Approaching Dawn: The Witching Hour

Approaching Dawn: The Witching Hour Rulebook

Table of Contents

Game Overview

A game of Witching Hour is called a Scene and is played over the course of 4-6 rounds, usually representing the Hours from midnight till dawn. Each Hour, all players draw 5 spell cards from their individual decks, and with limited ability to communicate, choose how they will use those cards and then simultaneously reveal their hands. Many spell cards have dual uses and can be played as either Black Magic or White Magic. Black Magic defeats the Enemies in front of the Witch who played it, but also hurts the player to their left and will likely cause more Enemies to attack that player. White Magic heals the Witch who played it and can be used to damage Enemies in front of OTHER players. Players can acquire new spells to make themselves more powerful and may often have Secrets, which change how they play. If they survive the Scene, the Coven wins, but if even one member has too much Corruption at the wrong time, or if there are no more spells in the spell bank (Pentagram), EVERYONE loses. Finally, every Scene introduces new rules, so each game will be different.

A Story Game

While the Witching Hour can be played as a typical board game, it is designed to be played as a story. Like a TV show or novel, the base game uses a series of Scenes to tell the story of the Coven over the course of a year, as they deal with the fallout of one or more of its members using Black Magic. While Scenes are designed to play sequentially, you can "quick play" any Scene you choose, as each offers a different experience. For example, All Hallows' Eve is the most iconic, while Spring Revival is great if you want a shorter game.

Win Conditions

While each Scene can change the rules, the below rules are always in effect:

The Coven wins if all Coven members survive until dawn (i.e. the end of the 6th Hour/round).

The Coven loses if one of the following occurs:

If even one Witch has 20 or more Corruption at the end of any Summon Demons phase or after Retribution at the end of the Final Hour. The amount of Corruption may be modified by Scenes.
Every Locus on the Pentagram is empty.

The Main Rule

Whenever a card tells you something different then these rules, the card takes precedence.

Components

1 Board
8 Character Mats
6 Scene Cards
6 Reference Cards
132 Incantation Cards (includes 8 Starter Spells per Witch)
12 Artifact Cards
12 Familiar Cards
8 Aurora and 8 Necro Cards
42 Demon Cards (includes 6 Starter Demons)
3 Overlord and 4 Hunter Demon Cards
8 Event Cards
18 Secret Cards
8 Soul Link Tokens
1 Coven Leader Token
1 Clock Hand
18 Universal Marker/+1 Card Tokens
12 +1/+2 White Magic and 12 +1/+2 Black Magic Tokens
1 Beacon of Light Token
1 Addie Seeing the Good Token
1 Necronomicon Token
1 Quickstart Guide
8 Lost Witches Cards
36 Sigil Disks
6 Large White Magic Cubes (5 W)
6 Large Corruption Cubes (5 C)
15 Small White Magic Cubes (1 W)
42 Small Corruption Cubes (1 C)
3 Ward Demon Hunt Tokens

Spell Cards

There are 3 types of spells you can obtain from the Pentagram: Incantations, Familiars, and Artifacts.

Incantation Card

Parts of the card: 1. Black Magic Background; 2. White Magic Background; 3. Magic Value; 4. Card Name; 5. Card Type; 6. Cost and Locus number; 7. Sigils to Open; 8. Card Text; 9. Gaia Magic; 10. Starter Card (Starter cards have a yellow border and a Starter Card icon).

Incantations: These are the most common type of spell and are put into your discard pile at the end of each Hour. They can often be played as either White or Black Magic. Players' starting decks are also comprised of Incantations.
Artifacts: Unlike Incantations, Artifacts have only one Magic type - Black or White. Once played, Artifacts remain in play for the remainder of the Scene. While in play (including the first time it's played) an Artifact's Black or White Magic and its Sigils are added to the other spells played from your hand. Artifacts only count as being played, for Secrets and other effects, the turn they are played from your hand.
Familiars: (Blue Diamond) Like Artifacts, Familiars stay in play and are not discarded at the end of each Hour. During the Insight phase, each Familiar can be moved once per Hour. Familiars generate Magic, Corruption, and open Sigils just like Artifacts, but they can also be sent to the Æther to bind Enemies during the Battle phase.

