Survive in a world where most of humanity is either dead or diseased, flesh-craving monsters.

Plaid Hat Games hits the ball out of the post-apocalyptic park with this perfect blend of cooperative adventure game and Choose Your Own Adventure with a darkly moral twist. Dead of Winter pretty much sums up what I’m looking for in a game: great mechanics that seem to develop naturally from the theme, total immersion in said theme, and interesting choices that bring players together (and sometimes tear them apart). Beautiful illustration and graphic design work is the icing on the cake, and Plaid Hat were kind enough to supply me with original graphics so this summary and reference sheet could look as good as the game.

Update Log

Foamcore Box Insert Plans

Date Version Changelog
Mar 2016 1.2 Clarified adding cards to a crisis procedure
Oct 2015 1.1 Added some measurements to make things clearer
Dec 2014 1 Original release

Rules Summary and Reference

Date Version Changelog
Jun 2015 1.1 Clarifications to Starvation tokens and drawing Outsider cards
Sep 2014 1 Original release

34 Comments

  • Dan says:

    Thank you! This will be very handy.

  • CowStriker says:

    hey mate thanks for all your hard work on these player aids. One thing with this one though. The main reference sheet does not include the rule for adding zombies with noise tokens but it does on the individual player reference sheets. Not sure if this was intentional, but I just thought I’d let you know.

  • CowStriker says:

    Hah, because it’s in the colony phase section. My mistake, continue on being the grand poobah on all things awesome. 🙂

    • Always a relief when I don’t have to make a change – it’s become such a complex process! Update file, save PDF, upload, change game page listing and version number page listing, upload to Boardgamegeek and change listing there, notify on Twitter, Facebook and Google+ – whew!

  • Not a creepy fan says:

    I love you

  • Erick says:

    I just made the foam core insert, it’s awesome, just a couple of corrections: I’m not sure if i missed it, but in the foam core insert it doesnt specify the dimnsions of the zombies and the characters space. Neither does it specify the dimensions of the cards/dice area. It’s not difficult to obtain, but I thik that’s missing from the plans.

  • Dima says:

    If I want to play this game with 6 or 7 players, what can I do?

  • irvo says:

    Man, these things are fantastic, love your work. I don’t mean to sound like an ingrate, but is there a chance for us Europeans to perhaps get these also in A4? It would be easier to manage double-sided printing etc. 🙂

    • I’m Australian (living in New Zealand) so I use metric too. Each sheet is a custom size depending on the amount of text required. So whether you use Imperial or Metric, just centre the output on your chosen page size.

  • Jonathan Nantel says:

    I looked for the foamcore box insert and it looks amazing. What is the thickness of the foam to be used? It is not written in the guide.

    Thanks!

  • Thank you for your effort on these. I’m about to attempt to make a set tonight and I was curious why one side of the short card divider sides needs to be slanted?

  • John Milstone says:

    Quick Question how much foamcore should I buy to complete this project?

  • bahsura says:

    Excellent work as usual sir! Do you plan on doing ones for Dead of Winter: The Long Night ?

  • Teresa Pons says:

    Hey! Do you think you’ll be adding on a reference for “The Long Night” stand alone expansion?

  • NerdyOctopus says:

    Do you know if I sleeve my cards if it will make everything too cramped? My apologies if this was addressed and I missed it.

  • Martin says:

    Wow – just found that black and white version here. I tried to get rid of background somehow in the file from BGG but to no quick avail. It’s cheaper to print and so much easier to read. Thank you!!!

  • Darth Vhiran says:

    I need help. Can you combine your dice pool numbers together? Like if you had two 3 numbered dice can you spend both of those dice to equal to the number you need to attack or search?

  • John says:

    Outstanding effort yet again, thanks. I think I’ve spotted one minor error in the section just before the Variants. When you talk about survivor cards being added to a crisis after being requested. I understood this was not allowed, you even say it elsewhere. The only way requested items can be added to the crisis is after they have been equiped to a character. Then they can be added, face up. Minor I know, your rules summaries are excellent.

    • These clarifications are taken verbatim from the FAQ. What it’s saying is they can be played into the crisis ‘like any other item card’ – ie, subject to the same restrictions as an item card.

  • Kristian says:

    I need help.
    Can I use at the same time ability from character`s card and equipment`s ability?
    For example: Daniel Smith ability`s with equipment`s card “Colt 1911”.

    • It depends on the specific wordings on the cards. In the case you mention, Smith may “kill 2 zombies once per round at his current location. Only roll for exposure once.” This isn’t considered an attack as it’s not identified as such – it’s just an ability. Therefore the Colt ability “once per round, when this survivor performs an attack, do not roll for exposure” doesn’t apply, because that applies used when an attack is being performed.

      Boardgamegeek is probably the best place for rules questions as they have specific forums for them. 🙂

  • I made this insert yesterday and it’s just perfect!!! Are you planning to make more inserts than you already have because your plans are great!

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