Legends of Novus Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• General Setup
• Player Setup
• Game Objective
  • Classes
• Cards and Your Hand: The 3 D's: Drawing, Discarding, and Destroying
• Character Boards
  • Icons
  • Rolling Action Dice
• Phases of Your Turn
  • I. Preparation Phase
  • Hand Limit
  • What are some options for a new player?
  • II. Adventure Phase
    • Travel
    • Explore
  • III. Recovery Phase
  • What should I spend my treasure on? Cards or XP?
• How to Battle
  • Understanding Your Opponent
  • Battle
  • Battle Example
• Adventure Deck
  • Adventure Cards
• Reward Deck
  • Reward Cards
  • Selling Cards
  • Hand Limit
  • I have Reward cards that my character cannot use... am I stuck with these?
• Quest Creature Battles
  • Clarifications
• Creatures
  • Special Icons
• Solo Game
  • Goal
  • Game Setup
• Advanced Classes
  • Unique Classes
• Glossary

Contents

• 1 x Game Board Map
• 8 x Animal Ally Cards
• 2 x 10-Sided Action Dice
• 1 x 6-Sided Travel Die
• 40 x Encounter Cards
• 65 x Adventure Cards
• 5 x Luck Tokens
• 35 x Location Cards
• 5 x Explore Tokens
• 80 x Reward Cards
• 10 x Quest Creature Tiles
• 5 x Character Boards
• 5 x Blue-Cube Trackers
• 5 x Red-Cube Trackers
• 1 x Travel Token
• 10 x Quest Tokens
• GP Tokens: 10 x 5's, 20 x 10's, 18 x 25's, 3 x 50's
• 11 x Basic Class Cards (4 Double Sided)
• 11 x Character Cards
• 11 x Character Standees
• 10 x Advanced Class Cards
• 2 x Special Cards
• 10 x Player-Aid Cards

General Setup

1. Place the Game Board Map in the middle of the table.
2. Place the Location Deck nearby, organized alphabetically so you can easily find each Location card.
3. Place the Animal Allies cards to the side in any order (you may look through them).
4. 3 Decks of Cards:
   • Shuffle all Adventure Cards together to form the Adventure-Card Deck; place it face down near the Game Board.
   • Shuffle all Encounters Cards together to form the Encounters-Card Deck; place it face down near the Game Board.
   • Shuffle all Rewards Cards together to form the Rewards-Card Deck; place it face down near the Game Board.
5. Place all Money tokens in a pile near the Game Board.
6. Place the 3 dice nearby.
7. Sort all Class Cards to find the 10 Basic-Class cards (3 of these 10 cards are double sided, and will not have a Class-Cards back side). Keep these, and the remaining 11 Class Cards separate and to the side for now. (There are additionally 3 'blank' Class Cards, 2 of which are double sided; place these 3 cards place them both to the side.)
8. Find the Isenthrax, the Elemental Evil Creature Token and Tile;
9. For each of the remaining 9 Creature Tiles: find the matching Creature Token and place it on its Location on the Game Board Map (as indicated on the bottom-right corner of the Creature Tile); then place all Creature Tiles in a pile near the Game Board.
10. The 2 "Special Cards" are the Reptisaurs encounter card and the Kraeger Shield reward card. Place the Reptisaurs with the stack of Quest Creature Tiles. Place the Kraeger Shield with the Kraeger Beast Quest Creature tile.

Player Setup

Each player does all of the following:

1. Takes 1 Folding Character Board.
2. Takes 2 Player Aid cards: 1 Adventure/Preparation Phase card and 1 Step-by-Step Combat/Selling Treasure card.
3. Chooses 1 Character to use this game (this can be done randomly, or in any order and determined by the players); then, takes the corresponding Character card, Basic Class card (stated on the back of the Character card), and standee with a plastic stand.
4. Takes 10GP, 1 "Explore" and 1 "Luck" token, and places them on their indicated spaces at the top of their Character Board.
5. Draws 1 Adventure Card to your hand (If you draw a Curse, redraw until you draw a non-Curse, then shuffle the Curses back into the deck).
6. Draws 1 Reward Card to your hand.
7. Takes a red and blue tracker cube and places them on their Character board: 1 blue cube on 3XP (Experience Points); 1 red cube on the CV (Combat Value) track according to your Character card and starting XP. You start with 1CV as a result of 3XP (look at the chart below the track); then, according to your Character card, increase your CV further by the indicated value.

