Updated October 2, 2011

Haunt of the Watchers is a free 'remix' of the popular board game Arkham Horror. Though it makes use of the Arkham Horror components, Haunt is in no way affiliated with or authorized by the makers of that game.

Haunt differs from Arkham Horror in many ways:

• The 'skill slider' system is not used; instead, skill bonuses are 'allocated' for the length of a phase by covering them with markers. Allocated bonuses cannot be reused until their markers are removed. Five markers are removed from each investigator's card during Upkeep.
• Monsters do not move randomly; each monster has a goal which it pursues when investigators perform actions in the city. Monster goals include finding and attacking investigators, summoning more monsters, opening new gates, and speeding the return of the Ancient One.
• Gates are not opened by Mythos cards; they are placed face-down at 'unstable' location at the start of play, and investigators turn them face-up by investigating their locations. Face-up gates can be shut, but only at certain times, and often only with the sacrifice of a trophy from the corresponding Other World. The investigators must shut a specific number of gates to win the game.

The rationale behind many of the changes is detailed in the Design Notes section of the Haunt PDF. A session report is available here.

Download

To play, download the Haunt of the Watchers PDF (revision 1.0, 507KB).

The first twenty-two pages contain the Haunt rules and play summary, all of which are needed to play.

The last six pages contain Addenda, including the Haunt design notes. Skip the last page if you are not duplex printing.