Mycelia Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Assembling the Shrine
• What Is a Deck-Building Game?
• Preparing to Play
  • Each Player Receives
• How to Take a Turn
  • 1. Play cards
  • 2. Hire Mycelia's heroes (buy cards)
  • 3. Basic actions (action cards)
  • 4. End of your turn
• End of the Game
  • Who won?
• Explanation of the Cards and Functions
  • Landscapes
  • The following things can happen on the fields
• The Expansion
  • Remove cards
  • Single effects
  • Additional action cards
• Game Variations
  • Additional game boards for advanced players
• The Solo Game: The Duel Against Gwidyon, the Ghost Mushroom
  • Preparing to play
  • Aim of the solo game
  • How to play
  • Solo cards
  • Gwidyon chip
  • Special features of the solo game
  • End of the game

Contents

1. 4 double-sided game boards (front sides identical, back sides different)
2. 1 Shrine of Life
3. 1 first player marker (mushroom)
4. 4 supply cards (double-sided)
5. 4 setup cards (double-sided)
6. 14 action cards a–e, 4 × a & b and 2 × c, d & e
7. 72 leaves – divided into 37 × 1s, 24 × 3s, 11 × 5s
8. 1 die
9. 80 dewdrops (+ 4 spare)
10. 2 additional shrine fields
11. 100 cards:
    • A – 24 start cards (6 each per rune)
    • B – 40 basic playing cards (20 different pairs)
    • C – 30 expansion cards (15 different pairs) with the expansion symbol
    • D – 6 player help cards

Solo game contents:

1. 1 pile of leaves game board
2. 1 Gwidyon chip
3. 6 solo cards

Assembling the Shrine

You have to assemble the first player marker and the shrine before the first game.

What Is a Deck-Building Game?

In a deck-building game, every player starts with a small number of cards. These cards are called a deck. In the course of the game, the players can build up and improve their personal deck with other cards by using the cards they already have. The words "deck" and "build" combine to form the term "deck-building" game.

The special feature of a deck-building game is that every player plays out their own deck several times: that is, they pick up a card from the supply pile, play it, place it on the discard pile, re-shuffle this and repeat the whole procedure again and again in the following rounds.

Preparing to Play

The rules for playing the game with 2–4 players are explained here first. The rules for the solo game will be explained afterwards.

1. Place the shrine in the center of the table as shown. This is also always the starting position when the shrine has been cleared. You place dewdrops here that you remove from your game boards during the game. Every time the shrine is "full", new dewdrops come into the game (and therefore onto your game boards).
2. Place the supply die on one of the larger openings on the shrine:
   • In the 4-player game in the position marked 4.
   • In the 3-player game in the position marked 3.
   • In the 2-player game in the position marked 2.
3. Pick up one of the 4 supply cards at random and place it next to the shrine. Put the other 3 supply cards back into the box.
4. Shuffle the 40 basic playing cards and form a supply pile face down a little to one side. Place the top 5 cards face up in a row next to the pile – this is the open showcase from that you can hire your new heroes for your group.
5. Place the leaves as a supply within good reach of everyone.
6. Shuffle the 4 double-sided setup cards and turn up any side of 1 setup card – this is the starting setup of the dewdrops for every player.

You will not need the other setup cards in this round. You can also return the turned-up card to the box at the end of the setup.

Each Player Receives

1 game board. Place this in front of you with the identical sides facing up. [If you have already played a few games, you can play with the different sides for extra variety.]

2 action cards (a & b). Place these below your game board.

20 dewdrops. Place these on your board exactly as shown on the setup card. It's best to pass round the setup card for everyone to have a good look. Pay attention to the position of the shrine field so that you can distribute your dewdrops correctly. Return any dewdrops that are left to the box.

6 start cards of the same type (each with the same rune in the top right-hand corner). Shuffle the cards and form your own supply pile face down next to your game board. Pick up 3 start cards from your own supply pile and hold them in your hand.

The player who likes mushrooms the most gets the first player marker and begins the game. You then take turns in order, beginning with the first player.

