Quick Start Guide

Hope Inhumanity is a cooperative card-based game for 3 to 5 players, and it will take an hour or two to complete. To play, you will need the game cards, available for purchase online through hope-inhumanity.com, and up to 30 six-sided dice: five (5) per player, plus five (5) for the hope dice pool.

GAME SETUP

Card Setup

Each player places a Humanity dice card in front of them.
Place the Hope dice card in the center of the table.
Split Scene cards into shuffled mini-decks, one for each terrain type.
Place Asset, Personality, Trait and Relationship cards in a pile near the Scene decks.
Place Hunger and Harm condition cards nearby – you’re going to need them.
Place Hunted condition cards nearby (if playing with the Martial Lawexpansion).

What Else You Need

Five (5) uniquely colored Humanity dice for each player.
Five (5) dice of another color for Hope dice.
Scrap paper or index cards to note character information or game details.
A few dice or tokens to count rounds and track Asset usage.

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GAME PLAY

The game plays out over the course of five (5) rounds.

Play proceeds clockwise.

Turn Sequence

On your turn, draw a Scene card. Silently read to yourself the scenario outlined on it.
Choose whether you will Act or Avoid. Scene cards tagged as Unavoidable must be Acted upon.
If you decide to Act, read or interpret for everyone the callout text at the top of the card, omitting the Refuse, Succeed, Fail, and Accept details.
If no dice roll is necessary, each player chooses in turn how they will respond to the Scene, with the acting player choosing last. Describe the respective rewards and penalties, according to the card text. The turn ends.
If there is a hardship rating on the Scene card, then a dice roll is necessary. Commit one or more of your Humanity dice toward resolving the Scene. Push those dice to the middle of the table.
Other players decide whether they support you, and they may describe how, if they wish. If they support you, they decide how much Humanity to commit. They support you with as many dice as they like, but they cannot exceed the amount you have committed. They add their committed dice to yours in the middle of the table. Players who want to support you but have no Humanity left can invoke the Last Hope rule at this time to use one (1) Hope die instead of Humanity.
You now have the option to use one or more dice from the Hope dice pool.
Calculate the total hardship by adding to the Scene hardship any Harm and Hunger condition penalties you’re suffering. Do not apply any helpers’ condition penalties. Then apply any relevant Relationship or Personality effects and decide if you’ll use a Trait.
Roll all the dice you’ve amassed. Count the successes: 4s, 5s, and 6s. If the number of successes equals or exceeds the total hardship, you’re successful. Otherwise, you fail.
Players who refused to support you suffer the Refuse penalty.
If you succeed, any committed Humanity dice are lost. Set them aside and return the support dice to the other players to be set aside, also. You and everyone who supported you gain the Succeed benefits of the Scene card.
If the Scene ends in failure, committed Humanity dice are lost. Set them aside and return the support dice to the other players to be set aside, also. You and those who supported you suffer the Fail penalty as defined on the Scene card.
Unless a Scene card is marked Unavoidable, you may choose to Avoid a Scene card you’ve drawn. In this case, discard the Scene card and everyone (including you) suffers the Refuse penalty for that Scene. Your turn is over and play proceeds with the player to your left.

The End of the Round

A round ends when all players have taken a turn drawing a Scene card. Begin a new round by adding a single die to the Hope dice pool and advancing the round counter by one.

The End of the Game

The game is “won” if at least one character survives all five rounds. The surviving character(s) have reached the destination.