Idus Martii Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Set Up
• How To Play
  • The First Round
  • The Second Round
• End of the Game

Components

• 16 faction cards (Loyal, Traitor, Merchant)
• 4 role cards
• 6 vote cards
• "Svffragivm" card and faction tokens

Set Up

1. Set aside as many pairs of "Loyal" and "Traitor" faction cards as the number of players minus 1. Then add 2 "Merchant" faction cards and shuffle them to form a deck.
2. Deal 2 faction cards face down to each player. Each player can inspect their assigned faction cards, but can never show them to another player.
3. Set aside face up the 6 vote cards and the 4 role cards and leave them within reach of all the players.
4. Place the "Svffragivm" card face up in the middle of the table and place the faction tokens next to it.
5. The starting player will be the one who has held a knife most recently. That player takes the Consul role card, the player to their left takes the Praetor card and the next two players take an Edil role card each.

How To Play

The game is split into 2 rounds. Each round has as many turns as there are players. Once the first round is over, the second round starts; once the second round is over (when the starting player takes the Consul card for the 3rd time), proceed to end of the game.

The First Round

Each turn is composed of the following steps:

• Voting: Each Edil takes 1 red and 1 green vote card. Then they choose one of them secretly and place it face down in front of them.
• Veto: The Praetor chooses ONE of those vote cards and inspects it. If the Praetor wishes, they CAN force the matching Edil to swap face down the vote card in their hand with the inspected card.
• Scoring: The Consul picks up the final vote cards, shuffles them underneath the table and reveals them to the players. The Consul updates the score on the "Svffragivm" card: for each vote, advance the matching faction token one space. If a faction token passes the player threshold, proceed to END OF THE GAME.
• End of turn: The Consul secretly chooses and discards ONE of their faction cards - by doing so, they effectively choose a side, which will be relevant for the END OF THE GAME. The starting player ignores this rule in their first turn. Each player with a role card passes their card to the player to their left (the Praetor becomes the Consul, the first Edil becomes the Praetor, and so on). Then, start a new turn.

The Second Round

Follow the same steps as in the first round, with the following additions:

• Voting: The Consul assigns the rest of the role cards, each to a different player. Players can't take the same role two turns in a row (exception: in 5 player games, a given player can be Edil 2 turns in a row). Also, each Edil takes a yellow vote card (in addition to the red and the green cards) and can vote with any of those 3 cards.
• Veto: If the Praetor chooses a yellow card vote, they must reveal it, and the matching Edil can then swap it face down for any of the remaining vote cards in their hand.
• Scoring: The yellow vote card is a blank, and doesn't advance either faction token.
• End of turn: The Consul secretly chooses and discards one of their faction cards. The starting player is the only player to do this, as the rest of the players only have 1 faction card remaining. Only the Consul card is passed, since the new Consul will assign the rest of the roles on the next VOTING step.

End of the Game

The game ends immediately when one of the following conditions is met:

• Failed Conspiracy: A faction token passes the player threshold, as indicated on the "Svffragivm" card.
• Ides of March: The starting player receives the Consul card for the third time.

In either case, each player reveals their remaining faction card and the winning faction is determined:

If the game ended in FAILED CONSPIRACY, the faction whose token passes the threshold is uncovered by the rival faction and their members assassinated. Accordingly, the rival faction wins the game.

If there are no players of the rival faction, the "Merchant" faction wins the game.

If the game ended in IDES OF MARCH, the faction with 2 or more votes than their rival faction wins, as they gathered more support.

Otherwise (same number of votes, 1 vote of difference or there are no players of the rival faction), the "Merchant" faction wins the game as they have maintained the status quo...until the next Ides of March, that is.