Discworld: Ankh-Morpork FAQ
113 questions players ask · Updated Nov 12, 2026 · Full rulebook
Setup and components
Playing cards and their actions
- If one card lets you play another, can you resolve the actions of the played cards in any order you like?
- Can you skip some of a card's actions, or do them out of order?
- Can you play a card with no effect, such as The Peeled Nuts, just to discard it?
- When do you refill your hand back to five cards?
- What happens if you cannot play any card on your turn?
- When does a played card go to the discard pile?
- Are played and discarded cards visible to every player?
- Can Drumknott's second card be one you drew from the first card's effects?
- Can Carcer decline to remove a minion once the die has been rolled?
- How many minions does Carcer remove?
- How do you resolve History Monks, and does the discard pile become the new draw pile?
- What can a 'discard a card' effect make you discard?
- Does the Royal Mint or another building card stay in play to give its effect each turn?
Placing minions
- Can you place a minion in Dolly Sisters or Dimwell when you have no minion in or next to that area?
- Does the adjacency rule for placing minions still apply when a card's own text says where the minion goes?
- Are two areas connected by a bridge considered adjacent?
- Where can you place a minion if you have no minions on the board?
- Can you place a minion in an area where you only have a building?
- Can I remove one of my minions from the board and place it elsewhere?
- What happens when you must place a minion but have none left in your supply?
- Can Archchancellor Ridcully place two minions in different areas?
- Can you place one of your minions into an area that already holds a demon or troll?
- Do assassinated minions go back to their owner or leave the game for good?
Trouble markers
- Do you place a trouble marker when you add a minion to an area that already has minions?
- Does moving or removing a minion take away the trouble marker in its old area?
- If a minion's move or assassination is prevented, does the trouble marker leave the area?
- Does a card that removes a minion without needing trouble still clear the trouble marker in that area?
- Do you need a trouble marker to move an opponent's minion, or to kill one?
- Can a card with two kill actions remove two minions in the same area?
- Does Burleigh's or Archchancellor Ridcully's effect need a trouble marker to assassinate or place a minion?
- How does a swap of two minions, such as The Bursar's, handle trouble markers?
- Can a trouble marker sit in an area that has a building but no minions?
- Can a trouble marker be placed in an area where you have no minion?
- Can an area hold two trouble markers?
Buildings
- Does Wee Mad Arthur's half-price building round up or down on an odd price such as $17?
- Does Wee Mad Arthur's half-price building still need a minion in the area and follow the normal building rules?
- Do you receive cash when you build a building, or does the building only count toward your final wealth?
- Does the Post Office count buildings of every colour, like Sir Charles Lavatory?
- Does Reacher Gilt or Sybil Vimes need one of your minions in the target area?
- Does a building stay on the board when its owner loses the last minion in that area?
- Can a player have two buildings in the same area?
City Area cards
- Can you place a trouble marker with The Shades in an adjacent area that has no minion?
- Can you use The Shades ability when a demon is in The Shades?
- Can Unreal Estate's draw-one-discard-one ability be used more than once in a turn?
- If you draw a card with Unreal Estate, can you discard it right away?
- Can The Scours and Harry King discard abilities be used alongside the cards you played?
- When can City Area card abilities be used during a turn?
- Can you use a building's ability on cards you draw at the end of your turn?
- When can a newly bought building's ability be used?
- Does controlling an area give you its City Area card?
Paying, exchanging and taking cards
- If you play Rosie Palm or The Seamstresses' Guild and have no card to give, do you still receive the $2?
- In a Rosie Palm or Seamstresses' Guild exchange, what happens if the other player has little or no money?
- If you have no money, can you pay $1 instead of giving a card to The Ankh-Morpork Sunshine Dragon Sanctuary?
- When Hubert forces a player to give another player $3, who chooses the recipient?
- What happens if a card makes you pay money you do not have?
- If you cannot pay the full sum a card demands, do you pay what you have?
- If you cannot pay the full amount a card demands from another player, can you still get the card's following effect?
- Can you play The Chair of Indefinite Studies as your last card, exchanging an empty hand, and keep playing afterwards?
- Can you pass a Fool's Guild or Dr Whiteface card to another player, and does it count toward your hand?
