Arcane Academy
Arcane Academy Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Overview
Arcane Academy is a game for 2 to 4 players that plays in 30-45 minutes. Each player takes on the role of a student at the Academy of Magic and Sciences, about to take their final exam, and hoping to prove their skills above all others as the best in their class.
Winning the Game
The objective of the game is to be the player with the most Prestige at the end. A player earns Prestige by completing Assignments. The game ends 1 round after "Pencils Down!" is called, which happens when any player completes a total of 8 Assignments.
Golden Rule
Some cards in this game may conflict with the rulebook. In case of a conflict, follow the text on the card.
Component Overview
35 Red Plastic Shards — A student starts with 3 Shards and is not limited in how many they can have. They are used to craft powerful Items during the game.
30 Exhaustion Tokens — Placed on top of an Action Tile when casting, showing that it can't be used again until you rest.
32 Prestige Tokens — Placed on Items by various special abilities, increasing your Prestige total.
35 Action Tiles — These represent the actions you can take when "casting."
4 Will Dials — Indicate a Student's current Will total, and used to cast mighty spells during the game. A Student's Will total starts at 3, but can never exceed 9.
52 Assignment Cards — Shuffled into a deck, these represent the spells you can cast (if you have enough Will) and the Items you can craft (if you have enough Shards).
- Item Card — example: Eye of Dissonance (Item, cost 2): Choose an opponent. Unless that opponent gives you 1 Shard, put 1 Prestige Token on this Item.
- Spell Card — example: Combustion (Spell, cost 6): Each opponent must choose a space on their Slate containing 1 or more Tiles. Discard all Tiles from the chosen spaces.
4 Player Slates — Used to place Tiles and perform actions. Each Slate has 4 starting Tiles, which can be covered like any other Tile.
- Use Item or Complete Assignment
- Add Tile
- Add Tile
- Gain Will or Collect Shard
Pencils Down Card — The first player to complete 8 Assignments takes this card and places it face up in front of them. The game ends after this player's next turn (extra turns from Assignment effects do not count).
Setting Up the Game
- Give Out Player Pieces: Each player gets a Slate, a Will Dial, and 3 Shards. Place your Slate on the table in front of you and then set your Will Dial to 3. Put your Shards near your board, where they are within easy reach.
- Build the Bank: Put the rest of the Shards in the center of the table, where every player can reach them. Then do the same for the black Exhaustion Tokens and Prestige Point Tokens.
- Prepare the Tile Bag: Put the Action Tiles in the bag. Shake the bag, then randomly draw 4 Action Tiles from it, placing them face-up in the center of the play area. Keep the bag nearby where the players can reach it.
- Prepare the Deck: Remove the Pencils Down card and set it near the play area. Shuffle the remainder of the deck and place it face down in the center of the play area.
- Pass Out Assignments: Draw 4 Assignment cards from the deck and place them face-up in the middle of the table. These are Public Assignments that any player can complete. Then, deal 3 cards face-down to each player. These are Private Assignments. You may look at your Private Assignments, but keep them secret from the other players. Only you can complete your Private Assignments. If you complete a Private Assignment, draw a new Private Assignment from the deck.
- Select a First Player: Either select at random or choose the youngest player.
Your Turn
Play starts with the first player, then continues clockwise around the table, with each player taking their turn in that order.
On your turn, you must either CAST or REST.
CAST — Activate and exhaust a Tile on your Slate to use the actions shown on that Tile. Afterwards, you may also use the actions shown on any un-exhausted Tiles that directly touch and are linked to the activated Tile.
REST — Remove all Exhaustion Tokens from all Tiles on your board. Additionally, you may discard one of your Private Assignment cards and draw a new one from the deck.
End of Your Turn
Draw new Tiles from the bag to replace any Tiles you placed on your Slate, and draw new Assignment cards from the deck to replace any Assignments you've completed. When replacing Public Assignments, put the new card face-up in the center of the table, and when replacing a Private Assignment, put the new card face-down near you. There should be 4 Assignments and 4 Tiles for the next player. The player to your left begins their turn now.
If you run out of Tiles, continue play until someone completes 8 Assignments. If you run out of cards before someone completes 8 Assignments, the player who draws the final card from the deck takes the "Pencils Down!" card and triggers the end of game rules.
Pencils Down!
If at the end of your turn you have completed a total of 8 or more Assignments (in any combination of spells or Items), call out "Pencils down!" Each player, including you, gets one final turn. This does not include any extra turns resulting from Assignment effects. After each player has had their final turn, the game is over!
Casting
If you decide to cast on your turn, choose one of the Action Tiles on your board that isn't already covered by an Exhaustion Token, and place an Exhaustion Token on it. This chosen Action Tile is called the Activated Tile. Next, you may perform all of the actions shown on the Activated Tile. These actions are explained on the back of this rulebook.
