Nouvelles ContRées Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Goal of the Game
• Principle of the Game
  • The Excursion — the simplified rules
  • The Modules — the complete rules
  • Example of a Turn
• How to Place the Bookmarks
• Setup — Placing Material in the Book
• Setup — Placing Material on the Table
• Turn Structure
  • I – Choice of the Scout
  • II – Preparation
  • III – Progression
  • IV – Rest (End of Turn)
• The Lost City
• End of the Game
• Reward: You Have Found the Hidden Meaning!
• Example of a Turn (from the simplified rules)
• Clarifications
• Expedition Modes and Modules
  • Module I: Game Duration and Difficulty (essential)
  • Module II: The Twists (more atmosphere!)
  • Module III: The Characters (more tactics!)
  • Module IV: Mission Domains (more of a challenge!)
  • Module V: Explorer Ranks (more honorific!)
• Acknowledgments

Components

• 1 Synchro-Lettrometer
• 1 Compass
• 26 Letter tokens
• 32 Exploration bookmarks (each showing an Advance Value and a compass-rose direction on the back)
• 2 special bookmarks: the Scout (representing the reader) and the Camp (representing the Group)
• 5 Lost City bookmarks
• 28 Mission bookmarks (each showing a completion condition)
• 1 book (not included) — any novel from your own library, with reading constraints noted on it
• 1 rulebook

Material specific to the modules (not used in the simplified rules):

• 1 Joker Mission
• 16 Twist bookmarks (each showing an Advance Value modifier and a reading constraint)
• 6 Character tiles (each with a "Skill Available" side and a "Skill Unavailable" side, naming and explaining the skill)
• 10 Punctuation tokens (used in future expansions — keep them!)

Goal of the Game

Nouvelles ContRées is a cooperative game in which the players explore any novel from their library!

At the start of the game, the players set up their Camp, represented by a bookmark, somewhere in the book. During the game, they will move the Camp forward until it reaches a Lost City bookmark placed further ahead.

To win, the players must successfully explore this city and thereby gain access to the book's Hidden Meaning.

Principle of the Game

On each turn, one of the players becomes the Scout (the reader) and the rest of the players become the Group (the listeners).

The Scout reads a short passage in the book and matches it to one of the four Exploration bookmarks, imaginary landscapes laid out in the middle of the table.

Then, the players in the Group try to do two things:

• Detect whether they can complete a Mission, which grants them protection later on.
• Succeed at an Exploration by finding the same bookmark as the Scout:
  • On success, the players move the Camp bookmark toward the Lost City.
  • On failure, the players do not move the Camp bookmark and lose Letter tokens or completed Missions.

Defeat looms when you can no longer lose letters, and victory appears when you succeed at one final Exploration in the Lost City.

The Excursion — the simplified rules

On pages 4 to 13 you will find the simplified rules, which will give you your first sensations of exploring books! Once you have mastered them, you can add the modules found at the end of the rulebook.

The Modules — the complete rules

Pages 16 to 20 present modules that you can activate or not for your game. They can make the game more complex but let you experience the complete game if all of them are used. Once you are familiar with the Excursion mode (the simplified rules), bring them in as soon as possible!

Example of a Turn

An example of a turn can be found on pages 14 to 16.

How to Place the Bookmarks

A. The Scout bookmark is always placed horizontally and must stick out from the side of the book so you can see the expedition's progress. It can also help the Scout note where they must stop reading.

B. In Nouvelles ContRées, there are two ways to arrange the bookmarks in the book — choose whichever suits you best:

• Place the bookmarks that go into the book (Exploration, Mission and Twist) vertically, at the page where they are validated (that is, at the page where the Scout is when they must be placed in the book). The Camp and the Lost City are placed horizontally. Note: this method requires you to be meticulous while holding the book. Note: there will therefore be bookmarks on every page where you have succeeded at something (Mission, Exploration, etc.).

• Place the bookmarks that go into the book (Exploration, Mission and Twist) vertically, always at the start of the book, between the cover and the first page. The Camp and the Lost City are placed vertically. Note: handling the book is easier this way, but finding a Mission bookmark again requires searching among all the validated bookmarks placed in the cover area.

