPC will make a
moved this turn? Ranged Attack action
against the target.

39
 ADVERSARY PHASE
In this phase, Adversary NPCs will arrive onto Adversaries arrive at
Adversary Phase

the gaming area and attack. In this starter set a random location
your Adversaries are the Revenants, but other around the gaming
Adversaries will appear in other settings. area determined by
the Magic Die. The
In each round the Adversaries are moved and numbers on the die
rolled for by the first player, unless that player’s correspond to the
party are the ones being attacked in which case Entry Point counters.
another player should roll. Roll separately for each type
The Phase has two stages: of Adversary arriving.

1. Arrival Once you have determined the number of each

2. Activation character type arriving and their respective Entry
Points, place them just off the gaming area next to
their Entry Point. They will move onto the gaming
ARRIVAL area in their turn.
The number of Adversaries that arrive each round
is determined by the Dread Tracker (the board is
bespoke to each Adversary type).
RISEN FROM THE GRAVE
You’ll see that the Revenant Die in
Each band on the tracker shows a number of icons
this starter set has the following
indicating the characters that could potentially
icon on some of the faces:
arrive in this phase. These match the icons on the
character boards for that Adversary type. In the If this icon is rolled when determining how
case of the Revenants, these are: many Adversaries arrive, they do not arrive
Lamentor Myria Hellfont Rot Troll from Entry Points. Instead they arrive via the
Grave Points around the gaming area.

If an icon is followed by a number,

that many characters will arrive. If
the icon is followed by a die icon,
roll that die to determine whether
any characters will appear. Start at
the top, and work down the list to Unless specified otherwise, the Adversaries will
see what arrives. arrive at the closest Grave Point to an enemy
that does not have a character or terrain piece
on top of it. Only one Adversary can be placed
at each point – subsequent arrivals will be
If there are multiple dice shown, the arrival placed at the next nearest point instead.
point for characters generated by each die is
resolved separately. Characters generated by the They are placed onto the gaming area
same die arrive together. immediately when they arrive and will activate
from that position.
Once the Dread level reaches its maximum band
at the top of the tracker, the characters arriving Adversaries that do not roll the Revenant
each round will be the same as in the band below, Die always arrive via Entry Points. If for any
but from now on all Adversaries will use the reason all Grave Points are covered or inactive,
increased statistics on the reverse side of their Adversaries will arrive at the nearest Entry
character boards. Point instead.

Note that some Dread boards may show other

non-Adversary NPCs. These characters will arrive
at the start of the NPC Phase (see page 42).

40
NOT ENOUGH ADVERSARY
ADVERSARIES? COMMANDER
Unless a game effect states otherwise, you will All Adversary types have a Commander,
only use the Adversary miniatures that come in the marked by the special rank icon on their
starter set. At times you may find that you need character board. The Revenant Commander
to roll for a type of Adversary to enter the gaming is the Malagaunt.
area, but there are none of that type left.
If the Adversary Commander is in play, they always
If this is the case, use the next lowest ranked take their turn first. There are no rank-based limits
Adversary character available. For example, if a to their abilities. The Commander has a reference
Hellfont (rank 2) is required but unavailable use a card to detail their actions as they won’t always
Myria (also rank 2) instead; if they are unavailable follow the standard rules.
use a Lamentor (rank 1).
Defeating an Adversary Commander will be tough,
If there are no rank 1 Adversaries left and you need but if you can achieve it you will be rewarded with
to spawn more, then none will arrive until some a valuable prize. All Commanders come with a set
have been defeated. of exclusive equipment tokens (the ones marked
Remember that Adversaries with the Worthy in the case of the Malagaunt).
Opponent rule such as the Rot Troll only appear When a Commander enters play, draw one of their
once. Once one is in play do not resolve its arrival items at random and add it to their inventory, if
again, even to place a lower-ranked character, or possible. They will not use this item, but will drop it
even after it is defeated. as normal if defeated.
Additional packs of Adversaries are available for
games with higher difficulty – see page 58. The
Veteran Event Cards in these packs will allow the
additional Adversaries to enter play.

ACTIVATION
All Adversaries now take turns in the same manner
as all other NPCs as detailed on page 38.
Adversaries are activated starting with the highest
rank and continuing to the lowest. If there are
multiple Adversaries with the same rank in play, the
first player chooses the order in which they activate.
Adversaries placed off the gaming area will use
their first action to move onto it in the same way
as Adventurers.

Adversary Phase

41
 NPC PHASE
In this Phase, all non-Adversary NPCs controlled by
ORDER OF ACTIVATION
NPC Phase

the game will act. There are two types of NPC in

this starter set – Wandering Beasts and Denizens. NPCs are activated starting with the highest rank
For your first few games you can choose not to use and continuing to the lowest. When NPCs are
NPCs at all while you learn the rest of the rules. placed onto the gaming area, it’s best to lay their
boards out in rank order for quick reference.
Like the Revenants, NPCs are controlled by the
game. They should be physically moved and rolled If there are multiple NPCs with the same rank in
for by the first player unless that player’s party play, the first player chooses the order in which
is being attacked, in which case another player they activate.
should roll.
ACTIONS
ARRIVAL Unless stated otherwise in their rules, all NPCs
NPCs usually arrive on the gaming area via the choose their targets and activate as detailed on
Event Deck. Like Adversaries they will usually be page 38.
placed next to an Entry Point and will move onto
the gaming area in this phase when it’s their turn JOINING PARTIES
to activate. Follow all other instructions on the
card with regard to their statistics, equipment, or It is possible for some NPCs to join your party,
initial actions. usually when Persuaded by an Adventurer.

If you are required to select an NPC and have Once an NPC has joined a party they are part of
multiples of that type in your collection, shuffle that party for all purposes.
together the relevant character boards and pick They will be activated in the Adventurer Phase
one at random before determining any by that party’s player and can make all available
starting equipment. actions as normal.
Sometimes, a rule may generate an NPC without They will retain their NPC statistics for now – do
drawing an Event Card. For example, when using not flip their Character board.
Side B of the Revenant Dread board there is a
chance that a Denizen can arrive. This is resolved If defeated, they are removed from the gaming
at the start of the NPC Phase. area and cannot be revived. Any items they were
carrying are left on the floor where they fell.
If an NPC arrives in this way, take all Event Cards of
the relevant type that are not being used for the If they leave the gaming area while part of your
current game and draw one at random. Resolve it party, you may take any equipment they were
immediately. If no cards are available, no NPC carrying, even if they do not permanently join you.
will arrive.
They are still considered part of your party even
when they are the only Adventurers left on the
gaming area. If you need or want an NPC to survive
the game you would continue playing until they
escaped or were defeated as normal. If you do
not need or want them alive you can end the
game prematurely, leaving them
to their fate…
If an NPC leaves your
party for any
reason, any items
they are carrying
at the time remain
in their inventory.

42
WANDERING BEASTS EQUIPMENT
Wandering Beasts are everything from resident Most Denizens will arrive on the gaming area with
creepy-crawlies to hungry predators to patrolling a random selection of equipment. If you prefer,
soldiers – anyone or anything with no agenda who for a little more immersion you may select the
just happens to cross your path. character’s equipment to match their miniature,
as long as it’s in line with the equipment types and
These characters are marked by the icon on rarities on their card.
their boards, and are used whenever the cards
are shuffled into the Event Deck. Important: If an NPC arrives carrying a ranged
weapon that requires ammunition, give them a
Different Beasts will activate in different ways, matching ammunition token from the supply for
detailed on the Event card that introduces them. free, provided they have space in their inventory.
These cards should be kept next to the character
boards as a reminder and discarded if the
character is defeated. OPPORTU NISTS
NOTE: All rank 1 Beasts have the Opportunists are a type of Denizen whose goal
Pack icon. These characters arrive in is to grab as much loot as possible! Here are a
groups; instead of a single miniature, few notes to accompany the rules on their card.
place a number of characters equal
to this value. • By ‘least threatened’ this means that the
Opportunist will prioritise terrain pieces and
items with no enemies in short range even
DENIZENS if they are not the closest, unless there is no
other option.
Along your travels you’ll meet all kinds of
• Yes, Opportunists can steal your mission
characters, many of them Adventurers just like you,
objectives!
each with their own destinies to fulfil. Some may
• Opportunists are well tooled-up for
need your assistance, some will get in your way,
breaking and entering. They will unlock and
and some are out for blood!
open any locked door or crate they need to
These characters are marked by the icon on access by spending an action.
their boards, and are used whenever the cards • If an Opportunist empties a terrain
are shuffled into the Event Deck. You will note piece, mark it with a Searched counter.
that these NPCs are on the reverse of your regular Opportunists will ignore Searched terrain
Adventurer boards – in this way any unused pieces, although they will still Search terrain
Adventurer can be used as an NPC. pieces left empty by your Adventurers.
• If an Opportunist Searches and only finds
Different Denizens will activate in different ways, tokens that do not fit into their inventory, they
detailed on the Event card that introduces them, will swap items from their inventory (starting
and this card will often also increase their starting with the lowest-cost) to fit in as many items
statistics. These cards should be kept next to the as possible. Afterwards there may be a small
character boards as a reminder and discarded if space remaining that no available item fits
the character is defeated. into – if this is the case they still consider their
inventory to be full and will return to an Entry
Unless stated otherwise, Denizens treat Point to stash the items.
Adventurers as friendly unless you attack them, but
they will still treat Adversaries and other NPC types
(such as Wandering Beasts) as enemies.
NOTE: Denizens are usually selected randomly.
However, if you want to use a specific character/
miniature for thematic purposes then you may
do so.
NPC Phase

43
 TERRAIN
Many terrain pieces in Maladum are interactive and
DOORS
Terrain

will often be key to a mission’s success. Most terrain

pieces will block line of sight to some degree and
provide cover as explained on page 11.
Each lists its size and armour to be used with
any applicable rules.

WAL LS
Some wall sections contain doors which can be
partially punched out and folded to mark them as
open or closed.
Unless specified otherwise in the quest, all
doors are considered to start the game closed
and unlocked.
When closed, doors block movement and LoS in
Wall panels are solid and immovable. They the same way as a solid wall.
completely block movement and LoS and cannot
be destroyed. Once opened, the squares on either side of the
doorway are considered to be in contact as if the
The edge of the playing area is considered to be wall panel was not there, and LoS can be drawn
a wall for rules purposes, but you do not need to through the doorway. The door will still block LoS
physically place walls around the edges. or provide cover to characters behind the door.
Some walls will be placed diagonally across the For Adventurers, opening or closing a door is an
gaming area. The squares underneath them are effortless action when in contact with the doorway,
impassable unless a character has a small base, in as long as they are not engaged. Simply change the
which case a single character can fit in the door’s position as appropriate. For double doors,
half square. open both sides.
Some doors straddle multiple squares. All squares
at least partially touching the doorway are in
contact and the door can be moved through from
any of them.
NPCs do not make effortless actions and require a
regular action to open a door in their path.

LOCKED DOORS
Locked doors are different in that they must
be unlocked or breached before they can
be opened. Quests will usually specify how
and when doors can be locked and unlocked.
Otherwise, this can be done with Keys, spells,
and some Skills, among other things.

Lock markers can be slotted over the

top of a wall to mark a door as locked.

Adversaries ignore locks – you are in their domain

If using multi-level terrain for all or part of your and it is assumed that they have keys or that
gaming area, there may be situations where a their Commander will ensure that their path is
character could draw LoS ‘over’ a wall. Unless unhindered. Adversaries must still open closed
topped with a floor or railing, or agreed otherwise doors, but automatically remove any lock markers
with the players, walls are considered to be when doing so.
infinitely high and block all LoS.

44
SEARCHABL E TERRAIN ARCANIST’S DESK
Terrain pieces such as
chests, crates or tombs
are Searchable, and
contain equipment
that your Adventurers
can pick up and use.
They will be filled with
a random selection of Unless stated otherwise, the desk will usually
items (see page 18) at contain specific items detailed in the quest
the start of each game. briefing. It always starts the game locked and can
only be unlocked using a Key item found in the
Searchable terrain same quest. Alternatively, a character may Interact
pieces can be locked with it and spend a Skill peg and a Magic peg to
and unlocked just like doors. unlock it. NPCs do not have Skill pegs and cannot
No Searchable terrain piece can hold more than unlock or Search the desk.
five tokens at once unless stated otherwise.
SCONCES
TOMBS

Sconces can be Interacted with to take a

Torch equipment token.
Tombs are filled with equipment tokens just like
chests, and will have space inside for larger items
buried with their previous owners. However, those They can also be Interacted with to discard an Arrows
previous owners won’t always stay inside! token and replace it with a Fire Arrows token.
Once a tomb has been opened,
leave the lid ajar. Open tombs
are treated as a Grave Point
(see page 40) for the
rest of the game. Arriving Sconces and Torches are both a source of fire for
characters are placed in any rules that require it.
empty adjacent square.

WEAPONS RACK
WEL L

Weapons Racks can be

Terrain

Searched but are not

physically filled with equipment
tokens. Instead, when the rack is
Searched, draw an uncommon weapon (i.e. a blue Wells are a source of water for rules that require
token with a yellow icon) at random, and mark the it, and can be Interacted with to remove a
Weapons Rack with a Search counter. Burning counter.
Note that the stone surround does not impede
movement in any way.

45
 L EVERS AND WHEELS BARRICADES
Terrain

Levers, Wheels and similar don’t have any rules

of their own, but their use will be detailed in
quests to activate/deactivate various systems Some spells and other effects will create barricades
and mechanisms. Adventurers will usually – temporary terrain pieces that block your path.
be required to Interact with these objects to
Some barricades are high, blocking LoS and
achieve their objective.
Movement, while others are low, blocking
Movement to a lesser degree and providing cover.
CRUCIBL E OF Barricades have an armour value of 1 and will
RESURRECTION need to be destroyed (see page 47) to clear a
way through.
If the space in contact with an Entry Point is filled
with a barricade, characters will be temporarily
prevented from arriving. Next time that Entry Point
is rolled, the arriving characters must be placed at
the next active Entry Point clockwise around the
gaming area instead. Then remove the Barricade.
There is a limit to the amount of debris lying
around that can be assembled into barricades.
Only four barricades can be in play for each gaming
mat being used. Once these are in play, no more
may be created until one is destroyed.

The Crucible is a vat of magically infused chemicals TABL ES, CHAIRS

brewed up by the Malagaunt. The volatile AND PIL LARS
concoction reacts with the lifeforce of any living
thing, and can be manipulated to drain life, heal
wounds, or even restore the soul of a creature that
should no longer have one!
Adventurers may Interact with the Crucible and
choose one of the following effects, spending
Magic pegs as applicable:
• Restore X health to yourself or any other
character in contact with the Crucible.
• Fatigue a character within medium range of
the Crucible X times.
• Deal one damage to a Revenant character of up
to rank X within medium range of the Crucible.
• Look at the top X+2 cards of the Event Deck.
Discard up to one card from those revealed,
then shuffle the rest back into the deck.
However, manipulating the Crucible takes its toll.
Any character that rolls a Mental Overload result Unless specified otherwise, these terrain pieces
while Interacting with the Crucible loses Health have no rules of their own, but like barricades they
pegs equal to the number of Magic pegs spent. can block movement and provide cover.

