Components

• 2 haunt books
• 13 building tiles
• 14 street tiles
• 15 catacomb tiles
• 1 Elfsong Tavern/Inner Chamber/Kitchen start tile
• 1 Catacomb Landing/Kitchen Basement start tile
• 6 plastic adventurer figures
• 6 two-sided adventurer cards
• 30 plastic clips
• 8 dice
• 1 Turn/Damage track
• 45 event cards
• 22 item cards
• 13 omen cards
• 6 player aid cards
• 215 tokens
• Rulebook

Object of the Game

Already familiar with betrayal at house on the hill

Here are the big changes:

A new haunt roll: When you make a haunt roll, roll dice equal to the number of omen cards already revealed. If you roll 6 or higher (6+), the haunt is triggered.

A new way to determine first player: Everyone takes a player aid card at the start of the game. Whoever has the card with the lowest number goes first!

Adventurers: Instead of explorers, this game has adventurers. Adventurers each have a unique adventurer power that can be used throughout the game.

City levels: Instead of 3 floors in the house, the city of Baldur's Gate has 2 levels: city and catacomb. The city level includes building tiles and street tiles, while the catacomb level includes catacomb tiles.

Tile stacks: At the start of the game, lay out the 2 longer starting tiles and separate the rest of the tiles by the color of their backs, creating 3 stacks of tiles. Doorway color matters when exiting: When you exit a tile, look at the color of the doorway. The tile you discover will come from the tile stack with that color.

Sewer grates: Sewer grates allow a one-way drop to the Catacomb Landing tile.

Stairs: The Kitchen and Weapon Shop tiles have stairs that connect to their matching basement tiles. Both the Kitchen and the Kitchen Basement are on the board at the start of the game, which will allow you to travel between them. To use the stairs on the Weapon Shop or the Weapon Shop Basement, you'll need to find both of those tiles.

Stealing: You can steal an item or omen if you would deal 2 or more points of any type of damage, not just physical damage.

Setup

Set aside the Traitor's Tome and Secrets of Survival haunt books. You'll use them after the haunt is revealed.

Each player chooses an adventurer card. There's a different adventurer on each side of an adventurer card. Pick one.

Attach 4 plastic clips to your adventurer card. Each one should point to one of the adventurer's starting values for Might, Speed, Knowledge, and Sanity. The starting value is colored green.

Shuffle the omen cards and put them face down in a stack where everyone can reach them. Do the same with the item cards and the event cards.

Find the 2 longer starting tiles (shown above): the Elfsong Tavern/Inner Chamber/Kitchen tile, and the Catacomb Landing/Kitchen Basement tile.

Separate the rest of the tiles by their back and shuffle each of the 3 stacks. Put the 3 stacks face- down where everyone can reach them.

Each player puts his or her adventurer's plastic figure on the Elfsong Tavern. (Each adventurer figure's primary color matches the color of the portrait on their adventurer card).

Put the dice in a pile within easy reach. See who goes first. Randomly distribute the player aid cards (numbered 1-6), one to each player. The player who has the lowest-numbered card will take the first turn. Players take turns going to the left following the first adventurer.

After setup, the table should look something like this.

Game Play

Starting with the first player and going to the left, each player takes a turn exploring the city.

After the haunt begins, the game follows a slightly different order.

Traits

Each adventurer has four traits, shown as lines of numbers on the adventurer card: Might, Speed, Knowledge, and Sanity. Might and Speed are physical traits, while Knowledge and Sanity are mental traits.

Many cards, tiles, and other game effects adjust your traits up and down. When an effect increases or decreases a trait, you slide the plastic clip as many spaces as the effect says.

For example, Azadeh Rashka's starting Might is 3. If an effect increases her Might by 2, you would slide the clip 2 spaces toward the maximum value, raising her Might to 4. Each trait has a maximum value, the highest number in the line, which can't be exceeded even if an effect would increase it.

Each trait also has a skull symbol below its lowest number in the line. Once the haunt begins, if any of your traits drops to the skull symbol, your adventurer dies. Before the haunt starts, no one can die-that is, no trait can go below its lowest number in the line (it stays at the lowest number instead).

Tasha Brightbottle's starting Sanity is 3. If an effect reduces her Sanity by 2, you would slide the clip 2 spaces toward the skull symbol, dropping her Sanity to 1. (If her Sanity drops by more than 2, Tasha will die unless the haunt has not yet begun).

Damage: Many cards, tiles, and other game effects can inflict damage to your adventurer. When you take physical damage, you can divide it between Might and Speed as you choose.

