Dice Realms Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Before the First Game
• Game Setup
• Player Setup
• Play
• 1. Roll
• 2. Collect
• 3. Upgrade
• 4. Check Game End
• Scoring
• After the First Game
• Random Tile Setups
• Timing and Attack Details
• Play Tips
• Die Face Fine Points
  • Standard Lines — always in play (see reference sheet for descriptions)
  • Randomized Faces or Lines
• Round Sequence (Reference Summary)
  • Dice Symbols
• Credits

Contents

• 19 customizable dice: 4x black, 4x white, 5x gray, 4x green, 2x red
• 24 dice tools
• 673 custom die faces in 5 bags
• 1 master tray (and lid) for 284 faces; 2 storage trays (and lids), each for 192 faces
• 1 setup/play summary tile
• 35 randomizer tiles
• 1 rulebook, 2 reference sheets, 1 storage sheet, 1 player guide, 1 cloth bag
• 4 treasury tiles, 4 upgrade disks
• 16 set-a-die tokens, 20 reroll tokens
• 44 victory point (VP) chips
• 28 misery (−VP) chips
• 20 grain chips
• 48 grain pieces

Before the First Game

Carefully remove the set-a-die and reroll tokens and −4* misery and 4* grain chips from their frames. Put them in the master tray (see right). Put the 24 dice tools and the die faces from the largest bag in the master tray, sorting them by their "dots" and types (see storage sheet).

The bag with the most faces includes some gray die faces.

Remove and set aside the 10 VP, −10, and 10 grain chips. These are used only during the final round of each game.

Remove the treasury tiles and the −2, 3 VP, 2 VP, and 1 VP chips.

Use as tiles indicate, see page 9 (of the physical rulebook — see Random Tile Setups below).

Dice Assembly. Assemble the black, white, and gray dice by taking die faces as shown from the bottom row of the master tray and pressing them firmly into the sides of these customizable dice, so that each face is flush with the edges of its die.

Then, assemble the green dice with six 1 VP green Barony faces. After doing this, 6 purple faces and 3 each of the other 4 die faces should be left in the tray's bottom 1-dot row.

From the Fate die face bag, with just 17 faces, assemble the Fate die using the 6 initial Fate die faces shown below. Put the other 11 Fate die faces, used in other games when certain randomizer tiles are drawn, in the upper left compartment of the master tray.

Initial Fate die faces: winter, winter (×2), affect harvest, upgrades, robber.

Removing Die Faces during Play. Use the rounded end of a dice tool, scalloped side facing up, and gently "scoop" the die face out of the die. Keep a finger loosely over the face being removed, so it does not "fly away" when removed! Each player needs only 1 dice tool in a game. With proper use, dice tools should last many games. However, some players may "dig in" too much when removing faces and damage a dice tool. We have supplied 20 spare dice tools.

Game Setup

1. Put the master tray, summary tile, and red Fate die in the center of the table.
2. Give 1 black die and 1 white die to each player.
3. For a 4-player game, put the other 9 dice (5 gray and 4 green) in the center of the table. With fewer than 4 players, return 1 die of each color (black, white, gray, green) to the box for each player not in the game.
4. Set all the large 10 VP, −10 misery, and 10 grain chips off to one side, for use only in the final round.
5. For a 4-player game, use all the other VP and −2 misery chips and grain pieces (not chips). With fewer than 4 players, use 12 grain pieces, 18 points in chips (3x 1 VPs, 2 VPs, and 3 VPs), and 4x −2 misery chips per player, placing them in a common supply in the center beside the master tray. Return any unused chips and pieces to the box.
6. Draw 5 tiles from the bag. Put these tiles and their corresponding die faces in the center below the master tray (white faces) or beside it (colored lines). See Random Tile Setups for details.

First game. Put the 5 preset * tiles — Plow Team, Gardener, Steward, Grain Robber, and Hero — below the master tray. From the bag with 40 white faces, sort them into 5 piles of 8 matching die faces by each tile. (The other 2 bags of faces are not used.)

