Transcript
Overview Truths Too Terrible is a game of deduction in a world full of strange and unknowable mysteries. The players are investigators within that world, each attempting to understand the facts of a series of strange occurrences. These facts are made up of 6 different types of evidence, each of which could turn out to be pertinent, irrelevant, or unknowable. Each round, a set of facts is put aside, and the players must then attempt to deduce those facts (or, if necessary, make their best guess). At the end of each round, the player who can identify the most facts without getting any wrong will learn a terrible truth about the world. The first to learn 3 terrible truths wins the game.
Credits Game Design: Scott Bowden Art Design: Alex Seagrave Artwork: Mike Dubisch Editing: Erica Bowden Writing: Sarah Seagrave, Jon Wagner Collaborators: Joe Bowden, Mike Cartwright Special Thanks: Chrissy Assad, Erik Berg, Donna Bowden, Mike Bowden, Sean Bradley, Kate Estrop, Emily Lampe, Roger Lampe, Kerry Sainato, Jessica Smith, Mike Smith, Joel Thibault Revision: 6.2 1
Game Components
24 Evidence cards (4 each of 6 types). For each type, there is 1 Pertinent, 1 Irrelevant, and 2 Unknowable (see right). Each type has a distinct back, and all are shuffled into a single Evidence deck. 4 sets of 1 0 Solution cards, which players use to present their Case. In each set, there is 1 card per Evidence type, plus 1 card per possible Fact disposition.
28 Plot Twist cards, which modify the rules of the game.
6 Credibility cards, which allow players to play Dirty Tricks.
1 Lead Investigator card, for the round's first player.
8 Terrible Truth cards, for the round's winner. 2
Game Setup Give each player a set of 1 0 Solution cards. Shuffle the Plot Twist deck. If there are fewer than 4 players, not all of the Credibility cards will be used. See the chart (right) for details.
Players
2 3 4
Credibility
4 5 6
Round Start Give the Lead Investigator card to the winner of the last round (assign it randomly in the first round of the game). Shuffle the Evidence cards, and deal 1 each of the 6 types, face-down. Skip any cards that repeat a type that's already been dealt. These are the Facts of the round. Deal an additional 3 Evidence cards face-down next to the Evidence deck. These are the cards that are available if a player chooses to Investigate on their turn. The player(s) who have the most remaining Credibility from the last round may keep 1 Credibility, but all other Credibility held by any player is returned to the supply. If this is not the first round, reveal a Plot Twist (discard any prior Plot Twist). If the newly revealed Plot Twist contains any special rules, they will apply to this round. Play starts with the Lead Investigator, and continues clockwise. 3
Round Setup Example
Above is an example of a 2-player game at the start of the first round. On the right is Detective Cyan, who also happens to be the Lead Investigator. On the left is Detective Gold. Each has their own set of Solution cards. Along the top are the Facts of this round. In the center of the table are the Credibility, the Terrible Truths, the Plot Twists, and the Evidence deck (which currently has an Occult Signs card on top of it). To the right of the Evidence deck are the three cards that are currently available to Investigate (Dark Lore, Local History, and Science!). Detective Cyan will take the first turn.
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Playing the Game A player takes one of three possible actions on their turn:
Investigate, which allows the player to examine Evidence cards. Play a Dirty Trick, which allows the player to take a special action in return for spending Credibility. Present the Case, which ends the round and forces all players to assemble and present their understanding of this round's Facts. Note: if the Evidence deck is empty at the start of a player's turn, they MUST Present The Case.
Investigate
When a player chooses to Investigate, they must declare whether it will be a Private Investigation or a Public Investigation. Then, they choose one of the three available Evidence cards. If the investigation is private, the player looks at the chosen card and keeps it face-down in front of them (they may review it at any time). If the investigation is public, the player shows the card to all players, and takes 1 Credibility (if any remain). The card remains face-up for the remainder of the round. Deal an Evidence card face-down to replace the chosen card.
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Investigate Example
A few turns in, both players have picked up Credibility from their choice to perform a Public Investigation. It's Detective Cyan's turn (right). Detective Cyan has a choice to make. If she Privately Investigates the available Science! card (green), she is setting herself up to hopefully gain even more exclusive information next round (as the top card of the Evidence deck is also a Science! card). However, if she Privately Investigates the available Local History card (yellow), she knows there is a 1 -in-3 chance that it will definitively prove to her the disposition of the Local History in the Facts (since she already knows it can't be Irrelevant). She chooses to Privately Investigate the Local History card.
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Play a Dirty Trick
In order to Play a Dirty Trick, a player must spend Credibility (i.e. return it to the supply). There are three different options, and each requires spending a single Credibility.
