Emporous

Emporous Rulebook

Table of Contents

Game Summary

In "Emporous" you are a sailing emissary, an "Emporous" of an island dedicated to raw material production, which compete to have the most economic influence in the capital city, Menhos. As such, you must find the fastest way to acquire influence points by fulfilling contracts, commissioning artisan works and gaining Masteries.

The game develops in a series of turns, in which you'll have to choose whether to "Travel to your Island" to recover all your spent coins and bring back some raw materials produced in your island, or to "Travel to the city" to perform one action, such as using your available resources to acquire different ones, or to commission artisan works or fulfill your contracts.

Obtain the Council's Seal to gain access to special actions to accomplish your objectives faster. You obtain this Seal when you earn influence in the city or paying one of your coins to the founding families.

Objective of the Game

To win, you will try to obtain the most quantity influence points by acquiring and spending raw materials and silver coins to fulfill contracts, commission artisan works and earn masteries from the latter.

Influence points are the numbers inside a Seal.

Components (First Chapter)

x47 cargo tiles, with a wooden box back
- x8 Stone
- x12 Grape
- x8 Bronze
- x8 Food
- x8 Wood
- x3 Jewels
x41 Artisan work cards
x6 Mastery cards
x18 Contract cards
x1 Shops card
x4 Reference cards
x1 Council's Seal
x1 Price Marker
x32 Silver coins
x4 City cards
x5 Island cards

Game Setup (First Chapter)

The setup diagram in the rulebook shows a 4 player game, where the Wood Island is not in play.

Determine the first player, who will be the last to go to any market.

Form the Market. Put the Price Marker in the center of the table. Lay a row of four piles of tiles for each type of Raw Materials, next to the Price Marker as shown in the diagram above. In each pile of Wood, Stone, Food and Bronze place 2 tiles in each pile and 3 tiles in each pile of Grape.
Form the reserve. The reserve is located near the market and there you must place: the deck of Contract cards previously shuffled; all the Artisan Works cards -which you can look and search anytime you want during the game-; a quantity of Jewel tiles equal to the number of players minus one; and 4 Silver coins per player.
Distribute each player's components. Give 4 Silver coins and a City card to each player. Then, each player chooses an Island card, one at a time to the right, finishing with the first player. Place your Island card below your City card so they complete the image they form. Now take all the cost 2 tiles of your chosen Island Card's type from the market and take a Contract card from the reserve, leaving it face down in front of you -you look at it anytime you want-.
Place the rest of the components. Place the Mastery cards beside the market in a way that everyone can see them. Also, place the Shop card and the Council's Seal close to the playing area.
Scarcity: For the Raw Materials that have no Island card in play, leave only one tile in each pile of its row in the market.

Playing the Game

Each game is played over a series of player turns, which consist in Traveling choosing either "Traveling to your Island" or "Traveling to the City", and, on top of that, in Exchanging with another player. After your turn, will follow the player to your left.

If you choose "Traveling to your Island" recover all the Silver coins you have on your City card -this is the only way to recover these coins- and take from the market the tile/s shown on your Island Card. You can only travel to your Island if you have at least one coin on your City card.

If you choose "Traveling to the City", you must perform one of these actions:

Buy one Raw Material tile from the Market or one Jewel tile: To pay for this tile, put as many of your available Silver coins on your City card as indicated in the price marker for the pile from which you are taking the tile. Jewels always cost 5.
Acquire any amount of Silver coins from the reserve: For each Silver Coin you acquire you must spend one tile of Wood, Stone, Bronze or Grapes; or two tiles of Food. Return these tiles to the market and take the corresponding amount of coins from the reserve, which become immediately available for you to use.
Commissioning one Artisan work: Pay all the chosen Artisan work's costs. Once the costs are paid, you immediately acquire the card and the Influence points shown.
Fulfill one Contract: Reveal the Contract card and pay all its costs as you would do with an Artisan Work. A "/" sign between two Raw materials in the card indicates that you can pay either of those Raw materials to fulfill the Contract. Once fulfilled, add up the points shown in the Contract card with the Artisan Work/s points used to fulfill it, which remain partially under it, so they show their type and their points. This position marks them as used and impedes you from using them for another Contract.

Where to Place Your Points and Resources

When acquiring cargo tiles -wooden box back- place them face down in front of you. When acquiring Silver Coins, they become immediately available for using. When acquiring an Artisan work or Mastery place them face up in front of you so everyone can see them. When returning a Contract card, put it under the Contract deck in the reserve.