C. When you are asked to discard a bookmark or Letter tokens, slide them into their respective slot on the Synchro-Lettrometer.

Setup — Placing Material in the Book

1. Choose a book from your library, preferably a novel, and make sure it has at least 100 pages.
2. Open the book to a random page, making sure you are at least 90 pages from the end. At this spot, place the Scout and Camp bookmarks (for more detail see the previous page: "How to Place the Bookmarks?").
3. Randomly take a Mission bookmark and place it in the book.
4. Still at random, take one of the Lost City bookmarks. Place it at least 50 pages after the Camp and the Scout. The remaining Lost City bookmarks will not be used for this game. Example: if the Scout and the Camp are at page 13, you must place the Lost City at page 13 + 50 = 63.

Setup — Placing Material on the Table

5. In the middle of the table, form a deck with the Exploration bookmarks and reveal four of them around it, as shown in the illustration.
6. Form a deck with the Mission bookmarks and reveal five of them, one below the other, as shown in the illustration.
7. Assemble the Synchro-Lettrometer by placing the board in its box, as shown in the illustration. Then place it on the table, within reach of the players.
8. Put the 26 Letter tokens into the Synchro-Lettrometer, as shown in the illustration. (The Punctuation tokens will be used in future expansions. Keep them!)
9. Place the Compass within reach of all the players.
10. Set aside the rest of the game material that will not be used for this simplified game (remaining Lost Cities, Twists and Characters).

The game can now begin!

Turn Structure

If you are discovering the game, we recommend doing a setup and handling the book and bookmarks while you read this rulebook. This will help you better understand how the game works.

In Nouvelles ContRées, a turn unfolds like this:

• I – Choice of the Scout
• II – Preparation
• III – Progression
• IV – Rest

I – Choice of the Scout

The players choose a new Scout; they will be the reader for this turn. This choice is entirely free.

The Scout takes hold of the book and the Compass. The other players are considered to be the Group.

II – Preparation

The Scout advances the Scout bookmark

The Scout opens the book to the position of the Camp and Scout bookmarks. They advance the Scout bookmark by the number of sheets indicated on the back of the Exploration deck (see box: "Advance?" below).

Important: the Camp bookmark does not move at this stage of the turn.

Important: on your very first turn, you must still advance the Scout bookmark, just as on any other turn!

Advance?

In Nouvelles ContRées, you always read on right-hand pages.

Advancing by 1 always means going to the next right-hand page.

Example: If your Scout bookmark is at double-page 36-37 and you are told to advance by 2, you must turn two sheets, moving your bookmark to double-page 40-41, and read on page 41.

The Scout reads the Passage silently

The Scout opens the book to the position of the Scout bookmark. They silently read the first 6 lines at the top of the right-hand page.

Important: if the first line begins in the middle of a sentence, or even a word, it does not matter — just read! In the same way, the Passage may end in the middle of a word or a sentence!

Note: if the page has fewer than 6 lines, the Scout bookmark is moved back by one sheet.

Note: if you end up reading the same passage several turns in a row, you may choose to move back a sheet if you wish.

Note: Titles, subtitles, signatures, chapter numbers, page numbers and the like are not considered part of the 6 lines to be read.

Example: Germain reads the Passage silently in his head; this is the text marked in green below. It is with these six lines that the turn will be carried out.

A word?

In Nouvelles ContRées, words linked by a hyphen or an apostrophe are considered a single word.

Example: the sentence "It's simple, isn't it?" counts as 4 words: "It's", "simple", "isn't" and "it".

The Scout chooses an Exploration bookmark

Drawing on their reading, the Scout secretly chooses the Exploration bookmark that best evokes the meaning of the Passage they just read silently.

On the back of the Exploration deck, a compass rose links each of the four visible Exploration bookmarks to a direction: North, South, East or West.

To record their choice, the Scout points the Compass needle in the direction of the chosen bookmark: N(orth), S(outh), E(ast) or W(est). They then set the Compass down in front of them, taking care to keep this information secret.

