Nomads
Nomads Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Object of the Game
By collecting story fragments, you try to chronicle the legends of the Nomads. At the end of the game, the adventurer with the most complete legends is the winner. But be careful: isolated story fragments are worthless. They can even cause some confusion and make you lose points.
Contents
- 1 Game Board, with its campfire (7 parts to be assembled)
- 28 Legend Cards (4 cards per legend)
- 4 Song Cards
- 12 Opal Moon Tiles
- 98 Story Tiles (14 x 7 legends), the fragments of the seven fabulous legends
- 2 Wild Tiles
- 19 Wooden Discs:
- 8 Blue Discs, the Nomads
- 2 Colored Discs per Player (3 green discs for Nostromo and his frog), your Adventurer and his double
Before your first game, make sure to place a sticker on each disc matching the Adventurer's color. The blue discs (the Nomads) do not have stickers.
- 5 Adventurer Cards (Awake side: played, Asleep side: non-played)
- 1 Lys Token
Because Lys has refused to drink the potion, she does not get herself mixed up in the other adventurers' matters.
Setup
-
Assemble the 5 parts of the game board and place it in the center of the table. Assemble the 3D campfire and place it on the fire in the center of the game board.
-
Shuffle the 98 Story tiles with the 12 Opal Moon tiles and the 2 Wild tiles (112 tiles total). Then form 8 stacks of 14 random tiles. Place each stack on one of the 8 square-shaped spaces around the campfire. The tiles represent the stories that you hear as you walk around the fire. They are all mixed up.
To help you set up the game more quickly, the 8 compartments of the box insert were designed to each hold exactly 14 tiles. If you do not want to count the number of tiles in each stack, you may also form 8 stacks that have more or less the same height.
-
Sort the Legend cards by sets of 4 cards of the same type. Place them up near the board so that each player can see their values.
-
Place the 4 Song cards next to the game board so that each player can see their values.
-
Place a Nomad (blue disc) on each of the 8 circular spaces around the campfire.
-
Each player chooses an Adventurer and takes the matching card. Place it in front of you, face-up (Awake). It shows which Adventurer you are and his or her special ability (see Special Abilities).
Each player also takes the 2 discs matching the Adventurer he has chosen.
-
The first player is the last player who told a story (or a random player).
-
The non-played Adventurers' card are placed next to the game board, face-down (Asleep).
In games with less than 5 players, the player to the right of the first player takes the 2 colored discs of each non-played Adventurer and places them—as he wishes—around the campfire.
- Then the first player places one of his discs on a space around the campfire (on top of discs that were already placed). The player to his left does the same and so on, in clockwise order, until all players have placed their 2 discs on the board.
During setup, you can place your discs on an Adventurer's disc (even yours) or a Nomad's disc. But each space cannot hold more than 4 discs at the end of setup.
This restriction applies only during setup. During the game, the number of discs on each space is unlimited.
- Finally, the last player (the player sitting to the right of the first player) places the Lys token on the board to point at the stack of tiles of his choice.
You are now ready to play.
Playing the Game
Going clockwise, players take turns playing until the end of the game. On your turn, you must choose only one of these two options:
A – Move and Listen to Stories OR B – Write a Song or a Legend
A – Move and Listen to Stories
Move
Choose a space on which you have one of your discs. Take the whole pile of discs—without changing their order—and choose a direction (left or right).
Starting with the next space, drop the discs one by one in the chosen direction. This means that you drop the bottommost disc from the pile you took onto the next space and repeat this process by dropping the next disc onto the next space until you have no disc left to drop. The adventurers' minds are wandering around the fire, moving from one group to another.
If the Lys token is pointing to the stack matching the space onto which you dropped your last disc (whatever the color of the last disc is), immediately move Lys to any other stack and take the topmost tile from that stack. If you do no want to take a Story tile, you may move Lys to an empty stack or a stack with an Opal Moon on top.
Listen to Stories
All the Adventurers participate in this step. Starting with the active player, and going clockwise, each player must take the topmost tile of each stack where the topmost disc is a disc matching his color.
- If the player takes a Story or Wild tile, he places it in front of himself.
- If the player takes an Opal Moon tile, he places it on the Moon chart.
- If the stack of tile is empty, the player does not take anything.
A player with no disc on top of a pile does not take any tile.
