Dominion: Renaissance
Dominion: Renaissance Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
Dominion: Renaissance contains:
- 300 cards:
- 250 Kingdom cards:
- 10 each of Acting Troupe, Border Guard, Cargo Ship, Ducat, Experiment, Flag Bearer, Hideout, Improve, Inventor, Lackeys, Mountain Village, Old Witch, Patron, Priest, Recruiter, Research, Scepter, Scholar, Sculptor, Seer, Silk Merchant, Spices, Swashbuckler, Treasurer, Villain
- 25 Randomizer cards
- 20 Project cards: Academy, Barracks, Canal, Capitalism, Cathedral, Citadel, City Gate, Crop Rotation, Exploration, Fair, Fleet, Guildhall, Innovation, Pageant, Piazza, Road Network, Sewers, Silos, Sinister Plot, Star Chart
- 5 Artifact cards: Flag, Horn, Key, Lantern, Treasure Chest
- 250 Kingdom cards:
- 35 Coin tokens
- 6 Coffers / Villagers mats
- 12 cubes in 6 player colors
- 1 plastic organizer tray
- 1 organizing inlay
- 1 rule booklet
Preparation
Before the first game, remove the three sets of cards from their wrappings and place them in the card tray. The included inlay suggests a way to organize the cards.
Renaissance includes 25 randomizer cards (one for each Kingdom card). Players will need the Treasure cards, Victory cards, Curse cards, and Trash mat/card from either Dominion or Base Cards (or older editions of Intrigue) and the rules from Dominion to play with this expansion. As with previous Dominion games, players must choose 10 sets of Kingdom cards for each game. If players choose the random approach for choosing sets, they should shuffle the randomizer cards from this expansion with those of any other Dominion games they choose to play with.
Projects can be shuffled into the randomizer deck (despite having a different back). They are not part of the 10 Kingdom cards used in a game; when a Project is turned over, put it on the table but keep turning over cards until you get 10 Kingdom cards. For normal play we recommend using at most two Projects per game. When using Dominion: Adventures or Dominion: Empires, we recommend using no more than two total from Projects, Events, and Landmarks. Skip any further Project cards turned over. Also skip Projects when using a randomizer card to determine whether or not to use Platinum/Colony (from Prosperity), or Shelters (from Dark Ages) in a game. Projects cannot be Young Witch's bane (from Cornucopia). Another approach some people may prefer is to shuffle Projects (and Events and Landmarks) separately into their own deck, and always play with one or two of them. In games using Projects, each player takes two cubes of one color at the start of the game.
In games using a card that refers to Coffers or Villagers, give each player a Coffers / Villagers mat, and put the Coin tokens in a pile near the Supply. In games using Border Guard, Flag Bearer, Swashbuckler, or Treasurer, get out the Artifacts the cards refer to and put them near the Supply.
Coffers & Villagers
Renaissance has mats for tracking Coffers and Villagers, which let you save coins and Actions for later.
- Cards say "+1 Coffers" to mean, add a token to the Coffers side of your mat. A token there can be removed in your Buy phase, before buying anything, for +1 coin.
- Cards say "+1 Villager" to mean, add a token to the Villagers side of your mat. A token there can be removed in your Action phase for +1 Action.
- Any number of tokens can be removed at once, each giving another +1 coin or +1 Action.
- Coin tokens are provided. They are not component-limited; players may use a substitute if they run out. The same tokens are in Dominion: Seaside, Dominion: Prosperity, and Dominion: Guilds; they can all be mixed together.
- Tokens being used other ways, such as on the Pirate Ship mat for Dominion: Seaside, cannot be removed for +1 coin or +1 Action; just tokens on the Coffers / Villagers mat.
- Tokens come from the supply of tokens, and return there; they are not taken from other mats or other players.
- Dominion: Guilds also has a Coffers mat, and uses tokens on it the same way. Early printings of Guilds said "take a Coin token" instead; in later printings, this is "+1 Coffers," and should be played that way.
Projects
Project cards are abilities that players may buy. You buy a Project in your Buy phase; it uses up a Buy, and costs a certain amount of coins, indicated on each Project in the corner. When buying a Project, place one of your cubes on it. For the rest of the game, you have that ability. For example when Fair is in the game, you can pay 4 coins to put a cube on it; then for the rest of the game you will get +1 Buy on each of your turns.
- Normally there should be no more than two Projects in a game. If there are more, you still only get to place two cubes.
- You cannot place two cubes on the same Project.
- You cannot remove a cube from a Project once you have placed it.
- Any number of players can have the same Project ability at once.