• Plow Team — Reroll: gain 2 grain and reroll this die. (max: 1 per die)
• Gardener — Reroll: may convert 1 grain to 2 VPs once. Reroll this die. (max: 1 per die)
• Steward — Upgrade 1 Lands face (Barony or County) to a Dukedom face.
• Grain Robber — Attack: opponents lose 2 grain. Gain 3 grain and 1 coin.
• Hero — Ignore 1 or 2 attacks. Gain 3 VPs.

Note: the recommended reference numbers on the tiles ("6", "7", "8", "9", "10") refer to positions on the treasury tile track — see Upgrades below.

Player Setup

7. Give each player a treasury tile with its "1 coin" side face up, a dice tool, an upgrade disk, and, from the center supply, 3 grain, and 1 reroll token.
8. Give the Fate die to any player. Begin play.

The Fate die shifts clockwise at the end of each round. Which player rolls it rarely matters during early rounds. Either give it to any player or, if you prefer, to the one who most recently upgraded something: a phone, computer, airline seat, game, etc.

Play

Dice Realms consists of a series of rounds. Each round consists of 4 steps:

1. Roll. Each player rolls all their dice, including the Fate die by the player currently holding it. a. Winter. If winter is rolled on the Fate die, immediately resolve it. b. Reroll. Each player may reroll 1 die and use reroll powers/tokens or set tokens. c. Attacks. Resolve any attacks: on the Fate die, then clockwise starting with the Fate die player.
2. Collect. Players collect resources and may buy more dice. a. Grain, VPs. Players take grain and VP chips as shown on their faces. b. Buy. Players total their coins showing and decide how to spend them, possibly buying dice.
3. Upgrade. Players spend upgrades to improve faces of their active dice.
4. End? If this is the final round — due to any of the "10" chips having been used — total scores (see Scoring). Otherwise, pass the Fate die clockwise and begin a new round.

Play is intended to be mostly simultaneous, with players slowing down and doing a step clockwise from the player with the Fate die as needed (usually, just step 1 to resolve any player attacks). See Timing and Attack Details.

1. Roll

All players roll all their dice. The player with the Fate die rolls it as well and announces its result to the other players. Mark any upgrades (see Upgrades) provided by the Fate die.

Winter. If a winter face is rolled on the Fate die, each player turns in 1 grain per die they own to the supply. For each grain that a player owes and cannot pay, that player takes a −2 misery chip.

If the −2 misery chips ever run out and more are needed, add the −10 misery chips, make change as needed, and continue play. This will now be the final round of the game.

The player rolling the Fate die does not owe 1 grain for the Fate die itself.

Winter occurs before anything else during a round. Thus, players must already have the grain on hand to pay for their dice; any grain that they will collect this round cannot be used.

Reroll. Each player may reroll 1 die "for free". They must reroll dice with faces showing the return-misery-chip symbol and may spend reroll or set-a-die tokens during this step, returning them to the tray.

Set-a-die tokens are used to set 1 die to any of its faces. Each reroll is another roll of a single die.

If a player rerolls a die and gets a reroll face, they resolve it and then reroll that die again. If they roll a reroll face again, they resolve it again, and continue rerolling and resolving it until they do not roll a reroll face. (Each reroll die face type is limited to 1 per die to avoid "infinite" rerolls.)

A player can use their "free" reroll, any reroll powers showing on their dice faces, and set-a-die or reroll tokens in any order. During this step, a player may use several tokens on the same die.

The Fate die cannot be rerolled or set to a different face (or be affected by attacks, see below).

Example: Alice has 2 dice, 2 reroll tokens, and 1 grain. She rolls a 1 VP Barony face on her black die and a Gardener face on her white die. She uses her free reroll on her black die (without collecting 1 VP from it as this is not the Collect step) and rolls a Plow Team face. She takes 2 grain for its power, rerolls this die, and rolls the Plow Team face again, taking 2 more grain. She rerolls and gets a Prospector face.