Place any remaining Character Boards, Player Aids, Tokens, back into the game box.

Example: Character card text is useable and relevant as stated (Expert Maneuver is useable during Battle). With your 1 CV from XP, this character would start with 4CV. You can gain an Advanced Class as detailed during the Recovery Phase (when you have 10 or more XP).

You know it's a "Basic Class" due to the icon depicted on the card; if nothing is depicted there, it's an "Advanced Class".

Game Objective

The first player to earn 25XP and defeat one Quest Creature OR complete 3 Event Quests wins the game, and is recognized by the people and the rulers of the land as a Legend of Novus.

There are a variety of ways to earn XP, allowing players to explore and enjoy different methods of play each game; some of these ways include: traveling around the world, developing your character, completing Quests, and defeating Creatures.

You begin your adventure by selecting a Character and Class, each with their own unique attributes and abilities. Learning a bit about them can be useful, or you can just experiment blindly if you choose!

Classes

• Druid: Fast travelers, and able to train an Animal Ally to aid in Combat.
• Fighter: Powerful basic and special attacks, and equipment bonuses.
• Priest: Protection from curses, is strong against Undead, and able to defend well.
• Thief: Great at finding good Rewards, and acquiring Gold in cities.
• Wizard: Manipulates the Adventure deck and utilizes versatile spells and abilities.

Cards and Your Hand: The 3 D's: Drawing, Discarding, and Destroying

Drawing Cards: Anytime you are instructed to draw a card (for any reason) take it from the top of the corresponding deck and put it in your hand (unless you are instructed specifically to do otherwise).

Discarding Cards: Anytime you are instructed to discard cards, you can choose what is discarded from your hand only (unless stated otherwise).

Destroying Cards: Anytime you are instructed to Destroy cards, you can only choose cards that are currently placed on your Character Board, then discard them.

Character Boards

Each slot can only hold 1 card, unless you are instructed to do otherwise by a game effect.

(Example of an Item slot: only Item cards can be placed there.)

You can only remove and add cards (to and from your hand) during Phase 1: Preparation (page xx) and Phase 3: Recovery (page 3).

Ally cards are placed in the same slots as Items.

Curse cards are placed in the same slots as Skill cards (from the Adventure deck). Once played, a Curse card cannot be removed unless a card or action allows you to.

XP is tracked by a marker; if your XP were to go below 1, place it at 1 and ignore further reductions.

Your Combat Value (CV) will change often during the game; thus, you should re-calculate your Combat Value at the end of each turn (and remember to include your XP Bonus CV, which is depicted below the trackers).

Board areas: Gold Tokens, Luck Token, CV Track, XP Track, Item/Ally Slots, Head Slot, Body Slot, Hand Slots, Foot Slot, Explore Token, Character Slot, Class Slot, Skill/Curse Slots, XP to CV Bonus Chart.

Icons

• Body: Armor, robes, belts, etc.
• Feet: Boots, anklets, and shin guards.
• Head: Helmets, bandanas, and various magical accessories.
• Hand: Weapons and gloves. Two handed items use a special icon.
• Item: Scrolls, potions, rings, and other specialty items, including Ally cards.

Rolling Action Dice

The 10-sided dice are rolled during many in-game effects (such as battle, escaping, etc.; all described in their corresponding sections); however, they all have one thing in common:

Rolling a 1: Tragic Fail. Whenever you roll a 1 (ignore all modifiers) you automatically lose the roll. This happens regardless if you rolled for combat, escape, dodging, or anything else.

