Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion

The first five scenarios introduce the full rules gradually through the Learn to Play Guide; do not apply all later rules to scenario 1. The following covers normal play after the tutorial. Each round has card selection or long-rest declarations, initiative reveal and ordering, character and monster turns, then cleanup. For an ordinary turn, secretly choose two cards and use one for initiative. Discuss general plans, without revealing exact card titles or numerical values.

Characters and all monster sets present share a lowest-to-highest initiative order; long rests use 99. Characters win ties against monsters. Tied characters compare their other cards, then decide if still tied. Within a monster set, elites act before normals, each in ascending standee-number order. Reveal one ability card per set; monsters perform only its listed abilities, without adding movement or attacks.

On a character turn, use the top of one card and the bottom of the other, in either order. The initiative card need not supply the top. Resolve abilities within each action in printed order without interleaving the other action. You may skip abilities as permitted or replace a top with basic Attack 2 or a bottom with basic Move 2. A basic action discards the card and grants none of the replaced action’s lost-card, experience, or elemental effects.

Rests return discards to hand, but ordinary rests cannot recover lost cards; these return after the scenario. Both rests require at least two discards and lose one. A short rest at round end loses one at random, with one chance to suffer one damage and randomly lose a different card. Declare a long rest at round start; on initiative 99, choose the lost card, Heal 2 Self, and refresh spent items, but not consumed items.

You may negate one instance of damage by losing one card from hand or two from discards; additional attack effects still apply. Cards selected for the current round but not yet played are in neither area and cannot pay for this. Actually reaching zero or fewer hit points exhausts the character and removes the figure. At round start, inability both to select two cards and to long rest also causes exhaustion. Merely having fewer than two hand cards does not exhaust you immediately: with at least two discards, you can still long rest.

Normal movement can pass through allies, but not enemies, obstacles, objectives, or walls, and cannot end in another figure’s hex. Check range and line of sight per attack target; apply attack bonuses, draw a separate attack modifier, then apply Shield. Ranged attacks against adjacent targets have Disadvantage. Characters automatically loot their current hex at turn end; uncollected loot is not automatically awarded after the scenario.

Monster focus prioritizes an attack path crossing the fewest traps, then requiring the least movement; a further tie goes directly to the enemy earlier in initiative order, without another proximity tiebreaker. Ranged attacks consider range, and difficult terrain counts toward movement cost. Without an Attack ability, or when disarmed, find focus as for melee. Move only as permitted by the ability, toward an attack position, and try to remove ranged adjacency Disadvantage against the primary focus.

Use the current scenario’s goal and special failure conditions. Play out the round after an ending condition triggers. All characters exhausted means failure, and failure takes precedence over success in the same round. Remaining characters can finish without every ally; exhaustion is not permanent death. Recover ability cards, items, and hit points after the scenario. Failed scenarios may be retried, keeping earned money, experience, and looted treasure rewards; a treasure cannot be claimed repeatedly.