R'lyeh Rising

1 Player Variant for Cthulhu Realms

v1.05

NEEDED:
Cthulhu Realms game
An understanding of the basic rules
D6 (one with an Elder Sign, for humanitys sake)
Sanity

NOTE:
We strongly recommend a six-sided die where the 6 has been replaced with an elder sign. It is extremely dangerous to play this
variant with a standard D6, while pretending the 6 is an imaginary elder sign. If you try to do this, you are toying with not only your
own sanity, but the entire fate of our very realm. But if its all youve got, what the hell

SET UP:
Give yourself a standard starting deck and sanity board, set to 50. Give Cthulhu a sanity board, also at 50. Keep the D6 nearby.

Remove both R'lyeh cards from the deck. Shuffle the remaining cards, then deal out 21 to form a smaller pile. Take 6 from this
smaller pile and shuffle one of the R'lyeh cards into them. Put those 7 cards back on top of the remaining cards from the smaller pile.
Finally, put that smaller pile (22 cards) on the bottom of the main deck. This way, R'lyeh is somewhere at the top of the bottom 3rd of
the deck, and you wont know when its coming.

Take 6 of the Initiate cards and shuffle the remaining R'lyeh card into those. Put these 7 cards face down to the left of the main deck.
Put the remaining 2 Initiate cards on top of those and turn the top one face up. When abjuring Initiates in the game, they do not go
back to the Initiate stack (they go to the special Abjure Pile, see below), so you run the risk of bringing Rlyeh to the surface (and
losing the game) if you buy more than the first one!

Deal 5 cards to the right of the main deck, into the trade row. These are now in slots numbered 1-5 (from left to right).

Shuffle your deck and deal yourself five cards.

Cthulhu goes first.

CTHULHU'S TURN:
On Cthulhu's turn, roll the die. Cthulhu gets and plays the card in whichever trade row slot corresponds to the number rolled. If you
roll an elder sign (6), you've angered Cthulhu, you foolish human. In his rage, Cthulhu takes and plays all of the cards in the trade row.
That's right. All of them.

Refill slots as they become empty, as always.

Cthulhus played cards are discarded into a special Discard Pile, never to be seen again. Abjured cards go to a special Abjured Pile
(which also can include your own abjured cards), which he may pull from (see Acquire Abjure below).

Cthulhu's only goal is to hurt you. Well, he also wants to go home, so he's biding his time until R'lyeh returns. Also, when it returns,
he will bring about the end of humanity, so there's that. It seems Cthulhu actually has multiple goals. He's a hard god to figure out, so
don't try.

Anyway, as a result of being so focused on hurting you, he's not worried about Conjuring Costs. When he plays a card, ignore these
results.
Cthulhu also ignores Double Sided Arrows. He gets to do everything (although Conjuring Costs are still meaningless).

Cthulhu puts any Location he gets in front of him. You suffer the effects of it every turn until you eliminate it (following normal
location rules). He may choose to abjure the card if he can, though (see Abjured below). Note that Cthulhus destroyed locations
are put in the Discard Pile and will not return.

Take any straight Sanity Hits that come your way, reducing your sanity level by the appropriate amount on your sanity board.
Cthulhu Gains Sanity with positive results, so mark those on his board.

If you have Locations in front of you, Cthulhu will go after the ones that block him from hurting you, following the normal rules, and
prioritizing by defense value, then by what's been hurting him more. He will take out locations that arent blocking his attacks but
only if he can also hurt you directly that same round. Otherwise, he will ignore that location and just hit you. [ Example: You have a
standard, unshielded location in play that can take 4 hits. If Cthulhu can attack you for 4 sanity, he will ignore the location, and you reduce your sanity by 4. If he is
attacking with 5 hits, hell take out the location and you reduce your sanity by 1.]
If Cthulhu can eliminate a lesser value location, but not a higher
one, he will. [Example: If Cthulhu has 4 hits to give and you have both a blocking 4 and 5 location of the same rank (like a Nexus), he'll take out the 4.]

If Cthulhu gets a Destroy Location card, he will follow the priorities mentioned above, generally going after the highest value location
thats causing him the most trouble. Obviously, he will take out an unshielded location if thats all thats available, even though he
wont be hurting you, too.

As far as Cthulhus concerned, this is his world, and youre just playing in it. As a result, unlike you, he can draw power from the cards
in the trade row.

Cthulhu triggers Color Combos if he plays a card with the same color that round (in an elder sign roll), has a matching location of that
color, or if there are any of the matching colors in the trade row.

Similarly, he triggers Location Combos if he has a location in front of him or if there is any location in the trade row.

Entity and Artifact Combos trigger if they are on a card in front of him (in an elder sign roll) or if there are any matching cards in the
trade row.

Discard Combos only trigger if Cthulhu actually made you discard a card that turn. Do not count Draw/Discard icons where the total
is 0 (for more on this, see SPECIAL CASE below).

