Gloom: The Gloom Chronicles

Gloom Card Game Chronicles Expansion

Embrace the darkly delightful with new persistent effects...

In the Gloom card game, you assume control of the fate of an eccentric family of misfits and misanthropes. The goal of the game is sad, but simple: you want your characters to suffer the greatest tragedies possible before passing on to the well-deserved respite of death.

In this expansion of the base game Gloom simply mix the 20 transparent cards included in this set together with your existing cards to start a new chapter in an ongoing, campaign-style series of Gloom games. The cards give narrative prompts that tie those stories together, and add variant rules that bring new challenges to the game.

The Gloom Chronicles is an expansion that enhances any game of Gloom, and can be combined with other expansions. Choose a card at random, or start at the beginning of the set story progression with the unhappy birthday. Will your family take a tragic train ride, or visit the infamous world’s unfair? Explore your own ignominious ending with The Gloom Chronicles!

Requires Gloom and is best played with additional expansions.

Ages 13+

Gloom Card Game Gameplay Overview

Gloom is a strategic card game designed for 2-4 players, where each player controls an eccentric family. The objective is to lower the self-worth scores of your own characters by playing horrible mishaps, while trying to cheer up your opponents’ characters with happy occasions. The game features transparent plastic cards, allowing players to easily see the worth of every character, no matter how many modifiers they have. The game ends when one family is completely killed off, and the player with the lowest Family Value (the total points of all dead family members) wins the game.

Character Cards

Character cards are the heart of Gloom, representing the eccentric family members that players control. Each character card has a unique set of attributes, including a self-worth score, which determines the character’s overall value. Players can stack multiple modifier cards on top of the same character card, which can either increase or decrease the character’s self-worth score. Thanks to the transparent plastic cards, players can easily see the worth of every character, making it simple to track the game’s progress.

Strategic Play

Strategic play is a crucial aspect of Gloom, as players need to carefully plan their moves to achieve their objectives. Players can use modifier cards to disrupt their opponents’ plans and strategies, while also trying to protect their own characters from harm. The game requires a delicate balance between playing horrible mishaps to lower your own characters’ self-worth scores and playing happy occasions to cheer up your opponents’ characters. Players need to think carefully about which cards to play and when, in order to maximize their chances of winning.

Expansions and Variations

Gloom has several expansions and variations available, which add new gameplay mechanics and features to the game. The Unhappy Homes, Unwelcome Guests, Unquiet Dead, and Unfortunate Expeditions expansions introduce new characters, modifiers, and gameplay mechanics, while the Cthulhu Gloom expansion adds a new theme and gameplay elements. The game also has a digital version, Gloom: Digital Edition, which is available on Steam and features the same gameplay as the physical version. Additionally, players can create their own custom expansions and variations using the game’s rules reference card, which provides a comprehensive guide to the game’s mechanics and rules.