Voices of the damned will rise in unison and the world will witness

untold horror, it will be just the beginning………

I stood on the old veranda staring out across my piece of the world. I
absentmindedly jiggled a glass of aged red wine in my hand, and would every
now and then take a sip relishing its delightful smoothness. The shrill chirping
of crickets created a background song, and a cloudless sky filled with glistening
stars beckoned me... no demanded me... to lift my head and scour the heavens
for … well who knows what.
Suddenly, there was a slight tremor, the old boards rattled and the house
groaned. In an instant I realised that it was no ordinary tremor - I felt it in my
old bones that something was terribly wrong. I glanced up and for few
moments the sky darkened and the stars disappeared. I felt a wave of dizziness
come over me, and the glass dropped from my hand, a blood red hue seemed
to hamper my sight, - I fell, and then there was nothing….
I awoke staring at the dark sky, the stars had returned but the night was much
older. The crickets no longer sang and my head thumped. There was
something different, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.
Not far away something stirred and in a long forgotten tongue it raised its
voice in a spine chilling call- a challenge to humanity………
 Table of Contents
About the solo variant .................................................................................................................... 2
Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................................... 2
Character Potential........................................................................................................................... 3
Resources ............................................................................................................................................. 4
Events Domain and Events Pool ................................................................................................... 4
Setup ..................................................................................................................................................... 5
PLAYING THE GAME ........................................................................................................................ 6
Minions Play ....................................................................................................................................... 6
Players Play ......................................................................................................................................... 8
Additional information ................................................................................................................... 9

About the solo variant

For most part the solo version of the game will played the same as the original game using the same
rules, timings and character and card abilities as described in the official rules of play and in the FAQ
documents.

The modifications to the game play are described in this document, and all can be tweaked to adjust
the difficulty or to suit your own style and play. Some modifications are provided in the additional
information section.

It is near impossible to account for all the situations that arise in play and anticipate what future
cards will bring to the game. My advice is play the Minions cards as if they were your own, this
means that you will often hurt yourself; try not to shy away as a lot of the fun is in getting through
these situations. Most of all have fun.

Eric Miller (edmil)

Acknowledgements

I wish to acknowledge and thank the following people for without their initiative, development and
input the exciting solo play of Call of Cthulhu LCG may not have been possible.

 Dale Buonocore (Elad)

 Lee Murdoch
 Chris (Marlowespade)
 Frank Munro (Hayati)

The Call of Cthulhu LCG is a Trademark of Fantasy Flight Publishing, Inc... All rights reserved.

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Character Potential
A ‘Character’s Potential' (CP) is used to determine the order in which the Minion will use and
play its characters and how it will choose its opponents characters.

A character’s Potential is the sum of its Cost and Skill. Modifiers based on the characters
icons are used to determine the Potential when characters are of equal Potential

Modifier 1: Cost + skill + investigation

Modifier 2: Cost + skill + Investigation + terror
Modifier 3: Cost + skill + investigation + terror + combat
Modifier 4: Cost + skill + investigation + terror + combat + arcane

Example Determination of Potential (CP):

Character Cost Skill Icons

Ancient Guardian 4 3
Steve Clarney 3 2

Kirby O’Donnell 3 2

Blackwood File Clerk 2 3

Hungry Dark Young 3 2

Character Potential Modifier 1 Modifier 2 Modifier 3 Modifier 4

Listed by ‘Potential’ Cost +Skill Investigation Terror Combat Arcane

Ancient Guardian 7 0 2 2 0

Steve Clarney 5 1 0 2 0

Kirby O’Donnell 5 1 0 1 0

Blackwood File Clerk 5 1 0 0 0

Hungry Dark Young 5 0 1 1 0

Ancient Guardian has the highest Potential with a Cost + Skill =7 so is ranked #1 The
remaining 4 cards have an equal Potential of 5 so you use the Modifiers to split them.

Hungry Dark Young has no Investigation icons so it drops to the bottom of the list. (#5)

Steve Clarney, Kirby, and Blackwood Clerk remain equal when using modifiers 1 and 2 it is only
at modifier 3 (combat) that we can separate their potential. Steve Clarney has the higher
Potential with the 2 combat icons, followed by Kirby O’Donnell with 1 combat icon and finally
Blackwood file clerk.

Note: If Characters cannot be separated across all the calculations then use the Character
capabilities provided in the text box the Minion will use whichever Character from which it will
gain the most benefit in the given situation,.

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The Minion will always select in order from highest potential to lowest potential when
choosing to commit to or defend a story

The Minion will always select opponent’s character with the highest Potential when it gets
the option to damage an opponent’s character

The Minion will always select its character with the lowest Potential when choosing a
character to take damage or go insane.

Resources
Use six sided dice to represent the Minions
Resources.

The minion will start the game with 2 resources in

each Domain. (3 resources in each game if the player
takes. a Mulligan on his first draw)

During the resource phase the minion will roll a die to

determine which of its resources will increase.
Example: A roll of 1 or 2 increases Domain 1, a 3 or 4
increases Domain 2 and a 5 or 6 increases Domain 3

If the Minion has more than 3 Domains then roll the

die until a valid number is obtained. Example if he
Minion has 4 Domains then roll the die until a 1, 2, 3
or 4 is rolled.