Exception: If two actions are divided by a slash, you may perform one or the other action, but not both.
Linked Actions
After you perform the actions shown on the Activated Tile, you may then perform all of the actions on every un-exhausted Tile that is directly linked to the Activated Tile. An un-exhausted Tile is an Action Tile which does not have an Exhaustion Token on it.
Important! You do NOT place Exhaustion Tokens on linked Tiles when resolving them! Only the activated Tile is exhausted.
Only Tiles that are directly touching one of the activated Tile's edges can be linked to it. To be linked to the activated Tile, the touching Tile must have half a connector facing the activated Tile, and the activated Tile must have half a connector facing the touching Tile as well, forming a complete octagon (connector) between the two Tiles, as shown on the diagram below.
Linked — the two Tiles' half-connectors meet edge to edge, forming a complete octagon between them.
Not Linked — the two Tiles' connectors do not meet; no octagon is formed between them.
You may resolve linked Tiles in any order, but you must resolve the activated Tile first, and once you have begun to resolve the actions on a linked Tile, you must resolve all actions on that Tile before resolving any actions on a different linked Tile.
Casting Example
Horus has triggered an Action Tile (A) with a Gain Will/Gain Shard Action divided by a slash. First, he places an Exhaustion Token on that Action Tile to show that it has been triggered. Then, because it is an Action Tile with a slash, he must choose to either Gain 1 point of Will and increase his Will Counter or Gain 1 Shard and add it to their total.
Next, we see that the Action Tile Horus triggered is directly linked to three other Action Tiles (as seen by the completed octagons between them). However, the Complete Assignment and Add Tile Action Tile (B) is already exhausted, so it doesn't trigger. In addition, any Action Tiles that are more than one space away, such as the Chaos Magic Tile (E), are NOT triggered. Only Action Tiles that are DIRECTLY adjacent are triggered.
The linked Action Tiles that are not exhausted, the "Use Item" Action Tile (C) and the "Complete Assignment" Action Tile (D) can now be resolved in whatever order Horus likes. However, he does not need to place an Exhaustion Token on those other two Action Tiles. These Linked Tiles are activated for free!
Action Tiles that are not connected, such as the Chaos Magic Tile (F) are not triggered.
Corner Actions
The four corners of your Slate already have actions printed on them. These Corner Actions can be selected when you are taking an action as though they were Action Tiles. You may play new Action Tiles to cover up your Corner Actions, but no effect in the game can cause you to "discard" your Corner Actions.
Tile Stacking Rules
If you are about to stack an Action Tile on top of any Tile that has any number of Exhaustion Tokens on it, take those Exhaustion Tokens and put them on top of the Tile you are placing. Effectively, Exhaustion Tokens "rise to the top" of any stack they are in.
You may not stack a Tile in such a way that you no longer have a "Complete Assignment" action on your board, as this would not allow you to complete any Assignments!
Completing Assignments
There are two types of Assignments that can be completed: Spells and Items. Although either type may be completed when resolving a "Complete Assignment" action, there are a number of differences between them. For instance, Spells have a one-time effect and are paid for with Will, while Items have long-term effects and are paid for with Shards.
First resolve a "Complete Assignment" action.
Next, choose either a Public Assignment card in the center, or a face-down Private Assignment. Then, if it is a spell, reduce your Will by the amount shown on the card. Or, if it is an Item, pay the Shard cost listed on the card.
If it's a Spell, take the card and read it aloud and perform the effects listed. Afterwards, tuck the card under your Slate, so that only the bottom is sticking out.
If it's an Item, set the card face-up beside your play area.
Use Items
Use Items have an ability listed on them that starts with the USE symbol. This is called a USE ability.
In order to use an Item's USE ability, you must first resolve a "Use Item" action. You may then select ONE of your Items to activate and perform that Item's USE ability. There's no limit to how often you can use an Item's USE ability, but you must resolve a "Use Item" action each time you wish to do so.
End of Game Items
End of Game Items have an ability listed on them that begins with the text "End of Game:". You cannot use these abilities during the game. Instead, they only come into effect once the game is over.
Always-On Items
A few Items have abilities that are always on. These abilities begin with neither the Use Symbol nor "End of Game:" and are always considered to be in effect.
Earning Prestige Tokens
Some Items instruct you to put Prestige Tokens on them as part of their ability. There is no limit to how many Prestige Tokens may be on an Item. You may exchange three 1-point Prestige Tokens for a 3-point Prestige Token if you are running low. However, if you run out, you can use beads, coins or some other marker to make up the difference. At the end of the game, an Item's Prestige value is increased by the value of the Prestige Tokens on that Item.
