Contents

Neo-Morphosis: Infestation...............3
The World Exit Research Station............................ 3
Overview.......................................................................... 3
game components.....................................4
Player Components...................................................... 5
Shared Components.................................................... 6
Alien Components......................................................... 7
SET UP AND SUMMARY................................8
Set up.................................................................................. 8
Win or Lose...................................................................... 8
Round Structure............................................................ 8

Credits
Star of Round Phase.................................................... 8
Crew Phase..................................................................... 9
Alien Phase...................................................................... 9
Lead Game Design: End of Round Phase..................................................... 9
Filippo Chirico Game mechanics - general..................10
The Game Board........................................................... 10
Additional Game Design:
Sectors............................................................................... 11
Tony Neville, Thibaud Tocqueville
Doors................................................................................... 11
Terminals........................................................................... 11
Writing:
Skills and Skills Tets...................................................... 11
Tony Neville, Tracey Smart, Thibaud Tocqueville
Programming Tests..................................................... 12
Editing: Xenobiology.................................................................... 13
Tracey Smart, Luca Ruella Combat.............................................................................. 14
Bullets and Blast Area................................................ 15
Art Director, Miniature Concept and Sculpting: Health, Wounds, Defeated Characters
Alexei Popovici and Recovery................................................................ 16
Fragility Test................................................................... 16
Assistant Sculptor: Explosions....................................................................... 17
Dmitri Obonin Emergencies................................................................... 18
Compromised Sectors.............................................. 20
Cover Illustration: Fire Suppression System........................................ 20
Filip Cebotari Game mechanics - CREW..........................21
Inventory.......................................................................... 21
Map Illustration: Search and Item Cards............................................... 21
Ede Laszlo Special Ability Cards.................................................. 22
Crew Actions................................................................ 22
Other Illustrations:
Game mechanics - DRONES.................. 26
Filip Cebotari, Valentin Cebotari
The Drone...................................................................... 26
Rulebook Graphic Design: Drone Actions.............................................................. 26
Sergio Pérez Cruz Game mechanics - ALIENS..................... 27
Alien Names and Classes........................................ 27
Executive Producer and Project Management: Alien Infestation........................................................... 27
Emiliano Mancini Resolving Alien Activation Cards......................... 27
Neo-Morphosis............................................................ 28
Playtesters:
Alien Movement and Targeting............................. 30
Luca Ruella, Thibaud Tocqueville, Massimo
Worked Example........................................................... 31
Morandi, Emiliano Mancini, antonio Antonelli, Simone
TOKENS LEGEND.......................................... 34
Gilardi, Roberto Moiso, Giordano Ferroni, George
McAllister, Kevin Felton, Chris Nunn, Riccardo MISSION GENERATOR................................. 35
Brisa, Ivan Serafino, Fabrizio Ferroni, James D. MISSIONS......................................................... 35

Overview....................................................................... 35
Special thanks to all our Kickstarter Backers,
Game Mode.................................................................... 35
especially those who reviewed pre-production
General Rules.............................................................. 35
material.
Missions.......................................................................... 36
ROUND SUMMARY....................................... 48

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 Neo-Morphosis: Infestation

The World Exit Research Station Players are members of a four-person replace-
ment crew for the World Exit Research Station
It is 2159 and the world is very different. New
where they will be working on one of the many
technology abounds, created during the rush to
research projects taking humanity to the stars.
fight the 2039 Hot Earth Crisis, but the NanoMir-
Little do they know what is in store.
ror Project, finally launched in 2047, either failed
or succeeded too well – depending on who was
speaking. It steadily cooled the Earth, first to com- OVERVIEW

fortable pre-1980 temperatures, then to uncom- Neo-Morphosis: Infestation is a co-operative

fortably chilly weather, and now to the current game for one to four players. It can be played as
Cold Earth Crisis, first named in 2131. We are in stand-alone missions or as a narrative campaign.
the second Technological Gold Rush, looking for
a way to warm the planet – or leave it entirely.

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 GAME COMPONENTS

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PLAYER COMPONENTS

1. Crew ID Card.

2. Character icon, repeated

on all three components.

3. Character image and name.

4. Science bonus.

5. Tech bonus.

6. Programming skill.

7. Health points.

8. Defense value.

9. Agility bonus.

10. Attack bonus.

11. Weapon range.

12. Number of wounds inflicted.

13. Starting science stack.

14. Starting tech stack.

15. Repair Attempt tokens.

16. Special Ability card.

17. Ability name.

18. Ability effect.

1. Constructible Card (back).

2. Name and image.

3. Construction tech test.

4. Constructible Card (front).

5. Fragility test.

6. Stack plug.
1. Item Card.
7. Range.
2. Item name and image.
8. Attack value.
3. Fragility test.
9. Number of wounds inflicted.
4. Terminal icon.
5. Discard icon. 10. Initial ammo loadout.

6. Item effect. 11. Blast icon.

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 SHARED COMPONENTS

1. System Interface Panel (SIP).

2. Emergency Reports Sub-Panel.
2a) Inactive Emergency Report Fields.
2b) Critical Emergency Report Field.
2c) Active Emergency Report Field.
2d) Repair Attempt token.
2e) Emergency Levels.
2f) Current Emergency Level Indicator.
3. Terminal Actions Sub-Panel.
3a) Available Actions.
3b) Disabled Action and System
Overload token.
4. Fire Suppression System,
Halon Tank token location.
5. Time Sub-Panel.
5a) Current Time Indicator.
6. Structural Integrity Note.
6a) Terminal Integrity value.
6b) Door Integrity value.
6c) Wall Integrity value.

1. Emergency Card.
2. Programming test.
3. Disabled terminal action.
4. Sector that will be compromised.

1. Drone ID card.
2. Character image and name.
3. Available drone actions.
4. Tech bonus.
5. Movement.
6. Explosion - Self-destruct blast damage. (see
Explosion on page 17)

1. Sector Compromised Card.

2. Descriptive title.
3. Card effect.

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ALIEN COMPONENTS

1. Alien ID Card.

2. Character image and type.

3. Health points.

4. Defense value.

5. Attack bonus.

6. Impede value.

7. Number of wounds inflicted.

8. Alien Species icon.

9. Special ability.

Note: Some Aliens do not attack so they will not have

an Attack bonus.

1. Alien Infestation Card. 1. Alien Activation Card.

2. Character silhouette and name. 2. Pod Neo-Morphosis icon.
3. Multiple spawn locations. 3. Structural attack instructions.
4. Single spawn location. 4. General attack and movement instructions.
5. Discard icon. 5. Special Activation icon.
6. Alien Neo-Morphosis icon.
Note: Many of these sections are optional and may
not be present on all Alien Activation cards.

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 SETUP AND SUMMARY
SETUP 3. Alien Phase: After drawing an Alien Activa-
tion Card, the players follow the instructions
1. Choose a map.
to play the Alien turn. Individual Aliens may
2. Each player chooses their crew member(s). activate several times as they follow their
Alternatively, draw a Crew ID card at ran- instincts.
dom. There are always four crew members.
4. End-of-Round Phase: All players simulta-
3. Place the map tiles, map tokens, Construct- neously complete any End-of-Round tasks.
ible Item card deck, and any other game com- Once a round is complete, the game starts a
ponents as shown on the Station Map. Use new round with the Start-of-Round Phase.
the mission mini-map to make a note of Sec-
tor locations.
As Gyrocopter V-27 flies its indepen-
4. Shuffle the Infestation Deck and place one In- dent journey to World Exit, Yuri looks out
festation Card face down in each room. of the window at the world below. He
5. For each crew member, take: has all but tuned out his colleagues’ ban-
ter, but a frozen smile still turns the cor-
◼ one ID card,
ners of his mouth. It matches the frozen
◼ four Repair Attempt tokens, wasteland below.
◼ the matching Special Ability card.

6. Place the Drone ID card within easy reach of

the players. START-OF-ROUND PHASE

7. Place the System Interface Panel within easy Perform these steps in order:
reach of the players. Put the Time Marker in
1. Level 3 Emergencies go Critical:
the top slot and place a Halon Tank token in
its spot. ◼ Place a Sector Compromised card on the
Game Board Sector.
8. Separate and shuffle the remaining card
◼ Discard the Emergency Card, Level Mark-
decks.
er, and Repair Attempt tokens.
9. Place the crew and Drone miniatures on the ◼ Place a Sector Compromised Card on the
game board in the starting positions shown System Interface Panel.
on the mission mini-map. Place any Alien or
other miniatures shown on the mission mini- 2. Escalate Active Emergencies:
map at the start of the game. ◼ Increase the Emergency Level of all ex-
isting Emergencies by one.
10. Place the four xenobiology cards on the table
within easy reach of all players. 3. Check Compromised Sectors:
◼ Inspect each Compromised Sector to see
WIN OR LOSE if it has been secured.
The crew wins immediately if it meets mission ◼ If the Sector is not secure, create a new
victory conditions. Emergency: draw an Emergency Card
and place it face down in the next avail-
The crew loses immediately if either of these able Emergency Report field.
conditions occur:
4. Check the timeline:
◼ a new Emergency is generated when all four
◼ If the Time Marker is at the end of the time-
Emergency Fields are already filled on the
line, the station is beginning to collapse.
SIP.
Create a new Emergency: draw an Emer-
◼ all four crew members are disabled or re- gency Card and place it face down in the
covering at the same time. next available Emergency Report field.