Non-players (e.g., Creatures) never suffer from a tragic fail (treat their roll of 1 like the Tragic Fail rule doesn't exist)!

You may discard a Luck token (if you have one) to reroll a Tragic Fail (when you roll a 1 only); if the reroll is another 1, continue rerolling until a 2 or higher is rolled.

Phases of Your Turn

Each player takes a turn, one at a time in clockwise order, until someone wins!

On your turn: Perform the following 3 Phases in order, then play proceeds to the player to your left: Preparation, Adventure, then Recovery.

I. Preparation Phase

Prepare for your next adventure by performing any (or none) of the following options (in any order).

• Remove any number of Reward cards from your Character Board (adding them to your hand). You may not return Skill or Curse cards to your hand, or other cards such as Enchant Weapon.
• Place any number of Reward cards on your Character Board (from your hand).
• (Once only) Play 1 Adventure card from your hand (unless the card can only be played at a specific time as noted on the card).
• (Once only) Pay 25 GP (discard it to the supply) to Draw 1 Adventure or 1 Reward card.

Hand Limit

At the end of your turn, you have a hand limit of 5 cards (During your turn, you may exceed this limit). Before you end your turn, you must discard down to 5 cards in hand (this does not include cards placed on your Character Board).

What are some options for a new player?

Exploring is a good idea for your first turn if you are new to the game; then on later turns, you can begin travelling towards the Location that depicts your Class Icon for your special benefit!

II. Adventure Phase

In order to become a Legend of Novus you must travel and explore the many cities and locations of the world. The Adventure Phase is how this happens, where you go and how you get there is entirely up to you! Develop your character with Adventure and Reward cards to be prepared.

You must choose one: Travel or Explore.

Travel

You choose to travel to cities and special locations in Novus.

Perform the following steps in order:

1. Roll the Travel die (once), then perform the following procedure based on the result:
   • Safe Travels: Choose one: Move 1 additional Map Point this phase OR gain 10 GP.
   • Adventure: Draw 1 Adventure card (from the top of the Adventure deck to your hand).
   • Reward: Draw 1 Reward card (from the top of the Reward deck to your hand).
   • Encounter: Reveal and battle (page 5) the top card from the Encounter deck. After the battle (if you won) continue your turn and proceed with step 2 of Travel.
2. If your Explore Token is flipped to its "X" side, flip it over to its other side.
3. Move your Standee (from its current location) to a location 1 or 2 Map Points away.

When moving: If you move through (or end your movement) on a Location with the Location-card icon, immediately find the card for that Location and read it aloud (if it is relevant to your situation, perform its effect now.) You may continue moving after (unless the effect instructs you that you cannot continue moving).

You may not finish your movement on a location you began your turn on.

If you have a Travel Bonus depicted on any of your cards on your Character Board (not in your hand), you may choose to move that many additional spaces. Most cards will indicate a travel bonus as +1.

If you end movement on a spot depicting a Location name (just moving through a named Location doesn't count) find the corresponding Location card and follow its instructions. This is mandatory!

As depicted: If your standee is at the starting city, you can move one Map Point away along any black arrow; if you want to move even further, you can move a 2nd Map Point away along a red arrow.

Please note: Explore effects only happen when you take your turn to Explore (all other location effects immediately occur when you end your Travel movement on that Location).

When moving, consider the following details about the Map Points:

• Waypoints: Map markers that have no location effect; however, you can still choose to Explore at these locations.
• City: In a City you may sell Reward cards for the value depicted on each card.
• Encounters: Dangerous areas in Novus that always have a creature to battle.
• Expansions: These locations will be used in expansions to the base game.
• Class: Considered a City; also, the depicted Class receives a special benefit when visiting!
• Quests: These locations are where the most powerful creatures of Novus are.

Explore

You may choose to stay and explore your current location.

You cannot Explore 2 turns in a row! To remember this: When you Explore, flip your Explore token over to show the "X" side (If your Explore token shows the "X" side at the start of your turn, you cannot perform an Explore action this turn).

