Fantasy Ink Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Idea and Goal of the Game
• Components
• Setup
• The Fantasy Cards
• Game Flow
  • 1. Perform a Dice Action
    • Placing a Die
    • The Dice Spaces
    • Discarding a Die
  • 2. Resolve a Fantasy Card
  • 3. Check the Victory Condition
  • Overview of the Bonus Effects
  • Black Cards
  • End of a Round and Preparing the Next
• End of the Game
• For Experienced Players
  • Variable Victory Conditions
  • Special Ink Cards
• Effect Overview
• Reminders

Idea and Goal of the Game

As gifted storytellers, you bring fantasy creatures to life! Round by round you try to invent the best fantasy creatures for your story and breathe life into them before the ideas fade. But good ideas take time, and time, as always, is short. So begins a race to write the best story:

Choose your fantasy creatures. Then take turns choosing dice from a shared dice pool and placing them on your fantasy creatures to develop them.

Collect valuable fantasy creatures, snatch coveted dice away from your opponent, and let your story take shape! Who will be the first to complete 20 chapters, or to give their story a special note by collecting 7 symbols of one colour and score points with the coolest fantasy creatures?

Components

• 63 Fantasy cards (18 green, 18 blue, 18 orange, 9 black)
• 15 dice (5 per colour)
• 2 Collection strips
• 2 Ink pots
• 2 Standard victory conditions
• 1 Chapter track
• 1 Starting ink pot
• 2 Time tracks
• 2 Joker holders
• 2 Desks
• 6 variable victory conditions
• 3 Special ink cards
• 12 Joker tokens

(The chapter track and the desks are marked in the rulebook as "to be assembled" (zum Zusammenpuzzeln).)

Setup

1. Assemble the chapter track and place it in the middle of the table.
2. Choose an ink colour each and take all desk pieces of that colour (time track, joker holder, standard victory condition and collection strip). Assemble your desks as shown in the illustration below. Place the two desks to the right and left of the chapter track.
3. Take the ink pot matching your colour and place it on chapter 0 of the chapter track.
4. Take the joker tokens of your colour and place them with the dice symbol facing up as your personal supply.
5. Shuffle the Fantasy cards and place them as the draw pile. Leave some room for the discard pile.
6. Roll all dice; these form your dice pool. Leave room for the discard area of used dice.
7. The person who last read a fantasy novel receives the starting ink pot. The other person receives a joker token of their choice and places it on the matching space of their joker holder.
8. You do not need the variable victory conditions and the 3 special ink cards in your first game; return them to the box.
9. Each of you now draws 4 cards from the pile. Each of you chooses 2 of them and gives the other 2 face down, so that each of you has 4 cards in front of you. Place these 4 cards face up in the top row of your play area.
10. Repeat step 9 for the second row.

The game may now begin!

(The setup illustration on page 3 of the rulebook shows: the chapter track in the centre; each player's two desks on either side, with time track, joker holder, collection strip and standard victory condition; the dice pool; the draw pile and discard pile; and the play areas with 2 rows of 4 cards each. The numbered steps 1–10 are marked on the illustration.)

The Fantasy Cards

The Fantasy cards represent your ideas, which you develop during the game by placing dice on the cards. When a card is fulfilled, you gain chapters (points), symbols for your collection, and possibly a bonus effect.

This information is found on the cards:

• Scoring scroll with colour and symbol(s): the symbol(s) and colour shown on the scroll.
• Number of chapters: the number of chapters the card gives when it is fulfilled.
• Bonus effect
• Name
• Colour, number and value of the dice that must be placed on the card to fulfil it.

Game Flow

The player with the starting ink pot begins.

1. Perform a Dice Action

On your turn you may either place a die or discard a die.

Placing a Die

Take a die from the dice pool and place it on a matching dice space on a card in your play area.

The Dice Spaces

The colour of a dice space shows which dice may be placed on it. The number on the dice space shows which value the die must show.

