Lizard Wizard
Lizard Wizard Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Gameplay
Lizard Wizard is an action selection game. On your turn, you will perform one of six actions:
- Gather Magical Ingredients (Reagents)
- Convert these Reagents into Mana, the energy necessary to cast spells
- Compete with the other Arch-Mages to recruit Wizards from seven schools of magic
- Create magical towers that will amplify the power of your wizards
- Summon Familiars to help you with many tasks, including exploring the dungeons of Astoria
- Research and cast powerful spells.
At the end of the game, you will receive points for having the best wizard and tower combinations, gold, and scoring spells.
In Lizard Wizard, only one Arch-Mage will rise above the rest and control the land. Will it be you?
Contents
Game Board
- The top of the game board is the Reagent Tracks that show the current value of each of the seven reagents, and 4 spaces for the Achievement tiles.
- The bottom of the game board contains spaces for each available action/card deck.
7 sets of Reagent Tokens (30 of each type): Mandrake, Nightshade, Sulphur, Foxglove, Toadstool, Eye of Newt, Horn
Start Player Token
35 Gold Coins (Denominations: 20 x 1's, 10 x 5's, 5 x 10's)
80 Blue Mana Coins (Denominations: 30 x 1's, 15 x 5's, 20 x 10's, 10 x 20's, 5 x 100's)
20 Achievement Tiles
Tarot-Sized Cards
- 28 Wizard Cards
- 28 Tower Cards
- 35 Familiar Cards
- 65 Spell Cards
Poker-Sized Cards
- 56 Reagent Gathering Cards
- 53 Dungeon Cards: 20 Monster Cards, 21 Gold Treasure Cards, 10 Item Treasure Cards, 2 Trap! Cards
The Seven Schools of Magic
There are seven schools of magic in Astoria. Each one has unique powers, spells, and reagents that work especially well for them.
- Conjuring: Focuses on summoning and creation
- Sorcery: Focuses on divination, pyrotechnics, and the understanding of magic itself
- Alchemy: Focuses on changing the physical properties of matter (especially gold), and potions
- Enchantment: Focuses on charms, dazzles, sleep spells, and other forms of mind control
- Druidry: Focuses on the magics of nature
- Thaumaturgy: Focuses on the wonders of machines, traps, engines, and mechanical devices
- Necromancy: Focuses on the dark magics of death, animating and controlling the undead
Setup
Place the board in the middle of the table.
A. Reagent Gathering Deck. Shuffle the Reagent Gathering cards and deal 3 cards to each player. Place the remaining cards near the board as a draw deck.
B. Starting Prices. Place one of each Reagent Token on the lowest Mana Value in their corresponding Reagent Track.
C. Reagent Tokens. Each player selects 2 unique Reagent Tokens. Place the remaining Reagent Tokens near the board to act as the Supply.
D. Give each player 20 Mana. Place the remaining Mana Coins near the board to act as the Bank.
E. Create the Wizard Deck by removing certain Wizards based on the number of players:
- 1 or 2 Players: Remove 2 Wizards from each school of magic.
- 3 Players: Remove 1 Wizard from each school of magic.
- 4 and 5 Players: All Wizards are in play.
Shuffle the remaining Wizard Cards to make the Wizard Deck and place it face down on the board. Turn 2 cards face up and place them in the spots next to the deck. These cards are available for selection when the Recruit Wizard action is taken.
F. Create the Tower Deck by placing the cards in order based on their cost in Reagents (shown at the bottom of the card): the seven cards with a cost of 1 reagent face down on top (in random order), then the seven cards with a cost of 2 reagents underneath them, and so on. Once the deck is in order, place it face down on the board, select the top card, and place it in the spot next to the Tower Deck face up.
- 1 or 2 Players: Remove all seven Tower Cards with a cost of 1 reagent and all seven with a cost of 4 Reagents.
- 3 Players: Remove all seven Tower Cards with a cost of 4 reagents.
- 4 and 5 Players: Use all Tower Cards.