How to Take a Turn

1. Play cards

When it is your turn, you must play all 3 cards in your hand. To do this, put them down one by one (in the order you choose) on your discard pile. You start this as an open pile next to your game board on the right.

Every time you play a card you perform its function immediately before playing the next card. You can leave out parts of the function (or the whole function) if you want to or if you cannot use the function completely. However, you cannot keep any of the cards in your hand; you have to play and discard them unused if you can't use them.

How the cards work in detail is explained in Explanation of the Cards and Functions, but this is not important for how to understand the game at the moment.

Your most important aim when playing the cards is: to remove dewdrops.

The shrine field on your game board will help you: Whenever you move a dewdrop onto the shrine of your board (no matter from which direction), you may remove the dewdrop from the board immediately. So, use the functions of your cards to move the dewdrops towards the shrine field if possible.

You also collect leaves with the help of your cards. Leaves are the currency in this game: You can spend them to hire new, stronger heroes from Mycelia (in the form of extra cards). Some of these heroes can even remove dewdrops from the board without moving them to the shrine field first.

You put dewdrops that you remove (directly or via the shrine field) in the empty fields of the tree shrine at the end of your turn.

2. Hire Mycelia's heroes (buy cards)

You can hire heroes and other cards at any time and more than once from the open showcase. You can do this before, during or after playing cards.

You have to pay the leaf costs of the respective card (top right). Mycelia's heroes charge you 2–8 leaves – the more, the more powerful the function of the respective hero is.

Important: Every time you buy a card, you take the card from the showcase and immediately place it face down on the top of your supply pile (to the left of your game board).

3. Basic actions (action cards)

In addition to playing cards and hiring new heroes, you can also perform one or more basic actions at any time during your turn.

The actions available to you are shown on the action cards (a–e) that you placed below your game board. Only 2 actions (a & b) are available to you in the basic game.

Important: You may perform every action of the action card only once per turn and no more. Just as for hiring heroes, you can perform the basic actions at any time before, after or between playing cards. Not, however, in the middle of the function of a card. You can turn over an action card once you have used it. This helps you to remember that you have already used it in this turn.

Action a: Pay 1 leaf from your personal supply to replace the open showcase. Place all the cards from the showcase on an open discard pile next to the supply pile. Then turn over 5 new cards – regardless of how many cards were lying there before.

Action b: Pay 3 leaves from your personal supply to move any dewdrop by exactly 1 field (horizontally or vertically). If you move it onto the shrine field, remove it from the board as described above.

4. End of your turn

Your turn ends when you have played all 3 cards from your hand and cannot or do not want to hire further heroes or perform actions.

Then take the following steps:

1. Make sure that all the cards that you have played are lying on your open discard pile (on the right of your game board).

2. Fill up the showcase until there are 5 cards. If the supply pile has been used up, shuffle the discard pile to make a new supply pile.

3. Check whether the shrine is full and you get the Goddess of the Forest's blessing.

   • In the 4-player game, the shrine is full as soon as 20 dewdrops are placed in the holes.
   • In the 3-player game, the shrine is full as soon as 15 dewdrops are placed in the holes.
   • In the 2-player game, the shrine is full as soon as 10 dewdrops are placed in the holes.

   The different areas for the appropriate number of players are marked in white on the shrine. Return left-over dewdrops to the box; these are not placed additionally in the shrine.

4. When the shrine is full you must turn the Shrine of Life once completely in the direction of the arrow until the start position is reached (see Preparing to Play). This also throws the shrine die and new supplies come into the game and your forests! Look at the symbol thrown on the die and compare it with the face-up side of the supply card.

   Each player must now place 1 dewdrop each on the fields of their game board shown on the supply card. So, you always get 1–2 additional dewdrops as soon as the shrine is full and is then turned and cleared.

   Take the dewdrops that you have collected in the shrine and were just thrown out again. All dewdrops that are still there after sharing out the new supplies should now be taken out of the game. The shrine must then be completely empty.