The procedure for an Explore action varies; follow the chart to find your "path".

Does your current Location depict the Explore icon or a Quest Creature icon?

• YES: Find the Location's card and follow its instructions. (Explore Ends)
• NO: Reveal the top card of the Adventure deck to all players. Did you reveal an ENCOUNTER Event card?
  • YES: Discard the revealed ENCOUNTER Event card. Reveal the top card of the Encounters deck, then Battle it (page 5). (Explore Ends)
  • NO: Add the revealed card to your hand (unless the card instructs you to do otherwise), then choose one of the following options:
    • Draw 1 card (your choice) from the Adventure or Reward deck (add it to your hand). This card does not get revealed (regardless of what kind of card it is). (Explore Ends)
    • Discard an ENCOUNTER Event card from your hand to reveal the top card of the Encounters deck, then Battle it (page 5). (Explore Ends)

When Explore Ends, proceed directly to the Recovery Phase.

III. Recovery Phase

Your adventure comes to an end; it is time to recover and rest before your next one. Prepare for your next adventure by performing any (or none) of the following options (in any order).

• Remove any number of Reward cards from your Character Board (adding them to your hand). You may not return Skill or Curse cards to your hand, or other cards such as the "Enchant Weapon" Adventure card.
• Place any number of Reward cards on your Character Board (from your hand).
• (only once) Play 1 Event card from your hand.
• Sell (discard) any number of cards (from your hand or Character Board) for GP equal to their sell price (depicted on the right of the face of the card, page 8). You can only sell if you are in a City!
• Buy XP: Trade in (discard) GP for experience points, as per the conversion chart on the Player Aid card. You cannot trade in to gain your 25th XP, your final XP must be earned through other means.
• Gain an Advanced Class: If you have 10 XP or greater, you may choose an Advanced Class card to place over your current Class card. You can choose any that shares the same Class icon with your Basic Character card. Gaining an Advance Class can be done on any turn, it does not have to be the same turn you acquire 10 XP. You do not lose the XP, you just need to have it. You can only gain 1 Advanced Class during the game unless a card states otherwise. Some Basic Classes have the option to flip it over to its Advanced form, such as Barbarian to Zealot. SEE PAGE 11 & 12 for more information.
• When you choose to end your turn, the player to your left begins their turn.

What should I spend my treasure on? Cards or XP?

The choice on what to spend treasure on can vary greatly depending on your Class card, your current status, the equipment you have on, and many other factors. There are benefits to both options, which you will have to learn and decide upon over the course of your games. Our recommendation to new players is to use GP to purchase cards in the early half of the game, and XP in the later half of the game. For Solo play, purchasing Adventure cards is an important way to find the required Quest Event card required to win.

How to Battle

Understanding Your Opponent

Nothing gets an adventurer's blood running faster than the opportunity to take down the evil Creatures that roam the lands of Novus. From Humanoids and wild Animals, to the restless Undead and even powerful Demons!

Creature card parts: Name; CV; Type; XP gained only if you win; Victory reward (if you win, gain this and the XP depicted above); Defeat (if you lose, reduce/discard this); Special Ability (you must do this first, before you do anything else!); Thematic Text. When you see the Action Die icon, you roll a d10 during step 1 of Battle. If there is no Action Die icon, read and apply the text when relevant (usually now).

Battle

When you reveal a Creature, you must Battle it by performing the following steps in order. Special rules apply to Quest Creatures, which is outlined in the next page.

