Commissioned
Commissioned Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Includes
1 Double‑Sided Game Board, 5 Double‑Sided Scenario Cards, 6 Unique Player Boards, 96 Faith Cards, 27 Trial Cards, 4 Wood Missionary Meeples, 75 Wood Church Member Cubes, 1 Wood Elder's Staff, 6 Wood Player Pawns, 30 Double‑Sided Stop Tokens, 5 Double‑Sided Extinguished Tokens, 1 Converted City Leaders Token, 1 Roman Legion Token, 1 8‑Sided Die, 1 Rulebook, 1 Theme Appendix.
Important Terms
Apostle: Players. Colored Apostle pawns show board position. Apostles are never removed.
Missionary: Gray meeples (only used with less than 6 players). Allows the Church to perform a Mission move without an Apostle pawn (see Move section).
Church Member: White cubes used to indicate a Christian (not a player).
Elder: The player currently holding the Elder's staff.
Location: A space to which players can move on the board (a City or Ship).
Church: A Location that contains at least 1 Apostle, Missionary, or Church Member.
Population: The number of Apostles, Missionaries, and Church Members in a Church.
City: A land Location on the board. Normally refers to a land Location without a Church.
Ship: A Location in the water between two cities.
Region: The color‑coded groups of cities on the map. Also identified by white City symbols.
Setup
-
Choose a scenario card. First‑time players should begin with "Acts of the Apostles." The scenario card specifies the side of the board and piece placement. See below for more information about scenario cards. Place stops in the inkwell, the Converted City Leaders token in the wine goblet, and Church Members on the bread.
-
Each player chooses an Apostle (some scenarios specify your choices), and receives the matching Apostle board, pawn, & six Faith cards. Place the Apostle pawns on the board as the scenario card directs.
Return unused Apostle pawns, cards, and boards to the box.
-
Take one Missionary for every player less than six (2 Missionaries with 4 players). Return unused Missionaries to the box. Place Missionaries as directed by the scenario card.
-
Sort the Trial card deck for the desired difficulty (Disciple or Martyr), shuffle it (should have 21 Trial cards), and place it in the draw pile. Remove 1 Trial card for each additional player above 3 (remove 2 Trial cards with 5 players).
Place unused cards in box.
-
Stack the Extinguished tokens (1 on top), and place them in the wine goblet.
-
Sort the remaining Faith cards by their value into four decks, shuffle each, and place them next to corresponding space at the top of the board. Deal each player two 2‑Faith cards face‑down (as shown in example).
-
Each player shuffles his or her initial Faith deck (6 Apostle cards with the 2‑Faith cards), and places it in the draw pile next to his or her Apostle board.
-
Select a player to start as the Elder. Give him or her the Elder's staff and the eight‑sided die.
-
If playing with adversary variant, see rules under Adversary Variant below; otherwise, place the Roman Legion token in the box.
Setup by Player Number
Refer to the chart below to make adjustments to the game setup based on the number of players.
| Number of Players | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Missionaries | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Removed Trial Cards | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
Scenario Cards
The game's five scenarios may each be played on disciple or martyr difficulty. First‑time players should start with the "Acts of the Apostles" on disciple difficulty. The remaining scenarios may be played chronologically: "Peter's Gentile Outreach," "The First Missionary Journeys," "Appeal to Caesar," and "To the Ends of the Earth." Each scenario card contains the: Scenario Name, Victory Conditions, Setup & Special Rules, Failure Meaning, and Thematic Scenario Explanation (rear).
Example Setup
In this example, 3 players are playing the "Acts of the Apostles" scenario. To start, they would place their Apostle pawns, 3 Missionary Meeples, and 6 Church Member cubes in Jerusalem. The yellow player, Andrew, has been selected randomly to be the Elder. That player receives the Elder's staff and the 8‑sided die and will start the game.