- Paying for a Project is not "buying a card"; it is not made cheaper by cards like Inventor, and does not matter for cards like Exploration.
- You cannot pay for a Project while you have debt (from Empires).
Artifacts
Artifact cards are abilities that players may acquire somehow due to a particular kingdom card. When taking an Artifact, if another player has it, you take it from them; only one player will have a given Artifact at once. If no other player has it, you just take it. While you have the Artifact, you have its ability, and you lose that ability when someone else takes the Artifact. For example when playing Treasurer, you can choose to take the Key, which will give you +1 coin at the start of each of your turns until someone else takes it.
Durations
Renaissance has two Duration cards. Duration cards are orange, and have abilities that affect future turns. Duration cards are not discarded in Clean-up if they have something left to do; they stay in play until the Clean-up of the last turn that they do something. Additionally, if a Duration card is played extra times by a card such as Scepter, that card also stays in play until the Duration card is discarded, to track the fact that the Duration card was played extra times. Keep track of whether or not a Duration card was played on the current turn, such as by putting your cards into two lines.
Sample Turn
At the start of Avery's turn, she has a hand of Inventor, Inventor, Improve, Scepter, and Estate, with a cube on Innovation and 5 tokens on Villagers. She plays Inventor and gains a Flag Bearer, taking the Flag from Ethan, who has it. Due to Innovation, she plays the Flag Bearer, and gets +2 coins. She uses a Villager token so she can play another Action card. She plays the other Inventor, gaining Spices, which now costs 4 coins. Gaining Spices causes her to add two tokens to her Coffers. She uses another Villager token to continue. She plays Improve, for +2 coins. Now it is her Buy phase. First she plays Scepter, choosing to replay the first Inventor. She gains a Duchy. She has 4 coins total: 2 from Flag Bearer, 2 from Improve. She turns in a token from her Coffers for +1 coin, putting her at 5 coins. She buys a Province, which costs 5 coins, due to the three plays of Inventor. She discards everything, using Improve to trash an Inventor and gain a Duchy to replace it - while Inventor costs 1 coin now, Duchy costs 2 coins, which is exactly 1 coin more. She draws a new hand of 6 cards, due to the Flag.
Kingdom Card Notes
Acting Troupe: If you do not manage to trash this (for example if you play it twice via Throne Room), you still get the +4 Villagers.
Border Guard / Horn / Lantern: When you play a Border Guard and do not have the Lantern, you reveal the top 2 cards of your deck, choose one and put it into your hand, and discard the other; then if they were both Action cards, you take the Lantern or the Horn. When you play a Border Guard and have the Lantern, you reveal the top 3 cards of your deck, choose one and put it into your hand, and discard the rest; then if all three were Action cards, you may take the Horn. If you reveal fewer than 2 cards, or fewer than 3 cards when you have the Lantern, you don't take an Artifact. Both the Horn and the Lantern function the turn you get them.
Cargo Ship: The card you set aside doesn't have to be the next card you gain; you could gain multiple cards and then gain one where you decided to set it aside. If you don't set a card aside at all, Cargo Ship is discarded that turn.
Ducat: When you play this, you get no coins, but get +1 Coffers and +1 Buy. When you gain this, you may trash a Copper from your hand; this is optional.
Experiment: When you play this, you get +2 Cards and +1 Action, and return it to its Supply pile. When you gain it, you gain another one; this applies whether you gain it via buying it or some other way. If you gain one to a place other than your discard pile, the 2nd copy goes to your discard pile. For example if you use Sculptor to gain Experiment, you get one in your hand, and one in your discard pile. If you play Band of Misfits (from Dark Ages) or Overlord (from Empires) as Experiment, you will return the card to its own pile, not to the Experiment pile. If Experiment somehow is not in play (for example if played from the trash via Necromancer, from Nocturne), it fails to return to its pile.
Flag Bearer / Flag: When you gain or trash a Flag Bearer, you take the Flag. The Flag causes you to draw an extra card when drawing your hand in Clean-up. This is true even if your hand would normally be some amount other than 5 cards - for example if you played Outpost (from Seaside), instead of drawing 3 cards for your Outpost turn, you would draw 4. If Flag Bearer is trashed, the player trashing it takes the Flag, regardless of whose turn it is.
Hideout: Trashing is not optional. Curses are not Victory cards.
Improve: You can only trash an Action card that would be discarded this turn; you cannot trash a non-Action like Silver, or a Duration card that will stay out (but you can trash a Duration card that will be discarded). You can trash the Improve itself. The card you gain does not have to be an Action, it just has to cost exactly 1 coin more than the trashed Action. Using this ability is optional, but if you trash a card then you have to gain one if you can.