If Cthulhu gets a card that gives him an Extra Card (+), do not roll again (that way leads to insanity, and youre already far enough
along that road), instead he will retrigger the lowest attack value in play. In play only includes cards he played this turn and his
locations, not cards in the trade row. Multiple extra card symbols will trigger the same lowest attack value.

SPECIAL CASE: If Cthulhu gets a card with a Draw and Discard ability (+/-), combine the positive and negative numbers. If a positive
result remains, it represents the number of hits that Cthulhu retriggers. If the result is 0, nothing happens. Congratulations, you
dodged a sanity bullet. [Example 1: Cthulhu plays Miskatonic Library which only has a +2/-2 symbol on it. You combine the values of +2 and -2 which results
in a 0. Nothing happens. Yipee! Example 2: Cthulhu pulls only Book of Eibon from the trade row (he has no locations in front of him). Book of Eibon has a -3
sanity hit, a +1/-1 icon and a +1 card symbol with yellow card and location icons. You take the 3 hits, nothing happens with the draw/discard result and you would
take another (retriggered) 3 hits if there is both a yellow card and a location in the trade row (they can be the same card). Example 3: Cthulhu pulls the
Necronomicon (and no other cards, as an elder sign was not rolled). It has a -4 sanity hit and a +2/-1 icon with a yellow card trigger symbol. If there is no yellow
card in the trade row (or a yellow location that Cthulhu has in play), you take the -4 hit, discard Necronomicon and move on to your turn. If there is a yellow card in
the trade row (or as a location), you would combine +2 and -1 to get a result of +1, thus allowing Cthulhu to retrigger the lowest sanity hit. Barring a location in play
with a lower hit, this is likely to mean youll take the -4 again, bringing your total sanity pain to -8 from this one card. Ouch.]

You Discard cards if Cthulhu gets a card with just that ability (-). See SPECIAL CASE above for draw/discard situations (+/-).

If Cthulhu has a card that can be Abjured (the abjure card with an arrow) to the Abjure Pile, he will always do so if it gets him a
beneficial result (like giving you a sanity hit, though he will not Abjure if hits would be wasted due to stronger locations). Note that he
will even Abjure his locations. Cthulhu really wants to hurt you.

If Cthulhu gets the ability to Abjure a Different Card, he rolls again and abjures the card in the corresponding trade row spot (or cards
if the result is an elder sign). These go to the Abjure Pile. Multiple abjures get multiple rolls (remembering to refill each time). The
cost is irrelevant (i.e. unlike you, he can abjure cards that cost more than 6). Cthulhu ignores your earthly conjuring prices. Raising
R'lyeh is all that matters. The more cards he abjures, the faster that will happen.
For an Acquire Abjure result, Cthulhu gets to acquire the top card of the abjure deck and trigger it all over again. Careful play on
your part can lead to a non-result if you abjured a weak card on the previous turn.

If there are timing questions, Cthulhu will try to follow this order for results: Location; Gain Sanity; Abjure; Acquire Abjured Card;
Discard; Destroy Location; Lose Sanity; Draw Extra Card.

YOUR TURN:
You play pretty much as normal, including triggering cards based on what other cards you have in play on your turn or your locations
(you do not get to use cards in the trade row to help you trigger results because youre not an elder god). As in the main game, you
are limited to Abjuring cards costing 6 or less. Also note that, unlike Cthulhu, the Acquire Abjure ability only lets you acquire cards
abjured on your turn. You also use the Draw and Discard icons as intended (like in the normal game; you do not retrigger the lowest
sanity hit; also, you must both draw and discard for a Draw/Discard icon). However, Discard works a little differently with Cthulhu.

If you play a card that would cause Cthulhu to discard a card, Cthulhu will still roll on his next turn, but on any result other than an
elder sign (6), he would not get to take and play the card (he essentially skips his turn in this case, though he does still get to use his
locations). If he does roll an elder sign, Cthulhu rolls again. Whatever he rolls stays in its slot, and he gets the rest (so hell get 4 cards
instead of 5). If he rolls a second elder sign, he gets nothing this turn. Poor Cthulhu. Multiple discard results don't change much,
unless Cthulhu rolls an elder sign the first time. Then, he would roll multiple times to see which cards he's not taking, though you can
stop rolling if he rolls a second elder sign at any time. Poor, poor Cthulhu.

GAME OVER:
Play until you or Cthulhu are defeated OR until either of the R'lyeh cards makes an appearance (it does not have to be taken by
Cthulhu; it doesnt even have to go into the trade row or the Initiates stack; once you turn over Rlyeh, its game over). If you have
not taken Cthulhu down by the time Rlyeh rises, it is much too late for humanity, which sucks because we were all counting on you.

To summarize, if you manage to beat Cthulhu, you win. If Cthulhu beats you or R'lyeh rises, you (we) lose.