Note that the Extinguished tokens are uniquely designed to cover a specific candle on a specific side of the board. If done correctly, the Extinguished token should match the art of the board, but with the candle extinguished. Each token is marked by the board side and candle track placement for ease of use. For example, a token may be used on one board side, and will cover a specific space on the candle track.
Faith Deck
The early Church's survival depended on both the actions of dedicated individuals and on collective activity. The Faith deck mirrors this reality. Throughout the game, each Apostle must manage their unique Faith deck. Collectively, Faith cards have board effects used to respond to trials (bad circumstances). Individually, Faith cards have Faith points used to mature the Apostle's faith (increase their capabilities). To be successful, Apostles have to balance these two factors as they attempt to achieve the scenario victory conditions. Faith cards have up to 5 components: Title, Faith Point Value, Board Effect, New Testament Books (only on 2‑Faith cards) and Historical reference.
Apostle Cards
Each Apostle has a unique base set of Faith cards. These cards are used to:
- Add one Church Member to the Church with the Elder. Cards are 1‑Faith point.
- Remove one Growth stop from one Church in the Elder's Region (see the Stop section). Cards are 1‑Faith point.
- Conduct an extra move action (see the Move section). Cards are 1‑Faith point.
- All Apostles may remove two cards from their discard pile (place them in the box). Cards are 1‑Faith point, but one card may be used to purchase a 2‑Faith card.
- No board effect. Cards are 2‑Faith points.
- Remove one Mission stop from one Church in the Elder's Region (see the Stop section). Cards are 1‑Faith point.
Maturing Your Faith Deck
There are four piles from which Apostles may purchase cards to add to their Faith deck. This will occur during the Mature Phase (see Order of Play).
1‑Faith: Cards similar to the Apostle cards. These cards typically have 1 effect, and are worth 1‑Faith point in your hand.
2‑Faith: Word cards that give the player a choice between a (1) board effect and (2) adding some books to the New Testament. For the latter, place the card next to the matching space on the board. These cards are worth 2‑Faith points in your hand. If the Apostles add all nine Word cards, all stops are removed from the board. After this, new stops may still occur. If a Trial card directs you to remove a Word card, choose a card from the bottom of the board, and return it to the box.
3‑Faith: Cards add Church Members, add Missionaries, remove stops, or add moves. They usually have two effects when played. These cards are worth 3‑Faith points.
4‑Faith: Cards that reflect miracles in the early Church. They add multiple Church Members, remove multiple stops, enhance movement, or impart special abilities to overcome trials. These cards are worth 4‑Faith points.
Order of Play
Rounds have 3 phases: ARM, LIVE, & MATURE.
Arm
Players draw six cards from their faith decks into their hands for use in the other phases (five with 4‑5 players). If your Faith deck runs out before you finish drawing, shuffle your discard pile, place it in your draw pile, and finish drawing your hand. If you can fill your hand from your draw pile, do not shuffle your discard pile.
Arm: Draw Cards
| Players | Cards Drawn |
|---|---|
| 2‑3 Players | 6 |
| 4‑5 Players | 5 |
| 6 Players | 6 |
Andrew, James, & Barnabas are playing a 3‑player game of Acts of the Apostles (Scenario #1). After creating their faith decks by drawing two 2‑Faith cards and shuffling them with their six Apostle cards, they each draw a hand of six cards (place other cards in draw pile).
Live
Players face Trials, Pray, Share, Move, and Grow. This phase has five actions, and is repeated twice (4‑5 players: three times, 6 players: four times) before moving into the MATURE phase. The Elder staff passes left every time the LIVE phase is repeated.
Live: Repeat Phase
| Players | Repetitions |
|---|---|
| 2‑3 Players | 2x |
| 4‑5 Players | 3x |
| 6 Players | 4x |
Andrew, James, & Barnabas will repeat the LIVE phase twice.
Trial: The Elder draws a Trial Card from the pile, and applies the effect to the Location in which his or her Apostle Pawn is located (unless the Trial Card directs otherwise). See the Trial cards section for more details on the effects of individual Trial cards.