46
GRAVE POINTS DESTROYING TERRAIN
Around the gaming area you Sometimes subtlety just isn’t the best way
will see the following image forward and you need to smash your way through
printed onto the gaming your problems.
area. This area of loose earth
signifies where the dead have Terrain pieces and doors can be destroyed by
been recently buried, and attacking them using the normal rules. Terrain
where they could rise again! may also be indirectly hit by Blast effects targeting
These markings are only used characters near them. Terrain pieces that can be
when playing with Revenant destroyed have a physical armour value shown in
Adversaries as described on their rules.
page 40 – in all other games A single point of damage is enough to destroy
they are ignored. a piece of terrain. Terrain pieces do not suffer
Grave Points do not block Movement or LoS in status effects.
any way and other than when Adversaries are Attacks with the Bludgeoning rule roll one
arriving through them they are treated like any additional die against terrain pieces.
other square.
If a door is destroyed, leave it open and
Grave Points covered by a terrain mark it with a Destroyed marker – it no
piece are ignored. longer blocks LoS in any way and cannot
The separate Grave Point markers be closed.
included in the box are for use If any other piece of terrain is destroyed, remove
with the Fresh Graves Event card. it from the gaming area. If it was Searchable, any
items inside are placed on the floor where it was.
If playing against Revenant Adversaries on a
One of these items chosen at random is destroyed
gaming area that does not include these markings,
along with the terrain piece. One of the remaining
you will need to place counters around the
items chosen at random is broken. Any other items
gaming area to represent them as detailed on the
can be used as normal.
Malagaunt reference card. We recommend using
the Battle Systems Graveyard set for this. If not specified in the quest, it is wise to agree
before each game any critical terrain pieces or
doors that cannot be destroyed, or any pieces that
should be particularly heavily or lightly armoured
to suit the story.

BURNING TERRAIN
As an optional rule, players may choose to set fire
to terrain pieces. If using this rule, terrain pieces
suffer Burning counters (see page 16) in the
usual way when targeted with a weapon or effect
with the rule.
In addition, a character with this rule may Interact
with a terrain piece to automatically add a
Burning counter.
In the Assessment Phase, when the counter would
normally cause damage, instead add another
Burning counter to the terrain piece. If at the
end of any Assessment Phase a terrain piece has
a number of counters equal to or higher than its
armour, it is destroyed as detailed above.
Terrain

Burning terrain pieces can be extinguished in the

same way as an Adventurer. Any character that
Interacts with or Searches a terrain piece while it is
Burning suffers a Burning counter themselves.

47
 TRAPS PITS
Some traps, usually triggered by Event Cards, Pits can be placed in
any empty squares of
Terrain

require you to place a new terrain piece onto the

gaming area. the gaming area that
are not in contact with
SWINGING BLADES Entry Points. They can
be placed on top of
Swinging Blades are placed into slots in the top of Grave Points as well as
the wall sections. They are generally placed into underneath characters!
the nearest empty slot to the position they were
triggered from. The pit is considered two squares deep. Any
character that falls into a pit suffers a two-
They affect a line reaching four squares from dice attack with the Bludgeoning rule and is
their position. knocked prone.
While on top of the pit marker, characters
are considered to be inside the pit and below
ground, and therefore cannot see or be seen
by any character that is not adjacent to the pit.
They can only be engaged with or make attacks
of opportunity against characters also in the pit
with them.
Characters in the pit require a single action to get
out. They may be placed in any empty square in
contact with the pit – this ends their action.
Once placed, the pit remains in play. It may be
Jumped over following the normal rules (see page
51), and characters can be pushed into it via
Knock Back actions or other effects.
Any character that crosses this line (moving from
any red square to any blue square or vice versa) NETS
for any reason must spend a Skill peg or suffer a
3-dice attack with Sharp . This also applies to Nets are generally hanging
any character making a melee attack against a from the ceiling, but as your
character on the other side of the line (including gaming area doesn’t have a
attacks of opportunity), or to any character or ceiling a net marker is
terrain piece dragged/pushed across the line. A placed on the gaming area
terrain piece moved across the line that is not marking the character
destroyed will jam the blade and remove it. caught inside. While the net
is in place the character
Swinging Blades activate for a limited time. When inside is suspended in the air. They are not
they are placed, Reminder counters will be placed considered to be adjacent to any other square and
on top. One counter should be removed in each can be moved and seen through, although
Assessment Phase. When the last is removed, characters cannot stop in or arrive into the same
remove the Swinging Blade. square. They cannot be engaged and enemies will
only target them for ranged attacks.
The trapped character cannot Move and may
only make Attack actions, or any other action or
Skill that the players deem appropriate for use
while trapped.
The trapped character may make melee attacks
against the net, while other characters may make
ranged attacks against it. It has no armour value
and is removed if it suffers any damage. When it is
removed, the trapped character falls to the floor,
suffering a one-dice attack with Bludgeoning and
being knocked prone.

48
 OTHER RUL ES
LARGE BASES MOVEMENT
Some miniatures in the game are simply too large When moving, choose one of the squares the
to fit on a regular base and as such they fill more character is in and count the squares of movement
than one square on the gaming area. from that point as you would for a regular-
sized character. Regardless of the base size, the
These characters follow most of the normal rules, character may move through single-square gaps
but there are a few additions to allow them to and doorways.
interact with smaller characters and get through
narrow gaps. The character may not end their movement on top
of terrain or straddling a doorway – the character
PLACEMENT AND CONTACT must end their movement before moving onto it.

These large bases are placed onto the gaming The character may however end their movement
area straddling four squares instead of one, and on top of other characters, provided the other
are considered to take up the entirety of those characters are smaller and there is space to push
squares. There are eight surrounding spaces that them away to make room.
are in contact with them instead of the usual four. If there is no space for characters to move back,
the large character may not enter that location.

L INE OF SIGHT
Large characters may draw line of sight from any of
the squares their base covers.

BLAST WEAPONS
Characters on large bases only suffer the first
attack that reaches them from weapons with the
Blast rule – there is no effect for the blast radius
extending to the other squares of their base.

When a large-based model is engaged with a

regular model, it is possible for either of them to
Other Rules

move one square to the side without leaving

contact. This movement will not trigger an attack
of opportunity – that only happens if a character
leaves contact.

49
 SMAL L BASES MOVING OBJECTS
Some creatures in the game are very small and It’s not just equipment tokens that can be picked
Other Rules

multiple bases can fit into a single square. up. Crates, defeated characters, and other similar
items can be dragged from one place to another.
Crates, chests, weapon racks, tables, chairs and
barricades are moveable and have a size listed in
their rules, while all other terrain pieces such as
pillars, tombs and the well are not. If using other
terrain, players should agree before the game
which pieces can be moved and what size they are.
To move an object, an Adventurer must be
in contact with the object, and neither the
Adventurer nor the object can be in contact with
an enemy. The Adventurer can then make a Move
action, moving the dragged object alongside them.
These characters follow the normal rules, but with
two exceptions: The character’s movement speed may be affected
by the size of the object. The size of characters is
• They can end a Move in the same square as detailed on page 12.
other friendly small-based characters (to a
maximum of four per square). Characters may move objects smaller than
• Enemy characters can move through them, themselves with no penalty.
although cannot end a Move in the same square.
When moving an object of the same size characters
Otherwise, each character acts and is treated as if Move 2 squares fewer. If another Adventurer
it occupies the whole square. Each character will from your party is in contact with the object, you
get to make an attack of opportunity if an enemy may Move both Adventurers and the object as a
leaves contact. Each character will be targeted single action with no penalty. The Adventurer not
separately by attacks, although area effects such currently taking their turn becomes Fatigued.
as blast weapons will hit all characters within a
square equally. Characters may move objects up to one size larger
than themselves but only if they have help. Two
characters will be required as above to Move the
object at a -2 square penalty, or three characters
with no penalty.
Characters may not move objects two or more
sizes larger than themselves.

50
MUL TI-L EVEL GAMING JUMPING
As you become more familiar with the game you Characters do not always need to climb down from
may want to interact with the terrain a bit more objects or higher levels – they can jump instead.
and treat the gaming area as a little less two-
A character standing at the edge of an object or
dimensional. The Climbing and Jumping rules will
level may jump down as an effortless action.
allow you to do just that, clambering onto tables or
jumping over pits. You can also jump across open spaces such as pits
provided you have enough movement to reach the
You’ll note that the range ruler in the box has
other side.
markings along one side. These are one square/
inch apart and will allow you to measure vertical All characters have a safe distance at which they
distances as well as horizontal ones. can jump down and/or across without risk. This
distance is 1 square/inch unless stated otherwise.
Maladum is fully compatible with the wider range
For distances beyond this, roll one combat die
of Battle Systems modular scenery and you’ll find
per square/inch. Any results mean the jump
that as you progress to multi-level quests these
has failed and the character falls – see below.
rules will be vital.
Otherwise the jump was successful – place the
character at the bottom of the drop/on the other
CL IMBING side of the gap.
Stairs are climbed as part of normal movement and If jumping across and down, add the horizontal and
require no extra rules. Battle Systems staircases are vertical distances together to determine how many
designed so that miniatures can be placed on each dice to roll.
individual step.
A character may jump down a drop of any height,
A ladder in contact with a character can but no character can jump across a gap wider than
be Climbed up or down at a cost of one three squares/inches beyond their safe distance.
action for each level (height of a wall)
climbed, as long as there is space at
the other end of the ladder to place
FAL L ING
the character. There is of course a chance that a character will fall
and hurt themselves when jumping.
Objects up to one square/inch
high can be Climbed onto or If this happens, place the character prone in the
off of as an effortless action, closest empty square below the point they jumped
provided that the miniature can from. They suffer an attack with one die for every
be balanced on top (such as a full square/inch of height that they fell and with
table or crate). the Bludgeoning rule.
Some objects cannot be climbed onto due to Note that characters Knocked Back or moved
their shape, but can be climbed over provided involuntarily over an edge in any way are not
that they are less than one square in width (such considered to have jumped – this is resolved as
as a barricade). This requires an action. Place the a fall.
character on the other side of the object.
Any objects that do not fit these criteria can still SCRAMBL E
be climbed if all players agree. Climbing them will Some characters can climb and jump
require a number of actions based on their height larger distances without injury due to
and perceived difficulty, to be their Skills, species or magical
agreed with the other players. enhancements. They will have this icon.
You may decide that there
Other Rules

is a chance of falling off,

using the Magic Die The top number is the maximum height or width
and following the in squares/inches of objects that the character can
falling rules. move up or across as part of a normal Move action
– they do not need to Climb them or spend any
actions, just like a regular character climbing stairs.
The bottom number is the character’s safe distance
for Jumping down or across.

51
 Darkness has the following effects:
DARKNESS
• Characters can only draw LoS up to short range
Considering that the Dungeons of Enveron are into or through an area of darkness against
Other Rules

underground, it makes sense that it might be quite targets in that dark area. Therefore any target
hard to see! In some quests, part of all of the further than short range from the edge of a dark
gaming area will be affected by Darkness. area cannot be seen by those outside it.
Darkness only applies when specified in a quest • All attacks targeting a character in the dark roll
briefing or other special rule. However, players may one fewer die and forceful hits cannot be made.
agree to use the Darkness rules in any quest for an • Characters in the dark cannot make general
additional challenge. Search actions.
• All Climb and Jump actions made in the dark risk
falling, regardless of height or distance. Roll a
If only certain rooms are affected, combat die – on a the character falls, resolved
mark them with a Darkness counter. from their starting position.
• All characters’ safe distance for jumping is zero
when in the dark.
• When NPCs are choosing targets, they will
If the whole gaming area is dark except
prioritise a visible character in the light over a
for certain rooms, use the Light side of
closer one in the dark.
the counter instead.
Anything within short range of a source of fire is
The effect applies to the whole room. Only one
considered to be in the light, and can be targeted
counter may be in a room.
without penalty.
Any character with the Night Sight rule ignores
all the effects of Darkness, treating the entire
gaming area as lit.

52
SENTRIES SENTRY ACTIONS
Some quests require stealth, with your At the start of a quest using these rules,
Adventurers striving to complete their objectives Adversaries will only target enemies in LoS, or
uninterrupted by enemies. Noise (see below) in short range. If they cannot
see an enemy, they will instead use their actions to
Quests that use these rules will say so in the quest Move towards the next patrol point clockwise from
briefing, but they can also be added to other their current position.
quests if you wish.
If they gain LoS to an enemy or enter within short
When using these rules, the Adversary and range of Noise during their Move, they will target
Adversary Commander Event cards ( and in the that enemy/Noise for the rest of their turn.
case of the Dungeons of Enveron campaign) should
be removed from the Event Deck and set aside. Adversaries will not attack enemies further than
short range away until the alarm is raised.
PATROL ROUTES
NOISE
Quests that use the Sentries
rules will have a Patrol Route Noise is represented by Reminder counters.
marked on the map. At the Adventurers may spend an effortless action to make
start of the game, place the Noise, placing a Reminder counter in their position.
six Patrol Point markers in the Noise is also made automatically whenever:
positions shown. These do not • A non-Adversary character rolls one or more
block Movement or LoS and blunders in any roll.
cannot be Interacted with in • An item with the Loud icon is used.
any way – they simply mark the • A terrain piece suffers an attack.
patrol route for the sentries. • A non-Adversary character Moves for a second
If adding these rules to another or subsequent time in their turn. The counter is
quest you will need to create placed at the end of the Move.
your own Patrol Route. It Noise counters are discarded if an Adversary enters
should form a rough circuit of their square. Otherwise they are discarded in each
the gaming area, a room or Assessment Phase.
so in from the edges, with an
open route from each Patrol
Point to the next. RAISING THE ALARM
If any Adversary has LoS to an enemy (including
NPCs) within short range at the start of any
Adversary Phase, the alarm will be raised.
The alarm is also raised immediately if an
Adversary is ever within short range of three or
more Noise counters.
An Adventurer engaged with the alerted Adversary
may spend a Skill peg to prevent this.
When the alarm is raised, immediately raise the
Dread by 1 for each non-Adversary character in
play. Shuffle the set aside Adversary and Adversary
Commander cards into the Event Deck. For the rest
of the game, all Adversaries revert to the normal
Other Rules

targeting rules.