   Example: When turning the filled shrine, a symbol was thrown. Every player must now place one dewdrop on their game board on the field below the shrine field and one dewdrop to the right of the shrine field.

   Now turn over the supply card onto the other side. It shows you the distribution of the dewdrops as soon as the shrine is filled and emptied again. The same supply card is always used during a game and is turned over again after being used.

5. Finally, you pick up 3 new cards from your personal supply pile in your hand. If there are fewer than 3 cards (or none at all) on your supply pile, then shuffle your open discard pile and place these cards face down underneath all remaining cards of your supply pile. Then draw 3 new cards.

Then it is the turn of the next player to the left. Continue playing turn by turn until one player removes the last dewdrop from their game board during their turn.

End of the Game

The game ends as soon as someone removes the last dewdrop from their own board. It makes no difference how this was done, either on their own turn or during another player's turn. The current turn is ended as usual.

Important: If removing the last dewdrop fills up the shrine, the shrine will no longer be turned. No new dewdrops come into the game.

The round is played through to the end so that every player had the same number of turns. The first player marker tells you where: The player to the right of the first player has the last turn.

Who won?

The player who has no more dewdrops on their own game board wins. If several players manage to clear their boards in the last round, the winner is then the player who has the highest value of leaves still in their supply. If players have equal values, there are several winners.

Explanation of the Cards and Functions

The functions of all cards are explained by symbols. You always perform the functions from left to right.

Either/or: Some cards have several functions, separated by "/". In this case you must choose one of the two possibilities – you cannot perform both.

And: If, on the other hand, the cards contain a "&", you can perform them all. Important: In this case, it is important that you always work through them from left to right. You can't do the right-hand side before the left-hand side. But you can omit the left-hand side and just perform the right-hand side.

Repeat: Some cards allow you to perform your function(s) several times. This is shown by "2 ×", "3 ×" or "4 ×". You can choose the same field or a different field every time provided that the chosen field fulfills the condition (see below). You can also perform the function fewer times than the number indicates.

Bonus for other players: If a function is marked by this symbol, you may not perform this function yourself. Instead, all other players may perform this function if they wish. Important: You cannot omit this function, naturally! Even if you leave out or cannot perform other parts of the card, all of the others may still perform this part.

Get leaves: Many cards supply leaves that you can spend to hire new heroes or for basic actions – either in the same turn or later. The number in the leaf shows you how many you get. Take the value of leaves shown from the general supply and place them next to your game board. Note: Your personal supply is not limited – you can save as many leaves as you like and keep them for as long as you like.

Move dewdrops: All heroes who can move or remove dewdrops can only do this on certain fields on your game board. This is specified in the form of the different fields and the number of dewdrops. You must select a field that meets the specification to move (or even directly remove) the dewdrops accordingly. If you cannot select a suitable field, this function is void.

Landscapes

The following landscapes can be found as field specifications on the cards: leaves field, moss field, water field. Any field may be leaves, moss, water or even soil.

The following things can happen on the fields

• Move: For every illustrated symbol of this type, move 1 dewdrop from the selected field to any orthogonally adjacent field (= vertically or horizontally, never diagonally).
• Remove: Remove 1 dewdrop per illustrated symbol of this type from the selected field (and place it in the holes in the shrine).

The following basic rules always apply: At least the number of dewdrops shown on the card must be on one field in order to perform the action there. However, there may be more drops on the field.

Exception: The beetle fields must contain the exact number of drops to be able to perform the action.

• Move 1 drop from any field by one field to an orthogonally adjacent field. Since the background is light brown, you can make this move from any field. That is from leaves, moss, water or soil! There may also be more than one drop on a field.
• Remove 1 drop from a water field. But there may also be more than one drop on the field.
• Remove 2 drops from any field with exactly 2 drops. You cannot perform the function if there are 3 or more drops on a field. You cannot select a field on that there is only 1 drop either.
• Transparent drops. This means that the function can be used if there is a drop on the named field.
• Remove 1 drop from a moss field if there is at least 1 drop on the field. But there may also be more than one drop on the moss field. If there are more drops on the moss field, you can remove 2 or 3 drops.
• Select a leaf field (any number of drops) and remove 1 drop each from the orthogonally adjacent fields if there are any drops there. If there are only drops on 1, 2 or 3 of the adjacent fields, you can only remove drops from these fields.
• Remove up to 2 drops (if there are any) from a water field and remove 1 drop (if there is any) from any orthogonally (top, bottom, right or left) adjacent field.