- If the other player pays to avoid a Fool's Guild or Dr Whiteface card, or it is played from the draw pile, is the card discarded?
- If the opponent takes a Fool's Guild or Dr Whiteface card instead of paying, can you still resolve the card's minion placement icon?
- Does The Thieves' Guild take $1 from a player who has only $1, when the card says take $2 if possible?
- How does Fire Brigade work when the target has no buildings?
Interrupt and reaction cards
- Does Wallace Sonky stop The Chair of Indefinite Studies, and what happens if Sonky answers the Chair?
- When Gaspode stops a card that moves another player's minion, can the player who played that card pick a different minion to move?
- Can you play an interrupt card in response to another interrupt, such as Wallace Sonky against Gaspode?
- What does Wallace Sonky protect you from?
- If Wallace Sonky is played against Cosmo Lavish after the payment has been made, is the minion removal cancelled?
- Does Fresh Start Club let a minion that was moved, rather than removed, be placed in a different area?
- Can Wallace Sonky be played against a Fool's Guild or Dr Whiteface that is already in play?
- Is an interrupt card discarded after you use it to stop an action?
- Can you play an interrupt card on your own turn just to get rid of it?
- When can Doctor Mossy Lawn be played to interrupt your own turn and take back the last card you played?
- When Doctor Mossy Lawn ends your turn, do you still draw back up to your hand size?
- Can Gaspode or Wallace Sonky interrupt the Bursar's minion exchange when one swapped minion belongs to the interrupting player?
- Can Gaspode stop a minion removal forced on you by another player's card, such as The Auditors?
Demons, trolls and control of areas
- Can cards that move or remove a minion belonging to another player target trolls and demons?
- How do you decide who controls an area for the Lord win conditions?
- Do demons in an area reduce its buildings to zero for final wealth, and stop you scoring there?
- If Reacher Gilt replaces a building in a demon area, how much do you get back?
- Can you build in an area with a demon, and does the building still work?
- Can you place a troll or demon using the place-a-minion action?
- Can you move a demon or troll under the rule for moving a minion once all your minions are on the board?
- Does the Opera card pay $1 for each troll and demon in the Isle of Gods?
Ending and winning the game
- Does the Dragon King of Arms win with exactly 8 trouble markers, or only with 9 or more?
- Does a win condition have to be true at the start of your turn, and can you claim it before taking any action?
- If a Riot or an empty deck ends the game before the Dragon King's turn, can he still win on trouble markers?
- When the last card is drawn, does the game end at once, and does Commander Vimes win then?
- If the draw deck runs out with nobody holding Commander Vimes, or Riots ends the game, how is the winner decided?
- How many areas does Lord Vetinari need, and do trolls block the count the way demons do?
- Can you repay a Mr Bent loan early, and what does an unpaid loan cost at game end?
- Does Chrysoprase need to pay off loans before winning with $50?
- When Zorgo the Retrophrenologist lets you exchange your Personality card, can you see the new one before you choose?
- What does Mrs Cake let me look at?
Random Events
- Can Small Gods protect your minion from a Troll the same way it protects against a Demon?
- Can Small Gods protect buildings and minions from Bloody Stupid Johnson, and what does each protection cost?
- If Small Gods saves your building from Fire, does the Fire still spread to other districts?
- If a district is hit by Fire twice, must you pay Small Gods twice to save the building both times?
- When can Small Gods stop a Demon placed by a random event?
- When a demon enters play through an event, is a trouble marker placed even if it is alone in the area?
- Do two minions of the same colour that flee a flood create a trouble marker when they arrive in the same area?
- When Susan stops a Dragon event, does she cancel the whole event?
- When Bloody Stupid Johnson requires a minion removal in the card's area, can the owner remove an opponent's minion?
- Does Bloody Stupid Johnson remove the building as well as the City Area card?
- After Bloody Stupid Johnson disables a City Area, can you rebuild there once the building burns down?
- Where does the $2 per building paid during a Subsidence random event go?
- When Riots is drawn and the trouble threshold is not met, does the card stay in play?
- Who wins if the Riots event card ends the game?
- Are demons and trolls only introduced by random event cards?
- When Flood moves minions out of an area, in what order do players move them?