Dawn
Dawn Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 144 Resource Cards, in four suits: Attack, Heal, Spy, and Wild
- 20 Wound Cards
- 40 Town Tiles (23 Building Tiles and 17 Threat Tiles)
- 4 Great Building Cards
Resource Card types:
| Type | Color | Symbol |
|---|---|---|
| Attack | Red | Sword |
| Heal | Green | Cross |
| Spy | Blue | Eye |
| Wild | Yellow | Coin |
A Spy Resource Card is worth 3 Treasures. A Building Tile shows the Treasure it costs to construct (for example, a Building Tile that costs 10 Treasures). A Threat Tile shows the Resource cards it costs to defeat (for example, a Bandit Tile that costs 3 Spy Cards to defeat).
Setup
First, shuffle the Resource Cards to create a face down deck and place it in the center of the table, leaving space for a discard pile next to it. Then, shuffle the Town Tiles and, without looking at them, return a number of them to the box depending on player count:
| Number of Players | Tiles to return |
|---|---|
| 3 | 15 |
| 4 | 10 |
| 5 | 0 |
Place the remaining tiles face down beside the Resource deck.
Place the deck of Wound Cards on the other side of the Resource deck.
Place the 4 Great Building Cards in a row to the side of the play area.
Deal each player 7 cards from the Resource deck, as well as 2 Wound Cards.
Give the player who most recently built something the first player marker.
Objective
Dawn requires working together to build a city, and with two ways to win, each player must secretly choose their path. Will you work as an Ally by committing your resources to build the town, or turn into a Scoundrel by hoarding them for yourself? You can either collaborate and win as a team if you achieve a certain threshold of prosperity in the town, determined by the number of Ally Players at the end of the game. Or you can choose to work as a Scoundrel, in which case, you can only win if the town fails to achieve its prosperity goal and you have the most treasure in your personal Storehouse.
Each round, you will have an opportunity to contribute Resource Cards to the Town Treasury, construct buildings in the town by contributing them to Town Tiles or Great Building Cards, or use those cards for special actions to advance your own secret goals.
The game ends after 6 rounds, at which time the prosperity of the town is totalled up. If the Ally Players meet or exceed their threshold, which is based on the number of Ally Players, they win, and the Scoundrels lose! Otherwise, whichever scoundrel player has the most treasure in their personal Storehouse wins.
Round Overview
During a round of Dawn, players will take turns playing their Resource Cards to various locations or using them to perform special actions. Players can play as many actions and cards as they like on their turn. Once you choose, or are forced, to pass, your turn is over and the player on your left takes their turn. Once each player has taken their turn, a round is over.
At the beginning of the first 5 rounds, place a number of Town Tiles face down in a row in the middle of the table, depending on player count:
| Number of Players | Tiles to place |
|---|---|
| 3 | 5 |
| 4 | 6 |
| 5 | 8 |
Skip this step on round 6: in that round, only the Great Building Cards are available.
Then, all players must simultaneously choose one of their Resource Cards and place it face down in their respective storehouse. This card helps determine a player's affiliation (Ally or Scoundrel - see Revealing your Affiliation below).
Play starts with the first player. On your turn, you can perform as many of the following actions as you wish, in any order. Once you can no longer take any actions, you must pass (though you can always choose to pass before you run out of cards).
Player Actions
Each of the following actions, except for passing, requires you to play Resource Cards from your hand. Note that Wound Cards can never be played as part of any action.
You are free to say whatever you wish about the cards you contribute, but the cards themselves must be kept secret until they are revealed.
Swapping Cards with Your Storehouse
At any time on your turn, you may switch Resource Cards from your Storehouse to your hand, replacing them one-for-one. You'll therefore always have the same amount of cards in your Storehouse that you began your turn with. This does not count as your action for the turn.
Contribute to a Building or Threat
You may contribute a Resource Card to help construct a Town Building, a Great Building, or deal with a Threat to the town. Place any number of Resource Cards face down next to the chosen tile. Town Tiles and Threats will be resolved at the end of the round, while Great Building Cards will be resolved at the end of the game.