Events Domain and Events Pool

A fourth Domain referred to as the ‘Events Domain’ is used by the Minion for playing Events.
Event cards a placed below the Events Domain face up. This is the ‘Events Pool’

The Events Domain will initially be set at 2 resources. The Events Domain is not part of the
standard Domains so is not part of the dice roll to increase resources. It will however
increase if:

• The Player chooses to ‘Mulligan’ the first drawn setup hand.

• The player wins a story

The Minion will drain the Events Domain to pay the resource cost for an Event card.
The Events Domain can never be drained for anything other than for an Event card, even if
there are no Events in the Events Pool
Events that have a cost higher than the resources in the Events Domain can use one of the
standard Domains to put the card in Play.
In those instances where the Minion has other un-drained Domains these Domains may be
drained for further Events.

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Setup

1. Shuffle the decks

2. Set up the game board and story cards

3. Initialize the Minion’s Play Area

i. Shuffle the Minions deck and draw until the first 3 cost character is drawn, place
this character in play in the minions play area. (This is the Minions forward scout)

ii. Replace the remaining drawn cards back into the Minion’s deck and reshuffle.

4. Place Domains
The Minion will start with 4 Domains. The fourth Domain is the Events Domain and is for
Event management only.

5. Draw setup hands

Minion

Draw 5 cards for the Minion from its deck.

Player

Draw 8 cards from your own deck. Choose 5 of these cards to be your starting hand.

Note: If you choose to discard and redraw your hand (‘Mulligan’) the Minion’s Resources will
be set to 3 instead of 2. It is a high penalty.

6. Attach resources
Minion

Place one die on each of the Minion’s Domains so that the 2 spots re showing (3
spots if you have taken a Mulligan in step 5).

Player

Take the remaining 3 cards from your setup hand and attach one face up and upside
down, to each of your 3 Domains.

7. Determine start player.

Flip a token: Skull - Minion starts, Magnifying Glass - player starts.

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PLAYING THE GAME

Minions Play

Refresh Stage
Reset drained domains, Un-exhaust characters and set one insane character to exhausted
When restoring an insane character the Minion will always choose the character with the
highest potential

Draw phase
Draw 2 cards

Manage 'Events Pool'

As event cards are drawn by the Minion they are placed below the Events Domain (face up)
into the ‘Events Pool'

As the cards are being placed into the Events Pool determine playable Events and timing of
play of these Events. A playable Event means that all factors required for playing the Event
are present.

Hold for story phase

i. Event will have an impact on upcoming Story phase AND If event is playable and
card text indicates play in story phase, or

ii. Event would have greatest impact played in the Story Phase.

Hold for play in Operations Phase

i. If Event is playable AND card text says play during Operations Phase, or

ii. Event is best played in the operations phase.

Hold for play at another time

i. If Event is playable and card text says play during a particular Phase, other than
Operations or Story phase, or

ii. Event will have the most impact in a particular phase.

Note: The overriding factor that determines which Event/s will be played is deciding
which will have the most impact on the player.

Resource phase
Roll a dice to determine which of the Minion's Domains will increase by 1

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Operations phase
The Minion will always attempt to drain 2 Domains. It will attempt to drain 3 Domains if the
'Events Pool' is empty or contains no valid Events

The Minion will always try to put into play a Character, and a Support.

1st drain: Highest 'Potential' character the Minion can pay for. If no Character then Highest
valid Support card.

2nd drain: Highest valid Support card. If no valid Support card then next highest 'Potential'
character the Minion can pay for.

3rd drain: Valid Card Action or high cost Event

Note: Valid means that support is playable. For example if the Support needs to be attached
to a character and there is no character available it is not a valid option and will not be used.

Story Phase
The Minion will alternatively hold back characters for defense and commit characters to
stories using character Potential. Working from highest Potential to lowest Potential.

Any characters that cannot for some reason be committed to a story do not feature in the
commitment/defense determination. E.g. the card has been exhausted for a card Action.

Characters will be first committed to the story where the Minion has the most icons.

If the Minion has no icons on a story it will first commit to the story closest to the Deep End.

Characters will continue to be committed to the same story until the number of characters
committed equal the number of characters the player has for defense. Then the Minion will
start to commit to the Story on which it has the next most icons or the story to the left of the
previous committed story.

The Minion will use all characters for either defense or committed to a story.

Example: Player has 2 characters available for defense and Minion has 6 characters. It has
2 icons on the Middle story.

1. Character with highest 'Potential' held back for defense.

2. Character with next highest potential committed to the middle story (it has the most
icons)
3. Character with next highest 'Potential' held back for defense
4. Character with next highest potential will be committed the middle story again as the
player has 2 characters for defense.
5. Character with next highest potential held back
6. Character with next highest potential will be committed to the story furthest from the
Deep End

Player commits characters to defend stories

Resolve struggles as described in the COC LCG Rules of Play

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Players Play

Refresh Stage
Reset drained domains
Un-exhaust characters
Set one insane character to exhausted

Draw phase
Draw 2 cards

Resource phase
Optionally place a card under one of your domains

Operations phase
As described in the COC LCG Rules of Play

Story Phase
Player
Optionally commit characters to Stories

Minion
The Minion will defend every story that the player has committed to.

