1. Game Components

2. Game Setup

• Each player chooses an explorer and places the figure in the Entrance Hall.
• Each explorer's stats (Might, Speed, Sanity, Knowledge) are set to their starting values on the character card.
• The room stack is shuffled and placed face down.
• The Entrance Hall, Foyer, and Grand Staircase are placed as the starting rooms (these count as separate Rooms).
• Players take turns in clockwise order beginning with the haunt revealer's left, or as established at game start.
• When a haunt is revealed, the active player's turn ends immediately. Turn order then starts from the person to the left of the Traitor, with the Traitor (and then Monsters) going last in turn order.
• The Traitor is not always the haunt revealer; the Traitor's Tome specifies who the Traitor is (e.g., "highest Might, except for the Haunt Revealer").

3. Game Flow

The game proceeds in rounds. On a player's turn, the explorer typically:

1. Start of turn effects — Some haunts require a Sanity roll or other check at the start of the turn (e.g., resisting the Dark Fiddler's lure with a Sanity roll of 4+).
2. Move — The explorer moves a number of spaces equal to their Speed (rolled or current value, depending on the situation).
3. Take actions — Attack, use items, trade items, search rooms, discover new rooms, or perform haunt-specific actions.
4. End of turn — Any end-of-turn effects resolve.

Once the haunt is revealed, the game shifts to the haunt's specific structure: Heroes take their turns first (in the established order), then the Traitor takes their turn, followed by any Monsters under the Traitor's control.

4. Player Actions

Move
- Cost: Uses the explorer's Speed value for the turn.
- Effect: The explorer moves that many spaces through discovered rooms, doorways, stairs, and secret passages.

Discover a New Room
- Cost: Movement into an undiscovered doorway/edge.
- Effect: Draw a room tile from the room stack and place it, then draw the corresponding room card. Some haunts allow the Traitor to search the room stack for a specific tile (e.g., Stairs from Basement).

Make an Attack
- Cost: Once during your turn.
- Effect: Attack an opponent in the same room. Both sides roll dice; the higher roll wins, and the loser takes damage to the appropriate stat. An opponent is an explorer or monster that wants to stop your movement or interfere with you.

Distance Attack
- Cost: As specified by the weapon or method of attack.
- Effect: Attack an opponent in another room within line of sight, if the weapon or attack method has this ability (e.g., Revolver).

Use an Item
- Cost: An action on your turn.
- Effect: Apply the item's special ability (e.g., Holy Symbol, Medical Kit, Healing Salve, Silver Bullets, Musical Box).

Trade an Item
- Cost: An action on your turn.
- Effect: On his or her turn, an explorer can give one item to another explorer in the same room (if they accept it).

Stat Check / Skill Roll
- Cost: An action or as specified by a card/room/haunt.
- Effect: Roll dice and add the relevant stat; succeed on a target number (e.g., Might roll of 5+ to damage the spaceship in Haunt 6).

Search a Room (for treasure, clues, etc.)
- Cost: An action on your turn, in a room with the appropriate symbol or as specified.
- Effect: Reveal treasure, clues, or other haunt-specific results.

Exorcism Roll
- Cost: Uses a specific item or room, plus a stat roll.
- Effect: If successful, place a token on that room or item. No explorer can use that same item or room in an exorcism again.

5. Scoring and Game End

There is no point-scoring system. The game ends when one side fulfills the haunt's victory conditions:

• Hero victory conditions vary by haunt (e.g., free the trapped explorer, destroy the eggs, and exit the house; banish the Fiddler; kill the Witch; complete an exorcism; carry the Holy Symbol to the Pentagram Chamber).
• Traitor victory conditions also vary (e.g., kill or turn all Heroes, the eggs hatch, all survivors are killed).
• In some haunts, a Hero-turned-Werewolf wins only if the Traitor wins AND that player personally killed a Hero.
• If a required Hero objective involves a character who dies, the objective may still be completed on the corpse (e.g., freeing the trapped explorer's body still counts).

Key Rules and Common Questions

Easy-to-miss Rules:

1. The Traitor is not always the haunt revealer. The Traitor's Tome specifies who becomes the Traitor (e.g., highest Might except the Haunt Revealer).
2. When a haunt is revealed, the active player's turn ends immediately. Turn order restarts from the player to the left of the Traitor, with the Traitor and Monsters going last.
3. Entrance Hall, Foyer, and Grand Staircase count as separate Rooms.
4. Monsters, but not Traitors, can climb up the Coal Chute, Collapsed Room, and Gallery without making a roll.
5. Players are never Monsters. They are either Heroes or Traitors, and in some scenarios can change sides.
6. Players are never stunned. Only Monsters (including the Dog) can be stunned when defeated.
7. Having been bitten (or becoming a Werewolf) doesn't let a player ignore damage. Damage is still taken normally.
8. Trading items is an action — an explorer can give one item to another explorer in the same room on their turn.
9. A Rat can attack only ONCE per Monster turn, whether individually or in a group.
10. Advance the turn tracker after each Traitor turn, NOT after each Hero turn (in applicable haunts).
11. Once a stat is lowered to the skull symbol, the explorer may die — unless a haunt-specific rule prevents it (e.g., a trapped explorer with eggs cannot have stats fall to skull).
12. A successful Form of Mortal spell permanently removes the Witch's invulnerability for the rest of the game, allowing any Hero to attack her.
13. The house in Haunt 2 doesn't start collapsing until AFTER the Traitor controls the Ghost — specifically, at the end of the Traitor's first turn in control of the Ghost.
14. Sanity Roll tokens, Knowledge Roll tokens, and similar markers are used in specific haunts and have specific rules for use and transfer.
15. If there is no possible way for a monster to reach heroes on another floor, the Traitor may search the Room stack for a specific tile (e.g., Stairs from Basement) and put it into play.

FAQ:

Q: Can the Mummy teleport anywhere on a movement roll of 0 or 1?
A: Yes. If the Mummy rolls 1 or 0 for movement, it may move to any room on any floor of the House, effectively teleporting. There does not need to be a Secret Passageway in the start or end room. If the Mummy rolls 2+, it moves normally.

Q: Who becomes the Traitor when the haunt is revealed?
A: It depends on the haunt. The Traitor's Tome specifies who the Traitor is — it is not always the haunt revealer. For example, in Haunt 4, the Traitor is the player with the highest Might, except for the Haunt Revealer.

Q: Can a Hero attack the Ghost from the Pentagram Chamber if the Ghost is in another room?
A: No, unless the Hero has the Ring. Under the basic attack rules, you can only attack an opponent in the same room (or at a distance if the weapon has that ability). Without the Ring or a distance attack ability, the Ghost must be in the Pentagram Chamber with the attacker.

Q: What happens to turn order when a Hero becomes a Traitor mid-game (e.g., turned into a Werewolf)?
A: When a Hero fails a Sanity roll and becomes a Traitor, their turn stops and they will receive their turn during the Traitor phase. The most common interpretation is to stick with the turn order established when the haunt first began, rather than resetting it each time someone changes sides.

Q: Do additional Werewolves become Monsters or Traitors?
A: Players are never Monsters. They are either Heroes or Traitors, and in some scenarios they can change side. A Hero turned into a Werewolf becomes a Traitor.

Q: Can a Hero-turned-Werewolf win the game?
A: A Hero-turned-Werewolf wins when the Traitor wins, but only if that player has personally killed a Hero. Any Werewolf (including one that was once a Hero) can pass the curse to others.