The Group divides up the Missions

While the Scout is advancing, reading silently, and choosing their direction, each member of the Group may take one of the five Mission bookmarks present on the table and place it in front of themselves. This is optional.

Players are free to discuss with their fellow players to decide who takes which bookmark.

Tip: a player may keep an eye on the completion condition of a Mission held by another player, to help them. The explorers always help each other!

III – Progression

The Scout reads the Passage aloud, once

Once the Group is ready to listen attentively, the Scout reads the Passage — already read silently — a second time, but this time aloud. They read it only once.

Note: the Scout is the sole judge of how best to apply the reading constraints (notably that of the Lost City).

Tip: every member of the Group must listen very closely to the reading of the passage, since they must pay attention to both its substance and its form at the same time. The substance to determine which Exploration bookmark the Scout has chosen; the form to possibly attempt a Mission.

The Group may try to complete a Mission (optional)

Each Mission has a condition that may or may not be met by the passage read aloud.

One player, and only one, may attempt to have their Mission validated by the Scout. The Scout checks whether that Mission's condition is met or not:

• If the condition is met, place the Mission in the book. Note: any Mission placed in the book this way will protect you in case of a failed Exploration (see next page).
• If the condition is not met, discard the Mission, as well as 3 letters. Missions that were not presented to the Scout are not discarded and are placed face up on the table again (as at the start of the game).

Attention: only one Mission may be attempted per turn, for the whole Group! The members of the Group must therefore confer to decide which of them puts forward their Mission.

IV – Rest (End of Turn)

The Group chooses an Exploration bookmark together

Based on the meaning of the passage read aloud by the Scout, the members of the Group confer to select one, and only one, Exploration bookmark for the whole Group. Then, the Scout reveals the direction indicated by the Compass.

If the Group chose the same Exploration bookmark as the Scout, the Exploration is a success:

• Move the Camp bookmark to the page of the Scout bookmark.
• Place the Exploration bookmark in the book.

Note: Exploration bookmarks placed in the book will let you find the Hidden Meaning if you win.

If the Group chose an Exploration bookmark different from the Scout's, the Exploration is a failure:

• Move the Scout bookmark back to the Camp bookmark.
• Discard:
  • 12 Letters, or
  • 6 Letters and 1 Mission bookmark (already present in the book), or
  • 2 Mission bookmarks (already present in the book), and therefore no Letters.
• Both Exploration bookmarks, the one chosen by the Group and the one chosen by the Scout, are discarded.

Important: you begin the game with a Mission already in the book. Don't forget to use it!

End of Turn

The players draw enough Exploration bookmarks so that there are once again four visible around the deck.

The players draw one Mission bookmark so that there are once again five visible on the table.

Important: Mission and Exploration bookmarks already in play are not discarded.

The turn is over. A new turn begins with the choice of a Scout.

The Lost City

The Scout reaches the Lost City

When the Scout bookmark meets (or would go past) the Lost City, it stops advancing immediately. So, this turn, the reading takes place on the Lost City's page.

Note: if you end up reading the Lost City's page again on a later turn, you may, if you wish, move the Scout and Lost City bookmarks back one sheet and read on the previous sheet instead.

Important: do not reveal the Lost City yet — you will do so once the Camp reaches it!

The Camp reaches the Lost City

When the Camp bookmark finally reaches the Lost City, reveal it and read its reading constraint to all the players.

The Lost City bookmark is placed face up in the middle of the table so it is not forgotten. From now on:

• The Lost City's reading constraint applies permanently.
• If you succeed at an Exploration (the Group chose the same Exploration bookmark as the Scout) during which the Lost City's reading constraint was applied, then it is VICTORY!

End of the Game

Defeat

If, following a mistake, the number of Letters falls to zero or below, victory is jeopardized but the game is not yet lost. However, if the players must lose Letter tokens while the Reserve is ALREADY EMPTY, it is DEFEAT — the game is lost!