Andrew draws the "False Teachers" Trial Card. This card has three board effects. Starting at the top of the card, the Elder (Andrew) chooses to lose a Church Member (try to save your Missionaries if you can). The Church Member is placed back on the bread. Next, both a Growth Stop and a Mission Stop (from the inkwell) are placed on the Church with Andrew's pawn (in this case Jerusalem).
Live Continued
Pray: Each player secretly selects two Faith cards from his or her hand (one with 4 or more players), and places them face down on his or her Apostle Board.
Message Die Roll: Elder rolls eight‑sided die. Apply the effect below that corresponds to the result of the roll. (First‑Time players: Skip this part of the Pray action, and openly talk).
Andrew, James, & Barnabas each pick two cards from their hands, and place them face down in the Pray box on their Apostle Boards. As the Elder, Andrew rolls a 3 with the Message die. This means the Apostles cannot talk until after the Grow action.
Message Die Result Chart
| Roll | Effect |
|---|---|
| 4‑8 | Messages arrive. Players may talk with the Elder during the share, move, & grow actions. |
| 3 | Messages lost. No talking during the share, move, and grow actions. |
| 2 | Messages intercepted. No talking during the share, move, and grow actions. Re-roll the die. |
| 1‑4 (on re‑roll) | Place a Mission stop on Elder's Church. |
| 5‑8 (on re‑roll) | Place a Growth stop on the Elder's Church. |
| 1 | Spies infiltrate. No talking during the share, move, and grow actions. Remove 1 Church Member or Missionary from the Elder's Church. |
Share: Turn the "prayed" cards face up. The Elder must now decide which 2 cards to use. Other players may offer advice if the Message die results allow, but the player with the Elder staff must choose. Apply the Faith cards to the Church or Region in which the player with the Elder staff's Apostle Pawn is located (unless the card directs otherwise). After the 2 cards are played, place all Faith cards in the individual player's Discard pile on his or her Apostle Board (unless the card was added to the New Testament).
All players turn the cards they prayed (face down) face up. As the Elder, Andrew needs to pick two of the face up cards to use. Andrew removes the Mission Stop from Jerusalem (place it back in the inkwell), and adds a Church Member (from the supply) to Jerusalem (where the Elder's pawn is). All cards (used or not) are discarded on their Apostle Board. Normally, players could offer advice, but Andrew's Message Die roll prohibits talking during this LIVE phase.
Move: Pieces move between Locations along routes. The Elder may make two moves. These may be Fellowship Moves, Mission Moves, or one of each. The player with the Elder staff may move any piece on the board. The Elder may move the same piece more than once.
Fellowship Moves allow any number of Apostles, Missionaries, and/or Church Members to be moved between adjacent Locations with existing Churches.
Mission Moves involve moving from an existing Church into a Location without a Church. Mission Moves require a Population of at least 4. During the Mission Move, at least one Apostle or Missionary must move to the new Location (they may be accompanied by any number of other Apostles, Missionaries, and/or Church Members). Mission stops prohibit Mission Moves out of the church on which the stop is played (see Stop section).
Note: Voluntarily removing the last piece from a City Location during a Mission or Fellowship Move causes that Church to be extinguished (see Trial section).
Ships: Normal Mission Move rules apply to moving onto an empty Ship. A second move is required to place the pieces in the City on the other end of the route. This move does not require a Population of 4 or an Apostle or Missionary. These moves may be done in one turn, or one at a time (players cannot make more than two moves unless a Faith card giving extra movement is selected in the Share action). The Ship's direction does not impact movement. While on a Ship, the Church is in the blue Region. Leaving a Ship empty does not place an extinguished token.
As the Elder, Andrew may move anything on the board. For his two moves, Andrew:
- Mission Move: Barnabas, a Missionary, and 2 Church Members to Jericho.
- Mission Move: 2 Missionaries and 1 Church Member to Nazareth.