1. Check for Special Text or a Special Ability: If there are any, do what is instructed immediately. In some cases, this can cause the Battle to end before completing the rest of the Battle steps.
2. (optional) Attempt to Escape: Roll a d10: If you roll a 6 or greater, you Escape: Place the Creature card in the discard pile then proceed to the Recovery phase. If you roll a 5 or less, you must continue the battle and suffer -1CV for the battle. Some cards and abilities adjust your Escape roll, usually indicated with an Escape icon.
3. Determine your total Combat Value (CV): Add all of your sources of CV together to get your total CV (this only includes the cards that are placed on your Character Board). Although this is tracked on your board, some cards gain additional bonuses against specific creature types.
4. Determine the Final CV for the Player: Roll a d10 and add your total CV to the value rolled: this total is your Final CV. Even if you feel you are guaranteed to win the roll, you must still roll, because if you roll a 1 it is a Tragic Fail (page xx)!
5. Determine the Final CV for the Creature: The player to your right rolls a d10 for the Creature and adds the Creature's CV to the value rolled: this total is the Final CV for the Creature. Creatures do not suffer Tragic Fails.
6. (optional, after all rolls) You may play Adventure cards and activate any number of abilities on your cards to influence the battle.
7. Compare Final CVs: The greater value wins the battle. Tied results are won by the Player. If you won, gain what is stated after "Victory" and the XP listed on the card; if you lost, lose what is stated after "Defeat". Regardless of who won, the Creature is placed into the discard pile (unless this was a Quest Creature Battle with different rules see page 9).

Victory: Gain XP equal to the XP icon's value. For each card icon draw 1 card (from the top of the corresponding deck to your hand). Take the depicted amount of GP from the Bank.

Defeat: You (often) lose XP (this is done immediately). If this loss of XP brings you to less than 1 XP, set your XP to 1 instead and ignore the further loss. If you have an Advanced Class and you are brought below 10 XP you still retain your Advanced Class. If you lose GP and you don't have enough, discard all that you can (and ignore the rest; You cannot go below 0 GP).

At any time, if you are defeated in combat, you skip the remainder of your Adventure phase and go directly to your Recovery Phase.

Battle Example

In this scenario we have Kain, using the Knight basic class card, in a Battle with an Orc Warrior. We will progress through each of the steps outlined in the Battle section:

1. Check for Special Text or a Special Ability: The Orc has a special ability. These are always resolved before deciding to Escape. This ability checks the character's XP value. Since Kain only has 3 XP, he suffers -1 CV this battle.
2. (optional) Attempt to Escape: Kain can choose to Escape by rolling a d10, but his Knight card gives him a -2 penalty for escaping, so he chooses not to.
3. Determine your total CV: Kain's Total CV is calculated by adding up all his on-player-board CV bonus: XP Bonus: CV +1 (chart below the XP track); Cards on your Board: CV +4 (from sword) and CV +3 (from Class card); Penalties: CV -1 (from Orc ability). Adding this all up, the Final CV for Kain is 7. (The Orc has a Final CV of 3, as depicted on its card.)
4. Determine the Final CV for the Player: Kain rolls a 4, resulting in a Final CV of 11 (4 + 7).
5. Determine the Final CV for the Creature: The Orc Warrior rolls a 9, resulting in a Final CV of 12 (9 + 3).
6. (optional, after all rolls) You may play/activate any number of abilities and/or cards to influence the battle. As of right now, the Orc is winning, so Kain chooses to do something about it. One of his Class abilities is "Expert Maneuvers", in which he may discard a card to gain +2 CV. Kain has a card in his hand, so he chooses to discard it to activate the ability. This changes Kain's Final CV to 13.
7. Compare Final CVs: Kain has the greater CV, so he wins the battle; he draws 1 Reward card (from the top of the deck to his hand), gains 10 GP, and 2 XP. (The Orc Warrior card is placed into the discard pile.)

Adventure Deck

Adventure Cards

Most are Events that change the basic rules of the game and must be followed as written. They will state when they can be played (possibly the Preparation, Recovery, or another phase).

The default (if nothing is written otherwise) is that an event can only be played on your turn, during your Preparation or Recovery Phase.

After resolving an Adventure card, discard it (to the Adventure deck discard pile unless otherwise noted on the card).

