Gloom Unwelcome Guests Rules

In the world of dark humor card games, Gloom stands out as one of the most delightfully twisted. Its unique goal to make your characters suffer the most miserable fate possible turns traditional gameplay on its head. The expansion Gloom: Unwelcome Guests adds a deeper layer of strategy, chaos, and storytelling with the introduction of persistent guests who follow misery and disrupt the lives of your unlucky families. Understanding the Gloom Unwelcome Guests rules is essential to fully enjoy the dynamics this expansion introduces and to create truly memorable (and unfortunate) tales.

Overview of Gloom and Its Core Mechanics

Before diving into the expansion’s specific rules, it’s important to understand the foundation of the Gloom base game. Players control eccentric families and use transparent cards to build their stories. The aim is to make each character as miserable as possible before they die, while also trying to cheer up other players’ characters to reduce their final score.

The game thrives on narrative and encourages players to describe each card play with a mini story, blending strategy with imagination. Card types include:

• Modifier cards– Add or subtract self-worth points and sometimes trigger special effects.
• Event cards– Cause immediate actions like drawing cards, skipping turns, or killing a character.
• Untimely death cards– Used to end a character’s suffering and lock in their score.

What Unwelcome Guests Adds to the Game

Gloom: Unwelcome Guests introduces a new element in the form of Guest cards. These cards represent visitors who do not belong to any one family but wander from house to house, bringing extra complications or advantages. The guests can influence gameplay significantly and offer new tactical opportunities for players willing to adapt their strategies.

The expansion also adds new Modifier and Event cards that are themed around the guests and their unpredictable nature. These additions help expand storytelling options and enhance the unpredictability of the game.

Contents of the Unwelcome Guests Expansion

• 5 Unwelcome Guest cards
• 55 new transparent cards, including Modifiers and Events
• Rules insert explaining how to integrate the expansion

These components are designed to be shuffled into your existing Gloom deck, seamlessly integrating new rules with the base mechanics.

How Guest Cards Work

Guest cards are the heart of the Unwelcome Guests expansion. They represent eccentric visitors who are not bound to any one player’s family. Each guest has a specific condition for moving between families, typically based on the presence of a certain symbol or point value on a character.

Here’s how Guest cards function in the game:

Introducing Guests into Play

Guest cards start outside the play area. When you play a Modifier or Event card with a guest symbol (a little top hat), you bring the corresponding Guest into play. Once in the game, the Guest is placed next to the character who triggered their arrival.

Guest Movement Rules

• At the end of each player’s turn, check to see if any Guest in play should move to a new character.
• Each Guest card describes its movement condition for example, Moves to the character with the lowest Self-Worth score.
• If no valid target meets the movement condition, the Guest stays where they are.
• If multiple targets qualify, the current player chooses where the Guest goes.

Guest Effects on Gameplay

Each Guest card includes a persistent effect or ability that applies to the character it’s next to. These effects can be beneficial, harmful, or both. For example, a Guest might increase the number of cards a player draws, or prevent certain card types from being played on that character.

This creates an interesting layer of strategy, as players must decide whether to trigger a Guest’s arrival, keep them in their family, or try to drive them away.

Scoring with Guest Cards

It’s important to note that Guests do not have Self-Worth values and cannot be killed. They are not counted in endgame scoring, but their influence on your other characters can affect the final results dramatically.

Strategically, a well-placed Guest can shift the balance of the game, giving a miserable character extra misfortune or protecting a happy one from healing effects. Knowing when to invite or repel a Guest becomes a key part of advanced gameplay.

New Card Effects and Icons

To accommodate the Guest mechanics, Unwelcome Guests introduces a new symbol the Guest icon (top hat) on several Modifier and Event cards. This symbol is the trigger for bringing a Guest into play.

New Modifier Interactions

• Some Modifiers specifically affect Guests or the characters next to them.
• Stacking these Modifiers with ongoing effects can create powerful combos.
• It’s now more important than ever to read the fine print on each card.

Event Cards and Guest Manipulation

• Certain Events allow players to move Guests manually, bypassing their usual conditions.
• Others remove Guests from play entirely, banishing them back to the sidelines.
• Using these Events strategically can disrupt an opponent’s plan or secure an advantage for your own family.

Integrating with Other Gloom Expansions

Gloom: Unwelcome Guests is designed to integrate smoothly with other expansions such as Unfortunate Expeditions, Unquiet Dead, and Unhappy Homes. However, players should be mindful of balancing the deck when using multiple expansions.

To keep gameplay flowing smoothly, consider using only one or two expansions at a time. Too many new mechanics introduced at once may overwhelm new players or dilute the core experience. That said, seasoned Gloom veterans often enjoy mixing expansions for a richer, more chaotic session.

Tips for Playing with Unwelcome Guests

• Use Guests to target opponents’ most valuable characters or protect your own from key actions.
• Keep track of Guest movement conditions so you can anticipate their behavior and plan ahead.
• Stack effects wisely Guests with powerful bonuses can be used to build combos with Modifier cards.
• Encourage storytelling. Guests add fun narrative twists that can enhance the dark humor of the game.

These strategies not only make your sessions more competitive but also more entertaining for everyone involved.

The rules of Gloom: Unwelcome Guests may seem simple at first, but they bring a surprising depth to the already rich and darkly comedic gameplay. By adding a dynamic cast of guests who shift between families, change outcomes, and influence strategy, this expansion breathes new life into every match. Understanding how to manipulate Guest cards, use new modifiers, and craft compelling stories around their presence is key to mastering the expansion. Whether you’re a longtime fan of Gloom or exploring the game for the first time, Unwelcome Guests is a welcome addition to the misery.