Kraków 1325 AD Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• 1. Summary and Objective of the Game
• 2. Game Components
• 3. The Mapboard
• 4. The Four Groups in Kraków 1325 AD
• 5. Setting Up
• 6. Intrigue Cards
• 7. A Game Year in Kraków
• 8. Playing Intrigue Cards
• 9. Unusual Intrigues
• 10. Year End Actions
• 11. Determining the Winner at Game End
• 12. Overview of Special Intrigue Cards
• Credits

1. Summary and Objective of the Game

Kraków 1325 AD is a game of strategy and deceit for four players. It is essentially a card game between two teams of 2 players each (black and white). Success in the card game earns the teams influence tokens in different city areas on the board. At the end of each game year, players earn Victory Points for the city areas, where their team has the majority of influence.

However, there is a second, hidden level of the game. At the start, each player receives a Secret Identity card. Through this Secret Identity, each player also earns his own Victory Points depending on the colour of all winning cards. In this secret contest, each player is matched against all others. As a result, every player will face tough choices between the interests of his team and his (secret) personal interests.

At the end of the game all players reveal their Secret Identities and determine their final scores. And there is room for only one winner in Kraków!

2. Game Components

Kraków 1325 AD has the following components:

• One mapboard
• A deck of 56 Intrigue, 4 Secret Identity and 4 Seasonal cards
• 55 white and 55 black influence tokens (wooden cubes)
• 2 small gold markers for game years and turns
• 8 Victory Points markers (4 for groups and 4 for players)
• 4 treasury boxes and 4 gold allocation cards
• One game rules booklet
• Stickers for the 8 Victory Points markers.

After your purchase, please attach the stickers to the VP markers (8 large discs).

3. The Mapboard

The map shows the great Polish city around the year 1325. It is divided into seven city areas, recognisable by a colour and symbol: Slums (brown, rat); Barracks (blue, swords); Markets (orange, market stall); Churches (yellow, cross); Harbour (purple, ship); Castle (red, castle) and Province (green, hayfork).

Each area contains one or more boxes, where both teams will place their influence tokens earned during the game. There are four types of influence:

• FAME: legendary and mythical qualities.
• FOLLOWING: recruits and supporters.
• POWER: access to the Royal Court, military and nobility.
• GOLD: money, property and other riches.

4. The Four Groups in Kraków 1325 AD

The Secret Identity connects the fate of each player to one of four groups (and its specific colour of Intrigue cards), which are struggling for domination in Kraków. These groups are:

Group 1: The Good and Decent Citizens (green)

The Good and Decent Citizens are the established and connected organizations, claiming to guard the civic interests of all, which usually means themselves. These include the myriad of guilds, trade associations, gentlemen's clubs, civil defence militia, policy think-tanks and charities, which dominate public life in Kraków. The Good and Decent Citizens are sworn enemies of the Underworld.

Group 2: The Monks & Mystics (blue)

The members of this group are the guardians, judges and salespeople of the spiritual realm. They include leading figures in the powerful Catholic church and innovators, who dabble in mystic arts of magic, medicine and fortune telling. They influence royal affairs and the daily lives of ordinary townsfolk by offering hope, solace and absolution. The Monks & Mystics loathe the faithless Secret Societies.

Group 3: The Secret Societies (yellow)

The Secret Societies cover a wide range of cults, brotherhoods and conspiracies, which have two things in common: massive resentment towards the establishment and a highly secretive nature. The strongest societies are engaged in wars of words, liberating schools of thought and upsetting the apple carts of the rich. The Secret Societies' sworn enemies are the Monks & Mystics.

Group 4: The Underworld (red)

The Underworld is home of the gangsters, pimps, smugglers, murderers, thugs and thieves in Kraków. They see themselves as innovative entrepreneurs and the driving force of a modern economy. These ruthless men supply the market with all the goods and services, which are precious due to the unpredictable interplay of human nature, morality and the law. The Underworld despises Good and Decent Citizens.