Action Events: Can be played at any time, regardless of what phase or whose turn it is. An Action Event's effect must completely resolve before any other Event card can be played. If two or more players attempt to play an Action Event at the same time, the current player's turn takes priority, followed in regular turn sequence by the other players.

Treasures: Play (discard them) for various quantities of game currency, as indicated on the card. You may play any number of Treasure cards during your Preparation phase and Recovery phase.

Encounter Events: Depending on when they are drawn, their effect changes. If drawn during your Explore phase (page 4) as the first card you draw, you immediately Battle a creature (page 5). If drawn any other time, the card is placed in your hand. It can be used as described during your Explore phase as a way to seek out and Battle a random Creature from the Creature deck (page 9).

Curse Events: When drawn, they become permanently attached to your Character Board placed on a Skill slot. If all skill slots are full, you must place it on top of a Skill card. Curse cards can only be removed if a game effect states that you can.

If you are (or become) a Class card that "Cannot be Cursed" then any Curse cards currently attached to your character are immediately discarded and you cannot be affected by any more Curse cards.

Skill Cards: Enhancements to your character that are permanent for the remainder of the game, helping in various ways. They are placed on a Skill slot. Once placed, these cards cannot be removed.

Quest Events: They can only be played in a specific circumstance as mentioned on the card. They earn you XP when used; in addition, completing 3 Quest Events is an alternative win condition for multi-player games. When played, set to the side of your Character Board.

Travel Events: Affect your movement on the game map in various ways.

Reward Deck

Reward Cards

Card parts: where you must place it on your Character Board; if a Class icon is present, only that Class may equip it; when on your Character Board, the CV value is added to your CV; if you sell it, the GP value is the amount you receive. Magical equipment has blue banners. Regular, non-magical, equipment has red banners. Magical items are generally more powerful and provide special abilities and actions.

During the Preparation and Recovery Phase you may:

• Remove any number of Reward cards from your Character Board (adding them to your hand).
• Place any number of Reward cards on your Character Board (from your hand).

There are limitations to what you can play:

• If a card depicts a Class Icon, only that Class can play that card. (If there is no Class Icon depicted, any class can play the card.)
• If a card depicts a placement icon, e.g., a Weapon depicting a Hand, you must play it to that specific spot.

Armor: Protects your character from attack, which corresponds to an increased Combat Value. Armor can be either Light or Heavy—some Classes incur penalties when wearing Heavy Armor, or cannot use it at all. Class cards will indicate when this is the case.

Weapons: Must play onto a Hand Slot on your Character Sheet. Most increase your Combat Value. Some weapons depict a two-hand icon. These items take up both of your Hand slots, i.e., one of your Hand Slots must stay unoccupied.

Miscellaneous Items: A variety of equipment types that provide different benefits. Each card will state where you can play them to. E.g., if they depict the Scroll icon, you can only play it on one of the Scroll spots on your Character board.

Single-Use Items: Can be played on any of the four Item Slots on your Character Board. You cannot use an Item directly from your hand! (It must be played to your Character board first.) You may activate and use a Single-Use Item once, at any time during any player's turn, unless otherwise indicated on the card, then you discard the card.

Treasures: Can be sold (discarded from your hand) to gain the indicated GP. You may sell as many treasures as you want each turn, or save them in your hand for other purposes.

Selling Cards

You can sell any card that has a GP value; this is a great way to find use for cards you cannot play!

You can only sell when you are at a City by discarding any number of cards, then receiving the total GP value depicted on those cards.

Optional rule: You may buy, sell, and trade Reward cards with any other player sharing your location on the map.

Hand Limit

At the end of your turn, you have a hand limit of 5 cards (During your turn, you may exceed this limit). Before your end your turn, you must discard down to 5 cards in hand (this does not include cards placed on your Character Board).

I have Reward cards that my character cannot use... am I stuck with these?

The game is designed to have many uses for cards in hand, including:

• Character and Item abilities that have you discard cards for their effects,
• Sell them for GP as noted above,
• When you have 10XP, you can choose an Advanced Class (page 4) that may allow you to use those items.

