Inheritors Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• I. Game Overview
  • Components
• II. Setup
• Key Concept: Play Area
• III. Gameplay
  • During Your Turn
• Actions in Detail
  • 1. Play an Influence Card in order from 1 to 6.
  • 2. Discard 1 card, draw 2 cards from the deck.
  • 3. Discard 1 card, take all cards from 1 other row from the Market. The top-most card in the row you take must be the same color or number as your discard. All Advocates are white.
  • 4. Discard 3 cards of the same color, take 1 Quest and draw 1 card from the deck.
  • 5. Play an Advocate, use its ability, and place it in the removed area.
• Claiming Clans and Honors
  • Clan of the Realm
  • Honors
• IV. End of the Game
• V. Scoring
• 2-Player Variant
• Credits

I. Game Overview

Players take on the roles of the King's Inheritors. As an Inheritor, you will use your Advocates and your Influence Cards to sway the Five Realms and gain victory. At the end of the game, the player with the most victory points (VPs) wins.

Components

• 70 Influence Cards (14 per color)
• 5 Relics (1 per color)
• 18 Basic Advocates (Conspirator, Spy, Advisor)
• 5 Special Advocates (Ambassador (x2), Agent, Knight, Saboteur)
• 6 Tomes
• 3 Epics
• 8 Honors
• 7 Quests
• 10 Clans
• 4 Reference Cards

II. Setup

NOTE: If you are playing a 2-player game, refer to the 2-Player Variant section for setup changes.

1. Place five random Quests facedown in a row in the center of the table and five random Honors face-up in a row below the Quests.
2. Place one random Clan of each color face-up in a row below the Honors. Return the other Clans to the box. For new players, we suggest: Wolf, Fox, Bear, Lynx and Rat.
3. If needed, place the Special Advocates and Epics face-up on the Clan for which they are associated. You may also choose to place these off to the side near the Clans. Return the rest to the box.
4. Shuffle the Influence Cards, Basic Advocates, Tomes and Relics to form the deck. Place the deck facedown on the table.
5. Deal 10 cards from the deck to each player and place the deck facedown in the middle of the table.
6. Take the top 3 cards from the deck and place them in a row next to the deck to form the Market.
7. Reserve an area as the removed area. Cards will be placed there throughout the game.
8. Shuffle the Reference Cards and deal one to each player. The player who has the card with the red seal icon is the first player.

Key Concept: Play Area

The play area is used to display your played Influence Cards, as well as your claimed Clan, Honors, and Quests. Each player has a play area in front of them.

The Clan, Honor, and Quests areas will be empty during your initial setup. You will not claim a Clan or acquire any Honors or Quests until later on in the game. When you acquire one, place it accordingly.

III. Gameplay

Starting with the first player, choose one of five possible actions to perform and then continue taking turns in clockwise order. During your turn, if possible, you may acquire a Clan or Honor before or after performing the chosen action. If you happen to play the last card in your hand, draw 1 card from the deck at the end of your turn.

During Your Turn

You must perform ONE of the following actions. The details of each action will be explained later.

1. Play an Influence Card in order from 1 to 6.
2. Discard 1 card, draw 2 cards from the deck.
3. Discard 1 card, take all cards from 1 other row from the Market. The top-most card in the row you take must be the same color or number as your discard. All Advocates are white.
4. Discard 3 cards of the same color, take 1 Quest and draw 1 card from the deck.
5. Play an Advocate, use its ability, and place it in the removed area.

Actions in Detail

1. Play an Influence Card in order from 1 to 6.

Details of Influence Cards:

The color on the card is its realm in the Kingdom. The number on the card shows influence within that realm. The higher the number the more influence you have in that realm.

The symbol on the card shows the number of copies of that card in the game. For example, there are four symbols on the 1 cards, meaning there are four "number 1" cards of each color.

Influence Cards are placed in your play area in order from 1 to 6, covering the previous card (if any). You cannot skip numbers. For example, if you have purple 1 in your play area, you can only play a purple 2 on top.

You can only have 1 stack of the same color in your play area. For example, you can't play a blue 1 if you already have a stack of blue cards in your play area.

When you perform this action, you increase your influence within a realm, earning VPs.

If you happen to play the last card in your hand, draw 1 card from the deck at the end of your turn.

2. Discard 1 card, draw 2 cards from the deck.

The Market: There are always 3 rows in the Market. Each row may contain multiple cards. If a row is empty, reveal the top card from the main deck to restock the row.

Discarding: Every time you discard a card in this game, discard it on any row in the Market. Partially cover the previous card leaving all cards beneath visible.

3. Discard 1 card, take all cards from 1 other row from the Market. The top-most card in the row you take must be the same color or number as your discard. All Advocates are white.

Discard one card onto one of the rows in the Market (1). Then, take all the cards of another row where the top card has the same color, number, or name as the card you discarded. Tomes and Epics count as any color in the following two instances: discarding them to the Market and acquiring them from the Market (2). Lastly, restock the empty row in the market with the top card from the deck (3).

4. Discard 3 cards of the same color, take 1 Quest and draw 1 card from the deck.

Discard the 3 cards one-by-one on any row(s) in the Market.

Quest: Quests are another source of VPs. They are kept facedown so only the owner can check the content. During scoring, a Quest provides 1 or 2 VPs depending on whether you meet the Quest requirement or not. The requirement always refers to the Influence Cards in your hand at the end of the game.

Example of a Quest: "At the end, if you have 2 or more 3 in hand: gain 2 VPs. If not: gain 1 VP." This quest provides you 2 VPs because you have 2 number 3 cards in hand.

If you have more than 1 Quest, you can reuse the cards in your hand to count towards different Quests.