5. Setting Up

1. Players first agree on game length. A short game (recommended to learn the game) has only one game year (1325). A standard game has two game years (1325-1326). Experts play three game years.
2. Players form into a white and black team of two each, who take seats opposite each other across the map. Within their team each player is identified by a symbolic hooded figure (holding a dagger or a purse): the players in the white team are thus known as White Dagger and White Purse. Each player gets his own treasury box and a gold allocation chart. Cover the gold allocation chart with your treasury box.
3. Place all 8 Victory Point markers on "0" on the Victory Points Track, place one turn marker on 1325 (the year marker) and the other on "Spring" (the turn marker). Keep the influence tokens near at hand outside the mapboard.
4. Shuffle and deal each player one Secret Identity and one Seasonal card. Shuffle all Intrigue cards, deal 9 Intrigue cards to each player and put all remaining cards aside on a discard deck next to the mapboard.
5. The player, who has the Spring Seasonal (Advantage) card, reveals it. He may play the first Intrigue card in the Spring Season.

6. Intrigue Cards

The basic engine of the game is a deck of 56 Intrigue cards, which the two teams use to compete for influence. Each card also belongs to one of the four secret groups, as shown by its colour. There are 14 Intrigues per group. Each card has a unique title, picture and short story.

The most important game values on an Intrigue card are the two columns showing the Support Points for and Oppose Points against Intrigues in each colour. At the bottom of each Intrigue card you find the influenced city area, the number and type of influence tokens for this Intrigue, if it is successful.

7. A Game Year in Kraków

Turn and year markers

Each game year has seven parts: four seasons (card games), followed by three year end actions. Move the turn marker one space to the right after completing a season or action. After the year end actions, the game year marker is moved to the next year and the turn marker returned to the Spring Season (unless the game has ended). Seasonal (Advantage) cards are shuffled and dealt at the start of each new game year, but all players retain their Secret Identities until the end of the game.

The four seasons

Shuffle all available Intrigues and deal each player a hand of NINE cards. The remaining Intrigue cards are put aside as a discard deck beside the map. The first Intrigue card in a Season is always played by the player, who has revealed the Seasonal (Advantage) card. In each season, only SEVEN rounds of cards are played. Each player must play one card in each round. After seven rounds each player returns his unused cards unseen to the discard deck.

8. Playing Intrigue Cards

Starting an Intrigue

Each round of four cards portrays an attempt by one team to gain influence in the city of Kraków. The first Intrigue card played is the "subject" and the complete round of four cards determines, whether this Intrigue has failed or succeeded.

The player starting the Intrigue places it in front of him, legible to the others. He announces its group colour and Strength (the value of own Support Points, which you find in the medallion at the left top of each card).

Promoting and opposing Intrigues

After an Intrigue has been started, the other three players will each, clockwise, play one Intrigue card. Players in the opposing team use the Oppose Points on their cards against the colour of this Intrigue. The partner of the starting player uses the Support Points on his card towards the colour of this Intrigue.

After four cards have been played, the players compare the total Support Points of the first team to the total Oppose Points of their opponents. If the Support Points are higher, the Intrigue is successful. If the Oppose Points are higher, the Intrigue is obstructed.

If the Support and Oppose Points of both teams are equal, Seasonal Advantage determines the outcome. If a player in the supporting team has the Advantage in this season, the Intrigue is successful. If a player in the opposing team has the current Advantage, it is obstructed.

A successful Intrigue

When an Intrigue is successful, place the three other cards on the discard deck. The player, who started the successful Intrigue then receives influence tokens (wooden cubes) in the colour of his team, as indicated on this card. Influence tokens earned are placed as follows:

• Fame, Following and Power tokens are placed in their respective influence boxes in the city area affected by the Intrigue;
• Gold tokens are put under his treasury box (out of sight of other players). Gold tokens will only be placed into city areas during the year end actions.

