Nightmare IV

***Nightmare IV: Vampire*** (or ***Atmosfear IV***) is the fourth overall installment of the *Atmosfear* franchise. The third and final expansion of the original *Nightmare*, it was hosted by Elizabeth Bathory and was released in 1994.

## Brief

Once bitten, twice shy! Take a turn for the worst tonight and sink your fangs into another 60 minutes of HI-FI fright with The Blood Countess Elizabeth Bathory! - the Sequel to the Video Board Game NIGHTMARETM that's literally shocking the world!

Now, it's not just a race against time but a game of sheer survival as this bat out of hell bares her teeth in the most challenging sequel in the NIGHTMARETM series. No game ever plays the same twice!

Press PLAY and scream the night away with new sets of TIME and FATE/TIME, FATE and CHANCE cards PLUS additional BLACK ROSE cards and an interactive Book of Rules.

Countess Elizabeth Bathory. VAMPIRE. NIGHTMARETM IV...to love and perish forever!

### Contents

* *Nightmare IV* VHS tape (including Thrill Me music video)
* 48 *IV* Fate Cards
* 96 (US)/48 (UK) *IV* Time Cards
* 48 *IV* Chance Cards (UK exclusive)
* 48 Black Rose Cards incl. sticker for game board.
* 5 Vampire Cards
* Book of Rules

## Overview

Same rules as the base game apply, albiet with new twists explained downward.

Before the game begins, Elizabeth Bathory will tell players when she tells them to "Indulge me", they must reply with "Forever, my lady." She then has the youngest player identify themselves and roll the die, whichever number they roll being the number of turns players will miss should they ever not give the correct response. The players then take it in turns to roll the die, with whoever rolling the highest rolling first to start the game.

Unlike prior games, this game brings a major change to the gameplay of the base game in that players not only have to try and collect their keys before facing their fear, but they must also survive for as long as possible to do so; all players are at constant risk of vampirization (refered to by Bathory as "the curse") and vampires play by their own set of rules under Bathory's service, preying on and trying to turn other players into vampires as well. Players may end up being turned into vampires under certain circumstances, mostly if a player is unlucky enough to roll a "1" on the die when given this task (usually by Bathory herself) or being attacked successfully by anyone who has already been vampirized. Thankfully, vampires can only attack their chosen prey if that opponent lands on spaces marked with an "X". Vampires can also empower themselves with Fate cards marked "Blood", which grant them the ability to attack players on other spaces as defined on the card, protect them from certain other cards' effects, etc.; in turn, "Sanctuary" Fate cards protect players from vampire attacks one time when landing on certain spaces. If all players are turned into vampires, or worse still, a vampire plays a certain Fate card, the game is over.

An additional set of cards, Black Rose cards, is also included in this expansion. These can only be won either at certain points in the game by Bathory herself or from certain Time cards. In either case, players must choose between "Pleasure" or "Pain" and then pick up one of these cards, keeping that card if it has the same choice they made. If this task is given by Bathory, she'll issue additional penalties in an instance where a player makes a wrong choice. Benefits from Black Rose cards usually relate to effects that work against vampires, whether it's complete protection from vampirization, means to destroy vampires (and therefore eliminating vampirized players from the game) or even reversing the transformation entirely.

In addition, the game includes an interactive Book of Rules; whenever a player ends up becoming a vampire, they must turn to page 8 of the book and follow the instructions to complete the transformation. Otherwise, at certain points in the game, Bathory will have the player(s) turn to page 7 and roll the die 4 times, the reward depending on the total of the numbers rolled. Early on in the game, she'll also offer the opportunity for any players that haven't been vampirified to target another player for the rest of the game through page 6 of the book, provided they can roll their number; if they become a vampire, their victim will be their first prey.

## Regional differences

While *Nightmare II* had significant differences in the game tape between the AUS and US/UK versions, *IV* only had fairly minimal changes outside of the AUS version, and these were applied only to the game's UK release; the changes applied to that version were an exclusive set of Chance cards (that replace half the available Time cards in other versions) and how Black Rose cards are earned outside of Bathory presenting these opportunities herself (either by the aforementioned exclusive Chance cards or whenever a vampire's attack on their prey fails).

## See also

* Transcript
* The Book of Rules
* Card List

## Trivia

* At the end of the tape was a teaser for the cancelled *Nightmare V*, as well as the music video for Thrill Me.
* It's likely that the Soul Rangers in *The Harbingers* were partly inspired by the vampire mechanics in this game.