Blood Bound is a game for six to twelve players, each of whom belongs to one of two rival vampire clans. As players attack one another, they uncover clues about their opponents' identities, which they can use to identify their rival clan's leader and capture him.

Components

• 9 Rose Clan Character Cards
• 2 Inquisitor Character Cards
• 9 Beast Clan Character Cards
• 12 Reference Cards
• 19 Rank Tokens
• 13 Rose Affiliation Tokens
• 13 Beast Affiliation Tokens
• 20 Unknown Affiliation Tokens
• 4 Shield Ability Cards
• 2 Sword Ability Cards
• 4 Curse Ability Cards
• 4 Fan Ability Cards
• 6 Staff Ability Cards
• 2 Quill Ability Cards
• 1 Cardboard Dagger

Object of the Game

If a player captures the rival clan's leader, the capturing player and his clan win the game. However, if a player captures anyone except the rival clan's leader, the capturing player and his clan lose and the other clan wins.

Character Identity

Each player in Blood Bound assumes the role of a character whose identity consists of several pieces of information:

• The clan icon indicates which clan the character belongs to: the Rose clan, the Beast clan, or the Secret Order.

  
  
  

• The rank icon indicates which rank token matches the character's specific role. It also indicates this characters place in his clan's hierarchy; the character with the lowest number is his clan's leader.

• The affiliation icons indicate which combination of affiliation tokens matches this character's specific role.

• The clue icon typically shows which clan this character belongs to, but not always.

Character Card Anatomy

Setup

The following setup steps are for games with an even number of players. If there is an odd number of players, see "Changes to Setup" on page 6.

Before playing, set up the game as follows:

1. Prepare the Supply: Place the numbered rank tokens in the center of the play area and arrange them in two rows in numerical order. Place each ability card faceup near its corresponding rank token. Sort the affiliation tokens by type into three piles and place them near the rank tokens.

2. Distribute Reference Cards: Deal one reference card to each player.

3. Separate Character Cards: Return the Secret Order character cards to the game box. Then, take all Rose clan character cards, shuffle them facedown, and set aside a number of them equal to half the total players in the game. Return the remaining Rose clan character cards facedown to the game box without looking at them. Then, follow the same procedure with the Beast clan character cards.

4. Distribute Character Cards: Combine all character cards previously set aside, shuffle them, and deal one card facedown to each player. Then, each player discreetly looks at his character card, being careful not to let any other player see it.

5. Show Clue Icon to Player on Left: Each player takes his reference card and places it over the face of his character card so that the lower-right notch of the reference card displays his character's clue icon (see "Showing a Clue" on page 3). Then, each player shows his clue icon to the player on his left, being careful not to show any other information on the card or let any other player else see the clue icon.

6. Determine Starting Active Player: Randomly assign the dagger to a player. This player is the active player and takes the first turn of the game.

Setup Diagram (8-player game)

Showing a Clue

Game Play

In Blood Bound, players take turns attacking each other until one player becomes captured. Ihe player with the cardboard dagger is the active player. During his turn, the active player must perform one of the following actions:

• Attack: The active player attacks any other player. Then, the active player gives the dagger to the player he attacked, who becomes the new active player and takes his turn.

• Pass: The active player gives the dagger to any other player, who becomes the new active player and takes his turn.

Attacking

Attacking is the primary means of obtaining information about other players' identities. To attack, the active player points the dagger at another player and declares that player as the target of the attack. The targeted player suffers one wound.

Then, the active player gives the dagger to the targeted player, who becomes the new active player and takes his turn. Players proceed taking turns in this way until one player becomes captured, causing the game to end.

Suffering Wounds

When a player sulfers a wound, he must disclose a portion of his identity. To do so, he takes one token from the supply and places it next to his facedown character card so that the other players can clearly see the icon on the token.

The targeted player must take a token with an icon that matches one of the three icons in the upper-right corner of his character card. For each icon on his character card, he may have only one token bearing that icon.

Before suffering a wound, the targeted player may ask if another player would like to intervene and suffer the wound instead (see "Intervening" below).

When suffering wounds, a player cannot attempt to deceive other players by taking tokens that do not match his character's identity. Ihe only exception to this rule is the Inquisitors wild affiliation icons.

Example: The active player chooses to attack the player on his right, declaring her the target of the attack. It is early in the game, and she does not want to disclose her rank yet, so she chooses to suffer this wound by taking an affiliation token.

Because she is the Rose clan Berserker, she may take either an unknown affiliation token or a rose affiliation token (as shown in the far-right column on the reference card). Opting to keep her clan allegiance a secret, she takes one unknown affiliation token from the supply and places it next to her facedown character card.

Capturing

When a player suffers his fourth wound, he becomes captured. He flips his character card faceup, and the game immediately ends.

Intervening

If a player wants to protect a fellow member of his clan, or perhaps advance a nefarious strategy, he can intervene on behalf of a targeted player during an attack.

Any player whose rank token is currently in the supply may offer to intervene. If more than one player offers to intervene, the targeted player may accept only one offer; he is not required to accept any offer. If the targeted player accepts an offer of intervention, the intervening player suffers the wound on the targeted player's behalf.

When suffering this wound, the intervening player must disclose his character's rank by taking his rank token from the supply.

Then, the active player gives the dagger to the intervening player, who becomes the new active player and takes his turn.

Example: The active player chooses to attack the player on her left, declaring him the target of the attack. Before the targeted player suffers the wound, he asks if anyone would like to intervene, and two other players each make an offer.

The targeted player already has two wounds (as indicated by the and tokens next to his facedown character card), so he accepts intervention from one of the offering players.

The intervening player must now disclose his rank to suffer the wound. He takes one of the "4" rank tokens from the supply and places it next to his facedown character card. Now all players know that he is the Alchemist, although they do not know which clan he belongs to.

Now, the Alchemist uses his ability, opting to force the player for whom he intervened to suffer a wound. Since that player has already suffered two wounds, she must take her rank token as her third wound.

She takes the "7" rank token from the supply and places it next to her facedown character card. Now all players know that she is the Beast clan Berserker. Finally, the active player gives the dagger to the intervening player (the Alchemist).

Abilities

Each character has a unique ability he can use to protect a teammate, obstruct an opponent, or turn the tide of the game in his own favor.

Immediately after a player takes his rank token to suffer a wound during an attack, either as the target or the intervener, he may use his character ability. For a complete explanation of each ability.

Note: An ability that forces a player to suffer wounds is not an attack.

End of the Game

The game ends when one player becomes captured, after which all players flip their character cards faceup to disclose their full identities.

If the active player captured the leader of the rival clan, the active player and his clan are victorious and win the game.

If the active player captured anyone other than the leader of the rival clan, the active player and his clan lose; the rival clan is victorious and wins the game.

Note: The player with the lowest number is his clans leader.

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