The Expansion

As soon as you are familiar with the rules of the game, you can add the expansion cards. You can identify these from the symbol on the cards. These cards are a little more demanding and offer even more variety.

Shuffle the 30 new cards with the previous 40 hero cards. The showcase still contains 5 cards as usual. In addition to the hero cards, you need the action cards c, d and e. You can get these by using certain cards in the game. Place the action cards as an open supply.

Remove cards

New in the extended game is the possibility to remove cards (hero cards and leaf cards) from your deck for the rest of the round. This allows you both to get rid of your weak start cards and cards that you have hired in the course of the game that you no longer need.

When you perform such a function (or single effect, see below), then immediately search your discard pile. From this, select the card that you want to remove. Not removing any card is also allowed.

Cards that you remove are returned to the box. They are out of the game for the whole round.

Important: Since you always place cards directly on the discard pile when playing them, a hero can also "remove themselves".

Single effects

Some cards from the expansion also supply single bonus effects that have a similar structure to card functions. However, you do not receive these when playing cards but only only once when you hire the hero.

Then, perform the single effect (marked by a lightning bolt in the box at the top left of the card) immediately. Only then should you place the card as usual on your supply pile.

Example 1: If you buy the Hydnum repandum or Tylopilus formosus cards, you may immediately remove 1 card from your discard pile. If you pick up these cards again later in the game (e.g. in the next round), you can no longer use this single effect.

Example 2: If you hire the hero Fomes fomentarius from the open showcase, all your fellow players may immediately move 1 drop from any field to a vertically or horizontally adjacent field. But you may not!

This single effect is no longer triggered in later rounds.

Additional action cards

By means of the single effects, you also receive the 6 action cards c, d and e that are part of the expansion. Take the appropriate card when hiring such a hero and place it at the bottom edge of your game board.

It is allowed to have the same additional action card twice (i.e. 2× c, 2× d or 2× e). However, you may only own a maximum of 4 action cards in total. If you buy a 5th or more action cards, you must first remove another one and put it back in the box.

An action card that you have just acquired can be used in the same turn. It is used in the same way as a & b: You can now also perform these once each per turn. You must pay the leaf cost of the action to use it.

Action c: Pay 3 leaves from your personal supply to perform the following action: Move any dewdrop exactly 1 field (orthogonally). If there is another dewdrop on the same field, also move this exactly 1 field (orthogonally). You can move the second drop in a different direction to the first.

Action d: Pay 3 leaves from your personal supply and remove 1 drop from any field. There may also be more drops on the field.

Action e: Pay 3 leaves from your personal supply to remove 1 card from your discard pile. You perform this action exactly as described in Remove cards.

Special feature/exception: The additional shrine field is brought into the game by the Clavulinopsis fusiformis card: When you hire this hero, you must first select any field with exactly 1 dewdrop on it. Remove this drop from your board and then place the shrine field on this field. From now on this field no longer counts as a landscape but as a second shrine field that, just like the printed shrine, directly removes all dewdrops that are moved onto it. You can place both additional shrine fields on your board if you hire this hero twice.

Game Variations

Additional game boards for advanced players

If you have already played a few games, you can also play with the different sides for extra variety. You can mix the back sides of the game boards with the expansion or the standard game as you wish. They bring you extra variety thanks to 4 different game boards with that you face new challenges.

You can recognize them by the darker color of the frame and the star symbol at the top left corner.

The Solo Game: The Duel Against Gwidyon, the Ghost Mushroom

You can also play Mycelia excellently alone if there are no mushroom fans around at the moment.