With 5 grain now, Alice chooses to use her white die's Gardener power, spending 1 grain for 2 VP chips, before rerolling it to its Tower face. She does not take 1 gain for the Tower as this is not the Collect step. She spends a reroll token to reroll it again, rolling its Gardener face. She chooses to spend another grain for 2 VPs and rerolls it, getting its Tower face again. She decides not to spend her last reroll token and ends her Roll step with 4 more VPs and 3 total grain.

Fate die faces such as Good Harvest or Bad Harvest and Aqueduct affect collecting grain by reroll powers such as the Plow Team. These effects are cumulative.

Attacks. Resolve any attack on the Fate Die, followed by any attacks on players' faces, clockwise starting with the Fate die player. Fate die attacks affect all players while a player attack affects all their opponents. Red faces and white faces with red squares have attacks. These faces' other powers do not depend on their attacks succeeding. There are three types of attacks:

• Grain attacks: players return grain to the supply, taking a −2 misery chip per grain they do not have.
• Loss of die attacks: players each choose a die to set aside which is inactive for the rest of this round.
• Face destruction attacks: each player chooses a (non-Destroyed) face showing on an active die and swaps it for a Destroyed face, placing the lost face on their treasury tile. At game end, each Destroyed face scores −2 VPs.

Some faces, such as Plague or Saboteur, list 2 separate attacks.

Defense. A player with shields showing can ignore one attack per shield. A player may choose to not use a shield to defend against one attack and then use it to defend against a later attack. Shields showing on inactive dice (those set aside as losses) can be used to defend against later attacks.

Important: a player may never lose their last active die or their last active non-Destroyed face showing to an attack. A player who would suffer such a result ignores any attack that would do this.

Note that Winter is not a grain attack. For timing details and an attack example, see Timing and Attack Details.

2. Collect

Each player collects all the victory points and grain shown on their dice faces.

Fate die faces such as Good/Bad Harvest and Aqueduct faces affect collecting grain. These effects are cumulative. Bad Harvest also has a Collect power: to convert pairs of grain into coins.

Players may make change among 3, 2, and 1 value VP chips and among grain pieces and any 4* grain chips in play (due to tiles that added them during setup) to gain their VPs and grain.

If either the VP chips or grain pieces run out and more are needed, add the 10 VP or 10 grain chips, make change as needed, and continue play. This will now be the final round of the game.

Buy. After collecting all VPs and grain, each player then totals all coins showing on their dice faces, +1 if they have a coin stored in their treasury, and then decides how to spend their coins.

Coins, as shown on the treasury tile, can be spent on:

• Reroll tokens: cost 1 per token.
• Set-a-die tokens: cost 4 per token.
• Repairing destroyed faces on active dice: cost 3 per face.
• Upgrades: cost 2 per upgrade. Mark purchased upgrades with the upgrade disk (see below).
• Buying new dice: cost 5 coins and 2 grain per die purchased. Return grain spent to the supply.

Tokens. Players may have any number of reroll or set-a-die tokens. Enough tokens are supplied for most games. If more tokens are needed, make up additional tokens using beads, markers, etc.

Repairs. Return the Destroyed face to the tray, swapping it for any previously destroyed face on your Treasury tile (subject to limits for the replacing face, such as a 1 per die limit for some faces or the green face restriction for green dice). Some powers repair Destroyed faces (without spending coins) and are used during the Buy part of the Collect step. Collect powers on newly repaired faces cannot be used.

Upgrades. Place the upgrade disk next to the numbered edge 1-5 (bottom) or 6-10 (top) of the treasury tile that matches the number of purchased upgrades, plus any Upgrade symbols showing on your die faces or, possibly, the Fate Die. Upgrades are spent in the next step, see below.

Example: On a turn where the Fate die rolled Innovation (2 upgrades), Bob rolled a 1 coin Tower face that produces 1 coin. Bob, after collecting a grain, decides to combine the 1 coin rolled plus his 1 coin in treasury and spend these 2 coins for a 4th upgrade. Bob flips over his treasury tile to its "0" side and marks 4 upgrades with his upgrade disk.