5. Activate all new Emergencies one by one:

ROUND STRUCTURE
◼ Turn the Emergency Cards that are face
1. Start-of-Round Phase: All players prepare down.
for the turn ahead. ◼ Add a Level Marker to the green Emer-
2. Crew Phase: One at a time, players activate gency Report Field slot.
a crew member and play the crew member’s ◼ Place a System Overload token on the
full turn. Terminal Actions subpanel to disable the
relevant Terminal Function.

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6. Crew members can begin to recover: 3. Perform Alien Actions.
◼ Remove any recovering tokens and stand 4. Perform Special Activations.
the miniature upright. This character can
activate this round. 5. Aliens neo-morphosize.
◼ Flip any Defeated tokens to a recovering These steps are described fully in Game Mechan-
token. This character cannot activate this ichs - Aliens section. Some steps are optional and
round. may be omitted from the Alien Activation Card.
◼ If a crew member is in a compromised
Sector at the start of the round, they suf- END-OF-ROUND PHASE
fer the same number of wounds as shown
on the Compromised Sector card. Advance the time marker, if possible.

CREW PHASE
“Hey, Yuri, what project will you be work-
The players assemble their xenobiology cards in ing on?” asks Robert as he picks at his
a new xenobiology diagram. (see xenobiology on perfect gleaming teeth. “The Mars Arc?
page 13.) Man, that’s a big ship.”

During the crew phase, players activate the “The Wormhole Generator. We’ll be able
crew in any order. However, a crew member can to drive off this planet and on to the
only activate once per round and any unused ac- next,” Yuri sounds enthusiastic about his
tions are lost. placement.
The activated crew member performs up to “That will never work. What, you move
three actions. Any combination is legal, including a nickel two feet, and it’s too chewed up
repeating actions. If the crew member fails any to spend when it arrives! I’m not putting
related skill or code test, the action is still used. any part of my body in that hole. It would
be easier to shoot the billion NanoMirrors
General Actions down, one mirror at a time.”
Heal (using a proper
Attack “Robert, Robert. They haven’t had me on
card)
the project before.”
Craft a craftable Drop/pick up/trade
item (test) Item
Move Open/close door
Recharge fire
Repair door/terminal
suppression system
Mission-specific
Search a Crate
actions

Terminal Functions
Activate fire
Control a Drone
suppression system
Counteract Produce electrical
emergencies feedback
Scan adjacent
Remote control doors
rooms
Explode the drone

ALIEN PHASE

After the crew have completed their actions,

players control the aliens. Draw an Alien Activa-
tion Card and resolve all the steps as described
on the card.

1. Alien Pods may hatch into Larva.

2. Some Aliens perform Structural Attacks.

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 GAME MECHANICS - GENERAL
The game board
Door tokens: Door tokens represent doors be-
Map Tiles: The game board is created by arrang- tween map tiles. Flip the Door token to switch be-
ing map tiles and map tokens as indicated by the tween Open doors and Closed doors. Add a Dam-
mission mini-map. age token if the Door is damaged.

Figure 1:
Details of a
map tile and
map tokens.

1. A map tile representing a room. Crate token: Crate tokens can be searched by
the crew for items.
2. Three areas in the room.
Terminal token: Terminal tokens can be used by
3. Area spawn numbers.
the crew to perform terminal actions.
4. Terminal token.
Assembly Point tokens: Assembly Point tokens
5. Crate token. indicate an area where a crew member can craft
an item. There are two types of Assembly Point
6. Open Door token.
tokens: Tech and Science.
7. Assembly Point (Tech).

There is only one type of map tile in the core

game: Rooms.

Rooms: Rooms are subdivided into Areas.

Areas: Areas are used for Spawning Aliens, TECH SCIENCE

Movement, and Range. White lines clearly divide
a room into different Areas. Most areas have a Objective tokens: Objective tokens mark key
spawn number. Spawn numbers are referenced parts of the story in a mission.
on the Alien Infestation Card, and used when ini-
tially spawning the Aliens in a room.

Map tokens: Map tokens are scenic elements Note: Any grids or other graphics on the
that are placed on top of the map tiles to com- map tile are for atmosphere and theme.
plete the game board. Players can interact with They are not part of the game play.
map tokens. The following map tokens are used
in Neo-Morphosis:

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SECTORS

If an alien makes a successful structur-

al attack against a door, the door is dam-
aged and jams open. Set the door token
to the open side and place a damage to-
ken beside the door token to show the
status.

Damaged doors cannot be closed until

they have been repaired.
Figure 2: A few colored door tokens are used
Sample Sector mini-map. to highlight doors with special rules.
These are described in the missions.
Apart from special rules mentioned in
the missions, these colored doors be-
have normally.

TERMINALS
Figure 4:
Front and
back of the
terminal
token.

To perform a terminal action, the crew

member must be in the same area as an
A sector is a single room, and it is given a sector undamaged terminal.
number in the mission mini-map. A room tile might
Crew members and the drone in the same area
be a different sector in different missions. The
as a damaged terminal can repair it by passing a
sector numbers appear on Emergency Cards on
tech test. Flip the terminal token back to the ac-
the SIP, and are how the SIP identifies parts of the
tive side.
station.
If an alien makes a successful structural attack
A secure sector is defined as a sector where all
against a terminal, flip the terminal token to the
the bordering doors are closed.
damaged terminal side.
An unsecure sector is defined as a sector where
one or more of the bordering doors are open.
SkillS AND SKILL TESTS

Not all actions are automatic. Skill tests are often

DOORS
made as part of an action to check whether the
Doors are placed between two areas and are character can perform the action successfully.
considered to be in both areas. A character in ei-
The crew have three bonuses that are applied
ther area is in the same area as the door.
during skill tests:

Science: Players take a science test, for example

to create a Medkit.

Tech: Players take a tech test, for example to

craft an item, or repair a door or terminal.
Figure 3: Door tokens.
Agility: Players take an agility test to move away
from aliens or to preserve the integrity of equip-
Flip the token to show whether the door is open ment when defeated.
or closed. Add a damage token when the door is
These bonuses are added to a dice roll during
damaged.
the test. Players must exceed the target value
Each mission starts with doors open or closed for the test to be successful.
as shown on the mission mini-map. Doors stay
closed or open until manually changed by the
crew or the drone, or until attacked by the aliens.

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 To perform a test: 4. Use cards and other game effects to change
the programming dice results.
1. Roll 1d6.
5. Try to match the target pattern.
2. Add the relevant bonus.
Programming tests for counteracting emergen-
3. Add any other bonuses from cards, xenobiol-
cies allow players to combine multiple attempts
ogy, or other game effects.
to pass the test. In this case, if players fail, they
4. If the test result exceeds the required target can mark some of the pattern icons as matched,
value, the test is successful. so they know they do not have to match them
again. All other tests require players to match
If players fail the test, normally nothing happens, al-
the pattern in a single dice roll.
though there may sometimes be an adverse effect.
Whatever happens, when a failed test is part of an ac- Players need to match every symbol shown to
tion, that action is still used. pass the test.

PROGRAMING TESTS

As well as D6-based skill tests, the crew per-

forms programming tests to complete complex
tasks at a terminal. These dice have custom Figure 6: A successful programming test – the required
icons on their faces, and the test is passed by symbols are matched by the first two dice. The other
rolling enough icons to match a given pattern. two dice are not used.

Characters with a programming skill can take

these tests. The programming skill is the base
number of programming dice rolled in a program-
ming test. Figure 7: An unsuccessful Programming test – the dice
There are two types of programming icons: Point do not show enough point icons to match the second
and Pattern. required symbol. The dice roll has two but the pattern
needs three.
Point icons: Three faces on the dice show Point
icons. Think of these as the numbers 1, 2, and 3.
Additionally players may see a higher value, 4, in
some Target Patterns. Players may recognize
these icons as being arranged like the pips on a Figure 8: A successful Programming test. Note that the
die. first symbol in the target pattern cannot be matched by
a single die.

Figure 5: Point icons. Only the first three appear on dice.

When trying to match these icons in the target

patterns, players need to meet or exceed the
number of points shown in the pattern. Multiple
dice results may be combined to help match one
icon in the pattern.

Pattern icons: There are three Pattern icons on

the programming dice and in the target pattern.
Dice roll results must match the icon shown in
the target pattern.

To perform a programming test:

Figure 9: Carolin Jansen uses the SIP.
1. Pick up the number of dice equal to the char-
acter’s programming skill. In Figure 9, Carolin is using the SIP to activate the
electrical feedback terminal action. She gathers
2. Add any bonus dice from cards and other her programming dice – four dice according to
game effects. her ID card – and she has no other bonuses at
3. Roll all the dice. the moment. She rolls the four symbols shown.
Unfortunately, she only matches one of the two

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symbols so fails the test. She cannot activate Example 2
this terminal action, and has used an action.