Consult the Arcane: name a type of Evidence that is not currently available to Investigate. Go through the Evidence deck until you find a card of that type, and keep it as if it you had just performed a Private Investigation. Shuffle the Evidence deck. Expose the Lies: choose an Evidence card that a player previously took with a Private Investigation or a Dirty Trick. That card is revealed to all players and kept face-up for the rest of the round, as if it had been chosen as the target for a Public Investigation. Glimpse the Forbidden: choose one of the cards that are available to Investigate and look at it. Then, put the card aside, face-down. This card cannot be looked at by any player (including you!) for the rest of the round. It also cannot be the target of a Dirty Trick. Note: if a special rule modifies how the Investigate action works, none of the Dirty Tricks that refer to the Investigate action are affected by the modification. Some Plot Twists add new Dirty Tricks that are usable during the round that the Plot Twist is active. Whenever this happens, they will be detailed in full on the Plot Twist card. 7
Play a Dirty Trick Example
It's Detective Gold's turn (left), and he's got Credibility to spend. He suspects that Detective Cyan already knows the disposition of Local History (yellow), because she could have Investigated the available Local History card on her last turn, but chose not to (indicating she may already know it to be Unknowable). Meanwhile, Detective Gold's own Investigations into Science! (green) haven't definitively told him the truth of that Fact. He'd like to solve that problem. He chooses to Consult the Arcane, in order to get the last Science! card from the Evidence deck.
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Present the Case
When a player chooses to Present the Case, the round ends, and all players simultaneously assemble their Case. Players create their Case using their Solution cards. Six of these cards correspond to the six types of Evidence, while the other four correspond to the different dispositions each Fact could turn out to be (e.g. Pertinent, Irrelevant, Unknowable, or not included in the Case). Players sort their Solution cards into four piles based on their understanding of the Facts. If a player does not know a particular Fact (and does not want to guess at it) they can put the corresponding Solution card in the pile with their Not Included card. However, players must have at least two types of Evidence used in their Case. Once all players construct their Case, they are all revealed simultaneously and compared with the Facts of the round. Any player who incorrectly included any type of Evidence in their case is immediately knocked out of the round. Note: if all players are knocked out, there is no round winner, and the next round has the same Lead Investigator. The round is won by the remaining player who included the most types of Evidence in their Case. If there is a tie, the round is won by the player furthest in the turn order from the Lead Investigator. The winner of the round receives a Terrible Truth. If it is their third Terrible Truth, they win the game! 9
Present the Case Example
Both players know that Eyewitness Accounts (orange) is Unknowable, due to cards that were Publicly Investigated. Detective Cyan (right) has also correctly identified that Local History (yellow) is also Unknowable, and Dark Lore (blue) is Pertinent. In contrast, Detective Gold (left) has identified Science! (green) and Physical Evidence (red) as Irrelevant. Both players correctly identified 3 Facts, and did not include any incorrectly. However, Detective Gold is furthest in the turn order from the Lead Investigator. Detective Gold wins the round, and gains a Terrible Truth.
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Tips and Strategy Knowing the Odds
For each type of Evidence, there are four cards - one Pertinent, one Irrelevant, and two Unknowable. This uneven distribution means that the odds of a Fact having a particular disposition changes quite a bit with even a little information.
Timing Your Move
The timing of when to make your Case can be an important part of your strategy. You don't have to wait until all Evidence cards have been Investigated, and you don't have to include more than two types of Evidence in your Case. If you think you are at an advantage, don't hesitate to Present the Case in order to end the round early and force your opponents to make risky guesses.
The Advantage of Position
It is possible for players to tie when they make their Case. When that happens, the player farthest away from the Lead Investigator wins. Because of this, a player's risk tolerance should change depending on their position. In general, players closer to the Lead Investigator benefit from including educated guesses in their Case, since a tie with a player later in the turn order will be a loss for them. Players who are later in the turn order benefit from conservative play, since they often only need to tie with another player to win. 11
Overlapping Dimensions Overlapping Dimensions is an advanced rules variant of Truths Too Terrible, and is recommended for players who are already familiar with the base game. It adds even more active Plot Twists to the game, increasing the complexity of the situation players find themselves in each round. Using this variant, the core rules do not change. However, the following changes are made to the rules for setting up each round: At the start of the first round of the game, deal out two Plot Twists, face-up. Both of these will be in effect for the round. In all rounds after the first, a single new Plot Twist is dealt as usual. However, it only replaces the oldest Plot Twist currently in play. Thus, each round, there will always be two Plot Twists in play, and the rules of both will apply. Note: there is a particular Plot Twist, "Twists and Turns", which adds two new Plot Twists to the round. In this variant, the two Plot Twists that are brought into play as a result only cause a single Plot Twist to be discarded. Additionally, those two Plot Twists are kept together, and will leave play together. E.g. for two rounds after "Twists and Turns" is revealed, three total Plot Twists will be in play, after which time the two generated by "Twists and Turns" are replaced by a single new
Plot Twist.
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