A player can have more than 10 upgrades. If needed, use beads or markers as "10s" to mark them until they are spent.

New Dice. A player buying a new die (for 5 coins and 2 grain) may buy either a gray or green die. Gray dice begin with the same set of faces as on each player's initial dice, while Green dice begin with six green 1 VP Barony faces which can only be upgraded to green faces.

If not enough dice are in the supply as players wish to purchase, then the player with the Fate die purchases any new dice first, followed by each player in clockwise order.

Saving a Coin. If the coin in the treasury is spent, flip the treasury tile vertically to its "0" side. Once spent, a treasury does not automatically refill. Instead, on a future turn in which that player has 1 or more excess coins, that player may store 1 coin in the treasury by flipping it to its "1" side. Any unspent coins beyond the 1 coin stored in the treasury are lost.

Collect Powers. Most powers, except shields to ignore attacks and those labeled "Reroll," "Attack," or "Upgrade," are used during the Collect step to gain resources (grain, VPs, coins, or upgrades) or convert them into other resources. A few faces have two Collect powers. Powers may be used in any order, but a power cannot be used in the middle of using another power. A few powers gain a reroll token; these cannot be used during the Collect step but may be used in a Roll step of a future round. Collect powers on newly repaired faces cannot be used.

3. Upgrade

Each player spends their upgrades to improve their die faces. Any unspent upgrades are lost. Any (non-Destroyed) face on an active die may be upgraded; not just the face showing on the die.

This is why upgrades are tracked with the upgrade disk and then decremented as faces are improved; otherwise, as players turn their dice, they can easily lose count of how many upgrades they have made and have remaining.

Faces on dice bought in the previous Collect step may be upgraded. Faces on inactive dice (set aside due to attacks) may not be upgraded. Destroyed faces may not be upgraded.

Each (non-Fate) face has 1 to 4 "dots". All initial die faces have 1 dot. To upgrade a face in the same line — with the same color and matching line symbol — from a 1-dot face to a 2-dot face takes 1 upgrade. Shift the upgrade marker down one notch, use the dice tool to pop out the old face and return it to the supply, and take the new face from the supply and push it firmly into place.

To upgrade a 2-dot face to a 4-dot face in the same line costs 2 upgrades. These costs are cumulative; to go from a 1-dot to a 4-dot face in the same line costs 3 upgrades.

To change to a different face at the same "dot level" — to crossgrade — costs 1 upgrade. Thus, to go from a 1-dot face to a different 1-dot face, changing line/color, costs 1 upgrade; as does changing from any 2-dot face to a different 2-dot face, or any 4-dot face to a different 4-dot face.

To go from a 1-dot face to a 4-dot face in a different line costs 4 upgrades: one to crossgrade from one line to another and 3 to upgrade from a 1-dot face to a 4-dot face in the same line.

Most white faces have 2 dots (there are no white 1-dot faces). To go from an initial 1-dot colored face to any white 2-dot face costs 2 upgrades: one to go from 1 dot to 2 dots and another to change line/color. While all white faces are considered to be the same line, it still costs 1 upgrade to change between two different white 2-dot faces.

Two white faces have 6 (Temple) or 8 (Monument) dots. Upgrading to them takes multiple upgrades done all at once. For example, to go from a 2-dot white face to a 6-dot Temple costs 4 upgrades. To go from a 4-dot colored face to an 8-dot Monument face costs 5 upgrades (1 to crossgrade and 4 to upgrade).

The master tray has embossed upgrade and crossgrade costs as reminders. Consider white 2-dot faces placed below the tray as existing "sideways" at the 2-dot level.

If not enough of a given face are in the supply as players wish to purchase, then the player with the Fate die purchases their faces first, followed by each player in clockwise order.

If an intermediate face, such as 2-dot faces in a line, are all gone, a player can upgrade directly to a face by paying all upgrades at once, such as 3 upgrades for a 1-dot face to go to its line's 4-dot face.