Quest Creature Battles

Only those heroes who have earned great equipment, skills, and experience will be strong enough, and brave enough, to take on the mighty Quest creatures of Novus. These include Actenebras, Jue R'Gon, Kraeger Beast, Kroenig, Cystos, Asmakai, Osira, Kzmatic, and the powerful red dragon, Monsigneus.

Fighting a Quest Creature is optional; you can move through and end your movement on a Location that has a Quest Creature; but remember, you only battle them if you Explore on their Location.

Quest Creature Battles are best out of 3; thus, you fight multiple stand-alone "normal" battles until either you or the Creature has won 2 battles, then that player/Creature is declared the winner. Victory and Defeat conditions are only applied at the end (when 2 have been won) not after each individual win or loss!

Escaping: You may attempt to escape at the regular step of combat each round.

If a Quest Creature is defeated, its tile is removed from the game (no other player can battle it), and the winner takes its token (to show they have defeated a Quest Creature).

Each Location (where a Quest Creature originally resided) has a special Explore option once the Quest Creature has been defeated. Other players may take advantage of this Explore option (not the player that defeated the Creature, they may not return to that location).

Clarifications

Do I have to fight a Quest Creature if I go to their location? No, but you cannot Explore that location if the Quest Creature is still alive. The only exception to this is Kzmatic, as the location card specifies players can attempt to steal magical items from his keep.

Can I Explore or fight a Quest Creature the same turn I land there? No, the Adventure phase states that you can Travel or Explore, not both. In order to battle a Quest Creature you must Explore that location.

Creatures

The Encounter deck is host to many hostile creatures that inhabit every part of Novus. Each creature has its own statistics, abilities, victory, and defeat conditions. There are several different creature types in Novus, every one of them can be dangerous!

Animals: Animals deformed by the power of the maelstrom are enhanced in body and mind. They are volatile creatures that will attack without provocation. Examples include Feral Wolves, Savage bears, and Giant Spiders.

Demons: Demons are one of the most dangerous types of creatures. They enter Novus through the power of Asmakai, the Mindcrushing Demon, who gates in new demons every day, sending many of them out into the world to destroy any who cross their paths. Examples include Cackling Imps, Alluring Devils, and Shadow Demons.

Monstrosities: Monstrosities are creatures that have been twisted and fused into massive creatures that terrorize whomever they encounter. From giant hybrid creatures such as the Spider Scorpion, Cystos, to the gargantuan wurm, Jue R'gon, in the jungles of Wkawn, monstrosities are best avoided until characters have enough XP and Rewards to have a fair fight against them.

Humanoids: Humanoids have many similarities to Humans: they are intelligent, adaptable, and bipedal. Examples include Goblins, Orcs, Jakkals, and Oxen.

Magical: Magical creatures did not exist in Novus before the Maelstrom. These creatures are very rare, and very powerful. Their purpose is unknown and, when encountered, they strike without reason or remorse. Examples include Natures Nemesis, the Stone Sentinel, and Roaming Eyeclops.

Undead: Undead creatures roam the lands, feeding on the living. Before the Maelstrom struck, the dead remained dead forever; now they return with increasing frequency. Adding to their numbers, the powerful necromancer Kzmatic has found a way to animate the ancient dead and force them to do his bidding. Examples include Skeletal Knights, Zombie Hordes, and Ghouls.

Special Icons

Some common abilities of creatures are denoted on cards as special icons:

• Flying: Flying makes it more difficult to Escape. If you attempt to Escape a flying creature, and you do not have flying yourself, your Escape roll is reduced by 3.
• Curse: If you lose a battle against a Creature that depicts a Curse icon, you gain a Curse (as detailed on the Creature card)!

Solo Game

Becoming a Legend of Novus does not have to be a multiplayer experience. You are welcome to explore alone and help save the world from the powerful creatures destroying it. To do this there are some slight changes to the rules to make the gameplay work, and provide specific goals to achieve.