VARIANTS:

Elder Sign Insanity: Instead of Cthulhu retriggering the lowest sanity hit on a Draw icon (+), roll the die and give him another card
from the trade row (or cards if he rolls an elder sign). Draw/Discard icons for Cthulhu (+/-) still cancel each other out, but if the result
of combining them is a positive number, roll for draws from the trade row.

NOTE: This was how I originally played the game, but it just got too unwieldy much too quickly. However, youre welcome to give it a
shot, if you dont mind having to play in a straitjacket (when you go crazy). On paper, it sounds simple, but when you start by rolling
an elder sign, then get another elder sign in the course of drawing another (+) card, then get another few Draw icons and roll an
elder sign yet again, well, it can be game over on the first turn. Plus, the card combos at that point are just overwhelming. Theres
fun in the insane chaos, but chaos it is.

Why Not Just Give Earth to Cthulhu?: Same as above, but dont combine the Draw/Discard icons. For example, if Cthulhu gets a +2/-
1, he gets to draw two more cards (rolling for them one at a time and elder signs still take the whole row), and you have to discard
one. Note that its different for you; a Draw/Discard result has to be used by the same person (you).

Fhtagn Me: Dont combine Draw/Discard symbols, but otherwise stick to the solo rules as written. In other words, if Cthulhu gets a
+2/-1, he hits you for the lowest sanity attack twice and you have to discard a card.

NOTE: This version has only been partially playtested (half a dozen times), but I havent won once. I dont find it to be as enjoyable or
tension-filled, but some people love the challenge, so have at it!
SUMMARY OF ACTIONS
If Your Card Has:

Location: Put into play and retain until eliminated, as normal. Cthulhu will try to eliminate Nexus cards and Sanctuaries, as needed, starting with the
highest defense value he can eliminate. He will eliminate a standard location, but only if he can also hurt you that round. With a Destroy Location icon,
Cthulhu will destroy the most valuable location he can.

Draw/Discard: You draw and discard from your deck.

Draw: You draw a card or cards.

Discard: Cthulhu rolls on his next turn, but doesnt take a card, unless he rolls a 6. Then he rolls again and doesnt take whatever slot he rolled (but gets
everything else). If he rolls another 6, he gets nothing.

Abjure: Abjure a card in hand, discard or trade row of value 6 or less, as normal. Put it in the Abjure Pile.

Abjure with Arrow: Choose whether or not to abjure this card to gain its benefits. Put it in the Abjure Pile.

Conjuring Power: Spend on cards in the trade row, replacing the cards when purchased. as normal.

Gain/Lose Sanity: Give yourself Sanity/Attack Cthulhus Locations or Sanity, as normal.

Destroy Location: Destroy one Location belonging to Cthulhu, as normal. Put it in his Discard Pile.

Acquire an Abjured Card: Acquire a card abjured this turn, as normal. You may not acquire cards Cthulhu abjured.

Prerequisites:

Card: Color on Location or card played this turn, as normal.

Type: Icon on Location or card played this turn, as normal.

Discard: You discarded this turn or are making Cthulhu miss a card on his turn (see Discard above)

Abjure: A card was abjured this turn, as normal.

If Cthulhus Card Has:

Location: Cthulhu puts the location into play then retains and uses it until you destroy it, following the normal rules.

Draw/Discard: Add the positive and negative numbers together. If the result is 0, nothing happens. If it is positive, see Draw below. If it is negative, see
Discard below*.

Draw: Retrigger the lowest Lose Sanity value currently in play.

Discard: You discard cards, as normal.

Abjure: Cthulhu rolls and abjures the card in that slot (or the row if its a 6). Multiple abjures get multiple rolls. Refill slots each time. Cost is irrelevant.

Abjure with Arrow: Cthulhu will abjure any card (even Locations) that will harm you.

Conjuring Power: Unused by Cthulhu.

Double Arrow: Ignored by Cthulhu. He can use both results.

Gain/Lose Sanity: Cthulhu gives himself Sanity/Attacks your Locations or Sanity (see Location under If Your Card Has above).

Destroy Location: Cthulhu destroys one of your locations (see Location under If Your Card Has above).

Acquire an Abjured Card: Cthulhu plays the top card of the Abjured Pile (different from the Discard Pile). Cthulhu will play your abjured cards if they are
on top of the pile.

Prerequisites:

Card: Color on Location or card played this turn or in the trade row.

Type: Icon on Location or card played this turn or in the trade row.

Discard: If Cthulhu made you discard a card during his turn.

Abjure: If any cards were abjured on Cthulhus turn.

Cthulhu Timing (if necessary): Location; Gain Sanity; Abjure; Acquire Card; Discard; Destroy Location; Lose Sanity; Draw

*I dont believe this is currently possible, but I left it in for future expansions or in case I missed something.