53
 ASSEMBL ING YOUR PARTY
Before you can set off on a Maladum adventure, NOTE: It is recommended that all parties select
Assembling Your Party

you’ll need to assemble your party. a good mix of Classes and Skills – you never
know what will come up during a quest. There’s
Adventurers are hired using their no fame to be had if your team of highly skilled
cost in Guilders as shown on their warriors are defeated by a simple magic trick or
character and Class boards. All even a locked door!
players taking part should agree on
a maximum budget in advance that
will be spent on these Adventurers EQUIPMENT
and on their starting equipment. Once your chosen Adventurers have Classes, it’s
For your first few games you don’t need to worry time to equip them. We recommend allocating
about choosing a party – we’ve put together a around 50 from your budget for equipment.
pre-built group of Adventurers and selected their For full details on purchasing equipment, see
starting equipment for you on the next page. the Market Phase on page 64. All the same
restrictions apply. Any of your budget left unused
However, once your collection grows and you learn is added to the Stash on your Base Camp board
more about the game you may decide to assemble (see opposite).
your own party. To do this, we recommend starting
with a limit of around 350, but you can agree any
limit you like with your opponents.
You can choose from any of the Adventurers
available, including NPCs with an Adventurer side
to their board, paying the cost shown.
IMPORTANT!: A party can contain any number of
Adventurers. However, unless stated otherwise you
If you are playing a multi-player campaign, players
may only take up to four of them into battle for
should take it in turns to purchase equipment.
each quest. You may take fewer if you wish.
Equipment is limited to the contents of the box,
and some things will run out quick!
CLASS BOARDS
Once you have selected your characters you VETERAN PARTIES
will need to choose their profession. For each
Most games and campaigns will start with a
Adventurer in your party, select any Class board
group of inexperienced Adventurers with no
from those available, pay its cost, and slot it into
advancements and basic equipment, and it will be
your dashboard.
up to you to develop their skills and find new gear
Then, for each of your Adventurer’s default as you play through the quests.
Experience (see page 6), mark one space of
If you don’t have time for a campaign, but you
your choice on the Class board.
want to play with more powerful equipment and
Each of the coloured icons represents a Skill, and Skills at your disposal, you can put together a
the spaces around show the character’s proficiency Veteran party instead.
with that Skill as detailed on page 32. Only one
Select your Adventurers as normal, but then agree
space per Skill may be marked at this stage.
with your opponent(s) an Experience boost. Each
If you select a Maladaar Class you should also player should advance each of their Adventurers
take the matching reference card. You may choose that many times as detailed on page 62.
to mark spaces on the spell track to learn Spells
You will then need to agree an increased budget
instead of Skills, and the chosen Spells should be
for equipment to fully tool up your characters.
marked on the reference card.
You can even purchase rare weapons if you wish,
During the Advancement Phase (page 62) you representing items your veterans would have
may only select spells up to your current rank, but found in their adventures. We recommend a limit
when initially creating your Adventurer you may of no more than two rare items per party.
select up to two spells from up to level 3. Note
You can also use these rules if you want to play
that the use of these spells will still be limited to
with an existing experienced party against a rookie
one peg at a time until the character levels up.
party – just allow the new player to advance
and equip their party to the same level that the
experienced player has already reached.

54
 CAMPAIGN NOTES: Here you can note down any
BASE CAMP BOARD information you need to remember for a campaign,
On the back of your Staging Area you will find your such as objective bonuses earned or injuries that
Base Camp board. Once each game is over, you can will cause an Adventurer to miss a game.
flip to the Base Camp side to manage your party.
This board represents the location you return to
after a quest, whether that’s a cosy tavern or a
campfire in the woods, and contains the following:
STASH: Here you should note down your
remaining Guilders, at the start of a campaign and
after each game.
RENOWN: This track represents your party’s fame,
and these points can be spent to influence NPCs.
See page 58 for details.
STORAGE: Here you can keep equipment that you
may not want to carry into your next game. For
more on this see the Rest Phase on page 66.

RECOMMENDED PARTY
For your first few games, we recommend starting with the following:

Assembling Your Party

SPELLS: Focused Energy, Barricade

STASH: 0

55
 QUESTS
Once you’ve assembled your party, it’s time to play a game! Each game of Maladum is a quest – a
Quests

narrative scenario with objectives.

For new players, we recommend starting with the standalone Of Coin and Glory quest on page 4 of
the Dungeons of Enveron Campaign Book. Once you’re used to the basics you can move onto the
narrative campaign.
You can play the quests individually or you can join them together as one continuous story following the
rules on page 59, with your party’s achievements in one game affecting the next.

QUEST STRUCTURE
The rules for each quest will be broken down into the following sections.

QUEST C – A NEW POWER RISING

This quest is played if you retrieved at least 5 relics in Quest A.
The Dungeons of Enveron Campaign

Broken, bloodied and bruised, you dragged yourself back to the village with relics in tow. It was unclear
which startled the guild master more; the violent manner in which you kicked the door open or the very
fact of your return, “You’ve returned! And with such finds, this certainly is a cause for celebration!”
None of your party was in the mood for such festivities, and the master’s demeanour soon shifted to suit.
“Ah yes, the cave isn’t quite as empty as we believed…are you sure I failed to mention this?” Too angry for
games, you collect what is due and depart the reprobate’s office. You thought you would be content with
your reward, but the horrors below are unlike any you have faced before, and the thought of the danger
they pose haunts your conscience.
Recounting your experiences to the village elders, they suggest seeking the wisdom of the scholars in
Kelthion. However, you will surely need tangible evidence if they are to believe your claims to be any more
than fairy tales, so you venture once more into the caves to learn of this new threat…

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE SPECIAL RUL ES

You need evidence of these creatures, and what SHIFTING SHADOWS
better evidence than the creatures themselves?
Gruesome as the task may be, you take it upon These caverns are unusually lit depending on the
yourselves to recover parts of the creatures for the time of day. Some chambers have lightwells to the
scholars in Kelthion to study. outside world, and others are illuminated with
iridescent crystal formations.
In this quest, defeated Revenants will drop
objective tokens representing parts of their The whole gaming area follows the rules for
anatomy to be collected, as follows: Darkness in this quest.

The Dungeons of Enveron Campaign

• The first Lamentor defeated after each Dread At the start of the game, roll the Magic Die three
band from Distress onwards is reached will drop times, re-rolling duplicates. Place Light counters in
Objectives 1-3 the rooms matching the numbers rolled.
• The first Myria defeated after each Dread band
is reached will drop Objectives 4-5 Whenever the first peg is placed in a new Dread
• The first Hellfont defeated will drop Objective 6 band from Distress onwards, choose a Light
• The Rot Troll will drop Objective 9 counter at random. Move it to the room with the
next highest number that does not already have a
At the start of the game, place the objective Light counter.
tokens next to the relevant band of the Dread
Tracker, and take them when the appropriate In addition, Adventurers may Interact with any
Adversary is defeated. Any tokens collected Lever to move the nearest Light counter to the
cannot be sold after the game, but they can be room with the next highest number that does not
discarded if necessary. They must be carried to already have a Light counter. Place a Reminder KEY ITEMS EVENT CARDS SEARCH AL LOCATION
Kelthion to uncover their secrets. Counter next to these Dread bands at the start of
the game to remind you to resolve this rule.
SECONDARY OBJECTIVES Objectives 1-6 x8 x8
Set Aside: x2

Discovering what these creatures are is just one CONSEQUENCES

part of the puzzle – if you want to stop them you If you retrieved Objective 7 or 8, you may choose Objectives 7-8 x2 x2 : x4
need to understand where they’re coming from! which quest to play next.
During step 5 of setup, add Objective 7 to the Objective 9 / Based on difficulty
You have already been warned of the dangers of
token pouch. During step 6 of setup, add Objective approaching Kelthion above ground, and you’ve
8 to a random tomb. These represent tracks or discovered a subterranean tunnel that appears to x2
markings and do not need to be carried – they can lead to the city via a less direct route.
be set aside when found.
x3
• If you choose to travel by road, play Quest E on
At the end of the game, discard the tokens. page 14.
• If you found one objective, you have discovered • If you choose to travel through the tunnels, play x1, x3
a secret passage and may play Quest F next – Quest F on page 16.
see Consequences. If you failed to find Objectives 7 or 8 you have no DREAD TRACKER
• If you found both objectives, mark the Skeletal choice – play Quest E on page 14.
Trails Achievement in your Campaign Log. This Side A - 2 PEGS
information may be useful in later quests.

10 11

INTRODUCTION ① These will usually have a smaller reward or benefit

in the campaign.
Each quest will have a title and a narrative
introduction. This will set the scene, explaining why Regardless of any stated objectives, you should
your party is here, what they are looking for, and always be mindful of the need for cash! Every
the dangers that may lie ahead. location you visit can be looted for its valuables to
trade between games. As you will quickly learn,
Guilders are critical for the upkeep of your party
OBJECTIVES ② and for purchasing new equipment.
All quests will have a Primary Objective and some Note that unless stated otherwise, objectives do
may also have Secondary Objectives. Completing not have to be completed to finish a game. What’s
these will determine how successful you have been important is that your party lives to fight another
at the end of the game. day. It’s perfectly reasonable to cut your losses and
Primary Objectives are the main purpose of the escape if it keeps you alive!
quest, and they will usually come with a hefty
reward, whether it’s a rare magical item, a new SPECIAL RUL ES ③
party member, or a large pile of Guilders!
This section will list any rules that apply to the
Secondary Objectives are optional side-jobs that game over and above the core rules. For example,
you can complete while in the area – taking out a it may list alternative starting locations, specific
Wandering Beast to rid a nearby village from its equipment to place in terrain pieces, or an NPC
attacks or locating a missing item for example. that doesn’t follow the normal rules.

56
This section will also list any specific terrain that DREAD ⑦: This will tell you which side of the
can be Interacted with, such as a mechanism Dread board to use and how many pegs to put into
that opens a doorway, or a magical field that the tracker before the game begins. Some quests
must be overpowered. are set in especially hostile environments so the
game may start at a higher level.
CONSEQUENCES ④
KEY ITEMS ⑧: These are items that should be
The Consequences section will be seen in narrative put aside before the terrain pieces are filled – they
campaigns with continuing storylines. It will detail will usually be required for specific objectives.
any additional steps for you to carry out at the
end of the game based on the objectives you’ve SEARCH ALLOCATION ⑨: This section will show
completed, and will determine which quest(s) are how to allocate equipment tokens to the terrain
to be played next. pieces for this mission, as well as listing how
many uncommon and rare tokens of each size will
be used.
SET-UP DIAGRAM
Each quest will have a diagram used when setting AFTER THE GAME
up the quest as detailed on page 18.
At the end of each quest you will want to reset the
MAP ⑤: This shows how to set up the gaming game for next time. If you intend to play a Rescue
area, detailing the location of rooms, corridors, and Mission (see page 60), do that first, before
other scenery. changing or tidying away any components.
Each map will follow the key in the campaign Otherwise:
book. The Special Rules section will often refer to
highlighted areas on the map to indicate objectives • Return all loose items, unclaimed large tokens
or other key locations. and key items to their supplies.
• If playing a campaign, return all other items
Unless stated otherwise, the edge of the playing held in Searchable terrain to the pouch. Remove
area is considered to be a wall for all rules purposes. all status counters from Adventurers that
escaped the gaming area. Do not tidy away your
NOTE: Each map is designed to have the Grave
character boards just yet – you’ll need them for
Point locations in a particular arrangement.
the campaign phases.
However, feel free to rotate the mat to change
• If playing a one-off game, return all exclusive, rare
their positions and tweak the difficulty of the
and uncommon items to their respective supplies,
quest. If you’re finding things a little tough,
and return all common items to the pouch.
you could also place spare Barricades on top of
• Return NPCs left in play and any counters and
problematic Grave Points.
equipment on them to the supply.
EVENT CARDS ⑥: Depending on the location of
the mission, the NPCs being used, and the length
of the game, you will only use a certain subset of
the Event Cards in each quest. Check the icons on
the cards against the quest briefing, and shuffle the
chosen cards together to create the deck for the
game. The icons are as follows:

• Environment
• Dungeon
• Revenants
• Denizen
• Wandering Beast
• Novice
• Veteran
If a card has multiple icons, they will have either
Quests

”+”, which means both types must be listed in

the quest, or “/”, which means either type can
be listed.
This list only includes the card types available
in this starter set – more card types will be
added in various expansions as new locations
and NPCs are introduced.

57
 DIFFICUL TY RENOW N
Each quest is balanced to play with a single starting As your party becomes more successful the world
Quests

party, but as your party gain experience, or if you will start to notice, and your fame will influence
have multiple parties joining the fray, the game will your interactions.
scale to provide a challenge for the Adventurers.
This is represented by the Renown track at the
In addition to the Event Cards used for each side of your Base Camp board. Any Renown
game, there are two additional card types that are gained should be marked here, and it can be
shuffled into the deck to set the difficulty. spent to influence events or NPCs.
Novice cards, marked , provide a respite from
the relentless assault of enemies, or one-off
bonuses that the players can save and use at the
perfect time.

Veteran cards, marked , turn up the heat, GAINING RENOW N

increasing the Dread and throwing yet more
obstacles in our heroes’ way. Renown is usually gained by completing quest
objectives. The amount of Renown gained will be
NOTE: For higher difficulty levels, more Veteran stated in the quest briefing.
cards are available in expansions.
Renown may also be gained (or lost!) when
Before the game begins, determine the value in resolving the effects of Skills, abilities, Event Cards
Guilders of all Adventurers taking part, across all or other quest special rules.
parties. Add the costs for their Classes and the buy
price for any equipment they are carrying, and add Renown cannot exceed 12 or drop below zero.
10 for each rank attained by these characters
beyond the first. SPENDING RENOW N
Based on this value, take the number of Novice and You may spend Renown, erasing it from your Base
Veteran cards shown below at random and shuffle Camp board, at the following times:
them into the Event Deck before the game begins.
• At the start of a game. Shuffle one random
VALUE OF NOVICE VETERAN Novice card into the Event Deck for each
ADVENTURERS CARDS CARDS Renown spent.
0-300 5 0 • Before making a Persuade roll against a Denizen.
Add one automatic hit to the roll for each
301-400 4 0 Renown spent.
401-500 3 0 • When purchasing valuable items in the Market
Phase. Each Renown spent will allow you to
501-600 2 1 purchase one item of any value (its cost is paid
601-700 1 2 as normal).
701-875 0 3 • When visiting an Inn in the Rest Phase. One
Renown may be spent per roll to adjust it up or
876-1050 0 4 down by up to 2.
1051-1300 0 5
There may be other
1301-1550 0 6 opportunities to spend
1551-1900 0 7 Renown detailed in
1901-2250 0 8 quests or other rules.
2251+ 0 10

PERSONAL CHOICE
The difficulty can of course be adjusted to suit your
playstyle. If you are finding the game too easy or
too difficult, just adjust the number of Novice and
Veteran cards accordingly.

