Shadow of the Elder Gods

In Shadow of the Elder Gods, 1-4 players take on the roles of citizens of Arkham who work together to prevent cosmic horrors from unraveling reality. Shadow focuses on dealing with the consequences of dark forces conspiring against players, rather than combat. Players take turns spending actions to travel the streets of Arkham researching Knowledge, hiring Muscle, collecting Assets, and dealing with Threats.

Each game revolves around an inevitable danger to Arkham which is represented by the Threat Deck, a constructed deck of cards which players must survive in order to banish the Elder Threat and win the game. Each threat card features an Arkham face and a Shadow face. The Arkham faces represents the visible manifestations of the unseemly things found on the Shadow faces of the cards. Whenever the player with the Threat Start Marker begins their turn, a Threat token is placed on the current Threat Card and the indicated damage is dealt to players or locations. The first/last card represents the unique Elder Threat which players must contend with in order to win.

The player who possesses the Ring of Shadows is able to view the Shadow side of the Threat Deck and deal with the Threat at hand by using what resources they have, but they expose themselves and others to harm in the process. If players manage to survive their final encounter with the Elder Threat in the shadows, they unceremoniously save the world from incomprehensible danger. But such is the way in Shadow of the Elder Gods.