You slide the clips for those traits a total number of spaces equal to the amount of damage you took. Mental damage works just like physical damage, but you divide the damage as you choose between Knowledge and Sanity instead.

On your Turn:

You can perform 6 different kinds of actions during each of your turns. You can perform these actions in any order, as often as each type allows in a turn.

If you drew an omen card before the haunt starts, you must make a haunt roll at the end of your turn.

A. Move

On your turn, you can move up to a number of spaces (tiles) equal to your adventurer's current Speed. You can perform actions (such as using an item or attacking) in the middle of your movement. However, whenever a game effect makes you draw a card for any reason, you must stop moving for the rest of your turn.

Moving Between Levels

In Betrayal at Baldur's Gate, there are two levels of the city. The city level (which is where you start the game) contains building and street tiles, while the catacomb level contains only catacomb tiles.

There are two ways to get between the catacomb level and the city level: sewer grates and stairs.

Sewer grates are one-way routes from certain street tiles on the city level to the Catacomb Landing on the catacomb level. Stairs (like the ones on the Kitchen and the Kitchen Basement) are two-way routes between two specific tiles.

Jumping down a sewer grate costs 1 space of movement, just like travelling between adjacent connected tiles, but travelling between two tiles with matching stairs costs 2 spaces of movement.

B. Discover a New Tile

When your adventurer exits through a doorway, and there isn't a tile on the other side, look at the color of the doorway you are exiting from.

Find the next tile in the stack that has the same color as the door you are exiting from (red for building tiles, yellow for street tiles, and blue for catacomb tiles) and turn it over. Connect it to the doorway you just exited. Then move onto that tile. You have discovered it.

When you connect the tile, the color of the doorways you attach doesn't matter.

Add each new tile as logically as you can, creating connected tiles by connecting doors whenever possible. If it's impossible to match up all doors, you instead create a false feature, such as a blocked alley or boarded-up door (not uncommon in a city as old as Baldur's Gate).

You can't move through false features. You can move through a door if it connects to another door on an adjacent tile. Doors are always open.

Some tiles have symbols, representing an omen, item, or event card. Tiles also might have rules text printed on them, which applies each time an adventurer enters (or, in some cases, exits) the tile. If a tile has both rules text and a symbol, draw the card for the symbol first. Then follow the instructions on the tile.

Some tiles affect movement. A few tiles have additional rules, which are clarified in "Special Tiles".

Discovering a New Tile

Vort Dormall is exiting via the yellow street exit, so you will draw the next tile from the yellow street tile stack and attach it to the door he exited from.

Drawing Event, Item, and Omen Cards

Some tiles have symbols printed on them that match symbols on the cards . The first time you discover a tile with a symbol, you must end your move on that tile and draw the appropriate card. Only the first player to discover the tile draws the card (and ends their movement there).

If the tile has an event symbol (a spiral ), draw an event card. Read it out loud. Follow its instructions, which might require you to attempt a die roll. Then discard the card unless it says otherwise or has an ongoing effect.

If the tile has an item symbol (a bull's head ), draw an item card. Read it out loud. Place it face up in front of you; you now control the item. (You're carrying or wearing it). You can use the item once immediately and once on each of your turns, unless the card says otherwise.

If the tile has an omen symbol (a raven ), draw an omen card. Read it out loud. Place it face up in front of you; you now control the omen. You might have to do something immediately. At the end of your turn, if the haunt has not yet begun, you must make a haunt roll.

If you discover a new tile because of a tile's or card's effect, and that new tile has a symbol on it, you draw the appropriate card for that new tile. If a tile is added to the board through some other means (such as a haunt's instructions), the first player who enters that tile does not draw a card.

Even though your movement ends when you draw a card, you can still take other actions on that turn (such as using an item).

C. Use Item and Omen Cards

All adventurers can use items. Some monsters can too, if the haunt's rules allow it. You can use each item once at any point during your turn. Most omen cards are treated like items: You keep the card in front of you and use it just like an item. There's no limit to the number of items you can carry.

For each item, an adventurer (or monster that can carry items) can perform only one of the following actions with that item during a turn.

If an item would adjust one of your traits above the maximum number for the trait printed on your adventurer card, make a note of how much that item puts that trait "over the top".

If you lose that item, you lose from that "over the top" number, not from the printed maximum. For example, if an item adds 2 to your Might, but you gain only 1 Might before hitting the maximum, you'd lose only 1 from your maximum Might if you later lose that item.

