Masquerade Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Overview
  • Objective
  • Card Types
• Setup
• Procedure
  • 1. Order Phase
  • 2. Stage Phase
  • 3. Spell Phase
    • How to use Spells
    • Number of Spells you can have
    • Renewal of Spell deck
  • 4. Challenge Phase
    • Challenging a Guardian
    • Challenging another Dancer
    • Dancer's Life
  • 5. Event Phase
• Ending the game

Overview

Contents: 72 Cards & these Rules

Number of Players: 2 to 5

Objective

At the end of the game, the player with most victory points (VP) wins the game.

Card Types

Each card has its type written on the back. The only exception is the Guardian Cards which have Treasures on the back.

• Mask: They represent the power of the great entities. Each provides a hidden way to score additional Victory Points.
• Dancer: The Heroes of the titanic struggle and each has a unique ability.
• Emblem: Cards with Victory Points. Players must achieve certain results to gain control of these cards.
• Stage: Locations where the Dancers go. Each has a unique effect.
• Spell: Used for various effects and as VP counters.
• Event: When a Dancer goes to the Chapel, an Event will take place.
• Order: Cards that determine the order of play. Most also have additional effects.
• Guardian/Treasure: Guardians live in the TOWER, guarding treasure. When a Guardian is defeated, the player earns the Treasure on the reverse side of the Guardian card.

Setup

1. Shuffle all Spell cards and put them face down to form the Spell deck.
2. Put Guardian/Treasure cards together, Guardian side up, in the order of the numbers written on Guardian side to form the Guardian deck.
3. Put all Event cards together face up to form the Event deck.
4. Lay all Emblem cards face up.
5. Lay all Stage cards face up.
6. Shuffle all Mask cards and deal one of them face down to each player. Do not reveal them to other players. All left over Mask cards are put aside, face down.
7. Shuffle all five Order cards (even in a 3 or 4 player game) and deal one to each player face up.
8. In the reverse order of Order cards (highest number first), each player picks one Dancer card. All left over Dancer cards are put aside, face up.

Procedure

The game continues until any of the end game conditions are met (see below). There are five phases in each turn.

1. Order Phase
2. Stage Phase
3. Spell Phase
4. Challenge Phase
5. Event Phase

1. Order Phase

On turn 1, each player will have the Order card that was dealt to them during the Setup. On the first turn only, all effects on all Order cards are ignored. Unless otherwise stated, turn order is lowest Order card to highest.

Example: Rufus, Pinky and Chicolini each got dealt an Order card during the Setup. Rufus got the 4, Pinky got the 2 and Chicolini got the 5. So the order for the first turn is Pinky first, Rufus second and Chicolini third.

On turn 2 and every subsequent turn, using the Order established in the previous turn, each player chooses a new Order card. You must choose a different Order card than the one you are currently holding. The only exception is in a five-player game, if you are the 5th player and the only Order card left is the one you had last turn: you must choose that Order card. Players choose from all five Order cards even if some were not used in the previous turn.

Example: On turn 2 Pinky (who chooses first) wants to get more Spells so he takes the 4, Rufus wants to make sure he can get into the TOWER to try for some Treasure and takes the 1 and Chicolini decides to pump up his Dancer and takes the 2. The new turn order is Rufus, Chicolini then Pinky.

2. Stage Phase

Each player, in turn, places his or her Dancer on any Stage card that has not reached its limit. The limit, indicated in the lower right corner of the card, is the maximum number of Dancers the Stage can hold each turn. (For example, a Stage with Limit 2 can have no more than 2 Dancers placed on it each turn.)

After choosing a Stage, that player resolves effects that happen in the Stage phase. If a player is affected by multiple effects, he or she can choose their order. All effects are listed below.

• Effects from Dancers.
• Effects from Treasures.
• Effects from Orders (ignored on turn 1).
• Effects from Stages.

3. Spell Phase

Each player can use any number of Spells in the order determined by Order cards.

