Glow Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Objective
• Components
  • Card in Detail
• Game Setup
• Bursts of Light
• Playing the Game
  • Morning – Recruit a Companion
  • Late Morning – Roll and Reroll Dice
  • Noon – Resolve the Cards
  • Afternoon – Continue Their Journey
  • Evening – End of Round and Resetting
• End of Game
  • 1. Adventurer and Companions
  • 2. Journey Board
  • 3. Fireflies
  • 4. Footprint Tokens
• The Dice in Detail
• The Cards in Detail
  • The Conditions
  • The Crossed Symbols
• The Effects
• The Companions with Specific Powers
  • The Sketals
• The Companions with Specific Effects
  • Xar'gok
  • Kaar and the Curse of the Black Die
  • Cromaug

Game Objective

Over the eight days that form the game, gradually build your company by recruiting eight companions. Their effects, linked to the elements and activated according to the result of your dice, will bring you bursts of light. Then advance in your journey seeking the lit villages. Whoever collects the most bursts of light will dispel the darkness and add their name to the ancient texts.

Components

• 1 meeting track.
• 53 cards: 7 adventurers and 46 companions (23 cards marked A and 23 cards marked B on their back).
• A journey board, on one side "The Province of Shadows" and on the other "The Archipelago of Darkness," as well as their respective score tracks.
• 30 dice: 20 large dice and 10 small dice. Large dice are obtained with cards; they belong to the player providing the card is in play. Small dice circulate from player to player in each round (see The Dice in Detail, below).
• 8 large tokens (1 first player token, 7 spell tokens). The spell token shows a symbol combination on its front and, on its back, a skull.
• 90 small tokens (44 reroll tokens, 25 firefly tokens, 25 footprint tokens).
  • Reroll tokens show a multicolored die cluster.
  • Firefly tokens show 1 firefly on their front and 2 fireflies on their back.
  • Footprint tokens show 1 footprint on their front and 2 footprints on their back.
  • Note: these tokens can be flipped over if additional firefly or footprint points are needed.
• 7 score tokens (one per player color: blue, yellow, orange, red, green, purple, azure).

For The Province of Shadows journey:

• 7 encampment tokens (one per player color).
• 7 company tokens (one per player color).

For The Archipelago of Darkness journey:

• 20 boat tokens (four per player color).

Card in Detail

Each companion card shows, from top to bottom:

• A gain of bursts of light symbol (a gold burst-of-light star with a number) — applicable at the end of the game.
• A loss of bursts of light symbol (a gray burst-of-light star with a number) — applicable at the end of the game.
• Powers — applicable while the card is in play. These can allow the player to benefit from one or two fireflies at the end of the game; to take one or several dice according to the number and color indicated (for the Sketals, see The Companions with Specific Powers, below); or to benefit from a reroll every round.
• The condition to fulfil with the dice, found on the left of the gray arrow.
• The effect applicable during each round, found on the right of the gray arrow, if the result of the dice corresponds (see The Effects, below).

Important: the powers never require a token to be taken. Effects can sometimes help earn rerolls, footprints and fireflies. The corresponding tokens must be taken.

Game Setup

1. The players choose together the side of the board on which they will play: The Province of Shadows or The Archipelago of Darkness.
2. Each player chooses an adventurer then takes their card and the big dice associated with their power. They also take the elements of the corresponding color according to the chosen journey board and place their score token on the 10 of the score track. For The Province of Shadows journey, they place their company and encampment on the start space of the journey board. For The Archipelago of Darkness, they place 4 boats on the central island of the board and place the remaining boat in front of them as a reminder of their color.
3. 6 dice are placed in a pool on the board: 5 big dice (red, azure, blue, orange and green) and the small black die.
4. Unused adventurers and their associated items are replaced in the box.
5. The firefly, reroll and footprint tokens are placed near the board to form three pools. The spell tokens are shuffled to form a facedown pile.
6. The two packs of companion cards (A and B) are shuffled separately. Then, 3 companions are removed from each pack and returned to the box. Pack A is then placed on pack B to form a single pile, and placed facedown next to the meeting track. The first 5 companions of the deck are placed from left to right, face up, in front of the 5 spaces of the meeting track.
7. The first player is chosen randomly. They place the first player token in front of them. Then, the player on their right receives 2 reroll tokens.
8. The first player rolls the 9 small dice (2 green, 2 azure, 2 blue, 1 red, 1 orange and 1 purple). They are then placed, according to their result, on the corresponding spaces on the meeting track. If the purple die indicates the footprint symbol, it is rerolled by the first player.
9. It may be that one or more of the spaces on the track do not receive a small die. In this case, a footprint token is placed on each space without a die.