G. Create the Familiar Deck by placing the cards in order based on their cost in Mana (upper left): the seven cards with a cost of 5 face down on top (in a random order), then the seven cards with a cost of 10 underneath them, and so on. Once the deck is in order, place it on the board, select the top 2 cards, and place them in the spots next to the Familiar Deck face up.
- 1 or 2 Players: Remove all seven Familiar Cards with a cost of 5 Mana and all seven with a cost of 25 Mana.
- 3 Players: Remove all seven Familiar Cards with a cost of 25 Mana.
- 4 and 5 Players: Use all Familiar Cards.
H. Create the Spell Deck. Shuffle the Spell Cards, place the deck face down on the board. Draw four Spell Cards from the deck and place them face up in their spots next to the Spell Deck. These four cards are available for purchase.
I. Create the Dungeon Deck. Remove the Trap! Cards and set them aside for possible use later. Shuffle the remaining Dungeon Cards, including all Monster, Gold Treasure, and Item Treasure Cards, and place the deck face down in the spot on the board.
J. Place Achievement Tiles. Shuffle and draw four random Achievement Tiles. Place them face up in the spots near the top right of the board. Place the remaining tiles back in the game box as they will not be used.
K. Start Player. Select a start player randomly and place the Start Player Token in front of them.
L. Gold Coins. Place the gold coins near the board.
Solo Play
When playing solo, the AI Player starts with 30 Mana and one random Wizard Card. The AI has no limit on how many reagents it may gather or store. It gathers all reagents shown on the card. When converting Reagents, the AI converts the one that generates the most Mana. Utilize one of the two sides of the AI Flow-Chart to determine the AI player's action, flipping it over and using the other side the next turn. Start at the top of the chart and flow downward until you arrive at a 'Perform Action' result. The AI performs that action.
Game Rounds
The Start Player will take the first turn each round and may perform ONE Action (see below), followed likewise by each player around the table clockwise to complete the round.
Actions
On a player's turn, they may perform one of the following six Actions:
- Gather Reagents
- Convert Reagents to Mana
- Recruit Wizard/Wizard's Duel
- Research Spell
- Create a Tower
- Summon Familiar
1. Gather Reagents
Just as there are seven schools of magic, there are seven magical reagents, or ingredients, that fuel the magic of Astoria. Knowing where these natural wonders can be found is the essential starting point for every young wizard. Sometimes they use familiars to perform this errand, but it is still very common to find even the most powerful arch-mages lurking in the Enchanted Wood, searching for the most pure reagents.
Play one of your Reagent Gathering cards from your hand. Take three (3) of the commodity tokens shown in the 'Gather Reagents' area of the card from the supply and place them in front of you. This means that on some cards, you may not get all of the Reagent tokens shown; you will have to choose the three that you want. This maximum may be increased with some spells.
After gathering, for each reagent shown in the 'Increase Value' area of the card, increase its Mana value by 1 on the Reagent Tracks at the top of the game board.
After taking your reagent tokens and increasing the value, place the played card in the discard pile face up next to the Reagent Gathering draw deck, and draw a new Reagent Gathering card from the deck to refill your hand to your maximum.
Players have a maximum hand of 3 Reagent Gathering cards. This maximum may be increased with some spells.
Example: Julie plays a card that has Sulphur, Toadstool, Eye of Newt, Nightshade, and Mandrake reagents in the 'Gather Reagents' area, and Foxglove and Mandrake in the 'Increase Value' area. She doesn't own any spells yet, so she has to choose 3 of the 5 commodities on the card to produce. First, she chooses the Sulphur, Toadstool and Nightshade, and gathers those reagents from the supply. Then she raises the value of Foxglove and Mandrake by 1 Mana each.
Wizard Card Gathering Bonus: Wizard Cards are valuable for scoring at the end of the game, and they also confer a very valuable bonus gathering ability to their owners. Each Wizard Card has a reagent symbol in the upper left corner. When you gather reagents, you also gather an extra reagent of the correct type for each reagent symbol on your Wizard Cards.