Some items can be traded (or stolen with an attack), but they can't be dropped or picked up. The item card's text will state whether you can take a certain action with that item.

Weapons: The Berserker Axe, Book of Spells, Crossbow, Explosive Runes (event), Javelin of Lightning, Necklace of Fireballs, and Ring of the Ram are weapons. Weapons can be used only while making an attack, not while defending.

You can use only one weapon per attack, but you can carry more than one. Using a weapon during an attack is optional.

Companions: The Figurine of Wondrous Power, Homunculus, and Meenlock omen cards are companions that follow the adventurer who controls them. Companion omens don't have physical or mental traits. They only way you lose control of a companion is if you die. It remains on the tile where you died.

D. Attempt a Die Roll

Many times during the game, you'll need to roll one or more dice. Each die has faces with 0, 1, or 2 dots. There's no limit to how many times in a turn you can roll dice.

For example, you might need to make a die roll for a card you drew by moving onto a tile that also requires a die roll. You can't, however, attempt the same roll more than once per turn. (For example, you can't keep rolling on the same turn to try to find an item in the Forgotten Cache, or for a haunt-specific roll).

If a card, tile, or other game effect instructs you to roll a specific number of dice, do so and add the number of dots on each die to get the result of the die roll. Then do what the effect says for that result.

Trait Rolls: Sometimes a card, tile, or haunt tells you to attempt a roll based on one of your adventurer's traits (Might, Speed, Knowledge, or Sanity).

When that happens, roll dice equal to the number your adventurer currently has in that trait. For example, if you must attempt a Sanity 3+ roll, and you currently have a Sanity of 4, roll 4 dice and add the dots together to get the result.

If you rolled 3 or more dots, you succeeded. Whether you succeed or fail, the card or tile's text will tell you the results of your attempt.

An attack roll isn't a trait roll, even though it involves Might or some other trait (see "Make an Attack", below).

Task Rolls: Some haunts require you to make a roll to succeed at a particular task (such as searching for clues). You can attempt only one such roll per turn. That's true even if different types of rolls could satisfy that task (such as either a Knowledge roll or a Sanity roll to search for clues).

Damage Rolls: If an effect says to "take 1 die of physical damage", roll a die. You distribute damage between Might and/or Speed as you choose, equal to the number of dots rolled.

For effects that inflict more than 1 die of damage, simply add the dots on all the dice you roll. Taking mental damage works the same way, except that you distribute the damage between Knowledge and Sanity as you choose.

E. Use your Adventurer Power

Each adventurer has a unique power that they can use throughout the game. While some (like Gretchen Titchwillow's Wild Shape) are limited to once per game, most adventurer powers can be used once during each of your turns, if the right situation presents itself.

Some (like Aldan Pyrite's Protection) can be used at any time.

F. Make an Attack

You can't attack anyone until after the haunt starts.

Once during your turn, you can attack an opponent on the same tile. (An opponent is an adventurer or monster that wants to stop your movement or interfere with you).

When you make an attack, roll a number of dice equal to your Might. Your opponent rolls the same trait for defense. Whoever rolls the higher result defeats that opponent and inflicts physical damage against the other adventurer or monster.

The amount of damage equals the difference between the two rolls. (For example, if you roll a 6 on your Might roll and your opponent rolls a 5, you would inflict 1 point of physical damage). If there's a tie, no one gets hurt.

Defending is not attacking: When rolling defense against an attack, you cannot use any power, effect, or card that benefits you "when attacking" (including weapons).

Sometimes an effect lets you make an attack with a trait other than Might. You do this the same way as a Might attack, except you and your opponent use the other trait. For example, if you make a Speed attack, you and your opponent roll dice based on Speed. Speed attacks also deal physical damage.

When an effect lets you attack with Sanity or Knowledge, then you inflict mental damage.

You can't use a trait to attack an opponent who doesn't have that trait. For instance, if a monster doesn't have Sanity, you can't make a Sanity attack against it.

Sometimes when you defeat your opponent, you do something other than inflicting damage. For instance, you might be able to steal an item (see "Special Attacks", below).

Monsters are only stunned when you defeat them, not killed, unless a haunt specifies otherwise. You can attack a stunned monster if there's another benefit from doing so (such as stealing an item from it or killing it with a special item). Stunned monsters still roll dice to defend, but an attacking hero who loses won't take damage.

You can make a haunt-specific action (as described in the haunt's rules) and still attack on your turn, unless the action specifies it is used instead of attacking normally.