Inventor: First you gain a card costing up to 4 coins; then, after that happens, prices are lowered for the rest of the turn. The cost lowering applies to all cards everywhere, including cards in the Supply, in hands, and in Decks. It's cumulative; for example if you play two Inventors, the cost reduction from the first applies to playing the second (for example it could gain a Duchy, which would then cost 4 coins), and afterwards cards cost 2 less for the rest of the turn.
Transcriber note: the printed Inventor note above reads "cards cost 2 less", as the rulebook prints it. The Inventor card face and the Sample Turn figures (three Inventor plays take a Province from 8 to 5 and a Duchy from 5 to 2) both point to 1 less per play. This was not changed in the text; check against the printed card before relying on the figure.
Lackeys: Playing this gives +2 Cards; gaining it gives +2 Villagers.
Mountain Village: If your discard pile has any cards in it, you have to take one of them, you cannot choose to draw a card instead. You get to look through your discard pile to pick the card to take. It does not matter what order you leave your discard pile in.
Old Witch: After the Curse pile is empty, playing this still lets each other player trash a Curse from their hand. A player who is unaffected by Old Witch, such as due to Moat, neither gains a Curse nor may trash one.
Patron: Anything that causes you to reveal a Patron, and specifically uses the word "reveal," causes you to get +1 Coffers. For example if you play a Border Guard and reveal two Patrons, you will get +2 Coffers. Other players seeing a card, without the word "reveal" being used, is not enough; for example if another player plays a Villain and you discard a Patron, you do not get +1 Coffers.
Priest: When you play this, you get +2 coins, trash a card from your hand (mandatory), and then for the rest of the turn, trashing a card from your hand will give you +2 coins. This is cumulative, even if the same Priest is played multiple times (such as with Scepter). For example if you play two Priests and trash two Coppers, you will get +6 coins total: +2 coins from each play of Priest, and +2 coins that the first Priest gives you for the second Priest trashing a card. The bonus works even if the card was not trashed from your hand; for example you will get +2 coins for trashing an Acting Troupe due to playing it, or for trashing a card from the Supply with Lurker (from Intrigue).
Recruiter: First you draw 2 cards, then you trash a card from your hand. Trashing is not optional. For each coin the trashed card costs, you get +1 Villager; for example if you trash a Silver, you get +3 Villagers. You do not get anything for potion or debt amounts, just for coins.
Research: For each coin the trashed card costs, you set aside the top card of your deck for next turn; for example if you trash a Silver, you set aside the top 3 cards for next turn. If there are not enough cards, just set aside as many as you can. The cards are set aside face down; you can look at them and other players cannot.
Scepter: This cannot replay a Duration card you played on a previous turn, but can replay one played the same turn (in which case Scepter will stay in play until the Duration card leaves play). This can cause you to get +Actions in your Buy phase, but that does not let you play Action cards in your Buy phase (though Scepter itself replays one). If this causes you to draw cards and some of them are Treasures, you can still play those Treasures.
Scholar: If drawing causes you to shuffle, you will shuffle in the discarded cards.
Sculptor: The card is gained to your hand; that is not optional. If you gain a Nomad Camp (from Hinterlands) with this, it goes to your hand.
Seer: Cards with a potion symbol (from Alchemy) or a debt symbol (from Empires) in their cost do not cost from 2 to 4 coins.
Silk Merchant: When you play this, you get +2 Cards and +1 Buy; when you trash it or gain it, you get +1 Coffers and +1 Villager. If Silk Merchant is trashed, the player trashing it takes the +1 Coffers and +1 Villager, regardless of whose turn it is.
Spices: This is a Treasure that makes 2 coins and +1 Buy when played; when gaining it, you get +2 Coffers.
Swashbuckler / Treasure Chest: First you draw 3 cards, then you check to see if your discard pile has any cards in it; if drawing those cards caused you to shuffle, your discard pile would be empty. If your discard pile has at least one card, you get +1 Coffers, and if you then have 4 or more tokens on your Coffers, you take the Treasure Chest. You cannot get the Treasure Chest unless your discard pile had at least one card. Treasure Chest simply causes you to gain a Gold at the start of your Buy phase each turn, including the turn you take it; this is not optional.
Treasurer / Key: The Key does not help you the turn you take it; it gives +1 coin at the start of your turn, which has already happened. When you use a Treasurer to gain a Treasure from the trash, that can trigger abilities like the ones on Ducat and Spices. You can choose to take the Key even if you already have it.