See “Escalating and Counteracting Emergen-

cies” for more examples of using programming
dice.

“Hey, Alice, what project will you be

working on? Perhaps we can make
some advances together, if you know
what I mean!” leers Robert.

Alice moves to a seat in the back, as far

away as she can get. “Sure, Robert, sure.
Or I could tune you up a bit, if you know
what I mean.”

XENOBIOLOGY

To get an advantage over the Aliens, the crew

can use its current biology research data, which
WRONG: only three of the four sets of species
is represented by four xenobiology cards. Play-
symbols match, so the diagram is not valid. Play-
ers can get attack or defense bonuses against
ers cannot connect the cards this way.
specific alien species. This is done by matching
the alien species symbols across all four xeno- When players have connected the cards cor-
biology cards. Take this step before crew acti- rectly, they can calculate the respective bonus
vation. It is not an Action. by looking at the attack or defense symbol next
to the matching alien species. Players add the in-
dicated value (+1 or +2) to their rolls against that
Example 1 species only.

Not all the attack/defense bonus symbols need

to match. If the bonus symbols do not match, no
bonus is awarded.

Example: two sets of symbols match and a bo-

nus is awarded. The third set of symbols does not
match, no bonus is added.

Correct: all three Alien Species symbols match. Players can use the xenobiology bonus only if all
their characters are active.

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 If one or more crew members are defeated, play- Some weapons have a range of 0–1, meaning
ers flip the diagram with the respective charac- that they can be used for either melee or ranged
ter symbol to the reverse. Players will not be attacks.
able to use the xenobiology bonus for that round.
When the characters are back in play, the token
is flipped back to the active side.

COMBAT

The combat system is similar to the skill tests:

1. Roll 1d6.

2. Add the attack bonus from the weapon or ID

card.

3. Add the xenobiology bonus, if any.

Figure 10: Range and LoS for Alice and Robert.
4. Add any other bonuses from cards or other
game effects. Figure 10 shows some range and LoS examples.
Robert has a melee weapon, range 0. He can at-
5. If the attack result exceeds the target’s de-
tack the Pod in his area, but the Ripper is too far
fense value, the attack is successful and
away for him to target, even though he can see
inflicts the number of wounds shown on the
it through the open door. Alice has a more flexi-
card.
ble weapon, with a range of 0–1. She can target
There are minor variations for different kinds of the Ripper in her area. She has LoS to the Pod
attacks: through the open door, and since the range to the
Pod is 1, it is a valid target for her.
◼ Melee
When a valid target is selected, both melee and
◼ Ranged
ranged attacks are resolved with an attack roll.
◼ Structural If the attack is successful, the target takes the
number of wounds indicated on the character or
The difference between melee and ranged at-
card.
tacks is in target selection.

Melee Attacks: Melee attacks are made at a range

of 0, meaning the target must be in the same area
as the attacker. There are no other restrictions,
but normally, the crew will target the aliens and
vice versa.

Ranged Attacks: Ranged attacks are made at a

range of 1, meaning the target must be in an area
adjacent to the attacker, who must have line of
sight (LoS) to the Target. LoS is blocked by walls
and closed doors. It is not blocked by open doors
or characters in either area.

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 Bullet icon

Some weapons have a bullet icon. When equip-

ping this kind of weapon, take as many bullet
tokens as indicated by the icon on the card. For
each attack you make with this weapon, discard
one bullet token. When there are no more bullet
tokens, discard the weapon.

Blast icon

Blast weapons may hit more than one target. The

number of hits made by this type of weapon is
Figure 11: Robert
written on the card.
attacks the Pod.
1. First, apply all hits to the target, until it has
taken the number of wounds equal to its
number of health points.

2. The remaining hits are then assigned to any

aliens in the target area. The attacker can
distribute the remaining hits as they see fit.

3. If there are no aliens available as a target,

Robert attacks a Pod in Figure 11. His weapon has
the remaining hits are assigned to other crew
an Attack bonus of five, and xenobiology gives
members in the target area. Apply one hit to
him a bonus of +1. A dice roll of four gives him an
each other crew member, randomizing if nec-
attack result of ten. This is higher than the Pod’s
essary.
defense value of eight, so his attack succeeds
and inflicts one wound, which is enough to de- 4. If any hits remain, they are lost.
stroy the Pod.

“Hey Carolin, what do you Swedes do to

keep warm at night? You know a thing or
two about having fun in the cold.” Robert
jokes.

“I’m from Norway, you idiot. You wouldn’t

last ten minutes out there. Or five min-
utes with me.”

Wounds: If an attack is successful, it wounds the

target. The ID card or weapon card states the
number of wounds inflicted. Give the target as
many wound tokens as stated on the card.

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 characters or next to the miniature for non-
unique characters to track how much damage
has been inflicted. A character cannot take more
wound tokens than its health, so simply ignore
the extra damage.

When a character takes as many wound tokens

as its health, it is defeated. This is handled a differ-
ently from character to character.

Defeated Crew: Place the miniature on its side

and, as a reminder, turn a defeated token to its de-
feated side beside the ID card.

Figure 13: Double-sided Defeated token.

Figure 12: the Ripper Attacks!

During the next Start-of-Round Phase, the crew

Figure 12 shows what happens if players do not member may recover if they have a:
take care of the aliens: they fight back! Here, a
Ripper in the same area as Alice rolls a six, and ◼ Defeated token. Flip it over to recovering;
with its attack bonus of +1, generates an attack ◼ Recovering token. Discard that token, stand
result of seven, vastly in excess of Alice’s de- their miniature upright, and remove all wounds
fense value of just three. Unfortunately, xenobiol- the crew member has suffered.
ogy does not give her any defense bonus against
a Ripper, so this attack is a success. The Ripper ID Crew members who are defeated or recovering
card shows that Rippers inflict two wounds, so may take no actions. They are not targeted by
Alice takes two wound tokens. No worries, she is aliens.
tough: her health is eight.

Structural Attacks: The frantic aliens will some-

times attack the station itself, targeting doors, ter- “Flight Bot 27 here!” chimes the Gyro-
minals, or walls. Resolve these attacks as above, copter’s AI. “Look out the left window to
using the defense value for the structure being see the Great Lakes Glacier, the thickest
attacked. Players can find this value on the SIP. glacier in North America.”
The only difference is the result of a successful
structural attack:
When a crew member is defeated, flip their xe-
Door: The door is damaged and jammed open. Flip nobiology card. The bonuses of the xenobiology
the door token to the open side and place a dam- diagram cannot be used until that crew member
aged token on it as a reminder. is fully recovered, then players can flip the xeno-
Terminal: The terminal is damaged and unusable. biology card back to the active side.
Flip the terminal token to the damaged side.
Fragility Test
Wall: Damaging a wall creates a new emergency.
Draw a new Emergency Card and place it face When a crew member is defeated, they fall to
down on the next available Emergency Report the ground, and their equipment risks being de-
field (see Escalating and Counteracting Emer- stroyed. Players can prevent this by taking an
gencies). agility test for each equipped card.

Item cards and Craftable cards have a Fragility

Health, Wounds, Defeated Value.
Characters, and Recovery
As soon as a crew member is defeated, they
All characters have a health statistic that shows must take an agility test for each equipped card.
how much damage they can sustain. If the test is successful, they can keep the card. If
the test fails, discard that card.
When a character sustains damage, it is given
a certain number of wound tokens. The wound
tokens are placed beside the ID card of unique

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Figure 14: Carolin is defeated by a Hydra.

Carolin has been in some fights already and has

taken six Wounds. A Hydra successfully attacks
her, causing two more wounds, for a total of eight.
This equals her health, so she is defeated. She
will be out of action until she recovers, and her
xenobiology card is flipped over. Any bonuses it
gave are lost until Carolin has recovered.

Figure 15a: Fragility test.

Defeated Drones: Drones are not targeted by
aliens, but they are defeated if they explode. They
cannot be repaired. Remove their miniature from
the game.

Defeated Aliens: Defeated aliens are removed

from play immediately.

Explosions
Carolin has been defeated. She must roll an agility
test for each equipped item to see if she saved it Explosions cause damage to all characters in the
as she fell to the ground, or if any item is broken room:
and discarded. Her agility value is four.
◼ Every character in the room takes one wound
Card 1 has a fragility value of seven. She rolls a for each point of the explosion, so an explo-
four, +4 Agility = eight. The item is safe. sion with four points inflicts four wounds to
each character.
Card 2 has a fragility value of eight. She rolls a
two, +4 Agility = six. The Item is discarded ◼ All doors in the room are damaged.

Card 3 has a fragility value of seven. She rolls a ◼ All terminals in the room are damaged.
five, +4 Agility = nine. The Item is safe
◼ The explosion causes extensive damage and
Card 4 has a fragility value of five. She rolls a one, generates one new emergency.
+4 Agility = five. The Item is discarded
An explosion has no effect outside the room
where it occurs.

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 Emergencies Short example: The following short example
shows two crew members collaborating on an
Emergencies represent extreme damage to the
emergency during one round.
station that will ultimately destroy it.