Special Attacks

Distance Attacks: The Crossbow's effect is an example of a distance attack. It allows you to attack someone on another tile within your line of sight: a path that leads through an uninterrupted straight line of doors.

You take no damage if the subject of your distance attack defeats you. Some monsters can also make distance attacks.

Stealing Items: If you attack a character on your tile and would inflict 2 or more points of damage, you can steal an item or omen instead of inflicting the damage. (The item's or omen's card says if it can't be stolen). You can't steal an item or omen by making a distance attack.

The Haunt

Once the haunt begins, the game changes dramatically. Now it's a desperate struggle to win before your opponent does!

Making a Haunt Roll

Before the haunt starts, each time you draw an omen card, you must roll a number of dice equal to the number of omens revealed. This is called a haunt roll. If the result of the roll is 6 or higher (6+), the haunt starts.

The player who starts the haunt with this roll is called the haunt revealer. For example, if you draw an omen card on your turn, and it's the fifth omen card drawn during the game, you need to roll 5 dice and get a result of 6 or higher on your haunt roll to start the haunt.

After the haunt starts, if you discover a tile with an omen symbol, you still draw an omen card, but you don't make a haunt roll.

Revealing the Haunt

When a player makes a haunt roll and starts the haunt, that player (the haunt revealer) looks at the haunt chart on the first two pages of the Traitor's Tome booklet. The chart shows which haunt has been revealed-and who is the traitor.

The chart lists omen cards across the top and tiles along the left side. Look at the name of the omen card that was drawn before the haunt roll and the tile that the haunt revealer's adventurer was on when the omen was drawn. Find the corresponding haunt number. This is the haunt you're going to play.

The haunt's entry below the chart states which player becomes the traitor. Give the Traitor's Tome to that player. The haunt revealer is not necessarily the traitor.

Special Cases: If two or more people could be the traitor, and one of them is the haunt revealer, then that person is the traitor. If neither one is the haunt revealer, then the next player to the haunt revealer's left is the traitor.

Optional Rule: Selecting the Haunt

This optional rule lets you avoid repeating haunts you've already played. If you consult the chart and get a haunt that you've revealed already and you don't want to play again, look for the next tile with an omen symbol that is closest to the haunt revealer's adventurer figure.

Match that tile to the original omen on the chart to find a new haunt number. Continue going from tile to tile in this way until you find a haunt that you haven't played yet. If you find one that you haven't played, move the haunt revealer's adventurer figure to that tile before beginning the haunt.

If you get through all the placed tiles without success, reveal the next omen card and consult the chart based on the tile the haunt revealer's adventurer figure is on. Once you find a haunt you haven't played, replace the omen that triggered the haunt roll with the last omen card tied to that haunt.

Haunt Setup

Do the following at the start of the haunt.

• The traitor takes the Traitor's Tome and leaves the room. He or she reads only the haunt that is starting now. That player also needs to know the rules described in "The Traitor's New Powers" and "How Monsters Work".

  If the player doesn't know those rules, he or she should take the rulebook when leaving the room and read those sections (or have another player explain them). The player aid card also has helpful reminders for the traitor.

• The rest of the players become heroes. They look up the haunt with the same number in Secrets of Survival and read it together. (The heroes should also briefly discuss their plan for survival).

• When everyone is ready (including the traitor), the traitor returns to the room. The heroes and the traitor do anything the haunt tells them to do in the "Right Now" section. (For example, sometimes you'll have to put tokens on the board or draw cards).

Playing the Haunt

The first turn always starts with the player to the traitor's left and continues to the left away from the traitor. Each of the heroes takes a hero turn. After each hero has taken a turn, the traitor takes his or her traitor turn.

After the traitor turn, any monsters controlled by the traitor get a monster turn. (This means that the traitor gets two turns: one for their own actions and one for the monsters). Then the first hero to the left of the traitor takes a turn, and so on.

The heroes and traitor are all still adventurers. They can do the same things they did before the haunt was revealed, except they don't make further haunt rolls (even if one of them draws an omen card). The traitor must tell the heroes what they're doing each turn, but not why; the same condition applies to the heroes.

After the haunt begins, adventurers can die. If any of your adventurer's four traits moves down to the skull symbol ^, then that adventurer dies. Sometimes during a haunt, a hero's "death" turns that adventurer into a traitor instead.

Certain haunts require something to be done a number of times equal to the number of adventurers or heroes. Unless the haunt states otherwise, that number includes any adventurers or heroes who have died during the haunt.