If the topmost disc belongs to one of the non-played Adventurers, then the active player must discard the top tile of the stack. If it is a Story or Wild tile, return it to the game box. If it is an Opal Moon tile, place it on the Moon chart.
If the topmost disc is blue, nobody takes the tile for that space. It remains there for the next turn. The Nomads already know all the legends by heart.
B – Write a Song or a Legend
By discarding the Story tiles you have collected, you can:
- Take one of the available Song cards by discarding different tiles. OR
- Take one of the available Legend cards by discarding identical tiles.
You can take only one card on a single turn. Songs and Legends are worth points during intermediary and final scoring phases.
1. Songs
To write a Song and take the matching card, discard the number of different Story tiles indicated on the card. Take the Song card and place it in front of you.
Beware! You are not allowed to have more than one Song. Think carefully before taking it, because you cannot exchange it later to take a better Song (unlike Legends). Everyone knows it's not easy to forget a catchy tune…
2. Legends
To write a Legend and take the matching card, discard a number of Story tiles of the indicated type equal to the value of the card.
You can have only one card of each Legend. But you can upgrade a Legend card you already have to a card of the same Legend with a higher value. To do so, discard a number of tiles equal to the difference between the value of the two cards. Take the the new Legend card and place the Legend card with the lower value back near the board. It becomes available to the other players.
The value of each card represents the number of points it is worth at the end of the game.
Note: Wild tiles can replace any Story tile.
Intermediate Scoring
Two or three times during the game, the players have the opportunity to gain additional points (represented by the Opal Moon tiles). Each time 4 Opal Moon tiles are on the Moon chart at the end of a turn, an intermediate scoring phase occurs. If there are 5 or more Opal moon tiles on the Moon chart, set the excess tiles aside and place them back on the Moon chart at the end of this phase.
Then, determine your score as follows:
- Add the points from your Song and Legend cards.
- Subtract one point for each Story or Wild tile you have.
Note: Scores can be negative. This is often the case at the end of the first or second scoring phase.
The player with the highest score takes 3 of the 4 Opal Moon tiles. The second player with the highest score takes the remaining Opal Moon tile. Players set their Opal Moon tiles aside. They are not taken into account during future intermediate scoring phases. Instead, they are used only at the end of the game, during the final scoring phase. In case of a tie, split the Opal Moon tiles evenly between the tied players. Return any Opal Moon tiles that cannot be split to the game box.
(Example: Ulrich has 3 + 4 – 2 = 5 Points, Red has 4 – 2 = 2 Points, Siana has -7 Points. So, Ulrich takes 3 Opal Moon tiles and Red takes 1.)
End of the Game
At the start of a player's turn, if there are only two or fewer stacks of tiles around the campfire, the game ends. In turn order, starting with the active player, each player may write one last Song or Legend by discarding tiles that he collected.
Final Scoring
When the game ends, each Adventurer scores points as follows:
- Add up all the points from your Song and Legend cards.
- Score one point for each Opal Moon tile you collected during intermediary scoring phases.
- Subtract one point for each Story or Wild tile you still have.
The player with the most points wins the game. In case of a tie, the winner is the tied player with the most Legend cards.
Special Abilities
Each Adventurer has a permanent special ability:
Ulrich
Once per turn, when moving, you may drop two discs (instead of one) on the same space.
Move along! There is nothing to see here.
Moon
At the start of your turn, you may move the Lys token one space in any direction.
Lys would do anything to help her adoptive daughter.
Red
Once per turn, after moving, you may move one of your discs up to the top of its pile (whatever its position in the pile is).
Red always finds a way to sneak his way to the top.
Siana
Once per turn, when moving, you may skip over one and only one space (i.e. not dropping a disc on that space where you normally would).
Siana is light and swift as the wind...
Nostromo
You play with 3 discs instead of 2. The Frog is one of your discs. During setup, before placing the Nomads, place the Frog on a space of your choice around the campfire.
No one knows where this strange frog hides but she is an integral part of this funny character.
LUMARATHON – If you have just finished playing a game of Oh Captain!, the first game of the Legends of Luma: the last Captain becomes the first player, the winner takes a coin from Oh Captain! which acts as a Wild tile, and the player who finished in last place is in charge of the non-played Adventurers. You can find the complete game rules for this variant on the website: www.LegendsOfLuma.com