Preparing to play

The preparation for the game is identical to the game with 2–4 players. Also use the same game material (1 game board, 20 dewdrops and the action cards a & b). The supply die is placed on the shrine in the position for 2 players.

The second player in the solo game is the "virtual opponent" Gwidyon. Gwidyon is a ghost mushroom who has been roaming the depths of Mycelia's forests for ages. It is rumoured that Gwidyon also knows the name of the Goddess of the Forest.

So, you will also make Gwidyon's moves in the solo game. To do this, you will also need the following additional game material:

• 1 pile of leaves game board
• 1 Gwidyon chip
• 6 solo cards
• 20 dewdrops

Place the pile of leaves game board on the right of your game board and place the 20 dewdrops on it. Shuffle the 6 solo cards and place them face down next to it. The octagonal Gwidyon chip is then placed next to it (with the remove side facing up).

Aim of the solo game

You both try to be the first to remove your 20 dewdrops from your game boards. The one that does it first wins the game.

How to play

1. You start the game and make a normal move as usual and play 3 cards.
2. Then you play Gwidyon's move. You turn up 1 solo card and perform the function(s) of the card.
3. Then it's your turn again, followed by Gwidyon and so on.
4. Continue this until you have turned up the 5th solo card in Gwidyon's turn (so that there is 1 card left face down). Make the move normally but then shuffle all 6 solo cards again and place them face down at the ready. The game then continues normally.

Solo cards

There are 6 different solo cards that show either the symbol of Gwidyon or your symbol or both symbols. The cards therefore have different effects on Gwidyon or you.

• 1. Turn the Gwidyon chip over. 2. Remove 1 dewdrop from Gwidyon's pile of leaves and place it in one of the holes on the shrine.
• 1. Turn the Gwidyon chip over. 2. Remove 2 dewdrops from Gwidyon's pile of leaves and place them in the holes on the shrine.
• Place all the cards from the showcase on an open discard pile next to the supply pile. Then turn up 5 new cards as a showcase.
• 1. You get 1 leaf. 2. Remove 3 dewdrops from Gwidyon's pile of leaves and place them in the holes on the shrine.
• 1. You get 1 leaf. 2. Remove 1 dewdrop from Gwidyon's pile of leaves and place it in one of the holes on the shrine.
• Move 1 drop on your game board one field further orthogonally from any field.

Gwidyon chip

Every time that the Gwidyon chip shows the remove side, you immediately remove 1 dewdrop from Gwidyon's pile of leaves and place it in one of the holes on the shrine. If the chip is turned over onto the other side, nothing happens.

Special features of the solo game

1. If you play or hire a card with a bonus for other players on your turn, this has the following effects on Gwidyon:
   1. If your fellow players would normally be allowed to remove dewdrops, then the corresponding number of dewdrops must also be removed from Gwidyon's pile of leaves and placed on the shrine.
   2. If a fellow player would be allowed to move a dewdrop, the Gwidyon chip is turned over once instead and a move made if applicable.
   3. If your fellow players would get leaves, Gwidyon gets nothing. Gwidyon cannot collect leaves at all.
2. As soon as the shrine contains 10 dewdrops at the end of a turn (no matter if it was your or Gwidyon's turn), the shrine is turned. The supply die and the supply card determine how many new drops land on your game board. Gwidyon gets no new drops. Now turn over the supply card onto the other side. Put left-over dewdrops back into the box.

End of the game

If Gwidyon has removed all 20 dewdrops from the pile of leaves first, then Gwidyon has won immediately! You do not get another turn. If you remove all your 20 dewdrops first, you win immediately! Gwidyon does not get another turn either.

If there is a draw and you both remove your 20 dewdrops in the same turn, you both win!

Notes:

1. Yes, Gwidyon is very strong! You can give Gwidyon 21–25 drops at the beginning of the game to slow the ghost mushroom down a little.
2. You can play the solo game with or without the cards from the expansion. You can also use the game boards for advanced players in the solo game as you like.