58
 CAMPAIGNS
Campaigns are the thing that take a game and turn it
into a story, and are the best way to play Maladum. POST-GAME SEQUENCE
A campaign is a series of games linked together The post-game sequence has four phases, referred
with a continuous narrative. Players will assemble to collectively as the Campaign Phases:
their party before their first game and hopefully
keep the same characters from start to finish, 1. ESCAPE
possibly even taking on new recruits along the In this phase, players must decide what to do
way! Your Adventurers will learn new Skills and about any companions left behind. They may get
acquire new equipment, all the while striving to robbed by bandits, you may mount a daring rescue
keep their party in food and lodgings. mission, or they may succumb to their wounds…
Of course, in a campaign Adventurers can be killed This phase is covered on page 60.
and their valuable Skills and equipment lost, so
players will need to think twice before throwing a
character into certain-death situations! 2. ADVANCEMENT
In a campaign, games are played as normal. This phase is where your characters will advance,
However, the game is not over when the quest is learning new Skills and becoming more powerful.
complete– there are extra steps to carry out to This phase is covered on page 62.
see how the game’s success or failure has affected
your party.
3. MARKET
BETWEEN GAMES Next, you will get a chance to head into town to
buy and sell equipment, and even hire new party
In a campaign it will be important to keep track of members, ready for your next quest.
your party’s progress between games, and the dry-
wipe boards will hold all the necessary information This phase is covered on page 64.
so you don’t have to remember anything.
4. REST
It is recommended that you keep your Base Camp
board, character and Class boards, and current Finally, in the Rest Phase, your Adventurers will
equipment tokens together in a box or ziplock return to their lodgings and see what fate befalls
bag between games so you can easily set them up them in the night. Each of your party members
again ready for the next mission. will then need paying before you set off on your
next quest!
When playing a campaign, do not change the
contents of the token pouch between games. Any This phase is
rare and uncommon items added but not found covered on
will be available for future quests! page 66.

Campaigns

59
 ESCAPE PHASE
In this phase you will deal with any party members
Campaigns

that did not make it off the gaming area by the end
of the quest. If your Adventurers all made it out
you can skip this phase.
Choose one of the following options:
• Rescue Mission
• Left for Dead

RESCUE MISSION
A rescue mission allows you to go straight
back into the game you just played and
save your fallen comrades. You catch your
breath, patch your wounds and return to the fray.
Note that you may only attempt a rescue mission
if you have at least one undefeated Adventurer
left in your party, even if they didn’t take part in
the most recent quest.
Immediately start a new game with the
following rules:
• The gaming area and all non-Adventurer
components remain in place from the
end of the original game, including the
Adversaries and any other NPCs in play.
The Dread Tracker will resume where it
left off.
• You must assemble a new party from the
Adventurers you have available, up to the limit
for the quest, and not counting any defeated
Adventurers left on the gaming area. The
chosen Adventurers do not have to have taken
part in the most recent game. You may freely
swap equipment between Adventurers.
• All Adventurers may take a free Rest action
and use any associated items or Skills.
• Your Adventurers will scour the area for an
alternative way in. Roll the Magic Die. If you
wish, you may swap the positions of your
Staging Point and the Entry Point matching
the number rolled.
• The game will end as normal – once all
Adventurers are either defeated or safely off
the gaming area.
You may only make a rescue mission once after
each game. If an Adventurer is left behind
during a rescue mission, they will be Left for
Dead. Experience is not gained for rescue
missions, but characters successfully rescued
will still gain Experience for surviving the
original quest.
Rescue Missions can be played solo or other
players can join in, either to rescue their
own Adventurers or to help you rescue
yours. Of course, they may want payment
for such a service…

60
 healed. The character may not take part in your
L EFT FOR DEAD next quest.
Maybe the area is too dangerous to head back 5. Your character’s escape route was blocked by
in, or you don’t have the resources for a rescue some opportunistic outlaws. They’re willing to
mission? In that case you will have to leave your let your character escape, for a price! You must
companion to fend for themselves… pay 5 x their rank to get your character back
unharmed. Part or all of the cost may be paid
For each defeated Adventurer, roll the Magic Die by selling any equipment the character was
to see what happens. Reduce your roll by one for carrying, but don’t expect change! Any excess is
each Wounded, Poisoned or Burning counter on lost. If you cannot or do not want to pay, treat
the Adventurer and then discard these counters. this result as a 1.
They may use any Blessed counters on the 6. Your character has escaped and made a full
Adventurer to re-roll this die. recovery. There are no further effects.
1. Your character has succumbed to their injuries You can use the notes space on your Base Camp
and is permanently dead. The character can board to mark any characters that must miss
no longer be used for the rest of the campaign upcoming games.
and all their equipment is lost. You’ll need to
hire a replacement. PERMANENT
2. Your character recovered enough strength to
crawl to safety, but it will take some time before CHARACTER LOSS
they can fight again. The character may not take Adventurers lost permanently following the Escape
part in your next two quests. Phase are removed from your party. Their character
3. Your character recovered and made it home, board may appear again in a future Market Phase,
but not before their seemingly dead body but just think of it as a similar-looking Adventurer
was picked clean by roving bandits. All of the rather than the exact same person!
character’s equipment is lost and returned to
the relevant supply. It’s unlikely, but in the event that every member of
4. Your character managed to escape without your party is permanently lost, you are out of the
any trouble, but their wounds have not fully campaign and must start afresh with a new party.

Campaigns

61
 Once an Adventurer is filling the fifth row they
ADVANCEMENT PHASE will only gain Experience in special circumstances,
Finding new equipment isn’t the only way to including but not limited to the list below. These
are cumulative where applicable.
Campaigns

improve your Adventurers’ abilities on the table. As

they survive quests and gain experience they will • Personally completing a primary objective. E.g.
also learn new Skills. being the one to defeat a specific enemy, destroy
As detailed on page 6, each Adventurer’s a specific terrain piece, escape with an objective,
board shows their Experience statistic. The and so on. This will not apply to all quests, and
default spaces will be filled in at the start of every any applicable objectives should be agreed with
standalone game or campaign, but it is in this your opponents before the game.
Advancement Phase where the potential spaces • Defeating four characters in a single round.
can be filled in too! • Completing a quest’s primary objective and
surviving while starting with no more than two
party members.
RANKS • Single-handedly dragging a defeated Adventurer
There are various rules in the game that apply off of the gaming area from a distance of at least
based on a character’s ‘rank’, most prominently medium range from your Staging Point.
the number of pegs that they can spend when You may agree with the other players to bestow
casting spells. Each row of Experience spaces on further Experience based on impressive feats in
a character’s board is a rank, and a character’s your games such as a particularly powerful dice roll
rank is determined by the number of rows with or a selfless act of heroism.
at least one space filled. Most characters will
start at rank 1.
SPENDING EXPERIENCE
Any Experience earned must then be allocated
(it cannot be saved for later ranks), allowing the
character to learn new Skills and Spells.
To learn or improve a Skill, fill in one of the spaces
next to its icon. You will be able to use this Skill at
a level equal to the number of marked spaces from
your next game onwards.
Characters may only mark Skills on their Class
board at a level up to their rank, so rank 1 starting
characters will only be able to fill in one space
per Skill, and characters must be at least
rank 3 before they can access a Skill’s full
potential. Spaces marked on your character
This character has a rank of 3. board are not restricted in this way and apply
in addition to those on your Class board, even if
EARNING EXPERIENCE the total exceeds your character’s rank.

While filling out the first or second row of their To learn a new Spell, fill in one of the
Experience track, each time a character survives a spaces on the character’s spell track, and then
quest and escapes during the game (regardless of mark a spell of your choice on the character’s
whether they completed their objectives or not) reference card. The character will have access to
they gain 1 Experience – fill in the first empty space that spell from the next game onwards. Similar to
on their character board. Characters that are Left Skills, characters may only learn spells of a level at
for Dead do not gain any Experience. or below their rank. E.g. a character currently filling
in the second row of their Experience track could
When filling out spaces in the third or fourth row, only learn spells of up to level 2.
the character must survive the quest and their party
must have completed the game’s primary objective. Experience can be allocated to any empty spaces,
whether they are on the character’s Class board or
In quests with variable objectives (e.g. “collect Character board.
as many items as possible”) players should agree
between them what level of success is considered
“completing” the objective.

62
 Once an Adventurer’s Experience track is full, any
L EVEL UP! Experience they gain thereafter may be added to
Filling all the spaces of any row of Experience any of their other statistics with spaces remaining
allows the character to level up. As each row is (player’s choice).
complete the Adventurer will gain the following Note that some Adventurers do not have all
benefits: five ranks – they can only level up as far as their
1st Increase Health, Magic or Skill by 1 character board will let them. Also note that
2nd Increase Health, Magic or Skill by 1 statistic increases are only gained where the
3rd Increase any two of Health, Magic or Skill by 1 potential spaces are available on their board – if all
4th Increase any two statistics by 1 spaces are filled the Adventurer will not advance
5th Increase any two statistics by 1 any further.

Any statistic increases should be marked on the

characters’ boards, up to their maximum potential.
They will start future games with
additional pegs to match their
new statistics.

Campaigns

63
 Stock is limited to the available tokens. In a
MARKET PHASE multiplayer campaign, the winner of the last quest
In the Market Phase the Adventurers return to the gets first pick of any items, alternating thereafter.
If there was no winner, flip a coin or roll a die to
Campaigns

nearest town where they trade in their loot, collect

any rewards, stock up on new equipment and hire decide who picks first.
new party members! Your party’s equipment is limited to what they can
carry. At the end of the Market Phase, any equipment
QUEST REWARDS tokens that do not fit into an Adventurer’s inventory
or your Base Camp board, if applicable, must be sold.
At the start of the Market Phase, your party will
gain the rewards listed for any objectives that they
completed during the game. Add any Guilders VAL UABL E ITEMS
to your Stash and take any equipment tokens If you want the best equipment, you’ll need to
awarded. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have space venture beyond the stalls frequented by the
for these in your inventory just yet – you will be common riff-raff, but access to the most exclusive
able to sell items in this phase to make space. establishments must be earned!

BUYING AND SEL L ING Your party may purchase any number of items with
a purchase cost of up to 10 each.
Once you’ve collected your rewards, you can
start trading! Items are bought and sold using the More valuable items will be limited by your
game’s currency – Guilders. The cost of buying and Adventurers’ ranks. In each Market Phase, each
selling items is shown on the back of the token, as Adventurer in your party may purchase a single
detailed on page 15. item worth up to 10 times their rank. For example,
your party must include a rank 3 Adventurer to
① This is the ② This is the purchase an item costing between 21 and 30.
number of number of you
you must spend will gain when you Rank 5 characters can purchase a single item of
to purchase sell this item. any value.
this item.
Selling rare items will also buy you access to the best
Note that you will usually get back less than you traders. For each rare item sold in the Market Phase,
spent if you were to buy and then sell the same you may purchase one additional item of any value.
item, so get some use out of it!
RARE ITEMS
When buying an item, reduce your Stash by its
cost, and then add it to your Base Camp board One-of-a-kind ancient relics aren’t the sort of thing
or an Adventurer’s inventory. Note the limits on shops keep in stock, so you can’t freely purchase
Valuable Items. Items with a buy value of ‘-’ cannot rare items. In each Market Phase, each party may
be bought – they can only be found. draw a single rare item at random from the supply.
This is the only rare item available for that player
You may freely browse all available items, but to purchase at this time. The limits on purchasing
they should be returned to the supply they were valuable items above apply as normal.
in – uncommon items in the token pouch should
remain in the pouch if not purchased.
BARTER
When selling an item, increase your Stash by its
Money isn’t the only thing you can trade with. At
sale price and return the token to the appropriate
any time during the Market Phase you can choose
supply. There are no restrictions on the items you
to barter with your fellow players – maybe they
can sell. Broken items sell for half their usual price,
have a rare item that you will pay over the odds for.
rounding up.
What and how you trade in this manner is up to
the players. You could let someone else hire the
NPC you just rescued, offer assistance in the next
quest, or even trade one of your party members
for the right price…

64
HIRING ADVENTURERS THE ARTISAN’S GUIL D
Inanimate objects aren’t the only things available If any of your equipment became broken during a
at the market – in the taverns and guilds you will game, you can visit the Artisans to have it repaired.
find plenty of mercenaries and thrill-seekers who The cost for this depends on the item’s rarity:
will join your party.
• Common: 1
Each player should take all the unused Adventurer • Uncommon: 3
boards from their collection, shuffle them, and • Rare: 5
draw the top 3 (or fewer if you don’t have 3).
Then do the same with any unused Class boards, If an item is not repaired, it will remain broken.
assigning one to each Adventurer at random. These
are the Adventurers available for hire at this time. PARTY UPKEEP
Adventurers can be permanently hired for their cost Adventurers that can survive in this world are
in as shown on their character and Class boards. highly sought after, and they won’t stick around if
they don’t feel valued. At the end of each Market
Once hired, take their boards and place them into Phase you’ll need to pay your Adventurers a bonus
a dashboard. Fill in any default spaces on their for their efforts.
character board and assign any starting Skills or
spells in the same way as when initially assembling All Adventurers in your party require a payment of
your party. 1 per rank, plus 1 if they took part in the most
recent quest.
Any Adventurers hired temporarily for the game
just played (see Temporary Hire below) may be Adventurers hired in the current phase do not
added to this pool. They may be hired temporarily require payment.
again, or permanently hired for their normal cost,
and will retain any Experience earned so far. If they If you can’t afford or choose not to pay for an
are not hired their boards are cleared and returned Adventurer’s upkeep they will leave the party,
to the supply. losing any advancements. You can keep their
equipment if you have space to store it; otherwise
Temporary Hire it must be sold or discarded.

Adventurers can also be hired temporarily, fighting

with you for the next quest only.
The cost to hire an Adventurer temporarily is a
quarter of their usual cost, rounded up.
It’s much easier to find a specific set of skills for a
short-term contract, so when hiring an Adventurer
temporarily you may choose any combination of
character and Class boards from your collection.

Hiring NPCs
During a game you may have persuaded an NPC to
join you temporarily. However, if you can safely get
them back to town, as a reward for keeping them safe
you can permanently hire them at a reduced rate of
half their usual cost, including Class cost, rounding
up. Before deciding to hire an NPC, flip their board to
the Adventurer side and assign them a Class board
at random. Any NPC with an Adventurer side to their
Campaigns

character board can be hired in this way.

This only applies to NPCs Persuaded to join your
party during the game, not to NPCs that were just
Persuaded to Move off the gaming area or that left
play in any other manner.

65
 3-4: You share wild and exaggerated tales of
REST PHASE your adventures. Gain 2 Renown.
After trading in their loot and stocking up for 5-6: It’s game night! You may gamble any part
of your stash on a bar game. Flip a coin and
Campaigns

their next quest, your party will retire to gather

their strength. call the result. If you win, double the amount
gambled. If you lose, your bet is lost.
As well as listing your Stash and any campaign o Alternatively you could choose to play a
notes, your Base Camp board represents your real-life game such as Poker with the other
lodgings. The first step in the Rest Phase is to players, using your in-game stash to bet with.
decide where to stay for the night.