Starter Card Icons: Addie, Dianne, Lily, Minora, Nancy, Paz, Shara, Ward.

Enemy Cards

These are the Enemies you most commonly fight. The Demon Deck is comprised of all the Enemy cards with a red background. Demons are summoned if you have enough Corruption for them to consume and the necessary open Sigils.

Parts of the card: 1. Card Name; 2. Card Type; 3. Corruption Cost Needed to Summon; 4. Magic Needed to Bind; 5. Magic Needed to Banish; 6. Damage: Cards Consumed; 7. Damage: Corruption Given; 8. Open Sigils Needed to Summon; 9. Enemy Type Icon; 10. Card Text; 11. Overlord Background; 12. Hunter Demon Background; 13. Demon Deck Background; 14. Demon with Global Effect. Starter Demons have a blue Corruption Cost, grayed-out Sigils and a grayed-out card back.

Note: Lashin is summoned as though he were a Demon during the Summon Demons phase, even though he is a Warlock.

When an Enemy is attacking it will face a specific Witch. The Enemy can then be bound to keep it from dealing damage this Hour or banished to be sent to the Void (discard). An Enemy's special abilities are also "turned off" when bound. Enemies typically deal damage by consuming Spells from the Pentagram and adding Corruption to players.

Depending on the Scene, you may face other non-Demon Enemies such as the Overlords or the Lost Witches. Also, Enemies acting as Locus Guardians are not considered to be attacking, they do not deal damage or use their special abilities.

Enemy Type Icons: Dark Fey, Imp, Hex, Hunter, Blood, Animal, Warlock, Overlord, Legendary.

Set-Up

New players use the Quickstart Guide and Scene 0: Training Day until you are comfortable enough to play the full game, which starts at Scene 1: All Hallows' Eve.

The following are the general Set-Up instructions.

(A) Board: Lay out the board in the center of the table. Place Set-Up Elements (B) - (E) on the board. The White Magic Pool, Void, Æther, and 3 Lurking Demon spaces are empty at the start of the game.
(B) Scene: Choose a Scene to play. Read the story aloud and follow any additional Set-Up instructions, including any use of the Barrows. Some scenes also have an easy or hard mode to modify game difficulty. If used, simply alter their listed effects during the game. Place the Scene on the Board with the Special Rules showing.
(C) Clock: Place the Hour hand on the clock pointing towards 1:00.
(D) Spell Cards: Form 6 facedown decks, 1 for each Locus on the Pentagram. Separate the spell cards by the numbers printed on the top right corner of the cards. These are the cost and Locus number for that card. Shuffle each stack separately, then use the Cards per Locus chart to determine how many cards to place facedown on each Locus. Then, flip the top card of each deck face-up. Return the unused cards back to the box (without revealing them).

Players	Locus 1	Locus 2	Locus 3	Locus 4	Locus 5	Locus 6
2-3	9	9	9	9	6	3
4-5	12	12	12	12	8	4
6	15	15	15	15	10	5

(E) Demon Deck: Remove Events, Overlords, and Hunters. Then, shuffle all the remaining cards with a red background and colored Demon card back together and place them facedown on the Demon Deck space.
(F) White Magic: Take the white cubes and make a pile near the White Magic Pool. These represent the White Magic that players generate. The small cubes are 1 W and the large cubes are 5 W.
(G) Corruption: Take the black cubes and octagons, and make a pile so everyone can reach them. These represent Corruption gained by effects and Enemies. The small cubes are 1 C, large cubes are 5 C, and octagons are 10 C. All Corruption not on a Character Mat are called "the pool" or "in the pool."
(H) Tokens: Place the +1 Card/Universal Marker, +1/+2 White Magic, +1/+2 Black Magic, and Beacon of Light tokens near the Board. If a player chooses Addie or Ward, give them their tokens.
(I) Character Mats: Each player chooses a Character to play. This can be done randomly, through a draft, or whatever method you choose. Each Mat is double sided. Bronze - once per game abilities and Gold - Hourly special abilities. Players may choose which side to play, although the Bronze side is recommended for new players. Place the selected Mat and Set-Up Elements (J) - (M) in each player's area.
(J) Starter Spell Decks: Each player now takes the deck of eight Starter spells belonging to their Witch. These are denoted by the character symbol in the upper right of the spell cards and on the Character Mat. Shuffle your deck and place it facedown next to your Mat, but DO NOT draw any cards. Leave room in your play area for a discard pile.
(K) Sigil Disks: Take 6 wooden disks and place them on your Character Mat so that they cover the right hand, colored Sigils.
(L) Starter Demons: Shuffle the cards with a grayed-out Demon card back and deal one face-up in front of each Witch. Any grayed-out Sigils found on the Starter Demons will Open those same Sigils on your Mat. Move the corresponding disks to the left, revealing the colored Sigils, hence opening them up. Now look at the Corruption Cost (M) in the upper right and place that many Corruption cubes onto your Mat. Each player will start with 2-4 Corruption.