Exchanging

Once, any time during your turn, you can negotiate an exchange in any terms you want, offering and/or asking for any number tiles, coins and/or cards. When the exchange is done or every other player has rejected it, you must carry on with your turn.

Limitations to exchanging. Exchanging has three limitations:

Tiles must be offered and delivered face down.
You cannot exchange fulfilled Contracts, Island cards or Masteries. Everything else is allowed.
Exchanges can only be made between two players.

The Council's Seal

The Council's Seal will grant you great advantages to accomplish your objectives, so you will want to have it as long and as often as possible. You obtain this Seal when you gain Influence points when "Traveling to the City" on your turn or if at any time during your turn you return one Silver coin -available or on your City card- to the reserve, which doesn't count as an action. This Seal will remain in your possession until someone else obtains it.

Having this Seal allows you to perform the following actions, additional to the ones you already have on your turn:

Council's Helper. When you choose "Traveling to the City" you may perform a second action of "Traveling to the City".
Contract Office. Once per turn, no matter where you choose to Travel to, you may choose to either:
- a. Take two Contract cards, choose one of them leaving it face down in front of you, then return the other one to the Contract deck in the reserve.
- b. Or return one of your unfulfilled Contract cards to the Contract deck in the reserve.

Note: At the end of the game, each unfulfilled Contract makes you lose 2 points.

How the Market Works

When using the market, it must be done by trying to restore it as it was when the game started, filling from the highest price down -red arrows in the diagram- and taking from the lowest price up -green arrows in the diagram-. In this fashion, the fewer tiles there are of a Raw material, the more expensive they become and vice versa.

In this example green arrows indicate the piles where you'd have to buy from and red arrows indicate the piles where you'd have to return tiles to.

How to Use Resources

Silver coins are used placing them on your City card and then recovering them when "Traveling to your Island". Tiles are used returning them to their place in the market or the reserve.

Artisan works cards are used covering their left side with the Contract card they fulfill or with another Artisan works card that was used to fulfill it, if more than one of them is required. These cannot be used again to fulfill another Contract.

To open a Shop put any of your Silver coins -available or on your City card- on the Shop card. You lose that coin for the rest of the game. Each coin on the Shop card gives each player one permanent Influence point.

To use a Jewel tile, place it back in the reserve. Its use substitutes paying any one Raw Material tile, but keeping it until the end of the game will grant you an Influence point.

If they are used to pay a cost, one resource must be paid per symbol indicated in that cost. When a cost shows a "/" sign between two Raw Materials, it means that you must pay one or the other.

Costs must be paid all at once, so you cannot pay costs partially.

How to Earn a Mastery

Mastery cards are granted to the player that have commissioned the most units of a specific Artisan work and they represent the Mehno's founding families' support to those who contribute to develop the traditional arts and crafts of the land.

Example: Player 1 gathers 2 Artisan Works, earning the corresponding Mastery. Player 2 gathers more Artisan Works than Player 1, now earning the Mastery.

If you are the first to commission two Artisan works of the same type, you immediately get the corresponding Mastery card and place it in front of you. In the case of the Turtle Festival Mastery, you can obtain it by commissioning the first Turtle Festival.

If another player manages to surpass the number of Artisan works of that type you have, the Mastery card will instantly pass on to the player. In this way, Mastery cards can pass from one player to another during the game.

Game End

If at the end of your turn, any player has reached 18 visible Influence points -only counting the visible numbers in a Seal and the coins on the Shop card-, each other player takes one more turn. After that, the game ends and scoring is done. The game-ending holds even if the player that triggered the end gets to less than 18 points in the last player turns.

Score your points as follows:

Add up all the points you have on Fulfilled Contracts, Artisan works and Mastery cards you possess.
Add one point per Jewel tile you have.
Add one point per Shop open during the game -coins on the Shop card-.
Lose two points per Unfulfilled Contract you have.

The player with the most Influence points is the winner. In the case of a tie, the victory goes to the player with the most Fulfilled Contracts. If there's still a tie, victory goes to the player with the most Artisan works cards. If there's still no winner, victory goes to the player with the most Silver coins. If the tie persists after all this, players share the victory.

Two Player Variant (First Chapter)

To play this First Chapter with two players, you only need to make the following changes:

Game Setup: Give two City cards to each player, who take turns to choose two Island cards each, one at a time, starting by the player will not take the first turn. Each Island card will be assigned to its own City card to complete the image they show. Then, each player takes all the cost 2 tiles of each chosen Island Cards types from the market.
Gameplay: When using your Silver coins, choose one of your City cards to place them. When you choose "Traveling to your Island", you must decide to which of your Islands you will Travel, recovering only the Silver coins that are on its corresponding City card.