Example: Jack is gathering the 3 reagents shown on his Gather Reagents Card (1 Mandrake, 1 Sulphur, and 1 Foxglove), he also has two Wizard Cards (Enchanter and Necromancer), so he also gathers an additional Mandrake and Nightshade for a total of 5 reagents.
Casting a Spell: After gathering your reagents, you may cast ONE spell if you have the necessary reagents. (See 'Casting Spells' below)
Storage Limit: Each player may only have up to 10 Reagent Tokens at any one time. If a player's Gather Reagents action brings their Reagent total to more than 10 in front of them, they must immediately discard their choice of Reagent Tokens back into the supply to get back down to 10.
This limit is raised by '1' for each Tower Card that the player owns. The Root Cellar spell also increases the limit by 10.
Example: Dan owns three Tower Cards, which allows him to store up to 13 Reagent Tokens. If Dan also owns and has cast the Root Cellar spell, then he could have up to 23 Reagent Tokens.
2. Convert Reagents to Mana
Long ago, the wizards of Astoria learned how to convert reagents into mana, the magical energy that powers all things. The process is no longer dangerous, but it still takes great focus and knowledge.
You may trade in any quantity of a single type of Reagent that you own, 'Converting' it to Mana. Place the Reagent Tokens being converted into the supply, and take the current value shown on that Reagent Track for each token of that Reagent converted. Then move the value for that Reagent down by the number of Tokens converted.
Example: Dan converts 4 Mandrake Reagent Tokens. The Value shown on the Mandrake track is 6 Mana. Dan receives 4 x 6 Mana = 24 Mana from the supply, and places the 4 Mandrake Tokens into the supply.
After conversion, the value of the converted reagent is reduced by the number of units converted.
Example: Mandrake is valued at 6 Mana and 4 units are converted. The new value of Mandrake on the track is 2 Mana.
Note: You may always use the Convert Reagent action to convert any number of different reagents for 1 Mana each rather than the current value of those reagents. This does not reduce the value on the reagent tracks.
3. Recruit Wizard
The Arch-Mages of Astoria are vying for ultimate power, which can only be achieved by drawing several lesser wizards into their circle of influence. They do this through demonstrations of their magical ability. Their attempts to recruit a wizard are often challenged by one or more rivals, and a Wizard's Duel occurs. These contests of magical power can drain even the most powerful mage.
Select one of the Wizard Cards from the two on offer. This wizard will be battled over by all of the arch-mages in a magical duel.
The duel operates like an auction, where each player, starting with the recruiting player, bids in turn (clockwise around the table) or passes. Once a player has passed, they may not bid again. The player with the winning bid gets the Wizard Card and pays their bid in Mana. The Wizard Card is placed in front of them to show that they own it.
The empty spot in the offer is then filled with a new card from the deck. There must always be two cards on offer (unless the deck is exhausted).
If the player that started the duel does not win, then they may perform any other action, including another Recruitment. If the player who started the auction wins the auction, then their turn ends.
Note: No player may bid more than the Mana that they have.
Solo/Two player bidding: When playing in a two player game, the player that starts the Duel may only bid once. The other player may either bid more, or pass.
4. Research Spell
Arch-Mages have the ability to learn spells from any of the seven schools of magic. Once they have researched a new spell, it still must be cast with reagents before it takes effect.
Select one of the four Spells on Offer and pay the Mana cost shown in the upper left corner of the Card. That Spell Card is then placed face down in front of you (a little to the left of your face-up spells) to show that you own it, but that it has not yet been cast.
A new Spell Card is then taken from the top of the deck of spell cards and placed face up in the offer so that there are always 4 Spells available for research (unless the deck is exhausted).
Casting the New Spell: After researching the new spell, you may cast THAT spell if you have the necessary reagents. (See 'Casting Spells' below)
5. Create a Tower
Magical Towers amplify the power of wizards of each school of magic. Towers may be created through powerful magic, or built by workers who must be paid.
