Learn Heart of Darkness
Learn the game in 5 short steps. Everything links to the full rules.
Write the best story of Africa
You lead an expedition into central and southern Africa for a patron back home. Exploring new land, mapping rivers and finding wonders earns Drama Points. When someone reaches 50 DP, dies or goes mad, the game ends at the end of that Game Turn and the most DP wins.
Keep your expedition alive
Your Expedition Sheet tracks Askaris, Porters, Food, Gifts, Ammo, Health, Sanity, Time and Discontent. You start with 6 Askaris, 8 Porters, 10 Gifts and 20 Food, and spend 20 Credits on more men, supplies and Resources. Every Game Turn they all eat, and losses make your men unhappy: at Discontent 10 they kill you.
Map Phase — enter a new region
Each Game Turn begins with one move on the map. Pay Food, roll for Disease and Horror if your Turn marker is below them, then step into an adjacent region. An unexplored region gets its terrain (1 or 2 DP) and maybe a river to follow upstream; pictured sources and lakes score more.
Matrix Phase — search the region
Your Matrix is a close-up of the region. Discoveries are drawn into it once, then each Player Turn you lay Encounters around you, draw an Event, pay 1 Time to move one slot, draw a second Event and deal with what you find. Findings and Discoveries score 2 DP; a Rumor can lead you to a Special Discovery.
When your Time is up
When your Time reaches Stop, the search ends: a Health-roll if you didn’t reach “End here”, reset Time to Health + 5, roll for deserters and spend Quinine, Cannabis and Ammo to recover. Envy can earn 2 DP at the cost of Sanity. Then a new Game Turn starts with the next Map Phase.