Game Play: A Step-by-Step Guide to the Phases of an Hour

Advance the Hour

Skip this step during the first Hour of the game. Advance the hand on the clock by one Hour. Each Witch gains Corruption equal to the value of the new Hour. Move the Coven Leader Marker clockwise to the next player.

Acquire Spells

During this phase, starting with the Coven Leader and moving clockwise, Witches acquire new spells to add to their arsenal against evil.

When it is their turn to acquire spells, a Witch may choose one or more of the available spell cards on the Pentagram's Locus and add it, facedown, to the top of their deck.

To be available for purchase, a spell card must be:

The top card on the Locus
Face-up
Not covered by a Guardian (Soul Links, Demons, etc.)

Players may do this as often as they wish, until there are no more spell cards available. However, after acquiring each spell, that Witch gains Corruption equal to the Locus number of the spell chosen!

Once the Witch is done acquiring spells, all facedown cards on the Pentagram are turned face-up and the turn passes to the next player. So players cannot buy two spells from the same Locus on their turn, since the 2nd spell would still be facedown.

Note: outside of the Acquire Spells phase, anytime a Locus has its top spell facedown, turn it face-up.

Summon Demons

During the Summon Demons phase, the Witches' Enemies attempt to manifest and attack.

There are several sub-phases in the Summon Demons phase.

A. Unbind all bound Enemies.

B. Return all Guardians to the top of their Locus.

C. Demons attempt to manifest and attack each Witch in turn. Starting with the Coven Leader, follow these steps in order:

Reveal 3 Demons and place them face-up on the Lurking Demon spaces.
The Demon with the highest Corruption cost attempts to attack the active Witch. If there is a tie for highest Corruption, the Demon with the most Sigils attacks. If there is still a tie, the active Witch may choose which Demon attacks first. For an attack to be successful, the Demon must have a Corruption cost less than or equal to the amount of Corruption on the Witch. In addition, all of the Sigils on the Demon must be opened on the Witch.
If the attack is successful, remove Corruption equal to the Demon's Corruption cost from the Witch and put them back in the pool. Then place the Demon in front of (facing) that Witch.
Go back to Step 2 and repeat with the next highest Corruption Demon until all 3 Demons have attacked.
Once all 3 Demons have attacked, refill the Lurking Demons space back up to 3 Demons.
The Lurking Demons now attack the next Witch clockwise. Go back to Step 2.
After all Witches have been attacked, everyone closes their Sigils (placing the disks over the colored Sigils) and send any Demons remaining on the Lurking Demon spaces into the Void.
Check to see if any Witch has too much Corruption. If so, the game is over and the Coven has lost. If not, move on to the Insight phase.

If at any point the Demon Deck is empty, shuffle the Void to form a new Demon Deck, being sure to remove from the game any Starter Demons that accidentally found their way back in.

Summon Demons Example

Nancy has 4 Corruption and the Sigils shown open.

(A) Kyil attempts to Summon first, but Nancy does not have enough Corruption.
(B) Browncoat tries second, but Nancy's Sigil is Closed.
(C) E'Faz tries next and succeeds since Nancy has both the Corruption and Sigils Open.
(D) E'Faz's Corruption cost is 1, so he consumes 1 of Nancy's 4 Corruption when he moves to her. E'Faz is now facing Nancy.