New Emergencies: These are created when:

◼ There are successful structural at-

tacks against the station walls.

◼ Compromised sectors are not secure

during the Start-of-Round Phase.

◼ The time marker is already at the end

of the time track during the Start-of-
Round Phase.
Figure 15: Alice tries to counteract the Fire Suppression
When a new emergency is created, draw an
Failure Emergency.
Emergency Card and place it face down on the
first available Emergency Report Field on the
System Interface Panel. If all four Emergency Carolin Jansen has four programming dice, and
Report Fields are currently in use, the station she has no bonuses at the moment. She rolls the
collapses and the players have lost. The mission four programming dice and gets the result shown
ends immediately. in Figure 15. She rolls a total of five Point symbols,
which can be used to match the first four-point
symbol. She also matches the triangle pattern,
Escalating Emergencies: During the Start-of-
so she covers those symbols with two success
Round Phase, emergencies escalate. There are
tokens. Alice was incredible! Her repair attempt
three emergency levels, and after that the emer-
token is placed beside the Emergency Card as a
gencies go critical, causing permanent damage to
reminder that she has already tried to counteract
the station. Follow the instructions in the Start-of-
this emergency.
Round Phase to escalate the emergencies by ad-
vancing the emergency level markers.

Ending the Emergency: As an action, a

crew member in the same area as an ac-
tive terminal can attempt to counteract
the emergencies before they go critical.

The crew must declare which of the active emer-

gencies it is trying to repair and place a Repair
Attempt token next to the Emergency Card. Each
crew member can only work on each emergency Figure 16: Yuri tries to complete the task.
once per round, but two or more crew members
Although Alice cannot try again, another crew
can work on the same emergency if it is only par-
member can help for this emergency. Yuri Davi-
tially fixed.
dovich also has 4 programming dice, so he is a
They must make a programming test against the good choice. But his result, shown in Figure 16, is
pattern shown on the Emergency Card. They not so helpful. He fails to match the single remain-
assemble and roll their programming dice, then ing pattern and contributes nothing to the situa-
check to see if they can match any symbols on tion. His repair attempt token must still be put in
the Emergency Card. Multiple symbols can be place, even though he was unsuccessful. As the
matched from the dice pool, but each die result game continues, the other two crew members
can only be used once. Place a repaired token can try to match that final symbol. This is current-
over each matched symbol on the Emergency ly a level 1 emergency, so they have a few rounds
Card to show that part of the Emergency has to try and help.
been repaired. These repairs stay in place until
the emergency is fully resolved or goes critical.

As with other tests, various cards in play can

change the size of the dice pool or alter the re-
sults.

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Long Example: In this longer example, more of the emergency has been activated and revealed,
System Interface Panel is shown across sever- a marker has been placed on level 1 beside the
al rounds. Many of the crew participate, while the Emergency Card and a System Overload token
results of alien activity trigger further emergen- has been placed on the Scan Two Rooms termi-
cies. The results of many Actions spread over nal action, as a reminder that the action cannot be
multiple phases are shown together in this exam- used until the emergency is resolved. The card
ple. shows that the emergency is in Sector 3. The
crew hopes to work on this emergency in the
crew phase of round 4.

Figure 17: System Interface Panel at the end of the Alien

Phase in round 3.
Figure 19: In Round 4, two of the crew try to counteract
In the first step of this example, the players are the emergency. Time ticks on.
resolving an Alien Activation card in round 3
Round 4 continues with Alice Reese (three pro-
when a Larva damages the station walls during
gramming dice) and Carolin Jansen (four pro-
a structural attack. The players draw an Emer-
gramming dice) trying to counteract emergency
gency Card and place it face down on the first
1. They are feeling the pressure and they do not
Emergency Report Field on the System Interface
get far. Alice can complete the triangle icon and
Panel, as shown in Figure 17.
covers it with a success token. Carolin rolls more
dice, but cannot match all of the remaining icons
in the pattern – she only covers the diamond icon.
Both crew members mark that they have made
repair attempts by placing their Repair Attempt
tokens beside the Emergency Card.

At the start of round 5, the emergency marker

advances. This is now a level 2 emergency. The
time marker also moved along the track to show
this is round 5. SIP status is shown Figure 19. The
Repair Attempt tokens make it clear which crew
have worked on the emergency and who can try
in future rounds. Unfortunately for players, the
other crew members are far away from any ter-
minals.

Figure 18: The SIP after the round 4 Start-of-Round Phase.

We have skipped ahead a little. The time marker

has advanced, showing that it is round 4. The new

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 nal action is now permanently disabled, leaving
sector 4 effectively off limits; a danger token(-
SECTOR COMPROMISED CARD) is placed in that
Sector as a reminder. Fortunately, it had already
been secured when the emergency went critical,
so it did not trigger more problems. Emergency 2
advances to level 2. Figure 21 shows it is crucial
for the crew to deal with the situation, but time is
quickly running out.

Compromised Sectors

Compromised sectors are created during the

Start-of-Round phase if a level 3 emergency es-
calates. Compromised sectors trigger new emer-
gencies if the sector is not secured.

Figure 20: Start-of-Round Phase, round 6. If a crew member is in the compromised sector at
the beginning of the round, they suffer as many
Time advances. The crew failed to work on the wounds as are indicated on the compromised
emergency during round 5. When the aliens ac- sector card.
tivate, the first Ripper causes some structur-
al damage to a wall, so the players place a new
Fire Suppression System
Emergency Card face down in the second Emer-
gency Report field. In round 6, the first emergen- The Fire Suppression System is more complex
cy advances to level 3 and the second emergen- than some other terminal actions. Before at-
cy is revealed. Its marker is placed at Level 1 and tempting a Fire Suppression programming test,
Electrical Feedback is marked as Overloaded. Af- two other conditions must already be established:
ter the Start-of-Round Phase for round 6, things
are looking dire for the crew, Figure 20. ◼ The Fire Suppression System must be
charged with Halon.

◼ The chosen sector must be secured.

To show the system is charged with Halon, a Ha-

lon Tank token is placed on the SIP. The system
may have been charged during setup, or the crew
may have taken steps to charge the system
themselves. The SIP can only store one charge
of Halon at a time.

Figure 21: Start-of-Round Phase, Round 7.

The rest of round 6 went badly for the crew. Rob-

ert and Yuri were unable to work on emergency
1. Carolin was able to get to a terminal, but having
already done her best for emergency 1, she could
not work on it again. She did manage to complete
some of the pattern for emergency 2. Fortunate-
ly, the aliens did not trigger more emergencies
when they activated near the end of the round.

At the start of round 7, emergency 1 is already

level 3, so it becomes critical. All tokens are re-
moved from the Emergency Report Field 1 and
the Emergency Card is replaced by a Sector
Compromised card. The Scan Two Rooms termi-

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If the system is ready for use, a successful pro-
gramming test will activate it.

When the Fire Suppression System is activat-

ed, Halon gas is released into the chosen secure
sector, flushing all oxygen from the sector. All
aliens in the sector are immediately defeated. Any
crew members in the sector are also immediately
defeated unless they have Life Support Gear.

When the crew activates the Fire Suppression

System, remove the Halon Tank token from the Figure 22: System Interface Panel (1) charged with
SIP. This terminal action cannot be used again Halon and (2) empty.
until the system is recharged. To recharge the
system, a crew member must drop a Halon Tank
token in an area containing a terminal, then the
player places the Halon Tank token on the SIP.
Each mission will specify where Halon Tanks can
be found.

Game Mechanics - Crew

Inventory General rules for playing cards that affect dice
Crew inventory is part of the character play area results:
for general cards and tokens. Items placed in a ◼ Cards that add dice to dice pools must be
character’s Inventory are ready for use. played before the dice are rolled.
Crew can use the Pick Up, Trade and Drop ac- ◼ Cards that alter dice results, for example +1
tions to add various objects to their inventory and to 1D6 roll or by allowing players to choose
carry or move them around the station. a custom dice result must be played after a
player rolls the dice.
Search and Item Cards

The crew can search a crate in their area, dis-

carding the crate token and taking an item card.
When an item has been crafted from parts (a
craftable item card), it is also treated as an item,
but it is placed in one of the two stacks on the
crew ID card: tech or science.

Items can be Dropped, Picked Up, and Traded.

There is no limit to the number of items that fit in a
crew member’s inventory.

Each item card is unique and gives the crew

member different kinds of bonuses, for exam-
ple improved dice rolls, extra actions, or faster
movement.

Generally, items are played while performing an

action. For example, a crew member performs a Figure 23: Two Item cards, showing the difference be-
Heal action by discarding an item card with a heal tween lasting and one-time-use cards.
icon to cure themselves or another crew mem-
ber in the same area. Some items are played into the crew’s play area
and provide lasting benefits for the rest of the
game. Other items are single use, as indicated by
the X icon on the card. Discard the card once it
has been used.

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 SPECIAL ABILITY CARDS Here we can see Robert taking two Move Ac-
tions between adjacent areas to cross a room.
The first move is unimpeded, because there is
no alien in his starting area. The second move is
also unimpeded, because the Pod is not a hatched
alien.