Contribute to a Great Building
You may contribute a Resource Card to one of the Great Building Cards by placing it face down under the chosen card; it will be resolved at the end of the game.
Heal a Wound
You may remove a Wound Card from your hand or any other player's hand by discarding any three Health Resource Cards, returning it to the Wound deck.
Note: the rulebook text says "Health Resource Cards" here; the suit is printed as "Heal" in the Types of Resource Cards table and in Components. Transcribed as printed.
Raid a Player
You may discard a randomly chosen Resource Card from another player's Storehouse by discarding any three Attack Resource Cards.
Spy on a Building
You may secretly look at the other side of a face down Threat, or Town Building tile by discarding any one Spy Resource Card.
Wild Resource Cards can be used in place of any other Resource cards when taking the above actions (with the exception of Great Buildings). For example, you could heal a Wound with one Heal Resource Card and two Wild Resource Cards, or spy with a single Wild Resource Card.
Discard
You may discard any number of Resource Cards of your choice; those cards have no effect. You cannot discard a Wound Card.
Pass
Passing ends your turn. If you do not have any more Resource Cards in your hand, you must pass.
After you have passed, the player to your left takes their turn. Once each player has taken a single turn, one round is over.
End of Round
Once a round is over, it is time to resolve all of the Resources contributed to Town Buildings and Threat Tiles. The Great Building Cards are only resolved at the end of round 6.
Construct Town Buildings
To construct a Building, follow these steps. First, shuffle all Resource Cards that have been contributed to the Building during the previous round - this serves to hide which players contributed which cards.
Next, reveal all of the Resource Cards contributed to that building and add up the total value of Treasure on all of the cards. If that total equals or exceeds the amount on the Building Tile, the Building is successfully constructed! Place it next to the Great Building area (do not flip it over).
If the total Treasure value of contributed Resource Cards is lower than the amount on the Building Tile, you have failed to construct the Building. Place it in the Tile discard pile, and discard all Resource Cards contributed to it as well.
This includes Town Buildings with no Resource Cards contributed to them: place them in the discard pile as well (do NOT discard the Great Building Cards!).
Deal with Threats
To deal with a Threat to the town, first shuffle all the Resource Cards that have been contributed to that Threat during the previous round. Then, reveal all those cards and check if they meet the requirement on the Threat card.
If the Threat's requirement has been met, discard the Tile face down and all Resource Cards contributed to it. If its requirements have not been met, flip the Tile face up and resolve the attack shown. These attacks may destroy Buildings or cause players to gain Wounds, while some do nothing at all.
For example, a Bandit may require three Spy Resource Cards to be defeated. If the players have contributed these cards, the Bandit is discarded without effect. If not, however, the Tile is flipped to reveal its attack: in this case, the lowest valued Building in the Town is destroyed.
NOTE: Only the type of the Resource Card played to a Threat matters; the Treasure value of the cards does not matter.
Draw Cards
After all the players have resolved any Threats, they draw cards until they have nine in their hand (including any Wounds), the first player passes the marker to the player on their left, and then a new round begins.
At the end of the 5th round, when the stack of Town Tiles is empty, the 6th and final Great Buildings round begins.
The Great Buildings Round
The 6th round of the game is the Great Buildings Round, and it is played as normal except that no new Town Tiles are revealed.
End of Game
Once the Great Buildings Round ends, the game is over and it is time to find out who wins.
Revealing your Affiliation
First, you must reveal your affiliation (Ally or Scoundrel). Reveal the cards in your Storehouse and add up the total Treasure value of all of them. If you have 7 or more Treasure in your Storehouse, you are a Scoundrel; if you have less than 7 Treasure you are an Ally. It is possible that more than one player can be a Scoundrel.
Once this is done, it is time to construct the Great Buildings.
Construct Great Buildings
To construct a Great Building you must reveal all Resource Cards and check if they meet the requirement on the Great Building Card.