Sometimes the traitor is transformed or otherwise disposed of at the start of the haunt, but the traitor still gets a turn after all the heroes do. Even if the traitor dies, as long as the monsters can complete the haunt's goals, the monsters still get their turn (under the traitor's control).

During the haunt, if a hero makes a Knowledge roll to learn something and succeeds, all the other heroes learn that information as well.

The Traitor's New Powers

When your adventurer becomes a traitor, if you are being impeded by a previously drawn event card (such as the Crawling Claw or Wererat Bite), you are freed from that effect if you would like to be. In addition, you can use the following abilities (unless a haunt says otherwise).

• You can use any beneficial text on a tile while ignoring any harmful text. You can pass through the Assassin's Run without rolling. You can stand on the Shrine to Bhaal without taking any damage. You can still end your turn on the Gladiator Pit and gain 1 Might.

• You can choose not to be affected by an event card. If you choose to be affected by the card, you do so after reading it but before making any rolls or doing any other action stated on the card. You then must accept the result of any rolls or penalties.

• After you finish your turn, you take a monster turn with the monsters, if any. Even if the traitor dies, you still control the monsters.

  (In some haunts, the monsters are still able to complete a haunt's goals after the traitor is dead).

Haunts with No Traitor

A few of the haunts are fully cooperative, with no traitor. In those cases, play continues from the person to the left of the haunt revealer and to the left as normal. If there are monsters driven by AI in the rules, their monster turn occurs after the haunt revealer's turn each round.

Haunts with a Hidden Traitor

A few of the haunts feature a hidden traitor, whose identity is secret from all the other players. When a haunt calls for a hidden traitor, count out small monster tokens of one color, numbered from 1 up to the number of players.

Shuffle the tokens and deal out one to each player, face down (with the "S" showing). Whoever gets the token numbered 1 is the traitor. Play continues from the person to the left of the haunt revealer and to the left as normal.

Unless the haunt says otherwise, the hidden traitor can choose to be revealed at any time by turning the token numbered 1 face up. (For example, they might do this in response to a trap or a hazard, to prevent the effect or damage using normal traitor rules).

Whenever an adventurer dies, that player turns over their token to reveal their identity. No other player (except the traitor) can reveal a face-down token at any time. You might say that you aren't a traitor, but the other players have only your word for it.

Unless the haunt says otherwise, any adventurer can attack any other adventurer at any time, under real or feigned suspicion of being the traitor. (Of course, the traitor benefits from sowing suspicion and mistrust among fellow adventurers).

Unless the haunt says otherwise, everyone must converse only where everyone at the table can hear them; they can't leave and have side conversations elsewhere.

How Monsters Work

Monsters behave a little differently than adventurers do. All of the following rules are in effect unless a haunt says otherwise. Each monster moves and takes all its actions before the next one goes.

• Monsters move differently. At the start of a monster's turn, roll a number of dice equal to its Speed. The result is the number of spaces that monster can move that turn. For groups of the same type of monster (Goblins or Kobolds, for instance), just roll once for the whole group. Each monster of that type can move that many spaces that turn.

• Most monsters can't be killed. If a monster would take any damage, it is stunned and misses its next turn. When a monster is stunned, flip its token over to the side with the "S".

  At the end of the monster's next turn, flip it back. Stunned monsters can't slow an adventurer's movement. Even if a haunt says to do something other than stun monsters when they take damage, they can still be stunned by effects that specifically stun monsters.

  
  
  

• Like adventurers, a monster can attack only once during its turn. Monsters often use traits other than Might to attack. They can't make any of the special attacks (unless a haunt says otherwise).

• Like the traitor, monsters can ignore any harmful text on a tile. They can use stairs and sewer grates to move between levels, or pass through the Assassin's Run without rolling. However monsters cannot benefit from text on a tile that increases a trait, such as the Gladiator Pit or the Beloved Ranger Statue.

• Monsters can use the special movement options described on cards (such as the Arcane Gate token from the Arcane Gate event card).

• Monsters can't explore new tiles.

• Monsters can't carry items (unless the haunt says otherwise). If a monster that is allowed to carry items is stunned, it drops all items; place an Item Pile token on the tile. The monster can't pick up the items until it has a turn in which it is no longer stunned.

How NPCs Work

NPCs are characters that are added to certain haunts. They are normally under the protection of the heroes and as such are controlled by them.

All of the rules for NPC tokens are listed in the haunts that require them. If they are allowed to be stunned, they follow the same stunned rules as monsters.

End of the Game

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