Chronicle Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Description
• Contents
• Description of the Contents
  • Character card (black backside)
  • History cards (white backside)
• Preparations
• Game Order
• Game Round
• End of a Round
• End of the Game
• Card Details
• Optional Rules
• After Word

Description

Play time: 30 minutes Number of players: 3–6 (4–5 is recommended)

The players take the role of influential powers, and try to overcome the "events" in the land by playing cards that represent their connections, their allies or friends.

The base of the game is trick-taking. Players play their cards to win tricks, and earn Fame according to what cards are needed for the current event.

There are a number of different "events" that can take place. If it's a monster attack, collecting a lot of military powerful people (cards) is best. But if the event is a revolt, military powers will instead assist the revolt; in that case, it's better to get rid of such cards.

The player who most successfully manages to achieve the conditions of the event, will earn Fame points. The winner is the first player to have collected a certain amount of Fame.

The player who has made best use the cards' special powers, and thus has contributed most to the land's history, will be the one whose name will be told in the Chronicle.

Contents

• 36 character cards
• 12 history cards
• 12 Fame chips
• 1 Rule book (this paper)

Description of the Contents

Character card (black backside)

1. Strength — The strength of the card (1–10). The higher the number, the more strength. There are also cards with a "W" for "wild". They have no strength, but instead other powers.
2. Type — The type (suit) of the card. There are three suits: Power (blue), Wisdom (Green), Love (red), and the special suit Wild (gray).
3. Name — The character name.
4. Picture — An illustration of the character.
5. Special ability — The special ability of this character. This ability will normally be activated when the card is played.
6. Symbol — A symbolic representation of the special ability.

History cards (white backside)

1. Title — The main title of the event.
2. Illustration — An image representation of the event.
3. Theme card — The card that will be the trump for the round in which this History Card is active. The player who has this card will be the starting player for the current round.
4. Fame condition — The conditions for earning the fame point for this round.
5. Symbol — A symbolic representation of the fame condition.

Note: See the end of the rules for a list of the symbols.

Preparations

• Players sit around the table in a circle.
• Sort out the 12 History Cards and shuffle them.

Game Order

This game is played in a number of rounds. One round is as follows:

1. Draw the top History card and place it face up for all to see.

2. Shuffle all the 36 character cards and deal them all face down to all players. All cards should be dealt out. In a three player game, each player receives 12 cards, in a four player game 9 cards, in a five player game 7 cards and in a six player game 6 cards.

   Note: For a five-player game, the top card of the character deck should be revealed and discarded before dealing. However, if the revealed card is the theme card for the current round, reveal and discard the next card instead and shuffle the theme card into the deck once more, and then deal.

3. The player who has the theme card for the current round shows it to all players. She will the first start player of the round.

Game Round

This game is in its essence a trick taking game. In this game, each trick is called a "meeting", and there are several "meetings" in each round. Each round goes as follows:

1. The start player (lead player) plays a card of her choice.

2. The person to her left plays a card of her choice, following these rules:

   • She must follow suit, meaning that she must play a card of the same type as the start player (the lead suit) if she has one.
   • If she doesn't have a card of the lead suit, she can play any card, but face down. A card played face down will not activate its special ability, and the card has no strength.
   • A player can always play a Wild card, even if she has a card of the lead suit. A player is never forced to play a Wild card if he doesn't have a card of the lead suit. A Wild card may never be played face down.
   • If the lead player played a Wild card, the next player may play a card of any suit. The first non-Wild card that is played will then be the lead suit of the meeting.

3. Continue in turn until all players have played a card. A "meeting" (trick) is when all players have played one card each.

4. When all players have played one card each, the player who has played the strongest card is the winner of the meeting. Normally, it's the player who has played the card with the highest Strength, but some cards' special abilities can change this. The winner of the meeting takes all cards played during this meeting and places them face-up in front of her. All cards collected this way are called "allies".

   • If, during a three-player game, the Sage, the Fool and the Angel are played, no winner of the meeting can be determined. In this rare but possible case, the winner is the starting player.

5. The winner of the meeting becomes the start player for the next meeting, and so the round continues with meetings (tricks) until at least one player has run out of cards.

Note: about the special abilities

All character cards have some sort of special ability. Most abilities are activated the moment the card is played, however, some cards have a different timing for their abilities. Refer to the "Card details" later in the rules.

A card may be played even if its special ability cannot be applied. On the other hand, if the ability can be applied at all, it must be.

A player's turn is only finished after the special power has been applied.