Bursts of Light

There are several ways in which a player can earn or lose bursts of light:

During the game:

• by applying the effect of certain cards;
• according to the result of the yellow and black dice.

Each time a player earns or loses a burst of light, they immediately move forward or backward one space on the score track.

At the end of the game:

• by the indications which figure on the top right of certain cards;
• by their company's progress on the journey board;
• by their fireflies;
• by their remaining footprint tokens.

Playing the Game

Each complete round (representing one day) is divided into several steps.

1. Morning – Recruit a companion: players each take a turn choosing a companion from the meeting track.
2. Late morning – Roll the dice: the players roll their dice simultaneously and can use their rerolls.
3. Noon – Resolve the cards: the players trigger the effects of their cards simultaneously according to the results of their dice.
4. Afternoon – Continue their journey: the players move their company or one of their boats forward simultaneously on the journey board according to the results of their dice.
5. Evening – End of round and resetting: the players replace their small dice on the meeting track and it is reset for the next day.

Morning – Recruit a Companion

Starting with the first player, and moving clockwise, each player takes a companion from the meeting track, together with the small dice and footprint tokens that may be associated with them. These are then placed in front of the player. During the game, the companions are placed in front of each player, on the right of their adventurer, one after the other.

Once all players have chosen their new companion, those left on the meeting track are sent to the cemetery. But the small dice and the footprint tokens of the companions who were not taken remain in place.

2-player games: After taking their companion, the first player chooses one of the remaining companions on the meeting track and sends them to the cemetery. The small dice and footprint tokens associated with them remain in place.

Late Morning – Roll and Reroll Dice

Once they have all chosen their companion, the players roll the dice they have in front of them simultaneously and keep their results visible until the end of the round. Players with rerolls can use as many as they wish. Each reroll allows one or two dice to be rerolled, once only.

Important: players can use 3 rerolls to turn a die to show a result of their choice, regardless of whether it comes from a companion, a token or the score track.

A reroll can be obtained in different ways:

• Using the power of the recruited companions (the Lumipilis): in this case, the reroll can be used once during every round on the condition that the card is still in play.
• Using a token: in this case, the reroll can be used once, then the token is replaced in the reserve pool.
• Using the score track: a player can move their token back on the score track to a space with the reroll symbol to benefit from a reroll. It must be used immediately and a token is not taken. It is impossible to benefit from a reroll on the score track by remaining on the same space or by moving forward, the player must move backward from their current space. If, after this reroll, the dice results are still not satisfactory, the player can again move their score token back to the next space with a reroll symbol. This can be repeated as many times as desired until the player arrives back at the 0 burst of light score on the score track.

Important: once this step is completed, the dice result is fixed until the end of the round. A player cannot reroll once they have started to resolve the effects of their cards.

Example 1. The blue player rolls 4 dice: the two large dice associated with their adventurer (Taetyss) and two small dice. Their result: air, water, air, water. They want to have an additional water symbol to trigger their adventurer's effect twice (Taetyss). They decide to use 3 rerolls to change an air side to water. Their companion provides them with one reroll and they discard two reroll tokens to arrive at three. They turn one of the air dice to water.

Example 2. The red player rolls 7 dice: the three large dice associated with their adventurer (Pocana), the large die associated with their companion (Sketal), and three small dice. Their result is: water, air, air (Pocana's three large dice), rock (the Sketal companion's die), and air, nature, rock (the three small dice) — three air symbols in total. They want to try and kill their companion (Snarexe, which needs a group of four identical symbols to trigger its effect and earn 10 bursts of light), so they need a fourth air symbol. They move back a space on the score track to land on a reroll: the rock die is rerolled to nature — still no fourth air symbol. They move back once more on the score track for a second reroll: the water die is rerolled to air, giving them the four air symbols they want.

