For the dead travel fast.

   –Bram Stoker, Dracula

Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce the upcoming release of Fury of Dracula, a board game of deduction and gothic horror. 

Count Dracula has lived Un-Dead for centuries, if not millennia. He drove the Ottomans out of Romania, and became known as Vlad the Impaler for his brutal, bloody method of dispatching his enemies. He witnessed the devastation of the black plague and the innovations of the Industrial Revolution. He has infinite wealth, infinite cunning, and countless bloodthirsty progeny scattered throughout Europe. He is by far the most legendary and most powerful of all vampires. Yet four brave mortals are now determined to find him and permanently destroy him at any cost. 

In Fury of Dracula, one player assumes the role of Count Dracula as he stealthily spreads his evil influence throughout Europe. Up to four other players govern the iconic characters of Dr. Abraham Van Helsing, Dr. John Seward, Lord Arthur Godalming, and Mina Harker. By day the hunters travel through Europe, searching for any possible clues about Dracula’s whereabouts. By night, they investigate their present locale and prepare for the upcoming day. And by night, Dracula creates new vampires, lays traps for the hunters, and stealthily moves to a new location. Should any hunters find Dracula, or should the Count find them, they will engage in a brutal fight for their lives.

This edition features all-new art and graphic design that complement the game’s intuitive and highly thematic mechanics. Rounds have been broken into day and night: hunters take actions during both, but Dracula can only act at night. Combat is now more streamlined and decisive. Rumor tokens give Dracula new ways to mislead hunters and extend the reach of his influence. The Count triumphs if he advances his influence track to thirteen; if the hunters can defeat him before that happens, they win the game. You can try chasing down Dracula or eluding the hunters' grasp for yourself, next week at our Exhibit Hall booth at Gen Con.

The Hunt

“Do you not know that to-night, when the clock strikes midnight, all the evil things in the world will have full sway? Do you know where you are going, and what you are going to?”
   –A Romanian peasant woman, Dracula

When the first day of the hunt dawns, the hunters are scattered across Europe with no hint of Dracula’s location and no time to waste. Every day each hunter may take a single action. You may travel by road, rail, or sea, and you must travel only in daylight, never in darkness. If you feel travel would be imprudent, you may reserve a train ticket in advance, trade items with another hunter, or search your present location for clues. If you have become injured in your travels, or even wounded by Dracula’s servants or the Count himself, you may rest. You may also choose to venture out for supplies, but that will cause some unforeseeable event to occur: every time you draw an Item card, you must also draw an event card. That event may be the surprising appearance of a loved one who has come to join the hunt, or you may find that your horses have been possessed with evil . 

In the dark of night you have another opportunity to act. Since travel in darkness is too dangerous, you must remain in the populated safety and material comforts of your present city. Seeking supplies by night is more perilous than doing so by day, more likely to cause setbacks or place you and your companions in peril.

Living mortals can act night and day, but vampires may only emerge from their coffins at night. Once the hunters have accomplished what they intended, Dracula awakes. First, he travels by secretly choosing a location card and placing it on his trail. He then draws an encounter card, laying a trap for the hunters in his current location such as an  animal minion . He may sire a bloodthirsty new vampire to serve him. Or he may travel to a city occupied by a hunter, reveal himself to his mortal enemy, and attack. 

The Hunters

“We ride to death of someone. God alone knows who, or where, or what, or when, or how it may be….”
   –Dr. John Seward, Dracula

Dracula is by no means an ordinary vampire, but neither are the four hunters ordinary mortals. Each one has unique abilities which enable the group to undertake and possibly even succeed in their dangerous pursuit of the King of the Un-Dead. Lord Arthur Godalming  contributes to the team his wealth, which allows him to gain extra items, and his privilege, which allows him to travel by rail more easily. Dr. John Seward, being naturally well-prepared for any adventure, may carry more items and events than his companions. As a physician, he can also help them recover from damage when they rest.

From left to right: Dr. Abraham Van Helsing, Dr. John Seward, 
Mrs. Mina Harker, and Lord Arthur Godalming

The famous Dutch professor Dr. Abraham Van Helsing offers his leadership, which lets him trade events with another hunter so that the group can derive the most benefit and least harm from whatever befalls them. The professor’s profound tenacity allows him to withstand Dracula’s venomous bites better than his companions. Finally, the headstrong Mina Harker is no less brave, brilliant, or deadly than her companions. Yet she is still profoundly affected by the bite that Dracula inflicted upon her eight years ago. Now that he is risen again she is weakened by it, but because of it possesses a psychic bond with the Count that she can manipulate to determine where he may be.

Although hunted, Dracula is also eternally a hunter, seeking fresh blood, innocent victims, and his enemies’ deaths. In addition to his rage, pride, fury, and diabolical strength, Dracula possesses power cards that he can play to frustrate his pursuers, feed, or transform into a wolf.  He can also place rumor tokens on his secret hideouts to distract the hunters and expand the growing reach of his nefarious, dark influence.

The Battle for Life and Death

“Devils or no devils, or all the devils at once, it matters not; we fight him all the same.”
   – Dr. Abraham Van Helsing, Dracula

To truly defeat Dracula you must not only track him down, but also face this terrible fiend in combat, risking your life in order to defeat this agent of living death. Battles comprise up to six quick rounds of playing combat cards, but may conclude sooner if someone escapes or dies. In every round the engaged hunters and Dracula make their moves simultaneously, guessing at what the other may do. 

As a hunter you may attempt to strike the Count, dodge his blows, escape from his clutches, or use any weapon in your possession, such as a knife or pistol. Dracula fights with his inhuman strength, his sharp fangs, and his ability to mesmerize human beings, controlling them so that they are less capable of dealing him damage. Should the combat turn against him, Dracula may escape in the form of a bat, or eerie mist, but more often his immortal pride prevents him from abandoning a fight.

Dracula Rises Again

"He can, within his range, direct the elements; the storm, the fog, the thunder; he can command all the meaner things: the rat, and the owl, and the bat—the moth, and the fox, and the wolf; he can grow and become small; and he can at times vanish and come unknown. How then are we to begin our strike to destroy him?"
   –Dr. Van Helsing, Dracula

In Fury of Dracula you embark on a terrifying and perilous hunt knowing that your most formidable enemy of all time is hunting you as well. As Mrs. Harker, Dr. Seward, Lord Godalming, or Dr. Van Helsing, you seek to defeat a nearly omnipotent creature with power over the weather, over animals, over humans alive and Un-Dead. As Dracula, you aim to subdue all of Europe beneath the dark yoke of your vampiric tyranny. Either way, more than your life is at stake. The future of the European continent, as well as the future of humanity, depend on your success.