Five Ravens
Five Ravens Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Setup
36 Raven cards - 22 Relic cards - 5 Clock cards
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Every player takes 9 Raven cards (1-9). Return any unused Ravens to the box. Shuffle your Ravens and place them in a face down deck.
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Shuffle all Relics and place them in a face down deck. For 2 player games, remove eight Relics chosen randomly from the game. Do not examine them.
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Randomly determine a first player and give them the Clocks. Stack them from 1pm to Midnight, with 1pm on top.
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You are ready to begin. If this is your first game, be sure to read the card descriptions in the rules.
How to Play
Every round is a mission in which players send their Ravens to steal relics from the Baron's stronghold. The player with the most points at the end of five rounds wins. Unfortunately, the Baron is ruthless and will capture your Ravens. This will have consequences and benefits for the rest of the game! Each round follows these phases: Prelude, Mission, Theft, Capture, Epilogue.
Prelude
Deal relics from the relic deck to the center of the table such that there are relics equal to the number of players. Deal one of the relics face down. Then, players draw four cards from their decks.
If at any time a player is unable to draw a card, they shuffle their discard pile to create a new deck from which to draw.
Mission
Beginning with the first player and proceeding clockwise, players take turns. Each turn, the active player chooses ONE of the following choices. You cannot pass.
Play Action: Resolve one action either by playing a Raven from your hand or by using a captured card with an action. You must resolve the text as much as you are able. Ravens and relic cards are placed in your discard from your hand AFTER the action is fully resolved. Captured cards used for an action are not discarded.
Play Thief: Play a Raven card or one of the allowed relics from your hand face down as your thief. This card will be used to resolve the theft. You cannot play or discard the last Raven in your hand EXCEPT to play as the Thief.
Once a player plays their thief, they cannot play any more cards and their turn is skipped. Once all players have played a thief, or are unable to do so, this phase ends.
Exception: In the rare case you do not draw a single Raven during Prelude, you cannot play a Thief. If this is the case, reveal your hand. You will choose last during Theft.
Theft
All players reveal their thief. In order from the highest ranked thief to the lowest, players must steal one relic card from the middle of play. If your 2 is captured, you may steal from the bottom of the Relic deck instead.
The stolen Relic card is added to your discard pile. Resolve ties in rank in favor of the first player and continuing clockwise from them. Any unclaimed relic cards are placed at the bottom of the relic deck by the first player in any order. You may keep your relics secret!
Example: A 7 (Elvira), 3 (Elaine), and 7 (Edgar) are played. Elaine is first player and Elvira sits to her left. Elvira steals first, then Edgar, then Elaine.
Capture
Players place their thief in front of them sideways so that its capture effect is easily read. Stack them each round as a new thief is added so that the capture bonus of every card in the stack is legible! If the capture effect is an immediate effect (5, 6, or 7), resolve it at this time. Cards are captured for the remainder of the game.
Example: The 2 and 5 were captured previously. To capture the 3, twist it horizontally and place it on top of the other captured cards.
Epilogue
Pass the Glock cards to the player who stole a relic last. The Glocks also indicate the current first player. Remove the top Glock card from the game. Players discard any unplayed cards in their hands. Begin a new round, unless the last Glock card was discarded, at which point the game is over.
End of the Game
Tally scores to determine the winner. Players add points from relics that are in your deck OR captured. If a player has captured at least two Cursed Relic cards of the same type, they add a bonus of 5 points. Finally, resolve scoring bonuses on certain captured Ravens:
4: Add 3 Points if you have at least 3 captured relics. 6: Doubles the score of any 1-5 point chest claimed with it. 8 & 9: Remove 1 point each.
The player with the most points wins! In the case of a tie, the player with the fewest captured cards wins. If still tied, players share the victory.
Once you're familiar with the game, play three games in a row, summing your total score to determine a Grand Raven!
Raven Cards
Every player has the same nine Raven cards. Ravens are gangs of ne'er do wells seeking to stop the Baron's use of cursed Relics.
- This is the rank of the card.
- If played on your turn for its action, resolve this text.
- If the card is captured, adhere to its captured text.
Nine: Action: "Draw two cards. Discard one card." This means you draw the top two cards of your deck, then discard any one card in your hand." Captured: "-1 Point" This means at the end of the game you deduct 1 point from your final score.
Eight: Action: "Place any cards in hand or discard pile on top of deck." This means you can re-arrange what you will next draw using cards in your hand or discard pile. Remember: This doesn't include the 8, as cards you play for their action are not moved to the discard pile until the action is fully resolved. Captured: "-1 Point" This means at the end of the game you deduct 1 point from your final score.
Seven: Action: "Draw the top relic. Bury it or swap with a face down relic." This means you draw and look at the top relic card of the deck. You can place it on the bottom of the relic deck, or swap it with a face down relic, placing the swapped relic on the bottom of the relic deck. Do not examine the swapped relic. Captured: "Rescue one card." This means you must place one of your captured Raven or relic cards on top of your deck (if able).
Six: Action: "Flip one relic. You may shuffle face down relics." This means you can flip a face up relic face down, or a face down relic face up. You may choose to shuffle all face down relics. Captured: "Capture & double stolen chest." This means that instead of adding a chest relic worth 1-5 points to your discard during the Theft phase, you capture it along with your 6. The value of the chest that is captured has its score doubled if it and the 6 are still captured at the end of the game. If you steal another type of relic with the 6, its capture effect does nothing.
Example: Emma uses her 6 to steal a chest worth 2 points. At the end of the game, it is worth 4 points. Example 2: Emma uses her 6 to steal a chest. However, she then uses her 7 to rescue her 6, so the chest returns to its original value.
Five: Action: "Capture." This means you capture a raven or relic from your hand or discard pile. You gain the capture bonus of any Ravens captured with this action immediately. Captured: "Capture stolen relic." This means the relic stolen with the 5 must be captured.
Four: Action: "Cycle." This means you can set aside any number of cards in hand to draw an equal number of cards, NOT including the Four. Then, place the set aside cards into your discard pile. Captured: "Score 3 for 3 captured relics." This means at the end of the game, you gain 3 Points if you have at least 3 captured relics.
Three: Action: "Examine one relic." This means you privately look at a face down relic. Captured: "Examine top or bottom relic." This means once per round you examine the top or bottom card of the relic deck as an action.
Two: Action: "Use the action of a captured card." This means you can use one of the actions on one of your captured cards. Captured: "You may steal the bottom relic instead." This means that during the Theft phase, you may steal a relic from the bottom of the relic deck instead of one of the relics in the center of the table.
One: Action: "Replace one face up relic." This means you choose a face up relic card to place on the bottom of the deck, then replace it with the top card of the deck. Captured: "Lock one relic." This means you choose a relic that cannot be affected by any card, which includes being flipped (6), replaced (7, 1), or examined (3). Rotate the locked relic sideways to indicate this. A player may only use this action once per round.
Relic Cards
Cursed Relics are not worth any points. However, if at least two of the same Cursed Relic are captured (Ex: two Cursed Skulls), the player scores 5 points! Face up Cursed Relics are automatically locked when revealed from the deck.
Corporeal Hollow: Worth 1 Point. However, if captured it is worth 3 points instead.
Illustrious Gems: At the end of the game, you earn 1/6/9/15 points based on you having 1/2/3/4 Illustrious Gems.
Chests: There are 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 point chest relics. The value of these relics are doubled if captured with the 6.