5. Play an Advocate, use its ability, and place it in the removed area.

Spy: Pick a player and announce an Influence Card (color and number) that you can legally play in your play area. If that player has the card, they must immediately place it in your play area. If they do not have it, you draw 1 card from the deck.

Example: You have a purple 1 in your play area. You play a Spy, pick the player to your right and announce, "Purple 2." Since they have a purple 2 in their hand, they must play it on your purple 1.

Advisor: Take any 2 cards from the Market. The cards can be from different rows. You can take them even if they are under other cards. Refill the Market (if needed) after you take both cards.

Conspirator — Requirement: This card can only be played if another player has a higher-numbered card of the same color in their play area.

Conspirator: Play an Influence Card skipping 1 number (for example, play a 4 on a 2) if the above requirement is met. You are allowed to skip a 1 and play a 2 with this card.

Example: The player to your left has a yellow 3 in their play area, which is higher than the yellow 2 in yours. Since the card in their play area is a higher number of the same color, you use a Conspirator to skip the 3 and play a yellow 4.

All used Advocates are placed in the removed area. At any point, you may check the removed area to see how many Advocates have been used.

Abilities of the Special Advocates:

• Ambassador (x2): Play an Influence Card skipping 1 number, with no requirements.
• Agent: Execute 2 Basic Advocate actions. You can choose the same action twice. Then take another turn.
• Knight: Draw cards equal to the number on your highest card in your play area.
• Saboteur: In turn order, all other players discard 2 cards from their hands to the market. Then, you take all the cards from 1 row of your choice.

Claiming Clans and Honors

Apart from performing one action on your turn, you may claim bonuses if you fulfilled the requirements. Before or after you perform your chosen action, you can claim a Clan or any number of Honors.

Clan of the Realm

A Clan is the ruler of one of the Five Realms in the Kingdom. Claiming a Clan means you impressed the Clan enough to support you in the competition for the throne. To do so, you must have played an Influence Card numbered 3 or higher of that Clan's color. For example, if you want to claim the Wolf, you need to have a yellow 3 (or higher) played in your play area.

Example of Clans:

• The Wolf: If you play an Influence Card without using an Advocate, you may play an additional Influence Card immediately.
• The Fox: When you play an Influence Card of a color you have not yet played, draw 1 card from the deck. When you discard a card, it counts as any color.
• The Bear: Immediately take 2 Ambassadors. Relics are +2 VP or -2 VP.
• The Lynx: Immediately take all cards from 1 row in the market. +2 Tomes during scoring.
• The Rat: After you play an Advocate, draw 2 cards. Then place 1 card from your hand facedown on top of the deck.

A player can only have 1 Clan. The ownership cannot be changed for the rest of the game. Even if another player plays a higher-numbered card of that color, the Clan is not taken from the owner. The owner gains the abilities of the Clan. Some Clans provide Special Advocates or Epics that can be found on the Clan card or in the face-up pile prepared during setup. The effects of those special cards are explained on the card.

Honors

If you fulfill the requirement on an Honors card, you may claim it at the start or end of your turn. Each Honor provides 1 VP at the end of the game.

Explanations of the Honors:

• 2 Quests in your play area.
• A number 6 card in your play area.
• Two number 4 (or above) cards in your play area.
• Three number 3 (or above) cards in your play area.
• Four number 2 (or above) cards in your play area.
• Show 3 Tomes from your hand. (They can leave your hand after the Honor is claimed.)
• Show 3 Relics from your Hand. (They can leave your hand after the Honor is claimed.)
• Use a Spy to play an Influence Card numbered 2 or higher.

IV. End of the Game

The game ends when either of these conditions is met:

1. All the Quests and Honors have been taken, or
2. The last card has been taken from the deck.

Complete the current round so that each player has played the same number of turns and then proceed to scoring to determine the winner!

V. Scoring

Remember, some Clans affect end-game scoring.

Each player counts their own VPs in the following order:

1. Influence Cards: Sum your topmost played Influence Cards of each color.
2. Compare the number of Tomes (and Epics) remaining in each player's hand. The player with the most gains 3 VPs. The player with the second-most gains 1 VP. If tied, all players in the tie gain the full amount of the reward. If first place is tied, there is no second place.
3. Relics: Relic owners check if they played the highest number (including ties) of the color matching the Relic on their pile in their play area. If yes, gain 1 VP. Otherwise, lose 1 VP.
4. Each of your Quests provides 1 to 2 VPs depending on your cards in hand.
5. Honors: Gain 1 VP for each Honor you claimed.

The player with the most VPs wins the game! If tied, the player with more Tomes in hand wins. If tied again, the player with more cards in hand wins. If still tied, all players in the tie share the victory.

2-Player Variant

Setup changes:

Before starting setup:

1. Randomly pick a color to be completely removed from the game. Return its Relics, Clans, Quests and Influence Cards to the game box.
2. Place four random Quests facedown in a row in the center of the table and four random Honors face-up in a row below the Quests.
3. Remove all Advocates with the 3-4 player icon in the lower right corner and return them to the box.

Credits

Game Design: Jeffrey CCH, Kenneth YWN Cover Design: Coda Ho Graphic Design: Roxy Dai, Coda Ho Production: Isaac Chan, Kenneth YWN Editor: Alex Chan, Isaac Chan Rulebook Translation and Edits: Matthew O'Malley, Madeleine Zehnle, Tony Mastrangeli, Sam Sanders, Dominic Crapuchettes

Northstar Games: Founder & Game Designer: Dominic Crapuchettes Head of Operations: Sam Sanders Art Direction and Graphic Design: Tony Mastrangeli Sales Manager: Evan Shorrock Community & Marketing Manager: Ross Connell Creative Associate: Madeleine Zehnle Customer Success: Jeffery Lamb Accounting Manager: Tadele Andye

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