Both of these moves required 1 Apostle or Missionary, and a pre‑move Jerusalem Population of at least 4. Any number of pieces could be moved as a part of either Mission Move. On future turns, Fellowship Moves between established Churches allow Church Members to move without a Missionary or Apostle. If Andrew had not removed the mission stop during the Share action, the mission stop would have blocked these moves.
Grow: Players may place a Church Member (from the bread) in Churches with 3 or more Population. The Elder may choose not to grow a Church. If there are not enough Church Members in supply, the Elder must decide which Churches grow. Churches on Ships may grow. Growth stops prevent growth (see Stop section).
Pass the Elder staff left.
Andrew grows Nazareth and Jericho. The growth stop blocks growth in Jerusalem. Andrew passes the Elder staff to James. James repeats the 5 Live phase actions, and passes the Elder staff to Barnabas. All players now have 2 Faith cards left in their hands.
Mature
After completing the required LIVE phases, players use the 2 cards left in their hands to purchase new Faith cards. Beginning with the Elder, players may purchase cards from the Faith card piles. The sum of the Faith points on the remaining cards determines how much the player can spend. Players can spend their Faith points in any way, or choose not to spend any or all of their Faith points.
For example, a player with 3 Faith points may: buy three 1‑Faith cards, buy one 2‑Faith card & one 1‑Faith card, buy one 2‑Faith card, buy two 1‑Faith cards, buy one 1‑Faith card, buy one 3‑Faith card, or buy nothing.
If buying 1 card, the player draws the top 2 cards, chooses one, and returns the other to the bottom of the deck it came from.
If buying more than 1 card, simply draw those cards from the correct deck. Once finished, place the 2 cards from your hand and any purchased cards into the discard pile on your Apostle board.
Mature Example
After playing through the two Live phases, Barnabas is the Elder, and cards remain in each player's hand.
Players add the faith points on the two cards to determine how much they can spend. Andrew, James, and Barnabas have 3, 2, and 4 faith points respectively. Starting with Barnabas, each player buys new Faith cards. Barnabas uses his four faith points to buy one 4‑Faith card. To do so, he draws the top two 4‑Faith cards, selects the one he wants, places it in his discard pile (with the 2 cards left from his hand), and returns the other 4‑Faith card to the bottom of the 4‑Faith deck. Next, Andrew buys a 1‑Faith card and a 2‑Faith card. Since he bought more than one card, he draws the top 1‑Faith and 2‑Faith cards, and places them into his discard pile (with the 2 cards left from his hand). Lastly, James decides not to buy new cards (not good strategy at this point in the game, but legal). He places the 2 cards (from his hand) in his discard.
Another round begins with the ARM phase. In this example, each player has 2 cards left in their draw piles. The players draw these two cards into their hands. Now, they shuffle their discard piles, place them in their draw piles, and finish drawing their hands up to 6 cards. In the future, if they can draw six cards from their draw piles, they will NOT shuffle their discard piles.
Game End
Play until the scenario victory conditions are met, 5 Churches are extinguished, or the last Trial card is drawn. If the last Trial card is drawn, play the entire LIVE phase. When the Grow action ends, the game is over. If the victory conditions are not met, the players lose.
Trial Cards
Follow the instructions on the card to resolve the circumstance. Unless stated otherwise on the card, the directions apply to the Location or Region in which the Elder's Apostle pawn is located. Once play begins, the Trial deck is never shuffled. The game ends after the LIVE phase of the last Trial card. Here are some symbols you will see during Trials:
- Place a Growth Stop as directed.
- Place a Mission Stop as directed.
- Remove a Church Member or a Missionary.
- Persecution: Remove half of the Church's Population, rounding down. Do not remove Apostles.
- Place the designated number of Word cards from the board into the box. If you do not have enough Word cards, move the extinguished token that many spaces.
- No movement into, from, or within the designated area.
- No Apostles or Missionaries can move (Church Members may move) for the current LIVE phase.