Purchase the available Tower Card by paying either the specified Reagents displayed on the bottom left of the card, or the number of Gold Coins displayed on the bottom right of the card. The Reagent tokens used for payment are placed back in the supply near the board. The purchased card is placed in front of the player who purchased it and a new card from the deck is turned up and placed in the offer so that there is always one Tower Card available for purchase (unless the deck is exhausted).
Reminder: Towers also increase the owning player's reagent storage capacity by one reagent token per Tower Card.
6. Summon a Familiar
Familiars are magical spirits that are summoned and inhabit the bodies of mortal creatures. They are essential servants who perform many vital services for wizards: They can be used for simple errands, such as gathering reagents or gold. They are the only ones who can locate the ever-shifting entrance to the famous Dungeons of Astoria. They can help locate new spells in the arcane library. They are also valuable assistants in the complex rituals required to cast multiple spells.
Purchase one of the two available Familiar Cards by paying the Mana Cost shown in the upper left corner of the Familiar Card. Familiar Cards must be used immediately upon purchase for one of four actions:
- Scoring: When using the Familiar Card to score, you will receive 1 Gold per card that you own that shares the same school of magic as the familiar. Cards that may be counted toward this total include: Wizard, Tower, Spell, and Familiar Cards (including the new Familiar Card, and all Spells whether they have been cast or not).
- Gathering Reagents and Casting Spells: When using the Familiar Card for this purpose, you will collect the Reagents shown on the card, and then may cast any spells that you own and have the reagents for. (See 'Casting Spells' below)
Note: Reagents used to cast spells are spent before counting the reagent tokens to check if you have more than your storage limit.
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New Research: When using the Familiar Card to conduct 'New Research', you will first clear the spell offer, removing all four face-up spell cards on the board (the offer), place them on the bottom of the spell deck. You will then draw four new spell cards from the top of the deck and place them face-up in the offer. You then take one of the four new spell cards for free, placing it face-down in front of you, and replacing it in the offer with a new card from the spell deck.
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Entering the Dungeon: When using the Familiar Card to enter the dungeon, you will draw a card from the top of the dungeon deck. If this card is a Monster Card, then you take one 'Hit'. If it is a Treasure Card (Gold or Item), you do not take a 'Hit'. After drawing a card, you may elect to draw another card or end your dungeon delving expedition. If, at any point, you take a second 'Hit', you are defeated, and will get nothing. Shuffle all of the Monster and Treasure cards that you drew on this expedition back into the Dungeon Deck.
However, if you end your expedition before taking a second 'Hit', you will get to keep all of the Treasure Cards, placing them in front of you. Immediately take Gold Coins equal to the value on the Gold Coins Cards gained on this expedition. Item Treasure Cards may be worth victory points at the end of the game. Any Monster Cards drawn on this expedition are still re-shuffled back into the Dungeon Deck.
Once all treasure has been collected from the dungeon, entering the dungeon is no longer possible.
Note: Used Familiar Cards are still yours.
Casting Spells
There are three ways to cast a spell:
- When you gather reagents, you may cast any ONE spell.
- When you research a new spell, you can cast THAT spell.
- When you summon a Familiar and select the Gather Reagents and Cast Spells option, you can cast as many spells as you want.
In all three cases, you must have the necessary reagents shown at the bottom of the spell card in order to cast a spell. To cast, you pay the reagents shown, placing them back into the supply, and the spell is then immediately activated.
To keep track of the status of your spells, it is recommended that you place your spell cards in one of two places in front of you:
- Spells that you have researched, but are not active: face down to your left
- Spells that you have cast and are currently active: face up directly in front of you
There are two types of Spell Durations, which are shown below the Spell description:
- Ongoing Effect: Once cast, this spell remains in effect for the rest of the game.
- One-Time Use (1x): These spells are so powerful that a wizard cannot cast it a second time and survive. Once these are cast, the spell card is placed face down in a pile (to your right) of used Spell and Familiar Cards. They still belong to you.
Achievements
On your turn, if you meet the conditions of an Achievement (as shown on one of the four Achievement Tiles), you may claim it by taking the tile and placing it in front of you.
Each Achievement is worth 10 VP at the end of the game.
