Gloomhaven

1 Game Overview

Gloomhaven is a massive cooperative dungeon-crawl game with persistent campaign play. Players control mercenaries with unique abilities who explore a dark fantasy world, fight monsters, and make decisions that permanently affect the game's story.

The game uses card-based combat: each turn you play 2 cards from your hand, choosing the top action of one and the bottom action of another. Cards are exhausted, not discarded - when you run out, you're close to being knocked out. This creates an intense resource management system.

With 95 unique scenarios, 17 character classes, and branching story decisions, Gloomhaven is designed for long-term campaign play over many sessions.

2 What's in the Box

• 1 game board / map tiles (hundreds of hex tiles)
• 17 character boxes with miniatures, ability cards, and character sheets
• Monster stat and ability card decks
• 95 scenario books with maps and story
• Hundreds of item cards
• Attack modifier decks for each player and monster type
• Road/city event cards
• Sticker sheets for campaign progress

3 Setup

1. Set up the scenario as directed by the Scenario Book - lay out map tiles, place monsters, objectives, and starting positions.
2. Each player selects a character, taking their miniature, ability cards, and tracker dials.
3. Set character HP and XP trackers to starting values.
4. Shuffle each player's attack modifier deck and the monster attack modifier decks.
5. Players select their starting ability cards (choose a hand from your full deck based on your level).
6. Draw starting items if the scenario allows and prepare for the first round.

4 How to Play

Planning Phase

Secretly and simultaneously, each player selects 2 ability cards from their hand and places them face-down. The initiative value of the top card determines turn order.

Card Reveal and Ordering

Everyone reveals their cards. Sort all characters and monster types by initiative (lower = faster). Ties broken by specific rules per monster type.

Player Turns

On your turn, perform the top action of one card and the bottom action of the other. Actions include: Move (move that many hexes), Attack (deal damage to adjacent or ranged enemies), Heal, Loot, and many unique character abilities.

Cards go to your discard pile after use. On your turn you can also Rest: long rest (spend one round, recover all discards minus one) or short rest (recover all discards minus one, can't act this turn - done mid-round).

Monster Turns

Monster behavior is determined by their ability deck. They move toward and attack heroes following specific AI rules. Each monster type has a stat card showing HP, move, attack, range.

Attack Modifier Decks

Every attack draws a modifier card: 2x, null (miss), or +/-0 to +/-2. Characters can improve their deck by adding bless/curse cards and removing negatives over the campaign.

5 Winning

Most scenarios end when players complete the objective (kill all monsters, open a door, escort a target, etc.) OR when all players are exhausted before completing it. Completing scenarios grants experience, gold, and sometimes story rewards. Failed scenarios mean no rewards but you keep items purchased during.

6 Strategy Tips

• Communicate card combinations, not specific cards. "I can move 4 and attack" is okay. Showing specific cards or numbers is not (by default rules).
• Manage your hand carefully. Running out of cards = exhaustion. Don't spam strong cards; pace yourself.
• Focus fire. Dead monsters deal no damage. Target monsters that can be killed this round before spreading damage.
• Use the muddle/stun/disarm conditions. Status effects are powerful - a stunned monster loses its turn entirely.
• Elements are powerful late game. Many abilities create or consume elements (fire, ice, etc.) for bonus effects. Build synergies around this.
• Scenario goals matter more than kills. Sometimes rushing past monsters to complete the objective is better than fighting everything.