Example: if the players must lose three Letters and there is only one left in the Reserve, then that Letter is removed and the game continues. If, however, there are no more Letters in the Reserve and the players must lose any number of them, the game is lost.

Victory

If you succeed at an Exploration (the Group chose the same Exploration bookmark as the Scout) during which the Lost City's reading constraint was applied, then it is VICTORY!

Reward: You Have Found the Hidden Meaning!

You have reached the Lost City and, despite the difficulties, you managed to explore it — congratulations on your victory!

You may now discover the book's Hidden Meaning: among the Exploration bookmarks placed in the book, select together with your fellow players the one that is most related to the title of the work. From the position of the Scout bookmark, advance by the Advance Value printed on the back of the chosen bookmark. The Hidden Meaning is there: it is the first sentence written entirely on the right-hand sheet! Share it with your fellow players — they've earned it!

Example: Germain, Apolline, David and Jeanne succeeded in exploring the Lost City of "Au Bonheur des Dames," by Émile Zola. During their journey through the book, they placed Exploration bookmarks evoking the weather, the arts, clothing, joy, and flora. They all agree that the one for joy is most related to the title of the book. Its Advance Value being 9, they turn 9 sheets from the page marked by the City. This brings them to the Hidden Meaning, marked here in green.

Share the hidden meaning! You have won the game and found the Hidden Meaning — connect to www.olibrius.net/NC/senscache to share this knowledge with fellow explorers around the world!

Example of a Turn (from the simplified rules)

1 – The players choose a Scout

Germain really wants to read. Since everyone agrees, he will be the Scout for this turn. He takes the book and the Compass. The other players, Apolline, David and Jeanne, make up the Group.

2 – The Scout advances in the book

Germain sees on top of the Exploration deck that he must advance the Scout bookmark by 5. He does so.

3 – The Scout reads the Passage silently

Germain discovers this turn's Passage, the 6 lines marked here in green. He reads this excerpt to himself in secret.

4 – The Scout chooses an Exploration bookmark

The words "first", "line", "begin", "right" and "continue" suggest to Germain the idea of movement. Sure enough, a bookmark representing travel is placed to the left of the deck. This direction is identified as West by the compass rose on the back of the Exploration deck. Germain therefore points the Compass toward West, taking care to hide his choice from the other players.

5 – The Group divides up the Missions

While Germain is preparing his turn as Scout, Apolline, Jeanne and David look at the available Missions. Apolline and Jeanne are both interested in "Roots." They decide that Apolline will place it in front of herself and Jeanne will help her if needed. David, for his part, takes "The Desert Eye."

6 – The Scout reads the Passage aloud, once

Germain begins reading, in a loud and clear voice, starting with "…gin" and ending with "…here." Let's hope the Group was listening closely enough!

7 – The Group may attempt a Mission

David and Apolline listened carefully to the passage read aloud. They both think they can complete their Mission. Since only one may be attempted per turn, they decide that Apolline will try hers, as she is sure she spotted "Roots."

Germain checks whether the condition is met. It is! He places the Mission bookmark in the book.

Luckily David did not insist — he thought he had found "The Desert Eye," but that was not the case, since the passage read does indeed contain an "eye" within "obeyed." This mistake would have cost 3 Letter tokens!

8 – The Group chooses an Exploration bookmark together

The revealed Exploration bookmarks represent travel, art, war and weather.

The whole Group agrees that the weather is not addressed in the Passage — nothing suggests it. David thinks it's either travel, because of "line" and "begins," or war, because of "first line," "problem" and "finish." Apolline, for her part, thinks of art because of the idea of reading that is developed; however, she admits she was very focused on her "Roots," so she defers to her fellow players. For Jeanne, there is no doubt that the meaning of the text is about movement — she is certain Germain chose the travel bookmark.

Once they have compared opinions, they settle on travel and announce to Germain: "we're going West!" He then turns the Compass over, and since he had indeed chosen West, the Exploration is a success!

The Camp bookmark therefore advances to the Scout's page, and the travel bookmark is placed in the book.