Game End
Play continues around the table until any one of the following decks are depleted (all cards are taken, including the face-up cards): Wizard, Tower, Spell, or Familiar.
When this occurs, finish the current Round until all players who have not yet taken their turn have done so. (Note: The last player in every game is the player to the right of the 'Starting Player' who went first at the beginning of the game.) Then the game ends.
Information
During the game, all Ongoing Effect Spells, Wizard, and Tower cards, as well as Reagents owned by the players must be placed so that all players may see them (public information). Each player's Mana and Gold, on the other hand, are secret, and do not have to be visible.
Scoring
Each player will get VP (Victory Points) as follows:
- Every Wizard Card + Tower Card pair owned by a player is worth 5 VP if the schools of magic on both cards do not match.
- Every Wizard Card + Tower Card pair owned by a player is worth 10 VP if the schools of magic on both cards match.
- Every Spell Card that is from the same school of magic as a matching Wizard/Tower pair, is worth 5 VP. Only Spell Cards that have been cast count for this.
- Any Wizard or Tower Card that is not able to be paired is worth 1 VP.
Example: Christine owns 3 Wizards and 6 Towers. She can use her Wizard and Tower cards to make 3 pairs; One pair doesn't match (5 VP); Two of those pairs are made from a Wizard and a Tower of the same school of magic (20 VP). The remaining 3 unmatched Towers are worth 1 VP each (3 VP). One of Christine's matching Wizard and Tower pairs are Druidry. Since she also has 3 Druid Spell Cards, Christine gains 5 VP for each of them (15 VP). Christine gets 43 Victory Points for her Wizard, Tower, and Spell Cards (5 + 20 + 3 + 15).
- Gold Coins score VP equal to the value of the coins.
- Spells that score VP score as instructed on the Spell card as long as the spell has been cast.
- Dungeon Items score Victory Points for the following players:
- The player with the most Treasure Items (or tied for the most items): 10 VP
- The player with the second most Treasure Items (or tied for second most): 5 VP
- Achievement tiles score 10 VP each.
The player with the most Victory Points at the end of the game is the winner. In the case of a tie, the tied player with the most Mana is the winner.
Optional Rules
Some players do not enjoy 'gotcha' type interactions. To play a game where this is minimized, before play, remove all spell cards with the star icon on the bottom of the card.
Actions Quick Reference
1) Gather Reagents
- Play a Gather Reagents Card
- Take Reagents shown on the 'Gather Reagents' half (plus any on your Wizard Cards)
- Increase the value of the Reagents shown on the 'Increase Value' half
- Cast one spell (if you have the necessary reagents)
2) Convert Reagents to Mana
- Turn in one type of reagents to the supply
- Gain Mana = Value of that Reagent x Tokens turned in
- Reduce the Value of that Reagent by the number of Tokens turned in
3) Recruit Wizard
- Select one of the two Wizard Cards on offer and bid Mana in turn (or pass)
- Winner of the Auction pays the bid and takes the Wizard Card
- If the player who started the Auction didn't win, they may take another Action
4) Research Spell
- Select a Spell Card from the four on offer and pay 5 Mana
- Place the Spell Card face down in front of you
- Cast the Spell if you have the necessary Reagents
5) Create a Tower
- Pay either the Reagents or the Gold shown on the Tower Card on offer
- Take the Tower Card and place it in front of you
- Towers add '1' to your storage for Reagents
6) Summon Familiar
Use the Card for one of four purposes:
a) Score one School of Magic (1 Gold/Card of the same School of Magic as the Familiar) b) Gather Reagents shown on the Familiar Card and Cast any number of Spells c) New Research: Clear the Spell Offer, Replace them with four new Spell Cards and select one for free d) Enter the Dungeon
- Draw cards from the top of the Dungeon Deck, stopping when you want
- Monster Cards 'hit'; 2 hits = failure
- If you stop before failure, keep the treasure cards and shuffle the monster cards back into the Dungeon Deck
- If you fail, shuffle all drawn cards back into the Dungeon Deck