Note that the same tokens are used for all influence types earned by a team: a wooden cube placed in a Fame box is now a Fame token; a token placed in a treasury is a Gold token.

After placing all influence tokens, put the Intrigue card face down in the successful Intrigues box on the map. Successful Intrigues may not be inspected afterwards.

The next Intrigue is started by the player, who played the highest Support Points. If equal Support Points were played, the first player (in the last round of cards) will again start the next Intrigue.

Note that each Fame, Following and Power box can only hold up to 8 influence tokens. Additional influence tokens a team tries to place are forfeited (lost). In the unusual case, where a team has used all its 55 influence tokens, every player in that team will receive one Victory Point for every additional successful Intrigue.

Example: It is the start of Spring 1325 and White Purse (sitting right in the picture below) has Seasonal Advantage. White Purse starts the red Intrigue "An Arms Deal": red Strength 4.

Black Dagger (clockwise) responds with "Prophecy of War", a blue card with 3 Oppose Points against red Intrigues. White leads by 4 – 3. White Dagger is next and plays "Witch Hunting", a blue card with 4 Support Points towards red Intrigues. White now leads 8 - 3. Black Purse plays the last card: "The Night Watch", a green card with 5 Oppose Points against red.

The final score is 8 – 8 and with equal scores, White Purse's Advantage in Spring is decisive: "An Arms Deal" is successful. White Purse receives 4 white tokens for the "Arms Deal". He places two tokens in the Power box in the Barracks (the blue city area). The two other tokens are Gold, which he places under his treasury. The White team has increased its influence in the Barracks and earned some Gold, which will be placed during the year end actions.

The "Arms Deal" card is placed face down in the box for successful Intrigues on the board (where it will be worth a Victory Point for the Underworld, but not until the year end actions). White Purse starts the next Intrigue, as both players in the White team played equal Support Points and he played the first card.

An obstructed Intrigue

When an Intrigue is obstructed, no influence is earned and the obstructing team will take the initiative. Check which opposing player played the highest Oppose Points. This player starts the next Intrigue for his team. If equally strong Oppose Points were played, the player who played the first card may start the next Intrigue. All four cards in an opposed Intrigue round are discarded, except when a Block card was used (see the next section).

Example: White Purse starts "True Blue Magic": blue (Monks & Mystics) Strength 4. Black Dagger (clockwise) responds with "Peasant Revolt", a green card with 2 Oppose Points against blue. The score is 4 – 2. White Dagger is next and plays "Fast Foods", a red card with 3 Support Points towards the blue Intrigue. The white team leads 7 - 2. Black Purse plays the last card: "Campaign Finance", a red card with 6 Oppose Points against blue.

The final score is 7 – 8. The black team has obstructed "True Blue Magic" – the Intrigue of the white team has failed. All four cards are put on the discard deck. Black Purse starts the next Intrigue, because he contributed more Oppose Points than Black Dagger.

End of a season

A season ends after seven rounds of cards have been played. Seven Intrigues were started by various players. Some Intrigues were successful, earning their team influence tokens in city areas or Gold tokens under players' treasuries. All unused Intrigue cards are placed on the discard deck unseen.

Move the turn marker one space on the turn track. If the next turn is another season, re-shuffle all Intrigue cards (except those in the successful Intrigues box on the mapboard) and deal each player another hand of 9 cards. One player now reveals the corresponding Seasonal (Advantage) card and starts the first Intrigue. After the Winter season, the card game in this game year is finished and the year end actions start.

9. Unusual Intrigues

Strong Intrigues and Block cards

All strong Intrigues (with Strength 6 or 7) have a special vulnerability, indicated on the card. Every strong Intrigue is linked to its own specific Block card. When a player starts a strong Intrigue, one of the opposing players may play its Block card. This obstructs the strong Intrigue and has special effects, in this order:

1. All remaining cards in that round are still played, but do not affect the outcome;
2. The blocking player receives one Victory Point (move his marker one space forward on the Victory Points Track);
3. The Block card itself is successful. The blocking player receives influence tokens for the Block card. Add the Block card to the successful Intrigues.
4. The Blocking player starts the next Intrigue.