Noon – Resolve the Cards

Simultaneously, the players check one card after another to see whether their effects are triggered, taking into account all their dice. If the player has the required combination of symbols among their dice as shown on the bottom of the card, the effect of a companion is triggered. The players choose the order in which they resolve their cards (see The Cards in Detail, below).

• The same die can be used in triggering the effects of several cards.
• A single die can only be used once per card.
• The effect of a card can be triggered several times (except if this effect involves sending a companion to the cemetery or if it concerns one of these symbols: fire, nature, air, water, rock).
• Players must apply all triggered effects, good or bad.
• It is possible that no effects are triggered.
• Certain sides of the dice (purple, yellow and black) result in an immediate bonus or penalty to the player (see The Dice in Detail, below).

Example 3.

1. The azure player has 2 pairs of air and rock symbols. The effect of their adventurer (Eoles) is triggered twice. They earn 4 bursts of light and 2 fireflies.
2. The player has two rock symbols. The effect of their companion (Sketal) is triggered. The companion is immediately sent to the cemetery and the player earns 2 bursts of light. The green die associated with this companion is returned to the reserve pool; it can no longer be used for moving on the journey board.
3. The player does not have a water symbol. The effect of their companion (Donillilu) is triggered. They earn 2 bursts of light and a reroll token.

Move forward on the score track. Each time a player earns a burst of light, they immediately move their token forward one space on the score track. If a player arrives at the end of the score track, they continue counting from the beginning of the track. Important: in this case, they no longer have access to the rerolls indicated on the board.

Afternoon – Continue Their Journey

Each player can move their company or one of their boats on the journey board, by using once again the result previously obtained on their dice. Every die replaced in the reserve pool during the previous phase does not allow movement on the journey board.

Common rules for journeys. Several tokens (encampment, company or boats) of different colors can be on the same space, same village or same island simultaneously.

• If the player passes or stops on a reserve-pool space (shown with firefly, footprint and reroll token icons) with their company or one of their boats, they take the corresponding token from the reserve pool and place it in front of them.
• If the player passes or stops on a loss-of-light space (a gray burst-of-light burst with a number) with their company or one of their boats, they lose as many bursts of light as indicated and immediately move their score token back on the score track.
• If the player passes or stops on a footprint-cost space with their company or one of their boats, they must replace as many footprint tokens into the reserve as indicated; if they cannot do this, they cannot land on this space.
• If the player passes or stops on a skull space, they must either send one of their companions to the cemetery, without applying any effect even if a skull figures on the card, or cancel a spell if they possess one. The spell token is replaced in the box without applying its effect.

Note: an adventurer cannot be sent to the cemetery.

The Province of Shadows journey. Each player has a company token for this adventure. The player can move forward several spaces in the direction of their choosing as long as the conditions required by each space are fulfilled. A company cannot go past the same space twice during the same round.

A player can move their company in different ways:

• They can use one of their dice that has the symbol of the space in which they want to go. During this phase, each die can only be used once. After use, it is placed aside from the others to show it has been used. (The five element symbols are fire, nature, air, water and rock.)
• In certain cases, they must not have the symbol represented on the space among their dice.
• They can use one or several footprint tokens as a wild card. Each token replaced in the reserve pool allows them to move forward one space in their desired direction.

When a player passes a village with their company, they may decide to stop. They place their encampment on it and their movement is finished for this round. Stopping in a village allows their position to be saved. At the end of a game, it is the number of bursts of light indicated on the village in which their encampment is placed that counts, regardless of where the company is placed.

Example 4. The blue player uses 1 air symbol to move forward a space. They put a footprint token back into the reserve pool to move forward towards the village and earn a reroll token. They decide not to stop in this village. They do not have a rock symbol, so they move forward to the next square. They stop there because to continue they would need to not have a fire symbol. (Their dice results used: air, water, air, fire.)

The red player plays the wood-colored boat; they want to move to the island on the right. They need exactly the number of different symbols indicated on the board, here 1 or 2. Among their dice, they have air and rock symbols, therefore fulfilling the required conditions. When they are on the island, they earn two footprints. (Their dice results: air, air, air, nature, rock, rock.)

The Archipelago of Darkness journey. Each player has four boats for this adventure that they will be able to move from island to island in order to earn as many bursts of light as possible by the end of the game. The player cannot place several of their boats on the same island. During each round, they can move one only to an adjacent island.