Kyil, Browncoat, and a newly revealed Demon remain to attack the next Witch this Hour.

Insight

During the Insight phase, Witches draw cards, arrange their hands and otherwise get ready for the coming Corruption and Battle phases. Players may not discuss the cards in their hand but they can talk in limited terms: "I can take care of this Demon", "I don't have a lot of White Magic", etc. Remember, aside from Insight effects, no cards are revealed or played during this phase and Witches are primarily arranging their hands to be revealed in the next phase.

During this phase:

Each player draws five cards unless changed by a previous effect.
Then, in any order, each player simultaneously chooses the orientation of cards in their hands, moves Familiars, and reveals Insight cards.

Choose Orientation: Spell cards that can be played as either Black or White Magic are oriented in this phase. Once the Insight phase ends, the cards cannot be flipped.

Move Familiars: Players may move Familiars in front of them to any other Witch. Each Familiar can be moved once per Insight phase.

Reveal Insight cards: During the Insight phase, players can play cards which have the Insight icon, with their effects taking place immediately. They are placed in front of the player and are set as White or Black Magic for the rest of that Hour. Although on the table, they will be considered part of that Witch's hand when those cards are revealed in the next phase and will still give their Magic, Open Sigils, etc. Remember that Insight effects only work during the Insight phase. If a Witch chooses to not reveal an Insight card during this phase, Insight effects are lost for the remainder of the Hour.

If an Insight card expends a Potential card during the Insight phase, send the expended card immediately to the Æther. The expended card does not grant its Magic, Sigils, or use any of its game text unless it states "when expended".

If this is your first game, use this advice as a guide: You are trying to get enough Black Magic to bind or banish the Demons in front of you. The White Magic you make will be used from the pool to defeat other Witches' Demons, but not your own! At the same time, Black Magic hurts the Witch to your left and White Magic heals you.

Insight Example

(A) Played as Black Magic.
(B) Played as White Magic.
(C) Artifact and Familiar, both will remain in your play area and add their Magic and Sigils to all future hands. Note that Mr. Patterson can not be passed this turn, since he is not yet in play.
(D) Dianne has used the Insight ability from Southern Kindness to bind G'Wind. This allows Lily to play Gaia's Cheer as White Magic.
(E) Lily passes Wil Trickster to Dianne on her left. Dianne will gain his White Magic this Hour.

The total value of this hand is 5 Black Magic and 1 White Magic. It will Open the Sigils shown and add 5 Corruption to the player to the left while removing 1 Corruption from Lily.

Corruption

During the Corruption phase, players reveal their hands (including cards already in play) and generate Magic based on the Black Magic and White Magic (W) symbols in their spells' upper left corners. Unless specifically noted, card text on revealed spells has no effect during this phase.

Simultaneously, each player does the following:

Reveal your hand and place it next to (or touching) any Insight cards played in the Insight phase, so they look like they are part of the hand just revealed.
Total the number of Black Magic symbols in the upper left corner of your revealed cards and add that amount of Corruption to the Witch to your left.
Call out all the Sigils on the revealed cards and open those Sigils on the Character Mat of the Witch to your left.
All players total the number of W in the upper left corner of their revealed cards and remove that amount of Corruption from themselves.

Corruption Example

Continuing the hand example from the previous page:

(A) Lily generates 5 Black Magic, so the player to her left, Dianne, adds 5 Corruption to her Character Mat.
(B) Lily also Opens Dianne's Sigils shown.
(C) Lily generates 1 W, so after receiving any Corruption from the player to her right, she removes 1 Corruption from her Character Mat.

Battle

During the Battle phase, Witches use Black Magic to attack the Demons in front of them and add White Magic (W) to the Pool to assist other players. Text on spell cards is now active and players can openly discuss strategy.

Starting with the Coven Leader, players take turns clockwise around the table. During your turn, you may do the following in any order, as often as allowed by card specifics:

a. Use Black Magic you've generated to bind or banish Enemies facing you. b. Activate effects or abilities generated by text on spell cards, including Imbued abilities. c. Add White Magic you've generated to the White Magic Pool. d. Use White Magic from the Pool to bind or banish Enemies facing other players. e. Move one of your Familiars to an Enemy facing you to bind it, then send that Familiar to the Æther. f. Use Magic to power specific Scene objectives.