At game end, improved faces score VPs. Each 2-dot face scores 1 VP and each 4-dot face scores 2 VPs. 1-dot faces do not score any VPs.

Each 6-dot Temple face scores 3 VPs and each 8-dot Monument face scores 4 VPs for their dots.

Upgrade Restrictions: Green dice may only have green faces. Some faces are 1 per die, marked "1/⊙". A given die cannot have more than one of each such face but can have several different "1/⊙" faces on it. The Fate die may not be upgraded.

Upgrade Powers. Several faces, when showing, upgrade specific 1-dot or 2-dot faces on any of their owner's active dice to 4-dot faces (without spending upgrades). An upgrade power's face (that is showing) could have been repaired in the previous Collect step and its power can be used even after it is crossgraded (to a face that its power targets).

Downgrades (rare). A player who wishes to do so can spend 1 upgrade to downgrade a face to one with fewer dots, possibly changing lines while doing this (for no additional cost).

Die Colors. Players begin with identical white and black dice. Their different colors are an aid for remembering which die has which upgraded faces.

4. Check Game End

If players needed 10 VP, 10 grain, or −10 misery chips this round, then the game ends. Otherwise, once players are done upgrading their dice, pass the Fate die clockwise and begin a new round.

The game ends even if, after needing one or more of these "10" chips, enough VPs or grain or −2 chips were returned to the supply so that these chips were no longer needed. Only those 4* grain or −4* misery chips added during setup (see Random Tile Setups) are part of the supply.

A game that ends due to the grain pool running out represents producing more grain than can be used or stored in granaries, so that it is left to rot in the fields. As rulers, players must steer their realms between the extremes of producing too little and too much grain.

Scoring

Each player pops out all their non-initial faces from their dice and lines them up in two rows: 2-dot faces, each worth 1 VP, and 4-dot faces, each worth 2 VPs.

Each Destroyed face that was not repaired by game end scores −2 VPs.

1-dot faces are not worth any VPs.

Each player adds their VP chips to this total and then reduces this amount by the value of any −2, −4, or −10 chips that they earned.

Example: Charlie has 11 2-dot faces and 3 4-dot faces on his 3 dice for a total of 17 VPs, plus 16 VPs in VP chips and a −2 misery chip for a total of 31 points. His 4 1-dot faces do not score.

It is not unusual for a player to score more points for their improved faces than for their VP chips.

The player with the highest score wins!

If several players are tied for highest score, the tied player with the most grain wins. If two or more players are still tied, they bask in their shared victory.

Reassemble the Dice. After scoring, return all improved faces to the master tray or randomizer tiles. Then, reset the Fate die faces if needed and reassemble the dice so that:

• Each white, black, and gray die has 2 purple Tinker faces and 1 of each other face from the bottom row of the master tray.
• Each green die has 6 green 1 VP Barony faces.

As a check after reassembling the dice, the master tray bottom row should have 6 purple Tinker faces and 3 each of the other four faces.

• If this row has one extra face, it is likely that some die face still has a 2-dot face (or is empty).
• If a 1-dot face is missing, it is likely that a 1-dot face has been put in a 2-dot tray compartment.

Return the faces matching the randomizer tiles to their trays (8 per compartment) and the tiles to the bag.

After the First Game

Place the 5 groups of 8 white faces used in the first game in 5 compartments of a storage tray. Open the bag of 152 white faces and sort them into 19 groups of 8 faces. Put them in the other 19 compartments of this tray. If desired, arrange these die faces in compartments alphabetically by their tile names to speed game setup (see storage sheet).

Open the bag of 192 colored die faces and sort them by line symbols into 8 lines and then put each line's 3 groups of 8 1-dot, 2-dot, and 4-dot faces in 3 adjacent compartments of the remaining storage tray (see storage sheet).

Carefully remove the remaining 30 randomizer tiles from their frames. Place these 30 tiles and the 5 randomizer tiles used in the first game in the bag.

You are now ready to play more games, either using the recommended setups on the back of each reference sheet or using random setups as described on the next page (and summarized on the back of the reference sheets).