Second Chapter: "The Council of Mehnos"

WARNING: Stop, my dear Emporous! From this point forward we will involve you in the darker part of this story. From now on, you will know the truth behind the faces of the Council and you will be forever implicated in their twisted plot. If you keep on reading, you will know these secrets... But there will be no turning back! If you really want to know this truth, go on... at your own risk.

Introduction

"In the Council of the Capital City of Mehnos, tensions between the founding families have only grown over time, now corrupted by power. Last winter, a member of the Council was assassinated by order of another member, and the assassination has been covered up by the rest of the Council to avoid panic in the capital. The Emporous have found themselves involved in this scandal and, to secure their complicity, the Council has forced them to carry out their Clandestine Tasks, in exchange for getting the Council's favor. However, the burden of being caught in the act will only weigh on the Emporous themselves. Even so, the ambition to gain the vacant seat in the Council of Mehnos won't let them stop even in these turbulent circumstances."

Game Summary (Second Chapter)

In this Second Chapter of "Emporous" you will have two objectives: gaining influence and completing the Clandestine Tasks you accept during the course of the game.

Clandestine Tasks are small missions you can complete on your own or you can give to other players in an exchange. If you haven't completed them by the end of the game, they will deduct points from your final score.

This chapter can only be played with 3 or 4 players.

New Components

x19 Clandestine Task tiles
x1 Shipment Mastery card
x4 Collaboration cards

The Clandestine Task tiles are of three types: Contraband, Secret Shipment and Fugitive.

Game Setup (Second Chapter)

After following the steps for setting the game up for the First Chapter, place a stack of Clandestine Tasks composed of all the Contraband, Secret Shipment tiles and one Fugitive tile, all shuffled together. Give each player one Clandestine Task tile and one random Collaboration card. Add the Shipment Mastery card to the Masteries already in place.

What's Different from the First Chapter?

Obtaining the Council's Seal. In this chapter you can obtain the Council's Seal when you gain Influence points when "Traveling to the City" on your turn or if at any time during your turn you draw two Clandestine Task tiles from the top of the pile in the reserve -it's no longer possible to obtain it by returning a Silver coin to the reserve-.

Clandestine Tasks. Clandestine Task tiles are small missions to be completed during the game and they will reduce your score if you have not done so by the end of the game. There are three types of Clandestine Tasks: Contraband; Secret Shipment; and Fugitive.

Completing Clandestine Tasks

One of your objectives in the game will be to complete the Clandestine Tasks that come into your possession. For that purpose you can use one of the following ways, depending on the Clandestine Task you want to complete:

Contraband: Exchange Contraband with other players, collaborating to make those deliveries. All the Contraband tiles players receive in an exchange is considered a completed task and is returned to the Clandestine Task stack in the reserve.
Fugitive: There is no way to complete the Fugitive task -players must keep him hidden-, so it will remain in play until the end of the game. Even so, you can still give it to other players in an exchange.
Secret Shipment: "Deliver Shipment" action when "Traveling to the City", where you personally make the delivery. To do so, you reveal a Secret Shipment tile, leaving it face up in front of you, which is considered as completed for the rest of the game. The Secret Shipment Mastery card is granted to the player that makes the most Secret Shipment deliveries, with a minimum of two deliveries.

Collaboration Cards

These cards remain face up visibly in front of the player at all times. If each player in an exchange gives any two or more tiles, along with them they give the other their collaboration card, which activates its effect for the receiving player, if possible.

The effects of collaboration cards are:

Take any one raw material tile from the market.
Take a Jewel tile from the reserve.
Recover all of your Silver coins that are on your City card.
Take two Silver coins from the reserve.

Scoring (Second Chapter)

When scoring at the end of the game, you must reduce your score for each Clandestine Task you have not completed. Each Contraband tile deducts one point; each Secret Shipment tile deducts two points; the Fugitive tile deducts three points.

-1 per Contraband Task not completed
-2 per Secret Shipment Task not completed
-3 for having the Fugitive Task

Alternative: You may use three Fugitive tiles when setting up the second Chapter instead of one, each representing a part of the Fugitive's escape. When scoring, if you have one Fugitive tile, deduct three points as usual; if you have two tiles, deduct one point for both; and if you have all three tiles, add one point.

-3 for having one Fugitive Task
-1 for having two Fugitive Tasks
+1 for having three Fugitive Tasks