Horrified

Begin by unfolding the game board and placing it in the center of the play area. Set the terror marker on the '0' space of the terror track at the top of the board. Place all 10 villager pieces (with gray backgrounds) into their stands beside the board. Keep the dice, and the shuffled monster and perk decks (separated by their backs) nearby. Choose which monsters to play against (2 for novice, 3 for standard, 4 for challenging), set their mats by the board in ascending frenzy value order, and place the frenzied marker on the monster with the lowest frenzy value. Follow the unique setup instructions on the back of any monster mat for each chosen monster, placing their figures and associated tokens (like Dracula's coffins or the Creature's boat) on the board. Each player randomly receives a hero badge and a reference card, placing their hero marker on the board at the starting location indicated on their badge. Each player also draws one perk card face-up. Finally, mix all 60 item tokens into the black bag, draw 12 at random, and place each on the board at the location indicated on its bottom, then place the bag beside the board.

In Horrified, players work together as a team to defeat all of the chosen monsters that are terrorizing the village. Each monster has a unique set of tasks that must be completed (advanced) before it can be defeated. Players must strategically use their actions and items to fulfill these tasks and ultimately defeat all monsters before the village's terror level becomes too high or the monster deck runs out.

The game is played over a series of turns, starting with a randomly chosen player and proceeding clockwise. Each player's turn consists of two phases: the Hero Phase and the Monster Phase. In the Hero Phase, the current player takes a number of actions equal to the value on their hero badge (usually 4). Actions include moving to adjacent spaces (taking any number of villagers), guiding one villager to or from an adjacent space, picking up any number of items in their space, sharing items with other heroes in the same space, advancing a monster's task by using items at a specified location, defeating a monster by using items in its space, or performing a special action noted on their hero's badge. Players can also play any number of perk cards during any hero phase without using up actions. After the Hero Phase, the Monster Phase begins. The current player draws a card from the top of the monster deck and resolves its three parts from top to bottom: first, drawing a number of random items from the bag equal to the number on the card and placing them on the board; second, resolving the event portion of the card (which might involve placing villagers or affecting monsters); and third, resolving monster strikes by moving and attacking monsters as indicated by symbols on the card.

There is no individual scoring in Horrified. All players win or lose together. Players achieve a collective victory if they successfully defeat all of the monsters chosen for the game. If any monster has specific items or tokens on its mat when defeated, those are sent to the item discard pile rather than being removed from the game entirely.

The game ends in one of three ways. Players win collectively if they successfully defeat all of the monsters chosen for the game. Players lose if the terror marker ever reaches the final space on the terror track, indicating that the village has been completely overrun. Players also lose if they ever need to draw a monster card from the monster deck, but the deck is empty, signifying that they have taken too long to save the village and everyone has fled.