Villain: For example a player could discard an Estate, which costs 2 coins.
Project Notes
Academy: This happens whether you gain an Action card due to buying it, or some other way.
Barracks: You simply have +1 Action on each of your turns.
Canal: During your turns, all cards, including cards in the Supply, in hands, and in Decks, cost 1 coin less, but not less than 0 coins. For example if you have Canal and play Villain, other players discard a card costing at least 2 coins, which could not be Estate, as Estate only costs 1 coin on your turns.
Capitalism: To be affected, a card must have a +coin amount in its text, not just a coin amount - for example, Capitalism turns Improve into a Treasure, but does not affect Inventor. Having Capitalism means you can play any number of Action cards with +coin amounts in your Buy phase (without using up Action plays). It also means that things that interact with Treasure cards also interact with those cards; for example, if you have Capitalism, you can use Treasurer to gain an Improve from the trash, since Improve is a Treasure on your turns. Any time you play an Action - Treasure card, it is both an Action and a Treasure, regardless of which phase it is. Getting +1 Action in your Buy phase does not let you play other Action cards then. Capitalism works on your turn, but affects cards everywhere; for example if you have Capitalism and play Bandit, you could trash another player's Improve, and it is not relevant if that player has Capitalism or not.
Cathedral: Once you have claimed this ability, it is not optional. There is no way to remove your cube.
Citadel: Once you've claimed this ability, it is not optional. This can affect an Action card played outside of the Action phase, if it is your first Action card played that turn; for example if you also had Capitalism, you could opt to play a Flag Bearer in your Buy phase as your first play of the turn, and it would still be played twice. Citadel can cause a Duration card to be played twice; you will have to remember that on your next turn.
City Gate: First you draw a card; then you put any card from your hand onto your deck.
Crop Rotation: If drawing causes you to shuffle, you will shuffle in the discarded Victory card.
Exploration: This only cares if you bought a card in your Buy phase; it does not care if you gained cards other ways, or if you bought an Event (from Adventures and Empires) or Project. For example if all you buy on your turn is Exploration, you will get +1 Coffers and +1 Villager that turn.
Fair: You simply have +1 Buy on each of your turns.
Fleet: The extra turns go in order starting with the next player after the one that just took a turn. Other extra turns, such as from Outpost (in Seaside) can happen in-between those turns; however after the last extra turn due to Fleet, no other extra turns can happen (since e.g. Outpost does not keep the game going after it ends). Players do not sort through their cards and add up their scores until all of the Fleet turns are done, even the players without Fleet. If the game end conditions are no longer met after Fleet turns, the game is still over.
Guildhall: This happens whether you gain a Treasure due to buying it, or some other way.
Innovation: This is optional, but only applies to your first Action card gained each turn; whether or not you use Innovation then, you will not be able to use it on subsequent gains that turn. This applies to cards gained due to being bought, or gained other ways. If the first Action card you gain in a turn is in your Buy phase, that means you can play that card even though it is your Buy phase. If it gives you +Actions, that will not let you play more Action cards in your Buy phase; if it draws you Treasures, you can only play them if you have not bought anything yet.
Pageant: If you have at least 1 coin that you did not spend, you can spend 1 coin for +1 Coffers. This only works once per turn.
Piazza: Once you have claimed this ability, it is not optional. If the revealed card is not an Action, return it to the top of your deck.
Road Network: This happens every time another player gains a Victory card, whether bought or gained another way, and even if it is your turn.
Sewers: This works however you trash the card. For example it works when trashing a card to Priest, when trashing a Curse to Old Witch, when trashing Acting Troupe when playing it, and when trashing a card from the Supply with Lurker (from Intrigue). The card you trash with Sewers must be from your hand, and can be any card in your hand, even if the thing that triggered Sewers could only trash certain cards.
Silos: First you discard the Coppers, then you draw. So if drawing causes you to shuffle, you will shuffle in the Coppers.
Sinister Plot: Each player has a separate pile of coin tokens on Sinister Plot; keep yours by your cube. Each turn you either add a token (an unused one, not one from a mat), or remove all of your tokens to draw as many cards.
Star Chart: Each time you shuffle, you can look through the cards and pick one to go on top. Shuffle the other cards.
Recommended Sets of 10
Players can play Dominion with any set of 10 Kingdom cards, but these sets have been specially picked out to be entertaining and show off card interactions and strategies.