Random Tile Setups

After doing setup steps 1-5 (see Game Setup), do this setup step 6 for a game using random tiles:

A. Thoroughly shuffle the tiles in the bag. Draw 5 tiles, one at a time. Set aside and redraw any tiles that exceed these limits: 1 Fate die tile, 1 Attack tile (white die face), 1 line tile of each color.

B. Place the tiles drawn face up (arch side). Do any Add instructions on them, adding either:

• 4* grain or −4* misery chips, one per player, to the supply (increasing it for this game). Several such tiles can result in several of these chips per player being added.
• a named tile (unless it was already drawn), to use with the 5 drawn tiles.

C. If a Fate die tile was drawn, swap Fate die faces as indicated. Otherwise, if Monastery and/or Quarantine were drawn and no Attack tiles (white attack faces or red lines) were drawn, swap Fate die faces as indicated on their tile backs.

D. Flip over other tiles with the swap symbol. Put line die faces beside the master tray, matching dots.

E. Put tiles and white die faces below the master tray.

F. Return any set aside tiles to the bag.

Some groups may not wish to play with any attack faces. If so, remove those 5 tiles from the bag. Faces with shields will still be relevant due to attack faces on the Fate die. Other groups may feel that grain and 1 turn loss of die attacks are acceptable while face destruction attacks are not. We recommend using the Saboteur and War tiles, with these attacks, only if your group is experienced and agrees to do so.

Timing and Attack Details

Play in Dice Realms is intended to be mostly simultaneous, with players slowing down only when needed.

Players may need to slow play to check if the game will end (by running out of grain, VPs, or −2 chips); or if several players want the last of a given face or die type; or if a player's choices depend strongly on choices of earlier players; or, most commonly, to resolve attacks after several players have acquired attack faces.

Once several players have attack faces, in the Roll step players should announce any attack faces they have rolled (so players can keep defenses or reroll dice based on this). Then, in player order starting with the player with the Fate die, each player does all their rerolls. After players have finished rerolling, do any attacks in player order. A player with multiple attacks chooses the order in which they are done.

Then, usually, the Collect and Upgrade steps can be done simultaneously.

Attack Example. Alice has the Fate die and, after rolls, sees a Robber on the Fate die plus 3 player attacks (Charlie has not rerolled his gray die yet). Alice tries to reroll for shields, fails, and uses a set-a-die token to get her Hero. Bob and Charlie reroll, also hoping for shields, but Bob gets a Barony face and Charlie gets a second Grain Robber. The Fate die's Robber loss of die attack is done first. All players elect to set aside a die to it. Alice has no attacks. Bob's loss of die attack then occurs; Alice uses a shield on her set aside Hero to defend and Charlie defends with his shield. Alice then loses 2 Grain to Charlie's Grain Robber attack on his black die, which Bob defends with his shield. Alice uses her other shield to defend against Charlie's face destruction attack, which Bob ignores as he now has only 1 active non-Destroyed face showing. Charlie's set aside Grain Robber does not attack. All 3 set aside dice are inactive and produce no effects during Collect and cannot be upgraded.

Play Tips

Displaying Upgrades. Some players may find it helpful to put the die faces they have upgraded besides their dice and display their newly improved faces for other players to see. Once everyone is done and has seen each other's upgrades, return the old faces to the supply and resume play.

Doing this can help new players follow the strategies each player is pursuing. However, experienced players often find that doing this slows play too much. Instead, they will frequently announce aloud what new faces they are placing on their dice as they do their upgrades.

Previously upgraded faces set aside to display are available for later players to purchase if those faces run out in the supply.

Marking Coin Totals. Occasionally, a player may wish to inspect their dice before deciding how to spend the coins they have gained. To do this, mark your gained coin total (not including your treasury) using the edge of your treasury tile by placing your dice tool pointing to it. Inspect your dice, decide how to spend your coins, and then spend them before making any upgrades.

Players who mix spending coins and making upgrades tend to make errors. Do not do this!