To do so, they must have exactly as many different element symbols as indicated on the board, neither more nor less. The special symbols do not count (see The Dice in Detail, below).

The player may use one or several footprint tokens as wild cards: each token replaced in the reserve pool replaces a missing element.

Evening – End of Round and Resetting

The game ends when there are no more companions in the deck (see End of Game, below). Otherwise, the players prepare the next round:

1. To signal the end of the round, each player places their small dice on the meeting track spaces of the corresponding color to the result on the dice, including the small black die. Important: if a die indicates a -2 burst-of-light result or a footprint symbol, it must be rerolled until it indicates a color, then placed on the corresponding space.
2. The 5 first companions of the deck are placed, faceup, in front of the 5 spaces on the meeting track. A footprint token top side visible is added in front of each companion without a die, if there are any.
3. The first player token is passed to the following player in a clockwise direction.

Note: if a player forgot to move forward on the score track, on the journey board or to take tokens, they can no longer do it.

End of Game

The game ends upon completion of round 8, when there are no more companions in the deck to prepare another round. The players then carry out a final count.

1. Adventurer and Companions

Each player counts the total number of bursts of light on their adventurer and their companions then moves forward the same number of spaces on the score track. If any of the companions have the burst-of-light-loss symbol, the indicated number of bursts of light are lost.

2. Journey Board

The Province of Shadows journey. Each player moves forward on the score track the number of bursts of light indicated on the village where their encampment is situated, independently of where their company is placed.

The Archipelago of Darkness journey. Each player adds together the number of bursts of light indicated on the islands on which they have placed their boats. They move forward the corresponding number of spaces on the score track.

3. Fireflies

Each player counts the total number of fireflies in their possession, those represented on their companions and those of their tokens. They then count the number of companions recruited. If they have as many or more fireflies than companions, they score an additional 10 bursts of light.

4. Footprint Tokens

Each player scores 1 burst of light per footprint in their possession.

The lead player on the score track wins. In case of a tie, the player with the most reroll tokens wins. If there is still a tie, the players share the victory.

Example 5. The blue player's company in front of them: adventurer Taetyss, and companions Oshra, Lumipili, Mindaroo, Oshra, Zzibelu, Cromaug and Okanios. The blue player counts their score:

1. Bursts of light on their cards. They earn 5 but lose 1, so move forward 4 spaces on the score track.
2. Bursts of light gained by their encampment — they move forward 5 spaces on the score track.
3. Their fireflies. They have 7 companions in front of them and 3 fireflies, so they do not earn any bursts of light.
4. Their footprint tokens. They earn 3 bursts of light.

They were already at 60 bursts of light on the score track, which gives them a total score of 72 bursts of light.

The Dice in Detail

Each of the five element symbols (air, water, rock, fire, nature) is represented on the different sides. On the majority of the dice, the sixth side shows the symbol corresponding to the color of the die (so that element appears twice).

• 5 green dice (3 large and 2 small) — color element nature: air, water, rock, fire, nature, nature.
• 5 blue dice (3 large and 2 small) — color element water: air, water, rock, fire, nature, water.
• 5 azure dice (3 large and 2 small) — color element air: air, water, rock, fire, nature, air.
• 5 red dice (4 large and 1 small) — color element fire: air, water, rock, fire, nature, fire.
• 4 orange dice (3 large and 1 small) — color element rock: air, water, rock, fire, nature, rock.

On 6 dice, the sixth side shows a special symbol:

• 3 purple dice (2 large and 1 small): the sides show air, water, rock, fire, nature and footprint. The footprint side earns 2 footprints. The player takes a token from the reserve pool, reverse side visible.
• 2 yellow dice (2 large): the sides show air, water, rock, fire, nature and burst-of-light. The bursts-of-light side earns 3 bursts of light.
• 1 black curse die (1 small): the sides show air, water, rock, fire, nature and burst-of-light (loss). See Kaar and the Curse of the Black Die, below.

The Cards in Detail

The Conditions

Reminder: to trigger the effect of their companion, the player must have the required combination of symbols among their dice. If this condition is reached several times, the effect can be applied several times, except in the case of the companions that have a skull and those that have a crossed element (their effect can be used once only).