After a player takes all chosen actions, unbound Enemies facing them deal damage.

Starting with the lowest numbered Locus, discard a number of spells from the Pentagram equal to the attacking Demon's Cards Consumed value.
The active player gains Corruption equal to the Enemy's Corruption Given value.

This ends the active player's Battle phase and play proceeds to the next Witch clockwise. Any White Magic in the pool remains to be combined with the next player's Magic.

Imbued and Potential Cards

Not all spell cards are free to play. The most common cost to play cards in this set is Potential (P). If a card effect has an Imbued symbol before it, you must pay for it by sending a Potential card to the Æther. However, during your turn, you still benefit from any effects or Magic a Potential card generates, so rather than send it to the Æther immediately, leave it in front of you and place a marker on it to remind you to do so at the end of the Hour.

Binding and Banishing

Binding an Enemy prevents it from doing damage or using its special abilities. Banishing it sends it to the Void. Enemies have bind and banish symbols on their cards. Those symbols will usually be white, black, or gray and have a numerical value. If the symbol is white, you must use White Magic to bind or banish it and if it is black, you must use Black Magic to do so. If the symbol is gray, you may use either type of Magic. In each case, you must spend enough Magic to fully meet the numerical value of the Enemy's bind or banish symbol.

Binding: When you bind an Enemy, turn it sideways. It is "turned off" until unbound. It deals no damage and its special abilities have no effect.

Banish: When you banish an Enemy, send it to the Void. (Starter Demons get removed from the game.)

Beware an Enemy's RED bind or banish symbol, because that means they are immune to that effect!

Battle Example

Lily has played the hand shown earlier. She is facing Fi, Sludga, and a bound G'Wind.

(A) The starting value of this hand is 5 Black Magic and 1 White Magic.
(B) Lily chooses not to use Blood Letting's ability, but does power Gaia's Cheer Imbued ability with the Potential from Flicker. She places a marker on Flicker as a reminder to send it to the Æther at the end of the Hour. This increases the hand's value to 5 Black Magic and 2 White Magic.
(C) Lily uses 2 Black Magic to bind Sludga, turning him sideways, and 3 Black Magic to banish G'Wind, sending her to the Void.
(D) Lily adds 2 White Magic to the White Magic Pool, but decides not to use any White Magic to help other players.
(E) At the end of Lily's Battle phase, Fi, unbound and unbanished, deals damage. Fi sends 1 card from the Pentagram to the Æther and gives 3 Corruption to Lily.

End of the Hour

During the End of the Hour phase, do the following in any order.

A. White Magic Pool: The Coven Leader may expend any remaining White Magic or leave it in the Pool for the next Hour.

B. Discard: All players discard their hands to a face-up discard pile next to their deck. If a player's deck ever runs out of cards, shuffle the discard pile to become their new deck.

C. Secrets: These are hidden goals that players try to accomplish throughout the game. They are advanced by fulfilling the requirements listed in the Progression part of a Secret card. Once a player has advanced their Secret to the point dictated by the Resolution part of the card, they may reveal it and resolve its effects.

Advance: To advance a Secret you must take a Corruption from yourself (not from the common pool) and place it on top of your facedown Secret. If you don't have any Corruption you can not progress your Secret. Note: Some Scenes link your Secret to Locus Guardian. If so, move your Soul Link off the Locus and into the corresponding space for bound Guardians.
Resolve: If you can resolve your Secret, flip it over and resolve it. This can occur the same Hour you have progressed the Secret. Then permanently reveal your Secret and place its Corruption in the pool.
Retribution: Only during the Final Hour.
1. Reveal all unresolved Secrets and deal their retribution effects.
2. Then do the same for the Scene retribution effects, if any.
3. Check one last time if any Witch has 20+ Corruption or if every Locus on the Pentagram is empty. If so, YOU ALL LOSE!

If this is not the Final Hour, proceed to the Advance the Hour phase.