THE INN
If you choose to pay for a room in an Inn, you must
pay 2 per Adventurer from your Stash.
Punch out the Secure Storage space on the Base
Camp board – the room will provide you with a
safe place to store your valuables until the next
Rest Phase.
Then roll the Magic Die on the following table to see
what events will befall your party during the night…
1-2: Quiet Night: Choose one:
o You decide to get some rest and feel
refreshed after a good night’s sleep.
All of your Adventurers start their next
THE WIL DERNESS
game Blessed. You’re a hardy bunch and you can make do in a
o You find some time to get some training in. makeshift forest camp. What’s the worst that can
A random rank 1 party member gains happen? Camping in the wilderness is free.
one Experience.
3-4: Fraternise with the Locals: Roll again: If you had previously stayed in an Inn, fill the
1-2: You win an item from another patron in a Secure Storage space back in – there’s only limited
drunken bet. Take a random uncommon space for equipment in a hole in a tree! Any
item from the supply. equipment stored in this area must be added to an
3-4: A shifty-looking character sidles up to you Adventurer’s inventory, sold, or discarded.
and offers some ‘premium’ merchandise
at a price that seems too good to be true… Then roll the Magic Die on the following table:
Take two random uncommon items and 1: While you lay sleeping you were robbed by
one random rare item from the supply. You bandits! Reduce your Stash by D6. Then
may purchase any of them at the sell price. choose an Adventurer at random. Two random
Then roll the Magic Die again for each item items from their inventory are lost. The
purchased. On a 1 the item is a worthless Adventurer may start the next game with one
fake and must be discarded. fewer Health and Skill peg to fight the bandits
5-6: You’ve picked up some intel from the locals. off and avoid all of these effects.
At the start of the next game, you may do 2: Your party was set-upon by hungry wild
one of the following: animals! Choose an Adventurer at random and
o Look at the top three Event Cards. Shuffle roll the Magic Die. The Adventurer will start
any Traps back into the deck, and place the the next game with the following status:
rest of the cards back on top in the order 1-3: Wounded
they were drawn. 4-6: Poisoned
o Look inside a Searchable terrain piece of 3-4: You had a rough, sleepless night, with noises
your choice. all around and roots digging in your back, and
5-6: Raucous Night: Roll again: you haven’t fully recovered your strength. Roll
1: You get in a fight with another patron. A the Magic Die again for each party member
random Adventurer in your party starts the – they will start the following game with one
next game with one fewer Health peg. fewer peg of the following type:
2: After much feasting, there is some 1-2: Health
leftover food that you package 3-4: Skill
up for your travels. Add one 5-6: Magic
Provisions token from the supply 5-6: Your night was uneventful. There is no
to an Adventurer’s inventory. further effect.

66
THE NEXT DAY Mass Casualties
You should make a note of any ongoing effects on It’s unlikely, but it’s possible that due to injuries or
your Base Camp board as a reminder for your next other effects you may have no Adventurers able
game. Otherwise, Adventurers will start the next to participate in your next quest. If this happens,
game with their pegs fully restored. resolve the Market and Rest Phases an additional
time for each game that you need to miss until you
Any Adventurers that suffer adverse effects may have Adventurers available again.
choose to not take part in the next quest.
Before embarking on the next quest, you may
freely swap equipment between your Adventurers’
inventories, armour slots, and the storage on your
Base Camp board.

Campaigns

67
 REFERENCE – SPEL LS
PROXIMATE MAGIC
Reference – Spells

LEVEL 1
Healing : Restore X Health (max 3).
Proximate magic is a form of Maladum that affects
the user. Focus : Gain X Blessed counters.
Spellcasters proficient in proximate magic are a Strength : Gain +X until the end of
match for any warrior with traditional martial the round.
training. They channel malacytes through their
own bodies to give them the strength, speed, Speed Use during a Move to move an
toughness and agility that may be lacking in their additional X+1 squares.
physical form. Advanced proximate magic can even Harden Skin : Gain +X until the end of
change the nature of the user’s cells. the round.
Proximate spells are marked in blue on the Recover : May be used when Fatigued
Maladaar reference cards. to remove a Fatigued counter.
: Remove a Poisoned counter.
TARGETING
All proximate spells target the spellcaster themselves. LEVEL 2
Malacyte : Increase your Warded value
Shield by X (max 1).
Insight : Add X automatic hits to your
Persuade rolls until the end of
the round.
Hyper : Place a Reminder counter
Awareness on your Adventurer and
become Blessed. At any time,
including midway through an
enemy’s Move, discard the
Reminder counter to take an
action. Remove the Reminder
counter in the Assessment
Phase if not used.
Jump : Move your character X+1
squares away, counting each
square horizontally and vertically.
Invisibility : Gain the listed effects until
the end of the round.
X=1: You cannot be targeted by
enemies beyond short range.
X=2: You cannot be targeted by
non-adjacent enemies. You do
not block LoS.
X=3+: You cannot be targeted.
You ignore attacks of opportunity
but may still make them. You do
not block LoS. You only block
movement if you choose to.

68
 LEVEL 3 LEVEL 5
Malacyte Passive: This character’s level Rearrange : Temporarily mutate your
Aura 1-3 proximate spells may affect Cells body into that of a beast.
adjacent friendly characters. Increase the following
Effects may be freely split statistics by a total of X+2
between the caster and other in any combination:
characters. This character may
also use their magical armour to (max 4)
negate hits on adjacent friends.
(max 3)
Advanced : Apply these effects in any
Healing combination up to X times: (max 2)
• Restore 1 Health (max 3). Instead of increasing a statistic,
• Restore 1 Skill peg (max 1). you may add any of / / /
• Remove a status counter. / to your attacks.
Levitation Use during a Move to ignore
terrain or characters (including Make a note of these increases.
ignoring attacks of opportunity) Increase your size by 1, or
of up to X inches in height. increase it by 2 and become if
Alter : Temporarily distort your X is 3 or more.
Appearance features to resemble any other While mutated you cannot use
character of the same size (e.g. any equipment, although you can
a Lamentor; an Adventurer from still carry it.
another party).
Place X Reminder counters on
Other characters in play will your character board. Remove
treat you as that character type one counter in each Assessment
for all purposes, and will give Phase. The effects last until the
permission to your character last counter is removed.
where required (e.g. to move
through them or to take an item
from them).
Characters with a higher rank
than the caster ignore
these effects.
Place X Reminder counters on
your character board. Remove
one counter in each Assessment
Phase. The effects last until the
last counter is removed.
LEVEL 4
Phasing
Reference – Spells
: Make a Move of up to X
squares, freely moving through
walls and terrain and ignoring
attacks of opportunity. Must end
the Move in an empty square.
Foresight : Look at the top X cards of the
Event Deck. Place them back in
any order, but turn them 90° to
mark which ones you have seen.
When any of these rotated
cards is resolved, you may
spend a Magic peg to re-roll any
randomised effect such as an
Entry Point or chosen Adventurer.

69
 VICARIOUS MAGIC LEVEL 2
Strengthen : Target removes X
Vicarious magic affects other people and sentient
Fatigued counters.
Reference – Spells

creatures, manipulating their minds and bodies to

the caster’s will. Healing : Target restores X Health
Hands (max 3).
Those who would use vicarious spells in combat
must keep a clear head. Their magic is by far the Nausea : Target is Poisoned.
hardest to perform as they must overcome the will
Enchantment : Target is Moved up to X
of their target. In doing so they put themselves in
grave danger – a specialism in vicarious Maladum squares following all normal
often leaves their proximate protection abilities movement rules.
lacking so they must be guarded in battle by Illusion : Place an Illusion in any
tougher companions. empty square in range and LoS
However, vicarious magic is incredibly powerful. of both the caster and a chosen
Illusions conjured into an enemy’s mind distract enemy. The enemy is distracted
them, while more powerful spellcasters can boil (see Illusions).
the blood of their foes or even control them like LEVEL 3
puppets. What better way to defeat an enemy than
Malacyte Passive: This character’s
forcing them to defeat themselves?
Sensitivity vicarious spells may target
characters in short range
Vicarious spells are marked in purple on the
without LoS.
Maladaar reference cards.
Stun : Target suffers X
TARGETING Fatigued counters.
Vicarious spells can target any character, friend or Blood Boil : Target suffers an attack with
foe, in medium range and LoS other than the caster 1 die and .
themselves. Cover has no effect. Rouse : Target removes a
As the spells directly target the victim, the victim Stunned counter.
may resist them if applicable.
LEVEL 4
LEVEL 1 Remote Passive: This character may resist
Bless Resistance any spells cast within short range
: Target gains X of themselves, using their own
Blessed counters. pegs, regardless of the target.
Protect : Target gains +X until the Advanced : Place up to X Illusions in
end of the round. Illusion empty squares in range and LoS.
Calm : Target removes a All enemies within range and LoS
Terrified counter. of both the caster and an Illusion
are distracted (see Illusions).
Fortitude : Target may ignore any status
counters that would be applied For resistance purposes, this
until the end of the round. spell is considered to be cast
with one peg.
Deflection : Target increases their
Warded value by X (max 1) until : Move an Illusion as if it
the end of the round. were a character, ignoring
attacks of opportunity.
Clouded : Place X Reminder counters
Minds on eligible targets. If a target LEVEL 5
would act outside their turn Advanced : Target takes up to X actions
(e.g. Attacks of Opportunity, Enchantment (max 3) under your control.
Parry, Shield Block, Reaction
Skills, etc) they must discard a
counter instead of acting. The
counters are removed in the
Assessment Phase.

70
IL L USIONS
Illusions are represented by miss unless a critical hit is
markers placed onto the rolled – if this happens the
gaming area. Illusion is removed. Discard
the Reminder counter from
Only characters distracted by any distracted enemy in LoS
an Illusion spell can see the of the removed Illusion –
markers - these characters they are no longer distracted.
should be marked with a
Reminder Counter. They will All other characters ignore
consider Illusions enemies and target them Illusions – they may see and
exactly like any other enemy. Distracted move through them with no effect.
characters cannot see through or move
through Illusions. Illusions do not move unless their
caster moves them.
Unlike NPCs, players could normally have
their Adventurers ignore these Illusions. Illusion spells may be cast
However, if an Illusion is the closest visible multiple times, but a
enemy to a distracted Adventurer when caster can only sustain a
they are activated, the Adventurer may number of Illusions up
spend a Skill peg to ignore the distraction. to their rank at any
If they do not, the player temporarily loses one time.
control of the Adventurer, and they will
take their actions that turn according
to the NPC Activation Chart on
page 39, with the Illusion as
the target.
An Illusion targeted by a
melee attack is instantly
removed from the gaming
area, without rolling.
Ranged attacks targeting
an Illusion will always

Reference – Spells

71
 EL EMENTAL MAGIC Focused
Energy
: Make a ranged attack with X
dice, and .
Elemental magic affects inanimate objects and the
Extinguish
Reference – Spells

immediate environment around the user. It cannot : Remove a Burning counter,

create objects; only manipulate them. Torch (even from another
character’s inventory) or Brazier.
With no sentient mind resisting a caster’s malacyte
manipulation, elemental spells are among the Detect Use during a General Search action
easiest and most widely used magic. However, to take X additional items (max. 3)
most elemental maladaar have a limited repertoire from the pouch. Traps are resolved
as the malacytes in each different substance must immediately. Any other additional
be controlled in a different way. items are scattered from the caster.
Refract : Place or flip a Darkness or
Elemental spells range from moving small objects
Light counter and add X Reminder
and creating blasts of energy to the manipulation
counters. Remove one Reminder
of fire and even dimensional boundaries!
counter in each Assessment Phase.
Once the last is removed, return the
Elemental spells are marked in green on the
room to its previous state.
Maladaar reference cards.
LEVEL 2
TARGETING Push : Move an item, character, or
Elemental spells can target any square or item in portable terrain piece up to X
medium range and LoS. Cover applies to ranged squares directly away from you,
attacks as normal, but otherwise has no effect. with no attacks of opportunity. You
must spend at least as many pegs
Any spell that resolves as a ranged attack may as a character/object’s size to move
be used at any time outside a character’s turn it. If a character is moved more
that they could use such an attack, such as the squares than they have actions they
Ambush Skill. are knocked prone.
While elemental spells sometimes resolve as Barricade : Create a barricade of your
ranged attacks against a character, the target choice.
of the spell is the object or energy used against
that character, not the character themselves, so Alternatively, mark up to X squares
Elemental spells cannot be resisted. of a pit with Reminder counters.
These squares are considered solid
LEVEL 1 ground. When all squares of a pit
Telekinesis are marked, remove it. If a pit is
: Choose one: removed while a character is inside,
• Move a loose item, an item they are defeated and Left for Dead.
in a friendly character’s Advanced : Look inside a Searchable terrain
inventory, or a random item Detect piece that fills up to X squares. You
inside an unlocked terrain may discard an additional Magic
piece (whichever one you draw peg to remove one Trap found.
first) up to X+2 squares. Traps
drawn are triggered against a Advanced : Choose one:
single target in contact with the Telekinesis
terrain piece, if any, and then • Move any terrain piece you could
discarded. If the item reaches a normally move (see page 50)
friendly character place it in their up to X+2 squares. If it reaches a
inventory. If the item is a weapon character, stop moving and treat
and it reaches an enemy, treat it it as a Knockback with X+2 dice.
as having been thrown at them. • Move an item in an enemy’s
• Spread a fire – choose a source inventory up to X+2 squares.
of fire and add a Burning counter They may spend a Skill peg
to any character or terrain piece to scatter the item instead.
within X+2 squares of it. Otherwise, if the item reaches a
friendly character place it in their
Open Door : Open or close an unlocked door. inventory. If the item is a weapon
and it reaches an enemy, treat it
: Lock or unlock a door or as having been thrown at them.
terrain piece.