You may never play the specific Block card against a strong Intrigue started by your teammate. Next to their special use, Block cards can be used in every way like other Intrigues (start, support or oppose other cards).

Special Intrigues

Each group has two special Intrigue cards. If such an Intrigue is successful, it has an additional special effect on the game. The special effect is briefly described on the card and more extensively in the Overview of Special Intrigue Cards section of these rules. Always implement the special effects first, before earning regular influence tokens for this Intrigue. No special effects occur, when the Intrigue is obstructed or when the card is played to support or oppose another Intrigue.

10. Year End Actions

After the completion of four seasons, the players will have to spend their Gold. Then Victory Points are awarded to the players (based on their team's success on the map) and the groups (based on all successful Intrigues in this game year). Then the game year is over and the next game year begins (or the game ends with the determination of the winner).

Spending Gold

In the first year end action, the Gold earned in the seasons must be spent. Each player must allocate the Gold tokens in his treasury to the five city areas on his gold allocation chart. This allocation is done in secret and players may not discuss their placement options. Once everyone has declared that they have finished, Gold allocation decisions may not be changed anymore.

One by one, the players then reveal and place their Gold in their chosen Gold boxes on the map, in the same sequence as their Seasonal cards (Spring to Winter). Surplus tokens (after 12 Gold was placed in one box) must be forfeited as usual.

Scoring of team Victory Points

The second year end action is the awarding of Victory Points to the teams. Each player earns Victory Points if his team has the majority of influence tokens in a city area.

Each member of a team scores:

• Three Victory Points, if they have the majority of influence in the Castle, and
• Two Victory Points for every other city area, where they have the majority.

Thus, the maximum number of team Victory Points a player can earn in one game year is 15.

Players in the same team will often still have different Victory Points scores. Some players may have scored personal Victory Points during the seasonal turns by Blocking strong Intrigues of their opponents.

Start in one city area and proceed across all seven areas. All tokens (Gold, Power, Fame and Following) for each team in a city area are added up and compared. When total influence is equal, no Victory Points are awarded in that city area. If one team has the majority, award Victory Points to both players by moving their markers forward on the Victory Points Track.

Then remove all influence tokens from the mapboard.

Example: After gold allocation in the game year 1325, it is time to score Victory Points (VP). The Slums are empty (no team managed to have a successful Intrigue in the Slums), so no VP are earned there by either team. Both teams have the same number of influence tokens in the Province, so no VP are earned there either. The black Team has the majority of influence in three city areas: the Barracks, the Markets and the Harbour. This earns them a total of six (6) Victory Points. The white team has the majority of influence in the Churches and the Castle, which earns them five (5) Victory Points. The VP markers of both players in the black team are moved six spaces on the Victory Points Track; the VP markers of both players in the white team are moved five spaces on the Victory Points Track. Black Dagger is ahead of his teammate, since he scored two personal Victory Points during the Autumn turn, when he Blocked strong Intrigues started by a player in the white team.

Scoring group Victory Points

In the final year end action, each group scores its own Victory Points, based on its successful Intrigues in this year. Place all successful Intrigue cards on the map in view of all players and sort them by group (colour). The group Victory Point value of each Intrigue card is equal to the number (one or two) of Secret Identity circles in the right top corner.

First determine if any single group has more successful Intrigues than any of the others (which results in bonus and penalty VP). Then award each group their Victory Points by moving their marker on the Victory Points Track:

Achievement	Score
Each successful (regular) Intrigue of this group	= 1 Victory Point
Each successful special or strong Intrigue of this group	= 2 Victory Points
A group has the single highest number of successful Intrigues*	= +2 Victory Points
The Enemy of a group has the single highest number of successful Intrigues* (green vs red; blue vs yellow)	= -2 Victory Points

*These Victory Points are only awarded & deducted when a SINGLE group has the highest number of successful Intrigues. If several groups share the same highest number, no Victory Points are awarded and deducted.