1-Point Prestige Token and 3-Point Prestige Token are the two denominations used.
End of the Game
Once a player completes 8 Assignments, they call out "Pencils Down!" and take the Pencils Down card. Play then continues clockwise and ends after the player who has the Pencils Down card takes a final turn (not counting any extra turns gained through Assignment effects - if you cast Time Dilation, you still get an extra turn, but the game doesn't immediately end).
Once the game is over, players resolve any "End of Game" effects on Spells and Items they've completed. Then, all players add up their total Prestige, including all tokens on Items. The player with the most Prestige is the winner!
Calculating Prestige Example
The game is over and Shan is trying to determine her Prestige total to see how much she has earned. She completed 3 Assignments (1 Spell and 2 Items.)
Shan starts with her Spell (A), checking the Prestige Value in the bottom right of the card, she adds 2 Prestige to her score.
Moving to her Items, Shan starts with Item (B), which adds an additional 3 Prestige to her score, for a total of 5 Prestige. She then adds her final Item (C) to her score. The Item is worth 1 point, however she has added 2 Prestige Tokens to this Item, each worth 1 additional point. The Item's value is now 3 Prestige.
Her total Prestige score is 8.
If there is a tie, the player tied for first with the most remaining Will plus Shards is the winner. If there's still a tie, the victory is shared and the tied players are co-valedictorians! Well done!
Credits
Game Design: Eric M. Lang and Kevin Wilson
Graphic Design and Layout: Michael DeVito and Jon Conkling
Additional Writing: David A. Rodriguez
Illustrations: Chris Wharton, Sarah Ellerton, Conceptopolis, LLC., Ander Zarate, Patrick McEvoy, John Rauch, Michael DeVito, Charles Paul Wilson III, Jeff Bellio
Playtesters: Matt Cary, Tony DeVito, Giovanna Donnithorne-Tait, Steven Eisenhardt, Robert Gallerani, Lewis Harris II, Alex Hedstrom, Sean Hillman, Jonathan Lin, Darren Malley, Drew McCrory, Mike Myers, Curtis Orr, Anthony Pontoriero, Matthew Pontoriero, Alejandro Rodriguez, John Skogerboe, Adam Shilling, Paul Stanek, Forest Waller, Kenny Welker
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Arcane Academy © 2016 Th3rd World Studios
Quick Reference
Starting Resources
3 Private Assignment Cards, 3 Shards and 3 Will.
Your Turn
On your turn, you must either CAST or REST.
CAST — Activate and exhaust a Tile on your Slate to use the actions shown on that Tile. Afterwards, you may also use the actions shown on any un-exhausted Tiles that directly touch and are linked to the activated Tile.
REST — Remove all Exhaustion tokens from all Tiles on your board. Additionally, you may discard one of your Private Assignment cards and draw a new one from the deck.
End of Your Turn
Draw new Tiles from the bag to replace any Tiles you placed on your Slate, and draw new Assignment cards from the deck to replace any Assignments you've completed. When replacing Public Assignments, put the new card face-up in the center of the table, and when replacing a Private Assignment, put the new card face-down near you. There should be 4 Assignments and 4 Tiles for the next player. The player to your left now begins their turn.
Pencils Down!
If at the end of your turn you have completed a total of 8 or more Assignments (in any combination of spells or Items), call out "Pencils down!" Each player, including you, gets one final turn. This does not include any extra turns resulting from Assignment effects.
Tile Actions
COLLECT SHARD — Take 1 Shard from the center and add it to your Shard total. Shards are spent to craft Items. There is no limit to the number of Shards you can have.
GAIN WILL — Rotate your Will dial up by 1 (to a maximum of 9). Will is spent to cast spells.
USE ITEM — Choose one of your completed Items with a Use symbol on it and perform the action described after the symbol.
CHAOS MAGIC — This symbol is "wild" and represents all 5 possible casting actions. When this Tile is activated, you may choose to perform ONE of the following actions (Collect Shard, Gain Will, Add Tile, Use Item or Complete Assignment).
COMPLETE ASSIGNMENT — Choose an Item or Spell card in the center (Public) or your hand (Private), and play that card.
To cast a Spell, spend the appropriate amount of Will, follow the Spell's effects, then tuck it under your Slate so that its Prestige value is visible.
To craft an Item, spend the appropriate number of Shards, then place the Item card faceup in front of you.
ADD TILE — Take one Tile from the center and place it in front of you.
At the end of your turn, place that Tile on any space on your Slate, rotated to any of the four directions.
You may even stack that Tile on top of another Tile on your Slate, or any of the four corner Tiles.