Aleph Null Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• The Preparation Of The Operator (Setting Up The Game)
  • The Forms Of Testing (Difficulty Levels)
• Commencing The Ritual (Playing The Game)
• The Turn
  • 1. Draw 5 Cards From The Deck
  • Advancing The Hour
  • 2. On The Use Of Cards
    • Summon: Bringing Cards Into Play
    • Card Actions, Scrap, And Sacrifice
    • Ongoing Effects
    • Dagger (†) Effects
  • Magical Power
    • Magical Power Tokens
  • Taking Damage
  • Discard
  • Golden Rule
  • 3. The End Of Your Turn
• End Of The Game
• Final Scoring
  • The Grand Hierarchy
• Errata

Components

• 69 cards, made up of:
  • 28 cards — the main deck
  • 12 Interference cards, in 3 levels (level 1, 2 or 3)
  • 9 Grimoire cards
  • 14 FAQ cards
  • 1 Baphomet card without text, for playing with style
  • 3 blank Interference cards, for your own designs
  • 1 Aleph Null inspired Lux Aeterna promo card
  • 1 Lux Aeterna inspired Interference card
• 3 Magical Power tokens
• 3 Damage tokens
• 1 wooden Grimoire stand
• This rulebook

The Preparation Of The Operator (Setting Up The Game)

1. Put the wooden stand within easy reach and build the Grimoire Verum by placing the rectos (right side pages) in this order: Cover, Circle, Preparation, Fasting, Fumigation, Exorcism, Reading, Last, Hierarchy.
2. Take the 3 Damage tokens and the 3 Magical Power tokens and form a supply within reach.
3. Open the Grimoire Verum by turning the Cover to the left, and choose your difficulty from the Circle page (see The Forms Of Testing below). For a first game, the easiest difficulty, Circle of the Adept, is recommended.
4. Shuffle the Interference cards of the levels your difficulty calls for, then randomly draw the number of cards it calls for. Set those Interference cards aside; return all remaining Interference cards to the box.
5. Shuffle all 28 cards of the main deck and place them face down. This is your deck. Leave room beside it for a discard pile, and room next to the Grimoire for the sacrifice pile.
6. Turn the next page of the Grimoire. It is now SUNSET (Hour I).

Setup is complete and the ritual can begin.

The Forms Of Testing (Difficulty Levels)

The Circle page of the Grimoire lists five difficulties. Each states which Interference cards to use and at which Hour transitions one of them is shuffled into the new deck:

Difficulty	Interference cards used	Added at the transition from Hour
Circle of the Adept	3 randomly chosen level 1 and 2 cards	II to III, III to IV, IV to V
Circle of the Wizard	3 randomly chosen cards (any level)	II to III, III to IV, IV to V
Circle of the Master	3 randomly chosen level 2 and 3 cards	II to III, III to IV, IV to V
Circle of the Grand Master	5 randomly chosen cards (any level)	each Hour to the next
Circle of the Prince	5 randomly chosen level 2 and 3 cards	each Hour to the next

Commencing The Ritual (Playing The Game)

The game runs over a series of turns. On each turn you draw cards, play them, and discard whatever is left. Whenever your deck runs out and you still need to draw or reveal cards, you reshuffle the discard pile and advance the Hour. Because you are thinning your deck out as you go, the number of turns you get before each reshuffle shrinks as the game goes on.

The Turn

Every turn follows these three steps, in order.

1. Draw 5 Cards From The Deck

These five cards are your hand for this turn. At the end of the turn you must discard every card you did not use.

If the deck does not hold enough cards to fill your hand, draw as many as you can, then advance the Hour (below) and keep drawing. If there still are not enough cards for a full hand, simply draw as many as you can.

Advancing The Hour

When you are told to advance the Hour:

1. Take the discard pile, shuffle it, and set it up as the new deck.
2. Depending on your chosen difficulty and the Hour, you may also have to add 1 Interference card before shuffling.
3. Turn the Grimoire to the next page.

You may take damage when you advance the Hour — see Magical Power below.

If the Hour ever advances past the final Hour (THE COCK, HE DOTH CROW, Hour VI) and Baphomet is not in play, you immediately lose the game.

2. On The Use Of Cards

A card carries its cost to summon in the top-left corner, its name, its type(s), and its effect while in play.

A card can be in one of 5 zones: your deck, your hand, in play, the discard pile, or the sacrifice pile.

Summon: Bringing Cards Into Play

Cards in your hand cannot be used directly — you must first bring them into play by summoning them.

To summon a card from your hand, pay its cost to summon. Most cards cost Magical Power (see below); some have a Special cost instead, which the card's scroll spells out. You may summon as many cards as you like on your turn, in any order you choose, and there is no limit to how many cards can be in play at once.