If the Group had chosen the art bookmark as the one best representing the meaning of the text, the Exploration would have been a failure, since Germain had selected a different one. As there is, at this point in the game, only 1 Mission in the book, the players would have had to discard that Mission along with 6 Letter tokens.

The End of the Turn

After their successful Exploration, Apolline, Jeanne, David and Germain draw an Exploration bookmark to replace the travel one.

David places the "Desert Eye" bookmark back near the Mission deck and draws one to replace "Roots," which is now in the book.

There are therefore once again 4 Exploration bookmarks visible around the deck, as well as 5 Missions available. Apolline, Jeanne, David and Germain are ready for a new turn! Who will be the next Scout?

Clarifications

• If you are playing in a book whose pages contain several columns of text, you are advised to read only the right-hand column.
• If you are playing in a poem without punctuation, consider each verse to be a sentence.
• If you are playing in a stage play or an audiovisual script, the character names, stage directions and descriptions are an integral part of the narrative and count among the 6 lines to be read. Tip: you can perform the characters' voices while reading!

Expedition Modes and Modules

The next pages present rule modules that you may use or not during your games. If you want to activate a module, add its setup to the normal setup and apply its effect during play.

To have the complete Nouvelles ContRées experience, you need to play in Classic Expedition mode (whichever difficulty is chosen) with the Twists, Characters and Mission Domains modules. This gives you the game as its author designed it, and you can even be awarded an explorer rank thanks to Module V!

Module I: Game Duration and Difficulty (essential)

Setup specifics: the book and the Scout, Camp, starting Mission and Lost City bookmarks.

Choose a game length between Short Expedition and Classic Expedition. This changes the setup within the book as shown in this table:

	Short Expedition (approx. 40 minutes)	Classic Expedition (approx. 60 minutes)
Book	at least 120 pages	at least 150 pages
Placement of the Scout, Camp and starting Mission bookmarks	at least 110 pages before the end of the book	at least 140 pages before the end of the book
Placement of the Lost City bookmark	70 pages after the Scout, Camp and starting Mission	100 pages after the Scout, Camp and starting Mission

The difficulty determines the number of Letter tokens. Depending on the length chosen, select the desired difficulty, then begin the game with the number of Letter tokens shown in this table:

	Very Easy	Easy	Normal	Hard	Very Hard
Short Expedition	26 Letters	20 Letters	14 Letters	–	–
Classic Expedition	–	–	26 Letters	20 Letters	14 Letters

Note: remember that the book you choose can change how difficult the game feels.

How it works: the game rules are not modified by this module. We nonetheless recommend using the Twists and Characters modules to help ensure the intended game length and difficulty.

Module II: The Twists (more atmosphere!)

Setup specifics: the Twist deck.

Shuffle the Twist bookmarks into a deck. Place it on the table, face down, within reach of all the players.

How it works: right after being made Scout, a player may, if they wish, draw a Twist bookmark before advancing the Scout bookmark. If they do, they advance the Scout bookmark by 2, 3 or 4 additional sheets, as indicated on the back of the Twist drawn. In exchange, the reading is modified by the constraint written on the Twist bookmark.

If the turn's Exploration is successful, the Twist is placed in the book; otherwise, discard it into the Synchro-Lettrometer.

Important: once the Lost City has been reached by the Camp, it is no longer possible to draw a Twist.

Tip: keep the reading constraint a surprise for the Group — it's more fun!

Example: Germain is the Scout this turn. He sees on top of the Exploration deck that he must advance the Scout bookmark by 5 sheets. He can also choose to draw the first Twist from the deck, thereby advancing the Scout bookmark by 5 + 2, that is, 7 sheets in total!

Module III: The Characters (more tactics!)

Setup specifics: the Characters.

Each player chooses a Character tile and places it Skill-side up in front of themselves. The remaining Character tiles will not be used for this game.

How it works: as soon as they are made Scout, and necessarily before reading aloud, a player, and only that player, may use their Skill if it is available (face up). If they decide to use their Skill, they flip their Character tile and carry out its effect, for this turn only.

To turn their Character tile back to the "Skill Available" side, and thus regain their Skill for future use, the player must succeed at a Mission.