72
 Weaken : Reduce an enemy’s by X
Armour until the end of the round.
PORTALS
LEVEL 3
Portals are usually placed by
Malacyte Passive: This character’s elemental spell effects, but may also be
Perception spells may target objects in short in play in certain quests. They
range without LoS. are distortions in space that can
Fireball be passed through to emerge
: Requires a source of fire within
elsewhere, if you know how!
range of the caster and the target.
Make a ranged attack from the source Portals block LoS.
of fire with X dice, Blast and .
If a character enters a square with a portal they
Torrent : All targets must be in short are removed from the gaming area, ending any
range and LoS of a source of water. action they were taking. The character may spend
Choose one: a Magic peg to be placed in contact with any
other portal of their choice. Otherwise, or if they
• Remove X Burning counters,
roll a Mental Overload result, roll the Magic Die:
torches or sconces.
• Knock X characters prone. 1-2: The character has emerged a long distance
• Choose a character and roll X away. They are considered defeated and
dice. Each hit scored Fatigues the they play no further part in the game.
target. If the character becomes Adventurers will be Left for Dead (see
Stunned, any remaining hits are page 61).
treated as an attack with .
3-4: They are placed in contact with a random
Cocoon : Gain the benefits of a Rest portal in play (including the one they
action, regardless of enemies in entered). If possible they should be placed
the room or in short range and LoS into a different square to the one they
(enemies engaged with a Resting entered from.
character will still prevent it as
normal). Nearby characters may 5-6: A new portal opens. Scatter from the
Rest as part of the spell – it affects portal the character entered, doubling
up to X characters (including the the distance and ignoring terrain. Place a
caster) with a range of X squares. portal in the closest empty square to that
position and place the character in contact
LEVEL 4 with it. If no portals are available, remove
Energy one already in play and use that.
: Move characters or portable
Burst terrain pieces with a total size NPCs will not voluntarily enter portals but can be
up to X up to X squares directly pushed into them. If they have Magic pegs they
away from you, with no attacks will spend one, emerging from a random portal
of opportunity. Characters are in play. If not, roll for the result on the table
knocked prone. above. Other objects can be pushed or thrown
Rebuild : Choose a wall of up to X into portals, randomising the result as above.
squares in length. Detach it and
reconnect it anywhere else within
Reference – Spells
short range. This cannot cause any
room to become inaccessible from
the rest of the gaming area.
LEVEL 5
Portal : Place a Portal in an empty square.

73
 REFERENCE – SKIL LS
AGIL ITY SKIL LS
Reference – Skills

Skill L evel Action

1 Make a Move action with .

Passive: You may Stand Up as an effortless action.
Acrobatics Reaction: Use when targeted with an attack. Roll three combat dice. Each
hit scored negates one hit from the enemy’s attack. If no hits remain, all
2 other effects of the attack are ignored.
Passive: You may treat Rough Ground values (found in expansions) as
one lower.
You burst out of combat. All enemies engaged with your character may be
pushed up to two squares away in a direction of your choice, stopping if
3 they hit a wall or other obstruction. No attacks of opportunity are made,
but each enemy pushed back suffers an attack with 2 dice. Then, you may
make a Move action.
You sweep your enemy’s feet from under them. An enemy in contact is
knocked prone.
1
Combat Passive: This character’s attacks gain Quickstrike . If using a weapon that
Arts also has Quickstrike , you may Dash AND Attack.
Reaction: Use when an enemy engages you, before they attack. Their attack
2 has no effect. Swap positions with the enemy, and then make a Move action
with no attacks of opportunity or a Knock Back action with +1 die.
Jump from a higher level, increasing your safe distance by 3. All characters
of the same size or smaller adjacent to your landing position are knocked
3
prone. Then make a Melee Attack with additional dice equal to the distance
of the Jump.
1 Make a Move action.
FL EET
OF FOOT
2 Passive: Gain Fast 1

Make a Move action. This and all your other Move actions in this turn
ignore attacks of opportunity. Make an attack with one die against each
3
enemy contacted during your Moves. Any hits will also knock them prone,
even if no damage is caused.
Reaction: Use when an enemy engages you. Make a Move action, ignoring
1 attacks of opportunity.
Passive: Ignore one hit scored against you during any attack of opportunity.
Reflexes
Reaction: Use when an enemy engages you. In any order, make a Move
2 action, ignoring attacks of opportunity, and an Attack action.
Passive: This character may use Parry against ranged attacks.
Reaction: Use when an enemy engages you. The attacker is Stunned. In
any order, make two Move actions, ignoring attacks of opportunity, and an
3 Attack action.
Passive: You may use an effortless action to ignore an attack of opportunity.

74
CU NNING SKIL LS

Skill L evel Action

1 A character in medium range and LoS becomes Fatigued.
Distraction
Make a Ranged Attack action or Throw an item. The target or another
2 enemy within short range of the target suffers two Fatigued counters in
addition to damage caused, if any. Then make a Move action.
You may make a Move action with a character in medium range and LoS
(you cannot use this Move to engage an enemy or do anything that could
3 cause the character direct harm), and they suffer two Fatigued counters.
You may make a Move and an Attack action yourself, in any order, before or
after moving the target.
Reaction: Use after suffering a melee attack in which you took no damage.
Take any item from the attacker’s inventory other than the one they
1
attacked with. If you do not have space for it, drop it or another item you
are holding.
Move into contact with another character and make a Pickpocket action.
L ight
Fingers
Pickpocket: When in contact with another character, roll a combat die:
• : You fail. There is no effect.
• Blank: One of the target’s items, chosen at random, is scattered.
2 • : Take a non-large item of your choice from the target’s inventory.
• : Take an item of your choice from the target’s inventory and
knock them prone.
• The target may spend a Skill peg to avoid this effect.
Then make another Move action, with no attacks of opportunity.
3 Passive: You have access to the Pickpocket action as standard.
1 Use before making a Persuade roll. Add two automatic hits to the roll.
Persuasion Make a Persuade action against an Adventurer from another party to try
to dissuade them from their mission. They suffer one Fatigued counter per
2 unblocked hit.
Passive: Add one extra die to your Persuade rolls.
Make a Persuade action against any character, adding three automatic hits.
3 The normal options apply, except that Adventurers from other parties will
not join you.
You may lock or unlock a door or terrain piece in contact, OR you may use
1 when Searching, after drawing tokens, to ignore any Trap token(s) drawn
with no effect. Reference – Skills
Tricks of
Reaction: Use when a trap card or token is drawn targeting this character
the Trade or a friendly character within short range and LoS. This character spots and
2 disables the trap’s trigger. Discard the card/token with no effect.
Passive: You may make a General Search as an effortless action.
Use when Searching (terrain or General) to draw one additional token
from the pouch and one random uncommon item. Do not resolve any
3 traps drawn – they should either be returned to the pouch or left inside a
Searched terrain piece.
Passive: Your attacks gain .

75
 ENDURANCE SKIL LS
Reference – Skills

Skill L evel Action

Reaction: Use whenever you would suffer a status counter of any type.
1
Discard the counter with no effect.
Impervious
2 Gain +2 until the end of the round.
Restore 1 Health. This may take you above your starting level as long as
there is space on your dashboard. You may discard any status counters you
3 wish to.
In addition, you ignore all damage, resist all spells without spending pegs,
and discard all status counters with no effect until the end of the round.
Reaction: Use after scoring one or more hits on an enemy in melee. Make
1
Onslaught another Melee Attack action.
Reaction: Use after scoring one or more hits on an enemy with any attack.
2
Move if you wish, and then make another Melee Attack action.
Use during a Move action. You may ignore attacks of opportunity during
3 this Move, and you may make a melee attack against each enemy you
engaged with while moving.
Quick
1 Restore 1 Health.
Recovery
Use before activating to remove any Stunned, Poisoned or
2
Wounded counters.
Reaction: Use after being defeated. You are no longer defeated – restore 1
3 Health and Stand Up.
Passive: At the start of your turn you may remove one Fatigued counter.
You cannot be Stunned, Knocked Back or laid prone until the end of the
1
round.
You cannot Move this turn, but you gain one extra die on all attacks and
Knock Backs until the end of the round.
Steady 2
Passive: You may ignore the Cumbersome rule in any turn in which you
do not Move.
Until the end of the round:
• You cannot become Fatigued, Stunned, Knocked Back or laid prone.
• Enemies cannot move out of contact unless you allow them to.
3 • After any melee attack made against you, you may make a free Knock
Back action against the attacker.
• If an enemy moves within two squares, you may make a free Dash to
engage them, becoming their target if you weren’t already.

76
MAGIC SKIL LS

Skill L evel Action

1 Use before casting a spell to cast it while engaged.
Reaction: Use when a friendly character in short range suffers an attack.
Use this character’s magical armour to negate hits. Magic pegs from any
2
Fortified
combination of this character and the target character may be used to
Mind boost the armour. Any Magic Die effects are applied to this character.
Until the end of the round, all spells targeting friendly characters in
short range are automatically resisted without spending pegs, unless an
Unstoppable result is rolled. All attacks against friendly characters in short
range can be negated using this character’s magical armour, spending any
3 combination of this character and the target characters’ Magic pegs to
boost the armour. Any Magic Die effects are applied to this character.
Passive: When casting spells of a level lower than your own rank, you do
not become Fatigued when you suffer a Mental Overload result.
Cast any level 1 spell, whether you have access to it or not, spending an
1
action or effortless action as normal.
Malacyte Reaction: Use after rolling the Magic Die to roll it again and pick which of
Mastery 2
the two results to apply.
Reaction: After rolling an Unstoppable result during your turn, immediately
cast any or spell you have access to at a casting value of 2, without
spending any pegs. Instead of rolling the Magic Die you may choose which
3 die result you want to apply to this spell. Then take any action for free.
Passive: Gain Regeneration 1 - restore 1 Magic peg in the
Assessment Phase.
1 Reaction: Use at any time. Cast any or spell you have access to.
Passive: You may spend any number of Skill pegs when casting a spell to
2 increase its casting value by the number of pegs spent. This can exceed
Power your rank.
Manipulation
You force a huge burst of energy through one of your magical items. Choose
a weapon you hold with the Channel icon, and decide how many Magic
pegs you will spend (minimum 1). Make a ranged attack at short range using
a number of dice equal to the pegs spent +3 (this includes the +1 for the
3 Passive effect below). Any icons on the chosen weapon are applied to the
attack. Mental Overload results on the Magic Die are ignored with no effect.
Passive: When you use an item with the Channel icon, resolve the effects Reference – Skills
as if one additional peg had been spent.

77
 MEL EE SKIL LS
Reference – Skills

Skill L evel Action

1 Make a Melee action using only your with one extra combat die. If the
target survives lay it prone.
Choose a character you are engaged with that is no larger than you and
Brutal throw them. Move them into any square within short range and LoS. They
Assault
suffer no attacks of opportunity from this move. They suffer an attack
equal to your +1, rolling an additional die if a wall or other terrain piece
2 prevented them being thrown the full distance. Then lay them prone. If
their trajectory was blocked by a character, that character also suffers an
attack equal to your +1.
Passive: You may ignore the Cumbersome rule for melee weapons.

3 Make up to three Melee actions using only your +1. If the target survives
lay it prone. Then make a Move action.
Reaction: Use after suffering a melee attack in which you took no
1 damage. The weapon that the attacker used is removed from their
Disarm
dashboard and scattered.
Reaction: Use after suffering a melee attack in which you took no damage.
The weapon that the attacker used is removed from their dashboard and
2
added to yours. If you do not have space for it, drop it or another item you
are holding.
Reaction: As level 2. In addition, you may make an immediate Melee
3 Attack action with the stolen weapon, followed by a Move action with no
attacks of opportunity allowed.
1 Use before making a melee attack. Add two dice to the attack.
Frenzy 2 Use before making a melee attack. Add three dice to the attack.
Use before making a melee attack. Add four dice to the attack. After rolling
the dice, you may split the hits scored between any number of enemies in
3 range of your weapon. Any other effects such as Bludgeoning are applied to
all enemies that suffer a hit.
Passive: Gain First Strike .
Make a Melee Attack with a weapon. You may re-roll one die.
1 Passive: You may use the Shield Block ability as an effortless action. You
still become Fatigued if it is used outside your turn.
Weapons
Master Use after making a melee attack with a weapon. The target is Wounded
2 and Stunned.
Passive: You may make a Melee Attack as an effortless action.
Use after rolling for a melee attack with a weapon. You may roll again for
a different weapon in your inventory, combining hits and effects. results
3 apply to each weapon separately. Then make a Knock Back action with +1
die, or a Move action ignoring attacks of opportunity.
Passive: When making melee attacks, results on the blue die are critical hits.

78
RANGED SKIL LS

Skill L evel Action

Make a Ranged Attack at short range. This attack does not roll any dice – it
1
scores 1 automatic hit, ignoring cover.
Bullseye
Make a Ranged Attack at up to medium range. This attack does not roll any
2 dice – it scores 1 automatic hit, ignoring cover and physical armour.
Passive: This character’s ranged attacks ignore cover at short range.
Make a Ranged Attack at up to medium range. This attack does not roll any
3 dice – it scores 2 automatic hits, ignoring cover and physical armour.
Passive: This character’s ranged attacks ignore cover at medium range.
Reaction: Use after being targeted with a ranged attack or spell, before the
Counter 1
Shot attack is resolved. Make a Ranged Attack or cast a spell against the attacker.
Reaction: Use at any time after a target enemy has taken its first action in
2
the current round. Make a Ranged Attack or cast a spell against the target.
Reaction: Use at any time. Make a Ranged Attack or cast a spell against an
3 enemy with one extra combat die (if applicable), and then make a Move
action.
Use when making a melee attack to use a ranged weapon instead. Roll to
hit as normal using the weapon’s short-range statistic and add one die to
1 the attack.
Passive: You may ready a ranged weapon with Preparation as an
Ranged
Expert effortless action.
Throw any melee weapon, rolling two additional dice, OR throw any other
2 item as if it was a weapon, rolling two dice.
Passive: You may make a Ranged Attack as an effortless action.
Make a Ranged Attack with a Shot weapon. Ignore the Unreliable rule
and add the Bludgeoning , Sharp and Piercing rules to the attack.
3
Passive: When making ranged or thrown attacks, results on the blue die
are critical hits
1 Make a Ranged Attack. You may re-roll one die.
Trick
Shot You shoot an item from an enemy’s hand. Make a Ranged Attack. If at least one
2 hit is scored, no damage is done, but an item of your choice is removed from
their inventory and moved up to six squares in a direction of your choice.
Make a Ranged Attack with three extra combat dice. After rolling the dice, Reference – Skills
3 you can split the hits scored between any number of eligible targets within
range of your weapon and within short range of each other.