• A number with no sign (e.g. blue 1): only a die of the matching colour that shows exactly that number may be placed. Example: on this blue dice space a die showing a 1 must be placed.
• A number with a plus (4+): only dice that show this number or a higher number may be placed. Example: on this space a green die showing 4, 5 or 6 may be placed.
• A number with a minus (3-): only dice that show this number or a lower number may be placed. Example: on this space only an orange die showing 1, 2 or 3 may be placed.
• Black dice spaces: dice of any colour may be placed.
• Equals signs (= =): only dice that all show the same number may be placed. Example: if a blue die showing a 5 is placed on one of these spaces, the second die must also show a 5.
• Not-equal signs (≠ 1 ≠): only dice that show values different from the dice already present may be placed. Example: on this card no further green die showing a 1 may be placed. If a die showing a 5 is also placed, the third die may show neither a 1 nor a 5.
• Connected dice spaces: the sum of the pips on the dice placed on connected spaces must equal the number shown. Example: here the sum of the two orange dice must be 8.

Discarding a Die

If you cannot or do not want to place a die, you may instead discard a die from the dice pool and take a joker token of your choice from your personal supply. Place this token on the matching space of your joker holder. You may use it in a later turn to ignore the colour of a die or to change its value (see page 7).

Discarded dice go to the discard area for used dice ("verbrauchte Würfel").

2. Resolve a Fantasy Card

If, by placing a die, you have covered the last free dice space of a card, you have fulfilled the card. Place the dice on the card into the discard area for used dice.

Take the card from your play area and place it in the matching coloured column of your collection. Move your ink pot forward on the chapter track by the number of chapters shown on the card. If the card has a bonus effect, you may carry it out now.

Every symbol on the scoring scrolls of the cards in your collection counts as 1 symbol of the corresponding colour.

Example (page 6 of the rulebook): by placing the orange die showing a 2, you cover the last free dice space of the Minotaur and fulfil the card. You place both orange dice in the discard area, take the Minotaur from your play area and place it in the orange column of your collection. You now have 1 orange symbol. You move your ink pot forward 2 chapters on the chapter track and, as the bonus effect, take a "+/-1" joker token from your supply and place it on your joker holder.

3. Check the Victory Condition

Your victory condition shows in the upper half how many symbols of one colour you must collect to win. In the lower half it shows how many symbols of one colour you need to receive an extra turn. At the end of your turn, check whether you have fulfilled the conditions for an extra turn or for victory.

You receive an extra turn as soon as you have collected the corresponding number of symbols in your collection. The standard victory condition always gives you an extra turn as soon as you have 4 symbols of the same colour.

If a card gives you 2 symbols and this takes you beyond the condition, you still receive an extra turn.

Example: you have 3 blue symbols and a fulfilled card gives you 2 more, so you now have 5 blue symbols. Your victory condition states that you receive an extra turn as soon as you have 4 blue symbols in total. You still receive an extra turn, because the fulfilled card took you beyond the 4 symbols during your current turn.

Then your opponent takes their turn (steps 1 to 3).

Repeat this for as long as there are dice in the dice pool.

Overview of the Bonus Effects

• Colour ignore joker: take 1 "Ignore colour" joker token from your supply and place it on your joker holder.
• +/-1 joker: take 1 "+/-1" joker token from your supply and place it on your joker holder.
• Move a card up: shift one card in your play area up 1 row. More than 4 cards may then be in a row.
• Extra turn: you have an extra turn.

A joker token may be used in your next turn to:

• Ignore the colour of a die. For example, a blue die showing a 5 may then be placed on a green 5 dice space.
• Raise or lower the number of a die by 1. A 6 cannot become a 1, or vice versa. For example, using this joker token you can turn a blue 4 into a blue 5. You then place the die with the 5 face up on the blue space.

Each die may use only 1 joker token, so either its colour or its value may be changed. A die cannot be raised or lowered by 2.

Used joker tokens go back to the supply.

Black Cards

On black cards, dice of any colour may be placed to fulfil them. When you fulfil a black card, place it in the matching column of your collection, move forward on the chapter track and receive its bonus effect.

Black cards have no symbol and are not counted as a colour.

During your turn you may at any time destroy black cards in your collection to re-roll all dice in the dice pool. You may destroy as many black cards as you have in your collection. Destroying a black card does not cost you any chapters. Place the destroyed black card on the discard pile.

End of a Round and Preparing the Next

1. When all dice in the dice pool have been used up, the round ends. The person who would have taken the next die but can no longer do so receives the starting ink pot and begins the next round.