Impeded Movement: When a crew member

leaves an area with one or more hatched aliens,
the crew member must pass an Agility test in or-
der to move normally. The target value to suc-
ceed in the Agility test is the highest Impede Val-
ue of all the aliens in the area. If the crew member
fails the test, they cannot move, but one of their
three actions is still used.

Figure 24: Alice Reese’s Special Ability card.

Each player starts the game with one Spe-

cial Ability card, identified by their crew
member icon in the top left.

These permanent skills for each crew

member are always in play; they cannot be
traded to other crew members.

Crew Actions

Attack

A crew member may use the basic weap-

on on their ID card, or any weapon in their
inventory to make an attack. See Combat.

Move

A crew member may take an action to

move into an adjacent area. Crew mem-
bers cannot move through closed doors,
walls, or between areas that do not touch.
Figure 26: Three different Move Actions for Robert.
Unimpeded Movement: When a crew member
leaves an area with no hatched aliens, the crew Figure 26 shows how aliens affect Robert’s
member can move freely, simply using an action movement. Robert takes three successive Move
to move to the adjacent area. Actions. The first and second Move Actions are
the same as before. The Worm does not affect
Robert’s second move, because it is in the desti-
nation area, not the starting area. Finally, the third
move is where Robert is impeded by the Worm
and he must take an Agility test. His agility bonus
is four, he rolls four, for a total of eight. This ex-
ceeds the Impede Value of the Worm, which is
seven, so Robert is allowed to move out.

If the situation was a little different, with a Slug in

the area with the Worm, then Robert would have
wasted an action. Slugs have an Impede Value
of eight, higher than the Worm, so that would be
the Target Value for the Agility test. In that case,
Robert would not have exceeded the Target Val-
ue and he would have failed the test.

Figure 25: Two unimpeded Move Actions for Robert.

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 It can now be used in combat, and dropped, picked
up or traded like any other item.
Crew, drones, and aliens all move
Tech cards are marked with a yellow RECTAN-
slightly differently, as can be seen
GLE. Science cards are marked with a yellow
later. Crew move one area per action.
TRIANGLE. Each card type must be connected
Drones have a movement attribute
next to a matching icon. Different card types can-
and can move up to that number of
not be connected.
areas. Aliens move as directed by the
Alien Activation cards.

Crafting Items

The crew can create new weapons from parts,

equipment and tools found in the station. These
elements are represented by the Craftable Item
cards that are placed face down during setup.

If a crew member is in an area that contains an Figure 28: Crafting a Nail Blaster.
Assembly Point (marked with a Tech or Science
token), they can craft one or more cards. Crew In this example, the crew member must roll more
members at Assembly Points marked with Tech than seven to pass the tech test and craft the
tokens can craft Tech cards only. Crew mem- Nail Blaster. If they succeed, they can equip the
bers at Assembly points marked with Science to- Crafted Item next to the character card.
kens can craft Science cards only.
More items can be equipped next to each other
if the right edge of the card shows the matching
triangle or rectangle connection icon.

Figure 29: Stacking Items.

Figure 27: Assembly Point.

If the right edge of the card does not show a con-
A crew member must spend one action and nection icon, no more cards can be equipped.
roll a Tech or Science test (as marked on the
front of the card showing the unassembled
item).

If the crew member fails the test, the parts

are not damaged but the action was still tak-
en. There is no restriction on who makes an-
other attempt to assemble the weapon, or Figure 30: Incorrect Stacking.
when it is made – the same crew member
can even try again immediately if they have
actions available.

If the test is successful, they can flip the card

showing the assembled item on the other Players can discard one equipped card and re-
side, and equip the item. place it with a new cared at any time.

To equip the item, place it next to the right side of After using a card with the Discard symbol (X), it
the character card, matching the connection icon must be removed from the stack and replaced in
(triangle or rectangle) on the item card with the the box. It cannot be used again during the cur-
one on the character card. rent mission.

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 Examples Pick up an Item

If a crew member is in the same area as an item,

they can pick it up for later use. Place the item to-
ken or card in the crew member’s inventory. This
action also applies to the objective tokens used in
many missions.

Heal

A crew member may spend an action using a card

with the heal icon (see image) to heal themselves
or another crew member in the same area.

Figure 31: Yuri fails to create a weapon.

Figure 31 shows how to make the Tech test to

create a weapon. Yuri is in an area with a assem-
bly point that has a tech token. With a roll of one
and his tech bonus of +2, Yuri’s test result is three.
This is not more than the number six on the card,
so Yuri fails.

Figure 33: Heal icon.

Repair a Door or Terminal

A crew member in the same area as a damaged

door or damaged terminal can attempt to repair it.

The crew member must pass a tech test to repair

the object. The target number for the tech test
is on the damaged token on the door and on the
damaged terminal token.

If the tech test is passed, either remove the dam-

aged token from the door, leaving the door in the
open position, or flip the terminal token back to
the active side.

If the test is failed, the action is wasted, but more

Figure 32: Alice creates a Stim Pack.
repair attempts can be made by the same or oth-
Figure 32 shows Alice having better luck than er crew members at any time.
Yuri with her crafting. Her science test result is
Recharge the Fire Suppression System
seven, just good enough to pass the test which
has a target number of six. She flips the card and This is a special example of the Drop Item action.
adds it to her science stack. The following conditions must be true:

Drop an Item ◼ The crew member must have a Halon Tank in

their Inventory.
If a crew member is carrying an item, they can
drop it for another crew member to pick up lat- ◼ They must be in the same area as an active
er. Place the item token or card in the same area terminal.
as the crew member that dropped it. This action
◼ The Fire Suppression System must be dis-
also applies to the objective tokens used in many
charged.
missions.
When the crew member performs this action,
Open/Close a Door transfer their Halon Tank to the SIP. The Fire
If a crew member is in an area with an undam- Suppression System is now ready for use.
aged door, it can be opened or closed. Flip the to-
ken to show the new state.

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 gramming test shown on the SIP beside the
terminal action. Failing the test means that
nothing happens and the action is wasted.
The programming tests are generally simple
and must be completed in one roll.

◼ Counteracting an emergency also requires

a more complex programming test. However,
multiple crew members can collaborate on
the test, each solving part of it.

Other restrictions are listed below.

Activate Fire Suppression System

There are further restrictions for this Action:

◼ The system must be charged with Halon.

◼ The sector chosen as the target must be se-

cure.

If the crew member passes the programming test:

◼ Remove the Halon Tank token from the SIP.

◼ Defeat all aliens in the chosen sector.

◼ Defeat all crew members in the chosen sec-

tor, unless they have Life Support gear in
their Inventory.

Search a Crate Produce Electrical Feedback

A crew member can search a crate in their area.

To do so, discard the crate token, take an item
card and place it in their inventory.
There are further restrictions for this Action:
Trade an Item
◼ There must be a second active terminal in an-
If two or more crew members are in the same
other area or sector.
area, the active crew member can give or take an
item from another crew member. Move the item Crew members who pass the related program-
from one crew member’s inventory to the other’s. ming test may produce electrical feedback in the
This action also applies to the objective tokens remote terminal. This causes one point of dam-
used in many missions. The crew cannot trade age (no defense) to a character in the same area
with the drone. as the remote terminal. The active crew member
chooses the target if there are several options.
Terminal Functions Apply the damage normally, including defeating
There are seven actions that crew members the character if its health is reduced to 0.
can take at a terminal: the complex Counteract
Control a Drone
Emergency and six relatively simple actions
shown on the terminal actions sub-panel. There
are several common elements for taking these
actions:

◼ The crew member must be in an area with an Crew members who pass the related program-
active terminal. ming test may take one legal action with the
drone.
◼ The terminal function must not be disabled on
the SIP.

◼ To perform one of the six simple terminal ac-

tions, the crew member must pass the pro-

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25
 Counteract an Emergency Remote Control Doors

There are further restrictions for this action:

◼ Crew members may only make one attempt

at counteracting each emergency. If they
have already placed a Repair Attempt token Crew members who pass the related program-
on an Emergency, they cannot take this ac- ming test may open or close any one undamaged
tion a second time for that emergency – even door in the station.
on another turn. Crew members may take a
programming test to try to counteract one Scan Adjacent Rooms
of the existing emergencies. Multiple crew
members may work on one emergency, solv-
ing the pattern with separate programming
tests until it is complete.
Crew members who pass the related program-
Explode the Drone
ming test may use system cameras to look into
adjacent rooms.

Flip and study all Alien Infestation Cards in the

rooms adjacent to the room where the active
crew member is found. Do not resolve these
Crew members who pass the related program-
cards at this time. Flip them face down after the
ming test may overload the drone’s power sys-
players have read them.
tem, causing it to explode.

When the drone explodes, it causes an explosion Mission Specific Actions

in its room. The amount of damage is shown on
the drone ID card. The drone is totally destroyed Missions often include new actions that the crew
in the process. Remove it from the game. can perform. Full details are given in the mission.