Interference cards are the exception. Whenever you draw an Interference card you must summon it immediately. If you draw two or more, you may summon them in any order, but you must summon all of them. If you cannot pay the cost (Akhtoi, for example), you must use your cards in play to generate the Magical Power you need. Until every Interference card in your hand has been summoned, your cards in play may only be used to generate Magical Power — no other effects — and you may not summon any other card.

Card Actions, Scrap, And Sacrifice

Once a card is in play, you may use its card actions during your turn. Actively usable card actions always contain an arrow: the cost to use the action is on the left of the arrow, and the effect you gain is on the right.

• Scrap a card and it goes to the discard pile.
• Sacrifice a card and it goes to the sacrifice pile, out of the game.

If an action does not name a specific card to be scrapped or sacrificed, it always refers to itself.

You may never scrap or sacrifice a card voluntarily. You may only do so when a card cost or a card effect gives you that option.

You may use any number of card actions of cards in play — including cards you just summoned — either before or after summoning cards from your hand, in whatever order suits you. (Interference cards are the exception, as described above.) Note that a scrapped or sacrificed card moves to its pile immediately, before any of its effects resolve and before any other effect triggers.

Ongoing Effects

A card with no arrow has an ongoing effect, which is active for as long as that card is in play.

Dagger (†) Effects

Several cards carry a †-effect. A card's †-effect triggers and resolves only when that card is sacrificed, by any means. If several such effects trigger at the same time, resolve them in any order you like.

It does not matter which zone the card with the †-effect was in when it was sacrificed. Unless another effect prevents it, these effects always happen on sacrifice.

Magical Power

Many cards cost zero to summon and so are free. Others cost more than zero Magical Power; to summon those you must have the Magical Power available and spend it on the summoning cost.

The usual way to generate Magical Power is to scrap or sacrifice a Magical Power card. A Magical Power card typically gives a smaller amount when scrapped and a larger amount when sacrificed — for example, 2 Magical Power for scrapping it and 3 Magical Power for sacrificing it.

Magical Power gained from cards is "virtual". You may use several actions to generate Magical Power and add the amounts together to pay for a more expensive card. Generating more than you need does not waste the excess: it stays available until the end of your turn. Keep track of any leftover, because unspent virtual Magical Power costs you damage at the end of the turn (see 3. The End Of Your Turn).

Magical Power Tokens

Three of the Hours — III, IV and V — grant a bonus of 1 Magical Power. While preparing those Hours, place 1 Magical Power token on the Grimoire. You may spend it exactly like virtual Magical Power, and it returns to the box once used. Unlike virtual Magical Power, these tokens do carry over from turn to turn.

Important: if any token is still on the Grimoire when you next advance the Hour, you must take 1 damage for each token. You keep the token or tokens.

Taking Damage

When you are told to take 1 damage, take 1 Damage token from the supply and place it next to the Grimoire. Taking the third Damage token means you immediately lose the game.

Discard

When an effect tells you to discard a card, that card goes straight to the discard pile. This does not usually trigger any effects.

Golden Rule

If a card effect contradicts these rules, the card effect takes precedence.

3. The End Of Your Turn

When you cannot, or choose not to, summon or use any more cards, discard every card left in your hand and end your turn.

For each unused point of virtual Magical Power — Magical Power you generated or received from cards this turn and did not spend — you must take 1 damage, and the virtual Magical Power is forfeit. Magical Power tokens stay.

End Of The Game

The game can end in several ways:

1. You take the third Damage token from the supply. You die a horrible death and lose.
2. You sacrifice a Key for anything other than summoning Baphomet. You face the wrath of Baphomet and lose.
3. You advance the Hour past Hour VI. You have run out of time and lose.
4. You summon Baphomet. You may have won — proceed immediately to Final Scoring.

Final Scoring

Once Baphomet has been summoned the ritual is over and the game ends. Note the current Hour, then turn the Grimoire to its final two pages (Judgement and the Grand Hierarchy) to find out whether you actually won.

1. Check whether any cards remain in the deck, in your hand, or in the discard pile. If even 1 card sits in any of those 3 zones, you have lost, and you do not get to record a final score.
2. If you have not lost, calculate your score.
3. Score 1 point for the current Hour, plus 2 further points for each Hour still remaining. (Summoning Baphomet during Hour IV therefore scores 1 + 2 + 2 = 5 points.)
4. Following the instructions on the Baphomet card, deduct 1 point for each OTHER non-Key card that was in play and sacrificed by summoning him.
5. Add 1 point for each Damage token still in the supply — that is, each point of health you did not lose.

A negative final score means you have lost and must face the wrath of Baphomet. A final score of 0 or higher means you have won. Compare your score against the Grand Hierarchy to find your rank.

The Grand Hierarchy

Score	Rank
0	Adept
1-2	Wizard
3-5	Master
6-8	Grand Master
9+	Prince

Errata

From the publisher's official FAQ document for the game (published by Frosted Games for the German edition):

• The card named Beinhaus is printed with the type "Artefact". This is wrong: its type should be "Magic".