79
 STEAL TH SKIL LS
Reference – Skills

Skill L evel Action

Reaction: Use when an enemy ends a move within 4 squares and you are in
1 full or partial cover. Make a Ranged Attack action against that enemy. You
Ambush
may Dash before or after this action.
Reaction: Use when an enemy ends a move within 4 squares and you are in
2 full or partial cover. Make a Move action and then an Attack action against
that enemy. You may Dash once before or after either of these actions.
Reaction: Use when an enemy ends a move within 4 squares and you are
in full or partial cover. Make a Move action, an Attack action against any
3
enemy, and then another Move action. You may Dash once before or after
any of these actions.
While you are in contact with any wall you cannot be targeted for the rest
of the round. Enemies can move through adjacent squares without stopping
1
or attracting attacks of opportunity from you and cannot end a move in
contact with you. You do not block LoS in any way.
Make a Move or Ranged Attack action. While you are in contact with any
Camouflage terrain you cannot be targeted for the rest of the round. Enemies can
2 move through adjacent squares without stopping or attracting attacks of
opportunity from you and cannot end a move in contact with you. You do
not block LoS in any way.
While you are not in contact with an enemy you cannot be targeted for the
rest of the round. Enemies can move through adjacent squares without
stopping or attracting attacks of opportunity from you and cannot end a
3 move in contact with you. You do not block LoS in any way.
Passive Reaction: At any time (including midway through an enemy’s Move)
during a round in which you are camouflaged using this Skill you may make
a Ranged Attack action and then become Fatigued.
Reaction: Use after being targeted with a ranged attack or spell if you are
1
within 4 squares of cover. Move into cover.
Duck
for Cover Reaction: Use after being targeted with a ranged attack or spell if you
2 are within 4 squares of cover. Move into cover and ignore all effects of
that attack.
Reaction: Use at any time. Make a Move action into cover ignoring
attacks of opportunity, and make an Attack action, in any order. You
3
cannot be targeted for the rest of the round as long as you do not move
from your position.
While in cover, you cannot be affected by ranged attacks until the end of the
1
Hard round, although you can be targeted as normal.
to Hit
While in cover or at more than short range, you cannot be affected by
2 ranged attacks until the end of the round, although you can be targeted
as normal.
Make a Move action ignoring attacks of opportunity. You cannot be
3 affected by any enemy ranged attacks until the end of the round, although
you can be targeted as normal.

80
SUPPORT SKIL LS

Skill L evel Action

Market Phase: You may perform one of the following:
• Purchase an item of any value, in addition to the normal limits.
1 • Draw an additional rare item from the supply – this will now be available
Barter to purchase.
• Sell one item for its buy value, to a maximum of 10 x your rank.
Market Phase: Deduct up to 2 from the buy prices or add 2 to the sale
prices of up to three items, in any combination.
2
Passive: Deduct up to 2 from the cost of one item or Adventurer upkeep
cost in each Market Phase.

3 Market Phase: Increase the number of gained from any quest objectives
(if applicable) by 50%, rounding up.
1 Remove a Terrified counter from a friendly character in short range.
Inspiring Reaction: Use after defeating an enemy. All other friendly characters in
short range may remove a Terrified counter OR take one action.
2
Passive: Any other friendly character that starts its turn in short range and
LoS of this character removes a Terrified counter before activating.
All friendly characters in short range (including this one) remove all Terrified
3
and Fatigued counters. Each may then make one action.
Reaction: Use when an enemy in LoS activates. You may choose the
1 enemy’s target for the round from any eligible characters it can see, even if
Intimidating it is already engaged and/or another target is closer.
Reaction: Use when an enemy enters LoS or starts their turn within LoS.
Their turn immediately ends and they are Stunned.
2
Passive: As an effortless action, you may take an action with any friendly
character in short range. They then become Fatigued.
All enemies of this character’s rank or lower within short range and LoS are
3
Stunned and Terrified.
Use after taking an action. Another Adventurer in your party within short
1
range and LoS immediately makes the same action for free, if able.
Training Advancement Phase: Add one Experience to any other Adventurer in your
party. This Experience may only be assigned to Agility, Endurance, Melee,
2 Ranged or Stealth Skills.
The trainee’s rank may be no higher than X.
Reference – Skills
Advancement Phase: Add one Experience to any two Adventurers in your
3 party. One can be at any rank; for the other the trainee’s rank may be no
higher than X.

81
 SURVIVAL SKIL LS
Reference – Skills

Skill L evel Action

Natural Use when Resting. You and any other friendly characters that Rest this
1
Remedies
round restore an additional Health peg and an additional Magic peg.
You or a friendly character in contact removes a Wounded or Poisoned
2
counter and restores one Health.
You and all friendly characters in contact are Blessed, and may each take an
3
additional action this round.
Use during a General Search action to forage, taking the items listed below
in addition to any drawn. Roll the Magic Die.
• 1: You did not find anything other than the item drawn.
• 2-3: Take a Morsel or Herbs* token.
1
• 4-5: Take a Provisions or Fungus* token.
One with
Nature
• 6: Take a Remedy or Minerals* token.
Passive: When staying in the Wilderness in the Rest Phase you may roll
once on the above table for each character with this Skill.
At the start of your turn, choose a non-Otherworldly Wandering Beast
2 within medium range and LoS. You may use any of your actions this turn
to control the Beast instead.
Select a random non-Otherworldly Wandering Beast of rank 1-3 (see page
42). It enters play at an Entry Point of your choice and will be controlled by
3 you in the Adventurer Phase for the rest of the game. It may activate this round.
Passive: Non-Otherworldly Wandering Beasts will never target you.
Ready for
Anything 1 Reaction: Use at any time. Take an action.
Passive: Use at any time, once per round.
2
Take an action and then become Fatigued.
Reaction: Use at any time, including midway through an enemy’s Move. You
3 may take up to two actions and an effortless action.
1 Look at the top three cards of the Event Deck.
Based on the current Dread, roll for the arrival of all NPCs due to arrive this
round and place them next to the appropriate Entry Points. Grave Points
or any other arrival location within short range of this Adventurer cannot
be used. You may then move the NPCs at any one Entry Point to a different
2 one. Their arrival will not be rolled again this round – they will just be
Tracking activated and enter the gaming area as normal.
Passive: If any rule causes your Staging Point to be swapped with a random
Entry Point, you may roll the Magic Die twice and pick your preferred result.
Reaction: Use either before or after an enemy enters LoS/is placed onto
the gaming area, interrupting their Move if necessary. This character may
take a free turn immediately. All friendly characters within short range may
take one action. Any of these actions that target the arriving enemy gain
3 one extra die. If the arriving character survives any attacks they may take/
continue their turn as normal.
Passive: You may treat Rough Ground values (found in expansions) as
two lower.

* Herbs, Fungus and Minerals can be found in the Of Ale and Adventure expansion.

82
 REFERENCE – ICONS
Some rules will have an ‘X’ value. This refers to the Cumbersome: If an attack with this
number in or next to the associated icon. weapon rolls any and is not broken,
turn the token 180°. It cannot be used
Icons found on weapons apply each time the in this position. It requires an effortless
weapon is used. Weapon abilities found on action to ready the weapon for
character boards or other types of token such as use again.
Gear apply to all attacks made by the character
(regardless of weapon) while the item is in effect. Cumbersome weapons cannot
be thrown.
+X dice: This is usually found alongside Defensive Re-roll: The character may
the Channel icon. The attack may force a single die to be re-rolled from
roll an additional number of dice equal any attack made against them, unless
to the number of pegs spent. the attack ignores physical armour.
Ammunition: A character firing a Critical hits cannot be re-rolled.
weapon with this icon must have Discard: When this item has been used,
a Gear or Armour token of the return it to the supply.
matching type to fire it.

Balanced: This weapon rolls +1 dice Effortless: This item can be used as an
when thrown. effortless action.
Bludgeoning: If this attack rolls a critical Entangling: If this attack causes one
hit, the target is Fatigued, even if no or more hits, the target is Fatigued. If
damage was caused. this attack rolls a critical hit, the target
The target suffers one additional Fatigued is knocked prone. These effects apply
counter for each damage caused. even if no damage was caused.
Fast: When making a Move action,
This attack rolls one extra die when
this character can move X additional
attacking terrain pieces.
squares. If a character has this ability
Burning: If this attack rolls a critical from multiple sources, they use the
hit, the target is Burning, even if no highest value – they do not stack.
damage was caused.
First Strike: When this character enters
Equipment with this icon is considered within melee range of an enemy
a source of fire. (including when placed onto the gaming
area or when a door opens), it gets an
Camouflage: This character can only be immediate free Melee Attack action.
targeted by ranged attacks from within
short range. Hawkeye: This attack ignores partial
cover and can fire at engaged
characters at any range without
Channel: This icon will be seen alongside randomising the target.
other statistics or abilities. At least one
Immunity: This icon will be seen
Magic peg must be spent to use the
statistic/activate the ability. If an ability alongside other abilities and statuses.
Reference – Icons
has an X value, additional pegs may be This character does not suffer any
spent to improve the effect. counters or effects from the ability
shown.
Cleave: If a melee attack with this
weapon defeats an enemy, you may Infinite Ammo: When this token is used
resolve the same attack against for a ranged attack, it ignores results
another eligible enemy, removing one that would cause you to run out of
hit from the roll. You may continue ammunition and discard it.
to do this until you fail to defeat Key: A character carrying this item may
an enemy or there are no eligible lock or unlock any door or terrain piece
enemies remaining. as an effortless action.
Creature: Unless stated otherwise, this
character cannot Open Doors, Search,
use equipment or Interact with terrain.

83
 Location-Specific: Unless stated Rank: The power level of an NPC. NPCs
otherwise in a quest briefing, this item activate in order of rank, starting with
only works in the quest in which it was the highest, and their rank may also be
Reference – Icons

found, or the next quest if purchased in referenced by other rules and effects.
a Market Phase. Reach: This weapon may be used
Loud: Increase the Dread by 1 when to make a Melee Attack against an
this item is used. enemy up to X squares away, including
diagonally. Unless in contact, the
Magical Armour: Spend an action and up characters are not considered to
to X Magic pegs to increase your Warded be engaged for any other purpose,
value by the number of pegs spent. including attacks of opportunity.

Rotate the token 180° to mark it as When using multi-level terrain this rule
active. The token cannot be used in applies vertically as well – the marks
this position. on the ruler can be used to determine
how many squares a target is from their
Malacyte Enhancement: This character attacker when measuring up or down at
may cast spells with one more Magic an angle. Measure from ground level.
peg than their rank allows.
NPCs with this rule will make Attack
Night Sight: This character ignores all
actions as soon as their weapon is in
effects of Darkness (see page 52).
range of their target – they will not
Move closer if they do not need to.
Otherworldly: This character originates Characters with First Strike may also
from another dimension. The icon choose to stop and attack once they are
(found on character boards and any within their weapon’s range.
associated Event Cards) has no effect
on its own but will interact with other Regeneration (peg type): Restore
rules found in Maladum expansions. X pegs of the type shown in the
Assessment Phase. If a character has
Pack: These characters arrive in this ability from multiple sources, they
groups. When they enter play, place are cumulative.
the number of miniatures shown here
instead of a single character. They still Re-roll: If on a weapon, the character
activate individually. may re-roll a single combat die each time
the weapon is used to attack or parry.
Parry: When the user of this item is the
target of a melee attack, you may roll a If on a character board or any other
combat die. Each hit scored will negate type of token, for each roll made, the
one hit from the enemy’s attack as if it character may re-roll a single die of any
were physical armour. You then type used for any action or effect on
become Fatigued. their behalf.
Piercing: Physical armour cannot Rest: This icon will be seen alongside
negate hits from this weapon. other abilities and is only used during a
Rest action. This character may discard
Plunderer: If this attack causes damage, the token to apply the abilities shown.
a random item from the defending Restoration: These icons are found on
character’s inventory is scattered. If potions and other remedies. When used
the attack also scored a critical hit the they restore X pegs or grant X additional
attacker may take the item instead. actions (based on the icon shown) to the
Poison: If this weapon rolls a critical user or another Adventurer in contact.
hit, the target is Poisoned, even if no Actions must be used in the character’s
damage was caused. turn in the current round.
Preparation: After this weapon is used, Scramble: The top number is the
turn the token 180°. It cannot be used maximum height or width in squares/
in this position. It requires an action to inches of objects/characters that the
ready the weapon for use again. character can move up or over as part of
Quickstrike: If this weapon rolls a critical a normal Move action – they do not need
hit during a melee attack, you may Dash to Climb them or spend any actions, just
or make another attack (with this or like a regular character climbing stairs.
any other weapon) for free immediately The bottom number is the character’s
after the initial attack is resolved. safe distance for Jumping down or across.

84
Sharp: If this weapon rolls a critical Vampiric (peg type): If this attack
hit the target is Wounded, even if no rolls a critical hit the target loses a
damage was caused. peg of the type shown if possible, in
Shield Block: This character may addition to any damage caused. If
spend an action to raise the shield, multiple types are listed, the target
taking this token from their inventory loses whichever they have the most
and placing it on their miniature to of (attacker’s choice if equal). If a peg
gain the effects shown inside the was lost, the attacker restores a peg of
shield icon. The token is placed back same type if possible. If they cannot,
into the inventory again as soon as they become Blessed if possible.
the user does any of the following: Vicious: results on the blue die on
• Takes any action other than Move attacks made with this weapon are
or Dash. critical hits.
• Suffers damage. Volatile: If this attack rolls a on the
• Becomes Stunned. blue die, the user takes one damage.
The character may also raise the shield Then, all adjacent characters suffer an
when the character is attacked outside attack with a number of dice matching
of their own turn, before dice are the original attack and the Burning rule.
rolled. After the attack the character Worthy Opponent: If an Adventurer
will become Fatigued. defeats this character, their party gains
one Renown. The character must be
Only one Shield can be raised at a time. defeated with a direct attack or effect
Size: This character is smaller or larger – death from delayed effects such as
than an average human and additional being Poisoned or Wounded do not
rules apply, most commonly used for grant Renown.
LoS (page 10), Knock Backs (page 29)
and Moving Objects (page 50). This character can only appear once per
quest. Once it has arrived, any further
Skill: The Skill shown here can be used rules that cause another to enter play are
by the character at up to the level ignored, even after it has been defeated.
shown, exactly as if they were on the
character’s Class board.
ITEM NOTES
Stash: This item may be instantly
discarded when found to add its value Some equipment requires more specific rules than
to your Stash – it does not have to be can be covered by the standard icons and statistics.
placed into an Adventurer’s inventory. These items will be marked – if you see this on an
item you should check the rulebook for full details.
Terrifying: If this character rolls a
critical hit when attacking, the target Maladaar’s Almanac: Characters
is Terrified. must have a spell track on their Class
If an enemy character ends their turn board to use this item. The user
within short range of this character, roll marks spaces on it equal to their rank
the Magic Die. On a 1 that character (marking a new space when they reach
becomes Terrified. a new rank). For each space marked, Reference – Icons
the user may learn a new spell as if XP
Unarmed Combat: This value will be had been spent. Mark these with an X
found on a character’s board (including on the Maladaar reference card.
their armour slot). They may use this
value to make melee attacks even if If after any quest a different character
they do not have a weapon. carries this item, erase any filled spaces
here and erase the corresponding
Unreliable: If an attack with this spaces on the character’s reference card.
weapon rolls a single , it has jammed.
Turn the token 180°. It cannot be used Oblivion’s Echo: This device channels
in this position. It requires an action to the Crucible of Resurrection. The user
ready the weapon for use again. If it may Interact with the item as if they
rolls two or more it has broken. were Interacting with a Crucible. All
the same rules apply. See page 46.
Tome of Revenance: This item allows
the user to re-roll attacks and effects
against Revenants only.