Note: the Textploratrice (the "textplorer") is only useful if the Twists module is being used.

Module IV: Mission Domains (more of a challenge!)

Setup specifics: when you place the Scout, Camp and Lost City, no longer place a randomly-taken Mission in the book; instead place the Joker Mission "A Good Start."

Note: there are 4 Domains in the game: Botany, Cartography, Zoology, Ethnology.

How it works: this module works by applying the following three points:

• On a failed Exploration, instead of losing 6 or 12 Letter tokens for the unsaved Exploration bookmark(s), the players discard a number of Letter tokens equal to the sum of the Advance Values printed on the back of the Exploration bookmark(s) they cannot save.
• On a failed Exploration, saving an Exploration bookmark using a Mission bookmark taken from the book is only possible if the Domain shown on the Mission matches the Domain printed on the back of the Exploration bookmark.
• In addition, the Group may decide to remove, by discarding it into the Synchro-Lettrometer, one and only one Mission bookmark visible on the table, and this only once per turn.

Important: you must discard a Mission bookmark for each Exploration bookmark, even if they are of identical Domains!

Note: if you can only save one of two bookmarks, you choose which one is saved and which one costs you Letter tokens.

Note: the Joker Mission "A Good Start" is considered to be of any Domain.

Example: the Group has just made a mistake and must deal with the loss of two Exploration bookmarks shown alongside. There are, in the book, two Missions: one of the Cartography Domain, the other of Botany. The players then use the Cartography Mission to avoid losing 9 Letters owed for the first Exploration bookmark. Unfortunately they cannot prevent the loss of 4 Letters for the second Exploration bookmark, since it is of the Ethnology Domain and not Botany like the remaining Mission. To sum up, the players therefore discard the Cartography Mission, 4 Letters, and both Exploration bookmarks.

Module V: Explorer Ranks (more honorific!)

Setup specifics: play in Classic Expedition mode and with all the modules.

How it works: at the end of a game played in Classic Expedition mode (and only in this mode, see Module I), you may calculate your score as follows:

• +10 pts if you played on Hard
• +20 pts if you played on Very Hard
• +3 pts per Mission and per Twist in the book at the end of the game
• +1 pt per Letter token remaining in the Synchro-Lettrometer's Reserve
• +5 pts if you reached the Lost City
• +10 pts if you won and found the Hidden Meaning

The result of this sum gives you your rank:

Score	Rank
< 19	Business-Card Explorer
20 → 29	Picture-Book Explorer
30 → 39	Pulp-Novel Explorer
40 → 49	Best-Seller Explorer
50 → 59	Great-Literature Explorer
60 → 69	Latin-Liturgy-Translated-from-German Explorer
> 70	Encyclopædia Universalis Explorer

Acknowledgments

Olibrius thanks Germain who, one summer morning, lit up our eyes with this incredible idea of going to play inside books… Jeanne for the excitement felt, within Olibrius, on opening each of her magnificent illustrations… Alexis who managed to put into shape all our work carried out over many months… The many testers who lent themselves to the game and who let us keep improving it… The love of literature and of games that has driven us for so long now…

To my family, to Thomas and my sister for their precious opinions, to Olibrius for giving me the chance to illustrate this game, to Thibaut and Germain for their encouragement and for helping me make these illustrations even wilder.

A big thank you! — Jeanne Landart

Thanks, of course, to the Joreilles, who enthusiastically and courageously explored the very many tests and rule revisions. Thanks to Jonathan "Poire" Beranger for telling me about the existence of the boustrophedon.

Thanks to Alain Damasio, Mark Z. Danielewski, and the grammatical goldsmiths of the Oulipo for filling my imagination with the idea that a text is also a landscape, made of forests of letters and outcrops of signs.

Thanks finally and above all to Thibaut for all his tests and precious ideas, to Jeanne for bringing this crazy idea to life (and my goodness it wasn't simple), and of course to David, who believed in this project when it was only an embryo of the beginning of an egg of an idea, and without whom I would not be working in games today. — Germain Winzenschtark