Goal

To win a Solo game, you must demonstrate your heroism by defeating 3 Quest Creatures and completing at least 1 Quest Event within a specific amount of turns. Take too long to complete your tasks and the creatures will devastate Novus beyond recovery. You have a maximum of 25 turns to complete the game. If you succeed, you are given a rank - strive to become a Legend of Novus with every class!

If you win within:

• 15 turns, you are a Legend of Novus!!
• 20 turns, you are a Hero of Novus!
• 25 turns, you are a Champion of Novus.

If your game ever exceeds 25 turns, you immediately lose the game.

Game Setup

Perform all actions that you would complete for a multiplayer game, with the following changes:

• Remove the following cards from the Adventure deck and place them back in the box: Stolen Stories, Pilfer, Backalley Deal, Stolen Reward, and Experience of War.
• Remove the 7 Quest Event cards from the Adventure deck. Shuffle the remaining cards the sort them into 7 piles.
• Shuffle the 7 Quest Event cards, then place 1 on top of each pile.
• Shuffle each pile, then combine the piles to form the Adventure deck. This process ensures the Quest events are spread throughout the deck, which ensures you obtain at least 1 to help you achieve your goal.
• Keep track of how many turns you have taken by using an unused player board and a cube on the XP track. Unlike the normal game, if it reaches 25 XP (turns) you lose!

Advanced Classes

Developing your character from a Basic Class to an Advanced Class is one of the most impactful things you can do in the game. What you choose to become impacts what equipment you can wear, what new abilities you have, and may influence what threat in Novus you have the greatest chance against.

You may become an Advance Class during the Recovery Phase of any turn that you have 10 or more XP. This may only be done once per player per game.

The following Basic Classes can advance as shown in the examples: Druid, Fighter, Informant, Knight, Priest, Thief, Sorceror, Wizard.

Note that there are only 10 Advanced Class cards that are accessible to other players. If a player takes an Advanced Class, it is no longer available for other players to use.

The Druid class is represented by a tree icon. The Druid may advance to any Advanced Class that has a tree icon on it.

The Thief class is represented by a crossed daggers icon. The Thief may advance to any Advanced Class that has crossed daggers on it.

Plan ahead for what Advanced Class you want to be. There may be Reward cards you draw early in the game that you cannot Equip due to the class icon not matching. If you save those cards for when you become an Advanced Class, you can try to become a class that has the class icon you need to use it!

Unique Classes

Some characters in the game have very unique classes that can lead to different game play strategies. These characters have Basic Class cards that have an Advanced Class on the back side that only they have the opportunity to advance into.

• Yotun begins as a Barbarian, and may ONLY advance to the Zealot class.
• Morty begins as a Bard, and may ONLY advance to the Cunning Charmer class.
• Fabian begins the game as a Wizard. He has the option to advance to a Master of Magic, OR become any class a Wizard can become.
• Aevia begins as an Informant. She may advance to any class that a Thief can advance to, however her Basic Class card provides a unique victory condition that may encourage players to keep her as an Informant for the entire game.
• Idris begins the game as a Pirate. He has the option to advance to a Scourge, OR become any class a Thief can become.

Glossary

• Action Event: An event card that can be played at any time, on any players turn.
• Action Die: A 10 sided die used for many different functions.
• Advance Class: A more powerful class type, which players may change into.
• Adventure: Adventure is a phase of the turn, and the name of one of the decks of cards.
• Ally: A companion card that provides a combat bonus for your character.
• Armor: A type of equipment that provides a combat bonus.
• Battle: The act of fighting a creature, consisting of 1 or more rounds.
• Character: A visual representation of who you are.
• Character Board: A 17"x10.5" folding, dual layer board to use for card and token placement.
• City: A type location type that allows players to Sell items in their Recovery phase.
• Combat: The term used to identify creatures and characters fighting ability.
• Class: The profession of a character, impacting equipment & advance class options.
• Creature: The common threats affecting the world of Novus.