• A single symbol (air, fire, nature, water or rock) triggers the effect.
• A pair of symbols (air, fire, nature, water, rock, or two identical symbols) triggers the effect. Important: the "two identical symbols" icon signifies any two identical symbols. The footprint symbols of the purple dice and the burst-of-light symbols of the yellow dice can also trigger the effect of the card.
• A group of three identical symbols triggers the effect.

The Crossed Symbols

Their effect is only applicable once per round.

• If the symbol indicated within the circle is not present on any of the dice, the effect is triggered.
• If the symbols indicated within two circles are not present on any of the dice, the effect is triggered.
• If at least one water symbol is present and the rock symbol is not present on any of the dice, the effect is triggered.

The Effects

• Burst-of-light gain: the player earns as many bursts of light as indicated.
• Burst-of-light loss: the player loses as many bursts of light as indicated.
• 1 footprint: the player earns 1 footprint, they take a token from the reserve pool top side visible.
• 2 footprints: the player earns 2 footprints, they take a token from the reserve pool reverse side visible.
• 1 firefly: the player earns 1 firefly, they take a token from the reserve pool top side visible.
• Reroll: the player takes 1 reroll token that they can use as of the next turn.
• Skull: the companion is immediately placed in the cemetery. Note: certain companions with a skull allow rewards to be earned; others cause the loss of bursts of light. These effects must only be applied once.

The Companions with Specific Powers

The Sketals

If the player chooses a Sketal, they immediately take an additional large die from the reserve pool in the color indicated by its power. The Sketal, whose power is a multicolored die, allows the player to take a large die of their choice from those available in the reserve pool. If there are none, it has no effect. If the player forgets to take the die, they can take it in a following round. If a Sketal is sent to the cemetery, the corresponding die is replaced in the reserve pool.

The Companions with Specific Effects

Xar'gok

If the player obtains 2 fire symbols, Xar'gok is sent to the cemetery and the spells are cast:

1. The other players take a spell token that they place facedown in front of them.
2. At the beginning of the next round, the spell tokens are revealed.
3. When a player fulfils the condition indicated on their token, the spell is triggered: its effect is applied and the token is replaced in the box.

A spell token works in exactly the same way as a card: the player chooses the order in which they resolve their cards and their spell, the trigger conditions and the effects are the same as those of the cards.

Only this spell token is played differently: it must always be placed on the last companion to be recruited. The player must move the spell token each time he recruits a new companion.

When the spell is triggered, the companion on which it is placed is sent to the cemetery (without applying any effects, even if it has a skull) and the player replaces the token in the box. As the player can choose the order in which the cards and the spell are resolved, they can benefit from the targeted character's effect (if their dice allow them to) before it is sent to the cemetery.

Kaar and the Curse of the Black Die

When a player takes Kaar, they take the small black die from the reserve pool, roll it and place it on the space of the meeting track indicated by the result of the die. If the result indicates an empty space, the player must reroll the die. If no player takes Kaar, the black die does not come into play.

During the rest of the game, the player with Kaar is immunized against the curse of the black die. If the black die is placed in front of the companion they want to take, they can move it in front of another companion of their choice.

Curse of the black die: In each round, the player who rolls the black die with their other dice must apply its result: according to the obtained symbol, every other die of the player with the same symbol is not counted in the final result. If the player obtains the burst-of-light-loss (-2) result, they move back as many spaces on the score track.

Important: the black die remains in play until the end of the game, even if Kaar is sent to the cemetery.

Example 6. A player rolls the black die and it shows air. Among their other six dice — fire, air, air, rock, air, nature — the three dice also showing air are not counted in the final result; the fire, rock and nature dice are unaffected.

Cromaug

If the player obtains an air symbol, they immediately discard Cromaug and can take another companion of their choice from the cemetery that they place in front of them. The chosen companion becomes the last companion to be recruited.

If it is a Sketal, they take the additional die indicated by its power, if it is available in the reserve pool, and can roll it from the next round. If it is Kaar, the black die comes into play.

If the previously obtained result of the dice allows it, they can immediately trigger the effect of this new companion.

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Game designer: Cédrick Chaboussit — Artwork: Ben Basso and Vincent Dutrait — Translation: Rebecca Sevoz.