Each of the 4 Great Building Cards has its own requirements for Success, which are shown on the front of the card. Some Resource Cards will count as +1 Success, while others count as -1 Success. Add up the total amount for each Great building Card and see if it meets the requirements. If it does, flip the Great Building Card over. If there were not enough Successes, discard the Great Building Card as well as all Resource Cards contributed towards it.
- Great Building #1: Requires 10 Successes. Blue Resource Cards each provide +1 Success, regardless of their Treasure value, while Green and Yellow Resource Cards provide -1 Success (Red cards have no effect). If constructed, this Building provides 30 Prosperity Points to the town.
- Great Building #2: Requires 6 Successes. Green Resource Cards each provide +1 Success, regardless of their Treasure value, while Red Resource Cards provide -1 Success (Blue and Yellow Resource Cards have no effect). If constructed, this Building provides 10 Prosperity Points to the town for each ally player who has no Wounds in their hand.
- Great Building #3: Requires 8 Successes. Yellow Resource Cards each provide +1 Success, regardless of their Treasure value, while Blue Resource Cards provide -1 Success (Red and Green Resource Cards have no effect). If constructed, this Building provides 4 Prosperity Points to the town for each constructed Town Building.
- Great Building #4: Requires 18 Successes. Each Resource Card provides its printed Treasure value, including negative values, to the Success of this Building. If constructed, this Building provides 20 Prosperity Points to the town.
Victory Conditions
After resolving the Great Building Cards, see if the Town was successfully founded by adding up the total Prosperity Points of all the constructed Buildings (both Town Buildings and the Great Buildings).
If this total meets or exceeds 30 Prosperity Points per Ally Player, then the Ally Players win!
If the total does NOT meet or exceed 30 Prosperity Points per Ally Player, then one of the Scoundrels will win. Whichever Scoundrel has the highest amount of Treasure in their personal Storehouse is the winner!
Example Round
It is the beginning of a round in a three player game, and the 5 Town Tiles are revealed to be:
- A Town Building that costs 6 Treasure
- Another Town Building that costs 6 Treasure
- A Barbarian attack that costs 2 Green Resource Cards to defeat
- A Plague that costs 2 Red Resource Cards to resolve
- A Town Building that costs 9 Treasure
Player 1 is up first, and has a hand of 7 Resource Cards and 2 Wounds. They first select a Resource Card and put it face down in their Storehouse. Next, they play 1 Blue Resource Card to spy on the first 6-Treasure Building. After looking at it, they play 3 face down Resource Cards to the other 6-Treasure Building. Finally, they contribute 1 Resource Card face down to the Town Treasury and pass their turn with one Resource Card and two Wounds remaining in hand.
Player 2 is up next, and they have a hand of 6 Resource Cards and 3 Wounds (having received a Wound on a previous round). After placing a Resource Card face down in their Storehouse, they play 3 Green Resource Cards to discard one of their Wounds. Finally, they place 2 Resource Cards face down on the Barbarians.
Player 3 is last to go, starting their turn by placing a face down Resource Card into their Storehouse. They then add 2 Resource Cards face down to the Town Treasury, and a third Resource Card to the same 6-Treasure Building that Player 1 had previously contributed to. They then play 3 Green Resource Cards to give a Wound to Player 1.
When everyone is finished it is time to resolve the Town Tiles. The first 6-Treasure Building is discarded, as there are no Resource Cards committed to it (it is shown to only be worth 4 Prosperity Points if constructed).
The second 6-Treasure Building has 4 Resource Cards committed to it (3 from Player 1, 1 from Player 3). These cards are shuffled and revealed to be worth 3, 2, 1, and -1 Treasure respectively. This is not enough to construct it, so it is discarded as well (and revealed to be worth 12 Prosperity Points).
The 2 Resource Cards committed to the Barbarian are revealed to both be Green, so that Threat is discarded. With nothing contributed to the Plague, though, it is flipped face up and resolved. In this case, everyone gains a Wound.
Finally, the last Town Building Tile is discarded as it had no Resource Cards committed to it (it is revealed to be worth 16 prosperity points!).
After this, players draw until they have 9 cards in hand, and the next round is ready to begin.