2. Now all your cards move one row down. Shift all cards in a row one row down, starting with the bottom row. If a card leaves your play area, you receive negative points equal to the number of free dice spaces on it, and you move back that many chapters on the chapter track. You cannot go below 0. Place the cards on the discard pile. If any dice are on the cards, they go to the discard area for used dice.

Example (page 8 of the rulebook): 3 cards are pushed out of your play area. Together these 3 cards still have 3 free dice spaces. You therefore receive 3 negative points and move back 3 chapters on the chapter track. You place the cards on the discard pile and the dice in the discard area for used dice.

3. Reroll all dice in the discard area and place them back into the dice pool. All dice that are still on cards in your play area remain there.

4. Each of you now draws 4 new cards, chooses 2 of them and gives 2 face down to the other person. Place the 4 cards that are now in front of you in your 1st row and reveal them. If the draw pile is empty, shuffle the discard pile and place it as the new draw pile.

End of the Game

The upper half of your victory condition shows how many symbols of one colour you need to win the game. If you are playing with the standard victory conditions, you need 7 symbols of the same colour. Alternatively, the game is won if one of you reaches chapter 20. You do not have to land exactly on the space; you may also win with more than 20 chapters.

The game ends immediately as soon as one of you has collected the corresponding number of symbols or has reached the 20th chapter.

For Experienced Players

Once you have played a few rounds, you can vary the game in two ways:

Variable Victory Conditions

Instead of playing with the standard victory conditions, you can play with the variable victory conditions. To do this, place all victory conditions with the blank side facing up in the middle of the table. Then each of you draws one victory condition and puzzles it onto your desk. If you draw a standard victory condition, it determines your ink colour at the same time.

The upper part of your victory condition shows how many symbols of this colour you need to win. The lower part shows how many symbols you need to receive an extra turn. If the lower part shows the same colour twice, you can receive two extra turns by collecting that colour.

Instead of drawing the victory conditions face down, you may of course also choose them.

Special Ink Cards

At the start of the game, draw 1 of the 3 special ink cards face down and place it face up next to your desk.

During the game you may use 2 of the 3 additional abilities once each, either before or after your dice action. Mark used abilities by placing one of your joker tokens from your supply, with the ink pot facing up, on the used effect. This token can no longer be used as a joker, so think carefully about which joker token you use as a marker. The effects of the special ink cards apply to every card type and are not tied to a colour.

Lush Growth (Üppiges Wachstum)

• Take an extra turn.
• Shift 2 cards one row up. The cards do not have to come from the same row. You may also shift the same card up 2 times.
• Take any joker token from your supply and place it on your joker holder.

Hungry Flames (Hungrige Flammen)

• Destroy a card in any collection. Chapters or already used bonus effects are not lost by this; only the symbols are lost. The affected person may receive an extra turn again if they once again have the required number of symbols in their collection.
• Destroy 1 card without dice in your opponent's play area.
• Destroy 1 card of your choice in your play area.

Treacherous Waters (Tückisches Gewässer)

• Instead of a die from the pool, take 1 die from a card of your opponent's. Place it on one of your cards without using a joker. If you cannot do so, you may not take the die.
• Add 1 just-fulfilled black card immediately to a coloured column of your collection. It then counts as 1 symbol of this colour. You may no longer use this card to re-roll dice. If adding this card to a column would give you an extra turn, you do not receive it.
• Steal one victory point (Siegpunkt) from your opponent. You receive this victory point.

Translation note: the rulebook prints "Siegpunkt" (victory point) for the Treacherous Waters ability. The game's points are tracked on the chapter track as chapters; the wording is kept as printed.

Effect Overview

The rulebook's closing reference page lists the effects:

• Move a card up: shift a card in your play area one row up. More than 4 cards may then be in one row.
• Extra turn: you have an additional turn.
• Colour-ignore joker: take 1 "Ignore colour" joker token from your supply and place it on your joker holder. You may use it in a later turn to ignore the colour of a die when placing it.
• +/-1 joker: take 1 "+/-1" joker token from your supply and place it on your joker holder. You may use it in a later turn to raise or lower the number of a die by 1.

Reminders

During your turn you may destroy a black card in your collection at any time, as often as you like, to re-roll all dice in the dice pool.

Instead of placing a die on one of your cards, you may also discard it to receive a joker token of your choice from your supply.