Secret Cards

Progression: This is what you must do each Hour to progress. If you achieve this, you take a Corruption from your Character Mat and place it on top of this card.
Resolution: Once you achieve the listed number of Corruption you may reveal the Secret and resolve this effect.
Retribution: If by the end of the last hour you have not resolved your secret, reveal the secret and fulfill the retribution.

Appendix I: Variants

Story Mode Variant: If you play story mode, do not progress to the next Scene till you succeed on your current Scene. If you fail twice on a scene, play the 3rd time using the easy mode listed on the scene. If you succeed on the first try, play the next Scene on hard mode the first time, dropping the difficulty once each time you fail.

Verbal Variant: In this variant, the players can speak and strategize during the Insight phase. They still cannot show their cards, but they can tell everyone how much White and/or Black Magic they plan to generate and how they plan to use it. Players can also discuss best ways to use the Magic generated by each player. This may slow the game down somewhat, so keep that in mind.

Shhh! It's a Secret: You can change any Scene's difficulty by using or modifying Secrets.

Easy: Remove the red-icon Secrets before shuffling and distribution.
Hard: Remove the green-icon Secrets before shuffling and distribution.

Variety is the Spice: Here is another way to modify any Scene's difficulty.

Easy: Remove the Legendary Demons from the Demon Deck.
Hard: Reduce the number of spells in each Locus by 2.

Appendix II: Character Descriptions

Mr. Patterson, your familiar and guide speaks, "So, now that you know what happened to the previous Coven, let's get better acquainted, shall we? Allow me to see what I can deduce about each of you."

Paz Guato. Scholarly, mousy. Cliché nerd complete with glasses. You're the only one who was happy about gaining powers from the get-go and you read constantly on how to better yourself... and the team. You study and respect the old ways. I've never seen a Wizard more capable of acquiring new and powerful spells. Or seem to know... almost... as much about artifacts as I do.

Addie Klined. Addie, I like you already! You allowed Magical familiars to use you as their pet even before joining the Coven! Your Magic is flush with working with my kin and kind and you seem able to block Demon's abilities without even trying. I am impressed. Enough that I might just let you pet me. Oh, alright. Yes, you can be my new pet Witch. And if you and Lily are competing to see who can be sweeter? I'm sure the plants would pick her, but me? I'm with you!

Shara Brown. I knew your sister, London. She went for the hoop and you chose lacrosse? Seriously? I see your power swirls, blending Black and White Magics together. You have some of the best attack abilities I have seen. You are the Alpha of your school and everyone wants to either be you or be with you. But that past of yours. Oh, my. Dark indeed. You will have a constant struggle between darkness and light as you lead this Coven for good or ill.

Dianne Urer. You're from a working-class family and either are a senior in high school or have just graduated. You have deep roots in the south and, despite that famed hospitality, you and Shara really seem to dislike each other. I can see you're down on yourself because you work in a diner to make ends meet, but don't be. Between you and me, you're the only one of the younger Witches that knows what it's like to be on your own. Plus, you're a heckuva multi-tasker, able to deal with a lot of troubles and Demons at the same time as well as shift spells between you and your allies.

Ward Cross. A Demon hunter who worked with the church before being excommunicated. Who does that anymore? Are you even in the right century? Hands down, you are the best Demon killer of the bunch, so who can complain? Of course, you are woefully lacking in White Magic use, Grimmy McDarkerson. Seriously, go out in the sun, experience nature... Commune. And, jeez, you're a sourpuss. Who pooped in your tray? Can't you just kill the others and be done with it? No way! There's a blood bond, remember? You're here to assist them. Do as they say, no matter how much it irks you. And, it really does irk you, doesn't it? I hope so. I do. Because it's really hard to say who I dislike more: Nancy or you.

Lily Abrahamsen. You're blessed with the power of Gaia, the goddess of natural Magic. Your spells and abilities seem tied to generating White Magic and helping others. I barely see any darkness in your soul. Your parents were teachers. You've never been mean to another being your whole life. Beautiful, a cheerleader, straight A's. You appear to be near purr-fect, but, honestly, have you ever known hardship? I doubt that will last.