11. Determining the Winner at Game End

After the year end actions in the final game year the group and player Victory Points are known. It is time for the showdown!

The players take turns to reveal their Secret Identity and determine their Victory Points Total. The Victory Points Total for each player is the sum of his own player Victory Points and the group Victory Points of his Secret Identity.

As each player reveals his Secret Identity, add his group's Victory Points to his player Victory Points and move his player Victory Points marker to the total score. Do not move or remove the group markers, because these may be deciding in case of a tie on Victory Points Totals. Then determine the winner as follows:

1. The player with the highest Victory Points Total is the winner.
2. If several players have equal highest Victory Points Totals, the player who earned more Victory Points through his Secret Identity (group) is the winner.
3. If the scores are still tied, the Secret Identity determines the winner (among them) in the following order:
   1. Secret Societies
   2. Good and Decent Citizens
   3. Monks & Mystics
   4. Underworld

Example: The short game has ended after the year end actions of 1325. The Victory Points Track shows the following: White Dagger and White Purse both have 5 Victory Points. Black Purse has 6 Victory Points and Black Dagger has 8 Victory Points. The Group Victory Points markers show the following: red has 7 VP, blue 6 VP, green 3 VP and yellow 1 VP.

Now the players reveal their Secret Identities and determine their Victory Points Totals:

Tim (White Dagger) is green and scores 5 + 3 = 8 Victory Points

Bettina (White Purse) is red and scores 5 + 7 = 12 Victory Points

George (Black Dagger) is yellow and scores 8 + 1 = 9 Victory Points

Alice (Black Purse) is blue and scores 6 + 6 = 12 Victory Points

Bettina and Alice share the same highest Victory Points Total of 12. But Bettina is the winner, because she earned more Victory Points through her Secret Identity than Alice (red has more VP than blue). Bettina is the winner and The Underworld has prevailed in Kraków!

12. Overview of Special Intrigue Cards

Good and Decent Citizens (green)

Black Death: Remove Card — Each opponent immediately discards one Intrigue card (unseen) from his hand. In each later season of this game year, each opponent is dealt one less Intrigue card. Seven rounds of cards are still played in each season.*

Peasant Revolt: Remove 1 Power and 1 Following — You may remove the tokens from any city area(s).

Monks & Mystics (blue)

Saving Souls: Replace 3 Following — You may remove up to (a total of) 3 opposing tokens from one or more Following boxes on the map and replace them with your own tokens in the same box(es).

Prophecy of War: Remove 1 Fame and 1 Power — You may remove the tokens from any city area(s).

Secret Societies (yellow)

Advertising: Replace 3 Fame — You may remove up to (a total of) 3 opposing tokens from one or more Fame boxes on the map and replace them with your own tokens in the same box(es).

A Depression: Remove 2 Gold — Pick one opponent, who must remove 2 Gold from his treasury. If he has no Gold, there is no effect. If he has 1 Gold only, he removes it.

The Underworld (red)

Grave Robbery: Extra Card — Each player in your team immediately draws one additional Intrigue card (from the bottom of the discard deck). They will receive one additional Intrigue card in later seasons of this game year. Seven rounds of cards are still played each season.*

Street Thugs Rule: Remove 1 Power and 1 Gold — You may remove the Power token from any city area. Then pick one opponent, who must remove 1 Gold from his treasury. If he has no Gold, there is no effect.

*In the rare case, where one team is subject to the special effects of both "Black Death" and "Street Thugs Rule", these players again receive 9 cards as usual.

Credits

Kraków 1325 AD was made by:

• Game design: Peter Struijf
• Artwork: Melchior van Rijn
• Published by: Geode Games