- No moving the pawn of the Apostle who drew this card for the designated time (number of LIVE phases on the card).
- Scatter: Only one Church Member, Missionary, or Apostle may remain in the Church. The rest must move to 1 or more adjacent locations.
- All Apostles must leave the Church. They may move to 1 or more adjacent Locations.
- Extinguished: All Church Members and Missionaries removed from Church (if Apostles are in the Church, move them to an adjacent surviving Church). Add an Extinguished Token.
Note: Some Trial cards specify a number of times to take the designated action. Otherwise, take the action once.
For help resolving specific Trial card / Faith card interactions, see the Additional Rules and Special Circumstances section below.
Stops
Some Scenario and Trial cards will direct you to place stops on 1 or more Churches.
Growth Stop: Prevents a Church with a Population of three or more from adding a Church Member during the Grow action. Growth stops do not prevent Apostles from adding to that Church during the Share or Move actions.
Mission Stop: Prevent a Church with a Population of four or more from doing a Mission Move from the affected City. Mission Stops do not prevent Mission Moves into the City where they are. The stop does not prevent Fellowship moves or Growth. If a Trial card forces the Church to scatter, the Population forced to move may go to any connected City.
Removing a Stop: Stops may be removed during the Share action. Also, if the Apostles collect all nine word cards, all Stops are removed from the board.
Extinguished: If a City Location containing a Church becomes empty either by trial or by choice, the Church's light has been extinguished. Place an extinguished token. If 5 Churches are extinguished, the Apostles lose the game. If a trial directs this and there is a tie for largest Population, extinguish the Church closer to Jerusalem. If still tied, the Elder must choose which Church to extinguish.
Additional Rules and Special Circumstances
Converted City Leaders: When this faith card is selected in the Share action, place the token in the location with the Elder's Apostle pawn. This Location is not affected by trials except: Worldly Priorities and Mount Vesuvius Erupts. If the card is selected again, move the token to the specified City. The original Location has lost its protection. If played on a Ship, move it to the City when the Church leaves the Ship.
Trials on a Ship: If they receive a stop, it moves with them to the destination City. If forced to scatter, move the entire Church (including the one person normally left behind) to one or both of the adjacent Cities (Elder chooses where to place any stops). If the Church on a Ship has less than 4 Population and/or lost their Apostle/Missionary, they may still move to either adjacent City.
If an Apostle is imprisoned, they may be moved before the required number of LIVE phases by three Faith cards: Carried Off by Spirit (only when they are the Elder), Jailhouse Earthquake, or Angelic Escape.
During the Hide From Persecution trial, only the Elder can Move out of, into, or within the affected area with the Carried Off by Spirit card.
Extinguished or Persecution Situations: If a trial affects the largest Church and there is a tie, apply the trial to the Church closer to Jerusalem. If still tied, the Elder must choose. If a Trial card extinguishes the only Church before the Church expands beyond a single location, reshuffle the trial deck and start again. If a Church with an Apostle pawn is being extinguished, and there is no adjacent Church, leave the Apostle pawn where it is, and place an extinguished token. Apostle pawns are never removed from the game.
If a Faith card lets you add a Missionary but they are all in play, add a Church Member instead.
If directed to lose more Church Members or Missionaries than you have in a designated area, you do not need to remove them from outside that area. Remove as many as you are able. Place extinguished tokens for any Churches extinguished in the process.
If a trial removes books from the New Testament and you do not have enough books, place an extinguished token for each book you are unable to remove.
When using John's Apostle card or Divine Pruning, a player's faith deck may not go below the number required to draw a full hand during the ARM phase.
Adversary Variant (3-7 Players)
The Church has always had a determined and cunning enemy.
Setup: Place Roman Legion Token in Rome. Select one player to be the Adversary.
ARM: Adversary draws 2 Trial Cards (3 with 4-5 players, 4 with 6 players).
Trial: Adversary plays 1 Trial Card of their choice.