Note: about discarding

Some cards have the ability to discard other cards. Please place these cards in a face-up pile on the center of the table and see to that it is not confused with the allies of the players. Only the top card of the discard pile is visible.

End of a Round

When a meeting has finished, if one or more players has run out of cards, the round is finished. Once the round is finished, Fame is dealt out according to these rules:

1. All players add their remaining cards in hand to their allies.
2. The player who has the Angel among her allies discards all "Evil" cards of her allies (the Wild Card "Demon" and all cards with strength 1).
3. All players who have one or more "evil" allies are excluded from the round.
4. Of the remaining players, the player(s) who fit the victory conditions of the current History Card will earn one Fame point (each).

Note: "evil" cards

As a special rule, if one single player has collected all four "evil" cards, she has succeeded in ruling the country by controlling all evil forces, and earns instead 2 Fame points and no other player receives any Fame at all!

When the Fame has been dealt out, the game returns to point 1 in "Game order" (reveal the top history card) and the game goes on until one player reaches 3 Fame points.

End of the Game

The game ends as soon as one or more players has collected 3 or more Fame points. The winner is then the player with the most Fame. If two or more players have the same amount of Fame, either both players are declared the winners, or the game goes on until one player has more points than the others (see extra rules).

Card Details

Cards with strength 3 (Sergeant/Merchant/Maid) and the Wild Cards "King", "Demon" and "Dragon". These cards' abilities aren't activated until the meeting is over. If they are removed from play by a card of strength 7, their ability is nullified.

Cards with red numbers (strength 3, 5 and 7) These cards affect the whole meeting so greatly that their numbers are painted in red to differentiate them from the other cards. (There are Wild Cards that affect the game equally much, but they are all differentiated by just being Wild Cards.)

Cards with strength 2 (Prince/Queen/Princess) These cards count as three allies only at the end of the round. If they are affected, for example, by the Wild Card "Fool", they don't count as three cards.

Cards with strength 7 (Mercenary/Hermit/Dancer) These cards cannot return themselves. They may only affect cards that have already been played during the meeting.

Cards with strength 4 (Barbarian/Fortuneteller/Prostitute) and the Wild Card "Sage" These cards have abilities allowing players to steal allies from opponents. The player using it can choose the steal card.

Wild Cards "Sage", "Fool" and "Angel" These cards have no strength. Regard them as special cards that do not affect the outcome of this specific meeting.

History Card "A Time of Darkness" When this card is in use (even when co-activated by "Conversation with a Dragon" or "The Coronation of a King"), players with "evil" allies are not excluded when the round ends. They can still receive Fame. If the special rule of "evil" cards (one single player succeeds the four "evil" cards) is applied in the round in which this card is in use, the special rule is preceded and the player get only 2 Fame. (All players cannot earn normal Fame from the History Card(s))

History Card "Conversation with a Dragon" If this card is revealed at the start of the game (including if it's drawn as an effect of "The Coronation of a King"), and there are no previous History Cards to activate, return the card to the History Card pile and draw another instead.

History Card "The Coronation of a King", "Conversation with a Dragon" These cards cause multiple History Cards to be in play. Check the Fame conditions and award Fame for each of these cards. Depending on your play, this is a chance to earn a lot of Fame in one round.

Optional Rules

Use of several History Cards (optional rule) If you want the game to be more exciting, use the rule to draw two History Cards for each round. The players who have the theme card of each History Cards show them to all players. The player who has the theme card of the History Card which revealed first will be the start player.

If the draw pile runs out, shuffle the already used History Cards to form a new pile.

Prolonged game (optional rule) If two or more players have the same amount of Fame, players may agree to continue the game until one single player has more points than any other. If you use this rule, a player who has only 2 Fame when two other players reach 3 Fame, can still win if he succeeds in collecting all 4 "evil" cards during the next round and thus earns 2 Fame in one round.

After Word

Thank you for reading this far. It is a simple little game, but I hope that it will give some measure of entertainment to all of you who bought it. I believe the flavor of this game comes once you start remembering the cards' abilities after a couple of plays, so I recommend that you try it several times. As a last word, I would like to deeply thank Noboru Sugiura, who always contributes with her wonderful art, and all test players.

• Please refrain from using the art or other parts of this game without permission.
• This game contains small parts. Please keep it away from small children.

First printing: 31st of May 2009 Publisher: Kanai Factory Game Design: Seiji Kanai Printed at: Man-indo Co.,ltd. Mail address: [email protected] Homepage: http://kanai-factory.web.infoseek.co.jp/ Noboru Sugiura's homepage: http://red.zero.jp/box/ Translate: Simon Lundstrom