26
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 Game Mechanics AND TERMS

The Drone Open or Close a Door

A crew member can use a terminal action to con- The crew member instructs the drone to open or
trol the drone. If they pass the programming test, close an adjacent undamaged door.
they can activate the drone to move and perform
one other drone action. The drone can move be- Repair a Door or Terminal
fore or after the other action, but it cannot split its
The crew member instructs the drone to repair
movement.
an adjacent damaged door or terminal.
The drone is ignored by the aliens. If an alien has
Since the drone has an infinite Tech Skill, it will
to attack the nearest character, the drone is not a
automatically pass the Tech test. Simply remove
possible target.
the damaged token from the door and leave it
open or flip the terminal token.
Drone Actions
Explode
Move
The crew member overload the drone’s power
The crew member instructs the drone to move system, causing it to explode. See Explosion. Af-
between adjacent areas. Drones cannot move ter the drone explodes, remove the drone from
through closed doors or walls, or between areas the game.
that do not touch. Unlike regular crew, the drone
can move through multiple areas for one Move Note: The drone is not able to attack, trade, pick
Action, as defined by the movement number on its up or drop objects.
ID card.

Unlike the regular crew, drones are not impeded

by aliens and never need to make an agility test
to move.

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27
 Game Mechanics AND TERMS - ALIENS

Alien Types and Species

There are specific types of aliens, like Worm and

Ripper, and they also have a species, identified by
the icon on their ID card. If a card identifies aliens
by type, then the card applies to all aliens of that
type in play. For example, “all Larvae” means all
Larvae Worms and all Larvae Hydras.

All aliens are hatched aliens, except for Pods.

Alien Infestation

A face down Infestation Card is placed in each

room during setup.

Whenever a crew member enters a room con-

taining an Infestation Card, interrupt the crew’s
turn immediately and resolve the card. Turn the
Infestation Card over and place aliens in areas of
the room on the corresponding Spawn Locations.
When the aliens have been placed, discard the In-
festation Card and continue that crew member’s
turn.

Figure 35: Robert Cooper enters a room and triggers an

infestation.

In Figure 35, Robert Cooper enters a room and

his turn is temporarily interrupted. The Infestation
Card in the room is flipped and reveals that four
aliens are lurking in the room. First, two Pods are
placed in the areas with Spawn Locations 1 and
2. Then a Ripper is also placed in the area with
Spawn Location 1. Finally a Slug is placed in the
area with Spawn Location 3. Players can see
that one area has two Spawn Locations, 2 and 3,
Figure 34: An Alien Infestation Card showing (1) Alien and that two aliens were placed in the same area.
Names and Silhouettes and (2) Spawn Location. In a different room, the Pod and Slug are placed in
different areas. When the miniatures are in place,
Each box on the Alien Infestation Card shows a Robert continues his turn.
silhouette of one type of alien and one or more
Spawn Areas, identified by numbers. To resolve
an Alien Infestation Card, place one miniature of Resolving Alien Activation
the type shown in each box in each area identified Cards
on the card. The total number of miniatures to be At the start of the Alien Phase, draw and resolve
placed will be equal to the number of Spawn Ar- an Alien Activation Card. This single card will
eas on the card. control all the aliens on the board for this round,
If players run out of a specific alien miniature while activating neo-morphosis, moving them, launch-
resolving an Infestation Card, no more aliens of ing their attacks on the crew and the station, and
that type can be placed in the room. performing special actions to advance the mis-
sion.

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Aliens do not have a fixed number of actions for 5. Neo-Morphosis: The last step to resolve is
each round. An alien may make many different neo-morphosis for hatched aliens. All aliens
actions in one round, or make none. Simply apply will morph – even if they have already acti-
all the rules on the Alien Activation Card in the vated in previous steps.
following order.

Neo-Morphosis

Aliens on the board may evolve during the game.

This is called neo-morphosis. Aliens can neo-
morph from one type into another, get new skills
or grow into several different forms.

Neo-morphosis is triggered by the Alien Activa-

tion Cards (see Resolving Alien Activation Cards
for more information). The image below shows
how aliens grow.

Figure 36: Various sections of an Alien Activation Card.

1. Pod Neo-Morphosis: If the neo-morphosis

dice icon is in the top left corner of the card, Figure 37: Alien neo-orphosis tree.
resolve neo-morphosis for all Pods. See be-
low. Pods

2. Structural Attacks Against the Walls: In this When neo-morphosis occurs for Pods, roll the
step, all aliens matching the list of alien types neo-morphosis die for each one:
make a structural attack against the station ◼ Blank: the Pod does not hatch this turn, noth-
walls. Resolve the structural attacks mak- ing changes.
ing sure to apply any bonuses to the roll. Roll
once for each alien of the relevant type until ◼ Worm Icon: replace the Pod with a Worm.
one of them successfully damages the sta- ◼ Hydra Icon: replace the Pod with a Hydra.
tion and triggers an emergency or all aliens
of that type have failed.

3. Alien Actions: This section describes the ac-

tions taken by aliens in this round. The title of
each block identifies the type of alien that will
activate. The instructions say how many of
those aliens will follow the rule. The rule then
lists the actions that should be performed
with each alien.
Note: An alien may perform as many actions
as there are players resolving each section.

4. Special Activation: In this step, any special

actions available in the mission are taken,
such as activating a special character. For
example, if Dr. Phipps is on the board, this is
the time to activate him. See Special Activa-
tion below.

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29
 Worm and Hydra ◼ If players are using Insane Mode, keep add-
ing cards when a new neo-morphosis event
When a neo-morphosis occurs for a Larvae
occurs.
Worm or a Larvae Hydra:

◼ Draw a card from the neo-morphosis deck Killing a Neo-Morphosized Alien (with card and
and place it beside the respective ID card, ring)
one for each type of alien as shown in the ex- When the last neo-morphosized (with a card and
ample below. a ring) alien of a certain type is defeated, perform
◼ Place a red ring under the miniature as a re- these steps:
minder. ◼ remove the card and put it back in the deck
then shuffle the deck.

◼ remove the ring from the bottom of the minia-

ture, and put the miniature and the ring back
in the box.

Example

At the end of the Alien Activation Phase, on the

board there is one Larvae Worm (1), one Pod (2)
and one Slug (3). As stated on the Alien Activation
Card, all aliens neo-morphosize.

Figure 38: Alien Types.

When another neo-morphosis occurs for the

same alien, it will grow into a more powerful mon-
ster. Perform these steps:

◼ Discard the previously added neo-morphosis

card.

◼ Remove the red ring from the bottom of the

miniature.

◼ Swap the current miniature for the next min- Figure 39: Activation card.
iature shown in the alien neo-morphosis tree.
Draw a card for the neo-morphosis deck and
Rippers and Slugs place it beside the Larvae Worm ID Card. Then
place a red ring below the miniature.
When a neo-morphosis happens, draw a card
from the neo-morphosis deck and place it beside Do the same for the Slug.
the respective ID card, one for each type of alien From now on, when they activate, add all the bo-
as explained in the paragraph above. Place a red nuses indicated on the neo-morphosis card to
ring under the miniature as a reminder. their basic statistics.
◼ If players are using Normal Mode, this is the
only neo-morphosis that this alien may per-
form. Ignore any other neo-morphosis for this
alien.

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 Figure 42: Neo-morphosis.
Figure 40: Alien ID card and aliens

At the beginning of the following round, the Pod Alien Movement and
neo-morphosizes into a Larvae Worm (2). Targeting

Aliens move quickly and do not have a fixed

movement allowance. The alien activation card
states how far, and in which direction, the aliens
will move. Often, the aliens are moving towards
something on the board to attack it, for example a
crew member, a terminal, or a door.

Aliens rarely move away from the crew, but if this

happens, they are never impeded.

In many cases, the alien will not need to use the

full movement allowance on the card to reach
the destination area and sometimes will not need
to move at all. The alien stops moving when it
reaches its target.

Start by selecting the target that the alien is mov-

Figure 41: Neo-morphosis. ing towards:
During this alien activation, only the Larvae ◼ If the alien is moving towards a crew mem-
Worm with the red ring uses the neo-morphosis ber, it will target the nearest crew member.
card, adding the bonus to its basic statistics (1). If there are multiple crew members at the
The Larvae Worm without the ring (2) uses the same distance, it will target the crew mem-
basic statistics written on its ID card, without ber with the highest current health. If there
adding a bonus. is still no unique target, select one at ran-
At the end of the round, the aliens neo-morpho- dom. Defeated/recovering crew are never
size again. selected as a target.

The Larvae Worm with the red ring neo-morpho- ◼ If the alien is moving to attack a map token,
sizes into a Ripper. Remove the ring, discard the for example a door, and there are multiple op-
card and swap the miniature for a Ripper (1). tions, target the closest token of that type.
Randomly select between tokens that are
Then draw a new card from the neo-morphosis equally close. Damaged objects are never
deck, place it beside the Larvae Worm ID card selected as targets.
and place a red ring below the Larvae Worm min-
iature (2). ◼ If the Alien Activation Card does not mention
a closed door, then the path to the target must
The Slug does not change. be through open doors. In these circumstanc-
es, it is quite possible that the alien will not de-
tect a target.

◼ If the Alien Activation Card mentions a closed

door, then the alien can select a target on the
other side of a closed door. When selecting
the closest target, count the distance as if the
alien will move through the closed door.