Any characters that cannot for some reason be committed to a story do not feature in the
defense determination.

The minion will defend using characters from highest to lowest potential. Starting with the
Story where its opponent has the most icons.

Example: The player has committed Characters to Story 1 and Story 3. Minion has 4
characters ready for defense. The player has 2 icons on the third Story and none on the
others.

1. Minions Character with highest 'Potential' will defend Story 3 (has most Icons for player).
2. Minions Character with next highest potential will defend the Story 1
3. Minions Character with next highest 'Potential' will defend Story 3
4. Minions Character with next highest potential will defend the Story 1

Resolve struggles as described in the COC LCG Rules of Play

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Additional information
Where possible the Minion will put as many cards into play as possible.

When the Minion has no characters in its play area or hand.

If at any time the Minion has no characters re initialize the Minions play area as per the set
up, but increase the cost of the character from 3 to 4 where able.

Playing attachments.
Attachments will be attached to the character with the highest potential without an
attachment. If all characters have an attachment then it will be attached to the character with
the highest potential.

Playing Card Actions.

Any character card Actions that exhaust the character will need to be taken before the
Minion commits or defends as these characters will no longer figure in the Commit/Defend
process. Card text will help determine when the action needs to be taken.

Winning a story card.

The Minion will only choose the effects of a story card only if there is a clear benefit to do so.
The Minions Event Domain will be increased by 1 resource.

Using Conspiracies.
When playing a conspiracy card the Minion will place the conspiracy card close to the deep
end making it the first story card. The player will place the conspiracy furthest from the deep
end making it the last story card.

Adding Domains through card effects.

When a new Domain is put into play place a die on the card. Any card/s expected to become
resources for the Domain are placed face down under the Domain. The Domain will then be
resourced by the roll of a die the same as the other Domains; no further cards will be
required as resource.

Playing Night and Day

The Minion will base its decision to change from day to night or vice versa on whether or not
it will benefit from playing the card.
Characters that can only be played during the day will be excluded from placement when it is
night and vice versa,

Using Unique characters

The standard rules apply for unique characters only one unique character can be in play at a
time.

Managing ‘Dormant’ characters.

Dormant cards are treated as described in the official rules or FAQ document, the only
difference is the card may be placed at the story face up.

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Increasing or decreasing variant difficulty.
The variant has many options for either increasing or decreasing the difficulty some options
include:

 Increasing or decreasing the cost of the Minion’s scout (the initial card).
 Increasing or decreasing the number of starting resources.
 Increasing the Events Domain starting resource.
 Drawing 3 cards each time for the Minion.
 Use options for the LILLITH variation described below.

LILLITH
A fiendish AI from beyond who will be your Call of Cthulhu LCG solo Play Opponent….

LILLITH was developed by prasomchai and is an evolution of Cthulhu Rising. The AI used in LILLITH is
less random than that used in Cthulhu Rising and as such is a heavier game. The key differences
include:

 Pre-determining triggers for Events and card Actions.

 Updating Domains based on cards in hand.
 Different prioritization method for playing and using cards. (The term Potential
changed to Priority.
 Outcome based commit and defend logic.
LILLITH’s pre-determination of triggers, resourcing and prioritization methods could replace the
methods currently being used in Cthulhu Rising and create a different game experience. For this
reason I have included LILLITH’s methods below.

Pre-triggers

Before playing against LILITH, the player decides on the trigger for each event card in her deck.
Alternatively the player decides on the trigger for each of LILITH’s event cards when they enter
LILITH’s hand.

LILITH will play the events as soon as a trigger occurs. LILITH will try to use the event pool to pay for
events; only if they can’t be afforded then she will try to use a regular domain. However, playing
character, support and attachment cards from hand takes priority over events as regards the use of
regular domains.

In the case of multiple possible events, resolve them in priority order. Some examples will best
illustrate possible triggers (noting that the triggers are ultimately up to the player to decide).

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Resourcing

LILLITH’s aim is to play out the maximum number of cards each turn:

 If LILLITH can play an extra card by increasing a particular domain’s resources she will do so.
 If LILLITH can pay for the maximum number of cards with existing resources she will add a
resource to a domain to facilitate the play of a higher cost card held in her hand, in later
turns.
 In the absence of a need to increase a particular domain LILLITH will increase the smallest
domain to better balance the domain resources.

Potential (Prioritization)

LILITH will always prioritize cards based on cost (inclusive of the cost of any attachments).
Tiebreakers based on icon counts (both printed and granted) are used to determine the priority
when characters are of equal cost.

 Tiebreaker 1: Terror
 Tiebreaker 2: Terror + combat
 Tiebreaker 3: Terror + combat + arcane
 Tiebreaker 4: Terror + combat + arcane + investigation
 Tiebreaker 5: Terror + combat + arcane + investigation + skill

If a tie still exists choose based on alphabetical order of the card names (with “a” the highest
potential).

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