Die Face Fine Points

See the tiles for a full description of each die face. These notes cover additional interactions.

Standard Lines — always in play (see reference sheet for descriptions)

Lands. The Nobles and Sheep lines' powers are based on how many of these faces are showing. The Steward face upgrades this line to its 4-dot face.

Farming. The Granary face upgrades this line to its 4-dot face.

Commerce. The 4-dot Mine face gains a reroll token and is not a reroll face.

Settlement. The Castellan face upgrades this line to its 4-dot face.

Progress. (no note)

Randomized Faces or Lines

Faces and lines not listed below should be fully explained by their tiles.

Almshouse. If you have no −2 misery chips, you still reroll this face's die. If needed, make change among −4 or −10 misery chips.

Aqueduct. Its grain effect applies during the Roll step (for the Plow Team) and the Collect step and is cumulative with other grain modifying effects.

Banker. Its power cannot interrupt other powers and can be used once per round.

Thus, with a single Banker you can often exchange coins and VP chips for grain to exceed the amount in the supply (so that the game ends that round), but you could not then turn this grain back into VP chips. With 2 Bankers showing, you could do this or use a Banker before using another face's power — say, to turn coins and VPs to grain before using Holdings to gain VP chips based on your current grain — and then use a second Banker afterwards to turn all your grain into VP chips.

Castellan. This is a 2-dot face (whose upgrade effect produces 4-dot faces).

Cattle. These faces gain resources for all active Cattle faces rolled by their owner.

Example: a player with 1 Cattle Baron, 1 Rancher, and 1 Herder showing would gain 6 VPs, 9 coins (6+3), and 12 grain (9+3).

Destroyed Faces. The number supplied (16) should be enough for most games. If more are needed, use a distinctive die face not in play (for example, the Monument die face).

Fairs. These faces' second powers gain resources based on their owner's active dice.

Gardener. Its conversion power is optional and may be done only once each time this face is rolled. Its reroll power is not optional.

Granary. This face's shield defends against only grain attacks, not loss of die or face destruction attacks. This is a 2-dot face (whose upgrade effect produces 4-dot faces).

Holdings. This line's Feodum and Plantation faces each have two Collect powers. If you roll several of these faces, you may first use all their gain grain powers before using their gain VP chip powers.

Jack of all Trades. Its reroll power's restriction differs from using set-a-die tokens (which, unlike this face, can set a die to one of its reroll faces).

Matchmaker. Its power is optional and can be used only once per round, during the spend coins part of the Collect step.

Monument. This face has no effect when rolled during play. At game end, this face scores a total of 13 VPs: 4 for its dots and 9 for its listed value.

Nobles. These gain VPs for their owner's active Nobles and Lands faces showing.

Example: a player with 4 dice who rolled a 2 VP County (Lands) face, a Baron, a Count, and a Duke would gain 17 VPs (2+3+4+8).

Patron. Its conversion power is optional.

Plague. Each of its substituted Fate die faces has 2 separate powers.

Plow Team. The grain gained by its power is affected by all effects (Good or Bad Harvest, Aqueduct, etc.) that modify grain collection.

Sheep. These faces' second powers gain resources based on their owner's active Lands faces showing. They do not benefit from non-Lands green faces.

Shrine. This face gains a reroll token and is not a reroll face.

Steward. This is a 2-dot face (whose upgrade effect produces 4-dot faces).

Round Sequence (Reference Summary)

1. Roll. Each player rolls all their dice, including the Fate die. a. Winter. If winter is rolled on the Fate die, immediately resolve it. b. Reroll. Each player may reroll 1 die and use reroll powers/tokens or set-a-die tokens. c. Attacks. Resolve any attacks: on the Fate die, then clockwise starting with the Fate die player.
2. Collect. Players collect resources and may buy more dice. a. Grain, VPs. Players take grain and VP chips as shown on their faces. b. Buy. Players total their coins showing and decide how to spend them, possibly buying dice.
3. Upgrade. Players spend upgrades to improve faces of their active dice.
4. End? Is this the final round, due to one or more of the "10" chips being used? If not, pass the Fate die clockwise and begin a new round.