Minora Alfhild. You're a gamer girl who would rather be on a console than deal with people (aside from Addie who's been your best friend since soccer camp and you can kinda boss around). You have the social skills of a block of granite, and even Paz has more common sense than you, but you seem incapable of losing. You always find a way to hack your way through things. Seems you're able to literally blow up Demons and use their power for your own spells! Sometimes you can even snatch spells back from the Æther, rebuilding them. It's really quite brilliant! But don't you know that cheating does not always work? And, you might want to step back from all that Black Magic. You're going to get us all in trouble.

Nancy Stitch. A med student and surgeon-to-be, it seems your past is the darkest of all. I don't know how you consume Corruption as well as you do, but you're the best healer I've ever seen. You stand apart from the Coven; Blood bonded to it but not beholden like the others. You want me to be your what? And your adviser?! Well, are you going to leave this group when the going gets tough like last time? Bah. Don't even try to talk to me. I trust rats more than you. If you get out of line, even a little, I might just have to tell them your big secret. I'm sure Ward would LOVE to hear all about it.

Appendix III: Glossary

Æther: The Æther is a discard pile for spells lost to Demons or destroyed from a Witch's deck.
Banish: To a kill a Demon or other Enemy, sending it to the Void.
Bind: If you bind an Enemy, it is "turned off" until unbound. It deals no damage and its special game ability has no effect.
Black Magic: Generally, more powerful Magic used to bind and banish Enemies attacking you. Due to the blood bond between the Coven members, your Black Magic places its burden in the form of Corruption Markers on the player to your left. In addition, Black Magic can open up the Sigils of the player to your left, making it easier for more powerful Demons to enter the world and attack them.
Corruption Markers: These black cubes and octagons represent the darkening of your soul. You gain Corruption when the player to your right uses Black Magic, when Demons hit you, and when you gain spells from Pentagram Locus. If any Coven member ever has 20 (15 during Training Day) or more Corruption after the Summon Demons phase, everyone loses the game.
Dark Fey: Mean little nasty faeries who are hell bent on harming the Coven. The Dark Fey limit the use of your White Gaia's Magic. If even one Dark Fey is unbound in front of you during the Insight phase, you cannot play any Gaia's Magic spells (denoted by a yellow border around their text), instead you must play those cards as their Black Magic side. Dark Fey are considered Demons.
Demons: All of the Enemy cards, except for Lashin the Warlock and the Overlords.
Discard: To place in your discard pile.
Discard Pile: The place your discarded cards go. Gets shuffled to make your Witch's Spell Deck when there are no cards remaining in it.

Reference

Phases Reference

Advance the Hour
- Skip the first hour: Place the Hour marker on the new Hour and move the Coven Leader Marker clockwise one player. Each player gains Corruption equal to the Hour.
Acquire Spells
- Starting with the Coven Leader, each player may gain spells from any Open Locus by gaining Corruption equal to that Locus.
Summon Demons
- Unbind all cards and return all Guardians to their Locus.
- Starting with the Coven Leader, each player faces 3 Lurking Demons, refilling the spaces at the end of their turn.
- All players Close Sigils. Send remaining Lurking Demons to Void.
- At the end of phase, if a Witch has 20+ Corruption (15+ during Training Day), GAME OVER!
Insight
- Draw 5 cards, then all players simultaneously (in any order): choose orientation of cards; may move Familiars; may reveal Insight cards.
Corruption
- All players reveal hands at same time.
- Add Corruption to player to left's Mat equal to your Black Magic, and they Open any Sigils from your cards.
- Remove Corruption from your Mat equal to your White Magic.

Icon Reference

Insight: Card which can be revealed during the Insight phase. Effects occur immediately.
Potential: Potential card which powers Imbued effects. Send to Æther (destroyed) at end of Hour when used this way.
Imbued: Optional Imbued effect which destroys a Potential card to use, although you still receive that card's Magic and effects.
White Magic.
Black Magic.
Gray Magic: May use either Black or White Magic.
Easy Secret, Medium Secret, Hard Secret.
Enemies' Corruption Cost.
Bind Cost: Color denotes type of Magic that can be used.
Banish Cost: Color denotes type of Magic that can be used.
Cards consumed: (discarded) from the Pentagram.
Corruption.
Legendary Demons.