Renaissance alone:
Overture: Fair • Acting Troupe, Experiment, Flag Bearer, Hideout, Improve, Inventor, Lackeys, Old Witch, Seer, Treasurer
Prelude: Citadel, Star Chart • Border Guard, Cargo Ship, Ducat, Mountain Village, Priest, Recruiter, Sculptor, Silk Merchant, Swashbuckler, Villain
Renaissance & Dominion:
It Takes a Villager: Road Network • Acting Troupe, Cargo Ship, Recruiter, Seer, Treasurer • Market, Merchant, Mine, Smithy, Vassal
Capture the Flag: Barracks, Pageant • Flag Bearer, Lackeys, Scholar, Swashbuckler, Villain • Cellar, Festival, Harbinger, Remodel, Workshop
Renaissance & Intrigue:
Memento Mori: Citadel • Experiment, Flag Bearer, Patron, Recruiter, Silk Merchant • Ironworks, Lurker, Patrol, Swindler, Upgrade
Clockwork Court: Fleet, Sinister Plot • Acting Troupe, Inventor, Research, Scepter, Scholar • Courtier, Mining Village, Nobles, Replace, Steward
Renaissance & Seaside:
Free Shipping: Innovation • Acting Troupe, Cargo Ship, Lackeys, Research, Spices • Embargo, Island, Outpost, Smugglers, Wharf
Digging for Treasure: Crop Rotation, Silos • Border Guard, Flag Bearer, Inventor, Sculptor, Swashbuckler • Caravan, Native Village, Salvager, Tactician, Treasure Map
Renaissance & Alchemy:
Peek-a-boo: Cathedral • Cargo Ship, Improve, Lackeys, Patron, Sculptor, Silk Merchant • Alchemist, Apothecary, Golem, Scrying Pool
Renaissance & Prosperity: [use Platinum / Colony]
Dreamers of Dreams: Academy • Cargo Ship, Old Witch, Priest, Scepter, Scholar • Expand, Monument, Vault, Watchtower, Worker's Village
Movers and Shakers: Capitalism, Citadel • Hideout, Patron, Research, Treasurer, Villain • Bank, City, Grand Market, Loan, Rabble
Renaissance & Hinterlands:
Sweetened Deals: Silos • Flag Bearer, Lackeys, Mountain Village, Silk Merchant, Spices • Cartographer, Develop, Farmland, Haggler, Spice Merchant
A Penny Saved: Barracks, Guildhall • Ducat, Patron, Scepter, Seer, Swashbuckler • Cache, Crossroads, Noble Brigand, Oasis, Trader
Renaissance & Dark Ages: [use Shelters]
Stargazing: Star Chart • Border Guard, Patron, Seer, Silk Merchant, Swashbuckler • Hermit, Mystic, Procession, Sage, Wandering Minstrel
Sewer Rats: Crop Rotation, Sewers • Flag Bearer, Improve, Lackeys, Mountain Village, Research • Count, Counterfeit, Cultist, Graverobber, Rats
Renaissance & Guilds / Cornucopia:
Combo Corner: Canal • Ducat, Experiment, Hideout, Sculptor, Seer • Herald, Horn of Plenty, Horse Traders, Jester, Stonemason
Filling the Coffers: City Gate, Star Chart • Priest, Recruiter, Spices, Swashbuckler, Treasurer • Baker, Butcher, Menagerie, Merchant Guild, Plaza
Renaissance & Adventures:
Progress: Piazza • Training • Experiment, Improve, Recruiter, Seer, Silk Merchant • Hireling, Ranger, Raze, Swamp Hag, Transmogrify
Once Upon a Time: Innovation • Ferry • Acting Troupe, Lackeys, Priest, Sculptor, Spices • Distant Lands, Duplicate, Haunted Woods, Royal Carriage, Storyteller
Renaissance & Empires:
Exploring the City: Exploration • Battlefield • Cargo Ship, Experiment, Mountain Village, Priest, Sculptor • City Quarter, Farmers' Market, Groundskeeper, Sacrifice, Wild Hunt
Navigating the Sewers: Sewers • Ritual • Acting Troupe, Flag Bearer, Improve, Old Witch, Scepter • Chariot Race, Enchantress, Gladiator, Patrician, Villa
Renaissance & Nocturne:
Becoming a Monster: Exploration • Experiment, Mountain Village, Old Witch, Research, Spices • Devil's Workshop, Monastery, Shepherd, Skulk, Tragic Hero
True Believers: Cathedral, Piazza • Border Guard, Cargo Ship, Scholar, Sculptor, Villain • Blessed Village, Crypt, Faithful Hound, Sacred Grove, Secret Cave