Dice Symbols

• grain — a sheaf of wheat
• victory — a numbered circle (VPs)
• coins — a numbered gold circle
• upgrades — a numbered triangle
• reroll — a curved arrow
• set — a looping arrow
• convert once — a single arrow
• convert multiple — a double arrow
• modify grain collection — an up or down grain arrow
• lose grain — "−2" with a grain sheaf (attack power, loss of die)
• lose a die — a steering-wheel icon with a minus sign
• destroy a face — a red starburst with a minus sign
• defense — a shield outline
• defend grain — a shield with a grain sheaf
• repair face — a pick icon
• any die — a plain die outline
• specific dice — colored die outlines (red, white, black, gray, green)
• reroll token — a curved arrow token
• return −2 chip — a "−2" chip with an X

A die face is composed of: dots (indicating its upgrade level, 1 to 4, or more for Temple/Monument), a collect power (e.g. gain coins, gain grain, convert grain to VPs), an attack power (e.g. loss of die), and a line symbol identifying which of the 8 lines the face belongs to.

Credits

Game design and rules: Tom Lehmann Cover and tile illustrations: Martin Hoffmann, Claus Stephan Graphics and production: Martin Hoffmann, Claus Stephan, Mirko Suzuki

Playtesting and Advice: Eitan Adler, Ralph Anderson, Richard Aronson, William Attia, Giovanni Bacigalupi, Lisa Bjornseth, Scott Bryant, Steven Bunnel, Jonathan Cantin, Jacob Carless, Eric Chang, Will Cotton, Laura and Kavon Daftari, Phil Dennis, David desJardins, Jeroen Doumen, Jeff Drumm, Michael Dunsmore, Theresa Duringer, Bianca van Duyl, Mike Ehli, Dave Eisen, Chris Ferrell, Mike Fitzgerald, Justin Fritzler, Tim Fowers, Aaron Fuegi, Jeff Gates, Andy Geier, Jason Gische, Jay and Katrina Gischer, James Gorman, David Grainger, Debbie Guskin, Chris and Felix Halaska, Darlene Hamilton, Sam and Kathryn Harmon, Jeff Hatch, Todd Hebenstreil, Jason Heinke, Jay Heyman, Ken Hill, Sam Hillaire, Beth, Bryan, Jason, and Tommy Howard, Alec Hsu, David Hu, Trisha and Wei-Hwa Huang, Daniel Karp, Bruce Keeney, Pavandeep Koka, Colleen and Matt Leacock, Jay T. Leone, Jason Levine, Chris Lopez, Mitchell Lopez, Terry Lyzen, Paul Markarian, Kristin Matherly, Paul McDermott, John McCloud, Graham Miller, Brian Modreski, Mike Moor, Brent Moroz, Rohit Nambiar, Matthew Nguyen, Steve O'Sullivan, John Rawlings, Larry Rice, Talia Rosen, Larry Rosenberg, Scott Rothstein, Ron Sapolsky, Robert Schiewe, Eli and Leanna Shuster, David Sidore, Hardeep Singh, Adam Smiles, Gene Smith, Geoff Speare, Matthew Stevenson, Kevin Strattenfield, Todd Sudbrink, Scott Tepper, Claudio Tresneda, Steve Thomas, John Todd, Daniel Tregear, Jay Tummelson, Rob Watkins, Don Woods, Mary Wulf, Erin Yeagley, Rae Yip, Eric Yurko, and many more. My apologies to anyone I forgot!

Special Thanks: Iain Alexander and Sean McCarthy.

Rio Grande Games, PO Box 1033, Placitas, NM 87043, USA [email protected] · www.riograndegames.com © 2025 Rio Grande Games

Changeable dice: ©1993-2021 Dirk Laureyssens. All rights reserved. Licensed to Rio Grande Games.

Wheat tokens from Agricola used with permission from Lookout GmbH.