85
 INDEX
A D
Index

Action Chart – NPCs.........................................39 D6.......................................................................5

Action.......................................4, 6, 22-31, 38-39 Damage........................................................ 4, 24
Action Statistic.............................................6, 13 Darkness..........................................................52
Activation Counter.....................................21, 22 Dash.................................................................31
Adjacent.............................................................4 Dashboard.......................................................6-7
Advancement..............................................62-63 Defeated.......................................... 5, 22, 24, 33
Adventurer.............................. 4, 6, 22, 54-55, 65 Denizen..........................................6-7, 13, 42-43
Adventurer Phase.......................................22-33 Difficulty...........................................................58
Adversary.....................................4, 38-39, 40-41 Don/Remove Armour.......................................30
Adversary Commander....................................41 Doors................................................................44
Adversary Phase..........................................40-41 Dread............................................... 8, 21, 34, 40
Ammunition..........................................26-27, 83 Dread Phase.....................................................21
Armour........................... 6, 13, 15, 25, 30, 36, 37 E
Arrival........................................................ 40, 42 Effortless Actions.............................................31
Assessment Phase............................................21 Enemy................................................................4
Attack............................................4, 9, 24-27, 31 Engaged................................................. 4, 24, 26
Attack of Opportunity................................23, 26 Entry Point................................................. 40, 42
B Equipment....14-15, 28, 37, 43, 54, 57, 64-65, 85
Base Camp................................................. 20, 55 Escape.........................................................60-61
Blast..................................................... 15, 27, 49 Event Cards............................................ 8, 21, 57
Bless/Blessed .........................................16-17 Experience/XP..............................6, 54-55, 62-63
Blunder ................................... 9, 24, 26, 27,29 F
Broken.................................................. 15, 26, 65 Fall....................................................................51
Burning .............................................16-17, 47 Fatigue ....................................................16-17
C First Player................................................... 4, 21
Campaign................................................4, 59-67 Friendly..............................................................4
Cast Spell....................................30, 34-36, 68-73 G
Character....................................................4, 6-7 Grave Points...............................................40, 47
Class............................................7, 32, 54, 62-63 H
Climb................................................................51 Health.................................................6-7, 13, 24
Combat Dice................................................ 9, 24 Hiring....................................................54-55, 65
Contact...............................................................4 Hit ....................................................... 4, 9, 24
Cost (Guilders )....................5, 6, 54-55, 64-65 I
Cover.....................................................10-11, 24
Icons...............................................6-7, 13, 83-85
Critical Hit ........................................... 4, 9, 24
Inn....................................................................66
Interact............................................................30
Inventory.......................................... 7, 14, 28, 64

86
 J Renown............................................................58
Joining Parties...................................... 29, 42, 65 Repair...............................................................65
Jump................................................................51 Re-roll........................................................... 5, 17
Rescue Mission................................................60
K
Resisting Magic................................................36
Knock Back.......................................................29
Rest..................................................................30
L
Rest Phase...................................................66-67
Large Bases......................................................49
Round........................................................... 4, 21
Left for Dead....................................................61
S
Level Up...........................................................63
Scatter............................................................ 5, 9
Line of Sight (LoS)...........................10-11, 24, 26
Search..............................................................28
M
Sentries............................................................53
Magic................................. 6-7, 30, 34-37, 68-73
Setting Up...................................................18-19
Magic Die..................................................... 9, 34
Size (Character) ..........................................12
Magical Armour................................... 17, 25, 37
Size (Equipment)..............................................14
Market........................................................64-65
Skill Statistic........................................... 6, 29, 32
Measuring.................................................... 5, 11
Skills..................................................6, 32, 74-82
Melee Attack..............................................24, 26
Small Bases......................................................50
Move.......................................................... 23, 39
Spells..........................................30, 34-36, 68-73
Moving Objects................................................50
Square.......................................................... 4, 23
N
Staging Area/Point.....................................20, 23
NPC...................................................4, 29, 38-43
Stand Up..........................................................30
NPC Phase...................................................42-43
Statistics........................................6-7, 13, 15, 63
P Status Effects...............................................16-17
Party........................................................4, 54-55 Stun ........................................................16-17
Passive Skills.....................................................32 Supply.................................................. 14, 57, 64
Patrol Point......................................................53
T
Pegs.......................................................... 7, 8, 21
Target - NPCs....................................................38
Persuade..........................................................29
Terrain.........................................................44-48
Phase..................................................... 4, 21, 59
Terrified ............................................16-17, 85
Player.................................................................4
Throwing Items................................................31
Poisoned ...........................................16-17, 30
Token Pouch..............................14, 18-19, 28, 57
Prone............................................... 5, 11, 22, 30
Traps.................................................... 14, 28, 48
Q Turn...................................................4, 22, 38-39
Quest...........................................4, 18-19, 56-57
U
R Upkeep.............................................................65
Range...............................................................11
W
Ranged Attack............................................24, 26
Wandering Beast..............................................43
Index

Rank............................................................. 4, 62
Warded ........................................... 17, 25, 37
Rarity................................................................14
Wilderness.......................................................66
Reaction Skills..................................................32
Wounded ...................................16-17, 23, 30
Reminder Counter.............................................5

87
 QUICK REFERENCE
ORDER OF PLAY Search (p.28)
QUICK REFERENCE

EITHER: Look in Searchable terrain in contact, take

1. Dread Phase or swap items.
2. Adventurer Phase OR: Place in room and take token from pouch.
3. Adversary Phase
4. NPC Phase
5. Assessment Phase OR: Pick up, drop or swap items in same or
adjacent square.
DREAD PHASE (P.21) Knock Back (p.29)
• Add 1 black peg to Dread Tracker. Roll dice ( on character board + 1) against
• Draw Event Card (round 2 onwards). adjacent target. +1 hit per your larger, -1 hit per
target’s larger.
ADVENTURER PHASE (P.22) Push target back 1 square per hit. May follow up.
Players take turns activating Adventurers. Each 3+ hits = target prone. > = no effect, target
takes up to actions + 1 effortless action. may Knock Back attacker.

• / / / – see status effects first (p.16). Persuade (p.29)

• Defeated characters cannot activate. Choose result and roll dice against target with
• Prone characters must Stand Up before in short range. Increase Dread by 1 if not in
other actions. contact. Reduce hits by . Check remaining hits:
TRADE ITEM: 1+ hits (contact only) – swap item of
ACTIONS (P.22) up to same size and rarity.
TAKE ACTIONS: 1 per hit, Fatigue for each, cannot
Move (p.23) harm friendly characters.
Up to 4 squares (3 if ). Enemies make attack of TRUCE: 2+ hits – they become friendly.
opportunity if you leave contact.
JOIN: 3+ hits – they join your party (p.42)
Melee Attack (p.26) Interact (p.30)
Make melee attack against engaged target or target Refer to rules for object Interacted with. Must be in
in range of . contact and unengaged.
• = dice for Melee Attack. Don/Remove Armour (p.30)
• = forceful – +1 die but 2 x breaks weapon
(p.15). Move/swap items from inventory to armour slot.

Ranged Attack (p.26) Stand Up (p.30)

Make ranged attack against target in range and LoS. Stand up prone character.

• = dice at short, medium and long range. Cast Spell (p.30)

• = blast (p.27). spells target caster. Otherwise target in
• 1x = out of ammo (p.27). medium range and LoS.
• Choose spell from Reference card, Character
board, Class board or Equipment token.
ATTACK ROL LS • Spend X Magic pegs (max = rank). Discard pegs = .
• Roll Magic Die (see Magic opposite).
• Roll dice, one , others . = hits. • Resolve spell.
• Reduce hits by cover (p.11) and armour • Resolve Magic Die effects. Add peg to Dread if
(p.25). first Magic used this round.
• Reduce target’s health by remaining hits. If
last health removed, character is defeated Rest (p.30)
(removed if NPC, see p.33 if Adventurer). Two actions. No enemies in room or short range
• = critical hit – other rules may apply – and LoS. Cannot be .
check icons.
• Remove all .
Check Skills (p.74-82) and Icons (p.83-85) for • Restore 2 Magic pegs.
any further effects. • Restore 1 Health or Skill peg.
• Remove or .
• Stand Up.

88
EFFORTL ESS ACTIONS (P.31) NPC ACTIVATION (P.38)
• Dash – move 1 square. If NPC has Event Card, follow stated targets
• Throw Item. and actions.
• Use item or spell.
• Open/close door. Otherwise target closest enemy, prioritising those
• Lay prone. in LoS and not in cover. Target does not change
• Give/take/swap item with adjacent character during turn unless target defeated or NPC engages
or square. different target.
Take actions as follows:
SKIL LS (P.32)
Can the NPC reach the YES
Once per round, during turn, spend X Skill pegs to target with one of its melee
use available Skill at X level. NO attacks, without moving?
Once per round, spend Skill pegs outside turn as
a reaction to a triggering condition to use Skill or The NPC will make a
Is the target in YES Melee Attack action
avoid effect. the NPC’s LoS? against the target.
Passive Skills do not need pegs and may be used
with no limits. NO Does the NPC have a YES
NO ranged weapon or ability
See p.74-82 for Skill lists. that can reach the target?

MAGIC (P.34) The NPC will Move

towards the target via
The first time an Adventurer spends Magic the shortest route. Will the NPC’s
pegs each round, add 1 to Dread. YES ranged attack
Can the NPC reach roll more dice
Whenever pegs are spent, roll Magic Die: NO
and attack the target than their best
in melee this turn? melee attack?
Magic does not resolve. NO YES
Character is Fatigued.
Has the NPC already
No further effect. NO moved this turn? The NPC will make a
YES Ranged Attack action
against the target.
Restore 1 Magic peg.

Other characters in 2 squares moved ADVERSARY PHASE (P.40)

1 square away and laid prone.
They may spend Skill peg to avoid. See Dread Tracker for arrivals based on current band.
Roll and dice as appropriate to randomise
This and other characters in 2 numbers and entry locations.
squares gain 1 Magic peg (may
exceed starting value). = closest Grave Point to Adventurer
Resolve effects as if 1 extra peg was
QUICK REFERENCE
If specified type not available, use next lowest ranked.
spent. Cannot be resisted.
Activate in descending rank order.
RESISTING: Spend Magic pegs to reduce X for
spell targeting character. NPC PHASE (P.42)
CHANNEL : When used, spend at least one Activate , and other NPC characters in
Magic peg to activate linked abilities. descending rank order.
MAGICAL ARMOUR : Spend action and
up to X Magic pegs shown to gain Warded X.
Rotate token used.
ASSESSMENT PHASE (P.21)
• X = magical armour value. • Remove Activation Counters
• If more hits taken, spend Magic peg to • / / / – see status effects (p.17).
block each. • Any other ‘end of round’ effects. Check any
• If X>1, spend pegs/become Fatigued in Reminder counters in play.
Assessment Phase to maintain. • Next player clockwise becomes first player.
• Warded removed if damaged or Stunned.

89
 STATUS EFFECTS (P.16) ADVANCEMENT PHASE (P.62)
• : Must Rest or use actions to remove counters • Earn XP:
before taking other actions. Cannot make attacks • – survived game
QUICK REFERENCE

of opportunity. If more than , replace all • – survived + completed objective

with .
• : -1 movement. In Ass. Phase, roll: 1-3 -1 • – special – see p.62.
Health, 4-6 no effect. • Spend XP – apply to Skills/spells.
• : In Ass. Phase, roll: 1-2 -1 Health, 3-4 -1 Skill • Level Up – if row filled, increase stats (p.63).
(Health if none), 5 Fatigued, 6 Remove .
• : In Ass. Phase, -1 Health. Cannot Rest. Is MARKET PHASE (P.64)
source of fire, attacks have . May use actions to • Take quest rewards.
remove (p.16). • Sell items.
• : Cannot act voluntarily. During turn, must flee • Buy any items up to 10.
(p.16). May spend Skill to remove. • Buy 1 item per Adventurer at up to 10 x rank
• : Cannot act voluntarily. Cannot suffer . (no limit for rank 5).
Remove counter instead of activating (p.17). • 1 random rare is available to buy.
• : Value is magical armour (p.37). May be • Hiring Adventurers:
boosted. Lost if damaged or stunned. If 2+, • Draw 3 random characters with random
maintain in Ass. Phase. classes. Add Adventurers previously hired
• : Spend to re-roll die or force re-roll of die temporarily. Any may be hired at full price.
against you. • Chosen Adventurer and Class may be
temporarily hired (1 game) at 25% cost.
DARKNESS (P.52) • NPCs that joined party may be hired at
• LoS limited to short range against targets in the dark. 50% cost.
• -1 to attack rolls, no . • Repair Items:
• All Climb/Jump actions fall on a . Safe distance • Common: 1
is zero. • Uncommon: 3
• NPCs prioritise targets in light. • Rare: 5
• Upkeep: Pay 1 per Adventurer per rank + 1
for each that took part in latest quest.
RENOW N (P.58)
Spend to: REST PHASE (P.66)
• Shuffle 1 card into deck before game. Choose Inn ( 2 per Adventurer) or Wilderness
• +1 hit to Persuade. (free). Then roll:
• Purchase item of any value in Market Phase. INN
• Adjust Inn roll by up to 2. 1-2: Choose: Bless all Adventurers or random rank
1 Adventurer gains 1XP.
OTHER IMPORTANT 3-4: Roll again:
1-2: Take random uncommon token.
PAGES 3-4: Draw 2 random uncommon and one rare
• Setting Up (p.18) token. May purchase any at sell price. Roll
• Terrain (p.44-47) for each – on a 1 discard it.
• Traps (p.48) 5-6: At start of next game either:
• Large/Small Bases (p.49-50) o Look at top 3 Events, shuffle Traps back in,
• Moving Objects (p.50) return rest.
• Sentries (p.53) o Look in searchable terrain piece.
• Difficulty (p.58) 5-6: Roll again:
1: -1 Health for random Adventurer.
CAMPAIGN REFERENCE 2: Take Provisions.
3-4: Gain 2 Renown.
ESCAPE PHASE (P.60) 5-6: May spend X. Flip a coin – if you win,
If Adventurers defeated, choose: receive 2X.
• Rescue Mission (p.60). WILDERNESS
• Left for Dead – roll: 1: Lose D6. Random Adventurer loses two items.
1. Permanently dead, equipment lost. They may suffer -1 Health and -1 Skill to avoid
2. Miss two quests. all effects.
3. Equipment lost. 2: Roll again. Random Adventurer starts next
4. Miss one quest. game with 1-3= , 4-6= .
5. Pay 5 x rank or treat as 1. 3-4: Roll for each party member. They start next
6. No effect. game with:
Reduce roll by 1 for each / / . may be used. 1-2: -1 Health 3-4: -1 Skill 5-6: -1 Magic
5-6: No effect.

90