How to use Spells

Spells will indicate when they can be cast - either during the Spell Phase or during a Challenge. To cast a Spell you must discard other Spell cards as payment. The number of Spells you need to discard is equal to the level of the Spell that is being cast. Used and discarded Spell cards are placed into the Spell Tomb (Spell discard pile).

Number of Spells you can have

Unless otherwise stated, your maximum hand size is five. If any action causes you to take Spell cards that would exceed your limit you must stop as soon as you reach your limit. If you ever have more Spell cards than your maximum hand size you must immediately discard down to your limit.

Example 1: Chicolini plays the "Request the Note" Event card which lets him give another player 3 Spell cards and take one of their Treasures. He picks Pinky, hands him 3 Spell cards and takes the Treasure. Pinky is currently holding 4 Spell cards so he must choose one Spell card to put in his hand and put the other 2 in the Spell Tomb.

Example 2: Rufus plays the "Changing Partners" Event, takes Pinky's Guardian and gives Pinky his "Eternal Prisoner" which now limits Pinky's Spell hand size to 3. Since Pinky is currently holding 5 Spell cards, he must discard 2.

Renewal of Spell deck

When the Spell deck runs out of cards, shuffle the Spell Tomb to form a new Spell deck. This is done even if an end game condition is met. Keep track of how many times the Spell deck has been renewed.

4. Challenge Phase

Dancers capable of making Challenges do so in turn order.

Challenging a Guardian

Any Dancer who is at the TOWER must Challenge the Guardian on top of Guardian deck. To Challenge the Guardian, the player who made the Challenge may use any number of Spells that say "Challenge". That player can also reveal his or her Mask. Next, flip over the top card of the Spell deck and add the level of the card to the Guardian's power. Compare power totals and whoever has the highest is the winner.

If the Dancer wins, the player gains the Treasure on the reverse side of the Guardian and draws one Spell card. If the Dancer loses the Challenge, it loses one life. In the case of a draw, nothing happens.

Challenging another Dancer

The Dancer who is at the ARENA may Challenge another Dancer. To Challenge another Dancer, the player who made the Challenge may use any number of Spells that say "Challenge". That player can also reveal his or her Mask. Then, the player who has been Challenged may use any number of Spells that say "Challenge" and his or her Mask. Compare power totals and whoever has the highest is the winner.

The player who wins the Challenge draws one Spell, and then he or she may put one spell face down in front of them as a VP counter. VP counters cannot be played as a Spell or used to pay another Spell's cost. The Dancer who lost the Challenge loses 1 life. In the case of a draw, nothing happens.

Dancer's Life

Each Dancer starts out with 2 life points. When a Dancer is at 1 life point, turn that player's Mask sideways. When a Dancer is at 0 life points, turn the Mask upside down. Life points cannot go above 2 nor below 0.

A Dancer with 0 life points cannot make Challenges to a Guardian or another Dancer but they can be Challenged. While the Dancer's life is 0, the Dancer's power is 0 but bonuses from Spells and effects can still be added.

5. Event Phase

If a Dancer is at the CHAPEL, an Event occurs. The player whose Dancer is at the CHAPEL becomes the Prophet and chooses an Event to take place from the Event deck. When the Event is resolved, it goes to the Event Tomb (Event discard pile).

At the end of the Event phase, if no endgame conditions are met, each player retrieves his or her Dancer and the game continues to the next turn.

Ending the game

If one of these conditions are met, the game ends at the end of that turn.

1. No cards are left in the Guardian deck.
2. No cards are left in the Event deck.
3. The Spell deck is renewed a number of times that is equal to the number of players.

At the end of the game, each player adds up all the VP he or she has.

• VP from your Mask that fulfill the condition written on it.
• VP from Emblems you have.
• VP from Treasures you have.
• VP from VP counters (1 for each counter)

The player with most VP wins. In case of a tie, the player with the earlier Order in the last turn wins.