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 When the target has been determined, move the
alien and attack if possible:

◼ If an alien cannot detect a target, then it will

not move.

◼ If an alien detects a target, it will move, even if

it cannot move far enough to reach the target.

◼ If an alien selects a target on the other side

of a closed door, follow the card instruction
when the alien reaches the door. This will ei-
ther be to stop at the closed door, or to attack
the closed door. If the alien damages the door,
it will be jammed open and the alien may con-
tinue to use any remaining movement, and
may even reach its target and attack that too.
Figure 45: The Ripper makes a successful structural at-
tack.
Worked Example
The icon in the top-right corner of the card says
that all Rippers and Slugs make structural at-
tacks against the station walls. Every Ripper and
Slug will make attacks until one succeeds. We
start the process with the Ripper in this room. It
rolls a five and adds its attack value of one for a
total of six. This is compared to the defense val-
ue of the walls on the SIP, which is five. Since the
attack result is higher, this attack is a success. A
new Emergency Card is drawn and placed face
down on the SIP in an open slot. It will be resolved
Figure 43: Robert draws an Alien Activation Card in a
at the start of the next turn.
room with two aliens.
Because the attack was a success, we stop this
Figure 43 shows the start of our alien activation step. If the Ripper had failed, for example with a
example. Robert is inside a room with two aliens. roll of four, we would continue making attacks
The Alien Activation Phase begins by drawing the with any other Rippers and Slugs in play.
card shown on the left. This will be resolved for
aliens on the entire board, not just the small sec-
tion shown in this diagram.

Figure 44: The Pod hatches!

Figure 46: The Worm attacks!
The first step will be to roll the neo-morphosis
The next section has detailed instructions for all
dice for each Pod in the game. There is a Pod
Larvae on the board. Worms are Larvae, so the
near Robert, so the die is rolled and shows the
Worm that just hatched gets to activate imme-
silhouette of a Worm, so the Pod is removed and
diately. The card says it moves up to two areas
a Worm is added in its place. A Worm is one of the
to attack the crew. Robert is clearly the closest
Larvae Aliens, so it will activate as we continue
crew member, and he is only one area away, so
to resolve the card.
the Worm moves to his area and attacks. Robert
has no xenobiology bonus for defending against a
Larvae Worm.

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Fortunately for Robert, Worms are not the most Special Activation
dangerous aliens. A poor dice roll gives an attack
Some characters are activated during the Spe-
result of two, much lower than his defense val-
cial Activation step of the Alien Activation Card.
ue, so this attack fails. If there are more Larvae in
This step is indicated by the yellow icon. See fig-
play, including Hydras, they all activate, but there
ure below.
are no more Larvae in this example.
When a character with the yellow icon is on the
board, activate it.

Some characters have the instruction for their

activation on their ID Card, while other charac-
Figure 47: The Ripper creates havoc.
ters, e.g. the Hive Mother, require the players to
The Ripper section is a little longer. It starts with draw and resolve a Behavior Card.
an instruction that is only resolved for one Rip-
per, chosen by the players. A Ripper has to make Behavior Cards
a structural attack on a closed door if there is
When a character has their own deck of Behav-
one within two areas. The Ripper in the room with
ior Cards, proceed as follows:
Robert fits the bill, so the players select this one.
First it moves, just one area, reaching an area 1. Draw one Behavior Card from their Behavior
with a closed door. A great dice roll generates an Deck.
attack value of eight, much higher than the door’s
2. Follow the instructions on the card.
defense of four, so the attack is a success. The
door token is flipped to the open side, and a dam- 3. At the end of activation, place the card in a
age token is placed to indicate that the door is discard pile.
damaged.
4. When no more cards are available in the Be-
This is not all the Ripper is up to. The next alien ac- havior Deck, take the discard pile, shuffle the
tion says that all Rippers move two areas to at- cards and start again from step 1.
tack the crew, so even though this Ripper started
by moving away from Robert, it is still only two
areas away. The Ripper moves back to the same
area as Robert and attacks him. Once again, there
is no xenobiology bonus. A roll of five is another
success and Robert suffers two wounds.

Rippers on other parts of the board attack the

crew next and if there are Slugs in play, they will
act also.

There are no special activations for aliens, so we

skip ahead to the last instruction on the card. All
Example of a Behavior Card.
aliens neo-morphosize by either adding cards or
transforming into adults. Robert needs to deal
with these new threats during his turn!

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 TOKENS LEGEND

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 Stand-Alone
MISSION Generator
It is very easy to play stand-alone missions using ◼ Continue the game until the objectives on the
the mission generator. card are met. At that point, follow the instruc-
tions on the Entry card to draw and resolve an
A mission needs a map, and three Mission cards:
Explore card.
Entry, Explore, and Eradicate.
◼ If players successfully complete the objec-
Follow these steps: tives on the Entry card, players will be in-
◼ Separate and shuffle the Entry, Explore and structed to draw an Explore card, and then
Eradicate mission cards. an Eradicate card. Both of these cards are
handled in the same way players handled the
◼ Select a map from the list provided below.
Entry card.
◼ Randomly draw an Entry card from the bot-
◼ The objectives on the Eradicate card will tell
tom of the entry deck.
players how to win the Encounter.
◼ Read the story on the back of the card.
◼ Turn the card over, follow any setup instruc-
tions and read the objectives. Place the card
face up where it can be referred to as play-
ers proceed.

MISSIONS
Overview GENERAL RULES

This is a brief description of Neo-Morphosis mis- Setup

sions. We do not want to share all the details, as The setup of each mission is illustrated in the mis-
this will reveal important story elements that we sion mini-map. Sectors are indicated by the num-
want to be a surprise when the game is delivered. ber on each map tile. Some missions have addi-
tional rules and setup requirements. These are
explained in the mission.
Game Mode

Neo-Morphosis can be played in two modes: Tiles and Tokens

Place tiles and tokens as shown in the mission
Stand-alone Games: A single game is set up and mini-map.
played with no reference to any other Neo-Mor-
phosis game. Halon Tank Token
Campaign Play: The game is played as a narra- Start each mission with one Halon Tank token
tive campaign with ten scenarios. loaded in the SIP, unless otherwise indicated by
mission setup.

Infestation cards
Place one Infestation card on each tile unless
otherwise indicated by mission setup.

Mission objectives
Your main goal for the Mission.

Victory conditions
The tasks the crew members must complete. All
victory conditions must be completed to finish the
mission.

Additional rules
Extra rules for the mission.

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 Tutorial: Welcome to Hell

I wasn’t expecting a red carpet when we finally reached that horrifying base, but come on!
Not a single soul there to greet us. Strange, even for this place. The World Exit Research
Station, what a ridiculous name…

Anyway, Yuri suggested we find the elevator and go down to the command center. Fine by
me!

Mission objectives Additional rules

◼ Find the elevator and reach the command cen- ◼ Remove the Emergency card for Sectors 7
ter. and 8.
◼ Do not place any Alien Infestation card in Sec-
Victory conditions tor 2.
◼ Open the blue door remotely using the terminal ◼ Place a Broken Door token on the door in Sec-
in Sector 1. tor 6. This is the broken elevator you must re-
◼ Fix the elevator in Sector 6. pair.
◼ Get all crew members to the elevator.

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 MISSION 1: THE GRID

Chto za chert! That was close! I’ve never seen creatures like that before. You people know
anything about this madness? We do have more pressing matters though. It looks like the
power grid has been compromised. Luckily, the terminals run on an independent system so
we can use them to hard reboot the whole thing.

Mission objectives Additional rules

◼ Restore power to the command center. ◼ The blue door between Sectors 2 and 3 can-
not be opened until every terminal has been
Victory conditions fixed.
◼ Fix all terminals. ◼ When all the terminals are fixed, replace the
◼ Pick up the objective marker in the control blue door with a normal door.
room to restart the power grid.

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 Mission 2: Weaponized junk

We’re seriously underequipped for the job at hand. But using some good old-fashioned el-
bow grease and a pinch of lethal creativity, I’m pretty sure I can make us weapons to fight
with. They might not look pretty but they’ll be functional. Trust me, I’m an engineer!

Mission objectives Victory conditions

◼ Loot all you can, craft and gear up! ◼ Pick up all the loot crates.
◼ Each crew member must have at least one
craftable item in their possession.

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 MISSIOn 3: Know thy enemy

Alright guys! If we want to survive this thing, we’ll need a lot more information about these
aliens. From what I gathered during our previous encounters with these beasts, it looks
like we’re facing several species. We need to capture a few specimens alive so I can per-
form a vivisection.

Mission objectives Aditional Rules

◼ Capture a specimen of each type of alien. ◼ There are two ways to capture an alien; you
can either do it the hard way or the easy way.
Victory conditions ◼ The hard way: Spend 2 actions to pass a Sci-
◼ Capture a Worm, a Hydra, and a Ripper. ence Test 8+ while you are in the same area as
◼ Defeat all remaining aliens. the alien. If you pass the test, place that alien
miniature next to your crew ID card.
◼ The easy way: Stun it by producing electrical
feedback to an alien in the same room as an
active terminal. Place that alien miniature next
to your crew ID card.