Move: Before the Apostles make their Moves, Adversary may either move the Roman Legion token 1 City/Church, or place 1 stop of their choice on the City the Roman Legion occupies (do not move Roman Legion Token).
Winning: Adversary wins if the Church loses for any reason.
Game Design
Patrick & Katherine Lysaght
We would like to dedicate this game to the wonderful people who discipled and mentored us in our Christian journey. Never be afraid to step out in faith, to live life to its fullest, and to enjoy the life-giving fellowship within the body of Christ. Also, thank you to our friends in the Fort Leavenworth area and at TableTop in Overland Park for their tireless play testing! Finally, thank you to the larger community of gamers who generously gave their time and talent to improve this game, enable it's production, and promote it's distribution.
www.charagames.com | [email protected] | Facebook/CharaGames | @CharaGames
Graphic Design / Board & Map Illustrations — Kenneth Spond
I have to first thank Patrick & Katherine for giving me a chance and trusting me to handle the graphic design for this game. I had been trying to break into designing for board games for some time when my buddy, Jacob Walker, passed this job onto me. Patrick was quick to give me a chance, and I'm glad he did! I look forward to designing for more games in the future and growing on this already very rich experience I've had with Commissioned. I must thank my patient family for supporting me through working months of weekend hours to finish this project on top of my full-time job.
www.kennethspond.com | [email protected] | @kennethspond | krspond on boardgamegeek.com
Character Illustrations — Le Rastislav
artdeepmind.deviantart.com | [email protected] | TsN5 on boardgamegeek.com
Chara Games would like to thank our incredible team of Kickstarter Backers who made both our company and this game possible!
Quick Reference Sheet
- Place a Growth Stop as directed.
- Place a Mission Stop as directed.
- Remove a Church Member or a Missionary.
- Persecution: Remove half of the Church's Population, rounding down. Do not remove Apostles.
- Place the set number of Word Cards from the board into the box. If short played Word Cards, place extinguished tokens.
- No movement into, from, or within the designated area.
- No Apostles or Missionaries can move (Church Members may move) for the current LIVE phase.
- No moving the pawn of the Apostle who drew this card for the designated time (number of LIVE phases on the card).
- Scatter: Only 1 piece may remain in the affected Church. Move the others to 1 or more adjacent Locations.
- All Apostles must leave the Church. They may move to 1 or more adjacent Locations.
- Extinguish one Church. Add an extinguished token to the track.
- Extra move during the Move action.
- Remove a Growth Stop.
- Remove a Mission Stop.
- Add one Church Member.
- Add one Missionary.
- Free one imprisoned Apostle.
- Free all imprisoned pieces.
- Add two Church Members for each Missionary and Apostle on the board.
- Place the Converted City Leaders token as stated under Additional Rules and Special Circumstances above.
- Elder's Staff. On cards, refers to the player who is currently the Elder.
Game End
Play until Scenario conditions are met, 5 Churches are extinguished, or the last Trial card is drawn. If the last Trial card is drawn, play the entire LIVE phase. When the Grow action ends, the game is over. If the victory conditions are not met, the players lose.
Changes by Player Number
| Number of Players | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Missionaries | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Removed Trial Cards | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| ARM # of Cards | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 6 |
| LIVE Phases per Round | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
| Pray # of Cards | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Message Die Results
| Roll | Effect |
|---|---|
| 4‑8 | Messages arrive. Players may talk with the Elder during the share, move, & grow actions. |
| 3 | Messages lost. No talking during the share, move, and grow actions. |
| 2 | Messages intercepted. No talking during the share, move, and grow actions. Re-roll the die. |
| 1‑4 (on re‑roll) | Place a Mission stop on Elder's Church. |
| 5‑8 (on re‑roll) | Place a Growth stop on the Elder's Church. |
| 1 | Spies infiltrate. No talking during the share, move, and grow actions. Remove 1 Church Member or Missionary from the Elder's Church. |