Overview

Pandemic Legacy: Season 0 is a cooperative legacy campaign game set during the Cold War in 1962. Players are CIA medical agents working undercover to prevent a Soviet bioweapon threat. The game spans a campaign of 12 months (January-December), with each month played as a session that permanently alters the game. Players use aliases, avoid enemy surveillance, and complete objectives while managing a spreading threat. This is a prequel to Season 1.

Components

• 1 game board (world map with city connections)
• Legacy deck (sealed cards revealed progressively)
• Player cards (City cards and Event cards)
• Threat cards (enemy agent placement deck)
• Character cards with passports and aliases
• Reference cards
• Agent tokens, Incident tokens
• Safe house tokens, Tracking tokens
• Team tokens
• Escalation cards
• Objective tokens
• Sticker sheets (for permanent modifications)
• Dossiers and sealed packages

Setup

For each month:

1. Check Legacy Deck: Draw and read Legacy cards until “PAUSE” or “STOP.”
2. Prepare Board: Place safe houses in cities with permanent safe houses. Set Threat Level marker.
3. Place Agents: Shuffle Threat cards; flip 3 cards (place 3 agents each), then 3 more (2 each), then 3 more (1 each).
4. Prepare Player Deck: Add Event cards equal to funding level (starts at 5). Shuffle with City cards. Deal cards based on player count (2p: varies, 3p: varies, 4p: varies).
5. Add Escalation Cards: Divide Player deck into 5 piles; shuffle 1 Escalation card into each pile; stack into deck.
6. Choose Characters and Aliases: Select character, pawn, reference card, and passport/alias.
7. Begin Play: Place all pawns in Washington. Randomly select first player.

Turn Structure

Each player turn has 5 steps:

1. Check Surveillance

Check if your current city has enemy surveillance that affects your alias.

2. Do 4 Actions

Choose 4 actions from the available options:

Action	Description
Drive/Ferry	Move to a connected city
Direct Flight	Discard a City card to fly to that city
Charter Flight	Discard the card matching your city to fly anywhere
Shuttle Flight	Move between cities with safe houses
Build Safe House	Discard matching City card to place a safe house
Remove Agent	Remove 1 agent from your city
Acquire Team	Gain a team token for special abilities
Share Knowledge	Exchange City cards with another player in the same city

3. Mop Up

Resolve any end-of-action effects.

4. Draw 2 Player Cards

Draw from the Player deck. If an Escalation card is drawn, escalation occurs.

5. Draw Threat Cards

Draw Threat cards equal to the current Threat Level. Place agents in named cities. If a city exceeds 3 agents, an Incident occurs.

Actions

Players have 4 actions per turn. Actions include standard Pandemic-style movement, safe house building, agent removal, and legacy-specific actions that unlock as the campaign progresses.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

Win (per month): Complete all required objectives before:

• Running out of Player cards, OR
• The Incident track reaches its limit, OR
• Other legacy-specific loss conditions

Campaign scoring: At the end of each month, check objectives. Completed and incomplete objectives affect funding level (more funding = more Event cards next game). The campaign tells a continuous story across 12 months.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

• Legacy game: Decisions are permanent. Stickers modify the board, cards are destroyed, new rules are added via sticker placements.
• Aliases: Characters have multiple aliases; some may get “burned” (compromised) permanently.
• Surveillance: Enemy surveillance in cities can compromise your alias.
• Incidents: When a city exceeds 3 agents, an Incident occurs with escalating consequences.
• Escalation cards: When drawn, increase the threat level and intensify agent placement.
• Funding: Performance in each month affects starting resources for the next.
• Players keep hands face up at all times and should freely discuss strategy.
• Spoiler warning: The Legacy deck contains story elements that should not be read ahead.
• Hand limit applies at all times (usually 7 cards).

Player Reference

Turn: Check Surveillance → 4 Actions → Mop Up → Draw 2 Player Cards → Draw Threat Cards

Core actions: Move / Build Safe House / Remove Agent / Share Knowledge

Win: Complete month’s objectives

Lose: Player deck empty / Too many Incidents / Legacy conditions

Campaign: 12 months (January-December), permanent changes each session