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 MISSION 4: KAboom!

As our exploration of the base continues, we discover that a whole section of Sub-Level
18 is inaccessible due to a massive barricade. It’s mostly useless junk and dead bodies,
which would take forever to move by hand. Luckily, Robert came up with a brilliant idea…

Mission objectives Aditional Rules

◼ Send S.A.M. to remove the barricade. ◼ The barricade is represented by the yellow ob-
jective token over the door.
Victory conditions ◼ To remove the barricade, S.A.M. must reach the
◼ Move S.A.M. to the designated area in Sector 8. door area and spend 2 of his actions.
◼ Remotely remove the barricade. ◼ Every time S.A.M. enters a new sector, resolve
the infestation card and activate the aliens as
normal.

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 MISSION 5: The maze runners

Seriously though, what kind of deranged mind designed this place? How are we supposed
to find our way through this? There are so many layers of security here that it completely
shuts off the rest of the base. It’s as if they were trying to contain something…

Mission objectives Aditional Rules

◼ Find your way out of the maze. ◼ The blue door can only be opened by the termi-
nal in Sector 3.
Victory conditions ◼ The red door can only be opened by the termi-
◼ Reach the exit point with every crew member. nal in Sector 7.
◼ The sealed door to Sector 7 is represented by
the yellow Objective token over the door.
◼ You need the Pass Card to open the sealed
door to Sector 7.
◼ The Pass Card is represented by the green
Objective token.

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 MISSION 6: the Hatchery

Is it just me or is it warm in here? And what’s up with all those pods? It looks like a hatchery
of some kind. I say we get rid of those before they hatch, or we’ll have more stuff crawling
on our arms. Let’s just hope that whatever laid those eggs is nowhere near.

Mission objectives ◼ The doors to Sectors 1, 3 and 7 are jammed

◼ Destroy the hatchery and the aliens in it. open.
◼ The Halon Tank is not loaded. Don’t place Halon
Victory conditions Tank tokens on the SIP.
◼ Activate the fire suppression system in Sec-
tors 4, 5 and 6. The Hive Mother

◼ Destroy all the pods. ◼ If the fire suppression system is activated in a

sector containing the Hive Mother, instead of
◼ Defeat the Hive Mother.
being defeated, she loses 2 Health Points.

Aditional Rules ◼ When the Hive Mother is down to her last

Health Point, remove her from the board. She
◼ Instead of placing an Infestation card on each
escapes to lick her wounds and prepare her
sector, place one Pod in each area at random
revenge.
until you run out of Pod tokens. Infestation
cards are not used in this mission.

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 MISSION 7: Desperate situation

The Hive Mother wreaked havoc during her escape. Most of the systems have been dam-
aged or compromised. We need to act quickly to secure this level before it collapses on us.

Mission objectives Aditional Rules

◼ Reach the end of the time SIP panel. ◼ Start the mission with Sector 3 and Sector 6
compromised. Place a Warning card over 2
Victory conditions slots of the SIP.
◼ Reach the end of the time SIP panel with four ◼ Sectors 3 and 6 are compromised but secured.
or less Critical Emergency Reports on the SIP. ◼ The actions “Scan two rooms” and “Remote
control doors” are disabled.
◼ The yellow and the green Objective tokens are
Crypto keys.
◼ Put the Crypto keys in a terminal to fix the on-
going emergencies.
◼ Every Ripper making a structural attack gets a
+1 bonus to its roll.

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 MISSION 8: The scavengers

Okay, we might have a chance to get out of here. We discovered it’s possible to exit the
base via a secondary loading dock beyond area 33. There’s a damaged truck there, and
Robert assured us he can fix it. First, we need to scavenge for some spare parts.

Mission objectives Aditional Rules

◼ Look for spare parts to fix the truck and bring ◼ Each Objective token represents a spare part
the Crew back to safety. for the truck. When a crew member picks up a
spare part, place the token their Crew ID card.
Victory conditions The spare part can be dropped at any time like
◼ Pick up all the objective tokens. any other item. Place the Objective token in the
area where the Crew member dropped the
◼ Bring the parts back to the starting point.
spare parts.
◼ When given a choice, an alien will always
choose to attack a Crew member carrying a
spare part before attacking a Crew member
who isn’t.

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 MISSION 9: Patient 0

We now have everything we need to repair the truck and get the hell out of here! Slight
problem though… Access to the loading dock is blocked by a secure door. We need the
magnetic pass to escape, and I think I know where it is…

Mission objectives
◼ Defeat Dr. Blare, reach the loading dock, and
escape.

Victory conditions
Dr Blare
◼ Defeat Dr. Blare.
◼ If the fire suppression system is activated in a
◼ Use the magnetic pass to open the red door.
sector containing Dr. Blare, instead of being de-
◼ Escape. feated, he loses 2 health points.

Aditional Rules ◼ When Dr. Blare loses his last health point, re-
place the miniature with the yellow Objective
◼ Place Dr. Blare in Sector 5 instead of an Alien
token. This is the magnetic pass.
Infestation card.
◼ The red door in Sector 8 can only be opened
with the magnetic pass.

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 MISSION 10: The last stand

This is it! We’re finally out of here! Let’s get that truck running and leave this damned place
behind. Wait a sec… Did you guys hear that? Sounds like something big is coming. Hurry up!
She’s back!

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Mission objectives The Truck
◼ Repair the truck and escape. ◼ Repair the truck: Each player with a spare
part must pass a Tech Test while in the same
Victory conditions area as the truck. Players cannot use any
item or ability that would allow them to suc-
◼ Repair the truck.
ceed automatically. When a test is success-
◼ Start the engine. ful, place the corresponding Objective token
over the truck. When both Objective tokens
◼ Move back to the truck
are over the truck, the truck is repaired.
◼ Kill the Hive Mother. (Optional, but epic.)
◼ Start the engine: The players can attempt to
start it by producing an electrical feedback
Aditional Rules from the Terminal in Sector 7.
◼ Before starting the mission, share 2 Objective
◼ Move the Crew back to the truck.
tokens between the crew members. These
tokens represent the spare parts needed to ◼ The Hive Mother: If the fire suppression sys-
fix the truck. tem is activated in a sector containing the
Hive Mother, instead of being defeated, she
◼ Place a Damaged token in Sector 7, Area 2.
loses 2 health points.
This is the truck.
◼ Place the Hive Mother in Sector 2 along with
two Infestation cards instead of one.

Epilog
The crew escaped and managed to kill the hive mother.

“Fortunately, we have the whole thing behind us now. And it was more or less an exit with
fireworks,” laughs Robert. The other crew members don’t feel like laughing. “Yes, we were
very lucky” agrees Yuri. “Lucky that the spare parts matched the truck, lucky also that our
homemade guns could handle that monster beast”. “Let’s look on the bright side, at least one
less problem for future research crews to deal with” interjects Alice. “Don’t get too excited,”
Carolin murmurs, “I’m sure this won’t be the last time we see this station.”

The crew escaped but did not defeat the hive mother.

“That was close,” groans Robert breathlessly. “ by a hair’s breadth and we would have been
history”. “Don’t always exaggerate like that, Robert” Yuri admonishes “We got out of that sit-
uation with our skins intact. And that is what counts”. “True” agrees Carolin “but the beast is
still out there and is probably already laying new pods. Those that come after us won’t have
it easy”. Alice stares absentmindedly into the void. In the far distance, a scream is heard. “That
thing,” Alice moans. “And I can’t shake the feeling that we’re going to see this place again.
Very soon.”

The crew was defeated.

“Research station “World Exit” please report” booms from the radio of the broken and slashed
truck. The radio call goes nowhere, because there is no one left to answer it. Instead, some-
thing else is lurking in the research station for the next prey.

And it is guaranteed to come. Outside the perimeter, only screams can be heard. Screams in
the night. And they become more.”

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 ROUND SUMMARY

Level 3 Emergencies go Critical

◼ Discard the Emergency Card, level markers and Repair Attempt Tokens.
◼ Place a Sector Compromised Card on the System Interface Panel.
◼ Place a Sector Compromised Card in the Sector on the Game Board as reminder.

Escalate Active Emergencies

◼ Increase the Emergency Level of any existing emergencies by one.

Check Compromised Sectors

◼ Inspect each Compromised Sector in turn.
◼ If the Sector is not secure, create a new emergency and activate it.

Activate New Emergencies:

◼ Turn over any face down Emergency Cards.
◼ Add the Level 1 marker to the Emergency Report Field.
◼ Place a System Overload Token to disable the relevant terminal action.

Crew Phase
◼ Discard the recovering token and place the crew member back on the board.
◼ Flip the defeated token to a recovering token.
◼ Performs up to three Crew Actions:

Attack Heal (using a proper card)

Craft a craftable card (test) Drop/pick up/trade Item
Move Open/close door
Recharge fire suppression system Repair door/terminal
Search a crate Mission-specific actions
Terminal functions

Aliens Phase
◼ Draw and resolve the Alien Activation Card.

End of Round Phase

◼ Advance the time marker.

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